Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred  southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the  Battersea Park.

History

Battersea is mentioned in the few surviving Anglo-Saxon geographical accounts as  and later . As with many former parishes beside tidal flood plains the lowest land was reclaimed for agriculture by draining marshland and building culverts for streams. Alongside this was the Heathwall tide mill in the north-east with a very long mill pond regularly draining and filling to the south.

The settlement appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as , a vast manor held by St Peter's Abbey, Westminster. Its Domesday Assets were: 18 hides and 17 ploughlands of cultivated land; 7 mills worth £42 9s 8d per year,  of meadow, woodland worth 50 hogs. It rendered (in total): £75 9s 8d.

The present church, which was completed in 1777, hosted the marriage of William Blake and Catherine  Boucher in 1782. Benedict Arnold, his wife Peggy Shippen, and their daughter were buried in its crypt.

Battersea Park, a  northern rectangle by the Thames, was landscaped and founded for public use in 1858. Amenities and leisure buildings have been added to it since.

Until 1889, the parish of Battersea was recognised as part of Surrey, after which the newly formed County of London came into being and took over administration of the area.

Agriculture
Before the Industrial Revolution, much of the large parish was farmland, providing food for the City of London and surrounding population centres; and with particular specialisms, such as growing lavender on Lavender Hill (nowadays denoted by the road of the same name), asparagus (sold as "Battersea Bundles") or pig breeding on Pig Hill (later the site of the Shaftesbury Park Estate). At the end of the 18th century, above  of land in the parish of Battersea were occupied by some 20 market gardeners, who rented from five to near  each. Villages in the wider area: Wandsworth, Earlsfield (hamlet of Garratt), Tooting, Balham – were separated by fields; in common with other suburbs the wealthy of London and the traditional manor successors built their homes in Battersea and neighbouring areas.

Industry

Industry in the area was concentrated to the northwest just outside the Battersea-Wandsworth boundary, at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Wandle, which gave rise to the village of Wandsworth. This was settled from the 16th century by Protestant craftsmen – Huguenots – fleeing religious persecution in Europe, who planted lavender and gardens and established a range of industries such as mills, breweries and dyeing, bleaching and calico printing. Industry developed eastwards along the bank of the Thames during the Industrial Revolution from 1750s onwards; the Thames provided water for transport, for steam engines and for water-intensive industrial processes. Bridges erected across the Thames encouraged growth; Putney Bridge, a mile to the west, was built in 1729 and rebuilt 1882, and Battersea Bridge in the centre of the north boundary in 1771. Inland from the river, the rural agricultural community persisted.

Along the Thames, a number of large and, in their field, pre-eminent firms grew; notably the Morgan Crucible company, which survives to this day and is listed on the London Stock Exchange; Price's Candles, which also made cycle lamp oil; and Orlando Jones' Starch Factory. The 1874 Ordnance Survey map of the area shows the following factories, in order, from the site of the as yet unbuilt Wandsworth Bridge to Battersea Park: Starch manufacturer; Silk manufacturer; (St. John's College); (St. Mary's Church); Malt house; Corn mill; Oil and grease works (Prices Candles); Chemical works; Plumbago Crucible works (later the Morgan Crucible Company); Chemical works; Saltpetre works; Foundry. Between these were numerous wharfs for shipping.

In 1929, construction started on Battersea Power Station, being completed in 1939. From the late 18th century to comparatively recent times Battersea , and certainly North Battersea, was established as an industrial area with all of the issues associated with pollution and poor housing affecting it.

Industry declined and moved away from the area in the 1970s, and local government sought to address chronic post-war housing problems with large scale clearances and the establishment of planned housing.  Some decades after the end of large scale local industry , resurgent demand among magnates and high income earners for parkside and riverside property close to planned Underground links has led to significant construction . Factories have been demolished and replaced with modern apartment buildings. Some of the council owned properties have been sold off and several traditional working men's pubs have become more fashionable bistros. Battersea neighbourhoods close to the railway have some of the most deprived local authority housing in the Borough of Wandsworth, in an area which saw condemned slums after their erection in the Victoria era.

Railway age

Battersea was radically altered by the coming of railways. The London and Southampton Railway Company engineered their railway line from east to west through Battersea, in 1838, terminating at the original Nine Elms railway station at the north east tip of the area. Over the next 22 years five other lines were built, which continue to carry all of the trains to and from London's Waterloo and Victoria termini. An interchange station was built in 1863 towards the north west of the area, at a junction of the railway. Taking the name of a fashionable village a mile and more away, the station was named 'Clapham Junction': a campaign to rename it "Battersea Junction" fizzled out as late as the early twentieth century. During the latter decades of the nineteenth century Battersea had developed into a major town railway centre with two locomotive works at Nine Elms and Longhedge and three important motive power depots (Nine Elms, Stewarts Lane and Battersea) all in an initial pocket of north Battersea. The effect was precipitate: a population of 6,000 people in 1840 was increased to 168,000 by 1910; and save for the green spaces of Battersea Park, Clapham Common, Wandsworth Common and some smaller isolated pockets, all other farmland was built over, with, from north to south, industrial buildings and vast railway sheds and sidings (much of which remain), slum housing for workers, especially north of the main east–west railway, and gradually more genteel residential terraced housing further south.

The railway station encouraged the government to site its buildings in the area surrounding Clapham Junction, where a cluster of new civic buildings including the town hall, library, police station, court and post office was developed along Lavender Hill in the 1880s and 1890s. The Arding & Hobbs department store, diagonally opposite the station, was the largest of its type at the time of its construction in 1885; and the streets near the station developed as a regional shopping district. The area was served by a vast music hallThe Grandopposite the station (nowadays serving as a nightclub and venue for smaller bands) as well as a large theatre next to the town hall (the Shakespeare Theatre, later redeveloped following bomb damage). All this building around the station shifted the focus of the area southwards, and marginalised Battersea High Street (the main street of the original village) into no more than an extension of Falcon Road.

Social housing estates

Battersea has a long and varied history of social housing, and the completion of the Shaftesbury Park Estate in 1877 was one of the earliest in London or the UK. Additionally, the development of the Latchmere Estate in 1903 was notable both for John Burns' involvement and for being the first estate directly built by a council's own workforce and therefore the first true "council estate". Indeed, both of these earlier estates have since been recognised as conservation areas due to their historical and architectural significance and are protected from redevelopment.

Battersea also has a large area of mid-20th century public housing estates, almost all located north of the main railway lines and spanning from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east.

There are four particularly large estates. The Winstanley Estate, perhaps being the most renowned of them all, is known as being the birthplace to the garage collective So Solid Crew. Winstanley is close to Clapham Junction railway station in the northern perimeter of Battersea, and is currently being considered for comprehensive redevelopment as one of the London Mayor's new Housing Zones. Further north towards Chelsea is the Surrey Lane Estate, and on Battersea Park Road is the Doddington and Rollo Estate. East, toward Vauxhall, is the Patmore Estate which is in close proximity to the Battersea Power Station.

Other smaller estates include: York Road (see Winstanley Estate), Ashley Crescent, Badric Court, Carey Gardens, Chatham Road, Ethelburga, Falcon Road, Gideon Road, Honeywell Road, Kambala, Peabody, Robertson Street, Savona, Somerset, Wilditch and Wynter Street.

Governance

The tradition of local government in England was based in part of Manor, and later on the Parish. Battersea's governance can be traced back to 693, when the manor was held by the nunnery of St. Mary at Barking Abbey. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, control of the manor passed to Westminster Abbey, ending at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540. Battersea was one of only three of the Abbey's demesne directly supervised by monks, rather than being let to tenants. Local control rested with an officer appointed by the abbey, variously termed a beadle, reeve or sergeant, whose responsibility it was supervise the farm servants of the manor, and to enforce and direct customary work performed by manorial tenants.

After 1540 the Crown assumed ownership of the manor, and let it on short leases to a succession of individuals, until in about 1590 it came into the hands of the St. John family of Lydiard Tregoze in Wiltshire, who later became the St John Baronets of Lydiard Tregoze and ultimately the Viscounts Bolingbroke. Bolingbrokes exercised control of the manor for some 173 years, showing varying levels of interest and competence in running the estate's affairs, until in 1763 the disastrously dissolute Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke sold the manor to help to settle his many debts. Battersea now passed into the Spencer family - John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer being related to Frederick's wife.

The Survey of London identified the period of Frederick's tenure with the development of the Vestry in Battersea; absent a competent lord of the manor, this local secular and ecclesiastical government took it upon itself to establish a workhouse in 1733, and met monthly from 1742.

The period of Spencer ownership of the manor saw important land ownership changes introduced to the area. The family had many estates, such as at Althorp in Northamptonshire and Wiseton in Nottinghamshire. Locally, their interests were concentrated on Wimbledon. During their tenure, large tracts of land were sold, notably around 1761, and from 1835 to 1838, leading to the development of a plurality of smaller estates, which had implications for the later development of the area.

The scope of governance throughout this period was relatively slight. Lords of the manor were responsible for church appointments and maintenance of the fabric of the church; for drainage, and for the direction of the duties of the manor's tenants. From time to time work was done under manorial direction on the Thames foreshore; and a Spencer was responsible for the construction of first local bridge across the Thames, Battersea Bridge from 1771 to 1772. And albeit Battersea saw some slow change over the first seven centuries of the second millennium, it was not until a later period that an imperative for greater local government arose.

The vestry of Battersea continued to increase in importance from 1742, notably concerning itself with Poor Law administration and drainage. Responsibility for the latter was removed from the vestry in 1855 with the establishment of Metropolitan Boards of Work under the Metropolis Management Act 1855; a Metropolitan Board concerned itself with cross-London drainage and sewerage, whilst a local Wandsworth Metropolitan Board assumed responsibility for minor sewers and the connection of houses to sewerage systems. It was during the tenure of the Wandsworth board that much of Battersea was developed; but such was the pace of development in Battersea that by 1887 it had a population sufficient to win the case for renewed local autonomy under the Metropolis Management (Battersea and Westminster) Act of 1887. The Battersea vestry continued through to 1899, when it became the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea as a result of the London Government Act 1899.

The Metropolitan Borough of Battersea was in 1965 combined with the neighbouring Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth to form the London Borough of Wandsworth. The former Battersea Town Hall, opened in 1893, is now the Battersea Arts Centre.

In the period from 1880 onwards, Battersea was known as a centre of radical politics in the United Kingdom. John Burns founded a branch of the Social Democratic Federation, Britain's first organised socialist political party, in the borough and after the turmoil of dock strikes affecting the populace of north Battersea, was elected to represent the borough in the newly formed London County Council. In 1892, he expanded his role, being elected to Parliament for Battersea North as one of the first Independent Labour Party members of Parliament.

Battersea's radical reputation gave rise to the Brown Dog affair, when in 1904 the National Anti-Vivisection Society sought permission to erect a drinking fountain celebrating the life of a dog killed by vivisection. The fountain, forming a plinth for the statue of a brown dog, was installed in the Latchmere Recreation Ground, became a cause célèbre, fought over in riots and battles between medical students and the local populace until its removal in 1910.

The borough elected the first black mayor in London in 1913 when John Archer took office, and in 1922 elected the Bombay-born Communist Party member Shapurji Saklatvala as MP for Battersea; one of only two communist members of Parliament.

Battersea is currently divided into five Wandsworth wards. The Member of Parliament for the Battersea constituency since 8 June 2017 has been Labour MP  Marsha de Cordova.

Geography
Battersea is on the curved south bank of the River Thames.

Riverside
Battersea's northern limit is thus the Tideway, the Thames below Teddington. Battersea's riverside is just over  long. Immediately to the west is Wandsworth Town. To the north-east are Vauxhall and then Lambeth, including Waterloo.

Other boundaries
Battersea at one end of its riverside has a western corner at a point 350 metres east northeast of Wandsworth Bridge, and Battersea tapers SSE to almost a point, roughly three miles (5 km) from Battersea's northeastern corner – but two miles (3 km) from the western corner.

Neighbouring districts
To the east are South Lambeth and Stockwell; to the south is Balham; to the southeast is Clapham; and to the west is Wandsworth Town, south of which is Wandsworth.

Two large neighbourhoods within the larger Battersea are:
Clapham Junction (the central and most commercial part of Battersea),
Nine Elms (to the north-east, east of Battersea Park)

Crime
Some parts of Battersea have become known for drug-dealing. The Winstanley and York Road council estates have developed a reputation for such offences and were included in a zero-tolerance "drug exclusion zone" in 2007.

Demography
, Battersea had a population of 73,345. The district was 52.2% of White British origin, as against an average for Wandsworth of 53.3%.

Landmarks

Within the bounds of modern Battersea are (from east to west):

New Covent Garden Market, a major fruit and vegetable wholesale market, resited from Covent Garden in 1974. (Also considered by many to be in Nine Elms).
Battersea Power Station, an iconic edifice designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, built between 1929 and 1939 (featured, with flying pig, on the sleeve art of Pink Floyd's album Animals).  Since 2021, the power station's disused shell has housed a mass entertainments and commercial complex, with dedicated transport links provided by Battersea Power Station tube station, which terminates an extension of the Northern line from Kennington via Nine Elms tube station.
Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, formerly Battersea Dogs Home and prior to that the Temporary Home for Lost and Starving Dogs, established in Holloway in 1860 and moved to Battersea in 1871. It is the United Kingdom's most famous refuge for stray dogs. Also the main location for ITV 1's Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
Battersea Park, a 200-acre green space laid out by Sir James Pennethorne between 1846 and 1864 and opened in 1858, and home to a zoo and the London Peace Pagoda.
Shaftesbury Park Estate, conservation area consisting of over a thousand Victorian houses preserved in their original style.
Battersea Arts Centre, in the former Battersea Town Hall
Northcote Road, a bustling and famous local shopping street with its own market at the centre of the so-called Nappy Valley.
Clapham Junction railway station, by at least one measure – passenger interchanges— the busiest station in the United Kingdom and named after the neighbouring town of Clapham although it lies in the geographic heart of Battersea, SW11.
Arding & Hobbs building, completed in 1912, occupied by TK Maxx and Debenhams until the latter's dissolution in June 2021. As of December 2022, the Grade II listed building was undergoing renovation back to its 1920s glory by its owner, the commercial property specialists W.RE, which held extensive consultation with local people in 2020.
Large 24-hour Asda supermarket, adjacent to Clapham Junction station.
92 St John's Hill, Grade II listed building.
St Mary's Church, Battersea. Benedict Arnold is buried here. Four stained glass windows celebrate Arnold, William Blake, William Curtis and J. M. W. Turner.
Sir Walter St John's School, now Thomas's day school, was founded in 1700. Parts of the present building date back to 1859.
Royal Academy of Dance, containing several studios and associated with the University of Surrey.
The London Heliport, London's busiest heliport, sited on the Thames a half-mile north of Clapham Junction station.
Price's Candles on York Road, was the largest manufacturers of candles in the UK; now it has been converted into office space from which Hanne & Co Solicitors firm operates.
Newton Preparatory School, in an Edwardian building (with modern extension) formerly occupied by Clapham College, Notre Dame School and Raywood Street School.
Falconbrook Primary School, resides in a large Victorian building, situated in the Winstanley Estate, Battersea. It is a ten-minute walk from Clapham Junction Station.

Transport

National Rail
Battersea is served by three National Rail stations: Battersea Park, Clapham Junction, and Queenstown Road (Battersea). All three stations are in London Travelcard Zone 2.

Battersea Park
Battersea Park is served by some Southern trains.

Trains northbound terminate at London Victoria, which is the next stop along the line. Southbound, Southern's "metro" services run to Clapham Junction, Wandsworth Common, and Balham. After Balham, trains head towards Croydon, Epsom, London Bridge, and Sutton, amongst other destinations.

The first station to carry the name "Battersea Park" was opened by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) as "Battersea" on 1 October 1860 and was located at the southern end of what is now Grosvenor Bridge. It closed on 1 November 1870.  The LB&SCR opened another station on a high-level line on 1 May 1867 called Battersea Park. Another station existed closed to the current station called Battersea Park Road railway station by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in 1867 and closed in 1916.

Clapham Junction
The largest railway station in Battersea is Clapham Junction, to the southwest of the district. The station is a busy interchange, and it serves destinations across London, the South, and South West England. Train operators from Clapham Junction include:

 London Overground, which operates trains northbound towards Stratford, calling at major destinations such as Shepherd's Bush, Willesden Junction, Camden Road, and Hackney Central. London Overground also runs trains eastbound towards Dalston, passing through Clapham, Denmark Hill, Peckham, Canada Water, and Whitechapel along the way.
 Southern, which principally operates northbound services towards London Victoria. Southbound services run to destinations such as Balham, Brighton, Croydon, Epsom, and Gatwick Airport (). Southern also operates a service towards Milton Keynes from East Croydon. North of Clapham Junction, the services calls at Shepherd's Bush, Wembley Central, Watford Junction, and Hemel Hempstead, amongst other destinations.
 South Western Railway, which runs services towards London Waterloo and Vauxhall northbound. Major destinations to the southwest include Wimbledon, Richmond, Kingston upon Thames, Reading, Guildford, Southampton, Bournemouth, and Salisbury.

In terms of the number of train movements, Clapham Junction is Europe's busiest railway station. It opened on 21 May 1838.

Queenstown Road (Battersea)
Queenstown Road (Battersea) is served by some South Western Railway trains. Northbound, most trains call at Vauxhall en route to London Waterloo. Southbound passengers can travel towards Richmond, Twickenham, Hounslow, and Windsor & Eton direct.

Queenstown Road opened up the line on 1 November 1877 by the London and South Western Railway, as Queen's Road (Battersea). British Rail renamed the station to Queenstown Road (Battersea) on 12 May 1980.

London Underground
As part of Northern line extension to Battersea, Battersea is connected to the London Underground network at Battersea Power Station tube station in September 2021.

Bus
London Bus routes 44, 137, 156, 344, 436, 19, 49, 319, 345 and 452 serve the Battersea area during the daytime. Night buses N19, N137 and N44, as well as the 344 and 345 route, run overnight.

Cycling
Cycling infrastructure in Battersea is provided by the London Borough of Wandsworth and Transport for London (TfL).

 Cycle Superhighway 8 passes through Battersea. The route runs unbroken from Wandsworth Town to Millbank, which is near the Palace of Westminster. It is a signposted route, and runs through the district largely along A3205/Battersea Park Road. To the east, however, the route turns northwards (along A3216/Queenstown Road), leaving Battersea over Chelsea Bridge.
 A cycle lane links Battersea to Vauxhall along A3205/Nine Elms Lane.

In popular culture
Battersea features in the books of Michael de Larrabeiti, who was born and brought up in the area: A Rose Beyond the Thames recounts the working-class Battersea of the 1940s and 1950s; The Borrible Trilogy presents a fictional Battersea, home to fantasy creatures known as the Borribles. The station makes a brief appearance in The Beatles' second film, Help!, in 1965. It also appears during the first daylight attack on London sequence in the 1969 movie Battle of Britain, in the movie as in real life used as a navigational landmark by the attacking Luftwaffe bombers.The Optimists of Nine Elms, a 1973 film starring Peter Sellers, is set in Battersea. Battersea is also the setting for Penelope Fitzgerald's 1979 Booker Prize–winning novel, Offshore. Kitty Neale's Nobody's Girl is set in a fictional café and the surrounding Battersea High Street Market. Nell Dunn's 1963 novel Up the Junction (later adapted for both television and cinema) depicts contemporary life in the industrial slums of Battersea near Clapham Junction. Battersea provides the backdrop for the real world scenes in the audio book and app series Rockford's Rock Opera.

Michael Flanders, half of the 1960s comedy duo Flanders and Swann, often made fun of Donald Swann for living in Battersea. Morrissey mentions Battersea in his song "You're the One for Me, Fatty". Babyshambles recorded the song "Bollywood to Battersea" for a 2005 charity album Help!: A Day in the Life. Hooverphonic recorded the song "Battersea" for the 1999 album Blue Wonder Power Milk.

Battersea is the setting for Joan Aiken's Black Hearts in Battersea, the second published volume in the Wolves Chronicles.

Battersea Power Station is featured on the cover of the Pink Floyd album Animals.

A number of race courses in the Nintendo DS version of the 2009 racing video game Dirt 2 are set in the general area of Battersea.  Its famous abandoned power station is also the site of a few race tracks in a few console and PC games from the Dirt series.

Prominent people

The following people have lived, or currently live, in Battersea:
 Ben Adamsmusician from the group a1
 Adelesinger-songwriter
 James Aldridgewriter and journalist
 Lionel Barber
 Jane Moorejournalist, Loose Women panellist.
 L. S. Bevingtonanarchist poet and essayist, was born and grew up in a Quaker family on St Johns Hill
 Ronnie Biggscriminal who took part in the Great Train Robbery
 Johnny Briggsactor, best known for playing Mike Baldwin in Coronation Street
 Ada Buissonauthor and novelist
 Kathleen Byronactress
 Emma Chambersactress, known for her role as 'Alice' in The Vicar of Dibley
 G. K. Chestertonwriter
 Adrian Chilestelevision presenter
 Noël Cowarddramatist, actor and cabaret artist
 Brian Coxphysicist, host of science shows for the BBC
 Colin Douglasstage and television actor
 Nell Dunnplaywright
 Howard Eastmanboxer
 Craig Eastmondfootballer
 Hero Fiennes-Tiffinmodel and actor
 Edwin Flavell (Royal Air Force officer)pilot of the first British aircraft to drop a live atomic bomb
 Freddie Foremancriminal and associate of the Kray Twins, born in Sheepcote Lane
 Bob Geldofsinger and songwriter
 Pixie Geldofsocialite and model
 Graham Greenewriter, playwright, critic
 Rich Hallcomedian
 Reginald Hammondfirst-class cricketer and Royal Navy officer
 Pamela Hansford Johnsonwriter
 Ainsley Harriottchef
 Harry Hillcomedian
 Ada Florence Kintonartist and Salvation Army officer
 Derek Laudpolitical lobbyist and Big Brother contestant
 Simon Le Bonmusician
 Katie Leungactress, best known for playing Cho Chang in Harry Potter films
 Monie Lovemc and radio personality
 Kate Maberlyactress
 Terry Manningmusic producer
 Noel McKoysinger and songwriter
 Buster Merryfieldactor, best known as Uncle Albert in Only Fools and Horses
 Dannii Minoguemusician
 Seán O'Caseywriter
 John O'Farrellwriter
 William Pagehistorian and general editor of the Victoria County History
 Rick Parfittsinger with Status Quo
 Polly Paulusmamusician
 Mervyn Peakeauthor
 Rupert Penry-Jonesactor
 Gordon Ramsaychef
 Joely Richardsonactress
 J.K. Rowlingauthor
 Greg Rusedskitennis player
 John Scottsociologist and Fellow of the British Academy
 Peter Serafinowiczcomedian
 George Shearingpianist
 Ed Sheeranmusician
 Timothy Spallactor
 Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
 Donald Swannmusician (of Flanders and Swann)
 Gabriel Thomsonstars in My Family
 Baroness Trumpingtonmember of the House of Lords
 Paul Joseph WatsonYouTube personality and radio host
 Arthur Webb (co-operator)Building Society Movement
 William Wilberforceprominent campaigner against the slave trade
 Edward Adrian WilsonEnglish physician, polar explorer, natural historian, painter and ornithologist

See also
Nappy Valley
Seax of Beagnoth

References

Further reading
Patrick Loobey, Battersea Past. Historical Publications Ltd., 2002. .
Peter Mason, The Brown Dog Affair. Two Sevens Publishing, 1997. .
Martin Knight, Battersea Girl. Mainstream Publishing, 2006. .

External links

Wandsworth Council
Battersea.co.uk - Battersea Information

Areas of London
Districts of the London Borough of Wandsworth
Districts of London on the River Thames

Battersea


Thames Street, divided into Lower and Upper Thames Street, is a road in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. It forms part of the busy A3211 route (prior to being rebuilt as a major thoroughfare in the late 1960s, it was the B132) from Tower Hill to Westminster. The London Bridge underpass marks the divide between Upper and Lower Thames Street, with Lower to the east and Upper to the west.

History

Thames Street is mentioned in the diary of Samuel Pepys. The first mention of the road, however, is from 1013 when the custom house was founded on the street.
During the reign of King Henry VIII, the street contained the London residences of many courtiers, including that of William Compton, where Henry VIII allegedly met his mistresses.

Twentieth century
In the culture of the 20th century, the street is probably best remembered for its place in T. S. Eliot's  The Waste Land:

O city city, I can sometimes hear
Beside a public bar in Lower Thames Street,
The pleasant whining of a mandoline
And a clatter and a chatter from within
Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls
Of Magnus Martyr hold
Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold.

At 101 Lower Thames Street, remains of a Roman bath were excavated. They are preserved in the cellar of the modern building on the site.

Little evidence of the street's history remains, in a large part due to the Blitz and post-War redevelopment, and it now contains many office buildings, including the headquarters of the Daily Express newspaper. The London Fire Brigade's fire investigation unit is based at Dowgate fire station on Upper Thames Street at the corner of Allhallows Lane; the station is the only one within the City of London. The most notable change is at the western end of the thoroughfare, which dramatically altered its course as part of major works of the 1960s, involving the reclaiming of foreshore of the Thames at Puddle Dock.

Twenty-first century
Lower Thames Street formed part of the marathon course of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The women's Olympic marathon took place on 5 August and the men's on 12 August. The Paralympic marathons were held on 9 September.

See also
 Coal Exchange
 Skilbeck's Warehouse

References

Further reading

Streets in the City of London

Thames Street, London


A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross. The word comes from the Middle French , Medieval Latin  ("stirrup").

From its use as field sign, the saltire came to be used in a number of flags, in the 16th century for Scotland and Burgundy, in the 18th century also as the ensign of the Russian Navy, and for Ireland. Notable 19th-century usage includes some of the flags of the Confederate States of America. It is also used in the flag of Jamaica and on seals, and as a heraldic charge in coats of arms.

The term saltirewise or in saltire refers to heraldic charges arranged as a diagonal cross. The shield may also be divided per saltire, i.e. diagonally.

A warning sign in the shape of a saltire is also used to indicate the point at which a railway line intersects a road at a level crossing.

Heraldry and vexillology
The saltire is important both in heraldry, being found in many coats of arms, and in vexillology, being found as the dominant feature of multiple flags.

The saltire is one of the so-called ordinaries, geometric charges that span throughout (from edge to edge of) the shield. As suggested by the name saltire ("stirrup"; in French: sautoir, in German: Schragen), the ordinary in its early use was not intended as representing a Christian cross symbol. The association with Saint Andrew is a development of the 15th to 16th centuries. The Cross of Burgundy emblem originates in the 15th century, as a field sign, and as the Saint Andrew's Cross of Scotland was used in flags or banners (but not in coats of arms) from the 16th century, and used as naval ensign during the Age of Sail.

When two or more saltires appear, they are usually blazoned as couped (cut off). For example, contrast the single saltire in the arms granted to G. M. W. Anderson—with the three saltires couped in the coat of Kemble Greenwood.

Diminutive forms include the fillet saltire, usually considered half or less the width of the saltire, and the saltorel, a narrow or couped saltire.

A field (party) per saltire is divided into four areas by a saltire-shaped "cut". If two tinctures are specified, the first refers to the areas above (in chief) and below (in base) the crossing, and the second refers to the ones on either side (in the flanks). Otherwise, each of the four divisions may be blazoned separately.

The phrase in saltire or saltirewise is used in two ways:
 Two long narrow charges "in saltire" are placed to cross each other diagonally. Common forms include the crossed keys found in the arms of many entities associated with Saint Peter and paired arrows.
 When five or more compact charges are "in saltire", they are arranged with one in the center and the others along the arms of an invisible saltire.

Division of the field per saltire was notably used by the Aragonese kings of Sicily beginning in the 14th century (Frederick the Simple), showing the pales of Aragon and the "Hohenstaufen" eagle (argent an eagle sable).

Scotland

The Flag of Scotland, called The Saltire or Saint Andrew's Cross, is a blue field with a white saltire. According to tradition, it represents Saint Andrew, who is supposed to have been crucified on a cross of that form (called a crux decussata) at Patras, Greece.

The Saint Andrew's Cross was worn as a badge on hats in Scotland, on the day of the feast of Saint Andrew.

In the politics of Scotland, both the Scottish National Party and Scottish Conservative Party use stylised saltires as their party logos, deriving from the flag of Scotland.

Prior to the Union the Royal Scots Navy used a red ensign incorporating the St Andrew's Cross; this ensign is now sometimes flown as part of an unofficial civil ensign in Scottish waters. With its colours exchanged (and a lighter blue), the same design forms part of the arms and flag of Nova Scotia (whose name means "New Scotland").

Cross of Burgundy

The Cross of Burgundy, a form of the Saint Andrew's Cross, is used in numerous flags across Europe and the Americas. It was first used in the 15th century as an emblem by the Valois Dukes of Burgundy. The Duchy of Burgundy, forming a large part of eastern France and the Low Countries, was inherited by the House of Habsburg on the extinction of the Valois ducal line. The emblem was therefore assumed by the monarchs of Spain as a consequence of the Habsburgs bringing together, in the early 16th century, their Burgundian inheritance with the other extensive possessions they inherited throughout Europe and the Americas, including the crowns of Castile and Aragon. As a result, the Cross of Burgundy has appeared in a wide variety of flags connected with territories formerly part of the Burgundian or Habsburg inheritance. Examples of such diversity include the Spanish naval ensign (1506-1701), the flag of Carlism (a nineteenth century Spanish conservative movement), the flag of the Dutch capital of Amsterdam and municipality of Eijsden, the flag of Chuquisaca in Bolivia and the flags of Florida and Alabama in the United States.

Gascony

Gascony has not had any institutional unity since the 11th century, hence several flags are currently used in the territory. Legend says that this flag appeared in the time of Pope Clement III to gather the Gascons during the Third Crusade (12th century). That flag, sometimes called "Union Gascona" (Gascon Union), contains the St Andrew's cross, the patron saint of Bordeaux and the red color of English kingdom, which reigned over Gascony from 12th to mid-15th century.
In Tome 14 of the Grande Encyclopédie, published in France between 1886 and 1902 by Henri Lamirault, it says
That saltire is also represented in the pattern of some  in many bullrings in Gascony.

Maritime flags

The naval ensign of the Imperial Russian (1696–1917) and Russian navies (1991–present) is a blue saltire on a white field.

The international maritime signal flag for M is a white saltire on a blue background, and indicates a stopped vessel. A red saltire on a white background denotes the letter V and the message "I require assistance".

Others
The flags of the Colombian archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia and the Spanish island of Tenerife also use a white saltire on a blue field. The Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza also use a blue saltire on a white field, with their coats-of-arms at the hub.

Saltires are also seen in several other flags, including the flags of Grenada, Jamaica, Alabama, Florida, Jersey, Logroño, Vitoria, Amsterdam, Breda, Katwijk, Potchefstroom, The Bierzo and Valdivia, as well as the former Indian princely states of Khairpur, Rajkot and Jaora.

The design is also part of the Confederate Battle Flag and Naval Jack used during the American Civil War (see Flags of the Confederate States of America). Arthur L. Rogers, designer of the final version of the Confederate National flag, claimed that it was based on the saltire of Scotland. The saltire is used on modern-day Southern U.S. state flags to honour the former Confederacy.

Christian symbol
Anne Roes (1937) identifies a design consisting of two crossing diagonal lines in a rectangle, sometimes with four dots or balls in the four quarters, as an emblem or vexillum (standard) of Persepolis during the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC. Roes also finds the design in Argive vase painting, and still earlier in button seals of the Iranian Chalcolithic. Roes also notes the occurrence of a very similar if not identical vexillum which repeatedly occurs in Gaulish coins of c. the 2nd to 1st century BC, in a recurring design where it is held by a charioteer in front of his human-headed horse. A large number of coins of this type (118 out of 152 items) forms part of the Les Sablons hoard of the 1st century BC, discovered in Le Mans between 1991 and 1997, associated with the Cenomani.

The same design is found on coins of Christian Roman emperors of the 4th to 5th centuries (Constantius II, Valentinian, Jovian, Gratianus, Valens, Arcadius, Constantine III, Jovinus, Theodosius I, Eugenius and Theodosius II). The letter Χ (Chi) was from an early time used as a symbol for Christ (unrelated to the Christian cross symbol, which at the time was given a T-shape). The vexillum on imperial coins from the 4th century was sometimes shown as the Labarum, surmounted by or displaying the Chi-Rho monogram rather than just the crux decussata. The emblem of the crux decussata in a rectangle, sometimes with four dots or balls, re-appears in coins the Byzantine Empire, in the 9th to 10th centuries. Roes suggested that early Christians endorsed its solar symbolism as appropriate to Christ.

The association with Saint Andrew develops in the late medieval period. The tradition according to which this saint was crucified on a decussate cross is not found in early hagiography. Depictions of Saint Andrew being crucified in this manner first appear in the 10th century, but do not become standard before the 17th century. Reference to the saltire as "St Andrew's Cross" is made by the Parliament of Scotland (where Andrew had been adopted as patron saint) in 1385, in a decree to the effect that every Scottish and French soldier (fighting against the English under Richard II) "shall have a sign before and behind, namely a white St. Andrew's Cross".

Other

The diagonal cross (decussate cross) or X mark is called "saltire" in heraldic and vexillological contexts.

A black diagonal cross was used in an old European Union standard as the hazard symbol for irritants (Xi) or harmful chemicals (Xn). It indicated a hazard less severe than skull and crossbones, used for poisons, or the corrosive sign.

The Maria Theresa thaler has a Roman numeral ten to symbolize the 1750 debasement of the coinage, from 9 to 10 thalers to the Vienna mark (a weight of silver).

A diagonal cross known as "crossbuck" is used as the conventional road sign used to indicate the point at which a railway line intersects a road at a level crossing, called a in this context. A white diagonal cross on a blue background (or black on yellow for temporary signs) is displayed in UK railway signalling as a "cancelling indicator" for the Automatic Warning System (AWS), informing the driver that the received warning can be disregarded.

In Cameroon, a red "X" placed on illegally constructed buildings scheduled for demolition is occasionally referred to as a "St Andrew's Cross". It is usually accompanied by the letters "A.D." ("à détruire"—French for "to be demolished") and a date or deadline. During a campaign of urban renewal by the Yaoundé Urban Council in Cameroon, the cross was popularly referred to as "Tsimi's Cross" after the Government Delegate to the council, Gilbert Tsimi Evouna.

In traditional timber framing a pair of crossing braces is sometimes called a saltire or a St. Andrew's Cross. Half-timbering, particularly in France and Germany, has patterns of framing members forming many different symbols known as ornamental bracing.

The saltire cross, X-cross, X-frame, or Saint Andrew's cross is a common piece of equipment in BDSM dungeons. It is erotic furniture that typically provides restraining points for ankles, wrists, and waist. When secured to an X-cross, the subject is restrained in a standing spreadeagle position.

Unicode encoded various decussate crosses under the name of saltire, they are  , , , , , ,  and  .

Gallery

Coats of arms

saltirewise

in supporters

other

Flags

International Code of Signals

United States

Military insignia

Orders

See also

 Christian cross
 Cross of Saint Peter
 Crossbuck
 Nordic cross
 St. Andrew's Cross (disambiguation)
 Saint George's Cross
 Saint Patrick's Saltire
 X mark

Notes

References

External links

Andrew the Apostle
Christian crosses
Cross symbols
Crosses in heraldry
Flags of saints
Heraldic ordinaries
Saltire flags
Timber framing

Saltire


Photocatalysis is using light as a catalyst to increase the rate of a photoreaction.  Most known photoreactions begin when light creates a free radical in the reaction system.  Light can have a lot of energy and is able to break chemical bonds.  For example some things fade or lose their color when left in sunlight. When light breaks the chemical bonds, free radicals are produced. A free radical is a molecule, atom or an ion that needs an electron. The free radical will take electrons from other molecules or atoms and this starts chemical reactions.

Terms and background

Photo- is a prefix showing that light is involved.
Photolysis is when light cuts (breaks bonds) of a molecule.
In a chemical reaction there are reactants also called reagents that you begin with.  Once the reaction takes place you have products. In the example below methane
(CH4) and oxygen (O2) are the reactants and carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) are the products.

CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O

Catalysis
Catalysis is using a catalyst to change the rate of a chemical reaction.  For the reactants to become the products the reaction must overcome an energy barrier. This energy barrier is known as the activation energy (Ea). For example, when you lit the methane gas you are providing the activation energy to burn(react).

Rate
Rate is how fast or slow a chemical reaction happens.

Catalyst
Catalyst is a substance present but not consumed in a reaction like the other reagents while increasing the rate of the reaction. The graph below shows the catalyst's effect on the activation energy. The Y (vertical) axis shows the activation energy while the x (horizontal) axis shows the reaction over time.  With no catalyst present (black line) the reaction has a higher energy to overcome. In the presence of a catalyst (red line) the activation energy is reduced.

Light
In a vacuum light travels at c, c= 2.99792458X108 m/s that's 186,000 miles in one second.

The up and down pattern is how we show light. The high points are called crests and the low are called troughs.  Light has three characteristics that we use to describe it.  Wavelength (λ) is the distance between two peaks that are next to each other. Frequency (ν) is the number of times a unit of light can pass by a point over time. Amplitude is the vertical distance between a peak and the next trough.

Research and uses

Photocatalysis is getting more attention from the scientific community due to the "green movement"
An example of organometallic research is mimicking photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process that plants use to make sugar for food. Plants use only carbon dioxide gas from the air, water and sunlight. Plants actually have an organometallic molecule containing Mn that helps them perform this reaction.  Scientists hope to make an organometallic molecule that can make organic products like fuels using only carbon dioxide, water and light. If this process could be harnessed it could dramatically reduce pollution, because the carbon you make your fuel with is the carbon dioxide from the air.

References

Chemical reactions

Photocatalysis


Adriaen de Vries (c.1556–1626) was a Northern Mannerist sculptor born in the Netherlands but working in Central Europe, whose international style crossed the threshold to the Baroque; he excelled in refined modelling and bronze casting and in the manipulation of patina and became the most famous European sculptor of his generation. He also excelled in draughtsmanship.

Partly as a result of the disturbances of the Thirty Years' War, and also changes in style, Adriaen de Vries had no direct follower.

Life
Born in The Hague to a patrician family, his early training is obscure; a recent suggestion suggests an apprenticeship with Willem Danielsz. van Tetrode, known in Italy as Guglielmo Fiammingo, a pupil of Benvenuto Cellini who had returned to the Netherlands. Another possibility is that he was apprenticed to a goldsmith, his brother-in-law Simon Adriaensz Rottermont. Both possibilities are suggestive in view of de Vries' virtuoso casting technique and refined finish.

Apprenticeship in Italy
He travelled to Florence, where, as early as 1581, he is documented working in the studio of the master Mannerist sculptor Giambologna, a Northerner like himself, and the greatest influence on his mature work.  Three of the Virtues and some of the putti for Giambologna's Grimaldi Chapel, in San Francesco di Castelletto, Genoa (1579), have been attributed to Adriaen de Vries. In 1586 he was called to Milan to assist Pompeo, the son of the ailing Leone Leoni, whom he succeeded as master of one of Italy's largest bronze-casting studios; for Leoni de Vries provided three heroically-scaled saints for Leoni's high altar at the basilica of San Lorenzo at the Escorial.

Commissions in Savoy and Germany
This led to his brief appointment as court sculptor to Philip II's son-in-law Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy in Turin. In 1589-94 he worked for the first time in Prague, making busts and reliefs for Emperor Rudolf II. These sculptures are now housed in Vienna and at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which possesses a bust of Rudolf in bas-relief. He left Prague in 1594 for a visit to study in Rome. On his return through Germany he executed two fountains in 1596 for the city of Augsburg, the Mercury and Hercules and the Hydra fountains, which may still be seen in Maximilianstraße.

Return to Bohemia (after 1601)
De Vries returned in 1601 to Prague, where Rudolf made him Kammerbildhauer ("chamber sculptor", i.e. privileged artist). During his hypothetical stay in Rome in 1604, he had cast a statue of Christ at the column, a centrepiece for Adam von Hannewaldt's tomb monument in the Holy Trinity Church in Rothsürben (Żórawina), today in the National Museum in Warsaw. It was conceived as a part of a five figure group of the Flagellation of Christ. He remained in Prague after Rudolf's death in 1612, though the Imperial court returned to Vienna, until his own death in Prague in 1626.

During this late period he found a new patron in the Prince Karl of Liechtenstein and received sculpture commissions from several German sovereigns, such as from Ernst of Schaumburg for the resurrection group in Stadthagen mausoleum, today the only work of De Vries to be seen in its original situation; he was also commissioned to make a Neptune fountain for the gardens of the king of Denmark's royal palace, Frederiksborg (one of the statues from this fountain is now displayed in the Rijksmuseum).

Works
The Rijksmuseum owns the only two sculptures by de Vries found in his native Netherlands, a bronze relief of Bacchus and Ariadne, and the recently purchased (2014) Bacchant. The artist was scarcely known there until the exhibition mounted by the Rijksmuseum, the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1999. Fourteen sculptures, the largest collection of De Vries' work, are in Museum De Vries at Drottningholm Palace, opened in 2001. Their presence in Sweden is the result of the Sack of Prague in the last days of the Thirty Years' War, when the Swedes pillaged what remained of Rudolf's huge collections, and took a great many statues, in particular duke Albrecht von Wallenstein's garden statues, that used to adorn his palace on the Lesser Town (city quarter) of Prague. The originals, now to be found in Museum de Vries, are represented by bronze replicas at the Wallenstein Palace in Prague, now seat of the Czech senate. Another famous work by de Vries also now at Drottningholm was the Neptunus Fountain, made for Frederiksborg Palace in Denmark. These sculptures were also taken as prizes of war, during the Dano-Swedish War (1658–60).

Gallery

Notes

Further reading
Scholten, Frits. Adriaen de Vries 1556-1626: Imperial Sculptor (Zwolle: Waanders) 1999.

External links

Adriaen de Vries at the ArtCyclopedia

Dutch Golden Age sculptors
Dutch sculptors
Dutch male sculptors
Mannerist sculptors
1550s births
1626 deaths
Artists from The Hague

Adriaen de Vries


The cochineal (Dactylopius coccus) is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is made.

The insect lives in tropical and subtropical South America, Mexico and Arizona. Its larvae eat cacti in the genus Opuntia, feeding on plant moisture and nutrients. These insects are found on the pads of prickly pear cacti, then are brushed off and dried.

The insect produces carminic acid, which deters predation by other insects. Carminic acid is extracted from the body and eggs, then mixed with aluminium or calcium salts to make carmine dye, also known as cochineal. Today, carmine is primarily used as a colorant in food and in lipstick.

Hemiptera

Cochineal


Ada Adini (1855 – February 1924) was an American operatic soprano who had an active international career from 1876 up into the first decade of the 20th century. She possessed a large, expressive voice which enabled her to sing a broad range of roles that extended from the coloratura soprano repertoire to dramatic soprano parts. She made five recordings with Fonotipia Records in Paris in 1905.

Life and career
Born Adele Chapman in Boston, Adini studied singing with Giovanni Sbriglia and Pauline Viardot in Paris. She married the Spanish tenor Antonio Aramburo while studying in Paris. She made her professional opera debut in 1876 at the opera house in Varese, Italy in the title role of Giacomo Meyerbeer's Dinorah. She was then active with the Mapleson Company in New York City, making her debut with the company in 1879 as Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto at the Academy of Music with Aramburo as the Duke of Mantua. She was later heard with the company as Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore to her husband's Manrico.

In 1882 she joined Bartolomeo Merelli's traveling opera troupe with whom she performed in Berlin (1882) and Prague (1883). From 1887–1890 she was committed to the Palais Garnier where she notably created the role of the Duchesse d'Étampes in the world premiere of Camille Saint-Saëns' Ascanio (1890).

In 1893 Adini sang Brünnhilde in the Italian premiere of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre at La Scala. She later repeated the role at the Teatro Regio di Torino (1898) and the Teatro Costanzi (1899). In 1894 and 1897 she was heard successfully at the Royal Opera House in London as Donna Anna in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni. She sang the role of Frédegonde in the world premiere of César Franck's Ghiselle at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 1896.

Her second husband was the opera librettist and writer Paul Milliet. He wrote the libretto for Jules Massenet's Hérodiade in which she sang the role of Salomé in Monte-Carlo in 1903 with Emma Calvé in the title role. Some of the other roles Adini performed on stage were Anita in La Navarraise, Brunehild in Sigurd, Catherine d'Aragon in Henry VIII, Charlotte in Werther, Chimène in Le Cid, Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Desdemona in Otello, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, Rachel in La Juive, Sélika in L'Africaine, Simonetta in I Medici, Valentine in Les Huguenots, and Venus in Tannhäuser.

After retiring from the stage Adini was active as a singing teacher. One of her notable pupils was the Spanish mezzo-soprano Maria Gay. She died in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime in 1924. Opera commentator Michael Scott summarises her career and evaluates her recordings in The Record of Singing (Duckworth, London, 1977).

References

1855 births
1924 deaths
Voice teachers
American operatic sopranos
Singers from Boston
19th-century American women opera singers
Classical musicians from Massachusetts
American music educators
American women music educators

Ada Adini


Calixa Lavallée, (born Quebec, 28 December 1842; died Boston, 21 January 1891), was a Canadian-American composer.  For many years he was a travelling musician.  Later he worked hard to improve music education in Canada.  He is famous for composing the music for the Canadian national anthem "O Canada".

Life

Lavallée was born into a French-Canadian family.  Originally his name was Calixte Paquet.  His father made musical instruments and played in a band.  He learned to play the piano, violin and cornet.  He went to the United States and played in a band during the American Civil War.  For many years he travelled, playing and teaching.  He becamGrand Opera House which put on minstrel shows rather than proper operas.  When the theatre closed in 1872 he went back to Montreal.  His friends got enough money together to help him go to France to study at the Paris Conservatoire.  There he studied under famous teachers including Boieldieu.

When he went back to Canada he wanted to help to improve the state of music education there.  He small music school in Quebec but it was always difficult for him to get money from the authorities.  He composed the music to "O Canada" which soon became the Canadian national anthem.

Shortly after that he went to the United States again.  He became music director of the Roman Catholic cathedral in Boston and became very active with the Music Teachers' National Association.  He died of tuberculosis in 1891.  In 1933, his remains were taken back to Montreal where they were buried in the cemetery.

His music
Besides the tune to O Canada, Lavallée wrote many works, including some comic operas: Loulou, Tiq and The King of Diamonds.  Most of the music that was published consists of his lighter pieces, including a short piece for piano called Papillon (Butterfly) which became extremely popular in North America as well as Europe.

References
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, 1980;

1842 births
1891 deaths
Canadian composers
Romantic composers

Calixa Lavallée


Singing  means making music with the voice.  Singing is probably the way that music started many thousands of years ago.  When people sing they make their voices go high or low.  If they do this in a way that uses notes of a scale then they make tunes, called songs.  A song, very broadly, is a musical piece, produced by the voice with distinct and fixed pitches and patterns of sound and silence and a variety which often includes repetition.

Many birds also sing. They are the passerines, a very large order often called the songbirds.

Singing technique
When people sing they use the air in the lungs. The pressure of the air that comes out of the lungs can be controlled with several respiratory muscles, including the muscle called the diaphragm which goes across the front of the body below the ribs. People who have singing lessons spend a lot of time practising "breath control".

The air comes through the throat where the larynx is like a reed on a clarinet: it vibrates, controlling the passage of air, and this makes the note higher or lower depending on how it is controlled.

The sound comes into the mouth which is space where the sound can be made bigger (it "resonates").  Professional singers even learn to think of the whole head as a resonator.  They sometimes talk about the "mask", i.e. they imagine a mask in front of the face and this makes the sound bigger.  The sound then comes out of the mouth so that it can be heard.

Singing is different from speaking because of the special way the vocal cords in the throat are used.

Voice ranges
Most people can sing notes which cover more than an octave.  People who sing a lot will probably be able to sing over two octaves.  Singers can be called according to whether they have higher or lower voices: soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto for women, tenor, baritone or bass for men.  Some men are able to train their voices to sing alto by using a falsetto voice.  Children's voices are often called treble.

Types of singing
There are lots of different singing styles in the world.  Each one has a different technique.  In Western classical music singers learn to sing in a bel canto voice which uses lots of resonance in the head and makes a smooth sound.  Bel canto was used in Italian opera.  Later, in the 19th century, Richard Wagner wrote operas in which the singers needed to be more dramatic.  Opera singers today can have different kinds of voices: bel canto, lyrical, dramatic, coloratura (extremely high and light) etc.

In church choirs the singers are often trained to use a lot of head voice because this sounds beautiful in large cathedrals.

Pop singers generally have a different technique: their singing is more from the throat.  They do not need to develop powerful voices like opera singers because they sing into microphones so that their voices are electronically amplified (made louder).

Voices singing music from different parts of the world may sound very different.  Chinese singing sounds nasal (through the nose).  In Mongolia there is a technique of overtone singing which sounds rather like a finger being rubbed against the rim of a wineglass.  In Switzerland men often yodel.

Rap is a kind of singing in which the rhythm is the most important thing.  The pitch is high and low, but not to any particular notes.  Scat singing is rather like rap.

Acappella singing is vocal music specifically without instrumental accompaniment. The name is from Latin a (without) and cappella (musical accompaniment).

Cantata is a term that exclusively refers to accompanied singing, which is the exact opposite of Acappella.

Ways to enjoy singing
Singing is something that can be enjoyed by everybody.  A group of people singing together is often called a choir.  People can sing in choirs or smaller groups or on their own (solos).  People can sing for their own enjoyment (e.g. in the shower), or they can practise hard and sing in concerts to an audience.

Singing can be done alone ("a cappella") or it can be "accompanied" (usually with musical instruments).

Some people say they are "tone-deaf", meaning that they cannot sing in tune.  But almost everybody can learn to sing if they try hard enough.

Related pages

Singer

Singing


Card Sharks is a game show that has aired in different versions since 1978.

The main game
Two contestants fought against each other in the main game—the returning champion and a challenging contestant.  The returning champion was represented by the color red.  The challenger was represented by the color blue. The host, Jim Perry, then asked a toss-up question, which was asked to 100 people before the show (example: "We surveyed 100 lawyers: Have you ever defended a person who you believed was guilty?  How many lawyers said they have?").  The contestant he asked it to would provide what they thought the number of people who gave the answer the host gave.  The other contestant would then say whether they thought the actual number was higher or lower than the first contestant's guess.  Whoever is closer to the number got a chance at the cards.

There were two rows of five cards: the top red row (for the champion) and the bottom blue row (for the challenger).  The contestant in control had to predict whether each card was higher or lower than the card before it.

There were two games.  Whoever won both games would go on to play the Money Cards.

The Money Cards
The winning contestant would then play the Money Cards to win more money.  He/she was given $200 to start out with.  They then had to predict whether each card was higher or lower than the one before it, just like before.  This time, they had to bet money on each guess (example: $200 higher than a 2). The contestant worked their way across the bottom row, in which there were four cards, and then made it to the second row and were given $200 more. The least a person could bet on each card for the first two rows was $50. They then worked their way across that row, until they reached the top row, where there was only one card.  That row was called the "Big Bet" row.  There, the contestant had to bet at least half of what they won before.

Other versions
Card Sharks aired on NBC from 1978 to 1981 and was hosted by Jim Perry.  It returned on CBS and in syndication in 1986.  The CBS version was hosted by Bob Eubanks and ran until 1989.  The syndicated version was hosted by comedian Bill Rafferty, but ran until 1987.

In 2001, Card Sharks came back, hosted by Pat Bullard.  However, this version had different rules than the other ones.  In this one, two teams of two contestants (two at a time) had to guess higher or lower (or predict if the next card had exactly the same number as the previous one) on one row of seven cards. This version was not very popular and was cancelled after 13 weeks.  Many Card Sharks fans say this version is the worst game show revival of all time.

Card Sharks returned to television in 2019 as an hour-long series hosted by Joel McHale, airing on ABC. The gameplay is similar to the 1978-81 and 1986-89 versions.

Television game shows
NBC network shows
CBS network shows
First run syndicated television programs
English-language television programs

Card Sharks


Hill v Church of Scientology of Toronto February 20, 1995- July 20, 1995. 2 S.C.R. 1130 was a libel case against the Church of Scientology, in which the Supreme Court of Canada interpreted Ontario's libel law in relation to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

After consideration, the Supreme Court of Canada determined that it would not follow the actual malice standard set forth in the famous United States Supreme Court case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964).

Overview
On 17 September 1984, Morris Manning, a lawyer working for the Church, and representatives of the Church of Scientology held a press conference on the courthouse steps in Toronto. Manning, wearing his barrister's gown, read from and commented upon allegations in a notice of motion by Scientology, intending to commence criminal contempt proceedings against a crown attorney, Casey Hill. The motion alleged Hill had misled a judge and had breached orders sealing certain documents belonging to Scientology in R v Church of Scientology of Toronto.

At the contempt proceeding where the appellants were seeking a fine or imprisonment against the defendant, the allegations against Hill were found to be completely untrue and without foundation. Thus Hill launched a lawsuit for damages in libel against the appellants. Both appellants were found jointly liable for general damages of C$300,000 and Scientology alone was liable for aggravated damages of C$500,000 and punitive damages of C$800,000. The judgement was affirmed in a 1993 decision by the Court of Appeal for Ontario. The major issues raised in this appeal were: whether the common law of defamation was valid in light of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and whether the jury's award of damages could stand.

The Charter, interpreting the common law and freedom of expression

Appellant's arguments
The Church of Scientology contended that the common law of defamation in Canada failed to evolve with Canadian society.  Too much emphasis in the common law had been placed on the need to protect the reputation of plaintiffs at the expense of freedom of expression.  This, they argued, was an unwarranted restriction imposed in a manner that cannot be justified in "a free and democratic society" that could survive a limitations clause challenge.  The appellants added that if the element of government action was insufficient to attract Charter scrutiny, the principles of the common law ought to be interpreted, even in a purely private law action, in a manner consistent with the Charter.  This, they argued, could be achieved only by the adoption of the "actual malice" standard of liability found in the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.

Qualified privilege attaches to the occasion upon which the communication is made, and not to the communication itself. The legal effect of the defence of qualified privilege is to rebut the inference, which normally arises from the publication of defamatory words, that they were spoken with malice. Where the occasion is shown to be privileged, the bona fides of the defendant is presumed and the defendant is free to publish, with impunity, remarks which may be defamatory and untrue about the plaintiff. The privilege is not absolute, however, and can be defeated if the dominant motive for publishing the statement is actual or express malice. (Malice, in this context, is established by showing the defendant spoke dishonestly, or in knowing or reckless disregard for the truth.) Qualified privilege may also be defeated when the limits of the duty or interest have been exceeded. The fact that an occasion is privileged does not necessarily protect all that is said or written on that occasion. The information communicated must be reasonably appropriate in the context of the circumstances existing on the occasion when that information was given.

The Court's reasons
In two opinions (a majority opinion written by Cory J. per La Forest, Gonthier, Cory, McLachlin, Iacobucci and Major JJ., and a concurrence in result by L'Heureux-Dubé J.), the Court rejected those arguments while continuing to apply RWDSU v. Dolphin Delivery Ltd., [1986] 2 S.C.R. 573, that the Charter cannot rewrite the common law, though the common law should be interpreted according to general Charter principles.  This did not mean the Court had to adopt the "actual malice" standard of libel from American jurisprudence.

In refusing to change Canadian law and bringing it more into line with "actual malice" standard applied in the US law (following the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case) Cory J., writing for the majority, stated (at ¶ 138):

Freedom of speech, like any other freedom, is subject to the law and must be balanced against the essential need of the individuals to protect their reputation. The words of Diplock J. in Silkin v. Beaverbrook Newspapers Ltd., [1958] 1 W.L.R. 743, at pp. 745-46, are worth repeating:

"Freedom of speech, like the other fundamental freedoms, is freedom under the law, and over the years the law has maintained a balance between, on the one hand, the right of the individual… whether he is in public life or not, to his unsullied reputation if he deserves it, and on the other hand… the right of the public… to express their views honestly and fearlessly on matters of public interest, even though that involves strong criticism of the conduct of public people."

In L'Heureux-Dubé's concurring reasons, her analysis of the Charter issue applying to common law is succinctly stated: (at ¶ 206):

First, however, in order to dispel any possible confusion regarding the applicability of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to the common law, I note that this issue can be easily summarized in the following two principles, both of which were first articulated by McIntyre J. in RWDSU v. Dolphin Delivery Ltd., [1986] 2 S.C.R. 573:

 The Charter does not directly apply to the common law unless it is the basis of some governmental action.
 Even though the Charter does not directly apply to the common law absent government action, the common law must nonetheless be developed in accordance with Charter values. (To the same effect, see R. v. Salituro, [1991] 3 S.C.R. 654, Dagenais v. Canadian Broadcasting Corp., [1994] 3 S.C.R. 835, and R. v. Park, [1995] 2 S.C.R. 836, per L'Heureux-Dubé J.)

In other words, the basic rule is that absent government action, the Charter applies only indirectly to the common law.

Factual background
As in all actions for libel, the factual background is extremely important and must be set out in some detail. At the time the defamatory statement were made, Casey Hill was employed as counsel with the Crown Law Office, Criminal Division of the Ministry of the Attorney General for the Province of Ontario. He had given advice to the Ontario Provincial Police ("OPP") regarding a warrant obtained on March 1, 1983, which authorized a searched warrant on March 3 and 4, 1983, approximately 250,000 documents, comprising over 2 million pages of material, were seized. These documents were stored in some 900 boxes at an OPP building in Toronto.

Result
The Supreme Court upholds the Ontario Court of Appeal decision and the underlying jury award of general, aggravated and punitive damages.

Largest libel award in Canada
The jury award that was upheld in this appeal was the largest libel award in Canadian history.  Barrister Manning and the Church of Scientology were found jointly liable for general damages of C$300,000. Scientology alone was liable for aggravated damages of C$500,000 and punitive damages of $800,000, making Scientology's total liability C$1,600,000.  It was not until 2008 that this record was broken.

See also
 R v Church of Scientology of Toronto
 Scientology and law

References

Further reading
 Prud'homme v. Prud'homme, [2002] 4 S.C.R. 663, 2002 SCC 85
 Néron Communication Marketing Inc. v. Chambre des notaires du Québec, [2004] 3 S.C.R. 95, 2004 SCC 53

External links

Ontario Court of Appeal decision

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms case law
Canadian freedom of expression case law
Canadian defamation case law
Supreme Court of Canada cases
1995 in Canadian case law
Canadian case law
Scientology litigation

Hill v Church of Scientology of Toronto


The Maya pyramids are structures built in the jungles of Central America by the Maya civilization between 200 and AD. Unlike the straight sides of the more commonly known Egyptian pyramids, the sides of Maya pyramids are stepped–sometimes for the purpose of enabling people to ascend to the top. Moreover, Egyptian pyramids have sharper tips, while Mesoamerican (including Maya) pyramids tend to have flatter tops. These flatter tops accommodate certain ceremonies, such as sacrificial rituals, and temples for gods.

The pyramids served a variety of very important functions. Apart from the religious ceremonies, Maya pyramids were used as landmarks to aid in navigation. In the jungle where these pyramids were built, the pyramids were so tall that they could be seen above the trees. Finally, inpyramids, there were burial chambers for the highest-ranking officials, just as in

Tikal

A whole complex of Maya pyramids can be found at the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Tikal. The pyramids at Tikal were the tallest structures in all of the Americas for around 1,000  years, until 1903, when the Flatiron building was constructed in New York City. There are a total of sixteen pyramids at Tikal, which is now a national park in Guatemala.

Tikal was one of the largest urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. Its population may have reached 90,000 people, which is surprising because the swampland at Tikal was unstable for habitation or agriculture. It is located in the tropical rainforests which today is northern Guatemala. The name Tikal comes from ti ak'al which means "water hole".

The pyramids at Tikal all face one another. The rooms at the top of the pyramids have depressions in the walls which amplify sound and project it in all directions. Because of this, the normal speaking voice of a person at the top of one pyramid can be heard by someone standing at the top of another pyramid a great distance away.

References

Buildings and structures in North America
Maya civilization
Pyramids
1st millennium buildings and structures

Mayan pyramid


Autonomy means being able to rule without having to obey some other higher authority. Autonomy is something that philosophers often talk about.  The idea occurs in moral, political, and bioethical philosophy.  It means that someone is able to make a sensible decision without being forced to do so by someone else.  They are able to make a "free" decision.

In moral and political philosophy, autonomy is often used when discussing whether someone has a moral responsibility for what he does. One of best known philosophical theories of autonomy was developed by Kant. In medicine, doctors have to respect the autonomy of the patient, i.e. the patient has been given good information about their illness, they should be able to decide whether they want treatment.  The doctor cannot force it on them.

In politics, autonomy means self-determination that people can govern themselves instead of being ruled by someone else.

References

Other page
Bodily integrity
Independence
Pro-choice

Philosophy

Autonomy


The Kawasaki 454 LTD is a motorcycle produced frae 1985 tae 1990, kent as the EN450 an aw. It is the forerunner o the Kawasaki Vulcan, an ither than the V-twin ingine ( different size ) an seat, it is a carbon copy o the Kawasaki Vulcan 750. The ingine wis a precise copy o the Kawasaki Ninja 900's, wi twa less cylinders. The Kawasaki 900 haed a 908cc ingine. Removin twa cylinders frae the 4 cylinder dividit the number o cc's bi twa. (908/2 = 454, thus the name). Includit wis the liquid coolin, the double owerheid camshafts an fower valves per cylinder. This gave it a great deal o pouer for its size, revvin tae 10,000 RPM. The 454 is considered a guid starter bike for haein a law seat heicht an licht weight. The Kawasaki 454 is weel kent for its hie rate o acceleration, haein raced against a 454 ls big block Chevrolet Corvette an beatin it tae baith 0-60 an the quarter mile bi mair nor a second.

Despite the 440 being its predecessor in the sale  middle size displacement motorcycles designed bi Kawasaki, the twa shared amaist nothin in design, as the Kawasaki 440 haed a single owerheid camshaft an haed ae twa valves per cylinder, an wis air cooled, producin ae 27 horsepouer tae the 454's 50 horsepouer. Baith motorcycles wur hichtlie reliable an law maintenance, but for different reasons, as the 440 wis juist a vera simple machine tae service, an the 454 needit little maintenance ower time as a result o its belt drive final gear an ither lang lastin components.

The Kawasaki 454 wis discontinued in favor o the Kawasaki Vulcan 500 wi amaist nae increase in horsepouer despite the lairger ingine size. The reason for the switch tae the near identical Vulcan 500 wis that manufacture o the 908cc Ninja haed ceased in 1990, an wis replaced bi the 1000cc Ninja. The Vulcan 500 wis designed vera much the same as the 454, again wi hauf the displacement o its Ninja coonterpairt.

Notes

454 LTD
Cruiser motorcycles

Kawasaki 454 LTD


Huali is a brand o Tianjin Auto Works Company, a caur manufacturer subsidiary o First Automobile Works Group.

The Huali Dafa is an extremely popular three-cylinder microvan in the Fowkrepublic o Cheenae. It is weel kent for its law cost an reliability. It is hichtlie identifiable bi its unique curved "snub" shape. For this reason it is commonly nicknamed the "breid caur". Production o the Huali Dafa wis discontinued some time ago, but hunders o thoosans remain on the roads o Cheenae. Bi far, its maist common colour is maroon, follaed bi siller.

The day, Huali produces twa rebadged versions o the first-generation Daihatsu Terios (Huali Dario) an the first-generation Daihatsu Move (Huali Yiqi).

Freemit airtins
Huali Wabsteid

Caurs o Cheenae
FAW

Huali


Henry Allan Gleason (1882–1975) was an American ecologist, botanist, and taxonomist. He was known for his endorsement of the individualistic or open community concept of ecological succession, and his opposition to Frederic Clements's concept of the climax state of an ecosystem. His ideas were largely dismissed during his working life, leading him to move into plant taxonomy, but found favour late in the twentieth century.

Life and work
Gleason was born in Dalton City, Illinois, and after undergraduate and master's work at the University of Illinois earned a PhD from Columbia University in Biology in 1906. He held faculty positions at the University of Illinois, the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan, before returning to the East Coast, to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York, where he remained for the rest of his career, until 1950.

In Gleason's early ecological research on the vegetation of Illinois, around 1909–1912, he worked largely within the theoretical structure endorsed by ecologist Frederic Clements, whose work on succession was the most influential during the first decades of the twentieth century. Building on Henry C. Cowles's landmark research at the Indiana Dunes and some of the ideas of his mentor Charles Bessey at the University of Nebraska, Clements had developed a theory of plant succession in which vegetation could be explained by reference to an ideal sequence of development called a sere. Clements sometimes compared the development of seres to the growth of individual organisms, and suggested that under the right circumstances, seres would culminate in the best adapted form of vegetation, which he called the climax state. In his early research, Gleason interpreted the vegetation of Illinois using Clementsian concepts like associations, climax states, pioneer species, and dominant species.

However, in 1918, Gleason began to express significant doubts on the usefulness of some of Clements's widely employed vocabulary, especially the use of the organism metaphor to describe the growth of vegetation, and the treatment of the units of vegetation as including climaxes. (What units should be used in the analysis of vegetation was a widely disputed issue in early twentieth-century ecology.) In 1926, Gleason expressed even stronger objections to Clements's theory. First, he argued that Clements's identification of particular kinds of vegetation assumed too much homogeneity, since areas of vegetation are actually similar to one another only to degrees. Second, he argued that Clements's associating particular vegetation types with particular areas underestimated the real diversity of vegetation. These objections together cast doubt, for Gleason, on the "integrity of the association concept" itself—on identifying any grouping of species as amounting to a nameable association, like "oak-maple association," as botanists and ecologists (including Gleason himself) normally had.

As an alternative to describing vegetation in terms of associations, Gleason offered "the Individualistic concept of ecology," in which "the phenomena of vegetation depend completely upon the phenomena of the individual" species (1917), and plant associations are less structured than he thought Clements's theory maintained. At times, Gleason suggested that the distribution of plants approaches mathematical randomness.

Clements never responded in print to Gleason's objections and alternative models, and they were largely ignored until the 1950s, when research by a number of ecologists (particularly Robert Whittaker and John T. Curtis) supported Gleasonian models. Subsequently, 'species-individualistic' models have become prevalent in community ecology.

Frustration due to dismissal of his ecological ideas without serious consideration may have contributed to Gleason's general abandonment of ecology. From the 1930s onward, he shifted the focus of his work to plant taxonomy, where he became an influential figure, working for many years at the New York Botanical Garden, and authoring with Arthur Cronquist one of the authoritative floras of northeastern North America.

Gleason married Eleanor Theodolinda Mattei, the daughter of the Swiss-American winemaker Andrew Mattei; they met on a steamship, where Gleason was on a botanical expedition, while Mattei was taking a grand tour of the world following her graduation from Mills College. Their elder son, Henry Allan Gleason Jr (1917–2007), was a linguist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto. Their second son, Andrew Gleason, (1921–2008), was a mathematician and Professor Emeritus at Harvard University.

Awards and honors
 Named Honorary Fellow of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation in 1963.
 The 110 acre Henry Allan Gleason Nature Preserve Area in the Sand Ridge State Forest was dedicated after him in October 1970.

Bibliography

Works by Gleason

(many are available in Google Scholar as copyrights are long expired)
 Gleason, Henry A. 1901. The flora of the prairies. B. S. Thesis. University of Illinois.
 Gleason, Henry A. 1907. A botanical survey of the Illinois River Valley sand region. Ill. State Lab. Nat. Hist., Bull. 7:149-194.
 Gleason, Henry A. 1907. On the biology of the sand areas of Illinois. II. A botanical survey of the Illinois River Valley sand region. Ill. Lab. Nat. Hist., Bull. 7:149-194.
 Gleason, Henry A. 1908. A virgin prairie in Illinois. Ill. Acad. Sci., Trans. 1:62.
 Gleason, Henry A. 1909. The vegetational history of a river dune. Ill. Acad. Sci., Trans. 2:19-26.
 Gleason, Henry A. 1909. Some Unsolved Problems of the Prairies. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 36(5): 265–271.
 Gleason, Henry A. 1910. The vegetation of the inland sand deposits of Illinois. Ill. Lab. Nat. Hist., Bull. 9:23-174.
 Gleason, Henry A. 1912. An Isolated Prairie Grove and Its Phytogeographical Significance. Botanical Gazette 53(1): 38–49.
Gleason, Henry A. and Frank C. Gates. 1912. A Comparison of the Rates of Evaporation in Certain Associations in Central Illinois. Botanical Gazette 53(6): 478–491.

Gleason, Henry A. 1922. On the Relation between Species and Area. Ecology 3(2): 158–162.
Gleason, Henry A. 1922. The Vegetational History of the Middle West. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 12: 39–85.
Gleason, Henry A. 1925. Species and Area. Ecology 6(1): 66–74.

Gleason, Henry A. 1927. Further Views on the Succession-Concept. Ecology 8(3): 299–326.
Gleason, Henry A. 1936. Is Sunusia an Association? Ecology 17(3): 444–451.
Gleason, Henry A. 1939. The Individualistic Concept of the Plant Association. American Midland Naturalist 21(1): 92–110.
Gleason, Henry A. 1975. Delving into the History of American Ecology. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 56(4): 7–10.

Works on Gleason
Barbour, Michael G. 1996. "Ecological Fragmentation in the Fifties". in William Cronon, editor. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., .
McIntosh, Robert P. 1975. H. A. Gleason - "'Individualistic Ecologist' 1882-1975: His Contributions to Ecological Theory". Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 102(5): 253–273.
Mitman, Gregg. 1995. "Defining the Organism in the Welfare State: The Politics of Individuality in American Culture, 1890-1950". in Sabine Maasen, Everett Mendelsohn and Peter Weingart, editors. Biology as Society, Society as Biology: Metaphors. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
Nicolson, Malcolm and Robert P. McIntosh. 2002. "H.A. Gleason and the Individualistic Hypothesis Revisited". Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 83: 133–142.
Tobey, Ronald C. 1981. Saving the Prairies: The Life Cycle of the Founding School of American Plant Ecology, 1895-1955. Berkeley: University of California Press. ()
Worster, Donald. 1994. Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas, 2nd ed. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Marshall, Alan, The Unity of Nature: Wholeness and Disintegration in Science and Ecology, Imperial College Press: London, 2002.
Kingsland, Sharon E. The evolution of American ecology, 1890-2000. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.

References

External links
Gleason at the New York Botanical Garden
History of Ecology and the American Environment at the Library of Congress

American ecologists
Ecological succession
1882 births
1975 deaths
American taxonomists
New York Botanical Garden
Torrey Botanical Society members
University of Michigan faculty
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni
Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
20th-century American botanists

Henry A. Gleason


A native of Columbia, Concertmaster Mary Lee Taylor Kinosian, of the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra, began studying music at five and joined the Columbia Philharmonic Orchestra (later the S.C. Philharmonic) at fourteen. She enjoyed a successful career in San Jose, Calif. (with the San Jose Symphony, Midsummer Mozart Festival and as concertmaster and soloist with the Redwood Symphony) and Nashville, Tenn. (as principal second violin with Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the Nashville String Machine) before returning to Columbia in 1996. Since that time she has played numerous engagements, ranging from musical theatre to her well-received performance of Kurt Weill's Violin Concerto with the Philharmonic. Her work with the Upton Trio, as both composer and violinist, has been featured on NPR's Theme and Variations. She appears frequently with the Sterling Chamber Players and also serves as the assistant concertmaster of the Greenville Symphony. She lives in Columbia, SC with her daughters Catherine, Jessica, and Cristina.

External links
https://web.archive.org/web/20080515054754/http://www.maryleetaylor.com/

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American classical violinists
Place of birth missing (living people)
21st-century classical violinists

Mary Lee Taylor Kinosian


Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold) is an opera by Richard Wagner. It is the first of the four operas that together tell a story called Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

Das Rheingold is an opera in one act, divided into four scenes. It is a very long act, lasting 2 ½ hours, but it is normally played without an interval as the music is continuous, even between the scenes.

The characters in the opera are Gods, Giants, Nibelungs and the Rhinedaughters. The Nibelungs are a race of dwarfs. They are cunning and evil and live underneath the surface of the earth.

The story of the opera

Scene 1

The first scene takes place in the river Rhine where the three Rhinemaidens: Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde, are guarding the precious Rhine gold. Alberich, an evil Nibelung dwarf, arrives and tries to catch the Rhinemaidens. From what they say Alberich learns that the gold they are guarding gives the person who owns it the power to rule the world. Alberich wants the gold, but the Rhinemaidens say that anyone who wants to have it has to renounce (give up) love. They think that Alberich will not do that because he is very fond of girls, but Alberich does renounce love and so he gets the gold.

Scene 2

The second scene takes place in Valhalla, which is where the gods live. Wotan, the chief god, is there with his wife Fricka. Two giants have been building an enormous castle for the gods. Wotan has promised them that he would pay them for their work by giving them Freia, the Goddess of Youth and Beauty. Fricka is worried about the promise that Wotan has made, but Wotan tells his wife that he is not going to keep his promise. He thinks he can find a way of tricking the giants. Freia enters. She is frightened because the giants are coming for her.

The giants, Fasolt and Fafner, enter. They want to have Freia in payment for having built the castle. The problem for the gods is that Freia has a garden in which she grows golden apples. If the gods no longer have these golden apples they will grow old and die. Wotan does not know what to do.

Loge, the god of fire, enters. Wotan is cross with Loge for not having found something else to pay the giants with. Loge says he has been all over the world looking for something. He tells everyone that the gold from the Rhine has magic power, and how Alberich renounced love so that he could steal it from the Rhinemaidens. He tells them that a ring can be made from the gold, and that whoever has the ring will have power over all the world. The giants hear what Loge is saying and decide that they want the gold instead of Freia. They take Freia as hostage, saying that they will be back later to collect the gold. If they do not get it then they will keep Freia forever.

Wotan asks Loge how they are going to get the gold. Loge tells them that they should steal it from Alberich. After all, Alberich stole it from the Rhinemaidens, so it does not belong to him. Wotan and Loge go down below the earth to the Nibelungs.

Scene 3

Underneath the earth Alberich is forcing the Nibelungs to work for him. They are hammering at the anvil. Mime, who is Alberich's brother, has used some of the gold to make a helmet. This helmet is called the Tarn helmet. Anyone who wears it can change their shape or become invisible. Alberich treats his brother very cruelly.

Wotan and Loge tell Alberich that they have heard how clever he is. They ask him to show them what he can do with the Tarn helmet. Alberich puts on the helmet and changes himself into a huge dragon. Wotan and Loge pretend to be impressed. They ask him whether he can change himself into something small. Alberich show off again, changing himself into a frog. Wotan immediately puts his foot on him and catches him. Wotan and Loge take all the gold and go back to Valhalla.

Scene 4

Wotan and Loge tease Alberich. Alberich asks them what they want so that he can be free. Wotan demands the gold. The Nibelungs pile the gold up. Alberich is not too worried, because he still has the ring which gives him magic power. He thinks he can use this power later to get the gold back. Wotan sees the ring on Alberich's finger. He tells him to give him the ring. Alberich is terrified, but Wotan tears it from his finger. Before Alberich goes he puts a curse on the ring. Whoever has had the ring will die. This is very important to the whole story of the four operas.

The two giants appear with Freia. The gods have become very weak, but once Freia returns they start to become stronger again. Wotan tells the giants they can have their gold. The giants say that they must pile up the gold in front of Freia until they cannot see her. They do this, but the giants say there is still a tiny hole through which they can see Freia's eye. They see the ring on Wotan's finger and tell him to put it in the hole. Wotan says they can have anything they want but not the ring.

Erda appears. Erda is the Earth Goddess. She is very wise. She reminds Wotan that there is a curse on the ring and that he should quickly give the ring to the giants. Wotan has no choice. He puts the ring in the hole. Now the giants are happy.

Immediately, however, the giants start to argue with one another and Fafner kills Fasolt. The curse on the ring is working. Loge tells Wotan he was wise to give up the ring. However, Fricka is still worried because Wotan did have the ring.

Donner, the god of Thunder, enters and swings his hammer. There is a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder. The clouds vanish, a rainbow makes a bridge to Valhalla and the gods enter Valhalla. The Rhinemaidens are heard crying out to Wotan to give the gold back, but Wotan takes no notice. The gods are now at the height of their glory. We shall see, at the end of the fourth opera, that the curse will catch up with them and that they, too, will die.

The music
The music of Das Rheingold is beautifully written to fit every person and every situation. The famous opening starts with a low chord of E flat which describes the bottom of the river Rhine. At first the notes of the chords are held on, then gradually a ripple of broken chords and arpeggios suggest the ripples of the water. The harps make a sound like the waves. The harmony just consists of the same E flat chord for the first 136 bars until the Rhine Maidens start to sing.

Each character in the opera has his own musical leitmotif which can change and combine to show their changing moods and situations. There are big, heavy chords for the giants, creepy chromatic winding music for Loge, the god of fire, who is supposed to be very crafty, dignified music for the Earth Goddess Erda etc. There is a special leitmotif for the curse, which is heard at various times in all four operas.

Wagner actually called "Das Rheingold" a "prologue" to the other three operas, which he saw as the main operas of the cycle.

The other operas
 The second opera in the cycle is Die Walküre.
 The third opera in the cycle is Siegfried.
 The fourth opera in the cycle is Götterdämmerung.
 The whole cycle is called Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Operas by Richard Wagner
1860s operas

Das Rheingold


Jerusalem, Israel ke capital city hae. Ii city ek pahaarr pe hae jiske kinare dher valley hae. Ii tiin khaas dharam khatir important hae. Ii abhi Israel aur West Bank me baatal hae.

Itihaas
Jerusalem ek bahut purana city hae. Ii Judaism, Christianity aur Islam khatir important jagha hae. Bible batawe hae ki King David, Israel ke duusra raja, ii city ke pagan log se lae ke appan mahal huan pe banais. King Solomon, David ke larkaa aur aglaa raja, Temple in Jerusalem ke banais. Baad me jab ii Judah ke capital rahaa tab Jerusalem ke Babylon ke raja barbaad kar diis rahaa. King David ke mahal aur and the Solomon ke MAndir ke jarae dwa gais rahaa.

Baad me ii jagha ke Romans log capture kar linn rahaa. King Herod the Great, jon ki Roman Emperor ke khatir raaj karat rahaa, Mandir ke barraa karis aur Jews log ke aapan side laae ke kosis karis. Jesus Christ, AD 33 me Jeruslem me maraa rahaa. AD 70 me the Jews log rebel kar diin lekin Roman log city aur Temple ke barbaad kar diin. Jewish people who lived in Jerusalem were caught and became slaves. The Romans renamed Jerusalem with a Latin name. Since then, the Temple hasn't been rebuilt, and only a part of its wall remains until today.

After the Roman Empire was split into two, the Byzantine Empire ruled Jerusalem. Later, Muslims took over the city from them. The Muslims believed Muhammad went to heaven from Jerusalem.

Later, the Pope in Rome sent the Crusaders from Western Europe to try and take it back. They succeeded for a while, but eventually the city fell again to the Saracens. Until the 20th century, Jerusalem was a part of the Ottoman Empire. There were some Jews in Jerusalem all along, even though they were ruled by other people.

The "New City" of Jerusalem is the part outside the old stone walls. People started building the new city in the 1800s. Mishkenot Sha'annanim, Mea Shearim, and the Bukharan Quarter are some of the first neighborhoods in the new city.

After World War II, the United Nations let Jewish people from Europe, many of whom lived through the Holocaust, make a country in Israel alongside the Palestinian Arabs.

Jerusalem is pronounced "Yerushalayim" in Hebrew.

All buildings in Jerusalem have special Jerusalem stone on them.

Asia
Capital cities

Jerusalem


The  is a handheld video game system made by the Sega Corporation. It was released in Japan in 1990, and then released later in Europe, the United States and Australia.

The Game Gear has a colour screen, a speaker, and needs six AA batteries (for 4 hours of play-time) to run. It is bigger and costs more money than the Nintendo Game Boy. It also uses more electric power than the Game Boy, so the Game Gear's batteries must be replaced more often.

There are special add-ons for the Game Gear, such as a TV-Tuner that allows people to watch television on it.

References

Notes

Handheld video games
Sega video game consoles

Game Gear


Springer Vieweg Verlag (formerly known as Vieweg+Teubner Verlag) is a German publishing company that specializes in books on technical subjects. It is a subsidiary of Springer Science+Business Media.

The original  was founded in Berlin in 1786 by Friedrich Vieweg. The firm's headquarters were in Braunschweig from 1799 to 1974, at which time they were moved to Wiesbaden. In 2008, the company merged with ; another technical speciality publisher that was founded in Leipzig in 1811, becoming Vieweg+Teubner Verlag. In 2012, the joint firm was acquired by Springer Science+Business Media and is now known as Springer Vieweg Verlag.

The  publisher focuses on construction engineering, electrical engineering, information technology, mathematics, mechanical engineering and natural sciences. According to the publisher, more than 30 Nobel Prize laureates have been published by Vieweg Verlag, among which are Albert Einstein and Max Planck.

External links
 Official website

Publishing companies of Germany
Companies based in Wiesbaden
Mass media in Wiesbaden

Springer Vieweg Verlag


Dagr (Old Norse "day") is a personification of a day in the Norse mythology. He is a son of the dawn god Dellingr and personification of the night Nótt. He is a half-brother of Auðr and Jörð (Earth). His nephew is Thor.

Odin took Dagr and Nótt, gave them each a chariot and a horse—Dagr receiving the horse Skinfaxi—and placed them in the sky to ride around the earth every 24 hours.
Norse mythology

Dagr