The Elementeita Badlands, also known as the Otutu Forest or Ututu Forest, is a lava flow in Kenya  that covers approximately . The area was previously covered in thick dryland forest characterized by cedar trees, (Juniperus spp.), and Leleshwa bushes (Tarchonanthus camphoratus). In addition, Wild Jasmine and Boophone are also found.

The land was owned by Njenga Karume, who bought it from Arthur Cole in 1980. Cole had bought it from Digby Tatham-Warter (famous for his role in the Battle of Arnhem) in 1968, as grazing land of low potential. The land is unsuitable for either small scale cultivation or cattle ranching as it is covered in thick bush growing from the profusion of lava boulders. It is now owned by the Njenga Karume Trust.

Geography

The land is punctuated by pyroclastic cones of Holocene age. The highest peak has an elevation of 2126 metres. It is located between Lake Elmenteita and Ol Doinyo Eburru volcano, on the southern boundary of the Soysambu Conservancy. Some of the prominent peaks include "Horseshoe Crater" and "Scout Hat Hill". There are some lava tubes which show evidence of prehistoric occupation as grinding plates and stone bowls have been recovered by the local people in rudimentary excavation. These caves have been occupied by some of the refugees from the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya.

People in the Elmenteita Badlands

The area was heavily degraded from the 1980s onwards, being a hideout for disaffected and disenfranchised people who have resorted to charcoal burning, poaching and changaa brewing. A trading centre has been built at the northeastern corner known as "Soko Mjinga" (Fool's Market) which is the place to trade in these items.

The living conditions in the Otutu forest have led to an outbreak of leishmaniasis or Aleppo boil which is spread by sandflies and rock hyrax, which are numerous there. The only sources of water are from some small steam vents beside the old railway line along the eastern boundary of the forest (currently a road), which ran between Elmenteita and Gilgil before it was realigned in 1945. The Eburru station (now defunct) is on the edge of the Otutu and is notable for the steam condensers made from oil drums and corrugated iron sheets which the residents construct for their water source.

A luxury tourist lodge, called Mawe Mbili Lodge, is currently under construction on the western boundary of the forest, on the slopes of "Scout Hat Hill", so called because the shape resembles Baden Powell's hat. It is projected to open in March 2009. The water supply is from rainwater caught from plastic sheeting and from a deep and alkaline borehole which provides water at over 50 degrees Celsius and a pH of nearly 8.

Gallery

References

External links
  Global Volcanism Program: Elmenteita Badlands
VolcanoDiscovery,com: Elmenteita Badlands Volcano, Kenya
Sleeping Warrior Lodge.com: About the Soysambu Conservancy

Badlands
Volcanoes of Kenya
Landforms of Rift Valley Province
Nakuru County
Polygenetic volcanic fields
Forests of Kenya
Holocene volcanism
Quaternary Africa

Elmenteita Badlands


Donald David Cryer (born March 8, 1936) is an American stage, television and film actor and singer and one of the founders of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater which began in Pittsburgh and New York's Mirror Repertory Theatre. He may be best known for the role of Firmin in The Phantom of the Opera, which he has played for nearly 19 years on the road and on Broadway. He has also played more performances of the Bernstein Mass, as The Celebrant (including at the Metropolitan Opera and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) and more performances as Juan Peron in Evita than any other actor. He is the father of actor Jon Cryer.

Early life
Cryer was born Donald David Cryer in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Pauline (née Spitler) (1910–1952) and Donald Walter Cryer (1909–1988), a well-known Methodist minister in the West Ohio Conference. At the time of his birth, his father was attending Garrett Biblical Institute at Northwestern University. He grew up in Toledo, Carey, Westerville, and Findlay, Ohio, where his father served congregations; he graduated from Findlay High School in 1954. He has three siblings: Jonathan Douglas, a retired professor of statistics and actuarial science at The University of Iowa, Daniel Walter Cryer, author of a biography of theologian Forrest Church as well as a former Newsday critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Mary Kathleen (Kathy), a teacher. His mother Pauline died in 1952. His father married Mary Garrison in 1955, adding step-siblings William, Katherine, and Rebecca Garrison.

He graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1958, with a B.A. in history with honors including the Walker Cup, given to the senior who has contributed the most to DePauw, the Gold Key awarded to juniors for leadership and scholarship, and the Lewis Sermon Award for an original sermon. He became deeply involved in music, playing trombone in the orchestra, and Ray North's dance band, and singing in The Lost Chords (a quartet modeled on The Four Freshmen), the University Choir, the Collegians, Opera Workshop, the SDX Revue, and the Monon Revue. He was president of the Student Senate and pledge trainer at Sigma Chi.

Upon graduation in 1958, Cryer accepted a Rockefeller Fellowship to study for the ministry at Yale Divinity School. He applied to Harvard Law School and was enrolled in the fall of 1959, but was in a production of Oklahoma! as Curly at the Polka Dot Playhouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut that summer and decided to go into theater instead. He enrolled at Boston University and earned an MFA in directing in 1961.

In 1961, Cryer served in the U.S. Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey as a private and then entered the Army Reserves in 1962 for six years.

Broadway career
Cryer has played in 13 Broadway shows, including Firmin in The Phantom of the Opera, Juan Peron in Evita, Rutledge in 1776 musical, Ari in Ari, The Red Shadow in The Desert Song, and Jude Scribner in Come Summer. Leading roles off Broadway were in The Fantasticks, The Streets of New York, Mademoiselle Colombe, 'Now is the Time for All Good Men' and The Making of Americans. On the road he played opposite Anna Maria Alberghetti in West Side Story, Giorgio Tozzi and Ricardo Montalbán in The King and I, Dyan Cannon in I Do! I Do!, Debby Boone in The Sound of Music, and Judy Kaye in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

When he opened in Come Summer in 1969, Clive Barnes of The New York Times said, "Mr. Cryer will return. Anyone who looks a little like Rudolph Nureyev and sounds like Franco Corelli will not have much to worry about in the future." Frank Rich of the Times said his Juan Peron in Evita was "first-rate" while John Corry, also of the Times said it was "perfect". He has been a guest soloist with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir on two occasions.

In 1983, Cryer joined The Mirror Theater Ltd's Mirror Repertory Company in their first repertory season, performing in the plays Paradise Lost, Rain, Inheritors, and The Hasty Heart.

DePauw University awarded Cryer an Alumni Citation in 1998, an Alumni Achievement Award in 2006, and the honorary degree Doctor of Arts in 2009.

Albert Poland and Cryer produced the National Tour of The Fantasticks, and the New York production of the Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford musical Now Is the Time for All Good Men.

In 1966, Cryer was one of the founders of the American Conservatory Theater in Pittsburgh, which shortly thereafter moved to San Francisco. In 1983 he joined with others to create New York's Mirror Repertory Theatre, starring Geraldine Page.

Personal life
Cryer and his first wife, the songwriter Gretchen Cryer, are the parents of the actor Jon Cryer and Robin Cryer Hyland. With his second wife, the dancer and actress Britt Swanson, he is the father of four children: Rachel, Daniel, Carolyn, and Bill.

Filmography
 Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Wagner
 American Gigolo (1980) - Lt. Curtis
 New York Stories (1989) - Suit (segment "Life Lessons")

Accolades

References

External links

1936 births
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American male singers
Singers from Illinois
Living people
Male actors from Evanston, Illinois
Musicians from Evanston, Illinois
DePauw University alumni
Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni
Findlay High School alumni

David Cryer


John Lewis & Partners (formerly and commonly known as John Lewis) is a British brand of high-end department stores operating throughout the United Kingdom, with concessions also located in Ireland. The brand sells general merchandise as part of the employee-owned mutual organisation known as the John Lewis Partnership, the largest co-operative in the United Kingdom. It was created by Spedan Lewis, son of the founder, John Lewis, in 1929. From 1925 to 2022, the chain had a policy that it would always at least match a lower price offered by a national high street competitor; this pledge was known by the name "Never Knowingly Undersold".

The first John Lewis store was opened in 1864 in Oxford Street, London, and there are now 35 stores throughout Great Britain. The first John Lewis concession in Ireland opened in a Dublin Arnotts store in October 2016. In the same year, the first Australian John Lewis concession also opened.

On 1 January 2008, the Oxford Street store was awarded a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II as "suppliers of haberdashery and household goods". John Lewis & Partners Reading is also the holder of a Royal Warrant from the Queen in 2007 as suppliers of household and fancy goods.

The John Lewis Christmas television advert was first launched in 2007 and it has since become an annual tradition in British culture. It is considered as a sign that the countdown to Christmas has begun.

History

Early history

The flagship store on Oxford Street began as a drapery shop, opened by John Lewis in 1864. In 1905 Lewis acquired a second store, Peter Jones in Sloane Square, London.  His eldest son, John Spedan Lewis, began the John Lewis Partnership in 1920 after thinking up the idea during his days in charge of Peter Jones. John Spedan Lewis also thought up the idea of the Gazette, the partnership's in-house magazine, first published in 1918.

In 1933, the partnership purchased its first store outside London, the long-established Jessop & Son in Nottingham. Jessops only rebranded itself as John Lewis on 27 October 2002. In 1940 the partnership bought Selfridge Provincial Stores. This group of sixteen suburban and provincial department stores included Cole Brothers, Sheffield; George Henry Lee, Liverpool; Robert Sayle, Cambridge; and Trewin Brothers, Watford; some of which continue to trade today but are now re-branded as John Lewis & Partners.

In 1937, grocery company Waitrose, consisting of ten shops and 160 employees, was taken over by John Lewis, and today operates as its supermarket arm.

In 1949, it was reported that London branches included Peter Jones, John Barnes (now a branch of Waitrose & Partners), John Pound and Bon Marche. The "provincial branches" were Robert Sayle, of Cambridge and Peterborough, Tyrrell & Green, of Southampton and Lance & Lance of Weston-super-Mare. They also had "silk shops" at Edinburgh, Hull and Newcastle upon Tyne.

In 1953, the Reading department store Heelas became part of the John Lewis group, retaining its original name until 2001 when it adopted the John Lewis name. Also in 1953, the partnership bought Herbert Parkinson, a textile manufacturer, a business which still makes duvets, pillows and furnishings for John Lewis.

1972–2000

The first John Lewis store constructed as part of a shopping centre was the relocated Jessops, in Nottingham, which has been in the Victoria Centre since it opened in 1972. The announcement of an anchor tenant such as John Lewis contributes to the certainty of developers' proposals, and so attracts other retailers to the area.

In 1992, John Lewis was once again bombed, this time by IRA members. The nearby Cavendish square was also bombed at the same time.

Before the relaxation of UK Sunday trading laws in 1994, John Lewis stores closed on Mondays to allow staff a full two-day "weekend".

The John Lewis Partnership was the first department store group in the UK to adopt central buying, launching the 'Jonell(e)' name for own-brand merchandise in 1937. That brand name has gradually been replaced with the 'John Lewis' name since 2001. Additional own brands include Collection by John Lewis as well as John Lewis & Co. and Collection Weekend by John Lewis. Several Waitrose own-brand products, such as cleaning materials and party stationery, are also available from John Lewis.

21st century
Many stores acquired by the Partnership retained their original names for many years, including Tyrrell & Green in Southampton until 2000, Bonds in Norwich until 2001, Trewins in Watford until 2001, Jessops in Nottingham (its first store outside London) until 2002, Bainbridge's in Newcastle until 2002, and Cole Brothers in Sheffield until 2002. All have now been rebranded John Lewis, with the exception of Peter Jones in south west London and Knight & Lee in Southsea (since closed, in 2019).

Investment has been made across the group in the twenty-first century. This has included the renovation of Peter Jones at a cost of £107 million, completed in 2004. The original Oxford Street shop is still the flagship and largest branch in the partnership. A complete refurbishment of the building was completed in late 2007 at a cost of £60 million. This introduced the new 'Place To Eat' restaurant and a brasserie and bistro in the store. A 'John Lewis Food Hall from Waitrose' opened in the shop's basement on 3 October 2007. A second Food Hall opened at the John Lewis Bluewater store on 6 August 2009.

In June 2004, John Lewis announced plans to open its first store in Northern Ireland at the Sprucefield Park development, the province's largest out of town shopping centre, located outside Lisburn and  from Belfast. The application was approved in June 2005 and the opening of the new store was scheduled for 2008. This decision was disputed and was taken to the High Court, where it was reversed.

In 2008, a controversy over the declaration of expenses by UK members of parliament revealed that Parliamentary authorities were using information from John Lewisthe "John Lewis list"as a guide to the maximum costs refundable to MPs when equipping London pieds à terre at public expense.

On 6 November 2008, it was announced that John Lewis would open their first department store outside the UK in Dublin, Ireland. Subject to planning permission, the shop will be built on O'Connell Street. The centre is being developed by Chartered Land and will be part of the largest retail centre in Ireland. As of January 2014 the €1.2 billion development is on hold and John Lewis are still seeking a location in Northern Ireland for a flagship department store.

The Cardiff store opened in September 2009 as part of the Phase 2 development of St David's Centre. The Cardiff branch is also the Partnership's only department store in Wales.
Stratford opened in 2011 together with a new Waitrose supermarket. The new shops will anchor the Westfield Stratford City development alongside the Olympic Park in east London.

In February 2011, it was announced that John Lewis was appointed as the Official Department Store provider for the London 2012 Olympic Games. As part of the deal, John Lewis stores became key retail outlets for official London 2012 merchandise.

Also in February 2011, John Lewis announced it was to open a  department store in Birmingham city centre in 2014. The completion date of 2014 was pushed back to autumn 2015 due to complications regarding the construction of the centre, including issues relating to car parks and taxi ranks. Grand Central leasing director Keith Stone said the date was pushed back to ensure a better customer experience. The store opened on 24 September 2015 and was the flagship store for the £100 million development and part of the new Grand Central shopping centre built on the south side of a redeveloped Birmingham New Street railway station.

In July 2011, John Lewis announced that it would be opening 10 new stores under a new smaller format in city centre locations over the next five years. The new smaller format department stores will hold John Lewis's core lines of Home, Electrical and Fashions, all tailored to the local area. However, the full line will still be available through online terminals within the store, as well as the "click and collect" service already available within other branches. With the first branch opening in Exeter on 12 October 2012, Andrea O'Donnell, commercial director, said the move would help John Lewis double its turnover from £3bn ($4.89bn) to £6bn over the next 10 years

In November 2011, it was announced that John Lewis had shelved plans for a new store in Preston, Lancashire as part of the Tithebarn Project. The economic climate was cited as a key factor in their decision.

It was announced that John Lewis would be the anchor tenant of a new development scheme in Leeds. The Eastgate Quarters scheme was approved in July 2011; the site, since renamed Victoria Gate, guides shoppers from central Leeds to John Lewis via a luxury arcade continuing (over Vicar Lane) from the existing Victoria Quarter. John Lewis had been looking for a site in Leeds for a while, even considering the Headingley cricket ground, and are happy they are at long last filling a major regional gap. The facade of the Leeds department store references the diagonal lines of the John Lewis motif.

In 2014, John Lewis announced its intention to anchor a £1bn extension of the Westfield London shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush, west London. The store (number 50) opened in March 2018.

In September 2015, John Lewis purchased 129–133 North Street in Brighton, a building occupied by Boots and other shops.

In November 2016, John Lewis initiated their internal resource-led 'Project ā' to increase profitability across several product ranges. Currently, the project efforts are focused on their Baby & Child range.

A new store in Cheltenham opened in 2018, in the former Beechwood Shopping Centre.

On 4 September 2018, John Lewis underwent a major rebrand to become John Lewis & Partners. Waitrose underwent a similar rebrand.

In October 2018, recruitment website Indeed named John Lewis & Partners as the UK's eighth best private sector employer, based on millions of employee ratings and reviews.

John Lewis started a trial in 2013 product-labelling the lifetime electricity costs on the household goods. John Lewis opened a store as the showpiece of the Bond Street retail development in the cathedral city of Chelmsford, Essex in 2016. In October 2017, the remodelled and extended Westgate Shopping Centre reopened in the medieval university city of Oxford, with a large John Lewis as the development's anchor store.

In 2018, John Lewis announced that its profits (including Waitrose) for the six months to 28 July dropped 99% from the previous year to £1.2m, and warned that full-year profits would be substantially lower. The company said that the drop was due to lower margins as "This year there has been twice as many extravaganza days as there were a year ago and actually the discounts have been even deeper.... We're never knowingly undersold at John Lewis, so of course we are matching that, and that affects margins." Not being undersold was an "extremely valuable" promise. The drop in profits was reported to be "sparking concerns it could be the next high street retailer faced with closure", following the closure of many British retail chains.

On 21 March 2020, John Lewis announced that it would temporarily close all its stores from 24 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also announced a "significant" reduction of its £500 million planned investment for the year. Over 2,000 John Lewis staff were already temporarily working in Waitrose stores to cope with large grocery demands due to the coronavirus outbreak. On 9 July 2020, the company announced that they will be closing eight out of their fifty department stores, leaving 1,300 job positions at potential risk, and notably including its Birmingham store which had opened less than five years ago because of financial challenges associated with the store which had been ongoing for several years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 24 March 2021, it announced that an additional eight stores would close. The pandemic has had a substantial impact on John Lewis, and in 2021 the company reported losses of £517million for the previous year.

In February 2022, John Lewis announced that later in the year it would end its "never knowingly undersold" pledge to match prices on branded products from other national high street retailers. The policy began in 1925. The pledge, which does not apply to internet purchases, was said by the company's representatives to be becoming less relevant in an increasingly online market.

Stores

Department stores

As of October 2018, the John Lewis Partnership operated 52 John Lewis stores throughout Great Britain. The Oxford Street store, originally opened in 1864 (rebuilt in 1953 following significant bomb damage in World War II), is the largest operated by the partnership. 35 of the stores are traditional department stores and 12 are 'John Lewis at home' stores.

John Lewis at home
Following the early success of the Poole "at home" store, five further "at homes" opened in 2010/11 in areas outside of the catchment of the traditional John Lewis stores, including Croydon, Tunbridge Wells, Tamworth, Chester and Swindon. Further stores in Newbury and Chichester, West Sussex, opened in the spring of 2012, with Ipswich following in November 2012. On Thursday 17 June 2015, a new John Lewis at home store opened in Horsham, West Sussex along with a branch of Waitrose that relocated from the town centre.

Airport store
In the summer of 2014, John Lewis opened a small airside store in the newly rebuilt Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport.

It was announced on 9 July 2020 that the travel hubs, Heathrow and St Pancras, would not reopen after the first Covid-19 national lockdown.

Australia and Ireland

In spring 2016, John Lewis homeware confirmed it planned to enter the Irish market with a concession based at Arnotts Dublin store on Henry Street. It opened in October 2016 with a limited number of John Lewis branded home furnishings. However, by late 2019 the John Lewis concession was reduced in size.

By February 2017, John Lewis had opened five shop-in-shop branches in Myer department stores in Australia. The merchandise focus is on homewares. Manchester (as bedding, linens and towels are called in Australia) is manufactured to Australian bed sizes. By 2020 all concessions inside Myer stores had been closed down.

Visual identity

The graphic identity, which has at its core the distinctive diagonal motif, was created in 1990 by John Lloyd and Jim Northover of the British design consultancy Lloyd Northover. In 2000, it was given a minor refresh by London design consultancy Pentagram.

The line motif appears to be reflected in the façade of the Leeds store.

Christmas advertising

Since 2007, John Lewis has become known for producing memorable Christmas television adverts, which have gained heavy exposure on social media. Some of the more prominent campaigns are The Bear and the Hare, Monty's Christmas and Man on the Moon. The adverts, which typically rely on emotional content, have become something of an annual tradition in the UK and the music used in the campaigns has reached high positions in the UK Singles Chart.

Cancelled plans
In September 2016, John Lewis unveiled its plans for the Brighton store which was expected to open in late 2018, but plans for the store were scrapped in May 2017.

Plans were circulating since the early 2000s for a new large store in Sheffield to replace the current store. The new store was to be included within the Sevenstone development, which has since been cancelled. A new store was to be considered for construction as part of the Sheffield Retail Quarter, scheduled to be completed by 2022.  these plans had not been confirmed and more recently, it was announced that the Sheffield John Lewis would close because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Current branches

Department stores
All stores currently trade as 'John Lewis & Partners' unless stated otherwise.
Bristol, Cribbs Causeway (opened 1998 on relocation from Bristol city centre; former Bristol location  opened 1981)
Cardiff (opened 2009)
Cambridge (opened 2007 in current location, adjacent to original site; originally Robert Sayle, acquired 1940)
Cheadle (opened 1995)
Chelmsford (opened 2016)
Cheltenham (opened 2018)
Edinburgh (opened 1973)
Exeter (opened 2012)
Glasgow (opened 1999)
Greenhithe, Bluewater (opened 1999)
High Wycombe (opened 1988; originally John Lewis Furnishing & Leisure)
Kingston upon Thames (opened 1990)
Leeds (opened 2016)
Leicester (opened 2008)
Liverpool (opened 2008 in current location; originally George Henry Lee, acquired 1940)
London, Brent Cross (opened 1976)
London, Oxford Street (opened 1864)
London, Sloane Square (trades as Peter Jones & Partners; acquired 1905)
London, Stratford (opened 2011)
London, White City (opened 2018)
Milton Keynes (opened 1979)
Newcastle upon Tyne (opened 1976 in current location; originally Bainbridge, acquired 1953)
Norwich (originally Bonds, acquired 1982)
Nottingham (opened 1972 in current location; originally Jessop & Son, acquired 1933)
Oxford (opened 2017)
Reading (originally Heelas, acquired 1953)
Solihull (opened 2001)
Southampton (opened 2000 in current location; originally Tyrrell & Green, acquired 1934)
Trafford (opened 2005)
Welwyn Garden City (opened 1984; originally Welwyn Department Store, acquired 1983)

At Home shops
Chichester (opened 2012)
Horsham (opened 2015)
Ipswich (opened 2012)
Poole (opened 2009)

Other shops
 Swindon (outlet; opened 2007)

Former branches

Department stores

 John Barnes, Finchley Road, London – acquired 1940; closed 1981; building retained by John Lewis Partnership and now occupied by Waitrose & Partners
 Blinkhorn & Son, Gloucester – acquired 1940; closed 1953; sold to Woolworths
 Blinkhorn & Son Stroud, Stroud – acquired 1940; closed 1953
 Bon Marché, Brixton, London – acquired 1940; closed 1975
 Buckleys, Harrogate – acquired 1940; sold in 1953 to Busbys of Bradford
 A H Bull, Reading – acquired 1940; closed in 1953 with the business incorporated into Heelas; premises sold to Littlewoods
 Caleys, Windsor – acquired 1940; closed 2006
 Holdrons, Peckham, London – acquired 1940; sold 1948
 Jones Brothers, Holloway Road, London – acquired 1940; closed 1990; part of Jones Brothers site retained by John Lewis Partnership and now occupied by Waitrose & Partners
 Knight & Lee, Southsea – acquired 1934; closed 13 July 2019
 Lance & Lance, Weston-super-Mare – acquired 1933; closed 1956
 John Lewis & Co. Upton Park, Upton Park, London - a branch of John Lewis & Co. of Oxford Street trading in the early 20th century; after disposal the store traded as The John Lewis Store of Upton Park before purchase by Chiesmans
 John Lewis & Co. Wimbledon, Wimbledon, London - a branch of John Lewis & Co. of Oxford Street trading in the early 20th century; sold to Kennards in the 1920s
 John Lewis & Partners Aberdeen / John Lewis Aberdeen, Aberdeen - opened 1989; closed 2020
 John Lewis & Partners Birmingham / John Lewis Birmingham, Birmingham - opened 2015; closed 2020
 John Lewis & Partners Peterborough / John Lewis Peterborough, Peterborough - opened 1982; closed 2020
 John Lewis & Partners Sheffield / John Lewis Sheffield (formerly Cole Brothers), Sheffield - acquired 1940; relocated 1963; closed 2020
 John Lewis & Partners Watford / John Lewis Watford (formerly Trewins / Trewin Brothers), Watford - acquired 1940; relocated 1990; closed 2020
 John Lewis & Partners York / John Lewis York, York - opened 2014; closed 2020
 Pratts, Streatham, London – acquired 1940; closed 1990
 Quin & Axten, Brixton, London – acquired 1940; sold 1949
 Robert Sayle Peterborough (formerly Thomsons), Peterborough – acquired 1940; closed 1956
 Vinalls, Eastbourne – acquired 1947; sold 1953 to McCartney Stewart

At Home shops
 Ashford - opened 2012; closed 2020
 Basingstoke - opened 2015; closed 2020
 Chester - opened 2011; closed 2020
 Croydon - opened 2010; closed 2020
 Newbury - opened 2012; closed 2020
 Swindon - opened 2010; closed 2020
 Tamworth - opened 2011; closed 2020
 Tunbridge Wells - opened 2011; closed 2020

Other shops
 George Henry Lee Chester, Chester - opened 1951; premises formerly occupied by John Smith & Son; closed 1967
 John Lewis & Partners Heathrow / John Lewis Heathrow, Heathrow - opened 2014; closed 2020
 John Lewis & Partners St Pancras / John Lewis St Pancras, St Pancras, London - opened 2014; closed 2020
 John Lewis Ladybird Shop, Oxford Street, London - opened 1962; closed 1977
 Daniel Neal, Portman Square, London – acquired 1963; closed 1963 with the business incorporated into John Lewis
 Daniel Neal Bournemouth, Bournemouth – acquired 1963; closed 1977
 Daniel Neal Cheltenham, Cheltenham – acquired 1963; closed 1977
 Daniel Neal Kensington, Kensington, London – acquired 1963; closed 1964 with the business incorporated into Peter Jones
 John Pound Oxford Street, Oxford Street, London - acquired 1944
 John Pound Piccadilly, Piccadilly, London - acquired 1944
 John Pound Regent Street, Regent Street, London; acquired 1944
 The Silk Shop, Newcastle upon Tyne - acquired 1943; closed 1976 to coincide with the relocation of Bainbridge
 The Silk Shop Edinburgh, Edinburgh - acquired 1943; closed 1973 to coincide with the opening of John Lewis Edinburgh
 The Silk Shop Hull, Hull - acquired 1944; sold 1953 to Ellwood Silks
 The Silk Shop Tunbridge Wells (formerly Bon Marche), Tunbridge Wells - acquired 1946; sold 1953 to John Perris
 Tyrrell & Green Winchester, Winchester - opened 1940; closed 1955

References

External links

British royal warrant holders
Lewis John
Lewis John
Retail companies established in 1864
Retail companies of the United Kingdom
British brands
Shops in London

John Lewis & Partners


The World Bank is an international bank that lends money and other help  to developing nations for infrastructure. The World Bank has the goal of reducing poverty.

The World Bank is part of the World Bank Group. The World Bank is made up of only two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank Group has these two, but also three more: International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

History

The World Bank is one of five institutions started as the Bretton Woods system in July 1944.  The International Monetary Fund is another one. Many countries sent people to attend the Bretton Woods Conference. The most powerful countries with people there were the United States and United Kingdom, which controlled most of the negotiations.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are both based in Washington DC, but the World Bank is headed by an American, while the IMF is led by a European.

1945–1968
From the start until 1967 the bank did not lend as much money as it does now. Careful screening of loan applications was common. The bank wanted to provide loans for reconstruction and development, but if they lent out too much, there would be less trust in the bank.

Bank president John McCloy chose France to be the first country to receive a loan from the World Bank; Poland and Chile applied but did not receive one. The loan was for $987 million, half the amount that France actually asked for. There were very strict rules about the use of the funds. Bank staff made sure that the French government would have a balanced budget and pay back what it owed to the World Bank first before it paid back other countries. The United States State Department told the French government that the Cabinet should not have any communists. To get the loan, the French government removed the Communist coalition government. The loan to France was given very quickly after that.

The Marshall Plan of 1947 meant that many European countries already got help, so the World Bank began to lend to non-European countries. Until 1968, loans were used mainly to pay for projects that would help the country pay it back (such projects as ports, highway systems, and power plants).

1968–1980
From 1968 to 1980 the bank worked mostly on meeting the basic needs of people in poor countries. The amount of money being loaned out grew bigger, and more loans were given. This was because the loans were not just given for infrastructure, but also for social services and other things.

These changes were made by Robert McNamara who became the president in 1968. McNamara managed the Bank in the same way he had worked when he was United States Secretary of Defense and President of the Ford Motor Company. McNamara changed the focus toward things such as building schools and hospitals, improving literacy and farming. McNamara started a new system of gathering information from nations applying for loans. This helped the bank to process loan applications much faster. To give out more loans, McNamara told bank treasurer Eugene Rotberg to find new sources of money, because the northern banks that had lent out the money did not have enough. Rotberg used the bond market to increase the amount of money that the bank could lend. One result of lending so much to help poor countries was that the countries in the Third World started owing a lot more money. From 1976 to 1980 developing world debt rose at an average of 20% a year.

1989–Present
From 1989 World Bank policy changed, because many people were complaining. Environmental groups and NGOs were also lent money, to help fix the things that the people were complaining about. Now bank projects include caring for the environment.

Millennium Development Goals
The World Bank's current focus is on meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This means lending mainly to countries that are not very poor, at interest rates which are a little bit higher than the ones it borrows at. The IDA provides low or no interest loans and grants to the poorest countries. The Bank's mission is to help developing countries to develop more and become less poor. They will also meet the MDGs by helping countries to become good places for investment, jobs and sustainable growth. This (it is postulated) will help the country's economic growth through investment and help the poor to share the results of economic growth.

Key Factors
The World Bank says that there are five key factors necessary for economic growth:

 Build capacity: Making governments stronger and more educated.
 Infrastructure creation: Making laws to encourage business, and protect individual and property rights.
 Development of Financial Systems: Starting strong systems that can lend and borrow in many different situations.
 Combating corruption: Stopping corruption in governments.
 Research, Consultancy and Training: helping students, academics and organisations who are interested do research into financial affairs.

Poverty reduction strategies
For the poorest developing countries in the world, the bank's plans are based on poverty reduction strategies. The World Bank looks very carefully at local groups of people, and the needs of the country, to develop a strategy that works best for that country. The government then says what it will do to help stop poverty, and the World Bank works with it.

Forty-five countries gave US$25.1 billion in "aid for the world's poorest countries", aid that goes to the World Bank International Development Association (IDA) which distributes the money to eighty poorer countries. While richer nations sometimes pay for their own aid projects, Robert B. Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, said when the gifts were announced on December 15, 2007, that World Bank money "is the core funding that the poorest developing countries rely on".

Leadership
In 2012, Jim Yong Kim became President of the Bank. He is responsible for chairing the meetings of the Boards of Directors and for running the Bank. The Bank President has always been a US citizen chosen by the United States, the largest shareholder in the bank. The person is then approved by the Board of Governors. They are president for five years, and after that they might be chosen again.

The Executive Directors, represent the Bank's member countries. They make up the Board of Directors and usually meet twice a week to approve and discuss loans and guarantees, new policies, the budget, ways to help countries and other important decisions.

There are 24 Vice-Presidents, three Senior Vice Presidents and two Executive Vice Presidents.

Voting power
In 2010, voting powers at the World Bank were changed so that developing countries, especially China, have a bigger vote. The countries with most voting power are now the United States (15.85%), Japan (6.84%), China (4.42%), Germany (4.00%), France (3.75%) and the United Kingdom (3.75%). Under the changes, other countries that saw big gains included Brazil, India, South Korea and Mexico. Most developed countries' voting power was reduced. Russia's voting power was not changed.

Criticism
The World Bank has been criticized by non-governmental organizations, such as Survival International, and academics, including its former Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz. Critics say that the free market that the Bank supports is harmful to economic development if done badly, too quickly, in the wrong order or in weak economies.

In Masters of Illusion: The World Bank and the Poverty of Nations (1996), Catherine Caufield argued that the way the World Bank works is bad for southern nations. Caufield said that the World Bank focuses too much on "development". To the World Bank, different nations all need the same "remedy of development". She argued that to have even modest success, Western practices are used instead of traditional economic structures and values. A second thing the World Bank thinks is that poor countries cannot become modern without money and advice from other countries.

A number of academics in developing countries have said that the way the World Bank works only blames the poor for being poor.

One of the strongest criticisms of the World Bank is the way it was run. While the World Bank represents 186 countries, it is run by a small number of powerful countries. These countries choose who runs the World Bank, so what they want is what the bank does.

The World Bank is two different things: a political organization and a practical organization. As a political organization, the World Bank does what donor and borrowing governments, private capital markets, and other international organizations want. As a practical organization, it must be neutral, working mainly in development aid, technical assistance, and loans. Because the World Bank has to do what donor countries and private capital markets want, it says poverty is best solved by "market" policies. Many people think this is wrong.

In the 1990s, the World Bank and the IMF made the Washington Consensus. Many now agree that the Washington Consensus looked too much at the growth of GDP, and not enough how long the growth lasted or whether growth was even good at all.

Some studies show that the World Bank has increased poverty and been bad for the environment, public health and cultural diversity. Some critics also say that the World Bank has always supported Neoliberalism, forcing developing countries to follow rules which have been damaging.

People also say that the World Bank pushes U.S. or Western interests in certain parts of the world. Even South American nations have established the Bank of the South in order to cut down on US influence there. The fact that the President is always a citizen of the United States, nominated by the President of the United States makes some people unhappy. The US has just over 16% of the shares in the bank; some people say this makes the voting unfair because they have too much power, as decisions only happen if the countries that support it have 85% of the bank's shares. The World Bank also does not need to explain what it does to anyone.

A lot of the criticism has led to protesting. The World Bank Oslo 2002 Protests, the October Rebellion, and the Battle of Seattle are among the protests that have happened. Such demonstrations are held all over the world, even amongst the Brazilian Kayapo people.

In 2008, a World Bank report found that biofuels had driven food prices up 75%. This was important news, but it was never published. Officials said that they thought it because George W. Bush would be embarrassed.

Knowledge production
The World Bank has been criticised for the way it carries out "the production, accumulation, circulation and functioning" of knowledge. The Bank's production of knowledge has become important to explain why big loans are given out. The Bank uses many scientists around the world, organisations and other people to help make data and strategies.". The information is created to stop people looking too closely at what the Bank does. The only knowledge system that is used is the Western one, meaning that the systems that other countries used are put aside and the Western one forced in. Knowledge production has become very useful for the Bank, which plans carefully how to use it to explain why they focus on development.

Structural adjustment
The effect of structural adjustment policies on poor countries has been one of the most important criticisms of the World Bank. The oil crisis in the late 1970s made many countries have serious money issues. The World Bank decided that it would help by giving out special loans called "structural adjustment loans", which meant the policies of the country had to be changed to reduce inflation. Some of these policies included encouraging production and investment, changing exchange rates and changing the way government resources were used. These were most effective in countries where these policies could be implemented easily. For some countries, especially in Africa, inflation became worse. Stopping poverty was not part of these loans, so the poor usually became poorer because the governments were told to spend less money and raise food prices.

By the late 1980s, people realised that structural adjustment policies were worsening life for the world's poor. The World Bank changed structural adjustment loans after that. In 1999, the World Bank and the IMF introduced the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper to replace structural adjustment loans. Some people say that the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper approach is just another way of using structural adjustment policies as it continues to do a lot of the same things. Neither way has solved the problems of why some countries are so poor. By making some countries owe others money, many believe that the World Bank has taken over those countries' power to choose how they run their economy.

Sovereign immunity
Despite the goals of "good governance and anti-corruption″ the World Bank needs sovereign immunity from countries it deals with. Sovereign immunity means nothing the World Bank does can be punished. Some people say sovereign immunity is a "shield which [The World Bank] wants resort to, for escaping accountability and security by the people." Because the United States has veto power, it is the only country that can stop the World Bank from doing things it doesn't like.

Environmental strategy
The World Bank's work on a way to fix climate change and environmental threats has also been criticized.
People say it has no real vision and purpose, and  a limited focus on only what it can do in global and regional governance. People also say it ignores some specific issues in certain parts of the world, like. issues of rights to food and land, and sustainable land use. Critics have also seen that only 1% of the World Bank's lending goes to the environmental sector.

Environmentalists are asking the Bank to stop worldwide support for coal plants and other things that pollute the environment. For instance, many people have criticized the 2010 decision of the World Bank's approval for a $3.75 billion loan to build the world's 4th largest coal-fired power plant in South Africa.  The plant will increase coal mining, and cause more pollution.

References

Economics organizations

World Bank


A leotard is a skin-tight one-piece garment that covers the torso. Leotards are often worn by acrobats, gymnasts, dancers, circus performers and figure skaters. They are worn by both males and females.

Leotards can have short sleeves, long sleeves, or no sleeves.

Clothing

Leotard


Alfred Bielschowsky (December 11, 1871 – April 5, 1940) was a German ophthalmologist. His specialty was physiology and pathology of the eye, particularly in regards to research of eye movement, space perception and diagnosis of oculomotor anomalies.

Bielschowsky was born in Namslau (Namysłów), Prussian Silesia. After attending the Königliches Katholisches Gymnasium of Glatz (Kłodzko), he studied medicine at the University of Breslau (Wrocław) and at the University of Heidelberg. At Heidelberg he was a student of ophthalmologist Theodor Leber (1840-1917). Afterwards he studied medicine at the University of Berlin, attending the lectures of Karl Ernst Theodor Schweigger (1830-1905) and graduating in 1893. He received his medical license in Leipzig on March 1 of the same year.

Bielschowsky subsequently studied and worked in the eye clinic at the University of Leipzig, receiving his habilitation in 1900 and becoming head physician of the clinic in 1906. While at Leipzig he worked under physiologist Ewald Hering (1834-1918), and with Franz Bruno Hofmann (1869-1926), he conducted studies of fusion and cyclodeviation in superior oblique muscle paresis. In 1912 Bielschowsky attained the chair of ophthalmology at the University of Marburg.

During World War I, Bielschowsky established a hospital ward and Braille instruction for treatment of blinded soldiers. In 1916, along with Carl Strehl (1886-1971), he founded the Verein blinder Akademiker Deutschlands (Association of Blinded Academics of Germany). For his war-time contributions, he was awarded the Iron Cross for War Aid from Paul von Hindenburg and honored with the title of Geheimer Medizinalrat (Privy Medical Counselor) by Wilhelm II, German Emperor.

In 1923 Bielschowsky was appointed chair of ophthalmology at the University of Breslau. While here, he published "Die Lähmungen der Augenmuskeln" (1932), an influential work on eye muscle disturbances.

Because of his Jewish heritage and Nazi persecution, Bielschowsky was fired from his position in 1934, later emigrating to the United States (1936). In 1937 he became head of the Dartmouth Eye Institute at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. However, he died suddenly in 1940.
During the same year his "Lectures on motor anomalies" was published.

Associated eponym
 Bielschowsky's head tilt test: A test for palsy of the superior oblique muscle caused by damage to cranial nerve IV (trochlear nerve).

References

 Ophthalmology Hall of Fame (Biography and Photo)
 Alfred Bielschowsky @ Who Named It

External links

1871 births
1940 deaths
People from Namysłów
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
Geisel School of Medicine faculty
German ophthalmologists
German people of World War I
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Physicians from the Province of Silesia
Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914)
Heidelberg University alumni
University of Breslau alumni
Academic staff of the University of Breslau
Leipzig University alumni
Academic staff of Leipzig University
Academic staff of the University of Marburg

Alfred Bielschowsky


The Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus FRS (13 February 1766 – 23 December 1834), was a British writer on political economy and population. Malthus popularised the economic theory of rent, and was the first to use the phrase struggle for existence.

Views on population

Malthus is famous for his theories about population: its increase or decrease in response to various factors. There were six editions of his An Essay on the Principle of Population, published from 1798 to 1826. He said that sooner or later population gets checked, by famine, disease, and widespread mortality.

He wrote in opposition to many who saw society as improving, and (in principle) as perfectible.viii William Godwin and the Marquis de Condorcet, for example, believed in the possibility of almost limitless improvement of society. So, in a more complex way, did Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose notions centered on the goodness of man and the liberty of citizens bound only by the social contract.

Malthus thought that the dangers of population growth would prevent endless progress towards a utopian society:
"The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man".p13
As an Anglican clergyman, Malthus saw this situation as divinely imposed to teach virtuous behaviour.p104–105 Believing that one could not change human nature, Malthus wrote:
"Must it not then be acknowledged by an attentive examiner of the histories of mankind, that in every age and in every State in which man has existed, or does now exist,
 that the increase of population is necessarily limited by the means of subsistence,
 that population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence increase, and,
 that the superior power of population is repressed, and the actual population kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery and vice".p61

Economic views

Malthus placed the longer-term stability of the economy above short-term expediency. He criticised the Poor Laws,p39-45 and (alone among important contemporary economists) supported the Corn Laws, which introduced a system of taxes on British imports of wheat.pxx He thought these measures would encourage domestic production, and so promote long-term benefits.

Influence

Malthus became hugely influential, and controversial, in economic, political, social and scientific thought. Many evolutionary biologists read him, especially Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. For both of them, Malthusianism became a stepping-stone to the idea of natural selection. Malthus is still a writer of great significance and controversy.

References

Other websites

1766 births
1834 deaths
Academics of the University of Cambridge
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
British economists
Demography
English Anglicans
English priests
English scientists
Writers from Surrey

Thomas Robert Malthus


Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site is a historic house museum in Hyde Park, New York. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1940. It is owned and operated by the National Park Service.

The property, historically known as Hyde Park, was one of several homes owned by Frederick William Vanderbilt and his wife Louise Holmes Anthony. The 54-room Vanderbilt mansion was designed by the preeminent architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. Construction occurred between 1896 and 1899. The house is an example of the Beaux-Arts architecture style. The interiors are archetypes of the American Renaissance, blending European architectural salvage, antiques, and fine period reproductions representing an array of historical styles. The site includes  of the original larger property (once around 600 acres) situated on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River and includes manicured lawns, formal gardens, woodlands, and numerous auxiliary buildings.

History

Historically known as Hyde Park, the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site is one of the area's oldest Hudson River estates. The earliest development of the estate began in 1764 when Dr. John Bard purchased land on the east side of the Albany Post Road, where he built Red House and developed the agricultural aspects of the eastern section of the property that continued through Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt's occupancy. Bard family ownership continued through 1821 with his son, Dr. Samuel Bard (1742–1821), owning the property from 1799 to 1821. In 1828, Dr. David Hosack, president of the New York Horticultural Society, purchased the property from Samuel Bard's heirs, with André Parmentier helping to design the grounds. In 1840, John Jacob Astor purchased the property from Hosack's heirs for his daughter Dorothea and her husband Walter S. Langdon. Their son Walter inherited and occupied the estate to the time of his death in 1894.

Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt purchased Hyde Park in May 1895 from Langdon's heirs. Attracted to the Hudson Valley and the land on the east bank of the Hudson River, Frederick and his wife settled into their  estate. The location offered quick and easy access to New York City on the Vanderbilt's own New York Central Railroad. The house was designed and built between 1896 and 1899, and was primarily used as a vacation home for Frederick Vanderbilt's family. The previous owners of the estate had made it well known for its grand landscape and array of different plants and trees throughout the property. The New York Times described the Vanderbilt's estate as "the finest place on the Hudson between New York and Albany."

Their niece, Margaret "Daisy" Van Alen, inherited the property when Frederick Vanderbilt died in 1938. Encouraged by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who owned an estate nearby), Van Alen donated a portion of the estate, including the residence with most of its original furnishings, to the National Park Service in 1940. From 1941 to 1943, Roosevelt's Secret Service was housed in the basement and third-floor service areas, and some of the President's personal White House staff and friends occasionally stayed in the main bedrooms of the house, including those of Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt.

Mansion

The 54-room mansion is the work of the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. Charles Follen McKim designed the plan in the Beaux-Arts style and Stanford White assisted as an antiques buyer.

The house has a classic Beaux-Arts plan, with the major public rooms on its ground floor – the central Elliptical Hall, Dining Room, and Living Room – all in one line, parallel to the Hudson River. North and South Foyers provide transitional space from the Hall to the Dining Room and Living Room. Five secondary spaces are located off the Elliptical Hall: the Lobby, Den, Gold Room, Grand Stair Hall, and Lavatory. The second floor rooms, comprising Mrs. Vanderbilt's suite of Bedroom, Boudoir and Bathroom (designed by Ogden Codman), Mr. Vanderbilt's Bedroom and Bathroom, Guest Bedrooms and Baths and the Linen Room, are disposed around the Second Floor Hall and the North and South Foyers. The third floor contains five additional guest bedrooms, and a Servants' Hall separated from the guests' rooms by a door at the main staircase. Supported by both concrete and steel, the Vanderbilt mansion was considered modern for its time. The mansion also included plumbing and forced hot air central heating and electric lighting which was powered by a hydroelectric plant built on the estate on the Crumb Elbow stream. The Vanderbilt estate had electric lighting before the surrounding area.

Herter Brothers and A. H. Davenport and Company were subcontractors who executed McKim's interior designs. The Vanderbilts also hired Georges Glaenzer and Ogden Codman to decorate several rooms. E.F. Caldwell & Co. manufactured the majority of the lighting.

Gardens
The Italian gardens are detached from the house and incorporated formal elements typical of the Italian style. This meant that the beds were arranged in such a way that if you drew a line across the middle, either horizontally or vertically, one side of the line would mirror the other side. These formal gardens also consisted of multiple tiers, which depended on the type of plants. Each level was different. Frederick himself added the rose garden which contained almost 2000 vintage rose bushes along with other kinds of roses.

See also
 List of Gilded Age mansions

References

External links

Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site
Historic Resource Study, Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site

1940 establishments in New York (state)
Beaux-Arts architecture in New York (state)
Biographical museums in New York (state)
Gilded Age mansions
Historic American Engineering Record in New York (state)
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
Historic house museums in New York (state)
Houses in Hyde Park, New York
Hudson River
Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area
Museums in Hyde Park, New York
National Historic Sites in New York (state)
National Register of Historic Places in Dutchess County, New York
Protected areas established in 1940
U.S. Route 9
Vanderbilt family residences
Hudson River School sites
McKim, Mead & White buildings
New York State Register of Historic Places in Dutchess County


Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847) has been the subject of numerous television and film adaptations. This 1973 four-hour literary version was originally broadcast as a five-part BBC television drama serial. It was directed by Joan Craft and starred Sorcha Cusack and Michael Jayston.

Plot
In this version of Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane Eyre (Sorcha Cusack) is an independent and strong-minded young woman who is hired by Mr. Rochester (Michael Jayston) to work as a governess. What she does not realize is that she must share the estate (and ultimately Mr. Rochester) with his wife, Bertha (Brenda Kempner), who is, by this point in her life, mentally ill and kept locked away in an upstairs attic.

For a full-length summary see: Jane Eyre plot summary.

Cast

Reception
Henry Mitchell in a 21 July 1982 review for The Washington Post noted of the mini-series that "At its best, it sounds like Jane Austen through a glass darkly and that is very good indeed." Richard Shepard's 21 July 1982 review for The New York Times was mixed, noting (of its highly literary style) that the production "is impeccably done, to judge from the first part, and appears to be faithful to the book, but perhaps because of this faithfulness it does not catch fire. It is an enactment from the book, and one must judge for oneself whether to honor or deprecate it for its literary fidelity." Shepard offers high praise of the cast, stating that, "as its heroine, Sorcha Cusack makes an uncommonly strong, yet reserved, Jane. She is not pretty but has a quiet beauty enhanced by a slight smile and an expression that is attractively quizzical. Her soft voice supplies bridging text from the book between scenes. Michael Jayston is craggily handsome and strong and more theatrical in his portrayal of Rochester, the imperious, troubled master whose service she enters and whose heart she captures."

DVD
The DVD for this series is available, distributed by Acorn Media UK.

References

External links
BBC:A History of Jane Eyre on Screen
Review at JaneEyre.net
 Jane Eyre Multimedia Presentation

BBC television dramas
Television shows based on British novels
Films based on Jane Eyre
1973 drama films

Jane Eyre (1973 TV series)


Adélaïde-Emilie (sometimes Émilie-Adélaïde) Filleul, Marquise de Souza-Botelho (14 May 176119 April 1836) was a French writer.

Biography
She was born in Paris.

Her mother, Marie Irène Cathérine de Buisson, daughter of the Seigneur de Longpré, near Falaise, married a bourgeois of that town named Filleul. It was reported, though no proof is forthcoming, that Mme. Filleul had been the mistress of Louis XV and most royal genealogists give hers as his daughters, although never recognized. Her husband became one of the king's secretaries, and Mme. Filleul made many friends, among them Jean-François Marmontel. Their eldest daughter, Marie Françoise Julie Filleul (Château de Longpré, 1751Paris, 1822) married at the Château de Menars in 1767 Abel François Poisson, marquis de Vandières et de Marigny (1727–1781), the brother of Madame de Pompadour; Adélaïde-Émilie married on 30 January 1779 Alexandre Sébastien de Flahaut de La Billarderie, comte de Flahaut de La Billarderie, a soldier of some reputation, who was many years her senior.

In Paris she soon gathered round her a salon, in which the principal figure was Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. There are many allusions to their liaison in the diary of Founding Father Gouverneur Morris, who was another of her lovers. In 1785 was born her son Charles Joseph, comte de Flahaut, who was generally known to be Talleyrand's son. Mme de Flahaut fled from Paris in 1792 and joined the society of émigrés at Mickleham, Surrey, described in Mme. d'Arblay's Memoirs. Her husband remained at Boulogne-sur-Mer, where he was arrested on 29 January 1793 and guillotined. Mme. de Flahaut now supported herself by writing novels, of which the first, Adèle de Sénanges (London, 1794), which is partly autobiographical, was the most famous.

She presently left London for Switzerland, where she met Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans. She travelled in his company to Hamburg, where she lived for two years, earning her living as a milliner. She returned to Paris in 1798, and on 17 October 1802 she married Dom José Maria de Sousa Botelho Mourão e Vasconcelos (Porto, 9 March 1758Paris, 1 June 1825), Portuguese minister plenipotentiary in Paris, 2nd Lord of the Majorat of Mateus, who was previously married in Lisbon on 23 November 1783 to Dona Maria Teresa de Noronha, of the Lords of the Majorat of os Apréstimos, by whom he had an only son, future 1st Count of Vila Real. Her husband was recalled in 1804, and was offered the Saint Petersburg embassy; but in the next year he resigned, to settle permanently in Paris, where he had many friends, among them the historian Jean Charles Leonard de Sismondi. He spent his time chiefly in the preparation of a beautiful edition of the Lusiads of Luís de Camões, which he completed in 1817.

Mme. de Souza lost her social power after the fall of the First Empire, and was deserted even by Talleyrand, although he continued his patronage of Charles de Flahaut. Her husband died in 1825, and after the accession of Louis Philippe she lived in comparative retirement till her death. She brought up her grandson, Charles, duc de Morny, her son's natural son by Queen Hortense de Beauharnais. Among her later novels were La Comtesse de Fargy (1822) and La Duchesse de Guise (1831). Her complete works were published between 1811 and 1822.

References

1761 births
1836 deaths
Adelaide
Novelists from Paris
19th-century French women writers
French salon-holders
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
People of the French Revolution
French marchionesses

Adelaide Filleul, Marquise de Souza-Botelho


Makalös (unequalled) was the colloquial name for the grand mansion, or palace, of the Swedish noble family De la Gardie. Situated at Norrström, south of Kungsträdgården in Stockholm and vis-à-vis the Royal Palace, the building was completed in 1653 and demolished in 1825 after a fire.

Construction
Construction of the mansion was begun in the 1630s on a piece of land owned by Jakob De la Gardie. De la Gardie tasked Hans Jacob Kristler with the construction. The five-floor building was built of brick and stone with a copper roof. The living quarters were situated in the ground floor, the festivities hall on the second (piano nobile), dancing and music rooms on the third, and stores and armoury on the fourth and fifth floors. The cellar comprised larders, while housekeeping facilities, stables and gardens were situated outside the main building. Four towers marked the corners of a facade richly decorated with stone masonry and adorned with bay windows and column-supported loggias in Italian style. The interior was equally splendid, with stucco decorations, picturesque plafonds, tapestries, decorative masonry, and galleries of paintings.

At the time of construction, the building's size and architecture stood in stark contrast to the humble surroundings and were unrivalled in Sweden. Although the mansion was colloquially known as "Makalös", the De la Gardie family referred to it exclusively as Stora huset ("the great house").

Use
Jakob De la Gardie died in 1652 and his widow Ebba Brahe moved into a mansion in Götgatan that had formerly been owned by the De Geer family. Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie inherited Makalös, together with the family's extensive properties in Sweden and Finland. The reduction in 1684 cost him the greatest part of his property, with the exception of Venngarn Castle, where he died two years later. Under the ownership of the crown, Makalös was used as a warehouse and later as an arsenal and armoury for over a century. When Sweden's reigning aesthete Gustav III decided to reorganise the capital's theatres, it was chosen as the venue for the Royal Dramatic Theatre, an institution that exists to this day. The theatre, then named Nya Dramatiska Teatern, opened in 1793. It was also known as the "arsenal theatre".

Destruction by fire

On 24 November 1825, a fire broke out during a performance. When smoke was smelled, actor Lars Hjortsberg, speaking from the stage, informed the audience of this and asked them to leave the building. All spectators were safely evacuated, though three employees died in the fire. The building suffered severe damage and was subsequently torn down. A number of stone sculptures were saved, some of which were incorporated into private mansions, while others ended up in various museums, such as the Nordic Museum. A number of artifacts are exhibited at the Stockholm metro's Kungsträdgården station, close to the former location of Makalös.

Scale model

A detailed model of the mansion is exhibited at Stockholm City Museum.

Houses completed in 1653
Buildings and structures demolished in 1825
Palaces in Stockholm
1653 establishments in Sweden
17th century in Stockholm
Demolished buildings and structures in Sweden

Makalös


Boomerang is a coaster type made by Vekoma, named after the original boomerang. The first Boomerang began operation in 1984 at Rafaela Padilla in Puebla, México (which has since been moved to Six Flags México), and it has become one of the most repeated roller coaster designs in the world, with 41 Boomerangs operating as of 2011, another two "Standing but not operating" or in storage, and one currently under construction.

Information

The Boomerang operates with one train with 7 cars, each capable of carrying 4 people (28 people per train). The ride starts with the train being pulled backwards out of the station, up a lift hill by a catch-car. When the catch-car reaches the end of the lift hill, it releases the train, which rolls down through the station, then into a cobra roll. After the cobra roll, it goes through a loop after which it clicks onto a chain on the second lift hill. When the train reaches the end of the second lift hill, the chain is moved down, which causes the train to roll down (as it is not attached to the chain anymore) and do the same track backwards.

Problems
Boomerang coasters have sometimes stalled, often in the cobra Roll element. As a precaution, many Boomerang coasters, are built with an access platform just under the cobra roll. Also, sometimes the train gets stuck on the second lift hill.

Other websites
 Boomerang page on the Vekoma website
 Listing of Boomerang roller coasters at the Roller coaster database.
 Listing of Invertigo roller coasters at the Roller coaster database.
 Listing of Giant Inverted Boomerang roller coasters at the Roller coaster database.
 Detailed Technical Article about Boomerang Roller Coasters

Roller coasters manufactured by Vekoma

Boomerang (roller coaster)


Subtitles are text-like versions of the dialog in movies. Subtitles are also used in television programmes and video games.  The text is usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. Subtitles can also be a form of written translation of a dialog in an unfamiliar language, or a written text version of the spoken words in the same language, with or without added information to help watchers who are not able to hear or people who cannot understand the spoken dialogue.

References

Movie industry
Communication

Subtitle (captioning)


The Urbz: Sims in the City is a video game that was published by Electronic Arts and is developed by Maxis and Griptonite Games. The game is available for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS systems. The game was the third The Sims game for video game consoles and is also the second Sims game that was not released on the PC.

The point of the game is to go to each to nine Districts and build the reputation (which is called "Rep" in the game) of your sim and the districts. Rep is a measurement of how popular a character in the game is. When a character gains more reputation, they can gain access to larger apartments and also different Districts. In the end of the game, the character will have the largest apartment and be able to visit any of the Districts.

The hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas provides several music for the game, which have also been translated into Simlish (sim language). The members of the group also appear as guest characters in the game.

Other websites
Official game website

The Sims
2004 video games
Game Boy Advance games
Nintendo GameCube games
Nintendo DS games
PlayStation 2 games
Xbox games

The Urbz: Sims in the City


Daunne Devi Temple () is a Hindu temple of Durga located in, Nawalparasi district of Nepal. The temple lies in the hill pass at an elevation of 1033 m msl in route from Bardaghat to Dumkibas. The temple also has Shivalaya due to which the temple is visited by pilgrimages in the month of Shrawan. The temple is believed to be established by Jung Bahadur Rana.

The Daunne hill was called Trikut Parbat in ancient times. It was place where Valmiki came for meditation.  The place is also believed to be visited by Mayadevi, the mother Sakyamuni Buddha, for meditation.

The temple is maintained by user community since 2049 BS. The current temple was constructed in 2055 BS. In 2032 BS, archeological excavation discovered three inscriptions near the temple. Another survey in 2053 BS discovered ancient coins.

See also
Maula Kalika Temple
List of Hindu temples in Nepal

References

Hindu temples in Lumbini Province
Buildings and structures in Parasi District
Shiva temples in Nepal

Daunne Devi Temple


Bill Kovacs (25 October 1949 – 30 May 2006) was a pioneer of commercial computer animation technology.

Early career
Kovacs received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1971. He worked for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (New York office) while getting a Masters of Environmental Design from Yale University (1972). He was then transferred to the Chicago Office, where he worked on a computer-aided design system.

Computer animation
In 1978, Kovacs left SOM to become VP of R&D for the early computer animation company Robert Abel and Associates (1978-1984).

At Abel, Kovacs (along with Roy Hall and others) developed the company's animation software. Kovacs used this software, with others in the film Tron. He later co-founded Wavefront Technologies as CTO (1984-1994), leading the development of products such as The Advanced Visualizer as well as animated productions. Along with Richard Childers and Chris Baker, he was a key organizer of the Infinite Illusions at the Smithsonian Institution exhibit in 1991.

Following retirement from Wavefront, Kovacs co-founded Instant Effects, worked as a consultant to Electronic Arts and RezN8, serving as RezN8's CTO from 2000 until his death.

In 1998, Kovacs received a 1997 (Scientific and Engineering) Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1980, he received two Clio Awards for his work on animated TV commercials.

Educator
Kovacs was a Visiting Artist at Loyola Marymount University, and he served on the President's Board of Advisors at Academy of Art University from 2002 until his death in 2006 following a stroke.

In 2005, Bill Kovacs, a member of the adjunct faculty in the Department of Animation at Woodbury University, developed and taught The Future of Media: The Evolution of Digital Technology.

From 2004 until his death in 2006, he served as a special advisor to Heather Kurze, the dean of the School of Architecture and Design at Woodbury University. Beginning in 2005, Kovacs advised Dori Littell-Herrick, the new chair of the Department of Animation at Woodbury on the role of technology in the growing department, both in facilities and in curriculum.

Together with other faculty, he participated in creating interdisciplinary classes involving architecture and animation students, including "Urban Environments in Maya". Kovacs also assisted Littell-Herrick to broaden the pool of adjunct faculty for the department.

External links

Visiting Artist profile at Loyola Marymount
Santa Barbara News-Press, "Wavefront founder dies at age 56" June 2, 2006
Bill's LinkedInpage

1949 births
2006 deaths
Recipients of the Scientific and Engineering Academy Award
American animators
20th-century American educators
Animation educators
Computer animation people
Computer graphics professionals
Yale University alumni
Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni
Loyola Marymount University faculty
Woodbury University faculty
Academy of Art University faculty

Bill Kovacs


Charles Deas (December 22, 1818 – March 23, 1867) was an American painter noted for his oil paintings of Native Americans and fur trappers of the mid-19th century.

Early life
Charles Deas was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a son of William Allan Deas (1764-1863) and Anne ( Izard) Deas (1764–1863), a daughter of the 18th century American politician Ralph Izard of South Carolina and his wife, Alice De Lancey Izard.

He attempted, and failed, to obtain an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. As a young man, he studied under John Sanderson in Philadelphia, and subsequently embarked upon a career as a painter. The National Academy of Design in New York soon recognized his work, electing him as an associate member in 1839.

Career
By 1840, he had decided to emulate one of his influences, George Catlin, and travel westward in the United States. It was during travels through the Wisconsin Territory that he became a noted painter of trappers and American Indians. By 1841, Deas decided to establish his base in St. Louis, Missouri. During this time, Deas would typically spend "a few months among the Indian tribes, familiarizing himself with their manners and customs."

The artist's works are described as expressing "psychological tension, perceived danger, alarm, and flight," epitomized by his painting Death Struggle which depicts an Indian and trapper locked in combat while falling to their deaths from a cliff.

Deas was most famous while he was still alive. One critic, in 1947, stated that the painter was considered to have "enjoyed more of a reputation during his own lifetime" than currently. Between 1841 and 1848, Deas' regularly exhibited his works in St. Louis at the "Mechanics Fairs." He also shipped many of his works, for sale, to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts as well as to New York's American Art Union.

Deas returned to New York in 1848 and expressed a desire to open a gallery of Indian art. Before he could do this he was declared legally insane. While he was institutionalized, his paintings were described as being particularly intense. "One of his wild pictures, representing a black sea, over which a figure hung, suspended from a ring, while from the waves a monster was springing, was so horrible, that a sensitive artist fainted at the sight."

Personal life
On May 23, 1848, Deas was committed to New York's Bloomingdale Asylum (a site now occupied by Columbia University). He was institutionalized for the rest of his life.

Deas died of "apoplexy" (possible stroke) in Bloomingdale Asylum on March 23, 1867.

Selected works

Robert Watts, Jr. (1838), oil on canvas, St. Louis Mercantile Library
Walking the Chalk (1838), oil on canvas, Houston Museum of Fine Arts
Turkey Shooting (1838), oil on canvas, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Self Portrait (1840), graphite on buff wove paper, National Academy
Wa-kon-cha-hi-re-ga (1840), oil on canvas, St. Louis Mercantile Library
Winnebago with Peace Medal and Red Pipestone (1840), oil on canvas, St. Louis Mercantile Library
Winnebago with Bear-Claw Necklace (1840), oil on canvas, St. Louis Mercantile Library
Winnebago with Bear-Claw Necklace and Gun-Stock Club (1840), oil on canvas, St. Louis Mercantile Library
 Winnebagos Playing Checkers (1842), private collection
Devil and Tom Walker, (1843), oil on canvas, private collection
Long Jakes (1844), oil on canvas, Denver Art Museum
Dragoons Crossing River (1844), private collection
The Death Struggle (1845), oil on canvas, Shelburne Museum
A Group of Sioux, (1845), oil on canvas, Amon Carter Museum
The Trapper and His Family, (1845), Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The Voyageurs, (1846), oil on canvas, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Prairie Fire, (1847), oil on canvas, Brooklyn Museum
Indian Warrior on the Edge of a Precipice (1847)

Bibliography

 Clark, Carol et al. Charles Deas and 1840s America, Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 2009. () (OCLC )
 Tuckerman, Henry T., "Deas" IN Artist-life: or, Sketches of American painters, New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1847. pp. 202–214. (OCLC )

References

External links
 Artcyclopedia entry on Charles Deas
 Self portrait of Charles Deas held at the National Academy Museum
 "Artist's Work, Out of Attics, Goes to Walls of a Museum" Kirk Johnson, The New York Times'', August 24, 2010
 SIRIS (Smithsonian) listing of Deas paintings

1818 births
1867 deaths
19th-century American painters
American male painters
Painters from Philadelphia
Artists of the American West
Schuyler family
Van Cortlandt family
Izard family

Charles Deas


Condition or conditions can mean:
 A state of being.
 A disease, such as a heart condition.
 A proposition upon which another proposition depends, such as "if-then" statements. See logical implication.
 To cause a certain response to a stimulus, see conditioning.
 To replace moisture or oils, especially in hair, see conditioner.
 To change climate to an appropriate level, see air conditioning.
 A status effect which is usually negative, see condition (computer gaming).
 A state which is induced in the subject of a psychological experiment, see condition (experimental psychology).

Basic English 850 words

Condition


Kuta is a town in southern Bali, Indonesia. Once it was a fishing village. It was one of the first towns on Bali to become popular with tourists. It is one of Indonesia's major tourist destinations. It has a long sandy beach, and many restaurants and bars. It is near Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport.

On October 12, 2002, a series of bombings killed more than 200 people in Kuta. The bombings happened outside two nightclubs.

Bali
Towns in Indonesia

Kuta


Steven Ehrlich, FAIA, RIBA (born June 12, 1946) is an American architect based in Culver City, California. He is the founding partner of the practice Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects, formerly known as Ehrlich Architects.

Life and career
Ehrlich was born in New York City in 1946 and grew up in the Radburn section of Fair Lawn, New Jersey. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1969. Upon graduating, Ehrlich spent six years working in Africa, serving for two years in the Peace Corps as its first architect in Marrakesh, Morocco. Ehrlich traveled across the Sahara and taught architecture at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. He admired the simplicity and effectiveness of the vernacular architecture that he encountered in Africa. Ehrlich moved to Venice, California in 1979 and established a small residential studio.  The influence from African architecture and the diverse environment of Los Angeles  led to a trademarked design philosophy that Ehrlich coined "multicultural modernism," which advocates a sensitivity to the local culture in the process of design. Ehrlich's studio has developed into an internationally renowned firm, now called Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects, which engages in residential, civic, commercial, and educational work. His forty-people firm was awarded the 2015 AIA National Architecture Firm Award and the 2003 AIA California Council Firm Award.

Academics
Ehrlich has taught at Ahmadu Bello University, Montana State University, SCI-Arc, and UCLA. He is currently a visiting professor at the USC School of Architecture. He has been a visiting design critic at Harvard University, Yale University, and Woodbury University.

Major projects

Completed
 Ahmadu Bello University Theater, Zaria, Nigeria, 1976
 700 Palms Residence, Venice, CA, 2004
 Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Phoenix, AZ, 2008
 UC Irvine Contemporary Arts Center, Irvine, CA, 2010
 ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration, Tempe, AZ, 2012
 John M. Roll United States Courthouse, Yuma, AZ, 2013
 McElroy Residence, Long Beach, CA, 2013
 Kalfus Guest House, 2456 Astral Drive, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CA

In progress
FNC Parliament Complex, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Awards and honors
Maybeck Award, AIA California Council / 2011
Gold Medal, AIA Los Angeles / 2015

References

External links
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects - Official Website

1946 births
University of Southern California faculty
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni
Living people
Architects from New York City
People from Fair Lawn, New Jersey
People from Venice, Los Angeles
People from Culver City, California
Architects from California

Steven Ehrlich


Thatcher most commonly refers to:
 Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013), British stateswoman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1979–1990
 A professional who installs thatch as a roofing material, i.e. by means of thatching

Thatcher may also refer to:

People
 Thatcher baronetcy, a British baronetcy created for Denis Thatcher, the husband of Margaret Thatcher

Surname
 America Iglesias Thatcher (1907–1989), Puerto-Rican labor activist
 Ben Thatcher (born 1975), retired Welsh footballer
 Betty Thatcher (1944–2011), English writer and lyricist
 Carol Thatcher (born 1953), daughter of Margaret Thatcher
 Colin Thatcher (born 1938), former Saskatchewan cabinet minister and convicted murderer
 Denis Thatcher (1915–2003), husband of Margaret Thatcher
 Eva Thatcher (1862–1942), American film actress
 Frank Thatcher, Dean of St George's Cathedral, Georgetown, Guyana
 Frederick Thatcher (1814–1890), English and New Zealand architect and clergyman
 George Thatcher (1754–1824), American lawyer
 Heather Thatcher (1896–1987), English actress
 Henry Thatcher (1806–1880), American admiral
 Henry Calvin Thatcher (1842—1884), the first Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court
 James Thatcher (MP) ( 1536–1565), English politician
 James Thatcher, American horn player
 Joe Thatcher (born 1981), American Major League Baseball pitcher
 J. T. Thatcher (born 1978), American football player
 Karen Thatcher (born 1984), American ice hockey player
 Kim Thatcher (born 1964), American politician
 Les Thatcher (born 1940), American wrestler
 Mark Thatcher (born 1953), son of Margaret Thatcher
 Maurice Thatcher (1870–1973), U.S. Congressman
 Moses Thatcher (1842–1909), American Mormon apostle
 Noel Thatcher, British paralympic athlete
 Richard Thatcher (1846–1909). American POW, and university president
 Roger Thatcher (1926–2010), British statistician
 Roland Thatcher (born 1977), American golfer
 Ross Thatcher (1917–1971), ninth Premier of Saskatchewan
 Samuel Thatcher (1776–1872), member of the United States House of Representatives from Maine
 Sophie Thatcher, American actress
 Torin Thatcher (1905–1981), English actor

Given name
 Thatcher Szalay (born 1979), American football player

Fictional characters
 Walter Parks Thatcher, a character in the film Citizen Kane
 Jeremy Thatcher, a character in the children's novel Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher
 Judge Thatcher or Becky Thatcher, characters in Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
 John Putnam Thatcher, a character in novels by Emma Lathen
 Justine Thatcher, a character in the BBC Scotland drama Monarch of the Glen
 Margaret Thatcher (Due South), character in the TV show Due South
 William Thatcher, protagonist in the film A Knight's Tale
 Mike Baker, codename Thatcher, playable character in the game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
 Thatcher Grey, a character in the TV show Grey's Anatomy

Places
 Thatcher, Arizona, U.S.
 Thatcher, Colorado, U.S.
 Thatcher, Idaho, U.S.
 Thatcher, Nebraska, U.S.
 Thatcher Peninsula, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Other uses
 , the name of more than one U.S. ship
 Thatchers Cider, a drink
 C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), a comet

Thatcher


Prometheus Bound is an oil painting by Peter Paul Rubens, a Flemish Baroque artist from Antwerp. Influenced by the Greek play, Prometheus: The Friend of Man, Peter Paul Rubens completed this painting in his studio with collaboration from Frans Snyders, who rendered the eagle. It remained in his possession from 1612 to 1618, when it was traded in a group of paintings completed by Rubens, to Englishman Sir Dudley Carleton in exchange for his collection of classical statues. This work is currently in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

History
In 1582, Peter Paul Rubens first apprenticed with a distant relative, Tobias Verhaecht, a landscape painter. Rubens spent a short time in his studio, learning the basics of composing a landscape. These lessons would influence his work, including Prometheus Bound, as the backgrounds of many of his paintings play an important role in the composition. Rubens then apprenticed for four years with Adam van Noort, a portrait painter, known for painting mythological scenes with plentiful nudes and unrestrained images of Flemish life. Before starting his own studio, Rubens worked with Otto van Veen, from 1594 to 1598. Here, Rubens learned composition and the iconography of history painting, demonstrated in Prometheus Bound with the foreshortened figure positioned close to the viewer and the use of iconography derived from an ancient Greek play.

In 1610, Rubens opened a studio of his own in Antwerp, while also serving as court painter to the Archduke and Archduchess in Brussels. In the same period as Prometheus Bound, Rubens was also painting The Descent from the Cross, a commissioned altarpiece.

Collaboration with Frans Snyders
After setting up his own studio, Peter Paul Rubens had many important commissions.  He collaborated with artists that were regarded as masters in their field of study. For Prometheus Bound, Rubens collaborated with Frans Snyders, a master of animal and hunting scenes, for the eagle.

Source Material
Prometheus Bound, a Greek play attributed to Aeschylus, but thought to have been completed by another after Aeschylus' death in 456 B.C. It is possible that Prometheus Bound is the second play written by Aeschylus in a connected trilogy, followed by Prometheus lyomenos (Prometheus Unbound), of which only a few fragments have survived.

In the play, the Titan Prometheus, had assisted Zeus, the King of Olympians, in establishing rule over Cronus and the other Titans, but infuriated Zeus by becoming the champion of mortals and giving them fire and the arts. In the opening of the play, as punishment for stealing fire from Mount Olympus to give to humanity. Zeus orders Hephaestus, Kratos (Power) and Bia (Force) to chain Prometheus to a high rock in the mountains of Scythia. There he will suffer torment as long as Zeus wishes, by having an eagle devour his perpetually regenerating liver every day.

Peter Paul Rubens would have used these Greek influences to carry out his own interpretation of the story. When he painted a classic or mythological subject, he was glorifying human creation, expressing his own joy at the beauty of the world. In Prometheus Bound, he depicts a suffering victim, Prometheus, but also the beauty of the Eagle causing the torment.

Interpretation
In Rubens's interpretation, the enormous eagle's beak rips open Prometheus's torso, exposing bloody entrails. The eagle's talons gouge into Prometheus's right eye, while his left eye is focused on the predator, indicating that he is aware of his torture. Agony is conveyed in his clenched fists, writhing legs, and tousled hair. The liver was chosen as the source for torture, as Greeks regarded the liver as intelligence, soul, and the seat of life.

The art of Rubens is related to the attitudes expressed by his brother Philip and his teacher Justus Lipsius regarding the Counter Reformation. They studied Greek and Roman writing and ideas, but saw pagan mythology as an indirect tribute to the power of the Christians' one God.
A poem written by Lipsius, a professor and friend of Rubens's brother Philip, describes the intended response of the viewer:Here, with hooked beak, a monstrous vulture digs about in the liver of Prometheus, who is given no peace from his torments as ever and again the savage bird draws near his self-renewing breast and attacks it punishingly. He is not content with his inhuman sacrificial feast, but with his claws lacerates, here the agonized face, there the man's thigh. He would fly murderously on the spectators, did not his chained prey detain him. He can do no more that terrify the frightened onlookers by turning his flaming eyes from one to the other. Blood flows from the chest and every part where his claws leave their mark, and his piercing eyes dart savage flames. You might think that he moves, that his feathers tremble. Horror grips the onlookers.

Rubens's Influences

Rome

Rome was in the height of the Catholic Revival, as Rubens spent countless hours making studies from figures painted by Michelangelo, in the Sistine Chapel. Rubens's Prometheus Bound was influenced by the dense musculature and broad frame by Michelangelo. Also in Rome at this time was Caravaggio, at the height of his career. Although, it was unlikely that the two painters never met, Rubens was impressed by his paintings, even copying some of them. Even though he had a turbulent life, Caravaggio mastered the used of tenebrism, the dramatic balance of light and dark, often used to highlight the figures.

Venice
When he arrived in Venice in June 1600, the city's art scene was flourishing. Titian, regarded as one of the greatest painters, had died in 1576, one year before Rubens was born. Titian's popularity survived in Venice and Rubens studied his mastery of form, intense coloring, strong and fluid lines, and his power of imagination. Rubens also visited the Doges' Palace in Venice, which contained ceilings and walls enhanced by paintings of Christian visions and pagan allegories.

Florence
Rubens was given the opportunity to travel to Florence in October 1600 for the wedding of Marie de' Medici, bride to the Henry IV of France. During this time, Rubens visited sites containing important Renaissance works, including the Church of San Lorenzo, which held the Medici tombs by Michelangelo. He also studied the work of Ludovico Cigoli, a painter who digressed from the contorted affectation of Mannerist art.

Provenance
Known for its strong emotional response, Prometheus Bound stayed in Rubens's possession from its completion in 1612. The first recorded sale of Prometheus Bound was to the English collector Sir Dudley Carleton, in 1618. Carleton offered to trade Rubens his collection of classical statues, for a large group of paintings from Rubens's workshop, which had been overseen, or at least, finished by Rubens himself. To prove he worked on Prometheus Bound by his own hand, Rubens wrote in a letter to Carleton:A Prometheus bound on Mount Caucasus, with an eagle which packs his liver. Original by my own hand, and the eagle done by Snyders. 500 florins.

Notes

References

 Freedberg, David. "Peter Paul Rubens Oil Paintings and Oil Sketches" (PDF).
 Georgievska-Shine, Aneta. Rubens and the Archaeology of Myth. Retrieved 2019-04-30
 Howatson, M.C. "Prometheus Bound". Retrieved 2019-04-29
Wedgwood, C.V. The World of Rubens 1577-1640. .
White, Christopher. Peter Paul Rubens: Man & Artist. .

1611 paintings
Mythological paintings by Peter Paul Rubens
Paintings in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Paintings depicting Greek myths
Eagles in art
Nude art
Works based on Prometheus Bound
Torture in art
Paintings based on works by Aeschylus

Prometheus Bound (Rubens)