Winsor & Newton (also abbreviated W&N) is an English manufacturing company based in London that produces a wide variety of fine art products, including acrylics, oils, watercolour, gouache, brushes, canvases, papers, inks, graphite and coloured pencils, markers, and charcoals.

History

The company was founded in 1832 by William Winsor and Henry Newton. The firm was originally located at Henry Newton's home in 38 Rathbone Place, London. This was then part of an artists' quarter in which a number of eminent painters, including Constable, had studios, and other colourmen were already established.

The standards of quality for W&N's most renowned line of kolinsky sable brush, the Series 7, began after Queen Victoria ordered it should be "the very finest watercolour brush" in 1866. A few months before his death, Henry Newton sold the business to the newly incorporated firm of "Winsor & Newton Ltd.", which included members of both families amongst the shareholders. In 1937, W&N introduced its gouache paints.

The company moved to Wealdstone in northwest London in 1937. After World War II, W&N opened a brush-making factory in Lowestoft. In 1970, the company introduced its first range of acrylics, and the first artists' alkyd oil colour came six years later. Later, in 1992, a series of oil bars were launched.

The company was formerly owned by conglomerate Reckitt & Colman until it was sold in 1990.

The Winsor & Newton student range of watercolours was named after John Sell Cotman.

Products
Art products made by Winsor & Newton, distinguished by size, series, material and function (e.g. effects or process).

{| class="wikitable sortable" width=750px
! width=150px| Product
! width=600px| Range / brand
|-
| Brushes || Natural hair (kolinsky sable -Series 7, squirrel, hog -Artist's Hog, Azanta, Winton), synthetic fibres (Cotman, Monarch, Artisan, Galeria), natural/synthetic mix (Sceptre)
|-
| Paints || Oil (Winton, Artist's, Griffin Artisan), acrylic (Galeria, Finity), watercolour (Cotman, Artist's), gouache (Designers), marker pens (Promarker), (Promarker Brush), (Promarker Watercolour), charcoal, graphite and coloured pencils
|-
| Inks || Drawing and calligraphy inks
|-
| Papers || Watercolour, oil (Winton), acrylic (Galeria), marker, sketching
|-
| Canvas || Cotton, polycotton
|-
| Accessories || Canvas boards, solvents, masking fluids, varnishes, easels, travel bags, brush holders, stools, instructional books
|}

 In popular culture

The Winsor & Newton paints are repeatedly referenced in Dorothy Sayers' 1931 detective novel Five Red Herrings, whose plot deals with a painter being murdered and six other painters being suspected of killing him. The painting habits of the suspects, including which kind of paint is used by each, turn out to provide crucial clues that eventually lead Lord Peter Wimsey to the real culprit.

In Michel Bussi's 2011 detective novel Black Waterlilies () set in Giverny, "Winsor and Newton" is frequently referenced, although it is imagined to be an American, rather than a British, company.

Karlheinz Stockhausen and his studio assistants read product names from the Winsor & Newton catalogue aloud in his electronic composition Hymnen''.

References

External links

Art materials brands
Watercolor brands
Artists' acrylic paint brands
Gouache brands
Ink brands
Companies based in the London Borough of Harrow
British companies established in 1832
British royal warrant holders
Oil paint brands
Manufacturing companies based in London
Manufacturing companies established in 1832

Winsor & Newton


A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primaeval waters which appear in certain creation myths, as the flood waters are described as a measure for the cleansing of humanity, in preparation for rebirth. Most flood myths also contain a culture hero, who "represents the human craving for life".

The flood-myth motif occurs in many cultures, including the manvantara-sandhya in Hinduism, Deucalion and Pyrrha in Greek mythology, the Genesis flood narrative, the Mesopotamian flood stories, and the Cheyenne flood story.

Mythologies
One example of a flood myth is the Epic of Gilgamesh. Many scholars believe that this account was copied from the  Akkadian Atra-Hasis, which dates to the 18th century BCE. In the Gilgamesh flood myth, the highest god, Enlil, decides to destroy the world with a flood because humans have become too noisy. The god Ea, who had created humans out of clay and divine blood, secretly warns the hero Utnapishtim of the impending flood and gives him detailed instructions for building a boat so that life may survive. Both the Epic of Gilgamesh and Atra-Hasis are preceded by the similar Sumerian creation myth ()—the oldest surviving example of such a flood-myth narrative, known from tablets found in the ruins of Nippur in the late 1890s and translated by assyriologist Arno Poebel.

Academic Yi Samuel Chen analyzed various texts from the Early Dynastic III Period through to the Old Babylonian Period, and argues that the flood narrative was only added in texts written during the Old Babylonian Period. With regard to the Sumerian King List, observations by experts have always indicated that the portion of the Sumerian King List talking about before the flood differs stylistically  from the King List Proper. Essentially Old Babylonian copies tend to represent a tradition of before the flood apart from the actual King List, whereas the Ur III copy of the King List and the duplicate from the Brockmon collection indicate that the King List Proper once existed independent of mention of the flood and the tradition of before the flood. Essentially, Chen gives evidence to prove that the section of before the flood and references to the flood in the Sumerian King List were all later additions added in during the Old Babylonian Period, as the Sumerian King List went through updates and edits. The flood as a watershed in early history of the world was probably a new historiographical concept emerging in the Mesopotamian literary traditions during the Old Babylonian Period, as evident by the fact that the flood motif did not show up in the Ur III copy and that earliest chronographical sources related to the flood show up in the Old Babylonian Period. Chen also concludes that the name of "Ziusudra" as a flood hero and the idea of the flood hinted at by that name in the Old Babylonian Version of "Instructions of Shuruppak" are only developments during that Old Babylonian Period, when also the didactic text was updated with information from the burgeoning Antediluvian Tradition.

In the Hebrew Genesis, the god Yahweh, who had created man out of the dust of the ground, decides to flood the earth because of the corrupted state of mankind. Yahweh then gives the protagonist, Noah, instructions to build an ark in order to preserve human and animal life. When the ark is completed, Noah, his family, and representatives of all the animals of the earth are called upon to enter the ark. When the destructive flood begins, all life outside of the ark perishes. After the waters recede, all those aboard the ark disembark and have Yahweh's promise that he will never judge the earth with a flood again. Yahweh causes a rainbow to form as the sign of this promise.

In Hindu mythology, texts such as the Satapatha Brahmana ( 6th century BCE) and the Puranas contain the story of a great flood, "manvantara-sandhya", wherein the Matsya Avatar of the Vishnu warns the first man,  Manu, of the impending flood, and also advises him to build a giant boat. In Zoroastrian Mazdaism, Ahriman tries to destroy the world with a drought, which Mithra ends by shooting an arrow into a rock, from which a flood springs; one man survives in an ark with his cattle. Norbert Oettinger argues that the story of Yima and the Vara was originally a flood myth, and the harsh winter was added in due to the dry nature of Eastern Iran, as flood myths did not have as much of an effect as harsh winters. He has argued that the mention of melted water flowing in  Videvdad 2.24 is a remnant of the flood myth, and mentions that the Indian flood myths originally had their protagonist as Yama, but it was changed to Manu later.

In Plato's  Timaeus, written  360 BCE,  Timaeus describes a flood myth similar to the earlier versions. In it, the  Bronze race of humans angers the high god Zeus with their constant warring. Zeus decides to punish humanity with a flood. The Titan Prometheus, who had created humans from clay, tells the secret plan to Deucalion, advising him to build an ark in order to be saved. After nine nights and days, the water starts receding and the ark lands on a mountain.

The Cheyenne, a North American Great Plains tribe, believe in a flood which altered the course of their history, perhaps occurring in the Missouri River Valley.

Historicity
Floods in the wake of the Last Glacial Period (c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago) are speculated to have inspired myths that survive to this day. Plato's allegory of Atlantis is set over 9,000 years before his time, leading some scholars to suggest that a Stone Age society which lived close to the Mediterranean Sea could have been wiped out by the rising sea level, an event which could have served as the basis for the story.

Archaeologist Bruce Masse stated that some of the narratives of a great flood discovered in many cultures around the world may be linked to an oceanic asteroid impact that occurred between Africa and Antarctica, around the time of a solar eclipse, that caused a tsunami. Among the 175 myths he analyzed were a Hindu myth speaking of an alignment of the five planets at the time, and a Chinese story linking the flood to the end of the reign of Empress Nu Wa. Fourteen flood myths refer to a full solar eclipse. According to Masse these indications point to the date May 10, 2807 BC. His hypothesis suggests that a meteor or comet crashed into the Indian Ocean around 3000–2800 BCE, which created the  undersea Burckle Crater and Fenambosy Chevron, and generated a giant tsunami that flooded coastal lands.

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia, like other early sites of riverine civilisation, was flood-prone; and for those experiencing valley-wide inundations, flooding could destroy the whole of their known world. According to the excavation report of the 1930s excavation at Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara, Iraq), the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic layers at the site were separated by a 60-cm yellow layer of alluvial sand and clay, indicating a flood, like that created by river avulsion, a process common in the Tigris–Euphrates river system. Similar layers have been recorded at other sites as well, all dating to different periods, which would be consistent with the nature of river avulsions.
Shuruppak in Mesopotamian legend was the city of Uta-napishtim, the king who built a boat to survive the coming flood. The alluvial layer dates from around 2900 BC.

The geography of the Mesopotamian area changed considerably with the filling of the Persian Gulf after sea waters rose following the last glacial period. Global sea levels were about  lower around 18,000 BP and rose until 8,000 BP when they reached current levels, which are now an average  above the floor of the Gulf, which was a huge () low-lying and fertile region in Mesopotamia, in which human habitation is thought to have been strong around the Gulf Oasis for 100,000 years. A sudden increase in settlements above the present-day water level is recorded at around 7,500 BP.

Mediterranean Basin
The historian Adrienne Mayor theorizes that global flood stories may have been inspired by ancient observations of seashells and fish fossils in inland and mountain areas. The ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans all documented the discovery of such remains in such locations; the Greeks hypothesized that Earth had been covered by water on several occasions, citing the seashells and fish fossils found on mountain tops as evidence of this idea.

Speculation regarding the Deucalion myth has postulated a large tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea, caused by the Thera eruption (with an approximate geological date of 1630–1600 BCE), as the myth's historical basis. Although the tsunami hit the South Aegean Sea and Crete, it did not affect cities in the mainland of Greece, such as Mycenae, Athens, and Thebes, which continued to prosper, indicating that it had a local rather than a region-wide effect.

Black Sea deluge hypothesis
The Black Sea deluge hypothesis offers a controversial account of long-term flooding; the hypothesis argues for a catastrophic irruption of water about 5600 BCE from the Mediterranean Sea into the Black Sea basin. This has become the subject of considerable discussion. The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis offers another proposed natural explanation for flood myths; this idea is similarly controversial.

Comets

The earliest known hypothesis about a comet that had a widespread effect on human populations can be attributed to Edmond Halley, who in 1694 suggested that a worldwide flood had been the result of a near-miss by a comet. The issue was taken up in more detail by William Whiston, a protégé of and popularizer of the theories of Isaac Newton, who argued in his book A New Theory of the Earth (1696) that a comet encounter was the probable cause of the Biblical Flood of Noah in 2342 BCE. Whiston also attributed the origins of the atmosphere and other significant changes in the Earth to the effects of comets.

In Pierre-Simon Laplace's book Exposition Du Systême Du Monde (The System of the World), first published in 1796, he stated:

A similar hypothesis was popularized by Minnesota congressman and pseudoarchaeology writer Ignatius L. Donnelly in his book Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel (1883), which followed his better-known book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882). In Ragnarok, Donnelly argued that an enormous comet struck the Earth around 6,000 BCE to 9,000 BCE, destroying an advanced civilization on the "lost continent" of Atlantis. Donnelly, following others before him, attributed the Biblical Flood to this event, which he hypothesized had also resulted in catastrophic fires and climate change. Shortly after the publication of Ragnarok, one commenter noted, "Whiston ascertained that the deluge of Noah came from a comet's tail; but Donnelly has outdone Whiston, for he has shown that our planet has suffered not only from a cometary flood, but from cometary fire, and a cometary rain of stones."

Art

See also

List of flood myths

References
Footnotes

Citations

Sources

Further reading
 Bailey, Lloyd R. Noah, the Person and the Story, University of South Carolina Press, 1989.
 Best, Robert M. Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic, Sumerian Origins of the Flood Myth, 1999,

 Dundes, Alan (ed.) The Flood Myth, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988.
 Faulkes, Anthony (trans.) Edda (Snorri Sturluson). Everyman's Library, 1987.
 Greenway, John (ed.), The Primitive Reader, Folkways, 1965.
 Grey, G. Polynesian Mythology. Whitcombe and Tombs, Christchurch, 1956.
 Lambert, W. G. and Millard, A. R., Atra-hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood, Eisenbrauns, 1999.
 Masse, W. B. "The Archaeology and Anthropology of Quaternary Period Cosmic Impact", in Bobrowsky, P., and Rickman, H. (eds.) Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society: An Interdisciplinary Approach Berlin, Springer Press, 2007. pp. 25–70.
 Reed, A. W. Treasury of Maori Folklore A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1963.
 Reedy, Anaru (trans.), Nga Korero a Pita Kapiti: The Teachings of Pita Kapiti. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch, 1997.
Like many other folk-tale elements from around the world, the story of flood survival and human restart (motif A 1021.0.2 and associated elements) appears in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature.

Catastrophism
Comparative mythology
Megafloods
Mesopotamian myths
Jemdet Nasr period

Flood myth


St. Urbain's Horseman is the seventh novel by Canadian author Mordecai Richler. First published in 1971 by McClelland & Stewart, it won the Governor General's Award for 1971.

Plot and setting
The novel is set in London and Montreal during the late 1960s. The protagonist, Jake Hersh, first appeared in Richler's fourth novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, as a schoolmate of the title character. Now, almost twenty years later, Hersh is a moderately successful film director, married with three children, who has become embroiled in a sordid sex scandal. With his world crumbling around him, Jake continues to be obsessed with the mystery of his long-lost cousin and idol Joey, an adventurer, Nazi-hunter and Spanish Civil War veteran.

Translations
This novel has been translated into Spanish, by Manuel Bartolomé López, from the Weidenfeld and Nicolson edition, as El jinete de san Urbano (Barcelona/Buenos Aires/Mexico City: Best Sellers Grijalbo, 1975, 1st edition in Spanish).

References

New Canadian Library
1971 Canadian novels
Novels by Mordecai Richler
Novels set in London
Novels set in Montreal
Fiction set in the 1960s
Governor General's Award-winning fiction books
Novels set in Quebec

St. Urbain's Horseman


In justifying opening up and the series of economic reforms that ensued in China, Deng Xiaoping referred to Karl Marx and his theories, which predicted that nations need to undergo urbanization and a stage of capitalism for a natural socialist transition. One of the most renowned reforms under Deng was establishing four "special economic zones" along the Southeastern coast of China, with Shenzhen, Shantou, and Zhuhai located in Guangdong province and Xiamen located in Fujian province. Special economic zones (SEZs) in mainland China are granted more free market-oriented economic policies and flexible governmental measures by the government of China, compared to the planned economy elsewhere.

This allows SEZs to utilize economic management which is more attractive to foreign and domestic businesses.
In SEZs, "...foreign and domestic trade and investment are conducted without the authorization of the Chinese central government in Beijing" with "tax and business incentives to attract foreign investment and technology". Trade was originally controlled by China's centralized government. However, these special zones are where market-driven capitalist policies are implemented to entice foreign investments in China. In 1986, China then added 14 additional cities to the list of special economic zones.

History
In the late 1970s, and especially at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in December 1978, the Chinese government initiated its policy of reform and opening up, as a response to the failure of Maoist economic policy to produce economic growth which would allow China to be competitive against not only industrialized nations of the west but also rising regional powers: Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Officials in Guangdong Province led by Provincial Party Secretary Xi Zhongxun seized the initiative, starting with an investment project in Shekou prepared by Yuan Geng on behalf of the Hong Kong-based China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. This project, initially a ship breaking facility, was approved by Li Xiannian on January 31, 1979. In April 1979, Xi Zhongxun and other Guangdong officials presented in Beijing a proposal to give broader flexibility to the coastal provinces of Guangdong and Fujian to attract foreign investment, with additional exemptions in four cities, namely Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta region, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong and Xiamen (Amoy) in Fujian Province. For these, Chinese Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping coined the name "special zones" and characterized them as experiments in the mold of the pre-1949 Communist base areas. The proposal was approved on July 15 and the four special zones were officially established on August 26, 1979. Within these SEZs, export-focused businesses had the leeway to respond to quickly respond to demand in foreign markets. These initial SEZs successfully attracted foreign capital, primarily from ethnic Chinese in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. Foreign businesses in these areas were generally motivated to move production to China's SEZs because of lower labor costs, preferential economic policies, and the general trend of offshoring more simple manufacturing as globalization increased.

Successes in the initial SEZs led to the establishment of additional SEZs in 14 coastal cities: Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang and Beihai. Since 1988, mainland China's opening to the outside world has been extended to its border areas, areas along the Yangtze River and inland areas. First, the state decided to turn Hainan Island into mainland China's biggest special economic zone (approved by the 1st session of the 7th NPC in 1988) and to enlarge the other four special economic zones.

Shortly afterwards, the State Council expanded the open coastal areas, extending into an open coastal belt the open economic zones of the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou Triangle in south Fujian, the Shandong Peninsula, the Liaodong Peninsula (in Liaoning Province), Hebei Province and Guangxi autonomous region. In June 1990, the Chinese government opened the Pudong New Area in Shanghai to overseas investment, and additional cities along the Yangtze River valley, with Shanghai's Pudong New Area as its "dragon head."

Since 1992, the State Council has opened a number of border cities and, in addition, all the capital cities of inland provinces and autonomous regions. In addition, 15 free trade zones, 32 state-level economic and technological development zones, and 53 new and high-tech industrial development zones have been established in large and medium-sized cities. As these open areas adopt different preferential policies, they play the dual roles of "windows" in developing the foreign-oriented economy, generating foreign exchanges through exporting products and importing advanced technologies and of "radiators" in accelerating inland economic development.

Most of China's SEZs are located in former treaty ports and therefore have symbolic significance in demonstrating a "reversal of fortunes" in China's dealings with foreigners since the century of humiliation. Researcher Zongyuan Zoe Liu writes that "[t]he success of these cities as 'red' treaty ports represented another step in China's overall reform and opening-up plan while legitimizing the leadership of the CPC over the Chinese state and people."

Primarily geared to exporting processed goods, the five SEZs are foreign trade-oriented areas which integrate science, industry and innovation with trade. Foreign firms benefit from preferential policies, such as lower tax rates, reduced regulations and special managerial systems. In 1999, Shenzhen's new and high-tech industry reached an output value of 81.98 billion yuan, making up 40.5% of the city's total industrial output value.

Since its founding in 1992, the Shanghai Pudong New Area has made progress in both absorbing foreign capital and accelerating the economic development of the Yangtze River valley. The government has extended special preferential policies to the Pudong New Area that are not currently enjoyed by the special economic zones. For instance, in addition to the preferential policies of reducing or eliminating Customs duties and income tax common to the economic and technological development zones, the state also permits the zone to allow foreign business people to open financial institutions and run tertiary industries. In addition, the state has given Shanghai permission to set up a stock exchange, expand its examination and approval authority over investments and allow foreign-funded banks to engage in RMB business. In 1999, the GDP of the Pudong New Area came to 80 billion yuan, and the total industrial output value, 145 billion yuan.

In May 2010, the PRC designated the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang a SEZ. Kashgar's annual growth rate was 17.4 percent in 2009, and Kashgar's designation has since increased tourism and real estate prices in the city. Kashgar is close to China's border with the independent states of former Soviet Central Asia and the SEZ seeks to capitalize on international trade links between China and those states.

In 2015, then-magistrate of Kinmen County (ROC) Chen Fu-hai, along with a non-profit Taiwan organization "with close ties to the CCP", proposed a referendum in which Kinmen would become a special economic zone and obtain free trade and free investment between it and neighboring SEZ Xiamen on the mainland. The plan received controversy due to PRC investment in the ROC being otherwise strictly controlled; it was praised by a Xiamen government official and PRC state media, but the referendum did not receive approval from the government of Taiwan before Chen's term ended in 2018.

List of the SEZs and open coastal cities
As part of its economic reforms and policy of opening to the world, between 1978 and 1984 China established special economic zones (SEZs) in Shantou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province as well as designating the entire island province of Hainan as a special economic zone.

In 1984, China opened 14 other coastal cities to overseas investment (listed from north to south): Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang, and Beihai. These coastal cities have been designated as the "open coastal cities" ().

Then, beginning in 1985, the central government expanded the coastal area by establishing the following open economic zones (listed from north to south): the Liaodong Peninsula, Hebei Province (which surrounds Beijing and Tianjin; see Jing-Jin-Ji), the Shandong Peninsula, Yangtze River Delta, Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou Triangle in southern Fujian Province, the Pearl River Delta, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

In 1990, the Chinese government decided to open the Pudong New Area in Shanghai to overseas investment, as well as more cities in the Yang Zi River Valley.

Since 1992, the State Council has opened a number of border cities and all the capital cities of inland provinces and autonomous regions.

In addition 15 free-trade zones, 32 state-level economic and technological development zones, and 53 new and high-tech industrial development zones have been established in large and medium-sized cities. As a result, a multilevel diversified pattern of opening and integrating coastal areas with river, border, and inland areas has been formed in China.

Economic policies of the SEZs
Economic policies of SEZs included tax exemptions, reduced custom duties, reduced priced land, and increased flexibility to negotiate labor contracts and financial contracts. SEZs were also authorized to develop their own legislation. The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone was the most active SEZ for legislative experiments over the period 1979-1990 and these had a significant role in shaping national economic legislation on foreign trade and investment.

Shenzhen's economic transformation
Out of the special zones, perhaps the most successful was Shenzhen. It transformed from 126 square miles of villages into a business metropolis. As seen by the table below, the ten years of economic reform from 1980 to 1990 increased population in Shenzhen by six-fold, GDP by around sixty-fold, and gross industrial output by two-hundredfold. Before 1980, Shenzhen's GDP was just 0.2 percent of Hong Kong's. In 2018, the city's GDP hit 2.42 trillion yuan (US$372 billion), overtaking Hong Kong. Successes in Shenzhen prompted Chinese central authorities to instruct provincial officials to learn from Shenzhen.

Overseas SEZs
From 1990 to 2018, Chinese enterprises established eleven SEZs in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East including: Nigeria (two), Zambia, Djibouti, Kenya, Mauritius, Mauritania, Egypt, Oman, and Algeria. Generally, the Chinese government takes a hands-off approach, leaving it to Chinese enterprises to work to establish such zones (although it does provide support in the form of grants, loans, and subsidies, including support via the China Africa Development Fund). Such zones fall within the Chinese policy to go out and compete globally. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation promotes these SEZs heavily.

The first Chinese overseas SEZs facilitated the offshoring of labor-intensive and less competitive industries, for example in textiles. As Professor Dawn C. Murphy summarizes, these zones now "aim to transfer China's development successes to other countries, increase business opportunities for China manufacturing companies, avoid trade barriers by setting up zones in countries with preferential trade access to important markets, and create a positive business environment for Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises investing in these regions." Overseas SEZs also foster support for China in the international system and help advocate for developing country causes through South–South cooperation. They "help China demonstrate it is acting as a responsible great power in these regions."

Effectiveness and legacy
Deng described China's SEZs as "social and economic laboratories where foreign technologies and managerial skills could be observed", including in the development of manufacturing technology, a private real estate market, and management techniques.

Many scholars argue that SEZs played a decisive role in the development of China and the success of Communism as implemented in China. Since their inception, SEZs have contributed 22% of China's GDP, 45% of total national foreign direct investment, and 60% of exports. SEZs are estimated to have created over 30 million jobs, increased the income of participating farmers by 30%, and accelerated industrialization, agricultural modernization, and urbanization. One of the primary theoretical foundation of SEZs is its ability to cultivate a form of innovation that is uniquely top-down (supported by government) and bottom-up (characterized by local problem solving), while utilizing resources and research at every level. SEZs reflected a desire for Deng Xiaoping's CCP to be experimental, fluid, and localized when implementing Communist reforms.

However, issues like prioritizing the short-term gains, encompassing a limited number of industries, and lack of entrepreneurial promotion are pointed out by critics of the SEZs. Others, like Gopalakrishnan, point out that "Left out of the picture are inequities in development, arable land loss, real estate speculation and labour violence", as well as significant transparency problems in bureaucracy.

China has benefitted from SEZs through foreign enterprises bringing in expertise, technology, and equipment. In turn, private firms have benefitted from inexpensive labor, a business-friendly environment, robust infrastructure, and China's large domestic market.

A 2022 study in the American Economic Journal found that SEZs in China led to increased human capital investment with improved educational outcomes.

See also
 Economy of China
 Megalopolises in China
 New areas
 Special administrative regions of China
Northeast Area Revitalization Plan

Notes

References
 Chee Kian Leong, 2007, A Tale of Two Countries: Openness and Growth in China and India  , Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade (DEGIT) Conference Paper.
 Chee Kian Leong, (forthcoming), Special economic zones and growth in China and India: an empirical investigation, International Economics and Economic Policy.

External links
Chung-Tong Wu. China's special economic zones: five years later – Asian Journal of Public Administration
Special Economic Zones: Lessons from China by Bhaskar Goswami
Coordination of tax legislation of special zones in Mainland China
Support service to enter development Zones to Mainland China

Economic development in China
Industry in China
Trade in China

Special economic zones of China


Center Branch Wildlife Management Area is located on  in Harrison County near Stonewood, West Virginia.  The WMA is located on a former strip mine site, and contains several flat benches and high walls.  Second growth oak-hickory and mixed hardwoods forests cover much of the land.

Center Branch is located along Turkey Run, a tributary of Elk Creek and the West Fork River.  The main entrance is via Turkey Run Road (County Route 20/11) off West Virginia Route 20 near Stonewood.

Hunting
Hunting opportunities include deer, grouse, squirrel, turkey and grouse. Camping is prohibited at this WMA.

See also
Animal conservation
Hunting
List of West Virginia wildlife management areas

References

External links
 West Virginia DNR District 1 Wildlife Management Areas
West Virginia Hunting Regulations
West Virginia Fishing Regulations

Wildlife management areas of West Virginia
Protected areas of Harrison County, West Virginia
IUCN Category V

Center Branch Wildlife Management Area


Janissaries is a science fiction novel by American  author Jerry Pournelle.  Originally published in 1979, and illustrated by comic artist Luis Bermejo, it is the first book of Pournelle's Janissaries series.  The following books are Janissaries: Clan and Crown, Janissaries III: Storms of Victory and Janissaries IV: Mamelukes.

Like King David's Spaceship, a novel in Pournelle's CoDominium Series, it is the story of a capable military leader undertaking campaigns on a backward planet.

Plot introduction
In Janissaries, the leader is a United States Army officer from the Cold War period, Captain Rick Galloway, who along with his platoon-sized unit of soldiers primarily from the U.S. are abducted from a CIA-run operation against Cubans in the fictional tropical African country of Sainte-Marie by a flying saucer.  The beings abducting them present themselves as rescuers from a hopeless situation where Galloway's unit is about to be overrun by Cubans in a night assault, the aftermath of which is expected to be the deaths of all.  Afterwards, the human soldiers have the option of serving the aliens in a special situation involving a more primitive planet on which there are humans living in medieval conditions.  The soldiers are expected to be able to use their superior weapons and tactics to conquer part of the planet.

Plot summary

In the midst of the Cold War, the CIA has recruited a number of soldiers to fight as U.S. proxies against communist Cubans in the fictional tropical African country of Sainte Marie.  Nearly all of the soldiers are from the U.S. military, though some seem to be genuine soldiers of fortune.  After some success, they suffer combat reversals and are on the run. Part of the group secures a hilltop for aerial evacuation. Others, too wounded to move quickly, but capable of fighting in place, have set an ambush at a crossroads to slow down the pursuing Cubans long enough for helicopters to arrive.

The fifty or so troops on the hilltop are commanded by Captain Rick Galloway, Lieutenant Andre Parsons and the highly experienced Sergeant Major Elliott. They hear the sounds of their comrades at the crossroads being overrun; it becomes clear that the Cubans will soon assault the hill. They are able to contact headquarters on the radio but, instead of the hoped-for rescue, they are told the helicopters will not be coming and are ordered to surrender to the Cubans.

Knowing that the best they can expect from Cubans if they surrender is execution, they refuse the order and begin to prepare a hopeless defense. Then a "flying saucer" approaches and lands.  Captain Galloway enters the craft, then re-emerges and tells his men that it is a CIA aircraft. He orders everyone to get aboard with all equipment. Some of the mercenaries had fled at the approach of the craft, but Rick and thirty-eight others board.

The craft, crewed by aliens, takes them to a base on the far side of Earth's moon. There they are told by a human administrator called Agzaral, who describes himself as the representative of an interstellar confederation, that their leaving Earth was permanent and that they can either work for their alien rescuers, the Shalnuksis, or face an uncertain future in a civilization that has little use for unskilled humans (the same kind of slave-soldier deal offered to the eponymous Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire).  The Shalnuksis want the mercenaries to take control of sufficient land on a primitive planet called Tran to grow a crop of illegal, mind-altering recreational plants, which they will trade with the Shalnuksis for necessities and luxuries.  There are already humans there, descended from previous Shalnuksis drop-offs, in various states of civilization, all of them well behind that of 20th century Earth.  With their modern weapons, they are told, they should be able to take over and live like kings.

The mercenaries are set down on Tran and are joined by another Earthling, Gwen, the girlfriend of the spaceship pilot.  She had become pregnant with the pilot's child and, since the Shalnuksis would not have allowed the child to live, she chose abandonment instead.  Soon afterwards Parsons leads a mutiny because he believes Rick to be too soft for the task at hand. Rick and Corporal Mason are banished, with Gwen electing to go with them.  Parsons then takes the mercenaries and helps a local leader, Sarakos, invade and conquer the kingdom of Drantos.

Rick's group head in the opposite direction and soon encounter a small party of locals led by a young woman named Tylara, a former duchess of Drantos, who recently escaped the captivity of Sarakos. She is fleeing with two companions back to her homeland, Tamaerthon, where her father Drumold is Grand Chief. Rick decides to join them, and in due course gains his people a new home.

When they arrive Rick learns that the highland-living Tamaerthans, who are descended from Celtic arrivals from over 2,000 years ago, have a desperate problem. Due to adverse weather conditions their recent harvest was poor and many will starve in the coming winter unless something is done. Rick organizes and trains the Tamaerthans to fight more effectively, mingling their exceptional longbowmen with defensive pikemen. He then leads them on a raid on an outpost of the neighboring, powerful empire established by humans kidnapped from ancient Rome during the reign of Septimius Severus. The local Roman governor, Marselius, attacks with his heavy, cataphract-like cavalry and is soundly defeated by the pike-longbow combination of the Tamaerathans. After winning the battle, the Tamaerathans obtain enough food to last the winter.  Paradoxically, Rick manages to form an alliance with Marcellus that will ensure there will be no reprisals for the raid. Tylara and Rick fall in love and prepare to be married in the spring.

Then an opportunity arises to restore Tylara to her former position in Drantos, which will put Rick squarely in opposition to Parsons and his remaining men (two-thirds having deserted).  Initially reluctant, Rick comes up with a plan to end Sarakos's dominion over Drantos and begins production of artillery superior to anything except the heavy weapons of the mercenaries.  On the eve of battle, having prepared a gunpowder mine trap to kill all of Parsons' men just before dawn, Rick decides to meet with Parsons to try to get him to switch sides in an attempt to avoid killing the mercenaries.  Parsons attempts to assassinate him, however Tylara shoots him first.  With the death of Parsons, all of his mercenaries join Rick.  Without their support, and with the modern tactics and weapons, Sarakos is easily defeated.

Adaptation
In February 2013, Variety reported that motion picture rights to Janissaries had been acquired by the newly formed Goddard Film Group, headed by Gary Goddard. In October 2013, the IMDbPro site reported that the movie was in development, and that husband-and-wife writing team, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, had written the screenplay.

References

External links

 Chaos Manor - Jerry Pournelle's website

1979 science fiction novels
Janissaries series
1979 American novels
Novels by Jerry Pournelle
Ace Books books

Janissaries (novel)


Hedges Eyre Chatterton (5 July 1819 – 30 August 1910) was an Irish Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom Parliament and subsequently Vice-Chancellor of Ireland.

Biography
He was born in Cork, the eldest son of Abraham Chatterton, a solicitor, and Jane Tisdall of Kenmare. He attended Trinity College Dublin, before being called to the Irish Bar in 1843. He became a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1858. Chatterton was Solicitor General for Ireland 1866–1867 and Attorney General for Ireland in 1867. He was made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland on 30 March 1867. He was elected MP for Dublin University in 1867. Chatterton left the House of Commons on his appointment to the newly created judicial office of Vice-Chancellor of Ireland in 1867, an office which was abolished when he retired in 1904.

He married firstly Mary Halloran of Cloyne in 1845; she died in 1901. In the year of his retirement, he remarried Florence Henrietta Gore, widow of Edward Croker. He had no children. James Joyce remarks in Ulysses that his second marriage at the age of 85 infuriated his nephew, who had been waiting patiently for years to inherit his money.

Reputation
Despite his many years of service on the Bench, Chatterton does not seem to have been highly regarded as a judge. On his retirement the Bar paid tribute to his good qualities but added several qualifications: "there might have been on the Bench lawyers more profound, reasoners more acute..." In his first decade on the Bench he had to endure the continual denigration of Jonathan Christian, the Lord Justice of Appeal in Chancery. Christian was notoriously bitter-tongued, and while he despised most of his colleagues, he seems to have had a particular dislike of Chatterton. He regularly voted on appeal to overturn his judgments, and frequently added personal insults. Nor did he confine his attacks to the courtroom: there was controversy in 1870 when remarks of Christian that Chatterton was "lazy, stupid, conceited and so incompetent that he ought to be pensioned off" found their way into the Irish Times. The hint about pensioning off Chatterton was not taken up, no doubt because he enjoyed the confidence of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan, who was also on bad terms with Christian. In an appeal from Chatterton in 1873 the two appeal judges clashed publicly, with O'Hagan reprimanding Christian for insulting a judge who was not there to defend himself.

Renaming Sackville Street
Chatterton became involved in controversy in 1885, over the first attempt to rename Sackville Street as O'Connell Street. Dublin Corporation voted for the name change, but it aroused considerable objections from local residents, one of whom sought an injunction.  Chatterton granted the injunction on the ground that the corporation had exceeded its statutory powers; rather unwisely, he also attacked the merits of the decision, accusing the Corporation of "sentimental notions". The corporation was angered by both the decision and the criticisms: while it may have been a coincidence, the fact that Temple Street was briefly renamed Chatterton Street was interpreted by some as an insult to the judge, since the street was much frequented by prostitutes. The controversy was short-lived: the corporation was granted the necessary statutory powers in 1890, and the new name became official in 1924, by which time it had gained popular acceptance.

References

 Who's Who of British members of parliament: Vol. I 1832–1885, edited by Michael Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

External links

1819 births
1910 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Politicians from County Cork
Irish Conservative Party MPs
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Solicitors-General for Ireland
Attorneys-General for Ireland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Dublin University
UK MPs 1865–1868
19th-century Irish judges
Irish Queen's Counsel
19th-century King's Counsel
Lawyers from County Cork

Hedges Eyre Chatterton


Col. Edmund William Creswell (7 November 1849 – 1 May 1931) was a British soldier, who played for the Royal Engineers in the 1872 FA Cup Final. As a soldier, he was engaged mainly in administrative work and never saw active service.

Family and education
Creswell was born in Gibraltar on 7 November 1849, the son of Edmund Creswell (1800–1877) and his wife Mary Margaret née Fraser (1826–1892). His father had been appointed postmaster of the colony of Gibraltar in 1831; in 1857, he secured funding from London for building a new post office, and amalgamated the two previous postal services, thus founding the Royal Gibraltar Post Office.

Creswell was educated at Bruce Castle School, Tottenham, London followed by the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich (RMA) until 1870.

Creswell's brother William (1852–1933) became a vice-admiral and is known as the "father" of the Royal Australian Navy. Another brother, Frederic (1866–1948) was a Labour Party politician in South Africa, who was Minister of Defence from 1924 to 1933. A sister, Mary Catherine (1857–1892) married one of Creswell's teammates from the 1872 FA Cup Final, Hugh Mitchell in 1878.

Football career

Creswell represented Bruce Castle School and the RMA at football. He was Secretary of the Royal Engineers Association Football Club, which, in November 1871, was among fifteen teams who entered the inaugural FA Cup competition, and were allocated a home match in the first round against Reigate Priory. Reigate Priory, however, withdrew from the competition, sending the Engineers through to the next round on a walkover. In the second round, the Engineers beat Hitchin 5–0 on 10 January 1872. At the quarter-final stage, the Engineers beat Hampstead Heathens 3–0, setting up a semi-final against Crystal Palace which was won 3–0 after a replay.

The first FA Cup Final was played at Kennington Oval on 16 March 1872 between the Royal Engineers and Wanderers, the top amateur club of the day. Ten minutes into the match, Creswell was seriously injured, breaking a collar-bone in a charge on goal. Despite suffering tremendous pain, he refused to leave the pitch and played the remainder of the match out of the action as a "passenger" on the wing. Wanderers took the lead fifteen minutes into the game when Morton Betts opened the scoring from an acute angle after Robert Vidal's long dribble. Wanderers continued to exert further pressure on the Engineers' goal and, despite a late rally from the Engineers, Wanderers were able to hold on to their lead and the game ended in a 1–0 victory in their favour. In its report on the match, The Sportsman commented: "Too much praise cannot be accorded to him for the pluck he showed in maintaining his post, although completely disabled and in severe pain, until the finish".

Although Creswell's football career was short, he remained an active sportsman for a long period. He played cricket for the Royal Engineers and other clubs, including the Gentlemen of Hampshire, between 1868 and 1886.

Military career
Creswell graduated from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich on 8 January 1870, joining the Royal Engineers with the rank of lieutenant. Fellow graduates on the same day were two of his fellow FA Cup finalists, Hugh Mitchell and Henry Rich. Creswell was promoted to captain twelve years later and was further promoted to major on 1 August 1888 and to lieutenant-colonel on 12 August 1895, becoming a full colonel on 12 August 1899.

During his service with the Royal Engineers, Creswell was engaged mainly in administrative work and never saw active service. Between January 1870 and August 1872, he was based at Chatham, before going to India on 23 October 1872 where he worked as an assistant engineer until he returned to Chatham in February 1880. Between 1 April 1881 and 31 March 1888, he was seconded to the Ordnance Survey before going to South Africa on 19 April 1888. He returned to England on 18 November 1892 and was then based at Liverpool until 3 June 1894, when he was transferred to Shoeburyness in Essex. On 12 January 1897, he returned to India, where he remained until he retired from the army on 12 August 1900.

Wives and children
On 30 January 1875, he married Emma Mary Carver (1853–1899) at Byculla, Bombay, India. The couple had nine children, including a son Edmund Fraser Creswell (1876–1941), who became a colonel in the Royal Artillery. Awarded the Distinguished Service Order in World War One, he worked for the Ammunition Department of the Ministry of Supply in the Second World War, and died following an accident on 5 November 1941.

Following the death of Emma on 11 May 1899, Edmund Creswell married Isabel Agnes Vulliamy (1869–1956) from Paris, in St Marylebone, London on 19 October 1907. Their only child was Sir Michael Justin Creswell (1909–1986) who was the UK Ambassador to Finland, from 1954 to 1958, Yugoslavia from 1960 to 1964, and Argentina from 1964 to 1969. Michael's son, Alexander is a renowned architectural artist.

Edmund Creswell died at Copse Hill, Ewhurst, Surrey on 1 May 1931.

References

Bibliography

1849 births
1931 deaths
Men's association football forwards
Gibraltarian men's footballers
Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
People educated at Bruce Castle School
Royal Engineers officers
Gibraltarian military personnel

Edmund Creswell


Patricia Anne Stratigeas (; born December 18, 1975), better known by the ring name Trish Stratus, is a Canadian professional wrestler, actress and yoga instructor. She is currently signed to WWE where she performs on the Raw brand. A member of the WWE Hall of Fame, Stratus was ranked the greatest women's superstar of all time by WWE.

Initially studying at York University to become a doctor, Stratigeas began her career as a fitness model. She began working for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1999, later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. Early in her career, she was mostly involved in sexually themed storylines, such as managing the team T & A and a kayfabe affair with WWE owner Vince McMahon. As Stratus's popularity increased due to receiving more in-ring experience, she was made a one-time WWE Hardcore Champion, three-time "WWE Babe of the Year", and was proclaimed "Diva of the Decade". After nearly seven years in WWE, Stratus retired from professional wrestling on a full-time basis at WWE Unforgiven on September 17, 2006, after winning her record seventh WWE Women's Championship.

Following her initial retirement from full-time performing, she has since made occasional WWE appearances. On Raw, she made sporadic tag-team match appearances between 2008 and 2011 – as well as a one-off singles match against Vickie Guerrero – before being involved in a mixed six-person tag team match at WrestleMania XXVII. In 2018, she returned to WWE to participate in the promotion's first Women's Royal Rumble and later competed at the all-female Evolution event in October of that year. She then wrestled Charlotte Flair in her first singles match on pay-per-view since her initial full-time retirement at SummerSlam 2019. In 2023, Stratus appeared in a six-woman tag team match at WrestleMania 39, after which she returned as a full time member of the roster.

Aside from professional wrestling, Stratus has appeared on a number of magazine covers and has been involved in charity work. She appeared as a judge on WWE Tough Enough in 2011, where she also had her first role in film as the main character in Bail Enforcers. She has also hosted several award and television shows and formerly owned a yoga studio. Since 2022, Stratus has been a judge on Canada's Got Talent.

Early life
Stratigeas was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and attended Bayview Secondary School in Richmond Hill, Ontario. She enrolled at York University, where she studied biology and kinesiology and played soccer and field hockey. Due to a faculty strike in 1997, she was forced to change her plans. She was working as a receptionist at a local gym when she was approached by the publisher of MuscleMag International to do a test shoot for the magazine. She later appeared on the cover of the May 1998 issue and was signed to a two-year contract. For the next six months, she worked on her body and appeared on numerous magazine covers. During this time, she joined Big Daddy Donnie & Jeff Marek as the third host of Live Audio Wrestling on Toronto Sports Radio, The FAN 590.

Stratigeas had been a fan of wrestling since childhood and was especially fond of wrestlers Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, among others. Her modelling work caught the attention of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In November 1999, she was signed to a multi-year contract with the company, who sent her to Sully's Gym where she was trained by Ron Hutchison.

Professional wrestling career

World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2000- present)

T & A (2000–2001)

Stratigeas made her debut as a heel on the March 19, 2000, episode of Sunday Night Heat under the ring name Trish Stratus. She appeared on stage to scout Test and Prince Albert. The next night on Raw Is War, Test and Albert joined forces as the tag team T & A and Stratus began her first role in the company as their valet. It was during her stint managing T & A that Stratus took her first major bump in the ring, by being driven through a table by the Dudley Boyz at Backlash, after she had been taunting Bubba Ray Dudley for several weeks. In June, she was on the receiving end of a stinkface from Rikishi on Raw.

She also began managing then-heel, Val Venis to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but their partnership ended at SummerSlam after Venis lost the title.
Stratus made her in-ring debut on the June 22 episode of SmackDown!, winning a tag team match with T & A against the Hardy Boyz and Lita. A storyline feud between Stratus and Lita developed after the match with Stratus attacking Lita on episodes of Raw and SmackDown!. This led to an Indian Strap match between the two women on the July 24 episode of Raw, which Stratus won with help from Stephanie McMahon. She finished the year competing unsuccessfully for the WWF Women's Championship numerous times, and separating from Test and Albert when the team disbanded.

In early 2001, Stratus became involved in an angle with WWF Chairman Vince McMahon, during a time when Vince's wife Linda was kayfabe institutionalized following a demand Vince had made for a divorce during an episode of SmackDown!. Vince and Stratus' relationship increasingly angered the boss' daughter, then-heel, Stephanie McMahon. On the February 19 episode of Raw, Stephanie and Trish were scheduled for a match, but it quickly got cancelled due to Stephanie getting stunned by Steve Austin. At No Way Out, Stratus and Stephanie squared off, with Stephanie scoring the victory after a run-in by William Regal. In the midst of a tag team match that pitted Vince and Stratus against Regal and Stephanie the next night on Raw, Stratus was the victim of a set-up by Vince, Stephanie and Regal. Regal executed his finisher, the Regal Cutter, on Stratus and Stephanie then dumped slop over Stratus' body. Vince stood over Stratus and he told her she was a "toy" with which he had "grown tired of playing with". The angle continued the next week on Raw in controversial fashion, with Vince humiliating Stratus, forcing her to strip down to her black bra and panties in the ring and bark like a dog while crying. The storyline came to an end at WrestleMania X-Seven, when Stratus slapped Vince during his match against his son Shane, turning face in the process.

Women's Champion (2001–2003)

Following her first face turn, Stratus began wrestling part-time. She teamed up with Lita against then-heels, Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson at InVasion. After suffering an ankle injury in the summer, however, she was sidelined for the following three months. This interrupted not only her recent venture into wrestling, but also an on-screen romance with Jeff Hardy and budding storyline with Team Xtreme. As she rehabilitated, she kept herself visible by co-hosting Excess on TNN. After returning in autumn, Stratus appeared at Survivor Series where she won the WWF Women's Championship for the first time in a six-pack challenge. Stratus was next involved in a feud with Jazz over the Women's Championship, where on the January 17, 2002, episode of SmackDown! Jazz attacked Stratus backstage and broke her hand. Stratus overcame the injury and retained the championship at the Royal Rumble. On the January 22 episode of SmackDown!, Stratus defeated Jazz via disqualification after Jazz relentlessly attacked Stratus's injured hand and left her laid out in the ring. Stratus eventually dropped the championship to Jazz in convincing fashion on the February 4, 2002, episode of Raw. Stratus then attempted to regain the title for several months, including competing in a triple threat match at WrestleMania X8 against Lita and Jazz in her hometown of Toronto, but failed to win the match. While chasing after the Women's Championship, Stratus won the WWE Hardcore Championship on May 6, pinning Crash Holly after Bubba Ray Dudley hit him over the head with a trash can. She lost the title to Steven Richards soon afterward however, due to the stipulation that the belt was to be defended 24/7 as long as there was a referee present. One week later, she won the Women's Championship for the second time in a tag team match with Bubba Ray Dudley where she faced Richards and Jazz, where the Hardcore Championship was also on the line. Stratus landed a hard metal trash can shot to Jazz's head, which badly weakened her and allowed Stratus to win easily. During this time, Stratus began wrestling solely on the Raw brand after being drafted in the WWF Brand Extension.

Stratus' second reign as champion came to an end on June 23, when she was defeated at King of the Ring by Molly Holly. The two Divas continued their storyline feud for the next three months. After a failed attempt to win the title in July, Stratus won the championship for the third time at Unforgiven. While feuding with Holly, Stratus was also involved in an angle with new Diva Victoria, who held a storyline grudge against Stratus, claiming she was betrayed by Stratus when they both worked as fitness models. The two competed in several title matches, the first taking place on the September 30 episode of Raw, which saw Stratus win via disqualification after being knocked unconscious from a chair shot from Victoria. Stratus would again retain the championship against Victoria at No Mercy, before ultimately dropping it at Survivor Series, where Victoria won the title in a Hardcore match. Stratus attempted to regain the title from Victoria on the November 25 episode of Raw, but was defeated. Stratus and Victoria took part in the main event of the December 9, 2002, edition of Raw where they were in an intergender Tables match, with Stratus teaming with The Dudley Boyz and Victoria teaming with Chris Jericho and Christian; the match ended in victory for Team Stratus when she Powerbombed Victoria through a table. Stratus once again unsuccessfully challenged for the title at Armageddon in a triple threat match also featuring Jacqueline. On the January 27, 2003, episode of Raw, Stratus was once again unsuccessful in challenging Victoria for the championship, this time in a Chicago street fight. Immediately after this defeat, Stratus was beaten down and destroyed further in a brutal attack by the returning Jazz.

On March 17, 2003, Victoria and Steven Richards defeated Jazz and Stratus in a tag team match when Jazz walked out on Stratus. After the match, Jeff Hardy saved Stratus from an attack by Victoria and Richards and then kissed her, resulting in Stratus becoming Hardy's on-screen girlfriend once more. The two would talk and kiss backstage, compete as an intergender tag team, and come to each other's aid when in danger during singles competition. At no point was their previous relationship acknowledged. The storyline was suddenly dropped when WWE released Hardy in April. This marked the second time in two years that a romance between Stratus and Hardy abruptly ended due to a setback in one of their personal lives. In neither instance did the angle fully play out or reach a conclusion.

At WrestleMania XIX, Stratus ended her feud with Victoria by defeating her and Jazz to capture her fourth Women's Championship. Following WrestleMania XIX, Stratus entered a feud with Jazz following a match on the April 7 episode of Raw where Stratus defeated Jazz while Jazz's foot was on the rope. The following week on Raw, Jazz defeated Stratus cleanly via submission in a tag team match also featuring Ivory and Victoria. On the April 21 episode of Raw, Stratus was forced to team with Spike Dudley in a match against the Dudley Boyz. The match ended in a no contest after Bubba Ray Dudley destroyed Stratus, allowing Jazz to run down to the ring and hit an unconscious Stratus with a Bitchlock on to a table. Stratus would eventually lose the title to Jazz at the pay-per-view, Backlash. The Raw after Backlash, Eric Bischoff ordered a No Disqualification match between him and Stratus. If Stratus won, she would get a championship rematch the next week; if Bischoff won, he would get to spend a night with her. Bischoff would go on to win the match following interference from Jazz, though the stipulation was nullified when Linda McMahon confronted him after the match. The following week on Raw, Stratus received a rematch against Jazz for the title but was defeated. Stratus was once again unsuccessful in challenging for the title in a fatal four way match on May 18, at Judgement Day.

Teaming and feuding with Lita (2003–2005)
In the following months, Stratus was placed into an alliance with Gail Kim. It was short-lived, however, as Kim turned on Stratus and teamed with Molly Holly, putting the women in a storyline feud. The duo defeated Stratus and several tag team partners until Stratus allied herself with a returning Lita. The team defeated Kim and Holly in several matches, including a match at Unforgiven.
Stratus began an on-screen romance with Chris Jericho during the November 10 episode of Raw when she agreed to go on a date with him. Subsequently, they participated in an intergender tag team match as partners on December 1. After the match, Stratus overheard Jericho talking to then-heel, Christian, who was involved in an on-screen romance with Lita at the time, about who could sleep with their respective woman first. One week later, Stratus and Lita confronted the men about their actions, leading to a feud between the two men and women which resulted in a "Battle of the Sexes" tag team match at Armageddon, which the women lost. A rematch the next night ended in a no contest. Her relationship with Jericho continued into the next year with a new angle of Stratus developing feelings for Jericho. Christian would also briefly turn face once again, but only revealed to be a hoax as he would attack and defeat her in a match ordered by Eric Bischoff. This would start a feud between Christian and Jericho, who was defending Stratus. During their match at WrestleMania XX, however, Stratus turned heel by betraying Jericho and siding with Christian. Stratus claimed her reasons for siding with Christian were that he was a "real man", and Jericho was a "love sick puppy". The duo feuded with Jericho for several months and competed in a 2-on-1 Handicap match at Backlash. The team of Stratus and Christian were joined by "problem solver" Tyson Tomko the next night on Raw.

Stratus won the WWE Women's Championship for a fifth time at Bad Blood on June 13. She defended the title until she suffered a legitimate broken hand in July that caused her to be out of action for approximately a month. Upon her return, she continued to defend the title against numerous challengers before losing the championship to Lita on December 6, when both women wrestled in the main event of Raw for the championship. Stratus recaptured the title for the sixth time a month later at New Year's Revolution, after Lita suffered a legitimate knee injury during the match. Stratus was originally booked to lose the championship back to Lita at WrestleMania 21, but due to Lita's injury, she wasn't cleared to wrestle. A new angle was then developed between Stratus and 2004 Raw Diva Search winner Christy Hemme over jealousy of Hemme's Playboy magazine exposure, with Stratus attacking Hemme with a Chick Kick and spray painting the word "slut" across her back. Stratus was challenged by Hemme, who later revealed she was being trained by Lita, for a championship match at WrestleMania 21, where Stratus successfully retained her championship. Stratus would then demand a rematch against Hemme the next night on Raw; before the match started, Stratus hit Hemme again with the Chick Kick, and re-injured Lita's knee. The next week, after losing a tag team match, Stratus was chased around the arena by Lita's storyline husband, Kane, narrowly escaping. The week after, Stratus almost got chokeslammed again onto the stage, but Viscera saved her. Stratus would then form a short-lived alliance with Viscera, who was ordered to protect her.

Final matches and first retirement (2005–2006)

In May 2005, Stratus was sidelined with the Women's Championship after suffering a herniated disc, with the storyline explanation that Viscera had injured her at Backlash after she insulted him for losing to Kane. This left the company without a Women's Champion for four months, as Stratus remained the champion during the time of her injury, thus ignoring the 30-day clause stating that a champion must defend their respective title at least once every 30 days. She returned to Raw on September 12, 2005, as a face by siding with Ashley Massaro against Vince's Devils (Candice Michelle, Victoria and Torrie Wilson). The feud also involved the debuting Mickie James, who introduced herself as Stratus' biggest fan. In November, during the Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show, Stratus took part in an inter-promotional Divas battle royal that was won by SmackDown! Diva Melina. The next week, MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro) kidnapped Stratus for Melina, who challenged a tied up and tape gagged Stratus to a match for the Women's Championship. The two fought at Survivor Series, with Stratus defeating Melina. Stratus and Mickie James continued teaming together in late 2005, while James became increasingly obsessed with Stratus. On the December 26 episode of Raw, the storyline between Stratus and James developed into a lesbian one, when James initiated an intimate kiss with Stratus under a sprig of mistletoe, causing a surprised Stratus to flee the locker room.

The odd relationship between Stratus and James continued into 2006, with the two Divas competing against each other in a title match at New Year's Revolution, where Stratus emerged victorious. Despite the defeat, James continued to be enamored of Stratus which made her feel uncomfortable, and on March 6, Stratus confronted James, telling her that she needed space. The duo briefly reconciled on the March 18 Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII, teaming together to defeat Candice Michelle and Victoria; however, after the match, James turned on Stratus and attacked her. A match at WrestleMania 22 saw Stratus lose the Women's Championship to James, ending her 448-day reign. The match was, and still is, widely recognized as one of the best women's matches in the World Wrestling Entertainment. During a rematch at Backlash, Stratus suffered a legitimate dislocated shoulder after taking a bump to the outside of the ring. While she was rehabilitating for six weeks, she continued to appear on-screen.

Stratus returned to the ring on June 26 on Raw, where she competed in a Women's Championship match with Mickie James. Stratus would go on to lose the match, thus finally ending their nine-month long storyline. On the same night, she started a romantic angle with Carlito after he saved her from an ambush by Melina and Johnny Nitro. They competed as a team, winning a mixed tag team match against Melina and Nitro at Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII on July 15. As a couple, Stratus and Carlito briefly feuded with WWE Champion Edge and Lita (who turned heel) after the pair interrupted Stratus' title match with Mickie James. The two couples competed in several tag team matches, including a six-person tag team match where Edge, Lita and Randy Orton defeated Stratus, Carlito and John Cena after Orton RKO'd Stratus and Lita followed up with the pin. Stratus' last match on Raw occurred on September 11, 2006, where she defeated former rival Mickie James. In late August, Lita stated that Stratus would retire at Unforgiven, which was later confirmed by Stratus. At Unforgiven on September 17, in her hometown of Toronto, Stratus defeated Lita with fellow Canadian Bret Hart's signature submission manoeuvre, the Sharpshooter. Her victory earned her her seventh and final Women's Championship, the most in WWE history, retiring as the champion. The title was vacated soon after.

Part-time appearances as WWE Hall of Famer (2007–2022)
Stratus and Lita made a special appearance on December 10, 2007, during Raw's 15th Anniversary special, attacking Jillian Hall. The following year, Stratus appeared on Raw in Toronto on May 5, 2008, in a backstage segment involving Ron Simmons and Trevor Murdoch. Stratus wrestled on the December 22, 2008, episode of Raw, when she and John Cena defeated Santino Marella and her former on-screen protégé Beth Phoenix in a mixed tag team match. On September 14, 2009, Stratus served as the guest hostess of Raw, and participated in a six-person tag team match, teaming with Montel Vontavious Porter and Mark Henry to defeat Phoenix, Chris Jericho, and Big Show.

Stratus made a surprise appearance at the 2011 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to announce that she would be a trainer on the revival of WWE Tough Enough and stopped LayCool (Layla & Michelle McCool) from attacking Kelly Kelly. The following month, on March 14, she lost a singles match to Vickie Guerrero due to interference from LayCool and Dolph Ziggler. After the match, John Morrison and Raw guest star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi came to her aid. At WrestleMania XXVII, Stratus, Snooki, and Morrison defeated the team of Ziggler and LayCool. The night after WrestleMania, on Raw, Stratus and Morrison defeated Guerrero and Ziggler. She also appeared on Raw on June 6 and SmackDown on September 16. The following year, on July 23, 2012, she made a guest appearance on Raws 1000th episode.

On the January 28, 2013, episode of Raw, Stratus was announced as a WWE Hall of Fame inductee as part of the 2013 class,
Stratus chose Stephanie McMahon to induct her into the Hall of Fame in April. The following year, Stratus inducted Lita into the WWE Hall of Fame. On August 16, 2016, Stratus appeared on WWE Network special WWE 24: Women's Evolution, discussing the history of the women back in her era known as the Attitude Era and also her rivalry with Lita.

On January 22, 2018, during the WWE Raw 25 Years anniversary episode, Stratus was amongst a group of women honoured as some of the greatest female superstars in the twenty-five-year history of the show, along with The Bella Twins, Maryse, Kelly Kelly, Lilian Garcia, Torrie Wilson, Michelle McCool, Terri Runnels, Maria Kanellis, and Jacqueline. Six days later, Stratus was a surprise entrant in the inaugural all-women's Royal Rumble match at the event. Stratus entered in the final spot, number 30, and eliminated Nia Jax, Mickie James and Natalya. Stratus' interaction with James garnered a considerable crowd reaction. Stratus was amongst the final five women in the match, before being eliminated by Sasha Banks.

On August 18, 2018, WWE announced that Stratus would make her in-ring return at WWE Evolution in singles competition against Alexa Bliss. On the August 27, 2018, episode of Raw, Stratus made a surprise appearance in Toronto, interrupting Elias and confronting him for talking down her hometown. The two exchanged insults, culminating in Stratus slapping him. Later in the night, Stratus, Ronda Rousey and Natalya were confronted by Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, and Alicia Fox. Stratus later appeared at ringside with Rousey during a one-on-one match between Natalya and Alicia Fox. She was then seen backstage during the show in a segment with Ronda and Natalya as well as the returning Bella Twins, Nikki and Brie. On the October 8 episode of Raw, Stratus would cut a promo against Bliss ahead of WWE Evolution. Bliss, along with Mickie James, came to the ring to confront Stratus, challenging her to a tag match at Evolution with herself and James instead. Stratus agreed, announcing Lita (who was originally scheduled to face James at Evolution) as her tag partner. At the Evolution event, Trish and Lita defeated Mickie James and Alicia Fox, who replaced Bliss due to injury.

On the July 30, 2019, episode of SmackDown, Stratus returned as a guest of Jerry Lawler's "The King's Court" in–ring segment. Charlotte Flair interrupted the two and issued a challenge to Stratus to a match at SummerSlam, which Stratus accepted. At SummerSlam, in her hometown of Toronto, the returning Stratus lost to Flair by submission.

On the August 22, 2022, episode of Raw, Stratus made an appearance for the first time in 3 years, where she was interrupted by Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky).

Full-time return (2023–present)
On the February 27, 2023, episode of Raw, Stratus helped Lita and Becky Lynch defeat Damage CTRL for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship by taking out Damage CTRL's leader, Bayley, who attempted to interfere. The following week, she announced that she would be teaming up with Lita and Lynch to face Damage CTRL in a six-woman tag team match at WrestleMania 39. Stratus would appear on every episode of Raw in the build to their match. At WrestleMania 39, Stratus, Lita and Lynch were successful in defeating Damage CTRL.

On the April 10 episode of Raw, Stratus teamed with Lynch to defend the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez on the behalf of an injured Lita, who had been attacked by a mystery assailant backstage. Morgan pinned Stratus with a roll-up, costing Lita and Lynch the titles. Following the match, Stratus attacked Lynch, turning heel for the first time since 2005. The following week on Raw, Stratus revealed herself as the mystery assailant who attacked Lita. She was frustrated by the two appearing as Lynch's sidekicks and a perceived lack of respect for her impact on the women's division. On April 27, 2023, WWE announced that Stratus would be eligible during the second night of the 2023 Draft. Stratus was once again drafted to the Raw brand in the fourth round as their seventh pick, the thirteenth of that night overall.

On May 8, 2023, Stratus taunted Lynch who had not been seen since losing the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships, and insulted her infant daughter Roux. However, Lynch would then return and attack Stratus with a Manhandle Slam. The following week, Lynch vowed to stand up for her family, and challenged Stratus for a singles match at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia. The match was made official during a contract signing on Raw in the following week, where Stratus once again claimed sole responsibility for the growth in opportunities for women in WWE. In response, Lynch stated that Stratus was never as good as many remember her to be and made reference to her barking like a dog for Vince McMahon in the build up to WrestleMania X-7 in 2001. At the event, Stratus defeated Lynch with the help of Zoey Stark, who hid under the ring and attacked Lynch during the match.

Stratus and Stark continued their partnership, and on the June 19 episode of Raw, Stratus won the qualification match for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match against Raquel Rodriguez by disqualification after Lynch attacked her during the match. On July 1, 2023, Stratus competed at the namesake event in London in her first appearance in a ladder match against Becky Lynch, Zoey Stark, Bayley, Iyo Sky, and Zelina Vega. Stratus worked with Stark throughout the match to prevent Lynch from winning, including a failed attempt to restrain her with handcuffs. Stratus, Stark and Lynch were defeated when Iyo Sky claimed the briefcase and won the match.

Lynch eventually earned a rematch against Stratus by defeating Zoey Stark in singles action on Raw, which was scheduled by WWE Official Adam Pearce for a future episode occurring two weeks later. The match not being included on the card for SummerSlam received backlash from fans on social media, with reports suggesting that both Stratus and Lynch had real-life frustrations with the decision. Further reports claimed that the match was not included due to time constraints, which was seemingly confirmed by Triple H, who defending the decision by stating: "There was a lot of banter I saw this week about matches being cut, which is the word that was used. But nothing was cut. There was no card announced. If we don't have more things in the pocket ready to go for a PLE than can fit in the PLE, I've done a terrible job." On August 15, Stratus and Lynch's match ended in a double count-out. Adam Pearce declared that the two would have a future rematch inside of a steel cage, which would be a first for Stratus, at Payback. Stratus, who was aided by Stark, ended up losing the match at Payback. After the match, Stark turned on Stratus after Stratus slapped and berated Stark.

Professional wrestling persona
Stratus based her professional wrestling character on much of her real-life personality, with some elements being more emphasized depending on her wrestling alignment. She described her heel character as being "so much fun" and "quite entertaining" to play.

She has also been noted for her distinct wrestling attires. She has cited the outfit she wore at WrestleMania 2000 as her favourite.

Legacy

Stratus is widely regarded as one of the greatest female superstars of her generation and by some as the greatest female wrestler of all time. Stratus is cited as an inspiration for several female wrestlers, such as: Alexa Bliss, Bayley, Carmella, Deonna Purrazzo, Emma, Kelly Kelly, Kia Stevens, Leila Grey, Mandy Rose, Maria Kanellis, Melina Perez, Michelle McCool, Natalya, Rosa Mendes, Santana Garrett, Sasha Banks, Shazza McKenzie, and Taryn Terrell.

During a September 2020 episode of Raw, Mandy Rose paid tribute to Stratus by wearing pink gear identical to an attire worn by Stratus in the early 2000s. She later cited Stratus as her role model. She added; "She's always been my inspiration, and still to this day [she is]." Zelina Vega asserted that Stratus and Lita inspired her to become a professional wrestler. Stratus's feud with Mickie James in 2006 has been an inspiration to Sasha Banks's rivalry with Bayley. Banks has cited Stratus is the one performer from the past she most wants to wrestle. Banks added, "It's going to be Trish Stratus because she was just the top of the women's division of her time. She was just the best, she was beautiful, she was athletic, and she killed it, and inspired me." Jerry Lawler called Stratus his all time favorite female superstar. Booker T in one interview has cited Stratus as the best of all time for women's wrestling while adding "She was the one that broke that barrier more than any other woman on the roster."

On May 15, 2023, Stratus was awarded the key of Niagara Falls by its mayor, Jim Diodati.

Personal life
Stratigeas is of Greek and Polish descent and is the eldest daughter of John and Alice Stratigeas. Her younger sisters are named Christie and Melissa.

Stratigeas married her high school sweetheart and boyfriend of fourteen years, Ron Fisico, on September 30, 2006. Her bridal gown was featured on a cover of Today's Bride magazine. Stratigeas and Fisico have two children, a son born in 2013 and a daughter born in 2017. Fellow wrestler and former on-screen rival Amy Dumas, better known by the ring name Lita, is her son's godmother.

Stratigeas has also been involved with numerous charities such as Ronald McDonald House, Dreams Take Flight, and the Special Olympics. From 2001, she was a spokesperson for the World Natural Sports Association.

Business ventures

On March 29, 2008, she participated in the Island Triathlon Series as part of a celebrity relay team to help raise money for Dignitas International.
In 2008, Stratus opened a yoga studio named Stratusphere in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario. The studio is billed as "Canada's largest eco-friendly yoga studio". In 2009, Stratusphere was awarded Top Choice Awards' Best New Business award, and the following year, Stratus won the award for Business Woman of the Year. The studio won Top Choice Awards' Best Yoga Studio award in 2013. The studio was closed on March 31, 2015.

On December 28, 2020, it was announced that Stratus' online retail platform named Stratusphere Shop was awarded a 2021 Canadian Business Award for Best Celebrity News Platform & Online Retailer. Stratusphere Shop was also awarded the Business Excellence Award for Best Women's Merchandise Platform in Canada.

Other media

Television

On June 3, 2006, she hosted the Canada's Walk of Fame induction ceremony and performed a song and dance number inspired by the soundtrack from the film Chicago at the event. During the show, Stratus ad libbed a kiss with fellow Canadian actress Pamela Anderson.

From late November 2006 to mid-January 2007, Stratus temporarily moved to Muncie, Indiana, for the CBS reality show Armed & Famous. She was given a spot in the series after Paul Heyman had mentioned her name to CBS. The concept was that she was one of five celebrities who trained as volunteer officers with the Muncie Police Department. After finishing her training, Stratus and her real life officer partner were followed around by a camera crew while going on legitimate police calls. Although the show was scheduled to broadcast seven episodes starting on January 10, 2007, CBS cancelled the series after just four of the episodes were aired. After the cancellation of Armed & Famous, Stratus hosted The Second City's Next Comedy Legend. The contest was similar to the style of America's Next Top Model, with Stratus portraying the "Tyra Banks" role as contact between the contestants and judges.

Stratus is the host and subject of the show Stratusphere, which debuted in 2008 on the Travel + Escape television channel. The show follows Stratus as she visits different locations around the world to participate in local sports and adventure. Bill Harris wrote that, "Every week, Stratus embarks on a trip in search of exotic locations and daring physical challenges. In the first episode, for example, Stratus is in Kochi, India, where she learns the ancient martial art of kalarippayattu, progressing from fighting with sticks to fighting with metal swords. Through the 10-episode run of Stratusphere, Stratus does everything from reindeer racing in Norway to bungee jumping in Bali. Her athleticism obviously sets Stratusphere apart from most travel shows." Stratus also guest-starred in the Canadian show Da Kink in My Hair new season, which started on February 12, 2009. In 2009, Stratus became a spokesperson for sports betting website, Sports Interaction. Also, she has a YouTube fanpage dedicated to her which has more than 565,000 subscribers as of July 17, 2019.

In 2020, Stratus made a cameo appearance in a TV Christmas movie for Fox called Christmas in the Rockies.

Since March 2021, Stratus has appeared as a judge on Canada's Got Talent, along with Howie Mandel, Lilly Singh, and Kardinal Offishall.

Film
Stratus starred in the Canadian independent movie, Bail Enforcers, which marked her acting debut. She played a bounty hunter named Jules Taylor, which released on April 19, 2011, premiering at ActionFest 2011. The movie was then released on DVD as "Bounty Hunters".

Stratus co-starred in the 2015 film Gridlocked, as the antagonist Gina.

In January 2022, Stratus announced that she had been cast in the lead role for an unnamed Christmas movie which would be released at the end of the year. The movie was later revealed to be entitled Christmas in Rockwell, where she played a character named Alyssa Strader.

Filmography

Video games

Awards and nominations

Championships and accomplishments

 The Baltimore Sun
 Best Female Wrestler of the Decade (2010)
 Cauliflower Alley Club
 Iron Mike Mazurki Award (2016)
 Fighting Spirit Magazine
 Double X Award (2006)
 Three Degrees Award (2006)
 George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
 Lou Thesz Award (2020)
 Guinness World Records
 World record: Most WWE Women's Championships (7 times)
 Ontario Sports Hall of Fame
 Sandy Hawley Community Service Award (2017)
 Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 Woman of the Year (2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006)
 Woman of the Decade (2000–2009)
 World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
 WWE Hardcore Championship (1 time)
 WWE Women's Championship (7 times)
 WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)
 Babe of the Year (2001–2003)
 Diva of the Decade (2003)
 Ranked No. 1 of the top 50 Greatest WWE Female Superstars of all time (2021)
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 Worst Worked Match of the Year (2002)

References

Footnotes

External links

1975 births
21st-century female professional wrestlers
Canadian female professional wrestlers
Canadian people of Greek descent
Canadian people of Polish descent
Female models from Ontario
Fitness and figure competitors
Living people
Professional wrestlers from Toronto
Professional wrestling managers and valets
WWE Hall of Fame inductees
WWF/WWE Hardcore Champions
WWF/WWE Women's Champions

Trish Stratus


Gordon Douglas Brickner (December 15, 1907 – September 29, 1993) was an American film director and actor, who directed many different genres of films over the course of a five-decade career in motion pictures.

Early life
Born Gordon Douglas Brickner in New York City, he began his career as a child actor, appearing in some films directed by Maurice Costello.  He also worked at MGM as a book-keeper.

Career

Hal Roach and Our Gang
As a teenager, Douglas got a job at the Hal Roach Studios, working in the office and appearing in bit parts in various Hal Roach films. He made walk-on appearances in at least three Our Gang shorts: Teacher's Pet (1930), Big Ears (1931) and Birthday Blues (1932).

By 1934, Douglas was assistant to director Gus Meins and served as assistant director on Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's 1934 film Babes in Toyland and on the Our Gang comedies made between 1934 and mid-1936.

Beginning with Bored of Education in 1936, Our Gang moved from two-reel (20-minute) comedies to one-reel (10-minute) comedies, and Douglas became the senior director of the series. Bored of Education won the 1936 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film, and was the only Our Gang entry ever honored with the award. Douglas remained with the series as director for two years.

His Our Gang shorts, featuring Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla, Porky, Buckwheat, Waldo, Butch and Woim, are the most familiar in the series' 22-year canon.

Douglas worked on the Our Gang feature General Spanky (1936). His shorts included Spooky Hooky (1936) and Pay as You Exit (1936).

Roach sold the Our Gang unit to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in May 1938. Douglas directed two MGM Our Gangs on loan from Roach, The Little Ranger (1938) and Aladdin's Lantern (1938) before deciding that he could not get used to the more industrialized atmosphere at the larger studio.

Returning to his home studio, Douglas directed the feature Zenobia (1939) with Oliver Hardy teamed with Harry Langdon instead of Stan Laurel; it was a box office disappointment. Laurel and Hardy were reunited for Douglas' next film, Saps at Sea (1940) (Laurel and Hardy's last film produced by the Hal Roach Studio) which was followed by All-American Co-Ed with former Our Gang member Johnny Downs (and Langdon).

Douglas next helmed Niagara Falls (1941), one of Hal Roach's Streamliners, a series of short features less than 50 minutes, and he co-wrote and directed Roach's'' feature Broadway Limited (1941) and provided the story for Topper Returns (1941). His last effort for Roach was the featurette The Devil with Hitler (1942). He might have stayed with Roach indefinitely, but Roach turned his studio over to the U.S. Army for the production of wartime training films.

RKO Films
Douglas moved over to RKO Pictures. He made a series of low budget comedies including The Great Gildersleeve (1942), based on the radio show; and its sequel Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943), Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943) and Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944). He also helmed The Falcon in Hollywood (1944), Girl Rush (1944), A Night of Adventure (1944) and First Yank into Tokyo (1945).

He made Zombies on Broadway (1945) with the comedy team of Brown and Carney, then San Quentin (1946), Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946) and If You Knew Susie (1948).

Columbia Films
In 1948, Douglas migrated from RKO to producer Edward Small who had a releasing deal with Columbia Pictures. For Small, he made Walk a Crooked Mile (1948) and The Black Arrow (1948).

Columbia used Douglas on Mr. Soft Touch (1949), Between Midnight and Dawn (1950), Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950), Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950) and The Nevadan (1950). They loaned him to British Lion to make State Secret (1950) in England.

Cagney Productions and Warner Bros.
James Cagney was making a film for Warner Bros., Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) with his brother William, and they hired Douglas to direct. Douglas signed long-term deals with Cagney Productions and Warners.

In May 1950, Douglas signed a non exclusive two-picture deal with Paramount. The first of these was The Great Missouri Raid (1951). He was meant to make a second film for Paramount but they released him so Cagney could use him again on Only the Valiant (1951) a Western with Gregory Peck.

Douglas went on to establish himself as one of Warners' leading directors of the 1950s, working in all genres: I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951); Come Fill the Cup (1951), produced by Cagney starring James Cagney; The Iron Mistress (1952) a biopic of Jim Bowie starring Alan Ladd; Mara Maru (1952), an adventure story with Errol Flynn; So This Is Love (1953), a musical biopic of Grace Moore; The Charge at Feather River (1954), a 3D Western; She's Back on Broadway (1953), a musical; Them! (1954), a science fiction film about giant ants; Young at Heart (1955), with Doris Day and Frank Sinatra; Sincerely Yours (1955) with Liberace; The McConnell Story (1955), a biopic of Joseph C. McConnell with Alan Ladd; Santiago (1956) with Ladd; Bombers B-52 (1957) and The Big Land (1957), a Western with Ladd.

His three low-budget westerns starring Clint Walker – Fort Dobbs (1958), Yellowstone Kelly (1959) and Gold of the Seven Saints (1961, from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett originally commissioned by Howard Hawks) – have been compared to Budd Boetticher's contemporary minimalist westerns with Randolph Scott.

He did The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958) at 20th Century Fox and Up Periscope (1959) for Warners.

He had a hit with Claudelle Inglish (1961) and The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961).

Freelance director
Douglas directed Elvis Presley in the comedy Follow That Dream (1962) made for Mirisch Productions and did  Bob Hope's Call Me Bwana (1963) for Eon Productions.

He did a Western at Fox Rio Conchos (1964) then made the heist comedy Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) for Frank Sinatra's company, starring Sinatra.

Douglas made two films starring Carroll Baker, Harlow (1965) and Sylvia (1965).

20th Century Fox
For 20th Century Fox Douglas directed Jerry Lewis in the science fiction spoof Way...Way Out (1966), did the remake of Stagecoach (1966) and made In Like Flint (1967) with James Coburn.

Douglas made Tony Rome (1967) with Sinatra at Fox, and the Western Chuka (1967) for star-producer Rod Taylor at Paramount.  There were two more with Sinatra at Fox, The Detective (1968) and a sequel to Tony Rome, Lady in Cement (1968).

Later career
After the Western Barquero (1970), Douglas did Skullduggery (1970) and directed Sidney Poitier's They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) for the Mirisches. He did some uncredited directing on Skin Game (1971).

Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973) was a blaxploitation film and Nevada Smith (1975).

Douglas returned to Warner Bros. for his final film, 1977's Viva Knievel!, in which the stuntman Evel Knievel played himself in a fanciful biography.

Reportedly, Douglas was the only person to ever direct both Elvis and Sinatra on film.

Attempting to explain his prodigious directorial output, Douglas told Bertrand Tavernier, "I have a large family to feed, and it's only occasionally that I find a story that interests me".

Death
Douglas died of cancer at the age of 85 on September 29, 1993, in Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife, Julia Mack, and two children.

Filmography

Director

 The Infernal Triangle (1935)
 Lucky Beginners (1935, short)
 General Spanky (1936)
 Spooky Hooky (1936, short)
 Pay As You Exit (1936, short)
 Two Too Young (1936, short)
 Bored of Education (1936, short)
 The Pigskin Palooka (1937, short)
 Framing Youth (1937, short)
 Fishy Tales (1937, short)
 Night 'n' Gales (1937, short)
 Roamin' Holiday (1937, short)
 Three Smart Boys (1937, short)
 Rushin' Ballet (1937, short)
 Hearts Are Thumps (1937, short)
 Glove Taps (1937, short)
 Our Gang Follies of 1938 (1937, short)
 Reunion in Rhythm (1937, short) (also titled Our Gang Follies in 1937)
 Aladdin's Lantern (1938, short)
 The Little Ranger (1938, short)
 Hide and Shriek (1938, short)
 Feed 'em and Weep (1938, short)
 Came the Brawn (1938, short)
 Bear Facts (1938, short)
 Canned Fishing (1938, short)
 Zenobia (1939) (also titled Elephants Never Forget)
 Saps at Sea (1940)
 Niagara Falls (1941)
 Broadway Limited (1941)
 The Great Gildersleeve (1942)
 The Devil with Hitler (1942)
 Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943)
 Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943)
 The Falcon in Hollywood (1944)
 Girl Rush (1944)
 Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944)
 A Night of Adventure (1944)
 First Yank into Tokyo (1945) (also titled Mask of Fury)
 Zombies on Broadway (1945)
 San Quentin (1946)
 Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946)
 Walk a Crooked Mile (1948)
 The Black Arrow (1948)
 If You Knew Susie (1948)
 Mr. Soft Touch (1949)
 The Great Manhunt (1949)
 The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)
 Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)
 Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
 Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950)
 Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950)
 The Nevadan (1950)
 The Great Missouri Raid (1951)
 Come Fill the Cup (1951)
 I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951)
 Only the Valiant (1951)
 The Iron Mistress (1952)
 Mara Maru (1952)
 So This Is Love (1953) (also titled The Grace Moore Story)
 The Charge at Feather River (1953)
 She's Back on Broadway (1953)
 Young at Heart (1954)
 Them! (1954)
 Sincerely Yours (1955)
 The McConnell Story (1955)
 Santiago (1956)
 Bombers B-52 (1957)
 Stampeded (1957)
 No Sleep Til Dawn (1957)
 The Big Land (1957)
 The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958)
 Fort Dobbs (1958)
 Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
 Up Periscope (1959)
 The Miracle (1959) (battle scenes)
 Claudelle Inglish (1961) (also titled Young and Eager)
 Gold of the Seven Saints (1961)
 The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961)
 Follow that Dream (1962)
 Call Me Bwana (1963)
 Rio Conchos (1964)
 Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
 Sylvia (1965)
 Harlow (1965)
 Way...Way Out (1966)
 Stagecoach (1966)
 Tony Rome (1967)
 Chuka (1967)
 In Like Flint (1967)
 The Detective (1968)
 Lady in Cement (1968)
 Barquero (1970)
 They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
 Skullduggery (1970)
 Skin Game (1971) (uncredited)
 Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973)
 Nevada Smith (1975)
 Viva Knievel! (1977)

Actor (selected)
 Pardon Us (1931) – Typist (uncredited)
 One Good Turn (1931) - Community Player (uncredited)
 The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) – Coroner (uncredited)

References

External links

1907 births
1993 deaths
Male actors from New York City
American male child actors
American male film actors
American film directors
Deaths from cancer in California
Hal Roach Studios filmmakers
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century American male actors
Our Gang
Film producers from New York (state)

Gordon Douglas (director)