Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. The implementation of public policy is known as public administration. Public policy can be considered to be the sum of a government's direct and indirect activities and has been conceptualized in a variety of ways.

They are created and/or enacted on behalf of the public typically by a government. Sometimes they are made by nonprofit organizations or are made in co-production with communities or citizens, which can include potential experts, scientists, engineers and stakeholders or scientific data, or sometimes use some of their results. They are typically made by policy-makers affiliated with (in democratic polities) currently elected politicians. Therefore, the "policy process is a complex political process in which there are many actors: elected politicians, political party leaders, pressure groups, civil servants, publicly employed professionals, judges, non-governmental organizations, international agencies, academic experts, journalists and even sometimes citizens who see themselves as the passive recipients of policy."

A popular way of understanding and engaging in public policy is through a series of stages known as "the policy cycle", which was first discussed by the political scientist Harold Laswell in his book The Decision Process: Seven Categories of Functional Analysis, published in 1956. The characterization of particular stages can vary, but a basic sequence is agenda setting, policy formulation, legitimation, implementation, and evaluation. "It divides the policy process into a series of stages, from a notional starting point at which policymakers begin to think about a policy problem to a notional end point at which a policy has been implemented and policymakers think about how successful it has been before deciding what to do next."

Officials considered as policymakers bear responsibility to reflect the interests of a host of different stakeholders. Policy design entails conscious and deliberate effort to define policy aims and map them instrumentally. Academics and other experts in policy studies have developed a range of tools and approaches to help in this task.

Varying conceptions of public policy

Public policy can be conceptualized in varying ways, according to the purposes of the speaker or author, and the characteristics of the situation they are concerned with.

One dividing line in conceptions of public policy is between those that see it primarily in terms of ideas (principles and plans of action) and those that see it as a collection of empirical phenomena (the things that are done, and their outcomes). The first of these conceptualizations is suitable when the matter of concern is relatively simple and unambiguous, and the means of enactment are expected to be highly disciplined. But where the matter is complex and/or contested – where intentions are confused and/or disguised – it may not be possible to define the policy ideas clearly and unambiguously. In this case it may be useful to identify a policy in terms of what actually happens.

David Easton in the USA of the 1950s provided an illustration of the need he found to broaden his conceptualization of public policy beyond stated ideas: "If the formal policy of an educational system forbids discrimination against Negroes but local school boards or administrators so zone school attendance that Negroes are segregated in a few schools, both the impartial law and discriminatory practices must be considered part of the policy." Easton characterized public policy as "a web of decisions and actions that allocates values".

Other definitions of public policy in terms of a broad range of empirical phenomena include that of Paul Cairney: "the sum total of government action from signals of intent to the final outcomes".

An example of conceiving public policy as ideas is a definition by Richard Titmuss: "the principles that govern action directed towards given ends". Titmuss' perspective was particularly one of social contract ethics.

More recently, Antonio Lassance has defined public policy as "an institutionalized proposal to solve a central problem, guided by a conception" (Lassance, 2020: 7). Lassance's perspective and concerns are grounded in a theory of change or program theory which he believes can be empirically tested.

One of the most known and controversial concepts of public policy is that of Thomas R. Dye, according to whom "public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do" (Dye, 1972: 2). Although widely used, Dye's concept is also criticized as being an empty concept. Dye himself admitted that his concept "discourages elaborate academic discussions of the definition of public policy - we say simply that public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do".

In an institutionalist view, the foundation of public policy is composed of national constitutional laws and regulations. Further foundational aspects include both judicial interpretations and regulations which are generally authorized by legislation. Public policy is considered strong when it solves problems efficiently and effectively, serves and supports governmental institutions and policies, and encourages active citizenship.

In his book Advanced Introduction to Public Policy, B. Guy Peters defines public policy as "the set of activities that governments engage in for the purpose of changing their economy and society", effectively saying that public policy is legislation brought in with the aim of benefiting or impacting the electorate in some way. In another definition, author B. Dente in his book Understanding Policy Decisions explains public policy as "a set of actions that affect the solution of a policy problem, i.e. a dissatisfaction regarding a certain need, demand or opportunity for public intervention. Its quality is measured by the capacity to create public value."

Other scholars define public policy as a system of "courses of action, regulatory measures, laws, and funding priorities concerning a given topic promulgated by a governmental entity or its representatives". Public policy is commonly embodied in "constitutions, legislative acts, and judicial decisions". Transformative constitutions of Global South considers judicial actions for Public policy as paramount, since the political forces that facilitate legislative decisions may run counter to the will of the people.

Public policy focuses on the decisions that create the outputs of a political system, such as transport policies, the management of a public health service, the administration of a system schooling and the organization of a defense force. The directly measurable policy outputs, "actions actually taken in pursuance of policy decisions and statements," can be differentiated from the broader policy outcomes, "focus[ing] on a policy's societal consequences."

In the United States, this concept refers not only to the result of policies, but more broadly to the decision-making and analysis of governmental decisions. As an academic discipline, public policy is studied by professors and students at public policy schools of major universities throughout the country. The U.S. professional association of public policy practitioners, researchers, scholars, and students is the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Much of public policy is concerned with evaluating decision-making in governments and public bureaucracies.

Public policy making and the implementation of public policy
Public policy making can be characterized as a dynamic, complex, and interactive system through which public problems are identified and resolved through the creation of new policy or reform of existing policy.

Public problems can originate in endless ways and require different policy responses (such as regulations, subsidies, import quotas, and laws) on the local, national, or international level. The public problems that influence public policy making can be of economic, social, or political nature.

The Government holds a legal monopoly to initiate or threaten physical force to achieve its ends when necessary. For instance, in times of chaos when quick decision making is needed.

Public policy making
Public policy making is a time-consuming 'policy cycle'.

The policy cycle as set out in Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues.

Agenda setting
Agenda setting identifies problems that require government attention, deciding which issue deserve the most attention and defining the nature of the problem.

Social construction of problems
Most public problems are made through the reflection of social and ideological values. As societies and communities evolve over time, the nature in which norms, customs and morals are proven acceptable, unacceptable, desirable or undesirable changes as well. Thus, the search of crucial problems to solve becomes difficult to distinguish within 'top-down' governmental bodies.

Policy stream
The policy stream is a concept developed by John Kingdon as a model proposed to show compelling problems need to be conjoined with two other factors: appropriate political climate and favorable and feasible solutions (attached to problems) that flow together to move onto policy agenda. This reinforces the policy window, another concept demonstrating the critical moment within a time and situation that a new policy could be motivated.

Problem stream
Because the definition of public problems are not obvious, they are most often denied and not acted upon. The problem stream represents a policy process to compromise for how worthy problems are to create policies and solutions. This is represented in five discrete factors:

 Indicators: Scientific measurements, qualitative, statistical data using empirical evidence is used to bring relevance to particular phenomena.
 Interpretation: Policymakers make judgements whether an issue constitutes a problem worthy of action.
 Ideology: Elements of dominant values, customs, beliefs are crucial to devising problems needed for attention.
 Instances: Media coverage supports by drawing attention to issues, thus prompting policymakers to respond and address changes.

Therefore, John Kingdon's model suggests the policy window appears through the emergence and connection of problems, politics and policies, emphasizing an opportunity to stimulate and initiate new policies.

Issue attention cycle
The issue attention cycle is a concept developed by Anthony Downs (1972) where problems progress through five distinct stages. This reinforces how the policy agenda does not necessarily lead to policy change, as public interest dissipates, most problems end up resolving themselves or get ignored by policymakers. Its key stages include:

 Pre-problem stage: The problem is not recognized by the public, media or policy makers.
  Alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm: Something is identified as a problem, supported awareness by media to pursue seriousness of problem
 Realization of costs which will be incurred by the solutions: Investigating through cost-benefit analysis, bringing awareness of financial, environmental, structural curbs to consider solutions and what makes for their consequences.
 Decline in public interest in issue: Citizens acquire acceptance of the problem and it becomes normalized. Newer issues attract the attention of the public. Limited attention span encourages policymakers to delay developing policy to see which public troubles demand necessary and worthwhile solving.
 Issue slips off, or back down, the policy agenda: The issue effectively disappears, although it has the possibility to re-emerge in other pressing circumstances.

Policy formulation
This is the setting of the objectives for the policy, along with identifying the cost and effect of solutions that could be proposed from policy instruments.

Legitimation
Legitimation is when approval/ support for the policy instruments is gathered, involving one of or a combination of executive approval, legislative approval, and seeking consent through consultation or referendums.

Implementation
Policy implementation is establishing or employing an organization to take responsibility for the policy, making sure the organization has the resources/legal authority to do so, in addition to making sure the policy is carried out as planned. An example of this would be the department of education being set up.

Enforcement

Enforcement mechanisms are a central part of various policies. Enforcement mechanisms co-determine natural resource governance outcomes and pollution-related policies may require proper enforcement mechanisms (and often substitutes) to have a positive effect. Enforcement may include law enforcement or combine incentive and disincentive-based policy instruments. A meta-analysis of policy studies across multiple policy domains suggests enforcement mechanisms are the "only modifiable treaty design choice" with the potential to improve the mostly low effectiveness of international treaties.

Implementation gap
As stated by Paul Cairney, the implementation gap are the stages a policy must go through before an authoritative decision is made and carried out. As an example, the agenda setting stage is followed by the policy formulation, this will continue until the policy is implemented.

Top-down and bottom-up implementation
"Top-down" and "bottom-up" describe the process of policy implementation. Top-down implementation means the carrying out of a policy at the top i.e. central government or legislature. The bottom-up approach suggests that the implementation should start with the target group, as they are seen as the actual implementers of policy.

Evaluation
Evaluation is the process of assessing the extent to which the policy has been successful, or if this was the right policy to begin with/ was it implemented correctly and if so, did it go as expected.

Policy maintenance
Maintenance is when the policy makers decide to either terminate or continue the policy. The policy is usually either continued as is, modified, or discontinued.

Composition
This cycle will unless discontinued go back to the agenda-setting phase and the cycle will commence again. However, the policy cycle is illustrated in a chronological and cyclical structure which could be misleading as in actuality, policymaking would include overlapping stages between the multiple interactions of policy proposals, adjustments, decision-making amongst multiple government institutions and respective authoritative actors. Likewise, although its heuristic model is straightforward and easy to understand, the cycle is not totally applicable in all situations of policymaking due to it being far too simple as there are more crucial steps that should go into more complex real life scenarios.

Criticism of the "policy studies" approach
The mainstream tradition of policy studies has been criticized for oversimplifying the processes of public policy, particularly in use of models based on rational choice theory, failing to capture the current dynamics in today's society as well as sustaining ambiguities and misunderstandings. In contrast, an anthropological approach to studying public policy deconstructs many of the categories and concepts that are currently used, seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the configurations of actors, activities, and influences that go into shaping policy decisions, implementations and results.

Responsibility of policymakers
Each system is influenced by different public problems and issues, and has different stakeholders; as such, each requires different public policy.

In public policy making, numerous individuals, corporations, non-profit organizations and interest groups compete and collaborate to influence policymakers to act in a particular way. Therefore, "the failure [of public policies] is possibly not only the politician's fault because he/she is never the lone player in the field of decision making. There is a multitude of actors pursuing their goals, sometimes complementary, often competing or contradictory ones." In this sense, public policies can be the result of actors involved, such as interest organization's, and not necessarily the will of the public.

The large set of actors in the public policy process, such as politicians, civil servants, lobbyists, domain experts, and industry or sector representatives, use a variety of tactics and tools to advance their aims, including advocating their positions publicly, attempting to educate supporters and opponents, and mobilizing allies on a particular issue. The use of effective tools and instruments determines the outcome of a policy.

Many actors can be important in the public policy process, but government officials ultimately choose public policy in response to the public issue or problem at hand. In doing so, government officials are expected to meet public sector ethics and take the needs of all project stakeholders into account.

It is however worth noting that what public policy is put forward can be influenced by the political stance of the party in power. Following the 2008/2009 financial crisis, David Cameron's Conservative party looked to implement a policy of austerity in 2010 after winning the general election that year, to shore up the economy and diminish the UK's national debt. Whilst the Conservatives saw reducing the national debt as an absolute priority, the Labour Party, since the effects of Conservative austerity became apparent, have slated the policy for its 'needless' pressure on the working classes and those reliant on welfare, their 2019 election manifesto stating "Tory cuts [have] pushed our public services to breaking point" and that "the Conservatives have starved our education system of funding". This is a good example of how varying political beliefs can impact what is perceived as paramount for the electorate.

Since societies have changed in the past decades, the public policy making system changed too. In the 2010s, public policy making is increasingly goal-oriented, aiming for measurable results and goals, and decision-centric, focusing on decisions that must be taken immediately.

Furthermore, mass communications and technological changes such as the widespread availability of the Internet have caused the public policy system to become more complex and interconnected. The changes pose new challenges to the current public policy systems and pressures leaders to evolve to remain effective and efficient.

Public policies come from all governmental entities and at all levels: legislatures, courts, bureaucratic agencies, and executive offices at national, local and state levels. On the federal level, public policies are laws enacted by Congress, executive orders issued by the president, decisions handed down by the US Supreme Court, and regulations issued by bureaucratic agencies.

On the local, public policies include city ordinances, fire codes, and traffic regulations. They also take the form of written rules and regulations of city governmental departments: the police, fire departments, street repair, or building inspection. On the state level, public policies involve laws enacted by the state legislatures, decisions made by state courts, rules developed by state bureaucratic agencies, and decisions made by governors.

Policy design
Policy design entails conscious and deliberate effort to define policy aims and map them instrumentally. Policy design proposes critical analysis of policy instruments and their implementation. Uncertainties policy designers face include (in brief):

 Technical difficulties: mechanism, design, constituency, environment of public policies
 Cost issues: resources, materials, products, etc.
 Political problems: selection process of solutions and decision making. Policies require tedious and rigorous research on advice for its feasibility, legitimacy and choice.
 Compliance: Understanding the target market and discovering data for those dependent, disadvantaged or deviant on policy change.
 Effectiveness: There is a possibility of spillovers, complementariness and inconsistencies.

Nevertheless, policy design is elemental for the succession of public policy, with it comes intricate and multi-level approaches but it is necessary for good, careful policy design to be considered before implementing the policy.

Data-driven policy
Data-driven policy is a policy designed by a government based on existing data, evidence, rational analysis and use of information technology to crystallize problems and highlight effective solutions. Data-driven policy making aims to make use of data and collaborate with citizens to co-create policy. Policy makers can now make use of new data sources and technological developments like Artificial Intelligence to gain new insights and make policy decisions which contribute to societal development.

In the 2020s, policymakers will use data for policies and public service design, while responding to citizen engagement demands. The Anticipatory Governance model is particularly important when considering the sheer amount of data available. In terms of using new technology to collect, analyze, and disseminate data, governments are only just beginning to utilize data science for policy implementation. With new technologies implemented in government administration, a more complete visualization of current problems will emerge, allowing for more precision in targeted policy-making. Data science involves the transformation, analysis, visualization, and presentation of data, and potentially improve the quality of life and society by providing a more informational environment for public debate and political decision-making. Some examples of utilizing data science in public policy making are resource optimization, improving current public services, and fraud and error mitigation.

Data sets rarely merge between government agencies or within agencies or countries' governments. This is beginning to change with the COVID-19 pandemic spreading globally in early 2020. Forecasting and creating data models to prevent the propagation of the virus has become a vital approach for policy makers in governments around the world.

User-centered policy design
User-centered policies are policies that are designed and implemented with the end-users, or those who are impacted by the policy, as co-designers. Policymakers using this design process utilize users' knowledge of their lived experiences. This can allow for policymakers focus on including both comprehensiveness and comprehension within policies to aid in clarity for end-users, such as workers or organizations.

Small system dynamics model
The small system dynamics model is a method of condensing and simplifying the understanding of complex issues related to overall productivity.

Evidence-based policy

Evidence-based policy is associated with Adrian Smith because in his 1996 presidential address to the Royal Statistical Society, Smith questioned the current process of policy making and urged for a more "evidence-based approach" commenting that it has "valuable lessons to offer".

Some policy scholars now avoid using the term evidence-based policy, using others such as evidence informed. This language shift allows continued thinking about the underlying desire to improve evidence use in terms of its rigor or quality, while avoiding some of the key limitations or reductionist ideas at times seen with the evidence-based language. Still, the language of evidence-based policy is widely used and, as such, can be interpreted to reflect a desire for evidence to be used well or appropriately in one way or another – such as by ensuring systematic consideration of rigorous and high quality policy relevant evidence, or by avoiding biased and erroneous applications of evidence for political ends.

In the U.S.
Unlike the UK, the U.S. has a largely devolved government, with power at local, state and federal level. Due to these various levels of governance, it can often be difficult to coordinate passing bills and legislation, and there is often disagreement. Despite this, the system allows citizens to be relatively involved in inputting legislation. Furthermore, each level of government is set up in a similar way with similar rules, and all pump money into creating what is hoped to be effective legislation. Policy creation in America is often seen as unique to other countries.

Artificial intelligence and public policy
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in recent years by public administrators to deliver services and for the general improvement of government operations. In the realm of policy making in the public sector, AI will also be used to optimize outcome forecasting, pattern perception, and most importantly for the development of evidence-based programs to generate sound policy.

Using AI in government will continue to be used as an e-governance tool through virtual assistance on government websites and the automation of public online services. This will free public employees of answering frequently asked questions about government services or querying databases for information.

A drawback of using AI in public policy making and implementation is the concept of "algorithmic bias". Algorithmic bias can cause the government use of AI to have errors in decision making and create distrust in government entities.

Academic discipline

As an academic discipline, public policy brings in elements of many social science fields and concepts, including economics, sociology, political economy, social policy, program evaluation, policy analysis, and public management, all as applied to problems of governmental administration, management, and operations. At the same time, the study of public policy is distinct from political science or economics, in its focus on the application of theory to practice. While the majority of public policy degrees are master's and doctoral degrees, there are several universities that offer undergraduate education in public policy. Notable institutions include:

 Balsillie School of International Affairs
 Blavatnik School of Government
 Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS
 Leiden University
 Hertie School, Berlin
 Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
 John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
 London School of Economics
 Sciences Po, Paris
 National Defence University, Pakistan

Traditionally, the academic field of public policy focused on domestic policy. However, the wave of economic globalization that occurred in the late 20th and early 21st centuries created a need for a subset of public policy that focused on global governance, especially as it relates to issues that transcend national borders such as climate change, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and economic development. Consequently, many traditional public policy schools had to adjust their curricula to better suit this new policy landscape, as well as develop entirely new curricula altogether.

Controversies
The Austrian and Chicago school of economics criticise public policymakers for not "understanding basic economics". In particular, a member of the Chicago school of economics, Thomas Sowell writes "Under popularly elected government, the political incentives are to do what is popular, even if the consequences are worse than the consequences of doing nothing, or doing something that is less popular". Therefore, since "Economics studies the consequences of decisions that are made about the use of land, labour, capital and other resources that go into producing the volume of output which determines a country's standard of living"; this means that artificially tampering with the allocation of scarce resources such as implementing certain public policies such as price controls will cause inefficiency in the economy and decline in the standard of living within society.

One of the biggest controversies of public policy is that policy making is often influenced by lobbyists such as big corporations in order to sway policies in their favour. The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is an organisation that lobbies United States lawmakers to oppose stricter gun laws.

Another controversy surrounding public policy is that much like anyone, policymakers can sometimes hold bias and end up looking for facts that can prove their preconceptions to be true. In a study of politicians in Denmark, which was published in the British Journal of Political Science, it was established that they interpreted data between two groups in a case study more successfully when there was no labeling based on class or status as opposed to when they were labeled according to their class or status; their preconceptions affected how they viewed data.

See also

 Advocacy
 Advocacy evaluation
 Eightfold path (policy analysis)
Harold Lasswell
 List of public policy topics by country
 List of public administration schools
 Mandate (politics)
 Overton window
 Policy
 Public comment
 Public criminology
 Public policy school

References

Further reading
 Bueno de Mesquita, Ethan. 2017. Political Economy for Public Policy. Princeton University Press.
Gilbert, Brett Anitra; David B. Audretsch, McDougall, Patricia P. (2004), The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Policy, Small Business Economics 22
 Cohen, Nissim (2012) "Policy entrepreneurs and the design of public policy: Conceptual framework and the case of the National Health Insurance Law in Israel" Journal of Social Research & Policy, 3 (1): 5–26.
 David B. Audretsch; Grilo, Isabel; Thurik, A. Roy (2007), Explaining entrepreneurship and the role of policy: a framework, in: David Audretsch, Isabel Grilo and A. Roy Thurik (eds.), Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship Policy, Edward Elgar Publishing
 David B. Audretsch and Beckmann, Iris A.M. (2007), From Small Business to Entrepreneurship Policy, in: David Audretsch, Isabel Grilo and A. Roy Thurik (eds.), Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship Policy, Edward Elgar Publishing
 Considine, Mark (2005). Making Public Policy. Polity Press.

Political science
Public economics
Public administration
Social policy

Public policy


Celebrations Group was a chain of British greeting cards stores. Most of their stores traded under the names of Cardfair and Card Warehouse.
Celebrations Group was formed in 2006, when it purchased part of the Greeting Card Group from administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The company
The company had 288 stores across the United Kingdom and employed around 1800 staff. It had a head office and distribution centre at Orton Southgate in Peterborough. Celebrations Group also fully owned the transactional website Calendar Factory.
The company was formed in July 2006 following the dissolution of the Greeting Card Group Ltd which was itself an amalgamation of the Card Fair and Card Warehouse brands which had existed since the early 1990s as separate companies. Both brands were maintained following the acquisition of Card Warehouse by Card Fair in May 2003, with some towns having two stores on the same high street. This remained the case for a short time after Celebrations Group acquired the Greeting Card Group's stores, staff and assets, with a large number of dual site stores later closed. Celebrations was founded as 'Callfort Services Ltd' until the appointment of CEO Milton Guffogg on 11 January 2007. Guffogg initiated a naming competition with staff from all disciplines permitted to put forward their suggestions. After a short deliberation, 'Celebrations' was selected as the winning name as it was thought the word embodied the company ethic and image.

CEO Milton Guffogg invested large amounts of money into the new organisation, including an investment in customer service training, new uniform (lilac polo shirts) and a high-end EPOS system to replace the old analogue cash registers that had been in use since the 1990s. The new system also permitted online stock replenishment. Additional money was spent appointing external consultants to assist shop staff in customer service, merchandising and upselling. He was a popular CEO and made an effort to know his staff on a personal level, even forgoing the convention of the average CEO by wearing the lilac polo shirt he had introduced instead of a suit and tie. In an attempt to change the culture of the organisation, the focus was shifted from total daily takings to average transaction value (ATV) as a measure of a store's success. The individual performance of staff members was measured by this number, principally in terms of its reflection of a staff member's success in upselling. This shift in culture was largely well-received yet was difficult for the more parochially minded staff who were not comfortable pushing sales onto customers.

Administration
On 8 October 2008 Kroll Corporate Advisory & Restructuring Group (now known as Zolfo Cooper Europe) were appointed administrators of the company. The company entered administration due to cash flow difficulties.

Card Factory
On 28 November 2008 it was announced that Card Factory had purchased 76 of the group's 288 stores as part of a rescue package, securing around 500 of the 1800 jobs. In 2007, Wakefield-based greeting card retailer Card Factory began an aggressive expansion of its stores across the UK. The company, which had been in running since 1997 and had very similar branding, colour scheme and stock, opened stores in prime locations across the country, often close by or even next door to Celebrations stores. This led to Card Factory being mistaken for a sister company by customers, even though Card Factory was selling the same or similar products at much cheaper prices. Combined with the prime high street locations, the new stores were very attractive propositions for customers who soon migrated towards them. Following the rapid expansion of Card Factory, Celebrations stores began to suffer, with some stores recording a drop in sales of more than two-thirds.

Closure
The remaining 212 stores that were not purchased by Card Factory stopped trading on 11 January 2009,
with only managers and assistant managers in on 12 January 2009 to deal with official store closures. Celebrations' transactional website Calendar Factory stopped trading just before the New Year, after it had run out of stock.

Reasons for Company Failure

According to Companies House, Zolfo Cooper Ltd, a restructuring and advisory company, held a meeting of the creditors on 27 February 2009 and came to the following conclusions:

 	That, following the acquisition of the Greeting Card Group's assets in January 2007, a drive to improve revenue by way of store closures, new openings and refits of existing stores did not secure anticipated cost savings and the company's activities instead relied on top line growth.
 	The company did not have an integrated merchandising system or integrated financial model and there was a lack of continuity in the senior roles within the finance system.
 	The company's drive to increase average transaction value (ATV) by selling ancillary products such as stamps and confectionary did not generate the uplift in sales required and did not increase footfall.
 	The Management Team was too large and costly for an organisation of its size and assets.

References

Greeting cards
Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom
Retail companies established in 2006
Retail companies disestablished in 2009
Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom

Celebrations Group


A crayon (or wax pastel) is a stick of pigmented wax used for writing or drawing. Wax crayons differ from pastels, in which the pigment is mixed with a dry binder such as gum arabic, and from oil pastels, where the binder is a mixture of wax and oil.

Crayons are available in a range of prices, and are easy to work with. They are less messy than most paints and markers, blunt (removing the risk of sharp points present when using a pencil or pen), typically non-toxic, and available in a wide variety of colors. These characteristics make them particularly good instruments for teaching small children to draw in addition to being used widely by student and professional artists.

Other websites

Art
Writing tools

Crayon


The Somerville Theatre is an independent movie theater and concert venue in the Davis Square neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States. Over one hundred years old, the Somerville Theatre started off as a vaudeville house and movie theater. The theater has since transitioned and now operates as a live music venue and first-run movie theater.  As a music venue, the theater has played host to many historic concerts, including the first of the two Last Dispatch concerts, two shows by Bruce Springsteen in 2003, and a performance by U2 in 2009.  Recent live performances have included  Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Cursive, Norah Jones, The Jonas Brothers, Joan Baez, and the John Butler Trio.

The building also hosts the Crystal Ballroom.

Early years
The Somerville Theater is part of the Hobbs Building which was built in 1914 by Joseph Hobbs and designed by the firm of Funk & Wilcox of Boston.  Designed for stage shows, vaudeville, opera, and motion pictures, the theater was only one of the highlights of the Hobbs Building, which also contained a basement café, basement bowling alley and billiards hall, the theater lobbies and ten storefronts on the ground floor, and the Hobbs Crystal Ballroom, a 700-person dance hall, on the second floor. The second and third floors also contained office space for lease.  In 1915, the Somerville Theater Players began their stock company presentation of weekly play performances.  Among the notable players who came up at the Somerville were Tallulah Bankhead, Kay Corbett, and Francis X. Bushman.  Future film director Busby Berkeley (famous for 42nd Street and other stylized musicals of the 1930s) directed many shows at the Somerville Theatre in the mid-1920s.

The movie era
In 1926, the Hobbs family leased and subsequently sold the theater to Arthur F. Viano,  whose family built and owned other area theaters such as the Teele Square Theater, the Broadway Theater in East Somerville, and the Regent Theater in Arlington.  The Vianos continued with the stock theater company until the harsh economics of the Depression forced them into a 'movies only' policy in 1932.  Throughout the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, the Somerville remained a prime neighborhood movie house. In those days, new films would open at the downtown theaters like the RKO Keiths (now the Boston Opera House), the Paramount, the Metropolitan (now the Citi Performing Arts Center) and the Loew's Orpheum (now a concert hall). After playing downtown, the pictures made their way, week by week, often two and three per week, to the neighborhood houses like the Somerville Theatre.  Like all Viano Theaters, the Somerville was well known for fresh popcorn, and also for gimmicks like prize nights. These gift nights began in the depression and lasted at the Somerville until the 1970s.  These were certain nights, usually weekdays, where dishware, appliances, and other merchandise was given away to entice patrons to attend the show.  Gradually the Viano family came to operate the Capitol Theater in Arlington as well, and by the 1970s, the Somerville, Capitol, Regent, and Broadway theaters were mainstays of local movie-going. The opening of the Sacks Assembly Square Cinema (now closed) helped to kill the Broadway Theater, and the Fresh Pond Drive-In became a multiplex, forcing the Cambridge-Somerville-Arlington neighborhood theaters to become strictly second-run venues.

Repertory house
The Viano family leased the Somerville to Garen Daly in 1982, and he turned the theater into a repertory house, running double features and daily changes, offering independent and offbeat fare in the days before video and DVD made it easy to track down such titles.  Daly also brought back live performances to the stage for the first time since the 1930s when he began programming concerts to complement the film programs.  During this period, the Hobbs Building was purchased by Chatham Light Realty, whose owners, the Fraiman family, had previously bought and operated the Capitol Theater in Arlington.  When Garen Daly's lease ended in 1989, the Fraimans decided to operate the Somerville themselves, closing the venue for a series of renovations.  Some in the community were afraid the original theater would be subdivided into smaller cinemas, and formed an activist group to prevent such an occurrence, but as the owners had never actually made that decision, the theater was preserved, and reopened in 1990.

Renovation and restoration
Movie attendance, however, had dropped considerably, and a plan had to be devised to keep the theater competitive.  The remainder of the Hobbs Building, with the exception of a few storefronts and the theater, had been abandoned since the early 80s, and this space proved to be the answer.

In 1996, extensive renovations began.  The bowling alleys in the basement and a portion of the first floor retail space were gutted to create modern bathrooms and two new film rooms. Two more screens were built in the former ballroom space on the second floor.  An elevator was installed, new windows and a marquee reminiscent of the original were added, and the third and second floors became new modern office space.  The theater lobby was expanded by taking over an adjacent storefront, and new comfortable seats were installed in the orchestra seating of the original auditorium.

In 2006, further renovations restored the original auditorium interior to a more historically accurate theme and color scheme while upgrades to the stage like new curtains, rigging, and movie screen were also completed.

In 2008, the second gallery of the Museum of Bad Art opened in the basement of the theater. The gallery was placed near both the women's and men's restrooms, similar to the museum's first gallery location in the Dedham Community Theater. Although the original gallery is free and open to the public, the gallery here is only free with admission to the theater. The gallery closed in 2019.

In 2009, renovations included new balcony seating, replacing the original seats from 1914; the installation of Dolby Digital Sound and 24 surround speakers throughout the original auditorium; and a revamped projection booth, containing two Norelco DP-70 projectors.  The Somerville is now one of the few theaters in New England, and one of only two in Metro Boston (the other being the Coolidge Corner Theatre), that can run 70mm film. The Theatre currently operates as a three-screen cinema.

During the closure of the theater due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, screens 4 and 5 were restored into the Crystal Ballroom, a live-music venue and function hall.

Today

The Fraiman family, (then operating as Fraiman Enterprises Inc. - now Frame One Theatres), took ownership of the Somerville Theatre in 1990 and has since made multiple changes to keep up with the evolving movie theater industry. Since 1990, 4 screens have been added and digital projectors have been installed, although two screens on the upper level have been restored into a ballroom which formerly occupied the space. The Theatre currently operates as a three-screen cinema. Home to one of the most technically advanced projection booths on the east coast, the Somerville can present virtually any film format - from digital releases to archival 35mm and 70mm film prints.  The Somerville also counts a rentable 31-seat "microcinema" among its screening rooms. All screens (except the microcinema) are equipped with 35mm projectors and DCP. Only screen 1 is capable of 70mm.

The theatre currently operates as a first- and second-run moviehouse, with an emphasis on independent and art house fare. It also regularly hosts live music, dance and comedy performances, with entertainers including U2, Louis CK, Jonathan Richman, Thomas Dolby, and Arlo Guthrie on its stage.

The theatre regularly runs vintage 35mm and 70mm films, silent films with live musical accompaniment, and as of 2016, hosts a yearly "The 70mm and Widescreen Film Festival" in September. It is also the main host theatre for the Independent Film Festival of Boston and The Slutcracker.

The Somerville Theatre is in the minority in the movie theater industry for being locally owned and independent but also operating as a for profit company.

Gallery

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Somerville, Massachusetts

References

External links

Cinemas and movie theaters in Massachusetts
Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Somerville, Massachusetts
Tourist attractions in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Somerville, Massachusetts

Somerville Theatre


Donald McGill Marshman Jr. (December 21, 1922 – September 17, 2015) credited as D. M. Marshman,  was an American screenwriter known mainly for his contribution to the film script for Sunset Boulevard.

Background
Marshman was the son of Donald McGill and Maud Louise (McMurray) Marshman.

He was educated at Andover and Yale, receiving his B.A. in 1945. Originally hired as an editorial researcher at Life magazine, he eventually became the magazine's movie editor before moving to Time magazine, where he was the film critic.

Career
In 1946, Marshman collaborated with T. O. Cole on Poets Corner, a comedy in three acts. In 1948, Marshman was recruited by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder to help write the screenplay of Sunset Boulevard. He suggested that a gigolo be introduced to the story as a romantic interest for the heroine. Characteristics of the main character can be attributed to Marshman, such as name similarity, personality, and identical birthday. He shared a screenwriting credit with Wilder and Brackett. The trio won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Marshman has two other films to his credit, the 1953 productions Taxi (screenplay) and Second Chance (story).

He chose to return to the East Coast in 1953, where he pursued a career in advertising for Young & Rubicam and other agencies, including one he started himself. From 1974 to 1979, he conducted a fund-raising campaign for Yale University, and spent later years as a freelance consultant, writing speeches for corporate CEOs, and doing other business writing.

References

External links

American male screenwriters
Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners
2015 deaths
1922 births
Writers from Cleveland
Phillips Academy alumni
Yale University alumni
Life (magazine) people
Time (magazine) people
Screenwriters from Ohio
Western Reserve Academy alumni

D. M. Marshman Jr.


The Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching (ARLT) was founded in the United Kingdom in 1913 by the distinguished Classical scholar W. H. D. Rouse.  It is now known as the Association for Latin Teaching.

It arose from Summer Schools which Rouse organised in order to train Latin teachers in the Direct Method of language teaching, which entailed using the language in everyday situations rather than merely learning grammar and syntax by rote. Summer Schools remain the chief activity of this organisation.  A journal entitled Latin Teaching reported on the Summer Schools and included articles on practical teaching of Latin. Contributors included Dorothy L. Sayers.

After the Second World War three developments deeply affected the ARLT:

The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge ceased to require proficiency in Latin as a qualification for entry. This meant a sharp reduction in the numbers of school pupils learning Latin.
The Cambridge Latin Course brought many of the principles espoused by Rouse and the ARLT into the mainstream of Latin teaching. This led ARLT to adopt a more supportive, rather than campaigning, approach, offering general encouragement for all Classics teachers.
Three Classical organisations, The Classical Association, the Orbilian Society (now defunct) and the Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching, joined in founding an umbrella organisation: the Joint Association of Classical Teachers (JACT).

ARLT and JACT endured a period of uneasy relations, with some questioning of ARLT's reason for continuing existence, but in time all concerned recognised the need to work together for the common cause against those who willed the demise of Classics teaching. Now the two organisations publish a joint magazine, The Journal of Classics Teaching.  ARLT has a website and a blog.

Political Rumblings
During the parliamentary recess in 2021, the Department of Education, fronted by Gavin Williamson announced a £4m scheme to introduce Latin into 40 state schools. Latin is already taught in 3% of stateschools and is permitted under the National Curriculum.

See also
American Classical League
Minimus

References

External links
Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching

Latin-language education
Educational organisations based in the United Kingdom


The Bank of Florence was a wildcat bank located in Florence, Nebraska Territory. It originally operated for three years in the 1850s, and another bank adopted the name and location in 1904. Today the building that housed the bank is the Bank of Florence Museum.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is the oldest building in Omaha, Nebraska.

History
The town of Florence was founded on the ruins of Winter Quarters, with dozens of small buildings still intact from the early Mormon pioneer settlement. A speculator's dream, the town was quickly built.

The Bank of Florence was built as a wildcat bank for speculators to make an easy profit. Many of the early investors included members of the land company that founded the nearby town of Saratoga, as well as local businessmen. When the Panic of 1857 hit, many local townspeople and farmers were financially drained.

The building reopened as the Second Bank of Florence in 1904, and was restored as a landmark in the 1980s.

Today the building has been turned into a museum, which is owned and operated by the Florence Historical Foundation.  Visitors can view the main bank floor, the vault, the rooms upstairs that served as the home of the original bank manager, and a restored Florence Telephone Company switchboard.  The bank is open on Saturdays and Sundays 11AM-3PM from May through August and on special event days.  Tours on other days can be arranged by appointment.

See also
List of the oldest buildings in Nebraska

References

External links

Bank of Florence - a.k.a. The Florence "Wildcat" Bank - Historic Florence, includes history and visitation details
A photo of a dollar bill issued by the Bank of Florence from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
James Monroe Parker Historic Florence website. Founding manager of the Bank of Florence.

Landmarks in North Omaha, Nebraska
Banks based in Omaha, Nebraska
National Register of Historic Places in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha Landmarks
Banks established in 1856
Museums in Omaha, Nebraska
Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska
History museums in Nebraska
Bank museums
1856 establishments in Nebraska Territory

Bank of Florence Museum


Scalado was a provider of imaging technologies, applications and engineering services for the camera (phone) industry.

The company was a Swedish imaging software company that focused on the wireless device industry. Scalado's CAPS was embedded in more than a billion cellphone camera devices. Scalado was acquired by Nokia in 2012.

History
Scalado was founded in 2000 at Ideon Science Park in Lund, Sweden by former students from Lund's University, Sami Niemi, Fadi Abbas, Maziar Jahanshahi and Pierre Elzouki (active until 2004). Scalado employed imaging specialists worldwide and was headquartered in Lund, Sweden.

The company had offices in Sweden (HQ), Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the United States.

Technology
In 2010, Scalado technology was embedded in more than 930 million devices with a predicted annual growth of 500 million devices per year. Examples of its technologies was Scalado RAJpeg, Scalado SpeedTags and Scalado SpeedView.

During Blackberry World 2012 in Florida, Research in Motion revealed a demo of its upcoming new mobile os, BlackBerry 10, incorporating Scalado's time warp feature.

Products
Scalado's software offered products in capturing, viewing and editing images. Examples of some of the imaging products Scalado provided its customers with: Scalado CAPS, Scalado PhotoFlow, Scalado Rewind, Scalado TimeWarp, Scalado Camera SDK, Scalado Album SDK, and Scalado Editor SDK. In 2012, Scalado also started producing mobile apps for the consumer market.

Awards and recognition
2003 – Scalado was awarded by the European Commission with the European IST prize, Information Society Technologies (today called ICT-prize) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Scalado was given the award for its first ever imaging software, Scalado ImageZoom™.

2005 – Scalado won the Series 60 Challenge Awards in the category "Best Media/Music product of the year" for the PhotoTwister™ Series 60 application.

2007 – Scalado was awarded with ALBIHNS prize of innovation for the AutoRama™ technology, a panoramic image application.

2008 – At the Mobile Gala known as the Swedish "Mobile Oscars" in Stockholm, Sweden, Scalado won the category for "Company of the year".

2009 – On Deloitte's list of "Sweden Technology Fast 50" Scalado was ranked as number seven with a growth of 1559% during 2004-2008.

On Deloitte's list of the 500 fastest growing companies in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Scalado was listed as the 114 most expansive company with a five-year growth rate of 1476.10%.

2009 – Scalado wins at the Red Herring's Europe 100 awards, as the top 100 innovative companies across Europe.

2009 – Scalado is listed in the 100 Million Club.

2009 – Ernst & Young nominated Scalado's founders in the category of "Entrepreneur of the Year". Scalado won the category "Best International Expansion 2009".

2010 – Scalado makes the Deloitte's fast 50 and 500 lists yet again.

2010 – Scalado was nominated for the "Guldmusen" (the golden mouse) in the category "IT entrepreneur 2010". The founders' of this award are the Swedish magazines Affärsvärlden and Computer Sweden.

2010 – Scalado was nominated by the Swedish Trade Council for the Great Export Prize 2010.

2010 – Scalado has been nominated several times for the Export Hermes prize. In August 2010, Her Majesty the Queen Silvia of Sweden honored Scalado with the great Export Hermes prize at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

2011 – Scalado becomes a "Gasell-company", an award given to the fastest growing most profitable companies over the last 3 years.

2011 – Scalado keeps making the Deloitte's fast 50 and 500 lists.

2011 – Scalado was nominated for "best pressroom" by MyNewsdesk.

2011 – Scalado is nominated for the "Cut the Wire" award.

References

External links

Software companies of Sweden

Scalado


Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (c. 1223 – 11 December 1282), sometimes written as Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, also known as Llywelyn the Last (), was the native Prince of Wales (; ) from 1258 until his death at Cilmeri in 1282. Llywelyn was the son of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr and grandson of Llywelyn the Great, and he was one of the last native and independent princes of Wales before its conquest by Edward I of England and English rule in Wales that followed, until Owain Glyndŵr held the title during the Welsh Revolt of 1400–1415.

Genealogy and early life

Llywelyn was the second of the four sons of Gruffydd, the eldest son of Llywelyn the Great, and Senana ferch Caradog, the daughter of Caradoc ap Thomas ap Rhodri, Lord of Anglesey.

The eldest was Owain Goch ap Gruffydd and Llywelyn had two younger brothers, Dafydd ap Gruffydd and Rhodri ap Gruffydd. Llywelyn is thought to have been born around 1222 or 1223. He is first heard of holding lands in the Vale of Clwyd around 1244.

Following his grandfather's death in 1240, Llywelyn's uncle, Dafydd ap Llywelyn (who was Llywelyn the Great's eldest legitimate son), succeeded him as ruler of Gwynedd. At this time, Llywelyn went on crusade with Richard of Cornwall, brother of Henry III of England.

Llywelyn's father, Gruffydd (who was Llywelyn's eldest son but illegitimate), and his brother, Owain, were initially kept prisoner by Dafydd, then transferred into the custody of King Henry III of England. Gruffydd died in 1244 from a fall while trying to escape from his cell at the top of the Tower of London. The window from which he attempted to escape the Tower was bricked up and can still be seen to this day.

This freed Dafydd ap Llywelyn's hand as King Henry could no longer use Gruffydd against him, and war broke out between him and King Henry in 1245. Llywelyn supported his uncle in the savage fighting that followed. Owain, meanwhile, was freed by Henry after his father's death in the hope that he would start a civil war in Gwynedd, but stayed in Chester, so when Dafydd died in February 1246 without leaving an heir, Llywelyn had the advantage of being on the spot.

Early reign

Llywelyn and Owain came to terms with King Henry and in 1247, signed the Treaty of Woodstock at Woodstock Palace. The terms they were forced to accept restricted them to Gwynedd Uwch Conwy, the part of Gwynedd west of the River Conwy, which was divided between them. Gwynedd Is Conwy, east of the river, was taken over by King Henry.

When Dafydd ap Gruffydd came of age, King Henry accepted his homage and announced his intention to give him part of the already reduced Gwynedd. Llywelyn refused to accept this, and Owain and Dafydd formed an alliance against him. This led to the Battle of Bryn Derwin in June 1255. Llywelyn defeated Owain and Dafydd and captured them, thereby becoming sole ruler of Gwynedd Uwch Conwy. Llywelyn now looked to expand his area of control. The population of Gwynedd Is Conwy resented English rule. This area, also known as "Perfeddwlad" (meaning 'middle land') had been given by King Henry to his son Edward and during the summer of 1256, he visited the area, but failed to deal with grievances against the rule of his officers. An appeal was made to Llywelyn, who, that November, crossed the River Conwy with an army, accompanied by his brother, Dafydd, whom he had released from prison. By early December, Llywelyn controlled all of Gwynedd Is Conwy, apart from the royal castle at Dyserth, as a reward for his support and dispossessing his brother-in-law, Rhys Fychan, who supported the king. An English army led by Stephen Bauzan invaded to try to restore Rhys Fychan but was decisively defeated by Welsh forces at the Battle of Cadfan in June 1257, with Rhys having previously slipped away to make his peace with Llywelyn.

Rhys Fychan now accepted Llywelyn as overlord, but this caused problems for Llywelyn, as Rhys's lands had already been given to Maredudd. Llywelyn restored his lands to Rhys, but the king's envoys approached Maredudd and offered him Rhys's lands if he would change sides. Maredudd paid homage to Henry in late 1257.

By early 1258, Llywelyn was using the title Prince of Wales, first used in an agreement between Llywelyn and his supporters and the Scottish nobility associated with the Comyn family. The English Crown refused to recognise this title however, and, in 1263, Llywelyn's brother, Dafydd, went over to King Henry.

On 12 December 1263, in the commote of Ystumanner, Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn did homage and swore fealty to Llywelyn. In return he was made a vassal lord and the lands taken from him by Llywelyn about six years earlier were restored to him.

In England, Simon de Montfort (the Younger) defeated the king's supporters at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, capturing the king and the Lord Edward. Llywelyn began negotiations with de Montfort, and in 1265, offered him 30,000 marks in exchange for a permanent peace, in which Llywelyn's right to rule Wales would be acknowledged. The Treaty of Pipton, 22 June 1265, established an alliance between Llywelyn and de Montfort, but the very favourable terms given to Llywelyn in this treaty were an indication of de Montfort's weakening position. De Montfort was to die at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, a battle in which Llywelyn took no part.

Supremacy in Wales

After Simon de Montfort's death, Llywelyn launched a campaign in order to rapidly gain a bargaining position before King Henry had fully recovered. In 1265, Llywelyn captured Hawarden Castle and routed the combined armies of Hamo Lestrange and Maurice fitz Gerald in north Wales. Llywelyn then moved on to Brycheiniog, and in 1266, he routed Roger Mortimer's army. With these victories and the backing of the papal legate, Ottobuono, Llywelyn opened negotiations with the king, and was eventually recognised as Prince of Wales by King Henry in the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. In return for the title, the retention of the lands he had conquered and the homage of almost all the native rulers of Wales, he was to pay a tribute of 25,000 marks in yearly installments of 3,000 marks, and could if he wished, purchase the homage of the one outstanding native prince -  Maredudd ap Rhys of Deheubarth - for another 5,000 marks. However, Llywelyn's territorial ambitions gradually made him unpopular with some minor Welsh leaders, particularly the princes of south Wales.

The Treaty of Montgomery marked the high point of Llywelyn's power. Problems began arising soon afterwards, initially a dispute with Gilbert de Clare concerning the allegiance of a Welsh nobleman holding lands in Glamorgan. Gilbert built Caerphilly Castle in response to this. King Henry sent a bishop to take possession of the castle while the dispute was resolved but when Gilbert regained the castle by trickery, the king was unable to do anything about it.

Following the death of King Henry in late 1272, with the new King Edward I of England away from the kingdom, the rule fell to three men. One of them, Roger Mortimer was one of Llywelyn's rivals in the marches. When Humphrey de Bohun tried to take back Brycheiniog, which was granted to Llywelyn by the Treaty of Montgomery, Mortimer supported de Bohun. Llywelyn was also finding it difficult to raise the annual sums required under the terms of this treaty, and ceased making payments.

In early 1274, there was a plot by Llywelyn's brother, Dafydd, and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys Wenwynwyn and his son, Owain, to kill Llywelyn. Dafydd was with Llywelyn at the time, and it was arranged that Owain would come with armed men on 2 February to carry out the assassination; however, he was prevented by a snowstorm. Llywelyn did not discover the full details of the plot until Owain confessed to the Bishop of Bangor. He said that the intention had been to make Dafydd prince of Gwynedd, and that Dafydd would reward Gruffydd with lands. Dafydd and Gruffydd fled to England where they were maintained by the king and carried out raids on Llywelyn's lands, increasing Llywelyn's resentment. When Edward called Llywelyn to Chester in 1275 to pay homage, Llywelyn refused to attend.

Llywelyn also made an enemy of King Edward by continuing to ally himself with the family of Simon de Montfort, even though their power was now greatly reduced. Llywelyn sought to marry Eleanor de Montfort, born in 1252, Simon de Montfort's daughter. They were married by proxy in 1275, but King Edward took exception to the marriage, in part because Eleanor was his first cousin: her mother was Eleanor of England, daughter of King John and princess of the House of Plantagenet. When Eleanor sailed from France to meet Llywelyn, Edward hired pirates to seize her ship and she was imprisoned at Windsor Castle until Llywelyn made certain concessions.

In 1276, Edward declared Llywelyn a rebel and in 1277, gathered an enormous army to march against him. Edward's intention was to disinherit Llywelyn completely and take over Gwynedd Is Conwy himself. He was considering two options for Gwynedd Uwch Conwy: either to divide it between Llywelyn's brothers, Dafydd and Owain, or to annex Anglesey and divide only the mainland between the two brothers. Edward was supported by Dafydd ap Gruffydd and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn. Many of the lesser Welsh princes who had supported Llywelyn now hastened to make peace with Edward. By the summer of 1277, Edward's forces had reached the River Conwy and encamped at Deganwy, while another force had captured Anglesey and took possession of the harvest there. This deprived Llywelyn and his men of food, forcing them to seek terms.

Treaty of Aberconwy

What resulted was the Treaty of Aberconwy, which guaranteed peace in Gwynedd in return for several difficult concessions from Llywelyn, including confining his authority to Gwynedd Uwch Conwy once again. Part of Gwynedd Is Conwy was given to Dafydd ap Gruffydd, with a promise that if Llywelyn died without an heir, he would be given a share of Gwynedd Uwch Conwy instead.

Llywelyn was forced to acknowledge the English king as his sovereign; initially he had refused, but after the events of 1276, Llywelyn was stripped of all but a small portion of his lands. He went to meet Edward, and found Eleanor lodged with the royal family at Worcester; after Llywelyn agreed to Edward's demands, Edward gave them permission to be married at Worcester Cathedral. A stained glass window exists to this day depicting the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Eleanor. By all accounts, the marriage was a genuine love match; Llywelyn is not known to have fathered any illegitimate children, which is extremely unusual for the Welsh royalty. (In medieval Wales, illegitimate children were as entitled to their father's property as legitimate children.)

Last campaign and death

By early 1282, many of the lesser princes who had supported Edward against Llywelyn in 1277 were becoming disillusioned with the exactions of the royal officers. On Palm Sunday that year, Dafydd ap Gruffydd attacked the English at Hawarden Castle and then laid siege to Rhuddlan. The revolt quickly spread to other parts of Wales, with Aberystwyth castle captured and burnt and rebellion in Ystrad Tywi in south Wales, also inspired by Dafydd according to the annals, where Carreg Cennen Castle was captured.

Llywelyn, according to a letter he sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury John Peckham, was not involved in the planning of the revolt. He felt obliged, however, to support his brother and a war began for which the Welsh were ill-prepared. Personal tragedy also struck him at this time when, on or about 19 June 1282, his wife, Eleanor de Montfort, died shortly after giving birth to their daughter, Gwenllian. Their previous daughter, Princess Catherine, had been married to Philip ap Ivor, Lord of Cardigan.

Events followed a similar pattern to 1277, with Edward's forces capturing Gwynedd Is Conwy, Anglesey and taking the harvest. The English force occupying Anglesey tried to cross to the mainland on a bridge of boats, but failed and was defeated in the Battle of Moel-y-don. The Archbishop of Canterbury tried mediating between Llywelyn and Edward, and Llywelyn was offered a large estate in England if he would surrender Wales to Edward, while Dafydd was to go on crusade and not return without the king's permission. In an emotional reply, which has been compared to the Declaration of Arbroath, Llywelyn said he would not abandon the people whom his ancestors had protected since "the days of Kamber son of Brutus" and rejected the offer.

Llywelyn now left Dafydd to lead the defence of Gwynedd and took a force south, trying to rally support in mid and south Wales and open up an important second front. On 11 December at the Battle of Orewin Bridge at Builth Wells, he was killed while separated from his army. The exact circumstances are unclear and there are two conflicting accounts of his death. Both accounts agree that Llywelyn was tricked into leaving the bulk of his army and was then attacked and killed. The first account says that Llywelyn and his chief minister approached the forces of Edmund Mortimer and Hugh Le Strange after crossing a bridge. They then heard the sound of battle as the main body of his army was met in battle by the forces of Roger Despenser and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn. Llywelyn turned to rejoin his forces and was pursued by a lone lancer who struck him down. It was not until some time later that an English knight recognised the body as that of the prince. This version of events was written in the north of England some fifty years later and has suspicious similarities with details about the Battle of Stirling Bridge in Scotland.

An alternative version of events written in the east of England by monks in contact with Llywelyn's exiled daughter, Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn, and niece, Gwladys ferch Dafydd, states that Llywelyn, at the front of his army, approached the combined forces of Edmund and Roger Mortimer, Hugo Le Strange, and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn on the promise that he would receive their homage. This was a deception. His army was immediately engaged in fierce battle during which a significant section of it was routed, causing Llywelyn and his eighteen retainers to become separated. At around dusk, Llywelyn and a small group of his retainers (which included clergy) were ambushed and chased into a wood at Aberedw. Llywelyn was surrounded and struck down. As he lay dying, he asked for a priest and gave away his identity. He was then killed and his head hewn from his body. His person was searched and various items recovered, including a list of "conspirators", which may well have been faked, and his privy seal.

The privy seal of Llywelyn the Last, his wife Eleanor and his brother Dafydd are thought to have been melted down by the English after finding them upon their bodies to make a chalice in 1284.

There are legends surrounding the fate of Llywelyn's severed head. It is known that it was sent to Edward at Rhuddlan and after being shown to the English troops based in Anglesey, Edward sent the head on to London. In London, it was set up in the city pillory for a day, and crowned with ivy (i.e. to show he was a "king" of Outlaws and in mockery of the ancient Welsh prophecy, which said that a Welshman would be crowned in London as king of the whole of Britain). Then it was carried by a horseman on the point of his lance to the Tower of London and set up over the gate. It was still on the Tower of London 15 years later.

The last resting place of Llywelyn's body is not known for certain; however, it has always been tradition that it was interred at the Cistercian Abbey at Abbeycwmhir. On 28 December 1282, Archbishop Peckham wrote a letter to the Archdeacon of Brecon at Brecon Priory, in order to

... inquire and clarify if the body of Llywelyn has been buried in the church of Cwmhir, and he was bound to clarify the latter before the feast of Epiphany, because he had another mandate on this matter, and ought to have certified the lord Archbishop before Christmas, and has not done so.

There is further supporting evidence for this hypothesis in the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester:

As for the body of the Prince, his mangled trunk, it was interred in the Abbey of Cwm Hir, belonging to the Cistercian Order.

Another theory is that his body was transferred to Llanrumney Hall in Cardiff.

The poet Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Coch wrote in an elegy on Llywelyn:

Do you not see the path of the wind and the rain?
Do you not see the oak trees in turmoil?

Cold my heart in a fearful breast
For the king, the oaken door of Aberffraw

There is an enigmatic reference in the Welsh annals Brut y Tywysogion, "… and then Llywelyn was betrayed in the belfry at Bangor by his own men". No further explanation is given.

Annexation

With the loss of Llywelyn, Welsh morale and the will to resist diminished. Dafydd was Llywelyn's named successor. He carried on the struggle for several months, but in June 1283 was captured in the uplands above Abergwyngregyn at Bera Mountain together with his family. He was brought before Edward, then taken to Shrewsbury where a special session of Parliament condemned him to death. He was dragged through the streets, hanged, drawn and quartered.

After the final defeat of 1283, Gwynedd was stripped of all royal insignia, relics, and regalia. Edward took particular delight in appropriating the royal home of the Gwynedd dynasty. In August 1284, he set up his court at Abergwyngregyn, Gwynedd. With equal deliberateness, he removed all the insignia of majesty from Gwynedd; a coronet was solemnly presented to the shrine of St. Edward at Westminster; the matrices of the seals of Llywelyn, of his wife, and of his brother Dafydd were melted down to make a chalice which was given by the king to Vale Royal Abbey where it remained until the dissolution of that institution in 1538, after which it came into the possession of the family of the final abbot. The most precious religious relic in Gwynedd, the fragment of the True Cross known as Cross of Neith, was paraded through London in May 1285 in a solemn procession on foot led by the king, the queen, the archbishop of Canterbury and fourteen bishops, and the magnates of the realm. Edward was thereby appropriating the historical and religious regalia of the house of Gwynedd and placarding to the world the extinction of its dynasty and the annexation of the principality to his Crown. Commenting on this a contemporary chronicler is said to have declared "and then all Wales was cast to the ground."

Most of Llywelyn's relatives ended their lives in captivity with the notable exceptions of his younger brother Rhodri ap Gruffydd, who had long since sold his claim to the crown and endeavoured to keep a very low profile, and a distant cousin, Madog ap Llywelyn, who in 1294 led a revolt and briefly claimed the title Prince of Wales. Llywelyn and Eleanor's baby daughter Gwenllian of Wales was captured by Edward's troops in 1283. She was interned at Sempringham Priory in England for the rest of her life, becoming a nun in 1317 and dying without issue in 1337, probably knowing little of her heritage and speaking none of her language.

Dafydd's two surviving sons were captured and incarcerated at Bristol Gaol, where they eventually died many years later. Llywelyn's elder brother Owain Goch disappears from the record in 1282. Llywelyn's surviving brother Rhodri (who had been exiled from Wales since 1272) survived and held manors in Gloucestershire, Cheshire, Surrey, and Powys and died around 1315. His grandson, Owain Lawgoch, later claimed the title Prince of Wales.

Family tree

In popular culture

The life of Llywelyn the Last is the subject of Edith Pargeter's Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet: 'Sunrise in the West' (1974); 'The Dragon at Noonday' (1975); 'The Hounds of Sunset' (1976); and 'Afterglow and Nightfall' (1977).

The 1982 Bardic Chair at the National Eisteddfod of Wales was awarded to Gerallt Lloyd Owen for his awdl Cilmeri, which Hywel Teifi Edwards has called the only 20th-century awdl, that matches T. Gwynn Jones' 1902 masterpiece Ymadawiad Arthur ("The Passing of Arthur"). Owen's Cilmeri reimagines the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in battle near the village of the same name on 11 December 1282, while leading his doomed uprising against the occupation of Wales by King Edward I of England. Owen's poem depicts the Prince as a tragic hero and invests his fall with an anguish unmatched since Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Coch wrote his famous lament for the Prince immediately following his death. Owen also, according to Edwards, encapsulates in the Prince's death the Welsh people's continuing "battle for national survival."

The lives of Llywelyn Fawr, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd and Dafydd ap Gruffydd are the subject of Sharon Kay Penman's "Welsh Trilogy": Here be Dragons (1985), Falls the Shadow (1988) and The Reckoning (1991).

An alternate history/time travel science fiction series, After Cilmeri by Sarah Woodbury, explores what might have happened if Llywelyn had survived the ambush at Cilmeri, and had a son and assistance from people from the future.

Llywelyn the Last is the subject of the New Riders of the Purple Sage song "Llewellyn".  The song focuses on the Conquest of Wales by Edward I, but specifically on the Campaign of 1282–83. In the song, the band claims "In September, Edward [Edward I] moved up to the baird/ His forces stronger every day/ Llewellyn then turned southward bound/ His forces lay upon the ground."  It also claims that the message of Llywelyn's death came "soon thereafter."

Llywelyn is a minor character in Jean Plaidy's novel Edward Longshanks, the seventh novel of the Plantagenet Saga series.

Bertrice Small includes Llywelyn's life in her book, A Memory of Love, which centres on the fictional life of one of his illegitimate children, Rhonwyn.

See also
Castell Du
List of rulers of Wales

Notes

References

Further reading
 - (English version),

External links

 Death of Llywelyn. Cilmeri is another name for Cefn-y-Bedd ("Ridge of the Grave"), a burial mound where Llywelyn is said to have been slain.
 Places and artifacts associated with Llywelyn the Last

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Monarchs of Gwynedd
House of Aberffraw
1220s births
1282 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Medieval Welsh killed in battle
13th-century Welsh monarchs
People from Abergwyngregyn

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd


Rupiah Bwezani Banda (19 February 1937 – 11 March 2022) was a Zambian politician who served as the fourth president of Zambia from 2008 to 2011, taking over from Levy Mwanawasa. Banda was an active participant in politics from early in the presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, during which time he held several diplomatic posts.

In October 2006, he was appointed the vice-president by Mwanawasa. After Mwanawasa suffered a stroke in June 2008 and died later that year, he became acting president. During the 2008 elections, he narrowly won against opposition leader Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front. He was later defeated in the 2011 election and succeeded by Sata.

Early life
Banda was born in the town of Miko, Gwanda, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe); his parents had come from Northern Rhodesia to find employment prior to his birth, and he was sponsored by a local Dutch Reformed Church preacher (and later, the family of B. R. Naik, a family of Indian origin) to continue his education into adulthood. He became involved in politics when he joined the youth wing of the UNIP in 1960. Banda was one of the notable alumni of Rusangu University, Zambia.

Diplomacy
Rupiah Banda was the UNIP's representative in Northern Europe in the early 1960s and in 1965 he was appointed Zambia's Ambassador to Egypt (the United Arab Republic). While there, he became friends with UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi, and the decision to allow UNITA to open offices in Lusaka at that time has been attributed to Banda's influence. Banda became Ambassador to the United States on 7 April 1967.

He served as Ambassador to the U.S. for about two years, then returned to Zambia to serve as Chief Executive of the Rural Development Corporation for about two years and subsequently as General Manager of the National Agriculture Marketing Board for a similar length of time.

He was then appointed Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and while in this position he also headed the U.N. Council for Namibia. After about a year at the U.N., he was appointed to the Zambian Cabinet as Minister of Foreign Affairs. During his brief stint as Foreign Minister (1975–1976), Banda was occupied by the task of attempting to broker a cease-fire in Angola.

Politics
Banda was elected as a Member of Parliament for the Munali Constituency in 1978 and lost the seat to Simeon Kampata in 1983. Although he was defeated in the 1988 election, he took the issue to court. He also served for a time as Minister of State for Mines.

In 1991, he was defeated in the Munali Constituency by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) candidate Ronald Penza. Although he initially intended to run again for the seat in the 1996 election, he supported the UNIP's boycott of the election.

After President Mwanawasa was re-elected in September 2006, he appointed Banda vice-president on 9 October 2006, along with a new cabinet. Following his appointment he subsequently joined the MMD. Banda's appointment was widely viewed as a means of rewarding eastern Zambians for supporting the MMD in the election, as this was the first time that easterners had done so.

Prior to a planned summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in August 2007, Banda was sent by Mwanawasa to improve relations with neighboring Zimbabwe following Mwanawasa's criticism of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Presidency

Acting capacity

After Mwanawasa suffered a stroke while attending an African Union summit in Egypt on 29 June 2008, Banda became acting president. He subsequently delivered a series of optimistic but vague updates on Mwanawasa's health. These updates were greeted with widespread skepticism, but Banda insisted that he had "no reason to lie".

As Vice-President, Banda also acted as the leader of government business in the National Assembly; however, when the National Assembly met on 5 August 2008, following Mwanawasa's stroke, Banda appointed the Minister of Defense, George Mpombo to lead the government's parliamentary business instead.

Mwanawasa never recovered from his stroke and died while still hospitalized in Paris on 19 August 2008. Expressing "immense grief and deep sorrow", Banda announced his death to the nation and declared a seven-day period of national mourning, urging Zambians to "remain calm and mourn our President with dignity". Banda officially took over as acting president prior to a new presidential election, which according to the constitution should be called within 90 days of Mwanawasa's death.

Banda filed an application to stand as the candidate of the MMD on 26 August 2008. On the same day, the MMD in Eastern Province released a statement in support of Banda's candidacy. He had been widely expected to win, and he received 47 votes against 11 for Ng'andu Magande, the Minister of Finance. On this occasion, Banda promised to "unite the party and the entire nation" and to "continue implementing [Mwanawasa's] programs".

Initial results showed Banda's main challenger, Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front (PF), in the lead, but as votes from rural areas were counted, Banda steadily closed the gap and ultimately overtook Sata. Final results on 2 November showed Banda with 40% of the vote against 38% for Sata. Banda was sworn in at State House on the same day, using his speech on the occasion to call for unity; the PF alleged fraud and refused to recognize Banda's victory, while Sata's supporters rioted in Lusaka and Kitwe.

Re-election and defeat
As President, Rupiah Banda was focused on economic development, traveling abroad to promote Zambian trade to other world leaders. In December 2010 he traveled to Egypt to meet with President Hosni Mubarak.

In mid-2009 it was announced that the MMD National Executive Committee had chosen Banda as the party's candidate for the 2011 presidential election. Some criticized this, arguing that the nomination process should be open to other candidates; Mpombo, the Defense Minister, resigned from his post in July 2009 while criticizing the process as undemocratic. President Banda subsequently welcomed others to challenge him for the nomination at the MMD Conventions taking place across the country.

After taking office, Banda dismantled much of the anti-corruption effort put into place by his predecessor, Mwanawasa.

Michael Sata, leader of the opposition Patriotic Front, defeated Banda in the September 2011 presidential election, ending his three-year presidency.

Later life

On 15 March 2013, Banda became the second head of state in Zambian history to have his presidential immunity revoked. This was due to accusations of abuse of authority, corruption, and the misappropriation of oil revenue by Sata.

Death
Banda died at home in Lusaka from colon cancer on 11 March 2022, at the age of 85. After his death, the Zambian government announced seven days of national mourning with flags half-masted. and Namibia announced three days of mourning.

Family
Rupiah Banda married his first wife, Hope Mwansa Makulu (29 August 1939 – 11 October 2000), in 1966 and the couple had three sons together. Makulu died in South Africa, at the age of 61. She was buried in Leopards Hill Cemetery.

His second wife, Thandiwe Banda,  a political science teacher, was more than thirty years younger than Banda. Thandiwe Banda served as the First Lady of Zambia during his presidency from 2008 to 2011.

References

External links
 Campaign Website

 Long interview with Rupiah Banda

1937 births
2022 deaths
Alumni of Wolfson College, Cambridge
Ambassadors of Zambia to the United Arab Republic
Ambassadors of Zambia to the United States
Deaths from cancer in Zambia
Deaths from colorectal cancer
Foreign Ministers of Zambia
Members of the National Assembly of Zambia
Movement for Multi-Party Democracy politicians
People from Matabeleland South Province
Permanent Representatives of Zambia to the United Nations
Presidents of Zambia
United National Independence Party politicians
Vice-presidents of Zambia
Zambian Anglicans

Rupiah Banda


Complex sales, also known as Enterprise sales, can refer to a method of trading sometimes used by organizations when procuring large contracts for goods and/or services where the customer takes control of the selling process by issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) and requiring a proposal response from previously identified or interested suppliers. Complex sales involve long sales cycles with multiple decision makers. Multiple stakeholders and stakeholder groups contribute to every complex sale. These types of sales can take up to 8 to 18 months as multiple people from higher management are involved.

Description
Any product or service may become a complex sale. In some instances, a complex sale occurs when the market is mature and the stakes  are high enough to warrant attention from a variety of stakeholders in the buying organization.  In other instances a complex sales process is needed when the buyer has never had experience with the vendor, technology being sold, or if the solution is business critical or impacts the buying organization on a strategic level.  The series of filters, purchasing steps, and stakeholders involved are designed to reduce the risks associated with making the wrong buying decision.

Often the need to have multiple stakeholders or buyers involved relates to the level of risk that is involved in the purchase or sale of goods and/or services.  As the buyer or buying organization if the purchase only impacts a small group of people or component of the buying organization then often the decision is made by one buyer and the process tends to be quite transactional.

If the purchase impacts the entire organization, affects the company strategically, or can change the buyer business process then often the sales person is required to have a set of skills that are more in line with a subject matter expert or consultant than a traditional sales person.  This type of sales person can often be referred to as a Key Account Executive or Complex Sales Executive.

Large or complex sales opportunities that are international in nature require an additional set of personal and sales skills.  The need for cross-cultural awareness may add an additional layer of complexity in the sales process.

The larger the purchase and the buyer risk the more trust and credibility required from the Vendor.  As a Key Account Executive or Complex Sales Executive in addition to product knowledge and consultative selling skills top producing sales executives also have the ability to build strong client relationships and navigate and avoid the political pitfalls within client organizations.

Forms of complex sales

 Selling consulting engineering services
 Facility Management bids including provision of soft and hard FM services
 Enterprise technology sales such as CRM or POS solutions
 Private data networks such as MPLS
 Commercial insurance sales
 Real Estate development
 Large fleet vehicle sales
 Mining equipment sales (e.g. Caterpillar tractors and large tunnel boring machines)
 Scientific Solution Sales (Data analysis and management)
 Government acquisition such as for military hardware and services
 Building management systems
 Security systems

Sales controlling
Due to the high costs of proposals in complex sales the hit rate i.e. the percentage of successful offers is a valuable indicator of the performance of the sales force.

Sales methods
Because of the large amounts involved, complex sales generally have considerable resources, strategies, and tools devoted to improving the chances of winning these contracts.  Consulting companies provide services and develop trademarked methods to support these proposals and sales

Tools
The primary tools for complex sales are customer relationship management (CRM) tools.  Other important tools calculate the value of the sale - often in terms of the return on investment (ROI) or total cost of ownership (TCO).  Another class of selling tools are configure, price and quote (CPQ).  In some cases these tools are provided as part of a more comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Limitation of complex sales
By analysing the characteristics of 'stellar performers', Dixon and Adamson argued that building strong personal and professional relationships and advocates among customers was no longer the most important success factor for selling. On the contrary, nearly 40% of 'stellar performer's were sellers who pushed their thinking and were not afraid to share even controversial views with both their customers and bosses.

See also

AIDA
Contract of sale
Industrial marketing
List of marketing topics
Marketing
Promotion
Tendering

References

Sales

Complex sales


The Sopwith Gnu was a 1910s British touring biplane, designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation & Engineering Company of Kingston-upon-Thames. It was one of the first cabin aircraft designed for civil use.

Design and development
Designed for the postwar civil market, the Gnu was a conventional equal-span biplane. It had an open cockpit for a pilot with seating for two passengers under a hinged and glazed roof. Most of the aircraft were powered by a 110hp Le Rhône rotary engine. The enclosed passenger cabin was cramped and unpopular, and most production aircraft had an open rear cockpit. One prototype and twelve production aircraft were built. A postwar slump ended production, and the company had problems selling the aircraft, although two aircraft were sold in Australia.

Operational history
The United Kingdom-based aircraft were mainly used to provide joyrides in the early 1920s. Two aircraft that were used for exhibition and stunt flying in the late 1920s crashed. Most of the production aircraft were not sold, and were dismantled, including four aircraft that remained unsold when the Sopwith Aviation Company folded in 1920. Two Australian aircraft were used by Australian Aerial Services on the Adelaide to Sydney mail route.

Operators

Australian Aerial Services

Specifications (Gnu)

References

 A.J. Jackson, British Civil Aircraft since 1919 - Volume 3, Putnam, London 1988,
 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), Orbis Publishing.

1910s British sport aircraft
Gnu
Biplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1919
Rotary-engined aircraft

Sopwith Gnu


MusicaNeo is a global online music platform for free publishing and sale of digital sheet music and performing licenses. The platform caters for all categories of music lovers – professional composers, arrangers, teachers, conductors, text authors, editors, as well as amateur musicians.

Backgrounds
The project was initiated and is maintained by Load.CD GmbH. This privately held company was founded by CEO Friedrich Kisters and has been operating since 2003. The main office is based in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, but the project's team is international: it comprises music experts, content managers and programmers. Back in 2003, the project started under the name of Load.CD at a time when CDs were at peak. However, year 2012 saw a complete rebranding of the platform, which, above substantial technical improvements, brought the change of name – MusicaNeo.

Key features
Currently, more than 500 individual sellers are offering over 160 000 individual scores through MusicaNeo service. Every registered user is provided with a free personal website with a unique address where they can present professional and personal information, add images, articles and news, select a site design to their liking. Users can also upload, publish and sell sheet music due to a store function, which is integrated in each personal website. Uploaders maintain the full control of their materials and author's rights, they set the prices for music works themselves and can track the whole procedure from score download to fee pay-off. The earned money can be collected via one of the four payment methods – PayPal, WebMoney, Bank account or Cheque. Due to the international character the platform is multilingual and supports four languages – English, German, Russian and Portuguese.

Musician community
MusicaNeo has established a lively community that today reminds of a social network scheme. Its members interact with each other with the help of site's tools for exchanging information, feedback, news, experience. Among interactive opportunities, one may choose to share blog postings, publish articles and notes, receive feedback to music compositions, share site's content in popular social networks. Besides, Community includes two additional sections – Music Jobs and Music Competitions. These features allow users to establish creative cooperation by posting job offers/vacancies and apply/post calls for various music contests that are being currently held worldwide.

Contemporary Composers Index
The CCI (Contemporary Composers Index) is a part of MusicaNeo project. It is a global online directory of contemporary composers that currently counts almost 15,000 entries of composers of all musical genres and styles worldwide. Each entry contains basic information about a composer, such as biographical data, origin, year of birth, occupation and music genre/genres he/she is working in. Entries are free of charge and are curated by composers themselves. CCI is an open index and can be extended by anyone. Users who would like to add a new composer to the list can fill in an inquiry form online.

Ernst Levy collection
In cooperation with the "Universitätsbibliothek Basel" (University Library of Basel, Switzerland) and Frank Ezra Levy (an acknowledged composer and cellist), MusicaNeo digitalized the works of his father – a Swiss piano prodigy and inventive composer Ernst Levy.

The entire collection – original scores and manuscripts – has been transferred into digital format and is now available for download at MusicaNeo. There are over 450 works in the catalogue.

References

External links
 MusicaNeo website

Digital audio distributors
Swiss music websites
Swiss social networking websites

MusicaNeo


Tom Topor (born 1938) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. Topor was born in Vienna, Austria, and he was brought to London in 1939, where he remained until he came to New York City in 1949. He earned his bachelor's degree at Brooklyn College in 1961.

Topor is the author of the 1979 play Nuts and the screenplay for the 1987 film, which became a starring vehicle for Barbra Streisand. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film The Accused, which starred Jodie Foster. He won the Writers Guild of America Award for his screenplay for the 1990 television film Judgment, which he also directed. In 1996, he won the Dilys Award for his novel The Codicil.

Topor's works tend to involve courtroom drama, psychological drama, docudrama, melodrama, social problems, crime, and/or issues of sexual abuse. Before his career as an author, he was a reporter for the New York Post, covering stories in police stations, courtrooms, hospitals, and psychiatric wards. He also did some reporting for the New York Daily News and the New York Times.

His career as a playwright began in 1969 with a series of one-act plays staged Off-Off-Broadway. This culminated in a run of his play Nuts on Broadway from April 28, 1980 into August of that year. Anne Twomey, in the lead role, received a Tony Award nomination for her performance. The play was published in 1981, and was made into a film of the same name starring Barbra Streisand and Richard Dreyfuss in 1987, with Topor himself adapting it into a screenplay.

Topor's other plays include Answers, Romance: Here to Stay, But Not for Me, Coda (L'Orchestre des ombres in French), Up the Hill, and The Playpen. His other novels include Tightrope Minor and Bloodstar. His additional screenplays and teleplays include Word of Honor (co-writer) and Perfect Murder, Perfect Town (from the book by Lawrence Schiller).

Notes

External links

Tom Topor in The Great American Playwrights on the Screen, by Jerry Roberts. (2003)

American male screenwriters
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
American film directors
American male journalists
American reporters and correspondents
Living people
1938 births
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
American male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
Brooklyn College alumni

Tom Topor


Aakirkeby or Åkirkeby is a town in Denmark with a population of 2,092 (1 January 2023). It is the third largest town on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. It was the main town of the now abolished Aakirkeby Municipality.

The town is situated in the middle of the southern half of Bornholm, between Rønne and Nexø.  The Danish TV-station TV2 has a local office (TV2/Bornholm) in Aakirkeby. Aakirkeby could be translated to "Stream Church town", as Å or Aa is a stream. When speaking of the church alone, which dates from the mid-12th century, it is separated into two words: Aa Kirke.

Myreagre Mølle, a whitewashed windmill built in 1865, is located 3 km to the east of Aakirkeby on the road to Nexø.

References

External links

Official Website
TV2 Bornholm

Cities and towns in the Capital Region of Denmark
Bornholm

Aakirkeby