The M3 Lee, officially Medium Tank, M3, was an American medium tank used during World War II. The turret was produced in two forms, one for US needs and one modified to British requirements to place the radio next to the commander. In British Commonwealth service, the tank was called by two names: tanks employing US pattern turrets were called "Lee," named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee, while those with British pattern turrets were known as "Grant," named after Union general Ulysses S. Grant.

Design commenced in July 1940, and the first M3s were operational in late 1941. The US Army needed a medium tank armed with a 75mm gun and, coupled with the United Kingdom's immediate demand for 3,650 medium tanks, the Lee began production by late 1940. The design was a compromise meant to produce a tank as soon as possible and serve only until replaced by the following M4 tank . The M3 was reliable, had considerable firepower, good armor, and high mobility but had serious drawbacks in its general design and shape, including a high silhouette, an archaic sponson mounting of the main gun preventing the tank from taking a hull-down position, riveted construction.

It was considered by Hans von Luck (a German army officer who wrote the post-war memoir Panzer Commander), to be superior in May 1942 to the Panzer IV and able to operate out of range of German 5cm anti-tank guns. However, by mid 1943, with the introduction of upgunned Panzer IIIs and IVs, the tank had been withdrawn from combat in most theaters and replaced by the more capable M4 Sherman tank as soon as it became available in larger numbers.

Despite being replaced elsewhere, the British continued to use M3s in combat against the Japanese in southeast Asia until 1945. Nearly a thousand M3s were supplied to the Soviet military under Lend-Lease between 1941 and 1943.

Development
The U.S. funded tank development poorly during the interwar years, and had little experience in design as well as poor doctrine to guide design efforts. Only a few tanks were built (35 between 1920-1935). A new medium tank was designed in 1938, tested as the T5 and accepted as the M2 Medium. The M2 used a radial engine and vertical volute suspension among many of the features of the M2 Light tank.

In , the U.S. Army possessed approximately 400 tanks, mostly M2 Light Tanks, with 18 of the M2 Mediums as the only ones considered "modern."

The M2 Medium Tank was typical of armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) many nations produced in 1939. By the time, the U.S. entered the war in 1941, the M2 design was already obsolete with a 37 mm gun, an impractical number of secondary machine guns, a very high silhouette, and  frontal armor.

At the end June 1940 the National Munitions Program was introduced to address the United States lack of readiness in case of war across all branches of the armed forces. The program specified the building of over 1,700 medium tanks by the end of 1941. In mid July Armored Force under brigadier Adna Chaffee was formed to take over responsibility for tanks which had previously been split between the Infantry and Cavalry commands. Work was begun with industry to create the production facilities leading to a contract in August for Chrysler to build the Detroit Tank Arsenal which was expected to turn out 10 Medium M2A1 (an improved M2 Medium) per day.

However the US Army's assessment of the German Panzer III and Panzer IV medium tanks success in the French campaign was that a 75mm gun was a necessity. The M2A1 could not be fitted with a 75mm weapon in its turret. Producing a new turret design would delay production and while it was decided to start work on a 75mm turret design, an interim solution was sought. An experimental modification of an improved M2 Medium into a self-propelled gun - the T5E2 - had been tested with a 75m pack howitzer in the front hull and it was decided to base the interim design on this work. The existing M2 hull could be used with a redesigned superstructure and the M2A1 37mm turret. The contract for 1,000 M2A1s was cancelled and replaced with one for 1,000 M3 though the M3 was not yet designed. The Ordnance Department allocated 60 days for the design work. At the same time the 75 gun design was started by Waterlievet Arsenal; the new gun was based on the 75mm field gun

The design was unusual because the main weapon – a larger caliber, medium-velocity 75 mm gun – was in an offset sponson mounted in the hull with limited traverse. The sponson mount was necessary because, at the time, American tank plants did not have the design experience necessary to make a gun turret capable of holding a 75 mm weapon. A small turret with a lighter, high-velocity 37 mm gun sat on top of the tall hull. A small cupola on top of the turret held a machine gun. The use of two main guns was seen on the French Char B1 and the Mark I version of the British Churchill tank. In the French tank, it had been designed as a self-propelled gun to attack fortifications and an anti-tank capability had been added through a second gun in a small turret; the Churchill carried a gun in the front hull to fire chiefly smoke shells. The M3 differed slightly from this pattern, having a dual-purpose main gun that could fire an armor-piercing projectile at a velocity high enough for effectively piercing armor, as well as deliver a high-explosive shell that was large enough to be effective. Using a hull mounted gun, the M3 design could be produced faster than a tank with the same gun in a turret. It was understood that the M3 design was flawed, but Britain urgently needed tanks. A drawback of the sponson mount was that the M3 could not take a hull-down position and use its 75 mm gun at the same time.

The M3 was tall and roomy: the power transmission ran through the crew compartment under the turret basket to the gearbox driving the front sprockets. Steering was by differential braking, with a turning circle of . The vertical volute spring suspension (VVSS) units possessed a return roller mounted directly atop the main housing of each of the six suspension units (three per side), designed as self-contained and readily replaced modular units bolted to the hull sides. The turret was power-traversed by an electro-hydraulic system in the form of an electric motor providing the pressure for the hydraulic motor. This fully rotated the turret in 15 seconds. Control was from a spade grip on the gun. The same motor provided pressure for the gun stabilizing system.

The 75 mm gun was operated by a gunner and a loader; sighting the gun used an M1 periscope – with an integral telescope – on the top of the sponson. The periscope rotated with the gun. The sight was marked from zero to , with vertical markings to aid deflection shooting at a moving target. The gunner laid the gun on target through geared handwheels for traverse (15° to left and to right) and elevation ( +20° to -9°). The shorter barreled 75 mm M2 cannon sometimes had a counterweight added at the end of the barrel to balance the gun for operation with the gyrostabilizer until the longer 75 mm M3 variant was brought into use.

The 37 mm gun was aimed through the M2 periscope, mounted in the mantlet to the side of the gun. It also sighted the coaxial machine gun. Two range scales were provided: 0– for the 37 mm and 0– for the machine gun. The 37 mm gun also featured a counterweight – a long rod under the barrel – though it was ill maintained by crews who knew little about its use.

There were also two .30-06 (7.62 mm caliber) Browning M1919A4 machine guns mounted in the hull, fixed in traverse but adjustable in elevation, which were controlled by the driver. These were, due to coordination issues, removed, though they would be seen on early Sherman tanks.

Though not at war, the U.S. was willing to produce, sell and ship munitions including armored vehicles to Britain. The British had requested that their Matilda II infantry tank and Crusader cruiser tank designs be made by American factories, but this request was refused. With much of their equipment left in France after the British Army was evacuated from Dunkirk, the equipment needs of the British were acute. Though not entirely satisfied with the design, they ordered the M3 in large numbers. British experts had viewed the mock-up in 1940 and identified features that they considered flaws – the high profile, the hull mounted main gun, the radio position in the hull rather than in the turret, the riveted armor plating (whose rivets tended to pop off inside the interior in a deadly ricochet when the tank was hit even by non-penetrating rounds), the smooth track design, insufficient armor and lack of splash-proofing of the joints.

The British desired modifications for the tank they were purchasing. A bustle rack was to be made at the back of the turret to house the Wireless Set No. 19. The turret was to be given thicker armor than in the original U.S. design, and the machine gun cupola was to be replaced with a simple hatch. Extended space within the turret of the new M3 also allowed the use of a smoke bomb launcher, although the addition of the radio would take the space for storage of fifty 37 mm rounds, reducing the ammunition capacity for that gun to 128 rounds. Several of these new "Grant" tanks would also be equipped with sand shields for action in North Africa, though they often fell off. With these modifications accepted the British ordered 2,000 Grants, although only 1,685 would be built.

Contracts were arranged with four US companies for 500 tanks each: Baldwin Locomotive Company, Pullman Standard Car Company, Pressed Steel Car Company and Lima Locomotive Company.  The total cost of the orders was approximately US$240 million ($120,000 per piece), including funds for factory re-tooling.  That was the total of all UK government funds held in the US; it took the US Lend-Lease act to solve the financial shortfall and fund future equipment orders (for comparison, Lend-Lease cost of a M3 was $64,814).  The order with Baldwin was later increased from 500 to 685.  Lima did not produce a single Grant against its contract as it took the company so long to complete the steam locomotives already in production to create factory space and to tool-up that M3 production was winding down before it was ready.  It was therefore agreed that Lima would supply 500 of the new M4 Sherman instead.  Lima actually undertook the T6/M4 development while it was unable to manufacture the Grant and, as the other companies were all too busy, was the first company to begin producing the M4 in March 1942 with the M4A1 variant.  The first 28 M4A1s built were British contract tanks as Grant replacements but the remainder of the order was subsumed into Lend-Lease.

The prototype M3 was completed in March 1941 and production models followed, with the first British-specification tanks produced in July. Both U.S. and British tanks had thicker armor than first planned. The British design required one fewer crew member than the US version due to the radio in the turret. The U.S. eventually eliminated the full-time radio operator, assigning the task to the driver. After extensive losses in Africa and Greece, the British realized that to meet their needs for tanks, they would have to take both the Lee and the Grant types.

The U.S. military used the "M" (Model) letter to designate nearly all of its equipment. When the British Army received its new M3 medium tanks from the US, confusion immediately set in between the different M3 medium tank and M3 light tank. The British Army was in the process of using names for its own tanks instead of designations and named its American tanks after American military figures, although the U.S. Army never used those terms until after the war. M3 tanks with the cast turret and radio setup received the name "General Grant", while the original M3s were called "General Lee", or more usually just "Grant" and "Lee".

The chassis and running gear of the M3 design was adapted by the Canadians for their Ram tank. The hull of the M3 was also used for self-propelled artillery as with the original design of the M7 Priest, of which nearly 3,500 were built, and recovery vehicles.

Production
In addition to the Detroit arsenal, American Locomotive and Baldwin Locomotive were brought into the production scheme in October 1940 Neither company needed to also build a factory and so their first tanks were complete - a bit before Detroit's - in April 1941. Even then the shortage of components meant that after American Locomotive's ceremonial driving of its first tank before senior officials, the transmission was removed and sent to Baldwin so that they could carry out a similar ceremony a few days later. The British placed contracts for the Grant with Baldwin, Lima Locomotive and Pullman-Standard in October 1940

Canada did place an order with Montreal Locomotive Works, a subsidiary of Amercian Locomotive, for the production of over 1000 M3s. but in January this turned into design and production of the Ram tank which was based on the M3 lower hull and suspension.

Operational history

Of the 6,258 M3 variants manufactured, 2,887 (45%) were supplied to the British government for use by British and Commonwealth forces.  1,685 of these were Grants which the UK ordered directly from US industry for cash and which did not fall under the Lend-Lease arrangements.

The M3 Grant first saw action with units of the Royal Armoured Corps in North Africa during the Gazala battles of May 1942. However, with the arrival of the M4 Sherman tank from October 1942 the surviving M3s in North Africa became surplus and were mostly shipped on to India.  657 Grants and 75 Lees were supplied directly to North Africa.

Ninety-seven Grants and 119 M3 Lees - including 49 diesel M3A3 Lee V, the only diesel Lees used by UK and Commonwealth forces - were supplied directly to the UK and were used for testing and training.  335 were later converted to Canal Defence Lights (no diesels), and further refurbished turretless M3 hulls were supplied by the US to support this project.

Austrlia received 777 supplied directly to the Australian Army for home defence and training duties in Australia. None was used operationally. These comprised 255 Lee I, 266 Grant I and 232 Grant II.
The British Indian Army received 896 M3 series tanks as new supply and tanks shipped from North Africa.  These comprised 517 Lee I and 379 Grant I.

A further 1,386 were exported to the Soviet Union, although only 957 of these reached Russian ports due to German U-boat and air attacks on Allied convoys to .

North African campaign
The M3 brought much-needed firepower to British forces in the campaign in the North African desert. Early Grants were shipped directly to Egypt and lacked some fitments (such as radio) that were remedied locally. Under the "Mechanisation Experimental Establishment (Middle East)" other modifications were tested approved and made to tanks as they were issued. These included fitting of sandshields (later deliveries from the US had factory fitted shields), dust covers for the gun mantlets and the removal of the hull machine guns. Ammunition stowage was altered to 80 x 75 mm (up from 50) and 80 x 37 mm with additional protection to the ammunition bins.

Grants arrived in North Africa by the end of January 1942 and British crews began training on them. As it was developed from WWI-era French 75mm gun, the British had ammunition stocks left over from then that could be used for the 75mm M2 gun but these suffered due to age. The armor-piercing shell for the 75mm was a solid shot and could penetrate around 2inches (50 mm) of armor at 1,000 m which was better than the 2-pounder guns of British tanks but better performance was desired. Fortunately large numbers of German 75mm shells were captured and these were matched to the American cartridge. This conversion gave improved performance and was followed by an improved American AP shell design (the M61).
While the Grants had been expected to be a temporary until the Crusader Mark III tank with a 57 mm 6-pounder gun was available, problems with the Crusader led to changes. The Grant became the main tank in use and cruiser tanks such as the Crusader Mk I and II replaced the M3 light tank in British units.

The M3 tank's first action during the war was in , during the North African Campaign. British Lees and Grants were in action against Rommel's forces at the Battle of Gazala on 27 May that year. In the preparations for the battle the Eighth Army received 167 M3 tanks. The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, 3rd and 5th battalions Royal Tank Regiment going into action with Grant tanks. Retreating in the face of a large attack, the 8th Hussars had only three of their Grants remaining, while 3rd RTR reported losing 16 Grants.

Their appearance was a surprise to the Germans, who were unprepared for the M3's 75 mm gun. They soon discovered the M3 could engage them beyond the effective range of their 5 cm Pak 38 anti-tank gun, and the 5 cm KwK 39 of the Panzer III, their main medium tank. The M3 was also vastly superior to the Fiat M13/40 and M14/41 tanks employed by the Italian troops, whose 47 mm gun was effective only at point-blank range, while only the few Semoventi da 75/18 self-propelled guns were able to destroy it using HEAT rounds. In addition to the M3's superior range, they were equipped with high explosive shells to take out infantry and other soft targets, which previous British tanks lacked; upon the introduction of the M3, Rommel noted: "Up to May of 1942, our tanks had in general been superior in quality to the corresponding British types. This was now no longer true, at least not to the same extent."

Despite the M3's advantages and surprise appearance during the Battle of Gazala, it could not win the battle for the British. In particular, the high-velocity 88 mm anti-aircraft gun, in use as its secondary role of an anti-tank gun, proved deadly if British tanks attacked without artillery support. Britain's Director of Armoured Fighting Vehicles nonetheless said before the M4 Sherman arrived that "The Grants and the Lees have proven to be the mainstay of the fighting forces in the Middle East; their great reliability, powerful armament and sound armour have endeared them to the troops."

By the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942, there were 600 M3s, of both types, in British service. Some of these were in the UK for training.

Grants and Lees served with British units in North Africa until the end of the campaign. Following Operation Torch (the invasion of French North Africa), the U.S. also fought in North Africa using the M3 Lee.

The US 1st Armored Division had been issued the new M4 Sherman, but had given up one regiment's worth to the British Army so that it could use them in the Second Battle of El Alamein (October-November 1942). Consequently, a regiment of the division was still using the M3 Lee when it arrived in North Africa.

The M3 was generally appreciated during the North African campaign for its mechanical reliability, good armor protection, and heavy firepower. In all three aspects, the M3 was capable of engaging German tanks and towed anti-tank guns.

However, the high silhouette and low, hull-mounted 75 mm were tactical drawbacks since they prevented fighting from a hull-down firing position. In addition, the use of riveted hull superstructure armor on the early versions led to spalling, where the impact of enemy shells caused the rivets to break off and become projectiles inside the tank. Later models were built with all-welded armor to eliminate this problem. These lessons had already been applied to the design and production of the M4.

The M3 was replaced in front-line roles by the M4 Sherman as soon as the M4 was available. However, several specialist vehicles based on the M3 were later employed in Europe, such as the M31 armored recovery vehicle and the Canal Defence Light.

In early 1943, the British Eight Army's M3s, now replaced by the Sherman, were shipped to the war in the East to replace some Matildas in the Australian Army.

Eastern Europe—Soviet service

Beginning from 1941, 1,386 M3 medium tanks were shipped from the US to the Soviet Union, with 417 lost during shipping (when they went down with their transporting vessels which were sunk by German submarine, naval and aerial attacks en route). These were supplied through the American Lend-Lease program between 1942 and 1943.

Like British Commonwealth units, Soviet Red Army personnel tended to refer to the M3 as the "Grant", even though all of the M3s shipped to Russia were "Lee" variants. The official Soviet designation for it was the М3 средний (М3с), or "M3 Medium", to distinguish the Lee from the US-built M3 Stuart light tank, which was also acquired by the USSR under Lend-Lease and was officially known there as the М3 лёгкий (М3л), or "M3 Light". Due to the vehicle's petrol-fuelled engine, a high tendency to catch fire, and its vulnerability against most types of German armour the Soviet troops encountered from 1942 onwards, the tank was almost entirely unpopular with the Red Army since its induction into the Eastern Front.

With almost 1,500 Russian T-34 tanks being built every month, Soviet use of the M3 medium tank declined soon after mid-1943. Soviet troops still fielded their Lee/Grant tanks on secondary and quieter/less-action fronts, such as in the Arctic region during the Red Army's Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive against German forces in Norway in October 1944, where the obsolete US tanks faced mainly captured French tanks used by the Germans, such as the SOMUA S35, which to a limited extent was somewhat comparable to the Lee/Grant it fought against.

Pacific War
In the Pacific War, armored warfare played a relatively minor role for the Allies as well as for the Japanese, compared with that of naval, air, and infantry units.

In the Pacific Ocean Theater and the Southwest Pacific Theater, the U.S. Army deployed none of its dedicated armored divisions and only a third of its 70 other separate tank battalions.

A small number of M3 Lees saw action in the central Pacific Ocean Theater in 1943. The US Marine Corps, was not a user of the M3 Lee; they moved from M3 Stuarts directly to M4 Shermans in mid-1944.)

Some M3 Grants played an offensive role with the British Indian Army, in the south-east Asian theater.

The Australian Army also used Grants during World War II, mainly for homeland defence and training purposes.

Pacific Ocean Theater

The only combat use of the M3 Lee by the US Army against Japanese forces occurred during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign of 1943.

Following the better-known landing at Tarawa, the US 27th Infantry Division made an amphibious assault on Makin Island with armoured support from a platoon of M3A5 Lees equipped with deep-wading kits belonging to the US Army's 193rd Tank Battalion.

Burma

After British Commonwealth forces in Europe and the Mediterranean began receiving M4 Shermans, about 900 British-ordered M3 Lees/Grants were shipped to the Indian Army. Some of these saw action against Japanese troops and tanks in the Burma Campaign of WWII.

They were used by the British Fourteenth Army until the fall of Rangoon, regarded as performing "admirably" in the original intended role of supporting infantry in Burma between 1944 and 1945.

In the Burma Campaign, the M3 medium tank's main task was infantry support. It played a pivotal role during the Battle of Imphal, during which the Imperial Japanese Army's 14th Tank Regiment (primarily equipped with their own Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks, together with a handful of captured British M3 Stuart light tanks) encountered M3 medium tanks for the first time and found their light tanks outgunned and outmatched by the better British armour. The British M3 tanks performed well as they traversed the steep hillsides around Imphal and defeated the assaulting Japanese forces. Officially declared obsolete in April 1944, nevertheless, the Lee/Grant saw action until the end of the war in September 1945.

Australia
At the beginning of the war, Australian Army doctrine viewed tank units as minor offensive components within infantry divisions. It had no dedicated armoured branch and most of its very limited capabilities in tank warfare had been deployed to the North African Campaign (i.e. three divisional cavalry battalions). By early 1941, the effectiveness of large-scale German panzer attacks had been recognised, and a dedicated armoured mustering was formed. The Australian Armoured Corps initially included the cadres of three armoured divisions – all of which were equipped at least partly with M3 Grants made available from surplus British orders.

The 1st Australian Armoured Division was formed with a view towards complementing the three Australian infantry divisions then in North Africa. However, following the outbreak of hostilities with Japan, the division was retained in Australia. During April–May 1942, the 1st Armoured Division's regiments were reported to be re-equipping with M3 Grants and were training, in a series of large exercises, in the area around Narrabri.

The cadres of other two divisions, the 2nd and 3rd Armoured Divisions were both officially formed in 1942, as Militia (reserve/home defence) units. These divisions were also partly equipped with M3 Grants.

In January 1943, the main body of the 1st Armoured Division was deployed to home defence duties between Perth and Geraldton, where it formed part of III Corps.

By the middle of the war, the Australian Army had deemed the Grant to be unsuitable for combat duties overseas and M3 units were re-equipped with the Matilda II before being deployed to the New Guinea and Borneo Campaigns. Due to personnel shortages, all three divisions were officially disbanded during 1943 and downgraded to brigade- and battalion-level units.

Post-war use in Australia
During the war, the Australian Army had converted some M3 Grants for special purposes, including a small number of bulldozer variants, beach armoured recovery vehicles, and wader prototypes.

Following the end of the war, 14 of the Australian M3A5 Grants were converted to a local self-propelled gun design, the Yeramba. Until the future acquisition of the AS9 Huntsman is complete, the Yeramba remains as the only SPG ever deployed by the Australian Army. Fitted with a 25-pounder field gun, the Yerambas remained in service with the 22nd Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, until the late 1950s.

Many M3s deemed surplus to Australian Army requirements were acquired by civilian buyers during the 1950s and 1960s for conversion to earthmoving equipment and tractors.

Conclusion

Overall, the M3 was able to be effective on the battlefield from 1942 until 1943. However, US armored units lacked tactical expertise on a method to overcome its design. Its armor and firepower were equal or superior to most of the threats it faced, especially in the Pacific. Long-range, high-velocity guns were not yet common on German tanks in the African theater. However, the rapid pace of tank development meant that the M3 was very quickly outclassed. By mid-1942, with the introduction of the German Tiger I, the up-gunning of the Panzer IV to a long 75 mm gun, and the first appearance in 1943 of the Panther, along with the availability of large numbers of the M4 Sherman, the M3 was withdrawn from service in the European theater.

Variants

US variants
American designations first with British Commonwealth designations (where actually used) given in parentheses

M3 (Lee I)
Original baseline design. Riveted hull. Continental radial gasoline engine. 4,724 built.
M3A1
Cast (rounded) upper hull variant. 300 built. 28 were experimentally converted with the Guiberson T-1400-2 350 hp radial diesel engine, which proved unsatisfactory.  Never used operationally.
M3A2
Welded hull version of baseline M3. Only 12 produced, 10 of which were completed as Grant I. At least 1 of these was supplied to Australia and another was converted to a Grant Scorpion.
M3A3 (Lee V)
Diesel-engined variant with welded hull. Twin GM 6-71 diesel engines coupled together to make the GM6046 powerpack. Side doors welded shut or later eliminated. 288 built, 49 supplied to the UK and 77 supplied to Brazil.  83 M3A3 hulls completed as Grant II.
M3A4
Stretched riveted hull to accommodate the Chrysler A57 multibank engine, made up of five 4.12 litre displacement, 6-cyl L-head car engines (block upwards) mated to a common crankshaft. Displacement 21 litres,  at 2,700 rpm. Side doors eliminated. 109 built.  Only used for training in the US.
M3A5
Rivetted hull but otherwise as per the M3A3. 591 built, 387 as Grant IIs.  Only used operationally once by US forces.  23 supplied to Brazil.
M31 Tank Recovery Vehicle (Grant ARV I)
Based on M3 chassis, with dummy turret and guns. A  winch installed.
M31B1 Tank Recovery Vehicle
Based on M3A3.
M31B2 Tank Recovery Vehicle
Based on M3A5.
There were 296 total M31B1/B2 vehicles, although the precise quantity of both variants is unknown (it appears that M31B1 was more common). 146 of them were converted from used tanks and 150 from newly built tanks before their acceptance.
M33 Prime Mover
M31 TRV converted to the artillery tractor role, with turret and crane removed. 109 vehicles were converted in 1943-44.
105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 (Priest)
105 mm M1/M2 howitzer installed in open superstructure. A gunless version was used as an observation post (OP) vehicle
155 mm Gun Motor Carriage M12
Designed as the T6. A 155 mm howitzer on M3 chassis. 100 built in 1942-1943. M30 Cargo Carrier on same chassis to transport gun crew and ammunition.

British Commonwealth service names and variants

Grant I
 M3 and M3A2 with turret to British specification and internal differences, no cupola. 1,211 M3-based and 10 M3A2-based Grant Is supplied.
Grant II
Final Baldwin production based on M3A3 and M3A5 after US Ordnance ordered them to switch from petrol to diesel production. 381 Grant IIs based on M3A5s were supplied along with 83 based on M3A3s.
Grant ARV
Conversions of Grant I or II in 1943. Turret and hull guns removed and replaced with armored recovery vehicle equipment including towing winch and jib. A few were fitted with a dummy turret while others had just a hatch with a twin Bren light machine gun mount fitted for AA defence. The superior M31 was adopted instead in small numbers
Grant ARV I
US T2 (later M31) in British service 1944-1945.  It is not clear which version(s) the UK received: M31, M31B1 or M32B2.
Grant Command
Fitted with map table and extra radio equipment. On some, the 37mm guns were removed or replaced with dummies.
Grant Scorpion III
 gun removed to allow for fitment with Scorpion III mine flail - as used on other British tanks - by REME workshops, few made in January 1943 for use in Tunisia campaign in North Africa.  At least one was based on a welded-hull Grant.
Grant Scorpion IV
Scorpion III with second Bedford motor at left rear to increase power to the flail rotor.
Grant CDL
"Canal Defence Light"; 37mm turret replaced by one with a powerful carbon arc light which could be set to flicker rapidly to disorient the enemy.  A BESA (UK) or Browning M1919 (US) machine gun was fitted and some were fitted with a dummy 37mm gun. The Grant CDL replaced the earlier Matilda II CDL in anticipation of use in North West Europe. 335 were converted in the UK, some on refurbished M3 Lee hulls specially supplied by the US. The US produced 497 of their own version to equip six tank battalions under the designation Shop Tractor T10 to disguise its purpose. Converted by American Loco in 1943 from  M3A1 cast hull

Australian variants

M3 BARV
 A single M3A5 was converted into a "Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle".
Yeramba Self Propelled Gun.
Australian Self-propelled 25-pounder. 13 vehicles built in 1949 on M3A5 chassis in a conversion very similar to the Canadian Sexton.

Designs based on chassis
Medium Tank M4 Sherman
Tank Cruiser, Ram - see article for full list of variants
105 mm Self Propelled Gun, Priest
Kangaroo armoured personnel carrier
25pdr SP, tracked, Sexton Mark I - Sexton Mark II was on a Grizzly (M4-based) chassis
M12 Gun Motor Carriage -   155mm field gun

Operators

  Australia did not use the M3 series operationally and all remained in Australia. 777 were supplied directly from the US: 290 Grant I, 232 Grant II and 255 Lee I. 149 Grant IIs were kept in post-war reserve service until 1955, by which date only 50 were still operational.
  77 M3A3 and 23 M3A5 supplied
   Canada used the M3 platform to develop its own Ram tank but did not use the M3 tank itself outside of training.
  Free French forces operated the M31 ARV series but did not operate the M3 as a gun tank.
 : One captured during operations in 1942; later recaptured by the Red Army.
  896 M3s were received, a mix of new delivery and shipments from N Africa: 517 Lee I and 379 Grant I.
 : Four captured in Crimea during operations in early 1944
  1,386 M3 supplied.
  1,685 Grant and 1,202 Lee supplied. These figures include tanks shipped directly to India and Australia. 657 Grant and 75 Lee were supplied directly to N Africa with 97 Grant and 119 Lee supplied directly to the UK.

See also

 SCR-245
 List of "M" series military vehicles
List of U.S. military vehicles by supply catalog designation

Notes

Explanatory footnotes

Citations

General references

 Bishop, Chris The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II (2002) Metro Books.

 Hunnicutt, R. P. Sherman, A History of the American Medium Tank. 1978; Taurus Enterprises. .
 Porter, David Allied Tanks of World War II (World's Great Weapons) (2014) Amber Books Ltd.
 USMC D-F Series Tables of Equipment (TOEs), 1942-1944
.
 .

.

Further reading

External links

 British M3, M3A2, M3A3 and M3A5 Grants

 "U.S. Army's 29 ton tanks packs a 75mm gun" Popular Mechanics, July 1941—one of the first public articles about the M-3
 AFV Database
 World War II Vehicles
 M3, M3A1, M3A3, M3A4 at OnWar
 M3 in the USSR

Medium tanks of the United States
Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944
World War II medium tanks
Lee Grant, M3

M3 Lee


Edmund Leser (1 May 1853, in Münster – 11 December 1916, in Frankfurt am Main) was a German surgeon remembered for describing the Leser-Trélat sign (named with Ulysse Trélat, 1828–1890).

He studied law in Berlin and served in the Franco-Prussian War as an artillery officer before studying medicine in Leipzig. He received his doctorate in 1880 and worked as Richard von Volkmann's assistant in Halle. He qualified as a surgeon in 1884, and became a professor in 1894, practicing in Halle and Frankfurt.

He was the author of Lehrbuch der speciellen Chirurgie in 50 Vorlesungen (Textbook of special surgery in 50 lectures), published in several editions.

References

External links

German surgeons
1853 births
1916 deaths
People from Münster

Edmund Leser


General elections were held in Japan on 20 February 1928, the first after the introduction of universal male suffrage. The ruling Rikken Seiyūkai led by Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi won one more seat than the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party led by Hamaguchi Osachi, although the Constitutional Democratic Party had received slightly more votes. The hung parliament led to the Tanaka government continuing in office.

Electoral system
Following electoral reforms in 1925, the 466 members of the House of Representatives were elected from multi-member constituencies with between three and five seats. Voting had previously been restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 3 yen a year in direct taxation, but the reforms had also abolished the taxation requirement. As a result, the electorate increased from 3.3 million in the 1924 elections to 12.4 million.

Results

By prefecture

Aftermath
The Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin was assassinated by the Japanese army in June 1928. Tanaka denounced the army for this, but lost support and was forced to resign in July 1929. Opposition leader Hamaguchi became Prime Minister and formed a new government.

References

General elections in Japan
Japan
General
Japan
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results

1928 Japanese general election


Newton Aycliffe is a town in County Durham, England. It is about 5 miles north of Darlington. It  makes up a part of the civil parish of Great Aycliffe. It has a town centre, Beveridge Way, and has a few superstores and supermarkets including Aldi and Tesco.

Towns in County Durham

Newton Aycliffe


Narayan Lucky is an Indian actor, who has worked in the Tamil film industry. He debuted as the lead role in the campus film Inidhu Inidhu (2010), before portraying supporting roles.

Career
Narayan's elder brother was selected to portray Madhavan's friend in Mani Ratnam's romantic drama, Alaipayuthey (2000). Seeing his brother as an actor, prompted Narayan to pursue acting opportunities. After completing his MBA, Narayan joined as the marketing head of INOX multiplex for Chennai operations and his interactions with film people got him noticed
and he was eventually shortlisted for the lead role in Prakash Raj's production Inidhu Inidhu (2010). He quit his job to seek a full-time career in films, but the film did not perform well commercially, though his character of Tyson was well received by critics. He subsequently chose to find work again and became more selective with roles, notably playing a drug addict in Radha Mohan's bilingual, Payanam (2011).

He won critical acclaim for a cameo comedy role in Rajesh's Oru Kal Oru Kannadi (2012), as a potential suitor to Hansika's character, in a role originally written for actor Jiiva. He gained recognition for playing one of the leads in Thiranthidu Seese (2015).

He participated in Survivor (Tamil Season 1). He was eliminated from the show in Day 89.

Filmography

Films

Television

References

Living people
Male actors in Tamil cinema
Indian male film actors
21st-century Indian male actors
Place of birth missing (living people)
Year of birth missing (living people)
Male actors in Telugu cinema

Narayan Lucky


Henry Jaynes "Hank" Fonda (16 Mey 1905 – 12 August 1982) wis an American film an stage actor wi a career spannin mair nor five decade.

Fonda made his merk early as a Broadway actor. He appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, wi Joan Tompkins. He made his Hollywood debut in 1935, an his career wis gien momentum efter his Academy Awaird-nominatit performance as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, a 1940 adaptation o John Steinbeck's novelle anent an Oklahoma faimily that muived wast in the Dust Bowl.

Ootthrou five decade in Hollywood, Fonda cultivatit a strang, appealin screen image in sic clessics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Mister Roberts, an 12 Angry Men. Later, Fonda muived thewarts daurker epics siclik Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West an lichter roles in faimily comedies siclik Yours, Mine and Ours wi Lucille Ball, winnin the Academy Awaird for Best Actor at the 54t Academy Awards for the movie On Golden Pond, his feenal film role.

Fonda wis the patriarch o a faimily o kenspeckle actors, includin dochter Jane Fonda, son Peter Fonda, granddochter Bridget Fonda, an grandson Troy Garity. His faimily an close friends cried him "Hank". In 1999, he wis named the saxt-Greatest Male Star o Aw Time bi the American Film Institute.

References

1905 births
1982 daiths
20th Century Fox contract players
20t-century American male actors
Academy Honorary Awaird recipients
American agnostics
American beekeepers
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male televeesion actors
American militar personnel o Warld War II
American fowk o Dutch strynd
American fowk o Frisie strynd
American fowk o Italian strynd
American Theater Hall of Fame inductees
BAFTA winners (fowk)
Best Actor Academy Awaird winners
Best Drama Actor Gowden Globe (film) winners
Best Foreign Actor BAFTA Awaird winners
Californie Democrats
Cecil B. DeMille Awaird Gowden Globe winners
Eagle Scouts
Fonda faimily
Grammy Awaird winners
Kennedy Center honourees
Male actors frae Omaha, Nebraska
Male actors o Italian strynd
Male Spaghetti Western actors
Male Western film actors
Recipients o the Bronze Starn Medal
Tony Awaird winners
Unitit States Navy officers
Varsity o Minnesota alumni
Vaudeville performers

Henry Fonda


James "Jemmy" Hirst (1738–1829) was an English eccentric.

Hirst was born to a farmer family of Rawcliffe, Yorkshire. Even at school he kept a pet jackdaw and trained a hedgehog to follow him around. His parents' hope that he would become a priest never materialised when he was thrown out of school for his pranks. Hirst was apprenticed to a tanner, fell in love with his daughter and became engaged to her.

Reputedly Hirst's eccentricity began when his betrothed died of smallpox after he rescued her from a flooding river. At first Hirst retired to his bed and reputedly contracted "brain fever".  When he recovered (apparently), he continued his habits of animal training. His first success was his later favourite, a bull he named "Jupiter" and trained to behave as a horse so he could ride him and use him to pull his carriage.  The carriage itself was made of wicker, had unusually big wheels and looked like a lampshade upside down. It also had an odometer of Hirst's own design that would ring a bell after a mile of travel. When Jupiter found it hard to pull, Hirst fitted it with sails. The experiment was unsuccessful and the carriage crashed into a shop window in Pontefract; Hirst was banned from the town.

Hirst rode Jupiter in a fox hunt, using pigs as pointers instead of dogs. He tried to train an otter to fish - but getting the otter to let go of his catch was too hard. He went to Doncaster races dressed in a lambskin hat with a nine-foot brim and a waistcoat of duck feathers.  Hirst also blew his hunting horn to summon the poor and the elderly to his house for tea. Sometimes the visitors found that the refreshments were served from their host's favourite coffin. Hirst hung the walls of his house with bits of old rope and iron and wrote doggerel verse. Eventually he married his housekeeper; during the ceremony he wore a toga and insisted that the formalities should be conducted in sign language. However, he did make a profitable trade of his produce and increased his wealth.  His farm was the one at the North end of Chapel Lane.  The farmhouse is still there but the stack yard behind it has been built on. His grave is in Rawcliffe churchyard.

Hirst's fame grew enough that King George III was intrigued and invited him to visit London. At first Hirst sent a reply that he was busy trying to train otters to fish, but would come later. When he arrived in his carriage he attracted much attention in his flamboyant costume. During his visit, one noble began to laugh. Hirst proceeded to throw a goblet of water in his face because he was clearly "having hysterics". He announced that he was pleased to find his monarch a "plain-looking fellow" and invited him to visit him in Rawcliffe for a good brandy. The king did not oblige, but reputedly gave him a number of bottles from the royal wine cellar.

Jemmy Hirst died in 1829. His will left £12 to twelve old maids who were to follow his coffin and two musicians, a fiddler and a bagpiper, who were to play happy songs. Only two old maids obliged. The priest did not let the piper play anything but O'er the hills and far away and forbade the fiddler from playing anything at all. He also left his accountant a piece of rope to "go hang himself with". Rumour claims that Hirst had had his own coffin built with windows and shelves, which he kept in his front room and charged people to sit in.

In his memory there is a pub in Rawcliffe near Goole named Jemmy Hirst at The Rose and Crown.

References

Further reading

1738 births
1829 deaths
People from Goole
18th-century English people

Jemmy Hirst


Notodonta dromedarius, the iron prominent, is a moth of the family Notodontidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1767. It is found in Europe and Anatolia.

The wingspan is 35–40 mm. Notodonta dromedarius has grey or dark brown forewings with rusty and yellowish stains. A broken rust-brown band runs along the outside edge of the forewing. There is a small discal spot, a postmedial crossline which is often broken and outer margins which are suffused dark red. The hindwings are usually  pale grey-brown with dark veining. The colouring is very variable and very dark specimens are found.

The moth flies from April to August depending on the location.

The larvae feed on Corylus avellana, birch, alder and oak.

References

Further reading
South R. (1907) The Moths of the British Isles,  (First Series), Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd.,  London & NY: 359 pp. online

External links

Iron prominent on UKMoths
Fauna Europaea
Lepidoptera of Belgium
Lepiforum e.V.
De Vlinderstichting

Notodontidae
Moths of Europe
Moths of Asia
Moths described in 1767
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Notodonta dromedarius


By-elections to the 8th Canadian Parliament were held to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada between the 1896 federal election and the 1900 federal election. The Liberal Party of Canada led a majority government for the 8th Canadian Parliament.

The list includes Ministerial by-elections which occurred due to the requirement that Members of Parliament recontest their seats upon being appointed to Cabinet. These by-elections were almost always uncontested. This requirement was abolished in 1931.

See also
List of federal by-elections in Canada

Sources
 Parliament of Canada–Elected in By-Elections

1900 elections in Canada
1899 elections in Canada
1898 elections in Canada
1897 elections in Canada
1896 elections in Canada
08th


The Henking Hotel and Cafe was a historic building at 15-21 Lyman Street in Springfield, Massachusetts.  Built in two stages in 1899 and 1909, it was a good example of a turn-of-the-century accommodation for railroad travelers in the city, notable for its establishment by some of area's early German immigrants.  The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and demolished some time thereafter.

Description and history
The Henking Hotel and Cafe were two adjacent buildings on the east side of Lyman Street, at its junction with Kaynor Street.  The hotel building was four stories in height, with Georgian Revival styling in brick, while the adjacent cafe space was a two-story brick building, with glass-block windows flanking the entrance on the ground floor, and pairs of windows on the second level, which housed a ballroom.  That buildings cornice was designed to match that of the hotel.

The hotel building was built in 1880 for Gustave and Elizabeth Gruendler, German immigrants who had operated hotels elsewhere in the city for some time, and who were among the city's early German immigrant arrivals.  Upon their death the building was taken over by Henry Henking, who had worked for the Gruendlers.  He changed the name of the hotel and remodeled its facade in a Georgian Revival style.  His son Gus took over the business upon his death in 1906, and further expanded the business, building the adjacent banquet space.  The hotel was strategically located opposite an entrance to the railroad station, and the business of the small family-run hotel was good despite competition from larger hotels nearby.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Springfield, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places listings in Hampden County, Massachusetts

References

Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Hotels in Springfield, Massachusetts
Hotels established in 1899
National Register of Historic Places in Springfield, Massachusetts
Demolished buildings and structures in Massachusetts

Henking Hotel and Cafe


The Eagles were a British music quartet active from 1958 until the mid-1960s. They formed in 1958 at the Eagle House youth club in Knowle West, Bristol.

Led by lead guitarist Terry Clarke (11 June 1944, Bristol – 29 October 2008), who used a homebuilt custom instrument, the group included drummer Rod Meacham (born Roderick Meacham, 25 March 1943, Bristol, died 21 March 2002, Bristol), bassist Michael Brice (born 4 March 1944, Bristol), and Johnny Payne on rhythm guitar (born John Payne, 1944). Playing primarily instrumental rock, they began their career playing local venues in Bristol such as dance halls.

They were launched into the world of professional music in 1962 after being noticed by composer Ron Grainer, probably best remembered for his theme to Doctor Who. Grainer was interested in the Eagles for a film project on which he was working, Some People, about a fictional Bristol band not unlike themselves. The Eagles contributed to the Some People soundtrack, and became Grainer's protégés, recording new versions of some of his film score work, such as the theme of the television series Maigret. The Some People soundtrack reached No. 2 on the EP charts, and remained on the charts for 21 weeks.

The group were awarded the Duke of Edinburgh Trophy for their work on the film, and soon afterward were signed to Pye Records, at the time among the top three labels in Britain. After releasing the singles "Bristol Express" and "Exodus (Main Theme)", the Eagles embarked on a major tour of England along with Del Shannon, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Tillotson, and Dionne Warwick.

The tour lasted much of 1963, during which their debut album, Smash Hits From The Eagles, was released in the UK and the US. The following year brought their most successful single and the one for which they are best remembered today, a vocal rendition of "Wishin' and Hopin' ", with the B-side "Write Me a Letter".

After the Eagles
Clarke continued to play with local bands until the 1980s, and then played as a duet with his wife (building his wife's bass guitar) in Bristol until his death in 2008. Payne returned to Bristol and also continued to play with local bands. Brice continues his music career playing with the band 'The Ivy League'. The Eagles' music is available on many compilation albums of the era, and in 1998 Sanctuary Records released a 61-track double album set, Smash Hits from The Eagles and The Kestrels.

References

External links
January 1964 press clipping

English rock music groups
Musical groups from Bristol
Musical groups established in 1958
Musical groups disestablished in 1964
1958 establishments in England

The Eagles (British band)


Baiswada State, also called Kingdom of Baiswada, was one of the States of India in Awadh region. Baiswada got its name because Bais Rajputs dominated this area. It was founded by Maharaj Abhaychandra Bais, from the 25th generation of Samrat Harsh Vardhan Bais of Thanesar. The capital of Baiswada was Daundiya Kheda.

History
Keshav Rai, alias Ganesh Rai, the ruler of Lohaganj in the 24th generation from Harshavardhan, died in the battle of Chandawar on behalf of Raja Jaichand against Muhammad Ghori. H sons Nirbhaychand and Abhaychand, along with their mother, went to Sialkot in Punjab. Living in secret, the two princes returned to their homeland when they grew up. Around the year 1230, the Gautamvanshi king of Argal was attacked by the Muslim Subedar of Kada, but Gautam Raja defeated him. After some time Gautam Raja's wife went to Gangasnan, where the Muslim Subedar sent his soldiers to capture the queen. Seeing this, the queen shouted that if there is any Kshatriya here, then protect me. Coincidentally both Bais princes were present. They immediately killed the Muslim soldiers. After rescuing the queen, Nirbhaychand died from multiple wounds, but Abhaychand survived. Abhaychand married Gautam Raja's daughter. Raja gave her 1440 villages in the dowry north of the Ganges, where Abhaychand laid the foundation of Bais state. This Bais state came to be called Baiswada.

In 1856 when the British annexed Oudh State, then Maharaj Rao Ram Baksh Singh fought them and captured Oudh and merged it in Baiswada. Due to his bravery, Begum Hazrat Mahal gave him the title of "Raja-e-Awadh ". After capturing Oudh, Baiswada became the fourth biggest state of India covering 30,905 sq miles.

In 1858, the British attacked on Daundiya Kheda Fort and with the help of Chandi Kewat, a treacherous accomplice of the King, captured and destroyed the fort.They arrested the King and hanged him on 28 December 1858. Army General of Baiswada Rana Beni Madho fought 20 battles in 22 months against the British and secured his victory in every battle. When Britishers captured Baiswada in 1858, the state got under the Court of Words and later in 1949 was merged in republic of India.

Rulers

 Samrat Shalivahana
 Maharaj Sundar Bhan
 Maharaj Badri Bhan
 Maharaj Suret Bhan
 Maharaj Karn Bhan
 Maharaj Uday Bhan
 Maharaj Jagjiv Bhan
 Maharaj Rajdev Bhan
 Maharaj Shabd Bhan
 Maharaj Ashwini Kumar
 Maharaj Dhok Kumar
 Maharaj Trilok Chandra I (captured Indraprasth)
 Maharaj Vikram Chandra
 Maharaj Kartik Chandra
 Maharaj Ram Chandra
 Maharaj Adhar Chandra
 Maharaj Kalyan Chandra
 Maharaj Bhim Chandra
 Maharaj Bodh Chandra
 Maharaj Govind Chandra
 Maharani Prema Devi
 (name of 6 kings missing)
 Maharaj Nar Vardhan
 Maharaj Rajya Vardhan I
 Maharaj Aditya Vardhan
 Maharaj Prabhakar Vardhan
 Maharaj Rajyavardhana
 Samrat Harsha (younger son of Prabhakar Vardhan, received throne after brother's death
 Maharaj Yashkarn (grandson of Harsh Vardhan)
 Maharaj Ranshakti
 Maharaj Dhir Chandra
 Maharaj Braj Kumar
 Maharaj Ghosh Chandra
 Maharaj Puranmal
 Maharaj Jaganpati
 Maharaj Parimal Dev

 Maharaj Mani Chandra

 Maharaj Kamaldev

 Maharaj Yashdhar Dev

 Maharaj Doril Dev

 Maharaj Kripal Shah

 Maharaj Ratan Shah

 Maharaj Hindupati

 Maharaj Raj Shah

 Maharaj Pratap Shah

 Maharaj Rudra Shah

 Maharaj Vikramaditya

 Maharaj Tambe Rai

 Maharaj Kshatrapati Rao

 Maharaj Jagat Pati

 Maharaj Keshav Rai

 Maharaj Abhay Chand (founder of Baiswada)

 Maharaj Karn Rai

 Maharaj Siddh Rai

 Maharaj Purn Rao

 Maharaj Ghatam Dev (founder of Ghatampur)

 Maharaj Jajan Dev (founder of Jajmau)

 Maharaj Ranvir Dev (founder of Ranvirpur Purva)

 Maharaj Rohitashv

 Maharaj Rao Satan Dev

 Maharaj Trilok Chandra II Singh

 Maharaj Rao Prithvi Chandra Singh

 Maharaj Rao Dev Rai Singh

 Maharaj Rao Bhairon Das Singh

 Maharaj Rao Tara Chandra Singh

 Maharaj Rao Sangram Singh

 Maharaj Rao Kanak Singh

 Maharaj Rao Prithiviraj Singh

 Maharaj Rao Purandar Singh

 Maharaj Rao Mardan Singh

 Maharaj Rao Raghunath Singh

 Maharaj Rao Verisal Singh

 Maharaj Rao Hari Singh

 Maharaj Rao Basant Singh (nephew of Hari Singh)
 Maharaj Rao Ram Baksh Singh (died 1858) (throne vacant till now)
 Maharaj Rao Ram Baksh Singh participated in 1858 revolt against Britishers.

References

Baiswada State


The Ilama (Annona macroprophyllata), also known as the soncoya or sincuya, is a kind of fruit, and also the name of the tree that it grows on. The trees and fruits can be found in tropical Central America.  The name comes from the Spanish translation of the Nahuatl ilamatzapotl. Its rough translation is 'old woman's sapote'.  The name is also applied to a similar fruit, cabeza de negro  (A. pupurea) which is cultivated as an alternative to the cherimoya.  The cabeza de negro is similar in size to the Ilama but grey-brown in color with hard bumps on the surface, and orange flesh that tastes like mango or papaw.

The Ilama fruit is delicious when eaten ripe. It is either eaten on the half-shell or scooped out with a tool. The Ilama is usually chilled when served, it is sometimes served with a little cream and sugar to intensify the flavor, or with a drop of lime or lemon juice to bring in a tart and bitter tinge.

References

Annona

Ilama (fruit)


Weybridge Town Hall is located on Quaker Village Road in northern Weybridge, Vermont.  It was built in 1847, originally serving as the Wesleyan Methodist Church before becoming the town's first and only town hall in 1893.  A fine example of Greek Revival architecture, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

Description and history
Weybridge Town Hall stands on the west side of Quaker Village Road in a dispersed village setting in northern Weybridge, arrayed mainly on the east bank of Otter Creek.  It is a single-story wood-frame structure with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior.  The roof is capped by a tower that rises from a low flushboarded square base to a six-sided louvered belfry to an ogee-shaped dome.  The main facade has paneled corner pilasters rising to an entablature and a fully pedimented gable with sunburst planking.  The interior retains significant Greek Revival woodwork, as well as original bench pews and early 20th-century light fixtures.

The building was built in 1847 following the split of the local Methodist congregation over the matter of slavery.  The abolitionist faction had withdrawn from the original congregation established in 1798, and built this church.  Its builders clearly drew inspiration from the published works of Asher Benjamin: a number of its exterior and interior details are clearly drawn from plates in his pattern books.  The Methodist congregations reunited after the American Civil War, but declined in size, and in 1893 leased the building to the town for use as its town hall.  It is the town's first town hall, and continues to serve in that capacity, in addition to hosting community events.  The building originally housed the town's library in its basement, until 1911 when the adjacent Cotton Free Library was built.  The building underwent significant restoration in the 1990s.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Addison County, Vermont

References

Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Churches completed in 1847
19th-century Methodist church buildings in the United States
Buildings and structures in Weybridge, Vermont
Churches in Addison County, Vermont
1847 establishments in Vermont
1893 establishments in Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Addison County, Vermont
Town halls in Vermont

Weybridge Town Hall


Béon is a commune. It is found in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the Ain department in the east of France. In 2009, 352 people lived in the commune. The inhabitants are the Béonais. The most important monuments in the commune are the Château de Béon, a 19th-century castle, and the ruins of the Château de Luyrieu, a feudal castle. The commune is twinned with Béon in the Yonne département.

Related pages
Communes of the Ain department

Other websites

Communes in Ain

Béon, Ain


Transaction privilege tax (TPT) refers to a gross receipts tax levied by the state of Arizona on certain persons for the privilege of conducting business in the state. TPT differs from the "true" sales tax imposed by many other U.S. states as it is imposed upon the seller or lessor rather than the purchaser or lessee. The seller/lessor may pass the burden of the tax on to the purchaser/lessee, but the seller or lessor is the party that remains ultimately liable to Arizona for the tax. TPT is imposed under 16 separate business classifications: amusement, commercial lease, job printing, membership camping, mining, owner builder sales, personal property rental, pipeline, prime contracting, private car line, publication, restaurant, retail, telecommunications, transient lodging, transporting, and utilities. (Effective November 1, 2006, the Arizona State Legislature repealed the membership camping classification statute, reducing the total number of tax classifications from 17 to 16.)  State tax rates for the various classifications are as follows: 5.5% for the transient lodging classification, 3.125% for the mining classification, 0% for the commercial lease classification, and 5.6% for all other tax classifications. Taxes are imposed on the total gross receipts of taxable businesses, with the exception of prime contractors, who are taxed on 65% of their gross receipts. All gross receipts for a person subject to tax under a particular tax classification are subject to tax unless otherwise specifically exempted or excluded by statute.  Exemptions and deductions of one tax classification may not be used under another classification unless specifically delineated.

Arizona county taxes

Arizona county excise taxes "piggyback" the imposition of the state's TPT. All sales subject to TPT are also subject to applicable county excise taxes.

Arizona city taxes

The imposition of Arizona city privilege taxes is separate and distinct from the imposition of state TPT. The League of Arizona Cities and Towns created the Model City Tax Code (MCTC) for the purposes of imposing and administering city taxes. All Arizona cities utilize the MCTC in the imposition of their privilege and use taxes. Certain local options and model options exist, allowing each city to alter or qualify the imposition of its privilege tax or use tax.

See also
Tax
Sales tax
Sales taxes in the United States

Notes

External links
Arizona Department of Revenue
List of Arizona counties
League of Arizona Cities and Towns

Taxation in Arizona
Sales taxes

Transaction privilege tax


Jizzax Province (Uzbek: Jizzax viloyati / Жиззах вилояти) is a viloyat (province) o Uzbekistan locatit in the centre o the kintra. It borders wi Tajikstan tae the sooth an sooth-east, Samarqand Province tae the wast, Navoiy Province tae the north-wast, Kazakhstan tae the north, an Sirdaryo Province tae the east. It covers an aurie o 20,500 km². The population is estimatit tae be aroond 910,500, wi some 80% livin in rural auries.

The provincial caipital is Jizzakh (pop est 127,500 indwallers). Ither major touns include Dustlik, Gagarin, Gallyaaral (Gallaorol), Pakhtakor, an Mardjanbulak. Jizzax Province wis umwhile a pairt o Sirdaryo Province but wis gien separate status in 1973.

The climate is a teepically continental climate, wi mild winters an het, dry simmers.

The economy o Jizzax Province is primarily based on agricultur. Cotton an wheat are the main craps, an extensive irrigation is uised. Naitural resoorces include leid, zinc, airn, an limestane.

The province haes a well-developit transportation infrastructur, wi ower 2500 km o surfacit roads.

The bonnie Zaamin Naitional Pairk, umwhile Guralash Preserve, on the wastren slopes o the Turkestan Range an kent for its unique fauna an flora, is athin the province an aw.

Wildlife is extremely rich here; in spring an in simmer alpine meadaes are gray wi multitude o colors, bricht-reid tulips an snaw-white acacias. In hairst the hills thay are magnificently decoratit wi the gowden domes o the hazelnut trees, columns o birch-trees, touerin plane trees, an green rones. Heich in the muntains, in the upper pairt o the Garalashsay gorge, is a nestin-place o black storks. Thir rare birds are the pride an joy o Uzbekistan. Thay are written doun in the "Redbooks" in mony kintras as an endangered species. Early in the ware whan the Amasay Depression is fluidit, flocks o deuks, wild geese, pelicans an grey herons come here. This territory sers as a nestin place for rose-coloured starlins, shrikes, an sandpipers.

Destricts

The province is dividit intae 12 destricts (tumans):

References
 Jizzakh Province offeecial wab steid (browse throu aw accessible sections).

Provinces o Uzbekistan

Jizzax Province


Curtained hair or curtains is a simple hairstyle. It has long fringe divided in the middle or a side parting, with short sides and back. This style is mostly for males. It became very popular in Europe, North America, and Japan in the 20th and 21st centuries.

History
Curtained hair started in the Edwardian era. People used it as a practical alternative to longer hair. It was popular because it was easy to manage during sports like rugby football. This style stayed popular for a long time, and famous people like Mao Zedong and Fred Trump had it.

In the early 20th century, young working-class men and street gangs also liked this haircut. It was useful in street fights because long hair could be a disadvantage.

Comeback
In the late 1980s and 1990s, curtained hair came back. Fans of different music styles and bands like The Happy Mondays and Blur popularised it in the UK. Famous people like David Beckham and Tom Cruise also wore this style.

In the early 2020s, the hairstyle became popular again because of social media app TikTok and K-pop. Many young people find it attractive.

In Popular Culture
Many famous actors like Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 2 and Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic have worn this hairstyle. It is also seen in manga, anime, and video game characters like Trunks from Dragon Ball and Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy VIII. Many K-Pop stars, including members of BTS and EXO, also have this haircut.

Curtained hair


The Dimitrie Leonida Technical Museum was founded in 1909 by Dimitrie Leonida, inspired by the München Technical Museum, he had visited during his studies in Charlottenburg Polytechnic Institute.
In 1908, with the help of the first promotions of mechanics and electricians from his school, the first in Romania, Leonida collected the first objects for the museum.
What is different in the Leonida museum was the educational orientation of the museum and also the interactivity.

External links
 http://www.mnt-leonida.ro
 http://www.cimec.ro/muzee/mteh/mteh.htm

Museums in Bucharest
Technology museums

Dimitrie Leonida Technical Museum


Broa ( or ) is a type of corn and rye bread traditionally made in Portugal, Galicia, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and Brazil, however in those countries it is more closely related to cornbread and its original recipe from Native Americans, where it is traditionally seasoned with fennel. Broa (mostly not in Brazil) is made from a mixture of cornmeal and rye or wheat flour, and is leavened with yeast rather than baking powder or baking soda.

The portuguese word broa, cognate with the spanish word borona, comes from the celtic word boruna.

In Portugal, broa de milho, like broa de Avintes, is a type of broa listed on the Ark of Taste. This yeast bread has the rustic flavor and texture that suitably accompanies soups, especially caldo verde, a Portuguese soup made with tender kale, potatoes, and chouriço sausages.

In the Philippines, broa (or broas) traditionally refer to ladyfingers, and not to a type of cornbread. Additionally, in Guyana, broas are instead a style of sugar cookies (or biscuits), flavored with lime, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

See also
 List of maize dishes

References

Brazilian cuisine
Portuguese cuisine
Yeast breads
Maize dishes

Broa


The Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema (KIFMC) was created in 2005. It takes place at the beginning of September in the town of Kazan, Russia.

History
Initially it was supposed to be a mobile festival between Muslim regions in Russia and other States of the Muslim world, and the city of Kazan was chosen to be a start point, because it is the biggest Islamic city in the northern hemisphere. The President of the Republic Tatarstan  (an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation) insisted that KIFMC should be the Culture Brand of the capital of the Republic "Kazan", which became the permanent residence for the festival,  and city name has been added to the name of the festival.

External links
 The 8th Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema
 Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema (KIFMC)

Islamic culture
Film festivals in Russia
Islam in Kazan


Maria Cristina National High School is a public high school in the Philippines.  It opened in 1972.

Mission
The school's mission statement describes its main goals.  These are:

 To provide a good education to its students
 To teach students to be responsible people who contribute to their communities
 To teach students patriotism and nationalism
 To help students develop good morals and discipline
 To promote progress in technology
 To teach students how to work efficiently

History
When it first opened, Maria Cristina National High School was called Maria Cristina Barangay High School.  It was also called a Barrio High School.  A law called Republic Act 6050 (RA 6050) created the school.  People living in Barangay Maria Cristina signed a petition asking the government to create a high school there.

After the government agreed, Maria Cristina Barangay High School opened in June of 1972.  It had 183 students and 5 teachers.  There were two sections of first-year students and one section of second-year students.  At first, the new high school did not have its own building.  Most classes were held at the barangay hall.  Two classes were also held at the local elementary school.

As more students came to Maria Cristina Barangay High School, a temporary classroom made of bricks was built.  The school also hired more teachers.  The national government paid for most of the school's costs.  The local school board also paid for some costs.

As the school continued to grow, it needed its own building.  A new school was built on a 3-hectare lot owned by the National Power Corporation.  The National Power Corporation was not using a part of this lot.  The National Transmission Corporation (TRANSCO) and the Local School Board of Iligan City Division agreed to allow Maria Cristina National High School to use that part of the lot to build a new school.  The goal of this new building was to make it possible for Maria Cristina National High School to keep growing.

At first, in 2004, the new school had only two buildings with six classrooms, so only fourth-year students were able to use it.  Now, the new building is big enough for all of the school's students.  The school now has 17 sections of students, 26 teachers, and 40 sets of computers.

Education in the Philippines
High schools
Organizations based in the Philippines

Maria Cristina National High School


The yaylı tambur is a bowed long-neck lute from Turkey. Derived from the older plucked mızraplı tambur variant of the Turkish tambur, it has a long, fretted neck and a round metal or wooden soundbox which is often covered on the front with a skin or acrylic head similar to that of a banjo.

The instrument is held vertically, with the soundbox resting in the player's lap or between the calves. The bow is grasped sideways, with the little, ring and middle fingers pressing on the horsehairs, while the thumb and index fingers hold the rightmost wooden edge of the bow. The leftmost strings of the instrument unite into a single course to form a doubled-string which is tuned to a unison that is lifted slightly from the bridge. This is where all melodic playing takes place. The rest are sympathetic strings numbering from 4 to 6 which are tuned to the octave, fifth and/or fourth of the main doubled-string.

Due to the special nature of the instrument, the neck behaves as though it was unfretted despite the ordinary placement of numerous frets (anywhere from 24 to 34 or more to the octave). That is to say, the fingers can press down on unfretted parts of the neck to achieve the same effect as stopping the frets. This allows the glissandi and portamenti to be executed flawlessly which constitute the primary characteristics of the yaylı tambur. Moreover, the frets can be moved about depending on the tastes and choices of the player to achieve correct intonation of a given makam.

Dr. Ozan Yarman has proposed an alternate 24-tone tuning and fretting for the tambur that he has applied to his own instrument, which replaces the Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek tone-system in use for Turkish Art music while also relying on the same array of accustomed microtonal accidentals to notate.

See also
Turkish musical instruments
Music of Turkey
Gusle
Igil
Kemenche
Morin khuur

References

External links

Turkish musical instruments
Bowed string instruments
Drumhead lutes
Necked bowl lutes
Necked lutes
Turkish words and phrases
Instruments of Ottoman classical music
Instruments of Turkish makam music
Turkish inventions

Yaylı tambur


is a Japanese politician who has been the governor of Gunma Prefecture since July 2019. He was a neoconservative member of the House of Councillors in Japan. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he served as the Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs from 2012 to 2019 on the second Abe cabinet.

Overview

Yamamoto who worked for an international organisation was elected after the death of his father Tomio Yamamoto who was a member of the House of Councillors.  Ichita Yamamoto's great-grandfather founded the Kusatsu ryokan "Yamadaya".  Ichita's grandfather was mayor of Kusatsu.  Ichita's father, Tomio Yamamoto, started in the Kusatsu town council (1955), rose to the Gunma Prefectural Assembly (1966), and finally the House of Councillors (1977), where he remained until his death in 1995 (age 66) of liver failure.  Ichita Yamamoto belongs to some committees including the Foreign and Defense Policy Committee.

Ichita Yamamoto hails from the skiing and hot spring resort town of Kusatsu in Gunma Prefecture.  His family owned the Hotel White Town in Kusatsu. (This hotel went bankrupt in 1989.) Tomio Yamamoto (his father) was a coach of the Japanese Olympic ski team.  Yamamoto obtained his LL.B. from Chuo University.  After that, he studied English at Simul Academy and Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin.  Yamamoto then entered the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at Georgetown University, graduating in 1986. Upon returning to Japan, he worked for Asahi Newspaper as a reporter for a short period of time, at the Fukushima bureau.  After Asahi, Yamamoto worked for the Japanese government development aid organization JICA for a number of years, later transferring to the United Nations in New York.  Upon the death of his father, he ran for the same seat and won in 1995.  He was re-elected in 2001, 2007 and 2013.  Yamamoto frequently appears on political talk shows in Japan.

On 26 December 2012, Yamamoto was named Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs in the second Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Music
 , 1998
 , 2003, Featured on episode 7 of Adam and Joe Go Tokyo.

References

External links
 Official site (in Japanese)
YouTube channel

Living people
1958 births
People from Gunma Prefecture
Governors of Gunma Prefecture
Members of the House of Councillors (Japan)
Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians
Chuo University alumni

Ichita Yamamoto


The American Gothic House, also known as the Dibble House, is a house in Eldon, Iowa, designed in the Carpenter Gothic style with a distinctive upper window. It was the backdrop of the 1930 painting American Gothic by Grant Wood, generally considered Wood's most famous work and among the most recognized paintings in twentieth century American art. Wood, who observed the house only twice in his lifetime, made only an initial sketch of the house—he completed American Gothic at his studio in Cedar Rapids.

First owned by Eldon resident Charles Dibble after its construction in 1881 and 1882, the home was (with one 1897 exception) a private residence until the late twentieth century. After a thirty-year preservation effort culminated with the donation of the house in 1991 to the State Historical Society of Iowa, the site now includes the original house in its 1930 form and a visitors center. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Since 1991, various caretaker-occupants have continued to rent the home privately.

Early history and architecture
Charles A. Dibble (born 1836 in Saratoga County, New York), by various accounts a railroad man, livery stable owner, and Civil War veteran, lived in Eldon in the late nineteenth century. He and his wife, Catharine, began building the house in 1881 for themselves and their eight children. Its relatively simple board-and-batten siding, white color, and moderate size—just —were quite common in nineteenth century Iowa architecture. A similar style can be observed in the birthplace of President Herbert Hoover in West Branch, built a decade before the American Gothic House, which features board-and-batten siding, a simple shingled roof, a central chimney, white color, and a moderate size as well. Exterior features of the house include its two Gothic windows in the gable and its steep-pitched roof. Both features would later be exaggerated by Grant Wood in American Gothic. The lower floor of the house contains three rooms and a bathroom, while the upper floor has two bedrooms. The house has been called the best-known example of a Carpenter Gothic cottage in the United States.

There is no conclusive evidence explaining why the Dibbles chose to place Gothic windows on the upper level. The windows are believed to have been purchased through the Sears catalog. There are two commonly accepted theories: the Dibbles may have wanted the windows to beautify their home at a time when rural life in Iowa was a struggle, or they could have been following a trend in which extravagant details were desirable in residences in the late nineteenth century, and the Dibbles chose windows whose costs would have been relatively reasonable at the time.

The Dibbles' house was foreclosed around 1897 after they were unable to pay their taxes, and they are recorded as living in Portland, Oregon, in the 1900 Census. The house changed hands several times until 1917, when Gideon and Mary Hart Jones purchased it. The Jones family owned the house until 1933 (and notably added a kitchen which created the west wing of the house); thus, it was the Jones family who allowed Grant Wood to use their home as a backdrop for American Gothic.

American Gothic

During the summer of 1930, Edward Rowan, a young gallery director from Cedar Rapids, a large city approximately  to the northeast of Eldon, attempted to promote fine arts in the rural town by opening a gallery and library and leading art classes in Eldon. Rowan's attempts were met with success—the Eldon Forum called the exhibitions "an unusual treat." This, along with an indebtedness Wood felt toward Rowan, drew the painter (himself a native of Anamosa, Iowa) to come to Eldon.

In August, Wood was driven around the town by a young painter from Eldon, John Sharp, looking for inspiration. Sharp's brother suggested in 1973 that it was on this drive that Wood first sketched the house on the back of an envelope. Wood did not immediately regard the house as beautiful, but he did find it captivating. His earliest biographer, Darrell Garwood, noted that Wood "thought it a form of borrowed pretentiousness, a structural absurdity, to put a Gothic-style window in such a flimsy frame house." At the time, Wood classified it as one of the "cardboardy  frame houses on Iowa farms" and considered it "very paintable." After obtaining the permission of the Jones family, Wood made a sketch the next day in oil on paperboard from the house's front yard. This sketch displayed a steeper roof and a longer window with a more pronounced ogive than the actual house, features which eventually adorned the final work; however, Wood did not add figures to the sketch until he returned to Cedar Rapids.

Although Wood never returned to Eldon, he did request a photograph of the home to complete his painting.

Later history and current status
Decades after American Gothic was regarded as an American icon, the house continued to serve as a private residence, usually for rent, transferring ownership only once more from the Jones family to the Seldon Smith family at a "distress sale" in 1942. A grassroots movement to preserve the house was started as early as 1945 by Nan Wood, Grant Wood's sister and the female figure depicted in American Gothic. A visit in 1960 to the house (which was beginning to fall into disrepair) by Des Moines architect and historian William J. Wagner, A.I.A. capped these early efforts. He was among the first to suggest preservation of the house as a historic site:

In the early 1970s, a series of letters between Eldon businessmen and Carl E. Smith—who has recently inherited the house—revealed differing opinions on its continued use: Smith wanted to renovate the house and protect it from vandalism only; the Eldon leaders were more in favor of making the house an historic site. The house was abandoned for much of the 1970s—a bullet was fired in an upstairs bedroom; weather and vandalism took their toll as well. Only in the late 1980s did the owner of the property consider turning the house over to the state. Indeed, many southern Iowans were conflicted on the issue—the owner wanted to keep the house only because he believed the current renters would have nowhere else to go if they were forced to leave.

After the home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 (the result of an application by an Eldon farmer), the owner refurbished the house, installing an indoor bathroom and electricity and restoring the windows and wallpaper. Local politicians believed such work coupled with a new museum and education center could provide a major boost to local tourism—one state senator hoped for as many as 100,000 visitors per year. After the house's owner eventually turned over the property to the State Historical Society of Iowa in 1991, an effort was made to move the house to Living History Farms outside Des Moines, but Eldonians fought to keep it within their city limits. The house was renovated in 1992, with boosters hoping to see the house become a pop-culture tourism attraction, much like the Field of Dreams site in similarly rural Dyersville. Today the American Gothic House Center hosts approximately 15,000 visitors per year, which does not account for additional after-hours visitors.

Visitors are encouraged to view the house from the outside and have their photo taken—in fact, the visitors center provides many sizes of similar aprons and jackets worn by the original painting's models. The adjacent American Gothic House Center, completed in 2007, contains exhibits about the painting, artist Grant Wood, and the community around the house. Each June, the city of Eldon holds its Gothic Days festival, a celebration of the painting and rural life in Eldon in the 1930s. Starting in 2015, tours began of the first floor of the home.

Notes

Further reading

References

External links
 American Gothic House Center
 Grant Wood and Frank Lloyd Wright Compared
 Art Institute of Chicago: American Gothic
 State Historical Society of Iowa: American Gothic House

Houses in Wapello County, Iowa
Carpenter Gothic architecture in Iowa
Carpenter Gothic houses in the United States
Historic house museums in Iowa
Museums in Wapello County, Iowa
Grant Wood
Houses completed in 1882
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa
National Register of Historic Places in Wapello County, Iowa
State Historical Society of Iowa
Wooden houses in the United States
1882 establishments in Iowa

American Gothic House


PC PowerPlay (PCPP) is Australia's only dedicated PC games magazine. PC PowerPlay focuses on news and reviews for upcoming and newly released games on the Microsoft Windows platform. The magazine also reviews computer hardware for use on gaming computers. The magazine is published by Future Australia.

In 2018, Future, owner and publisher of PC Gamer, purchased PC PowerPlay and related computing titles from nextmedia, incorporating PC PowerPlay articles into the online versions of PC Gamer.

While no physical media is included now, for most of the life of the magazine it included either a CD or DVD, that would be filled with game demos, freeware games, anime shows, film/anime/game teaser trailers, game patches, game mods, game maps, PC utilities and computer wallpapers.

Main sections
The main sections included in each month's magazine include letters to the editor, previews & reviews, feature articles & artwork, pictures of computers owned by readers, flashbacks to old games, lists of PC builds to help people purchase new products and advertising. There are also various opinion and comedic sections such as "Dr. Claw" and "Yellow Boots".

Scoring system
Each review of a game or product is given a score out of ten. PC PowerPlay has given 10/10 scores to a number of games including:

A 10/10 game is connoted not as a perfect game but as a "masterpiece with flaws", and replaced the previous score out of 100. The reasoning for the switch was "What is the difference between a game which gets 95% and a game that gets 96%?"

Under the previous percentage system, only Wolfenstein 3D ever received 100% (retroactively via a re-release in 1998 since the game was originally released prior to PC PowerPlay's first issue). That 100% was converted to 10/10 when printed in review score summaries in later issues, while the next closest score, 98%, was given to:
 Deus Ex
 Falcon 4.0
 Half-Life
 System Shock 2
 Total Annihilation
 Unreal

The lowest score given to a game by PC PowerPlay was Mindscape's Howzat World Cricket Quest. It was given a score of 2% in March 1998.

Website & forum
In addition to the magazine itself there were several websites that are closely linked with it. The official PC PowerPlay website was launched in 2001, but was taken offline following the collapse of the online division of publishing company Next Media, then lay dormant until July 2006.

While it had a typical frontpage with online articles most of the traffic went to the PC PowerPlay forums. The forum database had been preserved across a number of technology migrations. It first began on a ColdFusion powered site in 2001, then moved to phpBB and was converted to vBulletin in 2007. It was one of the largest Australian specific online forums while it existed. The forums provided discussion of gaming and computer related software and technology. There were also "off-topic" sections dedicated to general discussion and banter, serious discussions regarding Australian national, regional and international issues and a section for discussions of TV shows, films and music. This design also allows the organisation of multiplayer games amongst the PCPP readers and other forum members. The general discussion section of the PCPP Forum is titled "Rhubarb", because of editor Anthony Fordham's love of the old British joke of having extras in movie crowd scenes say "rhubarbrhubarbrhubarb" to simulate incidental conversation.

A website re-launch occurred on 22 April 2009, consisting of a customised Joomla install and layout, and an intention to regularly updated blogs, news articles and major features, although it quickly fell back into the same problems with contributors not updating the news sections, leaving the forum to continue as the only regularly updated section.

On Wednesday, 12 March 2010, the PCPP website and forum software was replaced with a CMS provided by CyberGamer. This software also powers the cybergamer.com.au website. PCPP is now listed as a "Media Partner" of CyberGamer whilst CyberGamer now receives advertising space within PCPP and PCPP's sister magazine, Hyper. A press release was issued on 18 March, detailing the arrangement between both parties. As part of this online merger, PCPP's established community were incorporated within the CyberGamer Network. The CyberGamer Network acts as a single-sign on service for all CyberGamer-powered sites. Hyper Magazine was due to migrate their web presence to a CyberGamer network powered system on 8 April 2010.

The transition to the CyberGamer forums was considered by the community to have been handled badly and on 12 August 2010, PC PowerPlays then-editor, Anthony Fordham, announced that the PCPP Forums would revert to the old vBulletin software, stating that the PC PowerPlay community were not happy with the current CyberGamer software. Discussions were made regarding a potential merger with the Hyper game forum that was centred around console gaming, but no concrete plans ever came about.

The forum was eventually closed in December 2017 as costs to run the server and the dwindling userbase made it uneconomical to continue. The frontpage was redirected to a PC Gamer website for the magazines writers to update, but ceased updating articles in 2018.

CD-ROM version, DVD-ROM version and disc-less version
The magazine launched in 1996 with a 640 Megabyte CD-ROM cover disc, which was upgraded to a double CD-ROM set in January 2000 issue. The DVD-ROM edition joined the line-up in April 2002 issue alongside the CD-ROM version for three years, the CD-ROM version finally ceased production in 2005.

The August 1998 cover disc of PC PowerPlay was infected with the Malburg virus, causing the magazine to apologise in the following issue and give away antivirus software from Kaspersky Lab. Malburg was also spread by a PC Gamer cover disc and WarGames: Defcon 1 in the same year, which CNN Money stated caused the malware to become a "widespread threat".

From April to December 2002 the DVD-ROM edition of PC PowerPlay also contained one episode of an Anime show that was licensed and distributed in Australia by Madman Entertainment such as Boogiepop Phantom, Love Hina, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.

The November 2005 edition included the first discless magazine at a little over half the price of the DVD-ROM version. While sales were not spectacular, dropping the CD-ROM did slow the rate of decline of the non-DVD-ROM version of the magazine. This saw subscriptions being offered for the disc-less version at half the sale price.

The Bunker was a section of the DVD-ROM originally compiled each month by "ROM", a respected member of the PCPP online community. However, following his retirement from the position (announced in issue #143), The Bunker undertook a drastic transformation and became the PCPP Community Bunker. Readers and members of the online community produced and were actively encouraged to submit to the section.

The Bunker was replaced in 2009 with a streamlined Applications and Utilities section.

Competition
Australian publishing company Derwent Howard launched a competitor called PC Games Addict in 2002, using some Australian content filled out by licensed content from PC Gamer in the UK and PC Format. The magazine ceased publication in 2005, leaving PC PowerPlay with no direct competition in the Australian market for PC games magazines. There was indirect competition from technology enthusiast magazines such as Atomic and FamilyPC Australia. There were also imported magazines from the UK and US such as PC Gamer and PC Zone but their circulations were minimal in comparison to the local products. An Australian version of PC Gamer launched shortly after PC PowerPlay but was shut down in 1999 following a dispute between the publisher and printer

See also
Hyper

References

External links

Archive of PC PowerPlay magazines at the Internet Archive

Computer magazines published in Australia
Video game magazines published in Australia
Monthly magazines published in Australia
Magazines established in 1996
1996 establishments in Australia
Magazines published in Sydney
Bi-monthly magazines published in Australia

PC PowerPlay


Windows Media Center is a discontinued video recorder that was developed by the Microsoft Corporation and released for Windows XP Media Center Edition, also known as the Media Center Update. It can be used in Windows Vista in Home Premium and Ultimate edition and Windows 7 in Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise edition.

In 2012, Microsoft launched Windows Media Center for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 from the Pro edition. After Microsoft's Windows 10 release on July 29, 2015, Microsoft discontinued Windows Media Center because Microsoft no longer installs Windows Media Center for Windows 10. Still, users can download a modified Windows Media Center application from an unofficial source for the Windows 10 operating system.

Operating systems

Windows XP Media Center Edition
Microsoft included Windows Media Center in Windows XP in Media Center Edition when it was announced on 2002. After releasing Windows XP Media Center Edition, the first software in Windows XP changed when it officially released. In Service Pack 1, new updates allowed users to use Windows Media Center to choose a CD-DVD Drive in Windows Media Player, instead of including a Windows DVD Player app.

Windows Vista
Microsoft launched Windows Vista with Windows Media Center in Home Premium and Ultimate edition. In 2006, Microsoft developed a Windows Media Center Update on Windows Vista RTM version. Windows Media Center Update allowed users to choose like Media Center 2002 and 2005 in Home Premium edition for Windows Vista, also like changed Windows Media Player and Windows DVD Maker.

Windows 7
Microsoft launched Windows Media Center for Windows 7 for all editions except Starter and Home Basic.

Windows 8 and Windows 8.1
In the Windows 8 and 8.1 operating system, Microsoft included Windows Media Center for the Professional edition with Media Center and Pro edition, but did not include Windows Live Essentials like Windows 7 and Windows Vista Media Center.

Windows 10
Microsoft has not launched Windows Media Center for the Windows 10 operating system because Microsoft no longer supports Windows Media Center.

Windows Media Center can be downloaded for all Microsoft Windows 10 editions. However, it is not officially supported or maintained by Microsoft.

Related pages

 Software
 Windows Media Player
 Windows 7
 Windows 8
 Windows Vista

Microsoft Windows software

Windows Media Center


Sumner Lincoln Fairfield (June 25, 1803 – March 6, 1844) was an American poet, born in Warwick, Massachusetts to Dr. Abner Fairfield and Lucy Lincoln. From 1818 to 1820, he studied at Brown University, but he was compelled to leave after 2 years. He taught school in Georgia and South Carolina. In December 1825 he spent 4 months in England and when he returned he married Jane Frazee on September 20, 1826. Sumner had a very sensitive and melancholy personality and according to his wife Jane, "His nature was haughty, unbending, and reserved; he could not brook  personal or newspaper attacks. I have seen him writhe under mental pain even upon a criticism of a poem."

Principal works
 The Battle of Borodino.  1821
 The Siege of Constantinople A Poem.  1822
 Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Lucy Fairfield.  1823
 Poems.  1823
 Lays of Melpomene.  1824
 Mina A Dramatic Sketch, with Other Poems.  1825
 The Sisters of St. Clara.  1825
 The Passage of the Sea A Poem : with Other Pieces.  1826
 The Heir of the World, And Lesser Poems.  1829
 Abaddon, the Spirit of Destruction; And Other Poems.  1830
 The Last Night of Pompeii A Poem, and Lays and Legends.  1832
 The Poems and Prose Writings of Sumner Lincoln Fairfield In Two Volumes ; Vol. I.  1841

Notes

References
Fairfield, Jane Frazee, and Sumner Lincoln Fairfield. The Autobiography of Jane Fairfield; Embracing a Few Select Poems by Sumner Lincoln Fairfield. Boston: Bazin and Ellsworth, 1860.  googlebooks.com Retrieved December 29, 2008
 "Fairfield, Sumner Lincoln" American Authors 1600-1900, The H. W. Wilson Company, 1938
 Hughes, Thomas Patrick, and Frank Munsell. American Ancestry: Giving Name and Descent, in the Male Line, of Americans Whose Ancestors Settled in the United States Previous to the Declaration of Independence, A.D. 1776. (pp. 69–70) Albany, N.Y.: Munsell, 1887. googlebooks Retrieved December 29, 2008

External links
 archive.org

19th-century American poets
American male poets
1803 births
1844 deaths
19th-century American male writers

Sumner Lincoln Fairfield


Walter of Pattishall (died 1231/32) was an English justice and administrator. He was the eldest son of Simon of Pattishall, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and elder brother of Hugh of Pattishall, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. He inherited lands in Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and elsewhere, and as a result of his marriage to Margery, daughter of Richard d'Argentan, he acquired lands in Bedfordshire. He followed his fathers footsteps and became a justice, although with less success. His first appointment is as an itinerant justice in the South Midlands between 1218 and 1219, followed by occasional service as a royal justice, sitting for the last time in June 1231.

Although not a successful justice, he was appointed High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire on 18 January 1224 to replace Falkes de Breauté, who was becoming increasingly unpopular in the royal court. Following de Breauté's rebellion in 1224, culminating in the successful siege of Bedford Castle, Pattishall, along with Henry of Braybrooke, was ordered in the name of the king to demolish the castle. This caused an issue of loyalties, as both Pattishall and Braybrooke were vassals of William de Beauchamp, who owned the barony of Bedford and held the position of hereditary constable of the castle, but ultimately their loyalty to the king won out and the castle was demolished. Pattishall was replaced as High Sheriff on 5 September 1228, and was certainly dead by August 1232; he may have been dead by August 1231. He was survived by his wife and his son, Sir Simon of Pattishall.

References

12th-century births
1230s deaths
13th-century English judges
Anglo-Normans
High Sheriffs of Buckinghamshire
High Sheriffs of Bedfordshire

Walter of Pattishall