The Fondation Claude Monet  is a nonprofit organisation that runs and preserves the house and gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny, France, where Monet lived and painted for 43 years. Monet was inspired by his gardens, and spent years transforming them, planting thousands of flowers. He believed that it was important to surround himself with nature and paint outdoors. He created many paintings of his house and gardens, especially of water lilies in the pond, the Japanese bridge, and a weeping willow tree.

With a total of 530,000 visitors in 2010, it is the second most visited tourist site in Normandy after the island of Mont Saint-Michel. The house and gardens have been recognised as among the Maisons des Illustres, and a Jardin Remarquable, rewarding their outstanding qualities. The estate was classified as a monument historique in 1976.

Monet's paintings of the gardens, especially the sites' pond with water lilies, are exhibited in dozens of major collections.

History

Claude Monet lived and painted in Giverny from 1883 to his death in 1926, and directed the renovation of the house, retaining its pink-painted walls. Colours from the painter's own palette were used for the interior -green for the doors and shutters, yellow in the dining room, complete with Japanese Prints from the 18th and 19th centuries, and blue for the kitchen. Monet had the nearby river Epte partially diverted for the gardens and hired up to seven gardeners to tend to it. Monet gained much of his inspiration from his gardens and believed it was important to surround himself with nature and paint outdoors.

When Monet died in 1926, the entire estate was passed on to his son Michel. As he never spent time in Giverny, it was left to Blanche Hoschedé Monet, the daughter of Alice and the widow of Jean Monet, to look after the garden with the help of former head gardener Louis Lebret. After Blanche died in 1947, the garden was left untended.

Michel Monet died heirless in a car crash in 1966. He had bequeathed the estate to the Académie des beaux-arts. From 1977 onwards, , then curator at the Palace of Versailles, played a key role in the restoration of the neglected house and gardens, which had been left in a desolate state. In a bid to raise funds, he and his wife Florence appealed to American donors through the "Versailles Foundation-Giverny Inc.". They, thereafter, dedicated themselves to its restoration. Substantial work needed to be done; the floors and ceiling beams were rotting while a staircase had already collapsed. Most of the window panes in both the greenhouse and main house had shattered long ago, and three large trees had begun to grow in the studio.  Walter Annenberg, an American philanthropist that owned Triangle Publications, funded an underpass for easier access to the water garden so that guests would no longer have to go across a busy road.

The Fondation Claude Monet was created in 1980 as the estate was declared public. It soon became very successful and now welcomes both French and international visitors from April to November.

When Gérald Van der Kemp died in 2001, Florence Van der Kemp became the curator of the Fondation Monet and continued renovating the property until her death in 2008.

Hugues Gall was appointed Director of the Fondation Claude Monet by the Académie des beaux-arts in March 2008.

As one of the most visited tourist destinations in France, strategies around ensuring long term protection for the garden are observed as a matter of protocol.

Restoration and donations

Americans donated almost all of the $7 million needed to restore Monet's home and gardens at Giverny in the 1970s. These donations were part of American diplomacy to France since "France lacked the American tradition of private giving as well as the tax concessions that encourage it." Starting in 1969, under U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, Americans could claim tax deductions for their contributions to charities and this in turn aided the preservation of France's architectural heritage. Nixon encouraged Americans to donate to France. "I felt that encouraging Americans to contribute to the heritage of France, one of our oldest allies, would be one way to remind ourselves that the past in many ways is infinitely more important than the present." For his service, Nixon was inducted into the Academie des Beaux-Arts as one of the 15 foreign members, following former President Dwight D. Eisenhower's induction in 1952.

The next ten years were spent restoring the garden and the house to their former state. Not much was left after the second World War. "The greenhouse panes and the windows in the house were reduced to shards after the bombings. Floors and ceiling beams had rotted away,  a staircase had collapsed. Three trees were even growing in the big studio. The pond had to be dug again. In the Clos normand, soil was removed to find the original ground level. Then the same flower species as those discovered by Monet in his time were planted."

British gardener James Priest, who has been in charge of restorations made to Monet's garden, taught himself the ways of the painter, particularly Monet's watercoloring. In 2014 Priest reported that although the garden was disfigured by some previous gardeners and is worn-down from time, it is still beautiful and has potential. He says that the lily-ponds remained in a similar state, and that Monet's color palette needs restoration in terms of returning the graded cool tones to the flower beds.

House

Visitors have access to:
 The ground floor: the blue salon (the reading room), the "épicerie" (the larder), the living room/studio, the dining room and the blue-tiled kitchen.
 The first floor: the family rooms, including Monet's which was renovated in March 2013 as well as Alice Hoschedé's bedroom and their private apartments. Also visible is the room of Blanche Hoschedé, which was recreated in 2013 based on archives and existing elements present in the house.
 The studio next to the home, where Monet painted his large Water Lilies paintings and murals, including those exhibited in Paris' Musée de l'Orangerie. This studio is now the Foundation's gift shop.

Gardens

The Gardens are divided into two distinctive parts, which have been restored according to Monet's own specifications, the formal Clos-Normand and the water garden with the water lilies pond and a Japanese bridge.

The Clos-Normand was modelled after Monet's own artistic vision when he settled in Giverny. He spent years transforming the garden into a living en plein air painting, planting thousands of flowers in straight-lined patterns.

In 1893 Monet acquired a vacant piece of land across the road from the Clos-Normand which he then transformed into a water garden by diverting water from the stream Ru, an arm of the Epte river. That garden became famous during his lifetime with his series of monumental paintings of its water lilies, the Nymphéas. The water garden is marked by Monet's fascination for Japan, with its green Japanese bridge and oriental plants. The now famous water lilies were meticulously tended by a gardener employed for that sole purpose.

Representations of the garden by Claude Monet

The Japanese prints collection

The majority of Monet's paintings are kept in the Musée Marmottan Monet. However, Monet's house is home to a collection of more than 200 Japanese ukiyo-e prints from the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the most notable pieces are works by Kitagawa Utamaro (1753–1806),  Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)  and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858).

In popular culture
Much of the 2006 BBC docudrama The Impressionists, which is told from Claude Monet's viewpoint, was filmed at the home, gardens, and pond.

See also
 Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
 List of single-artist museums

References

Bibliography
 Claire Joyes, Claude Monet à Giverny, la visite et la mémoire des lieux, Éditions Claude Monet/Gourcuff/Gradenigo, 2010,
 Hélène Rochette, Maisons d'écrivains et d'artistes. Paris et ses alentours, pp. 224–229, Parigramme, Paris, 2004,

External links

 Fondation Monet website
 Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism, exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Monet, Giverny
Giverny
Biographical museums in France
Monet, Giverny
Gardens in France
Garden museums
Japanese gardens
Monet
Maisons des Illustres
Open-air museums in France

Fondation Monet in Giverny


San Pietro a Patierno is a suburb of Naples, the chief city in Campania, Italy.

Geography
It is one of the largest suburbs of Naples and is relatively lightly populated compared to surrounding areas, with around 20,000 residents. The district of Capodichino includes Naples International Airport, the Ugo Niutta military airport, and the US Naval Support Activity where the United States Sixth Fleet has its home base.

History
Historically, the area was a feudal holding under the Angevin rule of Naples in the Middle Ages and called by its Latin name, Sanctus Petrus ad Peternum. It was abolished as a fief by Murat in the early 19th century and finally incorporated into the city of Naples during the Fascist period.

Notes and references

Quartieri of Naples
Former municipalities of the Province of Naples

San Pietro a Patierno


Marcel Gottlieb (14 July 1934 – 4 December 2016), known professionally as Gotlib, was a French comics artist/writer and publisher.

Through his own work and the magazines he co-founded, L'Écho des savanes and Fluide Glacial, he was a key figure in the switch in French-language comics from their children's entertainment roots to an adult tone and readership.

His series include Rubrique-à-Brac, Gai-Luron, and Superdupont.

References

1934 births
2016 deaths

Gotlib


Estrella de Soria is a three-act opera by Franz Berwald, to a libretto by Otto Prechtler translated into Swedish by Ernst Wallmark.

It was first performed at the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm on 9 April 1862 and had five performances in that run. It has never entered the repertory, although it was revived in Stockholm in 1898 and 1946. The overture, which makes use of Estrella's first act aria, has occasionally been recorded, and a CD of extended excerpts was released by Musica Sveciae in 1994. An aria for Estrella was the first recording by Birgit Nilsson in 1947 (and has been since re-issued). A full score of the 1862 edition was published as Volume 17a-b of the complete Bärenreiter edition.

Roles

Synopsis
The opera is set in 15th-century Castile.

Act 1
The Countess de Soria (soprano) plans to marry General Salvaterra (tenor), who has won a decisive victory over the Moors. However, he has also captured the Moorish Prince Muza (bass) and has fallen in love with his betrothed, the Princess Zulma (soprano). Zulma responds to Salvaterra and offers him a sash. Muza insists that Salvaterra keeps a promise to him to release him and Zulma; when Zulma says that she will stay in Castile, Muza swears vengeance. Estrella, countess of Soria, has heard of the love of Salvaterra and the captive Moorish princess, but remains convinced that he will return her love.

Act 2
In the woods outside the city Salvaterra is warned by the knight Sambrano of Muza's threats, and takes Zulma to Salvaterra's castle, but is ambushed by Muza and his men. Alone at the king's palace, Estrella is downcast, while preparations continue for a victory celebration. The king of Castile offers Salvaterra the hand of Estrella but Diego, Estrella's servant, notices that he is wearing a sash from Zulma; Estrella is distraught, but amid the confusion the king orders the celebration to continue. Muza approaches the king and announces that his bride has been stolen by Salvaterra, and draws his sword. Muza is slain and the king banishes Salvaterra.

Act 3
At a spot by the sea peasants and sailors are at work; Salvaterra and Zulma nearby. Sambrano arrives and tells his master that Estrella and Diego are approaching. When Salvaterra goes to arrange an escape by sea, Estrella notices a veiled woman and orders that she be taken to a cliff to be killed. When Salvaterra returns and finds Estrella she orders her men to take him. As a storm begins Sambrano arrives and Estrella's men are disarmed and Zulma rescued. Although Estrella calls destruction down upon her enemies, Salvaterra and Zulma put out to sea on a ship, and in despair Estrella stabs herself.

Sources
Layton R, Van Boer BH. Franz Berwald. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
Bärenreiter edition: Estrella de Soria

Swedish-language operas
Operas
1862 operas
Operas by Franz Berwald
Operas set in Spain

Estrella de Soria


Private Peaceful is a 2012 British war drama film directed by Pat O'Connor and starring Jack O'Connell and George MacKay.  It is based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo.  The film marks the final released performance of Richard Griffiths as well as his last credited film before his death the following year.

Plot
The tale is of a young man named Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who tells the story in account format from the past to the present day events of his experiences. His eldest brother, "Big Joe", has learning difficulties due to brain damage at birth, and is always looked out for by his younger brothers. The earlier part of the story tells of his life as a boy, before the Great War; the tale of his love for Molly – a beautiful girl he had a lot of feelings for and grew to love besottedly; and Charlie Peaceful, Tommo's brother who is older than him, but younger than Joe.

Also early on in the story, Tommo and his dad go woodcutting where a tree nearly falls on Tommo. However, Tommo's dad saves him but in the process gets killed by the tree. Tommo kept it a secret that he was the reason his father is dead.

The trio had grown up together; their mischievous adventures included braving the beastly "Grandma Wolf" (the boys' great-aunt – also referred to as the Wolfwoman), defying the Colonel and skinny-dipping, the latter leaving a large impression on Tommo. They had also seen an airplane together – the first people in their village to do so.

Charlie, Molly and later Tommo all find jobs on the estate or in the village. Charlie, being older than Tommo, had always protected and looked out for his younger brother. Also, Charlie and Molly become closer as they are both older than Tommo, while Tommo begins to be left out. Tommo suspects that Charlie and Molly are in love. While they were skinny-dipping, Tommo notices them having a lot more fun together without him. Charlie and Molly used to secretly meet by the brook where it is revealed they kissed and had sex multiple times together. Molly becomes pregnant. She is thrown out of her house, and moves in with the Peacefuls.

Tommo became heartbroken after the couple rushed to get married a short time later in the village church before Tommo and Charlie go to France to fight in World War I. All through this time, Tommo recorded his feelings in the novel. The rest of the story describes the brothers' experiences of the war: their Sergeant "Horrible" Hanley, the near-misses during the battle on the front line, and Charlie's continued protection of Tommo.

During a charge of the German lines, Charlie disobeys a direct order from Sergeant Hanley and stays with Tommo while he is injured on no-man's-land. As a result, Charlie is accused of cowardice and given a court-martial. At dawn, Charlie is marched before the firing squad, where he is executed.

The story ends with Tommo preparing for the Battle of the Somme.

In 2006, 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers who (like Charlie) were executed for offences including cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and sleeping at their posts were posthumously pardoned.

Cast
Jack O'Connell as Charlie Peaceful
Hero Fiennes-Tiffin as Young Charlie
George MacKay as Tommo Peaceful
Samuel Bottomley as Young Tommo
Alexandra Roach as Molly Monks
Izzy Meikle-Small as Young Molly
Richard Griffiths as The Colonel
Frances de la Tour as Grandma Wolf
John Lynch as Sergeant Hanley
Maxine Peake as Hazel Peaceful
Stephen Kennedy as James Peaceful
Anna Carteret as Colonel's Wife
Eline Powell as Anna

Reception
The film has a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three stars out of five.  Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave the film two stars out of five.  Rob Humanick of Slant Magazine gave the film two and a half stars out of four.

References

External links

2012 films
2012 war drama films
British war drama films
British World War I films
Films based on British novels
Films based on works by Michael Morpurgo
Films set in Devon
Films directed by Pat O'Connor
Films scored by Rachel Portman
World War I films based on actual events
2012 drama films
2010s English-language films
2010s British films

Private Peaceful (film)


Jerome Willis "Red" Downs (August 23, 1883 – October 19, 1939), was a Major League Baseball player, who gained notoriety later in life as an armed robber during the Great Depression.

Early life and MLB career

Downs was born and raised in Neola, Iowa, a small town with a town ball baseball team.  Downs played on the Neola team, known as the Neola Erins, as a young man. Between 1903 and 1906, he played minor league baseball on teams in Fort Scott, Kansas (Fort Scott Giants), Guthrie, Oklahoma (Guthrie Senators) and Topeka, Kansas (Topeka White Sox]). In 1906, he led the Western Association with 8 home runs, leading to his signing with the Detroit Tigers. Downs had a batting average of .227 in 241 major league games. Downs and Germany Schaefer platooned at the second base position for the Tigers in 1907 and 1908. Detroit won the American League pennant in both of Downs' years with the team.  He played in two games in the 1908 World Series, getting one hit (a double) in 6 at-bats for a .167 batting average. Downs also scored a run and had an RBI in the 1908 World Series.

The Chicago White Sox acquired Downs after the 1908 season, but he got off the team train while on the way to spring training and did not reboard. Downs played with the minor-league Minneapolis Millers for most of the 1909, and then got another shot at the major leagues with the Washington Senators, but he declined to take the long trip east to play in only a few games. He played in 1910 and 1911 with the Columbus Senators. The Brooklyn Dodgers drafted Downs after the 1911 season, but he was released after only 9 games in 1912.  He was then picked up by the Chicago Cubs, where he took Joe Tinker's spot at shortstop. Sporting Life, in August 1912, reported that "Jerry Downs is proving a good substitute for Johnny Evers. The lad can bat some."

Return to minors

From 1913 to 1918, Downs played for the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League, including the 1915 PCL championship team. Downs also served as the Seals' manager at the end of the 1917 season, leading the team to another PCL pennant.  On July 1, 1918, Downs resigned from the Seals and signed with the Los Angeles Angels, helping the Angels win the 1918 PCL pennant.

Later years

In 1924, Downs helped organize the Professional Ball Players of America. The organization carried on for a number of years, assisting ill and needy former ballplayers, and Downs served as a Director of the organization through 1925.

As the Great Depression hit, Downs fell on hard times. In March 1932, Downs and another man robbed a jewelry store at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.  Downs was convicted of first-degree robbery and sentenced to five years to life.  He was paroled after  years and returned to Iowa.  Downs died of cirrhosis of the liver in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1939 at age 56.  He is buried at the Neola Township Cemetery in Neola, Iowa.

Notes

External links
 Baseball-Reference.com
 , is an excellent source.

1883 births
1939 deaths
Brooklyn Dodgers players
Chicago Cubs players
Detroit Tigers players
Baseball players from Iowa
Major League Baseball second basemen
American people convicted of robbery
Minor league baseball managers
Fort Scott Giants players
Omaha Rangers players
Guthrie Senators players
Topeka White Sox players
Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players
Columbus Senators players
Indianapolis Indians players
San Francisco Seals (baseball) managers
San Francisco Seals (baseball) players
Vernon Tigers players
Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players
Deaths from cirrhosis

Red Downs


WCHS-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Charleston, West Virginia, United States, serving the Charleston–Huntington market as an affiliate of ABC and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Catchy Comedy affiliate WVAH-TV (channel 11, also licensed to Charleston) under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Cunningham Broadcasting. However, Sinclair effectively owns WVAH-TV as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. Both stations share studios on Piedmont Road in Charleston, while WCHS-TV's transmitter is located atop Coal Mountain, south of Scott Depot, West Virginia.

Along with sister station WSYX in Columbus, Ohio, WCHS-TV also doubles as a default ABC affiliate for the Parkersburg, West Virginia–Marietta, Ohio market since that area does not have an ABC station of its own. WCHS-TV serves the West Virginia side of the market.

History
WCHS-TV signed-on August 15, 1954, and was originally owned by the Tierney Company, alongside WCHS radio (580 AM). WCHS-TV was the second station in Charleston after WKNA-TV, which launched on UHF channel 49 as an ABC affiliate in 1953 but went dark in 1955 due to lack of viewership. Originally a CBS station sharing ABC with WSAZ-TV (channel 3), channel 8 became a full CBS affiliate when WHTN-TV in Huntington signed-on in 1955. During the late-1950s, it was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.

In 1958, WCHS-TV swapped affiliations with WHTN and became an ABC affiliate. The WCHS stations were sold to Rollins Telecasting in 1960. The station reversed the swap and went back to CBS in 1962. For reasons that remain unknown, WCHS did not carry the CBS Evening News for several years after returning to CBS. On June 1, 1986, the station swapped affiliations once again with channel 13, now known as WOWK-TV.

In 1987, Rollins Telecasting merged with Heritage Broadcasting to form Heritage Media. In December 1987, the station relocated from its longtime studios on Virginia Street East to their current location on Piedmont Road in Charleston. The company sold off WCHS radio in 1991. Heritage sold all of its remaining broadcasting properties (four television stations, LMAs for two other television stations, and 24 radio stations) to Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1997 just as Heritage itself was being swallowed up by News Corporation (that sale being for Heritage's supermarket marketing operations, rather than for its television stations). None of Heritage's stations thus switched network affiliations.

Shortly afterwards, in 1998, Sinclair bought out Sullivan Broadcasting, owners of WVAH-TV; as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) did not permit duopolies at the time, WVAH's license assets were transferred to Glencairn. However, Glencairn's stock was almost entirely controlled by the Smith family, owners and founders of Sinclair. In effect, Sinclair now owned both stations. The company further circumvented the rules by entering into a local marketing agreement with WVAH, with WCHS as senior partner. The other station retained its own studios on Mount Vernon Road in Hurricane along I-64 even although most of its operations were merged with WCHS. Eventually, WVAH's separate facilities were put up for sale.

Sinclair tried to merge with Glencairn in 2001 after the FCC decided to allow duopolies but could not purchase WVAH because the FCC does not allow common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market. Glencairn changed its name to Cunningham Broadcasting and the local marketing agreement with WCHS continues to this day. There is overwhelming evidence that Glencairn/Cunningham is merely a shell corporation used by Sinclair to circumvent FCC ownership rules.

On February 1, 2021, Sinclair moved the Fox network affiliation from WVAH-TV to WCHS 8.2, although it still markets the signal as "Fox 11" and more formally as "Fox 11, WCHS 8.2". The move followed similar moves of Fox affiliations from Sinclair-managed stations owned by third parties (including, but not limited to, Cunningham Broadcasting) at the beginning of 2021 to subchannels of sister stations owned by Sinclair in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Columbus, Ohio; and Dayton, Ohio, markets.

News operation

For most of its history according to Nielsen ratings, WCHS has been a distant runner up to longtime dominant WSAZ-TV. This station and WOWK are usually more competitive in Charleston but WCHS ultimately has higher viewership, however neither is competitive in Huntington, or in the counties of Ohio and Kentucky that are in the market. This is because both stations generally ignore news outside of Charleston. In 2013, however, WCHS opened a small studio and news office in Huntington. WSAZ came in a close second to WCHS for a short period in late 2009–early 2010. This was due to lower lead-in numbers originated by The Jay Leno Show and WSAZ has since regained its first place ratings.

WCHS currently uses the Eyewitness News branding for its news operation and produces three newscasts for WCHS-DT2. This includes Eyewitness News This Morning on Fox 11 seen for an hour on weekday mornings from 7 until 8. There is also an hour-long nightly prime time broadcast known as Eyewitness News at 10 on Fox 11. For many years, WVAH's 10:00 p.m. news broadcast was the market's only hour-long late evening newscast. This changed on March 31, 2014, when WSAZ moved their 10:00 p.m. newscast from MyNetworkTV affiliate WSAZ-DT2 to CW affiliate WQCW (channel 30) and expanded the broadcast from a half-hour to a full hour.

Transition to local HD
WCHS and WVAH started the switch over to high definition in June 2012 by first installing a new HD Master Control room. In July 2012, the station started to remove the set from the studio that was installed in the late '90s. The old news desk, backdrop, monitors, and the chroma key wall were moved to a small conference room in the station until the transition to HD news was completed. In late July 2012, the new set arrived from Devlin Design Group based out of Crested Butte, Colorado. During the months of August and September, the new set was installed. On September 29, 2012, WCHS and WVAH became the third and fourth stations in the market to launch high definition newscasts.

Technical information

Subchannels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

For a period of time it carried a service called TheCoolTV on 8.2, but like all other Sinclair stations, it dropped this without announcement on August 31, 2012.

Analog-to-digital conversion
WCHS-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 8, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 41. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 8.

Carriage disputes

Dish Network
Sinclair and Dish Network were both in a brief dispute over retransmission fees on May 17, 2005. This dispute was resolved on May 20 and the notice was taken down.

Suddenlink Communications
In summer 2006, Charter Communications streamlined its operations which included selling off portions of its cable system which were "geographically non-strategic". Charter accounts in WCHS' market area were purchased by Suddenlink Communications (formerly known as Cebridge). Sinclair requested a $40 million one time fee and a $1 per sub per month fee from Suddenlink for retransmission rights of WCHS and WVAH on the Suddenlink cable system. This led to a protracted media battle between the two companies and Sinclair pulled the two stations off-the-air in the Beckley market. After several weeks of negotiations, the two companies reached an agreement allowing WCHS and WVAH to continue transmission over the Suddenlink cable system. The terms of the agreement were not released to the public.

Time Warner Cable
It was announced on December 20, 2006, that Time Warner Cable systems in the Charleston–Huntington market would lose WCHS and WVAH starting December 31. However, this only applied to cable subscribers that were previously owned by Adelphia. An extension agreement was made until January 12, 2007, for negotiations.

References

External links

ABC network affiliates
Fox network affiliates
Antenna TV affiliates
Charge! (TV network) affiliates
TBD (TV network) affiliates
Sinclair Broadcast Group
CHS-TV
Television channels and stations established in 1954
1954 establishments in West Virginia

WCHS-TV


The Organisation armée secrète (OAS, "Secret Armed Organisation") was a far-right French dissident paramilitary and terrorist organisation during the Algerian War. The OAS carried out terrorist attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in an attempt to prevent Algeria's independence from French colonial rule. Its motto was  ("Algeria is French and will remain so").

The OAS was formed from existing networks, calling themselves "counter-terrorists", "self-defence groups", or "resistance", which had carried out attacks on the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) and their perceived supporters since early in the war. It was officially formed in Francoist Spain, in Madrid in January 1961, as a response by some French politicians and French military officers to the 8 January 1961 referendum on self-determination concerning Algeria, which had been organised by President de Gaulle.

By acts of bombings and targeted assassinations in both metropolitan France and French Algerian territories, which are estimated to have resulted in 2,000 deaths between April 1961 and April 1962, the OAS attempted to prevent Algerian independence. This campaign culminated in a wave of attacks that followed the March 1962 Évian Accords, which granted independence to Algeria and marked the beginning of the exodus of the pieds-noirs, and in Jean Bastien-Thiry's 1962 assassination attempt against president de Gaulle in the Paris suburb of Le Petit-Clamart. Another prominent target was the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, who supported the FLN.

The OAS still has admirers in French nationalist movements. In July 2006, some OAS sympathisers attempted to relight the flame of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate the Oran massacre on 5 July 1962.

History

The OAS was created in response to the January 1961 referendum on self-determination for Algeria. It was founded in Spain, in January 1961, by former officers, Pierre Lagaillarde (who led the 1960 Siege of Algiers), General Raoul Salan (who took part in the 1961 Algiers putsch or "Generals' Uprising") and Jean-Jacques Susini, along with other members of the French Army, including Yves Guérin-Sérac, and former members of the French Foreign Legion from the First Indochina War (1946–1954). OAS-Métro, the branch in metropolitan France, was led by captain Pierre Sergent. These officers united earlier anti-FLN networks such as the Organisation de Résistance de L'Algérie Française. While the movement had a broadly anticommunist and authoritarian base, in common with the political outlook of many colons, it also included many ex-communists and a number of members who saw its struggle in terms of defending fraternal bonds between Algerians and the colons against the FLN. In France the OAS mainly recruited amongst overtly fascist political groups. In Algeria its makeup was more politically diverse, and included a group of Algerian Jews, led by Jean Guenassia, who began armed resistance after a series of FLN attacks on the Jewish quarter in Oran. Some Algerian OAS members conceived of the conflict in terms of the French Resistance, and in contrast to later Gaullist depictions of the movement, it included a number of former Resistance members in addition to Vichy collaborators.

Resistance against Algerian independence commenced in January 1960, with further violence breaking out in 1961 during the General's Uprising. Daniele Ganser of the ETH Parallel History Project claims that Gladio stay-behind networks, directed by NATO, were involved, but no definitive proof has been found. Both of these insurrections were swiftly suppressed and many of the leaders who had created the OAS were imprisoned.

By acts of sabotage and assassination in both metropolitan France and French Algerian territories, the OAS attempted to prevent Algerian independence. The first victim was Pierre Popie, attorney and president of the People's Republican Movement (Mouvement Républicain Populaire, MRP), who stated on TV, "French Algeria is dead" (L'Algérie française est morte). Roger Gavoury, head of the French police in Algiers, was assassinated at the direction of Roger Degueldre, leader of the OAS Commando Delta, with the actual killing done by Claude Piegts and Albert Dovecar on 31 May 1961 (Piegts and Dovecar were executed by a firing-squad on 7 June 1962; Degueldre on 6 July). The OAS became notorious for stroungas, attacks using plastic explosives.

In October 1961 Pierre Lagaillarde, who had escaped to Francoist Spain following the 1960 barricades week, was arrested in Madrid, along with the Italian activist Guido Giannettini. Franco then exiled him to the Canary Islands.

The Delta commandos engaged in indiscriminate killing sprees, on 17 March 1962; against cleaning-ladies on 5 May; on 15 March 1962 against six inspectors of the National Education Ministry, who directed the "Educative Social Centres" (Centres sociaux éducatifs), including Mouloud Feraoun, an Algerian writer, etc. It is estimated that the assassinations carried out by the OAS between April 1961 and April 1962 left 2,000 people dead and twice as many wounded.

The OAS attempted several times to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle. The most prominent attempt was a 22 August 1962 ambush at Petit-Clamart, a Paris suburb, planned by a military engineer who was not an OAS member, Jean Bastien-Thiry. Bastien-Thiry was executed in March 1963 after de Gaulle refused to grant him amnesty. A fictionalised version of this attack was recreated in the 1971 book by Frederick Forsyth, The Day of the Jackal, and in the 1973 film of the same name.

The OAS use of extreme violence created strong opposition from some pieds-noirs and in mainland France. As a result, the OAS eventually found itself in violent clandestine conflict with not only the FLN but also French secret services and with a Gaullist paramilitary, the Mouvement pour la Communauté (the MPC). Originally a political movement in Algiers, the MPC eventually became a paramilitary force in response to OAS violence. The group obtained valuable information which was routinely passed on to the French secret services, but was eventually destroyed by OAS assassinations.

March 1962 Evian agreements and the struggle of the OAS

The main hope of the OAS was to prove that the FLN was secretly restarting military action after a ceasefire was agreed in the Evian agreements of 19 March 1962 and the referendum of June 1962, so during these three months, the OAS unleashed a new terrorist campaign to force the FLN to abandon the ceasefire. Over 100 bombs a day were detonated by the OAS in March in pursuit of this goal. OAS operatives set off an average of 120 bombs per day in March, with targets including hospitals and schools. Dozens of Arab residents were killed at Place du Gouvernement when 24 mortar rounds were fired from the European stronghold of Bab el-Oued. On 21 March, the OAS issued a flyer where they proclaimed that the French military had become an "occupation force." It organized car bombings: 25 killed in Oran on 28 February 1962 and 62 killed in Algiers on 2 May, among others. On 22 March, they took control of Bab el-Oued and attacked French soldiers, killing six of them. The French military then surrounded them and stormed the neighbourhood. The battle killed 35 and injured 150. On 26 March, the leaders of the OAS proclaimed a general strike in Algiers and called for the European settlers to come to Bab el-Oued in order to break the blockade by military forces loyal to de Gaulle and the Republic. A detachment of tirailleurs (Muslim troops in the French Army) fired on the demonstrators, killing 54, injuring 140, and traumatising the settlers' population in what is known as the "gunfight of the Rue d'Isly". In coincidence with the uprising of Bab-el Oued, 200 OAS maquis marched from Algiers to Ouarsenis, a mountainous region between Oran and Algiers. They tried to overrun two French military outposts and gain support for local Muslim tribes loyal to France, but instead they were harassed and eventually defeated by Legion units led by Colonel Albert Brothier after several days of fighting. Some clashes between the French army and the OAS involving grenades and mortar fire took place at Oran as late as 10 April. At least one Lieutenant and one Second-Lieutenant were killed by the OAS during the fighting.

In April 1962 the OAS leader, Raoul Salan was captured. Despite the OAS bombing campaign, the FLN remained resolute in its agreement to the ceasefire and on 17 June 1962 the OAS also began a ceasefire. The Algerian authority officially guaranteed the security of the remaining Europeans, but in early July 1962 the Oran Massacre occurred; hundreds of armed people came down to European areas of the city, attacking European civilians. The violence lasted several hours, including lynching and acts of torture in public places in all areas of Oran by civilians supported by the ALN—the armed wing of the FLN, at the time evolving into the Algerian Army— resulting in 3,000 missing people:

By 1963, the main OAS operatives were either killed or in jail. Claude Piegts and Albert Dovecar were executed by firing squad on 7 June 1962, and Roger Degueldre on 6 July 1962. Jean Bastien-Thiry, who had attempted the Petit-Clamart assassination on de Gaulle, but was not formally a member of the OAS, was also executed, on 11 March 1963. With the arrest of Gilles Buscia in 1965, the organisation effectively ceased to exist. The jailed OAS members were amnestied by De Gaulle under a July 1968 act. Putschist generals still alive in November 1982 were reintegrated into the Army by another amnesty law: Raoul Salan, Edmond Jouhaud, and six other generals benefited from this law.

Legacy
Many OAS members later took part in various anti-communist struggles around the world. Following the disbandment of the organisation, and the execution of several of its members, the OAS chaplain, Georges Grasset, organised the flight of OAS members, from a route going from Paris to Francoist Spain and finally to Argentina. Grasset arrived in 1962 in Buenos Aires to take charge of the Argentine branch of the Cité Catholique, an integral Catholic group formed by Jean Ousset, the personal secretary of Charles Maurras, as an offshoot of the monarchist Action Française. This anti-communist religious organisation was formed of many Algerian war veterans and close to the OAS. Charles Lacheroy and Colonel Trinquier, who theorised the systemic use of torture in counter-insurgency doctrine in Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency (1961), were members, along with Colonel Jean Gardes, who had first theorised counter-insurgency tactics during the Indochina War (1947–1954), Jean Ousset developed the concept of "subversion" referring to an essential enemy threatening the existence of Occident itself. Gardes arrived in Argentina in 1963, a year after the end of the Algerian War. There, he delivered counter-insurgency courses at the ESMA, which became infamous during the "Dirty War" in the 1970s for being used as an internment and torture center. Soon after Gardes met Federico Lucas Roussillon, an Argentine naval lieutenant commander, the cadets at the ESMA were shown the film The Battle of Algiers (1966) by Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo, during which the fictional Lieutenant-Colonel Mathieu and his paratroops make systematic use of torture, block warden system, and death flights.

The Argentine admiral Luis María Mendía testified in January 2007 that a French intelligence agent, Bertrand de Perseval, had participated in the "disappearance" of the two French nuns, Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon. Perseval, who lives today in Thailand, denied any links with the abduction, but did admit being a former OAS member who escaped to Argentina after the Evian agreements.

The financial crime expert Veit Buetterlin named the OAS as an example of a terror group which committed bank robberies to finance its operations. In a CNN interview, Buetterlin mentioned the attempted assassination of Charles de Gaulle as a historic example and related it to cases of the recent past where sanctioned parties are conducting cyber attacks on banks to acquire funds illegally.

Organisation

Chain of command
The secret army was a three-part organisation, each segment having its own action commando squads.

French Algerian branch

Oranie district
 General Edmond Jouhaud
Commander Pierre Guillaume
aide
 Charles Micheletti
civilian
 Colonel Dufour
replacing Gen. Jouhaud
 General Gardy
Capitaine
Revolutionary Directory member
Christian Léger
Revolutionary Directory member
Jean-Marie Curutchet
Revolutionary Directory member
Denis Baille
Revolutionary Directory member

Revolutionary Directory member

Algérois district
 Colonel Vaudrey

in charge of El-Biar, near Algiers

Constantinois district
 Colonel

aka the chouan de la Mitidja ("chouan of the Mitidja")

Metropolitan French branch

OAS-Métropole
 Captain Pierre Sergent
Chief of Staff
 Lieutenant Daniel Godot
ODM-Métropole Director
 Jacques Chadeyron
APP-Métropole
 Captain Jean-Marie Curutchet
ORO-Métropole

France-Mission III

aka the Monocle

Spanish branch

OAS-Madrid
Short living dissident group claiming the organisation's direction.
 Colonel Antoine Argoud
 Colonel Charles Lacheroy
 Commander Pierre Lagaillarde

Commanding officers
 General Raoul Salan
aka Soleil ("Sun" surname for Louis XIV of France)
Chief of Staff
 General Paul Gardy
Chief of Staff
 Colonel Yves Godard
Chief Aide
 Doctor Jean-Claude Perez
ORO Director
 Captain Jean-Marie Curutchet
ORO Director, replacing Dr. Perez on 1 January 1962
 Colonel
ODM Director
 Jean-Jacques Susini
APP Director

Notable members
 Antoine Argoud
 Bertrand de Perseval
 Jean-Pierre Cherid
 Roger Degueldre
 Albert Dovecar
 Paul Gardy
 Yves Godard
 Yves Guérin-Sérac
 Pierre Guillaume
 Roger Holeindre
 Edmond Jouhaud
 Pierre Lagaillarde
 Jean-Pierre Maïone-Libaude
 Claude Piegts
 Raoul Salan
 Albert Spaggiari
 Jean-Jacques Susini
 Dominique Venner
 Jacques Soustelle

In popular culture

The OAS is referenced in Ian Fleming's 1963 novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service. James Bond's future father-in-law Marc-Ange, the head of a Corsican crime faction known as Union Corse, refers to the OAS in chapter 24, due to the OAS having a French military helicopter in their possession. Because of the OAS indebtedness to Marc-Ange and the Union Corse, the helicopter is loaned to the MI-6 – Marc-Ange/Union Corse coalition endeavoring to thwart Ernst Stavro Blofeld's plot to unleash biological warfare in the UK's agricultural industry.

OAS graffiti appears outside a bakery approximately eight minutes into the 1963 film The Bakery Girl of Monceau. Two minutes later, following the second appearance of the exterior, similar graffiti appears to have been removed from the facade of the bakery.

The OAS featured prominently in Jack Higgins' 1964 novel Wrath of the Lion, in which the organization fictionally manages to suborn the crew of a French Navy submarine and use it for missions of revenge.

Alain Cavalier's 1964 film L'Insoumis stars Alain Delon as a deserter from the French Foreign Legion who joins the OAS on a kidnapping mission.

The OAS features prominently in the 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth, and its film adaptation. The story deals primarily with a fictional assassination plot against Charles de Gaulle, where the organisation hires a British contract killer (the Jackal) to kill de Gaulle. Bastien-Thiry and the Petit-Clamart plot figure prominently in the early sections of the story. Forsyth also mentions the OAS in his 1974 novel The Dogs of War, with several of its protagonists having joined the movement. The fictional Colonel Rodin from Jackal is also alluded to.

The OAS is referenced in the Oliver Stone film JFK, as suspected conspirator Clay Shaw (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is alleged to have business connections with them. The plot to assassinate De Gaulle at the Paris suburb of Petit-Clamart is also mentioned several times in the film.

The 2002 movie Legion of Honor is about an Englishman who joins the Foreign Legion and is set in Algeria shortly before their independence and "OAS" is mentioned numerous times as well as shown in graffiti outside a number of structures.

The OAS is referred to in the 2008 film Mesrine: Public Enemy No.1 (L'Instinc de Mort), describing the life of French criminal Jacques Mesrine. The character of Guido (played by Gérard Depardieu) is a member of OAS. Guido mentions OAS multiple times and together with Mesrine he assassinates another OAS member, who in his last moments declares: "De Gaulle killed us".

Subsequent groups with ties to OAS

In November 2016, an extreme right-wing terrorist cell calling itself the Organisation d'armées sociales (OAS) emerged in France. The acronym was a nod to the original Organisation Armée Secrète. It was inspired by Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik and consisted of 9 people led by former Action Française activist Logan Nisin. The cell had planned attacks against kebab shops, places of worship (especially mosques), drug dealers and politicians: Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Christophe Castaner were specific targets. The group was taken down by French authorities in November 2017 before it was able to accomplish any attacks.

See also
 Front Algérie Française, an earlier pied-noir nationalist group
 La Main Rouge, a similar organisation established earlier, sponsored by French intelligence agencies

References

Further reading
 Aussaresses, General Paul. The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955–1957. (New York: Enigma Books, 2010) .
 Harrison, Alexander. Challenging De Gaulle: The O.A.S and the Counter-Revolution in Algeria, 1954–1962. New York: Praeger, 1989 .
 Henissart, Paul. Wolves in the City: The Death of French Algeria. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970.
 Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace:Algeria 1954–1962, New York: New York Review Books, 1977

External links

Anti-communist organizations
Far-right politics in France
Far-right politics in Africa
Rebel groups in Algeria
Terrorism in Algeria
Terrorism in France
Right-wing terrorism
Anti-Arabism in Europe
Christian terrorism in Europe

Organisation armée secrète


Alex Bolt (born 5 January 1993) is an Australian professional tennis player. He plays mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour. His career-high rankings by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) are world No. 125 in singles and world No. 81 in doubles. Highlights of Bolt's career thus far include quarterfinal appearances at the 2014 Australian Open men's doubles and at the 2017 Australian Open with Andrew Whittington and Bradley Mousley respectively.

Personal life
Bolt was born in Murray Bridge, South Australia. He began playing tennis at the age of seven and also spent time playing Australian rules football and basketball throughout his youth. During his hiatus from tennis in 2016, Bolt began playing local football for the Mypolonga Tigers in River Murray Football League and worked as a fence-builder.

Bolt is an avid supporter of the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League.

In August 2021, Bolt tested positive for COVID-19.

Career

2010-2012: Career beginnings
Bolt began his tennis career in Murray Bridge competing in the Murray Bridge Lawn Tennis Association. He made his ITF debut in October 2010 at the Australia F8, where he made the second round.

Throughout 2011, Bolt competed on the Futures circuit. His best performance was a semi final result in the Australian F7 in September. Bolt finished 2011 with a ranking of 897.

Bolt lost in the first round of qualifying for the 2012 Brisbane International to countryman, Luke Saville.
Bolt spent the rest of 2012 competing on the Futures Circuit and reached his first final and winning the Australian F7 in Happy Valley, South Australia; this was his first career title. He competed in four finals from October–December; winning one. Bolt ended 2012 with a ranking of 483.

2013
Bolt entered the qualifying rounds of Sydney International, where he made the second round, before losing to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. He also made the second round of qualifying for the 2013 Australian Open, losing a tight contest 4–6, 7–5, 6–8 to Florent Serra.

Between February and May, Bolt competed in a number of Future tournaments, making the semi-finals in Australia F1, F2 and China F1.
He lost in the first round of qualifying in the 2013 French Open to James Duckworth.

From June – September, Bolt played a number of Futures throughout Europe, mainly on clay, before returning to Australia the play in the futures there. his best result reaching the final of Cairns F7, losing to his doubles partner Andrew Whittington, 4–6, 4–6. Bolt ended 2013 with a ranking of 364.

2014: Major wildcard & debut in doubles, First Challenger title
Bolt was given wildcards into both the 2014 Brisbane International and 2014 Australian Open qualifying, but lost in round 1 in both. Whittington and Bolt were given wildcards into the Men's doubles main draw. The pair defeated the No. 3 seeds David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco in round two, ultimately losing at the quarter-final stage to number 8 seed Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić. The match was played on Rod Laver Arena; the pairs first appearance on centre court.

In February, he made the quarter-final of the Burnie Challenger, losing to eventual runner-up Hiroki Moriya; before playing a number of Australian Futures, winning the F4 and coming runner-up in F5.

Bolt's won his first ATP Challenger Tour on 3 May at the China International against Nikola Mektić in straight sets, increasing his ranking to a career high of #240. He also won the doubles, pairing with Andrew Whittington. At Wimbledon, Bolt fell just short of making his grand slam debut, losing in the final round of qualifying to Russian Konstantin Kravchuk in four sets. In September, Bolt made the semi-finals of the Napa Challenger.

2015: Masters 1000 debut
Bolt commenced 2015 at the Onkaparinga Challenger where he lost in the semifinals to Ryan Harrison.
Bolt missed the 2015 Australian Open singles, but played in the doubles as a wildcard pair with A. Whittington, reaching the third round. In February, Bolt made his second career ATP Challenger Tour final in Burnie. He lost in straight sets to Chung Hyeon.

In March, Bolt made his first ATP Masters 1000 main draw in Indian Wells, after two wins in qualification. He lost in straight sets to Robin Haase in the 1st round.

He lost in the first round of qualifying for the French Open to Bjorn Fratangelo, before turning to grass, where he completed in and qualified for three challenger events in a row, at Manchester, Surbiton and Ilkley. Bolt played the North America from July to August with limited success, before returning to Australia's futures circuit where he made the final of the Cairns F7, but lost in three sets to Finn Tearney. In October and November, Bolt made quarter finals of both the Latrobe and Canberra Challengers.

Bolt finished 2015 with a singles ranking of No. 269.

2016: Hiatus
Bolt commenced 2016 at the Onkaparinga Challenger when he made the quarter-final. He lost in the first round of qualifying for the 2016 Australian Open. In January and February, Bolt made the quarter-final of the Maui Challenger and Launceston Challenger, before returning to play three ITF tournaments across Australia, before taking a tennis hiatus that would last the remainder of the year.

Bolt ended 2016 with a ranking of No. 586.

2017: Return to tennis and singles Grand Slam debut
Bolt returned from a 9-month hiatus in January 2017 to qualify for the Happy Valley Challenger. Bolt said; "This is my first tournament since March so it's good to be back. I'm loving playing tennis again. It's great fun and hopefully this run continues". Bolt defeated Tatsuma Ito before losing to Omar Jasika in round 2.

Bolt then qualified for the 2017 Australian Open, defeating Marius Copil, Matthias Bachinger and Julien Benneteau. This was Bolt's grand slam single debut. He lost to Yoshihito Nishioka in round 1. In Doubles, Bolt paired with Bradley Mousley where he reached the quarter-finals for the second time. Bolt reached the quarterfinals of both the Burnie International and Launceston International, but reached the finals in the Launceston doubles with Andrew Whittington. In February, Bolt travelled to Asia but failed to qualify for any Challenger events in singles, before returning to the futures tour in Australia. In May, Bolt travelled to Europe, where he qualified for and made the final of the Ilkley Trophy, losing to Marton Fucsovics in straight sets. This was Bolt's first appearance in a Challenger final for two years. With the result, his ranking jumped from 438 to 306 in the world. In October, Bolt made his second Challenger tour final of the season at Traralgon where he lost to fellow Aussie Jason Kubler in three tight sets.

In December, Bolt competed in the Australian Wildcard Playoff for a spot in the 2018 Australian Open. Despite losing to Alex De Minaur in the final, Bolt's performance throughout the tournament and strong 2017 earned him a discretionary wildcard into the Australian Open. He also received a wildcard into the main draw of the doubles with partner Bradley Mousley, who he made the quarter-finals with in 2017.

Bolt finished the year with a singles ranking of No. 192, an improvement of almost 400 places from the end of 2016. Bolt also had a handy year on the doubles circuit, making five Challenger finals with three victories to finish the season ranked No. 86, a career high doubles ranking.

2018: First ATP Singles win
Bolt started the season in his home state of South Australia at the inaugural Playford Challenger event, where he lost to Jason Kubler.

Bolt received a wildcard into the 2018 Sydney International in both singles and doubles, partnering compatriot Jordan Thompson. In the singles draw, Bolt lost in the first round to Ričardas Berankis.

At the Australian Open Bolt lost to Viktor Troicki as a wildcard in the first round in 5 sets. Bolt partnered Brad Mousley for doubles and lost in round 1 in 3 sets.
In March, Bolt qualified for and won the Zhuhai Challenger.

In June, Bolt won his first ATP World Tour match at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, defeating Vasek Pospisil in round 1.

At the 2018 Wimbledon Championships Bolt qualified for the first time for the singles main draw of this Grand Slam. He lost to 21st seed Kyle Edmund in the first round. Bolt also partnered 2002 Men's singles Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt in doubles after the pair received a wildcard. The pair lost also in the first round. In July, Bolt qualified for Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Atlanta and Washington but lost in first round of all three. In August, Bolt lost in the final round of qualifying for the US Open.

2019: First Grand Slam win and third round in singles
Bolt received a wildcard into the Brisbane International but lost in round 1.

Bolt received a wildcard in the Australian Open where he defeated Jack Sock in four sets for his first Grand Slam win. He defeated Gilles Simon in the second round after saving four match points in the 4th set but lost to Alexander Zverev in the third round, 3–6, 3–6, 2–6.

In August, Bolt lost in the first round of 2019 US Open – Men's singles qualifying. Bolt finished the year with a ranking of World No. 159.

2020: First ATP Tour quarterfinal
In January 2020, Bolt reached the quarterfinal of the 2020 Adelaide International as a wildcard.

He was awarded a wildcard into the 2020 Australian Open and played Albert Ramos Viñolas in round 1, winning in five sets, before losing in the second round in 5 sets to eventual finalist, Dominic Thiem. Bolt finished the year with a ranking of World No. 171.

2021: Second ATP Tour quarterfinal
He was awarded a fourth wildcard in a row for the Australian Open main draw where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the second round.

In June, Bolt won the 2021 Nottingham Trophy Challenger as a qualifier defeating Kamil Majchrzak. Following this successful run, Bolt received a wildcard to the Wimbledon main draw.

In July 2021, Bolt reached his second ATP Tour singles quarterfinal at Los Cabos. Bolt finished the year with a ranking of World No. 137.

2022: Fifth consecutive singles wildcard entry into Australian Open, hiatus
Bolt was awarded, for a fifth consecutive year, a wildcard into the 2022 Australian Open singles main draw. He lost to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round.
Bolt took a break from tennis, returning in October, winning the M25 Cairns on return.

Bolt finished the year with a ranking of World No. 636.

2023: Tenth Australian Open doubles wildcard and third round
He received his tenth wildcard to participate in the doubles event at the 2023 Australian Open partnering Luke Saville where they reached the third round.

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 22 (9–13)

Doubles: 31 (18–13)

Performance timelines

Singles
Current through the 2023 Shanghai Masters.

Doubles

References

External links

Australian male tennis players
1993 births
Living people
Tennis people from South Australia
21st-century Australian people
Sportsmen from South Australia

Alex Bolt


is a Japanese commercial bank established in April 2001. It operates as a direct bank and has no physical branches or ATMs. It is one of the largest online banks in Japan and a subsidiary of Sony Financial Holdings, the financial business unit of the multinational conglomerate Sony. Its main business is offering online banking with foreign currency deposits, investment trusts, and home loans.

History
A reduction in regulations in Japan at the end of the 1990s encouraged a number of companies to enter the banking sector for the first time.

Sony faced challenges as it began Sony Bank. In 2001, when Sony Bank was founded, Web use was limited in Japan as compared with the United States. Only 24 million people used the Internet every month at that time. Still, the company remained hopeful that infrastructure would improve. Sony claimed its move into banking went hand-in-hand with its shift from a manufacturing focus to a focus on content such as films and music.

Sony announced its new banking unit in March 2000. The bank started doing business on June 11, 2001. The company began with ¥37.5 billion of capital. It had around 80 employees at the time. It added 340 online accounts during its first hour of operation. At the time, the company offered yen-deposit accounts, investment trusts, card loans, and bank payments. It hoped to expand into foreign currency deposit accounts, credit cards, and housing loans by 2002. It also hoped to allow its customers to use automated teller machines from the Japan Post.

In 2001, Sony Bank hoped to accumulate 400,000 customers by 2004. In February 2001, the company had hoped to accumulate $5.2 billion in deposits; it adjusted that figure downward to $4.1 billion in deposits three months later. In February 2001, the company aimed to gain $8.6 billion in deposits by 2006. Analysts at the time were generally upbeat about the prospects for the bank. Raymond H. Graber of TowerGroup suggested the bank could synergize with the other operations of Sony Financial. Still, Paul Jamieson of Gomez Advisors warned that customers would have high expectations for Sony Bank, given Sony's existing reputation for the ease of use and elegant design of its products.

Shigeru Ishii was appointed and served as the first president of Sony Bank.

 the company faced weak earnings.

By 2007, Sony Bank had accumulated 500,000 customers. That year, Sony planned to add an electronic trading platform.

In 2011, Sony had considered expanding its banking business into the Australian market, only to abandon the idea in 2013.

In 2019, Sony Bank started an English-language online banking service to meet the need of increasing foreign residents in Japan.

Ownership
Upon the bank's founding in 2001, Sony owned 80% of the bank. By 2005, its stake had risen to 84.2% and Sony Financial Holdings became the intermediate holding company of the bank.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group owned a 16% initial stake in the company and allowed Sony Bank customers to access its 7,600 automated teller machines. Sony Group is considered to be a Mitsui keiretsu. Sumitomo Mitsui had reduced its share to 12.6% by 2005.

Upon the bank's founding in 2001, JPMorgan Chase owned a 4% stake in the bank. JPMorgan had hoped to expand its asset and wealth management services in Japan. The company reduced its ownership to 3.2% by 2005. It sold off its entire stake in 2005, claiming to have discussed the move with Sony in advance. By the divestiture made by JP Morgan, Sony increased its ownership to 87.4%.

In 2008, Sony Bank became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Financial Holdings after Sumitomo Mitsui sold its remaining stake to Sony.

References

External links
Sony Bank in Japanese

Bank
Banks established in 2001
Banks of Japan
Companies based in Tokyo

Sony Bank


Funeral Procession is the name of a painting by Ellis Wilson, which went from obscurity to notoriety in 1986, when it was featured heavily in the episode "The Auction" of TV series The Cosby Show's second season. In the episode, Mrs. Huxtable wins the painting at an auction and pays $11,000 for it. She states that the painting was made by her "great-uncle Ellis". She said it hung in her grandmother's house and it was sold when her grandmother got sick and needed the extra money for medical bills. At the end of the episode, Dr. Huxtable hangs the painting over the family's living room mantle, where it would stay for the remainder of the eight-season series.

In real life, the painting is displayed as part of the Aaron Douglas Collection at the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ellis Wilson was born on April 20, 1899, in Mayfield, Kentucky, and died on either January 1 or 2, 1977. The most Wilson ever got for one of his paintings was about $300.

References

African-American art
The Cosby Show
Paintings by Ellis Wilson
Funerals
Paintings in Louisiana
Christian processions

Funeral Procession (painting)


The Tariffville Historic District is a  historic district in the town of Simsbury, Connecticut.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.  It is part of the Tariffville section of Simsbury.  The district includes 165 contributing buildings and two contributing sites.  It also includes 26 non-contributing buildings and 4 non-contributing sites.  There are several houses in the district of Gothic Revival style, probably following designs from pattern books of architect Andrew Jackson Downing.  The Trinity Episcopal Church is the only building in the district designed by an architect of national standing, namely Henry C. Dudley.  Many of the homes in the area were built by the Tariff Manufacturing Company, which opened a carpet mill along the Farmington River, and needed housing for workers.

The historic district is "significant architecturally because it retains the mill housing and street layout of an early 19th-century village as well as the Greek Revival and Gothic Revival structures of later 19th-century development.  The commercial blocks, religious structures, and publicly owned buildings, together with the many 19th-century houses and their outbuildings, tell the story of the community's development into the 20th century with integrity and few intrusions."  Its boundaries are "drawn to encompass the concentration of historic and architectural resources" of the historic village area.  The historic district excludes newer development around West Point Terrace and Hayes Road, as well as properties along White Water Turn, Wooster Road, and Main Street Extension.

Significant contributing properties include:
Trinity Church (see #10 of NRHP application's accompanying photographs).
William Ketchin Tobacco Company warehouse, 7 Church Street, brownstone "with low towers and castellated roof lines, it has now been dramatically altered by adding a hipped roof of great volume supported by new heavy roof brackets in a modern salute to the Italianate style" (see photo #14)
8-4 Elm Street, worker housing (photo #1)
23-29 Red Hill Road, worker housing (photo #2)
39 Tunxis Road, small Greek Revival (photo #3)
19 Main Street (see photo #4)
40 Winthrop Street (see photo #5)
2 Tunxis Road (see photos #6 and #7)
28 Main Street (see photo #8)
32 Main Street (see photo #9)
 Saint Bernard's Church (see photo #12)
37 Elm Street (see photo #13)
10 Center Street (see photo #15)

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Hartford County, Connecticut

References

Greek Revival architecture in Connecticut
Queen Anne architecture in Connecticut
Gothic Revival architecture in Connecticut
Colonial architecture in Connecticut
Historic districts in Hartford County, Connecticut
Simsbury, Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Hartford County, Connecticut
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut

Tariffville Historic District


The bush ballad, bush song or bush poem is a style of poetry and folk music that describes the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. Bush ballads usually have a simple rhyme structure. They can be funny or sad. The words used are colourful, colloquial and Australian. They tell stories of action and adventure about bushranging, droving, droughts, floods, life on the frontier, and relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

The first ballads were created by British and Irish settlers and convicts who brought with them the folk music of their homelands. They were usually not written down, but passed around verbally. The ballads grew into a unique style over the years, becoming very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Australians thought they were "an authentic expression of the national spirit". Through bush poetry, newspapers and magazines, like The Bulletin,  promoted mateship, egalitarianism, anti-authoritarianism and a concern for the "battler" as being ideal Australian values.

Bush ballads are not as popular in modern times, but the poems written up to Federation are still some of the best-known and loved poems in Australia. The "bush bards" such as Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson are regarded as giants of Australian literature. Clubs and festivals devoted to bush poetry can be found throughout the country, and the tradition lives on in Australian country music.

Characteristics

The songs tell personal stories of life in Australia. The stories can include mining, raising and droving cattle, sheep shearing, wanderings, war stories, the 1891 Australian shearers' strike, conflict between the working poor and the rich farmers (squatters), bushrangers such as Ned Kelly, love, and more modern themes such as trucking.

Although not technically bush ballads, there are also numerous sea shanties. These were work songs sung by whalers and sailors, as well as songs about the voyage made by convicts and other immigrants from England to Australia.

Modern musical styles for the ballads are different, even though the content is similar. Good examples of the older, traditional ballad style include Slim Dusty's When the Rain Tumbles Down in July or Leave Him in the Long yard. These have strong story lines in the verses, with choruses set to a Pick n' Strum beat. Modern bush ballads may use finger picking and strumming rock styles.

History

Australia's musical traditions include the English, Scottish, and Irish folk songs of the convicts, as well as the work of pastoral poets of the 1880s.
There was also a hymn singing tradition brought by missionaries in the 19th century. The beginnings of Australia's bush music come from the songs sung by the convicts who were sent to Australia from 1788. They tell of the harsh life of the time, and of people and events including bushrangers, swagmen, drovers, stockmen and shearers. Convict and bushranger verses often complained about the governments misuse of power. Examples include ballads like: The Wild Colonial Boy, Click Go The Shears, The Eumeralla Shore, The Drover's Dream, The Queensland Drover, The Dying Stockman and Moreton Bay.

Later bush ballads told stories of war, droughts, floods, Aboriginality, railways and roads. Isolation and loneliness of life in the Australian bush has been another theme. They often tell of the difficulties and struggles for the working poor people. The bush ballads are often ironic and humorous, for example Beautiful Land of Australia. They were an oral and folkloric tradition, and only later published in print, such as Banjo Paterson's Old Bush Songs, in the 1890s.

The lyrics for "Waltzing Matilda", often regarded as Australia's unofficial national anthem, were written by Banjo Paterson in 1895. This type of Australian country music, with lyrics focusing on strictly Australian subjects, is generally known as "bush music" or "bush band music".

The ballads continued in Australia long after popular music took hold in Great Britain. The ballad style in rural England began dying out when land clearances, industrialisation and urbanization saw people moving from the farms into the cities. English popular music began in the working-class music halls during the 1830s and 1840s. Australia, which still had a large rural population, popular music was started a lot later.

As early as the 1920s, the different ethnic groups in Asutralia influenced the ballads. Poncie Cubillo introduced the rondalla with their Filipino string band in Darwin. The ballad tradition has grown to include some of these influences including Chinese and Filipino. There were also the Italians growing tobacco, the de Bortoli family, in "Texas in Queensland", adding to the mix of folk tunes and Tex Morton's hillbilly tunes. Morton, a country music singer from New Zealand, made a number of Australian-themed recordings between 1936 and 1943. These included the "Dying Duffer's Prayer," "Murrumbridgee Jack," "Billy Brink The Shearer," "Stockman's Last Bed," "Wrap Me Up in My Stockwhip and Blanket," "Rocky Ned (The Outlaw)," and "Ned Kelly Song". While these are a part of the bush ballad tradition, Morton sang without an Australian accent and used yodeling like the American singer Jimmie Rodgers. American cowboy and country songs and 1950s rock 'n' roll influenced Australian bush ballads. With increased modern communications, bush ballads share the modern Australian music scene with rockabilly, country music, blues, Texas swing, bluegrass, trail songs, and country pop.

Country and folk musicians including Slim Dusty, Stan Coster, Rolf Harris, The Bushwackers, John Williamson, Graeme Connors and John Schumann of the band Redgum, still record the old bush ballads. Contemporary artists including Sara Storer and Lee Kernaghan draw heavily on this heritage. Ashley Cook, a contemporary balladeer, sings about topics relevant to life in agriculture and mining work in Australia's outback: Cattle, Dust and Leather and Blue Queensland Dogs. His song "Road to Kakadu" is about killing water buffalo in Northern Territory in the 1990s to control the Brucellosis disease. Beneath the Queensland Moon covers the life and death as a drover.

Public opinions
The bush ballad style is sometimes seen as unsophisticated and simple. This is because it uses cliched images and stereotypes.

The bush ballads have influenced Australian theatre and movies. Since the mid-20th century, bush songs have often been performed by bush bands, such as The Bandicoots or Franklyn B Paverty.

Awards
A number of awards have been set up to recognize bush balladeers. Jeff Brown was nominated for a Golden Guitar Award in the Bush Ballad of the Year category for a song he recorded In the wings of the yard in 2008. He said it was "...important to keep the old yarns alive through country music ballads. It's our heritage really and it needs to be kept alive somehow and the old bush ballads are the way to do it." Past winners of the Country Music Awards Australia Bush Ballad of the Year include Anne Kirkpatrick and Joy McKean. The Stan Coster Memorial Bush Ballad Award has several categories. In 2007 Reg Poole was male vocalist of the year for 'A Tribute To Slim', Graham Rodger was Songwriter of the Year for 'The Battle Of Long Tan', and Dean Perrett for Album of the Year for 'New Tradition' The magazine, the Balladeers Bulletin magazine also hold a "Bush Balladeer Starquest" competition. At the 2008 36th Country Music Awards of Australia held in Tamworth, Amos Morris became the youngest artist ever to win the Golden Guitar trophy for the Bush Ballad of the Year category with Sign of the Times.

Examples
Examples of popular bush ballads and songs include:

Traditional:
 "The Wild Colonial Boy"
 "Click Go the Shears"
 "Moreton Bay"

The Bush Bards:
 "Freedom on the Wallaby" by Henry Lawson
 "The Sick Stockrider" by Adam Lindsay Gordon
 "Waltzing Matilda" by Banjo Paterson

Modern writers and singers:
 When the Rain Tumbles Down in July by Slim Dusty
 Leave Him in the Longyard by Kelly Dixon (versions by Slim Dusty and Lee Kernaghan)
 Three Rivers Hotel by Stan Coster (versions by Slim Dusty and John Williamson)
 'Ballad of Camooweal sung by Slim Dusty
 The Biggest Disappointment by Joy McKean (sung by Slim Dusty and Troy Cassar-Daley)
 Mallee Boy by John Williamson
 Diamantina Drover by John Williamson

Bush balladeers

 Buddy Williams (1918-1986)
 Lex Banning (1921–1965)
 Barbara Baynton (1857–1929)
 Barcroft Boake (1866–1892)
 David Campbell
 Stan Coster (1930–1997)
 C. J. Dennis (1876–1938)
 Slim Dusty (1927–2003)
 Edward Dyson
 Warren Fahey
 John Farrell (1851–1904)
 Geoffrey Lehmann
 Jack Graydon (1999-)
 Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833–1870)
 Lindsay Hammond (1952-)
 Edward Harrington (1896–1966)
 Clive James
 Henry Kendall (1839–1882)
 Henry Lawson (1867–1922)
 Dorothea Mackellar
 Francis MacNamara
 James McAuley
 Breaker Morant (1864–1902)
 John Shaw Neilson (1872–1942)
 Gordon Parsons (1926-1990)
 Banjo Paterson (1864–1941)
 Dean Perrett
 William Henry Ogilvie (1869–1963)
 Jack O'Hagan (1898–1987)
 Raymond Rose (1936-2010)
 Kenneth Slessor
 Shirley Thoms
 John Williamson (b. 1945)
 Francis Webb

Collectors of bush songs
 John Manifold (balladeer and collector)
 John Meredith
 Les Murray
 Banjo Paterson
 Bill Scott (author) (balladeer and collector)

Related pages
 Australian literature

References

Other websites

 Bush Balladeers page
 Warren Fahey videos

Australian folklore
Poetry forms

Bush ballad


ScribbleLive was a content cloud provider used by brands, sports, and media companies. It was based in Toronto.

History
ScribbleLive was a privately owned company founded by Michael De Monte and Jonathan Keebler in 2008 to provide a live blogging software platform. The company evolved into a content marketing software company with data science capabilities. De Monte and Keebler were both employees at CTV when they started working on what would eventually become ScribbleLive, investing $1,500 into the initial project.

In 2009, De Monte and Keebler received seed funding from Rogers Ventures.

In 2009, Michael De Monte and Jonathan Keebler appeared on Dragon's Den. They received $250,000 Canadian from three Dragon's while giving up 30% of their company to them.

On November 10, 2011, ScribbleLive announced that it had raised $4 million in new financing, led by Summerhill Venture Partners.

ScribbleLive announced a second round of funding on June 19, 2013. This round of funding was led by Georgian Partners and included Export Development Canada (EDC), Summerhill Venture Partners, and Rogers Venture Partners. In January 2014, Vince Mifsud was appointed the new CEO of ScribbleLive.

On June 14, 2014, Scribble Technologies Inc. acquired CoveritLive from Demand Media for $4.5 (USD) million of cash and promissory note with a principal amount of $5.6 million.

On April 15, 2015, Scribble Technologies Inc. acquired Appinions Inc.

On January 30, 2016, ScribbleLive formally acquired Visually, the leading platform for premium content creation.

On August 23, ScribbleLive announced that it has acquired SEO company Linkdex.

In December 2019, Scribblelive was acquired by Rock Content, a Brazilian content marketing company headquartered in Belo Horizonte with offices in Boca Raton, Canada, and Mexico.

Features
The browser-based application allowed users to post and edit content, insert images and video, create polls, provide comments, moderate and curate the social web. Content could be published via the web, SMS text messaging, and voicemail. The application also has features for Q&A sessions and live chats. Each event was archived and real-time analytics generated statistics on the event's coverage.

The platform allowed for collaboration between different parts of an organization, by allowing writers and editors to publish and edit content simultaneously. The platform also integrated with Twitter and Facebook.

On June 1, 2015, ScribbleLive released Projects, allowing content marketers and publishers to create content plans collaboratively. Other project features included content calendars, content promotion scheduling, and content analytics.

On March 17, 2016, ScribbleLive launched Plan. The service included workflow feature that assisted in coordinat messaging and content across various platforms.

On May 3, 2016, ScribbleLive announced updates to its Engage product. The update included a redesigned main interface, enhancements to the product's core curation tool, and the introduction of a new Moderation Hub.

Event coverage

During the Egyptian Revolution, Al Jazeera was faced with multiple attempts to disrupt its coverage from Egypt due to internet restrictions. Reporters resorted to calling in live updates to their Al Jazeera's liveblog.

During the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Reuters.com used ScribbleLive to send live updates to their users, including news, videos, and photos from their journalists.

References

Defunct software companies of Canada
Software companies established in 2008
2008 establishments in Ontario
Software companies disestablished in 2019
2019 disestablishments in Ontario
2019 mergers and acquisitions

ScribbleLive


"The Golden River" is a Disney comics story written and drawn by Carl Barks in 1957 and first published in 1958, in Uncle Scrooge #22 (Dell Comics, June 1958). It is somewhat based on the fairy tale The King of the Golden River, by John Ruskin.

Plot

Scrooge McDuck is on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to the dry climate causing the banknotes in his Money Bin to shrink, resulting in the overall money level inside the bin  decreasing. This makes him feel poorer and he begins to act more and more like a miser.

At this point, Donald Duck and his nephews arrive and ask him for a donation to help fund a club for children. Scrooge throws them away to the streets (through a concealed scaffold), and rebuts further attempts from Donald to get the donation by exposing Scrooge as a tightwad. However, when his three nephews learn from Scrooge's staff the real reason of his bad mood, they try to solve his problem by suggesting to him to blow hot air into the money pile. Scrooge gladly accepts the suggestion and states that he will give them the donation if their plan works out. Unfortunately, too much air is blown, causing the Money Bin to crack open. Scrooge collapses after hearing about the repair expenses (and an untimely comment about the promised donation) and is forced by his doctor to go on vacations.

Next, the ducks find themselves in a remote cabin in a valley, close to a small waterfall, where Scrooge is supposed to relax under the watch of his nephews. One of the ducklings starts reading to him The King of the Golden River, which Scrooge scorns as an alienating fairy tale, stating that only hard work brings fortune (one of his main beliefs), not fantastic beings. As an example, he tells them that when he was young, he used to collect firewood so he could sell it to rich people at exorbitant prices. Suddenly, the nearby waterfall seems to have turned into a gold flow (like in the fairy tale). However, when the ducks reach it, they realize it's just plain water. Scrooge again turns grumpy and returns to the cabin, whilst the ducks decide to investigate further.

Donald and his nephews climb to the top of the waterfall where they find a hot spring by the shore, which issues not only hot water but also gold powder into the stream, which caused the "golden waterfall" effect. As they cannot claim the gold for themselves (as the whole area is owned by Scrooge), they instead learn how to control it and decide to use this artifice to obtain a donation from Scrooge.

Using a hollow log as a megaphone to amplify their voices, they convince Scrooge that a magic gnome controls the golden flow, and that Scrooge must be generous to the needy in order to deserve the gold. Scrooge, completely convinced, starts looking for strangers to be generous with, only finding a disguised Donald asking for the sum equivalent to the promised donation. Several funny situations follow, including a flow of frogs down the waterfall into a hopeful Scrooge holding a pan, when the ducks are unable to open the gold flow into the stream.

While the ducks realize they might have rendered the hot spring useless by their attempts to control it and lose their hope to swindle Scrooge, he quietly reflects that his attempts on generosity were not sincere but a "bribe" to the gnome in order to obtain profit from the golden river. He then sees one of the ducklings catching firewood (just like he used to do as a child), and touched by this scene he runs to him and states to the stunned duck family that he will build the club himself, instead of just donating a small sum. At this moment, to the surprise of all (but Scrooge) the waterfall starts to pour gold again. As the nephews race into it with pans, trying to explain Scrooge about the physics of the phenomenon, he calmly states that he believes (opposite to his former cynic and logic behavior) the gold stream to be controlled by the Gnome King, who will keep it flowing as long as he is generous to children.

See also
List of Disney comics by Carl Barks

External links

The Golden River in Carl Barks guidebook

Disney comics stories
Golden River, the
1958 in comics

The Golden River (comics)


Fu Xiancai is a Chinese farmer and civil rights activist. He started to be political in 1994, after his village was in danger, because the Three Gorges Dam was built. In 1997 he had to leave his home, after it was flooded by the water of the dam. Since that time he tries to get together with other people fair damages from the People's Republic of China. On 19 May 2006 he had an interview with the German television station ARD. After this one he was arrested by police and hit so he cannot move since that time and is crippled. He did not get any medical help, because he cannot pay it. The German government protested against this situation. In June 2006, the German embassy paid for the life-saving medical treatment. The Chinese government said they did not hit him, so he must have hit himself.

Other websites
 Article of an international Organisation
 Article of the german Newspaper FAZ (german)
 Interview with the reporter of the german newsstation (german)

Chinese activists
Civil rights activists

Fu Xiancai


Precious Bane is a historical romance by Mary Webb, first published in 1924. It won the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse Prize in 1926.

Synopsis

The story is set in rural Shropshire during the Napoleonic Wars. It is narrated by the central character, Prue Sarn, whose life is blighted by having a cleft lip and cleft palate. Only the weaver, Kester Woodseaves, perceives the beauty of her character, but Prue cannot believe herself worthy of him. Her brother Gideon is overridingly ambitious to attain wealth and power, regardless of who suffers while he does so. Gideon is set to wed his sweetheart Jancis, but he incurs the wrath of her father, the cruel and scheming self-proclaimed wizard Beguildy. An act of vengeance by Beguildy makes Gideon reject Jancis and tragedy engulfs them both.  Prue is wrongly accused of murder and set upon by a mob, but Kester defies them and carries Prue away to the happiness she believed she could never possess because of her deformity.

Setting
The setting for the story has been attributed to the Meres of northern Shropshire, but is more likely to have been the area around Bomere Pool which was closer to the author's own home at Spring Cottage on Lyth Hill. The travel writer S. P. B. Mais recorded being taken to the pool to see the location of "Sarn" in the 1930s. These locations remained very rural at the time the novel was written, and Mary Webb was herself very much part of local country life there in the 1920s.  Webb uses the rural setting to isolate Prue Sarn and her fellow characters from the larger world; at one point Prue tells us, "four years went by, and though a deal happened out in the world, naught happened to us.

Title
The title of the story has a double meaning.  It is taken from John Milton's Paradise Lost (Book I, lines 690-692):

Let none admire
That riches grow in Hell; that Soyle may best
Deserve the precious bane.

It refers to the love of money, which, as Prue records, blights love and destroys life, but the title also refers to Prue's deformity, which she comes to recognize as the source of her spiritual strength.  In one of the most moving passages in the book, she relates: "...there came to me, I cannot tell whence, a most powerful sweetness that had never come to me afore... as if some creature made all of light had come on a sudden from a great way off, and nestled in my bosom.... Though it was so quiet, it was a great miracle, and it changed my life.... If I hadna had a hare-lip to frighten me away into my own lonesome soul, this would never have come to me....  Even while I was thinking this, out of nowhere suddenly came that lovely thing, and nestled in my heart, like a seed from the core of love."

Main characters

The critic G. K. Chesterton wrote that the characters in this novel "live a hard life; they probably on occasion live a hungry life; they are quite capable in some circumstances of living a gross or ferocious life.  But they do, in a very deep sense, live a full life."

Prue Sarn – The narrator of the novel is in her teens when we first meet her.  She is loving towards her mother, obedient to her demanding brother.  The natural world of Shropshire offers her some consolation to the back-breaking work on the farm, and the fact that she can read and work with numbers is a source of pride and solace.  Her "hare-shotten" lip is her own bane, and she bears it at times with dignity, at other times with deep feelings of shame.  The English poet and critic Glen Cavaliero writes that "...Prue is spirited and stoical, with a vein of humor and no self-pity: her hare-lip is a source of wonder to her as much as heartbreak."
Gideon Sarn – A few years older than Prue, he inherited both his father's farm and cruel temperament.  He is Prue's opposite number, taking no delight in nature, and showing little affection for his aging mother.  Above all else he is motivated by money, and relentlessly works the farm, and Prue, to get ahead.  His single-minded determination to become rich is symbolized in part by his decision to put most of his fields in wheat (called corn in the book in accordance with British usage), the crop that was at the time the most lucrative.
Beguildy - Owner of a neighboring farm, a man more committed to his wizardry and spells than to his fields and crops.  A poor or more likely lazy farmer, he is often gone for days at a time, working charms and spells believed to heal the sick and injured in the community.  He teaches Prue to read, write and work with numbers, but shows little care for his wife and daughter.
Jancis Beguildy - The wizard's daughter and Gideon Sarn's intended wife, plump, blonde with a lush, pleasing mouth always forming a lovely "oh."
Missis Beguildy - Beguildy's wife who fears her husband and yet does not hesitate to collude with Gideon and Jancis in their plans to be together.  She is crafty in her methods to get her husband out of the house for days at a time, and she is sharp in her observations of the people in the community.
Kester Woodseaves - He is a skilled itinerant weaver, making his living by traveling through Shropshire, weaving in the homes and farms.  He is intelligent and compassionate - he prevents a bull baiting from taking place on a market day in town, but pays dearly for his efforts.  He is a discerning judge of character, quickly recognizing Prue's qualities despite her deformed lip.

Adaptations
In 1957 the book was made into a six-part BBC television drama series starring Patrick Troughton and Daphne Slater. Under its French title Sarn, it was produced as a television play by French Television ORTF in 1968, with Dominique Labourier as Prue, Josep Maria Flotats as Gedeon and Pierre Vaneck as Kester; the director was Claude Santelli. In 1989 it was again adapted for British television by the BBC, directed by Christopher Menaul and starring Clive Owen and Janet McTeer.

References

External links

1924 British novels
Novels set in Shropshire
Novels set in the 19th century
British historical novels
British novels adapted into television shows
Novels by Mary Webb
Jonathan Cape books

Precious Bane


Graham Elias George (11 April 1912 – 9 December 1993) was a Canadian composer, music theorist, organist, choir conductor, and music educator of English birth. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output consists largely of choral works, many written for Anglican liturgical use. He also wrote three ballets, four operas, and some symphonic music. In 1938 he won the Jean Lallemand Prize for his  Variations on an Original Theme. At first he employed traditional tertial harmony, but the influence of Hindemith led him to introduce quartal-quintal harmony as integral to his style. Successful completion of RCCO/RCO diplomas and external degrees had demanded he attain very considerable expertise in counterpoint, and so his neoclassic deployment of contrapuntal devices such as imitation, canon and fugue is hardly accidental.

His archives are part of the collection at the Library and Archives Canada.

Early life and education
Born in Norwich, he moved to Canada in 1928 at the age of 16. He studied the organ and music composition with Alfred Whitehead. He earned the Associateship (1934) and Fellowship (1936) of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, the Associateship (1935) of the Royal College of Organists. The examinations for external Bachelor of Music (1936) and Doctor of Music (1939) degrees he earned from University of Toronto were very similar in scope and difficulty with the theoretical parts of the RCO/RCCO examinations; the degrees additionally required the successful submission of composition exercises. George, like Weinzweig before him, was open to contemporary techniques. From 1952 to 1953, George studied composition with Paul Hindemith at the Yale School of Music. During 1956  he also studied conducting with Willem van Otterloo in the Netherlands.

Career
George worked as a church organist-choirmaster and private music teacher in Montreal (1932-1937) and Sherbrooke, Quebec (1937 to 1941). From 1946 to 1977, he taught at Queen's University. A university research grant and a Canada Council exchange grant facilitated his writing of  Tonality and Musical Structure between 1970 and 1973; he subsequently wrote Tonality in Tristan and Parsifal and scholarly articles for musical periodicals.

In 1953, George established the Kingston Choral Society and in 1954 he founded the Kingston Symphony; these he conducted until 1957. From the Canadian Society for Traditional Music's inception in 1956, he was a board member; serving as president from 1965 to 1968. He was active as an organist/choirmaster in Kingston and Gananoque from 1946 to 1975. The Royal Canadian College of Organists elected him its president(1972–1974); from 1969 to 1980 he was secretary-general of the International Folk Music Council.

Upon his retirement, Queen's University named him professor emeritus, and named both its music library (1983) and an annual scholarship (to a meritorious composition student) in his honour. He died in Kingston, Ontario in 1993 at the age of 81, after the onset of Alzheimer's disease. His wife of many years, soprano Tjot George, predeceased him by two years.

References

1912 births
1993 deaths
Canadian male composers
Male conductors (music)
Canadian classical organists
Male classical organists
Canadian choral conductors
Canadian music educators
Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston
University of Toronto alumni
Yale University alumni
Musicians from Norwich
20th-century conductors (music)
20th-century Canadian composers
20th-century organists
20th-century Canadian male musicians
English emigrants to Canada

Graham George