Petrus Ramus (; Anglicized as Peter Ramus ; 1515 – 26 August 1572) was a French humanist, logician, and educational reformer. A Protestant convert, he was a victim of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.

Early life
He was born at the village of Cuts, Picardy; his father was a farmer. He gained admission at age twelve (thus about 1527) to the Collège de Navarre, working as a servant. A reaction against scholasticism was in full tide, at a transitional time for Aristotelianism. On the occasion of receiving his M.A. degree in 1536, Ramus allegedly took as his thesis Quaecumque ab Aristotele dicta essent, commentitia esse (Everything that Aristotle has said is false), which Walter J. Ong paraphrases as follows:

According to Ong this kind of spectacular thesis was in fact routine at the time. Even so, Ong raises questions as to whether Ramus actually ever delivered this thesis.

Early academic career

Ramus, as graduate of the university, started courses of lectures. At this period he was engaged in numerous separate controversies. One opponent in 1543 was the Benedictine . He was accused, by Jacques Charpentier, professor of medicine, of undermining the foundations of philosophy and religion. Arnaud d'Ossat, a pupil and friend of Ramus, defended him against Charpentier. Ramus was made to debate Goveanus (Antonio de Gouveia), over two days. The matter was brought before the parlement of Paris, and finally before Francis I. By him it was referred to a commission of five, who found Ramus guilty of having "acted rashly, arrogantly and impudently," and interdicted his lectures (1544).

Royal support

He withdrew from Paris, but soon afterwards returned, the decree against him being canceled by Henry II, who came to the throne in 1547, through the influence of Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine. He obtained a position at the Collège de Navarre.

In 1551 Henry II appointed him a regius professor at the Collège de France, but at his request he was given the unique and at the time controversial title of Professor of Philosophy and eloquence. For a considerable time he lectured before audiences numbering as many as 2,000. , another professor there, published Contra novam academiam Petri Rami oratio (1551), and called him a "parricide" for his attitude to Aristotle. The more serious charge was that he was a nouveau academicien, in other words a sceptic. Audomarus Talaeus (Omer Talon c.1510–1581), a close ally of Ramus, had indeed published a work in 1548 derived from Cicero's description of Academic scepticism, the school of Arcesilaus and Carneades.

After conversion

In 1561 he faced significant enmity following his adoption of Protestantism. He had to flee from Paris; and, though he found asylum in the palace of Fontainebleau, his house was pillaged and his library burned in his absence. He resumed his chair after this for a time, but he was summoned on 30 June 1568 before the King's Attorney General to be heard with Simon Baudichon and other professors: the position of affairs was again so threatening that he found it advisable to ask permission to travel.

He spent around two years, in Germany and Switzerland. The La Rochelle Confession of Faith earned his disapproval, in 1571, rupturing his relationship with Theodore Beza and leading Ramus to write angrily to Heinrich Bullinger.

Returning to France, he fell a victim in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572). Hiding for a while in a bookshop off the Rue St Jacques, he returned to his lodgings, on 26 August, the third day of the violence. There he was stabbed while at prayer. Suspicions against Charpentier have been voiced ever since. His death was compared by one of his first biographers, his friend and colleague , to the murder of Cicero.

Pedagogue

A central issue is that Ramus's anti-Aristotelianism arose out of a concern for pedagogy. Aristotelian philosophy, in its Early Modern form as scholasticism showing its age, was in a confused and disordered state. Ramus sought to infuse order and simplicity into philosophical and scholastic education by reinvigorating a sense of dialectic as the overriding logical and methodological basis for the various disciplines.

He published in 1543 the Aristotelicae Animadversiones and Dialecticae Partitiones, the former a criticism on the old logic and the latter a new textbook of the science. What are substantially fresh editions of the Partitiones appeared in 1547 as Institutiones Dialecticae, and in 1548 as Scholae Dialecticae; his Dialectique (1555), a French version of his system, is the earliest work on the subject in the French language.

In the Dialecticae partitiones Ramus recommends the use of summaries, headings, citations and examples. Ong calls Ramus's use of outlines, "a reorganization of the whole of knowledge and indeed of the whole human lifeworld."

After studying Ramus's work, Ong concluded that the results of his "methodizing" of the arts "are the amateurish works of a desperate man who is not a thinker but merely an erudite pedagogue". On the other hand, his work had an immediate impact on the issue of disciplinary boundaries, where educators largely accepted his arguments, by the end of the century.

Logician

The logic of Ramus enjoyed a great celebrity for a time, and there existed a school of Ramists boasting numerous adherents in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. It cannot be said, however, that Ramus's innovations mark any epoch in the history of logic, and there is little ground for his claim to supersede Aristotle by an independent system of logic. The distinction between natural and artificial logic, i.e., between the implicit logic of daily speech and the same logic made explicit in a system, passed over into the logical handbooks.

He amends the syllogism. He admits only the first three figures, as in the original Aristotelian scheme, and in his later works he also attacks the validity of the third figure, following in this the precedent of Laurentius Valla. Ramus also set the modern fashion of deducing the figures from the position of the middle term in the premises, instead of basing them, as Aristotle does, upon the different relation of the middle to the major term and minor term.

Rhetorician

As James Jasinski explains, "the range of rhetoric began to be narrowed during the 16th century, thanks in part to the works of Peter Ramus." In using the word "narrowed," Jasinski is referring to Ramus's argument for divorcing rhetoric from dialectic (logic), a move that had far reaching implications for rhetorical studies and for popular conceptions of public persuasion. Contemporary rhetoricians have tended to reject Ramus's view in favor of a more wide ranging (and in many respects, Aristotelian) understanding of the rhetorical arts as encompassing "a [broad] range of ordinary language practices." Rhetoric, traditionally, had had five parts, of which inventio (invention) was the first. Ramus insisted on rhetoric to be studied alongside dialectic through two main manuals: invention and judgement under the dialectic manual, and style and delivery in the rhetoric manual. Memory, one of the five skills of traditional rhetoric, was regarded by Ramus as being part of psychology, as opposed to being part of rhetoric, and thus dispensed from his idea of rhetoric and dialectic. Brian Vickers said that the Ramist influence here did add to rhetoric: it concentrated more on the remaining aspect of elocutio or effective use of language, and emphasised the role of vernacular European languages (rather than Latin). Ramist reforms strengthened the rhetoricians' tendency to focus on style. The effect was that rhetoric was applied in literature.

Invention involves fourteen topics, including definition, cause, effect, subject, adjunct, difference, contrary, comparison, similarity, and testimony. Style encompasses four tropes: metaphor, synecdoche, metonymy, and irony. It also includes rules for poetic meter and rhythmical prose, figures corresponding to attitudes a speaker may take, and of repetition. Delivery covers the use of voice and gestures.

His rhetorical leaning is seen in the definition of logic as the ars disserendi; he maintains that the rules of logic may be better learned from observation of the way in which Cicero persuaded his hearers than from a study of Aristotle's works on logic (the Organon).

Logic falls, according to Ramus, into two parts: invention (treating of the notion and definition) and judgment (comprising the judgment proper, syllogism and method). Here he was influenced by Rodolphus Agricola. This division gave rise to the jocular designation of judgment or mother-wit as the "secunda Petri". But what Ramus does here in fact redefines rhetoric. There is a new configuration, with logic and rhetoric each having two parts: rhetoric was to cover elocutio and pronuntiatio. In general, Ramism liked to deal with binary trees as method for organising knowledge.

Mathematician

He was also known as a mathematician, a student of Johannes Sturm. It has been suggested that Sturm was an influence in another way, by his lectures given in 1529 on Hermogenes of Tarsus: the Ramist method of dichotomy is to be found in Hermogenes.

He had students of his own. He corresponded with John Dee on mathematics, and at one point recommended to Elizabeth I that she appoint him to a university chair.

The views of Ramus on mathematics implied a limitation to the practical: he considered Euclid's theory on irrational numbers to be useless. The emphasis on technological applications and engineering mathematics was coupled to an appeal to nationalism (France was well behind Italy, and needed to catch up with Germany).

Ramism

The teachings of Ramus had a broadly based reception well into the seventeenth century. Later movements, such as Baconianism, pansophism, and Cartesianism, in different ways built on Ramism, and took advantage of the space cleared by some of the simplifications (and oversimplifications) it had effected. The longest-lasting strand of Ramism was in systematic Calvinist theology, where textbook treatments with a Ramist framework were still used into the eighteenth century, particularly in New England.

The first writings on Ramism, after the death of Ramus, included biographies, and were by disciples of sorts: Freigius (1574 or 1575), Banosius (1576),  (1599), of whom only Nancelius was closely acquainted with the man. Followers of Ramus in different fields included Johannes Althusius, Caspar Olevianus, John Milton, Johannes Piscator, Rudolph Snellius and Hieronymus Treutler.

Works

He published fifty works in his lifetime and nine appeared after his death. Ong undertook the complex bibliographical task of tracing his books through their editions.

Aristotelicae Animadversiones (1543)
Brutinae questiones (1547)
Rhetoricae distinctiones in Quintilianum (1549)
Dialectique (1555)
Arithmétique (1555)
De moribus veterum Gallorum (Paris, 1559; second edition, Basel, 1572)
Liber de Cæsaris Militia Paris, 1584
, au Roy, Paris, (1562)
Three grammars:  (1548), Grammatica Graeca (1560),  (1562)
 (1565, 1566, 1578)
Prooemium mathematicum (Paris, 1567)
Scholarum mathematicarum libri unus et triginta (Basel, 1569) (his most famous work)
Commentariorum de religione christiana (Frankfurt, 1576)

See also
Mnemonics
Ramism

Notes

References

Further reading
Nelly Bruyère, Méthode et dialectique dans l'oeuvre de La Ramée: Renaissance et Age classique, Paris, Vrin 1984
Desmaze, Charles. Petrus Ramus, professeur au Collège de France, sa vie, ses ecrits, sa mort (Paris, 1864).
Feingold, Mordechai; Freedman, Joseph S.; Rother, Wolfgang (eds.). The Influence of Petrus Ramus. Studies in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Philosophy and Sciences. Schwabe, Basel 2001, .
Freedman, Joseph S. Philosophy and the Arts in Central Europe, 1500-1700: Teaching and Texts at Schools and Universities (Ashgate, 1999).
Graves, Frank Pierrepont. Peter Ramus and the Educational Reformation of the Sixteenth Century (Macmillan, 1912).
Høffding, Harald. History of Modern Philosophy (English translation, 1900), vol. i.185.
 Howard Hotson, Commonplace Learning: Ramism and Its German Ramifications, 1543–1630 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
Lobstein, Paul. Petrus Ramus als Theolog (Strassburg, 1878).
Miller, Perry. The New England Mind (Harvard University Press, 1939).
Milton, John. A Fuller Course in the Art of Logic Conformed to the Method of Peter Ramus (London, 1672). Ed. and trans. Walter J. Ong and Charles J. Ermatinger. Complete Prose Works of John Milton: Volume 8. Ed. Maurice Kelley. New Haven: Yale UP, 1982. p. 206-407.
Ong, Walter J.  (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. New York: Methuen.(p. viii).
---.Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue: From the Art of Discourse to the Art of Reason (Harvard University Press, 1958; reissued with a new foreword by Adrian Johns, University of Chicago Press, 2004.Ong, S.J., Walter J.: Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue ).
---. Ramus and Talon Inventory (Harvard University Press, 1958).
Owen, John. The Skeptics of the French Renaissance (London, 1893).
Pranti, K. "Uber P. Ramus" in Munchener Sitzungs berichte (1878).
Saisset, Émile. Les précurseurs de Descartes (Paris, 1862).
Sharratt, Peter. "The Present State of Studies on Ramus," Studi francesi 47-48 (1972) 201-13.
—. "Recent Work on Peter Ramus (1970–1986)," Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric 5 (1987): 7-58.
—. "Ramus 2000," Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric 18 (2000): 399-455.
Voigt. Uber den Ramismus der Universität Leipzig (Leipzig, 1888).
Waddington, Charles De Petri Rami vita, scriptis, philosophia (Paris, 1848).

External links

 'Ramism' entry in The Dictionary of the History of Ideas

 Catholic Encyclopedia entry
 Charles Waddington, Ramus (Pierre de la Ramée) sa vie, ses écrits et ses opinions (1855)

1515 births
1572 deaths
People from Oise
University of Paris alumni
Academic staff of the Collège de France
Christian humanists
French philosophers
French Renaissance humanists
French mathematicians
16th-century French mathematicians
16th-century French writers
16th-century male writers
16th-century French philosophers
French rhetoricians
Rhetoric theorists
Trope theorists
Deaths by stabbing in France
People murdered in France
French murder victims
French Calvinist and Reformed Christians
16th-century Calvinist and Reformed Christians
Calvinist and Reformed philosophers

Petrus Ramus


Maria (Marianna) Trzcińska (22 March 1931 – 22 December 2011 in Warsaw) was a Polish judge employed for over 30 years in the People's Republic of Poland at the Chief Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland (Główna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce). She investigated and researched German World War II crimes in Poland.

Trzcińska was the author of a controversial monograph about the Warsaw concentration camp (KL Warschau) set up by the SS in occupied Poland. The book, published in the 1990s, presented a fringe theory which a decade later was definitively rejected by historians. Until 2007, however, her book was the only monograph dedicated to the camp.

Fringe theory controversy
After the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989, Trzcińska asserted that the number of victims of KL Warschau was ten times greater than previously assumed by historians. She had propagated the claim that the camp operated gas chambers, which was rejected by the IPN as unproven. She also argued that the number of victims in the camp was 200,000, about ten times greater than accepted by mainstream historians. Her theory was based on a single interview she conducted during her tenure in the Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (GKBZNwP).

Trzcińska appeared on Radio Maryja and in chauvinist media speaking about the fact that the Nazi German camp in the capital was used in Stalinist Poland as a detention facility for the anti-Nazi resistance. She engaged in a conflict with GKBZNwP successor, the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), regarding the content of her research, as IPN historians increasingly disagreed with her conclusions, and opposed its further publication. Her copyright request was rejected by the IPN as concerning state property already paid for, including historical documents and testimonies of survivors. Her additional claims made on behalf of a public-monument committee, which unsuccessfully attempted to raise support for a monument dedicated to the alleged much greater size of the German camp extending beyond Warszawa Zachodnia station, a theory Trzcińska promoted in several monographs as well, but that was also refuted by the IPN and other mainstream historians, who consider her fringe theory, based on a single interview, not substantiated enough.

Bibliography
 Maria Trzcińska, KL Warschau. Obóz zagłady dla Polaków, Polskie Wydawnictwo Encyklopedyczne Polwen
 Maria Trzcińska, Obóz zagłady w centrum Warszawy, Polskie Wydawnictwo Encyklopedyczne, Radom 2002, .

Notes and references

1931 births
2011 deaths
20th-century Polish historians
20th-century Polish judges
Historians of Poland
Historians of the Holocaust
Polish women historians
Polish conspiracy theorists
Pseudohistorians

Maria Trzcińska


Colin Derrick Berry (born 29 January 1946) is a British radio disc jockey, presenter and newsreader, best known for his many years at BBC Radio 2.

Career

Early years
Berry began his radio career reading news on Radio Caroline in 1965. Before that he had performed administrative duties at Granada Television and Westward Television and went on to do similar for Radio Caroline. After the Marine Offences Act came into force Berry spent time with more administrative duties for the newly opened Yorkshire Television while working as a club DJ, moving on to work in record promotion, and BBC Radio Medway as a Saturday afternoon presenter. He also spent the summer of 1971 as an announcer for HTV.

Berry had a brief stint with BBC Radio 1 writing and presenting programme trails, before joining BBC Radio 2 as an announcer/presenter in 1973, where he stayed on the staff for thirty-three years, presenting Night Ride, The Late Show, Music Through Midnight, European Pop Jury, Band Parade, The Early Show, You & The Night & The Music and countless other shows and concerts. He also deputised for most of the main daytime presenters, including Terry Wogan, Jimmy Young and David Hamilton. During this lengthy period Berry presented programmes for BFBS, and also Inflight Productions for which he remains on the list of presenters.

Berry was the UK spokesman for the Eurovision Song Contest for many years, reading out the country's voting results. This was a role he held between 1977 and 2002, with the exceptions of 1980 and 1998. He was also the stand-by television commentator, in case the line of Terry Wogan was lost. This never happened, though it nearly did on one occasion, just 30 seconds before the show began.

Berry also appeared on other shows including The Generation Game, Blankety Blank and Bargain Hunt.

Freelance
After going freelance in 2006, Berry continued reading the news on Radio 2 until September 2012, when big changes occurred resulting in the majority of Radio 2 news summaries being read by journalists. His last bulletin was at 3am on 8 September 2012. Having presented late night Saturdays on BBC Three Counties Radio from 2004, during 2009 and 2010 Berry presented a weekly show for BBC Local Radio across the Eastern Counties - The Saturday Club: 6 to 9pm, playing music from the 1960s and 1970s. Until 2019, he had an occasional series for BBC Three Counties Radio - A Little Light Music, along with other music shows on or around bank holidays. He has also been heard periodically on The Vintage Top 40 Show on various BBC local stations at 5pm on Sundays.

Berry was the regular cover for Richard Spendlove's long-running music and phone-in show on BBC local radio in the east and south-east of England on Saturday nights for a few years until his final show on 29 April 2017.

He is represented by BigFish Media for his voiceover work.

References

External links

1946 births
BBC newsreaders and journalists
BBC Radio 2 presenters
Offshore radio broadcasters
Living people
People from Welwyn Garden City

Colin Berry


The dagger-axe () is a type of pole weapon that was in use from the Erlitou culture until the Han dynasty in China. It consists of a dagger-shaped blade, mounted by its tang to a perpendicular wooden shaft. The earliest dagger-axe blades were made of stone. Later versions used bronze. Jade versions were also made for ceremonial use. There is a variant type with a divided two-part head, consisting of the usual straight blade and a scythe-like blade.

History
The dagger-axe was the first weapon in Chinese history that was not also a dual-use tool for hunting (such as the bow and arrow) or agriculture. Lacking a point for thrusting, the dagger-axe was used in the open where there was enough room to swing its long shaft. Its appearance on the Chinese battlefield predated the use of chariots and the later dominance of tightly packed infantry formations.

During the Zhou dynasty, the ji or Chinese halberd gradually became more common on the battlefield. The ji was developed from the dagger-axe by adding a spear head to the top of the shaft, thereby enabling the weapon to be used with a thrusting motion as well as a swinging motion. Later versions of the ji, starting in the Spring and Autumn period, combined the dagger-axe blade and spear head into a single piece.

By the Han dynasty, the more versatile ji had completely replaced the dagger-axe as a standard infantry weapon. The ji was later replaced by the spear as the primary polearm of the Chinese military. By the Warring States period, large masses of infantry fighting in close ranks using the spear or ji had displaced the small groups of aristocrats on foot or mounted in chariots who had previously dominated the battlefield.

Archaeology
Many excavated dagger-axes are ceremonial jade weapons found in the tombs of aristocrats. These examples are often found within coffins, possibly meant to serve as emblems of authority and power, or in some other ritualistic capacity. Sometimes they are found in a pit dug beneath a coffin, with a victim who was sacrificed to guard the tomb, where they presumably are intended to keep the spirit-guard armed. Normally only the head of a dagger-axe is found, with the shaft absent because of either decomposition or mechanical removal. Although the jade examples do not appear to have been intended for use in actual combat, their morphology closely imitates that of the battle-ready bronze version, including a sharp central ridge which reinforces the blade. Some dagger-axe artifacts are small and curved and could have been intended for use as pendants.

Gallery

See also
 Bec de corbin
 Bill (weapon)

References

Bibliography

External links
Dagger-axe with hook, fragment - Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution (Wayback Machine copy)

Ancient weapons
Axes
Blade weapons
Chinese inventions
Chinese melee weapons
Spears
Jade

Dagger-axe


Rene Michelle Aranda, sometimes credited as Ren Aranda, (born December 6, 1990) is an American actress and singer, best known for Searching and Midnight in the Switchgrass. She has won Best Actress (Silverstate Film Festival, 2018), Best Supporting Actress (LA Edge Film Awards, 2018) and Outstanding Performance by an Actress (Kennedy Center ACT Festival) and finished as a semifinalist in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Center's Irene Ryan scholarship program.

Early life and family
Aranda was born in Whittier, California, to Frank and Cheryl Aranda. She was raised in the nearby city of Chino Hills, where Aranda grew up with older brother Michael Aranda (YouTube creator and musician), older sister Sara Ann Aranda and younger brother Frank Nathan Aranda. Her mother was a self produced singer/songwriter through CD Baby and secretary to the college dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Cal State Fullerton until she died June 27, 2009, after a seven-year battle with breast cancer.

Career

2009–2012: Vocational training
Aranda is an alumnus of the Los Angeles City College Theater Academy, a three-year, audition-only acting conservatory at which Morgan Freeman, Mark Hamill, Cindy Williams and Bette Davis studied. Just before graduating in 2012, she won the national award "Outstanding Performance by an Actress" in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for her role as Willy the Space Freak in a gender-bent adaptation of Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand.

For her role as "Van's Sister" in LACC's stage production of Bert V. Royal's Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead in 2010, Aranda was nominated for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Irene Ryan scholarship, for which actors compete as a part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. She made it to the semi-finals.

2013–2014: Early career

First invited to the set of network Cinelatino distributed film Smile Now Cry Later as a background actor by a fellow Theater Academy alum, Aranda was later asked to replace a crew member on a subsequent film before being locked in for two more features (Fighting Chance and Cherry Red Kiss) and by the fourth production (Until the Day I Die), she served the company Plus Entertainment as an in-house producer, appearing on screen in each title she helped produce.

Aranda was featured with touring architect Alán Ramiro Manning in the Woodbury University Neo-Tribes Runway Event on May 1 and 2 2013, donning a Jenny Erin Davis (Black Lightning) design of a Bram Stoker's Dracula inspired Elisabeta (Transylvania 1462), wearing Stila makeup.

2018: Music
In addition to her film and television career, Aranda debuted as a musical artist in 2018, releasing two pop singles a few months apart on Spotify, iTunes, iHeartRadio and other online streaming platforms.

Youth programs and education
Aranda is a regular volunteer reader and occasional coordinator for Reading to Kids, and ran on the foundation's charity relay team in the Los Angeles Marathon in 2016.

She also participates as a volunteer actor in Young Storytellers "Big Show" productions.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

 Rene Michelle Aranda on Fandango
 Rene Michelle Aranda on Rotten Tomatoes
 Rene Michelle Aranda on Metacritic
Ren Aranda on Spotify
Ren Aranda on iTunes
ReneAranda.com
"Meet Rene Michelle Aranda of Starpark Studios" - Voyage LA Magazine

Living people
1990 births
21st-century American actresses
People from Whittier, California
People from Chino Hills, California
Actresses from California
American film actresses
American television actresses
American actresses of Mexican descent

Rene Aranda


Atami Yowado (熱海陽和洞), Koyata Iwasaki Memorial Museum, was a second house of Koyata Iwasaki (岩崎小彌太), the fourth and last president of the Old Mitsubishi Organization, located in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It emulates the 16th century British Tudor style.

In April 1978, member companies of the Mitsubishi Kinyokai, core 29 companies of Mitsubishi Group, inaugurated "Management committee of Atami Yowado" (熱海陽和洞管理委員会). Atami Yowado is exclusively opened for members of the committee.

External links
Architectural Legacy of the old Mitsubishi organization
History of Koyata Iwasaki
Management committee of Atami Yowado (in Japanese)

Mitsubishi
Former buildings and structures in Japan

Atami Yowado


Fred Ross Shank II (October 11, 1940 – January 24, 2015) was the Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition of the Food and Drug Administration for nearly ten years before he became Senior Advisor to the Commissioner for External Academic Affairs in January 1998. Before joining FDA in 1978, Shank performed program evaluations and served as a nutrition specialist with the Food and Nutrition Service for domestic food assistance programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Shank earned his doctorate in nutrition at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has authored or co-authored numerous papers and has made many presentation on public health, nutrition and food safety. His best known work was the implementation of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act in 1990. In 1994, he was the recipient of the Babcock-Hart Award.

Shank was elected a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) in 1991, then later joined IFT in managing their Washington, D.C. office. Shank retired from IFT as a Vice President of Science, Communications, and Government Relations in 2010.

He received his B.S. at the University of Kentucky and his PhD in nutrition from the University of Maryland, College Park.

References

"1994 Babcock-Hart Award: Fred R. Shank" (1994). In 1994 IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo Directory. Chicago: Institute of Food Technologists. p. 72.
"In Memoriam: Fred Ross Shank II". Food Technology. March 2015. p. 79.

American nutritionists
Fellows of the Institute of Food Technologists
University of Kentucky alumni
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
2015 deaths
1940 births

Fred Shank


Kenneth Leon Jones (June 9, 1938 – May 13, 1993) was an American television journalist, actor, reporter and news anchor. He was Los Angeles television's first black weeknight news anchor, working for Los Angeles television station KTTV-TV channel 11 and KNXT channel 2  (now known as KCBS-TV).  Jones was known for his reports on the 1965 Watts riots and the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Ken Jones also conceived and published, along with his wife Regina Jones, SOUL, a black entertainment newsmagazine, from 1966-82. In 1992, Ken was diagnosed with bladder cancer and after a short battle
with the disease, died in May 1993.

Background
The oldest of three children, Ken was born to Georgia Wood Jones and Henry Leon Jones in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from
John C. Fremont High school in Los Angeles.  He married Regina Nickerson in 1958.  Regina is the granddaughter of William Nickerson Jr., co-founder of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company.  Together Ken and Regina Jones had four sons, Kenneth, Jr., Kevin, Keith, Kory, and one daughter Karen.  In 1992, Jones was diagnosed with bladder cancer and after a short battle
with the disease, died in May 1993.

Career
He was hired as a reporter for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner Newspaper in 1954. He became a disc jockey at KBCA and
KGFJ radio and a news director for KDAY radio in L.A. in 1962. He worked as a production assistant for the West Coast edition of the
Huntley-Brinkley Report from 1963-65 which he left to become a regular newscaster for KRLA radio in Pasadena, a position he held until 1967 when he was hired as a feature reporter, then was promoted to weeknight Anchor at KTTV-TV in Los Angeles where he received an Emmy Award for a one-hour news special, The High Cost of Health Care May Be Hazardous To Your Health. His growing prominence led to numerous TV and film roles including The Candidate (1972) and The Brady Bunch (1972) (TV).  Ken worked as a reporter and weekend anchor at KNXT, now KCBS-TV Los Angeles, in 1980.

Community involvement

Film and television acting career
Jones appeared in many shows throughout the 1970's and 1980's.

Awards and honors

Filmography
"The Candidate" - himself (1972)
"Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" - himself (Archive Footage) (2008)

Television work (actor)
"The Brady Bunch" The Liberation of Marcia Brady - Newscaster (1971)
"McMillan & Wife" - Newscaster 3 episodes (1972–1974)
"Police Woman" - Newscaster (1977)
"The Young Runaways" - Mike Carruthers (1978)
"Matt Houston" - reporter (1983)

References

External links

American male journalists
20th-century American journalists
1938 births
1993 deaths
Regional Emmy Award winners
Male actors from Los Angeles
Television anchors from Los Angeles
20th-century American male actors
Deaths from bladder cancer
Deaths from cancer in California

Ken Jones (news reporter)


T21, originally T2 is a diesel-hydraulic locomotive operated by Swedish State Railways () and Nora Bergslags Järnväg (NBJ) of Sweden. 60 units were built during the 1950s by Maschinenbau Kiel and Svenska Järnvägsverkstäderna based on the German DB Class V65. The T21 was technically identical with the MaK 800D. The T21 was used to replace steam locomotives on branch lines. They were used until the 1990s.

The order consisted of 56 locomotives, of which ten were to be built in Sweden with a Swedish hydraulic shift, designated T3, later T22. The shift did not work particularly well, and only four were delivered, the rest with a German shift. Later two units were rebuilt to T21s. NBJ bought four T21 units in 1963.

Other websites
 Järnväg.net on T21

MaK locomotives

SJ T21


Sir Renaud (Reginald) de Carteret, 8th Seigneur of Saint Ouen  (1316–1382) was a Seigneur of Saint Ouen in Jersey.

He followed his father as Seigneur of St Ouen in 1327. Succeeded to the command of the military forces in Jersey when the Governor Dru de Barentin was slain.

Edward III's pursuit of the French Crown brought war with France in its train, and the islands were again drawn into the conflict.

Sir Renaud successfully repelled the attacks of Nicolas Béhuchet, Admiral of France in 1338. In 1339 and 1340 more attacks were repulsed again under his command.

The French had captured Guernsey and held it for three years. They attempted to capture Jersey, but failed to take Mont Orgueil.

Sir Renaud led a Jersey fleet, assisted by the English, to regain Guernsey in 1356 and helped to drive out the French from that island.  During this battle many notable Jerseymen lost their lives, but because a prominent Guernseyman, William Le Feyvre, was executed for treason by the Jerseymen, a bitter interinsular feud broke out between the islands.

A trial ensued, when the angry widow stated that her husband had been done to death, "out of ancient enmity and their own malice", and the Jerseymen implicated were banished.  Sir Renaud de Carteret and Ralph Lempriere, who had been leaders in the siege, challenged the verdict and were imprisoned in Castle Cornet, where they had a hard time at the hands of the Guernseymen until released by the King's pardon.

Ancestry

See also
 Other members of the dynasty: Renaud de Carteret I and Renaud de Carteret III

References

External links
decarteret.org.uk Person Sheet

Renaud De Carteret V
1316 births
14th-century deaths

Sir Renaud de Carteret, 8th Seigneur of Saint Ouen


An ecological niche is the part of the environment into which a species fits, and to which it is adapted. A shorthand definition of niche in biology is how an organism makes a living in a place.

However, the term has been used in different ways. It is not only a place but a way of life. For example, grazers, insectivores, scavengers and predators can all live their different lifestyles in the same forest. A niche can be occupied by different species in different places even though they 'earn their living' in roughly the same way. Thus the 'bird of prey eating small mammals' niche would in grasslands include the kestrel, but in an oak wood it would be filled by the tawny owl.

The idea of a niche in natural history is ancient: many writers noticed that animals and plants live in places where they are well adapted to live. The word niche was first used in biology by naturalist Roswell Johnson, but in 1917 Joseph Grinnell was the first to use it in a research program. Later, he described the niches of a variety of species. Grinnell was the first to offer the "exclusion principle" in which only one species could occupy a particular niche at any one time.

Scientists who study the interactions between living things, such as animals and their environment are called ecologists, and their branch of science is called ecology. A niche is a term which describes a position or opportunity into which some organism fits well. Thus, an ecological niche is a place in nature that is filled by an animal or plant because it is well suited to do so.

Invasions
When a niche is left open, for example by extinction, other organisms may fill that position.

Also, invasive species of plants and animals in a new land often take over all or part of the niches of native organisms.  Sometimes the loss results in the extinction of the natives.

Related pages
Habitat

References

Habitats

Ecological niche


Andrew Browne (born 21 January 1987) is a rugby union player from Ireland. Browne is a versatile forward, able to play as a flanker or a lock. Browne most recently played professionally for Irish provincial side Connacht Rugby. His older brother Damian Browne is also a rugby player, and formerly played for Connacht and Leinster.

Early life
Browne was born in Galway and grew up in Renmore. He attended St. Joseph's Patrician College, commonly known as The Bish. Browne played rugby for local clubs Our Lady's Boys Club and Galwegians. When was growing up his brother Damian, who is seven years older than him, played for Connacht, but the older Browne left the team in 2004, almost three years before Andrew made his own debut.

Browne studied at NUI Galway.

Career

Connacht
A product of the province's academy, Browne made his senior debut for Connacht in the 2006–07 Celtic League, coming on as a replacement against the Cardiff Blues on 7 April 2007, in a match that finished level, at 16 points apiece. He made one further appearance in the league that season, also as a replacement.

Browne made his first ever European appearance in the 2007–08 European Challenge Cup, coming on as a replacement against El Salvador. He also made his first start for Connacht during the season, lining out against Edinburgh in the 2007–08 Celtic League on 21 March 2008. In addition to this, Browne started one other game and made three appearances from the bench in the league that season.

The following season saw Browne become a regular for Connacht. He featured in all seven of the province's 2008–09 Challenge Cup games, starting in five of them, including the quarter-final clash with Northampton Saints. Browne played in 14 of Connacht's 18 games in the 2008–09 Celtic League, starting in nine of them. Browne scored his first try for Connacht on 8 May 2009 in a league game against Irish rivals Ulster.

Browne played in only two games in the 2009–10 European Challenge Cup as Connacht reached the semi-finals. In that season's league he made 13 appearances, but started on just five occasions. At the end of the season Michael Bradley, who had coached Connacht for the entirety of Browne's time with the senior team, stood down from his position and was replaced with Eric Elwood, who had coached Browne at Under 20 level internationally.

The following season saw Browne once again playing regular first team rugby for Connacht. He played in all six of the team's games in the 2010–11 Challenge Cup, but Connacht failed to progress from their group. In the 2010–11 Celtic League, which had been expanded to twelve teams with the addition of two Italian teams, Browne started 14 games, and came on as a replacement in a further four.

Browne missed the entirety of the 2011–12 season for Connacht, in what was the province's debut season in the Heineken Cup, following an injury sustained during the pre-season. The 2011–12 season also saw the league renamed as the Pro12, due to the addition of Italian teams. Browne returned to the team after more than a year's absence in the 2012–13 Pro12 match with Scarlets in September 2012. He made a total of 16 appearances in the league that season, 13 of these coming as starts. Browne made his Heineken Cup debut when he started Connacht's pool stage game against Biarritz, which the province won by a score of 22–14.He went on to start three more of Connacht's games in the competition. Browne signed an extension to his Connacht contract in March 2013, agreeing to stay with the team until the end of the 2014–15 season.

Elwood left his post at the end of the 2012–13 season and was replaced by Pat Lam. In Lam's first season in charge, Browne made 18 appearances in the league, starting 11 times. In the 2013–14 Heineken Cup Browne started three games and came on as a replacement in a further two. On 4 January 2014, Browne made his 100th appearance for Connacht against Leinster.

Browne suffered from injury issues in the 2014–15 season, which limited the number of appearances he made. He played just eight times in the 2014–15 Pro12, starting only twice. He featured in four of Connacht's six pool games in the 2014–15 Challenge Cup however, and started in the quarter-final defeat to Gloucester.

International
Browne has represented Ireland internationally at youth level, playing for the country at Under 19 and Under 20 level. He was part of the Irish team that won the Grand Slam in the U20 Six Nations in 2007. The grand slam winning team was coached by Browne's future Connacht coach Eric Elwood. Browne has also played for the second tier international "A" side, known as the Ireland Wolfhounds.

References

External links
 Ireland Under-20 Profile
 Ireland Wolfhounds Profile
 EPCR Profile
 Pro12 Profile

1987 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Galway
Connacht Rugby players
Galwegians RFC players
Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players
Irish rugby union players
People educated at St Joseph's Patrician College
Rugby union flankers
Rugby union locks
Rugby union players from County Galway
Sportspeople from Galway (city)

Andrew Browne (rugby union)


In terrestrial animals, plantigrade locomotion means walking with the toes and metatarsals flat on the ground. It is one of three forms of locomotion adopted by terrestrial mammals. The other options are digitigrade, walking on the toes with the heel and wrist permanently raised, and unguligrade,  walking on the nail or nails of the toes (the hoof) with the heel/wrist and the digits permanently raised. The leg of a plantigrade mammal includes the bones of the upper leg (femur/humerus) and lower leg (tibia and fibula/radius and ulna). The leg of a digitigrade mammal also includes the metatarsals/metacarpals, the bones that in a human compose the arch of the foot and the palm of the hand. The leg of an unguligrade mammal also includes the phalanges, the finger and toe bones.

Among extinct animals, most early mammals such as pantodonts were plantigrade. A plantigrade foot is the primitive condition for mammals; digitigrade and unguligrade locomotion evolved later. Among archosaurs, the pterosaurs were partially plantigrade and walked on the whole of the hind foot and the fingers of the hand-wing.

List of plantigrade mammals
Plantigrade mammal species include (but are not limited to):
Some primates (including humans)
Carnivora:
Ursidae: bears
Musteloidea: skunks, raccoons, weasels, badgers, otters, and red pandas
Barbourofelis: false saber-tooth cats
Rodents: mice, rats, porcupines
Lagomorphs: rabbits
Hedgehogs
Hyraxes
Marsupialia:  kangaroos, opossums

Evolution
The primary advantages of a plantigrade foot are stability and weight-bearing ability; plantigrade feet have the largest surface area. The primary disadvantage of a plantigrade foot is speed. With more bones and joints in the foot, the leg is both shorter and heavier at the far end, which makes it difficult to move rapidly.

In humans and other great apes, another possible advantage of a plantigrade foot is that it may enhance fighting performance by providing a more powerful stance for striking and grappling.

Plantigrade foot occurs normally in humans in static postures of standing and sitting. It should also occur normally in gait (walking). Hypertonicity, spasticity, clonus, limited range of motion, abnormal flexion neural pattern, and a plantar flexor (calf) muscle contracture, as well as some forms of footwear such as high heeled shoes may contribute to an individual only standing and/or walking on their toes. It would be evident by the observable heel rise.

References

Terrestrial locomotion

Plantigrade


Cristoforo Madruzzo () (5 July 1512 - 5 July 1578) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and statesman. His brother Eriprando was a mercenary captain who fought in the Italian Wars.

Biography
Madruzzo was born on 5 July 1512 at Calavino, into a noble family in Trento. He studied at Padua and Bologna, received in 1529 from his older brother a canonicate at Trento and the parish of Tirol near Meran, was in 1536 a Canon of Salzburg, in 1537 of Brixen, and in 1539 became Prince-Bishop of Trento. Being only a subdeacon at the time, he was promoted to the deaconship, priesthood and episcopate in 1542.

In December 1542, he was appointed administrator of the Bishopric of Brixen, and shortly afterwards, during the same year, he was raised to the dignity of a cardinal by Pope Paul III. Having resigned his bishopric at Trento in 1567 in favour of his nephew Ludovico, he spent the latter years of his life in Italy, and became Cardinal Bishop successively of Sabina, Palestrina, and Porto. A few years after his death, his remains were entombed in the family chapel, in the church of Sant'Onofrio, Rome.

Charles V and his brother, King Ferdinand I, afterwards emperor, esteemed him very highly and employed him in many important and delicate missions. He took an active part in the imperial Diet of Ratisbon as representative of the emperor, and upheld strenuously the Catholic teaching against the heresy of Martin Luther.

Madruzzo was also governor of Milan for 20 months.

In addition to his two sees he received in 1546, by the favour of Charles V, a yearly allowance of 2,000 ducats from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

He died in Tivoli, Italy, on 5 July 1578, his 66th birthday.

Council of Trent

As cardinal, Bishop of Trent, and temporal ruler of that principality, he played a prominent part in the Council of Trent. Among other things he insisted that the reform of the Church should be taken up in earnest, a matter much desired by Charles V, and by which it was hoped to win the Protestants back to the Church. It was largely due to his efforts that this subject was discussed and enactments of that character were passed in each session together with decisions on doctrinal matters. During the Council, he opposed Cardinal Pacheco and others who wanted to ban all vernacular translations of the Bible. He was also intent upon promoting a truly religious and Christian life among both the people and the ecclesiastics under his jurisdiction. He was himself cultured and learned, and patronized the liberal arts and learning.

See also
Carlo Emanuele Madruzzo
Carlo Gaudenzio Madruzzo

References

Sources
Catholic Encyclopedia

External links

1512 births
1578 deaths
People from Trentino
Cristoforo
Prince-Bishops of Trent
Bishops of Brixen
16th-century Italian cardinals
Cardinal-bishops of Albano
Cardinal-bishops of Palestrina
Cardinal-bishops of Porto
Cardinal-bishops of Sabina
16th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops
Participants in the Council of Trent

Cristoforo Madruzzo


The McElwain House is an historic house at 11 West Presque Isle Road in Caribou, Maine.  Built in 1916-17 by a prosperous farmer,  it is a fine local example of Colonial Revival architecture and a reminder of a period of prosperity in Aroostook County.  It is home to the Northern Maine Development Commission; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 1982, and delisted in 2015.

Description and history
The McElwain House is located at the northwest corner of Main Street and West Presque Isle Road, in a rural setting on the south side of Caribou.  It is a large 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, with a truncated hip roof topped by a widows walk.  It is finished in clapboard siding, and has an ell extending to the rear that joins it to a carriage house.  The east-facing front has a broad single-story porch, supported by paired square posts, extending across the front and along the south side, ending in a porte-cochere.  A large hooded dormer pierces the front roof-line, with a similarly-styled dormer to the south.  Most of the windows in the house are diamond-paned, either casement or sash windows.  Its interiors are richly crafted, with Tiffany glass in the cabinets, and handcrafted stone fireplaces.

The house was built in 1916-17 by John McElwain, one of the county's most successful and prosperous farmers, and included all sorts of amenities more typical for Maine's even more elaborate coastal summer houses.  The McElwains were a significant social force in the area, hosting parties and other events at the house.  Their fortunes declined with the advent of the Great Depression, and they converted the grand ballroom to guest rooms to make ends meet.  Since 1973 the house has been used as the headquarters of the Northern Maine Development Commission, which has carefully maintained its interior and exterior.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Aroostook County, Maine

References

External links
Northern Maine Development Commission web site

Houses in Aroostook County, Maine
Caribou, Maine
Former National Register of Historic Places in Maine

McElwain House


The Grabfeld is a region in Germany, on the border between Bavaria and Thuringia. It is situated southeast of the Rhön Mountains. Its highest elevation is 679 metres high in the little Gleichberge mountain range. The Grabfeld gave its name to the Bavarian district of Rhön-Grabfeld and the Thuringian municipality of Grabfeld.

Geography of Bavaria
Regions of Thuringia

Grabfeld


The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size car produced by Chevrolet for the 1950–1981 model years. Initially, only the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950 to 1952. With the 1953 model year, the Bel Air name was changed from a designation for a unique body shape to a premium level of trim applied across a number of body styles. The Bel Air continued with various other trim level designations, and it had gone from a mid-level trim car to a budget fleet sedan when U.S. production ceased in 1975. Production continued in Canada, for its home market only, through the 1981 model year.

History

First generation (1950–1954)

From 1950 to 1952, the Bel Air Sport Coupe name was used only for the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range, to distinguish the car from the Styleline and Fleetline models. It is named after the wealthy Bel Air neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles.

First-year production reached only 76,662 models built. The car cost $1,741 and weighed . Front suspension was independent, named "knee-action".
The first Bel Airs of this era shared only their front sheet metal ahead of the A pillar with the rest of the range. The windshield, doors, glass, and trunk were common with the Styleline Deluxe Convertible Coupe, however, the roof, rear quarters and rear windows (3) were unique. The chassis and mechanicals were common with the rest of the passenger car range, and the overall appearance was the same as the rest of the range, except that the roofline was lower and the unique three piece rear window gave it a longer and more balanced look. The first Bel Airs were available with only the "Deluxe" premium trim level and specification.

Apart from the usual annual grille and trim changes, the 1951–1952 Bel Air differed from the earlier 1950 model with the introduction of the higher and squarer rear guards that were across the whole range.

In 1953 Chevrolet renamed its series, and the Bel Air name was applied to the premium model range. Two lower series, the 150 and 210, also emerged (as successors to the Special and Deluxe series, respectively). The 1953 Chevrolet was advertised as "Entirely new through and through" due to the restyled body panels, front and rear ends. However, essentially these Chevrolets had similar frames and mechanicals to the 1949–1952 cars.

The Bel Air was given a facelift in 1953. The pre-war technology, such as torque tube drive, six-cylinder splash feed engines, knee-action suspension, and split windshields of the early models, was phased out, and the foundations for the first post-war modern Chevrolet passenger car were finalized. The Bel Air series featured a wide chrome strip of molding from the rear fender bulge to the rear bumper. The inside of this stripe was painted a coordinating color with the outside body color, and "Bel Air" scripts were added inside the strip. Lesser models had no model designation anywhere on the car, having only a Chevrolet crest on the hood and trunk. 1953 was the first year for a curved, one-piece windshield.

In the July 1953 issue of Popular Mechanics, a tested 1953 Bel Air went from 0-60 mph in 19.6 seconds.

Bel Air interiors had an optional massive expanse of chrome across the lower part of the dashboard (most were painted), along with a deluxe Bel Air steering wheel with a full chrome horn ring. Carpeting and full wheel covers rounded out Bel Air standard equipment. For 1954, the Bel Air stayed essentially the same, except for a revised grille and taillights and a revised engine that had insert bearings and higher oil pressure, needed for the full-flow oil filtration system that was not available prior to 1954. Prior to 1954, the 235 and 216 cubic inch six-cylinder engines had Babbitt bearings and scoops to create oil pressure at the bottom of each rod, and the oil pressure was standard at 15-30 PSI. During these years, there were three engine choices, depending on the transmission ordered. Both 235 cubic inch engines were "Blue Flame" inline six-cylinder OHV engines, featuring hydraulic valve lifters (in 1953 with automatic transmissions) and aluminum pistons. The 106 hp (79 kW) 235 cubic inch displacement engine was standard on stick shift models, with solid lifters and splash plus pressure lubrication, including Babbitt bearings. Powerglide cars got a 115 hp (86 kW) version which had hydraulic lifters and full pressure lubrication.

In 1953 and 1954, Bel Airs could be ordered as a convertible, hardtop coupe, two- and four-door variant sedan, and, for 1954, the Beauville station wagon, which featured woodgrain trim around the side windows. Many new options, once only seen in more expensive luxury cars, were offered, starting in 1953. This included power steering and the Guidematic headlight dimmer in 1953, as well as power brakes, power 2-way front seat and power front windows in 1954. All 1954 models equipped with the standard transmission used the 1953 Powerglide engine.

Second generation (1955–1957)
{{Infobox automobile
| name = Second generation
| image = 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air cnv - fvrT.jpg
| caption = 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible
| production = 1954–1957
| model_years = 1955–1957
| designer = Bill Mitchell
| transmission = 3-speed manual2-speed Powerglide automatic3-speed Turboglide automatic
| engine =  Thriftmaster I6 Blue Flame I6 Small-Block V8 (1955-1956) Small-Block V8 (1957)
| wheelbase = 115"
| length = 195.6"
| body_style = 2-door hardtop4-door hardtop (1956–57)4-door sedan2-door convertible2-door Station wagon4-door station wagon
| class = Full-size
| layout = FR layout
| platform = GM A Body
| related = Chevrolet 210Chevrolet 150Chevrolet NomadPontiac Chieftain
| assembly = (main plant)Flint, Michigan, (Flint Assembly)(branch assembly)Baltimore, Maryland, (Baltimore Assembly)Janesville, Wisconsin, (Janesville Assembly)Lakewood Heights, Georgia, (Lakewood Assembly)Leeds, Missouri, (Leeds Assembly)Norwood, Ohio, (Norwood Assembly)Oakland, California, (Oakland Assembly)St. Louis, Missouri, (St. Louis Assembly)North Tarrytown, New York, (North Tarrytown Assembly)Van Nuys, California, (Van Nuys Assembly)Oshawa, Ontario, Canada (Oshawa Car Assembly) Caracas, Venezuela
}}

The Bel Air received new, revamped styling for the 1955 model year. The Bel Air was  and  long. It was called the "Hot One" in GM's advertising campaign. Bel Airs came with features found on cars in the lower models ranges plus interior carpet, chrome headliner bands on hardtops, chrome spears on front fenders, stainless steel window moldings, full wheel covers, and a Ferrari-inspired front grille. Models were further distinguished by the Bel Air name script in gold lettering later in the year. For 1955 Chevrolets gained a V8 engine option and the option of the 2 speed Powerglide automatic, or a standard three speed Synchro-Mesh manual transmission with optional overdrive. The new  V8 featured a modern, overhead valve high compression ratio, short stroke design that was so good that it remained in production in various displacements for many decades. The base V8 had a two-barrel carburetor and was rated at  and the "Power Pack" option featured a four-barrel carburetor and other upgrades yielding . Later in the year, a "Super Power Pack" option added high-compression and a further . Warning lights replaced gauges for the generator and oil pressure. This was not the first Chevrolet with a V8 engine; the first Chevrolet with a V8 engine was introduced in 1917 and called the Series D, which was built for two years, and was manufactured before Chevrolet joined General Motors.

The 1955 Bel Air was very well received. Motor Trend magazine gave the Bel Air top marks for handling. Popular Mechanics reported acceleration for a V8 Bel Air with Powerglide as being 0- in 12.9 seconds, plus a comfortable ride and good visibility. On the other hand, the horn ring blocked some of the speedometer, regular gasoline made the engine knock and the first V8 engines off the line burned too much oil. Front legroom was 43.1". Brakes were 11" drums. A new option for V8-equipped 1955 models was air conditioning, with outlets on each side of the dashboard; a heavy-duty generator was included on cars equipped with this option; in 1955 and 1956, air conditioning could be installed on cars ordered with the standard three-speed manual transmission, overdrive or Powerglide, but from 1957 onward, an automatic transmission (or minus that, 4-speed manual transmission) was a pre-requisite option.

The 1956 Bel Air received a face-lift with a more conventional full-width grille, pleasing those customers who didn't favor the Ferrari-inspired '55 front end. Two-tone bodyside treatments and front and rear wheel openings completed the "speedline" restyling. Single housings incorporated the taillight, stoplight, and backup light, and the left one held the gas filler – an idea popularized on Cadillacs. Among the seven Bel Air models was a new Sport Sedan, a pillarless four-door hardtop that looked handsome with all the windows rolled down and allowed easy entry into the back seat. Production exceeded 103,000, compared to 128,000 two-door hardtops. Shapely two-door Nomad wagons topped the price chart at US$2,608 ($ in  dollars ), but now carried the same interior and rear-wheel sheet metal as other Bel Airs, lacking the original's unique trim. Only 7,886 were built. The least costly Bel Air, at US$2,025 ($ in  dollars ), was the two-door sedan. Seatbelts, shoulder harnesses, and a padded dashboard were available, and full-size cars could even get the hot Corvette 225-horsepower engine. In 1956 sales material there was an optional rain-sensing automatic top, which was first seen on the 1951 LaSabre concept car. However, it is believed that it was never installed on a car. Popular Mechanics reported only 7.4% of owners in their survey ordered seat belts.  A '56 Bel Air 4-door hardtop, prepared by Chevrolet engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov, set a new endurance/speed record for an automobile ascending Pikes Peak.

In 1957 engine displacement grew to  with the "Super Turbo Fire V8" option (shared with the Corvette), producing  @ 6200 rpm and  @ 4400 rpm of torque with the help of Rochester Ramjet continuous mechanical fuel injection (closed-loop). These so-called "fuelie" cars are quite rare, since most Bel Airs were fitted with carburetion.

The 1957 Bel Air is considered by many to be "an icon of its age. . .right alongside Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and Leave it to Beaver," and is among the most recognizable American cars of all time; well-maintained examples, especially sport coupes and convertibles are highly sought after by collectors and enthusiasts. They are roomy, with tastefully restrained, period use tail fins and chrome. A second automatic transmission, Turboglide was optional. While the original two-speed Powerglide continued unchanged, Turboglide provided a continuously variable gear-ratio which made "shifting" imperceptible. The shift quadrant on Turboglide cars followed a "P R N D Gr" pattern.

From 1955 to 1957, production of the two-door Nomad station wagon was assigned to the Bel Air series, although its body and trim were unique to that model. Prior to becoming a regular production model, the Nomad first appeared as a Corvette-based concept vehicle in 1954. Chevrolet has since unveiled two concept cars bearing the Nomad name, most recently in 1999. The 1955–1957 Chevrolets are commonly referred to as Tri Fives.

The 1955–1957s were made in right-hand drive and shipped from Oshawa Car Assembly in Oshawa, Ontario, for local assembly in Australia (CKD), New Zealand (SKD) and South Africa. All three model years had a reversed version of the '55 LHD dashboard and did not get the LHD models' 1957 redesign.

A black 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air was featured in the 1973 movie American Graffiti. This '55 features a big hood scoop, and a signature cowboy hat in the rear window. In the movie, it races against a yellow 1932 Ford Deuce Coupe and crashes into a ditch. The Bel Air had a 454 cubic inch Chevrolet motor, with aluminum heads, tunnel ram intake and dual Holley carburetors.

Third generation (1958)

For 1958, Chevrolet models were redesigned longer, lower, and heavier than their 1957 predecessors, and the  was now an option. The Bel Air gained a halo vehicle in 1958, the Impala, available only as a hardtop coupe and convertible in its introductory year. Impala styling followed the basic lines of the other Chevrolet models but received special styling cues including a different roof line, a vent above the rear window, unique side trim, and triple tail lights housed in slightly broader alcoves. Two significantly cheaper models, the Biscayne (formerly the 210) and the Delray (formerly the 150) were also available during this model year.

Chevrolet's design for the year fared better than its other GM offerings, and lacked the overabundance of chrome found on other sedans at the time. Complementing Chevrolet's front design was a broad grille and quad headlights; the tail received a fan-shaped alcove on both side panels, which housed dual tail lights. Despite being a recession year, consumers made Chevrolet the No. 1 make of automobile, and the Bel Air was at the core of Chevrolet's popularity. With its wide variety of body styles and models, Bel Airs could be optioned with almost every conceivable luxury within the Chevrolet line. The Nomad station wagon name also reappeared in 1958 when the vehicle bowed as the premium four-door Chevrolet station wagon, lacking the unique styling of the 1955-57 Nomads. Most Chevrolet station wagon models had two tail lights (one on each side of the body) housed in abbreviated alcoves, which were made smaller to accommodate the rear gate. A new dash was used.

Safety
The 1958 Bel Air featured Chevrolet's new "Safety-Girder" cruciform frame. Similar in layout to the frame adopted for the 1957 Cadillac, it featured box-section side rails and a boxed front cross member that bowed under the engine.  These "x-frames" were used on other 1958 to 1964 Chevrolet cars, as well as Cadillac. The rear was tied together by a channel-section cross member. This design was later criticized as providing less protection in the event of a side impact collision, but would persevere until 1965.

For the first time, Powerglide models featured the "PRNDL" transmission selector arrangement, replacing the oft-criticized "PNDLR" quadrant that many considered confusing at best, dangerous at worst.

Fourth generation (1959–1960)

The Bel Air received a major redesign for the 1959 model year. The most visual new change was the flat, wing shaped tailfins. The car was built on a  wheelbase and was  long-which was  longer than the 1957 model. This made Chevrolet the longest car in the low-priced range, whereas two years before it had been the shortest. In addition, the car was  wider outside and had  more width inside than it did in 1958, through the reduction of door thickness. The "X" frame from 1958 was continued, but enlarged and strengthened to support the new body.

The Bel Air, which had been the top line series since 1953, was now the middle range. Wagons were still classed by themselves, but had model numbers matching the car series. Parkwood 6-passenger and Kingswood 9-passenger wagons had Bel Air's model number, and as such were the middle range wagons. Under the hood, little change took place. A variety of speed options, such as fuel injection, special cams and lowered compression, gave horsepower ratings up to 315. Bel Air production was 447,100. The new Impala line surpassed Bel Air production by 20,000 units. A parking brake warning light was optional.

Little change was made for 1960. The new models were refinements of the 1959 style with a much more restrained front end, the return of the double cone tail lights of 1958 rather than the startling "cat's eyes" of 1959. Under the hood, things remained constant. Fuel injection was no longer available, but with the 348 cubic inch engine, a horsepower rating of 335 at 5800 rpm was now achieved. This involved the use of three double-barrel carburetors, a special cam and an 11.25:1 compression ratio, all sold as a package. Body style offerings followed 1959, with hardtops and sedans available.  The convertible was reserved for the Impala series.  The Bel Air Sport Sedan continued to use a rear window overhang and a huge wraparound rear window. Bel Airs (and Biscaynes) had two tail lights per side; the Impalas had three tail lights per side—a situation that would persist for most years through 1975. Many of the same options and accessories that were available on the Impala were also available on the Bel Air. The Bel Airs had more interior and exterior brightwork than the Biscayne.

Fifth generation (1961–1964)

For 1961, the Bel Air received a new body. Its wheelbase remained , but its length was now reduced slightly to .
All engines options of the previous year remained in effect with the standard engines being the 235.5 CID Six of  or the 283 CID V8 of . The V8 cost $110 more than the Six and weighed  less.

The Bel Air 2-door sedan used squared-off roof styling and large wrap-around rear window as opposed to the hardtop's swept-back design. The Bel Air 4-door Sport Hardtop still used a different roof line than did the 4-door sedan.

For 1962, all sheet metal except the door panels was changed. Overall length was stretched slightly to . The 4-door Sport Hardtop was no longer offered in the Bel Air series. Standard engines remained the same as the previous year. A new  V8 of 250 or  was offered in addition to the giant (for the time)  V8 of  or  with the dual four-barrel carburetor setup. The Turboglide was also discontinued, leaving the Powerglide as the only automatic transmission available. All wagons this year were 4-door models and separate distinctions for wagons were dropped. Now all models were either Biscayne, Bel Air or Impala series. Full carpeting returned as standard equipment on all 1962 Bel Air models for the first time in several years.  The Bel Air Sport Coupe was in its last year of U.S. production, and its roofline was a carryover from the 1961 hardtop coupe.

The Bel Air was given a facelift in 1963. Its overall length increased to . Replacing the older 235 cubic-inch six-cylinder engine as standard equipment was a new 230 cubic-inch six-cylinder of more modern design with a 140-horsepower rating that was based on the 194 cubic-inch six introduced on the compact Chevy II Nova the previous year. The base V8 remained the 283 CID, which was upgraded to produce . The 409 CID V8 was now offered in 340, 400 and  versions, while the small block 327 V8 continued with options of 250 and 300 horsepower. The Bel Air continued to be Chevrolet's middle range, but it now consisted of only two car models- the 2-door sedan and the 4-door sedan. 6 and 9-passenger Bel Air station wagons were again offered.

For 1964, very few changes were made except the expected sheet metal and trim renovations. Cars were  in length while the wagons were  long. In addition to the un-changed standard engines, there were two different 327 CID engines were offered, developing from  to  and three 409 CID engines ranging from  to . Except for a chrome belt line and $100 difference in price there was little exterior difference between the Bel Air and Biscayne version.

RHD Bel Airs continued to be imported into Australia.  Some of these cars featured a reversed 1961 Pontiac instrument panel, but others had a mirror image of the more attractive current North American panel.  Even more curious was the fact that some of these Bel Airs featured Impala-style triple taillights; the center lens was amber in keeping with Australian legal standards.

Sixth generation (1965–1970)

For 1965, the full size Chevrolet was totally restyled, and the cars were stretched to  overall, even though the wheelbase remained the same. The new stamped grille had a lower extension below the bumper which was slightly veed. Curved window glass and round taillights mounted high characterized the new styling. The interiors were also redesigned and a very attractive dash resulted. The standard V8 remained the 283 CID model of , but options included two new  CID engines of  and  and two 409 CID blocks of  and .

The Bel Air used a stainless-steel belt and rocker molding, identifying signature on the rear fenders, a glove compartment light and power tailgate on 9-passenger wagons to distinguish itself from the lower-priced Biscayne series.

For 1966, Chevrolet was in its second season of a totally new body change, so mild facelifting sufficed including forward thrusting, blunted front fenders and a revised grille. At the rear, a break with the traditional round taillamps took place. Bel Air and Biscayne featured dual rectangular lamps with back-up lamps built in. Overall length was . The standard six-cylinder engine this year was the larger 250 CID version of . New for the speed set was a  V8 of  or . Bel Air was readily distinguishable from Biscayne by its full length body side molding and rear fender Bel Air signatures. All-vinyl interiors were now standard on station wagons while cloth and vinyl trims continued on sedans.

For 1967, full-sized Chevrolets featured a new body with bulging rear fenders, one of this year's styling trends, not necessarily appreciated by everyone. Bel Air 2 and 4-door Sedans continued in addition to 6 and 9-passenger wagons. This year Bel Air featured triple taillights unlike Biscayne's dual units. Standard engines remained the same as the previous year. Optional engines were a 327 CID V8 of , the 396 CID V8 of ; or the 427 CID V8 of , plus various speed packages.

For 1968, the Full-sized Chevrolets received some changes but were quite similar to the 1967 models, though they had grown one inch to . Chevrolet's new grille design bore a strong resemblance to Cadillac's, but Bel Air's dual round taillight design was strictly Chevrolet. In an unusual move, the taillights were mounted in the bumper. In 1968 the U.S. additional safety features were required in all motor vehicles, bringing about a new standard in car safety.  These features included shoulder belts for outboard front-seat occupants and side marker lights.  Chevrolets with optional V8s got the engine size, in cubic inches, displayed as part of the front side maker lights.

In addition to the 250 CID Six of , standard engines included the new  V8 of . The Bel Air with the standard 250 Six was capable of a top speed of  and  at cruising speeds. When powered by the new 307 CID V8, the Bel Air series cars had a top speed of  and  at cruising speeds.

For the 1969 model year, the Bel Air was redesigned, with a new length, new fender and body lines, and a new front and back end, but continued using the basic 1965 chassis, innerbody structure and even the rooflines of pillared two- and four-door sedans. The cars also remained on the  wheelbase, but grew to a new length of , while the wagons grew  to a new length of 217.7 Engine offerings included a standard 250 cubic-inch six-cylinder and  327 V-8, and optional V-8 engines included two 350s of  and , a 396 rated at  and three 427 V8s of , , and . This was the final year for the Bel Air 2-door sedan and the Bel Air-based station wagon was renamed Townsman, as part of a Chevrolet move to revert to the pre-1962 practice of using different nameplates on station wagons than other models. Three- and four-speed manual transmissions were again offered along with the two-speed Powerglide automatic with the six-cylinder, and 327 and 350 V-8s; and the three-speed Turbo Hydramatic, offered only with the big-block V-8s since its 1965 introduction, was now available with all engines.

For 1970, the Chevrolet line was very little changed and regulated primarily to a redesigned front end. The standard Six was still the 250 of . The standard V8 in full-size Chevrolets was now the  of . Optional V-8 engines included a  350 and  400, with the top offering a  of . The Bel Air series was now a one model 4-door sedan while the station wagon was again sold under the Townsman nameplate.

The 1965-70 GM B platform is the fourth best selling automobile platform in history after the Volkswagen Beetle, Ford Model T and the Lada Riva.

Seventh generation (1971–1975)

By the late 1960s (with the introduction of the Caprice), the Bel Air and its Biscayne stablemate were primarily marketed to automotive fleet customers. However, the Bel Air remained available to retail customers who sought a basic full-sized car that was better trimmed than the low-line Biscayne. When the Biscayne was discontinued after 1972, the Bel Air was demoted to the low-level model. Bel Airs again used two-segmented taillights as opposed to the triple-segmented lights of higher-level Impala and Caprice models, except in 1972 when all models shared the same triple-segmented lights mounted in the bumper.

A 250-cubic-inch six-cylinder engine and three-speed manual transmission with column shift remained standard equipment through the 1973 model year on sedans with the 350 V8 and automatic standard on wagons—the Turbo Hydramatic automatic had been the sole transmission choice on V-8-powered Bel Airs since the spring of 1971 though the old two-speed Powerglide was still offered with the six-cylinder engine through the 1972 model year. Only about 1,400 cars were built with the inline six in 1973. The engine and manual transmission were shelved by the end of the model year—marking the last full-size body-on-frame American car to offer a manual gearbox.

All Bel Air sedans built in 1974–1975 listed a 350 two-barrel V8 engine and Turbo-Hydramatic transmission as standard, with station wagons getting the  four-barrel V8, again with Turbo-Hydramatic standard. The 400 V8 was optional on sedans and the 454 was available on both models.

With the discontinuation of the Bel Air two-door sedan after the 1969 model year, all U.S.-market Bel Airs sold between 1970 and 1975 were four-door sedans or station wagons—the latter carrying the Townsman nameplate from 1969 to 1972 and Bel Air from 1973 to 1975. However, a Bel Air hardtop coupe—based on the Impala Sport Coupe body—was sold in Canada from 1970 to 1975. This body even had a roofline similar to the original '66-67 Caprice coupe style for 1974–1975.

Most other changes to the Bel Air during its final years were identical to the more expensive Caprice and Impala lines, some of which were mandated by government safety regulations in the U.S. that included  front bumpers in 1973 and similar-designed rear bumpers in 1974. The 1975 models had a new roofline and (along with the Impala) grille that was a direct copy of the 1974 Caprice front end. Inside, there were new instrument cluster markings, radio and climate control graphics (the speedometer read up to , and had smaller numbers for kilometers per hour). Customers could buy their 1975 Bel Air with two new options: an Econominder gauge package (which included a gauge that monitored fuel economy, due in part to growing demands for fuel economy as well as a temperature gauge) and intermittent wipers.

In 1975, Consumer Reports tested a Bel Air four-door sedan with the 350 V8 engine and Turbo Hydramatic against other U.S.-built full-sized cars of that period including the Pontiac Catalina, Ford LTD and Plymouth Gran Fury. Although the car performed well in its tests and placed second to the Pontiac, Consumer Reports pointed out the Bel-Air had less noise insulation and a less-comfortable rear seat than its higher-priced siblings, and that a comparably equipped Chevrolet Impala (with additional sound insulation, and upgraded upholstery and seat padding, a $203 premium over the Bel-Air) "would be even closer to the Pontiac in overall quality." Even so, the magazine stated that—for instance—the Bel-Air was "only slightly noisier than the Pontiac". Consumer Reports'' concluded in its report that prospective buyers should pay the extra $200 or so to upgrade to the costlier Impala, noting advantages such as greater resale value and interior-exterior appointments more comparable to the other tested full-sized vehicles.

The last Bel Airs for the U.S. were manufactured for 1975. For 1976, a lower-trimmed Impala "S" four-door sedan was a one-year offering which had less standard equipment than regular Impalas and functioned as a replacement for the Bel Air.

Canada-only models

Bel Air-based Pontiacs
From 1954 through 1969, GM Canada produced a unique Bel Air-based Pontiac marketed as the Laurentian. While body panels resembled contemporary U.S. Pontiacs, the Canadian Pontiac Laurentian had the chassis, power train, wheelbase, even the interior (except for the instrument panel), of the Chevrolet Bel Air. These models were exported in SKD kit form in factory right hand drive to right hand drive markets, such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and locally assembled under the Pontiac marque. All RHD export ceased after 1968 at the behest of GM in the United States.

Early generations (1970–1976)
While the last Bel Air 2-door sedan was available in the United States in 1969, Chevrolet introduced a Canadian market-only two door hardtop, the Bel Air Sport Coupe, from 1970 to 1975. Based on the Impala Sport Coupe, this new model featured Bel Air trim at a lower price than the Impala. Each year through 1975, this model's body followed the design of the contemporary Impala Sport Coupe. The 4-door sedan and station wagon continued in production, identical to the U.S. models. For 1976, the Canadian Bel Air Coupe featured the same body as the Impala Custom Coupe, with the large fixed rear quarter window and frameless front door glass.

Unlike the United States, all 1976 Canadian full size Chevys (including the Bel Air) came with steel belted radial tires and an electric rear window defroster as standard equipment.

Although the last Bel Air was produced in 1975 in the U.S., the Canadian big Chevy lineup continued to include the Bel Air for 1976 and beyond in two door, four door and station wagon body styles. The U.S. 1976 Impala line included an "S" model line, consisting of a 4-door sedan, to function as the Bel Air's replacement.

Eighth generation (1977–1981)

In Canada, Chevrolet retained the Bel Air as its lowest-priced full-size car through the 1981 model year. For 1977, Canadian Bel Airs received the same downsizing as their Impala/Caprice counterparts in the U.S. Body styles offered during this period were a four-door sedan, two-door coupe and station wagon. Reflecting the smaller size of these downsized big cars was a lineup of generally smaller engines for improved fuel economy with Chevy's 250 cubic-inch six-cylinder reinstated as standard power in sedans for the first time since 1973, with the  305 V8 available as an option in sedans and standard on wagons. The  350 V8, available in both models, was now the top option as the larger 400 small block and 454 big block V8s were no longer available. Standard equipment on Bel Airs during this period included small hubcaps, cloth-and-vinyl upholstery in sedans or all-vinyl in wagons, cigarette lighter, ashtray, automatic dome light for front doors, full carpeting, Astro Ventilation, Delco Freedom battery, variable-ratio power steering, power front disc brakes and Turbo Hydramatic automatic transmission. Unlike most previous model years and body styles where only two taillights were used per side, the Bel Air shared the Impala's rear end triple-taillight setup.

The 1980 Bel Air along with other full-size Chevrolets, was revised with all-new exterior sheet metal, which helped improve aerodynamics and thus fuel economy; the car was also fitted with a new grille, identical to that of the higher-priced Impala; the rear-end triple-taillight setup also continued to be shared with the Impala. Also that year, the engine lineup was revised with the inline six replaced by a new 3.8-liter or 229 cubic-inch V6 based on the small-block V8 as the base engine in sedans. The new base V8 (standard on wagons, optional on sedans) was a smaller 267 cubic-inch small-block with two-barrel carburetor, while the 305 small-block (optional on all models) got a  increase to  thanks to the change from a two-barrel to four-barrel carburetor. The 350 V8 was now restricted to police-option vehicles. Another new option for 1980-81 was the Oldsmobile-built 350 Diesel.

With a dramatic downturn in full-size car sales, the Bel Air was dropped after the 1981 model year, as were a number of other low-trim full size cars in the Canadian market including the Pontiac Laurentian, Mercury Marquis Meteor, and the Ford LTD Custom 500.

2002 concept

In 2002, a concept Bel Air convertible was shown at the North American International Auto Show. It features a few styling and design cues from the best remembered tri-five (1955–57) models, such as the chrome windshield frame, traffic light viewfinder, and a gas filler cap behind the tail light, similar to 1956–1957 Chevy's gas cap behind the chrome trim on the back of the tail fin, but more reminiscent of the 1948–1958 Cadillac gas cap tail light. It also features the same body on frame hydroforming technology (used in the frame rails of the Corvette and GM's midsize sport-utility vehicles) and a sheet metal body, on a  wheelbase, and a  track. Suspension is short long arm up front and Hotchkiss drive in the rear. It rides on five-spoke aluminum wheels with  red line tires and anti lock discs all-round. The elegant, yet simple interior features a twin-element instrument panel, column-mounted gearshift and bench seats covered in soft high-tech fabrics colored red to match the exterior that are cleverly designed to slide forward for easier backseat entry. It also served as a showcase for their new turbocharged inline five-cylinder concept engine based on the L52 (Vortec 3500), straight-5 truck engine. According to a September 2002 GM press release, the all-aluminum 3.5 L (211 cu in) 20-valve DOHC engine, with a bore of , and a stroke of , that delivers up to  and  of torque, mated to a Hydra-Matic 4L60-E electronically controlled four-speed automatic. A virtual "turbo boost" button on the steering wheel activates the powertrain control module to trigger a more aggressive spark and fueling calibration for maximum horsepower. It also led the 13th Annual Stater Brothers Route 66 Rendezvous as the official vehicle in September 2002. General Motors has shown no interest in producing the car. In 2006, it was spotted stripped down in a GM parking lot.

Drag racing
Of noteworthy importance is the 1962 Bel Air Sport Coupe, the last year a Bel Air pillarless hardtop was available in the US. This model featured the "bubbletop" roof from 1961 rather than the 1962 Impala Sport Coupe's more upright roof, and was popular with drag racers who ordered the car with the new-for-'61 409 cubic inch "W-block" V8 with up to ; a special package including aluminum body panels, heater delete, and four-speed manual transmission. A car with this configuration is a valuable collector vehicle that commands a big premium over other 1962 models including the Super Sport.

Australian Bel Airs
During the 1960s, Bel Air sedans were available in export markets such as Australia, where they featured right-hand drive.  Due to Australian regulations requiring amber rear turn signal lamps, these Bel Air sedans featured Impala-style triple taillights during the 1960s.  The center lamp was the amber turn signal lamp and the innermost lights were backup lamps.  Most of these RHD Bel Airs used a 1961 Pontiac instrument panel.

See also
1955 Chevrolet
1957 Chevrolet
Chevrolet Nomad
Chevrolet 150
Chevrolet 210
Tri-Five
1950s' American automobile culture

References

External links

 Chevrolet Bel Air
 Chevy Bel Air

Bel Air
Bel Air
1960s cars
1970s cars
1980s cars
Cars of Canada
Motor vehicles manufactured in the United States
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles
Police vehicles
Full-size vehicles
Coupés
Sedans
Station wagons
Limousines
Cars introduced in 1953

Chevrolet Bel Air


Laurie Halse Anderson is an American author who has written many books. She writes fiction on many different subjects. She was born on October 23, 1961, in New York. As a young child, Anderson loved to listen to her father tell stories and poems. In 1983, Anderson married Gregory H. Anderson, a business executive. One year later in 1984, she earned her bachelor's degree from Georgetown university in Washington D.C. Anderson has published many books for young adults and children. She has written in many different genres as well. Some of Anderson's most well known books include Speak, Fever 1793, and Catalyst. People appreciate her ability to capture the voices and attitudes of teenagers as they face personal problems in her books. In 2009, Anderson received the Margaret A. Edwards award for her contributions to young adult literature.

References

Writers from New York (state)

Laurie Halse Anderson


Martha Sleeper (June 24, 1910 – March 25, 1983) was a film actress of the 1920s–1930s and, later, a Broadway stage actress. She studied dancing for five years with Russian ballet master, Louis H. Chalif, at his New York dancing studio. Her first public exhibitions were at Carnegie Hall at his class exhibitions.

Family
Sleeper reputedly spent her first years on a sheep ranch in Wyoming. Her father, William B. Sleeper, was an official of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum vaudeville circuit in New York City. Her uncle was John J. Murdock, head of KAO and one of the most powerful men in the business. He had a major impact on her career. Her mother was Minnie Akass.

Her father retired to Los Angeles, California, in 1923 due to ill health. Martha was under contract to Hal Roach studios beginning in 1924, when she was 14 years old. Her father was found dead of heart disease on September 1, 1925, in bed at his home. Sleeper, then 15 years old, with her mother and sister, were away, having taken a short trip to New York City.

Acting career

Sleeper's film career began in 1923 and continued until 1945. Her first screen appearance, at the age of 12, was in The Mailman (1923), an independent production. After appearing in several kiddie comedies at the Christie studio she was signed by the Hal Roach studio for the Our Gang series but she quickly outgrew that role, leaving it shortly after her 14th birthday.

From 1925 to 1927 she appeared in comedies playing opposite the studio's most popular male stars. She developed into a very inventive comedienne, with an animated face of many comic expressions -- especially in the Charley Chase short The Rat's Knuckles (Martha's a waitress, registering confusion when a customer pours an entire bottle of soda on his sandwich) and in the Max Davidson short Pass the Gravy (Martha, imitating a chicken, thinks she has laid an egg!). Many of her early comedies were directed by Leo McCarey.

In 1927, Sleeper was one of 13 actresses selected as a WAMPAS Baby Star, one of the year's feminine personalities whom exhibitors thought had a promising future in feature films. Late that year she left the Roach studios -- which made only short-subject comedies -- and signed with the FBO studio. FBO introduced Sleeper and Bryant Washburn as a new comedy team. In 1928-29 she starred in six silent features. With the coming of sound she was signed by MGM and placed in their training program.

From 1930 to 1936 she played many supporting roles in melodramas, her role typically that of a well-bred and somewhat snobbish society woman who loses her man to the film's leading lady. Frustrated by the types of roles she was being offered, Sleeper began playing in local stage productions, at one point drawing raves as Eliza Doolittle in a performance of Pygmalion in 1932.

After appearing in some low-budget melodramas for Monogram studio, Sleeper and her husband, actor Hardie Albright, left Hollywood for New York in 1936  where Sleeper began a long run in both on- and off-Broadway plays. Her first Broadway play was Good Men and True (1934).

In 1944 she spent a summer in the stock cast at Elitch Theatre with Raymond Burr as the Leading Man. "Martha Sleeper was the leading lady and made her debut at Elitch in the 1944 season in Frederick Lonsdale's Another Love Story. She was encouraged to begin an acting career by Cecil B. De Mille. At the age of 13 Martha was consumed with the desire to become a film actress. Her parents were acquainted with Cecil B. De Mille and sent her to him in hopes that he would dissuade her from her childish ambition. But De Mille was impressed with the youngster's enthusiasm and believed she possessed talent. De Mille encouraged her to pursue work in Mack Sennett or Hal Roach comedies, which he considered the best school for beginners to learn timing and the ground work for a higher dramatic career." Aware of the pie-throwing antics of the Sennett studio, Martha chose to settle for a part with the Hal Roach comedy shorts.

In 1945, as a favor to her Hal Roach director Leo McCarey, Sleeper played the role of Patsy's mother in The Bells of St. Mary's. It was her last screen role. In 1945, after appearing in The Bells of St, Mary's, Martha returned to New York and played Spencer Tracy's wife in the Broadway play The Rugged Path.

Business career
While In New York, she turned a hobby into a thriving business, finding herself at the forefront of a fashion craze for "gadget jewelry" in the late 1930s. She had designed and manufactured whimsical pieces of costume jewelry for herself, but soon other women saw these pieces and wanted to know where they could obtain a copy. Martha found a company that would manufacture her designs, and they soon became available in department stores around the country, generating Martha a substantial sideline income in addition to her stage work. Many of these pieces were manufactured using Bakelite; these pieces are now considered valuable collectibles.

In 1949, she and her second husband were on an extended cruise in the Caribbean. Her destination was the Virgin Islands and a vacation with her husband; however, when she reached Puerto Rico, she fell in love with the island. Terminating the cruise, Martha and her husband took up permanent residence in San Juan. Looking for a new challenge, and no longer interested in jewelry design, she reinvented herself and began designing women's clothing and resort wear. She had her designs manufactured locally and sold them through a boutique that she established in a 300-year-old building in Old Town San Juan. She won many awards and commissions from large corporations for unique designs. She operated this business from 1950 until her retirement in 1969. In 1969, married her third husband and left San Juan for Beaufort, South Carolina, where she spent her remaining years.

Death
Sleeper died of a heart attack, aged 72, in Beaufort, South Carolina, where she had lived with her third husband, Col. Howard C. Stelling, who survived her. She had no children.

Former discrepancies regarding Martha Sleeper's year of birth
Many sources had cited 1907 as Sleeper's year of birth, but she was actually born shortly after the 1910 census was taken in April 1910. Martha's true date of birth is June 24, 1910, as verified by a copy of her birth certificate.

No "Martha Sleeper" appears in the 1910 census records; however, a "Martha Sleeper" is listed as 9 years old in the 1920 census (April 1920) and 19 years old in the 1930 census (April 1930). An airline passenger list, flight CBA 611 from St. Maarten to Charlotte Amalie, VI, on 10 Sep 1962, gives a birthdate of 6-24-1910, in Illinois (ancestry.com). A U.K. Incoming Passenger list (ancestry.com) for the RMS Queen Elizabeth, from New York to Southamptom, arriving 19 Aug 1958, gives a birthdate of 24.6.10. The Social Security Death Index records the date of birth of a "Martha Stelling" (Sleeper's third husband's surname) who died in March 1983 in Beaufort County, South Carolina, as June 24, 1910. Sleeper's 1983 New York Times obituary, as well, was titled "Martha Sleeper Is Dead At 72."

Filmography

References

Bibliography
Hayward Daily Review, Silent Film Dream Gal Found in Puerto Rico, May 27, 1955, Page 24.
Los Angeles Times, Her Youth No Bar To Mature Roles, May 10, 1925, Page 18.
Los Angeles Times, Keith-Orpheum Former Official Succumbs Here, September 2, 1925, Page A3.
Los Angeles Times, Here and There, October 29, 1926, Page A8.
Oakland Tribune, Comedienne Writes, Sunday, October 31, 1926, p. W3.

External links

1910 births
1983 deaths
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from Illinois
American silent film actresses
American film actresses
People from Lake Bluff, Illinois
Actresses from San Juan, Puerto Rico
20th-century American businesspeople
WAMPAS Baby Stars
American stage actresses

Martha Sleeper


Christmas is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The population was 1,146 at the 2010 census. Christmas is home to the world's largest alligator-shaped building, measuring at just over ; to Fort Christmas Historical Park, a recreation of the Second Seminole War Fort Christmas; and to Fort Christmas Folk School, a nonprofit school dedicated to teaching folk arts.  Every year, Christmas sends a large amount of mail from its post office from people who mail letters from the town so they can have the "Christmas" postmark on their holiday mailings.

Christmas is the birthplace of the American sculptor James Hughlette "Tex" Wheeler, who is best known for his bronze sculpture of the famed racehorse Seabiscuit which holds a place of honor at Santa Anita Park racetrack in California and his "tribute to the American folk humorist, Will Rogers at Claremore, Oklahoma". Wheeler is buried in the Fort Christmas Cemetery.

Christmas is home to many Orlando digital TV stations' transmission towers.

History
On December 25, 1837, a force of 2,000 U.S. Army soldiers and Alabama Volunteers arrived in the area to construct a fort, which they named Fort Christmas. The fort was one of over 200 forts built during the Second Seminole War. In 1892, a Post Office opened at Christmas.

Geography
Christmas is located at  (28.5324, -80.9940). According to the United States Census Bureau, the Christmas CDP (Census Designated Place) has a total area of , all land.

Popular culture
Christmas is one of the many settings in John Green's 2008 novel Paper Towns. In the book, three Orlando high school students embark on a journey to find their friend, who has recently gone missing. An old abandoned mini-mall in Christmas is one of the places where they search for her and find clues vital to her case.

Demographics

US Census 2020

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,310 people, 546 households, and 450 families residing in the CDP.

US Census 2000 and 2010

As of the census of 2010, there were 1,146 people (down from 1,162 in the 2000 Census), 422 households (up from 420 in the 2000 Census), and 304 families (the same as in the 2000 Census) residing in the Christmas CDP (Census Designated Place).

As of the 2000 Census, the population density was 125.7/km (325.3/mi²).  There were 446 housing units at an average density of 48.2/km (124.9/mi²).  The racial makeup of the Christmas CDP was 95.44% White, 0.43% African American, 0.69% Native American, 0.95% Asian, 0.60% from other races, and 1.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.15% of the population.

As of 2010 there were 422 households, of which 34.8% had children under the age of 18 (up from 30.5% in the 2000 census) living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together (up from 49.5% in 2000), 12.1% had a female householder with no male present (down from 14.0% in the 2000 Census), 9.5% had a male householder with no female present (data from the 2000 Census is not available) and 28% were non-families (up from 27.6% in 2000). 25.4% of the households had individuals 65 years of age or older (a dramatic increase from the 8.3% in 2000).  The average household size was 2.72 (2.77 in 2000) and the average family size was 2.99 (down from 3.08 in 2000).

In the Christmas Census Designated Place (CDP), as of the 2010 Census, the median age was 41 years old (up from 37 years old in the 2000 Census). In 2010, 46.9% of the residents of the Christmas CDP were women and 53.1% were males.

The median income for a household in the Christmas CDP was not available for the 2010 Census.

Panoramic view

References

External links

Ft. Christmas Historical Park
World's Largest Alligator

Unincorporated communities in Orange County, Florida
Census-designated places in Orange County, Florida
Greater Orlando
Census-designated places in Florida
Unincorporated communities in Florida

Christmas, Florida