Harigopal Bal or Baul () popularly called as Tegra (1915 — 22 April 1930) was a Bengali revolutionary who took part in revolutionary activities against British rule in India.

Bal was born in 1915, at the village Kanungopara in Chittagong, Bengal (now in Bangladesh). His father was Pran Krishna Bal. Harigopal Bal joined the revolutionaries and took part in the Chittagong Armoury Raid on 18 April 1930 with his elder brother Lokenath Bal. After the abortive raid, Bal escaped. Four days later, he was injured after being shot while fighting against British troops on Jalalabad Hill, near Chittagong. He died on 22 April 1930.

Film adaptations
A film Chittagong released in October 2012, directed by Dr. Bedabrata Pain, shows role of Harigopal Bal (called by his nickname "Tegra" in the movie) in the Chittagong Armoury raid. Manoj Bajpai was the lead actor and played the role of Surya Sen.

Actor Nitin Prabhat played the Harigopal Bal with nickname 'Tegra' in the Bollywood movie Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey released in 2010.

References
 Some prominent martyrs of India's freedom struggle

20th-century Bengalis
21st-century Bengalis
People from Chittagong District
Indian revolutionaries
1930 deaths
Year of birth missing

Harigopal Bal


Gloria Evangelina Elizondo López-Llera (28 April 1929 – 2 October 2017) was a Mexican actress and singer from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. She starred in movies, television and theater. She was an accomplished artist having studied at the National School of Painting and had a degree in theology. She wrote two books and recorded numerous albums. In 2014, she received a Premios Arlequín (Harlequin Prize) for her contributions to Mexican culture.

Biography
Gloria Evangelina Elizondo López-Llera was born on 28 April 1929 in Mexico City. Her mother, Evangelina López Llera, was a painter. At the age of 21, she won a contest to become the voice of Cinderella in the original Spanish-language release of the Walt Disney feature film.
Her first acting performance, at the Teatro Margo was as a dancer in the 1950 production of Los de abajo by Mariano Azuela. From that starting point, she went on to participate in many stage productions including Mame, Yo y mi Chica, Dónde está el Tenor, and  La viuda alegre.

Her first film was Las locuras de Tin-Tan with Germán Valdés made in 1951. After that, some of her favorite films were Frontera Norte (1953), Educando a Papá (1954), Pueblo de Proscritos (1955), and Los Platillos Voladores (1955).

From 1954-55, she filmed nine pictures in Cuba and when she returned she made Tropicana (1956), Superflaco (1957) and El Castillo de los Monstrous (1957). The last two were personal favorites, one because it was a musical and the other because it was an Abbott and Costello-type film and the actors in it were enjoyable to work with. In her later career, Elizondo filmed El Mistero de los Hongos Alucinantes (1967), Noche de Terror (1987), and the English-language film, A Walk in the Clouds (1994). She made over 75 films, mostly comedies and musicals, as she did not like dramatic works.

In 1959, she married an engineer, José Luis Paganoni. They separated in 1960. On 27 May 1960, Elizondo, who was participating in the play 30 minutos de amor at the Rotunda Theatre with Ramón Gay, had gone to dinner with Gay after their performance. The couple was accosted by Paganoni, and during the argument, Gay was shot. Elizondo called for an ambulance and Gay was taken to Rubén Leñero Hospital. He succumbed to his wounds on 28 May 1960.

Shortly after that event, she recorded her first musical album, La sensacional Evangelina, which was released in 1961 and she has recorded numerous LPs and CDs. Her music spans from children's songs, to opera, to inspirational songs. She was the first woman to lead an orchestra, which she did for over 12 years.

Elizondo also performed in several telenovelas for both Televisa and TV Azteca. La frontera, El pecado de Oyuki, El abuelo y yo, Tres veces Sofía, Besos prohibidos and Mirada de Mujer, el regreso. In the last two, she performed as the character "Mamá Lena", who has become a cultural icon in Mexico. "Mama Lena" is the personification of traditional values meeting the modern world and the emotions that accompany the clashes that inevitably occur. In addition to serials, Elizondo has filmed several commercials, including commercials for American television. In 1996, she did a commercial for the California Milk Commission.

She studied various art media: acrylic with Froylán Ojeda, murals with Ignacio Aguirre, oils with Jorge Quiroz, who also taught her how to paint hands, and attended the National School of Painting "La Esmeralda". She studied with the master painter, José Bardasano Baos and in 1973, she held her first solo exhibition of her artworks. Initially her style was surrealistic with bold use of color, but her later works are more realistic depictions of animals, landscapes and people. As of 2014, she had participated in 64 group art showings and 15 solo exhibitions.

She studied theology and graduated with a bachelor's degree in theology in 1993 from La Salle University. She has written a book about art, as well one about philosophy, entitled "Pensamiento Abierto," and published numerous articles.

In 2004, Elizondo began working full-time at the National Association of Actors (ANDA) as Secretary of Labor and Conflicts but was dismissed in 2012. She sued and won her case for wrongful termination in 2013.

Elizondo was the recipient of a 2014 Premios Arlequín (Harlequin Prize) for her contributions to Mexican culture.

Death and legacy
Elizondo died on 2 October 2017 in Mexico City, aged 88. A Google Doodle on 28 April 2019 commemorated Elizondo's 90th birth anniversary.

Published works

Books
 "Evangelina Elizondo: pintura" Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City (1963) (in Spanish) (OCLC #176183788)
 "Pensamiento abierto: se puede ser feliz aun—en un mundo de hombres" Editorial Grad, Mexico City (1999) (in Spanish) ()

Albums
La sensacional Evangelina, Coro (1961) (in Spanish)
Evangelina Elizondo, Cisne (1963) (in Spanish)

Filmography

Film

 Las locuras de Tin-Tan (1952) - Paloma
 Swingtime in Mexico (1952, RKO Screenliner) - Band Singer
 Amor, qué malo eres (1953) - Lilia de la Cueva
 Genio y figura (1953) - Victoria
 Frontera norte (1953) - Rosaura
 La intrusa (1954, Cuba) - Tania
 Los tres Villalobos (1954, Cuba)
 Educando a papá (1955, Cuba)
 Amor de lejos (1955, Cuba) - Adela
 El tren expreso (1955, Cuba) - Novia de Mario
 Qué bravas son las costeñas (1955, Cuba) - Beatriz
 Música, espuelas y amor (1955, Cuba) - Evangelina
 Los tres Villalobos (1955) - Betty
 La venganza de los Villalobos (1955, Cuba) - Betty
 Fugitivos: Pueblo de proscritos (1955) - Chabela
 Mi canción eres tú (1956) - Chui
 Viva la juventud (1956) - Walipolera
 No me platiques más (1956)
 Los Platillos Voladores (also known as Llegaron los Marcianos) (1956, Cuba) - Saturnina
 Los platillos voladores (1956) - Saturnina
 Las zapatillas verdes (1956) - Rosalinda
 Rapto al sol (1956)
 Tropicana (1957)
 Te vi en tv (1958) - Rita
 Tú y la mentira (1958) - María Veléz
 Música en la noche (1958)
 Manos arriba (1958) - Gloria
 El castillo de los monstruos (1958) - Beatriz
 El superflaco (1959) - Rebeca; Brigida Loyo
 Ángel del infierno (1959)
 Verano violento (1960) - Sofía
 Una canción para recordar (1960)
 México lindo y querido (1961)
 Tres balas perdidas (1961) - Bárbara
 La furia del ring (1961)
 Los falsos héroes (1962)
 La chacota (1962)
 Días de otoño (1963) - Rita
 Un hombre en la trampa (1965) - Sra. Fuentes
 El amor no es pecado (1965) - Pilar, la chalupa
 Pistoleros del oeste (1965)
 Un callejón sin salida (1965) - Patricia
 El tragabalas (1966) - Luz
 Esta noche no (1966) - Berta
 Domingo salvaje (1967)
 Un novio para dos hermanas (1967)
 Don Juan 67 (1967)
 El misterio de los hongos alucinantes (1968)
 El matrimonio es como el demonio (1969) - Señora Ancira
 El hombre de negro (1969) - Mary
 Gregorio and His Angel (1970)
 La generala (1971) - Raquel
 Te quiero (1979)
 Don't Panic (1988) - Reception Nurse
 ¿Nos traicionará el presidente? (1988) - Señora Rodriguez
 Romero (1989) - Josephina Gatedo
 A Walk in the Clouds (1995) - Guadelupe Aragon
 There Is No Pain in Paradise (1995) - Dona Carlota
 Alta tensión (1997)
 E pur si muove (2003, Short)
 Las Buenrostro (2005) - Brigida
 Me late chocolate (2013) - Abuela Moni
 Princesa, una historia verdadera (2018) - María (final film role)

Telenovelas
 Frontera (1967)
 El pecado de Oyuki (1988) - Diana
 El abuelo y yo (1992) - Sofia
 Mirada de mujer (1997–1998) - Doña Elena viuda de Domínguez "Mamálena"
 Tres veces Sofía (1998) - Magnolia
 Besos prohibidos (1999) - Cristina
 Cuando seas mia (2001–2002) - Doña Inés Ugarte Vda. de Sánchez Serrano
 Mirada de mujer: El regreso  (2003) - Doña Elena viuda de Domínguez "Mamálena"
 La heredera (2004)
 Amores cruzados (2006) - Sara
 Pasión Morena (2009–2010) - Doña Josefina Vda. de Sirenio

Television series
 La hora marcada'' (Episodio: Pin pon papas) (1989)

References

External links
 Elizondo's paintings

1929 births
2017 deaths
20th-century Mexican actresses
Mexican television actresses
Actresses from Mexico City
Mexican stage actresses
Mexican film actresses
Mexican telenovela actresses
20th-century Mexican women writers
20th-century Mexican writers
Mexican women artists
Mexican women singers
21st-century Mexican actresses
Singers from Mexico City
Golden Age of Mexican cinema

Evangelina Elizondo


Metaxism () is a Greek authoritarian nationalist ideology associated with Ioannis Metaxas. It called for the regeneration of the Greek nation and the establishment of a modern, culturally homogenous Greece. Metaxism disparaged liberalism, and held individual interests to be subordinate to those of the nation, seeking to mobilize the Greek people as a disciplined mass in service to the creation of a "new Greece."

Metaxas declared that his 4th of August Regime (1936–1941) represented a "Third Greek Civilization" which was committed to the creation of a culturally purified Greek nation based upon the militarist societies of ancient Macedonia and Sparta, which he held to constitute the "First Greek Civilization"; and the Orthodox Christian ethic of the Byzantine Empire, which he considered to represent the "Second Greek Civilization." The Metaxas regime asserted that true Greeks were ethnically Greek and Orthodox Christian, intending to deliberately exclude Albanians, Slavs, and Turks residing in Greece from Greek citizenship.

Although the Metaxas government and its official doctrines are sometimes described as fascist, academically it is considered to have been a conventional totalitarian-conservative governorship akin to Francisco Franco's Spain or António de Oliveira Salazar's Portugal. The Metaxist government derived its authority from the conservative establishment and its doctrines strongly supported traditional institutions such as the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek Monarchy; essentially reactionary, it lacked the radical theoretical dimensions of ideologies such as Italian Fascism and German Nazism. The regime also lacked antisemitism, which it regarded as "distasteful".

The ideology of Metaxism was associated with Metaxas' political party, the Freethinkers' Party and the 4th of August Regime. In the post-war period it has been advocated by the 4th of August Party, the Golden Dawn party and the ELAM party.

Main ideas
Greek nationalism: Promoted cultural purity of the Greek nation and endorsed the creation of a "Third Hellenic Civilization".
Monarchism: Considered the institution of monarchy a pillar of national unity.
Anti-communism: Metaxism was very hostile to left-wing and communist ideologies.
Anti-parliamentarianism: Denounced the way the old parliamentary system operated, as a cause of anarchy, division and economic decline.
Corporatism: Worked strongly through corporate groups and trade unions.
Clericalism: The Greek Orthodox Church was an integral aspect of the Metaxist regime.
Protectionism: Considered the market-liberal policies of the old state to have failed.
Anti-imperialism: Opposed the domination and influence of Greece by foreign powers.

History

The ideology developed by Metaxas began with Metaxas' response to the revolution of 1922 that put in a pro-republican government in Greece. Metaxas formed the Freethinkers' Party, a monarchist party that originally supported the advancement of civil liberties, though this changed with Metaxas' evolving political views. Metaxas supported the failed counterrevolution by monarchists against the republican-oriented government on October 23, 1923; the counterrevolution collapsed within a week, and an arrest warrant was issued for Metaxas, who fled to Norway in exile. The pro-republican government achieved its aim in 1924 when the Greek monarchy was abolished and a Greek republic was established. In 1924, Metaxas officially changed his position from opposition to the republic to acceptance of its institutions.

In the 1926 general election, Metaxas' Freethinkers' Party won 54 out of 250 seats in the Greek parliament, resulting in the party becoming part of Greece's coalition government, and Metaxas becoming the Minister of Communications. However, the Freethinkers' Party's public support collapsed in the 1928 election, in which it lost almost all of its seats, including Metaxas' own seat.

By the 1930s, Metaxas openly condemned the parliamentary system in Greece. For the 1935 election, Metaxas' party joined other monarchist parties in an electoral coalition known as the United Royalists that called for the restoration of the monarchy. The Freethinkers' Party won only seven seats in the election. Nevertheless, a monarchist government was formed in Greece in 1935, resulting in the restoration of King George II of Greece as head of state.

King George II had held close relations with Metaxas in the past and appointed Metaxas as the Prime Minister of Greece in May 1936. Upon becoming Prime Minister, Metaxas made clear his discontent with the political deadlock between feuding political blocs in Greece's parliament and the rising labour unrest being exploited by the Communist Party of Greece. Metaxas quickly sought to crush dissent including labour unrest in the form of decrees that did not require acceptance by the Greek parliament.

On August 4, 1936, Metaxas gained the King's support for a decree that dissolved parliament. He declared martial law, suspended civil rights such as liberty of the subject, and mobilized transport and public workers to support him. Metaxas justified these actions as necessary to prevent a communist revolution. Numerous leftist leaders (and others) were arrested following these proclamations. Metaxas abolished all political parties including his own, ruling as an official independent. This date is considered the beginning of Metaxas' totalitarian rule, which later came to be known as the 4th of August Regime.

Metaxas was referred to by supporters as the Archigos (Leader) and promised to create a "New State" in Greece that called for Greeks to wholly commit themselves to the nation with self-control as the Spartans had done. Supporters of the 4th of August Regime justified Metaxas' dictatorship on the basis that the "First Greek Civilization" involved the Athenian dictatorship of Pericles who had brought ancient Greece to greatness.

Metaxas introduced widespread strict censorship of the press and banned works by authors considered taboo by the regime, including literature by Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Immanuel Kant.

Metaxas saw the creation of a disciplined younger generation as being critical for the future of Greece and for the strengthening of his regime and its principles that would entrench the Third Greek Civilization. In October 1936, the regime created the National Youth Organization of Greece (EON), which attained a membership of 200,000 by 1938. In 1939, youth membership in the EON became mandatory, and the organization absorbed the Boy Scouts of Greece. Members of the EON took an oath of fidelity to the principles of the 4th of August Regime that included: embracing the institutions of the monarchy; support of national pride and faith to the Greek civilization; opposition to parliamentarianism and communism; support of the development of egalitarian, non-individualistic, virtuous citizens.

In spite of the Metaxas regime's ties to Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, it was drawn into World War II opposite the Axis Powers after the Italian invasion of Greece. Metaxas then aligned his government with the allies until Greece capitulated and yielded to occupation by the Axis powers following the Battle of Greece. Metaxas died on 29 January 1941, leaving an unfinished (and thus never published) plan concerning a "new constitution" for Greece that would have created new form of government without the disadvantages of the old parliamentary system.

In religious affairs, the regime maintained previous states' tradition of holding control over religious and ecclesiastic institutions. The regime was tolerant towards religious minorities (mainly Jews and Muslims), the majority of whom were conservative and hostile towards Venizelism. The regime was not antisemitic, and it prohibited antisemitic publications by certain newspapers.

Legacy
The social control which was established by Metaxas and the ideas passed to the youth, especially through the National Youth Organisation, had a significant influence on the Greek society and the post-war political system. Some examples are the censorship, which was in use until the Metapolitefsi, and the surviving elements of a police state. In the immediate post-war era Metaxism was advocated by the 4th of August Party. The ideas of the 4th of August Regime was also an extra motive for the group of right-wing army officers who seized power in a coup d'état and led to the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. Today the only party of the Greek parliament which claims to follow the ideas of Metaxas is the right-wing extremist Golden Dawn. Other far-right parties such as Popular Greek Patriotic Union which split from the Golden Dawn also claim to follow Metaxism.

See also

Greek nationalism
Venizelism

References

External links
 Metaxas Project, a website about the 4th of August state
 ioannismetaxas.gr, a website about Ioannis Metaxas' life, made by his granddaughter

Ioannis Metaxas
.
Greek nationalism
Political movements in Greece
State ideologies
Eponymous political ideologies
Conservatism in Greece

Metaxism


Steel Bridge Songfest ("Steel Bridge" for short) is an annual, four-day music festival held in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.  Founded in 2005 by musician Pat MacDonald the event began as part of a grass-roots campaign to restore a historic bridge. The festival features a week-long collaborative songwriting workshop (called the Construction Zone) where participants write songs inspired by the bridge.  The songs are recorded on-site at the Holiday Music Motel and released as compilation albums. Steel Bridge Songs Vol.10 was released during Steel Bridge Songfest 10th Anniversary (2016)

History
The Michigan Street Bridge a.k.a. Sturgeon Bay Bridge (originally called "Memorial Bridge") is a multi-span Warren/Parker truss bridge built in 1929 and dedicated the following year. It connects Wisconsin State Highway 57 to the Third Avenue business district, carrying motor and foot traffic over the Sturgeon Bay Shipping Canal. The structure is a Door County landmark, and appears in the official logo of the city of Sturgeon Bay. Its rolling bascule lift spans are unique in the country, and in 2008 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1995, continuous remote monitoring by Northwestern University's Infrastructure Technology Institute detected new cracks in the track casting, later confirmed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT). Though the cracks were repaired, a 1997 Programmatic Agreement amongst the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) determined that the bridge did not warrant preservation. In 1999, the FHWA began considering plans to demolish and replace the bridge.

It is during this time that Citizens For Our Bridge, a non-profit 501(c)(3), was founded as "S.O.B."s ("Save Our Bridge"). The group was formed by citizens opposed to the suggested destruction. Working together with ACHP and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, CFOB proposed a plan to rehabilitate the structure. To raise funds to carry out the plan, CFOB founder Christie Weber and her brother, musician Pat MacDonald, organized a small music festival. MacDonald enlisted the help of his longtime friend, singer/songwriter Jackson Browne, and Steel Bridge Songfest was born.

Participating musicians
A sampling of musicians who have lent their talents to Steel Bridge:

 Chris Aaron Band (Madison, WI)
 Jackson Browne (Santa Monica, CA)
 Charles Boheme (Madison, WI)
 Todd Carey (Chicago, IL)
 Charlie Cheney (Sturgeon Bay, WI)
 Kacy Crowley (Austin, TX)
 The Dark Horse Project (Milwaukee, WI)
 Victor DeLorenzo of the Violent Femmes (Milwaukee, WI)
 Louise Goffin (Los Angeles, CA)
 Dana Erlandson (Green Bay, WI)
 Craig Greenberg (New York, NY)
 Emiko (New York, NY)
 James Hall (Atlanta, GA)
 Freedy Johnston (Nashville, TN)
 Jon Kanis (San Diego, CA)
 Tarl Knight (Green Bay, WI)
 Johnny Lowebow (Memphis, TN)
 Pat MacDonald (Sturgeon Bay, WI)
 Kim Manning of P-Funk (Los Angeles, CA)
 Ellie Maybe (Madison, WI)
 Eric McFadden (San Francisco, CA)
 melaniejane (Milwaukee, WI)
 Alex Mitchard (Madison, WI)
 Liv Mueller (Austin, TX)
 Kory Murphy (Green Bay, WI)
 Bruce Reaves (South Bend, IN)
 Dorothy Scott (New York, NY)
 Brandon Seyferth (Chicago, IL)
 Sigmund Snopek III of the Violent Femmes (Milwaukee, WI)
 Jonathan Spottiswoode (New York, NY/London, UK)
 Clyde Stubblefield (Madison, WI)
 Victoria Vox (Baltimore, MD)
 Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's (Los Angeles, CA)
 Geri X (St. Petersburg, FL)
 James McMurtry (Austin, TX)

References

 Steel Bridge History & FAQ
 A long backstory: how I came to stand behind an unaware Jackson Browne, joshd. Superstarcastic.com
 Ed Huycke, 2007. 'Answering a friend's call', Door County Magazine Online
 SBSF4 from Door County Scene, (Archived October 18, 2008)
 Karen Klement, 2007. 'Sturgeon Bay: The Songwriting Capital of the World', Door County Daily News
 WisDOT July 29, 2005. 'Michigan Street Bridge study history', (Archived September 29, 2006)
 ACHP 2006. 'Completed Case: Sturgeon Bay Bridge Rehabilitation'. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Case Digest, pp. 9–10. (Archived August 13, 2006)
 Northwestern University Infrastructure Technology Institute, 2004. 'Continuous Remote Monitoring' (Somat Conference) (Archived May 9, 2008)
 Stephanie Joy Smith, 2008. 'Who's News'. Preservation Magazine, National Trust for Historic Preservation.
 Jon Kanis, 2013. 'Check Your Ego At The Door: Transformation And Rejuvenation At The Steel Bridge Songfest'. The San Diego Troubadour, (Archived March 5, 2016)

External links
 Official site
 Steel Bridge on MySpace
 Steel Bridge Songs, Vol. 1 on iTunes

Tourist attractions in Door County, Wisconsin
Music festivals in Wisconsin

Steel Bridge Songfest


An ammunition technical officer (ATO) is an officer involved in all aspects of the army, air force, and navy's use of ammunition. This includes: bomb disposal, clearance of ERW, explosives accident investigation, procurement, in service management, storage, and inspection and repair.

British Army
ATOs are generally selected as captains, exclusively from within the Royal Logistic Corps; however when an ammunition technician (AT) warrant officer (WO) or senior non-commissioned officer (SNCO) is selected for commission, their AT qualification transfers to that of an ATO. One such example is Major Peter Norton GC.

ATO training takes 20 months and requires attendance at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom Military College of Science and the Defence EOD Munitions Search School Kineton, formerly known as the Army School of Ammunition. After conclusion of the training, the new ATO may take command of an EOD troop within 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Regiment RLC or be employed within an ammunition squadron or ammunition depot.

In 11 EOD & Search Regiment RLC or 33 EOD & Search Regiment RE, the ATO performs, in addition to the troop commander's role, counterterrorism bomb disposal activities and IEDD within the UK, occasionally leading an EOD team.  WO and SNCO ATs routinely lead those EOD teams, and when doing so are often embarrassingly referred to as the ATO.

ATs and ATOs can undergo further EOD training at the Felix Centre within the Defence EOD Munitions Search School Kineton. ATOs alongside ATs are the UK's ammunition experts, with many years of experience in Palestine, Aden, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, and anywhere where the British Army have forces deployed and require EOD expertise and advice.

Armed forces of other nations also have ATOs, some of which are trained by the British Army. These countries include Canada, New Zealand, and Singapore. Canadian ATOs, however have not been trained by the British since 2012 and complete their training at the Royal Military College of Canada and the Canadian Forces Logistics Training Centre.

Operational honours

George Cross
Lieutenant WM Eastman GC, Royal Army Ordnance Corps. 24 December 1940.
Captain RL Jephson-Jones GC, Royal Army Ordnance Corps. 24 December 1940.
Major George Styles GC, Royal Army Ordnance Corps. 11 January 1972.
Captain Peter Norton GC, Royal Logistic Corps. 24 July 2005.
Captain Joe Varey GC. Royal Logistic Corps, 24 July 2005.

George Medal
Capt Daniel Marc Shepherd GM, Royal Logistic Corps. 19 March 2010. Killed whilst clearing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Military Cross
Captain SD Bratcher MC, Royal Logistic Corps. 24 March 2006.
Major ID Scattergood MBE MC, Royal Logistic Corps. 25 July 2008.

Queen's Gallantry Medal
Captain Vincent Michael Strafford QGM, Royal Logistic Corps. 19 July 2007.
Captain Wayne Edward James Owers MBE QGM, Royal Logistic Corps. 19 March 2010.

Queen's Gallantry Medal with Bar
Captain Eamon Conrad Heakin QGM*, Royal Logistic Corps. 7 March 2008.
Captain Vincent Michael Strafford QGM*, Royal Logistic Corps. 7 March 2008.

Australian Army
The Australian Army also employs ATOs, who are members of the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps (RAAOC). RAAOC ATOs are trained in Australia, and this training has also been made available to members of other regional (Asia/South Pacific) Defence Forces.

Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army has ATOs who are trained at the Pakistan Army Ordnance College. They are selected from the officers of the Pakistan Army Ordnance Corps in almost the same manner as that of the British Army ATOs. They are specialists in the ammunition field, and have many years of experience within Pakistan and other countries, such as Liberia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Congo, CAR and elsewhere the Pakistan Army is deployed as part of the UN. Pakistan ATOs have the unique honour of handling / clearing IEDs and completing EOD Operations during War On Terror in Swat, North and South Waziristan Agencies and even in the settled areas of the countries. Most of the ATOs have specialized from CIED and EOD Trg programmes covered by British and US EOD institutes to assist the Engineers Corps as a technical expert to handle all IEDs and supervise their EOD activities and clearance of ERW. The major part of ATOs was in recent Operation Zarb-e-Azab. It is imperative to note and mention here, that, every field formation of Pakistan Army has a specified ATO appointment amongst its Staff Appointments to work as Advisor on Ammunition Matters to the Formation Commander directly. In UN, ATOs of the Battalions and Sector HQ work hand in glove with UNMAS for all EOD operations and clearance of ERW.

South African Army
The role and function of the South African Ammunition Corps is to ensure that only safe and effective ammunition is supplied to the Department of Defence and other users. Their functions includes participation in research and development, quality assurance, unit inspection, maintenance and disposal of ammunition. Candidates must have a sound psychological profile exhibiting a high degree of intelligence, steadiness and an aptitude or innovative technical thinking. Learners must be in possession of a National Senior Certificate (Grade 12) or Level 4 (N3) certificate and must have passed Mathematics and Physical Science.

Bangladesh Army
The Ammunition Technical Officers (ATOs) of Bangladesh Army are selected technically proficient and specialist officers of Bangladesh Army Ordnance Corps. They are trained at Ordnance Centre and School (OC&S) of Bangladesh Army for 32 weeks duration on various Ammunition, Explosives, EOD, CIED and IEDD, CBRNE and all management matters related to these fields. After a long, arduous training journey, the newly qualified ammunition/explosive experts are inducted into the valiant group of ATOs of the Bangladesh Army. Furthermore, many of them attain foreign training in ammunition/explosives and IED-related fields from renowned institutions across the world. The ATOs are specialists in the munitions and explosives arena, and have many years of experience within Bangladesh and other countries, such as Kuwait, Liberia, DR Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, CAR, Mali, Somalia and elsewhere the Bangladesh Army is deployed as part of the UN force.

ATOs of the Bangladesh Army are always ready to face any eventualities in the Field Formation, during field firing or heavy weapon firing, while working in assistance to civil administration and in overseas employment. At present, they are performing the following core responsibilities:

 Perform as ATO in the unit, formations and on deputation.
 Provide ATO support to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Bangladesh Police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)  Forces.
 Perform as IMAS Level 3+ EOD and IEDD operator.
 Employed as Counter-IED (C-IED) enablers such as members of site exploitation teams, Weapon Technical Intelligence (WTI) Teams, the Intelligence Community (IC), and CIED staff at various levels.
 Perform responsibility in UN Peacekeeping missions and various overseas employment as ATO/ SATO/ EOD Operator/ IEDD Operator.
 Render technical advices on ammunitions, explosives, UXO and IEDs.
 Perform the responsibility of instructor on ammunitions, explosives, EOD, IEDD, CIED, CBRN and all matters related to these fields.
 Perform investigation of all accidents related to ammunition and explosives in Bangladesh.

ATOs of the Bangladesh Army always abreast themselves with up-to-date knowledge on the latest development of trends in warfare, ammunition/explosives and IEDs, related policies and procedures, and material management as part of professional development through specialized training, self-study and interaction with experts in this field. ATOs of the Bangladesh Army also have the scope to remain updated on the EOD, CIED & IEDD and CBRN matters under the umbrella of Bangladesh Army C-IED Fusion Centre (BACFC) and Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE) with renowned institutions of the world.

All responsibilities in respect of ammunition management are done by ATOs in Bangladesh Army at different capacities, such as:

ATOs of the Bangladesh Army are to remain a practitioner on ammunition/ explosives-related appointments and are required to undertake diverse and multi-layered refresher and currency training to maintain the competency level; only to validate their authorization as National Ammunition experts empowered by allotted ATO number. This authorization is subject to revoke if the individual fails to perform.

References

See also
 Ammunition Technician (AT)

British Army specialisms
Bomb disposal
Royal Logistic Corps

Ammunition technical officer


Anchovies are a family (Engraulidae) of small but common schooling saltwater plankton-feeding fish.  They are found in scattered areas throughout the world's oceans. Anchovies are concentrated in temperate waters, and are rare or absent in very cold or very warm seas.

Biology

The anchovy is a small green fish with blue reflections. These reflections are due to a silver stripe that runs  along the length of the fish from the base of the caudal fin.  It is maximum  in length. The body shape is variable with more slender fish in northern populations.  The snout is blunt with small, sharp teeth in both jaws.  The mouth is larger than those of herrings and silversides, two fish which they closely resemble.  It eats plankton and fish larvae.

The Anchovy can tolerate  a wide range of temperatures and salinity. Large schools can be found in shallow, brackish areas with muddy bottoms, as in estuaries and bays.

Spawning occurs between October and March, but not in water colder than 12 °C.  The anchovy appears to spawn 100 kilometers from the shore, near the surface of the water.

Habitat
There are many Anchovies in the Mediterranean. They are regularly caught on the coasts of Sicily, Italy, France and Spain. The range of the species also extends along the Atlantic coast of Europe to the south of Norway.

As a food source

The anchovy is a good food source for almost every predatory fish in its environment, including the California halibut, rock fish, yellowtail, sharks, chinook, and coho salmon.  It is also extremely important to marine mammals and birds; for example, California brown pelicans and elegant terns. The breeding success of these birds is strongly connected to anchovy abundance. As time progresses and the anchovy population drops, the population of the predatory species are also expected to decline.

They are also eaten by humans.  Anchovies preserved by being gutted and salted in brine, matured, then packed in oil, are an important food fish, both popular and infamous for their strong flavor. In Roman times, they were the base for the fermented fish sauce called garum that was a staple of cuisine and an item of long-distance commerce produced in industrial quantities. Today they are a key ingredient in Caesar salad and Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, and are often used as a pizza topping. Because of the strong flavour they are also an ingredient in several sauces, including Worcestershire sauce and many fish sauces, and in some versions of Café de Paris butter.  They are most commonly marketed in small tins, either as "flat" filets, or as "rolled anchovies" where each fillet is rolled around a caper.  Both are quite salty. The flat fillets are usually more salty than the rolled anchovies.  They are also marketed in jars and tubes as a paste, mostly for use in making sauces, such as anchovy essence. Fishermen also use anchovies as bait for larger fish such as tuna and sea bass.

The strong taste that people associate with anchovies is due to the curing process.  Fresh anchovies, known in Italy as alici, have a much softer and gentler flavor.  In English-speaking countries, alici are sometimes called "white anchovies", and are often served in a weak vinegar marinade.
This particular preservation method is associated with the coastal town of  Collioure in south east France. The white fillets (a little like marinated herrings) are sold in heavy salt, or the more popular garlic or tomato oil and vinegar marinade packs.

The European anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus, is the anchovy of commerce. Morocco now leads the world in canned anchovies. The anchovy industry along the coast of Cantabria now dwarfs the traditional Catalan salters, though the industry was only started in Cantabria by Sicilian salters in the mid 19th century.

Setipinna taty or ikan bilis is the anchovy commonly used in South-East Asian cooking to make fish stock or sambals. Anchovy is also used to produce budu, by fermentation process.

Anchovies can concentrate domoic acid which causes amnesic shellfish poisoning.

Fishing
Overfishing of anchovies has been a problem. Since the 1980s, large mechanized anchovy fishing vessels based in France have caught the fish in fine-mesh dragnets.

Spain beaching incident
On September 29th, 2006, it was reported in the Associated Press that millions of anchovies with a weight of over three tons, had beached themselves in northern Spain, near Colunga, Asturias.  Tests on the dead fish did not detect any toxic chemical that could have caused the beaching, and the current working theory is that the school beached itself trying to escape from "hungry dolphins or tuna."  If the beached specimens had grown to maturity, it would have been more than "100 tons of potential breeders."

References

Fisheries.vims.edu
PSMFC.org

Clupeiformes
Edible fish

Anchovy


Francis William Blagdon (bapt. 19 January 1777 – 24 December 1818) was an English journalist and author.

Life
Blagdon began his career as a newsboy for The Sun newspaper. He then became amanuensis to Dr. Anthony Florian Madinger Willich, a medical writer, who taught him French and German; he also learned Spanish and Italian.

Blagdon became associated with the Morning Post, which he helped to edit for some years. The paper was then Tory in its views, and Blagdon took a polemical line. He was imprisoned for six months in 1805, for libeling John Jervis, Earl St. Vincent as a naval administrator.

In 1809, Blagdon came into conflict with William Cobbett, and in October of that year he published a prospectus, perhaps not intended seriously, of "Blagdon's Weekly Political Register", which was to commence The History of the Political Life and Writings of Cobbett, who was compared to Catiline. As a Sunday anti-Cobbett paper, Blagdon's Register was subsidised by the government, as was a similar effort of Lewis Goldsmith. Financial speculation ruined him. The Phœnix, another of his ventures, soon came to an end. He died of consumption in Smith Square, Westminster, on Christmas Eve 1818, and was buried on 2 January 1819 at St Margaret's, Westminster. A subscription was raised for his destitute widow and children.

Works
At one time Blagdon published a French Interpreter, possibly no copy being extant. In 1802, he began editing a series of Modern Discoveries (London, 1802–3, 8 vols.); the first two volumes were Vivant Denon's Travels in Egypt in the train of Napoleon Bonaparte; the next two included Sylvain Meinrad Xavier de Golbéry's Travels in Africa (in the Maghreb) and the remaining four were devoted to Peter Simon Pallas's Travels in the Southern Provinces of Russia. The works were translated by Blagdon from the French and German; Pallas's Travels was then translated for a second time by Blagdon, and a new edition published in 1812 (London, 2 vols., with illustrations).

In 1803, Blagdon began publishing with the Rev. Francis Prevost a literary miscellany, Flowers of Literature, which ran to seven volumes (London, 1803–9). The same year he also published, with Prevost, Mooriana, or Selections from the ... Works .. . of Dr. John Moore (London, 2 vols.)

In 1805 Blagdon brought out A Brief History of Ancient and Modern India (London, 3 vols). It was based on a collection of aquatints by Edward Orme, after William Daniell, James Hunter, and Francis Swain Ward. It was reissued in 1813 as an appendix to Captain Thomas Williamson's European in India (London). In 1806 he contributed the Memoirs to Orme's Graphic History of the Life, Exploits, and Death of Lord Nelson.

The proposals of the Whig ministry of 1806 on Catholic emancipation induced Blagdon to publish an edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs; it appeared as An Universal History of Christian Martyrdom . . . originally composed by John Fox . . . and now entirely rewritten ... by the Rev. J. Milner, M. A. (London, 1807). The use of the pseudonym "the Rev. J. Milner" travestied the Roman Catholic priest John Milner. Again on the topic of Catholic emancipation, in 1810, and again pseudonymous, "Catholic Emancipation discussed and exploded! An historical and political view of the Catholic religion ... In a series of letters to ... Lord Grenville from Albion. Subsequent editions of Blagdon's work appeared in 1817, 1837, 1848, 1863, 1871, and in 1881; and in 1892 was published a version by Theodore Alois Buckley, described as "abridged from Milner's edition".

In 1812 Blagdon contributed to Francophobia with The Situation of Great Britain in 1811, translated from the French of M. de Montgaillard (London); this evoked a reply from John Jervis White Jervis, who described Blagdon as "a gentleman well known in the walks of literary knowledge and of loyal authors". In 1814 Blagdon published An Historical Memento ... of the public Rejoicings ... in celebration of the Peace of 1814, and of the Centenary of the Accession of the House of Brunswick (London), and in 1819 a New Dictionary of Classical Quotations (London, 1819).

Blagdon was also author of:

 The Grand Contest ... or a View of the Causes and Probable Consequences of the threatened Invasion of Great Britain, 1803.
 Remarks on a Pamphlet entitled "Observations on the Concise Statement of Facts by Sir Home Popham," 1805.
 Authentic Memoirs of George Morland, 1806; this contains many engravings of Morland's pictures.
 The Modern Geographer, 1807.
 Langhorne's Fables of Flora . . . with a Life of the Author, 1812.
 Letters of the Princess of Wales, comprising the only true History of the celebrated "Book," 1813; on Princess Caroline of Brunswick.

He contributed a life of Samuel Johnson with an edition of his poems to The Laurel (London, 1808); and compiled a general index to the British Critic, vols, xxi–xlii. To him is attributed Paris as it was, and as it is (London, 1803).

Notes

Attribution

External links

1777 births
1818 deaths
English male journalists
English book editors
English translators
Place of birth missing
18th-century English translators
19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deaths in England

Francis William Blagdon


An obstacle course is a series of challenging physical obstacles an individual, team or animal must navigate, usually while being timed. Obstacle courses can include running, climbing, jumping, crawling, swimming, and balancing elements with the aim of testing speed, endurance and agility. Sometimes a course involves mental tests. The idea has been adapted into TV shows (such as American Ninja Warrior and Wipeout) and video games (such as Fall Guys).

Types of courses

Military
The military/Army obstacle course is used (mostly in recruit training) as a way to familiarize recruits with the kind of tactical movement they will use in combat, as well as for physical training, building teamwork, and evaluating problem solving skills. Typical courses involve obstacles the participants must climb over, crawl under, balance, hang, jump, etc. Puddles of muddy water, ropes/nets, and "no touch" restrictions are often used to make the course more difficult. Often, specialized courses are made to focus on specific needs, such as night movement, assault, and bayonet training. Military courses can also contain climbing walls and rappelling walls.

At the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, officer cadets in first year participate in an obstacle course, which is designed by senior cadets. The obstacle course lasts a little over an hour and consists of thirteen obstacles built by each squadron located around the RMC grounds. Obstacles such as a  wall and truck pulling are designed to test teamwork and physical fitness of First Years. The First Year flights are judged on the time it takes to complete each obstacle. The annual obstacle course race is memorialized by a sculpture by John Boxtel, "To Overcome", which was a gift of the class of 1991. Officer Cadets in third year take a physical education courses Obstacle Course and Water Borne Training. In the Obstacle course, cadets design obstacles with the available equipment and are evaluated on their leadership and innovation in the design of an obstacle course for their classmates. In the WB training, cadets learn about aquatic obstacle courses training and improve their basic swimming skills.

At the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, Cadets must take and pass the Indoor Obstacle Course Test (IOCT). The test consists of 11 obstacles that must be navigated sequentially and is a vigorous test of total body fitness and high intensity cardio-vascular capacity. First year Cadets take the IOCT as part of mandatory gymnastics training, while Third Year Cadets must pass the IOCT as a stand-alone test of fitness.

Inflatable
Inflatable (air filled) obstacle courses can have participants go through a variety of areas like the Bish Bash, a tall loose structure to push or wade through, nets to crawl under, walls to climb over and holes to jump through. Some larger inflatables have even more areas.

Assault
An assault obstacle course can be done inside or outside. The outside course is usually messy and filled with mud and muddy water. An inside course is similar to an inflatable course, but it is used in physical education lessons or holiday camps, using gym equipment or whatever is at hand.

Commercial
Several indoor commercial indoor recreation and trampoline park companies have begun to include obstacle courses at their facilities, in many cases because of demand generated by television shows such as American Ninja Warrior, according to The Wall Street Journal.

See also
 Aerial adventure park
 Assault course
 Obstacle Course Racing
 Dog agility
 Georges Hébert (1875–1957)
 Outdoor gym
 Obstacle racing
 Parkour
 Platform video game
 Ropes course
 Steeplechase (athletics)

References

External links

Alternative education
Obstacle Course

Obstacle course


Lê Uy Mục (chữ Hán: 黎威穆; 5 May 1488 – 1 December 1509), also called Lê Tuấn (黎濬), was the eighth emperor of the later Lê dynasty of Vietnam. He was the second son of Emperor Lê Hiến Tông and the elder half-brother of his direct predecessor, Emperor Lê Túc Tông.

Lê Uy Mục was portrayed in Đại Việt's historical annals as an arrogant and ruthless monarch. His reign oversaw the beginning of the decline of the Đại Việt empire, having been prosperous and powerful during the able reigns of Lê Thánh Tông, Lê Hiến Tông and Lê Túc Tông. Annalists during the Revival Lê dynasty recorded him as having killed many people including his grandmother and two of his ministers, as well as many imperial princes. He also wasted his energy in excessive drinking and sexual activities. It was alleged that some Ming ambassadors, having examined the emperor Lê Uy Mục's aggressive physical appearance, labelled him as Demon King (Quỷ vương, 鬼王).

In 1504, Uy Mục arrested his cousin Lê Oanh, son of Hiến Tông's younger brother Lê Tân. Oanh eventually escaped southwards to Thanh Hóa, the homeland of the imperial house. Here, Oanh organized a rebellion against the government. After hard fighting, rebel forces approached the imperial capital Thăng Long and killed the emperor, ending a short reign of only 4 years. Lê Oanh was enthroned as Emperor Lê Tương Dực, who later turned to be another unpopular monarch.

Biography

Childhood
The only primary source about Lê Uy Mục's life was contained in the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, the official historical chronicle of Đại Việt during the Lê dynasty. The chronicle was first compiled in 1479 by Ngô Sĩ Liên, a chronicler in the court of Lê Thánh Tông, Uy Mục's grandfather. After 1479, the works were continually supplemented by other Đại Việt's chroniclers. Parts including details about Lê Uy Mục was added by the minister Vũ Quỳnh in 1511. According to the chronicle, Uy Mục's real name was Lê Tuấn (黎濬). He was born on 5 May 1488 during the reign of his grandfather Lê Thánh Tông. He was the second son of Crown Prince Lê Tranh and Lady Nguyễn Thị Cận. His mother was originally a maid of Consort Nguyễn Kính Phi. She died after giving birth to him and he was adopted by Consort Nguyễn Kính Phi.

Because his mother was a maid, during his childhood he was always be looked down on by his grandmother, Empress Trường Lạc. In 1496, Emperor Lê Thánh Tông died, probably being poisoned by Empress Trường Lạc. Lê Tuấn's father Lê Tranh ascended to the throne, known to chroniclers as Emperor Lê Hiến Tông. In early 1499, several government ministers including Lê Vĩnh and Lê Năng Nhượng persuaded Hiến Tông to choose an heir in order to maintain the dynasty's and the nation's security and sustainability. Hiến Tông agreed, but he despised his two eldest sons, Lê Tuân and Lê Tuấn, for being intellectually and morally unsuited for the throne. The emperor eventually designed his third son, Lê Thuần (mothered by Consort Nguyễn Hoàn) as Crown Prince.

In 1504, Emperor Lê Hiến Tông died at the age of 44. Crown Prince Lê Thuần was enthroned as Emperor Lê Túc Tông. Having reigned for only six months, Túc Tông felt critically ill in December 1504. Realising that he could not pass the disease, Túc Tông designated his elder brother Lê Tuấn as his successor. On 12 January 1505, Túc Tông died at the age of 17. Lê Tuấn's grandmother, who had become Grand Empress Dowager Trường Lạc since the death of Hiến Tông, despised Tuấn's origin as son of a maid. She preferred another prince in royal family. With the help from Nguyễn Kính Phi and Nguyễn Nhữ Vy, finally he could become the next emperor of Lê dynasty, Emperor Lê Uy Mục, in 1505.

Reign
Lê Uy Mục was portrayed by Neo-Confucianist chroniclers as being deeply contrasted to his predecessors Lê Thánh Tông, Lê Hiến Tông and Lê Túc Tông, who closely followed Neo-Confucianist principles in governing the nation. In 1505, Uy Mục ordered his servants to assassinate his grandmother, Grand Empress Dowager Trường Lạc. The Grand Empress Dowager was killed at the age of 65.

Also, he launched a bloody purge to kill all of the officials serving in the royal court who did not support him to become the emperor, such as Đàm Văn Lễ, Nguyễn Quang Bật and also one of the supported officials, Nguyễn Nhữ Vy. He investigated all of the princes in the royal family and killed anyone who was considered as dangers for his position.

He also ordered to massacre the Cham people who served as slaves for government officials. He spent almost every night in the palace drinking with beauties, and whenever he got drunk, he killed these ladies.

The power fell into consort kin. People from Nguyễn clan of Nguyễn Kính Phi, Nguyễn clan of Lady Nguyễn Thị Cận and Trần clan of Empress Trần Thị Tùng were saucy but had a lot of power. They made much corruption, riffled poverty of people and also killed a lot of people including court officials and normal people.

During his era, many people became afraid of his despotic rule.

Dethronement
Prince Lê Oanh, after escaping from the bloody purge, together with a group of officials - notably Nguyễn Văn Lang plotted again the despotic ruler. They launched a coup since November 1509. Emperor Lê Uy Mục knew that, he killed Lê Oanh's parents but still lost in the battle. The Emperor was deposed and requested to suicide. He died on December 1, 1509, and was buried at the tomb of An lăng.

Prince Lê Oanh became the successor, Emperor Lê Tương Dực.

Family
 Father: Lê Hiến Tông
 Mother: Lady Nguyễn Thị Cận
 Adoptive mother: Nguyễn Kính Phi
 Consort(s) :
 Empress Trần Thị Tùng of Trần clan (威穆皇后陳氏)
 Consort Trần Thị Trúc, younger sister of Empress Trần Thị Tùng
 Royal Consort Lê thị

References

Notes

Bibliography

1488 births
1509 deaths
Lê dynasty emperors
16th-century Vietnamese monarchs
16th-century murdered monarchs
Vietnamese murder victims
Vietnamese monarchs
Murder in 1509

Lê Uy Mục


William Howell Forbes (November 25, 1837 – July 10, 1896) was an American businessman in Hong Kong. He was the head partner of the Russell & Co. and was the 11th chairman of the board of Directors of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1879 to 1880. He was the uncle of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Early life
William Forbes was born on November 25, 1837, in New York, United States to the Forbes family. He was the eldest son of Paul Siemen Forbes (1808–1886), who travelled to China in 1857 joined his cousin John Murray Forbes who had been heavily involved in China trade and served as partner in Russell & Co., prominent American trading firm in the Far East, and as the United States Consul in Canton. William had two younger brothers, Henry De Courcy Forbes (1849–1920) and Paul Revere Forbes (1860–1936).

Career
Like many family members before him, William Forbes joined the Russell & Co. as a partner in 1865 in the trading firm when the American Civil War was about to end. At that time the Russell & Co. was engaged in the Anglo-American steamship rivalry on the Yangtze River. The Russell & Co. saw the opportunity to introduce American-produced steamboats to the new treaty ports along the Yangtze Basin, as the Qing government underwent a massive industrialisation project. It relied on the friendship with Chinese compradors and merchants as well as the fund from some British companies to found the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company.

Russell & Co. refused to join the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation when was first formed in 1866, as Russells' main rival in shipping, the Augustine Heard & Co. was one of the largest shareholders of the new bank, similar to the Jardines' attitude as its major rival Dent & Co. was on the board and its chairman. Russells was also content with its own banking branch. However, Russells gradually changed its attitude as it established relationship with the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. By December 1866, William Forbes was elected to the board of directors of the bank and subsequently chairman on several occasions.

However, the Russell & Co. gradually lost competition against the British Jardine, Matheson & Co. which was more efficient under the leadership of the Chinese comprador Tong King-sing. The Russells faced difficulties as it was lack of funding for development and was further devastated during the financial crisis. In the period between the 1860s and 70s, many major firms failed, including the British firm Dent & Co., Beale & Co., Maitland, Bush & Co., Mackellar & Co.; and the American firm Olyphant & Co. In 1875, Russells' major competitor Augustine Heard & Co. failed which led to the resignation of Albert Heard from the board of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank.

Russells failure
Russells attempted to rescue itself when it was about to bankrupt by founding the National Bank of China to draw some capital. Forbes became one of the founders with his brother Henry De Courcy and the Howqua family whom they had established a close relationship for a long time. S. W. Pomeroy, a Russell partner and former director of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, with other members of the company, criticised Forbes brothers for sponsoring the National Bank in which the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank viewed as rival, which led to William Forbes's resignation from the board of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in March 1891.

As a result, credit from that bank to Russell & Co. was curtailed. The antagonistic Hongkong and Shanghai Bank forced Russells to sell its assets to bail it out. The Russell & Co. collapsed few months after on 9 June 1891. The firm was business acquired by two of its employees, Robert Shewan and Alexander Charles Tomes, who renamed the firm Shewan, Tomes & Co. in 1895.

Life in Hong Kong
During his life in Hong Kong, Forbes was also vice-president of the Medical Missionary Society of China which operated a hospital and missionary works in Canton. He was also a member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the founding steward of the Hong Kong Jockey Club in 1884. He had also been briefly an honorary consul for the Sweden and Norway in Hong Kong. It is said that Forbes Street, in Kennedy Town, is named after William Forbes.

Personal life
In 1867, after a period of engagement, Forbes married Deborah "Dora" Perry Delano (1847–1940), daughter of Warren Delano Jr., also a partner at the Russell & Co., in Paris. Dora's young sister, Sara Ann Delano, married James Roosevelt I and gave birth to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who later became the 32nd President of the United States. William was also one of Franklin's godfathers.

Forbes lived with his wife at a villa called Rose Hill on Caine Rd, in Hong Kong. He died on July 10, 1896, at the age of 58, in Newburgh, New York, and was buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. After William died in 1896, his wife Dora married his brother, Paul Revere, in 1903.

References

External links

1837 births
1896 deaths
Businesspeople from New York (state)
19th-century American businesspeople
Chairmen of HSBC
Hong Kong chief executives
Hong Kong financial businesspeople
Hong Kong shipping businesspeople
Hong Kong people of American descent
Hong Kong philanthropists
American expatriates in Hong Kong
American expatriates in China
American philanthropists
William Howell

William Howell Forbes


Julius Sumner Miller (May 17, 1909 – April 14, 1987) was an American physicist and television personality. He is best known for his work on children's television programs in North America and Australia.

Off-screen
Julius Sumner Miller was born in Billerica, Massachusetts, as the youngest of nine children. His father was Latvian and his Lithuanian mother spoke 12 languages.

Miller graduated with a master's degree in physics from Boston University in 1933. Due to the Great Depression, he and his wife Alice (née Brown) worked as a butler and maid for a wealthy Boston doctor for the following two years. They had no children, but he was able to reach millions of children through his popular science programs.

In 1937, after submitting over 700 job applications, he was offered a place in the physics department of Dillard University, a private, African American liberal arts college in New Orleans. During World War II he worked as a civilian physicist for the US Army Signal Corps while holding fellowships in physics at the universities of Idaho and Oklahoma. He was a Ford Foundation fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In 1950, Miller won a Carnegie Grant that allowed him to visit Albert Einstein at his home in Princeton, New Jersey, and also to visit the Institute for Advanced Study. He greatly admired Einstein and went on to amass a collection of Einstein memorabilia. In 1952, he joined the physics department at the then small El Camino College in Torrance, California (1952–1974), to maximum student enrollments due to his great popularity and where he was instantly recognizable by his casual hair and horn-rimmed eyeglasses.

Miller was intolerant of misspelled words and misplaced punctuation, and often angered his colleagues because he charged that the students of most faculties were not learning enough. During an interview in the 1940s, he stated that intellectual life in America was in trouble, a belief he held for the rest of his life.

We are approaching a darkness in the land. Boys and girls are emerging from every level of school with certificates and degrees, but they can't read, write or calculate. We don't have academic honesty or intellectual rigor. Schools have abandoned integrity and rigor.

From 1963 to 1986, Miller was the visiting lecturer for the physics department of the University of Sydney, and from 1965 to 1985 at the United States Air Force Academy.

Television
In 1959, Miller began hosting his educational program, Why Is It So?, on KNXT (now KCBS-TV) Channel 2 in Los Angeles. From 1962 to 1964, he was Disney's "Professor Wonderful" on new introductions, filmed at Disneyland, to the syndicated reruns of The Mickey Mouse Club. He also starred in the Disney series Great Moments in Science and Science and its Magic. During the same period, he appeared on a semi-regular basis, performing physics experiments, on Steve Allen's late night TV show in Hollywood, syndicated by Group W. Eventually, he also had his own TV shows in Australia, Canada, Norway, and New Zealand.

Miller's first television appearance in Australia was on Bob Sanders People in 1963. In an improvised physics demonstration, he attempted to drive a drinking straw through a raw potato. A paper straw normally does not have sufficient strength but if one pinches the end, the trapped air acts as a piston, easily piercing the potato. For the first time in his career he could not get this to work, and he loudly exclaimed "Australian straws ain't worth a damn!". The next morning, Miller arrived at his Sydney University laboratory to find one million drinking straws on the floor with a telegram reading "You might find one of these fitting your requirements". He later stated "I sat amongst the straws with straws stuck in my hair and ears. But clearly I had made a mistake. I should have said: 'Australian potatoes ain't worth a damn', and I'd have cornered the potato market!"

Shortly after, he was offered a job presenting science for Australia's ABC Television. When asked how much money he wanted, he replied that he never asked, he listened to an offer then "multiplied it by a factor between two and ten". Due to budget constraints the offer was withdrawn, but an agreement was reached for Miller to host his own science-based TV series which was filmed at the University of Sydney where he taught. Why Is It So? (the program title, which also would become his stock phrase), was broadcast from 1963 to 1986 and became an instant hit known for its "cool experiments, interesting science, and fantastic hair". The 1960s program became Demonstrations in Physics (also called Science Demonstrations when it was aired on American PBS television). He introduced each episode with the line:
How do you do, ladies and gentlemen, and boys and girls [sometimes adding some others like: and teachers, and fathers, and mothers, and people]. I am Julius Sumner Miller, and physics is my business [whereupon often presenting the subject of each lesson after the characteristical phrase: And my very special business today is ...]

Around 1963, Miller was also one of the team of celebrity lecturers in the University of Sydney's pioneering "Summer School of Science", broadcast early in the morning during Australia's long summer holidays in January. Fellow presenters included physicist Harry Messel and the molecular biologist James Watson fresh from his triumphant co-discovery of the helical structure of DNA, but decades ahead of his work on the Human Genome.

My first TV series on demonstrations in physics – titled Why Is It So? – were now seen and heard over the land. The mail was massive. The academics were a special triumph for me. They charged me with being superficial and trivial. If I had done what they wanted my programs would be as dull as their classes! I knew my purpose well and clear: to show how Nature behaves without cluttering its beauty with abstruse mathematics. Why cloud the charm of a Chladni plate with a Bessel function?

Miller's on-air popularity was due to an enthusiasm not normally associated with serious science. Shows would be liberally sprinkled with phrases such as "He who is not stirred by the beauty of it is already dead!" and he also liked to trick the audience. A common ploy would be to hold up an empty glass and ask guests to confirm it was empty....then chide them for not noticing it was full of air. Before each demonstration he would usually ask for a show of hands to indicate which of several results they expected. Often he would then add "hands up those who don't care".

In 1964, Miller suffered a near fatal heart attack. Scheduled to give a lecture in Australia, he sent Sydney University a telegram saying; "I've dropped dead here." He would suffer a second heart attack in 1986.

In 1966, questions from his show with an answer to the previous day's question were published as "Millergrams" in The Australian newspaper. A selection of 112 of these questions was published as a book Millergrams; Some Enchanting Questions for Enquiring Minds. Further books were published in 1967: The Second Book of Millergrams: Some More Enchanting Questions for Enquiring Minds, and 1988: Why is it So?: The Very Best Millergrams of Professor Julius Sumner Miller.

Sample Millergram:

Q32: A juggler comes to a footbridge of rather flimsy design. He has in hand four balls. The maximum load is no more than the juggler himself and one ball. Can he get across the bridge by juggling the balls, always having at most one ball in the hand (and three in the air)?

A: No. A falling ball exerts a force on the hand greater than its own weight. Rather, a "thrown" ball exerts greater force than a "held" one. That is, the additional force equal and opposite to that imparted to a flung ball, in addition to the juggler's mass, would exceed the bridge's tolerance (the bridge can tolerate a juggler and held ball, but not the additional downward force associated with forcing a ball "up").

Miller appeared as "The Professor" in the Canadian series The Hilarious House of Frightenstein (1971), in a 4- to 5-minute segment each episode where he demonstrated physics experiments and explained the principles involved.

In 1974 Miller made The Professor and the Enquiring Minds in Australia that was shown on the 7 network stations. This consisted of a panel of three school students who were peppered with questions about what they expected to happen in the experiment Miller then conducted, and were then asked to explain the results of the experiment.

In the 1970s, Miller was also an occasional guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the United States.

Commercials
During the 1980s, Miller appeared in a famous series of Australian television commercials for Cadbury chocolate, using his stock phrase "Why is it so?", demonstrating a simple scientific principle, and describing how each block of chocolate "embraces substantial nourishment and enjoyment", and contained "a glass and a half of full-cream dairy milk". The ads were sufficiently popular to be played for some years after his death.

While in Australia, Miller also appeared in ads for non-stick saucepans and Ampol petroleum, which included demonstrations of real principles of physics, albeit briefly.

Death
In February 1987, Miller became ill while visiting Australia and returned to the United States where he was diagnosed with leukemia. Miller died six weeks later on April 14, 1987, in Torrance, California. As per his will, Miller's body went to the University of Southern California's School of Dentistry; no services were held at his request.

Foundations
Professor Miller's wife, Alice Brown Miller, wanted to perpetuate the memory and achievements of her husband, and so conceived the idea of the Julius Sumner Miller Foundation, which was established in 1998.

Through an offer by Cadbury-Schweppes Pty Ltd, the Cadbury-Julius Sumner Miller Scholarship for Academic Excellence was set up to provide undergraduate scholarships in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney.

In 1993, the Australian Science Foundation for Physics established the Julius Sumner Miller Fellowship in his memory. The fellowship is currently held by Karl Kruszelnicki, best known as "Doctor Karl" for his appearances on Australian radio and television as a science commentator and author.

Popular culture
In 1966, Miller devised a word game, Milleranagrams, which was published in Australia by John Sands Limited. The game, whose only materials were 200 Scrabble-like letter tiles, required players in their turn to draw an unseen tile from the "pool" then either make a word from their stock of tiles or add a tile to a word already on the table (rearrangement of the letters being permitted, hence the name) to form another word.

Miller remains popular in Australia, where he is still quoted. The phrase As Professor Julius Sumner Miller often asked, "Why is it so?" and its variations are still often used in newspaper articles that pose questions, even those unrelated to science.

The character Julius in the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger series of video games is inspired by Miller, and frequently uses the phrase "Why is this so?"

Bibliography
Time: Selected Lectures On Time and Relativity, the Arrow of Time, and the Relation of Geological and Biological Time and On Men of Science, Shakespeare Head Press, 1965
Millergrams; Some Enchanting Questions for Enquiring Minds, Ure Smith, 1966
The Second Book of Millergrams: Some More Enchanting Questions for Enquiring Minds, Ure Smith, 1967
Quiz Questions in Physics, Horwitz-Martin, Australia 1967
Physics Fun and Demonstrations, Central Scientific Company, 1968
Why It Is So, ABC books, 1971
The Kitchen Professor, ABC books, 1972
Why It Is So: Heat and Temperature, ABC books, 1973
Why It Is So: Sound and Electricity & Magnetism, ABC books, 1973
Why It Is So: Mechanics, Heat & Temperature, Sound and Electricity,  ABC books, 1978
Enchanting Questions for Enquiring Minds, Currey/O'Neil, 1982
Why is it so?: the very best Millergrams of Professor Julius Sumner Miller, Australian Red Cross Society, Ringwood, Vic; Penguin Books, 1988
The Days of My Life: An Autobiography, Macmillan, 1989.

Discography

Albums
Professor Julius Sumner Miller (Professor Wonderful) Relating Stories of Isaac Newton (Walt Disney Productions 1964)
Professor Julius Sumner Miller (Professor Wonderful) Relating Stories of Galileo (Walt Disney Productions 1964)
Professor Julius Sumner Miller (Professor Wonderful) Relating Stories of Benjamin Franklin (Walt Disney Productions 1964)
Professor Julius Sumner Miller (Professor Wonderful) Relating Stories of Michael Faraday (Walt Disney Productions 1964)

See also
Don Herbert (Mr. Wizard)

References

External links

Youtube playlist
Julius Sumner Miller Foundation
Australian Julius Sumner Miller tribute page
Julius Sumner Miller page at a Hilarious House of Frightenstein tribute site

Why is it so? site at Australia's ABC.net.au featuring original episodes
Julius Sumner Miller 1909–1987, Physics Department, University of Sydney.
"The Drama of Really Cold Stuff" and Julius Sumner Miller | GeekDad | Wired.com, 12.07.07

Archival collections

 Julius Sumner Miller papers, 1948-1967, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
 Julius Sumner Miller letters to Richard Zitto, 1976-1978, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
 Julius Sumner Miller Collection, 1929-1987, McDermott Library, United States Air Force Academy

1909 births
1987 deaths
20th-century American educators
20th-century American physicists
American television personalities
Male television personalities
People from Billerica, Massachusetts
American people of Lithuanian descent
American people of Latvian descent
American people of Jewish descent
Boston University alumni
Academic staff of the University of Sydney
United States Air Force Academy faculty
El Camino College faculty
Deaths from leukemia
Deaths from cancer in California
Ford Foundation fellowships

Julius Sumner Miller


USS Scott (DE-214), was a  in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1947. She was scrapped in 1967.

History
Scott was named in honor of Machinist's Mate First Class Robert R. Scott (1915–1941, who was killed in action during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, while serving aboard the battleship . He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism.

Scott was laid down on 1 January 1943 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on 3 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. George McBride; and commissioned on 20 July 1943. Mrs. McBride, born in Convoy, Co. Donegal, Ireland, had five sons serving in the Navy - Gene, Bill, Emmett, Terry, and Francis.

After shakedown at Bermuda and post-shakedown repairs at Philadelphia, Scott rendezvoused with her first convoy off Bermuda on 23 September 1943 and escorted it to Curaçao. After escorting convoys to New York City and back, Scott departed Curaçao on 29 October for her first transatlantic convoy voyage to Derry, Northern Ireland. She served on the Derry-New York convoy route until 4 October 1944, crossing the ocean a total of 16 times without incident. Between voyages, she underwent anti-submarine training at Derry or Casco Bay, Maine, and received voyage repairs made necessary by the rough North Atlantic weather. As flagship of Escort Division 17, Scott was usually escort commander for her convoys.

On 1 November 1944, Scott left Norfolk, Virginia with a slow convoy for the Mediterranean, but was detached on 15 November to assist  which had been damaged in a collision with the , off the Azores. She helped search for Italian survivors, and then escorted Frament back to Boston, arriving on 3 December.

Between 14 December 1944 and 16 January 1945, Scott provided training services for submarines in New London, Connecticut. On the 16th, she departed New London escorting the  to Casablanca. After repairs at Bermuda and the Azores, the submarine was safely delivered at Casablanca on 23 February. Scott then escorted two Army dredges from the Azores to Delaware Bay, arriving on 30 March.

Scott next served under the Atlantic Training Command, first at Norfolk and then at Mayport, escorting ships undergoing training and investigating reported submarine contacts. On 18 May, she arrived at Key West for experimental duty with the Naval Research Laboratories, Radar Division, and conducted tests of special equipment until 18 July. She underwent overhaul at New York between 20 July and 18 August, and then refresher training at Guantanamo from 21 August to 3 September. The escort was to have been converted to high speed transport APD-64, but due to the end of the war, the much-delayed conversion was cancelled on 10 September 1945.

Scott spent most of the next two months at Casco Bay, Maine, except for four days at Charleston, South Carolina in early October and Navy Day at Newburgh, New York, at the end of the month. The escort arrived at Green Cove Springs, Florida, on 21 November 1945 for inactivation and was decommissioned there on 3 March 1947 and placed in reserve. Scott was struck from the Navy List on 1 July 1965 and was sold on 20 January 1967 to Southern Scrap Metals Company, New Orleans, for scrapping.

References

External links

Buckley-class destroyer escorts
Ships built in Philadelphia
1943 ships

USS Scott (DE-214)


Anna Maria "Marie" Tussaud (; née Grosholtz; 1 December 1761 – 16 April 1850), commonly known as Madame Tussaud, was a French artist known for her wax sculptures and Madame Tussauds, the wax museum she founded in London.

Biography

Marie Tussaud was born 1 December 1761 in Strasbourg, France. Her father, Joseph Grosholtz, was killed in the Seven Years' War just two months before Marie was born. When she was six years old, her mother, Anne-Marie Walder, took her to Bern, Switzerland. There the family moved into the home of local doctor Philippe Curtius (1741–1794), for whom Anne-Marie acted as housekeeper.

Curtius, whom Marie would call her uncle, was skilled in wax modeling. He initially used this talent to illustrate anatomy, but he later used it for portraits. He moved to Paris in 1765 to establish a Cabinet de Portraits En Cire (Wax portraiture firm). In that year, he made a waxwork of Louis XV's last mistress, Madame du Barry, a casting that is the oldest waxwork currently on display. A year later, Tussaud and her mother joined Curtius in Paris. The first exhibition of Curtius' waxworks was shown in 1770 and attracted a large crowd. In 1776, the exhibition was moved to the Palais Royal and, in 1782, Curtius opened a second exhibit, the Caverne des Grands Voleurs (Cavern of the Grand Thieves), a precursor to Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, on Boulevard du Temple.

Early career
Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling. She showed talent for the technique and began working for him as an artist. In 1777, she created her first wax figure, that of Voltaire. From 1780 until the Revolution in 1789, Tussaud created many of her most famous portraits of celebrities such as those of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Benjamin Franklin and Voltaire. During this period her memoirs claim she became employed to teach votive making to Élisabeth, the sister of Louis XVI. In her memoirs, she admitted to be privy to private conversations between the princess and her brother and members of his court. She also claimed that members of the royal family were so pleased with her work that she was invited to live at Versailles for nine years, although no contemporary evidence exists to confirm her accounts.

French Revolution

On 12 July 1789, wax heads of Jacques Necker and the duc d'Orléans made by Curtius were carried in a protest march two days before the attack on the Bastille.

Tussaud was perceived as a royal sympathiser; in the Reign of Terror she was arrested, along with Joséphine de Beauharnais, and her head was shaved in preparation for her execution by guillotine. She said she was released thanks to Collot d'Herbois' support for Curtius and his household. Tussaud said she then was employed to make death masks and whole body casts of the revolution's famous victims, including Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Princesse de Lamballe, Marat, and Robespierre.

When Curtius died in 1794, he left his collection of wax works to Tussaud. In 1795, she married François Tussaud, a civil engineer. The couple had three children: a daughter who died after birth and two sons, Joseph and François.

Great Britain

In 1802, after the Treaty of Amiens, Tussaud went to London with her son Joseph, then four years old, to present her collection of portraits. She had accepted an invitation from Paul Philidor, a magic lantern and phantasmagoria pioneer, to exhibit her work alongside his show at the Lyceum Theatre. She did not fare particularly well financially, and left for Edinburgh in 1803.

As a result of the Napoleonic Wars, Tussaud was unable to return to France so she travelled with her collection throughout the British Isles. In 1822, she reunited with her son François, who joined her in the family business. Her husband remained in France and the two never saw each other again. In November 1825, her touring exhibition was in the Wisbech Georgian theatre (now the Angles Theatre), having already been at Yarmouth, Norwich, King's Lynn and Bury St Edmunds. Entrance was 1s. In 1835, after 33 years touring Britain, she established her first permanent exhibition in Baker Street, on the upper floor of the "Baker Street Bazaar". In 1838, she wrote her memoirs. In 1842, she made a self-portrait which is now on display at the entrance of her museum. Some of the sculptures done by Tussaud herself still exist.

She died in her sleep in London on 16 April 1850 at the age of 88. There is a memorial tablet to Madame Marie Tussaud on the right side of the nave of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Cadogan Street, London.

Legacy

Upon Marie Tussaud's retirement, her son François (or Francis) became chief artist for the Exhibition. He was succeeded by his son Joseph, who was succeeded by his son John Theodore Tussaud.

Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now grown to become one of the major tourist attractions in London and has expanded with branches in Amsterdam, Istanbul, Beijing, Bangkok, Berlin, Blackpool, Sydney, Hong Kong, Wuhan, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Chongqing, Shanghai, New York City, Orlando, Nashville, Hollywood, Singapore, Tokyo, Budapest, Vienna, New Delhi and Dubai. As of 2019, the newest museum is in Prague. The current owner is Merlin Entertainments, a company owned by Blackstone Group.

Marie Tussaud was featured as a minor character and quest giver in the video game Assassin's Creed Unity, which takes place during the French Revolution.

She is one of the main characters in the book Faces of the Dead by Suzanne Weyn. Edward Carey's 2018 novel Little is a novelization of her work and life.

References

Further reading
Cottrell, Leonard (1951). Madame Tussaud. London: The Camelot Press.
Hayley, R. M. (1878). Memoirs of Madame Tussaud: Her Eventful History. London: George Routledge and Sons.
Leslie, Anita; Chapman, Pauline (1978). Madame Tussaud, Waxworker Extraordinary. London: Hutchinson.

Tussaud, Marie (1838). Hervé, Francis, ed.. Madame Tussaud's Memoirs and Reminiscences of France. London: Saunders and Otley.
Walton, Geri (2019). "Madame Tussaud: her life and legacy, an historical account". Barnsley: Pen & Sword History
Berridge, Kate (2007). "Madame Tussaud :A Life in Wax". New York: Harper Perennial

1761 births
1850 deaths
Alsatian-German people
French Roman Catholics
18th-century French sculptors
18th-century French women artists
Artists from Bern
Wax sculptures
19th-century French sculptors
19th-century French memoirists
18th-century French businesspeople
19th-century British businesspeople

Marie Tussaud


Dr. Michael Sampson is a Fulbright Scholar and an American children's writer best known for easy-to-read books that feature rhythmic and repetitive language.  Sampson's first children's book, The Football That Won, was written solo in 1992 and illustrated by Ted Rand.  Later, Sampson wrote 21 books with his best friend and mentor Bill Martin, Jr., including Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3 and The Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry. Sampson taught at Texas A&M University–Commerce for 25 years before moving to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.  In August 2010 he was selected as Dean of the School of Education at Southern Connecticut State University. In July 2012 he became Dean of the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. In the summer of 2014, he moved to New York City to become Dean of the School of Education at St. John's University. In 2021-2022, he taught at a university in Europe as a Fulbright Scholar.

Early life

Born in Denison, Texas  to Roy and Ida Faye Sampson, Sampson studied in the Denison public schools until grade three, at which time his family (brothers Bill and Bryan and sister Patsy) moved to Tom Bean, Texas. As early as fourth grade, Sampson dreamed of one day being a writer. By the time he reached fifth grade, he had read every book in the Tom Bean library. He had written a series of books featuring Frank and Joe of The Hardy Boys fame, and even had a poem published in a national magazine. In sixth grade he joined the school's junior high football team, and received the inspiration for a book he would publish 30 years later, The Football That Won. He lived for football and books in grades 6–12.  During summers, he worked as a lumberjack in Damariscotta, Maine, building his body strength. As a senior, he was a captain on the Tom Bean Tomcats football team, where he won the school's academic award and was named to the Class B Texas State All Star Team.

Education

During high school, Michael Sampson worked as a lumberjack in Maine during the summers and as a short order cook at a café in Sherman, Texas from 5 until 11 P.M. most nights.  Despite this, he won a scholarship to East Texas State University, where he earned a degree in 1974 in Political Science with a teaching endorsement. He became a teacher in the Commerce public schools, where he taught grades K-3; 4, and 6.  During this time he attended evening classes, earning a Master of Sciences degree in Reading.   He left Texas for Arizona in 1977 to enroll in the Ph.D. program at the University of Arizona, where he studied under Roach Van Allan, and Ken and Yetta Goodman. He completed his Ph.D. in Reading in 1980.

Academic writing

In 1980 Michael Sampson accepted a faculty position at Texas S&M University–Commerce. In 1986 he published his first professional book, The Pursuit of Literacy. Four years later he published the creative, theme-based literature program Experiences with Literacy, which was co-authored by Bill Teale and Roach Van Allen. In 1992, he published his book on the language arts, Pathways to Literacy. The second edition of Pathways to Literacy: Process Transactions was published in 1996 and the third edition, Total Literacy, in 2003. During these years, Sampson was also published in The Reading Teacher and The Reading Research Quarterly.  He is currently completing a text book on linguistics named Sounds of Language.

Collaboration with Bill Martin Jr

Michael Sampson met children's author and educator Bill Martin Jr at a reading conference in Tucson, Arizona in 1978. The two immediately become best friends and collaborators.  Sampson began working with Bill Martin and his workshops for teachers that summer. Within five years, the two had built the conferences into the Pathways to Literacy Conference, with sites in 12 American cities.  Through the years, over 50,000 teachers had been trained by the two and their staff of outstanding classroom teachers in 30 sites across the U.S.  In 1992, Martin moved from New York to Texas to build a house beside Sampson on  on the banks of the South Sulphur River.  Martin named the land "Woodfrost" as a reflection of his love for Robert Frost and Frost's poetry about the woods.  For the next 12 years, Sampson and Martin wrote daily, creating 21 books for children, including award winners: I Pledge Allegiance (illustrated by Chris Raschka) and New York Times best sellers Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? (illustrated by Eric Carle) and  Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3, (illustrated by Lois Ehlert).  Sampson's book "Spunky Little Monkey" was published by Scholastic in 2017.

Michael Sampson and Bill Martin shared a common love of poetry. Speaking of his writing partner, Sampson said: "Poetry allowed him to become a reader – if he could hear it, he could read it. And as a writer, Bill worked with his ear. How his writing sounded was the most important thing. Poetry was his mentor. It inspired and guided him."

Their picture book Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are you Waking Up was featured on NBC's Today Show on December 12, 2008 and recommended as a great Christmas gift for young children.  The sequel, "Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are you Going to Sleep"  was published in March 2011, and the third book in the series, "Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are you Going to School?" was published in August, 2013.  His book with Simon & Schuster, Listen to the World, was published in March 2016, and celebrated  Bill Martin Jrs 100th birthday.  In 2023, Sampson published another collaboration with Bill Martin Jr, Bing! Bang! Chugga! Beep!

Later life

After ascending to the rank of full professor at Texas A&M University–Commerce, where he was department head and director of the doctoral program, Sampson left for full-time writing and consulting in 2004. He used this time to do author visits across the United States and countries in South America and Eastern and Western Europe, including Italy, Great Britain, Germany and Ukraine. Many of these trips were made to military bases to entertain children of troops involved in the Middle Eastern wars.

In 2007, Sampson returned to academia to teach writing and research at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. In 2010 Sampson became Dean of the School of Education at Southern Connecticut State University.  In July 2012, he became dean of the College of Education at Northern Arizona University.  Since 2014, he has lived and worked at St. John's University in New York City.   He continues to speak at schools, book festivals, and teacher conferences.

In the spring of 2020, Sampson was named by the US Department of State as a Fulbright Scholar to Ukraine for 2021.  His assignment was delayed by covid until Fall 2021, where he taught at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University and Alfred Nobel University. He was evacuated from Ukraine due to the Russian invasion in Feb 2022 to Warsaw, where he continued to support Ukraine through his writings

Awards
ALA Notable Children's Book(2003);  Book Links Editor's Best of 2003;  3)Chicago Public Library Best Books for Children and Teens;  Parenting Magazine Book of the Year, 2004; Kansas 2005 Picture Book Award; Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award.; Philadelphia Children's Please Touch Museum Book of the Year, 2007;  New York Public Library 100 Best Books for Reading and Sharing, 2008; Children's Literature Association of Utah's Beehive Book Award, 2011. More awards, including three gold and silver medals for Armadillo Antics, may be seen at

Books

Children's books
The Pig, the Elephant, and the Wise Cracking Owl.  (2023)  By Michael Sampson and Bonnie Johnson. New York:  Brown Books Kids.

Bing!  Bang! Chugga! Beep! (2023)  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson. New York:  Brown Books Kids.

Ten Little Squirrels. (2022)  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson. New York:  Brown Books Kids.

The Story of Ukraine: An Anthem of Glory and Freedom. (2022) By Olena Kharchenko and Michael Sampson. New York:  Brown Books Kids.

Armadillo Antics. (2022)  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  Dallas: Brown Books Kids.

Chica chica uno dos tres. (2020) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Spunky Little Monkey (2017) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  New York:  Scholastic.

Noah, Noah, What Do You See?  (2017)  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson. New York:  HarperCollins.

Listen to Our World  (2016)  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  New York:  Simon & Schuster.

Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are you Going to School?  (2013) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson. New York: Two Lions Press, Amazon.

Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are you Going to Sleep?  (2011) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson. New York: Marshall Cavendish.

I Love Our Earth. (2009) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson. Watertown, MA:  Charlesbridge.  (new paperback edition)

Brown Bear and Friends. (2008)   New York: Henry Holt. (Compilation; Sampson co-authored two of the four stories)

Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry. (2008) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  New York:  Simon & Schuster.

Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are you waking up? (2008) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson. New York: Marshall Cavendish.

Baby Bear, Baby Bear, Baby, Bear, What Do You See? (2007) New York: Henry Holt.  With Bill Martin Jr (Ghost)

I Love Our Earth. (2006) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson. Watertown, MA:  Charlesbridge.

Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3.  (2004) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  New York:  Simon & Schuster.

Chicken Chuck (2004) By Bill & Bernard Martin and Michael Sampson. New York: Marshall Cavendish.

Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?  (2003) New York: Henry Holt.  With Bill Martin Jr (Ghost).

Trick or Treat  (2002) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  New York:  Simon & Schuster.

Caddie the Gold Dog  (2002) By Michael Sampson & Bill Martin Jr.  New York:  Walker & Co.

I Pledge Allegiance  (2002)  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  Boston:  Candlewick.  Paperback edition published July 2004.

Rocket, Socket, Number Line  (2001) By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  Illustrated by Keith Baker.  New York:  Henry Holt.

The Little Squeegy Bug (2001)  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  Illustrated by Patrick Corrigan.  New York: Winslow Press.

Little Granny Quarterback. (2001)  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  Illustrated by Michael Chesworth.  Boyds Mills Press: Boston.

Adam, Adam, What Do You See? (2001)  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  Illustrated by Cathy Felstead.  Candlewick Press: Boston.

Adam, Adam, What Do You See?  Nelson Edition  (2000)  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  Illustrated by Cathy Felstead.  Thomas Nelson & Co: Nashville.

The Football That Won…  (1999)   Michael Sampson.  First paperback edition published 1999 by Henry Holt & Company, New York.

City Scenes  (1999)  Bill Martin Jr & Michael Sampson  (Reprinted in Spanish).   Wellington, New Zealand:  Learning Media Limited.

Wild Bear  (1999)  Mary Beth & Michael Sampson  (Reprinted in Spanish).   Wellington, New Zealand:  Learning Media Limited.

Swish!  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson., Henry Holt, Fall, 1997.

Star of the Circus.  By Michael and Mary Beth Sampson.  Illustrated by Jose Aruego.  Henry Holt, Spring 1997.

The Football That Won…  By Michael Sampson.  Illustrated by Ted Rand.  Henry Holt,  Fall 1996.

Football Fever. By Michael Sampson.  Fall, 1997.  Learning Media, New Zealand.

Wild Bear.  By Mary Beth and Michael Sampson.  Fall, 1997.  Learning Media, New Zealand.

City Scenes. By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  Fall, 1997.  Learning Media, New Zealand.

Yummy Tum Tee.  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  Illustrated by Olivier Dunrea.  Scott Foresman (Celebration Press),  Fall 1996.

Si Won's Victory.  By Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson.  Illustrations by Floyd Cooper.   Scott Foresman (Celebration Press),  Fall 1996.

Academic publications

Sampson, M. R., Ortlieb, E., & Leung, C. B. (2016). Rethinking the writing process: What best-selling and award-winning authors have to say. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 60(3), 265-274.

Sampson, M.R. (2014) Curriculum for e-Learners: Reading and writing. In R. Papa, (Ed) Media rich instruction: Connecting curriculum to all learners. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

Sampson, M.R. (2014) Learning to read naturally: The Martin model of reading. Childhood Education International: Early Years. 1-2.

Sampson, M.R. (2013) Literacies and the 21st Century Child. In Powell,P. & Wiebke, K., Eds) Strong Start: Early Education in Arizona, 107-116.

Torre, C.E. and Sampson, M. R. (2012) Toward a Culture of Educational Assessment in Daily Life. In Constance M. Yowell and Lee Shulman, (Eds) The Future of Assessment in Education, Columbia University Press.http://www.gordoncommission.org/rsc/pdf/torre_sampson_toward_culture_ educational_assessment.pdf

Sampson, M. R. (2008).  "Language for Literacy." Reporter: Journal of the NYS Association for the Education of Young Children, Spring 2008, pp. 14–19.

Sampson, M.B., Sampson, M.R. & Rasinski, T. (2003)   Total Literacy: Pathways to Reading, Writing and Learning.   Wadsworth: San Francisco.

Sampson, M.R. & Sampson, M.B.  (2004)  Literacy.  The International Institute of Literacy Learning.  Dallas, TX.

Sampson, M. R. & Sampson, M. B.  (1999).  "The Language Experience Approach:  Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow." In O. G. Nelson and W. M. Linek (Eds.), Practical classroom Applications of Language Experience:  Looking Back and Looking Forward.  pp. 263–268.  Boston:  Allyn and Bacon.

Sampson, M. B., Linek, W. M., & Sampson, M. R. (1999).   "Circle of questions/circle of knowledge:  A strategy to foster college students' engagement with text."  Innovative learning strategies:  College reading improvement yearbook.

Kanouse, C., Sampson, M.R. and Coker, D.R.  "University Faculty Development in the Professional Development School."  Catalyst for Change, Fall 1995.

Sampson, M.B., Sampson, M.R. and Linek, W.  "Circle of questions."  The Reading Teacher, Spring 1995.

Sampson, M.R.  White, J.H., and Briggs, L.D.   "Student authorship and reading:  The joy of literacy."  Reading Improvement, Summer 1988.

Sampson, M.B., Sampson, M.R., and Briggs, L.D.  "Miscues and learning."   Reading:  From Theory To Practice.  1986 Yearbook of the State of Maryland, International Reading Association, 1986, 28–32.

Sampson, M.R., Briggs, L.D. and Sampson, M.B. "Language, Children, and Text:  Match or Mismatch?"  In M.R. Sampson (Ed.) The Pursuit of Literacy:  Early Reading and Writing. Dubuque:  Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1986, 97–103.

Sampson, M.R.  and Thomason, T. "When to teach reading:  They're never too young to begin."  Living With Preschoolers, November, 1985, 16–20.

Sampson, M.R.  and Thomason, T. "Children's 'mistakes' in reading: Should we correct them?" NABE Journal IX, No. 1, Fall 1984, 8–11.

Iley, J.L. and Sampson, M.R. "Reading: The smart way." Industrial Education, May 1984, 22.

Sampson, M.R. and Breen, R.B. "Reading begins at home:  Old myths and new research." ACT, April, 1984, 3, 6–9.

Sampson, M.R. and Breen, R.B. "Reading begins at home:  Guidelines for parents."  ACT, May/June, 1984, 4, 4–5.

Sampson, M.R. and Thomason, T. "Preschool literacy." Tender Years, September 1984, 4, 26–28.

Sampson, M.R. "Focus on comprehension: ReQuest." Ohio Reading Teacher, April 1984, 3, 13–15.

Sampson, M.R. and Briggs, L.D. "A new technique for cloze scoring:  A semantically consistent method." Clearing House, December 1983, 57, 177–179.

Sampson, M.R., Briggs, L.D. and Coker, D.R. "Assessing the listening comprehension of children." Reading Improvement.  Spring 1984,  21, 59–63.

Sampson, M.R. and Thomason, T. "Reading: A skill the Christian home can't afford to neglect." Christian Life, November 1983, 88–89, 94.

Breen, R.B. and Sampson, M.R. "Learning through affirmative reading." The Creative Child and Adult Quarterly, Spring 1983, 36–38.

Sampson, M. R. "A comparison of the complexity of children's dictation and instructional reading materials." New Inquiries in Reading Research and Instruction. National Reading Conference 1982
Yearbook, 177–180.

Sampson, M.R., Valmont, W.J. and Allen, R.V. "The effects of   instructional cloze on the comprehension, vocabulary, and divergent production of third-grade students." Reading Research Quarterly, 1982, 17, 389–399.

Sampson, M.R. and Briggs, L.D. "What does research say about beginning reading?" Reading Horizons, Winter 1981, 21, 114–118.

Sampson, M.R. and Santos, S. "The bilingual child in your classroom: Tips for reading instruction." Perspectives on Reading and Bilingualism, Spring 1981, 3–11.

Briggs, L.D. and Sampson, M.R. "Developing interest in reading." Home Ideas for Reading, May 1980, 4, 1–3.

Sampson, M.R. and Sampson, M.B. "Components of a language experience approach." Catalyst for Change: Journal of the National School Development Council, 1980, 9, 10–14.

Sampson, M.R. "Secondary school reading programs with a research base." Research on Reading in Secondary Schools, eds. J.L. Vaughan, Jr. and P.J. Gaus (Tucson, Ariz.:  College of Education, 1978), pp. 29–39.

References

External links

 Michael Sampson & Bill Martin, Jr. (co-authors)

1952 births
Living people
American children's writers
American educational theorists
Southern Connecticut State University faculty
Writers from Texas
People from Denison, Texas

Michael Sampson