Ghinotto di Tacco, called Ghino, was an outlaw and a popular hero in thirteenth century Italy. He was born in the latter half of the thirteenth century in La Fratta, which is now part of Sinalunga in the Province of Siena. Born the son of a Ghibelline nobleman Tacco di Ugolino and brother of Turino, he was a scion of the Cacciaconti Monacheschi Tolomei family.

Along with his father and brother, he made a career of robbery and plunder while being hunted by the Sienese Republic. After they were caught, his father was executed in Siena's Piazza del Campo, while Ghino managed to escape and sought refuge in Radicofani, a fortified city on the Via Cassia on the border between the Sienese Republic and the Papal States. There Ghino continued his career as a bandit, but in the manner of a gentleman, always leaving his victims with something to live on. Boccaccio depicts him as a good brigand (Brigante buono) in the Decameron, when relating his kidnapping of the Abbot of Cluny, in the second story of the tenth day:

Ghino di Tacco piglia l'abate di Clignì e medicalo del male dello stomaco e poi il lascia quale, tornato in corte di Roma, lui riconcilia con Bonifazio papa e fallo friere dello Spedale.

Translation: Ghino di Tacco seizes the Abbot of Cluny, cures him of his stomach ailment and then releases him; the abbot, having returned to the Roman court, reconciles Ghino with Pope Boniface and makes him prior of the Hospital.

Dante, in Canto VI, lines 13–14, of his Purgatorio points to Ghino's ferocity when he refers to the death of the Aretine Benincasa da Latrina (jurist in Bologna, then judge of the Sienese Podestà):

Quiv'era l'Aretin che da le bracciafiere di Ghin di Tacco ebbe la morte.

Translation: Here was the Aretine who met his death at the fierce hands of Ghin di Tacco.

Life

Youth

The exact date of Ghino's birth is unknown, but it must have been in the latter half of the thirteenth century, as there are extant reports of the actions of the Banda dei Quattro (Band of Four) which comprised his father Tacco di Ugolino, his uncle Ghino di Ugolino, Ghino himself, and his younger brother Turino. From his childhood, Ghino accompanied his father on his raids near his place of birth, the small castle-farm of La Fratta in Valdichiana.

It is believed that they had to resort to brigand activities because of the taxes imposed by the Sienese church on land properties in favor of the Papal States.  The tax was deemed excessive by Ghibelline nobles of La Fratta. At that time, all the castles in the region — Asinalonga (now Sinalunga), Scrofiano, Rigomagno, Farnetella, Bettolle, Torrita di Siena — were owned by the powerful Sienese family of Cacciaconti; this granted them a degree of impunity from the central government in Siena.

This impunity ceased in July 1279 when Tacco razed the castle in Torrita di Siena. In the battle which followed, one Jacopino da Guardavalle was seriously wounded by Tacco. For this reason, aided by the Counts of Santa Fiora, Tacco and the others from the Banda dei Quattro were found guilty and condemned by the court of the Commune of Siena, which sought them for many years before capturing them in 1285. After being tortured, his uncle Ghino di Ugolino and his father Tacco di Ugolino were executed in Piazza del Campo in 1286. The sentence was given by Benincasa da Laterina (born in Arezzo) who was later  appointed as senator and auditor in the court of the Papal States. Ghino and his brother Turino escaped the execution because they were underage and remained outside the political scene for some years.

The flight to Radicofani
In 1290, Ghino di Tacco returned to  the "remunerative activities" started by his father, having been ordered to pay damages of 1000 soldi in recompense for a robbery he had carried out near San Quirico d'Orcia. In the meantime, Ghino showed his intention to occupy a fortified position near Sinalunga without the authorization of the Sienese commune. This course of action was not tolerated by the Sienese authorities who forced Ghino into exile beyond the borders of the Republic.
Ghino fled and occupied the impenetrable fortress of Radicofani, still in the territory of the Sienese Republic, but on the border with the Papal States. Here Ghino took part in a fight for the ownership of the fortress, managed to conquer it, and made that his base for his acts of banditry. From the hill of Radicofani, Ghino continued to rob the travellers on the Via Francigena, an important route for pilgrims travelling to Rome, which here followed the ancient Via Cassia. Ghino ambushed travellers, established the real nature of the goods they were carrying, and then stripped them of almost everything, but left them enough to survive and offered them a banquet. On account of this behaviour and because he allowed students and poor people to pass without harm, Ghino was considered a "Thief and a Gentleman," a sort of Robin Hood ante litteram.

His notoriety
Jealous of his reputation, he decided to avenge his father and his brother, and went to Rome to seek out Benincasa da Laterina, who had become an influential and well-known judge at the court of the Papal States. Leading four hundred men and armed with a pike, he entered the Papal tribunal in Campidoglio and beheaded Judge Benincasa. He impaled the head on his pike and brought it back to Radicofani, where he exposed the scalp on the tower for a long time. It was from this real example of punishment, having something from black chronicle fact, a golpe and a knightly feat, that Dante cited in the quoted verses of his Commedia, describing the Second Terrace of Purgatory, where the Negligent were seeking atonement.

After this macabre and theatrical feat, Ghino returned to val d'Orcia and resumed his acts of plunder, acquiring a legendary aura as a fierce and undefeated fighter. At this time, another event occurred which was to place him again under the literary spotlight. Boccaccio, in the second tale of the tenth day of Decameron, tells of how Ghino di Tacco behaved with the Abbot of Cluny. He, while travelling back from Rome after giving Pope Boniface VIII the money coming from the taxes exacted by the French Church, decided to take a cure for his liver and stomach (which were suffering from the Roman banquets) at the thermal spa of San Casciano dei Bagni. Ghino, knowing of the abbot's coming, prepared an ambush and kidnapped him, without harming him in any way. Ghino locked the abbot in his tower in the fortress of Radicofani, giving him only bread and dried beans to eat and Vernaccia di San Gimignano to drink. This dietary regimen "miraculously" cured the abbot's stomach pains, and he convinced the Pope to grant a pardon to Ghino di Tacco for the assassination of Benincasa, and appointed him as a Knight of St. John and Prior of the Ospedale di Santo Spirito (Hospital of the Holy Spirit). Ghino became loved again, even by Siena.

His end
Some historians claim that Ghino died in Rome. Others, such as Benvenuto da Imola, have noted that after the Papal and Sienese pardons he had no need to hide, and have argued that as a fundamentally kind man he devoted himself to acts of altruism and was killed in the first half of the fourteenth century while trying to stop a fight among foot soldiers and peasants in Asinalonga, only two kilometers from his birthplace. As an authority, Benvenuto da Imola has the advantage of being a near contemporary. He used to say that "[Ghino] wasn't so bad as some people write … but was an admirable, great and valorous man", thus furthering the rehabilitation of the character of Ghino di Tacco which had been begun by Dante and continued by Boccaccio.

Cultural references
The prominent Italian politician Bettino Craxi used the pseudonym "Ghino di Tacco" when signing his op-eds in the Italian Socialist Party's newspaper Avanti!; ironically, Craxi's political career ended amid a country-wide corruption scandal, and he eventually had to flee the country to avoid jail, while his party imploded and disappeared from the political scene.

In Radicofani and Sinalunga two monuments in honour of Ghino di Tacco have been recently erected.

Bibliography
 Bentivogli, B. (1991), La vendetta di Ghino di Tacco. Per il commento a 'Purgatorio ', VI 13-14, in «Filologia e Critica», XVI, pp. 267–71
 Bentivogli, B. (1992) Ghino di Tacco nella tradizione letteraria del Medioevo, a cura di Bruno Bentivogli, Salerno editore, 124pp, Rome
 B. Craxi, Ghino di Tacco. Gesta e amistà di un brigante gentiluomo, Koinè Nuove edizioni, 148pp.
 Guastaldi, A. (1984), Sinalunga nella storia. Edizioni Lui', Sinalunga

See also
Summary of Decameron tales
Palazzo Ghini

Notes

External links
 The official website of the castle
 Fernando Giaffreda: Ghino di Tacco
 valdorcia.it : Ghino di Tacco
 Site of the Parco della Val d'Orcia : The fortress of Radicofani
 Ghino di Tacco, the Story of the Italian Robin Hood (in English)
 Demetrio Piccini: Il Bandito Ghino di Tacco  (Cartoons)
 Sinalunga.it : La Fratta

13th-century births
Year of death unknown
People from Sinalunga
Italian thieves
Characters in The Decameron

Ghino di Tacco


The Fiat New 500 (project 332), also known as the Fiat 500e is a battery-electric car by Italian manufacturer Fiat. The New 500 city car is manufactured at the Mirafiori plant in Turin and is sold alongside the conventionally-powered Fiat 500 (2007), which continues to be manufactured in Tychy, Poland. That 2007 car was used as the basis of a previous BEV Fiat 500e (2013), which was sold only in the United States and had a much smaller range than the New 500. It was scheduled to be launched at the Geneva Motor Show but that event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was unveiled on 4 March 2020 in Milan.

The New 500 has a  range on the European WLTP combined test, and achieves  on that test's urban cycle, which is generally favourable toward electric vehicles (EVs). The car is powered by an 87kW (116hp) electric motor, fed by a 42kWh lithium-ion battery pack. Fiat 500e is the name of the battery EV made by Fiat from 2013 to 2019. It was an EV conversion of the internal combustion 500 of 2007, and was sold in the U.S. states of California and Oregon as a compliance car to earn clean energy credits (the Renewable Energy Certificate) for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). The New 500 produced since 2020 is the dedicated BEV model sold in Europe, and is often referred to colloquially as the 500e, among other names.

Overview
Sergio Marchionne called for FCA to pivot towards electric and hybrid automobiles starting in 2018, including an all-new electric 500 by 2020. Previously, FCA had assembled the 500e, a BEV derived from the 2007 Fiat 500 but limited to the United States market only, at its Toluca Car Assembly plant in Mexico from December 2012 to June 2019. FCA showed the Fiat Centoventi concept at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2019; the Centoventi concept previewed what automotive industry believed to be a future BEV version of the Fiat Panda, which in turn was expected to form the basis for the next electric Fiat 500. The concept Centoventi showcased a modular battery concept, allowing an extended range using dealer-installed battery packs.

In July 2019, FCA announced plans to invest  million in its Mirafiori plant to build a new production line devoted to its first BEV marketed in Europe, tentatively named the 500 BEV, with production to start in the second quarter of 2020. The new line was planned to have an annual production capacity of 80,000 500 BEVs. FCA invested another  million to build a battery production line at Mirafiori in October 2019. Camouflaged prototypes of the 500 BEV were photographed while undergoing tests in December 2019.

The public unveiling amid the COVID-19 pandemic on 4 March 2020, previously scheduled for Geneva, was led by FCA Chief Marketing Officer Olivier François, who said they held the event in Milan "to show that FCA stands close to Milan and to Italy." The New 500 sits on a totally new platform and is slightly bigger than its 2007 predecessor. Compared to the earlier 500, the New 500 is  longer,  wider, and  taller, with a  increase in wheelbase. The older 500 is equipped with an internal-combustion engine or a mild hybrid drivetrain and will remain on sale.

Models
The New 500 was initially available only as a two-door cabriolet four-seater in the La Prima trimline, with production limited to 500 examples per country. Before any local incentives, the La Prima launch editions have a retail price of  in Italy. La Prima was available in one of three colours: Mineral Grey, Ocean Green, and Celestial Blue, designed to be reminiscent of the earth, sea, and sky, respectively; the soft top was finished with an exclusive monogram logo.

A three-door hatchback followed in June 2020, starting at , and Fiat introduced a four-doored hatchback designated 3+1 in October of that year, with a small rear-hinged door on the passenger's side to enhance access to the rear seat, with availability limited to left-hand-drive cars. At that time in the UK, the entry-level three-door was offered as the Action model with a smaller 24 kW-hr battery at , the more expensive Passion and Icon models were offered at  and , respectively, and were equipped with a 42 kW-hr battery. The top of the line remained La Prima at .

In Autumn 2021, Fiat announced a new Product Red branded edition, fitted with the 42kWh battery and available in hatchback and convertible styles. The Passion trim level, which included different wheel designs, a seven-inch touchscreen media system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a digital radio, climate control, folding rear seats, and cruise control, was withdrawn.

Limited production

Three additional one-off models styled by well-known designers were announced with the launch of the New 500; proceeds from the auctions of the 500 Giorgio Armani, B.500 "MAI TROPPO" ("Never Too Much") by Bvlgari, and the 500 Kartell will benefit environmental organizations set up by Leonardo DiCaprio. The Kartell and Bvlgari models were created through a partnership between FCA and Altagamma. These were not the first Fiat-fashion limited editions; previously, Frida Giannini of Gucci had collaborated with Fiat Centro Stile to produce a special edition of the preceding Fiat 500 (2007 model), released in 2011.

Lasers were used to engrave the steel body panels on the Armani, which is finished in a grey-green matte silk effect that includes anti-pollution and anti-bacterial technologies. The seats are finished in a similar colour leather from certified sources. After the car was unveiled in front of Duomo Cathedral amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, it was moved throughout Milan to send a message of positivity to the city and Italy. The Kartell is finished in a monochrome Kartell blue colour, extending to metal, plastic, and rubber exterior surfaces. The wheels, front grille, side mirror housings, and dashboard are covered in a plastic texture derived from the brand's Kabuki lamp, and the seats are upholstered with 100% recycled polypropylene.

An Imperial Saffron orange paint finish is applied to the exterior of the B.500 from Bvlgari, using gold dust reclaimed from the firm's manufacture of jewelry; inside, recycled silk scarves from the marque cover the dashboard and are used to trim the leather seats. The steering wheel features a removable brooch set with amethyst, topaz, and citrine stones. In addition, a special hatbox and jewelry case were made for the B.500; the gold key to the automobile, set with an ancient coin, may also be worn as jewelry.

Abarth New 500e

The Abarth New 500e Scorpionissima is a performance variant that will be released in 2023. It made its official debut on 22 November 2022, featuring unique scorpion-badged alloy wheels. Initially, it will be released in a Scorpionissima edition limited to 1,949 examples. Scorpionissima models will be available in a choice of Acid Green or Poison Blue colours, bearing unique side graphics and wheels. The first deliveries were scheduled for June 2023.

It has a single electric traction motor that produces  and , an increase of  and  over the standard motor, and accelerates from 0 to  in 7 seconds. The enhancements in power and torque output are derived from improved inverter and battery wiring, and a reduction in the final-drive ratio. The Abarth also swaps the rear drum brakes on the New 500 for discs.

Three driving modes are offered: Turismo, Scorpion Street, and Scorpion Track; output power and torque are limited to  and  in Turismo. Scorpion Street maximizes regenerative braking, simulating the engine braking effect of a conventional car equipped with a manual transmission, while Scorpion Track sacrifices range for performance. In manufacturer testing at Balocco, the Abarth 500e is able to complete laps 1 second quicker than the Abarth 695. Total weight is , including the  battery.

Charging hardware is carried over from the regular New 500 equipped with the larger battery, at rates up to 85 kW. The Abarth 500e has a battery with a capacity of 42.2 kWh (gross) and 37.3 kWh (net), giving the vehicle a claimed range of  under the WLTP driving cycle with the standard 17-inch wheels; equipping the 18-inch wheels reduces range to . Real-world mixed driving with 18-inch wheels indicated an actual range of , with consumption of 3.4 mi/kWh.

North America
Fiat is expected to unveil the North American specification New 500 at the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show, before going on sale in the first quarter of 2024 as a 2024 model year. At the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show held in November, Fiat brought three 500-based concepts designed by Armani, Kartell, and Bulgari.

Fiat 600e

Unveiled on 4 July 2023, the Fiat 600e is a 5-door crossover SUV with a design inspired by the New 500.

Sales and production
Production began in February 2020, shortly after FCA completed the new production line at Mirafiori. Production was paused starting on 13 March 2020 during the nationwide lockdown in Italy due to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections. By August 2022, it was the best-selling electric car in Italy.

The New 500 competes with electric city cars like the BMW i3, Honda e, Mini Electric (marketed as the Mini Cooper SE in all markets outside the UK), Peugeot e-208, Renault Twingo Electric, Renault Zoe, Smart Forfour, and the Volkswagen Group New Small Family platforms (SEAT Mii / Škoda Citigo / Volkswagen e-Up). Alongside Honda e, the New 500 was compared to the Ford 021C concept of 1999. As of 2020, sales were limited to Europe only; other markets, such as Brazil and Israel, followed starting in 2021. Exports to the U.S. could follow if there is sufficient demand. The New 500 is expected to go on sale in North America by the first quarter of 2024.

Equipment

The New 500 is the first city car with level 2 autonomous driving, and the first FCA car equipped with the new UConnect 5 infotainment system. The ADAS systems include Autonomous Emergency Brake with pedestrian and cyclist detection; Intelligent Speed Assistant; Lane Control; Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control (iACC) and Lane Centering; and Emergency Call.

The Android-based UConnect 5 infotainment system is displayed on a  touchscreen. It has Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay connectivity, automatic call to the emergency services, and can also be used to monitor the car or control certain functions remotely using a smartphone app.

Under European Union law, all EVs must produce some form of noise at low speeds to make pedestrians aware of their presence. Most cars use a spaceship-like tone; the New 500 will instead play the score from Amarcord, composed by Nino Rota, when cruising below . According to Fiat, alternative sounds will be downloadable in the future.

Performance

The New 500 is offered with a choice of two motor and battery combinations. One is fitted to the entry level Action trim in the UK, equipped with a  motor and a 24 kWh battery (21.2 kWh usable) that charges at up to 50 kW. The second are equipped in the higher level Passion, Icon, Red, and La Prima trims, with a  motor, 42 kWh battery (37.3 kWh usable), and 85 kW charger. With the larger battery and more powerful motor, the car is limited to ; these models can accelerate from 0– in 3.1 seconds and 0– in 9.0s. The smaller battery reduces power and also weight, by , resulting in an acceleration of 0– in 9.5s. Both battery models can accelerate to 0– in 3.1 seconds; the top speed is limited to .

The New 500 has three driving modes branded Normal, Range, and Sherpa. Fiat's press release describes the features of Sherpa mode thusly: "Just like a Himalayan Sherpa, who is in charge of the whole expedition and guides it to the destination, this driving mode adjusts various parameters: maximum speed, limited to ; accelerator response, in order to reduce energy consumption; and deactivation of the climate control system and heated seats." Range mode enables one-pedal driving, with strong regenerative braking as the throttle pedal is lifted.

Charging

The New 500 models with a 42 kWh battery can accommodate DC fast charging at up to 85 kW, while the base model with the smaller 24 kWh battery is limited to 50 kW; all have an on-board AC charger that accommodates up to 11 kW. At 85 kW, it takes 5 minutes to add enough charge to travel . The fast charger can charge the 42 kWh battery from 0 to 80% in just 35 minutes at 85 kW, or from 10 to 80% in 30 minutes for the smaller 24 kWh battery. A CCS Combo Type 2 inlet located on the rear right fender of the car accommodates both AC and DC charging.

The Launch Edition also includes the easyWallbox, a home charging station developed by Engie for FCA that can be connected to a normal home outlet to supply power at 2.3 kW; the easyWallbox can be upgraded to supply up to 7.4 kW.

Safety

Euro NCAP
The 500e in its standard European configuration received 4 stars from Euro NCAP in 2021.

References

External links

Cars introduced in 2020
City cars
Convertibles
Euro NCAP superminis
New 500
Hatchbacks
Production electric cars
Retro-style automobiles

Fiat New 500


The Bush Temple Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art was an American conservatory of music based in Chicago with branches in Dallas and Memphis.

History
The Conservatory was founded in 1901 by William Lincoln Bush (1861–1941), of the Chicago-based piano manufacturer and retailer, Bush & Gerts Piano Company, a company that he co-founded as W. H. Bush and Company in 1885 with (i) his father, William H. Bush, and (ii) a noted, German-born piano-maker, John Gerts (1845–1913).

 Bush Temple of Music, Chicago
 Northwest corner of North Clark Street and Chicago Avenue

 The building was a 6-story, early French Renaissance design by British-American Chicago architect John Edmund Oldaker Pridmore (1864–1940) featuring a buff brick and terra cotta exterior.  The Building originally had a clock tower and included a showroom for the Bush and Gerts Piano Company, the Bush Temple Conservatory of Music, the Bush Temple Theatre, a museum, and offices.  The building was designated a Chicago landmark in 2001.

 Facing a decline in interest in music education, The Bush Temple Conservatory moved to smaller quarters at 839 N. Dearborn St. in 1918. Constructed in 1878, this building was previously home to Grant's Seminary for Young Ladies (Grant Collegiate Institute) and Arlington Hotel.

 Bush Temple of Music, Memphis, gave its inaugural concert on January 28, 1905.

 Bush Temple of Music, Dallas was located at 307 Elm Street.  It was opened in 1903 and managed by William Hayes Wray (1869–1943), who served as President of Bush and Gerts of Texas for twenty-five years.  The building, formerly known as the "March Building," was a four-story structure — formerly the Fakes Furniture Store — that was purchased in 1902 by Mars Nearing Baker (1854–1941) from Col. Stephen Ellis Moss (1853–1942).  Its auditorium, occupying the second and third floors, had a seating capacity of 1,500.  The remodeling was designed by Sanguinet & Staats.

Bush was treasurer of the Conservatory and also president of the Bush & Gerts Piano Company of Texas and the Bush Temple of Music in Dallas.  Bush & Gerts had branches in Boston, Dallas, Austin, and Memphis.

The conservatory flourished since its founding and was the first music conservatory in Chicago to provide dormitories for out-of-state students.  In 1924, The Bush Conservatory was one of six institutions that founded the National Association of Schools of Music and Kenneth McPherson Bradley, president of the Bush Conservatory, served as its founding president from 1924 to 1928.

The conservatory's name ceased to exist in 1932 because —  months after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and under financial duress of the ensuing Great Depression — it merged with the Chicago Conservatory College.

Presidents
Chicago Temple Conservatory
 Kenneth McPherson Bradley (1872–1954) stepped down as president of the Bush Conservatory in October 1925 to become director of the Juilliard Foundation in New York. He was the nephew of the former governor of Kentucky, William O'Connell Bradley.
 Edgar Andrew Nelson (1882–1957), a choral director and oratory coach, and vice president at the Bush Conservatory, was appointed President in October 1925, replacing Bradley.  Nelson was of Swedish descent.  He had studied piano with Emil Larson and, later, Harald von Mickwitz.  He also studied organ with Clarence Dickinson.  In 1908, Nelson earned a Bachelor of Music from the Bush Conservatory and subsequently was appointed assistant managing director of the conservatory.  Nelson went on to serve as president of the Chicago Conservatory after the Bush Conservatory merged with it in 1932.

Noted faculty and alumni
Faculty, Bush Conservatory, Chicago
 1921–1932 — Jan Chiapusso, piano
 Grace Potter Carroll (1883–1978)
 Charles W. Clark, baritone
 Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler, head of the piano department
 Frederic Lamond, guest artist who held several master classes
 Harriet Lundgren (1907-1996)
 Edgar Nelson
 Moissaye Boguslawski, piano
 Harald von Mickwitz
 Richard Rudolph Czerwonky (1886–1949), violinist
 Edgar Albert Brazelton (1875–1953), a pianist and theory teacher, eventually became Dean of the Chicago Conservatory of Music, after the merger
 Sergei Tarnowsky
 Herbert Miller
 John J. Blackmore
 Mae Graves Atkins, soprano
 Agnes Pringle, a violinist who had studied with Leopold Auer
 Jeanette Lamden, vocalist
 Ebba Sundstrom Nylander (1896-1963), violinist and conductor

Faculty, Bush Conservatory, Memphis
 Frieda Siemens (pseudonym for Simonson; 1889–1969), pianist & director of the piano department.  On July 27, 1905, Frieda married James Francis Bliss (1878–1928) in Manhattan, New York City.  He was a dental surgeon from Springfield, Massachusetts.
 Marie Greenwood-Guiberson (née Mary Susan Greenwood; 1864–1954), head of the vocal department.  She was married to William P. Guiberson, and later to Edmond Smither Worden (1877–1949)

Alumni, Bush Conservatory, Chicago
 Jane Jarvis
 Baylus Benjamin McKinney
 Harold Newton
 Gladys Swarthout
 Larry Shay
 Harold Triggs
 Pearl White (organist)
 Elsie Vieweger, vocalist

References

History of Chicago
Universities and colleges established in 1901
Defunct private universities and colleges in Illinois
Universities and colleges in Chicago
1901 establishments in Illinois

Bush Conservatory of Music


The Race to Berlin was a competition between Soviet Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev to be the first to enter Berlin during the final months of World War II in Europe.

In early 1945, with Germany's defeat inevitable, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin set his two marshals in a race to capture Berlin. Although the race was mostly between one another, both marshals were supported by other fronts. Marshal Zhukov was protected by Konstantin Rokossovsky's Second Belorussian Front, and Marshal Konev was supported by Andrei Yeremenko's Fourth Ukrainian Front. Their separately-commanded armies were pitted against each other, ensuring they would drive their men as fast and as far as possible to a quick victory, leading to the climactic Battle of Berlin.

The Soviet advance and ultimate capture of the German capital was not opposed by the Western Allies. In an effort to avoid a diplomatic issue, US Army General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower had ordered his forces into the south of Germany to cut off and to wipe out the Wehrmacht there, and to avoid the possibility that the German government would attempt to hold out in a national redoubt in the Alps. The Yalta Conference had already determined that both Germany and Berlin would be divided into four zones of occupation.

Prelude
After the Allies agreed at the Yalta Conference to specific zones of influence within Germany, the two Soviet armies raced to win control of Berlin, perhaps motivated by a desire to gain control of the German nuclear research program in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute before the Americans.

The western front
Since the Allies landed in Normandy, the British and American armies (among affiliated Western Allied forces) had moved swiftly and decisively to take western cities in France, and to liberate Paris. By September 1944, Allied forces had reached the German border, but the subsequent failure of Operation Market Garden prevented a decisive breakthrough into the heart of Germany by the end of the year. In December, Hitler launched an unsuccessful offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge. In March 1945, the Allies crossed the Rhine in a decisive manner, but the casualties taken by Allied forces in the Ardennes in the previous months and the distance remaining to reach Berlin dampened Eisenhower's drive to take Berlin before the Soviets.

Final moves by Western Allies
General Eisenhower's armies were facing resistance that varied from being almost nonexistent to fanatical as they advanced toward Berlin, which was  from their positions in early April 1945. British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill urged Eisenhower to continue the advance toward Berlin by the 21st Army Group, under the command of Field Marshal Montgomery, with the intention of capturing the city. Even General George S. Patton agreed with Churchill that he should order the attack on the city since Montgomery's troops could reach Berlin within three days. The British and the Americans contemplated an airborne operation before the attack. In Operation Eclipse, the 17th Airborne Division, 82nd Airborne Division, 101st Airborne Division, and a British brigade were to seize the Tempelhof, Rangsdorf, Gatow, Staaken, and Oranienburg airfields. In Berlin, the Reichsbanner resistance organization identified possible drop zones for Allied paratroopers, and they planned to guide them past German defenses into the city.

However, General Omar Bradley warned that capturing a city located in a region that the Soviets had already received by the Yalta Conference might cost 100,000 casualties. By April 15, Eisenhower had ordered all armies to halt when they reached the Elbe and Mulde Rivers, thus immobilizing the spearheads while the war continued for three more weeks. The 21st Army Group was then instead ordered to move northeast toward Bremen and Hamburg. The U.S. Ninth and First Armies held their ground from Magdeburg through Leipzig to western Czechoslovakia, but Eisenhower ordered three Allied field armies (1st French, and the U.S. Seventh and Third Armies) into southeastern Germany and Austria. Advancing from northern Italy, the British Eighth Army pushed to the borders of Yugoslavia to defeat the remaining Wehrmacht elements there. That later caused some friction with the Yugoslav People's Army, notably around Trieste.

From the east

Soviet forces took the offensive after the spectacular defeat of Army Group Centre following Operation Bagration in 1944 from which the Wehrmacht forces never recovered. In the winter of 1944 they pushed the German front lines back across Poland, with heavy casualties on both sides. That winter would turn out to be a bloody one, as the fighting came closer to Germany. Stalin had wanted to settle the score since Hitler's breach of their non-aggression pact. Using his Marshals Zhukov and Konev, he was determined to beat Eisenhower to Berlin and the Reichstag. The Soviet Army ultimately captured Berlin. On 15 April 1945, the Soviet Union fired a massive barrage of some one million artillery shells, one of the largest in history, onto the German positions west of the Oder.

Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front

After the devastating attack, Marshal Zhukov's troops advanced towards Berlin, only to be ambushed by German soldiers who had withdrawn from their positions in the Oder to the fortified positions of the Seelow Heights further west after they had received intelligence about the expected artillery barrage from a captured Red Army soldier. Zhukov, seeing that his plan was not working, decided to send wave after wave of Soviet soldiers to destroy the German resistance. "According to one Russian veteran, Soviet artillery was fired without proper guidance, killing scores of Red Army soldiers." For three days, the attacks still relentlessly came. After the fourth day, the 1st Belorussian Front finally broke through the German defensive line but at a high cost in casualties. That provided the opportunity to advance on Berlin,  to the west.

Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front
Stalin ordered the 2nd Belorussian Front, commanded by Marshal Rokossovsky, to support Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front to the south. Although Rokossovsky's Front was not chosen to lead the attack at the Seelow Heights, it did benefit Zhukov's Front. It was the actions of Rokossovsky's Front that allowed Zhukov's Front to concentrate on their sector of the front-line while the 2nd Belorussian Front to attack in the lower half of the Oder, between Schwedt and the Baltic Sea coast. This attack on the northern flank of the German Seelow Heights position by the 2nd Belorussian Front helped to reduce resistance on the 1st Belorussian Front sector, and made it possible for the 1st Belorussian Front to emerge victorious at the battle of the Seelow Heights.

Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front

While Zhukov's Front was fighting the German forces at the Seelow Heights, Marshal Konev and his 1st Ukrainian Front was attacking the remaining German 9th Army that was trapped within pockets in the Spree Forest region near the town of Halbe.

The 9th Army's first attempt at breaking out of this pocket resulted in the capture of almost 5,000 of its troops, and the loss of 200 guns, mortars and 40 tanks captured by the Red Army. The survivors detected a weakly held sector in the 1st Ukrainian Front's position and attempted a second breakout. A large part of the 9th Army was able to escape through this breach before Konev's staff realized their mistake and sent troops to deal with the unlucky rear guard Germans who were caught in the open by the Red Army. The 9th Army's last attempt to escape resulted in many German deaths, but allowed 25,000 soldiers to escape and regroup with the 12th Army sector of the front. From there, they retreated west toward Elbe, hoping to surrender to the U.S. Army.

Yeremenko's 4th Ukrainian Front
General of Army Andrei Yeremenko and his 4th Ukrainian Front was deployed south-west of Marshal Konev's Front, and was ordered by Stalin to continue the offensive against German forces in Saxony to the west.

Malinovsky's 2nd Ukrainian Front
The 2nd Ukrainian Front was to attack into Austria, under the command of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, under the orders of Stalin to deny Hitler the ability to transfer German troops north to defend the Berlin area as the Red Army approached.

From Berlin
As the end of Nazi Germany approached, Hitler, still not wanting to give up, issued orders that were impossible for the Germans to execute given the situation. While meeting in his secret bunker under Berlin, Hitler's chief staff members offered personnel to defend the Oder. Commander Hermann Göring of the Luftwaffe offered 100,000 Luftwaffe men; Heinrich Himmler offered 25,000 SS troopers; and Admiral Dönitz offered 12,000 navy men. However, the new commander of Army Group Vistula, Commander Gotthard Heinrici, who had replaced Himmler, did not agree with the personnel addition and believed that the inexperienced soldiers would be useless and ultimately slaughtered. Göring countered that statement by stating that his Luftwaffe men were "Übermenschen" or superhuman. Hitler ended their argument by telling Heinrici that reinforcements would arrive in time. Heinrici disagreed with Hitler's statement but kept it to himself.

The outcome
Zhukov's Front entered Berlin from the north then expanded north-west from the Oder River. Konev's Front had chosen the southern areas of Berlin to enter from. Both Fronts continued to expand north-west in an attempt to complete a pincer movement and encircle Berlin. On 23 April 1945, Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front finally linked up with members of Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front, thereby ending any hope for the Germans to escape.

See also
Battle of Berlin

Notes

References
LeTissier, Tony, Race for the Reichstag: The 1945 Battle for Berlin, Frank Cass Publishers, Portland, Ore., 1999
Sampson, Jobim, (writer/director), The Lost Evidence series, Battle of Berlin, Part 3, Flashback Television Limited for The History Channel, 2004.
Remme, Tilman, The Battle for Berlin in World War Two, BBC (UK) History
Goebel, Greg, On To Berlin
Eisenhower Memorial, 2005
Ziemke, Earl F. Battle For Berlin: End Of The Third Reich, NY: Ballantine Books, London: Macdonald & Co, 1969.

Strategic operations of the Red Army in World War II
Battle of Berlin
Western European Campaign (1944–1945)
Conflicts in 1945
World War II aerial operations and battles of the Eastern Front
1940s in Berlin
April 1945 events in Europe

Race to Berlin


Coast is a New Zealand radio network playing a mix of "feel good" hits predominantly from the 1970s and 1980s. The network includes stations in 21 major cities and provincial centres broadcasting from studios in central Auckland, owned and operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME).

The Coast network reaches an estimated 315,100 listeners each week. Its format is smooth, with short hourly news bulletins, succinct voice breaks, minimal ad breaks and limited clutter. Its target listener is 40 to 64 years old; has reached their highest-earning potential, owns their own home and spends disposable income on luxury items and travel. The audience is almost equally male and female, with a 52% female skew.

Coast format was launched 26 April 2004.

History

Early years

Coast originally started in Hawke's Bay in 2002, as a local station. The history of this station dates back to 1995 as The Wireless Station broadcasting on 1530 AM and playing music from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. The Wireless Station was started/operated by The Wireless Station Ltd for three years from November 1995 and was then leased or sold to Hawke's Bay Media Group in 1998 and re-branded as Goodtime Gold, playing music from the 1960s and 1970s. In 1999 it was renamed simply Gold 1530.

Gold 1530 was leased (or sold) to The Radio Network in 2000 and was re-branded as Jammin' Oldies 1530 AM or JO 1530 in June 2000. In 2002 the station became the very first station under the Coast brand name and in 2004 Coast began producing their programme from Auckland networked back to Hawke's Bay on 1530 AM (then on 1584 AM from 2011), and later to the rest of New Zealand.

Relaunch

The final re-branding of the station was to the current name Coast 1530. In 2004 the station became voice tracked from Auckland in preparation for its launch in the Auckland market on 26 April 2004. The network expanded beyond Auckland and Hawke's Bay to other markets later in the year. Initially, the playlist consisted of music from the 50s, 60s and 70s, with a very small portion from the late 40s.

The network rose to third place in the Auckland radio survey ratings in 2006, just two years after it began. Then programme director Mike Regal credited the station's success to serving the baby boomer gap in the market that had previously been ignored by marketers, advertisers and media companies. He said the station was a fine balancing act between being neither a station for the young or a station for seniors. "We don't want to be too cool and hip with it and risk alienating people, but on the other side we didn't want to sound too old either," he told the New Zealand Herald.

Recent years

In the current radio survey results Coast has 100,000 listeners in Auckland each week and a 5.1% market share, making it the sixth highest-rating radio stations in the highly competitive Auckland radio market.

By 2014 most of the older playlist (pre-1960) had been dropped, and at times more recent artists could be heard, including Adele, as the station moved to a more Classic Hits-type format.

Coast is now a complete FM network after migrating to FM in late 2018 and early 2019 in a number of markets where coverage had previously on been only available on AM - including Hawke's Bay, Whangarei, and Taranaki.

In 2011 the original 1530 AM frequency leased by The Radio Network and used to start the first Coast Station in Hawke's Bay was returned to its original owners.

Programmes

Coast Breakfast
Coast's Feel Good Breakfast hosted by Toni Street, Jason Reeves and Sam Wallace was launched in May 2020. In January 2021 the show was introduced in Tauranga, Coromandel and Thames, replacing a local breakfast show hosted by Bay of Plenty identity Brian Kelly, the former host of the Coast network breakfast show. The change was made with the move of Kelly to host of GOLD SPORT's breakfast show.

The station's foundation breakfast host was well-known veteran announcer Mike Oliver, who left in early 2011 before passing away from illness in 2014. Oliver had previously worked as a host on Radio Liberty and a voice over artist on Prime TV.

For a period, Hāwera had its own local breakfast show called The 1557 Breakfast. This show was originally aired on Newstalk ZB in the Hāwera region when Newstalk ZB used the 1557 AM frequency. After Newstalk ZB in Hāwera changed to frequency 1278 AM, the show was dropped and replaced with the Auckland-based programme, but it was later picked up by Coast. The 1557 AM frequency in Hāwera has since been reassigned to Hokonui.

Other programmes

Lorna Riley has hosted the weekday time slot on Coast since 2015. The former Easy Mix breakfast host also served as a traffic presenter for Newstalk ZB During more than 25 years in the media industry, she has appeared on Shortland Street and Interrogation and a host of advertisements and advertorials like Family Health Diary. Founding daytime host Jacqui Taite left the station at the end of 2011. Gael Ludlow filled the role in 2012 and Murray Lindsay hosted in 2013. During 2014, the station ran with a day show hosted by Nik Brown.

Coast's Feel Good Drive Home, the afternoon show on Coast, is currently hosted by Jon Dunstan who took over from Jason "JT" Tikao and Mel Homer during 2020. JT and Mel took over in January 2018 when Jason Reeves moved to Coast Breakfast. Reeves replaced Murray Lindsay, formerly the long-running day time host of Classic Hits. Drive has also been hosted by Rick Morin until 2012. During 2013 Southland radio identity John "Boggy" McDowell hosted the drive show after a 33-year stint as host of Southland's Classic Hits 4ZA since 1979. The move had been prompted by a desire for more leisurely mornings and the chance to broadcast to a national audience. He told The Southland Times certain things had "fallen into place that made it a perfect time to move to a new time slot". However, despite dropping his Southland nickname "Boggy", McDowell was moved to Gore's Hokonui radio station in 2014, swapping places with Nik Brown.

Jason "JT" Tikao now hosts Coast's Night Show between 7pm - 12 midnight. Before 2013 the night programme was automated.

Coast weekend programming includes Club Coast on Saturday evenings from 6pm until 2am Sunday morning. Club Coast is a blend of party hits. Double Shot Sundays feature two songs in a row from the same artist. This feature runs every Sunday from 6am until 12 midnight.

Regular weekend hosts include Grant Kereama (former ZM Morning Crew host), James Daniels (also heard on Newstalk ZB weekday afternoons with Simon Barnett), Hamish Denton, Brendon Weatherley and Darren Mills.

Stations

Coast's station group has expanded rapidly since its Auckland launch in 2004. It was initially introduced in coastal markets before being introduced provincial inland markets like Rotorua in 2008.

Frequencies

 Doubtless Bay - 105.9
 Kaitaia - 96.4 FM
 Kaikohe - 96.4 FM
 Russell - 89.6 FM
 Whangārei - 96.4 FM/900 AM
 Auckland - 98.2 FM
 Hamilton 105.0 FM
 Whangamatā - 97.9 FM
 Thames - 107.1 FM
 Tauranga - 97.4 FM
 Rotorua - 96.7 FM
 Gisborne - 106.1 FM
 Napier - 99.9 FM
 New Plymouth - 106.0 FM
 Hāwera - 1323 AM
 Whanganui - 98.4 FM
 Palmerston North - 105.8 FM
 Kāpiti Coast/Horowhenua - 95.9 FM
 Wairarapa - 91.9 FM
 Wellington - 95.7 FM
 Nelson - 100.8 FM
 Blenheim - 94.5 FM
 Christchurch - 90.1 FM & 105.7 FM/1593 AM
 Dunedin - 104.6 FM/954 AM
 Wānaka - 94.6 FM
 Invercargill - 92.4 FM

Other services

News

Coast has news, sports, traffic and weather bulletins from the NZ Herald newsroom at the start of every hour, followed by music, comments from the announcers on the music being played and issues of the day.

During breakfast Coast has half-hourly news and sports updates.

During weekend days, there are hourly news and sports updates and weather forecasts.

Promotions

Coast regularly runs competitions and is famous for Coast Stars where listeners win cash by identifying the "stars" saying "Love the music - Coast".

iHeartRadio

Coast's network stream is also available on the iHeartRadio website and app.

References

External links
 Coast Official Website
 Corporate Website

New Zealand radio networks
Radio stations in New Zealand
Classic hits radio stations
New Zealand Media and Entertainment

Coast (radio station)


Megan Slankard (born June 6, 1983, Tracy, California) is an American musician and singer-songwriter.

Early life
Slankard began learning the guitar when she was 10 years old. At age 17, Slankard produced and recorded her first album, Lady is a Pirate, with her brother at home on her computer.

Career
After turning 18, Slankard toured with David Knopfler as the opening act for his European tour and co-wrote the title song of his album Ship of Dreams.

In July 2004, Slankard appeared on an episode of TLC's What Not to Wear.  The episode first aired July 16, 2004.

Slankard's album Freaky Little Story appeared on the Acoustic Guitar 2004 Top 5 list and became a top ten seller on the Amazon CD sales chart. In 2005, she released the EP album A Little Extra Sun produced by Adam Rossi.

According to her web site, she was a semi-finalist in Discmaker's 2007 Independent Music World Series and International Songwriting Competition and finalist in the 2008 and 2009 Musician's Atlas/Borders Books Independent Music Awards.  She was the January 2009 Top 5 artist in the Famecast Competition. She released her album A Token of the Wreckage in 2011.

In July 2011, Slankard (composer, guitar, mandolin, vocals ), Joel Ackerson (composer, engineer, guitar, mandolin, vocals), Zack Teran (upright bass, vocals), and Eric Andersen (composer, piano, vocals) formed The Novelists, a Reno-based lyrical rock band. The four singer-songwriters collaborated to produce the band's debut album, "Backstory", released January 1, 2012.

Slankard's music has also been featured on San Francisco radio's KFOG compilation CD. She was a final selection artist for RPM Direct Presents: Unsigned Artists Volume 3 compilation CD; an A&R Online featured artist; a Song and Film Spotlight artist; and, an Acoustic Cafe featured artist on the "One to Watch" syndicated radio program (sponsored by the USA Songwriting Competition).

Slankard was nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Folk/Singer Songwriter Song of the year for her song "The Happy Birthday". Slankard won the 8th annual Independent Music Awards Vox Pop award in the Best Cover Song category for her rendering of the song "America".

Personal life
Slankard appeared on an episode of TLC's What Not to Wear in July 2004 and in a follow-up episode a year later.

Equipment
Slankard's preferred equipment includes:
Acoustic guitars: 1999 Guild D55 guitar, a 2000 Taylor 614ce guitar, and a Takamine C132S
 Electric guitar: Daisy Rock's Rock Candy Special
 Keyboard: Korg Triton Extreme EXT61
 Home recording equipment: MOTU 828mkII; Digidesign Mbox 2 with Pro Tools LE

Discography

Studio albums
 Lady Is a Pirate (2001)
 Freaky Little Story (2003)
 A Token of the Wreckage (2011)
 Running on Machinery (2015)
 California & Other Stories (2022)

EPs and singles
 A Little Extra Sun (2005 EP)

Appearances on other albums and singles
 Stop and Go Jeff Campbell (2012)
 In Spite of Everything Jeff Campbell (2013)
 "The Kitchen Sink" Jeff Campbell (TBA)

External links
 Megan Slankard Official website
 Interview with Megan Slankard for Guitarbench.com

References

American women singer-songwriters
Living people
Singer-songwriters from California
1983 births
21st-century American singer-songwriters
21st-century American women singers
People from Tracy, California

Megan Slankard


The Lost Thing is a picture book written and illustrated by Shaun Tan that was also adapted into an Academy Award-winning animated short film.

Plot
Set in the near future, a dystopian Melbourne, Australia, The Lost Thing is a story about Shaun who enjoys collecting bottle tops for his bottle top collection. One day, while collecting bottle tops near a beach, he discovers a strange creature, that seems to be a combination of a crab, an octopus, and an industrial boiler. This creature is referred to as "The Lost Thing" by the narrator.

Shaun realizes the creature is lost and out of place in Jupiter. He attempts to find its owner or otherwise its source but is not able to, due to the indifference of everyone else. Pete, an opinionated friend of Shaun's, explains that it may not actually belong anywhere. When he seeks help from a government agency, he is met by a creature who warns that the department exists only to hide and forget about uncategorizable things, and gives him a business card with an arrowhead sign on it. After searching much of the city for the sign, which they find and follow numerous times, Shaun discovers a utopian land for lost things, where he parts ways with the creature, and continues on with his life - although he was unable to say whether the creature, or any of the others, really belonged there.

2010 film
This book was adapted into a 15-minute animated short film in 2010, directed by Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann and narrated by Tim Minchin. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. It was nominated for the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

The film was produced by Sophie Byrne with Passion Pictures Australia and animated by two primary artists; CG lead Tom Bryant and animator and editor Leo Baker. Tom Bryant was located in Scotland, whilst Leo Baker worked from Melbourne. The film was in development for some years, but took three years of full-time production to complete between 2007 and 2010.

References

External links

2000 children's books
Australian picture books
Lothian Books books

The Lost Thing


St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Potsgrove, Bedfordshire. England.  It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.  The church stands at the end of a country lane, north of the A5 road, some  northeast of Leighton Buzzard.

History

The church dates from the 14th century, and was "heavily reworked" in 1880–81 by the architect J. D. Sedding.  The nave walls had been raised in the 15th century when the present roof was installed, and the chancel roof is of a later date. There are a few 12th and 13th-century stones incorporated in the fabric of the north wall of the nave, indicating that an earlier church was present on the side.

Architecture

St Mary's is constructed mainly in ironstone rubble with some clunch, and has ashlar dressings.  The roofs are tiled.  Its plan consists of a nave with a south porch, a chancel, and a northwest bell turret.  The east window in the chancel has five lights and contains panel tracery.  On the north and south sides of the chancel are two two-light windows.  There are similar windows in the nave, two on the north side and three on the south.  On the north side is a doorway above which is a dripstone, its stops being carved with a male and a female head.  In the south porch is another doorway with similar carvings.  At the west end of the nave is a two-light window, above which is an ogee-headed niche containing a statue of the Virgin and Child.  The bell turret is octagonal and has a stone spire.  On each side of the turret are two tiers of openings.  The spire contains lucarnes, and is surmounted by a cross finial.

The chancel is divided from the nave by a wooden screen, the older parts of which date from the 14th century.  In the north wall of the chancel is a recessed tomb, and also in the chancel are a piscina and a sedilia.  There are more piscinae in the nave.  The font is constructed from Purbeck marble.  In the wall of the nave are two brasses, one dated 1535 and the other from later in that century.  In the west window of the nave are pieces of 14th and 15th-century stained glass.

External features
In the churchyard are two items that have been designated Grade II listed buildings.  The first is a limestone headstone dated (probably) 1711, and the other is a row of six limestone headstones dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

See also
List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in the East of England

References

Grade II* listed churches in Bedfordshire
Church of England church buildings in Bedfordshire
English Gothic architecture in Bedfordshire
Gothic Revival architecture in Bedfordshire
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust

St Mary's Church, Potsgrove


Alexis Godbout (1799 – October 22, 1887) was a merchant and political figure in Quebec. He represented Orléans in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1834 to 1838.

He was born at Saint-Pierre on the Île d'Orléans, the son of Pierre Godbout and Marie-Anne Leclerc. In 1830, he married Julie Gauvreau. Godbout was elected to the legislative assembly in an 1834 by-election held after François Quirouet was named to the legislative council. He voted in support of the Ninety-Two Resolutions. In 1856, Godbout was named registrar for Dorchester County, serving in that post until 1868. He died at Lac-Etchemin at the age of 88.

References

1799 births
1887 deaths
Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada

Alexis Godbout


Dhamasa is a small town in the southwestern Gedo region of Somalia.

Overview
The settlement was founded in the early 1950s by Somali nomads from the larger region. Dhamasa is bordered by Beledhawo, Baardheere and Ceelwaaq.

The town has an estimated population of around 27,000 residents. Its municipal government is led by Mayor Hussein Barre Farah, with Muse Dhaqane serving as Deputy Mayor.

References
Dhamasa

Populated places in Gedo

Dhamasa


Swallows and Amazons is a 1963 BBC children's television series based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Arthur Ransome, about the holiday adventures of two groups of children, the Swallows (Walkers) and the Amazons (Blacketts), sailing on a lake and camping on an island in the Lake District in the 1930s.

The series of 6 episodes was shot on location on Coniston Water. Arthur Ransome, who lived nearby at Nibthwaite, was not impressed:
They began by proposing to blow up some of the rocks in the Peel Island harbour, and went on from there. According to Arthur their child-actors were ugly, their Captain Flint was 'common', their script a travesty of his book, their rural characters were made to talk Cockney, and they introduced some Cockney villains. Genia (his wife, who was always discouraging about his books when he was writing them) missed no chance of telling him he was a fool ever to have consented to the project, and he sadly agreed with her.

Characters
John Paul as Captain Flint
David Lott as John Walker
Siobhan Taylor as Susan Walker
Susan George as Kitty (renamed from Titty)
Shane Younger as Roger Walker
Mandy Harper (also known as Amanda Coxall or Mandy Dunn) as Nancy Blackett
Paula Boyd as Peggy Blackett
Mary Kenton as Mrs Walker
Ruth Kettlewell as Mrs Jackson
Bernard Kay as Sammy the Policeman
Sam Kydd as Young Billie, a charcoal-burner
Michael Ripper as Old Billie, a charcoal-burner
George Roderick as Sam Packer, a burglar
Anthony Sagar as Ernie Kidd, a burglar

The director was Peter Saunders and the music was composed by Alfred Elms.

References

External links

Media Vault about Pauline Marshall with video clips from TV series

1960s British children's television series
TV series
1963 British television series debuts
1963 British television series endings
British children's television series
BBC children's television shows
Television series set in the 1930s
Television shows set in the Lake District
Television shows filmed in the United Kingdom
Television series based on novels
Television shows based on British novels

Swallows and Amazons (TV series)


Selim I (10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), also known as Selim The Grim or Salim Shah bin Bayezid Ḥan, was the 9th Sultan and the 1st caliph of the Ottoman Empire. He is known for his conquest of the Mamluk Sultanate, which made him caliph, and also for being the father of Suleiman the Magnificent. He is also known for crushing the power of the Safavids in the Battle of Chaldiran. He ruled between 1512 and 1520.

Early life
Selim was born on October 20, 1470, and was the youngest son of Bayezid II. Most historians believed that Ayşe Hatun was his wife.

Run to throne
Selim killed his 7 brothers and their 5 sons to capture the throne. He left his son Suleiman as the only heir.

Sultan and wars
Selim's ambitions circled through Europe and Asia. Bayezid had left the Europeans relatively quiet and so the new King first turned to the east and picked the Safavids of Iran as his first victims. The relationship between the Ottomans and the Mamluks was hostile. Both states fought for control of the spice trade, and Selim dreamed of eventually taking control of the Holy Cities of Islam. He crushed the Safavid Iranian Empire and took control of what is now Armenia, Georgia, Chechnya, Dagestan and Azerbaijan. He then defeated and crushed the Mamluks and took control of the holy Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina. His conquest of Egypt finally gave him a base to launch attacks in the west, in North Africa. After defeating the Iranian Safavids, he captured the strategic cities of Tabriz and Baghdad. After he defeated the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo, he captured the entire Levant region and eventually conquered Egypt itself and captured Cairo. That effectively destroyed the Mamluk Sultanate and put an end to it. He captured all of its territories up to Libya in the west. He proceeded to turn his new territories into administrative divisions, the largest of them was the province of Syria. He also turned Egypt into a province with Cairo as its capital, but Egypt became under direct Ottoman control from the Ottoman capital, Constantinople.

References

Ottoman people

Selim I


Kate Marie Nash (born 6 July 1987) is a British singer and songwriter and actress.

Early life
Nash was born in Brent. She grew up in Harrow, North West London. Her father is English; her mother is Irish. She first became interested in music during her childhood when she learned how to play the piano.

Moshi Moshi Records

First album

A side
Nash's début single was a double-A side single (recorded in Iceland), was released through independent record label Moshi Moshi Records in February 2007. Only 1000 copies were released, and it was on available on 7" vinyl. Because the single was so popular, 1000 additional copies of the single were made and sold out extremely fast. The A-side was called "Caroline's a Victim", is an electronic sounding song about Kate Nash's friend Caroline. A video for the song was released and received a lotof  airplay on the music television channel, MTV2. The video was directed by Kinga Burza and it featured Nash playing different instruments at the same time that her friend "Caroline" sits in her room playing music, taking photographs, trying on different clothes, listening to David Bowie, putting on makeup and sitting at her computer checking a website.

B side
The B-side to the single was "Birds", it is an acoustic song that tells the story of a boy's clumsy attempts to try and explain to his girlfriend how he feels about her, all the while the girl does not know what her boyfriend is talking about.

During the promotion for "Caroline's a Victim/Birds", Nash supported an English singer who goes by the name of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly on his national tour before leaving to go on her own headlining tour around the UK.

Fiction Records

Early career
In March 2007, Nash was signed to Fiction Records.

In April 2007, Nash and other up-coming London acts were mocked through a nasty imitation of Nash's song, "Caroline's a Victim" entitled "LDN Is A Victim." The song  mocked Nash and Lily Allen, among others, for singing in a Cockney accent, despite their privileged backgrounds.

Nash released a second song, but through a different recored label called Fiction Records, her second single that was named "Foundations", was released on 25 June 2007 and reached number two in the official UK Singles Chart.

Later career
Following the fast, and unpredicted, success of "Foundations", Fiction Records announced plans to release Nash's album earlier than expected, to 6 August 2007. The album, which was named: Made of Bricks, included many of the tracks which Kate Nash had been performing on her two nationwide tours, on her tours Kate Nash was supported by a British duet, called Peggy Sue & The Pirates.
The album received mixed reviews, The Independent describing it as being in "pole position for worst album of the year.". Kate Nash's album, Made of Bricks reached the UK Number 1.

In June 2007 Nash performed at many summer music festvals, for example, O2 Wireless Festival, the Bestival, Electric Gardens, Glastonbury Festival and the Latitude Festival, she also played at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Oxegen and T in the Park, as well as other festivals. Kate Nash made her first official Television performance on Later with Jools Holland, also appearing on other TV shows, for example: Popworld, The Friday Night Project, GMTV and This Morning during 2007.

On 4 March 2013 she released her third album Girl Talk. She released it on her own record label 10p Records. It was not as successful as Nash's first two albums and reached No.85 in the UK Albums Chart.

Recognitions
Nash was featured on the Top of the Pops Christmas special on 25 December 2007.  She performed her single, Foundations.

Nash features on rapper, Kano's album which is called London Town, in a song titled "Me & My Microphone".
She is also featured in the song "Look What You've Done" from Lethal Bizzle's latest albumwhich is named, Back To Bizznizz.

Book
Nash stated in an interview with NME that she is writing a series of short stories influenced by Roald Dahl, including one based around a seven-foot transvestite named Roy, and would like to release a collection. Nash will probably release her books under a false name.

Filmography

References

1987 births
Living people
British feminists
English pop singers
English singer-songwriters
People from the London Borough of Brent
Singers from London

Kate Nash


Abel Pacheco de la Espriella ( ; born 22 December 1933 in San José) is a Costa Rican politician who was president of Costa Rica between 2002 and 2006, representing the Social Christian Unity Party (Partido Unidad Social Cristiana – PUSC). He ran on a platform to continue free market reforms and to institute an austerity program, and was elected, in a second electoral round, with 58% of the vote in April 2002.

Biography

Early life
Abel Pacheco and his first wife, Elsa María Muñoz Batha, had five children: Abel, Elsa, Yolanda, Sergio and Valeria. Pacheco married his second wife, Leila Rodríguez Stahl, a former Miss Costa Rica winner, on 20 November 1975. He and Rodríguez had one son, Fabian.

Career
Pacheco is a medical doctor who graduated from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México with a degree in Psychiatry from Louisiana State University.

During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s Pacheco was a popular presenter of short programmes on Costa Rican television. During this time he continued to teach at the University of Costa Rica and personally attended to customers at the  gentleman's outfitters,  El Palacio del Pantalón, that he had established in downtown San José in the mid-1980s. He also wrote a series of novels and a number of popular songs.

On 1 February 1998 he was elected to serve as a party-list deputy in Costa Rica's unicameral Legislative Assembly, representing the province of San José for the PUSC.

In the run-up to the 2002 presidential election, the PUSC party convention selected him to be its candidate by an overwhelming 76% of the delegates' votes on 10 June 2001. His candidacy was seen as a victory for the  rank-and-file members over the party's entrenched hierarchy.

In the first round of the election Pacheco received 38.6% of the vote: just short of the 40% needed to avoid a run-off. On 7 April 2002, in the second round – the first time the mechanism had been used since the rules were introduced – Pacheco got 58% of the vote, beating Rolando Araya of the social democratic PLN by a narrow margin.

Books
Pacheco is the author of a number of books, including both, fiction and non-fiction. Among other titles of the books that he penned are: Paso de tropa (1969), and Más abajo de la piel (1972).
His work has been translated to more than 20 different languages, given its importance to Costa Rican cultural heritage.

Abel Pacheco was awarded with the prize " Citizen of the World"  for his valuable contribution to culture and literature around the world.

Honours

Foreign honours

  Two Sicilian Royal Family: Knight Grand Cross of Merit of the Two Sicilian Royal Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
 : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles (21 November 2003)
  Pacheco has received several international awards for his literature work.
  Citizen of the World international award, given to exemplary citizens that have had a major contribution to the culture and arts in the world.
   National Literature Prize for his book: " Mas abajo de la piel ".
   Filantropic awards given his active contribution to Social Corporate Responsibility.

References

External links
 Biography by CIDOB (in Spanish)

1933 births
Living people
Politicians from San José, Costa Rica
Social Christian Unity Party politicians
Costa Rican psychiatrists
Presidents of Costa Rica
Members of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica
National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni
Louisiana State University alumni
Academic staff of the University of Costa Rica
Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles

Abel Pacheco


Pieter Zeeman (; 25 May 1865 – 9 October 1943) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Hendrik Lorentz for his discovery of the Zeeman effect.

Childhood and youth
Pieter Zeeman was born in Zonnemaire, a small town on the island of Schouwen-Duiveland, Netherlands, the son of Rev Catharinus Forandinus Zeeman, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and his wife, Willemina Worst.

Pieter became interested in physics at an early age. In 1883, the aurora borealis happened to be visible in the Netherlands. Zeeman, then a student at the high school in Zierikzee, made a drawing and description of the phenomenon and submitted it to Nature, where it was published. The editor praised "the careful observations of Professor Zeeman from his observatory in Zonnemaire".

After finishing high school in 1883, Zeeman went to Delft for supplementary education in classical languages, then a requirement for admission to University. He stayed at the home of Dr J.W. Lely, co-principal of the gymnasium and brother of Cornelis Lely, who was responsible for the concept and realization of the Zuiderzee Works. While in Delft, he first met Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who was to become his thesis adviser.

Education and early career

After Zeeman passed the qualification exams in 1885, he studied physics at the University of Leiden under Kamerlingh Onnes and Hendrik Lorentz. In 1890, even before finishing his thesis, he became Lorentz's assistant. This allowed him to participate in a research programme on the Kerr effect. In 1893 he submitted his doctoral thesis on the Kerr effect, the reflection of polarized light on a magnetized surface. After obtaining his doctorate he went for half a year to Friedrich Kohlrausch's institute in Strasbourg. In 1895, after returning from Strasbourg, Zeeman became Privatdozent in mathematics and physics in Leiden. The same year he married Johanna Elisabeth Lebret (1873–1962); they had three daughters and one son.

In 1896, shortly before moving from Leiden to Amsterdam, he measured the splitting of spectral lines by a strong magnetic field, a discovery now known as the Zeeman effect, for which he won the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics. This research involved an investigation of the effect of magnetic fields on a light source. He discovered that a spectral line is split into several components in the presence of a magnetic field. Lorentz first heard about Zeeman's observations on Saturday 31 October 1896 at the meeting of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in Amsterdam, where these results were communicated by Kamerlingh Onnes. The next Monday, Lorentz called Zeeman into his office and presented him with an explanation of his observations, based on Lorentz's theory of electromagnetic radiation.

The importance of Zeeman's discovery soon became apparent. It confirmed Lorentz's prediction about the polarization of light emitted in the presence of a magnetic field. Thanks to Zeeman's work it became clear that the oscillating particles that according to Lorentz were the source of light emission were negatively charged, and were a thousandfold lighter than the hydrogen atom. This conclusion was reached well before J. J. Thomson's discovery of the electron. The Zeeman effect thus became an important tool for elucidating the structure of the atom.

Professor in Amsterdam

Shortly after his discovery, Zeeman was offered a position as lecturer in Amsterdam, where he started to work in autumn of 1896. In 1900, this was followed by his promotion to professor of physics at the University of Amsterdam. In 1902, together with his former mentor Lorentz, he received the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of the Zeeman effect. Five years later, in 1908, he succeeded Van der Waals as full professor and Director of the Physics Institute in Amsterdam.

In 1918 he published "Some experiments on gravitation: The ratio of mass to weight for crystals and radioactive substances" in the Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, experimentally confirming the equivalence principle with regard to gravitational and inertial mass.

A new laboratory built in Amsterdam in 1923 was renamed the Zeeman Laboratory in 1940. This new facility allowed Zeeman to pursue refined investigation of the Zeeman effect. For the remainder of his career he remained interested in research in magneto-optic effects. He also investigated the propagation of light in moving media. This subject became the focus of a renewed interest because of special relativity, and enjoyed a keen interest from Lorentz and Einstein. Later in his career he became interested in mass spectrometry.

Later years
In 1898 Zeeman was elected to membership of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in Amsterdam, and he served as its secretary from 1912 to 1920. He won the Henry Draper Medal in 1921, and several other awards and Honorary degrees. Zeeman was elected a Foreign member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1921. He retired as a professor in 1935.

Zeeman died on 9 October 1943 in Amsterdam, and was buried in Haarlem.

Awards and honors
Zeeman received the following awards for his contributions.
 Nobel Prize for Physics (1902)
 Matteucci Medal (1912)
 Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1921
 Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences (1921)
 Rumford Medal (1922)
 Franklin Medal (1925)

The crater Zeeman on the Moon is named in his honour.

See also
 Atom and Atomic Theory
 Bohr–Sommerfeld model
 Fresnel drag coefficient
 Light-dragging effects

References

External links

 , available at Gallica. The "Address" of Gabriel Bertrand of December 20, 1943 at the French Academy: he gives biographical sketches of the lives of recently deceased members, including Pieter Zeeman, David Hilbert and Georges Giraud.
 Albert van Helden Pieter Zeeman 1865 – 1943 In: K. van Berkel, A. van Helden and L. Palm ed., A History of Science in The Netherlands. Survey, Themes and Reference (Leiden: Brill, 1999) 606 - 608.
 Biography at the Nobel e-museum and Nobel Lecture.

 P.F.A. Klinkenberg, Zeeman, Pieter (1865-1943), in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland.
 Biography of Pieter Zeeman (1865 – 1943) at the National library of the Netherlands.
  Anne J. Kox, Wetenschappelijke feiten en postmoderne fictie in de wetenschapsgeschiedenis, Inaugural lecture (1999).
 Pim de Bie, prof.dr. P. Zeeman Zonnemaire 25 mei 1865 - Amsterdam 9 oktober 1943 Gravesite of Pieter Zeeman
 Pieter Zeeman, Bijzondere collecties Leiden.
 photo & short info

1865 births
1943 deaths
20th-century Dutch physicists
19th-century Dutch physicists
Nobel laureates in Physics
Dutch Nobel laureates
Leiden University alumni
Academic staff of Leiden University
Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam
People from Zonnemaire
Quantum physicists
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium
Experimental physicists
Spectroscopists
Recipients of the Matteucci Medal
Recipients of Franklin Medal

Pieter Zeeman


The Wizard of Gore is a 2007 splatter/noir horror film directed by Jeremy Kasten and starring Kip Pardue, Bijou Phillips, Crispin Glover, Joshua Miller, Brad Dourif, Jeffrey Combs, and the Suicide Girls. The film is a remake of the 1970 Herschell Gordon Lewis film of the same name.

Plot

A magician named Montag the Magnificent puts on elaborate magic shows in a dilapidated post-punk Los Angeles in which he seemingly kills, in brutal torturous fashions, beautiful young women who nevertheless appear alive and unharmed at the end of the trick. Later, however, the victims are found dead of the same wounds that Montag gave them. Ed Bigelow, a young journalist with a trust fund and vintage style, tries to solve the mystery, but ends up discovering that he may be more involved than he first thought.

Cast
 Kip Pardue as Edmund "Ed" Bigelow
 Bijou Phillips as Maggie
 Crispin Glover as Montag the Magnificent
 Joshua Miller as Jinky
 Brad Dourif as Dr. Chong
 Jeffrey Combs as The Geek
 Garz Chan as Annie
 Tim Chiou as Chinese Mickey
 Evan Seinfeld as Frank
 Suicide Girls as Dell, Cecelia, Cayenne, and Rexina
 Kenneth Moskow as Det. Packard

Production
The Wizard of Gore was filmed in Los Angeles and director Kasten refers to it as "love letter" to Downtown L.A.

Release

Reception

References

External links

 Fatally Yours interview with director Jeremy Kasten

2007 films
2007 horror films
2007 independent films
2000s American films
2000s English-language films
American independent films
American mystery films
American neo-noir films
American splatter films
Films about magic and magicians
Films directed by Jeremy Kasten
Films scored by Steve Porcaro
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Horror film remakes
Remakes of American films

The Wizard of Gore (2007 film)


Darkhuang, also known as Zamluang (Jamluang) , is a large brass musical drum used as part of cultural activities of dance and festival revelry in the  State of Mizoram in the northeastern part of India. It is a costly drum. Beating of this dar or drum or gong is known in the local Mizo language as "Darkhuang-Tum" and the central knob or boss is known as  "Darkhuang-Tum Pawn". In ancient days it was an important musical instrument used to convey or exchange messages. It is also used to convey messages of mourning to distant areas and is therefore known as Zamluang. Since the last several decades it is used in the legislative assembly hall of the Government of Mizoram to take quorum calls of the assembly at its every morning and evening sessions. This gong's cultural usage is also said to be as a dowry gift demanded by the bride's parents, which is attested by the following verse.

Types
The Darkhuang gongs were originally imported from Myanmar (earlier known as Burma) in sets of three gongs with varying modulations giving sounds of emotion.  However, Mizos have developed local types which are made in two sizes; the larger gong is known as Darkhuang while the smaller gong is called as Darmang; The collective name of the gongs is dar. These instruments are commonly used during festivals, known as Khuangchawi or Thangchhua, where the Khuallam dance (a mixed-gender dance)  is performed.

A large Darkhuang gong measures 3.41 spans in circumference with a diameter of one span (unit conversion  1 span = 9 inches), and has a circular projection at the center which is struck to make the sound. As the drum is considered precious by the people of Mizoram it is normally kept in a basket and is taken out only on special occasions for use.

References

Bibliography

Mizoram
Culture of Mizoram

Drums

Darkhuang


José Arrue y Valle, usually known as José Arrue (September 1, 1885 – April 6, 1977) was a Basque painter who lived in Spain.

Arrue came from an artistic family: his father, Lucas Arrue, was an art collector, and his three brothers, Alberto, Ramiro, and Ricardo, were also painters. After early studies in Bilbao, he subsequently continued his training in Barcelona, Paris and Milan. In 1908 he returned to his birthplace, and taught figure drawing at the School of Arts and Crafts. He was one of the founders of the weekly El Coitao, and the Association of Basque Artists.

Arrue's love of bullfighting led to his debut in the bullring on October 17, 1909, in Bilbao. According to several authorities, Arrue proved to be a capable matador.

Arrue's painting won several awards during his lifetime. He also designed bullfighting posters, did advertising work, and published cartoons in newspapers such as El Sol and El Liberal, and the Buenos Aires newspaper La Razón; an exhibition of his paintings was staged in Buenos Aires in 1928, later travelling to Montevideo, Uruguay.

During the Spanish Civil War, Arrue drew comics describing events from the perspective of the Basque Government. After the collapse of the Republican Army of the North, and the fall of Santander on September 1, 1937, Arrue was arrested in the city. He was held in Nationalist captivity for two years, during which time he was moved to Orduña prison. He was eventually released in 1940 and went to live in Llodio with his family. Although in semi-retirement from public life, he participated in a number of further exhibitions: a retrospective of his work was held in 1973, and a further one, featuring the work of all of the Arrue brothers, was held in Bilbao in 1977.

Arrue's work is noted for its concrete realism, clear lines and composition, and its focus on Basque subjects, particularly the landscape of the Basque country, its religious festivals, romerias and social rituals, and the lives of its peasantry.

References

Sources
 José Arrue, Euskomedia

Bibliography
 El Coitao, mal llamao, Javier González de Durana (Bilbao, 1995)

1885 births
1977 deaths
Basque painters
20th-century Spanish painters
20th-century Spanish male artists
Spanish male painters
Spanish bullfighters
Artists from Bilbao

José Arrue


William Oliver Williams (1823–1901) was an English figurative and genre artist based in London who specialised in paintings of young women. He used the professional name William Oliver. He has sometimes been mistakenly referred to as 'William Oliver the Younger' or 'William Oliver II'. He was, however, not (as implied) related to the artist William Oliver (1804–1853).

Life and family
Oliver was born in Worcester in 1823, the son of the surgeon William Williams and his wife Jane (maiden name Oliver). He married Jane Elizabeth Hughes in the district of St Pancras in London in 1852. Two of their sons, Oliver 'Rhys' Williams and Reginald Arthur Williams, also became  established artists, with the professional names of Oliver Rhys and Reginald Arthur respectively. William Oliver died in Kensington on 16 April 1901. His obituary notice appeared in the Evening Standard the following day. It was stated as follows. 'OLIVER WILLIAMS, on the 16th inst., 41 Queensgate Gardens, South Kensington, William Oliver Williams ('William Oliver', artist) aged 77'.

Career
Oliver was enrolled  (as William Oliver Williams) as a Probationer at the Royal Academy Schools of the Royal Academy of Arts on 18 July 1848 (recommended by Thomas Clark (sic) from Birmingham) and as a student on 16 December 1848.  The Schools' register, and other sources, indicate that he also worked at the Government School of Design, Birmingham (see Birmingham School of Art), where he was the assistant master (1849–1851) and the headmaster was Thomas Clarke (1846–1851). Whilst a student at the Royal Academy, he won 1st prize for his drawing from the antique in 1851 in the annual Premiums.

During the early part of Oliver's career he added his surname when signing his works. This was seen with his two works exhibited at the British Institution in 1851 and 1852. He also used the name William Oliver Williams when he exhibited six paintings between 1858 and 1863 at the Royal Academy of Arts.  In 1858 the first of two paintings was titled Portrait of a gentleman while the second was Rev. B.H. Kennedy, President of the School of Art, Shrewsbury. At this time Oliver had a Shrewsbury address, possibly suggesting that he worked at the local school of art. The final painting in 1863 was titled Crossing the ford.

In the early 1850s, Oliver received a commission from the Arundel Society to tour Northern Italy and make drawings and watercolours of the classical masterpieces in the churches and galleries. His full name was first mentioned (as 'a young artist from the Royal Academy Schools') in the Society's fourth annual report in 1853. His task was to make drawings of  Giotto's fresco in the Arena Chapel in Padua (see Scrovegni Chapel). Engravings were then made from these drawings. He therefore played a key role in producing one of the Arundel Society's most important early publications. Copies of the book of the engravings are in both the collections of the Royal Academy and the Royal Collection Trust

Sixteen watercolours which Oliver is thought to have painted for the Arundel Society are recorded to have survived. In 1978, they were held in the Fine Art Department of the University of Leeds. More recently, three examples of these chiaroscuro watercolours have been reported to be held by the Victoria and Albert Museum Oliver also painted a number of additional watercolours derived from the Padua frescos, which he sold and which were owned privately in 1978. They have been described as 'highly finished and beautifully executed' and Oliver was described as 'a careful draughtsman and skilful water-colourist'. His watercolours were displayed by the Arundel Society at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham in 1855–6, and were praised by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

After recovering from bankruptcy in 1863, by the late 1860s he was based in London and had adopted his more well-known professional name which he used thereafter. He continued to exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts and British Institution (Tryste) in 1867, and at the Society of British Artists (The First Letter) in 1868. Subsequently, he also exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, Manchester Art Gallery, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts. His favoured exhibition venue was the Royal Academy of Arts. He exhibited 15 more works there starting with A thing of beauty is a joy for ever and Forget me not in 1867, and finishing with Mrs Oliver Williams in 1897.  It is recorded that at least one of his paintings had sold in one of the major auction galleries for more than £100 during the 1970–1975 period.

His works mainly depicted figures of young women and pretty girls, or an attractive woman sometimes in Greek or Roman costume. Oliver's paintings were popular at the time and prints were made in response to demand. This popularity is reflected in the fact that 33 of his paintings are exhibited in public museums and galleries throughout the United Kingdom, as seen on the Art UK web site. There is one of Oliver's oil paintings in the Royal Collection. It is titled Jack's Letter and is signed and dated 1881. It was presented by Mr and Mrs E. Johnson as a wedding present to the Duke and Duchess of York, 6 July 1893.

Oliver's paintings are still available from dealers and at auctions. Examples of high recent auction prices for his paintings are £4,320 for The letter at Bonhams on 21 June 2011 and  £5000 for Reclining Beauty at Christie's on  11 March 2015.

References

External links
 Paintings by William Oliver at Art UK

1823 births
1901 deaths
Artists from Worcester, England
Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art
19th-century British painters
British male painters
British genre painters
19th-century British male artists

William Oliver (artist, born 1823)


The Stour  is an all-wooden motor narrow boat powered by a Bolinder 11 kW diesel engine. It was built as a tar tanker in 1937 by Fellows Morton & Clayton at their Uxbridge dockyard for fuel oil carriers Thomas Clayton Ltd of Oldbury.

The hull has oak planked sides, elm bottoms, and a pine deck with a fully fitted traditional boatman's cabin. It was one of a large fleet of all wooden boats used by that Company for liquid cargo carrying, the main hold area being fully decked over.

When new, it would have carried refined fuels such as gas oil for powering machinery but was later used for carrying heavier lubricating oil from the fuel distribution plants on the Manchester Ship Canal.

It is now owned by the Black Country Living Museum, in Dudley, where it is based and can be seen dockside in the Lord Ward's Canal Arm at the museum.

The Stour is on the  National Historic Ships register.

References

External links
 National Historic Ships website
 Black Country Living Museum website

Black Country Living Museum
Canal boats of the United Kingdom
Ships and vessels on the National Register of Historic Vessels

Stour (narrowboat)