title: Nissan Sunny

text: The 120Y was assembled from kits in Melbourne, Australia and boasted disc brakes (although not power assisted), alternator, 4 speed gearbox, radial tyres, radio and mud flaps as standard, most of which were options on other makes. The modest performance and strictly conventional design were offset by excellent fuel economy and a better standard of build. The 120Y was sharply criticized by magazines such as "Wheels" of Australia, which felt that it offered no true improvement on its predecessor. That was not surprising given that the B110 platform was carried over, but used a slightly revised A12 engine. Like some Nissans of this period, it was considered overstyled. In New Zealand and Australia there was also the "Datsun 120Y SSS" limited edition B210, which had minor aesthetic differences to the regular B210 and same engine upgrades as in B110 1200 SSS (twin carbs, camshaft).


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In the South African market the B210 was assembled locally from December 1975 until 1983, replacing the previous "Datsun 1200". South African "Y-series" cars, as they were called locally, also featured "L14" and "L16" engine options, as well as two special editions of B210 coupé, badged as the 140Z and 160Z. The 140Z featured a high performance camshaft, freeflow exhaust and twin 40 mm Dell'orto carburettors, while the 160Z featured twin Hitachi (SU type) carburetors. Both had four-speed transmissions. The standard 120Y has the 1171 cc "A12" engine as already used in the 1200, with at 6000 rpm. The well-equipped 140Y GX had a 1428 cc "L14" motor and was also available as a two-door liftback coupé. The only other bodywork available at the time of introduction was a four-door sedan; later a four-door wagon joined the lineup. All South African Datsun Y's received the longer Sunny Excellent front sheet-metal, allowing the fitting of the "L14" engine. In October 1976, a version of the 140Y with a three-speed automatic transmission appeared, which had a engine.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: During 1978 the Y-series received a facelift, which mostly consisted of a retouched front grille. Datsun-Nissan South Africa also decided to fit the bigger "L16" engine. This motor, now with DIN ratings, produced in GX specifications and in the 160Z. The 140Y sedan received the new "A14" engine, while the 140Y station wagon retained the earlier "L14" unit. The 160Z appeared in November 1978, with 120 cars built that year, and 121 built in 1979.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: When introduced in the UK, the 120Y quickly gained popularity, further strengthening Datsun's position, helping it to gain second place amongst foreign imports. The car's popularity was helped by high equipment levels for a car of this size, while also being competitively priced as well as Datsun cars have a reputation for being reliable, while at the same time UK-manufactured cars were in short supply due to the regular strikes and stoppages affecting British car plants. British Leyland was particularly hard hit by these crises, while at the same time several of its model ranges were gaining a reputation for being unreliable and badly-built.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: This was the last Sunny sold under the "Datsun" brand in Japan. The final rear-wheel-drive Sunny from model year 1978 to 1982 featured numerous variants, including a fastback station wagon as well as more squared-off, utilitarian models with three and five doors, a coupé, and two- and four-door sedans. They were first introduced in October 1977, going on sale on 21 November in Japan. The design received a certain amount of criticism, with "Car Styling Quarterly" calling it old-fashioned and dumpy at the rear, while the plastic detailing was referred to as overworked. It was, however, recognizable as a Nissan house design. This generation was also the last Sunny to utilize the front engine and rear-wheel drive layout.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: At home they only received the new A12A engine and the slightly larger A14, although the Van continued to receive the earlier, smaller, A12 engine. The "Excellent" trim package was discontinued as the top level model, and the B211 van continued to be built for a little while longer. In Japan in February 1978 the Sunny Coupé 1400SGX-E and the 1400GX-E appeared, as a replacement for the previous Sunny Excellent Coupé. The "E" denotes multiport fuel injection, an option offered only in Japan.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: These models appeared with Datsun 120Y, 130Y", "140Y and 150Y badges in some markets (reflecting the engine size) though Sunny was increasingly used for export, too. The North American version was marketed as the Datsun 210. The B310 was known for its high equipment levels and build quality at the time. It was available with the same A-series engines as its predecessor although the B210's optional 63-series five-speed transmission was replaced with the more compact and lighter 60-series unit, with a standard gear pattern. On all body variants except the Van and "squareback" wagon, the leaf spring rear suspension was replaced by a more advanced coil spring four-link configuration, while the front had struts with coilover springs. Other than that, the chassis was very similar to that of the B210, albeit with a beefier front suspension and a relocated fuel tank in the sedans. It was now beneath the floor of the trunk, freeing up more space for luggage. The body was designed to provide fewer moisture traps, helping protect the car against rust, while added width meant additional space, particularly for the rear seat passengers.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In October 1979, the B310 was given a mild facelift, with a smoothed off front end, a grille with square headlamps, and a redesigned dashboard. The vans retained the old design, but their chassis codes (unlike the passenger models) changed from 310 to 311 to reflect that they met new emissions standards in place for light commercials. At the end of November 1980 the A12A and A14 engines were replaced by the marginally larger A13 and A15 versions in the Japanese markets (with available fuel injection for the A15). The slow-selling two-door sedan was reduced to the low-cost 1300 CT and DX models. At the end of 1981 passenger car versions of the B310 were replaced by the front-wheel drive B11 Sunny, although the Vans continued to be built for a few more years. With the end of passenger car production in October 1981, the Van models chassis codes was changed and they became the VB312 series.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In North America, the only wagon offered was the fastback version. In Japan, this fastback wagon was a special model called the "Sunny California", aimed at private buyers unlike the square-backed 3-and 5-door Sunny Van (although for the Japanese market these vans were always fully glazed and usually had a back seat) meant for the long-standing Japanese commercial wagon market. In most other markets the more traditional two-box wagon was offered, either alone or alongside the fastback, and some countries where "no rear side glass" was part of a legal definition of a "light truck" got panelled-in versions of the three-door. The van versions also differed in that they retained the leaf spring suspension from the B210, and in most markets had a more spartan interior trim with vinyl covered seats. The five-door van was discontinued in November 1982 when the new and even boxier Nissan AD range was introduced. In July 1983 the AD appeared in a three-door version, meaning that the VB310 was finally retired.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: This model marked the first and only time the "Sunny" name was used in Australia. It was assembled there by AMI. This chassis, along with the A10 chassis on the 160J/Violet/Stanza formed the basis for the S110 chassis on the Nissan Silvia.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In most markets, the A12 engine was the only, or most common engine offered. However B310s in various markets were fitted with the following A-series engines (JIS outputs are for the Japanese market, others indicated):


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The 210 was available in North America as a two- or four-door sedan, a five-door wagon (the sloping fastback style), or as a three-door hatchback coupé. At the time of introduction all models, excepting the wagon with the automatic transmission, received the carryover 1.4 liter A14 engine with . The automatic wagon (soon all wagons) received the somewhat larger A15 engine with .


title: Nissan Sunny

text: New for 1981, the special "210 MPG" model was a small-port A14 (losing three horsepower in the process) with five-speed overdrive transmission and achieved per US standards. For 1981, this was the only 1.4 available. All other versions excepting the standard 1.2 received the larger 1.5. Even the most powerful 1.5-litre option produced only , being strangled by the required desmogging equipment. The smallest 1.2 was only available as a four-speed, two-door sedan with very basic equipment. The 1.2 Standard was only available with a four-speed manual transmission and produces .


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The 210 continued to be available until April 1982, when it was replaced by the Sentra, a rebadged version of the B11 Sunny.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In Taiwan, Yue Loong continued building the B310 series until the 1990s as a lower priced alternative to more modern Sunnys. Originally introduced as the YLN 302, with SD or DX equipment (Standard, DeLuxe) it underwent a facelift in 1981 in parallel with Nissan's Sunny, becoming the YLN 303. After another facelift (in 1989), it became the YLN 303S. The station wagon was also offered in Taiwan, as the YLN 303W. The Yue Loong-built B310s were only ever available with the 1.2-litre A12 engine.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: Introduced in late 1981 (at the Tokyo Motor Show), the B11s were the first front-wheel-drive Sunnys, predating by a year and a half the switch to front-wheel drive by their main Toyota Corolla rival, and were exported to the United States as the Nissan Sentra from the 1982 model year onwards. European sales began in May 1982, with this version of the Sunny going on sale at a time when front-wheel drive was quickly becoming the most popular layout on family cars in Europe. The B11 series shared its engines and much of its underpinnings with the Nissan Pulsar (N12) which launched around the same time, effectively providing the hatchback body style in this size class which in the European market was becoming the widely preferred configuration. Because the Sunny and Cherry/Pulsar had grown substantially to fill this market need, the supermini size class was filled by the Nissan Micra/March that also launched the same year. Ultimately, the Sunny and Cherry/Pulsar lines converged in the European market for the N13 generation in 1986.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The chassis code returned to the original "B" designation, then added "11" to signify a new start. The B11 was the first Sunny to be available with a diesel engine, the CD17 of 1.7 litres. Most markets received 1.3 or 1.5-litre four-cylinder engines, although for some markets with strict taxation (such as Greece), the 1-litre E10 engine was also available. The 1.3 and 1.5 as sold in Europe have respectively.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The fuel injected 1.5 L turbo was introduced to Japan only September 1982, offered only in the 3-door hatchback body style, and was called the "Sunny Turbo Leprix", and was rarely exported. The installation of a turbo on the top level model enabled Nissan to offer a performance version without unduly increasing emission tax liability for Japanese buyers, while offering higher fuel efficiency and lower emissions than a larger, conventionally tuned engine. The turbo and the diesel were both later additions to the lineup, having been presented in September 1982. The Sunny Turbo Leprix was sold in the United Kingdom as the "Sunny Maxima Coupe", alongside the "Sunny Maxima" sedan.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: A further spin-off from the Sunny line was the (in Japanese), which was essentially a rebadged and better equipped Sunny sedan designed to capitalize on the premium image of the larger Nissan Laurel. The Laurel Spirit was exclusive to "Nissan Motor Store" which sold the Laurel, while the Sunny remained exclusive to "Nissan Satio Store". The Laurel Spirit was offered in four trim packages, starting with the LT, LT-G, LF, XJ, and the XJ-E denoting a fuel injected "E15E" engine. In 1983 the top level XJ was installed with a turbocharger, designated as the Laurel Spirit Turbo XJ.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The Laurel Spirit was exported as the "Nissan Sunny Maxima SGL", which was sold in limited numbers in the United Kingdom. This was not in any way related to the much larger "Bluebird Maxima" (which was simply just sold as the "Maxima" in the United States). The "Sunny Maxima" line consisted only of upgrades such as a sunroof, enhanced exterior trim, only available with a five-speed manual, chrome tailpipe, dual waveband radio meeting United Kingdom radio authority specifications, and deluxe carpeted floor mats. The B11 Sunny was originally sold in the United Kingdom in 1.3 DX, 1.3 GL, 1.5 DX, 1.5 GL, 1.5 GL Auto, 1.5 SGL and 1.5 SGL Spirit variants.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In 1982, the Sunny platform was used to introduce a new MPV body style in Japan, called the Nissan Prairie. It was introduced at "Nissan Bluebird Store" locations and went on to be sold globally, although this concept did not take off in Europe until the huge success of the Renault Scénic in the late 1990s.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The B11 series was regarded as one of Nissan's most modern ranges at the time, and was the first to abandon the Datsun name formally (though a small 'Datsun' still appeared on boot lids for the first two years). The wagon was known in its home market as the "Nissan Sunny California", and Nissan installed the turbocharged engine in October 1983 for Japanese customers only. It was launched in late 1981 and continued into 1985. After the succeeding B12 had been presented, the B11 Sunny soldiered on as the "Sunny 130Y" as a lower-cost alternative in certain export markets, including Malaysia; production there continued well into the nineties. While a hatchback version was available for a little while in Japan (and very briefly in North America), this body style was built in comparably small numbers as the Pulsar generally replaced the hatchback in most markets. The two-door sedan was only sold in North America, with Sentra badges.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The station wagon model remained in production until 1990, as no estate version of the next generation Sunny was produced.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The B11 was sold as the Nissan Tsuru in Mexico, a nameplate used until 2017 when it was discontinued and replaced with the Versa. It was the first car sold as a Nissan in Mexico. Also, the three-door hatchback coupé was known as the Nissan Tsuru Samurai. For 1986, the 1.5 L engine was replaced by the 1.6 L and for 1987 the Tsuru Samurai received a sporty version called the Nissan Ninja Turbo which included a low boost turbocharger with carburator and prominent Ninja stickers on the low side of the doors. The regular Sunny Coupé was also sold as the "Nissan Ninja" in 1987, equipped with the E16S while the locally developed turbocharged version of that engine (E16T) with .


title: Nissan Sunny

text: Mexican-made B11s were exported to other Latin American markets as well. They entered Chile in 1987 (replacing the Japanese-made Sunny which had been on sale since 1983), carrying "Sunny" badging. In Chile it was mainly sold with the E13 and E15 engines, although a handful of the turbocharged 1.6 were also delivered as the "Sunny Ninja Turbo" and the 1.7-liter diesel was available in the sedan model for a few years. The B11 Sunny was the most sold car in Chile in 1989 and 1990 and continued to be available alongside the B12 as well as the B13 Sunnys; these were sold as the "Sentra" and the "V16" so as to separate them in the marketplace. The B11 was available in Chile until August 1991.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: As usual, Nissan's Taiwanese subsidiary Yue Loong assembled a local version of the B11 Sunny. It was available as a four-door sedan or a five-door wagon, with 1.2-, 1.3-, and 1.5-litre engines. It was marketed as the YLN 311 SD or GX, depending on equipment levels. Taiwanese Sunnys were fitted with the larger bumpers as used in the North American markets; it is unknown why this is the case.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: A five-door station wagon on Sunny basis meant for use as a delivery van was also introduced. This had different bodywork from the Sunny California wagon and was called the Nissan AD Van in the domestic market. It was also exported to many countries, usually with "Sunny Van" badging. It used the E15S, the E13S, and the CD17 diesel engine.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: Introduced in September 1985 at the Tokyo Motor Show, the B12 was not as widely exported, apart from the station wagon model and to some extent the RZ-1 coupé. This line is characterized by its squared-off styling, which was rather unfashionable by the mid-1980s. The angular styling was insisted upon by Nissan's design chief at the time and contributed to the automaker's increasingly poor sales of the period. A four-wheel-drive variant was introduced during this generation.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In October 1986, European markets saw the B11 Sunny replaced by a rebadged N13 Pulsar in hatchback and saloon form (the hatchback replacing the previous N12 Pulsar, which had been sold as the Cherry in this market). These were sold alongside the B12 Sunny estate and coupé. In some markets, such as Greece, the N13 Pulsar retained the "Cherry" nameplate. In the UK the B12 was sold as the Nissan Sunny Estate with a 1.6L engine. The B12 Coupé (RZ-1) was also imported, with either 1.6 L or 1.8 L 16v engines.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: When first introduced, Japanese-market Sunnys received 1.3 or 1.5-litre E-series petrol inline-four engines, or the 1.7-litre CD17 diesel unit. In mid-September 1987, the E15 was replaced by the new GA generation, cleaner and with more power. This was also the first Sunny to become available with optional anti-lock brakes. A twin-cam 1.6 was also added, at first only to the sporting 306 hatchback but later also in the four-door sedans. Abroad, a few other engine variations were also available, up to a 1.8-litre twin cam in Europe.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The "Sunny California"-style fastback was the only B12 wagon; the more upright B11 "Sunny Van" continued in those markets where it was previously offered. The station wagon continued in its second generation as the Nissan Wingroad and the commercial AD Van.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In Kenya (East Africa), the B12 was imported and marketed as Sunny and came with a 1.3- or a 1.5-litre petrol engine. The 1.3-litre version is assembled locally (1.3 SLX).


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In Mexico the B12 Sunny was known as the Nissan Tsuru II (as the preceding generation was simply called Tsuru) and equipped with a 1.6-litre petrol engine. This model was later also exported to Canada where it carried "Sentra" badges.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The B12 series Sentra remained the mainstream C-segment Nissan in North America throughout its run, although the models available dwindled over the years. At launch, sedans were available in two-door base or XE or 4-door XE or GXE models, along with two trim levels each of the coupé and FWD wagon, a short-overhang three-door hatchback and an AWD wagon; by 1990 only one model each of the coupé, four-door sedan and FWD wagon, plus two two-door sedans (one with the same trim as the others and one extra-basic price leader) remained.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In Malaysia, it was known as the Nissan Sentra Super Saloon (early version) and came with the E16 engine. It was often used as a taxi and rental car. The B12 was replaced there by the Pulsar N13 in 1987. The Sentra badge was also used in a few other markets such as the Philippines and New Zealand.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In Japan, the Nissan Laurel Spirit continued to be offered at "Nissan Motor Store" locations as a Sunny-based companion to the larger, more luxurious Nissan Laurel, with all-wheel-drive added to the Laurel Spirit's option list. The styling of the Laurel Spirit drew heavily from the larger Laurel, to further distance it from its more humble Sunny counterpart, and included the hood ornament from the Laurel to the smaller car. To help set it apart from its lower-priced brethren, the Laurel Spirit was only available with four-door bodywork in higher equipment levels, and not with the 1.3-litre engine.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In February 1986, Nissan introduced the Sunny RZ-1 coupé, with RZ representing "Runabout Zenith-1", as Nissan was already using the "Z" for its sports car, the Fairlady Z. The Sunny RZ-1 replaced the Sunny Turbo Leprix coupé. The RZ-1 was sold in Mexico as the Nissan Hikari, which is Japanese for "bright" or "sunny". It was marketed as a completely different model from the Tsuru (Sunny sedan) and it was Nissan's sports flagship car as it was even offered with a low-boost Turbo.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: As with previous B series Sunny generations, the chassis was common with the wagon and sedan, with specific appearance to the RZ-1, while maintaining the traditional fastback associated with the Sunny Coupé. The Sunny hatchback and sedan were introduced with a square appearance, while the RZ-1 was more angular, with a more sharp appearance. The interior could only accommodate four people, with a black mask between the front headlights, retaining the strong slant angle, adding blistered front and rear over the wheels, and a wrapped around window treatment for the rear hatch, that had hit a different personality hatchback and sedan. The angular approach was also used on the Nissan EXA, which appeared internationally at the same time, and earlier on the .


title: Nissan Sunny

text: Initially, the engines offered to Japanese customers were the E15S type (1500 cc straight-four SOHC), and the E15ET type (a turbocharged, fuel injected version of the same), but in August 1986 the CA16DE type (1600 cc straight-four DOHC) was added. Nissan introduced something called the "TWINCAM series" and the "TWINCAM NISMO", this included special suspension and aero parts that offered Japanese customers a customized specification, offering special interior appearances, including power windows that were not available on lower trim packages. In export markets it was mostly sold as the "Sunny Coupé", but export markets generally did not receive the higher trim packages available in Japan.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In Europe, the Sunny Coupé was also available with the larger, 1.8-litre 16V twin cam CA18DE engine. In an unusual move, this was more powerful than any option available in Japan, where such a model was seen as a possible threat to sales of the Silvia series. A limited number were also manufactured in South Africa with this engine. It is speculated that production of this model were 720 units with at 6400 rpm and 159 N·m (117 ft·lbf) at 5200 rpm, although this number has never been confirmed to this day.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The B13 was introduced in 1990 and retained many of the B12's ideas but in a more rounded, up-to-date body. It was particularly successful in the United States where the sports model two-door Sentra SE-R was marketed by Nissan of America as a latter-day BMW 2002. The car continued in production in Mexico until 2017, where it was sold as "Tsuru", for domestic and export markets, and is quite popular among cab drivers for its reliability and low maintenance costs. The Mexican-built Tsuru was exported to Chile and Peru, where it was sold as the Nissan V16 to distinguish it from the B11 and B12 which were both still available. In Taiwan, it is known as the Nissan 331. The Nissan Sunny California wagon was discontinued and replaced with the Wingroad, a small family wagon based on the Sunny AD commercial delivery van.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In Mexico, the Nissan Tsuru was until 2017 the best-selling car in its category, as it is much bigger and has cheaper maintenance than its direct competitors: the Pointer and the Chevrolet Chevy C2. The 2007 model was available in two trims; GS 1 (base) and GS 2. Both trims use a 1.6-litre 16-valve (GA16DNE) engine producing and can be equipped with an automatic gear-box and air-conditioning (Tsuru GS 2). A new Nissan Tsuru GS 1 costed approximately . It was discontinued in May 2017, due to the car not being compliant with new Mexican car safety regulations. A special edition called "Buen Camino" was sold to celebrate the end of the Tsuru in Mexico. According to Nissan, there are no plans for a successor for the Tsuru, with the Versa being sold as a 2018 model as its successor.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In Malaysia, known as the Sentra Super Saloon with GA16DE fitted engine with two versions, it is widely used as a taxi in Genting Highlands, due to its engine durability and fuel efficiency in such conditions.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In Japan, the Laurel Spirit was renamed the Presea, continuing to be a luxury-based Sunny companion to the Laurel, both exclusive to "Nissan Motor Store" locations.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The B14 Sunny and Sentra appeared in December 1993 and were produced until 1998, and featured four-wheel-drive variants. Other than Japan, this variant was produced in Karachi, Pakistan through a joint venture between Ghandhara Nissan and Nissan Japan till 2001 for the local and export markets.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In this generation, the station wagon was supplied to Mazda under an OEM deal as the Familia Van. The Nissan Wingroad range appeared as a spin-off of the Sunny line in Japan, denoting a highly specified station wagon that replaced the Nissan Sunny California. Both the Familia and the Wingroad had different front and rear ends compared to the wagon that was exported. The luxury version of the Sunny, called the Presea, continued to be offered at "Nissan Motor Store" Japanese dealerships.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: Nissan Mexico sold versions of this as the Sentra with a 1.6 engine GA16DE from 1995 to 1997, GA16DNE from 1998 to 2000 and 2.0 engine (SR20DE) in the GSS version (top of the line).


title: Nissan Sunny

text: Thailand and other selected Asian countries had this model of B14 from 1994 until 2000 with a few minor changes along the way. First minor change shows when the rear changes to split the red strip into two sides, next the face changes in a few years with a small ridge i the middle of the hood and a chromium decoration on the hood tip, finally the last minor change, the tail light style changes from two layers of white/red to be the three layers red/white/red. The two variants of engines is 1.5L (in the first generation) and 1.6L (available only after some minor changes).


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In 1995, Nissan reintroduced the 200SX nameplate in United States and Canada to designate a two-door version of the Sentra (B14 chassis, a front wheel drive car), known in Japan and Mexico as Lucino, replacing the Sentra coupé and NX (discontinued in 1993). The 200SX came in base, SE, and sportier SE-R models. All shared their front-end appearance, front-drive chassis, dashboard, and many dimensions with the Sentra and Japanese-market Lucino. Base and SE editions shared the Sentra's twin-cam GA16DE engine four-cylinder engine. The SE-R inherited the 140-horsepower 2.0 L SR20DE engine used in the previous 2-door Sentra SE-R. All three came with a 5-speed manual transmission or 4-speed automatic, and were equipped with dual airbags. Antilock brakes were optional in the SE and SE-R.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The B15 series was the last Sunny, produced from October 1998 to the end of 2004. A facelift was launched in May 2002. In 2005 in Japan, the Nissan Tiida (C11) and Nissan Bluebird Sylphy (G11) replaced the Sunny, marking the end of an almost 40 year long production life.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: While earlier North American-market Nissan Sentras were very similar to their Japan-market B-series Nissan Sunny twins, the B15 Sentra (2000–2006) is diverged greatly from the B15 Sunny. The Sentra B15 took styling cues from the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy (G10/N16), while the Sunny B15 body had a more traditional squared-off three-box sedan design.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: In Japan, the B15 Sunny was offered with 1.3, 1.5, 1.6 and 1.8-litre petrol or 2.2-litre diesel engines. While in North America, the B15 Sentra was offered with 1.8, 2.0 and 2.5-litre engines, and carries on the B-series Sunny/Sentra lineage with the B16.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The Wingroad station wagon and the badge engineered Mazda Familia Van (1.3, 1.5 and 1.8-litre) continued to be spun off from the main Sunny range. A facelift for the Wingroad in 2002 gave it a new front end, though the rear was much the same. The two door variant was discontinued internationally.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: Renault Samsung Motors, a South Korean Automaker planned to use this vehicle for the R-CAR project, however Renault acquired Samsung Motors and Renault announced that the R-Car would be rebranded as the SM3, though it was based on the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: Although the Nissan Pulsar and Bluebird Sylphy ranges (N-series family) were a separate model line with different heritage from Sunny (B-series family), for various reasons the Sunny name was—in some markets—applied to various Pulsar/Sylphy vehicles.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The Nissan Sunny name was used on the Nissan Pulsar (N13) in Europe from 1987 to 1991, which was introduced as a replacement for both the Nissan Sunny B11 Sunny and N12 Cherry.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The Nissan Pulsar N14 series was introduced in 1990 in Japan and in 1991 for Europe, badged as the Nissan Sunny. It was replaced by the Nissan Almera N15 in 1995 which was itself a rebadged version of the Nissan Pulsar N15 series.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: Although the Bluebird Sylphy G10 did not spawn a Sunny range in Japan, it was sold as the Sunny Neo in Thailand and as the Sunny in Hong Kong, Kenya, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the People's Republic of China, where it is produced by the Dongfeng Motor Company, a joint venture with Nissan. Also, the N16 series was sold in parts of Latin America and in Europe as the Nissan Almera. The N16 series was also sold in Bangladesh through Pacific Nissan dealers in the EX Saloon trim, from 2001 to 2011, with two minor facelifts.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: From the 2007 model year, its platform changed to the Renault Samsung SM3, that is sold in parts of Europe as the Almera Classic. Also since 2007, the Renault Samsung SM3 is sold as the Nissan Sunny in the Middle East, with a solitary trim that comes with a 1.5-litre engine.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The N17 series Sunny was unveiled at the 2010 Guangzhou International Motor Show in China. Sales began in 2011. It was also sold in the Indian and many Middle Eastern markets under the same name. Other names include the Almera in Southeast Asia and the Versa in Americas.


title: Nissan Sunny

text: The N18 series Sunny was unveiled in the United Arab Emirates at the Dubai International Motor Show in November 2019.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: Sabine Schmitz (; 14 May 1969 – 16 March 2021) was a German professional motor racing driver and television personality. Born in Adenau to a family in the hotel and catering business, and raised in one of the villages nestled within the Nürburgring race track, she initially trained to join the same profession as her parents, before choosing to begin a career in racing, working as a driver for BMW and Porsche.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: She became known for being an expert on the Nürburgring circuit, winning two victories in endurance races during the course of her driving career on the circuit, and became a cult icon on television following her appearance on BBC's "Top Gear", making recurring appearances alongside several of the programme's presenters. Schmitz died of cancer, in March 2021, at the age of 51, following a diagnosis in late 2017.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: Following occasional drives with the family car on the Nordschleife, all three Schmitz sisters started racing, but only Sabine continued and went on to achieve several notable victories. Schmitz won in CHC and VLN race events, the VLN endurance racing championship in 1998. After getting married and running a hotel in Pulheim near Cologne, she won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 1996 and 1997 as "Sabine Reck", all with a BMW M3 Group N entered and co-driven by local veteran Johannes Scheid. In 2006 Schmitz and Klaus Abbelen drove the #97 Porsche 997 in the Nürburgring VLN endurance racing series, entered by "Land Motorsport". They finished third in the 24h 2008.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: Schmitz came to mass public attention driving one of the two BMW M5 "ring taxis" around the -long race track in an entertaining manner.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: According to her own estimates, Schmitz went around the track more than 20,000 times, increasing by approximately 1,200 per year. Her familiarity with the circuit earned her the nicknames "Queen of the Nürburgring" and "the fastest taxi driver in the world". She said her favourite parts of the track were the Schwedenkreuz (Swedish Cross) and Fuchsröhre (Fox Hole).


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: Schmitz's company, Nürburgring-based Sabine Schmitz Motorsport, offers advanced driver training and a "ring taxi" service for passengers. Schmitz herself ceased driving the "ring taxi" in 2011.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: As a result of her popularity as "the fastest taxi driver in the world", and her charisma, Schmitz became an occasional motorsport guest commentator, known for her gleefully dry descriptions of driving incidents. Since September 2006, Schmitz has co-hosted a motoring show on German television, "D Motor" on the DMAX TV channel. In each show, she takes on another challenge, for example Schmitz in a Ferrari 360 vs. a 1200 hp Race Truck, or Schmitz in a Formula Renault race car vs. a race sidecar. She has also appeared on "Fifth Gear".


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: Her first appearance on British television was on the 2002 BBC programme "", where she took Clarkson around the Nürburgring in the "ring taxi".


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: In December 2004, Schmitz gained further recognition in the United Kingdom after appearing in the BBC television programme "Top Gear" with presenter Jeremy Clarkson. After Clarkson (under her tutelage) set a lap time of 9 minutes 59 seconds around the Nürburgring in a Jaguar S-Type diesel (Series 5, Episode 5), she dismissed his best lap with the comment "I tell you something, I do that lap time in the van". She did a lap in the Jaguar S-Type, and set a time of 9 minutes 12 seconds, beating him by 47 seconds. When trying to film Schmitz as she drove the S-Type, the film crew were unable to keep up, and had to get Jaguar test driver Wolfgang Schubauer to drive the Jaguar S-Type R chase car. In a later episode Schmitz drove a Ford Transit diesel van in an attempt to beat Clarkson's time set in the Jaguar, missing his time by just 9 seconds (Series 6, Episode 7).


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: In 2008 Schmitz (and fellow "D Motor" presenters Carsten van Ryssen and Tim Schrick,) featured in a Top Gear challenge of "Top Gear Vs the Germans". The "Top Gear" team faced off against the German team in a series of comedy-biased challenges in order to see which team was the best. Schmitz took on Clarkson in a gymkhana-styled event followed by a single lap race, beating him by several seconds, although due to prolific cheating from the "Top Gear" team, the Germans lost overall.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: In March 2015, "The Guardian" featured a satirical article calling for Schmitz to be the new presenter of "Top Gear" in order to gracefully cancel the programme, concluding that "She has appeared from time to time on "Top Gear" in the past, and shown herself to possess exactly the right mix of knowledge and boisterousness for the job every time. Plus, she is both German and a woman, a combination of traits so alien to the majority of "Top Gear" viewers that the whole programme would probably self-destruct within an hour of her taking the job. And surely, at this point, that would, as they say, be the best outcome for everyone involved."


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: In December 2015 "The Daily Telegraph" reported that Schmitz had been selected as a presenter on the revamped "Top Gear". This was later confirmed by the BBC in February 2016, along with the announcement of several new presenters for the programme.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: Born in Adenau to local restaurant owners, Schmitz and her two elder sisters grew up in the "Hotel am Tiergarten" (in the basement of which is the "Pistenklause" restaurant) in Nürburg within the Nürburgring Nordschleife.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: Schmitz trained as a "Hotelfachfrau" (graduate in hotel and catering business) and sommelière. During her marriage to a hotelier she lived in Pulheim, but after her divorce in 2000, up until 2003, she owned a bar-restaurant in Nürburg named the "Fuchsröhre" (Foxhole) after a track section. She was also a qualified helicopter pilot.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: In July 2020, Schmitz revealed via a Facebook post that she had been suffering from "an extremely persistent cancer" since late 2017. She explained that she had sought treatment and her condition was improving, but she had relapsed and would be undergoing treatment again. At the time of her revelation, Schmitz was still making recurring appearances on "Top Gear". She died of cancer at a hospital in Trier on 16 March 2021, aged 51. The Nürburgring have renamed the first corner of the Nordschleife loop as the "Sabine-Schmitz-Kurve" posthumously in her honour.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: Schmitz, competing under her married name of Sabine Reck, contested the 1995 AA Fleetcare Super Touring Championship, driving an E36 BMW super touring car for BMW SA Motorsport alongside teammates Deon Joubert and Shaun Van Der Linde.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: Despite high expectations, Schmitz did not find success in the South African championship. She was consistently outqualified and outpaced by Joubert and Van Der Linde, both of whom had extensive experience of the race tracks on which the series was run. A mid-season crash involving Toyota driver Mike White at Killarney during an open practice session resulted in neck injuries and a damaged right knee, forcing her to sit out three consecutive race meetings.


title: Sabine Schmitz

text: At the end of the 1995 season, Schmitz finished last in the Class A points standings, with no race wins, pole positions or fastest laps. She did not return for the 1996 season.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII (5 or 6 April 1886 — 24 February 1967), was the last Nizam (ruler) of the Princely State of Hyderabad, the largest princely state in British India. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age of 25 and ruled the Kingdom of Hyderabad between 1911 and 1948, until India annexed it. He was styled as His Exalted Highness-(H.E.H) the Nizam of Hyderabad, and was widely considered as one of the world's wealthiest person of all time. With some estimate placing his wealth at 2% of U.S. GDP, his portrait was on the cover of "Time magazine" in 1937. As a semi-autonomous monarch, he had his own mint, printing his own currency, the Hyderabadi rupee, and had a private treasury that was said to contain £100 million in gold and silver bullion, and a further £400 million of jewels (in 2008 terms). The major source of his wealth was the Golconda mines, the only supplier of diamonds in the world at that time. Among them was the Jacob Diamond, valued at some £50 million (in 2008 terms), and used by the Nizam as a paperweight.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: During his 37-year rule, electricity was introduced, and railways, roads and airports were developed. He was known as the "Architect of modern Hyderabad" and is credited with establishing many public institutions in the city of Hyderabad, including among others: Osmania University, Osmania General Hospital, State Bank of Hyderabad, Begumpet Airport, and the Hyderabad High Court. Two reservoirs, Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar, were built during his reign, to prevent another great flood in the city.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam originally wanted to join India, but after its independence in 1947, he did not wish to accede his state to the newly formed nation. By then, his power had weakened because of the Telangana Rebellion and the rise of a radical militia known as the Razakars whom he could not put down. In 1948, the Indian Army invaded and annexed Hyderabad State, and the Nizam had to surrender. Post-independence, he became the Rajpramukh of Hyderabad State between 1950 and 1956, after which the state was partitioned and became part of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: In 1951, he not only started the construction of Nizam Orthopedic hospital (now known as Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS)) and gave it to the government on a 99-year lease for a monthly rent of just Rs.1, he also donated of land from his personal estate to Vinobha Bhave's Bhoodan movement for re-distribution among landless farmers.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Mir Osman Ali Khan was born 5 or 6 April 1886, the second son of Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI and Azmat-uz-Zahra Begum at Purani Haveli (also known as Masarrat Mahal palace). He was educated privately and reportedly became fluent in Urdu, Persian, Arabic and English. Under Nawab Muhammad Ali Beg he received court ethics and military training.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: On the recommendation of the Viceroy of India, Lord Elgin in 1898, in early 1899 Sir Brian Egerton (of the Egerton family and former tutor to Maharajah of Bikaner Ganga Singh) was appointed as Mir Osman Ali Khan's English tutor for two years. During this period he lived away from the principal palace. He lived on his own to avoid the atmosphere of the palace quarters under the guidance of Sir Brian and other British officials and mentors, so that he could flourish as a gentleman of the highest class. Sir Brian Egerton recorded that as a child, Mir Osman Ali Khan was magnanimous and "anxious to learn". Because of the indomitable attitude of zenana (the women) who were determined to send Mir Osman Ali Khan out of Hyderabad for further studies, he pursued them at Mayo College after consultation with the principal nobles of the Paigah family.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Mir Mahboob Ali Khan the VI Nizam died on 29 August 1911 and on the same day Mir Osman Ali Khan was proclaimed Nizam VII under the supervision of Nawab Shahab Jung, a minister of Police and Public works. On 18 September 1911, the crowning ceremony was officially held at the Chowmahalla Palace.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: His coronation Durbar (court) included the prime minister of Hyderabad- Maharaja Kishen Pershad, Colonel Alexander Pinhey (1911–1916) British resident of Hyderabad, the Paigah, and the distinguished nobles of the state and the head of principalities under Nizam domain.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The famous mines of Golconda were the major source of wealth for the Nizams, with the Kingdom of Hyderabad being the only supplier of diamonds for the global market in the 18th century.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Mir Osman Ali Khan acceded as the Nizam of Hyderabad upon the death of his father in 1911. The state of Hyderabad was the largest of the princely states in pre-independence India. With an area of 86,000 square miles (223,000 km), it was roughly the size of the present-day United Kingdom. The Nizam was the highest-ranking prince in India, was one of only five princes entitled to a 21-gun salute, held the unique title of "Nizam", and titled "His Exalted Highness" and "Faithful Ally of the British Crown".


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: In 1908, three years before the Nizam's coronation, the city of Hyderabad was struck by a major flood that resulted in the death of thousands. The Nizam, on the advice of Sir M. Visvesvaraya, ordered the construction of two large reservoirs—the Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar—to prevent another flood.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: He was given the title of "Faithful Ally of the British Crown" after World War One because of his financial contribution to the British Empire's war effort. Part of the reason behind his unique title of "His Exalted Highness" and other titles was due to the huge amounts of financial help that he provided the British amounting nearly £25 million (£ in 2022). (For example, No. 110 Squadron RAF's original complement of Airco DH.9A aircraft were Osman Ali's gift. Each aircraft bore an inscription to that effect, and the unit became known as the "Hyderabad Squadron".) He also paid for a Royal Navy vessel, the N-class destroyer, commissioned in 1940 and transferred to the Royal Australian Navy.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: In 1918, the Nizam issued a "firman" (decree) that established Osmania University, the first university to have Urdu as the language of instruction. The present campus was completed in 1934. The "firman" also mentioned the university's detailed mission and objectives. The establishment of Osmania University was highly lauded by Nobel-Prize Laureate-Poet Rabindranath Tagore who was overjoyed to see the day when Indians are "freed from the shackles of a foreign language and our education becomes naturally accessible to all our people".


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: In 1919, the Nizam ordered the formation of the Executive Council of Hyderabad, presided over by Sir Sayyid Ali Imam, including eight other members, each in charge of one or more departments. The president of the Executive Council would also be the prime minister of Hyderabad.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Begumpet Airport was established in the year 1930 with the eventual formation of Hyderabad Aero Club by the Nizam in 1936. Initially, the Nizam's private airways the Deccan Airways, one of the earliest airlines in British India, used it as a domestic and international airport. The terminal building was constructed in 1937. The first commercial flight took off from the airport in 1946.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam arranged a matrimonial alliance with deposed caliph Abdulmejid II whereby the Nizam's first son Azam Jah would marry Princess Durrushehvar of the Ottoman Empire. It was believed that the matrimonial alliance between the Nizam and Abdulmejid II would lead to the emergence of a Muslim ruler who could be acceptable to the world powers in place of the Ottoman Sultans. After India's Independence, the Nizam attempted to declare his sovereignty over the state of Hyderabad, either as a protectorate of the British Empire or as a sovereign monarchy. However, his power weakened because of the Telangana Rebellion and the rise of the Razakars, a radical Muslim militia who wanted Hyderabad to remain under Muslim rule. In 1948, India invaded and annexed Hyderabad State, and the rule of the Nizam ended. He became the Rajpramukh and served from 26 January 1950 to 31 October 1956.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: By donating to major educational institutions throughout India, he introduced many educational reforms during his reign. Up to 11% of his budget was spent on education. Schools, colleges and a Department for Translation were set up. Primary education was made compulsory and provided free for the poor.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: He founded the Osmania University in 1918 through a royal firman; It is one of the largest universities in India. Schools, colleges and a Department for Translation were set up.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Nearly all the major public buildings and institutions in Hyderabad city, such as the Hyderabad High Court, Jubilee Hall, Nizamia Observatory, Moazzam Jahi Market, Kachiguda Railway Station, Asafiya Library (State Central Library, Hyderabad), the Town Hall now known as the Assembly Hall, Hyderabad Museum now known as the State Museum; like Osmania General Hospital, Nizamia Hospital and many other buildings were constructed under his reign. He also built the Hyderabad House in Delhi, now used for diplomatic meetings by the Government of India.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: In 1941, he started his own bank, the Hyderabad State Bank. It was later renamed State Bank of Hyderabad and merged with the State Bank of India as the state's central bank in 2017. It was established on 8 August 1941 under the Hyderabad State Bank Act. The bank managed the Osmania Sikka (Hyderabadi rupee), the currency of the state of Hyderabad. It was the only state in India which had its own currency, and the only state in British India where the ruler was allowed to issue currency. In 1953, the bank absorbed, by merger, the Mercantile Bank of Hyderabad, which Raja Pannalal Pitti had founded in 1935.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: In 1956, the Reserve Bank of India took over the bank as its first subsidiary and renamed it State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH). The Subsidiary Banks Act was passed in 1959. On 1 October 1959, SBH and the other banks of the princely states became subsidiaries of SBI. It merged with SBI on 31 March 2017.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: After the Great Musi Flood of 1908, which killed an estimated 50,000 people, the Nizam constructed two lakes to prevent flooding—the Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar named after himself, and his son Azam Jah respectively.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam founded agricultural research in the Marathwada region of Hyderabad State with the establishment of the Main Experimental Farm in 1918 in Parbhani. During his rule, agricultural education was available only at Hyderabad; crop research centres for sorghum, cotton, and fruits existed in Parbhani. After independence, the Indian government developed this facility further and renamed Marathwada Agriculture University on 18 May 1972.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: India's first airport—the Begumpet Airport—was established in the 1930s with the formation of the Hyderabad Aero Club by the Nizam.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Initially, it was used as a domestic and international airport by Deccan Airways Limited, the first airline in British India. The airport terminal was constructed in 1937.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam donated Rs. 82,825 to the Yadagirigutta temple at Bhongir, Rs. 29,999 to the Sita Ramachandraswamy temple, Bhadrachalam and Rs. 8,000 to the Tirupati Balaji Temple.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: He also donated Rs. 50,000 towards the re-construction of Sitarambagh temple located in the old city of Hyderabad, and bestowed a grant of 100,000 Hyderabadi rupees towards the reconstruction of Thousand Pillar Temple.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: After hearing about the Golden Temple of Amritsar through Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Mir Osman Ali Khan started providing it with yearly grants.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: In 1932, there was a need for money for the publication of the Holy "Mahabharata" by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute located in Pune. A formal request was made to Mir Osman Ali Khan who granted Rs. 1000 per year for a period of 11 years.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: He also gave Rs 50,000 for the construction of the institute's guest house which stands today as the Nizam Guest House.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: In October 1965, during the Sino-Indian War, the PM Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Hyderabad and requested the Nizam to contribute generously to the National Defence Fund, set up in the wake of the Indo-Chinese skirmish. In response, the Nizam announced that he would contribute five tonnes (5,000kg) of gold to augment the war fund. In terms of today’s gold price in the international market, this donation translates to a whopping Rs 1,500 crore.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam donated Rs 1 million for the Banaras Hindu University, Rs. 500,000 for the Aligarh Muslim University, and 300,000 for the Indian Institute of Science.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: He also made large donations to many institutions in India and abroad with special emphasis given to educational institutions such as the Jamia Nizamia and the Darul Uloom Deoband.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: During the early 1920s, the Ajanta site was in the territory of the princely state of the Hyderabad and Osman Ali Khan (the Nizam of Hyderabad) appointed experts to restore the artwork, converted the site into a museum and built a road to enable tourists come to the site.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam's Director of Archaeology obtained the services of two experts from Italy, Professor Lorenzo Cecconi, assisted by Count Orsini, to restore the paintings in the caves. The Director of Archaeology for the last Nizam of Hyderabad said of the work of Cecconi and Orsini:


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: After Indian independence in 1947, the country was partitioned into India and Pakistan. The princely states were left free to make whatever arrangement they wished with either India or Pakistan. The Nizam ruled over more than 16 million people and of territory when the British withdrew from the sub-continent in 1947. But unlike the other princely states, Nizam refused to sign the instrument of accession. Instead he opted to sign a 1-year standstill agreement agreed upon by the British, and signed by then viceroy Lord Mountbatten. The Nizam refused to join either India or Pakistan, preferring to form a separate independent kingdom within the British Commonwealth of Nations.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: This proposal for independence was rejected by the British government, but the Nizam continued to explore it. Towards this end, he kept up open negotiations with the Government of India regarding the modalities of a future relationship while opening covert negotiations with Pakistan in a similar vein. The Nizam cited the Razakars as evidence that the people of the state were opposed to any agreement with India.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The one year standstill agreement turned out to be a severe blow to the Nizam as it gave all foreign affairs, communication and defense power to the Indian government. The new Indian government wasn't happy that a sovereign state would exist right at the center of India. In accordance to this, they ultimately decided to invade Hyderabad in 1948, in an operation code-named Operation Polo. Under the supervision of Major General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, one division of the Indian Army and a tank brigade invaded and captured Hyderabad. The annexation was over in just 109 hours or roughly 4 days. Due to no foreign connections and no real defense the war was a losing cause for Hyderabad from the start. After the annexation the territory came under Indian rule and Nizam was removed from his position but allowed to keep all personal wealth and title.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam was so wealthy that he was portrayed on the cover of "Time" magazine on 22 February 1937, being described as the world's richest man. At its peak, the wealth of Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII was worth (all his conceivable assets combined) in the early 1940s, while his entire treasure of jewels, would be worth between US$150 million and US$500 million variously in today's terms. He used the Jacob Diamond, a 185-carat diamond that is part of the Nizam's jewellery, as a paperweight. During his days as Nizam, he was reputed to be the richest man in the world, having a fortune estimated at US$2 billion in the early 1940s ( US$ in dollars) or two per cent of the US economy then.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam's personal fortune was estimated to be roughly £110 million, including £40 million in gold and jewels (equivalent to £ in ).


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Indian government still exhibits the jewellery as the Jewels of the Nizams of Hyderabad (now in Delhi). There are 173 jewels, which include emeralds weighing nearly , and pearls exceeding 40 thousand chows. The collection includes gemstones, turban ornaments, necklaces and pendants, belts and buckles, earrings, armbands, bangles and bracelets, anklets, cufflinks and buttons, watch chains, and rings, toe rings, and nose rings.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Along with the Nizam’s jewels, two Bari gold coins worth hundreds of crores, were considered the rarest in the world. Himayat Ali Mirza has requested the central government to bring these coins, which were made in the Arabic script should be brought back to Hyderabad.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: In 1947, the Nizam made a gift of diamond jewels, including a tiara and necklace, to Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her marriage. The brooches and necklace were still worn by the Queen until her death and the necklace is known as the Nizam of Hyderabad necklace.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam lived at King Kothi Palace—bought from a nobleman(Kamal Khan an architect of those times)—from age 13 until his death. He never moved to Chowmahalla Palace, even after his accession to the throne.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Unlike his father, he was not interested in fine clothing or hunting. His hobbies rather included poetry and writing "ghazals" in Urdu.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: He revered his mother and visited her every day she was alive; he used to visit her grave almost every day after she died.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: At the age of 21, on 14 April 1906, he married Azam Unnisa Begum (Dulhan Pasha Begum), a daughter of the noble Nawab Jahangir Jung. His first son Azam Jah married Durru Shehvar, daughter of the Ottoman caliph Abdul Mejid II, while his second son Moazzam Jah married Niloufer, a niece of the Ottoman sultan. The Nizam had a total of 34 children; 18 sons and 16 daughters.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Azam Jah and Durru Shehvar had two sons, Mukarram Jah and Muffakham Jah, with the former succeeding his grandfather as the de jure Nizam. Another grandson was Mir Najaf Ali Khan, who represents several trusts of the last Nizam, including the H.E.H. the Nizam's Charitable Trust and the Nizam Family Welfare Association.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: At the age of 21, on 14 April 1906, his first marriage was with Azam Unnisa Begum (Dulhan Pasha Begum), daughter of Nawab Jahangir Jung Bahadur.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: His first son Azam Jah married Durru Shehvar, daughter of the Ottoman caliph Abdul Mejid II, while his second son Moazzam Jah married Niloufer, a niece of the Ottoman sultan.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Azam Jah and Durru Shehvar had two sons, Mukarram Jah and Muffakham Jah, with the former succeeding his grandfather as the "de jure" Nizam.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: His second son HH Moazzam Jah had three wives - first being princess Nilofer. Since princess Niloufer couldn't bear a child, Moazzam Jah married Razia Begum and had three daughters princess Fatima Fouzia, princess Amina Merzia and princess Oolia Kulsum. Prince Moazzam Jah also married Anwari Begum and had a son prince Shahmat Jah.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Another socially prominent grandson is Mir Najaf Ali Khan, who represents several trusts of the last Nizam, including the H.E.H. the Nizam's Charitable Trust and the Nizam Family Welfare Association. Lately, Nizam's name was being used by various parties for political gains. Another great grandson, Himayat Ali Mirza wrote to prime minister in this regard along with Election Commission of India, requesting political parties not to use Nizam's name in today's politics as it is both disrespectful to such a great personality.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizams' daughters had been married traditionally to young men of the House of Paigah. This family belonged to the Sunni sect.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam continued to stay at the King Kothi Palace until his death. He used to issue "firmans" on inconsequential matters in his newspaper, the Nizam Gazette.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: He died on Friday, 24 February 1967. In his will, he asked to buried in Masjid-e Judi, a mosque where his mother was buried, that faced King Kothi Palace. The government declared state mourning on 25 February 1967, the day when he was buried. State government offices remained closed as a mark of respect while the National Flag of India was flown at half-mast on all the government buildings throughout the state. The Nizam Museum documents state : "The streets and pavements of the city were littered with the pieces of broken glass bangles as an incalculable number of women broke their bangles in mourning, which Telangana women usually do as per Indian customs on the death of a close relative."


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: "The Nizam's funeral procession was the biggest non-religious, non-political meeting of people in the history of India till that date."


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: Millions of people of all religions from different parts of the state entered Hyderabad in trains, buses and bullocks for a last glimpse of their king in a coffin in the King Kothi Palace Camp in Hyderabad. The crowd was so uncontrollable that barricades were installed alongside the road to enable people to move in a queue. D. Bhaskara Rao, chief curator, of the Nizam's Museum stated that an estimated one million (1 million) people were part of the procession.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: The Nizam was the honorary Colonel of the 20 Deccan Horse. In 1918, King George V elevated Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan Siddiqi Bahadur from "His Highness" to "His Exalted Highness". In a letter dated 24 January 1918, the title "Faithful Ally of the British Government' was conferred on him.


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: 1911–1912: His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCSI


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: 1912–1917: Colonel His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCSI


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: 1917–1918: Colonel His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCSI, GBE


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: 1918–1936: Lieutenant-General His Exalted Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Faithful Ally of the British Government, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCSI, GBE


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: 1936–1941: Lieutenant-General His Exalted Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Faithful Ally of the British Government, Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar, GCSI, GBE


title: Mir Osman Ali Khan

text: 1941–1967: General His Exalted Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Faithful Ally of the British Government, Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar, GCSI, GBE.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: Brian Keith Banks (born July 24, 1985) is a former American football player. He signed with the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) on April 3, 2013. Banks signed as an undrafted free agent with the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League in 2012.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: Banks was a standout high school football star at Polytechnic High School (Poly) in Long Beach, California. In 2002, his Junior year, Banks verbally committed to USC. After being falsely accused of rape by classmate Wanetta Gibson, he spent close to six years imprisoned and five years on parole. In 2012, his conviction was overturned when his accuser confessed that she had fabricated the entire story. Following his exoneration, Banks sought to resume his football career, playing for the now-defunct United Football League (UFL), attending mini-camps for several NFL teams, and later signing with the Atlanta Falcons.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: A native of Long Beach, California, Banks attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, where he was teammates with DeSean Jackson, Darnell Bing, Winston Justice, and Marcedes Lewis. He was named one of Rivals.com's "Juniors to Watch" of the class of 2003. He was expelled from school due to a rape accusation that was later proven to be false.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: In the summer of 2012, Banks received tryouts with several NFL teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, and San Francisco 49ers. He attended minicamp with the Seattle Seahawks, whose head coach, Pete Carroll, had offered Banks a scholarship in 2002 when he was head coach at USC.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: Banks signed with the Las Vegas Locomotives of the UFL on September 20, 2012, appearing in two games–his first meaningful game action since playing in his last high school game more than 11 years earlier. He made one tackle before the UFL suspended its season in October.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: Banks signed with the Atlanta Falcons on April 3, 2013, participating in offseason workouts, OTAs, and training camp. Banks made his NFL debut in a preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals, where he picked up two tackles. He played four preseason games with the Falcons before being released on August 30, 2013.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: In 2014, Banks was asked by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to speak at the 2014 NFL draft Rookie Symposium. Banks accepted and his speech was well received. A few weeks later, he was hired to join the NFL Department of Operations.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: In the summer of 2002, aged 16, Banks was arrested and charged after classmate Wanetta Gibson falsely accused him of dragging her into a stairway and raping her. He was expelled from Long Beach Polytechnic High School right after being taken into custody and placed at Juvenile Hall. Shawn Ashley, who was a co-principal of Long Beach Poly High had claimed that Banks would not be allowed back on campus regardless of any jurisdictional outcome. Faced with a possible 41 years to life sentence, he accepted a plea bargain that included five years in prison, five years of probation, and registering as a sex offender. Banks says that his lawyer said that by pleading no contest he would receive probation, but no jail time.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: Gibson and her mother Wanda Rhodes sued the Long Beach Unified School District, claiming the Poly campus was not a safe environment, and won a $1.5 million settlement.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: In March 2011, Gibson contacted Banks on Facebook, met with him, and admitted in the presence of a private investigator Banks had hired that she had fabricated the story. Banks secretly recorded Gibson's confession, but she later refused to tell prosecutors that she had lied so she would not have to return the money she and her family had won in court.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: Prior to the taped confession, Banks had asked for help from the California Innocence Project (CIP), a nonprofit law school clinic run by the San Diego-based California Western School of Law that investigates and litigates cases of actual innocence. At that time, however, there had not been sufficient evidence of Banks's innocence for them to take on the case. However, after the confession, CIP decided to make it the organization's first case involving a wrongfully convicted person who had already been released from prison.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: The video evidence was not admissible in court because the video had been made without Gibson's knowledge or consent and was not accompanied by a signed confession from her. However, CIP was instrumental in putting together additional evidence supporting Banks' story, which led the district attorney to ask the judge to reverse the conviction on May 24, 2012. Banks was also relieved of his record as a sex offender, allowing him to resume his sports career.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: Banks supports CIP in its efforts on behalf of the wrongly convicted, participating in CIP's 2013 Innocence March.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: In 2013, the Long Beach Unified School District won a $2.6 million judgment against Gibson, recouping $750,000 in payments paid to her along with attorney's fees, interest, and $1 million in punitive damages; Gibson failed to appear in court.


title: Brian Banks (American football)

text: A feature film project based on Banks' story, co-executive produced by Banks and Justin Brooks of CIP, premiered in 2018 and was released in August 2019. It is directed by Tom Shadyac and features Aldis Hodge as Banks, Greg Kinnear as Brooks and Tiffany Dupont as CIP attorney Alissa Bjerkhoel.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: The Time Machine is a 2002 American science fiction film loosely adapted by John Logan from the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells and the screenplay of the 1960 film of the same name by David Duncan. Arnold Leibovit served as executive producer and Simon Wells, the great-grandson of the original author, served as director. The film stars Guy Pearce, Orlando Jones, Samantha Mumba, Mark Addy, and Jeremy Irons, and includes a cameo by Alan Young, who also appeared in the 1960 film adaptation. The film is set in New York City instead of London, and contains new story elements not present in the original novel nor the 1960 film adaptation, including a romantic backstory, a new scenario about how civilization was destroyed, and several new characters such as an artificially intelligent hologram and a Morlock leader.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: The film received mixed reviews and grossed $123 million worldwide. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Makeup (John M. Elliot Jr. and Barbara Lorenz) at the 75th Academy Awards, but lost to "Frida".


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: In 1899, Dr. Alexander Hartdegen is an inventor teaching at Columbia University in New York City. Unlike his friend David Philby, Alexander would rather do pure research than work in the world of business. After a mugger kills his fiancée Emma, he devotes himself to building a time machine that will allow him to travel back in time to save her. When he completes the machine four years later, he travels back to 1899 and prevents her murder, only to see her killed again when a horseless carriage frightens the horses of a horse-drawn vehicle.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: Alexander realizes that any attempt to save Emma will result in her death through other circumstances. He travels to 2030 to discover whether science has been able to solve his question of how to change the past. At the New York Public Library, a holographic librarian called Vox 114 insists time travel to the past is impossible. Alexander travels to 2037, when the accidental destruction of the Moon by lunar colonists has begun rendering the Earth virtually uninhabitable. While restarting the time machine to avoid debris, he is knocked unconscious and travels forward to the date 16 July 802701 before reawakening.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: The human race has reverted to a primitive lifestyle and the Earth has healed. Some survivors, called "Eloi", live on the sides of cliffs of what was once Manhattan. Alexander is nursed back to health by a virtuous young woman named Mara, one of the few Eloi who speak English. He observes the broken moon and realises that maybe his teachings led to this future. One night, Alexander and Mara's younger brother, Kalen, dream of a frightening, jagged-toothed face and a creature calling their name. Alexander informs Mara of the dream and she tells him they all have that dream, and she notices that his watch is missing. The next day, the Eloi are attacked and Mara is dragged underground by ape-like monsters. The creatures are called "Morlocks" and they hunt the Eloi for food. In order to rescue Mara, Kalen leads Alexander to Vox 114, which is still functional after 800,000 years.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: After learning from Vox how to find the Morlocks, Alexander enters their underground lair through an opening that resembles the face in his nightmare. He is captured and thrown into an area where Mara sits in a cage. Alexander meets an intelligent, humanoid Über-Morlock, who explains that Morlocks are the evolutionary descendants of the humans who went underground after the Moon broke apart, while the Eloi are evolved from those who remained on the surface. The Über-Morlocks are a caste of telepaths who rule the other Morlocks, and use the Eloi as breeding vessels for their Morlock offspring.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: The Über-Morlock explains that Alexander cannot alter Emma's fate; her death is what drove him to build the time machine in the first place, therefore saving her would be a virtual impossibility due to temporal paradox. The Über-Morlock shows Alexander and tells him to go home, having given him the answer he had been searching for. Alexander gets into the machine but pulls the Über-Morlock in with him, carrying them into the future as they fight. The Über-Morlock dies by rapidly aging when Alexander pushes him outside of the machine's temporal bubble. Alexander stops in 635,427,810, revealing a harsh, rust-colored sky over a wasteland of Morlock caves.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: Accepting that he cannot save Emma, Alexander travels back to rescue Mara. After freeing her, he starts the time machine and jams its gears, creating a violent distortion in time. Pursued by the Morlocks, Alexander and Mara escape to the surface as the time distortion explodes, killing the Morlocks and destroying their caves along with the time machine. Alexander begins a new life with Mara and the Eloi, while Vox 114 helps him educate them.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: In 1903, Philby and Mrs. Watchit, Alexander's housekeeper, are in his laboratory discussing his absence. Philby tells Mrs. Watchit he is glad that Alexander has gone to a place where he can find peace, then tells her that he would like to hire her as a housekeeper, which she accepts until Alexander returns. Mrs. Watchit bids Alexander farewell and Philby leaves, looking toward the laboratory affectionately, then throws his bowler hat away in tribute to Alexander's objection to conformity.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: The film was a co-production of DreamWorks and Warner Bros. in association with Arnold Leibovit Entertainment who obtained the rights to the George Pal original "Time Machine" 1960 and collectively negotiated the deal that made it possible for both DreamWorks and Warner Bros. to make the film.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: Director Gore Verbinski was brought in to take over the last 18 days of shooting, as Wells was suffering from "extreme exhaustion." Wells returned for post-production. Filming began in February 2001 and finished on May 29, 2001.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: The Morlocks were depicted using actors in costumes wearing animatronic masks created by Stan Winston Studio. For scenes in which they run on all fours faster than humanly possible, Industrial Light & Magic created CGI versions of the creatures.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: Many of the time traveling scenes were entirely computer generated, including a 33-second shot in the workshop where the time machine is located. The camera pulls out, traveling through New York City and then into space, past the ISS, and ends with a space plane landing at the Moon to reveal Earth's future lunar colonies. Plants and buildings are shown springing up and then being replaced by new growth in a constant cycle. In later shots, the effects team used an erosion algorithm to digitally simulate the Earth's landscape changing through the centuries.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: For some of the lighting effects used for the digital time bubble around the time machine, ILM developed an extended-range color format, which they named rgbe (red, green, blue, and an exponent channel) (See Paul E. Debevec and Jitendra Malik, "Recovering High Dynamic Range Radiance Maps from Photographs, Siggraph Proceedings, 1997).


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: The film's original release date was December 2001, but it was moved to March 2002 because they wanted to avoid competition with "" and also a scene was removed from the Moon destruction sequence showing pieces of the Moon crashing into buildings in New York because it looked too similar visually to the September 11 attacks.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: A full score was written by Klaus Badelt, with the recognizable theme being the track "I Don't Belong Here", which was later used in the 2008 Discovery Channel Mini series "When We Left Earth".


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: The film grossed $22 million at #1 during the opening weekend of March 8–10, 2002. The film eventually earned $56 million in North America and $123 million worldwide.


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: The film holds a 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 153 reviews with an average rating of 4.79/10. The site's critical consensus reads "This "Machine" has all the razzle-dazzles of modern special effects, but the movie takes a turn for the worst when it switches from a story about lost love to a confusing action-thriller." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: William Arnold of the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer", who was somewhat positive about the film, wrote that it lost some of the simplicity and charm of the 1960 George Pal film by adding characters such as Jeremy Irons' "über-morlock". He praised actor Guy Pearce's "more eccentric" time traveler and his transition from an awkward intellectual to a man of action. Victoria Alexander of Filmsinreview.com wrote that "The Time Machine is a loopy love story with good special effects but a storyline that's logically incomprehensible," noting some "plot holes" having to deal with Hartdegen and his machine's cause-and-effect relationship with the outcome of the future. Jay Carr of the "Boston Globe" wrote: "The truth is that Wells wasn't that penetrating a writer when it came to probing character or the human heart. His speculations and gimmicks were what propelled his books. The film, given the chance to deepen its source, instead falls back on its gadgets."


title: The Time Machine (2002 film)

text: Some critics praised the special effects, declaring the film visually impressive and colorful, while others thought the effects were poor. Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" scorned the film, and found the Morlock animation cartoonish and unrealistic, because of their manner of leaping and running. Ebert notes the contrast in terms of the social/racial representation of the attractive Eloi between the two films, between the "dusky sun people" of this version and the Nordic race in the George Pal film. Aside from its vision of the future, the film's recreation of New York at the turn of the century won it some praise. Bruce Westbrook of the "Houston Chronicle" writes "The far future may be awesome to consider, but from period detail to matters of the heart, this film is most transporting when it stays put in the past."


title: Tartan

text: Tartan ( ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland, as Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns.


title: Tartan

text: Tartan is made with alternating bands of coloured (pre-dyed) threads woven as both warp and weft at right angles to each other. The weft is woven in a simple twill, two over—two under the warp, advancing one thread at each pass. This forms visible diagonal lines where different colours cross, which give the appearance of new colours blended from the original ones. The resulting blocks of colour repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines known as a "sett". Tartan is often called "plaid" (particularly in North America), but in Scotland, a "plaid" is a large piece of tartan cloth, worn as a type of kilt or large shawl. The term "plaid" is also used in Scotland for an ordinary blanket such as one would have on a bed.


title: Tartan

text: The Dress Act of 1746 attempted to bring the warrior clans under government control by banning the tartan and other aspects of Gaelic culture. When the law was repealed in 1782, it was no longer ordinary Highland dress, but was adopted instead as the symbolic national dress of Scotland, a status that was widely popularised after King George IV wore a tartan kilt in his 1822 visit to Scotland. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the highland tartans were only associated with either regions or districts, rather than any specific Scottish clan. This was because like other materials, tartan designs were produced by local weavers for local tastes and would usually only use the natural dyes available in that area, as synthetic dye production was non-existent and transportation of other dye materials across long distances was prohibitively expensive. The patterns were simply different regional checked-cloth patterns, chosen by the wearer's preference—in the same way as people nowadays choose what colours and patterns they like in their clothing, without particular reference to propriety. It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that patterns were created and artificially associated with Scottish clans, families, or institutions who were (or wished to be seen as) associated in some way with a Scottish heritage. The Victorians' penchant for ordered taxonomy and the new chemical dyes then available meant that the idea of specific patterns of bright colours, or "dress" tartans, could be created and applied to a nostalgic view of Scottish history. The Irish also wore tartan clothing but to a far lesser degree than their Gaelic cousins in Scotland.


title: Tartan

text: Today "tartan" is no longer limited to textiles, but is also used as a name for the pattern itself, appearing on media such as paper, plastics, packaging, and wall coverings. The use of tartan has spread outside the British Isles, particularly to countries who have been influenced by Scottish culture.


title: Tartan

text: The English and Scots word "tartan" is most likely derived from the French ' meaning "Tartar cloth". It has also been suggested that "tartan" may be derived from modern Scottish Gaelic ', meaning "across". Today "tartan" usually refers to coloured patterns, though originally a tartan did not have to be made up of a pattern at all. As late as the 1830s tartan was sometimes described as "plain coloured ... without pattern". Patterned cloth from the Gaelic-speaking Scottish Highlands was called ', meaning many colours. Over time the meanings of "tartan" and ' were combined to describe certain type of pattern on a certain type of cloth. The pattern of a tartan is called a "sett". The sett is made up of a series of woven threads which cross at right angles.


title: Tartan

text: Today "tartan" is generally used to describe the pattern, not limited to textiles. In North America the term "plaid" is commonly used to describe "tartan". The word "plaid", derived from the Scottish Gaelic "", meaning "blanket", was first used of any rectangular garment, sometimes made up of tartan, particularly that which preceded the modern kilt (see: belted plaid). In time, "plaid" was used to describe blankets themselves.


title: Tartan

text: Each thread in the warp crosses each thread in the weft at right angles. Where a thread in the warp crosses a thread of the same colour in the weft they produce a solid colour on the tartan, while a thread crossing another of a different colour produces an equal mixture of the two colours. Thus, a set of two base colours produces three different colours including one mixture, increasing quadratically with the number of base colours so a set of six base colours produces fifteen mixtures and a total of twenty-one different colours. This means that the more stripes and colours used, the more blurred and subdued the tartan's pattern becomes.


title: Tartan

text: The sequence of threads, known as the sett, starts at an edge and either repeats or reverses on what are called "pivot" points. In "diagram A", the sett reverses at the first pivot, then repeats, then reverses at the next pivot, and will carry on in this manner horizontally. In "diagram B", the sett reverses and repeats in the same way as the warp, and also carries on in the same manner vertically. The diagrams left illustrate the construction of a "symmetrical" tartan. However, on an "asymmetrical" tartan, the sett does not reverse at the pivots, it just repeats at the pivots. Also, some tartans (very few) do not have exactly the same sett for the warp and weft. This means the warp and weft will have alternate "thread counts".


title: Tartan

text: Tartan is recorded by counting the threads of each colour that appear in the sett. The "thread count" not only describes the width of the stripes on a sett, but also the colours used. For example, the thread count "K4 R24 K24 Y4" corresponds to 4 "black" threads, 24 "red" threads, 24 "black" threads, 4 "yellow" threads. Usually the thread count is an even number to assist in manufacture. The first and last threads of the thread count are the pivot points. Though thread counts are indeed quite specific, they can be modified in certain circumstances, depending on the desired size of the tartan. For example, the sett of a tartan (about 6 inches) may be too large to fit upon the face of a necktie. In this case the thread count has to be reduced "in proportion" (about 3 inches).


title: Tartan

text: The shades of colour in tartan can be altered to produce variations of the same tartan. The resulting variations are termed: "modern", "ancient", and "muted". These terms only refer to dye colours.


title: Tartan

text: The idea that the various colours used in tartan have a specific meaning is purely a modern one. One such myth is that red tartans were "battle tartans", designed so they would not show blood. It is only recently created tartans, such as Canadian provincial and territorial tartans (beginning 1950s) and US state tartans (beginning 1980s), that are designed with certain symbolic meaning for the colours used. For example, the colour "green" sometimes represents prairies or forests, "blue" can represent lakes and rivers, and the colour "yellow" is sometimes used to represent various crops.


title: Tartan

text: Today tartan is mostly associated with Scotland; however, the earliest evidence of tartan is found far afield from Britain. According to the textile historian E. J. W. Barber, the Hallstatt culture of Central Europe, which is linked with ancient Celtic populations and flourished between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, produced tartan-like textiles. Some of them were discovered in 2004, remarkably preserved, in the Hallstatt salt mines near Salzburg, Austria. Textile analysis of fabric from the Tarim mummies in Xinjiang, northwestern China has also shown it to be similar to that of the Iron Age Hallstatt culture. Tartan-like leggings were found on the "Cherchen Man", a 3,000 year-old mummy found in the Taklamakan Desert. Similar finds have been made in central Europe and Scandinavia.


title: Tartan

text: The earliest documented tartan in Britain, known as the "Falkirk" tartan, dates from the 3rd century AD. It was uncovered at Falkirk in Stirlingshire, Scotland, near the Antonine Wall. The fragment, held in the National Museums of Scotland, was stuffed into the mouth of an earthenware pot containing almost 2,000 Roman coins. The Falkirk tartan has a simple check design, of natural light and dark wool. Early forms of tartan like this are thought to have been invented in pre-Roman times, and would have been popular among the inhabitants of the northern Roman provinces as well as in other parts of Northern Europe such as Jutland, where the same pattern was prevalent.


title: Tartan

text: The tartan as we know it today is not thought to have existed in Scotland before the 16th century. By the late 16th century there are numerous references to striped or checkered plaids. It is not until the late 17th or early 18th century that uniformity in tartan is thought to have occurred. Martin Martin, in "A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland", published in 1703, wrote that Scottish tartans could be used to distinguish the inhabitants of different regions. He expressly wrote that the inhabitants of various islands and the mainland of the Highlands were not all dressed alike, but that the setts and colours of the various tartans varied from isle to isle. As he does not mention the use of a special pattern by each family, it would appear that such a distinction is a modern one.


title: Tartan

text: For centuries the patterns were loosely associated with the weavers of a particular area, though it was common for highlanders to wear a number of different tartans at the same time. A 1587 charter granted to Hector Maclean of Duart requires feu duty on land paid as 60 ells of cloth of white, black and green colours. A witness of the 1689 Battle of Killiecrankie describes "McDonnell's men in their triple stripes". From 1725 the government force of the "Highland Independent Companies" introduced a standardised tartan chosen to avoid association with a particular clan, and this was formalised when they became the Black Watch regiment in 1739.


title: Tartan

text: The most effective fighters for Jacobitism were the supporting Scottish clans, leading to an association of tartans with the Jacobite cause. Efforts to pacify the Highlands led to the "Dress Act of 1746", banning tartans, except for the Highland regiments of the British army. "[I]t was probably their use of it which gave birth to the idea of differentiating tartan by clans; for as the Highland regiments were multiplied ... so their tartan uniforms were differentiated."


title: Tartan

text: The act was repealed in 1782, due to the efforts of the Highland Society of London. William Wilson & Sons of Bannockburn became the foremost weaving manufacturer around 1770 as suppliers of tartan to the military. Wilson corresponded with his agents in the Highlands to get information and samples of cloth from the clan districts to enable him to reproduce "perfectly genuine patterns" and recorded over 200 setts by 1822. The Cockburn Collection of named samples made by William Wilson & Sons was put together between 1810 and 1820 and is now in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. At this time setts were simply numbered, or given fanciful names such as the "Robin Hood" tartan, not associated with a specific clan.


title: Tartan

text: It is generally regarded that "clan tartans" date no earlier than the beginning of the 19th century, and are an example of an invented tradition. Contemporary portraits show that although tartan is of an early date, the pattern worn depended not on the wearer's clan, but rather upon his or her present affiliation, place of origin or current residence, or personal taste.


title: Tartan

text: David Morier's well-known mid-1700s painting of the Highland charge at the Battle of Culloden (right) shows the clansmen wearing various tartans. The setts painted differ from one another and very few of those painted resemble today's clan tartans. The method of identifying friend from foe was not through tartans but by the colour of ribbon worn upon the bonnet.


title: Tartan

text: The idea of groups of men wearing the same tartan is thought to originate from the military units in the 18th century. Evidence suggests that in 1725 the Independent Highland Companies may have worn a uniform tartan.


title: Tartan

text: By the 19th century the Highland romantic revival, inspired by James Macpherson's Ossian poems and the writings of Sir Walter Scott, led to wider interest, with clubs like the Celtic Society of Edinburgh welcoming Lowlanders. The pageantry invented for the 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland brought a sudden demand for tartan cloth and made it the national dress of the whole of Scotland, rather than just the Highlands and Islands, with the invention of new clan-specific tartans to suit.


title: Tartan

text: The popularity of tartan was greatly increased by the royal visit of George IV to Edinburgh in 1822. George IV was the first reigning monarch to visit Scotland in 171 years. The festivities surrounding the event were originated by Sir Walter Scott who founded the Celtic Society of Edinburgh in 1820. Scott and the Celtic Society urged Scots to attend festivities "all plaided and plumed in their tartan array". One contemporary writer sarcastically described the pomp that surrounded the celebrations as "Sir Walter's Celtified Pagentry".


title: Tartan

text: Following the royal visit, books which documented tartans added to the craze. James Logan's romanticised work "The Scottish Gael", published in 1831, was one such publication which led the Scottish tartan industry to invent clan tartans. The first publication showing plates of clan tartans was the "Vestiarium Scoticum", published in 1842.


title: Tartan

text: The "Vestiarium" was the work of two brothers: John Sobieski and Charles Allen Hay. The brothers, who called themselves "John Sobieski Stolberg Stuart" and "Charles Edward Stuart", first appeared in Scotland in 1822. The two claimed to be grandsons of Prince Charles Edward Stuart and his wife Princess Louise of Stolberg, and consequently later became known as the "Sobieski Stuarts". The Sobieski Stuarts claimed that the "Vestiarium" was based upon a copy of an ancient manuscript on clan tartans—a manuscript which they never managed to produce. The "Vestiarium" was followed by the equally dubious "The Costume of the Clans" two years later. The romantic enthusiasm that Logan and the Sobieski Stuarts generated with their publications led the way for other tartan books in the 19th century.


title: Tartan

text: Twenty years after her uncle's visit to Scotland, Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert made their first trip to the Scottish Highlands. The Queen and prince bought Balmoral Castle in 1848 and hired a local architect to re-model the estate in "Scots Baronial" style. Prince Albert personally took care of the interior design, where he made great use of tartan. He used the red "Royal Stewart" and the green "Hunting Stewart" tartans for carpets, while using the "Dress Stewart" for curtains and upholstery. The Queen designed the "Victoria" tartan, and Prince Albert the "Balmoral", still used as a royal tartan today.


title: Tartan

text: Victoria and Albert spent a considerable amount of time at their estate, and in doing so hosted "Highland" activities. Victoria was attended by pipers and her children were attired in Highland dress. Prince Albert himself loved watching the Highland games. As the craze swept over Scotland the Highland population suffered grievously from the Highland Clearances, when thousands of Gaelic-speaking Scots from the Highlands and Isles were evicted by landlords (often the very men who would have been their clan chiefs) to make way for sheep.


title: Tartan

text: The naming and registration of official clan tartans began on 8 April 1815, when the Highland Society of London (founded 1778) resolved that the clan chiefs each "be respectfully solicited to furnish the Society with as much of the Tartan of his Lordship's Clan as will serve to Show the Pattern and to Authenticate the Same by Attaching Thereunto a Card bearing the Impression of his Lordship's Arms." Many had no idea of what their tartan might be, but were keen to comply and to provide authentic signed and sealed samples. Alexander Macdonald, 2nd Baron Macdonald was so far removed from his Highland heritage that he wrote to the Society: "Being really ignorant of what is exactly The Macdonald Tartan, I request you will have the goodness to exert every Means in your power to Obtain a perfectly genuine Pattern, Such as Will Warrant me in Authenticating it with my Arms."


title: Tartan

text: Today tartan and "clan tartan" is an important part of a Scottish clan. Most Scottish clans have several tartans attributed to their name and some clans have "official" tartans. Although it is possible for anyone to create a tartan and name it any name they wish, the only person with the authority to make a clan's tartan "official" is the chief.


title: Tartan

text: In some cases, following such recognition from the clan chief, the clan tartan is recorded and registered by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. Once approved by the Lord Lyon, after recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Tartan, the clan tartan is then recorded in the Lyon Court Books. In at least one instance a clan tartan appears in the heraldry of a clan chief and is considered by the Lord Lyon as the "proper" tartan of the clan.


title: Tartan

text: Modern-day tartans also encompass registered tartans for Irish clans, (for example, the surname Fitzpatrick has two registered tartans) counties, and other Gaelic and Celtic nations, such as the Isle of Man, Wales, and Cornwall.


title: Tartan

text: One of the most popular tartans is the Royal Stewart tartan, the personal tartan of Queen Elizabeth II. The sett was first published in 1831 in the book "The Scottish Gael" by James Logan. In addition to its use in clothing, such as skirts and scarves, Royal Stewart tartan has also appeared on biscuit tins for Scottish shortbread.