In England and Wales, a public school is a type of fee-charging private school originally for older boys. They are "public" in the sense of being open to pupils irrespective of locality, denomination or paternal trade or profession, nor are they run for the profit of a private owner.

Although the term "public school" has been in use since at least the 18th century, its usage was formalised by the Public Schools Act 1868, which put into law most recommendations of the 1864 Clarendon Report. Nine prestigious schools were investigated by Clarendon (including two day schools, Merchant Taylors' and St Paul's) and seven subsequently reformed by the Act: Eton, Shrewsbury, Harrow, Winchester, Rugby, Westminster, and Charterhouse.

Public schools are associated with the ruling class. Historically, public schools produced many of the military officers and administrators of the British Empire. In 2019, two-thirds of cabinet ministers of the United Kingdom had been educated at such fee-charging schools.

In Scotland, a public school has a different significance; there the term is typically synonymous with state school in England and Wales. Fee-charging schools are referred to as private or independent schools.

Definition

There is no single or absolute definition of public school, and the use of the term has varied over time and according to context. The starting point was the contrast between a public school and private teaching (eg., provided by a hired tutor).
In England and Wales what are called public schools are not funded from public taxation.

Sydney Smith in an 1810 article published in The Edinburgh Review suggested the following. "By a public school, we mean an endowed place of education of old standing, to which the sons of gentlemen resort in considerable numbers, and where they continue to reside, from eight or nine, to eighteen years of age. We do not give this as a definition which would have satisfied Porphyry or Duns-Scotus, but as one sufficiently accurate for our purpose. The characteristic features of these schools are, their antiquity, the numbers, and the ages of the young people who are educated at them ...".

Arthur Leach, in his History of Winchester College (1899), stated: "The only working definition of a Public School...is that it is an aristocratic or plutocratic school which is wholly or almost wholly a Boarding School, is under some form of more or less public control, and is ... non-local".

Edward C. Mack in 1938 proposed the simple definition of "a non-local endowed boarding school for the upper classes".

Vivian Ogilvie in The English Public School (1957) suggests five "characteristics commonly associated with a public school" (while allowing that these are not absolute or definitive): "it is a class school, catering for a well-to-do clientèle; it is expensive; it is non-local; it is a predominantly boarding school; it is independent of the State and of local government, yet it is not privately owned or run for profit."

Oxford Dictionary of English:
'In England, originally, a grammar-school founded or endowed for use or benefit of the public, either  generally, or of a particular locality, and carried on under some kind of public management or control; often contrasted with a "private school" carried on at the risk and for the profit of its master or proprietors.'

In November 1965, the UK Cabinet considered the definition of a public school for the purpose of the Public Schools Commission set up that year. It started with the 1944 Fleming Committee definition of Public Schools, which consisted of schools which were members of the then Headmasters' Conference, the Governing Bodies Association or the Girls' Schools Association. At that time, there were 276 such independent schools (134 boys and 142 girls), which the 1965 Public Schools Commission took in scope of its work and also considered 22 maintained and 152 direct grant grammar schools.

In 2023, using the 1965 Public Schools Commission definition or the 1944 Fleming Committee definition, there are 302 independent secondary schools belonging to the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (78% of HMC schools are co-educational, 9% are boys only and 13% are girls only), and 152 independent girls' secondary schools belonging to the Girls' Schools Association.

The majority of public schools are affiliated with, or were established by, a Christian denomination, principally the Church of England, but in some cases the Roman Catholic and Methodist churches. A small number are non-denominational or inherently secular, including Oswestry School, Bedales and University College School.

A minor public school is defined in Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable  as "a somewhat demeaning term dating from the 1930s for an English public school that is not one of the ancient foundations, such as Eton, Harrow, Rugby or Winchester". Public school rivalry is a factor in the perception of a "great" (or "major") versus "minor" distinction.

The perception of a top tier of public schools is long standing but with some debate on membership.
Howard Staunton's book of 1865 entitled The Great Schools of England considered the nine Clarendon schools plus Cheltenham College, Christ's Hospital, and Dulwich College.
In 1881 C.Kegal Paul & Co published Our Public Schools with chapters on seven schools: Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Rugby, Westminster, Marlborough, and Charterhouse.
In 1893 Edward Arnold published a book entitled Great Public Schools with a chapter on each of Eton, Harrow, Charterhouse, Cheltenham, Rugby, Clifton, Westminster, Marlborough, Haileybury, and Winchester.

The Bryce Report of 1895  (Report of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education) described the schools reformed by the 1868 Act as the "seven 'great endowed schools'".

History

Early history

Public schools emerged from grammar schools established to educate pupils, usually destined for clerical orders, in Latin grammar. Thus, concerned with educating boys. The term "public" came into use because over time access to such schools was not restricted on the basis of home location, paternal occupation or status, and that they were subject to an element of public management or control, in contrast to private schools which were run for the personal profit of the owner(s). The origins of schools in England were primarily religious, although in 1640 the House of Commons invited the reformer and promoter of universal education Comenius to England to establish and participate in an agency for the promotion of learning. It was intended that by-products of this would be the publication of "universal" books and the setting up of schools for boys and girls. The English Civil War prevented any such reform.

Some schools are particularly old, such as The King's School, Canterbury , The King's School, Rochester , St Peter's School, York , Sherborne School , (refounded 1550 by Edward VI), Warwick School , King's Ely  (once the Ely Cathedral Grammar School, then the King's School Ely when refounded in 1541 by Henry VIII, subsequently adopting the current name in 2012) and St Albans School . Until the Late Middle Ages most schools were controlled by the Church; and had specific entrance criteria; others were restricted to the sons of members of guilds, trades, or livery companies.

In 1382 William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England, founded Winchester College. In 1440 Henry VI founded Eton College. These schools had significantly larger foundations than the existing local grammar schools, had high level political patronage, and also accepted "non-local" pupils. This was "the start of a new kind of school". Elizabeth I refounded Westminster School in 1560, with new statutes, to select forty Queen's Scholars. This created a "triad" of privileged schools—Winchester, Eton and Westminster. From the 16th century onward, boys' boarding schools continued to be founded or endowed for public use.

Daniel Defoe in The Compleat English Gentleman of 1728, writes of "the great schools of Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Felsted, Bishop Stortford (sic), Canterbury and others, where the children—nay, the eldest sons—of some of the best families in England have been educated."

By the end of the 17th century, the London day schools St Paul's and Merchant Taylors', together with the charitable foundations of Christ's Hospital and Charterhouse, had developed an elevated "standing in popular regard".

By the end of the 18th century, two local grammar schools, Harrow and Rugby, had achieved national fame. In the case of Harrow, political sponsorship by aristocratic Whig politician James Brydges (later Duke of Chandos) played a significant role, but also, as was the case too with Rugby, an exemplary headmaster was a key factor in raising the status of the school. This phenomenon was also seen at Shrewsbury, where Samuel Butler was headmaster between 1798 and 1836.

In 1801 William Vincent, headmaster of Westminster published A Defence of Public Education. It contains the text "...comprize under the expression of Public Schools? Are we to understand only Winchester, Eton and Westminster? or are we to extend our notion, as we ought to do, to the other three great schools in the Metropolis; to Harrow, Rugby, Manchester, Wakefield and many more of equal magnitude in the North?"

In 1816 Rudolph Ackermann published a book which used the term "History of the Public Schools" of what he described as the "principal schools of England", entitled The History of the Colleges of Winchester, Eton, and Westminster; with the Charter-House, the Schools of St. Paul's, Merchant Taylors, Harrow, and Rugby, and the Free-School of Christ's Hospital.

In 1818 Nicholas Carlisle published a two-volume survey entitled A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England and Wales. The survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire sent to the schools.  The description of 475 schools range from one or two paragraphs to many pages of detail.  Included in the survey are the renowned nine schools which forty three years later became the subject of the 1861 Clarendon Commission.

In 1828 Thomas Arnold became headmaster of Rugby School. The reforming actions he took during his fourteen years (1828–1842) of tenure established a new model for the nineteenth and early twentieth century public school. Arnold developed the praepostor (or prefect) system, in which a group of senior boys were given disciplinary powers of other pupils. This became a standard method to establish good order in the public schools, which had developed a reputation for rowdiness and on occasion, serious disorder.

King's College School was founded in 1829 and University College School in 1830.

Separate preparatory schools (or "prep schools") for younger boys developed from the 1830s, with entry to the senior schools becoming limited to boys of at least 12 or 13 years old. The first of these was Windlesham House School, established with support from Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School between 1828 and 1841.

Victorian period

A Royal Commission, the Clarendon Commission (1861–1864), investigated nine of the more established schools, including seven boarding schools (Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Westminster and Winchester) and two day schools (St Paul's and Merchant Taylors').

The Public Schools Act 1868 subsequently regulated and reformed the seven boarding schools investigated by Clarendon, and in summary established and granted autonomy to new governing bodies for the seven schools and as part of that, released them from previous obligations under their founding charters to educate "boys on the Foundation" ie scholarship boys who paid nominal or no fees. The Act gave the seven schools independence from direct jurisdiction or responsibility of the Crown, the established church, or the government. Henceforth each of these schools was to be managed by a board of governors. St Paul's School and the Merchant Taylors' School claimed successfully that their constitutions made them "private" schools, and were excluded from the requirements of this legislation.

The Taunton Commission was appointed in 1864 to examine the remaining 782 endowed grammar schools, and in 1868 produced recommendations to restructure their endowments; these recommendations were included, in modified form, in the Endowed Schools Act 1869. In that year Edward Thring, headmaster of Uppingham School, wrote to 37 of his fellow headmasters of what he considered the leading boys' schools, not covered by the Public Schools Act of 1868, inviting them to meet annually to address the threat posed by the Endowed Schools Act of 1869. In the first year 12 headmasters attended; the following year 34 attended, including heads from the Clarendon schools. The Headmasters' Conference (HMC), now the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, has grown steadily and by 2021 had 298 British and Irish schools as members.

Many new schools were established in the mid-part of the nineteenth century including the day schools City of London School (1837) and Liverpool College (1840).  New boarding schools included Cheltenham (1841), Marlborough (1843), Rossall (1844), Radley (1847), Taunton (1847), Lancing (1848), Hurstpierpoint (1849), Bradfield (1850), Wellington (1852), Epsom (1855), Ardingly (1858), Clifton (1862), Malvern (1862), Haileybury (1862), Framlingham (1864)  and Cranleigh (1865).

In 1887 the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal determined that the City of London School was a public school.

The Public Schools Yearbook{{efn|Published annually as The Public Schools Yearbook from 1889 to 1934; as The Public and Preparatory Schools Yearbook from 1935 to 1985; as The Independent Schools Yearbook from 1986 to date.}} was published for the first time in 1889, listing 30 schools, mostly boarding schools. The day school exceptions were St Paul's School and Merchant Taylors' School. By 1895 there were entries for 64 schools.

Early and mid 20th century

Frederick William Sanderson, Headmaster of Oundle School, initiated educational reforms at the turn of the century. Oundle became the first school to create an engineering curriculum as well as teaching biochemistry and agriculture.

There was a further expansion in public school education in the interwar years.  New schools such as Rendcomb (1920), Stowe (1923), Canford (1923), Bryanston (1928) and Millfield (1935) were established.

In 1942 the then President of the Board of Education Rab Butler appointed a Committee on Public Schools under the leadership of David Fleming. The committee was tasked to "consider means whereby the association between the Public Schools and the general educational system of the country could be developed and extended". The Fleming Report (1944) entitled The Public Schools and the General Education System defined a public school as a member of the Governing Bodies Association or the Headmasters' Conference. The Fleming Committee recommended that one-quarter of the places at the public schools should be assigned to a national bursary scheme for children who would benefit from boarding. A key advocate was the post-war Minister of Education Ellen Wilkinson, but the proposed national bursary scheme never got into legislation in that post-war age of severe budget constraints. The Conservative government elected in 1951 did not adopt the proposal. It failed because it was not a high priority for either party, money was tight, there was wavering support from both public schools and local education authorities, and no consensus was reached on how to select the pupils to participate.

Based on the recommendations of the Fleming Report, the Education Act 1944, also known as "the Butler Act", did, however, establish an enhanced status for endowed grammar schools receiving a grant from central government. The direct grant grammar schools would henceforth receive partial state funding (a "direct grant") in return for taking between 25 and 50 percent of its pupils from state primary schools. Other grammar schools were funded by Local Education Authorities.

The Labour government in 1965 made major changes to the organisation of state maintained schools issuing Circular 10/65 which directed local authorities to phase out selection at eleven years of age. It also fulfilled its pledge to examine the role of public schools, setting up a Royal commission "to advise on the best way of integrating the public schools with the State system". The commission used a wider definition than that of the Fleming Committee. The Public Schools Commission produced two reports: the Newsom Report of 1968 entitled The Public Schools Commission: First Report covering boarding schools and the Donnison Report of 1970 entitled The Public Schools Commission: Second Report covering day schools, including also direct grant and maintained grammar schools. The report presented by John Newsom in 1968 was supportive of boarding school education and made 52 recommendations, including state funding of up to 45,000 places. No action was taken by the then Labour government (or successive administrations). The report presented by David Donnison in 1970 made 25 recommendations for England and Wales and 22 for Scotland.  The commission was divided on many issues so several of the recommendations were not made with full consensus. No action was taken by the incoming (1970) Conservative government but five years later the direct grant scheme was terminated by Labour.

Late 20th century
The social changes of the 1960s were felt in the public schools; the new headmaster at Oundle School noted that "student protests and intellectual ferment were challenging the status quo". These challenges later coincided with the mid-1970s recession and moves by the Labour government to separate the independent and state sectors.

The direct grant scheme was abolished in 1975 and the HMC schools within the scheme became fully independent. Local authorities were ordered to cease funding places at independent schools. This accounted for over quarter of places at 56 schools, and over half the places at 22 schools. Between 1975 and 1983 funding was also withdrawn from 11 voluntary-aided grammar schools, which became independent schools and full members of the HMC.  State funding was however revived between 1981 and 1997 with the introduction of the Assisted Places Scheme, which provided support for 80,000 pupils attending schools not part of the state maintained sector.

Many boarding schools started to admit day pupils for the first time, and others abolished boarding completely. Some started accepting girls in the sixth form, while others became fully co-educational.

Corporal punishment, was abolished in state schools in 1986, and had been abandoned in most public schools by the time it was formally banned in independent schools in 1999 in England and Wales, (2000 in Scotland and 2003 in Northern Ireland). The system of fagging, whereby younger pupils were required to act to some extent as personal servants to the most senior boys, was phased out during the 1970s and 1980s.

21st century
In September 2005 the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) found that 50 prominent public schools were in breach of the Competition Act 1998 through their exchange of details of planned fee increases over three academic years 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04. The Independent Schools Council claimed that the investigation had been "a scandalous waste of public money".

Three-quarters of HMC schools are now either partially or fully co-educational. Of the Clarendon nine, two are fully co-educational (Rugby and Shrewsbury), two admit girls to the sixth form only (Charterhouse and Westminster), two remain as boys-only day schools (St Paul's and Merchant Taylors') and two retain the full-boarding, boys-only tradition (Eton and Harrow). Winchester was formerly part of the last group. However, it is currently undergoing the transition to co-ed status.

 Scotland and Ireland

By the end of the 19th century the "public school movement", had extended to all parts of the (then) United Kingdom. The 1895 Public School Yearbook included Loretto School (1827), Glenalmond College (1847) and Fettes College (1870).

In Ireland, of the Royal Schools, The Royal School, Armagh 1608 was described as offering an excellent public school education and being the equal of any school in the British Isles. Cork Grammar School 1881 was established for 'the purpose of supplying a great want in Cork—namely, a good public school, and with the object of inducing persons who had been sending their children to England, to educate them at home'. In 2020 6.7% of the school population in the Republic of Ireland attended 'elite' fee charging schools.

 Overseas expansion

In 1892 Haileybury alumnus Charles Rendall, founded Haileybury "altera terra" in Melbourne, Australia.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, several public schools opened affiliates in other countries, especially the Middle and Far East. The schools are typically founded in partnership with a local business person or organisation with the "home" school maintaining control of curriculum and staffing.

 Curriculum

The almost exclusive teaching of grammar (Latin and to a lesser extent ancient Greek) prevailed until well into the 19th century.  Most schools were legally obliged to do so by the terms of their original endowment. As a response to the perceived need to modernise such a curriculum in line with commercial needs, the Grammar School Act 1840 was passed.   This allowed schools to make an application to a court of law (rather than Parliament) to deviate from the wishes of the original founder and teach "other branches of literature and science". The new public schools established in the early and mid-19th century were not constrained by early endowments and therefore were able from foundation to offer a wider range of taught subjects.

From the 1850s organised games became prominent in the curriculum, based on the precedent set at Rugby by Thomas Arnold, forming a keystone of character development through teamwork, sportsmanship and self-sacrifice. Hely Almond headmaster at Loretto 1862–1903, in stating 'Games in which success depends on the united efforts of many, and which also foster courage and endurance are the very lifeblood of the public school system', encapsulated the thinking of the era. The prominence of team sports prevails to the current day and is a feature by which public schools still distinguish themselves from state maintained schools. By the latter part of the 19th century 'modern' subjects such as mathematics and science featured in many schools listings in The Public Schools Yearbook.

 Charitable status
Within English law a charity is defined as an institution established for a charitable purpose and providing a public benefit. The "advancement of education" is a long-standing charitable purpose.  The UK's oldest charity is the King's School Canterbury. Charitable status for schools outside of the state maintained sector confers various tax benefits.  This means schools are not liable for corporation tax or capital gains tax and receive an 80% reduction in business rates (a local property tax).  Donations by individuals to such schools are considered "tax free".  Fee-charging schools having the status of charities are not totally tax exempt as they pay some business rates, VAT on procured goods and services and staff pay income tax on earnings. The public benefit that a charity is obliged to provide is not defined in law.  Typically schools provide this public benefit by offering bursaries to pupils of families with limited financial means and supporting local state maintained school(s) and institutions, including allowing public access to school facilities.

As of 2020 the nine Clarendon schools had a combined asset value of almost £2bn. Eton College is the school with the largest endowment of over £500m. Charitable status is politically controversial.  The UK Labour Party leader Keir Starmer in 2021 pledged to remove charitable status for fee-charging schools,  a policy also of Harold Wilson, stated in the 1974 Labour election manifesto. Removal of charitable status would enable the UK government to levy VAT on school fees, a commitment (re)made in the 1983 Labour Party election manifesto under Neil Kinnock's leadership, and revived in 2017 by Jeremy Corbyn. In support of the case for maintaining the status quo, the Independent Schools Council published in 2022 a report which stated that the independent education sector contributed in 2021 £16.5 billion to the UK economy and generated £5.1 billion of tax revenue. The 2019 UK Conservative Party election manifesto made no mention of education outside of the state maintained sector. In September 2023 the UK Labour party announced that, if elected, it planned to allow public schools to retain their charitable status (and some associated tax benefits) but did plan to charge VAT on fees and remove concessions on business rates paid to local authorities.

Associations with the ruling class

The 19th-century public school ethos promoted ideas of service to Crown and Empire, exemplified in tropes such as "Play up! Play up! And play the game!" from Henry Newbolt's 1892 poem Vitaï Lampada and "the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton", the latter popularly attributed to the Duke of Wellington. Many ex-pupils, like those from other schools, had, and still have, a nostalgic affection for their old schools (George Orwell remembered being "interested and happy" at Eton,) and a public school tie and an "old boy network" of former pupils were useful in advancing a career. The English public school model influenced the 19th-century development of Scottish elite schools, but a tradition of the gentry sharing their primary education with their tenants kept Scotland more egalitarian.

Former Harrow pupil Stanley Baldwin wrote that when he first became Prime Minister in 1923, he wanted to have six Harrovians in his government. "To make a cabinet is like making a jig-saw puzzle fit, and I managed to make my six fit by keeping the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer for myself". Until the First World War, the role of public schools in preparing pupils for the gentlemanly elite meant that such education, particularly in its classical focus and social mannerisms, became a mark of the ruling class. Acceptance of social elitism was reduced by the two world wars, but despite portrayals of the products of public schools as "silly asses" and "toffs", the old system continued well into the 1960s.

Postwar social change has, however, gradually been reflected across Britain's educational system, while at the same time fears of problems with state education have pushed some parents, who can afford the fees or whose pupils qualify for bursaries or scholarships, towards public schools and other schools in the independent sector. By 2009 typical fees were up to £30,000 per annum for boarders. As of 2019, 20 Prime Ministers attended Eton, seven Harrow, and six Westminster. From 2019 to 2022, two Prime Ministers Boris Johnson (Eton) and Rishi Sunak (Winchester) were educated at Clarendon public schools.

Conservative former cabinet minister Iain Macleod wrote in 1964 in "The Tory Leadership" that a conspiracy by an Etonian "magic circle" had made Alec Douglas-Home prime minister. The assertion was so powerful that until Cameron, being an Etonian was a disadvantage to becoming a party leader, as Douglas Hurd learned in the 1990 Conservative Party leadership election. While Home had been educated at Eton and the incoming Labour Prime Minister in 1997 (Tony Blair) at Fettes College, all six British Prime Ministers in office between 1964 and 1997 and from 2007 to 2010 were educated at state schools (Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher, and John Major at grammar schools, and James Callaghan and Gordon Brown at other state secondary schools). Theresa May's secondary school education also was primarily in the state sector. Liz Truss was educated at a state comprehensive school.

While members of the aristocracy and landed gentry no longer dominate independent schools, studies have shown that such schools still retain a degree of influence over the country's professional and social elite despite educating less than 10% of the population. A 2012 study published by the Sutton Trust noted that 44% of the 7,637 individuals examined whose names appeared in the birthday lists of The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent or The Independent on Sunday during 2011 – across all sectors, including politics, business, the arts and the armed forces – were educated at private schools. It also found that 10 elite fee-charging schools (specifically Eton, Winchester, Charterhouse, Rugby, Westminster, Marlborough, Dulwich, Harrow, St Paul's, and Wellington) produced 12% of the leading high-flyers examined in the study. The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission came to a similar conclusion in a 2014 study of the professions: 71% of senior judges, 62% of senior armed forces officers, 55% of Whitehall permanent secretaries and 50% of members of the House of Lords had been educated at fee-charging schools.

Literature and media

Public schools have long provided content for artistic and factual media productions.

Literature

Rugby School inspired a whole new genre of literature, i.e. the school story. Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's School Days, published in 1857 was set there. There were however as many as 90 earlier novels set in British boarding schools, taking as an example just girls' school stories, published between Sarah Fielding's 1749 The Governess, or The Little Female Academy and the seminal 1857 Tom Brown's School Days. Such stories were set in a variety of institutions including private boarding and prep schools as well as public schools. Tom Brown's School Days influence on the genre of British school novels includes the fictional boarding schools of Talbot Baines Reed's St Dominic's, Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co. at "the College", Frank Richards' Billy Bunter at Greyfriars School, James Hilton's Mr Chips at Brookfield, Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings at Linbury Court, P. G. Wodehouse's St. Austin's and girls' schools Malory Towers and St. Trinian's. It also influenced J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, set at the fictional boarding school Hogwarts. The series' first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has many direct parallels in structure and theme to Tom Brown's School Days.

Len Deighton said of his 1962 novel, The IPCRESS File, that it is "about spies on the surface, but it's also really about a grammar school boy among public school boys and the difficulties he faces."

 Theatre and film

In his 1968 play Forty Years On, Alan Bennett used the metaphor of an end-of-term revue at a minor public school to contrast the events of the twentieth century with the routines of public school life. The title alludes to the Harrow school song, "Forty Years On".

The 1968 film if...., which satirised the worst elements of English public school life, culminating in scenes of armed insurrection, won the Palme d'Or at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.Tom Brown's School Days has been the subject of five cinematic and television productions. Goodbye Mr. Chips  has been the subject of three cinematic productions. Ronald Searle's girls' school St Trinian's has featured in seven cinematic productions. The 1942 film A Yank at Eton is a comedy-drama where the protagonist eventually overcomes outdated manners and attitudes. The 1947 stage play and 1950 comedy film The Happiest Days of Your Life, based at fictional minor public school Nutbourne College, were commercial and critical successes. The Guinea Pig, a 1946 stage play and 1948 film, dealt with the experiences of a boy from a modest background being sent to public school. The Browning Version was a 1948 stage play, 1951 film, 1994 film and subject to several television and radio adaptations. A BBC TV series Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School ran from 1952 to 1961. Another Country was a 1981 stage play and 1984 film loosely interpreting the schooldays of Eton-educated spy Guy Burgess.

Television documentaries
'Fly on the wall' television documentaries about schools is an established genre; The following documentaries broadcast in the UK allowed a mass audience to view daily life in public schools.

1967: Eton, a documentary produced by Anthony de Lotbiniere, narrated by René Cutforth, broadcast on BBC TV.
1979: Edward Mirzoeff produced the BBC documentary entitled Public School about Westminster School, including footage of John Rae.
1980: Richard Denton produced a ten part documentary about Radley College also entitled Public School, which ran on BBC2, including footage of Dennis Silk.
1981: The Gentleman Factory about Eton College, directed by Simon Dewhurst was shown on BBC1.
1991: Eton – Class of '91, a Channel 4 documentary about Eton College directed by Simon Shore.
1995: Inside Eton by Howard Guard, narrated by Charles Dance.
1996: True Stories: Gordonstoun directed by Penny Woolcock.
2001: Harrow:The School on the Hill, featuring Barnaby Lenon, narrated by Aden Gillett, broadcast by ITV (Carlton).
2003: Ampleforth: My Teacher's a Monk, broadcast on ITV1, narrated by Alex Jennings,
2008: Pride and Privilege: A Year in the Life of Glenalmond College, a three part series broadcast on BBC2 Scotland produced and directed by Stephen Bennett.
2008: My New Best Friend about Cheltenham Ladies College, directed by Jo Abel and broadcast on BBC4.
2011: Posh and Posher: Why Public School Boys Run Britain,produced by Matthew Laza and presented by Andrew Neil, broadcast on BBC2.
2013: Hannah Berryman's BBC documentary with alternative titles of A Very English Education and Boarding School: Boys to Men, a follow-up on the pupils who featured in the 1980 documentary about Radley College.
2013: Harrow: A Very British School, broadcast on Sky1.
2014: The Most Famous School in the World, a BBC documentary about Eton College, produced by Maggie Liang and Sarah Murch as part of the My Life series for children.
2015: Gordonstoun: A Different Class, a six episode series broadcast on Sky1.

See also
 Rugby Group, a group of eighteen schools within the HMC
 Eton Group, a group of twelve schools within the HMC
 Public Schools Battalions
 Combined Cadet Force
 Fagging
 Public Schools Club
 Private school
 Direct grant grammar school
 List of SR V "Schools" class locomotives (named principally after public schools)
 List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom (a number of which are public schools)
 List of English and Welsh endowed schools (19th century) (a number of which are public schools)
 List of direct grant grammar schools (list of schools that were part of the scheme, between 1945 and 1976)
 List of private schools in the United Kingdom
 Toffs and Toughs photograph
 Armorial of UK schools

References

Notes

 Bibliography

 Dishon, Gideon. (2017) Games of character: team sports, games, and character development in Victorian public schools, 1850–1900. Paedagogica Historica: 1–17 https://www.researchgate.net

 Gardner, Brian.(1973) The Public Schools: An Historical Survey Hamish Hamilton, London

 Green, Francis and Kynaston, David (2019) Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem, Bloomsbury Publishing,

 Hope-Simpson, J. B. (1967) Rugby since Arnold: A History of Rugby School from 1842 (1967)

 Laughton, M., Paech-Ujejski, A., Patterson, A., eds. (2021) Men's Accounts of Boarding School: Sent Away

  [Covers history and reputation of Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Westminster, Winchester, and Charterhouse.]

 Simon, B. and Bradley, I., eds. (1975) The Victorian Public School: Studies in the Development of an Educational Institution''

Primary sources

External links

Education in the United Kingdom
Private schools
School types
Private schools in the United Kingdom

Public school (United Kingdom)


Jilma Madera (September 18, 1915 – February 21, 2000) was a well-known Cuban sculptor.  Her two most famous works are the Christ of Havana and the bust of José Martí at the Pico Turquino.

Born in La Victoria, Pinar del Río, Cuba, she studied painting and sculpture at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro" under the tutelage of Juan José Sicre (the sculptor of the José Martí Memorial).

Her statue of the Christ of Havana was a commission she won in 1953 during the government of Fulgencio Batista.  It was done in Carrara marble and is 60 feet tall and weighs 320 tons. It is composed of 67 pieces that were brought from Italy, where Madera carved the statue and was blessed there by Pope Pius XII. It was inaugurated on December 24, 1958, just two weeks before the fall of the Batista government.

She worked and made some exhibitions at New York's Sculpture Center, in USA, and exhibited other works at the City of Havana Local Council (Ayuntamiento de la Habana), the Lyceum and Lawn Tennis Club, and some painting and sculpture national exhibition halls, in Cuba.

Her bust of José Martí was done in 1953 and placed at the Pico Turquino during the centennial celebrations of Martí's birth in 1963 by Celia Sanchez.

The history of why this statue was created was told to be that Batitisa's wife prayed so hard that her husband would not be killed in the violent beginning of the revolution, that she commissioned this monument to show her gratitude for her answered prayers, however this may be an urban legend.

References
Gretel Báez Padrón; Lic: Mayra Isabel Sajión Sánchez, Lic: Felina González Hernández. "Lilia Gilma Madera Valiente, escultora" (in Spanish).

Modern sculptors
1915 births
2000 deaths
Cuban sculptors
20th-century sculptors

Jilma Madera


AS Watson Group (or AS Watson or ASW) is the world's largest international health and beauty retailer, with over 16,100 stores in 28 markets, primarily in Asia and Europe.

A member of CK Hutchison Holdings, ASW operates the world's largest portfolio of retail formats, retail brands and has the largest geographical presence. The company is majority owned by multinational conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, with just over 75 percent, after the remaining stake was sold to Singapore government-owned Temasek Holdings in March 2014.

History

1828–1999: Founding and success
AS Watson had its beginnings as the Canton Dispensary and Soda Water Establishment, founded in 1828, as a small dispensary with the mission to provide free medical services to the poor people of the Southern Chinese province of Guangdong (also known as Canton). It moved to Hong Kong and re-emerged as the Hong Kong Dispensary from 1 January 1843 under proprietors Drs. Alexander Anderson and Peter Young, trading at Capt Morgan's Bazaar. The company uses the date it moved to Hong Kong as its official date of establishment and does not describe its period in Guangzhou in its official account of its history; Richard Lord of the South China Morning Post stated that the company did this since one photograph is the only memorabilia and official document from its Guangzhou period. Dr Alexander Skirving Watson joined the company in 1858. In 1869, the Hong Kong Dispensary was appointed to dispense to the Governor of Hong Kong and the Duke of Edinburgh. The company began trading under the name A.S. Watson & Company in 1871.

By 1886, the company had constructed its first factory in Hong Kong, on Stanley Street, registered as a limited company and had also completed its first expansion further into China and to the Philippines. By 1895 the company was operating 35 stores and producing 300 dispensary, toiletry and perfumery lines.

In 1903, Watsons Water was established, selling bottled water in Hong Kong and China. In a 2018 interview, chief operating officer Malina Ngai stated that free drinking water was considered to be of poor quality at the time, and therefore the company was able to establish a market for selling drinking water.

In previous eras Watsons stores sold various kinds of general merchandise, but it became specialized in the pharmacy business as time went on.

1937 saw the Japanese invasion of China and A.S. Watson halted all operations in China. In 1941, A.S. Watson celebrated its centenary just months before the Japanese attack and the fall of Hong Kong in December that year. A.S. Watson eventually resumed business on 1 September 1945.

The Hutchison Group acquired a controlling interest in A.S. Watson & Co. Ltd. in 1963.

1972 saw AS Watson acquire the PARKnSHOP supermarkets from Y.K Lau, then in 1973 acquired Peter Pan Toy Shops and launched Mountain Cream, Ice cream products.

1981 saw Hutchison Whampoa Limited take full control of AS Watson becoming a wholly owned subsidiary. According to Ngai, the ownership gave Watsons the finances needed to expand its operations.

At the end of the 1980s, the company grew rapidly by entering Taiwan in 1987, Macau and Singapore in 1988, and re-opening in China in 1989, all under the name Watsons' The Chemist.

Fortress joined the AS Watson Group in 1990. 1994 saw the company open a new water factory in Beijing and further expand Watsons The Chemist to Malaysia, by 1996 Watsons The Chemist had entered Thailand and in 1997 A.S. Watson Group had acquired Shanghai Sparkling Drinking Water. 1998 saw Fortress open its first store in Taiwan and Watson's Wine opened in Hong Kong. 1998 also saw Nuance-Watson's retail stores open at Hong Kong International Airport. A.S. Watson's water operations also expanded in 1998, but this time into Europe, through acquisitions. In 1999 A.S. Watson sold Mountain Cream, its ice cream businesses, which operated in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and southern China to the Unilever Group. At the time, Mountain Cream distributed Dreyer's in Hong Kong and China, and was the largest ice cream importer in Hong Kong.

2000–present: International expansion
In 2000, AS Watson entered the United Kingdom with the acquisition of Savers Health & Beauty and in 2001 expanded its wine business with the acquisition of Badaracco SA.

The year 2002 saw AS Watson expand into Europe and the UK even further with the acquisition of the Kruidvat Group, adding a number of different brands to its portfolio, including Superdrug in the UK and ICI Paris XL and Kruidvat itself in Mainland Europe.

During 2003 AS Watson signed an agreement to sell its European water operations to Nestlé, Superdrug opened its first new identity store in the Bullring Shopping Centre in Birmingham, in the UK. There were new store openings for Watsons as the company launched its third-generation store, Watsons Water celebrated its centennial anniversary and launched its "Year of Hong Kong Creativity". Fortress launched a new identity in Hong Kong and Nuance-Watson opened duty-free stores at Hong Kong International Airport.

Drogas Health and Beauty Retail Chain was acquired by A.S. Watson in 2004, taking the group into the Baltics, Watsons also acquired Apex Pharmacy Sdn Bhd in Malaysia. The Group purchased a 40% stake in Germany's Rossmann, adding 786 stores to the group's portfolio. TASTE food galleria launched in November 2004 and Watson's Wine launched a new concept store in Hong Kong.

In 2005 the group opened its 100th store in Mainland China and its 300th store in Taiwan. The group entered Turkey with the acquisition of Cosmo Shop and the first Watsons Health and Beauty Store opened in Korea. 2005 also saw two major acquisitions in Europe with Marionnaud and The Perfume Shop. October 2005 saw the acquisition of Spektr, launching A.S. Watson in the Russian Market.

2006 saw Watsons open in Indonesia and it also celebrated its 200th store opening in June. A.S. Watson entered the Ukraine through the acquisition of DC, and Marionnaud expanded into Asia with its first store opening in the Philippines in September.

Rossmann celebrated its 2,000th store milestone in 2009, while Watsons opened its 500th store in Mainland China. COOL bottled water was revamped and re-branded to refresh its image.

During 2010, Watsons card membership reached the 15 million mark.

2011 saw DC Ukraine re-branded as Watsons, and Watsons China opened its 1,000th store.

On 7 October 2023, the group launched a new brand identity, featuring a modernised visual identity. Emphasising  the groups heritage and trust, injecting more energy into the brand.

Temasek Holdings stake purchase & proposed share sale
In March 2014, Hutchison Whampoa sold an almost 25 per cent stake in A.S. Watson to Temasek Holdings, for HK$44 billion.

The proposed share sale of A.S. Watson Group has been put in hold, announced towards the end of 2013 with the appointment of three underwriting banks, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and HSBC. This had followed the aborted sale of Park'n'Shop, when no satisfactory offer was received for the business. The flotation of the group would take place 'in two or three years' in Hong Kong and Singapore, said Li Ka-shing at the time, rather than in Hong Kong and London as had been expected.

AS Watson Group brands

Health and beauty

 Drogas (Baltic Countries)
 Kruidvat (Benelux)
  (Netherlands)
 Nuance-Watson
Rossmann (Germany)
 Savers (UK) (A.S. Watson (Health & Beauty UK) Ltd)
 Spektr
 Superdrug (A.S. Watson (Health & Beauty UK) Ltd)
 Watsons

Perfume and cosmetics
 ICI Paris XL

 Cosmo Shop
 The Perfume Shop (A.S. Watson (Health & Beauty UK) Ltd)

Food, electronics and wine
 Fortress
Three
 Fusion
 Great
 PARKnSHOP
 Su-Pa-De-Pa
 TaSTE
 Watson's Wine

Beverages
 Sunkist
 Mr. Juicy
 Watsons Water

References

External links

CK Hutchison Holdings
AS Watson

A.S. Watson Group


The Lichfield rail crash was a rail crash which occurred on New Year's Day 1946 at Lichfield Trent Valley station in Staffordshire, England. 20 people were killed in the accident, caused when a points failure routed a goods train into the back of a stationary passenger train waiting at the station. This event, alongside the Abbots Ripton rail accident, is the basis for the story The Flying Kipper in the Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry.

The crash
At Lichfield Trent Valley station there were four tracks running through the station: two fast through lines in each direction with loops on each side for trains stopping at the station.

The crash occurred at 18:58, and involved the 14:50 fish train from Fleetwood to London Broad Street. This train consisted of seven four-wheel fish vans and a brake van hauled by a Stanier Class 5 4-6-0. It was travelling at around 35 mph when it passed into the station, and was scheduled to run through on the fast up line. However at the north end of the station, the points had become stuck in the position used by the preceding train – a  to  local passenger train, which had left the main line for the platform loop in order to stop at the station and was still waiting there for the goods train to pass. The goods train was diverted onto the platform loop where it collided with the rear end of the local passenger train. The passenger train consisted of four old wooden-bodied coaches; the force of the impact demolished the rear three coaches, and hurled the engine (LNWR Prince of Wales Class 4-6-0 number 25802) forwards 100 yards.

Casualties
20 passengers on the passenger train lost their lives – 13 in the collision and the remainder either in hospital or on the way there. Another 21 were injured, some seriously, including a porter on the platform who was injured by flying debris. The crew of the passenger train were unhurt, however the crew of the goods train suffered bruises and minor injuries, and the driver had to be treated for severe shock.

Cause
The points failure was caused by the extremely cold weather that day freezing the point mechanisms. When the signalman had accepted the fish train from the previous signalbox to the North, he needed to swing the facing points (that allowed entry into the Up Platform Loop from the Up line) from reverse to normal. Unbeknown to him, the points had frozen in reverse position. However, he was able to push the lever back into the frame and engage the point lock and thus clear the signal. He was able to do this because the point rods had become bent, allowing sufficient play for the lever to be pushed fully into the normal position, but actually leaving the points in reverse. This accident is one of the very rare occasions where mechanical interlocking has failed to work correctly.

Sources

Ministry of Transport official report

External links
Pathe Newsreel report of the accident

Railway accidents and incidents in Staffordshire
Railway accidents in 1946
1946 in England
Accidents and incidents involving London, Midland and Scottish Railway
History of Lichfield
20th century in Staffordshire
1946 disasters in the United Kingdom
January 1946 events in the United Kingdom
Train collisions in England

Lichfield rail crash


Abobo's Big Adventure is a freeware parody flash game. Inspired by various video games released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the game features Abobo, a boss character from the Double Dragon franchise, traveling through the worlds of several different games to save his son. Written by I-Mockery.com founder Roger Barr, programmed by Nick Pasto (AKA: PestoForce), with art and animation by PoxPower, Abobo's Big Adventure was released in January 2012 to positive critical reception.

Gameplay and plot
The player's objective in Abobo's Big Adventure is to proceed through different levels of the game using the character Abobo from Double Dragon. The game itself is split into different sub-games that follow one another, each an homage to a particular game: "Double Drabobo", "Super Mabobo", "Urban Chabobo", "Zeld Abobo", "Balloon Abobo", "Pro Wrabobo", "Mega Mabobo/Megabobo", "Contrabobo", and "Punch Abobo". Each game makes use of the directional keys to control the movement of the character, while the 'A' and 'S' keys perform functions related to the particular sub-game, such as punching and kicking respectively. Abobo has a rage meter that increases when he hits enemies and decreases when he is hit; when the meter is completely filled, the player can press 'A' and 'S' together to perform a special attack that destroys or greatly damages all enemies on the screen. With the exception of the "Contra Bobo" level, each level is single player only.

The game's plot revolves around Abobo's son, Aboboy, who is kidnapped in the opening cutscene in a nod to the opening of Double Dragon. The game's levels are mostly linear, featuring several references to other Nintendo Entertainment System properties with their enemies and layout. Before the final level, Abobo encounters Jerome "Doc" Louis from the Punch-Out!! series. Doc reveals that the real villain is his former pupil, Little Mac, who went mad with power after winning the championship. Abobo defeats Little Mac in a boxing match, decapitates him with the Power Glove, and rescues Aboboy. As the crowd cheers for the reunited pair, they suddenly leap out of the ring and begin to graphically murder everyone within reach. The events of the game are finally revealed as a dream Abobo is having, a reference to the ending of Super Mario Bros. 2.

Development

Development on the game was started in 2002 by I-Mockery founder Roger Barr, who intended it to be his first full-length flash-based game and to feature his favorite NES character, Abobo. Working with a programmer nicknamed "Bane", they put together several early levels. However the game was delayed by various side projects, including a game with a similar concept named "Domo-Kun's Angry Smashfest". He later returned to the game with the help of developers Nick Pasto of PestoForce and "Pox" of The Pox Box, and after mapping out the storyline decided to start the project over from scratch in 2006 due to dissatisfaction with the early work, and the feel that the original programming strayed too far from the feel of an actual NES.

Level development was done by playing NES titles and taking notes on which characters they wished to include and where. Rather than have each level feature just one group of enemies from the same game, they would instead act as a tribute to the system as a whole and feature a variety of them. During the course of development, smaller projects were also done in order to keep themselves motivated and meet financial obligations. By 2009, the first three levels of the game were completed and revealed at the San Diego Comic-Con, playable with a NES controller as originally intended. With the game well-received, they resumed work, using feedback from the test to fix bugs and issues, and in 2010 presented the game at the following Comic-con in a free-to-play arcade cabinet, with artwork made by Jeff Bandelin of Newgrounds.

Though the game was delayed heavily in 2011, they intended to release it at the end of December. In September of that year, Barr took the game with him on a comedy tour he was invited to attend with Keith Apicary, showcasing it at various arcades and game shops. An official trailer followed shortly after, and in response to numerous donations they had received, they began work on a smaller game called "Aboboy's Small Adventure" for anyone who donated, though it pushed the release date for the completed project further. On January 11, 2012 the game was released on Newgrounds.com, with an added tutorial explaining how to play the game with a NES controller. A downloadable version of the game has also been released, while the team plans to continue to showcase the arcade cabinet at various conventions.

Reception
The game was positively received at its release. Abobo's Big Adventure won the Newgrounds 2012 "Game of the Year" award. GameSpy praised their work, calling it the "mother of all 8-bit homage flash videogames" Mexican magazine Cine Premiere called it fun, and a good way to re-live the nostalgia of 8- and 16-bit video games. GameZone described it as "part parody and part tribute" to the NES, further calling its story "not cheesy. Instead, it's all kinds of badass." Eurogamer.it called it a "serious contender for [Game of the Year] 2012" and "The final tribute to the NES", further describing it as both well made and very difficult. Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Adam Smith stated that while the combination of various sprite styles could be reminiscent of various webcomics, the game was created with the original influences in mind, not just the characters. He further added that it was a "well designed series of tiny games that more often than not succeed in capturing the pleasures of the originals". Wired called it "8-bit parody done right", further praising it for deviating from similar titles by offering more than simplified graphics and sounds, and that "the fearlessness with which it mocks these age-old heroes portrays an almost tangible love for them at the same time". 1UP.com editors Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey both praised the game as well, with Parish questioning whether it blurred the line between "parody and appropriation [...] you could make a case for it being a Dada-ist expression", while Mackey asserted he still felt it was parody, but that the controls for each aspect of the game had been replicated "dead on." GameSpot praised the game saying "It's a labor of love that's jam-packed with a staggering number of pitch-perfect references to NES games. It doesn't just duplicate the sprites, environments, and music of so many NES games; it also captures the simple but challenging gameplay of the games it imitates." Yoshihisa Kishimoto, creator of Double Dragon, has stated in a Polygon interview that he was supportive and loved the game.

References

External links
Official website
Abobo's Big Adventure at Newgrounds

2012 video games
Arcade video games
Crossover beat 'em ups
Fan games
Flash games
Freeware games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Parody video games
Retro-style video games
Trackball video games
Video games about video games
Video games developed in the United States

Abobo's Big Adventure


The Wedding Singer is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. The film stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Christina Pickles and Christine Taylor, and tells the story of a wedding singer in 1985 who falls in love with a waitress. The film was released on February 13, 1998. Produced on a budget of million, it grossed $123million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics. It is often ranked as one of Sandler's best comedies.

The film was later adapted into a stage musical of the same name, debuting on Broadway in April 2006 and closing on New Year's Eve of that same year. Jon Lovitz would reprise his role as Jimmie Moore in the episode of the same name of The Goldbergs, set during the events of The Wedding Singer, with Sandler,  Barrymore and Billy Idol appearing through the use of archival footage. The film marks the first collaboration between Sandler and Barrymore, and is followed by 50 First Dates and Blended (the latter also directed by Coraci).

Plot
Robbie Hart is a wedding singer in Ridgefield, New Jersey in 1985, whose own wedding to his fiancée Linda is approaching. He meets and befriends Julia Sullivan, a new waitress at the reception hall where he works, and promises to sing at her wedding, though her fiancé, businessman and bond investor Glenn Gulia, has yet to set a date.

On Robbie's wedding day, his sister Kate informs him as he waits at the altar that Linda has changed her mind about the wedding, leaving him humiliated and emotionally devastated. Later that day, Linda visits Robbie and reveals that she fell in love with him for his ambitions of being a rock star, and hates the idea of being married to just a wedding singer. Robbie sinks into depression, causing his friends and family to be concerned. His best friend Sammy convinces him to return to work, but he gives a depressed performance that is panned, and decides to give up wedding gigs and reneges on his promise to sing for Julia when Glenn finally sets a date. However, Julia convinces him to help her with the planning and their friendship blossoms. During a double date with Julia, Glenn, and Julia's cousin Holly, Robbie learns from Glenn that he cheats on Julia frequently and plans to continue after they are married.

Julia and Robbie are increasingly confused by their deepening feelings for each other. When Holly tells Robbie that Julia is marrying Glenn for his money, he unsuccessfully pursues a job at a bank. Julia is dismayed at his materialism, and when he accuses her of the same, she becomes angry with him. Depressed, he decides to follow Sammy's example of only having shallow relationships with women, in response to which Sammy confides that he is unhappy, and encourages Robbie to tell Julia how he feels. Meanwhile, Julia confides in her mother that she has fallen out of love with Glenn and has developed feelings for Robbie, and bursts into tears thinking about becoming "Mrs. Julia Gulia". Robbie arrives to declare his feelings, and sees her through her bedroom window in her wedding dress, where she is happily looking in a mirror pretending she has just married Robbie, but Robbie assumes she is thinking of Glenn.

Heartbroken, Robbie leaves to get drunk and finds Glenn in the midst of his pre-wedding bachelor party, arm in arm with another woman. After a heated exchange, Glenn punches Robbie and mocks him. Robbie stumbles home to find Linda waiting for him wanting to reconcile, and passes out. The following morning, she answers the door and introduces herself as his fiancée to a crestfallen Julia. She runs to Glenn, who is sleeping off the events of the previous night, and tells him she wants to be married immediately. He half-heartedly offers to take her to Las Vegas.

Robbie awakens and, after shaking off his hangover from the previous night, rejects Linda's reconciliation, having realized how shallow she is during his time with Julia, and kicks her out. At the 50th wedding anniversary party of his neighbor Rosie, to whom he has been giving singing lessons, he realizes he wants to grow old with Julia and, with Rosie's encouragement, he decides to pursue her. Just then, Holly arrives and informs him of Julia's encounter with Linda, so Robbie rushes to the airport and gets a first class ticket to Las Vegas.

After telling his story to his empathetic fellow passengers, which include Billy Idol, he learns that Glenn and Julia are on the same flight. With the help of Billy and the flight crew, over the loudspeaker, he sings a song he has written called "Grow Old With You", dedicated to Julia. As Robbie enters the main cabin singing, Glenn tries to assault him only to be thwarted and shoved into a lavatory by the flight attendants with assistance from Billy and a large fan. Robbie and Julia admit their love for each other, and share a kiss. Billy, impressed by Robbie's song, offers to tell his record company executives about him. Later, Robbie and Julia are married, and Robbie's bandmates perform at their wedding.

Cast

 Adam Sandler as Robbie Hart, a wedding singer
 Drew Barrymore as Julia Sullivan, a waitress and later Robbie's love interest
 Christine Taylor as Holly Sullivan, Julia's cousin
 Allen Covert as Sammy, Robbie's best friend
 Angela Featherstone as Linda, Robbie's fiancée
 Matthew Glave as Glenn Gulia, a businessman and bond investor who is Julia's fiancé
 Alexis Arquette as George Stitzer, keyboardist and singer in Robbie's band
 Frank Sivero as Andy, Kate's husband and Tyler's and Petey's dad as well as Robbie's brother-in-law
 Christina Pickles as Angie Sullivan
 Ellen Albertini Dow as Rosie
 Jodi Thelen as Kate Hart, Robbie's sister and Andy's wife as well as Tyler's and Petey's mom
 Patrick McTavish as Tyler, Andy's and Kate's son and Petey's brother as well as Robbie's nephew
 Gemini Barnett as Petey, Andy's and Kate's son and Tyler's brother as well as Robbie's nephew
 Teddy Castellucci, Randy Razz, and John Vana as the remaining members of Robbie's band
 Billy Idol as himself
 Kevin Nealon as Mr. Simms
 Marnie Schneider as Joyce, Flight Attendant
 Carmen Filpi as Old Man in Bar
 Robert Smigel as Andre
 Todd Hurst as Drunk Teenager
 Peter Dante as David's friend Jack Nisbet

Other notable appearances include future Queens of the Stone Age musician Michael Shuman as The Bar Mitzvah boy, screenwriter Steven Brill as Glenn's buddy, the film's own writer Timothy P. Herlihy as Rudy, a bartender, model Shanna Moakler as a flight attendant, and Al Burke played the large Billy Idol fan. Also appearing uncredited were Steve Buscemi as David Veltri, Jon Lovitz as Jimmie Moore, and Brian Posehn as Man at Dining Table #9. and Chauntal Lewis as Stuck-Up Girl at Bar Mitzvah.

Production
Adam Sandler had an idea for a comedy about a wedding singer who gets left at the altar, and suggested it to Tim Herlihy. Inspired by the radio show "Lost in the '80s" Herlihy decided to set the film in that decade. Herlihy had not set out to do anything different and thought the script was similar to his previous collaborations with Sandler. The changes came naturally, and he attributed the differences to his recently having gotten married, as well as the chemistry between Sandler and Barrymore. Herlihy was aware that Sandler's previous films had lacked a female perspective, and emphasized the importance of Barrymore. He explained that she was so great in her scenes that test audiences did not complain about Sandler not being in every scene as they had done for his previous films, and as a result more of her scenes survived and were included in the final film. Carrie Fisher, a frequent script doctor, was brought on to make the female part more balanced. Judd Apatow and Sandler also performed uncredited rewrites of the script.

Director Frank Coraci was friends with Sandler since they went to college at NYU and could hardly believe that he and his friends had the opportunity to make films together. Coraci had also gotten over his own experiences of romantic heartbreak a few years earlier and was able to look back on it differently and instead allow it to be funny. Coraci was a fan of director John Hughes and mentioned his films as an important influence.

Barrymore approached Sandler about working together on a film, saying they were "cinematic soulmates" before they had even worked together. Barrymore had a great relationship with Coraci, and praised him for balancing the broad comedy with the important moments of emotion and intimacy. Sandler would often make Barrymore laugh out of context, so that even after a long day, her laughs on camera would be real. In addition, she would not read or hear the songs until the first shoot so that her reactions would be more spontaneous.

Principal photography took place in California from February 3 to March 25, 1997.

Reception

Box office

The film had a budget of $18million and made $123.3 million worldwide in ticket sales. It opened in second in the US with $18.8 million, behind holdover Titanic.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 67 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "It's decidedly uneven -- and surprisingly sappy for an early Adam Sandler comedy -- but The Wedding Singer is also sweet, funny, and beguiling." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Leonard Klady of Variety wrote: "Director Frank Coraci and scripter Tim Herlihy work in concert to maintain a quality of farce rooted in human comedy." Roger Ebert gave the film a negative review and wrote: "The screenplay reads like a collaboration between Jekyll and Hyde."

Boy George responded to the film, saying that when he saw Alexis Arquette doing an impersonation of him and singing "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" he thought it was hilarious.

The film has frequently been ranked as one of Sandler's best comedies.

According to a 2023 poll by Costa Coffee, The Wedding Singer was named by Brits as one of the top ten movies to help them "overcome heartbreak and move on".

Soundtrack
Two soundtrack albums for the film, called The Wedding Singer and The Wedding Singer Volume 2, were released in 1998. While the film had the actors performing many of the songs, the soundtrack albums, for the most part, contained the original versions of the songs instead, as well as the songs that were in the background during the film and original songs and dialogue from it. Only for "Rapper's Delight" was its rendition (by Ellen Dow) used, in combination with the original recording.

The track listing of the first album is:
 "Video Killed the Radio Star" (originally performed by The Buggles), performed by The Presidents of the United States of America
 "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", performed by Culture Club
 "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", performed by The Police
 "How Soon Is Now?", performed by The Smiths
 "Love My Way", performed by The Psychedelic Furs
 "Hold Me Now", performed by Thompson Twins
 "Everyday I Write the Book", performed by Elvis Costello
 "White Wedding", performed by Billy Idol
 "China Girl", (Originally performed by Iggy Pop), performed by David Bowie
 "Blue Monday", performed by New Order
 "Pass the Dutchie", performed by Musical Youth
 "Have You Written Anything Lately?"
 "Somebody Kill Me", written by Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy, performed by Adam Sandler
 "Rapper's Delight" (medley), performed by Sugarhill Gang and Ellen Dow

The track listing of the second album is:
 "Too Shy", performed by Kajagoogoo
 "It's All I Can Do", performed by The Cars
 "True", performed by Spandau Ballet
 "Space Age Love Song", performed by A Flock of Seagulls
 "Private Idaho", performed by The B-52's
 "Money (That's What I Want)", performed by Flying Lizards
 "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", performed by Dead or Alive
 "Just Can't Get Enough", performed by Depeche Mode
 "Love Stinks", performed by The J. Geils Band
 "You Make My Dreams", performed by Hall & Oates
 "Holiday", performed by Madonna
 "Grow Old With You", written by Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy, performed by Adam Sandler

Songs and renditions that appeared in the movie, but were not included in the soundtrack albums, were:
 "Der Kommissar", performed by After the Fire
 "99 Luftballons", performed by Nena
 "Till There Was You", written by Meredith Willson, performed by Ellen Dow
 "Don't Stop Believin'" (originally performed by Journey)
 "Boys Don't Cry", performed by The Cure
 "All Night Long (All Night)", performed by Lionel Richie
 "That's All", written by Alan Brandt & Bob Haymes, performed by Adam Sandler
 "Ladies' Night" (originally performed by Kool & the Gang), performed by Jon Lovitz
 "Do You Believe in Love", performed by Huey Lewis and the News
 "Jam on It", Newcleus
 "Miami Vice Theme", performed by Jan Hammer
 "Hungry Heart", performed by Bruce Springsteen
 "The Goofball Brothers Show", written and performed by Sourcerer
 "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", performed by Wham!

Musical adaptation

In 2006, a musical adaption of the same name was released on Broadway starring Stephen Lynch as Robbie and Laura Benanti as Julia. The show has had two national tours in 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 respectively. It was nominated for five Tony Awards and eight Drama Desk Awards and received generally good reviews. In this show, the airplane scene with Billy Idol was replaced with a scene in Las Vegas where Robbie meets a Billy Idol impersonator, and they and a group of other impersonators including Ronald Reagan, Cyndi Lauper and Imelda Marcos come to convince Julia to give up Glenn. In addition, Robbie's neighbor Rosie is changed to be his grandma with whom he lives and who asks him to write a song out of a poem she wrote for the 50th anniversary party. Also Robbie's friend, Sammy, was changed from being a limousine driver to being a part of Robbie's band. The show only ran on Broadway for 284 performances but has become a popular show among community theaters and high schools.

References

External links

1998 films
1998 romantic comedy films
1990s American films
1990s English-language films
American romantic comedy films
Films about singers
Films about weddings in the United States
Films directed by Frank Coraci
Films produced by Robert Simonds
Films scored by Teddy Castellucci
Films set in 1985
Films set in New Jersey
Films with screenplays by Tim Herlihy
New Line Cinema films

The Wedding Singer


The frizzen, historically called the "hammer" or the steel, is an "L"-shaped piece of steel hinged at the front used in flintlock firearms.  The frizzen is held in one of two positions, opened or closed, by a leaf spring. When closed, it is positioned over the flash pan so as to enclose a small priming charge of black powder next to the flash hole that is drilled through the barrel into which the main charge has been loaded. When the trigger is pulled, the hammer or cock which includes a shaped piece of flint held in a set of jaws with a scrap of leather or thin piece of lead, snaps forward causing the flint to scrape downward along the frizzen's face (historically called the 'battery'), throwing it forward into the open position and exposing the priming powder. The flint scraping along the steel causes a shower of sparks to be thrown into the pan, thereby igniting the priming powder therein and sending flames through the touch hole, which in turn ignites the main charge of black powder in the breech of the barrel, driving the projectile out of the muzzle.

The development of the frizzen which combines both the "battery" or striking surface and separate pan cover on the less advanced "snaphaunce" lock is often credited to French gun maker Marin le Bourgeoys around 1610. He may have been influenced by the Spanish "miquelet" lock that utilized a similarly shaped frizzen at least two decades earlier.

It is important that the metal of the frizzen be brought to a sufficiently high carbon content by the process of carburization, wherein carbonaceous materials such as horn, hooves, and leather scraps were wrapped around the frizzen in a clay or metallic crucible which was then placed into a forge or other furnace for several hours to raise the carbon content of the steel through the process of diffusion. This process increases the carbon content of the iron in a layer close to the surface of the frizzen so that it hardens the outside while the center remains relatively ductile so as to prevent through-cracking. Through the wear of continued use a frizzen will lose its ability to create enough sparks to reliably ignite the powder, thereby necessitating that it be re-hardened or replaced.

See also
Glossary of firearms terminology
Case hardening

References

Firearm components

Frizzen


Goat Rock Beach is a beach in Sonoma County, California, United States.
It is part of the Sonoma Coast State Beach, which is owned by the State of California.  The mouth of the Russian River is in the northern part of the beach.  Goat Rock is in the southern part of the beach. The beach itself was named after the rock. The naming of Goat Rock is unknown, but many sources say some goat herders around the early 20th century used the grassy, flat rock for goats, because few other animals could live there.

Goat Rock Beach has many visitors. It usually has the most people in the middle of summer. The beach is a popular spot for swimming and surfing. It is home to seagulls, harbor seals, and sea lions, as well as other animals from the Pacific Ocean.

History
The oldest natural history of the area is related to marks made by mammals in an area of rock about one third of a mile south of Goat Rock Beach.  In uplifted sea stack formations, there are rubbing marks about two to four meters above the ground surface, too high of a rubbing mark for modern bovids. Mammoths are thought to have traveled here as recently as 40,000 years ago, and are thought to have made these rubbing marks. Mammoth fossils have been found at Bodega Head, which is a few miles south of Goat Rock Beach.

The earliest known humans to settle at Goat Rock Beach were the Native American Coast Miwok and Pomo tribes. During the mid-1800s, Mexican ranchers lived in California, and Goat Rock Beach was part of a Mexican land grant called the "Bodega Rancho". The Russians are thought to have begun cutting down the forests just north of the beach in the early 19th century.

Geography
The Russian River, which has its mouth at the north end of Goat Rock Beach, is Sonoma County's biggest watercourse and river. Just north of the Russian River mouth is the small town of Jenner, and the beach, Jenner Beach. Goat Rock is at the south end of the beach. Visitors can walk onto Goat Rock, going on a small isthmus, which is also known as a land bridge. Blind Beach is just south of Goat Rock Beach, with only Goat Rock between the two beaches, and Goat Beach is southwest of it.

Geology

Goat Rock Beach has much marine erosion and erosion from the wind. This causes about one to three feet of land mass lost each year. Erosion is when water and wind remove the top layer of rock or mud. During big storms, there can be even more erosion.

The "sea stacks" (eroded parts of rock) along the Goat Rock Beach coast are rocks from the Franciscan Complex, rock formations which were made during earthquakes in California. About 200 years to 30 million years ago, the North American Plate collided with the Farallon Plate, causing earthquakes. Different rock types came from these collisions, including pillow basalt, chert, and sandstone. Goat Rock has a flat topped sea stack, made of greywacke. The rock formations (groups) are made of sandstone with layers of quartz.

Popular culture
Goat Rock Beach was voted the second most popular beach in Sonoma County with readers of Metroactive.
The final scene of the movie The Goonies was filmed at Goat Rock Beach.

References

Other websites
Evening Photos at Goat Rock Beach
Sonoma County Environmental Health Department: Goat Rock Beach and other beach photos
Sonoma Coast State Park

Beaches of California
Sonoma County, California

Goat Rock Beach


Puss 'n Boots: Pero's Great Adventure is a video game released in 1990 by Electro Brain for the NES. There was a Japan-only game called Nagagutsu o Haita Neko: Sekai Isshū 80 Nichi Dai Bōken (長靴をはいた猫 世界一周80日大冒険) from 1986. It was loosely based on Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. Pero's name is also "Perrault" in the Japanese game. The character Pero, who is Toei Animation's mascot, is based on the cat from the folktale entitled "Puss in Boots" by Charles Perrault. The game's title comes from that story as well.

Story
As quoted from the manual:

Count Gruemon, a notorious swine, hated mice with a passion. One day, he discovered a mouse in his castle. Frustrated and irate, Count Gruemon ordered Puss 'N Boots (Pero) to find and destroy the mouse. However, Pero was a kind-hearted cat and had become friends with the mouse, and so, helped the little creature to escape. In a fit of anger, Count Gruemon, aided by Dr. Gari-gari, a fiendish scientist wolf, sent Pero on a perilous time-travel journey around the world and into the past.

Pero must locate and defeat Count Gruemon and the mad Dr. Gari-gari, and use their time machine to get home - or be stuck in the past forever. To make matters worse, the Cat Kingdom has sent Killers after Pero because he helped a mouse and thereby violated Cat Kingdom Law. Pero must travel to exotic lands and overcome many hazards, but can he defeat the combined might of the diabolical Count Gruemon, Dr. Gari-gari, and the Killers?

Note: In the original film, Count Gruemon was called Count Gourmon.

Gameplay
The objective of each stage is to simply reach the end and defeat the boss (where applicable). There are quite a few enemies along the way, but Pero has three weapons to choose from. A weapon may be selected by pausing the game and moving the control pad to the right or left until the player finds the desired weapon. All vehicles in the stages that use them have weapons Pero may use. Pero has 3 lives, and the game allows three continues until forcing you to start at the first level.

See also
 The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots
 Captain N: The Game Master

External links
 Once Upon a Time Machine synopsis - a more detailed synopsis of the Captain N episode

1990 video games
Electro Brain games
Nintendo Entertainment System games
Nintendo Entertainment System-only games
North America-exclusive video games
Platformers
Shouei games
Single-player video games
Toei Animation video game projects
Video games about cats
Video games about time travel
Video games based on fairy tales
Video games developed in Japan
Video games set in Africa
Video games set in England
Video games set in Japan
Video games set in Saudi Arabia
Video games set in the United States
Western (genre) video games
Works based on Puss in Boots

Puss 'n Boots: Pero's Great Adventure


An alkaline battery is usually a primary cell (it cannot be recharged), but some are rechargeable. It is very common. Duracell, Rayovac, and Energizer are common brands of alkaline batteries. They were introduced in the 1960s and replaced the Leclanche battery as the "everyday battery" in the 1990s. They are marketed in many forms, such as AAA, AA, C, D, 9V, and small disc cells for watches and calculators. In the battery, zinc is oxidized by manganese dioxide in a potassium hydroxide electrolyte.

Related pages
Battery
Table of batteries

Batteries

Alkaline battery


John Francis Jackson, DFC (23 February 1908 – 28 April 1942) was an Australian fighter ace and squadron commander of World War II. He had eight aerial victories, and led No. 75 Squadron during the Battle of Port Moresby in 1942. Born in Brisbane, he was a grazier and businessman. He had his own private plane when he joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Reserve in 1936. In 1939, at the start of the war, he was called up for active service. Jackson served with No. 23 Squadron in Australia before he was posted to the Middle East in November 1940. As a fighter pilot with No. 3 Squadron he flew Gloster Gladiators, Hawker Hurricanes and P-40 Tomahawks during the North African and Syria–Lebanon campaigns.

Jackson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Mentioned in Despatches for his actions in the Middle East. In March 1942, while serving in the South West Pacific theatre, he was promoted to squadron leader. He was in command of No. 75 Squadron at Port Moresby in Papua, operating P-40 Kittyhawks. Described as "rugged, simple" and "true as steel", Jackson, aged 34, was nicknamed "Old John" by his much younger squadron members. He was praised for his leadership during the defence of Port Moresby. He was killed in action on 28 April 1942. His younger brother Les took over No. 75 Squadron, and also became a fighter ace. Jacksons International Airport, Port Moresby, is named in John Jackson's honour.

References

1908 births
1942 deaths
People from Brisbane
Australian military people
World War II people

John Francis Jackson