Background.

Fidesz's landslide victory was a result of massive dissatisfaction with and voting in protest against MSZP, the Hungarian Socialist Party, which had been in government since 2002, and it was one event and its consequences especially that provoked resentment: in 2006 Ferenc Gyurcsány, the contemporary Prime Minister of Hungary, delegated by MSZP, made a private speech in front of MSZP party members, in which he, although generally outlining a direction to a new beginning and a moral paradigm change in day-to-day policy making, admitted to having been lying to the general public in different matters through a prolonged time during the campaign running up to the previous election, which had resulted among others in his reelection. This speech surfaced in the press in the Autumn of 2006, and resulted in nationwide protests.

Polls.

As polls showed both MDF and SZDSZ would be unlikely to make it into parliament on their own, they have agreed to a limited electoral cooperation. In March 2010, polls also showed that the Hungarian parliament after the election was likely to be completely dominated by Fidesz polling at 53–67% that month, followed by either the ruling Hungarian Socialist Party at 12–22% or newcomer Jobbik (Movement for a Better Hungary) at 11–18%.

Controversies.

Following the EU elections of 2009, trends showed the rise of right-wing parties and particularly the far right. In this vein, the foreign media cited ominous trends concerning the election results. Fidesz Member of Parliament Oszkár Molnár said that: "I love Hungary, I love Hungarians, and I prefer Hungarian interests to global financial capital, or Jewish capital, if you like, which wants to devour the whole world, but especially Hungary." He later said that, it was only a response to a Shimon Peres speech in which Peres said that his country aims to "colonise" Hungary when he spoke of Israel's investments abroad, Peres said that Israel was "buying out Manhattan, Poland, Hungary..." Jobbik leader, Gábor Vona, also stirred up controversy with allegations of chauvinism by saying "Hungary is for Hungarians" and must be defended against "foreign speculators". Molnar also claimed that the language of instruction in Jerusalem schools was Hungarian and they were "learning the language of their future homeland". His party at the time, Fidesz, did not denounce his statement but simply said it was "embarrassing". Adding that he would not even consider ousting Molnar from his party or parliamentary faction, as the remark "did not violate the party's bylaws". However, in 2010 he was excluded from the Fidesz, due to these remarks. Instead of him, a Lebanese-origin doctor, Pierre Daher became the Fidesz candidate. Molnár also claimed that pregnant Roma women deliberately try to induce birth defects so they can give birth to "fools to receive higher family subsidies. I have checked this and it’s true; they hit their bellies with a rubber hammer so that they’ll give birth to handicapped kids." In 2011, he denounced Roma women at the Hungarian police authorities.  Another Fidesz parliamentarian, Ilona Ékes, wrote to the police to ban a gay pride event in Budapest, saying that homosexuality was a mental illness and demonstrators would scandalise people, as they did in previous years, when homosexual activists imitated sexual intercourse on stage and other activists were allegedly blasphemous. According to Ékes, the demonstrations would harm youngsters, whose school season was to start on the same day.  A Hungarian analyst was cited as saying Fidesz tolerates such provocative rhetoric from its members because of fears they would vote for Jobbik instead.

Foreign interference.

Former Jobbik MEP Krisztina Morvai wrote an open letter to Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, the United States ambassador, after her controversial visit to the headquarters of the principal three parties other than Jobbik, while not visiting that of Jobbik, on the night of the election.

Results.

Turnout.

"All times are CEST."

Post-election controversies.

Four Jobbik MPs—Gábor Staudt, Gergő Balla, Zsolt Endrésik and Péter Schön—were removed from their committees because they had failed a vetting procedure that asked whether any MP's maintain contact with groups that engage in "activities that deny the basic principles of a state governed by the rule of law." Staudt, a co-founder of the "Magyar Gárda Society"—that was banned in 2007—had been on the national security committee, while the other three were on the defence and law enforcement committees. Staudt reacted in saying he found the result to be unconstitutional, and that he would file a criminal report with the interior minister against Defence of the Constitution Office director general László Balajti. The four would, however, continue to be MPs.

Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 11 and 25 April 2010 to choose MPs for the National Assembly. They were the sixth free elections since the end of communist era. 386 members of parliament were elected in a combined system of party lists and electoral constituencies. The electoral law does not allow all adult citizens to stand for being elected unless they can validate 500 signatures of other citizens supporting their candidacy.


Plot.

In a frame story, a rich couple sailing alone in space, Jinn and Phyllis, rescue and translate a manuscript from a floating bottle. The manuscript was written by journalist Ulysse Mérou, who in 2500 was invited by wealthy Professor Antelle to accompany him and his disciple, physician Arthur Levain, to Betelgeuse. Because they travel close to the speed of light, time dilation causes centuries to pass on Earth during their two years in transit. They land their shuttle on a temperate, lushly forested planet which they name "Soror" (Latin for "sister"). They can breathe the air, drink the water and eat the fruit. Attracted by a woman whom they call Nova, they swim below a scenic waterfall. She is frightened by their pet chimpanzee, Hector, and strangles it. Her tribe, who exhibit the behavior of dumb animals, wreck the newcomers' clothing and shuttle.  Gorillas, fully dressed as hunters, attack the tribe with firearms. Many are killed, including Arthur. Ulysse is captured with the survivors and brought to a city populated by apes. Ape clothing matches that of 20th century Earth humans, except that the apes wear gloves instead of shoes on their prehensile feet. The apes smoke tobacco, photograph their hunting trophies, drink through straws and appear utterly civilized. Their society is divided into three strata: aggressive gorilla police and military, conservative orangutan politicians and religious authorities, and liberal chimpanzee scientists.  In an urban biological research facility, Ulysse recognizes conditioning methods being used on captured humans. He is mated with Nova. Curious chimpanzee researcher Zira takes an interest in his geometric drawings and his ability to speak a few simian words. With help from Zira's fiancé, Cornélius, Ulysse makes a speech in front of several thousand apes. He is granted freedom and is given tailored clothing. Antelle reverts to primitive humanity in the zoo and is moved to the laboratory for safety, where he is mated to a young female.  Cornélius, an archaeologist, excavates an ancient human city. An unconscious human lab subject recites from racial memory the events that led to the fall of human civilization: humans tamed apes and eventually used them as servants. As apes learned to talk, a cerebral laziness took hold of the humans. Apes gradually took over human homes, driving the humans into camps outside of the cities. In the final memory, apes attacked the last human camp, carrying only whips.  Nova bears Ulysse a son, Sirius, who walks and talks at three months. Fearing for their lives, they take the place of the human test subjects in a space flight experiment. Because all humans look alike to apes, they are able to escape without notice and they rendezvous with the orbiting ship. Ulysse programs the ship back to Earth. As they fly over Paris, Orly Airport and the Eiffel Tower look the same. When they land, however, they are greeted by a field officer in a Jeep who is a gorilla. It is subsequently revealed, via the frame story, that Jinn and Phyllis are actually civilized chimpanzees, and they discard Ulysse's story as sheer fantasy because they find the idea of intelligent humans unbelievable.

Publication history.

The novel was published in France in 1963 by Éditions Julliard.  The first English language version, with a translation by Xan Fielding, was published in the United States by Vanguard Press in June 1963 under the title "Planet of the Apes".  In January 1964, it was published in the United Kingdom as "Monkey Planet" by Secker & Warburg of London, then re-issued as "Planet of the Apes" in August 1973 to tie it in to the film franchise it inspired.  The first paperback edition was published in the US in March 1964 by Signet / New American Library.  In May 1964, "Saga: The Magazine For Men" printed an abridged version of the novel.

Adaptations.

The novel inspired a media franchise comprising nine films, two television series (one animated) and several comic books.  The first film was "Planet of the Apes" (1968), a science fiction feature film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a screenplay by Michael Wilson & Rod Serling and starring Charlton Heston. The film was a critical and commercial success, spawning four sequels on a one film a year basis between 1970 and 1973.  A second adaptation of the book was released in 2001 directed by Tim Burton as a loose remake of the 1968 film of the same name. A series reboot with a new production team called "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was released in 2011 to critical and commercial success. It was the first in a new series of films.

La Planète des singes, known in English as Planet of the Apes in the US and Monkey Planet in the UK, is a 1963 science fiction novel by French author Pierre Boulle. It was adapted into the 1968 film "Planet of the Apes", launching the "Planet of the Apes" media franchise.


Biography.

He was born and raised in Lille where he studied chemistry with Charles Frédéric Kuhlmann and miniature painting on porcelain. After Louis Daguerre solved the problem of long exposure time and introduced daguerreotypy, a practical photographic process, to the general public in 1839, Blanquart-Evrard developed interest in photography. He studied the "calotype", salt-print negative process, and in 1847 became the first person to publish on negative/positive paper photo process in France. He developed a method of bathing the paper in solutions of potassium iodide and silver nitrate rather than brushing these chemical baths on the surface. In January 1847, he presented his research on stabilizing the photo prints by floating them in the silver solution to the French Academy of Sciences.

Imprimerie Photographique.

In 1850, he developed and introduced the albumen paper printing technique, which became the staple process of the soon to be popular "carte de visite" type of photo prints. In September 1851 in Lille, France, with Hippolyte Fockedey, he started the "Imprimerie Photographique de Lille", which was the first large scale printing company to employ a large number of employees. Blanquart-Évrard introduced to public the work of many pioneering European photographers, such as Édouard Loydreau (1820-1905), Charles Marville (1813-1879), Ernest Benecke (1817-1894), Thomas Sutton (1819-1875), and Maxime Du Camp (1822-1894). In the 1850s he became known for publishing John Stewart's views of the Pyrenees and Auguste Saltzmann's views of Jerusalem. However, the calotype process that he adopted and improved had the disadvantage of leaving a blank white sky and dark foreground, which led to artist manipulating and using multiple negatives to add clouds to the sky and make the foreground more distinct. The problem with these manipulations was that often the clouds were taken in the morning and the foreground was taken in the afternoon. Also, due to technology deficiency, photo prints were fading with time and Blanquart-Evrard's business venture had to close in 1855, losing in competition with lithographs.

Recognition.

In 1860s, Blanquart-Evrard published several influential essays and books, including, "On the intervention of art in photography" and "La photographie: ses origines, ses progrès, ses transformations" where he described the first three decades of the progress of photography and formulated important for the future development of photography as a fine art theoretical and aesthetic ideas. He is now considered as a major figure of the 1850s, a "golden decade" in the development of photography.

Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard (2 August 1802 – 28 April 1872) was a French inventor, photographer and photo publisher. Being a cloth merchant by trade, in the 1840s he developed interest in photography and focused on technical and economical issues of mass production of photo prints.


Specifications.

The 918 Spyder is powered by a naturally aspirated V8 engine built on the same architecture as the one used in the RS Spyder Le Mans Prototype racing car without any engine belts.  The engine weighs according to Porsche and delivers at 8,700 rpm and of maximum torque at 6,700 rpm. This is supplemented by two electric motors delivering an additional. One electric motor drives the rear wheels in parallel with the engine and also serves as the main generator. This motor and engine deliver power to the rear axle via a 7-speed gearbox coupled to Porsche's own PDK double-clutch system. The front electric motor directly drives the front axle; an electric clutch decouples the motor when not in use. The total system delivers and of torque. Porsche provided official performance figures of 0- in 2.6 seconds, 0- in 7.2 seconds, 0- in 19.9 seconds and a top speed of.  Those numbers were surpassed in independent tests which yielded 2.5 seconds for 0-100 km/h, 7.0 seconds for 0-200 km/h, 19.1 seconds for 0-300 km/h, a top speed of and 17.75 seconds for the standing kilometer reaching a speed of.  In "Car and Driver"‘s independent test of the Porsche 918 they achieved 0–60 mph in 2.2 seconds, 0–100 mph in 4.9 seconds, 0–180 mph in 17.5 seconds, and the quarter mile in 9.8 seconds. In "Motor Trend"'s independent test the Porsche 918 set a production-car track record at Willow Springs Raceway. With a time of 2.4 seconds it was the fastest car to 60 mph that they had ever tested. It stopped from 60 mph in, and broke Motor Trend's figure 8 record at 22.2 seconds.  The energy storage system is a 312-cell, liquid-cooled 6.8 kWh lithium-ion battery positioned behind the passenger cell. In addition to a plug-in charge port at the passenger-side B pillar, the batteries are also charged by regenerative braking and by excess output from the engine when the car is coasting. emissions are 79 g/km and fuel consumption is under the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under its five-cycle tests rated the 2015 model year Porsche 918 Spyder energy consumption in all-electric mode at 50 kWh per 100 miles, which translates into a combined city/highway fuel economy of. When powered only by the gasoline engine, EPA's official combined city/highway fuel economy is.  The 4.6 litre V8 petrol engine can recharge an empty battery on about two litres of fuel. The supplied Porsche Universal Charger requires seven hours to charge the battery on a typical 110 volt household AC socket or two hours on a dedicated Charging Dock installed with a 240 volt industrial supply. An optional DC Speed Charging Station can restore the battery to full capacity in 25 minutes.  The 918 Spyder offers five different running modes: E-Drive allows the car to run under battery power alone, using the rear electric motor and front motor, giving a range of for the concept model. The official U.S. EPA all-electric range is. The total range with a full tank of gasoline and a fully charged battery is according to EPA tests. Under the E-Drive mode the car can attain a maximum speed of. Two hybrid modes (Hybrid, and Race) use both the engine and electric motors to provide the desired levels of economy and performance. In Race mode a push-to-pass button initiates the Hot Lap setting, which delivers additional electrical power. The chassis is a carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic monocoque and the brakes used are electromechanical brakes.

Sales and production.

The production version was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. The 918 Spyder was produced in a limited series and it was developed in Weissach and assembled in Zuffenhausen for the 2014 model year. Production for the 2014 model year started on 18 September 2013<nowiki>,</nowiki> with deliveries scheduled to begin in December 2013. Sales in the United States began in June 2014. Pricing for the 918 Spyder started at ~ ( or ). According to its battery size, the 918 Spyder was eligible to a federal tax credit of up to.  Production ended in June 2015 as scheduled.  The country with the most orders is the United States with 297 units, followed by China and Germany with approximately 100 orders each, and Canada ordering 35 units.  According to JATO Dynamics, a total of 105 units have been registered worldwide during the first nine months of 2014. The United States is the leading market with 202 units delivered up to May 2015., a total of 9 units were registered in Switzerland, 6 in the Netherlands, 5 units in Canada, 4 in Sweden, 3 in Brazil and 1 in South Africa.

RSR.

At the 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Porsche unveiled the RSR racing variant of the 918 Spyder. Instead of using plug-in hybrid technology, power for the two electric motors is provided by a flywheel accumulator KERS system that sits beside the driver in the passenger compartment. The V8 is a further development of the direct injection engine from the RS Spyder race car developing at 10,300 rpm. The electric motors each provide an additional, giving a peak power output of. The six speed gearbox is a development of the unit from the RS Spyder.

Nürburgring lap time record.

In September 2013 a 918 fitted with the optional 'Weissach Package' set a Nürburgring lap time of 6:57 on the road course, reducing the previous record by 14 seconds, and making it the first series production street-legal car to break the 7-minute barrier.

The Porsche 918 Spyder is a limited-production mid-engine plug-in hybrid sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche. The 918 Spyder is powered by a naturally aspirated V8 engine, developing at 8,700 rpm, with two electric motors delivering an additional for a combined output of and of torque. The 918 Spyder's 6.8 kWh lithium-ion battery pack delivers an all-electric range of under the US Environmental Protection Agency's five-cycle tests.


Geography and geology.

The plateau is the largest peneplain (eroded plain) in Europe, covering an area of about at an average elevation of. The highest point on the plateau is at the top of the Hardangerjøkulen glacier, which reaches a height of.  The landscape of the Hardangervidda is characterised by barren, treeless moorland interrupted by numerous pools, lakes, rivers and streams. There are significant differences between the west side, which is dominated by rocky terrain and expanses of bare rock, and the east side, which is much flatter and more heavily vegetated. The climate also varies between the two sides: it is considerably wetter on the west side than on the east, with over per year recorded in some parts. The prominent peak of Hårteigen is visible across much of the plateau.  Much of the Hardangervidda's geology is extremely ancient. The rolling fells of the Hardangervidda are the remnants of mountains that were worn down by the action of glaciers during the ice ages. The bedrock is mainly of Precambrian and Cambro-Silurian origin.

Flora and fauna.

The whole of the Hardangervidda is above the tree line. Its alpine climate enables the presence of many species of arctic animals and plants further south than anywhere else in Europe. Its wild reindeer herds are among the largest in the world, with some 15,000 animals recorded in 1996 and around 8,000 in 2008. They migrate across the plateau during the year, moving from their winter grazing lands on the east side of the Hardangervidda, where they graze on lichen, to their breeding grounds in the more fertile west of the plateau.  The varying climate of the plateau has a marked effect on the flora, which is richer on the wetter west side than in the drier east; much of the plateau is covered by coarse grasses, mosses (especially sphagnum) and lichens.  In the Holocene climatic optimum (Stone Age) 9000 – 5000 years ago, the regional climate was warmer, and large parts of Hardangervidda were wooded; pine logs can still be found preserved in bogs well above today's treeline. With the predicted warming, Hardangervidda could again be largely wooded ().

Visitor centres.

The national park has two visitor centres: the Hardangervidda Natursenter (Nature Centre) in the village of Øvre Eidfjord in Eidfjord municipality, and the Hardangervidda Nasjonalparksenter (National Park Centre) at Skinnarbu in Tinn municipality which is located near the lake Møsvatnet, the town of Rjukan, and the mountain village of Rauland.

Human settlement.

The Hardangervidda has been occupied for thousands of years; several hundred nomadic Stone Age settlements have been found in the area, most likely related to the migration of the reindeer. Ancient trails cross the plateau, linking western and eastern Norway. One example is the "Nordmannsslepa" linking Eidfjord and Veggli in the Numedal valley with Hol and Uvdal. It is still a key transit route between Oslo and Bergen. The Bergen Line and the main Highway 7 cross the plateau.

Activities.

Hardangervidda is accessible all year round. June/July to September/October is great for hiking, fishing, wildlife viewing, cycling, horseback riding, canoeing, hunting and other summer activities. Hiking is the easiest and best way to experience Hardangervidda national park. The Norwegian Trekking Association offers a network of hiking paths and cabins connecting Hardangervidda from Haukeliseter and Mogen in the south to Finse in the north, Rjukan and Geilo in the east and Eidfjord and Odda in the west.

Accidents.

At night on 26 August 2016, 323 wild reindeers, including 70 calves, were killed by lightning during a storm, when they stood in the grasses of the Hardangervidda plateau.

In filming.

Part of the second episode of "The Future is Wild" was filmed here.

Hardangervidda National Park (, ), at, is Norway's largest national park. It spans from Numedal and Uvdal in the east and Røvelseggi and Ullensvang in the west across the Hardanger mountain plateau (Hardangervidda). Designated as a national park in 1981, today it serves as a popular tourist destination for activities such as hiking, climbing, fishing, and cross-country skiing. The Norwegian Mountain Touring Association (DNT) maintains a comprehensive network of huts and paths across Hardangervidda. The Bergen Line and the main Highway 7 cross the plateau. The park lies in Viken, Vestland, and Vestfold og Telemark counties.


Legal status.

Podyjí National Park is one of the four national parks of the Czech Republic. It has an area of and buffer zone of. It was formally declared a national park 1 July 1991 by government order no. 164/1991. BirdLife International (IBA) has included this park under its criteria C6 covering a larger area of.

Geography.

Podyjí National Park lies in an elevation range of. Its habitats include forest, grassland, arable land, shrubland, rocky areas and inland wetlands. The park is drained by the Dyje River, which flows for a length of through the park in a thickly-forested valley within the Českomoravská vrchovina uplands. The river valley's depth measures up. Land use has been established for nature conservation and research, forestry and agriculture. Park trails lead to the castle ruins of Nový Hrádek, Hardegg Castle, and Vranov nad Dyjí Chateau.

Wildlife.

The park's valley is home to 77 species of plants, which include oak woods (acidophilous and temperate type), hornbeam, beech, and alder. Some of the perennial flowering species are "cyclamen", "mulleins", and "pasque flower". The upper plateau, which was denuded by logging and converted to cultivable land, contains grasslands. Along the river beds, reed-beds or willow shrubs are noted. Eighteen species of orchids have been recorded.  152 species of bird have been recorded in the park. The IBA trigger species recorded are Syrian woodpecker "(Dendrocopos syriacus)" and Barred warbler "(Sylvia nisoria)". The faunal species recorded consist of 65 species of mammals. There are seven species of reptiles, which include a tree snake and green lizard.

Viticulture.

(or Hora Šobes, English: "Šobes Hill"), one of the oldest and most renowned vineyard tracks in the Czech Republic, is situated in the park. In 2014, the company "Znovín Znojmo" who owns 70% of the vineyards at Šobes, started efforts to place the area on the list of UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Šobes contains approximately 12 hectares of vineyards.

Podyjí National Park () is a national park in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Adjacent to Austria's Thayatal National Park on the border, together they are referred to as the Inter-National park. Podyjí is one of the Czech Republic's four national parks. It protects near-natural forests along the deep Dyje River valley. The well-preserved state of the biome of the park is cited as being unique in Central Europe.


Early career.

In July 1899, the Red Star Line announced plans for the construction of four large steamers. Two ships, and "Zeeland" at John Brown & Company of Clydebank in Scotland, and two others, and, were to be built at William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia. After being launched on 24 November 1900, "Zeeland" made her maiden voyage from Antwerp to New York on 13 April 1901, sailing under the British flag.  "Zeeland" began regular service on the Antwerp–New York route sailing opposite of "Vaderland", and when they were completed in 1902, "Kroonland" and "Finland". In April 1910, "Zeeland" was chartered to the White Star Line for service between Liverpool and Boston, where she remained until September 1911. The following month, "Zeeland" was returned to the Antwerp–New York service for Red Star. In July 1912 the liner was reflagged as a Belgian ship; she remained on the same route, and continued sailing for the Red Star Line.

World War I.

After the August 1914 outbreak of World War I, "Zeeland" was reflagged as a British ship, and sailed from Liverpool to New York in September. Shifting to the White Star-Dominion Line, "Zeeland" first sailed from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal in November, and from Liverpool to Halifax and Portland in December and January 1915. In early 1915, "Zeeland", though her name was Dutch, was renamed to the less German-sounding SS "Northland". Sailing for the International Navigation Company, the liner continued on the Liverpool–Halifax–Portland service through June before returning to the Liverpool–Quebec–Montreal route.  After a period when she was taken up as a British troop ship, under the name HMT "Northland", the liner returned for service under the White Star-Dominion Line in August 1916. In April 1917, "Northland" began Liverpool–Halifax service, eventually making seven roundtrips on that route.

Late career.

In February 1919, SS "Northland" began sailing from Liverpool to Philadelphia for the American Line through June 1919. After a refurbishment, the liner was returned to her former name, "Zeeland"; to the Red Star Line; and to Antwerp–New York service (with intermediate stops in Southampton) in August 1920. In April 1923, "Zeeland" was converted to cabin- and third-class passenger service only. "Zeeland" began her last Red Star voyage on 8 October 1926. Transferred to the Atlantic Transport Line in 1927, the liner was renamed SS "Minnesota" and began tourist service between London and New York in April. After making her last voyage in September 1929, "Minnesota" was sold and scrapped at Thos W Ward Inverkeithing in 1930.

SS "Zeeland was a British and Belgian ocean liner of the International Mercantile Marine Co. (IMM). She was a sister ship to and a near sister ship to and of the same company. Although her name was Dutch, it was changed during World War I to the less German-sounding SS "Northland. She served for a time as a British troop ship under the name HMT "Northland. Reverting to "Zeeland" after the war, the ship was renamed SS "Minnesota late in her career. "Zeeland" sailed primarily for IMM's Red Star Line for most of her early career, but also sailed under charter for the White Star Line (later White Star-Dominion), the International Navigation Company, the American Line, and the Atlantic Transport Line, all IMM subsidiary lines.


Biography.

Anne Finch was born to Sir Heneage Finch (who had held the posts of the Recorder of London and Speaker of the House of Commons under Charles I) and his second wife, Elizabeth (daughter of William Cradock of Staffordshire). Her father died the week before her birth. She was the youngest child. Her early education was by tutors and included Latin, to which she later added Greek and Hebrew. Her half-brother, John Finch, who encouraged her interests in philosophy and theology, introduced Anne to the Cambridge Platonist Henry More, who was one of John's tutors at Christ's College, Cambridge. This led to a lifelong correspondence and close friendship between them on the subject of René Descartes' philosophy, over the course of which Anne grew from More's informal pupil to his intellectual equal. More said of her that he had "scarce ever met with any Person, Man or Woman, of better Natural parts than Lady Conway" (quoted in Richard Ward's "The Life of Henry More" (1710) p. 193), and that "in the knowledge of things as well Natural and Divine, you have not onely out-gone all of your own Sex, but even of that other also." Conway grew up in the house now known as Kensington Palace, which her family owned at the time.  In 1651, she married Edward Conway, later 1st Earl of Conway, and in the following year More dedicated his book "Antidote against Atheism" to her. In 1658, Anne gave birth to her only child, Heneage Edward Conway, who died of smallpox just two years later. Her husband was also interested in philosophy and had himself been tutored by More, but she went far beyond him in both the depth of her thought and the variety of her interests. She became interested in the Lurianic Kabbalah, and then in Quakerism, to which she converted in 1677. In England at that time the Quakers were generally disliked and feared, and suffered persecution and even imprisonment. Conway's decision to convert, to make her house a centre for Quaker activity, and to proselytise actively was thus particularly bold and courageous.  Her life from the age of twelve (when she suffered a period of fever) was marked by the recurrence of severe migraines. These meant that she was often incapacitated by pain, and she spent much time under medical supervision and searching for a cure (at one point even having her jugular veins opened). She had medical consults from Dr. Thomas Willis. Conway was famously treated by many of the great physicians of her time, but none of the treatments had any effect. She died in 1679 at the age of forty-seven.

"The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy".

The text itself was probably written in 1677 and shows the influence of Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont. The text was first published in Latin translation by van Helmont in Amsterdam in 1690 as "Principia philosophiae antiquissimae et recentissimae". An English edition appeared in 1692. The "Principles" develops Conway's monistic view of the world as created from one substance. Conway is critical of the Cartesian idea that bodies are constituted of dead matter, of Henry More's concept of the soul in his "Antidote Against Atheism," and of dualist theories of the relationship between the body and spirit.

Anne Conway (also known as Viscountess Conway; "née" Finch; 14 December 1631 – 23 February 1679) was an English philosopher whose work, in the tradition of the Cambridge Platonists, was an influence on Gottfried Leibniz. Conway's thought is a deeply original form of rationalist philosophy, with hallmarks of gynocentric concerns and patterns that lead some to think of it as unique among seventeenth-century systems.


Private life and education.

Nečas was born in Uherské Hradiště, Czech Republic, on 19November 1964. He attended gymnasium in Uherské Hradiště from 1979 to 1983. He graduated from the Faculty of Science at the University of J.E. Purkyně in Brno in 1988.  Nečas met his future wife, Radka Nečasová, at school when he was18. In 2013, he filed for divorce and not long after married his former chief of staff, Jana Nagyová.

Career.

Peter Nečas studied plasma physics. Before he was elected to the Czech Parliament he worked as a research and development engineer in the semiconductor industry, dealing with plasma processes. From 1988 to 1992, he worked as developer for Tesla Rožnov. He became a member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) in 1991 and was named deputy defence minister in 1995. One year later he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies. From 4 September 2006 to 8 May 2009 Nečas was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs.  In March 2010, he replaced Mirek Topolánek as leader of the party. The Civic Democratic Party came second in the 2010 Czech legislative election and shortly after Nečas announced his intention to stand for the post of party chairman.  In 2011 Nečas supported European organizations signing an agreement on the establishment of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience for studies on the totalitarian past. On this occasion, Nečas highlighted that all four countries of the Visegrad Group have gone through two totalitarian regimes in their modern history. “This must not be forgotten, because it was a period of fighting for freedom,” he said, adding: “Our nations deserve the truth about their past and I believe that the establishment of this Platform will help to find the truth about this history.”  In 2012 as Prime Minister Petr Nečas urged all Czechs to avoid drinking "any alcohol whose origin is uncertain" due to a fatal methanol poisoning affair in the Czech Republic which caused more than 40 casualties, including several cases of people being blinded.  In 2013 Nečas supported Israel with the Czech Republic's vote at the United Nations. Due to an historical affinity, Nečas claimed, "We've got a special feeling for Israel's situation—that of a small nation surrounded by enemies."  In June 2013, the Police Unit for Combating Organized Crime and the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Olomouc organized a raid against organized crime. It involved several high-ranking state officials and politicians, including Jana Nagyova, the then chief of staff of Prime Minister Nečas. Initially Nečas refused to resign but he finally did so on 17 June. In February 2014, the police charged him with bribery.  Nečas left politics in 2013. He started to work for SPGroup. He also became a tutor at CEVRO Institute. In June 2017, Nečas became an adviser to Pavel Sehnal, leader of the newly established Civic Democratic Alliance. Sehnal stated that the party would stand Nečas in elections if he didn't have to face charges from the time of his premiership.

Petr Nečas (born 19 November 1964; ) is a Czech former politician who served as 9th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Leader of the Civic Democratic Party from 2010 to 2013, and as Member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 1993 to 2013.


Language.

The Korowai language belongs to the Awyu–Dumut family (southeastern Papua) and is part of the Trans–New Guinea phylum. A dictionary and grammar book have been produced by a Dutch missionary linguist.

Living.

It has been claimed that the majority of the Korowai clans live in tree houses on their isolated territory, but the BBC revealed in 2018 that the Korowai had constructed the tree houses "for the benefit of overseas programme makers" and did not actually live in them. Since 1980 some have moved into the recently opened villages of Yaniruma at the Becking River banks (Kombai–Korowai area), Mu, and Mbasman (Korowai–Citak area). In 1987, a village was opened in Manggél, in Yafufla (1988), Mabül at the banks of the Eilanden River (1989), and Khaiflambolüp (1998). The village absenteeism rate is still high, because of the relatively long distance between the settlements and the food (sago) resources. The Korowai appear to now smoke tobacco but not to drink alcohol.

Economy.

The Korowai are hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists who practice shifting cultivation. They have excellent hunting and fishing skills. Information about Korowai trade patterns is scant. The Korowai have a few gender-specific activities, such as the preparation of sago and the performance of religious ceremonies in which only the male adults are involved.  Some Korowai have since the early 1990s generated moderate cash income by working with tour companies selling tours into the Korowai region. Within the tourist industry, opportunities are limited to hosting tour groups in villages for tourist-sponsored sago feasts, carrying luggage, and performing traditional displays.

Kinship.

The patriclan is the central unit with respect to social, economic, and political organization. Kinship terminology follows the Omaha I pattern (Lounsbury), knowing a central opposition between cross and parallel relationships. In Korowai society the forms of institutional levirate and predominance of avuncular relationships are found, as well as a kind of affinal avoidance relationships. Marriage is exogamous and polygynous. Preference is given to a conjugal relationship with the (classificatory) mother's mother's brother's daughter.

Social life.

Leadership structures are based on personal qualities of big men, rather than on institution. Interclan warfare occurs mainly because of witchcraft and sorcery-related conflicts.

Religious life.

The Korowai universe is filled with all kinds of spirits, some more personal of character than others. Reverence is paid especially to the red headed creator god Gimigi. The Korowai ascribe an important role in their daily lives of honoring their "One God", with one being used as the concept of a prime deity from whom all others either descend or to whom all others pay homage. Once in a lifetime, a Korowai clan must organize a sago grub festival in order to stimulate prosperity and fertility in a ritual fashion. In times of trouble they sacrifice domesticated pigs to the spirits of the ancestors. The Korowai have an extraordinary and rich oral tradition: myths, folktales, (magical) sayings and charms, and totem traditions. With respect to death and afterlife the Korowai believe in the existence of a reciprocal type of reincarnation: those who died can be sent back at any time to the land of the living, by their kinsmen in the land of the dead, in order to reincarnate in a newly born infant of their own clan.

Contact with Westerners.

The first documented contact by Western scientists with members of a band of western Korowai (or eastern Citak) took place on March 17–18, 1974. The expedition was co-led by anthropologist Peter Van Arsdale (now at the University of Denver), geographer Robert Mitton, and community developer Mark (Dennis) Grundhoefer. Thirty men were encountered on the south bank of the Upper Eilanden River, approximately 12 miles east of its junction with the Kolff River and 10 miles north of the Becking River. A basic word list was generated and observations were recorded regarding such things as fire making techniques.  In the late 1970s, a few Christian (Dutch Protestant) missionaries began to live among the Korowai. Dea Sudarman, an Indonesian anthropologist, made several documentary films on the Korowai for Japanese television in the 1980s. In 1993, a film crew documented an anthropological study in the Dayo village area by the Smithsonian Institution of Korowai treehouse construction and the practice of cannibalism as a form of criminal justice. This resulted in the film "Lords of the Garden". In 1996 a local Christian community was established, the members of it mainly originating from the neighbouring Kombai people. For a long time the Korowai have been considered exceptionally resistant to religious conversion; however, by the end of the 1990s the first converts to Christianity were baptized. In the autumn of 2003, a small team of Bible translators from Wycliffe/SIL moved to Yaniruma.  In May 2006, tour-guide Paul Raffaele led an Australian "60 Minutes" crew to report on the people. After a few days' filming, the crew were allegedly approached by a man who claimed his 6-year old nephew Wa-Wa had been accused of being a khakua (witch doctor), and was in danger of being cannibalised. The "60 Minutes" crew declined to offer assistance. Paul Raffaele approached the rival Seven Network, who agreed to send a "Today Tonight" crew to remove Wa-Wa from the area. Before being able to gain access to them, the crew were deported by Indonesian authorities at the Papuan capital of Jayapura over visa issues.  The 2007 BBC documentary "First Contact", presented by Mark Anstice, features footage from his 1999 encounter with members of the Korowai people, and describes how they were disturbed upon seeing a "white ghost", whose presence indicated the end of the world was nigh.  In January–February 2011, the BBC documentary "Human Planet" commissioned the Korowai building of a treehouse 35m high.  In August 2019, the "Best Ever Food Review Show" channel on Youtube made contact with the Korowai people in which they ate various foods of the culture.

Cannibalism claims.

The Korowai have been reported to practice ritual cannibalism up to the present day. Anthropologists suspect that cannibalism is no longer practiced by the Korowai clans that have had frequent contact with outsiders. Recent reports suggest that certain clans have been coaxed into encouraging tourism by perpetuating the myth that cannibalism is still an active practice.

Architecture.

The distinctive high stilt architecture of the Korowai houses, well above flood-water levels, is a form of defensive fortification – to disrupt rival clans from capturing people (especially women and children) for slavery or cannibalism. The height and girth of the common ironwood stilts also serves to protect the house from arson attacks in which huts are set alight and the inhabitants smoked out.

The Korowai, also called the Kolufo, are the people who live in South eastern West Papua in the Indonesian province of Papua, close to the border with Papua New Guinea. They number about 3,000.


Career.

Koukalová began her biathlon career in 2005. In 2007 Koukalová became a member of the national team, and in 2008 she took part in the Biathlon Junior World Championship. Her first experience at the international level was not very good: Koukalová's shooting accuracy and ski speed were at that time not as strong as many of her peers, and her best result at the 2008 Junior Worlds was a 22nd place. Nevertheless, her coaches gave her a chance to take part in further international competitions, including the IBU Cup in the 2008/09 season. Her performances improved: Koukalová, despite some difficulties in shooting, became better than Olga Vilukhina and helped the Czech women's relay team to win a gold at the 2009 Junior World Championships.  Koukalová made her debut on the Biathlon World Cup in December 2009. Her coaches subsequently made the decision to move her back down to the IBU Cup, but her period at that level was relatively brief after she regularly took good results and won a silver medal in the sprint at the 2011 European Championships. She was selected to represent the Czech Republic in the World Cup and at the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Her first significant success was in December 2011: in a World Cup mixed relay in Austria she helped to secure the Czech team second place. During the 2012–13 season she took four wins in the Biathlon World Cup. She added three more wins in the 2013–14 World Cup season. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, she finished fourth in both the 10 km pursuit and 15 km individual before winning silver medals in both the 12.5 km mass start and mixed relay (together with Veronika Vítková, Jaroslav Soukup and Ondřej Moravec).  At the World Championships 2015 in Kontiolahti Koukalová took her first world championship title in the mixed relay as a member of the successful Czech team. In the sprint race she took 18th place with three penalties, but in the pursuit she was able to climb to fifth place. In the individual race Soukalova won a silver medal, which became her second medal at these World Championships. At the final World Cup meeting of the season in Khanty-Mansiysk Soukalova managed to win a silver medal in the mass start. In the final overall World Cup rankings for 2014/15, she finished in sixth place with 752 points.  In the 2015/2016 season Koukalová put in strong performances: at the fifth round of the World Cup on 4 January 2016, even two missed targets did not prevent her from making the podium. Gabriela showed good consistency, finishing no lower than 11th place during the season, and continued to lead the World Cup standings. In the 12.5 km mass start on 16 January 2016 she won and got her tenth victory in the Biathlon World Cup. She also helped to win a silver for the team in the 4x6 km relay on 24 January 2016, and took a third place in the mass start in Canada on 6 February 2016. In the US at Presque Isle on 11 February 2016 in sprint she got the best result showing a perfect accuracy and an excellent performance. The following days brought two gold medals in the 10 km pursuit and 4x6 km relay. Despite some poorer results in Norway, Koukalová took a better result in the sprint in Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia on 17 March 2016 clinching her the small Crystal Globe in the sprint with a total of 413 points. On the next day in the pursuit she got a fourth place, but with very good level both in speed and shooting. She also took a second small Crystal Globe in the mass start with 241 points. She led the standings in the 2015/2016 World Cup from start to finish, and won the overall Crystal Globe on 20 March 2016 with a final score of 1074 points.  The 2016/2017 season started in Östersund, Sweden on 27 November 2016, where she and her teammates took 7th place in the mixed relay. The 15 km race on 30 November 2016 brought a 17th place, but later on, on 3 December 2016, she took third place in the 7.5 km sprint, and the next day she showed even better results - winning the pursuit, showing an excellent performance both in skiing and shooting. The next medal (first place) was taken in a mass start race on December 18, 2016.  On 21 December 2017 she became the first biathlete to be named Czech Sportsperson of the Year. Due to a leg injury she did not start in the 2017/2018 season, and later revealed that she will possibly not return to the World Cup ever again. On 28 May 2019 she announced her retirement.

Personal life.

She is the daughter of Gabriela Svobodová, a former cross-country skier, who won an Olympic silver medal in the 4 x 5 km relay at Sarajevo in 1984. Later, her mother helps as a personal trainer.  Koukalová is married to a Czech professional badminton player Petr Koukal. They married on 13 May 2016, in the historic unfinished church in Panenský Týnec. In April 2018 she published her autobiography "Jiná", in which she revealed a long history of eating disorders

Biathlon results.

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

Gabriela Koukalová, née Soukalová (, born 1 November 1989) is a former Czech biathlete. She won two Olympic silver medals at the 2014 Sochi Games and she is a two-time World Championship winner, gold medalist at the 2015 Kontiolahti in mixed relay and gold medalist at 2017 Hochfilzen in 7.5 km sprint. In the 2015/2016 World Cup season she was overall champion, and she has also taken six discipline Crystal Globes: the 2013/2014 individual title, the 2015/2016 sprint, pursuit and mass-start titles, and the 2016/17 sprint and mass start titles.


Background.

Dalhousie was the eldest son of William Maule, 1st Baron Panmure, and a grandson of George Ramsay, 8th Earl of Dalhousie. Christened Fox as a compliment to Charles James Fox, the great Whig, he served for a term in the Army.

Political career.

In 1835 he entered the House of Commons as member for Perthshire. In the ministry of Lord Melbourne (1835–1841), Maule was Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, and under Lord John Russell, he was Secretary at War from July 1846 to January 1852, when for two or three weeks he was President of the Board of Control.  In April 1852, he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Panmure. In February 1855, he joined Lord Palmerston's cabinet, filling the new office of Secretary of State for War. Lord Panmure held this office until February 1858. He was at the War Office during the concluding period of the Crimean War, and met a good deal of criticism. He was Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland from 1853 until his death.  Always interested in church matters, Dalhousie was a prominent supporter of the Free Church of Scotland after it split from the Church of Scotland in the disruption of 1843. In December 1860, he succeeded his kinsman, the 1st Marquess of Dalhousie, as 11th Earl of Dalhousie. He shortly afterwards changed his surname to "Maule-Ramsay" (his father had changed his surname to "Maule" from the family's patronymic "Ramsay" before being created Baron Panmure).

Freemasonry.

Maule was appointed Senior Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1832, and later (as Lord Panmure) Deputy Grand Master in 1857. He was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1867. In 1860, Panmure Lodge (now No. 723) was warranted, being named after the then Deputy Grand Master.

Marriage.

Lord Dalhousie married the Hon. Montague, daughter of George Abercromby, 2nd Baron Abercromby, in 1831. They had no children. She died in November 1853, aged 46. Lord Dalhousie died July 1874, aged 73. On his death, the barony of Panmure became extinct, but the earldom of Dalhousie (and its subsidiary titles) passed to his cousin, George Ramsay.

Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie, (22 April 18016 July 1874), known as Fox Maule before 1852, as The Lord Panmure between 1852 and 1860, was a British politician.


Discovery.

The first specimen of "A. sediba" was found by paleoanthropologist Lee Berger's nine-year-old son, Matthew, on August 15, 2008. While exploring near his father's dig site in the dolomitic hills north of Johannesburg, on the Malapa Nature Reserve, Matthew stumbled upon a fossilized bone. The boy alerted his father to the find, who could not believe what he saw—a hominid clavicle. Upon turning the block over, "sticking out of the back of the rock was a mandible with a tooth, a canine, sticking out. And I almost died", he later recalled. The fossil turned out to belong to a juvenile male, whose skull was discovered in March 2009 by Berger's team. The find was announced to the public on April 8, 2010.  Also found at the Malapa archeological site were a variety of animal fossils, including saber-toothed cats, mongooses, and antelopes. Berger and geologist Paul Dirks speculated that the animals might have fallen into a deep "death-trap", perhaps lured by the scent of water. The bodies may have then been swept into a pool of water with a sandy bottom and rich with lime, allowing the remains to become fossilized.

Fossils.

MH1 is disarticulated and 34% complete if skeletal elements known to be in an unprepared block are included (59.6% if small elements are excluded) while MH2 is 45.6% complete (again 59.6% excluding small elements) and exhibits partial articulation.  The fossil was dated using a combination of palaeomagnetism and uranium–lead (U-Pb) dating which showed that the fossils are no older than ~2.0 Ma. The presence of animal species which became extinct at ~1.5 Ma indicates the deposit is no younger than 1.5 Ma. The sediments have a 'normal' magnetic polarity and the only major period between 2.0 and 1.5 Ma when this occurred is the Olduvai sub-Chron between 1.95 and 1.78 Ma. Accordingly, the fossils were originally dated to ~1.95 Ma. Recent dating of a capping flowstone demonstrated this was not possible and the normal magnetic polarity sediments have since been correlated to the 3,000-year-long Pre-Olduvai event at ~1.977 Ma.  The conditions in which the individuals were buried and fossilized were extraordinary, permitting the extraction of plant phytoliths from dental plaque. Based on this, it seems that "Australopithecus sediba" may have lived in savannas but ate fruit and other foods from the forest, similar to the behavior of modern-day savanna chimpanzees.

Morphology and interpretations.

Because of the wide range of mosaic features exhibited in both cranial and post-cranial morphology, the authors suggest that "A. sediba" may be a transitional species between the southern African "A. africanus" (the Taung Child, Mrs. Ples) and either "Homo habilis" or even the later "H. erectus" (Turkana boy, Java man, Peking man).  The cranial capacity of MH1, which has been estimated to be at 95% of adult capacity (420 cm), is at the higher end of the range for "A. africanus" and far from the lower range of early "Homo" (631 cm), but the mandible and tooth size are quite gracile and similar to what one would expect to find in "H. erectus"; so similar are these features that, if found in isolation without other skeletal remains, they could be classified as "Homo" based on tooth and mandible size. However, the cusp spacing is more like "Australopithecus".  Regardless of whether "A. sediba" is a direct ancestor of early "Homo" or not, our understanding of the range of variation in early hominins has been greatly increased with the finding of these new specimens.  "Australopithecus sediba" compared to its ancestor species "A. africanus" on the whole is described by Berger et al. as more derived towards "Homo" than "A. garhi", especially showing a number of synapomorphies taken to anticipate the reorganization of the pelvis in "H. erectus", associated with "more energetically efficient walking and running". The femur and tibia are fragmentary, but the foot combines an advanced anklebone combined with a primitive heel. Its cranial capacity is estimated at around, about one-third of that of modern humans (). "A. sediba" had a surprisingly modern hand, whose precision grip suggests it might have been another tool-making "Australopithecus". Evidence of the precision gripping and stone tool production can be seen from Homo-like features such as having a long thumb and short fingers. The nearly complete wrist and hand of an adult female from Malapa, South Africa presents Australopithecus-like features, such as a strong flexor apparatus associated with arboreal locomotion.  A well-preserved and articulated ankle of "A. sediba" is mostly humanlike in form and function and possesses some evidence for a humanlike arch and Achilles tendon. However, "A. sediba" is apelike in possessing a more gracile calcaneal body and a more robust medial malleolus than expected. This shows that "A. sediba" may have practiced a unique combination of bipedalism and arboreality.  As opposed to the authors of the initial description, who interpreted both fossils as a possible transitional species between "Australopithecus" and "Homo", other palaeoanthropologists are reluctant to do so. In an accompanying news article published with the initial descriptions in 2010, detractors of the idea that "A. sediba" might be ancestral to the genus "Homo" (e.g. Tim White and Ron Clarke) suggest that the fossils could be a late southern African branch of "Australopithecus", coexisting with already existing members of the genus "Homo".  This interpretation is based on the observation that the lower jaw, discovered by Friedemann Schrenk, of a 2.5-million-year-old fossil attributed to "H. rudolfensis" is the second-oldest-known fossil ascribed to the genus "Homo" behind LD 350-1. This specimen is thus presumed to be older than the "Australopithecus sediba" fossils. These critics continue to ascribe to "A. africanus" the status of precursor to the genus "Homo". Criticism has been raised about the authors of the initial description's conclusions in a news report in the journal "Nature", suggesting that the authors failed to take into account the wealth of variation within "A. africanus" when defining the finds as an independent species.  Additionally, the basing of the description of the species largely on the skeleton of a juvenile specimen has been subject to criticism, given that there is no certain way of saying to what extent adults would differ from juvenile specimens. More recent reviews appear to have accepted the specific status of "A. sediba" as an independent species from "A. africanus" and other early hominins. Moreover, the use of juvenile specimens as type specimens has been a common practice in palaeoanthropology: the type specimens of "Homo habilis" and "Australopithecus africanus" are themselves juvenile specimens.

Australopithecus sediba is a species of "Australopithecus" of the early Pleistocene, identified based on fossil remains dated to about 2 million years ago. Morphologically, "A. sediba" is distinct from but still closely related to both "Homo habilis" and "Australopithecus africanus". It is therefore of interest as a candidate for a transitional species in the emergence of the "Homo" (human) genus.


Biography.

Early life.

Edith was the youngest of four children, having been born into a German Jewish family in Aachen, Germany. Her father, Abraham Holländer (1860–1928) was a successful businessman in industrial equipment who was prominent in the Aachen Jewish community together with Edith's mother, Rosa Stern (1866–1942). The ancestors of the Holländer family lived in Amsterdam at the start of the 18th century, emigrating from the Netherlands to Germany around 1800. Edith's last name, "Holländer", is German for "Dutchman" (literally: "Hollander"). Edith had two older brothers, Julius and Walter, and an older sister, Bettina. Bettina died at the age of 16 due to appendicitis when Edith was just 14. Both Julius and Walter made it to the United States, surviving afterwards. The Holländer family adhered to Jewish dietary laws and was considered to be religious. Nevertheless, Edith attended the Evangelical Higher Girls’ School and passed her school-leaving exams (Abitur) in 1916. Afterwards, she worked for the family company. In her free time, she read copiously, played tennis, went swimming and had a large circle of friends.

Family.

She met Otto Frank in 1924 and they married on his 36th birthday, 12 May 1925, at Aachen's synagogue. They had two daughters born in Frankfurt, Margot, born 16 February 1926, followed by Anne, born 12 June 1929.

Immigration.

The rise of Antisemitism and the introduction of discriminatory laws in Germany forced the family to emigrate to Amsterdam in 1933, where Otto established a branch of his spice and pectin distribution company. Edith found emigration to the Netherlands difficult. The family lived in confined conditions and she struggled with the new language. She remained in contact with her family and friends in Germany, but also made new friends in Amsterdam, most of them German refugees. Edith was an open-minded woman who educated her daughters in a modern way. Her older brothers Walter (1897–1968) and Julius (1894–1967) escaped to the United States after 1938, and Rosa Holländer-Stern left Aachen in 1939 to join the Frank family in Amsterdam, where she passed in January 1942.  Anne Frank's cousin Bernhard ("Buddy") Elias has said that "Edith never felt well in Holland. Edith was "German", and she missed Germany. She did not learn Dutch very well. She did not feel at home in Amsterdam."

Persecution and death.

In 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands and began their persecution of the country's Jews. Edith's children were removed from their schools, and her husband had to turn over his business to his Dutch colleagues Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler, who helped the family when they went into hiding at the company premises in 1942.  The two-year period the Frank family spent in hiding with four other people (their neighbours Hermann van Pels, his wife Auguste Van Pels and his son Peter Van Pels, and Miep Gies's dentist Fritz Pfeffer) was famously chronicled in Anne Frank's posthumously published diary. In her diary, the adolescent Anne frequently writes about the disagreements, conflicts, mutual lack of understanding, and the pessimism of her mother, which she wants to disassociate herself from. However, she repeatedly also describes her mother as an understanding and loyal woman who stands up for her daughters and protects them against verbal attacks from the other inhabitants. The diary ended three days before they were anonymously betrayed and arrested on 4 August 1944. After detainment in the Gestapo headquarters on the Euterpestraat and three days in prison on the Amstelveenweg, Edith and those with whom she had been in hiding were transported to the Westerbork concentration camp. From there, they were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp on 3 September 1944, on the last train to be dispatched from Westerbork to Auschwitz.  Edith and her daughters were separated from Otto upon arrival, and they never saw him again. Edith looked for ways of keeping her children alive. Survivors later described them as an inseparable trio. On 30 October, another selection separated Edith from Anne and Margot. Edith was selected for the gas chambers, and her daughters were transported to Bergen-Belsen. Edith escaped with a friend to another section of the camp, where she remained through the winter. While here she hid every scrap of food she got and saved it for her daughters. Because she refused to eat any of the food she was saving for her daughters, she died from starvation on 6 January 1945, three weeks before the Red Army liberated the camp and 10 days before her 45th birthday. Her daughters outlived her by one month.

Her daughter's diary.

When Otto Frank decided to edit his daughter's diary for publication, he was sure that his wife had come in for particular criticism because of her often difficult relationship with Anne, and he deleted some of the more heated comments out of respect for his wife and other residents of the Secret Annex. Nevertheless, Anne's portrait of an unsympathetic and sarcastic mother was duplicated in the dramatizations of the book. Anne's portrayal of her mother was countered by the memories of those who had known her as a modest, distant woman who tried to treat her adolescent children as her equals. Anne died of typhus a few months before the Second World War ended.  In 1999, the discovery of previously unknown pages excised by Otto showed that Anne had discerned that, although Edith very much loved Otto, Otto — though very devoted to Edith — was not "in love" with her; and that this understanding was leading Anne to develop a new sense of empathy for her mother's situation. By the time Edith and her daughters were in Auschwitz, Bloeme Evers-Emden, an Auschwitz survivor interviewed by Willy Lindwer in "The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank" (page 129), observed that "they were always together, mother and daughters. It is certain that they gave each other a great deal of support. All the things a teenager might think of her mother were no longer of any significance."  After their arrest and transfer to camp Westerbork the relationship between Anne and her mother improved as can be seen from a letter sent by Otto Frank to his cousin Milly on 16 November 1945:

Edith Frank (née Holländer; 16 January 1900 – 6 January 1945) was the mother of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank, and her older sister Margot. She was a prisoner during the Holocaust at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where she died from starvation.


Construction.

The construction of this ship is peculiar in several respects. In fact, it was the only time in sixty years that White Star Line ordered from the shipyard Harland & Wolff on the basis of a defined budget. The "Laurentic" thus appeared to be a ship at a discount, an unusual fact in the history of the company. The very origin of the construction was rather nebulous, since she was built with the hull number 470, while the "Doric", put into service in 1923 (four years before her), had the hull number 573. This would suggest that the decision to build the "Laurentic" was made in the early 1920s and that the construction sites retained the cumbersome unfinished structure for more than five years, but the cause of the delay is unknown. Not only did it have a profile similar to that of the "Doric", the " Laurentic " also stood out for its archaism: she was still propelled by coal when most of the newer ships were fueled by oil, and its propulsion is similar to the one used by the first "Laurentic" in 1909. She used two quadruple expansion engines powering sided propellers and a low pressure turbine for the central propeller. The construction was delayed by the 1926 United Kingdom general strike. The ship was eventually launched without a ceremony on 16 June 1927. She was completed five months later on 1 November, after which she left Belfast for Liverpool with representatives of the company and shipyards on board.

Passenger career.

On 31 December 1927, she began her maiden voyage, sailing from Liverpool and cruising around the Mediterranean before returning to Liverpool on 17 April 1928. On 27 April 1928, the ship was transferred to the Liverpool - Quebec - Montreal route and remained there for most of her commercial career but also occasionally cruised the Mediterranean. In January 1931, it was expected that the ship be transferred to a Mediterranean cruise but the Great Depression made the service unprofitable.  The "Laurentic" had two collisions during her career. The first occurred on 3 October 1932 with "Lurigethen" of the HE Moss Line. Both vessels remained afloat following the collision. An inquiry later determined that the crews of the "Laurentic" was responsible for the accident. The second occurred on 18 August 1935 with "Napier Star" of the Blue Star Line, leaving six dead among the crew of "Laurentic".  On 25 February 1934, she made her last crossing on a regular line for the White Star between Boston, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, and Liverpool. She was then assigned to cruises. In March of that year, she transported 700 pilgrims from Dublin to Rome for the Easter celebrations. Many unnecessary ships were sold in the following years, but the "Laurentic" was retained and temporarily assigned to the Montreal route before returning to cruising.

Military service and sinking.

The White Star Line and Cunard Line merged in 1934, without affecting the career of the ship. The ship was docked in December 1935 and served the following September as troop transport bound for Palestine. In this capacity, she made her last trip for the White Star Line in December of that year. In 1937 she took part in the Coronation Naval Review at Spithead carrying government guests. In 1939, with the start of the Second World War, "Laurentic" was requisitioned as HMS "Laurentic" and converted into an auxiliary cruiser, losing her recasting part of the superstructure aft. On 3 November 1940, the "Laurentic" responded to a call for help from a ship that had been torpedoed by a U-boat. Arriving at the scene, she was targeted by two torpedoes from "U-99" commanded by Otto Kretschmer, however these torpedoes missed, but after four hours, she was struck by a two further torpedoes which sent her to the bottom, killing 49 of 416 people aboard. She was the last White Star vessel to sink and one of the final four White Star vessels along with "Georgic", "Britannic" and "Nomadic".

The second SS "Laurentic" was an 18,724-ton ocean liner built in 1927 by Harland and Wolff, Belfast, for the White Star Line. She served on the Canadian route from 1927 to 1936. After the merger of the White Star Line with Cunard Line, the ship was mainly used for cruise service. After December 1935, however, she was laid up unused in Liverpool. In August 1939, she was requisitioned and converted into an auxiliary cruiser for the Royal Navy for service in the Second World War. The "Laurentic" was torpedoed by the on 3 November 1940 off Bloody Foreland, County Donegal, Ireland during a rescue mission for another ship that had been torpedoed and sunk, but she remained afloat. After two more torpedoes smashed into the "Laurentic", she foundered, taking the lives of 49 people.


Preparation.

After the failure of the September Uprising in 1923 and the prohibition of the BCP by the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Appeal on 2 April 1924, the Communist Party found itself in a difficult situation. The government arrested many activists and the organization's very existence was under threat. A Special Punitive Group was established as part of the Central Committee of the BCP, including Yako Dorosiev, Captain Ivan Minkov and Vulko (or Valko) Chervenkov. The Military Organization (MO) of the BCP, led by Minkov and Major Kosta Yankov, set up small isolated groups ("шесторки", ""shestorki"") that carried out individual attacks. This, however, did not prevent the police from discovering and destroying the illegal structures of the BCP with relative ease.  Later, in December 1924, the organization recruited Petar Zadgorski, a sexton at the church. Dimitar Hadzhidimitrov and Dimitar Zlatarev, head of the MO armaments section, suggested that Police Director Vladimir Nachev be assassinated and a large-scale assault be carried out during his funeral service. In this way they hoped to eliminate a large number of key figures in the police hierarchy and thus lessen the pressure that the authorities exerted on the BCP. The idea was welcomed by Stanke Dimitrov, Secretary of the Central Committee, who discussed it with Georgi Dimitrov and Vasil Kolarov, General Secretary of the Comintern, in early 1925. Nevertheless, they did not approve the proposal, as they thought such an action should first be preceded by preparations for a large-scale uprising that would follow the attack.  Meanwhile, the government continued to increase its pressure on the BCP. Following the killing of Valcho Ivanov, an influential functionary, on 11 February 1925, an amendment to the Law for the Protection of the State which increased the power of the authorities was introduced on 10 March. Yako Dorosiev, head of the MO, was then assassinated on 26 March. These events threatened the physical survival of the BCP leaders and angered the MO leadership. They announced that they were ready to put their plan into practice despite the Comintern's disapproval. It has been theorized that the assailants acted with the support of Soviet services, but there is no documentary evidence to support this hypothesis.

Execution of plan.

The MO management assigned one of its groups to the task, led by Petar Abadzhiev, who himself recruited the sexton, Petar Zadgorski. With his help, Abadzhiev and Asen Pavlov carried in a total of 25 kg of explosives to the attic of St Nedelya Church over the course of a couple of weeks. The explosives were mounted in a package above one of the columns of the main dome, situated by the south entrance to the building. The plan was to detonate the bomb by a 15 m-long cord that would allow the assailants a chance to escape.  Due to the strengthened guard at Vladimir Nachev's funeral service, the MO chose another victim whose funeral would be used as bait for the assault. At 8 pm on 14 April General Konstantin Georgiev, a deputy of the ruling Democratic Alliance, was assassinated by Atanas Todovichin in front of a Sofia church while heading there for the evening service with his granddaughter.  The funeral service of General Georgiev was set for 16 April, Holy Thursday. In order to increase the toll, the organizers sent forged invitations on behalf of the Association of Reserve Officers. At 7 am on the 16th, Zadgorski led Nikola Petrov to the roof, where Petrov would detonate the bomb on Zadgorski's signal. The funeral procession entered the church at 3 pm that afternoon. The service was conducted by Bishop Stefan, the future Bulgarian Exarch. The coffin was initially placed right next to the column that was to be blown up, but then moved forward due to the large number of people that came to attend the ceremony. In accordance with the MO group's plan, when the congregation had gathered and the service began, Zadgorski gave Nikola Petrov a signal to detonate, after which the two left the building at around 3:20. The explosion demolished the main dome of the church, burying many people inside. The blast indoors caused further damage. 150 people died during the explosion and another 500 were injured. By chance, all government members survived. The monarch, Tsar Boris III, was not in the church, as he was attending the funerals of those killed in the attempt on his own life in the Arabakonak pass in Stara Planina. Among the victims were General Kalin Naydenov (Minister of War during World War I); Stefan Nerezov, commander of the Bulgarian Army at Dojran; General Ivan Popov, General Grigor Kyurkchiev, then-Mayor of Sofia Paskal Paskalev, as well as another governor, the chief of police, and three deputies. 25 women and children were also killed.

Direct consequences.

The evening after the terrorist attack, martial law was declared. The attack caused a wave of violent repressions organized by the Military Union with the government's tacit approval. During the following two weeks, approximately 450 people were executed without trial, including poet Geo Milev and journalist Yosif Herbst. (A mass grave of those killed in 1925 was discovered in the 1950s during the construction of a dam, and Milev's corpse was identified by his glass eye - he had lost an eye in World War I.) Many other communists were heavily judged for taking part in the organization. The MO leaders Kosta Yankov and Ivan Minkov were among those assassinated. A few of the organizers of the attack, such as Zlatarev, Petar Abadzhiev and Nikola Petrov, managed to escape to the Soviet Union through Yugoslavia. Abandoned by his party, Zadgorski surrendered to the police and made a confession.  The assault trial took place before a military court in Sofia between 1-11 May 1925. Zadgorski, Lieutenant-Colonel Georgi Koev, who unsuccessfully attempted to hide Minkov, and Marko Fridman, an MO section leader, were all sentenced to death. Stanke Dimitrov, Petar Abadzhiev, Dimitar Grancharov, Nikolay Petrini and Hristo Kosovski received capital punishment by default, with the last three of those having already been killed in the previous weeks. Marko Fridman, the highest-ranked individual of those accused, confessed that the organization was financed and supplied with weaponry from the Soviet Union, but pinned the ultimate responsibility for the attack on Yankov and Minkov, who, according to Fridman, acted without the BCP management's agreement.

The St Nedelya Church assault was a terrorist attack on St Nedelya Church in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was carried out on 16 April 1925, when a group of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) blew up the church's roof during the funeral service of General Konstantin Georgiev, who had been killed in a previous communist assault on 14 April. 200 people, mainly from the country's political and military elite, were killed in the attack and around 500 were injured.


Prelude.

According to Polybius, after Scipio’s surprise attack and capture of Carthago Nova, the three Carthaginian armies in Iberia remained separated, and their generals at odds with each other, thus giving the Romans a chance to deal with them one by one.  Early in 208 BC, Scipio, with 30,000 Roman and Italian troops and 10,000 Spanish auxiliaries, moved against Hasdrubal Barca, whose 30,000-strong force had wintered at Baecula, on the upper reaches of the river Baetis (modern day Guadalquivir).  On learning of the Roman approach, Hasdrubal shifted his camp to a strong defensive position — a high and steep plateau south of Baecula, protected by ravines on the flanks and the river to the front and rear. Moreover, the plateau was formed into two steps, on which Hasdrubal posted his light troops on the lower one and his main camp behind.  After his arrival, Scipio was at first uncertain as to how to attack such a formidable position, but concerned that the other two Carthaginian armies might take advantage of his inaction and join with Hasdrubal, he took action on the third day.

Battle.

Before his main attack, Scipio sent one detachment to block the entrance to the valley separating the two armies and one to the road leading north to Baecula, thus providing security to his main force, while harassing any Carthaginian attempt to retreat.  After these preliminary deployments were done, the Roman light troops advanced against their Carthaginian counterparts on the first step. Despite the steep slope, and under a shower of missile attack, the Romans had little difficulty driving back the Carthaginian light troops once they got into hand-to-hand combat.  After reinforcing his leading force, Scipio derived a pincer attack on the flanks of the Carthaginian main camp by ordering Gaius Laelius to lead half of the remaining heavy foot to the right of the enemy position, and he himself scaling the left.  Hasdrubal, meanwhile, was under the impression that the Roman attack was only a skirmish (Scipio had hidden his main army in camp until the final attack) and failed to properly deploy his main force, thus his ill-prepared army was caught on three sides by the Romans.  Despite being trapped, Hasdrubal was able to retreat unmolested with his elephants, main baggage train, and some of his Carthaginian troops. It appeared that his main losses in the battle were the majority of his light troops and Iberian allies. This was largely due to the legionnaires' choice to plunder the Carthaginian camp rather than pursue Hasdrubal with any earnestness.

Aftermath.

After the battle, Hasdrubal led his depleted (and mainly Gallic) army over the western passes of the Pyrenees into Gaul, and subsequently into Italy in an attempt to join his brother Hannibal.  Scipio's failure to stop Hasdrubal's march to Italy was criticized by the Roman Senate. Scipio did not exploit his victory at Baecula to drive out the Carthaginians from Iberia, instead choosing to withdraw to his base at Tarraco. He secured alliances with many of the Iberian tribes, who switched sides after the Roman successes at Carthago Nova and Baecula.  Carthaginian reinforcements landed in Iberia in 207 BC, and would soon launch a final attempt to recover their losses at the Battle of Ilipa in 206 BC.

The Battle of Baecula was a major field battle in Iberia during the Second Punic War. Roman Republican and Iberian auxiliary forces under the command of Scipio Africanus routed the Carthaginian army of Hasdrubal Barca.


Plot summary.

The narrator explains at length his theory on "The Imp of the Perverse", which he believes causes people to commit acts against their self-interest. This essay-like discussion is presented objectively, though the narrator admits that he is "one of the many uncounted victims of the Imp of the Perverse". He then explains how his conviction for murder was the result of this.  The narrator begins his story by explaining how he murdered a man using a candle that emitted a poisonous vapor: The victim enjoyed reading in bed at night and, using the candle for illumination, dies in his poorly ventilated room. No evidence is left behind, causing the coroner to believe the man's death is an act of God. The narrator inherits the man's estate and, knowing he can never be caught, enjoys the benefits of his murderous act for many years.  The narrator remains unsuspected, though he occasionally reassures himself by repeating under his breath, "I am safe". One day, he notes that he will remain safe only if he is not foolish enough to openly confess. In saying so, however, he begins to question if he is capable of confessing, and is beginning to feel overpowered by a sudden urge to confess to the murder. He fearfully runs through the streets, arousing suspicion. When finally stopped, he feels struck by some "invisible fiend". He reveals his secret with "distinct enunciation", though in such a hurry as if afraid of being interrupted. He is quickly tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging.

Analysis.

"The Imp of the Perverse" begins as an essay rather than as a work of fiction, a format that Poe previously used in "The Premature Burial". It is, therefore, less about plot and more about theory. As Poe describes this theory: The work theorizes that all people have self-destructive tendencies, including the narrator. The narrator's ultimate confession as a murderer is not inspired by any feelings of guilt but, instead, from an overwhelming desire to publicize his actions despite knowing that he should not.  Poe's theory of the Imp of the Perverse may also be an early notion of the subconscious and repression which would not be fully theorized until Sigmund Freud.  Many of Poe's characters display a failure to resist the Imp of the Perverse—including the murderer in "The Black Cat" and the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart". The opposite of this impulse is seen in Poe's character C. Auguste Dupin who exhibits reason and deep analysis. One of the earliest examples, which predates "The Imp of the Perverse", was in Poe's novel "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket". In one scene, the title character is overcome by an overwhelming desire to let himself fall off a steep cliff.  Additionally, scholars and critics suggest that Poe had his own Imp of the Perverse. Poe biographer Jeffrey Meyers suggested that Poe wrote it to justify his own actions of self-torment and self-destruction. James M. Hutchisson says that the work reflects Poe's jealousy and sense of betrayal that led to his public feud with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and New England literary culture; the so-called "Longfellow War" was occurring at the same time Poe wrote "The Imp of the Perverse". Three months after the story was published, Poe lashed out against Boston's literary circle by trying to hoax them by reading his obscure poem "Al Aaraaf" at a lecture. Biographer Daniel Stashower suggests Poe's purposeful attempt to provoke his audience and alienate himself further was inspired by his Imp of the Perverse.

Publication history.

"The Imp of the Perverse" was first published in the July 1845 issue of "Graham's Magazine". A slightly revised version appeared in the Boston-based gift book "May-Flower" for 1846.

Critical response.

Poe reported in the "Broadway Journal" in December 1845 that the "Nassau Monthly" at Princeton College harshly criticized "The Imp of the Perverse". Calling it a "humbug", the reviewer noted that the author's line of reasoning about this philosophical idea was difficult to follow. "He chases from the wilderness of phrenology into that of transcendentalism, then into that of metaphysics generally; then through many weary pages into the open field of inductive philosophy, where he at last corners the poor thing, and then most unmercifully pokes it to death with a long stick."

"The Imp of the Perverse" is a short story by 19th-century American author and critic Edgar Allan Poe. Beginning as an essay, it discusses the narrator's self-destructive impulses, embodied as the symbolic metaphor of The Imp of the Perverse. The narrator describes this spirit as the agent that tempts a person to do things "merely because we feel we should "not"."


Family.

Lady Eleanor Holland was born in 1386 in Upholland, Lancashire, England, one of the ten children of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent and Lady Alice FitzAlan, sister of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel. Eleanor's eldest sister, Lady Alianore Holland, Countess of March who married Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March shared the same name. They were named after their maternal grandmother. Eleanor's father was a uterine half-brother of King Richard II. Her eldest brother Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey was beheaded in 1400 by a mob of angry citizens at Cirencester for his role in the Epiphany Rising, which was aimed against the life of King Henry IV of England, who had usurped the throne of King Richard. Thomas's heir to the earldom of Kent was her second eldest brother Edmund Holland, to whom Eleanor became co-heiress.  Her paternal grandparents were Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent and Joan of Kent, who was the mother of King Richard by her second marriage to Edward, the Black Prince; and her maternal grandparents were Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster.

Marriage and issue.

Lady Eleanor married Sir Thomas Montagu, son of John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury and Maud Francis, on 23 May 1399, as his first wife. She was about thirteen years old at the time of her marriage. Thomas would later become one of the most important commanders in the Hundred Years War. Eleanor did not assume the title of Countess of Salisbury until 14 June 1409, when the title, Earl of Salisbury, was nominally restored to Thomas. An attainder had been placed on his father's title and estates following his execution for his participation in the Epiphany Rising in 1400 alongside Eleanor's brother, Thomas. Eleanor's uncle John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter had also been part of the conspiracy but he had escaped the mob only to be captured in Essex and decapitated on the orders of her maternal aunt Joan Fitzalan, mother-in-law of King Henry IV.  Thomas and Eleanor made their home at Bisham Manor in Berkshire. Together they had one daughter:  Eleanor died on an unknown date sometime after 1413. She was buried in Bisham Priory.  Thomas married secondly before 1424, Alice Chaucer, granddaughter of the noted author Geoffrey Chaucer, but their marriage was childless. He was mortally wounded on 27 October 1428 at the Siege of Orléans and died several days later on 3 November.  Alice, the daughter of Thomas and Eleanor, succeeded her father as "suo jure" 5th Countess of Salisbury. Through Alice, Eleanor was the grandmother of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and great-grandmother of Cecily Bonville, who became one of the wealthiest English heiresses in the 15th century. Eleanor was also the great-great-great-grandmother of queen consort Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII.

References.

Eleanor Holland, Countess of Salisbury (1386- after 1413), was an English noblewoman, the daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, a half-brother of King Richard II of England. She was the first wife of Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury. One of her brothers was Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent, to whom she was co-heiress. She is not to be confused with her eldest sister Alianore Holland, Countess of March who bore the same name.


Club career.

Real Madrid.

Born in Madrid, Alonso joined Real Madrid's youth academy as a child, going on to represent every youth side in the following years. In 2008, he reached Real Madrid Castilla which competed in Segunda División B, and first appeared for the reserve team on 22 February 2008, playing the entire match in a 0–1 home loss against AD Alcorcón.  On 11 December 2009, Alonso was first summoned by the main squad – coached by Manuel Pellegrini – for a La Liga match at Valencia CF. Eventually, he did not make the final list of 18, and his debut arrived on 4 April of the following year as he came on as a substitute for Gonzalo Higuaín in the 90th minute of a 2–0 win away to Racing de Santander.

Bolton Wanderers.

Alonso joined Bolton Wanderers of the Premier League for an undisclosed fee, on 27 July 2010. He made his competitive debut for the club in a League Cup 1–0 away win against Southampton on 24 August; his first league appearance arrived on 1 January 2011, starting for suspended Paul Robinson in a 1–2 away loss to Liverpool at Anfield.  Alonso scored his first goal for Bolton on 31 March 2012, netting the second in an eventual 3–2 success away to Wolverhampton Wanderers. At the end of the 2012–13 season, he was voted "The Bolton News" player of the year, winning 37% of the vote: Marc Iles wrote, "...this has been a break-out season for the former Real Madrid starlet. Alonso has grown in stature and become a consistent performer at full-back – chipping in with some important goals too."

Fiorentina.

In May 2013, Alonso signed for Italian side ACF Fiorentina on a three-year deal, despite being offered a new contract by Bolton manager Dougie Freedman. On 30 December, after the player had made nine official appearances, Sunderland boss Gus Poyet announced that he would join on 1 January 2014, on loan until the end of the campaign.  Alonso played his first match with Sunderland on 7 January 2014, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 home win over Manchester United for the League Cup semi-final first leg and being given the man of the match award by Sky Sports. He played in the final of the competition on 2 March, not being able to prevent a 3–1 loss against Manchester City; he contributed with 20 appearances all competitions comprised, helping his team retain their top flight status.  Upon his return from loan, Alonso became a regular, amassing over 70 appearances in his final two seasons in purple. On 19 March 2015 he scored his first goal for the "Viola", in a 3–0 win away to fellow Italians A.S. Roma for the round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League.

Chelsea.

On 30 August 2016, after 85 appearances and five goals overall with Fiorentina, Alonso completed his move back to England after signing a five-year contract with Chelsea worth around £24 million. He made his debut on 20 September, playing the full 120 minutes in a 4–2 win away to Leicester City for the EFL Cup, and four days later he first appeared in the league in a 0–3 away defeat to Arsenal, coming off the bench for Cesc Fàbregas in the 55th minute.  Alonso scored his first goal for the club on 5 November 2016, in a 5–0 victory over Everton at Stamford Bridge. He added two more at the King Power Stadium, in a 3–0 win against Leicester on 14 January 2017.  In April 2018, Alonso came under extensive criticism for seemingly purposely digging his trainer studs into Shane Long's leg during a tackle in a league game against Southampton. He was not reprimanded in any way by referee Mike Dean – who came under similar criticism – but was later charged with violent conduct by The Football Association, and later issued a three-match ban.  Alonso opened his goal account of the 2018–19 season on 18 August 2018, scoring the 3–2 winner in the 81st minute of the home fixture against Arsenal.  Alonso scored the only goal against Newcastle United at home on 19 October 2019, giving Chelsea a narrow 1–0 win. It was his first goal of the 2019–20 season.

International career.

On 16 March 2018, Alonso received his first call-up for the Spanish national team for friendlies against Germany and Argentina later that month. He debuted against the latter on the 27th in a 6–1 win at the Wanda Metropolitano where he replaced Jordi Alba with 11 minutes left, making the Alonso's the first Spanish family to have three generations of internationals and seventh worldwide.

Personal life.

Alonso's grandfather, Marcos Alonso Imaz, played with Real Madrid's first team for eight years. His father, Marcos Alonso Peña, played several seasons in Spain's top flight, most notably for Atlético Madrid and FC Barcelona, and both represented Spain at senior level.

Drunk-driving incident.

On 3 May 2011, Alonso was arrested following his involvement in a car accident in Madrid. He was the driver of a car that collided with a wall, killing one of the passengers, a 22-year-old woman, having been driving at 112.8 km/h (70 mph) in wet conditions in a 50 km/h (30 mph) zone, with a blood alcohol level of 0.93 mg per millilitre of blood. He faced 21 months in prison when sentenced in February 2016, but his punishment was changed to a €61,000 fine and a driving ban of three years and four months, which had already been spent.

Honours.

Sunderland  Chelsea  Individual

Marcos Alonso Mendoza (; born 28 December 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left back or a wing back for club Chelsea and the Spain national team.