Eugene Merle Shoemaker (April 28, 1928 – July 18, 1997) was an American geologist. He co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 with his wife Carolyn S. Shoemaker and David H. Levy. This comet hit Jupiter in July 1994: the impact was televised around the world. Shoemaker also studied terrestrial craters, such as Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona, and along with Edward Chao provided the first conclusive evidence of its origin as an impact crater. He was also the first director of the United States Geological Survey's Astrogeology Research Program.

He was killed in a car accident while visiting an impact crater site in Australia. After his death, some of his ashes were carried to the Moon with the Lunar Prospector mission.

Early life and formal education
Shoemaker was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Muriel May (née Scott), a teacher; and George Estel Shoemaker, who worked in farming, business, teaching, and motion pictures. His parents were natives of Nebraska. During Gene's childhood they moved between Los Angeles, New York City, Buffalo, New York and Wyoming, as George worked on a variety of jobs. George hated living in big cities, and was quite satisfied to take a job as director of education for a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in Wyoming. His wife soon found life in a remote cabin quite unsatisfactory. They compromised, when Muriel got a teaching job in Buffalo. She could teach in the Buffalo School of Practice of the State Teachers College at Buffalo during the school year while keeping Gene with her, then both would return to Wyoming during the summers. Gene's passion for studying rocks was ignited by the science education courses offered by the Buffalo Museum of Education. He enrolled in the School of Practice in the fourth grade, and began collecting samples of minerals. Within a year, he was also taking high-school-level evening courses. The family moved back to Los Angeles in 1942, where Gene enrolled in Fairfax High School at the age of thirteen. He completed high school in three years. During that time he also played violin in the school orchestra, excelled in gymnastics, and got a summer job as an apprentice lapidary.

Shoemaker enrolled in the Caltech in 1944, at the age of sixteen. His classmates were older, more mature and on a fast track to graduate before serving in World War II. Shoemaker thrived in the fast pace and earned his bachelor's degree in 1948, at age nineteen. He immediately undertook the study of Precambrian metamorphic rocks in northern New Mexico, earning his M.Sc. degree from Caltech in 1949.

Family

While Shoemaker was attending Caltech, his roommate was Richard Spellman, a young man from Chico, California. Although Shoemaker had already enrolled in a doctoral program at Princeton University, he returned to California to serve as best man at Richard's wedding in 1950. He met Richard's sister, Carolyn, for the first time on that occasion. Carolyn was born in Gallup, New Mexico, in 1929, but the Spellman family moved to Chico soon afterward. Carolyn earned degrees from Chico State College in history and political science. She never exhibited an interest in scientific subjects while growing up, and took one geology course in college, which she found boring. Nevertheless, the couple kept in touch while Shoemaker spent the next year in Princeton, followed by a two-week vacation touring the Colorado Plateau. She reportedly told others that listening to Shoemaker explain geology turned a boring subject into an exciting and interesting pursuit of knowledge. The couple married on August 17, 1951.

The Shoemakers had three children: two daughters and one son. Carolyn saw her work as keeping house and raising the children especially after they settled in Flagstaff in the 1960s. She had tried teaching school before they married, but found the work unsatisfying. She also traveled sometimes with Gene, but stopped after she noticed that her absence affected the children. After their children were grown, Carolyn wanted something meaningful to combat the "empty nest" feeling. By then, Gene suggested that she take up astronomy and join his team looking for asteroids approaching Earth. A student working at Lowell Observatory commenced teaching her astronomy. She showed great potential and launched her career as a planetary astronomer at age 51. She continued the work until her death in 2021.

Scientific contributions

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) hired Shoemaker in 1950, and he maintained an association with the organisation for the rest of his career. His first assignment was to search for uranium deposits in Utah and Colorado. His next mission was to study volcanic processes, since other investigators had already noticed that uranium deposits were often located in the vents of ancient volcanoes. This study led him to explore the Hopi Buttes of Northern Arizona, which happened to be near Meteor Crater.

Daniel Barringer, an entrepreneur and mining engineer who had discovered Meteor Crater in 1891, had postulated that it had been caused by the impact of a meteor. About the same time, G. K. Gilbert, the chief geologist of the USGS, examined the crater and announced that it had been created by an explosive venting of volcanic steam. A majority of scientists accepted Gilbert's explanation of the cause of the crater, and it remained the conventional wisdom until Shoemaker's investigations half a century later.

For his Ph.D. degree at Princeton (1960), under the guidance of Harry Hammond Hess, Shoemaker studied the impact dynamics of Barringer Meteor Crater.  Shoemaker noted Meteor Crater had the same form and structure as two explosion craters created from atomic bomb tests at the Nevada Test Site, notably Jangle U in 1951 and Teapot Ess in 1955. In 1960, Edward C. T. Chao and Shoemaker identified shocked quartz (coesite) at Meteor Crater, proving the crater was formed from an impact generating extremely high temperatures and pressures.  They followed this discovery with the identification of coesite within suevite at Nördlinger Ries, proving its impact origin.

Astrogeology and Apollo

In 1960, Shoemaker directed a team at the USGS center in Menlo Park, California, to generate the first geologic map of the Moon using photographs taken by Francis G. Pease.  Shoemaker also helped pioneer the field of astrogeology by founding the Astrogeology Research Program. He was prominently involved in the Lunar Ranger missions to the Moon, joining the television imaging team of Harold Urey and Gerard Kuiper, which turned into a preparatory mission for the future crewed landing.  Shoemaker was then chosen to be the principal investigator for the Surveyor program's television experiment, and then the lunar geology principal investigator for Apollo 11, Apollo 12, and Apollo 13.

Shoemaker was also involved in the training of the American astronauts.  He himself was a possible candidate for an Apollo Moon flight and was set to be the first geologist to walk on the Moon but was disqualified due to being diagnosed with Addison's disease, a disorder of the adrenal gland.  Shoemaker would train astronauts during field trips to Meteor Crater and Sunset Crater near Flagstaff. He was a CBS News television commentator on the early Apollo missions, especially the Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 missions, appearing with Walter Cronkite during live coverage of those flights.

According to David H. Levy, just before the crewed Moon landings,

He was awarded the John Price Wetherill Medal from the Franklin Institute in 1965. Coming to Caltech in 1969, he started a systematic search for Earth orbit-crossing asteroids, which resulted in the discovery of several families of such asteroids, including the Apollo asteroids. Shoemaker advanced the idea that sudden geologic changes can arise from asteroid strikes and that asteroid strikes are common over geologic time periods.  Previously, astroblemes were thought to be remnants of extinct volcanoes – even on the Moon.

Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9
In 1993, he co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 using the 18-inch Schmidt camera at Palomar Observatory.  This comet was unique in that it provided the first opportunity to observe the planetary impact of a comet.  Shoemaker–Levy 9 collided with Jupiter in July 1994. The resulting impact caused a massive "scar" on the face of Jupiter.

Death
Shoemaker spent much of his later years searching for and finding several previously unnoticed or undiscovered impact craters around the world. He died on July 18, 1997, during one such expedition in a head-on car collision on the remote Tanami Track, a few hundred kilometers northwest of Alice Springs, Australia. Shoemaker's wife Carolyn was severely injured in the crash.

On July 31, 1999, some of his ashes were carried to the Moon by the Lunar Prospector space probe in a capsule designed by Carolyn Porco. Celestis, Inc. provided the service—at NASA's request—commercially, making Shoemaker's ashes the first private delivery to the lunar surface. Celestis is the memorial spaceflight company that flew the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry into space, as well as Star Trek actor James Doohan ("Scotty"), Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper and hundreds of other people from around the world. Shoemaker is the only person whose remains have been placed on any celestial body outside Earth. The brass foil wrapping of Shoemaker's memorial capsule is inscribed with images of Comet Hale–Bopp ("the last comet that the Shoemakers observed together"), the Barringer Meteor Crater, and a quotation from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet reading

The fatal crash happened when Hale-Bopp was still visible to the naked eye, having passed perihelion and having moved into the southern celestial hemisphere.

Awards and tributes
Shoemaker received a large number of awards for his professional work. According to the obituary published by the USGS Astrogeology Science Center, these included:
 Doctorate of Science, Arizona State College, Flagstaff, 1965.
 John Price Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute, co-recipient with E.C.T. Chao, 1965.
 Arthur S. Flemming Award, 1966.
 Doctorate of Science, Temple University, 1967.
 NASA Medal for Scientific Achievement, 1967.
 U.S. Department of the Interior Honor Award for Meritorious Service, 1973.
 Member, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 1980.
 U.S. Department of the Interior Distinguished Service Award, 1980.
 Arthur L. Day Medal of the Geological Society of America, 1982.
 G.K. Gilbert Award of the Geological Society of America, 1983.
 Rieser Kulturpreis, co-recipient with E.C.T. Chao and Richard Dehm, 1983.
 Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of Arizona, 1984.
 Barringer Award of the Meteoritical Society, 1984.
 Kuiper Prize of the American Astronomical Society, Division for Planetary Sciences, 1984.
 Leonard Medal of the Meteoritical Society, 1985.
 Distinguished Alumni Award of the California Institute of Technology, 1986.
 Rittenhouse Medal of the Rittenhouse Astronomical Society, co-recipient with C.S. Shoemaker, 1988.
 National Medal of Science, 1992.
 Whipple Award, American Geophysical Union, 1993.
 Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1993.
 AIAA Space Science Award, 1996.
 NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, 1996.
 William Bowie Medal, American Geophysical Union, 1996.
 Special Award, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 1997.
 Shoemaker Award, Texas Section of the American Institute of Professional Geologists, awarded posthumously, 1997.

On July 24, 1997, a memorial for Shoemaker and Jurgen Rahe was presented in the U.S. House of Representatives by California representative George E. Brown, Jr. The memorial was published in the Congressional Record. The memorial credited Shoemaker with being either the discoverer or co-discoverer of 820 asteroids and comets during his career.

A ring-like topographic feature in Western Australia, an astrobleme previously named the "Teague ring" was renamed "Shoemaker Crater" in honor of Shoemaker. The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous space probe was renamed "NEAR Shoemaker" in his honor. It arrived at asteroid 433 Eros in February 2000, and landed on the asteroid after a year of orbital study. He was previously honored with the asteroid 2074 Shoemaker, discovered and named by his colleague, Eleanor F. Helin.

In their 2020 album, Human. :II: Nature., Finnish metal band Nightwish paid tribute to Shoemaker in the song "Shoemaker". Composer Tuomas Holopainen says he was inspired by his biography, which moved the entire band to tears.

List of discovered minor planets

Shoemaker is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the co-discovery of 183 minor planets between 1977 and 1994.

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links
 Asteroids:  Deadly Impact National Geographic videos
 USGS page about Shoemaker
 NASA page about Shoemaker

1928 births
1997 deaths
20th-century American astronomers
20th-century American geologists
Discoverers of asteroids
Discoverers of comets
National Medal of Science laureates
Space burials
Scientists from Los Angeles
Planetary scientists
California Institute of Technology alumni
Road incident deaths in the Northern Territory
People from Flagstaff, Arizona
United States Geological Survey personnel

Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Barringer Medal winners

Eugene Merle Shoemaker


Randy Matthews (born 1950) is an American Christian singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pioneer of Jesus music. He was born into a family with at least five ordained ministers, including his father, Monty, a founding member of the Jordanaires. When Matthews was in high school in Lamar, Mo., he sang in a quartet called The Zionaires, which was also founded by his father. This quartet performed regionally and sang in quartet competitions. Other members of the group included Noel Scott, baritone; Spike (Carl) Bickel, tenor; and Dan Fields, bass.

Matthews briefly attended Ozark Bible College in Joplin, Mo. During this time he joined Noel Scott and Charlene Munger in the developing movement of Christian folk music. This experience helped Matthews to choose a less traditional path to ministry. After leaving college, he founded a coffee house ministry in Cincinnati with the purpose of promoting social activities among Christians and providing a safe haven for street people.

In 1971, Matthews was signed as the first contemporary Christian artist to record for Word Records, a gospel label which had, up to that point, released spoken word recordings and albums of traditional gospel music. His first album was Wish We'd All Been Ready. With the release of his second album, All I Am Is What You See, Word launched a new label called Myrrh Records, created specifically to tap into the musical interests of the burgeoning Jesus movement.

Matthews' music and concert style has always pushed the envelope. In 1974, Matthews was invited to perform at The Jesus Festival, a Woodstock type event in which attenders camped out and listened to Christian music and Bible teaching for three days. When Matthews' band took the stage, the promoters and many in the crowd were shocked at their rock and roll presentation; up to this point most contemporary Christian music was more influenced by folk than rock. Matthews' band was unplugged by the promoters and chased off the stage by the concert-goers. Matthews referenced this experience on his fourth album, 1975's Eyes to the Sky, with the track, "Pennsylvania Song": "you pulled the plug and drained my soul, but I know I left a ring around the tub of tradition, I saw some dance and sing" and again in his ninth solo album, titled Plugged In.

Matthews is currently working under the stage name Red Beard, performing frequently at the Trade Winds Resort in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida and the Palm Island Resort. He recently released an album of pirate songs and tall tales called Red Beard Pirate King.

In 2015 Son of Dust was remastered by Bim Ingersoll at Rockroach Studio, and independently released on CD by Stowaway Music. This was the first time any of Matthews albums from the 1970s was available on CD.

Discography
 Wish We'd All Been Ready (1971)
 All I Am Is What You See... (1972)
 Son of Dust (1973)
 Eyes to the Sky (1975)
 Now Do You Understand (1975) - double live album
 Matthews, Taylor & Johnson (1976)
 The Best of Randy Matthews (1976)
 Live in Australia (1978)
 Randy Matthews (1980)
 Plugged In (1981)
 Streets of Mercy (1987)
 The Edge of Flight (1990)
 Red Beard Pirate King (2008)

References

External links
 Randy Matthews on musicmoz.org

1950 births
Living people
American performers of Christian music
American male singers
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians

Randy Matthews


The ekkalam is an aerophone instrument mainly used in Tamil Nadu, India. It consists of a large brass tube with one end having a bell. This instrument produces sound by vibration of air injected by the player, altering the pitch by changing the lip tension and the power of air flow. It is played in temple festivals or celebrations. Most of the sound produced travels straight outward from the bell. It is played along with a drum or another ekkalam.

References
 Premalatha, V. (1985) Music Through the Ages. Sundeep Prakashan.

Aerophones
Indian musical instruments

Ekkalam


National Assn. of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife, 551 U.S. 644 (2007), was a United States Supreme Court case about federal jurisdiction over anti-pollution statutes.  Justice Samuel Alito wrote the opinion of the Court, holding that the Endangered Species Act did not require the Environmental Protection Agency to apply additional criteria when evaluating a transfer of pollution control jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.  Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer wrote dissenting opinions.

Facts
The Clean Water Act instructs the Environmental Protection Agency to turn over authority under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System to a state if that state's proposal meets nine listed criteria.  Arizona issued such a proposal.  The EPA regional office replied with the concern that the transfer might violate the Endangered Species Act, which prohibits agencies from taking actions that might jeopardize endangered species.  The EPA consulted the Fish and Wildlife Service, which advised that the Endangered Species Act was inapplicable because the EPA had no authority to consider additional factors beyond the nine Clean Water Act criteria. On the advice of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the EPA approved the transfer of authority to Arizona.

Procedural history
Defenders of Wildlife, a non-profit organization concerned with endangered species, challenged the transfer, arguing that the Endangered Species Act imposed an independent requirement on the EPA's decision to approve the transfer.  The EPA argued the Endangered Species Act was not an independent source of authority, but imposes requirements only on the discretionary decisions of federal agencies.  Since its decision was non-discretionary under the Clean Water Act, the agency argued, the Endangered Species Act did not apply.  (The National Association of Home Builders moved to intervene in the case which was granted, and ultimately found their name in the case citation.)

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found in favor of the Defenders of Wildlife and invalidated the transfer, finding that the Fish and Wildlife Service opinion was flawed and that the EPA's reliance on it "arbitrary and capricious" and inconsistent with previous transfers of permitting authority, in which the impact on endangered species was considered.

Decision

Issues
 Can a court require that state-run Clean Water Act pollution permitting programs include protections for endangered species?
 Does the Endangered Species Act constitute an independent source of authority for federal agencies?
 Is the EPA's approval of a state permitting program the legally relevant cause of impacts to endangered species resulting from future private land use activities?
 Was the Court of Appeals correct that the EPA's decision to transfer pollution-permitting authority to Arizona under the Clean Water Act was arbitrary and capricious because it was based on inconsistent interpretations of the Endangered Species Act? If so, should the Court of Appeals have sent the case back to the EPA for further proceedings without ruling on the interpretation of the Endangered Species Act?

Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court, written by Justice Alito, held that the EPA's decision was not arbitrary and capricious, even if internally inconsistent.  "The federal courts ordinarily are empowered to review only an agency's final action," Alito wrote, "and the fact that a preliminary determination by a local agency representative is later overruled at a higher level within the agency does not render the decisionmaking process arbitrary and capricious."  The Court also agreed that because the decision was not discretionary, the Endangered Species Act did not apply.

Stevens's dissent
Justice Stevens dissented, writing that while the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act conflicted, precedent under Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill and others require that the Endangered Species Act's requirements be given precedence over other aims of federal agencies.

Breyer's dissent
Justice Breyer joined in Stevens's dissent, but differed in reserving judgment "as to whether §7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 ... really covers every possible agency action even of totally unrelated agencies...."

See also
 List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 551
List of United States Supreme Court cases

Notes

External links

United States Supreme Court cases
United States environmental case law
2007 in the environment
2007 in United States case law
United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court

National Ass'n of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife


Anthony Magan (15 December 1910 – 4 July 1981) was an Irish republican and chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Biography
Magan was born on 15 December 1910. He was a son of farmer James Magan and his wife Elizabeth Foley, of Kilmore, Dunshaughlin, County Meath.

Magan took part in the IRAs 1939-1940 sabotage/England Campaign (the S-Plan). The S-Plan was a campaign of bombing and sabotage against the civil, economic and military infrastructure of England. In London, Magan took classes in the construction of bombs to be used in the sabotage campaign. In February 1939 Magan was arrested in connection with bombing attacks in Londons Underground subway system.

Magan was interned in the Curragh during the Irish Emergency (during the Second World War). In March 1946, he was arrested along with a number of other IRA men in the Ardee Bar, Dublin. Jailed, he was released in December 1946 along with Micksie Conway. Both men resumed their attempts to reorganise the IRA.

A lifelong bachelor and County Meath farmer, Magan sold his farm and devoted all his time and money to the IRA. He was appointed IRA chief of staff by the IRAs Army convention in September 1949. The IRA had almost been destroyed in the 1940s and Magan immediately set out to reorganise the political and military wings of the Republican Movement, namely the IRA and Sinn Féin, along with Michael Traynor, Paddy McLogan, and Tomás Mac Curtain.

Magan was not a popular choice for the position and several members of his previous IRA Army Council were not impressed by him but did not oppose his nomination outright. Magan drew support chiefly from Dublin delegates, who felt that "the Army needed a steel core and that Magan could supply it".

Magan was a determined physical force traditionalist. According to J. Bowyer Bell, he "wanted to create a new Army, untarnished by the dissent and scandals of the previous decade", with "no shadow of a gangster gunman, no taint of communism, but a band of volunteers solely dedicated to reuniting Ireland by physical force". Tim Pat Coogan describes him as "priest-like - who had given all his money, time and thought to the IRA, a deeply religious man of the old-guard school of Irish Catholicism [and] when he was again interned in the Curragh during the 1950s Border Campaign he organised a flourishing branch of the Legion of Mary".

At the 1950 Sinn Féin Ardfheis, Magan was elected honorary joint secretary of the party. Coogan recounts that Magan's Sinn Féin submitted key political and economic policies for review by friendly clergy, "to ensure that they contained nothing contrary to Catholic teaching". In May 1951, the IRA leadership established a Military Council to draft an overall plan for the Republican Movement as a whole. Its members were Magan (as Chief of Staff), Tomás Mac Curtáin (as chairman of the Army Council), Pádraig Mac Lógáin (as president of Sinn Féin and chairman of the IRA Army Executive), a former British army officer with World War II experience service who was an expert on guerrilla warfare, and one other person.

In 1953, Magan played a role in organising and carrying out the Felstead arms raid on July 25, 1953. This was a IRA arms raid on the Officers Training Corps School at Felstead in County Essex. In that raid, the IRA netted over 108 rifles, ten Bren and eight Stem guns, two mortars and dummy mortar bombs. Unlike Seán Mac Stiofáin, Cathal Goulding, and Manus Canning, later jailed for the raid, Magan evaded arrest and managed to return safely to Ireland.

Magan was chief of staff at the commencement of the IRA's Border Campaign, codenamed Operation Harvest, which began on 11 December 1956.

He resigned from the Republican Movement in 1962 in a dispute over the relationship between the IRA and Sinn Féin.

Magan, who lived at 45 Lower Dodder Road in Rathfarnham, Dublin, subsequently worked as a taxi driver. He died on 4 July 1981 at Meath Hospital.  On 8 July 1981 he was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin. A lifelong bachelor, he was survived by his sisters, nieces and nephews.

References

Sources
"Bodenstown: IRA GHQ reorganised", Saoirse, June 1997.

1910 births
1981 deaths
Burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium
Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members
Irish republicans interned without trial
Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict
People from County Meath

Tony Magan


A French invasion of Great Britain was planned to take place in 1759 during the Seven Years' War, but due to various factors (including naval defeats at the Battle of Lagos and the Battle of Quiberon Bay) was never launched. The French planned to land 100,000 French soldiers in Britain to end British involvement in the war. The invasion was one of several failed French attempts during the 18th century to invade Britain.

Background

The War of the Austrian Succession ended in 1748 with the Peace of Aachen. All of its signatories considered it unsatisfactory; in France "as stupid as the peace" became a catch phrase. Frustrated by the loss of Silesia to the Kingdom of Prussia, Maria Theresa of Austria looked for an alliance which would enable her to recover it. This led Austria to an historic rapprochement with France. France was prepared to ally with her historic enemy because this would, the Conseil du Roi thought, allow her to concentrate her efforts against Great Britain in a future war. In reaction, Prussia, which had emerged from the war as a newly significant European power, allied with her previous enemy, Great Britain. By 1755 Britain and France were fighting an undeclared war at sea and on the Indian frontier of North America; for example: in May, 2,000 British soldiers invaded French North America; in June, the Royal Navy captured nearly 300 French fishing vessels off Newfoundland and their 4,000 crew, both hitting France economically and reducing the French navy's potential recruitment pool of experienced seamen. The invasion of Saxony by Prussian troops, in August 1756, triggered what was later known as the Seven Years' War. France supported Austria and Russia in a land campaign against Prussia, and launched what she saw as her main effort in a maritime and colonial offensive against Great Britain.

By the beginning of 1759 neither alliance had the advantage, in either the land or sea campaigns. Both France and Great Britain were having serious problems financing the war. In 1759 over 60% of French revenue went to service its debt, causing numerous shortages. The French navy in particular was overstretched and suffered from the lack of a coherent doctrine, exacerbated by the inexperience verging on incompetence of the Secretary of State for the Navy, Nicolas René Berryer, a former chief of police. Meanwhile, Britain's war effort over the first three years of the war had been a failure. From the summer of 1757 the British war effort came under the control of William Pitt, who imposed an assertive and coordinated strategy. It consisted of a naval and colonial effort to expel the French from North America and ruin their maritime trade, while dispersing their efforts between fighting Prussia in Europe and attempting to defend the wide range of French overseas possessions. By early 1759 this was beginning to bear fruit.

Invasion plans

Conception

The invasion was planned by the Duc de Choiseul who became French foreign minister in December 1758 and effectively served as Prime Minister during the period of the mooted invasion. He wanted to launch a bold initiative that would knock Britain out of the war with one stroke. French pride had been stung the previous year by the ease with which the British had captured Louisbourg and launched amphibious raids on the French coast during 1758, such as that against Cherbourg. British financial subsidies and military aid to her only ally Prussia had kept that country afloat since 1756. Choiseul's brief as foreign minister was to overturn this situation.

Choiseul was interested in the concept of a French invasion of Britain. He perceived that Britain's strength was its naval power. He saw that if a large French force managed to cross the Channel without being intercepted, it could triumph over the relatively weak British land forces. Choiseul initially ignored perceived wisdom that any invasion would have to involve French warships. He believed that trying to bring warships out of the blockaded port at Brest would cause unnecessary delays, and could be disastrous. A mixed force as he saw it would suffer the same fate as the Spanish Armada. A previous attempt by France in 1744 had to be abandoned.

His conception was relatively simple: a massive fleet of flat-bottomed transport craft would carry an army of 100,000 troops across the Channel where they would be landed on the coast of southern England. An essential component of the plan was speed. The French would wait for a favourable wind and cross the Channel quickly. Once they landed, they believed they would easily overpower the small army Britain retained on home soil and end the war. Choiseul managed to overcome opposition in the French cabinet and the invasion was approved as the cornerstone of French strategy for 1759 along with an attempt to capture Hanover.

Jacobite involvement

As part of the scheme the French considered trying to start a Jacobite rebellion, as they had in 1745, by sending the heir apparent of the Jacobite movement Charles Edward Stuart with or ahead of the invading forces. A secret meeting was arranged with Charles Stuart in Paris in February 1759, but it went badly. Charles turned up late and drunk, and proved surly and uncooperative. Convinced that the Jacobites were of little material help, Choiseul dropped them from the plan.   From then on, any French landing would have to be entirely accomplished by French troops. He did however consider sending Charles to Ireland where he could be declared King of Ireland and lead a rebellion. Eventually the French decided to try to recruit Jacobite supporters without involving Charles directly in the operation – as he was considered a potential liability.

France also sought support from Denmark and Russia to provide troops and naval stores for the expedition, but both declined to participate. Sweden initially agreed to take part in the scheme by sending an invasion force to Scotland, but later backed out of this arrangement. The Dutch Republic, traditionally a British ally but neutral at the time, was deeply alarmed by the French actions, and demanded assurances that the French were not planning to place the pretender Stuart on the British throne, an action they believed would threaten their own security. The French ambassador assured them they were not.

British response

The British were well aware of these developments through a well-established network of secret agents. On 19 February the British war cabinet met at Lord Anson's house to discuss the potential invasion. Both William Pitt and the Prime Minister, the Duke of Newcastle, were extremely bullish about the prospects of the campaign. A few proposals were made, such as stationing troops on the Isle of Wight, but the consensus was that existing strategy was already sufficient to deal with the invasion threat. No plans were made for the withdrawal of British troops in Germany or to request that Hanoverian troops be sent to defend Britain.

Pitt was committed to despatching expeditions to French colonies around the world, a policy that had proved successful. It had, however, deprived Britain of necessary troops to defend itself from a European invasion. In response to this the government had pushed through a Militia Act which created a large militia to defend Britain.  The fighting capabilities of this force were untested, though it provided the British with a much larger force on paper than her regular troops alone. General Ligonier estimated that he would have only 10,000 regular troops immediately available to resist any French landing.

A tight blockade was maintained on major French ports throughout 1759 under the command of Admiral Edward Hawke.  It proved crippling, as it denied France valuable colonial shipping supplies, and the ease with which the Blockaders kept the French fleet bottled up was shattering to French morale. Improvements in supply arrangements had enabled the British to maintain a continuous blockade, something they had failed to accomplish previously.  The British shared conventional wisdom that any invasion would have to involve the Brest fleet, but kept a close watch on all potential departure points.

French preparations

During 1759 the French pressed on with their preparations. Hundreds of the flat-bottomed transport craft were constructed in Le Havre, Brest, St Malo, Nantes, Morlaix and Lorient. An estimated 30 million livres was spent on the construction of the boats. A number of small but well-armed escorts were also constructed.  By midsummer, more than 325 transports were nearing completion.  48,000 troops were immediately ready to take part in the invasion.  Drills were conducted which found the French troops could embark and disembark from the ships in just seven minutes.

Throughout the year, several points of the plan were altered, but it remained the same in essence. In spite of opposition from within the French cabinet (particularly the war minister Belle-Isle), Choiseul insisted on launching the crossing without fleet support. The French decided to launch the invasion force entirely from Le Havre, a large harbour some distance from the blockading British fleet at Brest. A smaller diversionary force would leave from Dunkirk.

In June, French planners agreed that a separate, smaller force would be sent to Scotland to try to gain Jacobite support, and crush British resistance in a pincer movement. The Duc d'Aiguillon was selected to take command of this force. Once landing on the Clyde approximately 20,000 Scottish Jacobites, mostly Highland clansmen, would rise and join him. Command of the larger southern invasion was given to Prince Soubise. Plans called for Soubise's force to wait for good winds, and then cross the Channel speedily from Le Havre, landing in Portsmouth.

French naval defeats

Raid on Le Havre

A surprise British raid on Le Havre in early July did considerable damage, destroying a number of the transports. However, the success of the venture lured the British commanders into a false sense of security, making them believe it had been a greater setback than it had in fact. The French intended to capitalise on this, but scaled back their initial plans. A War Council in Paris decided to launch the expedition to Scotland first, and if it was successful, send follow-up forces to Portsmouth and Maldon, Essex. Exact details were left vague to enable them to respond to changing circumstances. Delays to the assembly of the invasion force pushed back the date of the launch, and the sea grew rougher and more dangerous to cross. Some French leaders were wary of putting the fleet to sea in potentially bad weather, but the need for a major victory to restore French morale and win an honourable peace overruled their concerns. In October, D'Aiguillon arrived at his command centre at Vannes, near to where much of his army had gathered. For five days after 15 October, the British blockading squadrons were forced to withdraw from the French coast by a storm, leaving the French invasion forces free to sail.  Conflans declined to leave harbour, as he believed his fleet was not ready, and on 20 October the British returned to blockade the French Atlantic ports again.

Battle of Lagos
In summer 1759, the French Toulon fleet under Admiral La Clue slipped through the blockade and sailed out through the Straits of Gibraltar. They were caught and defeated by a British fleet at the Battle of Lagos in August. Their intended destination had been the West Indies, but the loss of ships and men stretched the French fleet almost to breaking point, and raised questions about the viability of the invasion.

Battle of Quiberon Bay

The invasion plan received a crippling blow in November, when the French Brest Squadron was heavily defeated at the Battle of Quiberon Bay.  Conflans had sailed from Brest on 15 November heading a hundred miles down the coast to Quiberon Bay, where the invasion army was now waiting to board his transports. Conflans' fleet became caught in a storm which slowed them down and allowed the pursuing British under Sir Edward Hawke a chance to catch up with them.

Meeting at the mouth of Quiberon Bay on 21 November, the two fleets closed in on each other.  Conflans initially formed a line of battle and prepared to engage, but then changed his mind and his ships raced to take shelter in the bay. Hawke pursued, taking a high risk in the middle of a violent storm, and captured or drove ashore five French ships. The remainder managed to find shelter in the bay. They were now blockaded in by the British fleet, and most were abandoned and their guns taken off them. Only three ships ever sailed again, a devastating setback to the French Channel fleet. The crushing defeat at Quiberon Bay ended any real hope of a major invasion of the British Isles.

Landing in Ireland

A privateer, François Thurot, sailed from Dunkirk with five ships to provide diversionary support to the invasion. In 1760 he landed on the northern Irish coast and set up a base at Carrickfergus. Had he not repeatedly clashed with the commander of the land expedition, the force might have captured poorly defended Belfast.  Having sailed for home, the Royal Navy killed Thurot and destroyed his squadron in the Irish Channel. By this point, the French had abandoned the invasion. However, many French people took heart from Thurot's expedition as it demonstrated that French forces could land in the British Isles. Madame de Pompadour suggested that France would have won at Quiberon, had Thurot been in command instead of Conflans.

Abandonment

With the Brest fleet destroyed at Quiberon Bay, they were now unable to escort the French troops across the Channel. Some now began pressing Choiseul for a return to the original plan of an unescorted crossing, suggesting that the invasion be postponed to early 1760.

1759 was a disastrous year for the French war effort. They suffered severe defeats in Canada, the West Indies, Europe and India. Choiseul was particularly disappointed by the poor performance of the French navy. As word of these disasters poured in, the extent to which France's forces were now stretched became clear. Realising they needed the French forces earmarked for the invasion elsewhere, particularly in Germany to fight Hanover, Choiseul reluctantly called off the invasion.

He remained hopeful that it might still be possible at some future date, but the war situation continued to deteriorate for France during the next few years particularly when Spain entered the war as a French ally in 1761. Choiseul began in 1762 to plan a fresh invasion, but this was also abandoned when an armistice was signed.

Aftermath
The French fully abandoned the plan in 1763, when the Peace of Paris mandated a general cessation of hostilities. Choiseul continued to advocate a direct strike against Britain as the way to win future wars, and despatched engineers and agents to examine British defences in preparation.  During the Falklands Crisis of 1770 he proposed a similar action, but was dismissed by the French King, Louis XV. Further French invasions were planned in 1779 during the American War of Independence, and by Napoleon in 1803–04, but none came to fruition for much the same reasons as Choiseul's 1759 campaign had been abandoned.

See also
 Great Britain in the Seven Years' War

Notes, citations and sources

Notes

Citations

Sources

 .

Cancelled military operations involving France
Seven Years' War
Campaigns of the Seven Years' War
1759 in France
1759 in Great Britain
1759 in military history
Cancelled invasions
Invasions of the United Kingdom
Invasions by France

Planned French invasion of Britain (1759)


Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon,  north-west of London,  south-east of Birmingham and  south-west of Warwick. The town is the southernmost point of the Arden area on the edge of the Cotswolds. In the 2021 census Stratford had a population of 30,495.

Stratford was originally inhabited by Britons before Anglo-Saxons and remained a village before the lord of the manor, John of Coutances, set out plans to develop it into a town in 1196. In that same year, Stratford was granted a charter from King Richard I to hold a weekly market in the town, giving it its status as a market town. As a result, Stratford experienced an increase in trade and commerce as well as urban expansion.

Stratford is a popular tourist destination, owing to its status as the birthplace and burial place of playwright and poet William Shakespeare; it receives approximately 2.7 million visitors a year. The Royal Shakespeare Company resides in Stratford's Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Etymology
The name is a combination of the Old English strǣt (from Latin stratum), meaning 'street', ford, indicating a shallow part of a river or stream, allowing it to be crossed by walking or driving and avon which is the Celtic word for river. The 'street' was a Roman road which connected Icknield Street in Alcester to the Fosse Way. The ford, which has been used as a crossing since Roman times, later became the location of Clopton Bridge. A survey of 1251–52 uses the name Stratford for the first time to identify Old Stratford and the newer manors. The name was used after that time to describe the area specifically surrounding the Holy Trinity Church and the street of the Old Town.

History

Roman
The Stratford area was settled during the Roman period as the area was crossed by a Roman road: archaeological remains of a small Roman town have been found, about  northeast of Stratford town centre at Tiddington, now part of Stratford, which was occupied from the 1st to the 5th century AD. The remains of two further probable Roman settlements have been found within a few miles of modern-day Stratford.

Medieval
The settlement which later became known as Stratford was first inhabited by Anglo-Saxons following their 7th-century invasion of what would become known as Warwickshire, but was then part of the Kingdom of Mercia. It is likely that an Anglo-Saxon monastery existed at the site of what is now Holy Trinity Church, which was founded after the land was acquired by Egwin, the third Bishop of Worcester (693-714). The monastery was likely destroyed by Viking invaders in 1015. The land remained in the ownership of the Bishops of Worcester until the 16th century. The area around Holy Trinity Church is still known as Old Town as it was the original area of settlement around the monastery. The focus of the settlement at Stratford was later moved north, closer to the river crossing, which was better positioned for trade.

Stratford (then referred to as strete ford) remained a village until the late 12th century when it was developed into a town by lord of the manor, Bishop John of Coutances. Coutances laid out a new town plan in 1196 around half a mile (0.8 km) north of the original settlement, based on a grid system to expand Stratford and allow people to rent property in order to trade within the town. Coutances granted his new tenants the right to rent property and transmit it at death. This was called burgage tenure. Each development plot or "burgage" consisted of around  . Additionally, a charter was granted to Stratford by King Richard I in 1196 which allowed a weekly market to be held in the town, giving it its status as a market town. These two charters, which formed the foundations of Stratford's transformation from a village to a town, make the town of Stratford over 800 years old, the town celebrated
its 800th anniversary in 1996.

John of Coutances' plans to develop Stratford into a town meant Stratford became a place of work for tradesmen and merchants. By 1252 the town had approximately 240 burgages (town rental properties owned by a king or lord), as well as shops, stalls and other buildings. Stratford's tradesmen established a guild known as the Guild of the Holy Cross for their business and religious requirements. The guild developed into the town's main institution of local government, and included the most important townsmen, who elected officials to oversee local affairs. They built a Guild Chapel in the 13th century, and a Guildhall and almshouses on Church Street in around 1417. The guild also established an educational institution in the late 13th century.

Many of the town's earliest and most important buildings are located along what is known as Stratford's Historic Spine, which was once the main route from the town centre to the parish church. The route of the Historic Spine begins at Shakespeare's Birthplace in Henley Street. It continues through Henley Street to the top end of Bridge Street and into the High Street where many Elizabethan buildings are located, including Harvard House. The route carries on through Chapel Street where Nash's House and New Place are sited. The Historic Spine continues along Church Street where the Guild buildings are located dating back to the 15th century, as well as 18th- and 19th-century properties. The route then finishes in the Old Town, which includes Hall's Croft and the Holy Trinity Church.

During Stratford's early expansion into a town, the only access across the River Avon into and out of the town was over a wooden bridge, which was first mentioned in 1235. However, the bridge could not be crossed at times due to the river rising and was described by antiquarian John Leland as "a poor bridge of timber and no causeway to it, whereby many poor folks and other refused to come to Stratford when the Avon was up, or coming thither stood in jeopardy of life." In 1484, a new masonry arch bridge was built to replace it called Clopton Bridge, named after Hugh Clopton, a wealthy local man who later became the Lord Mayor of London, who paid for its construction. The new bridge made it easier for people to trade within Stratford and for passing travellers to stay in the town.

Tudor period
The medieval structures of local governance underwent significant changes during the Tudor period: The Guild of the Holy Cross was abolished in 1547 under King Edward VI's suppression of religious guilds, and the inhabitants of Stratford petitioned the Crown for a charter of incorporation as a borough, which they received in 1553. This allowed the formation a new Town Council which inherited the property and responsibilities of the abolished guild. The Charter of Incorporation refounded Stratford's school as the King Edward VI School

The Cotswolds, located close to Stratford, was a major sheep-producing area up until the latter part of the 19th century, with Stratford one of its main centres for the processing, marketing, and distribution of sheep and wool. Consequently, Stratford also became a centre for tanning during the 15th–17th centuries. Glove making was also an important industry, which was at its zenith in the 15th and 16th centuries. As was malting (the processing of grain to turn it into malt).

John Shakespeare, originally a farmer, had moved to Stratford in 1551, from the nearby village of Snitterfield and became a successful glover (glove maker) and businessman, and an official on the Town Council. He met and married Mary Arden a member of the local gentry in around 1557, and together they had eight children, including Stratford's most famous son William Shakespeare in 1564, believed to be at the house now known as Shakespeare's Birthplace.

17th and 18th centuries
Stratford was the centre of considerable activity and some fighting during the English Civil War. Being located at the junction of several main roads, it was strategically important for both the Royalist and Parliamentarian armies. Due to its close proximity to the Parliamentarian stronghold of Warwick, Stratford remained under Parliamentarian control for the majority of the conflict, although it was only directly occupied by troops for sporadic intervals. In February 1643, Stratford was occupied by Royalist forces under Colonel Wagstaffe, but was recaptured by Parliamentarians under Lord Brooke on 25 February after an engagement on the nearby road to Warwick. Having secured the town, Brooke returned to Warwick. In one notable incidence in February 1643, Stratford's Market Hall (at the site of the current Town Hall) was destroyed after three barrels of gunpowder which were being stored there blew up. From March 1644, until part of the following year, Stratford appears to have been continuously occupied by Parliamentarian troops. There was however one further Royalist raid in April 1645.

A number of famous people passed through Stratford during the conflict: In April 1643, Prince Rupert passed through, he was at Stratford again in July, where he met the Queen Henrietta Maria, who was travelling through the Midlands, and she was the guest of honour of Susanna Hall, William Shakespeare's daughter, at New Place. Oliver Cromwell was at Stratford in December 1646, and again in 1651, before the Battle of Worcester.

Despite Stratford's increase in trade, it barely grew between the middle of the 13th century and the end of the 16th century, with a survey of the town showing 217 houses belonged to the lord of the manor in 1590. Growth continued to be slow throughout the 17th century, with hearth tax returns showing that at most there were approximately 429 houses in the town by 1670. However, more substantial expansion began following several enclosure acts in the late 18th century, with the first and largest development by John Payton who developed land on the north side of the old town, creating several streets including John Street and Payton Street.

In 1769, the actor David Garrick staged a major Shakespeare Jubilee over three days which saw the construction of a large rotunda and the influx of many visitors. This contributed to the growing phenomenon of Bardolatry which made Stratford a tourist destination.

Before the dominance of road and rail, Stratford was an important gateway to the network of British canals. The River Avon was made navigable through Stratford in 1639, by the construction of locks and weirs, providing Stratford with a navigable link to the River Severn to the south-west and to near Warwick to the north-east, this allowed, in the words of Daniel Defoe "a very great Trade for Sugar, Oil, Wine, Tobacco, Iron, Lead and in a word, all heavy goods which are carried by water almost as far as Warwick; and in return the corn, and especially the cheese, is brought back from Gloucestershire and Warwickshire to Bristol".

19th century to present
Between 1793 and 1816 the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal was built, linking the Avon at Stratford with Birmingham. By the early 19th century, Stratford was a flourishing inland port, and an important centre of trade, with many canal and river wharves along what is now Bancroft Gardens.

The first railway in Warwickshire; the Stratford and Moreton Tramway was opened to Stratford in 1826: this was a horse-drawn wagonway,  long, which was intended to carry goods between the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, the rural districts of south Warwickshire and Moreton-in-Marsh. The tramway fell into disuse by the early 1900s, and the tracks were lifted in 1918. A surviving remnant of this is the Tramway Bridge over the River Avon, a brick arch bridge which now carries pedestrians. The first steam railway to reach Stratford was a branch of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway from  to the south, which opened on 12 July 1859. This was soon followed by the Stratford on Avon Railway's branch from Hatton from the north, which opened on 9 October 1860. Both branches initially had separate termini, but they soon agreed to join the two branches and open the current  railway station, which was opened on 24 July 1861. Both branches later came under the control of the Great Western Railway. The connection of Stratford to the growing national railway network, helped enable the development of the modern tourism industry.

Stratford did not become a major centre of industry during the industrial revolution, but some industries did grow up locally: Edward Fordham Flower opened a large canal side brewery in Stratford in 1831; the Flower & Sons Brewery, on Clopton Road survived until 1967, when the company was taken over by Whitbread. Several lime kilns were opened locally, and the manufacture of tarpaulin and oilcloth flourished. The advent of rail transport in the middle of the century caused a major decline in river and canal transport, and the River Avon navigation through Stratford was abandoned in 1875. It was restored as a navigation by volunteers almost a century later in 1974.

Victorian Stratford's growth as a tourist destination was further enhanced by Edward Fordham Flower and his son Charles Edward Flower, owners of a local brewery business, and important figures in local affairs: Through their campaigning and fundraising efforts, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was opened on the banks of the  Avon in 1879. The original theatre was destroyed by fire in 1926, and its replacement was opened in 1932 to the designs of Elisabeth Scott, making it the first important building erected in Britain from the designs of a woman architect.

In 1974, the old borough of Stratford was abolished and merged into the much larger Stratford-on-Avon District, The area of the borough became a successor parish with a Town Council.

Governance

Stratford-upon-Avon is within the Stratford-on-Avon parliamentary constituency which has been represented by Nadhim Zahawi since 2010. Stratford was within the West Midlands Region constituency of the European Parliament which was represented by seven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Stratford is governed by three tiers of local government:
 Warwickshire County Council is a non-metropolitan county council, responsible for education, highways and other strategic matters.
 Stratford-on-Avon District Council is responsible for housing, planning, rubbish collection and other local matters in Stratford and neighbouring towns and villages.  The council is based at Elizabeth House, Church Street.
 Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council is a parish council, responsible for crime prevention, cemeteries, public conveniences, litter, river moorings, parks, grants via the Town Trust and the selection of the town's mayor.  The Town Council is based at the Town Hall in Sheep Street.  The Stratford-upon-Avon Town Trust is based in the Civic Hall, Rother Street. The council serves the civil parish and is split into nine wards – Avenue, Bishopton, Bridgetown, Clopton, Guildhall, Hathaway, Shottery, Tiddington, and Welcombe, with two councillors representing each ward. The parish absorbed Old Stratford and Drayton on 31 March 2015.

Geography

Stratford is  south-east of Birmingham. It is close to the northern edge of the Cotswolds, with Chipping Campden  to the south. Stratford is around  to the north-east of the borders with both Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Other than those already mentioned, significant towns and villages nearby include Alcester, Wellesbourne, Evesham, Reddich and Henley-in-Arden.

Stratford is divided by the River Avon, with the majority of the town being on the west side of the river, its riverside location means it is susceptible to flooding, including flash floods.

Stratford has several suburbs: The town's urban area encompasses the contiguous sub-villages of Alveston, Shottery and Tiddington, which were formerly independent, but now form part of the civil parish of Stratford, other distinct suburbs of the town include Bishopton, Bridge Town, Clopton and Old Town.

Compass

Climate
Stratford has a temperate maritime climate, as is usual for the British Isles, meaning extremes of heat and cold are rare.  Sunshine hours are low to moderate, with an average of 1512.3 hours of sunshine annually. Rainfall is spread evenly throughout the year, with an annual average of , with over  of rain recorded on 114.1 days per year according to the 1981–2010 observation period. Stratford's warmest month is July, with an average maximum temperature of  and January is the coldest month with an average high of . The average summer maximum temperature is , with a winter average high of .

Demography
In the 2021 census Stratford had a population of 30,495; an increase from 27,894 in the 2011 census and 22,338 in the 2001 census. The town's population has undergone expansion in recent years years following government approval to build 800 new homes in Shottery, which also included plans for a new relief road, up to 500 new homes planned in the Bishopton area of the town, and 270 homes on the Loxley Road.

In terms of ethnicity in 2021; 92.7% of Stratford residents were White, 3.3% were Asian, 0.6% were Black, 2.4% were Mixed, 0.2% were Arab and 0.8% were from another ethnic group.

In terms of religion, 58.4% of Stratford residents identified as Christian, 38.2% said they had no religion, 1.0% were Muslim, 0.8% were Hindu, 0.5% were Sikh, 0.5% were Buddhists, 0.2% were Jewish, and 0.5% were from another religion.

Economy

Apart from tourism, which is a major employer, especially in the hotel, hospitality industry and catering sectors, other industries in the town include boat building and maintenance, bicycles, mechanical and electrical engineering, food manufacture, Information Technology, call centre and service sector activities, a large motor sales sector, industrial plant hire, building suppliers, market gardening, farming, storage and transport logistics, finance and insurance, and a large retail sector. Major employers in the town include the NFU Mutual Insurance Company (and Avon Insurance), Amec Foster Wheeler, Sitel, Tesco, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, B&Q and Pashley Cycles. There are, nominally, three theatres run by the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, which attract large audiences and income for the town.

Tourism
The regular large influx of tourists is the major source of the town's prosperity, receiving between 2.5 million and 3 million visitors annually. Stratford is a major English tourist town due to it being the birthplace of William Shakespeare, whom many consider the greatest playwright of all time. In 2010 the District Council spent £298,000 on tourism promotion and supports an official open-top tour bus service. In 2010 Stratford-on-Avon District Council launched a re-branded official tourism website for the Stratford area called Discover Stratford after opening a new tourist information centre on Henley Street in May 2010, which has since moved back to the original location on Bridgefoot.

Shopping centres

Apart from the town centre, Maybird Shopping Park, usually referred to locally as "The Maybird Centre" or simply "The Maybird", is a large shopping centre situated on Birmingham Road, approximately a five-minute drive from the town centre. The Rosebird Centre is a much smaller shopping centre located on Shipston Road, consisting of Waitrose, a pet shop, a drive-thru Costa Coffee and a pharmacy/GP surgery. Bell Court Shopping Centre is in the centre of the town with entrances from Wood St, Ely St, High St & Rother Street. it has several restaurants and shopping offers.

Culture

Theatre

The first real theatre in Stratford was a temporary wooden affair built in 1769 by the actor David Garrick for his Shakespeare Jubilee celebrations of that year to mark William Shakespeare's birthday. The theatre, built not far from the site of the present Royal Shakespeare Theatre, was almost washed away in two days of torrential rain that resulted in terrible flooding. To celebrate the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth in 1864, brewer Charles Edward Flower instigated the building of a temporary wooden theatre, known as the Tercentenary Theatre, which was built in a part of the brewer's large gardens on what is today the site of the new, and temporary, Courtyard Theatre. After three months the Tercentenary Theatre was dismantled, with the timber used for house-building purposes.

In the early 1870s, Flower gave several acres of riverside land to the local council on the understanding that a permanent theatre be built in honour of Shakespeare's memory, and by 1879 the first Shakespeare Memorial Theatre had been completed. It proved to be a huge success, and by the early 20th century it was effectively being run by the actor/manager Frank Benson. The theatre burned down in 1926, with the then artistic director, William Bridges-Adams, moving all productions to the local cinema. An architectural competition was arranged to elicit designs for a new theatre, with the winner, English architect Elisabeth Scott, creating the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The new theatre, adjoining what was left of the old theatre, was opened by the then Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, in 1932. The new theatre had many illustrious artistic directors, including the actor Anthony Quayle. Sir Peter Hall was appointed artistic director (designate) in 1959, and formed the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1961.

The Royal Shakespeare Company also runs two smaller theatres, the Swan Theatre, which was created in the 1980s out of the shell of the remains of the original Memorial Theatre and is modelled on an Elizabethan theatre, quickly becoming one of the finest acting spaces in the United Kingdom, and The Other Place theatre. Along with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST), the Swan Theatre closed in 2007 for refurbishment and reopened in November 2010. The Other Place, a Black box theatre, was extended to become the temporary RSC Courtyard Theatre, opening in July 2006 and was the home of the RSC while the RST was being refurbished – its interior is similar to the interior of the refurbished RST. The Courtyard Theatre closed in 2015 and was replaced by The Other Place in March 2016, which returned as a 200-seat studio theatre within the steel extension in which the Courtyard Theatre was located.

Stratford is also home to The Bear Pit Theatre which was founded in 2008 as a voluntary organisation. It has 100 seats and is part of the Little Theatre Guild. The Attic Theatre is Stratford-upon-Avon's premiere fringe theatre. Established by husband-and-wife team John-Robert and Catherine Partridge and  in 2009, who also run the award-winning Tread The Boards Theatre Company. The venue is located next door to Cox's Yard and hosts an intimate 90-seat auditorium in the Grade 2 listed Attic space. The Waterside Theatre (which is not part of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre complex) re-opened in December 2004, then closed again in September 2008. During this span, the theatre housed the Shakespearience visitor attraction. This has now been turned into the Clore Learning Centre, the Royal Shakespeare Company's education and events venue. In 1988, Stratford-upon-Avon was the venue for the disastrous provincial try-out of the ill-fated musical Carrie, based on the Stephen King novel.

Filming and television

The town is also the setting of the 2018 BBC detective show Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators.

Music
Stratford ArtsHouse, previously the Civic Hall, is home to Orchestra of the Swan, a professional chamber orchestra staging up to 10 orchestral concerts with international soloists per year. Kempe Studio of The Rudolf Kempe Society, whose patron is Dame Judi Dench, is based in a house at 58 Waterside called The Muses and hosts musical events and masterclass lessons. No. 1 Shakespeare Street holds regular evenings of live music.

Museums and Shakespeare's houses
Tudor World is a museum which explores the time when Shakespeare lived. It is based in a Grade II* listed town centre Tudor building and is the only museum in the country dedicated to Tudor times. Every week there is a walk around the town with Shakespeare. The Mechanical Art and Design museum, but better known as MAD museum, is a museum in Henley Street of "brilliant-but-bonkers machines" made by Kinetic artists. Items on show include mechanised flipbooks and a musical typewriter.

There are five houses relating to William Shakespeare's life which are owned and cared for by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. These include Hall's Croft (the one-time home of Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna, and her husband Dr. John Hall) and Nash's House, which stands alongside the site of New Place which was owned by Shakespeare himself, wherein he died. In Shottery is Anne Hathaway's Cottage, the home of Shakespeare's wife's family prior to her marriage. Mary Arden's House (Palmer's Farm), the family home of his mother, is in Wilmcote. Elsewhere in the district are farms and buildings at Snitterfield, that belonged to the family of Shakespeare's father. In addition, King Edward VI School, located on the corner of Church Street and Chapel Lane, is a grammar school thought to have been attended by Shakespeare. In 2016, the school room where Shakespeare is believed to have studied opened to visitors.

Literature
Stratford has one library, located in Henley Street within a medieval building. Since 2008, Stratford has hosted the Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival, which holds two literary events a year, with one event in spring and a shorter festival in autumn. The festival has talks from celebrity guests, workshops and educational programmes and has become one of the most noted literary festivals in the country, with speakers including: Kirsty Wark, Alan Johnson MP, Baroness Shirley Williams, Tom Kerridge, Sir Tim Rice, John McCarthy, Michael Rosen, Howard Jacobson, Jeffrey Archer, Michael Palin, Jeremy Paxman, Alastair Campbell and Paul Merton.

Shakespeare's celebrations
Every year, Shakespeare's birthday is celebrated in Stratford. The celebration takes place over two days on the weekend closest to 26 April, the date of his christening, and includes musical performances, drama and a parade through the town. In 2016, events were held in Stratford to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

Pubs
The Garrick Inn is reputedly the oldest pub in Stratford, with an inn existing on the site since medieval times. The Dirty Duck, located along Waterside, is a popular pub for actors performing at the nearby RSC theatres. A Wetherspoon pub is situated on Sheep Street. For the last ten years, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has held a cider and beer festival in the town.

Local media
Local news and television programmes is provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals are received either from the Lark Stoke  or Sutton Coldfield TV transmitters.

The town's local radio stations are BBC CWR on 103.7 FM, Capital Mid-Counties on 102 FM (formerly 102 Touch FM), Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire on 97.0 FM, and Welcombe Radio, a community based radio station.

Stratford Observer and Stratford Herald are the main local newspapers in the town.

Streets

Henley Street

Henley Street, one of the town's oldest streets, underwent substantial architectural change between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. John Shakespeare's large half-timbered dwelling, purchased by him in 1556, was in 1564 the birthplace of his son William. According to a descriptive placard provided for tourists there:
The property remained in the ownership of William Shakespeare's direct descendants until 1670, when his granddaughter, Elizabeth Barnard, died. As she had no children, Elizabeth left the estate to her relative Thomas Hart, Shakespeare's great-nephew. The main house became a tenanted inn called the Maidenhead (later the Swan and Maidenhead) following the death of John Shakespeare in 1601. Members of the Hart family continued living in the small adjoining cottage throughout the century.

At the end of the 19th century, Edward Gibbs "renovated" the building to more closely represent the original Tudor farmhouse. Adjacent to Shakespeare's Birthplace stands the Shakespeare Centre, completed in 1964 and not far from the Carnegie Library, opened in 1905. The large half-timbered building, which now comprises numbers 19, 20 and 21, was formerly the White Lion Inn. It is first mentioned in 1603. and was adjoined on the east by a smaller inn called the "Swan". In 1745 the latter was purchased by John Payton, who also acquired the "Lion" five years later and rebuilt the whole premises on a greatly enlarged scale. The work was completed by James Collins of Birmingham, builder, in 1753. Payton "brought the house into great vogue" though Byng in 1792 complained that "at the noted White Lion, I met with nothing but incivility" (cited from Torrington Diaries (ed. Andrews), iii, 152).

Payton was succeeded as innkeeper by his son John, and its reputation as one of the best inns on the Holyhead Road must have contributed not a little to the prosperity of the town. David Garrick stayed at the "White Lion Inn" during the Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769. and George IV, as Prince Regent, visited it when he came to Stratford in 1806. Its great days came to an end after John Payton the younger sold it to Thomas Arkell in 1823. The building is now home to the Enchanted Manor Museum at the Creaky Cauldron and Magic Alley; the Box Brownie Café; Doug Brown's Really Good Gift Company; and the Not Just Shakespeare Tourist Information Centre. Henley Street is now a major tourist and shopping precinct with many al fresco cafés and street entertainers.

Sheep Street

Sheep Street runs from Ely Street eastwards to the Waterside. It was a residential quarter in the 16th century, some of the buildings were rebuilt following the fire of 1595, although many, such as Number 40, date from 1480. Formerly a two-story building that was extended in the early twentieth century has a lower story of substantial close-set studding: the upper is of more widely spaced thin vertical timbers. As the name suggests Sheep Street, which leads down from the Town Hall to Waterside and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, was from early times and until the late 19th century, the area where sheep, brought from the neighbouring Cotswold Hills to be bought and sold. Today it is the restaurant centre of the town.

The Shrieves House is one of the oldest still lived in houses in the town and William Shakespeare is said to have based his character of Sir John Falstaff on one of the residents, his godson's uncle. Oliver Cromwell is thought to have stayed here in 1651. He wrote a letter from the town to Lord Wharton on 27 August 1651, before the Battle of Worcester. Behind The Shrieves House is a museum called "Tudor World" with recreations of 16th-century life in theatrical settings. Just off Sheep Street is Shrieves Walk, a very quaint walkway with several small independent stores. A Wetherspoons is also on Sheep Street.

Waterside and Southern Lane
This area of Stratford, which runs from the foot of Bridge Street to Holy Trinity Church (and leads directly off Sheep Street and Chapel Lane) runs alongside the River Avon and offers access to the Waterside Theatre and all areas of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The Bancroft Gardens and river area is a very popular place for people watching, enjoying picnics and river activities. In the summer the River Avon is busy with rowing boats, motor boats and river cruises. The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal is busy with colourful narrowboats passing through or mooring up in the canal basin. There are often jugglers, fire-eaters and magicians entertaining the public on the lawns.

On the edge of the gardens is a water fountain, known as the Swan Fountain. It was unveiled in 1996 by the Queen Elizabeth II to recognise that Stratford has been a market town since 1196.  It is from here the Stratford Town Walk meet every day (even Christmas Day), to offer a guided walking tour of the town.  The tour passes the Shakespeare houses, Royal Shakespeare Theatre's, 15th-century timber-framed buildings, William Shakespeare's school and visits Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare was baptised and is buried. Waterside is also the location of The Dirty Duck pub which is frequented by actors from the nearby RSC theatres, theatre critics and theatregoers.

Other attractions

Harvard House is located at 26 High Street. Other attractions include the Stratford Butterfly Farm, which is on the eastern side of the river Avon and the Bancroft Gardens and Stratford Armouries located three miles () from the centre of Stratford on Gospel Oak Lane. Each year on 12 October (unless this is a Sunday, in which case 11 October) Stratford hosts one of the largest mop fairs in the country. Ten days later, the smaller Runaway fair is held. The Guild Chapel, at the intersection of Church Street and Chapel Lane, had a long association with William Shakespeare's family. The chapel offers a view of fine paintings from the early 1500s which had been covered up during the Reformation to save them from destruction. Centuries later, they were uncovered and are now visible.

Transport

Road
Stratford is  from the United Kingdom's second largest city, Birmingham, and is easily accessible from junction 15 of the M40 motorway. The A46 road links Stratford with the M40, Warwick and Coventry to the north-east, and Evesham and Ashchurch to the south-west, where it joins the M5 motorway.

Bus Services are mostly provided by Stagecoach in Warwickshire (formerly Midland Red South) and Diamond West Midlands.

Railway

Stratford now has two railway stations. The main town centre station, Stratford-upon-Avon railway station, has regular direct rail links with Birmingham (Snow Hill station and Moor Street station) and also with , ,  and ; some direct trains travel daily to/from London Marylebone. In 2013, an out-of-town station, Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway, opened on the town's north-western outskirts with park and ride facilities.

Stratford station is now the southern terminus of two branch lines from Birmingham and ; up to 1976, the line formerly continued south of the town to join the Cotswold Line at , until this link was closed and dismantled.
There has been a campaign in recent years to restore the Honeybourne link, which would entail rebuilding  of track.

Stratford-upon-Avon's train service has been criticised by the Royal Shakespeare Company and others for its limited direct services to London, which consists of a handful of daily direct trains, with connections available from . In 2018, the RSC described the services to the station as "woefully inadequate" for an international tourist destination.

Until 1952, Stratford was also served by Stratford Old Town railway station of the former Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway.

Water

Several companies offer sightseeing cruises along the river Avon and the canal, some using old river barges that have been converted for this use. The town is the terminus of the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal where it meets the river Avon.

The manually-powered Stratford-upon-Avon chain ferry was opened in 1937 and links Waterside, roughly halfway between the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Holy Trinity Church, with the water meadows on the opposite side of the river. It was the last of its kind to be built in Britain.

Cycling
The town has numerous cycle paths, such as the Stratford greenway, a  traffic free cycle path, which used to be part of the rail network until the early 1960s; it is now part of the Sustrans National Cycle Network (routes National Cycle Route 5 and National Cycle Route 41). Starting from town, it heads along the river Avon and racecourse towards Welford-on-Avon and Long Marston with a cycle hire and café available at the start of the Greenway at Seven Meadows Road.

Air
Birmingham Airport is  to the north-west, with scheduled flights to many national and international destinations.

Education

Stratford is also home to several institutions set up for the study of Shakespeare, including the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which holds books and documents related to the playwright, and the Shakespeare Institute. William Shakespeare is believed to have studied at King Edward VI School. Previously an all-boys school, from September 2013 up to 25% of the year 12 intake can be girls. It is one of the few remaining grammar schools in England, selecting its pupils exclusively using the 11-plus examination. There is also an all-girls grammar school, Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar School for Girls, colloquially known as 'Shottery School' after its location in the village of Shottery, a short distance from the town centre.

Finally, there is a non-selective secondary school, Stratford-upon-Avon School, formerly known as the Hugh Clopton Secondary Modern School, which was demolished to make way for the new high school. There are no independent secondary schools in the town, but there are many primary schools, including St. Gregory's Catholic Primary School, Stratford-upon-Avon Primary School (often known locally as "Broad Street" due to its location), Bishopton Primary School, Willows Church of England Primary School and Thomas Jolyffe Primary School both state and independent, as well as Stratford-upon-Avon College.

Sport

Stratford-upon-Avon Rugby Club is situated on Loxley Road at their home ground Pearcecroft. The club fields three senior sides and a colts under 18 team with the 1st XV currently playing in Midlands 1 (West). The club also has a large mini and junior section. Stratford-upon-Avon Cricket Club Ground is by the river Avon opposite the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The first match recorded there was in 1880; it has hosted first-class games since 1951 and women's One Day Internationals since 2005. Stratford Town F.C. are based at the DCS Stadium in Tiddington; they won the Midland Alliance in the 2012–3 season and were promoted to Division One South & West of the Southern Football League.

The town's 5k parkrun event started in February 2016 and operates on the Recreation Ground every Saturday at 9 am. A junior parkrun started in June 2019 and takes place every Sunday at 9 am for children aged 4 to 14. Stratford Racecourse is located along the Luddington Road, about one mile from the centre of town which holds 18 meetings every year. It is a National Hunt course with an oval track of approximately a mile and a quarter and is considered to be one of the UK's leading small racecourses. Adventure Bike Rider (established in 2010) is United Kingdom bimonthly motorcycling newspaper.

Churches

 Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
 St Gregory's Catholic Church
 St Andrew's Church, Shottery
 Stratford-upon-Avon United Reformed Church
 Stratford-upon-Avon Methodist Church
 First Church of Christ, scientist, Stratford-upon-Avon
 Christadelphian church
 Guild Chapel

Notable people
With the Royal Shakespeare Company in the town, many famous actors have at some point lived or stayed in Stratford or the surrounding villages. Some of these include:
 William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English playwright and poet
 David Bradley, actor known for his role in the Harry Potter films
Craig Charles (1964–), actor, presenter and DJ known for playing Dave Lister in Red Dwarf and Lloyd Mullaney in Coronation Street has lived in Stratford
 Jeffery Dench, actor, lived just outside Stratford in Clifford Chambers until his death in 2014
 Sarah Douglas (1952–), actress, best known for her film and TV career, was born and raised in the town
 Marc Elliott actor born in Stratford, played Syed Masood on EastEnders
 Labour Party MP and actor Andrew Faulds lived in Old Town, Stratford, until his death in 2000, aged 77
 Actress and animator Sarah Ann Kennedy who grew up in Stratford.  She is the voice of Miss Rabbit in Peppa Pig and Nanny Plum in Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom.  She is also responsible for the creation of Crapston Villas, an animated soap on Channel 4
 Simon Pegg, actor, studied at Stratford-upon-Avon College (was born in Gloucestershire, England)
 Patrick Robinson (1963–), Casualty actor and Strictly Come Dancing contestant, lives in Stratford
Mark Strickson, actor famous for playing alien Vislor Turlough on Doctor Who

Other notable residents include:

 Daniel Brocklebank, actor who plays Billy Mayhew on Coronation Street
 Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, served with the RAF at RAF Stratford during the 1940s. Clarke later wrote the short story "The Curse", which takes place in a post-apocalyptic Stratford-upon-Avon
 From 1901 to 1924, the romantic novelist Marie Corelli, real name Minnie Mackay, daughter of Charles Mackay, made her home, with her companion Miss Vyver, at Mason's Croft, Church Street, Stratford
 Claire Darke, 161st Mayor of Wolverhampton
 Lord Digby Jones (1955–) lives near Stratford-upon-Avon and is Chairman of Governors at Stratford-upon-Avon College and Chairman of Grove Industries which is based in the town
 David Domoney (1963–), gardener, co-host of Love Your Garden, lives in Stratford
 English footballer Dion Dublin, who has played for Manchester United, Aston Villa, Celtic, and Coventry City, as well as the national team, lived with his wife and family in Stratford
 Susan Fletcher, novelist - winner of Whitbread Prize (now Costa Book Award) and Betty Trask Award
 Simon Gilbert and Neil Codling of the band Suede lived and were educated in Stratford
 Members of indie bands Klaxons and Pull Tiger Tail all grew up and went to schools in Stratford before they moved to New Cross, London
 John Krasinski (1979–) studied at The Royal Shakespeare Company
 Brad Moran, a former Australian Rules Footballer, grew up in Stratford before moving to Australia when he was 15
 Adrian Newey, famous Formula 1 designer, designed championship winning cars for Williams F1, McLaren and Red Bull F1 teams
 Andrew Pozzi (1992–), 110m hurdler born in Stratford-upon-Avon
 J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) died in Stratford
 Former Secretary of State for War John Profumo was the MP for Stratford-upon-Avon 1950–1963
 W. W. Quatremain (1857-1930), local landscape painter
 Gordon Ramsay, noted celebrity chef, and star of several cooking related shows, moved to Stratford-Upon-Avon with his family in 1976 when he was nine years old
 The historic Stratford family (who took their name from the town)
 George Macaulay Trevelyan (1876-1962}, historian
 Quentin Willson (1957–), motoring expert, journalist and ex-Top Gear presenter, lives in Stratford.

Twin towns

Freedom of the Town
The following people have received the Freedom of the Town of Stratford-upon-Avon.

 Sir Kenneth Branagh: 22 April 2022.
 Dame Judi Dench: 22 April 2022.

See also
 Stratford Hospital
 Avon Park, FL - a town in the United States named after Stratford-upon-Avon

References

External links

 Town Council official website
 Stratford-upon-Avon Archives - Our Warwickshire

Towns in Warwickshire
Civil parishes in Warwickshire
Tourist attractions in Warwickshire
Stratford-on-Avon District

Stratford-upon-Avon


Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (pronounced: maks ˈveːbɐ) (21 April 1864 – 14 June 1920) ek German political economist aur sociologist rahaa, jiske modern study of sociology and public administration ke founder maana jaawe hae. Uu aapan kaam University of Berlin me suruu karis, aur baad me Freiburg University, University of Heidelberg, University of Vienna and University of Munich me kaam karis. Uske kaafiasar German politics ke uppar rahaa, kahe ki uu Germany ke Treaty of Versailles ke treaty ke advisor rahaa.

Duusra websites
 Large collection of the German original texts
 Large collection of the German original texts
 Large collection of English translations
 Another collection of English translations
 A comprehensive collection of English translations and secondary literature
 English translations of many of Weber's works, merged into one very long unformatted file
 Max Weber Reference Archive

 Biography entry and link section
 Weber on Ideal Types
 Max Weber – The person
 More of Weber on Ideal Types
 An essay on Max Weber's View of Objectivity in Social Science
 Max Weber: On Capitalism As above, but on capitalism
 Some of Weber concepts in the form of a list
 Max Weber's HomePage "A site for undergraduates"
 Mises versus Weber on Bureaucracy and Sociological Method by William P. Anderson
 Reconciling Weber and Mises on Understanding Human Action by Gene Callahan

Germany ke log
Philosophers
Sociologists

Max Weber


Jack's Bay is a small settlement in The Catlins, an area on the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located six kilometres southwest of Owaka, close to the mouth of the Catlins River. A popular holiday spot with a seasonal population, there are numerous cribs (holiday homes) at the settlement. Jack's Bay is noted for a large blowhole, known as Jack's Blowhole, a 55-metre-deep blowhole that formed when part of a sea cavern's roof collapsed. The blowhole is 200 metres from the sea.

The bay, blowhole and nearby Tuhawaiki Island (sometimes called Jack's Island) are all named after Hone Tūhawaiki (also known as Bloody Jack), a paramount chief of Kai Tahu. After losing a battle with one of Te Rauparaha's scouting parties at Cannibal Bay, he was trapped with his men on False Island. Tūhawaiki escaped by leaping from the cliffs into the sea and swimming eight kilometres to Tuhawaiki Island.

References

External links

 Jacks Blowhole on the DoC-Website

Populated places in Otago
The Catlins
Bays of Otago
Clutha District
Articles containing video clips

Jack's Bay