The brand extension, also referred to as the brand split, is the separation of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE's roster of wrestlers (and, at various times, creative staff) into distinct divisions, or "brands". The promotion's wrestlers are assigned to a brand via the annual WWE Draft and exclusively perform on that brand's weekly television show, with some exceptions. Throughout its history, WWE has utilized the brand extension twice. The first brand split occurred from 2002 to 2011, while the ongoing second began in 2016.

WWE currently promotes three brands. The two main brands, referred to as the main roster, are Raw and SmackDown. NXT, WWE's third brand, was launched in 2010 and has served as WWE's developmental territory since 2012, which also has Friday NXT LVL UP since 2022 as Second show. All Brands also produce WWE Main Event as a secondary Show.

The first brand split began in March 2002, following the company's acquisition of talent from the former World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotions, and after the conclusion of The Invasion storyline. WWE's roster had doubled in size, and the company no longer had a major competitor in the professional wrestling industry. The brand extension was enacted to alleviate the issues of an overcrowded roster and to imitate competition the company no longer had from the former promotions. The first two brands established were Raw and SmackDown, named after the respective weekly shows, Raw and SmackDown. ECW—a revival of the former promotion—served as the third brand from 2006 to 2010. The first brand extension then ended on August 29, 2011.

On May 25, 2016, WWE announced a relaunch of the brand extension as part of what was billed as "The New Era". The second brand extension went into effect on July 19, 2016. As before, Raw and SmackDown were the two primary brands. Other brands during the second brand extension included NXT UK, a United Kingdom-based subsidiary of NXT which was active from 2018 to 2022 (scheduled to be relaunched as NXT Europe in 2024), and 205 Live—a brand that specialized in cruiserweight wrestlers (with all wrestlers for the brand having a billed weight of 205 pounds and under) and was active from 2016 to 2022 (first as a Raw subsidiary, then as a standalone brand, and finally as an NXT subsidiary).

History

2002 split

In 2001, the Monday Night Wars, the rivalry between the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), ended with the WWF emerging victorious. The WWF would acquire the majority of assets of WCW, and later Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) (the third largest promotion in the United States at the time), through separate buyouts that included the employees (on and off-air talent) from both companies. The sales had left WWF as the only major professional wrestling promotion in the world with international television distribution (until the national expansion of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2004 and much later, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2019 on a larger scale).

With the acquisition of new talent, the WWF's already large roster doubled in size. In order to allow equal opportunity to all wrestlers, the company endorsed a brand extension to have the WWF represented and promoted with two brands, Raw and SmackDown!, named after the promotion's two primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown!, respectively.

In early 2002, the idea was put in motion to separate the WWF's two shows into distinct brands while both being under the WWF banner. One year prior, the original plan was to create a new WCW (which would be an independent entity in the storylines but would be under the WWF's auspices in reality), and for this new WCW to take over Raw and use the show to recreate its WCW counterpart, WCW Monday Nitro. (The WWF was unable to find a television time slot for WCW due to its exclusivity deal with Viacom.) This experiment was first made on July 2, 2001, when the final twenty minutes of Raw was given to WCW programming, in which the Raw crew was largely replaced (with Scott Hudson and Arn Anderson doing commentary, as well as a major stage overhaul) to present a match between Buff Bagwell and Booker T for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which Booker had won on the final Nitro. The match was met with negative reactions from the fans and viewers at home, when the WWF wrestlers interfered at the end of the match. With WWF focused on splitting its roster, the Invasion storyline was used as a second resort.

Following the end of the angle at Survivor Series, the WWF executed their alternate plan, which was to separate the two shows themselves: previously, wrestlers appeared on both Raw and SmackDown, but with this extension, wrestlers would be exclusive to only one show. Only the Undisputed WWF Champion and the WWF Women's Champion were exempt and could appear on both shows. This would change as both championships were later assigned to a brand.

The brand extension began on March 25, 2002, with a draft on Raw and went into effect one week later on April 1. On May 6, 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, which became an orphaned initialism in 2011). On June 13, 2006, after an Extreme Championship Wrestling reunion pay-per-view and video releases, WWE announced an addition to its prime time programming with ECW on Sci-Fi. The new ECW brand launched in May 2006 and served as a third brand, and a revival of the original ECW promotion. Both instances of the brand extensions required that representatives of each brand draft "superstars" (terminology used by the company to refer to its contracted personnel) onto each brand in a draft lottery.

2006 ECW introduction

After WWE bought all the assets of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 2003, the company began releasing DVDs promoting the original ECW. Soon afterwards, the company promoted two ECW reunion shows for ECW alumni, entitled ECW One Night Stand in 2005 and in 2006.

On May 25, 2006, WWE announced a launch of a new brand, ECW, a revival of the former 1990s promotion. The new brand debuted on Sci Fi on June 13, 2006, with its final episode on February 16, 2010, on the rebranded Syfy. The ECW brand was dissolved and its show was replaced the following week with the reality series, WWE NXT.

2016 split

On May 25, 2016, it was announced that beginning July 19, SmackDown would broadcast live on Tuesday nights, as opposed to being taped on Tuesdays and airing on Thursdays as it was previously, receiving a unique roster and set of writers compared to Raw, thus restoring the brand extension. The draft took place on the live premiere episode of SmackDown to determine the rosters between both brands. On the July 11 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon named Shane McMahon the (on-screen) commissioner for SmackDown and Stephanie McMahon the commissioner for Raw; both chose a General Manager for their respective shows. On the July 18 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon chose Mick Foley as the Raw General Manager, and Shane McMahon chose Daniel Bryan as the SmackDown General Manager. Due to Raw being a three-hour show and SmackDown being a two-hour show, Raw received three picks each round and SmackDown received two. Six draft picks had to be made amongst the non-title holders from WWE's developmental brand, NXT. Seth Rollins was picked first by Raw, with WWE Champion Dean Ambrose being SmackDown's first pick.

Two other brands would also be established during the second split. After the second brand extension began, WWE revived the cruiserweight division. The cruiserweight wrestlers were originally exclusive to Raw but had a supplementary show called 205 Live that premiered that November on the WWE Network. Following WrestleMania 34 in April 2018, the 205 Live brand was split from Raw, with the promotion's cruiserweight wrestlers becoming exclusive to the new brand. Additionally, in December 2016, WWE announced that they would be establishing a United Kingdom-based brand that would be produced exclusively in the country. In June 2018, the brand was officially established as NXT UK, a sub-brand of the American-based NXT. In September 2021, NXT was rebranded as NXT 2.0 and then in February 2022, the 205 Live brand was dissolved. In 2024, NXT UK will be relaunched as NXT Europe and feature wrestlers from all of Europe. According to Shawn Michaels, two additional NXT  sub-brands will be launched that same year: NXT Mexico and NXT Japan which will also feature wrestlers from Mexico and Japan respectively. NXT Europe was originally planned for 2023 but was delayed due to WWE's acquisition by Endeavor, which also owns Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), with WWE and UFC merging to form TKO Group Holdings. The merger was finalized in September 2023. In September 2022 the brand dropped the 2.0 moniker, reverting to the NXT name, with a revised version of the logo featuring white lettering in the 2.0 font outlined in black and gold.

Programming effects

Interbrand competition
Interbrand competition was initially kept to a minimum, with wrestlers from all brands competing together only at pay-per-view events. However, from 2003 to 2007, all pay-per-view events became brand exclusive, leaving the "big four" pay-per-views (WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble) as the only interbrand shows.

Starting in late 2006, in an attempt to add more star power to the shows, interbrand matches became more common. Most notably, MNM and The Hardy Boyz reformed, despite the teammates being on separate brands. Bobby Lashley was also notable for his interbrand action, as he was involved in a storyline with Donald Trump against WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, which carried over from Raw through WrestleMania 23 to ECW. The brief return of Saturday Night's Main Event to NBC also led to more interaction between the brands.

Interbrand competition returned with the reestablishment of the brand extension in 2016; the first interbrand match that occurred after the brand extension went into full effect was at SummerSlam on August 21, 2016, where Raw's Brock Lesnar defeated SmackDown's Randy Orton. The next large interbrand matches occurred at Survivor Series on November 20, 2016, featuring traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team matches between Raw and SmackDown, and beginning the following year, the event became about brand supremacy; in addition to the traditional Survivor Series matches, each champion of the Raw brand faces their counterpart of the SmackDown brand in non-title matches (e.g., the Universal Champion against the WWE Champion). Following the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up, a Wild Card Rule was introduced. Interbrand competition became much more frequent, with interbrand matches occurring weekly on Raw and SmackDown Live, as well as at pay-per-views. With a second draft of 2019 occurring in October, the Wild Card Rule was abolished.

In May 2020, select and limited interbrand matches returned with the introduction of the Brand to Brand Invitational, though under stricter guidelines than the previous Wild Card Rule. This happened largely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which several wrestlers have opted to not perform during the outbreak, thus resulting in fewer available talent on each show.

Pay-per-view and livestreaming events
The separation of the WWE roster between two brands also intended to split the pay-per-view (also known as premium live event from 2022) offerings, which began with Bad Blood in June 2003. The original idea had the "major" pay-per-view events at the time (Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and WrestleMania) would contain the only instances where wrestlers from different brands would interact with each other, and even among the four shows only the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania would have wrestlers from different brands competing against each other. Wrestlers, as a result, appeared only in two-thirds of the shows in a given year, and thus appeared in fewer shows compared to before the brand extension. With single-brand PPVs in place, WWE was able to add more pay-per-view events to their offerings, such as Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday, New Year's Revolution, December to Dismember, and The Great American Bash. Eventually, WWE abandoned the practice of single-brand pay-per-view events following WrestleMania 23. December to Dismember and New Year's Revolution were cancelled following the announcement.

With the reintroduction of the brand extension in 2016, single-branded pay-per-view events returned, and seven more pay-per-view events were added in 2017 so that each brand could have their own pay-per-view each month, in addition to the four major pay-per-views, in which both brands were involved. The only exception to this were the two months leading up to WrestleMania 33 in order to build the feuds for that event, and the two months (including the month of WrestleMania) following WrestleMania to begin new feuds for each brand. For example, February 2017 only had a SmackDown pay-per-view while March only had one for Raw. WrestleMania 33 was on April 2 and Raw had its first post-WrestleMania pay-per-view on April 30, while only SmackDown had a pay-per-view in May. This also happened in 2018, however, for 2018, WWE announced that following WrestleMania 34, brand-exclusive PPVs  would be discontinued, abandoning the single-brand practice for a second time. The 2018 Elimination Chamber and Fastlane events were the last two brand-exclusive pay-per-views for Raw and SmackDown, respectively.

Since the launch of the WWE Network service in 2014 and its subsequent merger of the American service with Peacock in 2021, each brand have its own set of PPVs/PLEs each month with the main roster events (Raw and SmackDown) being dual-branded while NXT kept its brand-exclusive premium live events regardless the brand extension is in operation or not (from 2014 to 2021, NXT promoted its specials under the TakeOver banner), while NXT UK had this similar practice.

Championships
Initially, the Undisputed WWE Championship and the original WWE Women's Championship were available to both brands. The other championships were exclusive to the brand the champion was a part of. When the brand extension began, Raw received the Intercontinental Championship and European Championship when their respective holders were drafted, while SmackDown! became the exclusive home for the Tag Team Championship and the original Cruiserweight Championship. With several specialty championships being exclusive to one brand, numerous wrestlers were left with no title to fight for except for the Hardcore Championship, which although a property of SmackDown! after the draft, it was contested under different rules than the other championships—the European and Hardcore championships were later unified with the Intercontinental Championship in July and August 2002, respectively, deactivating both championships.

The issue of specialty championships being exclusive to one brand was partially corrected in September 2002. When SmackDown! general manager Stephanie McMahon announced that Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar signed a deal to exclusively appear on SmackDown!, Raw general manager Eric Bischoff introduced the World Heavyweight Championship for Raw. Shortly thereafter, Raw became the exclusive brand for the World Tag Team Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, and the Women's Championship. Meanwhile, SmackDown! created the WWE Tag Team Championship and revived the United States Championship. The result was each brand having four championships: World Heavyweight, Intercontinental, World Tag Team, and Women's titles for Raw; WWE, United States, Tag Team, and Cruiserweight titles for SmackDown!. When ECW was revived in 2006 as a third brand, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship was reactivated as the brand's only championship. Over the course of the first brand extension, these championships switched between brands, usually due to the result of the annual draft. The Cruiserweight title, however, was the only championship to never switch brands, staying on SmackDown! from 2002 until the championship's retirement on September 28, 2007.

In October 2007, SmackDown! and ECW began a talent exchange agreement, which meant that SmackDown! wrestlers could appear on ECW and vice versa. This allowed the United States Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship to be shared between the two brands. In July 2008, the WWE Divas Championship was created for SmackDown, allowing SmackDown's women wrestlers to compete for a title. A talent exchange between ECW and Raw then began in September 2008. After John Morrison and The Miz of ECW became World Tag Team Champions, they appeared more frequently on the Raw brand, moving to a feud with reigning WWE Tag Team Champions of SmackDown, brothers Carlito and Primo Colon. The teams fought several non-title and title bouts for their respective brands' tag team championships before the two fought in a winner-take-all title unification lumberjack match at WrestleMania 25. Carlito and Primo would go on to win the contest, forming the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. The tag team championships remained separate titles, but were defended collectively as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship until the then-anonymous general manager of Raw announced that the World Tag Team Championship would be retired in favor of continuing the WWE Tag Team Championship, which received a new, single set of belts. On February 16, 2010, the ECW Championship was deactivated along with the ECW brand. On September 19, 2010, at Night of Champions, the Women's Championship was unified with the Divas Championship, retiring the Women's Championship in the process; the Divas Championship was briefly referred to as the Unified WWE Divas Championship. The first brand extension would then end a year later and all champions could appear on both shows.

In 2012, NXT became a developmental brand for WWE and they introduced the NXT Championship that year, followed by the NXT Women's Championship and NXT Tag Team Championship in 2013. On December 15, 2013, at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, the World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship to become the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The title retained the lineage of the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship was retired. The name was reverted to WWE Championship on June 27, 2016. At WrestleMania 32 on April 3, 2016, the Divas Championship was retired and then replaced with a brand-new WWE Women's Championship.

After five years, a new brand extension was introduced on July 19, 2016. Raw drafted the WWE Women's Champion, the United States Champion, and the WWE Tag Team Champions, while SmackDown drafted the WWE Champion and the Intercontinental Champion; NXT champions were ineligible to be drafted. This distribution of championships remained unchanged at the Battleground pay-per-view, which took place the Sunday immediately following the draft. With the WWE Championship being defended exclusively on SmackDown, Raw commissioner Stephanie McMahon and general manager Mick Foley introduced the WWE Universal Championship to be Raw's world title. As SmackDown was lacking a tag team championship and a women's championship, SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon and general manager Daniel Bryan introduced the SmackDown Tag Team Championship and SmackDown Women's Championship. Subsequently, the WWE Women's Championship and the WWE Tag Team Championship were renamed as the Raw Women's Championship and the Raw Tag Team Championship, respectively. With this, each brand had a world championship, a secondary championship, a tag team championship, and a women's championship.

Since Raw became the exclusive home of WWE's revived cruiserweight division, they also created a new WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Beginning November 29, 2016, in addition to Raw, the Cruiserweight Championship was defended on the cruiserweight-exclusive show, 205 Live. 205 Live would become its own brand in 2018, making the title exclusive to the brand. The WWE United Kingdom Championship was unveiled in December 2016 with its inaugural holder determined in January 2017. The title later became the top championship for the United Kingdom-based NXT spinoff, NXT UK, which debuted in mid-2018 and also introduced the NXT UK Women's Championship and NXT UK Tag Team Championship; the WWE United Kingdom Championship was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship in January 2020. A secondary title of the NXT brand was also introduced in mid-2018, the NXT North American Championship.

In early 2019, the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship was established to be shared between Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. In May 2019, the WWE 24/7 Championship was established. Defended across all five of WWE's brands, it was open to anyone, regardless of gender or WWE employment status. In October 2019, after NXT's creative team took over 205 Live, the WWE Cruiserweight Championship was renamed to NXT Cruiserweight Championship, with the title shared between 205 Live and NXT, and was later extended to NXT UK in January 2020. A secondary title was later introduced for NXT UK called the NXT UK Heritage Cup with its own special stipulations. Subsequently, the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship was created for NXT with the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship becoming only shared between Raw and SmackDown. In January 2022, the NXT Cruiserweight Championship was retired after it was unified with the NXT North American Championship. In September 2022, the NXT United Kingdom Championship, the NXT UK Women's Championship, and the NXT UK Tag Team Championship were retired and unified into their respective NXT counterparts after the NXT UK brand went on hiatus (which will relaunch in 2023 as NXT Europe). The NXT UK Heritage Cup was not retired and after months of inactivity, it was transferred to NXT in April 2023 and renamed the NXT Heritage Cup. The 24/7 Championship was also retired in November 2022.

At WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated Raw's WWE Champion Brock Lesnar to win both titles and become the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, although both titles retained their individual lineages. Similarly in May 2022, SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) to win both titles and become the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, although both titles retained their individual lineages; Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn would then win the tag titles at WrestleMania 39. While it is unclear about the future of the tag team titles, a new World Heavyweight Championship was introduced for the brand that did not draft Roman Reigns in the 2023 draft, with Reigns keeping his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (it is currently unclear if one of Reigns' titles will be retired). SmackDown drafted Reigns, thus the World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to Raw.

Similar concepts
Although mostly regarded as a WWE concept, brand extensions have also occurred in other professional wrestling promotions. In the 1990s, then-President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Eric Bischoff proposed a brand extension between WCW and the popular New World Order (nWo) stable, which would have seen the group expand in scope and the production of nWo-branded programming; this concept was scrapped due to budgetary concerns. However, in 1997, an nWo-exclusive pay-per-view, Souled Out, was held. A year later in 1998, WCW began co-branding all of its pay-per-view events under the "WCW/nWo" banner, a practice that continued into 1999.

In the mid-2000s, New Japan Pro-Wrestling introduced a brand extension which divided their roster into two sub-brands: Wrestle Land and Lock Up; around the same period fellow Japanese promotion Kaientai Dojo promoted two sub-brands for their roster, Get and Rave. In 2013, AAA launched a brand extension that split their roster into two sub-brands, Evolución and Fusión.

A similar concept to WWE's brand extension is currently utilized by the Japanese promotions CyberFight, which promotes four distinct sub-brands, and Gleat, which promotes three sub-brands. Following the acquisition of Ring of Honor (ROH) by All Elite Wrestling (AEW) co-founder Tony Khan in March 2022, ROH and AEW are operated independently with separate rosters and championships while both are under Khan's ownership. In 2023, AEW launched a soft brand extension between its Dynamite and Collision programs, which sees select wrestlers featured exclusively on one of the two shows for a select period of time.

References

2002 introductions

WWE brand extension


Heather Stott  is an English weather forecaster and presented the weather forecasts on BBC North West Today until 2012.

Born in Macclesfield, Cheshire Stott originally trained as a journalist in Newcastle upon Tyne and worked part-time for the Newcastle hospital radio station Radio Tyneside. After graduating, she joined the BBC in Manchester as a programme researcher for local radio and television. Her first television appearance came after completing her studies at the Met Office College in Berkshire, becoming BBC North West's second on-screen weather presenter in 1998. Around the same time, Stott began co-presenting the BBC Radio Manchester (previously BBC GMR) breakfast show.

Stott joined Channel M Television (Manchester's television channel) in 2006 as co-anchor in the nightly news programme with Andy Crane. She left the following year.

Until 2012, Stott was the regular weather presenter for BBC North West Today breakfast and lunchtime bulletins. She also presented a mid-morning show on BBC Radio Manchester.

In November 2009, Stott invited her radio listeners to sponsor her to shave her head, raising money for BBC Children In Need. Her hair was shaved off during the live evening programme North West Tonight on Friday 20 November.

Stott is famous for using the term 'sunshine and showers' in almost every weather forecast she presents.

Personal life
Stott was announced as leaving BBC North West on 26 October 2012, returning to Australia (Brisbane). She had lived in Macclesfield with her four children and husband, Ian (a dentist). She previously lived in Australia before returning to the UK in 2003.

Before her career in media, Stott was cabin crew for a major UK airline and is also a qualified nurse, and has previously worked in a hospital Accident and Emergency department.

External links
 BBC North West Tonight Profile
 BBC Manchester Biography
 BBC North West Tonight - Heather Leaves 2012
 Heather's charity head shave

References

Living people
People from Macclesfield
English meteorologists
BBC weather forecasters
BBC North West newsreaders and journalists
Year of birth missing (living people)

Heather Stott


Karl Eduard von Holtei (24 January 1798 – 12 February 1880) was a German poet and actor.

Life and career

Karl Eduard von Holtei was born at Breslau, the son of an officer of Hussars. Having served in the Prussian army as a volunteer in 1815, he shortly afterwards entered the University of Breslau as a student of law; but, attracted by the stage, he soon forsook academic life and made his debut in the Breslau theatre as Mortimer in Schiller's Maria Stuart. He led a wandering life for the next two years, appearing less on the stage as an actor than as a reciter of his own poems. In 1821 he married the actress Luise Roge (1800-1825), and was appointed theatre-poet to the Breslau stage. He next removed to Berlin, where his wife fulfilled an engagement at the Court theatre. During his sojourn here he produced the vaudevilles Die Wiener in Berlin (1824), and Die Berliner in Wien (1825), pieces which enjoyed at the time great popular favour.

In 1825 his wife died; but soon after her death he accepted an engagement at the Königsstädter theatre in Berlin, when he wrote a number of plays, notably Lenore (1828), based on Gottfried August Bürger's ballad, and Der alte Feldherr (1825). In 1830 he married Julie Holzbecher (1809-1839), an actress engaged at the same theatre, and with her played in Darmstadt. Returning to Berlin in 1831 he wrote for the composer Franz Gläser (1798-1861) the text of the opera Des Adlers Horst (1832), and for Ludwig Devrient the drama, Der dumme Peter (1837).

In 1833 Holtei again went on the stage and toured with his wife to various important cities, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dresden, Munich and Vienna. In the last his declamatory powers as a reciter, particularly of Shakespeare's plays, made a furore, and the poet-actor was given the appointment of manager of the Josefstädter theatre in the last-named city. Though proud of his successes both as actor and reciter, Holtei left Vienna in 1836, and from 1837 to 1839 conducted the theatre in Riga. Here his second wife died, and after wandering through Germany reciting and accepting a short engagement at Breslau, he settled in 1847 at Graz, where he devoted himself to a literary life and produced the novels Die Vagabunden (1851), Christian Lammfell (1853) and Der letzte Komödiant (1863). The last years of his life were spent at Breslau, where being in poor circumstances he found a home in the Kloster der Barmherzigen Brüder, and here he died.

As a dramatist Holtei may be said to have introduced the vaudeville into Germany; as an actor, although remaining behind the greater artists of his time, he contrived to fascinate his audience by the dramatic force of his exposition of character as a reciter, especially of Shakespeare, he knew no rival. August Lewald said of Holtei that by the energy of his poetic conception and plastic force he brought his audience round to his own ideas; and he added, "an eloquence such as his I have never met with in any other German."

Holtei was not only a stage-poet but, a lyric-writer of great charm. Notable among such productions are Schlesische Gedichte (1830; 20th ed., 1893), Gedichte (5th ed., 1861), Stimmen des Waldes (2nd ed., 1854). Mention ought also to be made of Holtei's interesting autobiography, Vierzig Jahre (8 vols., 1843-1850; 3rd ed., 1862) with the supplementary volume Noch ein Jahr in Schlesien (1864).

Holtei's Theater appeared in 6 vols. (1867); his Erzählende Schriften, 39 vols. (1861-1866). See M. Kurnick, Karl von Holtei, ein Lebensbild (1880); F. Wohl, Zeit und Menschen (1889); O. Storch, K. von Holtei (1898).

Notes

References

External links

1798 births
1880 deaths
Actors from Wrocław
Writers from the Province of Silesia
Actors from the Province of Silesia
Prussian Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
German male stage actors
German untitled nobility
German poets
19th-century German male actors
German male poets
19th-century poets
19th-century German writers
19th-century German male writers
Writers from Wrocław

Karl von Holtei


Charles Dickinson (December 20, 1780 – May 30, 1806) was an American attorney, and a famous duelist. An expert marksman, Dickinson died from injuries sustained in a duel with Andrew Jackson, who later became President of the United States. Dickinson was shot in the chest by the future President due to a protracted disagreement which originated in an incident involving a horse which Jackson owned. The shooting was also said to have stemmed from a drunken insult aimed at Jackson's wife, Rachel Jackson. Jackson himself was also wounded in the duel, but was able to recover.

Dickinson was born at Wiltshire Manor in Caroline County, Maryland, the son of Elizabeth Walker and Henry Dickinson, the grandson of Sophia Richardson and Charles Dickinson (1695–1795), and the great-grandson of Rebecca Wynne (daughter of Dr. Thomas Wynne) and John Dickinson. He studied law under U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall, who wrote formal letters of introduction and recommendation for his student. Dickinson owned a house in Maryland for 3 years before moving to Tennessee, where he became a successful horse breeder and plantation owner. Within two years of his arrival in Tennessee, he courted and married the daughter of Captain Joseph Erwin. Unfortunately for Dickinson, he also ran afoul of fellow plantation owner and horse breeder Andrew Jackson.

Horse race dispute
In 1805, a friend of Jackson's deprecated the manner in which Captain Erwin had handled a bet with Jackson over a horse race. Erwin's horse, Ploughboy, was scheduled to race Jackson's horse, Truxton; however, Erwin's horse had to drop out of the race. According to the pre-race agreement, if a horse was unable to race, a forfeit fee of $800 would be paid to the injured party, in this case Jackson. However, Jackson and Erwin disagreed on how this was to be paid, and a nasty quarrel ensued. Erwin's son-in-law, Charles Dickinson, became enraged and started quarreling with Jackson's friend, which led to Jackson becoming involved. Dickinson wrote to Jackson calling him a 'coward and an equivocator.' The affair continued, with more insults and misunderstandings, until Dickinson published a statement in the Nashville Review in May 1806, calling Jackson a 'worthless scoundrel, ... a poltroon and a coward.'

The political atmosphere in Nashville was heated by ambition. John Coffee, a friend of Jackson's, had fought a duel earlier in the year with one of Dickinson's associates, and there were larger political and sporting interests involved. The Jackson–Dickinson duel, like that between Aaron Burr—a political friend of Jackson's at the time—and Alexander Hamilton, had been developing over some time.

Although the actual issue that led to the duel was a horse race between Andrew Jackson and Dickinson's father-in-law, Joseph Erwin, Jackson had confronted Dickinson over a report that he had insulted his wife, Rachel Jackson. Dickinson said if he had, he was drunk at the time and apologized. Jackson accepted his apology, but there were probably still hard feelings between the two. Jackson and Erwin had scheduled their horse race in 1805. The stakes specified a winning pot of $2,000 paid by the loser, with an $800 forfeit if a horse could not run. Erwin's horse went lame, and after a minor disagreement about the type of forfeit payment, Erwin paid.

Later, one of Jackson's friends, while sitting in a Nashville store, shared what was probably a more lurid story about Erwin's disputed payment. When Dickinson heard the story, he sent a friend, Thomas Swann, to act as a go-between to inquire about what Jackson said about his father-in-law. Whether the friend misinterpreted or even misrepresented what was said by the two men, this minor misunderstanding flamed into full controversy.

In a confrontation at Winn's Tavern, Jackson struck Swann with his cane and called him a stupid meddler. Dickinson sent Jackson a letter calling him a coward at about the same time that Swann wrote a column in a local newspaper calling Jackson a coward. Jackson responded in the same newspaper, claiming that Swann was a "lying valet for a worthless, drunken, blackguard", meaning Dickinson.

This was the last straw for Dickinson, who, after he returned from New Orleans in May 1806, published an attack on Jackson in the local newspaper, calling him "a poltroon and a coward." After reading the article, Jackson sent Dickinson a letter requesting "satisfaction due me for the insults offered."

Death
Dueling was illegal in Tennessee.  However, under United States early 1800s criminal law, it was very difficult to be extradited across state lines. As a result, the two men met near Adairville, Kentucky, adjacent to the Tennessee border, on May 30, 1806. Dickinson left Nashville the day before the duel with his second and a group of friends, confident, even demonstrating his shooting skills at various stops along the way. Since Dickinson was considered an expert shot, Jackson and his friend, Thomas Overton, determined it would be best to let Dickinson fire first, hoping that his aim might be spoiled in his quickness. The obvious weakness of this tactic was, of course, that Jackson might not be alive to take aim.

Jackson and Overton also devised a strategy that, if Overton should win the coin toss to give the word to fire, he would ask Dickinson the question "Gentleman, are you ready?" purposefully after asking Jackson, and then immediately say "Fire" in an attempt to cause Dickinson to fire impulsively. Overton did indeed win the coin toss, and subsequently used this strategy.

Dickinson fired first, hitting Jackson in the chest. Incredibly, Jackson not only survived, merely wounded, but aimed his pistol and returned fire. Under the rules of dueling, Dickinson had to remain still as Jackson took his shot. Jackson's pistol stopped at half cock, so he drew back the hammer and aimed again, this time hitting Dickinson in the chest. Dickinson bled to death as a result of his wound.

The expert Dickinson had aimed at Jackson's heart, though the bullet had been slightly deflected by Jackson's brass button on his coat, which some claim was due to him deliberately wearing loose clothing over his lean frame. It has also been suggested that Jackson adopted a careful sideways stance to ensure that his heart was obstructed. The bullet broke some of Jackson's ribs and had ended up lodged inches from his heart. While Jackson could easily have been incapacitated by such a wound, an unconfirmed account later claimed that while conversing with a friend on his deathbed he stated, "If he had shot me through the brain, sir, I should still have killed him."

Doctors determined that the bullet lodged in Jackson's chest was too close to his heart to operate, so Jackson carried it for the rest of his life, suffering much pain from the wound. Locals were outraged that Dickinson had to stand defenseless while Jackson re-cocked and shot him. This was a confusing application of the rules of dueling, as snaps were considered as good as a shot. A snap implies that the hammer fell completely and failed to cause a shot, but a half cock is not a snap. Dickinson's second nervously permitted Jackson to re-cock his pistol. Some might claim that Jackson could have shot into the air or shot only to injure Dickinson; this would have been considered sufficient satisfaction under dueling rules. Jackson replied that Dickinson had meant to "kill the gent," so Jackson had also shot to kill. Jackson's reputation suffered greatly from the duel.

Dickinson was originally buried on a family plantation (now on the outskirts of Nashville), but was reinterred in the Old City Cemetery in Nashville after his grave was rediscovered in 2010. By that time, the original grave site had become unmarked and claims had been made that his remains were buried elsewhere.

See also
List of people killed in duels

References

External links

1780 births
1806 deaths
People from Caroline County, Maryland
American lawyers
Duelling fatalities
American duellists
Deaths by firearm in Kentucky
Andrew Jackson

Charles Dickinson (historical figure)


The toothed whales (also called odontocetes, systematic name Odontoceti) are a parvorder of cetaceans that includes dolphins, porpoises, and all other whales possessing teeth, such as the beaked whales and sperm whales. 73 species of toothed whales are described. They are one of two living groups of cetaceans, the other being the baleen whales (Mysticeti), which have baleen instead of teeth. The two groups are thought to have diverged around 34 million years ago (mya).

Toothed whales range in size from the  and  vaquita to the  and  sperm whale. Several species of odontocetes exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that there are size or other morphological differences between females and males. They have streamlined bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers. Some can travel at up to 20 knots. Odontocetes have conical teeth designed for catching fish or squid. They have well-developed hearing that is well adapted for both air and water, so much so that some can survive even if they are blind. Some species are well adapted for diving to great depths. Almost all have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water, with the exception of river dolphins.

Toothed whales consist of some of the most widespread mammals, but some, as with the vaquita, are restricted to certain areas. Odontocetes feed largely on fish and squid, but a few, like the orca, feed on mammals, such as pinnipeds. Males typically mate with multiple females every year, making them polygynous. Females mate every two to three years. Calves are typically born in the spring and summer, and females bear the responsibility for raising them, but more sociable species rely on the family group to care for calves. Many species, mainly dolphins, are highly sociable, with some pods reaching over a thousand individuals.

Once hunted for their products, cetaceans are now protected by international law. Some species are very intelligent. At the 2012 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, support was reiterated for a cetacean bill of rights, listing cetaceans as nonhuman persons. Besides whaling and drive hunting, they also face threats from bycatch and marine pollution. The baiji, for example, is considered functionally extinct by the IUCN, with the last sighting in 2004, due to heavy pollution to the Yangtze River. Whales occasionally feature in literature and film, as in the great white sperm whale of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. Small odontocetes, mainly dolphins, are kept in captivity and trained to perform tricks. Whale watching has become a form of tourism around the world.

Taxonomy

Research history

In Aristotle's time, the fourth century BC, whales were regarded as fish due to their superficial similarity. Aristotle, however, could already see many physiological and anatomical similarities with the terrestrial vertebrates, such as blood (circulation), lungs, uterus, and fin anatomy.  His detailed descriptions were assimilated by the Romans, but mixed with a more accurate knowledge of the dolphins, as mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural history. In the art of this and subsequent periods, dolphins are portrayed with a high-arched head (typical of porpoises) and a long snout. The harbor porpoise is one of the most accessible species for early cetologists, because it could be seen very close to land, inhabiting shallow coastal areas of Europe. Many of the findings that apply to all cetaceans were therefore first discovered in the porpoises. One of the first anatomical descriptions of the airways of the whales on the basis of a harbor porpoise dates from 1671 by John Ray. It nevertheless referred to the porpoise as a fish.

Evolution

Toothed whales, as well as baleen whales, are descendants of land-dwelling mammals of the artiodactyl order (even-toed ungulates). They are closely related to the hippopotamus, sharing a common ancestor that lived around 54 million years ago (mya).
The primitive cetaceans, or archaeocetes, first took to the sea approximately 49 mya and became fully aquatic by 5–10 million years later. The ancestors of toothed whales and baleen whales diverged in the early Oligocene.  This was due to a change in the climate of the southern oceans that affected where the environment of the plankton that these whales ate.

The adaptation of echolocation and enhanced fat synthesis in blubber occurred when toothed whales split apart from baleen whales, and distinguishes modern toothed whales from fully aquatic archaeocetes. This happened around 34 mya. Unlike toothed whales, baleen whales do not have wax ester deposits nor branched fatty chain acids in their blubber. Thus, more recent evolution of these complex blubber traits occurred after baleen whales and toothed whales split, and only in the toothed whale lineage.

 Modern toothed whales do not rely on their sense of sight, but rather on their sonar to hunt prey. Echolocation also allowed toothed whales to dive deeper in search of food, with light no longer necessary for navigation, which opened up new food sources. Toothed whales (Odontocetes) echolocate by creating a series of clicks emitted at various frequencies. Sound pulses are emitted through their melon-shaped foreheads, reflected off objects, and retrieved through the lower jaw. Skulls of Squalodon show evidence for the first hypothesized appearance of echolocation. Squalodon lived from the early to middle Oligocene to the middle Miocene, around 33-14 mya. Squalodon featured several commonalities with modern Odontocetes. The cranium was well compressed, the rostrum telescoped outward (a characteristic of the modern parvorder Odontoceti), giving Squalodon an appearance similar to that of modern toothed whales. However, it is thought unlikely that squalodontids are direct ancestors of living dolphins.

Biology

Anatomy

Toothed whales have torpedo-shaped bodies with usually inflexible necks, limbs modified into flippers, nonexistent external ear flaps, a large tail fin, and bulbous heads (with the exception of sperm whales). Their skulls have small eye orbits, long beaks (with the exception sperm whales), and eyes placed on the sides of their heads. Toothed whales range in size from the  and  vaquita to the  and  sperm whale. Overall, they tend to be dwarfed by their relatives, the baleen whales (Mysticeti). Several species have  sexual dimorphism, with the females being larger than the males. One exception is with the sperm whale, which has males larger than the females.

Odontocetes, such as the sperm whale, possess teeth with cementum cells overlying dentine cells. Unlike human teeth, which are composed mostly of enamel on the portion of the tooth outside of the gum, whale teeth have cementum outside the gum. Only in larger whales, where the cementum is worn away on the tip of the tooth, does enamel show. Except for the sperm whale, most toothed whales are smaller than the baleen whales.  The teeth differ considerably among the species. They may be numerous, with some dolphins bearing over 100 teeth in their jaws. At the other extreme are the narwhals with their single long tusks and the almost toothless beaked whales with tusk-like teeth only in males. Not all species are believed to use their teeth for feeding. For instance, the sperm whale likely uses its teeth for aggression and showmanship.

Breathing involves expelling stale air from their one blowhole, forming an upward, steamy spout, followed by inhaling fresh air into the lungs. Spout shapes differ among species, which facilitates identification. The spout only forms when warm air from the lungs meets cold air, so it does not form in warmer climates, as with river dolphins.

Almost all cetaceans have a thick layer of blubber, with the exception of river dolphins. In species that live near the poles, the blubber can be as thick as . This blubber can help with buoyancy, protection to some extent as predators would have a hard time getting through a thick layer of fat, energy for fasting during leaner times, and insulation from the harsh climates. Calves are born with only a thin layer of blubber, but some species compensate for this with thick lanugos.

Toothed whales have also evolved the ability to store large amounts of wax esters in their adipose tissue as an addition to or in complete replacement of other fats in their blubber. They can produce isovaleric acid from branched chain fatty acids (BCFA). These adaptations are unique, are only in more recent, derived lineages and were likely part of the transition for species to become deeper divers as the families of toothed whales (Physeteridae, Kogiidae, and Ziphiidae) that have the highest quantities of wax esters and BCFAs in their blubber are also the species that dive the deepest and for the longest amount of time.

Toothed whales have a two-chambered stomach similar in structure to terrestrial carnivores. They have fundic and pyloric chambers.

Locomotion

Cetaceans have two flippers on the front, and a tail fin. These flippers contain four digits. Although toothed whales do not possess fully developed hind limbs, some, such as the sperm whale, possess discrete rudimentary appendages, which may contain feet and digits. Toothed whales are fast swimmers in comparison to seals, which typically cruise at 5–15 knots, or ; the sperm whale, in comparison, can travel at speeds of up to . The fusing of the neck vertebrae, while increasing stability when swimming at high speeds, decreases flexibility, rendering them incapable of turning their heads; river dolphins, however, have unfused neck vertebrae and can turn their heads. When swimming, toothed whales rely on their tail fins to propel them through the water. Flipper movement is continuous. They swim by moving their tail fin and lower body up and down, propelling themselves through vertical movement, while their flippers are mainly used for steering. Some species log out of the water, which may allow them to travel faster. Their skeletal anatomy allows them to be fast swimmers. Most species have a dorsal fin.

Most toothed whales are adapted for diving to great depths, porpoises are one exception. In addition to their streamlined bodies, they can slow their heart rate to conserve oxygen; blood is rerouted from tissue tolerant of water pressure to the heart and brain among other organs; haemoglobin and myoglobin store oxygen in body tissue; and they have twice the concentration of myoglobin than haemoglobin. Before going on long dives, many toothed whales exhibit a behaviour known as sounding; they stay close to the surface for a series of short, shallow dives while building their oxygen reserves, and then make a sounding dive.

Senses

Toothed whale eyes are relatively small for their size, yet they do retain a good degree of eyesight. As well as this, the eyes are placed on the sides of its head, so their vision consists of two fields, rather than a binocular view as humans have. When a beluga surfaces, its lenses and corneas correct the nearsightedness that results from the refraction of light; they contain both rod and cone cells, meaning they can see in both dim and bright light. They do, however, lack short wavelength-sensitive visual pigments in their cone cells, indicating a more limited capacity for colour vision than most mammals. Most toothed whales have slightly flattened eyeballs, enlarged pupils (which shrink as they surface to prevent damage), slightly flattened corneas, and a  tapetum lucidum; these adaptations allow for large amounts of light to pass through the eye, and, therefore, a very clear image of the surrounding area. In water, a whale can see around  ahead of itself, but they have a smaller range above water. They also have glands on the eyelids and outer corneal layer that act as protection for the cornea.

The olfactory lobes are absent in toothed whales, and unlike baleen whales, they lack the vomeronasal organ, suggesting they have no sense of smell.

Toothed whales are not thought to have a good sense of taste, as their taste buds are atrophied or missing altogether.  However, some dolphins have preferences between different kinds of fish, indicating some sort of attachment to taste.

Echolocation

Toothed whales are capable of making a broad range of sounds using nasal airsacs located just below the blowhole. Roughly three categories of sounds can be identified: frequency-modulated whistles, burst-pulsed sounds, and clicks. Dolphins communicate with whistle-like sounds produced by vibrating connective tissue, similar to the way human vocal cords function, and through burst-pulsed sounds, though the nature and extent of that ability is not known. The clicks are directional and are used for echolocation, often occurring in a short series called a click train. The click rate increases when approaching an object of interest. Toothed whale biosonar clicks are amongst the loudest sounds made by marine animals.

The cetacean ear has specific adaptations to the marine environment. In humans, the middle ear works as an impedance equalizer between the outside air's low impedance and the cochlear fluid's high impedance. In whales, and other marine mammals, no great difference exists between the outer and inner environments. Instead of sound passing through the outer ear to the middle ear, whales receive sound through the throat, from which it passes through a low-impedance, fat-filled cavity to the inner ear. The ear is acoustically isolated from the skull by air-filled sinus pockets, which allow for greater directional hearing underwater. Odontocetes send out high-frequency clicks from an organ known as a melon. This melon consists of fat, and the skull of any such creature containing a melon will have a large depression. The melon size varies between species, the bigger it is, the more dependent they are on it. A beaked whale, for example, has a small bulge sitting on top of its skull, whereas a sperm whale's head is filled mainly with the melon. Odontocetes are well adapted to hear sounds at ultrasonic frequencies, as opposed to mysticetes who generally hear sounds within the range of infrasonic frequencies.

Communication calls

Bottlenose dolphins have been found to have signature whistles unique to a specific individual. These whistles are used for dolphins to communicate with one another by identifying an individual. It can be seen as the dolphin equivalent of a name for humans.
Because dolphins are generally associated in groups, communication is necessary. Signal masking is when other similar sounds (conspecific sounds) interfere with the original acoustic sound. In larger groups, individual whistle sounds are less prominent. Dolphins tend to travel in pods, in some instances including up to 600 members.

Life history and behaviour

Intelligence

Cetaceans are known to communicate and therefore are able to teach, learn, cooperate, scheme, and grieve. The neocortex of many species of dolphins is home to elongated spindle neurons that, prior to 2007, were known only in hominids. In humans, these cells are involved in social conduct, emotions, judgement, and theory of mind. Dolphin spindle neurons are found in areas of the brain homologous to where they are found in humans, suggesting they perform a similar function.

Brain size was previously considered a major indicator of the intelligence of an animal. Since most of the brain is used for maintaining bodily functions, greater ratios of brain to body mass may increase the amount of brain mass available for more complex cognitive tasks. Allometric analysis indicates that mammalian brain size scales around the two-thirds or three-quarters exponent of the body mass. Comparison of a particular animal's brain size with the expected brain size based on such allometric analysis provides an encephalisation quotient that can be used as another indication of animal intelligence. Sperm whales have the largest brain mass of any animal on earth, averaging  and  in mature males, in comparison to the average human brain which averages  in mature males. The brain to body mass ratio in some odontocetes, such as belugas and narwhals, is second only to humans.

Dolphins are known to engage in complex play behaviour, which includes such things as producing stable underwater toroidal air-core vortex rings or "bubble rings".  Two main methods of bubble ring production are: rapid puffing of a burst of air into the water and allowing it to rise to the surface, forming a ring, or swimming repeatedly in a circle and then stopping to inject air into the helical vortex currents thus formed.  They also appear to enjoy biting the vortex rings, so that they burst into many separate bubbles and then rise quickly to the surface.  Dolphins are known to use this method during hunting. Dolphins have also been known to use tools. In Shark Bay, a population of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins put sponges on their beak to protect them from abrasions and sting ray barbs while foraging in the seafloor. This behaviour is passed on from mother to daughter, and it is only observed in 54 female individuals.

Self-awareness is seen, by some, to be a sign of highly developed, abstract thinking. Self-awareness, though not well-defined scientifically, is believed to be the precursor to more advanced processes like metacognitive reasoning (thinking about thinking) that are typical of humans. Research in this field has suggested that cetaceans, among others, possess self-awareness. The most widely used test for self-awareness in animals is the mirror test, in which a temporary dye is placed on an animal's body, and the animal is then presented with a mirror; then whether the animal shows signs of self-recognition is determined. In 1995, Marten and Psarakos used television to test dolphin self-awareness. They showed dolphins real-time footage of themselves, recorded footage, and another dolphin. They concluded that their evidence suggested self-awareness rather than social behavior. While this particular study has not been repeated since then, dolphins have since "passed" the mirror test.

Vocalisations

Dolphins are capable of making a broad range of sounds using nasal airsacs located just below the blowhole. Roughly three categories of sounds can be identified: frequency modulated whistles, burst-pulsed sounds and clicks. Dolphins communicate with whistle-like sounds produced by vibrating connective tissue, similar to the way human vocal cords function, and through burst-pulsed sounds, though the nature and extent of that ability is not known. The clicks are directional and are for echolocation, often occurring in a short series called a click train. The click rate increases when approaching an object of interest. Dolphin echolocation clicks are amongst the loudest sounds made by marine animals.

Bottlenose dolphins have been found to have signature whistles, a whistle that is unique to a specific individual. These whistles are used in order for dolphins to communicate with one another by identifying an individual. It can be seen as the dolphin equivalent of a name for humans. These signature whistles are developed during a dolphin's first year; it continues to maintain the same sound throughout its lifetime. An auditory experience influences the whistle development of each dolphin. Dolphins are able to communicate to one another by addressing another dolphin through mimicking their whistle. The signature whistle of a male bottlenose dolphin tends to be similar to that of his mother, while the signature whistle of a female bottlenose dolphin tends to be more identifying. Bottlenose dolphins have a strong memory when it comes to these signature whistles, as they are able to relate to a signature whistle of an individual they have not encountered for over twenty years. Research done on signature whistle usage by other dolphin species is relatively limited. The research on other species done so far has yielded varied outcomes and inconclusive results.

Sperm whales can produce three specific vocalisations: creaks, codas, and slow clicks. A creak is a rapid series of high-frequency clicks that sounds somewhat like a creaky door hinge. It is typically used when homing in on prey. A coda is a short pattern of 3 to 20 clicks that is used in social situations to identify one another (like a signature whistle), but it is still unknown whether sperm whales possess individually specific coda repertoires or whether individuals make codas at different rates. Slow clicks are heard only in the presence of males (it is not certain whether females occasionally make them).  Males make a lot of slow clicks in breeding grounds (74% of the time), both near the surface and at depth, which suggests they are primarily mating signals.  Outside breeding grounds, slow clicks are rarely heard, and usually near the surface.

Foraging and predation

All whales are carnivorous and predatory. Odontocetes, as a whole, mostly feed on fish and cephalopods, and then followed by crustaceans and bivalves. All species are generalist and opportunistic feeders. Some may forage with other kinds of animals, such as other species of whales or certain species of pinnipeds. One common feeding method is herding, where a pod squeezes a school of fish into a small volume, known as a bait ball. Individual members then take turns plowing through the ball, feeding on the stunned fish. Coralling is a method where dolphins chase fish into shallow water to catch them more easily. Orcas and bottlenose dolphins have also been known to drive their prey onto a beach to feed on it, a behaviour known as beach or strand feeding. The shape of the snout may correlate with tooth number and thus feeding mechanisms. The narwhal, with its blunt snout and reduced dentition, relies on suction feeding.

Sperm whales usually dive between , and sometimes , in search of food. Such dives can last more than an hour. They feed on several species, notably the giant squid, but also the colossal squid, octopuses, and fish like demersal rays, but their diet is mainly medium-sized squid. Some prey may be taken accidentally while eating other items. A study in the Galápagos found that squid from the genera Histioteuthis (62%), Ancistrocheirus (16%), and Octopoteuthis (7%) weighing between  were the most commonly taken. Battles between sperm whales and giant squid or colossal squid have never been observed by humans; however, white scars are believed to be caused by the large squid. A 2010 study suggests that female sperm whales may collaborate when hunting Humboldt squid.

The orca is known to prey on numerous other toothed whale species. One example is the false killer whale. To subdue and kill whales, orcas continually ram them with their heads; this can sometimes kill bowhead whales, or severely injure them. Other times, they corral their prey before striking. They are typically hunted by groups of 10 or fewer orca, but they are seldom attacked by an individual. Calves are more commonly taken by orca, but adults can be targeted, as well. Groups even attack larger cetaceans such as minke whales, gray whales, and rarely sperm whales or blue whales. Other marine mammal prey species include nearly 20 species of seal, sea lion and fur seal.

These cetaceans are targeted by terrestrial and pagophilic predators. The polar bear is well-adapted for hunting Arctic whales and calves. Bears are known to use sit-and-wait tactics, as well as active stalking and pursuit of prey on ice or water. Whales lessen the chance of predation by gathering in groups. This, however, means less room around the breathing hole as the ice slowly closes the gap. When out at sea, whales dive out of the reach of surface-hunting orca. Polar bear attacks on belugas and narwhals are usually successful in winter, but rarely inflict any damage in summer.

For most of the smaller species of dolphins, only a few of the larger sharks, such as the bull shark, dusky shark, tiger shark, and great white shark, are a potential risk, especially for calves. Dolphins can tolerate and recover from extreme injuries (including shark bites) although the exact methods used to achieve this are not known. The healing process is rapid and even very deep wounds do not cause dolphins to hemorrhage to death. Even gaping wounds restore in such a way that the animal's body shape is restored, and infection of such large wounds are rare.

Life cycle

Toothed whales are fully aquatic creatures, which means their birth and courtship behaviours are very different from terrestrial and semiaquatic creatures. Since they are unable to go onto land to calve, they deliver their young with the fetus positioned for tail-first delivery. This prevents the calf from drowning either upon or during delivery. To feed the newborn, toothed whales, being aquatic, must squirt the milk into the mouth of the calf. Being mammals, they have mammary glands used for nursing calves; they are weaned around 11 months of age. This milk contains high amounts of fat which is meant to hasten the development of blubber; it contains so much fat, it has the consistency of toothpaste. Females deliver a single calf, with gestation lasting about a year, dependency until one to two years, and maturity around seven to 10 years, all varying between the species. This mode of reproduction produces few offspring, but increases the survival probability of each one. Females, referred to as "cows", carry the responsibility of childcare, as males, referred to as "bulls", play no part in raising calves.

In orcas, false killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, narwhals, and belugas, there is an unusually long post-reproductive lifespan (menopause) in females. Older females, though unable to have their own children, play a key role in the rearing of other calves in the pod, and in this sense, given the costs of pregnancy especially at an advanced age, extended menopause is advantageous.

Interaction with humans

Threats

Sperm whaling

The head of the sperm whale is filled with a waxy liquid called spermaceti.  This liquid can be refined into spermaceti wax and sperm oil.  These were much sought after by 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century whalers. These substances found a variety of commercial applications, such as candles, soap, cosmetics, machine oil, other specialized lubricants, lamp oil, pencils, crayons, leather waterproofing, rustproofing materials, and many pharmaceutical compounds.
  Ambergris, a solid, waxy, flammable substance produced in the digestive system of sperm whales, was also sought as a fixative in perfumery.

Sperm whaling in the 18th century began with small sloops carrying only a pair of whaleboats (sometimes only one). As the scope and size of the fleet increased, so did the rig of the vessels change, as brigs, schooners, and finally ships and barks were introduced. In the 19th-century stubby, square-rigged ships (and later barks) dominated the fleet, being sent to the Pacific (the first being the British whaleship Emilia, in 1788), the Indian Ocean (1780s), and as far away as the Japan grounds (1820) and the coast of Arabia (1820s), as well as Australia (1790s) and New Zealand (1790s).

Hunting for sperm whales during this period was a notoriously dangerous affair for the crews of the 19th-century whaleboats. Although a properly harpooned sperm whale generally exhibited a fairly consistent pattern of attempting to flee underwater to the point of exhaustion (at which point it would surface and offer no further resistance), it was not uncommon for bull whales to become enraged and turn to attack pursuing whaleboats on the surface, particularly if it had already been wounded by repeated harpooning attempts. A commonly reported tactic was for the whale to invert itself and violently thrash the surface of the water with its fluke, flipping and crushing nearby boats.

The estimated historic worldwide sperm whale population numbered 1,100,000 before commercial sperm whaling began in the early 18th century.  By 1880, it had declined an estimated 29%.  From that date until 1946, the population appears to have recovered somewhat as whaling pressure lessened, but after the Second World War, with the industry's focus again on sperm whales, the population declined even further to only 33%.  In the 19th century, between 184,000 and 236,000 sperm whales were estimated to have been killed by the various whaling nations,  while in the modern era, at least 770,000 were taken, the majority between 1946 and 1980. Remaining sperm whale populations are large enough so that the species' conservation status is vulnerable, rather than endangered.  However, the recovery from the whaling years is a slow process, particularly in the South Pacific, where the toll on males of breeding age was severe.

Drive hunting

Dolphins and porpoises are hunted in an activity known as dolphin drive hunting. This is accomplished by driving a pod together with boats and usually into a bay or onto a beach. Their escape is prevented by closing off the route to the ocean with other boats or nets. Dolphins are hunted this way in several places around the world, including the Solomon Islands, the Faroe Islands, Peru, and Japan, the most well-known practitioner of this method. By numbers, dolphins are mostly hunted for their meat, though some end up in dolphinariums. Despite the controversial nature of the hunt resulting in international criticism, and the possible health risk that the often polluted meat causes, thousands of dolphins are caught in drive hunts each year.

In Japan, the hunting is done by a select group of fishermen. When a pod of dolphins has been spotted, they are driven into a bay by the fishermen while banging on metal rods in the water to scare and confuse the dolphins. When the dolphins are in the bay, it is quickly closed off with nets so the dolphins cannot escape. The dolphins are usually not caught and killed immediately, but instead left to calm down over night. The following day, the dolphins are caught one by one and killed. The killing of the animals used to be done by slitting their throats, but the Japanese government banned this method, and now dolphins may officially only be killed by driving a metal pin into the neck of the dolphin, which causes them to die within seconds according to a memo from Senzo Uchida, the executive secretary of the Japan Cetacean Conference on Zoological Gardens and Aquariums.  A veterinary team's analysis of a 2011 video footage of Japanese hunters killing striped dolphins using this method suggested that, in one case, death took over four minutes.

Since much of the criticism is the result of photos and videos taken during the hunt and slaughter, it is now common for the final capture and slaughter to take place on site inside a tent or under a plastic cover, out of sight from the public. The most circulated footage is probably that of the drive and subsequent capture and slaughter process taken in Futo, Japan, in October 1999, shot by the Japanese animal welfare organization Elsa Nature Conservancy. Part of this footage was, amongst others, shown on CNN. In recent years, the video has also become widespread on the internet and was featured in the animal welfare documentary Earthlings, though the method of killing dolphins as shown in this video is now officially banned. In 2009, a critical documentary on the hunts in Japan titled The Cove was released and shown amongst others at the Sundance Film Festival.

Other threats
Toothed whales can also be threatened by humans more indirectly. They are unintentionally caught in fishing nets by commercial fisheries as bycatch and accidentally swallow fishing hooks. Gillnetting and Seine netting are significant causes of mortality in cetaceans and other marine mammals. Porpoises are commonly entangled in fishing nets. Whales are also affected by marine pollution. High levels of organic chemicals accumulate in these animals since they are high in the food chain. They have large reserves of blubber, more so for toothed whales, as they are higher up the food chain than baleen whales. Lactating mothers can pass the toxins on to their young. These pollutants can cause gastrointestinal cancers and greater vulnerability to infectious diseases. They can also be poisoned by swallowing litter, such as plastic bags. Pollution of the Yangtze river has led to the extinction of the baiji. Environmentalists speculate that advanced naval sonar endangers some whales. Some scientists suggest that sonar may trigger whale beachings, and they point to signs that such whales have experienced decompression sickness.

Conservation
Currently, no international convention gives universal coverage to all small whales, although the International Whaling Commission has attempted to extend its jurisdiction over them.  ASCOBANS was negotiated to protect all small whales in the North and Baltic Seas and in the northeast Atlantic.  ACCOBAMS protects all whales in the Mediterranean and Black Seas.  The global UNEP Convention on Migratory Species currently covers seven toothed whale species or populations on its Appendix I, and 37 species or populations on Appendix II. All oceanic cetaceans are listed in CITES appendices, meaning international trade in them and products derived from them is very limited.

Numerous organisation are dedicated to protecting certain species that do not fall under any international treaty, such as the Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita, and the Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology (for the Yangtze finless porpoise).

In captivity

Species

Various species of toothed whales, mainly dolphins, are kept in captivity, as well as several other species of porpoise such as harbour porpoises and finless porpoises. These small cetaceans are more often than not kept in theme parks, such as SeaWorld, commonly known as a dolphinarium. Bottlenose dolphins are the most common species kept in dolphinariums, as they are relatively easy to train, have a long lifespan in captivity, and have a friendly appearance. Hundreds if not thousands of bottlenose dolphins live in captivity across the world, though exact numbers are hard to determine. Orca are well known for their performances in shows, but the number kept in captivity is very small, especially when compared to the number of bottlenose dolphins, with only 44 captives being held in aquaria as of 2012. Other species kept in captivity are spotted dolphins, false killer whales, and common dolphins, Commerson's dolphins, as well as rough-toothed dolphins, but all in much lower numbers than the bottlenose dolphin. Also, fewer than ten pilot whales, Amazon river dolphins, Risso's dolphins, spinner dolphins, or tucuxi are in captivity. Two unusual and very rare hybrid dolphins, known as wolphins, are kept at the Sea Life Park in Hawaii, which is a cross between a bottlenose dolphin and a false killer whale. Also, two common/bottlenose hybrids reside in captivity: one at Discovery Cove and the other at SeaWorld San Diego.

Controversy

Organisations such as Animal Welfare Institute and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation campaign against the captivity of dolphins and orca. SeaWorld faced a lot of criticism after the documentary Blackfish was released in 2013.

Aggression among captive orca is common. In August 1989, a dominant female orca, Kandu V, attempted to rake a newcomer whale, Corky II, with her mouth during a live show, and smashed her head into a wall. Kandu V broke her jaw, which severed an artery, and then bled to death. In November 2006, a dominant female killer whale, Kasatka, repeatedly dragged experienced trainer Ken Peters to the bottom of the stadium pool during a show after hearing her calf crying for her in the back pools. In February 2010, an experienced female trainer at SeaWorld Orlando, Dawn Brancheau, was killed by orca Tilikum shortly after a show in Shamu Stadium. Tilikum had been associated with the deaths of two people previously. In May 2012, Occupational Safety and Health Administration administrative law judge Ken Welsch cited SeaWorld for two violations in the death of Dawn Brancheau and fined the company a total of US$12,000. Trainers were banned from making close contact with the orca. In April 2014, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied an appeal by SeaWorld.

In 2013, SeaWorld's treatment of orca in captivity was the basis of the movie Blackfish, which documents the history of Tilikum, an orca captured by SeaLand of the Pacific, later transported to SeaWorld Orlando, which has been involved in the deaths of three people.  In the aftermath of the release of the film, Martina McBride, 38 Special, REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick,  Heart, Trisha Yearwood, and Willie Nelson cancelled scheduled concerts at SeaWorld parks. SeaWorld disputes the accuracy of the film, and in December 2013 released an ad countering the allegations and emphasizing its contributions to the study of cetaceans and their conservation.

References

External links

Articles containing video clips
Animals that use echolocation
Taxa named by William Henry Flower

Toothed whale


Thomas Charles Gosnell (1951 – December 8, 2014), commonly called "Tom", was a mayor of London, Ontario, Canada from December 1, 1986, to December 1, 1994. He is the son of James Fredrick Gosnell, known as "Fred", who was the mayor of London, Ontario, Canada briefly in 1972.  Gosnell was London City Council's deputy mayor and budget chief from 2003 to 2010. Gosnell died at his home in London of cancer in 2014.

Beginning years

Gosnell was born in London, Ontario to Fred and Evelyn Gosnell with three siblings, James, William Douglas, and sister Pamela Jane.  His father, James Fredrick Gosnell was a former London police officer, alderman, and mayor and served in India and Burma with the Royal Canadian Air Force, during the Second World War.

Introduction to politics

Gosnell's first exposure to municipal politics was his father's successful campaign to be alderman for Ward 6 in 1966.  James Fredrick Gosnell then jumped to the Board of Control in a "secret" ballot amongst council members, then ran as mayor in 1971.  Tom and his father would argue politics and later after his father's death said "we used to fight a lot about politics, we were much alike.  Black was black and white was white.  Unfortunately he was right 90% of the time".

Gosnell's brother Bill, his former partner in Gosnell Paving Stone, reflected in 1986 that his "younger brother was a political history buff" before he entered high school.  "I suppose you can say our pop had a lot to do with shaping that, At a very early age he had taste buds for history and politics.  He (Tom) gets mad when I refer to him as Joe Clark.  Tom's always been controversial." His father died two months after Tom was sworn in as London's mayor in 1985.

Youth

In grade 13, Gosnell was a quarterback for the Laurier Rams senior football team.  He reflected in 1985 that he "hated running, and preferred game situations...when I played football the only time I ran was when a 300 pound lineman was tracking me down."  Upon graduation from Laurier, Tom and Bill Gosnell played with Senior ORFU London Lords as two of the team's youngest players. "When Tom was with the Brantford Bisons (Ontario Junior Football Conference), the Hamilton Tiger-Cats asked three or 4 of them to camp."  Gosnell turned down the opportunity to try out as a tight end when he wanted to be a quarterback.

Alderman
Gosnell had not been short of controversy during his seven years as alderman.  Marc Emery, the former owner of City Lights Book Shop, was one of the few willing to comment about the new mayor. "He was one of the worst aldermen in my experience.  You couldn't get a hold of him.  I had to bother and harass the guy to get him to call back," said Emery.

Gosnell responded that "the point is well made."  As a business person and alderman often limited the public's access to him.  "There were times in the past, and I'm the first to admit it, where I didn't get back to people as quickly as I could.  And in some cases I didn't get back to them at all because along the way the message got lost or whatever." Marc Emery laid another charge that "Gosnell was elected because of his good looks and his father's name.  (Tom) has 3 years to prove that wrong."

Mayoral campaign
At 34, Gosnell announced on September 3, 1985, at the London City Press Club that he was running for mayor.  The odds seemed against him but of the six competing for the mayor's position he had the best chance.  In private his father was harboring doubts as incumbent mayor Al Gleeson was a formidable foe. Canada had just gone through a period of high interest rates and high unemployment and there was an appetite for change. Gosnell was also as well known as many long-time politicians during the campaign as his father popularized the family name.

Gleeson had also tried to run for a federal Liberal nomination for London East when people such as Michael Coon, a salesman to Selby Young Printing stated, "We decided that Gleeson had declared his political colours and we hadn't. We could go into this (the mayoral race) apolitically."

Federally, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada had beat the Liberal Party of Canada under John Turner in the 1984 Canadian federal election assisting any non-Liberal party at the time.

The "Gosnow" campaign started using "Gos Now!" buttons and the night before the election with Gleeson still favored, hundreds of green lawn signs sprung up in clusters on every major street corner in London.  Some claim it was the decisive turning point in the campaign.  Gosnell won by 2,847 votes.

"I'm Aggressive"

Gosnell reflected for the London Free Press in 1986 that his opinionated side comes from his father.  During his university years when he let his hair grow long and wore peace patches on the pockets of his blue jeans, the father and son did not get along famously. In his university years Gosnell challenged authority, turning $2 parking tickets into 14-dollar summonses until one day the police arrived at his father's home on Wharncliffe Road South when Fred pulled Tom out of bed by the ankles one morning to find out why the police were at the door.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats coach Tom Mooney also had learned what it was like to be on the receiving end of Gosnell's temper.  Gosnell unleashed a verbal tirade upon learning they wanted to try him out as a tight end and not a quarterback.  The explanation was "rich in locker room vernacular lest there was any ambiguity in his position." "He was so blunt about it that it was very easy to be blunt back to him." Gosnell said "I realized at the time that I probably didn't have the ability to go on as a pro ball player, so it was a lot easier to do it."  He then decided to run as mayor having reached his pinnacle of quarterback in semi-pro.

When he became mayor and until this day he still speaks his mind and when asked what he considered his most outstanding qualification to be mayor, he responded "I'm aggressive."

Mayor's vision

Gosnell's objective was to get the city on an aggressive approach to improving downtown.  He had bought a rooming house and began to convert it back to a single-family dwelling.  He spoke of how "we have streetscapes and facades downtown that are fantastic,  We've got to do whatever we can to preserve them.  We are strong enough as a city to turn to major developers who own major blocks downtown and say we are not going to go bankrupt with or without your development, so you will never find the city in the position (where) we're going to come crawling to you.  We can do very well downtown if we just restore and rebuild what we have there now.  We obviously want major developers to do things downtown but we're not in a situation of a Brantford or a Chatham, where our economies are falling apart.  Our economy is very strong.  We can make a major improvement downtown with or without their multi-million dollar votes.  We want (developers).  We encourage them.  We also want them to understand it's a two-way street."

See also

List of mayors of London, Ontario

References

External links
Official website

Mayors of London, Ontario
2014 deaths
1951 births

Tom Gosnell


Middlefield is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. The population was 4,217 at the 2020 census. The town includes the village of Rockfall in the northeast section.

History

Middlefield, in Middlesex County, is so named because it is halfway between Middletown and Durham, and Middletown and Meriden. For such a small community, Middlefield has an abundance of wonderful history that goes back to the late 17th century and many first settlers of Connecticut. The Old North Burying Ground was established for those living west of Middletown and the first burial was in 1738.

Middlefield became a town in 1866 by an act of the Connecticut Legislature. The town was previously part of the City of Middletown.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which,  of it is land and  of it (4.65%) is water.

The west side of Middlefield is flanked by the Metacomet Ridge, a mountainous trap rock ridgeline that stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the Vermont border. Notable mountains of the Metacomet Ridge in Middlefield include  Higby Mountain and Besek Mountain. The 50 mile Mattabesett Trail traverses the ridge. The Nature Conservancy manages the summit and ledges of Higby Mountain.

Attractions
Middlefield offers many seasonal activities. Residents can also go ice-skating on one of the many ponds located at the edge of Peckham Park.  In the summer Peckham Park has little league baseball games going on almost every day of the week.  The smaller kids can play on the jungle gym or play basketball and soccer.  Some other summer activities could be golfing on one of the two local golf courses or go to the beach located on Lake Beseck just off of Route 147.  Residents can also enjoy picking fruit, playing golf, shopping, and eating at Lyman Orchards. Middlefield is also home to the Powder Ridge Ski Area.

Wadsworth Falls State Park, or simply Wadsworth Falls, is a public recreation and preserved natural area located on the Coginchaug River in the towns of Middletown and Middlefield, Connecticut. The state park's 285 acres (115 ha) offer trails, fishing, swimming, and picnicking. It is managed by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Powder Ridge Ski Area  (category Tourist attractions in Middlesex County, Connecticut)

small ski area located in Middlefield, Connecticut. It began operations on January 22, 1961, the day JFK was inaugurated. It closed in 2007, and has reopened

Registered historic places in town

 David, II Lyman House – 5 Lyman Rd. (added March 6, 1986)
 William, Jr. Ward House – 137 Powder Hill Rd. (added March 19, 1988)

Education

Middlefield, along with Durham, forms Regional School District 13. It offers a traditional as well as an "Integrated Day" program of education for students in the two communities. The schools in Regional School District 13 are: Brewster Elementary School (K–2), John Lyman Elementary School (grades K–4), Korn Elementary School (grades 3–4), Memorial Middle School (grades 5–6), Strong Middle School (grades 7–8) and Coginchaug Regional High School (grades 9–12). The town is also home to the private pre-school–8 school The Independent Day School.

Town seal
The town seal is a view of Middlefield as seen through a gun sight. The crosshairs represent the gun sight manufacturing that has taken place in Middlefield for many years. The four quadrants of the gun sight are broken into different aspects of the town of Middlefield. The upper left-hand quadrant is a picture of the 1700s saltbox homes that still stand in Middlefield. The upper right-hand quadrant represents the orchards and farmland that make up much of the open space of Middlefield. The lower left-hand quadrant represents many of the outdoor activities that go on in Middlefield such as fishing, hunting, boating, skiing, golfing, and many other activities. The lower right-hand quadrant is the old pistol shop that used to be a major part of Middlefield's makeup. The seal was designed by Donald Ginter.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 4,203 people, 1,645 households, and 1,199 families residing in the town.  The population density was .  There were 1,740 housing units at an average density of .  The racial makeup of the town was 97.76% White, 0.74% African American, 0.02% Native American, 0.36% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.43% from other races, and 0.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.33% of the population.

There were 1,645 households, out of which 34.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.4% were married couples living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.1% were non-families. 22.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.7% under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older.  The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.1 males.  For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.5 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $59,448, and the median income for a family was $69,267. Males had a median income of $43,953 versus $31,487 for females. The per capita income for the town was $25,711.  About 0.6% of families and 1.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.8% of those under age 18 and 3.4% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Middlefield has a selectman-town meeting form of government. The current acting first selectman is Robert Yamartino, whom assumed the office of First Selectman on December 8, 2021, due to the death of incumbent first selectman Ed Bailey. The other current selectman is Carol Bufithis.

State politics

Middlefield is in the 13th state senate district, being represented by Democrat Mary Daugherty Abrams, and in the 82nd district in the state house by Democrat Michael Quinn.

Middlefield has swung for Republican candidates in gubernatorial elections, including in 2018, where Republican Bob Stefanowski won 53% of the vote.

Federal politics

Middlefield is part of Connecticut's 3rd congressional district, and is represented by Rosa DeLauro. It has swung in presidential elections, voting for Joe Biden in 2020 and Barack Obama in 2012 but supporting Donald Trump in 2016.

References

External links

 Town of Middlefield Web site

Towns in Middlesex County, Connecticut
Towns in Connecticut
Greater Hartford
Towns in Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut

Middlefield, Connecticut


Darna is a Philippine television drama action fantasy series broadcast by GMA Network. The series is based from Mars Ravelo's fictional Philippine superheroine of the same title. Directed by Dominic Zapata and Don Michael Perez, it stars Marian Rivera in the title role. It premiered on August 10, 2009 on the network's Telebabad line up replacing Zorro. The series concluded on February 19, 2010 with a total of 140 episodes. It was replaced by Panday Kids in its timeslot.

Cast and characters

Lead cast
 Marian Rivera as Narda / Darna / Evil Darna / Ex-O / Phoenix

Supporting cast
 Mark Anthony Fernandez as Eduardo / Black Rider
 Dennis Trillo as Pancho
 Iwa Moto as Valentina
 Nadine Samonte as Roma / Babaeng Impakta
 Ehra Madrigal as Armida / Babaeng Lawin
 Francine Prieto as Lucifera / Babaeng Tuod
 Maggie Wilson as Octavia Moran / Lutgarda Morales / Babaeng Linta
 Rochelle Pangilinan as Deborah Santos
 Jackie Rice as Helena / Helga
 Roxanne Barcelo as Aleli
 Buboy Villar as Carding "Ding" Santos
 Rufa Mae Quinto as Francesca
 Raymart Santiago as Crisanto
 Alfred Vargas as Gabriel
 Krista Kleiner as Liberty
 Polo Ravales as Shiro

Guest cast
 Akihiro Sato as Vladimir
 Maureen Larrazabal as Dina Arcilla
 Katrina Halili as Serpina / Valentina
 Paolo Contis as Kobra
 Regine Velasquez as Elektra
 Angel Aquino as the original Darna
 Caridad Sanchez as Loleng
 Celia Rodriguez as Perfecta
 Mike "Pekto" Nacua as Jerry
 John Feir as Tomas
 Eddie Garcia as Padre Mateo
 Ricky Davao as Dr. Morgan
 Gabby Eigenmann as Apollo
 Bearwin Meily as Watson
 Renz Valerio as young Eduardo
 Jestoni Alarcon as Simon
 Rita Avila as Alicia
 Angeli Nicole Sanoy as young Narda
 John Apacible as Nestor
 Janice de Belen as Aling Consuelo
 Sweet Ramos as young Valentina
 Allan "Mura" Padua as Impy
 Sabrina Man as young Serpina
 Hayden Kho as Danny
 Ella Guevara as Narda II

Reception

Ratings
According to AGB Nielsen Philippines' Mega Manila household television ratings, the pilot episode of Darna earned a 44.1% rating. While the final episode scored a 32.9% rating.

Critical response
Darna opened with positive reviews, writer Nestor Torre of Philippine Daily Inquirer said the pilot episode is "loud and livid". Torre continues to mention "...two performances stand out because they're 'different'. The first is Janice de Belen's portrayal of Consuelo, the mother of Valentina. De Belen's characterization is outstanding, because it's deeply felt, while not being over-the-top..." and "the other interesting performance thus far is turned in by Iwa Moto as Valentina. With some help from creative scripting, her character is more tragic and conflicted than past versions of the story had it".

Jun Lana's script was also praised by Torre for creating "Valentina's terrible secret initially pains her rather than turns her into a vengeful monster, and the ostracism she suffers adds enormously to her loneliness and grief, which are alleviated only by her only friend, Narda. Of course, the ironic twist to all this is that Narda will eventually morph into superheroine Darna, with whom Valentina must fight to the death." Lana told Manila Bulletin that this version of Darna will be "totally different" especially with the characters, he mentions "what if Narda doesn't want to become Darna?" - a subject never touched upon in other versions of the graphic novel.

References

External links

2009 Philippine television series debuts
2010 Philippine television series endings
Darna
Filipino-language television shows
GMA Network drama series
Philippine action television series
Philippine fantasy television series
Superhero television series
Television shows based on comics
Television shows set in the Philippines

Darna (2009 TV series)


Blue Mountain Theatre is a theatre company created in London in 1989 to provide theatre pieces for black British audiences.

Influenced by the thriving theatrical community in Jamaica, the group attempted to perform pieces that would serves as a social event rather than what they viewed as traditional elitist audiences. Titles have included Betrayed, Affairs, Smallie, Forbidden Love, Confessions of a Black Woman and more recently Wicked Bitches and Dutty Wine.

External links
Blue Mountain theatre website

Theatre companies in London
Black theatre
Organizations established in 1989

Blue Mountain Theatre


James Lorne Gray,  (March 2, 1913 – March 2, 1987) was a Canadian administrator and President of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) from 1958 to 1974.

Born in Brandon, Manitoba, he received a B. Eng in 1935 and a M.Sc. (Mech. Eng.) in 1938 from the University of Saskatchewan. In 1939, he was a lecturer in engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. During World War II, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force achieving the rank of Wing Commander.

After the war from 1945 to 1946, he was associate director-general in the research and development division of the department of Reconstruction and Supply in Ottawa. From 1946 to 1948, he was with Montreal Armature Works Limited. In 1948, he was the scientific assistant to the President of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). From 1949 to 1952, he was the Chief of Administration for the NRC Chalk River project. In 1952, he joined AECL as a General Manager, became a Vice-President in 1954, and became President in 1958, retiring in 1974.

In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. He was awarded honorary degrees from the University of British Columbia and the University of Saskatchewan.

References

1913 births
1987 deaths
20th-century Canadian civil servants
Companions of the Order of Canada
Royal Canadian Air Force officers
People from Brandon, Manitoba
University of Saskatchewan alumni

James Lorne Gray