A Sunday in Hell (original title: En Forårsdag i Helvede) is a 1976 Danish documentary film directed by Jørgen Leth. The film is a chronology of the 1976 Paris–Roubaix bicycle race from the perspective of participants, organizers and spectators.

Paris–Roubaix is the most famous and usually the most dramatic of the spring classics. Much of the latter portion is over narrow, cobbled tracks that choke with dust on dry days and become slick and muddy in rain. For the riders it is a challenge to keep going without puncturing or crashing.

The film captures not just the events of the 1976 edition but the atmosphere of a professional race. It begins by introducing the contenders: Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck (the previous year's winner), Freddy Maertens, and Francesco Moser, each with their supporting riders (the domestiques), who are charged with helping their team leader win. The film gives views of the team directors, protesters (the race is halted for a while), spectators, mechanics and riders. As the cobbled section is entered the selection begins. Riders puncture, crash, make the wrong move - the race plays out. By the finish in the velodrome in Roubaix only a few are in with a chance. The winner is a surprise (Marc Demeyer), but that is part of the appeal. Post-race the exhausted riders, mired in dirt, give interviews in the velodrome's showers.

"You can see every bead of sweat on the cyclists and every smashed-up ankle. It really makes you never want to get on a bike again. But it is an amazing film." - Nick Fraser, BBC commissioning editor
"Arguably the best film ever made about professional cycling" - Peter Cowie, International Film Guide

See also
 List of films about bicycles and cycling

References

Further reading

External links

BBC documentary on A Sunday in Hell (Storyville)
Adelaide Film Festival
Bergen International Film Festival 2003

1976 documentary films
1976 films
Danish documentary films
Danish-language films
Documentary films about cycling
Films directed by Jørgen Leth
Paris–Roubaix
Eddy Merckx
Films set in 1976
Films shot in France
Films set in France
1970s English-language films
Cultural depictions of Eddy Merckx

A Sunday in Hell


FHM or For Him Magazine is an international monthly magazine. The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994, although the full For Him Magazine continues to be printed on the spine of each issue. Founded by Chris Astridge, the magazine was a predominantly fashion-based publication distributed through high street men's fashion outlets. Circulation expanded to newsagents as a quarterly by the spring of 1987. FHM was sold from EMAP to Bauer in December 2007.

References

Magazines of the United Kingdom

FHM


Abhimanyu was the son of arjuna. He is described as a great person in the epic mahabharata. He was one of the youngest warrior to be killed in the war. Besides Arjun from pandavas side he only knew about the chakravayuh but not completely. It was the reason of his fall. His uncles tried to save him but after each obstacle in the chakravayuh everyone was left behind. He was the only one to reach in the middle.
His son Parikshit ruled over after Yudhistra.

Hindu mythology
Mahabharata

Abhimanyu


Vice Admiral Charles Adams Blakely (1 October 1879 – 12 September 1950) was an officer in the United States Navy during World War I and the interwar period.

Biography
Born on October 1, 1879, at Williamsburg, Kentucky, Blakely graduated from Williamsburg Academy in 1897 and, in the summer of 1898, served with the 2d Kentucky Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish–American War. Appointed a naval cadet in September 1899, Blakely graduated from the Naval Academy on February 2, 1903, and, after serving two years at sea as a passed naval cadet, was commissioned ensign in 1905 to date from February 3.

Career in surface ships
Between 1903 and 1907, he served successively in the frigate , Baltimore (Cruiser No. 3), Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19), Denver (Cruiser No. 14), and the yacht . Command of Thornton (Torpedo Boat No. 33) and Macdonough (Torpedo-boat Destroyer No. 9) followed. In December 1910, he became officer in charge of the machinist school at the Charleston Navy Yard. Between June 1911 and October 1914, Blakely commanded the Reserve Torpedo Flotillas and the protected cruiser . From October 1914 to September 1916, he served ashore at the New York Navy Yard. At the end of that assignment, he assumed command of Rowan (Destroyer No. 64).

During World War I, Blakely commanded O'Brien (Destroyer No. 51), serving in the waters surrounding the British Isles.

At the end of the war, he went to Washington where he served in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. In December 1920, Blakely became the engineering officer on the staff of the Commander, Destroyer Squadrons, Atlantic Fleet. He concluded that assignment in October 1922 and moved to duty as inspector of ordnance at the Naval Ammunition Depot, Lake Denmark, New Jersey. In 1925, he began a year as commanding officer of the battleship . Leaving that billet in August 1926, Blakely embarked upon a two-year tour of duty commanding the Destroyer Squadron, Asiatic Fleet. In July 1928, he returned to the United States to take up duty in the Bureau of Navigation as president of the Naval Reserve Inspection Board.

Belated aviation career
Blakely remained at the Bureau of Navigation for more than three years. He was relieved in December 1931 and, in January 1932, reported for duty at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, as a student. Upon completion of the observer course in May 1932, he was designated an aviation observer. During that same month, Blakely assumed command of the aircraft carrier , a unit of the Battle Force based on the west coast. In June 1934, he relinquished command of the aircraft carrier and proceeded to Newport, Rhode Island, where he spent the next 12 months completing the senior course at the Naval War College. Blakely returned to Pensacola in June 1935 to take additional flight training. On March 10, 1936, at the age of 54, he received his designation as a naval aviator. Two months later, he became commanding officer of the Pensacola facility.

Rear Admiral Blakely was detached from duty at Pensacola late in the summer of 1937. In August of that year, he became Commander, Carrier Division 2, and presided over that organization until the end of the year, ultimately flying his flag in . In January 1938, he fleeted up to Commander Aircraft, Scouting Force, a post he held for the next 18 months. In June 1939, Blakely moved back to the west coast assuming concurrent command of Aircraft, Battle Force, and of CarDiv 2 with the rank of Vice Admiral. Once again he wore his flag in Yorktown. Blakely's last active assignment was Commandant, 11th Naval District, with additional duty as the Commanding Officer, Naval Operating Base, San Diego.

Retirement and passing
Ill health brought his relief from active duty on December 9, 1941, and, on October 1, 1942, his transfer to the retired list.

He died in San Diego on 12 September 1950.

Namesake
USS Blakely (DE-1072/FF-1072) was named in honor of both him and Capt. Johnston Blakeley. Unfortunately Admiral Blakely claimed to be a nephew of Johnston Blakeley. However, Johnston Blakeley had no siblings who survived to adulthood. Therefore, it is not possible for anyone to be a nephew or grandnephew of Johnston Blakeley.

Attribution

1879 births
1950 deaths
People from Whitley County, Kentucky
United States Navy vice admirals
United States Naval Academy alumni
Naval War College alumni
United States Navy personnel of World War I
United States Navy World War II admirals
Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal

Charles Adams Blakely


Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare" or simply The Longest Daycare, is a 2012 American animated 3D comedy short film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. In the film, Maggie Simpson is enrolled at a new daycare facility where she squares off with the foul-tempered Baby Gerald when she befriends a caterpillar. The short originated with Simpsons producer James L. Brooks, who enlisted long-time veteran of the series David Silverman to direct the film. The picture was written by producers Brooks, Al Jean, David Mirkin, writers Michael Price and Joel H. Cohen, as well as the show's creator Matt Groening, who also produced the short.

The film premiered on July 13, 2012, where it was attached to screenings of the 20th Century Fox release Ice Age: Continental Drift. The film is the second Simpsons theatrical release. The short was re-released on February 15, 2013, and played before the film Life of Pi in selected theaters in United States. Reception has been positive, praising the storytelling and animation. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2013.

Plot
Marge Simpson drops off Maggie at the Ayn Rand School for Tots, where, after going through a security screening, she is classified as being of "average intelligence", by a machine manufactured by "Often-Wrong Technologies". A guard then carries her past the "Room for Gifted Babies" and puts her in the "Nothing Special" dreary corner.  The playtime items are either taken away or eaten by the other babies.  A butterfly then makes its way into the room as Maggie's nemesis, Baby Gerald, squashes and kills it on the wall with a mallet and draws a box around it with a crayon.  A second butterfly also meets the same fate.  Maggie finds a caterpillar and a pop-up book about the life cycle of the butterfly.  Realizing that the caterpillar could also meet the fate of the first two butterflies, she tries to protect it from Gerald.  The caterpillar later encases itself in a chrysalis and starts to transform.  Once the newly formed butterfly emerges, Maggie tries to help it fly out of the window, but Gerald seemingly kills it by shutting the blinds on it as it attempts to pass through.  Maggie dramatically mourns as she falls to the floor.  Marge then arrives to pick her up, when it is revealed Maggie's scene was only a ruse to cover the truth: she had slipped her hair bow onto the windowsill and wore the butterfly on her forehead in its place.  She then sets the butterfly free as Marge drives her home.

Production

In 2011, The Simpsons executive producer James L. Brooks proposed the idea of making a short film and releasing it in cinemas in front of a feature film, similar to how animation film studio Pixar creates shorts to play before their feature films. "He didn't say anything about doing it in 3D, per se, but that was sort of the idea…that we would be doing it in 3D." He wanted the short to be a fun gift for the fans of The Simpsons, and according to the series' showrunner Al Jean, "We [the staff] just wanted to do this as a way of saying, 'We appreciate how much people have stayed with the show and watched it for 25 years.'" Brooks picked David Silverman, long-time veteran of the series and director of The Simpsons Movie (2007) to oversee the film. Silverman gave credit to Richard Sakai for the idea to produce the film in stereoscopic 3-D. He considered the reasoning for employing 3-D "hard to describe," noting that was largely an experiment and its genesis was born out of "having fun."

The group first gathered in March 2011—consisting of Brooks, Silverman, Al Jean, David Mirkin, writers Joel Cohen and Michael Price, and Simpsons creator Matt Groening via phone—to pitch ideas for a short. Early on, it was decided to keep it entirely silent and employ Maggie as the lead character, and the setting of a daycare was decided upon. Jean wrote the treatment for the film, and Silverman completed an animatic of early story reels in June 2011. By the following February, the team regrouped to structure the story and formulate more ideas. With the help of Brad Ableson, Erick Tran and Ben Lane, the storyboards and animatic for the short were approved and the film entered production. Silverman himself animated two shots present in the final film.

Silverman and his crew began animation work on the short in March 2012, completing in May after just under ten weeks of production. He considered his crew "very experienced", noting that he worked with stereographer Eric Kurland for the 3-D shots. It was animated with The Simpsons usual production pipeline, which involved sending shots to AKOM in South Korea, but with an amplified focus on the 3-D.  The team would attempt to complete ten scenes to send to AKOM per week, which would be returned in a cleaned-up form after two weeks. Shots were then composited together at Film Roman out of necessity as the backgrounds relied on the 3-D. Most stereo elements for 3-D were picked out after shots were cleaned up, while others were manipulated in post-production with After Effects. The short was more costly than the average episode of the television show.

Release
The Longest Daycare was first announced to the public in a title card at the end of the series' twenty-third-season finale "Lisa Goes Gaga" that aired on May 20, 2012. It was revealed that the short would be shown in theaters in the United States prior to screenings of the film Ice Age: Continental Drift, starting on July 13, 2012. Like The Simpsons, Ice Age: Continental Drift was produced by 20th Century Fox. A teaser trailer for The Longest Daycare, lasting approximately five seconds, was released on July 3, 2012. This was the second time that characters from The Simpsons appeared on the big screen, as The Simpsons Movie was released in 2007. Coincidentally, the trailer for that film was first attached to screenings of the Continental Drift predecessor Ice Age: The Meltdown.

A 2D version of the short was displayed by the producers of The Simpsons at the series' panel at San Diego Comic-Con International on July 14, 2012.

It had its world television premiere on Network Ten in Australia on February 17, 2013, at 6:25pm, 5 hours before it premiered on Fox in the USA but 16 hours later in real time due to time zone differences, right after The Simpsons episode "Hardly Kirk-ing". It was also aired in the UK on the same day on Sky 1 at 9:55am, 12 noon and 7:30pm and on Channel 4 at 1:30pm GMT. It also premiered on the same day, at 7:55pm on Prima COOL, in the Czech Republic and on FOX Brasil at 8:30pm.

After being nominated for an Academy Award, The Longest Daycare was released along with all the other 15 Oscar-nominated short films in theaters by ShortsHD.

The short became available on Disney+ on May 29, 2020.

Reception
The Longest Daycare has received critical acclaim. Many film critics have said that the short was better than Ice Age: Continental Drift. Claudia Puig of USA Today argued that "the brief tale is far more clever and whimsical than any sequence in Ice Age." Similarly, Sun Herald critic Leigh Paatsch said the short "displays all the wit and creativity missing from Continental Drift." San Francisco Chronicle writer Amy Biancolli commented that the short is "only a few minutes long, but those few minutes boast more imagination, pathos and suspense than the entire film that follows." Joe Williams of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that while the short takes place in a daycare, it ironically features more "artistic maturity" than Continental Drift.

The Longest Daycare has been praised for being both humorous and emotional. Puig and Biancolli described the short as "hilarious". Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic stated that the film is "terrific—sweet, sad, funny, surprising," and Kristian Lin of Fort Worth Weekly said it is "clever" and "surprisingly moving".  Writing for Pioneer Press, Chris Hewitt noted that Maggie's interaction with Gerald "is hilarious and, ultimately, poignant in an animated film that covers more territory, all without dialogue, than most full-length movies." He went on to call the short a "triumph of storytelling, pacing and big-hearted humor."

A. O. Scott of The New York Times called the short a "charming 3-D cartoon" that is "witty and touching and marvelously concise". He added that it "cleverly blends the bright-colored flatness of the television show with the gimmickry of 3-D. It also upholds (more than the TV series itself) one of the golden rules of animation: no talking." Tim Martain of The Mercury has also described the short as "touching". The Boston Globes Tom Russo thought the short was "a welcome throwback to the days when The Simpsons had more sentiment at its core, and wasn't so much about the latest batch of newbie Ivy League writers taking their cues from Family Guy." In a joint review of the episode "Hardly Kirk-ing", Teresa Lopez of TV fanatic said "The Longest Daycare was a beautiful piece of animation showcasing a tender story of hope in an otherwise bleak environment. I feel like the only time The Simpsons can really exercise some creativity and depth is in these shorts and during the show's opening sequence."

Spiritual sequels

Subsequent episodes involving Maggie as a protagonist have been produced including 2015's "Puffless" and 2020's "The Incredible Lightness of Being a Baby."

On March 6, 2020, a new short film with Maggie Simpson called Playdate with Destiny premiered with the release of Onward from Disney and Pixar, with a further short featuring Maggie Simpson titled The Force Awakens from Its Nap released on Disney+ on May 4, 2021, Star Wars Day. It is the first of a series of shorts featuring The Simpsons, crossing over with other franchises on Disney+, throughout 2021. In 2023, another short film was released with Maggie Simpson celebrating Star Wars Day called Rogue Not Quite One.

References

External links

Trailer for the film

2012 films
2012 3D films
2012 animated films
American 3D films
American comedy films
American animated short films
2012 computer-animated films
Films based on television series
Animated films based on animated series
Animated films without speech
Films set in the United States
20th Century Fox animated films
Film spin-offs
The Simpsons short films
Films directed by David Silverman
20th Century Fox Animation films
Film Roman films
Gracie Films films
Films scored by Hans Zimmer
2010s American animated films
20th Century Fox short films
3D animated short films
Films produced by James L. Brooks
Films produced by Matt Groening
Films produced by Richard Sakai
Films with screenplays by James L. Brooks
Films with screenplays by Matt Groening

The Longest Daycare


Doctor Who: Worlds in Time is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game created for the Adobe Flash platform developed by Three Rings Design, a SEGA studio following their acquisition in 2011. It was based on the science fiction series Doctor Who and was commercially released on 12 March 2012 and was closed on 3 March 2014.

Gameplay
Players were able to control the player and the TARDIS as they completed challenges set by The Doctor to save the universe from various enemies. They had to solve puzzles to complete some of the tasks. In most of the adventures, players could also be paired up with other controllable players, or with other real-time players.

Missions and Adventures
Throughout the game, players were able choose to embark on Missions or Adventures where they were required to complete certain minigames in order to collect shards. The adventures (formerly called Interventions) were plot-driven quests that are divided into story arcs. New planets became available after the successful completion of several adventures.

Just like adventures, missions involved completing a minigame in order to collect shards for the Doctor. They did not affect the plot, however. New missions became available after completing adventures or a previous mission, and players were able to select which missions to accept. There were four types of missions: Planet, Enemy, Reward, and Access. An access mission (also called Doctor Mission) was a special kind of mission that requires three specific shards to be unlocked.

Challenges
There were six kinds of puzzle-based minigames that players must complete in order to proceed through to the next area of their adventure or mission.

Lockpick: To unlock a door, players must clear the pins out of the tumbler. Players use their gadget to shoot pins onto the lock tumbler to unlock it. When there are three or more pins of the same color aligned, they will disappear.

Repair: To repair terminals or other devices, players must close off a circuit. Players move and rotate wires in order to connect the source to the terminal before time runs out.

Hack: To hack a terminal, players must clear firewalls by clicking a group of two or more blocks of the same color and rotate the board to allow their avatar to enter the system-core.

Barricade: To build a barricade, players must grab and place pieces to create solid rows that block enemy advances. Enemies will continuously break down the barrier, so players must keep building the barricade up.

Combat: To defend against enemies, players must drop blocks into similar colored groups to clear pieces and fill up the opponent's board. Special pieces called breakers are used to destroy the blocks and send damage to the enemy.

Wits: To distract or win over certain characters, players must form chains of three or more pieces by swapping two adjacent pieces.

Classes
On 18 December 2012, Worlds in Time was updated with a new class system. There were four distinct classes for players to explore: Adventurer, Diplomat, Guardian, and Technologist. Each class offered specialized boosts that assisted players in certain missions. Adventurers were the Jack-of-all-trades, balanced in all aspects. Diplomats were efficient communicators that were stronger in using wits and lockpicks. Guardians were physically able and had boosts in defense and barricade. Technologists were crafty and could do hacks and repairs a little faster than the others. Players were able to switch between the four distinct classes without penalty. The experience they gained advanced the rank of the chosen class.

There were class-exclusive clothing sets available, which were only be collected from shards. More outfits were unlocked as players leveled up their Class Rank.

Chronons
Chronons were a type of currency used in-game that can be bought through developer Three Rings' purchase site with real-life currency. These were used to open shards or purchase certain items.

Development
The game was first announced by the BBC Press Office prior to the San Francisco Game Developers Conference on 24 February 2011.

On 17 November 2011, it was announced through a press release that publisher Sega would be collaborating with BBC Worldwide in the production of the game after having acquired Three Rings Design.

An open preview of the game began on 20 December 2011.

On the 15 January 2014, it was announced through a member email distribution stating "We are sorry to report that Doctor Who: Worlds in Time will discontinue service on Monday, March 3rd, 2014 at noon PST". No reason was given.

References

External links
Official Doctor Who: Worlds in Time website

Browser games
Browser-based multiplayer online games
Inactive massively multiplayer online games
Worlds in Time
Free online games
Science fiction massively multiplayer online role-playing games
Sega video games
Three Rings Design
2012 video games
Video games developed in the United States

Doctor Who: Worlds in Time


Tao Hongjing (456–536), courtesy name Tongming, was a Chinese alchemist, astronomer, calligrapher, military general, musician, physician, and pharmacologist during the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589). A polymathic individual of many talents, he was best known as a founder of the Shangqing "Highest Clarity" School of Taoism and the compiler-editor of the basic Shangqing scriptures.

Biography
There are a variety of sources about Tao Hongjing's life, from his own writings to biographies in the official Twenty-Four Histories. The British sinologist Lionel Giles said Tao's "versatility was amazing: scholar, philosopher, calligraphist, musician, alchemist, pharmacologist, astronomer, he may be regarded as the Chinese counterpart of Leonardo da Vinci".

Secular life
Tao Hongjing was born in Moling (秣陵, present-day Jiangning District, Nanjing, Jiangsu), which was near the Northern and Southern dynasties period capital Jiankang (present-day Nanjing). His father Tao Zhenbao () and paternal grandfather Tao Long () were erudite scholars, skilled calligraphers, and experts in Chinese herbology. His mother Lady Hao () and maternal grandfather were devout Buddhists.

Tao was a prodigious reader and once his interest was aroused in a subject, he would not stop until he had learned all that he could. According to official biographies, he read the Daoist hagiography Shenxian zhuan ("Biographies of the Divine Transcendents") at the age of ten, whereupon he decided to become a yǐnshì (隱士 "recluse; hermit").

Tao Hongjing held several court positions under the Liu Song (420–479), Southern Qi (479–502), and Liang (502–587) dynasties. When Tao was about twenty-five, Xiao Daocheng (), the future Emperor Gao (r. 479–482) founder of the Southern Qi dynasty, appointed him as tutor for the imperial princes Xiao Ye (蕭曅, 467–494) and Xiao Gao (蕭暠, 468–491). After Tao's father died in 481, he resigned office to observe the customary three-year period of filial mourning. However, Gao's successor, Emperor Wu of Southern Qi (r. 482–493), appointed him as tutor for his son prince Xiao Jian (蕭鏗, 477–494) in 482, and designated him as General of the Left Guard of the Palace in 483. Tao's mother died in 484, and he resigned from office.

During the period of mourning for his mother from 484 to 486, Tao Hongjing studied with the Taoist master Sun Youyue (孫遊岳, 399–489), who had been a disciple of Lu Xiujing (陸修靜, 406–477), the standardizer of the Lingbao School scriptures and ritual. Tao received training in chanting the scriptures and drawing talismans. Sun showed him some manuscripts of the original "Shangqing [or Maoshan] revelations", in which Tao became fascinated. According to tradition, these revelations were dictated to Yang Xi (330–c. 386), when he was on Maoshan between 364 and 370 and had repeated spiritual visions of Taoist deities from the Heaven of Upper Clarity (namely, Shangqing 上清). Tao made his first visit to Maoshan (Mount Mao, 茅山) west of Jintan. This mountain was originally called Gouqushan 句曲山, which is the name of a Taoist grotto-heaven in Lake Tai, Jiangsu. Tao travelled eastward to Zhejiang to begin collecting the original revelatory manuscripts in 490.

Reclusion on Maoshan

In 492, at the age of 36, Tao Hongjing resigned his official post at court and withdrew to focus upon scholarship and alchemical experimentation on Maoshan. Emperor Wu sponsored the construction of a three-storied thatched hermitage called Huayang guan (華陽館, "Abbey of Flourishing Yang"). Beginning in 497, Emperor Ming of Southern Qi commissioned Tao to experiment with sword making for the imperial family, and provided him monthly with five pounds of fu-ling mushroom and two pints of white honey so that he could undertake experiments in Taoist dietetics. Tao finished compiling the Shangqing revelatory manuscripts, and edited them into the c. 499 Zhen'gao (真誥, "Declarations of the Perfected") compendium. He also began travelling to famous mountains in search of medical plants and elixirs.

Tao Hongjing and Xiao Yan 蕭衍 (464–549), the founder of the Liang dynasty (502–587), were old friends. At the end of the Qi dynasty Tao presented Xiao with a prognostication text that confirmed he was the legitimate successor to the Qi. When Xiao Yan ascended the throne as Emperor Wu of Liang (r. 502–549) he treated Tao Hongjing with great respect. Note: Tao served under two rulers named Wudi (武帝, Martial Emperor), Emperor Wu of Southern Qi and Emperor Wu of Liang; in order to avoid confusion, the latter one will be called '"Xiao Yan". In 514, Xiao Yan ordered the Zhuyang guan (朱陽館, Abbey of Vermilion Yang) state-sponsored hermitage to be built on Maoshan and Tao installed himself in the following year. The emperor kept up a regular correspondence with Tao, often visited Maoshan to consult on important matters of state, and gave him the title Shanzhong zaixiang (山中宰相, "Grand Councilor of the Mountains"). The devout Buddhist Xiao Yan provided Tao with financial support, exempted his Shangqing school from the anti-Taoist decrees of 504 and 517. In 504, Xiao Yan commissioned Tao to undertake alchemical experiments, and provided him with the required minerals.

Between 508 and 512, Tao journeyed throughout the southeast, in the modern provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Fuzhou, in order to continue making alchemical experiments in the mountains. During his travels Tao met the visionary Zhou Ziliang 周子良 (497–516), who became his disciple. For 18 months, Zhou recorded his spiritual visions from some of the same Maoshan divinities seen by Yang Xi, but they informed Zhou that his destiny was to become an immortal, and he committed ritual suicide with a poisonous elixir composed of mushrooms and cinnabar and died from Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning. Tao found Zhou's manuscripts hidden in a Maoshan grotto, and edited them into the Zhoushi mingtong ji (周氏冥通記, "Record of Master Zhou's Communications with the Unseen"), which he presented to Xiao Yan in 517.

Little is known about the last two decades of Tao's life. His only literary works from this period are two stele inscriptions, one devoted to Xu Mai 許邁 (300–348, a patron of Yang Xi), dating from 518, and one to Ge Xuan, dating from 522. From about 520 until his death in 536 at Maoshan, Tao Hongjing spent much of his time trying to make alchemical elixirs.

Names
Like other Chinese scholar-officials, Tao Hongjing had several names. His surname Tao (陶, lit. "pottery") is fairly common and his given name combines hóng (弘 "grand; magnificent; vast") and jǐng (景 "view; scene, scenery"). Tao chose Tongming (通明, Brightly Lit) for his courtesy name and Huayang Yinju (華陽隱居, "Recluse of Flourishing Yang", referring to the name of his Maoshan abbey) for his pseudonym. Tao Hongjing's contemporaries called him Shanzhong zaixiang (山中宰相, Grand Councilor from the Mountains). He received the posthumous names Zhenbai (貞白, "Integrity") or Zhenbai Xiansheng (貞白先生, "Master Integrity") and Huayang Zhenren (華陽真人, Holy man of Flourishing Yang). Xiao Yan granted him the posthumous title Zhongsan Dafu (中散大夫, "Grand Master of Palace Leisure"). During the Tang dynasty Tao was posthumously made the ninth patriarch of the Shangqing lineage.

Literary works

Tao Hongjing's literary career began at the age of fifteen with his 471 fu-like Xunshan zhi (尋山志, "Rhapsody on Exploring the Mountains"). In his youth, Tao also wrote essays, commentaries, and began compiling a 1000-volume compendium of knowledge, the Xueyuan (學園, "Garden of Learning").

Tao Hongjing was a prolific writer and had extensive knowledge of the Chinese classics, history, literature, numerology, astrology, geography, and traditional Chinese medicine. He compiled some fifty works, such as the Gujin zhoujun ji (古今州郡記, "Notes on ancient and modern provinces and commanderies") and Lunyu jizhu (論語集注, "Collected commentaries on the Lunyu").

In Six Dynasties poetry, Tao Hongjing's best known poem was written in reply to Xiao Yan's question, "Is there anything in the mountains?" It expresses his intention of being a recluse and not leaving the mountains.
You asked me "Is there anything in the mountains",
There are many white clouds above the mountain ridge.
They can only be admired and enjoyed by myself,
But they are not worth holding in my hands and presenting to you, my lord.

The Siku quanshu collection includes three works by Tao Hongjing, the Zhen'gao (真誥, "Declarations of the perfected"), Gujin daojian lu (古今刀劍錄, "Register of ancient and recent swords"), and Zhenling weiye tu (真靈位業圖, "Chart of the Ranks and Functions of the Perfected Immortals"), which was the first Daoist work about theogony.

The Daozang (Daoist Canon) contains many of Tao Hongjing's works, such as the Zhen'gao, Huayang Tao Yinju Ji (華陽陶隱居集, "Hermit Tao's Flourishing Yang Writings"), and Yangxing Yanming Lu (養性延命錄, "Extracts on Nourishing Spiritual Nature and Prolonging Bodily Life").

Religion
Tao Hongjing was educated in Daoist traditions associated with the Daode jing, Zhuangzi, and Ge Hong's writings on seeking immortality. Around 486, Tao received initiation into Lingbao School of Daoism from his master Sun Youyue. He advocated the synthesis of the three teachings (Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism) and was initiated into Buddhism in Ningbo. His Maoshan refuge had two halls, one Daoist and one Buddhist, and Tao alternated his worship rituals on a daily basis.

Buddhism
Tao Hongjing continued his interests in Buddhism and formally took vows in 513. Tanluan (475–542), the founder of Pure Land Buddhism in China, reportedly studied Daoism and herbalism under Tao. Some architectural elements from Tao's tomb, discovered on Maoshan during the Cultural Revolution, bear an inscription calling him "a disciple of the Buddha and of the Most High Lord Lao[zi]".

Daoism

Tao Hongjing was effectively the founder of the Shangqing or Maoshan School (Maoshan zong 茅山宗). From 483, Tao became interested in the Shangqing revelations granted to Yang Xi more than a century earlier and decided to collect the original autograph manuscripts, using calligraphy as one of the criteria to establish their authenticity. He began to gather the manuscripts from Daoists living on Maoshan in 488 and his major acquisitions date from that year to 490 when he travelled to Zhejiang. When Tao retired to Maoshan in 492 he intended to edit the manuscripts, drawing inspiration from Gu Huan's (顧歡, 425?–488?) now-lost Zhenji jing (真跡經, "Scripture on the Traces of the Perfected"), an earlier but in Tao's view unsatisfying account of Yang Xi's revelations. In 498–99, supported by the emperor, Tao compiled and fully annotated the manuscripts. His enterprise resulted in two major works, the esoteric c. 493 Dengzhen yinjue (登真隱訣, "Concealed Instructions for the Ascent to Perfection") and the c. 499 Zhen'gao ("Declarations of the Perfected"), which was intended for wide circulation. Tao also compiled a complete catalogue of Shangqing texts, which is no longer extant. Moreover, the Shangqing revelations inspired Tao to compose a commentary to one of the texts received by Yang Xi, the Jianjing (劍經, "Scripture of the Sword"), which is included in the Taiping Yulan. Later, in 517, Tao edited the Zhoushi mingtong ji (周氏冥通記, "Records of Mr. Zhou's Communications with the Unseen") based on his autograph manuscripts from the revelations bestowed upon his disciple Zhou Ziliang, who had committed suicide in 516 after receiving successive visions of the Perfected.

Protoscience

The sinologist Roger Greatrex describes Ge Hong and Tao Hongjing as "early scientists" who made numerous observations of natural phenomena, which they attempted to accord with the Five Elements theory. In modern terms, Tao experimented with protoscience rather than the scientific method. His methodology and results have significance in the history of science in China. Tao's pharmacological commentary uses the termyàn (驗, "examine; test; verify") to denote medical efficacy of substances.

Pharmacology
Tao Hongjing's father and grandfather were experts in herbal drugs, and he shared their interests in pharmacopoeia and medicine. Shortly after compiling the c. 499 Zhen'gao he completed a major work of pharmacology: the Bencao jing jizhu (本草經集注, "Collected Commentaries to the Materia Medica"), which was a critical reedition of the Han dynasty Shennong Bencao Jing attributed to Shennong, the legendary inventor of agriculture and pharmacology. Although Tao's original commentary is no longer extant, it is widely quoted in later materia medica, and portions were discovered in the Dunhuang manuscripts.

Tao's preface explains that beginning in the Wei-Jin period, copies of the Shennong bencao jing text had become corrupted, and contemporary medical practitioners "are not able to clearly comprehend information and as a result their knowledge has become shallow". He further explains that his commentary combines previous material from the Shengnong bencao jing (which Tao refers to as Benjing) and other early pharmacological sources, material from his Mingyi bielu (名醫別錄, "Supplementary Records of Famous Physicians"), and information gathered from alchemical texts, notably what he calls xianjing (仙經, "classics on immortality elixirs") and daoshu (道書, "books on Daoist techniques"). While the early pharmacopeia had only graded substances into superior, medium and inferior, Tao rearranged them into a classification that continues to be used today: minerals, trees and plants, insects and animals, fruits, cultivated vegetables, and grains. For each substance in the Bencao jing jizhu, Tao gives information on the availability, sources, alternative nomenclature, appearance, similarities and confusions, suitability for medicinal usage, effectiveness, quotations from classical and other sources, and errors in existing texts. Tao is considered "the effective founder of critical pharmacology in China", and his editions and commentaries were "painstaking productions, using, for example, different colored inks to distinguish text, original annotations, and his own editorial additions".

In addition, he wrote other pharmacological texts including Tao Yinju Bencao (陶隱居本草, "Hermit Tao's Pharmacopeia"), Yao Zongjue (藥總訣, "General Medicinal Formulae"), and Yangsheng Yanming Lu (養生延命錄, "Extracts on Nourishing Spiritual Nature and Prolonging Bodily Life").

External alchemy
In 497, Emperor Ming assigned Tao Hongjing to experiment with sword foundry, and provided him with an assistant, Huang Wenqing () a blacksmith from the imperial workshops, who became a Shangqing initiate in 505.
The Chinese associated metallurgy with alchemy, both of which used furnaces.

Around 504, Tao changed to researching waidan (lit. "outer alchemy", preparing herbal and chemical elixirs of immortality), and studied several methods that he successively discarded because of unavailable ingredients, even with imperial support. Eventually, in 505, he decided to compound the jiuzhuan huandan (九轉還丹, Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles). In spite of long research and preparatory work, the compounding failed twice, on New Year's Day 506 and 507. Tao blamed these failures on the lack of genuine isolation, since Maoshan had a large community of permanent residents and their families as well as numerous visitors on pilgrimages. Disappointed, Tao decided to leave Maoshan incognito and engaged in a five-year journey to the southeast, from 508 to 512. Another attempt to produce the elixir failed during those years. The History of the Southern Dynasties records that Tao eventually managed to compound a white powder elixir.
[Tao Hongjing] had obtained supernatural talismans and secret instructions. He considered that he might succeed in achieving an elixir, but was hindered by the lack of ingredients. The emperor supplied him with gold, cinnabar, malachite, realgar, and the rest, and he subsequently compounded a Sublimated Elixir (feidan 飛丹). It was the color of frost or snow, and when ingested made the body weightless. When the emperor had consumed this elixir, there were confirmatory effects, and he honored Tao all the more.

References

Footnotes

Further reading
 Tsai, Julius N. "Tao Hongjing." In Dictionary of Literary Biography. Volume 358: Classical Chinese Writers of the Pre-Tang Period, edited by Curtis Dean Smith, 176–82. Detroit: Gale, 2011.

External links

Tao Hongjing (456–536), The Golden Elixir
Tao Hongjing, FYSK Daoist Culture Centre
Tao Hongjing, HighBeam Research

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Tao Hongjing


Michael William George Lucas, 2nd Baron Lucas of Chilworth (26 April 1926 – 10 November 2001), was a British peer and Conservative politician.

Background and education
Lucas was the eldest son of George William Lucas, 1st Baron Lucas of Chilworth, a prominent figure in the motor trade industry and Labour politician, and his wife, the former Sonia Finkelstein, a scion of a family prominent in the Latvian fishing industry. He was educated at Peter Symonds College, Winchester, and at Luton Technical College (now the University of Bedfordshire) where he studied motor engineering. He served with the Royal Tank Regiment after the Second World War and later joined the family car dealership.

Political career
In 1967 Lucas succeeded his father as second Baron Lucas of Chilworth and took his seat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords. An active member of the House of Lords, he served on the Select Committee on Science and Technology from 1980 to 1983. The latter year he was appointed a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) in the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, and then served as Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry between 1984 and 1987. He stepped down from the government after the 1987 general election, but continued to be active in the House of Lords. However, he was forced to leave Parliament after the House of Lords Act 1999, when he narrowly failed to be elected as one of the ninety elected hereditary peers that were allowed to remain in the House of Lords. Apart from his political work, Lucas also served as President of the League of Safe Drivers from 1976 to 1980 and of the Institute of Traffic Management (later the Institute of Transport Administration) from 1980 to 1983.

Family
Lord Lucas of Chilworth married, firstly, Ann Marie, daughter of Ronald William Buck, in 1955. They had two sons and one daughter but were divorced in 1989. She died in 2018. He married, secondly, Jill MacKean, in 1998. Lord Lucas of Chilworth died in November 2001, aged 75, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son Simon.

References
Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.

Daily Telegraph obituary

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Lucas of Chilworth

Michael Lucas, 2nd Baron Lucas of Chilworth


The Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) is a nationalist separatist group dedicated to the defense of ethnic Zomi people. It fights for the reunification of Zomi people, whose homelands are split between in Myanmar (Chin State), Bangladesh (Chittagong Hill Tracts) and North-east India (Manipur and Mizoram). It aims to unite all Zomi people under one governing unit, known as a Zogam, meaning "land of the Zomi".

Nationalist organizations in India
Chittagong Hill Tracts
Separatist movements of India
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Organizations based in Myanmar

Zomi Revolutionary Army


The Separate (or Independent) Saga of St. Olaf (Olav den helliges saga) is one of the kings' sagas. It was written about King Olaf II of Norway (Olaf Haraldsson),  later Saint Olaf (Olav den Hellige), patron saint of Norway.

History
It was written in c. 1225 by Snorri Sturluson, who made use of the saga by the priest Styrmir Kárason, now largely lost except for some fragments in Flateyjarbók. A revised version of the Separate Saga was later incorporated into the Heimskringla (c. 1230), often ascribed to Snorri Sturluson.

Like many other kings' sagas, the work cites skaldic poems for historical verification or literary embroidery. The work is also valuable for being preceded by two prologues. The principal witness of the text is MS nr. 2 4° in the National Library of Sweden (Kungliga biblioteket), Stockholm.

In the longer prologue, Snorri Sturluson expounds on the historical value of skaldic poetry:

En þó þykki mér þat merkiligast til sannenda, er berum orðum er sagt í kvæðum eða öðrum kveðskap, þeim er svá var ort um konunga eða aðra höfðingja, at þeir sjálfir heyrðu, eða í erfikvæðum þeim, er skáldin fœrðu sonum þeira. Þau orð, er í kveðskap standa, eru in sömu sem í fyrstu váru, ef rétt er kveðit, þótt at hverr maðr hafi síðan numit af öðrum, ok má þvi ekki breyta.
"And yet I find that most important for veracity, which is said straightforwardly in poems or other poetry that was composed about kings or other chieftains so that they themselves heard it, or in those commemorative poems which the skalds brought to their sons. Those words which stand in poetry are the same as they were in the beginning, if the recitation is correct, although each person has since learned it from another and for that reason nothing can be distorted."

Editions
Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ed.). Heimskringla. 3 vols.: vol. 2. Íslenzk fornrit 26–8. Reykjavík: Hið ís lenzka fornritafélag, 1941–51. Appendix: Ór Óláfs sögu ins Helga inni Sérstöku. Critical edition.
Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason (eds.). Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga. Den store saga om Olav den hellige, eftir Pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga Biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Oslo: Jacob Dybwad, 1930-33. Diplomatic edition of the text found in MS Stockholm nr. 2 4to.
Munch and Unger, Saga Olafs konungs ens Helga. Christiania, 1853.

See also
Other versions of the king's saga
The Saint Olav Drama

References

Other sources
Finlay, Alison. Fagrskinna, a Catalogue of the Kings of Norway  (Leiden: Brill, 2004)
Gade, Kari Ellen. "Poetry and its changing importance in medieval Icelandic culture." In Old Icelandic Literature and Society, ed. Margaret Clunies Ross. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 42. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)

External links
Index of the skaldic poems in the saga (external link)

Kings' sagas
Olaf II of Norway
Sagas of saints
Works by Snorri Sturluson

sv:Heimskringla#Innehåll

Separate Saga of St. Olaf


Shepseskare or Shepseskara (Egyptian for "Noble is the Soul of Ra") was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the fourth or fifth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty (2494–2345 BC) during the Old Kingdom period. Shepseskare lived in the mid-25th century BC and was probably the owner of an unfinished pyramid in Abusir, which was abandoned after a few weeks of work in the earliest stages of its construction.

Following historical sources, Shepseskare was traditionally believed to have reigned for seven years, succeeding Neferirkare Kakai and preceding Neferefre on the throne, making him the fourth ruler of the dynasty. He is the most obscure ruler of this dynasty and the Egyptologist Miroslav Verner has strongly argued that Shepseskare's reign lasted only a few months at the most, after that of Neferefre. This conclusion is based upon the state and location of Shepseskare's unfinished pyramid in Abusir as well as the very small number of artefacts attributable to this king. Verner's arguments have now convinced several Egyptologists such as Darrell Baker and Erik Hornung.

Shepseskare's relations to his predecessor and successor are not known for certain. Verner has proposed that he was a son of Sahure and a brother to Neferirkare Kakai, who briefly seized the throne following the premature death of his predecessor and probable nephew, Neferefre. Shepseskare may himself have died unexpectedly or he may have lost the throne to another of his nephews, the future pharaoh Nyuserre Ini. The possibility that Shepseskare was a short-lived usurper from outside the royal family cannot be totally excluded.

Attestations

Contemporaneous sources
Shepseskare was a king of Ancient Egypt, the fourth or fifth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty. Egypt was unified at the time, with its capital located at Memphis. Shepseskare is the least-known king of the Fifth Dynasty as very few artefacts dating to his reign have survived to this day. Only two cylinder seals of Shepseskare are known: one, made of bronze, bears Shepseskare's Horus name and was uncovered in the ruins of Memphis in the early 20th century. The second seal, of unknown provenance, is made of black serpentine and reads "Shepseskare beloved of the gods, Shepseskare beloved of Hathor". Beyond these two seals the only surviving artefacts attributable to Shepseskare are five fragments of seal impressions on clay from Abusir and six further fragments discovered in the mortuary temple and Sanctuary of the Knife of the Pyramid of Neferefre, also in Abusir. These fragments probably come from three different seals and were most likely placed on the doors of magazine rooms in the temple.
In 2022, a further clay seal impression of Shepseskare was uncovered in the immediate vicinity of Nyuserre's Abusir sun temple.

Finally, there is a single scarab seal reading "Shepeskare" [sic] that the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie attributed to Shepseskare at the end of the 19th century. Modern scholars doubt this attribution  and rather believe the scarab to be a work of the much later Saite period (685–525 BC) executed in archaic style. Equally, the scarab could belong to Gemenefkhonsbak Shepeskare, an obscure kinglet of Tanis during the 25th Dynasty (760–656 BC).

Historical sources
The only ancient Egyptian king list mentioning Shepseskare is the Saqqara Tablet (on the 28th entry). The tablet was inscribed during the reign of Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC), around 1200 years after Shepseskare's lifetime, and records the dynastic succession Neferikare → Shepseskare  → Neferkhare (a variant name of Neferefre).
Shepseskare is completely absent from another king list dating to the same period: the Abydos king list, written during the reign of Seti I (1294–1279 BC). He is also absent from the Turin canon (reign of Ramses II), although in this case a lacuna affects the papyrus on which the list is written at the place where Shepseskare and Neferefre's names should have been. Of the two entries concerning Shepseskare and Neferefre on the king list, only one reign length is still legible and it has been variously read as one year, eleven years or one to four months. The damaged state of the papyrus also makes it impossible to decide safely whose reign length this is.

Shepseskare was also likely mentioned in the Aegyptiaca, a history of Egypt written in the third century BC during the reign of Ptolemy II (283–246 BC) by the Egyptian priest Manetho. No copies of the Aegyptiaca have survived to this day and it is now known only through later writings by Sextus Julius Africanus and Eusebius. Africanus relates that the Aegyptiaca mentioned the succession "Nefercheres → Sisires → Cheres" for the mid Fifth Dynasty. Nefercheres and Cheres are believed to be the hellenized forms for Neferirkare and Neferkhare (that is Neferefre), respectively. Thus, "Sisires" is traditionally believed to be the Greek name of Shepseskare, making Manetho's reconstruction of the Fifth Dynasty in good agreement with the Saqqara tablet. Furthermore, according to Africanus, Manetho credits Sisires with seven years of reign while other sources report Manetho's figure as nine years.

Reign

Chronological position

Both the relative chronological position and absolute dates of Shepseskare's reign are uncertain.
The Saqqara Tablet records Shepseskare as the successor of Neferirkare Kakai and the predecessor of Neferefre, which became the traditional opinion among Egyptologists. Following discoveries in the early 1980s, the Czech Egyptologist Miroslav Verner advocates the hypothesis that Shepseskare succeeded, rather than preceded, Neferefre.

In support of this hypothesis, Verner first emphasizes the presence of several clay seal impressions bearing Shepseskare's Horus name "Sekhemkaw" (meaning "He whose apparitions are powerful") in the oldest part of Neferere's mortuary temple, which was not built "until Neferefre's death". This appears to suggest that Shepseskare ruled after—rather than before—Neferefre.
Verner's second argument concerns the alignment of pyramids of Sahure, Neferirkare Kakai and Neferefre: they form a line pointing to Heliopolis, just as the three pyramids of Giza do. In contrast, Shepseskare's unfinished pyramid does not fall on the line to Heliopolis, which strongly suggests that Neferefre's pyramid had already been in place when Shepseskare started his. Finally, Verner observes that Neferefre is known to have been Neferirkare's eldest son and around 20 years old when his father died so that he was in optimal position to inherit the throne. Shepseskare thus most likely took the throne after Neferefre. As Verner notes, while Shepseskare is noted as the immediate predecessor of Neferefre in the Saqqara tablet, "this slight discrepancy can ... be attributed to the [political] disorders of the time and its dynastic disputes."

Duration
In two articles published in 2000 and 2001 Verner argues that, contrary to what Manetho indicates, Shepseskare must have reigned for a couple of months at the most, a hypothesis already proposed by the French Egyptologist Nicolas Grimal in 1988.
Verner's conclusion is based on the archeological record, in particular Shepseskare's intended pyramid at Abusir. Verner emphasizes that the progress of the pyramid, which is unfinished,
was interrupted [and] corresponds to the work of several weeks, perhaps no more than one or two months. In fact, the place was merely leveled and the excavation of the pit for the construction of the underground funerary apartment had only commenced. Moreover, the owner of the building obviously wanted to demonstrate by his choice of place (half-way between Sahure's pyramid and the sun temple of Userkaf) his relationship to either Sahure or Userkaf. Theoretically, only two kings of the Fifth Dynasty whose pyramids had not yet been identified can be taken into consideration – Shepseskara or Menkauhor. However, according to a number of contemporaneous documents, Menkauhor ... probably completed [his] pyramid elsewhere, in North Saqqara or Dahshur. Shepseskara, therefore, seems to be the likelier owner of the unfinished platform for a pyramid in North Abusir. Anyway, the builder of the platform [viz., Shepseskare] must have reigned for a very short time.
The rediscovery in 2008 of the Headless Pyramid in Saqqara and its subsequent attribution to Menkauhor Kaiu by the excavators under the direction of Zahi Hawass confirms Verner's attribution of the unfinished pyramid of Abusir to Shepseskare.

Unlike the other kings of the Fifth Dynasty, Shepseskare's name appears neither in the personal names of people of the time nor in the names of funerary estates. He is also absent from the titles and biographies of state officials. For example, the stela of the Fifth Dynasty official Khau-Ptah lists an uninterrupted sequence of kings whom he served under, namely Sahure, Neferirkare, Neferefre and Nyuserre. The omission of Shepseskare, be it between Neferirkare and Neferefre or between Neferefre and Nyuserre, indicates that his reign must have been very short. Since Manetho's Aegyptiaca dates to the third century BC, Khau-Ptah's contemporary account can be regarded as a more accurate indication of the political situation during the Fifth Dynasty.

Verner's arguments together with the scarcity of artefacts attributable to Shepseskare have now convinced many Egyptologists, such as Darrell Baker and Erik Hornung, that Shepseskare's reign was indeed ephemeral.

Family
In view of the scarcity of sources concerning Shepseskare, nothing is known for certain about his relation to his predecessors. He was most likely a member of the royal family, although the possibility that he was a usurper unrelated to his predecessors cannot be totally excluded.

Silke Roth has proposed that Shepseskare was a son of Neferirkare Kakai and a brother of both Neferefre and Nyuserre Ini. Instead, Verner has proposed that Shepseskare was a son of Sahure who managed to briefly seize power after the premature death of Neferefre. This would explain the proximity of Shepseskare's unfinished pyramid to that of Sahure. Lending credence to this theory is the discovery by Verner and Tarek El Awady in 2005 of reliefs from the causeway of Sahure's pyramid complex showing him, his wife Meretnebty and their two sons Ranefer and Netjerirenre. The relief gives both sons the title of "king's eldest son", indicating that they were possibly twins. The relief further indicates that Ranefer took the throne as "Neferirkare king of Upper and Lower Egypt". Verner and Awady thus speculate that while Ranefer and his son Neferefre became kings, Netjerirenre could have attempted to seize the throne at the death of the latter. In this hypothesis Shepseskare would be the throne name of Netjerirenre. Verner had however himself written in 1997 that Shepseskare could equally be a son of Shepseskaf, last pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, or of Userkaf or Neferirkare Kakai as Roth suggested: so few are the actual evidences pertaining to the problem that all possibilities are just speculations. In yet another hypothesis, Jaromír Krejčí believes that Shepseskare was Neferefre's son.

Shepseskare's reign may have been cut short by his unexpected death or his claim to the throne could have been thwarted by Nyuserre Ini, Neferefre's younger brother and the younger son of King Neferirkare and Queen Khentkaus II. Khentkaus II's pivotal role in Nyuserre's eventual accession to the throne might explain her high esteem in Egyptian folklore and "the additional enlargement and upgrading of her mortuary temple" by Nyuserre. Nyuserre also seemed to have been favored by powerful courtiers and officials, foremost among whom was Ptahshepses, who would become Nyuserre's son-in-law and vizier.

Building activities

Pyramid
An unfinished pyramid located in north Abusir, between the sun temple of Userkaf and the Pyramid of Sahure, is believed to belong to Shepseskare. The structure was discovered in 1980 by a Czechoslovakian archaeological team led by Miroslav Verner and seems to have been abandoned after no more than a few weeks or months of work. A square area of roughly  was leveled and the digging of a T-shaped ditch was just started in its center. This ditch was to be left open during the pyramid construction to allow for simultaneous works on the pyramid filling and its substructures. This construction technique is common to all pyramids of the Fifth Dynasty and can directly be seen in the case of the Pyramid of Neferefre, which was also left unfinished. This technique as well as the location of the unfinished pyramid in the royal necropolis of the Fifth Dynasty indicates that it belonged in all likeliness to Shepseskare, the pyramids of the other kings of the dynasty being already known. If finished according to the established pattern, the pyramid would have reached  high, similar to the Pyramid of Neferirkare.

Analyzing the fragments of clay seals bearing Shepeseskare's name, the Swiss Egyptologist Peter Kaplony has proposed that the ancient name of Shepseskare's pyramid could be reconstructed as Rsj-Špss-k3-Rˁ, reading "Resj-Shespeskare" and meaning "The awakening of Shepseskare". Verner rejects this hypothesis, and he contests the reading of certain signs and their interpretation as the name of a pyramid.

Sun temple
Kaplony has proposed that Shepseskare started to build a sun temple named Ḥtp-jb-Rˁ, reading "Hotepibre" and meaning "Satisfied is the heart of Ra". Although all the kings of the early to mid-Fifth Dynasty, from Userkaf to Menkauhor Kaiu, did build sun temples, Verner regards Kaplony's hypothesis as "sheer speculation" since it is based on the tentative reconstruction of a single clay seal. Verner first argues that this seal is not inscribed with Shepseskare's name but rather bears traces of a Horus name which could equally well be that of Djedkare Isesi. Second, Verner notes that the name of a sun temple is rarely found with that of the king who built it: more often it is found with the name of another king during whose reign the seal was made. Finally, he doubts that the sign reading Ḥtp, "Hotep", is really part of the name of a sun temple. Instead, he believes it is more probable that the seal either refers to the sun temple of Neferirkare, named St-jb-Rˁ.w, that is "Setibraw"; or to that of Nyuserre, which was called Šsp-jb-Rˁ, "Shesepibre".

Mortuary temple of Neferefre
It is possible that Shepseskare continued the construction of the funerary complex of his predecessor. As Neferefre had died after a short reign, his pyramid complex was far from finished and neither the burial chamber nor the mortuary temple had been built. The planned pyramid was thus hastily changed into a square mastaba representing a stylized primeval hill and the accompanying mortuary temple was completed during the reign of Nyuserre.
The presence of seals of Shepseskare in the oldest part of Neferefre's mortuary temple could indicate that the former also undertook construction works there. The evidence for such works is uncertain: these seals could have been placed on boxes which were later moved into the magazine rooms of the temple. For example, seals of Userkaf, Sahure and Neferirkare Kakai were also found in the temple, while these three pharaohs died before Neferefre's reign.

Notes

References

Bibliography

25th-century BC Pharaohs
Pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt

Shepseskare


Walter Niephaus (March 30, 1923 – November 2, 1992, Andernach) was a German chess master.

Biography
Born in Mörs am Niederrhein (now Moers), he won Frankfurt City Championship in March 1942, won ahead of Fritz Sämisch and Ludwig Rellstab at Bad Elster in May 1942.
He took 11th at Bad Oeynhausen 1942 (the 9th German Chess Championship, Rellstab won), and won ahead of Klaus Junge at Leipzig 1942. In that year, he beat Alexander Alekhine in several simultan games.

After World War II, he shared 1st with Tröger at Kirchheim/Teck
1947, tied for 9-10th in Kassel (Efim Bogoljubow won), took 3rd in Riedenburg (Ludwig Roedl won), finished 1st ahead of Bogoljubow in Heringen, tied for 5-7th in Weidenau (the 11th GER-ch, Georg Kieninger won), and shared 2nd, behind Rellstab, in Stuttgart. In 1948, he tied for 3rd-5th in Bad Nauheim and 4-5th in Essen (the 12th GER-ch), both won by Wolfgang Unzicker.

In 1949, he won in Offenbach, shared 10th in Bad Pyrmont (the 13th GER-ch, Bogoljubow won), and tied for 6-8th in Heidelberg (Unzicker won). In 1950, he tied for 14-15th in Bad Pyrmont (the 1st FRG-ch, Unzicker won), and took 3rd in Saarbrücken (Albéric O'Kelly de Galway). In 1951, he took 3rd in Augsburg, took 2nd in Saarbrücken, both won by Bogoljubow, and took 9th in Düsseldorf (the 14th GER-ch, Rudolf Teschner won). He tied for 7-9th at Leipzig 1953 (the 15th GER-ch, Unzicker and Ludwig Schmitt won), shared 1st at Bad Salzuflen 1954, took 4th at Hoechst 1955 (the 3rd FRG-ch, Klaus Darga won), shared 10th at Wageningen 1957 (zonal, László Szabó won), and took 15th at Nuremberg 1959 (the 5th FRG-ch, Unzicker won).

In 1951, he played four matches; lost to Bogoljubow (1 : 5)  and Herbert Heinicke (2.5 : 3.5), and won against Schifferdecker (9 : 1) and O'Kelly de Galway (3.5 : 1.5).

Niephaus represented West Germany in 12th Chess Olympiad at Moscow 1956, scoring +5 –2 =3 at first reserve board. He also played for FRG in friendly matches against Netherlands (1951, 1954, 1957), Yugoslavia (1951, 1954), Switzerland (1952) and Austria (1953), in the Clare Benedict Cup at Bern 1957 and Lugano 1959, and in the European Chess Team Championship at Oberhausen 1961.

References

External links

1923 births
1992 deaths
People from Moers
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20th-century chess players

Walter Niephaus


She Was a Lady is the title of a mystery novel by Leslie Charteris featuring his creation, Simon Templar, alias The Saint. The novel was first published in serialized form in the magazine Thriller in February and March 1930, and after being rewritten by Charteris, was first published in complete form in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in November 1931. This was the seventh book chronicling Templar's adventures, and the fourth full novel.

Like other early Simon Templar novels, this book underwent a number of name changes in succeeding editions. When first published in the United States by The Crime Club in 1932, it carried the title Angels of Doom. Most editions published after 1941 carry the title The Saint Meets His Match with the exception of a 1982 Ace Charter Books reprint that revived the Angels of Doom title.

According to The Saint: A Complete History in Print, Radio, Film and Television 1928-1992 by Burl Barer, Charteris originally wrote the novel with a different leading character, and it was subsequently published in a magazine in this form. He later extensively revised the novel, turning it into a Simon Templar adventure.

Plot

After years of living on the wrong side of the law, Simon Templar has been pardoned for past (perceived) crimes and is now working as an agent of Scotland Yard. His first mission is to investigate a crime ring called the Angels of Doom, which specializes in (among other things) helping convicted felons escape police dragnets and ambushes. The Angels of Doom is run by Jill Trelawney, a young woman who is willing to condone just about any action—including the murder of The Saint, if needs be—in her quest to wreak havoc on Scotland Yard, which she blames for the death of her father. But Templar, in his pursuit of Trelawney, finds within her an unexpected kindred spirit.

The book is divided into three parts and could almost be seen as a trilogy of novellas. The first part details Templar investigating Trelawney and discovering the cause of her criminal actions, ultimately resulting in him allowing Trelawney to kill one of the men responsible for framing her father, which has the effect of dissolving the Angels of Doom. During this part we learn that the Saint lives in Upper Berkeley Mews, Mayfair, "where the Saint had converted a couple of garages, with the rooms above, into the most ingeniously comfortable fortress in London" and that he has a manservant there called Orace.

Subsequently, in the second part, Templar's status as a police agent apparently comes to an end as he and Trelawney go to Paris in pursuit of a second man believed to be connected to the death of Trelawney's father. As the Paris segment of the novel begins, Templar and Trelawney have become partners to the extent that Simon, when leaving his traditional "calling card" consisting of the drawing of a stick figure with a halo, is now compelled to add a female figure to the image.

Meanwhile, Inspector Claud Eustace Teal of Scotland Yard continues to pursue both the Saint and Trelawney, especially when he receives reports that the two have allegedly reactivated the Angels of Doom.

The third segment of the novel sees Templar and Trelawney pursuing the third and final man responsible for framing her father, but in doing so they must first recruit some unexpected help from within Scotland Yard itself.

The book ends with several metafictional references by Templar, who makes references to himself being a storybook character in search of a suitable epilogue for the book. He also makes a direct reference to the title of the American omnibus collection Wanted for Murder which had preceded this novel. She Was a Lady is also notable in that no reference is made to any of the Saint's past colleagues, including his girlfriend, Patricia Holm, making this one of the first books in the series to have such an omission. (This is possibly because, as mentioned above, the novel was not originally conceived as a Saint adventure).

Film adaptation

She Was a Lady was adapted for the screen in 1939 as the basis for the second Hollywood motion picture based upon the character of Simon Templar. The film, The Saint Strikes Back, was released by RKO Pictures and was the first film to star George Sanders as Templar. The film makes numerous changes to the original story, changing Jill Trelawney's name to Val Travers and eliminating the angle of the Saint and Trelawney/Travers partnering up. One element from the book that is the retained is the first (and only) use of a female version of the Saint's stick figure insignia.

References

External links
  Book review

1931 British novels
Simon Templar books
Novels by Leslie Charteris
Works originally published in British magazines
Novels first published in serial form
Hodder & Stoughton books
British novels adapted into films

She Was a Lady


Cheng Tinghua (also known as Cheng Yingfang) () (1848–1900) was a renowned master of Chinese Neijia (internal) martial art Bagua Zhang.

Biography
Born in the Cheng family village, Shen County, Hebei (now in Shandong), he was the third of four brothers.

Cheng had pock marks on his face when he was young and thus he was known as "third son with pock marks" Cheng. Cheng Tinghua was fond of martial arts and in his youth he gained skill at wielding a nearly 4 foot long broadsword and a large heavy staff.

Shuai Chiao learning in Beijing
When Cheng was still fairly young, he left his hometown and went to Beijing to apprentice with a gentleman who made eyeglasses. Intent on improving his martial arts skill, Cheng also began to study Chinese wrestling (Shuai Chiao) when he arrived in Beijing.

In the late 1800s, two wrestling styles were popular in Beijing, Manchurian/Mongolian wrestling and Pao Ting "fast style" wrestling. The Pao Ting style was quicker than the Manchurian style. As soon as the opponent came in contact with the wrestler, he would be thrown. There was not any grappling, struggling, or tussling as seen in Western wrestling. This wrestling also combined punching, kicking, joint locking and point striking with its throwing techniques.

Cheng Tinghua was an avid wrestler and studied both of the popular wrestling styles when he was a young man in Beijing. He practiced hard and made a name for himself as a wrestler. He was not a big name in the martial arts world yet, however, most martial artists in Beijing knew of him and knew he was skilled at shuai chiao.

Learning with Dong Haichuan
By 1870, Dong Haichuan had become very well known in Beijing (research indicates that Dong first arrived in Beijing around 1865). When Cheng was approximately 28 years old (1876), he sought out Dong in order to improve his skill. Some say that Cheng had become friends with Yin Fu and Shih Chidong (two of Dong Haichuan's first Bagua Zhang students) and that they had encouraged him to go and meet Dong.

When the two first met, Dong asked Cheng to use his shuai chiao against him. Cheng made several attempts at attacking Dong but was never able to even lay a hand on him. Cheng knelt down and asked Dong if he could become his student. At this point in time, Dong had not accepted many Bagua Zhang students. Although Dong had taught many people martial arts in Prince Su's residence, it is said  that he had only taught Bagua to three people prior to teaching Cheng Tinghua. The large majority of his students in the palace were said to have learned something other than Bagua from Dong.

If those who say Dong's original tombstone had his students listed in the order in which he taught them are correct, then Cheng was indeed Dong's fourth disciple, as his name appears fourth on the list. The first name listed on this stele is Yin Fu, followed by Ma Wei-Chi, Shih Chi-Tung, and then Cheng Tinghua. The year Cheng met Dong was approximately 1876. Dong died in 1882, so at best Cheng studied with Dong for 5 or 6 years.

Dong Haichuan was known to have only accepted Baguazhang students who were already skilled in some other style of martial art. It is said that after laying a Bagua foundation with the circle walk practice, single palm change, double palm change, and smooth changing palm, Dong would teach the student Baguazhang based on what the student already knew. Taking this information to be true, we can assume that Dong would have taught Cheng using Cheng's knowledge of shuai chiao as a base.

Sharing his learning
The Bagua styles which most notably display a Xingyi Quan flavor are the styles which were taught by Cheng and his friends Li Cunyi, Liu Dekuan, and Zhang Zhaodong. Although all three of these Xingyiquan masters are recorded as being Baguazhang students of Dong Haichuan, there is evidence that suggests Li, Liu, and Zhang learned their Bagua from Cheng Tinghua, not from Dong Haichuan.

The link between Xingyi Quan and Bagua was most likely forged when Cheng Tinghua and his friends Li Cunyi, Zhang Zhaodong, Liu Dekuan, and Liu Wai-Hsiang got together to compare styles and learn from each other (Li Cunyi, Liu Te-Kuan, and Zhang Zhaodong were all Xingyi boxing brothers under the same teacher, Liu Chi-Lan. Liu Wai-Hsiang was a Xingyi Quan student of Zhang Zhaodong).

Cheng Tinghua was a very open martial artist who would teach his Bagua to anyone who cared to learn it. He enjoyed meeting other martial artists to compare styles and share the techniques and theories of martial arts. He also enjoyed sharing his Baguazhang skill with other martial artists. Cheng is said to have been the person responsible for teaching Baguazhang to Liu Dekuan, Li Cunyi, and Zhang Zhaodong, however, since they were very skilled in Xingyi Quan and thus were Cheng's peers, he did not feel right calling them his "students." Therefore, Cheng said that they should say they learned their Bagua from his teacher, Dong Haichuan.

Death
Cheng Tinghua was killed during the Boxer Rebellion when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing (1900). It turns out that a group of German soldiers were forcefully recruiting locals for a work detail near Beijing's Chung Wen gate, were Cheng's shop was located. Cheng was on the street at the time and the Germans stopped him and tried to put him in line with the others. Cheng resisted and wanted to fight. He may have beaten a few soldiers during the struggle, but when he pulled out a short knife, the soldiers drew their guns. Cheng tried to run and leap over a nearby wall. As he was jumping over the wall, he was shot.

Partial list of his students
Cheng Yulung (eldest son, 1875–1928), Cheng Youxin (2nd son), Cheng Yougong, Feng Junyi, Gao Kexing, Gao Yisheng  (1866–1951), Geng Jishan, Guo Tongde, Han Qiying, Hon Mu Xi, Kan Lingfeng, Li Cunyi, Li Hanzhang, Li Wenbiao, Liu Bin, Liu Zhenzong, Qin Cheng, Sun Lu-t'ang (1861–1932), Liu Dekuan, Yang Mingshan, Zhang Changfa, Zhang Yongde, Zhang Yukui, Zhou Yu Xiang, Zhang Zhao Dong (1859–1940).

References

Bibliography

1848 births
1900 deaths
Chinese baguazhang practitioners
Martial arts school founders
Sportspeople from Hebei
People from Hengshui
19th-century philanthropists

Cheng Tinghua


John Frederick Herring Sr. (12 September 1795 – 23 September 1865), also known as John Frederick Herring I, was a painter, sign maker and coachman in Victorian England. He painted the 1848 "Pharoah's Chariot Horses" (archaic spelling "Pharoah"). He amended his signature "SR" (senior) in 1836, with the growing fame of his teenage son (1 of 4) John Frederick Herring Jr.

Life and work

Herring, born in London in 1795, was the son of a London merchant of Dutch parentage, who had been born overseas in America. The first eighteen years of Herring's life were spent in London, where his greatest interests were drawing and horses. In the year 1814, at the age of 18, he moved to Doncaster in the north of England, arriving in time to witness the Duke of Hamilton's "William" win the St. Leger Stakes horserace. By 1815, Herring had married Ann Harris; his sons John Frederick Herring Jr., Charles Herring, and Benjamin Herring were all to become artists, while his two daughters, Ann and Emma, both married painters. When she was barely of age in 1845 Ann married Harrison Weir.

In Doncaster, England, Herring was employed as a painter of inn signs and coach insignia on the sides of coaches, and his later contact with a firm owned by a Mr. Wood led to Herring's subsequent employment as a night coach driver. Herring spent his spare time painting portraits of horses for inn parlors, and he became known as the "artist coachman" (at the time). Herring's talent was recognized by wealthy customers, and he began painting hunters and racehorses for the gentry.

In 1830, John Frederick Herring, Senior left Doncaster for Newmarket, England, where he spent three years before moving to London, England. During this time, Herring might have received tuition from Abraham Cooper. In London, Herring experienced financial difficulties and was given financial assistance by W. T. Copeland, who commissioned many paintings, including some designs used for the Copeland Spode bone china. In 1840-1841, Herring visited Paris, painting several pictures, on the invitation of the Duc d'Orleans (the Duke of Orleans), son of the French King Louis-Phillipe.

In 1845, Herring was appointed Animal Painter to the Duchess of Kent, followed by a subsequent commission from the ruling Queen Victoria, who remained a patron for the rest of his life.

Late themes
In 1853, Herring moved to rural Kent in the southeast of England and stopped painting horse portraits.  He spent the last 12 years of his life at Meopham Park near Tonbridge, where he lived as a country squire. He then broadened his subject matter by painting agricultural scenes and narrative pictures, as well as his better-known sporting works of hunting, racing and shooting.

A highly successful and prolific artist, Herring ranks along with Sir Edwin Landseer as one of the more eminent animal painters of mid-nineteenth (19th) century Europe. The paintings of Herring were very popular, and many were engraved, including his 33 winners of the St. Leger and his 21 winners of the Derby. Herring exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1818 to 1865, at the British Institution from 1830 to 1865, and at the Society of British Artists in 1836-1852, where Herring became Vice-President in 1842.

Both John Herring Snr and John Herring Jnr were the subject of an episode of Minder when Arthur Daley attempts so sell a counterfeit painting to an art dealer.

See also
 George Stubbs - horse painter.

Notes

References

 John Frederick Herring Sr. (biography & selected works) at Art.Net

External links

 www.John-Frederick-Herring.org 208 works by John Frederick Herring Sr.

19th-century English painters
English male painters
British Realist painters
Equine artists
1795 births
1865 deaths
19th-century English male artists

John Frederick Herring Sr.


The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber is a Chinese television series adapted from Louis Cha's novel of the same title. It is a final instalment of a television trilogy produced by Zhang Jizhong, preceded by The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2003) and The Return of the Condor Heroes (2006). Unlike the previous adaptations, this remake is the first to be primarily based on the third edition of the novel. The series was first broadcast on Wenzhou TV in China in October 2009.

Cast

 Deng Chao as Zhang Wuji
 Shi Lei as Zhang Wuji (young)
 Ady An as Zhao Min
 Liu Jing as Zhou Zhiruo
 Guo Bailu as Zhou Zhiruo (young)
 He Zhuoyan as Xiaozhao
Zhang Meng as Yin Li / Zhu'er
 Jiang Yiyi as Yin Li / Zhu'er (young)
 Lu Chen as Yang Buhui
 Lu Ziyi as Yang Buhui (young)
 Zang Jinsheng as Xie Xun
 Ken Chang as Zhang Cuishan
 Wang Yuanke as Yin Susu
 Wang Jinghua as Miejue
 Li Shun as Ding Minjun
 He Jiayi as Ji Xiaofu
 Yu Chenghui as Zhang Sanfeng
 Li Tai as Song Qingshu
 Chen Jiming as Song Yuanqiao
 Wang Jiusheng as Yin Liting
 Guo Jun as Zhang Songxi
 Wang Jianguo as Yu Lianzhou
 Zhang Hengping as Yu Daiyan
 Wang Zhigang as Mo Shenggu
 Tan Feiling as Cheng Kun
 Tu Men as Chaghan Temur
 Sun Zuyang as Wang Baobao
 Zhou Xiaobin as Chen Youliang
 Ma Ling as Golden Flower Granny
 Bai Junjie as Lu Zhangke
 Han Dong as He Biweng
 Wu Xiaodong as Yang Xiao
 Chen Zhihui as Yin Tianzheng / Jueyuan
 Guan Xiaoyu as Yin Yewang
 Hu Dong as Fan Yao
 Li Ming as Wei Yixiao
 Qiao Yu as Chang Yuchun
 Liu Qiang as Xu Da
 Yu Yu as Zhu Yuanzhang
 Yang Niansheng as Zhou Dian
 Zhou Gang as Shuobude
 Hou Yueqiu as Peng Yingyu
 Su Mao as Taoist Tieguan
 Zhang Yuzhou as Leng Qian
 Rocky Hou as Han Lin'er
 Wang Weiguo as Kongwen
 Tao Jixin as Kongzhi
 Cao Zhanyong as Yuanye
 Wu Kegang as Xihuazi
 Wu Xiaodong as He Taichong
 Bai Hailong as Du Dajin
 Xia Yu as Zhu Jiuzhen
 Wang Wei as Wu Qingying
 Zou Zongsheng as Wei Bi
 Xiao Zongling as Yin Wufu
 Zhou Dianying as Yan Heng
 Cecilia Liu as Yellow Dress Maiden
 Yang Yi as Shi Huolong
 Li Dan as A'san
 Liu Ziyi as Xue Gongyuan
 Lu Shaoqiang as Jian Jie
 Wu Kegang as Xihuazi
 Du Yuming as Hu Qingniu
 Gao Baobao as Wang Nangu
 Xing Minshan as He Zudao

Production
Shooting lasted five months, between 18 October 2008 and 16 March 2009. Locations include the Wudang Mountains, Peach Blossom Island, Longyou Grottoes, Wuyi Mountains and Hengdian World Studios.

Renaming of "Shaolin School" to "Monks' School"
In the series, the Shaolin School (or Shaolin Monastery) has been renamed to "Monks' School" (). The change is believed to be because the producers wanted to avoid trademark infringement, since Shaolin Monastery has officially registered "Shaolin" as a trademark and has been involved in lawsuits with commercial companies over the use of "Shaolin" as a brand name or trademark.

References

External links
  The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber on Sina.com
  The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber page on CTS's website
  The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber at ent.qq.com

2009 Chinese television series debuts
2009 Chinese television series endings
Chinese wuxia television series
Television shows based on The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber
Television series set in the Yuan dynasty
Sequel television series
Television series about orphans
Television shows about rebels
Television shows set on islands
Television series by Huayi Brothers

The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (2009 TV series)


Sir Charles Drummond Ellis   (b. Hampstead, 11 August 1895; died Cookham 10 January 1980) was an English physicist and scientific administrator.  His work on the magnetic spectrum of the beta-rays helped to develop a better understanding of nuclear structure.

Education and internment

Ellis was the son of Abraham Charles Ellis, a general manager of the Metropolitan Railway, and Isabelle Flockart Carswell. He won a scholarship to Harrow School where he excelled academically as well as at sport. In 1913, he became a cadet in the Royal Military Academy in preparation for a career in the Royal Engineers.

He was holidaying in Germany the following summer when World War I broke out. All British nationals were rounded up and sent to the Ruhleben internment camp just outside Berlin. The camp had been a horse racecourse. During internment the detainees had a large degree of freedom. They had access to books, and Ellis made good use of his time to study. Another detainee in the camp was James Chadwick who was later to receive the Nobel Prize for his work on the discovery of the neutron. Chadwick inspired Ellis and together they erected a laboratory in one of the horse stables where they undertook scientific experiments on the photochemical process.

Career after the war

After the war Ellis decided to abandon a military career.  He entered Trinity College, Cambridge where he studied natural sciences.  After graduating in 1920 he became engaged in research work at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, where the director, Sir Ernest Rutherford, had now engaged Chadwick.  While Rutherford and Chadwick worked on alpha radioactivity and alpha particles for nuclear disintegration experiments Ellis studied beta and gamma radiation.  He became a leading authority on the subject, publishing many articles in scientific journals.

In 1921 Ellis had become a fellow of Trinity College and was appointed assistant lecturer in natural science.  In 1925 he married Paula Warzcewska, the daughter of a wealthy Polish shipbuilder.  Although there were no children Paula (known as Polly in England) had a daughter from a previous marriage.  In 1929 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1930 Rutherford, Chadwick and Ellis published together a classic monograph Radiations from Radioactive Substances.

Discovery of the neutrino
During the early 1930s Ellis worked with Nevill Mott on energy relations in beta decay.  Mott said later that Ellis had "practically discovered the neutrino". He worked with W.J. Henderson on the energy distribution of positrons in artificial radioactivity. In 1936 Ellis was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society.

In 1936, a year after Chadwick's appointment to a professorship at Liverpool, Ellis was appointed to the Wheatstone chair of physics at King's College London in succession to Edward Victor Appleton who had become professor of natural sciences at Cambridge.  Ellis continued his research alongside his new teaching and administration commitments.

In 1940, Ellis became a member of MAUD who were investigating the possibility of using nuclear fission to develop new weapons.  He became scientific adviser to the army council from 1943 to 1946, serving on several high-level committees. He was knighted in 1946 for his war service.

Later career
After World War II Ellis held several posts which were not related to nuclear weapons.  He was director of the Finance Corporation for Industry, in charge of research and development for the National Coal Board.  He was president of the British Coal Utilization Research Association from 1946 to 1955 and a member of the advisory council to the minister of fuel and power from 1947 to 1955.  He became scientific adviser to the British American Tobacco Company (BAT) at a time when the association between smoking and various diseases was just starting to be suspected.  He retired from the Gas Council in 1966 and from BAT in 1972.

During his final decade his health was poor.  In 1980 he died in a nursing home in Cookham after a short illness.

Ellis–Wooster experiment
In 1927 Ellis and William Alfred Wooster (1903–1984) performed an important experiment with β-rays. Their experiment led to Pauli's suggestion of the neutrino.

References

Further reading

 The Ruhleben Story

1895 births
1980 deaths
English physicists
People from Hampstead
People educated at Harrow School
Academics of King's College London
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Experimental physicists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the American Physical Society
Knights Bachelor
World War I civilian detainees held by Germany

Charles Drummond Ellis


Wilfrid Gariepy (March 14, 1877 – January 13, 1960) was a Canadian politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and provincial cabinet minister, member of the House of Commons of Canada, and municipal councillor in Edmonton.

Early life

Wilfrid Gariépy was born in Montreal, Quebec, on March 14, 1877, born to parents Joseph Gariépy and Etudienne Boissoneault. He graduated high school from St-Laurent College and came to Edmonton with his family in 1893. Shortly after he returned to Montreal for university, earning a B.A. from Université Laval in 1899 and a B.C.L. from McGill University in 1902.

He married Albertina Lessard, with whom he would have four children. He was admitted to the Alberta bar the same year and began work with the firm Taylor, Boyle & Gariépy. Later, he would head Gariépy, Landry & Landry.

His younger brother was Charles Gariépy who would, like Wilfrid and their father, take an interest in politics.

Edmonton municipal politics

Gariépy's involvement in politics began with his election to Edmonton's Catholic school board in the 1905 Edmonton election. He would serve in this capacity for nine years, eventually becoming chair.

In the 1906 election, Gariépy ran for election to Edmonton City Council, finished first of twelve candidates for alderman, and was elected to a two-year term. He was re-elected in 1908, finishing first of thirteen candidates, but did not seek re-election at the conclusion of this second term. He was known for supporting the viewpoints of organized labour.

Alberta provincial politics

Gariépy made a first, abortive, bid for provincial office during the 1905 Alberta election, when he planned to run as an independent Liberal in St. Albert but withdrew before the election.  He stayed in the race until election day in the 1909 election (while he was still an alderman in Edmonton), running in the same riding and under the same banner after refusing to contest the Liberal nomination on the grounds that he considered it rigged in favour of Lucien Boudreau. Gariépy was defeated by Boudreau in the election itself, finishing second of three candidates.

He was more successful in the 1913 election, when he ran in the new Beaver River electoral district.  He handily defeated Conservative candidate Ambrose Gray in a two-person race, and became a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Premier Arthur Sifton named him to his cabinet as Minister of Municipal Affairs.  In accordance with the customs of the day, Gariépy resigned to contest a by-election; no opponents stepped forward, and he was acclaimed.

He was re-elected in the 1917 election by an even larger margin over Gray, his 1913 opponent. When Charles Stewart took over from Sifton as premier, he initially left Gariépy in the municipal affairs portfolio, but appointed him Provincial Secretary instead in 1918. Gariépy lasted only a short time in the job, and quit a month later to move to Trois-Rivières, Quebec, where he had been promised a seat in the House of Commons of Canada. However, the promised seat didn't materialize, and he returned to Alberta shortly thereafter to resume his career as an MLA (a position from which he had not resigned).

During the Conscription Crisis of 1917 Gariépy aligned himself against Robert Borden's Unionist government (of which his old boss Sifton had resigned as premier to become a member), and toured the province with Frank Oliver speaking against it.

A motion was moved in the Legislature in 1920 by John Stewart questioning whether Gariépy had a right to sit and vote in the legislature as he signed the Legislature registry with his home as being Three Rivers in Quebec. The motion asked the committee of privileges and elections for investigation. John Boyle amended the motion to ask the provincial courts to investigate the matter. The amendment and motion passed on a recorded division.

He did not seek re-election in the 1921 election and moved back to Trois-Rivières.

Federal politics

Some time after his return to Quebec, Gariépy was again involved in politics. He was a Liberal organizer in Trois Rivières, and was rumoured candidate in the 1923 provincial election and the 1925 federal election, but did not run in either.

When the Liberal MP for Three Rivers and St. Maurice, Arthur Bettez, died on January 4, 1931, Gariépy finally did run, securing the Liberal nomination in the by-election to replace Bettez. In the by-election, held August 10, he was defeated by thirty-eight votes by Conservative candidate Charles Bourgeois.

In the 1935 federal election, Gariépy was again the Liberal candidate in the riding (now called Three Rivers). This time, he was elected from a field of six candidates (Bourgeois not among them).  On the outbreak of World War II, he broke from the policy of the government of William Lyon MacKenzie King, going so far as to vote against war credits, and when he sought re-election in the 1940 election it was as an Independent Liberal.  He was defeated in the two person race by Robert Ryan, the Liberal Party's duly-nominated candidate.

The King government's policy of conscription cost it popularity in Quebec, and Gariépy's critical approach gained favour. So it was that when he ran again during the 1945 election, this time as an independent, he came out ahead of his six opponents (Ryan finished fourth). During this, his second term in the House of Commons, he reconciled with his old party, and ran in the 1949 election it was once again as a Liberal. He came in fifty-nine votes behind Progressive Conservative Léon Balcer, and did not seek public office again in his lifetime.

Other activities, personal life, and legacy

In 1894, Gariépy was co-founder of Edmonton's Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society. He was also member of the Société Parler Français, and represented Alberta at 1912's Congrès de la langue française in Québec.  He was a Rotarian and a member of the Knights of Columbus.

In 1909, Gariépy founded le Progrès libéral, Alberta's third French-language newspaper, in Morinville, Alberta. In 1914, it relocated to Edmonton and was renamed le Progrès albertain. The paper's loyalties were to the Liberal Party, and it encouraged francophone immigration to Alberta. It folded in August 1915.

Wilfrid Gariépy died January 13, 1960, in Trois-Rivières. Gariépy Neighborhood in Edmonton, Alberta is named in his family's honor.

See also
Université Laval

References

External links
Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing

Edmonton Public Library biography of Wilfred Gariepy
City of Edmonton biography of Wilfred Gariepy

The Quebec History Encyclopaedia's entry on Wilfrid Gariépy
Francoidentitaire's entry on Wilfrid Gariépy
Alberta Heritage's history of Morinville, Alberta
The French Canadians and the Second World War

1877 births
1960 deaths
Lawyers in Alberta
Alberta Liberal Party MLAs
Canadian Roman Catholics
Edmonton city councillors
Franco-Albertan people
French Quebecers
Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons
Independent Liberal MPs in Canada
Liberal Party of Canada MPs
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec
Politicians from Montreal
Lawyers from Montreal
Université Laval alumni
Members of the Executive Council of Alberta
McGill University Faculty of Law alumni

Wilfrid Gariépy


Mario Renato Capecchi (born 6 October 1937) is an Italian-born American molecular geneticist. He won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies.

Capecchi is  Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics and Biology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, which he joined in 1973.

Life
Mario Capecchi was born in the Italian city of Verona in 1937. His father, Luciano Capecchi, was an Italian airman who was reported as missing in action in the Western Desert Campaign. His mother, Lucy Ramberg, was the American-born daughter of Impressionist painter Lucy Dodd Ramberg and German  archaeologist Walter Ramberg. During World War II, his mother was sent to the Dachau concentration camp, as punishment for handing out pamphlets and belonging to an anti-Fascist group. Before her arrest she had sold her belongings and gave the money to a poor family near Bolzano, to give her son a place to live. After a year, the money was spent and the family was unable to care for him. At four-and-a-half years old he was left to live on the streets of northern Italy for the next four years, living in various orphanages and roving through towns with groups of other homeless children.

He almost died of hunger. His mother had been freed from Dachau and began a year-long search for him. She finally found him in a hospital bed in Reggio Emilia, ill with a fever and living one bowl of chicory coffee and bread crust each day. She took him to Rome, where he had his first bath in six years.

In 1946 his uncle, Edward Ramberg, an American physicist at RCA, sent his mother money to return to the United States. Mario and his mother moved to Pennsylvania to live at a cooperative community which had been started by his uncle.

In 1960 Capecchi came to MIT as a graduate student to study physics and mathematics, but he soon became interested in molecular biology. He moved to Harvard to join the laboratory of James D. Watson, co-discoverer of the shape of DNA. Capecchi received his PhD in biophysics in 1967 from Harvard University.

In 1973 he joined the faculty at the University of Utah. Since 1988 Capecchi has also been an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has taught for Duke University's Program in Genetics and Genomics.

After the Nobel committee announced that Capecchi had won the Nobel prize, an Austrian woman named Marlene Bonelli claimed that Capecchi was her long-lost half-brother, which he acknowledged was true.

Knockout mice
Mario Capecchi is known for his work in gene targeting of the mouse embryonic stem cells. This helped him and others study how genes work. The work includes cloning and genetic changing.  The work on gene targeting and knockout mice won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, jointly with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies.

Dr. Capecchi has also pursued a systematic analysis of the mouse Hox gene family. This gene family is controls embryonic development in all multicellular animals (metazoa).

Selected honours
1996 – Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences
1996 – German Molecular Bioanalytics Prize
1997 – Franklin Medal for Advancing Our Knowledge of the Physical Sciences
1998 – Baxter Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences
2000 – Italian Premio Phoenix-Anni Verdi for Genetics Research Award
2001 – Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, co-winner with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies.
2001 – Spanish Jiménez-Diáz Prize
2001 – Pioneers of Progress Award
2001 – National Medal of Science
2002 – John Scott Medal Award
2002 – Massry Prize
2003 – Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Cancer Research
2002/3 – Wolf Prize in Medicine
2005 – March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology.
2007 – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, co-winner with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies.

References

Other websites
 Howard Hughes Medical Institute biography
 Eccles Institute of Human Genetics biography
 University of Utah biography
 Interviews with Mario Capecchi from Dolan DNA Learning Center's DNA Interactive
 Capecchi animation from Dolan DNA Learning Center's DNA from the Beginning

1937 births
Living people
Academics from Utah
American geneticists
American Nobel Prize winners
Harvard University alumni
Naturalized citizens of the United States
People from Verona
Wolf Prize winners
Italian Nobel Prize winners

Mario Capecchi