title
stringlengths 3
84
| link
stringlengths 33
114
| frames_prompt_id
sequencelengths 1
11
| original_link
sequencelengths 1
11
| text
stringlengths 0
134k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
William_McKinley | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley | [
500
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley"
] | William McKinley (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party, he led a realignment that made Republicans largely dominant in the industrial states and nationwide for decades. He presided over victory in the Spanish–American War of 1898; gained control of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines; restored prosperity after a deep depression; rejected the inflationary monetary policy of free silver, keeping the nation on the gold standard; and raised protective tariffs.
McKinley was the last president to have served in the American Civil War; he was the only one to begin his service as an enlisted man and ended it as a brevet major. After the war, he settled in Canton, Ohio, where he practiced law and married Ida Saxton. In 1876, McKinley was elected to Congress, where he became the Republican expert on the protective tariff, which he believed would bring prosperity. His 1890 McKinley Tariff was highly controversial and, together with a Democratic redistricting aimed at gerrymandering him out of office, led to his defeat in the Democratic landslide of 1890. He was elected governor of Ohio in 1891 and 1893, steering a moderate course between capital and labor interests. He secured the Republican nomination for president in 1896 amid a deep economic depression and defeated his Democratic rival William Jennings Bryan after a front porch campaign in which he advocated "sound money" (the gold standard unless altered by international agreement) and promised that high tariffs would restore prosperity. Historians regard McKinley's victory as a realigning election in which the political stalemate of the post-Civil War era gave way to the Republican-dominated Fourth Party System, beginning with the Progressive Era.
McKinley's presidency saw rapid economic growth. He promoted the 1897 Dingley Tariff to protect manufacturers and factory workers from foreign competition and, in 1900, secured the passage of the Gold Standard Act. He hoped to persuade Spain to grant independence to rebellious Cuba without conflict. Still, when negotiation failed, he requested and signed Congress's declaration of war to begin the Spanish-American War of 1898, in which the United States saw a quick and decisive victory. As part of the peace settlement, Spain turned over to the United States its main overseas colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, while Cuba was promised independence but remained under the control of the United States Army until May 20, 1902. The United States annexed the independent Republic of Hawaii in 1898, and it became a United States territory.
McKinley defeated Bryan again in the 1900 presidential election in a campaign focused on imperialism, protectionism, and free silver. His second term ended early when he was shot on September 6, 1901, by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. McKinley died eight days later and was succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt. As an innovator of American interventionism and pro-business sentiment, McKinley is generally ranked as an above-average president. However, his take-over of the Philippines is often criticized as an act of imperialism. His popularity was soon overshadowed by Roosevelt's.
Early life and family
William McKinley Jr. was born in 1843 in Niles, Ohio, the seventh of nine children of William McKinley Sr. and Nancy (née Allison) McKinley. The McKinleys were of English and Scots-Irish descent and had settled in western Pennsylvania in the 18th century. Their immigrant ancestor was David McKinley, born in Dervock, County Antrim, in present-day Northern Ireland. William McKinley Sr. was born in Pennsylvania, in Pine Township, Mercer County.
The family moved to Ohio when the senior McKinley was a boy, settling in New Lisbon (now Lisbon). He met Nancy Allison there, and they married later. The Allison family was of mostly English descent and among Pennsylvania's earliest settlers. The family trade on both sides was iron making. McKinley senior operated foundries throughout Ohio, in New Lisbon, Niles, Poland, and finally Canton. The McKinley household was, like many from Ohio's Western Reserve, steeped in Whiggish and abolitionist sentiment, the latter based on the family's staunch Methodist beliefs.
The younger William also followed in the Methodist tradition, becoming active in the local Methodist church at the age of sixteen. He was a lifelong pious Methodist.
In 1852, the family moved from Niles to Poland, Ohio, so that their children could attend its better schools. Graduating from Poland Seminary in 1859, McKinley enrolled the following year at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He was an honorary member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He remained at Allegheny for one year, returning home in 1860 after becoming ill and depressed. He also studied at Mount Union College, now the University of Mount Union, in Alliance, Ohio, where he later served as a member of the board of trustees. Although his health recovered, family finances declined, and McKinley was unable to return to Allegheny. He began working as a postal clerk and later took a job teaching at a school near Poland, Ohio.
Civil War
Western Virginia and Antietam
When the Confederate states seceded and the American Civil War began in 1861, thousands of men in Ohio volunteered for service. Among them were McKinley and his cousin William McKinley Osbourne, who enlisted as privates in the newly formed Poland Guards in June 1861. The men left for Columbus where they were consolidated with other small units to form the 23rd Ohio Infantry.
The men were unhappy to learn that, unlike Ohio's earlier volunteer regiments, they would not be permitted to elect their officers; these would be designated by Ohio's governor, William Dennison. Dennison appointed Colonel William Rosecrans as the commander of the regiment, and the men began training on the outskirts of Columbus. McKinley quickly took to the soldier's life: he wrote a series of letters to his hometown newspaper extolling the army and the Union cause. Delays in issuance of uniforms and weapons again brought the men into conflict with their officers, but Major Rutherford B. Hayes convinced them to accept what the government had issued them; his style in dealing with the men impressed McKinley, beginning an association and friendship that would last until Hayes's death in 1893.
After a month of training, McKinley and the 23rd Ohio, now led by Colonel Eliakim P. Scammon, set out for western Virginia (today part of West Virginia) in July 1861 as a part of the Kanawha Division. McKinley initially thought Scammon was a martinet, but when the regiment entered battle, he came to appreciate the value of their relentless drilling. Their first contact with the enemy came in September when they drove back Confederate troops at Carnifex Ferry in present-day West Virginia. Three days after the battle, McKinley was assigned to duty in the brigade quartermaster office, where he worked both to supply his regiment, and as a clerk. In November, the regiment established winter quarters near Fayetteville (today in West Virginia). McKinley spent the winter substituting for a commissary sergeant who was ill, and in April 1862 he was promoted to that rank. The regiment resumed its advance that spring with Hayes in command (Scammon led the brigade) and fought several minor engagements against the rebel forces.
That September, McKinley's regiment was called east to reinforce General John Pope's Army of Virginia at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Delayed in passing through Washington, D.C., the 23rd Ohio did not arrive in time for the battle but joined the Army of the Potomac as it hurried north to cut off Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia as it advanced into Maryland. The 23rd was the first regiment to encounter the Confederates at the Battle of South Mountain on September 14. After severe losses, Union forces drove back the Confederates and continued to Sharpsburg, Maryland, where they engaged Lee's army at the Battle of Antietam, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. The 23rd was in the thick of the fighting at Antietam, and McKinley came under heavy fire when bringing rations to the men on the line. McKinley's regiment suffered many casualties, but the Army of the Potomac was victorious, and the Confederates retreated into Virginia. McKinley's regiment was detached from the Army of the Potomac and returned by train to western Virginia.
Shenandoah Valley and promotion
While the regiment went into winter quarters near Charleston, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), McKinley was ordered back to Ohio with some other sergeants to recruit fresh troops. When they arrived in Columbus, Governor David Tod surprised McKinley with a commission as second lieutenant in recognition of his service at Antietam. McKinley and his comrades saw little action until July 1863, when the division skirmished with John Hunt Morgan's cavalry at the Battle of Buffington Island. Early in 1864, the Army command structure in West Virginia was reorganized, and the division was assigned to George Crook's Army of West Virginia. They soon resumed the offensive, marching into southwestern Virginia to destroy salt and lead mines used by the enemy. On May 9, the army engaged Confederate troops at Cloyd's Mountain, where the men charged the enemy entrenchments and drove the rebels from the field. McKinley later said the combat there was "as desperate as any witnessed during the war". Following the rout, the Union forces destroyed Confederate supplies and skirmished with the enemy again successfully.
McKinley and his regiment moved to the Shenandoah Valley as the armies broke from winter quarters to resume hostilities. Crook's corps was attached to Major General David Hunter's Army of the Shenandoah and soon back in contact with Confederate forces, capturing Lexington, Virginia, on June 11. They continued south toward Lynchburg, tearing up railroad track as they advanced. Hunter believed the troops at Lynchburg were too powerful, however, and the brigade returned to West Virginia. Before the army could make another attempt, Confederate General Jubal Early's raid into Maryland forced their recall to the north.
Early's army surprised them at Kernstown on July 24, where McKinley came under heavy fire and the army was defeated. Retreating into Maryland, the army was reorganized again: Major General Philip Sheridan replaced Hunter, and McKinley, who had been promoted to captain after the battle, was transferred to General Crook's staff. By August, Early was retreating south in the valley, with Sheridan's army in pursuit. They fended off a Confederate assault at Berryville, where McKinley had a horse shot out from under him, and advanced to Opequon Creek, where they broke the enemy lines and pursued them farther south. They followed up the victory with another at Fisher's Hill on September 22 and were engaged once more at Cedar Creek on October 19. After initially falling back from the Confederate advance, McKinley helped to rally the troops and turn the tide of the battle.
After Cedar Creek, the army stayed in the vicinity through election day, when McKinley cast his first presidential ballot, for the incumbent Republican, Abraham Lincoln. The next day, they moved north up the valley into winter quarters near Kernstown. In February 1865, Crook was captured by Confederate raiders. Crook's capture added to the confusion as the army was reorganized for the spring campaign, and McKinley served on the staffs of four different generals over the next fifteen days—Crook, John D. Stevenson, Samuel S. Carroll, and Winfield S. Hancock. Finally assigned to Carroll's staff again, McKinley acted as the general's first and only adjutant.
Lee and his army surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant a few days later, effectively ending the war. McKinley joined a Freemason lodge (later renamed after him) in Winchester, Virginia, before he and Carroll were transferred to Hancock's First Veterans Corps in Washington. Just before the war's end, McKinley received his final promotion, a brevet commission as major. In July, the Veterans Corps was mustered out of service, and McKinley and Carroll were relieved of their duties. Carroll and Hancock encouraged McKinley to apply for a place in the peacetime army, but he declined and returned to Ohio the following month.
McKinley, along with Samuel M. Taylor and James C. Howe, co-authored and published a twelve-volume work, Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–1866, published in 1886.
Legal career and marriage
After the war ended in 1865, McKinley decided on a career in the law and began studying in the office of an attorney in Poland, Ohio. The following year, he continued his studies by attending Albany Law School in New York state. After studying there for less than a year, McKinley returned home and in March 1867 was admitted to the bar in Warren, Ohio.
That same year, he moved to Canton, the county seat of Stark County, and set up a small office. He soon formed a partnership with George W. Belden, an experienced lawyer and former judge. His practice was successful enough for him to buy a block of buildings on Main Street in Canton, which provided him with a small but consistent rental income for decades to come.
When his Army friend Rutherford B. Hayes was nominated for governor in 1867, McKinley made speeches on his behalf in Stark County, his first foray into politics. The county was closely divided between Democrats and Republicans, but Hayes carried it that year in his statewide victory. In 1869, McKinley ran for the office of prosecuting attorney of Stark County, an office that had historically been held by Democrats, and was unexpectedly elected. When McKinley ran for re-election in 1871, the Democrats nominated William A. Lynch, a prominent local lawyer, and McKinley was defeated by 143 votes.
As McKinley's professional career progressed, so too did his social life blossom: he wooed Ida Saxton, a daughter of a prominent Canton family. They were married on January 25, 1871, in the newly built First Presbyterian Church of Canton. Ida soon joined her husband's Methodist church. Their first child, Katherine, was born on Christmas Day 1871. A second daughter, Ida, followed in 1873 but died the same year. McKinley's wife descended into a deep depression at her baby's death and her health, never robust, declined. Two years later, Katherine died of typhoid fever. Ida never recovered from their daughters' deaths, and the McKinleys had no more children. Ida McKinley developed epilepsy around the same time and depended strongly on her husband's presence. He remained a devoted husband and tended to his wife's medical and emotional needs for the rest of his life.
Ida insisted that her husband continue his increasingly successful career in law and politics. He attended the state Republican convention that nominated Hayes for a third term as governor in 1875, and campaigned again for his old friend in the election that fall. The next year, McKinley undertook a high-profile case defending a group of striking coal miners, who were arrested for rioting after a clash with strikebreakers. Lynch, McKinley's opponent in the 1871 election, and his partner, William R. Day, were the opposing counsel, and the mine owners included Mark Hanna, a Cleveland businessman. Taking the case pro bono, McKinley
was successful in getting all but one of the miners acquitted. The case raised McKinley's standing among laborers, a crucial part of the Stark County electorate, and also introduced him to Hanna, who would become his strongest backer in years to come.
McKinley's good standing with labor became useful that year as he campaigned for the Republican nomination for Ohio's 17th congressional district. Delegates to the county conventions thought he could attract blue-collar voters, and in August 1876, McKinley was nominated. By that time, Hayes had been nominated for president, and McKinley campaigned for him while running his own congressional campaign. Both were successful. McKinley, campaigning mostly on his support for a protective tariff, defeated the Democratic nominee, Levi L. Lamborn, by 3,300 votes. Hayes won a hotly disputed election to reach the presidency. McKinley's victory came at a personal cost: his income as a congressman would be half of what he earned as a lawyer.
Rising politician (1877–1895)
Spokesman for protection
McKinley took his congressional seat in October 1877, when President Hayes summoned Congress into special session. With the Republicans in the minority, McKinley was given unimportant committee assignments, which he undertook conscientiously. McKinley's friendship with Hayes did McKinley little good on Capitol Hill, as the president was not well regarded by many leaders there. The young congressman broke with Hayes on the question of the currency, but it did not affect their friendship. The United States had effectively been placed on the gold standard by the Coinage Act of 1873; when silver prices dropped significantly, many sought to make silver again a legal tender, equally with gold. Such a course would be inflationary, but advocates argued that the economic benefits of the increased money supply would be worth the inflation; opponents warned that "free silver" would not bring the promised benefits and would harm the United States in international trade. McKinley voted for the Bland–Allison Act of 1878, which mandated large government purchases of silver for striking into money, and also joined the large majorities in each house that overrode Hayes's veto of the legislation. In so doing, McKinley voted against the position of the House Republican leader, James Garfield, a fellow Ohioan and his friend.
From his first term in Congress, McKinley was a strong advocate of protective tariffs. The primary intention of such imposts was not to raise revenue, but to allow American manufacturing to develop by giving it a price advantage in the domestic market over foreign competitors. McKinley biographer Margaret Leech noted that Canton had become prosperous as a center for the manufacture of farm equipment because of protection, and that this may have helped form his political views. McKinley introduced and supported bills that raised protective tariffs, and opposed those that lowered them or imposed tariffs simply to raise revenue. Garfield's election as president in 1880 created a vacancy on the House Ways and Means Committee; McKinley was selected to fill it, gaining a spot on the most powerful committee after only two terms.
McKinley increasingly became a significant figure in national politics. In 1880, he served a brief term as Ohio's representative on the Republican National Committee. In 1884, he was elected a delegate to that year's Republican convention, where he served as chair of the Committee on Resolutions and won plaudits for his handling of the convention when called upon to preside. By 1886, McKinley, Senator John Sherman, and Governor Joseph B. Foraker were considered the leaders of the Republican party in Ohio. Sherman, who had helped to found the Republican Party, ran three times for the Republican nomination for president in the 1880s, each time failing, while Foraker began a meteoric rise in Ohio politics early in the decade. Hanna, once he entered public affairs as a political manager and generous contributor, supported Sherman's ambitions, as well as those of Foraker. The latter relationship broke off at the 1888 Republican National Convention, where McKinley, Foraker, and Hanna were all delegates supporting Sherman. Convinced Sherman could not win, Foraker threw his support to Maine Senator James G. Blaine, the unsuccessful Republican 1884 presidential nominee. When Blaine said he was not a candidate, Foraker returned to Sherman, but the nomination went to former Indiana senator Benjamin Harrison, who was elected president. In the bitterness that followed the convention, Hanna abandoned Foraker. For the rest of McKinley's life, the Ohio Republican Party was divided into two factions, one aligned with McKinley, Sherman, and Hanna, and the other with Foraker. Hanna came to admire McKinley and became a friend and close adviser to him. Although Hanna remained active in business and in promoting other Republicans, in the years after 1888, he spent an increasing amount of time boosting McKinley's political career.
In 1889, with the Republicans in the majority, McKinley sought election as Speaker of the House. He failed to gain the post, which went to Thomas B. Reed of Maine; however, Speaker Reed appointed McKinley chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. The Ohioan guided the McKinley Tariff of 1890 through Congress; although McKinley's work was altered through the influence of special interests in the Senate, it imposed a number of protective tariffs on foreign goods.
Gerrymandering and defeat for re-election
Recognizing McKinley's potential, the Democrats, whenever they controlled the Ohio legislature, sought to gerrymander or redistrict him out of office. In 1878, McKinley was redistricted to the 16th congressional district; he won anyway, causing Hayes to exult, "Oh, the good luck of McKinley! He was gerrymandered out and then beat the gerrymander! We enjoyed it as much as he did." After the 1882 election, McKinley was unseated on an election contest by a near party-line House vote. Out of office, he was briefly depressed by the setback, but soon vowed to run again. The Democrats again redistricted Stark County for the 1884 election; McKinley was returned to Congress anyway.
For 1890, the Democrats gerrymandered McKinley one final time, placing Stark County in the same district as one of the strongest pro-Democrat counties, Holmes, populated by solidly Democratic Pennsylvania Dutch. Based on past results, Democrats thought the new boundaries should produce a Democratic majority of 2,000 to 3,000. The Republicans could not reverse the gerrymander, as legislative elections would not be held until 1891, but they could throw all their energies into the district. The McKinley Tariff was a main theme of the Democratic campaign nationwide, and there was considerable attention paid to McKinley's race. The Republican Party sent its leading orators to Canton, including Blaine (then Secretary of State), Speaker Reed, and President Harrison. The Democrats countered with their best spokesmen on tariff issues. McKinley tirelessly stumped his new district, reaching out to its 40,000 voters to explain that his tariff:
was framed for the people ... as a defense to their industries, as a protection to the labor of their hands, as a safeguard to the happy homes of American workingmen, and as a security to their education, their wages, and their investments ... It will bring to this country a prosperity unparalleled in our own history and unrivalled in the history of the world."
Democrats ran a strong candidate in former lieutenant governor John G. Warwick. To drive their point home, they hired young partisans to pretend to be peddlers, who went door to door offering 25-cent tinware to housewives for 50 cents, explaining the rise in prices was due to the McKinley Tariff. In the end, McKinley lost by 300 votes, but the Republicans won a statewide majority and claimed a moral victory.
Governor of Ohio (1892–1896)
Even before McKinley completed his term in Congress, he met with a delegation of Ohioans urging him to run for governor. Governor James E. Campbell, a Democrat, who had defeated Foraker in 1889, was to seek re-election in 1891. The Ohio Republican party remained divided, but McKinley quietly arranged for Foraker to nominate him at the 1891 state Republican convention, which chose McKinley by acclamation. The former congressman spent much of the second half of 1891 campaigning against Campbell, beginning in his birthplace of Niles. Hanna, however, was little seen in the campaign; he spent much of his time raising funds for the election of legislators pledged to vote for Sherman in the 1892 senatorial election. (State legislators still elected US Senators.) McKinley won the 1891 election by some 20,000 votes; the following January, Sherman, with considerable assistance from Hanna, turned back a challenge by Foraker to win the legislature's vote for another term in the US Senate.
Ohio's governor had relatively little power—for example, he could recommend legislation, but not veto it—but with Ohio a key swing state, its governor was a major figure in national politics. Although McKinley believed that the health of the nation depended on that of business, he was evenhanded in dealing with labor. He procured legislation that set up an arbitration board to settle work disputes and obtained passage of a law that fined employers who fired workers for belonging to a union.
President Harrison had proven unpopular; there were divisions even within the Republican party as the year 1892 began and Harrison began his re-election drive. Although no declared Republican candidate opposed Harrison, many Republicans were ready to dump the president from the ticket if an alternative emerged. Among the possible candidates spoken of were McKinley, Reed, and the aging Blaine. Fearing that the Ohio governor would emerge as a candidate, Harrison's managers arranged for McKinley to be permanent chairman of the convention in Minneapolis, requiring him to play a public, neutral role. Hanna established an unofficial McKinley headquarters near the convention hall, though no active effort was made to convert delegates to McKinley's cause. McKinley objected to delegate votes being cast for him; nevertheless he finished second, behind the renominated Harrison, but ahead of Blaine, who had sent word he did not want to be considered. Although McKinley campaigned loyally for the Republican ticket, Harrison was defeated by former President Cleveland in the November election. In the wake of Cleveland's victory, McKinley was seen by some as the likely Republican candidate in 1896.
Soon after Cleveland's return to office, hard times struck the nation with the Panic of 1893. A businessman in Youngstown, Robert Walker, had lent money to McKinley in their younger days; in gratitude, McKinley had often guaranteed Walker's borrowings for his business. The governor had never kept track of what he was signing; he believed Walker a sound businessman. In fact, Walker had deceived McKinley, telling him that new notes were actually renewals of matured ones. Walker was ruined by the recession; McKinley was called upon for repayment in February 1893. The total owed was over $100,000 (equivalent to $3.4 million in 2023) and a despairing McKinley initially proposed to resign as governor and earn the money as an attorney. Instead, McKinley's wealthy supporters, including Hanna and Chicago publisher H. H. Kohlsaat, became trustees of a fund from which the notes would be paid. Both William and Ida McKinley placed their property in the hands of the fund's trustees (who included Hanna and Kohlsaat), and the supporters raised and contributed a substantial sum of money. All of the couple's property was returned to them by the end of 1893, and when McKinley, who had promised eventual repayment, asked for the list of contributors, it was refused him. Many people who had suffered in the hard times sympathized with McKinley, whose popularity grew. He was easily re-elected in November 1893, receiving the largest percentage of the vote of any Ohio governor since the Civil War.
McKinley campaigned widely for Republicans in the 1894 midterm congressional elections; many party candidates in districts where he spoke were successful. His political efforts in Ohio were rewarded with the election in November 1895 of a Republican successor as governor, Asa Bushnell, and a Republican legislature that elected Foraker to the Senate. McKinley supported Foraker for the Senate and Bushnell (who was of Foraker's faction) for governor; in return, the new senator-elect agreed to back McKinley's presidential ambitions. With party peace in Ohio assured, McKinley turned to the national arena.
Election of 1896
Obtaining the nomination
It is unclear when William McKinley began to seriously prepare a run for president. As McKinley biographer Kevin Phillips notes, "No documents, no diaries, no confidential letters to Mark Hanna (or anyone else) contain his secret hopes or veiled stratagems." From the beginning, McKinley's preparations had the participation of Hanna, whose biographer William T. Horner noted, "What is certainly true is that in 1888 the two men began to develop a close working relationship that helped put McKinley in the White House." Sherman did not run for president again after 1888, and so Hanna could support McKinley's ambitions for that office wholeheartedly.
Backed by Hanna's money and organizational skills, McKinley quietly built support for a presidential bid through 1895 and early 1896. When other contenders such as Speaker Reed and Iowa Senator William B. Allison sent agents outside their states to organize Republicans in support of their candidacies, they found that Hanna's agents had preceded them. According to historian Stanley Jones in his study of the 1896 election:
Another feature common to the Reed and Allison campaigns was their failure to make headway against the tide which was running toward McKinley. In fact, both campaigns from the moment they were launched were in retreat. The calm confidence with which each candidate claimed the support of his own section [of the country] soon gave way to ... bitter accusations that Hanna by winning support for McKinley in their sections had violated the rules of the game.
Hanna, on McKinley's behalf, met with the eastern Republican political bosses, such as Senators Thomas Platt of New York and Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania, who were willing to guarantee McKinley's nomination in exchange for promises regarding patronage and offices. McKinley, however, was determined to obtain the nomination without making deals, and Hanna accepted that decision. Many of their early efforts were focused on the South; Hanna obtained a vacation home in southern Georgia where McKinley visited and met with Republican politicians from the region. McKinley needed 453½ delegate votes to gain the nomination; he gained nearly half that number from the South and border states. Platt lamented in his memoirs, "[Hanna] had the South practically solid before some of us awakened."
Quay and Platt still hoped to deny McKinley a first-ballot majority at the convention by boosting support for local favorite son candidates such as Quay himself, New York Governor (and former vice president) Levi P. Morton, and Illinois Senator Shelby Cullom. Delegate-rich Illinois proved a crucial battleground, as McKinley supporters, such as Chicago businessman (and future vice president) Charles G. Dawes, sought to elect delegates pledged to vote for McKinley at the national convention in St. Louis. Cullom proved unable to stand against McKinley despite the support of local Republican machines; at the state convention at the end of April, McKinley completed a near-sweep of Illinois' delegates. Former president Harrison had been deemed a possible contender if he entered the race; when Harrison made it known he would not seek a third nomination, the McKinley organization took control of Indiana with a speed Harrison privately found unseemly. Morton operatives who journeyed to Indiana sent word back that they had found the state alive for McKinley. Wyoming Senator Francis Warren wrote, "The politicians are making a hard fight against him, but if the masses could speak, McKinley is the choice of at least 75% of the entire [body of] Republican voters in the Union".
By the time the national convention began in St. Louis on June 16, 1896, McKinley had an ample majority of delegates. The former governor, who remained in Canton, followed events at the convention closely by telephone, and was able to hear part of Foraker's speech nominating him over the line. When Ohio was reached in the roll call of states, its votes gave McKinley the nomination, which he celebrated by hugging his wife and mother as his friends fled the house, anticipating the first of many crowds that gathered at the Republican candidate's home. Thousands of partisans came from Canton and surrounding towns that evening to hear McKinley speak from his front porch. The convention nominated Republican National Committee vice chairman Garret Hobart of New Jersey for vice president, a choice actually made, by most accounts, by Hanna. Hobart, a wealthy lawyer, businessman, and former state legislator, was not widely known, but as Hanna biographer Herbert Croly pointed out, "if he did little to strengthen the ticket he did nothing to weaken it".
General election campaign
Before the Republican convention, McKinley had been a "straddle bug" on the currency question, favoring moderate positions on silver such as accomplishing bimetallism by international agreement. In the final days before the convention, McKinley decided, after hearing from politicians and businessmen, that the platform should endorse the gold standard, though it should allow for bimetallism through coordination with other nations. Adoption of the platform caused some western delegates, led by Colorado Senator Henry M. Teller, to walk out of the convention. However, compared with the Democrats, Republican divisions on the issue were small, especially as McKinley promised future concessions to silver advocates.
The bad economic times had continued and strengthened the hand of forces for free silver. The issue bitterly divided the Democratic Party; President Cleveland firmly supported the gold standard, but an increasing number of rural Democrats wanted silver, especially in the South and West. The silverites took control of the 1896 Democratic National Convention and chose William Jennings Bryan for president; he had electrified the delegates with his Cross of Gold speech. Bryan's financial radicalism shocked bankers—they thought his inflationary program would bankrupt the railroads and ruin the economy. Hanna approached them for support for his strategy to win the election, and they gave $3.5 million for speakers and over 200 million pamphlets advocating the Republican position on the money and tariff questions.
Bryan's campaign had at most an estimated $500,000. With his eloquence and youthful energy his major assets in the race, Bryan decided on a whistle-stop political tour by train on an unprecedented scale. Hanna urged McKinley to match Bryan's tour with one of his own; the candidate declined on the grounds that the Democrat was a better stump speaker: "I might just as well set up a trapeze on my front lawn and compete with some professional athlete as go out speaking against Bryan. I have to think when I speak." Instead of going to the people, McKinley would remain at home in Canton and allow the people to come to him; according to historian R. Hal Williams in his book on the 1896 election, "it was, as it turned out, a brilliant strategy. McKinley's 'Front Porch Campaign' became a legend in American political history."
McKinley made himself available to the public every day except Sunday, receiving delegations from the front porch of his home. The railroads subsidized the visitors with low excursion rates—the pro-silver Cleveland Plain Dealer disgustedly stated that going to Canton had been made "cheaper than staying at home". Delegations marched through the streets from the railroad station to McKinley's home on North Market Street. Once there, they crowded close to the front porch—from which they surreptitiously whittled souvenirs—as their spokesman addressed McKinley. The candidate then responded, speaking on campaign issues in a speech molded to suit the interest of the delegation. The speeches were carefully scripted to avoid extemporaneous remarks; even the spokesman's remarks were approved by McKinley or a representative. This was done as the candidate feared an offhand comment by another that might rebound on him, as had happened to Blaine in 1884.
Most Democratic newspapers refused to support Bryan, the major exception being the New York Journal, controlled by William Randolph Hearst, whose fortune was based on silver mines. In biased reporting and through the sharp cartoons of Homer Davenport, Hanna was viciously characterized as a plutocrat, trampling on labor. McKinley was drawn as a child, easily controlled by big business. Even today, these depictions still color the images of Hanna and McKinley: one as a heartless businessman, the other as a creature of Hanna and others of his ilk.
The Democrats had pamphlets too, though not as many. Jones analyzed how voters responded to the education campaigns of the two parties:
For the people it was a campaign of study and analysis, of exhortation and conviction—a campaign of search for economic and political truth. Pamphlets tumbled from the presses, to be read, reread, studied, debated, to become guides to economic thought and political action. They were printed and distributed by the million ... but the people hankered for more. Favorite pamphlets became dog-eared, grimy, fell apart as their owners laboriously restudied their arguments and quoted from them in public and private debate.
McKinley always thought of himself as a tariff man and expected that the monetary issues would fade away in a month. He was mistaken, silver and gold dominated the campaign.
The battleground proved to be the Midwest—the South and most of the West were conceded to Bryan—and the Democrat spent much of his time in those crucial states. The Northeast was considered most likely safe for McKinley after the early-voting states of Maine and Vermont supported him in September. By then, it was clear that public support for silver had receded, and McKinley began to emphasize the tariff issue. By the end of September, the Republicans had discontinued printing material on the silver issue and were entirely concentrating on the tariff question. On November 3, 1896, the voters had their say. McKinley won the entire Northeast and Midwest; he won 51% of the vote and an ample majority in the Electoral College. Bryan had concentrated entirely on the silver issue and had not appealed to urban workers. Voters in cities supported McKinley; the only city outside the South of more than 100,000 population carried by Bryan was Denver, Colorado.
Realignment of 1896
The 1896 presidential election was a realigning election, in which McKinley's view of a stronger central government building American industry through protective tariffs and a dollar based on gold triumphed. The voting patterns established then displaced the near-deadlock the major parties had seen since the Civil War in the Third Party System. The new Republican dominance began the Fourth Party System that would end in 1932, another realigning election with the ascent of Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal coalition. Phillips argues that McKinley was probably the only Republican who could have defeated Bryan—he concludes that Eastern candidates would have done badly against the Illinois-born Bryan in the crucial Midwest. While Bryan was popular among rural voters, "McKinley appealed to a very different industrialized, urbanized America."
Presidency (1897–1901)
Inauguration and appointments
McKinley was sworn in as president on March 4, 1897, as his wife and mother looked on. The new president gave a lengthy inaugural address; he urged tariff reform and stated that the currency issue would have to await tariff legislation. He warned against foreign interventions, "We want no wars of conquest. We must avoid the temptation of territorial aggression."
McKinley's most controversial Cabinet appointment was that of John Sherman as Secretary of State. Sherman had an outstanding reputation, but old age was fast reducing his abilities. McKinley needed to have Hanna appointed to the Senate, so Senator Sherman was moved up. Sherman's mental faculties were decaying even in 1896; this was widely spoken of in political circles, but McKinley did not believe the rumors. Nevertheless, McKinley sent his cousin, William McKinley Osborne, to have dinner with the 73-year-old senator; he reported back that Sherman seemed as lucid as ever. McKinley wrote once the appointment was announced, "the stories regarding Senator Sherman's 'mental decay' are without foundation ... When I saw him last I was convinced both of his perfect health, physically and mentally, and that the prospects of life were remarkably good."
Maine Representative Nelson Dingley Jr. was McKinley's choice for Secretary of the Treasury; he declined it, preferring to remain as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Charles Dawes, who had been Hanna's lieutenant in Chicago during the campaign, was considered for the Treasury post but by some accounts Dawes considered himself too young. Dawes eventually became Comptroller of the Currency; he recorded in his published diary that he had strongly urged McKinley to appoint as secretary the successful candidate, Lyman J. Gage, president of the First National Bank of Chicago and a Gold Democrat. The Navy Department was offered to former Massachusetts Congressman John Davis Long, an old friend from the House, on January 30, 1897. Although McKinley was initially inclined to allow Long to choose his own assistant, there was considerable pressure on the President-elect to appoint Theodore Roosevelt, head of the New York City Police Commission and a published naval historian. McKinley was reluctant, stating to one Roosevelt booster, "I want peace and I am told that your friend Theodore is always getting into rows with everybody." Nevertheless, he made the appointment.
In addition to Sherman, McKinley made one other ill-advised Cabinet appointment, that of Secretary of War, which fell to Russell A. Alger, former general and Michigan governor. Competent enough in peacetime, Alger proved inadequate once the conflict with Spain began. With the War Department plagued by scandal, Alger resigned at McKinley's request in mid-1899. Vice President Hobart, as was customary at the time, was not invited to Cabinet meetings. However, he proved a valuable adviser both for McKinley and for his Cabinet members. The wealthy Vice President leased a residence close to the White House; the two families visited each other without formality, and the Vice President's wife, Jennie Tuttle Hobart, sometimes substituted as Executive Mansion hostess when Ida McKinley was unwell. For most of McKinley's administration, George B. Cortelyou served as his personal secretary. Cortelyou, who served in three Cabinet positions under Theodore Roosevelt, became a combination press secretary and chief of staff to McKinley.
Cuba crisis and war with Spain
For decades, rebels in Cuba had waged an intermittent campaign for freedom from Spanish colonial rule. By 1895, the conflict had expanded to a war for Cuban independence. As war engulfed the island, Spanish reprisals against the rebels grew ever harsher. American public opinion favored the rebels, and McKinley shared in their outrage against Spanish policies. However while public opinion called for war to liberate Cuba, McKinley favored a peaceful approach, hoping that through negotiation, Spain might be convinced to grant Cuba independence, or at least to allow the Cubans some measure of autonomy. The United States and Spain began negotiations on the subject in 1897, but it became clear that Spain would never concede Cuban independence, while the rebels (and their American supporters) would never settle for anything less.
In January 1898, Spain promised some concessions to the rebels, but when American consul Fitzhugh Lee reported riots in Havana, McKinley agreed to send the battleship USS Maine. On February 15, the Maine exploded and sank with 266 men killed. Public attention focused on the crisis and the consensus was that regardless of who set the bomb, Spain had lost control over Cuba. McKinley insisted that a court of inquiry first determine whether the explosion was accidental. Negotiations with Spain continued as the court considered the evidence, but on March 20, the court ruled that the Maine was blown up by an underwater mine. As pressure for war mounted in Congress, McKinley continued to negotiate for Cuban independence. Spain refused McKinley's proposals, and on April 11, McKinley turned the matter over to Congress. He did not ask for war, but Congress made the decision and declared war on April 20, with the addition of the Teller Amendment, which disavowed any intention of annexing Cuba. Nick Kapur says that McKinley's actions were based on his values of arbitrationism, pacifism, humanitarianism, and manly self-restraint, and not on external pressures.
The expansion of the telegraph and the development of the telephone gave McKinley greater control over the day-to-day management of the war than previous presidents had enjoyed, and he used the new technologies to direct the army's and navy's movements as far as he was able. McKinley found Alger inadequate as Secretary of War, and did not get along with the Army's commanding general, Nelson A. Miles. Bypassing them, he looked for strategic advice first from Miles's predecessor, General John Schofield, and later from Adjutant General Henry Clarke Corbin. The war led to a change in McKinley's cabinet, as the president accepted Sherman's resignation as Secretary of State. William R. Day agreed to serve as secretary until the war's end.
Within a fortnight, the navy had its first victory when Commodore George Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines. Dewey's overwhelming victory expanded the scope of the war from one centered in the Caribbean to one that would determine the fate of all of Spain's Pacific colonies. The next month, McKinley increased the number of troops sent to the Philippines and granted the force's commander, Major General Wesley Merritt, the power to set up legal systems and raise taxes—necessities for a long occupation. By the time the troops arrived in the Philippines at the end of June 1898, McKinley had decided that Spain would be required to surrender the archipelago to the United States. He professed to be open to all views on the subject; however, he believed that as the war progressed, the public would come to demand retention of the islands as a prize of war.
Meanwhile, in the Caribbean theater, a large force of regulars and volunteers gathered near Tampa, Florida, for an invasion of Cuba. After lengthy delays, the army, led by Major General William Rufus Shafter, on June 22, landed near Santiago de Cuba. Shafter's army engaged the Spanish forces on July 2 in the Battle of San Juan Hill. In an intense day-long battle, the American force was victorious, although both sides suffered heavy casualties. The next day, Spain's Caribbean squadron, which had been sheltering in Santiago's harbor, broke for the open sea and was destroyed by the North Atlantic Squadron in the largest naval battle of the war. Shafter laid siege to the city of Santiago, which surrendered on July 17, placing Cuba under effective American control. McKinley and Miles also ordered an invasion of Puerto Rico, which met little resistance when it landed in July. The distance from Spain and the destruction of the Spanish navy made resupply impossible, and the Spanish government began to look for a way to end the war.
Peace and territorial gain
McKinley's cabinet agreed with him that Spain must leave Cuba and Puerto Rico, but they disagreed on the Philippines, with some wishing to annex the entire archipelago and some wishing only to retain a naval base in the area. Although public sentiment seemed to favor annexation of the Philippines, several prominent political leaders—including Democrats Bryan, and Cleveland, and the newly formed American Anti-Imperialist League—made their opposition known.
McKinley proposed to open negotiations with Spain on the basis of Cuban liberation and Puerto Rican annexation, with the final status of the Philippines subject to further discussion. He stood firmly in that demand even as the military situation in Cuba began to deteriorate when the American army was struck with yellow fever. Spain ultimately agreed to a ceasefire on those terms on August 12, and treaty negotiations began in Paris in September 1898. The talks continued until December 18, when the Treaty of Paris was signed. The United States acquired Puerto Rico and the Philippines as well as the island of Guam, and Spain relinquished its claims to Cuba; in exchange, the United States agreed to pay Spain $20 million (equivalent to $732 million in 2023). McKinley had difficulty convincing the Senate to approve the treaty by the requisite two-thirds vote, but his lobbying, and that of Vice President Hobart, eventually saw success, as the Senate voted in favor on February 6, 1899, 57 to 27.
Hawaii
During the war, McKinley also pursued the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii. The new republic, dominated by business interests, had overthrown the Queen in 1893 when she rejected a limited role for herself. There was strong American support for annexation, and the need for Pacific bases in wartime became clear after the Battle of Manila. McKinley came to office as a supporter of annexation, and lobbied Congress to act, warning that to do nothing would invite a royalist counter-revolution or a Japanese takeover. Foreseeing difficulty in getting two-thirds of the Senate to approve a treaty of annexation, McKinley instead supported the effort of Democratic Representative Francis G. Newlands of Nevada to accomplish the result by joint resolution of both houses of Congress. The resulting Newlands Resolution passed both houses by wide margins, and McKinley signed it into law on July 8, 1898. McKinley biographer H. Wayne Morgan notes, "McKinley was the guiding spirit behind the annexation of Hawaii, showing ... a firmness in pursuing it"; the president told Cortelyou, "We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny."
Expanding influence overseas
Open door in China
Even before peace negotiations began with Spain, McKinley asked Congress to set up a commission to examine trade opportunities in Asia and espoused an "Open Door Policy", in which all nations would freely trade with China and none would seek to violate that nation's territorial integrity.
American missionaries were threatened with death when the Boxer Rebellion menaced foreigners in China. Americans and other westerners in Peking were besieged and, in cooperation with other western powers, McKinley ordered 5000 troops to the city in June 1900 in the China Relief Expedition. The westerners were rescued the next month, but several Congressional Democrats objected to McKinley dispatching troops without consulting the legislature. McKinley's actions set a precedent that led to most of his successors exerting similar independent control over the military. After the rebellion ended, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to the Open Door policy, which became the basis of American policy toward China.
Panama canal
Closer to home, McKinley and Hay engaged in negotiations with Britain over the possible construction of a canal across Central America. The Clayton–Bulwer Treaty, which the two nations signed in 1850, prohibited either from establishing exclusive control over a canal there. The war had exposed the difficulty of maintaining a two-ocean navy when the Navy had to sail all the way around South America to reach the Pacific. Now, with American business and military interests even more involved in Asia, a canal seemed more essential than ever, and McKinley pressed for a renegotiation of the treaty. Hay and the British ambassador, Julian Pauncefote, agreed that the United States could control a future canal, provided that it was open to all shipping and not fortified. McKinley was satisfied with the terms, but the Senate rejected them, demanding that the United States be allowed to fortify the canal. Hay was embarrassed by the rebuff and offered his resignation, but McKinley refused it and ordered him to continue negotiations to achieve the Senate's demands. He was successful, and a new treaty was drafted and approved, but not before McKinley's assassination in 1901. The result under Roosevelt was the Panama Canal.
Tariffs and bimetallism
McKinley had built his reputation in Congress on high tariffs, promising protection for American business and well-paid U.S. factory workers. With the Republicans in control of Congress, Ways and Means chairman Dingley introduced the Dingley Act, which would raise tariff rates on wool, sugar, and luxury goods. Congress passed the legislation with McKinley's support, and he signed it into law on July 24, 1897, less than five months into his presidency.
American negotiators soon concluded a reciprocity treaty with France, and the two nations approached Britain to gauge British enthusiasm for bimetallism. Prime Minister Lord Salisbury and his government showed some interest in the idea and told American envoy Edward O. Wolcott that he would be amenable to reopening the mints in India to silver coinage if the Viceroy's Executive Council there agreed. News of a possible departure from the gold standard stirred up immediate opposition from its partisans, and misgivings by the Indian administration led Britain to reject the proposal. With the international effort a failure, McKinley turned away from silver coinage and embraced the gold standard. Even without the agreement, agitation for free silver eased as prosperity began to return to the United States and gold from recent strikes in the Yukon and Australia increased the monetary supply even without silver coinage. In the absence of international agreement, McKinley favored legislation to formally affirm the gold standard, but was initially deterred by the silver strength in the Senate. By 1900, with another campaign ahead and good economic conditions, McKinley urged Congress to pass such a law, and signed the Gold Standard Act on March 14, 1900, using a gold pen to do so.
Civil rights
In the wake of McKinley's election in 1896, black people were hopeful of progress towards equality. McKinley had spoken out against lynching while governor, and most black people who could still vote supported him in 1896. McKinley's priority, however, was in ending sectionalism, and they were disappointed by his policies and appointments. Although McKinley made some appointments of black people to low-level government posts, and received some praise for that, the appointments were less than they had received under previous Republican administrations.
The McKinley administration's response to racial violence was minimal, causing him to lose black support. When black postmasters at Hogansville, Georgia, in 1897, and at Lake City, South Carolina, the following year, were assaulted, McKinley issued no statement of condemnation. Although black leaders criticized McKinley for inaction, supporters responded by saying there was little that the president could do to intervene. Critics replied by saying that he could at least publicly condemn such events, as Harrison had done.
When a group of white supremacists violently overthrew the duly elected government of Wilmington, North Carolina, on November 10, 1898, in an event that came to be recognized as the Wilmington insurrection of 1898, McKinley refused requests by black leaders to send in federal marshals or federal troops to protect black citizens, and ignored city residents' appeals for help to recover from the widespread destruction of the predominantly black neighborhood of Brooklyn.
According to historian Clarence A. Bacote, "Before the Spanish–American War, the Negroes, in spite of some mistakes, regarded McKinley as the best friend they ever had." Under pressure from black leaders, McKinley required the War Department to commission black officers above the rank of lieutenant. McKinley toured the South in late 1898, promoting sectional reconciliation. He visited Tuskegee Institute and the famous black educator Booker T. Washington. He also visited Confederate memorials. In his tour of the South, McKinley did not mention the racial tensions or violence. Although the president received a rapturous reception from Southern whites, many blacks, excluded from official welcoming committees, felt alienated by the president's words and actions. Gould concluded regarding race, "McKinley lacked the vision to transcend the biases of his day and to point toward a better future for all Americans".
1900 election
Republicans were generally successful in state and local elections around the country in 1899, and McKinley was optimistic about his chances at re-election in 1900. McKinley's popularity in his first term assured him of renomination for a second. The only question about the Republican ticket concerned the vice presidential nomination; McKinley needed a new running mate as Hobart had died in late 1899. McKinley initially favored Elihu Root, who had succeeded Alger as Secretary of War, but McKinley decided that Root was doing too good a job at the War Department to move him. He considered other prominent candidates, including Allison and Cornelius Newton Bliss, but none were as popular as the Republican party's rising star, Theodore Roosevelt. After a stint as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt had resigned and raised a cavalry regiment; they fought bravely in Cuba, and Roosevelt returned home covered in glory. Elected governor of New York on a reform platform in 1898, Roosevelt had his eye on the presidency. Many supporters recommended him to McKinley for the second spot on the ticket, and Roosevelt believed it would be an excellent stepping stone to the presidency in 1904. McKinley remained uncommitted in public, but Hanna was firmly opposed to the New York governor. The Ohio senator considered the New Yorker overly impulsive; his stance was undermined by the efforts of political boss and New York Senator Thomas C. Platt, who, disliking Roosevelt's reform agenda, sought to sideline the governor by making him vice president.
When the Republican convention began in Philadelphia that June, no vice presidential candidate had overwhelming support, but Roosevelt had the broadest range of support from around the country. McKinley affirmed that the choice belonged to the convention, not to him. On June 21, McKinley was unanimously renominated and, with Hanna's reluctant acquiescence, Roosevelt was nominated for vice president on the first ballot. The Democratic convention convened the next month in Kansas City and nominated William Jennings Bryan, setting up a rematch of the 1896 contest.
The candidates were the same, but the issues of the campaign had shifted: free silver was still a question that animated many voters, but the Republicans focused on victory in war and prosperity at home as issues they believed favored their party. Democrats knew the war had been popular, even if the imperialism issue was less sure, so they focused on the issue of trusts and corporate power, painting McKinley as the servant of capital and big business. As in 1896, Bryan embarked on a speaking tour around the country while McKinley stayed at home, this time making only one speech, to accept his nomination. Roosevelt emerged as the campaign's primary speaker and Hanna helped the cause working to settle a coal miners strike in Pennsylvania. Bryan's campaigning failed to excite the voters as it had in 1896, and McKinley never doubted that he would be re-elected. On November 6, 1900, he was proven correct, winning the largest victory for any Republican since 1872. Bryan carried only four states outside the solid South, and McKinley even won Bryan's home state of Nebraska.
Second term
Soon after his second inauguration on March 4, 1901, William and Ida McKinley undertook a six-week tour of the nation. Traveling mostly by rail, the McKinleys were to travel through the South to the Southwest, and then up the Pacific coast and east again, to conclude with a visit on June 13, 1901, to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. However, the first lady fell ill in California, causing her husband to limit his public events and cancel a series of speeches he had planned to give urging trade reciprocity. He also postponed the visit to the fair until September, planning a month in Washington and two in Canton before the Buffalo visit.
Assassination
Although McKinley enjoyed meeting the public, Cortelyou was concerned with his security because of recent assassinations by anarchists in Europe, such as the assassination of King Umberto I of Italy the previous year. Twice he tried to remove a public reception from the president's rescheduled visit to the exposition. McKinley refused, and Cortelyou arranged for additional security for the trip. On September 5, McKinley delivered his address at the fairgrounds before a crowd of 50,000. In his final speech, McKinley urged reciprocity treaties with other nations to assure American manufacturers access to foreign markets. He intended the speech as a keynote to his plans for a second term.
A man in the crowd named Leon Czolgosz hoped to assassinate McKinley. After hearing a speech by anarchist Emma Goldman in Cleveland, Czolgosz had decided to take action that he believed would advance the cause. He had managed to get close to the presidential podium, but did not fire, uncertain of hitting his target. After his failure to get close enough on September 5, Czolgosz waited until the next day at the Temple of Music on the exposition grounds, where the president was to meet the public. Czolgosz concealed his gun in a handkerchief and, when he reached the head of the line, shot McKinley twice in the abdomen at close range.
McKinley urged his aides to break the news gently to Ida, and to call off the mob that had set upon Czolgosz, a request that may have saved his assassin's life. McKinley was taken to the exposition aid station, where the doctor was unable to locate the second bullet. Although a primitive X-ray machine was being exhibited on the exposition grounds, it was not used. McKinley was taken to the home of John G. Milburn, president of the Pan-American Exposition Company.
In the days after the shooting, McKinley appeared to improve and doctors issued increasingly optimistic bulletins. Members of the Cabinet, who had rushed to Buffalo on hearing the news, dispersed, and Vice President Roosevelt departed on a camping trip to the Adirondacks.
Leech wrote:
It is difficult to interpret the optimism with which the President's physicians looked for his recovery. There was obviously the most serious danger that his wounds would become septic. In that case, he would almost certainly die, since drugs to control infection did not exist ... [Prominent New York City physician] Dr. McBurney was by far the worst offender in showering sanguine assurances on the correspondents. As the only big-city surgeon on the case, he was eagerly questioned and quoted, and his rosy prognostications largely contributed to the delusion of the American public.
On the morning of September 13, McKinley's condition deteriorated. Specialists were summoned; although at first some doctors hoped that McKinley might survive with a weakened heart, by afternoon they knew that the case was hopeless. Unknown to the doctors, gangrene was growing on the walls of McKinley's stomach and slowly poisoning his blood. McKinley drifted in and out of consciousness all day, but when awake he was a model patient. By evening, McKinley too knew he was dying, "It is useless, gentlemen. I think we ought to have prayer." Relatives and friends gathered around the death bed. The first lady sobbed over him, saying, "I want to go, too. I want to go, too." Her husband replied, "We are all going, we are all going. God's will be done, not ours", and with final strength put an arm around her. He may also have sung part of his favorite hymn, "Nearer, My God, to Thee", although some other accounts have the first lady singing it softly to him.
At 2:15 a.m. on September 14, 1901, McKinley died. Theodore Roosevelt rushed back to Buffalo and took the oath of office as president. Czolgosz, put on trial for murder nine days after McKinley's death, was found guilty, sentenced to death on September 26 and executed by electric chair on October 29, 1901.
Funeral, memorials, and legacy
Funeral and resting place
According to Gould, "The nation experienced a wave of genuine grief at the news of McKinley's passing." The stock market, faced with sudden uncertainty, suffered a steep decline that went nearly unnoticed in the mourning. The nation focused its attention on the casket that first lay in the East Room of the Executive Mansion and then lay in state in the Capitol before being transported to Canton by train. Approximately 100,000 people passed by the open casket in the Capitol Rotunda, many having waited hours in the rain. In Canton, an equal number did the same at the Stark County Courthouse on September 18. The following day, a funeral service was held at the First Methodist Church. The casket was next sealed and taken to the McKinley house, where relatives paid their final respects. It was then transported to the receiving vault at West Lawn Cemetery in Canton to await the construction of the memorial to McKinley already being planned.
There was a widespread expectation that Ida McKinley would not long survive her husband; one family friend stated, as William McKinley lay dying, that they should be prepared for a double funeral. However, this did not occur, and the former first lady accompanied her husband on the funeral train. Leech noted "the circuitous journey was a cruel ordeal for the woman who huddled in a compartment of the funeral train, praying that the Lord would take her with her Dearest Love." She was thought too weak to attend the services in Washington or Canton, although she listened at the door to the service for her husband in her house on North Market Street. She remained in Canton for the remainder of her life, setting up a shrine in her house and often visiting the receiving vault, until her death at age 59 on May 26, 1907. She died only months before the completion of the large marble monument to her husband in Canton, which was dedicated by President Roosevelt on September 30, 1907. William and Ida McKinley are interred there with their daughters atop a hillside overlooking the city of Canton.
Other memorials
In addition to the Canton site, many other memorials honor McKinley. The William McKinley Monument stands in front of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus and a large marble statue of McKinley is situated at his birthplace in Niles. Twenty Ohio schools bear McKinley's name, and several more schools in the United States are named McKinley School. Nearly a million dollars was pledged by contributors or allocated from public funds for the construction of McKinley memorials in the year after his death. McKinley biographer Kevin Phillips suggests that the significant number of major memorials to McKinley in Ohio reflect the expectation among Ohioans in the years after McKinley's death that he would be ranked among the great presidents.
Statues bearing McKinley's image may be found in more than a dozen states, and his name has been bestowed on streets, civic organizations and libraries. In 1896, a gold prospector gave McKinley's name to Denali, the tallest mountain in North America at 20,310 feet (6,190 m). The Alaska Board of Geographic Names reverted the name of the mountain to Denali, its local appellation, in 1975. The Department of the Interior followed suit in August 2015 as a part of a visit to Alaska by President Barack Obama. Similarly, Denali National Park was known as Mount McKinley National Park until December 2, 1980, when it was changed by legislation signed by President Jimmy Carter.
Legacy and historical image
McKinley's biographer H. Wayne Morgan remarks that McKinley died the most beloved president in history. However, the young, enthusiastic Roosevelt quickly captured public attention. The new president made little effort to secure the trade reciprocity that McKinley had intended to negotiate with other nations. Controversy and public interest surrounded Roosevelt throughout the seven and a half years of his presidency as memories of McKinley faded; by 1920, according to Gould, McKinley's administration was deemed no more than "a mediocre prelude to the vigor and energy of Theodore Roosevelt's." Beginning in the 1950s, McKinley received more favorable evaluations; nevertheless, in surveys ranking American presidents, he has generally been placed near the middle, often trailing contemporaries such as Hayes and Cleveland. Morgan suggests that this relatively low ranking is the result of a perception among historians that while many decisions during McKinley's presidency profoundly affected the nation's future, he more followed public opinion than led it, and that McKinley's standing has suffered from altered public expectations of the presidency.
There has been broad agreement among historians that McKinley's election occurred at a time of a transition between two political eras, dubbed the Third and Fourth Party Systems. Kenneth F. Warren emphasizes the national commitment to a pro-business, industrial, and modernizing program represented by McKinley. Historian Daniel P. Klinghard argued that McKinley's personal control of the 1896 campaign gave him the opportunity to reshape the presidency—rather than simply follow the party platform—by representing himself as the voice of the people. Republican Karl Rove exalted McKinley as the model for a sweeping political realignment behind George W. Bush in the 2000s—a realignment that did not happen. Historian Michael J. Korzi argued in 2005 that while it is tempting to see McKinley as the key figure in the transition from congressional domination of government to the modern, powerful president, this change was an incremental process through the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Phillips writes that McKinley's low rating is undeserved, and that he should be ranked just after the great presidents such as Washington and Lincoln. He pointed to McKinley's success at building an electoral coalition that kept the Republicans mostly in power for a generation. Phillips believes that part of McKinley's legacy is the men whom he included in his administration who dominated the Republican Party for a quarter century after his death. These officials included Cortelyou, who served in three Cabinet positions under Roosevelt, and Dawes, who became vice president under Coolidge. Other McKinley appointees who later became major figures include Day, whom Roosevelt elevated to the Supreme Court where he remained nearly 20 years, and William Howard Taft, whom McKinley had made Governor-General of the Philippines and who succeeded Roosevelt as president. After the assassination, the present United States Secret Service came into existence when the Congress deemed it necessary that presidential protection be part of its duties.
A controversial aspect of McKinley's presidency is territorial expansion and the question of imperialism; with the exception of the Philippines, granted independence in 1946, the United States retains the territories taken under McKinley. The territorial expansion of 1898 is often seen by historians as the beginning of American empire. Morgan sees that historical discussion as a subset of the debate over the rise of America as a world power; he expects the debate over McKinley's actions to continue indefinitely without resolution, and notes that however one judges McKinley's actions in American expansion, one of his motivations was to change the lives of Filipinos and Cubans for the better.
Morgan alludes to the rise of interest in McKinley as part of the debate over the more assertive American foreign policy of recent decades:
McKinley was a major actor in some of the most important events in American history. His decisions shaped future policies and public attitudes. He usually rises in the estimation of scholars who study his life in detail. Even those who disagree with his policies and decisions see him as an active, responsible, informed participant in charge of decision making. His dignified demeanor and subtle operations keep him somewhat remote from public perception. But he is once again at the center of events, where he started.
See also
McKinley at Home, Canton, Ohio (1896 film)
Explanatory notes
Citations
General bibliography
PhD dissertations
Full text available online through academic libraries.
Brady, David William. "A Congressional Response to a Stress Situation: Party Voting in the Mckinley Era" (The University of Iowa; Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1970. 7023867).
Damiani, Brian Paul. "Advocates of Empire: William Mckinley, The Senate and American Expansion, 1898-1899" (University of Delaware; Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1978. 7816908).
Labinski, Nicholas Winter. "A Transitional Moment: William McKinley's Foreign Policy Rhetoric and America's Outward Turn" (University of Kansas; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2017. 10687965).
Matlosz, Gregory. "The Political Symbiosis of Rutherford B. Hayes & William McKinley" (Drew University; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2015. 3700842).
Ofek, Hillel. "A Just Peace: Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and the Moral Basis of American Foreign Policy" (University of Texas at Austin; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2018. 28166006).
Waksmundski, John. "Mckinley Politics and the Changing Attitudes Toward American Labor, 1870-1900" (The Ohio State University; Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1972. 7311599).
External links
Official
William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum
White House biography
Speeches
Text of a number of McKinley speeches, Miller Center of Public Affairs
Media coverage
William McKinley collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Other
United States Congress. "William McKinley (id: M000522)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
William McKinley: A Resource Guide, Library of Congress
Extensive essays on William McKinley and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
McKinley Assassination Ink, a documentary history of William McKinley's assassination
"Life Portrait of William McKinley", from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits, August 23, 1999
Works by William McKinley at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about William McKinley at the Internet Archive
Works by William McKinley at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
William McKinley at IMDb |
Camp_David_Accords | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David_Accords | [
501
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David_Accords"
] | The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retreat of the President of the United States in Maryland. The two framework agreements were signed at the White House and were witnessed by President Jimmy Carter. The second of these frameworks (A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel) led directly to the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty. Due to the agreement, Sadat and Begin received the shared 1978 Nobel Peace Prize. The first framework (A Framework for Peace in the Middle East), which dealt with the Palestinian territories, was written without participation of the Palestinians and was condemned by the United Nations.
Preceding diplomacy
Carter Initiative
Carter's and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance's exploratory meetings gave a basic plan for reinvigorating the peace process based on a Geneva Peace Conference and had presented three main objectives for Arab–Israeli peace: Arab recognition of Israel's right to exist in peace, Israel's withdrawal from occupied territories gained in the Six-Day War through negotiating efforts with neighboring Arab nations to ensure that Israel's security would not be threatened, and securing an undivided Jerusalem.
The Camp David Accords were the result of 14 months of diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Israel, and the United States that began after Jimmy Carter became president. The efforts initially focused on a comprehensive resolution of disputes between Israel and the Arab countries, gradually evolving into a search for a bilateral agreement between Israel and Egypt.
Upon assuming office on 20 January 1977, President Carter moved to rejuvenate the Middle East peace process that had stalled throughout the 1976 presidential campaign in the United States. Following the advice of a Brookings Institution report, Carter opted to replace the incremental, bilateral peace talks which had characterized Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy following the 1973 Yom Kippur War with a comprehensive, multilateral approach. The Yom Kippur War further complicated efforts to achieve the objectives written in United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.
Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his successor, Menachem Begin, were both skeptical of an international conference. While Begin, who took office in May 1977, officially favored the reconvening of the conference, perhaps even more vocally than Rabin, and even accepted the Palestinian presence, in actuality the Israelis and the Egyptians were secretly formulating a framework for bilateral talks. Even earlier, Begin had not been opposed to returning the Sinai, but a major future obstacle was his firm refusal to consider relinquishing control over the West Bank.
Participating parties
Carter visited the heads of government on whom he would have to rely to make any peace agreement feasible. By the end of his first year (1977) in office, Carter had met with Anwar El Sadat of Egypt, Hussein of Jordan, Hafez al-Assad of Syria, and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel. The new Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin however, taking over the office from Yitzhak Rabin in June 1977, specifically demanded that the PLO would be excluded from peace talks. Despite the fact that Jordan’s King Hussein supported Sadat's peace initiative, Hussein refused to take part in the peace talks; Menachem Begin offered Jordan little to gain and Hussein also feared he would isolate Jordan from the Arab world and provoke Syria and the PLO if he engaged in the peace talks as well. Hafez al-Assad, who had no interest in negotiating peace with Israel, also refused to come to the United States.
Sadat Initiative
Sadat first spoke about the possibility of peace with Israel in February 1971; Egypt was the initiator of many moves in the 1970s. On 9 November 1977, he startled the world by announcing his intention to go to Jerusalem and speak before the Knesset. Shortly afterward, the Israeli government cordially invited him to address the Knesset in a message passed to Sadat via the US ambassador to Egypt. Ten days after his speech, Sadat arrived for the groundbreaking three-day visit, which launched the first peace process between Israel and an Arab state. As would be the case with later Israeli–Arab peace initiatives, Washington was taken by surprise; the White House and State Department were particularly concerned that Sadat was merely reaching out to reacquire Sinai as quickly as possible, putting aside the Palestinian problem. Considered as a man with strong political convictions who kept his eye on the main objective, Sadat had no ideological base, which made him politically inconsistent. The Sadat visit came about after he delivered a speech in Egypt stating that he would travel anywhere, "even Jerusalem," to discuss peace. That speech led the Begin government to declare that, if Israel thought that Sadat would accept an invitation, Israel would invite him. In Sadat's Knesset speech he talked about his views on peace, the status of Israel's occupied territories, and the Palestinian refugee problem. This tactic went against the intentions of both the West and the East, which were to revive the Geneva Conference.
The gesture stemmed from an eagerness to enlist the help of the NATO countries in improving the ailing Egyptian economy, a belief that Egypt should begin to focus more on its own interests than on the interests of the Arab world, and a hope that an agreement with Israel would catalyze similar agreements between Israel and her other Arab neighbors and help solve the Palestinian problem. Prime Minister Begin's response to Sadat's initiative, though not what Sadat or Carter had hoped, demonstrated a willingness to engage the Egyptian leader. Like Sadat, Begin also saw many reasons why bilateral talks would be in his country's best interests. It would afford Israel the opportunity to negotiate only with Egypt instead of with a larger Arab delegation that might try to use its size to make unwelcome or unacceptable demands. Israel felt Egypt could help protect Israel from other Arabs and Eastern communists. In addition, the commencement of direct negotiations between leaders – summit diplomacy – would distinguish Egypt from her Arab neighbors. Carter's people apparently had no inkling of the secret talks in Morocco between Dayan and Sadat's representative, Hassan Tuhami, that paved the way for Sadat's initiative. Indeed, in a sense Egypt and Israel were ganging up to push Carter off his Geneva track. The basic message of Sadat's speech at the Knesset were the request for the implementation of Resolutions 242 and 338. Sadat's visit was the first step to negotiations such as the preliminary Cairo Conference in December 1977.
Searching a negotiation modus
A mechanism had yet to be created for Israel and Egypt to pursue the talks begun by Sadat and Begin in Jerusalem. The Egyptian president suggested to Begin that Israel place a secret representative in the American embassy in Cairo. With American "cover," the true identity of the Israeli, who would liaise between the Egyptian and Israeli leaders, would be known only to the American ambassador in Cairo.
Carter's acceptance of the proposed liaison scheme would have signaled American backing for Sadat's unprecedented peace initiative, but Carter rejected the proposal. However, Carter could not thwart the Israeli–Egyptian peace push. Within days Israeli journalists were allowed into Cairo, breaking a symbolic barrier, and from there the peace process quickly gained momentum. An Israeli–Egyptian working summit was scheduled for 25 December in Ismailiya, near the Suez Canal.
Proceedings of the Camp David meeting
Accompanied by their capable negotiating teams and with their respective interests in mind, the Israeli and Egyptian leaders Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat converged on Camp David for 13 days of tense and dramatic negotiations from 5 to 17 September 1978.
Carter's advisers insisted on the establishment of an Egyptian–Israeli agreement which would lead to an eventual solution to the Palestine issue. They believed in a short, loose, and overt linkage between the two countries amplified by the establishment of a coherent basis for a settlement. However, Carter felt they were not "aiming high enough" and was interested in the establishment of a written "land for peace" agreement with Israel returning the Sinai Peninsula and West Bank. Numerous times both the Egyptian and Israeli leaders wanted to scrap negotiations, only to be lured back into the process by personal appeals from Carter.
Begin and Sadat had such mutual antipathy toward one another that they only seldom had direct contact; thus Carter had to conduct his own microcosmic form of shuttle diplomacy by holding one-on-one meetings with either Sadat or Begin in one cabin, then returning to the cabin of the third party to relay the substance of his discussions. Begin and Sadat were "literally not on speaking terms," and "claustrophobia was setting in."
A particularly difficult situation arose on the tenth stalemated day of the talks. The issues of Israeli settlement withdrawal from the Sinai and the status of the West Bank created what seemed to be an impasse. In response, Carter had the choice of trying to salvage the agreement by conceding the issue of the West Bank to Begin, while advocating Sadat's less controversial position on the removal of all settlements from the Sinai Peninsula. Or he could have refused to continue the talks, reported the reasons for their failure, and allowed Begin to bear the brunt of the blame.
Carter chose to continue and for three more days negotiated. During this time, Carter even took the two leaders to the nearby Gettysburg National Military Park in the hopes of using the American Civil War as a simile to their own struggle.
Consequently, the 13 days marking the Camp David Accords were considered a success, in part due to Carter's determination in obtaining an Israeli–Egyptian agreement, which represented considerable time focused on a singular international problem. Additionally, Carter was beneficiary to a fully pledged American foreign team. Likewise, the Israeli delegation had a stable of excellent talent in Ministers Dayan and Weizman and legal experts Dr. Meir Rosenne and Aharon Barak. Furthermore, the absence of the media contributed to the Accord's successes: there were no possibilities provided to either leader to reassure his political body or be driven to conclusions by members of his opposition. An eventual scrap of negotiations by either leader would have proven disastrous, resulting in taking the blame for the summit's failure as well as a disassociation from the White House. Ultimately, neither Begin nor Sadat was willing to risk those eventualities. Both of them had invested enormous amounts of political capital and time to reach an agreement.
Partial agreements
The Camp David Accords comprise two separate agreements: "A Framework for Peace in the Middle East" and "A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel", the second leading towards the Egypt–Israel peace treaty signed in March 1979. The agreements and the peace treaty were both accompanied by "side-letters" of understanding between Egypt and the U.S. and Israel and the U.S.
Framework for Peace in the Middle East
The preamble of the "Framework for Peace in the Middle East" starts with the basis of a peaceful settlement of the Arab–Israeli conflict:
The agreed basis for a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Israel and its neighbors is United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, in all its parts.
The framework itself consists of 3 parts. The first part of the framework was to establish an autonomous self-governing authority in the West Bank and the Gaza strip and to fully implement Resolution 242.
The Accords recognized the "legitimate rights of the Palestinian people", a process to be implemented guaranteeing the full autonomy of the people within a period of five years. The Israeli Prime Minister Begin insisted on the adjective "full" to ensure that it was the maximum political right attainable; however, Begin also specifically insisted that "on no condition will there be a Palestinian state". This so-called 'full autonomy' was to be discussed with the participation of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians. The withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank and Gaza was agreed to occur after an election of a self-governing authority to replace Israel's military government. The Accords did not mention the Golan Heights, Syria, or Lebanon. This was not the comprehensive peace that Kissinger, Ford, Carter, or Sadat had in mind during the previous American presidential transition. It was less clear than the agreements concerning the Sinai, and was later interpreted differently by Israel, Egypt, and the United States. The fate of Jerusalem was deliberately excluded from this agreement.
The second part of the framework dealt with Egyptian–Israeli relations, the real content worked out in the second Egypt–Israel framework. The third part, "Associated Principles," declared principles that should apply to relations between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors.
West Bank, Gaza and "the Palestinian problem"
Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the representatives of the Palestinian people should participate in negotiations on the resolution of the Palestinian problem in all its aspects.
(1.) Egypt and Israel agree that, in order to ensure a peaceful and orderly transfer of authority, and taking into account the security concerns of all the parties, there should be transitional arrangements for the West Bank and Gaza for a period not exceeding five years. In order to provide full autonomy to the inhabitants, under these arrangements the Israeli military government and its civilian administration will be withdrawn as soon as a self-governing authority has been freely elected by the inhabitants of these areas to replace the existing military government.
(2.) Egypt, Israel, and Jordan will agree on the modalities for establishing elected self-governing authority in the West Bank and Gaza. The delegations of Egypt and Jordan may include Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza or other Palestinians as mutually agreed. The parties will negotiate an agreement which will define the powers and responsibilities of the self-governing authority to be exercised in the West Bank and Gaza. A withdrawal of Israeli armed forces will take place and there will be a redeployment of the remaining Israeli forces into specified security locations. The agreement will also include arrangements for assuring internal and external security and public order. A strong local police force will be established, which may include Jordanian citizens. In addition, Israeli and Jordanian forces will participate in joint patrols and in the manning of control posts to assure the security of the borders.
(3.) When the self-governing authority (administrative council) in the West Bank and Gaza is established and inaugurated, the transitional period of five years will begin. As soon as possible, but not later than the third year after the beginning of the transitional period, negotiations will take place to determine the final status of the West Bank and Gaza and its relationship with its neighbors and to conclude a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan by the end of the transitional period. These negotiations will be conducted among Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the elected representatives of the inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza. ... The negotiations shall be based on all the provisions and principles of UN Security Council Resolution 242. The negotiations will resolve, among other matters, the location of the boundaries and the nature of the security arrangements. The solution from the negotiations must also recognize the legitimate right of the Palestinian peoples and their just requirements.
The framework merely concerned autonomy of the inhabitants of West Bank and Gaza. It neither mentions the status of Jerusalem, nor the Palestinian Right of Return.
Criticism on the concept of 'autonomy'
The French historian, arabist, orientalist and professor Jean-Pierre Filiu, diplomatic adviser to three French ministers between 1990 and 2002, and also U.S.-born (with Palestinian roots) historian and Professor Rashid Khalidi, in the years 2013–2014 criticised the concept of 'autonomy' as used in the Camp David Accords: it is "devoid of meaning and content", it does not facilitate Palestinian's "right to liberty and self-determination" (etc.). The Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, these professors say, had emphatically construed an 'autonomy'-concept that did not include (or according to Begin not even allowed for) a Palestinian state to be created. This flawing non-sovereignty-concept would be repeated in the 1993 Oslo Accords, Khalidi asserted.
UN Rejection of the Middle East Framework
The UN General Assembly rejected the Framework for Peace in the Middle East, because the agreement was concluded without participation of UN and PLO and did not comply with the Palestinian right of return, of self-determination and to national independence and sovereignty. In December 1978, it declared in Resolution 33/28 A that agreements were only valid if they are within the framework of the United Nations and its Charter and its resolutions, include the Palestinian right of return and the right to national independence and sovereignty in Palestine, and concluded with the participation of the PLO. On 6 December 1979, the UN condemned in Resolution 34/70 all partial agreements and separate treaties that did not meet the Palestinian rights and comprehensive solutions to peace; it condemned Israel's continued occupation and demanded withdrawal from all occupied territories. On 12 December, in Resolution 34/65 B, the UN rejected more specific parts of the Camp David Accords and similar agreements, which were not in accordance with mentioned requirements. All such partial agreements and separate treaties were strongly condemned. The part of the Camp David accords regarding the Palestinian future and all similar ones were declared invalid.
Framework Peace Treaty Egypt and Israel
The second framework outlined a basis for the peace treaty six months later, in particular deciding the future of the Sinai peninsula. Israel agreed to withdraw its armed forces from the Sinai, gave up its four air bases that had been built there since the Six-Day War (see map to the right), evacuate its 4,500 civilian inhabitants, and restore it to Egypt in return for normal diplomatic relations with Egypt, guarantees of freedom of passage through the Suez Canal and other nearby waterways (such as the Straits of Tiran), and a restriction on the forces Egypt could place on the Sinai peninsula, especially within 20–40 km from Israel. This process would take three years to complete. Israel also agreed to limit its forces a smaller distance (3 km) from the Egyptian border, and to guarantee free passage between Egypt and Jordan. With the withdrawal, Israel also returned Egypt's Abu-Rudeis oil fields in western Sinai, which contained long term, commercially productive wells.
Consequences
The Camp David accords changed Middle Eastern politics. Notably, the perception of Egypt within the Arab world changed. With the most powerful of the Arab militaries and a history of leadership in the Arab world under Nasser, Egypt had more leverage than any of the other Arab states to advance Arab interests. Egypt was subsequently suspended from the Arab League from 1979 until 1989.
Jordan's King Hussein saw it as a slap to the face when Sadat volunteered Jordan's participation in deciding how functional autonomy for the Palestinians would work. Specifically, Sadat effectively said that Jordan would have a role in how the West Bank would be administered. Like the Rabat Summit Resolution, the Camp David Accords circumscribed Jordan's objective to reassert its control over the West Bank. Focusing as it did on Egypt, the Carter administration accepted Sadat's claim that he could deliver Hussein. However, with Arab world opposition building against Sadat, Jordan could not risk accepting the Accords without the support of powerful Arab neighbours, like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Hussein consequently felt diplomatically snubbed. One of Carter's regrets was allowing Sadat to claim that he could speak for Hussein if Jordan refused to join the talks, but by then the damage was done to the Jordanians.
The Camp David Accords also prompted the disintegration of a united Arab front in opposition to Israel. Egypt's realignment created a power vacuum that Saddam Hussein of Iraq, at one time only a secondary power, hoped to fill. Because of the vague language concerning the implementation of Resolution 242, the Palestinian problem became the primary issue in the Arab–Israeli conflict. Many of the Arab nations blamed Egypt for not putting enough pressure on Israel to deal with the Palestinian problem in a way that would be satisfactory to them. Syria also informed Egypt that it would not reconcile with the nation unless it abandoned the peace agreement with Israel.
According to The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East:
The normalization of relations [between Israel and Egypt] went into effect in January 1980. Ambassadors were exchanged in February. The boycott laws were repealed by Egypt's National Assembly the same month, and some trade began to develop, albeit less than Israel had hoped for. In March 1980 regular airline flights were inaugurated. Egypt also began supplying Israel with crude oil".
According to Kenneth Stein in Heroic Diplomacy: Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin, and the Quest for Arab–Israeli Peace:
The Accords were another interim agreement or step, but negotiations that flowed from the Accords slowed for several reasons. These included an inability to bring the Jordanians into the discussions; the controversy over settlements; the inconclusive nature of the subsequent autonomy talks; domestic opposition sustained by both Begin and Sadat and, in Sadat's case, ostracism and anger from the Arab world; the emergence of a what became a cold peace between Egypt and Israel; and changes in foreign policy priorities including discontinuity in personnel committed to sustaining the negotiating process[.]
Historian Jørgen Jensehaugen argues that by the time Carter left office in January 1981, he:
was in an odd position—he had attempted to break with traditional US policy but ended up fulfilling the goals of that tradition, which had been to break up the Arab alliance, side-line the Palestinians, build an alliance with Egypt, weaken the Soviet Union and secure Israel.
Israeli public support
Although most Israelis supported the Accords, the Israeli settler movement opposed them because Sadat's refusal to agree to a treaty in which Israel had any presence in the Sinai Peninsula at all meant they had to withdraw from the entire Sinai Peninsula. Israeli settlers tried to prevent the government from dismantling their settlements, but were unsuccessful.
In Israel, there is lasting support of the Camp David Peace Accords, which have become a national consensus, supported by 85% of Israelis according to a 2001 poll taken by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies (Israel-based).
Assassination of Anwar Sadat
President Sadat's signing of the Camp David Accords on 17 September 1978 and his shared 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli Prime Minister Begin led to his assassination on 6 October 1981 by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad during the annual victory parade held in Cairo to celebrate Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal. The president's personal protection was infiltrated by four members of this organization, who were hiding in a truck passing through the military parade with other military vehicles. As the truck approached the president, the leader of the belligerents – Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli – came out of the truck and threw three grenades towards the president; only one of the three exploded. The rest of the team opened fire with automatic assault rifles and struck President Sadat with 37 rounds. He was airlifted to a military hospital, where he died two hours after arriving.
In total, 11 were killed from collateral gunfire and 28 were injured. Among the killed were the Cuban ambassador, an Omani general, and a Coptic Orthodox bishop. Among the wounded were Egyptian Vice-President Hosni Mubarak, Irish Defence Minister James Tully, and four U.S. military liaison officers. One of the assassins was killed and the other three were wounded and taken into custody. The surviving assassins were tried and found guilty of assassinating the president and killing 10 others in the process; they were sentenced to capital punishment, and were executed on 15 April 1982.
Arab–Israeli peace diplomacy and treaties
Treaties and meetings
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
Faisal–Weizmann Agreement (1919)
1949 Armistice Agreements
Geneva Conference (1973)
Camp David Accords (1978)
Egypt–Israel peace treaty (1979)
Madrid Conference of 1991
Oslo Accords (1993)
Israel–Jordan peace treaty (1994)
Camp David 2000 Summit
Philadelphi Accord (2005)
Abraham Accords (2020)
General articles
International law and the Arab–Israeli conflict
Israeli–Palestinian peace process
List of Middle East peace proposals
Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs
See also
References
Further reading
Primary sources
Medad, Yisrael, ed., Hurwitz, Zvi Harry, ed. Peace in the Making The Menachem Begin – Anwar Sadat Personal Correspondence, Gefen Publishing House, 2011. ISBN 978-965-229-456-2
Other sources
Adam Curtis' 2004 documentary The Power of Nightmares, in its second and third part, studies the Camp David Accords from the point of view of fundamentalist Muslims.
External links
Text of the Accords, Israeli government
Text of Accords and additional material, Carter Library
Israel's Self-Rule Plan. Knesset website, 28 December 1977
Interview with King Hussein from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
2006 Egyptian public poll on attitudes to Israel Archived 10 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine and other countries, 'The Sun (New York) article. Alternate link to poll results from a BBC News article
The Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation
Jaffe Center Poll on Israeli public Attitudes to the Peace Process
NY Times: Anti-Semitic 'Elders of Zion' Gets New Life on Egypt TV
"Camp David 25th Anniversary Forum" (led by President Carter) |
Jimmy_Carter | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter | [
501
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter"
] | James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975, and a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967. Carter is the longest-lived president in U.S. history and the first to live to 100 years of age.
Carter was born and raised in Plains, Georgia. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 and joined the U.S. Navy's submarine service. Carter returned home after his military service and revived his family's peanut-growing business. Opposing racial segregation, Carter supported the growing civil rights movement, and became an activist within the Democratic Party. He served in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1967 and then as Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. As a dark-horse candidate not well known outside Georgia, Carter won the Democratic nomination and narrowly defeated the incumbent Republican Party president, Gerald Ford, in the 1976 presidential election.
Carter pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders on his second day in office. He created a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. Carter successfully pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. He also confronted stagflation. His administration established the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Education. The end of his presidency was marked by the Iran hostage crisis, an energy crisis, the Three Mile Island accident, the Nicaraguan Revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In response to the invasion, Carter escalated the Cold War by ending détente, imposing a grain embargo against the Soviets, enunciating the Carter Doctrine, and leading the multinational boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He lost the 1980 presidential election in a landslide to Ronald Reagan, the Republican nominee.
After leaving the presidency, Carter established the Carter Center to promote and expand human rights; in 2002 he received a Nobel Peace Prize for related work. He traveled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, monitor elections, and further the eradication of infectious diseases. Carter is a key figure in the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity. He has also written numerous books, ranging from political memoirs to poetry, while continuing to comment on global affairs, including two books on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Polls of historians and political scientists generally rank Carter as a below-average president, though scholars and the public more favorably view his post-presidency, which is the longest in U.S. history.
Early life
James Earl Carter Jr. was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, at the Wise Sanitarium, where his mother worked as a registered nurse. Carter thus became the first American president born in a hospital. He is the eldest child of Bessie Lillian Gordy and James Earl Carter Sr., and a descendant of English immigrant Thomas Carter, who settled in the Colony of Virginia in 1635. In Georgia, numerous generations of Carters worked as cotton farmers. Plains was a boomtown of 600 people at the time of Carter's birth. His father was a successful local businessman who ran a general store and was an investor in farmland. Carter's father had previously served as a reserve second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps during World War I.
During Carter's infancy, his family moved several times, settling on a dirt road in nearby Archery, which was almost entirely populated by impoverished African American families. His family eventually had three more children: Gloria, Ruth, and Billy. Carter got along well with his parents even though his mother was often absent during his childhood since she worked long hours, and although his father was staunchly pro-segregation, he allowed Jimmy to befriend the black farmhands' children. Carter was an enterprising teenager who was given his own acre of Earl's farmland, where he grew, packaged, and sold peanuts. Carter also rented out a section of tenant housing that he had purchased.
Education
Carter attended Plains High School from 1937 to 1941, graduating from the eleventh grade since the school did not have a twelfth grade. By that time, Archery and Plains had been impoverished by the Great Depression, but the family benefited from New Deal farming subsidies, and Carter's father took a position as a community leader. Carter himself was a diligent student with a fondness for reading. A popular anecdote holds that he was passed over for valedictorian after he and his friends skipped school to venture downtown in a hot rod. Carter's truancy was mentioned in a local newspaper, although it is not clear he would have otherwise been valedictorian. As an adolescent, Carter played on the Plains High School basketball team, and also joined Future Farmers of America, which helped him develop a lifelong interest in woodworking.
Carter had long dreamed of attending the United States Naval Academy. In 1941, he started undergraduate coursework in engineering at Georgia Southwestern College in nearby Americus, Georgia. The next year, Carter transferred to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where civil rights icon Blake Van Leer was president. While at Georgia Tech, Carter took part in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. In 1943, he received an appointment to the Naval Academy from U.S. Representative Stephen Pace, and Carter graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1946. He was a good student but was seen as reserved and quiet, in contrast to the academy's culture of aggressive hazing of freshmen. While at the Academy, Carter fell in love with Rosalynn Smith, a friend of his sister Ruth. The two wed shortly after his graduation in 1946, and were married until her death on November 19, 2023. Carter was a sprint football player for the Navy Midshipmen. He graduated 60th out of 821 midshipmen in the class of 1947 with a Bachelor of Science degree and was commissioned as an ensign.
Naval career
From 1946 to 1953, the Carters lived in Virginia, Hawaii, Connecticut, New York, and California, during his deployments in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. In 1948, he began officer training for submarine duty and served aboard USS Pomfret. Carter was promoted to lieutenant junior grade in 1949, and his service aboard Pomfret included a simulated war patrol to the western Pacific and Chinese coast from January to March of that year. In 1951, Carter was assigned to the diesel/electric USS K-1 (SSK-1), qualified for command, and served in several positions, to include executive officer.
In 1952, Carter began an association with the Navy's fledgling nuclear submarine program, led then by captain Hyman G. Rickover. Rickover had high standards and demands for his men and machines, and Carter later said that, next to his parents, Rickover had the greatest influence on his life. Carter was sent to the Naval Reactors Branch of the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington, D.C., for three-month temporary duty, while Rosalynn moved with their children to Schenectady, New York.
On December 12, 1952, an accident with the experimental NRX reactor at Atomic Energy of Canada's Chalk River Laboratories caused a partial meltdown, resulting in millions of liters of radioactive water flooding the reactor building's basement. This left the reactor's core ruined. Carter was ordered to Chalk River to lead a U.S. maintenance crew that joined other American and Canadian service personnel to assist in the shutdown of the reactor. The painstaking process required each team member to don protective gear and be lowered individually into the reactor for 90 seconds at a time, limiting their exposure to radioactivity while they disassembled the crippled reactor. When Carter was lowered in, his job was simply to turn a single screw. During and after his presidency, Carter said that his experience at Chalk River had shaped his views on atomic energy and led him to cease the development of a neutron bomb.
In March 1953, Carter began a six-month course in nuclear power plant operation at Union College in Schenectady. His intent was to eventually work aboard USS Seawolf, which was intended to be the second U.S. nuclear submarine. His plans changed when his father died of pancreatic cancer in July, two months before construction of Seawolf began, and Carter obtained a release from active duty so he could take over the family peanut business. Deciding to leave Schenectady proved difficult, as Rosalynn had grown comfortable with their life there. She later said that returning to small-town life in Plains seemed "a monumental step backward." Carter left active duty on October 9, 1953. He served in the inactive Navy Reserve until 1961 and left the service with the rank of lieutenant. Carter's awards include the American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, China Service Medal, and National Defense Service Medal. As a submarine officer, he also earned the "dolphin" badge.
Farming
After debt settlements and division of his father's estate among its heirs, Jimmy inherited comparatively little. For a year, he, Rosalynn, and their three sons lived in public housing in Plains. Carter was knowledgeable in scientific and technological subjects, and he set out to expand the family's peanut-growing business. Transitioning from the Navy to an agribusinessman was difficult as his first-year harvest failed due to a drought, and Carter had to open several bank lines of credit to keep the farm afloat. Meanwhile, he took classes and studied agriculture while Rosalynn learned accounting to manage the business's books. Though they barely broke even the first year, the Carters grew the business and became quite successful.
Early political career (1963–1971)
Georgia state senator (1963–1967)
As racial tension inflamed in Plains by the 1954 Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Carter favored racial tolerance and integration but often kept those feelings to himself to avoid making enemies. By 1961, Carter began to speak more prominently of integration as a member of the Baptist Church and chairman of the Sumter County school board. In 1962, he announced his campaign for an open Georgia State Senate seat 15 days before the election. Rosalynn, who had an instinct for politics and organization, was instrumental to his campaign. While early counting of the ballots showed Carter trailing his opponent, Homer Moore, this was later proven to be the result of fraudulent voting. The fraud was found to have been orchestrated by Joe Hurst, the chairman of the Democratic Party in Quitman County. Carter challenged the election result, which was confirmed fraudulent in an investigation. Following this, another election was held, in which Carter won against Moore as the sole Democratic candidate, with a vote margin of 3,013 to 2,182.
The civil rights movement was well underway when Carter took office. He and his family had become staunch John F. Kennedy supporters. Carter remained relatively quiet on the issue at first, even as it polarized much of the county, to avoid alienating his segregationist colleagues. Carter did speak up on a few divisive issues, giving speeches against literacy tests and against an amendment to the Georgia Constitution that he felt implied a compulsion to practice religion. Carter entered the state Democratic Executive Committee two years into office, where he helped rewrite the state party's rules. He became the chairman of the West Central Georgia Planning and Development Commission, which oversaw the disbursement of federal and state grants for projects such as historic site restoration.
When Bo Callaway was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1964, Carter immediately began planning to challenge him. The two had previously clashed over which two-year college would be expanded to a four-year college program by the state, and Carter saw Callaway—who had switched to the Republican Party—as a rival who represented aspects of politics he despised. Carter was reelected to a second two-year term in the state Senate, where he chaired its Education Committee and sat on the Appropriations Committee toward the end of the term. He contributed to a bill expanding statewide education funding and getting Georgia Southwestern State University a four-year program. He leveraged his regional planning work, giving speeches around the district to make himself more visible to potential voters. On the last day of the term, Carter announced his candidacy for the House of Representatives. Callaway decided to run for governor instead; Carter changed his mind, deciding to run for governor too.
1966 and 1970 gubernatorial campaigns
In the 1966 gubernatorial election, Carter ran against liberal former governor Ellis Arnall and conservative segregationist Lester Maddox in the Democratic primary. In a press conference, he described his ideology as "Conservative, moderate, liberal and middle-of-the-road ... I believe I am a more complicated person than that." He lost the primary but drew enough votes as a third-place candidate to force Arnall into a runoff election with Maddox, who narrowly defeated Arnall. In the general election, Republican nominee Callaway won a plurality of the vote but less than a majority, allowing the Democratic-majority Georgia House of Representatives to elect Maddox as governor. This resulted in a victorious Maddox, whose victory—due to his segregationist stance—was seen as the worst outcome for the indebted Carter. Carter returned to his agriculture business, carefully planning his next campaign. This period was a spiritual turning point for Carter; he declared himself a born again Christian, and his last child, Amy, was born during this time.
In the 1970 gubernatorial election, liberal former governor Carl Sanders became Carter's main opponent in the Democratic primary. Carter ran a more modern campaign, employing printed graphics and statistical analysis. Responding to polls, he leaned more conservative than before, positioning himself as a populist and criticizing Sanders for both his wealth and perceived links to the national Democratic Party. He also accused Sanders of corruption, but when pressed by the media, he did not provide evidence. Throughout his campaign, Carter sought both the black vote and the votes of those who had supported prominent Alabama segregationist George Wallace. While he met with black figures such as Martin Luther King Sr. and Andrew Young and visited many black-owned businesses, he also praised Wallace and promised to invite him to give a speech in Georgia. Carter's appeal to racism became more blatant over time, with his senior campaign aides handing out a photograph of Sanders celebrating with Black basketball players.
Carter came ahead of Sanders in the first ballot by 49 percent to 38 percent in September, leading to a runoff election. The subsequent campaign was even more bitter; despite his early support for civil rights, Carter's appeal to racism grew, and he criticized Sanders for supporting Martin Luther King Jr. Carter won the runoff election with 60 percent of the vote and won the general election against Republican nominee Hal Suit. Once elected, Carter changed his tone and began to speak against Georgia's racist politics. Leroy Johnson, a black state senator, voiced his support for Carter: "I understand why he ran that kind of ultra-conservative campaign. I don't believe you can win this state without being a racist."
Georgia governorship (1971–1975)
Carter was sworn in as the 76th governor of Georgia on January 12, 1971. In his inaugural speech, he declared that "the time for racial discrimination is over", shocking the crowd and causing many of the segregationists who had supported him during the race to feel betrayed. Carter was reluctant to engage with his fellow politicians, making him unpopular with the legislature. He expanded the governor's authority by introducing a reorganization plan submitted in January 1972. Despite initially having a cool reception in the legislature, the plan passed at midnight on the last day of the session. Carter merged about 300 state agencies into 22, although it is disputed whether that saved the state money. On July 8, 1971, during an appearance in Columbus, Georgia, he stated his intention to establish a Georgia Human Rights Council to help solve issues ahead of any potential violence.
In a news conference on July 13, 1971, Carter announced that he had ordered department heads to reduce spending to prevent a $57-million deficit by the end of the 1972 fiscal year, specifying that each state department would be affected and estimating that 5 percent over government revenue would be lost if state departments continued to fully use allocated funds. On January 13, 1972, he requested that the state legislature fund an early childhood development program along with prison reform programs and $48 million (equivalent to $349,632,458 in 2023) in paid taxes for nearly all state employees.
On March 1, 1972, Carter said he might call a special session of the general assembly if the Justice Department opted to turn down any reapportionment plans by either the House or Senate. He pushed several reforms through the legislature, providing equal state aid to schools in Georgia's wealthy and poor areas, setting up community centers for mentally disabled children, and increasing educational programs for convicts. Under this program, all such appointments were based on merit rather than political influence. In one of his more controversial decisions, he vetoed a plan to build a dam on Georgia's Flint River, which attracted the attention of environmentalists nationwide.
Civil rights were a high priority for Carter, who added black state employees and portraits of three prominent black Georgians to the capitol building: Martin Luther King Jr., Lucy Craft Laney, and Henry McNeal Turner. This angered the Ku Klux Klan. He favored a constitutional amendment to ban busing for the purpose of expediting integration in schools on a televised joint appearance with Florida governor Reubin Askew on January 31, 1973, and co-sponsored an anti-busing resolution with Wallace at the 1971 National Governors Conference. After the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Georgia's death penalty statute in Furman v. Georgia (1972), Carter signed a revised death-penalty statute that addressed the court's objections, thus reintroducing the practice in the state. He later regretted endorsing the death penalty, saying, "I didn't see the injustice of it as I do now."
Ineligible for reelection, Carter looked toward a potential presidential run and engaged in national politics. He was named to several southern planning commissions and was a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention, where liberal U.S. Senator George McGovern was the likely nominee. Carter tried to ingratiate himself with the conservative and anti-McGovern voters. He was fairly obscure at the time, and his attempt at triangulation failed; the 1972 Democratic ticket was McGovern and senator Thomas Eagleton. On August 3, Carter met with Wallace in Birmingham, Alabama, to discuss preventing the Democrats from losing in a landslide, but they did.
Carter regularly met with his fledgling campaign staff and decided to begin putting a presidential bid for 1976 together. He tried unsuccessfully to become chairman of the National Governors Association to boost his visibility. On David Rockefeller's endorsement, he was named to the Trilateral Commission in April 1973. The next year, he was named chairman of both the Democratic National Committee's congressional and gubernatorial campaigns. In May 1973, Carter warned his party against politicizing the Watergate scandal, which he attributed to president Richard Nixon's isolation from Americans and secretive decision-making.
1976 presidential campaign
On December 12, 1974, Carter announced his presidential campaign at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. His speech contained themes of domestic inequality, optimism, and change. Upon his entrance in the Democratic primaries, he was competing against sixteen other candidates, and was considered to have little chance against the more nationally known politicians like Wallace. His name recognition was very low, and his opponents derisively asked "Jimmy Who?". In response to this, Carter began to emphasize his name and what he stood for, stating "My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm running for president."
This strategy proved successful. By mid-March 1976, Carter was not only far ahead of the active contenders for the presidential nomination, but against incumbent Republican president Gerald Ford by a few percentage points. As the Watergate scandal was still fresh in the voters' minds, Carter's position as an outsider, distant from Washington, D.C. proved helpful. He promoted government reorganization. In June, Carter published a memoir titled Why Not the Best? to help introduce himself to the American public.
Carter became the front-runner early on by winning the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. His strategy involved reaching a region before another candidate could extend influence there, traveling over 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometres), visiting 37 states, and delivering over 200 speeches before any other candidate had entered the race. In the South, he tacitly conceded certain areas to Wallace and swept them as a moderate when it became clear Wallace could not win it. In the North, Carter appealed largely to conservative Christian and rural voters. While he did not achieve a majority in most Northern states, he won several by building the largest singular support base. Although Carter was initially dismissed as a regional candidate, he would clinch the Democratic nomination. In 1980, Lawrence Shoup noted that the national news media discovered and promoted Carter, and stated:
What Carter had that his opponents did not was the acceptance and support of elite sectors of the mass communications media. It was their favorable coverage of Carter and his campaign that gave him an edge, propelling him rocket-like to the top of the opinion polls. This helped Carter win key primary election victories, enabling him to rise from an obscure public figure to President-elect in the short space of 9 months.
During an interview in April 1976, Carter said, "I have nothing against a community that is... trying to maintain the ethnic purity of their neighborhoods." His remark was intended as supportive of open housing laws, but specifying opposition to government efforts to "inject black families into a white neighborhood just to create some sort of integration". Carter's stated positions during his campaign included public financing of congressional campaigns, his support for the creation of a federal consumer protection agency, creating a separate cabinet-level department for education, signing a peace treaty with the Soviet Union to limit nuclear weapons, reducing the defense budget, a tax proposal implementing "a substantial increase toward those who have the higher incomes" alongside a levy reduction on taxpayers with lower and middle incomes, making multiple amendments to the Social Security Act, and having a balanced budget by the end of his first term of office.
On July 15, 1976, he chose U.S. senator Walter Mondale as his running mate. Carter and Ford faced off in three televised debates, the first United States presidential debates since 1960.
For the November 1976 issue of Playboy, which hit newsstands a couple of weeks before the election, Robert Scheer interviewed Carter. While discussing his religion's view of pride, Carter said: "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times." This response and his admission in another interview that he did not mind if people uttered the word "fuck" led to a media feeding frenzy and critics lamenting the erosion of boundary between politicians and their private intimate lives.
Election
Carter once had a sizable lead over Ford in national polling, but by late September his lead had narrowed to only several points. In the final days before the election, several polls showed that Ford had tied Carter, and one Gallup poll found that he was now slightly ahead. Most analysts agreed that Carter was going to win the popular vote, but some argued Ford had an opportunity to win the electoral college and thus the election.
Carter ultimately won, receiving 297 electoral votes and 50.1% of the popular vote to Ford's 240 electoral votes and 48.0% of the popular vote. Carter's victory was attributed in part to his overwhelming support among black voters in states decided by close margins, such as Louisiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Ohio. In Ohio and Wisconsin, where the margin between Carter and Ford was under two points, the black vote was crucial for Carter; if he had not won both states, Ford would have won the election.
Ford phoned Carter to congratulate him shortly after the race was called. He was unable to concede in front of television cameras due to bad hoarse voice, and so First Lady Betty did so for him. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller oversaw the certification of election results on January 6, 1977. Although Ford carried Washington, Mike Padden, an elector from there, cast his vote for Ronald Reagan, the then-governor of California and Carter's eventual successor.
Transition
Preliminary planning for Carter's presidential transition had already been underway for months before his election. Carter had been the first presidential candidate to allot significant funds and a significant number of personnel to a pre-election transition planning effort, which then became standard practice. He set a mold that influenced all future transitions to be larger, more methodical and more formal than they were.
On November 22, 1976, Carter conducted his first visit to Washington, D.C. after being elected, meeting with director of the Office of Management James Lynn and United States secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Blair House, and holding an afternoon meeting with President Ford at the White House. The next day, he conferred with congressional leaders, expressing that his meetings with cabinet members had been "very helpful" and saying Ford had requested he seek out his assistance if needing anything. Relations between Ford and Carter were relatively cold during the transition. During his transition, Carter announced the selection of numerous designees for positions in his administration.
A few weeks before his inauguration, Carter moved his peanut business into the hands of trustees to avoid a potential conflict of interest. He also asked incoming members of his administration to divest themselves of assets through a blind trust.
Presidency (1977–1981)
Carter was inaugurated as the 39th president on January 20, 1977. One of Carter's first acts was the fulfillment of a campaign promise by issuing an executive order declaring unconditional amnesty for Vietnam War-era draft evaders, Proclamation 4483. Carter's tenure in office was marked by an economic malaise, a time of continuing inflation and recession and a 1979 energy crisis. Under Carter, the U.S. experienced its first ever government shutdown in May 1980, though it affected only the Federal Trade Commission. In 1980, Carter signed Law H.R. 5860 aka Public Law 96–185, known as The Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979, to bail out the Chrysler Corporation with $3.5 billion (equivalent to $12.94 billion in 2023) in aid.
Carter attempted to calm various conflicts around the world, most visibly in the Middle East with the signing of the Camp David Accords; giving back the Panama Canal to Panama; and signing the SALT II nuclear arms reduction treaty with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. His final year was marred by the Iran hostage crisis, which contributed to his losing the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan. Whistleblowers have alleged, most recently in 2023, that people working on the Reagan campaign's behalf convinced Iran to prolong the crisis to reduce Carter's chance of reelection.
Domestic policy
U.S. energy crisis
Moralism typified much of Carter's action. On April 18, 1977, he delivered a televised speech declaring that the current energy crisis was the "moral equivalent of war". He encouraged energy conservation and installed solar water heating panels on the White House. He wore sweaters to offset turning down the heat in the White House. On August 4, 1977, Carter signed the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, forming the Department of Energy, the first new cabinet position in eleven years.
Carter emphasized that the House of Representatives had "adopted almost all" of the energy proposal he had made five months earlier and called the compromise "a turning point in establishing a comprehensive energy program." The following month, on October 13, Carter stated he believed in the Senate's ability to pass the energy reform bill and identified energy as "the most important domestic issue that we will face while I am in office."
On January 12, 1978, during a press conference, Carter said the continued discussions about his energy reform proposal had been "long and divisive and arduous" as well as hindering to national issues that needed to be addressed with the implementation of the law.
In an April 11, 1978, news conference, Carter said his biggest surprise "in the nature of a disappointment" since becoming president was the difficulty Congress had in passing legislation, citing the energy reform bill in particular: "I never dreamed a year ago in April when I proposed this matter to the Congress that a year later it still would not be resolved." The Carter energy legislation was approved by Congress after much deliberation and modification on October 15, 1978. The measure deregulated the sale of natural gas, dropped a longstanding pricing disparity between intra- and interstate gas, and created tax credits to encourage energy conservation and the use of non-fossil fuels.
On March 1, 1979, Carter submitted a standby gasoline rationing plan per the request of Congress. On April 5, he delivered an address in which he stressed the urgency of energy conservation and increasing domestic production of energy sources such as coal and solar. During an April 30 news conference, he said it was imperative that the House commerce committee approve the standby gasoline rationing plan and called on Congress to pass the several other standby energy conservation plans he had proposed.
On July 15, 1979, Carter delivered a nationally televised address in which he identified what he believed to be a "crisis of confidence" among American people, under the advisement of pollster Pat Caddell who believed Americans faced a crisis in confidence from events of the 1960s and 1970s, before his presidency. Some later called this his "malaise speech", memorable for mixed reactions and his use of rhetoric. The speech's negative reception centered on a view that he did not emphasize his own efforts to address the energy crisis and seemed too reliant on Americans.
EPA Love Canal Superfund
In 1978, Carter declared a federal emergency in the neighborhood of Love Canal in the city of Niagara Falls, New York. More than 800 families were evacuated from the neighborhood, which had been built on top of a toxic waste landfill. The Superfund law was created in response to the situation. Federal disaster money was appropriated to demolish the approximately 500 houses, the 99th Street School, and the 93rd Street School, which had been built on top of the dump; and to remediate the dump and construct a containment area for the hazardous wastes. This was the first time that such a process had been undertaken. Carter acknowledged that several more "Love Canals" existed across the country, and that discovering such hazardous dumpsites was "one of the grimmest discoveries of our modern era".
Poor relations with Congress
Carter typically refused to conform to Washington's rules. He avoided phone calls from members of Congress and verbally insulted them. He was unwilling to return political favors. His negativity led to frustration in passing legislation. During a press conference on February 23, 1977, Carter stated that it was "inevitable" that he would come into conflict with Congress and added that he had found "a growing sense of cooperation" with Congress and met in the past with congressional members of both parties. Carter developed a bitter feeling following an unsuccessful attempt at having Congress enact the scrapping of several water projects, which he had requested during his first 100 days in office and received opposition from members of his party.
As a rift ensued between the White House and Congress afterward, Carter noted that the Democratic Party's liberal wing opposed his policies the most ardently, attributing this to Ted Kennedy's wanting the presidency. Thinking he had support from 74 Congressmen, Carter issued a "hit list" of 19 projects that he claimed were "pork barrel" spending that he said he would veto if they were included in legislation. He found himself again at odds with Congressional Democrats, as House Speaker Tip O'Neill found it inappropriate for a president to pursue what had traditionally been the role of Congress. Carter was also weakened by signing a bill that contained many of the "hit list" projects he had intended to veto.
In an address to a fundraising dinner for the Democratic National Committee on June 23, 1977, Carter said, "I think it's good to point out tonight, too, that we have evolved a good working relationship with the Congress. For eight years we had government by partisanship. Now we have government by partnership." At a July 28 news conference, assessing the first six months of his presidency, Carter spoke of his improved understanding of Congress: "I have learned to respect the Congress more in an individual basis. I've been favorably impressed at the high degree of concentrated experience and knowledge that individual members of Congress can bring on a specific subject, where they've been the chairman of a subcommittee or committee for many years and have focused their attention on this particular aspect of government life which I will never be able to do."
On May 10, 1979, the House voted against giving Carter authority to produce a standby gas rationing plan. The following day, Carter delivered remarks in the Oval Office describing himself as shocked and embarrassed for the American government by the vote and concluding "the majority of the House Members are unwilling to take the responsibility, the political responsibility for dealing with a potential, serious threat to our Nation." He furthered that a majority of House members were placing higher importance on "local or parochial interests" and challenged the lower chamber of Congress with composing their own rationing plan in the next 90 days.
Carter's remarks were met with criticism by House Republicans, who accused his comments of not befitting the formality a president should have in their public remarks. Others pointed to 106 Democrats voting against his proposal and the bipartisan criticism potentially coming back to haunt him. At the start of a news conference on July 25, 1979, Carter called on believers in the future of the U.S. and his proposed energy program to speak with Congress as it bore the responsibility to impose his proposals. Amid the energy proposal opposition, The New York Times commented that "as the comments flying up and down Pennsylvania Avenue illustrate, there is also a crisis of confidence between Congress and the President, sense of doubt and distrust that threatens to undermine the President's legislative program and become an important issue in next year's campaign."
Economy
Carter's presidency had a troubled economic history of two roughly equal periods. The first two years were a time of continuing recovery from the severe 1973–75 recession, which had left fixed investment at its lowest level since the 1970 recession and unemployment at 9%. Under Carter, the unemployment rate declined from 7.6% when he took office to 5.7% in June 1978, but by May 1980 it had returned to its pre-1977 level. His last two years were marked by double-digit inflation, very high interest rates, oil shortages, and slow economic growth. Due to the $30 billion economic stimulus legislation, such as the Public Works Employment Act of 1977, proposed by Carter and passed by Congress, real household median income had grown by 5.2%, with a projection of 6.4% for the next quarter.
The 1979 energy crisis ended this period of growth, and as inflation and interest rates rose, economic growth, job creation and consumer confidence declined sharply. The relatively loose monetary policy adopted by Federal Reserve Board chairman G. William Miller, had already contributed to somewhat higher inflation, rising from 5.8% in 1976 to 7.7% in 1978. The sudden doubling of crude oil prices by OPEC, the world's leading oil exporting cartel, forced inflation to double-digit levels, averaging 11.3% in 1979 and 13.5% in 1980. The sudden shortage of gasoline as the 1979 summer vacation season began exacerbated the problem and came to symbolize the crisis to the general public; the acute shortage, originating in the shutdown of Amerada Hess refining facilities, led to a lawsuit against the company that year by the federal government.
Deregulation
In 1977, Carter appointed Alfred E. Kahn to lead the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). He was part of a push for deregulation of the industry, supported by leading economists, leading think tanks in Washington, a civil society coalition advocating the reform (patterned on a coalition earlier developed for the truck-and-rail-reform efforts), the head of the regulatory agency, Senate leadership, the Carter administration, and even some in the airline industry. This coalition swiftly gained legislative results in 1978.
Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act into law on October 24, 1978. The main purpose of the act was to remove government control over fares, routes and market entry (of new airlines) from commercial aviation. The Civil Aeronautics Board's powers of regulation were to be phased out, eventually allowing market forces to determine routes and fares. The Act did not remove or diminish the FAA's regulatory powers over all aspects of airline safety.
In 1979, Carter deregulated the American beer industry by making it legal to sell malt, hops, and yeast to American home brewers for the first time since the effective 1920 beginning of prohibition in the United States. This deregulation led to an increase in home brewing over the 1980s and 1990s that by the 2000s had developed into a strong craft microbrew culture in the United States, with 9,118 microbreweries, brewpubs, and regional craft breweries in the United States by the end of 2021.
Healthcare
During his presidential campaign, Carter embraced healthcare reform akin to the Ted Kennedy-sponsored bipartisan universal national health insurance. Carter's proposals on healthcare while in office included an April 1977 mandatory health care cost proposal, and a June 1979 proposal that provided private health insurance coverage. Carter saw the June 1979 proposal as a continuation of progress in American health coverage. President Harry S. Truman proposed a designation of health care as a basic right of Americans and Medicare and Medicaid were introduced under President Lyndon B. Johnson. The April 1977 mandatory health care cost proposal was passed in the Senate, but later defeated in the House. During 1978, he met with Kennedy over a compromise healthcare law that proved unsuccessful. He later said Kennedy's disagreements thwarted his plan to provide a comprehensive American health care system.
In 1980, Carter signed into law the Mental Health Systems (MHSA) Act, which allocated block grants to states to bolster the establishment and growth of community health services and provided funding to states to create and implement community-based health services. The MHSA was considered landmark legislation in mental health care. By September 1981, the Reagan administration had repealed most of the law.
Education
Early into his term, Carter collaborated with Congress to fulfill his campaign promise to create a cabinet level education department. In an address from the White House on February 28, 1978, Carter argued "Education is far too important a matter to be scattered piecemeal among various government departments and agencies, which are often busy with sometimes dominant concerns." On February 8, 1979, the Carter administration released an outline of its plan to establish an education department and asserted enough support for the enactment to occur by June. On October 17, the same year, Carter signed the Department of Education Organization Act into law, establishing the United States Department of Education.
Carter expanded the Head Start program with the addition of 43,000 children and families, while the percentage of nondefense dollars spent on education was doubled. Carter was complimentary of the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson and the 89th United States Congress for having initiated Head Start. In a speech on November 1, 1980, Carter stated his administration had extended Head Start to migrant children and was "working hard right now with Senator Bentsen and with Kika de la Garza to make as much as $45 million available in federal money in the border districts to help with the increase in school construction for the number of Mexican school children who reside here legally".
Foreign policy
Israel and Egypt
From the onset of his presidency, Carter attempted to mediate the Arab–Israeli conflict. After a failed attempt to seek a comprehensive settlement between the two nations in 1977 (through reconvening the 1973 Geneva conference), Carter invited the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin to the presidential lodge Camp David in September 1978, in hopes of creating a definitive peace. While the two sides could not agree on Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, the negotiations resulted in Egypt formally recognizing Israel, and the creation of an elected government in the West Bank and Gaza. This resulted in the Camp David Accords, which ended the war between Israel and Egypt.
The accords were a source of great domestic opposition in both Egypt and Israel. Historian Jørgen Jensehaugen argues that by the time Carter left office in January 1981, he was "in an odd position—he had attempted to break with traditional U.S. policy but ended up fulfilling the goals of that tradition, which had been to break up the Arab alliance, sideline the Palestinians, build an alliance with Egypt, weaken the Soviet Union and secure Israel."
Africa
In an address to the African officials at the United Nations on October 4, 1977, Carter stated the U.S.'s interest to "see a strong, vigorous, free, and prosperous Africa with as much of the control of government as possible in the hands of the residents of your countries" and pointed to their unified efforts on "the problem of how to resolve the Rhodesian, Zimbabwe question." At a news conference later that month, Carter outlined that the U.S. wanted to "work harmoniously with South Africa in dealing with the threats to peace in Namibia and in Zimbabwe in particular", as well as do away with racial issues such as apartheid, and for equal opportunities in other facets of society in the region.
Carter visited Nigeria from March 31 to April 3, 1978, to improve relations; the first U.S. president to do so. He reiterated interest in convening a peace conference on Rhodesia that involved all parties and said the U.S. was moving as it could.
The elections of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister of the United Kingdom and Abel Muzorewa for Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, South Africa turning down a plan for South West Africa's independence, and domestic opposition in Congress were seen as a heavy blow to the Carter administration's policy toward South Africa. On May 16, 1979, the Senate voted in favor of lifting economic sanctions against Rhodesia, seen by some Rhodesians and South Africans as a potentially fatal blow to joint diplomacy efforts the United States and Britain had pursued in the region for three years and any compromise between the Salisbury leaders and guerrillas. On December 3, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance promised Senator Jesse Helms that when the British governor arrived in Salisbury to implement an agreed Lancaster House settlement and the electoral process began, the President would take prompt action to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
East Asia
Carter sought closer relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC), continuing the Nixon administration's drastic policy of rapprochement. The two countries increasingly collaborated against the Soviet Union, and the Carter administration tacitly consented to the Chinese invasion of Vietnam. In December 1978, he announced the United States' intention to formally recognize and establish full diplomatic relations with the PRC starting on January 1, 1979, while severing ties with Taiwan, including revoking a mutual defense treaty with the latter. In 1979, Carter extended formal diplomatic recognition to the PRC for the first time. This decision led to a boom in trade between the United States and the PRC, which was pursuing economic reforms under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping.
After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Carter allowed the sale of military supplies to China and began negotiations to share military intelligence. In January 1980, Carter unilaterally revoked the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty with the Republic of China (ROC), which had lost control of mainland China to the PRC in 1949, but retained control of the island of Taiwan. Conservative Republicans challenged Carter's abrogation of the treaty in court, but the Supreme Court ruled that the issue was a non-justiciable political question in Goldwater v. Carter. The U.S. continued to maintain diplomatic contacts with the ROC through the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.
During Carter's presidency, the U.S. continued to support Indonesia as a cold war ally, despite human rights violations in East Timor. The violations followed Indonesia's December 1975 invasion and occupation of East Timor. Under Carter's administration military assistance to Indonesia increased, peaking in 1978. This was antithetical to Carter's stated policy of "not selling weapons if it would exacerbate a potential conflict in a region of the world".
During a news conference on March 9, 1977, Carter reaffirmed his interest in having a gradual withdrawal of American troops from South Korea and said he wanted South Korea to eventually have "adequate ground forces owned by and controlled by the South Korean government to protect themselves against any intrusion from North Korea." On May 19, The Washington Post quoted Chief of Staff of U.S. forces in South Korea John K. Singlaub as criticizing Carter's withdrawal of troops from the Korean peninsula. Later that day, Press Secretary Rex Granum announced that Carter had summoned Singlaub to the White House, and confirmed that Carter had seen the Washington Post article. Carter relieved Singlaub of his duties on May 21 after a meeting between the two.
During a news conference on May 26, 1977, Carter said South Korea could defend itself with reduced American troops in case of conflict. From June 30 to July 1, 1979, Carter held meetings with president of South Korea Park Chung Hee at the Blue House for a discussion on relations between the U.S. and South Korea as well as Carter's interest in preserving his policy of worldwide tension reduction. On April 21, 1978, Carter announced a reduction in American troops in South Korea scheduled to be released by the end of the year by two-thirds, citing lack of action by Congress in regard to a compensatory aid package for the South Korean government.
Iran
On November 15, 1977, Carter pledged that his administration would continue positive relations between the U.S. and Iran, calling its contemporary status "strong, stable and progressive". On December 31, 1977, he called Iran under the Shah an "island of stability" made possible by the "admiration and love your people give to [the Shah]". Carter praised the Shah's "great leadership" and spoke of "personal friendship" between them. American support for the unpopular Shah increased anti-American sentiment in Iran, which intensified after the Shah, who was dying of cancer, left Iran for the last time in January 1979 and Carter allowed him to be admitted to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York on October 22, 1979.
On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The students belonged to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line and supported the Iranian Revolution. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for the next 444 days. They were freed immediately after Ronald Reagan succeeded Carter as president on January 20, 1981. During the crisis, Carter remained in isolation in the White House for more than 100 days, until he left to participate in the lighting of the National Menorah on the Ellipse.
A month into the affair, Carter announced his commitment to resolving the dispute without "any military action that would cause bloodshed or arouse the unstable captors of our hostages to attack them or to punish them". On April 7, 1980, he issued Executive Order 12205, imposing economic sanctions against Iran, and announced further government measures he deemed necessary to ensure a safe release.
On April 24, 1980, Carter ordered Operation Eagle Claw to try to free the hostages. The mission failed, leaving eight American servicemen dead and two aircraft destroyed. The failure led Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who had opposed the mission, to resign.
Released in 2017, a declassified memo produced by the CIA in 1980 concluded "Iranian hardliners—especially Ayatollah Khomeini" were "determined to exploit the hostage issue to bring about President Carter's defeat in the November elections." Additionally, Tehran in 1980 wanted "the world to believe that Imam Khomeini caused President Carter's downfall and disgrace."
Soviet Union
On February 8, 1977, Carter said he had urged the Soviet Union to align with the U.S. in forming "a comprehensive test ban to stop all nuclear testing for at least an extended period of time", and that he was in favor of the Soviet Union ceasing deployment of the RSD-10 Pioneer. During a June 13 press conference, he said that at the beginning of the week, the U.S. would "work closely with the Soviet Union on a comprehensive test ban treaty to prohibit all testing of nuclear devices underground or in the atmosphere", and Paul Warnke would negotiate demilitarization of the Indian Ocean with the Soviet Union beginning the following week.
At a December 30 news conference, Carter said that during "the last few months, the United States and the Soviet Union have made great progress in dealing with a long list of important issues, the most important of which is to control the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons", and that the two countries sought to conclude SALT II talks by the spring of the next year. The talk of a comprehensive test ban treaty materialized with the signing of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II by Carter and Leonid Brezhnev on June 18, 1979.
In 1979, the Soviets intervened in the Second Yemenite War. The Soviet backing of South Yemen constituted a "smaller shock", in tandem with tensions that were rising due to the Iranian Revolution. This played a role in making Carter's stance on the Soviet Union more assertive, a shift that finalized with the impending Soviet-Afghan War.
In his 1980 State of the Union Address, Carter emphasized the significance of relations between the two regions: "Now, as during the last 3½ decades, the relationship between our country, the United States of America, and the Soviet Union is the most critical factor in determining whether the world will live at peace or be engulfed in global conflict."
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Communists under the leadership of Nur Muhammad Taraki seized power in Afghanistan on April 27, 1978. The new regime signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union in December of that year. Due to the regime's improvement of secular education and redistribution of land coinciding with mass executions and political oppression, Taraki was deposed by rival Hafizullah Amin in September. Amin was considered a "brutal psychopath" by foreign observers and had lost control of much of the country, prompting the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan on December 24, 1979, execute Amin, and install Babrak Karmal as president.
In the West, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was considered a threat to global security and the oil supplies of the Persian Gulf, as well as the existence of Pakistan. These concerns led Carter to expand collaboration between the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which had begun in July 1979, when the CIA started providing $695,000 worth of non-lethal assistance (e.g., "cash, medical equipment, and radio transmitters") to the Afghan mujahideen. The modest scope of this early collaboration was likely influenced by the understanding, later recounted by CIA official Robert Gates, "that a substantial U.S. covert aid program" might have "raise[d] the stakes", thereby causing "the Soviets to intervene more directly and vigorously than otherwise intended."
According to a 2020 review of declassified U.S. documents by Conor Tobin in the journal Diplomatic History: "The primary significance of this small-scale aid was in creating constructive links with dissidents through Pakistan's ISI that could be utilized in the case of an overt Soviet intervention ... The small-scale covert program that developed in response to the increasing Soviet influence was part of a contingency plan if the Soviets did intervene militarily, as Washington would be in a better position to make it difficult for them to consolidate their position, but not designed to induce an intervention."
On December 28, 1979, Carter signed a presidential finding explicitly allowing the CIA to transfer "lethal military equipment either directly or through third countries to the Afghan opponents of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan" and to arrange "selective training, conducted outside of Afghanistan, in the use of such equipment either directly or via third country intermediation." His finding defined the CIA's mission as "harassment" of Soviet troops; at the time, "this was not a war the CIA expected to win outright on the battlefield," in the words of Steve Coll.
Carter was determined to respond harshly to what he considered a dangerous provocation. In a televised speech on January 23, 1980, he announced sanctions on the Soviet Union, promised renewed aid and registration to Pakistan and the Selective Service System, and committed the U.S. to the Persian Gulf's defense. Carter imposed an embargo on grain shipments to the USSR, tabled SALT II, requested a 5% annual increase in defense spending, and called for a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, which was ultimately joined by 65 other nations. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher enthusiastically backed Carter's tough stance. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski played a major role in organizing Carter's policies on the Soviet Union as a grand strategy.
In early 1980, Carter determined the thrust of U.S. policy for the duration of the war: he initiated a program to arm the mujahideen through Pakistan's ISI and secured a pledge from Saudi Arabia to match U.S. funding for this purpose. Despite huge expenditure, the Soviet Union was unable to quell the insurgency and withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 amid the economic, political, and social turmoil within the USSR, precipitating its collapse two years later. The routing of U.S. aid through Pakistan led to some controversy, as weapons sent to Karachi were frequently controlled by Pakistan, whose government influenced which rebels received assistance. Despite this, Carter has expressed no regret over his decision to support what he still considers the Afghan freedom fighters.
International trips
Carter made twelve international trips to 25 countries as president. He was the first president to make a state visit to Sub-Saharan Africa when he went to Nigeria in 1978. His travel also included trips to Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He made several trips to the Middle East to broker peace negotiations. His visit to Iran from December 31, 1977, to January 1, 1978, took place less than a year before the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Allegations and investigations
The September 21, 1977, resignation of Bert Lance, who was director of the office of management and budget in the Carter administration, came amid allegations of improper banking activities before his tenure and was an embarrassment to Carter.
Carter became the first sitting president to testify under oath as part of an investigation of him, as a result of United States Attorney General Griffin Bell appointing Paul J. Curran as a special counsel to investigate loans made to the peanut business Carter owned by a bank controlled by Lance and Curran's position as special counsel not allowing him to file charges on his own. Curran announced in October 1979 that no evidence had been found to support allegations that funds loaned from the National Bank of Georgia had been diverted to Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, ending the investigation.
1980 presidential campaign
Carter's reelection campaign was based primarily on attacking Ronald Reagan. The campaign frequently pointed out and mocked Reagan's proclivity for gaffes, using his age and perceived lack of connection to his native California voter base against him. Later, the campaign used similar rhetoric as Lyndon Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign, portraying Reagan as a warmonger who could not be trusted with the nuclear arsenal. Carter attempted to deny the Reagan campaign $29.4 million (equivalent to $108,718,255 in 2023) in campaign funds, due to dependent conservative groups already raising $60 million to get him elected—an amount that exceeded the limit of campaign funds. Carter's attempt was later denied by the Federal Election Commission.
Carter announced his reelection campaign in December 1979. A month earlier, Senator Ted Kennedy had announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. During the Democratic presidential primaries, questions about Kennedy were a frequent subject of Carter's press conferences. Despite winning key states such as California and New York, Kennedy surprised his supporters by running a weak campaign. Carter won most of the primaries and secured renomination. He later wrote that the strongest opposition to his policies came from the Democratic Party's liberal wing, which he attributed to Kennedy's ambition to replace him as president. Kennedy had mobilized the liberal wing, which weakened Carter's support in the general election.
Carter and Mondale were formally nominated at the 1980 Democratic National Convention in New York City. Carter delivered a speech notable for its tribute to the late Hubert Humphrey, whom he initially called "Hubert Horatio Hornblower", and Kennedy made "The Dream Shall Never Die" speech, in which he criticized Reagan and did not endorse Carter.
Along with Reagan and Kennedy, Carter was opposed by centrist John B. Anderson, who had previously contested the Republican presidential primaries, and upon losing to Reagan, reentered the race as an independent. Anderson advertised himself as a more liberal alternative to Reagan's conservatism. As the campaign went on, Anderson's polling numbers dropped and his base was gradually pulled to Carter or Reagan. Carter had to run against his own "stagflation"-ridden economy, while the hostage crisis in Iran dominated the news every week. He was attacked by conservatives for failing to "prevent Soviet gains" in less-developed countries, as pro-Soviet governments had taken power in countries including Angola, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Afghanistan. His brother, Billy Carter, caused controversy due to his association with Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya. He alienated liberal college students, who were expected to be his base, by reinstating registration for the military draft. His campaign manager and former appointments secretary, Timothy Kraft, stepped down five weeks before the general election amid what turned out to have been an uncorroborated allegation of cocaine use.
On October 28, Carter and Reagan participated in the sole presidential debate of the election cycle in which they were both present, due to Carter refusing to participate in debates that included Anderson. Though initially trailing Carter by several points, Reagan experienced a surge in polling after the debate. This was in part influenced by Reagan deploying the phrase "There you go again", which became the election's defining phrase. It was later discovered that in the final days of the campaign, Reagan's team acquired classified documents Carter used to prepare for the debate.
Reagan defeated Carter in a landslide, winning 489 electoral votes. The Senate went Republican for the first time since 1952. In his concession speech, Carter admitted that he was hurt by the outcome of the election but pledged "a very fine transition period" with President-elect Reagan.
Post-presidency (1981–present)
Shortly after losing reelection, Carter told the White House press corps that he intended to emulate the retirement of Harry S. Truman and not use his subsequent public life to enrich himself.
Diplomacy
Diplomacy has been a large part of Carter's post-presidency. These diplomatic efforts began in the Middle East, with a September 1981 meeting with prime minister of Israel Menachem Begin, and a March 1983 tour of Egypt that included meeting with members of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
In 1994, president Bill Clinton sought Carter's assistance in a North Korea peace mission, during which Carter negotiated an understanding with Kim Il Sung. Carter outlined a treaty with Kim, which he announced to CNN without the Clinton administration's consent to spur American action.
In March 1999, Carter visited Taiwan and met with President Lee Teng-hui. During the meeting, Carter praised the progress Taiwan made in democracy, human rights, economy, culture, science and technology.
In 2003, Carter championed a plan to hold elections in Venezuela amid protests aimed at doing so. Ultimately, no elections were held.
In 2006, Carter stated his disagreements with Israel's domestic and foreign policy while saying he supported the country, extending his criticisms to Israel's policies in Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza.
In July 2007, Carter joined Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa, to announce his participation in The Elders, a group of independent global leaders who work together on peace and human rights issues. After the announcement, Carter participated in visits to Darfur, Sudan, Cyprus, the Korean Peninsula, and the Middle East, among others. He attempted to travel to Zimbabwe in November 2008, but was stopped by President Robert Mugabe's government. In December 2008, Carter met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and in a June 2012 call with Jeffery Brown, stressed that Egyptian military generals could take full executive and legislative power to form a new constitution favoring themselves if their announced intentions came true.
On August 10, 2010, Carter traveled to North Korea to secure the release of Aijalon Gomes, successfully negotiating his release. Throughout the latter part of 2017, as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea persisted, Carter recommended a peace treaty between the two nations, and confirmed he had offered himself to the Trump administration as a willing candidate to be diplomatic envoy to North Korea.
Views on later presidents
Carter began his first year out of office with a pledge not to critique the Reagan administration, saying it was "too early". He sided with Reagan on issues like building neutron arms after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but frequently spoke out against his administration, denouncing many of its actions in the Middle East; in 1987, Carter said that Reagan was incapable of preserving peace in the Middle East. He condemned the handling of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the lack of efforts to rescue and retrieve four American businessmen from West Beirut in 1984, Reagan's support of the Strategic Defense Initiative in 1985, and his claim of an international conspiracy on terrorism. In 1987 he criticized Reagan for conceding to terrorist demands, nominating Robert Bork for the Supreme Court, and his handling of the Persian Gulf crisis.
On January 16, 1989, before the inauguration of George H. W. Bush, Carter told Gerald Ford that Reagan had experienced a media honeymoon, saying that he believed Reagan's immediate successor would be less fortunate.
Carter had a mostly poor relationship with Bill Clinton, who snubbed him from his inauguration ceremony. He doubted the morality of the Clinton administration, particularly with respect to the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the pardon of Marc Rich.
In July 2001, Carter said he was "disappointed in almost everything" President George W. Bush had done, but after the September 11 attacks, he offered only praise, calling on Americans to support Bush with "complete unity". Later, Carter opposed the Iraq War and what he considered an attempt by Bush and Tony Blair to oust Saddam Hussein with "lies and misinterpretations". In 2004, Carter said that he believed Bush exploited the September 11 attacks and blamed the media for not criticizing him. In 2007, Carter said the Bush administration "has been the worst in history" on foreign affairs; he later said he was just comparing Bush's tenure to Nixon's. Tony Fratto responded to Carter's comments on the Bush administration's behalf by saying that the comments increased Carter's irrelevance. By the end of Bush's second term, Carter considered Bush's tenure disappointing, as he told Forward Magazine of Syria.
Though he praised President Barack Obama in the early part of his tenure, Carter stated his disagreement with using drone strikes against suspected terrorists, Obama's choice to keep Guantanamo Bay detention camp open, and the federal surveillance programs Edward Snowden revealed.
During Donald Trump's presidency, Carter spoke favorably of the chance for immigration reform and criticized Trump for his handling of the U.S. national anthem protests. In October 2017, he defended Trump in an interview with The New York Times, criticizing the media's coverage of him as harsher "than any other president certainly that I've known about". In 2019, Trump called Carter and expressed concern that China was "getting ahead" of the United States. Carter agreed, saying that China's strength came from its lack of involvement in armed conflict and calling the U.S. "the most warlike nation in the history of the world."
Presidential politics
Carter was considered a potential candidate in the 1984 presidential election, but did not run and instead endorsed Walter Mondale for the Democratic nomination. After Mondale secured the nomination, Carter critiqued the Reagan campaign, spoke at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, and advised Mondale. After the election, in which Reagan defeated Mondale, Carter said the loss was predictable because Mondale's platform included raising taxes.
In the 1988 presidential election, Carter ruled himself out as a candidate and predicted Vice President George H. W. Bush would be the Republican nominee. Carter foresaw unity at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, where he delivered an address. After the election, which Bush won, Carter said Bush would have a more difficult presidency than Reagan because he was not as popular.
During the 1992 presidential election, Carter met with Senator Paul Tsongas, who sought his advice. Carter spoke favorably of former governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton, and criticized Ross Perot, a Texas billionaire who was running as an independent. As the primary concluded, Carter spoke of the need for the 1992 Democratic National Convention to address certain issues not focused on in the past, and campaigned for Clinton after he became the Democratic nominee, publicly stating his expectation to be consulted during Clinton's presidency.
Carter endorsed Vice President Al Gore days before the 2000 presidential election, and in subsequent years voiced his opinion that Gore won the election, despite Bush's eventual victory following the Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore.
In the 2004 presidential election, Carter endorsed John Kerry and spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He also voiced concern about another voting mishap in Florida.
During the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, it was speculated that Carter would endorse Barack Obama over his main primary rival Hillary Clinton, as Carter spoke favorably of Obama, as did other members of the Carter family. Carter also commented on Clinton ending her bid when superdelegates voted after the June 3 primary. Carter criticized the Republican nominee, John McCain. Carter warned Obama against selecting Clinton as his running mate.
Carter endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination during the primary season of the 2012 presidential election, though he clarified that his backing of Romney was due to him considering the former Massachusetts governor the candidate that could best assure a victory for President Obama. Carter delivered a videotape address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Carter was critical of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shortly after the latter entered the primary, predicting that he would lose. As the primary continued, Carter said he would prefer Trump to his main rival, Ted Cruz, though he rebuked the Trump campaign in remarks during the primary and in his address to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Carter believes that Trump would not have been elected without Russia's interference in the 2016 election, and "that Trump didn't actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf." When questioned, he agreed that Trump is an "illegitimate president". In a 2017 discussion with Senator Bernie Sanders, Carter revealed he voted for Sanders in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter delivered a recorded audio message endorsing Joe Biden for the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention. On January 6, 2021, following the U.S. Capitol attack, along with the other three still living former presidents, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter denounced the attack, releasing a statement saying that he and his wife were "troubled" by the events, also stating that what had occurred was "a national tragedy and is not who we are as a nation", and adding that "having observed elections in troubled democracies worldwide, I know that we the people can unite to walk back from this precipice to peacefully uphold the laws of our nation". Carter delivered a recorded audio message for the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, as the Carters were unable to attend the ceremony in person.
In November 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overruled a three-judge panel of the court and scheduled a rehearing of the case against the Trump administration-proposed land swap in Alaska to allow a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. In an unusual action, Carter had filed an opinion in support of the suit by environmental groups, saying the swap violated the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (Anilca) passed in 1980 near the end of Carter's term. Carter said the act "may be the most significant domestic achievement of my political life" at the time of his filing.
Hurricane relief
Carter criticized the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina, and built homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. He also partnered with former presidents to work with One America Appeal to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in the Gulf Coast and Texas communities, in addition to writing op-eds about the goodness seen in Americans who assist each other during natural disasters.
Other activities
In 1982, Carter founded the Carter Center, a non-governmental and non-profit organization with the purpose of advancing human rights and alleviating human suffering, including helping improve the quality of life for people in more than 80 countries. Among these efforts has been the contribution of the Carter Center working alongside the World Health Organization to the near-eradication of dracunculiasis, also called Guinea worm disease. The incidence of this disease has decreased from 3.5 million cases in the mid-1980s, to 25 cases in 2016, and four in the first seven months of 2024, according to the Carter Center's statistics.
Carter attended the dedication of his presidential library and those of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. He delivered eulogies at the funerals of Coretta Scott King, Gerald Ford, and Theodore Hesburgh.
In 2007, Carter founded the New Baptist Covenant organization for social justice.
As of August 2019, Carter is Honorary Chair for the World Justice Project and formerly served as one for the Continuity of Government Commission. He continued to occasionally teach Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church as of 2019. Carter also taught at Emory University in Atlanta, and in June 2019 was awarded tenure for 37 years of service.
Israel and Palestine
Carter's Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, a New York Times Best Seller book, published in 2006, generated controversy for characterizing Israel's policies in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip as amounting to apartheid. In an interview, Carter defined apartheid as the "forced separation of two peoples in the same territory with one of the groups dominating or controlling the other." In remarks broadcast over radio, he said that Israel's policies amounted to an apartheid worse than South Africa's:
When Israel does occupy this territory deep within the West Bank, and connects the 200-or-so settlements with each other, with a road, and then prohibits the Palestinians from using that road, or in many cases even crossing the road, this perpetrates even worse instances of apartness, or apartheid, than we witnessed even in South Africa.
Some accused Carter of antisemitism. He defended his arguments and said, "the hope is that my book will at least stimulate a debate, which has not existed in this country. There's never been any debate on this issue, of any significance." He expressed his opinion that Israel will not have peace until it agrees to withdraw from the occupied territories, adding, "the greatest commitment in my life has been trying to bring peace to Israel." The comparisons of Israel and apartheid drew widespread traction in the early 2020s, after Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights groups issued reports characterizing Israel's policies as apartheid.
In his 2010 book We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land, Carter cites Israel's unwillingness to withdraw from the territories and settlement expansion as the primary obstacle to peace in the Middle East.
Personal life
Carter's hobbies include painting, fly fishing, woodworking, cycling, tennis, and skiing. He also has an interest in poetry, particularly the works of Dylan Thomas. During a state visit to the UK in 1977, Carter suggested that Thomas should have a memorial in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey; this later came to fruition in 1982.
Carter was a personal friend of Elvis Presley, whom he and Rosalynn met on June 30, 1973, before Presley was to perform onstage in Atlanta. They remained in contact by telephone two months before Presley's sudden death in August 1977. Carter later recalled an abrupt phone call received in June 1977 from Presley who sought a presidential pardon from Carter, to help George Klein's criminal case; at the time Klein had been indicted for only mail fraud, and was later found guilty of conspiracy. According to Carter, Presley was almost incoherent because of barbiturates; although he phoned the White House several times again, this was the last time they spoke. The day after Presley's death, Carter issued a statement and explained how he had "changed the face of American popular culture".
Carter filed a report with both the International UFO Bureau and the National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena, stating that he sighted an unidentified flying object in October 1969.
Beliefs
From a young age, Carter showed a deep commitment to evangelical Christianity. Carter taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. At a private inauguration worship service, the preacher was Nelson Price, the pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church of Marietta, Georgia. An evangelical Christian, Carter appealed to voters after the scandals of the Nixon Administration, and is credited with popularizing the term "born again" into American lexicon during the 1976 American presidential campaign. As president, Carter prayed several times a day, and professed that Jesus was the driving force in his life. He was greatly influenced by a sermon he had heard as a young man that asked: "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" In 2000, after the Southern Baptist Convention announced it would no longer permit women to become pastors, he renounced his membership, saying: "I personally feel that women should play an absolutely equal role in service of Christ in the church." He remained a member of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Carter's support for the Equal Rights Amendment led many evangelical conservatives to leave the Democratic Party, contributing to the development of the Christian right in American politics.
Family
Carter had three younger siblings, all of whom died of pancreatic cancer: sisters Gloria Spann (1926–1990) and Ruth Stapleton (1929–1983), and brother Billy Carter (1937–1988). He was first cousin to politician Hugh Carter and a distant cousin to the Carter family of musicians. He is related to Motown founder Berry Gordy by way of their white great-grandfather James Thomas Gordy, who had a relationship with a black female slave he owned.
Carter married Rosalynn Smith on July 7, 1946, in the Plains Methodist Church, the church of Rosalynn's family. They had three sons, Jack, James III, and Donnel; one daughter, Amy; nine grandsons (one of whom is deceased), three granddaughters, five great-grandsons, and eight great-granddaughters. Mary Prince (an African American woman wrongly convicted of murder, and later pardoned) was their daughter Amy's nanny for most of the period from 1971 until Jimmy Carter's presidency ended. Carter had asked to be designated as her parole officer, thus helping to enable her to work in the White House.
The Carters celebrated their 77th anniversary on July 7, 2023. On October 19, 2019, they became the longest-wed presidential couple, having overtaken George and Barbara Bush at 26,765 days. After Rosalynn's death on November 19, 2023, Carter released the following statement:
Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished. She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.
The Carters' eldest son, Jack Carter, was the 2006 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Nevada and lost to Republican incumbent John Ensign. Jack's son Jason Carter is a former Georgia state senator, and in 2014 was the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, losing to the Republican incumbent, Nathan Deal. On December 20, 2015, while teaching a Sunday school class, Carter announced that his 28-year-old grandson Jeremy Carter had died of unspecified causes.
Health
On August 3, 2015, Carter underwent an elective surgery to remove a small mass on his liver, and his prognosis for a full recovery was initially said to be excellent. On August 12, he announced he had been diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized, without specifying where the cancer had originated. On August 20, Carter disclosed that melanoma had been found in his brain and liver, and that he had begun treatment with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab and was about to start radiation therapy. His healthcare was managed by Emory Healthcare of Atlanta. His family history of cancer includes both of his parents and all three of his siblings. On December 5, he announced that his medical scans no longer showed any cancer.
Carter broke his hip in a fall at his Plains home on May 13, 2019, and underwent surgery the same day at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia. On October 6, an injury above his left eyebrow received in another fall at home required 14 stitches and resulted in a black eye. On October 21, Carter was admitted to the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center after sustaining a minor pelvic fracture from falling at home for the third time in 2019. He was able to resume teaching Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church on November 3.
On November 11, 2019, Carter was hospitalized at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding connected with his falls. He was released from the hospital on November 27. On December 2, 2019, Carter was readmitted to the hospital for a urinary tract infection. He was released on December 4.
On February 18, 2023, the Carter Center announced that following a "series of short hospital stays", Carter decided to "spend his remaining time at home with his family" in Plains to "receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention" for an unspecified terminal illness.
Longevity
At 100 years old, Carter is the longest-lived former U.S. president. He has been the earliest-serving living former president since Gerald Ford's death in 2006. In 2012, he surpassed Herbert Hoover as the longest-retired president. In 2017 and 2021, Carter became the first president to live to the 40th anniversary of his inauguration and post-presidency respectively. In 2017, Carter, then 92, became the oldest former president ever to attend an American presidential inauguration. On March 22, 2019, he became the longest-lived US president, surpassing George H. W. Bush, who died a few months earlier at the age of 94 years, 171 days. He is also the oldest of the few U.S. presidents to have been born in a hospital, all of whom are alive as of 2024. He said in a 2019 interview with People that he never expected to live as long as he had and that the best explanation for longevity was a good marriage. Carter entered hospice care several months before celebrating his 99th birthday at his home.
The Carter Center announced Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song, an event concert to celebrate Carter's 100th birthday that featured appearances by musicians and celebrities. The event took place on September 17, 2024, at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. On October 1, 2024, Carter turned 100, the first president to do so. Local events to celebrate his birthday included a F-18 Super Hornet flyover formation by eight Navy pilots from Naval Air Station Oceana, which Carter viewed from his backyard, and a naturalization ceremony for 100 new citizens at Plains High School, which Chip Carter attended.
Carter has made arrangements to be buried in front of his home at 209 Woodland Drive in Plains. In 2006 he said that a funeral in Washington, D.C., with visitation at the Carter Center was also planned. Carter asked President Biden to deliver his eulogy.
Legacy
Public opinion
In exit polls from the 1976 presidential election, many voters still held Ford's pardon of Nixon in 1974 against him. By comparison, Carter was viewed as a sincere, honest, and well-meaning southerner. During his presidency, polls generally showed that most Americans saw Carter as "likable" and "a man of high moral principles". In the 1980 election, Reagan projected an easy self-confidence, in contrast to Carter's serious and introspective temperament. Carter was portrayed as more pessimistic and indecisive than Reagan, who was known for his charm and delegation of tasks to subordinates. Reagan used the economic issues, the Iran hostage crisis, and the lack of Washington cooperation to portray Carter as a weak and ineffectual leader. Carter was the first elected incumbent president since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to lose a reelection bid.
Carter began his presidency with an approval rating between 66% and 75%. It remained above 50% until February 1978 and got as low as 28% in July 1979, primarily because of economic issues resulting from a heavy decline in energy and oil production. At the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis, his approval rating surged to 61%, up 23 points from his pre-crisis rating. Polls also found that up to 77% of Americans approved of Carter's initial response to the crisis, but by June 1980, amid heated criticism from across the political spectrum for his failure to free the hostages, his approval rating slumped to 33%; that same month Reagan became the front-runner in the 1980 election. As Carter was leaving office, a Gallup poll found that 48% of Americans thought he had been an "average" or "above average" president, 46% said he had been "below average" or "poor", and only 3% thought he had been "outstanding". He left office as one of the most unpopular U.S. presidents in history.
Scholars and many Democrats initially viewed Carter's presidency as a failure. In a 1982 Chicago Tribune survey, when 49 historians and scholars were asked to rank the best and worst U.S. presidents, Carter was ranked the 10th worst. Since then, historical rankings of American presidents have generally ranked his presidency between 18th and 34th place. The 2009 documentary Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace credits Carter's efforts at Camp David, which brought peace between Israel and Egypt, with bringing the only meaningful peace to the Middle East. His post-presidency activities have been favorably received. The Independent wrote, "Carter is widely considered a better man than he was a president." In a 2007 Gallup poll, 69% of respondents had a favorable opinion of Carter.
In Gallup's retrospective ratings of previous U.S. presidents, Carter's presidency received a favorability rating of 45% in 1990, which was below most other presidents and left only Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson with lower ratings. In a 2018 poll, Carter's presidency received a 55% favorability rating, its highest since 1980. Although his presidency received a mixed reception, his peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts since he left office have made Carter renowned as one of the most successful ex-presidents in U.S. history.
Awards and honors
Carter received the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award in 1984. The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum was opened in 1986. The following year, the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park was established as a National Historic Site and in 2021, renamed as a national historical park. In 1991, Carter was made an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa at Kansas State University, and was elected to the American Philosophical Society. In 1998, the U.S. Navy named the third and final Seawolf-class submarine USS Jimmy Carter, honoring Carter and his service as a submarine officer.
Carter received the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights, given in honor of human rights achievements, and the Hoover Medal, recognizing engineers who have contributed to global causes. Carter's 2002 Nobel Peace Prize was partially a response to president George W. Bush's threats of war against Iraq and Carter's criticism of the Bush administration. In 2009, the Souther Field Airport in Americus, Georgia, was renamed Jimmy Carter Regional Airport.
Carter has been nominated nine times for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for audio recordings of his books, and has won three times—for Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis (2007), A Full Life: Reflections at 90 (2016) and Faith: A Journey For All (2018).
On February 21, 2024, the White House Historical Association unveiled its official 2024 White House Christmas ornament honoring Carter's naval service and efforts for peace. This was the first time a president being honored was alive at the time of the unveiling.
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
News sources
Websites
Further reading
Primary sources
Carter, Jimmy. Why not the best? (1977) online.
Carter, Jimmy. Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President (1982) excerpt Archived January 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
Carter, Jimmy. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977 (1978–1981); annual compilation of all his public documents
Carter, Jimmy. An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood (2001) excerpt Archived August 8, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
Carter, Jimmy. The Nobel Peace Prize lecture : delivered in Oslo on December 10, 2002 (2002) online
Carter, Jimmy. Negotiation (2003) excerpt Archived August 30, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
Carter, Jimmy. Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis (2005) excerpt Archived August 10, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
Carter, Jimmy. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2006) online
Carter, Jimmy. Beyond the White House: waging peace, fighting disease, building hope (2007) online
Carter, Jimmy. White House diary (2011) online
Carter, Jimmy. A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety (2015) online
Califano, Joseph A. Jr. (2007) [1981]. Governing America: An Insider's Report from the White House and the Cabinet. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-5211-6.
Jordan, Hamilton (1982). Crisis: The Last Year of the Carter Presidency. Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-12738-0.
Lance, Bert (1991). The Truth of the Matter: My Life In and Out of Politics. Summit. ISBN 978-0-671-69027-4.
External links
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum Archived September 17, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
The Carter Center Archived September 2, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
Jimmy Carter National Historic Site Archived February 20, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
White House biography Archived September 21, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
Jimmy Carter on Nobelprize.org
Appearances on C-SPAN |
Rosalynn_Carter | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalynn_Carter | [
501
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalynn_Carter"
] | Eleanor Rosalynn Carter ( ROH-zə-lin; née Smith; August 18, 1927 – November 19, 2023) was an American writer, activist, and humanitarian who served as the first lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981, as the wife of president Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States. Throughout her decades of public service she was a leading advocate for women's rights and mental health.
Carter was born and raised in Plains, Georgia, graduated as valedictorian of Plains High School, and soon after attended Georgia Southwestern College, where she graduated in 1946. She first became attracted to her future husband, also from Plains, after seeing a picture of him in his U.S. Naval Academy uniform, and they married in 1946. Carter helped her husband win the governorship of Georgia in 1970, and decided to focus her attention in the field of mental health when she was that state's first lady. She campaigned for him during his successful bid to become president of the United States in the 1976 election, defeating incumbent Republican president Gerald Ford.
Carter was politically active during her husband's presidency, though she declared that she had no intention of being a traditional first lady. During his term of office, Carter supported her husband's public policies as well as his social and personal life. To remain fully informed, she sat in on Cabinet meetings at the invitation of the President. Carter also represented her husband in meetings with domestic and foreign leaders, including as an envoy to Latin America in 1977. He found her to be an equal partner. She campaigned for his failed re-election bid in the 1980 election in which he lost in a landslide to Republican nominee Ronald Reagan.
After leaving the White House in 1981, Carter continued to advocate for mental health and other causes, wrote several books, and became involved in the national and international work of the Carter Center. She and her husband also contributed to the expansion of the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity. In 1987, she founded the Institute for Caregivers, to inform and support the efforts of caregivers. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom alongside her husband in 1999.
Early life
Eleanor Rosalynn Smith was born on August 18, 1927, in Plains, Georgia. She was the eldest of four children of Wilburn Edgar Smith, an auto mechanic, bus driver, and farmer, and Frances Allethea "Allie" Murray Smith, a teacher, dressmaker, and postal worker. Her brothers were William Jerrold "Jerry" Smith (1929–2003), an engineer, and Murray Lee Smith (1932–2003), a teacher and minister. Her sister, Lillian Allethea (Smith) Wall (born 1936), known as Allethea, named for her mother and for Lillian Gordy Carter (the Smith and Carter families being friends), is a real estate broker. Rosalynn was named after Rosa Wise Murray, her maternal grandmother. Smith's grand-uncle W.S. Wise was one of the American Brazilians known as Confederados who emigrated from the United States to the Brazilian Empire after the American Civil War.
Smith's family lived in poverty, although she later said that she and her siblings were unaware of it, because even though their family "didn't have much money [...] neither did anyone else, so as far as we knew, we were well off." Churches and schools were at the center of her family's community, and the people of Plains were familiar with each other. Smith played with the boys during her early childhood since no girls on her street were her age. She drew buildings and was interested in airplanes, which led her to believe that she would someday become an architect.
Rosalynn's father died of leukemia in 1940 when she was thirteen. She called the loss of her father the conclusion of her childhood. Thereafter, she helped her mother raise her younger siblings, as well as assisting in the dressmaking business to meet the family's financial obligations. Rosalynn would credit her mother with inspiring her own independence and said that she learned from her mother that "you can do what you have to do". At Plains High School, Rosalynn worked hard to achieve her father's dream of seeing her go to college. Rosalynn graduated as valedictorian of Plains High School. Soon after, she attended Georgia Southwestern College and graduated in 1946. During her time in college, Rosalynn served as vice president of her class and was a founding member of her school's Young Democrats, Campus Marshal and Tumbling Clubs. She would graduate with a junior college diploma.
Rosalynn first dated Jimmy Carter in 1945 while he was attending the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. Rosalynn agreed to marry Jimmy in February 1946 when she went to Annapolis with his parents. The two scheduled their marriage to take place in July and kept the arrangement secret. Rosalynn was hesitant to tell her mother she had chosen to marry instead of continuing her education. On July 7, 1946, they married in Plains. Their marriage caused Rosalynn to cancel her plans to attend Georgia State College for Women, where she had planned to study interior design. The couple had four children: John William "Jack" (b. 1947), James Earl "Chip" III (b. 1950), Donnel Jeffrey "Jeff" (b. 1952), and Amy Lynn (b. 1967).
Politics
First Lady of Georgia (1971–1975)
After helping her husband win the governorship of Georgia in 1970, Rosalynn decided to focus her attention mainly in the field of mental health when she was that state's first lady. She was appointed to the Governor's Commission to Improve Services for the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped. Many of the commission's recommendations were approved and became law. In August 1971, Carter engaged in a statewide tour of mental health facilities across Georgia. She described her efforts on behalf of mentally disabled children as her proudest achievement as First Lady of Georgia.
Carter also served as a volunteer at the Georgia Regional Hospital at Atlanta, and for four years was honorary chairperson for the Georgia Special Olympics.
Her work in addressing social issues made her "virtually revered in professional health care circles." Her activities included entertaining as many as 750 people a week for dinner at the Governor's Mansion. Governor Carter once claimed that he had supported the Equal Rights Amendment while his wife was opposed to the measure; the First Lady privately confronted him upon hearing news of the claim and Carter corrected himself by later announcing to the press, "I thought I knew what Rosalynn thought, but I was wrong."
1976 presidential campaign
When her husband's gubernatorial term ended in January 1975, Rosalynn, Jimmy, and Amy Carter returned to Plains. Jimmy had already announced his plans to run for president of the United States. Rosalynn got back on the campaign trail, this time on a national quest to gather support for her husband. She campaigned alone on his behalf in 41 states. Because of her husband's obscurity at the time, she often had to answer the question, "Jimmy who?" She promoted the establishment of additional daycare facilities and adjustments to "Social Security and so many other things to help the elderly."
During the months when she was campaigning across the country, she was elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Mental Health, honored by the National Organization for Women with an Award of Merit for her vigorous support for the Equal Rights Amendment, and received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Southwestern Association of Volunteer Services.
Rosalynn sat in the balcony at Madison Square Garden with friends and family the night of the nomination while her husband was with his mother and daughter. She had "butterflies in her stomach" until the Ohio delegation announced its votes were for her husband. Rosalynn wished she could have been with him at that time. The Carters met with all the potential running mates, and instantly gained affinity for Walter Mondale after meeting with him and his wife Joan. Following the election, the Carters traveled to the White House and met with President Ford and First Lady Betty Ford, the latter becoming a role model for Rosalynn.
First Lady of the United States (1977–1981)
Major initiatives
When her husband assumed the presidency in January 1977, Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter walked hand-in-hand down Pennsylvania Avenue during his presidential inauguration parade. The gown that she wore to the inaugural balls was the same one that she had worn six years earlier at the Atlanta balls when Jimmy became governor.
Carter declared that she had no intention of being a traditional first lady of the United States. During her husband's administration, she supported his public policies as well as his social and personal life. To remain fully informed, she sat in on Cabinet meetings at the invitation of the President. The first meeting she attended was on February 28, 1977, where she felt comfortable since she was among other officials who were not members. The idea for her to be in attendance came at her husband's suggestion when she started to question him about a news story.
Carter took notes at the meetings, but never spoke. As she put it, "I was there to be informed so that when I traveled across the country, which I did a great deal, and was questioned by the press and other individuals about all areas of government, I'd know what was going on." When the cultural exchange program Friendship Force International launched at the White House on March 1, 1977, she became honorary chairperson, a position she held until 2002. She joined Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford in supporting the unsuccessful campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) at the Houston conference celebrating the International Women's Year in 1977.
For Christmas 1977, she decorated the White House's Christmas tree with ornaments made from pine cones, peanuts, and egg shells. On July 27, 1978, Carter was the host of "First Lady's Employment Seminar". Between 200 and 300 delegates came and shared information to learn how other communities responded to the problem of unemployment. Carter remembered 1979 and 1980 as years of never-ending crises, the years having "Big ones and small ones, potential disasters and mere annoyances."
During 1978, Carter became involved with an effort to reform D.C. General Hospital after criticizing its appearance, and traveled to the hospital for reviews of changing conditions as more work was done in remodeling.
Despite finding time to entertain, the Carters never were able to match their immediate predecessors and Carter never considered it a major part of her job as first lady.
Criticism came towards her role as first lady by a U.S. diplomat in Brazil, who insisted that women were meant to be kept "at home and that's all". The cultural factor had also caused many to oppose her trip. Critics called her too programmed and disciplined while others said she lacked admirable qualities of Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford. Despite this, Carter was pleased by her viewed role as a demanding first lady and remembered the times of presidents' wives being "confined" to "official hostess" and other demeaning roles. In efforts to advance the appearance of the White House, she accumulated American paintings.
After the Carter administration began losing popularity, Carter advised that Gerald Rafshoon be brought on as White House Director of Communications and that key media figures be invited to the White House for "informal, off‐the‐record, deep discussions about issues." Rafshoon was selected and confirmed for the position.
Mental health campaign
In March 1977, Carter gave her first interview since becoming first lady. She outlined her goals in focusing on mental health: "For every person who needs mental health care to be able to receive it close to his home, and to remove the stigma from mental health care so people will be free to talk about it and seek help. It's been taboo for so long to admit you had a mental health problem."
Carter served as an active honorary chair of the President's Commission on Mental Health. On behalf of the Mental Health System Bill enacted in 1980, she testified before a Senate committee, making her the second first lady to appear before the Congress (the first being Eleanor Roosevelt). Of her priorities, mental health was the highest. Working to change the nature of government assistance to the mentally ill, Carter wanted to allow people to be comfortable admitting their disabilities without fear of being called crazy.
Influence
After Carter had been first lady for two years, Time magazine called her the "second most powerful person in the United States." Many times, Carter's husband called her an equal partner. He also said she was a "perfect extension of myself." During a 1977 interview, Carter admitted that she quarreled with him over his policies but his own decision was what he acted on, and she denied influencing his major decisions. In an interview the following year, Carter stated that she did not publicly disagree with her husband's policies out of a belief that she "would lose all my effectiveness with him" as well as her opinion that the gesture would not assist in changing his perspective to her own. She said that a first lady could influence officials or the public by discussing an issue or giving attention to it.
Biographer MaryAnne Borrelli wrote that Carter considered her attempts to portray herself as a traditional wife and influencing factor in her husband's administration would be "viewed by some as dependent upon her husband, by others as lacking accountability, and by still others as doing too little—or too much". Years after leaving the White House, Carter would remain bothered by claims that she exerted too much influence on her husband, insisting they had an equal partnership. Jimmy Carter would later write that the two engaged in discussions on a variety of issues and she was aware of everything within the administration apart from "a few highly secret and sensitive security matters".
Travels
Carter represented her husband in meetings with domestic and foreign leaders, most notably as an envoy to Latin America in 1977. She purposely scheduled her meetings so as not to have any with the heads of state. President Carter said that while his wife had initially been met with hesitance as an American representative, "at the conclusion of those meetings, they now rely on her substantially to be sure that I understand the sensitivities of the people". Following the Latin America meetings, David Vidal observed, "Mrs. Carter has achieved a personal and diplomatic success that goes far beyond the modest expectations of both her foreign policy tutors at the State Department and her hosts."
In a June 7, 1977, news conference, Carter stated that her meetings with Brazilian leaders included discussions on human rights and her wishes for Brazil to include itself among other countries seeking a reduction in nuclear weapons via an international study. On December 30, 1977, Rosalynn Carter and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski met with Stefan Wyszyński at the Cardinal's Warsaw residence. President Carter said the meeting was intended to display American "appreciation for the degree of freedom of worship in the country".
Carter led the American delegation to the May 1978 inauguration of Rodrigo Carazo Odio as president of Costa Rica. In August 1978, she led the American delegation to the funeral of Pope Paul VI in Rome.
She also led a delegation to Thailand in 1979 to address the problems of Cambodian and Laotian refugees. She examined camps where Cambodian refugees had fled to avoid the combat between the Vietnamese troops and the government of Pol Pot. Helping the refugees, particularly the children, became a special cause for her. She returned to the United States and played a prominent role in expediting an appeal for large assistance after she witnessed their suffering during her visit. By this time, however, her husband had met with families of the hostages in Iran. The families were more concerned about what they needed to do to get their loved ones out than they were about whether or not they would ever get out. Carter stated that she had wanted to return to the U.S. as quickly as possible to mobilize assistance to assuage the refugees' plight.
Life in the White House
Carter was the first of all the First Ladies to keep her own office in the East Wing. She also oversaw her family at the White House. Her daughter, Amy, attracted much public attention. The two youngest sons, Chip and Jeff, and their families also lived in the White House. Other members of the family, including son Jack and his wife and children, were frequent visitors. Carter's Secret Service codename was "Dancer". In 1977, Carter reported that her family was divided in their reaction to public perception of them, saying her sons were worried about how they would be perceived living there while she personally thought nothing of it as the public was not financing their residence and she favored the family being together.
On August 16, 1979, Carter released a statement announcing Edith J. Dobelle had accepted "the newly created position of staff director for the East Wing".
After leaving the White House, Carter reflected of Washington, "I love this city. I loved living here and being so close to the seat of power, being a part of the political system. When you watched television you knew the people involved, you were familiar with both sides of the issues."
Equal Rights Amendment
During the 1976 campaign, Carter spoke to feminists about her equal partnership with her husband. In January 1977, prior to his inauguration, Carter substituted for him in speaking with Senator Birch Bayh over the phone as the latter wanted President-elect Carter to lobby for support of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) being ratified in Indiana. She persuaded Wayne Townsend to switch his vote and the ERA was approved in an Indiana Senate vote of 26 to 24.
In reference to Carter's role in supporting the ERA, Texas Christian University associate professor of religion Elizabeth Flowers said, "[Rosalynn Carter] wanted to temper down some of the more radical elements of feminism, as she saw it, and challenge what she felt were caricatures of the movement. She wanted to be sure that the struggle for ERA really appealed to mainstream America."
Public image
During the 1976 election cycle, journalists dubbed Carter the "steel magnolia" for having a fragile and feminine appearance that concealed a "tough as nails" interior. Carter was known for a lack of attention paid to fashion, and her choice to wear the gown she wore at her husband's swearing in as Governor to his presidential inauguration reinforced this view of her. Carter's public interest in national policy prompted Kandy Stroud of The New York Times to speculate she might become the most activist first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt. Amid the sinking approval ratings of her husband, Carter maintained high favorable viewpoints in the eyes of the public, and was tied with Mother Teresa for most admired woman in the world. In April 1979, during her speech as guest speaker at the 1979 Matrix Awards Luncheon of New York Women in Communications Inc., Carter said the issues she was championing were being met with opposition due to their lack of sexiness in being topics a first lady discusses.
1980 presidential campaign
President Carter was challenged by Ted Kennedy for his re-election bid in the Democratic presidential primaries. He would later write that the ongoing Iran hostage crisis impacted his choice to rely on his wife among others in his administration to advocate for his policies on the campaign trail. Vice President Mondale would come to view himself and Rosalynn as President Carter's proxies through much of the spring portion of the election cycle. She would reflect that the Iowa victory of the Carter re-election campaign, which saw President Carter defeat Kennedy 59.2% to 31.2%, made it easier for her to be unbothered by Kennedy's attacks. Although President Carter was able to secure the nomination, Rosalynn would come to believe that Kennedy had damaged the Democratic Party through his campaign and inadequately assisted in the general election: "He was a poor loser. I thought that once he saw that he could not win he would try to help the Democratic Party because I thought it was so important to keep Ronald Reagan out of the White House and I thought he should have helped. Instead, he tore the Democratic Party to pieces."
In the last few months of her husband's presidency, Rosalynn was confident that she and her husband would be able to defeat Reagan in the general election. On her birthday, she saw polls that showed they were gaining on Reagan, whose previous lead of 25 percent had decreased to 7 percent. In the November 4 election, Carter lost to Reagan in a landslide. She would later cite Christian conservatives, the Iran hostage crisis, inflation, and the desire to wage a protest vote against the current administration with having contributed to Carter's defeat. Her husband's loss came shortly after the passing of the Mental Health System Act, which sought to do much of what she had worked for during her tenure as first lady. However, after Ronald Reagan was elected, she reflected that "funding of our legislation was killed, by the philosophy of a new President. It was a bitter loss."
In the days following the election, Carter experienced depression, which led her husband to express the benefits of his impending post-presidency. She telephoned supporters of the re-election campaign to thank them for their involvement, and met with Reagan's wife, Nancy, during the transitional period and gave her a tour of the White House. Carter and Nancy Reagan developed a friendship as a result of their shared support for the Equal Rights Amendment. She was also satisfied that the Iran hostages were released on the day of Reagan's inauguration.
Personal life
Marriage and family
Their families were already acquainted when Rosalynn first dated Jimmy Carter in 1945 while he was attending the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. She became attracted to him after seeing a picture of him in his Annapolis uniform. The two were riding in the back seat of the car of Ruth Carter Stapleton's boyfriend when Jimmy surprised Rosalynn by kissing her. This was the first time that Rosalynn had ever allowed a boy to do so on the first date. Rosalynn agreed to marry Jimmy in February 1946 when she went to Annapolis with his parents. The two scheduled their marriage to take place in July and kept the arrangement secret. Rosalynn resisted telling her mother she had chosen to marry instead of continuing her education. On July 7, 1946, they married in Plains. Their marriage caused Rosalynn to cancel her plans to attend Georgia State College for Women, where she had planned to study interior design.
The couple had four children: John William "Jack" (b. 1947), James Earl "Chip" III (b. 1950), Donnel Jeffrey "Jeff" (b. 1952), and Amy Lynn (b. 1967). Due to Jimmy's military duties, the first three were born in different parts of the country and away from Georgia. During that time, Rosalynn enjoyed the independence she had gained from raising the children on her own. However, their relationship faced its first major crisis when she opposed Jimmy's resigning to return to Plains in 1953 after he learned his father was dying. Jimmy reflected that she "avoided talking to me as much as possible" as a result of his decision and would interact with him through their children. The Carters were fans of the New York Yankees until the Braves moved to Atlanta. They said they never went to bed arguing with each other.
In 1953, after her husband left the Navy, Rosalynn helped run the family peanut farm and warehouse business, handling accounting responsibilities. Around this time, yearning for another child, the Carters discovered Rosalynn had physical ailments preventing pregnancy. She underwent surgery to remove a large tumor from her uterus 12 years later. Her obstetrician confirmed she could have another child, and their daughter Amy was born thereafter.
Rosalynn had different relationships with each member of Jimmy's family. Becoming friends with his sister, who was two years younger than she, Rosalynn gave her dresses she had outgrown. However, she and Jimmy's mother, Lillian Gordy Carter, had difficulty living together.
In later years, the couple rode two and a half miles a day on three-wheel electric scooters, and they read the Bible aloud to each other in Spanish before they went to bed each night.
From 1962 (the year Jimmy was elected to the Georgia State Senate) until her death, she had been active in the political arena. Carter backed Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 presidential election, which she stated put her and her family at odds with other Georgians and caused them to develop a closeness with each other over shared values that others opposed.
Jimmy thoroughly consulted with Rosalynn before he mounted a bid for Governor of Georgia in 1966. She traveled to multiple towns throughout the state with promotional materials, visiting establishments such as radio stations and newspaper offices, and attending meetings of civic organizations. In one encounter, she tried endorsing her husband to a man in Washington, Georgia, the latter declaring his support for Republican candidate Bo Callaway before spitting on her. Rosalynn would later describe the encounter as the "worst political experience of my life." Summarizing the race, Carter wrote, "This was a brief and rushed campaign, but we all learned many things that were helpful to us later." The 1966 gubernatorial campaign saw the beginning of new interactions between the Carters, as Rosalynn was now determined to know her husband's positions on issues and be informed.
The month after the election, Jimmy Carter began campaigning for the 1970 Georgia gubernatorial election. In this campaign, Rosalynn made speeches, which she had not done in prior campaigns. The Carters were separated for most of their travels, and she also began writing speeches for the first time in her involvement in politics. When she met a Carter campaign worker who confided in Rosalynn that her daughter had a mental illness, the sight of the exhausted woman haunted Carter and became a factor in her eventual focus on mental health. Jimmy would later disclose that during the campaign and in the years of his governorship they became "keenly aware of the unmet needs of people in our state who suffered from mental and emotional disabilities."
Mary Prince (an African American woman wrongly convicted of murder, and later pardoned) was Amy's nanny for most of the period from 1971 until Jimmy Carter's presidency ended, partly thanks to Rosalynn's belief in Prince's innocence.
Health and death
In April 1977, Carter underwent surgery to remove a nonmalignant breast tumor. She underwent a gynecological procedure at Bethesda Naval Hospital in August 1977, which her press secretary Mary Hoyt described as a routine private matter.
On May 30, 2023, the Carter Center announced that Carter had been diagnosed with dementia. The statement also noted that she continued to live at home with her husband – who was in hospice care at the time of the announcement – "enjoying spring and visits with loved ones". On November 17, 2023, Carter entered hospice care. Her health had been failing amid a urinary tract infection which had not improved with antibiotics. She died two days later at her home in Plains, Georgia, at age 96.
Former president Carter said of his wife following her death, "Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished."
Funeral
On November 27, a motorcade which began in Plains arrived in Americus, where Carter's casket was carried from the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center to a waiting hearse by former members of Carter's United States Secret Service detail. The motorcade stopped at Carter's alma mater Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW), where GSW president Neal Weaver and Jennifer Olsen, CEO of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, placed two wreaths near her statue at the university's Rosalynn Carter Health and Human Sciences Complex. The motorcade then traveled via Interstates 75 and 285 to The Carter Center in Atlanta, where she lay in repose at the center's Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. During this time, a service was held and the public paid their respects.
A tribute service was held at the Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church at Emory University in northeast Atlanta on November 28. The service was televised on all television stations in the Atlanta market, and was also carried on some networks nationally. Jimmy Carter, who is in hospice care, attended, donning a blanket featuring images of Rosalynn and himself and with references to their hometown of Plains. President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and former president Bill Clinton also attended. All living former first ladies, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump attended the tribute service. Georgia governor and first lady Brian and Marty Kemp were also in attendance, as well as Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens. In addition to several others, friend and PBS journalist Judy Woodruff offered a spoken tribute. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood performed John Lennon's "Imagine" at the ceremony.
A private funeral was held on November 29 at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, with the Carter family and invited close friends in attendance. Jimmy Carter attended the Plains funeral, where he and their children wore leis to reference the family's time in Hawaii. After a final procession through Plains, Carter was buried during a private service at her residence.
Activism
The Carter Center
After the Carters left the White House in 1981, they continued to lead a very active life. In 1982, she co-founded the Carter Center, a private, nonprofit institution based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Carters returned to the home they had built in 1961 in Plains, Georgia. She was a member of the center's board of trustees and participated in many of the center's programs, but gave special attention to the mental health program. Carter and her husband fell into serious debt immediately after leaving the White House, but were able to pay off their debts by engaging in writing projects and eventually were able to open the Carter Center from their revenue. She, like Betty Ford before her, would say the American people made a mistake in not re-electing her husband and was bitter over the election. At this time she expressed resentment of Ronald Reagan, and even told interviewer Mike Wallace that he was ruining the country. Rumors at this time spread that she was running for Governor of Georgia, which she denied and outright stated that she had no political ambition. Nearly two decades later when Hillary Clinton was pondering whether or not to run for Senator in New York, Carter was asked why she had not run for the Georgia Senate. She responded "What would I have done in Washington, with Jimmy in Georgia?"
Carter and her husband's first major project with the Carter Center was to help broker a peace deal between Israel and its neighbors. They visited the Middle East in March 1983 and worked with Kenneth W. Stein and other associates of the Carter administration. They invited top leaders from a wide range of cities and countries to participate, including the Palestinians, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt.
In the early summer of 1986, the Carters aided the poor by helping to build homes on the north and west sides of Chicago. They were accompanied by members of Habitat for Humanity as they wielded hammers and saws while working for a week to construct homes in a vacant lot. In 1991,the Carters removed themselves and the Carter Center from direct involvement in the Middle East at the time that President George H. W. Bush's administration, especially Secretary of State James Baker, became more active in that region. However, they did monitor the Oslo peace agreement of 1993, which sprang from the President and Secretary of State's bringing Palestinians and other parties involved in the matter to a conference in Madrid.
Mental health advocacy
Carter created and served as the chair of The Carter Center Mental Health Task Force, an advisory board of experts, consumers, and advocates promoting positive change in the mental health field. She hosted the annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, bringing together nationwide leaders in the mental health field.
In April 1984, she became an Honorary Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and served as a board member emeritus of the National Mental Health Association. In 1985, she started the Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy. The launch and its proceeds allowed representatives of mental health organizations to come together and collaborate on prominent issues. The success of the symposium led to the creation of the Mental Health Program in 1991. Carter established the Mental Health Task Force that same year to guide the Symposia as well as other Mental Health programs. She became chair of the International Women Leaders for Mental Health in 1992, and three years later she was honored with the naming of the Rosalynn Carter Mental Georgia Health Forum after her.
The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism provide stipends to journalists to report on topics related to mental health or mental illnesses. The one-year fellowship seeks to promote public awareness of mental health issues, as well as to erase the stigma associated with them. In September 2004, Carter met with the recipients of the eighth annual Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism at the Carter Center.
In 2007, Carter joined with David Wellstone, son of one-time U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, in pushing Congress to pass legislation regarding mental health insurance. She and Wellstone worked to pass the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 which requires equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses when policies include both types of coverage. Furthermore, both testified before a House subcommittee regarding the bill in July 2007.
Legislation requiring parity in health insurance coverage for treatment of mental illnesses was ultimately passed and signed into law in October 2008.
Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers
Carter was president of the board of directors for the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI) at Georgia Southwestern State University, her alma mater in Americus, Georgia. The RCI, which was established in 1987, aims to address issues related to caregiving in both the United States and internationally. The institute focuses its work on both family and professional caregivers for individuals living with chronic illness and disabilities, limitations related to aging, and other health concerns people encounter in their lifespan. It plays a major role in moving science into practice for caregivers by supporting the implementation of evidence-based programs and interventions for caregivers in community settings. The inaugural Rosalynn Carter Institute Gala Celebration of Caregivers took place in June 2004 in Atlanta Symphony Hall and featured Carter presenting bronze medallions to award winners.
Advocacy for women and children
In 1977, Carter was a speaker at the 1977 National Women's Conference among other speakers including Betty Ford, Bella Abzug, Lady Bird Johnson, Barbara Jordan, Audrey Colom, Claire Randall, Gerridee Wheeler, Cecilia Burciaga, Gloria Steinem, Lenore Hershey and Jean O'Leary.
In 1988, she convened with three other former first ladies—Betty Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, and Pat Nixon—at the "Women and the Constitution" conference in The Carter Center to assess that document's impact on women. The conference featured over 150 speakers and 1,500 attendees from all 50 states and 10 foreign countries. The conference was meant to promote awareness of sexual inequality in other countries, and to fight against it in the United States.
Carter served on the Policy Advisory Board of The Atlanta Project (TAP) of The Carter Center, addressing social ills associated with poverty and quality of life citywide.
In 1991, Carter launched Every Child By Two, a nationwide campaign that sought to increase early childhood immunizations along with Betty Bumpers, wife of former U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas. Carter served as president of the organization and Bumpers as vice president. The campaign's launch was in response to the deaths of nearly 150 people after a resurgence of measles.
Carter also served on the board of advisors for Habitat for Humanity and as an honorary chair of Project Interconnections, both of which aim to provide housing for those in need. Additionally, she was a deacon at her and her husband's Plains Baptist church.
Other activities
Shortly after leaving office, Carter signed with Houghton Mifflin for the writing of her autobiography. Carter's memoir, First Lady from Plains, was released in 1984. Mark Updegrove wrote that her memoir, and that of her husband, Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President, succeeded in "boosting the bank account and spirits of their authors." In a March 1981 interview, Carter's work on the autobiography was noted by her husband, who said that she would be "starting on a book shortly" without disclosing what the contents would be.
After the Carters left the White House, Carter still had sour feelings about her husband's loss of the election, and questioned how he could not be re-elected despite what she believed were the good choices he had made during his presidency.
In a 1984 interview, Carter was asked about her opinions on the 1984 presidential election, saying she was unsure if it was the right time for a female vice presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket and that the most important thing for the Democrats should be winning against Reagan, whose policies she charged were tragic. Carter also voiced her desire for her husband to run for a second non-consecutive term. She knew in her heart that her husband would not seek a non-consecutive term and went into depression in the early weeks of the retirement, Jimmy's attempts at portraying an artificial happiness strained the relationship due to him seeming to not understand her reasons for being disappointed in their current state of affairs.
Throughout the 1980s, Carter gave many speeches to audiences on the subject of caring for caregivers. She later reflected that members of the audience "came up to me crying, saying that this was the first time someone understood what they were going through."
After the October 1981 assassination of Anwar Sadat, the Carters contacted his wife Jehan Sadat and traveled with former presidents Nixon and Ford to represent the United States at his funeral. The Carters visited Jehan, who Rosalynn pledged to stay with during the funeral. Later that month, the Carters attended the National Mental Health Association's gala dinner dance, their first visit to Washington since leaving the White House. Carter presented former Governor of New York W. Averell Harriman with an award during the event. In December, she released a statement on the death of her personal secretary Rita Regina Merthan.
In October 1982, Carter attended the funeral of Bess Truman in Independence, Missouri.
In March 1983, the Carters traveled throughout the Middle East. In late 1983, Carter visited her ailing mother-in-law Lillian Carter at Americus-Sumter County Hospital, and was by her bedside when she died. Days later, she attended the funeral, where a eulogist hailed Lillian's many good works.
In October 1985, the Carters traveled to Nepal for a thirteen-day vacation in the Himalayan kingdom.
In July 1986, Carter traveled with her husband to Chicago, Illinois for a weekend assisting with construction projects for Habitat for Humanity. In October, the Carters gave President Reagan and his wife Nancy a tour of the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum.
On January 19, 1988, Carter was given the honor of christening the cruise ship Sovereign of the Seas in a gala ceremony in Miami. It was the largest cruise ship in the world at the time. A special oversized 26+1⁄4 liter bottle of Taittinger's champagne was used.
In March 1988, Carter attended a hearing on mental health by the House Select Committee on Aging. She lamented that ten years after a presidential commission found that 10 percent of Americans needed some form of mental health care, "most who were underserved at that time are still underserved in 1988". Later that month, the Carters traveled to Nigeria for discussions with officials on disease control and rural development projects.
Carter attended the November 4, 1991, dedication of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
On September 13, 1993, the Carters returned to the White House for a ceremony that featured the signing by Israel and the PLO of an agreement on Palestinian self-government. Former president George H. W. Bush joined the Carters in staying overnight at the invitation of President Bill Clinton so that they could attend a ceremony promoting the North American Free Trade Agreement the next day. This marked "the first time ever that two former presidents have stayed as guests of the President overnight", according to a presidential aide.
In August 1994, the Carters organized a Habitat for Humanity crew for the rebuilding of the house of family friend Annie Mae after it had been destroyed in a flood the previous month.
2000s
On December 4, 2001, Carter delivered a speech to the National Press Club.
In January 2003, Carter attended the benefit for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Betty Ford Center in Indian Wells, California.
During the June 5, 2004, christening of the USS Jimmy Carter in Groton, Connecticut, Carter served as the ship sponsor and christened the ship with a bottle of champagne. On October 11, 2004, Carter delivered the keynote address at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition, stating that she would favor medical school curricula requiring doctors to have the ability to recognize mental health symptoms and stressing the importance of recognizing symptoms in early childhood.
In December 2006, Carter was ordained a deacon at the Maranatha Baptist Church.
In January 2007, Carter and her husband joined other first ladies and presidents in attending the funeral of Gerald Ford, and six months later attended Lady Bird Johnson's as well. In a 2007 interview shortly before her 80th birthday, Carter said she would continue keeping a full schedule despite wanting to curtail it due to her advancing age, and that she had planned to lower her workload, but failed to do so because she still did not "want to miss anything."
In March 2009, the Carters met with National Security Advisor James L. Jones for a "general briefing". Carter was present for the April 21, 2009, signing by President Barack Obama of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.
2010s
In 2010, Carter criticized television crime dramas that portrayed mentally ill people as violent, when in fact they were more prone to being victims of crime. On May 7, 2010, she attended the Michelle Obama-hosted Mother's Day Tea at the White House, and was joined by her granddaughter Sarah and infant great-granddaughter. On October 26, Carter appeared on a discussion panel at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.
After the death of Betty Ford on July 8, 2011, Carter delivered a eulogy during a memorial service. Carter called her one who had the courage to speak the truth and fight stigmas surrounding illness and addiction, even calling her "a tireless advocate for those struggling."
Carter attended a speech given by Georgia National Guard's Colonel Brent Bracewell in the morning hours of October 25, 2012. Carter gave out the Georgia Paraprofessional Caregiver of the Year, Volunteer Caregiver of the Year, Family Caregiver of the Year, and an award with her namesake, the Rosalynn Carter Leadership in Caregiving Award later that day and expressed happiness in the amount of progress that had been made "since we started."
On April 25, 2013, Carter attended the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum with her husband and other former first ladies and presidents. In October 2013, Carter spoke about her confidence in the American people and her lack of confidence in the government on the issue of the income gap in the United States. Carter saw "one of the greatest disappointments" corrected in November 2013 when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the Obama administration had passed a mental health insurance rule. She said she was "shaking" upon learning that the new government rules required equal treatment for mental health care. She and her husband were saddened by the death of Nelson Mandela.
In August 2015, Jimmy announced his cancer diagnosis, stating that it had spread throughout his body. At the time of the announcement, Betty Pope, cousin of the former president, attested to Rosalynn's strength and voiced her belief that the former first lady would remain committed to her husband. Carter made her first public comments about the illness a month later in September, saying, "In spite of what's going on, it's been kind of wonderful just to know we have that kind of support, and also Jimmy's attitude is helping." In November 2015, she and her husband traveled to Memphis, Tennessee where they assisted in construction for the town's Habitat for Humanity affiliate.
In January 2016, Jimmy Carter confirmed that he was having regular treatments and said of Rosalynn at the time, "Her support has helped me through the last 69 years since we've been married in everything I've ever tried. Of course, when I was ill and thought I might die at any time, she was there for me." Carter attended the March 11, 2016, funeral of Nancy Reagan at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. In July 2016, Carter endorsed Proposition 62, which would abolish the death penalty in California, releasing a joint statement with her husband in support of the measure. She voted for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary of that year. Carter differed from her husband in believing Russia had interfered with determining the results of the general election. Upon the death of Barbara Bush on April 17, 2018, Carter became the oldest living former first lady. On October 17, 2019, she became the longest-married former first lady.
2020s
In July 2021, the Carters celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary, becoming the first presidential couple to do so.
Awards and honors
In 1999, Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
In 2001, Carter was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. She became the third first lady inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Among Carter's many other awards for service are:
Dorothea Dix Award, Mental Illness Foundation, 1988
Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, 1996
Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health, Institute of Medicine, 2000
American Peace Award along with Jimmy Carter, 2009
Carter received honorary degrees from the following institutions:
LL.D., University of Notre Dame, 1987
D.Litt., Emory University, 1991
L.H.D., Georgia Southwestern State University, 2001
Queen's University, 2012
Carter served as distinguished centennial lecturer at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, from 1988 to 1992. She was a Distinguished Fellow at the Emory University Department of Women's Studies in Atlanta from 1989 to 2018.
Books
Carter wrote five books:
First Lady from Plains (autobiography), 1984, ISBN 1-55728-355-9
Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life (with Jimmy Carter), 1987, ISBN 1-55728-388-5
Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book for Caregivers (with Susan K. Golant), 1994, ISBN 0-8129-2591-2
Helping Someone with Mental Illness: A Compassionate Guide for Family, Friends, and Caregivers (with Susan K. Golant), 1998, ISBN 0-8129-2898-9
Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis (with Susan K. Golant and Kathryn E. Cade), 2010, ISBN 978-1-59486-881-8
References
Portions of this article are based on public domain text from:
"Rosalynn Carter Biography". ibiblio.org. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
Sources
Caroli, Betty Boyd (2010). First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-975282-9.
Carter, Jimmy (2008). Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1416558811.
Carter, Jimmy (2010). White House Diary. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0374280994.
Carter, Rosalynn (1994). First Lady from Plains. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 978-1557283559.
Coleman, Earl Clark (2004). Welcome Back, Carter: 2004 Democratic Presidential Poll Winner. 1st Book Library. ISBN 978-1414032009.
Gherman, Beverly (2003). Jimmy Carter. Lerner Pub Group. ISBN 978-0822508168.
Godbold, E. Stanley (2010). Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter: The Georgia Years, 1924–1974. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-975344-4.
Levin, Bruce Lubotsky (2010). A Public Health Perspective of Women's Mental Health. Springer. ISBN 978-1441915252.
Lindsay, Rae (2001). The Presidents' First Ladies. Gilmour House. ISBN 978-0965375337.
Marton, Kati (2002). Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History. Anchor. ISBN 978-0385721882.
O'Brien, Cormac (2005). Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House. Quirk Books. ISBN 978-1594740145.
Ronayne, Peter (2001). Never Again?: The United States and the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide since the Holocaust. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0742509221.
Ryan, Bernard (2006). Jimmy Carter: U.S. President and Humanitarian. Ferguson Pub. ISBN 978-0816059034.
Watson, Robert P. (2005). Laura Bush: The Report to the First Lady: 2005. Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1594542909.
External links
Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving
Appearances on C-SPAN |
List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Steven_Spielberg | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Steven_Spielberg | [
502
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Steven_Spielberg"
] | The following is a list of awards and nominations received by American filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in the New Hollywood era and is currently the most commercially successful director. Spielberg is the recipient of various awards including three Academy Awards (with two for Best Director), two British Academy Film Awards, twelve Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, three Directors Guild of America Awards, and seven Producers Guild of America Awards. He also received a Kennedy Center honor, a Cecil B. DeMille Award, and an AFI Life Achievement Award.
Spielberg is known for such blockbuster films as Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jurassic Park (1993) and the Indiana Jones series (1981-present). Spielberg later explored drama in The Color Purple (1985) and Empire of the Sun (1987). Spielberg cemented his status as a serious filmmaker with the holocaust drama Schindler's List (1993), and the World War II epic Saving Private Ryan (1998). Spielberg continued in the 2000s with science fiction, including A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Minority Report (2002) and War of the Worlds (2005). He has since directed several fantasy films including The Adventures of Tintin (2011), and Ready Player One (2018), the historical dramas War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012), Bridge of Spies (2015), The Post (2017), and the musical West Side Story (2021).
Major Awards
Academy Awards
BAFTA Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Emmy Awards
Tony Awards
Guild awards
Directors Guild of America Awards
Producers Guild of America Awards
Writers Guild of America Awards
International awards
Berlin International Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
César Award
Toronto International Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
Critics awards
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
Critics' Choice Awards
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
London Critics Circle Film Awards
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
National Board of Review Awards
National Society of Film Critics Awards
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
Online Film Critics Society Awards
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards
Washington DC Film Critics Association
Miscellaneous awards
Amanda Award
American Film Institute
American Movie Awards
AACTA International Awards
Avoriaz International Fantastic Film Festival
Blue Ribbon Award
Christopher Award
Czech Lions
David di Donatello Awards
European Film Awards
Fantasporto
Fotogramas de Plata
Golden Eagle Awards
Hochi Film Awards
Hugo Award
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
Kinema Junpo Awards
Mainichi Film Concours
Retirement Research Foundation
Rembrandt Awards
Russian Guild of Film Critics
Robert Festival
Sant Jordi Awards
Satellite Awards
Saturn Awards
SFX Awards
Western Heritage Awards
Honors and achievements
Directed Academy Award performances
Other lifetime honors
1987 Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
1998 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
1999 Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service
2001 Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Honorary)
2003 Knight Grand Cross Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
2004 Knight, Legion of Honour
2005 Science Fiction Hall of Fame, the inaugural "Film, Television, and Media" induction
2006 Kennedy Center Honors
2008 Officer, Legion of Honour
2009 Liberty Medal
2011 Commander, Order of the Crown (Belgium)
2013 Israel: President's Medal
2015 United States: Presidential Medal of Freedom
Notes
== References == |
Schindler%27s_List | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schindler%27s_List | [
502
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schindler%27s_List"
] | Schindler's List is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally. The film follows Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved more than a thousand mostly Polish–Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during World War II. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as SS officer Amon Göth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.
Ideas for a film about the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews) were proposed as early as 1963. Poldek Pfefferberg, one of the Schindlerjuden, made it his life's mission to tell Schindler's story. Spielberg became interested when executive Sidney Sheinberg sent him a book review of Schindler's Ark. Universal Pictures bought the rights to the novel, but Spielberg, unsure if he was ready to make a film about the Holocaust, tried to pass the project to several directors before deciding to direct it himself.
Principal photography took place in Kraków, Poland, over 72 days in 1993. Spielberg shot in black-and-white and approached the film as a documentary. Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński wanted to create a sense of timelessness. John Williams composed the score, and violinist Itzhak Perlman performed the main theme.
Schindler's List premiered on November 30, 1993, in Washington, D.C., and was released on December 15, 1993, in the United States. Often listed among the greatest films ever made, the film received widespread critical acclaim for its tone, acting, atmosphere, score, cinematography, and Spielberg's direction; it was also a box office success, earning $322.2 million worldwide on a $22 million budget. It was nominated for twelve awards at the 66th Academy Awards, and won seven, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film won numerous other awards, including seven BAFTAs and three Golden Globes. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked Schindler's List 8th on its list of the 100 greatest American films. The film was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress in 2004 and selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry.
Plot
In Kraków during World War II, the Nazis force local Polish Jews into the overcrowded Kraków Ghetto. Oskar Schindler, a German Nazi Party member from Czechoslovakia, arrives in the city, hoping to make his fortune. He bribes Wehrmacht (German armed forces) and SS officials, acquiring a factory to produce enamelware. Schindler hires Itzhak Stern, a Jewish official with contacts among black marketeers and the Jewish business community; he handles administration and helps Schindler arrange financing. Stern ensures that as many Jewish workers as possible were deemed essential to the German war effort to prevent them from being taken by the SS to concentration camps or killed. Meanwhile, Schindler maintains friendly relations with the Nazis and enjoys his new wealth and status as an industrialist.
SS-Untersturmführer (second lieutenant) Amon Göth arrives in Kraków to oversee construction of the Płaszów concentration camp. When the camp is ready, he orders the ghetto liquidated: two thousand Jews are transported to Płaszów, and two thousand others are killed in the streets by the SS. Schindler witnesses the massacre and is profoundly affected. He particularly notices a young girl in a red coat who hides from the Nazis and later sees her body on a wagonload of corpses. Schindler is careful to maintain his friendship with Göth and continues to enjoy SS support, mostly through bribery. Göth brutalizes his Jewish maid Helen Hirsch and randomly shoots people from the balcony of his villa; the prisoners are in constant fear for their lives. As time passes, Schindler's focus shifts from making money to trying to save as many lives as possible. To better protect his workers, Schindler bribes Göth into allowing him to build a sub-camp at his factory.
As the Germans begin losing the war, Göth is ordered to ship the remaining Jews at Płaszów to Auschwitz concentration camp. Schindler asks Göth for permission to move his workers to a munitions factory he plans to build in Brünnlitz near his hometown of Zwittau. Göth reluctantly agrees but charges a huge bribe. Schindler and Stern prepare a list of people to be transferred to Brünnlitz instead of Auschwitz. The list eventually includes 1,100 names.
As the Jewish workers are transported by train to Brünnlitz, the women and girls are mistakenly redirected to Auschwitz-Birkenau; Schindler bribes Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, for their release. At the new factory, Schindler forbids the SS guards from entering the production area without permission and encourages the Jews to observe the Sabbath. Over the next seven months, he spends his fortune bribing Nazi officials and buying shell casings from other companies. Due to Schindler's machinations, the factory produces no usable armaments. He runs out of money in 1945, just as Germany surrenders.
As a Nazi Party member and war profiteer, Schindler must flee the advancing Red Army to avoid capture. The SS guards at the factory have been ordered to kill the Jewish workforce, but Schindler persuades them not to do so. Bidding farewell to his workers, he prepares to head west, hoping to surrender to the Americans. The workers give him a signed statement attesting to his role in saving Jewish lives and present him with a ring engraved with a Talmudic quotation: "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire". Schindler breaks down in tears, feeling he should have done more, and is comforted by the workers before he and his wife leave in their car. When the Schindlerjuden awaken the next morning, a mounted Soviet officer announces that they have been liberated but warns them not to go east because "they hate you there". The Jews then walk into the countryside.
An epilogue reveals that Göth was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed via hanging, while Schindler's marriage and businesses failed following the war. In the present, many of the surviving Schindlerjuden and the actors portraying them visit Schindler's grave and place stones on its marker (a traditional Jewish sign of respect for the dead), after which Liam Neeson lays two roses.
Cast
Production
Development
Poldek Pfefferberg, one of the Schindlerjuden, made it his life's mission to tell the story of his savior. Pfefferberg attempted to produce a biopic of Oskar Schindler with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1963, with Howard Koch writing, but the deal fell through. In 1982, Thomas Keneally published his historical novel Schindler's Ark, which he wrote after a chance meeting with Pfefferberg in Los Angeles in 1980. MCA president Sid Sheinberg sent director Steven Spielberg a New York Times review of the book. Spielberg, astounded by Schindler's story, jokingly asked if it was true. "I was drawn to it because of the paradoxical nature of the character," he said. "What would drive a man like this to suddenly take everything he had earned and put it all in the service of saving these lives?" Spielberg expressed enough interest for Universal Pictures to buy the rights to the novel. At their first meeting in spring 1983, he told Pfefferberg he would start filming in ten years. In the end credits of the film, Pfefferberg is credited as a consultant under the name Leopold Page.
Spielberg was unsure if he was mature enough to make a film about the Holocaust, and the project remained "on [his] guilty conscience". Spielberg tried to pass the project to director Roman Polanski, but he refused Spielberg's offer. Polanski's mother was killed at Auschwitz, and he had lived in and survived the Kraków Ghetto. Polanski eventually directed his own Holocaust drama The Pianist (2002). Spielberg also offered the film to Sydney Pollack and Martin Scorsese, who was attached to direct Schindler's List in 1988. However, Spielberg was unsure of letting Scorsese direct the film, as "I'd given away a chance to do something for my children and family about the Holocaust." Spielberg offered him the chance to direct the 1991 remake of Cape Fear instead. Scorsese would later admit in an interview that while he believed his version of the film might've been good, he had no regrets passing it to Spielberg stating that "it would not have been the hit that it became". Billy Wilder expressed an interest in directing the film as a memorial to his family, most of whom were murdered in the Holocaust. Brian De Palma also refused an offer to direct.
Spielberg finally decided to take on the project when he noticed that Holocaust deniers were being given serious consideration by the media. With the rise of neo-Nazism after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he worried that people were too accepting of intolerance, as they were in the 1930s. Sid Sheinberg greenlit the film on condition that Spielberg made Jurassic Park first. Spielberg later said, "He knew that once I had directed Schindler I wouldn't be able to do Jurassic Park." The picture was assigned a small budget of $22 million, as Holocaust films are not usually profitable. Spielberg forwent a salary for the film, calling it "blood money", and believed it would fail.
In 1983, Keneally was hired to adapt his book, and he turned in a 220-page script. His adaptation focused on Schindler's numerous relationships, and Keneally admitted he did not compress the story enough. Spielberg hired Kurt Luedtke, who had adapted the screenplay of Out of Africa, to write the next draft. Luedtke gave up almost four years later, as he found Schindler's change of heart too unbelievable. During his time as director, Scorsese hired Steven Zaillian to write a script. When he was handed back the project, Spielberg found Zaillian's 115-page draft too short, and asked him to extend it to 195 pages. Spielberg wanted more focus on the Jews in the story, and he wanted Schindler's transition to be gradual and ambiguous instead of a sudden breakthrough or epiphany. He also extended the ghetto liquidation sequence, as he "felt very strongly that the sequence had to be almost unwatchable."
Casting
Liam Neeson auditioned as Schindler early on in the film's development. He was cast in December 1992 after Spielberg saw him perform in Anna Christie on Broadway. Warren Beatty participated in a script reading, but Spielberg was concerned that he could not disguise his accent and that he would bring "movie star baggage". Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson expressed interest in portraying Schindler, but Spielberg preferred to cast the relatively unknown Neeson so that the actor's star quality would not overpower the character. Neeson felt Schindler enjoyed outsmarting the Nazis, who regarded him as somewhat naïve. "They don't quite take him seriously, and he used that to full effect." To help him prepare for the role, Spielberg showed Neeson film clips of Time Warner CEO Steve Ross, who had a charisma that Spielberg compared to Schindler's. He also located a tape of Schindler speaking, which Neeson studied to learn the correct intonations and pitch.
Fiennes was cast as Amon Göth after Spielberg viewed his performances in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Spielberg said of Fiennes' audition that "I saw sexual evil. It is all about subtlety: there were moments of kindness that would move across his eyes and then instantly run cold." Fiennes put on 28 pounds (13 kg) to play the role. He watched historic newsreels and talked to Holocaust survivors who knew Göth. In portraying him, Fiennes said "I got close to his pain. Inside him is a fractured, miserable human being. I feel split about him, sorry for him. He's like some dirty, battered doll I was given and that I came to feel peculiarly attached to." Doctors Samuel J. Leistedt and Paul Linkowski of the Université libre de Bruxelles describe Göth's character in the film as a classic psychopath. Fiennes looked so much like Göth in costume that when Mila Pfefferberg met him, she trembled with fear.
The character of Itzhak Stern (played by Ben Kingsley) is a composite of the accountant Stern, factory manager Abraham Bankier, and Göth's personal secretary, Mietek Pemper. The character serves as Schindler's alter ego and conscience. Dustin Hoffman was offered the role but he refused it.
Overall, there are 126 speaking parts in the film. Thousands of extras were hired during filming. Spielberg cast Israeli and Polish actors specially chosen for their Eastern European appearance. Many of the German actors were reluctant to don the SS uniform, but some of them later thanked Spielberg for the cathartic experience of performing in the movie. Halfway through the shoot, Spielberg conceived the epilogue, where 128 survivors pay their respects at Schindler's grave in Jerusalem. The producers scrambled to find the Schindlerjuden and fly them in to film the scene.
Filming
Principal photography began on March 1, 1993, in Kraków, Poland, with a planned schedule of 75 days. The crew shot at or near the actual locations, though the Płaszów camp had to be reconstructed in a nearby abandoned quarry, as modern high rise apartments were visible from the site of the original camp. Interior shots of the enamelware factory in Kraków were filmed at a similar facility in Olkusz, while exterior shots and the scenes on the factory stairs were filmed at the actual factory. The production received permission from Polish authorities to film on the grounds of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, but objections to filming within the actual death camp were raised by the World Jewish Congress. To avoid filming inside the actual death camp, the film crew constructed a replica of a portion of the camp just outside the entrance of Birkenau.
There were some antisemitic incidents. A woman who encountered Fiennes in his Nazi uniform told him: "The Germans were charming people. They didn't kill anybody who didn't deserve it." Antisemitic symbols were scrawled on billboards near shooting locations, while Kingsley nearly entered a brawl with an elderly German-speaking businessman who insulted the Israeli actor Michael Schneider. Nonetheless, Spielberg said that, at Passover, "all the German actors showed up. They put on yarmulkes and opened up Haggadas, and the Israeli actors moved right next to them and began explaining it to them. And this family of actors sat around and race and culture were just left behind."
I was hit in the face with my personal life. My upbringing. My Jewishness. The stories my grandparents told me about the Shoah. And Jewish life came pouring back into my heart. I cried all the time.
Shooting Schindler's List was deeply emotional for Spielberg, as the subject matter forced him to confront elements of his childhood, such as the antisemitism he faced. He was surprised that he did not cry while visiting Auschwitz; instead, he found himself filled with outrage. He was one of many crew members who could not force themselves to watch during the shooting of the scene where aging Jews are forced to run naked while being selected by Nazi doctors to go to Auschwitz. Spielberg commented that he felt more like a reporter than a film maker – he would set up scenes and then watch events unfold, almost as though he were witnessing them rather than creating a movie. Several actresses broke down when filming the shower scene, including one who was born in a concentration camp. Spielberg, his wife Kate Capshaw, and their five children rented a house in suburban Kraków for the duration of filming. He later thanked his wife "for rescuing me ninety-two days in a row ... when things just got too unbearable". Robin Williams called Spielberg to cheer him up, given the profound lack of humor on the set.
Spielberg spent several hours each evening editing Jurassic Park, which was scheduled to premiere in June 1993.
Spielberg occasionally used German and Polish language dialogue to create a sense of realism. He initially considered making the film entirely in those languages, but decided "there's too much safety in reading [subtitles]. It would have been an excuse [for the audience] to take their eyes off the screen and watch something else."
Cinematography
Influenced by the 1985 documentary film Shoah, Spielberg decided not to plan the film with storyboards, and to shoot it like a documentary. Forty percent of the film was shot with handheld cameras, and the modest budget meant the film was shot quickly over seventy-two days. Spielberg felt that this gave the film "a spontaneity, an edge, and it also serves the subject." He filmed without using Steadicams, elevated shots, or zoom lenses, "everything that for me might be considered a safety net." This matured Spielberg, who felt that in the past he had always been paying tribute to directors such as Cecil B. DeMille or David Lean.
Spielberg decided to use black and white to match the feel of documentary footage of the era. Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński compared the effect to German Expressionism and Italian neorealism. Kamiński said that he wanted to give the impression of timelessness to the film, so the audience would "not have a sense of when it was made". Universal chairman Tom Pollock asked him to shoot the film on a color negative, to allow color VHS copies of the film to later be sold, but Spielberg did not want to accidentally "beautify events". However, scenes with the girl in the red coat were shot in color, and later rotoscoped over by hand to remove all color except for the coat.
Music
John Williams, who frequently collaborates with Spielberg, composed the score for Schindler's List. The composer was amazed by the film, and felt it would be too challenging. He said to Spielberg, "You need a better composer than I am for this film." Spielberg responded, "I know. But they're all dead!" Itzhak Perlman performs the theme on the violin.
In the scene where the ghetto is being liquidated by the Nazis, the folk song Oyfn Pripetshik (Yiddish: אויפֿן פּריפּעטשיק, 'On the Cooking Stove') is sung by a children's choir. The song was often sung by Spielberg's grandmother, Becky, to her grandchildren. The clarinet solos heard in the film were recorded by Klezmer virtuoso Giora Feidman. Williams won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for Schindler's List, his fifth win. Selections from the score were released on a soundtrack album.
Themes and symbolism
The film explores the theme of good and evil, using as its main protagonist a "good German", a popular characterization in American cinema. While Göth is portrayed as an almost completely dark and evil person, Schindler gradually evolves from Nazi supporter to rescuer and hero. Thus a second theme of redemption is introduced as Schindler, a disreputable schemer on the edges of respectability, becomes a father figure responsible for saving the lives of more than a thousand people.
The girl in red
While the film is shot primarily in black and white, a red coat is used to distinguish a little girl in the scene depicting the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto. Later in the film, Schindler sees her exhumed dead body, recognizable only by the red coat she is still wearing. Spielberg said the scene was intended to symbolize how members of the highest levels of government in the United States knew the Holocaust was occurring, yet did nothing to stop it. He said: "It was as obvious as a little girl wearing a red coat, walking down the street, and yet nothing was done to bomb the German rail lines. Nothing was being done to slow down ... the annihilation of European Jewry. So that was my message in letting that scene be in color." Andy Patrizio of IGN notes that the point at which Schindler sees the girl's dead body is the point at which he changes, no longer seeing "the ash and soot of burning corpses piling up on his car as just an annoyance". Professor André H. Caron of the Université de Montréal wonders if the red symbolizes "innocence, hope or the red blood of the Jewish people being sacrificed in the horror of the Holocaust".
The girl was portrayed by Oliwia Dąbrowska, three years old at the time of filming. Spielberg asked Dąbrowska not to watch the film until she was eighteen, but she watched it when she was eleven, and says she was "horrified". Upon seeing the film again as an adult, she was proud of the role she played. Roma Ligocka, who says she was known in the Kraków Ghetto for her red coat, feels the character might have been based on her. Ligocka, unlike her fictional counterpart, survived the Holocaust. After the film was released, she wrote and published her own story, The Girl in the Red Coat: A Memoir (2002, in translation). Alternatively, according to her relatives who were interviewed in 2014, the girl may have been inspired by Kraków resident Genya Gitel Chil.
Candles
The opening scene features a family observing Shabbat. Spielberg said that "to start the film with the candles being lit ... would be a rich bookend, to start the film with a normal Shabbat service before the juggernaut against the Jews begins". When the color fades out in the film's opening moments, it gives way to a world in which smoke comes to symbolize bodies being burnt at Auschwitz. Only at the end, when Schindler allows his workers to hold Shabbat services, do the images of candle fire regain their warmth through color. For Spielberg, they represent "just a glint of color, and a glimmer of hope." Sara Horowitz, director of the Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University, sees the candles as a symbol for the Jews of Europe, killed and then burned in the crematoria. The two scenes bracket the Nazi era, marking its beginning and end. She points out that normally, the woman of the house lights the Sabbath candles. In the film, it is men who perform this ritual, demonstrating not only the subservient role of women, but also the subservient position of Jewish men in relation to Aryan men, especially Göth and Schindler.
Other symbolism
To Spielberg, the black and white presentation of the film came to represent the Holocaust itself: "The Holocaust was life without light. For me the symbol of life is color. That's why a film about the Holocaust has to be in black-and-white." Robert Gellately notes the film in its entirety can be seen as a metaphor for the Holocaust, with early sporadic violence increasing into a crescendo of death and destruction. He also notes a parallel between the situation of the Jews in the film and the debate in Nazi Germany between making use of the Jews for slave labor or exterminating them outright. Water is seen as giving deliverance by Alan Mintz, Holocaust Studies professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He notes its presence in the scene where Schindler arranges for a Holocaust train loaded with victims awaiting transport to be hosed down, and the scene in Auschwitz, where the women are given an actual shower instead of receiving the expected gassing.
Release
Schindler's List opened in theatres on December 15, 1993, in the United States and December 25 in Canada. Its premiere in Germany was on March 1, 1994. Its U.S. network television premiere was on NBC on February 23, 1997. Shown uncut and without commercials, it ranked No. 3 for the week with a 20.9/31 rating/share, the highest Nielsen rating for any film since NBC's broadcast of Jurassic Park in May 1995. The film aired on public television in Israel on Holocaust Memorial Day in 1998.
The film was released in a THX widescreen VHS format on September 9, 1997. The DVD was released on March 9, 2004, in widescreen and full screen editions, on a double-sided disc with the feature film beginning on side A and continuing on side B. Special features include a documentary introduced by Spielberg. Also released for both formats was a limited edition gift set, which included the widescreen version of the film, Keneally's novel, the film's soundtrack on CD, a senitype, and a photo booklet titled Schindler's List: Images of the Steven Spielberg Film, all housed in a plexiglass case. The laserdisc gift set was a limited edition that included the soundtrack, the original novel, and an exclusive photo booklet. As part of its 20th anniversary, the film was released on Blu-ray Disc on March 5, 2013. The film was digitally remastered in 4K, Dolby Vision and Atmos and was reissued into theaters on December 7, 2018, for its 25th anniversary. The film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on December 18, 2018.
Following the success of the film, Spielberg founded the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, a nonprofit organization with the goal of providing an archive for the filmed testimony of as many survivors of the Holocaust as possible, to save their stories. He continues to finance that work. Spielberg used proceeds from the film to finance several related documentaries, including Anne Frank Remembered (1995), The Lost Children of Berlin (1996), and The Last Days (1998).
Reception
Critical response
Schindler's List received acclaim from both film critics and audiences, with Americans such as talk show host Oprah Winfrey and President Bill Clinton urging others to see it. World leaders in many countries saw the film, and some met personally with Spielberg. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has received an approval rating of 98% based on 135 reviews, with an average rating of 9.20/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Schindler's List blends the abject horror of the Holocaust with Steven Spielberg's signature tender humanism to create the director's dramatic masterpiece." Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 95 out of 100, based on 30 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.
Stephen Schiff of The New Yorker called it the best historical drama about the Holocaust, a film that "will take its place in cultural history and remain there." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four and described it as Spielberg's best, "brilliantly acted, written, directed, and seen." Ebert named it one of his ten favorite films of 1993. Terrence Rafferty, also with The New Yorker, admired the film's "narrative boldness, visual audacity, and emotional directness." He noted the performances of Neeson, Fiennes, Kingsley, and Davidtz as warranting special praise, and calls the scene in the shower at Auschwitz "the most terrifying sequence ever filmed." In the 2013 edition of his Movie and Video Guide, Leonard Maltin awarded the picture a four-out-of-four-star rating; he described the movie as a "staggering adaptation of Thomas Keneally's best-seller ... with such frenzied pacing that it looks and feels like nothing Hollywood has ever made before ... Spielberg's most intense and personal film to date". James Verniere of the Boston Herald noted the film's restraint and lack of sensationalism, and called it a "major addition to the body of work about the Holocaust." In his review for The New York Review of Books, British critic John Gross said his misgivings that the story would be overly sentimentalized "were altogether misplaced. Spielberg shows a firm moral and emotional grasp of his material. The film is an outstanding achievement." Mintz notes that even the film's harshest critics admire the "visual brilliance" of the fifteen-minute segment depicting the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto. He describes the sequence as "realistic" and "stunning". He points out that the film has done much to increase Holocaust remembrance and awareness as the remaining survivors pass away, severing the last living links with the catastrophe. The film's release in Germany led to widespread discussion about why most Germans did not do more to help.
Criticism of the film also appeared, mostly from academia rather than the popular press. Sara Horowitz points out that much of the Jewish activity seen in the ghetto consists of financial transactions such as lending money, trading on the black market, or hiding wealth, thus perpetuating a stereotypical view of Jewish life. Horowitz notes that while the depiction of women in the film accurately reflects Nazi ideology, the low status of women and the link between violence and sexuality is not explored further. History professor Omer Bartov of Brown University notes that the physically large and strongly drawn characters of Schindler and Göth overshadow the Jewish victims, who are depicted as small, scurrying, and frightened – a mere backdrop to the struggle of good versus evil.
Horowitz points out that the film's dichotomy of absolute good versus absolute evil glosses over the fact that most Holocaust perpetrators were ordinary people; the movie does not explore how the average German rationalized their knowledge of or participation in the Holocaust. Author Jason Epstein commented that the movie gives the false impression that if people were smart enough or lucky enough, they could survive the Holocaust. Spielberg responded to criticism that Schindler's breakdown as he says farewell is too maudlin and even out of character by pointing out that the scene is needed to drive home the sense of loss and to allow the viewer an opportunity to mourn alongside the characters on the screen.
Bartov wrote that the "positively repulsive kitsch of the last two scenes seriously undermines much of the film's previous merits". He describes the humanization of Schindler as "banal", and is critical of what he describes as the "Zionist closure" set to the song "Jerusalem of Gold".
Assessment by other filmmakers
Schindler's List was very well received by many of Spielberg's peers. Filmmaker Billy Wilder wrote to Spielberg saying, "They couldn't have gotten a better man. This movie is absolutely perfection." Polanski, who turned down the chance to direct the film, later commented, "I certainly wouldn't have done as good a job as Spielberg because I couldn't have been as objective as he was." He cited Schindler's List as an influence on his 1994 film Death and the Maiden. Martin Scorsese, who passed the film back to Spielberg and stated his version had different ideas from the final film including a different ending, would later comment "I admired the film greatly." The success of Schindler's List led filmmaker Stanley Kubrick to abandon his own Holocaust project, Aryan Papers, which would have been about a Jewish boy and his aunt who survive the war by sneaking through Poland while pretending to be Catholic. According to scriptwriter Frederic Raphael, when he suggested to Kubrick that Schindler's List was a good representation of the Holocaust, Kubrick commented, "Think that's about the Holocaust? That was about success, wasn't it? The Holocaust is about 6 million people who get killed. Schindler's List is about 600 who don't."
Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard accused Spielberg of using the film to make a profit out of a tragedy while Schindler's wife, Emilie Schindler, lived in poverty in Argentina. Keneally disputed claims that she was never paid for her contributions, "not least because I had recently sent Emilie a check myself." He also confirmed with Spielberg's office that payment had been sent from there. Filmmaker Michael Haneke criticized the sequence in which Schindler's women are accidentally sent off to Auschwitz and herded into showers: "There's a scene in that film when we don't know if there's gas or water coming out in the showers in the camp. You can only do something like that with a naive audience like in the United States. It's not an appropriate use of the form. Spielberg meant well – but it was dumb."
Claude Lanzmann, the director of the nine-hour Holocaust documentary Shoah (1985), called Schindler's List a "kitschy melodrama" and a "deformation" of historical truth. "Fiction is a transgression, I am deeply convinced that there is a ban on depiction [of the Holocaust]", he said. Lanzmann also criticized Spielberg for viewing the Holocaust through the eyes of a German, saying "it is the world in reverse". He said: "I sincerely thought that there was a time before Shoah, and a time after Shoah, and that after Shoah certain things could no longer be done. Spielberg did them anyway."
Reaction of the Jewish community
At a 1994 Village Voice symposium about the film, historian Annette Insdorf described how her mother, a survivor of three concentration camps, felt gratitude that the Holocaust story was finally being told in a major film that would be widely viewed. Hungarian Jewish author Imre Kertész, a Holocaust survivor, feels it is impossible for life in a Nazi concentration camp to be accurately portrayed by anyone who did not experience it first-hand. While commending Spielberg for bringing the story to a wide audience, he found the film's final scene at the graveyard neglected the terrible after-effects of the experience on the survivors and implied that they came through emotionally unscathed. Rabbi Uri D. Herscher found the film an "appealing" and "uplifting" demonstration of humanitarianism. Norbert Friedman noted that, like many Holocaust survivors, he reacted with a feeling of solidarity towards Spielberg of a sort normally reserved for other survivors. Albert L. Lewis, Spielberg's childhood rabbi and teacher, described the movie as "Steven's gift to his mother, to his people, and in a sense to himself. Now he is a full human being."
Box office
The film grossed $96.1 million ($203 million in 2023 dollars) in the United States and Canada and over $321.2 million worldwide. In Germany, the film was viewed by over 100,000 people in its first week alone from 48 screens and was eventually shown in 500 theaters (including 80 paid for by municipal authorities), with a total of six million admissions and a gross of $38 million. Its 25th anniversary showings grossed $551,000 in 1,029 theaters.
Accolades
Spielberg won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film for his work, and shared the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture with co-producers Branko Lustig and Gerald R. Molen. Steven Zaillian won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film also won the National Board of Review for Best Film, along with the National Society of Film Critics for Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Cinematography. Awards from the New York Film Critics Circle were also won for Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Cinematographer. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded the film for Best Film, Best Cinematography (tied with The Piano), and Best Production Design. The film also won numerous other awards and nominations worldwide.
Controversies
In Malaysia, the film was initially banned. The Film Censorship Board of Malaysia wrote to the film's distributor, saying:
The story reflects the privilege and virtues of a certain race only... The theme of the film is to reveal the brutality and cruelty of the Nazi soldiers to the Jews. It seems the illustration is propaganda with the purpose of asking for sympathy as well as to tarnish the other race.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia at the time, Mahathir Mohamad, said that Malaysians "have the right to ban any movie". He went on to say, "I'm not antisemitic... I'm anti-Zionist expansion (and) the conquest of Arab territories by Zionists".
The film was also banned in Indonesia, where the Committee for World Muslim Solidarity described it as "nothing but Zionist propaganda."
In the Philippines, chief censor Henrietta Mendez ordered cuts of three scenes depicting sexual intercourse and female nudity before the movie could be shown in cinemas. Spielberg refused, and pulled the film from screening in Philippine cinemas, which prompted the Senate to demand the abolition of the censorship board. President Fidel V. Ramos himself intervened, ruling that the movie could be shown uncut to anyone over the age of 15.
According to Slovak filmmaker Juraj Herz, the scene in which a group of women confuse an actual shower with a gas chamber is taken directly, shot by shot, from his film Zastihla mě noc (The Night Overtakes Me, 1986). Herz wanted to sue, but was unable to fund the case.
The song "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" ("Jerusalem of Gold") is featured in the film's soundtrack and plays near the end of the film. This caused some controversy in Israel, as the song (which was written in 1967 by Naomi Shemer) is widely considered an informal anthem of the Israeli victory in the Six-Day War. In Israeli prints of the film, the song was replaced with "Halikha LeKesariya" ("A Walk to Caesarea") by Hannah Szenes, a World War II resistance fighter.
For the 1997 American television showing, the film was broadcast virtually unedited. The telecast was the first to receive a TV-M (now TV-MA) rating under the TV Parental Guidelines that had been established earlier that year. Tom Coburn, then an Oklahoma congressman, said that in airing the film, NBC had brought television "to an all-time low, with full-frontal nudity, violence and profanity", adding that it was an insult to "decent-minded individuals everywhere". Under fire from both Republicans and Democrats, Coburn apologized, saying, "My intentions were good, but I've obviously made an error in judgment in how I've gone about saying what I wanted to say." He clarified his opinion, stating that the film ought to have been aired later at night when there would not be "large numbers of children watching without parental supervision".
Controversy arose in Germany for the film's television premiere on ProSieben. Protests among the Jewish community ensued when the station intended to televise it with two commercial breaks of 3–4 minutes each. Ignatz Bubis, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said: "It is problematic to interrupt such a movie by commercials". Jerzy Kanal, chairman of the Jewish Community of Berlin, added "It is obvious that the film could have a greater impact [on society] when broadcast unimpeded by commercials. The station has to do everything possible to broadcast the film without interruption." As a compromise, the broadcast included one break consisting of a short news update framed with commercials. ProSieben was also obliged to broadcast two accompanying documentaries to the film, showing "The daily lives of the Jews in Hebron and New York" prior to broadcast and "The survivors of the Holocaust" afterwards.
Legacy
Schindler's List featured on a number of "best of" lists, including the TIME magazine's Top Hundred as selected by critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel, Time Out magazine's 100 Greatest Films Centenary Poll conducted in 1995, and Leonard Maltin's "100 Must See Movies of the Century". The Vatican named Schindler's List among the most important 45 films ever made. A Channel 4 poll named Schindler's List the ninth greatest film of all time, and it ranked fourth in their 2005 war films poll. The film was named the best of 1993 by critics such as James Berardinelli, Roger Ebert, and Gene Siskel. Deeming the film "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant", the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2004. The film was shown at the Berlinale Film Festival in February 2023, at which Spielberg received an honorary Golden Bear award.
Due to the increased interest in Kraków created by the film, the city bought Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory in 2007 to create a permanent exhibition about the German occupation of the city from 1939 to 1945. The museum opened in June 2010.
See also
1993 in film
List of Holocaust films
Notes
References
General sources
External links
Schindler’s List essay by Jay Carr at National Film Registry
Schindler's List at IMDb
Schindler's List at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
Schindler's List at the TCM Movie Database
Schindler's List at Box Office Mojo
Schindler's List at AllMovie
Schindler's List at Rotten Tomatoes
Schindler's List at Metacritic
The Shoah Foundation, founded by Steven Spielberg, preserves the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses
Through the Lens of History: Aerial Evidence for Schindler's List at Yad Vashem
Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Ralph Fiennes from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Voices on Antisemitism interview with Sir Ben Kingsley from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
"Schindler's List: Myth, movie, and memory" (PDF). The Village Voice. March 29, 1994. pp. 24–31. |
Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh | [
503
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh"
] | Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from his wife's accession on 6 February 1952 until his death in 2021, making him the longest-serving royal consort in history.
Philip was born in Greece into the Greek and Danish royal families; his family was exiled from the country when he was eighteen months old. After being educated in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, he joined the Royal Navy in 1939, when he was 18 years old. In July 1939, Philip began corresponding with the 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth, the elder daughter and heir presumptive of King George VI. During the Second World War, he served with distinction in the British Mediterranean and Pacific fleets.
In the summer of 1946, the King granted Philip permission to marry Elizabeth, then aged 20. Before the official announcement of their engagement in July 1947, Philip stopped using his Greek and Danish royal titles and styles, became a naturalised British subject, and adopted his maternal grandparents' surname Mountbatten. In November 1947, he married Elizabeth, was granted the style His Royal Highness and was created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. Philip left active military service when Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1952, having reached the rank of commander. In 1957, he was created a British prince. Philip had four children with Elizabeth: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.
A sports enthusiast, Philip helped develop the equestrian event of carriage driving. He was patron, president, or member of over 780 organisations, including the World Wide Fund for Nature, and served as chairman of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, a youth awards programme for people aged 14 to 24. Philip is the longest-lived male member of the British royal family. He retired from royal duties in 2017, aged 96, having completed 22,219 solo engagements and 5,493 speeches since 1952, and died at the age of 99 at Windsor Castle.
Early life and education
Family, infancy and exile from Greece
Prince Philip (Greek: Φίλιππος, romanized: Phílippos) of Greece and Denmark was born on 10 June 1921 on the dining room table in Mon Repos, a villa on the Greek island of Corfu. He was the only son and fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Princess Alice of Battenberg. Philip's father was the fourth son of King George I and Queen Olga of Greece, and his mother was the eldest child of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, and Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (formerly Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine). A member of the House of Glücksburg, Philip was a prince of both Greece and Denmark by virtue of his patrilineal descent from George I of Greece and George's father, Christian IX of Denmark; he was from birth in the line of succession to both thrones. Philip's four elder sisters were Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and Sophie. He was baptised in the Greek Orthodox rite at St. George's Church in the Old Fortress in Corfu. His godparents were his paternal grandmother, Queen Olga of Greece; his cousin George, Crown Prince of Greece; his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten; and the municipality of Corfu, represented by its mayor, Alexandros Kokotos.
Shortly after Philip's birth, his maternal grandfather died in London. The Marquess of Milford Haven was a naturalised British subject who, after a career in the Royal Navy, had renounced his German titles and adopted the surname Mountbatten—an Anglicised version of Battenberg—during the First World War, owing to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom. After visiting London for his grandfather's memorial service, Philip and his mother returned to Greece, where Prince Andrew had remained to command a Greek Army division embroiled in the Greco-Turkish War.
Greece suffered significant losses in the war and the Turks made substantial gains. Philip's uncle and high commander of the Greek expeditionary force, King Constantine I, was blamed for the defeat and was forced to abdicate in September 1922. The new military government arrested Andrew, along with others. General Georgios Hatzianestis, who was commanding officer of the army, and five senior politicians were arrested, tried, and executed in the Trial of the Six. Andrew's life was also believed to be in danger and Alice was under surveillance. Finally, in December, a revolutionary court banished Andrew from Greece for life. The British naval vessel HMS Calypso evacuated Andrew's family, with Philip carried to safety in a fruit box.
Upbringing in France, Britain and Germany
Philip's family settled in a house in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud lent to them by his wealthy aunt, Princess George of Greece and Denmark. During his time there, Philip was first educated at The Elms, an American school in Paris run by Donald MacJannet, who described Philip as a "know it all smarty person, but always remarkably polite". In 1930 Philip was sent to Britain to live with his maternal grandmother at Kensington Palace and his uncle George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, at Lynden Manor in Bray, Berkshire. He was then enrolled at Cheam School. Over the next three years, his four sisters married German princes and moved to Germany, his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed in an asylum, and his father took up residence in Monte Carlo. Philip had little contact with his mother for the remainder of his childhood.
In 1933 Philip was sent to Schule Schloss Salem in Germany, which had the "advantage of saving school fees", because it was owned by the family of his brother-in-law Berthold, Margrave of Baden. With the rise of Nazism in Germany, Salem's Jewish founder, Kurt Hahn, fled persecution and founded Gordonstoun School in Scotland, to which Philip moved after two terms at Salem. In 1937, his sister Cecilie; her husband, Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse; their two sons; and Georg Donatus's mother were killed in an air crash at Ostend; Philip, then 16 years old, attended the funeral in Darmstadt. Cecilie and Georg Donatus were members of the Nazi Party. The following year, Philip's uncle and guardian Lord Milford Haven died of bone marrow cancer. Milford Haven's younger brother Lord Louis took parental responsibility for Philip for the remainder of his youth.
Philip did not speak Greek because he had left Greece as an infant. In 1992 he said that he "could understand a certain amount". He stated that he thought of himself as Danish and spoke mostly English, while his family was multilingual. Known for his charm in his youth, Philip was linked to several women, including Osla Benning.
Naval and wartime service
After leaving Gordonstoun in early 1939, Philip completed a term as a cadet at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, then repatriated to Greece, living with his mother in Athens for a month in mid-1939. At the behest of King George II of Greece, his first cousin, he returned to Britain in September to resume training for the Royal Navy. He graduated from Dartmouth the next year as the best cadet in his course. During the Second World War, he continued to serve in the British forces, while two of his brothers-in-law, Prince Christoph of Hesse and Berthold, Margrave of Baden, fought on the opposing German side. Philip was appointed as a midshipman in January 1940. He spent four months on the battleship HMS Ramillies, protecting convoys of the Australian Expeditionary Force in the Indian Ocean, followed by shorter postings on HMS Kent, on HMS Shropshire, and in British Ceylon. After the invasion of Greece by Italy in October 1940, he was transferred from the Indian Ocean to the battleship HMS Valiant in the Mediterranean Fleet.
Philip was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant on 1 February 1941 after a series of courses at Portsmouth, in which he gained the top grade in four out of five sections of the qualifying examination. Among other engagements, he was involved in the Battle of Crete and was mentioned in dispatches for his service during the Battle of Cape Matapan, in which he controlled the battleship's searchlights. He was also awarded the Greek War Cross. In June 1942, he was appointed to the destroyer HMS Wallace, which was involved in convoy escort tasks on the east coast of Britain, as well as the Allied invasion of Sicily.
Promotion to lieutenant followed on 16 July 1942. In October of the same year, aged 21, Philip became first lieutenant of HMS Wallace. He was one of the youngest first lieutenants in the Royal Navy. During the invasion of Sicily, in July 1943, as second-in-command of Wallace, he saved his ship from a night bomber attack. He devised a plan to launch a raft with smoke floats that successfully distracted the bombers, allowing the ship to slip away unnoticed. In 1944, he moved on to the new destroyer, HMS Whelp, where he saw service with the British Pacific Fleet in the 27th Destroyer Flotilla. He was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed. Philip returned to the United Kingdom on the Whelp in January 1946 and was posted as an instructor at HMS Royal Arthur, the Petty Officers' School in Corsham, Wiltshire.
Marriage
In 1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. During the visit, the Queen and Lord Louis Mountbatten asked his nephew Philip to escort the royal couple's daughters, 13-year-old Elizabeth and 9-year-old Margaret, who were Philip's third cousins through Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark. Philip and Elizabeth had first met as children in 1934 at the wedding of Elizabeth's uncle Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Philip's first cousin, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. After their 1939 meeting, Elizabeth fell in love with Philip, and they began to exchange letters.
Eventually, in the summer of 1946, Philip asked George VI for his daughter's hand in marriage. The King granted his request, provided that any formal engagement be delayed until Elizabeth's 21st birthday the following April. By March 1947, Philip had adopted the surname Mountbatten from his mother's family and had stopped using his Greek and Danish royal titles upon becoming a naturalised British subject. The engagement was announced to the public on 9 July 1947.
The engagement attracted some controversy; Philip had no financial standing, was foreign-born, and had sisters who had married German noblemen with Nazi links. Marion Crawford wrote: "Some of the King's advisors did not think him good enough for her. He was a prince without a home or kingdom. Some of the papers played long and loud tunes on the string of Philip's foreign origin." Later biographies reported that Elizabeth's mother had reservations about the union initially and teased Philip as "the Hun". In later life, however, she told the biographer Tim Heald that Philip was "an English gentleman".
Though Philip appeared "always to have regarded himself as an Anglican", and he had attended Anglican services with his classmates and relations in England and throughout his Royal Navy days, he was baptised in the Greek Orthodox Church. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, wanted to "regularise" Philip's position by officially receiving him into the Church of England, which he did in October 1947. The day before the wedding, the King bestowed the style of Royal Highness on Philip, and, on the morning of the wedding, 20 November 1947, he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London. Consequently, being already a Knight of the Garter, between 19 and 20 November 1947, he bore the unusual style Lieutenant His Royal Highness Sir Philip Mountbatten and is so described in the letters patent of 20 November 1947.
Philip and Elizabeth were married in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, recorded and broadcast by BBC radio to 200 million people around the world. In post-war Britain, it was unacceptable for any of Philip's German relations, including his three surviving sisters, to be invited to the wedding. After their marriage, Philip and Elizabeth took residence at Clarence House. Their first two children were born before Elizabeth's accession in 1952: Prince Charles in November 1948 and Princess Anne in August 1950. The couple's marriage was the longest of any British monarch, lasting over 73 years until Philip died in 2021. Concerned by her father's poor health, Elizabeth insisted that Philip give up smoking, which he did cold turkey on their wedding day.
Philip was introduced to the House of Lords on 21 July 1948, immediately before his uncle Louis Mountbatten, who had been made Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Philip ostensibly never spoke in the House of Lords. He, his sons and other royals ceased to be members of the House of Lords following the House of Lords Act 1999, although Philip's former brother-in-law, Lord Snowdon, remained in the House.
Early duties
After his honeymoon at the Mountbatten family home, Broadlands, Philip returned to the navy, at first in a desk job at the Admiralty and later on a staff course at the Naval Staff College, Greenwich. From 1949 he was stationed in Malta (residing at Villa Guardamangia) after being posted as the first lieutenant of the destroyer HMS Chequers, the lead ship of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet. He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 16 July 1950 and given command of the frigate HMS Magpie. Philip was promoted to commander on 30 June 1952, though his active naval career had ended in July 1951.
With the King in ill health, Elizabeth and Philip were both appointed to the Privy Council on 4 November 1951, after a coast-to-coast tour of Canada. At the end of January 1952, the couple set out on a tour of the Commonwealth. They were in Kenya when Elizabeth's father died on 6 February 1952, and she became queen. Philip broke the news to Elizabeth at Sagana Lodge, and the royal party immediately returned to the United Kingdom.
In December 1952, Philip was initiated into Freemasonry by the Worshipful Master of Navy Lodge No 2612, honouring a commitment he had made to George VI, who had made it clear that he expected Philip to maintain the tradition of royal patronage of Freemasonry. However, according to one journalist writing in 1983, Philip's mother-in-law and his uncle Lord Mountbatten had unfavourable views of Freemasonry; after his initiation, Philip took no further part in the organisation. Although as the consort of the Queen, he might in time have been made Grand Master of British Freemasonry, Elizabeth's cousin Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, assumed that role in 1967. Philip's son Charles apparently never joined Freemasonry.
Consort of the Queen
Royal house
Elizabeth's accession to the throne brought up the question of the name of the royal house, as Elizabeth would typically have taken Philip's last name upon marriage. Lord Mountbatten advocated the name House of Mountbatten. Philip suggested House of Edinburgh after his ducal title. When Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary heard of this, she informed Winston Churchill, who later advised Elizabeth to issue a royal proclamation declaring that the royal house was to remain known as the House of Windsor. Philip privately complained, "I am nothing but a bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children."
In February 1960, the Queen issued an Order in Council declaring that Mountbatten-Windsor would be the surname of the couple's male-line descendants who are not styled as Royal Highness or titled as prince or princess. While it seems Elizabeth had "absolutely set her heart" on such a change and had it in mind for some time, it occurred only 11 days before the birth of their third child, Prince Andrew, and only after three months of protracted correspondence between English constitutional expert Edward Iwi (who averred that, without such a change, the royal child would be born with "the Badge of Bastardy") and Harold Macmillan, who had attempted to refute Iwi's arguments. Elizabeth and Philip's fourth child, Prince Edward, was born in March 1964.
Six months after she acceded to the throne, Elizabeth announced that Philip was to have "place, pre-eminence and precedence" next to her "on all occasions and in all meetings, except where otherwise provided by Act of Parliament". She also intervened to ensure that Philip would serve as regent for their son Charles in the event of her unexpected death. Parliament passed a bill to that effect in 1953. Contrary to rumours over the years, Elizabeth and Philip were said by insiders to have had a strong relationship throughout their marriage, despite the challenges of Elizabeth's reign. Elizabeth referred to Philip in a speech on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 as her "constant strength and guide".
Philip received a Parliamentary annuity (of £359,000 since 1990) to meet official expenses in carrying out public duties. The annuity was unaffected by the reform of royal finances under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011. Any part of the allowance that was not used to meet official expenditure was liable for tax. In practice, the entire allowance was used to fund his official duties.
Supporting the Queen
As consort, Philip supported his wife in her duties as sovereign, accompanying her to ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament in various countries, state dinners, and tours abroad. As chairman of the Coronation Commission, he was the first member of the royal family to fly in a helicopter, visiting the troops that were to take part in the ceremony. Philip was not himself crowned in the coronation service, but knelt before Elizabeth, with her hands enclosing his, and swore to be her "liege man of life and limb". For six months, spanning 1953 and 1954, they toured the Commonwealth; as was customary during previous tours, the children remained in Britain.
In the early 1950s, Philip's sister-in-law, Princess Margaret, considered marrying a divorced older man, Peter Townsend. The press accused Philip of being hostile to the match, to which he replied: "I haven't done anything." Eventually, Margaret and Townsend parted. In 1960 Margaret married Antony Armstrong-Jones, who was created Earl of Snowdon the following year. They divorced in 1978; Margaret did not remarry.
In 1956 Philip and Kurt Hahn founded The Duke of Edinburgh's Award to give young people "a sense of responsibility to themselves and their communities". In the same year, he also established the Commonwealth Study Conferences. From 1956 to 1957, he travelled around the world aboard the newly commissioned HMY Britannia, during which he opened the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and visited the Antarctic, becoming the first royal to cross the Antarctic Circle. Elizabeth and the children remained in Britain. On the return leg of the journey, Philip's private secretary, Mike Parker, was sued for divorce by his wife. As with Townsend, the press still portrayed divorce as a scandal, and eventually, Parker resigned. He later said that Philip was very supportive and "the Queen was wonderful throughout. She regarded divorce as a sadness, not a hanging offence." In a public show of support, Elizabeth created Parker a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.
Further press reports claimed that the royal couple were drifting apart, which enraged Philip and dismayed Elizabeth, who issued a strongly worded denial. She granted him the style and title of a Prince of the United Kingdom by Letters Patent on 22 February 1957; it was gazetted that Philip was to be known as "His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh". Philip was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on 14 October 1957, taking his Oath of Allegiance before the Queen in person at her Canadian residence, Rideau Hall. Remarks he made two years later to the Canadian Medical Association on the subject of youth and sport were taken as a suggestion that Canadian children were out of shape. This was at first considered "tactless", but Philip was later admired for his encouragement of physical fitness. While in Canada in 1969, he spoke about his views on republicanism:
It is a complete misconception to imagine that the monarchy exists in the interests of the monarch. It doesn't. It exists in the interests of the people. If at any time any nation decides that the system is unacceptable, then it is up to them to change it.
In 1960 Philip attended the National Eisteddfod of Wales wearing a long green robe, where he was initiated as an Honorary Ovate by the Archdruid of Wales Edgar Phillips through his bardic name Philip Meirionnydd, to reflect his title of Earl of Merioneth. In 1961 he became the first member of the royal family to be interviewed on television, after he appeared on Panorama to answer questions by Richard Dimbleby about the Commonwealth Technical Training Week, an initiative of which he was patron. In 1969 he made a similar appearance on Meet the Press during a tour of North America.
Charities and patronages
Philip was patron of some 800 organisations, particularly focused on the environment, industry, sport, and education. His first solo engagement as Duke of Edinburgh was in March 1948, presenting prizes at the boxing finals of the London Federation of Boys' Clubs at the Royal Albert Hall. He was president of the National Playing Fields Association (now known as Fields in Trust) for 64 years, from 1947 until his grandson Prince William took over the role in 2013. He was appointed a fellow of the Royal Society in 1951. In 1952, he became patron of The Industrial Society (since renamed The Work Foundation). In the same year, and after his father-in-law's death, he took over the role of the Ranger of Windsor Great Park, overseeing its protection and maintenance. From 1955 to 1957, Philip was president of The Football Association and also served two terms as president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, with his tenures starting in 1949 and 1974, respectively. In the same decade, he became the first patron of Lord's Taverners, a youth cricket and disability sports charity, for which he organised fundraising events. Between 1959 and 1965 Philip was the president of BAFTA. He helped found the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1963 and the World Wildlife Fund in 1961 and served as the latter's UK president from 1961 to 1982, international president from 1981, and president emeritus from 1996. He was also president of the Zoological Society of London for two decades and was appointed an honorary fellow in 1977. Despite his involvement in initiatives for conserving nature, he was also criticised for practices such as fox hunting and shooting of game birds and the killing of a tiger in India in 1961. He was president of the International Equestrian Federation from 1964 to 1986. In 1980 he became world champion in four-in-hand driving with the British national team. He served as chancellor of the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Salford, and Wales. In 1965, at the suggestion of Harold Wilson, Philip became chair to a scheme set up for awarding industrial innovations, which later became known as The Queen's Awards for Enterprise. In the same year, Philip became president of the Council of Engineering Institutions and in that capacity he assisted with the inception of the Fellowship of Engineering (later the Royal Academy of Engineering), of which he later became the senior fellow. He also commissioned the Prince Philip Designers Prize and the Prince Philip Medal to recognise designers and engineers with exceptional contributions. In 1970 he was involved with the founding of The Maritime Trust for restoring and preserving historic British ships. In 2017 the British Heart Foundation thanked Philip for being its patron for 55 years, during which time, in addition to organising fundraisers, he "supported the creation of nine BHF-funded centres of excellence". He was an honorary fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge.
Charles and Diana
At the beginning of 1981 Philip wrote to his son Charles counselling him to make up his mind to either propose to Lady Diana Spencer or break off their courtship. Charles felt pressured by his father to make a decision and did so, proposing to Diana in February. They married five months later. By 1992 the marriage had broken down. Elizabeth and Philip hosted a meeting between Charles and Diana, trying to effect a reconciliation, but without success. Philip wrote to Diana, expressing his disappointment at Charles's and her extra-marital affairs and asking her to examine both his and her behaviour from the other's point of view. She found the letters hard to take but appreciated that he acted with good intent. Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
A year after the divorce, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. At the time, Philip was on holiday at Balmoral with the extended royal family. In their grief, Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, wanted to attend church, so Elizabeth and Philip took them that morning. For five days, the royal couple shielded their grandsons from the ensuing press interest by keeping them at Balmoral, where they could grieve in private. The royal family's seclusion caused public dismay, but the public mood changed after a live broadcast made by Elizabeth on 5 September. Uncertain as to whether they should walk behind their mother's coffin during the funeral procession, William and Harry hesitated. Philip told William: "If you don't walk, I think you'll regret it later. If I walk, will you walk with me?" On the day of the funeral, Philip, William, Harry, Charles, and Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, walked through London behind her gun carriage. Over the next few years, Mohamed Al-Fayed, whose son Dodi Fayed was also killed in the crash, claimed that Philip had ordered the death of Diana and that the accident was staged. The inquest into Diana's death concluded in 2008 that there was no evidence of a conspiracy.
Longevity
In April 2009, Philip became the longest-serving British royal consort, surpassing Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of George III. He became the oldest-ever male British royal in February 2013 and the third-longest-lived member of the British royal family (following Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) in April 2019. Personally, he was not enthused about living an extremely long life, remarking in a 2000 interview (when he was 79) that he could not "imagine anything worse" and had "no desire whatsoever" to become a centenarian, saying "bits of me are falling off already".
In 2008 Philip was admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital, London, for a chest infection; he walked into the hospital unaided, recovered quickly, and was discharged three days later. After the Evening Standard reported that Philip had prostate cancer, Buckingham Palace—which usually refuses to comment on health rumours—denied the story and the paper retracted it.
In June 2011, in an interview marking his 90th birthday, Philip said that he would now slow down and reduce his duties, stating that he had "done [his] bit". The Queen gave him the title Lord High Admiral for his 90th birthday. While staying at Sandringham House in December 2011, Philip suffered chest pains and was taken to the cardio-thoracic unit at Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire, where he underwent successful coronary angioplasty and stenting. He was discharged a few days later.
In June 2012, during the celebrations in honour of his wife's diamond jubilee, Philip was taken from Windsor Castle to King Edward VII's Hospital suffering from a bladder infection. He was subsequently discharged. After a recurrence of infection in August 2012, while staying at Balmoral Castle, he was admitted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for five nights as a precautionary measure. In June 2013, Philip was admitted to the London Clinic for an exploratory operation on his abdomen, spending 11 days in hospital. In May 2014, he appeared in public with a bandage on his right hand after a "minor procedure" was performed in Buckingham Palace the preceding day. Tony Abbott's surprise 2015 decision to make Philip a Knight of the Order of Australia was widely criticised in the country and contributed to Abbott's ouster as Australian prime minister. In June 2017, Philip was taken from Windsor to London and admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital after being diagnosed with an infection. He spent two nights in the hospital and was unable to attend the State Opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot.
Final years and retirement
Philip retired from royal duties on 2 August 2017, meeting Royal Marines in his final solo public engagement, aged 96. Since 1952, he had completed 22,219 solo engagements. British prime minister Theresa May thanked him for "a remarkable lifetime of service". On 20 November 2017, he celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with Elizabeth, which made her the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary.
In April 2018, Philip was admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital for a planned hip replacement. This came after the Duke missed the annual Maundy and Easter Sunday services. Princess Anne spent about 50 minutes in the hospital and afterwards said her father was "on good form". He was discharged the next day. In May that year, he attended the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and was able to walk with Elizabeth unaided. That October, he also accompanied Elizabeth to the wedding of their granddaughter Princess Eugenie of York with Jack Brooksbank, with The Telegraph reporting that Philip works on a "wake up and see how I feel" basis when deciding whether to attend an event or not.
In January 2019, Philip was involved in a car collision as he drove out onto a main road near the Sandringham Estate. An official statement said he was uninjured. An eyewitness who helped him out of his car said there was "a little bit of blood". The driver and a passenger of the other car were injured and taken to hospital. Philip attended hospital the next morning as a precaution. He apologised, and three weeks later voluntarily surrendered his driving licence. In February, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that prosecuting Philip would not be in the public interest. Philip was still allowed to drive around private estates, and was seen behind the wheel in the grounds of Windsor Castle in April 2019.
In December 2019, Philip stayed at King Edward VII's Hospital and received treatment for a "pre-existing condition" in a visit described by Buckingham Palace as a "precautionary measure". He had not been seen in public since attending Lady Gabriella Windsor's wedding in May 2019. A photo of the royal couple as they isolated at Windsor Castle during the COVID-19 pandemic was released ahead of his 99th birthday in June 2020. In July 2020, he stepped down as Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles, a position he had held since 2007. He was succeeded by his daughter-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
In January 2021, Philip and Elizabeth were vaccinated against COVID-19 by a household doctor at Windsor Castle. In February 2021, Philip was admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital as a "precautionary measure" after feeling unwell; he was visited by Prince Charles. Buckingham Palace confirmed that Philip was "responding to treatment" for an infection. In March, Philip was transferred by ambulance to St Bartholomew's Hospital to continue treatment for an infection, and to undergo "testing and observation" relating to a pre-existing heart condition. He underwent a successful procedure for his heart condition and was transferred back to King Edward VII's Hospital. He was discharged a week later and returned to Windsor Castle.
Death
Philip died of "old age" on the morning of 9 April 2021 at Windsor Castle, at the age of 99. He was the longest-serving royal consort in world history. Elizabeth, who was reportedly at her husband's bedside when he died, described his death as "having left a huge void in her life".
The palace said Philip died peacefully, which was confirmed by his daughter-in-law Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who told the press it was "so gentle. It was just like somebody took him by the hand and off he went." His death led to the commencement of Operation Forth Bridge, the plan for publicly announcing his death and organising his funeral. The usual public ceremonial could not take place because of the regulations for the COVID-19 pandemic which restricted the number of mourners to thirty; it was later reported in the press that Elizabeth had rejected a government offer to relax the rules. The funeral took place on 17 April 2021 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and Philip was temporarily interred alongside 25 other coffins, including that of George III, in the Royal Vault inside St George's. Representatives of countries around the world sent condolences to the royal family upon his death.
As with other senior members of the royal family, Philip's last will and testament will be sealed for at least 90 years, according to a High Court ruling, which deemed it necessary to protect the Queen's "dignity and standing". This led to speculation that the will might contain material harmful to the reputation of the royal family. The order was made by the President of the Family Division after a private hearing in July 2021, who said that he had neither seen the will nor been informed of any of its contents. In January 2022, The Guardian challenged the judge's decision to exclude the press from that hearing, arguing that the judge had "erred by failing to consider any lesser interference with open justice than a private hearing", and the newspaper was granted leave to appeal. In July 2022, the Court of Appeal dismissed the newspaper's arguments, stating that the press could not have been informed of the hearing "without risking the media storm that was feared". The court added that "a perceived lack of transparency might be a matter of legitimate public debate, but the (Non-Contentious Probate Rules) allow wills and their values to be concealed from the public gaze in some cases".
A service of thanksgiving for Philip's life took place at Westminster Abbey on 29 March 2022, with Elizabeth, foreign royalty and politicians in attendance. Elizabeth died on 8 September 2022 and the royal couple's bodies were interred in the King George VI Memorial Chapel at St George's on the evening of 19 September after her state funeral.
Legacy
Interests
Philip played polo until 1971 when he started to compete in carriage driving, a sport which he helped to expand; the sport's early rule book was drafted under his supervision. He was also a keen yachtsman and struck up a friendship in 1949 with boat designer and sailing enthusiast Uffa Fox in Cowes.
Philip's first airborne flying lesson took place in 1952, and by his 70th birthday, he had accrued 5,150 pilot hours. He was presented with Royal Air Force wings in 1953, helicopter wings with the Royal Navy in 1956, and his private pilot's licence in 1959. After 44 years as a pilot, he retired in August 1997 with 5,986 hours spent in 59 different aircraft. In April 2014, it was reported that an old British Pathé newsreel film had been discovered of Philip's 1962 two-month flying tour of South America. Filmed sitting alongside him at the aircraft's controls was his co-pilot Captain Peter Middleton, the grandfather of Philip's granddaughter-in-law Catherine. In 1959, Philip flew solo in a Druine Turbulent, becoming the first and, as of April 2021, the only member of the royal family to have flown a single-seat aircraft.
Philip painted with oils and collected artworks, including contemporary cartoons, which hang at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House, and Balmoral Castle. Hugh Casson described Philip's own artwork as "exactly what you'd expect ... totally direct, no hanging about. Strong colours, vigorous brushstrokes." He was patron of the Royal Society of Arts from 1952 until 2011. He was "fascinated" by cartoons about the monarchy and the royal family and was a patron of The Cartoon Museum.
Personality and image
Philip's down-to-earth manner was attested to by a White House butler, who recalled that, on a visit in 1976, Philip engaged him and a fellow butler in a conversation and poured them drinks. As well as a reputation for bluntness and plain speaking, Philip was noted for occasionally making observations and jokes that have been construed as either funny, or as gaffes: awkward, politically incorrect, or even offensive, but sometimes perceived as stereotypical of someone of his age and background. In an address to the General Dental Council in 1960, he jokingly coined a new word for his blunders: "Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, a science which I have practised for a good many years." Later in life, he suggested his comments may have contributed to the perception that he was "a cantankerous old sod".
In a private conversation with British students from Xi'an's Northwest University during a state visit to China in 1986, Philip joked: "If you stay here much longer, you'll go slit-eyed." The British press reported on the remark as indicative of racial intolerance, but the Chinese authorities were reportedly unconcerned. Chinese students studying in the UK, an official explained, were often told in jest not to stay away too long, lest they go "round-eyed". His comment did not affect Sino-British relations, but it shaped his reputation. Philip also made comments on the eating habits of Cantonese people, stating: "If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an airplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." In Australia he asked an Indigenous Australian entrepreneur: "Do you still throw spears at each other?"
In 2011 historian David Starkey described Philip as a kind of "HRH Victor Meldrew". For example, in May 1999, British newspapers accused Philip of insulting deaf children at a pop concert in Wales by saying: "No wonder you are deaf listening to this row." Later, Philip wrote: "The story is largely invention. It so happens that my mother was quite seriously deaf and I have been Patron of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf for ages, so it's hardly likely that I would do any such thing." When he and Elizabeth met Stephen Menary, an army cadet blinded by a Real IRA bomb, and Elizabeth enquired how much sight he retained, Philip quipped: "Not a lot, judging by the tie he's wearing." Menary later said: "I think he just tries to put people at ease by trying to make a joke. I certainly didn't take any offence." Philip's comparison of prostitutes and wives was also perceived as offensive after he reportedly stated: "I don't think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing."
Centenary
To mark the centenary of Philip's birth in June 2021, the Royal Collection Trust held an exhibition at Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Titled Prince Philip: A Celebration, it showcased around 150 personal items related to him, including his wedding card, wedding menu, midshipman's logbook from 1940 to 1941, Chair of Estate, and the coronation robes and coronet that he wore for his wife's coronation in 1953. George Alexis Weymouth's portrait of Philip in the ruins of Windsor Castle after the fire of 1992 formed part of a focus on Philip's involvement with the subsequent restoration.
The Royal Horticultural Society also marked Philip's centenary by breeding a new rose in his honour, christened "The Duke of Edinburgh Rose", created by British rose breeder Harkness Roses. Elizabeth, as patron of the society, was given the deep pink commemorative rose in honour of her husband, and she remarked that "It looks lovely". A Duke of Edinburgh Rose has since been planted in the mixed rose border of Windsor Castle's East Terrace Garden. Philip played a major role in the garden's design.
In September 2021, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution honoured Philip by naming their new state-of-the-art lifeboat Duke of Edinburgh. The tribute was initially planned to mark his 100th birthday. In the same month, a documentary initially planned for his centenary was broadcast on BBC One under the title Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers, with contributions from his children, their spouses, and seven of his grandchildren.
Portrayals
Philip has been portrayed by several actors, including Stewart Granger (The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana, 1982), Christopher Lee (Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story, 1982), David Threlfall (The Queen's Sister, 2005), James Cromwell (The Queen, 2006), and Finn Elliot, Matt Smith, Tobias Menzies, and Jonathan Pryce (The Crown, 2016 onwards). He also appears as a fictional character in Nevil Shute's novel In the Wet (1952), Paul Gallico's novel Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Moscow (1974), Tom Clancy's novel Patriot Games (1987), and Sue Townsend's novel The Queen and I (1992).
Books
Philip authored:
Forewords to:
Titles, styles, honours, and arms
Philip held many titles throughout his life. Originally holding the title and style of a prince of Greece and Denmark, Philip abandoned these royal titles before he married and was thereafter created a British duke, among other noble titles. Elizabeth formally issued letters patent in 1957 making him a British prince.
Honours and honorary military appointments
Philip was awarded medals from Britain, France, and Greece for his service during the Second World War, as well as ones commemorating the coronations of George VI and Elizabeth II and the silver, gold and diamond jubilees of Elizabeth. George VI appointed him to the Order of the Garter on the eve of his wedding on 19 November 1947. Since then, Philip received 17 appointments and decorations in the Commonwealth and 48 from foreign states. The inhabitants of some villages on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu, worship Philip as a god-like spiritual figure; the islanders possess portraits of him and hold feasts on his birthday.
Upon his wife's accession to the throne in 1952, Philip was appointed Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps, Colonel-in-Chief of the British Army Cadet Force, and Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps. The following year, he was appointed to the equivalent positions in Canada and made Admiral of the Fleet, Captain General Royal Marines, Field Marshal, and Marshal of the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. Subsequent military appointments were made in New Zealand and Australia. In 1975 he was appointed colonel of the Grenadier Guards, a position he handed over to his son Andrew in 2017. On 16 December 2015, he relinquished his role as Honorary Air Commodore-in-Chief and was succeeded by his granddaughter-in-law Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, as Honorary Air Commandant.
To celebrate Philip's 90th birthday, Elizabeth appointed him Lord High Admiral, as well as to the highest ranks available in all three branches of the Canadian Armed Forces. On their 70th wedding anniversary, 20 November 2017, she appointed him Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, making him the first British national since his uncle Lord Mountbatten of Burma to be entitled to wear the breast stars of four orders of chivalry in the United Kingdom.
Arms
Issue
Ancestry
Both Philip and Elizabeth were great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria, Elizabeth by descent from Victoria's eldest son, King Edward VII, and Philip by descent from Victoria's second daughter, Princess Alice. Both were also descended from King Christian IX of Denmark.
Philip was also related to the House of Romanov through all four of his grandparents. His paternal grandmother was the granddaughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. His paternal grandfather was a brother of Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark), wife of Emperor Alexander III. His maternal grandmother was a sister of Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse), wife of Emperor Nicholas II, and Elizabeth Feodorovna (Elisabeth of Hesse), wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia. His maternal grandfather was the nephew of Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse), who was the wife of Emperor Alexander II.
In 1993 scientists were able to confirm the identity of the remains of several members of the Romanov family, more than seventy years after their murder in 1918, by comparing their mitochondrial DNA to living matrilineal relatives, including Philip. Philip, Alexandra Feodorovna, and her children were all descended from Princess Alice through a purely female line.
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
External links
The Duke of Edinburgh at the Royal Family website
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at the website of the Royal Collection Trust
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
Obituary at BBC News Online
Newspaper clippings about Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
Portraits of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Prince Philip at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN |
The_Duke_of_Edinburgh%27s_Award | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duke_of_Edinburgh%27s_Award | [
503
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duke_of_Edinburgh%27s_Award "
] | The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young adults for completing a series of self-improvement exercises modelled on Kurt Hahn's solutions to his "Six Declines of Modern Youth".
In the United Kingdom, the programme is run by The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, a royal charter corporation. A separate entity, The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Foundation, promotes the award abroad and acts as a coordinating body for award sponsors in other nations. Award sponsors in these countries often operate under a variety of other names in areas without a historic link to the British monarchy, or that have severed such links.
History
In February 1955, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award was first announced. It was at first "for boys" aged 15 to 18. It was first administered, and largely designed, by John Hunt, who had led the first successful ascent of Mount Everest in 1953, and had retired from the army to run The Duke of Edinburgh's Award.
It was designed to attract boys who had not been interested in joining one of the main British youth movements, such as the Scout Association. It was not necessary to 'join' any organisation, or wear a uniform to participate. In the first 12 months, 7,000 boys had enrolled for the scheme. The programme borrowed from the Moray Badge, instituted at Gordonstoun School by its headmaster, Kurt Hahn, in 1936, and the County Badge adopted in Moray in 1941.
In November 1957 it was announced that girls would be invited to participate. On 19 June 1958 the Award was extended to girls, with the first girls allowed to join from 1 September 1958. The programme for girls was not the same as that for boys, and was for ages 14 to 20. The first girls received their Gold Awards on 3 November 1959 at Buckingham Palace. From January 1965, the Gold Award for boys and girls was made more similar.
The first Gold Awards were achieved in 1958, and the charity was established in 1959. A single programme for young people aged 14 to 21 was launched in 1969, and extended to those up to 25 years of age in 1980. In 2013, the Duke presented Awards at St James's Palace which included his 500th Gold Award Presentation.
United Kingdom
The first Duke of Edinburgh's Award ceremony was held in the United Kingdom in 1956. Participation in DofE programmes and the number of awards achieved has grown every year since 1956. By 2017, roughly 420,000 young people were taking part in Duke of Edinburgh's Award programmes run in nearly 11,000 designated DofE centres – including schools, youth clubs, Air cadets, Army Cadets and businesses – throughout the UK. Over 6 million young people in the UK have taken part in the DofE in the UK since 1956 (8 million worldwide). The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a member of the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS). In 2009, the old system of keeping track of progress through paper Record Books was replaced by the introduction of a major new online system – eDofE. Participants use this system to track their progress, while Leaders use it to oversee participants' progress.
Award programmes
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award programmes take between one and four years to complete, and they must be completed by the participant's 25th-birthday. There are around 300,000 new participants annually, with an estimated 461,000 current participants in the UK. The programmes are at three progressive levels which, if successfully completed, lead to a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award. With assistance from adult Leaders, participants select and set objectives in each of the following areas:
Volunteering: undertaking service to individuals or the community.
Physical: improving in an area of sport, dance or fitness activities.
Skills: developing practical and social skills and personal interests.
Expedition: planning, training for, and completion of an adventurous journey in the UK or abroad.
At Gold level, participants must do an additional fifth Residential section, which involves staying and working away from home for five days, doing a shared activity.
To achieve an award, the participant must work on each section for a minimum period of time, and must be monitored and assessed by someone with knowledge of the chosen activities. Each progressive level demands more time and commitment from participants: Bronze 3–6 months; Silver: 6–9 months; Gold: 12–18 months. Participants are required to show regular activity and commitment to the award for the duration of their DofE programme, which is usually at least one hour per week.
Joint Award Initiative
In Northern Ireland participants completing The Duke of Edinburgh's Award can choose to accept a certificate from the Gaisce or an International Award Certificate instead of a Duke of Edinburgh certificate.
Other nations
Awards modelled on The Duke of Edinburgh's Award are presented by sponsoring organisations affiliated with the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Association in 144 nations: 29 located in the Americas; 36 in Africa; 32 in Asian Pacific countries; and 47 in Europe, around the Mediterranean, and in Arab countries. The prestige, scope and awareness of these awards vary from country to country and often – unlike awards programmes in Ireland and the United Kingdom – there is no connection to the head of state and awards are simply issued by private youth charities. In the United States, for instance, only about 7,000 of the estimated 47 million eligible persons age 14 to 24 annually participate in the programme.
Australia
The Award was established in Australia in 1959 on the initiative of Sir Adrien Curlewis (son of Herbert Curlewis) in 1958. By 1962 the award was available in all state and territories and today over 30,000 young Australians commence a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award each year. The Duke of Ed in Australia is a widely recognised organising and accrediting framework of non-formal education and learning. Over 775,000 young Australians have now completed their award and approximately 45,000 are actively participating in the award program each year, supported by a network of 60,000 volunteers acting as award leaders, supervisors and assessors.
The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award can be found in over 1,200 locations and institutions across Australia including cities, rural and remote areas, through Government and independent schools, universities, indigenous communities, refugee support programmes, detention centres, community organisations, disability groups and other youth programs. The National Chairman is currently Gary Nairn, and the National CEO is Peter Kaye. The Hon Larry Anthony is the chair of The Friends of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award in Australia and Andrew Murray AM is the deputy chair.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, the award is offered through The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Foundation Bangladesh, which has been based in Dhaka since 2008. Various schools and universities participate.
Canada
The first Duke of Edinburgh's Award ceremony in Canada was held in 1964. By 2011, approximately 500,000 Canadians had received the award over the programme's 57-year history. In 2013, the Royal Bank of Canada announced a $1 million grant to help fund marketing and publicity efforts to increase awareness for the programme.
Cyprus
Participation in the Award has been available for many years.
Eswatini
"The Prince Makhosini Award" had 3,000 young people participating in the programme in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) as of 2013.
Ghana
The scheme in Ghana is named the Head of State Award. It began in 1967, and by 2021 about 750,000 young people had taken part.
Hong Kong
The "Hong Kong Award for Young People", formerly known as "The Duke of Edinburgh's Award", is one of the active members of the International Award Association. The Hong Kong Award was incepted in 1961. Currently, there are roughly 53,000 youth participants in Hong Kong. More than 600 different user units, including schools, universities, uniform group youth organisations and community centres, are running the Award Scheme.
India
India awards the "International Award for Young People" to youth who complete a self-improvement programme based on the Duke of Edinburgh's award model. The programme was first introduced to India in 1962 and was originally operated by the Indian Public Schools Conference. In 1989 the Award Programme Foundation, a registered charity, was established to oversee management of the award. According to the Award Programme Foundation, implementation of awards are undertaken by 154 local institutions, including governments, NGOs and universities. Despite the long history of the programme in India, only about 19,000 youth annually participate. As in many other nations, awards in India are granted in three levels – Gold, Silver and Bronze – based on the complexity and time commitment of the projects undertaken by the individual award participant.
Ireland
"Gaisce – The President's Award" (Irish: Gaisce – Gradam an Uachtaráin) was established by a trust deed under the patronage of the President of Ireland on 28 March 1985. It joined the Duke of Edinburgh's International Awards Association in 1988. There are three awards: bronze, silver and gold. The profile of the award was raised substantially during the term of Mary Robinson.
Korea
The award was established in Korea in 2008 by Korea Youth Services Centre. The award is currently supported under The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which is an organisation organised by the government. The applicants have to be in an age in between 14 and 25. Anyone who is over 14 but under 25 can challenge for the bronze award, but the applicants have to be at least 15 to start the silver medal, as well as the gold medal starts from 16. Despite the fact that there have been fewer than ten gold medal winners in eight years, there has been an exponential increase of the number of applicants in Korea. It reached its peak in 2011, which recorded 3,500 applicants and there are over 6,000 young people, who have completed their awards by 2015. Also, there are 17 organisations or associations that are supporting the award.
Lesotho
"The Prince Mohato Award" was established in 1976. Its current patron is King Letsie III. As with other nations, the award is presented in three levels and eligible youth are those age 14 to 25. The chairperson of the awards program is Maureen Nyathi.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, the award is referred to as " Anugerah Remaja Perdana, RAKAN MUDA". It is a Full Member of The Duke of Edinburgh's International Association and was officially launched in Malaysia on 6 Nov 2000. The gold award will be awarded by the Malaysian Minister of Youth and Sport at an award ceremony.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, although one or two organisations started taking part earlier, it was not until 18 July 1963 that the Governor-General, Bernard Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae, held the inaugural meeting of the National Council of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award in New Zealand at Government House in Wellington, when a Constitution for The Award in New Zealand was adopted. In New Zealand the Award is referred to as the Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award. The name draws on one of New Zealand's greatest adventurers, Sir Edmund Hillary. The Award has also previously been called "The Young New Zealanders Challenge of the Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award".
Netherlands
The Award was founded in the Netherlands in 1997 by Wim van der Laan and Maurice Jurgens. Known as "The International Award for Young People", it was officially recognised by the ministry of education in 2007 as a substitute for community service in secondary education and is currently being offered by 45 institutions.
Portugal
The "Prémio Infante D. Henrique" is the Portuguese version of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award targeting those between 14-and-24-years-old. It was established in 1988 in Porto by The Duke of Braganza, who remains its honorary president. In 2015 the Prémio Infante D. Henrique became a licensee of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and adopted the international brand. The Prémio Infante D. Henrique consists of a program of personal and social development of voluntary and non-competitive activities in four areas:
Community service
Personal talents
Sports
Expedition
Residential project – only for those who are older than 16-years-old.
Romania
The Award was first introduced in 1991 by Sister Agnes in the Roman Catholic Parish of Motru, being carried on locally until 2011. Since 2011, the programme has expanded nationwide, where it was successfully implemented in several cities of Romania. In April 2013, the license for Award Romania was signed in the presence of Secretary-General John May, and it became a National Award Authority. Starting in June 2013, The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award has Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, as Patron in Romania. Since then, the Award has seen a rapid expansion, engaging over 10,000 young people and over 2,000 Award Leaders and adult volunteers, with millions having participated around the world, finding their purpose, passion and place in the world.
Singapore
In Singapore, the award is referred to as "National Youth Achievement Award". It is a full member of The Duke of Edinburgh's International Association and was officially launched in Singapore on 9 May 1992 by president Wee Kim Wee at the Istana.
South Africa
In South Africa, the Award is referred to as the "President's Award for Youth Empowerment". The Award was first established in 1983 under the name "Gold Shield Award", but in 1992, in anticipation of Nelson Mandela becoming the first president of a democratic South Africa, the name was changed to "President's Award for Youth Empowerment". The President's Award has a full licence to operate the Award in South Africa, from the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Foundation. It provides a framework for youth-at-risk, providing them with a positive, affirming alternative to the social challenges which they face within their communities. The Award Programme is a long-term process, taking between three and five years to complete all three levels of Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
United States
In the United States, the award is offered through "The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award USA" organization, based in Chicago. Various schools and some Scout councils participate.
Zambia
"The Duke of Edinburgh International Award", "The International Youth Award", or simply "The International Award" was founded in Zambia in 1989. Although the concept was introduced in September 1981, it was only in 1989 when the Zambian government decided to integrate it into the President's Youth Award of Zambia. In 1990, a National Youth Award Committee was elected and operated under the National Youth Development Council (NYDC). In May 1991, a pilot project started with 50 young individuals and by December the same year 30 had qualified for the Bronze Award level. In the mid-1990s, the Award got a new lease of life when private schools began to adopt the Award, reporting directly to the International Secretariat in London in the absence of a National Award Authority. At this point, slight name variations arose in different private schools depending on organisers; however, the integrity of the award is still maintained.
See also
Outward Bound
Hong Kong Award for Young People, known formerly as Duke of Edinburgh's Award
The President's Challenge
References
External links
Official website
eDofE website
Information on the International Award Programme in Australia
Information on the International Award Programme in Canada
Information on the International Award Programme in New Zealand
Official Expedition Kit List United Kingdom
Information on the DofE in Edinburgh
Information on the International Award Programme in Singapore
Information on the DofE in Croydon
Information on the International Award Programme in Netherlands
Gaisce – The President's Award
USA Duke of Edinburgh's Award |
Pregnancy | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy | [
503
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy"
] | Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but can also occur through assisted reproductive technology procedures. A pregnancy may end in a live birth, a miscarriage, an induced abortion, or a stillbirth. Childbirth typically occurs around 40 weeks from the start of the last menstrual period (LMP), a span known as the gestational age. This is just over nine months. Counting by fertilization age, the length is about 38 weeks. Pregnancy is "the presence of an implanted human embryo or fetus in the uterus"; implantation occurs on average 8–9 days after fertilization. An embryo is the term for the developing offspring during the first seven weeks following implantation (i.e. ten weeks' gestational age), after which the term fetus is used until birth.
Signs and symptoms of early pregnancy may include missed periods, tender breasts, morning sickness (nausea and vomiting), hunger, implantation bleeding, and frequent urination. Pregnancy may be confirmed with a pregnancy test. Methods of birth control—or, more accurately, contraception—are used to avoid pregnancy.
Pregnancy is divided into three trimesters of approximately three months each. The first trimester includes conception, which is when the sperm fertilizes the egg. The fertilized egg then travels down the fallopian tube and attaches to the inside of the uterus, where it begins to form the embryo and placenta. During the first trimester, the possibility of miscarriage (natural death of embryo or fetus) is at its highest. Around the middle of the second trimester, movement of the fetus may be felt. At 28 weeks, more than 90% of babies can survive outside of the uterus if provided with high-quality medical care, though babies born at this time will likely experience serious health complications such as heart and respiratory problems and long-term intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Prenatal care improves pregnancy outcomes. Nutrition during pregnancy is important to ensure healthy growth of the fetus. Prenatal care may also include avoiding recreational drugs (including tobacco and alcohol), taking regular exercise, having blood tests, and regular physical examinations. Complications of pregnancy may include disorders of high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, iron-deficiency anemia, and severe nausea and vomiting. In the ideal childbirth, labor begins on its own "at term". Babies born before 37 weeks are "preterm" and at higher risk of health problems such as cerebral palsy. Babies born between weeks 37 and 39 are considered "early term" while those born between weeks 39 and 41 are considered "full term". Babies born between weeks 41 and 42 weeks are considered "late-term" while after 42 weeks they are considered "post-term". Delivery before 39 weeks by labor induction or caesarean section is not recommended unless required for other medical reasons.
Terminology
Associated terms for pregnancy are gravid and parous. Gravidus and gravid come from the Latin word meaning "heavy" and a pregnant female is sometimes referred to as a gravida. Gravidity refers to the number of times that a female has been pregnant. Similarly, the term parity is used for the number of times that a female carries a pregnancy to a viable stage. Twins and other multiple births are counted as one pregnancy and birth.
A woman who has never been pregnant is referred to as a nulligravida. A woman who is (or has been only) pregnant for the first time is referred to as a primigravida, and a woman in subsequent pregnancies as a multigravida or as multiparous. Therefore, during a second pregnancy a woman would be described as gravida 2, para 1 and upon live delivery as gravida 2, para 2. In-progress pregnancies, abortions, miscarriages and/or stillbirths account for parity values being less than the gravida number. Women who have never carried a pregnancy more than 20 weeks are referred to as nulliparous.
A pregnancy is considered term at 37 weeks of gestation. It is preterm if less than 37 weeks and postterm at or beyond 42 weeks of gestation. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have recommended further division with early term 37 weeks up to 39 weeks, full term 39 weeks up to 41 weeks, and late term 41 weeks up to 42 weeks. The terms preterm and postterm have largely replaced earlier terms of premature and postmature. Preterm and postterm are defined above, whereas premature and postmature have historical meaning and relate more to the infant's size and state of development rather than to the stage of pregnancy.
Demographics and statistics
About 213 million pregnancies occurred in 2012, of which, 190 million (89%) were in the developing world and 23 million (11%) were in the developed world. The number of pregnancies in women aged between 15 and 44 is 133 per 1,000 women. About 10% to 15% of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage. In 2016, complications of pregnancy resulted in 230,600 maternal deaths, down from 377,000 deaths in 1990. Common causes include bleeding, infections, hypertensive diseases of pregnancy, obstructed labor, miscarriage, abortion, or ectopic pregnancy. Globally, 44% of pregnancies are unplanned. Over half (56%) of unplanned pregnancies are aborted. Among unintended pregnancies in the United States, 60% of the women used birth control to some extent during the month pregnancy began.
Signs and symptoms
The usual signs and symptoms of pregnancy do not significantly interfere with activities of daily living or pose a health-threat to the mother or baby. However, pregnancy complications can cause other more severe symptoms, such as those associated with anemia.
Common signs and symptoms of pregnancy include:
Tiredness
Morning sickness
Constipation
Pelvic girdle pain
Back pain
Braxton Hicks contractions. Occasional, irregular, and often painless contractions that occur several times per day.
Peripheral edema swelling of the lower limbs. Common complaint in advancing pregnancy. Can be caused by inferior vena cava syndrome resulting from compression of the inferior vena cava and pelvic veins by the uterus leading to increased hydrostatic pressure in lower extremities.
Low blood pressure often caused by compression of both the inferior vena cava and the abdominal aorta (aortocaval compression syndrome).
Increased urinary frequency. A common complaint, caused by increased intravascular volume, elevated glomerular filtration rate, and compression of the bladder by the expanding uterus.
Urinary tract infection
Varicose veins. Common complaint caused by relaxation of the venous smooth muscle and increased intravascular pressure.
Hemorrhoids (piles). Swollen veins at or inside the anal area. Caused by impaired venous return, straining associated with constipation, or increased intra-abdominal pressure in later pregnancy.
Regurgitation, heartburn, and nausea.
Stretch marks
Breast tenderness is common during the first trimester, and is more common in women who are pregnant at a young age.
Melasma, also known as the mask of pregnancy, is a discoloration, most often of the face. It usually begins to fade several months after giving birth.
Timeline
The chronology of pregnancy is, unless otherwise specified, generally given as gestational age, where the starting point is the beginning of the woman's last menstrual period (LMP), or the corresponding age of the gestation as estimated by a more accurate method if available. This model means that the woman is counted as being "pregnant" two weeks before conception and three weeks before implantation. Sometimes, timing may also use the fertilization age, which is the age of the embryo since conception.
Start of gestational age
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends the following methods to calculate gestational age:
Directly calculating the days since the beginning of the last menstrual period.
Early obstetric ultrasound, comparing the size of an embryo or fetus to that of a reference group of pregnancies of known gestational age (such as calculated from last menstrual periods), and using the mean gestational age of other embryos or fetuses of the same size. If the gestational age as calculated from an early ultrasound is contradictory to the one calculated directly from the last menstrual period, it is still the one from the early ultrasound that is used for the rest of the pregnancy.
In case of in vitro fertilization, calculating days since oocyte retrieval or co-incubation and adding 14 days.
Trimesters
Pregnancy is divided into three trimesters, each lasting for approximately three months. The exact length of each trimester can vary between sources.
The first trimester begins with the start of gestational age as described above, that is, the beginning of week 1, or 0 weeks + 0 days of gestational age (GA). It ends at week 12 (11 weeks + 6 days of GA) or end of week 14 (13 weeks + 6 days of GA).
The second trimester is defined as starting, between the beginning of week 13 (12 weeks +0 days of GA) and beginning of week 15 (14 weeks + 0 days of GA). It ends at the end of week 27 (26 weeks + 6 days of GA) or end of week 28 (27 weeks + 6 days of GA).
The third trimester is defined as starting, between the beginning of week 28 (27 weeks + 0 days of GA) or beginning of week 29 (28 weeks + 0 days of GA). It lasts until childbirth.
Estimation of due date
Due date estimation basically follows two steps:
Determination of which time point is to be used as origin for gestational age, as described in the section above.
Adding the estimated gestational age at childbirth to the above time point. Childbirth on average occurs at a gestational age of 280 days (40 weeks), which is therefore often used as a standard estimation for individual pregnancies. However, alternative durations as well as more individualized methods have also been suggested.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists divides full term into three divisions:
Early-term: 37 weeks and 0 days through 38 weeks and 6 days
Full-term: 39 weeks and 0 days through 40 weeks and 6 days
Late-term: 41 weeks and 0 days through 41 weeks and 6 days
Post-term: greater than or equal to 42 weeks and 0 days
Naegele's rule is a standard way of calculating the due date for a pregnancy when assuming a gestational age of 280 days at childbirth. The rule estimates the expected date of delivery (EDD) by adding a year, subtracting three months, and adding seven days to the origin of gestational age. Alternatively there are mobile apps, which essentially always give consistent estimations compared to each other and correct for leap year, while pregnancy wheels made of paper can differ from each other by 7 days and generally do not correct for leap year.
Furthermore, actual childbirth has only a certain probability of occurring within the limits of the estimated due date. A study of singleton live births came to the result that childbirth has a standard deviation of 14 days when gestational age is estimated by first trimester ultrasound, and 16 days when estimated directly by last menstrual period.
Physiology
Capacity
Fertility and fecundity are the respective capacities to fertilize and establish a clinical pregnancy and have a live birth. Infertility is an impaired ability to establish a clinical pregnancy and sterility is the permanent inability to establish a clinical pregnancy.
The capacity for pregnancy depends on the reproductive system, its development and its variation, as well as on the condition of a person.
Women as well as intersex and transgender people who have a functioning female reproductive system are capable of pregnancy. In some cases, someone might be able to produce fertilizable eggs, but might not have a womb or none that can sufficiently gestate, in which case they might find surrogacy.
Initiation
Through an interplay of hormones that includes follicle stimulating hormone that stimulates folliculogenesis and oogenesis creates a mature egg cell, the female gamete. Fertilization is the event where the egg cell fuses with the male gamete, spermatozoon. After the point of fertilization, the fused product of the female and male gamete is referred to as a zygote or fertilized egg. The fusion of female and male gametes usually occurs following the act of sexual intercourse. Pregnancy rates for sexual intercourse are highest during the menstrual cycle time from some 5 days before until 1 to 2 days after ovulation. Fertilization can also occur by assisted reproductive technology such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilisation.
Fertilization (conception) is sometimes used as the initiation of pregnancy, with the derived age being termed fertilization age. Fertilization usually occurs about two weeks before the next expected menstrual period.
A third point in time is also considered by some people to be the true beginning of a pregnancy: This is time of implantation, when the future fetus attaches to the lining of the uterus. This is about a week to ten days after fertilization.
Development of embryo and fetus
The sperm and the egg cell, which has been released from one of the female's two ovaries, unite in one of the two fallopian tubes. The fertilized egg, known as a zygote, then moves toward the uterus, a journey that can take up to a week to complete. Cell division begins approximately 24 to 36 hours after the female and male cells unite. Cell division continues at a rapid rate and the cells then develop into what is known as a blastocyst. The blastocyst arrives at the uterus and attaches to the uterine wall, a process known as implantation.
The development of the mass of cells that will become the infant is called embryogenesis during the first approximately ten weeks of gestation. During this time, cells begin to differentiate into the various body systems. The basic outlines of the organ, body, and nervous systems are established. By the end of the embryonic stage, the beginnings of features such as fingers, eyes, mouth, and ears become visible. Also during this time, there is development of structures important to the support of the embryo, including the placenta and umbilical cord. The placenta connects the developing embryo to the uterine wall to allow nutrient uptake, waste elimination, and gas exchange via the mother's blood supply. The umbilical cord is the connecting cord from the embryo or fetus to the placenta.
After about ten weeks of gestational age—which is the same as eight weeks after conception—the embryo becomes known as a fetus. At the beginning of the fetal stage, the risk of miscarriage decreases sharply. At this stage, a fetus is about 30 mm (1.2 inches) in length, the heartbeat is seen via ultrasound, and the fetus makes involuntary motions. During continued fetal development, the early body systems, and structures that were established in the embryonic stage continue to develop. Sex organs begin to appear during the third month of gestation. The fetus continues to grow in both weight and length, although the majority of the physical growth occurs in the last weeks of pregnancy.
Electrical brain activity is first detected at the end of week 5 of gestation, but as in brain-dead patients, it is primitive neural activity rather than the beginning of conscious brain activity. Synapses do not begin to form until week 17. Neural connections between the sensory cortex and thalamus develop as early as 24 weeks' gestational age, but the first evidence of their function does not occur until around 30 weeks, when minimal consciousness, dreaming, and the ability to feel pain emerges.
Although the fetus begins to move during the first trimester, it is not until the second trimester that movement, known as quickening, can be felt. This typically happens in the fourth month, more specifically in the 20th to 21st week, or by the 19th week if the woman has been pregnant before. It is common for some women not to feel the fetus move until much later. During the second trimester, when the body size changes, maternity clothes may be worn.
Maternal changes
During pregnancy, a woman undergoes many normal physiological changes, including behavioral, cardiovascular, hematologic, metabolic, renal, and respiratory changes. Increases in blood sugar, breathing, and cardiac output are all required. Levels of progesterone and estrogens rise continually throughout pregnancy, suppressing the hypothalamic axis and therefore the menstrual cycle. A full-term pregnancy at an early age (less than 25 years) reduces the risk of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer, and the risk declines further with each additional full-term pregnancy.
The fetus is genetically different from its mother and can therefore be viewed as an unusually successful allograft. The main reason for this success is increased immune tolerance during pregnancy, which prevents the mother's body from mounting an immune system response against certain triggers.
During the first trimester, minute ventilation increases by 40 percent. The womb will grow to the size of a lemon by eight weeks. Many symptoms and discomforts of pregnancy, such as nausea and tender breasts, appear in the first trimester.
During the second trimester, most women feel more energized and put on weight as the symptoms of morning sickness subside. They begin to feel regular fetal movements, which can become strong and even disruptive.
Braxton Hicks contractions are sporadic uterine contractions that may start around six weeks into a pregnancy; however, they are usually not felt until the second or third trimester.
Final weight gain takes place during the third trimester; this is the most weight gain throughout the pregnancy. The woman's abdomen will transform in shape as the fetus turns in a downward position ready for birth. The woman's navel will sometimes become convex, "popping" out, due to the expanding abdomen. The uterus, the muscular organ that holds the developing fetus, can expand up to 20 times its normal size during pregnancy.
Head engagement, also called "lightening" or "dropping", occurs as the fetal head descends into a cephalic presentation. While it relieves pressure on the upper abdomen and gives a renewed ease in breathing, it also severely reduces bladder capacity, resulting in a need to void more frequently, and increases pressure on the pelvic floor and the rectum. It is not possible to predict when lightening will occur. In a first pregnancy it may happen a few weeks before the due date, though it may happen later or even not until labor begins, as is typical with subsequent pregnancies.
It is during the third trimester that maternal activity and sleep positions may affect fetal development due to restricted blood flow. For instance, the enlarged uterus may impede blood flow by compressing the vena cava when lying flat, a condition that can be relieved by lying on the left side.
Childbirth
Childbirth, referred to as labor and delivery in the medical field, is the process whereby an infant is born.
A woman is considered to be in labor when she begins experiencing regular uterine contractions, accompanied by changes of her cervix—primarily effacement and dilation. While childbirth is widely experienced as painful, some women do report painless labors, while others find that concentrating on the birth helps to quicken labor and lessen the sensations. Most births are successful vaginal births, but sometimes complications arise and a woman may undergo a cesarean section.
During the time immediately after birth, both the mother and the baby are hormonally cued to bond, the mother through the release of oxytocin, a hormone also released during breastfeeding. Studies show that skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her newborn immediately after birth is beneficial for both the mother and baby. A review done by the World Health Organization found that skin-to-skin contact between mothers and babies after birth reduces crying, improves mother–infant interaction, and helps mothers to breastfeed successfully. They recommend that neonates be allowed to bond with the mother during their first two hours after birth, the period that they tend to be more alert than in the following hours of early life.
Childbirth maturity stages
In the ideal childbirth, labor begins on its own when a woman is "at term".
Events before completion of 37 weeks are considered preterm. Preterm birth is associated with a range of complications and should be avoided if possible.
Sometimes if a woman's water breaks or she has contractions before 39 weeks, birth is unavoidable. However, spontaneous birth after 37 weeks is considered term and is not associated with the same risks of a preterm birth. Planned birth before 39 weeks by caesarean section or labor induction, although "at term", results in an increased risk of complications. This is from factors including underdeveloped lungs of newborns, infection due to underdeveloped immune system, feeding problems due to underdeveloped brain, and jaundice from underdeveloped liver.
Babies born between 39 and 41 weeks' gestation have better outcomes than babies born either before or after this range. This special time period is called "full term". Whenever possible, waiting for labor to begin on its own in this time period is best for the health of the mother and baby. The decision to perform an induction must be made after weighing the risks and benefits, but is safer after 39 weeks.
Events after 42 weeks are considered postterm. When a pregnancy exceeds 42 weeks, the risk of complications for both the woman and the fetus increases significantly. Therefore, in an otherwise uncomplicated pregnancy, obstetricians usually prefer to induce labor at some stage between 41 and 42 weeks.
Postnatal period
The postpartum period also referred to as the puerperium, is the postnatal period that begins immediately after delivery and extends for about six weeks. During this period, the mother's body begins the return to pre-pregnancy conditions that includes changes in hormone levels and uterus size.
Diagnosis
The beginning of pregnancy may be detected either based on symptoms by the woman herself, or by using pregnancy tests. However, an important condition with serious health implications that is quite common is the denial of pregnancy by the pregnant woman. About 1 in 475 denials will last until around the 20th week of pregnancy. The proportion of cases of denial, persisting until delivery is about 1 in 2500. Conversely, some non-pregnant women have a very strong belief that they are pregnant along with some of the physical changes. This condition is known as a false pregnancy.
Physical signs
Most pregnant women experience a number of symptoms, which can signify pregnancy. A number of early medical signs are associated with pregnancy. These signs include:
the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the blood and urine
missed menstrual period
implantation bleeding that occurs at implantation of the embryo in the uterus during the third or fourth week after last menstrual period
increased basal body temperature sustained for over two weeks after ovulation
Chadwick's sign (bluish discolouration of the cervix, vagina, and vulva)
Goodell's sign (softening of the vaginal portion of the cervix)
Hegar's sign (softening of the uterine isthmus)
Pigmentation of the linea alba, called linea nigra (darkening of the skin in a midline of the abdomen, resulting from hormonal changes, usually appearing around the middle of pregnancy).
Darkening of the nipples and areolas due to an increase in hormones.
Biomarkers
Pregnancy detection can be accomplished using one or more various pregnancy tests, which detect hormones generated by the newly formed placenta, serving as biomarkers of pregnancy. Blood and urine tests can detect pregnancy by 11 and 14 days, respectively, after fertilization. Blood pregnancy tests are more sensitive than urine tests (giving fewer false negatives). Home pregnancy tests are urine tests, and normally detect a pregnancy 12 to 15 days after fertilization. A quantitative blood test can determine approximately the date the embryo was fertilized because hCG levels double every 36 to 72 hours before 8 weeks' gestation. A single test of progesterone levels can also help determine how likely a fetus will survive in those with a threatened miscarriage (bleeding in early pregnancy), but only if the ultrasound result was inconclusive.
Ultrasound
Obstetric ultrasonography can detect fetal abnormalities, detect multiple pregnancies, and improve gestational dating at 24 weeks. The resultant estimated gestational age and due date of the fetus are slightly more accurate than methods based on last menstrual period. Ultrasound is used to measure the nuchal fold in order to screen for Down syndrome.
Management
Prenatal care
Pre-conception counseling is care that is provided to a woman or couple to discuss conception, pregnancy, current health issues and recommendations for the period before pregnancy.
Prenatal medical care is the medical and nursing care recommended for women during pregnancy, time intervals and exact goals of each visit differ by country. Women who are high risk have better outcomes if they are seen regularly and frequently by a medical professional than women who are low risk. A woman can be labeled as high risk for different reasons including previous complications in pregnancy, complications in the current pregnancy, current medical diseases, or social issues.
The aim of good prenatal care is prevention, early identification, and treatment of any medical complications. A basic prenatal visit consists of measurement of blood pressure, fundal height, weight and fetal heart rate, checking for symptoms of labor, and guidance for what to expect next.
Nutrition
Nutrition during pregnancy is important to ensure healthy growth of the fetus. Nutrition during pregnancy is different from the non-pregnant state. There are increased energy requirements and specific micronutrient requirements. Women benefit from education to encourage a balanced energy and protein intake during pregnancy. Some women may need professional medical advice if their diet is affected by medical conditions, food allergies, or specific religious/ ethical beliefs. Further studies are needed to access the effect of dietary advice to prevent gestational diabetes, although low quality evidence suggests some benefit. Adequate periconceptional (time before and right after conception) folic acid (also called folate or Vitamin B9) intake has been shown to decrease the risk of fetal neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. The neural tube develops during the first 28 days of pregnancy, a urine pregnancy test is not usually positive until 14 days post-conception, explaining the necessity to guarantee adequate folate intake before conception. Folate is abundant in green leafy vegetables, legumes, and citrus. In the United States and Canada, most wheat products (flour, noodles) are fortified with folic acid.
Weight gain
The amount of healthy weight gain during a pregnancy varies. Weight gain is related to the weight of the baby, the placenta, extra circulatory fluid, larger tissues, and fat and protein stores. Most needed weight gain occurs later in pregnancy.
The Institute of Medicine recommends an overall pregnancy weight gain for those of normal weight (body mass index of 18.5–24.9), of 11.3–15.9 kg (25–35 pounds) having a singleton pregnancy. Women who are underweight (BMI of less than 18.5), should gain between 12.7 and 18 kg (28–40 lb), while those who are overweight (BMI of 25–29.9) are advised to gain between 6.8 and 11.3 kg (15–25 lb) and those who are obese (BMI ≥ 30) should gain between 5–9 kg (11–20 lb). These values reference the expectations for a term pregnancy.
During pregnancy, insufficient or excessive weight gain can compromise the health of the mother and fetus. The most effective intervention for weight gain in underweight women is not clear. Being or becoming overweight in pregnancy increases the risk of complications for mother and fetus, including cesarean section, gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, macrosomia and shoulder dystocia. Excessive weight gain can make losing weight after the pregnancy difficult. Some of these complications are risk factors for stroke.
Around 50% of women of childbearing age in developed countries like the United Kingdom are overweight or obese before pregnancy. Diet modification is the most effective way to reduce weight gain and associated risks in pregnancy.
Medication
Drugs used during pregnancy can have temporary or permanent effects on the fetus. Anything (including drugs) that can cause permanent deformities in the fetus are labeled as teratogens. In the U.S., drugs were classified into categories A, B, C, D and X based on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rating system to provide therapeutic guidance based on potential benefits and fetal risks. Drugs, including some multivitamins, that have demonstrated no fetal risks after controlled studies in humans are classified as Category A. On the other hand, drugs like thalidomide with proven fetal risks that outweigh all benefits are classified as Category X.
Recreational drugs
The use of recreational drugs in pregnancy can cause various pregnancy complications.
Alcoholic drinks consumed during pregnancy can cause one or more fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. According to the CDC, there is no known safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy and no safe time to drink during pregnancy, including before a woman knows that she is pregnant.
Tobacco smoking during pregnancy can cause a wide range of behavioral, neurological, and physical difficulties. Smoking during pregnancy causes twice the risk of premature rupture of membranes, placental abruption and placenta previa. Smoking is associated with 30% higher odds of preterm birth.
Prenatal cocaine exposure is associated with premature birth, birth defects and attention deficit disorder.
Prenatal methamphetamine exposure can cause premature birth and congenital abnormalities. Short-term neonatal outcomes in methamphetamine babies show small deficits in infant neurobehavioral function and growth restriction. Long-term effects in terms of impaired brain development may also be caused by methamphetamine use.
Cannabis in pregnancy has been shown to be teratogenic in large doses in animals, but has not shown any teratogenic effects in humans.
Exposure to toxins
Intrauterine exposure to environmental toxins in pregnancy has the potential to cause adverse effects on prenatal development, and to cause pregnancy complications. Air pollution has been associated with low birth weight infants. Conditions of particular severity in pregnancy include mercury poisoning and lead poisoning. To minimize exposure to environmental toxins, the American College of Nurse-Midwives recommends: checking whether the home has lead paint, washing all fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly and buying organic produce, and avoiding cleaning products labeled "toxic" or any product with a warning on the label.
Pregnant women can also be exposed to toxins in the workplace, including airborne particles. The effects of wearing an N95 filtering facepiece respirator are similar for pregnant women as for non-pregnant women, and wearing a respirator for one hour does not affect the fetal heart rate.
Death by violence
Pregnant women or those who have recently given birth in the U.S. are more likely to be murdered than to die from obstetric causes. These homicides are a combination of intimate partner violence and firearms. Health authorities have called the violence "a health emergency for pregnant women", but say that pregnancy-related homicides are preventable if healthcare providers identify those women at risk and offer assistance to them.
Sexual activity
Most women can continue to engage in sexual activity, including sexual intercourse, throughout pregnancy. Research suggests that during pregnancy both sexual desire and frequency of sexual relations decrease during the first and third trimester, with a rise during the second trimester. Sex during pregnancy is a low-risk behavior except when the healthcare provider advises that sexual intercourse be avoided for particular medical reasons. For a healthy pregnant woman, there is no single safe or right way to have sex during pregnancy.
Exercise
Regular aerobic exercise during pregnancy appears to improve (or maintain) physical fitness. Physical exercise during pregnancy appears to decrease the need for C-section, and even vigorous exercise carries no significant risks to babies and provides significant health benefits to the mother. Bed rest, outside of research studies, is not recommended as there is no evidence of benefit and potential harm.
The Clinical Practice Obstetrics Committee of Canada recommends that "All women without contraindications should be encouraged to participate in aerobic and strength-conditioning exercises as part of a healthy lifestyle during their pregnancy". Although an upper level of safe exercise intensity has not been established, women who were regular exercisers before pregnancy and who have uncomplicated pregnancies should be able to engage in high intensity exercise programs, without a higher risk of prematurity, lower birth weight, or gestational weight gain. In general, participation in a wide range of recreational activities appears to be safe, with the avoidance of those with a high risk of falling such as horseback riding or skiing or those that carry a risk of abdominal trauma, such as soccer or hockey.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that in the past, the main concerns of exercise in pregnancy were focused on the fetus and any potential maternal benefit was thought to be offset by potential risks to the fetus. However, they write that more recent information suggests that in the uncomplicated pregnancy, fetal injuries are highly unlikely. They do, however, list several circumstances when a woman should contact her healthcare provider before continuing with an exercise program: vaginal bleeding, dyspnea before exertion, dizziness, headache, chest pain, muscle weakness, preterm labor, decreased fetal movement, amniotic fluid leakage, and calf pain or swelling (to rule out thrombophlebitis).
Sleep
It has been suggested that shift work and exposure to bright light at night should be avoided at least during the last trimester of pregnancy to decrease the risk of psychological and behavioral problems in the newborn.
Stress
The children of women who had high stress levels during pregnancy are slightly more likely to have externalizing behavioral problems such as impulsivity. The behavioral effect was most pronounced during early childhood.
Dental care
The increased levels of progesterone and estrogen during pregnancy make gingivitis more likely; the gums become edematous, red in colour, and tend to bleed. Also a pyogenic granuloma or "pregnancy tumor", is commonly seen on the labial surface of the papilla. Lesions can be treated by local debridement or deep incision depending on their size, and by following adequate oral hygiene measures. There have been suggestions that severe periodontitis may increase the risk of having preterm birth and low birth weight; however, a Cochrane review found insufficient evidence to determine if periodontitis can develop adverse birth outcomes.
Flying
In low risk pregnancies, most health care providers approve flying until about 36 weeks of gestational age. Most airlines allow pregnant women to fly short distances at less than 36 weeks, and long distances at less than 32 weeks. Many airlines require a doctor's note that approves flying, especially at over 28 weeks. During flights, the risk of deep vein thrombosis is decreased by getting up and walking occasionally, as well as by avoiding dehydration. The exposure to cosmic radiation is negligible for most travelers. For pregnant women, even the longest intercontinental fight would expose them less than 15% of both the NCRPM and ICRP limit. Full body scanners do not use ionizing radiation, and are safe in pregnancy.
Pregnancy classes and birth plan
To prepare for the birth of the baby, health care providers recommend that parents attend antenatal classes during the third trimester of pregnancy. Classes include information about the process of labor and birth and the various kinds of births, including both vaginal and caesarean delivery, the use of forceps, and other interventions that may be needed to safely deliver the infant. Types of pain relief, including relaxation techniques, are discussed. Partners or others who may plan to support a woman during her labor and delivery learn how to assist in the birth.
It is also suggested that a birth plan be written at this time. A birth plan is a written statement that outlines the desires of the mother during labor and delivery of the baby. Discussing the birth plan with the midwife or other care provider gives parents a chance to ask questions and learn more about the process of labour.
In 1991 the WHO launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a global program that recognizes birthing centers and hospitals that offer optimal levels of care for giving birth. Facilities that have been certified as "Baby Friendly" accept visits from expecting parents to familiarize them with the facility and the staff.
Complications
Each year, ill health as a result of pregnancy is experienced (sometimes permanently) by more than 20 million women around the world. In 2016, complications of pregnancy resulted in 230,600 deaths down from 377,000 deaths in 1990. Common causes include bleeding (72,000), infections (20,000), hypertensive diseases of pregnancy (32,000), obstructed labor (10,000), and pregnancy with abortive outcome (20,000), which includes miscarriage, abortion, and ectopic pregnancy.
The following are some examples of pregnancy complications:
Pregnancy induced hypertension
Anemia
Postpartum depression, a common but solvable complication following childbirth that may result from decreased hormonal levels.
Postpartum psychosis
Thromboembolic disorders, with an increased risk due to hypercoagulability in pregnancy. These are the leading cause of death in pregnant women in the US.
Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP), a skin disease that develops around the 32nd week. Signs are red plaques, papules, and itchiness around the belly button that then spreads all over the body except for the inside of hands and face.
Ectopic pregnancy, including abdominal pregnancy, implantation of the embryo outside the uterus
Hyperemesis gravidarum, excessive nausea and vomiting that is more severe than normal morning sickness.
Pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that forms in the legs and migrates to the lungs.
Acute fatty liver of pregnancy is a rare complication thought to be brought about by a disruption in the metabolism of fatty acids by mitochondria.
There is also an increased susceptibility and severity of certain infections in pregnancy.
Miscarriage and stillbirth
Miscarriage is the most common complication of early pregnancy. It is defined as the loss of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. The most common symptom of miscarriage is vaginal bleeding with or without pain. The miscarriage may be evidenced by a clot-like material passing through and out of the vagina. About 80% of miscarriages occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The underlying cause in about half of cases involves chromosomal abnormalities.
Stillbirth is defined as fetal death after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. Each year about 21,000 babies are stillborn in the U.S. Sadness, anxiety, and guilt may occur after a miscarriage or a stillbirth. Emotional support may help with processing the loss. Fathers may experience grief over the loss as well. A large study found that there is a need to increase the accessibility of support services available for fathers.
Diseases in pregnancy
A pregnant woman may have a pre-existing disease, which is not directly caused by the pregnancy, but may cause complications to develop that include a potential risk to the pregnancy; or a disease may develop during pregnancy.
Diabetes mellitus and pregnancy deals with the interactions of diabetes mellitus (not restricted to gestational diabetes) and pregnancy. Risks for the child include miscarriage, growth restriction, growth acceleration, large for gestational age (macrosomia), polyhydramnios (too much amniotic fluid), and birth defects.
Thyroid disease in pregnancy can, if uncorrected, cause adverse effects on fetal and maternal well-being. The deleterious effects of thyroid dysfunction can also extend beyond pregnancy and delivery to affect neurointellectual development in the early life of the child. Demand for thyroid hormones is increased during pregnancy, which may cause a previously unnoticed thyroid disorder to worsen.
Untreated celiac disease can cause a miscarriage, intrauterine growth restriction, small for gestational age, low birthweight and preterm birth. Often reproductive disorders are the only manifestation of undiagnosed celiac disease and most cases are not recognized. Complications or failures of pregnancy cannot be explained simply by malabsorption, but by the autoimmune response elicited by the exposure to gluten, which causes damage to the placenta. The gluten-free diet avoids or reduces the risk of developing reproductive disorders in pregnant women with celiac disease. Also, pregnancy can be a trigger for the development of celiac disease in genetically susceptible women who are consuming gluten.
Lupus in pregnancy confers an increased rate of fetal death in utero, miscarriage, and of neonatal lupus.
Hypercoagulability in pregnancy is the propensity of pregnant women to develop thrombosis (blood clots). Pregnancy itself is a factor of hypercoagulability (pregnancy-induced hypercoagulability), as a physiologically adaptive mechanism to prevent postpartum bleeding. However, in combination with an underlying hypercoagulable state, the risk of thrombosis or embolism may become substantial.
Abortion
An abortion is the termination of an embryo or fetus via medical method. It is usually done within the first trimester, sometimes in the second, and rarely in the third. Reasons for pregnancies being undesired are broad. Many jurisdictions restrict or prohibit abortion, with rape being the most legally permissible exception.
Birth control and education
Family planning, as well as the availability and use of contraception, along with increased comprehensive sex education, has enabled many to prevent pregnancies when they are not desired. Schemes and funding to support education and the means to prevent pregnancies when they are not intended have been instrumental and are part of the third of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advanced by the United Nations.
Technologies and science
Assisted reproductive technology
Modern reproductive medicine offers many forms of assisted reproductive technology for couples who stay childless against their will, such as fertility medication, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and surrogacy.
Medical imaging
Medical imaging may be indicated in pregnancy because of pregnancy complications, disease, or routine prenatal care. Medical ultrasonography including obstetric ultrasonography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) without contrast agents are not associated with any risk for the mother or the fetus, and are the imaging techniques of choice for pregnant women. Projectional radiography, CT scan and nuclear medicine imaging result in some degree of ionizing radiation exposure, but in most cases the absorbed doses are not associated with harm to the baby. At higher dosages or frequency, effects can include miscarriage, birth defects and intellectual disability.
Epidemiology
About 213 million pregnancies occurred in 2012 of which 190 million were in the developing world and 23 million were in the developed world. This is about 133 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. About 10% to 15% of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage. Globally, 44% of pregnancies are unplanned. Over half (56%) of unplanned pregnancies are aborted. In countries where abortion is prohibited, or only carried out in circumstances where the mother's life is at risk, 48% of unplanned pregnancies are aborted illegally. Compared to the rate in countries where abortion is legal, at 69%.
Of pregnancies in 2012, 120 million occurred in Asia, 54 million in Africa, 19 million in Europe, 18 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, 7 million in North America, and 1 million in Oceania. Pregnancy rates are 140 per 1000 women of childbearing age in the developing world and 94 per 1000 in the developed world.
The rate of pregnancy, as well as the ages at which it occurs, differ by country and region. It is influenced by a number of factors, such as cultural, social and religious norms; access to contraception; and rates of education. The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2013 was estimated to be highest in Niger (7.03 children/woman) and lowest in Singapore (0.79 children/woman).
In Europe, the average childbearing age has been rising continuously for some time. In Western, Northern, and Southern Europe, first-time mothers are on average 26 to 29 years old, up from 23 to 25 years at the start of the 1970s. In a number of European countries (Spain), the mean age of women at first childbirth has crossed the 30-year threshold.
This process is not restricted to Europe. Asia, Japan and the United States are all seeing average age at first birth on the rise, and increasingly the process is spreading to countries in the developing world like China, Turkey and Iran. In the US, the average age of first childbirth was 25.4 in 2010.
In the United States and United Kingdom, 40% of pregnancies are unplanned, and between a quarter and half of those unplanned pregnancies were unwanted pregnancies.
In the US, a woman's educational attainment and her marital status are correlated with childbearing: the percentage of women unmarried at the time of first birth drops with increasing educational level. In other words: among uneducated women, a large fraction (~80%) have their first child while they are unmarried. By contrast, few women with a bachelor's degree or higher (~25%) have their first child while unmarried. However, this phenomenon also has a strong generational component: in 1996, about 50% of women without a university degree had their first child being unmarried while that number increased to ~85% in 2018. Similarly, in 1996, only 4% of women with a BA degree or similar had their first child being unmarried. In 2018, that fraction increased to ~25%.
Legal and social aspects
Legal protection
Many countries have various legal regulations in place to protect pregnant women and their children. Many countries have laws against pregnancy discrimination.
Maternity Protection Convention ensures that pregnant women are exempt from activities such as night shifts or carrying heavy stocks. Maternity leave typically provides paid leave from work during roughly the last trimester of pregnancy and for some time after birth. Notable extreme cases include Norway (8 months with full pay) and the United States (no paid leave at all except in some states).
In the United States, some actions that result in miscarriage or stillbirth, such as beating a pregnant woman, are considered crimes. One law that does so is the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act. In 2014, the American state of Tennessee passed a law which allows prosecutors to charge a woman with criminal assault if she uses illegal drugs during her pregnancy and her fetus or newborn is harmed as a result.
However, protections are not universal. In Singapore, the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act forbids current and former work permit holders from becoming pregnant or giving birth in Singapore without prior permission. Violation of the Act is punishable by a fine of up to S$10,000 (US$7300) and deportation, and until 2010, their employers would lose their $5,000 security bond.
Teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy is also known as adolescent pregnancy. The WHO defines adolescence as the period between the ages of 10 and 19 years. Adolescents face higher health risks than women who give birth at age 20 to 24 and their infants are at a higher risk for preterm birth, low birth weight, and other severe neonatal conditions. Their children continue to face greater challenges, both behavioral and physical, throughout their lives. Teenage pregnancies are also related to social issues, including social stigma, lower educational levels, and poverty. Studies show that female adolescents are often in abusive relationships at the time of their conceiving.
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a non-profit organization operating in the United States and the UK designed to serve the needs of low income young mothers who may have special needs in their first pregnancy. Each mother served is partnered with a registered nurse early in her pregnancy and receives ongoing nurse home visits that continue through her child's second birthday. NFP intervention has been associated with improvements in maternal health, child health, and economic security.
Racial disparities
There are significant racial imbalances in pregnancy and neonatal care systems. Midwifery guidance, treatment, and care have been related to better birth outcomes. Diminishing racial inequities in health is an increasingly large public health challenge in the United States. Despite the fact that average rates have decreased, data on neonatal mortality demonstrates that racial disparities have persisted and grown. The death rate for African American babies is nearly double that of white neonates. According to studies, congenital defects, SIDS, preterm birth, and low birth weight are all more common among African American babies.
Midwifery care has been linked to better birth and postpartum outcomes for both mother and child. It caters to the needs of the woman and provides competent, sympathetic care, and is essential for maternal health improvement. The presence of a doula, or birth assistant, during labor and delivery, has also been associated with improved levels of satisfaction with medical birth care. Providers recognized their profession from a historical standpoint, a link to African origins, the diaspora, and prevailing African American struggles. Providers participated in both direct clinical experience and activist involvement. Advocacy efforts aimed to enhance the number of minority birth attendants and to promote the benefits of woman-centered birth care to neglected areas.
Transgender people
Transgender people have experienced significant advances in societal acceptance in recent years leaving many health professionals unprepared to provide quality care. A 2015 report suggests that "numbers of transgender individuals who are seeking family planning, fertility, and pregnancy services could certainly be quite large".
Regardless of prior hormone replacement therapy treatments, the progression of pregnancy and birthing procedures for transgender people who carry pregnancies are typically the same as those of cisgender women however, they may be subjected to discrimination, which can include a variety of negative social, emotional, and medical experiences, as pregnancy is regarded as an exclusively female activity. According to a study by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, there is a lack of awareness, services, and medical assistance available to pregnant trans men.
Culture
In most cultures, pregnant women have a special status in society and receive particularly gentle care. At the same time, they are subject to expectations that may exert great psychological pressure, such as having to produce a son and heir. In many traditional societies, pregnancy must be preceded by marriage, on pain of ostracism of mother and (illegitimate) child.
Overall, pregnancy is accompanied by numerous customs that are often subject to ethnological research, often rooted in traditional medicine or religion. The baby shower is an example of a modern custom. Contrary to common misconception, women historically in the United States were not expected to seclude themselves during pregnancy, as was popularized by Gone With the Wind.
Pregnancy is an important topic in sociology of the family. The prospective child may preliminarily be placed into numerous social roles. The parents' relationship and the relation between parents and their surroundings are also affected.
A belly cast may be made during pregnancy as a keepsake.
Arts
Images of pregnant women, especially small figurines, were made in traditional cultures in many places and periods, though it is rarely one of the most common types of image. These include ceramic figures from some Pre-Columbian cultures, and a few figures from most of the ancient Mediterranean cultures. Many of these seem to be connected with fertility. Identifying whether such figures are actually meant to show pregnancy is often a problem, as well as understanding their role in the culture concerned.
Among the oldest surviving examples of the depiction of pregnancy are prehistoric figurines found across much of Eurasia and collectively known as Venus figurines. Some of these appear to be pregnant.
Due to the important role of the Mother of God in Christianity, the Western visual arts have a long tradition of depictions of pregnancy, especially in the biblical scene of the Visitation, and devotional images called a Madonna del Parto.
The unhappy scene usually called Diana and Callisto, showing the moment of discovery of Callisto's forbidden pregnancy, is sometimes painted from the Renaissance onwards. Gradually, portraits of pregnant women began to appear, with a particular fashion for "pregnancy portraits" in elite portraiture of the years around 1600.
Pregnancy, and especially pregnancy of unmarried women, is also an important motif in literature. Notable examples include Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Goethe's 1808 play Faust.
See also
Couvade syndrome
Cryptic pregnancy
False pregnancy
Simulated pregnancy
Pregnancy-related anxiety
References
Further reading
External links
Pregnancy at Curlie
Merck Manual Home Health Handbook – further details on the diseases, disorders, etc., which may complicate pregnancy.
Pregnancy care – NHS guide to having a baby including preconception, pregnancy, labor, and birth. |
Silver | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver | [
503
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver"
] | Silver is a chemical element; it has symbol Ag (from Latin argentum 'silver', derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erǵ 'shiny, white') and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. Silver is found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form ("native silver"), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining.
Silver has long been valued as a precious metal. Silver metal is used in many bullion coins, sometimes alongside gold: while it is more abundant than gold, it is much less abundant as a native metal. Its purity is typically measured on a per-mille basis; a 94%-pure alloy is described as "0.940 fine". As one of the seven metals of antiquity, silver has had an enduring role in most human cultures.
Other than in currency and as an investment medium (coins and bullion), silver is used in solar panels, water filtration, jewellery, ornaments, high-value tableware and utensils (hence the term "silverware"), in electrical contacts and conductors, in specialized mirrors, window coatings, in catalysis of chemical reactions, as a colorant in stained glass, and in specialized confectionery. Its compounds are used in photographic and X-ray film. Dilute solutions of silver nitrate and other silver compounds are used as disinfectants and microbiocides (oligodynamic effect), added to bandages, wound-dressings, catheters, and other medical instruments.
Characteristics
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations. This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.
Silver is a relatively soft and extremely ductile and malleable transition metal, though it is slightly less malleable than gold. Silver crystallizes in a face-centered cubic lattice with bulk coordination number 12, where only the single 5s electron is delocalized, similarly to copper and gold. Unlike metals with incomplete d-shells, metallic bonds in silver are lacking a covalent character and are relatively weak. This observation explains the low hardness and high ductility of single crystals of silver.
Silver has a brilliant, white, metallic luster that can take a high polish, and which is so characteristic that the name of the metal itself has become a color name. Protected silver has greater optical reflectivity than aluminium at all wavelengths longer than ~450 nm. At wavelengths shorter than 450 nm, silver's reflectivity is inferior to that of aluminium and drops to zero near 310 nm.
Very high electrical and thermal conductivity are common to the elements in group 11, because their single s electron is free and does not interact with the filled d subshell, as such interactions (which occur in the preceding transition metals) lower electron mobility. The thermal conductivity of silver is among the highest of all materials, although the thermal conductivity of carbon (in the diamond allotrope) and superfluid helium-4 are higher. The electrical conductivity of silver is the highest of all metals, greater even than copper. Silver also has the lowest contact resistance of any metal. Silver is rarely used for its electrical conductivity, due to its high cost, although an exception is in radio-frequency engineering, particularly at VHF and higher frequencies where silver plating improves electrical conductivity because those currents tend to flow on the surface of conductors rather than through the interior. During World War II in the US, 13540 tons of silver were used for the electromagnets in calutrons for enriching uranium, mainly because of the wartime shortage of copper.
Silver readily forms alloys with copper, gold, and zinc. Zinc-silver alloys with low zinc concentration may be considered as face-centred cubic solid solutions of zinc in silver, as the structure of the silver is largely unchanged while the electron concentration rises as more zinc is added. Increasing the electron concentration further leads to body-centred cubic (electron concentration 1.5), complex cubic (1.615), and hexagonal close-packed phases (1.75).
Isotopes
Naturally occurring silver is composed of two stable isotopes, 107Ag and 109Ag, with 107Ag being slightly more abundant (51.839% natural abundance). This almost equal abundance is rare in the periodic table. The atomic weight is 107.8682(2) u; this value is very important because of the importance of silver compounds, particularly halides, in gravimetric analysis. Both isotopes of silver are produced in stars via the s-process (slow neutron capture), as well as in supernovas via the r-process (rapid neutron capture).
Twenty-eight radioisotopes have been characterized, the most stable being 105Ag with a half-life of 41.29 days, 111Ag with a half-life of 7.45 days, and 112Ag with a half-life of 3.13 hours. Silver has numerous nuclear isomers, the most stable being 108mAg (t1/2 = 418 years), 110mAg (t1/2 = 249.79 days) and 106mAg (t1/2 = 8.28 days). All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives of less than an hour, and the majority of these have half-lives of less than three minutes.
Isotopes of silver range in relative atomic mass from 92.950 u (93Ag) to 129.950 u (130Ag); the primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, 107Ag, is electron capture and the primary mode after is beta decay. The primary decay products before 107Ag are palladium (element 46) isotopes, and the primary products after are cadmium (element 48) isotopes.
The palladium isotope 107Pd decays by beta emission to 107Ag with a half-life of 6.5 million years. Iron meteorites are the only objects with a high-enough palladium-to-silver ratio to yield measurable variations in 107Ag abundance. Radiogenic 107Ag was first discovered in the Santa Clara meteorite in 1978. 107Pd–107Ag correlations observed in bodies that have clearly been melted since the accretion of the Solar System must reflect the presence of unstable nuclides in the early Solar System.
Chemistry
Silver is a rather unreactive metal. This is because its filled 4d shell is not very effective in shielding the electrostatic forces of attraction from the nucleus to the outermost 5s electron, and hence silver is near the bottom of the electrochemical series (E0(Ag+/Ag) = +0.799 V). In group 11, silver has the lowest first ionization energy (showing the instability of the 5s orbital), but has higher second and third ionization energies than copper and gold (showing the stability of the 4d orbitals), so that the chemistry of silver is predominantly that of the +1 oxidation state, reflecting the increasingly limited range of oxidation states along the transition series as the d-orbitals fill and stabilize. Unlike copper, for which the larger hydration energy of Cu2+ as compared to Cu+ is the reason why the former is the more stable in aqueous solution and solids despite lacking the stable filled d-subshell of the latter, with silver this effect is swamped by its larger second ionisation energy. Hence, Ag+ is the stable species in aqueous solution and solids, with Ag2+ being much less stable as it oxidizes water.
Most silver compounds have significant covalent character due to the small size and high first ionization energy (730.8 kJ/mol) of silver. Furthermore, silver's Pauling electronegativity of 1.93 is higher than that of lead (1.87), and its electron affinity of 125.6 kJ/mol is much higher than that of hydrogen (72.8 kJ/mol) and not much less than that of oxygen (141.0 kJ/mol). Due to its full d-subshell, silver in its main +1 oxidation state exhibits relatively few properties of the transition metals proper from groups 4 to 10, forming rather unstable organometallic compounds, forming linear complexes showing very low coordination numbers like 2, and forming an amphoteric oxide as well as Zintl phases like the post-transition metals. Unlike the preceding transition metals, the +1 oxidation state of silver is stable even in the absence of π-acceptor ligands.
Silver does not react with air, even at red heat, and thus was considered by alchemists as a noble metal, along with gold. Its reactivity is intermediate between that of copper (which forms copper(I) oxide when heated in air to red heat) and gold. Like copper, silver reacts with sulfur and its compounds; in their presence, silver tarnishes in air to form the black silver sulfide (copper forms the green sulfate instead, while gold does not react). While silver is not attacked by non-oxidizing acids, the metal dissolves readily in hot concentrated sulfuric acid, as well as dilute or concentrated nitric acid. In the presence of air, and especially in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, silver dissolves readily in aqueous solutions of cyanide.
The three main forms of deterioration in historical silver artifacts are tarnishing, formation of silver chloride due to long-term immersion in salt water, as well as reaction with nitrate ions or oxygen. Fresh silver chloride is pale yellow, becoming purplish on exposure to light; it projects slightly from the surface of the artifact or coin. The precipitation of copper in ancient silver can be used to date artifacts, as copper is nearly always a constituent of silver alloys.
Silver metal is attacked by strong oxidizers such as potassium permanganate (KMnO4) and potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7), and in the presence of potassium bromide (KBr). These compounds are used in photography to bleach silver images, converting them to silver bromide that can either be fixed with thiosulfate or redeveloped to intensify the original image. Silver forms cyanide complexes (silver cyanide) that are soluble in water in the presence of an excess of cyanide ions. Silver cyanide solutions are used in electroplating of silver.
The common oxidation states of silver are (in order of commonness): +1 (the most stable state; for example, silver nitrate, AgNO3); +2 (highly oxidising; for example, silver(II) fluoride, AgF2); and even very rarely +3 (extreme oxidising; for example, potassium tetrafluoroargentate(III), KAgF4). The +3 state requires very strong oxidising agents to attain, such as fluorine or peroxodisulfate, and some silver(III) compounds react with atmospheric moisture and attack glass. Indeed, silver(III) fluoride is usually obtained by reacting silver or silver monofluoride with the strongest known oxidizing agent, krypton difluoride.
Compounds
Oxides and chalcogenides
Silver and gold have rather low chemical affinities for oxygen, lower than copper, and it is therefore expected that silver oxides are thermally quite unstable. Soluble silver(I) salts precipitate dark-brown silver(I) oxide, Ag2O, upon the addition of alkali. (The hydroxide AgOH exists only in solution; otherwise it spontaneously decomposes to the oxide.) Silver(I) oxide is very easily reduced to metallic silver, and decomposes to silver and oxygen above 160 °C. This and other silver(I) compounds may be oxidized by the strong oxidizing agent peroxodisulfate to black AgO, a mixed silver(I,III) oxide of formula AgIAgIIIO2. Some other mixed oxides with silver in non-integral oxidation states, namely Ag2O3 and Ag3O4, are also known, as is Ag3O which behaves as a metallic conductor.
Silver(I) sulfide, Ag2S, is very readily formed from its constituent elements and is the cause of the black tarnish on some old silver objects. It may also be formed from the reaction of hydrogen sulfide with silver metal or aqueous Ag+ ions. Many non-stoichiometric selenides and tellurides are known; in particular, AgTe~3 is a low-temperature superconductor.
Halides
The only known dihalide of silver is the difluoride, AgF2, which can be obtained from the elements under heat. A strong yet thermally stable and therefore safe fluorinating agent, silver(II) fluoride is often used to synthesize hydrofluorocarbons.
In stark contrast to this, all four silver(I) halides are known. The fluoride, chloride, and bromide have the sodium chloride structure, but the iodide has three known stable forms at different temperatures; that at room temperature is the cubic zinc blende structure. They can all be obtained by the direct reaction of their respective elements. As the halogen group is descended, the silver halide gains more and more covalent character, solubility decreases, and the colour changes from the white chloride to the yellow iodide as the energy required for ligand-metal charge transfer (X−Ag+ → XAg) decreases. The fluoride is anomalous, as the fluoride ion is so small that it has a considerable solvation energy and hence is highly water-soluble and forms di- and tetrahydrates. The other three silver halides are highly insoluble in aqueous solutions and are very commonly used in gravimetric analytical methods. All four are photosensitive (though the monofluoride is so only to ultraviolet light), especially the bromide and iodide which photodecompose to silver metal, and thus were used in traditional photography. The reaction involved is:
X− + hν → X + e− (excitation of the halide ion, which gives up its extra electron into the conduction band)
Ag+ + e− → Ag (liberation of a silver ion, which gains an electron to become a silver atom)
The process is not reversible because the silver atom liberated is typically found at a crystal defect or an impurity site, so that the electron's energy is lowered enough that it is "trapped".
Other inorganic compounds
White silver nitrate, AgNO3, is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, especially the halides, and is much less sensitive to light. It was once called lunar caustic because silver was called luna by the ancient alchemists, who believed that silver was associated with the Moon. It is often used for gravimetric analysis, exploiting the insolubility of the heavier silver halides which it is a common precursor to. Silver nitrate is used in many ways in organic synthesis, e.g. for deprotection and oxidations. Ag+ binds alkenes reversibly, and silver nitrate has been used to separate mixtures of alkenes by selective absorption. The resulting adduct can be decomposed with ammonia to release the free alkene.
Yellow silver carbonate, Ag2CO3 can be easily prepared by reacting aqueous solutions of sodium carbonate with a deficiency of silver nitrate. Its principal use is for the production of silver powder for use in microelectronics. It is reduced with formaldehyde, producing silver free of alkali metals:
Ag2CO3 + CH2O → 2 Ag + 2 CO2 + H2
Silver carbonate is also used as a reagent in organic synthesis such as the Koenigs–Knorr reaction. In the Fétizon oxidation, silver carbonate on celite acts as an oxidising agent to form lactones from diols. It is also employed to convert alkyl bromides into alcohols.
Silver fulminate, AgCNO, a powerful, touch-sensitive explosive used in percussion caps, is made by reaction of silver metal with nitric acid in the presence of ethanol. Other dangerously explosive silver compounds are silver azide, AgN3, formed by reaction of silver nitrate with sodium azide, and silver acetylide, Ag2C2, formed when silver reacts with acetylene gas in ammonia solution. In its most characteristic reaction, silver azide decomposes explosively, releasing nitrogen gas: given the photosensitivity of silver salts, this behaviour may be induced by shining a light on its crystals.
2 AgN3 (s) → 3 N2 (g) + 2 Ag (s)
Coordination compounds
Silver complexes tend to be similar to those of its lighter homologue copper. Silver(III) complexes tend to be rare and very easily reduced to the more stable lower oxidation states, though they are slightly more stable than those of copper(III). For instance, the square planar periodate [Ag(IO5OH)2]5− and tellurate [Ag{TeO4(OH)2}2]5− complexes may be prepared by oxidising silver(I) with alkaline peroxodisulfate. The yellow diamagnetic [AgF4]− is much less stable, fuming in moist air and reacting with glass.
Silver(II) complexes are more common. Like the valence isoelectronic copper(II) complexes, they are usually square planar and paramagnetic, which is increased by the greater field splitting for 4d electrons than for 3d electrons. Aqueous Ag2+, produced by oxidation of Ag+ by ozone, is a very strong oxidising agent, even in acidic solutions: it is stabilized in phosphoric acid due to complex formation. Peroxodisulfate oxidation is generally necessary to give the more stable complexes with heterocyclic amines, such as [Ag(py)4]2+ and [Ag(bipy)2]2+: these are stable provided the counterion cannot reduce the silver back to the +1 oxidation state. [AgF4]2− is also known in its violet barium salt, as are some silver(II) complexes with N- or O-donor ligands such as pyridine carboxylates.
By far the most important oxidation state for silver in complexes is +1. The Ag+ cation is diamagnetic, like its homologues Cu+ and Au+, as all three have closed-shell electron configurations with no unpaired electrons: its complexes are colourless provided the ligands are not too easily polarized such as I−. Ag+ forms salts with most anions, but it is reluctant to coordinate to oxygen and thus most of these salts are insoluble in water: the exceptions are the nitrate, perchlorate, and fluoride. The tetracoordinate tetrahedral aqueous ion [Ag(H2O)4]+ is known, but the characteristic geometry for the Ag+ cation is 2-coordinate linear. For example, silver chloride dissolves readily in excess aqueous ammonia to form [Ag(NH3)2]+; silver salts are dissolved in photography due to the formation of the thiosulfate complex [Ag(S2O3)2]3−; and cyanide extraction for silver (and gold) works by the formation of the complex [Ag(CN)2]−. Silver cyanide forms the linear polymer {Ag–C≡N→Ag–C≡N→}; silver thiocyanate has a similar structure, but forms a zigzag instead because of the sp3-hybridized sulfur atom. Chelating ligands are unable to form linear complexes and thus silver(I) complexes with them tend to form polymers; a few exceptions exist, such as the near-tetrahedral diphosphine and diarsine complexes [Ag(L–L)2]+.
Organometallic
Under standard conditions, silver does not form simple carbonyls, due to the weakness of the Ag–C bond. A few are known at very low temperatures around 6–15 K, such as the green, planar paramagnetic Ag(CO)3, which dimerizes at 25–30 K, probably by forming Ag–Ag bonds. Additionally, the silver carbonyl [Ag(CO)] [B(OTeF5)4] is known. Polymeric AgLX complexes with alkenes and alkynes are known, but their bonds are thermodynamically weaker than even those of the platinum complexes (though they are formed more readily than those of the analogous gold complexes): they are also quite unsymmetrical, showing the weak π bonding in group 11. Ag–C σ bonds may also be formed by silver(I), like copper(I) and gold(I), but the simple alkyls and aryls of silver(I) are even less stable than those of copper(I) (which tend to explode under ambient conditions). For example, poor thermal stability is reflected in the relative decomposition temperatures of AgMe (−50 °C) and CuMe (−15 °C) as well as those of PhAg (74 °C) and PhCu (100 °C).
The C–Ag bond is stabilized by perfluoroalkyl ligands, for example in AgCF(CF3)2. Alkenylsilver compounds are also more stable than their alkylsilver counterparts. Silver-NHC complexes are easily prepared, and are commonly used to prepare other NHC complexes by displacing labile ligands. For example, the reaction of the bis(NHC)silver(I) complex with bis(acetonitrile)palladium dichloride or chlorido(dimethyl sulfide)gold(I):
Intermetallic
Silver forms alloys with most other elements on the periodic table. The elements from groups 1–3, except for hydrogen, lithium, and beryllium, are very miscible with silver in the condensed phase and form intermetallic compounds; those from groups 4–9 are only poorly miscible; the elements in groups 10–14 (except boron and carbon) have very complex Ag–M phase diagrams and form the most commercially important alloys; and the remaining elements on the periodic table have no consistency in their Ag–M phase diagrams. By far the most important such alloys are those with copper: most silver used for coinage and jewellery is in reality a silver–copper alloy, and the eutectic mixture is used in vacuum brazing. The two metals are completely miscible as liquids but not as solids; their importance in industry comes from the fact that their properties tend to be suitable over a wide range of variation in silver and copper concentration, although most useful alloys tend to be richer in silver than the eutectic mixture (71.9% silver and 28.1% copper by weight, and 60.1% silver and 28.1% copper by atom).
Most other binary alloys are of little use: for example, silver–gold alloys are too soft and silver–cadmium alloys too toxic. Ternary alloys have much greater importance: dental amalgams are usually silver–tin–mercury alloys, silver–copper–gold alloys are very important in jewellery (usually on the gold-rich side) and have a vast range of hardnesses and colours, silver–copper–zinc alloys are useful as low-melting brazing alloys, and silver–cadmium–indium (involving three adjacent elements on the periodic table) is useful in nuclear reactors because of its high thermal neutron capture cross-section, good conduction of heat, mechanical stability, and resistance to corrosion in hot water.
Etymology
The word silver appears in Old English in various spellings, such as seolfor and siolfor. It is cognate with Old High German silabar; Gothic silubr; or Old Norse silfr, all ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic *silubra. The Balto-Slavic words for silver are rather similar to the Germanic ones (e.g. Russian серебро [serebró], Polish srebro, Lithuanian sidãbras), as is the Celtiberian form silabur. They may have a common Indo-European origin, although their morphology rather suggest a non-Indo-European Wanderwort. Some scholars have thus proposed a Paleo-Hispanic origin, pointing to the Basque form zilharr as an evidence.
The chemical symbol Ag is from the Latin word for silver, argentum (compare Ancient Greek ἄργυρος, árgyros), from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂erǵ- (formerly reconstructed as *arǵ-), meaning 'white' or 'shining'. This was the usual Proto-Indo-European word for the metal, whose reflexes are missing in Germanic and Balto-Slavic.
History
Silver was known in prehistoric times: the three metals of group 11, copper, silver, and gold, occur in the elemental form in nature and were probably used as the first primitive forms of money as opposed to simple bartering. However, unlike copper, silver did not lead to the growth of metallurgy on account of its low structural strength, and was more often used ornamentally or as money. Since silver is more reactive than gold, supplies of native silver were much more limited than those of gold. For example, silver was more expensive than gold in Egypt until around the fifteenth century BC: the Egyptians are thought to have separated gold from silver by heating the metals with salt, and then reducing the silver chloride produced to the metal.
The situation changed with the discovery of cupellation, a technique that allowed silver metal to be extracted from its ores. While slag heaps found in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea indicate that silver was being separated from lead as early as the 4th millennium BC, and one of the earliest silver extraction centres in Europe was Sardinia in the early Chalcolithic period, these techniques did not spread widely until later,
when it spread throughout the region and beyond. The origins of silver production in India, China, and Japan were almost certainly equally ancient, but are not well-documented due to their great age.
When the Phoenicians first came to what is now Spain, they obtained so much silver that they could not fit it all on their ships, and as a result used silver to weight their anchors instead of lead. By the time of the Greek and Roman civilizations, silver coins were a staple of the economy: the Greeks were already extracting silver from galena by the 7th century BC, and the rise of Athens was partly made possible by the nearby silver mines at Laurium, from which they extracted about 30 tonnes a year from 600 to 300 BC. The stability of the Roman currency relied to a high degree on the supply of silver bullion, mostly from Spain, which Roman miners produced on a scale unparalleled before the discovery of the New World. Reaching a peak production of 200 tonnes per year, an estimated silver stock of 10,000 tonnes circulated in the Roman economy in the middle of the second century AD, five to ten times larger than the combined amount of silver available to medieval Europe and the Abbasid Caliphate around AD 800. The Romans also recorded the extraction of silver in central and northern Europe in the same time period. This production came to a nearly complete halt with the fall of the Roman Empire, not to resume until the time of Charlemagne: by then, tens of thousands of tonnes of silver had already been extracted.
Central Europe became the centre of silver production during the Middle Ages, as the Mediterranean deposits exploited by the ancient civilisations had been exhausted. Silver mines were opened in Bohemia, Saxony, Alsace, the Lahn region, Siegerland, Silesia, Hungary, Norway, Steiermark, Schwaz, and the southern Black Forest. Most of these ores were quite rich in silver and could simply be separated by hand from the remaining rock and then smelted; some deposits of native silver were also encountered. Many of these mines were soon exhausted, but a few of them remained active until the Industrial Revolution, before which the world production of silver was around a meagre 50 tonnes per year. In the Americas, high temperature silver-lead cupellation technology was developed by pre-Inca civilizations as early as AD 60–120; silver deposits in India, China, Japan, and pre-Columbian America continued to be mined during this time.
With the discovery of America and the plundering of silver by the Spanish conquistadors, Central and South America became the dominant producers of silver until around the beginning of the 18th century, particularly Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina: the last of these countries later took its name from that of the metal that composed so much of its mineral wealth. The silver trade gave way to a global network of exchange. As one historian put it, silver "went round the world and made the world go round." Much of this silver ended up in the hands of the Chinese. A Portuguese merchant in 1621 noted that silver "wanders throughout all the world... before flocking to China, where it remains as if at its natural center." Still, much of it went to Spain, allowing Spanish rulers to pursue military and political ambitions in both Europe and the Americas. "New World mines", concluded several historians, "supported the Spanish empire."
In the 19th century, primary production of silver moved to North America, particularly Canada, Mexico, and Nevada in the United States: some secondary production from lead and zinc ores also took place in Europe, and deposits in Siberia and the Russian Far East as well as in Australia were mined. Poland emerged as an important producer during the 1970s after the discovery of copper deposits that were rich in silver, before the centre of production returned to the Americas the following decade. Today, Peru and Mexico are still among the primary silver producers, but the distribution of silver production around the world is quite balanced and about one-fifth of the silver supply comes from recycling instead of new production.
Symbolic role
Silver plays a certain role in mythology and has found various usage as a metaphor and in folklore. The Greek poet Hesiod's Works and Days (lines 109–201) lists different ages of man named after metals like gold, silver, bronze and iron to account for successive ages of humanity. Ovid's Metamorphoses contains another retelling of the story, containing an illustration of silver's metaphorical use of signifying the second-best in a series, better than bronze but worse than gold:
In folklore, silver was commonly thought to have mystic powers: for example, a bullet cast from silver is often supposed in such folklore the only weapon that is effective against a werewolf, witch, or other monsters. From this the idiom of a silver bullet developed into figuratively referring to any simple solution with very high effectiveness or almost miraculous results, as in the widely discussed software engineering paper "No Silver Bullet." Other powers attributed to silver include detection of poison and facilitation of passage into the mythical realm of fairies.
Silver production has also inspired figurative language. Clear references to cupellation occur throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, such as in Jeremiah's rebuke to Judah: "The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them." (Jeremiah 6:19–20) Jeremiah was also aware of sheet silver, exemplifying the malleability and ductility of the metal: "Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men." (Jeremiah 10:9)
Silver also has more negative cultural meanings: the idiom thirty pieces of silver, referring to a reward for betrayal, references the bribe Judas Iscariot is said in the New Testament to have taken from Jewish leaders in Jerusalem to turn Jesus of Nazareth over to soldiers of the high priest Caiaphas. Ethically, silver also symbolizes greed and degradation of consciousness; this is the negative aspect, the perverting of its value.
Occurrence and production
The abundance of silver in the Earth's crust is 0.08 parts per million, almost exactly the same as that of mercury. It mostly occurs in sulfide ores, especially acanthite and argentite, Ag2S. Argentite deposits sometimes also contain native silver when they occur in reducing environments, and when in contact with salt water they are converted to chlorargyrite (including horn silver), AgCl, which is prevalent in Chile and New South Wales. Most other silver minerals are silver pnictides or chalcogenides; they are generally lustrous semiconductors. Most true silver deposits, as opposed to argentiferous deposits of other metals, came from Tertiary period vulcanism.
The principal sources of silver are the ores of copper, copper-nickel, lead, and lead-zinc obtained from Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, China, Australia, Chile, Poland and Serbia. Peru, Bolivia and Mexico have been mining silver since 1546, and are still major world producers. Top silver-producing mines are Cannington (Australia), Fresnillo (Mexico), San Cristóbal (Bolivia), Antamina (Peru), Rudna (Poland), and Penasquito (Mexico). Top near-term mine development projects through 2015 are Pascua Lama (Chile), Navidad (Argentina), Jaunicipio (Mexico), Malku Khota (Bolivia), and Hackett River (Canada). In Central Asia, Tajikistan is known to have some of the largest silver deposits in the world.
Silver is usually found in nature combined with other metals, or in minerals that contain silver compounds, generally in the form of sulfides such as galena (lead sulfide) or cerussite (lead carbonate). So the primary production of silver requires the smelting and then cupellation of argentiferous lead ores, a historically important process. Lead melts at 327 °C, lead oxide at 888 °C and silver melts at 960 °C. To separate the silver, the alloy is melted again at the high temperature of 960 °C to 1000 °C in an oxidizing environment. The lead oxidises to lead monoxide, then known as litharge, which captures the oxygen from the other metals present. The liquid lead oxide is removed or absorbed by capillary action into the hearth linings.
Ag(s) + 2Pb(s) + O2(g) → 2PbO(absorbed) + Ag(l)
Today, silver metal is primarily produced instead as a secondary byproduct of electrolytic refining of copper, lead, and zinc, and by application of the Parkes process on lead bullion from ore that also contains silver. In such processes, silver follows the non-ferrous metal in question through its concentration and smelting, and is later purified out. For example, in copper production, purified copper is electrolytically deposited on the cathode, while the less reactive precious metals such as silver and gold collect under the anode as the so-called "anode slime". This is then separated and purified of base metals by treatment with hot aerated dilute sulfuric acid and heating with lime or silica flux, before the silver is purified to over 99.9% purity via electrolysis in nitrate solution.
Commercial-grade fine silver is at least 99.9% pure, and purities greater than 99.999% are available. In 2022, Mexico was the top producer of silver (6,300 tonnes or 24.2% of the world's total of 26,000 t), followed by China (3,600 t) and Peru (3,100 t).
In marine environments
Silver concentration is low in seawater (pmol/L). Levels vary by depth and between water bodies. Dissolved silver concentrations range from 0.3 pmol/L in coastal surface waters to 22.8 pmol/L in pelagic deep waters. Analyzing the presence and dynamics of silver in marine environments is difficult due to these particularly low concentrations and complex interactions in the environment. Although a rare trace metal, concentrations are greatly impacted by fluvial, aeolian, atmospheric, and upwelling inputs, as well as anthropogenic inputs via discharge, waste disposal, and emissions from industrial companies. Other internal processes such as decomposition of organic matter may be a source of dissolved silver in deeper waters, which feeds into some surface waters through upwelling and vertical mixing.
In the Atlantic and Pacific, silver concentrations are minimal at the surface but rise in deeper waters. Silver is taken up by plankton in the photic zone, remobilized with depth, and enriched in deep waters. Silver is transported from the Atlantic to the other oceanic water masses. In North Pacific waters, silver is remobilized at a slower rate and increasingly enriched compared to deep Atlantic waters. Silver has increasing concentrations that follow the major oceanic conveyor belt that cycles water and nutrients from the North Atlantic to the South Atlantic to the North Pacific.
There is not an extensive amount of data focused on how marine life is affected by silver despite the likely deleterious effects it could have on organisms through bioaccumulation, association with particulate matters, and sorption. Not until about 1984 did scientists begin to understand the chemical characteristics of silver and the potential toxicity. In fact, mercury is the only other trace metal that surpasses the toxic effects of silver; however, the full extent of silver toxicity is not expected in oceanic conditions because of its ability to transfer into nonreactive biological compounds.
In one study, the presence of excess ionic silver and silver nanoparticles caused bioaccumulation effects on zebrafish organs and altered the chemical pathways within their gills. In addition, very early experimental studies demonstrated how the toxic effects of silver fluctuate with salinity and other parameters, as well as between life stages and different species such as finfish, molluscs, and crustaceans. Another study found raised concentrations of silver in the muscles and liver of dolphins and whales, indicating pollution of this metal within recent decades. Silver is not an easy metal for an organism to eliminate and elevated concentrations can cause death.
Monetary use
The earliest known coins were minted in the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor around 600 BC. The coins of Lydia were made of electrum, which is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, that was available within the territory of Lydia. Since that time, silver standards, in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver, have been widespread throughout the world until the 20th century. Notable silver coins through the centuries include the Greek drachma, the Roman denarius, the Islamic dirham, the karshapana from ancient India and rupee from the time of the Mughal Empire (grouped with copper and gold coins to create a trimetallic standard), and the Spanish dollar.
The ratio between the amount of silver used for coinage and that used for other purposes has fluctuated greatly over time; for example, in wartime, more silver tends to have been used for coinage to finance the war.
Today, silver bullion has the ISO 4217 currency code XAG, one of only four precious metals to have one (the others being palladium, platinum, and gold). Silver coins are produced from cast rods or ingots, rolled to the correct thickness, heat-treated, and then used to cut blanks from. These blanks are then milled and minted in a coining press; modern coining presses can produce 8000 silver coins per hour.
Price
Silver prices are normally quoted in troy ounces. One troy ounce is equal to 31.1034768 grams. The London silver fix is published every working day at noon London time. This price is determined by several major international banks and is used by London bullion market members for trading that day. Prices are most commonly shown as the United States dollar (USD), the Pound sterling (GBP), and the Euro (EUR).
Applications
Jewellery and silverware
The major use of silver besides coinage throughout most of history was in the manufacture of jewellery and other general-use items, and this continues to be a major use today. Examples include table silver for cutlery, for which silver is highly suited due to its antibacterial properties. Western concert flutes are usually plated with or made out of sterling silver; in fact, most silverware is only silver-plated rather than made out of pure silver; the silver is normally put in place by electroplating. Silver-plated glass (as opposed to metal) is used for mirrors, vacuum flasks, and Christmas tree decorations.
Because pure silver is very soft, most silver used for these purposes is alloyed with copper, with finenesses of 925/1000, 835/1000, and 800/1000 being common. One drawback is the easy tarnishing of silver in the presence of hydrogen sulfide and its derivatives. Including precious metals such as palladium, platinum, and gold gives resistance to tarnishing but is quite costly; base metals like zinc, cadmium, silicon, and germanium do not totally prevent corrosion and tend to affect the lustre and colour of the alloy. Electrolytically refined pure silver plating is effective at increasing resistance to tarnishing. The usual solutions for restoring the lustre of tarnished silver are dipping baths that reduce the silver sulfide surface to metallic silver, and cleaning off the layer of tarnish with a paste; the latter approach also has the welcome side effect of polishing the silver concurrently.
Medicine
In medicine, silver is incorporated into wound dressings and used as an antibiotic coating in medical devices. Wound dressings containing silver sulfadiazine or silver nanomaterials are used to treat external infections. Silver is also used in some medical applications, such as urinary catheters (where tentative evidence indicates it reduces catheter-related urinary tract infections) and in endotracheal breathing tubes (where evidence suggests it reduces ventilator-associated pneumonia). The silver ion is bioactive and in sufficient concentration readily kills bacteria in vitro. Silver ions interfere with enzymes in the bacteria that transport nutrients, form structures, and synthesise cell walls; these ions also bond with the bacteria's genetic material. Silver and silver nanoparticles are used as an antimicrobial in a variety of industrial, healthcare, and domestic application: for example, infusing clothing with nanosilver particles thus allows them to stay odourless for longer. Bacteria can, however, develop resistance to the antimicrobial action of silver. Silver compounds are taken up by the body like mercury compounds, but lack the toxicity of the latter. Silver and its alloys are used in cranial surgery to replace bone, and silver–tin–mercury amalgams are used in dentistry. Silver diammine fluoride, the fluoride salt of a coordination complex with the formula [Ag(NH3)2]F, is a topical medicament (drug) used to treat and prevent dental caries (cavities) and relieve dentinal hypersensitivity.
Electronics
Silver is very important in electronics for conductors and electrodes on account of its high electrical conductivity even when tarnished. Bulk silver and silver foils were used to make vacuum tubes, and continue to be used today in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, circuits, and their components. For example, silver is used in high quality connectors for RF, VHF, and higher frequencies, particularly in tuned circuits such as cavity filters where conductors cannot be scaled by more than 6%. Printed circuits and RFID antennas are made with silver paints, Powdered silver and its alloys are used in paste preparations for conductor layers and electrodes, ceramic capacitors, and other ceramic components.
Brazing alloys
Silver-containing brazing alloys are used for brazing metallic materials, mostly cobalt, nickel, and copper-based alloys, tool steels, and precious metals. The basic components are silver and copper, with other elements selected according to the specific application desired: examples include zinc, tin, cadmium, palladium, manganese, and phosphorus. Silver provides increased workability and corrosion resistance during usage.
Chemical equipment
Silver is useful in the manufacture of chemical equipment on account of its low chemical reactivity, high thermal conductivity, and being easily workable. Silver crucibles (alloyed with 0.15% nickel to avoid recrystallisation of the metal at red heat) are used for carrying out alkaline fusion. Copper and silver are also used when doing chemistry with fluorine. Equipment made to work at high temperatures is often silver-plated. Silver and its alloys with gold are used as wire or ring seals for oxygen compressors and vacuum equipment.
Catalysis
Silver metal is a good catalyst for oxidation reactions; in fact it is somewhat too good for most purposes, as finely divided silver tends to result in complete oxidation of organic substances to carbon dioxide and water, and hence coarser-grained silver tends to be used instead. For instance, 15% silver supported on α-Al2O3 or silicates is a catalyst for the oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide at 230–270 °C. Dehydrogenation of methanol to formaldehyde is conducted at 600–720 °C over silver gauze or crystals as the catalyst, as is dehydrogenation of isopropanol to acetone. In the gas phase, glycol yields glyoxal and ethanol yields acetaldehyde, while organic amines are dehydrated to nitriles.
Photography
Before the advent of digital photography, which is now dominant, the photosensitivity of silver halides was exploited for use in traditional film photography. The photosensitive emulsion used in black-and-white photography is a suspension of silver halide crystals in gelatin, possibly mixed in with some noble metal compounds for improved photosensitivity, developing, and tuning.
Colour photography requires the addition of special dye components and sensitisers, so that the initial black-and-white silver image couples with a different dye component. The original silver images are bleached off and the silver is then recovered and recycled. Silver nitrate is the starting material in all cases.
The market for silver nitrate and silver halides for photography has rapidly declined with the rise of digital cameras. From the peak global demand for photographic silver in 1999 (267,000,000 troy ounces or 8,304.6 tonnes) the market contracted almost 70% by 2013.
Nanoparticles
Nanosilver particles, between 10 and 100 nanometres in size, are used in many applications. They are used in conductive inks for printed electronics, and have a much lower melting point than larger silver particles of micrometre size. They are also used medicinally in antibacterials and antifungals in much the same way as larger silver particles. In addition, according to the European Union Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON), silver nanoparticles are used both in pigments, as well as cosmetics.
Miscellanea
Pure silver metal is used as a food colouring. It has the E174 designation and is approved in the European Union. Traditional Indian and Pakistani dishes sometimes include decorative silver foil known as vark, and in various other cultures, silver dragée are used to decorate cakes, cookies, and other dessert items.
Photochromic lenses include silver halides, so that ultraviolet light in natural daylight liberates metallic silver, darkening the lenses. The silver halides are reformed in lower light intensities. Colourless silver chloride films are used in radiation detectors. Zeolite sieves incorporating Ag+ ions are used to desalinate seawater during rescues, using silver ions to precipitate chloride as silver chloride. Silver is also used for its antibacterial properties for water sanitisation, but the application of this is limited by limits on silver consumption. Colloidal silver is similarly used to disinfect closed swimming pools; while it has the advantage of not giving off a smell like hypochlorite treatments do, colloidal silver is not effective enough for more contaminated open swimming pools. Small silver iodide crystals are used in cloud seeding to cause rain.
The Texas Legislature designated silver the official precious metal of Texas in 2007.
Precautions
Silver compounds have low toxicity compared to those of most other heavy metals, as they are poorly absorbed by the human body when ingested, and that which does get absorbed is rapidly converted to insoluble silver compounds or complexed by metallothionein. However, silver fluoride and silver nitrate are caustic and can cause tissue damage, resulting in gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, falling blood pressure, cramps, paralysis, and respiratory arrest. Animals repeatedly dosed with silver salts have been observed to experience anaemia, slowed growth, necrosis of the liver, and fatty degeneration of the liver and kidneys; rats implanted with silver foil or injected with colloidal silver have been observed to develop localised tumours. Parenterally admistered colloidal silver causes acute silver poisoning. Some waterborne species are particularly sensitive to silver salts and those of the other precious metals; in most situations, however, silver does not pose serious environmental hazards.
In large doses, silver and compounds containing it can be absorbed into the circulatory system and become deposited in various body tissues, leading to argyria, which results in a blue-grayish pigmentation of the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. Argyria is rare, and so far as is known, does not otherwise harm a person's health, though it is disfiguring and usually permanent. Mild forms of argyria are sometimes mistaken for cyanosis, a blue tint on skin, caused by lack of oxygen.
Metallic silver, like copper, is an antibacterial agent, which was known to the ancients and first scientifically investigated and named the oligodynamic effect by Carl Nägeli. Silver ions damage the metabolism of bacteria even at such low concentrations as 0.01–0.1 milligrams per litre; metallic silver has a similar effect due to the formation of silver oxide. This effect is lost in the presence of sulfur due to the extreme insolubility of silver sulfide.
Some silver compounds are very explosive, such as the nitrogen compounds silver azide, silver amide, and silver fulminate, as well as silver acetylide, silver oxalate, and silver(II) oxide. They can explode on heating, force, drying, illumination, or sometimes spontaneously. To avoid the formation of such compounds, ammonia and acetylene should be kept away from silver equipment. Salts of silver with strongly oxidising acids such as silver chlorate and silver nitrate can explode on contact with materials that can be readily oxidised, such as organic compounds, sulfur and soot.
See also
Silver coin
Silver medal
Free silver
List of countries by silver production
List of silver compounds
Silver as an investment
Silverpoint drawing
References
Cited sources
Brumby, Andreas; et al. (2008). "Silver, Silver Compounds, and Silver Alloys". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. doi:10.1002/14356007.a24_107.pub2. ISBN 978-3527306732.
Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.
Weeks, Mary Elvira; Leichester, Henry M. (1968). Discovery of the Elements. Easton, PA: Journal of Chemical Education. ISBN 978-0-7661-3872-8. LCCN 68-15217.
External links
Silver at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
The Silver Institute, industry association website
Collection of silver items and samples from Theodore Gray
Silver entry in the NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Silver prices – current spot prices on the global commodities markets, from Bloomberg L.P. |
Richard_Powers | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Powers | [
504
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Powers"
] | Richard Powers (born June 18, 1957) is an American novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology. His novel The Echo Maker won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction. He has also won many other awards over the course of his career, including a MacArthur Fellowship. As of 2023, Powers has published thirteen novels and has taught at the University of Illinois and Stanford University. He won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory.
Life and work
Early life
One of five children, Powers was born in Evanston, Illinois. His family later moved a few miles west to Lincolnwood, where his father was a local school principal. When Powers was 11, they moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where his father had accepted a position at International School Bangkok, which Powers attended through his freshman year, ending in 1972. During that time outside the U.S., he developed skills in vocal music and proficiency in cello, guitar, saxophone, and clarinet. He also became an avid reader, enjoying nonfiction primarily and classics such as the Iliad and the Odyssey.
The family returned to the U.S. when Powers was 16. Following graduation in 1975 from DeKalb High School in DeKalb, Illinois, he enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC) with a major in physics, which he switched to English literature during his first semester. He earned a BA in 1978 and an MA in Literature in 1980. He decided not to pursue a PhD partly because of his aversion to strict specialization, which had been one reason for his early transfer from physics to English, and partially because he had observed in graduate students and their professors a lack of pleasure in reading and writing (as portrayed in Galatea 2.2).
Professorships and awards
In 2010 and 2013, Powers was a Stein Visiting Writer at Stanford University, during which time he partly assisted in the lab of biochemist Aaron Straight.
Powers was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1989. He received a Lannan Literary Award in 1999.
Powers was appointed the Swanlund Professor of English at UIUC in 1996, where he is currently an emeritus professor.
On August 22, 2013, Stanford University announced that Powers had been named the Phil and Penny Knight Professor of Creative Writing in the Department of English.
Novels
Powers learned computer programming at Illinois as a user of PLATO and moved to Boston to work as a programmer. One Saturday in 1980, Powers saw the 1914 photograph "Young Farmers" by August Sander at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and was so inspired that he quit his job two days later to write a novel about the people in the photograph. Powers spent the next two years writing the book, Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, which was published by William Morrow in 1985. It comprises three alternating threads: a novella featuring the three young men in the photo during World War I, a technology magazine editor who is obsessed with the photo, and the author's critical and historical musings about the mechanics of photography and the life of Henry Ford. It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and received Rosenthal Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. It also received a Special Citation from PEN Hemingway Awards.
Powers moved to the Netherlands, where he wrote Prisoner's Dilemma about The Walt Disney Company and nuclear warfare.
He followed with The Gold Bug Variations about genetics, music, and computer science. It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.
In 1993, Powers wrote Operation Wandering Soul about an agonized young pediatrician. It was a finalist for the National Book Award.
In 1995, Powers published the Pygmalion story Galatea 2.2 about an artificial intelligence experiment gone awry. It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.
In 1998, Powers wrote Gain about a 150-year-old chemical company and a woman who lives near one of its plants and succumbs to ovarian cancer. It won the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction in 1999.
2000's Plowing the Dark tells of a Seattle research team building a groundbreaking virtual reality while an American teacher is held hostage in Beirut. It received Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Powers wrote The Time of Our Singing in 2003. It is about the musician children of an interracial couple who met at Marian Anderson's famed 1939 concert on the Lincoln Memorial steps.
Powers's ninth novel, 2006's The Echo Maker, is about a Nebraska man who suffers head trauma in a truck accident and believes his caregiver sister is an imposter. It won a National Book Award and was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist.
Powers's tenth novel, 2009's Generosity: An Enhancement, has writing professor Russell Stone encountering his former student, Thassa, an Algerian woman whose constant happiness is exploited by journalists and scientists.
In 2014, Powers wrote Orfeo about Peter Els, a retired music composition instructor and avant-garde composer who is mistaken for a bio-terrorist after being discovered with a makeshift genetics lab in his house.
The Overstory, published in April 2018, is about nine Americans whose unique life experiences with trees bring them together to address the destruction of forests. It won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the $75,000 2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and was runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
Bewilderment, published in September 2021, was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize and longlisted for the National Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. It is described as "an astrobiologist thinks of a creative way to help his rare and troubled son in Richard Powers’ deeply moving and brilliantly original novel."
Bibliography
—— (1985). Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance. HarperCollins. ISBN 0688042015.
—— (1988). Prisoner's Dilemma. McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070506124.
—— (1991). The Gold Bug Variations. William Morrow. ISBN 0688098916.
—— (1993). Operation Wandering Soul. HarperCollins. ISBN 0688115489.
—— (1995). Galatea 2.2. Farrar Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0374199485.
—— (1998). Gain. Farrar Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0312204094.
—— (2000). Plowing the Dark. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0374234612.
—— (2003). The Time of Our Singing. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0374277826.
—— (2006). The Echo Maker. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0374146357.
—— (2009). Generosity: An Enhancement. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0374161143.
—— (2014). Orfeo. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393240825.
—— (2018). The Overstory. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393635522.
—— (2021). Bewilderment. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393881141.
—— (2024). Playground. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9781324086031.
Awards and recognition
References
External links
Official website
Richard Powers, Professor Emeritus of English at UIUC
Archived official website with extensive bibliography
Kevin Berger (2002). "Richard Powers, The Art of Fiction No. 175". The Paris Review. Winter 2002-2003 (164).
"Surprising Powers: Richard Powers' Scientific Humanism" by Stephen Burt from Slate
"The Last Generalist: An Interview with Richard Powers" by Jeffrey Williams from The Minnesota Review
Richard Powers talks with Alec Michod in The Believer
Richard Powers Course at RIT.
Richard Powers (I) at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Richard Powers at Library of Congress, with 19 library catalog records
Review of "The Overstory" in WA-Post. [1] |
Jayne_Anne_Phillips | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayne_Anne_Phillips | [
504
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayne_Anne_Phillips"
] | Jayne Anne Phillips (born July 19, 1952) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer who was born in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia.
Education
Phillips graduated from West Virginia University, earning a B.A. in 1974, and later received an M.F.A. in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa.
Teaching
Phillips has held teaching positions at several colleges and universities, including Harvard University, Williams College, Brandeis University, and Boston University. She is currently Professor of English and founder/director of the Rutgers University–Newark Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program. In 2007, The Atlantic magazine named Phillips' MFA program at Rutgers–Newark to its list of "Five Up-and-Coming" creative writing programs in the United States.
Writing career
Early career
During the mid-1970s, Phillips left West Virginia for California, embarking on a cross-country trip that would lead to numerous jobs, experiences, and encounters that would greatly affect her fiction, with its focus on lonely, lost souls and struggling survivors.
In 1976, Truck Press published her first short story collection Sweethearts, for which Phillips earned a Pushcart Prize and the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines Fels Award.
Sweethearts was followed in 1978 by a second small-press collection, Counting, issued by Vehicle Editions. Counting earned Phillips greater recognition and the St. Lawrence Award.
Her next collection, Black Tickets, published by Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence in 1979 when she was 26, was her first book of stories and brought her national attention as a talented and important writer. Black Tickets contained three types of stories: one-page fictions, inner soliloquies, and family dramas. These stories focused on her characters' loneliness, alienation, and unsuccessful searches for happiness. Black Tickets is mentioned in the 2006 lectures for the Modern Scholar series installment From Here to Infinity, by Professor Michael D. C. Drout, who refers to her style—which he asserts was a direct influence on William Gibson's 1984 cyberpunk novel Neuromancer—as a "headlong rush of story and description". Called "the unmistakable work of early genius" by Tillie Olsen, Black Tickets was praised by Raymond Carver: "These stories of America's disenfranchised – men and women light-years away from the American Dream – are quite unlike any in our literature ... this book is a crooked beauty." Black Tickets was awarded the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
In 1984, Phillips published her first novel, Machine Dreams, "a remarkable novelistic debut and an enduring literary achievement," according to the New York Times. Machine Dreams is a chronicle of the Hampson family from World War II to the Vietnam War. A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist in Fiction, was one of 12 Best Books of the Year cited by the New York Times. It made several Bestseller lists and was optioned as a film by actor Jessica Lange, who wrote the screenplay. Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer said that Machine Dreams "reaches one's deepest emotions. No number of books read or films seen can deaden one to the intimate act of art by which this wonderful young writer has penetrated the definitive experience of her generation." Fast Lanes, a 1987 collection of ten stories, all first-person narratives, was praised as work by a writer "in love with the American language." One of the stories from Fast Lanes, "Rayme," had been published in 1984 in Granta's Dirty Realism issue.
In 1994, Phillips published her second novel, Shelter, a portrait of the loss of innocence at a West Virginia girls' camp in the summer of 1963. Called "a rich, vivid novel of moral and psychological complexity destined to stand alongside works by Faulkner and other Southern masters" (Vanity Fair) and "a defiant, frighteningly beautiful novel as disturbing as its setting, Shelter feels like Phillips' bid for immortality" (Harper's Bazaar), Shelter was awarded an Academy Award in Literature by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Later career
Phillips' next novel was MotherKind (2000), winner of the Massachusetts Book Award, a story of intergenerational love and struggles within a family facing many changes. It is praised as one of the best novels about mothers and infants and the mother/daughter bond.
Lark and Termite, her fourth novel, was published by Knopf in 2009 to positive reviews and was selected as one of five finalists for the National Book Award in fiction. Lark and Termite was also a Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle in Fiction; Lark et Termite (French translation by Marc Amfreville) was a Finalist for the Prix de Medici Etrangers (Paris).
Quiet Dell, Phillips' fifth novel, based on the true story of the 1931 murders of Chicago widow Asta Eicher and her three children in the hamlet of Quiet Dell, West Virginia, is a fictional portrayal of one of the nation's first sensationalized serial murders. Quiet Dell takes as its protagonist nine-year-old Annabel Eicher (victim, with her family, of con man Harry Powers, who found his victims through Depression-era matrimonial agencies) and Emily Thornhill, a Chicago Tribune journalist who commits herself to finding justice for the Eichers. A Kirkus Review Fiction Pick of the Year and Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year, Quiet Dell was called "a story both splendid and irreparably sad" by the Chicago Tribune: "As Phillips has proved throughout her decades of fiction writing, there is evil in the world but there are some who will stand in its way." Quiet Dell was praised by the Philadelphia Review of Books: "It is the texture of the telling that elevates this recounting from true crime to the realm of literary eminence."
Phillips' works have been translated and published in twelve foreign languages. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Bunting Fellowship from the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellowship, and numerous other awards. In 2024, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel Night Watch.
Selected works
Short fiction
Sweethearts (1976), prose vignettes
Counting (1978), prose vignettes
Black Tickets (1979), short story collection
How Mickey Made It (1981), short story
The Secret Country (1982), short story
Fast Lanes (1987), short story collection
Novels
Machine Dreams (1984)
Shelter (1994)
MotherKind (2000)
Lark and Termite (2008)
Quiet Dell (2013)
Night Watch (2023)
References
External links
Official website
Jayne Anne Phillips, An Interview at Narrative Magazine
Review of Lark and Termite in The New York Times
Q&A: Phillips Leads Newark's New MFA at Poets & Writers
Faculty Page Archived September 14, 2015, at the Wayback Machine at Rutgers University–Newark
Interview with Jayne Anne Phillips at The Short Review
Venus on Pikes Peak: Jayne Anne Phillips in The Boston Phoenix |
Hernan_Diaz_(writer) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernan_Diaz_(writer) | [
504
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernan_Diaz_(writer)"
] | Hernan Diaz (born 1973) is an Argentine-American writer. His 2017 novel In the Distance was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He also received a Whiting Award. For his second novel Trust, he was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Personal life
Diaz was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When he was two, his family moved to Sweden after the military coup. His family returned to Argentina after democracy was restored in 1983. Diaz was interested in writing at an early age, and even "pretended" to write, showing his parents his "stories." After obtaining a Licenciate degree in Literature (Licenciatura en Letras) in the University of Buenos Aires, Diaz moved to London to study an MA degree at King's College.
Diaz moved to New York in 1999 for additional studies. He received his PhD from New York University, advised by Avital Ronell and Sylvia Molloy. He filed a dissertation on a topic that straddles comparative literature, Latin American literature, and philosophy.
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.
Career
Diaz has received fellowships from the New York Public Library's Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Ingmar Bergman Estate.
Diaz has published two novels, which have been published in more than 20 languages. His essays and short stories have been published in The Paris Review, Granta, Playboy, The Yale Review, and McSweeney's.
Aside from his writing, he is the associate director of the Hispanic Institute for Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University, and serves as the managing editor of the Spanish-language journal Revista Hispánica Moderna.
In 2019, he won a Whiting Award, which provides "$50,000 each to ten diverse emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama." The award is provided "based on the criteria of early-career achievement and the promise of superior literary work to come."
His second novel, Trust, won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize. It was also named one of the "10 Best Books of 2022" by The Washington Post and The New York Times.
Selected works
Borges, Between History and Eternity (2012)
Borges, Between History and Eternity was published by Continuum on August 2, 2012. The book considers "key aspects of Borges's work — the reciprocal determinations of politics, philosophy and literature; the simultaneously confining and emancipating nature of language; and the incipient program for a literature of the Americas."
In the Distance (2017)
In the Distance was published on October 10, 2017 by Coffee House Press.
Publishers Weekly, Feminist Press, PANK, and The Paris Review named it one of the top books of 2017, and Literary Hub named it one of "The 20 Best Novels of the Decade."
The book has received the following accolades:
William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for Fiction (2018)
VCU Cabell First Novelist Award (2018)
Prix Page America Award (2018)
New American Voices Award (2018)
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist (2018)
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction finalist (2018)
Trust (2022)
Trust was published by Riverhead Books on May 3, 2022. It received the 2022 Kirkus Prize and 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Publications
Novels
In the Distance (2017), ISBN 978-1-56689-488-3
Trust (2022), ISBN 9780593420317
Nonfiction books
Borges, Between History and Eternity (2012), ISBN 9781441197795
Short stories
"The Wife of the Lion" (2018) in The Kenyon Review
"1,111 Emblems" (2018) in Playboy
"'I Am Going to Speak to You about Anxiety'" (2018) in Granta
"The Stay" (2018) in The Paris Review
"The World of Interiors" (2022) in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern
"The Generation" (2022) in The Atlantic
"Triptych" (2023) in Harper's Magazine
Essays
"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable" (2017) in The Paris Review
"If I Had a Sense of Beauty" (2017) in The Paris Review
"Monument" (2017) on Kadist
"On Joanna Walsh's Worlds from the Word's End" (2017) on Publishers Weekly
"Who Gets to Be a Mad Scientist?" (2018) in The Paris Review
"On Frankenstein, A Monster of a Book" (2018) in The Paris Review
"We Stigmatize Accents, But Language Belongs To Everyone" (2018) on PBS NewsHour
"A Year In Reading" (2018) on The Millions
"Tove Jansson's 'The Island'" (2019) in The Paris Review (translation)
"Tove Jansson's 'Once, At A Park'" (2019) in The Paris Review (translation)
"A Reading List On Loneliness" (2020) in Electric Literature
"The Heart of Fiction" (2021) in The Yale Review
"Contemporary Authors On Their Favorite New York City Novels" (2022) in The New York Times
"Let Me Tell You a True Story" (2023) on BookPage
== References == |
Joshua_Cohen_(writer) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Cohen_(writer) | [
504
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Cohen_(writer)"
] | Joshua Aaron Cohen (born September 6, 1980) is an American novelist and story writer, best known for his works Witz (2010), Book of Numbers (2015), and Moving Kings (2017). Cohen won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Netanyahus (2021).
Life
Cohen grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, spent his summers in Cape May, New Jersey and went to school at Trocki Hebrew Academy before transferring to Mainland Regional High School. He lives in Red Hook, Brooklyn. He reads both German and Hebrew and has translated works in both languages into English.
Work and career
Cohen graduated from the Manhattan School of Music with a degree in music composition in 2001. He does not have an MFA, and has expressed disdain for the degree, but has taught the course "Long Century, Short Novels" at Columbia University's School of the Arts's MFA program. In 2017, Granta Magazine named him to its decennial list of the Best Young American Writers. Cohen lived in various cities in Eastern Europe between 2001 and 2006, working as a journalist.
Cohen's works have received acclaim. Witz was named a Best Book of 2010 by The Village Voice. Four New Messages was named a Best Book of 2012 by The New Yorker.
In an interview by Cohen for the Los Angeles Review of Books, Harold Bloom said, "Call It Sleep by Henry Roth, Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West, Sabbath’s Theater by Philip Roth, and quite possibly your Book of Numbers are the four best books by Jewish writers in America. Your Moving Kings is a strong and rather hurtful book, but that helps validate it. Book of Numbers, however, is shatteringly powerful. I cannot think of anything by anyone in your generation that is so frighteningly relevant and composed with such continuous eloquence. There are moments in it that seem to transcend our impasse."
Cohen's essays have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, The Jewish Daily Forward, Nextbook, Tablet Magazine, Triple Canopy (online magazine), Denver Quarterly, The Believer, The New York Observer, The London Review of Books, N+1 online, Guernica Magazine, and elsewhere.
In 2015, Cohen wrote PCKWCK, a live-written novel.
Cohen was involved with writing the memoir of Edward Snowden, Permanent Record. According to Snowden, Cohen "help[ed] to transform my rambling reminiscences and capsule manifestos into a book.” The New York Times wrote: "It’s like a recursive loop of life imitating art imitating life; in Cohen’s Book of Numbers, published in 2015, a novelist named Joshua Cohen is hired to ghostwrite the autobiography of a mysterious tech billionaire ... whose search-engine company happens to be sharing information with government agencies." The New Republic wrote: "Despite Macmillan’s black op to keep the book under wraps, over the past year, New York literary circles have buzzed with the news that novelist (and a contributor to The New Republic) Joshua Cohen had signed on as the famed whistle-blower’s literary interlocutor, traveling to Russia over the course of eight months to help Snowden, now 36, organize and improve his narrative."
The Netanyahus won the 2021 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction and the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Bibliography
Novels
Cadenza for the Schneidermann Violin Concerto (2007)
A Heaven of Others (2008)
Witz (2010)
Book of Numbers (2015)
Moving Kings (2017)
The Netanyahus (2021)
Collections
The Quorum (2005)
Aleph-Bet: An Alphabet for the Perplexed (2007)
Bridge & Tunnel (& Tunnel & Bridge) (2010)
Four New Messages (2012)
ATTENTION: Dispatches from a Land of Distraction (non-fiction, 2018)
He: Shorter Writings of Franz Kafka (as editor, 2020)
I Want to Keep Smashing Myself Until I'm Whole: An Elias Canetti Reader (as editor, 2022)
Stories
External links
Official website
== References == |
Louise_Erdrich | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Erdrich | [
504
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Erdrich"
] | Karen Louise Erdrich ( ER-drik; born June 7, 1954) is a Native American author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, a federally recognized tribe of Ojibwe people.
Erdrich is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant writers of the second wave of the Native American Renaissance. She has written 28 books in all, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children's books. In 2009, her novel The Plague of Doves was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and received an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. In November 2012, she received the National Book Award for Fiction for her novel The Round House. She is a 2013 recipient of the Alex Awards. She was awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction at the National Book Festival in September 2015. In 2021, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Night Watchman.
She was married to author Michael Dorris and the two collaborated on a number of works. The couple separated in 1995 and then divorced in 1996; Dorris would also take his own life in 1997 as allegations that he sexually abused at least three of the daughters whom he raised with Erdrich were under investigation.
She is also the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis that focuses on Native American literature and the Native community in the Twin Cities.
Personal life
Erdrich was born on June 7, 1954, in Little Falls, Minnesota. She was the oldest of seven children born to Ralph Erdrich, a German-American, and Rita (née Gourneau), a Chippewa woman (of half Ojibwe and half French blood). Both parents taught at a boarding school in Wahpeton, North Dakota, set up by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Erdrich's maternal grandfather, Patrick Gourneau, served as tribal chairman for the federally recognized tribe of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians for many years. Though not raised in a reservation, she often visited relatives there. She was raised "with all the accepted truths" of Catholicism.
While Erdrich was a child, her father paid her a nickel for every story she wrote. Her sister Heidi became a poet and also lives in Minnesota; she publishes under the name Heid E. Erdrich. Another sister, Lise Erdrich, has written children's books and collections of fiction and essays.
Erdrich attended Dartmouth College from 1972 to 1976. She was a part of the first class of women admitted to the college and earned a B.A. in English. During her first year, Erdrich met Michael Dorris, an anthropologist, writer, and then-director of the new Native American Studies program. While attending Dorris' class, she began to look into her own ancestry, which inspired her to draw from it for her literary work, such as poems, short stories, and novels. During that time, she worked as a lifeguard, waitress, researcher for films, and as an editor for the Boston Indian Council newspaper The Circle.
In 1978, Erdrich enrolled in a Master of Arts program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned the Master of Arts in the Writing Seminars in 1979. Erdrich later published some of the poems and stories she wrote while in the M.A. program. She returned to Dartmouth as a writer-in-residence.
After graduating from Dartmouth, Erdrich remained in contact with Michael Dorris. He attended one of her poetry readings, became impressed with her work, and developed an interest in working with her. Although Erdrich and Dorris were on two different sides of the world, Erdrich in Boston and Dorris in New Zealand for field research, the two began to collaborate on short stories.
The pair's literary partnership led them to a romantic relationship. They married in 1981, and raised three children whom Dorris had adopted as a single parent (Reynold Abel, Madeline, and Sava) and three biological children together (Persia, Pallas, and Aza Marion). Reynold Abel suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and in 1991, at age 23, he was killed when he was hit by a car. In 1995, their son Sava accused Dorris of committing child abuse; in 1997, after Dorris' death, his adopted daughter Madeline claimed that Dorris had sexually abused her and Erdrich had neglected to stop the abuse.
Dorris and Erdrich separated in 1995, and would divorce in 1996. Dorris, who was accused of sexually abusing two of the biological daughters he had with Erdrich, died by suicide in 1997. In his will, he omitted Erdrich and his adopted children Sava and Madeline; Madeline accused Dorris of sexually abusing her as well.
In 2001, at age 47, Erdrich gave birth to a daughter, Azure, fathered by a Native American man Erdrich declines to identify publicly. She discusses her pregnancy with Azure, and Azure's father, in her 2003 non-fiction book, Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country. She uses the name "Tobasonakwut" to refer to him. He is described as a traditional healer and teacher, who is eighteen years Erdrich's senior and a married man. In a number of publications, Tobasonakwut Kinew, who died in 2012, is referred to as Erdrich's partner and the father of Azure.
When asked in an interview if writing is a lonely life for her, Erdrich replied, "Strangely, I think it is. I am surrounded by an abundance of family and friends and yet I am alone with the writing. And that is perfect." Erdrich lives in Minneapolis.
Work
In 1979, she wrote "The World's Greatest Fisherman", a short story about June Kashpaw, a divorced Ojibwe woman whose death by hypothermia brought her relatives home to a fictional North Dakota reservation for her funeral. She wrote this while "barricaded in the kitchen." At her husband's urging, she submitted it to the Nelson Algren Short Fiction competition in 1982, for which it won the $5,000 prize, and eventually it became the first chapter of her debut novel, Love Medicine, published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston in 1984.
"When I found out about the prize I was living on a farm in New Hampshire near the college I'd attended," Erdrich told an interviewer. "I was nearly broke and driving a car with bald tires. My mother knitted my sweaters, and all else I bought at thrift stores ... The recognition dazzled me. Later, I became friends with Studs Terkel and Kay Boyle, the judges, toward whom I carry a lifelong gratitude. This prize made an immense difference in my life."
Love Medicine won the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award. It is the only debut novel ever to receive that honor. Erdrich later turned Love Medicine into a tetralogy that includes The Beet Queen (1986), Tracks (1988), and The Bingo Palace (1994). It has also been featured on the National Advanced Placement Test for Literature.
In the early years of their marriage, Erdrich and Michael Dorris often collaborated on their work, saying they plotted the books together, "talk about them before any writing is done, and then we share almost every day, whatever it is we've written" but "the person whose name is on the books is the one who's done most of the primary writing." They got started with "domestic, romantic stuff" published under the shared pen name of "Milou North" (Michael + Louise + where they live).
During the publication of Love Medicine, Erdrich produced her first collection of poems, Jacklight (1984), which highlights the struggles between Native and non-Native cultures, as well as celebrating family, ties of kinship, autobiographical meditations, monologues, and love poetry. She incorporates elements of Ojibwe myths and legends. Erdrich continues to write poems, which have been included in her collections.
Erdrich is best known as a novelist, and has published a dozen award-winning and best-selling novels. She followed Love Medicine with The Beet Queen (1986), which continued her technique of using multiple narrators and expanded the fictional reservation universe of Love Medicine to include the nearby town of Argus, North Dakota. The action of the novel takes place mostly before World War II. Leslie Marmon Silko accused Erdrich's The Beet Queen of being more concerned with postmodern technique than with the political struggles of Native peoples.
Tracks (1988) goes back to the early 20th century at the formation of the reservation. It introduces the trickster figure of Nanapush, who owes a clear debt to Ojibwe figure Nanabozho. There are many studies of the trickster figure in Erdrich's novels. Tracks shows early clashes between traditional ways and the Roman Catholic Church. The Bingo Palace (1994), set in the 1980s, describes the effects of a casino and a factory on the reservation community. Tales of Burning Love (1997) finishes the story of Sister Leopolda, a recurring character from all the previous books, and introduces a new set of European-American people into the reservation universe.
The Antelope Wife (1998), Erdrich's first novel after her divorce from Dorris, was the first of her novels to be set outside the continuity of the previous books. Erdrich heavily revised the book in 2009 and published the revision as The Antelope Woman in 2016.
She subsequently returned to the reservation and nearby towns. She has published five novels since 1998 dealing with events in that fictional area. Among these are The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (2001) and The Master Butchers Singing Club (2003). Both novels have geographic and character connections with The Beet Queen. In 2009, Erdrich was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Plague of Doves and a National Book Award finalist for The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. The Plague of Doves focuses on the historical lynching of four Native people wrongly accused of murdering a White family, and the effect of this injustice on the following generations. Her Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Night Watchman (2020) concerns a campaign to defeat the 'termination bill' (introduced by Senator Arthur Vivian Watkins), and Erdrich acknowledged her sources and its inspiration being her maternal grandfather's life. Her most recent novel, The Sentence, tells the fictional story of a haunting at Erdrich's Minneapolis bookstore, set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd's murder, and the resulting protests.
She also writes for younger audiences; she has a children's picture book Grandmother's Pigeon, and her children's book The Birchbark House, was a National Book Award finalist. She continued the series with The Game of Silence, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, The Porcupine Year, Chickadee, and Makoons.
Nonfiction and teaching
In addition to fiction and poetry, Erdrich has published nonfiction. The Blue Jay's Dance (1995) is about her pregnancy and the birth of her third child. Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country (2003) traces her travels in northern Minnesota and Ontario's lakes following the birth of her youngest daughter.
Influence and style
Her heritage from both parents is influential in her life and prominent in her work. Although many of Erdrich's works explore her Native American heritage, her novel The Master Butchers Singing Club (2003) featured the European, specifically German, side of her ancestry. The novel includes stories of a World War I veteran of the German Army and is set in a small North Dakota town. The novel was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Erdrich's interwoven series of novels have drawn comparisons with William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha novels. Like Faulkner's, Erdrich's successive novels created multiple narratives in the same fictional area and combined the tapestry of local history with current themes and modern consciousness.
Birchbark Books
Erdrich's bookstore hosts literary readings and other events. Her new works are read here, and events celebrate the works and careers of other writers as well, particularly local Native writers. Erdrich and her staff consider Birchbark Books to be a "teaching bookstore". In addition to books, the store sells Native art and traditional medicines, and Native American jewelry. Wiigwaas Press, a small nonprofit publisher founded by Erdrich and her sister, is affiliated with the store.
Awards
1975 American Academy of Poets Prize
1980 MacDowell Fellowship
1983 Pushcart Prize in Poetry
1984 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, for Love Medicine
1984 Sue Kaufman Prize for Best First Novel, for Love Medicine
1984 Virginia McCormick Scully Literary Award for Best Book of 1984 dealing with Indians or Chicanos
1985 Los Angeles Times Book Prize
1985 Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts
1987 O. Henry Award, for the short story "Fleur" (published in Esquire, August 1986)
1999 World Fantasy Award, for The Antelope Wife
2000 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas
2005 Associate Poet Laureate of North Dakota
2006 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, for the children's book "The Game of Silence"
2007 Honorary Doctorate from the University of North Dakota; refused by Erdrich because of her opposition to the university's North Dakota Fighting Sioux mascot
2009 Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Letters) from Dartmouth College
2009 Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement
2009 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, for Plague of Doves
2012 National Book Award for Fiction for The Round House
2013 Rough Rider Award
2013 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for Chickadee
2014 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award
2014 PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction
2015 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction
2016 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, for LaRose
2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, for The Night Watchman
2022 Berresford Prize for significant contributions to the advancement and care of artists in society
2023 Prix Femina étranger for The Sentence (its French translation La Sentence)
Bibliography
See also
List of Indigenous writers of the Americas
Joy Harjo
Terese Marie Mailhot
References
External links
Western American Literature Journal: Louise Erdrich
Erdrich, Louise. "Louise Erdrich's Birchbark Blog". Birchbark Blog.
Louise Erdrich at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
"Louise Erdrich". Library of Congress Authorities. 35 catalog records
Female Native Authors For Your Reading List |
Colson_Whitehead | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colson_Whitehead | [
504
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colson_Whitehead"
] | Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead (born November 6, 1969) is an American novelist. He is the author of nine novels, including his 1999 debut The Intuitionist; The Underground Railroad (2016), for which he won the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; and The Nickel Boys, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction again in 2020, making him one of only four writers ever to win the prize twice. He has also published two books of nonfiction. In 2002, he received a MacArthur Fellowship.
Early life
Whitehead was born in New York City on November 6, 1969, and grew up in Manhattan. He is one of four children of successful entrepreneur parents who owned an executive recruiting firm. As a child in Manhattan, Whitehead went by his first name Arch. He later switched to Chipp, before switching to Colson. He attended Trinity School in Manhattan and graduated from Harvard University in 1991. In college, he became friends with poet Kevin Young.
Career
After graduating from college, Whitehead wrote for The Village Voice. While working at the Voice, he began drafting his first novels.
Early in his career, Whitehead lived in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Whitehead has since produced 11 book-length works—nine novels and two nonfiction works, including a meditation on life in Manhattan in the style of E. B. White's famous 1949 essay Here Is New York. Whitehead's books are The Intuitionist (1999); John Henry Days (2001); The Colossus of New York (2003); Apex Hides the Hurt (2006); Sag Harbor (2009); 2011's Zone One, a New York Times bestseller; 2016's The Underground Railroad, which earned a National Book Award for Fiction; The Nickel Boys (2019); Harlem Shuffle (2021); and Crook Manifesto (2023). Esquire magazine named The Intuitionist the best first novel of the year, and GQ called it one of the "novels of the millennium". Novelist John Updike, reviewing The Intuitionist in The New Yorker, called Whitehead "ambitious", "scintillating", and "strikingly original", adding: "The young African-American writer to watch may well be a thirty-one-year-old Harvard graduate with the vivid name of Colson Whitehead."
The Intuitionist was nominated as the Common Novel at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The Common Novel nomination was part of a longtime tradition at the Institute that included such authors as Maya Angelou, Andre Dubus III, William Joseph Kennedy, and Anthony Swofford.
Whitehead's nonfiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Granta, and Harper's.
His nonfiction account of the 2011 World Series of Poker, The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky & Death, was published by Doubleday in 2014.
Whitehead has taught at Princeton University, New York University, the University of Houston, Columbia University, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, and Wesleyan University. He has been a writer-in-residence at Vassar College, the University of Richmond, and the University of Wyoming.
In 2015, he joined The New York Times Magazine to write a column on language.
The Underground Railroad was a selection of Oprah's Book Club 2.0, and was chosen by President Barack Obama as one of five books on his summer vacation reading list. In 2017, the novel was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction at the American Library Association Mid-Winter Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Colson was honored with the 2017 Hurston/Wright Award for fiction presented by the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation. The Underground Railroad won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Judges of the prize called the novel "a smart melding of realism and allegory that combines the violence of slavery and the drama of escape in a myth that speaks to contemporary America".
Whitehead's seventh novel, The Nickel Boys, was published in 2019. It was inspired by the story of the Dozier School for Boys in Florida, where children convicted of minor offenses suffered violent abuse. In conjunction with its publication, Whitehead was featured on the cover Time magazine's July 8, 2019, edition, alongside the strap-line "America's Storyteller". The Nickel Boys won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Judges of the prize called the novel "a spare and devastating exploration of abuse at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida that is ultimately a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption". It was Whitehead's second win, making him the fourth writer to win the prize twice. In 2022, it was announced that Whitehead will executive produce the upcoming film adaptation of the same name.
Whitehead's eighth novel, Harlem Shuffle, was conceived and begun before he wrote The Nickel Boys. It is a work of crime fiction set in Harlem during the 1960s. Whitehead spent years writing it, and finished it in "bite-sized chunks" during the months he spent in quarantine in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic. Harlem Shuffle was published by Doubleday on September 14, 2021. Crook Manifesto, Whitehead's ninth novel and a follow-up to Harlem Shuffle, was published on July 18, 2023.
Personal life
Whitehead lives in Manhattan and also owns a home in Sag Harbor on Long Island. His wife, Julie Barer, is a literary agent. They have two children.
Honors
Works
Fiction
The Intuitionist (1999), ISBN 0-385-49299-5
John Henry Days (2001), ISBN 0-385-49819-5
Apex Hides the Hurt (2006), ISBN 0-385-50795-X
Sag Harbor (2009), ISBN 0-385-52765-9
Zone One (2011), ISBN 978-0-385-52807-8
The Underground Railroad (2016), ISBN 978-0-385-54236-4
The Nickel Boys (2019), ISBN 978-0-385-53707-0
Harlem Shuffle (2021), ISBN 978-0-385-54513-6
Crook Manifesto (2023), ISBN 978-0-385-54515-0
Non-fiction
The Colossus of New York (2003), ISBN 978-0385507943
The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky & Death (2014), ISBN 978-0385537056
Essays
"Lost and Found". The New York Times Magazine. November 11, 2001.
"A Psychotronic Childhood". The New Yorker. June 4, 2012.
"Hard Times in the Uncanny Valley". Grantland. ESPN. August 24, 2012.
"Occasional Dispatches from the Republic of Anhedonia". Grantland. ESPN. May 19, 2013.
Short stories
"Down in Front". Granta (86: Film). Summer 2004. (subscription required)
"The Gangsters". The New Yorker. December 22, 2008.
"The Match". The New Yorker. April 1, 2019.
"The Theresa Job". The New Yorker. July 26, 2021.
References
Further reading
Elam, Michele. "Passing in the Post-Race Era: Danzy Senna, Philip Roth, and Colson Whitehead". African American Review, vol. 41, no. 4, 2007, pp. 749–68. JSTOR 25426988.
Fain, Kimberly (2015). Colson Whitehead: The Postracial Voice of Contemporary Literature. Rowman & Littlefield.
Kelly, Adam (October 2018). "Freedom to Struggle: The Ironies of Colson Whitehead". Open Library of the Humanities.
Maus, Derek C. (2021). Understanding Colson Whitehead, revised and expanded edition. University of South Carolina Press.
External links
Official website
Appearances on C-SPAN
Profile at The Whiting Foundation
"What's in a Name?" On Point (interview, 2006-09-04)
"The books of my life | Colson Whitehead: 'When I read Invisible Man I thought maybe there’s room for a Black weirdo like me'", The Guardian, April 14, 2023. |
General_der_Luftwaffe | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_der_Luftwaffe | [
505
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_der_Luftwaffe"
] | General der Luftwaffe (en: General of the air force) was a General of the branch rank of the Deutsche Luftwaffe (en: German Air Force) in Nazi Germany. Until the end of World War II in 1945, this particular general officer rank was on three-star level (OF-8), equivalent to a US Lieutenant general.
The "General of the branch" ranks of the Luftwaffe were in 1945:
General of parachute troops
General of anti-aircraft artillery
General of the aviators
General of air force communications troops
General of the air force
The rank was equivalent to the General of the branch ranks of the Heer (army) as follows:
Heer
General of artillery
General of mountain troops
General of infantry
General of cavalry
General of the communications troops
General of panzer troops (armoured troops)
General of engineers
General of the medical corps
General of the veterinary corps
Other services
The rank was also equivalent to the German three-star ranks:
Admiral of the Kriegsmarine, equivalent to (US Vice admiral) and
SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS in the Waffen-SS.
Officers in this rank
See also
General of the branch
Military ranks of the Luftwaffe (1935–45)
Literature
Reinhard Stumpf: Die Wehrmacht-Elite - Rang und Herkunftsstruktur der deutschen Generale und Admirale 1933–1945, Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard/Rhein 1982. ISBN 3-7646-1815-9
Karl Friedrich Hildebrandt: Die Generale der Luftwaffe 1935–1945 (3 Bde.), Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1991. ISBN 376481701-1 |
General_of_the_branch | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_of_the_branch | [
505
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_of_the_branch"
] | A general of the branch, general of the branch of service or general of the ... (where instead of the ellipsis an appropriate name of the military branch is being put) is a three or four-star general officer rank in some armies. Several nations divide — or used to divide — their senior general officer ranks by the branch of troops they are qualified to command, or simply as an honorific title.
Austria-Hungary
In the Austro-Hungarian Army there were three general of the branch ranks:
General der Infanterie (en: General of the Infantry)
General der Kavallerie (en: General of the Cavalry)
Feldzeugmeister (en: General of the Artillery)
The rank of General der Infanterie was introduced in 1908, prior to this both infantrymen and gunners were appointed as Feldzeugmeisters.
Historically, the rank of general of artillery (German: Feldzeugmeister; literally "battlefield ordnance master"; "gun master"; in Hungarian Táborszernagy) was equivalent to lieutenant general. In French, the equivalent expression was grand maitre d'artillerie, used since the time of Philip VI of France. The English position of Master-General of the Ordnance was similarly derived.
Bulgaria
The Third Bulgarian State from its inception in 1878 had a highest military rank of "general" (Bulgarian: генерал), but in 1897 this rank was split into three grades - general of infantry (генерал от пехотата), of cavalry (генерал от кавалерията) and of artillery (генерал от артилерията). The rank was replaced after World War II, when Bulgaria fell into the Soviet sphere of influence, with the all-encompassing rank of general.
Finland
Full generals (4 star; NATO OF-9) in the Finnish military were classified as generals of infantry (jalkaväenkenraali), cavalry (ratsuväenkenraali), jaeger (jääkärikenraali) and artillery (tykistönkenraali). The title is now merely honorific, and only one 4-star general is active at any one time in the modern Finnish military.
Germany
Wehrmacht
In the German Wehrmacht a General of a branch (German: General der Waffengattung) was linked to service arms of the Heer (army) and Luftwaffe (air force), depending on where the officer served and what troops he (nominally) commanded. It was equivalent to the three-star ranks of admiral in the Nazi Kriegsmarine, and SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS in the Waffen-SS. A commander-in-chief (Kommandierender General or Befehlshaber) of a German army corps was usually of this rank. In our time this rank might be comparable to NATO OF-8.
Heer
General of the artillery (German: General der Artillerie)
General of the mountain troops (General der Gebirgstruppe)
General of the Infantry (General der Infanterie)
General of the cavalry (General der Kavallerie)
General of the communications troops (General der Nachrichtentruppe)
General of the panzer troops (General der Panzertruppe)
General of the engineers (General der Pioniere)
General of the medical corps (Generaloberstabsarzt)
General of the veterinary corps (Generaloberstabveterinär)
Sequence of ranks ascending
Luftwaffe
General of the parachute corps (General der Fallschirmtruppe)
General of the anti-aircraft artillery (General der Flakartillerie)
General of the aviators (General der Flieger)
General of the air force communications corps (General der Luftnachrichtentruppe)
General of the air force (General der Luftwaffe)
Waffen-SS
SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS (SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS)
Bundeswehr
When the contemporary German Army, the Bundeswehr, was founded (on November, the 12th 1955) some of the names for general ranks were replaced with the current ones.
The denomination General der Panzertruppen, General der Infanterie, General der Artillerie and General der Fernmeldetruppe are still around, but they are not longer ranks but positions. These positions seem to roughly correspond to the pre-Bundeswehr Inspekteur der .... For example Heinz Guderian had the position of Inspekteur der Panzertruppen for a while.
Poland
In the Polish armed forces the rank equivalent to lieutenant general is generał broni ("general of a branch").
Russian Empire
General of the Branch is known in Russian as General roda Voysk. Peter the Great created the ranks of general of infantry and general of cavalry in the Imperial Russian Army in early 1700s, though for much of the 18th century a single rank of general-en-chef was used instead. It was Class 2 in the Table of Ranks.
See also
Comparative military ranks of World War I
Comparative officer ranks of World War II
Notes
== References == |
Luftwaffe | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe | [
505
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe"
] | The Luftwaffe (German pronunciation: [ˈlʊftvafə] ) was the aerial-warfare branch of the Wehrmacht before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the Luftstreitkräfte of the Imperial Army and the Marine-Fliegerabteilung of the Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from having any air force.
During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base in the Soviet Union. With the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the Luftwaffe's existence was publicly acknowledged and officially established on 26 February 1935, just over two weeks before open defiance of the Versailles Treaty through German rearmament and conscription would be announced on 16 March. The Condor Legion, a Luftwaffe detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a valuable testing ground for new tactics and aircraft. Partially as a result of this combat experience, the Luftwaffe had become one of the most sophisticated, technologically advanced, and battle-experienced air forces in the world when World War II broke out in September 1939. By the summer of 1939, the Luftwaffe had twenty-eight Geschwader (wings). The Luftwaffe also operated a paratrooper force known as the Fallschirmjäger.
The Luftwaffe proved instrumental in the German victories across Poland and Western Europe in 1939 and 1940. During the Battle of Britain, however, despite inflicting severe damage to the RAF's infrastructure and, during the subsequent Blitz, devastating many British cities, the German Air Force failed to batter the beleaguered British into submission. From 1942, Allied bombing campaigns gradually destroyed the Luftwaffe's fighter arm. From late 1942, the Luftwaffe used its surplus ground support and other personnel to raise Luftwaffe Field Divisions. In addition to its service in the West, the Luftwaffe operated over the Soviet Union, North Africa, and Southern Europe. Despite its belated use of advanced turbojet and rocket-propelled aircraft for the destruction of Allied bombers, the Luftwaffe was overwhelmed by the Allies' superior numbers and improved tactics, and a lack of trained pilots and aviation fuel. In January 1945, during the closing stages of the Battle of the Bulge, the Luftwaffe made a last-ditch effort to win air superiority, and met with failure. With rapidly dwindling supplies of petroleum, oil, and lubricants after this campaign, and as part of the entire combined Wehrmacht military forces as a whole, the Luftwaffe ceased to be an effective fighting force.
After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Luftwaffe was disbanded in 1946. During World War II, German pilots claimed roughly 70,000 aerial victories, while over 75,000 Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed or significantly damaged. Of these, nearly 40,000 were lost entirely. The Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief throughout its history: Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and later Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim for the last two weeks of the war.
The Luftwaffe was deeply involved in Nazi war crimes. By the end of the war, a significant percentage of aircraft production originated in concentration camps, an industry employing tens of thousands of prisoners. The Luftwaffe's demand for labour was one of the factors that led to the deportation and murder of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews in 1944. The Luftwaffe frequently bombed non-military targets, the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe organised Nazi human experimentation, and Luftwaffe ground troops committed massacres in Italy, Greece, and Poland.
History
Origins
The Imperial German Army Air Service was founded in 1910 with the name Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches, most often shortened to Fliegertruppe. It was renamed the Luftstreitkräfte on 8 October 1916. The air war on the Western Front received the most attention in the annals of the earliest accounts of military aviation, since it produced aces such as Manfred von Richthofen, Ernst Udet, Oswald Boelcke, and Max Immelmann. After the defeat of Germany, the service was dissolved on 8 May 1920 under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which also mandated the destruction of all German military aircraft.
Since the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to have an air force, German pilots trained in secret. Initially, civil aviation schools within Germany were used, yet only light trainers could be used in order to maintain the façade that the trainees were going to fly with civil airlines such as Deutsche Luft Hansa. To train its pilots on the latest combat aircraft, Germany solicited the help of the Soviet Union, which was also isolated in Europe. A secret training airfield was established at Lipetsk in 1924 and operated for approximately nine years using mostly Dutch and Soviet, but also some German, training aircraft before being closed in 1933. This base was officially known as the 4th squadron of the 40th wing of the Red Army. Hundreds of Luftwaffe pilots and technical personnel visited, studied, and were trained at Soviet Air Force schools in several locations in Central Russia. Roessing, Blume, Fosse, Teetsemann, Heini, Makratzki, Blumendaat, and many other future Luftwaffe aces were trained in the USSR in joint Soviet-German schools that were set up under the patronage of Ernst August Köstring.
The first steps towards the Luftwaffe's formation were undertaken just months after Adolf Hitler came to power. Hermann Göring, a World War I ace, became National Kommissar for aviation with former Luft Hansa director Erhard Milch as his deputy. In April 1933 the Reich Aviation Ministry (Reichsluftfahrtministerium or RLM) was established. The RLM was in charge of the development and production of aircraft. Göring's control over all aspects of aviation became absolute. On 25 March 1933 the German Air Sports Association absorbed all private and national organisations, while retaining its 'sports' title. On 15 May 1933, all military aviation organisations in the RLM were merged, forming the Luftwaffe; its official 'birthday'. The National Socialist Flyers Corps (Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps or NSFK) was formed in 1937 to give pre-military flying training to male youths, and to engage adult sport aviators in the Nazi movement. Military-age members of the NSFK were drafted into the Luftwaffe. As all such prior NSFK members were also Nazi Party members, this gave the new Luftwaffe a strong Nazi ideological base in contrast to the other branches of the Wehrmacht (the Heer (army) and the Kriegsmarine (navy)). Göring played a leading role in the buildup of the Luftwaffe in 1933–36, but had little further involvement in the development of the force after 1936, and Milch became the "de facto" minister until 1937.
The absence of Göring in planning and production matters was fortunate. Göring had little knowledge of current aviation, had last flown in 1922, and had not kept himself informed of the latest events. Göring also displayed a lack of understanding of doctrine and technical issues in aerial warfare which he left to others more competent. The Commander-in-Chief left the organisation and building of the Luftwaffe, after 1936, to Erhard Milch. However Göring, as a part of Hitler's inner circle, provided access to financial resources and materiel for rearming and equipping the Luftwaffe.
Another prominent figure in German air power construction this time was Helmuth Wilberg. Wilberg later played a large role in the development of German air doctrine. Having headed the Reichswehr air staff for eight years in the 1920s, Wilberg had considerable experience and was ideal for a senior staff position. Göring considered making Wilberg Chief of Staff (CS). However, it was revealed Wilberg had a Jewish mother. For that reason, Göring could not have him as CS. Not wishing his talent to go to waste, Göring ensured the racial policy of Nazi Germany did not apply to him. Wilberg remained in the air staff, and under Walther Wever helped draw up the Luftwaffe's principle doctrinal texts, "The Conduct of the Aerial War" and "Regulation 16".
Preparing for war: 1933–1939
Wever years, 1933–1936
The German officer corps was keen to develop strategic bombing capabilities against its enemies. However, economic and geopolitical considerations had to take priority. The German air power theorists continued to develop strategic theories, but emphasis was given to army support, as Germany was a continental power and expected to face ground operations following any declaration of hostilities.
For these reasons, between 1933 and 1934, the Luftwaffe's leadership was primarily concerned with tactical and operational methods. In aerial terms, the army concept of Truppenführung was an operational concept, as well as a tactical doctrine. In World War I, the Fliegertruppe's initial, 1914–15 era Feldflieger Abteilung observation/reconnaissance air units, each with six two-seater aircraft apiece, had been attached to specific army formations and acted as support. Dive bomber units were considered essential to Truppenführung, attacking enemy headquarters and lines of communications. Luftwaffe "Regulation 10: The Bomber" (Dienstvorschrift 10: Das Kampfflugzeug), published in 1934, advocated air superiority and approaches to ground attack tactics without dealing with operational matters. Until 1935, the 1926 manual "Directives for the Conduct of the Operational Air War" continued to act as the main guide for German air operations. The manual directed OKL to focus on limited operations (not strategic operations): the protection of specific areas and support of the army in combat.
With an effective tactical-operational concept, the German air power theorists needed a strategic doctrine and organisation. Robert Knauss, a serviceman (not a pilot) in the Luftstreitkräfte during World War I, and later an experienced pilot with Lufthansa, was a prominent theorist of air power. Knauss promoted the Giulio Douhet theory that air power could win wars alone by destroying enemy industry and breaking enemy morale by "terrorising the population" of major cities. This advocated attacks on civilians. The General Staff blocked the entry of Douhet's theory into doctrine, fearing revenge strikes against German civilians and cities.
In December 1934, Chief of the Luftwaffe General Staff Walther Wever sought to mold the Luftwaffe's battle doctrine into a strategic plan. At this time, Wever conducted war games (simulated against France) in a bid to establish his theory of a strategic bombing force that would, he thought, prove decisive by winning the war through the destruction of enemy industry, even though these exercises also included tactical strikes against enemy ground forces and communications. In 1935, "Luftwaffe Regulation 16: The Conduct of the Air War" was drawn up. In the proposal, it concluded, "The mission of the Luftwaffe is to serve these goals."
Historian James Corum states that under this doctrine, the Luftwaffe leadership rejected the practice of "terror bombing" (see Luftwaffe strategic bombing doctrine). According to Corum, terror bombing was deemed to be "counter-productive", increasing rather than destroying the enemy's will to resist. Such bombing campaigns were regarded as diversion from the Luftwaffe's main operations; destruction of the enemy armed forces.
Nevertheless, Wever recognised the importance of strategic bombing. In newly introduced doctrine, The Conduct of the Aerial Air War in 1935, Wever rejected the theory of Douhet and outlined five key points to air strategy:
To destroy the enemy air force by bombing its bases and aircraft factories, and defeating enemy air forces attacking German targets
To prevent the movement of large enemy ground forces to the decisive areas by destroying railways and roads, particularly bridges and tunnels, which are indispensable for the movement and supply of forces
To support the operations of the army formations, independent of railways, i.e, armoured forces and motorised forces, by impeding the enemy advance and participating directly in ground operations
To support naval operations by attacking naval bases, protecting Germany's naval bases and participating directly in naval battles
To paralyze the enemy armed forces by stopping production in the armaments factories
Wever began planning for a strategic bomber force and sought to incorporate strategic bombing into a war strategy. He believed that tactical aircraft should only be used as a step to developing a strategic air force. In May 1934, Wever initiated a seven-year project to develop the so-called "Ural bomber", which could strike as far as into the heart of the Soviet Union. In 1935, this design competition led to the Dornier Do 19 and Junkers Ju 89 prototypes, although both were underpowered. In April 1936, Wever issued requirements for the 'Bomber A' design competition: a range of 6,700 kilometres (4,200 mi) with a 900 kilograms (2,000 lb) bomb load. However Wever's vision of a "Ural" bomber was never realised, and his emphasis on strategic aerial operations was lost. The only design submittal for Wever's 'Bomber A' that reached production was Heinkel's Projekt 1041, which culminated in the production and frontline service as Germany's only operational heavy bomber, the Heinkel He 177, on 5 November 1937, the date on which it received its RLM airframe number.
In 1935, the military functions of the RLM were grouped into the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL; "Air Force High Command").
Following the untimely death of Wever in early June 1936 in an aviation-related accident, by the late 1930s the Luftwaffe had no clear purpose. The air force was not subordinated to the army support role, and it was not given any particular strategic mission. German doctrine fell between the two concepts. The Luftwaffe was to be an organisation capable of carrying out broad and general support tasks rather than any specific mission. Mainly, this path was chosen to encourage more flexible use of air power and offer the ground forces the right conditions for a decisive victory. In fact, on the outbreak of war, only 15% of the Luftwaffe's aircraft were devoted to ground support operations, counter to the long-held myth that the Luftwaffe was designed for only tactical and operational missions.
Change of direction, 1936–37
Wever's participation in the construction of the Luftwaffe came to an abrupt end on 3 June 1936 when he was killed along with his engineer in a Heinkel He 70 Blitz, ironically on the very day that his "Bomber A" heavy bomber design competition was announced. After Wever's death, Göring began taking more of an interest in the appointment of Luftwaffe staff officers. Göring appointed his successor Albert Kesselring as Chief of Staff and Ernst Udet to head the Reich's Air Ministry Technical Office (Technisches Amt), although he was not a technical expert. Despite this Udet helped change the Luftwaffe's tactical direction towards fast medium bombers to destroy enemy air power in the battle zone rather than through industrial bombing of its aviation production.
Kesselring and Udet did not get on. During Kesselring's time as CS, 1936–1937, a power struggle developed between the two as Udet attempted to extend his own power within the Luftwaffe. Kesselring also had to contend with Göring appointing "yes men" to positions of importance. Udet realised his limitations, and his failures in the production and development of German aircraft would have serious long term consequences.
The failure of the Luftwaffe to progress further towards attaining a strategic bombing force was attributable to several reasons. Many in the Luftwaffe command believed medium bombers to be sufficient power to launch strategic bombing operations against Germany's most likely enemies; France, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. The United Kingdom presented greater problems. General der Flieger Hellmuth Felmy, commander of Luftflotte 2 in 1939, was charged with devising a plan for an air war over the British Isles. Felmy was convinced that Britain could be defeated through morale bombing. Felmy noted the alleged panic that had broken out in London during the Munich crisis, evidence he believed of British weakness. A second reason was technical. German designers had never solved the issues of the Heinkel He 177A's design difficulties, brought on by the requirement from its inception on 5 November 1937 to have moderate dive-bombing capabilities in a 30-meter wingspan aircraft. Moreover, Germany did not possess the economic resources to match the later British and American effort of 1943–1944, particularly in large-scale mass production of high power output aircraft engines (with output of over least 1,500 kW (2,000 hp). In addition, the OKL had not foreseen the industrial and military effort strategic bombing would require. By 1939 the Luftwaffe was not much better prepared than its enemies to conduct a strategic bombing campaign, with fatal results during the Battle of Britain.
The German rearmament programme faced difficulties acquiring raw materials. Germany imported most of its essential materials for rebuilding the Luftwaffe, in particular rubber and aluminum. Petroleum imports were particularly vulnerable to blockade. Germany pushed for synthetic fuel plants but still failed to meet demands. In 1937 Germany imported more fuel than it had at the start of the decade. By summer 1938, only 25% of the requirements could be covered. In steel materials, industry was operating at barely 83% of capacity, and by November 1938 Göring reported the economic situation was serious. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), the overall command for all German military forces, ordered reductions in raw materials and steel used for armament production. The figures for reduction were substantial: 30% steel, 20% copper, 47% aluminum, and 14% rubber. Under such circumstances, it was not possible for Milch, Udet, or Kesselring to produce a formidable strategic bombing force even had they wanted to do so.
The development of aircraft was now confined to the production of twin-engined medium bombers that required much less material, manpower, and aviation production capacity than Wever's "Ural Bomber". German industry could build two medium bombers for one heavy bomber and the RLM would not gamble on developing a heavy bomber which would also take time. Göring remarked, "the Führer will not ask how big the bombers there are, but only how many there are." The premature death of Wever, one of the Luftwaffe's finest officers, left the Luftwaffe without a strategic air force during World War II, which eventually proved fatal to the German war effort.
The lack of strategic capability should have been apparent much earlier. The Sudeten Crisis highlighted German unpreparedness to conduct a strategic air war (although the British and French were in a much weaker position), and Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe be expanded to five times its earlier size. The OKL badly neglected the need for transport aircraft; even in 1943, transport units were described as Kampfgeschwadern zur besonderen Verwendung (Bomber Units on Special Duties, KGzbV). and only grouping them together into dedicated cargo and personnel transport wings (Transportgeschwader) during that year. In March 1938, as the Anschluss was taking place, Göring ordered Felmy to investigate the prospect of air raids against Britain. Felmy concluded it was not possible until bases in Belgium and the Netherlands were obtained and the Luftwaffe had heavy bombers. It mattered little, as war was avoided by the Munich Agreement, and the need for long-range aircraft did not arise.
These failures were not exposed until wartime. In the meantime, German designs of mid-1930s origin such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the Heinkel He 111, the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, and the Dornier Do 17, performed very well. All first saw active service in the Condor Legion against Soviet-supplied aircraft. The Luftwaffe also quickly realised the days of the biplane fighter were finished, the Heinkel He 51 being switched to service as a trainer. Particularly impressive were the Heinkel and Dornier, which fulfilled the Luftwaffe's requirements for bombers that were faster than 1930s-era fighters, many of which were biplanes or strut-braced monoplanes.
Despite the participation of these aircraft (mainly from 1938 onward), it was the venerable Junkers Ju 52 (which soon became the backbone of the Transportgruppen) that made the main contribution. During the Spanish Civil War Hitler remarked, "Franco ought to erect a monument to the glory of the Junkers Ju 52. It is the aircraft which the Spanish revolution has to thank for its victory."
Dive-bombing
Poor accuracy from level bombers in 1937 led the Luftwaffe to grasp the benefits of dive-bombing. The latter could achieve far better accuracy against tactical ground targets than heavier conventional bombers. Range was not a key criterion for this mission. It was not always feasible for the army to move heavy artillery over recently captured territory to bombard fortifications or support ground forces, and dive bombers could do the job faster. Dive bombers, often single-engine two-man machines, could achieve better results than larger six or seven-man aircraft, at a tenth of the cost and four times the accuracy. This led to Udet championing the dive bomber, particularly the Junkers Ju 87.
Udet's "love affair" with dive-bombing seriously affected the long-term development of the Luftwaffe, especially after Wever's death. The tactical strike aircraft programmes were meant to serve as interim solutions until the next generation of aircraft arrived. In 1936 the Junkers Ju 52 was the backbone of the German bomber fleet. This led to a rush on the part of the RLM to produce the Junkers Ju 86, the Heinkel He 111, and the Dornier Do 17 before a proper evaluation was made. The Ju 86 was poor while the He 111 showed the most promise. The Spanish Civil War convinced Udet (along with limited output from the German munitions industry) that wastage was not acceptable in munition terms. Udet sought to build dive-bombing into the Junkers Ju 88 and conveyed the same idea, initiated specifically by the OKL for the Heinkel He 177, approved in early November 1937. In the case of the Ju 88, 50,000 modifications had to be made. The weight was increased from seven to twelve tons. This resulted in a speed loss of 200 km/h. Udet merely conveyed the OKL's own dive-bombing capability request to Ernst Heinkel concerning the He 177, who vehemently opposed such an idea, which ruined its development as a heavy bomber. Göring was not able to rescind the dive-bombing requirement for the He 177A until September 1942.
Mobilisation, 1938–1941
By the summer of 1939, the Luftwaffe had ready for combat nine Jagdgeschwader (fighter wings) mostly equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, four Zerstörergeschwader (destroyer wings) equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighters, 11 Kampfgeschwader (bomber wings) equipped mainly with the Heinkel He 111 and the Dornier Do 17Z, and four Sturzkampfgeschwader (dive bomber wing") primarily armed with the iconic Junkers Ju 87B Stuka. The Luftwaffe was just starting to accept the Junkers Ju 88A for service, as it had encountered design difficulties, with only a dozen aircraft of the type considered combat-ready. The Luftwaffe's strength at this time stood at 373,000 personnel (208,000 flying troops, 107,000 in the Flak Corps, and 58,000 in the Signals Corps). Aircraft strength was 4,201 operational aircraft: 1,191 bombers, 361 dive bombers, 788 fighters, 431 heavy fighters, and 488 transports. Despite deficiencies, it was an impressive force.
However, even by the spring of 1940, the Luftwaffe still had not mobilised fully. Despite the shortage of raw materials, Udet had increased production through introducing a 10-hour working day for aviation industries and rationalising production. During this period 30 Kampfstaffeln and 16 Jagdstaffeln were raised and equipped. A further five Zerstörergruppen ("Destroyer groups") were created (JGr 101, 102, 126, 152 and 176), all equipped with the Bf 110.
The Luftwaffe also greatly expanded its aircrew training programmes by 42%, to 63 flying schools. These facilities were moved to eastern Germany, away from possible Allied threats. The number of aircrew reached 4,727, an increase of 31%. However, the rush to complete this rapid expansion scheme resulted in the deaths of 997 personnel and another 700 wounded. 946 aircraft were also destroyed in these accidents. The number of aircrew completing their training was up to 3,941, The Luftwaffe's entire strength was now 2.2 million personnel.
In April and May 1941, Udet headed the Luftwaffe delegation inspecting the Soviet aviation industry in compliance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Udet informed Göring "that Soviet air forces are very strong and technically advanced." Göring decided not to report the facts to Hitler, hoping that a surprise attack would quickly destroy the USSR. Udet realised that the upcoming war with the USSR might cripple Germany. Udet, torn between truth and loyalty, suffered a psychological breakdown and even tried to tell Hitler the truth, but Göring told Hitler that Udet was lying, then took Udet under control by giving him drugs at drinking parties and hunting trips. Udet's drinking and psychological condition became a problem, but Göring used Udet's dependency to manipulate him.
Luftwaffe organisation
Luftwaffe commanders
Throughout the history of Nazi Germany, the Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief. The first was Göring, with the second and last being Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim. His appointment as commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe was concomitant with his promotion to Generalfeldmarschall, the last German officer in World War II to be promoted to the highest rank. Other officers promoted to the second highest military rank in Germany were Kesselring, Hugo Sperrle, Milch, and Wolfram von Richthofen.
At the end of the war, with Berlin surrounded by the Red Army, Göring suggested to Hitler that he take over leadership of the Reich. Hitler ordered his arrest and execution, but Göring's SS guards did not carry out the order, and Göring survived to be tried at Nuremberg.
Sperrle was prosecuted at the OKW trial, one of the last twelve of the Nuremberg trials after the war. He was acquitted on all four counts. He died in Munich in 1953.
Organisation and chain of command
At the start of the war the Luftwaffe had four Luftflotten (air fleets), each responsible for roughly a quarter of Germany. As the war progressed more air fleets were created as the areas under German rule expanded. As one example, Luftflotte 5 was created in 1940 to direct operations in Norway and Denmark, and other Luftflotten were created as necessary. Each Luftflotte would contain several Fliegerkorps (Air Corps), Fliegerdivision (Air Division), Jagdkorps (Fighter Corps), Jagddivision (Air Division), or Jagdfliegerführer (Fighter Air Command). Each formations would have attached to it a number of units, usually several Geschwader, but also independent Staffeln and Kampfgruppen. Luftflotten were also responsible for the training aircraft and schools in their operational areas.
A Geschwader was commanded by a Geschwaderkommodore, with the rank of either major, Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) or Oberst (colonel). Other "staff" officers within the unit with administrative duties included the adjutant, technical officer, and operations officer, who were usually (though not always) experienced aircrew or pilots still flying on operations. Other specialist staff were navigation, signals, and intelligence personnel. A Stabschwarm (headquarters flight) was attached to each Geschwader.
A Jagdgeschwader (hunting wing) (JG) was a single-seat day fighter Geschwader, typically equipped with Bf 109 or Fw 190 aircraft flying in the fighter or fighter-bomber roles. Late in the war, by 1944–45, JG 7 and JG 400 (and the jet specialist JV 44) flew much more advanced aircraft, with JG 1 working up with the Heinkel He 162 "emergency fighter" at war's end. A Geschwader consisted of groups (Gruppen), which in turn consisted of Jagdstaffel (fighter squadrons). Hence, Fighter Wing 1 was JG 1, its first Gruppe (group) was I./JG 1, using a Roman numeral for the Gruppe number only, and its first Staffel (squadron) was 1./JG 1. Geschwader strength was usually 120–125 aircraft.
Each Gruppe was commanded by a Kommandeur, and a Staffel by a Staffelkapitän. However, these were "appointments", not ranks, within the Luftwaffe. Usually, the Kommodore would hold the rank of Oberstleutnant or, exceptionally, an Oberst. Even a Leutnant (second lieutenant) could find himself commanding a Staffel.
Similarly, a bomber wing was a Kampfgeschwader (KG), a night fighter wing was a Nachtjagdgeschwader (NJG), a dive bomber wing was a Stukageschwader (StG), and units equivalent to those in RAF Coastal Command, with specific responsibilities for coastal patrols and search and rescue duties, were Küstenfliegergruppen (Kü.Fl. Gr.). Specialist bomber groups were known as Kampfgruppen (KGr). The strength of a bomber Geschwader was about 80–90 aircraft.
Personnel
The peacetime strength of the Luftwaffe in the spring of 1939 was 370,000 men. After mobilisation in 1939 almost 900,000 men served, and just before Operation Barbarossa in 1941 personnel strength had reached 1.5 million men. The Luftwaffe reached its largest personnel strength during the period November 1943 to June 1944, with almost three million men and women in uniform; 1.7 million of these were male soldiers, 1 million male Wehrmachtsbeamte and civilian employees, and almost 300,000 female and male auxiliaries (Luftwaffenhelfer). In October 1944, the anti-aircraft units had 600,000 soldiers and 530,000 auxiliaries, including 60,000 male members of the Reichsarbeitsdienst, 50,000 Luftwaffenhelfer (males age 15–17), 80,000 Flakwehrmänner (males above military age) and Flak-V-soldaten (males unfit for military service), and 160,000 female Flakwaffenhelferinnen and RAD-Maiden, as well as 160,000 foreign personnel (Hiwis).
Spanish Civil War
The Luftwaffe's Condor Legion experimented with new doctrine and aircraft during the Spanish Civil War. It helped the Falange under Francisco Franco to defeat the Republican forces. Over 20,000 German airmen gained combat experience that would give the Luftwaffe an important advantage going into the Second World War. One infamous operation was the bombing of Guernica in the Basque country. It is commonly assumed this attack was the result of a "terror doctrine" in Luftwaffe doctrine. The raids on Guernica and Madrid caused many civilian casualties and a wave of protests from abroad. It has been suggested that the bombing of Guernica was carried out for military tactical reasons, in support of ground operations, but the town was not directly involved in any fighting at that point in time. It was not until 1942 that the Germans started to develop a bombing policy in which civilians were the primary targets, although the Blitz on London and many other British cities involved indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas, 'nuisance raids' which could even involve the machine-gunning of civilians and livestock.
World War II
When World War II began in 1939, the Luftwaffe was one of the most technologically advanced air forces in the world. During the Polish Campaign that triggered the war, it quickly established air superiority, and then air supremacy. It supported the German Army operations which ended the campaign in five weeks. The Luftwaffe's performance was as the OKL had hoped. The Luftwaffe rendered invaluable support to the army, mopping up pockets of resistance. Göring was delighted with the performance. Command and control problems occurred, but flexibility and improvisation in both the army and the Luftwaffe solved these problems. The Luftwaffe was to have in place a ground-to-air communication system, which played a vital role in the success of 1940's Fall Gelb.
In the spring of 1940 the Luftwaffe assisted the Kriegsmarine and Heer in the invasion of Norway. Flying in reinforcements and winning air superiority, the Luftwaffe contributed decisively to the German conquest.
In May and June 1940, the Luftwaffe contributed to the unexpected German success in the Battle of France. It destroyed three Allied Air Forces and helped secure the defeat of France in just over six weeks. However, it could not destroy the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk despite intense bombing. The BEF escaped to continue the war.
During the Battle of Britain in summer 1940, the Luftwaffe inflicted severe damage on Britain's Royal Air Force, but did not achieve the air superiority that Hitler had demanded for the proposed invasion of Britain, which was postponed and then canceled in December 1940. The Luftwaffe ravaged British cities during the Blitz of 1940–1941, but failed to break British morale, and the RAF shot down German planes by over a two to one ratio. Hitler had already ordered preparations for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
In spring 1941 the Luftwaffe helped its Axis partner, Italy, secure victory in the Balkans Campaign and continued to support Italy or the Italian Social Republic in the Mediterranean, Middle East and African theaters until May 1945.
In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Despite destroying thousands of Soviet aircraft, the Luftwaffe failed to destroy the Red Air Force altogether. Lacking strategic bombers (the very "Ural bombers" that Wever had asked for six years before) the Luftwaffe could not strike at Soviet production-centres regularly or with the needed force. The Axis and Soviet air operations during Operation Barbarossa consumed vast numbers of men and planes. As the war dragged on, the Luftwaffe was eroded in strength. German defeats at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 and in the Battle of Kursk in 1943 ensured the gradual decline of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front.
British historian Frederick Taylor asserts that "all sides bombed each other's cities during the war. Half a million Soviet citizens, for example, died from German bombing during the invasion and occupation of Russia. That's roughly equivalent to the number of German citizens who died from Allied raids."
The Luftwaffe defended German-occupied Europe against the growing offensive power of RAF Bomber Command and, starting in the summer of 1942, the steadily building strength of the United States Army Air Forces. The mounting demands of the Defence of the Reich campaign gradually destroyed the Luftwaffe's fighter arm. Despite its belated use of advanced turbojet and rocket-propelled aircraft for bomber-destroyer duties, it was overwhelmed by Allied numbers and a lack of trained pilots and fuel. A last-ditch attempt, known as Operation Bodenplatte, to win air superiority on 1 January 1945 failed. After the Bodenplatte effort, the Luftwaffe ceased to be an effective fighting force.
German day- and night-fighter pilots claimed more than 70,000 aerial victories during World War II. Of these, an estimated 745 victories were attributed to Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters. Flak shot down 25,000–30,000 Allied planes. Broken down according to the different Allied forces, about 25,000 were American planes, about 20,000 British, 46,100 Soviet, 1,274 French, 375 Polish, and 81 Dutch as well as aircraft from other Allied nationalities.
The highest-scoring day-fighter pilot was Erich Hartmann with 352 confirmed kills, all of them on the Eastern front against the Soviets. The leading aces in the west were Hans-Joachim Marseille with 158 kills (most of which were against British Commonwealth forces in the Desert campaign), and Georg-Peter Eder with 56 kills of aircraft from the USAAF (of a total of 78). The most successful night-fighter pilot, Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, is credited with 121 kills. 103 German fighter pilots shot down more than 100 enemy aircraft for a total of roughly 15,400 aerial victories. Roughly a further 360 pilots claimed between 40 and 100 aerial victories for round about 21,000 victories. Another 500 fighter pilots claimed between 20 and 40 victories for a total of 15,000 victories. Part of the reason German pilots scored such high victory totals was that they were in combat for the duration of the war-unlike the Allies, who rotated their flyers out of combat after a certain amount of time to recuperate or to impart their skills in training other pilots - German pilots flew until they were killed, captured, or too badly wounded to keep flying. It is relatively certain that 2,500 German fighter pilots attained ace status, having achieved at least five aerial victories. These achievements were honored with 453 German single and twin-engine (Messerschmitt Bf 110) day-fighter pilots receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Intense personal rivalry may have played an important role in motivating high-performing aces (who scored the vast majority of aerial victories). Public recognition in the form of medals and mentions in the army bulletin spurred efforts of peers who had previously flown with award-winners
. 85 night-fighter pilots, including 14 crew members, were awarded the Knight's Cross. Some bomber pilots were also highly successful. Stuka and Schlachtflieger pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel flew 2,530 ground-attack missions and claimed the destruction of more than 519 tanks and a battleship, among others. He became the most highly decorated German serviceman of the Second World War. Bomber pilot Hansgeorg Bätcher flew more than 658 combat missions, destroying numerous ships and other targets.
Luftwaffe losses, on the other hand, were high as well. The estimated total number of destroyed and damaged for the war totalled 76,875 aircraft. Of these, about 43,000 were lost in combat, the rest in operational accidents and during training. By type, losses totalled 21,452 fighters, 12,037 bombers, 15,428 trainers, 10,221 twin-engine fighters, 5,548 ground attack craft, 6,733 reconnaissance planes, and 6,141 transports.
According to the General Staff of the Wehrmacht the losses of the flight personnel until February 1945 amounted to:
According to official statistics, total Luftwaffe casualties, including ground personnel, amounted to 138,596 killed and 156,132 missing through 31 January 1945.
Omissions and failures
Lack of aerial defence
The failure of the Luftwaffe in the Defence of the Reich campaign was a result of a number of factors. The Luftwaffe lacked an effective air defence system early in the war. Hitler's foreign policy had pushed Germany into war before these defences could be fully developed. The Luftwaffe was forced to improvise and construct its defences during the war.
The daylight actions over German-controlled territory were sparse in 1939–1940. The responsibility of the defence of German air space fell to the Luftgaukommandos (air district commands). The defence systems relied mostly on the "flak" arm. The defences were not coordinated and communication was poor. This lack of understanding between the flak and flying branches of the defence would plague the Luftwaffe throughout the war. Hitler, in particular, wanted the defence to rest on anti-aircraft artillery as it gave the civilian population a "psychological crutch" no matter how ineffective the weapons.
Most of the battles fought by the Luftwaffe on the Western Front were against the RAF's "Circus" raids and the occasional daylight raid into German air space. This was a fortunate position since the Luftwaffe's strategy of focusing its striking power on one front started to unravel with the failure of the invasion of the Soviet Union. The "peripheral" strategy of the Luftwaffe between 1939 and 1940 had been to deploy its fighter defences at the edges of Axis occupied territory, with little protecting the inner depths. Moreover, the front line units in the West were complaining about the poor numbers and performance of aircraft. Units complained of lack of Zerstörer aircraft with all-weather capabilities and the "lack of climbing power of the Bf 109". The Luftwaffe's technical edge was slipping as the only formidable new aircraft in the German arsenal was the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Milch was to assist Udet with aircraft production increases and the introduction of more modern types of fighter aircraft. However, they explained at a meeting of the Reich Industrial Council on 18 September 1941 that the new next-generation aircraft had failed to materialise, and production of obsolete types had to continue to meet the growing need for replacements.
The buildup of the Jagdwaffe ("Fighter Force") was too rapid and its quality suffered. It was not put under a unified command until 1943, which also affected the performance of the nine Jagdgeschwader fighter wings in existence in 1939. No further units were formed until 1942, and the years of 1940–1941 were wasted. The OKL failed to construct a strategy; instead, its command style was reactionary, and its measures not as effective without thorough planning. This was particularly apparent with the Sturmböck squadrons, formed to replace the increasingly ineffective twin-engined Zerstörer heavy fighter wings as the primary defence against USAAF daylight raids. The Sturmböcke flew Fw 190A fighters armed with heavy 20mm and 30mm cannon to destroy heavy bombers, but this increased the weight and affected the performance of the Fw 190 at a time when the aircraft were meeting large numbers of equal if not superior Allied types.
Daytime aerial defence against the USAAF's strongly defended heavy bomber forces, particularly the Eighth Air Force and the Fifteenth Air Force, had its successes through the calendar year of 1943. But at the start of 1944, Eighth AF commander Jimmy Doolittle made a major change in offensive fighter tactics, which defeated the Luftwaffe's day fighter force from that time onwards. Steadily increasing numbers of the superlative North American P-51 Mustang single-engine fighter, leading the USAAF's bombers into German airspace defeated first the Bf 110 Zerstörer wings, then the Fw 190A Sturmböcke.
Development and equipment
In terms of technological development, the failure to develop a long-range bomber and capable long-range fighters during this period left the Luftwaffe unable to conduct a meaningful strategic bombing campaign throughout the war. However, Germany at that time suffered from limitations in raw materials such as oil and aluminum, which meant that there were insufficient resources for much beyond a tactical air force: given these circumstances, the Luftwaffe's reliance on tactical mid-range, twin-engined medium bombers and short-range dive-bombers was a pragmatic choice of strategy. It might also be argued that the Luftwaffe's Kampfgeschwader medium and heavy bomber wings were perfectly capable of attacking strategic targets, but the lack of capable long-range escort fighters left the bombers unable to carry out their missions effectively against determined and well-organised fighter opposition.
The greatest failure for the Kampfgeschwader, however, was being saddled with an aircraft intended as a capable four-engined heavy bomber: the perpetually troubled Heinkel He 177, whose engines were prone to catch fire in flight. Of the three parallel proposals from the Heinkel engineering departments for a four-engined version of the A-series He 177 by February 1943, one of these being the Heinkel firm's Amerikabomber candidate, only one, the He 177B, emerged in the concluding months of 1943. Only three airworthy prototypes of the B-series He 177 design were produced by early 1944, by which point the Avro Lancaster, the most successful RAF heavy bomber, was already in widespread service.
Another failure of procurement and equipment was the lack of a dedicated naval air arm. Felmy had already expressed a desire to build a naval air arm to support Kriegsmarine operations in the Atlantic and British waters. Britain was dependent on food and raw materials from its Empire and North America. Felmy pressed this case firmly throughout 1938 and 1939, and, on 31 October 1939, Großadmiral Erich Raeder sent a strongly worded letter to Göring in support of such proposals. The early-war twin-engined Heinkel He 115 floatplane and Dornier Do 18 flying boat were too slow and short-ranged. The then-contemporary Blohm & Voss BV 138 Seedrache ("seadragon") flying boat became the Luftwaffe's primary seaborne maritime patrol platform, with nearly 300 examples built; it had a 4,300 km (2,670 mi) maximum range. Another Blohm und Voss design of 1940, the enormous, 46-meter wingspan Blohm & Voss BV 222 Wiking maritime patrol flying boat was capable of a 6,800 km (4,200-mile) range at maximum endurance. The Dornier Do 217 would have been ideal as a land-based choice but suffered production problems. Raeder also complained about the poor standard of aerial torpedoes, although their design was the responsibility of the Kriegsmarine, even considering production of the Japanese Type 91 torpedo used in the Attack on Pearl Harbor as the Lufttorpedo LT 850 by August 1942 .
Without specialised naval or land-based, purpose-designed maritime patrol aircraft, the Luftwaffe was forced to improvise. The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor – developed as a civilian airliner – lacked the structural strength for combat maneuvering at lower altitudes, making it unsuitable for use as a bomber in maritime patrol duties. The Condor lacked speed, armor and bomb load capacity. Sometimes the fuselage literally "broke its back" or a wing panel dropped loose from the wing root after a hard landing. Nevertheless, it was adapted for the long-range reconnaissance and anti-shipping roles and, between August 1940 and February 1941, Fw 200s sank 85 vessels for a claimed total of 363,000 GRT. Had the Luftwaffe focused on naval aviation – particularly maritime patrol aircraft with long range, Germany might well have been in a position to win the Battle of the Atlantic. However, Raeder and the Kriegsmarine failed to press for naval air power until the war began, mitigating the Luftwaffe's responsibility. At the same time Göring regarded any other branch of the German military developing its own aviation as an encroachment on his authority and continually frustrated the navy's attempts to build its own airpower.
The absence of a strategic bomber force for the Luftwaffe, following Wever's death in 1936 and the end of the Ural bomber programme was not addressed until the authorisation of the "Bomber B" design competition in July 1939, which sought to replace the medium bomber force with which the Luftwaffe would begin the war, and the partly achieved Schnellbomber high-speed medium bomber concept with more advanced, twin-engined high-speed bomber aircraft fitted with pairs of relatively "high-power" engines of 1,500 kW (2,000 hp) and upwards as a follow-on to the earlier Schnellbomber project, that would also be able to function as shorter-range heavy bombers.
The spring 1942 Amerikabomber programme sought to produce strategic bomber designs for the Luftwaffe to directly attack the United States from Europe or the Azores. Inevitably, both the Bomber B and Amerikabomber programmes were victims of the continued emphasis of the Wehrmacht combined military's insistence for its Luftwaffe air arm to support the Heer as its primary mission, and the damage to the German aviation industry from Allied bomber attacks.
Challenges in directly addressing combat pilots' issues
The RLM's apparent lack of a dedicated "technical-tactical" department, that would have directly been in contact with combat pilots to assess their needs for weaponry upgrades and tactical advice, had never been seriously envisioned as a critically ongoing necessity in the planning of the original German air arm. The RLM did have its own Technisches Amt (T-Amt) department to handle aviation technology issues, but this was tasked with handling all aviation technology issues in Nazi Germany, both military and civilian in nature, and also not known to have ever had any clear and actively administrative and consultative links with the front-line forces established for such purposes. On the front-line combat side of the issue, and for direct contact with the German aviation firms making the Luftwaffe's warplanes, the Luftwaffe did have its own reasonably effective system of four military aviation test facilities, or Erprobungstellen located at three coastal sites – Peenemünde-West (also incorporating a separate facility in nearby Karlshagen), Tarnewitz and Travemünde – and the central inland site of Rechlin, itself first established as a military airfield in late August 1918 by the German Empire, with the four-facility system commanded later in World War II by Oberst Edgar Petersen. However, due to lack of co-ordination between the RLM and the OKL, all fighter and bomber development was oriented toward short-range aircraft, as they could be produced in greater numbers, rather than quality long-range aircraft, something that put the Luftwaffe at a disadvantage as early as the Battle of Britain. The "ramp-up" to production levels required to fulfill the Luftwaffe's front-line needs was also slow, not reaching maximum output until 1944.
Production of fighters was not given priority until the Emergency Fighter Program was begun in 1944; Adolf Galland commented that this should have occurred at least a year earlier. Galland also pointed to the mistakes and challenges made in the development of the Messerschmitt Me 262 including the protracted development time required for its Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines to achieve reliability. German combat aircraft types that were first designed and flown in the mid-1930s had become obsolete, yet were kept in production, in particular the Ju 87 Stuka, and the Bf 109, because there were no well-developed replacement designs.
Production failures
The failure of German production was evident from the start of the Battle of Britain. By the end of 1940, the Luftwaffe had suffered heavy losses and needed to regroup. Deliveries of new aircraft were insufficient to meet the drain on resources; the Luftwaffe, unlike the RAF, was failing to expand its pilot and aircraft numbers. This was partly owing to production planning failures before the war and the demands of the army. Nevertheless, the German aircraft industry was being outproduced in 1940. In terms of fighter aircraft production, the British exceeded their production plans by 43%, while the Germans remained 40% "behind" target by summer 1940. In fact, German production in fighters fell from 227 to 177 per month between July and September 1940. One of the many reasons for the failure of the Luftwaffe in 1940 was that it did not have the operational and material means to destroy the British aircraft industry, something that the much-anticipated Bomber B design competition was intended to address.
The so-called "Göring programme", had largely been predicated on the defeat of the Soviet Union in 1941. After the Wehrmacht's failure in front of Moscow, industrial priorities for a possibility in increasing aircraft production were largely abandoned in favor to support the army's increased attrition rates and heavy equipment losses. Milch's reforms expanded production rates. In 1941 an average of 981 aircraft (including 311 fighters) were produced each month. In 1942 this rose to 1,296 aircraft of which 434 were fighters. Milch's planned production increases were initially opposed. But in June, he was granted materials for 900 fighters per month as the average output. By the summer of 1942, the Luftwaffe's operational fighter force had recovered from a low of 39% (44% for fighters and 31% for bombers) in the winter of 1941–1942, to 69% by late June (75% for fighters and 66% for bombers) in 1942. However, after increased commitments in the east, overall operational ready rates fluctuated between 59% and 65% for the remaining year. Throughout 1942 the Luftwaffe was out produced in fighter aircraft by 250% and in twin-engine aircraft by 196%.
The appointment of Albert Speer as Minister of Armaments increased production of existing designs and the few new designs that had originated from earlier in the war. However, the intensification of Allied bombing caused the dispersion of production and prevented an efficient acceleration of expansion. German aviation production reached about 36,000 combat aircraft for 1944. However, by the time this was achieved the Luftwaffe lacked the fuel and trained pilots to make this achievement worthwhile.
The failure to maximise production immediately after the failures in the Soviet Union and North Africa ensured the Luftwaffe's effective defeat in the period of September 1943 – February 1944. Despite the tactical victories won, they failed to achieve a decisive victory. By the time production reached acceptable levels, as so many other factors had for the Luftwaffe – and for the entire Wehrmacht's weapons and ordnance technology as a whole – late in the war, it was "too little, too late".
Engine development
By the late 1930s, airframe construction methods had progressed to the point where airframes could be built to any required size, especially in Germany with aircraft like the Dornier Do X flying boat and the Junkers G 38 airliner. However, powering such designs was a major challenge. Mid-1930s aero engines were limited to about 600 hp and the first 1000 hp engines were just entering the prototype stage – for Nazi Germany's then-new Luftwaffe air arm, this meant liquid-cooled inverted V12 designs like the Daimler-Benz DB 601.
Nazi Germany's initial need for substantially more powerful aviation engines originated with the private venture Heinkel He 119 high-speed reconnaissance design, and the Messerschmitt Me 261 for maritime reconnaissance duties. To give enough power in each engine installation, Daimler-Benz coupled two DB 601 engines as single "power system" with the propeller gear reduction housing across the front ends of the two engines. The combined powerplant, known as the DB 606, gave 2,700 metric horsepower (2,000 kW) maximum output in February 1937, for a total weight of around 1.5 tonnes.
Daimler-Benz's was at the same time developing a 1,500 kW class X-configuration engine design resulting in the twenty-four cylinder Daimler-Benz DB 604 (four banks of six cylinders each). Possessing essentially the same displacement of 46.5 litres (2,840 in3) as the initial version of the liquid-cooled Junkers Jumo 222 multibank engine, six banks of four inline cylinders apiece instead; coincidentally, both the original Jumo 222 design and the DB 604 each weighed about a third less (at some 1,080 kilograms or 2,380 pounds of dry weight) than the DB 606. The DB 604's protracted development was diverting valuable German aviation powerplant research resources, and with more development of the "twinned-DB 605" based DB 610 coupled engine (itself initiated in June 1940 with a top output level of 2,950 PS (2,170 kW), and brought together in the same way – with the same all-up weight of 1.5 tonnes – as the DB 606 had been) giving improved results at the time, the Reich Air Ministry stopped all work on the DB 604 in September 1942. Such "coupled powerplants" were the exclusive choice of power for the Heinkel He 177A Greif heavy bomber, mistasked from its beginnings in being intended to do moderate-angle "dive bombing" for a 30-meter wingspan class, heavy bomber design – the twin nacelles for a pair of DB 606s or 610s did reduce drag for such a combat "requirement", but the poor design of the He 177A's engine accommodations for these twin-crankcase "power systems" caused repeated outbreaks of engine fires, causing the "dive bombing" requirement for the He 177A to be cancelled by mid-September 1942.
BMW worked on what was essentially an enlarged version of its highly successful BMW 801 design from the Focke-Wulf Fw 190A. This led to the 53.7-litre displacement BMW 802 in 1943, an eighteen-cylinder air-cooled radial, weighing 1,530 kg (3,370 lb) matching that of the 24-cylinder liquid-cooled inline DB 606; and the even larger, 83.5-litre displacement BMW 803 28-cylinder liquid-cooled radial, which from post-war statements from BMW development personnel were each considered to be "secondary priority" development programmes at best. This situation with the 802 and 803 designs led to the company's engineering personnel being redirected to place all efforts on improving the 801 to develop it to its full potential. The BMW 801F radial development, through its use of features coming from the 801E subtype, was able to substantially exceed the over-1,500 kW output level.
The twinned-up Daimler-Benz DB 601-based, 1,750 kW output DB 606, and its more powerful descendant, the 2,130 kW output DB 605-based DB 610, weighing some 1.5 tonnes apiece, were the only 1,500 kW-plus output level aircraft powerplants to ever be produced by Germany for Luftwaffe combat aircraft, mostly for the Heinkel He 177A heavy bomber. Even the largest-displacement inverted V12 aircraft powerplant built in Germany, the 44.52-litre (2,717 cu. in.) Daimler-Benz DB 603, which saw widespread use in twin-engined designs, could not exceed 1,500 kW output without more development. By March 1940, even the DB 603 was being "twinned-up" as the 601/606 and 605/610 had been, to become their replacement "power system": this was the strictly experimental, approximately 1.8-tonne weight apiece, twin-crankcase DB 613; capable of over 2,570 kW (3,495 PS) output, but which never left its test phase.
The proposed over-1,500 kW output subtypes of German aviation industry's existing piston aviation engine designs—which adhered to using just a single crankcase that were able to substantially exceed the aforementioned over-1,500 kW output level—were the DB 603 LM (1,800 kW at take-off, in production), the DB 603 N (2,205 kW at take-off, planned for 1946) and the BMW 801F (1,765 kW (2,400 PS) engines. The pioneering nature of jet engine technology in the 1940s resulted in numerous development problems for both of Germany's major jet engine designs to see mass production, the Jumo 004 and BMW 003 (both axial flow designs), with the more powerful Heinkel HeS 011 never leaving the test phase.
Personnel and leadership
The bomber arm was given preference and received the "better" pilots. Later, fighter pilot leaders were few in numbers as a result of this. As with the late shift to fighter production, the Luftwaffe pilot schools did not give the fighter pilot schools preference soon enough. The Luftwaffe, the OKW argued, was still an offensive weapon, and its primary focus was on producing bomber pilots. This attitude prevailed until the second half of 1943. During the Defence of the Reich campaign in 1943 and 1944, there were not enough commissioned fighter pilots and leaders to meet attrition rates; as the need arose to replace aircrew (as attrition rates increased), the quality of pilot training deteriorated rapidly. Later this was made worse by fuel shortages for pilot training caused by the Allied strategic bombing campaign against German oil production. Overall this meant reduced training on operational types, formation flying, gunnery training, and combat training, and a total lack of instrument training.
At the beginning of the war, commanders were replaced with younger commanders too quickly. These younger commanders had to learn "in the field" rather than entering a front-line post fully qualified. Training of formation leaders was not systematic until 1943, which was far too late, with the Luftwaffe already stretched. The Luftwaffe thus lacked a cadre of staff officers to set up new combat units with carefully selected and skilled combat personnel, and pass on experience.
Moreover, Luftwaffe leadership from the start poached the training command, which undermined its ability to replace losses, while also planning for "short sharp campaigns", which did not pertain. Moreover, no plans were laid for night fighters. In fact, when protests were raised, Hans Jeschonnek, Chief of the General Staff of the Luftwaffe, said, "First we've got to beat Russia, then we can start training!"
Luftwaffe ground forces
The Luftwaffe was unusual among contemporary independent air forces in possessing an organic paratrooper force called Fallschirmjäger. Established in 1938, they were deployed in parachute operations in 1940 and 1941 and participated in the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael and the Battle for The Hague (alongside the German Army's 22nd Air Landing Division) in May 1940, and en masse during the Battle of Crete in May 1941. However, more than 4,000 Fallschirmjäger were killed during the Crete operation. The associated losses of aircraft and the belief that paratroops no longer enjoyed the advantage of surprise led to reduction in airborne operations. Afterwards, although continuing to be trained in parachute delivery, paratroopers were only used in a parachute role for smaller-scale operations, such as the rescue of Benito Mussolini in 1943. Fallschirmjäger formations were mainly used as light infantry in all theatres of the war. Their losses up to February 1945 were 22,041 killed, 57,594 wounded and 44,785 missing.
During 1942 surplus Luftwaffe personnel was used to form Luftwaffe Field Divisions, standard infantry divisions that were used chiefly as rear echelon units to free up front line troops. From 1943, the Luftwaffe also had an armoured division called Fallschirm-Panzer Division 1 Hermann Göring, which was expanded to a Panzerkorps in 1944.
Ground support and combat units from the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD), the Luftschutzpolizei (LSP), the National Socialist Flyers Corps (NSFK), and the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK) were also put at the Luftwaffe's disposal during the war. In 1942 56 RAD companies served with the Luftwaffe in the West as airfield construction troops. In 1943 420 RAD companies were trained as crews of anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) and posted to existing Luftwaffe AAA battalions in the homeland. At the end of the war, these units were also fighting Allied tanks. Beginning in 1939 with a transport regiment, the NSKK had in 1942 a complete division-sized transportation unit serving the Luftwaffe, the NSKK Transportgruppe Luftwaffe serving in France and at the Eastern front. The overwhelming number of its 12,000 members were Belgian, Dutch, and French collaborators.
War crimes
Forced labour
In 1943 and 1944, aircraft production was moved to concentration camps in order to alleviate labour shortages and to protect production from Allied air raids. The two largest aircraft factories in Germany were located at Mauthausen-Gusen and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camps. Aircraft parts were also manufactured at Flossenbürg, Buchenwald, Dachau, Ravensbrück, Gross-Rosen, Natzweiler, Herzogenbusch, and Neuengamme. In 1944 and 1945, as many as 90,000 concentration prisoners worked in the aviation industry, and were about one tenth of the concentration camp population over the winter of 1944–45. Partly in response to the Luftwaffe's demand for more forced labourers to increase fighter production, the concentration camp more than doubled between mid-1943 (224,000) and mid-1944 (524,000). Part of this increase was due to the deportation of Hungarian Jews; the Jägerstab programme was used to justify the deportations to the Hungarian government. Of the 437,000 Hungarian Jews deported between May and July 1944, about 320,000 were gassed on arrival at Auschwitz and the remainder forced to work. Only 50,000 survived.
Almost 1,000 fuselages of the jet fighter Messerschmitt Me 262 were produced at Gusen, a subcamp of Mauthausen and a brutal labour camp, where the average life expectancy was six months. By 1944, one-third of production at the crucial Regensburg plant that produced the Bf 109, the backbone of the Luftwaffe fighter arm, originated in Gusen and Flossenbürg alone. Synthetic oil was produced from shale oil deposits by prisoners of Mittlebau-Dora as part of Operation Desert directed by Edmund Geilenberg in order to make up for the decrease in oil production due to Allied bombing. For oil production, three subcamps were constructed and 15,000 prisoners forced to work in the plant. More than 3,500 people died. Vaivara concentration camp in Estonia was also established for shale oil extraction; about 20,000 prisoners worked there and more than 1,500 died at Vaivara.
Luftwaffe airfields were frequently maintained using forced labour. Thousands of inmates from five subcamps of Stutthof worked on the airfields. Airfields and bases near several other concentration camps and ghettos were constructed or maintained by prisoners. On the orders of the Luftwaffe, prisoners from Buchenwald and Herzogenbusch were forced to defuse bombs that had fallen around Düsseldorf and Leeuwarden respectively.
Thousands of Luftwaffe personnel worked as concentration camp guards. Auschwitz included a munitions factory guarded by Luftwaffe soldiers; 2,700 Luftwaffe personnel worked as guards at Buchenwald. Dozens of camps and subcamps were staffed primarily by Luftwaffe soldiers. According to the Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, it was typical for camps devoted to armaments production to be run by the branch of the Wehrmacht that used the products. In 1944, many Luftwaffe soldiers were transferred to concentration camps to alleviate personnel shortages.
Massacres
Luftwaffe paratroopers committed many war crimes in Crete following the Battle of Crete, including the Alikianos executions, the Massacre of Kondomari, and the Razing of Kandanos. Several Luftwaffe divisions, including the 1st Parachute Division, 2nd Parachute Division, 4th Parachute Division, 19th Luftwaffe Field Division, 20th Luftwaffe Field Division and the 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division, committed war crimes in Italy, murdering hundreds of civilians.
Luftwaffe troops participated in the murder of Jews imprisoned in ghettos in Eastern Europe. For example, they assisted in the murder of 2,680 Jews at the Nemirov ghetto, participated in a series of massacres at the Opoczno ghetto, and helped to liquidate the Dęblin–Irena Ghetto by deporting thousands of Jews to Treblinka extermination camp. Between 1942 and 1944, two Luftwaffe security battalions were stationed in the Białowieża Forest for Bandenbekämpfung operations. Encouraged by Göring, they murdered thousands of Jews and other civilians. Luftwaffe soldiers frequently executed Polish civilians at random with baseless accusations of being "Bolshevik agents", in order to keep the population in line, or as reprisal for partisan activities. The performance of the troops was measured by the body count of people murdered. 10,000 Luftwaffe troops were stationed on the Eastern Front for such "anti-partisan" operations.
Human experimentation
Throughout the war, concentration camp prisoners were forced to serve as human subjects in testing Luftwaffe equipment. Some of these experiments were carried out by Luftwaffe personnel and others were performed by the SS on the orders of the OKL.
In 1941, experiments with the intent of discovering how to prevent and treat hypothermia were carried out for the Luftwaffe, which had lost aircrew to immersion hypothermia after ditchings. The experiments were conducted at Dachau and Auschwitz. Sigmund Rascher, a Luftwaffe doctor based at Dachau, published the results at the 1942 medical conference entitled "Medical Problems Arising from Sea and Winter". Of about 400 prisoners forced to participate in cold-water experiments, 80 to 90 were killed.
In early 1942, prisoners at Dachau were used by Rascher in experiments to perfect ejection seats at high altitudes. A low-pressure chamber containing these prisoners was used to simulate conditions at altitudes of up to 20,000 metres (66,000 ft). It was rumored that Rascher performed vivisections on the brains of victims who survived the initial experiment. Of the 200 subjects, 80 died from the experimentation, and the others were executed. Eugen Hagen, head doctor of the Luftwaffe, infected inmates of Natzweiler concentration camp with typhus in order to test the efficacy of proposed vaccines.
Aerial bombing of non-military targets
No positive or specific customary international humanitarian law with respect to aerial warfare existed prior to or during World War II. This is also why no Luftwaffe officers were prosecuted at the post-World War II Allied war crime trials for the aerial raids.
The bombing of Wieluń was an air raid on the Polish town of Wieluń by the Luftwaffe on 1 September 1939. The Luftwaffe started bombing Wieluń at 04:40, five minutes before the shelling of Westerplatte, which has traditionally been considered the beginning of World War II in Europe. The air raid on the town was one of the first aerial bombings of the war. About 1,300 civilians were killed, hundreds were injured, and 90 percent of the town centre was destroyed. The casualty rate was more than twice as high as Guernica. A 1989 Sender Freies Berlin documentary stated that there were no military or industrial targets in the area, except for a small sugar factory in the outskirts of the town. Furthermore, Trenkner stated that German bombers first destroyed the town's hospital. Two attempts, in 1978 and 1983, to prosecute individuals for the bombing of the Wieluń hospital were dismissed by West German judges when prosecutors stated that the pilots had been unable to make out the nature of the structure due to fog.
Operation Retribution was the April 1941 German bombing of Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia. The bombing deliberately targeted the killing of civilians as punishment and resulted in 17,000 civilian deaths. It occurred in the first days of the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. The operation commenced on 6 April and concluded on 7 or 8 April, resulting in the paralysis of Yugoslav civilian and military command and control, widespread destruction in the centre of the city and many civilian casualties. Following the Yugoslav capitulation, Luftwaffe engineers conducted a bomb damage assessment in Belgrade. The report stated that 218.5 metric tons (215.0 long tons; 240.9 short tons) of bombs were dropped, with 10 to 14 percent being incendiaries. It listed all the targets of the bombing, which included: the royal palace, the war ministry, military headquarters, the central post office, the telegraph office, passenger and goods railway stations, power stations, and barracks. It also mentioned that seven aerial mines were dropped and that areas in the centre and northwest of the city had been destroyed, comprising 20 to 25 percent of its total area. Some aspects of the bombing remain unexplained, particularly the use of aerial mines. In contrast, Pavlowitch states that almost 50 percent of housing in Belgrade was destroyed. After the invasion, the Germans forced between 3,500 and 4,000 Jews to collect rubble that was caused by the bombing.
The biggest attacks at civilian targets occurred in the Battle of Britain when the Luftwaffe attacked the British Isles and primarily hit non military targets. This resulted in over 22,000 civilians being killed and over 30,000 being wounded.
Trials
Several prominent Luftwaffe commanders were convicted of war crimes, including General Alexander Löhr and Field Marshal Albert Kesselring.
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
Murry, Williamson (January 1983) Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 1933–1945, Air University Press, Maxwell Air Force Base, via Hyperwar Foundation
External links
Myths of the Luftwaffe: lecture on YouTube, via the Museum of Flight
The Nazi German Air Force 1935–1945 (Luftwaffe) |
Hermann_G%C3%B6ring | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring | [
505
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring"
] | Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; German: [ˈhɛʁman ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈɡøːʁɪŋ] ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which governed Germany from 1933 to 1945.
A veteran World War I fighter pilot ace, Göring was a recipient of the Pour le Mérite. He also served as the last commander of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG I), the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen. An early member of the Nazi Party, Göring was among those wounded in Adolf Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. While receiving treatment for his injuries, he developed an addiction to morphine which persisted until the last year of his life. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Göring was named as minister without portfolio in the new government. One of his first acts as a cabinet minister was to oversee the creation of the Gestapo, which he ceded to Heinrich Himmler in 1934.
Following the establishment of the Nazi state, Göring amassed power and political capital to become the second most powerful man in Germany. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (air force), a position he held until the final days of the regime. Upon being named Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan in 1936, Göring was entrusted with the task of mobilizing all sectors of the economy for war, an assignment which brought numerous government agencies under his control. In September 1939, Hitler gave a speech to the Reichstag designating him as his successor. After the Fall of France in 1940, he was bestowed the specially created rank of Reichsmarschall, which gave him seniority over all officers in Germany's armed forces.
By 1941, Göring was at the peak of his power and influence. As the Second World War progressed, Göring's standing with Hitler and the German public declined after the Luftwaffe proved incapable of preventing the Allied bombing of Germany's cities and resupplying surrounded Axis forces in Stalingrad. Around that time, Göring increasingly withdrew from military and political affairs to devote his attention to collecting property and artwork, much of which was stolen from Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Informed on 22 April 1945 that Hitler intended to commit suicide, Göring sent a telegram to Hitler requesting his permission to assume leadership of the Reich. Considering his request an act of treason, Hitler removed Göring from all his positions, expelled him from the party, and ordered his arrest.
After the war, Göring was convicted of conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials in 1946. He requested at trial for an execution by firing squad, but was denied, and instead he was sentenced to death by hanging. He committed suicide by ingesting cyanide the night before his scheduled execution.
Early life and education
Göring was born on 12 January 1893 at the Marienbad Sanatorium in Rosenheim, Bavaria. His father, Heinrich Ernst Göring (31 October 1839 – 7 December 1913), a former cavalry officer, had been the first governor-general of German South West Africa (modern-day Namibia). Heinrich had three children from a previous marriage. Göring was the fourth of five children by Heinrich's second wife, Franziska Tiefenbrunn (1859–15 July 1943), a Bavarian peasant. Göring's elder siblings were Karl, Olga, and Paula; his younger brother was Albert. At the time that Göring was born, his father was serving as consul general in Haiti, and his mother had returned home briefly to give birth. She left the six-week-old baby with a friend in Bavaria and did not see the child again for three years, when she and Heinrich returned to Germany.
Göring's godfather was Hermann Epenstein, a wealthy Jewish physician and businessman his father had met in Africa. Epenstein provided the Göring family, who were surviving on Heinrich's pension, first with a family home in Berlin-Friedenau, and then a small castle called Veldenstein, near Nuremberg. Göring's mother became Epenstein's mistress around this time and remained so for some fifteen years. Epenstein acquired the minor title of Ritter (knight) von Epenstein through service and donations to the Crown.
Interested in a career as a soldier from a very early age, Göring enjoyed playing with toy soldiers and dressing up in a Boer uniform his father had given him. He was sent to boarding school at age eleven, where the food was poor, and discipline was harsh. He sold a violin to pay for his train ticket home, and then took to his bed, feigning illness, until he was told he would not have to return. He continued to enjoy war games, pretending to lay siege to the castle Veldenstein and studying Teutonic legends and sagas. He became a mountain climber, scaling peaks in Germany, at the Mont Blanc massif, and in the Austrian Alps. At age 16, he was sent to a military academy in Berlin-Lichterfelde, from which he graduated with distinction.
Göring joined the Prince Wilhelm Regiment (112th Infantry, Garrison: Mülhausen) of the Prussian Army in 1912. The next year his mother had a falling-out with Epenstein. The family was forced to leave Veldenstein and moved to Munich; Göring's father died shortly afterwards. It was in Bavaria where Göring developed his "romantic sense of Germanness" that further evolved under Nazism. When World War I began in August 1914, Göring was stationed at Mülhausen with his regiment.
World War I
During the first year of World War I, Göring served with his infantry regiment in the area of Mülhausen, a garrison town less than 2 km from the French frontier. He was hospitalized with rheumatism, a result of the damp of trench warfare. While he was recovering, his friend Bruno Loerzer convinced him to transfer to what would become, by October 1916, the Luftstreitkräfte (transl. air combat forces) of the German army, but his request was turned down. Later that year, Göring flew as Loerzer's observer in Feldflieger Abteilung 25 (FFA 25); Göring had informally transferred himself. He was discovered and sentenced to three weeks' confinement to barracks, but the sentence was never carried out. By the time it was supposed to be imposed, Göring's association with Loerzer had been made official. They were assigned as a team to FFA 25 in the Crown Prince's Fifth Army. They flew reconnaissance and bombing missions, for which the Crown Prince invested both Göring and Loerzer with the Iron Cross, first class.
After completing the pilot's training course, Göring was assigned to Jagdstaffel 5. Seriously wounded in the hip in aerial combat, he took nearly a year to recover. He then was transferred to Jagdstaffel 26, commanded by Loerzer, in February 1917. He steadily scored air victories until May, when he was assigned to command Jagdstaffel 27. Serving with Jastas 5, 26 and 27, he continued to win victories. In addition to his Iron Crosses (1st and 2nd Class), he received the Zähringer Lion with swords, the Friedrich Order, the House Order of Hohenzollern with swords third class, and finally, in May 1918, the coveted Pour le Mérite. According to Hermann Dahlmann, who knew both men, Göring had Loerzer lobby for the award. He finished the war with 22 victories. A thorough post-war examination of Allied loss records showed that only two of his awarded victories were doubtful. Three were possible and 17 were certain, or highly likely.
On 7 July 1918, following the death of Wilhelm Reinhard, successor to Manfred von Richthofen, Göring was made commander of the "Flying Circus", Jagdgeschwader 1. His arrogance made him unpopular with the men of his squadron.
In the last days of the war, Göring was repeatedly ordered to withdraw his squadron, first to Tellancourt airdrome, then to Darmstadt. At one point, he was ordered to surrender the aircraft to the Allies; he refused. Many of his pilots intentionally crash-landed their planes to keep them from falling into enemy hands.
Like many other German veterans, Göring was a proponent of the stab-in-the-back myth, the belief which held that the German Army had not really lost the war, but instead was betrayed by the civilian leadership: Marxists, Jews, and especially the republicans, who had overthrown the German monarchy. Atop the frustration of military defeat, Göring also experienced the personal disappointment of being snubbed by his fiancée's upper-class family, who broke off the engagement when he returned penniless from the front.
After World War I
Göring remained in aviation after the war. He tried barnstorming and briefly worked at Fokker. After spending most of 1919 living in Denmark, he moved to Sweden and joined Svensk Lufttrafik, a Swedish airline. Göring was often hired for private flights. During the winter of 1920–1921, he was hired by Count Eric von Rosen to fly him to his castle from Stockholm. Invited to spend the night, Göring may at this time have first seen the swastika emblem, which Rosen had set in the chimney piece as a family badge.
This was also the first time that Göring saw his future wife; the count introduced his sister-in-law, Baroness Carin von Kantzow (née Freiin von Fock). Estranged from her husband of 10 years, she had an eight-year-old son. Göring was immediately infatuated and asked her to meet him in Stockholm. They arranged a visit at the home of her parents and spent much time together through 1921, when Göring left to study political science at the University of Munich. Carin obtained a divorce, followed Göring to Munich, and married him on 3 February 1922. Their first home together was a hunting lodge at Hochkreuth in the Bavarian Alps, near Bayrischzell, some 80 kilometres (50 mi) from Munich. After Göring met Adolf Hitler and joined the Nazi Party in 1922, they moved to Obermenzing, a suburb of Munich.
Early Nazi career
Göring joined the Nazi Party in 1922 after hearing a speech by Hitler. He was given command of the Sturmabteilung (SA) as the Oberster SA-Führer in 1923. He was later appointed an SA-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant general) and held this rank on the SA rolls until 1945. At this time, Carin—who liked Hitler—often played hostess to meetings of leading Nazis, including her husband as well as Hitler, Rudolf Hess, Alfred Rosenberg, and Ernst Röhm. Hitler later recalled his early association with Göring:
I liked him. I made him the head of my SA. He is the only one of its heads that ran the SA properly. I gave him a dishevelled rabble. In a very short time he had organised a division of 11,000 men.
Hitler and the Nazi Party held mass meetings and rallies in Munich and elsewhere during the early 1920s, attempting to gain supporters in a bid for political power. Inspired by Benito Mussolini's March on Rome, the Nazis attempted to seize power on 8–9 November 1923 in a failed coup known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Göring, who was with Hitler leading the march to the War Ministry, was shot in the groin. Fourteen Nazis and four policemen were killed; many top Nazis, including Hitler, were arrested. With Carin's help, Göring was smuggled to Innsbruck, where he received surgery and was given morphine for the pain. He remained in hospital until 24 December. This was the beginning of his morphine addiction, which lasted until his imprisonment at Nuremberg. Meanwhile, the authorities in Munich declared Göring a wanted man. The Görings—acutely short of funds and reliant on the good will of Nazi sympathizers abroad—moved from Austria to Venice. In May 1924 they visited Rome, via Florence and Siena. Sometime in 1924, Göring met Mussolini through his contacts with members of Italy's Fascist Party; Mussolini had also expressed an interest in meeting Hitler, who was by then in prison. Hitler penned Mein Kampf while incarcerated, before being released in December 1924.
Meanwhile, personal problems continued to multiply for Göring. By 1925, Carin's mother was ill. The Görings—with difficulty—raised the money in the spring of 1925 for a journey to Sweden via Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Danzig (now Gdańsk). Göring had become a violent morphine addict; Carin's family were shocked by his deterioration. Carin, who was ill with epilepsy and a weak heart, had to allow the doctors to take charge of Göring; her son was taken by his father. Göring was certified a dangerous drug addict and was placed in Långbro Asylum on 1 September 1925. He was violent to the point where he had to be confined in a straitjacket, but his psychiatrist felt he was sane; the condition was caused solely by the morphine. Weaned off the drug, he left the facility briefly, but had to return for further treatment. He returned to Germany when an amnesty was declared in 1927 and resumed working in the aircraft industry. Carin Göring, ill with epilepsy and tuberculosis, died of heart failure on 17 October 1931.
Meanwhile, the Nazi Party was in a period of rebuilding and waiting. The economy had recovered, which meant fewer opportunities for the Nazis to agitate. The SA was reorganised, but with Franz Pfeffer von Salomon as its head rather than Göring, and the Schutzstaffel (SS) was founded in 1925, initially as a bodyguard for Hitler. Membership in the party increased from 27,000 in 1925 to 108,000 in 1928 and 178,000 in 1929. In the May 1928 elections the Nazi Party only obtained 12 seats out of an available 491 in the Reichstag. Göring was elected as a representative from Bavaria. Having secured a seat in the Reichstag, Göring gained a more prominent place in the Nazi movement, since Hitler saw him as a public relations officer for Nazism in this capacity. Göring continued to be elected to the Reichstag in all subsequent elections during the Weimar and Nazi regimes. Electoral success also afforded Göring with access to powerful sympathizers to the Nazi cause, such as Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia and the conservative-minded businessmen, Fritz Thyssen and Hjalmar Schacht. The Great Depression led to a disastrous downturn in the German economy, and in the 1930 election, the Nazi Party won 6,409,600 votes and 107 seats. In May 1931, Hitler sent Göring on a mission to the Vatican, where he met the future Pope Pius XII.
In the July 1932 election, the Nazis won 230 seats to become far and away the largest party in the Reichstag. By longstanding tradition, the Nazis were thus entitled to select the President of the Reichstag, and elected Göring to the post. He would retain this position until 23 April 1945.
Reichstag fire
The Reichstag fire occurred on the night of 27 February 1933. Göring was one of the first to arrive on the scene. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Communist radical, was arrested and claimed sole responsibility for the fire. Göring immediately called for a crackdown on Communists.
The Nazis took advantage of the fire to advance their own political aims. The Reichstag Fire Decree, passed the next day on Hitler's urging, suspended basic rights and allowed detention without trial. Activities of the German Communist Party were suppressed, and some 4,000 Party members were arrested. Göring demanded that the prisoners should be shot, but Rudolf Diels, head of the Prussian political police, ignored the order. Some researchers, including William L. Shirer and Alan Bullock, are of the opinion that the Nazi Party itself was responsible for starting the fire.
At the Nuremberg trials, General Franz Halder testified that Göring admitted responsibility for starting the fire. He said that, at a luncheon held on Hitler's birthday in 1942, Göring said, "The only one who really knows about the Reichstag is I, because I set it on fire!" In his own Nuremberg testimony, Göring denied this story.
Second marriage
During the early 1930s, Göring was often in the company of Emmy Sonnemann, an actress from Hamburg. They were married on 10 April 1935, in Berlin. The wedding was celebrated on a huge scale. A large reception was held the night before at the Berlin Opera House. Fighter aircraft flew overhead on the night of the reception and the day of the ceremony, at which Hitler was best man. Göring's daughter, Edda, was born on 2 June 1938.
Nazi potentate
When Hitler was named chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, Göring was appointed as Reichsminister without portfolio and Reichskommissar of Aviation. This was followed on 11 April 1933 by his appointment as Minister-President of Prussia, Prussian interior minister and chief of the Prussian police. On 25 April 1933, Hitler also delegated his powers as Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of Prussia to Göring. On 18 May 1933, Göring secured passage of an enabling act through the Landtag of Prussia that conferred all legislative powers on the cabinet.
Using this authority, on 8 July 1933 Göring enacted a law abolishing the Prussian State Council, the second chamber of the Prussian legislature that represented the interests of the Prussian provinces. In its place, he created a revised non-legislative Prussian State Council to serve merely as a body of advisors to him. Göring would serve as President of the Council. It would consist, ex officio, of the Prussian cabinet ministers and state secretaries, as well as hand-picked Nazi Party officials and other industry and society leaders selected solely by Göring. In October 1933, Göring was made a member of Hans Frank's Academy for German Law at its inaugural meeting. In July 1934, he was appointed Reichforstmeister, with the rank of a Reichsminister, as the head of the newly created Reich Forestry Office.
Wilhelm Frick, the Reich interior minister, and the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, hoped to create a unified police force for all of Germany, but Göring on 26 April 1933 established a special Prussian police force, with Rudolf Diels at its head. The force was called the Geheime Staatspolizei (transl. Secret State Police), or Gestapo. Göring, thinking that Diels was not ruthless enough to use the Gestapo effectively to counteract the power of the SA, handed over control of the Gestapo to Himmler on 20 April 1934. By this time, the SA numbered over two million men.
Hitler was deeply concerned that Ernst Röhm, the chief of the SA, was planning a coup. Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich plotted with Göring to use the Gestapo and SS to crush the SA. Members of the SA got wind of the proposed action and thousands of them took to the streets in violent demonstrations on the night of 29 June 1934. Enraged, Hitler ordered the arrest of the SA leadership. Röhm was shot dead in his cell when he refused to commit suicide; Göring personally went over the lists of prisoners—numbering in the thousands—and determined who else should be shot. At least 85 people were killed in the period of 30 June to 2 July, which is now known as the Night of the Long Knives. Hitler admitted in the Reichstag on 13 July that the killings had been entirely illegal but claimed a plot had been under way to overthrow the Reich. A retroactive law was passed making the action legal. Any criticism was met with arrests.
One of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which had been in place since the end of World War I, stated that Germany was not allowed to maintain an air force. After the 1928 signing of the Kellogg–Briand Pact, police aircraft were permitted. Göring was appointed Air Traffic Minister in May 1933. Germany began to accumulate aircraft in violation of the Treaty, and in 1935 the existence of the Luftwaffe was formally acknowledged, with Göring as Reich Aviation Minister.
During a cabinet meeting in September 1936, Göring and Hitler announced that the German rearmament programme must be sped up. On 18 October, Hitler named Göring as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan to undertake this task. Göring created a new organisation to administer the Plan and drew the ministries of labour and agriculture under its umbrella. He bypassed the Economics Ministry in his policy-making decisions, to the chagrin of Hjalmar Schacht, the minister in charge. Huge expenditures were made on rearmament, in spite of growing deficits. Schacht resigned on 26 November 1937, and Göring took over the Economics Ministry on an interim basis until January 1938. He then managed to install Walther Funk in the position, who also took control of the Reichsbank when Schacht was forced out of that post as well in January 1939. In this way, both of these institutions effectively were brought under Göring's control under the auspices of the Four Year Plan. In July 1937, the Reichswerke Hermann Göring was established under state ownership – though led by Göring – with the aim of boosting steel production beyond the level which private enterprise could economically provide.
In 1938, Göring was involved in the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair, which led to the resignations of the War Minister, Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg, and the army commander, General Werner von Fritsch. Göring had acted as witness at Blomberg's wedding to Margarethe Gruhn, a 26-year-old typist, on 12 January 1938. Information received from the police showed that the young bride was a prostitute. Göring felt obligated to tell Hitler, but also saw this event as an opportunity to dispose of Blomberg. Blomberg was forced to resign. Göring did not want Fritsch to be appointed to that position and thus be his superior. Several days later, Heydrich revealed a file on Fritsch that contained allegations of homosexual activity and blackmail. The charges were later proven to be false, but Fritsch had lost Hitler's trust and was forced to resign. Hitler used the dismissals as an opportunity to reshuffle the leadership of the military. Göring asked for the post of War Minister but was turned down; he was appointed to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall. Hitler took over as supreme commander of the armed forces and created subordinate posts to head the three main branches of service.
As minister in charge of the Four-Year Plan, Göring became concerned with the lack of natural resources in Germany and began pushing for Austria to be incorporated into the Reich. The province of Styria had rich iron ore deposits, and the country as a whole was home to many skilled labourers who would also be useful. Hitler had always been in favour of a takeover of Austria, his native country. He met the Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg on 12 February 1938, threatening invasion if peaceful unification was not forthcoming. The Nazi Party was made legal in Austria to gain a power base, and a referendum on reunification was scheduled for March. When Hitler did not approve of the wording of the plebiscite, Göring telephoned Schuschnigg and Austrian head of state Wilhelm Miklas to demand Schuschnigg's resignation, threatening invasion by German troops and civil unrest by the Austrian Nazi Party members. Schuschnigg resigned on 11 March and the plebiscite was cancelled. By 5:30 the next morning, German troops that had been massing on the border marched into Austria, meeting no resistance.
Although Joachim von Ribbentrop had been named Foreign Minister in February 1938, Göring continued to involve himself in foreign affairs. That July, he contacted the British government with the idea that he should make an official visit to discuss Germany's intentions for Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain was in favour of a meeting, and there was talk of a pact being signed between Britain and Germany. In February 1938, Göring visited Warsaw to quell rumours about the upcoming invasion of Poland. He had conversations with the Hungarian government that summer as well, discussing their potential role in an invasion of Czechoslovakia. At the Nuremberg Rally that September, Göring and other speakers denounced the Czechs as an inferior race that must be conquered. Chamberlain and Hitler had a series of meetings that led to the signing of the Munich Agreement (29 September 1938), which turned over control of the Sudetenland to Germany. In March 1939, Göring threatened Czechoslovak president Emil Hácha with the bombing of Prague. Hácha then agreed to sign a communique accepting the German occupation of the remainder of Bohemia and Moravia.
Although many in the party disliked him, before the war Göring enjoyed widespread personal popularity among the German public because of his perceived sociability, colour and humour. As the Nazi leader most responsible for economic matters, he presented himself as a champion of national interests over allegedly corrupt big business and the old German elite. The Nazi press was on Göring's side. Other leaders, such as Hess and Ribbentrop, were envious of his popularity. In Britain and the United States, some viewed Göring as more acceptable than the other Nazis and as a possible mediator between the western democracies and Hitler.
World War II
Success on all fronts
Göring and other senior officers were concerned that Germany was not yet ready for war, but Hitler insisted on pushing ahead as soon as possible. On 30 August 1939, immediately prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Hitler appointed Göring as the chairman of a new six-person Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich which was set up to operate as a war cabinet. The invasion of Poland, the opening action of World War II, began at dawn on 1 September 1939. Later in the day, speaking to the Reichstag, Hitler designated Göring as his successor as Führer of all Germany, "If anything should befall me", with Hess as the second alternate. Big German victories followed one after the other in quick succession. With the help of the Luftwaffe, the Polish Air Force was defeated within a week. The Fallschirmjäger seized vital airfields in Norway (Operation Weserübung) and captured Fort Eben-Emael in Belgium on 10 May 1940, the first day of the Battle of France. Göring's Luftwaffe played critical roles in the Battles of the Netherlands, of Belgium and of France in May 1940.
After the Fall of France, Hitler awarded Göring the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross for his successful leadership. During the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony, Hitler promoted Göring to the rank of Reichsmarschall des Grossdeutschen Reiches (transl. Reich Marshal of the Greater German Reich), a specially created rank which made him senior to all field marshals in the military. As a result of this promotion, he was the highest-ranking soldier in Germany until the end of the war. Göring had already received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 30 September 1939 as Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe.
The UK had declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, the third day of the invasion of Poland. In July 1940, Hitler began preparations for an invasion of Britain. As part of the plan, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had to be neutralized. Bombing raids commenced on British air installations and on cities and centres of industry. Göring had by then already announced in a radio speech, "If as much as a single enemy aircraft flies over German soil, my name is Meier!", something that would return to haunt him, when the RAF began bombing German cities on 11 May 1940. Though he was confident the Luftwaffe could defeat the RAF within days, Göring, like Admiral Erich Raeder, commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine (navy), was pessimistic about the chance of success of the planned invasion (codenamed Operation Sea Lion). Göring hoped that a victory in the air would be enough to force peace without an invasion. The campaign failed, and Sea Lion was postponed indefinitely on 17 September 1940. After their defeat in the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe attempted to defeat Britain via strategic bombing. On 12 October 1940 Hitler cancelled Sea Lion due to the onset of winter. By the end of the year, it was clear that British morale was not being shaken by the Blitz, though the bombings continued through May 1941.
Defeat on all fronts
In spite of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, signed in 1939, Nazi Germany began Operation Barbarossa—the invasion of the Soviet Union—on 22 June 1941. Initially, the Luftwaffe was at an advantage, destroying thousands of Soviet aircraft in the first month of fighting. Hitler and his top staff were sure that the campaign would be over by Christmas, and no provisions were made for reserves of men or equipment. But, by July, the Germans had only 1,000 planes remaining in operation, and their troop losses were over 213,000 men. The choice was made to concentrate the attack on only one part of the vast front; efforts would be directed at capturing Moscow. After the long, but successful, Battle of Smolensk, Hitler ordered Army Group Centre to halt its advance to Moscow and temporarily diverted its Panzer groups north and south to aid in the encirclement of Leningrad and Kiev. The pause provided the Red Army with an opportunity to mobilize fresh reserves; historian Russel Stolfi considers it to be one of the major factors that caused the failure of the Moscow offensive, which was resumed in October 1941 with the Battle of Moscow. Poor weather conditions, fuel shortages, a delay in building aircraft bases in Eastern Europe, and overstretched supply lines were also factors. Hitler did not give permission for even a partial retreat until mid-January 1942; by this time the losses were comparable to those of the French invasion of Russia in 1812.
In late October or early November 1941, Hitler and Göring decided on the mass deportation of Soviet prisoners of war—and a larger number of Soviet civilians—to Germany for forced labor, but epidemics soon caused the halting of prisoner-of-war transports. Those who were deported to Germany faced conditions not necessarily any better than existed in the occupied Soviet Union. By the end of the war, at least 1.3 million Soviet prisoners of war had been deported to Germany or its annexed territories. Of these, 400,000 did not survive and most of these deaths occurred in the winter of 1941/1942.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Göring, along with Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and Admiral Erich Raeder, urged Hitler to immediately declare war on the United States.
Hitler decided that the summer 1942 campaign would be concentrated in the south; efforts would be made to capture the oilfields in the Caucasus. The Battle of Stalingrad, a major turning point of the war, began on 23 August 1942 with a bombing campaign by the Luftwaffe. The German Sixth Army entered the city, but because of its location on the front line, it was still possible for the Soviets to encircle and trap it there without reinforcements or supplies. When the Sixth Army was surrounded by the end of November in Operation Uranus, Göring promised that the Luftwaffe would be able to deliver a minimum of 300 tons of supplies to the trapped men every day. On the basis of these assurances, Hitler demanded that there be no retreat; they were to fight to the last man. Though some airlifts were able to get through, supplies delivered never exceeded 120 tons per day. The remnants of the Sixth Army—some 91,000 men out of an army of 285,000—surrendered in early February 1943; only 5,000 of these captives survived the Soviet prisoner of war camps to see Germany again.
War over Germany
Meanwhile, the strength of the US and British bomber fleets had increased. Based in Britain, they began operations against German targets. The first thousand-bomber raid was staged on Cologne on 30 May 1942. Air raids continued on targets farther from England after auxiliary fuel tanks were installed on US fighter aircraft. Göring refused to believe reports that American fighters had been shot down as far east as Aachen in winter 1942–1943. His reputation began to decline.
The American P-51 Mustang, with a combat radius of over 1,800 miles (2,900 km) when using underwing drop tanks, began to escort the bombers in large formations to and from the target area in early 1944. From that point onwards, the Luftwaffe began to suffer casualties in aircrews it could not sufficiently replace. By targeting oil refineries and rail communications, Allied bombers crippled the German war effort by late 1944. German civilians blamed Göring for his failure to protect the homeland. Hitler began excluding him from conferences but retained him in his positions at the head of the Luftwaffe and as plenipotentiary of the Four-Year Plan. As he lost Hitler's trust, Göring began to spend more time at his various residences. On D-Day (6 June 1944), the Luftwaffe only had some 300 fighters and a small number of bombers in the area of the landings; the Allies had a total strength of 11,000 aircraft.
End of the war
As the Soviets approached Berlin, Hitler's efforts to organise the defence of the city became ever more meaningless and futile. His last birthday, celebrated at the Führerbunker in Berlin on 20 April 1945, was the occasion for leave-taking by many top Nazis, Göring included. By this time, Göring's hunting lodge Carinhall had been evacuated, the building destroyed, and its art treasures moved to Berchtesgaden and elsewhere. Göring arrived at his estate at Obersalzberg on 22 April, the same day that Hitler, in a lengthy diatribe against his generals, first publicly admitted that the war was lost and that he intended to remain in Berlin to the end and then commit suicide. He also stated that Göring was in a better position to negotiate a peace settlement.
OKW operations chief Alfred Jodl was present for Hitler's rant, and notified Göring's chief of staff, Karl Koller, at a meeting a few hours later. Sensing its implications, Koller immediately flew to Berchtesgaden to notify Göring of this development. A week after the start of the Soviet invasion, Hitler had issued a decree naming Göring his successor in the event of his death, thus codifying the declaration he had made soon after the beginning of the war. The decree also gave Göring full authority to act as Hitler's deputy if Hitler ever lost his freedom of action.
Göring feared being branded a traitor if he tried to take power, but also feared being accused of dereliction of duty if he did nothing. After some hesitation, Göring reviewed his copy of the 1941 decree naming him Hitler's successor. After conferring with Koller and Hans Lammers (the state secretary of the Reich Chancellery), Göring concluded that by remaining in Berlin to face certain death, Hitler had incapacitated himself from governing. All agreed that under the terms of the decree, it was incumbent upon Göring to take power in Hitler's stead. He was also motivated by fears that his rival, Martin Bormann, would seize power upon Hitler's death and would have him killed as a traitor. With this in mind, Göring sent a carefully worded telegram asking Hitler for permission to take over as the leader of Germany, stressing that he would be acting as Hitler's deputy. He added that, if Hitler did not reply by 22:00 that night (23 April), he would assume that Hitler had indeed lost his freedom of action and would assume leadership of the Reich.
The telegram was intercepted by Bormann, who convinced Hitler that Göring was attempting a coup. Bormann argued that Göring's telegram was not a request for permission to act as Hitler's deputy, but a demand to resign or be overthrown. Bormann also intercepted another telegram in which Göring directed Ribbentrop to report to him if there was no further communication from Hitler or Göring before midnight. Hitler sent a reply to Göring—prepared with Bormann's help—rescinding the 1941 decree and threatening him with execution for high treason unless he immediately resigned from all of his offices. Realizing his situation was untenable, Göring duly resigned. Afterwards, Hitler (or Bormann, depending on the source) ordered the SS to place Göring, his staff, and Lammers under house arrest at Obersalzberg. Bormann made an announcement over the radio that Göring had resigned for health reasons.
By 26 April, the complex at Obersalzberg was under attack by the Allies, so Göring was moved to his castle at Mauterndorf. In his last will and testament, Hitler expelled Göring from the party, formally rescinded the decree making him his successor, and upbraided Göring for "illegally attempting to seize control of the state". He then appointed Karl Dönitz, the Navy's commander-in-chief, as president of the Reich and supreme commander of the armed forces. Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide on 30 April 1945, a few hours after a hastily arranged wedding. Göring was freed on 5 May by a passing Luftwaffe unit, and he made his way to the U.S. lines in hopes of surrendering to them rather than to the Soviets. He was taken into custody near Radstadt on 6 May by elements of the 36th Infantry Division of the US Army. This move likely saved Göring's life; Bormann had ordered him executed if Berlin had fallen. On 10 May, US Air Forces commander Carl Spaatz conducted an interrogation of Göring along with lieutenant general Hoyt Vandenberg and American historian Bruce Campbell Hopper at the Ritter School in Augsburg, Germany.
Trial and death
Göring was flown to Camp Ashcan, a temporary prisoner-of-war camp housed in the Palace Hotel at Mondorf-les-Bains, Luxembourg. Here he was weaned off dihydrocodeine (a mild morphine derivative)—he had been taking the equivalent of three or four grains (260 to 320 mg) of morphine a day—and was put on a strict diet; he lost 60 pounds (27 kg). His IQ was tested while in custody and found to be 138. Top Nazi officials were transferred in September to Nuremberg, which was to be the location of a series of military tribunals beginning in November.
Göring was the second highest-ranking official tried at Nuremberg, behind Reich President (former Admiral) Karl Dönitz. The prosecution levelled an indictment of four charges, including a charge of conspiracy; waging a war of aggression; war crimes, including the plundering and removal to Germany of works of art and other property; and crimes against humanity, including the disappearance of political and other opponents under the Nacht und Nebel (transl. Night and Fog) decree; the torture and ill treatment of prisoners of war; and the murder and enslavement of civilians, including what was at the time estimated to be 5,700,000 Jews. Not permitted to present a lengthy statement, Göring declared himself to be "in the sense of the indictment not guilty".
The trial lasted 218 days. The prosecution presented its case from November through March, and Göring's defence—the first to be presented—lasted from 8 to 22 March. The sentences were read on 30 September 1946. Göring, forced to remain silent while seated in the dock, communicated his opinions about the proceedings using gestures, shaking his head, or laughing. He constantly took notes and whispered with the other defendants, and tried to control the erratic behaviour of Hess, who was seated beside him. During breaks in the proceedings, Göring tried to dominate the other defendants, and he was eventually placed in solitary confinement when he attempted to influence their testimony. Göring told American psychiatrist Leon Goldensohn that the court was "stupid" to try "little fellows" like Funk and Kaltenbrunner instead of letting Göring take all the blame on himself. He also claimed that he had never heard of most of the other defendants before the trial.
On several occasions over the course of the trial, the prosecution showed films of the concentration camps and other atrocities. Everyone present, including Göring, found the contents of the films shocking; he said that the films must have been faked. Witnesses, including Paul Körner and Erhard Milch, tried to portray Göring as a peaceful moderate. Milch stated that it had been impossible to oppose Hitler or disobey his orders; to do so would likely have meant death for oneself and one's family. When testifying on his own behalf, Göring emphasised his loyalty to Hitler, and claimed to know nothing about what had happened in the concentration camps, which were under Himmler's control. He provided evasive, convoluted answers to direct questions and had plausible excuses for all of his actions during the war. He used the witness stand as a venue to expound at great length on his own role in the Reich, attempting to present himself as a peacemaker and diplomat before the outbreak of the war. During cross-examination, chief prosecutor Robert H. Jackson read the minutes of a meeting that had been held shortly after Kristallnacht, a major pogrom in November 1938. At the meeting, Göring had plotted to confiscate Jewish property in the wake of the pogrom. Later, David Maxwell-Fyfe presented evidence that Göring must have known about the killing of 50 airmen who had been recaptured after escaping from Stalag Luft III in time to have saved them. He also presented evidence that Göring knew about the extermination of the Hungarian Jews.
Göring was found guilty on all four counts and was sentenced to death by hanging. The judgment stated:
There is nothing to be said in mitigation. For Göring was often, indeed almost always, the moving force, second only to his leader. He was the leading war aggressor, both as political and as military leader; he was the director of the slave labour programme and the creator of the oppressive programme against the Jews and other races, at home and abroad. All of these crimes he has frankly admitted. On some specific cases there may be conflict of testimony, but in terms of the broad outline, his own admissions are more than sufficiently wide to be conclusive of his guilt. His guilt is unique in its enormity. The record discloses no excuses for this man.
Göring made an appeal asking to be shot as a soldier instead of hanged as a common criminal, but the court refused. He committed suicide with a potassium cyanide capsule the night before he was to be hanged.
Speculation as to how Göring obtained the poison holds that US Army lieutenant Jack G. Wheelis, who was stationed at the trials, retrieved the capsules from their hiding place among Göring's confiscated personal effects and passed them to Göring, who had earlier presented Wheelis with his gold watch, pen, and cigarette case. In 2005, former US Army private Herbert Lee Stivers, who served in the 1st Infantry Division's 26th Infantry Regiment—the honour guard for the Nuremberg Trials—claimed he gave Göring "medicine" hidden inside a fountain pen that a German woman had asked him to smuggle into the prison. Stivers later said that he did not know what was in the pill until after Göring's suicide.
Göring's body, as with those of the men who were executed, was displayed at the execution ground for witnesses. The bodies were cremated at Ostfriedhof, Munich, and the ashes were scattered in the Isar River.
Personal properties
Göring's name is closely associated with the Nazi plunder of Jewish property. His name appears 135 times on the OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) Red Flag Names List compiled by US Army intelligence in 1945-6 and declassified in 1997.
The confiscation of Jewish property gave Göring the opportunity to amass a personal fortune. Some properties he seized himself or acquired for a nominal price. In other cases, he collected bribes for allowing others to steal Jewish property. He took kickbacks from industrialists for favourable decisions as Four-Year Plan director, and money for supplying arms to the Spanish Republicans in the Spanish Civil War via Pyrkal in Greece (although Germany was supporting Franco and the Nationalists).
Göring was appointed Reich Master of the Hunt in 1933 and Master of the German Forests in 1934. He instituted reforms to the forestry laws and acted to protect endangered species. Around this time, he became interested in Schorfheide Forest, where he set aside 100,000 acres (400 km2) as a state park, which is still extant. There he built an elaborate hunting lodge, Carinhall, in memory of his first wife, Carin. By 1934, her body had been transported to the site and placed in a vault on the estate. Through most of the 1930s, Göring kept pet lion cubs, borrowed from the Berlin Zoo, both at Carinhall and at his house at Obersalzberg. The main lodge at Carinhall had a large art gallery where Göring displayed works that had been plundered from private collections and museums around Europe from 1939 onward. Göring worked closely with the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (transl. Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce), an organisation tasked with the looting of artwork and cultural material from Jewish collections, libraries, and museums throughout Europe. Headed by Alfred Rosenberg, the task force set up a collection centre and headquarters in Paris. Some 26,000 railroad cars full of art treasures, furniture, and other looted items were sent to Germany from France alone. Göring repeatedly visited the Paris headquarters to review the incoming stolen goods and to select items to be sent on a special train to Carinhall and his other homes. The estimated value of his collection, which numbered some 1,500 pieces, was $200 million.
Göring was known for his extravagant tastes and garish clothing. He had various special uniforms made for the many posts he held; his Reichsmarschall uniform included a jewel-encrusted baton. Hans-Ulrich Rudel, the top Stuka pilot of the war, recalled twice meeting Göring dressed in outlandish costumes: first, a medieval hunting costume, practicing archery with his doctor; and second, dressed in a red toga fastened with a golden clasp, smoking an unusually large pipe. Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano once noted Göring wearing a fur coat that looked like what "a high-grade prostitute wears to the opera". He threw lavish housewarming parties each time a round of construction was completed at Carinhall, and changed costumes several times throughout the evenings.
Göring was noted for his patronage of music, especially opera. He entertained frequently and sumptuously and hosted elaborate birthday parties for himself. Armaments minister Albert Speer recalled that guests brought expensive gifts such as gold bars, Dutch cigars, and valuable artwork. For his birthday in 1944, Speer gave Göring an oversized marble bust of Hitler. As a member of the Prussian Council of State, Speer was required to donate a considerable portion of his salary towards the council's birthday gift to Göring without even being asked. Generalfeldmarschall Milch told Speer that similar donations were required out of the Air Ministry's general fund. For his birthday in 1940, Ciano decorated Göring with the coveted Collar of Annunziata. The award reduced him to tears.
The design of the Reichsmarschall standard, on a light blue field, featured a gold German eagle grasping a wreath surmounted by two batons overlaid with a swastika. The reverse side of the flag had the Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (transl. Grand Cross of the Iron Cross) surrounded by a wreath between four Luftwaffe eagles. The flag was carried by a personal standard-bearer at all public occasions.
Though he liked to be called "der Eiserne" (transl. the Iron Man), the once dashing and muscular fighter pilot had become corpulent. He was one of the few Nazi leaders who did not take offence at hearing jokes about himself, "no matter how rude", taking them as a sign of his popularity among the masses. One such German joke poked fun at Göring in stating that he would wear an admiral's uniform with rubber medals to take a bath, and his obesity, joking that "he sits down on his stomach". Another joke claimed that he had sent a wire to Hitler after his visit to the Vatican: "Mission accomplished. Pope unfrocked. Tiara and pontifical vestments are a perfect fit."
Role in the Holocaust
Joseph Goebbels and Himmler were far more antisemitic than Göring, who mainly adopted that attitude because party politics required him to do so. His deputy, Milch, had a Jewish parent. However, Göring supported the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, and later initiated economic measures unfavourable to Jews. He required the registration of all Jewish property as part of the Four-Year Plan, and at a meeting held after Kristallnacht was livid that the financial burden for the Jewish losses would have to be made good by German-owned insurance companies. He proposed that the Jews be fined one billion marks.
At the same meeting, options for the disposition of the Jews and their property were discussed. Jews would be segregated into ghettos or encouraged to emigrate, and their property would be seized in a programme of Aryanization. Compensation for seized property would be low, if any was given at all. Detailed minutes of this meeting and other documents were read out at the Nuremberg trial, proving his knowledge of and complicity with the persecution of the Jews.
On 24 January 1939, Göring established in Berlin the head office of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, modelled on the similar organization established in Vienna in August 1938. Under the direction of Heydrich, it was tasked with using any means necessary to prompt Jews to leave the Reich, and creating a Jewish organization that would co-ordinate emigration from the Jewish side.
In July 1941, Göring issued a memo to Heydrich ordering him to organise the practical details of the Final Solution to the "Jewish Question". By the time that this letter was written, many Jews and others had already been killed in Poland, Russia, and elsewhere. At the Wannsee Conference, held six months later, Heydrich formally announced that genocide of the Jews was now official Reich policy. Göring did not attend the conference, but he was present at other meetings where the number of people killed was discussed.
Göring directed anti-partisan operations by Luftwaffe security battalions in the Białowieża Forest between 1942 and 1944 that resulted in the murder of thousands of Jews and Polish civilians.
At the Nuremberg trial Göring told first lieutenant and U.S. Army psychologist Gustave Gilbert that he would never have supported the anti-Jewish measures if he had known what was going to happen. "I only thought we would eliminate Jews from positions in big business and government", he claimed.
Decorations and awards
German
Kingdom of Prussia:
Iron Cross 2nd Class (15 September 1914)
Iron Cross 1st Class (22 March 1915)
Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Knights Cross with Swords
Order Pour le Mérite (2 June 1918)
Grand Duchy of Baden:
Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order, Knights Cross
Order of the Zähringer Lion, Knights Cross 2nd Class with Swords
Nazi Germany:
1939 Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd Class (30 September 1939)
1939 Clasp to the Iron Cross 1st Class (30 September 1939)
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (30 September 1939)
Grand Cross of the Iron Cross for "the victories of the Luftwaffe in 1940 during the French campaign" (the only award of this decoration during World War II – 19 August 1940)
Golden Party Badge
Blood Order (Commemorative Medal of 9 November 1923)
Danzig Cross, 1st and 2nd class
Foreign
Kingdom of Bulgaria: Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Knight
Kingdom of Denmark: Order of the Dannebrog, Grand Cross with Breast Star in Diamonds (25 July 1938)
Finland:
Order of the White Rose of Finland
Grand Cross (6 March 1935)
Grand Cross with Collar (21 April 1941)
Order of the Cross of Liberty, Grand Cross with Swords (25 March 1942)
Kingdom of Hungary: Order of St Stephen, Grand Cross
Kingdom of Italy: Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, Knight (12 January 1940)
Kingdom of Sweden: Order of the Sword Commander Grand Cross with Collar (1939)
Empire of Japan: Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon with Paulownia Flowers (4 October 1943)
See also
Aerial victory standards of World War I
Air warfare of World War II
Fallschirm-Panzer Division 1 Hermann Göring
Glossary of Nazi Germany
Glossary of German military terms
Göring's Green Folder
List of Nazi Party leaders and officials
Notes
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Brandenburg, Erich (1995). Die Nachkommen Karls Des Grossen. Neustadt/Aisch: Degener. ISBN 3-7686-5102-9.
Burke, William Hastings (2009). Thirty Four. London: Wolfgeist. ISBN 978-0-9563712-0-1.
Butler, Ewan (1951). Marshal Without Glory. London: Hodder & Stoughton. OCLC 1246848.
Fest, Joachim (2004). Inside Hitler's Bunker. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-13577-0.
Frischauer, Willi (2013) [1950]. Goering. Unmaterial Books. ISBN 978-1-78301-221-3.
Göring, Hermann (1934). Germany Reborn. London: E. Mathews & Marrot. OCLC 570220 – via Internet Archive.
Leffland, Ella (1990). The Knight, Death and the Devil. New York: Morrow. ISBN 0-688-05836-1 – via Internet Archive.
Maser, Werner (2000). Hitlers janusköpfiger Paladin: die politische Biographie (in German). Soesterberg: Aspekt. ISBN 3-86124-509-4.
Maser, Werner (2004). Fälschung, Dichtung und Wahrheit über Hitler und Stalin (in German). Munich: Olzog. ISBN 3-7892-8134-4.
Paul, Wolfgang (1983). Wer War Hermann Göring: Biographie (in German). Esslingen: Bechtle. ISBN 3-7628-0427-3.
External links
Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Vol. 9 Transcript of Goering's testimony at the trial
"Lost Prison Interview with Hermann Goring: The Reichsmarschall's Revelations" published by World War II Magazine
Göring at Långbro asylum
The Goering Collection: online database (in German as Die Kunstsammlung Hermann Göring) of 4263 artworks in Hermann Göring's collection
Newspaper clippings about Hermann Göring in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW |
Memory_of_Mankind | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_of_Mankind | [
506
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_of_Mankind"
] | Memory of Mankind (MOM) is a preservation project funded in 2012 by Martin Kunze. Its main goal is to preserve the knowledge about present human civilization from oblivion and collective amnesia. Information is printed on ceramic tablets and stored in the salt mine of Hallstatt, Austria. The project aims to create the "time capsule of our era", letting anyone participate by allowing them to submit texts and images. In contrast to national archives, content for MOM is collected by those who take part. It is a collective, "bottom-up" history.
History
The project was started by ceramicist Martin Kunze. His earliest experience with a time capsule was in the early 1980s, when, as a 13-year-old, he buried a bottle at a beach with a message containing his name and phone number. Thirty years later, someone found it.
Circa 2008, Kunze read Alan Weisman's non-fiction work The World Without Us, which included the claim that ceramic objects had the greatest chance to survive into the future. This, coupled with the knowledge that the Internet already contributes 2% of CO2 emissions, led Kunze to think about a ceramic time capsule. Part of the inspiration came from an art project by a classmate, who had written "feminine experiences" on ceramic tablets.
In 2012, the Memory of Mankind started with the first tablet, with a greeting to future finders, an explanation about the project, and a date expressed in terms of astronomical events. By 2018, the project had over 500 tablets. Claudia Theune, archaeologist from the University of Vienna, was one of the earliest supporters. Thomas Grill, sound artist and researcher, developed a method to represent sound in the archive.
Ambitions
The primary ambition of MOM is to preserve an image of the current era, created by numerous participants from all over the planet. MOM intends to also contain information which our society is obliged to forward to the future, e.g. descriptions of nuclear waste repositories. MOM collaborates with the NEA and SKB.
Although the most obvious ambition often described in the media is preserving our knowledge, this is not the primary goal of MOM. Serving as a time capsule, MOM is both the story of humanity in a time frame of millennia and it is a backup in a time frame of decades. In times where global warming, nuclear danger and biological warfare threaten the existence of civilization, saving the core knowledge and culture acquired over centuries is a backup measure. In case of a collapse of civilization, the MOM project could help survivors to rebuild civilization. Linked to this, another ambition is political order: facing the lack of reactivity of authorities concerning global warming, the MOM project is a reminder of what can happen. The Ancient Roman and Greek civilizations whose histories have been reconstructed by the small percentage of texts and artifacts which survived to the current era are examples that have inspired the MOM project.
The project is also intended as a critique of our digital civilization. According to Kunze, nothing of the 21st century may last in the future, since most of our interactions are now virtual. The conflict of accuracy is one of the main themes of the MOM project. The project aims to save a fragment of the information produced until today, Kunze says, but this fragment has to be representative.
The project is open to the public and its creator emphasizes that it is not a "doomsday project".
Content
Collecting content is inevitably subject to bias. In order to take this into account, the content is split into three sections and as much meta-information as necessary is added to any contribution in order to enable future finders to apply source criticism. The collecting process is not centralized, subject to every country/region/entity.
The three sections are:
Individual content: content uploaded by individuals, accompanied by a declaration of why this particular text is worthy of preservation. Each individual content is marked as "private content" in the overall MOM index;
General content: content collected automatically to avoid bias, e.g. collecting the daily editorials of newspapers worldwide, randomly selected Facebook profiles, weekly/monthly magazines of different topics (with the "meta information": numbers of readers; reason for selection of the respective magazine; description of the target group). The language-deciphering tool ("pictionary”) is also part of this section;
Specific content: in this section MOM is used as a "medium". Outside institutions bring content to MOM and use the storage and ceramic microfilm. Examples include the nuclear industry (information about waste repositories). Universities use MOM for awards.
The salt mine
The Hallstatt salt mine is the oldest salt mine continuously exploited by humans. Several factors contribute to its suitability for the MOM archives. As well as the depth and relative stability of the mine, the salt absorbs moisture and desiccates the air, and has a natural plasticity that helps to seal cracks and fractures keeping the caverns watertight.
The geology dictates that over time, the archive will rise to the surface. Since the mouth of the cavern closes at about the rate of human fingernail growth, the project has about 40 years to be completed. Under Austrian law, the archive is considered to be "like waste", and ownerless.
Ceramic data carriers
Ancient Sumerian clay tablets inspired MOM's tablets. These modern variants are made of a ceramic material that is capable of preserving the information that they contain, as it is less vulnerable to corrosion, biological degradation, and ordinary weathering, and wears for a longer time than other materials which have been used to record information – it resists temperatures of up to 1200 °C (2200 °F), chemicals, water, radiation, magnetism and pressure and can "only be destroyed by a hammer" (even if a tablet breaks, information will not disappear). The goal is to have the most durable support available, able to carry the message over a long span of time (e.g. one million years).
The tablets measure 20x20 cm. One type carries images and text with a 300 dpi resolution, while the other type is "ceramic microfilm" and carries up to 5 million characters. It is required that the information be analog and recognizable as data to future finders.
Variations of languages over time and even the hypothesis of an alien intelligence discovering the MOM archives have been anticipated. Again, the creators of MOM take inspiration from historical methods. They designed their own "Rosetta Stone", translated in several languages with the appropriate character set and number system, an astronomical time indicating “2013” (via extremely rare events of simultaneous transits of Mercury and Venus) and thousands of images depicting concrete situations with the corresponding words, completed by the theoretical volumes of the main languages, e.g. phrases, grammar, thesauruses, and orthography.
The Token and ceremonial gathering
A token (a disc 6,5 cm in diameter) is given to all participants of the MOM project. On its limited surface, the token indicates a place on Earth with a precision of some ten meters. The front side depicts the outline of Europe, with a mark representing Hallstatt's location. The backside shows the position of the entrance to the MOM relative to the shape of the Hallstatt Lake. In addition, a multi-cubic shape representing the crystalline structure of the mine's salt is included. Due to the design of MOM and the token, the archive can only be retrieved by a society with a similar technical and physical understanding of the world to modern-era humans. This is intended to ensure that techniques to decode the content are available to future finders.
An "Ariadne's thread" in the form of ceramic tablets with mathematical indications of the direction and depth will be placed in the entrance tunnel, including "gaps", which are also mathematically indicated, in order to avoid accidental recovery by an immature society.
An instruction for a rite is attached to this token: the owners are supposed to gather every 50 years to commemorate and decide whether humanity still knows the content of MOM and if extensions are needed. The token should be transmitted to the descendants of the owners.
Unlike other time capsules which predefine opening dates (not considering if at that point an appropriate addressee will exist), MOM's token defines the culture rather than the date of the opening by ensuring a pre-mature society would be unable to interpret the token.
Crowdfunding aspect
Memory of Mankind distinguishes itself by asking for contributions from both public and private entities, be they companies or common people. Contributions can be financial or content to be stored. Cooking recipes and personal stories are examples of contributions that may be stored. In exchange for a contribution above a certain character minimum, the contributor receives one of the ceramic tokens.
Costs
MOM is a global project: in order to enable citizens of every country to represent themselves, the price of tablets vary based on the donor's country gross national income per capita ranking table of the World Bank.
Gallery
See also
Memory of the World Programme
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
List of time capsules
Long Now Foundation
References
External links
Official website
Human Document Project (similar project) |
Hallstatt | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt | [
506
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt"
] | Hallstatt (German: [ˈhalʃtat] ) is a small town in the district of Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Salzkammergut region, on the national road linking Salzburg and Graz.
Hallstatt is known for its production of salt, dating back to prehistoric times, and gave its name to the Hallstatt culture, the archaeological culture linked to Proto-Celtic and early Celtic people of the Early Iron Age in Europe, c. 800–450 BC.
Hallstatt is at the core of the Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape declared as one of the World Heritage Sites in Austria by UNESCO in 1997. It is an area of overtourism.
History
During the Bronze Age salt production became day-to-day commercial activity in Hallstatt. Salt was produced in large quantities in evidently highly organized arrangements. Specialist workers supported the salt mining operations. The wealth that was generated is on display in the prehistoric cemeteries in Hallstatt.
In 1846 Johann Georg Ramsauer discovered a large prehistoric cemetery at the Salzberg mines near Hallstatt (47.561°N 13.642°E / 47.561; 13.642), which he excavated during the second half of the 19th century. Eventually the excavation would yield 1,045 burials, although no settlement has yet been found. This may be covered by the later village, which has long occupied the entire narrow strip between the steep hillsides and the lake.
Some 1,300 burials have been found, including around 2,000 individuals, with women and children but few infants.: 26
The humans that settled Hallstatt exploited the salt mines in the area from the 8th to 5th centuries BC. The style and decoration of the grave goods found in the cemetery are distinctive. In the mine workings themselves, the salt has preserved many organic materials such as textiles, wood, and leather, and many abandoned artefacts such as shoes, pieces of cloth, and tools and miner's backpacks have survived in good condition.: 88
Hallstatt A–B are part of the Bronze Age Urnfield culture. Phase A saw Villanovan influence. In this period, people were cremated and buried in simple graves. In phase B, tumulus (barrow or kurgan) burial becomes common, and cremation predominates. Little is known about this period in which the typical Celtic elements have not yet distinguished themselves from the earlier Villanova-culture. The "Hallstatt period" proper is restricted to HaC and HaD (8th to 5th centuries BC), corresponding to the early European Iron Age. Hallstatt lies in the area where the western and eastern zones of the Hallstatt culture meet, which is reflected in the finds from there.
Hallstatt C is characterized by the first appearance of iron swords. Hallstatt D displays daggers, almost to the exclusion of swords, in the western zone graves ranging from circa 600 to 500 BC.: 40 There are also differences in the pottery and brooches. Halstatt D has been further divided into the sub-phases D1 to D3 relating only to the western zone.: 40
Major activity at the site appears to have finished about 500 BC, for reasons that are unclear. Many Hallstatt graves were robbed, probably at this time. There was widespread disruption throughout the western Hallstatt zone, and the salt workings had by then become very deep.: 48–49
Much of the material from early excavations was dispersed,: 26
Finds from the Hallstatt site
Romans onwards
Tourists are told that Hallstatt is the site of "the world's oldest pipeline", which was constructed 400 years ago from 13,000 hollowed-out trees. There is so little space for cemeteries that every ten years bones used to be exhumed and removed into an ossuary, to make room for new burials. A collection of elaborately decorated skulls with the deceased's name, profession, and date of death inscribed on them is on display at the local chapel.
19th century
Until the late 19th century, it was only possible to reach Hallstatt by boat or via narrow trails. The land between the lake and mountains was sparse, and the town itself exhausted every free patch of it. Access between houses on the river bank was by boat or over the upper path, a small corridor passing through attics. The first road to Hallstatt was only built in 1890, along the west shore, partially by rock blasting. Nevertheless, this secluded and inhospitable landscape counts as one of the first places of human settlement due to the rich sources of natural salt, which have been mined for thousands of years, originally in the shape of hearts owing to the use of antler picks.
Hallstatt salt mine
The Hallstatt salt mine is the world's oldest working salt mine. The mine is located within the Upper Permian to Lower Triassic Haselgebirge Formation of the Northern Limestone Alps. The Hallstatt salt mine comprises 21 levels and several smaller shafts ranging from 514 metres (1,686 ft) above sea level (Erbstollen level) to an elevation of around 1,267 m (4,157 ft) (Erzherzog Matthias Schurf level).
Tourism
Halstatt's tourism began in the 19th century but greatly increased after it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. It became popular among East Asian tourists in 2006 when it was featured on a South Korean television show.
Social media images of Hallstatt, captioned "the most Instagrammable town in the world," went viral in Eastern and Southeastern Asia. In 2013, it was rumored in China to be the model for the movie Frozen's Arendelle village. Filmmakers have said the village was based on research done in Norway and Canada, not in Austria, but the rumors increased daytourist visits.
Interesting places
Hallstatt has some amazing places to see:
Hallstatt Skywalk: Hallstatt Skywalk, also known as the "World Heritage View", offers a stunning panorama of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Perched 360 meters above Hallstatt, the platform provides visitors with a breathtaking view of the village, Lake Hallstatt and the surrounding Dachstein Alps.
Hallstatt Ossuary (Beinhaus): Located in St. Michael's Chapel, the Ossuary is a unique cultural monument with more than 1,200 human skulls, 600 of which are artistically painted with symbols, names and dates. The tradition of painting skulls and preserving bones began due to limited burial space in the village. Today, the Charnel House serves as a solemn reminder of Hallstatt's long history and offers insight into local burial customs and spiritual beliefs.
Hallstatt Museum and Excavations: The Hallstatt Museum offers a deep dive into the ancient history of the region, especially its role in the salt trade. It features artifacts from the Hallstatt culture, dating back to the Bronze and Iron Ages, including tools, weapons and burial objects. The museum also draws attention to archaeological excavations in the nearby area that reveal the complex society of the Hallstatt civilization.
Overtourism by day visitors
The problems and opportunities of greatly-increased tourism in Hallstatt were covered by The Washington Post in August 2019.
By 2017, local churches were employing bouncers to prevent services being disrupted by tourists. In 2020, the town had a population of 780, and estimates of 10,000 to nearly 30,000 tourists per day, primarily via bus tours which bring tourists briefly into the town for photo opportunities, then quickly move on.
Tourism is important to Hallstatt's economy, but according to locals the day-visitors drive away tourists who would stay longer. Hallstatt became the prime example of overtourism in Austria and led to controversies around limiting the number of tourists. The Austrian Public Broadcasting Organization made multiple documentaries about the situation.
In 2020, the town focused on "quality" tourism. Starting in autumn 2020 there were assigned time slots for tour buses to cope with the problem. Arrivals were limited to 54 per day, about half of the previous number allowed. Buses with an overnight booking in the town received preference.
In 2023 locals protested against overtourism. In May, two fences were built to prevent tourists from stopping to take selfies; they were removed after "a backlash" on social media. In August, protesters blocked the entrance to a tunnel through which buses pass to enter the town. The mayor announced plans to reduce the number of buses allowed by another one-third.
Politics
Seats in the municipal assembly (Gemeinderat) as of 2021 local elections:
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ): 7
BFH (Independent): 4
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP): 2
Alexander Scheutz (SPÖ) has been mayor of Hallstatt since 2009.
International relations
Twin town
Hallstatt is twinned with:
Huizhou, China
Replica
On 16 June 2011, plans to build a replica in China were first reported. On 2 June 2012, it was reported that Chinese mining company China Minmetals Corporation built a full-scale replica of the entire town in Huizhou, Guangdong province.
In 2022, the Chinese town of Hallstatt was the final location of the 12th episode of 1st Korean television series Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area. In the episode it was named as Kherson in Ukraine.
Climate
Hallstatt, like much of Austria (see Climate of Austria), has a humid continental climate (Dfb) (Cfb if the −3.0 °C (26.6 °F) isotherm is used) with warm, rainy summers and chilly to cold, snowy winters. Precipitation is plentiful year-round, hence the f in Dfb, but is at its highest during the three months of summer: Jun-Aug.
Spring is a short (March and April) transition season between cold winters and mild summers. By mid-November, fall has turned to winter and the nighttime low temperature is ~freezing, giving a growing season of April to early November.
See also
List of World Heritage Sites in Austria
References
External links
Municipal website (English) |
Gmunden_District | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmunden_District | [
506
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmunden_District"
] | Bezirk Gmunden is a district of the state of
Upper Austria in Austria.
Municipalities
Towns (Städte) are indicated in boldface; market towns (Marktgemeinden) in italics; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipality are indicated in small characters.
Altmünster
Bad Goisern
Bad Ischl
Ebensee
Gmunden
Gosau
Grünau im Almtal
Gschwandt
Hallstatt
Kirchham
Laakirchen
Obertraun
Ohlsdorf
Pinsdorf
Roitham
Sankt Konrad
Sankt Wolfgang im Salzkammergut
Scharnstein
Traunkirchen
Vorchdorf
External links
Official site |
IPad | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad | [
507
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad#"
] | The iPad is a brand of iOS- and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed and marketed by Apple. The first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. Since then, the iPad product line has been expanded to include the smaller iPad Mini, the lighter and thinner iPad Air, and the flagship iPad Pro models. As of 2022, over 670 million iPads have been sold, making Apple the largest vendor of tablet computers. Due to its popularity, the term "iPad" is sometimes used as a generic name for tablet computers.
The iPhone's iOS operating system (OS) was initially used for the iPad, but in September 2019, its OS was switched to a fork of iOS called iPadOS that has better support for the device's hardware and a user interface tailored to the tablets' larger screens. Since then, major versions of iPadOS have been released annually. The iPad's App Store is subject to application and content approval. Many older devices are susceptible to jailbreaking, which circumvents these restrictions.
The original iPad was well-received for its software and was recognized as one of the most-influential inventions of 2010. As of the third quarter of 2021, the iPad had a market share of 34.6% among tablets. Beside personal use, the iPad is used in the business, education, healthcare, and technology sectors. There are two connectivity variants of iPad; one has only Wi-Fi, and one has additional support for cellular networks. Accessories for the iPad include the Apple Pencil, Smart Case, Smart Keyboard, Smart Keyboard Folio, Magic Keyboard, and several adapters.
History
Background
Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs said in a 1983 speech: "What we want to do is we want to put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you and learn how to use in 20 minutes ... and we really want to do it with a radio link in it so you don't have to hook up to anything and you're in communication with all of these larger databases and other computers".
In 1993, Apple worked on the Newton MessagePad, a tablet-like personal digital assistant (PDA). John Sculley, Apple's chief executive officer, led the development. The MessagePad was poorly received for its indecipherable handwriting recognition feature and was discontinued at the direction of Jobs, who returned to Apple in 1998 after an internal power struggle. Apple also prototyped a PowerBook Duo–based tablet computer but decided not to release it to avoid hurting MessagePad sales.
In May 2004, Apple filed a design trademark patent in Europe for a handheld computer, hypothetically referencing the iPad, beginning a new round of speculation that led to a 2003 report of Apple-affiliated manufacturer Quanta leaking Apple's orders for wireless displays. In May 2005, Apple filed US Design Patent No. D504,889 that included an illustration depicting a man touching and using a tablet device. In August 2008, Apple filed a 50-page patent application that includes an illustration of hands touching and gesturing on a tablet computer. In September 2009, Taiwan Economic News, citing "industry sources", reported the tablet computer Apple was working on would be announced in February 2010, although the announcement was made in that year's January.
The iPad's concept predates that of the iPhone, although the iPhone was developed and released before the iPad. In 1991, Apple's chief design officer Jonathan Ive devised an industrial design of a stylus-based tablet, the Macintosh Folio, which led to the development of a larger tablet prototype project codenamed K48 that Apple began in 2004. Ive sought to develop the tablet first but came to an agreement with Jobs the iPhone was more important and should be prioritized.
iPad
The first generation of iPad was announced on January 27, 2010, and pre-ordering began on March 12. Initial reaction to the product name, which struck some women as a menstrual pun "indicative of a male-helmed team oblivious" to the connotations, was negative.
A Wi-Fi-capable version was released in the United States on April 3 and a 3G-capable version was released on April 30. Apple released iPad models internationally on May 28, July 23, and September 17. The first iPad has a 1 GHz Apple A4 CPU with 256 MB of RAM and a PowerVR SGX535 GPU. It has four buttons; a home button that directs the user to its homepage, a wake-and-sleep button, and two volume-control buttons. Its multi-touch-based display has a resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels.
The second generation of iPad was announced on March 2, 2011, and released on March 11. It is 33% thinner and 15% lighter than its predecessor, and uses a dual-core Apple A5 chip consisting of a twice-as-fast CPU and a nine-times-faster GPU. It has one camera each on the front and the back, both of which support Apple's video-telephony service, FaceTime. Apple slimmed the iPad by eliminating the display's stamped-sheet-metal frame, using thinner glass for the screen overlay, and eliminating some space between the display and battery.
The third generation of iPad was announced on March 7, 2012, and released on March 16. It uses a dual-core Apple A5X chip embedded with quad-core graphics. Its Retina Display is 2,048 by 1,536 pixels and its pixels are 50% denser than those of standard displays. Unlike the iPhone and iPod Touch's built-in applications, which work in portrait, landscape-left and landscape-right orientations, the iPad's built-in applications support the upside-down orientation of the device. Consequently, the device has no "native" orientation; only the relative position of the home button changes.
The fourth generation of iPad was announced on October 23, 2012, and released on November 2. It has an Apple A6X chip, improved LTE and WiFi connectivity, a five-megapixel, rear-facing camera that is capable of recording 1080p videos, and a 720p front-facing FaceTime HD camera. Its display has a resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 pixels.
The fifth generation of iPad was announced on March 21, 2017, and released on March 24. It uses an Apple A9 chip with an accompanying M9 motion coprocessor, and its cameras can capture low-light and HD-quality shots. Despite using the same Apple A9 and M9 processors as the 2015 iPhone 6S, it lacks support of the always-on "Hey Siri" voice recognition, a feature advertised as being made possible by low-power processing in those chips.
The sixth generation of iPad was announced and released on March 27, 2018. It uses a dual-core Apple A10 Fusion chip and feature a 1080p and 30fps rear mounted 8-megapixel iSight camera, and a 720p Facetime HD camera. It was the first non-Pro iPad to support the Apple Pencil. It also had faster FaceTime HD, LTE connectivity, Touch ID, and multitask functionalities.
The seventh generation of iPad was announced on September 10, 2019, and released on September 25. It uses a 64-bit Apple A10 Fusion chip, with a 4-core CPU and 6-core GPU. Its slightly larger 10.2" Retina Display has a resolution of 2,160 × 1,620 (3.5 million pixels). It added support for the Smart Keyboard accessory.
The eighth generation of iPad was announced on September 15, 2020, and released on September 18. It uses an Apple A12 Bionic chip, which has a 40 percent faster 6-core CPU and a 2-times faster 4-core GPU than its predecessor. The Apple A12 also included an embedded Neural Engine, and is capable of processing 5 trillion operations per second.
The ninth generation of iPad was announced and released on September 14, 2021. It uses an Apple A13 Bionic chip, which has a 20% faster CPU and GPU and an embedded, artificial intelligence–immersed Neural Engine. Its 12-megapixel ultra wide front camera adds support for Apple's "Center Stage Mode" technology, which locates people in the frame and tracks the camera view to keep them centered. Its Retina Display added support for the True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the screen color temperature according to the ambient lighting.
The 10th-generation iPad was announced on October 18, 2022, with pre-orders starting immediately and availability set for October 26. It uses the Apple A14 Bionic chip, has a larger 10.9-inch screen, and replaces the Lightning connector with USB-C. Unlike all previous models in the iPad range, as well as the sixth-generation iPad Pro announced the same day, this model's front-facing camera is placed along the device's long edge, making it more suitable for video calling applications. Despite having a USB-C connector, it is not compatible with the second-generation Apple Pencil that can be used with all other USB-C iPads, instead using the first-generation Pencil with a USB-C-to-Lightning adapter, which will be included with new Pencil purchases. While lacking the Smart Connector of the Pro and Air lines, it is compatible with a new Magic Keyboard Folio announced alongside the device. This model did not immediately replace the 9th-generation iPad; Apple continued to sell the older model at the same price, while the price for the newer 10th generation model was increased.
iPad Mini
The first generation of the flagship, smaller iPad Mini was announced on October 23, 2012, and released on November 2. The 7.9-inch display has a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. The tablet uses a dual-core Apple A5 chip, and has hardware resembling that of the second generation of iPad. It has a FaceTime HD camera, a 5-megapixel iSight camera, an ultrafast wireless LTE range, and a 802.11a/b/g/n standard Wifi connectivity. It targets the emerging sector of mini tablets, such as Kindle Fire and Nexus 7.
The second generation of iPad Mini was announced on October 22, 2013, and released on November 12. Its hardware resembles that of the first generation of iPad Air.
The third generation of iPad Mini was announced on October 16, 2014, and released on October 22. It uses an Apple A7 chip with an embedded M7 motion coprocessor, and its 7.9-inch Retina screen display has a resolution of 2048 by 1536 pixels. It includes a 1080p HD camera, a FaceTime HD camera, and a 5-megapixel iSight camera.
The fourth generation of iPad Mini was announced and released on September 9, 2015. It uses a dual-core Apple A8 chip with an embedded Apple M8 motion coprocessor. Its headphone jack was re-positioned with the removal of a mute switch.
The fifth generation of iPad Mini was announced and released on March 18, 2019. It uses an Apple A12 Bionic chip, with a 3-times faster CPU and a 9-times faster GPU than its predecessor. It features a Truetone-based Retina screen display with 25% wider Color and higher pixel density.
The sixth generation of iPad Mini was announced and released on September 24, 2021. The display size was increased to 8.3 inches. It uses an Apple A15 Bionic chip, with a 40% faster 6-core CPU and 80% faster 5-core GPU. Its 16-core Neural Engine and AI accelerators within the CPU delivers a 2× boost of AI performance. Its 12-megapixel Ultra Wide front camera featured Apple's "Center Stage Mode" technology, while its 12-megapixel back camera had larger apertures, True Tone flash, and Smart HDR automatic shadow and highlight recovery. It includes a USB-C port, capable of transferring up to 5 gigabits per second of data; improved landscape stereo speakers; and a brighter Liquid Retina Display.
iPad Air
The first generation of iPad Air was announced on October 22, 2013, and released on November 1. It used an Apple A7 chip with an embedded Apple M7 Motion coprocessor; the chip included over a billion transistors and comprised a 2× faster CPU and GPU. It debuted the 802.11n-based MINO technology used in its Wi-Fi connectivity, and it had an extended range of LTE telecommunication. It also came with a Retina Display.
The second generation of iPad Air was announced on October 16, 2014, and released on October 22. It used an Apple A8X chip with a 2.5× faster CPU. Its 8MP iSight Camera had 1.12-micron pixels and a f/2.4 aperture, while its FaceTime Camera had f/2.2 aperture and 81% light capacity. Its display had a revised 56% lower reflective rate. It also had an extended range of LTE telecommunication service.
The third generation of iPad Air was announced on March 18, 2019, and released on March 25. It used an Apple A12 Bionic with an embedded Neural Engine, 6-core CPU and 4-core GPU. Its 866 Mbit/s WiFi connectivity are LTE-based, and it is equipped with a 1080p HD video camera.
The fourth generation of iPad Air was announced on September 15, 2020, and released on October 23. It used an Apple A14 Bionic chip, which comprised 11.9 billion transistors, a 40% faster 6-core CPU, a 30% faster 4-core GPU, and an embedded Neural Engine that can process 11 trillion operations per second. Its 10.9-inch Liquid Retina Screen display has a resolution of 2360 by 1640 pixels (3.8 million pixels). Its front 7-megapixel Facetime Camera is of 1080p and 60 fps, while its 12-megapixel webcam featured 8 aperture, 4K, 60fps, and video stabilization. The fourth generation iPad Air replaces the Lightning connector with USB-C.
The fifth generation of iPad Air was announced on March 8, 2022, and released on March 18. It used an Apple M1 chip.
The sixth generation of iPad Air was announced on May 7, 2024, with the general availability on May 15, 2024. It used an Apple M2 chip. It is the first iPad Air to have the available two display size options including 11-inch and 13-inch. It features the Apple Pencil hover which is previously featured on the iPad Pro (6th generation) and the landscape oriented front-facing camera which is previously used on the tenth-generation iPad. Like the iPad Pro (7th generation), it is only compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro alongside the lower-entry Apple Pencil with USB-C port, making it incompatible with the Apple Pencil (2nd generation). Unlike the iPad Pro (7th generation), it is only compatible with the Magic Keyboard that was designed for the iPad Pro 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th generations.
iPad Pro
The first generation of the high-end and professional flagship iPad Pro was announced on September 9, 2015, and released on November 11, (12.9-inch version) and March 31 (9.7-inch). It used an Apple A9X chip, with a 2× higher memory bandwidth and a 1.8× faster CPU than its predecessor. Its audio system consisted of 4 audio ports and its volume were more 3× more efficient than the second generation of iPad Air, and its 12-inch screen display had a resolution of 2732 by 2043 pixels.
The second generation of iPad Pro was announced on June 5, 2017, and was released on June 13. It used an Apple A10X chip, with a 6-core CPU and 12-core GPU. It can process 120 Hz HDR quality medias, 2× higher quality than its predecessor. Its ultra-low reflective Retina Display featured a 50% optimized True Tone technology (which automatically adjust the screen accordingly to its ambient color and brightness rates), Wide Color Integration, and up to 500 nit brightness rates. It also had a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 7-megapixel front-facing camera.
The third generation of iPad Pro was announced on October 30, 2018, and released on November 7, and it is the first iPad to support 1 TB of storage. It used a 7 nm Apple A12X Bionic chip, which comprised 11 billion transistors, an 8-core CPU, 7-core GPU and an embedded Neural Engine capable of processing 5 trillion operations per second. Apple replaced the Touch ID fingerprint recognition biometric authentication with its facial counterpart, Face ID.
The fourth generation of iPad Pro was announced and released on March 18, 2020. It used an Apple A12Z chip, with an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU. Its Gbit-class Wi-Fi connectivity is 60% faster than that of its predecessor. It introduced a 10-megapixel ultra-wide camera, alongside its 12-megapixel wide camera, capable of capturing 4k video. These cameras allow it to capture medias with wider visibility, and its audio system automatically detects and attracts any orientation nearby.
The fifth generation of iPad Pro was announced on April 20, 2021, and released on May 21. It used an innovative desktop-class Apple M1 chip, which comprised a 40% faster 8-core CPU, a 4× faster 8-core GPU, and a 4× higher bandwidth. It featured a ƒ/1.8 aperture 12-megapixel wide-angle pro camera (captures high quality shots) and a ƒ/2.4 aperture 10-megapixel ultrawide camera (captures enhanced Augmented Reality interactive experience). It debuted Apple's "Center Stage mode" technology, which pinpoints the positions of the users and automatically tracks the camera view accordingly to perspectivally centralize them. The 12.9-inch version had a mini LED-based Liquid Retina XDR display, compared to the 11-inch model's lesser IPS LCD-based Liquid Retina display.
The sixth generation of iPad Pro was announced on October 18, 2022, and released on October 26. It used an Apple M2 chip, with an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU.
The seventh generation of iPad Pro was announced on May 7, 2024, an release on May 15, 2024. It uses an Apple M4, making it the first Apple device to use this chip. It is the first iPad Pro to use OLED display, called Ultra XDR Retina Display. The chassis design is about 5.3mm thin on the 11-inch model and 5.1mm thin on the 13-inch model, thinner than previous models. It features a Tandem OLED display, an updated Pro Cameras (which lacks the ultra-wide camera lens), and a landscape oriented front-facing camera, previously used in the iPad (10th generation). It is only compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro, the lower-entry Apple Pencil with USB-C port and the new, thinner Magic Keyboard, making it incompatible with the Apple Pencil (2nd generation) and the Magic Keyboard that was designed for the 3rd through 6th generations.
Cellular connectivity
The iPad comes in two variants: Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi with cellular support. Unlike the iPhone, the cellular variant did not support voice calls and text messages, but only data connectivity; it also had an additional micro-SIM circuit slot attached on the side. The 3G-based iPad is compatible with any GSM carrier, unlike the iPhone which is usually sold 'locked' to specific carriers. For the first generation of iPad, cellular access from T-Mobile was limited to slower EDGE cellular speeds because T-Mobile's network at the time used different frequencies.
The second generation of iPad introduced a third tier of CDMA support from Verizon, which is available separately from the AT&T-based version. The fifth generation of iPad used a nano-SIM circuit slot, while its predecessors used micro-SIM. The iPads used two frequency bands; both support the same quad-band GSM and quad-band UMTS frequencies. One supports LTE bands 4 and 17 (principally intended for use on the U.S. AT&T network), and the other supports LTE bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25 and CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B.
Apple extended the range of cellular compatibilities worldwide with the release of the fifth generation of iPad and the second generation of iPad Mini, worldwide and all major carriers across North America. The iPad Air and iPad Mini come in two cellular sub-variants, all of which featured nano-SIMs, quad-band GSM, penta-band UMTS, and dual-band CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and B. One supports LTE bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25 and 26, and the other supports LTE bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 18, 19, 20 and TD-LTE bands 38, 39 and 40.
Accessories
Apple offers many accessories for its iPad models, ranging from keyboards, styluses, cases, to adapters; a 10 W power adapter is bundled with the device. In addition to a camera connection kit which consists of two adapters for the iPad's dock connector, one of USB Type A and one of SD card reader; these adapters can transfer photographs and videos and connect USB audio card and MIDI keyboard.
Apple's list of accessories included the Apple Pencil ― a wireless stylus pen, Smart Cover ― a magnetic screen protector that align to the face of an iPad with three folds that is convertible into a stand, Smart Case ― a fine case combining the functions of a Smart Cover and a back-protection case, Smart Keyboard Folio ― an externally-paired keyboard and a combination of a Smart Case and its predecessor, a Smart Keyboard, Magic Keyboard, ― an externally-paired keyboard similar to the formers but with integrated trackpads which the Smart Keyboard Folio and Smart Keyboard lack.
Software
Since its introduction in 2010, the iPad runs on the iPhone's iOS mobile operating system, but it was later replaced with an optimized derivation, iPadOS, in September 2019. It shares the former's development environment and many of its applications and features. The iPad is compatible with nearly every iPhone application through iOS, and developers can optimize these applications to take full advantage of the iPad's software. They used iOS SDK, a software development kit.
The iOS user interface is based upon direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures such as swipe, tap, pinch, and reverse pinch. Interface control elements include sliders, switches, and buttons. Internal accelerometers are used by some applications to respond to shaking the device (one common result is the undo command) or rotating it in three dimensions (one common result is switching between portrait and landscape mode). Various accessibility described in § Accessibility functions enable users with vision and hearing disabilities to properly use iOS.
iOS devices boot to the homescreen, the primary navigation and information "hub" on iOS devices, analogous to the desktop found on personal computers. iOS homescreens are typically made up of app icons and widgets; app icons launch the associated app, whereas widgets display live, auto-updating content, such as a weather forecast, the user's email inbox, or a news ticker directly on the homescreen.
Along the top of the screen is a status bar, showing information about the device and its connectivity. The status bar itself contains two elements, the Control Center and the Notification Center.
iOS' Control Center can be "pulled" down from the top right of the notch, giving access to various toggles to manage the device more quickly without having to open the Settings. It is possible to manage brightness, volume, wireless connections, music player, etc. A homescreen may be made up of several pages, between which the user can swipe back and forth, one of the ways to do this is to hold down on the "dots" shown on each page and swipe left or right. To the right of the last page, the App Library lists and categorizes apps installed on the device. Apps within each category are arranged based on the frequency of their usage. In addition to a category for suggested apps, a "recent" category lists apps recently installed alongside App Clips recently accessed. Users can search for the app they want or browse them in alphabetical order.
iOS' multitasking API included Background audio – application continues to run in the background as long as it is playing audio or video content, voice over IP – application is suspended when a phone call is not in progress, Push notification, Local notifications – application schedules local notifications to be delivered at a predetermined time, Task completion – application asks the system for extra time to complete a given task, Fast app switching – application does not execute any code and may be removed from memory at any time, Newsstand – applications can download content in the background to be ready for the uses, External Accessory – application communicates with an external accessory and shares data at regular intervals, Bluetooth Accessory – application communicates with a Bluetooth accessory and shares data at regular intervals, and Background application update.
iPadOS features a multitasking system developed with more capabilities compared to iOS, with features like Slide Over and Split View that make it possible to use multiple different applications simultaneously. Double-clicking the Home Button or swiping up from the bottom of the screen and pausing will display all currently active spaces. Each space can feature a single app, or a Split View featuring two apps. The user can also swipe left or right on the Home Indicator to go between spaces at any time, or swipe left/right with four fingers.
In iPadOS, while using an app, swiping up slightly from the bottom edge of the screen will summon the Dock, where apps stored within can be dragged to different areas of the current space to be opened in either Split View or Slide Over. Dragging an app to the left or right edge of the screen will create a Split View, which will allow both apps to be used side by side. The size of the two apps in Split View can be adjusted by dragging a pill-shaped icon in the center of the vertical divider and dragging the divider all the way to one side of the screen closes the respective app. If the user drags an app from the dock over the current app, it will create a floating window called Slide Over which can be dragged to either the left or right side of the screen. A Slide Over window can be hidden by swiping it off the right side of the screen, and swiping left from the right edge of the screen will restore it. Slide Over apps can also be cycled between by swiping left or right on the Home Indicator in the Slide Over window and pulling up on it will open an app switcher for Slide Over windows. A pill-shaped icon at the top of apps in Split View or Slide Over allows them to be switched in an out of Split View and Slide Over.
Model support status
Restrictions
Digital rights management
The iPad does not employ digital rights management (DRM), but the OS prevents users from copying or transferring certain content outside of Apple's platform without authorization, such as TV shows, movies, and apps. Also, the iPad's development model requires anyone creating an app for the iPad to sign a non-disclosure agreement and pay for a developer subscription. Critics argue Apple's centralized app approval process and control of the platform itself could stifle software innovation. Of particular concern to digital rights advocates is Apple's ability to remotely disable or delete apps on any iPad at any time.
Digital rights advocates, including the Free Software Foundation, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and computer engineer and activist Brewster Kahle, have criticized the iPad for its digital rights restrictions.
In an article published by NPR in April 2010, Laura Sydell, concluded that "as more consumers have fears about security on the Internet, viruses, and malware, they may be happy to opt for Apple's gated community."
In 2014, the Russian government switched from iPads to Android devices over security concerns.
Jailbreaking
Like other iOS devices, the iPad can be "jailbroken", depending on which version of iOS or iPadOS it is running, thus allowing applications and programs that are not authorized by Apple to run on the device. Once it is jailbroken, users are able to download many applications previously unavailable through the App Store via unofficial installers such as Cydia, as well as illegally pirated applications. Apple claims jailbreaking "can" void the factory warranty on the device in the United States even though jailbreaking is legal. The iPad, released in April 2010, was first jailbroken in May 2010 with the Spirit jailbreak for iOS version 3.1.2. The iPad can be jailbroken on iOS versions 4.3 through 4.3.3 with the web-based tool JailbreakMe 3.0 (released in July 2011), and on iOS versions including 5.0 and 5.0.1 using redsn0w. Absinthe 2.0 was released on May 25, 2012, as the first jailbreak method for all iOS 5.1.1 devices except the 32 nm version of the iPad 2.
Censorship
Apple's App Store, which provides iPhone and iPad applications, imposes censorship of content, which has become an issue for book publishers and magazines seeking to use the platform. The British newspaper The Guardian described the role of Apple as analogous to that of British magazine distributor WH Smith, which for many years imposed content restrictions.
Due to the exclusion of pornography from the App Store, YouPorn and others changed their video format from Flash to H.264 and HTML5 specifically for the iPad. In an e-mail exchange with Ryan Tate from Valleywag, Steve Jobs claimed that the iPad offers "freedom from porn", leading to many upset replies including Adbustings in Berlin by artist Johannes P. Osterhoff and in San Francisco during WWDC10.
Original reception
Media reaction to the original iPad was mixed. The media noted the positive response from fans of the device, with thousands of people queued on the first day of sale in a number of these countries.
The iPad was quickly successful and sold in large numbers after its 2010 launch. Analysts have noted that while Apple's previous iPod and iPhone launches took some time till taking off, the iPad was commercially popular from the beginning and faced little market competition during its first year.
Reaction to the announcement
Media reaction to the announcement of the original iPad was mixed. Walter Mossberg wrote, "It's about the software, stupid", meaning hardware features and build are less important to the iPad's success than software and user interface, his first impressions of which were largely positive. Mossberg also called the price "modest" for a device of its capabilities, and praised the ten-hour battery life. Others, including PC Advisor and the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote that the iPad would also compete with proliferating netbooks, most of which use Microsoft Windows. The base model's $499 price was lower than pre-release estimates by the tech press, Wall Street analysts, and Apple's competitors, all of whom were expecting a much higher entry price point.
CNET also criticized the iPad for its apparent lack of wireless sync which other portable devices such as Microsoft's Zune have had for a number of years. The built-in iTunes app is able to download from the Internet as well.
Critical response
Reviews of the original iPad have been generally favorable. Walt Mossberg, then of The Wall Street Journal, called it a "pretty close" laptop killer. David Pogue of The New York Times wrote a "dual" review, one part for technology-minded people, and the other part for non-technology-minded people. In the former section, he notes that a laptop offers more features for a cheaper price than the iPad. In his review for the latter audience, however, he claims that if his readers like the concept of the device and can understand what its intended uses are, then they will enjoy using the device. PC Magazine's Tim Gideon wrote, "you have yourself a winner" that "will undoubtedly be a driving force in shaping the emerging tablet landscape." Michael Arrington of TechCrunch said, "the iPad beats even my most optimistic expectations. This is a new category of device. But it also will replace laptops for many people." PC World criticized the iPad's file sharing and printing abilities, and Ars Technica said sharing files with a computer is "one of our least favorite parts of the iPad experience."
The media also praised the quantity of applications, as well as the bookstore and other media applications. In contrast they criticized the iPad for being a closed system and mentioned that the iPad faces competition from Android-based tablets, that outsold iPads in 2013, surpassing iPads in the second quarter of 2013, and have overtaken iPad's installed base, and has lost majority of web browsing to Android, by StatCounter estimates, in South America, Africa, most of Asia – many large countries there and in Eastern Europe. The Independent criticized the iPad for not being as readable in bright light as paper but praised it for being able to store large quantities of books. After its UK release, The Daily Telegraph said the iPad's lack of Adobe Flash support was "annoying."
Recognition
The original iPad was selected by Time magazine as one of the 50 Best Inventions of the Year 2010, while Popular Science chose it as the top gadget behind the overall "Best of What's New 2010" winner Groasis Waterboxx.
Usage
Market share
The iPad had a relatively stable tablet global market share. It received a significant drop in the third quarter of 2012 but gradually recovered, although not as abundant as before. As of the third quarter of 2021, it had a market share of 34.6%.
Business
While the iPad is mostly used by consumers, it also has been taken up by business users. Within 90 days of its release, the iPad managed to penetrate 50% of Fortune 100 companies. Some companies are adopting iPads in their business offices by distributing or making available iPads to employees. Examples of uses in the workplace include attorneys responding to clients, medical professionals accessing health records during patient exams, and managers approving employee requests.
A survey by Frost & Sullivan shows that iPad usage in office workplaces is linked to the goals of increased employee productivity, reduced paperwork, and increased revenue. The research firm estimates that "The mobile-office application market in North America may reach $6.85 billion in 2015, up from an estimated $1.76 billion [in 2010]."
Since March 2011, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved the iPad for in-cockpit use to cut down on the paper consumption in several airlines. In 2011, Alaska Airlines became the first airline to replace pilots' paper manuals with iPads, weighing 0.68 kg (1.5 lb) compared to 11 kg (24 lb) for the printed flight manuals. It hopes to have fewer back and muscle injuries. More than a dozen airlines have followed suit, including United, which has distributed 11,000 iPads to cockpits. Also, many airlines now offer their inflight magazine as a downloadable application for the iPad.
Education and healthcare
The iPad has several uses in the classroom, and has been praised as a valuable tool for homeschooling and distance education. Soon after the iPad was released, it was reported that 81% of the top book apps were for children. The iPad has also been called a revolutionary tool to help children with autism learn how to communicate and socialize more easily.
In the healthcare field, iPads and iPhones have been used to help hospitals manage their supply chain. For example, Novation, a healthcare contracting services company, developed VHA PriceLynx (based on the mobile application platform of business intelligence software vendor MicroStrategy), a business intelligence app to help health care organizations manage its purchasing procedures more efficiently and save money for hospitals. Guillermo Ramas of Novation states, "Doctors won't walk around a hospital with a laptop. With an iPad it's perfect to walk around the hospital with as long as they have the information they need."
In 2013, Gianna Chien (aged 14) presented to more than 8,000 doctors at the Heart Rhythm Society meeting that the Apple iPad 2 can, in some cases, interfere with life-saving heart devices (pacemakers) because of the magnets inside. The iPad User Guide advised pacemaker users to keep iPads at least 6 in (15 cm) away from the pacemaker. A study in 2014 found that the iPad 2 could cause electromagnetic interference (EMI) in implantable cardioverter defibrillators.
Consumer usage
In the United States, fans attending Super Bowl XLV, the first Super Bowl since the iPad was released, could use an official National Football League (NFL) app to navigate Cowboys Stadium. In 2011, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first NFL club to discontinue the use of paper copies of playbooks, and instead distributed all players their playbook and videos in electronic format via an iPad 2.
The iPad is able to support many music creation applications in addition to the iTunes music playback software. These include sound samplers, guitar and voice effects processors, sequencers for synthesized sounds and sampled loops, virtual synthesizers and drum machines, theremin-style and other touch responsive instruments, drum pads and many more. Gorillaz's 2010 album, The Fall, was created almost exclusively using the iPad by Damon Albarn while on tour with the band. The music video for Luna Sea's 2012 single, "Rouge", was filmed entirely on an iPad.
Due to its popularity, the term "iPad" is occasionally used as a generic name for tablet computers.
Timeline
Source: Apple Newsroom Archive.
See also
List of Apple Inc. media events
Comparison of e-readers
Comparison of tablet computers
Microsoft Surface
Pen computing
Notes
References
External links
Official website
Every iPad Generation: A Full History of Release Dates. IGN. Accessed on October 4, 2024. |
Walt_Mossberg | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Mossberg | [
507
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Mossberg"
] | Walter S. Mossberg (born March 27, 1947) is an American retired technology journalist and moderator.
From 1991 through 2013, he was the principal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He also co-founded AllThingsD, Recode and the D and Code Conferences. From 2015 to 2017, Mossberg was Executive Editor of The Verge and Editor-at-Large of Recode, web sites owned by Vox Media. Mossberg wrote a weekly column for both and also had a weekly podcast, Ctrl-Walt-Delete. Mossberg was also co-executive producer of the annual Code Conference. He retired in July 2017.
Dow Jones announced on September 19, 2013, that Mossberg would leave The Wall Street Journal as part of the breakup with AllThingsD by the end of the year. AllThingsD was a technology conference and web site owned by Dow Jones but created and operated by Mossberg and Kara Swisher. Along with other reporters from AllThingsD, Mossberg and Swisher started a new media site called Recode in 2014, which was acquired by Vox Media in 2015.
In April 2017, Mossberg announced his plans to retire. He is on the board of The News Literacy Project.
Early life and education
Mossberg, a native of Warwick, Rhode Island, is a graduate of Pilgrim High School, Brandeis University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Career
Mossberg was a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal from 1970 until the end of 2013. He was based in the Journal's Washington, D.C., office, where he spent 18 years covering national and international affairs before turning his attention to technology. Mossberg's Personal Technology column appeared every Thursday from 1991 through 2013. He also edited the Digital Solution column each Wednesday (authored by his colleague, Katherine Boehret), and wrote the Mossberg's Mailbox column on Thursdays. He appeared weekly on CNBC, and in web videos, and was on numerous times a guest on the Charlie Rose Show, airing on PBS stations.
In 1999, Mossberg became the first technology writer to receive the Loeb award for Commentary. In 2001, he won the World Technology Award for Media and Journalism and received an honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Rhode Island. Mossberg is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers on information technology. In 2004, in a lengthy profile, Wired called him "The Kingmaker", saying "few reviewers have held so much power to shape an industry's successes and failures." A 2007 profile in the New Yorker was entitled "Everyone Listens to Walter Mossberg" and declared him "someone whose judgment can ratify years of effort or sink the show."
In 2017, he received the Loeb Award's Lifetime Achievement Award.
In partnership with his fellow Journal columnist Kara Swisher, Mossberg created, produced and hosted the Journal's annual All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, California, in which well-known technology leaders, such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, appeared on stage without prepared remarks, or slides, and were interviewed by the two columnists. That conference concept continues today in the form of their Code Conference. Mossberg and Swisher also co-edited the All Things Digital web site, which included his columns, her blog and other posts.
On May 30, 2007, Mossberg and Swisher conducted a historic, unrehearsed, joint onstage interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The next month, Mossberg was one of only four journalists provided with advance access to the first iPhone in order to review it.
In September 2013, by mutual agreement, Dow Jones & Co. and Mossberg and Swisher announced they would not renew the contract with AllThingsD, and that Mossberg would be leaving The Wall Street Journal by the end of the year.
On January 2, 2014, Mossberg and Swisher launched Recode, a tech website. The website was acquired by Vox Media in May 2015 in an all-stock deal.
On April 7, 2017, Mossberg announced his planned retirement, which occurred on July 3 of that year. "It just seems like the right time to step away", Mossberg wrote in Recode. "I'm ready for something new." His final column was published on May 25, 2017. His final Code Conference was May 30 – June 1, and his retirement podcast, performed live in New York, was on June 9.
References
External links
All Things Digital
Appearances on C-SPAN
C-SPAN Q&A interview with Mossberg, July 19, 2009
Walt Mossberg on Charlie Rose
Walt Mossberg at IMDb |
List_of_Game_of_the_Year_awards | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_of_the_Year_awards | [
508
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_of_the_Year_awards"
] | Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given to a video game by various award events and media publications that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year.
Events and ceremonies
British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards)
The British Academy Games Awards are an annual British awards ceremony honoring "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry. First presented in 2004 following the restructuring of the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards, the awards are presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), and are thus commonly referred to as the BAFTA Games Awards.
Czech Game of the Year Awards
The Czech Game of the Year Awards are annual awards that recognize accomplishments in video game development.
D.I.C.E. Awards
The D.I.C.E. Awards are awarded by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), a non-profit organization of industry professionals. The awards were previously known as the Interactive Achievement Awards until 2013.
Electronic Gaming Awards (formerly Arcade Awards)
The Arcade Awards, also known as the Arkie Awards, was one of the first video game awards, dating back to the golden age of arcade video games and lasting up until the video game crash of 1983. It was held since 1980 (for games released in 1979 and earlier) and were announced annually by Electronic Games magazine since 1981, covering several platform categories. Following the magazine's revival in 1992, it published the Electronic Gaming Awards in January 1993 for the best video games released in 1992. The 1992 and 1993 award were voted on by readers.
Famitsu Awards
The Grand Prize winners of the annual Famitsu Awards, voted by Famitsu magazine's readers. An annual award ceremony has been held since 2005. Prior to 2005, the results were published in the magazine's annual "Best Hit Game Awards" feature since early 1987 (for games released in 1986).
The Game Awards
Geoff Keighley, producer and host of the Spike Video Game Awards, created The Game Awards in 2014. The winners are determined by a blended vote between the voting jury (90%) and public fan voting (10%); the jury panel consists of members from 96 global media outlets.
Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year is announced during the Game Developers Choice Awards at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers.
Golden Joystick Awards
The Golden Joystick Awards is the second oldest gaming award ceremony and is the longest-running video game award. The inaugural ceremony took place in 1984 in London's Berkeley Square.
Japan Game Awards (formerly CESA Awards)
The winners of the Grand Award annually given by the Japan Game Awards, formerly known as the CESA Awards, since 1996. There are some years where two games shared the Grand Award.
New York Game Awards
The New York Videogame Critics Circle hosts an annual award show that recognizes the best contributions to the video game industry from the previous year.
Spike Video Game Awards
The winners of the Spike Video Game Awards, hosted by Spike between 2003 and 2013, awarded the Game of the Year using an advisory council featuring over 20 journalists from media outlets. The show's title was changed to VGX in 2013 before Spike TV dropped the show entirely. Host and producer Geoff Keighley created The Game Awards in 2014.
SXSW Gaming Awards
The winners of the SXSW Gaming Awards are judged by the SXSW Gaming Advisory Board, which is composed of over 40 industry members.
VSDA Awards
The Video Software Dealers Association's VSDA Awards for home entertainment handed out awards for the best video games of the year until 2001.
Publications and media
Ars Technica
Destructoid
Easy Allies
Edge
Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)
Empire
Entertainment Weekly
Eurogamer
Game Informer
During their earlier years of publication they would give awards for the best game on each console available at the time, occasionally giving an award to the overall best game of the year. In 2017, they retroactively awarded a GOTY award for each past year that did not have an overall best game.
GameSpot
GameSpy
GamesRadar+
Gamest
GameTrailers
Giant Bomb
The Guardian
Hardcore Gamer
IGN
Kotaku
PC Gamer
Polygon
The Telegraph
Time
USgamer
Yahoo!
See also
List of video games considered the best
List of video game awards
== References == |
GoldenEye_007_(1997_video_game) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye_007_(1997_video_game) | [
508
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye_007_(1997_video_game)"
] | GoldenEye 007 is a 1997 first-person shooter video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is based on the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye, with the player controlling the secret agent James Bond to prevent a criminal syndicate from using a satellite weapon. They navigate a series of levels to complete objectives, such as recovering or destroying objects, while shooting enemies. In a multiplayer mode, up to four players compete in several deathmatch scenarios via split-screen.
Development began in January 1995. An inexperienced team led by Martin Hollis developed GoldenEye 007 over two and a half years. The game was conceived initially as a rail shooter in the style of SEGA's Virtua Cop (1994), later developing into a first-person shooter. Rare visited the GoldenEye set for reference, and Eon Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) allowed them to expand the game with sequences and characters not featured in the film.
GoldenEye 007 was released in August 1997, almost two years after the release of the film but shortly before the release of its sequel Tomorrow Never Dies. It faced low expectations from the gaming media during development. However, it received critical acclaim and sold over eight million copies, making it the third-best-selling Nintendo 64 game. The game was praised for its visuals, gameplay depth and variety, and multiplayer mode. In 1998, it received the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award, as well as four awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
GoldenEye 007 demonstrated the viability of home consoles as platforms for first-person shooters and signalled a transition from Doom-like shooters to a more realistic style. It pioneered features such as atmospheric single-player missions, stealth elements, and multiplayer console deathmatch. The game is considered to be one of the most influential and greatest video games ever made, with many of its elements, such as the Klobb gun, leaving an enduring impression in video game culture. A spiritual successor, Perfect Dark, was released in 2000, while a remake developed by Eurocom, also titled GoldenEye 007, was released in 2010. The original game was rereleased in January 2023 on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S via Xbox Game Pass or Rare Replay and Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.
Gameplay
GoldenEye 007 is a first-person shooter where the player takes the role of Secret Intelligence Service agent James Bond through a series of levels. In each level, the player must complete a set of objectives while computer-controlled opponents try to hinder the player's progress. Objectives range from recovering items to destroying objects, defeating enemies, or rescuing hostages. Some objectives may also require the player to use high-tech gadgets. For example, in one level, the player must use Bond's electromagnetic watch to acquire a jail cell key. Although the player begins each level with a limited amount of supplies, additional weapons and ammunition can be acquired from defeated enemies. There are no health-recovery items, but body armour can be acquired to provide a secondary health bar.
The game features more than 20 weapons, including pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, a sniper rifle, grenades, and throwing knives. Most weapons have a finite magazine and must be reloaded after a certain number of shots. Although each weapon has its own characteristics, ammunition is interchangeable between some weapon types. For example, pistols and submachine guns share the same ammunition. Weapons inflict different levels of damage depending on which body part they hit. Head shots cause the most damage, while arm and leg shots inflict the least damage. The Klobb, a submachine gun with a folding stock, possesses a high rate of fire and a wide bullet spread compared to other weapons, but is severely underpowered with a heavy recoil. The Klobb can be dual-wielded for additional firepower. Stealth is often encouraged, as frequent gunfire can alert distant guards, and alarms can spawn enemies. Certain weapons incorporate a suppressor or a telescopic sight to aid the player in killing enemies discreetly.
Each level can be played on three difficulty settings: Agent, Secret Agent, and 00 Agent. These affect aspects such as the damage enemies can withstand and inflict, the amount of ammunition available, and the number of objectives that must be completed. Two bonus levels can be unlocked by completing the game on Special Agent and then on 00 Agent. The player may also replay previously completed levels within target times to unlock bonus cheat options such as infinite ammunition or invincibility. Upon completing the game on the three difficulty settings, an additional mode is unlocked, allowing the player to customise the difficulty of a level by manually adjusting enemies' health, reaction times, aiming accuracy, and the damage they inflict.
Multiplayer
GoldenEye 007 features a multiplayer mode where up to four players can compete in several deathmatch scenarios via split-screen. These include Normal, You Only Live Twice, The Living Daylights, The Man With the Golden Gun, and Licence to Kill. Normal is a standard mode where players score points by killing opponents. Players can be grouped in teams or compete individually. You Only Live Twice gives players two lives before they are eliminated from the game, resulting in the last surviving player winning the match. In Licence to Kill, players die from a single hit with any weapon. Due to its high rate of fire and wide bullet spread, the Klobb is highly advantageous in this scenario.
In The Man With the Golden Gun, a single Golden Gun, which is capable of killing opponents with one shot, is placed in a fixed location in the level. Once the Golden Gun is picked up, the only way to re-acquire it is by killing the player holding it. In The Living Daylights, a flag is placed in a fixed location in the level, and the player who holds it the longest wins. The flag carrier cannot use weapons but can collect them to keep opponents from stocking ammunition. Options such as the chosen level, characters to play as, weapons available, and game length can be customised for each scenario. Additional levels and characters can be unlocked as the player progresses through the single-player game.
Plot
In 1986 Arkhangelsk, Soviet Union, MI6 has uncovered a secret chemical weapons facility at the Byelomorye Dam. James Bond and fellow 00-agent Alec Trevelyan are sent to infiltrate the facility and plant explosive charges. During the mission, Trevelyan is shot by General Arkady Ourumov, while Bond escapes by commandeering an aeroplane.
Five years later in 1991, Bond is sent to investigate a satellite control station in Severnaya, Russia, where programmer Boris Grishenko works. In 1993, Bond investigates an unscheduled test firing of a missile in Kyrgyzstan, believed to be a cover for the launch of a satellite known as GoldenEye. This space-based weapon works by firing a concentrated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) at any Earth target to disable any electrical circuit within range. As Bond leaves the silo, he is ambushed by Ourumov and a squad of Russian troops. Ourumov manages to escape during the encounter.
In 1995, Bond visits Monte Carlo to investigate the frigate La Fayette, where he rescues several hostages and plants a tracker bug on the Pirate helicopter before it is stolen by the Janus crime syndicate. Bond is then sent a second time to Severnaya, but during the mission, he is captured and locked up in the bunker's cells along with Natalya Simonova, a captive computer programmer unwilling to work with Janus. They both escape the complex seconds before it is destroyed—on the orders of Ourumov—by the GoldenEye satellite's EMP. Bond next travels to Saint Petersburg, where he arranges with ex-KGB agent Valentin Zukovsky to meet the chief of the Janus organisation. This is revealed to be Alec Trevelyan—his execution by Ourumov in the Arkhangelsk facility was faked.
Bond and Natalya escape from Trevelyan, but are arrested by the Russian police and taken to the military archives for interrogation. Eventually, Bond escapes the interrogation room, rescues Natalya, and communicates with Defence Minister Dimitri Mishkin, who has verified Bond's claim of Ourumov's treachery. Natalya is recaptured by General Ourumov, and Bond gives chase through the streets of St. Petersburg, eventually reaching an arms depot used by Janus. There, Bond destroys its weaponry stores and then hitches a ride on Trevelyan's ex-Soviet missile train, where he kills Ourumov and rescues Natalya. However, Alec Trevelyan and his ally Xenia Onatopp escape to their secret base in Cuba.
Natalya accompanies Bond to the Caribbean. Surveying the Cuban jungle aerially, their light aircraft is shot down. Unscathed, Bond and Natalya perform a ground search of the area's heavily guarded jungle terrain but are ambushed by Xenia, who is quickly killed by Bond. Bond sneaks Natalya into the control centre to disrupt transmissions to the GoldenEye satellite and force it to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. He then follows the fleeing Trevelyan through a series of flooded caverns, eventually arriving at the antenna of the control centre's radio telescope. Trevelyan attempts to re-align it in a final attempt to restore contact with the GoldenEye, but Bond destroys machinery vital to controlling the antenna and defeats Trevelyan in a gunfight on a platform above the dish.
Development
Design
GoldenEye 007 was developed by the British studio Rare and directed by Martin Hollis, who had previously worked as a second programmer on the coin-op version of Killer Instinct. In November 1994, after Nintendo and Rare discussed the possibility of developing a game based on the upcoming James Bond film GoldenEye, Hollis told Tim Stamper, Rare's managing director, that he was interested in the project. Due to the success of Rare's 1994 game Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007 was originally suggested as a 2D platformer for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. However, Hollis proposed a 3D shooting game for the upcoming Nintendo 64 console. He created a document with design ideas, including gadgets, weapons, characters, story digression from the film, and artificial intelligence (AI) that would react to the player.
Rare named Sega's 1994 light gun shooter Virtua Cop, id Software's seminal 1993 first-person shooter Doom and the Nintendo 64 launch game Super Mario 64 as influences. Features such as gun reloading, position-dependent hit reaction animations, penalties for killing innocent characters, and the aiming system that is activated with the R button of the Nintendo 64 controller were adopted from Virtua Cop. The developers considered having players reload weapons by unplugging and re-inserting the Rumble Pak on the controller, but Nintendo opposed the idea. The concept of several varied objectives within each mission was inspired by the multiple tasks in each stage of Super Mario 64.
The team visited the studios of the GoldenEye film several times to collect photographs and blueprints of the sets. Eon Productions and MGM, the companies that control the James Bond films, granted the team a broad licence, and many levels were extended or modified to allow the player to participate in sequences not seen in the film. Although the reference material was used for authenticity, the team was not afraid to add to it to help the game design. John Woo films such as Hard Boiled influenced the visual effects and kinetic moments. Details such as bullet marks on walls, cartridge cases being ejected from guns, and objects exploding were part of the design. Hollis wanted players to receive a lot of feedback from the environment when they shot.
The team considered implementing both on-rails and free-roaming modes because they did not know how the Nintendo 64 controller would work, and the game's gas plant location was modelled with a predetermined path in mind. A modified Sega Saturn controller was used for some early playtesting. The designers' initial priority was purely on the creation of interesting spaces; level design and balance considerations such as the placement of start and exit points, characters and objectives did not begin until this process was complete. According to Hollis, this unplanned approach gave many levels a realistic and non-linear feel, with several rooms having no direct relevance to a level.
Production
Work on GoldenEye 007 began in January 1995 with a team hired by Hollis: programmer Mark Edmonds, background artist Karl Hilton, and character artist B. Jones. Edmonds focused on creating a game engine that could render 3D graphics from art packages into Nintendo 64 data structures. Hilton modelled levels based on the film material, while Jones constructed characters based on photos and costumes they had. Since final Nintendo 64 specifications and development kits were not initially available to Rare, the team had to estimate the finalised console's capabilities using an SGI Onyx workstation and Nintendo's custom NINGEN development software. In the following months, designer Duncan Botwood joined the team to construct the levels. The first year was spent producing art assets and developing the engine, which originally only allowed the player and enemies to move around a virtual environment.
After the first year of development, Rare added more staff to the project. The first addition was designer David Doak, who helped with the level designs and worked on the AI scripting. He explained how the stealth elements were implemented: "Whenever you fired a gun, it had a radius test and alerted the non-player characters within that radius. If you fired the same gun again within a certain amount of time, it did a larger radius test and I think there was a third even larger radius after that. It meant if you found one guy and shot him in the head and then didn't fire again, the timer would reset." Windows throughout the game were programmed so that enemies cannot see through them. Though unrealistic, this encouraged the player to use windows to spy on enemies.
Hollis hired a second programmer, Steve Ellis, six months later. Although Ellis assisted the development team in many areas and programmed the cheat options, he was mostly responsible for implementing the multiplayer mode, which was added roughly six months before release. According to Doak, Ellis "sat in a room with all the code written for a single-player game and turned GoldenEye into a multiplayer game." The team spent numerous late evenings playtesting it. The multiplayer levels are based on single-player missions and some of them do not support four players because they were initially not designed to handle multiplayer action. A firing range was modelled as an environment, but was not added.
Because the team assumed they could use anything from the James Bond universe, the multiplayer mode features characters that appear in previous Bond films. Actors who portrayed Bond in previous films were playable during development, but were removed because Rare was unable to get Sean Connery's permission to use his likeness. Despite their fictional names, most weapons were modelled after real-world firearms such as the Walther PPK, the AK-74, and the FN P90. The Klobb was inspired by the Škorpion, a Czechoslovak submachine gun with a folding stock. Its name was chosen to honor Ken Lobb, who was Rare's Nintendo-side producer and contact at the time. Another weapon, the DD44 Dostovei (modeled after Tokarev pistol), was named after Doak's initials. Adrian Smith, the game's third and last artist, who had already worked on some games at Rare, was in charge of producing visual effects such as muzzle flashes and explosions. He mentioned the 1995 film Heat as an influence.
The final Nintendo 64 hardware could render polygons faster than the SGI Onyx workstation the development team had been using. This helped the developers significantly, as some backgrounds rendered at 2 frames per second on the Onyx without even drawing enemies, objects, or Bond's gun. However, the textures had to be cut down by half. Hilton explained one method of improving performance: "A lot of GoldenEye is in black and white. RGB colour textures cost a lot more in terms of processing power. You could do double the resolution if you used greyscale, so a lot was done like that. If I needed a bit of colour, I'd add it in the vertex." When Super Mario 64 was released in 1996, the 3D collision detection system was influential for Hollis because GoldenEye 007 was originally using a 2D method.
The music was primarily composed by Graeme Norgate and Grant Kirkhope. Norgate previously penned the music of Blast Corps, while Kirkhope composed the music of Donkey Kong Land 2. Robin Beanland, the game's third composer, only wrote the elevator music that can be heard in certain levels. All the sound effects were created by Norgate and a lot of effort was put into combining and permuting sounds in different ways to create a satisfying feel. According to Hollis, whenever the player shoots a gun, up to nine different sound effects will randomly trigger. When the game was reviewed by Nintendo shortly before it was released, the company was slightly concerned about the amount of violence and gunplay. As a result, the team toned down the killing and added an end credits sequence that introduces all the non-player characters, giving the game a filmic sense. The game received a Teen rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
GoldenEye 007 was released on a 96-megabit cartridge on 25 August 1997. Although this was over a year and a half after the release of the GoldenEye film, the game benefited from publicity for the upcoming James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Every cartridge of the game contains a ZX Spectrum emulator with ten Rare developed games. This function was originally made as an experimental side project by Rare and was deactivated in the final version, but has since been unlocked through fan-made patches. The development of GoldenEye 007 took more than two and a half years to complete and had a budget of US$2 million.
Reception
Despite low expectations among the gaming media and an unsuccessful showing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta in 1997, GoldenEye 007 received widespread acclaim from critics and was a commercial success. In 1998, it sold approximately 2.1 million copies. By 2001, it had sold over seven million copies worldwide. Overall, GoldenEye 007 sold more than eight million units worldwide, making it the third-best-selling Nintendo 64 game, behind Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64. According to a paper published on the website of the Entertainment Software Association, the game grossed $250 million worldwide, more than 70% of the movie's box office despite having only 3.3% of the movie's budget.
Graphically, GoldenEye 007 was praised for its varied and detailed environments, realistic animations, and special effects such as glass transparencies and lingering smoke. Nintendo Power said the frame rate in multiplayer games was high, while Electronic Gaming Monthly described it as somewhat choppy and sluggish. The zoomable sniper rifle was praised as one of the most impressive and entertaining features, with Edge describing it as a "novel twist" and Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot noting its ability to alleviate the distance fog. The music was praised for its inclusion of the "James Bond Theme" and for adding ambience. Some levels begin in lifts and feature transitions from elevator music to full soundtracks, which Gerstmann cited as an illustration of the attention to detail.
The gameplay was highlighted for its depth and requiring more stealth and intelligence than earlier first-person shooters. IGN's Doug Perry called GoldenEye 007 an immersive game which "blends smart strategy gameplay with fast-action gunmanship". Similarly, Greg Sewart of Gaming Age remarked that players have "a bit of freedom as to what they want to do in any given situation, and what order the directives are completed in". Reviewers also enjoyed the wide variety of weapons and the multi-objective-based missions, stating that they kept the game fresh. The controls were praised for being more intuitive than Acclaim's earlier well-received Nintendo 64 first-person shooter Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, though some found the cursor targeting difficult to master. GameRevolution credited the gameplay for being realistic and different from other shooters, but also criticised the campaign for being badly paced. The publication noted that GoldenEye 007 "takes it for granted that you have already seen the movie" and that players may get stuck due to the game's lack of orientation.
At the time, GoldenEye 007 was considered the best multiplayer game on the system, "edging Mario Kart 64 by a hair" according to IGN. Edge called it addictive and praised the originality of some of the scenarios such as You Only Live Twice. GamePro said the multiplayer modes "will have you shooting your friends for the rest of the year", while Next Generation highlighted the number of multiplayer options, calling GoldenEye 007 "a surprising killer app, if only for the smashing multiplayer options. The excellent single-player game backing it up makes it well worth buying indeed." The game was also hailed for its accurate and detailed adaptation of the film, with GamePro going so far as to call it "one of the best movie-to-game translations ever". The ability to use numerous signature Bond gadgets and weapons was considered a particularly strong element in this regard. Crispin Boyer of Electronic Gaming Monthly stated that Rare "has packed everything that's cool about 007 into this game."
GoldenEye 007 received multiple year-end awards, including the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award in 1998, and four awards from the inaugural AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards: "Interactive Title of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", "Console Action Game of the Year", and "Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering"; it also received nominations for "Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics" and "Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Design". Electronic Gaming Monthly named it both Most Addictive Game and Best Movie to Game in their 1998 Video Game Buyer's Guide, and Game of the Year in their Editor's Choice Awards. Rare won the BAFTA award for Best UK Developer.
Legacy
Retrospective appraisal
GoldenEye 007 has been credited for proving that it is possible to create a "fun" first-person shooter experience on a home console in both single-player and multiplayer modes—when the game was released, the first-person shooter genre was primarily for PC games. The game opened the genre to the console market, and it has been credited for paving the way for the popularity of Halo and Call of Duty. The game's introduction of a multiplayer deathmatch mode on a console is often credited for having revolutionised the genre, with Edge stating that it set the standard for multiplayer console combat until it was surpassed by Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001. GoldenEye 007 also introduced stealth elements that were unprecedented in first-person shooters. The game's use of realistic gameplay, which contrasted with the approaches taken by Doom clones, and its context-sensitive hit locations on enemies added a realism that was previously unseen in video games, although the 1996 Team Fortress computer mod for Quake had previously introduced headshots. Alongside Shiny Entertainment's 1997 third-person shooter MDK, GoldenEye 007 has been credited with pioneering and popularising the now-standard inclusion of scoped sniper rifles in video games.
GoldenEye 007 is frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Shortly after its release in 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked GoldenEye 007 the 25th best console video game of all time, calling it "easily the best movie game, and, more importantly, the best first-person game ever." In 1999, Next Generation editors placed GoldenEye 007 at No. 10 on their list of Top 50 Games of All Time, commenting, "Marrying Doom-style shooting with trademark Bond missions, GoldenEye is the perfect thinking-man's shooter." In 2000, Computer and Video Games readers ranked GoldenEye 007 first place in the magazine's poll of 100 Greatest Games of All Time, and fifth in a similar poll the following year. In 2001, Game Informer ranked the game 16th on its list of Top 100 Games of All Time. In 2004, Retro Gamer readers voted GoldenEye 007 as the 33rd greatest retro game, with editors calling it "easily the best Bond game to date." In 2005, IGN editors ranked the game 29th on their list of Top 100 Games of All Time, while readers placed it at seventh on a separate list. In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the game 55th on a list of greatest Nintendo games.
Edge has featured GoldenEye 007 prominently in several "greatest game" lists. The game was ranked third in a staff-voted poll in 2000, was included as one of the publication's top ten shooters in 2003, and was placed at No. 17 in a staff, reader, and gaming industry-voted poll in 2007. Although Edge awarded GoldenEye 007 a score of 9 out of 10 upon its release, the publication acknowledged in 2013 that the game should have received the highest score. With its eight million copies sold, GoldenEye 007 was a significant contributor in helping the Nintendo 64 remain competitive against the PlayStation, although Nintendo ultimately lost much of the market share. GamePro called GoldenEye 007 the console killer app of the 1990s and the greatest licensed game from a film of all time, while Nintendo Power considered the multiplayer mode one of the greatest multiplayer experiences in Nintendo history.
In a retrospective analysis, Nintendo Life editor Mark Reece gave GoldenEye 007 eight out of ten, stating that although the multiplayer mode stands up well, its graphics, audio and "fiddly" aiming system are dated. He noted that GoldenEye 007's approach to difficulty settings provides considerable replay value, but is a system rarely used in modern first-person shooters. Writing for NME on the game's 20th anniversary, journalist Mark Beaumont highlighted the immersive graphics, aesthetic, location-based damage on enemies, and revolutionary multiplayer mode, stating that it "helped to introduce gaming as a group event". In 2011, the game was selected as one of 80 games from the past 40 years to be placed in the Art of Video Games exhibit in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
The Klobb
The Klobb has been retrospectively described by critics as a memorable aspect of the gameplay of GoldenEye 007, albeit for its negative traits; despite its high rate of fire, it deals a low amount of damage and is extremely inaccurate. In a contemporaneous review, Edge remarked that the ability to dual-wield the Klobb is one of the most satisfying moments, and argued that it is likely to be remembered by players unlike the vast majority of video game weapons. In their view, imperfection adds both realism and unpredictability to a game, and that the moments created by this were something that designers were beginning to realize were just as valuable as creating a "perfect" weapon. Simon Parkin of Eurogamer noted the naming of the Klobb as one of the first times that issues arose over using real-life gun names for in-game weapons, as GoldenEye 007 was one of the first console games to feature 3D firearms. Parkin noted that while the invented gun names were "acceptable in the fictional universe of James Bond", he emphasized that "for those games based around real armed forces, the inclusion of brand names was necessary to remain faithful to the source material." The gun was included in the video game Too Human as "KLOBB", due to Ken Lobb's association with the game's developers, Silicon Knights. During development this weapon was called the Skorpion VZ/61 after its real-world counterpart but was changed due to legal reasons.
Rerelease
An Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) remaster was in development at Rare for several months in 2008. The remaster was set to add several new features, including online multiplayer and the ability to toggle between the original and updated graphics. Though it reportedly needed only two more months of development before it was finished, the remaster was cancelled because Nintendo, MGM, and Microsoft, which acquired Rare in 2002, were unable to come to a licensing agreement. According to Rare's Ross Bury, Mark Edmonds, and Chris Tilston, Rare began developing the remaster in late 2006, shortly after the Stamper brothers had left Rare and after the company had completed Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo. Microsoft had suggested that GoldenEye 007 would be appropriate for XBLA, leading Rare to start on the remaster prior to getting Nintendo's permission, believing it would not have been a problem because GoldenEye 007 was one of the most popular Nintendo 64 games. Rare had completed the conversion and removed most of the bugs before they learned that Nintendo had not cleared it. This halted development until negotiation on rights could be discussed, which ultimately fell through. In January 2021, a full playthrough of a prototype of the XBLA version was streamed to YouTube, showcasing improved graphics running at 60 frames per second. Later, a near-final playable ROM image of the XBLA game was leaked online from an unknown source.
In January 2022, achievements for an Xbox One version of GoldenEye 007 were leaked. In June 2022, the same leaked achievements were seen on Xbox servers. VGC and Eurogamer reported that the leaked achievements suggested an official release was imminent. In September 2022, Microsoft, Nintendo and Rare announced the Nintendo 64 version would be rereleased on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S through Xbox Game Pass, and on Nintendo Switch through the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription service. The Xbox version was remastered by Code Mystics and supports 4K resolution displays, but does not include any of the enhancements from the canceled XBLA remaster. The Switch release is playable in both the original 4:3 aspect ratio as well as widescreen (the same goes with the Xbox version), and is the only one to feature online multiplayer, via the Nintendo Switch Online emulator's built-in online multiplayer functionality. The Xbox version was published by Xbox Game Studios and both versions were released on 27 January 2023. Players who digitally purchased Rare's 2015 Xbox One compilation Rare Replay received the game for free.
Related games
After GoldenEye 007 was released, Rare began development of a spiritual successor, Perfect Dark. Using an upgraded version of the GoldenEye 007 game engine, Perfect Dark was released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000. Although the game features a setting and storyline unrelated to James Bond, it shares many gameplay features, including a similar control scheme, mission objectives that vary with difficulty settings, and cheat options unlockable through quick level completions. While Perfect Dark was still in development, Martin Hollis left Rare to work as a consultant on the development of the GameCube at Nintendo of America. Other members of the GoldenEye 007 team also left the studio to form Free Radical Design. The company developed the TimeSplitters series of first-person shooters. These games contain several references to GoldenEye 007, including the design of the health-HUD, the nature of the aiming system, and the Russian dam setting of the opening level of TimeSplitters 2.
After forming a partnership with MGM in late 1998, Electronic Arts published games based on then-recent James Bond films, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough, as well as entirely original ones, including Agent Under Fire, Nightfire, Everything or Nothing and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. Although Nintendo considered the possibility of bringing GoldenEye 007 to the Wii's Virtual Console in 2006, the game was never released for the platform due to legal issues involving the numerous licence holders with rights to the game and to the James Bond intellectual property. In 2006, the James Bond game licence was acquired by Activision. Activision published more games, including Quantum of Solace, Blood Stone and a 2010 remake of GoldenEye 007. The remake features Daniel Craig as the playable character, contemporary first-person shooter conventions, new level layouts, and online multiplayer. Activision lost the James Bond game licence in 2014.
In 2010, an independent development team released GoldenEye: Source, a multiplayer-only total conversion mod that runs on the Source engine. GoldenEye 007 had initially been intended for inclusion in Rare Replay; a behind-the-scenes featurette for the compilation was produced, but was not released until being leaked in 2019. A fan remake powered by Unreal Engine 4, GoldenEye 25, was in development and originally scheduled for a 2022 release in honour of the game's 25th anniversary, but it was retooled into an original property called S.P.I.E.S. (the title was later changed to Deceive Inc.) after MGM sent a cease and desist letter to the developers.
Speedrunning
The game has had a speedrunning presence. As of 2024, the game continues to have a strong speedrunning presence, a following it has maintained since at least as far back as 1999, which was when GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark speedrunner and gaming documentarian Karl Jobst first discovered the community.
GoldenEra
In 2022, to celebrate the game's 25th anniversary, a full-length documentary film about the game was released called GoldenEra, which details the legacy of the game as well as the chaotic and intense development process and effect the game has had on popular culture and modern first-person shooters.
Notes
References
External links
Official Nintendo site at the Wayback Machine (archived 19 February 1999)
Rare profile page at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 February 1999) |
D.I.C.E._Award_for_Game_of_the_Year | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.I.C.E._Award_for_Game_of_the_Year | [
508
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.I.C.E._Award_for_Game_of_the_Year"
] | The D.I.C.E. Award for Game of the Year is an award presented annually by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences during the D.I.C.E. Awards. It is given in honor of "the single game, without regard to system or delivery mechanism, voted by the membership of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences that best utilizes the chosen medium to entertain users". All active creative/technical, business, and affiliate members of the Academy are qualified to vote for this category.
The most recent winner of the award is Baldur's Gate 3, developed and published by Larian Studios.
History
Category name changes
The 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony was held on May 28, 1998, with the licensed adaptation of GoldenEye 007, developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, receiving the first award. The award was originally known as Interactive Title of the Year for the 1998 ceremony. It would be renamed Game of the Year at the following year's awards ceremony. For a brief period between 2006 and 2009, the award was presented as Overall Game of the Year.
Indie Games
The first indie that was nominated for Game of the Year was Angry Birds HD. Journey would be the first indie game winner. The only other two indie games that had won were Untitled Goose Game and Hades. Since 2016, there had been at least one indie game nominee for Game of the Year:
2016: Ori and the Blind Forest
2017: Inside
2018: Cuphead
2019: Into the Breach, Return of the Obra Dinn
2020: Disco Elysium, Outer Wilds, Untitled Goose Game
2021: Hades
2022: Inscryption
2023: Stray, Vampire Survivors
2024: Cocoon
2019, 2020 and 2023 were the only years that had more than one indie game nominee, with 2020 being the first year of an indie game majority of the nominees.
Genres
The most frequently nominated and winning genres for Game of the Year had been action, adventure, and role-playing. No strategy game had ever won the award, but thirteen had been nominated: Age of Empires, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, Sacrifice, Sid Meier's Civilization III, Command & Conquer: Generals, Rise of Nations, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Hearthstone, Into the Breach, and Inscryption. The Sims was the only simulation game to had won the top award, with six others also being nominated: MechWarrior 4: Vengeance, RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes, Black & White, Animal Crossing, Nintendogs, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Four rhythm games had been nominated: PaRappa the Rapper, Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, and Rock Band. The only fighting games that had been nominated were Soulcalibur, Tekken Tag Tournament, and WWF No Mercy. The awards ceremony in 2001 had six sports game nominees: FIFA 2001, Links 2001, Madden NFL 2001, SSX, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, and Virtua Tennis; SSX 3 and Wii Sports were the only sports games nominated after 2001. Only three expansion packs had ever been nominated (all during the awards ceremony in 2001): Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, and RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes. The only compilation pack that received a nomination for Game of the Year was The Orange Box (which included Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2, as well as previously released titles of Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One).
Platforms
Nearly every Game of the Year nominee had either been released for a home video game console or for personal computer. Pokémon Yellow, Nintendogs, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds were the only nominees that were released for handheld game consoles. There had been five nominees that were released for mobile devices at the time of their nomination: Angry Birds HD, The Walking Dead, Hearthstone, Pokémon Go, and Vampire Survivors. Journey, Borderlands 2, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Inside, and Into the Breach would eventually be released for mobile devices, but they were not at the time of their nomination.
Other Game of the Year Awards
Usually the winner for Game of the Year would also win the award for their respective genre/platform; the only exceptions had been The Sims, Battlefield 1942, Untitled Goose Game, and It Takes Two. Of the four exceptions, Battlefield 1942 and Untitled Goose Game did not receive any nominations for their respective genre-related category (although the former did win the award for Online Gameplay of the Year, while the latter won for Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game). There had been five winners for Family Game of the Year that had also been nominated for Game of the Year: Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Rock Band, LittleBigPlanet, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with LittleBigPlanet being the only winner for Game of the Year. Angry Birds HD and Journey were the only winners for Casual Game of the Year that were also nominated for Game of the Year, the latter of which won both awards.
List of Winners and nominees
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Multiple nominations and wins
Nintendo has developed the most Game of the Year nominees with fourteen. Nintendo is also tied with Infinity Ward, Santa Monica Studio, Naughty Dog, BioWare, and Bethesda Game Studio for each developing two Game of the Year winners, being the most of any developer. Developer Insomniac Games has the most nominations without a win.
Sony has published the most Game of the Year nominees and winners. Sony has twice had back-to-back wins for Game of the Year; the first for LittleBigPlanet in 2009 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in 2010, and the second time for Journey in 2013 and The Last of Us in 2014. The only other publisher with back-to-back wins is Nintendo with GoldenEye 007 in 1998, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in 1999. Rockstar Games has published the most Game of the Year nominees without having a single winner.
Franchises
The most nominated franchise is The Legend of Zelda, with eight nominations. Call of Duty, The Legend of Zelda, and
God of War are the only franchises to have won Game of the Year twice. The Grand Theft Auto franchise has garnered the most nominations without winning a single award in this category. Final Fantasy VII Remake is the first and only remake that has been nominated, let alone a remake of a previous nominee.
Notes
== References == |
Maritsa_Iztok_Complex | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritsa_Iztok_Complex | [
509
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritsa_Iztok_Complex"
] | The Maritsa Iztok Complex is the largest energy complex in South Eastern Europe. Maritsa Iztok 1 and 3 located entirely within Stara Zagora Province in south-central Bulgaria while Maritsa Iztok 2 is split with eastern neighboring Sliven Province. It consists of three lignite-fired thermal power stations. The complex is located in a large lignite coal basin, which includes several mines, enrichment plants, a briquette plant and its own railway system. The development of the thermal power and mining complex at Maritsa Iztok began in 1952, but the lignite deposits used to be known well in the mid-19th century. The Maritsa Iztok mines and power plants are interdependent as the only market for coal is the power plants, while the power plants have no other supplier of coal but the mines.
The complex is the largest source of CO2 emissions in Bulgaria with 142,913,573 tons emitted in 2020.
Maritsa Iztok-1 (TPS AES Galabovo)
Maritsa Iztok-1 is located near Galabovo. In October 1998, the old power plant with a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) was privatized and sold to Consolidated Continental Commerce (3C), later purchased by AES Corporation. On 15 February 2000, AES and the Bulgarian grid operator Natzionalna Elektricheska Kompania EAD (NEK) signed a 15-year tolling agreement, according to which AES has an obligation to replace the old power station with a new facility. In June 2006, AES started construction of the new 670 MW power station. It became operational on 3 June 2011. The new power station consists of two pulverised coal boilers of 335 MW each, two steam turbines, two generators and desulphurisation facilities. The plant was constructed by Alstom. It cost €1.2 billion.
Maritsa Iztok-2
Maritsa Iztok-2 is the largest thermal power plant in the Balkans. It is located 60 kilometres (37 mi) from Stara Zagora in the vicinity of the village of Radetski and the dam lake Ovcharitsa. The construction of Maritsa Iztok-2 started on 7 May 1962; it was inaugurated on 10 November 1966. Between 1979 and 1995 the power station was expanded by four additional units. 1977 and 1980 two new 325 metres (1,066 ft) tall chimneys were built. Maritsa Iztok-2 has a total installed capacity of 1,465 MW and generates 30% of Bulgaria's electricity. It consists of eight generating units, two of which are equipped with flue gas desulphurization plants. The rehabilitation of the older power units, including construction of FGD plants for units 1 to 6, are in progress.
Maritsa Iztok-2 is wholly state-owned. It is a subsidiary of Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD.
In November 2014 the power station was ranked as the industrial facility that is causing the highest damage costs to health and the environment in Bulgaria and the entire European Union by the European Environment Agency.
In June 2019 a fire thought to be caused by routine maintenance broke out on the smokestack of the flue gas desulphurisation system at Unit 8.
Maritsa Iztok-3
Maritsa Iztok-3 is Bulgaria's third-largest power plant. It is located 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Stara Zagora. The power plant has an installed capacity of 900 MW, which is produced by four units of each 225 MW. It has a 325 metres (1,066 ft) tall chimney.
In 1998, the United States power utility Entergy Corporation purchased 73% of Maritsa Iztok-3 shares for US$375 million from the Bulgarian state. Entergy also has the obligation to modernize the power station. In 2002, the Italian power company Enel joined the project; in 2006 Enel acquired Entergy's stake. At present, Maritsa Iztok-3 is owned and operated by Energiina Kompaniya Maritsa Iztok 3 AD, a joint venture of ContourGlobal (73%) and NEK (27%).
Enel is planning to invest in a new 700-800 MW coal-fired power plant next to the existing Maritsa Iztok-3 plant. The new power plant is expected to cost €900 million.
See also
Energy in Bulgaria
References
External links
Maritsa Iztok 2 power station (Bulgarian)
Maritsa Iztok 3 ENEL power station |
Bulgaria | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria | [
509
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria"
] | Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north. It covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi) and is the sixteenth-largest country in Europe. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities include Burgas, Plovdiv, and Varna.
One of the earliest societies in the lands of modern-day Bulgaria was the Karanovo culture (6,500 BC). In the 6th to 3rd century BC, the region was a battleground for ancient Thracians, Persians, Celts and Macedonians; stability came when the Roman Empire conquered the region in AD 45. After the Roman state splintered, tribal invasions in the region resumed. Around the 6th century, these territories were settled by the early Slavs. The Bulgars, led by Asparuh, attacked from the lands of Old Great Bulgaria and permanently invaded the Balkans in the late 7th century. They established the First Bulgarian Empire, victoriously recognised by treaty in 681 AD by the Byzantine Empire. It dominated most of the Balkans and significantly influenced Slavic cultures by developing the Cyrillic script. The First Bulgarian Empire lasted until the early 11th century, when Byzantine emperor Basil II conquered and dismantled it. A successful Bulgarian revolt in 1185 established a Second Bulgarian Empire, which reached its apex under Ivan Asen II (1218–1241). After numerous exhausting wars and feudal strife, the empire disintegrated and in 1396 fell under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries.
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 resulted in the formation of the third and current Bulgarian state, which declared independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1908. Many ethnic Bulgarians were left outside the new nation's borders, which stoked irredentist sentiments that led to several conflicts with its neighbours and alliances with Germany in both world wars. In 1946, Bulgaria came under the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc and became a socialist state. The ruling Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power after the revolutions of 1989 and allowed multiparty elections. Bulgaria then transitioned into a democracy and a market-based economy. Since adopting a democratic constitution in 1991, Bulgaria has been a unitary parliamentary republic composed of 28 provinces, with a high degree of political, administrative, and economic centralisation.
Bulgaria has a high-income economy. Its market economy is part of the European Single Market and is largely based on services, followed by industry—especially machine building and mining—and agriculture.
The country faces a demographic crisis; its population peaked at 9 million in 1989, and has since decreased to under 6.4 million as of 2024.
Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, the Schengen Area, NATO, and the Council of Europe. It is also a founding member of the OSCE and has taken a seat on the United Nations Security Council three times.
Etymology
The name Bulgaria is derived from the Bulgars, a tribe of Turkic origin that founded the First Bulgarian Empire. Their name is not completely understood and is difficult to trace it back earlier than the 4th century AD, but it is possibly derived from the Proto-Turkic word bulģha ("to mix", "shake", "stir") and its derivative bulgak ("revolt", "disorder"). The meaning may be further extended to "rebel", "incite" or "produce a state of disorder", and so, in the derivative, the "disturbers". Tribal groups in Inner Asia with phonologically close names were frequently described in similar terms, as the Buluoji, a component of the "Five Barbarian" groups, which during the 4th century were portrayed as both: a "mixed race" and "troublemakers".
History
Prehistory and Antiquity
Neanderthal remains dating to around 150,000 years ago, or the Middle Paleolithic, are some of the earliest traces of human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria. Remains from Homo sapiens found there are dated c. 47,000 years BP. This result represents the earliest arrival of modern humans in Europe. The Karanovo culture arose c. 6,500 BC and was one of several Neolithic societies in the region that thrived on agriculture. The Copper Age Varna culture (fifth millennium BC) is credited with inventing gold metallurgy. The associated Varna Necropolis treasure contains the oldest golden jewellery in the world with an approximate age of over 6,000 years. The treasure has been valuable for understanding social hierarchy and stratification in the earliest European societies.
The Thracians, one of the three primary ancestral groups of modern Bulgarians, appeared on the Balkan Peninsula some time before the 12th century BC. The Thracians excelled in metallurgy and gave the Greeks the Orphean and Dionysian cults, but remained tribal and stateless. The Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered parts of present-day Bulgaria (in particular eastern Bulgaria) in the 6th century BC and retained control over the region until 479 BC. The invasion became a catalyst for Thracian unity, and the bulk of their tribes united under king Teres to form the Odrysian kingdom in the 470s BC. It was weakened and vassalised by Philip II of Macedon in 341 BC, attacked by Celts in the 3rd century, and finally became a province of the Roman Empire in AD 45.
By the end of the 1st century AD, Roman governance was established over the entire Balkan Peninsula and Christianity began spreading in the region around the 4th century. The Gothic Bible—the first Germanic language book—was created by Gothic bishop Ulfilas in what is today northern Bulgaria around 381. The region came under Byzantine control after the fall of Rome in 476. The Byzantines were engaged in prolonged warfare against Persia and could not defend their Balkan territories from barbarian incursions. This enabled the Slavs to enter the Balkan Peninsula as marauders, primarily through an area between the Danube River and the Balkan Mountains known as Moesia. Gradually, the interior of the peninsula became a country of the South Slavs, who lived under a democracy. The Slavs assimilated the partially Hellenised, Romanised, and Gothicised Thracians in the rural areas.
First Bulgarian Empire
Not long after the Slavic incursion, Moesia was once again invaded, this time by the Bulgars under Khan Asparukh. Their horde was a remnant of Old Great Bulgaria, an extinct tribal confederacy situated north of the Black Sea in what is now Ukraine and southern Russia. Asparukh attacked Byzantine territories in Moesia and conquered the Slavic tribes there in 680. A peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire was signed in 681, marking the foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire. The minority Bulgars formed a close-knit ruling caste.
Succeeding rulers strengthened the Bulgarian state throughout the 8th and 9th centuries. Krum introduced a written code of law and checked a major Byzantine incursion at the Battle of Pliska, in which Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I was killed. Boris I abolished paganism in favour of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in 864. The conversion was followed by a Byzantine recognition of the Bulgarian church and the adoption of the Cyrillic alphabet, developed in the capital, Preslav. The common language, religion and script strengthened central authority and gradually fused the Slavs and Bulgars into a unified people speaking a single Slavic language. A golden age began during the 34-year rule of Simeon the Great, who oversaw the largest territorial expansion of the state.
After Simeon's death, Bulgaria was weakened by wars with Magyars and Pechenegs and the spread of Bogomilism. Preslav was seized by the Byzantine army in 971 after consecutive Rus' and Byzantine invasions. The empire briefly recovered from the attacks under Samuil, but this ended when Byzantine emperor Basil II defeated the Bulgarian army at Klyuch in 1014. Samuil died shortly after the battle, and by 1018 the Byzantines had conquered the First Bulgarian Empire. After the conquest, Basil II prevented revolts by retaining the rule of local nobility, integrating them in Byzantine bureaucracy and aristocracy, and relieving their lands of the obligation to pay taxes in gold, allowing tax in kind instead. The Bulgarian Patriarchate was reduced to an archbishopric, but retained its autocephalous status and its dioceses.
Second Bulgarian Empire
Byzantine domestic policies changed after Basil's death and a series of unsuccessful rebellions broke out, the largest being led by Peter Delyan. The empire's authority declined after a catastrophic military defeat at Manzikert against Seljuk invaders, and was further disturbed by the Crusades. This prevented Byzantine attempts at Hellenisation and created fertile ground for further revolt. In 1185, Asen dynasty nobles Ivan Asen I and Peter IV organised a major uprising and succeeded in re-establishing the Bulgarian state. Ivan Asen and Peter laid the foundations of the Second Bulgarian Empire with its capital at Tarnovo.
Kaloyan, the third of the Asen monarchs, extended his dominion to Belgrade and Ohrid. He acknowledged the spiritual supremacy of the pope and received a royal crown from a papal legate. The empire reached its zenith under Ivan Asen II (1218–1241), when its borders expanded as far as the coast of Albania, Serbia and Epirus, while commerce and culture flourished. Ivan Asen's rule was also marked by a shift away from Rome in religious matters.
The Asen dynasty became extinct in 1257. Internal conflicts and incessant Byzantine and Hungarian attacks followed, enabling the Mongols to establish suzerainty over the weakened Bulgarian state. In 1277, swineherd Ivaylo led a great peasant revolt that expelled the Mongols from Bulgaria and briefly made him emperor. He was overthrown in 1280 by the feudal landlords, whose factional conflicts caused the Second Bulgarian Empire to disintegrate into small feudal dominions by the 14th century. These fragmented rump states—two tsardoms at Vidin and Tarnovo and the Despotate of Dobrudzha—became easy prey for a new threat arriving from the Southeast: the Ottoman Turks.
Ottoman rule
The Ottomans were employed as mercenaries by the Byzantines in the 1340s, but later became invaders in their own right. Sultan Murad I took Adrianople from the Byzantines in 1362; Sofia fell in 1382, followed by Shumen in 1388. The Ottomans completed their conquest of Bulgarian lands in 1393 when Tarnovo was sacked after a three-month siege and the Battle of Nicopolis which brought about the fall of the Vidin Tsardom in 1396. Sozopol was the last Bulgarian settlement to fall, in 1453. The Bulgarian nobility was subsequently eliminated and the peasantry was enserfed to Ottoman masters, while much of the educated clergy fled to other countries.
Bulgarians were subjected to heavy taxes (including Devshirme, or blood tax), their culture was suppressed, and they experienced partial Islamisation. Ottoman authorities established a religious administrative community called the Rum Millet, which governed all Orthodox Christians regardless of their ethnicity. Most of the local population then gradually lost its distinct national consciousness, identifying only by its faith. The clergy remaining in some isolated monasteries kept their ethnic identity alive, enabling its survival in remote rural areas, and in the militant Catholic community in the northwest of the country.
As Ottoman power began to wane, Habsburg Austria and Russia saw Bulgarian Christians as potential allies. The Austrians first backed an uprising in Tarnovo in 1598, then a second one in 1686, the Chiprovtsi Uprising in 1688 and finally Karposh's rebellion in 1689. The Russian Empire also asserted itself as a protector of Christians in Ottoman lands with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774.
The Western European Enlightenment in the 18th century influenced the initiation of a national awakening of Bulgaria. It restored national consciousness and provided an ideological basis for the liberation struggle, resulting in the April Uprising of 1876. Up to 30,000 Bulgarians were killed as Ottoman authorities put down the rebellion. The massacres prompted the Great Powers to take action. They convened the Constantinople Conference in 1876, but their decisions were rejected by the Ottomans. This allowed the Russian Empire to seek a military solution without risking confrontation with other Great Powers, as had happened in the Crimean War. In 1877, Russia declared war on the Ottomans and defeated them with the help of Bulgarian rebels, particularly during the crucial Battle of Shipka Pass which secured Russian control over the main road to Constantinople.
Third Bulgarian state
The Treaty of San Stefano was signed on 3 March 1878 by Russia and the Ottoman Empire. It was to set up an autonomous Bulgarian principality spanning Moesia, Macedonia and Thrace, roughly on the territories of the Second Bulgarian Empire, and this day is now a public holiday called National Liberation Day. The other Great Powers immediately rejected the treaty out of fear that such a large country in the Balkans might threaten their interests. It was superseded by the Treaty of Berlin, signed on 13 July. It provided for a much smaller state, the Principality of Bulgaria, only comprising Moesia and the region of Sofia, and leaving large populations of ethnic Bulgarians outside the new country. This significantly contributed to Bulgaria's militaristic foreign affairs approach during the first half of the 20th century.
The Bulgarian principality won a war against Serbia and incorporated the semi-autonomous Ottoman territory of Eastern Rumelia in 1885, proclaiming itself an independent state on 5 October 1908. In the years following independence, Bulgaria increasingly militarised and was often referred to as "the Balkan Prussia". It became involved in three consecutive conflicts between 1912 and 1918—two Balkan Wars and World War I. After a disastrous defeat in the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria again found itself fighting on the losing side as a result of its alliance with the Central Powers in World War I. Despite fielding more than a quarter of its population in a 1,200,000-strong army and achieving several decisive victories at Doiran and Monastir, the country capitulated in 1918. The war resulted in significant territorial losses and a total of 87,500 soldiers killed. More than 253,000 refugees from the lost territories immigrated to Bulgaria from 1912 to 1929, placing additional strain on the already ruined national economy.
Between 19 October 1925 and 29 October 1925, the Incident at Petrich, nicknamed "the War of the Stray Dog" occurred, which was a minor armed conflict. Greece invaded Bulgaria, after the killing of a Greek captain and sentry by Bulgarian soldiers. The conflict was settled by the League of Nations, and resulted in a Bulgarian diplomatic victory. The League ordered a ceasefire, Greek troops to withdraw from Bulgaria and Greece to pay £45,000 to Bulgaria.
The resulting political unrest led to the establishment of a royal authoritarian dictatorship by Tsar Boris III (1918–1943). Bulgaria entered World War II in 1941 as a member of the Axis but declined to participate in Operation Barbarossa and saved its Jewish population from deportation to concentration camps. The sudden death of Boris III in mid-1943 pushed the country into political turmoil as the war turned against Germany, and the communist guerrilla movement gained momentum. The government of Bogdan Filov subsequently failed to achieve peace with the Allies. Bulgaria did not comply with Soviet demands to expel German forces from its territory, resulting in a declaration of war and an invasion by the USSR in September 1944. The communist-dominated Fatherland Front took power, ended participation in the Axis and joined the Allied side until the war ended. Bulgaria suffered little war damage and the Soviet Union demanded no reparations. But all wartime territorial gains, with the notable exception of Southern Dobrudzha, were lost.
The left-wing coup d'état of 9 September 1944 led to the abolition of the monarchy and the executions of some 1,000–3,000 dissidents, war criminals, and members of the former royal elite. But it was not until 1946 that a one-party people's republic was instituted following a referendum. It fell into the Soviet sphere of influence under the leadership of Georgi Dimitrov (1946–1949), who established a repressive, rapidly industrialising Stalinist state. By the mid-1950s, standards of living rose significantly and political repression eased. The Soviet-style planned economy saw some experimental market-oriented policies emerging under Todor Zhivkov (1954–1989). Compared to wartime levels, national GDP increased five-fold and per capita GDP quadrupled by the 1980s, although severe debt spikes took place in 1960, 1977 and 1980. Zhivkov's daughter Lyudmila bolstered national pride by promoting Bulgarian heritage, culture and arts worldwide. Facing declining birth rates among the ethnic Bulgarian majority, Zhivkov's government in 1984 forced the minority ethnic Turks to adopt Slavic names in an attempt to erase their identity and assimilate them. These policies resulted in the emigration of some 300,000 ethnic Turks to Turkey.
The Communist Party was forced to give up its political monopoly on 10 November 1989 under the influence of the Revolutions of 1989. Zhivkov resigned and Bulgaria embarked on a transition to a parliamentary democracy. The first free elections in June 1990 were won by the Communist Party, now rebranded as the Bulgarian Socialist Party. A new constitution that provided for a relatively weak elected president and for a prime minister accountable to the legislature was adopted in July 1991. The new system initially failed to improve living standards or create economic growth—the average quality of life and economic performance remained lower than under communism well into the early 2000s. After 2001, economic, political and geopolitical conditions improved greatly, and Bulgaria achieved high Human Development status in 2003. It became a member of NATO in 2004 and participated in the War in Afghanistan. After several years of reforms, it joined the European Union and the single market in 2007, despite EU concerns over government corruption. Bulgaria hosted the 2018 Presidency of the Council of the European Union at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia.
Geography
Bulgaria is a middle-sized country situated in Southeastern Europe, in the east of the Balkans. Its territory covers an area of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), while land borders with its five neighbouring countries run a total length of 1,808 kilometres (1,123 mi), and its coastline is 354 kilometres (220 mi) long. Bulgaria's geographic coordinates are 43° N 25° E. The most notable topographical features of the country are the Danubian Plain, the Balkan Mountains, the Thracian Plain, and the Rila-Rhodope massif. The southern edge of the Danubian Plain slopes upward into the foothills of the Balkans, while the Danube defines the border with Romania. The Thracian Plain is roughly triangular, beginning southeast of Sofia and broadening as it reaches the Black Sea coast.
The Balkan mountains run laterally through the middle of the country from west to east. The mountainous southwest has two distinct alpine type ranges—Rila and Pirin, which border the lower but more extensive Rhodope Mountains to the east, and various medium altitude mountains to west, northwest and south, like Vitosha, Osogovo and Belasitsa. Musala, at 2,925 metres (9,596 ft), is the highest point in both Bulgaria and the Balkans. The Black Sea coast is the country's lowest point. Plains occupy about one third of the territory, while plateaux and hills occupy 41%. Most rivers are short and with low water levels. The longest river located solely in Bulgarian territory, the Iskar, has a length of 368 kilometres (229 mi). The Struma and the Maritsa are two major rivers in the south.
Climate
Bulgaria has a varied and changeable climate, which results from being positioned at the meeting point of the Mediterranean, Oceanic and Continental air masses combined with the barrier effect of its mountains. Northern Bulgaria averages 1 °C (1.8 °F) cooler, and registers 200 millimetres (7.9 in) more precipitation, than the regions south of the Balkan mountains. Temperature amplitudes vary significantly in different areas. The lowest recorded temperature is −38.3 °C (−36.9 °F), while the highest is 45.2 °C (113.4 °F). Precipitation averages about 630 millimetres (24.8 in) per year, and varies from 500 millimetres (19.7 in) in Dobrudja to more than 2,500 millimetres (98.4 in) in the mountains. Continental air masses bring significant amounts of snowfall during winter.
Considering its relatively small area, Bulgaria has variable and complex climate. The country occupies the southernmost part of the continental climatic zone, with small areas in the south falling within the Mediterranean climatic zone. The continental zone is predominant, because continental air masses flow easily into the unobstructed Danubian Plain. The continental influence, stronger during the winter, produces abundant snowfall; the Mediterranean influence increases during the second half of summer and produces hot and dry weather. Bulgaria is subdivided into five climatic zones: continental zone (Danubian Plain, Pre-Balkan and the higher valleys of the Transitional geomorphological region); transitional zone (Upper Thracian Plain, most of the Struma and Mesta valleys, the lower Sub-Balkan valleys); continental-Mediterranean zone (the southernmost areas of the Struma and Mesta valleys, the eastern Rhodope Mountains, Sakar and Strandzha); Black Sea zone along the coastline with an average length of 30–40 km inland; and alpine zone in the mountains above 1000 m altitude (central Balkan Mountains, Rila, Pirin, Vitosha, western Rhodope Mountains, etc.).
Biodiversity and conservation
The interaction of climatic, hydrological, geological and topographical conditions has produced a relatively wide variety of plant and animal species.
Bulgaria's biodiversity, one of the richest in Europe, is conserved in three national parks, 11 nature parks, 10 biosphere reserves and 565 protected areas. Ninety-three of the 233 mammal species of Europe are found in Bulgaria, along with 49% of butterfly and 30% of vascular plant species. Overall, 41,493 plant and animal species are present. Larger mammals with sizable populations include deer (106,323 individuals), wild boar (88,948), golden jackal (47,293) and red fox (32,326). Partridges number some 328,000 individuals, making them the most widespread gamebird. A third of all nesting birds in Bulgaria can be found in Rila National Park, which also hosts Arctic and alpine species at high altitudes. Flora includes more than 3,800 vascular plant species of which 170 are endemic and 150 are considered endangered. A checklist of larger fungi in Bulgaria by the Institute of Botany identifies more than 1,500 species. In Bulgaria forest cover is around 36% of the total land area, equivalent to 3,893,000 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, up from 3,327,000 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 3,116,000 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 777,000 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 18% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 18% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 88% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership and 12% private ownership.
In 1998, the Bulgarian government adopted the National Biological Diversity Conservation Strategy, a comprehensive programme seeking the preservation of local ecosystems, protection of endangered species and conservation of genetic resources. Bulgaria has some of the largest Natura 2000 areas in Europe covering 33.8% of its territory. It also achieved its Kyoto Protocol objective of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 30% from 1990 to 2009.
Bulgaria ranks 30th in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, but scores low on air quality. Particulate levels are the highest in Europe, especially in urban areas affected by automobile traffic and coal-based power stations. One of these, the lignite-fired Maritsa Iztok-2 station, is causing the highest damage to health and the environment in the European Union. Pesticide use in agriculture and antiquated industrial sewage systems produce extensive soil and water pollution. Water quality began to improve in 1998 and has maintained a trend of moderate improvement. Over 75% of surface rivers meet European standards for good quality.
Politics
Bulgaria is a parliamentary democracy where the prime minister is the head of government and the most powerful executive position. The political system has three branches—legislative, executive and judicial, with universal suffrage for citizens at least 18 years old. The Constitution also provides possibilities of direct democracy, namely petitions and national referendums. Elections are supervised by an independent Central Election Commission that includes members from all major political parties. Parties must register with the commission prior to participating in a national election. Normally, the prime minister-elect is the leader of the party receiving the most votes in parliamentary elections, although this is not always the case.
Unlike the prime minister, presidential domestic power is more limited. The directly elected president serves as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and has the authority to return a bill for further debate, although the parliament can override the presidential veto by a simple majority vote. Political parties gather in the National Assembly, a body of 240 deputies elected to four-year terms by direct popular vote. The National Assembly has the power to enact laws, approve the budget, schedule presidential elections, select and dismiss the prime minister and other ministers, declare war, deploy troops abroad, and ratify international treaties and agreements.
Overall, Bulgaria displays a pattern of unstable governments. Boyko Borisov, the leader of the centre-right, pro-EU party GERB, served three terms as prime minister between 2009 and 2021.
It won the 2009 general election and formed a minority government, which resigned in February 2013 after nationwide protests over the low living standards, corruption and the perceived failure of the democratic system.
The subsequent snap elections in May resulted in a narrow win for GERB, but the Bulgarian Socialist Party eventually formed a government led by Plamen Oresharski after Borisov failed to secure parliamentary support. The Oresharski government resigned in July 2014 amid continuing large-scale protests.
The October 2014 elections resulted in a third GERB victory. Borisov formed a coalition with several right-wing parties, but resigned again after the candidate backed by his party failed to win the 2016 Presidential election. The March 2017 snap election was again won by GERB, but with 95 seats in Parliament. They formed a coalition with the far-right United Patriots, who held 27 seats.
Borisov's last cabinet saw a dramatic decrease in freedom of the press, and a number of corruption revelations that triggered yet another wave of mass protests in 2020. GERB came out first in the regular April 2021 election, but with its weakest result so far. All other parties refused to form a government, and after a brief deadlock, another election was called for July 2021. It too failed to break the stalemate, as no political party was able to form a coalition government.
In April 2023, because of the political deadlock, Bulgaria held its fifth parliamentary election since April 2021. GERB was the biggest, winning 69 seats. The bloc led by We Continue the Change won 64 seats in the 240-seat parliament. In June 2023, Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov formed a new coalition between We Continue The Change and GERB. According to the coalition agreement, Denkov will lead the government for the first nine months. He will be succeeded by former European Commissioner, Mariya Gabriel, of the GERB party. She will take over as prime minister after nine months.
Freedom House has reported a continuing deterioration of democratic governance after 2009, citing reduced media independence, stalled reforms, abuse of authority at the highest level and increased dependence of local administrations on the central government. Bulgaria is still listed as "Free", with a political system designated as a semi-consolidated democracy, albeit with deteriorating scores. The Democracy Index defines it as a "Flawed democracy". A 2018 survey by the Institute for Economics and Peace reported that less than 15% of respondents considered elections to be fair.
Legal system
Bulgaria has a civil law legal system. The judiciary is overseen by the Ministry of Justice. The Supreme Administrative Court and the Supreme Court of Cassation are the highest courts of appeal and oversee the application of laws in subordinate courts. The Supreme Judicial Council manages the system and appoints judges. The legal system is regarded by both domestic and international observers as one of Europe's most inefficient due to a pervasive lack of transparency and corruption. Law enforcement is carried out by organisations mainly subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. The General Directorate of National Police (GDNP) combats general crime and maintains public order. GDNP fields 26,578 police officers in its local and national sections. The bulk of criminal cases are transport-related, followed by theft and drug-related crime; homicide rates are low. The Ministry of the Interior also heads the Border Police Service and the National Gendarmerie—a specialised branch for anti-terrorist activity, crisis management and riot control. Counterintelligence and national security are the responsibility of the State Agency for National Security.
Administrative divisions
Bulgaria is a unitary state. Since the 1880s, the number of territorial management units has varied from seven to 26. Between 1987 and 1999, the administrative structure consisted of nine provinces (oblasti, singular oblast). A new administrative structure was adopted in parallel with the decentralisation of the economic system. It includes 27 provinces and a metropolitan capital province (Sofia City). All areas take their names from their respective capital cities. The provinces are subdivided into 265 municipalities. Municipalities are run by mayors, who are elected to four-year terms, and by directly elected municipal councils. Bulgaria is a highly centralised state where the Council of Ministers directly appoints regional governors and all provinces and municipalities are heavily dependent on it for funding.
Foreign relations
Bulgaria became a member of the United Nations in 1955. Since 1966, it has been a non-permanent member of the Security Council three times, most recently from 2002 to 2003. It was also among the founding nations of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 1975. Euro-Atlantic integration has been a priority since the fall of communism, although the communist leadership also had aspirations of leaving the Warsaw Pact and joining the European Communities by 1987. Bulgaria signed the European Union Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005, and became a full member of the European Union on 1 January 2007. In addition, it has a tripartite economic and diplomatic collaboration with Romania and Greece, good ties with China and Vietnam and a historical relationship with Russia.
Bulgaria deployed significant numbers of both civilian and military advisors in Soviet-allied countries like Nicaragua and Libya during the Cold War. The first deployment of foreign troops on Bulgarian soil since World War II occurred in 2001, when the country hosted six KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft and 200 support personnel for the war effort in Afghanistan. International military relations were further expanded with accession to NATO in March 2004 and the US-Bulgarian Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in April 2006. Bezmer and Graf Ignatievo air bases, the Novo Selo training range, and a logistics centre in Aytos subsequently became joint military training facilities cooperatively used by the United States and Bulgarian militaries. Despite its active international defence collaborations, Bulgaria ranks as among the most peaceful countries globally, tying 6th alongside Iceland regarding domestic and international conflicts, and 26th on average in the Global Peace Index.
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Bulgaria decided to assist Ukraine; in 2023, after Gazprom illegally stopped exporting gas to Bulgaria, the country in turn stopped importing Russian oil and gas.
Military
The Bulgarian Armed Forces are the military of Bulgaria and are composed of land forces, navy and an air force. The Armed Forces have 36,950 active troops, supplemented by 3,000 reservists. The land forces consist of two mechanised brigades and eight independent regiments and battalions; the air force operates 106 aircraft and air defence systems across six air bases, and the navy operates various ships, helicopters and coastal defence weapons. Military inventory mainly consists of Soviet equipment like Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-25 jets, S-300PT air defence systems and SS-21 Scarab short-range ballistic missiles. The Armed Forces are modernizing with F-16 Block 70 fighter jets, new multi-purpose corvettes and other modern NATO-standard equipment. Bulgaria is in the process of buying new US-built Stryker vehicles, new 155 mm self-propelled howitzers, new 3D early-warning radars, new surface-to-air missiles and more.
Economy
Bulgaria has an open, high-income range market economy where the private sector accounts for more than 70% of GDP. From a largely agricultural country with a predominantly rural population in 1948, by the 1980s Bulgaria had transformed into an industrial economy, with scientific and technological research at the top of its budgetary expenditure priorities. The loss of COMECON markets in 1990 and the subsequent "shock therapy" of the planned system caused a steep decline in industrial and agricultural production, ultimately followed by an economic collapse in 1997. The economy largely recovered during a period of rapid growth several years later, but the average salary of 2,072 leva ($1,142) per month remains the lowest in the EU.
A balanced budget was achieved in 2003 and the country began running a surplus the following year. Expenditures amounted to $21.15 billion and revenues were $21.67 billion in 2017. Most government spending on institutions is earmarked for security. The ministries of defence, the interior and justice are allocated the largest share of the annual government budget, whereas those responsible for the environment, tourism and energy receive the least funding. Taxes form the bulk of government revenue at 30% of GDP. Bulgaria has some of the lowest corporate income tax rates in the EU at a flat 10% rate. The tax system is two-tier. Value added tax, excise duties, corporate and personal income tax are national, whereas real estate, inheritance, and vehicle taxes are levied by local authorities. Strong economic performance in the early 2000s reduced government debt from 79.6% in 1998 to 14.1% in 2008. It has since increased to 22.6% of GDP by 2022, but remains the second lowest in the EU.
The Yugozapaden planning area is the most developed region with a per capita gross domestic product (PPP) of $29,816 in 2018. It includes the capital city and the surrounding Sofia Province, which alone generate 42% of national gross domestic product despite hosting only 22% of the population. GDP per capita (in PPS) and the cost of living in 2019 stood at 53 and 52.8% of the EU average (100%), respectively. National PPP GDP was estimated at $143.1 billion in 2016, with a per capita value of $20,116. Economic growth statistics take into account illegal transactions from the informal economy, which is the largest in the EU as a percentage of economic output. The Bulgarian National Bank issues the national currency, lev, which is pegged to the euro at a rate of 1.95583 levа per euro.
After several consecutive years of high growth, repercussions of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 resulted in a 3.6% contraction of GDP in 2009 and increased unemployment. Positive growth was restored in 2010 but intercompany debt exceeded $59 billion, meaning that 60% of all Bulgarian companies were mutually indebted. By 2012, it had increased to $97 billion, or 227% of GDP. The government implemented strict austerity measures with IMF and EU encouragement to some positive fiscal results, but the social consequences of these measures, such as increased income inequality and accelerated outward migration, have been "catastrophic" according to the International Trade Union Confederation.
Siphoning of public funds to the families and relatives of politicians from incumbent parties has resulted in fiscal and welfare losses to society. Bulgaria ranks 71st in the Corruption Perceptions Index and experiences the worst levels of corruption in the European Union, a phenomenon that remains a source of profound public discontent. Along with organised crime, corruption has resulted in a rejection of the country's Schengen Area application and withdrawal of foreign investment. Government officials reportedly engage in embezzlement, influence trading, government procurement violations and bribery with impunity. Government procurement in particular is a critical area in corruption risk. An estimated 10 billion leva ($5.99 billion) of state budget and European cohesion funds are spent on public tenders each year; nearly 14 billion ($8.38 billion) were spent on public contracts in 2017 alone. A large share of these contracts are awarded to a few politically connected companies amid widespread irregularities, procedure violations and tailor-made award criteria. Despite repeated criticism from the European Commission, EU institutions refrain from taking measures against Bulgaria because it supports Brussels on a number of issues, unlike Poland or Hungary.
Structure and sectors
The labour force is 3.36 million people, of whom 6.8% are employed in agriculture, 26.6% in industry and 66.6% in the services sector. Extraction of metals and minerals, production of chemicals, machine building, steel, biotechnology, tobacco, food processing and petroleum refining are among the major industrial activities. Mining alone employs 24,000 people and generates about 5% of the country's GDP; the number of employed in all mining-related industries is 120,000. Bulgaria is Europe's fifth-largest coal producer. Local deposits of coal, iron, copper and lead are vital for the manufacturing and energy sectors. The main destinations of Bulgarian exports outside the EU are Turkey, China and Serbia, while Russia, Turkey and China are by far the largest import partners. Most of the exports are manufactured goods, machinery, chemicals, fuel products and food. Two-thirds of food and agricultural exports go to OECD countries.
Although cereal and vegetable output dropped by 40% between 1990 and 2008, output in grains has since increased, and the 2016–2017 season registered the biggest grain output in a decade. Maize, barley, oats and rice are also grown. Quality Oriental tobacco is a significant industrial crop. Bulgaria is also the largest producer globally of lavender and rose oil, both widely used in fragrances. Within the services sector, tourism is a significant contributor to economic growth. Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, coastal resorts Albena, Golden Sands and Sunny Beach and winter resorts Bansko, Pamporovo and Borovets are some of the locations most visited by tourists. Most visitors are Romanian, Turkish, Greek and German. Tourism is additionally encouraged through the 100 Tourist Sites system.
Science and technology
Spending on research and development amounts to 0.78% of GDP, and the bulk of public R&D funding goes to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). Private businesses accounted for more than 73% of R&D expenditures and employed 42% of Bulgaria's 22,000 researchers in 2015. The same year, Bulgaria ranked 39th out of 50 countries in the Bloomberg Innovation Index, the highest score being in education (24th) and the lowest in value-added manufacturing (48th). Bulgaria was ranked 38th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024. Chronic government underinvestment in research since 1990 has forced many professionals in science and engineering to leave Bulgaria.
Despite the lack of funding, research in chemistry, materials science and physics remains strong. Antarctic research is actively carried out through the St. Kliment Ohridski Base on Livingston Island in Western Antarctica. The information and communication technologies (ICT) sector generates three per cent of economic output and employs 40,000 to 51,000 software engineers. Bulgaria was known as a "Communist Silicon Valley" during the Soviet era due to its key role in COMECON computing technology production. A concerted effort by the communist government to teach computing and IT skills in schools also indirectly made Bulgaria a major source of computer viruses in the 1980s and 90s. The country is a regional leader in high performance computing: it operates Avitohol, the most powerful supercomputer in Southeast Europe, and will host one of the eight petascale EuroHPC supercomputers.
Bulgaria has made numerous contributions to space exploration. These include two scientific satellites, more than 200 payloads and 300 experiments in Earth orbit, as well as two cosmonauts since 1971. Bulgaria was the first country to grow wheat in space with its Svet greenhouses on the Mir space station. It was involved in the development of the Granat gamma-ray observatory and the Vega program, particularly in modelling trajectories and guidance algorithms for both Vega probes. Bulgarian instruments have been used in the exploration of Mars, including a spectrometer that took the first high quality spectroscopic images of Martian moon Phobos with the Phobos 2 probe. Cosmic radiation en route to and around the planet has been mapped by Liulin-ML dosimeters on the ExoMars TGO. Variants of these instruments have also been fitted on the International Space Station and the Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe. Another lunar mission, SpaceIL's Beresheet, was also equipped with a Bulgarian-manufactured imaging payload. Bulgaria's first geostationary communications satellite—BulgariaSat-1—was launched by SpaceX in 2017.
Infrastructure
Telephone services are widely available, and a central digital trunk line connects most regions. Vivacom (BTC) serves more than 90% of fixed lines and is one of the three operators providing mobile services, along with A1 and Telenor. Internet penetration stood at 69.2% of the population aged 16–74 and 78.9% of households in 2020.
Bulgaria's strategic geographic location and well-developed energy sector make it a key European energy centre despite its lack of significant fossil fuel deposits. Thermal power plants generate 48.9% of electricity, followed by nuclear power from the Kozloduy reactors (34.8%) and renewable sources (16.3%). Equipment for a second nuclear power station at Belene has been acquired, but the fate of the project remains uncertain. Installed capacity amounts to 12,668 MW, allowing Bulgaria to exceed domestic demand and export energy.
The national road network has a total length of 19,512 kilometres (12,124 mi), of which 19,235 kilometres (11,952 mi) are paved. Railroads are a major mode of freight transportation, although highways carry a progressively larger share of freight. Bulgaria has 6,238 kilometres (3,876 mi) of railway track, with rail links available to Romania, Turkey, Greece, and Serbia, and express trains serving direct routes to Kyiv, Minsk, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Sofia is the country's air travel hub, while Varna and Burgas are the principal maritime trade ports.
Demographics
According to the government's official 2022 estimate, the population of Bulgaria consists of 6,447,710 people, down from 6,519,789 according to the last official census in 2021. The majority of the population, 72.5%, reside in urban areas. As of 2019, Sofia is the most populated urban centre with 1,241,675 people, followed by Plovdiv (346,893), Varna (336,505), Burgas (202,434) and Ruse (142,902). Bulgarians are the main ethnic group and constitute 84.6% of the population. Turkish and Roma minorities account for 8.4 and 4.4%, respectively; some 40 smaller minorities account for 1.3%, and 1.3% do not self-identify with an ethnic group. The Roma minority is usually underestimated in census data and may represent up to 11% of the population. Population density is 55-60 per square kilometre (ultimo 2023), almost half the European Union average.
Bulgaria is in a state of demographic crisis. It has had negative population growth since 1989, when the post-Cold War economic collapse caused a long-lasting emigration wave. Some 937,000 to 1,200,000 people—mostly young adults—had left the country by 2005. The majority of children are born to unmarried women. In 2024, the average total fertility rate (TFR) in Bulgaria was 1.59 children per woman, a slight increase from 1.56 in 2018, and well above the all-time low of 1.1 in 1997, but still below the replacement rate of 2.1 and considerably below the historical high of 5.83 children per woman in 1905. Bulgaria thus has one of the oldest populations in the world, with an average age of 43 years. Furthermore, a third of all households consist of only one person and 75.5% of families do not have children under the age of 16. The resulting birth rates are among the lowest in the world while death rates are among the highest.
Bulgaria scores high in gender equality, ranking 18th in the 2018 Global Gender Gap Report. Although women's suffrage was enabled relatively late, in 1937, women today have equal political rights, high workforce participation and legally mandated equal pay. In 2021, market research agency Reboot Online ranked Bulgaria as the best European country for women to work. Bulgaria has the highest ratio of female ICT researchers in the EU, as well as the second-highest ratio of females in the technology sector at 44.6% of the workforce. High levels of female participation are a legacy of the Socialist era.
Largest cities
Health
High death rates result from a combination of an ageing population, high numbers of people at risk of poverty, and a weak healthcare system. Over 80% of deaths are due to cancer and cardiovascular conditions; nearly a fifth of those are avoidable. Although healthcare in Bulgaria is nominally universal, out-of-pocket expenses account for nearly half of all healthcare spending, significantly limiting access to medical care. Other problems disrupting care provision are the emigration of doctors due to low wages, understaffed and under-equipped regional hospitals, supply shortages and frequent changes to the basic service package for those insured. The 2018 Bloomberg Health Care Efficiency Index ranked Bulgaria last out of 56 countries. Average life expectancy is 74.8 years, compared with an EU average of 80.99 and a world average of 72.38.
Education
Public expenditures for education are far below the European Union average as well. Educational standards were once high, but have declined significantly since the early 2000s. Bulgarian students were among the highest-scoring in the world in terms of reading in 2001, performing better than their Canadian and German counterparts; by 2006, scores in reading, math and science had dropped. By 2018, Programme for International Student Assessment studies found 47% of pupils in the 9th grade to be functionally illiterate in reading and natural sciences. Average basic literacy stands high at 98.4% with no significant difference between sexes. The Ministry of Education and Science partially funds public schools, colleges and universities, sets criteria for textbooks and oversees the publishing process. Education in primary and secondary public schools is free and compulsory. The process spans 12 grades, in which grades one through eight are primary and nine through twelve are secondary level. Higher education consists of a 4-year bachelor degree and a 1-year master's degree. Bulgaria's highest-ranked higher education institution is Sofia University.
Language
Bulgarian is the only language with official status. It belongs to the Slavic group of languages but has a number of grammatical peculiarities that set it apart from other Slavic languages: these include a complex verbal morphology (which also codes for distinctions in evidentiality), the absence of noun cases and infinitives, and the use of a suffixed definite article.
Religion
Bulgaria is a secular state with guaranteed freedom of religion by constitution, but Eastern Orthodox Christianity is designated as the traditional religion of the country. Approximately two-thirds of Bulgarians identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church was the first church apart from the Four Ancient Patriarchates of the Eastern Orthodox Church—in Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem—and the first national church to gain autocephalous status in 927 AD. The Bulgarian Patriarchate has 12 dioceses and over 2,000 priests.
Muslims are the second-largest religious community and constitute approx. 10% of Bulgaria's overall religious makeup. A 2011 survey of 850 Muslims in Bulgaria found 30% self-professing as deeply religious and 50% as just religious. According to the study, some religious teachings, like Islamic funeral, have been traditionally incorporated and are widely practiced while other major ones are less observed, such as the Muslim prayer or abstaining from drinking alcohol, eating pork, and cohabitation.
Other important religions include Roman Catholicism and Judaism, whose history in Bulgaria dates back to the early Middle Ages, the Armenian Apostolic Church, as well as various Protestant denominations, all of which stand for around 2% of Bulgaria's population. An ever increasing number of Bulgarians are either irreligious or unaffiliated with any religion, a percentage that has been growing rapidly over the past 20 years, from 3.9% in 2001, through 9.3% in 2011 and all the way to 15.9% in 2021.
According to the most recent census of 2021 the religious denominations of the population are, as follows: Christian (71.5%), Islam (10.8%), other religions (0.1%). Further 12.4% were unaffiliated or did not respond.
Culture
Contemporary Bulgarian culture blends the formal culture that helped forge a national consciousness towards the end of Ottoman rule with millennia-old folk traditions. An essential element of Bulgarian folklore is fire, used to banish evil spirits and illnesses. Many of these are personified as witches, whereas other creatures like zmey and samodiva (veela) are either benevolent guardians or ambivalent tricksters. Some rituals against evil spirits have survived and are still practised, most notably kukeri and survakari. Martenitsa is also widely celebrated. Nestinarstvo, a ritual fire-dance of Thracian origin, is included in the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Nine historical and natural objects are UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Pirin National Park, Sreburna Nature Reserve, the Madara Rider, the Thracian tombs in Sveshtari and Kazanlak, the Rila Monastery, the Boyana Church, the Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo and the ancient city of Nesebar. The Rila Monastery was established by Saint John of Rila, Bulgaria's patron saint, whose life has been the subject of numerous literary accounts since Medieval times.
The establishment of the Preslav and Ohrid literary schools in the 10th century is associated with a golden period in Bulgarian literature during the Middle Ages. The schools' emphasis on Christian scriptures made the Bulgarian Empire a centre of Slavic culture, bringing Slavs under the influence of Christianity and providing them with a written language. Its alphabet, Cyrillic script, was developed by the Preslav Literary School. The Tarnovo Literary School, on the other hand, is associated with a Silver age of literature defined by high-quality manuscripts on historical or mystical themes under the Asen and Shishman dynasties. Many literary and artistic masterpieces were destroyed by the Ottoman conquerors, and artistic activities did not re-emerge until the National Revival in the 19th century. The enormous body of work of Ivan Vazov (1850–1921) covered every genre and touched upon every facet of Bulgarian society, bridging pre-Liberation works with literature of the newly established state. Notable later works are Bay Ganyo by Aleko Konstantinov, the Nietzschean poetry of Pencho Slaveykov, the Symbolist poetry of Peyo Yavorov and Dimcho Debelyanov, the Marxist-inspired works of Geo Milev and Nikola Vaptsarov, and the Socialist realism novels of Dimitar Dimov and Dimitar Talev. Tzvetan Todorov is a notable contemporary author, while Bulgarian-born Elias Canetti was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981.
А religious visual arts heritage includes frescoes, murals and icons, many produced by the medieval Tarnovo Artistic School. Like literature, it was not until the National Revival when Bulgarian visual arts began to reemerge. Zahari Zograf was a pioneer of the visual arts in the pre-Liberation era. After the Liberation, Ivan Mrkvička, Anton Mitov, Vladimir Dimitrov, Tsanko Lavrenov and Zlatyu Boyadzhiev introduced newer styles and substance, depicting scenery from Bulgarian villages, old towns and historical subjects. Christo is the most famous Bulgarian artist of the 21st century, known for his outdoor installations.
Folk music is by far the most extensive traditional art and has slowly developed throughout the ages as a fusion of Far Eastern, Oriental, medieval Eastern Orthodox and standard Western European tonalities and modes. Bulgarian folk music has a distinctive sound and uses a wide range of traditional instruments, such as gadulka, gaida, kaval and tupan. A distinguishing feature is extended rhythmical time, which has no equivalent in the rest of European music. The State Television Female Vocal Choir won a Grammy Award in 1990 for its performances of Bulgarian folk music. Written musical composition can be traced back to the works of Yoan Kukuzel (c. 1280–1360), but modern classical music began with Emanuil Manolov, who composed the first Bulgarian opera in 1890. Pancho Vladigerov and Petko Staynov further enriched symphony, ballet and opera, which singers Ghena Dimitrova, Boris Christoff, Ljuba Welitsch and Nicolai Ghiaurov elevated to a world-class level. Bulgarian performers have gained acclaim in other genres like electropop (Mira Aroyo), jazz (Milcho Leviev) and blends of jazz and folk (Ivo Papazov).
The Bulgarian National Radio, bTV and daily newspapers Trud, Dnevnik and 24 Chasa are some of the largest national media outlets. Bulgarian media were described as generally unbiased in their reporting in the early 2000s and print media had no legal restrictions. Since then, freedom of the press has deteriorated to the point where Bulgaria scores 111th globally in the World Press Freedom Index, lower than all European Union members and membership candidate states. The government has diverted EU funds to sympathetic media outlets and bribed others to be less critical on problematic topics, while attacks against individual journalists have increased. Collusion between politicians, oligarchs and the media is widespread.
Bulgarian cuisine is similar to that of other Balkan countries and demonstrates strong Turkish and Greek influences. Yogurt, lukanka, banitsa, shopska salad, lyutenitsa and kozunak are among the best-known local foods. Meat consumption is lower than the European average, given a cultural preference for a large variety of salads. Bulgaria was the world's second-largest wine exporter until 1989, but has since lost that position. The 2016 harvest yielded 128 million litres of wine, of which 62 million was exported mainly to Romania, Poland and Russia. Mavrud, Rubin, Shiroka melnishka, Dimiat and Cherven Misket are the typical grapes used in Bulgarian wine. Rakia is a traditional fruit brandy that was consumed in Bulgaria as early as the 14th century.
Sports
Bulgaria appeared at the first modern Olympic games in 1896, when it was represented by gymnast Charles Champaud. Since then, Bulgarian athletes have won 55 gold, 90 silver, and 85 bronze medals, ranking 25th in the all-time medal table. Weight-lifting is a signature sport of Bulgaria. Coach Ivan Abadzhiev developed innovative training practices that have produced many Bulgarian world and Olympic champions in weight-lifting since the 1980s. Bulgarian athletes have also excelled in wrestling, boxing, gymnastics, volleyball and tennis. Stefka Kostadinova is the reigning world record holder in the women's high jump at 2.09 metres (6 feet 10 inches), achieved during the 1987 World Championships. Grigor Dimitrov is the first Bulgarian tennis player in the Top 3 ATP rankings.
Football is the most popular sport in the country by a substantial margin. The national football team's best performance was a semi-final at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, when the squad was spearheaded by forward Hristo Stoichkov. Stoichkov is the most successful Bulgarian player of all time; he was awarded the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball and was considered one of the best in the world while playing for FC Barcelona in the 1990s. CSKA and Levski, both based in Sofia, are the most successful clubs domestically and long-standing rivals. Ludogorets is remarkable for having advanced from the local fourth division to the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage in a mere nine years. Placed 39th in 2018, it is Bulgaria's highest-ranked club in UEFA.
See also
Outline of Bulgaria
Explanatory notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Bulgaria at UCB Libraries GovPubs.
Wikimedia Atlas of Bulgaria
Geographic data related to Bulgaria at OpenStreetMap
Bulgaria Profile from Balkan Insight
President of The Republic of Bulgaria |
Saturday_Night_Live | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live | [
510
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live#Controversies"
] | Saturday Night Live (SNL) is an American late-night live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and simultaneously streams on Peacock. The show's premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody contemporary American culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that is usually based on political events and ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show.
In 1980, Michaels left the show to explore other opportunities. He was replaced by Jean Doumanian, who was then replaced by Ebersol after a season of bad reviews. Ebersol ran the show until 1985, when Michaels returned. Since then, Michaels has held the job of showrunner. Many SNL cast members have found national stardom while appearing on the show, and achieved success in film and television, both in front of and behind the camera. Others associated with the show, such as writers, have gone on to successful careers creating, writing, and starring in television and film.
Broadcast from Studio 8H at NBC's headquarters in the Comcast Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, SNL has aired 970 episodes since its debut and began its 50th season on September 28, 2024, making it one of the longest-running network television programs in the United States. The show format has been developed and recreated in several countries, meeting with different levels of success. Successful sketches have seen life outside the show as feature films, including The Blues Brothers (1980) and Wayne's World (1992). The show has been marketed in other ways, including home media releases of "best of" and whole seasons, and books and documentaries about behind-the-scenes activities of running and developing the show.
Throughout five decades on air, Saturday Night Live has received a vast number of awards, including 84 Primetime Emmy Awards, six Writers Guild of America Awards, and three Peabody Awards. In 2000, it was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. It was ranked tenth in TV Guide's "50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time" list, and in 2007 it was listed as one of Time's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME." As of 2022, the show had received over 305 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, the most received by any television program. The live aspect of the show has resulted in several controversies and acts of censorship, with mistakes and intentional acts of sabotage by performers as well as guests.
History
Development: 1974–1975
Beginning in 1965, NBC network affiliates broadcast reruns of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on Saturday or Sunday nights. In 1974, Johnny Carson petitioned to NBC executives for the weekend shows to be pulled and saved so they could be aired during weeknights, allowing him to take time off. In response, NBC president Herbert Schlosser approached the vice president of late-night programming, Dick Ebersol, and asked him to create a show to fill the Saturday night time slot. Schlosser and Ebersol then approached Lorne Michaels. Over the next three weeks, Ebersol and Michaels developed the latter's idea for a variety show featuring high-concept comedy sketches, political satire, and music performances that would attract 18- to 34-year-old viewers. NBC decided to base the new show at their studios in 30 Rockefeller Center. Michaels was given Studio 8H, a converted radio studio that was home to NBC's election and Apollo moon landing coverage. It was revamped for the premiere at a cost of $250,000.
By 1975, Michaels had assembled the show's initial cast, including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, and George Coe. The cast was nicknamed the "Not Ready for Prime-Time Players", a term coined by show writer Herb Sargent. Much of the talent pool involved in the inaugural season was recruited from The National Lampoon Radio Hour, including the original head writer, Michael O'Donoghue.
Debut and early years: 1975–1980
NBC's Saturday Night debuted on October 11, 1975, with an episode featuring Carlin as host. The original title was used because the Saturday Night Live title was in use by Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell on rival network ABC. After the cancellation of Cosell's show in 1976, NBC purchased the rights to the name and officially changed the show's name to Saturday Night Live at the start of the 1977–1978 season. The cast was initially paid $750 per episode, and essentially lived at the offices, according to Michaels. The show found its footing by the fourth episode, hosted by Candice Bergen, which featured the cast in most segments. The show developed a cult following, and its humor was seen as refreshing and daring, in comparison to previous sketch and variety shows that would rarely deal with controversial topics and issues. Iconic characters during the show's first five seasons included Belushi's samurai, the Coneheads (Aykroyd, Curtin, Newman), and Radner's Roseanne Roseannadanna.
Drugs were a major problem during the show's first five years, which exacerbated existing tensions. Cocaine had become an "integral part of the working progress" on SNL by the 1978–1979 season, according to Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad. Aykroyd and Belushi left the show after the 1978–1979 season to make The Blues Brothers, and as the fifth season ended in 1980, Michaels asked executives to place the show on hiatus for a year in order to allow him time to pursue other projects. Michaels suggested writers Al Franken, Tom Davis, and Jim Downey as his replacements; NBC president Fred Silverman disliked Franken and was infuriated by his Update routine in May 1980, called "A Limo for a Lame-O", that had critiqued Silverman's job performance. Unable to secure the deal that he wanted, Michaels chose to leave NBC, and Jean Doumanian was given his position. Almost every writer and cast member, including Michaels, left the show after the May 24, 1980, series finale.
Jean Doumanian and Dick Ebersol years: 1980–1985
Doumanian's rapidly-assembled new cast faced immediate comparisons to the previous cast, and was not received favorably by critics or audiences. In a February 1981 episode, cast member Charles Rocket used the profanity "fuck" during a sketch. Rocket later said he was trying to kill time before the show's close and had not meant to utter the word. Following this episode, Doumanian was dismissed after only ten months on the job.
Although some executives suggested SNL be cancelled, the show received a reprieve, and Dick Ebersol was hired as producer. Ebersol's sketches leaned towards more accessible, broad comedy, which alienated some long-time fans, writers, and cast members. His distaste for political humor led the show to largely avoid jokes about President Ronald Reagan during his time as showrunner. Under Ebersol's leadership, Eddie Murphy, who had been underused during Doumanian's tenure, rose to prominence with popular characters like Mister Robinson's Neighborhood and Gumby. His success was a major factor in the show's resurgence, though it created tensions within the cast.
In a break with tradition, producers hired established comedians like Billy Crystal and Martin Short for the 1984–1985 season. Though this season was considered one of the series' funniest, it diverged significantly from Michaels' innovative approach. Like Michaels before him, Ebersol informed NBC that he would only return if the show took a hiatus to recast and rebuild, and diverge significantly from the established live format. NBC rejected these requests and instead decided to approach Michaels to return as producer.
Michaels returns: 1985–2005
Michaels returned for the 1985–1986 season; the show was again recast, with Michaels borrowing Ebersol's idea to seek out established actors. Writers struggled with the cast, and Michaels cleaned house again for the 1986–1987 season, seeking unknown talent such as Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman instead of known names. This new cast was successful at reviving the show's popularity in the eyes of critics and audiences.
In the early 1990s, much of this core cast began to leave the show, and younger performers such as Chris Farley and Adam Sandler began to be promoted to repertory status. Some of these cast members, like Sandler, Farley, Rob Schneider, Spade, and Chris Rock, would come to be known as the "Bad Boys of SNL" for their outrageous comedy style. Afraid of cast members leaving for film careers, Michaels had overcrowded the cast, causing a divide between the veteran members and the new, younger talent. This led to increased competition for the show's limited screen time, and an increasing reliance on "younger", less subtle humor.
The show lost Carvey and Hartman, two of its biggest stars, between 1992 and 1994. Wanting to increase SNL's ratings and profitability, NBC West Coast president Don Ohlmeyer and other executives began to actively interfere in the show, recommending that new stars such as Chris Farley and Adam Sandler be fired and critiquing the costly nature of performing the show live. Criticism of the show's writing increased during this period, which reached its peak by the 1994–1995 season, which is considered one of the series' worst. A widely publicized profile of the show in New York during this period was highly critical of the show's humor, cast, and backstage dysfunction.
The show's cast was largely overhauled for the 1995–1996 season with names such as Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri, which was successful at revitalizing the show. The show faced new competition during this period in the form of Fox's sketch comedy show Mad TV, which aired a half hour earlier than SNL and featured a more diverse cast.
The 2000–2001 season was also noted for its well-received spoofing of that year's presidential campaign between Al Gore and George W. Bush. The show's New York City cast and crew were highly impacted by the September 11 attacks in 2001, and returned on September 29 with an acclaimed appearance by Rudy Giuliani. Political humor was reduced for the following seasons.
Digital expansion and Trump presidency: 2005–present
The show switched to high-definition broadcasting for the 2005–2006 season. Before the start of the 2006–2007 season, the show suffered budget cuts that led to a smaller cast. The following season was also cut short by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which led to several cancelled episodes.
Fey later returned to the show during the 2008 presidential election for several critically acclaimed guest appearances as vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Writer Robert Smigel later said it was the show's "biggest moment since the 70s", and Michaels observed that it made Fey a "huge star" and that "you could see perception changing completely". Armisen played Barack Obama from 2008 to 2012, following which cast member Jay Pharoah assumed the impression.
The show began to rely more on pre-recorded material and videos more than it ever had before during this period, to the extent that some commentators said it had sometimes outshined live material on the show. Taped material significantly increased in the mid-2000s with SNL Digital Shorts by The Lonely Island, and continued into the following years with videos by Good Neighbor and Please Don't Destroy.
The show frequently parodied Donald Trump before and during his presidency; an ongoing impression by actor Alec Baldwin led to a significant increase in ratings and a "shot of relevance" for the show, according to Vanity Fair's Joanna Robinson.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SNL's 2019–2020 season was indefinitely halted on March 16, 2020. The season was later resumed in April with three remotely produced episodes labelled Saturday Night Live at Home, and the show returned to Studio 8H in October 2020. A three-hour prime-time live broadcast to celebrate the series' fiftieth anniversary will air on February 16, 2025.
Future
In January 2024, Variety said that "speculation [had] been rampant for years" that Michaels would retire from the series after its fiftieth season, premiering in 2024. Michaels told Entertainment Tonight that month that former head writer and cast member Tina Fey could "easily" be his successor, were he to step down, but said he had not made a decision yet at that point. Michaels has worked with Fey several times since her SNL tenure ended, including on 30 Rock. Michaels earlier said in 2021 that the show's fiftieth anniversary would be "a really good time to leave". Kenan Thompson, the show's longest-serving cast member, speculated in 2022 that SNL may come to an end altogether after its fiftieth season, saying that it could make financial sense for NBC.
Cast and crew
Cast
Those selected to join the cast of SNL are normally already accomplished performers, recruited from improvisational comedy groups such as The Groundlings (Newman, Hartman, Will Ferrell, Jon Lovitz, Kristen Wiig) and The Second City (Aykroyd, Farley, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows), or established stand-up comedians (Carvey, Sandler, Macdonald, Chris Rock), who already possess the training or experience necessary for SNL. The cast is divided into two tiers: the more established group of repertory players; and newer, unproven cast members known as featured players, who may eventually be promoted to the repertory stable. Of the many roles available in the show, one of the longest-running and most coveted is being the host of Weekend Update, a segment featuring one or two hosts, who get substantial screen time performing as themselves. Many of the Weekend Update hosts have gone on to find greater success outside the show, including Dennis Miller, Seth Meyers, Norm Macdonald, Colin Quinn, and Jimmy Fallon.
As of Season 49, SNL has featured 164 cast members including, besides the above-mentioned players, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Will Forte, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tracy Morgan, Chris Parnell, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Molly Shannon, Kristen Wiig, and many others. Kenan Thompson is the show's longest-serving cast member. Currently, the cast consists of 17 members, with 14 repertory players and 3 featured players:
The cast were often contracted from anywhere between five and six years to the show, but starting with the 1999–2000 season, new hires were tied to a rewritten contract that allowed NBC to take a cast member in at least their second year and put them in an NBC sitcom. Cast members are given the option of rejecting the first two sitcom offers but must accept the third offer, with the sitcom contract length dictated by NBC and potentially lasting up to six years. The move drew criticism from talent agents and managers who believed a cast member could be locked into a contract with NBC for twelve years—six on SNL and then six on a sitcom. The contract also optioned the cast member for three feature films produced by SNL Films, a company owned by NBC, Paramount Pictures, and Michaels. The new contracts were reportedly developed after many previously unknown cast members, such as Mike Myers and Adam Sandler, gained fame on SNL only to leave and make money for other studios. In a 2010 interview, Wiig was reported to be contracted to SNL for a total of seven years. The contracts also contain a network option that allows NBC to remove a cast member at any time. In the first season of the show the cast was paid $750 per episode, rising to $2,000 by season two, and $4,000 by season four. By the late 1990s, new cast members received a salary between $5,000 and $5,500 per episode, increasing to $6,000 in the second year and up to $12,500 for a cast member in their fifth year. Performers could earn an additional $1,500 per episode for writing a sketch that made it to air. In 2001, Ferrell became the highest-paid cast member, being paid $350,000 per season (approximately $17,500 per episode).
Writers
As of the 2022–23 season, Kent Sublette, Alison Gates, and Streeter Seidell are the show's co-head writers.
Seth Meyers became a co-head writer in 2005, became the single head writer from 2008 to 2012, and then left in 2014. The Weekend Update segment has its own dedicated team of writers led by head writer and producer Alex Baze as of the 2011–12 season. Scenes on Weekend Update that involve members of the cast acting in-character alongside the host are often written by staff writers outside the dedicated Weekend Update team, who know those characters better.
Colin Jost has been a writer since 2005 and was one of the head writers from 2012 to 2015 before being renamed head writer, from 2017 until 2022. Michael Che has been a writer since 2013. He temporarily left the show in the summer of 2014, but came back that fall to anchor Update and reclaimed his status as a writer, then serving as a co-head writer alongside Jost for five years.
SNL writers are often also performers or experienced in writing and improvisational comedy. Many are hired from similar backgrounds such as The Groundlings, Second City, Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and ImprovOlympic. Comedian Jim Downey was head writer for nine years beginning in 1985. Experienced writers with backgrounds in television shows are also sometimes brought into the SNL writing room. Like the SNL cast who appear on camera, many of the writers have been able to find their own success outside the show, such as Conan O'Brien, who was brought into SNL from The Groundlings in 1988, went on to write for The Simpsons, and eventually began hosting his own show. Former head writer Adam McKay, along with performer Ferrell, founded the successful comedy website Funny or Die. In 2000 Tina Fey became the first woman SNL head writer and successfully made the transition to starring on the show, as well as writing and starring in feature films, ultimately creating and starring in her own show 30 Rock, which was partly based on her SNL experiences. In 2005 Fey was paid $1.5 million per season for her dual role as head writer and performer. Writer John Mulaney has also found success outside of SNL through well-received stand-up specials, his Broadway act The Oh, Hello Show, and the special John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch.
Announcers
Don Pardo served as the announcer for the series when it began and continued in the role for all but season seven, between 1981 and 1982, when Michaels had left and Mel Brandt and Bill Hanrahan filled the announcing role. In 2004 Pardo announced that he would step down from his position, but then continued in the role until 2009 when he again announced his retirement, but then continued into the 2009–10 season.
In 2010 the 92-year-old Pardo was reported to be again considering his retirement, but continued to serve as announcer until his death at age 96 on August 18, 2014, following the 39th season. Apart from a brief period in 2006 in which Pardo pre-recorded his announcements at his home in Arizona, he flew to New York City to perform his announcing duties live, until 2010 when he began recording permanently from Arizona. Former cast members Joe Piscopo and Darrell Hammond have also impersonated Pardo and fulfilled his announcing duties during times Pardo was unavailable. Hammond took over as full-time announcer starting with season 40.
Hosts and musical guests
A typical episode of SNL will feature a single host chosen for their popularity or novelty, or because they have a film, album, or other work being released near the time of their appearance on the show. The host delivers the opening monologue and goodnights, introduces the musical guest, and performs in sketches with the cast. Traditionally, the host of the show ends the opening monologue by mentioning the musical guest for the night and saying, "We got a great show for you tonight, (musical guest) is/are here. So stick around, we'll be right back." Comedian George Carlin was the first to host SNL in the debut October 1975 episode; three episodes later, Candice Bergen became the first woman to host and subsequently the first host to return. Guests who have hosted five or more times are sometimes referred to as belonging to the Five-Timers Club, a term that originated on a sketch performed on Tom Hanks's fifth episode. As of February 11, 2017, actor Alec Baldwin holds the record for most times hosting, having performed the duty on seventeen different occasions since 1990; Baldwin took the record from actor Steve Martin who has hosted fifteen times since 1976. Occasionally, former SNL cast members also host.
Each episode also features a musical guest, a solo act, or a band, who performs two or three musical numbers. Occasionally, the musical guest simultaneously serves as the host, and may also appear in comedy sketches. As of October 11, 2020, Dave Grohl is the most frequent musical guest, performing on fourteen shows since 1992.
Michaels does not allow musical guests to perform using lip-synching tracks, believing it diminishes the live aspect of the show. Exceptions are made only when the musical act is focused on intense dance routines instead of vocals, where it is difficult to be both heavily physically active and sing. A 1975 performance by pop group ABBA was the first and only act to feature lip-synching, until the controversial 2004 performance of Ashlee Simpson.
The December 18, 2021, episode (hosted by Paul Rudd) became the first episode to not feature any musical performances since the first episode of season 12, as well as the third episode in the show's duration to not have a musical guest, due to the rise of the Omicron variant in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic. Charli XCX was planned as the musical guest, but her performance was cancelled due to the new restrictions as the show had a "limited cast and crew" and no audience.
The Band
The Saturday Night Live Band (also known as "The Live Band") is the house band for SNL. Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore served as the first musical director, from 1975 to 1980, appearing in many musical sketches, including Howard Shore and His All-Nurse Band and (backing a U.S. Coast Guard chorus) Howard Shore and the Shore Patrol. Over the years, the band has featured several New York studio musicians including Paul Shaffer (1975–1980), Lou Marini (1975–1983), David Sanborn (1975), Michael Brecker (the early 1980s), Ray Chew (1980–1983), Alan Rubin (1975–1983), Georg Wadenius (1979–1985), Steve Ferrone (1985), David Johansen (performing as Buster Poindexter), Tom Malone (who took over as musical director from 1981 to 1985), and G. E. Smith (musical director from 1985 to 1995). As of 2017, the band is under the leadership of Tower of Power alumnus Lenny Pickett, keyboardist Leon Pendarvis, and Eli Brueggemann, who does not play in the band on the live show. The band plays instrumentals leading in and out of station breaks; affiliates who run no advertising during these interludes hear the band play complete songs behind a Saturday Night Live bumper graphic until the program resumes. The band plays "Closing Theme (Waltz in A)", written by Shore, at the end of the show.
Production
The studio
Since the show's inception, SNL has aired from Studio 8H, located on floors eight and nine of the Comcast Building (formerly the RCA Building and GE Building, now 30 Rockefeller Plaza or "30 Rock"). Three of the shows of the 1976–77 season were shot at the former NBC Studios in Brooklyn, due to NBC News using Studio 8H for presidential election coverage.
During the summer 2005 shooting hiatus, crews began renovations on Studio 8H. With its thirty-first-season premiere in October 2005, the show began broadcasting in high-definition television, appearing letterboxed on conventional television screens. The offices of SNL writers, producers, and other staff can be found on the 17th floor of "30 Rock".
Creating an episode
Production on an SNL episode will normally start on a Monday with a free-form pitch meeting between the cast, writers, producers, including Michaels and the guest host in Michaels's office over two hours. The host is invited to pitch ideas during this meeting. Although some sketchwriting may occur on the day, the bulk of the work revolves around pitching ideas. Tuesday is the only day dedicated purely to writing the scripts, a process that usually extends through the night into the following morning. Writing may not begin until 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday. At 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the sketches are read by the cast during a round-table meeting in the writers' room, attended by the writers and producers present during the pitch meeting, technical experts such as make-up artists, who may be required to realize certain sketch ideas such as those using prosthetics, and other producers, resulting in attendance of approximately fifty people. At this point, there may be at least forty sketch ideas that are read-through in turn, lasting upwards of three hours.
After completion of the read-through, Michaels, the head writer, the guest host, and some of the show producers will move to Michaels' office to decide the layout of the show and decide which of the sketches will be developed for air. Once complete, the writers and cast are allowed into Michaels's office to view the show breakdown and learn whether or not their sketch has survived. Sketches may be rewritten starting the same day, but will certainly commence on Thursday. Work focuses on developing and rewriting the remaining sketches and possibly rehearsals. If a sketch is still scheduled beyond Thursday, it is rehearsed on Friday or Saturday before moving to a rehearsal before a live audience at 8:00 p.m., again on Saturday, before the live show. After the rehearsal, Michaels will review the show lineup to ensure it meets a 90-minute length, and sketches that have made it as far as the live rehearsal may be removed. This often results in less than two days of rehearsal for the eight to twelve sketches that have made it to the stage that then may appear on the live broadcast. The opening monologue, spoken by the guest host, is given low priority and can be written as late as Saturday afternoon.
According to an interview with Tina Fey in 2004, the three- to four-member dedicated Weekend Update writing team will write jokes throughout the week. The host(s) of Weekend Update will normally not work with or read the scripts from the team until Thursday evening after the main show sketches have been finalized. The host(s) will then work on contributing to the script where necessary.
Post-production
With onsite facilities housed on floors eight and seventeen of Rockefeller Plaza, post-production duties on live broadcasts of Saturday Night Live include the mixing of audio and video elements by the Senior Audio Mixer, coupled with additional audio feeds consisting of music, sound effects, music scoring, and pre-recorded voiceovers. All sources are stored digitally, with shows captured and segregated into individual elements to reorganize for future repeats and syndication. The production tracking system was migrated from primarily analog to digital in 1998, with live shows typically requiring 1.5 terabytes of storage, consisting of audio elements and five cameras' worth of visual elements. Elements of Saturday Night Live that are pre-recorded, such as certain commercial parodies, SNL Digital Shorts, and show graphics are processed off-site in the post-production facilities of Broadway Video.
Filming and photography
Studio 8H production facilities are maintained by NBC Production Services. As of 2018, the show uses five Sony HDC-1500 cameras, primarily mounted on Vinten pedestals, although one is mounted on a Chapman-Leonard Electra crane.
As of 2014, a Grass Valley GVG 4000-3 digital component production switcher and GVG 7000 digital component routing switcher are used to route visual feeds to the control room, with multiple digital and analog video recorders used to store footage. Graphics are provided by a Chyron Lyric Pro character generator and an Avid Deko character generator. Audio facilities consist of a Calrec T Series digitally controlled analog mixing console, and a Yamaha digital mixing console used for tape playback support and utility audio work. While exact budgets for other seasons are not known, the 39th season (2013–14) had a budget of over $70 million, for which it received a subsidy from New York State in the amount of $12.3 million.
As of 2009, the opening title sequence and opening montage are shot using the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon EOS 7D digital SLR cameras. Typical elements are recorded at thirty frames per second (fps), with slow-motion sequences shot at sixty fps, both in full 1080p high definition.
Edie Baskin was the original SNL photographer. She was hired after Michaels saw her photographs of Las Vegas and other work. Baskin helped create the opening title sequence for the show by taking photos of New York City at night. The first episode used publicity photos of host George Carlin as transitional bumpers between the show and commercial breaks, the second episode used photos Baskin had already taken of host Paul Simon. It was then that Michaels suggested that Baskin photograph the hosts for the bumpers instead of using publicity photos, beginning a tradition that continues today.
Since 1999, Mary Ellen Matthews has been the official photographer of SNL, responsible for devising distinctive photo layouts and aesthetics for still imagery used on the show. Matthews creates photo portraits of the hosts and musical guests of each episode which are used as commercial bumpers. The limited time frame between the host's involvement in the production process and the Live show requires Matthews to create makeshift photo studios on-site at 30 Rock, with Matthews attempting to shoot the host on Tuesday and the musical guest on Thursday, although the availability of either can mean the photoshoot for both occurs as late as Thursday. Matthews employs flattering portrait lighting with hard lights to achieve a Hollywood style. On the lighting, Matthews commented: "I think it just helps the image pop off the screen ... If you use soft or flat lighting, it becomes not as dimensional ... The [classic Hollywood lighting] gives a little more contrast, and if I use edge lights and then light the background, it goes farther and farther back. I try to achieve that depth as much as I can." Matthews is also responsible for taking cast photos, behind-the-scenes images, documenting rehearsals, and promotional photos. As of 2010, she has also been involved in directing videos, including the show title sequence.
Broadcast
The show begins at 11:29:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and is scheduled for a 93-minute timeslot ending at 1:02 a.m.
For most of SNL's history, it aired live only to NBC stations in the Eastern and Central Time Zones, with all others receiving a recorded broadcast at the normal start time of late-night network programming (11:30 p.m. Pacific and 10:30 p.m. in other time zones). Since 2017, the show is broadcast live across the contiguous United States. Because the show airs outside of the safe harbor outside of Eastern and Central Time, a brief broadcast delay is installed to meet Federal Communications Commission regulations of primetime programming.
Outside of the contiguous United States, the show also airs live on the three NBC stations in Alaska at 7:30 p.m. local. Two NBC stations still broadcast SNL on tape delay: KHNL in Honolulu delays it one hour to 7:30 p.m., and KUAM-TV in Guam, where the live broadcast occurs at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, delays it to 11:00 p.m.
Since the first opening in 1975 with Michael O'Donoghue, Chevy Chase, and John Belushi, the show has normally begun with a cold open sketch which ends with one or more cast members breaking character and proclaiming "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", followed by the opening credits. From May 1985 to April 1991, SNL was occasionally preempted for Saturday Night's Main Event.
In February 2013, NBC began airing shortened hour-long repeats on select Saturday evenings at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time during the regular season (these may be preempted due to the live airing happening in primetime on the West Coast); the episodes scheduled were sometimes rebroadcasts of the previous week's episode if it was a first-run broadcast. Beginning with the 2014–15 season, the show's 40th anniversary, the prime time rebroadcasts were a selection of episodes from throughout the show's run under the title SNL Vintage. The network dropped the vintage titling and changed to very recent rebroadcasts beginning in the 2023–2024 season.
NBC and Broadway Video both hold the underlying rights to the show, while the copyright to every episode lies either with NBC or Universal Television. From 1990 until 2004, and again since 2015, Comedy Central and its predecessor Ha! aired reruns of the series, after which E! signed a deal to carry reruns. Abbreviated thirty- and sixty-minute versions of the first five seasons aired as The Best of Saturday Night Live in syndication (from Orion Television; at the time, the FCC's fin-syn rules prevented NBC from directly distributing reruns of the show) beginning in the 1980s, and later on Nick at Nite in 1988. In September 2010, reruns of most episodes made from 1998 onward began airing on VH1. Starting in February 2016, VH1 and Comedy Central's sister channel Logo began airing reruns of 2006-onward episodes on Sunday nights, launching its broadcast as counterprogramming for Super Bowl 50 and branding it the "Live From New York, It's Satur-Gay Night!" marathon.
On March 16, 2017, NBC announced it would air the final four episodes of the 42nd season live in all mainland U.S. time zones for the first time, creating a communal experience across the states. NBC executive Robert Greenblatt explained the show's significant viewership had made it part of the "national conversation", and thus, they felt it would be appropriate for the entire country to be "in on the joke at the same time". NBC announced on September 19, 2017, that all subsequent episodes would air live coast-to-coast in the U.S.
NBC announced that the May 8, 2021, episode hosted by Elon Musk would be livestreamed on YouTube worldwide for the first time.
Delays
The episode scheduled for October 25, 1986, hosted by Rosanna Arquette, was not aired until November 8 due to NBC broadcasting game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox; the four-hour game entered extra innings, causing that night's broadcast of SNL to be canceled. The show was recorded for the studio audience starting at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time and broadcast two weeks later with a jocular "apology" by Mets pitcher Ron Darling.
The episode scheduled for February 10, 2001, hosted by Jennifer Lopez, aired 45 minutes late due to an XFL game. Lopez and the cast were not told they were airing on a delay. Michaels was so upset by the delay the episode was rerun a mere three weeks later. The fledgling football league ended up changing their rules in order to speed up play, and a deal was reached where the feed to future games would be cut off when SNL started, so that no such incident would happen again.
The November 7, 2020 episode, hosted by Dave Chappelle, began at 12:10 a.m. Eastern after a Clemson-Notre Dame college football game went into double overtime.
International versions
Because SNL has been a huge success in the United States, channels in other countries have created their own versions of the show, including Brazil, Germany, Egypt, Spain, South Korea, Japan, Russia, Canada, Finland, France, Italy, and Poland.
In the mid-late 1980s Channel Four, in association with London Weekend Television, created a show for British audiences called Saturday Live and Friday Night Live, the repeat version was entitled "Saturday Almost Live". It was based on the SNL format but had no direct connection to the US program.
A German version of SNL named RTL Samstag Nacht aired between 1993 and 1998 on RTL Television. Most episodes were hosted by German celebrities, however, some shows were hosted by American personalities who never hosted the American version, including Mel Brooks and Michael Winslow. Due to language barriers, they appeared only in opening monologues and in a limited number of sketches.
SNL in its original American version has aired in Israel since the early 2000s and is broadcast by satellite provider yes. There was a local SNL-based show named Am Israel Hai (People of Israel Live) back in 2002 but it was canceled after one season. Another SNL-esque Israeli show, Eretz Nehederet (A Wonderful Country), debuted in 2003 and continues to garner high ratings.
SNL also airs in the Middle East and North Africa, OSN First HD every Saturday night, one week after it airs in the U.S.
In India and Sri Lanka, Saturday Night Live! airs an hour-long version on Comedy Central one week after the U.S. broadcast.
Spain's version of the show was short-lived, lasting a few episodes which aired on Thursdays and not Saturdays as the title suggested. This version copied heavily from the American version, as they did their own versions of sketches already done on the original series. Italy's Saturday Night Live From Milan aired for four seasons and used original material.
On December 3, 2011, South Korea's SNL Korea premiered on cable channel tvN. As of November 11, 2017, has completed nine seasons with 205 episodes. On September 4, 2021, it was rebooted and broadcast through Coupang Play, a South Korean OTT service. Only the broadcasting stations are different, but the members are similar or reinforced.
The Japanese version Saturday Night Live JPN, which ran for six months in 2011, was created in part with sponsor Coca-Cola and Lorne Michaels's production company, Broadway Video, and broadcast on Fuji TV networks. The show followed the same format with a few minor differences, being only 45 minutes long and hosted by a permanent host. The cast was made up of seasoned comedians who take center stage and newcomers who play the background roles. It was broadcast once a month, and ended after six episodes, as planned from the start.
In 2013, the Russian channel NTV aired the SNL adaptation entitled Суббота. Вечер. Шоу (Saturday. Evening. Show) and produced by Endemol's Weit Media. Unlike other international versions, it was not broadcast live. Due to low ratings and negative reviews, the third episode was pulled from the schedule. The remaining six episodes eventually aired in January 2014, but without any announcements and under a different title: Сегодня. Вечер. Шоу (Today. Evening. Show). Reruns of the adaptation were aired at night on NTV throughout the first half of 2015.
In 2014, two ninety-minute specials were broadcast in French on Télé-Québec in the Canadian province of Quebec under the title SNL Québec; the specials were broadcast on February 8 and March 22, 2014. Hosted by Louis-José Houde and Stéphane Rousseau, it is the same format and length as the original SNL series. Certain sketches from the original program, such as Debbie Downer and Schweddy Balls, were adapted into French, while other sketches were original material written directly for the Quebec series. On May 13, 2014, SNL Quebec was renewed for another eight episodes to be broadcast monthly over the 2014–15 season ending with a "Best of" compilation. Télé-Québec announced in May 2015 the series would not be renewed due to funding cutbacks, and Ici Radio-Canada Télé subsequently signed the show's production team and cast to produce a new series, Le nouveau show, for that network.
The French channel M6 launched the pilot episode of its SNL adaptation, Le Saturday Night Live, in January 2017.
The Polish division of Showmax video-on-demand streaming service launched the first season of its SNL adaptation, SNL Polska on December 2, 2017. The show received mixed reviews, however improving by the end of the series. Following the first series, a stand-alone "Weekend Update" was introduced in autumn 2018. In December 2018 Showmax announced the closure of its Polish branch, effectively cancelling the show.
On December 10, 2021, Deadline reported that Sky One is currently working on the UK version of Saturday Night Live.
U.S. television ratings
The show's ratings increased steadily for several years after its debut, reaching their highest point in the fifth season. Ratings entered into a period of decline after that, never again reaching those heights, but had rebounded enough by the early 1990s to make the 1992–93 season the fifth-highest rated in the show's history. Since then, ratings have trended steadily lower. As of 2018, thirteen of the show's lowest-rated seasons occurred in the 2000s. The show's ratings have often experienced temporary spikes during U.S. presidential election years.
Reception
In 2002 SNL was ranked tenth on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, while in 2007 it was honored with inclusion on Time magazine's list of "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME".
In June 2013 the show was placed at number 25 on the list of the 101 best written shows of all time by the Writers Guild of America, assessing series from the previous seventy years. In December 2013, TV Guide ranked it #18 on their list of the 60 Greatest Shows of All Time. A 2015 The Hollywood Reporter survey of 2,800 actors, producers, directors, and other industry people named SNL as their #7 favorite show. It is currently the 40th longest running television show in the U.S.
In 2016 a New York Times study of the fifty television shows with the most Facebook likes found that SNL "is very much an urban show. It is most popular in cities throughout the country, and college towns. Amherst, Mass.; Madison, Wis.; and Ithaca, N.Y. are all among the top 10."
Some critics have cautioned that the show is too dependent upon visiting guest actors and former SNL cast members – particularly for its impersonations of prominent politicians in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election races – and is beginning to have difficulty producing relevant, truly funny content.
In 2023, Variety ranked Saturday Night Live #15 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time.
Accolades
Saturday Night Live has won numerous awards since its debut, including 84 Primetime Emmy Awards, six Writers Guild of America Awards, and three Peabody Awards. In 2009 it received a total of thirteen Emmy nominations for a lifetime total of 126, breaking the record for the most award-nominated show in Primetime Emmy Award history, previously set with 124 by hospital drama ER. As of September 2022, it has received a record total of 305 Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Twenty-five cast members have received individual Primetime Emmy Award nominations in the show's history. These nominations were mostly in the category of Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program before that award was discontinued; since then, nominations have been in the Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress categories for comedy series. Of the 54 total nominations for these twenty-five performers, four have won: Chevy Chase (1976), Gilda Radner (1978), Dana Carvey (1993), and Kate McKinnon (2016, 2017). In addition, Alec Baldwin received two Emmy nominations, winning once in 2017, for his recurring guest role as Donald Trump.
Electoral effect
SNL has also affected American elections, most commonly presidential elections. Voters have reported that political sketches shown on the program influenced them in the voting booth. The so-called SNL Effect was observed during the 2008 presidential campaign, according to Mike Dabadie. Two-thirds of voters who responded to a poll said they had seen a broadcast of politically charged content on SNL, with ten percent saying it had made a difference in their decision. Barack Obama was the beneficiary of the political content, with 59 percent saying they did in fact cast a vote for the Democratic then-nominee. Chevy Chase's bumbling impression of then-president Gerald Ford during the 1976 presidential election was cited as an influence on the election, and a quote commonly attributed to 2008 vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin stating "I can see Russia from my house" was actually spoken by SNL cast member Tina Fey while portraying Palin. The political content was abandoned briefly following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York, with Amy Poehler saying the writers did not want to produce politicized material.
Several politicians have appeared on SNL, including President Gerald Ford (in 1976, during the show's first season), then-Senator Barack Obama (2007), Senator John McCain (2002 and 2008), Secretary Hillary Clinton (2008 and 2015), and Governor Sarah Palin (2008), who appeared alongside Fey's Palin impression, resulting in the show's largest audience in fourteen years with fourteen million viewers. Senator Obama's appearance occurred in part because Hillary Clinton abandoned her scheduled appearance. Donald Trump hosted the show in 2015, which was met with controversy.
Controversies
Due to its live broadcast, the show has been the subject of numerous controversies and incidents since its inception, involving controversial performers and content, technical problems, profanities (both intentional and accidental), and joke plagiarism accusations.
One incident that garnered widespread media coverage was a 1992 appearance by singer Sinéad O'Connor, in which she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II during her performance in an effort to protest the Catholic Church. This led to hundreds of complaints from viewers and widespread criticism at the time, although retrospective opinion of her action has been more positive since the Church's cover-up of abuse became public many years later.
Technical issues have also led to major controversies, such as in a widely publicized incident involving singer Ashlee Simpson in 2004 where she appeared to lip sync during her second performance, appearing flustered when the wrong song was played. Simpson was the only musical performer in the show's history to unexpectedly leave the stage mid-performance, later apologizing for the incident and explaining that she had lost her voice earlier in the week.
Representations of minorities
Over the years, SNL has been criticized for stereotypical and sparse representation of racial and gender groups. A 2016 study of SNL episodes from 1975 to 2016 (826 total) revealed over 90% of episodes had white hosts, while 6.8% were black, 1.2% were Hispanic, and 1.1% were of another racial minority.
Chris Rock indicated he grew frustrated with being limited to sketches where he played stereotypical roles such as a rapper or Black political activist, and left the show to perform on In Living Color, which featured a mostly Black cast and would offer Rock more creative freedom. When longtime cast member Kenan Thompson suggested in 2013 that female African-American representation was low because producers were not finding such comedians who were "ready", media outlets countered it was SNL that was not ready, and the racial disparity "is symptomatic of problems deeply rooted in comedy and the entertainment industry at large". Thompson also refused to play any more black women on the show and demanded SNL hire black women instead.
SNL has had "little representation from Asian actors, as cast members or hosts", in its run. Until Bowen Yang's 2019 promotion from writer to on-air performer, there had been only three people of Asian descent in the cast: Fred Armisen (2002–2013) had a Korean grandfather; Rob Schneider (1988–1994) had a Filipina grandmother; and Nasim Pedrad (2009–2014) was born in Tehran, Iran. In the first forty-seven seasons, the show had seven hosts who were of Asian descent.
Denny Dillon was the first gay cast member in the 1980–81 season, but was in the closet at the time. Terry Sweeney was SNL's first openly gay male cast member, appearing in the 1985–1986 season. Sweeney was also the first openly gay series regular on network television. Bowen Yang is the sixth LGBTQ cast member, hired in 2019. Numerous news outlets noted the disconnect of Michaels hiring Yang, an out gay Chinese-American cast member, at the same time as Shane Gillis, who was found to have aired what was perceived as homophobic and anti-Asian jokes and slurs on his podcast. Within days, a spokesperson for Michaels announced Gillis was fired due to the controversy. Later, Gillis went on to host SNL in 2024, during the 49th season. Molly Kearney became the first openly non-binary cast member in 2022.
Melissa Villaseñor joined as a featured player on the October 1, 2016, episode of SNL. Villaseñor was the second Latina cast member after Noël Wells, who is a quarter Mexican, and the first Latina to be promoted to repertory status.
In other media
Home media
Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Lions Gate Entertainment hold video rights to the series. Universal has issued complete season DVD sets of the first few seasons, while Lionsgate's share of the rights is a result of prior contracts with NBC struck before the NBC Universal merger. A majority of Lionsgate's SNL DVDs are "Best Of ..." compilations.
Books
Saturday Night Live, the first authorized book about the series, was published by Avon Books in 1977 and edited by Anne Beatts and John Head, with photography by Edie Baskin; all three worked for SNL at the time the book was published. The oversized illustrated paperback included the scripts for several sketches by the 1975–80 cast. In 1986 Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad authored Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, a behind-the-scenes look at the first ten seasons. Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years, by Michael Cader, was released in 1994 and presented information about the cast, characters, and other memorable moments seen on the show from 1975 to 1994.
Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests was released in 2002. The book, written by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, consists of interviews with people who have worked on the show. The interviews reveal personal experiences from what happened backstage and the difficulty of getting the show on air each week. In 2004 former cast member Jay Mohr released his memoir Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live about his struggles during his two seasons on the show between 1993 and 1995, dealing with getting sketches on-air and the intense work schedule. Former cast member Bobby Moynihan described the book as "a handbook on what NOT to do at SNL".
Films
SNL has made several efforts to develop some of the more popular sketches into feature-length films, with varying degrees of commercial and critical success. The first foray into film came with the successful Aykroyd and Belushi vehicle, The Blues Brothers (1980), which earned over $115 million on a $27 million budget.
In 1990 Michaels oversaw the writing of a sketch anthology feature film titled The Saturday Night Live Movie with many of the show's then-current writing staff, including Al Franken, Tom Davis, Greg Daniels, Jim Downey, Conan O'Brien, Robert Smigel, and George Meyer, contributing. The screenplay only got as far as a Revised First Draft dated July 26, 1990, before being abandoned.
The success of Wayne's World (1992) encouraged Michaels to produce more film spin-offs, based on several popular sketch characters. Michaels revived 1970s characters for Coneheads (1993), followed by It's Pat (1994); Stuart Saves His Family (1995); A Night at the Roxbury (1998), Superstar (1999), and The Ladies Man (2000). Some did moderately well, though others did not – notably, It's Pat, which did so badly at the box office that the studio that made the film, Touchstone Pictures (owned by the Walt Disney Company, which also owns NBC's rival ABC), pulled it only one week after releasing it, and Stuart Saves His Family, which lost $14 million. Many of these films were produced by Paramount Pictures. The films based on The Blues Brothers were produced by Universal Studios, which merged with NBC in 2004 to form NBC Universal (Universal also has a joint venture with Paramount for international distribution of the two studios' films).
The character Bob Roberts from the Tim Robbins film of the same name (1992) first appeared on SNL in a short film about the conservative folk singer.
In addition, the 1999 comedy film Office Space originated from a series of animated short films by Mike Judge that aired on SNL in 1993.
The fictitious American folk music trio The Folksmen first appeared on SNL, performing the song "Old Joe's Place" before later appearing in the film A Mighty Wind (2002). The three members of the Folksmen were the same three comedians: Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest, who also appeared on the same episode as the rock group Spinal Tap. At the time of the appearance (the 1984–85 season), Shearer and Guest were cast members.
Mr. Bill's Real Life Adventures is based on the Mr. Bill sketches from early seasons of SNL.
Commercials
Over the years popular characters from the show have appeared in ad campaigns for an assortment of products.
Music
In 2005 the comedy troupe The Lonely Island, consisting of SNL members Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, gained national exposure after joining the show and debuting their comedic music video "Lazy Sunday", written with fellow cast member Chris Parnell. The song became a surprise hit, and convinced Michaels to encourage the troupe to develop more comedy songs. Further successes with songs including "Like a Boss", "Jizz in My Pants", "I'm on a Boat", "We Like Sportz", "Boombox", and "Dick in a Box" – which won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2007 – saw The Lonely Island go on to release two albums, Incredibad (2009) and Turtleneck & Chain (2011), containing SNL-developed songs and original works. The albums were released by Universal Republic Records, which was provided with a license to the SNL songs by NBC and Broadway Video.
A cast album was released in 1976 on the Arista label including the song "Chevy's Girls" and comedy bits from the show (Weekend Update, "Emily Litella", "Gun Control"); it was later re-issued on CD and MP3 download.
Other
Several programs have documented the behind-the-scenes events of the show. A 60 Minutes report taped in October 2004 depicted the intense writing frenzy that goes on during the week leading up to a show, with crowded meetings and long hours. The report particularly noted the involvement of the guest host(s) in developing and selecting the sketches in which they will appear. Similarly, there has been an A&E episode of Biography which covered the production process, as well as an episode of TV Tales in 2002 on E!. In 2010, Saturday Night, a 94-minute documentary by actor James Franco in his directorial debut, was released; it follows the production process of the December 6, 2008, episode hosted by John Malkovich, from the concept stage to the episode actually airing live. Although it originated as a five-minute short film for Franco's New York University film class, Michaels granted Franco access to the process, allowing the project to be expanded. On February 15, 2015, NBC aired a 3+1⁄2-hour special on Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary. The program included a mix of clips, new performances of classic characters from previous cast members, and special guest appearances from previous hosts.
In September 2011 ice cream company Ben & Jerry's released a limited-edition ice cream called "Schweddy Balls", inspired by a 1998 sketch of the same name starring Alec Baldwin, Ana Gasteyer, and Molly Shannon. According to the company, the ice cream became their fastest-selling limited-edition flavor. The ice cream was also subject to criticism and boycotts by One Million Moms, a project of the American Family Association, over the "vulgar" name. Some retail chains chose not to sell the flavor, but declined to say if the decision was at their own discretion or based on the One Million Moms boycotts. In June 2014 two new flavors inspired by SNL sketches were introduced: Lazy Sunday, based on a sketch of the same name featuring Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell, and Gilly's Catastrophic Crunch based on the recurring Gilly sketches featuring Kristen Wiig. Two Wild and Crazy Pies, based on the catchphrase of the recurring Festrunk Brothers, was introduced in September 2014, followed by Wayne'Swirled, which was inspired by the eponymous Wayne's World in February 2015.
Notes
See also
Saturday Live/Friday Night Live (a British television comedy show with a similar format)
References
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
Official website
Saturday Night Live at Curlie
Saturday Night Live at IMDb
Official Broadway Video webpage
Saturday Night Live video archive at Yahoo! Screen
Saturday Night Live at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television |
List_of_Hot_Ones_episodes | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hot_Ones_episodes | [
510
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hot_Ones_episodes#Season_23_(2024)"
] | Hot Ones is an American YouTube talk show, created by Christopher Schonberger and Sean Evans and produced by First We Feast and Complex Media. Its basic premise involves celebrities being interviewed by Evans over a platter of increasingly spicy chicken wings.
339 episodes including two bonus episodes and one removed episode have been released as of August 8, 2024.
Series overview
Episodes
Season 1 (2015)
Season 2 (2015–2016)
Season 3 (2017)
Season 4 (2017)
Season 5 (2018)
Season 6 (2018)
Season 7 (2018)
Season 8 (2019)
Season 9 (2019)
Season 10 (2019)
Season 11 (2020)
Season 12 (2020)
Season 13 (2020)
Season 14 (2021)
Season 15 (2021)
Season 16 (2021)
Season 17 (2022)
Season 18 (2022)
Season 19 (2022)
Season 20 (2023)
Season 21 (2023)
Season 22 (2023)
Season 23 (2024)
Season 24 (2024)
Season 25 (2024)
Specials
Notes
References
External links
Hot Ones at IMDb |
Beyonc%C3%A9 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonc%C3%A9 | [
511
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonc%C3%A9#"
] | Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( bee-ON-say; née Knowles; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and businesswoman. Nicknamed "Queen Bey", she is regarded as a prominent cultural figure of the 21st century. Throughout her two-decade career, Beyoncé has been recognized for her distinctive vocal range and live performances. Rolling Stone named her the world's greatest living entertainer, and one of the greatest vocalists of all time.
As a child, Beyoncé started performing in various singing and dancing competitions. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Their hiatus saw the release of Beyoncé's debut album, Dangerously in Love (2003). She then followed with the U.S. number-one solo albums B'Day (2006), I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008), and 4 (2011). After creating her own management company Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé achieved critical acclaim for the experimental visual albums Beyoncé (2013) and Lemonade (2016), which explored themes such as feminism and womanism. With her Black queer-inspired dance album Renaissance (2022) and country album Cowboy Carter (2024) from her trilogy project, she became the only female artist to have all of her first eight solo studio albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200.
Beyoncé's most successful songs on the Billboard Hot 100 include "Crazy in Love", "Baby Boy", "Check On It", "Irreplaceable", "If I Were a Boy", "Halo", "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", "Drunk in Love", "Break My Soul", "Cuff It" and "Texas Hold 'Em". She is the only woman in history to achieve at least 20 top 10 songs as a solo artist and 10 as a member of a group. Her collaborative music ventures include Everything Is Love (2018), an album with her husband, rapper Jay-Z, released as the Carters, and the musical film Black Is King (2020), inspired by the music of the film soundtrack The Lion King: The Gift (2019). Self-directed concert films, including Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé (2019) and Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (2023), document some of her most acclaimed onstage performances. Outside of music, she has starred as an actress in films such as Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), The Pink Panther (2006), Dreamgirls (2006), Cadillac Records (2008), Obsessed (2009), and The Lion King (2019).
Having sold 200 million records worldwide, Beyoncé is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Her accolades include a record 32 Grammy Awards (including the 2010 Song of the Year), as well as 26 MTV Video Music Awards (including the 2014 Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), 24 NAACP Image Awards, 35 BET Awards, and 17 Soul Train Music Awards – all of which are more than any other artist in the music industry. Her success during the 2000s earned her recognition as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)'s Top Certified Artist of the Decade and Billboard's Top Female Artist and Top Radio Songs Artist of the Decade. She is the most successful black touring act in history and received the Pollstar Touring Artist of the Decade award in 2021. Time included her as one of the 100 women who has so far defined the 21st century.
Early life
Beyonce Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981, at the Park Plaza Hospital in Houston, Texas to Celestine "Tina" Knowles (née Beyonce), a hairdresser and salon owner, and Mathew Knowles, a Xerox sales manager. Tina is Louisiana Creole and Mathew is African American. Beyoncé's younger sister, Solange Knowles, is also a singer and a former backup dancer for Destiny's Child. Solange and Beyoncé are the first sisters to have both had number one solo albums.
Beyoncé's maternal grandparents, Lumis Albert Beyincé and Agnéz Deréon (daughter of Odilia Broussard and Eugène DeRouen), were French-speaking Louisiana Creoles, with roots in New Iberia; She is a descendant of Acadian militia officer Joseph Broussard, who was exiled to French Louisiana after the expulsion of the Acadians, and of the French military officer and Abenaki chief Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie, Baron de Saint-Castin. She has additional Breton heritage. Beyoncé's fourth great-grandmother, Marie-Françoise Trahan, was born in 1774 in Bangor, located on Belle Île, France. Trahan was a daughter of Acadians who had taken refuge on Belle Île after the Acadian expulsion. The Estates of Brittany had divided the lands of Belle Île to distribute them among 78 other Acadian families and the already settled inhabitants. The Trahan family lived on Belle Île for over ten years before migrating to Louisiana, where she married a Broussard descendant. Beyoncé researched her ancestry and discovered that she is descended from a slave owner who married his slave. Her mother is also of distant Irish, Jewish, Spanish, Chinese and Indonesian ancestry. Beyoncé also has Belgian ancestry from Hainaut Province, Wallonia and is related to a former mayor of Froidchapelle, Belgium.
Beyoncé was raised Methodist and attended St. John's United Methodist Church in Houston. As her mother's family was Catholic, her family attended Midnight Mass at St. Mary of the Purification Catholic Church on Christmas Eve. She went to St. Mary's Catholic Montessori School in Houston and enrolled in dance classes there. Her singing ability was discovered when dance instructor Darlette Johnson began humming a song and Beyoncé finished it, able to hit the high-pitched notes. Beyoncé's interest in music and performing continued after winning a school talent show at age seven, singing John Lennon's "Imagine" to beat 15/16-year-olds. In the fall of 1990, Beyoncé enrolled in Parker Elementary School, a music magnet school in Houston, where she performed with the school's choir. She also attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and later Alief Elsik High School. Beyoncé was also a member of the choir at St. John's United Methodist Church where she sang her first solo and was a soloist for two years.
Career
Career beginnings
When Beyoncé was eight, she met LaTavia Roberson at an audition for an all-girl entertainment group. They were placed into a group called Girl's Tyme with three other girls, and rapped and danced on the talent show circuit in Houston. After seeing the group, R&B producer Arne Frager brought them to his Northern California studio and placed them in Star Search, the largest talent show on national TV at the time. Girl's Tyme failed to win, and Beyoncé later said the song they performed was not good. In 1995, Beyoncé's father, Mathew, resigned from his job to manage the group. The move reduced the family's income by half, and Beyoncé's parents were forced to sell their house and cars and move into separated apartments.
Mathew cut the original line-up to four and the group continued performing as an opening act for other established R&B girl groups. The girls auditioned before record labels and were finally signed to Elektra Records, moving to Atlanta Records briefly to work on their first recording, only to be cut by the company. This put further strain on the family, and Beyoncé's parents separated. On October 5, 1995, Dwayne Wiggins's Grass Roots Entertainment signed the group. In 1996, the girls began recording their debut album under an agreement with Sony Music, the Knowles family reunited, and shortly after, the group got a contract with Columbia Records with the assistance of Columbia talent scout Teresa LaBarbera Whites.
1997–2002: Destiny's Child
The group changed their name to Destiny's Child in 1996, based upon a passage in the Book of Isaiah. In 1997, Destiny's Child released their major label debut song "Killing Time" on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Men in Black. In November, the group released their debut single and first major hit, "No, No, No". They released their self-titled debut album in February 1998, which established the group as a viable act in the music industry. The group released their Multi-Platinum second album The Writing's on the Wall in 1999. The record features songs such as "Bills, Bills, Bills", the group's first number-one single, "Jumpin' Jumpin'" and "Say My Name", which became their most successful song at the time, and would remain one of their signature songs. "Say My Name" won the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and the Best R&B Song at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. The Writing's on the Wall sold more than eight million copies worldwide. During this time, Beyoncé recorded a duet with Marc Nelson, an original member of Boyz II Men, on the song "After All Is Said and Done" for the soundtrack to the 1999 film, The Best Man, as well as "Ways To Get Cut Off", a collaboration with fellow Columbia Records signee JoJo Robinson that was later shelved.
The remaining band members recorded "Independent Women Part I", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film Charlie's Angels. It became their best-charting single, topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for eleven consecutive weeks. In early 2001, while Destiny's Child was completing their third album, Beyoncé landed a major role in the MTV made-for-television film, Carmen: A Hip Hopera, starring alongside American actor Mekhi Phifer. Set in Philadelphia, the film is a modern interpretation of the 19th-century opera Carmen by French composer Georges Bizet. When the third album Survivor was released in May 2001, Luckett and Roberson filed a lawsuit claiming that the songs were aimed at them. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 663,000 copies sold. The album spawned other number-one hits, "Bootylicious" and the title track, "Survivor", the latter of which earned the group a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. After releasing their holiday album 8 Days of Christmas in October 2001, the group announced a hiatus to further pursue solo careers.
In July 2002, Beyoncé made her theatrical film debut, playing Foxxy Cleopatra alongside Mike Myers in the comedy film Austin Powers in Goldmember, which spent its first weekend atop the U.S. box office and grossed $73 million. Beyoncé released "Work It Out" as the lead single from its soundtrack album which entered the top ten in the UK, Norway, and Belgium. In 2003, Beyoncé starred opposite Cuba Gooding Jr. in the musical comedy The Fighting Temptations as Lilly, a single mother with whom Gooding's character falls in love. The film received mixed reviews from critics but grossed $30 million in the U.S. Beyoncé released "Fighting Temptation" as the lead single from the film's soundtrack album, with Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, and Free which was also used to promote the film. Another of Beyoncé's contributions to the soundtrack, "Summertime", fared better on the U.S. charts.
2003–2007: Dangerously in Love, B'Day, and Dreamgirls
Beyoncé's first solo recording was a feature on Jay-Z's song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" that was released in October 2002, peaking at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. On June 14, 2003, Beyoncé premiered songs from her first solo album Dangerously in Love during her first solo concert and the pay-per-view television special, "Ford Presents Beyoncé Knowles, Friends & Family, Live From Ford's 100th Anniversary Celebration in Dearborn, Michigan". The album was released on June 24, 2003, after Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland had released their solo efforts. The album sold 317,000 copies in its first week, debuted atop the Billboard 200, and has since sold 11 million copies worldwide.
The album's lead single, "Crazy in Love", featuring Jay-Z, became Beyoncé's first number-one single as a solo artist in the US. The single "Baby Boy" also reached number one, and singles, "Me, Myself and I" and "Naughty Girl", both reached the top-five. The album earned Beyoncé a then record-tying five awards at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards; Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Dangerously in Love 2", Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Crazy in Love", and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "The Closer I Get to You" with Luther Vandross. During the ceremony, she performed with Prince.
In November 2003, she embarked on the Dangerously in Love Tour in Europe and later toured alongside Missy Elliott and Alicia Keys for the Verizon Ladies First Tour in North America. On February 1, 2004, Beyoncé performed the American national anthem at Super Bowl XXXVIII, at the Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. After the release of Dangerously in Love, Beyoncé had planned to produce a follow-up album using several of the left-over tracks. However, this was put on hold so she could concentrate on recording Destiny Fulfilled, the final studio album by Destiny's Child. Released on November 15, 2004, in the U.S. and peaking at number two on the Billboard 200, Destiny Fulfilled included the singles "Lose My Breath" and "Soldier", which reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Destiny's Child embarked on a worldwide concert tour, Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It sponsored by McDonald's Corporation, and performed songs such as "No, No, No", "Survivor", "Say My Name", "Independent Women" and "Lose My Breath". In addition to renditions of the group's recorded material, they also performed songs from each singer's solo careers, including numbers from Dangerously in Love. During the last stop of their European tour, in Barcelona on June 11, 2005, Rowland announced that Destiny's Child would disband following the North American leg of the tour. The group released their first compilation album Number 1's on October 25, 2005, in the U.S. and accepted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2006. The group has sold 60 million records worldwide.
Beyoncé's second solo album B'Day was released on September 4, 2006, in the U.S., to coincide with her twenty-fifth birthday. It sold 541,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop the Billboard 200, becoming Beyoncé's second consecutive number-one album in the United States. The album's lead single "Déjà Vu", featuring Jay-Z, reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second international single "Irreplaceable" was a commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in Australia, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand and the United States. B'Day also produced three other singles; "Ring the Alarm", "Get Me Bodied", and "Green Light" (released in the United Kingdom only).
At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards (2007), B'Day was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Ring the Alarm" and Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration"for "Déjà Vu"; the Freemasons club mix of "Déjà Vu" without the rap was put forward in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category. B'Day won the award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The following year, B'Day received two nominations – for Record of the Year for "Irreplaceable" and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Beautiful Liar" (with Shakira), also receiving a nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Pictures, Television or Other Visual Media for her appearance on Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture (2006).
Her first acting role of 2006 was in the comedy film The Pink Panther starring opposite Steve Martin, grossing $158.8 million at the box office worldwide. Her second film Dreamgirls, the film version of the 1981 Broadway musical loosely based on The Supremes, received acclaim from critics and grossed $154 million internationally. In it, she starred opposite Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, and Eddie Murphy playing a pop singer based on Diana Ross. To promote the film, Beyoncé released "Listen" as the lead single from the soundtrack album. In April 2007, Beyoncé embarked on The Beyoncé Experience, her first worldwide concert tour, visiting 97 venues and grossed over $24 million. Beyoncé conducted pre-concert food donation drives during six major stops in conjunction with her pastor at St. John's and America's Second Harvest. At the same time, B'Day was re-released with five additional songs, including her duet with Shakira "Beautiful Liar".
2008–2012: I Am... Sasha Fierce and 4
I Am... Sasha Fierce was released in November 2008 and formally introduced Beyoncé's alter ego Sasha Fierce. It was met with mixed reviews from critics, but sold 482,000 copies in its first week, debuting atop the Billboard 200, and giving Beyoncé her third consecutive number-one album in the U.S. The album featured her fourth UK number-one single "If I Were a Boy" and her fifth U.S. number-one song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". "Halo" achieved the accomplishment of becoming her longest-running Hot 100 single in her career, "Halo"'s success in the U.S. helped Beyoncé attain more top-ten singles on the list than any other woman during the 2000s.
The music video for "Single Ladies" has been parodied and imitated around the world, spawning the "first major dance craze" of the Internet age according to the Toronto Star. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won three categories, including Video of the Year. Its failure to win the Best Female Video category, which went to Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me", led to Kanye West interrupting the ceremony and Beyoncé improvising a re-presentation of Swift's award during her own acceptance speech. In March 2009, Beyoncé embarked on the I Am... Tour, her second headlining worldwide concert tour, consisting of 108 shows, grossing $119.5 million.
Beyoncé further expanded her acting career, starring as blues singer Etta James in the 2008 musical biopic Cadillac Records. Her performance in the film received praise from critics, and she garnered several nominations for her portrayal of James, including a Satellite Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. Beyoncé donated her entire salary from the film to Phoenix House, an organization of rehabilitation centers for heroin addicts around the country. Beyoncé starred opposite Ali Larter and Idris Elba in the thriller, Obsessed. She played Sharon Charles, a mother and wife whose family is threatened by her husband's stalker. The film received negative reviews from critics, and did well at the U.S. box office, grossing $68 million – $60 million more than Cadillac Records – on a budget of $20 million.
At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé received ten nominations, tying with Lauryn Hill for most Grammy nominations in a single year by a female artist. Beyoncé went on to win six of those nominations, breaking a record she previously tied in 2004 for the most Grammy awards won in a single night by a female artist with six. In 2010, Beyoncé provide guest vocals on Lady Gaga's single "Telephone". The song topped the U.S. Pop Songs chart, becoming the sixth number-one for both Beyoncé and Gaga, tying them with Mariah Carey for most number-ones since the Nielsen Top 40 airplay chart launched in 1992.
Beyoncé announced a hiatus from her music career in January 2010, heeding her mother's advice, "to live life, to be inspired by things again". During the break, she and her father parted ways as business partners. Beyoncé's musical break lasted nine months and saw her visit multiple European cities, the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids, Australia, English music festivals and various museums and ballet performances. "Eat, Play, Love", a cover story written by Beyoncé for Essence that detailed her 2010 career break, won her a writing award from the New York Association of Black Journalists.
On June 26, 2011, she became the first solo female artist to headline the main Pyramid stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival in over twenty years. The performance was lauded, with several publications noting an ascension in Knowles' capabilities as a live performer. Other publications discussed the polarized attitude of the UK music establishment in response to a Black woman performing on the same stages and to the same crowd sizes that were past reserved for legacy rock acts. Her fourth studio album 4 was released two days prior in the U.S. 4 sold 310,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, giving Beyoncé her fourth consecutive number-one album in the U.S. The album was preceded by two of its singles "Run the World (Girls)" and "Best Thing I Never Had". The fourth single "Love on Top" spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while peaking at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest peak from the album.
In late 2011, she took the stage at New York's Roseland Ballroom for four nights of special performances: the 4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé concerts saw the performance of her 4 album to a standing room only. On August 1, 2011, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having shipped 1 million copies to retail stores. By December 2015, it reached sales of 1.5 million copies in the U.S. The album reached one billion Spotify streams on February 5, 2018, making Beyoncé the first female artist to have three of their albums surpass one billion streams on the platform. In June 2012, she performed for four nights at Revel Atlantic City's Ovation Hall to celebrate the resort's opening, her first performances since giving birth to her daughter.
2013–2017: Super Bowl XLVII, Beyoncé, and Lemonade
In January 2013, Beyoncé performed the American national anthem singing along with a pre-recorded track at President Obama's second inauguration in Washington, D.C. The following month, Beyoncé performed at the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The performance stands as the second most tweeted about moment in history at 268,000 tweets per minute. Her feature-length documentary film, Life Is But a Dream, first aired on HBO on February 16, 2013. The film was co-directed by Beyoncé herself.
Beyoncé embarked on The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour on April 15 in Belgrade, Serbia; the tour included 132 dates that ran through to March 2014. It became the most successful tour of her career and one of the most successful tours of all time. In May, Beyoncé's cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" with André 3000 on The Great Gatsby soundtrack was released. Beyoncé voiced Queen Tara in the 3D CGI animated film, Epic, released by 20th Century Fox on May 24, and recorded an original song for the film, "Rise Up", co-written with Sia.
On December 13, 2013, Beyoncé unexpectedly released her eponymous fifth studio album on the iTunes Store without any prior announcement or promotion. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, giving Beyoncé her fifth consecutive number-one album in the U.S. This made her the first woman in the chart's history to have her first five studio albums debut at number one. Beyoncé received critical acclaim and commercial success, selling one million digital copies worldwide in six days; Musically an electro-R&B album, it concerns darker themes previously unexplored in her work, such as "bulimia, postnatal depression [and] the fears and insecurities of marriage and motherhood". The single "Drunk in Love", featuring Jay-Z, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Beyoncé sold 2.3 million units worldwide, becoming the tenth best-selling album of 2013. The album also went on to become the twentieth best-selling album of 2014. As of November 2014, Beyoncé has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and has generated over 1 billion streams, as of March 2015. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2015, Beyoncé was nominated for six awards, ultimately winning three: Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "Drunk in Love", and Best Surround Sound Album for Beyoncé.
In April 2014, Beyoncé and Jay-Z officially announced their On the Run Tour. It served as the couple's first co-headlining stadium tour together. On August 24, 2014, she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Beyoncé also won home three competitive awards: Best Video with a Social Message and Best Cinematography for "Pretty Hurts", as well as best collaboration for "Drunk in Love". In November, Forbes reported that Beyoncé was the top-earning woman in music for the second year in a row – earning $115 million in the year, more than double her earnings in 2013.
Beyoncé released "Formation" in on February 6, 2016, and performed it live for the first time during the NFL Super Bowl 50 halftime show. The appearance was considered controversial as it appeared to reference the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party and the NFL forbids political statements in its performances. Immediately following the performance, Beyoncé announced The Formation World Tour, which highlighted stops in both North America and Europe. It ended on October 7, with Beyoncé bringing out her husband Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Serena Williams for the last show. The tour went on to win Tour of the Year at the 44th American Music Awards.
In April 2016, Beyoncé released a teaser clip for a project called Lemonade. A one-hour film which aired on HBO on April 23, a corresponding album with the same title was released on the same day exclusively on Tidal. Lemonade debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first act in Billboard history to have their first six studio albums debut atop the chart; she broke a record previously tied with DMX in 2013. With all 12 tracks of Lemonade debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Beyoncé also became the first female act to chart 12 or more songs at the same time. Lemonade was streamed 115 million times through Tidal, setting a record for the most-streamed album in a single week by a female artist in history. It was 2016's third highest-selling album in the U.S. with 1.554 million copies sold in that time period within the country as well as the best-selling album worldwide with global sales of 2.5 million throughout the year.
Lemonade became the most critically acclaimed work of her career. Several music publications included the album among the best of 2016, including Rolling Stone, which listed Lemonade at number one. The album's visuals were nominated in 11 categories at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, the most ever received by Beyoncé in a single year, and went on to win 8 awards, including Video of the Year for "Formation". The eight wins made Beyoncé the most-awarded artist in the history of the VMAs (24), surpassing Madonna (20). Beyoncé occupied the sixth place for Time magazine's 2016 Person of the Year.
In January 2017, it was announced that Beyoncé would headline the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. This would have made Beyoncé only the second female headliner of the festival since it was founded in 1999. It was later announced on February 23, 2017, that Beyoncé would no longer be able to perform at the festival due to doctor's concerns regarding her pregnancy. The festival owners announced that she would instead headline the 2018 festival. Upon the announcement of Beyoncé's departure from the festival lineup, ticket prices dropped by 12%. At the 59th Grammy Awards in February 2017, Lemonade led the nominations with nine, including Album, Record, and Song of the Year for Lemonade and "Formation" respectively. and ultimately won two, Best Urban Contemporary Album for Lemonade and Best Music Video for "Formation".
In September 2017, Beyoncé collaborated with J Balvin and Willy William, to release a remix of the song "Mi Gente". Beyoncé donated all proceeds from the song to hurricane charities for those affected by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in Texas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean Islands. On November 10, Eminem released "Walk on Water" featuring Beyoncé as the lead single from his album Revival. On November 30, Ed Sheeran announced that Beyoncé would feature on the remix to his song "Perfect". "Perfect Duet" was released on December 1, 2017. The song reached number-one in the United States, becoming Beyoncé's sixth song of her solo career to do so.
2018–2021: Everything Is Love and The Lion King
On January 4, 2018, the music video of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's 4:44 collaboration, "Family Feud" was released. It was directed by Ava DuVernay. On March 1, 2018, DJ Khaled released "Top Off" as the first single from his forthcoming album Father of Asahd featuring Beyoncé, husband Jay-Z, and Future. On March 5, 2018, a joint tour with Knowles's husband Jay-Z, was leaked on Facebook. Information about the tour was later taken down. The couple announced the joint tour officially as On the Run II Tour on March 12 and simultaneously released a trailer for the tour on YouTube.
On April 14, 2018, Beyoncé played the first of two weekends as the headlining act of the Coachella Music Festival. Her performance of April 14, attended by 125,000 festival-goers, was immediately praised, with multiple media outlets describing it as historic. The performance became the most-tweeted-about performance of weekend one, as well as the most-watched live Coachella performance and the most-watched live performance on YouTube of all time. The show paid tribute to black culture, specifically historically black colleges and universities and featured a live band with over 100 dancers. Destiny's Child also reunited during the show.
On June 6, 2018, Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z kicked-off the On the Run II Tour in Cardiff, United Kingdom. Ten days later, at their final London performance, the pair unveiled Everything Is Love, their joint studio album, credited under the name The Carters, and initially available exclusively on Tidal. The pair also released the video for the album's lead single, "Apeshit", on Beyoncé's official YouTube channel. Everything Is Love received generally positive reviews, and debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200, with 123,000 album-equivalent units, of which 70,000 were pure album sales. On December 2, 2018, Beyoncé alongside Jay-Z headlined the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 which was held at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Their 2-hour performance had concepts similar to the On the Run II Tour and Beyoncé was praised for her outfits, which paid tribute to Africa's diversity.
Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, a documentary and concert film focusing on Beyoncé's historic 2018 Coachella performances, was released by Netflix on April 17, 2019. The film was accompanied by the surprise live album Homecoming: The Live Album. It was later reported that Beyoncé and Netflix had signed a $60 million deal to produce three different projects, one of which is Homecoming. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé received six nominations at the 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Beyoncé starred as the voice of Nala in the remake The Lion King, which was released in July 2019. Beyoncé is featured on the film's soundtrack, released on July 11, 2019, with a remake of the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" alongside Donald Glover, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen, which was originally composed by Elton John. An original song from the film by Beyoncé, "Spirit", was released as the lead single from both the soundtrack and The Lion King: The Gift – a companion album released alongside the film, produced and curated by Beyoncé.
Beyoncé called The Lion King: The Gift a "sonic cinema". She stated that the album is influenced by everything from R&B, pop, hip hop, gqom and Afro Beat. The songs were produced by African producers, which Beyoncé said was because "authenticity and heart were important to [her]", since the film is set in Africa. In September of the same year, a documentary chronicling the development, production and early music video filming of The Lion King: The Gift entitled "Beyoncé Presents: Making The Gift" was aired on ABC.
In March 2020, a photograph Beyoncé captured of her swimming pool was used as the album cover for rapper Jay Electronica's highly anticipated debut album A Written Testimony. In April of the same year, Beyoncé was featured on the remix of Megan Thee Stallion's song "Savage", marking her first music release for the year. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Beyoncé's eleventh song to do so across all acts. On June 19, 2020, Beyoncé released the nonprofit charity single "Black Parade". On June 23, she followed up the release of its studio version with an a cappella version exclusively on Tidal. Black Is King, a visual album based on the music of The Lion King: The Gift, premiered globally on Disney+ on July 31, 2020. Produced by Disney and Parkwood Entertainment, the film was written, directed and executively produced by Beyoncé. The film was described by Disney as "a celebratory memoir for the world on the Black experience". Beyoncé received the most nominations (9) at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards and the most awards (4), which made her the most-awarded singer, most-awarded female artist, and second-most-awarded artist in Grammy history.
In 2021, Beyoncé wrote and recorded a song titled "Be Alive" for the biographical drama film King Richard. She received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 94th Academy Awards for the song, alongside co-writer Dixson.
2022–present: Three-act project
On March 27, 2022, Beyoncé performed "Be Alive" at the 94th Academy Awards. Choreographed by friend and past collaborator Fatima Robinson, Beyoncé was applauded for choosing to perform on the Compton tennis courts Venus and Serena Williams practiced on in their childhood instead of at the venue.
On June 9, 2022, Beyoncé removed her profile pictures across various social media platforms, causing speculation that she would be releasing new music. Days later, Beyoncé caused further speculation via her nonprofit BeyGood's Twitter account hinting at her upcoming seventh studio album. On June 15, 2022, Beyoncé officially announced her seventh studio album, titled Renaissance. The lead single of Renaissance, "Break My Soul", was released on June 20, 2022. The album was released on July 29, 2022. "Break My Soul" became Beyoncé's 20th top ten single on the Billboard Hot 100, which made her join Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson as the only artists in Hot 100 history to achieve at least twenty top tens as a solo artist and ten as a member of a group.
As Renaissance was released, Beyoncé announced that the album was the first installment of a trilogy she conceived and recorded over three years during the COVID-19 pandemic. A time she found to be her "most creative [period]." The three recorded projects are designated into acts under Roman numerals. Upon release, Renaissance received universal acclaim from critics. Renaissance debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, making her the first female artist to have her first seven studio albums debut at number one in the United States. "Break My Soul" concurrently rose to number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the twelfth song to do so across her career discography.
The song "Heated," which was co-written with Canadian rapper Drake, originally included the lyrics "Spazzin' on that ass / spazz on that ass". Critics, including a number of disability charities and activists, argued that the word "spaz" represented a derogatory term for spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy. In response, in August 2022, a representative for Beyoncé issued a statement and explained that "The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced".
On January 21, 2023, Beyoncé performed in Dubai at a private show. The performance, which was her first full concert in more than four years, was delivered to an audience of influencers and journalists. Beyoncé was reportedly paid $24 million to perform. Beyoncé faced criticism for her decision to perform in the United Arab Emirates where homosexuality is illegal. On February 1, Beyoncé announced the Renaissance World Tour with dates in North America and Europe, becoming for a short-span, the highest-grossing tour by a female artist. On July 28, Beyoncé appeared on "Delresto (Echoes)", the second single from rapper Travis Scott's album Utopia, eventually becoming her 100th career appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (encompassing Destiny's Child, her solo career, and musical duo The Carters). On November 30, 2023, Beyoncé released documentary concert film Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé written, directed, and produced by her in collaboration with film distributor AMC Theatres. The film chronicles the development and execution of Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour, and contained new song "My House" in the end credits.
In February 2024, Beyoncé launched her hair care brand Cécred. On February 11, 2024, immediately following a partner commercial with Verizon for the Super Bowl LVIII, she announced the second installment of her trilogy project and released its first two songs, "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages". "Texas Hold 'Em" became her highest chart debut in her career, her ninth solo number-one and her thirteenth across all credits on the Billboard Hot 100. On March 12, 2024, she announced the album's title, Cowboy Carter. A country and gospel-tinged record, it was released on March 29 to universal acclaim from critics, and includes collaborations with artists including Tanner Adell and her daughter Rumi Carter, Miley Cyrus, Tiera Kennedy, Willie Jones, Post Malone, Linda Martell, Willie Nelson, Shaboozey, Brittney Spencer, Dolly Parton, and Reyna Roberts.
In July 2024, NBC released two promotional commercials featuring Beyoncé for their coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Set to Cowboy Carter songs "Ya Ya" and "Just For Fun", she introduced the entire USA Olympic Team and Gold-medal gymnast Simone Biles, respectively. On August 20, Beyoncé announced SirDavis, a whiskey in collaboration with Moët Hennessy developed for years prior and co-founded with master distiller Dr. Bill Lumsden. In October 2024, Levi's launched a four-part global campaign with Beyoncé titled “Reiimagine” that will stretch into 2025 and focus on women's history of the company.
Artistry
Voice and musical style
Critics have described Beyoncé's voice as being mezzo-soprano. Jody Rosen highlights her tone and timbre as particularly distinctive, describing her voice as "one of the most compelling instruments in popular music". Her vocal abilities mean she is identified as the centerpiece of Destiny's Child. Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that her voice is "velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting". Rosen notes that the hip hop era highly influenced Beyoncé's unique rhythmic vocal style, but also finds her quite traditionalist in her use of balladry, gospel and falsetto.
Other critics praise her range and power, with Chris Richards of The Washington Post saying she was "capable of punctuating any beat with goose-bump-inducing whispers or full-bore diva-roars." On the 2023 Rolling Stone's list of the 200 Greatest Singers of all time, Beyoncé ranked at number 8, with the publication noting that "in [her] voice lies the entire history of Black music".
Beyoncé's music is generally R&B, pop and hip hop but she also incorporates soul and funk into her songs. 4 demonstrated Beyoncé's exploration of 1990s-style R&B, as well as further use of soul and hip hop than compared to previous releases. While she almost exclusively releases English songs, Beyoncé recorded several Spanish songs for Irreemplazable (re-recordings of songs from B'Day for a Spanish-language audience), and the re-release of B'Day. To record these, Beyoncé was coached phonetically by American record producer Rudy Perez.
Songwriting
Beyoncé has received co-writing credits for most of her songs. Her early songs with Destiny's Child were personally driven and female-empowerment themed compositions like "Independent Women" and "Survivor", but after the start of her relationship with Jay-Z, she transitioned to more man-tending anthems such as "Cater 2 U".
Beyoncé's songwriting process is also known for combining parts of different tracks, resulting in alteration of song structures. Sia, who co-wrote "Pretty Hurts", called Beyoncé "very Frankenstein when she comes to songs"; Diana Gordon, who co-wrote "Don't Hurt Yourself" called her a "scientist of songs"; Caroline Polachek who co-wrote "No Angel", called her a "genius writer and producer for this reason. She's so good at seeing connections."
In 2001, she became the first Black woman and second female lyricist to win the Pop Songwriter of the Year award at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards. Beyoncé was the third woman to have writing credits on three number-one songs ("Irreplaceable", "Grillz" and "Check on It") in the same year, after Carole King in 1971 and Mariah Carey in 1991. She is tied with American lyricist Diane Warren at third with nine songwriting credits on number-one singles. The latter wrote her song "I Was Here" for 4, which was motivated by the September 11 attacks. In May 2011, Billboard magazine listed Beyoncé at number 17 on their list of the Top 20 Hot 100 Songwriters for having co-written eight singles that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She was one of only three women on that list, along with Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift.
Beyoncé has received criticism, including from journalists and musicians, for the extensive writing credits on her songs. The controversy surrounding her songwriting credits began with interviews in which she attributed herself as the songwriter for songs in which she was a co-writer or for which her contributions were marginal. In a cover story for Vanity Fair in 2005, she claimed to have "written" several number-one songs for Destiny's Child, contrary to the credits, which list her as a co-writer among others. During a 2007 interview with Barbara Walters, she claimed to have conceived the musical idea for the Destiny's Child song "Bootylicious", which provoked the song's producer Rob Fusari to call her father and then-manager Mathew Knowles in protest over the claim. In 2010, Fusari told Billboard: "[Knowles] explained to me, in a nice way, he said, 'People don't want to hear about Rob Fusari, producer from Livingston, N.J. No offense, but that's not what sells records. What sells records is people believing that the artist is everything.'" However, in an interview for Entertainment Weekly in 2016, Fusari said Beyoncé "had the 'Bootylicious' concept in her head. That was totally her. She knew what she wanted to say. It was very urban pop angle that they were taking on the record."
Production
I am really passionate about all of the steps [during] the production [...] I love to stack vocals, and I love to create my own little Oreo with arrangements, sometimes it can be thousands of vocals [and then] I go back and then kind of piece things together, because usually the songs are way too long [...] I go back and edit the structure of the song. [I] make sure that [...] every section has an intention, so that takes months. [...] I hear certain elements of things that go with things that are opposites. I am rarely happy with one track, it's usually four or five things put together that again don't really go together. I am so excited when I'm able to adjust the tempo and key and mute certain elements that don't complement and put opposites together. Sometimes it's just like the EQ of a synth or the warmth of a bass or the distortion of a bass that's on a different song and I can hear like, 'Ah! That's exactly what is missing to make the track full and complete!'
Beyoncé's collaborators frequently mention her talent and involvement in the record production of her songs, sometimes describing her as a genius in the skill. She is known to have favorite saturation and distortion plug‑ins, intentionality about stereo imaging and concentration on individual elements of her songs as a "focal point" in production.
Influences
Beyoncé names Michael Jackson as her major musical influence. Aged five, Beyoncé attended her first ever concert where Jackson performed and she claims to have realized her purpose. When she presented him with a tribute award at the World Music Awards in 2006, Beyoncé said, "if it wasn't for Michael Jackson, I would never ever have performed." Beyoncé was heavily influenced by Tina Turner, and once said "Tina Turner is someone that I admire, because she made her strength feminine and sexy".
She admires Diana Ross as an "all-around entertainer", and Whitney Houston, who she said "inspired me to get up there and do what she did." Beyoncé cited Madonna as an influence "not only for her musical style, but also for her business sense", saying that she wanted to "follow in the footsteps of Madonna and be a powerhouse and have my own empire." She also credits Mariah Carey's singing and her song "Vision of Love" as influencing her to begin practicing vocal runs as a child. Her other musical influences include Rachelle Ferrell, Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Fairuz, Mary J. Blige, Selena, Anita Baker, and Toni Braxton.
The feminism and female empowerment themes on Beyoncé's second solo album B'Day were inspired by her role in Dreamgirls and by singer Josephine Baker. Beyoncé paid homage to Baker by performing "Déjà Vu" at the 2006 Fashion Rocks concert wearing Baker's trademark mini-hula skirt embellished with fake bananas. Beyoncé's third solo album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, was inspired by Jay-Z and especially by Etta James, whose "boldness" inspired Beyoncé to explore other musical genres and styles. Her fourth solo album, 4, was inspired by Fela Kuti, 1990s R&B, Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge, Lionel Richie, Teena Marie, The Jackson 5, New Edition, Adele, Florence and the Machine, and Prince.
Beyoncé has stated that she is personally inspired by Michelle Obama (the 44th First Lady of the United States), saying "she proves you can do it all", and has described Oprah Winfrey as "the definition of inspiration and a strong woman." She has also discussed how Jay-Z is a continuing inspiration to her, both with what she describes as his lyrical genius and in the obstacles he has overcome in his life. Beyoncé has expressed admiration for the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, posting in a letter "what I find in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, I search for in every day in music ... he is lyrical and raw". Beyoncé has also cited Cher as a fashion inspiration.
Videography and stage
In 2006, Beyoncé introduced her all-female tour band Suga Mama (also the name of a song on B'Day) which includes bassists, drummers, guitarists, horn players, keyboardists and percussionists. Her background singers, The Mamas, consist of Montina Cooper-Donnell, Crystal Collins and Tiffany Moniqué Riddick. They made their debut appearance at the 2006 BET Awards and re-appeared in the music videos for "Irreplaceable" and "Green Light". The band have supported Beyoncé in most subsequent live performances, including her 2007 concert tour The Beyoncé Experience, I Am... Tour (2009–2010), The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2013–2014) and The Formation World Tour (2016).
Beyoncé has received praise for her stage presence and voice during live performances. According to Barbara Ellen of The Guardian, Beyoncé is the most in-charge female artist she's seen onstage. Similarly, Alice Jones of The Independent wrote she "takes her role as entertainer so seriously she's almost too good." The ex-President of Def Jam L.A. Reid has described Beyoncé as the greatest entertainer alive. Jim Farber of the Daily News and Stephanie Classen of The StarPhoenix both praised her strong voice and her stage presence.
Beyoncé's stage outfits have been met with criticism from many countries, such as Malaysia, where she has postponed or cancelled performances due to the country's strict laws banning revealing costumes.
Beyoncé has worked with numerous directors for her music videos throughout her career, including Melina Matsoukas, Jonas Åkerlund, and Jake Nava. Bill Condon, director of Beauty and the Beast, stated that the Lemonade visuals in particular served as inspiration for his film, commenting, "You look at Beyoncé's brilliant movie Lemonade, this genre is taking on so many different forms ... I do think that this very old-school break-out-into-song traditional musical is something that people understand again and really want."
Alter ego
Described as being "sexy, seductive and provocative" when performing on stage, Beyoncé has said that she originally created the alter ego "Sasha Fierce" to keep that stage persona separate from who she really is. She described Sasha Fierce as being "too aggressive, too strong, too sassy [and] too sexy", stating, "I'm not like her in real life at all." Sasha was conceived during the making of "Crazy in Love", and Beyoncé introduced her with the release of her 2008 album, I Am... Sasha Fierce. In February 2010, she announced in an interview with Allure magazine that she was comfortable enough with herself to no longer need Sasha Fierce. However, Beyoncé announced in May 2012 that she would bring her back for her Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live shows later that month.
Public image
Beyoncé has been described as having sex appeal, with music journalist Touré writing that since the release of Dangerously in Love, she has "become a crossover sex symbol". When off stage, Beyoncé says that while she likes to dress sexily, her onstage dress "is absolutely for the stage". Due to her curves and the term's catchiness, in the 2000s, the media often used the term "bootylicious" (a portmanteau of the words "booty" and "delicious") to describe Beyoncé, the term popularized by the single of the same name by her group Destiny's Child. In 2006, it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
In September 2010, Beyoncé made her runway modelling debut at Tom Ford's Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show. She was named the "World's Most Beautiful Woman" by People and the "Hottest Female Singer of All Time" by Complex in 2012. In January 2013, GQ placed her on its cover, featuring her atop its "100 Sexiest Women of the 21st Century" list. VH1 listed her at number 1 on its 100 Sexiest Artists list. Several wax figures of Beyoncé are found at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in major cities around the world, including New York City, Berlin, Singapore, Tokyo, London, Washington, D.C., Amsterdam, Bangkok, Hollywood Sydney, Istanbul, Blackpool, Las Vegas, Orlando, San Francisco, Nashville, Budapest, Vienna, Shanghai, Delhi and Prague.
The latest was unveiled by Madame Tussauds New York on July 27, 2023, showcasing Beyoncé's look from her historic 2018 Coachella performance. Debuted at Edge, New York City's highest outdoor sky deck, the figure features Beyoncé in a Balmain bodysuit and Nefertiti-inspired headpiece, commemorating her as the first Black woman to headline the festival. This addition involved extensive collaboration with the original designers, requiring six months to capture Beyoncé's iconic style precisely.
According to Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, Beyoncé uses different fashion styles to work with her music while performing. Her mother co-wrote a book, published in 2002, titled Destiny's Style, an account of how fashion affected the trio's success. The B'Day Anthology Video Album showed many instances of fashion-oriented footage, depicting classic to contemporary wardrobe styles. In 2007, Beyoncé was featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, becoming the second African American woman after model and television personality Tyra Banks, and People magazine recognized Beyoncé as the best-dressed celebrity.
Beyoncé has been named "Queen Bey" from publications over the years. The term is a reference to the common phrase "queen bee", a term used for the leader of a group of females. The nickname also refers to the Queen bee of a beehive, with her fan base being named "BeyHive". BeyHive was previously titled "The Beyontourage", (a portmanteau of Beyoncé and entourage), but was changed after online petitions on Twitter and online news reports during competitions.
In 2006, the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), criticized Beyoncé for wearing and using fur in her clothing line House of Deréon. Emmett Price, a professor of music at Northeastern University, wrote in 2007 that he thinks race plays a role in many criticisms of Beyoncé's image, saying white celebrities who dress similarly do not attract as many comments. In 2008, the French personal care company L'Oréal was accused of whitening her skin in their Feria hair color advertisements, responding that "it is categorically untrue", and in 2013, Beyoncé herself criticized H&M for their proposed "retouching" of promotional images of her, and according to Vogue requested that only "natural pictures be used".
Beyoncé has been a vocal advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement. The release of "Formation" on February 6, 2016, saw her celebrate her Sub-Saharan Black African ancestry, with the song's music video featuring pro-black imagery and a shot of wall graffiti that says "Stop shooting us". The day after the song's release, she performed it at the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show with back up dancers dressed to represent the Black Panther Party. This incited criticism from conservative politicians and police officers, with some police boycotting Beyoncé's then upcoming Formation World Tour. Beyoncé responded to the backlash by releasing tour merchandise that said "Boycott Beyoncé", and later clarified her sentiment, saying: "Anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken. I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of officers who sacrifice themselves to keep us safe," Beyoncé said. "But let's be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things."
Personal life
Marriage and children
In 2002, Beyoncé and Jay-Z collaborated on the song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde", which appeared on his seventh album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002). Beyoncé appeared as Jay-Z's girlfriend in the music video for the song, fueling speculation about their relationship. On April 4, 2008, Beyoncé and Jay-Z married without publicity. As of April 2014, the couple had sold a combined 300 million records together. They are known for their private relationship, although they have appeared to become more relaxed since 2013. Both have acknowledged difficulty that arose in their marriage after Jay-Z had an affair.
Beyoncé miscarried around 2010 or 2011, describing it as "the saddest thing" she had ever endured. She returned to the studio and wrote music to cope with the loss. In April 2011, Beyoncé and Jay-Z traveled to Paris to shoot the album cover for 4, and she unexpectedly became pregnant in Paris. In August, the couple attended the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, at which Beyoncé performed "Love On Top" and ended the performance by revealing she was pregnant. Her appearance helped that year's MTV Video Music Awards become the most-watched broadcast in MTV history, pulling in 12.4 million viewers; the announcement was listed in Guinness World Records for "most tweets per second recorded for a single event" on Twitter, receiving 8,868 tweets per second and "Beyonce pregnant" was the most Googled phrase the week of August 29, 2011. On January 7, 2012, Beyoncé gave birth to a daughter, Blue Ivy, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Following the release of Lemonade, which included the single "Sorry", in 2016, speculations arose about Jay-Z's alleged infidelity with a mistress referred to as "Becky". Jon Pareles in The New York Times pointed out that many of the accusations were "aimed specifically and recognizably" at him. Similarly, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone noted the lines "Suck on my balls, I've had enough" were an "unmistakable hint" that the lyrics revolve around Jay-Z.
On February 1, 2017, she revealed on her Instagram account that she was expecting twins. Her announcement gained over 6.3 million likes within eight hours, breaking the world record for the most liked image on the website at the time. On July 13, 2017, Beyoncé uploaded the first image of herself and the twins onto her Instagram account, confirming their birth date as a month prior, on June 13, 2017, with the post becoming the second most liked on Instagram, behind her own pregnancy announcement. The twins, a daughter named Rumi and a son named Sir, were born at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in California via caesarean section. She wrote of her pregnancy and its aftermath in the September 2018 issue of Vogue, in which she had full control of the cover, shot at Hammerwood Park by photographer Tyler Mitchell.
Politics
Beyoncé performed "America the Beautiful" at President Barack Obama's 2009 presidential inauguration, as well as "At Last" during the first inaugural dance at the Neighborhood Ball two days later. The couple held a fundraiser at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club in Manhattan for President Obama's 2012 presidential campaign which raised $4 million. Beyoncé voted for Obama in the 2012 presidential election. She performed the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" at his second inauguration in January 2013.
The Washington Post reported in May 2015, that Beyoncé attended a major celebrity fundraiser for 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. She also headlined for Clinton in a concert held the weekend before Election Day the next year. In this performance, Beyoncé and her entourage of backup dancers wore pantsuits; a clear allusion to Clinton's frequent dress-of-choice. The backup dancers also wore "I'm with her" tee shirts, the campaign slogan for Clinton. In a brief speech at this performance Beyoncé said, "I want my daughter to grow up seeing a woman lead our country and knowing that her possibilities are limitless." She endorsed the bid of Beto O'Rourke during the 2018 United States Senate election in Texas.
In July 2024, Beyoncé gave Vice President Kamala Harris permission to use Lemonade promotional single "Freedom" as the official song for her 2024 presidential campaign. Harris subsequently launched a digital ad in support of her candidacy featuring the song.
Activism
In 2013, Beyoncé stated in an interview in Vogue that she considered herself to be "a modern-day feminist". She would later align herself more publicly with the movement, sampling "We should all be feminists", a speech delivered by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at a TEDx talk in April 2013, in her song "Flawless", released later that year. The next year she performed live at the MTV Video Awards in front a giant backdrop reading "Feminist". Her self-identification incited a circulation of opinions and debate about whether her feminism is aligned with older, more established feminist ideals. Annie Lennox, celebrated artist and feminist advocate, referred to Beyoncé's use of her word feminist as 'feminist lite'.
Adichie responded with "her type of feminism is not mine, as it is the kind that, at the same time, gives quite a lot of space to the necessity of men." Adichie expands upon what "feminist lite" means to her, referring that "more troubling is the idea, in Feminism Lite, that men are naturally superior but should be expected to 'treat women well'" and "we judge powerful women more harshly than we judge powerful men. And Feminism Lite enables this."
Beyoncé responded about her intent by utilizing the definition of feminist with her platform was to "give clarity to the true meaning" behind it. She says to understand what being a feminist is, "it's very simple. It's someone who believes in equal rights for men and women." She advocated to provide equal opportunities for young boys and girls, men and women must begin to understand the double standards that remain persistent in our societies and the issue must be illuminated in effort to start making changes.
She has also contributed to the Ban Bossy campaign, which uses TV and social media to encourage leadership in girls. Following Beyoncé's public identification as a feminist, the sexualized nature of her performances and the fact that she championed her marriage was questioned.
In December 2012, Beyoncé along with a variety of other celebrities teamed up and produced a video campaign for "Demand A Plan", a bipartisan effort by a group of 950 U.S. mayors and others designed to influence the federal government into rethinking its gun control laws, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Beyoncé publicly endorsed same-sex marriage on March 26, 2013, after the Supreme Court debate on California's Proposition 8. She spoke against North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, a bill passed (and later repealed) that discriminated against the LGBT community in public places in a statement during her concert in Raleigh as part of the Formation World Tour in 2016.
She has condemned police brutality against black Americans. She and Jay-Z attended a rally in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin. The film for her sixth album Lemonade included the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, holding pictures of their sons in the video for "Freedom". In a 2016 interview with Elle, Beyoncé responded to the controversy surrounding her song "Formation" which was perceived to be critical of the police. She clarified, "I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things. If celebrating my roots and culture during Black History Month made anyone uncomfortable, those feelings were there long before a video and long before me".
In February 2017, Beyoncé spoke out against the withdrawal of protections for transgender students in public schools by Donald Trump's presidential administration. Posting a link to the 100 Days of Kindness campaign on her Facebook page, Beyoncé voiced her support for transgender youth and joined a roster of celebrities who spoke out against Trump's decision.
Interests
Beyoncé has been documented pursuing many passions, sometimes being described as a renaissance woman. Some of these include canvas painting, video editing, poetry, scriptwriting, lighting design, photography, cultural historiography and beekeeping (with around 80,000 bees).
I started painting portraits of women [in 2002], while filming Austin Powers [...] I got hooked and wouldn't sleep. I made this special room with saris and pillows. I would light candles, play Miles Davis and Björk, and paint all night. It was very therapeutic. Whenever I finish one of my paintings, I try to figure out what it represents in my life. I'll be like, 'It's dark behind her and light in front of her, so a dark period must be coming to an end. Something light and beautiful is going to happen.'
Wealth
Forbes magazine began reporting on Beyoncé's earnings in 2008, calculating that the $80 million earned between June 2007 to June 2008, for her music, tour, films and clothing line made her the world's best-paid music personality at the time, above Madonna and Celine Dion. It placed her fourth on the Celebrity 100 list in 2009 and ninth on the "Most Powerful Women in the World" list in 2010. The following year, the magazine placed her eighth on the "Best-Paid Celebrities Under 30" list, having earned $35 million in the past year for her clothing line and endorsement deals. In 2012, Forbes placed Beyoncé at number 16 on the Celebrity 100 list, twelve places lower than three years ago yet still having earned $40 million in the past year for her album 4, clothing line and endorsement deals.
In 2012, Beyoncé and Jay-Z placed at number one on the "World's Highest-Paid Celebrity Couples", for collectively earning $78 million. The couple made it into the previous year's Guinness World Records as the "highest-earning power couple" for collectively earning $122 million in 2009. For the years 2009 to 2011, Beyoncé earned an average of $70 million per year, and earned $40 million in 2012. In 2013, Beyoncé's endorsements of Pepsi and H&M made her and Jay-Z the world's first billion-dollar couple in the music industry. That year, Beyoncé was published as the fourth-most-powerful celebrity in the Forbes rankings.
In June 2014, Beyoncé ranked at number one on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, earning an estimated $115 million throughout June 2013 – June 2014. This in turn was the first time she had topped the Celebrity 100 list as well as being her highest yearly earnings to date. In 2016, Beyoncé ranked at number 34 on the Celebrity 100 list with earnings of $54 million. She and Jay-Z also topped the highest-paid celebrity couple list, with combined earnings of $107.5 million.
Beyoncé is one of the wealthiest musical artists. As of 2018, Forbes calculated her net worth to be $355 million, and in June of the same year, ranked her as the 35th-highest-earning celebrity, with annual earnings of $60 million. This tied Beyoncé with Madonna as the only two female artists to earn more than $100 million within a single year twice. As a couple, Beyoncé and Jay-Z have a combined net worth of $1.16 billion. In July 2017, Billboard announced that Beyoncé was the highest-paid musician of 2016, with an estimated total of $62.1 million. By December 2023, Forbes estimated Beyoncé's net worth to be $800 million.
In 2023, the couple bought a house in Malibu, California, designed by the architect Tadao Ando, for $200 million. It established a record for the most expensive residence sold in the state of California.
Legacy
Beyoncé's success has led to her becoming a cultural icon and earning her the nickname "Queen Bey". Constance Grady wrote for Vox, "The transformation of Beyoncé from well-liked pop star to cultural icon came in three phases, punctuated by the self-titled Beyoncé album of 2013, 2016's Lemonade, and 2018's Homecoming concert at Coachella." In The New Yorker, music critic Jody Rosen described Beyoncé as "the most important and compelling popular musician of the twenty-first century ... the result, the logical end point, of a century-plus of pop." She topped NPR list of the "21st Century's Most Influential Women Musicians". James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits (2018), draws a parallel between Beyoncé's success and the dramatic transformations in modern society: "In the last one hundred years, we have seen the rise of the car, the airplane, the television, the personal computer, the internet, the smartphone, and Beyoncé." The Observer named her Artist of the Decade (2000s) in 2009.
Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Alex Suskind opined that Beyoncé was the decade's (2010s) defining pop star, stating "no one dominated music in the 2010s like Queen Bey", explaining that her "songs, album rollouts, stage presence, social justice initiatives, and disruptive public relations strategy have influenced the way we've viewed music since 2010." Based on Billboard rankings of chart success and sales, Beyonce was ranked 9th on the Top R&B and Hip Hop artists of the 2010s decade chart, behind the likes of Drake, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar and Lil Wayne in ranks 1 through 8, respectively. British publication NME also shared similar thoughts on her impact in the 2010s, including Beyoncé on their list of the "10 Artists Who Defined The Decade". In 2018, Rolling Stone included her on its Millennial 100 list.
Music critics have often credited Beyoncé with the invention of the staccato rap-singing style that has since dominated pop, R&B, and rap music. Lakin Starling of The Fader wrote that Beyoncé's innovative implementation of the delivery style on Destiny's Child's 1999 album The Writing's on the Wall invented a new form of R&B. The staccato rap-singing style continued to be used in the music industry in the late 2010s and early 2020s; Aaron Williams of Uproxx described Beyoncé as the "primary pioneer" of the rapping style that dominates the music industry today, with many rappers implementing Beyoncé's rap-singing. Michael Eric Dyson agrees, saying in 2019 that Beyoncé "changed the whole genre" and has become the "godmother" of mumble rappers, who use the staccato rap-singing cadence. Dyson added: "She doesn't get credit for the remarkable way in which she changed the musical vocabulary of contemporary art."
Beyoncé has been credited with reviving the album as an art form in an era dominated by singles and streaming. This started with her 2011 album 4; while mainstream R&B artists were forgoing albums-led R&B in favor of singles-led EDM, Beyoncé aimed to place the focus back on albums as an art form and re-establish R&B as a mainstream concern. This remained a focus of Beyoncé's, and in 2013, she made her eponymous album only available to purchase as a full album on iTunes, rather than being able to purchase individual tracks or consume the album via streaming. Kaitlin Menza of Marie Claire wrote that this made listeners "experience the album as one whole sonic experience, the way people used to, noting the musical and lyrical themes".
Jamieson Cox for The Verge described how Beyoncé's 2013 album initiated a gradual trend of albums becoming more cohesive and self-referential, and this phenomenon reached its endpoint with Lemonade, which set "a new standard for pop storytelling at the highest possible scale". Megan Carpentier of The Guardian wrote that with Lemonade, Beyoncé has "almost revived the album format" by releasing an album that can only be listened to in its entirety. Myf Warhurst on Double J's "Lunch With Myf" explained that while most artists' albums consist of a few singles plus filler songs, Beyoncé "brought the album back", changing the art form of the album "to a narrative with an arc and a story and you have to listen to the entire thing to get the concept".
She is known for coining popular phrases such as "put a ring on it", a euphemism for marriage proposal, "I woke up like this", which started a trend of posting morning selfies with the hashtag #iwokeuplikethis, and "boy, bye", which was used as part of the Democratic National Committee's campaign for the 2020 election. Similarly, she also came up with the phrase "visual album" following the release of her fifth studio album, which had a video for every song. This has been recreated by many other artists since, such as Frank Ocean and Melanie Martinez. The album also popularized surprise releases, with many artists releasing songs, videos or albums with no prior announcement, such as Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z and Drake.
In January 2012, research scientist Bryan Lessard named Scaptia beyonceae, a species of horse-fly found in Northern Queensland, Australia after Beyoncé due to the fly's unique golden hairs on its abdomen.
Achievements
Beyoncé has received numerous awards and is the most-awarded female artist of all time. Having sold over 200 million records worldwide (a further 60 million additionally with Destiny's Child), Beyoncé is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) listed Beyoncé as the top certified artist of the 2000s decade, with a total of 64 certifications. In 2009, Billboard named her the Top Female Artist and Top Radio Songs Artist of the Decade.
In 2010, Billboard named her in their Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years list at number 15. In 2012, VH1 ranked her third on their list of the "100 Greatest Women in Music", behind Mariah Carey and Madonna. In 2002, she received Songwriter of the Year from American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers becoming the First African American woman to win the award. In 2004 and 2019, she received NAACP Image Award for Entertainer of the Year and the Soul Train Music Award for Sammy Davis Jr. – Entertainer of the Year.
In 2005, she also received APEX Award at the Trumpet Award honoring the achievements of Black African Americans. In 2007, Beyoncé received the International Artist of Excellence award by the American Music Awards. She also received Honorary Otto at the Bravo Otto. The following year, she received the Legend Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts at the World Music Awards and Career Achievement Award at the LOS40 Music Awards. In 2010, she received the Award of Honor for Artist of the Decade at the NRJ Music Award. At the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, Beyoncé received the inaugural Billboard Millennium Award.
Beyoncé received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards and was honored as Honorary Mother of the Year at the Australian Mother of the Year Award in Barnardo's Australia for her Humanitarian Effort in the region and the Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Icon Award in 2016. In 2019, alongside Jay-Z, she received GLAAD Vanguard Award which is presented to a member of the entertainment community who does not identify as LGBT but who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT people. In 2020, she was awarded the BET Humanitarian Award. Consequence named her the 30th best singer of all time.
Beyoncé has won 32 Grammy Awards, both as a solo artist and member of Destiny's Child and The Carters, making her the most honored individual by the Grammys. She is also the most nominated artist in Grammy Award history with a total of 88 nominations. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" won Song of the Year in 2010 while "Say My Name", "Crazy in Love" and "Drunk in Love" have each won Best R&B Song. Dangerously in Love, B'Day and I Am... Sasha Fierce have won Best Contemporary R&B Album, while Lemonade has won Best Urban Contemporary Album. Beyoncé set the record for the most Grammy awards won by a female artist in one night in 2010 when she won six awards, breaking the tie she previously held with Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Alison Krauss, and Amy Winehouse, with Adele equaling this in 2012.
Beyoncé has won 30 MTV Video Music Awards, making her the joint most-decorated artist in Video Music Award history. She won 26 awards as a solo artist, two awards each with The Carters and Destiny's Child, making her lifetime total of 30 VMAs. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "Formation" won Video of the Year in 2009 and 2016 respectively. Beyoncé tied the record set by Lady Gaga in 2010 for the most VMAs won in one night for a female artist with eight in 2016. She is also the most-awarded and nominated artist in BET Award history, winning 36 awards (including two with Destiny's Child) from over 80 nominations, the most-awarded artist of the Soul Train Music Awards with 25 wins (21 as a soloist and four with Destiny's child), and the most-decorated artist at the NAACP Image Awards with 25 wins as a solo artist and five with Destiny's Child.
Following her role in Dreamgirls, Beyoncé was nominated for Best Original Song for "Listen" and Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards, and Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards. Beyoncé won two awards at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2006; Best Song for "Listen" and Best Original Soundtrack for Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture. According to Fuse in 2014, Beyoncé is the second-most award-winning artist of all time, after Michael Jackson. Lemonade won a Peabody Award in 2017. In 2022, "Be Alive" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
She was named on the 2016 BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Power List as one of seven women judged to have had the biggest impact on women's lives over the past 70 years, alongside Margaret Thatcher, Barbara Castle, Helen Brook, Germaine Greer, Jayaben Desai and Bridget Jones, She was named the Most Powerful Woman in Music on the same list in 2020. In the same year, Billboard named her with Destiny's Child the third Greatest Music Video artists of all time, behind Madonna and Michael Jackson.
On June 16, 2021, Beyoncé won the award of "top touring artist" of the decade (2010s) at the Pollstar Awards. On June 17, 2021, Beyoncé was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame as a member of the inaugural class.
Business and ventures
In 2010, Beyoncé founded her own entertainment company Parkwood Entertainment which formed as an imprint based from Columbia Records, the company began as a production unit for videos and films in 2008. Parkwood Entertainment is named after a street in Houston, Texas where Beyoncé once lived. With headquarters in New York City, the company serves as an umbrella for the entertainer's various brands in music, movies, videos, and fashion. The staff of Parkwood Entertainment have experiences in arts and entertainment, from filmmaking and video production to web and fashion design. In addition to departments in marketing, digital, creative, publicity, fashion design and merchandising, the company houses a state-of-the-art editing suite, where Beyoncé works on content for her worldwide tours, music videos, and television specials. Parkwood Entertainment's first production was the musical biopic Cadillac Records (2008), in which Beyoncé starred and co-produced. The company has distributed Beyoncé's albums such as her self-titled fifth studio album (2013), Lemonade (2016) and The Carters, Everything is Love (2018). Beyoncé has signed other artists to Parkwood such as Chloe x Halle, who performed at Super Bowl LIII in February 2019.
In February 2024, Beyoncé launched Cécred, a hair care product line developed to fit different hair textures. Following its launch, she established an annual grant in collaboration with BeyGood. This is an effort to provide financial support to cosmetology students and professional hair stylists within the beauty industry. A yearly $500,000 is funding cosmetology school scholarships and salon business grants across five cities chosen for their large, diverse community of hair stylists: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Clementon.
Endorsements and partnerships
Beyoncé has worked with Pepsi since 2002, and in 2004 appeared in a Gladiator-themed commercial with Britney Spears, Pink, and Enrique Iglesias. In 2012, Beyoncé signed a $50 million deal to endorse Pepsi. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPINET) wrote Beyoncé an open letter asking her to reconsider the deal because of the unhealthiness of the product and to donate the proceeds to a medical organisation. Nevertheless, NetBase found that Beyoncé's campaign was the most talked about endorsement in April 2013, with a 70 percent positive audience response to the commercial and print ads.
Beyoncé has worked with Tommy Hilfiger for the fragrances True Star (singing a cover version of "Wishing on a Star") and True Star Gold; she also promoted Emporio Armani's Diamonds fragrance in 2007. Beyoncé launched her first official fragrance, Heat, in 2010. In February 2011, Beyoncé launched her second fragrance, Heat Rush. Beyoncé's third fragrance, Pulse, was launched in September 2011. In 2013, The Mrs. Carter Show Limited Edition version of Heat was released. The six editions of Heat are the world's best-selling celebrity fragrance line, with sales of over $400 million.
The release of a video-game Starpower: Beyoncé was cancelled after Beyoncé pulled out of a $100 million deal with GateFive who alleged the cancellation meant the sacking of 70 staff and millions of pounds lost in development. It was settled out of court by her lawyers in June 2013 who said that they had cancelled because GateFive had lost its financial backers. Beyoncé also has had deals with American Express, Nintendo DS and L'Oréal since the age of 18.
In March 2015, Beyoncé became a co-owner, with other artists, of the music streaming service Tidal. The service specializes in lossless audio and high definition music videos. Beyoncé's husband Jay-Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015. Including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, sixteen artist stakeholders (such as Kanye West, Rihanna, Madonna, Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj and more) co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake. The idea of having an all artist owned streaming service was created by those involved to adapt to the increased demand for streaming within the current music industry.
In November 2020, Beyoncé formed a multi-year partnership with exercise equipment and media company Peloton. The partnership was formed to celebrate homecoming season in historically black colleges and universities, providing themed workout experiences inspired by Beyoncé's 2019 Homecoming film and live album after 2020's homecoming celebrations were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the partnership, Beyoncé and Peloton are donating free memberships to all students at 10 HBCUs, and Peloton are pursuing long-term recruiting partnerships at the HCBUs. Gwen Bethel Riley, head of music at Peloton, said: "When we had conversations with Beyoncé around how critical a social impact component was to all of us, it crystallized how important it was to embrace Homecoming as an opportunity to celebrate and create dialogue around Black culture and music, in partnership with HBCUs." Upon news of the partnership, a decline in Peloton's shares reversed, and its shares rose by 8.6%.
In 2021, Beyoncé and Jay-Z partnered with Tiffany & Co. for the company's "About Love" campaign. Beyoncé became the fourth woman, and first Black woman, to wear the 128.54-carat Tiffany Yellow Diamond. The campaign featured a robin egg blue painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat titled Equals Pi (1982). Both Beyonce and the brand faced significant backlash for the campaign, as the Tiffany Yellow Diamond, which was discovered in the Kimberley diamond mines in South Africa in 1877, is classified as a blood diamond and viewed as a symbol of British colonialism over Africa.
Fashion lines
Beyoncé and her mother introduced House of Deréon, a women's fashion line, in 2005. The concept is inspired by three generations of women in their family, with the name paying tribute to Beyoncé's grandmother, Agnèz Deréon, a respected seamstress. According to Tina, the overall style of the line best reflects her and Beyoncé's taste and style. Beyoncé and her mother founded their family's company Beyond Productions, which provides the licensing and brand management for House of Deréon, and its junior collection, Deréon. House of Deréon pieces were exhibited in Destiny's Child's shows and tours, during their Destiny Fulfilled era. The collection features sportswear, denim offerings with fur, outerwear and accessories that include handbags and footwear, and are available at department and specialty stores across the U.S. and Canada.
In 2005, Beyoncé teamed up with House of Brands, a shoe company, to produce a range of footwear for House of Deréon. In January 2008, Starwave Mobile launched Beyoncé Fashion Diva, a "high-style" mobile game with a social networking component, featuring the House of Deréon collection. In July 2009, Beyoncé and her mother launched a new junior apparel label, Sasha Fierce for Deréon, for back-to-school selling. The collection included sportswear, outerwear, handbags, footwear, eyewear, lingerie and jewelry. It was available at department stores including Macy's and Dillard's, and specialty stores Jimmy Jazz and Against All Odds. In May 2010, Beyoncé teamed up with clothing store C&A to launch Deréon by Beyoncé at their stores in Brazil. The collection included tailored blazers with padded shoulders, little black dresses, embroidered tops and shirts and bandage dresses.
In October 2014, Beyoncé signed a deal to launch an activewear line of clothing with British fashion retailer Topshop. The 50–50 venture is called Ivy Park and was launched in April 2016. The brand's name is a nod to Beyoncé's daughter and her favorite number four (IV in Roman numerals), and also references the park where she used to run in Texas. She has since bought out Topshop owner Philip Green from his 50% share after he was alleged to have sexually harassed, bullied and racially abused employees. She now owns the brand herself.
In April 2019, it was announced that Beyoncé would become a creative partner with Adidas and further develop her athletic brand Ivy Park with the company. Knowles will also develop new clothes and footwear for Adidas. Shares for the company rose 1.3% upon the news release. In December 2019, they announced a launch date of January 18, 2020. Beyoncé uploaded a teaser on her website and Instagram. The collection was previewed on the upcoming Elle January 2020 issue, where Beyoncé is seen wearing several garments, accessories and footwear from the first collection. In February 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that the line was struggling financially with revenue falling by more than 50% over the past fiscal year to $40 million; well short of the company's $250 million projected forecast. In March 2023, it was announced that Beyoncé and Adidas reached a mutual decision to end their partnership.
Later in March 2023, Olivier Rousteing, the creative director of Balmain, announced that he and Beyoncé collaborated on a couture collection complete with sixteen looks corresponding to the sixteen tracks on her album Renaissance. This "Renaissance Couture" collection marked the first time that a Black woman oversaw the development of a collection from a Parisian couture house.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Tina Knowles built the Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth, a community center in Downtown Houston. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Beyoncé and Rowland founded the Survivor Foundation to provide transitional housing to displaced families and provide means for new building construction, to which Beyoncé contributed an initial $250,000. The foundation has since expanded to work with other charities in the city, and also provided relief following Hurricane Ike three years later. Beyoncé also donated $100,000 to the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund. In 2007, Beyoncé founded the Knowles-Temenos Place Apartments, a housing complex offering living space for 43 displaced individuals. As of 2016, Beyoncé had donated $7 million for the maintenance of the complex.
After starring in Cadillac Records in 2009 and learning about Phoenix House, a non-profit drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization, Beyoncé donated her full $4 million salary from the film to the organization. Beyoncé and her mother subsequently established the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center, which offers a seven-month cosmetology training course helping Phoenix House's clients gain career skills during their recovery.
In January 2010, Beyoncé participated in George Clooney and Wyclef Jean's Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief telethon, donated a large sum to the organization, and was named the official face of the limited edition Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) "Fashion For Haiti" T-shirt. In April 2011, Beyoncé joined forces with U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation, to help boost the latter's campaign against child obesity by reworking her single "Get Me Bodied". Following the death of Osama bin Laden, Beyoncé released her cover of the Lee Greenwood song "God Bless the U.S.A.", as a charity single to help raise funds for the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund.
Beyoncé became an ambassador for the 2012 World Humanitarian Day campaign donating her song "I Was Here" and its music video, shot in the UN, to the campaign. In 2013, it was announced that Beyoncé would work with Salma Hayek and Frida Giannini on a Gucci "Chime for Change" campaign that aims to spread female empowerment. The campaign, which aired on February 28, was set to her new music. A concert for the cause took place on June 1, 2013, in London. With help of the crowdfunding platform Catapult, visitors of the concert could choose between several projects promoting education of women and girls. Beyoncé also took part in "Miss a Meal", a food-donation campaign, and supported Goodwill Industries through online charity auctions at Charitybuzz that support job creation throughout Europe and the U.S.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z secretly donated tens of thousands of dollars to bail out Black Lives Matter protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson, as well as funded infrastructure for the establishment of Black Lives Matter chapters across the U.S. Before Beyoncé's Formation World Tour show in Tampa, her team held a private luncheon for more than 20 community leaders to discuss how Beyoncé could support local charitable initiatives, including pledging on the spot to fund 10 scholarships to provide students with financial aid. Tampa Sports Authority board member Thomas Scott said: "I don't know of a prior artist meeting with the community, seeing what their needs are, seeing how they can invest in the community. It says a lot to me about Beyoncé. She not only goes into a community and walks away with (money), but she also gives money back to that community."
In June 2016, Beyoncé donated over $82,000 to the United Way of Genesee County to support victims of the Flint water crisis. Beyoncé additionally donated money to support 14 students in Michigan with their college expenses. In August 2016, Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated $1.5 million to civil rights groups including Black Lives Matter, Hands Up United and Dream Defenders. After Hurricane Matthew, Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated $15 million to the Usain Bolt Foundation to support its efforts in rebuilding homes in Haiti.
During Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, Beyoncé launched BeyGOOD Houston to support those affected by the hurricane in Houston. The organization donated necessities such as cots, blankets, pillows, baby products, feminine products and wheelchairs, and funded long-term revitalization projects. On September 8, Beyoncé visited Houston, where she sponsored a lunch for 400 survivors at her local church, visited the George R Brown Convention Center to discuss with people displaced by the flooding about their needs, served meals to those who lost their homes, and made a significant donation to local causes. Beyoncé additionally donated $75,000 worth of new mattresses to survivors of the hurricane. Later that month, Beyoncé released a remix of J Balvin and Willy William's "Mi Gente", with all of her proceeds being donated to disaster relief charities in Puerto Rico, Mexico, the U.S. and the Caribbean after hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, and the Chiapas and Puebla earthquakes.
In April 2020, Beyoncé donated $6 million to the National Alliance in Mental Health, UCLA and local community-based organizations in order to provide mental health and personal wellness services to essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. BeyGOOD also teamed up with local organizations to help provide resources to communities of color, including food, water, cleaning supplies, medicines and face masks. The same month Beyoncé released a remix of Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage", with all proceeds benefiting Bread of Life Houston's COVID-19 relief efforts, which includes providing over 14 tons of food and supplies to 500 families and 100 senior citizens in Houston weekly.
In May 2020, Beyoncé provided 1,000 free COVID-19 tests in Houston as part of her and her mother's #IDidMyPart initiative, which was established due to the disproportionate deaths in African-American communities. Additionally, 1,000 gloves, masks, hot meals, essential vitamins, grocery vouchers and household items were provided. In July 2020, Beyoncé established the Black-Owned Small Business Impact Fund in partnership with the NAACP, which offers $10,000 grants to black-owned small businesses in need following the George Floyd protests. All proceeds from Beyoncé's single "Black Parade" were donated to the fund. In September 2020, Beyoncé announced that she had donated an additional $1 million to the fund. As of December 31, 2020, the fund had given 715 grants to black-owned small businesses, amounting to $7.15 million donated.
In October 2020, Beyoncé released a statement that she has been working with the Feminist Coalition to assist supporters of the End SARS movement in Nigeria, including covering medical costs for injured protestors, covering legal fees for arrested protestors, and providing food, emergency shelter, transportation and telecommunication means to those in need. Beyoncé also showed support for those fighting against other issues in Africa, such as the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon, ShutItAllDown in Namibia, Zimbabwean Lives Matter in Zimbabwe and the Rape National Emergency in Liberia. In December 2020, Beyoncé donated $500,000 to help alleviate the housing crisis in the U.S. caused by the cessation of the eviction moratorium, giving 100 $5,000 grants to individuals and families facing foreclosures and evictions.
Discography
Filmography
Tours and residencies
See also
Forbes list of highest-earning musicians
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of artists with the most number-one European singles
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
List of black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees
List of highest-grossing live music artists
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Notes
References
External links
Official website
Beyoncé at AllMusic
Beyoncé at Amazon Music
Beyoncé discography at Discogs
Beyoncé at IMDb |
Andr%C3%A9_the_Giant | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_the_Giant | [
512
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_the_Giant"
] | André René Roussimoff (French: [ɑ̃dʁe ʁəne ʁusimɔf]; 19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), better known by his ring name André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. Dubbed "the Eighth Wonder of the World", Roussimoff was known for his great size, which was a result of gigantism caused by excess human growth hormone.
Beginning his career in 1966, Roussimoff relocated to North America in 1971. From 1973 to the mid-1980s, Roussimoff was booked by World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) promoter Vincent J. McMahon as a roving "special attraction" who wrestled for promotions throughout the United States, as well as in Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. During the 1980s wrestling boom, Roussimoff became a mainstay of the WWWF (by then renamed the World Wrestling Federation), being paired with the villainous manager Bobby Heenan and feuding with Hulk Hogan. The two headlined WrestleMania III in 1987, and in 1988, he defeated Hogan to win the WWF Championship, his sole world heavyweight championship, on the first episode of The Main Event. As his WWF career wound down after WrestleMania VI in 1990, Roussimoff wrestled primarily for All Japan Pro-Wrestling, usually alongside Giant Baba, until his sudden death.
After his death in 1993, Roussimoff became the inaugural inductee into the newly created WWF Hall of Fame. He was later a charter member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame; the latter describes him as being "one of the most recognizable figures in the world both as a professional wrestler and as a pop culture icon." Outside of wrestling, Roussimoff is best known for appearing as Fezzik, the giant in the 1987 film The Princess Bride.
Early life
André René Roussimoff was born on 19 May 1946 in Coulommiers, Seine-et-Marne, the son of immigrants Boris Roussimoff (1907–1993) and Mariann Roussimoff Stoeff (1910–1997); his father was Bulgarian and his mother was Polish. He was raised Catholic. He had two older siblings and two younger. His childhood nickname was Dédé (, French: [dede]). At birth, André weighed 13 pounds (6 kg); as a child, he displayed symptoms of gigantism, and was noted as "a good head taller than other kids", with abnormally long hands. In a 1970s television interview, Roussimoff stated that his mother was 5 feet 2 inches (157 cm) tall and his father 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm) tall, and that according to his father his grandfather was 7 feet 8 inches (234 cm) tall. By the time he was 12, Roussimoff stood 191 cm (6 ft 3 in).
Roussimoff was an average student, though good at mathematics. When he was 14, Rousimoff decided against further schooling and joined the workforce, believing what he learned was sufficient for a career as a farmhand. He did not drop out of school, as compulsory education laws in France were no longer applicable to those aged 14 or older.
Roussimoff spent years working on his father's farm in Molien, where, according to his brother Jacques, he could perform the work of three men. He also completed an apprenticeship in woodworking, and next worked in a factory that manufactured engines for hay balers. None of these brought him any satisfaction. While Roussimoff was growing up in the 1950s, the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was one of several adults who sometimes drove local children to school, including Roussimoff and his siblings. They had a surprising amount of common ground and bonded over their love of cricket, with Roussimoff recalling that the two rarely talked about anything else.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1964–1973)
At the age of 18, Roussimoff moved to Paris and was taught professional wrestling by a local promoter, Robert Lageat, who recognized the earning potential of Roussimoff's size. He trained at night and worked as a mover during the day to pay living expenses. Roussimoff was billed as "Géant Ferré", a name based on the Picardian folk hero Grand Ferré. This later became "Jean Ferre". Canadian promoter and wrestler Frank Valois met Roussimoff in 1966, years later to become his business manager and adviser.
Roussimoff began his career wrestling in his native France. He made his TV debut that year on French national television against Le Petit Prince. In 1968 he defeated Franz Van Buyten for the FFCP World Heavyweight Championship In 1969 he appeared on the United Kingdom's World of Sport program's regular wrestling slot and defeated Jim Hussey, father of Mark Rocco. Roussimoff also began making a name for himself wrestling in Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa.
He made his Japanese debut for the International Wrestling Enterprise in 1970, billed as "Monster Roussimoff". Wrestling as both a singles and tag team competitor, he quickly was made the IWA World Tag Team Champion alongside Michael Nador. During his time in Japan, doctors first informed Roussimoff that he suffered from acromegaly.
Roussimoff next moved to Montreal, Canada in 1971, where he became an immediate success, regularly selling out the Montreal Forum. Promoters eventually ran out of plausible opponents for him and, as the novelty of his size wore off, the gate receipts dwindled. Roussimoff was defeated by Adnan Al-Kaissie in Baghdad in 1971, and wrestled numerous times in 1971 for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a special attraction.
Touring special attraction (1973–1984)
In 1973, Vincent J. McMahon, founder of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), became Rousimoff's agent. McMahon suggested several changes to Roussimoff's booking and presentation to enhance his starpower. He felt Roussimoff should be portrayed as a large, immovable monster, and to enhance the perception of his size, McMahon discouraged Roussimoff from performing maneuvers such as dropkicks (although he was capable of performing such agile maneuvers before his health deteriorated in later life). He also began billing Roussimoff as "André the Giant" and set up a travel-intensive schedule, lending him to wrestling associations around the world, to keep him from becoming overexposed in any area. Promoters had to guarantee Roussimoff a certain amount of money as well as pay McMahon's WWF booking fee.
On 24 March 1973, Roussimoff debuted in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (later World Wrestling Federation) as a fan favorite, defeating Frank Valois and Bull Pometti in a handicap match in Philadelphia. Two days later he made his debut in New York's Madison Square Garden, defeating Buddy Wolfe.
Roussimoff was one of professional wrestling's most beloved babyfaces throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. As such, Gorilla Monsoon often stated that Roussimoff had not been defeated in 15 years by pinfall or submission prior to WrestleMania III. He had lost matches outside of the WWF: a loss to Adnan Al-Kaissie in Baghdad, Iraq in 1971, pinfall losses to Don Leo Jonathan in Montreal in 1972, Killer Kowalski in Quebec City in 1972 two draws and a countout loss to The Sheik in Toronto in 1974 after a fireball was thrown in Andre's face, knockout to Jerry Lawler in Memphis in 1975 and a count out to Lawler in Louisville in 1977, draw with Bobo Brazil at a battle royal in Detroit in 1976, Ronnie Garvin in Knoxville in 1978, Stan Hansen by disqualification in Japan in 1981, Kamala by countout in Toronto in 1984 and Canek in Mexico in 1984 and submission losses in Japan to Strong Kobayashi in 1972 and Antonio Inoki in 1986. He also had sixty-minute time-limit draws with two of the three major world champions of the day, Harley Race in Houston in 1979 and Nick Bockwinkel in Chicago in 1976.
In 1976, at the second Showdown at Shea, Roussimoff fought professional boxer Chuck Wepner in an unscripted boxer-versus-wrestler fight. The wild fight was shown via telecast as part of the undercard of the Muhammad Ali versus Antonio Inoki fight and ended when he threw Wepner over the top rope and outside the ring and won via count-out.
In 1980, he feuded with Hulk Hogan, when, unlike their more famous matches in the late 1980s, Hogan was the villain and Roussimoff was the hero, wrestling him at Shea Stadium's third Showdown at Shea event and in Pennsylvania, where after Roussimoff pinned Hogan to win the match, Hogan bodyslammed him much like their legendary WrestleMania III match in 1987. The feud continued in Japan in 1982 and 1983 with their roles reversed and with Antonio Inoki also involved.
One of Roussimoff's feuds pitted him against the "Mongolian Giant" Killer Khan. According to the storyline, Khan snapped Roussimoff's ankle during a match on 2 May 1981 in Rochester, New York by leaping off the top rope and crashing down upon it with his knee-drop. In reality, he had broken his ankle getting out of bed the morning before the match. The injury and subsequent rehabilitation was worked into the existing Roussimoff/Khan storyline. After a stay at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Roussimoff returned with payback on his mind. The two battled on 20 July 1981, at Madison Square Garden in a match that resulted in a double disqualification. Their feud continued as fans filled arenas up and down the east coast to witness their matches. On 14 November 1981 at the Philadelphia Spectrum, he decisively defeated Khan in what was billed as a "Mongolian stretcher match", in which the loser must be taken to the dressing room on a stretcher. The same type of match was also held in Toronto. In early 1982 the two also fought in a series of matches in Japan with Arnold Skaaland in Roussimoff's corner.
World Wrestling Federation (1984–1991)
Feud with the Heenan Family (1984–1987)
In 1982, Vincent J. McMahon sold the World Wide Wrestling Federation to his son, Vince McMahon As McMahon began to expand his newly acquired promotion to the national level, he required his wrestlers to appear exclusively for him. McMahon signed Roussimoff to these terms in 1984, although he still allowed him to work in Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
Roussimoff feuded with Big John Studd over which of the two men was the "true giant" of wrestling. Throughout the early to mid-1980s, Roussimoff and Studd fought all over the world, battling to try to determine who the real giant of wrestling was. In 1984, Studd took the feud to a new level when he and partner Ken Patera knocked out Roussimoff during a televised tag-team match and proceeded to cut off his hair. After gaining revenge on Patera, Roussimoff met Studd in a "body slam challenge" at the first WrestleMania, held 31 March 1985, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Roussimoff slammed Studd to win the match and collect the $15,000 prize, then proceeded to throw cash to the fans before having the bag taken from him by Studd's manager, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
At WrestleMania 2 on 7 April 1986, Roussimoff continued to display his dominance by winning a twenty-man battle royal which featured top National Football League stars and wrestlers. He last eliminated Bret Hart to win the contest.
Following a final tour with New Japan Pro-Wrestling in mid-1986, and a win in Austria over CWA World champion Otto Wanz, Roussimoff began appearing exclusively with the World Wrestling Federation.
After WrestleMania 2, Roussimoff continued his feud with Studd and King Kong Bundy. Around this time, Roussimoff requested a leave of absence to tend to his health, since the effects from his acromegaly were beginning to take their toll, as well as to tour Japan. He had also been cast in the film The Princess Bride. To explain his absence, a storyline was developed in which Heenan—suggesting that Roussimoff was secretly afraid of Studd and Bundy, whom Heenan bragged were unbeatable—challenged Roussimoff and a partner of his choosing to wrestle Studd and Bundy in a televised tag-team match. When Roussimoff failed to show, WWF president Jack Tunney indefinitely suspended him. Later in the summer of 1986, upon Roussimoff's return to the United States, he began wearing a mask and competing as the "Giant Machine" in a stable known as the Machines. Big Machine and Super Machine were the other members; Hulk Hogan (as "Hulk Machine") and Roddy Piper (as "Piper Machine") were also one-time members. The WWF's television announcers sold the Machines—a gimmick that was copied from the New Japan Pro-Wrestling character "Super Strong Machine", played by Japanese wrestler Junji Hirata, —as "a new tag-team from Japan" and claimed not to know the identities of the wrestlers, even though it was obvious to fans that it was Roussimoff competing as the Giant Machine. Heenan, Studd, and Bundy complained to Tunney, who eventually told Heenan that if it could be proven that Roussimoff and the Giant Machine were the same person, Roussimoff would be fired. Roussimoff thwarted Heenan, Studd, and Bundy at every turn. Then, in late 1986, the Giant Machine "disappeared" and Roussimoff was reinstated. Foreshadowing Roussimoff's heel turn, Heenan expressed his approval of the reinstatement but did not explain why.
Alliance with Bobby Heenan and Ted DiBiase (1987–1989)
Roussimoff agreed to turn heel in early 1987 to be the counter to the biggest "babyface" in professional wrestling at that time, Hulk Hogan. On an edition of Piper's Pit in 1987, Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three years; Roussimoff came out to congratulate him, shaking Hogan's hand with a strong grip, which surprised the Hulkster. On the following week's Piper's Pit, Roussimoff was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "the only undefeated wrestler in wrestling history." Although he had suffered a handful of countout and disqualification losses in WWF, he had never been pinned or forced to submit in a WWF ring. Hogan came out to congratulate him and ended up being the focal point of the interview. Apparently annoyed, Roussimoff walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. A discussion between Roussimoff and Hogan was scheduled, and on a Piper's Pit that aired 7 February 1987, the two met. Hogan was introduced first, followed by Roussimoff, who was led by longtime rival Bobby Heenan.
Speaking on behalf of his new protégé, Heenan accused Hogan of being Roussimoff's friend only so he would not have to defend his title against him. Hogan tried to reason with Roussimoff, but his pleas were ignored as he challenged Hogan to a match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania III. Hogan was still seemingly in disbelief as to what Roussimoff was doing, prompting Heenan to say "You can't believe it? Maybe you'll believe this, Hogan" before Roussimoff ripped off the T-shirt and crucifix from Hogan, with the crucifix scratching Hogan's chest, causing him to bleed.
Following Hogan's acceptance of his challenge on a later edition of Piper's Pit, the two were part of a 20-man over-the-top-rope battle-royal on 14 March edition of Saturday Night's Main Event X at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Although the battle royal was won by Hercules, Roussimoff claimed to have gained a psychological advantage over Hogan when he threw the WWF World Heavyweight Champion over the top rope. The match, which was actually taped on 21 February 1987, aired only two weeks before WrestleMania III to make it seem like Hogan had met his match in André the Giant.
At WrestleMania III, he was billed at 520 lb (236 kg), and the stress of such immense weight on his bones and joints resulted in constant pain. After recent back surgery, he was also wearing a brace underneath his wrestling singlet. In front of a record crowd, Hogan won the match after body-slamming Roussimoff (later dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world"), followed by Hogan's running leg drop finisher. Years later, Hogan claimed that Roussimoff was so heavy, he felt more like 320 kg (700 lb), and that he tore his latissimus dorsi muscle when slamming him.
Another myth about the match is that no one, not even WWF owner Vince McMahon, knew until the day of the event whether Roussimoff would lose the match. In reality, he agreed to lose the match sometime before, mostly for health reasons. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the first time that Hogan had successfully body-slammed him in a WWF match. A then-heel Hogan had slammed a then-face Roussimoff following their match at the Showdown at Shea on 9 August 1980, though Roussimoff was somewhat lighter (around 210 kg (470 lb)) and more athletic at the time (Hogan also slammed him in a match in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, a month later). This took place in the territorial days of American wrestling three years before WWF began national expansion, so many of those who watched WrestleMania III had never seen the Giant slammed (Roussimoff had also previously allowed Harley Race, El Canek and Stan Hansen, among others, to slam him).
By the time of WrestleMania III, the WWF went national, giving more meaning to the Roussimoff–Hogan match that took place then. The feud between Roussimoff and Hogan simmered during the summer of 1987, as Roussimoff's health declined. The feud began heating up again when wrestlers were named the captains of rival teams at the inaugural Survivor Series event. During their approximately one minute of battling each other during the match, Hogan dominated Roussimoff and was on the brink of knocking him from the ring, but was tripped up by his partners, Bundy and One Man Gang, and would be counted out. Roussimoff went on to be the sole survivor of the match, pinning Bam Bam Bigelow before Hogan returned to the ring to attack André and knock him out of the ring. Roussimoff later got revenge when, after Hogan won a match against Bundy on Saturday Night's Main Event, he snuck up from behind and began choking Hogan to the brink of unconsciousness, not letting go even after an army of seven face-aligned wrestlers ran to the ring to try to pull him away; it took Hacksaw Jim Duggan breaking a piece of wood over his back (which he no-sold) for him to let go, after which Hogan was pulled to safety. As was the case with the SNME battle royal a year earlier, the series of events was one of the pieces that helped build interest in a possible one-on-one rematch between Hogan and Roussimoff, and to make it seem that Roussimoff was certain to win easily when they did meet. Meanwhile, Rousimoff returned to Germany in December 1987 for another match with Wanz, which he lost by countout.
In the meantime, the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase failed to persuade Hogan to sell him the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. After failing to defeat Hogan in a subsequent series of matches, DiBiase turned to Roussimoff to win it for him. He and DiBiase had teamed several times in the past, including in Japan and in the WWF in the late 1970s and early 1980s when both were faces at the time, but this was not acknowledged during this new storyline. The earlier attack and DiBiase's insertion into the feud set up the Hogan-Roussimoff rematch on The Main Event, to air 5 February 1988, on a live broadcast on NBC. Acting as his hired gun, Roussimoff won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Hogan (his first singles title) in a match where it was later revealed that appointed referee Dave Hebner was "detained backstage", and a replacement (whom Hogan afterwards initially accused of having been paid by DiBiase to get plastic surgery to look like Dave, but was revealed to have been his evil twin brother, Earl Hebner), who made a three-count on Hogan while Hogan's left shoulder was off the mat.
After winning, Roussimoff "sold" the title to DiBiase; the transaction was declared invalid by then-WWF president Jack Tunney and the title was declared vacant. This was shown on WWF's NBC program The Main Event. At WrestleMania IV, Roussimoff and Hulk Hogan fought to a double disqualification in a WWF title tournament match (with the idea in the storyline saying that Roussimoff was again working on DiBiase's behalf in giving DiBiase a clearer path in the tournament). Afterward, Roussimoff and Hogan's feud died down after a steel cage match held at WrestleFest on 31 July 1988, in Milwaukee. Hogan was the winner.
At the inaugural SummerSlam pay-per-view held at Madison Square Garden, Roussimoff and DiBiase (billed as The Mega Bucks) faced Hogan and WWF World Heavyweight Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage (known as The Mega Powers) in the main event, with Jesse "The Body" Ventura as the special guest referee. During the match, the Mega Powers' manager, Miss Elizabeth, distracted the Mega Bucks and Ventura when she climbed up on the ring apron, removed her yellow skirt and walked around in a pair of red panties. This allowed Hogan and Savage time to recover and eventually win the match with Hogan pinning DiBiase. Savage forced Ventura's hand down for the final three-count, due to Ventura's character historically being at odds with Hogan, and his unwillingness to count the fall.
Concurrent with the developing feud with the Mega Powers, Roussimoff was placed in a feud with Jim Duggan, which began after Duggan knocked out Roussimoff with a two-by-four board during a television taping. Despite Duggan's popularity with fans, Roussimoff regularly got the upper hand in the feud.
Roussimoff's next major feud was against Jake "The Snake" Roberts. In this storyline, it was said Roussimoff was afraid of snakes, something Roberts exposed on Saturday Night's Main Event when he threw his snake, Damien, on the frightened Roussimoff; as a result, he suffered a kayfabe mild heart attack and vowed revenge. During the next few weeks, Roberts frequently walked to ringside carrying his snake in its bag during Roussimoff's matches, causing the latter to run from the ring in fright. Throughout their feud (which culminated at WrestleMania V), Roberts constantly used Damien to gain a psychological edge over the much larger and stronger Roussimoff.
In 1989, Roussimoff and the returning Big John Studd briefly reprised their feud, beginning at WrestleMania V, when Studd was the referee in the match with Roberts, this time with Studd as a face and Roussimoff as the heel.
During the late summer and autumn of 1989, Roussimoff engaged in a brief feud, consisting almost entirely of house shows (non-televised events), and one televised match on 28 October 1989, at Madison Square Garden with then-WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior. Roussimoff began to wear face paint with a similar design to The Warrior and began called himself "The Ultimate Giant" when he appeared on The Brother Love Show. The younger Warrior, the WWF's rising star, regularly squashed the aging Roussimoff in an attempt to showcase his star quality and promote him as the "next big thing".
Colossal Connection (1989–1990)
In late 1989, Roussimoff was joined with fellow Heenan Family member Haku to form a new tag team called the Colossal Connection, in part to fill a void left by the departure of Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson (the Brain Busters, who were also members of Heenan's stable) from the WWF, and also to continue to keep the aging Roussimoff in the main event spotlight. His last singles match was a loss to The Ultimate Warrior in 20 seconds at a house show in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on 11 December 1989. The Colossal Connection immediately targeted WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (who had recently won the belts from the Brain Busters). At a television taping on 13 December 1989, the Colossal Connection defeated Demolition to win the titles. Roussimoff and Haku successfully defended their title, mostly against Demolition, until WrestleMania VI on 1 April 1990, when Demolition took advantage of a mistimed move by the champions to regain the belts. After the match, a furious Heenan blamed him for the title loss and after shouting at him, before Heenan slapped him in the face; an angry Roussimoff responded with a slap of his own that sent Heenan staggering from the ring. Roussimoff also caught Haku's kick attempt, sending him reeling from the ring as well, prompting support and turning Roussimoff face for the first time since 1987. Due to his ongoing health issues, Roussimoff was unable to wrestle at the time of Wrestlemania VI and Haku actually wrestled the entire match against Demolition without tagging him in.
On weekend television shows following WrestleMania VI, Bobby Heenan vowed to spit in Roussimoff's face when he came crawling back to the Heenan Family. He wrestled one more time with Haku, teaming up to face Demolition on a house show in Honolulu on 10 April, Roussimoff was knocked out of the ring and The Colossal Connection lost via count-out. After the match, Roussimoff and Haku would fight each other, marking the end of the team. His final WWF match of 1990 came at a combined WWF/All Japan/New Japan show on 13 April in Tokyo, Japan when he teamed with Giant Baba to defeat Demolition in a non-title match. Roussimoff would win by gaining the pinfall on Smash.
Sporadic appearances (1990–1991)
Roussimoff returned in the winter of 1990, but it was not to the World Wrestling Federation. Instead, Roussimoff made an interview appearance for Herb Abrams' fledgling Universal Wrestling Federation on 11 October in Reseda, California. (the segment aired in 1991). He appeared in an interview segment with Captain Lou Albano and put over the UWF. The following month on 30 November at a house show in Miami, Florida, the World Wrestling Federation announced his return as a participant in the 1991 Royal Rumble (to be held in Miami two months later). Roussimoff was also mentioned as a participant on television but would ultimately back out due to a leg injury.
His on-air return finally took place at the WWF's Super-Stars & Stripes Forever USA Network special on 17 March 1991, when he came out to shake the hand of Big Boss Man after an altercation with Mr. Perfect. The following week at WrestleMania VII, he came to the aid of the Boss Man in his match against Mr. Perfect. Roussimoff finally returned to action on 26 April 1991, in a six-man tag-team matchup when he teamed with The Rockers in a winning effort against Mr. Fuji and The Orient Express at a house show in Belfast, Northern Ireland. On 11 May 1991 he participated in a 17-man battle-royal at a house show in Detroit, which was won by Kerry Von Erich. This was Andre's final WWF match, although he was involved in several subsequent storylines. His last major WWF storyline following WrestleMania VII had the major heel managers (Bobby Heenan, Sensational Sherri, Slick, and Mr. Fuji) trying to recruit Roussimoff one-by-one, only to be turned down in various humiliating ways (e.g. Heenan had his hand crushed, Sherri received a spanking, Slick got locked in the trunk of the car he was offering to Roussimoff, and Mr. Fuji got a pie in his face). Finally, Jimmy Hart appeared live on WWF Superstars to announce that he had successfully signed Roussimoff to tag-team with Earthquake. When asked to confirm this by Gene Okerlund, Roussimoff denied the claims. This led to Earthquake's attacking Roussimoff from behind (injuring his knee). Jimmy Hart would later get revenge for the humiliation by secretly signing Tugboat and forming the Natural Disasters. This led to Roussimoff's final major WWF appearance at SummerSlam 1991, where he seconded the Bushwhackers in their match against the Disasters. Roussimoff was on crutches at ringside, and after the Disasters won the match, they set out to attack him, but the Legion of Doom made their way to ringside and got in between them and the Giant, who was preparing to defend himself with one of his crutches. The Disasters left the ringside area as they were outnumbered by the Legion of Doom, the Bushwhackers and Roussimoff, who struck both Earthquake and Typhoon (the former Tugboat) with the crutch as they left. His final WWF appearance came at a house show in Paris, France, on 9 October 1991. He was in Davey Boy Smith's corner as the Bulldog faced Earthquake; Smith hit Earthquake with Roussimoff's crutch, allowing Smith to win.
All Japan Pro Wrestling; Universal Wrestling Association (1990–1992)
After WrestleMania VI, Roussimoff spent the rest of his in-ring career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Mexico's Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), where he performed under the name "André el Gigante". He toured with AJPW three times per year, from 1990 to 1992, usually teaming with Giant Baba in tag-team matches.
Roussimoff made a couple of guest appearances for Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation, in 1991, feuding with Big John Studd, though he never had a match in the promotion.
In his last U.S. television appearance, Andre appeared on World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Clash of the Champions XX special that aired on TBS on 2 September 1992, where he gave a brief interview. During the same event, he appeared alongside Gordon Solie and was later seen talking with him during the gala celebrating the 20th anniversary of wrestling on TBS.
He did his final tour of Mexico in 1992 in a selection of six-man tag matches alongside Bam Bam Bigelow and a variety of Lucha Libre stars facing among others Bad News Allen and future WWF Champions Mick Foley and Yokozuna. Roussimoff made his final tour with AJPW from October to December 1992; he wrestled what became the final match of his career on 4 December 1992, teaming with Giant Baba and Rusher Kimura to defeat Haruka Eigen, Masanobu Fuchi, and Motoshi Okuma.
Acting career
Roussimoff branched out into acting again in the 1970s and 1980s, after a 1967 French boxing film, making his USA acting debut playing a Sasquatch ("Bigfoot") in a two-part episode aired in 1976 on the television series The Six Million Dollar Man. He appeared in other television shows, including The Greatest American Hero, B. J. and the Bear, The Fall Guy and 1990's Zorro.
Towards the end of his career, Roussimoff appeared in several films. He had an uncredited appearance in the 1984 film Conan the Destroyer as Dagoth, the resurrected horned giant god who is killed by Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger). That same year, he also made an appearance in Micki & Maude (billed as André Rousimmoff). He appeared most notably as Fezzik, his own favorite role, in the 1987 film The Princess Bride. The fact that Roussimoff found that no one stared at him on set during production was a novel and particularly gratifying experience. Both the film and his performance retain a devoted following. In a short interview with Lanny Poffo, he stated that the movie meant so much to André that he made his wrestling pals watch an advanced copy of the VHS with him over and over again while supplying dinner, drinks, and sweetly asking each time, "Did you like my performance?".
In his last film, he had a cameo role as a circus giant in the comedy Trading Mom, which was released in 1994, a year after his death.
Filmography
Personal life
Roussimoff was mentioned in the 1974 Guinness Book of World Records as the then-highest-paid wrestler in history. He earned an annual salary of approximately $400,000 (equivalent to $2,471,000 in 2023) at this time.
Robin Christensen is Roussimoff's only child. Her mother Jean Christensen (who died in 2008) became acquainted with her father through the wrestling business around 1972 or 1973. Christensen had regular contact with her father, but saw him only five times in her life. After his death, Christensen spoke positively about her father and became a guardian of his image and legacy.
In 1989, Roussimoff was arrested and charged with assault after he attacked a KCRG-TV cameraman shooting his match with The Ultimate Warrior at Cedar Rapids, Iowa's Five Seasons Center. While acquitted on the assault charge, he was fined $100 (equivalent to $246 in 2023) for criminal mischief and ordered to pay KCRG $233 (equivalent to $573 in 2023) in damage to its equipment.
William Goldman, the author of the novel and the screenplay of The Princess Bride, wrote in his nonfiction work Which Lie Did I Tell? that Roussimoff was one of the gentlest and most generous people he ever knew. Whenever Roussimoff ate with someone in a restaurant, he would pay, but he would also insist on paying when he was a guest. On one occasion, after Roussimoff attended a dinner with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Wilt Chamberlain, Schwarzenegger had quietly moved to the cashier to pay before Roussimoff could, but then found himself being physically lifted, carried from his table and deposited on top of his car by Roussimoff and Chamberlain.
Roussimoff owned a ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina, looked after by two of his close friends. When he was not on the road, he loved spending time at the ranch, where he tended to his cattle, played with his dogs, and entertained friends. While there were custom-made chairs and a few other modifications in his home to accommodate his size, tales that everything in his home was custom-made for a large man are said to be exaggerated. Since Roussimoff could not easily go shopping due to his fame and size, he was known to spend hours watching and purchasing items from the shopping channel QVC.
Health
Roussimoff has been dubbed "the greatest drunk on Earth" for once consuming 119 12-US-fluid-ounce (350 mL) beers (in total, over 41 litres [72 imp pt] or 11.16 gallons) in six hours. In an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman on 23 January 1984, Roussimoff told David Letterman he once drank 117 beers. When Letterman asked if he was drunk, Roussimoff said he couldn't remember because he passed out. He also said he quit drinking beer 14 months prior to this appearance on Letterman.
On an episode of WWE's Legends of Wrestling, Mike Graham said Roussimoff once drank 156 16-US-fluid-ounce (470 mL) beers (over 73 litres [128 imp pt] or 19.5 gallons) in one sitting, which was confirmed by Dusty Rhodes. The Fabulous Moolah wrote in her autobiography that Roussimoff drank 127 beers at the bar of the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania and later passed out in the lobby. The staff could not move him and had to leave him there until he awoke.
In a shoot interview, Ken Patera recalled an occasion where Roussimoff was challenged by Dick Murdoch to a beer drinking contest. After nine or so hours, Roussimoff had drunk 116 beers. A tale recounted by Cary Elwes in his book about the making of The Princess Bride has Roussimoff falling on top of somebody while drunk, after which the NYPD sent an undercover officer to follow Roussimoff around whenever he went out drinking in their city to make sure he did not fall on anyone again.
Another story also says prior to his famous WrestleMania III match, Roussimoff drank 14 bottles of wine. Hulk Hogan stated that Roussimoff drank a case of 12 bottles of Pouilly-Fuissé during a three-hour bus journey.
An urban legend exists surrounding Roussimoff's 1987 surgery in which his size made it impossible for the anesthesiologist to estimate a dosage via standard methods; consequently, his alcohol tolerance was used as a guideline instead. Some reports claim this is true.
Roussimoff had severe pericardial effusion and underwent pericardiocentesis at Duke University Hospital in the 1980s.
Death
On the morning of 28 January 1993, Roussimoff died of congestive heart failure and an apparent heart attack in his sleep, likely associated with his untreated acromegaly, at a Paris hotel, at the age of 46. After he visited and played cards in Molien with some of his oldest friends on the night of 27 January 1993, he returned to his hotel room around 1 a.m. CET on 28 January. That afternoon, Roussimoff was found dead in his room by hotel management and his chauffeur. He was in Paris at the time to attend his father's funeral. While there, he decided to extend his stay there to be with his mother on her birthday.
In his will, he specified that his remains should be cremated and "disposed of". Upon his death in Paris, his family in France held a funeral for him, and intending to bury him near his father. When they learned of his wish to be cremated, his body was flown to the United States, where he was cremated according to his wishes. His ashes were scattered at his ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina. Additionally, in accordance with his will, he left his estate to his sole beneficiary: his daughter Robin.
Other media
Roussimoff made numerous appearances as himself in video games, starting with WWF WrestleMania. He also appears posthumously in Virtual Pro Wrestling 64, WWF No Mercy, Legends of Wrestling, Legends of Wrestling II, Showdown: Legends of Wrestling, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, WWE Legends of WrestleMania, WWE All Stars, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19, WWE 2K20, WWE 2K Battlegrounds, WWE 2K22, WWE 2K23, WWE 2K24, and many others.
In January 2005, WWE released André The Giant, a DVD focusing on the life and career of Roussimoff. The DVD is a reissue of the out-of-print André The Giant VHS made by Coliseum Video in 1985, with commentary by Michael Cole and Tazz replacing Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura's commentary on his WrestleMania match with Big John Studd. The video is hosted by Lord Alfred Hayes. Later matches, including his battles against Hulk Hogan while a heel, are not included on this VHS.
Legacy
In 1993, when the then-World Wrestling Federation created the WWF Hall of Fame, André the Giant was the inaugural and sole inductee in the class of 1993.
Roussimoff was the inspiration for the 1998 film My Giant, written by his friend Billy Crystal, whom he had met during the filming of The Princess Bride.
Paul Wight, better known as Big Show, is more similar in body structure to Roussimoff than any other wrestler since Roussimoff's death. He was originally billed as the son of André during his stint in WCW (when he was known as simply "the Giant") despite there being no biological relationship. While also suffering from acromegaly, unlike Roussimoff, Wight did get surgery on his pituitary gland in the early 1990s, which successfully halted the progress of his condition. The former wrestler Giant González suffered from problems similar to those that Roussimoff had near the end of his life and died in 2010 due to diabetes complications.
In 1999, he was the subject of an episode of A&E Biography, titled André the Giant: Larger Than Life. The documentary covered his childhood and early life in France, as well as the beginning of his wrestling career, his struggles with acromegaly, his personal life, and his final years. His brother, Jacques Roussimoff, was interviewed for the documentary, as were fellow wrestling personalities Gorilla Monsoon, Tim White, Arnold Skaaland, Vince McMahon, Freddie Blassie, Killer Kowalski, Rene Goulet, and Frenchy Bernard, as well as wrestling historian Sheldon Goldberg. Several of his longtime hometown friends were interviewed as well. The documentary described Roussimoff as pro wrestling's "first and only international attraction" and that "on his broad shoulders, wrestling rose from its status as a questionable sport to become big business, and some might argue, performance art."
The Obey brand icon originated from wheatpaste posters that artist Shepard Fairey created based upon a photo of André the Giant that he had found in a newspaper.
Capcom's video game character Hugo, from the Street Fighter series (known as Andore in the Final Fight series) is based on him.
The 2014 graphic novel André The Giant: The Life and The Legend (First Second Books), written and drawn by Box Brown, tells the story of his life and career. Research for the book included interviews with his fellow wrestlers and actors such as Christopher Guest, Mandy Patinkin and others.
In 2017, Showtime released Waiting for Andre, a semi-fictional movie about the friendship between playwright Samuel Beckett and Roussimoff during the time Beckett lived in Ussy-sur-Marne, outside of Paris. A novel of the movie was published the following year by Steffan Piper (ISBN 9781980756217 / 198075621X from Amazon print on demand).
On 10 March 2014, episode of Raw, WrestleMania XXX host Hulk Hogan announced that in honor of Roussimoff's legacy, WWE was establishing the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, that would take place at the event, with the winner receiving the André the Giant Memorial Trophy (made in the likeness of Roussimoff). On 6 April 2014, at WrestleMania XXX, Cesaro won the match after eliminating Big Show using a body slam similar to the body slam Hulk Hogan used on Roussimoff at WrestleMania III. The battle royal has since become a yearly WrestleMania Weekend tradition.
Biopics
In 1999, Biography produced and aired a documentary called Andre The Giant: Larger Than Life.
On 9 May 2016, it was announced that a movie based on the 2015 authorized graphic novel biography André the Giant: Closer to Heaven was in the plans made by Lion Forge Comics along with producers Scott Steindorff, Dylan Russell and consulted by Roussimoff's daughter, Robin Christensen-Roussimoff.
On 10 April 2018, HBO aired a documentary film called André the Giant.
Championships and accomplishments
50th State Big Time Wrestling
Texas Battle Royal (1977)
All Japan Pro Wrestling
World's Strongest Tag Determination League East Sports Special Award (1991) – with Giant Baba
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes
Fédération Française de Catch Professionnel
World Heavyweight Championship (France) (1 time)
Houston Wrestling
Two-Ring Battle Royal (1974, 1975)
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021
International Wrestling Enterprise
IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Michael Nador
NWA Hollywood Wrestling
Los Angeles Battle Royal (1975, 1980)
NWA San Francisco
Cow Palace Battle Royal (1977)
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
International Wrestling Grand Prix (1985)
MSG League (1982)
MSG Tag League (1981) – with Rene Goulet
Sagawa Express Cup (1986)
Greatest 18 Club inductee
NWA Tri-State
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version) (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2002
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1977, 1982)
Match of the Year (1981) vs. Killer Khan on 2 May
Match of the Year (1988) vs. Hulk Hogan at The Main Event
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1988)
Editor's Award (1993)
Ranked No. 3 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)
World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ron Miller
World Wrestling Federation/WWE
WWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Haku
WWE Bronze Statue (2013)
Slammy Award (1 time)
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Scholarship Award (1987) with The Islanders (Haku and Tama), Hercules, King Kong Bundy and Harley Race
WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1993)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Feud of the Year (1981) vs. Killer Khan
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1989)
Worst Feud of the Year (1984) vs. Big John Studd
Worst Feud of the Year (1989) vs. the Ultimate Warrior
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987) vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 3
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1989) vs. the Ultimate Warrior on 31 October
Worst Tag Team (1990, 1991) with Giant Baba
Worst Wrestler (1989, 1991, 1992)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2016
See also
List of tallest people
List of premature professional wrestling deaths
References
Further reading
Assael, Shaun; Mooneyham, Mike (2002). Sex, Lies and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation. Crown Publishers. ISBN 978-0-609-60690-2.
Krugman, Michael (2009). André the Giant: A Legendary Life. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-1-4165-4112-7.
Hébert, Bertrand; Laprade, Pat (2020). The Eighth Wonder of the World: The True Story of André the Giant. Toronto, Ontario: ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-77041-466-2.
External links
Official website
André the Giant on WWE.com
André the Giant at IMDb
André the Giant's profile at Cagematch.net , Wrestlingdata.com , Internet Wrestling Database |
The_Princess_Bride_(film) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_(film) | [
512
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_(film)"
] | The Princess Bride is a 1987 American fantasy adventure comedy film directed and co-produced by Rob Reiner and starring Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, and Robin Wright. Adapted by William Goldman from his 1973 novel, it tells the story of a swashbuckling farmhand named Westley, accompanied by companions befriended along the way, who must rescue his true love Princess Buttercup from the odious Prince Humperdinck. The film preserves the novel's metafictional narrative style by presenting the story as a book being read by a grandfather to his sick grandson.
The film was first released in the United States on September 25, 1987, and was well received by critics at the time. After only having modest initial box-office success, it has over time become a cult film and gained recognition as one of the best films of the 1980s as well as one of Reiner's best works. The film is number 50 on the Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies", number 88 on The American Film Institute's (AFI) "AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions" list of the 100 greatest film love stories, and 46 in Channel 4's 50 Greatest Comedy Films list. The film also won the 1988 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.
In 2016, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
Plot
A grandfather reads a novel to his sick grandson, who initially dismisses the story.
The book is about Buttercup, a young woman living on a farm in the fictional kingdom of Florin. Whenever she tells farmhand Westley to do something, he always complies, saying, "As you wish." The two fall in love, and Westley leaves to seek his fortune overseas so they can marry. However, Westley is presumed dead after his ship is attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts.
Five years later, Buttercup is forcibly betrothed to Florin's Prince Humperdinck. Before the wedding, she is kidnapped by three outlaws: a small Sicilian man named Vizzini, a giant from Greenland named Fezzik, and a Spanish fencing master named Inigo Montoya, who seeks revenge against a six-fingered man who murdered his father. A masked man in black pursues them, as does Prince Humperdinck and his soldiers.
Atop the Cliffs of Insanity, the man in black defeats Inigo in a fencing duel and knocks him out, chokes Fezzik into unconsciousness, and tricks Vizzini into drinking a deadly poison. He forcibly flees with Buttercup. Buttercup correctly guesses he is the Dread Pirate Roberts, rebukes him for killing Westley, and shoves him into a gorge. While tumbling down, he shouts, "As you wish!" Realizing the man is Westley, Buttercup throws herself into the gorge after him, and they are reunited.
While making their way through the Fire Swamp to avoid Humperdinck and his soldiers, Westley explains that "Dread Pirate Roberts" is a transferable title that he assumed when the previous Roberts retired. Having found Buttercup, Westley intends to retire himself and pass on the title to someone else. Humperdinck captures the pair after they emerge from the Fire Swamp. Buttercup agrees to return with Humperdinck after he promises to release Westley. Humperdinck secretly orders Count Rugen to take Westley to his torture chamber, the Pit of Despair. After Westley notices that Rugen has six fingers on his right hand, Rugen knocks him out.
When Buttercup threatens to fatally stab herself if the wedding happens, Humperdinck falsely promises to find Westley for her. His real plan is to start a war with the neighboring country of Guilder by killing Buttercup and framing Guilder for it. Humperdinck had secretly hired Vizzini to kill Buttercup, but Westley interfered. Meanwhile, Fezzik becomes part of the brute squad ordered to clear the thieves' forest before the wedding. He finds a drunk Inigo living in the forest, whom he sobers up and tells about Rugen. Inigo says that he and Fezzik need Westley's help to storm the castle.
Buttercup realizes that Humperdinck did not search for Westley and calls him a coward. Enraged, Humperdinck imprisons Buttercup and tortures Westley to a deathlike state. Inigo and Fezzik, who followed Westley's screams through the forest, find his body and bring him to Miracle Max, a folk healer who Humperdinck recently fired. The "mostly dead" Westley is revived by Max, though he is severely weakened.
As Westley, Inigo, and Fezzik storm the castle, Humperdinck panics and orders the in-progress wedding ceremony to be shortened. Inigo tracks down Rugen, who taunts him about his father's death. Despite his injuries, Inigo eventually kills Rugen. Westley locates Buttercup, who believes she is married to Humperdinck and is about to commit suicide. Westley assures her the marriage is invalid because she never completed her wedding vows. Humperdinck finds them, and challenges Westley to a duel, but Westley willingly stands and intimidates Humperdinck into surrendering. Inigo finds Westley and Buttercup, and Fezzik procures four horses for their escape. Having killed Rugen, Inigo is unsure what to do with his life; Westley offers him the Dread Pirate Roberts title. As dawn arises, the reunited Westley and Buttercup share a passionate kiss.
The sick grandson eagerly asks his grandfather to read him the story again the next day. His grandfather replies, "As you wish."
Cast
Betsy Brantley appears as the mother of Savage's character and Margery Mason portrays the Ancient Booer who heckles Buttercup in her dream. Willoughby Gray and Anne Dyson portray the King and Queen of Florin. Malcolm Storry plays Prince Humperdinck's chief enforcer Yellin and Paul Badger appears as an assistant brute.
Production
Development
Rob Reiner, who had been enamored of Goldman's book ever since he was given it as a gift from his father, realized he wanted to make the film adaptation after successfully demonstrating his filmmaking skill with the release of This Is Spinal Tap in 1984. During production of Stand by Me, released in 1986, Reiner had spoken to an executive at Paramount Pictures regarding what his next film would be, and suggested the adaptation of The Princess Bride. He was told they could not, leading Reiner to discover that several studios had previously attempted to bring Goldman's book to the big screen without success.
Those previous attempts included 20th Century Fox, which paid Goldman $500,000 for the film rights and to do a screenplay in 1973. Richard Lester was signed to direct and the movie was almost made, but the head of production at Fox was fired and the project was put on hiatus. Goldman subsequently bought back the film rights to the novel with his own money.
Other directors had also attempted to adapt the book, including François Truffaut, Robert Redford and Norman Jewison, and at one point, Christopher Reeve was interested in playing Westley in one planned adaption.
Reiner found success by gaining financial support from Norman Lear, whom Reiner knew from All in the Family and who had funded production of This is Spinal Tap, with the production to be distributed by 20th Century Fox. Reiner worked closely with Goldman to adapt the book for the screenplay. In a 2011 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reiner acknowledged that then-20th Century Fox head Barry Diller also had a prominent role in the film's production, instructing Reiner to make it a Wizard of Oz-like film which could find greater success over time.
Casting
Reiner had quickly decided on Cary Elwes for Westley, based on his performance in Lady Jane; however, during the casting period in Los Angeles, Elwes was in West Germany on set for Maschenka. Reiner flew out to West Berlin to meet with Elwes, confirming his appropriateness for the role. While Reiner and casting director Jane Jenkins auditioned other actors for Westley, they knew Elwes was perfect for the part. Elwes had read the book in his childhood and associated himself with the character of Westley, but never believed he would have the opportunity to play him.
Robin Wright was cast late in the process, about a week before filming; Reiner and Jenkins had auditioned a number of English actresses but had not found their ideal Buttercup. Uma Thurman, Meg Ryan, Sean Young, Suzy Amis, Courteney Cox, Alexandra Paul and Whoopi Goldberg all auditioned for the role. Wright's agent had heard of the casting call and encouraged Wright to audition. Though initially shy, Wright impressed Jenkins, and later Reiner. They invited Wright to come meet Goldman at his house. Jenkins recalls: "The doorbell rang. Rob went to the door, and literally, as he opened the door, [Wright] was standing there in this little white summer dress, with her long blonde hair, and she had a halo from the sun. She was backlit by God. And Bill Goldman looked across the room at her, and he said, 'Well, that's what I wrote.' It was the most perfect thing."
Mandy Patinkin and Wallace Shawn were early choices for the cast; Shawn in particular was chosen as Vizzini due to his diminutive size to contrast that of the giant Fezzik. Danny DeVito was considered for the role of Vizzini.
When Goldman originally shopped his novel in the early 1970s, his first choice for Fezzik was André the Giant, whose wrestling schedule left him unavailable for filming. Goldman's second choice was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who at that time was almost unknown as an actor. However, by the time The Princess Bride was finally green-lit, Schwarzenegger was a major film star and the studio could not afford him. Jenkins contacted the World Wrestling Federation to ask about hiring André, but were told that the filming conflicted with a wrestling match in Tokyo that would pay him $5 million. Jenkins auditioned other tall men, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lou Ferrigno and Carel Struycken, but these did not pan out. André was hesitant to take the part on the account of the fact that the film's dialogue was in English while he was French and because he was a professional wrestler, not an actor. Furthermore, André was suffering much pain resulting from his acromegaly, which was to eventually lead to his early death. Liam Neeson also auditioned for the role, but he was turned down due to height. Near the end of casting, the World Wrestling Federation told Jenkins that André's match in Tokyo had been cancelled, clearing him to play the role of Fezzik. For his part, André found his participation was a gratifying experience considering that no one stared at him on set during production as a kind of freak, but instead simply treated him as a fellow member of the cast.
Filming
The film was shot in various locations in England and Ireland in late 1986:
Carl Wark, Sheffield, England
Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England
Lathkill Dale where it meets Cales Dale (the "Battle of wits" scene)
Cave Dale, Castleton, Derbyshire, England
Bradley Rocks and Robin Hood's Stride, Birchover, Derbyshire, England
Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland (for the Cliffs of Insanity)
Haddon Hall, Bakewell, Derbyshire, England
Penshurst Place, Kent, England
The framing story scenes, the last to be filmed, were shot at Shepperton Studios in Surrey.
Reiner rented a house in England near these sites and frequently invited the cast over for meals and light-hearted get-togethers. Many cast members believed this helped to create a sense of "family" that helped to improve their performances for the film.
Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin learned to fence (both left- and right-handed) for the film, and they performed the combat scenes themselves—aside from two somersaults, which were performed by stunt doubles. They were trained by fencing instructors Bob Anderson and stunt arranger Peter Diamond, both of whom had also worked on training the actors in the original Star Wars trilogy. Elwes and Patinkin spent about three weeks prior to filming learning to fence, and they spent most of their off-camera free time practicing. Anderson encouraged the two to learn the other's choreography for the fight to help them anticipate the movements and avoid an accident. They also watched many sword fights from previous films to see how they could improve on those.
André the Giant had undergone major back surgery prior to filming and, despite his great size and strength, could not support the weight of Elwes during their fight scene or Wright for a scene at the end of the film. For the wrestling scene, when Elwes hangs on André's back, he was actually walking on a series of ramps below the camera during close-ups. For the wide shots, a stunt double took the place of André. When he was apparently carrying Wright, she was actually suspended by cables.
Billy Crystal and Carol Kane spent time before traveling to England to work out the backstory between Miracle Max and his wife and develop a rapport for their characters. Once on set, Reiner allowed them to improvise some of their lines.
Soundtrack
The original soundtrack album was composed by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. It was released by Warner Bros. Records in the United States and Vertigo Records internationally in November 1987. The album contains the song "Storybook Love", performed by Willy DeVille and produced by Mark Knopfler. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 60th Academy Awards.
In his audio commentary of the film on the special edition DVD, director Rob Reiner said that only Knopfler could create a soundtrack to capture the film's quirky yet romantic nature. Reiner was an admirer of Knopfler's work but did not know him before working on the film. He sent the script to him hoping he would agree to score the film. Knopfler agreed on one condition: that somewhere in the film Reiner would include the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) baseball cap (which had been modified to say "USS Ooral Sea OV-4B") he wore as Marty DiBergi in This Is Spinal Tap. Reiner was unable to produce the original cap, but did include a similar cap in the grandson's room. Knopfler later said he was joking.
Reception
The film premiered at the Ryerson Theatre in Toronto as part of the 1987 Toronto International Film Festival. It went into wide-release later that fall in North America.
Box office
The film was initially a modest success, grossing $30.8 million at the United States and Canada box office, on a $16 million production budget.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 96% approval rating based on 84 reviews and an average rating of 8.50/10. The site's consensus states, "A delightfully postmodern fairy tale, The Princess Bride is a deft, intelligent mix of swashbuckling, romance, and comedy that takes an age-old damsel-in-distress story and makes it fresh." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 77 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A+" on scale of A to F.
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film a "two thumbs up" rating on their television program. Ebert also wrote a very favorable print review in his column for the Chicago Sun-Times. Richard Corliss of Time said the film was fun for the whole family, and later, Time listed the film as one of the "Best of '87". Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the cast and the sweetness of the film.
The American critic Dalton Mullins praised the film as one of the best love stories ever filmed, writing: "The chemistry between the two leads is palpable and is clear from the first moment they're on screen together. When Buttercup asks Wesley to do something, the tension of the unspoken love between the two is profound and dense, especially when they were standing face-to-face right before they professed their undying love for each other." Mullins argued that the phrase "as you wish" sums up the film's philosophy as Westley was willing to suffer any hardship and brave any peril for the woman he loves, which led him to argue the film was a story about "true love". He wrote that the scenes in the swamp were especially effective because the characters have been apart for so long and: "the way Wesley cradles Buttercup and the affectionate hug has always been a moment that stood out to me because it accentuates the love between the two characters and reinforces the themes of longing and true love". Mullins called the film the "... greatest romantic, fantasy, adventure story. It flawlessly represents love in that it can be a long arduous process but when fought for, it can be the most beautiful, passionate thing and fill you with the most joyful feelings".
Legacy
The Princess Bride was not a major box-office success, but it became a cult classic after its release to the home video market. The film is widely regarded as eminently quotable. Elwes noted in 2017, on the film's 30th anniversary, that fans still frequently come up to him and quote lines from the movie. According to him, Wallace Shawn had it "worse" because any time he made a small error, like dropping his keys, people would shout "Inconceivable!" at him.
In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted The Princess Bride the 38th greatest comedy film of all time. In 2005 The Princess Bride was voted 40th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Family Films poll ahead of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Beetlejuice and just behind Bugsy Malone and Bedknobs & Broomsticks. In 2006, William Goldman's screenplay was selected by the Writers Guild of America as the 84th best screenplay of all time; it earned the same ranking in the Guild's 2013 update. The film was selected number 88 on The American Film Institute's (AFI) "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions" listing the 100 greatest film love stories of all time. BBC Radio 5's resident film critic, Mark Kermode, is a fan of the film, frequently considering it a model to which similar films aspire.
American Film Institute lists
AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – No. 88
In December 2011, director Jason Reitman staged a live dramatic reading of The Princess Bride script at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), with Paul Rudd as Westley; Mindy Kaling as Buttercup; Patton Oswalt as Vizzini; Kevin Pollak as Miracle Max; Goran Visnjic as Inigo Montoya; Cary Elwes (switching roles) as Humperdinck; director Rob Reiner as the grandfather; and Fred Savage reprising his role as the grandson.
In 2013, director Ari Folman released a live-action animated film titled The Congress, which directly referenced The Princess Bride. Folman's film starred Robin Wright, playing both a live and animated version of herself, as a digitally cloned actress.
In 2014, Cary Elwes wrote As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, a behind-the-scenes account of the film's production, co-written with Joe Layden. To help Elwes recall the production, Lear sent him a bound copy of the filming's call sheets. The book debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times Bestseller list. In addition to a foreword by director Rob Reiner and a limited edition poster, the book includes exclusive photos and interviews with the cast members from the 25th anniversary cast reunion, as well as unique stories and set secrets from the making of the film.
In 2018, Savage reprised his role as The Grandson in a PG-13 version of Deadpool 2 entitled Once Upon a Deadpool, with Deadpool taking the role of The Narrator and reading Deadpool 2's story to him at bedtime and skipping over the more adult parts from the R-rated version.
In 2020, a bar themed after the film, named "As You Wish", opened in Chicago. The menu features 16 themed cocktails.
Accolades
At the 60th Academy Awards it was nominated for Best Original Song for "Storybook Love." At the 15th Saturn Awards it won Best Fantasy Film and Best Costume Design, it was nominated for Best Writing, and Robin Wright was nominated for Best Actress. It won the 1988 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and at the 1987 Toronto International Film Festival it won the People's Choice Award. At the 9th Youth in Film Awards Fred Savage won Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture: Drama. At the 4th Artios Awards it was nominated for best Feature Film Casting — Comedy.
Post-theatrical release
In North America, the film was released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1988 by Nelson Entertainment, the latter being a "bare bones" release in unmatted full screen. New Line Home Video reissued the VHS in 1994. The film was also released on Video CD by Philips.
The Criterion Collection released a matted widescreen version, bare bones version on laserdisc in 1989, supplementing it with liner notes. In 1997 Criterion re-released the Laserdisc as a "special edition". This edition was widescreen and included an audio commentary by Rob Reiner, William Goldman, Andrew Scheinman, Billy Crystal and Peter Falk (this commentary would also later appear on the Criterion Blu-ray and DVD release); excerpts from the novel read by Rob Reiner; behind the scenes footage; a production scrapbook by unit photographer Clive Coote; design sketches by production designer Norman Garwood; and excerpts from the television series Morton and Hayes, directed by Christopher Guest.
By 1998, MGM had acquired the US home video rights to the film (as part of the pre-1996 PolyGram Filmed Entertainment film library package) and released the film on VHS and DVD. The DVD release featured the soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 with the film in wide and full screen versions, and included the original US theatrical trailer. The next year MGM Home Entertainment re-released the film in another widescreen "special edition", this time with two audio commentaries—one by Rob Reiner, the other by William Goldman—"As You Wish", "Promotional", and "Making Of" featurettes; a "Cary Elwes Video Diary"; the US and UK theatrical trailers; four television spots; a photo gallery; and a collectible booklet.
In 2006, MGM and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released a two-disc set with varying covers—the "Dread Pirate" and "Buttercup" editions. Each featured their respective character, but had identical features: in addition to the features in the previous release were, the "Dread Pirate Roberts: Greatest Legend of the Seven Seas", "Love is Like a Storybook Story", and "Miraculous Make Up" featurettes, "The Quotable Battle of Wits" game, and Fezzik's "Guide to Florin" booklet.
A year later, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the film, MGM and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film with flippable cover art featuring the title displayed in an ambigram. This DVD did not include any bonus features from the older editions, but had new short featurettes and a new game. A Blu-ray Disc was released on March 17, 2009, encoded in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Special features included two audio commentaries, the original theatrical trailer and eight featurettes.
In 2007, the film was released for download in the iTunes Store.
The film is available in Europe (DVD Region 2), published by Lions Gate Entertainment. Its extras are the theatrical trailer and text filmographies.
The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray and DVD on October 30, 2018. It included a new 4K digital transfer, the same audio commentary from the Criterion LaserDisc release, an edited 1987 audiobook reading of Goldman's novel by director Rob Reiner, new programs on William Goldman's screenplay and tapestry, a new interview with art director Richard Holland, an essay by author Sloane Crosley, and a Blu-ray exclusive book highlighting four screenplays, as well as Goldman's introduction to the 1995 screenplay. Criterion would re-release the film on a 4K/Blu-Ray combo pack on September 3, 2023.
The Princess Bride has been made available on May 1, 2020, on The Walt Disney Company's streaming service Disney+.
Adaptations
It was announced that composer Adam Guettel was working with William Goldman on a musical adaptation of The Princess Bride in 2006. The project was abandoned in February 2007 after Goldman reportedly demanded 75 percent of the author's share, even though Guettel was writing both the music and the lyrics.
In late 2013, Disney Theatrical Productions announced that they would adapt a stage musical adaptation of The Princess Bride. A website was launched a couple of months later. In 2016, Rob Reiner said the project was still in development despite "roadblocks" and that Marc Shaiman, Randy Newman and John Mayer had all been approached to write songs, but had turned them down. In June 2019, it was confirmed Rick Elice and Bob Martin were writing the script and David Yazbek was composing the music and lyrics.
In 2018, The Princess Bride was adapted by players of a virtual reality social game, Rec Room, into what is likely to be the world's first full-length virtual reality stage production. The duration of the production was approximately 80 minutes, and ran for a total of four shows.
There have been many board games based on the film, beginning with a promotional roll and move game distributed with an early VHS video release in 1988. In 2008, PlayRoom Entertainment released The Princess Bride: Storming the Castle, a board game based on the film. Since 2013, Game Salute (now Tabletop Tycoon, under the SparkWorks imprint) has published multiple games based on specific scenes from the film, including party game The Princess Bride: Prepare to Die!, card game The Princess Bride: A Battle of Wits and dice game The Princess Bride: I Hate to Kill You... In 2020, Ravensburger published The Princess Bride Adventure Book Game, a collaborative card and miniatures game with several boards presented as "chapters" of a book.
The Princess Bride Game is a casual video game developed and published by New York game development studio Worldwide Biggies.
In June 2020, a "fan made" recreation of The Princess Bride was released on Quibi called Home Movie: The Princess Bride. It was produced by Jason Reitman during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine in March 2020 with help from an ensemble cast who filmed themselves recreating the various scenes at their homes to raise money for the World Central Kitchen charity. Reitman received backing from Jeffrey Katzenberg for the project, as well as the rights to stream the film on his Quibi service. The "fan-made" film also had approval from Norman Lear and the estate of William Goldman, and Mark Knopfler permitted the use of his music. Rob Reiner approved of the project, even briefly stepping in to play the grandfather. It also features the final performance of Carl Reiner, playing the grandfather in the last scene to his own son. The film was dedicated to his memory as he died days later.
On September 13, 2020, most of the original cast members took part in a virtual live read-through of The Princess Bride script, Princess Bride Reunion, to support the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. The returning cast included Elwes, Wright, Sarandon, Patinkin, Guest, Shawn, Crystal, and Kane, with additional performances by Rob Reiner as the Grandfather, Josh Gad as Fezzik, Eric Idle as the Impressive Clergyman, Whoopi Goldberg as the Ancient Booer and the Mother, King Bach as Yellin, the Assistant Brute and the King, Finn Wolfhard as the Grandson, Shaun Ross as The Man With Albinism, and Jason Reitman as the narrator. Norman Lear joined the Q&A session at the end, which was hosted by Patton Oswalt. Cast members promoted the event beforehand using the hashtags "#PrincessBrideReunion and "#DumpTrumperdinck". More than 110,000 viewers donated a dollar or more to Wisconsin Democrats to view the livestream event.
Potential remake
In a September 2019 biographical article on Norman Lear in Variety, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra, speaking of Lear's works and interest in remaking them, stated, "Very famous people whose names I won't use, but they want to redo The Princess Bride." The reaction to this via social media was very negative, with fans of the film asserting that a remake would be a bad idea and, in reference to the film, "inconceivable". Elwes paraphrased the film, saying, "There's a shortage of perfect movies in this world. It would be a pity to damage this one." Jamie Lee Curtis, Guest's wife, stated, "there is only ONE The Princess Bride and it's William Goldman and [Reiner]'s".
References
Further reading
Crosley, Sloane (October 30, 2018). "The Princess Bride: Let Me Sum Up". The Criterion Collection. Archived from the original on January 19, 2024.
Elwes, Cary; Layden, Joe (2014). As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride. New York City: Atria Books. ISBN 978-1-4767-6402-3.
Goldman, William (2000). Which Lie Did I Tell?. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-375-40349-3.
"The Roy Faires Collection, no. 5 - Interviews with Cast and Crew of The Princess Bride (1987)". Austin History Center. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024 – via Texas Archive of the Moving Image.
External links
Official website
The Princess Bride at IMDb
The Princess Bride at AllMovie
The Princess Bride at Box Office Mojo
The Princess Bride at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
The Princess Bride at the TCM Movie Database
The Princess Bride at the Internet Archive
Quotations related to The Princess Bride (film) at Wikiquote |
Julius_Caesar | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar | [
513
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar"
] | Gaius Julius Caesar (12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and subsequently became dictator from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.
In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed the First Triumvirate, an informal political alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass political power were opposed by many in the Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the private support of Cicero. Caesar rose to become one of the most powerful politicians in the Roman Republic through a string of military victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, which greatly extended Roman territory. During this time he both invaded Britain and built a bridge across the river Rhine. These achievements and the support of his veteran army threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53 BC. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. In 49 BC, Caesar openly defied the Senate's authority by crossing the Rubicon and marching towards Rome at the head of an army. This began Caesar's civil war, which he won, leaving him in a position of near-unchallenged power and influence in 45 BC.
After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reform, including the creation of the Julian calendar. He gave citizenship to many residents of far regions of the Roman Republic. He initiated land reforms to support his veterans and initiated an enormous building programme. In early 44 BC, he was proclaimed "dictator for life" (dictator perpetuo). Fearful of his power and domination of the state, a group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius assassinated Caesar on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC. A new series of civil wars broke out and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesar's great-nephew and adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the last civil war of the Roman Republic. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began.
Caesar was an accomplished author and historian as well as a statesman; much of his life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns. Other contemporary sources include the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. Later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also important sources. Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. His cognomen was subsequently adopted as a synonym for "Emperor"; the title "Caesar" was used throughout the Roman Empire, giving rise to modern descendants such as Kaiser and Tsar. He has frequently appeared in literary and artistic works.
Early life and career
Gaius Julius Caesar was born into a patrician family, the gens Julia on 12 July 100 BC. The family claimed to have immigrated to Rome from Alba Longa during the seventh century BC after the third king of Rome, Tullus Hostilius, took and destroyed their city. The family also claimed descent from Julus, the son of Aeneas and founder of Alba Longa. Given that Aeneas was a son of Venus, this made the clan divine. This genealogy had not yet taken its final form by the first century, but the clan's claimed descent from Venus was well established in public consciousness. There is no evidence that Caesar himself was born by Caesarian section; such operations entailed the death of the mother, but Caesar's mother lived for decades after his birth and no ancient sources record any difficulty with the birth.
Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential during the middle republic. The first person known to have had the cognomen Caesar was a praetor in 208 BC during the Second Punic War. The family's first consul was in 157 BC, though their political fortunes had recovered in the early first century, producing two consuls in 91 and 90 BC. Caesar's homonymous father was moderately successful politically. He married Aurelia, a member of the politically influential Aurelii Cottae, producing – along with Caesar – two daughters. Buoyed by his own marriage and his sister's marriage (the dictator's aunt) with the extremely influential Gaius Marius, he also served on the Saturninian land commission in 103 BC and was elected praetor some time between 92 and 85 BC; he served as proconsular governor of Asia for two years, likely 91–90 BC.
Life under Sulla and military service
Caesar's father did not seek a consulship during the domination of Lucius Cornelius Cinna and instead chose retirement. During Cinna's dominance, Caesar was named as flamen Dialis (a priest of Jupiter) which led to his marriage to Cinna's daughter, Cornelia. The religious taboos of the priesthood would have forced Caesar to forgo a political career; the appointment – one of the highest non-political honours – indicates that there were few expectations of a major career for Caesar. In early 84 BC, Caesar's father died suddenly. After Sulla's victory in the civil war (82 BC), Cinna's acta were annulled. Sulla consequently ordered Caesar to abdicate and divorce Cinna's daughter. Caesar refused, implicitly questioning the legitimacy of Sulla's annulment. Sulla may have put Caesar on the proscription lists, though scholars are mixed. Caesar then went into hiding before his relatives and contacts among the Vestal Virgins were able to intercede on his behalf. They then reached a compromise where Caesar would resign his priesthood but keep his wife and chattels; Sulla's alleged remark he saw "in [Caesar] many Mariuses" is apocryphal.
Caesar then left Italy to serve in the staff of the governor of Asia, Marcus Minucius Thermus. While there, he travelled to Bithynia to collect naval reinforcements and stayed some time as a guest of the king, Nicomedes IV, though later invective connected Caesar to a homosexual relation with the monarch. He then served at the Siege of Mytilene where he won the civic crown for saving the life of a fellow citizen in battle. The privileges of the crown – the Senate was supposed to stand on a holder's entrance and holders were permitted to wear the crown at public occasions – whetted Caesar's appetite for honours. After the capture of Mytilene, Caesar transferred to the staff of Publius Servilius Vatia in Cilicia before learning of Sulla's death in 78 BC and returning home immediately. He was alleged to have wanted to join in on the consul Lepidus' revolt that year but this is likely literary embellishment of Caesar's desire for tyranny from a young age.
Afterward, Caesar attacked some of the Sullan aristocracy in the courts but was unsuccessful in his attempted prosecution of Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella in 77 BC, who had recently returned from a proconsulship in Macedonia. Going after a less well-connected senator, he was successful the next year in prosecuting Gaius Antonius Hybrida (later consul in 63 BC) for profiteering from the proscriptions but was forestalled when a tribune interceded on Antonius' behalf. After these oratorical attempts, Caesar left Rome for Rhodes seeking the tutelage of the rhetorician Apollonius Molon. While travelling, he was intercepted and ransomed by pirates in a story that was later much embellished. According to Plutarch and Suetonius, he was freed after paying a ransom of fifty talents and responded by returning with a fleet to capture and execute the pirates. The recorded sum for the ransom is literary embellishment and it is more likely that the pirates were sold into slavery per Velleius Paterculus. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Third Mithridatic War over the winter of 75 and 74 BC; Caesar is alleged to have gone around collecting troops in the province at the locals' expense and leading them successfully against Mithridates' forces.
Entrance to politics
While absent from Rome, in 73 BC, Caesar was co-opted into the pontifices in place of his deceased relative Gaius Aurelius Cotta. The promotion marked him as a well-accepted member of the aristocracy with great future prospects in his political career. Caesar decided to return shortly thereafter and on his return was elected one of the military tribunes for 71 BC. There is no evidence that Caesar served in war – even though the war on Spartacus was on-going – during his term; he did, however, agitate for the removal of Sulla's disabilities on the plebeian tribunate and for those who supported Lepidus' revolt to be pardoned. These advocacies were common and uncontroversial. The next year, 70 BC, Pompey and Crassus were consuls and brought legislation restoring the plebeian tribunate's rights; one of the tribunes, with Caesar supporting, then brought legislation pardoning the Lepidan exiles.
For his quaestorship in 69 BC, Caesar was allotted to serve under Gaius Antistius Vetus in Hispania Ulterior. His election also gave him a lifetime seat in the Senate. However, before he left, his aunt Julia, the widow of Marius died and, soon afterwards, his wife Cornelia died shortly after bearing his only legitimate child, Julia. He gave eulogies for both at public funerals. During Julia's funeral, Caesar displayed the images of his aunt's husband Marius, whose memory had been suppressed after Sulla's victory in the civil war. Some of the Sullan nobles – including Quintus Lutatius Catulus – who had suffered under the Marian regime objected, but by this point depictions of husbands in aristocratic women's funerary processions was common. Contra Plutarch, Caesar's action here was likely in keeping with a political trend for reconciliation and normalisation rather than a display of renewed factionalism. Caesar quickly remarried, taking the hand of Sulla's granddaughter Pompeia.
Aedileship and election as pontifex maximus
For much of this period, Caesar was one of Pompey's supporters. Caesar joined with Pompey in the late 70s to support restoration of tribunician rights; his support for the law recalling the Lepidan exiles may have been related to the same tribune's bill to grant lands to Pompey's veterans. Caesar also supported the lex Gabinia in 67 BC granting Pompey an extraordinary command against piracy in the Mediterranean and also supported the lex Manilia in 66 BC to reassign the Third Mithridatic War from its then-commander Lucullus to Pompey.
Four years after his aunt Julia's funeral, in 65 BC, Caesar served as curule aedile and staged lavish games that won him further attention and popular support. He also restored the trophies won by Marius, and taken down by Sulla, over Jugurtha and the Cimbri. According to Plutarch's narrative, the trophies were restored overnight to the applause and tears of joy of the onlookers; any sudden and secret restoration of this sort would not have been possible – architects, restorers, and other workmen would have to have been hired and paid for – nor would it have been likely that the work could have been done in a single night. It is more likely that Caesar was merely restoring his family's public monuments – consistent with standard aristocratic practice and the virtue of pietas – and, over objections from Catulus, these actions were broadly supported by the Senate.
In 63 BC, Caesar stood for the praetorship and also for the post of pontifex maximus, who was the head of the College of Pontiffs and the highest ranking state religious official. In the pontifical election before the tribes, Caesar faced two influential senators: Quintus Lutatius Catulus and Publius Servilius Isauricus. Caesar came out victorious. Many scholars have expressed astonishment that Caesar's candidacy was taken seriously, but this was not without historical precedent. Ancient sources allege that Caesar paid huge bribes or was shamelessly ingratiating; that no charge was ever laid alleging this implies that bribery alone is insufficient to explain his victory. If bribes or other monies were needed, they may have been underwritten by Pompey, whom Caesar at this time supported and who opposed Catulus' candidacy.
Many sources also assert that Caesar supported the land reform proposals brought that year by plebeian tribune Publius Servilius Rullus, however, there are no ancient sources so attesting. Caesar also engaged in a collateral manner in the trial of Gaius Rabirius by one of the plebeian tribunes – Titus Labienus – for the murder of Saturninus in accordance with a senatus consultum ultimum some forty years earlier. The most famous event of the year was the Catilinarian conspiracy. While some of Caesar's enemies, including Catulus, alleged that he participated in the conspiracy, the chance that he was a participant is extremely small.
Praetorship
Caesar won his election to the praetorship in 63 BC easily and, as one of the praetor-elects, spoke out that December in the Senate against executing certain citizens who had been arrested in the city conspiring with Gauls in furtherance of the conspiracy. Caesar's proposal at the time is not entirely clear. The earlier sources assert that he advocated life imprisonment without trial; the later sources assert he instead wanted the conspirators imprisoned pending trial. Most accounts agree that Caesar supported confiscation of the conspirators' property. Caesar likely advocated the former, which was a compromise position that would place the Senate within the bounds of the lex Sempronia de capite civis, and was initially successful in swaying the body; a later intervention by Cato, however, swayed the Senate at the end for execution.
During his year as praetor, Caesar first attempted to deprive his enemy Catulus of the honour of completing the rebuilt Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, accusing him of embezzling funds, and threatening to bring legislation to reassign it to Pompey. This proposal was quickly dropped amid near-universal opposition. He then supported the attempt by plebeian tribune Metellus Nepos to transfer the command against Catiline from the consul of 63, Gaius Antonius Hybrida, to Pompey. After a violent meeting of the comitia tributa in the forum, where Metellus came into fisticuffs with his tribunician colleagues Cato and Quintus Minucius Thermus, the Senate passed a decree against Metellus – Suetonius claims that both Nepos and Caesar were deposed from their magistracies; this would have been a constitutional impossibility – which led Caesar to distance himself from the proposals: hopes for a provincial command and need to repair relations with the aristocracy took priority. He also was engaged in the Bona Dea affair, where Publius Clodius Pulcher sneaked into Caesar's house sacrilegiously during a female religious observance; Caesar avoided any part of the affair by divorcing his wife immediately – claiming that his wife needed to be "above suspicion" – but there is no indication that Caesar supported Clodius in any way.
After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern Hispania Ulterior pro consule. Deeply indebted from his campaigns for the praetorship and for the pontificate, Caesar required military victory beyond the normal provincial extortion to pay them off. He campaigned against the Callaeci and Lusitani and seized the Callaeci capital in northwestern Spain, bringing Roman troops to the Atlantic and seizing enough plunder to pay his debts. Claiming to have completed the peninsula's conquest, he made for home after having been hailed imperator. When he arrived home in the summer of 60 BC, he was then forced to choose between a triumph and election to the consulship: either he could remain outside the pomerium (Rome's sacred boundary) awaiting a triumph or cross the boundary, giving up his command and triumph, to make a declaration of consular candidacy. Attempts to waive the requirement for the declaration to be made in person were filibustered in the Senate by Caesar's enemy Cato, even though the Senate seemed to support the exception. Faced with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the consulship.
First consulship and the Gallic Wars
Caesar stood for the consulship of 59 BC along with two other candidates. His political position at the time was strong: he had supporters among the families which had supported Marius or Cinna; his connection with the Sullan aristocracy was good; his support of Pompey had won him support in turn. His support for reconciliation in continuing aftershocks of the civil war was popular in all parts of society. With the support of Crassus, who supported Caesar's joint ticket with one Lucius Lucceius, Caesar won. Lucceius, however, did not and the voters returned Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus instead, one of Caesar's long-standing personal and political enemies.
First consulship
After the elections, Caesar reconciled Pompey and Crassus, two political foes, in a three-way alliance misleadingly termed the "First Triumvirate" in modern times. Caesar was still at work in December of 60 BC attempting to find allies for his consulship and the alliance was finalised only some time around its start. Pompey and Crassus joined in pursuit of two respective goals: the ratification of Pompey's eastern settlement and the bailing out of tax farmers in Asia, many of whom were Crassus' clients. All three sought the extended patronage of land grants, with Pompey especially seeking the promised land grants for his veterans.
Caesar's first act was to publish the minutes of the Senate and the assemblies, signalling the Senate's accountability to the public. He then brought in the Senate a bill – crafted to avoid objections to previous land reform proposals and any indications of radicalism – to purchase property from willing sellers to distribute to Pompey's veterans and the urban poor. It would be administered by a board of twenty (with Caesar excluded), and financed by Pompey's plunder and territorial gains. Referring it to the Senate in hope that it would take up the matter to show its beneficence for the people, there was little opposition and the obstructionism that occurred was largely unprincipled, firmly opposing it not on grounds of public interest but rather opposition to Caesar's political advancement. Unable to overcome Cato's filibustering, he moved the bill before the people and, at a public meeting, Caesar's co-consul Bibulus threatened a permanent veto for the entire year. This clearly violated the people's well-established legislative sovereignty and triggered a riot in which Bibulus' fasces were broken, symbolising popular rejection of his magistracy. The bill was then voted through. Bibulus attempted to induce the Senate to nullify it on grounds it was passed by violence and contrary to the auspices but the Senate refused.
Caesar also brought and passed a one-third write-down of tax farmers' arrears for Crassus and ratification of Pompey's eastern settlements. Both bills were passed with little or no debate in the Senate. Caesar then moved to extend his agrarian bill to Campania some time in May; this may be when Bibulus withdrew to his house. Pompey, shortly thereafter, also wed Caesar's daughter Julia to seal their alliance. An ally of Caesar's, plebeian tribune Publius Vatinius moved the lex Vatinia assigning the provinces of Illyricum and Cisalpine Gaul to Caesar for five years. Suetonius' claim that the Senate had assigned to Caesar the silvae callesque ("woods and tracks") is likely an exaggeration: fear of Gallic invasion had grown in 60 BC and it is more likely that the consuls had been assigned to Italy, a defensive posture that Caesarian partisans dismissed as "mere 'forest tracks'". The Senate was also persuaded to assign to Caesar Transalpine Gaul as well, subject to annual renewal, most likely to control his ability to make war on the far side of the Alps.
Some time in the year, perhaps after the passing of the bill distributing the Campanian land and after these political defeats, Bibulus withdrew to his house. There, he issued edicts in absentia, purporting unprecedentedly to cancel all days on which Caesar or his allies could hold votes for religious reasons. Cato too attempted symbolic gestures against Caesar, which allowed him and his allies to "feign victimisation"; these tactics were successful in building revulsion to Caesar and his allies through the year. This opposition caused serious political difficulties to Caesar and his allies, belying the common depiction of triumviral political supremacy. Later in the year, however, Caesar – with the support of his opponents – brought and passed the lex Julia de repetundis to crack down on provincial corruption. When his consulship ended, Caesar's legislation was challenged by two of the new praetors but discussion in the Senate stalled and was regardless dropped. He stayed near the city until some time around mid-March.
Campaigns in Gaul
During the Gallic Wars, Caesar wrote his Commentaries thereon, which were acknowledged even in his time as a Latin literary masterwork. Meant to document Caesar's campaigns in his own words and maintain support in Rome for his military operations and career, he produced some ten volumes covering operations in Gaul from 58 to 52 BC. Each was likely produced in the year following the events described and was likely aimed at the general, or at least literate, population in Rome; the account is naturally partial to Caesar – his defeats are excused and victories highlighted – but it is almost the sole source for events in Gaul in this period.
Gaul in 58 BC was in the midst of some instability. Tribes had raided into Transalpine Gaul and there was an on-going struggle between two tribes in central Gaul which collaterally involved Roman alliances and politics. The divisions within the Gauls – they were no unified bloc – would be exploited in the coming years. The first engagement was in April 58 BC when Caesar prevented the migrating Helvetii from moving through Roman territory, allegedly because he feared they would unseat a Roman ally. Building a wall, he stopped their movement near Geneva and – after raising two legions – defeated them at the Battle of Bibracte before forcing them to return to their original homes. He was drawn further north responding to requests from Gallic tribes, including the Aedui, for aid against Ariovistus – king of the Suebi and a declared friend of Rome by the Senate during Caesar's own consulship – and he defeated them at the Battle of Vosges. Wintering in northeastern Gaul near the Belgae in the winter of 58–57, Caesar's forward military position triggered an uprising to remove his troops; able to eke out a victory at the Battle of the Sabis, Caesar spent much of 56 BC suppressing the Belgae and dispersing his troops to campaign across much of Gaul, including against the Veneti in what is now Brittany. At this point, almost all of Gaul – except its central regions – fell under Roman subjugation.
Seeking to buttress his military reputation, he engaged Germans attempting to cross the Rhine, which marked it as a Roman frontier; displaying Roman engineering prowess, he here built a bridge across the Rhine in a feat of engineering meant to show Rome's ability to project power. Ostensibly seeking to interdict British aid to his Gallic enemies, he led expeditions into southern Britain in 55 and 54 BC, perhaps seeking further conquests or otherwise wanting to impress readers in Rome; Britain at the time was to the Romans an "island of mystery" and "a land of wonder". He, however, withdrew from the island in the face of winter uprisings in Gaul led by the Eburones and Belgae starting in late 54 BC which ambushed and virtually annihilated a legion and five cohorts. Caesar was, however, able to lure the rebels into unfavourable terrain and routed them in battle. The next year, a greater challenge emerged with the uprising of most of central Gaul, led by Vercingetorix of the Averni. Caesar was initially defeated at Gergovia before besieging Vercingetorix at Alesia. After becoming himself besieged, Caesar won a major victory which forced Vercingetorix's surrender; Caesar then spent much of his time into 51 BC suppressing any remaining resistance.
Politics, Gaul, and Rome
In the initial years from the end of Caesar's consulship in 59 BC, the three so-called triumvirs sought to maintain the goodwill of the extremely popular Publius Clodius Pulcher, who was plebeian tribune in 58 BC and in that year successfully sent Cicero into exile. When Clodius took an anti-Pompeian stance later that year, he unsettled Pompey's eastern arrangements, started attacking the validity of Caesar's consular legislation, and by August 58 forced Pompey into seclusion. Caesar and Pompey responded by successfully backing the election of magistrates to recall Cicero from exile on the condition that Cicero would refrain from criticism or obstruction of the allies.
Politics in Rome fell into violent street clashes between Clodius and two tribunes who were friends of Cicero. With Cicero now supporting Caesar and Pompey, Caesar sent news of Gaul to Rome and claimed total victory and pacification. The Senate at Cicero's motion voted him an unprecedented fifteen days of thanksgiving. Such reports were necessary for Caesar, especially in light of senatorial opponents, to prevent the Senate from reassigning his command in Transalpine Gaul, even if his position in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum was guaranteed by the lex Vatinia until 54 BC. His success was evidently recognised when the Senate voted state funds for some of Caesar's legions, which until this time Caesar had paid for personally.
The three allies' relations broke down in 57 BC: one of Pompey's allies challenged Caesar's land reform bill and the allies had a poor showing in the elections that year. With a real threat to Caesar's command and acta brewing in 56 BC under the aegis of the unfriendly consuls, Caesar needed his allies' political support. Pompey and Crassus too wanted military commands. Their combined interests led to a renewal of the alliance; drawing in the support of Appius Claudius Pulcher and his younger brother Clodius for the consulship of 54 BC, they planned second consulships with following governorships in 55 BC for both Pompey and Crassus. Caesar, for his part, would receive a five-year extension of command.
Cicero was induced to oppose reassignment of Caesar's provinces and to defend a number of the allies' clients; his gloomy predictions of a triumviral set of consuls-designate for years on end proved an exaggeration when, only by desperate tactics, bribery, intimidation and violence were Pompey and Crassus elected consuls for 55 BC. During their consulship, Pompey and Crassus passed – with some tribunician support – the lex Pompeia Licinia extending Caesar's command and the lex Trebonia giving them respective commands in Spain and Syria, though Pompey never left for the province and remained politically active at Rome. The opposition again unified against their heavy-handed political tactics – though not against Caesar's activities in Gaul – and defeated the allies in the elections of that year.
The ambush and destruction in Gaul of a legion and five cohorts in the winter of 55–54 BC produced substantial concern in Rome about Caesar's command and competence, evidenced by the highly defensive narrative in Caesar's Commentaries. The death of Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife Julia in childbirth c. late August 54 did not create a rift between Caesar and Pompey. At the start of 53 BC, Caesar sought and received reinforcements by recruitment and a private deal with Pompey before two years of largely unsuccessful campaigning against Gallic insurgents. In the same year, Crassus's campaign ended in disaster at the Battle of Carrhae, culminating in his death at the hands of the Parthians. When in 52 BC Pompey started the year with a sole consulship to restore order to the city, Caesar was in Gaul suppressing insurgencies; after news of his victory at Alesia, with the support of Pompey he received twenty days of thanksgiving and, pursuant to the "Law of the Ten Tribunes", the right to stand for the consulship in absentia.
Civil war
From the period 52 to 49 BC, trust between Caesar and Pompey disintegrated. In 51 BC, the consul Marcellus proposed recalling Caesar, arguing that his provincia (here meaning "task") in Gaul – due to his victory against Vercingetorix in 52 – was complete; it evidently was incomplete as Caesar was that year fighting the Bellovaci and regardless the proposal was vetoed. That year, it seemed that the conservatives around Cato in the Senate would seek to enlist Pompey to force Caesar to return from Gaul without honours or a second consulship. Cato, Bibulus, and their allies, however, were successful in winning Pompey over to take a hard line against Caesar's continued command.
As 50 BC progressed, fears of civil war grew; both Caesar and his opponents started building up troops in southern Gaul and northern Italy, respectively. In the autumn, Cicero and others sought disarmament by both Caesar and Pompey, and on 1 December 50 BC this was formally proposed in the Senate. It received overwhelming support – 370 to 22 – but was not passed when one of the consuls dissolved the meeting. That year, when a rumour came to Rome that Caesar was marching into Italy, both consuls instructed Pompey to defend Italy, a charge he accepted as a last resort. At the start of 49 BC, Caesar's renewed offer that he and Pompey disarm was read to the Senate and was rejected by the hardliners. A later compromise given privately to Pompey was also rejected at their insistence. On 7 January, his supportive tribunes were driven from Rome; the Senate then declared Caesar an enemy and it issued its senatus consultum ultimum.
There is scholarly disagreement as to the specific reasons why Caesar marched on Rome. A very popular theory is that Caesar was forced to choose – when denied the immunity of his proconsular tenure – between prosecution, conviction, and exile or civil war in defence of his position. Whether Caesar actually would have been prosecuted and convicted is debated. Some scholars believe the possibility of successful prosecution was extremely unlikely. Caesar's main objectives were to secure a second consulship – first mooted in 52 as colleague to Pompey's sole consulship – and a triumph. He feared that his opponents – then holding both consulships for 50 BC – would reject his candidacy or refuse to ratify an election he won. This also was the core of his war justification: that Pompey and his allies were planning, by force if necessary (indicated in the expulsion of the tribunes), to suppress the liberty of the Roman people to elect Caesar and honour his accomplishments.
Italy, Spain, and Greece
Around 10 or 11 January 49 BC, in response to the Senate's "final decree", Caesar crossed the Rubicon – the river defining the northern boundary of Italy – with a single legion, the Legio XIII Gemina, and ignited civil war. Upon crossing the Rubicon, Caesar, according to Plutarch and Suetonius, is supposed to have quoted the Athenian playwright Menander, in Greek, "let the die be cast". Pompey and many senators fled south, believing that Caesar was marching quickly for Rome. Caesar, after capturing communication routes to Rome, paused and opened negotiations, but they fell apart amid mutual distrust. Caesar responded by advancing south, seeking to capture Pompey to force a conference.
Pompey withdrew to Brundisium and was able to escape to Greece, abandoning Italy in face of Caesar's superior forces and evading Caesar's pursuit. Caesar stayed near Rome for about two weeks – during his stay his forceful seizure of the treasury over tribunician veto put the lie to his pro-tribunician war justifications – and left Lepidus in charge of Italy while he attacked Pompey's Spanish provinces. He defeated two of Pompey's legates at the Battle of Ilerda before forcing surrender of the third; his legates moved into Sicily and into Africa, though the African expedition failed. Returning to Rome in the autumn, Caesar had Lepidus, as praetor, bring a law appointing Caesar dictator to conduct the elections; he, along with Publius Servilius Isauricus, won the following elections and would serve as consuls for 48 BC. Resigning the dictatorship after eleven days, Caesar then left Italy for Greece to stop Pompey's preparations, arriving in force in early 48 BC.
Caesar besieged Pompey at Dyrrhachium, but Pompey was able to break out and force Caesar's forces to flee. Following Pompey southeast into Greece and to save one of his legates, he engaged and decisively defeated Pompey at Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BC. Pompey then fled for Egypt; Cato fled for Africa; others, like Cicero and Marcus Junius Brutus, begged for Caesar's pardon.
Alexandrine war and Asia Minor
Pompey was killed when he arrived in Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Caesar arrived three days later on 2 October 48 BC. Prevented from leaving the city by Etesian winds, Caesar decided to arbitrate an Egyptian civil war between the child pharaoh Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator and Cleopatra, his sister, wife, and co-regent queen. In late October 48 BC, Caesar was appointed in absentia to a year-long dictatorship, after news of his victory at Pharsalus arrived to Rome. While in Alexandria, he started an affair with Cleopatra and withstood a siege by Ptolemy and his other sister Arsinoe until March 47 BC. Reinforced by eastern client allies under Mithridates of Pergamum, he then defeated Ptolemy at the Battle of the Nile and installed Cleopatra as ruler. Caesar and Cleopatra celebrated the victory with a triumphal procession on the Nile. He stayed in Egypt with Cleopatra until June or July that year, though the relevant commentaries attributed to him give no such impression. Some time in late June, Cleopatra gave birth to a child by Caesar, called Caesarion.
When Caesar landed at Antioch, he learnt that during his time in Egypt, the king of what is now Crimea, Pharnaces, had attempted to seize what had been his father's kingdom, Pontus, across the Black Sea in northern Anatolia. His invasion had swept aside Caesar's legates and the local client kings, but Caesar engaged him at Zela and defeated him immediately, leading Caesar to write veni, vidi, vici ("I came, I saw, I conquered"), downplaying Pompey's previous Pontic victories. He then left quickly for Italy.
Italy, Africa, and Spain
Caesar's absence from Italy put Mark Antony, as magister equitum, in charge. His rule was unpopular: Publius Cornelius Dolabella, serving as plebeian tribune in 47 BC, agitated for debt relief and after that agitation got out of hand the Senate moved for Antony to restore order. Delayed by a mutiny in southern Italy, he returned and suppressed the riots by force, killing many and delivering a similar blow to his popularity. Cato had marched to Africa and there Metellus Scipio was in charge of the remaining republicans; they allied with Juba of Numidia; what used to be Pompey's fleet also raided the central Mediterranean islands. Caesar's governor in Spain, moreover, was sufficiently unpopular that the province revolted and switched to the republican side.
Caesar demoted Antony on his return and pacified the mutineers without violence before overseeing the election of the rest of the magistrates for 47 BC – no elections had yet been held – and also for those of 46 BC. Caesar would serve with Lepidus as consul in 46; he borrowed money for the war, confiscated and sold the property of his enemies at fair prices, and then left for Africa on 25 December 47 BC. Caesar's landing in Africa was marked with some difficulties establishing a beachhead and logistically. He was defeated by Titus Labienus at Ruspina on 4 January 46 BC and thereafter took a rather cautious approach. After inducing some desertions from the republicans, Caesar ended up surrounded at Thapsus. His troops attacked prematurely on 6 April 46 BC, starting a battle; they then won it and massacred the republican forces without quarter. Marching on Utica, where Cato commanded, Caesar arrived to find that Cato had killed himself rather than receive Caesar's clemency. Many of the remaining anti-Caesarian leaders, including Metellus Scipio and Juba, also committed suicide shortly thereafter. Labienus and two of Pompey's sons, however, had moved to the Spanish provinces in revolt. Caesar started a process of annexing parts of Numidia and then returned to Italy via Sardinia in June 46 BC.
Caesar stayed in Italy to celebrate four triumphs in late September, supposedly over four foreign enemies: Gaul, Egypt, Pharnaces (Asia), and Juba (Africa). He led Vercingetorix, Cleopatra's younger sister Arsinoe, and Juba's son before his chariot; Vercingetorix was executed. According to Appian, in some of the triumphs, Caesar paraded pictures and models of his victories over fellow Romans in the civil wars, to popular dismay. The soldiers were each given 24,000 sesterces (a lifetime's worth of pay); further games and celebrations were put on for the plebs. Near the end of the year, Caesar heard bad news from Spain and, with an army, left for the peninsula, leaving Lepidus in charge as magister equitum.
At a bloody battle at Munda on 17 March 45 BC, Caesar narrowly found victory; his enemies were treated as rebels and he had them massacred. Labienus died on the field. While one of Pompey's sons, Sextus, escaped, the war was effectively over. Caesar remained in the province until June before setting out for Rome, arriving in October of the same year, and celebrated an unseemly triumph over fellow Romans. By this point he had started preparations for war on the Parthians to avenge Crassus' death at Carrhae in 53 BC, with wide-ranging objectives that would take him into Dacia for three or more years. It was set to start on 18 March 44 BC.
Dictatorship and assassination
Dictatorships and honours
Prior to Caesar's assumption of the title dictator perpetuo in February 44 BC, he had been appointed dictator some four times since his first dictatorship in 49 BC. After occupying Rome, he engineered this first appointment, largely to hold elections; after 11 days he resigned. The other dictatorships lasted for longer periods, up to a year, and by April 46 BC he was given a new dictatorship annually. The task he was assigned revived that of Sulla's dictatorship: rei publicae constituendae. These appointments, however, were not the source of legal power themselves; in the eyes of the literary sources, they were instead honours and titles which reflected Caesar's dominant position in the state, secured not by extraordinary magistracy or legal powers, but by personal status as victor over other Romans.
Through the period after Pharsalus, the Senate showered Caesar with honours, including the title praefectus moribus (lit. 'prefect of morals') which historically was associated with the censorial power to revise the Senate rolls. He was also granted power over war and peace, usurping a power traditionally held by the comitia centuriata. These powers attached to Caesar personally. Similarly extraordinary were a number of symbolic honours which saw Caesar's portrait placed on coins in Rome – the first for a living Roman – with special rights to wear royal dress, sit atop a golden chair in the Senate, and have his statues erected in public temples. The month Quintilis, in which he was born, was renamed Julius (now July). These were symbols of divine monarchy and, later, objects of resentment.
The decisions on the normal operation of the state – justice, legislation, administration, and public works – were concentrated into Caesar's person without regard for or even notice given to the traditional institutions of the republic. Caesar's domination over public affairs and his competitive instinct to preclude all others alienated the political class and led eventually to the conspiracy against his life.
Legislation
Caesar, as far as is attested in evidence, did not intend to restructure Roman society. Ernst Badian, writing in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, noted that although Caesar did implement a series of reforms, they did not touch on the core of the republican system: he "had no plans for basic social and constitutional reform" and that "the extraordinary honours heaped upon him... merely grafted him as an ill-fitting head on to the body of the traditional structure".
The most important of Caesar's reforms was to the calendar, which saw the abolition of the traditional republican lunisolar calendar and its replacement with a solar calendar now called the Julian calendar. He also increased the number of magistrates and senators (from 600 to 900) to better administer the empire and reward his supporters with offices. Colonies also were founded outside Italy – notably on the sites of Carthage and Corinth, which had both been destroyed during Rome's 2nd century BC conquests – to discharge Italy's population into the provinces and reduce unrest. The royal power of naming patricians was revived to benefit the families of his men and the permanent courts jury pools were also altered to remove the tribuni aerarii, leaving only the equestrians and senators.
He also took further administrative actions to stabilise his rule and that of the state. Caesar reduced the size of the grain dole from 320,000 down to around 150,000 by tightening the qualifications; special bonuses were offered to families with many children to stall depopulation. Plans were drawn for the conduct of a census. Citizenship was extended to a number of communities in Cisalpine Gaul and to Cádiz. During the civil wars, Caesar had also instituted a novel debt repayment programme (no debts would be forgiven but they could be paid in kind), remitted rents up to a certain amount, and thrown games distributing food. Many of his enemies during the civil wars were pardoned – Caesar's clemency was exalted in his propaganda and temple works – with the intent to cultivate gratitude and draw a contrast between himself and the vengeful dictatorship of Sulla.
The building programmes, started prior to his expedition to Spain, continued, with the construction of the Forum of Caesar and the Temple of Venus Genetrix therein. Other public works, including an expansion of Ostia's port and a canal through the Corinthian Isthmus, were also planned. Very busy with this work, the heavy-handedness with which he ignored the Senate, magistrates, and those who came to visit him also alienated many in Rome.
The collegia, civic associations restored by Clodius in 58 BC, were again abolished. His actions to reward his supporters saw him allow his subordinates illegal triumphal processions and resign the consulship so that allies could take it up for the rest of the year. On the last day of 45 BC, when one of the succeeding consuls died, Caesar had an ally elected as replacement for a single day. Corruption on the part of his partisans was also overlooked to ensure their support; provincial cities and client kingdoms were extorted for favours to pay his bills.
Conspiracy and death
Attempts in January 44 BC to call Caesar rex (lit. 'king') – a title associated with arbitrary oppression against citizens – were shut down by two tribunes before a supportive crowd. Caesar, claiming that the two tribunes infringed on his honour by doing so, had them deposed from office and ejected from the Senate. The incident both undermined Caesar's original arguments for pursuing the civil war (protecting the tribunes) and angered a public which still revered the tribunes as protectors of popular freedom. Shortly before 15 February 44 BC, he assumed the dictatorship for life, putting an end to any hopes that his powers would be merely temporary. Transforming his dictatorship, even with a decadal appointment, into one for life clearly showed to all contemporaries that Caesar had no intention to restore a free republic and that no free republic could be restored so long as he was in power.
Just days after his assumption of the life dictatorship, he publicly rejected a diadem from Antony at celebrations for the Lupercalia. Interpretations of the episode vary: he may have been rejecting the diadem publicly only because the crowd was insufficiently supportive; he could have done it performatively to signal he was no monarch; alternatively, Antony could have acted on his own initiative. By this point, however, rumour was rife that Caesar – already wearing the dress of a monarch – sought a formal crown and the episode did little to reassure.
The plan to assassinate Caesar had started by the summer of 45 BC. An attempt to recruit Antony was made around that time, though he declined and gave Caesar no warning. By February 44 BC, there were some sixty conspirators. It is clear that by this time, the victorious Caesarian coalition from the civil war had broken apart. While most of the conspirators were former Pompeians, they were joined by a substantial number of Caesarians. Among their leaders were Gaius Trebonius (consul in 45), Decimus Brutus (consul designate for 42), as well as Cassius and Brutus (both praetors in 44 BC). Trebonius and Decimus had joined Caesar during the war while Brutus and Cassius had joined Pompey; other Caesarians involved included Servius Sulpicius Galba, Lucius Minucius Basilus, Lucius Tullius Cimber, and Gaius Servilius Casca. Many of the conspirators would have been candidates in the consular elections for 43 to 41 BC, likely dismayed by Caesar's sham elections in early 44 BC that produced advance results for the years 43–41 BC. Those electoral results came from the grace of the dictator and not that of the people; for the republican elite this was no substitute for actual popular support. Nor is it likely that the subordination of the normal magistrates to Caesar's masters of horse (Latin: magistri equitum) was appreciated.
Brutus, who claimed descent from the Lucius Junius Brutus who had driven out the kings and the Gaius Servilius Ahala who had freed Rome from incipient tyranny, was the main leader of the conspiracy. By late autumn 45 BC, graffiti and some public comments at Rome were condemning Caesar as a tyrant and insinuating the need for a Brutus to remove the dictator. The ancient sources, excepting Nicolaus of Damascus, are unanimous that this reflected a genuine turn in public opinion against Caesar. Popular indignation at Caesar was likely rooted in his debt policies (too friendly to lenders), use of lethal force to suppress protests for debt relief, his reduction in the grain dole, his abolition of the collegia restored by Clodius, his abolition of the poorest panel of jurors in the permanent courts, and his abolition of open elections which deprived the people of their ancient right of decision. A popular turn against Caesar is also observed with reports that the two deposed tribunes were written-in on ballots at Caesar's advance consular elections in place of Caesar's candidates. Whether there was a tradition of tyrannicide at Rome is unclear: Cicero wrote in private as if the duty to kill tyrants was already given; he, however, made no public speeches to that effect and there is little evidence that the public accepted the logic of preventive tyrannicide. The philosophical tradition of the Platonic Old Academy was also a factor driving Brutus to action due to its emphasis on a duty to free the state from tyranny.
While some news of the conspiracy did leak, Caesar refused to take precautions and rejected escort by a bodyguard. The date decided upon by the conspirators was 15 March, the Ides of March, three days before Caesar intended to leave for his Parthian campaign. News of his imminent departure forced the conspirators to move up their plans; the Senate meeting on the 15th would be the last before his departure. They had decided that a Senate meeting was the best place to frame the killing as political, rejecting the alternatives at games, elections, or on the road. That only the conspirators would be armed at the Senate meeting, per Dio, also would have been an advantage. The day, 15 March, was also symbolically important as it was the day on which consuls took office until the mid-2nd century BC.
Various stories purport that Caesar was on the cusp of not attending or otherwise being warned about the plot. Approached on his golden chair at the foot of the statue of Pompey, the conspirators attacked him with daggers. Whether he fell in silence, per Suetonius, or after reply to Brutus' appearance – kai su teknon? ("you too, child?") – is variantly recorded. He was stabbed at least twenty-three times and died at once.
Aftermath of the assassination
The assassins seized the Capitoline hill after killing the dictator. They then summoned a public meeting in the Forum where they were coldly received by the population. They were also unable to fully secure the city, as Lepidus – Caesar's lieutenant in the dictatorship – moved troops from the Tiber Island into the city proper. Antony, the consul who escaped the assassination, urged an illogical compromise position in the Senate: Caesar was not declared a tyrant and the conspirators were not punished. Caesar's funeral was then approved. At the funeral, Antony inflamed the public against the assassins, which triggered mob violence that lasted for some months before the assassins were forced to flee the capital and Antony then finally acted to suppress it by force.
In 44 BC, there was a seven-day cometary outburst that the Romans believe to represent the deification of Caeser, giving it the name Caesar's Comet. On the site of his cremation, the Temple of Caesar was begun by the triumvirs in 42 BC at the east side of the main square of the Roman Forum. Only its altar now remains. The terms of the will were also read to the public: it gave a generous donative to the plebs at large and left as principal heir one Gaius Octavius, Caesar's great-nephew then at Apollonia, and adopted him in the will.
Resumption of the pre-existing republic proved impossible as various actors appealed in the aftermath of Caesar's death to liberty or to vengeance to mobilise huge armies that led to a series of civil wars. The first war was between Antony in 43 BC and the Senate (including senators of both Caesarian and Pompeian persuasion) which resulted in Octavian – Caesar's heir – exploiting the chaos to seize the consulship and join with Antony and Lepidus to form the Second Triumvirate. After purging their political enemies in a series of proscriptions, the triumvirs secured the deification of Caesar – the Senate declared on 1 January 42 BC that Caesar would be placed among the Roman gods – and marched on the east where a second war saw the triumvirs defeat the tyrannicides in battle, resulting in a final death of the republican cause and a three-way division of much of the Roman world. By 31 BC, Caesar's heir had taken sole control of the empire, ejecting his triumviral rivals after two decades of civil war. Pretending to restore the republic, his masked autocracy was acceptable to the war-weary Romans and marked the establishment of a new Roman monarchy.
Personal life
Health and physical appearance
Based on remarks by Plutarch, Caesar is sometimes thought to have suffered from epilepsy. Modern scholarship is sharply divided on the subject, and some scholars believe that he was plagued by malaria, particularly during the Sullan proscriptions of the 80s BC. Other scholars contend his epileptic seizures were due to a parasitic infection in the brain by a tapeworm.
Caesar had four documented episodes of what may have been complex partial seizures. He may additionally have had absence seizures in his youth. The earliest accounts of these seizures were made by the biographer Suetonius, who was born after Caesar died. The claim of epilepsy is countered among some medical historians by a claim of hypoglycemia, which can cause epileptoid seizures.
A line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar has sometimes been taken to mean that he was deaf in one ear: "Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf." No classical source mentions hearing impairment in connection with Caesar. The playwright may have been making metaphorical use of a passage in Plutarch that does not refer to deafness at all, but rather to a gesture Alexander of Macedon customarily made. By covering his ear, Alexander indicated that he had turned his attention from an accusation in order to hear the defence.
Francesco M. Galassi and Hutan Ashrafian suggest that Caesar's behavioral manifestations – headaches, vertigo, falls (possibly caused by muscle weakness due to nerve damage), sensory deficit, giddiness and insensibility – and syncopal episodes were the results of cerebrovascular episodes, not epilepsy. Pliny the Elder reports in his Natural History that Caesar's father and forefather died without apparent cause while putting on their shoes. These events can be more readily associated with cardiovascular complications from a stroke episode or lethal heart attack. Caesar possibly had a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease.
Suetonius, writing more than a century after Caesar's death, describes Caesar as "tall of stature with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a somewhat full face, and keen black eyes". He adds that the balding Caesar was sensitive to teasing on the subject, and therefore had a combover. Suetonius reports that Caesar was thus especially pleased to be granted the honor of wearing a wreath at all times.
Name and family
The name Gaius Julius Caesar
Using the Latin alphabet of the period, which lacked the letters J and U, Caesar's name would be rendered GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR; the form CAIVS is also attested, using the older Roman representation of G by C. The standard abbreviation was C. IVLIVS CÆSAR, reflecting the older spelling. (The letterform Æ is a ligature of the letters A and E, and is often used in Latin inscriptions to save space.)
In Classical Latin, it was pronounced [ˈɡaː.i.ʊs ˈjuːl.i.ʊs ˈkae̯sar]. In the days of the late Roman Republic, many historical writings were done in Greek, a language most educated Romans studied. Young wealthy Roman boys were often taught by Greek slaves and sometimes sent to Athens for advanced training, as was Caesar's principal assassin, Brutus. In Greek, during Caesar's time, his family name was written Καίσαρ (Kaísar), reflecting its contemporary pronunciation. Thus, his name is pronounced in a similar way to the pronunciation of the German Kaiser ([kaɪ̯zɐ]) or Dutch keizer ([kɛizɛr]).
In Vulgar Latin, the original diphthong [ae̯] first began to be pronounced as a simple long vowel [ɛː]. Then, the plosive /k/ before front vowels began, due to palatalization, to be pronounced as an affricate, hence renderings like [ˈtʃeːsar] in Italian and [ˈtseːzar] in German regional pronunciations of Latin, as well as the title of Tsar. With the evolution of the Romance languages, the affricate [ts] became a fricative [s] (thus, [ˈseːsar]) in many regional pronunciations, including the French one, from which the modern English pronunciation is derived.
Caesar's cognomen itself became a title; it was promulgated by the Bible, which contains the famous verse "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's". The title became, from the late first millennium, Kaiser in German and (through Old Church Slavic cěsarĭ) Tsar or Czar in the Slavic languages. The last Tsar in nominal power was Simeon II of Bulgaria, whose reign ended in 1946, but is still alive in 2023. This means that for approximately two thousand years, there was at least one head of state bearing his name. As a term for the highest ruler, the word Caesar constitutes one of the earliest, best attested and most widespread Latin loanwords in the Germanic languages, being found in the text corpora of Old High German (keisar), Old Saxon (kēsur), Old English (cāsere), Old Norse (keisari), Old Dutch (keisere) and (through Greek) Gothic (kaisar).
Posterity
Wives
First marriage to Cornelia, from 84 BC until her death in 69 BC
Second marriage to Pompeia, from 67 BC until he divorced her around 61 BC over the Bona Dea scandal
Third marriage to Calpurnia, from 59 BC until Caesar's death
Children
Julia, by Cornelia, born in 83 or 82 BC
Caesarion, by Cleopatra VII, born 47 BC, and killed at age 17 by Caesar's adopted son Octavianus.
Posthumously adopted: Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, his great-nephew by blood (grandson of Julia, his sister), who later became Emperor Augustus.
Suspected children
Some ancient sources refer to the possibility of the tyrannicide, Marcus Junius Brutus, being one of Julius Caesar's illegitimate children. Caesar, at the time Brutus was born, was 15. Most ancient historians were sceptical of this and "on the whole, scholars have rejected the possibility that Brutus was the love-child of Servilia and Caesar on the grounds of chronology".
Grandchildren
Grandchild from Julia and Pompey, dead at several days, unnamed.
Lovers
Cleopatra, mother of Caesarion
Servilia, mother of Brutus
Eunoë, queen of Mauretania and wife of Bogudes
Rumors of passive homosexuality
Roman society viewed the passive role during sexual activity, regardless of gender, to be a sign of submission or inferiority. Indeed, Suetonius says that in Caesar's Gallic triumph, his soldiers sang that, "Caesar may have conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar." According to Cicero, Bibulus, Gaius Memmius, and others – mainly Caesar's enemies – he had an affair with Nicomedes IV of Bithynia early in his career. The stories were repeated, referring to Caesar as the "Queen of Bithynia", by some Roman politicians as a way to humiliate him. Caesar himself denied the accusations repeatedly throughout his lifetime, and according to Cassius Dio, even under oath on one occasion. This form of slander was popular during this time in the Roman Republic to demean and discredit political opponents.
Catullus wrote a poem suggesting that Caesar and his engineer Mamurra were lovers, but later apologised.
Mark Antony charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favors. Suetonius described Antony's accusation of an affair with Octavian as political slander. Octavian eventually became the first Roman Emperor as Augustus.
Literary works
During his lifetime, Caesar was regarded as one of the best orators and prose authors in Latin – even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and style. Only Caesar's war commentaries have survived. A few sentences from other works are quoted by other authors. Among his lost works are his funeral oration for his paternal aunt Julia and his "Anticato", a document attacking Cato in response to Cicero's eulogy. Poems by Julius Caesar are also mentioned in ancient sources.
Memoirs
The Commentarii de Bello Gallico, usually known in English as The Gallic Wars, seven books each covering one year of his campaigns in Gaul and southern Britain in the 50s BC, with the eighth book written by Aulus Hirtius on the last two years.
The Commentarii de Bello Civili (The Civil War), events of the Civil War from Caesar's perspective, until immediately after Pompey's death in Egypt.
Other works historically have been attributed to Caesar, but their authorship is in doubt:
De Bello Alexandrino (On the Alexandrine War), campaign in Alexandria;
De Bello Africo (On the African War), campaigns in North Africa; and
De Bello Hispaniensi (On the Hispanic War), campaigns in the Iberian Peninsula.
These narratives were written and published annually during or just after the actual campaigns, as a sort of "dispatches from the front". They were important in shaping Caesar's public image and enhancing his reputation when he was away from Rome for long periods. They may have been presented as public readings. As a model of clear and direct Latin style, The Gallic Wars traditionally has been studied by first- or second-year Latin students.
Legacy
Historiography
The texts written by Caesar, an autobiography of the most important events of his public life, are the most complete primary source for the reconstruction of his biography. However, Caesar wrote those texts with his political career in mind. Julius Caesar is also considered one of the first historical figures to fold his message scrolls into a concertina form, which made them easier to read. The Roman emperor Augustus began a cult of personality of Caesar, which described Augustus as Caesar's political heir. The modern historiography is influenced by this tradition.
Many rulers in history became interested in the historiography of Caesar. Napoleon III wrote the scholarly work Histoire de Jules César, which was not finished. The second volume listed previous rulers interested in the topic. Charles VIII ordered a monk to prepare a translation of the Gallic Wars in 1480. Charles V ordered a topographic study in France, to place the Gallic Wars in context; which created forty high-quality maps of the conflict. The contemporary Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent catalogued the surviving editions of the Commentaries, and translated them to Turkish language. Henry IV and Louis XIII of France translated the first two commentaries and the last two respectively; Louis XIV re-translated the first one afterwards.
The remains of Caesar's altar are a pilgrimage site for visitors from across Italy and the world. Flowers and other items are left there daily and special commemorations take place on 15 March to commemorate Caesar's death.
Politics
Julius Caesar is seen as the main example of Caesarism, a form of political rule led by a charismatic strongman whose rule is based upon a cult of personality, whose rationale is the need to rule by force, establishing a violent social order, and being a regime involving prominence of the military in the government. Other people in history, such as the French Napoleon Bonaparte and the Italian Benito Mussolini, have defined themselves as Caesarists. Bonaparte did not focus only on Caesar's military career but also on his relation with the masses, a predecessor to populism. The word is also used in a pejorative manner by critics of this type of political rule.
Depictions
Battle record
Chronology
See also
Caesar cipher
Caesareum of Alexandria
Et tu, Brute?
Giulio Cesare – 1724 opera by Handel
Notes
References
Sources
Primary sources
Own writings
Ancient historians' writings
Secondary sources
External links
C. Iulius (131) C. f. C. n. Fab. Caesar in the Digital Prosopography of the Roman Republic.
Works by or about Gaius Julius Caesar at Wikisource
Works related to Julius Caesar at Wikisource
Online books, and library resources in your library and in other libraries about Caesar
Online books, and library resources in your library and in other libraries by Caesar
Guide to online resources |
Marshall_McLuhan | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan | [
514
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan"
] | Herbert Marshall McLuhan (, mə-KLOO-ən; July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his teaching career as a professor of English at several universities in the United States and Canada before moving to the University of Toronto in 1946, where he remained for the rest of his life. He is known as the "father of media studies".
McLuhan coined the expression "the medium is the message" in the first chapter in his Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man and the term global village. He predicted the World Wide Web almost 30 years before it was invented. He was a fixture in media discourse in the late 1960s, though his influence began to wane in the early 1970s. In the years following his death, he continued to be a controversial figure in academic circles. However, with the arrival of the Internet and the World Wide Web, interest was renewed in his work and perspectives.
Life and career
McLuhan was born on July 21, 1911, in Edmonton, Alberta, and was named "Marshall" from his maternal grandmother's surname. His brother, Maurice, was born two years later. His parents were both also born in Canada: his mother, Elsie Naomi (née Hall), was a Baptist school teacher who later became an actress; and his father, Herbert Ernest McLuhan, was a Methodist with a real-estate business in Edmonton. When the business failed at the start of World War I, McLuhan's father enlisted in the Canadian Army. After a year of service, he contracted influenza and remained in Canada, away from the front lines. After Herbert's discharge from the army in 1915, the McLuhan family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Marshall grew up and went to school, attending Kelvin Technical School before enrolling in the University of Manitoba in 1928.
Undergraduate education
After studying for one year as an engineering student, he changed majors and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (1933), winning a University Gold Medal in Arts and Sciences. He went on to receive a Master of Arts degree (1934) in English from the university as well. He had long desired to pursue graduate studies in England and was accepted by Trinity Hall, Cambridge, having failed to secure a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford.
Though having already earned his BA and MA in Manitoba, Cambridge required him to enroll as an undergraduate "affiliated" student, with one year's credit towards a three-year bachelor's degree, before entering any doctoral studies. He went up to Cambridge in the autumn of 1934, studied under I. A. Richards and F. R. Leavis, and was influenced by New Criticism. Years afterward, upon reflection, he credited the faculty there with influencing the direction of his later work because of their emphasis on the "training of perception", as well as such concepts as Richards' notion of "feedforward". These studies formed an important precursor to his later ideas on technological forms. He received the required bachelor's degree from Cambridge in 1936 and entered their graduate program.
Conversion to Catholicism
At the University of Manitoba, McLuhan explored his conflicted relationship with religion and turned to literature to "gratify his soul's hunger for truth and beauty," later referring to this stage as agnosticism. While studying the trivium at Cambridge, he took the first steps toward his eventual conversion to Catholicism in 1937, founded on his reading of G. K. Chesterton. In 1935, he wrote to his mother:Had I not encountered Chesterton I would have remained agnostic for many years at least. Chesterton did not convince me of religious faith, but he prevented my despair from becoming a habit or hardening into misanthropy. He opened my eyes to European culture and encouraged me to know it more closely. He taught me the reasons for all that in me was simply blind anger and misery.At the end of March 1937, McLuhan completed what was a slow but total conversion process, when he was formally received into the Catholic Church. After consulting a minister, his father accepted the decision to convert. His mother, however, felt that his conversion would hurt his career and was inconsolable. McLuhan was devout throughout his life, but his religion remained a private matter. He had a lifelong interest in the number three (e.g., the trivium, the Trinity) and sometimes said that the Virgin Mary provided intellectual guidance for him. For the rest of his career, he taught in Catholic institutions of higher education.
Early career, marriage, and doctorate
Unable to find a suitable job in Canada, he went to the United States to take a job as a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for the 1936–37 academic year. From 1937 to 1944, he taught English at Saint Louis University (with an interruption from 1939 to 1940 when he returned to Cambridge). There he taught courses on Shakespeare, eventually tutoring and befriending Walter J. Ong, who would write his doctoral dissertation on a topic that McLuhan had called to his attention, as well as become a well-known authority on communication and technology.
McLuhan met Corinne Lewis in St. Louis, a teacher and aspiring actress from Fort Worth, Texas, whom he married on August 4, 1939. They spent 1939–40 in Cambridge, where he completed his master's degree (awarded in January 1940) and began to work on his doctoral dissertation on Thomas Nashe and the verbal arts. While the McLuhans were in England, World War II had erupted in Europe. For this reason, he obtained permission to complete and submit his dissertation from the United States, without having to return to Cambridge for an oral defence. In 1940, the McLuhans returned to Saint Louis University, where they started a family as he continued teaching. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in December 1943.
He next taught at Assumption College in Windsor, Ontario, from 1944 to 1946, then moved to Toronto in 1946 where he joined the faculty of St. Michael's College, a Catholic college of the University of Toronto, where Hugh Kenner would be one of his students. Canadian economist and communications scholar Harold Innis was a university colleague who had a strong influence on his work. McLuhan wrote in 1964: "I am pleased to think of my own book The Gutenberg Galaxy as a footnote to the observations of Innis on the subject of the psychic and social consequences, first of writing then of printing."
Later career and reputation
In the early 1950s, McLuhan began the Communication and Culture seminars at the University of Toronto, funded by the Ford Foundation. As his reputation grew, he received a growing number of offers from other universities. During this period, he published his first major work, The Mechanical Bride (1951), in which he examines the effect of advertising on society and culture. Throughout the 1950s, he and Edmund Carpenter also produced an important academic journal called Explorations. McLuhan and Carpenter have been characterized as the Toronto School of communication theory, together with Harold Innis, Eric A. Havelock, and Northrop Frye. During this time, McLuhan supervised the doctoral thesis of modernist writer Sheila Watson on the subject of Wyndham Lewis. Hoping to keep him from moving to another institute, the University of Toronto created the Centre for Culture and Technology (CCT) in 1963.
From 1967 to 1968, McLuhan was named the Albert Schweitzer Chair in Humanities at Fordham University in the Bronx. While at Fordham, he was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor, which was treated successfully. He returned to Toronto where he taught at the University of Toronto for the rest of his life and lived in Wychwood Park, a bucolic enclave on a hill overlooking the downtown where Anatol Rapoport was his neighbour.
In 1970, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1975, the University of Dallas hosted him from April to May, appointing him to the McDermott Chair. Marshall and Corinne McLuhan had six children: Eric, twins Mary and Teresa, Stephanie, Elizabeth, and Michael. The associated costs of a large family eventually drove him to advertising work and accepting frequent consulting and speaking engagements for large corporations, including IBM and AT&T.
Death
In September 1979, McLuhan suffered a stroke which affected his ability to speak. The University of Toronto's School of Graduate Studies tried to close his research center shortly thereafter, but was deterred by substantial protests. McLuhan never fully recovered from the stroke and died in his sleep on December 31, 1980. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada.
Major works
During his years at Saint Louis University (1937–1944), McLuhan worked concurrently on two projects: his doctoral dissertation and the manuscript that was eventually published in 1951 as a book, titled The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man, which included only a representative selection of the materials that McLuhan had prepared for it.
McLuhan's 1942 Cambridge University doctoral dissertation surveys the history of the verbal arts (grammar, logic, and rhetoric—collectively known as the trivium) from the time of Cicero down to the time of Thomas Nashe. In his later publications, McLuhan at times uses the Latin concept of the trivium to outline an orderly and systematic picture of certain periods in the history of Western culture. McLuhan suggests that the Late Middle Ages, for instance, were characterized by the heavy emphasis on the formal study of logic. The key development that led to the Renaissance was not the rediscovery of ancient texts, but a shift in emphasis from the formal study of logic to rhetoric and grammar. Modern life is characterized by the re-emergence of grammar as its most salient feature—a trend McLuhan felt was exemplified by the New Criticism of Richards and Leavis.
McLuhan also began the academic journal Explorations with anthropologist Edmund "Ted" Carpenter. In a letter to Walter Ong, dated 31 May 1953, McLuhan reports that he had received a two-year grant of $43,000 from the Ford Foundation to carry out a communication project at the University of Toronto involving faculty from different disciplines, which led to the creation of the journal.
At a Fordham lecture in 1999, Tom Wolfe suggested that a major under-acknowledged influence on McLuhan's work is the Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose ideas anticipated those of McLuhan, especially the evolution of the human mind into the "noosphere." In fact, McLuhan warns against outright dismissing or whole-heartedly accepting de Chardin's observations early on in his second published book The Gutenberg Galaxy:
This externalization of our senses creates what de Chardin calls the "noosphere" or a technological brain for the world. Instead of tending towards a vast Alexandrian library the world has become a computer, an electronic brain, exactly as in an infantile piece of science fiction. And as our senses have gone outside us, Big Brother goes inside. So, unless aware of this dynamic, we shall at once move into a phase of panic terrors, exactly befitting a small world of tribal drums, total interdependence, and super-imposed co-existence.
In his private life, McLuhan wrote to friends saying: "I am not a fan of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The idea that anything is better because it comes later is surely borrowed from pre-electronic technologies." Further, McLuhan noted to a Catholic collaborator: "The idea of a Cosmic thrust in one direction ... is surely one of the lamest semantic fallacies ever bred by the word 'evolution'.… That development should have any direction at all is inconceivable except to the highly literate community."
Some of McLuhan's main ideas were influenced or prefigured by anthropologists like Edward Sapir and Claude Lévi-Strauss, arguably with a more complex historical and psychological analysis. The idea of the retribalization of Western society by the far-reaching techniques of communication, the view on the function of the artist in society, and the characterization of means of transportation, like the railroad and the airplane, as means of communication, are prefigured in Sapir's 1933 article on Communication in the Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, while the distinction between "hot" and "cool" media draws from Lévi-Strauss' distinction between hot and cold societies.
The Mechanical Bride (1951)
McLuhan's first book, The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man (1951), is a pioneering study in the field now known as popular culture. In the book, McLuhan turns his attention to analysing and commenting on numerous examples of persuasion in contemporary popular culture. This followed naturally from his earlier work as both dialectic and rhetoric in the classical trivium aimed at persuasion. At this point, his focus shifted dramatically, turning inward to study the influence of communication media independent of their content. His famous aphorism "the medium is the message" (elaborated in his Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, 1964) calls attention to this intrinsic effect of communications media.
His interest in the critical study of popular culture was influenced by the 1933 book Culture and Environment by F. R. Leavis and Denys Thompson, and the title The Mechanical Bride is derived from a piece by the Dadaist artist Marcel Duchamp.
The Mechanical Bride is composed of 59 short essays that may be read in any order—what he styled the "mosaic approach" to writing a book. Each essay begins with a newspaper or magazine article, or an advertisement, followed by McLuhan's analysis thereof. The analyses bear on aesthetic considerations as well as on the implications behind the imagery and text. McLuhan chose these ads and articles not only to draw attention to their symbolism, as well as their implications for the corporate entities who created and disseminated them, but also to mull over what such advertising implies about the wider society at which it is aimed. Roland Barthes's essays 1957 Mythologies, echoes McLuhan's Mechanical Bride, as a series of exhibits of popular mass culture (like advertisements, newspaper articles and photographs) that are analyzed in a semiological way.
The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)
Written in 1961 and first published by University of Toronto Press, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (1962) is a pioneering study in the fields of oral culture, print culture, cultural studies, media ecology or media-adequacy.
Throughout the book, McLuhan makes efforts to reveal how communication technology (i.e., alphabetic writing, the printing press, and the electronic media) affects cognitive organization, which in turn has profound ramifications for social organization:
[I]f a new technology extends one or more of our senses outside us into the social world, then new ratios among all of our senses will occur in that particular culture. It is comparable to what happens when a new note is added to a melody. And when the sense ratios alter in any culture then what had appeared lucid before may suddenly become opaque, and what had been vague or opaque will become translucent.
Movable type
McLuhan's episodic history takes the reader from pre-alphabetic, tribal humankind to the electronic age. According to McLuhan, the invention of movable type greatly accelerated, intensified, and ultimately enabled cultural and cognitive changes that had already been taking place since the invention and implementation of the alphabet, by which McLuhan means phonemic orthography. (McLuhan is careful to distinguish the phonetic alphabet from logographic or logogramic writing systems, such as Egyptian hieroglyphs or ideograms.)
Print culture, ushered in by the advance in printing during the middle of the 15th century when the Gutenberg press was invented, brought about the cultural predominance of the visual over the aural/oral. Quoting (with approval) an observation on the nature of the printed word from William Ivins' Prints and Visual Communication, McLuhan remarks:
In this passage [Ivins] not only notes the ingraining of lineal, sequential habits, but, even more important, points out the visual homogenizing of experience of print culture, and the relegation of auditory and other sensuous complexity to the background.…The technology and social effects of typography incline us to abstain from noting interplay and, as it were, "formal" causality, both in our inner and external lives. Print exists by virtue of the static separation of functions and fosters a mentality that gradually resists any but a separative and compartmentalizing or specialist outlook.
The main concept of McLuhan's argument (later elaborated upon in The Medium Is the Massage) is that new technologies (such as alphabets, printing presses, and even speech) exert a gravitational effect on cognition, which in turn, affects social organization: print technology changes our perceptual habits—"visual homogenizing of experience"—which in turn affects social interactions—"fosters a mentality that gradually resists all but a…specialist outlook". According to McLuhan, this advance of print technology contributed to and made possible most of the salient trends in the modern period in the Western world: individualism, democracy, Protestantism, capitalism, and nationalism. For McLuhan, these trends all reverberate with print technology's principle of "segmentation of actions and functions and principle of visual quantification."
Global village
In the early 1960s, McLuhan wrote that the visual, individualistic print culture would soon be brought to an end by what he called "electronic interdependence" wherein electronic media replaces visual culture with aural/oral culture. In this new age, humankind would move from individualism and fragmentation to a collective identity, with a "tribal base." McLuhan's coinage for this new social organization is the global village.
The term is sometimes described as having negative connotations in The Gutenberg Galaxy, but McLuhan was interested in exploring effects, not making value judgments:
Instead of tending towards a vast Alexandrian library the world has become a computer, an electronic brain, exactly as an infantile piece of science fiction. And as our senses have gone outside us, Big Brother goes inside. So, unless aware of this dynamic, we shall at once move into a phase of panic terrors, exactly befitting a small world of tribal drums, total interdependence, and superimposed co-existence.… Terror is the normal state of any oral society, for in it everything affects everything all the time.…In our long striving to recover for the Western world a unity of sensibility and of thought and feeling we have no more been prepared to accept the tribal consequences of such unity than we were ready for the fragmentation of the human psyche by print culture.
Key to McLuhan's argument is the idea that technology has no per se moral bent—it is a tool that profoundly shapes an individual's and, by extension, a society's self-conception and realization:
Is it not obvious that there are always enough moral problems without also taking a moral stand on technological grounds?…Print is the extreme phase of alphabet culture that detribalizes or decollectivizes man in the first instance. Print raises the visual features of alphabet to highest intensity of definition. Thus, print carries the individuating power of the phonetic alphabet much further than manuscript culture could ever do. Print is the technology of individualism. If men decided to modify this visual technology by an electric technology, individualism would also be modified. To raise a moral complaint about this is like cussing a buzz-saw for lopping off fingers. "But", someone says, "we didn't know it would happen." Yet even witlessness is not a moral issue. It is a problem, but not a moral problem; and it would be nice to clear away some of the moral fogs that surround our technologies. It would be good for morality.
The moral valence of technology's effects on cognition is, for McLuhan, a matter of perspective. For instance, McLuhan contrasts the considerable alarm and revulsion that the growing quantity of books aroused in the latter 17th century with the modern concern for the "end of the book." If there can be no universal moral sentence passed on technology, McLuhan believes that "there can only be disaster arising from unawareness of the causalities and effects inherent in our technologies".
Though the World Wide Web was invented almost 30 years after The Gutenberg Galaxy, and 10 years after his death, McLuhan prophesied the web technology seen today as early as 1962:
The next medium, whatever it is—it may be the extension of consciousness—will include television as its content, not as its environment, and will transform television into an art form. A computer as a research and communication instrument could enhance retrieval, obsolesce mass library organization, retrieve the individual's encyclopedic function and flip into a private line to speedily tailored data of a saleable kind.
Furthermore, McLuhan coined and certainly popularized the usage of the term surfing to refer to rapid, irregular, and multidirectional movement through a heterogeneous body of documents or knowledge, e.g., statements such as "Heidegger surf-boards along on the electronic wave as triumphantly as Descartes rode the mechanical wave." Paul Levinson's 1999 book Digital McLuhan explores the ways that McLuhan's work may be understood better through using the lens of the digital revolution.
McLuhan frequently quoted Walter Ong's Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue (1958), which evidently had prompted McLuhan to write The Gutenberg Galaxy. Ong wrote a highly favorable review of this new book in America. However, Ong later tempered his praise, by describing McLuhan's The Gutenberg Galaxy as "a racy survey, indifferent to some scholarly detail, but uniquely valuable in suggesting the sweep and depth of the cultural and psychological changes entailed in the passage from illiteracy to print and beyond." McLuhan himself said of the book, "I'm not concerned to get any kudos out of [The Gutenberg Galaxy]. It seems to me a book that somebody should have written a century ago. I wish somebody else had written it. It will be a useful prelude to the rewrite of Understanding Media [the 1960 NAEB report] that I'm doing now."
McLuhan's The Gutenberg Galaxy won Canada's highest literary award, the Governor-General's Award for Non-Fiction, in 1962. The chairman of the selection committee was McLuhan's colleague at the University of Toronto and oftentime intellectual sparring partner, Northrop Frye.
Understanding Media (1964)
McLuhan's best-known work, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964), is a seminal study in media theory. Dismayed by the way in which people approach and use new media such as television, McLuhan famously argues that in the modern world "we live mythically and integrally…but continue to think in the old, fragmented space and time patterns of the pre-electric age."
McLuhan proposes that media themselves, not the content they carry, should be the focus of study—popularly quoted as "the medium is the message". His insight is that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not by the content it delivers, but by its own characteristics. McLuhan points to the light bulb as a clear demonstration of this. A light bulb does not have content in the way that a newspaper has articles, or a television has programs, but it is a medium that has a social effect; that is, a light bulb enables people to create spaces at night that would otherwise be enveloped by darkness. He describes the light bulb as a medium without any content. McLuhan writes, "a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence." More controversially, he postulates that content has little effect on society—for example, whether television broadcasts children's shows or violent programming, its effect on society is identical. He notes that all media have characteristics that engage the viewer in different ways; for instance, a passage in a book can be reread at will, but a movie must be screened again in its entirety to study any part of it.
"Hot" and "cool" media
In the first part of Understanding Media, McLuhan writes that different media invite different degrees of participation on the part of a person who chooses to consume a medium. Using terminology derived from French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss's distinction between hot and cold societies, McLuhan argues that a cool medium requires increased involvement due to decreased description, while a hot medium is the opposite, decreasing involvement and increasing description. In other words, a society that appears to be actively participating in streaming content but does not consider the tool's effects is not allowing an "extension of ourselves". A movie is thus said to be "high definition", demanding a viewer's attention, and a comic book "low definition", requiring much more conscious participation by the reader to extract value: "Any hot medium allows of less participation than a cool one, as a lecture makes for less participation than a seminar, and a book for less than a dialogue."
Some media, such as movies, are hot—that is, they enhance a single sense, in this case vision, in such a manner that a person does not need to exert much effort to perceive a detailed moving image. Hot media usually, but not always, provide complete involvement with considerable stimulus. In contrast, "cool" print may also occupy visual space, using visual senses, but require focus and comprehension to immerse readers. Hot media creation favour analytical precision, quantitative analysis and sequential ordering, as they are usually sequential, linear, and logical. They emphasize one sense (for example, of sight or sound) over the others. For this reason, hot media include film (especially silent films), radio, the lecture, and photography.
McLuhan contrasts hot media with cool—specifically, television [of the 1960s i.e. small black-and-white screens], which he claims requires more effort from the viewer to determine meaning; and comics, which, due to their minimal presentation of visual detail, require a high degree of effort to fill in details the cartoonist may have intended to portray. Cool media are usually, but not always, those that provide little involvement with substantial stimulus. They require more active participation on the part of the user, including the perception of abstract patterning and simultaneous comprehension of all parts. Therefore, in addition to television, cool media include seminars and cartoons. McLuhan describes the term cool media as emerging from jazz and popular music used, in this context, to mean "detached".
This appears to force media into binary categories, but McLuhan's hot and cool exist on a continuum: they are more correctly measured on a scale than as dichotomous terms.
Critiques of Understanding Media
Some theorists have attacked McLuhan's definition and treatment of the word "medium" for being too simplistic. Umberto Eco, for instance, contends that McLuhan's medium conflates channels, codes, and messages under the overarching term of the medium, confusing the vehicle, internal code, and content of a given message in his framework.
In Media Manifestos, Régis Debray also takes issue with McLuhan's envisioning of the medium. Like Eco, he is ill at ease with this reductionist approach, summarizing its ramifications as follows:
The list of objections could be and has been lengthened indefinitely: confusing technology itself with its use of the media makes of the media an abstract, undifferentiated force and produces its image in an imaginary "public" for mass consumption; the magical naivete of supposed causalities turns the media into a catch-all and contagious "mana"; apocalyptic millenarianism invents the figure of a homo mass-mediaticus without ties to historical and social context, and so on.
Furthermore, when Wired magazine interviewed him in 1995, Debray said he saw McLuhan "more as a poet than a historian, a master of intellectual collage rather than a systematic analyst.… McLuhan overemphasizes the technology behind cultural change at the expense of the usage that the messages and codes make of that technology."
Dwight Macdonald, in turn, reproached McLuhan for his focus on television and for his "aphoristic" prose style, which he believes leaves Understanding Media filled with "contradictions, non-sequiturs, facts that are distorted and facts that are not facts, exaggerations, and chronic rhetorical vagueness."
Brian Winston's Misunderstanding Media, published in 1986, chides McLuhan for what he sees as his technologically deterministic stances. Raymond Williams furthers this point of contention, claiming:
The work of McLuhan was a particular culmination of an aesthetic theory which became, negatively, a social theory ... It is an apparently sophisticated technological determinism which has the significant effect of indicating a social and cultural determinism.… For if the medium—whether print or television—is the cause, all other causes, all that men ordinarily see as history, are at once reduced to effects.
David Carr wrote that there has been a long line of "academics who have made a career out of deconstructing McLuhan’s effort to define the modern media ecosystem", whether it be due to what they see as McLuhan's ignorance of sociohistorical context or the style of his argument.
While some critics have taken issue with McLuhan's writing style and mode of argument, McLuhan himself urged readers to think of his work as "probes" or "mosaics" offering a toolkit approach to thinking about media. His eclectic writing style has also been praised for its postmodern sensibilities and suitability for virtual space.
The Medium Is the Massage (1967)
The Medium Is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects, published in 1967, was McLuhan's best seller, "eventually selling nearly a million copies worldwide." Initiated by Quentin Fiore, McLuhan adopted the term "massage" to denote the effect each medium has on the human sensorium, taking inventory of the "effects" of numerous media in terms of how they "massage" the sensorium.
Fiore, at the time a prominent graphic designer and communications consultant, set about composing the visual illustration of these effects which were compiled by Jerome Agel. Near the beginning of the book, Fiore adopted a pattern in which an image demonstrating a media effect was presented with a textual synopsis on the facing page. The reader experiences a repeated shifting of analytic registers—from "reading" typographic print to "scanning" photographic facsimiles—reinforcing McLuhan's overarching argument in this book: namely, that each medium produces a different "massage" or "effect" on the human sensorium.
In The Medium Is the Massage, McLuhan also rehashed the argument—which first appeared in the Prologue to 1962's The Gutenberg Galaxy—that all media are "extensions" of our human senses, bodies and minds.
Finally, McLuhan described key points of change in how man has viewed the world and how these views were changed by the adoption of new media. "The technique of invention was the discovery of the nineteenth [century]", brought on by the adoption of fixed points of view and perspective by typography, while "[t]he technique of the suspended judgment is the discovery of the twentieth century," brought on by the bard abilities of radio, movies and television.The past went that-a-way. When faced with a totally new situation we tend always to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backward into the future. Suburbia lives imaginatively in Bonanza-land.An audio recording version of McLuhan's famous work was made by Columbia Records. The recording consists of a pastiche of statements made by McLuhan interrupted by other speakers, including people speaking in various phonations and falsettos, discordant sounds and 1960s incidental music in what could be considered a deliberate attempt to translate the disconnected images seen on TV into an audio format, resulting in the prevention of a connected stream of conscious thought. Various audio recording techniques and statements are used to illustrate the relationship between spoken, literary speech and the characteristics of electronic audio media. McLuhan biographer Philip Marchand called the recording "the 1967 equivalent of a McLuhan video.""I wouldn't be seen dead with a living work of art."—'Old man' speaking
"Drop this jiggery-pokery and talk straight turkey."—"Middle-aged man" speaking
War and Peace in the Global Village (1968)
In War and Peace in the Global Village, McLuhan used James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, an inspiration for this study of war throughout history, as an indicator as to how war may be conducted in the future.
Joyce's Wake is claimed to be a gigantic cryptogram that reveals a cyclic pattern for human history through its Ten Thunders. Each "thunder" below is a 100-character portmanteau of other words to create a statement McLuhan likens to an effect that each technology has on the society into which it is introduced. In order to glean the most understanding out of each, the reader must break the portmanteau into separate words (many of these themselves portmanteaus of words taken from multiple languages other than English) and speak them aloud for the spoken effect of each word. There is much dispute over what each portmanteau truly denotes.
McLuhan claims that the ten thunders in Wake represent different stages in the history of man:
Thunder 1: Paleolithic to Neolithic. Speech. Split of East/West. From herding to harnessing animals.
Thunder 2: Clothing as weaponry. Enclosure of private parts. First social aggression.
Thunder 3: Specialism. Centralism via wheel, transport, cities: civil life.
Thunder 4: Markets and truck gardens. Patterns of nature submitted to greed and power.
Thunder 5: Printing. Distortion and translation of human patterns and postures and pastors.
Thunder 6: Industrial Revolution. Extreme development of print process and individualism.
Thunder 7: Tribal man again. All characters end up separate, private man. Return of choric.
Thunder 8: Movies. Pop art, pop Kulch via tribal radio. Wedding of sight and sound.
Thunder 9: Car and Plane. Both centralizing and decentralizing at once create cities in crisis. Speed and death.
Thunder 10: Television. Back to tribal involvement in tribal mood-mud. The last thunder is a turbulent, muddy wake, and murk of non-visual, tactile man.
From Cliché to Archetype (1970)
Collaborating with Canadian poet Wilfred Watson in From Cliché to Archetype (1970), McLuhan approaches the various implications of the verbal cliché and of the archetype. One major facet in McLuhan's overall framework introduced in this book that is seldom noticed is the provision of a new term that actually succeeds the global village: the global theater.
In McLuhan's terms, a cliché is a "normal" action, phrase, etc. which becomes so often used that we are "anesthetized" to its effects. McLuhan provides the example of Eugène Ionesco's play The Bald Soprano, whose dialogue consists entirely of phrases Ionesco pulled from an Assimil language book: "Ionesco originally put all these idiomatic English clichés into literary French which presented the English in the most absurd aspect possible."
McLuhan's archetype "is a quoted extension, medium, technology, or environment." Environment would also include the kinds of "awareness" and cognitive shifts brought upon people by it, not totally unlike the psychological context Carl Jung described.
McLuhan also posits that there is a factor of interplay between the cliché and the archetype, or a "doubleness":
Another theme of the Wake [Finnegans Wake] that helps in the understanding of the paradoxical shift from cliché to archetype is 'past time are pastimes.' The dominant technologies of one age become the games and pastimes of a later age. In the 20th century, the number of 'past times' that are simultaneously available is so vast as to create cultural anarchy. When all the cultures of the world are simultaneously present, the work of the artist in the elucidation of form takes on new scope and new urgency. Most men are pushed into the artist's role. The artist cannot dispense with the principle of 'doubleness' or 'interplay' because this type of hendiadys dialogue is essential to the very structure of consciousness, awareness, and autonomy.
McLuhan relates the cliché-to-archetype process to the Theater of the Absurd:
Pascal, in the seventeenth century, tells us that the heart has many reasons of which the head knows nothing. The Theater of the Absurd is essentially a communicating to the head of some of the silent languages of the heart which in two or three hundred years it has tried to forget all about. In the seventeenth century world the languages of the heart were pushed down into the unconscious by the dominant print cliché.
The "languages of the heart", or what McLuhan otherwise defined as oral culture, were thus made archetype by means of the printing press, and turned into cliché.
According to McLuhan, the satellite medium encloses the Earth in a man-made environment, which "ends 'Nature' and turns the globe into a repertory theater to be programmed." All previous environments (book, newspaper, radio, etc.) and their artifacts are retrieved under these conditions ("past times are pastimes"). McLuhan thereby meshes this into the term global theater. This updates his concept of the global village, which, in its own definitions, can be said to be subsumed into the overall condition of the global theater.
The Global Village (1989)
In his posthumous book, The Global Village: Transformations in World Life and Media in the 21st Century (1989), McLuhan, collaborating with Bruce R. Powers, provides a strong conceptual framework for understanding the cultural implications of the technological advances associated with the rise of a worldwide electronic network. This is a major work of McLuhan's as it contains the most extensive elaboration of his concept of acoustic space, and provides a critique of standard 20th-century communication models such as the Shannon–Weaver model.
McLuhan distinguishes between the existing worldview of visual space—a linear, quantitative, classically geometric model—and that of acoustic space—a holistic, qualitative order with an intricate, paradoxical topology: "Acoustic Space has the basic character of a sphere whose focus or center is simultaneously everywhere and whose margin is nowhere." The transition from visual to acoustic space was not automatic with the advent of the global network, but would have to be a conscious project. The "universal environment of simultaneous electronic flow" inherently favors right-brain Acoustic Space, yet we are held back by habits of adhering to a fixed point of view. There are no boundaries to sound. We hear from all directions at once. Yet Acoustic and Visual Space are inseparable. The resonant interval is the invisible borderline between Visual and Acoustic Space. This is like the television camera that the Apollo 8 astronauts focused on the Earth after they had orbited the Moon.
McLuhan illustrates how it feels to exist within acoustic space by quoting from the autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, And There Was Light. Lusseyran lost his eyesight in a violent accident as a child, and the autobiography describes how a reordering of his sensory life and perception followed:When I came upon the myth of objectivity in certain modern thinkers, it made me angry. So, there was only one world for these people, the same for everyone. And all the other worlds were to be counted as illusions left over from the past. Or why not call them by their name—hallucinations? I had learned to my cost how wrong they were. From my own experience I knew very well that it was enough to take from a man a memory here, an association there, to deprive him of hearing or sight, for the world to undergo immediate transformation, and for another world, entirely different, but entirely coherent, to be born. Another world? Not really. The same world, rather, but seen from a different angle, and counted in entirely new measures. When this happened all the hierarchies they called objective were turned upside down, scattered to the four winds, not even theories but like whims.Reading, writing, and hierarchical ordering are associated with the left brain and visual space, as are the linear concept of time and phonetic literacy. The left brain is the locus of analysis, classification, and rationality. The right brain and acoustic space are the locus of the spatial, tactile, and musical. "Comprehensive awareness" results when the two sides of the brain are in true balance. Visual Space is associated with the simplified worldview of Euclidean geometry, the intuitive three dimensions useful for the architecture of buildings and the surveying of land. It is linearly rational and has no grasp of the acoustic. Acoustic Space is multisensory. McLuhan writes about robotism in the context of Japanese Zen Buddhism and how it can offer us new ways of thinking about technology. The Western way of thinking about technology is too related to the left brain, which has a rational and linear focus. What he called robotism might better be called androidism in the wake of Blade Runner and the novels of Philip K. Dick. Robotism-androidism emerges from the further development of the right brain, creativity and a new relationship to spacetime (most humans are still living in 17th-century classical Newtonian physics spacetime). Robots-androids will have much greater flexibility than humans have had until now, in both mind and body. Robots-androids will teach humanity this new flexibility. And this flexibility of androids (what McLuhan calls robotism) has a strong affinity with Japanese culture and life. McLuhan quotes from Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword an anthropological study of Japanese culture published in 1946:Occidentals cannot easily credit the ability of the Japanese to swing from one behavior to another without psychic cost. Such extreme possibilities are not included in our experience. Yet in Japanese life the contradictions, as they seem to us, are as deeply based in their view of life as our uniformities are in ours.The ability to live in the present and instantly readjust.
Beyond existing communication models
"All Western scientific models of communication are—like the Shannon–Weaver model—linear, sequential, and logical as a reflection of the late medieval emphasis on the Greek notion of efficient causality." McLuhan and Powers criticize the Shannon-Weaver model of communication as emblematic of left-hemisphere bias and linearity, descended from a print-era perversion of Aristotle's notion of efficient causality.
A third term of The Global Village that McLuhan and Powers develop at length is The Tetrad. McLuhan had begun development on the Tetrad as early as 1974. The tetrad is an analogical, simultaneous, fourfold pattern of transformation. "At full maturity the tetrad reveals the metaphoric structure of the artifact as having two figures and two grounds in dynamic and analogical relationship to each other." Like the camera focused on the Earth by the Apollo 8 astronauts, the tetrad reveals figure (Moon) and ground (Earth) simultaneously. The right-brain hemisphere thinking is the capability of being in many places at the same time. Electricity is acoustic. It is simultaneously everywhere. The Tetrad, with its fourfold Möbius topological structure of enhancement, reversal, retrieval and obsolescence, is mobilized by McLuhan and Powers to illuminate the media or technological inventions of cash money, the compass, the computer, the database, the satellite, and the global media network.
Key concepts
Tetrad of media effects
In Laws of Media (1988), published posthumously by his son Eric, McLuhan summarized his ideas about media in a concise tetrad of media effects. The tetrad is a means of examining the effects on society of any technology (i.e., any medium) by dividing its effects into four categories and displaying them simultaneously. McLuhan designed the tetrad as a pedagogical tool, phrasing his laws as questions with which to consider any medium:
What does the medium enhance?
What does the medium make obsolete?
What does the medium retrieve that had been obsolesced earlier?
What does the medium flip into when pushed to extremes?
The laws of the tetrad exist simultaneously, not successively or chronologically, and allow the questioner to explore the "grammar and syntax" of the "language" of media. McLuhan departs from his mentor Harold Innis in suggesting that a medium "overheats," or reverses into an opposing form, when taken to its extreme.
Visually, a tetrad can be depicted as four diamonds forming an X, with the name of a medium in the centre. The two diamonds on the left of a tetrad are the Enhancement and Retrieval qualities of the medium, both Figure qualities. The two diamonds on the right of a tetrad are the Obsolescence and Reversal qualities, both Ground qualities.
Using the example of radio:
Enhancement (figure): What the medium amplifies or intensifies. Radio amplifies news and music via sound.
Obsolescence (ground): What the medium drives out of prominence. Radio reduces the importance of print and the visual.
Retrieval (figure): What the medium recovers which was previously lost. Radio returns the spoken word to the forefront.
Reversal (ground): What the medium does when pushed to its limits. Acoustic radio flips into audio-visual TV.
Figure and ground
McLuhan adapted the Gestalt psychology idea of a figure and a ground, which underpins the meaning of "the medium is the message." He used this concept to explain how a form of communications technology, the medium, or figure, necessarily operates through its context, or ground.
McLuhan believed that in order to grasp fully the effect of a new technology, one must examine figure (medium) and ground (context) together, since neither is completely intelligible without the other. McLuhan argued that we must study media in their historical context, particularly in relation to the technologies that preceded them. The present environment, itself made up of the effects of previous technologies, gives rise to new technologies, which, in their turn, further affect society and individuals.
All technologies have embedded within them their own assumptions about time and space. The message which the medium conveys can only be understood if the medium and the environment in which the medium is used—and which, simultaneously, it effectively creates—are analysed together. He believed that an examination of the figure-ground relationship can offer a critical commentary on culture and society.
Opposition between optic and haptic perception
In McLuhan's (and Harley Parker's) work, electric media have an affinity with haptic and hearing perception, while mechanical media have an affinity with visual perception. This opposition between optic and haptic had previously been formulated by art historians Alois Riegl in his 1901 Late Roman Art Industry, and by Erwin Panofsky, in his 1927 Perspective as Symbolic Form.
In his The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935), Walter Benjamin observed how, in perceptions of modern Western culture, from about the 19th century a shift began from the optic toward the haptic. This shift is one of the main recurring topics in McLuhan's work, which McLuhan attributes to the advent of the electronic era.
Legacy
Influence
After the publication of Understanding Media, McLuhan received an astonishing amount of publicity, making him perhaps the most-publicized 20th-century English teacher and arguably the most controversial. This publicity began with the work of two California advertising executives, Howard Gossage and Gerald Feigen, who used personal funds to fund their practice of "genius scouting". Much enamoured of McLuhan's work, Feigen and Gossage arranged for McLuhan to meet with editors of several major New York magazines in May 1965 at the Lombardy Hotel in New York. Philip Marchand reports that, as a direct consequence of these meetings, McLuhan was offered the use of an office in the headquarters of both Time and Newsweek anytime he wanted it.
In August 1965, Feigen and Gossage held what they called a "McLuhan festival" in the offices of Gossage's advertising agency in San Francisco. During this "festival", McLuhan met with advertising executives, members of the mayor's office, and editors from the San Francisco Chronicle and Ramparts magazine. More significant was the presence at the festival of Tom Wolfe, who wrote about McLuhan in a subsequent article, "What If He Is Right?", published in New York magazine and Wolfe's own The Pump House Gang. According to Feigen and Gossage, their work had only a moderate effect on McLuhan's eventual celebrity: they claimed that their work only "probably speeded up the recognition of his genius by about six months." In any case, McLuhan soon became a fixture of media discourse. Newsweek magazine did a cover story on him; articles appeared in Life, Harper's, Fortune, Esquire, and others. Cartoons about him appeared in The New Yorker. In 1969, Playboy magazine published a lengthy interview with him. In a running gag on the popular sketch comedy Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the "poet" Henry Gibson would randomly say, "Marshall McLuhan, what are you doin'?"
McLuhan was credited with coining the phrase Turn on, tune in, drop out by its popularizer, Timothy Leary, in the 1960s. In a 1988 interview with Neil Strauss, Leary said the slogan was "given to him" by McLuhan during a lunch in New York City. Leary said McLuhan "was very much interested in ideas and marketing, and he started singing something like, 'Psychedelics hit the spot / Five hundred micrograms, that’s a lot,' to the tune of a Pepsi commercial. Then he started going, 'Tune in, turn on, and drop out.'"
During his lifetime and afterward, McLuhan heavily influenced cultural critics, thinkers, and media theorists such as Neil Postman, Jean Baudrillard, Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna, William Irwin Thompson, Paul Levinson, Douglas Rushkoff, Jaron Lanier, Hugh Kenner, and John David Ebert, as well as political leaders such as Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Jerry Brown. Andy Warhol was paraphrasing McLuhan with his now famous "15 minutes of fame" quote. When asked in the 1970s for a way to sedate violence in Angola, he suggested a massive spread of TV devices. Douglas Coupland argued that McLuhan "was conservative, socially, but he never let politics enter his writing or his teaching".
Popular culture
Woody Allen's Oscar-winning Annie Hall (1977) featured McLuhan in a cameo as himself. In the film, a pompous academic is arguing with Allen in a cinema queue when McLuhan suddenly appears and silences him, saying, "You know nothing of my work."
The character "Brian O'Blivion" in David Cronenberg's 1983 film Videodrome is a "media oracle" based on McLuhan.
In 1991, McLuhan was named the "patron saint" of Wired magazine and a quote of his appeared on the masthead for the first ten years of its publication.
McLuhan's perspective on the cycle of cultural identity inspired Duke Ellington's album The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse.
He is mentioned by name in a Peter Gabriel–penned lyric in the song "Broadway Melody of 1974", on Genesis's concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway: "Marshall McLuhan, casual viewin', head buried in the sand."
McLuhan is jokingly referred to in an episode of The Sopranos titled "House Arrest".
Despite his death in 1980, someone claiming to be McLuhan posted on a Wired mailing list in 1996. The information this person provided convinced one Wired writer that "if the poster was not McLuhan himself, it was a bot programmed with an eerie command of McLuhan's life and inimitable perspective."
McLuhan is the subject of the 1993 play The Medium, the first major work by the Saratoga International Theater Institute and director Anne Bogart. The play was revived by SITI Company for a farewell tour in 2022.
Recognition
A new centre known as the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, formed soon after his death in 1980, was the successor to McLuhan's Centre for Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto. Since 1994, it has been part of the University of Toronto Faculty of Information. In 2008, the centre incorporated in the Coach House Institute, which was subsequently renamed The McLuhan Centre for Culture and Technology. In 2011, at the time of his centenary, the centre established a "Marshall McLuhan Centenary Fellowship" program in his honour, and each year appoints up to four fellows for a maximum of two years.
In Toronto, Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School is named after him.
The media room at Canada House in Berlin is called the Marshall McLuhan Salon. It includes a multimedia information centre and an auditorium, and hosts a permanent exhibition dedicated to McLuhan, based on its collection of film and audio items by and about him.
Bibliography of major works
This is a partial list of works cited in this article.
1951. The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man (1st ed.). New York: Vanguard Press.
reissued by Gingko Press, 2002. ISBN 978-1-58423-050-2.
1962. The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man. (1st ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
reissued by Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-7100-1818-2.
1964. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1st ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
reissued by MIT Press, 1994, with introduction by Lewis H. Lapham; reissued by Gingko Press, 2003. ISBN 978-1-58423-073-1.
1967. The Medium Is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects (1st ed.), with Quentin Fiore, produced by Jerome Agel. Random House.
reissued by Gingko Press, 2001. ISBN 978-1-58423-070-0.
1968. War and Peace in the Global Village (1st ed.), with design/layout by Quentin Fiore, produced by Jerome Agel. New York: Bantam.
reissued by Gingko Press, 2001. ISBN 978-1-58423-074-8.
1970. From Cliché to Archetype, with Wilfred Watson. New York: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-33093-5.
1988. Laws of Media, edited by Eric McLuhan. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-5782-2.
2016 The Future of the Library: From Electronic Media to Digital Media, edited by Robert K. Logan. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-1-4331-3264-3.
Discography
The Medium Is The Massage: With Marshall McLuhan (1967) Columbia – CS 9501
See also
Neuroplasticity
Cortical remapping
Social interface
Notes
References
Footnotes
Works cited
Further reading
External links
Official website
Marshall McLuhan at IMDb
Marshall McLuhan bibliography at Monoskop
"James Feeley fonds". University of St. Michael's College, John M. Kelly Library. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
"The Marshall McLuhan Collection". University of St. Michael's College, John M. Kelly Library. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 15 October 2015. |
Videodrome | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videodrome | [
514
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videodrome"
] | Videodrome is a 1983 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring James Woods, Sonja Smits, and Debbie Harry. Set in Toronto during the early 1980s, it follows the CEO of a small UHF television station who stumbles upon a broadcast signal of snuff films. Layers of deception and mind-control conspiracy unfold as he attempts to uncover the signal's source, complicated by increasingly intense hallucinations that cause him to lose his grasp on reality.
Distributed by Universal Pictures, Videodrome was the first film by Cronenberg to gain backing from any major Hollywood studio. With the highest budget of any of his films to date, the film was a box-office bomb, recouping only $2.1 million from a $5.9 million budget. The film received praise for the special makeup effects, Cronenberg's direction, Woods and Harry's performances, its "techno-surrealist" aesthetic, and its cryptic, psychosexual themes. Cronenberg won the Best Direction award and was nominated for seven other awards at the 5th Genie Awards.
Now considered a cult classic, the film has been cited as one of Cronenberg's best, and a key example of the body horror and science fiction horror genres.
Plot
Max Renn is the president of CIVIC-TV, a Toronto UHF television station specializing in sensationalist programming. Harlan, the operator of CIVIC-TV's unauthorized satellite dish, shows Max Videodrome. Purportedly broadcast from Malaysia, it is a plotless show depicting victims being violently tortured and eventually murdered. Believing this to be the future of television, Max orders Harlan to begin unlicensed use of the show.
Nicki Brand, a sadomasochistic radio host who becomes sexually involved with Max, is aroused by an episode of Videodrome. Upon learning it is actually broadcast out of Pittsburgh, she goes to audition for the show but never returns. Max contacts Masha, a softcore pornographer, and asks her to help him investigate Videodrome. Through Masha, Max learns that the footage is real and is the public "face" of a political movement. Masha further informs him that the enigmatic media theorist Brian O'Blivion knows about Videodrome.
Max tracks down O'Blivion to a homeless shelter where vagrants engage in marathon sessions of television viewing. He discovers that O'Blivion's daughter Bianca runs the mission, aiding her father's vision of a world where television replaces everyday life. Later, Max views a videotape of O'Blivion explaining that Videodrome is a socio-political battleground in which a war is being fought to control the minds of the people of North America. Max then hallucinates that Nicki speaks directly to him and causes his television to undulate as he kisses the screen. Disturbed, Max returns to O'Blivion's homeless shelter. Bianca tells him that Videodrome carries a broadcast signal that gives malignant brain tumors. O'Blivion considers it as part of his vision, and hallucinations are a higher form of reality. When O'Blivion found out it was to be used for malevolent purposes, he attempted to stop his partners only to be killed by his own invention. In the year before his death, O'Blivion recorded tens of thousands of videos, which now form the basis of his television appearances.
Later that night, Max hallucinates placing his handgun in a slit in his abdomen. He is contacted by Videodrome's producer, Barry Convex of the Spectacular Optical Corporation, an eyeglasses company that acts as a front for an arms company, who uses a device to record Max's fantasies. Max then wakes up to find Masha's corpse in his bed. He frantically calls Harlan to photograph the body as evidence, but, shortly after he arrives, her body is gone.
Wanting to see the latest Videodrome broadcast, Max meets Harlan at his studio. Harlan reveals that he has been working with Convex to recruit Max to their cause. They aim to end North America's cultural decay by using Videodrome to kill anyone too obsessed with sex and violence. Convex then inserts a brainwashing Betamax tape into Max's torso. Under Convex's influence, Max kills his colleagues at CIVIC-TV. He attempts to kill Bianca, who stops him by showing him a videotape of Nicki's murder on the Videodrome set. Bianca then 'reprograms' Max to her father's cause: "Death to Videodrome. Long live the new flesh." On her orders, he kills Harlan and Convex.
Now wanted for murder, Max takes refuge on a derelict boat in the Port Lands. Appearing to him on television, Nicki tells him he has weakened Videodrome, but to defeat it, he must "leave the old flesh" and ascend to the next level. The television shows an image of Max shooting himself in the head, which causes the set to explode. Reenacting what he has just seen, Max utters the words "Long live the new flesh" and shoots himself.
Cast
Production
Development
The basis for Videodrome came from David Cronenberg's childhood. Cronenberg used to pick up American television signals from Buffalo, New York, late at night after Canadian stations had gone off the air, and worry he might see something disturbing not meant for public consumption. As Cronenberg explained, "I've always been interested in dark things and other people's fascinations with dark things. Plus, the idea of people locking themselves in a room and turning a key on a television set so that they can watch something extremely dark, and by doing that, allowing themselves to explore their fascinations." Cronenberg watched Marshall McLuhan, on whom O'Blivion was based, and McLuhan later taught at the University of Toronto while Cronenberg was a student there, although he never took any of McLuhan's classes.
Cronenberg's first exploration of themes of the branding of sex and violence and media impacting people's reality was writing a treatment titled Network of Blood in the early 1970s; its premise was a worker for an independent television company (who would become Max Renn in Videodrome) unintentionally finding, in the filmmaker's words, "a private television network subscribed to by strange, wealthy people who were willing to pay to see bizarre things." He later planned the story to be told from the main character's first-person perspective, showcasing a duality between how insane he looks to other people and how he himself perceives a different reality in his head. Concepts similar to Network of Blood's were further explored in a 1977 episode of the CBC Television series Peep Show Cronenberg directed, named "The Victim." The film's fictional station CIVIC-TV was modeled on the real-life Toronto television station CITY-TV, which was known for broadcasting pornographic content and violent films in its late-night programming bloc The Baby Blue Movie.
Victor Snolicki, Dick Schouten, and Pierre David of Vision 4, a company taking advantage of Canada's tax shelter policies, aided Cronenberg in the film's financing. Vision 4 dissolved after Schouten's death and reorganized into Filmplan International which funded Scanners. Solnicki, David, and Claude Héroux formed Filmplan II which gave financial backing to Videodrome. This was the last film Cronenberg made under Canada's film tax shelter policy.
Cronenberg's increased reputation made it easier for his projects to get produced, leading to the film's $5.5 million budget, more interest from studios and producers, and a larger number of interested actors to choose from. After the box office success of Scanners, Cronenberg turned down the chance of directing Return of the Jedi, having had no desire to direct material produced by other filmmakers. Cronenberg met with David in Montreal to discuss ideas for a new film, with the former pitching two ideas, one of them being Videodrome.
Cronenberg started writing the first draft of Videodrome in January 1981, and, as with first drafts of Cronenberg's prior projects, included many parts not featured in the final cut to make it more acceptable for audiences; this included Renn having an explosive grenade as a hand after he chops off his flesh gun during a hallucination, Renn and Nicki melting, via a kiss, into an object that then melts an on-looker, and five other characters besides Barry also dying of cancer. Cronenberg admits that he was worried that the project would be rejected by Filmplan due to the excessive violent content of an early draft, but it was approved, with Claude Héroux joking that the movie would get a triple X rating. Although talent for the film was attracted using the first draft, alterations were made constantly from pre-production to post-production.
Accumulation of the cast and crew started in the summer of 1981 in Toronto, with most of the supporting actors being local performers of the city. Videodrome's three producers, David, Claude Héroux and Victor Solnicki, suggested James Woods for the role of Max Renn; they unsuccessfully tried to attach him to another film they produced, Models (1982). Woods was a fan of Rabid (1977) and Scanners, and met Cronenberg in Beverly Hills for the part; Cronenberg liked the fact that Woods was very articulate in terms of delivery, and Woods appreciated the filmmaker's oddball style as well as being a "good controversialist" with "a lot of power." Cronenberg doubled for Woods in the scene where Max puts on the Videodrome helmet since the actor was afraid of getting electrocuted. Co-star Debbie Harry was recommended by David, and Cronenberg cast her after viewing her two times in Union City (1980) and a Toronto audition. She had never had such a large part before, and said that the more experienced Woods gave her a number of helpful suggestions.
Filming
The film was shot in Toronto from 27 October to 23 December 1981, on a budget of $5,952,000 (equivalent to $18,890,085 in 2023), with the financing equally coming from Canada and the United States. 50% of the film's budget came from Universal. The initial week of filming being devoted to videotaping various monitor inserts. These included the television monologues of Professor Brian O'Blivion, as well as the Videodrome torture scenes and the soft-core pornographic programs Samurai Dreams and Apollo & Dionysus. The video camera used for the monitor scenes was a Hitachi SK-91. The film's cinematography was handled by Mark Irwin, who was very uncomfortable with doing the monitor scenes; he was far more experienced with composing shots for regular film cameras than videotapes, disliked the flat television standards of lighting and color, and couldn't compose his shots privately as all of the film crew watched the monitors as the shots were being set up. Cronenberg stated that Videodrome was the first time that he fired a crew worker due to an incident between a hairdresser and Harry.
The Samurai Dreams short was filmed in half a day without any audio recorded at a rented spot at a Global TV studio in Toronto, and lasted five minutes longer than what ended up in the final film.
Three different endings were filmed. The ending used in the final film, wherein Max shoots himself on the derelict ship, was James Woods' idea. One of the initial intentions for the ending was to include an epilogue after the suicide, wherein Max, Bianca, and Nicki appear on the set of Videodrome. Bianca and Nicki are shown to have chest slits like Max, from which grotesque, mutated sex organs emerge. Another ending featured an orgy between Bianca, Max, and Nicki after Max shoots himself and sex-organs were designed for the scene, but Cronenberg decided to remove the scene.
Effects
Rick Baker, who worked on the effects of An American Werewolf in London, did the effects for the film. However, his desired six months of preparation was reduced to two months and less effects were created due to a reduced budget.
One of the scenes cut from the script showed Max and Nicki's faces melting together while kissing and going across the floor to a bystander's leg and melting him.
Michael Lennick served as special video effects supervisor. To create the breathing effects of the television set that Max interacts with, Frank C. Carere utilized an air compressor with valves hooked to a piano keyboard that he himself operated. The undulating screen of the television set was created using a video projector and a sheet of rubbery dental dam. Baker stated that "I knew we would need a flexible material ... we tested with a weather balloon first, stretching it over a frame the size of a TV screen, and pushed a hand through it to see how far it stretched, and then we rear-projected on it." Betamax videotape cassettes were used as items to be inserted into Max's stomach slit, because VHS cassettes were too large to fit the faux abdominal wound. Woods found the stomach slit uncomfortable, and after a long day of wearing it, vented, "I am not an actor anymore. I'm just the bearer of the slit!" Baker's original concept for Max's flesh gun featured eyes, mouth and foreskin, which Cronenberg found to be "too graphic". The cancer effects caused by Max's flesh gun went through various tests, with some tests having the face of the victim being distorted through the use of solvents, but Baker decided against this upon learning that his mentor, Dick Smith, had recently used the same technique in Spasms. Baker settled on having the cancer tumors burst out from the body of Barry Convex, with his crew operating a dummy underneath the set. Lennick devised effects such as having the image of the Videodrome television set distort whenever Max would whip it through the use of a device which he called the "Videodromer", and glitch and twitch effects related to Max's visions through the Videodrome helmet, but these effects were scrapped due to budget and time concerns.
Music
An original score was composed for Videodrome by Cronenberg's close friend, Howard Shore. The score was composed to follow Max Renn's descent into video hallucinations, starting out with dramatic orchestral music that increasingly incorporates, and eventually emphasizes, electronic instrumentation. To achieve this, Shore composed the entire score for an orchestra before programming it into a Synclavier II digital synthesizer. The rendered score, taken from the Synclavier II, was then recorded being played in tandem with a small string section. The resulting sound was a subtle blend that often made it difficult to tell which sounds were real and which were synthesized.
The soundtrack was also released on vinyl by Varèse Sarabande, and was re-released on compact disc in 1998. The album itself is not just a straight copy of Shore's score, but a remix. Shore has commented that while there were small issues with some of the acoustic numbers, "on the whole I think they did very well".
Editing
Cronenberg stated that the first test screening of a 72-75 minute cut of the film was "the most disastrous screening you can imagine". He and editor Ronald Sanders "thought we had cut it really tight, but it was totally incomprehensible that you didn't even know that Max Renn worked at Civic TV, I'd cut out all the footage that explained that".
The MPAA requested multiple edits to the film. Bob Remy, the head of Universal Pictures, also suggested removing the scene in Samurai Dreams showing the dildo. Cronenberg was confused by Remy's suggestion as the "MPAA didn't even ask me to cut that. Why is he asking me to cut that". Thom Mount told Cronenberg that it was due to Remy having "a problem with cocks". The film's runtime was 87 minutes and 18 seconds in Canada and the United States, but was 15 seconds longer in the international version.
Cronenberg was critical of edits Universal Pictures performed on the film without request from the MPAA.
Themes
According to Tim Lucas, Videodrome deals with "the impression of a sprawlingly technological world on our human senses; the fascination and horror of sex and violence; and the boundaries of reality and consciousness."
Release
David was able to get Universal Pictures to finance and distribute the film based "on a one-page description," according to Cronenberg. Videodrome was distributed by Universal Pictures in Canada and the United States, and by Les Films Mutuels in Quebec. It was released in six hundred theatres on 4 February 1983.
Cronenberg stated that Sidney Sheinberg regretted giving the film a wide theatrical release rather than treating it as an art film. Around 900 prints of the film were distributed according to Cronenberg, and the film was only in theaters for a short amount of time. Cronenberg stated that Videodrome "wasn't an exploitation sell, and it wasn't an art sell. I don't know what it was."
Reception
The film holds a 83% aggregate rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 59 reviews, with an average score of 7.5/10. Its consensus states, "Visually audacious, disorienting, and just plain weird, Videodrome's musings on technology, entertainment, and politics still feel fresh today." It has been described as a "disturbing techno-surrealist film" and "burningly intense, chaotic, indelibly surreal, absolutely like nothing else".
Janet Maslin of The New York Times remarked on the film's "innovativeness", and praised Woods' performance as having a "sharply authentic edge". Adam Smith of Empire gave the film 4 out of 5 possible stars, calling it a "perfect example" of body horror. The staff of Variety wrote that the film "proves more fascinating than distancing", and commended the "stunning visual effects". Gary Arnold of The Washington Post gave the film a negative review, calling it "simultaneously stupefying and boring".
C.J. Henderson reviewed Videodrome in The Space Gamer No. 63. Henderson commented that "Despite the fact that Videodrome came and went faster than Superman and his bullet, it is still an excellent picture. It is a genre film of high caliber, posing a number of important questions."
Christopher John reviewed Videodrome in Ares Magazine #14 and commented that "As usual, Cronenberg has pulled no punches in getting his message across. The movie is tight, and perfectly clear for anyone willing to watch the screen and think about what they are seeing."
Trace Thurman of Bloody Disgusting listed it as one of eight "horror movies that were ahead of their time". It was also selected as one of the "23 weirdest films of all time" by Total Film. Nick Schager of Esquire ranked the film at number 10 on their list of "the 50 best horror movies of the 1980s".
Awards
The film won a number of awards upon its release. At the 1984 Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film, it tied with Bloodbath at the House of Death for Best Science-Fiction Film, and Mark Irwin received a CSC Award for Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature. Videodrome was also nominated for eight Genie Awards, with David Cronenberg tying Bob Clark's A Christmas Story for Best Achievement in Direction.
It was the first Genie Award that Cronenberg won.
Videodrome was named the 89th-most-essential film in history by the Toronto International Film Festival.
Home media
Videodrome was released on VHS and DVD in the late 1990s by Universal Studios Home Entertainment, who also released the film on LaserDisc.
The film was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection on August 31, 2004, and their Blu-ray edition was released on December 7, 2010. The Criterion Blu-ray features two commentary tracks, one with Cronenberg and cinematographer Mark Irwin, and the other with actors James Woods and Deborah Harry. Among the other special features are a documentary titled Forging the New Flesh; the soft-core video Samurai Dreams; the 2000 short film Camera; three trailers for Videodrome; and Fear on Film, which consists of an interview with Cronenberg, John Carpenter and John Landis, hosted by Mick Garris.
In 2015, Arrow Films released the film on Blu-ray in Region B with further special features, including Cronenberg's short films Transfer (1966) and From the Drain (1967), as well as his feature films Stereo (1969) and Crimes of the Future (1970).
Novelization
A novelization of Videodrome was released by Zebra Books alongside the movie in 1983. Though credited to "Jack Martin", the novel was, in fact, the work of horror novelist Dennis Etchison. Cronenberg reportedly invited Etchison up to Toronto, where they discussed and clarified the story, allowing the novel to remain as close as possible to the actions in the film. There are some differences, however, such as the inclusion of the "bathtub sequence", a scene never filmed in which a television rises from Max Renn's bathtub like in Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. This was the result of the lead time required to write the book, which left Etchison working with an earlier draft of the script than was used in the film.
See also
Pirate television
Snuff film
References
Works cited
Beard, William; White, Jerry (2002). North of everything: English-Canadian Cinema Since 1980. The University of Alberta Press. ISBN 0-88864-398-5.
Cronenberg, David (2006). David Cronenberg: Interviews with Serge Grünberg. Plexus Publishing. ISBN 0859653765.
Lucas, Tim (December 1983). "Videodrome". Cinefantastique. pp. 32–49.
Lucas, Tim. Studies in the Horror Film - Videodrome. Lakewood, CO: Centipede Press, 2008. ISBN 1-933618-28-0.
Rodley, Chris, ed. (1997). Cronenberg on Cronenberg. Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571191371.
Turner, D. John, ed. (1987). Canadian Feature Film Index: 1913-1985. Canadian Film Institute. ISBN 0660533642.
External links
Videodrome at IMDb
Videodrome at AllMovie
Videodrome at Box Office Mojo
Videodrome at Rotten Tomatoes
Videodrome at Metacritic
Videodrome at the TCM Movie Database
Videodrome review (archived) at InternalBleeding
Videodrome: The Slithery Sense of Unreality an essay by Gary Indiana at the Criterion Collection
understanding media - Videodrome, a list of academic texts about the film |
Jack_Creley | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Creley | [
514
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Creley"
] | Jack Creley (March 6, 1926 – March 10, 2004) was an American-born Canadian actor. Although most prominently a stage actor, he also had film and television roles.
Background
Creley was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 6, 1926. During the Great Depression, his family moved to California, where he acted in amateur theatre as a teenager, until he was old enough to enlist in the United States Army late in World War II. He was shot in the shoulder during the Battle of Okinawa, and spent the rest of his life telling the story that he knew he was destined to become an actor when he realized he was responding to the injury like a character in a John Wayne film.
After the end of the war, he went to New York City to study acting under Erwin Piscator at the Dramatic Workshop, where he was a classmate of Harry Belafonte, Tony Curtis and Rod Steiger. He moved to Montreal in 1951 to take a job with the Mountain Theatre Company, and remained there until 1954, when he moved to Toronto. Soon after moving to Toronto, he met David Smith, who would be his partner for the remainder of his life.
Acting career
In Toronto, he acted on stage, including frequent performances at the Stratford Festival, and often appeared in CBC Television anthology series, including Scope, Playbill, CBC Summer Theatre, Encounter, Folio, Startime, Horizon, Playdate and several Wayne and Shuster sketches, as well as performing in cabaret shows.
In 1956, Creley starred in the Canadian production of Salad Days, and in 1958 he starred in the Canadian production of Visit to a Small Planet. In 1960, he played two roles at the Stratford Festival, as Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and as King Philip in King John.
Creley had his first major film role in 1961, in the Western film The Canadians. After completing a run as Holofernes in a Stratford Festival production of Love's Labour's Lost that summer, he returned to New York to appear in a Broadway production of A Man for All Seasons as Cardinal Wolsey. After completing his run in New York, he appeared in a Stratford Festival production of The Gondoliers, and then went to London to appear alongside Corinne Conley, Dave Broadfoot, Eric House and Eric Christmas in the musical revue Clap Hands at the Hammersmith Theatre. Following the end of that show's run, most of the cast returned to Canada, although Creley remained in London to take a role as Mr. Staines in the film Dr. Strangelove.
After returning to Canada, he appeared in productions of Edward Albee's The Zoo Story and Anton Chekhov's Summer in the Country. During this time, he also became a popular voice-over artist for television commercials, recording at least 18 commercial spots in 1965 and 1966. He directed a musical revue, The Decline and Fall of the Entire World As Seen Through the Eyes of Cole Porter, in 1965 and 1966, and when he stepped in for several shows in the absence of lead performer Louis Negin, it was his first time singing on stage since the end of Clap Hands in 1963.
In 1966, he appeared as Wilfrid Laurier in the CBC Television miniseries Reluctant Nation, and in 1969 he appeared in the television series Strange Paradise as Laslo Thaxton.
In 1970, he starred in the musical Oh, Coward! at Theatre in the Dell, alongside Patricia Collins and Gordon Thomson. Charles Pope from the Toronto Star called his performance "magnificent".
In 1972 he had his second and final Broadway role, appearing in a production of There's One in Every Marriage as Roubillon, and in 1974 he had his last role at Stratford in a production of The Imaginary Invalid. In this era, he began to appear more often in film and television roles, most notably in the film Videodrome and the television sitcom Snow Job. His final role was a guest appearance on E.N.G. in 1990.
Personal life
Creley and Smith shared ownership of an antique store, The Green Dolphin, beginning in 1955, and later of a clothing store, Mr. Smith. They also had a widespread reputation among actors as being excellent hosts of parties; performers such as Vivien Leigh, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Bea Arthur and Billy Dee Williams were frequent houseguests of the couple.
Late in life, Creley suffered two strokes, and began to develop aphasia. He died on March 10, 2004, in Toronto.
Filmography
References
External links
Jack Creley at IMDb |
President_of_the_International_Olympic_Committee | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_International_Olympic_Committee | [
515
] | [
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_International_Olympic_Committee"
] | The president of the International Olympic Committee is head of the executive board that assumes the general overall responsibility for the administration of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the management of its affairs. The IOC Executive Board consists of the president, four vice-presidents, and ten other IOC members; all of the board members are elected by the IOC Session, using a secret ballot, by a majority vote.
The IOC organizes the modern Olympic Games, held every two years, alternating summer and winter games (each every four years). The IOC president holds the office for two terms of four years, renewable once for another term, so would expect to lead the organization for at least two Summer Olympic Games and two Winter Olympic Games.
List of IOC presidents
Initially, a person from the country who was holding the games would assume the role of IOC president. However, this was quickly abandoned.
Demetrios Vikelas (1894–1896)
The Baron de Coubertin had already attempted to restart the Olympic Games at the congress for the fifth anniversary of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques in 1892. While he may have raised the enthusiasm of the public, he did not manage to establish a proper commitment.
He decided to reiterate his efforts at the next congress in 1894, which would openly address the issue of amateur sports, but also with the sub-text of recreating the Olympic Games. Six of the seven points that would be debated pertained to amateurism (definition, disqualification, betting, etc.) and the seventh point concerned the possibility of restoring the Games. Coubertin also sought to give an international dimension to his congress.
De Coubertin gained support from several personalities: Leopold II of Belgium; Edward, Prince of Wales; Crown Prince Constantine of Greece; William Penny Brookes, the creator of the Wenlock Olympian Games in Shropshire, England; and Ioannis Phokianos, a professor of mathematics and physics and a college principal. Phokianos was also one of the advocates of sport in Greece; he had organized a series of Olympic Games sponsored by Evangelos Zappas in 1875, and in 1888 he had organized an elite and private Games as the founder of the Pan-Hellenic Gymnastic Club. Phokianos could not travel to Paris for financial reasons and because he was finalizing the construction of his new college. Instead, de Coubertin turned to one of the more eminent representatives of the Greek community in Paris—Demetrios Vikelas—whom he invited to take part in the congress. Athens was approved to host the 1896 Olympic Games, Greece being the original home of the Olympics (at Olympia from 776 BC to 393 AD), and Vikelas was duly chosen as the first president of the IOC.
Pierre, Baron de Coubertin (1896–1925)
Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, took over the IOC presidency when Demetrios Vikelas stepped down after the Olympics in his own country. Despite its initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 Games (in de Coubertin's own Paris) and 1904 Games were both upstaged by World's Fairs—Exposition Universelle in 1900 and Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904—and received little attention.
The 1906 Intercalated Games revived the momentum, and the Olympic Games grew to become the most important sports event. De Coubertin created the modern pentathlon for the 1912 Summer Olympics. He subsequently stepped down from the IOC presidency after the 1924 Summer Olympics, which proved much more successful than the first attempt in Paris in 1900. He was succeeded as IOC president in 1925 by Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour.
De Coubertin remained honorary president of the IOC until his death in 1937 in Geneva, Switzerland. He also designed the olympic flag of IOC in 1914.
Henri, Comte de Baillet-Latour (1925–1942)
Henri, Comte de Baillet-Latour was elected IOC president in 1925, after the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, Baron de Coubertin, stepped down from the post to become honorary president. The Belgian Comte led the IOC until his death in 1942, when he was succeeded by his vice-president Sigfrid Edström.
Sigfrid Edström (1942–1952)
When IOC president Henri de Baillet-Latour died in 1942, Swedish industrialist Sigfrid Edström took over as the acting president until the end of World War II, when he was formally elected IOC president. He played an important role in reviving the Olympic Movement after the war.
In 1931, Edström was involved in the controversial decision to ban legendary Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi from competing at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as the IOC considered Nurmi to be a professional athlete. This had a negative effect on Finland's relationship with Sweden, as Nurmi was a celebrated national hero in his own country.
Edström retired from the IOC presidency in 1952 and was succeeded by Avery Brundage.
Avery Brundage (1952–1972)
Avery Brundage became vice-president of the IOC in 1945 and was subsequently elected president in 1952, at the 47th IOC Session in Helsinki, succeeding Sigfrid Edström. While he was being considered for this honor, Brundage fathered two sons with a woman to whom he was not married; in order to avoid a political scandal, he requested that his name be kept off the birth certificates.
During his tenure as IOC president, Brundage strongly opposed any form of professionalism in the Olympic Games. Gradually, this opinion became less accepted by the sports world and other IOC members, but his opinions led to some embarrassing incidents, such as the exclusion of Austrian skier Karl Schranz from the 1972 Winter Olympics. Likewise, he opposed the restoration of Olympic medals to Native American athlete Jim Thorpe, who had been stripped of the medals when he was found to have played semi-professional baseball before taking part in the 1912 Summer Olympics (where he had beaten Brundage in the pentathlon and decathlon). Despite this, Brundage accepted the "shamateurism" from Eastern Bloc countries, in which team members were nominally students, soldiers, or civilians working in a non-sports profession, but in reality were paid by their states to train on a full-time basis. Brundage claimed that it was "their way of life". Thorpe's amateur status was restored by the Amateur Athletic Union in 1973, following Brundage's retirement. The IOC officially pardoned Thorpe in 1982 and ordered that his medals be presented posthumously to his family. After his death in 1975, it was revealed that Brundage had notified the IOC that Thorpe had played semi-professional baseball years before.
Brundage also opposed anything that he viewed as politicizing sport. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists to show support for the Black Power movement during their medal ceremony. Brundage ordered the USOC to expel both African-American men from the Olympic Village and have them suspended from the U.S. Olympic team. When the USOC refused, he threatened to ban the entire U.S. Olympic team. However, Brundage made no objections against Nazi salutes during the Berlin Olympics.
He may be best remembered for his decision during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, to continue the Games following the Black September Palestinian terrorist attack which killed eleven Israeli athletes. While some criticized Brundage's decision—including L.A. Times columnist Jim Murray, who wrote "Incredibly, they're going on with it. It's almost like having a dance at Dachau"—most did not, and few athletes withdrew from the Games. The Olympic competition was suspended on 5 September for one complete day. The next day, a memorial service of eighty thousand spectators and three thousand athletes was held in the Olympic Stadium. Brundage gave an address in which he stated:
"Every civilized person recoils in horror at the barbarous criminal intrusion of terrorists into peaceful Olympic precincts. We mourn our Israeli friends [...] victims of this brutal assault. The Olympic flag and the flags of all the world fly at half-mast. Sadly, in this imperfect world, the greater and the more important the Olympic Games become, the more they are open to commercial, political, and now criminal pressure. The Games of the XXth Olympiad have been subject to two savage attacks. We lost the Rhodesian battle against naked political blackmail. I am sure that the public will agree that we cannot allow a handful of terrorists to destroy this nucleus of international cooperation and goodwill we have in the Olympic movement. The Games must go on...."
Brundage strongly opposed the exclusion of Rhodesia from the Olympics due to its racial policies. After the attacks in Munich, Brundage drew a comparison between the massacre of the Israeli athletes and the barring of the Rhodesian team, for which he later apologized.
Brundage is also remembered for proposing the elimination of all team sports from the Summer Olympic Games, fearing that the Games would become too expensive for all but the wealthiest nations to host; he also proposed the elimination of the Winter Olympic Games entirely due to its association with commercialism.
Brundage retired as IOC president after the 1972 Summer Games, having held the post for twenty years, and was succeeded by Lord Killanin.
Lord Killanin (1972–1980)
Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin was elected as Honorary President of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) in 1950, and became the Irish delegate at the IOC in 1952. He eventually became senior vice-president of the IOC in 1968, and succeeded Avery Brundage to the presidency on 23 August 1972, being elected at the 73rd IOC Session in Munich, just prior to the 1972 Summer Olympics.
The Olympic Movement experienced a difficult period during his presidency, having to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Games and the financial failure of the 1976 Montréal Games. Due to limited interest from potential hosts, the cities of Lake Placid, New York and Los Angeles, California were chosen to host the 1980 Winter Games and the 1984 Summer Games, respectively, in the absence of any competing cities.
Killanin resigned prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, after the massive political boycott of those Games in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but retained his position until the Games were completed.
Juan Antonio Samaranch (1980–2001)
Juan Antonio Samaranch (who was later created the 1st marquess of Samaranch) was elected President of the IOC on 16 July at the 83rd IOC Session in Moscow, that was held prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics—between 15 and 18 July 1980. He officially assumed presidency at the end of the Moscow Olympics.
During his term, Samaranch managed to make the Olympic Movement financially healthy, with big television deals and sponsorships. Although the 1984 Summer Olympics were boycotted by the Eastern Bloc countries, a record number of athletes participated in those Games, and the number of nations with an IOC membership and participating increased at every Games during his presidency. Samaranch also wanted the best athletes to compete in the Olympics, which led to the gradual acceptance of professional athletes.
One achievement of Samaranch has undoubtedly been the financial rescue of the IOC, which was in financial crisis in the 1970s. The games themselves were such a burden on host cities that it appeared that no host would be found for future Olympiads. Under Samaranch, the IOC revamped its sponsorship arrangements (choosing to go with global sponsors rather than allowing each national federation to take local ones), and new broadcasting deals which brought in much money.
Criticism
Also during his tenure as IOC president, Samaranch insisted that he be addressed with the title of "Excellency", a title used for heads of state and government (the title of Excellency is, however, also used to address Grandees of Spain, and he was a Spanish Marquis and Grandee since late 1991). In addition, when he traveled to conduct Olympic business, he would insist on a chauffeured limousine as well as a presidential suite in the finest hotel of whatever city he visited. The IOC put an annual rental (at a cost of US$500,000 per year) at a presidential suite for his stays in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the IOC headquarters are located.
Besides his lavish accommodations, he was increasingly criticized for the judging and doping scandals and rampant corruption that occurred under his watch. A closed-door inquiry later expelled several IOC members for accepting bribes but cleared Samaranch of wrongdoing. Samaranch declared that the IOC's worst crisis was over but a group of former Olympic athletes, led by Mark Tewksbury, continued to push for his removal.
It became a tradition for Samaranch, when giving the president's address at the close of each Summer Olympics, to praise the organizers at each Olympiad for putting on "the best ever" Games.
Jacques, Count Rogge (2001–2013)
Jacques Rogge (later created The 1st count Rogge) was elected as president of the IOC on 16 July 2001 at the 112th IOC Session in Moscow as the successor to Juan Antonio Samaranch, who had led the IOC since 1980.
Under his leadership, the IOC aimed to create more possibilities for developing countries to bid for and host the Olympic Games. Rogge believes that this vision can be achieved in the not too distant future through government backing and new IOC policies that constrain the size, complexity and cost of hosting the Olympic Games.
At the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, Rogge became the first IOC president to stay in the Olympic village, to enjoy closer contact with the athletes.
During the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Rogge delivered a commemoration of Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, after his fatal accident while practicing in Whistler on 12 February 2010.
Rogge retired at the end of the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires and was appointed to the lifetime position of Honorary President of the IOC. Rogge died on 29 August 2021 at the age of 79.
Controversies
For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Rogge stated in mid-July 2008 that there would be no Internet censorship by the mainland authorities: "For the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China." However, on 30 July 2008, IOC spokesman Kevan Gosper had to retract that statement, admitting that the Internet would indeed be censored for journalists. Gosper, who said he had not heard about this, suggested that high IOC officials (probably including the Dutch Hein Verbruggen and Swiss IOC executive director Gilbert Felli—and most likely with Rogge's knowledge) had made a secret deal with Chinese officials to allow the censorship, without the knowledge of either the press or most members of the IOC. Rogge later denied that any such meeting had taken place, but did not insist that China adhere to its prior assurances that the Internet would not be censored.
Rogge commented that Usain Bolt's gestures of jubilation and excitement after winning the 100 meters in Beijing are "not the way we perceive being a champion," and also said, "that he should show more respect for his competitors." In response to his comments, Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel, who covered the Games, described him as "...a classic stiff-collared bureaucrat," and further contended that "[the IOC] has made billions off athletes such as Bolt for years, yet he has to find someone to pick on." In an interview with The Irish Times' reporter Ian O'Riordan, Rogge clarified, "Maybe there was a little bit of a misunderstanding. [...] What he does before or after the race I have no problem with. I just thought that his gesticulation during the race was maybe a little disrespectful."
He rejected calls for a minute of silence to be held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Games attack during the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics, despite the standing request of the families of the 11 Israeli Olympic team members who were held hostage and murdered by the Palestinian group Black September. Calls for such a commemoration marking 40 years since the massacre had also come from Jewish organizations worldwide and politicians from the United States, Israel, Canada, Italy, Australia, and Germany. He and the IOC instead opted for a smaller ceremony in London that took place on 6 August, and one at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base on the 40th anniversary of the attack, 5 September.
Thomas Bach (2013–2025)
Thomas Bach was elected President of the IOC on 10 September 2013, as the successor to Jacques Rogge, at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires. He made his first appearance at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia's Sochi and was one of the IOC presidents to take part in other sporting events being held.
See also
Presidents of the International Paralympic Committee
References
External links
International Olympic Committee |
Demetrios_Vikelas | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrios_Vikelas | [
515
] | [
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrios_Vikelas"
] | Demetrios Vikelas (also written as Demetrius Bikelas; Greek: Δημήτριος Βικέλας; 15 February 1835 – 20 July 1908) was a Greek businessman and writer; he was the co-founder and first president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), from 1894 to 1896.
After a childhood spent in Greece and Istanbul, he found fortune in London, where he married. He then moved to Paris, on account of his wife. Abandoning business, he dedicated himself to literature and history, and published numerous novels, short stories and essays, which earned him a distinguished reputation.
Because of his reputation and the fact that he lived in Paris, he was chosen to represent Greece in a congress called by Pierre de Coubertin in June 1894, which decided to re-establish the Olympic Games and to organise them in Athens in 1896, designating Vikelas to preside over the organisation committee. After the Games were over, he stepped down, remaining in Athens until his death in 1908.
Childhood
Vikelas was born in Ermoupoli, on the island of Syros in Greece. His father was a merchant, originally from Veria (then part of the Ottoman Empire, today capital of the northern Greek province of Imathia in Central Macedonia) and his mother, Smaragda, was a member of the rich Melas family. He was educated at home by his mother, possibly due to his fragile health.
When he was six, the family moved to Constantinople, and ten years after that to Odessa. There he started working for his father's business.
Already he showed signs of his literary potential. At the age of 17 he translated Esther, a tragedy by Jean Racine.
London, from business to literature
While aged 17, in 1852, he left home to live in London with his uncles Leon and Vasileios Melas, where he worked for their business, Melas Bros, first as a bookkeeper and then as a partner. He also began to maintain a weekly correspondence with his mother.
This correspondence, which was kept, is one of the most important in establishing his biography. He also kept a journal in which he recorded not only facts about his daily life but also advice from his uncle Leon and his thoughts on books he had read and plays he was able to attend.
After his day's work at his uncles' business, he took evening classes at University College London (the only university in London which did not require students to be Anglican). There, he obtained a degree in botany (the only subject which offered evening classes). He learned German and Italian. He also took part in fencing, horse-riding and rowing, although circumstances did not allow him to keep these up. He had also become very scholarly, and started to publish — an anthology of poems in 1862 and numerous articles in London periodicals, on the British press and the growing of cotton in Greece.
During the political events of 1863 in Greece, following the revolution which led to the eviction of Otto and the enthronement of George I, Vikelas led fundraising efforts in support of the provisional government. He also wrote letters to the main newspapers of the time to demand that Greece's rights be respected. He became definitively known in the British intellectual world in 1866 when he contacted authors and academics to gain their support for the Cretan cause during the Cretan Revolt of 1866-1867, for which he raised more fundraising.
Also in 1866, he married Kalliope Geralopoulou, a young sister of Katerini, the wife of one of his uncles, also a member of a rich merchant family in London. He also became a titular partner in his uncles' business.
He also met and became friends with Charilaos Trikoupis, the son of the Greek ambassador to Britain Spyridon Trikoupis, himself destined to become Prime Minister of Greece. At the time they met, Charilaos Trikoupis was just starting his diplomatic and political career as an attaché, then chargé d'affaires, of the Greek legation. The two men kept a busy correspondence.
Demetrius Vikelas continued to gain favour in Greece — in 1868 he published a 30-page statistical article on the Kingdom of Greece following a conference at the Royal Statistical Society; in 1870 he founded a school for Greek children living in England. All his work — polemic, political, journalistic, historical or literary — had a double objective: to elevate the morals and level of intellect of his country but also to change its reputation with respect to the rest of the world. In his historical essay of 1874, On the Byzantines, he wrote that he wanted to restore the reputation of the Byzantine Empire.
In 1876, in the wake of the economic crisis that had started in 1873, and in order not to lose the profits of their work, Vikelas and his uncles dissolved their business (now called "Melas Bros - D. Vikelas"). He thus found himself in command of a comfortable fortune, which allowed him to fully dedicate his time to literature.
Paris, the illness of his wife, and literature
In 1874, following the death of her father, Vikelas' wife Kalliope began to suffer from mental problems and showed a number of suicidal tendencies. The couple tried travelling to ease the illness. In Paris, following another scare, doctors declared Kalliope mad and she stayed for seven and a half months in Jules Bernard Luys' asylum in Ivry-sur-Seine. True to his character, Vikelas recorded the progress of his wife's mental health daily during the twenty years which followed.
In his journal, from 1872 Vikelas expressed the wish to move to Athens. In 1877, while Kalliope's condition was in remission, they took the opportunity to make the move. Vikelas started to build a home around the corner from the streets of Panepistimiou (on which the University was situated) and Voukourestiou. However, his wife's health worsened again and he accompanied her to France where she again stayed in Ivry-sur-Seine.
During his stays in Paris, Vikelas embarked on translating Shakespeare plays into Greek: King Lear, Romeo and Juliet and Othello during his wife's first stay (1878), and Macbeth and Hamlet during the second (1881). The public readings of his translations received an enthusiastic welcome in the literary community in Athens. He then also wrote his main literary work: Loukis Laras. The book first appeared in Athens as a series starting in 1879. The same year, it was translated into French and German. The French translation (which had its first republication in 1880) was included by the Education Minister Jules Ferry in the list of works which could be given as prizes to good students.
Vikelas spent the following fifteen years in Paris, building up contacts with the surrounding intellectuals and literati of the French capital. Consequently, Juliette Adam dedicated her anthology Poètes grecs contemporains ("Contemporary Greek poets"), published in 1881, to him, and he published in her Nouvelle Revue. He wrote for it, as before, numerous articles (on Byzantine history, Eastern issues and Greek political life), novels (a compendium in French and Greek came out in 1887) and even travel guides.
In the linguistic controversy in Greece between Katharevousa and Dimotiki, Vikelas chose the middle ground, rejecting the excesses of the Dimotikists just as much as the fierce defenders of the more intellectual language. He suggested using Katharevousa for parliamentary proceedings, for example, but popular language for poetry.
Between 1877 and 1892, he travelled, since at the worst of her crises, his wife could not bear his presence. He returned to Greece, visited Scotland, Switzerland, Spain and Constantinople.
In 1892, he bought a new plot in Athens (between the streets of Kriezotou and Valaoriti) where he built a new residence which was also his final home.
In 1893, he helped finance the construction of the Greek Orthodox church in Paris.
In May 1894, he received a request from the Pan-Hellenic Gymnastic Club, asking him to assist at a congress on amateurism convened the following month by Pierre de Coubertin. After hesitation, he agreed to represent the association. Following the congress it was decided to recreate the Olympic Games and to organise them in Athens.
Originally, it had been De Coubertin's idea to hold the first celebration of the modern Olympics in Paris in 1900, but Vikelas convinced him and the newly created International Olympic Committee that they should be held in Athens, in order to symbolically link them to the original Games. As the constitution of the IOC at that time required the IOC president to be from the country which would host the next Games, Vikelas became the IOC's first president.
Permanent return to Greece
With his responsibility for the 1896 Summer Olympics, Vikelas returned to Greece for just ten days in autumn 1894. On October the 14th, he received a telegram from doctor Luys informing him that the condition of his wife had worsened. She had œdemas in her thighs, calves and stomach. She could no longer feed herself. He urgently returned to Paris. It seems that she then died.
In November 1894, a number of young nationalist officers, advocates of the Megali Idea, created a secret society, Ethniki Etairia, whose aim was to revive the morale of the country and prepare the liberation of Greek peoples still under the Ottoman Empire. In September 1895, they recruited civilians, all linked to the organisation of the Olympic Games, including Vikelas himself, although he claimed only to have given in to friendly pressure, playing a solely financial role and then quickly resigning from it. At this point he was still attracted by the possibility of rebuilding his country.
After the Games, which proved a success, Vikelas withdrew from the IOC, replaced as a member by the Count Alexander Mercati and as president by Coubertin. The defeat in the Greco-Turkish War which came soon after dealt a serious blow to his morale. He decided to leave Paris to move permanently to Athens. There he dedicated himself to popular education. In 1899 he founded the "Society for the Spread of Useful Books" in Athens, to help the country to recover from its defeat.
In 1905, he represented the University of Athens at the third Olympic Congress and seventh IOC Meeting in Brussels. He also remained an active member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee. He died in Athens on 20 July 1908 "from an afflicting illness".
He had been made a knight of the Legion of Honour on 31 December 1891, and honorary doctor of the University of St Andrews in November 1893 (the first Greek to receive this honour). He was a member (from 1874, and Vice-President from 1894) of the French "Association for the Promotion of Greek Studies", and of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in London.
Legacy
He left his immense library collection to the city of Heraklion in Crete, founding the Vikelaia Municipal Library.
Though in fact he did not live much of his life in Syros, the island counts him among its most well-known sons. Today, the Sports Center (Stadium) in Ermoupoli bears Demetrios Vikelas' name. The stadium seats 2000 people, and has an Olympic-size swimming pool, four tennis courts, two gym halls, basket and volleyball courts, track and field, floor football court and soccer field.
Also the Syros Island National Airport is named for him.
The Olympic Movement
First Olympic Congress
Pierre de Coubertin had already attempted to restart the Olympic Games at the Congress for the fifth anniversary of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques in 1892. While he may have raised the enthusiasm of the public, he did not manage to establish a proper commitment.
He decided to reiterate his efforts at the Congress in 1894 which followed, which would openly address the issue of amateur sports, but also with the sub-text of the recreation of the Olympic Games. Six of the seven points which would be debated pertained to amateurism (definition, disqualification, betting, etc.) and the seventh on the possibility of restoring the Games. Coubertin also sought to give an international dimension to his congress. He gained support from several personalities: the King of the Belgians, the Prince of Wales, the Diadochus Constantine (hereditary prince of Greece) and William Penny Brookes, the founder of the "Olympian Games" in Shropshire, England, and Ioannis Phokianos. Phokianos was a professor of mathematics and physics and a college principal. Phokianos was also one of the propagators of sport in Greece and the organizer of an Olympic Games sponsored by Evangelis Zappas in 1875. In 1888, Phokianos organized an elite and private Games as the founder of the Pan-Hellenic Gymnastic Club. Phokianos could not travel to Paris for financial reasons and because he was finalizing the construction of his new college. He turned to one of the more eminent representatives of the Greek community in Paris, Demetrios Vikelas, to whom he wrote to ask him to take part in the Congress.
Historical and literary works
Novels and short stories
Poems, London, 1862.
Loukis Laras; his main work, a historical, patriotic and moral novel. The style is naturalistic, as opposed to his heavy romantic works which were written as they were in Greece. It is written in simple language to make it accessible to a wider audience. The action unfolds as the Greek War of Independence enters Smyrna, Chios, Syros and the Cyclades. An old rich Greek merchant in London reflects on the adventures of his youth. The novel was published as a series from 1879 in the literary Athenian magazine Estia. The book was translated into eleven languages.
Nouvelle grecques, translated by the Marquis de Queux de Saint-Hilaire, 1887.
"Philippe Marthas (Nouvelle grecque)" appeared in La Nouvelle Revue., September–October 1886. read at Gallica (French)
Papa-Narcissus, novel, 1887
Filippos Marthas, novel, 1887
Tales of the Aegean, 1894
Books and historical articles
Articles on Palaiologos, the last dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, in the Athenian journal Pandora, 1859-1860.
On the Byzantines., London, 1874.
"Les Grecs aux conciles de Bâle et de Florence.", La Nouvelle Revue., May–June 1882. read at Gallica (French)
"La Grèce avant la révolution de 1821", La Nouvelle Revue., January–February 1884. read at Gallica (French)
De Nicopolis à Olympie. Lettres à un ami., 1885. (following his correspondence with the Marquis de Queux de Saint-Hilaire)
"The Byzantine Empire", Scottish Review, no. 8:16, October 1886.
"Byzantism and Hellenism", Scottish Review, no. 9:17, janvier 1887.
"The Subjects of the Byzantine Empire", Scottish Review, no. 9:18, April 1887.
"Greece before 1821", Scottish Review, no. 13:26, April 1889.
"The Formation of the Modern Greek State", Scottish Review, no. 14:27, July 1889.
"L'Empereur Nicéphore Phocas", La Nouvelle Revue., July–August 1890. read at Gallica (French)
Seven Essays on Christian Greece., 1890.
"Le Philhellénisme en France.", Revue d'Histoire diplomatique., III, 1891.
"La Littérature byzantine", Revue des deux mondes, March–April, 1892. read at Gallica (French)
Grèce Byzantine et moderne., Firmin Didot, Paris, 1893.
Political and polemic works
"Journalism in England", Eunomia (Athènes), 1864.
"Statistics of the Kingdom of Greece", Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, no. 31, September 1868.
Le Rôle et les aspirations de la Grèce dans la question d'Orient., Cercle Saint-Simon, Paris, 1885. read at Gallica (French)
"Vingt-cinq années de règne constitutionnel en Grèce", La Nouvelle Revue., March–April 1889. read at Gallica (French)
"The Territory of the Hellenic Kingdom", no. 14:28, October 1889.
Translations
He translated into Greek the stories of Hans Christian Andersen (for his nephews and nieces), and various Shakespeare plays.
Notes
References
Llewellyn Smith, Michael (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896: The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. Profile Books Limited. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.
Llewellyn Smith, Michael (2006). "The exemplary life of Dimitrios Vikelas (1835-1908)". The Historical Review / La Revue Historique. Vol. III. Institute of Neohellenic Research.
Dolianitis, George (1995). The IOC's Centenary 1894-1994. The Contribution of Demetrius Vikelas to the Revival of the Olympic Games (PDF). Ancient Olympia: International Olympic Committee. pp. 93–120. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-01-14. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
Basch, Sophie [in French] (1995). Le Mirage Grec. Grèce moderne devant l'opinion française. (1846-1946). Paris: Hatier. pp. 229–231. ISBN 2-218-06269-0.
Miller, William (1941-07-04). "Notices of books: "Εύλλογος πρὸς διάδοσιν ὠφελίμων βιβλίων. Χρονικὰ τῆς τεσσαρακονταετίας 1899-1939"". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 60. London: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies: 117. JSTOR 626292.
"Demetrius Bikelas" (PDF). Revue Olympique (in French) (33). Paris: International Olympic Committee: 131–132. September 1908. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
"Greece and Olympism" (PDF). Olympic Review (127). Lausanne: International Olympic Committee: 253. May 1978. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
External links
Biography of Demetrius Vikelas on the IOC website
Works by Demetrios Vikelas at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Demetrios Vikelas at the Internet Archive
Works by Demetrios Vikelas at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) |
Ermoupoli | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermoupoli | [
515
] | [
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermoupoli"
] | Ermoupoli (Greek: Ερμούπολη), also known by the formal older name Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis (Greek: Ἑρμούπολις < Ἑρμοῦ πόλις "Town of Hermes"), is a town and former municipality on the island of Syros, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Syros-Ermoupoli, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is also the capital of the South Aegean region. The municipal unit has an area of 11.181 km2.
History
Ermoupoli was founded during the Greek Revolution in the 1820s, as an extension to the existing Ano Syros township, by refugees from other Greek islands because of the War. It soon became the leading commercial and industrial center of Greece, as well as its main port. The renowned Greek Steamship Company was founded in the city in 1856. Thousands of ships were built in the various Syros shipyards.
Eventually Ermoupoli was eclipsed by Piraeus in the late 19th century. In the following decades the city declined, remaining the administrative center of the Cyclades islands. In the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, its economy has significanty improved, based on the sectrors of services, industry, education and tourism.
Geography
Climate
Notable people
Emmanouil Benakis (1843–1929), merchant and politician
Olga Broumas (1949), poet and translator
Manos Eleutheriou, lyricist
Stelios Mainas (1957), actor
Michael Melas, father of Pavlos Melas, fighter of the Greek Struggle for Macedonia
Emmanuel Rhoides (1836–1904), writer and journalist
Markos Vamvakaris (1905–1972), rebetiko musician
Demetrius Vikelas (1835–1908), businessman, writer and the first president of the International Olympic Committee
Gallery
References
External links
Official website of Ermoupoli (in Greek) |
List_of_films_featuring_eclipses | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_featuring_eclipses | [
516
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_featuring_eclipses"
] | There is a body of films featuring stellar eclipses and eclipses of natural satellites. Compared to other astronomical events featured in films, such as full moons and asteroid strikes, solar eclipses are less commonly seen. When they have featured in films, they often drive the plot and have a portentous presence. NPR's Glen Weldon said that films use eclipses "to signal to audiences that the normal rules have temporarily lifted, and things are about to get weird". The first film to feature a solar eclipse was the 1907 silent film The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon that featured a solar eclipse as a fantastical consummation between the Sun and the Moon. Eclipses have been seen as bad omens throughout history, so filmmakers leverage that belief "as visual cues or key plot points", according to The Oregonian's Amy Wang. The most accurate depiction of a solar eclipse in film is seen in the 1961 religious epic film Barabbas due to the filming of an actual solar eclipse during its crucifixion scene (see solar eclipse of February 15, 1961).
List of films
References
External links
How solar eclipses are used in TV and film at BirthMoviesDeath.com
The Oldest Film of a Solar Eclipse Has Been Restored and Released Online at Smithsonian |
David_Lynch_filmography | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch_filmography | [
516
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch_filmography"
] | David Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, painter, television director, visual artist, musician, and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style which has been dubbed "Lynchian" and is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound design. The surreal and, in many cases, violent elements to his films have earned them the reputation that they "disturb, offend or mystify" their audiences.
Lynch's oeuvre includes short and feature-length films, music videos, documentaries and television episodes, while his involvement in these ranges from direction, production, and screenwriting to acting and sound design. Lynch's first project was the 1967 short Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times), an animated film which blended elements of sculpture and painting into its animation.
His first feature-length project, 1977's Eraserhead, became a cult film and launched his commercial career. It also marked his first collaboration with Jack Nance, an actor who would appear in many more of Lynch's productions until his death in 1996. Lynch's other feature films include the critically successful The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001), all of which went on to earn Academy Award nominations, and the commercial flop Dune.
Lynch has also branched out into television, and later, internet-based series. His first foray into the medium was Twin Peaks, a joint venture with Mark Frost. Twin Peaks became a cult success, leading to Lynch and Frost working together on a number of other projects, including On the Air and American Chronicles.
In 2002 Lynch began producing two series of shorts released through his official website: the Flash-animated DumbLand and Rabbits. Having begun acting in his 1972 short The Amputee, Lynch went on to appear on-camera in Twin Peaks, Zelly and Me, and Dune. From 2010 to 2013, Lynch appeared in a recurring voice role in the animated series The Cleveland Show.
Feature film
Short film
Television
Web series
Music videos
Commercials
Concert film
Other works
Acting roles
Film
Short film
Television
Documentary films
Executive producer
See also
David Lynch's unrealized projects
References
Bibliography
Barney, Richard A. (2009). David Lynch: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604732368.
Cozzolino, Robert (2014). David Lynch: The Unified Field. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520283961.
Odell, Colin; Le Blanc, Michelle (2007). David Lynch. Kamera Books. ISBN 9781842432259.
Rodley, Chris; Lynch, David (2005). Lynch on Lynch (2nd ed.). Macmillan. ISBN 0571220185.
External links
David Lynch filmography at IMDb |
Dune_(novel) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel) | [
516
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel)"
] | Dune is a 1965 epic science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials (1963–64 novel Dune World and 1965 novel Prophet of Dune) in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966. It is the first installment of the Dune Chronicles. It is one of the world's best-selling science fiction novels.
Dune is set in the distant future in a feudal interstellar society, descended from terrestrial humans, in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs. It tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange, or "spice", a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Melange is also necessary for space navigation, which requires a kind of multidimensional awareness and foresight that only the drug provides. As melange can only be produced on Arrakis, control of the planet is a coveted and dangerous undertaking. The story explores the multilayered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the factions of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its spice.
Herbert wrote five sequels: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune. Following Herbert's death in 1986, his son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. Anderson continued the series in over a dozen additional novels since 1999.
Adaptations of the novel to cinema have been notoriously difficult and complicated. In the 1970s, cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky attempted to make a film based on the novel. After three years of development, the project was canceled due to a constantly growing budget. In 1984, a film adaptation directed by David Lynch was released to mostly negative responses from critics and failure at the box office, although it later developed a cult following. The book was also adapted into the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (the latter of which combines the events of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune). A second film adaptation, directed by Denis Villeneuve, was released on October 21, 2021, to positive reviews. It grossed $434 million worldwide and went on to be nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, ultimately winning six. Villeneuve's film covers roughly the first half of the original novel; a sequel, which covers the second half of the story, was released on March 1, 2024, to critical acclaim and has grossed $711 million worldwide.
The series has also been used as the basis for several board, role-playing, and video games.
Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-life nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan.
Origins
After his novel The Dragon in the Sea was published in 1957, Herbert traveled to Florence, Oregon, at the north end of the Oregon Dunes. Here, the United States Department of Agriculture was attempting to use poverty grasses to stabilize the sand dunes. Herbert claimed in a letter to his literary agent, Lurton Blassingame, that the moving dunes could "swallow whole cities, lakes, rivers, highways." Herbert's article on the dunes, "They Stopped the Moving Sands", was never completed (and only published decades later in The Road to Dune), but its research sparked Herbert's interest in ecology and deserts.
Herbert further drew inspiration from Native American mentors like "Indian Henry" (as Herbert referred to the man to his son; likely a Henry Martin of the Hoh tribe) and Howard Hansen. Both Martin and Hansen grew up on the Quileute reservation near Herbert's hometown. According to historian Daniel Immerwahr, Hansen regularly shared his writing with Herbert. "White men are eating the earth," Hansen told Herbert in 1958, after sharing a piece on the effect of logging on the Quileute reservation. "They're gonna turn this whole planet into a wasteland, just like North Africa." The world could become a "big dune," Herbert responded in agreement.
Herbert was also interested in the idea of the superhero mystique and messiahs. He believed that feudalism was a natural condition humans fell into, where some led and others gave up the responsibility of making decisions and just followed orders. He found that desert environments have historically given birth to several major religions with messianic impulses. He decided to join his interests together so he could play religious and ecological ideas against each other. In addition, he was influenced by the story of T. E. Lawrence and the "messianic overtones" in Lawrence's involvement in the Arab Revolt during World War I. In an early version of Dune, the hero was actually very similar to Lawrence of Arabia, but Herbert decided the plot was too straightforward and added more layers to his story.
Herbert drew heavy inspiration also from Lesley Blanch's The Sabres of Paradise (1960), a narrative history recounting a mid-19th century conflict in the Caucasus between rugged caucasian Muslim tribes and the expanding Russian Empire. Language used on both sides of that conflict become terms in Herbert's world—chakobsa, a Caucasian hunting language, becomes a battle language of humans spread across the galaxy; kanly, a word for blood feud in the 19th century Caucasus, represents a feud between Dune's noble Houses; sietch and tabir are both words for camp borrowed from Ukrainian Cossacks (of the Pontic–Caspian steppe).
Herbert also borrowed some lines which Blanch stated were Caucasian proverbs. "To kill with the point lacked artistry", used by Blanch to describe the Caucasus peoples' love of swordsmanship, becomes in Dune "Killing with the tip lacks artistry", a piece of advice given to a young Paul during his training. "Polish comes from the city, wisdom from the hills", a Caucasian aphorism, turns into a desert expression: "Polish comes from the cities, wisdom from the desert".
Another significant source of inspiration for Dune was Herbert's experiences with psilocybin and his hobby of cultivating mushrooms, according to mycologist Paul Stamets's account of meeting Herbert in the 1980s:Frank went on to tell me that much of the premise of Dune—the magic spice (spores) that allowed the bending of space (tripping), the giant sand worms (maggots digesting mushrooms), the eyes of the Fremen (the cerulean blue of Psilocybe mushrooms), the mysticism of the female spiritual warriors, the Bene Gesserits (influenced by the tales of Maria Sabina and the sacred mushroom cults of Mexico)—came from his perception of the fungal life cycle, and his imagination was stimulated through his experiences with the use of magic mushrooms.Herbert spent the next five years researching, writing, and revising. He published a three-part serial Dune World in the monthly Analog, from December 1963 to February 1964. The serial was accompanied by several illustrations that were not published again. After an interval of a year, he published the much slower-paced five-part The Prophet of Dune in the January–May 1965 issues. The first serial became "Book One: Dune" in the final published Dune novel, and the second serial was divided into "Book Two: Muad'dib" and "Book Three: The Prophet". The serialized version was expanded, reworked, and submitted to more than twenty publishers, each of whom rejected it. The novel, Dune, was finally accepted and published in August 1965 by Chilton Books, a printing house better known for publishing auto repair manuals. Sterling Lanier, an editor at Chilton, had seen Herbert's manuscript and had urged his company to take a risk in publishing the book. However, the first printing, priced at $5.95 (equivalent to $57.53 in 2023), did not sell well and was poorly received by critics as being atypical of science fiction at the time. Chilton considered the publication of Dune a write-off and Lanier was fired. Over the course of time, the book gained critical acclaim, and its popularity spread by word-of-mouth to allow Herbert to start working full time on developing the sequels to Dune, elements of which were already written alongside Dune.
At first Herbert considered using Mars as setting for his novel, but eventually decided to use a fictional planet instead. His son Brian said that "Readers would have too many preconceived ideas about that planet, due to the number of stories that had been written about it."
Herbert dedicated his work "to the people whose labors go beyond ideas into the realm of 'real materials'—to the dry-land ecologists, wherever they may be, in whatever time they work, this effort at prediction is dedicated in humility and admiration."
Plot
Duke Leto Atreides of House Atreides, ruler of the ocean world Caladan, is assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV to serve as fief ruler of the planet Arrakis. Although Arrakis is a harsh and inhospitable desert planet, it is of enormous importance because it is the only planetary source of melange, or the "spice", a unique and incredibly valuable substance that extends human youth, vitality and lifespan. It is also through the consumption of spice that Spacing Guild Navigators are able to effect safe interstellar travel. The Emperor is jealous of the Duke's rising popularity in the Landsraad, the council of Great Houses, and sees House Atreides as a potential future rival and threat. He conspires with House Harkonnen, the former stewards of Arrakis and the longstanding enemies of the Atreides, to destroy Leto and his family after their arrival. Leto is aware his assignment is a trap of some kind but is compelled to obey the Emperor's orders anyway.
Leto's concubine Lady Jessica is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusively female group that pursues mysterious political aims and wields seemingly superhuman physical and mental abilities, such as the ability to control their bodies down to the cellular level, and also decide the sex of their children. Though Jessica was instructed by the Bene Gesserit to bear a daughter as part of their breeding program, out of love for Leto she bore a son, Paul. From a young age, Paul is trained in warfare by Leto's aides, the elite soldiers Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck. Thufir Hawat, the Duke's Mentat (human computers, able to store vast amounts of data and perform advanced calculations on demand), has instructed Paul in the ways of political intrigue. Jessica has also trained her son in Bene Gesserit disciplines.
Paul's prophetic dreams interest Jessica's superior, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. She subjects Paul to a deadly test. She holds a poisoned needle, the gom jabbar, to his neck, ready to strike should he withdraw his hand from a box which creates extreme pain by nerve induction but causes no physical damage. This is to test Paul's ability to endure the pain so as not to die on the tip of the needle; to confirm that his human strengths can overcome his animal instincts. Paul passes by enduring greater pain than any woman who has ever been subjected to the test.
Paul and his parents travel with their household to occupy Arrakeen, the capital on Arrakis formerly held by House Harkonnen. Leto learns of the dangers involved in harvesting the spice, which is protected by giant sandworms, and seeks to negotiate with the planet's indigenous Fremen people, seeing them as a valuable ally rather than foes. Soon after the Atreides' arrival, Harkonnen forces attack, joined by the Emperor's ferocious Sardaukar troops in disguise. Leto is betrayed by his personal physician, the Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, who delivers a drugged Leto to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his twisted Mentat, Piter De Vries.
Yueh, who performed the kidnapping of Leto under duress, arranges for Jessica and Paul to escape into the desert. Duncan is killed helping them flee, and they are subsequently presumed dead in a sandstorm by the Harkonnens. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison gas capsule, hoping Leto can kill the Baron during their encounter. Piter kills Yueh, and the Baron narrowly avoids the gas (due to his defensive shield), which kills Leto, Piter, and the others in the room. The Baron forces Thufir to take over Piter's position by dosing him with a long-lasting, fatal poison and threatening to withhold the regular antidote doses unless he obeys. While he follows the Baron's orders, Thufir works secretly to undermine the Harkonnens.
Having fled into the desert, Paul is exposed to high concentrations of spice and has visions through which he realizes he has significant powers (as a result of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme). He foresees potential futures in which he lives among the Fremen before leading them on a holy war across the known universe. Paul reveals that Jessica is the daughter of the Baron, a secret kept from her by the Bene Gesserit.
Paul and Jessica traverse the desert in search of Fremen people. After being captured by a Fremen band, Paul and Jessica agree to teach the Fremen the Bene Gesserit fighting technique known to the Fremen as the "weirding way" and are accepted into the community of Sietch Tabr. Paul proves his manhood by killing a Fremen man named Jamis in a ritualistic crysknife fight and chooses the Fremen name Muad'Dib, while Jessica opts to undergo a ritual to become a Reverend Mother by drinking the poisonous Water of Life. Pregnant with Leto's daughter, she inadvertently causes the unborn child, Alia, to become infused with the same powers in the womb. Paul takes a Fremen lover, Chani, who bears him a son he names Leto.
Two years pass. Paul's powerful prescience manifests, which confirms for the Fremen that he is their prophesied "Lisan al-Gaib" messiah, a legend planted by the Bene Gesserit's Missionaria Protectiva. Paul embraces his father's belief that the Fremen could be a powerful fighting force to take back Arrakis, but also sees that if he does not control them, their jihad could consume the entire universe. Word of the new Fremen leader reaches both the Baron and the Emperor as spice production falls due to their increasingly destructive raids. The Baron encourages his brutish nephew Glossu "Beast" Rabban to rule with an iron fist, hoping the contrast with his shrewder nephew Feyd-Rautha will make the latter popular among the people of Arrakis when he eventually replaces Rabban. The Emperor, suspecting the Baron of trying to create troops more powerful than the Sardaukar to seize power, sends spies to monitor activity on Arrakis. Thufir uses the opportunity to sow seeds of doubt in the Baron about the Emperor's true plans, putting further strain on their alliance.
Gurney, who survived the Harkonnen coup and became a smuggler, reunites with Paul and Jessica after a Fremen raid on his harvester. Believing Jessica to be a traitor, Gurney threatens to kill her but is stopped by Paul. Paul did not foresee Gurney's attack and concludes he must increase his prescience by drinking the Water of Life, which is traditionally fatal to males. Paul falls into unconsciousness for three weeks after drinking the poison, but when he wakes, he has clairvoyance across time and space: he is the Kwisatz Haderach, the ultimate goal of the Bene Gesserit breeding program.
Paul senses the Emperor and the Baron are amassing fleets around Arrakis to quell the Fremen rebellion, and prepares the Fremen for a major offensive against the Harkonnen troops. The Emperor arrives with the Baron on Arrakis. The Sardukar seize a Fremen outpost, killing many including young Leto, while Alia is captured and taken to the Emperor. Under cover of an electric storm, which shorts out the Sardukar's defensive shields, Paul and the Fremen, riding giant sandworms, destroy the capital's natural rock fortifications with atomics and attack, while Alia assassinates the Baron and escapes. The Fremen quickly defeat both the Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops, killing Rabban in the process. Thufir is coerced to assassinate Paul, who, out of gratitude for the Mentat's service, gives him the opportunity to take anything that Thufir wishes of him. Thufir chooses to succumb to the poison instead.
Paul faces the Emperor, threatening to destroy spice production forever unless Shaddam abdicates the throne. Feyd-Rautha attempts to stop Paul by challenging him to a ritualistic knife fight, during which he attempts to cheat and kill Paul with a poison spur in his belt. Paul gains the upper hand and kills him. The Emperor reluctantly cedes the throne to Paul and promises his daughter Princess Irulan's hand in marriage. As Paul takes control of the Empire, he realizes that while he has achieved his goal, he is no longer able to stop the Fremen jihad, as their belief in him is too powerful to restrain.
Characters
House Atreides
Paul Atreides, the Duke's son, and main character of the novel
Duke Leto Atreides, head of House Atreides
Lady Jessica, Bene Gesserit and concubine of the Duke, mother of Paul and Alia
Alia Atreides, Paul's younger sister
Thufir Hawat, Mentat and Master of Assassins to House Atreides
Gurney Halleck, staunchly loyal troubadour warrior of the Atreides
Duncan Idaho, Swordmaster for House Atreides, graduate of the Ginaz School
Wellington Yueh, Suk doctor for the Atreides who is secretly working for House Harkonnen
House Harkonnen
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, head of House Harkonnen
Piter De Vries, twisted Mentat
Feyd-Rautha, nephew and heir-presumptive of the Baron
Glossu "Beast" Rabban, also called Rabban Harkonnen, older nephew of the Baron
Iakin Nefud, Captain of the Guard
House Corrino
Shaddam IV, Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe (the Imperium)
Princess Irulan, Shaddam's eldest daughter and heir, also a historian
Count Fenring, the Emperor's closest friend, advisor, and "errand boy"
Bene Gesserit
Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, Proctor Superior of the Bene Gesserit school and the Emperor's Truthsayer
Lady Margot Fenring, Bene Gesserit wife of Count Fenring
Fremen
The Fremen, native inhabitants of Arrakis
Stilgar, Fremen leader of Sietch Tabr
Chani, Paul's Fremen concubine and a Sayyadina (female acolyte) of Sietch Tabr
Dr. Liet-Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist on Arrakis and father of Chani, as well as a revered figure among the Fremen
The Shadout Mapes, head housekeeper of imperial residence on Arrakis
Jamis, Fremen killed by Paul in ritual duel
Harah, wife of Jamis and later servant to Paul who helps raise Alia among the Fremen
Reverend Mother Ramallo, religious leader of Sietch Tabr
Smugglers
Esmar Tuek, a powerful smuggler and the father of Staban Tuek
Staban Tuek, the son of Esmar Tuek and a powerful smuggler who befriends and takes in Gurney Halleck and his surviving men after the attack on the Atreides
Themes and influences
The Dune series is a landmark of science fiction. Herbert deliberately suppressed technology in his Dune universe so he could address the politics of humanity, rather than the future of humanity's technology. For example, a key pre-history event to the novel's present is the "Butlerian Jihad", in which all robots and computers were destroyed, eliminating these common elements to science fiction from the novel as to allow focus on humanity. Dune considers the way humans and their institutions might change over time. Director John Harrison, who adapted Dune for Syfy's 2000 miniseries, called the novel a universal and timeless reflection of "the human condition and its moral dilemmas", and said:
A lot of people refer to Dune as science fiction. I never do. I consider it an epic adventure in the classic storytelling tradition, a story of myth and legend not unlike the Morte d'Arthur or any messiah story. It just happens to be set in the future ... The story is actually more relevant today than when Herbert wrote it. In the 1960s, there were just these two colossal superpowers duking it out. Today we're living in a more feudal, corporatized world more akin to Herbert's universe of separate families, power centers and business interests, all interrelated and kept together by the one commodity necessary to all.
But Dune has also been called a mix of soft and hard science fiction since "the attention to ecology is hard, the anthropology and the psychic abilities are soft." Hard elements include the ecology of Arrakis, suspensor technology, weapon systems, and ornithopters, while soft elements include issues relating to religion, physical and mental training, cultures, politics, and psychology.
Herbert said Paul's messiah figure was inspired by the Arthurian legend, and that the scarcity of water on Arrakis was a metaphor for oil, as well as air and water itself, and for the shortages of resources caused by overpopulation. Novelist Brian Herbert, his son and biographer, wrote:
Dune is a modern-day conglomeration of familiar myths, a tale in which great sandworms guard a precious treasure of melange, the geriatric spice that represents, among other things, the finite resource of oil. The planet Arrakis features immense, ferocious worms that are like dragons of lore, with "great teeth" and a "bellows breath of cinnamon." This resembles the myth described by an unknown English poet in Beowulf, the compelling tale of a fearsome fire dragon who guarded a great treasure hoard in a lair under cliffs, at the edge of the sea. The desert of Frank Herbert's classic novel is a vast ocean of sand, with giant worms diving into the depths, the mysterious and unrevealed domain of Shai-hulud. Dune tops are like the crests of waves, and there are powerful sandstorms out there, creating extreme danger. On Arrakis, life is said to emanate from the Maker (Shai-hulud) in the desert-sea; similarly all life on Earth is believed to have evolved from our oceans. Frank Herbert drew parallels, used spectacular metaphors, and extrapolated present conditions into world systems that seem entirely alien at first blush. But close examination reveals they aren't so different from systems we know … and the book characters of his imagination are not so different from people familiar to us.
Each chapter of Dune begins with an epigraph excerpted from the fictional writings of the character Princess Irulan. In forms such as diary entries, historical commentary, biography, quotations and philosophy, these writings set tone and provide exposition, context and other details intended to enhance understanding of Herbert's complex fictional universe and themes. They act as foreshadowing and invite the reader to keep reading to close the gap between what the epigraph says and what is happening in the main narrative. The epigraphs also give the reader the feeling that the world they are reading about is epically distanced, since Irulan writes about an idealized image of Paul as if he had already passed into memory. Brian Herbert wrote: "Dad told me that you could follow any of the novel's layers as you read it, and then start the book all over again, focusing on an entirely different layer. At the end of the book, he intentionally left loose ends and said he did this to send the readers spinning out of the story with bits and pieces of it still clinging to them, so that they would want to go back and read it again."
Middle-Eastern and Islamic references
Due to the similarities between some of Herbert's terms and ideas and actual words and concepts in the Arabic language, as well as the series' "Islamic undertones" and themes, a Middle-Eastern influence on Herbert's works has been noted repeatedly. In his descriptions of the Fremen culture and language, Herbert uses both authentic Arabic words and Arabic-sounding words. For example, one of the names for the sandworm, Shai-hulud, is derived from Arabic: شيء خلود, romanized: šayʾ ḫulūd, lit. 'immortal thing' or Arabic: شيخ خلود, romanized: šayḫ ḫulūd, lit. 'old man of eternity'. The title of the Fremen housekeeper, the Shadout Mapes, is borrowed from the Arabic: شادوف, romanized: šādūf, the Egyptian term for a device used to raise water. In particular, words related to the messianic religion of the Fremen, first implanted by the Bene Gesserit, are taken from Arabic, including Muad'Dib (from Arabic: مؤدب, romanized: muʾaddib, lit. 'educator'), Lisan al-Gaib (from Arabic: لسان الغيب, romanized: lisān al-ġayb, lit. 'voice of the unseen') Usul (from Arabic: أصول, romanized: ʾuṣūl, lit. 'fundamental principles'), Shari-a (from Arabic: شريعة, romanized: šarīʿa, lit. 'sharia; path'), Shaitan (from Arabic: شيطان, romanized: šayṭān, lit. 'Shaitan; devil; fiend'), and jinn (from Arabic: جن, romanized: ǧinn, lit. 'jinn; spirit; demon; mythical being'). It is likely Herbert relied on second-hand resources such as phrasebooks and desert adventure stories to find these Arabic words and phrases for the Fremen. They are meaningful and carefully chosen, and help create an "imagined desert culture that resonates with exotic sounds, enigmas, and pseudo-Islamic references" and has a distinctly Bedouin aesthetic.
As a foreigner who adopts the ways of a desert-dwelling people and then leads them in a military capacity, Paul Atreides bears many similarities to the historical T. E. Lawrence. His 1962 biopic Lawrence of Arabia has also been identified as a potential influence. The Sabres of Paradise (1960) has also been identified as a potential influence upon Dune, with its depiction of Imam Shamil and the Islamic culture of the Caucasus inspiring some of the themes, characters, events and terminology of Dune.
The environment of the desert planet Arrakis was primarily inspired by the environments of the Middle East. Similarly Arrakis as a bioregion is presented as a particular kind of political site. Herbert has made it resemble a desertified petrostate area. The Fremen people of Arrakis were influenced by the Bedouin tribes of Arabia, and the Mahdi prophecy originates from Islamic eschatology. Inspiration is also adopted from medieval historian Ibn Khaldun's cyclical history and his dynastic concept in North Africa, hinted at by Herbert's reference to Khaldun's book Kitāb al-ʿibar ("The Book of Lessons"). The fictionalized version of the "Kitab al-ibar" in Dune is a combination of a Fremen religious manual and a desert survival book.
Additional language and historic influences
In addition to Arabic, Dune derives words and names from a variety of other languages, including Navajo, Latin, Dutch ("Landsraad"), Romani, Hebrew ("Kefitzat haderech", in Hebrew "קפיצת הדרך", meaning contracting of the path), Serbo-Croatian, Nahuatl, Greek, Persian, Sanskrit ("prana bindu", "prajna"), Russian, Turkish, Finnish, and Old English. Bene Gesserit is part of the Latin legal phrase quamdiu se bene gesserit "as long as he shall behave himself well" seen in grants of certain offices (such as judgeships) meaning that the appointee shall remain in office so long as he shall not be guilty of abusing it. Some critics miss the connotation of the phrase, misled by the Latin future perfect gesserit, taking it over-literally (and adding an unwarranted passive) to mean "it will have been well borne", an interpretation which is not well supported by the Bene Gesserit doctrine in the story.
Through the inspiration from The Sabres of Paradise, there are also allusions to the tsarist-era Russian nobility and Cossacks. Frank Herbert stated that bureaucracy that lasted long enough would become a hereditary nobility, and a significant theme behind the aristocratic families in Dune was "aristocratic bureaucracy" which he saw as analogous to the Soviet Union.
Environmentalism and ecology
Dune has been called the "first planetary ecology novel on a grand scale". Herbert hoped it would be seen as an "environmental awareness handbook" and said the title was meant to "echo the sound of 'doom'". It was reviewed in the best selling countercultural Whole Earth Catalog in 1968 as a "rich re-readable fantasy with clear portrayal of the fierce environment it takes to cohere a community".
After the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1962, science fiction writers began treating the subject of ecological change and its consequences. Dune responded in 1965 with its complex descriptions of Arrakis life, from giant sandworms (for whom water is deadly) to smaller, mouse-like life-forms adapted to live with limited water. Dune was followed in its creation of complex and unique ecologies by other science fiction books such as A Door into Ocean (1986) and Red Mars (1992). Environmentalists have pointed out that Dune's popularity as a novel depicting a planet as a complex—almost living—thing, in combination with the first images of Earth from space being published in the same time period, strongly influenced environmental movements such as the establishment of the international Earth Day.
While the genre of climate fiction was popularized in the 2010s in response to real global climate change, Dune as well as other early science fiction works from authors like J. G. Ballard (The Drowned World) and Kim Stanley Robinson (the Mars trilogy) have retroactively been considered pioneering examples of the genre.
Declining empires
The Imperium in Dune contains features of various empires in Europe and the Near East, including the Roman Empire, Holy Roman Empire, and Ottoman Empire. Lorenzo DiTommaso compared Dune's portrayal of the downfall of a galactic empire to Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which argues that Christianity allied with the profligacy of the Roman elite led to the fall of Ancient Rome. In "The Articulation of Imperial Decadence and Decline in Epic Science Fiction" (2007), DiTommaso outlines similarities between the two works by highlighting the excesses of the Emperor on his home planet of Kaitain and of the Baron Harkonnen in his palace. The Emperor loses his effectiveness as a ruler through an excess of ceremony and pomp. The hairdressers and attendants he brings with him to Arrakis are even referred to as "parasites". The Baron Harkonnen is similarly corrupt and materially indulgent. Gibbon's Decline and Fall partly blames the fall of Rome on the rise of Christianity. Gibbon claimed that this exotic import from a conquered province weakened the soldiers of Rome and left it open to attack. The Emperor's Sardaukar fighters are little match for the Fremen of Dune not only because of the Sardaukar's overconfidence and the fact that Jessica and Paul have trained the Fremen in their battle tactics, but because of the Fremen's capacity for self-sacrifice. The Fremen put the community before themselves in every instance, while the world outside wallows in luxury at the expense of others.
The decline and long peace of the Empire sets the stage for revolution and renewal by genetic mixing of successful and unsuccessful groups through war, a process culminating in the Jihad led by Paul Atreides, described by Frank Herbert as depicting "war as a collective orgasm" (drawing on Norman Walter's 1950 The Sexual Cycle of Human Warfare), themes that would reappear in God Emperor of Dune's Scattering and Leto II's all-female Fish Speaker army.
Gender dynamics
Gender dynamics are complex in Dune. Herbert offers a multi-layered portrayal of gender roles within the context of a feudal, hierarchical society, particularly through the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. Although the Bene Gesserit tend to hold roles that are traditionally associated with women, such as wives, concubines, and mothers, their characters transcend stereotypes as they play politics and pursue long-term strategic goals. Full gender equality is not depicted in Dune, but the Bene Gesserit use specialized training and access to high-ranking men to gain agency and power within the constraints of their environment. Their training in prana-bindu allows them to exert control over their minds and bodies, including over pregnancy, and they are skilled in hand-to-hand combat and use of the Voice to command others. Jessica's disobedience in bearing a son instead of daughter and training him in the Bene Gesserit Way is a major plot point that sets in motion the events of the novel. By setting up certain women with leaders of certain Houses in the Imperium, the Bene Gesserit can control bloodlines across generations through their secret breeding program. Even within the male-dominated Imperium, then, the Bene Gesserit wield reproductive power and choose which genetic markers to continue into the future.
Reverend Mother Mohiam uses skills in Truthsaying to act as the Emperor's official Truthsayer and advisor. Her role can be considered similar to that of abbesses in the medieval Church. Before Princess Irulan appears as a character who agrees to a political marriage with Paul, she acts as a historian who shapes the reader's interpretation of the story and Paul's legacy due to the excerpts from her writing that frame each chapter.
Among the Fremen, women have roles as mothers and wives and also exercise agency through combat and religious authority. Fremen women and children have a reputation for being just as violent and dangerous as Fremen men. Chani travels with Stilgar in his military party, armed like the others. After becoming Paul's concubine, she kills one of the men who comes to challenge him. Alia leads an attack against the Emperor's Sardaukar and kills Baron Harkonnen with a gom jabbar. Women also take on the role of religious leaders. Chani is a Sayyadina who presides over tribal rituals such as Paul's worm-riding test, and Reverend Mother Ramallo carries the tribe's memories and passes them along to Jessica through the Water of Life ceremony. Within the male-led sietches, Fremen women find different avenues of authority.
The gom jabbar test of humanity is administered by the female Bene Gesserit order but rarely to males. The Bene Gesserit have seemingly mastered the unconscious and can play on the unconscious weaknesses of others using the Voice, yet their breeding program seeks after a male Kwisatz Haderach. Their plan is to produce a male who can "possess complete racial memory, both male and female," and look into the black hole in the collective unconscious that they fear. A central theme of the book is the connection, in Jessica's son, of this female aspect with his male aspect. This aligns with concepts in Jungian psychology, which features conscious/unconscious and taking/giving roles associated with males and females, as well as the idea of the collective unconscious. Paul's approach to power consistently requires his upbringing under the matriarchal Bene Gesserit, who operate as a long-dominating shadow government behind all of the great houses and their marriages or divisions. He is trained by Jessica in the Bene Gesserit Way, which includes prana-bindu training in nerve and muscle control and precise perception. Paul also receives Mentat training, thus helping prepare him to be a type of androgynous Kwisatz Haderach, a male Reverend Mother.
In a Bene Gesserit test early in the book, it is implied that people are generally "inhuman" in that they irrationally place desire over self-interest and reason. This applies Herbert's philosophy that humans are not created equal, while equal justice and equal opportunity are higher ideals than mental, physical, or moral equality.
Heroism
I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own participation in it.
Throughout Paul's rise to superhuman status, he follows a plotline common to many stories describing the birth of a hero. He has unfortunate circumstances forced onto him. After a long period of hardship and exile, he confronts and defeats the source of evil in his tale. As such, Dune is representative of a general trend beginning in 1960s American science fiction in that it features a character who attains godlike status through scientific means. Eventually, Paul Atreides gains a level of omniscience which allows him to take over the planet and the galaxy, and causes the Fremen of Arrakis to worship him like a god. Author Frank Herbert said in 1979, "The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better to rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes." He wrote in 1985, "Dune was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says that mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader's name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question."
Juan A. Prieto-Pablos says Herbert achieves a new typology with Paul's superpowers, differentiating the heroes of Dune from earlier heroes such as Superman, van Vogt's Gilbert Gosseyn and Henry Kuttner's telepaths. Unlike previous superheroes who acquire their powers suddenly and accidentally, Paul's are the result of "painful and slow personal progress." And unlike other superheroes of the 1960s—who are the exception among ordinary people in their respective worlds—Herbert's characters grow their powers through "the application of mystical philosophies and techniques." For Herbert, the ordinary person can develop incredible fighting skills (Fremen, Ginaz swordsmen and Sardaukar) or mental abilities (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, Spacing Guild Navigators).
Zen and religion
Early in his newspaper career, Herbert was introduced to Zen by two Jungian psychologists, Ralph and Irene Slattery, who "gave a crucial boost to his thinking". Zen teachings ultimately had "a profound and continuing influence on [Herbert's] work". Throughout the Dune series and particularly in Dune, Herbert employs concepts and forms borrowed from Zen Buddhism. The Fremen are referred to as Zensunni adherents, and many of Herbert's epigraphs are Zen-spirited. In "Dune Genesis", Frank Herbert wrote:
What especially pleases me is to see the interwoven themes, the fugue like relationships of images that exactly replay the way Dune took shape. As in an Escher lithograph, I involved myself with recurrent themes that turn into paradox. The central paradox concerns the human vision of time. What about Paul's gift of prescience - the Presbyterian fixation? For the Delphic Oracle to perform, it must tangle itself in a web of predestination. Yet predestination negates surprises and, in fact, sets up a mathematically enclosed universe whose limits are always inconsistent, always encountering the unprovable. It's like a koan, a Zen mind breaker. It's like the Cretan Epimenides saying, "All Cretans are liars."
Brian Herbert called the Dune universe "a spiritual melting pot", noting that his father incorporated elements of a variety of religions, including Buddhism, Sufi mysticism and other Islamic belief systems, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Hinduism. He added that Frank Herbert's fictional future in which "religious beliefs have combined into interesting forms" represents the author's solution to eliminating arguments between religions, each of which claimed to have "the one and only revelation."
Asimov's Foundation
Tim O'Reilly suggests that Herbert also wrote Dune as a counterpoint to Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. In his monograph on Frank Herbert, O'Reilly wrote that "Dune is clearly a commentary on the Foundation trilogy. Herbert has taken a look at the same imaginative situation that provoked Asimov's classic—the decay of a galactic empire—and restated it in a way that draws on different assumptions and suggests radically different conclusions. The twist he has introduced into Dune is that the Mule, not the Foundation, is his hero." According to O'Reilly, Herbert bases the Bene Gesserit on the scientific shamans of the Foundation, though they use biological rather than statistical science. In contrast to the Foundation series and its praise of science and rationality, Dune proposes that the unconscious and unexpected are actually what are needed for humanity.
Both Herbert and Asimov explore the implications of prescience (i.e., visions of the future) both psychologically and socially. The Foundation series deploys a broadly determinist approach to prescient vision rooted in mathematical reasoning on a macroscopic social level. Dune, by contrast, invents a biologically rooted power of prescience that becomes determinist when the user actively relies on it to navigate past an undefined threshold of detail. Herbert's eugenically produced and spice-enhanced prescience is also personalized to individual actors whose roles in later books constrain each other's visions, rendering the future more or less mutable as time progresses. In what might be a comment on Foundation, Herbert's most powerfully prescient being in God Emperor of Dune laments the boredom engendered by prescience, and values surprises, especially regarding one's death, as a psychological necessity.
However, both works contain a similar theme of the restoration of civilization and seem to make the fundamental assumption that "political maneuvering, the need to control material resources, and friendship or mating bonds will be fundamentally the same in the future as they are now."
Critical reception
Dune tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award in 1966 and won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Reviews of the novel have been largely positive, and Dune is considered by some critics to be the best science fiction book ever written. The novel has been translated into dozens of languages, and has sold almost 20 million copies. Dune has been regularly cited as one of the world's best-selling science fiction novels.
Arthur C. Clarke described Dune as "unique" and wrote, "I know nothing comparable to it except The Lord of the Rings." Robert A. Heinlein described the novel as "powerful, convincing, and most ingenious." It was described as "one of the monuments of modern science fiction" by the Chicago Tribune, and P. Schuyler Miller called Dune "one of the landmarks of modern science fiction ... an amazing feat of creation." The Washington Post described it as "a portrayal of an alien society more complete and deeply detailed than any other author in the field has managed ... a story absorbing equally for its action and philosophical vistas ... An astonishing science fiction phenomenon." Algis Budrys praised Dune for the vividness of its imagined setting, saying "The time lives. It breathes, it speaks, and Herbert has smelt it in his nostrils". He found that the novel, however, "turns flat and tails off at the end. ... [T]ruly effective villains simply simper and melt; fierce men and cunning statesmen and seeresses all bend before this new Messiah". Budrys faulted in particular Herbert's decision to kill Paul's infant son offstage, with no apparent emotional impact, saying "you cannot be so busy saving a world that you cannot hear an infant shriek". After criticizing unrealistic science fiction, Carl Sagan in 1978 listed Dune as among stories "that are so tautly constructed, so rich in the accommodating details of an unfamiliar society that they sweep me along before I have even a chance to be critical".
The Louisville Times wrote, "Herbert's creation of this universe, with its intricate development and analysis of ecology, religion, politics, and philosophy, remains one of the supreme and seminal achievements in science fiction." Writing for The New Yorker, Jon Michaud praised Herbert's "clever authorial decision" to exclude robots and computers ("two staples of the genre") from his fictional universe, but suggested that this may be one explanation why Dune lacks "true fandom among science-fiction fans" to the extent that it "has not penetrated popular culture in the way that The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars have". Tamara I. Hladik wrote that the story "crafts a universe where lesser novels promulgate excuses for sequels. All its rich elements are in balance and plausible—not the patchwork confederacy of made-up languages, contrived customs, and meaningless histories that are the hallmark of so many other, lesser novels."
On November 5, 2019, the BBC News listed Dune on its list of the 100 most influential novels.
J. R. R. Tolkien refused to review Dune, on the grounds that he disliked it "with some intensity" and thus felt it would be unfair to Herbert, another working author, if he gave an honest review of the book.
First edition prints and manuscripts
The first edition of Dune is one of the most valuable in science fiction book collecting. Copies have been sold for more than $20,000 at auction.
California State University, Fullerton's Pollak Library has several of Herbert's draft manuscripts of Dune and other works, with the author's notes, in their Frank Herbert Archives.
Sequels and prequels
After Dune proved to be a critical and financial success for Herbert, he was able to devote himself full time to writing additional novels in the series. He had already drafted parts of the second and third while writing Dune. The series included Dune Messiah (1969), Children of Dune (1976), God Emperor of Dune (1981), Heretics of Dune (1984), and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985), each sequentially continuing on the narrative from Dune. Herbert died on February 11, 1986.
Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, had found several thousand pages of notes left by his father that outlined ideas for other narratives related to Dune. Brian Herbert enlisted author Kevin J. Anderson to help build out prequel novels to the events of Dune. Brian Herbert's and Anderson's Dune prequels first started publication in 1999, and have led to additional stories that take place between those of Frank Herbert's books. The notes for what would have been Dune 7 also enabled them to publish Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), sequels to Frank Herbert's final novel Chapterhouse: Dune, which complete the chronological progression of his original series, and wrap up storylines that began in Heretics of Dune.
Adaptations
Dune has been considered an "unfilmable" and "uncontainable" work to adapt from novel to film or other visual medium. Described by Wired, "It has four appendices and a glossary of its own gibberish, and its action takes place on two planets, one of which is a desert overrun by worms the size of airport runways. Lots of important people die or try to kill each other, and they're all tethered to about eight entangled subplots." There have been several attempts to achieve this difficult conversion with various degrees of success.
Early stalled attempts
In 1971, the production company Apjac International (APJ) (headed by Arthur P. Jacobs) optioned the rights to film Dune. As Jacobs was busy with other projects, such as the sequel to Planet of the Apes, Dune was delayed for another year. Jacobs' first choice for director was David Lean, but he turned down the offer. Charles Jarrott was also considered to direct. Work was also under way on a script while the hunt for a director continued. Initially, the first treatment had been handled by Robert Greenhut, the producer who had lobbied Jacobs to make the movie in the first place, but subsequently Rospo Pallenberg was approached to write the script, with shooting scheduled to begin in 1974. However, Jacobs died in 1973.
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights from APJ, with Alejandro Jodorowsky set to direct. In 1975, Jodorowsky planned to film the story as a 3-hour feature, set to star his own son Brontis Jodorowsky in the lead role of Paul Atreides, Salvador Dalí as Shaddam IV, Padishah Emperor, Amanda Lear as Princess Irulan, Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Gloria Swanson as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, David Carradine as Duke Leto Atreides, Geraldine Chaplin as Lady Jessica, Alain Delon as Duncan Idaho, Hervé Villechaize as Gurney Halleck, Udo Kier as Piter De Vries, and Mick Jagger as Feyd-Rautha. It was at first proposed to score the film with original music by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Henry Cow, and Magma; later on, the soundtrack was to be provided by Pink Floyd. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction periodicals, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Metal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Moebius began designing creatures and characters for the film, while Foss was brought in to design the film's space ships and hardware. Giger began designing the Harkonnen Castle based on Moebius's storyboards. Dan O'Bannon was to head the special effects department.
Dalí was cast as the Emperor. Dalí later demanded to be paid $100,000 per hour; Jodorowsky agreed, but tailored Dalí's part to be filmed in one hour, drafting plans for other scenes of the emperor to use a mechanical mannequin as substitute for Dalí. According to Giger, Dalí was "later invited to leave the film because of his pro-Franco statements". Just as the storyboards, designs, and script were finished, the financial backing dried up. Frank Herbert traveled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phone book", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. Jodorowsky said in 1985 that he found the Dune story mythical and had intended to re-create it rather than adapt the novel; though he had an "enthusiastic admiration" for Herbert, Jodorowsky said he had done everything possible to distance the author and his input from the project. Although Jodorowsky was embittered by the experience, he said the Dune project changed his life, and some of the ideas were used in his and Moebius's The Incal. O'Bannon entered a psychiatric hospital after the production failed, then worked on 13 scripts, the last of which became Alien. A 2013 documentary, Jodorowsky's Dune, was made about Jodorowsky's failed attempt at an adaptation.
In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis acquired the rights from Gibon's consortium. De Laurentiis commissioned Herbert to write a new screenplay in 1978; the script Herbert turned in was 175 pages long, the equivalent of nearly three hours of screen time. De Laurentiis then hired director Ridley Scott in 1979, with Rudy Wurlitzer writing the screenplay and H. R. Giger retained from the Jodorowsky production; Scott and Giger had also just worked together on the film Alien, after O'Bannon recommended the artist. Scott intended to split the novel into two movies. He worked on three drafts of the script, using The Battle of Algiers as a point of reference, before moving on to direct another science fiction film, Blade Runner (1982). As he recalls, the pre-production process was slow, and finishing the project would have been even more time-intensive:
But after seven months I dropped out of Dune, by then Rudy Wurlitzer had come up with a first-draft script which I felt was a decent distillation of Frank Herbert's. But I also realised Dune was going to take a lot more work—at least two and a half years' worth. And I didn't have the heart to attack that because my older brother Frank unexpectedly died of cancer while I was prepping the De Laurentiis picture. Frankly, that freaked me out. So I went to Dino and told him the Dune script was his.
—From Ridley Scott: The Making of his Movies by Paul M. Sammon
1984 film by David Lynch
In 1981, the nine-year film rights were set to expire. De Laurentiis re-negotiated the rights from the author, adding to them the rights to the Dune sequels (written and unwritten). After seeing The Elephant Man, De Laurentiis' daughter Raffaella decided that David Lynch should direct the movie. Around that time Lynch received several other directing offers, including Return of the Jedi. He agreed to direct Dune and write the screenplay even though he had not read the book, was not familiar with the story, or even been interested in science fiction. Lynch worked on the script for six months with Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore. The team yielded two drafts of the script before it split over creative differences. Lynch would subsequently work on five more drafts. Production of the work was troubled by problems at the Mexican studio and hampering the film's timeline. Lynch ended up producing a nearly three-hour long film, but at demands from Universal Pictures, the film's distributor, he cut it back to about two hours, hastily filming additional scenes to make up for some of the cut footage.
This first film of Dune, directed by Lynch, was released in 1984, nearly 20 years after the book's publication. Though Herbert said the book's depth and symbolism seemed to intimidate many filmmakers, he was pleased with the film, saying that "They've got it. It begins as Dune does. And I hear my dialogue all the way through. There are some interpretations and liberties, but you're gonna come out knowing you've seen Dune." Reviews of the film were negative, saying that it was incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the book, and that fans would be disappointed by the way it strayed from the book's plot. Upon release for television and other forms of home media, Universal opted to reintroduce much of the footage that Lynch had cut, creating an over-three-hour long version with extensive monologue exposition. Lynch was extremely displeased with this move, and demanded that Universal replace his name on these cuts with the pseudonym "Alan Smithee", and has generally distanced himself from the film since.
2000 miniseries by John Harrison
In 2000, John Harrison adapted the novel into Frank Herbert's Dune, a miniseries that premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel. As of 2004, the miniseries was one of the three highest-rated programs broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Further film attempts
In 2008, Paramount Pictures announced that they would produce a new film based on the book, with Peter Berg attached to direct. Producer Kevin Misher, who spent a year securing the rights from the Herbert estate, was to be joined by Richard Rubinstein and John Harrison (of both Sci-Fi Channel miniseries) as well as Sarah Aubrey and Mike Messina. The producers stated that they were going for a "faithful adaptation" of the novel and considered "its theme of finite ecological resources particularly timely". Science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson and Frank Herbert's son Brian Herbert, who had together written multiple Dune sequels and prequels since 1999, were attached to the project as technical advisors. In October 2009, Berg dropped out of the project, later saying that it "for a variety of reasons wasn't the right thing" for him. Subsequently, with a script draft by Joshua Zetumer, Paramount reportedly sought a new director who could do the film for under $175 million. In 2010, Pierre Morel was signed on to direct, with screenwriter Chase Palmer incorporating Morel's vision of the project into Zetumer's original draft. By November 2010, Morel left the project. Paramount finally dropped plans for a remake in March 2011.
Films by Denis Villeneuve
In November 2016, Legendary Entertainment acquired the film and TV rights for Dune. Variety reported in December 2016 that Denis Villeneuve was in negotiations to direct the project, which was confirmed in February 2017. In April 2017, Legendary announced that Eric Roth would write the screenplay. Villeneuve explained in March 2018 that his adaptation will be split into two films, with the first installment scheduled to begin production in 2019. Casting includes Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Dave Bautista as Rabban, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, Chang Chen as Dr. Yueh, and Stephen Henderson as Thufir Hawat. Warner Bros. Pictures distributed the film, which had its initial premiere on September 3, 2021, at the Venice Film Festival, and wide release in both theaters and streaming on HBO Max on October 21, 2021, as part of Warner Bros.'s approach to handling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry. The film received "generally favorable reviews" on Metacritic. It has gone on to win multiple awards and was named by the National Board of Review as one of the 10 best films of 2021, as well as the American Film Institute in their annual top 10 list. The film went on to be nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning six, the most wins of the night for any film in contention.
A sequel, Dune: Part Two, was scheduled for release on November 3, 2023, but was released on March 1, 2024, due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. It had its world premiere at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, London, on February 15, 2024, and opened in the United States on March 1. It received critical acclaim especially for its visual effects and has grossed over $711 million worldwide, making it the second-highest grossing film of 2024.
Audiobooks
In 1993, Recorded Books Inc. released a 20-disc audiobook narrated by George Guidall. In 2007, Audio Renaissance released an audio book narrated by Simon Vance with some parts performed by Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, and other performers.
Cultural influence
Dune has been widely influential, inspiring numerous novels, music, films, television, games, and comic books. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential science fiction novels of all time, with numerous modern science fiction works such as Star Wars owing their existence to Dune. Dune has also been referenced in numerous other works of popular culture, including Star Trek, Chronicles of Riddick, The Kingkiller Chronicle and Futurama. Dune was cited as a source of inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's anime film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) for its post-apocalyptic world.
Dune was parodied in 1984's National Lampoon's Doon by Ellis Weiner, which William F. Touponce called "something of a tribute to Herbert's success on college campuses", noting that "the only other book to have been so honored is Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings," which was parodied by The Harvard Lampoon in 1969.
Music
In 1977, David Matthews became one of the first artists to dedicate an entire composition to Dune, publishing an album of the same name on CTI Records.
In 1978, French electronic musician Richard Pinhas released the nine-track Dune-inspired album Chronolyse, which includes the seven-part Variations sur le thème des Bene Gesserit.
In 1979, German electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze released an LP titled Dune featuring motifs and lyrics inspired by the novel.
A similar musical project, Visions of Dune, was released also in 1979 by Zed (a pseudonym of French electronic musician Bernard Sjazner).
1981 French zeuhl band Dün released their album Eros which was inspired by the Dune novel, also their band name Dün was a short form from their temporary name Dune.
Heavy metal band Iron Maiden wrote the song "To Tame a Land" based on the Dune story. It appears as the closing track to their 1983 album Piece of Mind. The original working title of the song was "Dune"; however, the band was denied permission to use it, with Frank Herbert's agents stating "Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially bands like Iron Maiden".
Dune inspired the German happy hardcore band Dune, who have released several albums with space travel-themed songs.
The progressive hardcore band Shai Hulud took their name from Dune.
"Traveller in Time", from the 1991 Blind Guardian album Tales from the Twilight World, is based mostly on Paul Atreides' visions of future and past.
The title of the 1993 Fear Factory album Fear is The Mindkiller is a quote from the "litany against fear".
The song "Near Fantastica", from the Matthew Good album Avalanche, makes reference to the "litany against fear", repeating "can't feel fear, fear's the mind killer" through a section of the song.
In the Fatboy Slim song "Weapon of Choice", the line "If you walk without rhythm/You won't attract the worm" is a near quotation from the sections of novel in which Stilgar teaches Paul to ride sandworms. Christopher Walken, who would later star in Dune: Part Two as Emperor Shaddam IV, appears in the music video.
Dune also inspired the 1999 album The 2nd Moon by the German death metal band Golem, which is a concept album about the series.
The song "The Eyes of Ibad" from Panchiko's 2000 EP D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, takes its name from Dune, referencing the blue-in-blue eyes of the Fremen.
Dune influenced Thirty Seconds to Mars on their self-titled debut album.
The Youngblood Brass Band's song "Is an Elegy" on Center:Level:Roar references "Muad'Dib", "Arrakis" and other elements from the novel.
The debut album of Canadian musician Grimes, called Geidi Primes, is a concept album based on Dune.
In 2015, the Baltimore-based band Tendrills released a psych rock album called 10,191. The album's title, sound, emotionality, and some of its lyrics were inspired by the Dune novels.
Japanese singer Kenshi Yonezu, released a song titled "Dune", also known as "Sand Planet". The song was released on 2017, and it was created using the voice synthesizer Hatsune Miku for her 10th anniversary.
Sleep's 2018 album The Sciences features a song, Giza Butler, that references several aspects of Dune.
Tool's 2019 album Fear Inoculum has a song entitled "Litanie contre la peur (Litany against fear)".
"Rare to Wake", from Shannon Lay's album Geist (2019), is inspired by Dune.
Heavy Metal band Diamond Head based the song "The Sleeper" and its prelude, both off the album The Coffin Train, on the series.
Games
There have been a number of games based on the book, starting with the strategy–adventure game Dune (1992). The most important game adaptation is Dune II (1992), which established the conventions of modern real-time strategy games and is considered to be among the most influential video games of all time.
The online game Lost Souls includes Dune-derived elements, including sandworms and melange—addiction to which can produce psychic talents. The 2016 game Enter the Gungeon features the spice melange as a random item which gives the player progressively stronger abilities and penalties with repeated uses, mirroring the long-term effects melange has on users.
Rick Priestley cites Dune as a major influence on his 1987 wargame, Warhammer 40,000.
In 2023, Funcom announced Dune: Awakening, an upcoming massively multiplayer online game set in the universe of Dune.
Space exploration
The Apollo 15 astronauts named a small crater on Earth's Moon after the novel during the 1971 mission, and the name was formally adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1973. Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-world nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan, like Arrakis Planitia.
See also
Soft science fiction – Sub-genre of science fiction emphasizing "soft" sciences or human emotions
Hydraulic empire – Government by control of access to water
Genetics in fiction – Genetics as a theme in fiction
Space travel in science fiction – Fictional methods, e.g. antigravity, hyperdrive
Religious order – Groups based on religious devotion
References
Further reading
Britt, Ryan (2023). The Spice Must Flow. Penguin Random House LLC. ISBN 9780593472996.
Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (1995). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 1386. ISBN 978-0-312-13486-0.
Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (1995). The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (CD-ROM). Danbury, CT: Grolier. ISBN 978-0-7172-3999-3.
Decker, Kevin S., ed. Dune and Philosophy: Minds, Monads, and Muad'Dib. Hoboken, NJ/Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2023.
Huddleston, Tom (2023). The Worlds of Dune: The Places and Cultures That Inspired Frank Herbert. Minneapolis, MN: Quarto Publishing Group UK.
Jakubowski, Maxim; Edwards, Malcolm (1983). The Complete Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy Lists. St Albans, Herts, UK: Granada Publishing Ltd. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-586-05678-3.
Kennedy, Kara (2022). Frank Herbert's Dune: A Critical Companion. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kennedy, Kara (2020). Women's Agency in the Dune Universe: Tracing Women's Liberation through Science Fiction. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
Nardi, Dominic J.; Brierly, N. Trevor, eds. (2022). Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert's Epic Saga. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
Nicholas, Jeffery, ed. (2011). Dune and Philosophy: Weirding Way of Mentat. Chicago: Open Court.
Nicholls, Peter (1979). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. St Albans, Herts, UK: Granada Publishing Ltd. p. 672. ISBN 978-0-586-05380-5.
O'Reilly, Timothy (1981). Frank Herbert. New York: Frederick Ungar.
Pringle, David (1990). The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction. London: Grafton Books Ltd. p. 407. ISBN 978-0-246-13635-0.
Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-911682-20-5.
Williams, Kevin C. (2013). The Wisdom of the Sand: Philosophy and Frank Herbert's Dune. New York: Hampton Press.
External links
Official website for Dune and its sequels
Dune title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Turner, Paul (October 1973). "Vertex Interviews Frank Herbert" (Interview). Vol. 1, no. 4. Archived from the original on May 19, 2009.
Spark Notes: Dune, detailed study guide
DuneQuotes.com – Collection of quotes from the Dune series
Dune by Frank Herbert, reviewed by Ted Gioia (Conceptual Fiction)
"Frank Herbert Biography and Bibliography at LitWeb.net". www.litweb.net. Archived from the original on April 2, 2009. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
Works of Frank Herbert at Curlie
Timberg, Scott (April 18, 2010). "Frank Herbert's Dune holds timely – and timeless – appeal". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
Walton, Jo (January 12, 2011). "In league with the future: Frank Herbert's Dune (Review)". Tor.com. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
Leonard, Andrew (June 4, 2015). "To Save California, Read Dune". Nautilus. Archived from the original on November 4, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
Dune by Frank Herbert – Foreshadowing & Dedication at Fact Behind Fiction
Frank Herbert by Tim O'Reilly
DuneScholar.com – Collection of scholarly essays |
Inception | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception | [
517
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception"
] | Inception is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced it with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious. The ensemble cast includes Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Dileep Rao, and Michael Caine.
After the 2002 completion of Insomnia, Nolan presented to Warner Bros. a written 80-page treatment for a horror film envisioning "dream stealers," based on lucid dreaming. Deciding he needed more experience before tackling a production of this magnitude and complexity, Nolan shelved the project and instead worked on 2005's Batman Begins, 2006's The Prestige, and 2008's The Dark Knight. The treatment was revised over six months and was purchased by Warner in February 2009. Inception was filmed in six countries, beginning in Tokyo on June 19 and ending in Canada on November 22. Its official budget was $160 million, split between Warner Bros. and Legendary. Nolan's reputation and success with The Dark Knight helped secure the film's US$100 million in advertising expenditure.
Inception's premiere was held in London on July 8, 2010; it was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters beginning on July 16, 2010. Inception grossed over $837 million worldwide, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010. Considered one of the best films of the 2010s, Inception won four Oscars (Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects) and was nominated for four more (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score) at the 83rd Academy Awards.
Plot
Dom Cobb and Arthur are "extractors" who perform corporate espionage using experimental dream-sharing technology to infiltrate their targets' subconscious and extract information. Their latest target, Saito, is impressed with Cobb's ability to layer multiple dreams within each other. He offers to hire Cobb for the ostensibly impossible job of implanting an idea into a person's subconscious; performing "inception" on Robert Fischer, the son of Saito's competitor Maurice Fischer, with the idea to dissolve his father's company. In return, Saito promises to clear Cobb's criminal status, allowing him to return home to his children.
Cobb accepts the offer and assembles his team: a forger named Eames, a chemist named Yusuf, and a college student named Ariadne. Ariadne is tasked with designing the dream's architecture, something Cobb himself cannot do for fear of being sabotaged by his mind's projection of his late wife, Mal. Maurice Fischer dies, and the team sedates Robert Fischer into a three-layer shared dream on an airplane to America bought by Saito. Time on each layer runs slower than the layer above, with one member staying behind on each to perform a music-synchronized "kick" (using the French song "Non, je ne regrette rien") to awaken dreamers on all three levels simultaneously.
The team abducts Robert in a city on the first level, but his trained subconscious projections attack them. After Saito is wounded, Cobb reveals that while dying in the dream would usually awaken dreamers, Yusuf's sedatives will instead send them into "Limbo": a world of infinite subconscious. Eames impersonates Robert's godfather, Peter Browning, to introduce the idea of an alternate will to dissolve the company.
Cobb tells Ariadne that he and Mal entered Limbo while experimenting with dream-sharing, experiencing fifty years in one night due to the time dilation with reality. After waking up, Mal still believed she was dreaming. Attempting to "wake up," she committed suicide and framed Cobb for her murder to force him to do the same. Cobb fled the U.S., leaving his children behind.
Yusuf drives the team around the first level as they are sedated into the second level, a hotel dreamed by Arthur. Cobb persuades Robert that Browning has kidnapped him to stop the dissolution and that Cobb is a defensive projection, leading Robert to another third level deeper as part of a ruse to enter Robert's subconscious.
In the third level, the team infiltrates an alpine fortress with a projection of Maurice inside, where the inception itself can be performed. However, Yusuf performs his kick too soon by driving off a bridge, forcing Arthur and Eames to improvise a new set of kicks synchronized with them hitting the water by rigging an elevator and the fortress, respectively, with explosives. Mal then appears and kills Robert before he can be subjected to the inception, and he and Saito are lost in Limbo, forcing Cobb and Ariadne to rescue them in time for Robert's inception and Eames's kick. Cobb reveals that during their time in Limbo, Mal refused to return to reality; Cobb had to convince her it was only a dream, accidentally incepting in her the belief that the real world was still a dream. Cobb makes peace with his part in Mal's death. Ariadne kills Mal's projection and wakes Robert up with a kick.
Revived into the third level, he discovers the planted idea: his dying father telling him to create something for himself. While Cobb searches for Saito in Limbo, the others ride the synced kicks back to reality. Cobb finds an aged Saito and reminds him of their agreement. The dreamers all awaken on the plane, and Saito makes a phone call. Arriving in Los Angeles, Cobb passes the immigration checkpoint, and his father-in-law accompanies him to his home. Cobb uses Mal's "totem" – a top that spins indefinitely in a dream – to test if he is indeed in the real world, but he chooses not to observe the result and instead joins his children.
Cast
Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a professional thief who specializes in conning secrets from his victims by infiltrating their dreams. DiCaprio was the first actor to be cast in the film. Both Brad Pitt and Will Smith were offered the role, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Cobb's role is compared to "the haunted widower in a Gothic romance".
Ken Watanabe as Saito, a Japanese businessman who employs Cobb for the team's mission. Nolan wrote the role with Watanabe in mind, as he wanted to work with him again after Batman Begins.: 10 Inception is Watanabe's first work in a contemporary setting where his primary language is English. Watanabe tried to emphasize a different characteristic of Saito in every dream level: "First chapter in my castle, I pick up some hidden feelings of the cycle. It's magical, powerful and then the first dream. And back to the second chapter, in the old hotel, I pick up [being] sharp and more calm and smart and it's a little bit [of a] different process to make up the character of any movie".
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, Cobb's partner who manages and researches the missions. Gordon-Levitt compared Arthur to the producer of Cobb's art, "the one saying, 'Okay, you have your vision; now I'm going to figure out how to make all the nuts and bolts work so you can do your thing'".: 7 The actor did all but one of his stunt scenes and said the preparation "was a challenge and it would have to be for it to look real". James Franco was in talks with Christopher Nolan to play Arthur, but was ultimately unavailable due to scheduling conflicts.
Marion Cotillard as Mal, Cobb's deceased wife. She is a manifestation of Cobb's guilt about the real cause of Mal's suicide. He is unable to control these projections of her, challenging his abilities as an extractor. Nolan described Mal as "the essence of the femme fatale," and DiCaprio praised Cotillard's performance, saying that "she can be strong and vulnerable and hopeful and heartbreaking all in the same moment, which was perfect for all the contradictions of her character".
Elliot Page as Ariadne, a graduate student of architecture who is recruited to construct the various dreamscapes, which are described as mazes. The name Ariadne alludes to a princess of Greek myth, daughter of King Minos, who aided the hero Theseus by giving him a sword and a ball of string to help him navigate the labyrinth which was the prison of the Minotaur. Nolan said that Page was chosen for being a "perfect combination of freshness and savvy and maturity beyond [his] years".: 8 Page said their character acts as a proxy to the audience, as "she's just learning about these ideas and, in essence, assists the audience in learning about dream sharing".
Tom Hardy as Eames, a sharp-tongued associate of Cobb. He is referred to as a fence but his specialty is forgery, more accurately identity theft. Eames uses his ability to impersonate others inside the dream world in order to manipulate Fischer. Hardy described his character as "an old, Graham Greene-type diplomat; sort of faded, shabby, grandeur—the old Shakespeare lovey mixed with somebody from Her Majesty's Special Forces", who wears "campy, old money" costumes.
Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer, the heir to a business empire and the team's target.: 10 Murphy said Fischer was portrayed as "a petulant child who's in need of a lot of attention from his father, he has everything he could ever want materially, but he's deeply lacking emotionally". The actor also researched the sons of Rupert Murdoch, "to add to that the idea of living in the shadow of someone so immensely powerful".
Tom Berenger as Peter Browning, Robert Fischer's godfather and fellow executive at the Fischers' company. Berenger said Browning acts as a "surrogate father" to Fischer, who calls the character "Uncle Peter", and emphasized that "Browning has been with [Robert] his whole life and has probably spent more quality time with him than his own father".: 11
Michael Caine as Stephen Miles, Cobb's mentor and father-in-law,: 11 and Ariadne's college professor who recommends her to the team.
Dileep Rao as Yusuf. Rao describes Yusuf as "an avant-garde pharmacologist, who is a resource for people, like Cobb, who want to do this work unsupervised, unregistered and unapproved of by anyone". Co-producer Jordan Goldberg said the role of the chemist was "particularly tough because you don't want him to seem like some kind of drug dealer", and that Rao was cast for being "funny, interesting and obviously smart".: 11
Lukas Haas as Nash, an architect in Cobb's employment who betrays the team and is later replaced by Ariadne.
Talulah Riley as a woman, credited as "Blonde", whom Eames disguises himself as in a dream. Riley liked the role, despite it being minimal: "I get to wear a nice dress, pick up men in bars, and shove them in elevators. It was good to do something adultish. Usually I play 15-year-old English schoolgirls."
Pete Postlethwaite as Maurice Fischer, Robert Fischer's father and the dying founder of a business empire.
Production
Development
Initially, Christopher Nolan wrote an 80-page treatment about dream-stealers. Nolan had originally envisioned Inception as a horror film, but eventually wrote it as a heist film even though he found that "traditionally [they] are very deliberately superficial in emotional terms." Upon revisiting his script, he decided that basing it in that genre did not work because the story "relies so heavily on the idea of the interior state, the idea of dream and memory. I realized I needed to raise the emotional stakes."
Nolan worked on the script for nine to ten years. When he first started thinking about making the film, Nolan was influenced by "that era of movies where you had The Matrix (1999), you had Dark City (1998), you had The Thirteenth Floor (1999) and, to a certain extent, you had Memento (2000), too. They were based in the principles that the world around you might not be real."
Nolan first pitched the film to Warner Bros. in 2001, but decided that he needed more experience making large-scale films, and embarked on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. He soon realized that a film like Inception needed a large budget because "as soon as you're talking about dreams, the potential of the human mind is infinite. And so the scale of the film has to feel infinite. It has to feel like you could go anywhere by the end of the film. And it has to work on a massive scale." After making The Dark Knight, Nolan decided to make Inception and spent six months completing the script. Nolan said that the key to completing the script was wondering what would happen if several people shared the same dream. "Once you remove the privacy, you've created an infinite number of alternative universes in which people can meaningfully interact, with validity, with weight, with dramatic consequences."
Nolan had been trying to work with Leonardo DiCaprio for years and met him several times, but was unable to recruit him for any of his films until Inception. DiCaprio finally agreed because he was "intrigued by this concept—this dream-heist notion and how this character's going to unlock his dreamworld and ultimately affect his real life.": 93–94 He read the script and found it to be "very well written, comprehensive but you really had to have Chris in person, to try to articulate some of the things that have been swirling around his head for the last eight years." DiCaprio and Nolan spent months talking about the screenplay. Nolan took a long time re-writing the script in order "to make sure that the emotional journey of his [DiCaprio's] character was the driving force of the movie." On February 11, 2009, it was announced that Warner Bros. purchased Inception, a spec script written by Nolan.
Locations and sets
Principal photography began in Tokyo on June 19, 2009, with the scene in which Saito first hires Cobb during a helicopter flight over the city.: 13
The production moved to the United Kingdom and shot in a converted airship hangar in Cardington, Bedfordshire, north of London.: 14 There, the hotel bar set which tilted 30 degrees was built.: 29 A hotel corridor was also constructed by Guy Hendrix Dyas, the production designer, Chris Corbould, the special effects supervisor, and Wally Pfister, the director of photography; it rotated a full 360 degrees to create the effect of alternate directions of gravity for scenes set during the second level of dreaming, where dream-sector physics become chaotic. The idea was inspired by a technique used in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Nolan said, "I was interested in taking those ideas, techniques, and philosophies and applying them to an action scenario".: 32 The filmmakers originally planned to make the hallway only 40 feet (12 m) long, but as the action sequence became more elaborate, the hallway's length was increased to 100 ft (30 m). The corridor was suspended along eight large concentric rings that were spaced equidistantly outside its walls and powered by two massive electric motors.: 14
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Arthur, spent several weeks learning to fight in a corridor that spun like "a giant hamster wheel". Nolan said of the device, "It was like some incredible torture device; we thrashed Joseph for weeks, but in the end we looked at the footage, and it looks unlike anything any of us has seen before. The rhythm of it is unique, and when you watch it, even if you know how it was done, it confuses your perceptions. It's unsettling in a wonderful way". Gordon-Levitt remembered, "it was six-day weeks of just, like, coming home at night battered ... The light fixtures on the ceiling are coming around on the floor, and you have to choose the right time to cross through them, and if you don't, you're going to fall." On July 15, 2009, filming took place at University College London for the sequences occurring inside a Paris college of architecture in the story, including the library, Flaxman Gallery and Gustav Tuck Theatre.
Filming moved to France, where they shot Cobb entering the college of architecture (the place used for the entrance was the Musée Galliera) and the pivotal scenes between Ariadne and Cobb, in a bistro (a fictional one set up at the corner of Rue César Franck and Rue Bouchut), and lastly on the Bir-Hakeim bridge.: 17 For the explosion that takes place during the bistro scene, local authorities would not allow the use of real explosives. High-pressure nitrogen was used to create the effect of a series of explosions. Pfister used six high-speed cameras to capture the sequence from different angles and make sure that they got the shot. The visual effects department enhanced the sequence, adding more destruction and flying debris. For the "Paris folding" sequence and when Ariadne "creates" the bridges, green screen and CGI were used on location.: 17
Tangier, Morocco, doubled as Mombasa, where Cobb hires Eames and Yusuf. A foot chase was shot in the streets and alleyways of the historic medina quarter.: 18 To capture this sequence, Pfister employed a mix of hand-held camera and steadicam work.: 19 Tangier was also used as the setting for filming an important riot scene during the initial foray into Saito's mind.
Filming moved to the Los Angeles area, where some sets were built on a Warner Bros. sound stage, including the interior rooms of Saito's Japanese castle (the exterior was done on a small set built in Malibu Beach). The dining room was inspired by the historic Nijō Castle, built around 1603. These sets were inspired by a mix of Japanese architecture and Western influences.: 19
The production staged a multi-vehicle car chase on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, which involved a freight train crashing down the middle of a street.: 20 To do this, the filmmakers configured a train engine on the chassis of a tractor trailer. The replica was made from fiberglass molds taken from authentic train parts and matched in terms of color and design.: 21 Also, the car chase was supposed to be set in the midst of a downpour, but the L.A. weather stayed typically sunny. The filmmakers set up elaborate effects (e.g., rooftop water cannons) to give the audience the impression that the weather was overcast and soggy. L.A. was also the site of the climactic scene where a Ford Econoline van runs off the Schuyler Heim Bridge in slow motion. This sequence was filmed on and off for months, with the van being shot out of a cannon, according to actor Dileep Rao. Capturing the actors suspended within the van in slow motion took a whole day to film.
Once the van landed in the water, the challenge for the actors was to avoid panic. "And when they ask you to act, it's a bit of an ask," explained Cillian Murphy. The actors had to be underwater for four to five minutes while drawing air from scuba tanks; underwater buddy breathing is shown in this sequence.
Cobb's house was in Pasadena. The hotel lobby was filmed at the CAA building in Century City. 'Limbo' was made on location in Los Angeles and Morocco, with the beach scene filmed at Palos Verdes beach with CGI buildings. N Hope St. in Los Angeles was the primary filming location for 'Limbo,' with green screen and CGI being used to create the dream landscape.
The final phase of principal photography took place in Alberta in late November 2009. The location manager discovered a temporarily closed ski resort, Fortress Mountain.: 22 An elaborate set was assembled near the top station of the Canadian chairlift, taking three months to build.: 93 The production had to wait for a huge snowstorm, which eventually arrived. The ski-chase sequence was inspired by Nolan's favorite James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969): "What I liked about it that we've tried to emulate in this film is there's a tremendous balance in that movie of action and scale and romanticism and tragedy and emotion.": 91
Cinematography
The film was shot primarily in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film, with key sequences filmed on 65 mm, and aerial sequences in VistaVision. Nolan did not shoot any footage with IMAX cameras as he had with The Dark Knight. "We didn't feel that we were going to be able to shoot in IMAX because of the size of the cameras because this film given that it deals with a potentially surreal area, the nature of dreams and so forth, I wanted it to be as realistic as possible. Not be bound by the scale of those IMAX cameras, even though I love the format dearly". In addition Nolan and Pfister tested using Showscan and Super Dimension 70 as potential large-format, high-frame-rate camera systems to use for the film, but ultimately decided against either format.: 29 Sequences in slow motion were filmed on a Photo-Sonics 35 mm camera at speeds of up to 1,000 frames per second. Wally Pfister tested shooting some of these sequences using a high speed digital camera, but found the format to be too unreliable due to technical glitches. "Out of six times that we shot on the digital format, we only had one usable piece and it didn't end up in the film. Out of the six times we shot with the Photo-Sonics camera and 35 mm running through it, every single shot was in the movie." Nolan also chose not to shoot any of the film in 3D as he prefers shooting on film using prime lenses, which is not possible with 3D cameras. Nolan has also criticized the dim image that 3D projection produces, and disputes that traditional film does not allow realistic depth perception, saying "I think it's a misnomer to call it 3D versus 2D. The whole point of cinematic imagery is it's three dimensional... You know 95% of our depth cues come from occlusion, resolution, color and so forth, so the idea of calling a 2D movie a '2D movie' is a little misleading." Nolan did test converting Inception into 3D in post-production but decided that, while it was possible, he lacked the time to complete the conversion to a standard he was happy with. In February 2011 Jonathan Liebesman suggested that Warner Bros. were attempting a 3D conversion for Blu-ray release.
Wally Pfister gave each location and dream level a distinctive look to aid the audience's recognition of the narrative's location during the heavily crosscut portion of the film: the mountain fortress appears sterile and cool, the hotel hallways have warm hues, and the scenes in the van are more neutral.: 35–36
Nolan has said that the film "deals with levels of reality, and perceptions of reality which is something I'm very interested in. It's an action film set in a contemporary world, but with a slight science-fiction bent to it", while also describing it as "very much an ensemble film structured somewhat as a heist movie. It's an action adventure that spans the globe".
Visual effects
For dream sequences in Inception, Nolan used little computer-generated imagery, preferring practical effects whenever possible. Nolan said, "It's always very important to me to do as much as possible in-camera, and then, if necessary, computer graphics are very useful to build on or enhance what you have achieved physically.": 12 To this end, visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin built a miniature of the mountain fortress set and then blew it up for the film. For the fight scene that takes place in zero gravity, he used CG-based effects to "subtly bend elements like physics, space and time."
The most challenging effect was the "Limbo" city level at the end of the film, because it continually developed during production. Franklin had artists build concepts while Nolan expressed his ideal vision: "Something glacial, with clear modernist architecture, but with chunks of it breaking off into the sea like icebergs". Franklin and his team ended up with "something that looked like an iceberg version of Gotham City with water running through it." They created a basic model of a glacier and then designers created a program that added elements like roads, intersections and ravines until they had a complex, yet organic-looking, cityscape. For the Paris-folding sequence, Franklin had artists producing concept sketches and then they created rough computer animations to give them an idea of what the sequence looked like while in motion. Later during principal photography, Nolan was able to direct DiCaprio and Page based on this rough computer animation that Franklin had created. Inception had nearly 500 visual effects shots (in comparison, Batman Begins had approximately 620), which is relatively few in comparison to contemporary effects-heavy films, which can have as many as 2,000 visual effects shots.
Music
The score for Inception was written by Hans Zimmer, who described his work as "a very electronic, dense score", filled with "nostalgia and sadness" to match Cobb's feelings throughout the film. The music was written simultaneously to filming, and features a guitar sound reminiscent of Ennio Morricone, played by Johnny Marr, former guitarist of the Smiths.
Édith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien" ("No, I Regret Nothing") appears throughout the film, used to accurately time the dreams, and Zimmer reworked pieces of the song into cues of the score.
A soundtrack album was released on July 11, 2010, by Reprise Records. The majority of the score was also included in high resolution 5.1 surround sound on the second disc of the two-disc Blu-ray release. Hans Zimmer's music was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Score category in 2011, losing to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of The Social Network.
Themes
Reality and dreams
In Inception, Nolan wanted to explore "the idea of people sharing a dream space... That gives you the ability to access somebody's unconscious mind. What would that be used and abused for?" The majority of the film's plot takes place in these interconnected dream worlds. This structure creates a framework where actions in the real or dream worlds ripple across others. The dream is always in a state of production, and shifts across the levels as the characters navigate it. By contrast, the world of The Matrix (1999) is an authoritarian, computer-controlled one, alluding to theories of social control developed by thinkers Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard. However, according to one interpretation Nolan's world has more in common with the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.
David Denby in The New Yorker compared Nolan's cinematic treatment of dreams to Luis Buñuel's in Belle de Jour (1967) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972). He criticized Nolan's "literal-minded" action level sequencing compared to Buñuel, who "silently pushed us into reveries and left us alone to enjoy our wonderment, but Nolan is working on so many levels of representation at once that he has to lay in pages of dialogue just to explain what's going on." The latter captures "the peculiar malign intensity of actual dreams."
Deirdre Barrett, a dream researcher at Harvard University, said that Nolan did not get every detail accurate regarding dreams, but their illogical, rambling, disjointed plots would not make for a great thriller anyway. However, "he did get many aspects right," she said, citing the scene in which a sleeping Cobb is shoved into a full bath, and in the dream world water gushes into the windows of the building, waking him up. "That's very much how real stimuli get incorporated, and you very often wake up right after that intrusion."
Nolan himself said, "I tried to work that idea of manipulation and management of a conscious dream being a skill that these people have. Really the script is based on those common, very basic experiences and concepts, and where can those take you? And the only outlandish idea that the film presents, really, is the existence of a technology that allows you to enter and share the same dream as someone else."
Dreams and cinema
Others have argued that the film is itself a metaphor for filmmaking, and that the filmgoing experience itself, images flashing before one's eyes in a darkened room, is akin to a dream. Writing in Wired, Jonah Lehrer supported this interpretation and presented neurological evidence that brain activity is strikingly similar during film-watching and sleeping. In both, the visual cortex is highly active and the prefrontal cortex, which deals with logic, deliberate analysis, and self-awareness, is quiet. Paul argued that the experience of going to a picturehouse is itself an exercise in shared dreaming, particularly when viewing Inception: the film's sharp cutting between scenes forces the viewer to create larger narrative arcs to stitch the pieces together. This demand of production parallel to consumption of the images, on the part of the audience is analogous to dreaming itself. As in the film's story, in a cinema one enters into the space of another's dream, in this case Nolan's, as with any work of art, one's reading of it is ultimately influenced by one's own subjective desires and subconscious. At Bir-Hakeim bridge in Paris, Ariadne creates an illusion of infinity by adding facing mirrors underneath its struts, Stephanie Dreyfus in la Croix asked "Is this not a strong, beautiful metaphor for the cinema and its power of illusion?"
Cinematic technique
Genre
Nolan combined elements from several different film genres into the film, notably science fiction, heist film, and film noir.
Marion Cotillard plays "Mal" Cobb, Dom Cobb's projection of his guilt over his deceased wife's suicide. As the film's main antagonist, she is a frequent, malevolent presence in his dreams. Dom is unable to control these projections of her, challenging his abilities as an extractor. Nolan described Mal as "the essence of the femme fatale",: 9 the key noir reference in the film. As a "classic femme fatale" her relationship with Cobb is in his mind, a manifestation of Cobb's own neurosis and fear of how little he knows about the woman he loves. DiCaprio praised Cotillard's performance saying that "she can be strong and vulnerable and hopeful and heartbreaking all in the same moment, which was perfect for all the contradictions of her character".: 10
Nolan began with the structure of a heist movie, since exposition is an essential element of that genre, though adapted it to have a greater emotional narrative suited to the world of dreams and subconscious. As Denby described this device: "the outer shell of the story is an elaborate caper". Kristin Thompson argued that exposition was a major formal device in the film. While a traditional heist movie has a heavy dose of exposition at the beginning as the team assembles and the leader explains the plan, in Inception this becomes nearly continuous as the group progresses through the various levels of dreaming. Three quarters of the film, until the van begins to fall from the bridge, are devoted to explaining its plot. In this way, exposition takes precedence over characterization. The characters' relationships are created by their respective skills and roles. Ariadne, like her ancient namesake, creates the maze and guides the others through it, but also helps Cobb navigate his own subconscious, and as the sole student of dream sharing, helps the audience understand the concept of the plot.
Nolan drew inspiration from the works of Jorge Luis Borges, including "The Secret Miracle" and "The Circular Ruins", and from the films Blade Runner (1982) and The Matrix (1999). While Nolan has not confirmed this, it has also been suggested by many observers that the movie draws heavy inspiration from the 2006 animated film Paprika.
Ending
The film cuts to the closing credits from a shot of the top apparently starting to show an ever so faint wobble, inviting speculation about whether the final sequence was reality or another dream. Nolan confirmed that the ambiguity was deliberate, saying, "I've been asked the question more times than I've ever been asked any other question about any other film I've made... What's funny to me is that people really do expect me to answer it." The film's script concludes with "Behind him, on the table, the spinning top is STILL SPINNING. And we—FADE OUT". Nolan said, "I put that cut there at the end, imposing an ambiguity from outside the film. That always felt the right ending to me—it always felt like the appropriate 'kick' to me... The real point of the scene—and this is what I tell people—is that Cobb isn't looking at the top. He's looking at his kids. He's left it behind. That's the emotional significance of the thing."
Caine interpreted the ending as meaning that Cobb is in the real world, quoting Nolan as telling him "'Well, when you're in the scene, it's reality.' So get that — if I'm in it, it's reality. If I'm not in it, it's a dream". While reiterating that he was uncomfortable with definitively explaining the scene, Nolan in 2023 credited Emma Thomas as providing "the correct answer, which is Leo's character ... doesn't care at that point". Mark Fisher argued that "a century of cultural theory" cautions against accepting the author's interpretation as anything more than a supplementary text, and this all the more so given the theme of the instability of any one master position in Nolan's films. Therein the manipulator is often the one who ends up manipulated, and Cobb's "not caring" about whether or not his world is real may be the price of his happiness and release.
Release
Marketing
Warner Bros. spent US$100 million marketing the film. Although Inception was not part of an existing franchise, Sue Kroll, president of Warner's worldwide marketing, said the company believed it could gain awareness due to the strength of "Christopher Nolan as a brand". Kroll declared that "We don't have the brand equity that usually drives a big summer opening, but we have a great cast and a fresh idea from a filmmaker with a track record of making incredible movies. If you can't make those elements work, it's a sad day." The studio also tried to maintain a campaign of secrecy—as reported by the Senior VP of Interactive Marketing, Michael Tritter, "You have this movie which is going to have a pretty big built in fanbase... but you also have a movie that you are trying to keep very secret. Chris [Nolan] really likes people to see his movies in a theater and not see it all beforehand so everything that you do to market that—at least early on—is with an eye to feeding the interest to fans."
A viral marketing campaign was employed for the film. After the revelation of the first teaser trailer, in August 2009, the film's official website featured only an animation of Cobb's spinning top. In December, the top toppled over and the website opened the online game Mind Crime, which upon completion revealed Inception's poster. The rest of the campaign unrolled after WonderCon in April 2010, where Warner gave away promotional T-shirts featuring the PASIV briefcase used to create the dream space, and had a QR code linking to an online manual of the device. Mind Crime also received a stage 2 with more resources, including a hidden trailer for the movie. More pieces of viral marketing began to surface before Inception's release, such as a manual filled with bizarre images and text sent to Wired magazine, and the online publication of posters, ads, phone applications, and strange websites all related to the film. Warner also released an online prequel comic, Inception: The Cobol Job.
The official trailer released on May 10, 2010, through Mind Game was extremely well received. It featured an original piece of music, "Mind Heist", by recording artist Zack Hemsey, rather than music from the score. The trailer quickly went viral with numerous mashups copying its style, both by amateurs on sites like YouTube and by professionals on sites such as CollegeHumor. On June 7, 2010, a behind-the-scenes featurette on the film was released in HD on Yahoo! Movies.
Inception and its film trailers are widely credited for launching the trend throughout the 2010s in which blockbuster movie trailers repeatedly hit audiences with so-called "braam" sounds: "bassy, brassy, thunderous notes—like a foghorn on steroids—meant to impart a sense of apocalyptic momentousness". However, different composers worked on the teaser trailer, first trailer, second trailer, and film score, meaning that identifying the composer(s) responsible for that trend is a complicated task.
Home media
Inception was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 3, 2010, in France, and the week after in the UK and USA (December 7, 2010). The film was released on VHS in South Korea, making it one of the last major studio films released for the format. Warner Bros. also made available in the United States a limited Blu-ray edition packaged in a metal replica of the PASIV briefcase, which included extras such as a metal replica of the spinning top totem. With a production run of less than 2,000, it sold out in one weekend. Inception was released on 4K Blu-ray and digital copy along with other Christopher Nolan films on December 19, 2017. As of 2018, the home video releases have sold over 9 million units and grossed over $160 million.
Putative video game
In a November 2010 interview, Nolan expressed his intention to develop a video game set in the Inception world, working with a team of collaborators. He described it as "a longer-term proposition", referring to the medium of video games as "something I've wanted to explore".
10th anniversary re-release
Inception was re-released in theaters for its tenth anniversary, starting on August 12, 2020, in international markets and on August 21 in the U.S. The re-release was originally announced by Warner Bros. in June 2020 and scheduled for July 17, 2020, taking the original release date for Nolan's upcoming film Tenet after its delay to July 31 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on movie theaters. After Tenet was delayed again to August 12, the re-release was shifted to July 31, before setting on the August release date following a third delay.
Reception
Box office
Inception was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on July 16, 2010. The film had its world premiere at Leicester Square in London on July 8, 2010. In the United States and Canada, Inception was released theatrically in 3,792 conventional theaters and 195 IMAX theaters. The film grossed US$21.8 million during its opening day on July 16, 2010, with midnight screenings in 1,500 locations. Overall the film made US$62.7 million and debuted at No.1 on its opening weekend. Inception's opening weekend gross made it the second-highest-grossing debut for a science fiction film that was not a sequel, remake or adaptation, behind Avatar's US$77 million opening-weekend gross in 2009. The film held the top spot of the box office rankings in its second and third weekends, with drops of just 32% (US$42.7 million) and 36% (US$27.5 million), respectively, before dropping to second place in its fourth week, behind The Other Guys.
Inception initially grossed US$292 million in the United States and Canada, US$56 million in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta and US$479 million in other countries for a total of US$828 million worldwide. Its five highest-grossing markets after the US and Canada (US$292 million) were China (US$68 million), the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta (US$56 million), France and the Maghreb region (US$43 million), Japan (US$40 million) and South Korea (US$38 million). It was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2010 in North America, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010, behind Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. Its subsequent re-releases increased its gross to US$839 million. Inception is the fourth most lucrative production in Christopher Nolan's career—behind The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and Oppenheimer—and the second most for Leonardo DiCaprio—behind Titanic.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, Inception holds an approval rating of 87% based on 370 reviews, with an average rating of 8.20/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Smart, innovative, and thrilling, Inception is that rare summer blockbuster that succeeds viscerally as well as intellectually." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called Inception a "wildly ingenious chess game," and concluded "the result is a knockout." Justin Chang of Variety praised the film as "a conceptual tour de force" and wrote, "applying a vivid sense of procedural detail to a fiendishly intricate yarn set in the labyrinth of the unconscious mind, the writer-director has devised a heist thriller for surrealists, a Jungian's Rififi, that challenges viewers to sift through multiple layers of (un)reality." Jim Vejvoda of IGN rated the film as perfect, deeming it "a singular accomplishment from a filmmaker who has only gotten better with each film." Relevant's David Roark called it Nolan's "greatest accomplishment", saying, "Visually, intellectually and emotionally, Inception is a masterpiece."
In its August 2010 issue, Empire gave the film a full five stars and wrote, "it feels like Stanley Kubrick adapting the work of the great sci-fi author William Gibson [...] Nolan delivers another true original: welcome to an undiscovered country." Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the film a B+ grade and wrote, "It's a rolling explosion of images as hypnotizing and sharply angled as any in a drawing by M. C. Escher or a state-of-the-biz video game; the backwards splicing of Nolan's own Memento looks rudimentary by comparison." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film a full four stars and said that Inception "is all about process, about fighting our way through enveloping sheets of reality and dream, reality within dreams, dreams without reality. It's a breathtaking juggling act." Richard Roeper, also of the Sun-Times, gave Inception an "A+" score and called it "one of the best movies of the [21st] century." BBC Radio 5 Live's Mark Kermode named Inception as the best film of 2010, stating that "Inception is proof that people are not stupid, that cinema is not trash, and that it is possible for blockbusters and art to be the same thing."
Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote, "I found myself wishing Inception were weirder, further out [...] the film is Nolan's labyrinth all the way, and it's gratifying to experience a summer movie with large visual ambitions and with nothing more or less on its mind than (as Shakespeare said) a dream that hath no bottom." Time's Richard Corliss wrote that the film's "noble intent is to implant one man's vision in the mind of a vast audience [...] The idea of moviegoing as communal dreaming is a century old. With Inception, viewers have a chance to see that notion get a state-of-the-art update." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times felt that Nolan was able to blend "the best of traditional and modern filmmaking. If you're searching for smart and nervy popular entertainment, this is what it looks like." USA Today's Claudia Puig gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars and felt that Nolan "regards his viewers as possibly smarter than they are—or at least as capable of rising to his inventive level. That's a tall order. But it's refreshing to find a director who makes us stretch, even occasionally struggle, to keep up."
Not all reviewers gave the film positive reviews. New York magazine's David Edelstein said in his review that he had "no idea what so many people are raving about. It's as if someone went into their heads while they were sleeping and planted the idea that Inception is a visionary masterpiece and—hold on ... Whoa! I think I get it. The movie is a metaphor for the power of delusional hype—a metaphor for itself." The New York Observer's Rex Reed said the film's development was "pretty much what we've come to expect from summer movies in general and Christopher Nolan movies in particular ... [it] doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment to me." A. O. Scott of The New York Times commented "there is a lot to see in Inception, there is nothing that counts as genuine vision. Mr. Nolan's idea of the mind is too literal, too logical, and too rule-bound to allow the full measure of madness." The New Yorker's David Denby considered the film to be "not nearly as much fun as Nolan imagined it to be", concluding that "Inception is a stunning-looking film that gets lost in fabulous intricacies, a movie devoted to its own workings and to little else."
While some critics have tended to view the film as perfectly straightforward, and even criticize its overarching themes as "the stuff of torpid platitudes", online discussion has been much more positive. Heated debate has centered on the ambiguity of the ending, with many critics like Devin Faraci making the case that the film is self-referential and tongue-in-cheek, both a film about film-making and a dream about dreams. Other critics read Inception as Christian allegory and focus on the film's use of religious and water symbolism. Yet other critics, such as Kristin Thompson, see less value in the ambiguous ending of the film and more in its structure and novel method of storytelling, highlighting Inception as a new form of narrative that revels in "continuous exposition".
Several critics and scholars have noted the film has many striking similarities to the 2006 anime film Paprika by Satoshi Kon (and Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1993 novel of the same name), including plot similarities, similar scenes, and similar characters, arguing that Inception was influenced by Paprika. Several sources have also noted plot similarities between the film and the 2002 Uncle Scrooge comic The Dream of a Lifetime by Don Rosa. The influence of Tarkovsky's Solaris on Inception was noted as well.
Year-end and all-time lists
Inception appeared on over 273 critics' lists of the top ten films of 2010, being picked as number-one on at least 55 of those lists. It was the second-most-mentioned film in both the top ten lists and number-one rankings, only behind The Social Network along with Toy Story 3, True Grit, The King's Speech, and Black Swan as the most critically acclaimed films of 2010. Author Stephen King placed Inception at No. 3 in his list of top 10 best films of the year.
Critics and publications who ranked the film first for that year included Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times (tied with The Social Network and Toy Story 3), Tasha Robinson of The A.V. Club, Empire magazine, and Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter.
In March 2011, the film was voted by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra listeners as their ninth-favorite film of all time. Producer Roger Corman cited Inception as an example of "great imagination and originality". In 2012, Inception was ranked the 35th-best-edited film of all time by the Motion Picture Editors Guild. In the same year, Total Film named it the most-rewatchable movie of all time. In 2014, Empire ranked Inception the tenth-greatest film ever made on their list of "The 301 Greatest Movies Of All Time" as voted by the magazine's readers, while Rolling Stone magazine named it the second-best science fiction film since the turn of the century. Inception was ranked 84th on Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films, a list compiled by The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, surveying "Studio chiefs, Oscar winners and TV royalty". In 2016, Inception was voted the 51st-best film of the 21st Century by BBC, as picked by 177 film critics from around the world. The film was included in the Visual Effects Society's list of "The Most Influential Visual Effects Films of All Time". In 2019, Total Film named Inception the best film of the 2010s. Many critics and media outlets included Inception in their rankings of the best films of the 2010s. The film was included in Forbes magazine's list of Top 150 Greatest Films of 21st Century.
In April 2014, The Daily Telegraph placed the title on its top ten list of the most overrated films. Telegraph's Tim Robey stated, "It's a criminal failing of the movie that it purports to be about people's dreams being invaded, but demonstrates no instinct at all for what a dream has ever felt like, and no flair for making us feel like we're in one, at any point." The film won an informal poll by the Los Angeles Times as the most overrated movie of 2010.
Accolades
The film won many awards in technical categories, such as Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects, and the British Academy Film Awards for Best Production Design, Best Special Visual Effects and Best Sound. In most of its artistic nominations, such as Film, Director, and Screenplay at the Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes, the film was defeated by The Social Network or The King's Speech. However, the film did win the two highest honors for a science fiction or fantasy film: the 2011 Bradbury Award for best dramatic production and the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form).
In popular culture
Numerous pop and hip hop songs reference the film, including Common's "Blue Sky", N.E.R.D.'s "Hypnotize U", XV's "The Kick", Black Eyed Peas' "Just Can't Get Enough", Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot", Jennifer Lopez's "On the Floor", and B.o.B's "Strange Clouds", while T.I. had Inception-based artwork on two of his mixtapes. An instrumental track by Joe Budden is titled "Inception". The animated series South Park parodies the film in the show's tenth episode of its fourteenth season, titled "Insheeption." The film was also an influence for Ariana Grande's video for "No Tears Left to Cry." "Lawnmower Dog", the second episode of the animated comedy show Rick and Morty, parodied the film. In an episode of The Simpsons, named "How I Wet Your Mother", the plot spoofs Inception with various scenes parodying moments from the film. The showrunners of the television series The Flash said its season 4 finale was inspired by Inception. In February 2020, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released a lyric video for her single "The Man", which featured visuals bearing resemblance to the film. The song also mentions DiCaprio in its lyrics.
The film's title has been colloquialized as the suffix -ception, which can be jokingly appended to a noun to indicate a layering, nesting, or recursion of the thing in question.
See also
Simulacrum
Simulation hypothesis
Solipsism
Suggestion
Dreamscape (1984 film)
Existenz (1999 film)
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965 novel)
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Official website
Inception at IMDb |
Orlando_Magic | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Magic | [
518
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Magic"
] | The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was established in 1989 as an expansion franchise, and such notable NBA stars as Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, and Dwight Howard have played for the club throughout its history. As of 2024, the franchise has played in the NBA playoffs 17 times in 35 seasons, and twice went to the NBA Finals, in 1995 and 2009, losing to the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, respectively.
Franchise history
1985–1986: Team Creation
In September 1985, Orlando businessman Jim L. Hewitt approached Philadelphia 76ers general manager Pat Williams as they met in Texas on his idea of bringing an NBA team to Orlando. Intrigued by the potential of an Orlando-based NBA team, Williams became the front man of the investment group one year later, after he left the 76ers. On June 19, 1986, the two held a news conference to announce their intention of seeking an NBA franchise.
At the same time, Hewitt and Williams decided to hold a contest in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper to get names for their new franchise. Out of a total of 4,296 submitted entries, the names were subsequently narrowed to four, "Heat", "Tropics", "Juice", and "Magic". The last one, which had been submitted by 11 people, was picked after Williams brought his seven-year-old daughter Karyn to visit in Orlando. On July 27, 1986, it was announced that the committee chose the Magic to be the new name of the Orlando franchise in the NBA. The name "Magic" alludes to the area's biggest tourist attraction and economic engine Walt Disney World, along with its Magic Kingdom, highlighting its corporate theme of magic. Hewitt added that "You look at all the aspects of Central Florida, and you find it really is an exciting place, a magical place."
Many, including Williams himself at first, thought that Miami or Tampa were better locations in Florida for a franchise. At the time, Orlando was a small city without a major airport or a suitable arena. Hewitt brought investors such as real estate developer William DuPont, Orlando Renegades owner Don Dizney, and Southern Fruit Citrus owners Jim and Steve Caruso, and talked the Orlando city officials into approving an arena project. Meanwhile, Williams gave presentations to NBA commissioner David Stern and the owners of the other teams of the league that the town was viable.
In April, the franchise committee recommended expanding by three teams, with two of the slots going to Charlotte and Minneapolis-St. Paul. The recommendation put the Orlando bid in doubt, since it advised that the state of Florida should only be allocated one team as part of the three-team expansion. This feedback put the planned Orlando franchise up against the Miami-based team, originally known as the Florida Heat and eventually named the Miami Heat. When both Miami and Orlando ownership groups made successful pitches, the expansion committee decided to expand by four teams, allowing both to have a franchise.
The Magic became the first-ever major-league professional sports franchise in the Orlando area, following an expansion fee of reportedly $32.5 million. They were one of the four new expansion franchises awarded by the NBA in 1987 along with the Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves. The Magic hired Matt Guokas as the team's first coach, who helped the Magic select 12 players in the NBA Expansion Draft on June 15, 1989. On June 27, 1989, the Magic chose Nick Anderson with the 11th pick in the first round, who became the first draft pick of the franchise.
1989–1992: Early Years
The Magic, in their debut year, went on to select Nick Anderson (Illinois), who had just won both the Mr. Basketball and College Player of the Year awards, in the first round of the 1989 NBA Draft. As the 11th pick, he was the team's first franchise player and leading scorer for a decade.
The Magic's very first game played was an exhibition game on October 13, 1989, against the then-reigning champion Detroit Pistons, which the Magic won. Anderson was quoted as saying the atmosphere and the people watching the game was "like Game 7 of the NBA Finals".
On November 4, 1989, the Magic played their first season game at the Orlando Arena (O-Rena) against the visiting New Jersey Nets, who won 111–106 in a hard-fought game. The Magic's first victory came two days later, as the Magic defeated the New York Knicks 118–110. The inaugural team compiled a record of 18–64 with players including the franchise star player Nick Anderson, Reggie Theus, Scott Skiles, Terry Catledge, Sam Vincent, Otis Smith, and Jerry Reynolds.
In the 1990 NBA draft, the Orlando Magic selected Dennis Scott with the fourth overall pick. On December 30, 1990, Scott Skiles racked up 30 assists in the 155–116 victory over the Denver Nuggets, breaking Kevin Porter's NBA single-game assists record (29). Skiles was named the NBA's Most Improved Player at the end of the season, as the Magic heralded the NBA's most improved record that season. Forward Dennis Scott set a team mark with 125 three-point field goals for the season, the best long-distance production by a rookie in NBA history. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
On September 19, 1991, the DeVos family, founders of Amway, purchased the franchise for $85 million. Family patriarch Richard DeVos became the owner of the franchise. The 1991–92 season was disappointing for the Magic as various players missed games with injuries. Dennis Scott played only 18 games, Nick Anderson missed 22 games, Stanley Roberts, Jerry Reynolds, Brian Williams, Sam Vincent and Otis Smith all missed at least 27 games each. With a shortage of healthy players, the team struggled through a 17-game losing streak and finished with a 21–61 record. The Magic still managed to have all 41 home games sold out.
1992–1996: The Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway Era
The Magic history was changed on May 17, 1992, when the franchise won the first pick in the 1992 NBA draft Lottery. The Magic selected big-man Shaquille O'Neal from Louisiana State University, the biggest prize in the draft since the Knicks won Patrick Ewing. O'Neal, a 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) center, made an immediate impact on the Magic, leading the team to a 41–41 record. The Magic again became the NBA's most improved franchise, as they improved by 20 games. O'Neal was the first rookie to be voted an All-Star starter since Michael Jordan in 1985. He also became the 1992–93 NBA Rookie of the Year. Despite O'Neal's presence, the Magic missed the 1993 NBA playoffs because they were tied with the Indiana Pacers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with the Pacers holding the tiebreaker.
Despite barely missing the playoffs and receiving the least chance of gaining the top draft pick with only one ball in the lottery, the Magic again won the first pick in the 1993 NBA draft Lottery. Prior to the draft, Guokas stepped down as head coach, and Brian Hill was promoted to become the Magic's second head coach. In the draft, the Magic selected Chris Webber, but traded him to the Golden State Warriors for the number three pick, guard Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway and three future first-round draft picks. With the combination of O'Neal and Hardaway, the Magic became a dominant team in the NBA, compiling the first 50 win season in franchise history with a 50–32 record. The Magic were in the playoffs for the first time, ranked the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference; however, the Pacers swept the Magic 3–0 in the first round, thus ending the Magic's season.
In the 1994–95 season, the Magic's sixth season, All-Star forward Horace Grant was acquired as a free agent from the Chicago Bulls. The Orlando Magic compiled a 57–25 record, best in the East and winning the Atlantic Division title, becoming the second-fastest team (behind the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971, who were in their third season) to advance to the NBA Finals in league history. In the playoffs, the Magic defeated the Boston Celtics, Bulls, and the Pacers, advancing to the NBA Finals where O'Neal, Hardaway and the young Magic bowed to a more playoff-experienced Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets, winning their second consecutive championship in a 4–0 sweep of Orlando.
In the 1995–96 season, the Magic again were near the top of the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division with a 60–22 record, led by O'Neal and Hardaway; however, the Magic were seeded number two, behind the NBA's second-best all-time 72–10 record of the Chicago Bulls. In the meantime, general manager Pat Williams was promoted to senior executive vice president and replaced by the vice president of Basketball Operations John Gabriel on April 29, 1996. In the playoffs, after the Magic defeated the Detroit Pistons and the Atlanta Hawks, Orlando met the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. The combination of Jordan, Scottie Pippen and rebounder Dennis Rodman was too much for the Magic, and Orlando was swept 4–0.
1996–1999: The post-Shaq/Penny Hardaway Era
In the off-season, O'Neal left as a free agent to the Los Angeles Lakers, dealing a huge blow to the Magic franchise. In the middle of the season, urged by player discontent, management fired coach Brian Hill and named Richie Adubato as interim coach for the rest of the season. Under Adubato, the Magic went 21–12 to compile a 45–37 record, led by Penny Hardaway. In the playoffs, the Magic quickly fell 0–2 to the heavily favored Miami Heat in the first round, but Hardaway battled back with consecutive 40-point games to assure a game five (the first player to do so), which the Magic ultimately lost.
The Magic then hired Chuck Daly to be head coach for the 1997–98 season. In addition, Hall of Famer Julius Erving joined the Magic's front office, giving Orlando hope for a successful season. The season was hampered by an injury to Hardaway who sat out the majority of the season. Anderson, combined with newly acquired free agent Bo Outlaw, led the team to a 41–41 record, just out of reach of the NBA playoffs. In addition, Rony Seikaly was traded during the season to the New Jersey Nets for three role players and a future draft pick.
In 1998–99, with the drafting of Michael Doleac and Matt Harpring with the 12th and 15th picks in the 1998 draft, and a healthy Penny Hardaway and Nick Anderson, the Magic tied for the Eastern Conference's best record with the Miami Heat in the lockout-shortened season, 33–17. At the heart of the team was veteran and future Orlando Magic Hall of Famer Darrell Armstrong, leading from the vanguard (a constant that Orlando fans would enjoy for a decade) and picking up the NBA's Sixth-Man and Most Improved Player awards along the way. Orlando also acquired NBA great Dominique Wilkins, along with brother Gerald, who were past their primes but were both still serviceable NBA players. In the playoffs the Penny Hardaway-led Magic were seeded number 3 because of tiebreakers and faced the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers, led by Allen Iverson, upset the Magic 3–1 in the first round. The team also changed their uniforms for the first time ever, changing from pinstripes to stars.
1999–2000: "Heart and Hustle" Season
In 1999, the Magic, under general manager John Gabriel, who was later named Executive of the Year, hired rookie-coach Doc Rivers. Gabriel dismantled the previous team trading their only remaining superstar Penny Hardaway to the Phoenix Suns for Danny Manning (who never donned a Magic uniform), Pat Garrity, and two future draft picks. The Magic were then a team composed of virtually all no name players and little experience, which included team captain Armstrong, Bo Outlaw and a young Ben Wallace, along with Coach Rivers, who led the Magic to a 41–41 record, barely missing out on the playoffs. At the end of the season Rivers was named Coach of the Year. That year was characterized by the slogan "Heart and Hustle", as the team was known for its hard-working style.
2000–2004: The Tracy McGrady Era
The following off-season, Gabriel, with millions of cleared salary cap space, attempted to lure three of the NBA's most prized free agents: Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, and Tracy McGrady. While Duncan opted to remain with the San Antonio Spurs, the Magic acquired Hill, a perennial All-Star, and McGrady. With McGrady and Hill together, the Magic were expected to be a force in the East. However, Hill was limited to 4 games because of an ankle injury. McGrady blossomed into a star during the season, becoming one of the NBA's top scorers. With the addition of Mike Miller from the draft, the Magic compiled a 43–39 record, which included a nine-game winning streak, and once again made the playoffs. McGrady made the All-Star Team and All-NBA Second Team. Miller won the Rookie of the Year. In the playoffs, they faced the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. The Bucks won the series 3–1.
In 2001–02, McGrady led the Magic to a winning record of 44–38. Hill was still severely limited by his ankle injury, and did not play for the vast majority of the season. McGrady, combined with Armstrong, Miller, and 3-point sharpshooter Pat Garrity, formed the core of the team. McGrady made the All-NBA for the first time and made his second consecutive All-Star Team. However, the Magic were defeated 3–1 in the first round of the playoffs by the Charlotte Hornets led by Baron Davis.
In 2002–03, with the acquisitions of Gordan Giricek and Drew Gooden from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Mike Miller, McGrady once again led the Magic to a 42–40 record. McGrady led the league in scoring with 32.1 points per game, made his second All-NBA First Team, and Third All-Star Team. Despite still not having Hill due to injury, the Magic entered the playoffs for the third straight year. However, after taking a 3–1 lead in the best-of-seven first-round series, the Magic fell to the Detroit Pistons 4–3 in the now infamous heartbreaker. McGrady was quoted as saying, "It feels good to get in the second round" after still needing one more win to advance.
The Magic's 15th season in 2003–04 proved to be one of its toughest ever. Even with the acquisition of veteran free agents Tyronn Lue and Juwan Howard, the Magic struggled early. After winning its first game, the Magic lost 19 consecutive games, setting a franchise record. They never recovered, and finished an NBA worst 21–61. Despite this, McGrady led the league in scoring with 28.0 points per game, made the All-NBA Second Team and his fourth consecutive All-Star Team. In the middle of the 19-game losing streak, coach Doc Rivers was fired, and assistant Johnny Davis was promoted to head coach. General manager Gabriel was replaced by John Weisbrod.
2004–2012: The Dwight Howard Era
In the off-season, Weisbrod completely dismantled the team. Though he kept Davis as coach, he shook up the player roster, only keeping a few players from last season. The most significant trade was Tracy McGrady. McGrady, discontent with the Magic, wished to move on; Weisbrod accused McGrady of "slacking off" and not attending practices (McGrady later admitted that he did not give 100 percent during the 2003–04 season and wanted the team to bring him some help, but never wanted to leave Orlando). The Magic traded McGrady along with Reece Gaines, Tyronn Lue, and Juwan Howard to the Houston Rockets for Steve Francis, Kelvin Cato, and Cuttino Mobley. In addition, the Magic acquired center Tony Battie and two second-round draft picks from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Drew Gooden, Steven Hunter, and the draft rights to Anderson Varejão. The Magic then signed free agent Hedo Türkoğlu. With the number one draft pick, the Magic selected high-school phenomenon and future All-Star and franchise cornerstone Dwight Howard, and a draft-day trade with the Denver Nuggets got them point guard Jameer Nelson.
After a promising 13–6 start, the Magic began to fall apart. First, Weisbrod traded Mobley for Doug Christie from the Sacramento Kings. Christie, because of his emotional ties to the Kings, at first refused to play for the Magic. Later on, Christie claimed he had bone spurs and was placed on the injured list after playing only a few games for the Magic. Near the end of the season, with a playoff-push faltering, Weisbrod fired Davis after leading Davis to believe he was going to be the team's head coach for the entire 2004–05 NBA season. He then promoted Chris Jent to interim head coach. Throughout the season, bolstered by Hill's return, the Magic played spectacularly, defeating top NBA teams. However, led by the erratic play of Francis, the Magic also lost to league teams with losing records. Howard showed great promise, becoming one of the few players to average a double-double. Howard was a consistent rebounder and scorer, becoming the first rookie to start and play all 82 games in a season. In addition, Nelson, after a slow start, developed into a talented player, taking over the starting point guard position. Hill also returned and averaged 19.7 points a game. Hill was chosen an All-Star starter by NBA fans for the 2005 All-Star Game, and Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson were named to the All-Rookie first and second teams, respectively. Howard was a unanimous selection.
The Magic finished the season 36–46. Their playoff push was hampered by injuries in the last quarter of the season: a season-ending broken wrist for sixth man Hedo Türkoğlu, a shin injury to Grant Hill, a rib cage injury to Nelson, and a three-game suspension to Francis for kicking a photographer. The Magic ended a few games out of the playoffs. On May 23, 2005, the Magic's plans were disrupted by the abrupt resignation of general manager and Chief Operating Officer John Weisbrod. In addition, the Magic announced the following day that Brian Hill, the coach who led the Magic to the NBA Finals under O'Neal and Hardaway, would return as head coach.
The Magic drafted Spanish Fran Vázquez with the 11th pick in the 2005 NBA draft. On July 28, 2005, Vazquez stunned the team after announcing that he would remain in Spain to play for Akasvayu Girona, getting ridiculed by media after he was quoted that the decision to stay was made by his girlfriend. Owner Rich DeVos announced on October 21 that he was transferring ownership to his children, with the official owner role moving to son-in-law and team president Bob Vander Weide. The transfer was supposed to be complete by the end of the year.
The 2005–06 season opened with high hopes for the Magic despite not being able to add first-round draft pick Vasquez. Grant Hill was supposedly finally healed from his multiple ankle surgeries. Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson showed excellent progress during summer-league play. Second-round draft pick Travis Diener showed excellent shooting and decision-making during the summer. And the free-agent signing of Keyon Dooling showed that the club was going to continue making progress. Then trouble began. Hill, despite his ankle apparently being healed, suffered a painful sports hernia injury that would hamper his play throughout the entire season. After playing in three preseason games, he underwent surgery to correct the hernia and would not appear during the regular season until mid-December, to which he lasted a month before attempting to make another comeback in February and early March, however, he only played sporadically. Then a foot injury to Nelson forced him to sit out for over a month.
On February 15, 2006, the Magic announced that they had acquired Darko Miličić and Carlos Arroyo from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Kelvin Cato and a 2007 top-five protected first-round draft pick. One week later, on February 22, the Magic announced that they had traded Steve Francis to the New York Knicks in exchange for Penny Hardaway (whom they waived two days later) and Trevor Ariza. With a set starting rotation of Battie, Howard, Türkoğlu, DeShawn Stevenson, and Nelson, the Magic mounted a surprising run at the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, including an 8-game winning streak and 12 consecutive home wins. The streak included wins against NBA powerhouses Detroit, San Antonio, Dallas and Miami, as well as a game against the Philadelphia 76ers in which Howard recorded 28 points and a career-high 26 rebounds. Despite their efforts they did not make the playoffs.
2006–2010: Return to the NBA Finals
With the 11th overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft, the Magic took former Duke star JJ Redick. Even with the fan support to get him playing time he averaged just over 11 minutes a game. After beginning the season strong with a 13–4 record, the Orlando Magic began to suffer in the standings as the result of multiple losses, due in large part to the injuries of Tony Battie, Keyon Dooling, and Grant Hill. The Magic were also hampered with the sporadic play of many of their young stars, who on multiple occasions showed their propensity for streaky shooting and the team's lack of a solid scoring two-guard. Despite the team's poor play, Dwight Howard continued to develop and blossom in his third year in the league, culminating in his first selection to the Eastern Conference All-Star team. The final few weeks of the season saw the Magic build momentum and confidence with an impressive late push towards the Playoffs. On April 15, 2007, with an 88–86 victory over the Boston Celtics, the Magic secured its first berth in the NBA playoffs since 2003 by locking up the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. This marked the first time that the team had made the playoffs while posting a losing record. Nevertheless, their Playoff run ended on April 28, 2007, after they were swept in the first round by first seeded Detroit Pistons whose experience, veteran leadership and ability to consistently make the clutch basket proved far too much for the undermanned and overwhelmed Magic to overcome. It was announced on May 23, 2007, that Brian Hill had been fired as head coach of the Magic.
On June 1, 2007, the Magic signed Billy Donovan to be their head coach for five years. The next day, Donovan wished to be released from the contract and the Magic agreed several days later. On June 6, 2007, the Magic signed a 4-year contract with Stan Van Gundy. In the free agent market, the Magic signed Rashard Lewis of the Seattle SuperSonics to a six-year league-maximum contract believed to be worth over $110 million. At the NBA China Games, the Magic swept the three games in China, twice against the Cleveland Cavaliers and once against the Chinese national team in games held in Shanghai and in Macau.
On November 15, 2007, Bob Vander Weide, the son-in-law of Richard DeVos, officially took over as owner of the team, although ownership is still split evenly amongst Richard DeVos' other children as well.
The Magic started the 2007–08 NBA season with an impressive 16–4 record in their first 20 games, which included wins over the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers. Through the next few months, the Magic were not so successful, splitting their next 36 games with 18 wins and 18 losses. At the start of March, the Magic seemed to pick up speed again, finishing the month with 10 wins, the first time since November that they won 10 or more in a month. The Magic clinched the Southeast Division title when the Washington Wizards were routed at Utah 129–87 on March 31, 2008. It was the Magic's third division title, but only their first since 1995–96 season, as well as their first since the Southeast Division was formed. They also earned their 50th win of the season against the Chicago Bulls on April 13, which had not happened since the 1995–96 season. The Magic finished the regular season 52–30, their best season since 1995–96. With the third seed in the Eastern Conference, they were matched up in their first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors. The Magic had home-court advantage for the first time since the 1998–99 season.
On April 28, 2008, at Amway Arena, the Magic eliminated the Raptors with a 4–1 series victory in the first round. It was the first playoff series victory for the Magic in 12 years after 6 straight first-round exits. The run of success did not last long as they fell 4–1 to the experienced Detroit Pistons in the second round. With the Magic already down in the series, controversy erupted after the Pistons' Game 2 victory. At the conclusion of the third quarter, Chauncey Billups of the Pistons made a three-point shot giving the Pistons a three-point lead. However, the clock had stopped just as the play began. NBA rules prohibit officials from using instant replay or any timing device to determine how much time has elapsed when a clock malfunctions, nor is a replay allowed to be viewed from the time of the malfunction to when the play ends, when the game clock has not expired. Because of the rule, the officials then estimated that the play took 4.6 seconds, and because there were 5.1 seconds remaining when play began, the field goal was allowed to be counted. The NBA later admitted that the play actually took 5.7 seconds and the basket in question should not have counted. The Pistons went on to win Game 2. The Magic were able to win Game 3, with the Pistons' Chauncey Billups out for most of the game with an injury but were unable to take advantage of his absence and defeat the Pistons in Games 4 and 5, which ended the Magic's playoff run in 2008.
The first half of the 2008–09 season went very well for the Magic. After 41 games, the Magic were 33–8, leading the Southeast Division, as well as having one of the top four records in the league. At the start of February, Jameer Nelson, their all-star starting point guard, went down with a shoulder injury. He was expected to miss the remainder of the season. After trading for Rafer Alston, the Magic finished the regular season with a 59–23 record, it was the most games the team had won in a season since the 1995–96 season in which they had 60 wins. In the playoffs, the Magic beat the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs and then the defending champions, the Boston Celtics, in the Eastern Conference semifinals, behind assistant coach Patrick Ewing's guarantee that they would win Game 7 of that series. In their first conference finals since 1996, the Magic beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, which were led by the season's MVP, LeBron James. After dropping the first two games in the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Magic finally won their first-ever game in the Finals in Game 3. Despite Nelson's return to the team for the Finals, the Lakers won the series and the championship by beating the Magic in five games.
In the 2009 off-season, Orlando traded Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, and Courtney Lee to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for eight-time All-Star Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson. Hedo Türkoğlu, as part of a sign-and-trade, was sent to the Toronto Raptors. They then made several free agent signings. On July 10, former Dallas Mavericks power forward Brandon Bass was given a 4-year deal. On July 21, the Magic signed former Phoenix Suns forward Matt Barnes. On August 19, they signed former Miami Heat point guard Jason Williams, who decided to come back after a year in retirement.
On September 28, 2009, Orlando extended the contract of head coach Stan Van Gundy by exercising his option for the 2010–11 season. They did the same for general manager Otis Smith, which would keep him in that position through the 2011–12 season.
The Magic were without Rashard Lewis for the first 10 games of the 2009–10 season. Lewis tested positive for an elevated testosterone level that was caused by an over-the-counter supplement containing a substance banned by the league. To make matters worse, Vince Carter suffered a left ankle injury in just the second game of the season. Carter's injury turned out to be not too serious, but caused him to miss the next five games. Another setback came in mid-November, when Jameer Nelson injured his left knee, which required arthroscopic surgery to repair. Nelson would be out for five weeks. Despite all of this, the Magic had a 23–8 record at the end of December.
Orlando lost seven of their first ten games in January but recovered well enough to post a winning record for the month by winning six of their next seven. Following the All-Star break, the Magic went on a roll, winning 23 of their 28 remaining games, clinching their fourth consecutive playoff berth and winning their third consecutive division championship in the process. The Magic finished the regular season with a 59–23 record, matching their record from the 2008–09 season, and finishing with not only the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, but the second-best record in the entire league. The team became one of the only teams in NBA history to beat all of the other 29 teams at least once during the regular season. The Magic swept the Charlotte Bobcats and the Atlanta Hawks in the first two rounds of the playoffs, respectively. They then faced the Boston Celtics in the conference finals. After losing the first three games of the series, Orlando managed to win the next two games, but lost on the road in Game 6, ending their season.
2010–2012: "Dwightmare" Saga
In anticipation of the team's move to Amway Center, the Magic updated its logo. They retained the streaking ball logo, but changed the wordmark taken from their current uniforms. The Magic hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 2012. The Magic also unveiled black alternate uniforms.
In the summer of 2010, the Orlando Magic signed Chris Duhon, formerly of the New York Knicks, and Quentin Richardson, formerly of the Miami Heat.
On December 18, 2010, having lost five of their last six games, the Magic made a blockbuster trade deal with the Phoenix Suns and the Washington Wizards. They traded Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat and Mickaël Piétrus to Phoenix for Hedo Türkoğlu (who led them into the 2009 NBA Finals when they lost 4–1 against the Los Angeles Lakers), Jason Richardson and Earl Clark. Rashard Lewis was traded to Washington for 3-time All-Star Gilbert Arenas.
The Magic finished the season with 52 victories, good for second in the Southeast Division. But they were ousted in six games by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the 2011 NBA playoffs, the first time head coach Stan Van Gundy was eliminated early in the playoffs.
In a lockout-shortened 2011–12 season, the Magic started the off-season on a rocky note, with their All-Star center, Dwight Howard, requesting a trade to either the New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Lakers, or Dallas Mavericks. Overlooking the trade request the Magic did a sign and trade with the Boston Celtics for Glen Davis and Von Wafer in exchange for Brandon Bass. The Magic also amnestied Gilbert Arenas and signed Larry Hughes, Justin Harper, and DeAndre Liggins. The Magic started the season on Christmas Day in Oklahoma City against the Thunder. They lost the season opener 97–89. During the month of February, the Magic waived Hughes and signed Ish Smith. On February 26, Orlando hosted the 2012 All-Star Game. The Magic struggled to win games consistently, with concerns about the uncertainty of Dwight Howard's future with the franchise. However, after Dwight rescinded his trade demand and signed a one-year deal in March, the Magic seemed to find their footing again. But then in early April, shortly after it became public that Howard requested coach Van Gundy to be replaced, the center was diagnosed with a herniated disk and forced to have back surgery, thus ending his season. The Magic clinched the sixth seed in the east with a 37–29 record. The Magic were faced with the third-seeded Pacers in the first round. Despite winning the first game of the series the Magic were defeated 4–1.
On May 21, 2012, it was reported that general manager Otis Smith and head coach Stan Van Gundy would part ways with the organization. Stan Van Gundy finished with a 259–135 regular season record with the team which included making the playoffs in those five years and a conference championship.
CEO Alex Martins announced former Oklahoma City assistant general manager Rob Hennigan as the new general manager for the Orlando Magic on June 20, 2012. Once hired, he became the youngest general manager in the league.
In the 2012 NBA draft, the Magic selected Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O'Quinn.
On June 25, 2012, Dwight Howard had face-to-face meetings with general manager Rob Hennigan in Los Angeles and demanded a trade to the Brooklyn Nets.
On July 9, 2012, the Magic completed a sign-and-trade deal with the New Orleans Hornets, that sent forward Ryan Anderson to the Hornets. In return the Magic received center Gustavo Ayon.
On July 28, 2012, Jacque Vaughn was named the new head coach. He had been the assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs for the last two seasons.
On August 9, 2012, ESPN reported that a four-team trade would send Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers. Marc Stein of ESPN.com was told the Lakers were to acquire Howard, Chris Duhon and Earl Clark, the Denver Nuggets were to acquire Andre Iguodala, the Philadelphia 76ers were to acquire Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson, and the Magic were to acquire Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vučević, Maurice Harkless, Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga, and five total protected future (three first-round, two second-round) picks from each of the other three teams. The deal was officially confirmed and completed on August 10.
Howard left the Magic as their all-time leading scorer, shot blocker, and rebounder.
2012–2023: Rebuilding
2012–2017: Rob Hennigan Era
Following the trade of Dwight Howard, the Magic entered into a state of rebuilding with Maurice Harkless and Nikola Vučević. On August 29, the Magic signed free agent guard E'Twaun Moore. On December 2, 2012, Howard's first game against his former team, the Magic defeated the Lakers 113–103.
On February 21, 2013, the Magic traded JJ Redick, Ish Smith and Gustavo Ayón to the Milwaukee Bucks. In return, the Magic received Beno Udrih, Tobias Harris and rookie Doron Lamb. The Magic also traded Josh McRoberts to the Charlotte Bobcats for Hakim Warrick who was waived 2 days later. The Magic finish the 2012–13 season 20–62 as the worst record in the NBA, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
On June 27, 2013, the Orlando Magic had the second pick in the first round of the 2013 NBA draft. The Magic used their lottery pick to draft Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, shooting guard Victor Oladipo from Indiana University. The Magic also had the 51st pick in the second round of the NBA draft. They used this pick to draft forward Romero Osby from the University of Oklahoma. Osby averaged 16 points, seven rebounds, and 1.3 assists during his senior NCAA season at Oklahoma but was cut by the Magic before the season opener.
The Magic finished the 2013–14 season with a 23–59 record, third worst in the NBA. The draft lottery gave them the fourth pick in the 2014 NBA draft. In the draft, they selected Aaron Gordon with the fourth pick and Dario Šarić with the 12th pick. Saric was then swapped for the 10th pick, Elfrid Payton in exchange for a 2017 first round pick and a future second round pick. Roy Devyn Marble was selected with the 56th pick in the second round. On February 5, 2015, Jacque Vaughn was relieved of his head coaching duties after coaching 2+1⁄2 seasons for the Magic. His overall record was 58–158. He was replaced by interim head coach James Borrego.
On May 29, 2015, the Magic hired their former point guard Scott Skiles as the franchise's 12th head coach.
On June 25, 2015, in the 2015 NBA draft, Orlando selected Mario Hezonja with the fifth overall pick and Tyler Harvey
with the 51st overall pick. On February 16, 2016, the Magic traded Tobias Harris to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Ersan İlyasova and Brandon Jennings.
On May 12, 2016, Skiles stepped down as head coach of the Orlando Magic. On May 19, the Orlando Magic agreed to a deal with former Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel to become the next head coach of the team.
With Vogel as their new coach, the Magic made many changes to their roster during the off-season. On June 23, 2016, in the 2016 NBA draft the Magic selected Domantas Sabonis 11th overall, but then traded Sabonis and shooting guard Victor Oladipo for defensive power forward Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder. During free agency the Magic re-signed Evan Fournier to a five-year, $85 million contract and also signed Bismack Biyombo, Jeff Green, and D. J. Augustin. On July 15, C. J. Wilcox was acquired, along with cash considerations, from the Clippers in exchange for Devyn Marble and a future second round draft pick.
On February 14, 2017, Ibaka was traded to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Terrence Ross and a future first-round draft pick. The Magic finished the 2016–17 season with the third worst record in their conference, finishing 29–53.
2017–present: Jeff Weltman Era
In the summer of 2017, the Magic made various changes, the first being the firing of general manager Rob Hennigan on April 13. On May 23, the Magic named Jeff Weltman, the former general manager of the Toronto Raptors, as president of basketball operations and named John Hammond, the former general manager for the Milwaukee Bucks, as the new general manager. With the sixth overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, Orlando drafted Florida State forward, Jonathan Isaac. During free agency the Magic signed Jonathon Simmons, Arron Afflalo, Shelvin Mack, Marreese Speights, Khem Birch and Adreian Payne.
On October 6, 2017, the Magic announced that former superstar Tracy McGrady, had rejoined the team as assistant to the CEO.
On February 8, 2018, the Magic traded starting point guard Elfrid Payton to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for a 2018 second-round pick.
On April 12, 2018, head coach Frank Vogel was fired by the Magic after the conclusion of the 2017–18 regular season. On May 30, the Magic named Steve Clifford as their new head coach.
On June 21, 2018, the Magic drafted center Mohamed Bamba with the sixth overall pick. and Melvin Frazier in the second round. Other player acquisitions included trading for Timofey Mozgov and Jerian Grant in a three-team trade for Bismack Biyombo, Jarell Martin in a trade from the Memphis Grizzlies, and free agent Isaiah Briscoe.
On September 6, 2018, team owner Richard DeVos died aged 92 from complications from an infection.
During the 2018–19 season, the Magic won their sixth division title and finished in seventh place in the Eastern Conference to clinch a playoff berth for the first time since the 2011–12 season. Mohamed Bamba was diagnosed with stress fracture on February 5, 2019, and eventually missed the remainder of the season. At the NBA trade deadline, the Magic traded Jonathon Simmons and two draft picks to the Philadelphia 76ers for Markelle Fultz. Nikola Vučević was selected as a reserve for the 2019 Eastern Conference All Star Team, being the first Orlando Magic All Star player since Dwight Howard in 2012. In March 2019, the Magic signed former NBA Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams to two ten-day contracts before signing him to a one-year deal. The Magic were matched up against the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2019 NBA playoffs. While the Magic won their first playoff game in seven years, the Raptors won the series in five games.
In the 2019 NBA draft the Magic selected Chuma Okeke with the 16th overall pick, and traded its second-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for $2.2 million and a future draft pick. With the prospect of limited playing time due to injury, the Magic and Okeke agree to sign a one-year deal with the Magic's G League affiliate in Lakeland and sign Okeke's rookie contract in the summer of 2020. During the 2019 free agency, the Magic re-signed with Vučević, Terrence Ross, Michael Carter-Williams, and Birch, signed free agent Al-Farouq Aminu, and waived Mozgov. The Magic compiled a 30–35 record before the league suspended its season on March 11, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the suspension of the season, the Magic were one of the 22 teams invited to the NBA Bubble to participate in the final eight seeding games of the regular season. Season ending injuries to Jonathan Isaac and Mo Bamba, along with significant injuries to Terrence Ross and Evan Fournier hampered their performance and they went 3–5 in the seeding games, but the team earned the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference to face the Milwaukee Bucks. While the Magic won the opening game, Milwaukee won the next four ending the Magic's season in round one for the second year in a row.
In the 2020 NBA draft the Magic selected Cole Anthony with the 15th overall pick. The shortened free agency period followed where the Magic signed their 2019 draft pick Chuma Okeke, re-signed James Ennis, Michael Carter-Williams, and Gary Clark, while adding Dwayne Bacon. The injury Jonathan Isaac suffered during the previous season was significant enough that he was ruled out for the entire 2020–21 season. In the eighth game of the 2020–21 season, starting point guard, Markelle Fultz went down with an ACL tear in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. After the season-ending injury, rookie point guard, Cole Anthony would fill the starting point guard role. On January 20, 2021, Fultz underwent surgery. At the 2021 NBA trade deadline the Magic traded away Nikola Vučević, Aaron Gordon, and Evan Fournier, each to different teams, in what has been viewed as the beginning of another rebuilding period. At the end of the season, the team and Clifford mutually agreed to part ways.
On July 11, 2021, Jamahl Mosley was named head coach after spending the previous season as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks.
On July 29, 2021, the Magic selected Jalen Suggs with the fifth pick and Franz Wagner with the eighth pick (Acquired via the Chicago Bulls in the Nikola Vučević trade) in the 2021 NBA draft. The Magic also selected Orlando native Jason Preston in the second round and promptly traded him on draft night to the Los Angeles Clippers.
2023- Present: Turnaround and arrival of Paolo Banchero
2023: First year of Paolo
On June 23, 2022, the Magic selected Paolo Banchero from Duke University with the first pick and Caleb Houstan from the University of Michigan with the 32nd pick in the 2022 NBA draft. Banchero helped the Magic improve their record from 22 wins to 34, averaging 20 points per game and ultimately being chosen as Rookie of the Year.
In May 2023, the Magic donated $50,000 to a super PAC supporting Florida governor Ron DeSantis's 2024 presidential campaign, in what the New York Times called "the first known instance in which an NBA team directly donated to a group allied with a presidential candidate."
On June 22, 2023, the Magic selected Anthony Black from the University of Arkansas with the sixth overall pick and Jett Howard from the University of Michigan with the 11th pick.
On July 5, 2023, the Magic promoted Anthony Parker to general manager (GM) and Pete D'Alessandro to executive vice president (EVP), while Jeff Weltman was promoted to President of Basketball Operations.
On July 17, 2023, the Magic traded picks with the Phoenix Suns. The Suns received a 2023 second-round pick via the Denver Nuggets, a 2026 second-round pick via the Los Angeles Clippers, and a 2028 second-round pick via the Orlando Magic (protected No. 31-45). In this deal, the Orlando Magic receive unprotected swap rights to the 2026 first-round pick of the Phoenix Suns or Washington Wizards (the Phoenix Suns owe the top of these two picks or theirs already, therefore allowing the Orlando Magic to receive the best of the left-over pick selection spots or keep their own).
2024: Playoff Rise
The 2023-24 season saw the young Orlando Magic rise as a playoff team. Paolo Banchero made his first All-Star team as a reserve for the Eastern Conference, becoming the first Magic All-Star since Nikola Vucevic in 2021. Jalen Suggs made all defensive-second team. The Magic finished 47-35 as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference and forced the Cleveland Cavaliers led by Donovan Mitchell to seven games in the first round of the playoffs but lost game 7.
Home arenas
Kia Center
The team's current home arena, the Kia Center (formerly Amway Center), officially opened on October 1, 2010. The Orlando Magic hosted their first preseason game at Amway Center on October 10 against the New Orleans Hornets. The 2010–11 regular season home opener was on October 28 against the Washington Wizards, and the Magic won both games. In 2012, the Amway Center hosted the All-Star Weekend.
At the time it opened, the new Amway Center was home to the largest Jumbotron in the NBA. The arena also features approximately 2,100 feet (640 m) of digital ribbon boards, and outside the building a 46 feet (14 m) by 53 feet (16 m) video display is visible to motorists traveling on Interstate 4.
On December 20, 2023, Amway Center was formally renamed the Kia Center in partnership with Kia America.
The Kia Center is also the home of the minor league hockey team, Orlando Solar Bears and the Orlando Predators of the National Arena League (NAL).
Amway Arena (former arena)
Amway Arena opened in 1989 and served as home to the Orlando Magic since their inception until the 2009–10 season. It was originally known as the Orlando Arena, or the "O-Rena", during its first 10 years. In 1999, TD Waterhouse purchased the naming rights and named the venue the TD Waterhouse Centre. In December 2006, the naming rights were purchased by Amway for four years. It is also home of the Arena Football League's Orlando Predators, the Orlando Sharks of the Major Indoor Soccer League, and various sporting and entertainment events. Amway Arena was one of "The Orlando Venues" owned and operated by the City of Orlando. The other facilities include the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, Tinker Field, Camping World Stadium, Harry P. Leu Gardens, and Mennello Museum.
Team identity
Logos and uniforms
Orlando advertising agency The Advertising Works, led by its president Doug Minear was responsible for the original Magic uniforms. The logo, featuring a basketball crowded by stars and the wordmark "Magic" with a star replacing the A, was created following meetings with Walt Disney World artists and over 5000 suggestions sent from around the country. Stars would remain a primary feature of the logo once it was redesigned in 2000 to feature a comet-like basketball. Pat Williams first suggested the colors black and gold of his alma mater Wake Forest, but this was eschewed for various factors, including the local college UCF using the same scheme. Black would still be the primary color in the scheme used by Minear, a trait shared by 16 other NBA teams. Other colors were an electric blue specially made by sporting goods manufacturer MacGregor, and silver. The home uniforms were white with black pinstripes, featuring black numbers with blue trim, and the road jerseys reversed the scheme while featuring "Orlando" instead of the Magic wordmark. Given the standard mesh nylon worn across the NBA did not allow for pinstripes, the jerseys were made out of durene, a material with cotton on the underside and polyester bonded on the outside. The road uniform was changed to blue with white pinstripes in 1994–95, although the black uniforms remained in use as alternates.
For the Magic's 10th anniversary in 1998–99, a new look designed by fashion designer Jhane Barnes was unveiled. The pinstripes were relegated to the sides and the uniforms now featured stars as the background. Both jerseys, made out of the dazzle that was used in the Women's National Basketball Association uniforms, had the Magic wordmark, with the home jersey in white and the away in blue. For its first two seasons, the original "streaking ball with stars" logo was placed on the waistline, but after the Magic changed its logo in the 2000–01 season, the new "shooting ball with stars" logo was placed on the left leg.
The Magic's 15th anniversary in 2003–04 inspired another uniform revamp, opting for a cleaner look without stripes or stars. The home jerseys were white and featured "Magic" in blue block letters with silver and black trim. The away jersey reverted to the city name in white block letters with silver and black trim and was blue. The logo was placed on either side with thin white and black stripes, and a silver star was placed beneath the collar. During this time, the team's original pinstriped jerseys were worn several times per year as alternates: black in 2003–04 and 2006–07, blue in 2004–05, and white in 2005–06.
For the 2008–09 season, the Magic have once again introduced new uniforms. The Magic returned to the pinstriped uniforms to commemorate the team's 20th anniversary. The current design combines the elements of the previous three uniform designs the Magic used in its 20-year history. The home jerseys are white with silver pinstripes, while the away jerseys are blue with white pinstripes. The font used for the number and player/team name has also been updated to a more modern look. Magic alternate logos are on the shorts and the back of the jersey. This is the fourth model in franchise history.
As the Magic moved to the Amway Center in 2010, they unveiled a new logo that for the first time fully spelled "Magic", without the star instead of the A. They also unveiled a black alternate uniform, with silver pinstripes, mirroring the regular blue road uniform. They were usually worn as throwback uniforms as part of the NBA Hardwood Classics program. A variation of the uniform is also used for Noche Latina every March, with 'Orlando' substituted for 'El Magic', with 'El' in black and silver trim and 'Magic' in blue and silver trim. This was unveiled in the 2011–12 season.
In 2014, Magic unveiled a silver uniform for the first time in their history. It was sleeved, and featuring white pinstripes along with blue, black and white trim for the letters and numbers. Unlike the three other uniforms, a different striping pattern will be used on the sides. In 2016, The Magic unveiled a third alternate uniform, featuring carbon as the primary color and without pinstripes. Named “Stars”, it featured the team's secondary logo and a blue, white and blue tricolor stripe in front, along with white lettering.
The Magic made only a few slight tweaks to their uniforms when Nike became the league's uniform provider in 2017. From 2017 to 2019, the Magic wore white "Association" uniforms, blue "Icon" uniforms and black "Statement" uniforms. With the exception of the black uniforms eliminating the blue side stripes and changing pinstripe colors from silver to blue, the set remained almost identical to the previous Adidas set. Beginning with the 2019–20 season, the black uniform became the "Icon" uniform while a new blue uniform served as the "Statement" uniform. The uniform was inspired from the different sets the Magic wore through the years, such as the silver star and black stripes with white pinstripes from the 1989–98 set, and the cleaner look of the 2003–08 set. This uniform was then tweaked prior to the 2022–23 season, adding black pinstripes (a nod to the 1989–98 uniforms) and black stripes with subtle star patterns (a nod to the 1998–2003 uniforms). Starting in 2020–21, the "Statement" uniforms would feature Jordan Brand's jumpman logo. Their jersey's sponsor is Disney.
An annual "City" edition is also utilized by Nike to honor either local culture or team tradition. The Magic's 2017–18 "City" uniform featured a printed pattern of stars in the sky along with the team's alternate logo in front. For the 2018–19 season, the Magic only made slight changes to their "City" uniform, with the printed pattern of stars relegated to the sides and a predominantly black base. The 2019–20 City uniforms featured an "anthracite" (grey) base with orange lettering. The orange color pays homage to Florida's orange-growing industry. The Magic kept the orange theme for their 2020–21 "City" uniform, this time with a white base and orange letters and numerals with anthracite trim. The uniform also paid homage to the original uniforms worn from 1989 to 1998, featuring "Orl" beside an anthracite star in its original typeface along with orange pinstripes. When the jersey's colors are inverted it shows the exact color scheme used in Orlando's original uniforms. In the 2021–22 season, the Magic again reprised the orange theme for its "City" uniform, this time featuring a few elements from previous uniforms. For their 2022–23 "City" uniform, the Magic went with a black base, dark gray pinstripes, and gothic-inspired white letters with blue trim to represent the team and the city as a kingdom on the rise. Orlando's "City" uniform for the 2023–24 season featured a Gothic-themed design, attributing to Orlando's pride and resiliency and the Magic's determination to protect its kingdom. The midnight-based jersey incorporated silver stripes meant to evoke a steel cage, along with Gothic script lettering.
Having qualified for the 2020 NBA playoffs the previous year, the Magic were also given an "Earned" uniform. The design, which has a white base, featured the alternate logo in front (an homage to the 2016–17 "Stars" alternate and 2017–19 "City" uniform) and blue numbers with black and silver trim. Side panels featured the stars pattern as an homage to the 1998–2003 blue uniforms.
The Magic are one of seven teams to wear "Classic" uniforms for the 2018–19 season. As part of their 30th anniversary, the team unveiled the blue pinstriped uniform similar to those worn from 1994 to 1998. To commemorate not only its 35th anniversary season, but also the 25th anniversary of the 1999–2000 "Heart and Hustle" team in 2023–24, the Magic donned the blue "sublimated stars" uniform worn from 1999 to 2003.
Mascot
Stuff the Magic Dragon has been the Magic's mascot since 1989. A dragon designed by Wade Harrison and Bonnie Erickson of Acme Mascots, Inc, his name is a pun on Puff the Magic Dragon, and how a slam dunk is also known as "stuffing".
Personnel
Current roster
Retained draft rights
The Magic hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA. A drafted player, either an international draftee or a college draftee who is not signed by the team that drafted him, is allowed to sign with any non-NBA teams. In this case, the team retains the player's draft rights in the NBA until one year after the player's contract with the non-NBA team ends. This list includes draft rights that were acquired from trades with other teams.
Retired numbers
Notes:
1 The number was unretired in the 2001–02 season for Patrick Ewing.
The NBA retired Bill Russell's No. 6 for all its member teams on August 11, 2022.
Basketball Hall of Famers
Notes:
1 In total, Ewing was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice – as player and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team. Also served as assistant coach in 2007–2012.
2 In total, Daly was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice – as coach and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team
FIBA Hall of Famers
Notes:
1 In total, Daly was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame twice – as coach and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team.
Orlando Magic Hall of Fame
In 2014, the Orlando Magic launched the team's Hall of Fame, which honors players, coaches and executives who have had a major impact for the team and in the community.
Head coaches
Season-by-season record
List of the last five seasons completed by the Magic. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Orlando Magic seasons.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, W–L% = Winning percentage
Rivalries
Miami Heat
The Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat had a rivalry because both teams are located in Florida, thus the rivalry was known as the Sunshine State rivalry. Another ingredient to the rivalry was the high-caliber players on both teams such as Orlando's Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway to Miami's Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway. The two had met each other in the NBA playoffs for the first time in 1997, with Miami beating Orlando 3–2, they have not met in the playoffs since.
The rivalry intensified during the 2000s and early 2010s with the rising stardom of Miami's and Orlando's Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard, respectively, along with Miami's acquiring high caliber stars such LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chris Bosh from the Toronto Raptors and in 2010, resulting in fierce competition between the two.
When Dwight Howard departed from the Magic to the Los Angeles Lakers in August 2012, the rivalry softened. The Orlando Magic have been going through a process of rebuilding ever since then.
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic had an intense rivalry, mostly stemming from playoff competitions and the rising stardom of Dwight Howard and Josh Smith, both from the 2004 NBA draft and who were both raised in Georgia.
The two teams faced each other three times in the 1996, 2010, and 2011 NBA playoffs. The Magic defeated the Hawks in the second round of the 1996 playoffs 4–1, and swept the second-round series 4–0 in the 2010 playoffs, while the Hawks eliminated the Magic 4–2 in the first round of the corresponding 2011 playoffs.
Media
Television
The current television announcing team for the Orlando Magic is play-by-play announcer David Steele and color analyst Jeff Turner. Turner played for the Magic from its inaugural 1989 season to 1996. Paul Kennedy and Dante Marchetelli serve as courtside reporters, while Marchetelli, former coach Brian Hill, and former Magic player Nick Anderson host the pre-game, halftime and post-game shows. Television broadcasts were split in 2007–08 between Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports (later Fox Sports Sun, currently Bally Sports Sun). In the 18 years before then, broadcasts were split between Sun Sports (formerly known as the Sunshine Network) and local television stations, originally WKCF and, later, WRBW.
There was a controversy with moving broadcasts to Fox Sports Florida since Orlando's largest cable TV provider, Bright House Networks, did not carry the network. Pressure increased for the cable provider to pick up FS Florida in time for the 2007–08 NBA season but this did not happen. The Magic persisted with airing games on FS Florida into the 2008–09 season despite Bright House's refusal to pick up the channel in all of its affiliates. Bright House and FS Florida came to an agreement on January 1, 2009, and began airing the channel as part of its standard cable package. However, Bright House airs the channel using a digital signal that only allows customers who own the Digital cable box to receive the channel. The customers do not have to pay any additional costs to get the channel with their Digital cable box.
As of the 2020–21 season, all Magic games are now on Bally Sports Florida.
Radio
After the end of the 2019–20 season, the Orlando Magic decided to not to renew its contract with play-by-play announcer Dennis Neumann and color analyst Richie Adubato, another former Magic head coach. Games are produced by Magic Radio Network flagship AM 580 WDBO in Orlando, and also broadcast on AM 1380 WELE in Daytona Beach, 99.5 FM WGMW "The Star" in Gainesville and Ocala, AM 1290 WPCF in Panama City, AM 1590 WPSL in Port St. Lucie and AM 1450 WSTU in Stuart. The affiliate in Tallahassee is AM 1270 "My 94.3" WTLY. The immediate Tampa Bay area has no affiliate although AM 1340 in Clearwater WTAN is listed on the team's website. The Magic will continue to have a radio presence using the audio from its television broadcasts.
The flagship broadcast was simulcast on WDBO-FM during the 2011–12 NBA season while that station moved from AM to FM. When WDBO re-formatted from talk radio to sports radio, it retained the flagship status. However, WOEX (the former WDBO-FM) still simulcasts Magic games in Central Florida.
Podcasts
The official Orlando Magic website features a collection of podcasts available on iTunes, including "Magic Overtime with Dante and Galante".
Leaders
Franchise leaders
Bold denotes still active with team.
Italic denotes still active but not with team.
Points scored (regular season) (as of the 2023–24 NBA season)
Other statistics (regular season) (as of the 2022–23 NBA season)
Individual records
Most points in one game with 62 (Tracy McGrady on March 10, 2004, vs. Washington Wizards)
Most points in one half with 37 in the first half (Tracy McGrady on March 9, 2003, vs. Denver Nuggets)
Most points in one quarter with 25 in the second quarter (Tracy McGrady on March 9, 2003, vs. Denver Nuggets)
Most free throws made in one game with 21 (Dwight Howard on January 12, 2012, vs. Golden State Warriors
Most free throws attempted in one game with 39 (Dwight Howard on January 12, 2012, vs. Golden State Warriors) ***NBA Record
Most points in a playoff game with 46 (Dwight Howard in Game 1 of 2011 Eastern Conference playoffs, First round vs. Atlanta Hawks and Tracy McGrady in Game 2 of the 2003 Eastern Conference playoffs, First round vs. Detroit Pistons)
Most assists made in one game with 30 (Scott Skiles on December 30, 1990, vs. Denver Nuggets) ***NBA Record
Most rebounds in one game with 29 (Nikola Vučević on December 31, 2012, vs. Miami Heat)
Franchises accomplishments and awards
Individual awards
NBA All-Star Weekend
NBA All-Star Team
Shaquille O'Neal – 1993–1996
Penny Hardaway – 1995–1998
Tracy McGrady – 2001–2004
Grant Hill – 2001, 2005
Dwight Howard – 2007–2012
Rashard Lewis – 2009
Jameer Nelson – 2009
Nikola Vučević – 2019, 2021
Paolo Banchero – 2024
NBA All-Star head coaches
Brian Hill – 1995
Stan Van Gundy – 2010
Notes
References
External links
Official website |
2009_swine_flu_pandemic | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_pandemic | [
518
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_pandemic"
] | The 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1/swine flu/influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010, was the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus (the first being the 1918–1920 Spanish flu pandemic and the second being the 1977 Russian flu). The first identified human case was in La Gloria, Mexico, a rural town in Veracruz. The virus appeared to be a new strain of H1N1 that resulted from a previous triple reassortment of bird, swine, and human flu viruses which further combined with a Eurasian pig flu virus, leading to the term "swine flu".
Unlike most strains of influenza, the pandemic H1N1/09 virus did not disproportionately infect adults older than 60 years; this was an unusual and characteristic feature of the H1N1 pandemic. Even in the case of previously healthy people, a small percentage develop pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This manifests itself as increased breathing difficulty and typically occurs three to six days after initial onset of flu symptoms. The pneumonia caused by flu can be either direct viral pneumonia or a secondary bacterial pneumonia. A November 2009 New England Journal of Medicine article recommended that flu patients whose chest X-ray indicates pneumonia receive both antivirals and antibiotics. In particular, it is a warning sign if a child seems to be getting better and then relapses with high fever, as this relapse may be bacterial pneumonia.
Some studies estimated that the real number of cases including asymptomatic and mild cases could be 700 million to 1.4 billion people—or 11 to 21 percent of the global population of 6.8 billion at the time. The lower value of 700 million is more than the 500 million people estimated to have been infected by the Spanish flu pandemic. However, the Spanish flu infected approximately a third of the world population at the time, a much higher proportion.
The number of lab-confirmed deaths reported to the WHO is 18,449 and is widely considered a gross underestimate. The WHO collaborated with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC) and Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) to produce two independent estimates of the influenza deaths that occurred during the global pandemic using two distinct methodologies. The 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic is estimated to have actually caused about 284,000 (range from 150,000 to 575,000) excess deaths by the WHO-USCDC study and 148,000–249,000 excess respiratory deaths by the WHO-NIVEL study. A study done in September 2010 showed that the risk of serious illness resulting from the 2009 H1N1 flu was no higher than that of the yearly seasonal flu. For comparison, the WHO estimates that 250,000 to 500,000 people die of seasonal flu annually. However, the H1N1 influenza epidemic in 2009 resulted in a large increase in the number of new cases of narcolepsy.
Name
The World Health Organization uses the term "(H1N1) 2009 pandemic" when referring to the event, and officially adopted the name "A(H1N1)pdm09" for the virus in 2010, after the conclusion of the pandemic.
Controversy arose early on regarding the wide assortment of terms used by journalists, academics,
and officials. Labels like "H1N1 flu", "Swine flu", "Mexican flu", and variations thereof were typical. Criticism centered on how these names may confuse or mislead the public. It was argued that the names were overly technical (e.g. "H1N1"), incorrectly implying that the disease is caused by contact with pigs or pig products, or provoking stigmatization against certain communities (e.g. "Mexican"). Some academics of the time asserted there is nothing wrong with such names, while research published years later (in 2013) concluded that Mexican Americans and Latino Americans had indeed been stigmatized due to the frequent use of term "Mexican flu" in the news media.
Official entities adopted terms with varying consistency over the course of the pandemic. The CDC used names like "novel influenza A (H1N1)" or "2009 H1N1 flu". The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment used the term "Pig Flu" early on. Officials in Taiwan suggested use of the names "H1N1 flu" or "new flu". The World Organization for Animal Health, an IGO based in Europe, proposed the name "North American influenza". The European Commission adopted the term "novel flu virus". Officials in Israel and South Korea briefly considered adoption of the name "Mexican virus" due to concern about the use of the word "swine". In Israel, objections stemmed from sensitivity to religious restrictions on eating pork in the Jewish and Muslim populations, in South Korea, concerns were influenced by the importance of pork and domestic pigs.
As terminology changed to deal with these and other such issues, further criticism was made that the situation was unnecessarily confusing. For example, the news department at the journal Science produced an article with the humorous title "Swine Flu Names Evolving Faster Than Swine Flu Itself".
History
Analysis of the genetic divergence of the virus in samples from different cases indicated that the virus jumped to humans in 2008, probably after June, and not later than the end of November, likely around September 2008. The research also indicated the virus had been latent in pigs for several months prior to the outbreak, suggesting a need to increase agricultural surveillance to prevent future outbreaks. In 2009, U.S. agricultural officials speculated, although emphasizing that there was no way to prove their hypothesis, that "contrary to the popular assumption that the new swine flu pandemic arose on factory farms in Mexico, [the virus] most likely emerged in pigs in Asia, but then traveled to North America in a human." However, a subsequent report by researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 2016 found that the 2009 H1N1 virus likely originated from pigs in a very small region of central Mexico.
Initially called an "outbreak", widespread H1N1 infection was first recognized in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, with evidence that the virus had been present for months before it was officially called an "epidemic". The Mexican government closed most of Mexico City's public and private facilities in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus; however, it continued to spread globally, and clinics in some areas were overwhelmed by infected people. The new virus was first isolated in late April by American and Canadian laboratories from samples taken from people with flu in Mexico, Southern California, and Texas. Soon the earliest known human case was traced to a case from 9 March 2009 in a 5-year-old boy in La Gloria, Mexico, a rural town in Veracruz. In late April, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared its first ever "public health emergency of international concern", or PHEIC, and in June, the WHO and the U.S. CDC stopped counting cases and declared the outbreak a pandemic.
Despite being informally called "swine flu", the H1N1 flu virus cannot be spread by eating pork products; similar to other influenza viruses, it is typically contracted by person to person transmission through respiratory droplets. Symptoms usually last 4–6 days. Antivirals (oseltamivir or zanamivir) were recommended for those with more severe symptoms or those in an at-risk group.
The pandemic began to taper off in November 2009, and by May 2010, the number of cases was in steep decline. On 10 August 2010, the Director-General of the WHO, Margaret Chan, announced the end of the H1N1 pandemic and announced that the H1N1 influenza event had moved into the post-pandemic period. According to WHO statistics (as of July 2010), the virus had killed more than 18,000 people since it appeared in April 2009; however, they state that the total mortality (including deaths unconfirmed or unreported) from the H1N1 strain is "unquestionably higher". Critics claimed the WHO had exaggerated the danger, spreading "fear and confusion" rather than "immediate information". The WHO began an investigation to determine whether it had "frightened people unnecessarily". A flu follow-up study done in September 2010, found that "the risk of most serious complications was not elevated in adults or children." In a 5 August 2011 PLOS ONE article, researchers estimated that the 2009 H1N1 global infection rate was 11% to 21%, lower than what was previously expected. However, by 2012, research showed that as many as 579,000 people could have been killed by the disease, as only those fatalities confirmed by laboratory testing were included in the original number, and meant that many without access to health facilities went uncounted. The majority of these deaths occurred in Africa and Southeast Asia. Experts, including the WHO, have agreed that an estimated 284,500 people were killed by the disease, much higher than the initial death toll.
Signs and symptoms
The symptoms of H1N1 flu are similar to those of other influenzas, and may include fever, cough (typically a "dry cough"), headache, dizziness, sneezing, muscle or joint pain, sore throat, chills, fatigue, and runny nose. Diarrhea, vomiting, and neurological problems have also been reported in some cases. People at higher risk of serious complications include people over 65, children younger than 5, children with neurodevelopmental conditions, pregnant women (especially during the third trimester), and people of any age with underlying medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, or a weakened immune system (e.g., taking immunosuppressive medications or infected with HIV). More than 70% of hospitalizations in the U.S. have been people with such underlying conditions, according to the CDC.
In September 2009, the CDC reported that the H1N1 flu "seems to be taking a heavier toll among chronically ill children than the seasonal flu usually does". Through 8 August 2009, the CDC had received 36 reports of pediatric deaths with associated influenza symptoms and laboratory-confirmed pandemic H1N1 from state and local health authorities within the United States, with 22 of these children having neurodevelopmental conditions such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, or developmental delays. "Children with nerve and muscle problems may be at especially high risk for complications because they cannot cough hard enough to clear their airways". From 26 April 2009, to 13 February 2010, the CDC had received reports of the deaths of 277 children with laboratory-confirmed 2009 influenza A (H1N1) within the United States.
Severe cases
The World Health Organization reports that the clinical picture in severe cases is strikingly different from the disease pattern seen during epidemics of seasonal influenza. While people with certain underlying medical conditions are known to be at increased risk, many severe cases occur in previously healthy people. In severe cases, patients generally begin to deteriorate around three to five days after symptom onset. Deterioration is rapid, with many patients progressing to respiratory failure within 24 hours, requiring immediate admission to an intensive care unit. Upon admission, most patients need immediate respiratory support with mechanical ventilation.
Complications
Most complications have occurred among previously unhealthy individuals, with obesity and respiratory disease as the strongest risk factors. Pulmonary complications are common. Primary influenza pneumonia occurs most commonly in adults and may progress rapidly to acute lung injury requiring mechanical ventilation. Secondary bacterial infection is more common in children. Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant strains, is an important cause of secondary bacterial pneumonia with a high mortality rate; Streptococcus pneumoniae is the second most important cause of secondary bacterial pneumonia for children and primary for adults. Neuromuscular and cardiac complications are unusual but may occur.
A United Kingdom investigation of risk factors for hospitalisation and poor outcome with pandemic A/H1N1 influenza looked at 631 patients from 55 hospitals admitted with confirmed infection from May through September 2009. 13% were admitted to a high dependency or intensive care unit and 5% died; 36% were aged <16 years and 5% were aged ≥65 years. Non-white and pregnant patients were over-represented. 45% of patients had at least one underlying condition, mainly asthma, and 13% received antiviral drugs before admission. Of 349 with documented chest x-rays on admission, 29% had evidence of pneumonia, but bacterial co-infection was uncommon. Multivariate analyses showed that physician-recorded obesity on admission and pulmonary conditions other than asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were associated with a severe outcome, as were radiologically confirmed pneumonia and a raised C-reactive protein (CRP) level (≥100 mg/L). 59% of all in-hospital deaths occurred in previously healthy people.
Fulminant (sudden-onset) myocarditis has been linked to infection with H1N1, with at least four cases of myocarditis confirmed in patients also infected with A/H1N1. Three out of the four cases of H1N1-associated myocarditis were classified as fulminant, and one of the patients died.
Also, there appears to be a link between severe A/H1N1 influenza infection and pulmonary embolism. In one report, five out of 14 patients admitted to the intensive care unit with severe A/H1N1 infection were found to have pulmonary emboli.
An article published in JAMA in September 2010 challenged previous reports and stated that children infected in the 2009 flu pandemic were no more likely to be hospitalised with complications or get pneumonia than those who catch seasonal strains. Researchers found that about 1.5% of children with the H1N1 swine flu strain were hospitalised within 30 days, compared with 3.7% of those sick with a seasonal strain of H1N1 and 3.1% with an H3N2 virus.
Diagnosis
Confirmed diagnosis of pandemic H1N1 flu requires testing of a nasopharyngeal, nasal, or oropharyngeal tissue swab from the patient. Real-time RT-PCR is the recommended test as others are unable to differentiate between pandemic H1N1 and regular seasonal flu. However, most people with flu symptoms do not need a test for pandemic H1N1 flu specifically, because the test results usually do not affect the recommended course of treatment. The U.S. CDC recommend testing only for people who are hospitalized with suspected flu, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems. For the mere diagnosis of influenza and not pandemic H1N1 flu specifically, more widely available tests include rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDT), which yield results in about 30 minutes, and direct and indirect immunofluorescence assays (DFA and IFA), which take 2–4 hours. Due to the high rate of RIDT false negatives, the CDC advises that patients with illnesses compatible with novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection but with negative RIDT results should be treated empirically based on the level of clinical suspicion, underlying medical conditions, severity of illness, and risk for complications, and if a more definitive determination of infection with influenza virus is required, testing with rRT-PCR or virus isolation should be performed. The use of RIDTs has been questioned by researcher Paul Schreckenberger of the Loyola University Health System, who suggests that rapid tests may actually pose a dangerous public health risk. Nikki Shindo of the WHO has expressed regret at reports of treatment being delayed by waiting for H1N1 test results and suggests, "[D]octors should not wait for the laboratory confirmation but make diagnosis based on clinical and epidemiological backgrounds and start treatment early."
On 22 June 2010, the CDC announced a new test called the "CDC Influenza 2009 A (H1N1)pdm Real-Time RT-PCR Panel (IVD)". It uses a molecular biology technique to detect influenza A viruses and specifically the 2009 H1N1 virus. The new test will replace the previous real-time RT-PCR diagnostic test used during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, which received an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April 2009. Tests results are available in four hours and are 96% accurate.
Cause
The virus was found to be a novel strain of influenza for which existing vaccines against seasonal flu provided little protection. A study at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in May 2009 found that children had no preexisting immunity to the new strain but that adults, particularly those older than 60, had some degree of immunity. Children showed no cross-reactive antibody reaction to the new strain, adults aged 18 to 60 had 6–9%, and older adults 33%. While it has been thought that these findings suggest the partial immunity in older adults may be due to previous exposure to similar seasonal influenza viruses, a November 2009 study of a rural unvaccinated population in China found only a 0.3% cross-reactive antibody reaction to the H1N1 strain, suggesting that previous vaccinations for seasonal flu and not exposure may have resulted in the immunity found in the older U.S. population.
Analyses of the genetic sequences of the first isolates, promptly shared on the GISAID database according to Nature and WHO, soon determined that the strain contains genes from five different flu viruses: North American swine influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza, and two swine influenza viruses typically found in Asia and Europe. Further analysis has shown that several proteins of the virus are most similar to strains that cause mild symptoms in humans, leading virologist Wendy Barclay to suggest on 1 May 2009, that the initial indications are that the virus was unlikely to cause severe symptoms for most people.
The virus was less lethal than previous pandemic strains and killed about 0.01–0.03% of those infected; the 1918 influenza was about one hundred times more lethal and had a case fatality rate of 2–3%. By 14 November 2009, the virus had infected one in six Americans with 200,000 hospitalisations and 10,000 deaths—as many hospitalizations and fewer deaths than in an average flu season overall, but with much higher risk for those under 50. With deaths of 1,100 children and 7,500 adults 18 to 64, these figures were deemed "much higher than in a usual flu season" during the pandemic.
In June 2010, scientists from Hong Kong reported discovery of a new swine flu virus: a hybrid of the pandemic H1N1 virus and viruses previously found in pigs. It was the first report of a reassortment of the pandemic virus, which in humans had been slow to evolve. Nancy Cox, head of the influenza division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said, "This particular paper is extremely interesting because it demonstrates for the first time what we had worried about at the very onset of the pandemic, and that is that this particular virus, when introduced into pigs, could reassort with the resident viruses in pigs and we would have new gene constellations. And bingo, here we are." Pigs have been termed the mixing vessel of flu because they can be infected both by avian flu viruses, which rarely directly infect people, and by human viruses. When pigs become simultaneously infected with more than one virus, the viruses can swap genes, producing new variants which can pass to humans and sometimes spread amongst them. "Unlike the situation with birds and humans, we have a situation with pigs and humans where there's a two-way street of exchange of viruses. With pigs it's very much a two-way street."
Transmission
Spread of the H1N1 virus is thought to occur in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something—such as a surface or object—with flu viruses on it and then touching their face.
The basic reproduction number (the average number of other individuals whom each infected individual will infect, in a population which has no immunity to the disease) for the 2009 novel H1N1 is estimated to be 1.75. A December 2009 study found that the transmissibility of the H1N1 influenza virus in households is lower than that seen in past pandemics. Most transmissions occur soon before or after the onset of symptoms.
The H1N1 virus has been transmitted to animals, including swine, turkeys, ferrets, household cats, at least one dog, and a cheetah.
Prevention
Because the H1N1 vaccine was initially in short supply in the U.S., the CDC recommended that initial doses should go to priority groups such as pregnant women, people who live with or care for babies under six months old, children six months to four years old and health-care workers. In the UK, the NHS recommended vaccine priority go to people over six months old who were clinically at risk for seasonal flu, pregnant women and households of people with compromised immunity.
Although it was initially thought that two injections would be required, clinical trials showed that the new vaccine protected adults "with only one dose instead of two;" thus the limited vaccine supplies would go twice as far as had been predicted. Health officials worldwide were also concerned because the virus was new and could easily mutate and become more virulent, even though most flu symptoms were mild and lasted only a few days without treatment. Officials also urged communities, businesses, and individuals to make contingency plans for possible school closures, multiple employee absences for illness, surges of patients in hospitals, and other effects of potentially widespread outbreaks. Disaster response organizations such as Direct Relief helped by providing protective items to clinical workers to help them stay healthy throughout flu season.
In February 2010, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted for "universal" flu vaccination in the U.S. to include all people over six months of age. The 2010–2011 vaccine will protect against the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus and two other flu viruses.
Public health response
On 27 April 2009, the European Union health commissioner advised Europeans to postpone nonessential travel to the United States or Mexico. This followed the discovery of the first confirmed case in Spain. On 6 May 2009, the Public Health Agency of Canada announced that their National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) had mapped the genetic code of the swine flu virus, the first time that had been done. In the U.K., the National Health Service launched a website, the National Pandemic Flu Service, allowing patients to self-assess and get an authorisation number for antiviral medication. The system was expected to reduce the burden on general practitioners.
U.S. officials observed that six years of concern about H5N1 avian flu did much to prepare for the current H1N1 outbreak, noting that after H5N1 emerged in Asia, ultimately killing about 60% of the few hundred people infected over the years, many countries took steps to try to prevent any similar crisis from spreading further. The CDC and other U.S. governmental agencies used the summer lull to take stock of the United States response to H1N1 flu and attempt to patch any gaps in the public health safety net before flu season started in early autumn. Preparations included planning a second influenza vaccination program in addition to the one for seasonal flu, and improving coordination between federal, state, and local governments and private health providers. On 24 October 2009, U.S. President Obama declared swine flu a national emergency, giving Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius authority to grant waivers to requesting hospitals from usual federal requirements.
Vaccines
By 19 November 2009, doses of vaccine had been administered in over 16 countries. A 2009 review by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) concluded that the 2009 H1N1 vaccine has a safety profile similar to that of the seasonal vaccine.
In 2011, a study from the US Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Network estimated the overall effectiveness of all pandemic H1N1 vaccines at 56%. A CDC study released 28 January 2013, estimated that the Pandemic H1N1 vaccine saved roughly 300 lives and prevented about a million illnesses in the US. The study concluded that had the vaccination program started two weeks earlier, close to 60% more cases could have been prevented. The study was based on an effectiveness in preventing cases, hospitalizations, and deaths of 62% for all subgroups except people over 65, for whom the effectiveness was estimated at 43%. The effectiveness was based on European and Asian studies and expert opinion. The delay in vaccine administration demonstrated the shortcomings of the world's capacity for vaccine-production, as well as problems with international distribution. Some manufacturers and wealthy countries had concerns regarding liability and regulations, as well as the logistics of transporting, storing, and administering vaccines to be donated to poorer countries.
Accusations of conflict of interest
In January 2010, Wolfgang Wodarg, a German deputy who trained as a physician and chaired the health committee at the Council of Europe, claimed that major firms had organized a "campaign of panic" to put pressure on the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a "false pandemic" to sell vaccines. Wodarg said the WHO's "false pandemic" flu campaign is "one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century". He said that the "false pandemic" campaign began in May 2009 in Mexico City, when a hundred or so "normal" reported influenza cases were declared to be the beginning of a threatening new pandemic, although he said there was little scientific evidence for it. Nevertheless, he argued that the WHO, "in cooperation with some big pharmaceutical companies and their scientists, re-defined pandemics," removing the statement that "an enormous amount of people have contracted the illness or died" from its existing definition and replacing it by stating simply that there has to be a virus, spreading beyond borders and to which people have no immunity.
The WHO responded by stating that they take their duty to provide independent advice seriously and guarded against interference from outside interests. Announcing a review of the WHO's actions, spokeswoman Fadela Chaib stated: "Criticism is part of an outbreak cycle. We expect and indeed welcome criticism and the chance to discuss it". The WHO also stated on their website that "The world is going through a real pandemic. The description of it as a fake is wrong and irresponsible". In March 2010, the Council of Europe launched an enquiry into "the influence of the pharmaceutical companies on the global swine flu campaign", and a preliminary report was in preparation.
On 12 April 2010, Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's top influenza expert, stated that the system leading to the declaration of a pandemic led to confusion about H1N1 circulating around the world and he expressed concern that there was a failure to communicate in regard to uncertainties about the new virus, which turned out to be not as deadly as feared. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan appointed 29 flu experts from outside the organization to conduct a review of WHO's handling of the H1N1 flu pandemic. She told them, "We want a frank, critical, transparent, credible and independent review of our performance."
In June 2010, Fiona Godlee, editor-in-chief of the BMJ, published an editorial which criticised the WHO, saying that an investigation had disclosed that some of the experts advising WHO on the pandemic had financial ties with drug companies which were producing antivirals and vaccines. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO, replied stating, "Without question, the BMJ feature and editorial will leave many readers with the impression that WHO's decision to declare a pandemic was at least partially influenced by a desire to boost the profits of the pharmaceutical industry. The bottom line, however, is that decisions to raise the level of pandemic alert were based on clearly defined virological and epidemiological criteria. It is hard to bend these criteria, no matter what the motive".
Infection control
Travel precautions
On 7 May 2009, the WHO stated that containment was not feasible and that countries should focus on mitigating the effect of the virus. They did not recommend closing borders or restricting travel. On 26 April 2009, the Chinese government announced that visitors returning from flu-affected areas who experienced flu-like symptoms within two weeks would be quarantined.
U.S. airlines had made no major changes as of the beginning of June 2009, but continued standing practices which include looking for passengers with symptoms of flu, measles or other infections, and relying on in-flight air filters to ensure that aircraft were sanitised. Masks were not generally provided by airlines and the CDC did not recommend that airline crews wear them. Some non-U.S. airlines, mostly Asian, including Singapore Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Aeromexico, took measures such as stepping up cabin cleaning, installing state-of-the-art air filters and allowing in-flight staff to wear face masks.
According to studies conducted in Australia and Japan, screening individuals for influenza symptoms at airports during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak was not an effective method of infection control.
Schools
U.S. government officials were especially concerned about schools because the H1N1 flu virus appeared to disproportionately affect young and school-age people, between six months and 24 years of age.
The H1N1 outbreak led to numerous precautionary school closures in some areas. Rather than closing schools, the CDC recommended that students and school workers with flu symptoms should stay home for either seven days total, or until 24 hours after symptoms subsided, whichever was longer. The CDC also recommended that colleges should consider suspending fall 2009 classes if the virus began to cause severe illness in a significantly larger share of students than the previous spring. They also urged schools to suspend rules, such as penalties for late papers or missed classes or requirements for a doctor's note, to enforce "self-isolation" and prevent students from venturing out while ill; schools were advised to set aside a room for people developing flu-like symptoms while they waited to go home and to have ill students or staff and those caring for them use face masks.
In California, school districts and universities were on alert and worked with health officials to launch education campaigns. Many planned to stockpile medical supplies and discuss worst-case scenarios, including plans to provide lessons and meals for low-income children in case elementary and secondary schools closed. University of California campuses stockpiled supplies, from paper masks and hand sanitizer to food and water. To help prepare for contingencies, University of Maryland School of Medicine professor of pediatrics James C. King Jr. suggested that every county should create an "influenza action team" to be run by the local health department, parents, and school administrators. By 28 October 2009, about 600 schools in the United States had been temporarily closed, affecting over 126,000 students in 19 states.
Workplace
Fearing a worst-case scenario, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) developed updated guidance and a video for employers to use as they developed plans to respond to the H1N1 outbreak. The guidance suggested that employers consider and communicate their objectives, such as reducing transmission among staff, protecting people who are at increased risk of influenza-related complications from becoming infected, maintaining business operations, and minimising adverse effects on other entities in their supply chains.
The CDC estimated that as much as 40% of the workforce might be unable to work at the peak of the pandemic due to the need for many healthy adults to stay home and care for an ill family member, and advised that individuals should have steps in place should a workplace close down or a situation arise that requires remote work. The CDC further advised that persons in the workplace should stay home sick for seven days after getting the flu, or 24 hours after symptoms end, whichever is longer.
In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also issued general guidance for employers.
Face masks
The U.S. CDC did not recommend the use of face masks or respirators in non-health care settings, such as schools, workplaces, or public places, with a few exceptions: people who were ill with the virus when around other people, and people who were at risk for severe illness while caring for someone with the flu. There was some disagreement about the value of wearing face masks, as some experts feared that masks may have given people a false sense of security and should not have replaced other standard precautions.
Yukihiro Nishiyama, professor of virology at Nagoya University's School of Medicine, commented that the masks are "better than nothing, but it's hard to completely block out an airborne virus since it can easily slip through the gaps".
According to mask manufacturer 3M, masks will filter out particles in industrial settings, but "there are no established exposure limits for biological agents such as swine flu virus". However, despite the lack of evidence of effectiveness, the use of such masks is common in Asia.
They are particularly popular in Japan, where cleanliness and hygiene are highly valued and where etiquette obligates those who are sick to wear masks to avoid spreading disease.
Quarantine
During the height of the fear of a pandemic, some countries initiated or threatened to initiate quarantines of foreign visitors suspected of having or being in contact with others who may have been infected. In May 2009, the Chinese government confined 21 U.S. students and three teachers to their hotel rooms. As a result, the US State Department issued a travel alert about China's anti-flu measures and warned travellers against travelling to China if ill. In Hong Kong, an entire hotel was quarantined with 240 guests; Australia ordered a cruise ship with 2,000 passengers to stay at sea because of a swine flu threat. Egyptian Muslims who went on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca risked being quarantined upon their return. Russia and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors with fevers who come from areas where the flu was present. Japan quarantined 47 airline passengers in a hotel for a week in mid-May, then in mid-June India suggested pre-screening "outbound" passengers from countries thought to have a high rate of infection.
Pigs and food safety
The pandemic virus is a type of swine influenza, derived originally from a strain which lived in pigs, and this origin gave rise to the common name of "swine flu". This term is widely used by mass media, though the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health as well as industry groups such as the U.S. National Pork Board, the American Meat Institute, and the Canadian Pork Council objected to widespread media use of the name "swine flu" and suggested it should be called "North American flu" instead, while the World Health Organization switched its designation from "swine influenza" to "influenza A (H1N1)" in late April 2009. The virus has been found in U.S. hogs, and Canadian as well as in hogs in Northern Ireland, Argentina, and Norway. Leading health agencies and the United States Secretary of Agriculture have stressed that eating properly cooked pork or other food products derived from pigs will not cause flu. Nevertheless, on 27 April Azerbaijan imposed a ban on the importation of animal husbandry products from the entire Americas. The Indonesian government also halted the importation of pigs and initiated the examination of 9 million pigs in Indonesia. The Egyptian government ordered the slaughter of all pigs in Egypt on 29 April.
Treatment
A number of methods have been recommended to help ease symptoms, including adequate liquid intake and rest. Over-the-counter pain medications such as paracetamol and ibuprofen do not kill the virus; however, they may be useful to reduce symptoms. Aspirin and other salicylate products should not be used by people under 16 with any flu-type symptoms because of the risk of developing Reye's Syndrome.
If the fever is mild and there are no other complications, fever medication is not recommended. Most people recover without medical attention, although ones with pre-existing or underlying medical conditions are more prone to complications and may benefit from further treatments.
People in at-risk groups should be treated with antivirals (oseltamivir or zanamivir) as soon as possible when they first experience flu symptoms. The at-risk groups include pregnant and post partum women, children under two years old, and people with underlying conditions such as respiratory problems. People who are not in an at-risk group who have persistent or rapidly worsening symptoms should also be treated with antivirals. People who have developed pneumonia should be given both antivirals and antibiotics, as in many severe cases of H1N1-caused illness, bacterial infection develops. Antivirals are most useful if given within 48 hours of the start of symptoms and may improve outcomes in hospitalised patients. In those beyond 48 hours who are moderately or severely ill, antivirals may still be beneficial. If oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is unavailable or cannot be used, zanamivir (Relenza) is recommended as a substitute. Peramivir is an experimental antiviral drug approved for hospitalised patients in cases where the other available methods of treatment are ineffective or unavailable.
To help avoid shortages of these drugs, the U.S. CDC recommended oseltamivir treatment primarily for people hospitalised with pandemic flu; people at risk of serious flu complications due to underlying medical conditions; and patients at risk of serious flu complications. The CDC warned that the indiscriminate use of antiviral medications to prevent and treat influenza could ease the way for drug-resistant strains to emerge, which would make the fight against the pandemic that much harder. In addition, a British report found that people often failed to complete a full course of the drug or took the medication when not needed.
Side effects
Both medications mentioned above for treatment, oseltamivir and zanamivir, have known side effects, including lightheadedness, chills, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and trouble breathing. Children were reported to be at increased risk of self-injury and confusion after taking oseltamivir. The WHO warned against buying antiviral medications from online sources and estimated that half the drugs sold by online pharmacies without a physical address were counterfeit.
Resistance
In December 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 314 samples of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 flu tested worldwide have shown resistance to oseltamivir (Tamiflu). It is not totally unexpected as 99.6% of the seasonal H1N1 flu strains tested have developed resistance to oseltamivir. No circulating flu has yet shown any resistance to zanamivir (Relenza), the other available anti-viral.
Antivirals effectiveness questioned in healthy adults
On 8 December 2009, the Cochrane Collaboration, which reviews medical evidence, announced in a review published in BMJ that it had reversed its previous findings that the antiviral drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) can ward off pneumonia and other serious conditions linked to influenza. They reported that an analysis of 20 studies showed oseltamivir offered mild benefits for healthy adults if taken within 24 hours of onset of symptoms, but found no clear evidence it prevented lower respiratory tract infections or other complications of influenza. Of note, their published finding related only to use in healthy adults with influenza but not in patients judged to be at high risk of complications (pregnant women, children under five and those with underlying medical conditions), and uncertainty over its role in reducing complications in healthy adults still left it as a useful drug for reducing the duration of symptoms. In general, the Cochrane Collaboration concluded "Paucity of good data".
Epidemiology
While it is not known precisely where or when the virus originated, analyses in scientific journals have suggested that the H1N1 strain responsible for the 2009 outbreak first evolved in September 2008 and circulated amongst humans for several months, before being formally recognised and identified as a novel strain of influenza.
Mexico
The virus was first reported in two U.S. children in March 2009, but health officials have reported that it apparently infected people as early as January 2009 in Mexico. The outbreak was first identified in Mexico City on 18 March 2009; immediately after the outbreak was officially announced, Mexico notified the U.S. and World Health Organization, and within days of the outbreak Mexico City was "effectively shut down". Some countries cancelled flights to Mexico while others halted trade. Calls to close the border to contain the spread were rejected. Mexico already had hundreds of non-lethal cases before the outbreak was officially discovered, and was therefore in the midst of a "silent epidemic". As a result, Mexico was reporting only the most serious cases which showed more severe signs different from those of normal flu, possibly leading to a skewed initial estimate of the case fatality rate.
United States
The new strain was first identified by the CDC in two children, neither of whom had been in contact with pigs. The first case, from San Diego County, California, was confirmed from clinical specimens (nasopharyngeal swab) examined by the CDC on 14 April 2009. A second case, from nearby Imperial County, California, was confirmed on 17 April. The patient in the first confirmed case had flu symptoms including fever and cough upon clinical examination on 30 March and the second on 28 March.
The first confirmed H1N1/09 pandemic flu death, which occurred at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas, was of a toddler from Mexico City who was visiting family in Brownsville, Texas, before being air-lifted to Houston for treatment. The Infectious Diseases Society of America estimated that the total number of deaths in the U.S. was 12,469.
Data reporting and accuracy
Influenza surveillance information "answers the questions of where, when, and what influenza viruses are circulating. Sharing of such information is especially crucial during an emergent pandemic as in April 2009, when the genetic sequences of the initial viruses were rapidly and openly shared via the GISAID Initiative within days of identification, playing a key role in facilitating an early response to the evolving pandemic. Surveillance is used to determine if influenza activity is increasing or decreasing, but cannot be used to ascertain how many people have become ill with influenza." For example, as of late June, influenza surveillance information showed the U.S. had nearly 28,000 laboratory-confirmed cases including 3,065 hospitalizations and 127 deaths. But mathematical modelling showed an estimated 1 million Americans had the 2009 pandemic flu at the time, according to Lyn Finelli, a flu surveillance official with the CDC. Estimating deaths from influenza is also a complicated process. In 2005, influenza only appeared on the death certificates of 1,812 people in the US. The average annual US death toll from flu is, however, estimated to be 36,000. The CDC explains: "[I]nfluenza is infrequently listed on death certificates of people who die from flu-related complications" and hence, "Only counting deaths where influenza was included on a death certificate would be a gross underestimation of influenza's true impact."
Influenza surveillance information on the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic is available, but almost no studies attempted to estimate the total number of deaths attributable to H1N1 flu. Two studies were carried out by the CDC; the later of them estimated that between 7,070 and 13,930 deaths were attributable to H1N1 flu from April to 14 November 2009. During the same period, 1,642 deaths were officially confirmed as caused by H1N1 flu. The WHO stated in 2010 that total mortality (including unconfirmed or unreported deaths) from H1N1 flu was "unquestionably higher" than their own confirmed death statistics.
The initial outbreak received a week of near-constant media attention. Epidemiologists cautioned that the number of cases reported in the early days of an outbreak can be very inaccurate and deceptive, due to several causes, among them selection bias, media bias and incorrect reporting by governments. Inaccuracies could also be caused by authorities in different countries looking at differing population groups. Furthermore, countries with poor health care systems and older laboratory facilities may take longer to identify or report cases. "[E]ven in developed countries the [numbers of flu deaths] are uncertain, because medical authorities don't usually verify who actually died of influenza and who died of a flu-like illness". Joseph S. Bresee, then CDC flu division's epidemiology chief and Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy pointed out that millions of people have had H1N1 flu, usually in a mild form, so the numbers of laboratory-confirmed cases were actually meaningless, and in July 2009, the WHO stopped keeping count of individual cases and focused more on major outbreaks.
Follow-up
A Wisconsin study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in September 2010, reported that findings showed that the 2009 H1N1 flu was no more severe than the seasonal flu. "The risk of most serious complications was not elevated in adults or children", the study's authors wrote. "Children were disproportionately affected by 2009 H1N1 infection, but the perceived severity of symptoms and risk of serious outcomes were not increased." Children infected in the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic were no more likely to be hospitalized with complications or get pneumonia than those who catch seasonal strains. About 1.5% of children with the H1N1 swine flu strain were hospitalized within 30 days, compared with 3.7% of those sick with a seasonal strain of H1N1 and 3.1% with an H3N2 virus.
CDC illness and death estimates from April 2009 to April 2010, in the US are as follows:
between 43 million and 89 million cases of 2009 H1N1 occurred between April 2009 and 10 April 2010. The mid-level in this range is about 61 million people infected with 2009 H1N1.
between about 195,000 and 403,000 H1N1-related hospitalizations occurred between April 2009 and 10 April 2010. The mid-level in this range is about 274,000 2009 H1N1-related hospitalizations.
between about 8,870 and 18,300 2009 H1N1-related deaths occurred between April 2009 and 10 April 2010. The mid-level in this range is about 12,470 2009 H1N1-related deaths.
It has been stated that about 36,000 die from the seasonal flu in the U.S. each year, and this is frequently understood as an indication that the H1N1 strain was not as severe as seasonal influenza. The 36,000 estimate was presented in a 2003 study by CDC scientists and refers to a period from 1990 to 1991 through 1998–99. During those years, the number of estimated deaths ranged from 17,000 to 52,000, with an average of about 36,000. Throughout that decade, influenza A (H3N2) was the predominant virus during most of the seasons, and H3N2 influenza viruses are typically associated with higher death rates. The JAMA study also looked at seasonal influenza-associated deaths over a 23-year period, from 1976 to 1977 and 1998–99 with estimates of respiratory and circulatory influenza-associated deaths ranging from about 5,000 to about 52,000, and an average of about 25,000. CDC believes that the range of deaths over the past 31 years (~3,000 to ~49,000) is a more accurate representation of the unpredictability and variability of flu-associated deaths. The annual toll from seasonal influenza in the US between 1979 and 2001 is estimated at 41,400 deaths on average. Therefore, the H1N1 pandemic estimated mortality of 8,870 to 18,300 is just below the mid-range of estimates.
The 2009 pandemic caused US hospitals to make significant preparations in terms of hospital surge capacities, especially within the emergency department and among vulnerable populations. In many cases, hospitals were relatively successful in making sure that those patients most severely affected by the influenza strain were able to be seen, treated, and discharged in an efficient manner. A case-study of the preparation, planning, mitigation, and response efforts during the fall of 2009 is that of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) which took several steps to increase the emergency department (ED) surge capacity response. CHOP used portions of the main lobby area as an ED waiting room; several of the region's hospital-based outpatient facilities were in use during evening and weekend hours for non-emergency cases; the ED's 24-hour short-stay unit was utilized to care for ED patients in a longer-term capacity; non-board certified physicians (in pediatric emergency medicine) and inpatient-unit medical nurses were utilized for ED patient care; hospital units normally utilized for other medical or therapeutic purposes were transformed into ED patient rooms; and rooms normally used for only one patient were expanded to at least a capacity of 2.
Comparisons to other pandemics and epidemics
Annual influenza epidemics are estimated to affect 5–15% of the global population. Although most cases are mild, these epidemics still cause severe illness in 3–5 million people and 290,000–650,000 deaths worldwide every year. On average 41,400 people die of influenza-related illnesses each year in the United States, based on data collected between 1979 and 2001. In industrialised countries, severe illness and deaths occur mainly in the high-risk populations of infants, the elderly and chronically ill patients, although the H1N1 flu outbreak (like the 1918 Spanish flu) differs in its tendency to affect younger, healthier people.
In addition to these annual epidemics, Influenza A virus strains caused three global pandemics during the 20th century: the Spanish flu in 1918, Asian flu in 1957, and Hong Kong flu in 1968–69. These virus strains had undergone major genetic changes for which the population did not possess significant immunity. Recent genetic analysis has revealed that three-quarters, or six out of the eight genetic segments, of the 2009 flu pandemic strain arose from the North American swine flu strains circulating since 1998, when a new strain was first identified on a factory farm in North Carolina, and which was the first-ever reported triple-hybrid flu virus.
The Spanish flu began with a wave of mild cases in the spring, followed by more deadly waves in the autumn, eventually killing hundreds of thousands in the United States and 50–100 million worldwide. The great majority of deaths in the 1918 flu pandemic were the result of secondary bacterial pneumonia. The influenza virus damaged the lining of the bronchial tubes and lungs of patients, allowing common bacteria from the nose and throat to infect their lungs. Subsequent pandemics have had many fewer fatalities due to the development of antibiotic medicines which can treat pneumonia.
The influenza virus has caused several pandemic threats over the past century, including the pseudo-pandemic of 1947 (thought of as mild because although globally distributed, it caused relatively few deaths), the 1976 swine flu outbreak and the 1977 Russian flu, all caused by the H1N1 subtype. The world has been at an increased level of alert since the SARS epidemic in Southeast Asia (caused by the SARS coronavirus). The level of preparedness was further increased and sustained with the advent of the H5N1 bird flu outbreaks because of H5N1's high fatality rate, although the strains currently prevalent have limited human-to-human transmission (anthroponotic) capability, or epidemicity.
People who contracted influenza before 1957 appeared to have some immunity to H1N1 flu. According to Daniel Jernigan, head of flu epidemiology for the U.S. CDC "Tests on blood serum from older people showed that they had antibodies that attacked the new virus ... That does not mean that everyone over 52 is immune, since Americans and Mexicans older than that have died of the new flu".
In June 2012, a model based study found that the number of deaths related to the H1N1 influenza may have been fifteen times higher than the reported laboratory confirmed deaths, with 80% of the respiratory and cardiovascular deaths in people younger than 65 years and 51% occurring in southeast Asia and Africa. A disproportionate number of pandemic deaths might have occurred in these regions and that efforts to prevent future influenza pandemics need to effectively target these regions.
A WHO-supported 2013 study estimated that the 2009 global pandemic respiratory mortality was ~10-fold higher than the World Health Organization's laboratory-confirmed mortality count (18.631). Although the pandemic mortality estimate was similar in magnitude to that of seasonal influenza, a marked shift toward mortality among persons less than 65 years of age occurred, so that many more life-years were lost. Between 123,000 and 203,000 pandemic respiratory deaths were estimated globally for the last nine months of 2009. The majority (62–85%) were attributed to persons under 65 years of age. The burden varied greatly among countries. There was an almost 20-fold higher mortality in some countries in the Americas than in Europe. The model attributed 148,000–249,000 respiratory deaths to influenza in an average pre-pandemic season, with only 19% in persons <65 years of age.
The COVID-19 pandemic is not caused by an influenza virus but SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus which also primarily affects the respiratory system.
See also
SARS
2009 swine flu pandemic tables
2015–16 Zika virus epidemic
Black Death
COVID-19 pandemic
G4 EA H1N1
Health crisis
MERS
Public health emergency (United States)
Western African Ebola virus epidemic
References
Further reading
External links
Influenza: H1N1 at Curlie
Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 at the World Health Organization (WHO)
International Society for Infectious Diseases PROMED-mail news updates |
List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Literature | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Literature | [
519,
545
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Literature#1960",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Literature"
] | The Nobel Prize in Literature (Swedish: Nobelpriset i litteratur) is awarded annually by the Swedish Academy to authors for outstanding contributions in the field of literature. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, which are awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine. As dictated by Nobel's will, the award is administered by the Nobel Foundation and awarded by the Swedish Academy. Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma and a monetary award prize that has varied throughout the years. In 1901, the first laureate Sully Prudhomme received 150,782 SEK, which is equivalent to 8,823,637.78 SEK in January 2018. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.
As of 2023, the Nobel Prize in Literature had been awarded to 120 individuals. 17 women have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the second highest number of any of the Nobel Prizes behind the Nobel Peace Prize. As of 2023, there have been 29 English-speaking laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature, followed by French with 16 laureates and German with 14 laureates. France has the highest number of Nobel laureates.
Laureates
Nobel laureates by birthplace
Nobel laureates by country
The 120 Nobel laureates in literature from 1901 to 2023 have come from the following countries:
Nobel Prize in Literature (by language)
1Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Prize in Literature 1913) wrote in Bengali and English, Samuel Beckett (Nobel Prize in Literature 1969) wrote in French and English and Joseph Brodsky (Nobel Prize in Literature 1987) wrote poetry in Russian and prose in English. These three Nobel laureates have been sorted under Bengali, French and Russian, respectively.
2Karl Adolph Gjellerup (Nobel Prize in Literature 1917) wrote in Danish and German.
Nobel laureates by gender
The 120 Nobel laureates in literature from 1901 to 2023 were from the following genders:
References
Notes
Citations
=== Sources === |
Academy_Award_for_Best_Actor | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Actor | [
519
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Actor#1960s"
] | The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Actress winner.
The Best Actor award has been presented 96 times, to 86 actors. The first winner was German actor Emil Jannings for his roles in The Last Command (1928) and The Way of All Flesh (1927). The most recent winner is Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer (2023), who simultaneously became the first Irish-born actor to win this award. Italian actor Roberto Benigni gave the first non-English winning performance in Life Is Beautiful (1997) in this category. The record for most wins is three, held by Daniel Day-Lewis, while nine other actors have won twice. The record for most nominations is nine, jointly held by Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier. James Dean, with two consecutive nominations, remains the only actor to have been posthumously nominated for this award more than once. At the 5th Academy Awards, Fredric March finished one vote ahead of Wallace Beery; under the rules of the time, this meant both actors were awarded, in this category's only tie. Peter O'Toole holds the record in this category for most nominations (eight) without a win—albeit in 2003, he was an Honorary Oscar recipient.
Nominations process
Nominees are currently determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy.
In the first three years of the awards, actors and actresses were nominated as the best individuals in their categories. At that time, all of their work during the qualifying period (as many as three films, in some cases) was listed after the award. Despite this, at the 3rd Academy Awards, held in 1930, only one film was cited in each winner's award regardless of how many they were eligible to be considered for during that span. The current system, in which an actor is nominated for a specific performance in a single film, was introduced for the 4th Academy Awards. Starting with the 9th Academy Awards, held in 1937, the category was limited to a maximum five nominations per year.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of film release in Los Angeles County; the ceremonies are always held the following year. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months, from August 1 to July 31. For the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Multiple awards and nominations
The following individuals received two or more Best Actor awards:
The following individuals received three or more Best Actor nominations:
Age superlatives
Films with multiple Leading Actor nominations
Winners are in bold.
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) – Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone
Going My Way (1944) – Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald
From Here to Eternity (1953) – Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster
Giant (1956) – James Dean and Rock Hudson
The Defiant Ones (1958) – Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) – Maximilian Schell and Spencer Tracy
Becket (1964) – Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole
Midnight Cowboy (1969) – Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight
Sleuth (1972) – Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier
Network (1976) – Peter Finch and William Holden
The Dresser (1983) – Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney
Amadeus (1984) – F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce
Multiple character nominations
The following were nominated for their portrayals of the same fictional or non-fictional character in separate films (including variations of the original).
Winners are in bold.
Cyrano de Bergerac from Cyrano de Bergerac (José Ferrer, 1950) & Cyrano de Bergerac (Gérard Depardieu, 1990)
Eddie "Fast Eddie" Felson from The Hustler (Paul Newman, 1961) & The Color of Money (Paul Newman, 1986)
Father Chuck O'Malley from Going My Way (Bing Crosby, 1944) & The Bells of St. Mary's (Bing Crosby, 1945)
Joe Pendleton from Here Comes Mr. Jordan (Robert Montgomery, 1941) & Heaven Can Wait (Warren Beatty, 1978)
King Henry II from Becket (Peter O'Toole, 1964) & The Lion in Winter (Peter O'Toole, 1968)
King Henry V from Henry V (Laurence Olivier, 1946) & Henry V (Kenneth Branagh, 1989)
King Henry VIII from The Private Life of Henry VIII (Charles Laughton, 1933), & Anne of the Thousand Days (Richard Burton, 1969)
Mr. Chipping from Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Robert Donat, 1939) & Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Peter O'Toole, 1969)
Norman Maine (né Hinkle/né Ernest (Sidney) Gubbins) from A Star Is Born (Fredric March, 1937) & A Star Is Born (James Mason, 1954)
Jackson "Jack" Maine from A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper, 2018)
President Abraham Lincoln from Abe Lincoln in Illinois (Raymond Massey, 1940) & Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis, 2012)
President Richard Nixon from Nixon (Anthony Hopkins, 1995) & Frost/Nixon (Frank Langella, 2008)
Professor Henry Higgins from Pygmalion (Leslie Howard, 1938) & My Fair Lady (Rex Harrison, 1964)
Rooster Cogburn from True Grit (John Wayne, 1969) & True Grit (Jeff Bridges, 2010)
Vincent van Gogh from Lust for Life (Kirk Douglas, 1956) & At Eternity's Gate (Willem Dafoe, 2018)
See also
Academy Award for Best Actress
All Academy Award acting nominees
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
List of Academy Award–nominated films
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Oscars.org Archived January 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (official Academy site)
The Academy Awards Database (official site)
Oscar.com Archived September 9, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (official ceremony promotional site) |
Super_Bowl_XLIII | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XLIII | [
520
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XLIII"
] | Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2008 season. The Steelers defeated the Cardinals by the score of 27–23. The game was played on February 1, 2009, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
With this victory, the Steelers became the first team to win six Super Bowl championships. The win was also Pittsburgh's second Super Bowl victory in four years, after winning Super Bowl XL at the end of the 2005 season. The Cardinals entered the game seeking their first NFL title since 1947, the longest championship drought in the league. The club became an unexpected winner during the regular season, compiling a 9–7 record, and earning a spot in the playoffs with the aid of head coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers' offensive coordinator in Super Bowl XL, and the re-emergence of quarterback Kurt Warner, who was the Super Bowl MVP in Super Bowl XXXIV with his former team, the St. Louis Rams.
Pittsburgh jumped to a 17–7 halftime lead, aided by linebacker James Harrison's Super Bowl-record 100-yard interception return for a touchdown. Trailing 20–7 at the start of the fourth quarter, Arizona scored 16 consecutive points, including a safety that led to wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald's 64-yard touchdown reception, to take their first lead of the game with 2:37 remaining. But the Steelers marched 78 yards to score on wide receiver Santonio Holmes' 6-yard game-winning touchdown catch with 35 seconds left. Holmes, who caught nine passes for 131 yards and a touchdown, including four receptions for 73 yards on that final game-winning drive, was named Super Bowl MVP. He became the sixth wide receiver to win the award, half of whom at the time were Steelers players (Lynn Swann and Hines Ward).
The NBC television network broadcast attracted an average U.S. audience of 98.7 million viewers, making it the most watched Super Bowl in history at that time and the most watched Super Bowl of the 2000s. Many media outlets consider this one of the best Super Bowls from the 2000s, as well as one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time, due to the performance of both teams as well as its thrilling finale. This game was ranked No. 4 on NFL Top 10 on NFL Network for Top 10 Greatest Games of All Time and ranked No. 1 for Top 10 Super Bowls. As of 2022, this is the Steelers' most recent Super Bowl championship, and the last title by a Pennsylvania-based NFL team until their cross-state rival Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII in 2018. It was also the last time a Phoenix-based team reached the championship round of the four major North American sports leagues until the Phoenix Suns made the NBA Finals in 2021.
This was the last game to feature famed commentator John Madden, who retired two months after the game.
Background
Host selection process
Tampa was selected for the game site on May 25, 2005, beating out three other finalists: Atlanta, Houston, and Miami. Super Bowl XLIII was the second Super Bowl at this venue and the fourth overall in that city.
In February 2008, the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee unveiled the Super Bowl XLIII logo, featuring an abstract representation of a football stadium, with blue and green colors representing the regional waterways and landscapes of Tampa Bay. Eight yards of playing field are shown, alluding to the game's status as the championship of the 2008 NFL season. In a tradition starting with the Super Bowl XL logo, two stars—one red, representing the AFC, and one blue, representing the NFC—are flanked on either side of the Super Bowl XLIII logo. The tagline for Super Bowl XLIII as well as the 2008 NFL season is "Believe In Now".
Teams
The seeds of Super Bowl XLIII can be traced back to the end of the 2006 season. After winning Super Bowl XL in 2005, the Pittsburgh Steelers fell to an 8–8 record the following year. At the end of 2006, Bill Cowher ended his 15-year tenure as their head coach, leaving with a 149–90–1 regular season record and a 12–9 record in the playoffs. Offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and assistant head coach Russ Grimm were considered most likely to succeed Cowher in Pittsburgh.
Without waiting to see if he would be hired by Pittsburgh, Whisenhunt accepted the head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals, a team that at the time held the second-longest championship drought in U.S. sports (1947, with only the Chicago Cubs having a longer drought, winning their last championship in 1908) and had never advanced to the Super Bowl in their franchise history. In the 60 years since their last national championship, the team had won just one playoff game (20–7 over the Dallas Cowboys in the 1998 NFC Wild Card Game). The Steelers then passed over Grimm and instead hired Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. Once Tomlin was hired by the Steelers, Grimm joined Whisenhunt in Arizona in the same position as assistant head coach as he had in Pittsburgh, and the two of them began to remodel the perennial losing club into a winner like the Steelers.
Of historical note the game matched up two franchises previously merged into a single team, "Card-Pitt", for the 1944 season in response to the depleted rosters during World War II. Pittsburgh was going for its sixth Super Bowl win, which would place it in sole possession of the record for most Super Bowl wins, while the Cardinals were seeking their first league title since 1947 and only the second undisputed league championship in their history. (In 1925, the Pottsville Maroons (who, like Pittsburgh, were based in Pennsylvania) were fined and suspended for playing a game against the Notre Dame football team in another NFL franchise's territory, which resulted in the NFL naming the Cardinals, then based in Chicago, NFL champions in their place, a decision Pottsville disputed). It was the third Super Bowl in history to feature two pre-expansion-era (pre-1960) teams, joining Super Bowl XIV (Steelers vs. Los Angeles Rams, the latter of which coincidentally also went 9–7 in the regular season) and Super Bowl XLI (Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears). This game also featured the oldest franchise in the NFC playing the oldest franchise in the AFC. The Cardinals were founded in 1898 as an independent amateur team in Chicago. The Steelers, founded in 1933 as the Pittsburgh Pirates, are one of only three AFC teams that pre-date the 1960 NFL season. The Cardinals and Steelers played each other twice per season from 1950 through 1969, first in the American Conference (1950–52), then in the Eastern Conference (1953–66), and finally in the Century Division of the Eastern Conference (1967–69).
It also was the first time that two quarterbacks who previously started for a Super Bowl winning team (Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger) opposed one another since Jim Plunkett's Los Angeles Raiders defeated Joe Theismann's Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. Warner started for the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV and Super Bowl XXXVI, winning the first (aided by a heads-up defensive play by linebacker Mike Jones on the final play of the game) and losing the second one (the first of Tom Brady's seven in ten attempts), while Roethlisberger was the winning quarterback in Super Bowl XL.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Under Tomlin's first season as head coach, the Steelers improved to a 10–6 record in 2007. Pittsburgh finished the 2008 season with the second best record in the AFC at 12–4, making the playoffs for the sixth time in the last eight seasons, and went on to earn their seventh Super Bowl trip in franchise history, breaking a three-way tie with the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos for second most Super Bowl appearances and most Super Bowl appearances by an AFC team.
The Steelers excelled on defense and led the NFL in fewest points (13.9) and yards (237.2) allowed per game, while also ranking second in sacks with 51. Up front, their line was anchored by defensive end Aaron Smith, who recorded 60 tackles and six sacks. Behind him two of the Steelers starting linebackers ranked among the top-ten sack leaders in the NFL, LaMarr Woodley (11.5 sacks) and Pro Bowler/NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison (16 sacks). Pro Bowl linebacker James Farrior was also a big contributor, recording 3.5 sacks and leading the team with 133 tackles. The Steelers secondary was led by Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu, who ranked second in the NFL with a career-high seven interceptions.
For the fifth year in a row the Steelers offense was led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who finished the season with 3,301 passing yards and 17 touchdowns, with 15 interceptions. His top target was the Steelers all-time receiving leader Hines Ward, who recorded his fifth 1,000-yard season with 81 receptions for 1,043 yards and seven touchdowns. Other reliable receiving options included Santonio Holmes (55 receptions for 821 yards), Nate Washington (40 receptions for 631 yards), and tight end Heath Miller (48 receptions for 514 yards). The Steelers ground game was led by two-time Pro Bowl running back Willie Parker, who had rushed for over 1,200 yards in each of his previous three seasons. Injuries in 2008 limited him to 791 yards in 11 games, but running back Mewelde Moore proved to be a solid replacement, rushing for 588 yards and catching 40 passes for 320 yards.
For their efforts, Tomlin won the 2008 Motorola Coach of the Year Award and Harrison was named the 2008 GMC Sierra Defensive Player of the Year. The Steelers rolled into the post-season as the AFC's second seed, behind only the Tennessee Titans, who would finish 13–3 but lose in their divisional playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Arizona Cardinals
It had been a long journey for Arizona to get to their first Super Bowl appearance. After winning the NFL championship in 1947, it would take the team half a century (and moves to two different states) before they won another postseason game in the 1998 season. And up to this point, they had not returned to the playoffs since then.
Under Whisenhunt's first season as head coach, the Cardinals finished with an 8–8 record in 2007. Arizona then started out the 2008 season strong, winning 7 of their first 10 games. But then things fell apart as the team lost 4 of their last 6, hitting a low point with a brutal 47–7 loss to the New England Patriots in week 16. Arizona's 34–21 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the following week was just enough for them to finish with a 9–7 record and earn the #4 seed in the playoffs, where they went on to earn their first trip to the Super Bowl in franchise history, becoming only the second NFL team to do so with nine wins up to that point (the 2011 New York Giants became the third, winning it all).
One reason for Arizona's success was the re-emergence of 37-year-old quarterback Kurt Warner. After going undrafted and spending a few years in the Arena Football League, Warner became the St. Louis Rams starting quarterback in 1999 due to a pre-season injury of starter Trent Green. He went on to lead the Rams to two Super Bowls and one Super Bowl win (in which Warner was named MVP), while also winning two NFL MVP Awards. But in 2002, Warner's production was drastically reduced by injuries and he soon lost his starting job to Marc Bulger. He eventually left the team to join the New York Giants, but once again he lost his starting job (replaced by Eli Manning) and signed on with the Cardinals in 2005. For the third time, Warner lost his starting job due to mediocre performances and injuries. After the season, Arizona selected Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Matt Leinart with their first round draft pick. This, combined with another mediocre performance in the 2006 season, appeared to severely limit Warner's chances of ever being a permanent starter on the team. However, early in the 2007 season, Warner was thrust into the starting lineup to replace an injured Leinart, and by the end of the team's season, he had re-emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the league, throwing 27 touchdown passes with a passer rating of 89.8.
With his starting job on the team more secure, Warner posted one of his best seasons in 2008, throwing for 4,583 yards and 30 touchdowns, with only 14 interceptions, giving him an NFC-best 96.9 rating. His top targets were receivers Larry Fitzgerald (96 receptions, 1,431 yards, 12 touchdowns), Anquan Boldin (89 receptions, 1,038 yards, 11 touchdowns), and Steve Breaston (77 receptions, 1,006 yards, three touchdowns, 904 special teams return yards), who made the Cardinals the fifth team ever to feature three players with over 1,000 receiving yards. The Cardinals ground game was led by veteran running back Edgerrin James and rookie Tim Hightower. James led the team with 514 yards, while Hightower rushed for 399 and scored 10 touchdowns. He was also a reliable target out of the backfield, catching 34 passes for another 237 yards. Overall, Arizona's offense ranked fourth in yards per game (365.8) and third in scoring (422 points) in 2008.
The Cardinals defense, however, had played inconsistently during the regular season, ranking just 28th in points allowed. Up front their line was anchored by defensive lineman Bertrand Berry, who recorded five sacks and forced two fumbles, along with tackle Darnell Dockett, known for his ability to blow up running plays. Linebacker Karlos Dansby was also a solid contributor, recording four sacks, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles, while also leading the team with 119 tackles. The Cardinals secondary was led by rookie cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (who led the team with four interceptions) and Pro Bowl safety Adrian Wilson (fourth on the team in tackles, 75).
Playoffs
The Steelers began their Super Bowl run with a 35–24 win over the fourth-seeded San Diego Chargers, gaining 342 yards, avoiding any turnovers, holding the ball for 36:30 (including for 14:43 in the third quarter alone, an NFL record for a single quarter), and scoring a touchdown in every quarter. Also, Parker appeared to be fully recovered from his regular season injuries, as evidenced by his career postseason high 147-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Chargers. The Steelers then went on to beat, for the third time in the season, their AFC North division archrivals, the sixth-seeded Baltimore Ravens 23–14 in the AFC Championship Game, holding them to 184 yards and forcing five turnovers.
The Cardinals advanced to the Super Bowl by beating the fifth-seeded Atlanta Falcons 30–24, the second-seeded Carolina Panthers, 33–13, and the sixth-seeded Philadelphia Eagles 32–25 in the NFC Championship Game, winning more playoff games this season than they had in their franchise history previously. Warner played exceptionally well in those games, throwing for a total of 661 yards and eight touchdowns, with only two interceptions, giving him a rating of 112.1. The Cardinals also got a big performance out of Larry Fitzgerald, who caught 23 passes for a postseason record 419 yards and five touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Cardinals' 28th-ranked defense showed major improvement in the postseason, forcing twelve turnovers in their three games. This included five interceptions and one fumble from the Panthers' Pro Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme in the divisional round.
The Cardinals became the third NFL team to advance to the Super Bowl after winning three playoff games despite winning its division; the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII and the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI were the other two. In addition, they would become the first team to advance to the Super Bowl as both a division winner and a No. 4 seed. The 2000 Baltimore Ravens were the last No. 4 seed to advance to a Super Bowl before this game, as they were the No. 4 seed in the AFC when they went on to win Super Bowl XXXV, but were a wild-card team before the 2002 realignment gave each conference four divisions.
Super Bowl pre-game notes
The AFC champion Steelers stayed at the InterContinental Tampa and held their pre-game practices at the training facility of the University of South Florida Bulls. The NFC champion Cardinals were based at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay and held their practices at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' training facility. Both teams arrived in the Tampa area on Monday, January 26.
Also on January 26, the NFL announced that the Super Bowl game would be one of the safest places in the United States during game time. Personnel from over 20 different federal agencies were on site to assist in protecting players and fans.
Pittsburgh entered the game as seven-point favorites over Arizona. Major factors for this included the view that the Steelers' defense was better than that of the Cardinals and the feeling that the AFC was an overall better conference than the NFC.
The Cardinals were the designated "home team," as was the case for all NFC champions in odd numbered Super Bowls. Arizona wore their red jerseys, which it has done at home since moving into University of Phoenix Stadium in 2006 after predominantly wearing their white jerseys at home for their first 18 years in Arizona to combat the intense heat of September and October. As a result, the Steelers wore white jerseys for their second consecutive Super Bowl.
Pittsburgh improved to 3–0 lifetime wearing white jerseys in the Super Bowl after the victory in Super Bowl XLIII (Pittsburgh would eventually lose to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV while wearing white jerseys). The other two times the team wore white was as the "visiting team" against the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX (during a time when the designated "home" team was required to wear their team-colored jerseys) and against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL despite being the "home team" that season but having road success in the playoffs. In addition, teams wearing white jerseys in the Super Bowl extended their winning streak to five games, dating back to Super Bowl XXXIX, currently the longest such streak between white and team colored jerseys in Super Bowl history. Pittsburgh also improved to 3–0 lifetime against NFC West teams in the Super Bowl, having previously beaten the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV and the Seahawks in XL.
Another pre-game storyline involved backup Steelers tight end/fullback Sean McHugh. McHugh, who had spent the past three seasons with the Detroit Lions, made that team's 53-man roster at the end of the preseason, only to be released 24 hours later alongside linebacker Anthony Cannon in order for the Lions to make room for linebacker Ryan Nece and running back Marcus Thomas. The Steelers promptly signed McHugh after the team traded center Sean Mahan back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for a draft pick before the start of the season. The subsequent media attention surrounding McHugh had to do with him being deemed not good enough for the Lions (a team that would finish 0–16, the NFL's first winless season since the expansion 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers), but good enough for a Super Bowl team such as the Steelers and being a valuable blocker for Ben Roethlisberger and Willie Parker. McHugh himself had mixed feelings about the situation, feeling bad for his former Lions teammates, but also feeling it's a little payback for the Lions for releasing him in the first place. McHugh would play in the Super Bowl as a blocker, much like his regular season role.
The Cardinals became the second team to have their city/state location painted in their end zone for a Super Bowl, as their end zone read "Arizona Cardinals." In Super Bowl XL, the Seattle Seahawks became the first team to have this, as their end zone read "Seattle Seahawks." For all other Super Bowl teams, end zones have just featured the team nickname. This was also the first Super Bowl to have the updated NFL logo painted at midfield.
Economic effects
With all the cutbacks resulting from the severe economic downturn in the United States, the game was dubbed "The Recession Bowl." Restaurants were slow in business and many parties, including parties hosted by Playboy and Sports Illustrated were canceled. There were also 200 fewer sports journalists covering the game than at Super Bowl XLII the previous year. According to the online broker StubHub, tickets with a face value of $500 changed hands the week of the Super Bowl for an average $2,500—a 40% drop from Super Bowl XLII in 2008 and 16% lower than Super Bowl XL in 2006. Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, the Big Three automobile makers, decided not to purchase television advertisements following the three companies' business struggles in 2008 and early 2009.
Broadcasting
Television
United States
The game was televised live in the United States on NBC, the network's first Super Bowl broadcast since Super Bowl XXXII at the end of the 1997 season.
Play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and color commentator John Madden were in the booth, with Andrea Kremer and Alex Flanagan serving as sideline reporters. Madden became the first person to have announced a Super Bowl for all of the four major U.S. television networks, having called five Super Bowls for CBS, three for Fox, and two for ABC prior to joining NBC in 2006. Meanwhile, Al Michaels was the third man to do play-by-play for a Super Bowl on NBC television (following in the footsteps of Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg). Also, Michaels (who, like Madden, had moved from ABC to NBC in 2006) was the second person to serve as a Super Bowl play-by-play announcer for two major U.S. television networks (following Pat Summerall of CBS and Fox). This would prove to be the final game Madden would call, as he announced his retirement from broadcasting on April 16, 2009.
The pregame show, a record five hours long at the time, was hosted by the Football Night in America team headed by Bob Costas, and preceded by a two-hour special edition of Today hosted by the regular weekday team live from Tampa and the NFL Films—produced Road to the Super Bowl. Matt Millen was part of the coverage as a studio analyst. The Today contribution included portions of a taped interview with President Barack Obama and pictures of troops viewing the proceedings in Iraq.
The Super Bowl was one of two major professional sports championship series NBC broadcast in 2009, as they would also broadcast the Stanley Cup Finals. Both championship series involved teams from Pittsburgh winning championships. Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire mentioned this when they called the Stanley Cup Finals.
The broadcast was available in 1080i high definition. Super Bowl XLIII was also the final Super Bowl simulcast in the analog television format in the United States before the 2009 completion of nationwide digital television transition. The transition, originally scheduled for February 17 was pushed back to June 12, the same day the Penguins won the Stanley Cup.
In Tucson, Arizona and surrounding areas, the analog but not digital feed of the cable service from Comcast was interrupted by an unknown party, when 30 seconds from Playboy Enterprises-owned adult cable television channel Shorteez was broadcast to homes just after Larry Fitzgerald scored his fourth-quarter touchdown to give the Cardinals a 23–20 lead. Minutes before this occurred, 10 seconds of an end-credit segment from ClubJenna, another Playboy-owned channel, was shown. Comcast offered a $10 credit for customers who claimed to have seen the incident, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it would investigate the cause of the incident. On February 4, 2011, Tucson Police and the FBI arrested Frank Tanori Gonzalez on suspicion of fraud and computer tampering in connection with the porn incident. Gonzalez eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years of probation.
The telecast was also carried to U.S. service personnel stationed around the globe via the American Forces Network.
Ratings
With an average U.S. audience of 98.7 million viewers (and an estimated total viewership of 151.6 million), this was the third most watched Super Bowl in history, and the fourth most watched U.S. television program of any kind, trailing only Super Bowl XLV in 2011, which drew an average audience of 111 million; Super Bowl XLIV in 2010, average audience 106.5 million; and the final episode of M*A*S*H in 1983, average audience 106 million. However, the national Nielsen ratings of 42.0 was lower than the 43.3 rating for the previous year's game. The telecast drew a 53.6 rating in Pittsburgh and a 47.5 rating in Phoenix, first and ninth, respectively, among local markets.
Advertising
In addition to featuring the game's first 1-second TV ad (courtesy of Miller High Life), Super Bowl XLIII marked the first time that a 30-second commercial time slot cost up to US$3 million for the airtime alone, excluding production and talent costs. Many traditional advertisers, such as Anheuser-Busch and PepsiCo, bought multiple ads at discounted rates. None of the "Big Three" U.S. automakers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) ran advertisements during the game; coupled with Cash4Gold.com's third-quarter ad, this was seen as a sign of how deep the recession that began in fall 2008 had become. A short trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen premiered during the Super Bowl, a debut which director Michael Bay first revealed would occur in January. A preview of the upcoming Star Trek film also premiered during the game. However, with the weak economy, NBC was thought to have turned to companies already buying ad time for an additional purchase or two as set by the Los Angeles-based Forza Migliozzi agency, which would have eight advertisers simultaneously in one 30-second ad. SoBe and DreamWorks Animation aired a 3-D trailer for the upcoming film Monsters vs. Aliens, along with a 3-D ad for Sobe Life Water that featured Ray Lewis and Matt Light dancing Swan Lake (renamed Lizard Lake for this ad), as well as the promo for the upcoming episode of Chuck in 3-D. About 150 million "ColorCode 3-D" glasses were given away at grocery stores across the country for the ad. Hyundai also advertised its new Genesis Coupe in two 30-second commercials. All advertising slots were sold out one day before the game, resulting in sales of $206 million.
The top five ads as chosen by the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter were:
Doritos' fan-made ad about "free Doritos" being seen in a "crystal ball", with different results for two co-workers. Joseph and Dave Herbert from Batesville, Indiana, creators of the ad, won US$1,000,000;
Budweiser's Clydesdale love affair with a dancing horse;
Another Budweiser ad seeing another Clydesdale playing fetch showing off after the beer wagon's Dalmatian fetches a small stick;
A Bridgestone ad with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head driving in a toy car on a twisty road;
Another Doritos ad that shows the power of crunch with a woman being stripped down to her underwear, free money from an ATM and a policeman being turned into a monkey.
YouTube's top five in "Ad Blitz 2009" also saw the two Doritos ads finish first and fifth. The middle three featured E-Trade's Singing Baby ad, CareerBuilder.com's "The Official 2009 Super Bowl Commercial" and Pepsi Max's "I'm Good" finish second through fourth respectively.
Adbowl results reflected the following ranking:
Bridgestone: Taters
Bridgestone: Hot Item
Doritos: Crystal Ball
Coca-Cola: Heist
Pepsi Max: I'm Good
International
Albania: SuperSport
Australia: NFL Network coverage was simulcasted on ESPN Australia on Foxtel and Austar. NBC commentary and graphics were simulcast free-to-air on Network Ten and Ten HD. The Ten broadcast was anchored by a four-man panel from Melbourne that included analysis from Philadelphia Eagles punter, Australian Sav Rocca. Also shown on SBS starting at 10 am Australian Eastern Standard Time.
Austria: ORF1, ORF1 HD (midnight CET)
Brazil: ESPN Brasil. Paulo Antunes (commentating), Everaldo Marques (play-by-play) and André Kfouri (on field).
Canada: English-language network CTV aired the game live throughout Canada, simulcasting the NBC broadcast, with Canadian law requiring cable and satellite providers to replace NBC's broadcast with CTV's feed (which contains Canadian commercials). The French-language cable channel RDS (also owned by CTV) carried the game using NBC's video feed and its own announcers.
China: CCTV Sports, China Central Television and SMG (7 am, February 2 Beijing Time). Mainland only.
Croatia: SportKlub (11:55 pm CET)
Czech Republic and Slovakia: Nova Sport
Denmark: TV3+
Europe: ESPN America
Finland: Viasat Sport 1, Viasat Sport HD
France: France 2
Germany: ARD Das Erste (12:10 am CET)
Guatemala: ESPN Latin America
Hungary: Sport1 (Hungarian)
Iceland: Stöð 2 Sport
Ireland: TV3 (11 pm GMT)
Italy: Rai Due and Rai Sport Più (midnight CET), with Valerio Iafrate and Roberto Gotta, RAI's NFL hosts, as commentators. The digital transmission was in 16:9 and HD (where available).
Japan: NHK, Nippon Television and Gaora. (8 am, February 2 JST)
Mexico: The game was broadcast on both Televisa and TV Azteca, with both telecasts distributed in HDTV
Montenegro: Sport Klub (cable), Elmag (terrestrial) (11:55 pm CET)
New Zealand: ESPN Australia (NFL Network commentators, graphics/NBC simulcast)
Norway: Viasat Sport, Viasat Sport HD (midnight CET)
Peru: ESPN, Fox Sports Latin America.
Philippines: Balls and Solar Sports (both live using the feed from the NFL Network); C/S 9 (delayed)
Poland: nSport
Portugal: Sport TV. Also in high definition (16:9) (11 pm WET)
Russia: 7TV, NTV Plus Sport and NTV Plus HD Sport
Serbia: SportKlub (11:55 pm CET)
Singapore with Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia: ASN (All Sports Network)
South Korea: SBS Sports (8 am, February 2 KST)
Spain: Digital+ in HD (midnight CET)
Sweden: TV6, Viasat Sport, Viasat Sport HD (midnight CET)
Taiwan: Videoland Television Network aired the game live at 7 am, February 2 UTC +8.
Turkey: Spormax. Also in high definition [16:9] 1 am EET
United Kingdom: The game was broadcast on Sky Sports and on BBC One with programming starting at 10 pm and at 11 pm GMT, respectively. This was one of only two NFL games broadcast on the BBC, the other being the international series. Coverage was presented by Jake Humphrey live from the venue, with summarizers Rod Woodson and Mike Carlson. Sky Sports' NFL host, Kevin Cadle, was in the studio with guests throughout the event, with co-presenter Nick Halling in Tampa providing analysis live from the event.
An international feed featured Bob Papa and Sterling Sharpe announcing, and was seen in 230 countries (including Antarctica) over 61 networks and 34 languages. ESPN Latin America also broadcast across Latin America.
Radio
On radio, Westwood One had the national English-language broadcast rights to the game in the United States and Canada. It was only made available to local affiliates as part of a 57-game package of regular season and post-season games. Stations were not allowed to stream the broadcast on their web sites. Marv Albert and Boomer Esiason called the game for the network. The teams' flagship stations also carried the game with their respective local announcers: WDVE-FM and WBGG-AM in Pittsburgh (with Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin announcing), and KTAR-AM/FM in Phoenix (with Dave Pasch and Ron Wolfley announcing). Univision Radio/United Stations carried a Spanish-language feed for Hispanophone American listeners (with Clemson Smith-Muñiz and David Crommett announcing).
Sirius XM Satellite Radio carried 13 game feeds in ten languages to Sirius subscribers, as well as to XM subscribers with the "Best of Sirius" package. In addition to the four US feeds mentioned above, Sirius carried the following international feeds:
United Kingdom: BBC Radio 5 Live (English; Arlo White announcing)
Russia: NTV Plus (Russian)
France: France 2 (French)
Japan: NHK (Japanese)
Germany: ARD (German)
Belgium: Telenet (Flemish)
China: SMG (Mandarin Chinese)
Italy: RAI (Italian; Iafrate-Gotta's TV audio)
Spain: Cadena Ser (Spanish)
FieldPass, the subscription Internet radio service provided by the league at NFL.com, carried most of these feeds, with select international feeds for free. Due to contractual restrictions, only Sirius XM and FieldPass were permitted to carry the local team broadcasts along with WDVE, WBGG, and KTAR, with the teams' other network radio affiliates instead carrying the Westwood One feed.
Entertainment and other ceremonies
Pregame
Journey and the Bethune-Cookman University Marching Wildcats performed during the pre-game show, while Jennifer Hudson sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" (arranged by Chris Walden) in her first public appearance since the murder of her nephew, brother and mother. Hudson became the second consecutive alumna from the American Idol television series to perform the national anthem at a Super Bowl (Jordin Sparks sang the anthem at Super Bowl XLII). The national anthem was translated into American Sign Language by Kristen Santos. Following the anthem, the United States Air Force Thunderbirds performed a fly-over. John Legend performed a short concert several hours before the game, while Faith Hill performed "America the Beautiful" prior to Hudson's performance of the national anthem. Also, the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 were recognized on field for their actions.
The NFL saluted four decades of champions during the coin toss ceremony and the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation. The coin toss featured Roger Craig (Super Bowl XXIII, 1989), John Elway (Super Bowl XXXIII, 1999), and Lynn Swann (Super Bowl XIII, 1979). Craig followed the previous year's participants and fellow San Francisco 49ers Craig Walsh (son of Bill Walsh), Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice, and Steve Young. General David Petraeus performed the actual coin toss. The Steelers called tails, but it landed on heads, so the Cardinals won the toss. Arizona deferred their choice to the second half, and the Steelers chose to receive, making it the first time in Super Bowl history that the coin toss winner kicked off to start the game. (The NFL had just changed the rule before the start of the season allowing the team that wins the coin toss to defer the choice to the second half, similar to that in college football and Canadian football.) By winning the toss, the Arizona Cardinals were the twelfth consecutive coin toss winner from the NFC, dating back to Super Bowl XXXII. Joe Namath (Super Bowl III, 1969) participated in the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation and he previously participated in the coin toss in Super Bowl XXVIII. Coincidentally, Namath—a native of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh—ultimately handed the trophy to his hometown team.
Halftime
The Super Bowl XLIII halftime show, which was sponsored by Bridgestone for the second consecutive year, featured Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, with the Miami Horns and a gospel choir. Their halftime performance consisted of these songs in the following order:
"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
"Born to Run"
"Working on a Dream"
"Glory Days"
Each of the numbers had at least one verse removed, in order to fit the overall performance in the intended 12-minute time limit. Springsteen had turned down numerous invitations to play at the Super Bowl before this one, unsure of its legitimacy, but finally accepted after realizing the prestige value.
Home video
The Steelers 2008 season/Super Bowl XLIII championship home video went on sale on DVD on February 24, 2009. One week later on March 3, it was released on Blu-ray, making it the first NFL Films home video release to be on Blu-ray Disc.
Game summary
First quarter
The Steelers took the opening kickoff and moved down the field on a 71-yard scoring drive, with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completing a 38-yard pass to wide receiver Hines Ward and a 21-yard strike to tight end Heath Miller, putting the ball on the Arizona 1-yard line. The Cardinals' defense kept the Steelers' offense out of the end zone for the first two plays, but on third down, Roethlisberger appeared to score on a 1-yard quarterback draw. However, a replay challenge by Arizona determined that his knee hit the ground as he was being tackled by defensive lineman Darnell Dockett before he could stretch the ball over the goal line. Rather than take the risk on fourth down, Pittsburgh settled for an 18-yard field goal by kicker Jeff Reed to take a 3–0 lead. The Steelers quickly forced a Cardinals punt and then drove back down the field for what would turn into more points. On the first play of their drive, Roethlisberger completed a 25-yard pass to wide receiver Santonio Holmes and followed it up with two 11-yard completions to Miller, the second of which was a 3rd-and-10 conversion.
Second quarter
On the second play of the second quarter, running back Gary Russell went into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run, increasing the Steelers' lead to 10–0. They became the first team to score on its first two drives since the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII. On defense, Pittsburgh held Arizona to just one drive and one first down in the first quarter, while gaining 135 yards.
The Cardinals responded with a nine-play, 83-yard scoring drive. First, quarterback Kurt Warner completed three passes to running back Edgerrin James for 26 yards, as well as two passes to wide receiver Steve Breaston for 20. Warner then completed a 45-yard strike to wide receiver Anquan Boldin to reach the Pittsburgh 1-yard line. On the next play, Warner nearly fell over after taking the snap, but he quickly regained his balance and threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ben Patrick, cutting Arizona's deficit to 10–7. It was Patrick's only touchdown reception of the season. After an exchange of punts, Roethlisberger threw a pass that was deflected by defensive tackle Bryan Robinson and intercepted by linebacker Karlos Dansby at the Steelers' 34-yard line just before the two-minute warning. Seven plays later, the Cardinals reached the Pittsburgh 1-yard line with a chance to take the lead before halftime. But with 18 seconds left, Warner's pass intended for Boldin was intercepted at the goal line by linebacker James Harrison, who then took off down the sideline for the then-longest play in Super Bowl history (having since been passed by Jacoby Jones' 108-yard kickoff return in Super Bowl XLVII), a 100-yard pick-six, increasing the Steelers' lead to 17–7 at halftime. Harrison faked a blitz and quietly moved into coverage to pick off Warner's pass. A booth review was called to verify that Harrison had broken the plane, as he was tackled at the goal line by Breaston and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, and the ruling stood.
Third quarter
After forcing the Cardinals to punt to start the second half, the Steelers put together another long scoring drive. Aided by two 15-yard gains by Holmes and running back Willie Parker, as well as three personal foul penalties against the Arizona defense, including one during a field goal attempt, Pittsburgh moved the ball 79 yards in 15 plays and took 8:39 off the clock. However, despite picking up two first downs inside the Arizona 10, they were unable to get into the end zone, forcing them to settle for Reed's 21-yard field goal to increase their lead to 20–7.
Fourth quarter
After the teams traded punts again going into the fourth quarter, Warner led the Cardinals down the field on an eight-play, 87-yard scoring drive that took 3:57 off the clock, utilizing a no huddle offense. All eight plays of the drive were consecutive short passes by Warner, half of which were caught by Fitzgerald for a total gain of 31 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown in which Warner threw a fade pass to Fitzgerald, who made a leaping catch through tight coverage by cornerback Ike Taylor. The score cut Arizona's deficit to one possession at 20–14 with 7:33 left in the game.
On the Cardinals' next possession, they reached the Pittsburgh 26-yard line, but a holding penalty pushed them nearly out of field goal range. Warner then threw three consecutive incompletions, and Arizona elected to punt rather than risk a 53-yard field goal attempt. Ben Graham's 34-yard punt pinned the Steelers back at their own 1-yard line. After being stopped for no gain on the first two plays, Roethlisberger threw a 19-yard pass to Holmes, but Steelers center Justin Hartwig was flagged for offensive holding in the end zone, which not only nullified the catch, but gave the Cardinals a safety, cutting the Steelers' lead to 20–16 and forcing them to punt the ball away. Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin later stated that giving up the safety didn't faze him, as it did not change how his team called plays for the rest of the game on either defense or offense. Taking over on their own 36-yard line after the free kick, Arizona took two plays to score, as Warner threw a pass to Fitzgerald on a post route. Fitzgerald caught the ball without breaking stride and took off down the middle of the field past the Steelers' secondary for a 64-yard touchdown reception, giving Arizona their first lead of the game, 23–20.
With a chance to mount a game-tying/winning drive, Pittsburgh got the ball back on their own 22-yard line with 2:37 left in the game and two timeouts remaining. On the first play, a holding penalty pushed them back to their own 12. Roethlisberger then completed a pass to Holmes for 14 yards. After an incompletion, Roethlisberger threw it to Holmes again for 13 yards. An 11-yard reception by wide receiver Nate Washington followed, and a 4-yard run by Roethlisberger forced the Steelers to burn their second timeout of the half. On the very next play, he completed a pass to Holmes, who took it 40 yards to the Cardinals' 6-yard line after safety Aaron Francisco tripped. Two plays later, Roethlisberger found running back Mewelde Moore covered in the flat, then Ward covered. He looked and then threw to Holmes, who ran a flag route in the right corner. Holmes caught the pass in the back corner of the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown reception, managing to keep both feet in bounds while landing on his toes before falling out of bounds. "My feet never left the ground," said Holmes. "All I did was extend my arms and use my toes as an extension to catch up to the ball." After a booth review, the touchdown stood and put the Steelers back in front with a 27–23 lead and 35 seconds remaining. Following the ensuing kickoff, Warner completed a 20-yard pass to Fitzgerald and a 13-yard pass to running back J. J. Arrington, moving the ball to the Steelers 44. With 15 seconds left, Warner prepared to attempt a Hail Mary pass, but linebacker LaMarr Woodley strip-sacked Warner, and defensive end Brett Keisel recovered the fumble, giving the ball back to Pittsburgh with five seconds left. Many viewers assumed that the play had not been reviewed for a possible incomplete pass, but NFL Head of Officiating Mike Pereira later explained that it actually was reviewed, unnoticed by the public: "We confirmed it was a fumble. The replay assistant in the replay booth saw it was clearly a fumble. The ball got knocked loose and was rolling in his hand before it started forward. He has to have total control." It was the first and only Super Bowl in which Warner was involved not to be decided on the final play of the game. Roethlisberger's ensuing kneeldown secured the Steelers' sixth Super Bowl victory, surpassing the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers to set a new NFL record for most Super Bowl wins by a team.
Box score
Statistical overview
In Super Bowl XLIII, Arizona and Pittsburgh combined for the fewest rushing attempts (38) and the fewest rushing yards (91) in Super Bowl history. The Cardinals outgained the Steelers in both passing yards (374 to 234) and total yards (407 to 292), but were flagged for 11 penalties for 106 yards. Arizona's safety in the fourth quarter was only the sixth one scored in Super Bowl history, the first since Super Bowl XXV.
Warner completed 31 of 43 passes for 377 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception. His 377 yards was the second-most in Super Bowl history behind his own record of 414 yards in Super Bowl XXXIV. Eight years later at Super Bowl LI, Tom Brady would break Kurt Warner's record with 466 yards. Warner passed Joe Montana for most career yards in Super Bowl history with 1,156 (Montana threw for 1,142 yards in four games). Brady ultimately reached 2,071 yards in seven Super Bowls. Warner became the fifth quarterback in Super Bowl history to throw three touchdown passes in defeat (the others being Roger Staubach, Brett Favre, Jake Delhomme, and Donovan McNabb). He also became the first quarterback in Super Bowl history to have a pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown in two different Super Bowls and is also the second quarterback to throw a fourth-quarter touchdown in three different Super Bowls (Terry Bradshaw threw a fourth-quarter touchdown in all four of his Super Bowls).
Warner's top target was Fitzgerald, who caught seven passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Fitzgerald set a single-postseason record with seven touchdown receptions, passing Jerry Rice, who had six in the 1988 postseason. Fitzgerald as well as Holmes each had 100 yards receiving, marking the fourth time in Super Bowl history, one player from each team had over 100 yards in a Super Bowl. Michael Irvin and Andre Reed were the first in Super Bowl XXVII, followed by Deion Branch and Muhsin Muhammad in Super Bowl XXXVIII and Branch again a year later along with Terrell Owens in Super Bowl XXXIX.
Roethlisberger completed 21 of 30 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown, with one interception. Woodley had two sacks and a forced fumble, thus he continued setting NFL play-off records for consecutive multiple sack games by a player with 4. Arizona defensive tackle Darnell Dockett had all of Arizona's three sacks, tying the Super Bowl record set by Reggie White in Super Bowl XXXI. Harrison's 100-yard interception return is still the longest interception return in Super Bowl history.
With this victory, the Steelers became the first team to win three Super Bowls in the same state. Their victories in Super Bowls X and XIII were both at the Miami Orange Bowl.
Final statistics
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XLIII, Super Bowl XLIII Play Finder Pit, Super Bowl XLIII Play Finder Arz, USA Today Super Bowl XLIII Play by Play
Statistical comparison
Individual statistics
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
Starting lineups
Source:
Hall of Fame ‡
Officials
The officials for the game were:
Referee: Terry McAulay, #77; second Super Bowl, refereed Super Bowl XXXIX.
Umpire: Roy Ellison #81; first of two Super Bowls (Super Bowl LII)
Head Linesman: Derick Bowers #74; first Super Bowl
Line Judge: Mark Perlman #9; second of three Super Bowls (Super Bowl XL, XLIX)
Field Judge: Greg Gautreaux #80; first Super Bowl
Side Judge: Michael Banks #72; first Super Bowl
Back Judge: Keith Ferguson #61; first of two Super Bowls (Super Bowl 50)
Replay Official: Bob McGrath
IR Video Operator: Clayton Judge
Alternate Officials
Referee: Ron Winter, #14
Umpire: Darrell Jenkins #76
Line Judge: Darryll Lewis #130
Field Judge: Doug Rosenbaum #67
Back Judge: Billy Smith #2
Post-game riots
In Pittsburgh, mostly in the South Side and Oakland neighborhoods, riots broke out on the streets after the Steelers' victory. Rioters (mostly college students) caused about $150,000 in estimated damages. More than 60 people were arrested during and after the rioting, and at least two students were suspended.
Super Bowl ring
The ring for the Pittsburgh Steelers was designed and made by Jostens working with Dan Rooney and Art Rooney II. The designs were also shown to James Farrior, Hines Ward, Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison before a final decision was made.
References
External links
Super Bowl XLIII: NFL Full Game on YouTube
Super Bowl 43 official website at NFL.com
Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee – Official web site
Super Bowl XLIII at IMDb
Super Bowl XLIII Box Score at Pro Football Reference |
Pittsburgh | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh | [
520
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh"
] | Pittsburgh ( PITS-burg) is a city in and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the second-most populous city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, and the 68th-most populous city in the U.S., with a population of 302,971 as of the 2020 census. The city is located in southwestern Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River, which combine to form the Ohio River. It anchors the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, which had a population of 2.457 million residents and is the largest metro area in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U.S. Pittsburgh is the principal city of the greater Pittsburgh–Weirton–Steubenville combined statistical area which includes parts of Ohio and West Virginia.
Pittsburgh is known as "the Steel City" for its dominant role in the history of the U.S. steel industry. It developed as a vital link of the Atlantic coast and Midwest, as the mineral-rich Allegheny Mountains led to the region being contested by the French and British Empires, Virginians, Whiskey Rebels, and Civil War raiders. For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York City and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment; it had the most U.S. stockholders per capita. Deindustrialization in the late 20th century resulted in massive layoffs among blue-collar workers as steel and other heavy industries declined, coinciding with several Pittsburgh-based corporations moving out of the city. However, the city divested from steel and, since the 1990s, Pittsburgh has focused its energies on the healthcare, education, and technology industries.
Pittsburgh is home to large medical providers, including the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Allegheny Health Network, and 68 colleges and universities, including research and development leaders Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. The area has served as the federal agency headquarters for cyber defense, software engineering, robotics, energy research, and the nuclear navy. In the private sector, Pittsburgh-based PNC is the nation's fifth-largest bank, and the city is home to ten Fortune 500 companies and seven of the largest 300 U.S. law firms. Other corporations that have regional headquarters and offices have helped Pittsburgh become the sixth-best area for U.S. job growth.
Pittsburgh is sometimes called the "City of Bridges" for its 446 bridges. Its rich industrial history left the area with renowned cultural institutions, including the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, the National Aviary, and a diverse cultural district. The city's major league professional sports teams include the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh is additionally where Jehovah's Witnesses traces its earliest origins, and was the host of the 2009 G20 Pittsburgh summit.
Etymology
Pittsburgh was named in 1758, by General John Forbes, in honor of British statesman William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. As Forbes was a Scotsman, he probably pronounced the name PITS-bər-ə (similar to Edinburgh).
Pittsburgh was incorporated as a borough on April 22, 1794, with the following Act:
"Be it enacted by the Pennsylvania State Senate and Pennsylvania House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ... by the authority of the same, that the said town of Pittsburgh shall be ... erected into a borough, which shall be called the borough of Pittsburgh for ever."
From 1891 to 1911, the city's name was federally recognized as "Pittsburg", though use of the final h was retained during this period by the city government and other local organizations. After a public campaign, the federal decision to drop the h was reversed. The Pittsburg Press continued spelling the city without an h until 1921.
History
Native Americans
The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee and several other settled groups of Native Americans. Shannopin's Town was an 18th-century Lenape (Delaware) town located roughly from where Penn Avenue is today, below the mouth of Two Mile Run, from 30th Street to 39th Street. According to George Croghan, the town was situated on the south bank of the Allegheny, nearly opposite what is now known as Washington's Landing, formerly Herr's Island, in what is now the Lawrenceville neighborhood.: 289
18th century
The first known European to enter the region was the French explorer Robert de La Salle from Quebec during his 1669 expedition down the Ohio River. European pioneers, primarily Dutch, followed in the early 18th century. Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a 1717 manuscript, and later that year European fur traders established area posts and settlements.
In 1749, French soldiers from Quebec launched an expedition to the forks to unite Canada with French Louisiana via the rivers. During 1753–1754, the British hastily built Fort Prince George before a larger French force drove them off. The French built Fort Duquesne based on LaSalle's 1669 claims. The French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War, began with the future Pittsburgh as its center. British General Edward Braddock was dispatched with Major George Washington as his aide to take Fort Duquesne. The British and colonial force were defeated at Braddock's Field. General John Forbes finally took the forks in 1758. He began construction on Fort Pitt, named after William Pitt the Elder, while the settlement was named "Pittsborough".
During Pontiac's War, a loose confederation of Native American tribes laid siege to Fort Pitt in 1763; the siege was eventually lifted after Colonel Henry Bouquet defeated a portion of the besieging force at the Battle of Bushy Run. Bouquet strengthened the defenses of Fort Pitt the next year.
During this period, the powerful nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, based in New York, had maintained control of much of the Ohio Valley as hunting grounds by right of conquest after defeating other tribes. By the terms of the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the Penns were allowed to purchase the modern region from the Iroquois. A 1769 survey referenced the future city as the "Manor of Pittsburgh". Both the Colony of Virginia and the Province of Pennsylvania claimed the region under their colonial charters until 1780, when they agreed under a federal initiative to extend the Mason–Dixon line westward, placing Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. On March 8, 1771, Bedford County, Pennsylvania was created to govern the frontier.
On April 16, 1771, the city's first civilian local government was created as Pitt Township. William Teagarden was the first constable, and William Troop was the first clerk.
Following the American Revolution, the village of Pittsburgh continued to grow. One of its earliest industries was boat building for settlers of the Ohio Country. In 1784, Thomas Vickroy completed a town plan which was approved by the Penn family attorney. Pittsburgh became a possession of Pennsylvania in 1785. The following year, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was started, and in 1787, the Pittsburgh Academy was chartered. Unrest during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 resulted in federal troops being sent to the area. By 1797, glass manufacture began, while the population grew to around 1,400. Settlers arrived after crossing the Appalachian Mountains or through the Great Lakes. Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) at the source of the Ohio River became the main base for settlers moving into the Northwest Territory.
19th century
The federal government recognizes Pittsburgh as the starting point for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Preparations began in Pittsburgh in 1803 when Meriwether Lewis purchased a keelboat that would later be used to ascend the Missouri River.
The War of 1812 cut off the supply of British goods, stimulating American industry. By 1815, Pittsburgh was producing significant quantities of iron, brass, tin, and glass. On March 18, 1816, the 46-year-old local government became a city. It was served by numerous river steamboats that increased trading traffic on the rivers.
In the 1830s, many Welsh people from the Merthyr steelworks immigrated to the city following the aftermath of the Merthyr Rising. By the 1840s, Pittsburgh was one of the largest cities west of the Allegheny Mountains. The Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroyed over a thousand buildings in 1845. The city rebuilt with the aid of Irish immigrants who came to escape the Great Famine. By 1857, Pittsburgh's 1,000 factories were consuming 22 million coal bushels yearly. Coal mining and iron manufacturing attracted waves of European immigrants to the area, with the most coming from Germany.
Because Pennsylvania had been established as a free state after the Revolution, enslaved African Americans sought freedom here through escape as refugees from the South, or occasionally fleeing from travelers they were serving who stayed in the city. There were active stations of the Underground Railroad in the city, and numerous refugees were documented as getting help from station agents and African-American workers in city hotels. The Drennen Slave Girl walked out of the Monongahela House in 1850, apparently to freedom. The Merchant's Hotel was also a place where African-American workers would advise slaves the state was free and aid them in getting to nearby stations of the Underground Railroad. Sometimes refugee slaves from the South stayed in Pittsburgh, but other times they continued North, including into Canada. Many slaves left the city and county for Canada after Congress passed the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, as it required cooperation from law enforcement even in free states and increased penalties. From 1850 to 1860, the black population in Allegheny County dropped from 3,431 to 2,725 as people headed to more safety in Canada.
The American Civil War boosted the city's economy with increased iron and armament demand by the Union. Andrew Carnegie began steel production in 1875 at the Edgar Thomson Steel Works in North Braddock, Pennsylvania, which evolved into the Carnegie Steel Company. He adopted the Bessemer process to increase production. Manufacturing was key to growth of Pittsburgh and the surrounding region. Railroad lines were built into the city along both rivers, increasing transportation access to important markets.
20th century
In 1901, J. P. Morgan and attorney Elbert H. Gary merged Carnegie Steel Company and several other companies into U.S. Steel. By 1910, Pittsburgh was the nation's eighth-largest city, accounting for between one-third and one-half of national steel output.
The Pittsburgh Agreement was subscribed in May 1918 between the Czech and Slovak nationalities, as envisioned by T. G. Masaryk, concerning the future foundation of Czechoslovakia.
The city suffered severe flooding in March 1936.
The city's population swelled to more than a half million, attracting numerous European immigrants to its industrial jobs. By 1940, non-Hispanic whites were 90.6% of the city's population. Pittsburgh also became a main destination of the African-American Great Migration from the rural South during the first half of the 20th century. Limited initially by discrimination, some 95% percent of the men became unskilled steel workers.
During World War II, demand for steel increased and area mills operated 24 hours a day to produce 95 million tons of steel for the war effort. This resulted in the highest levels of air pollution in the city's almost century of industry. The city's reputation as the "arsenal of democracy" was being overshadowed by James Parton's 1868 observation of Pittsburgh being "hell with the lid off."
Following World War II, the city launched a clean air and civic revitalization project known as the "Renaissance," cleaning up the air and the rivers. The "Renaissance II" project followed in 1977, focused on cultural and neighborhood development. The industrial base continued to expand through the 1970s, but beginning in the early 1980s both the area's steel and electronics industries imploded during national industrial restructuring. There were massive layoffs from mill and plant closures.
In the later 20th century, the area shifted its economic base to education, tourism, and services, largely based on healthcare/medicine, finance, and high technology such as robotics. Although Pittsburgh successfully shifted its economy and remained viable, the city's population has never rebounded to its industrial-era highs. While 680,000 people lived in the city proper in 1950, a combination of suburbanization and economic turbulence resulted in a decrease in city population, even as the metropolitan area population increased again.
21st century
During the late 2000s recession, Pittsburgh was economically strong, adding jobs when most cities were losing them. It was one of the few cities in the United States to see housing property values rise. Between 2006 and 2011, the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area (MSA) experienced over 10% appreciation in housing prices, the highest appreciation of the largest 25 metropolitan statistical areas in the United States, with 22 of the largest 25 metropolitan statistical areas experiencing depreciations in housing values.
In September 2009, the 2009 G20 Pittsburgh summit was held in Pittsburgh.
Geography
Pittsburgh has an area of 58.3 square miles (151 km2), of which 55.6 square miles (144 km2) is land and 2.8 square miles (7.3 km2), or 4.75%, is water. The 80th meridian west passes directly through the city's downtown.
The city is on the Allegheny Plateau, within the ecoregion of the Western Allegheny Plateau. The Downtown area (also known as the Golden Triangle) sits where the Allegheny River flows from the northeast and the Monongahela River from the southeast to form the Ohio River. The convergence is at Point State Park and is referred to as "the Point." The city extends east to include the Oakland and Shadyside sections, which are home to the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University, Carnegie Museum and Library, and many other educational, medical, and cultural institutions. The southern, western, and northern areas of the city are primarily residential.
Many Pittsburgh neighborhoods are steeply sloped with two-lane roads. More than a quarter of neighborhood names make reference to "hills," "heights," or similar features.
The steps of Pittsburgh consist of 800 sets of outdoor public stairways with 44,645 treads and 24,090 vertical feet. They include hundreds of streets composed entirely of stairs, and many other steep streets with stairs for sidewalks. Many provide vistas of the Pittsburgh area while attracting hikers and fitness walkers.
Bike and walking trails have been built to border many of the city's rivers and hollows. The Great Allegheny Passage and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath connect the city directly to downtown Washington, D.C. (some 335 miles [539 km] away) with a continuous bike/running trail.
Cityscape
Areas
The city consists of the Downtown area, called the Golden Triangle, and four main areas surrounding it. These surrounding areas are subdivided into distinct neighborhoods (Pittsburgh has 90 neighborhoods). Relative to downtown, these areas are known as the Central, North Side/North Hills, South Side/South Hills, East End, and West End.
Golden Triangle
Downtown Pittsburgh has 30 skyscrapers, nine of which top 500 feet (150 m). The U.S. Steel Tower is the tallest, at 841 ft (256 m). The Cultural District consists of a 14-block area of downtown along the Allegheny River. This district contains many theaters and arts venues and is home to a growing residential segment. Most significantly, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is embarking on RiverParc, a four-block mixed-use "green" community, featuring 700 residential units and multiple towers of between 20 and 30 stories. The Firstside portion of Downtown borders the Monongahela River, the historic Mon Wharf and hosts the distinctive PPG Place Gothic-style glass skyscraper complex. New condo towers have been constructed and historic office towers are converted to residential use, increasing 24-hour residents. Downtown is served by the Port Authority's light rail system and multiple bridges leading north and south. It is also home to Point Park University and Duquesne University which borders Uptown.
North Side
The North Side is home to various neighborhoods in transition. The area was once known as Allegheny City and operated as its own independent city until 1907, when it was merged with Pittsburgh despite great protest from its citizens. The North Side is primarily composed of residential neighborhoods and is noteworthy for its well-constructed and architecturally interesting homes. Many buildings date from the 19th century and are constructed of brick or stone and adorned with decorative woodwork, ceramic tile, slate roofs and stained glass. The North Side is also home to attractions such as Acrisure Stadium, PNC Park, Kamin Science Center, National Aviary, Andy Warhol Museum, Mattress Factory art museum, Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Randyland, Penn Brewery, Allegheny Observatory, and Allegheny General Hospital.
South Side
The South Side was once the site of railyards and associated dense, inexpensive housing for mill and railroad workers. Starting in the late 20th century, the city undertook a Main Street program in cooperation with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, encouraging design and landscape improvements on East Carson Street, and supporting new retail. The area has become a local Pittsburgher destination, and the value of homes in the South Side had increased in value by about 10% annually for the 10 years leading up to 2014. East Carson Street has developed as one of the most vibrant areas of the city, packed with diverse shopping, ethnic eateries, vibrant nightlife, and live music venues.
In 1993, the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh purchased the South Side Works steel mill property. It collaborated with the community and various developers to create a master plan for a mixed-use development that included a riverfront park, office space, housing, health-care facilities, and indoor practice fields for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pitt Panthers. Construction of the development began in 1998. The SouthSide Works has been open since 2005, featuring many stores, restaurants, offices, and the world headquarters for American Eagle Outfitters.
East End
The East End of Pittsburgh is home to the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Carlow University, Chatham University, The Carnegie Institute's Museums of Art and Natural History, Phipps Conservatory, and Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. It is also home to many parks and public spaces including Mellon Park, Westinghouse Park, Schenley Park, Frick Park, The Frick Pittsburgh, Bakery Square, and the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. The neighborhoods of Shadyside and Squirrel Hill are large, wealthy neighborhoods with some apartments and condos, and pedestrian-oriented shopping/business districts. Squirrel Hill is also known as the hub of Jewish life in Pittsburgh, home to approximately 20 synagogues. Oakland, heavily populated by undergraduate and graduate students, is home to most of the universities, and the Petersen Events Center. The Strip District to the west along the Allegheny River is an open-air marketplace by day and a clubbing destination by night. Bloomfield is Pittsburgh's Little Italy and is known for its Italian restaurants and grocers. Lawrenceville is a revitalizing rowhouse neighborhood popular with artists and designers. The Hill District was home to photographer Charles Harris as well as various African-American jazz clubs. Other East End neighborhoods include Point Breeze, Regent Square, Highland Park, Homewood, Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar, Larimer, East Hills, East Liberty, Polish Hill, Hazelwood, Garfield, Morningside, and Stanton Heights.
West End
The West End includes Mt. Washington, with its famous view of the downtown skyline, and numerous other residential neighborhoods such as Sheraden and Elliott.
Ethnicities
Many of Pittsburgh's patchwork of neighborhoods still retain ethnic characters reflecting the city's settlement history. These include:
German: Troy Hill, Mt. Washington, and East Allegheny (Deutschtown)
Italian: Brookline, Bloomfield, Morningside, Oakland
Hispanic/Latino: Beechview/Brookline
Polish, Austrian, Belgian, Czech, Slovak, German, Greek, Hungarian, Luxembourgish, Dutch, Romanian, Swiss, Slovenia and the northern marginal regions of Italy, Croatian, as well as northeastern France, Central European: South Side, Lawrenceville, and Polish Hill
Lithuanian: South Side, Uptown
African American/Multiracial African American: Hill District, Homewood, Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar, Larimer, East Hills, and Hazelwood
Jewish (Ashkenazi): Squirrel Hill
Irish: Mt. Washington, Carrick, Greenfield
Ukrainian (Ruthenian): South Side
Population densities
Several neighborhoods on the edges of the city are less urban, featuring tree-lined streets, yards and garages, with a more suburban character. Oakland, the South Side, the North Side, and the Golden Triangle are characterized by more density of housing, walking neighborhoods, and a more diverse, urban feel.
Images
Regional identity
Pittsburgh falls within the borders of the Northeastern United States as defined by multiple US Government agencies. Pittsburgh is the principal city of the Pittsburgh Combined Statistical Area, a combined statistical area defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Pittsburgh falls within the borders of Appalachia as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission, and has long been characterized as the "northern urban industrial anchor of Appalachia." In its post-industrial state, Pittsburgh has been characterized as the "Paris of Appalachia", recognizing the city's cultural, educational, healthcare, and technological resources, and is the largest city in Appalachia.
Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification, Pittsburgh falls within either a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa) if the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm is used or a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) if the −3 °C (27 °F) isotherm is used. Summers are hot and winters are moderately cold with wide variations in temperature. Despite this, it has one of the most pleasant summer climates between medium and large cities in the U.S. The city lies in the USDA plant hardiness zone 6b except along the rivers where the zone is 7a. The area has four distinct seasons: winters are cold and snowy, springs and falls are mild with moderate levels of sunshine, and summers are warm. As measured by percent possible sunshine, summer is by far the sunniest season, though annual sunshine is low among major US cities at well under 50%.
The warmest month of the year in Pittsburgh is July, with a 24-hour average of 73.2 °F (22.9 °C). Conditions are often humid, and combined with highs reaching 90 °F (32 °C) on an average 9.5 days a year, a considerable heat index arises. The coolest month is January, when the 24-hour average is 28.8 °F (−1.8 °C), and lows of 0 °F (−18 °C) or below can be expected on an average 2.6 nights per year. Officially, record temperatures range from −22 °F (−30 °C), on January 19, 1994 to 103 °F (39 °C), which occurred three times, most recently on July 16, 1988; the record cold daily maximum is −3 °F (−19 °C), which occurred three times, most recently the day of the all-time record low, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is 82 °F (28 °C) on July 1, 1901. Due to elevation and location on the windward side of the Appalachian Mountains, 100 °F (38 °C)+ readings are very rare, and were last seen on July 15, 1995.
Average annual precipitation is 39.61 inches (1,006 mm) and precipitation is greatest in May while least in October; annual precipitation has historically ranged from 22.65 in (575 mm) in 1930 to 57.83 in (1,469 mm) in 2018. On average, December and January have the greatest number of precipitation days. Snowfall averages 44.1 inches (112 cm) per season, but has historically ranged from 8.8 in (22 cm) in 1918–19 to 80 in (200 cm) in 1950–51. There is an average of 59 clear days and 103 partly cloudy days per year, while 203 days are cloudy. In terms of annual percent-average possible sunshine received, Pittsburgh (45%) is similar to Seattle (49%).
Air quality
The American Lung Association's (ALA) 2023 “State of the Air” report (which included data from 2019 to 2021) showed air quality in Pittsburgh improving. The city received a passing grade for ozone pollution, going from an F to a C grade, and improving from the 46th to 54th most polluted by ozone smog.
According to daily ozone air quality data provided by the EPA, from 2021 to 2024, Pittsburgh had good or moderate air quality most of the time. Then-Allegheny County executive Rich Fitzgerald said in December 2023 that they’d seen an “80 % drop in hazardous air pollutants” and that they made EPA attainment at all eight county air monitors for the first time in 2020, and then also achieved that goal in 2021, 2022, and were on track for better results in 2023.
A past 2019 "State of the Air" report from the American Lung Association (ALA) found that air quality in the Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV metro area worsened compared to previous reports, not only for ozone (smog), but also for the second year in a row for both the daily and long-term measures of fine particle pollution. In 2019, outside of California, Allegheny County was the only county in the United States that recorded failing grades for all three.
In a 2013 ranking of 277 metropolitan areas in the United States, the American Lung Association ranked only six U.S. metro areas as having higher amounts of short-term particle pollution, and only seven U.S. metro areas having higher amounts of year-round particle pollution than Pittsburgh. For ozone (smog) pollution, Pittsburgh was ranked 24th among U.S. metro areas. The area has improved its air quality with every annual survey. The ALA's rankings have been disputed by the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), since data from only the worst of the region's 20 air quality monitors is considered by the ALA, without any context or averaging. The lone monitor used is immediately downwind and adjacent to U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works, the nation's largest coke mill, and several municipalities outside the city's jurisdiction of pollution controls, leading to possible confusion that Pittsburgh is the source or center of the emissions cited in the survey. The region's readings also reflect pollution swept in from Ohio and West Virginia.
Although the county was still below the "pass" threshold, the report showed substantial improvement over previous decades on every air quality measure. Fewer than 15 high ozone days were reported between 2007 and 2009, and just 10 between 2008 and 2010, compared to more than 40 between 1997 and 1999. ACHD spokesman Guillermo Cole stated "It's the best it's been in the lifetime for virtually every resident in this county ... We've seen a steady decrease in pollution levels over the past decade and certainly over the past 20, 30, 40, 50 years, or more."
As of 2005, the city includes 31,000 trees on 900 miles of streets. A 2011 analysis of Pittsburgh's tree cover, which involved sampling more than 200 small plots throughout the city, showed a value of between $10 and $13 million in annual benefits based on the urban forest contributions to aesthetics, energy use and air quality. Energy savings from shade, impact on city air and water quality, and the boost in property values were taken into account in the analysis. The city spends $850,000 annually on street tree planting and maintenance.
Despite improvements, some studies still suggest that poor air quality in Pittsburgh is causing negative health effects. In a past study conducted between 2014 and 2016 researchers determined that children who lived in areas close to sources of pollution, such as industrial sites, experienced rates of asthma at almost 3 times the national average. The study also found that 38% of students live in areas over USEPA's 12 micrograms per cubic meter standards, while 70% live in areas over the WHO's standard of 10 micrograms per cubic meter. Several of the plants were located in or very near Pittsburgh. The study also noted that most of the effected communities were minority communities. This had led some residents in Pittsburgh to believe that the continuing effects of air pollution are a case of environmental racism.
Groups such as Women for a Healthy Environment are working to address ongoing concerns surrounding air pollution in Pittsburgh. WHE does work such as policy analysis, publishing reports, and community education. In the summer of 2017, a crowd sourced air quality monitoring application, Smell PGH, was launched. As air quality is still a concern of many in the area, the app allows for users to report odd smells and informs local authorities.
Water quality
The local rivers continue to have pollution levels exceeding EPA limits. This is caused by frequently overflowing untreated sewage into local waterways, due to flood conditions and antiquated infrastructure. Pittsburgh has a combined sewer system, where its sewage pipes contain both stormwater and wastewater. The pipes were constructed in the early 1900s, and the sewage treatment plant was built in 1959. Due to insufficient improvements over time, the city is faced with public health concerns regarding its water. As little as a tenth of an inch of rain causes runoffs from the sewage system to drain into local rivers. Nine billion gallons of untreated waste and stormwater flow into rivers, leading to health hazards and Clean Water Act violations. The local sewage authority, Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, or ALCOSAN, is operating under Consent Decree from the EPA to come up with solutions. In 2017, ALCOSAN proposed a $2 billion upgrade to the system which was approved by the EPA in 2019.
Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) is the city's agency required to replace pipes and charge water rates. They have come under fire from both city and state authorities due to alleged mismanagement. In 2017, Mayor William Peduto advocated for a restructuring of the PWSA and a partially privatized water authority. Governor Wolf subsequently assigned the PWSA to be under the oversight of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
PWSA has also been subject to criticism due to findings released in 2016 showing high levels of lead in Pittsburgh's drinking water. Although Pittsburgh's drinking water had been high in lead levels, and steadily rising, for many years, many residents blame PWSA administrative changes for the spike in lead levels. In the years prior, PWSA had hired Veolia, a Paris-based company, for consultation to help with mounting administrative difficulties. By 2015, PWSA in consultation with Veolia had laid off 23 people, including halving the laboratory staff that was responsible for testing water safety and quality. Simultaneously, PWSA in consultation with Veolia had changed what chemicals they were using to prevent metal corrosion in 2014, from soda ash to caustic soda, without consulting with Department of Environmental Protection. Anti-corrosive chemicals were being used because many of Pittsburgh's water pipes were made of lead, and adding anti-corrosive chemicals helped prevent lead from seeping into drinking water.
In 2016 lead levels were as high as 27 ppb in some cases. The legal limit is 15 ppb, although there is not a safe amount of lead in drinking water. Though lead levels had been rising in previous years, they had not exceeded the legal limit. In late 2015 PWSA terminated its contracted with Veolia. In response to the high lead levels PWSA began adding orthophosphate to the water. Orthophosphate is meant to create a coating on the inside of pipes, creating a barrier to prevent lead from leaching into drinking water. PWSA has also been working to replace lead pipes, and continuing to test water for lead.
There remains concern among residents over the long-term effects of this lead, particularly for children, in whom lead causes permanent damage to the brain and nervous system. Some people also believe that the high levels of lead reflect environmental racism, as black and Hispanic children in Pittsburgh experience elevated blood-lead levels at 4 times the rate of white children. Water fountains in Langley k-8 school in Sheraden were found to have the highest levels of lead of any schools in the Pittsburgh area. These levels were about 11 times the legal limit. Some residents believe this is due to Langely being a predominantly black school, with 89% of the student body being eligible for the free lunch program.
Demographics
2020 census
At the 2010 census, there were 305,704 people residing in Pittsburgh, a decrease of 8.6% since 2000; 66.0% of the population was White, 25.8% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 4.4% Asian, 0.3% Other, and 2.3% mixed; in 2020, 2.3% of Pittsburgh's population was of Hispanic or Latino American origin of any race. Non-Hispanic whites were 64.8% of the population in 2010, compared to 78.7% in 1970. By the 2020 census, the population slightly declined further to 302,971. Its racial and ethnic makeup in 2020 was 64.7% non-Hispanic white, 23.0% Black or African American, 5.8% Asian, and 3.2% Hispanic or Latino American of any race.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the five largest European ethnic groups in Pittsburgh were German (19.7%), Irish (15.8%), Italian (11.8%), Polish (8.4%), and English (4.6%), while the metropolitan area is approximately 22% German-American, 15.4% Italian American and 11.6% Irish American. Pittsburgh has one of the largest Italian-American communities in the nation, and the fifth-largest Ukrainian community per the 1990 census. Pittsburgh has one of the most extensive Croatian communities in the United States. Overall, the Pittsburgh metro area has one of the largest populations of Slavic Americans in the country.
Pittsburgh has a sizable Black and African American population, concentrated in various neighborhoods especially in the East End. There is also a small Asian community consisting of Indian immigrants, and a small Hispanic community consisting of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans.
According to a 2010 Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) study, residents include 773,341 "Catholics"; 326,125 "Mainline Protestants"; 174,119 "Evangelical Protestants;" 20,976 "Black Protestants;" and 16,405 "Orthodox Christians," with 996,826 listed as "unclaimed" and 16,405 as "other" in the metro area. A 2017 study by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University estimated the Jewish population of Greater Pittsburgh was 49,200. Pittsburgh is also cited as the location where the earliest precursor to Jehovah's Witnesses was founded by Charles Taze Russell; today the denomination makes up approximately 1% of the population based on data from the Pew Research Center.
According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 78% of the population of the city identified themselves as Christians, with 42% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant, and 32% professing Catholic beliefs. while 18% claim no religious affiliation. The same study says that other religions (including Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism) collectively make up about 4% of the population.
In 2010, there were 143,739 households, out of which 21.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.2% were married couples living together, 16.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.4% were non-families. 39.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 19.9% under the age of 18, 14.8% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $28,588, and the median income for a family was $38,795. Males had a median income of $32,128 versus $25,500 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,816. About 15.0% of families and 20.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.5% of those under the age of 18 and 13.5% ages 65 or older. By the 2019 American Community Survey, the median income for a household increased to $53,799. Families had a median income of $68,922; married-couple families had a median income of $93,500; and non-family households had a median income of $34,448. Pittsburgh's wealthiest suburbs within city limits are Squirrel Hill and Point Breeze, the only two areas of the city which have average household incomes over $100,000 a year. Outside of city limits, Sewickley Heights is by a wide margin the wealthiest suburb of Pittsburgh within Allegheny County, with an average yearly household income of just over $218,000. Sewickely Heights is seen as one of Pittsburgh's wealthiest suburbs culturally as well, titles which the suburbs of Upper St. Clair, Fox Chapel, Wexford, and Warrendale also have been bestowed.
In a 2002 study, Pittsburgh ranked 22nd of 69 urban places in the U.S. in the number of residents 25 years or older who had completed a bachelor's degree, at 31%. Pittsburgh ranked 15th of the 69 places in the number of residents 25 years or older who completed a high school degree, at 84.7%.
The metro area has shown greater residential racial integration during the last 30 years. The 2010 census ranked 18 other U.S. metros as having greater black-white segregation, while 32 other U.S. metros rank higher for black-white isolation.
As of 2018, much of Pittsburgh's population density was concentrated in the central, southern, and eastern areas. The city limits itself have a population density of 5,513 people per square mile; its most densely populated parts are North Oakland (at 21,200 per square mile) and Uptown Pittsburgh (at 19,869 per square mile). Outside of the city limits, Dormont and Mount Oliver are Pittsburgh's most densely-populated neighborhoods, with 11,167 and 9,902 people per square mile respectively.
Most of Pittsburgh's immigrants are from China, India, Korea and Italy.
Demographic changes
Since the 1940s, some demographic changes have sometimes been caused by city initiatives for redevelopment.
Throughout the 1950s Pittsburgh's Lower Hill District faced massive demographic changes when 1,551, majority black, residents and 413 businesses were forced to relocate when the city of Pittsburgh used eminent domain to make space for the construction of the Civic Arena. This Civic Arena ultimately opened in 1961. The Civic Arena was built as part of one of Pittsburgh's revitalization campaigns. An auditorium in this space was initially proposed in 1947 by the Regional Planning Association and Urban Redevelopment Authority. The idea of an auditorium with a retractable roof that would house the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera was more specifically proposed in 1953 by the Allegheny Conference on Community Redevelopment. The following year the Public Auditorium Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County was formed. The Lower Hill District had been approved by the City Planning Commission in 1950. Partially as a result of the Civic arena, the whole Hill District is estimated to only have 12,000 residents now. These governmental organizations caused demographic changes through creating a mass exodus from the lower hill district for the construction of the Civic Arena.
In the 1960s the Urban Redevelopment Authority attempted to redevelop East Liberty with the goal of preserving its status as a market center. Penn Center Mall was the result of this effort. In the process of constructing this mall, approximately 3,800 people were forced to relocate. This proved to be another case of government intervention resulting in demographic changes.
Later on, in the early 2000s, movement of businesses into East Liberty, such as Home Depot, Whole Foods, and Google, created another demographic shift. This era of redevelopment was led by private developers who catered to what one scholar described as “Florida’s creative class.” This change continued to be supported by the Urban Redevelopment Authority; particularly by the executive director Rob Stepney, who said of the redevelopment “We had an inspired and shared vision.” When describing the result of redevelopment he said “East Liberty went from blighted and ‘keep off the grass’ to the definition of what millennials are looking for.”
The Pittsburgh government’s choices during redevelopment and the resulting demographic changes have resulted in criticism and led some residents to believe that displacement was purposeful. In one article published in Public Source, a resident explains their belief that redevelopment plans are part of “deconcentration,” an effort to spread out black and low-income residents in order to prevent them from being concentrated in one place. Others worry that these demographic changes are part of government complicity in gentrification. Gentrification is a process where wealthier residents move into an area, altering it by increasing housing / renting costs and changing the market for businesses in the area. This displaces current residents who are unable to afford living in the changed neighborhood. In East Liberty, for example, people frequently cite housing units being demolished and replaced by businesses as evidence of gentrification. For example, when the East Mall public housing unit was demolished in 2009, and a Target built in its place.
Economy
Pittsburgh has adapted since the collapse of its century-long steel and electronics industries. The region has shifted to high technology, robotics, health care, nuclear engineering, tourism, biomedical technology, finance, education, and services. Annual payroll of the region's technology industries, when taken in aggregate, exceeded $10.8 billion in 2007, and in 2010 there were 1,600 technology companies. A National Bureau of Economic Research 2014 report named Pittsburgh the second-best U.S. city for intergenerational economic mobility or the American Dream. Reflecting the citywide shift from industry to technology, former factories have been renovated as modern office space. Google has research and technology offices in a refurbished 1918–1998 Nabisco factory, a complex known as Bakery Square. Some of the factory's original equipment, such as a large dough mixer, were left standing in homage to the site's industrial roots. Pittsburgh's transition from its industrial heritage has earned it praise as "the poster child for managing industrial transition". Other major cities in the northeast and mid-west have increasingly borrowed from Pittsburgh's model in order to renew their industries and economic base.
The largest employer in the city is the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, with 48,000 employees. All hospitals, outpatient clinics, and doctor's office positions combine for 116,000 jobs, approximately 10% of the jobs in the region. An analyst recently observed of the city's medical sector: "That's both more jobs and a higher share of the region's total employment than the steel industry represented in the 1970s."
Education is a major economic driver in the region. The largest single employer in education is the University of Pittsburgh, with 10,700 employees.
Ten Fortune 500 companies call the Pittsburgh area home. They are (in alphabetical order): Alcoa Corporation (NYSE: AA), Arconic Corporation (NYSE: ARNC), Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS), The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ: KHC), PNC Financial Services (NYSE: PNC), PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG), U.S. Steel Corporation (NYSE: X), Viatris (NASDAQ: VRTS), Wabtec Corporation (NYSE: WAB), and WESCO International (WYSE: WCC).
The region is home to Aurora, Allegheny Technologies, American Eagle Outfitters, Duolingo, EQT Corporation, CONSOL Energy, Howmet Aerospace, Kennametal and II-VI headquarters. Other major employers include BNY Mellon, GlaxoSmithKline, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Lanxess. The Northeast U.S. regional headquarters for Chevron Corporation, Nova Chemicals, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, FedEx Ground, Ariba, and the RAND Corporation call the area home. 84 Lumber, Giant Eagle, Highmark, Rue 21, General Nutrition Center (GNC), CNX Gas (CXG), and Genco Supply Chain Solutions are major non-public companies headquartered in the region. The global impact of Pittsburgh technology and business was recently demonstrated in several key components of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner being manufactured and supplied by area companies. Area retail is anchored by over 35 shopping malls and a healthy downtown retail sector, as well as boutique shops along Walnut Street, in Squirrel Hill, Lawrenceville and Station Square.
The nonprofit arts and cultural industry in Allegheny County generates $341 million in economic activity that supports over 10,000 full-time equivalent jobs with nearly $34 million in local and state taxes raised.
A leader in environmental design, the city is home to 60 total and 10 of the world's first green buildings while billions have been invested in the area's Marcellus natural gas fields. A renaissance of Pittsburgh's 116-year-old film industry—that boasts the world's first movie theater—has grown from the long-running Three Rivers Film Festival to an influx of major television and movie productions. including Disney and Paramount offices with the largest sound stage outside Los Angeles and New York City.
Pittsburgh has hosted many conventions, including INPEX, the world's largest invention trade show, since 1984; Tekko, a four-day anime convention, since 2003; Anthrocon, a furry convention, since 2006; and the DUG East energy trade show since 2009.
In 2015, Pittsburgh was listed among the "eleven most livable cities in the world" by Metropolis magazine. The Economist's Global Liveability Ranking placed Pittsburgh as the most or second-most livable city in the United States in 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2018.
Arts and culture
Entertainment
Pittsburgh has a rich history in arts and culture dating from 19th century industrialists commissioning and donating public works, such as Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts and the Benedum Center, home to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Opera, respectively as well as such groups as the River City Brass Band and the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Pittsburgh has a number of small and mid-size arts organizations including the Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Quantum Theatre, the Renaissance and Baroque Society of Pittsburgh, and the early music ensemble Chatham Baroque. Several choirs and singing groups are also present at the cities' universities; some of the most notable include the Pitt Men's Glee Club and the Heinz Chapel Choir.
Pittsburgh Dance Council and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater host a variety of dance events. Polka, folk, square, and round dancing have a long history in the city and are celebrated by the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, a multicultural academy dedicated to the preservation and presentation of folk songs and dance.
Hundreds of major films have been shot partially or wholly in Pittsburgh. The Dark Knight Rises was largely filmed in Downtown, Oakland, and the North Shore. Pittsburgh is also considered as the birthplace of the modern zombie film genre after George A. Romero directed the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. Pittsburgh has also teamed up with a Los Angeles-based production company, and has built the largest and most advanced movie studio in the eastern United States.
Pittsburgh's major art museums include the Andy Warhol Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, The Frick Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the Mattress Factory, and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, which has extensive dinosaur, mineral, animal, and Egyptian collections. The Kamin Science Center and associated SportsWorks has interactive technology and science exhibits. The Senator John Heinz History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum is a Smithsonian affiliated regional history museum in the Strip District and its associated Fort Pitt Museum is in Point State Park. Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum in Oakland houses Western Pennsylvania military exhibits from the Civil War to present. The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh on the North Side features interactive exhibits for children. The eclectic Bayernhof Music Museum is six miles (9 km) from downtown while The Clemente Museum is in the city's Lawrenceville section. The Cathedral of Learning's Nationality Rooms showcase pre-19th century learning environments from around the world. There are regular guided and self-guided architectural tours in numerous neighborhoods. Downtown's cultural district hosts quarterly Gallery Crawls and the annual Three Rivers Arts Festival. Pittsburgh is home to a number of art galleries and centers including the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University, University Art Gallery of the University of Pittsburgh, the American Jewish Museum, and the Wood Street Galleries.
The Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, and the National Aviary have served the city for over a century. Pittsburgh is home to the amusement park Kennywood. Pittsburgh is home to one of the several state licensed casinos. The Rivers Casino is on the North Shore along the Ohio River, just west of Kamin Science Center and Acrisure Stadium.
Pittsburgh is home to the world's largest furry convention known as Anthrocon, which has been held annually at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center since 2006. In 2024, Anthrocon drew over 17,000 visitors and has had a cumulative economic impact of $53 million over the course of its 11 years of being hosted in Pittsburgh.
Lifetime's reality show, Dance Moms, is filmed at Pittsburgh's Abby Lee Dance Company.
Music
Pittsburgh has a long tradition of jazz, blues, and bluegrass music. The National Negro Opera Company was founded in the city as the first all African-American opera company in the United States. This led to the prominence of African-American singers like Leontyne Price in the world of opera. One of the greatest American musicians and composers of the 20th century, Billy Strayhorn, grew up and was educated in Pittsburgh, as was pianist/composer-arranger Mary Lou Williams, who composed and recorded an eponymous tribute to her home town in 1966, featuring vocalist Leon Thomas.
Pittsburgh's Wiz Khalifa is a recent artist to have a number one record. His anthem "Black and Yellow" (a tribute to Pittsburgh's official colors) reached number one on Billboard's "Hot 100" for the Week of February 19, 2011. Perry Como and Christina Aguilera are from Pittsburgh suburbs. The city is also where the band Rusted Root was formed. Liz Berlin of Rusted Root owns Mr. Smalls, a popular music venue for touring national acts in Pittsburgh. Hip hop artist Mac Miller was also a Pittsburgh native, with his debut album Blue Slide Park named after the local Frick Park.
Many punk rock and Hardcore punk acts, such as Aus Rotten and Anti-Flag, originated in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has also seen many metal bands gain prominence in recent years, most notably Code Orange, who were nominated for a Grammy. The city was also home to the highly influential math rock band Don Caballero.
Pittsburgh has emerged as a leading city in the United States' heavy metal music scene. Ranking as the third 'most metal city' in a study conducted by MetalSucks, Pittsburgh has earned a reputation for its heavy metal community. Pittsburgh is home to over six-hundred heavy metal bands, as well as heavy metal coffee shops and bars. The city is noted for its doom metal, metalcore, and death metal scenes.
Throughout the 1990s there was an electronic music subculture in Pittsburgh which likely traced its origins to similar Internet chatroom-based movements in Detroit, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and across the United States. Pittsburgh promoters and DJs organized raves in warehouses, ice rinks, barns, and fields which eventually attracted thousands of attendees, some of whom were high school students or even younger. As the events grew more popular, they drew internationally known DJs such as Adam Beyer and Richie Hawtin. Pittsburgh rave culture itself spawned at least one well-known artist, the drum and bass DJ Dieselboy, who attended the University of Pittsburgh between 1990 and 1995.
Since 2012, Pittsburgh has been the home of Hot Mass, an afterhours electronic music dance party which critics have compared favorably to European nightclubs and parties. Electronic music artist and DJ Yaeji credits Hot Mass with her "indoctrination into nightlife"; she regularly attended the party while studying at Carnegie Mellon University.
Theatre
The city's first play was produced at the old courthouse in 1803 and the first theater built in 1812. Collegiate companies include the University of Pittsburgh's Repertory Theatre and Kuntu Repertory Theatre, Point Park University's resident companies at its Pittsburgh Playhouse, and Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama productions and Scotch'n'Soda organization. The Duquesne University Red Masquers, founded in 1912, are the oldest, continuously producing theater company in Pennsylvania. The city's longest-running theater show, Friday Nite Improvs, is an improv jam that has been performed in the Cathedral of Learning and other locations for 20 years. The Pittsburgh New Works Festival utilizes local theater companies to stage productions of original one-act plays by playwrights from all parts of the country. Similarly, Future Ten showcases new ten-minute plays. Saint Vincent Summer Theatre, Off the Wall Productions, Mountain Playhouse, The Theatre Factory, and Stage Right! in nearby Latrobe, Carnegie, Jennerstown, Trafford, and Greensburg, respectively, employ Pittsburgh actors and contribute to the culture of the region.
Pittsburgh is well known for being home to the late playwright August Wilson. The August Wilson House now remains in Pittsburgh to celebrate the life and work of August Wilson, continue to produce his plays, and serve as an arts center for the Hill District, where Wilson was from.
Literature
Pittsburgh is the birthplace of Gertrude Stein and Rachel Carson, a Chatham University graduate from the suburb of Springdale, Pennsylvania. Modern writers include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson and Michael Chabon with his Pittsburgh-focused commentary on student and college life. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, David McCullough was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Annie Dillard, a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Much of her memoir An American Childhood takes place in post-World War II Pittsburgh. Award-winning author John Edgar Wideman grew up in Pittsburgh and has based several of his books, including the memoir Brothers and Keepers, in his hometown. Poet Terrance Hayes, winner of the 2010 National Book Award and a 2014 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, received his MFA from the University of Pittsburgh, where he is a faculty member. Poet Michael Simms, founder of Autumn House Press, resides in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Poet Samuel John Hazo, the first poet Laureate of Pennsylvania, resides in the city. Contemporary writers from Pittsburgh include Kathleen Tessaro, author of novels such as "Elegance," "The Perfume Collector," and "Rare Objects," whose works contribute to the city's rich literary tradition. New writers include Chris Kuzneski, who attended the University of Pittsburgh and mentions Pittsburgh in his works, and Pittsburgher Brian Celio, author of Catapult Soul, who captured the Pittsburgh 'Yinzer' dialect in his writing. Pittsburgh's unique literary style extends to playwrights, as well as local graffiti and hip hop artists.
Pittsburgh's position as the birthplace for community owned television and networked commercial television helped spawn the modern children's show genres exemplified by Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Happy's Party, Cappelli & Company, and The Children's Corner, all nationally broadcast.
The Pittsburgh Dad series has showcased the Pittsburghese genre to a global YouTube audience since 2011.
The modern fantasy, macabre and science fiction genre was popularized by director George A. Romero, television's Bill Cardille and his Chiller Theatre, director and writer Rusty Cundieff and makeup effects guru Tom Savini. The genre continues today with the PARSEC science fiction organization, The It's Alive Show, the annual "Zombie Fest", and several writer's workshops including Write or Die, Pittsburgh SouthWrites, and Pittsburgh Worldwrights with Barton Paul Levenson, Kenneth Chiacchia and Elizabeth Humphreys Penrose.
Food
Pittsburgh is known for several specialties including pierogies, kielbasa, chipped chopped ham sandwiches, and Klondike bars. In 2019, Pittsburgh was deemed "Food City of the Year" by the San Francisco-based restaurant and hospitality consulting firm af&co. Many restaurants were favorably mentioned, among them were Superior Motors in Braddock, Driftwood Oven in Lawrenceville, Spork in Bloomfield, Fish nor Fowl in Garfield, Bitter Ends Garden & Luncheonette in Bloomfield, and Rolling Pepperoni in Lawrenceville.
Pittsburgh is home to the annual pickle-themed festival Picklesburgh, which has been named the "best specialty food festival in America".
Local dialect
The Pittsburgh English dialect, commonly called Pittsburghese, was influenced by Scots-Irish, German, and Eastern European immigrants and African Americans. Locals who speak the dialect are sometimes referred to as "Yinzers" (from the local word "yinz" [var. yunz], a blended form of "you ones", similar to "y'all" and "you all" in the South). Common Pittsburghese terms are: "slippy" (slippery), "redd up" (clean up), "jagger bush" (thorn bush), and "gum bands" (rubber bands). The dialect is also notable for dropping the verb "to be". In Pittsburghese one would say "the car needs washed" instead of "needs to be washed", "needs washing", or "needs a wash." The dialect has some tonal similarities to other nearby regional dialects of Erie and Baltimore but is noted for its somewhat staccato rhythms. The staccato qualities of the dialect are thought to originate either from Welsh or other European languages. The many local peculiarities have prompted The New York Times to describe Pittsburgh as "the Galapagos Islands of American dialect". The lexicon itself contains notable loans from Polish and other European languages; examples include babushka, pierogi, and halušky.
Livability
Pittsburgh has five city parks and several parks managed by the Nature Conservancy. The largest, Frick Park, provides 664 acres (269 ha) of woodland park with extensive hiking and biking trails throughout steep valleys and wooded slopes. Birding enthusiasts visit the Clayton Hill area of Frick Park, where over 100 species of birds have been recorded.
Residents living in extremely low-lying areas near the rivers or one of the 1,400 creeks and streams may have occasional floods, such as those caused when the remnants of Hurricane Ivan hit rainfall records in 2004. River flooding is relatively rare due to federal flood control efforts extensively managing locks, dams, and reservoirs. Residents living near smaller tributary streams are less protected from occasional flooding. The cost of a comprehensive flood control program for the region has been estimated at a prohibitive $50 billion.
Pittsburgh has the greatest number of bars per capita in the nation.
Sports
Pittsburgh hosted the first professional football game and the first World Series. In 2009, Pittsburgh won the Sporting News title of "Best Sports City" in the United States and, in 2013, Sperling's Best Places "top 15 cities for baseball". College sports also have large followings with the University of Pittsburgh in football and sharing Division I basketball fans with Robert Morris and Duquesne.
Pittsburgh has a long history with its major professional sports teams—the Steelers of the National Football League, the Penguins of the National Hockey League, and the Pirates of Major League Baseball—which all share the same team colors, the official city colors of black and gold. Pittsburgh is the only city in the United States where this practice of sharing team colors in solidarity takes place. The black-and-gold color scheme has since become widely associated with the city and personified in its famous Terrible Towel.
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are a professional soccer team who have been playing in Pittsburgh since they were established in 1999. They are a member of the USL Championship division, a second-tier league of US professional soccer and are in the league's Eastern Conference. The Riverhounds play their home matches at Highmark Stadium (Pennsylvania) a 5,000 seat soccer-specific stadium located in Pittsburgh's Station Square. In keeping with the uniformity of professional sports teams in Pittsburgh, the Riverhounds colors are black and gold.
"Rails to Trails", has converted miles of former rail tracks to recreational trails, including a Pittsburgh-Washington D.C. bike/walking trail. Several mountain biking trails are within the city and suburbs, Frick Park has biking trails and Hartwood Acres Park has many miles of single track trails.
Professional
Major league
Minor league/other
**Pittsburgh's ABA franchise won the 1968 title, but the Steel City Yellow Jackets franchise is heir to it only in location.
College
Power 5
Other
Baseball
The Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, often referred to as the Bucs or the Buccos (derived from buccaneer), is the city's oldest professional sports franchise, having been founded in 1881, and plays in the Central Division of the National League. The Pirates are nine-time Pennant winners and five-time World Series Champions, were in the first World Series (1903) and claim two pre-World Series titles in 1901 and 1902. The Pirates play in PNC Park.
Pittsburgh also has a rich Negro league history, with the former Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays credited with as many as 14 league titles and 11 Hall of Famers between them in the 1930s and 1940s, while the Keystones fielded teams in the 1920s. In addition, in 1971 the Pirates were the first Major League team to field an all-minority lineup. One sportswriter claimed, "No city is more synonymous with black baseball than Pittsburgh."
Since the late 20th century, the Pirates had three consecutive National League Championship Series appearances (1990–92) (going 6, 7 and 7 games each), followed by setting the MLB record for most consecutive losing seasons, with 20 from 1993 until 2012. This era was followed by three consecutive postseason appearances: the 2013 National League Division Series and the 2014–2015 Wild Card games. Their September pennant race in 1997 featured the franchises' last no-hitter and last award for Sporting News' Executive of the Year.
Football
The city's professional team, NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, is named after the distribution company the Pittsburgh Steeling company established in 1927. News of the team has preempted news of elections and other events and are important to the region and its diaspora. The Steelers have been owned by the Rooney family since the team's founding in 1933, show consistency in coaching (only three coaches since the 1960s all with the same basic philosophy) and are noted as one of sports' most respectable franchises. The Steelers have a long waiting list for season tickets, and have sold out every home game since 1972. The team won four Super Bowls in a six-year span in the 1970s, a fifth Super Bowl in 2006, and a league record sixth Super Bowl in 2009. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 they have qualified for the most NFL playoff berths (28) and have played in (15) and hosted (11) the most NFL conference championship games.
High school football routinely attract 10,000 fans per game and extensive press coverage. The Tom Cruise film All the Right Moves and ESPN's Bound for Glory with Dick Butkus both filmed in the area to capture the tradition and passion of local high school football.
College football in the city dates to 1889 with the Division I (FBS) Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh posting nine national championships, qualifying 37 total bowl games, appearing in the 2018 ACC Championship Game, and winning the 2020 ACC Championship Game which was the program's first conference title since leaving the Big East for the ACC between the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Local universities Duquesne and Robert Morris have loyal fan bases that follow their lower (FCS) teams. Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon University, and Washington & Jefferson College all posted major bowl games and AP Poll rankings from the 1920s to the 1940s as that era's equivalent of Top 25 FBS programs.
Acrisure Stadium serves as home for the Steelers, Panthers, and both the suburban and city high school championships. Playoff franchises Pittsburgh Power and Pittsburgh Gladiators competed in the Arena Football League in the 1980s and 2010s respectively. The Gladiators hosted ArenaBowl I in the city, competing in two, but losing both before moving to Tampa, Florida and becoming the Storm. The Pittsburgh Passion has been the city's professional women's football team since 2002 and plays its home games at Highmark Stadium. The Ed Debartolo owned Pittsburgh Maulers featured a Heisman Trophy winner in the mid-1980s, former superstar University of Nebraska running back Mike Rozier.
Hockey
The NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins have played in Pittsburgh since the team's founding in 1967. The team has won 6 Eastern Conference titles (1991, 1992, 2008, 2009, 2016 and 2017) and 5 Stanley Cup championships (1991, 1992, 2009, 2016 and 2017). Since 1999, Hall of Famer and back-to-back playoff MVP Mario Lemieux has served as Penguins owner. Until moving into the PPG Paints Arena in 2010 (when it was known as Consol Energy Center), the team played their home games at the world's first retractable domed stadium, the Civic Arena, or in local parlance "The Igloo".
Ice hockey has had a regional fan base since the 1890s semi-pro Keystones. The city's first ice rink dates back to 1889, when there was an ice rink at the Casino in Schenley Park. From 1896 to 1956, the Exposition Building on the Allegheny River near The Point and Duquesne Gardens in Oakland offered indoor skating.
The NHL awarded one of its first franchises to the city in 1924 on the strength of the back-to-back USAHA championship winning Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets featuring future Hall of Famers and a Stanley Cup winning coach. The NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates made several Stanley Cup playoff runs with a future Hall of Famer before folding from Great Depression financial pressures. Hockey survived with the Pittsburgh Hornets farm team (1936–1967) and their seven finals appearances and three championships in 18 playoff seasons.
Robert Morris University fields a Division I college hockey team at the Island Sports Center. Pittsburgh has semi-pro and amateur teams such as the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite. Pro-grade ice rinks such as the Rostraver Ice Garden, Mt. Lebanon Recreation Center and Iceoplex at Southpointe have trained several native Pittsburgh players for NHL play. RMU hosted the city's first Frozen Four college championship in 2013 with the four PPG Paints Arena games televised by ESPN.
Basketball
Professional basketball in Pittsburgh dates to the 1910s with teams "Monticello" and "Loendi" winning five national titles, the Pirates (1937–45 in the NBL), the Pittsburgh Ironmen (1947–48 NBA inaugural season), the Pittsburgh Rens (1961–63), the Pittsburgh Pipers (first American Basketball Association championship in 1968) led by Connie Hawkins (team then moved); the Pittsburgh Condors (ABA returned in 1970–72), the Pittsburgh Piranhas (CBA Finals in 1995), the Pittsburgh Xplosion (2004–08) and Phantoms (2009–10) both of the ABA. The city has hosted dozens of pre-season and 15 regular season "neutral site" NBA games, including Wilt Chamberlain's record setting performance in both consecutive field goals and field goal percentage on February 24, 1967, NBA records that still stand.
The Duquesne University Dukes and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers have played college basketball in the city since 1914 and 1905 respectively. Pitt and Duquesne have played the annual City Game since 1932.
Duquesne was the city's first team to appear in a Final Four (1940), obtain a number one AP Poll ranking (1954), and to win a post-season national title, the 1955 National Invitation Tournament on its second straight trip to the NIT title game. Duquesne is the only college program to produce back-to-back NBA No. 1 overall draft picks with 1955's Dick Ricketts and 1956's Sihugo Green. Duquesne's Chuck Cooper was the first African American drafted by an NBA team.
The Panthers won two pre-tournament era Helms Athletic Foundation National Championships in 1928 and 1930, competed in a "national title game" against LSU in 1935, and made a Final Four appearance in 1941. Pitt has won 13 conference titles, qualified for the NCAA tournament 26 times including a post season tournament every season between 1999-2000 and 2015-2016 during which time it regularly sold out the Petersen Events Center. The program has produced 27 NBA draft picks and 15 All Americans while ranking No. 1 in the nation as recently as 2009. The Petersen Events Center is home to the "Oakland Zoo", a student section which is nationally recognized for its passionate members and perseverance through consecutive unsuccessful seasons from 2016 to 2022.
The suburban Robert Morris University's Colonials have competed in NCAA Division I basketball since the 1970s, qualifying for the NCAA tournament in each of the last four decades (8). In the 2013 National Invitation Tournament the Colonials notched an upset win over the defending national champions Kentucky Wildcats.
Pittsburgh Panthers women's basketball has qualified for 14 post season tournaments (including 4 NCAA tournaments) and boasts of 5 All-Americans selected 6 times with 3 WNBA players. Pitt women began play in 1914 before being reintroduced in 1970. Both Duquesne and Robert Morris also have competitive Division I women's basketball programs.
Pittsburgh launched the nation's first high school all-star game in 1965. The Roundball Classic annually featured future NBA hall of famers at the Civic Arena with ESPN televising. The Civic Arena also hosted the championship tournament for the Eastern Eight Conference from 1978 until 1982.
Soccer
The Riverhounds, an American professional soccer team, were founded in 1998. Like the major league teams in the city, the Riverhounds wear black and gold kits. The club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The Riverhounds play their home games at Highmark Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium located in Station Square.
Golf
Golf has deep roots in the area. The oldest U.S. course in continuous use, Foxburg Country Club dating from 1887 calls the region home. Suburban Oakmont Country Club holds the record for most times as host for the U.S. Open (8). U.S. Women's Open (2), PGA Championships (3), and U.S. Amateurs (8) have also called Oakmont home.
Golf legends Arnold Palmer, Jim Furyk, and Rocco Mediate learned the game and began their careers on Pittsburgh area courses. Suburban courses such as Laurel Valley Golf Club and the Fox Chapel Golf Club have hosted PGA Championships (1937, 1965), the Ryder Cup (1975), LPGA Championships (1957–58), Senior Players Championships (2012–14), and the Senior PGA Championship (2005).
Local courses have sponsored annual major tournaments for 40 years:
Professional wrestling
Many notable professional wrestlers and promoters have hailed from the city or started their careers in Pittsburgh, including Bruno Sammartino, Kurt Angle, Shane Douglas, Corey Graves, Dominic DeNucci, Elias, Britt Baker and many more.
The Fineview section of Pittsburgh served as the base of the televised show Studio Wrestling during the 1960s. The Keystone State Wrestling Alliance (KSWA) is a professional wrestling promotion which was founded in Pittsburgh in 2000. It is the only promotion based in Pittsburgh. It operates in the city's Lawrenceville neighborhood. The KSWA performs Monthly on Saturdays at its main venue on 51st Street.
Annual sporting events
Pittsburgh hosts several annual major sporting events initiated in the late 20th century, including the:
Three Rivers Regatta (since 1977)
Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix (since 1983)
Dirty Dozen Cycle Race (since 1983)
Pittsburgh Marathon (since 1985)
Great Race 10K (since 1985)
Head of the Ohio Regatta (since 1987)
The city's vibrant rivers have attracted annual world-title fishing competitions of the Forrest Wood Cup in 2009 and the Bassmaster Classic in 2005.
Annual events continue during the winter months at area ski resorts such as Boyce Park, Seven Springs, Hidden Valley Resort, Laurel Mountain, and Wisp. Ice skating rinks are enjoyed at PPG Place and North Park.
Government and politics
Government
The Government of Pittsburgh is composed of the Mayor of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh City Council, and various boards and commissions. The mayor and the nine-member council each serve four-year terms. Since the 1950s the Mayor's Chief of Staff has assumed a large role in advising, long term planning, and as a "gatekeeper" to the mayor. City council members are chosen by plurality elections in each of nine districts. The government's official offices are in the Pittsburgh City-County Building.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court holds sessions in Pittsburgh, as well as Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Pittsburgh is represented in the Pennsylvania General Assembly by three Senate Districts and nine House Districts. Federally, Pittsburgh is part of Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district.
Politics
In 2006, Council President Luke Ravenstahl was sworn in as mayor at age 26, becoming the youngest mayor in the history of any major American city. His successor, Bill Peduto, was sworn in on January 6, 2014. In November 2021, Pittsburgh elected its first African-American mayor, Ed Gainey.
Prior to the American Civil War, Pittsburgh was strongly abolitionist. It is considered the birthplace of the national Republican Party, as the party held its first convention here in February 1856. From the Civil War to the 1930s, Pittsburgh was a Republican stronghold. The effects of the Great Depression, combined with entrenched local GOP scandals, resulted in a shift among voters to the Democratic Party. With the exceptions of the 1973 and 1977 elections (where lifelong Democrats ran off the party ticket), Democrats have been elected consecutively to the mayor's office since the 1933 election. The city's ratio of party registration is 5 to 1 Democrat.
Pittsburgh is represented in the Pennsylvania General Assembly by three Senate Districts (Lindsey Williams (D)-38, Wayne D. Fontana (D)-42, and Jay Costa (D)-43) and nine House Districts (Aerion Abney-19, Adam Ravenstahl-20, Sara Innamorato-21, Dan Frankel-23, Martell Covington-24, Dan Deasy-27, Abigail Salisbury-34, and Harry Readshaw-36, Dan Miller-42).
Federally, Pittsburgh is part of Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district, represented by Democrat Summer Lee since 2023 and also by Democrat Chris Deluzio.
Law enforcement
The area's largest law enforcement agency is the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, with close to 850 sworn officers. The city also has separate housing and school police departments. Other agencies also provide police protection within the city because of overlapping jurisdictional boundaries. The Allegheny County Sheriff focuses on jail and courthouse security. The Allegheny County Police primarily patrols county-owned parks and airports, while providing detective/investigatory functions for smaller suburbs and the Port Authority police patrols rapid transit. Pennsylvania State Police Troop B provides patrols for the city and immediate suburbs.
The county's lead law enforcement officer is Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala while the Allegheny County Medical Examiner heads forensics. Crimes of a federal nature are covered by the U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania.
Crime
Pittsburgh annually ranks as one of America's safest big cities, in 2013 being named the 3rd "most secure" big city by Farmers Insurance. Among crime rates of the 60 largest U.S. cities, 43 had more instances of property crime while 16 had less when compared to Pittsburgh. More instances of violent crime were reported in 21 of the largest cities while 37 had less. The FBI recommends against using data for ranking.
Per 100,000 persons stats (2012):
At the end of 2019, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police reported 37 murders in the city that year.
In Pittsburgh, the homicide rate for African Americans is seven times the national average. Some people believe that over-reliance on law enforcement exacerbates homicide rates. There is also concern regarding the effectiveness of law enforcement in solving these cases, as 97% of unsolved cases involved a black victim. This has led certain residents to believe law enforcement to be ineffective or apathetic. This is despite an increasing police budget. In 2023, members of the Pittsburgh City Council approved an increase to the police budget by $6 million. About 6% of this money is expected to go to the Stop the Violence trust fund. This fund goes to improving parks and recreation, various non-profits, and to the office of Community Health and Safety, in effort to holistically improve the social pressures supposedly causing violence in Pittsburgh.
Some people do not believe these efforts to be adequate. Certain studies, such as conducted by the Police Scorecard, rate the Pittsburgh Police Department at 37% quality (with 100% being the best). They rated Pittsburgh below the 50th percentile in the categories “police budget cost per person,” “fines / forefeitures,” “Police Presence/Over-Policing (Officers per Population),” “Force Used per Arrest,” “Racial Disparities in Deadly Force,” “Excessive Force Complaints Upheld,” “Discrimination Complaints Upheld,” “Criminal Misconduct Complaints Upheld,” “Arrest Rate for Low Level Offenses,” and “Racial Disparities in Drug Arrests.” This is 10 out of 15 categories.
Education
Colleges and universities
Pittsburgh is home to many colleges, universities and research facilities, the most well-known of which are Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne University. Also in the city are Carlow University, Chatham University, Point Park University, the Community College of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science.
The campuses of Carlow, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Pittsburgh are near each other in the Oakland neighborhood that is the city's traditional cultural center. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university founded by Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon. CMU contains the Mellon College of Science, School of Computer Science, College of Engineering, School of Business, Heinz College, College of Fine Arts, writing, Social and Decision Sciences, information systems, statistics, and psychology programs.
The University of Pittsburgh, established in 1787 and popularly referred to as "Pitt", is a state-related school with one of the nation's largest research programs. Pitt is known for the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh College of Business Administration, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, and other biomedical and health-related sciences.
Carlow University is a small private Catholic university that while coeducational, has traditionally educated women. Chatham University, a liberal arts college that was founded as a woman's college but became fully coeducational in 2015, is in the Shadyside neighborhood, but also maintains a 388-acre (157 ha) Eden Hall Farm campus in the North Hills. Duquesne University, a private Catholic university in the Bluff neighborhood and is noted for its song and dance troupe, the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, as well as programs in law, business, and pharmacy. Point Park University was founded in 1961 and is well known for its Conservatory of Performing Arts and its Pittsburgh Playhouse.
Primary education
Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers are paid well relative to their peers, ranking 17th in 2000 among the 100 largest cities by population for the highest minimum salary. In 2018, the starting teacher salary offered to teachers with a BA was $46,920. The maximum annual salary for a teacher with a master's degree was $95,254.
Local public schools include many charter and magnet schools, including City Charter High School (computer and technology focused), Pittsburgh Montessori School (formerly Homewood Montessori), Pittsburgh Gifted Center, Barack Obama Academy of International Studies 6-12, Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts 6–12, Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy, the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children, and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.
Private schools in Pittsburgh include Bishop Canevin High School, Central Catholic High School, Oakland Catholic High School, Winchester Thurston School, St. Edmund's Academy, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, Yeshiva Schools and The Ellis School. Shady Side Academy maintains a PK–5 primary school campus in the Point Breeze neighborhood, in addition to its 6–12 middle and upper school campuses in nearby suburban Fox Chapel. Other private institutions outside of Pittsburgh's limits include North Catholic High School and Seton-La Salle Catholic High School.
The city also has an extensive library system, both public and university. Most notable are the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh's University Library System, which rank as the ninth-largest public and 18th-largest academic libraries in the nation, respectively.
Media
Newspapers
There are two major daily newspapers in Pittsburgh: the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review online only (no longer in print for Pittsburgh Area). Weekly papers in the region include the Pittsburgh Business Times, Pittsburgh City Paper, Pittsburgh Catholic, Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, The New People, and the New Pittsburgh Courier. Independent student-written university-based newspapers include The Pitt News of the University of Pittsburgh, The Tartan of Carnegie Mellon University, The Duquesne Duke of Duquesne University, and The Globe of Point Park University. The University of Pittsburgh School of Law is also home to JURIST, the world's only university-based legal news service.
Television
The Pittsburgh metro area is served by multiple local television and radio stations. The Pittsburgh designated market area (DMA) is the 22nd-largest in the U.S. with 1,163,150 homes (1.045% of the total U.S.). The major network television stations include KDKA-TV 2 (CBS), WTAE 4 (ABC), WPXI 11 (NBC), WINP-TV 16 (Ion), WPKD-TV 19 (Independent), WPNT 22 (The CW/MyNetworkTV), WPCB 40 (Cornerstone), and WPGH-TV 53 (Fox). KDKA-TV, WINP-TV, and WPCB are owned-and-operated by their respective networks.
WQED 13 is the local PBS member station in Pittsburgh. It was established on April 1, 1954, and was the first community-sponsored television station and the fifth public station in the United States. The station has produced much original content for PBS, including Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, several National Geographic specials, and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Radio
A wide variety of radio stations serve the Pittsburgh market. The first was KDKA 1020 AM, also the world's first commercially licensed radio station, which began airing on November 2, 1920. Other stations include KQV 1410 AM (news), WBGG 970 AM (sports), KDKA-FM 93.7 FM (sports), WKST-FM 96.1 FM (Top 40), WAMO-AM 660 AM and 107.3 FM (urban contemporary) WBZZ 100.7 FM (adult contemporary), WDVE 102.5 FM (album rock), WPGB 104.7 FM (Country), and WXDX 105.9 FM (modern rock). There are also three public radio stations in the area: WESA 90.5 FM (National Public Radio affiliate), WQED 89.3 FM (classical), and WYEP 91.3 FM (adult alternative). Three non-commercial stations are run by Carnegie Mellon University (WRCT 88.3 FM), the University of Pittsburgh (WPTS 92.1 FM), and Point Park University (WPPJ 670 AM).
Film
Pittsburgh's 116-year-old film industry accelerated after the 2006 passage of the Pennsylvania Film Production Tax Credit. According to the Pittsburgh Film Office, over 124 major motion pictures have been filmed, in whole or in part, in Pittsburgh, including The Mothman Prophecies, Wonder Boys, Dogma, Hoffa, The Silence of the Lambs, Sudden Death, Flashdance, Southpaw, Striking Distance, Mrs. Soffel, Jack Reacher, Inspector Gadget, The Next Three Days, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and Fences. Pittsburgh became "Gotham City" in 2011 during filming of The Dark Knight Rises. George A. Romero shot nearly all his films in the area, including his Living Dead series.
Film production in Pittsburgh has notably impacted the region's economy and job creation, largely due to the 25% tax credit incentive established in 2007. The Pittsburgh Film Office states that the film and television industry provides employment to over 10,000 people and pays over $500 million in wages in southwestern Pennsylvania. Furthermore, the industry supports over 345,000 local businesses and contributes over $41 billion to them.
From 2017 to 2023, Pittsburgh has welcomed a series of major film and television productions like Fences, Mindhunter, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Sweet Girl, and I'm Your Woman. These productions have significantly contributed to the local economy by hiring local personnel, leasing local facilities and equipment, purchasing local goods and services, and enhancing local tourism and visibility.
In addition to a thriving film industry, Pittsburgh is home to several film festivals, film schools, and organizations that encourage and promote independent and diverse filmmakers. Notable film festivals include the Three Rivers Film Festival, the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival, the JFilm Festival, the ReelAbilities Film Festival, and the Black Bottom Film Festival. The local film schools include Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Point Park University - Cinema & Digital Arts, and University of Pittsburgh - Film Studies.
Moreover, Pittsburgh is developing a robust film studio infrastructure, with several sound stages and production facilities available for hire. Prominent film studios in Pittsburgh are 3 Rivers Studios, Cinelease Studios, Post Script Films, Deeplocal, and The Videohouse. There are also plans in the pipeline to develop a new film studio complex at the Carrie Furnace site in Rankin and Swissvale.
Utilities
The city is served by Duquesne Light, one of the original 1912 power companies founded by George Westinghouse. Water service is provided by the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority and Pennsylvania American Water. Natural gas is provided by Equitable Gas, Columbia Gas, Dominion Resources, Direct Energy, and Novec.
Health care
The two largest area health care providers are the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) (since 1893) and Allegheny Health Network (since 1882). Both hospitals annually rank as among the best overall in the United States, with UPMC ranked among U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" every year since 2000.
The first military hospital in U.S. history and the first west of the Atlantic Plain—General Edward Hand Hospital—served the area from 1777 to 1845. Since 1847, Pittsburgh has hosted the world's first "Mercy Hospital". This was followed by West Penn hospital in 1848, Passavant Hospital in 1849, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1883, Children's Hospital in 1887, and Magee Womens Hospital in 1911. In 1954, Allegheny General (AGH) was among the first to administer Cobalt therapy.
In 1980, UPMC announced a $250 million ($1.05 billion today) expansion and also hired transplant pioneer Thomas Starzl. In 1984, Allegheny General surgeons pioneered modern brain surgery. Starzl arranged the 1985 liver transplant of 5-year-old Amie Garrison as a UPMC surgery team flew to Baylor University, starting its transplant program. Also in 1985, UPMC surgeons Drs. Griffith, Hardesty, and Trento revealed a new device after a heart-lung transplant. In 1986, UPMC announced a $230 million ($639 million today) modernization. In 1996, UPMC's planned Sicily ISMETT branch was approved by the Italian government as transplant surgeons to supervise and deliver the world's third (both earlier ones done at UPMC)--and first public—cross species marrow transplant at University of California, San Francisco. UPMC's Thomas Detre founded the International Society for Bipolar Disorders at a world medical conference in Pittsburgh in 1999.
The $80 million ($142 million today) UPMC Sports Performance Complex for the Pittsburgh Panthers & Pittsburgh Steelers opened in 2000. In 2002, AGH opened its $30 million ($51.6 million today), 5-floor, 100,000 sq. ft., cancer center. The $130 million ($220 million today) 350,000 sq. ft. Hillman Cancer Center opened in 2003 as UPMC entered into an 8-year, $420 million ($678 million today) agreement with IBM to upgrade medical technologies & health information systems.
In 2009, the $600 million ($849 million today) UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh opened. The campus was featured in world news in 2012 for several unique approaches to patient care. UPMC officially adopted in Erie, Pennsylvania's Hamot Medical Center in 2010. The Pittsburgh Penguins announced a state of the art training facility with UPMC in 2012. UPMC announced in 2013 it had partnered with Nazarbayev University to help found its medical school.
Health discoveries
While he was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, American virologist Jonas Salk developed one of the first successful polio vaccines, which came into use in 1955.
UPMC has pioneered several world firsts including the first known cystic fibrosis heart-lung transplant (1983), the world's first simultaneous liver and heart transplant operation on a child (6-year-old Stormie Jones in 1984), the youngest heart-lung transplant (9 years old in 1985), the world's first heart-liver-kidney transplant (1989), the world's first heart-liver transplant on an infant (1997), the first pediatric heart-double lung-liver transplant (1998), the nation's first double hand transplant (2009), and the first total forearm and hand transplant (2010), as well as the state's first heart transplant (1968).
The Lancet published a 2012 UPMC study of two 9-year quadriplegics being able to move a robotic arm by thought, to pick up objects, shake hands, and even eat. Wiring the brain around spine damage to restore arm and leg muscle function was successful using robotic arms controlled via an embedded computer to translate signals near a small group of neurons with 200 needles.
Transportation
Pittsburgh is a city of bridges. With 446, it has three bridges more than Venice, Italy, which has historically held the title "City of Bridges." Around 40 bridges cross the three rivers near the city. The Smithfield Street Bridge was the world's first lenticular truss bridge. The city's Three Sisters Bridges offer a picturesque view of the city from the North. The south-western "entrance" to Downtown for travelers coming in from Interstate 79 and the Pittsburgh International Airport is through the Fort Pitt Tunnel and over the Fort Pitt Bridge. The Fort Duquesne Bridge carrying Interstate 279 is the main gateway from Downtown to both PNC Park, Acrisure Stadium and the Rivers Casino. The Panhandle Bridge carries Pittsburgh Regional Transit's Blue/Red/Silver subway lines across the Monongahela River. The renovated J&L Steel Company bridge has been a key traffic/running-biking trail conduit connecting the Southside Works and Pittsburgh Technology Center. Over 2,000 bridges span the landscape of Allegheny County.
Public transportation statistics
Pittsburgh is served by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, the 26th-largest transit agency in the country prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Pittsburgh, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 73 min. 23% of public transit riders ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 17 minutes, while 33% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 3.9 mi (6.3 km), while 11% travel for over 7.5 mi (12 km) in a single direction.
Expressways and highways
Locals refer to the interstates fanning out from downtown Pittsburgh as the "parkways." Interstate 376 is both the "parkway east" connecting to Interstate 76 (Pennsylvania Turnpike) and the "parkway west" connecting to Interstate 79, the Pittsburgh International Airport, the Ohio end of the Turnpike and Interstate 80. The "parkway north" is Interstate 279 connecting to I-79. The "crosstown" is Interstate 579 allowing access to the heart of downtown, the Liberty Tunnels and the PPG Paints Arena. The 45-mile-long and 70-mile-long expressway sections of Pennsylvania Route 28 and U.S. Route 22 also carry traffic from downtown to the northeast and western suburbs, respectively. Interstate 70, 79 and 76 (the Turnpike) roughly form a triangular-shaped "beltway" with Interstate 68 and 80 within the media market's northern and southern limits. Turnpike spurs such as the Mon–Fayette Expressway, Pennsylvania Route 576 and Route 66 also help traffic flow. The non-expressway Pittsburgh/Allegheny County Belt System serves navigation in the region.
Airports
Pittsburgh International Airport provides commercial passenger service from over 15 airlines to the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Arnold Palmer Regional Airport also provides limited commercial passenger service and is 44 miles (71 km) east of Pittsburgh.
Other airports that have or have had scheduled commercial service include Morgantown Municipal Airport (79 miles (127 km) south of Pittsburgh), Youngstown–Warren Regional Airport (81 miles (130 km) northwest of Pittsburgh), Akron–Canton Airport (120 miles (190 km) northwest of Pittsburgh), Johnstown–Cambria County Airport (60 miles (97 km) east of Pittsburgh) and Erie International Airport (123 miles (198 km) north of Pittsburgh).
Intercity passenger rail and bus
Amtrak provides intercity rail service to Pittsburgh Union Station, via the Capitol Limited between Chicago and Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvanian to New York City.
Megabus, Greyhound Lines, and Fullington Trailways connect Pittsburgh with distant cities by bus; Greyhound and Fullington Trailways buses stop at the Grant Street Transportation Center intercity bus terminal. Popular destinations include Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
Until declines in passenger travel in the 1950s and 1960s, several stations served Pittsburgh: Baltimore & Ohio Station, Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Station, Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal and Pittsburgh Union Station.
Regional mass transit
Pittsburgh Regional Transit, formerly known as the Port Authority of Allegheny County, is the region's mass transit system. While serving only a portion of the Pittsburgh area, the nation's 20th-largest metropolitan area, it is the 11th-largest transit agency in the United States. Pittsburgh Regional Transit runs a network of intracity and intercity bus routes, the Monongahela Incline Funicular railway (more commonly known as an "incline") on Mount Washington, a light rail system that runs mostly above-ground in the suburbs and underground as a subway in the city, and one of the nation's largest busway systems. Pittsburgh Regional Transit owns the Duquesne Incline but it is operated by a non-profit preservation trust, but accepts Pittsburgh Regional Transit passes and charges PRT fares.
The Bus System lines are labeled by number and letter. These are the largest portion of Pittsburgh Regional Transit and serve on streets and designated busways. Buses serve most of the county, extending as far as Pittsburgh International Airport, Monroeville, McCandless, and the borders of Westmoreland County and Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, the light rail system (commonly known as the "T") runs along both new tracks and those refurbished from the streetcar era. The light rail runs from Acrisure Stadium to South Hills Village and Library, taking commuters through one of two routes: one which serves Castle Shannon, Mt. Lebanon, and Beechview, and the other is an express line using railways through Overbrook.
Freight rail
Pittsburgh's rail industry dates to 1851 when the Pennsylvania Railroad first opened service between the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad entered the city in 1871. In 1865, Andrew Carnegie opened the Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works, which manufactured for the industry until 1919. Carnegie also founded the Union Railroad in 1894 for heavy freight services and it still serves the area's steel industry, while George Westinghouse's Wabtec has been a leader in rail engines and switching since 1869.
Pittsburgh is home to one of Norfolk Southern Railway's busiest freight corridors, the Pittsburgh Line, and operates up to 70 trains per day through the city. The suburban Conway Rail Yard, built in 1889, was the largest freight rail center in the world from 1956 until 1980 and is today the nation's second-largest. CSX, the other major freight railroad in the eastern U.S., also has major operations around Pittsburgh.
Port
The Port of Pittsburgh ranks as the 20th-largest port in the United States with almost 34 million short tons of river cargo for 2011, the port ranked ninth-largest in the U.S. when measured in domestic trade.
Notable people
Sister cities
Pittsburgh's sister cities are:
See also
Greater Pittsburgh Region
List of fiction set in Pittsburgh
List of municipalities in Pennsylvania
List of people from Pittsburgh
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
Allen Dieterich-Ward, Beyond Rust: Metropolitan Pittsburgh and the Fate of Industrial America (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2016). viii, 347 pp.
Kenneth J. Kobus, City of Steel: How Pittsburgh Became the World's Steelmaking Capital During the Carnegie Era. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015.
Charles McCollester, The Point of Pittsburgh: Production and Struggle at the Forks of the Ohio. Pittsburgh, PA: Battle of Homestead Foundation, 2008.
External links
Official website
Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau – Tourism
Historic Pittsburgh Maps Collection
PittsburghTODAY Regional benchmarks and statistics
Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, Google Newspaper archive. PDFs of 5,794 issues, dating primarily 1834–1841 and 1850–1863.
U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: City of Pittsburgh |
Will_Carling | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Carling | [
521
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Carling"
] | William David Charles Carling (born 12 December 1965) is an English former rugby union player. He was England's youngest captain, aged 22, and won 72 caps from 1988 to 1996, captaining England 59 times. Under his captaincy, England won Five Nations Grand Slam in 1991, 1992 and 1995, and reached the 1991 World Cup final.
He played for Rosslyn Park and Harlequins at club level. In the 1992 New Year Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Since retiring, Carling has pursued interests including corporate speaking and punditry. In 2018 he joined the England coaching staff of Eddie Jones as a leadership mentor.
Early life
The son of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Carling, an officer in the Royal Regiment of Wales, Carling was born in Bradford-on-Avon and educated at Terra Nova School in Cheshire and then Sedbergh School, on an army scholarship. He disliked being sent to prep school but showed an aptitude for rugby and played above his age group, arriving at Sedbergh – a "big rugby school" – with a reputation as a serious talent.
On 2 April 1983 he made his debut for England Schools in a 16–0 victory over Ireland. He narrowly missed out on a junior Grand Slam, with an England Schools side that included Kevin Simms, Victor Ubogu and Carling's future Durham and Harlequins teammate Andy Mullins, losing 13–12 to Wales.
University
Having decided for a career in the British Army like his father, Carling – after a gap year – took an in-service degree in Psychology at Durham University. This meant the "occasional weekend exercise", but otherwise military activities were rather limited. He was an undergraduate student at Hatfield College, Durham (which had built a strong sporting reputation post-war), and was reunited with Mullins. Carling did not enjoy the transition from school to university rugby, and claimed to have "stagnated" in terms of development. Playing his first year at fullback, he had to accept a style of rugby that offered less creative freedom than he was used to.
"Caution was the watchword and it was not something I was used to. Instead of running everything, as you are encouraged to do in the idealistic world of schoolboy rugby, I was coached to kick, to play safety-first rugby."
Carling strongly considered giving up rugby after failing to enjoy his first year on the pitch at Durham, but found himself rejuvenated during an old boys' match at Sedbergh; and this reignited a desire to succeed in the sport. By his own admission he did not take his studies seriously and was often absent for lectures. He left with an ordinary pass degree in 1988. In January that year, Carling, still an undergraduate, made his debut for England against France at the Parc des Princes. In May he was invited to tour with England abroad, but the start date clashed with his final exams. Consequently, he took his exams two days early, and to safeguard examination security, was driven straight to Newcastle Airport.
Despite a less than stellar academic record, Carling had the opportunity to continue his education at the University of Cambridge and represent Cambridge University R.U.F.C., who had already recruited his Durham colleague Chris Oti. However, Carling did not follow up the invitation, believing it would be unethical to accept a place he had not earned.
Career
Early career, 1987–1991
The England rugby team were in a period of transition following failure at the 1987 Rugby World Cup. There was a new manager, Geoff Cooke, and a new coach, Roger Uttley, replacing Mike Weston and Martin Green. England's recent record was one of considerable underachievement, described by one writer as a "sprawling desert of failure, stretching back as far as 1963" — they had only won a single Five Nations Championship since then, in 1980. The new season offered good prospects for younger players, as league rugby was introduced for the first time, establishing a "proper system which rewarded progress"; Divisional Championships, which brought the best club players into regional teams, would not necessarily be the main method of selection in future.
In February 1987 Carling made his debut for Harlequins against Metropolitan Police. He soon played for England B in a 22–9 win over France B. Carling sensed he had a chance of earning his first senior England cap when Kevin Simms, a former England Schoolboys teammate, was selected to play against Romania. As Carling knew the strengths and weaknesses of Simms and "wasn't in awe of him", expectation that he might match this achievement grew.
"...Simmsy was one of us. He unpicked the myth and also provided the motivation. If he could do it, then so could I. Maybe those blokes in the England side weren't so special after all."
Around Christmas 1987 Carling took part in an England trial for the upcoming Five Nations Championship. Initially he and Simms were set to be part of a junior team set to test more experienced "probables" including Simon Halliday of Bath and John Buckton of Saracens; but both Halliday and Buckton pulled hamstrings, which saw Carling and Simms "bumped up". The team list was officially published the following Monday, and after some uncertainty, Carling realised he'd earned his first callup when a university friend phoned to congratulate him. His debut against France on 16 January was a defeat, with England losing 10-9 in Paris due to a late French score. Later comparing the atmosphere in the dressing room afterwards to a "morgue", Carling was nonetheless pleased with his own performance. Carling started the remaining games against Wales, Scotland and Ireland, with England winning the latter two to finish third in that years Five Nations Championship.
Though still expected to pursue a military career, Carling abandoned these plans. He has stated that, contrary to media suggestions, he was never "fully commissioned". By Carling's own account, he was due to attend Sandhurst for the full officer training course in August 1988, but his status as an England international meant the army would not be able to accommodate his rugby ambitions. As a result, Carling opted to "buy himself out" of the army for £8,000. As rugby was an amateur game at this point, he accepted an executive post with Mobil Oil to make ends meet.
1991–1995
Under Carling England started to challenge and beat the established rugby union powers such as New Zealand and Australia, and their success helped to make rugby union a more popular sport in England. English victories over New Zealand and South Africa in 1993 were perhaps the peak of England's performance under Carling.
Carling's career included the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand. He underachieved on that tour, a pattern attributed by coach Ian McGeechan and manager Geoff Cooke as at least partly due to his failing to secure the captaincy (this instead going to Gavin Hastings of Scotland) but also due in large part to the ascendency in the centre of both Jeremy Guscott and Scott Gibbs of Wales. McGeechan and Cooke disclosed that Carling came close to voluntarily withdrawing from the squad; he did however recover his test place and played a notable role in the third test. McGeechan commented in his autobiography that Carling's failure to rise to the occasion as a Lion (in contrast to Guscott) may be seen by some as the difference between his legacy as a good player and a great player.
Also in 1993, he became the second captain after John Pullin to lead and beat all of the “Big Three” Southern Hemisphere sides: Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, after beating the All Blacks 15–9. He had earlier led England to wins against Australia in November 1988, and South Africa in November 1992. As captain, he had 2 wins against Australia, 1 against New Zealand, and 2 against South Africa.
1995 World Cup
In the run-up to the 1995 World Cup, after England returned to form with their third Grand Slam in five years, Carling described the Rugby Football Union general committee as "57 old farts" which led to his sacking as captain. The incident had been provoked by administrator Dudley Wood's comments about England players' alleged desire to cheat by breaking the amateur ethic. He was however quickly reinstated due to public pressure and following a public apology was able to go to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. After a slow start, England found form and subsequently won all their group games knocking out Australia in the quarter-final 25–22, thanks to a last-minute drop-goal from Rob Andrew. They were well beaten by New Zealand in the semi-final, largely thanks to four tries from Jonah Lomu. Although Carling himself scored two tries towards the end of that game, and set up two more for Rory Underwood, England lost 45–29. The subsequent loss in the third place play-off, against France, was England's first loss to the French in seven years.
Following his resignation from the England captaincy, he continued to be selected as an outside centre, usually with Guscott or Phil de Glanville; the latter succeeded him as captain.
Life after rugby
After his rugby career ended he became a TV pundit on rugby union. He has also worked as a motivational speaker and in 2001 founded Will Carling Management Ltd, a corporate hospitality company which is also involved in the rugby social networking website 'Rucku'.
George Gregan, an Australian player, equalled Carling's then world record 59 matches as captain in the 2007 Rugby World Cup against Fiji. In the 2009 Tri Nations Series, Springbok John Smit also equalled and then beat Carling's record in tests between New Zealand in Bloemfontein, and Durban respectively. Brian O'Driscoll Ireland/Lions 2009 and 2010, and Richie McCaw broke his record in 2011.
Personal life
Carling is married to his second wife Lisa, the ex-wife of David Cooke. The couple have two children. Carling has an older son with former partner Ali Cockayne. Carling was previously married to the television presenter Julia Carling (née Smith) from 1994 to 1996. Prior to their divorce, he was romantically linked by some members of the press with Diana, Princess of Wales, the then-wife of Prince Charles. Carling has denied any such relationship.
Carling, whose mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when he was an infant and later died from the disease, is a patron of the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
Politics
In August 2014, Carling was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.
Matches as captain
Honours as captain
Rugby World Cup
Runner-up: 1991
Five Nations Championship
Champions: 1991 (Grand Slam and Triple Crown), 1992 (Grand Slam and Triple Crown), 1995 (Grand Slam and Triple Crown), 1996 (Triple Crown)
Runners-up: 1989, 1990, 1994
Calcutta Cup
Winners: 1989, 1991–96
Runners-up: 1990
Millennium Trophy
Winners: 1989–92, 1995–96
Runners-up: 1993–94
Honours
In 2021, World Rugby inducted Carling into its World Rugby Hall of Fame, alongside Osea Kolinisau, Humphrey Kayange, Huriana Manuel, Cheryl McAfee and Jim Telfer.
Notes
References
External links
Sporting Heroes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Lions profile
Englands forgotten hero - bbc.co.uk |
Chris_Oti | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Oti | [
521
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Oti"
] | Chris Oti (born 16 June 1965 in London) is an English former rugby union player. He was a rugby winger of prodigious pace who represented England thirteen times between 1988 and 1991. He was a member of the England squad that appeared in the 1991 Rugby World Cup during which he made two appearances. Chris Oti is married with 3 children.
International career
Chris Oti had a brief career as a top flight rugby union player but nevertheless made a significant contribution to the history of the sport. He was the first black player since James Peters eighty years before to represent England when he made his international debut against Scotland at Murrayfield in March 1988.
Oti was capped five times the following season including against Romania when he scored four tries. He was selected for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia but persistent injuries meant that he was not considered for the test side, and he also missed out on the Five Nations championships of 1990 and 1991.
However, later in 1991 he was surprisingly picked ahead of Nigel Heslop – the incumbent winger for the 1991 Five Nations and Grand Slam – for the opening World Cup match against New Zealand, and kept his place for the following game against Italy. This turned out to be his last international appearance as further injuries curtailed his career: England were forced to finish the World Cup with the same makeshift back line that they had previously finished the 1990 Five Nations championship, with Halliday (nominally a centre) on the wing, thanks to both Oti and Heslop – who took over from Oti in the group stages and quarter-final – being judged unfit to start the match.
At club level Oti represented Cambridge University, Nottingham and Wasps.
International playing statistics
1988 v Scotland (Murrayfield) W 9–6 (5 Nations)
1988 v Ireland (Twickenham) W 35–3 (5 Nations)
1989 v Scotland (Twickenham) D 12–12 (5 Nations)
1989 v Ireland (Dublin) W 16–3 (5 Nations)
1989 v France (Twickenham) W 11–0 (5 Nations)
1989 v Wales (Cardiff) L 12–9 (Five Nations)
1989 v Romania (Bucharest) W 58–3
1990 v Argentina (Buenos Aires) W 25–12
1990 v Argentina (Buenos Aires) L 15–13
1991 v Fiji (Suva) W 28–12
1991 v Australia (Sydney) L 40–15
1991 v New Zealand (Twickenham) L 18–12 (W.Cup)
1991 v Italy (Twickenham) W 36–6 (W.Cup)
Career Record: P13, W8, D1, L4
Test Points: 32
Tries: 8
(R) = Replacement
References
External links
Wasps profile
ESPN Profile |
Andy_Mullins_(rugby_union) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Mullins_(rugby_union) | [
521
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Mullins_(rugby_union)"
] | Andrew Richard Mullins (born 1964) is an English former rugby union player. Mullins represented Harlequin FC and won a single cap for England in 1989.
Early life
Andy Mullins was born on 12 December 1964 in Eltham. He was educated at Dulwich College and Durham University, where he was a member of Hatfield College. He spent a year between school and university in the British Army.
Rugby union career
Mullins was selected for England B against Australia in 1988, part of the latter teams European tour. He made his international debut on 4 November 1989 at Twickenham in the England vs Fiji match. He was on the winning side.
== References == |
Scream_(1996_film) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(1996_film) | [
522
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(1996_film)"
] | Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, Scream's plot follows high school student Sidney Prescott and her friends, who, on the anniversary of her mother's murder, become the targets of a costumed serial killer known as Ghostface.
Williamson, who was struggling to get his projects off the ground, was inspired by reports of a series of murders by the Gainesville Ripper as he wrote a screenplay that satirized the clichés of the slasher genre popularized in films such as Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Developed under the title Scary Movie, Williamson's script became the subject of an intense bidding war from multiple studios before Miramax Films purchased the rights. Craven, despite turning down the opportunity multiple times, agreed to direct the film after he had read the script as he was determined to re-establish himself after several career setbacks. The involvement of Barrymore and Cox helped secure more support from the studio. Principal photography took place from April to June 1996 in California on a budget of $15 million. Craven trimmed down the violence in the film after being involved in a tense conflict with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) over the desired R-rating.
Released on December 20, 1996, Scream was not expected to perform well due to concerns over releasing a slasher film in a time normally reserved for holiday entertainment, but it went on to gross approximately $173 million worldwide through the strength of word of mouth, becoming a surprise success and one of the highest-grossing films of the year. Reviews praised the performances of its cast and its unique meta humor but criticized its excessive violence and lack of suspense in favor of that humor. The film helped elevate Williamson's career as a writer and raised the profiles of the rest of the cast.
Scream is now regarded as one of the greatest horror and slasher films ever made. It has been credited with rekindling interest in the horror genre during the 1990s following a decline in the genre's popularity. It has remained influential, as Barrymore's involvement helped make participating in horror films more acceptable to prominent actors and increased horror films' appeal with younger audiences. The success of the film launched a multimedia franchise, which comprises the sequels Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), Scream 4 (2011), Scream (2022), and Scream VI (2023), as well as an anthology television series.
Plot
In the small town of Woodsboro, California, high school student Casey Becker is home alone when she receives a phone call from an unknown person. They discuss horror films until the caller turns sadistic, threatening her life and revealing that her boyfriend, Steve, is tied up on her patio. The caller demands she answer questions about horror films to save his life, but Casey gives an incorrect answer about Friday the 13th, resulting in Steve's death. While attempting to flee, Casey is stabbed to death by someone wearing a "Ghostface" costume and her disemboweled corpse is found hanged from a tree by her parents.
The news media descend on the town as a police investigation begins. Teenager Sidney Prescott struggles with the impending first anniversary of the rape and murder of her mother Maureen by Cotton Weary. The trauma has made her unable to consummate her relationship with her boyfriend, Billy Loomis. As her father Neil is traveling for work, Sidney waits at home alone for her best friend, Tatum Riley. She receives a call taunting her about Maureen's death and is attacked by Ghostface, who disappears just before Billy climbs through her window. Sidney immediately grows suspicious when he drops a cell phone, and Billy is arrested by Deputy Sheriff Dewey Riley, Tatum's brother. At the police station, Sidney is confronted by investigative journalist Gale Weathers, who wrote a book claiming that Maureen had multiple extramarital affairs, including one with Cotton, whom Gale believes was falsely accused of Maureen's homicide. Sidney stays at Tatum's home but receives another taunting call from the killer. The calls are traced to Neil's phone, but the police are unable to locate him.
Following his release, Billy encounters Sidney at school and further upsets her by comparing his absent mother to Maureen's death. After suspending classes in the wake of the murders, Principal Himbry is murdered in his office. To celebrate the school's closure, Stu Macher, Tatum's boyfriend, hosts a party at his secluded home. Dewey and Gale keep watch on the party in case the killer strikes again. Tatum is isolated in the garage by Ghostface, who fatally crushes her with the garage door. After Randy Meeks is made aware of Himbry's murder, most partygoers leave to see his hanging body, nearly running over Dewey and Gale and inadvertently leading them to Neil's hidden car. Billy arrives at the house to reconcile with Sidney, and they finally have sex. Afterward, they are suddenly attacked by Ghostface, and Billy is stabbed. Sidney evades Ghostface, who kills Gale's cameraman Kenny and stabs Dewey. Gale, attempting to flee in her van, crashes and is knocked unconscious. Sidney seeks refuge inside the house, locking Stu and Randy outside as they accuse each other of being the killer.
A seemingly wounded Billy returns and allows Randy inside before shooting him in the shoulder, revealing himself as the killer and Stu as his accomplice. Billy confesses they killed Maureen because the discovery of her affair with his father led to his mother's abandonment. The pair abducted Neil to frame him for their crimes and proceed to stab each other to depict themselves as the last survivors. They are interrupted by Gale's return, allowing Sidney to incapacitate Billy and kill Stu by dropping a television set on his head. Billy nearly stabs Sidney but is shot by Gale. After Randy remarks that horror film killers revive for a final scare, Billy tries to lunge at them but Sidney kills him with a shot to the head. As dawn breaks, Neil is rescued, Dewey is taken away by ambulance, and Gale provides an impromptu news report about the night's events.
Cast
David Arquette as Dewey Riley: The goofy and hapless deputy sheriff
Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott: A strong and resilient high-schooler traumatized by the murder of her mother
Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers: A snarky and ruthless investigative journalist
Matthew Lillard as Stu Macher: The eccentric and clumsy boyfriend of Tatum, and Billy's best friend
Rose McGowan as Tatum Riley: Sidney's spunky best friend and Dewey's sister
Skeet Ulrich as Billy Loomis: Sidney's boyfriend, who possesses a passion for horror films
Jamie Kennedy as Randy Meeks: A horror film fanatic
W. Earl Brown as Kenny: Gale's cameraman
Joseph Whipp as Burke: The town sheriff
Liev Schreiber as Cotton Weary: The man convicted of killing Sidney's mother
Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker: A high-schooler
Scream also features Roger L. Jackson as the voice of Ghostface, and Kevin Patrick Walls as Steve Orth, Casey's boyfriend. Lawrence Hecht and Lynn McRee portray Sidney's parents, Neil and Maureen. C.W. Morgan appears as Hank Loomis, Frances Lee McCain portrays Mrs. Riley, and David Booth and Carla Hatley appear as Casey's father and mother. Leonora Scelfo portrays a "bitchy" cheerleader in the school bathroom. Scream features several cameo appearances, including Henry Winkler as principal Arthur Himbry, Linda Blair as Obnoxious Reporter, casting director Lisa Beach as a reporter, and director Wes Craven appears as Freddy the janitor, an homage to iconic horror character Freddy Krueger.
Production
Writing
In 1994, Kevin Williamson was a novice and financially struggling screenwriter, having recently sold his first script, Killing Mrs. Tingle (1999). While house-sitting, Williamson watched a Turning Point documentary about serial killer Danny Rolling which he said left him unsettled. Williamson later noticed an open window, armed himself with a knife, and called his friend for support. The pair began discussing horror characters that had resonated with them such as Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. The following morning, Williamson was woken by a nightmare and used the experience as inspiration for the opening home invasion of Scream. He was also influenced by a one-act play he wrote in college about an unknown caller taunting a young girl.
Williamson spent the next three days writing a script for a slasher film he called Scary Movie while listening to the score to Halloween (1978) for further inspiration. He also drafted two five-page outlines for possible sequels. He developed much of the script around a single line of dialogue, "movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative". This was his response to contemporary concerns about the influence of cinematic violence on audience, and he "thought it was a great line". Williamson's script drew upon many of his favorite horror films, such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, Prom Night (both 1980), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). At the time, the successful slasher films of the 1970s and 1980s had fallen out of favor, in part because of increasingly poorly received sequels to long-running horror franchises.
His characters were intentionally designed to be knowledgeable about these horror films and their typical elements, with the intention of creating a unique killer who was not only aware of horror film clichés but also exploited them for his own advantage. Williamson expressed his approach, "I thought if you could expose the rules and play with them, then the audience doesn't know what they're going to get. Suddenly they're on edge. I started playing with the tropes, and the 'rules' were part of that." The opening scene depicting Casey Becker's death emulates that of Janet Leigh's character in Psycho (1960) by killing off a possible main character early on. Williamson believed it would hook studio executives and leave audiences unsure how the plot would progress. Williamson set the script in his hometown of Bayboro, North Carolina, believing its quiet atmosphere would provide a strong contrast with a serial killer's actions.
Williamson pursued Scary Movie because it was the type of horror film he enjoyed as a child but believed were no longer being made. Even so, he did not believe studios would develop and intended to use it to garner attention and secure other work. Williamson's agent had him scale back the gore, removing descriptions such as "the insides are slowly rolling down her leg", because it would make it difficult to sell the script. Williamson refused to cut any dialogue, however, believing it set it apart from similar films.
Development
By 1995, several studios were competing to secure the rights to Scary Movie, including Morgan Creek Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, and filmmaker Oliver Stone. The script came to the attention of producer Cathy Konrad of Woods Entertainment, which had a development deal with production studio Miramax. She brought it to Richard Potter, the director of development for Miramax's genre-film-focused subsidiary Dimension Films. Potter expected a "stupid spoof" but was drawn in by the opening scene and recommended Miramax chairman, Bob Weinstein, pursue the rights. He agreed, considering it an opportunity to produce films instead of distributing those of others. Although others offered larger figures, Williamson's lawyer advised him take Weinstein's offer ($400,000–$500,000) because Dimension was willing to make the film immediately.
Williamson revised the script based on studio input, removing some gorier content (such as exposed internal organs and severed limbs) and adding the murder of principal Himbry because Weinstein said there was too long a period following the opening without any deaths. This solved a separate difficulty Williamson was having explaining why all but the core group of characters leave Stu's party in the finale, as they go to see Himbry's corpse. The Scary Movie title was also changed to Scream late in production because Weinstein was concerned Scary Movie would lead audiences to believe it was a comedy instead of a horror.
The search for a director took over two months, with Danny Boyle, Tom McLoughlin, Sam Raimi, Robert Rodriguez, George A. Romero, Quentin Tarantino, and Anthony Waller being considered. No agreements were secured because they interpreted the script as a comedy instead of a horror satire. Wes Craven was discounted by the studio due to his lack of experience directing satires. Craven liked the script but he wanted to work on less gory and more mainstream content (including a film adaptation of the novel, The Haunting of Hill House (1959)) because of the negative public perception of him based on his previous films. Craven's assistant Julie Plec and producer Marianne Maddalena continued to push Scream to Craven. His interest was renewed after The Haunting of Hill House adaptation was cancelled and he experienced the personal disappointment of his failed horror comedy, Vampire in Brooklyn (1995). After reading the script, Plec said Craven suggested the studio "'make him an offer he can't refuse.' And so Dimension did. And he took it." The deal also offered Craven his choice of other projects to direct after Scream.
Williamson met Craven to discuss the script, believing he would request substantial rewrites, but Craven's notes related mainly to typos and some minor additions including restoring some of the gorier content and refining the ending which was not yet fully realized. Williamson said "The story stayed pretty much intact, but we added some scares, and shortened it. Wes reworked some of the action sequences, and we would argue and go back and forth, but there's a point where I had to realize that Wes is more experienced than I am." Describing the script Craven said, "what it forces you to do is sort of look at the reality of things we typically look at as amusing, like the Friday the 13th type of deaths where people have arrows through their heads and kids scream and laugh. But that suddenly starts happening in their actual lives."
Casting
Atypical for the genre at the time, Scream featured a cast of established stars, such as Drew Barrymore and Courteney Cox, as well as relatively unknown actors. Executive producer Cary Woods used his friendship with Barrymore's agent to approach her for the lead role of Sidney Prescott, but she requested the smaller role of Casey Becker because "that's the part I love the most". Maddalena suggested that Barrymore had wanted to leave the project entirely, but took the smaller role to avoid disappointing Bob Weinstein and his brother Harvey. The filmmakers agreed to the change, believing it would be impactful to kill off their most well-known actor during Scream's opening and convince audiences that no character was safe. Vinessa Shaw and Reese Witherspoon were also considered for Sidney Prescott. Witherspoon was discounted because she looked too young compared to the other cast, and Williamson's choice, Molly Ringwald, believed she was too old for the part. The final choices came down to Alicia Witt, Brittany Murphy, and Campbell. According to Williamson, Campbell swiftly emerged as the favored choice among the principal crew and, to improve her chances, they filmed her screen-test first, forcing the other contenders to try and surpass her performance. Beach and Maddalena said Campbell brought athleticism from her dancing background with a combination of strength and vulnerability. Describing what attracted her to the role, Campbell said Sidney was "a fantastic character for any kind of movie" who transitions from "tormented, traumatized, insecure young woman to overwhelmingly empowered and strong".
Woods suggested Courteney Cox for the cold and calculating Gale Weathers, believing it would be interesting to play against her typical personable characters in series such as Family Ties (1982–1989) and Friends (1994–2004). Craven did not believe Cox could play the part and so she wrote a letter assuring him that "being 'a bitch' wouldn't be a stretch at all". Brooke Shields and Janeane Garofalo were considered but a more established actress was preferred. David Arquette auditioned for unspecified younger characters, but he was attracted to the role of Dewey and acting against Cox. The character was written as a "dumb jock" but Arquette interpreted it as a "position of authority getting no respect ... He wants to be John Wayne ... He wants to be this tough guy, but he's just got a heart of gold." Rose McGowan's agent jeopardized her chance to play Tatum by insisting on a payment of $250,000 instead of the offered $50,000, which was lower than the $100,000 received by some other principal actors. As a result, McGowan had to reaudition for the role twice. McGowan influenced Tatum's design, dying her hair blonde to avoid having two dark-haired main female characters, removing an Indigo Girls poster from Tatum's bedroom (because she would not listen to the relatively older band), and rejecting costuming suggestions in favor of her self-bought outfits. Thora Birch and Natasha Lyonne also auditioned for the role; Lyonne was the preferred choice but, as she was under 18, could not consent to joining without parental permission.
Believing he was rising in popularity, Vince Vaughn was the studio's preferred choice for Billy Loomis, but he was too ill to audition. Ulrich did not attend auditions because of scheduling conflicts but his girlfriend did and mentioned Ulrich brought her; Beach went out to meet him personally. Ulrich liked playing a serial killer after more innocent and naive previous roles. To develop his character, Ulrich researched serial murders, psychological profiles, and outfitted one of his hotel rooms to the Billy persona to help him get into character, outfitting it with punk rock posters and blacklights. He said, "I was into punk music in my teens and really just trying to recapture that angst ... I would sit in there and read about serial killers and watch Faces of Death (1978) ... anything to get into that gory mindset." Ulrich and Campbell starred together in The Craft (1996), which they believed fostered a natural relationship between their characters. Lillard auditioned for Billy, but the casting directors did not consider him the right actor to "make out with [Campbell]" and had him audition as Stu for Craven, who immediately offered him the part.
Seth Green, Jason Lee, and Breckin Meyer were all preferred for Randy, the "lanky, gangly, opinionated fifth wheel, who really has a love and passion for movies", but Craven and Williamson appreciated the innocence and comedy Kennedy brought to his portrayal. Kennedy credited Craven for supporting his casting. W. Earl Brown and Craven were friends and he was not required to audition but did have to gain about 20 lb (9.1 kg); he originally wanted to portray Dewey. Roger L. Jackson was hired based on his voice work for Mars Attacks! (1996). He recounted overhearing his competitors discussing the Ghostface as the "new Freddy Krueger", but Jackson interpreted it as a more subtle role which required charisma and sexiness to keep his target on the phone even though they want to hang up. Barrymore wanted someone to act against in her scene instead of the character's lines being read to her, and while the filmmakers intended to dub over Jackson's voice with Tom Kane, Craven liked his performance. Henry Winkler shared an agent with Craven and made his cameo appearance as a favor. Lynn McCree, Sidney's mother, was a Sonoma local; she spent two hours taking pictures with Campbell for the role but had no knowledge of the character's backstory. Liev Schreiber took the part of Cotton Weary for $20,000 during an unrelated meeting with Bob Weinstein. Extras were drawn from locals including the owners of a restaurant frequented by the cast and crew.
Pre-production
It was determined early on that Scream required too many different interior and exterior locations to be filmed on sets. Production designer Bruce Miller explained that it was important to portray the characters as vulnerable in their homes which made it essential that they could film inside and outside the properties. Scouts researched locations in the United States and Canada but struggled to locate a house for the opening scene which featured plentiful windows and visibility. Craven initially researched Wilmington, North Carolina but it failed to meet his expectations: "I wanted to have very American looking houses ... and a lot of the houses there were very dark brown, or brick, and that didn't look attractive to me." Locations near Vancouver were discounted for similar reasons, as was Napa County, California.
Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California offered most features the filmmakers required, but Harvey Weinstein rejected the additional $1–$2 million required to film there until the filmmakers convinced him that Craven's name would attract enough audiences to compensate for the added cost. The opening scene used a house in Glen Ellen. Production designer Bruce Miller said, "We didn't want homes that looked like castles, or that you could really protect yourself in ... so if somebody was going to be stalking them, they could get to them very quickly." Other Santa Rosa locations used in Scream include Sidney's House at 1820 Calistoga Road, interiors of Tatum's house at 824 McDonald Avenue, and the Bradley Video store, where Randy works. The Healdsburg, California town square appears as the location of the Woodsboro Town Square, the fountain, and the exterior of the town police station.
Stu's home was an unoccupied property in Tomales which offered a dark and isolated atmosphere for the finale. Cinematographer Mark Irwin unsuccessfully argued against using the property because it was on top of a hill, introducing logistical challenges for accessing trailers and equipment. Production designer Bruce Alan Miller built a facade of barns in front of the house so trailers could be sited closer while remaining concealed. The art department extensively modified the house, adding Gothic elements such as beams and stained-glass windows to give it a haunted feel, painting the walls red (although they realized later this made the blood stand out less), and adding a white picket fence. The farmhouse-style home offered a "convoluted" layout for a convincing setting where the murders could occur without the other characters realizing. The production crew also added a volleyball net to make it appear as if a teenager lived there.
Ten days of filming were to take place at Santa Rosa High School in early June at a cost of up to $50,000, but permission was revoked just before filming began in March by the Santa Rosa district. The change was ostensibly because of the disruption filming would cause during school hours, but locals also protested against the use of the school in a violent film and Craven's horror film legacy. The Sonoma Community Center served as a replacement but scenes had to be rewritten to accommodate the new location, and additional costs to transform the former elementary school into one appropriate for young adults, including larger desks and installing lockers. Craven estimated the disruption and location changes caused by the Santa Rosa district's decision cost the production $350,000, including the $270,000 the center was paid for three days of filming. The disruption to filming by the school was not forgotten, with the film's credits stating "No thanks whatsoever to the Santa Rosa city school district governing board."
Williamson only described Ghostface as "ghost mask killer". Maddalena discovered a mask while location scouting and was immediately taken in by it. The design, featuring a white shroud, was designed by Brigitte Sleiertin as "The Peanut-Eyed Ghost" for the novelty company Fun World in 1991. Craven asked Dimension to license the design but Fun World's price was steep and the studio also wanted full ownership of the mask. Special effects company KNB EFX Group was commissioned to create similar but legally distinct alternatives. Dozens of designs were developed resulting in "gargoyle-ish", witch, and goblin-like masks. The filmmakers did not like the replacements and made a version close to the Fun World design but with minor changes such as stretching the nose and chin to avoid copyright issues. The killer was given a black shroud to avoid their clothing or movements hinting at their identity.
Filming
Principal photography began on April 15, 1996, on a $14 million budget. The first week was spent filming the Casey Becker scenes. To elicit the necessary emotions, Barrymore recalled a sad story developed with Craven and made herself hyperventilate. To enhance her performance, Jackson was situated outside the house so that he could see Barrymore while making the calls but she could not see him. Jackson was used similarly for other Ghostface call scenes, and never met the cast in person. He said "the scariest monsters are the monsters you don't see, but the monsters you make in your mind. So just having the voice to react to made it larger in their minds". For safety, stunt performers portrayed the killer in costume, although Craven portrays the killer in parts of the opening. The first few days of filming used a custom mask designed for Scream, but Craven did not like it and reshot various scenes with the Fun World design before it was licensed. Because the hung Casey was to appear gutted from chest to waist, effects artist Howard Berger decided against applying prosthetics to Barrymore in favor of a mannequin that could be hollowed out, showing her spine holding her upper and lower parts together. The effect was enhanced with various rubber and vinyl guts. For Steve Orth's death, KNB created an open back chair allowing the actor to kneel behind a hollowed out anatomical mannequin torso cut open at the abdomen and filled with latex, rubber, and gelatin intestines.
After viewing the dailies raw footage, the Weinsteins criticized the quality of Craven's work as "workmanlike at best", believing it lacked tension and had an inconsistent tone. The Weinsteins were critical of the Fun World Mask, believing it was "flat" and not scary, suggesting various alternatives, and said Barrymore lacked sex appeal because of the pageboy hairstyle she had chosen. Williamson recounted Craven receiving a call from the brothers and seeing "his back slump. He just started sliding down the chair." The studio considered abandoning filming or firing Craven, and sent him footage from other films, such as Nightwatch (1997), to demonstrate what they wanted for Scream.
Konrad defended Craven to the brothers, and in response Bob Weinstein sent Dimension executives Cary Granat and Andrew Rona to the set to directly intervene. Craven, Konrad, Maddalena, and line producer Stuart M. Besser met with Granat, who wanted the opening reshot with each of the Weinstein's alternative mask suggestions. Instead, they offered to edit together the existing footage to prove the scene and mask worked and if it did not, then the project would be cancelled. Editor Patrick Lussier worked with Craven to piece together most of the opening, adding temporary music and sound effects. The Weinsteins barred Craven and the producers from attending screening of the footage. Afterward, Bob Weinstein told the filmmakers, "What do I know about dailies? Keep going", and provided additional financing as well as licensing Fun World's design. The producers suggested Weinstein had an "ulterior motive" to force the filmmakers to complete the footage – the upcoming Milan Film Festival, as edited footage was not typically allowed to be screened until eight weeks after filming concluded.
The next main scene filmed was of the central cast sitting around a fountain. Ulrich admitted he did not realize Scream was intended to be a horror with comedic elements and was confused by Lillard's and Kennedy's "humorous moments", believing they were "ruining the movie ... Like, 'This isn't funny. This isn't supposed to be funny.' And man, was I wrong." Craven encouraged improvisation throughout filming, much of it coming from Arquette and Lillard, with Williamson acknowledging that Lillard's ad-libs improved the script.
The finale
The film's 42-minute end sequence set at Stu's party were filmed at night over three weeks. Issues filming at the location, including difficulties with providing proper lighting because of the uneven landscape, exacerbated tensions between Craven and Irwin regarding the quality of Irwin's footage. Scream was filmed with an anamorphic lens, which distorts and stretches the image to achieve a specific aspect ratio. However, neither Craven nor Irwin had much experience with this type of lens. The crew, including Lussier, had raised concerns about lens flares and out-of-focus images, partially blaming the focus puller hired by Irwin. Lussier explained, "You can often tell your focus is supposed to be on somebody's eye usually, ... and the focus puller just hasn't moved with the actor". As a result, there were limited options during the editing process due to the inconsistent focus. Irwin said he was informed that all filmed footage was unusable and that 35 days of scenes needed to be reshot. After an argument with Maddalena, Irwin was immediately fired and replaced by Peter Deming for the final three weeks of filming. Irwin believed he was made a scapegoat for the film's behind-schedule status, risking Craven forfeiting his salary, but Konrad denied this.
Kennedy's horror rules scene was initially performed in a single take, but he requested additional takes, feeling he could enhance the performance (Craven ultimately chose the third take). During Tatum's death scene, McGowan had trouble staying in the pet door as the garage door rose. To address this, the crew nailed her shirt to the frame to hold her in place. Craven found it challenging managing the scene's tone, aiming to avoid trivializing Tatum's death while paying homage to other horror films. McGowan improvised the screams for her mother to give the character more humanity. When Gale drives a van with Kenny's corpse on top, Brown was on top of the van, but the unprepared stunt driver accelerated at full speed. When he hit the brakes, Brown fell off the side of the van and the stunt coordinator grabbed Brown's pants and ankle, saving him from harm.
Five nights were spent on the kitchen confrontation between Billy, Stu, and Sidney. By the time they had filmed Gale returning with a gun, Ulrich said he and Lillard were "roaming around like caged animals" to keep the intensity of their performances high, to the point Craven asked them to relax because they were scaring Cox. Lillard described maintaining that level of adrenaline as exhausting. Campbell, Kennedy, Lillard, and Ulrich endured multiple nights covered in fake blood, and the costumes could not be washed to maintain continuity (they were dampened each night to make the blood appear fresh). When Ulrich stabs a sofa, the filmmakers were unaware it was stuffed with feathers which stuck to the fake blood; Maddalena considered Craven "nuts" for keeping the feathers in the scene. Lillard improvised lines such as "My mom's gonna be so mad at me" and "You fucking hit me with the phone, you dick", the latter taking place when Ulrich threw a phone near him as intended but the sticky blood caused it to veer off and inadvertently hit Lillard. Ulrich suggested Billy cracking his neck before shooting Gale, and the sound was added in post-production. Campbell's stuntwoman accidentally stabbed Ulrich with an umbrella tip, missing the protective vest he was wearing and hitting the site of an open heart surgery Ulrich had as a child.
Filming concluded on June 14, 1996. The cast spoke fondly of the "summer camp" atmosphere during filming and the camaraderie they formed. The main cast and select crew members, including Craven, often gathered together in the early mornings after filming for meals, activities, and socializing. Arquette's hotel room was transformed into a makeshift club where they would congregate. However, due to complaints from other residents, they eventually relocated their early morning gatherings to a nearby barn.
Post-production
The Scary Movie title remained late into production, appearing on the cast and crew gifts for completing filming. Harvey Weinstein suggested Scream based on the Michael and Janet Jackson song of the same name. Many of the cast and crew were initially unhappy with the change. Sony Pictures filed a lawsuit against Dimension and Miramax, claiming Scream infringed on their copyright of Screamers (1995). The case was settled out of court with Dimension being able to use Scream going forward. Although Arquette's and Kennedy's characters were killed in the script, alternate scenes were filmed showing them survive in case they proved popular with test screening audiences. The successful screenings also resulted in Miramax asking Craven to direct two Scream sequels.
Scream was rated NC-17 by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), restricting its audience to those over 17 years of age, which was considered "box-office suicide" by industry experts. The MPAA told Craven that Scream would never receive a more commercial R-rating, allowing younger people to see the film when accompanied by an adult. Craven said, "I'm a director who can do something very well but am not allowed to put it on screen. And they ultimately get you, as they did on this one, on intensity. They say, 'it's not a specific shot, it's not blood, it's just too intense'". The filmmakers eventually convinced the MPAA that Scream was a spoof, believing they were too focused on the horror aspects. It took up to nine cuts to address the MPAA's complaints, including removing any movement of Steve Orth's internal organs, trimming Kenny's throat being slit (because the actor's pained expression was too "disturbing"), moving Billy and Stu stabbing each other off screen, and reducing scenes of Casey's hanging body and Tatum's crushed head. The slow motion stabbing of Casey was considered "too brutal" but was allowed with only a few frames removed because there was no alternate footage to use. The final cut runs for 111 minutes.
The marketing for Scream positioned Barrymore as the lead character to intentionally shock the audience with her death. During a promotional interview, Ulrich inadvertently revealed he portrayed one of the killers and called his agent to get the story blocked.
Music
Despite having no background in film scoring or an interest in the horror genre, Marco Beltrami was recommended to Plec and Craven, who found his music samples original compared with Beltrami's contemporaries. Craven grave Beltrami a weekend to compose "The Cue from Hell", the score for the film's opening sequence, which secured his hiring. Beltrami wrote the piece from Casey's perspective and used an "operatic" style, employing a range of instruments, including piano and brass. Beltrami described himself as "bumbling" through the scoring process, acknowledging his limited knowledge of horror music styles. He incorporated elements of the western genre, particularly for Dewey's theme, and took cues from composers including Elliot Goldenthal, Ennio Morricone, Eric Serra, Christopher Young, and Hans Zimmer.
Due to budget constraints, Beltrami had to work with a small orchestra of fewer than 50 performers. To compensate for the lack of string harmonics, he instructed the string players to whistle, and asked Craven, Lussier, Maddalena, and Woods to join and boost their numbers. Beltrami identified most with Sidney's character and considered her theme – "Sidney's Lament" – to be one of the score's crucial pieces. He chose not to assign a distinctive motif to Ghostface, to avoid hinting at the killer's identity. Licensed music for Scream was provided by TVT Records and includes covers of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Gus Black and "Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)" by Soho, "School's Out" by Alice Cooper, "First Cool Hive" by Moby, and "Drop Dead Gorgeous" by Republica. Excepts from the Halloween score are also present.
Release
Context
The theatrical year of 1996 was projected to record a $5.8 billion domestic box office record after twelve films grossed over $100 million, with Independence Day and Twister each earning over $200 million. However, individual successes were hindered by the high number of releases competing for audiences, resulting in several box office flops and studio bankruptcies. This was compounded by rising production costs and high salaries for stars such as Jim Carrey, Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Julia Roberts, prompting many studios to cut their film slate by fifty percent. Even so, over forty films were scheduled for release in late 1996, including Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, Jerry Maguire, Mars Attacks!, Ransom, Space Jam, and Star Trek: First Contact.
Bob Weinstein opted to release Scream in December as counterprogramming, offering teenagers an alternative to more traditional holiday fare. The decision was unpopular with the cast and crew, with Williamson expecting the film to fail. Weinstein explained, "people said we were crazy to put out Scream over Christmas ... It was a thriller; it didn't have big stars; it couldn't compete. Well, after Beavis and Butt-Head, where is that audience going to go?"
Box office
The premiere of Scream took place on December 18, 1996, at the AVCO theater in Westwood, Los Angeles. It was released in the United States and Canada on December 20. During its opening weekend, the film grossed $6.4 million across 1,413 theaters—an average of $4,497 per theater—making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of the weekend, behind 101 Dalmatians ($7 million), Jerry Maguire ($13.1 million), and the debut of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America ($20.1 million). The performance was considered a failure by industry professionals, resulting in Variety labeling Scream "dead on arrival". Maddalena recounted herself and Craven observing a raucous audience for Beavis and Butt-Head Do America while Scream had "maybe seven people in there. No one was laughing or screaming. We went away so dejected." However, Scream received positive audience word-of-mouth and exit-polling responses, leading the studio to increase the marketing and distribution budget. This contributed to Scream's performance improving in the following weeks. Although it fell to fifth place in its second weekend, it increased its weekend gross to $9.1 million, and again in its third weekend, rising to third place with $10 million. Scream remained in the top-ten-highest-grossing films for nine weeks in total, becoming a surprise success and grossing a total of $103 million. This figure made it the number 13 highest-grossing film of 1996, and highest-grossing slasher film of its time, until Halloween (2018). It was Miramax's second film to gross $100 million in the United States and Canada after Pulp Fiction (1994). The film was most successful with teenagers and young people in their 20s.
Outside of the U.S. and Canada, Scream is estimated to have grossed a further $70 million, including $14 million in the United Kingdom, making it the number 21 highest-grossing film. This gives Scream a cumulative worldwide total of $173 million, making it the number 15 highest-grossing film of the year. After four weeks of release, it became the highest-grossing horror film in France, with a gross of $6.2 million (37.9 million French Francs). In Japan, the release date was postponed from May 1997 to August after the murder of a 14-year-old boy, whose killer was apparently obsessed with horror movies.
Industry analysis showed that most of the films released toward the end of the year were box office failures, including both big-budget fare and a surge of films targeted toward women. Only a few were seen as successes, including 101 Dalmatians, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, Jerry Maguire, Ransom, Scream, and Star Trek: First Contact. The success of Scream resulted in additional financial compensation for the principal crew and cast, triggered by the box office surpassing $40 million and subsequent increments of $10 million up to $100 million. Kennedy noted that his first residual check was double his salary.
Reception
Critical response
Scream received generally positive reviews. Critics, such as Roger Ebert, James Berardinelli, and Owen Gleiberman, praised Scream's meta commentary about its horror predecessors and its self-referential humor while also writing that the self parody diluted any suspense, and criticizing the excessive violence. Some critics said that the film's intelligence and wit beneath the gore would be appreciated by "sophisticated viewers", but Ebert was unsure if the degree of violence was "defused by the ironic way the film uses it and comments on it".
Janet Maslin wrote that while Scream offered original ideas for the genre, it quickly exhausted them. John Hartl offered a similar sentiment, believing Scream was so focused on referencing other films that it did not know when to "settle down to tell a coherent story". Bill Stamets considered these references insightful, particularly the killers' motives, saying "Killers without motives are far more scary."
Critics such as Berardinelli, Thomas, and Leonard Klady wrote positively of the ensemble cast and their instrumentality in the film's success. Peter Stack and Dave Kehr praised Campbell for her standout performance that successfully carried the central focus on her character, portraying a tough, capable heroine who avoids the "damsel in distress" archetype. While some reviewers appreciated Cox for delivering a strong performance in an against-type role, others criticized her for being unconvincing as a tough and career-obsessed reporter. Thomas and John Hartl wrote that Arquette delivered a "goofily charming" performance. Lisa Alspector described Ulrich as the only cast member capable of balancing genuine characterization with self-parody.
The film's opening sequence received praise for building tension and suspense. Gleiberman and Richard Harrington appreciated the absence of gratuitous nudity in the scene, which was atypical for the genre. Kevin Thomas credited Irwin's "resourcefulness" and Lussier's "razor-sharp" editing as key to Scream's success.
Accolades
At the 23rd Saturn Awards in 1997, Scream won awards for Best Actress (Campbell), Best Writing (Williamson), and Best Horror Film. The film was named Best Movie at the MTV Movie Awards, and Campbell was nominated for Best Female Performance. Scream was named Best Film by the International Horror Guild. Craven also received the Grand Prize at the Gérardmer Film Festival.
Post-release
Home media
The soundtrack of Scream was released in December 1996 by TVT Records as Scream: Music From The Dimension Motion Picture; it sold poorly. Scream was released on VHS and Laserdisc in June 1997, and was especially successful in the video rental market, becoming the second most rented movie of 1997 in the United States. In 2000, Scream was released as part of "The Ultimate Scream Collection", alongside its then-two sequels, Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 3 (2000). The release introduced special features including cast screen tests, outtakes, and a documentary about the making of the three films featuring interviews with Craven, Williamson, Campbell, Cox, and Arquette. A director's cut release of Scream restored uncut sequences removed for the theatrical release.
The film was released on Blu-ray in 2011, including previously released special features. For the film's 25th anniversary in 2021, Scream was remastered and released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in a steelbook case. Alongside the previously released special features, the remastered version included "A Bloody Legacy: Scream 25 Years Later", a documentary featuring new interviews with the cast and crew. In 2022, Varèse Sarabande released the score in a limited-edition six-disc box CD set and digitally, alongside Beltrami's work on other installments, as well as unreleased music, demos, and alternate versions. A four-LP record set was released separately in a jacket that turns into a Ghostface mask.
Other media
A 2011 documentary, Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective, documents the production of the original trilogy of Scream films, and includes interviews with cast and crew from throughout the series. A book, It All Began With A Scream by Padraic Maroney, was also released that year, offering a similar look at the production of Scream and its three immediate sequels.
The popularity of the Ghostface character generated a variety of merchandise, and the killer's outfit remained a popular Halloween costume as of 2023.
Thematic analysis
Themes
Scream is influenced by, and pays many homages to, the history of the horror genre, including a school janitor referencing Freddy Krueger, a cameo appearance by Linda Blair, famed for her appearance in The Exorcist (1973), and the killers admonishing the police for not watching Prom Night for advice. In a meta reference, Randy recounts the rules of the genre: to survive a horror film, characters cannot sin by drinking, taking drugs, or having sex, and they cannot say "'I'll be right back.' Because you won't be back". This self reference is extended when Randy (Jamie Kennedy), watches Halloween and yells at the lead character Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) to look behind her, oblivious to the killer approaching himself from behind. Further, Kenny futilely yells at Randy to look behind him while observing via a remote camera. When Sidney confronts Billy and Stu, she says "You've seen one too many movies", to which Billy replies "Movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative." Writer Kate Gardener believed this dialogue rejects the blame on horror films for inspiring real-world violence. Lussier said the MPAA had objected to this dialogue because "you can't speak that kind of truth".
Writers Adam White and Michelle Delgado wrote that Scream is an exploration of the "exploitative" nature of the news media using traumatic events as entertainment. The debut of Scream coincided with growing discourse in the United States on the impact of on-screen violence and its potential consequences for society. During this time, the Clinton administration introduced the V-chip, a device designed to enable parents to block mature television content. However, news programs remained exempt from the ratings system, which Delgado said continued to "exploit" violent incidents to captivate audiences. Gale portrays a relentless television reporter who used Maureen's murder to further her own career and seeks to do the same with the Woodsboro murders. Although Gale advocates for the innocence of Cotton Weary in Maureen's death, she does so both because she believes he is innocent and to secure a lucrative book deal. While Gale's actions revolve around profiting from the suffering of others, she is depicted not as a villain but a careerist and an antagonist to Sidney who evolves into a heroic figure, aiding in the deaths of Billy and Stu. Gardener wrote that making a living from murder is not morally equal to committing murder, but that it represents the commodification of crime and female trauma. Scream acknowledges the audience's voyeuristic interest in murder and horror, underscoring the monetary value placed on sensationalized crimes.
White described Williamson's script as emblematic of its time, featuring a "picture-perfect" mother raped and murdered in American suburbia and the stalking of her daughter one year later. He compared it to contemporary sensationalized cases such as the Murder trial of O. J. Simpson, Lorena Bobbit's assault of her husband, the Long Island Lolita case, and the Gainesville Ripper. The Ripper's defence included his assertion of being influenced by films such as The Exorcist III (1990). Despite public concerns about the influence of violent media, instances of violent crime were decreasing when Scream was released and there remained no direct link between violent media content and real-life crimes. Even so, public fascination with these media portrayals created a form of celebrity for the victims or perpetrators, with dramatic events being turned into documentaries and films. In Scream, Sidney jokes that a film will be made about the traumatic events of her life and, in the sequels, the film-within-a-film Stab horror series is created, based partly on the events of each preceding Scream entry.
Analysis
Author Padraic Maroney wrote that Scream was pro-feminism, depicting several final girls who fight the killer instead of submitting. The success of Scream demonstrated to studios that although typically seen as fare for young males, horror films had an untapped female market. Writer Aime Simon said Sidney, like Craven's Nancy Thompson, is allowed to develop as a character by surviving successive films. The Scream films often explore female trauma through characters such as Sidney and Gale, including the dangers posed by angry males who feel rejected. Gardener said that although this may not have been Craven's intention, the film's narrative effectively conveys this theme. She continued that the male killers in Scream enact violence and intimidation primarily on women, including Casey who romantically rejects Stu before the events of the film, and Sidney's mother Maureen, as Billy blames her for the end of his parents' marriage. Maureen is not responsible for his mother leaving, but Billy blames her, takes his anger out on her directly, and then abuses Sidney's emotional vulnerability caused by her death. In this way, the portrayal of Billy and Stu as angry entitled men seeking revenge is more relatable and realistic than supernatural horror villains.
Scream has been analyzed for homosexual or queer undertones, influenced by Williamson's own experiences as a gay man. He has expressed how his personal struggles informed Sidney's character because he identified parallels between her survival tactics and those of young gay individuals. In a 2021 interview, he said "as a gay kid, I related to the final girl and to her struggle because it's what one has to do to survive as a young gay kid, too. Subconsciously, I think the Scream movies are coded in gay survival." Several publications have highlighted the positive response from gay fans of the franchise to these underlying themes.
Some writers, such as Maroney, Brant Lewis, and Joe Lipsett, have discussed the theory that Billy and Stu are in a homosexual relationship or that Stu held unrequited feelings for Billy. Professor David Greven wrote that Billy and Stu are representative of the changing notions of masculinity and the underlying currents of queer desire in 90s films. The interactions between them throughout the movie contain themes of homoeroticism, such as when Stu playfully touches Randy's earlobe or leans on Billy during the climax before they stab each other with phallic weapons. Greven believed that although it is easy to assign homosexuality to Stu because of his lack of motive to kill and apparent willingness to please his friend, Billy also features homoerotic characteristics such as the gay trope of fixating on his maternal relationship, similar to Norman Bates in Psycho, and Billy's visual styling resembling actor James Dean, considered a queer icon. Williamson loosely based the characters on Leopold and Loeb, queer individuals who committed murder to prove their intellectual superiority. In a 2022 interview he said he was "very hesitant to present the gay side of me in [Scream]" and that any queerness in Billy's and Stu's characters was "a little coded and maybe accidental".
Legacy
Cultural influence
In the decades following its release, Scream has remained an enduringly popular horror film and launched a successful film franchise. It is credited with revitalizing the horror genre, which had significantly declined in popularity by the early 1990s. Far Out and MTV described Scream as a "ground-breaking" slasher film that "successfully crossed over into the mainstream" because of its deft blend of traditional horror with self-aware commentary and satire. Vox wrote that Scream "mainstreamed metatextual storytelling and made that analytical understanding of the genre mainstream in a lot of ways". Studios rushed to capitalize on Scream's success with teen-centric horror films and television series leading into the 2000s, such as I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Urban Legend (1998) and Cherry Falls (2000), as well as sequels to popular, but diminished, franchises such as Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and Bride of Chucky (both 1998). Scream also serves as the subject of the parody film Scary Movie (2000), which in turn launched its own franchise of horror spoofs. Director Jordan Peele has credited Scream as a direct inspiration for his own influential horror film, Get Out (2017), in manipulating the audience's expectations of the modern horror genre.
Scream helped launch or bolster the careers of its principal stars, including Campbell, Ulrich, Lillard, McGowan, Kennedy, and Arquette. Williamson became an in-demand screenwriter, contributing to horror films such as I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and television series Dawson's Creek (1998–2003). Scream helped revitalize Craven's career after several career setbacks and a string of poor performances. Lussier credited his work on Scream's opening with his transition to director, beginning with Dracula 2000 (2000). Barrymore's involvement helped raised the profile of the horror genre, making it a more attractive prospect for prominent actors instead of relative unknowns. In a 2021 interview, Kennedy said he was still approached by fans about his horror rules monologue. Lillard described Scream as a "seminal" moment of his career. He and Campbell began a two-year relationship during filming, while Cox and Arquette married and eventually divorced.
Scream has often been referenced in popular culture in and outside the horror genre. The Ghostface killer is considered to be among the most iconic cinematic horror villains. As of 2021, Lillard's improvised dialogue, "My mom and dad are gonna be so mad at me", was still quoted to him by fans.
In the years since its release, Scream was cited as an influence in several violent crimes and murders, with perpetrators sometimes dressing as Ghostface, as in the 2006 murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart. Following the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, an increasing media and public scrutiny on the influence of violent films, games, and other media on society the United States Senate Commerce committee reviewed the marketing of films to youths, specifically the horror genre. Scream's opening was shown as an example of negative media which may be viewed by children. The use of Caller ID to identify incoming callers also increased by 300% following Scream's release.
Retrospective assessments
Scream is regarded as a classic of the horror genre, and among the greatest horror and slasher films ever made. Several publications have also listed it among the best films of the 1990s. Williamson believed Scream's success was due, in part, to fitting the contemporary zeitgeist when "everyone wanted to have scary and fun in their life ... If the movie had been released at any other time, I'm not sure that would've been the case". Campbell believed it connected with audiences because of a deft combination of humor, horror, and intelligence. As of 2023, Scream remains the highest-grossing film in the Scream film series, and is generally considered to be the best film in the series. The franchise is also among the highest-grossing horror franchises, alongside Halloween, Saw, and The Conjuring Universe.
In 2008, Empire ranked the film number 482 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time", and Entertainment Weekly listed Scream as one of the Best High School movies and among the best films of the preceding 13 years. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 81% from the aggregated reviews of 88 critics, with an average score of 7.4/10. The consensus reads: "Horror icon Wes Craven's subversive deconstruction of the genre is sly, witty, and surprisingly effective as a slasher film itself, even if it's a little too cheeky for some". The film has a score of 66 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The British Film Institute (BFI) called the opening scene "one of the all-time great pre-credit scenes—an unforgettable masterclass of building tension, heart-stopping terror, and shocking images". The scene appeared at number 13 on Bravo's 2004 list of the 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
Sequels
Due to the success of Scream, development of a sequel began while the original was still in theaters. Scream 2 (1997) achieved similar financial and critical success as Scream. Williamson was unavailable to write Scream 3 (2000), the trilogy's concluding chapter, and was replaced with Ehren Kruger. The film fared less well than its predecessors, commercially and critically, and is regarded as the franchise's most divisive entry. Williamson returned to the series with the reboot film Scream 4 (2011). While Scream 4 has grown in esteem since its release, its modest box office and critical reception, as well as Craven's death, placed the franchise on hold.
A television adaptation, Scream (2015–2019), ran for three seasons. The Weinsteins refused to license the Fun World costume for the show or allow references to the films, which was controversial with fans and contributed to the series' low ratings, poor reception, and eventual cancellation.
The film series was relaunched with Scream (2022), and its success led to immediate development of a sixth installment, Scream VI (2023). Both films are directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. These films focus on a younger cast, including Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, with Campbell, Cox, and Arquette appearing in supporting legacy roles. Scream VI is the first film in the series to not feature Arquette or Campbell, who declined to return following a dispute over pay. A seventh film is in development as of 2024, with Campbell reprising her role as Sidney Prescott and Kevin Williamson directing the project.
Notes
References
Citations
Works cited
French, Lawrence (January 1996). "Wes Craven's Scream". Cinefantastique. Vol. 28, no. 7. Forest Park, Illinois: Fourth Castle Micromedia. pp. 33–47. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
Garcia, Chris (January 1997b). "Scream With Fear, Scream With Laughter". Fangoria. No. 159. Atlanta, Georgia: Fangoria Publishing, LLC. pp. 20–25, 71.
Garcia, Chris (March 1997). "One Last Scream". Fangoria. No. 160. Atlanta, Georgia: Fangoria Publishing, LLC. pp. 20–23.
Maroney, Padraic (2021). It All Began With A Scream. Orlando, Florida: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-62933-779-1. OCLC 1268943305.
Palmer, Randy (November 1997). "The Screams of Summer". Fangoria. No. 168. Atlanta, Georgia: Fangoria Publishing, LLC. pp. 14–18.
Rico, Diana (Director, Writer) (October 31, 2001). E! A True Hollywood Story: Scream. E! (Television Production). Los Angeles, California: NBCUniversal.
Scott, Mary (August 22, 1997). "Screaming Success". Screen International. London, England: Media Business Insight. p. 35.
Shapiro, Mark (January 1998). "Super-Secret Scream 2". Fangoria. No. 169. Atlanta, Georgia: Fangoria Publishing, LLC. pp. 20–25.
Spelling, Ian (May 1997). "Scream and Scream Again". Fangoria. No. 162. Atlanta, Georgia: Fangoria Publishing, LLC. pp. 66–68.
External links
Official website
Scream at IMDb
Scream at AllMovie |
The_Craft_(film) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Craft_(film) | [
522
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Craft_(film)"
] | The Craft is a 1996 American teen supernatural horror film directed by Andrew Fleming from a screenplay by Peter Filardi and Fleming and a story by Filardi. The film stars Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, and Rachel True. It follows four outcast teenage girls at a Los Angeles parochial high school who pursue witchcraft for their own gain and subsequently experience negative repercussions.
The Craft was theatrically released in the United States on May 3, 1996, by Columbia Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics but was a surprise hit, earning $6.7 million in its opening weekend and $55.6 million worldwide, against a budget of $15 million.
The Craft was nominated for the Saturn Awards for Best Horror Film and for Best Supporting Actress (Balk), and won the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (Balk and Tunney). In the years since its release, the film has gained a cult following. A sequel, The Craft: Legacy, was released on October 28, 2020.
Plot
Sarah Bailey, a troubled teenage girl with unusual abilities, moves from San Francisco to Los Angeles with her father and stepmother. At her new school, she befriends a trio of outcast girls who are rumored to be witches. Bonnie Harper bears burn scars from an auto accident, Nancy Downs lives in a trailer with her mother and abusive stepfather, and Rochelle Zimmerman is a black student who is subjected to racist bullying by a group of white girls. The girls worship a powerful earth deity they call "Manon".
Popular jock Chris Hooker shows interest in Sarah, which she reciprocates. When Bonnie observes Sarah levitating a pencil in class, she and the other outcast girls are convinced that she can complete their coven as "the fourth", completing an air-water-earth-fire circle and making them all-powerful. As the girls walk home from school, Sarah is harassed by a vagrant, who had earlier tried to scare her with a snake when she moved into her new home. When the vagrant chases after Sarah, he is immediately hit by a car. The girls believe their combined will caused it to happen, which strengthens their bond. It is also revealed that Sarah once attempted suicide.
After a date with Chris, Sarah is upset that he spread a false rumor that they had sex. Sarah casts a love spell on him, Rochelle casts a revenge spell on racist bully Laura Lizzie, Bonnie casts a spell for beauty, and Nancy a spell for power. The spells are successful: Chris becomes infatuated with Sarah, Bonnie's scars on her back miraculously heal, Laura begins losing her hair, and Nancy causes her stepfather to have a fatal heart attack, enabling her and her mother to cash in on his life insurance policy and move into a luxurious high-rise apartment.
Nancy becomes power-hungry and encourages the others to join her in a rite called "Invocation of the Spirit", despite being warned against the spell by Lirio, the owner of a local occult shop and practicing witch. Upon completion of the spell, Nancy is struck by lightning. The following morning, the other girls see Nancy walking on water, with beached sharks and other dead animals littering the shore. In the days that follow, Nancy becomes increasingly devoid of empathy and engages in risky behavior that endangers her life and those of others.
The spells the girls cast eventually lead to negative consequences, as Bonnie becomes aggressively narcissistic, Rochelle finds Laura traumatized by her baldness, and the obsessed Chris attempts to rape Sarah after she rejects his continual advances. To punish Chris, Nancy uses a glamour spell to disguise herself as Sarah and attempts to seduce him at a party. She is interrupted by the real Sarah, who pleads with Nancy to leave with her. Upset at being deceived, Chris accuses Nancy of jealousy, angering her. She uses her power to kill Chris by throwing him out of a window.
Sarah unsuccessfully attempts a binding spell to prevent Nancy from doing more harm, and the coven turns on Sarah. The trio invades Sarah's dreams, torment her with visions of swarms of scorpions, snakes, rats, and insects, and make her believe that her family has died in a plane crash. The coven then tries to drive Sarah to suicide. Although initially terrified, Sarah successfully invokes the spirit and manages to heal herself and fight back. She scares off Bonnie and Rochelle by showing them glamours in a mirror of Bonnie with her face scarred and Rochelle losing her hair like Laura. Sarah then defeats Nancy and binds her, preventing her from causing harm forever.
Bonnie and Rochelle, finding their powers gone, visit Sarah to attempt reconciliation, only to find that she wants nothing to do with them and that Manon took their powers because they abused them. They scornfully mutter that Sarah must have lost her powers too. Sarah then conjures a lightning storm and makes a tree branch nearly crush them. She warns them to be careful not to end up like Nancy, who has been committed to a psychiatric hospital, delusional and her powers bound, strapped to a bed as she desperately insists she can fly.
Cast
Production
The concept for The Craft came from a collaboration between producer Douglas Wick, who wanted to create a film about the high school experience blended with witchcraft, and screenwriter Peter Filardi, who extensively researched the topic and wrote the initial draft. Andrew Fleming was hired to direct and produce the final version of the screenplay.
Eighty-five other actresses screen-tested for the four main roles, including Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson and Alicia Silverstone. Rachel True and Fairuza Balk were the first to be cast in their respective roles. The character of Rochelle was re-written to be black when True was cast, and a racism subplot was incorporated as the character's major conflict. Robin Tunney was initially cast in the role of Bonnie, but the producers decided she would be better in the starring role of Sarah, which she was persuaded to accept despite preferring the former. Neve Campbell, the most well known of the four actresses for her role on Party of Five, was then cast as Bonnie. Tunney had shaved her head for her role in Empire Records and had to wear a wig throughout filming.
Production enlisted a real-life Wiccan named Pat Devin to act as an on-set advisor for the film. She wrote the incantations used and ensured that the treatment of the Wiccan subject-matter was as accurate and respectful as possible.
Filming began on May 1, 1995, and wrapped on July 19, 1995. Shooting took place throughout Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles International Airport, Sunset Boulevard, and Broadway. Verdugo Hills High School was the setting for the fictional Catholic school, St. Benedict's Academy; production designer Marek Dobrowolski added different religious statues throughout the building and the grounds. Sarah's home in the film was a two-story Spanish mansion and the interiors were built on a soundstage at Culver City Studios. The occult bookstore was shot at the El Adobe Marketplace in Hollywood Boulevard. The room was repainted and enhanced and occult icons such as candles, stigmas, religious statues, masks, and tribal dolls were added for effect. Jensen's Recreation Center in Echo Park was chosen to avoid overuse of frequently seen Los Angeles locations. During filming, an unrelated accident occurred in which a child was injured; the production's medic saw this and called paramedics. The makeshift altar was set in Wood Ranch, a location that Dobrowolski called the hardest to find. Dobrowolski wanted to avoid manicured parks like Griffith Park. The beach summoning took place at Leo Carrillo State Park, which was chosen because its crest made it seem less visually boring.
The makeup effects were designed and created by Tony Gardner and his special effects company Alterian, Inc., which also created the beached sharks for the film.
Soundtrack
The Craft: Music from the Motion Picture was released on April 30, 1996, by Columbia Records on CD and cassette, one month before the film's official theatrical release in the United States. The soundtrack contains a collection of songs, to suit the theme of the movie, from various artists including Heather Nova, Letters to Cleo, and Spacehog. Nova's version of "I Have the Touch", originally performed by Peter Gabriel, which featured during the end credits of the film, was exclusively included on the soundtrack, and is not available as a single, or on any of Nova's albums, nor does she perform the song in concert. The tracks in film, titled "Sick Child", "Fallin'" and "Scorn", performed by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Connie Francis and Portishead, respectively, were omitted from the soundtrack due to copyright issues from their record labels. However, they were only included in the film as part of an arrangement with PolyGram Film & Television Licensing. An uncredited bonus track, "Bells, Books, and Candles", composed by Graeme Revell for the film's score, was included on the soundtrack. A follow-up soundtrack, The Original Motion Picture Score, was released on June 18, 1996, from Varèse Sarabande, and contained the film's score which was entirely composed and produced by Graeme Revell.
Track listing
Release
The Craft was theatrically released in the United States on May 3, 1996, by Columbia Pictures.
Home media
The film was released on VHS and DVD on July 22, 1997, and rereleased on a special edition DVD on September 12, 2000. The film debuted on the Blu-ray format for the first time on October 13, 2009.
The film was given a special collector's edition on March 12, 2019, by Shout Factory. Though the new collection of special features was praised, the disc received negative reviews for not remastering the image and simply porting over the old scan from the 2009 disc.
The film was re-released by Shout Factory on 4K UHD on May 17, 2022, for the film's 25th Anniversary. The film was given a fresh new 4K scan from the original camera negative.
Reception
Box office
The film opened at number one at the North American box office, making US$6,710,995. The movie was a sleeper hit, which Columbia attributed to teenagers and young women, who responded to its themes. According to Box Office Mojo, The Craft is the 11th-highest-grossing film since 1980 dealing with the genre of witches.
Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of 60 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's consensus reads: "The Craft's campy magic often overrides the feminist message at the film's core, but its appealing cast and postmodern perspective still cast a sporadic spell".
Emanuel Levy of Variety described it as "a neatly crafted film that begins most promisingly as a black comedy a la Heathers, but gradually succumbs to its tricky machinery of special effects". Roger Ebert also felt the film was mired in excessive special effects, but praised the performances of the four leads, as did Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle. Stephen Holden of The New York Times echoed other reviews, praising the first half of the film as a "celebration of adolescent nonconformity and female independence", but criticized the last half as a "heavy-handed sermon about karma" with "garish" special effects. Rita Kempley of The Washington Post called it "a brew of Hawthorne, Heathers and Hollywood hocus-pocus" that was nonetheless a "bubbling mess of a movie" that "leaves us more bothered than bewitched".
The film was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and Fairuza Balk for Best Supporting Actress. Balk and Tunney also won the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight.
Legacy
The film is often labeled a "cult classic" and has acquired a loyal fan base and social media presence. Matthew Jacobs and Julia Brucculieri of the Huffington Post, writing in 2016, praised The Craft for departing from clichés of the teen movie genre and incorporating darker themes, saying it became "part of the '90s teen canon and a cult classic of its own merit." Kristen Yoonsoo Kim of Complex magazine praised the relevance of the film 20 years later, saying it "feels much more progressive than many of the movies that come out today" and calling the viewing of the film "a rite of passage" for young women. Angelica Jade Bastién of Vulture wrote, "The Craft earned a generation of devoted fans because of how it charts the friendship between these four girls — its tentative beginnings, the joys of its strength, and its ultimate downfall," and singled out "Fairuza Balk’s fierce performance ... [as] perhaps The Craft's greatest legacy ... She's a beguiling and fearsome portrait of female anger."
In 2013, three of the main actresses, with the exception of Fairuza Balk, reunited for a special Halloween screening of the film at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
The Craft served as an inspiration for the 2013 song "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry.
The film can briefly be seen during the end credits of the Marvel Television series Agatha All Along.
Sequel
A straight-to-DVD sequel was in the works, but it was terminated. In May 2016, Sony Pictures announced that a sequel of The Craft was currently in development and it would be written and directed by Leigh Janiak. The announcement of the sequel spawned negative reactions from fans of the original film.
In March 2019, it was announced that the development of the sequel had been taken over by Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions company, and it was also announced that the film would be distributed by Columbia Pictures. Zoe Lister-Jones signed on to write the script and direct the film with filming scheduled to begin in July 2019. Daniel Casey later joined the production as screenwriter. In June 2019, Cailee Spaeny was cast as one of the leads. In September 2019, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone and Zoey Luna were cast for the remaining three lead roles. In October 2019, David Duchovny joined the cast in an undisclosed role. Later, Michelle Monaghan joined the film in an undisclosed role. Two more casting announcements were made in October 2019, also in undisclosed roles, Nicholas Galitzine and Julian Grey. Filming began on October 22, 2019.
In late September 2020, Sony released an official trailer and announced that instead of a theatrical release, the film would be released on demand everywhere on October 28, 2020.
References
External links
Official website
The Craft at IMDb
The Craft at AllMovie
The Craft at Box Office Mojo
The Craft at Rotten Tomatoes |
Millennium_Stadium | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Stadium | [
523
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Stadium"
] | The Millennium Stadium (Welsh: Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium (Welsh: Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and has also held Wales national football team games. Initially built to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup and replacing the National Stadium, it has gone on to host many other large-scale events, such as the Tsunami Relief Cardiff concert, the Super Special Stage of Wales Rally Great Britain, the Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain and various concerts. It also hosted FA Cup, League Cup and Football League play-off finals while Wembley Stadium was being redeveloped between 2001 and 2006, as well as football matches during the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The stadium is owned by Millennium Stadium plc, a subsidiary company of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). The architects were Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture. The structural engineers were WS Atkins and the building contractor was Laing. The total construction cost of the stadium was £121 million, of which the Millennium Commission funded £46 million.
The Millennium Stadium opened in June 1999 and its first major event was an international rugby union match on 26 June 1999, when Wales beat South Africa in a test match by 29–19 before a crowd of 29,000. With a total seating capacity of 73,931, it is the largest stadium in Wales and the fourth largest (and second largest outside London) in the United Kingdom by total capacity. In addition, it is the third-largest stadium in the Six Nations Championship behind the Stade de France and Twickenham. It is also the second-largest stadium in the world with a fully retractable roof and was the second stadium in Europe to have this feature. Listed as a category four stadium by UEFA, the stadium was chosen as the venue for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final, which took place on 3 June 2017. In 2015, the Welsh Rugby Union announced a 10-year sponsorship deal with the Principality Building Society that saw the stadium renamed as the "Principality Stadium" from early 2016.
History
Background
Until 1969, Cardiff RFC and Wales both played their home matches on the same pitch at Cardiff Arms Park, but all this changed in the 1969–70 season. As a result of an agreement between Cardiff Athletic Club and the WRU, the National Stadium project established that a new stadium for international matches and events was required, with Cardiff RFC moving to a new, purpose-built stadium on the original cricket ground at the site of the former Cardiff Arms Park stadium. By 7 April 1984 the National Stadium was officially opened. However, in 1994, a committee was set up to consider redeveloping the National Stadium, and by 1995 the WRU had been chosen to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
In 1995, the National Stadium, which was designed in 1962, only had a capacity of 53,000; other nations' stadia, such as Twickenham (England) with a capacity of 75,000, and Murrayfield Stadium (Scotland) with a capacity of 67,000, had overtaken it. France was also about to build the Stade de France, which would have a capacity of more than 80,000 for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The original capacity of the National Stadium was 65,000, but this had been reduced to 53,000, due to the Taylor Report. 11,000 of 53,000 capacity was on the East Terrace and the conversion to an all-seater stadium would have reduced the stadium capacity still further to just 47,500.
In addition to the problems of capacity, the National Stadium was also very well hidden by the neighbouring buildings to the south in Park Street, Wood Street and to the east in Westgate Street, and also by Cardiff Rugby Ground in the north. It was only fully visible from across the River Taff in the west. Access to the ground was also very restricted with the main entrance being a narrow opening in Westgate Street to the east which was shared by both vehicles and spectators alike.
The options for the new stadium included adding a third tier to the existing National Stadium, or moving to a new site. This last option was discounted because it would have required a vast car parking facility, and that would have put severe short-term pressures on the local transport infrastructure, creating traffic jams and pollution. The committee eventually chose a new stadium on the same site but with considerable increase in its capacity. It would also involve moving the alignment of the stadium from west–east to north–south. This was the option supported by the Millennium Commission. It would become the fourth redevelopment of the Cardiff Arms Park site. It was also decided that the new stadium should have a sliding roof to accommodate a multi-use venue, with a grass pitch for rugby and football. The only other sliding roofs in Europe at the time were at two Dutch stadia – the Amsterdam Arena, completed in 1996 with a capacity of 50,000; and Gelredome in Arnhem, a 30,000-capacity ground built from 1996 to 1998.
To remain on the Arms Park site, additional space had to be found to allow safe access and to provide room for the increased capacity and improved facilities. This was achieved by the purchase of adjacent buildings to the south and east and by the construction of a new £6 million River Walk by the River Taff on the western side of the stadium.
By 1999, the Millennium Stadium had replaced the National Stadium, Cardiff Arms Park, as the national stadium of Wales for rugby union and association football international matches. Cardiff RFC continued as before to play at Cardiff Arms Park rugby ground, which had replaced the cricket ground in 1969.
Construction
The stadium was designed by a team led by Rod Sheard at Lobb Sport Architecture, who later merged with HOK Sport to become Populous. The building contractor was Laing and the structural engineers were WS Atkins. Mike Otlet of WS Atkins designed the stadium's retractable roof, which was constructed by Kelsey Roofing Industries. Cimolai S.p.A. from Italy fabricated and erected the 72 steel plane frames for the stands and all the 4,500 components of the roof.
Construction involved the demolition of a number of buildings, primarily the existing National Stadium (Cardiff Arms Park), Wales Empire Pool (swimming pool) in Wood Street, Cardiff Empire Telephone Exchange building (owned by BT) in Park Street, the newly built Territorial Auxiliary & Volunteer Reserve building in Park Street, and the Social Security offices in Westgate Street.
The stadium was built by Laing in 1999 on the site of the National Stadium, with the head of construction being Steve Ager. It was built for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, for which Wales was the main host, with seven of the 41 matches, including the final, being played at the stadium.
The total construction cost of the stadium was £121 million, which was funded by private investment and £46 million of public funds from the Millennium Commission, the sale of debentures to supporters (which offered guaranteed tickets in exchange for an interest-free loan) and loans. The development left the WRU heavily in debt.
The Millennium Stadium was named as such in recognition of the Millennium Commission's contribution to the building.
The stadium was first used for a major event on 26 June 1999, when Wales played South Africa in a rugby union test match before a crowd of 29,000. Wales won 29–19: the first time they had ever beaten the Springboks.
2016 renaming
On 8 September 2015 it was announced that the Millennium Stadium would be renamed Principality Stadium as the result of a 10-year naming rights deal with the Principality Building Society. Some fans expressed opposition on social media.
On 22 January 2016, the Millennium Stadium was officially renamed as the Principality Stadium. The new name, written bilingually ("Stadiwm Principality Stadium") and covering 114 square metres (1,230 sq ft) of the upper stadium, was lit up at a special evening ceremony, to be followed by a festival to encourage grassroots rugby. The change of name also meant a change of logo for the Millennium Stadium. There were three designs shortlisted, and a panel, which included the former Wales international captain Ryan Jones and staff and members of the WRU and Principality Building Society, chose the final design. A spokesperson for the WRU said: "The new stadium logo takes its inspiration from the venue's iconic architecture; four spires, curved frontage and fully retractable roof."
Features
The all-seater stadium has the capacity for 74,500 supporters and features a retractable roof, only the second stadium of its type in Europe, and the largest football stadium in the world with this feature, by capacity. Additional seating is sometimes added for special events such as a rugby Test against the New Zealand All Blacks, or for the FA Cup Final. The current record attendance is set at just over 78,000, recorded at the Anthony Joshua v Carlos Takam fight, on 28 October 2017, in which Joshua successfully retained his WBA, IBF and IBO titles.
The natural grass turf was made up of a modular system installed by GreenTech ITM. It features built in irrigation and drainage. The pitch itself was laid on top of some 7,412 pallets that could be moved so the stadium could be used for concerts, exhibitions and other events.
In May 2014, after much trouble with disease and stability, the surface was removed and replaced with a more resilient interwoven sand based Desso pitch.
The four ends of the ground are called the North Stand, the West Stand, the South Stand and the BT Stand (east). The South Stand was previously known as the Hyder Stand, until Hyder was sold. The stadium has three tiers of seating with the exception of the North Stand, which has two tiers. The lower tier holds 23,154 spectators, the middle tier holding 15,626 and the upper tier holding 35,151 spectators.
The stadium was slightly restricted in size due to its proximity to Cardiff Rugby Club's home in the adjacent smaller stadium within Cardiff Arms Park. The WRU were unable to secure enough funding to include the North Stand in the new stadium and the Millennium Commission would not allow any of its funds to be used in any way for the construction of a new stadium for Cardiff RFC. The WRU held talks with Cardiff RFC to see if it would be possible for the club to either move or secure funding for the Cardiff Arms Park to be re-developed, but these were unsuccessful. The stadium thus had to be completed with a break in its bowl structure in the North Stand, known colloquially as Glanmor's Gap, after Glanmor Griffiths, then chairman of the WRU and now a former president.
The superstructure of the stadium is based around four 90.3-metre (296 ft) masts. The stadium was built from 56,000 tonnes of concrete and steel, and has 124 hospitality suites and 7 hospitality lounges, 22 bars, 7 restaurants, 17 first aid points, 12 escalators and 7 lifts. The stadium has 7 gates for access to the site; Gate 1 is from the River Walk via Castle Street (to the north), Gates 2 and 3 are via Westgate Street (to the east), Gate 4 which was renamed Gatland's Gate (Welsh: Gât Gatland) in honour of Warren Gatland in November 2019, is for team-coaches, celebrity limousines and other uses via Westgate Street, Gate 5 is via Park Street (to the south) and Gates 6 and 7 are via the Millennium Plaza (also to the south).
Any future renovation to the stadium will involve replacing the old North Stand of the former National Stadium with a new one similar to the three existing stands of the new Millennium Stadium. This will make the stadium bowl-shaped and will increase its capacity to around 80,000. It will resolve the existing problems of deteriorating concrete quality on the old structure in the north stand. However the WRU has been more resistant to the proposal in recent years, stating that the concrete has not been deteriorating in recent years meaning the cost of replacing Glanmor's Gap would not justify the limited increase in capacity it would provide.
In each of the stadium's bars, so-called "joy machines" can pour 12 pints in less than 20 seconds. During a Wales versus France match, 63,000 fans drank 77,184 pints of beer, almost double the 44,000 pints drunk by a similar number of fans at a game at Twickenham. The stadium has a resident hawk named "Dad", who is employed to drive seagulls and pigeons out of the stadium.
In 2005 the stadium installed an "Arena Partition Drape System" – a 1,100 kg (2,400 lb) black curtain made up of 12 drapes measuring 9 m × 35 m (30 ft × 115 ft) – to vary the audience from a capacity of over 73,000 down to between 12,000 and 46,000, depending on the four different positions that it can be hung. The curtains can be stored in the roof of the stadium when not in use. The £1 million cost of the curtain was funded by the stadium, the Millennium Commission, its caterers Letherby and Christopher (Compass Group) and by the then Wales Tourist Board. The curtain was supplied by Blackout.
In May 2015, the chairman of the WRU, Gareth Davies, announced that the stadium would be fitted with new seats, replacing the original seats from 1999 at a cost of £4 million to £5 million, which would be completed by 2018. In addition a new £3.1 million Desso hybrid pitch will be installed.
In February 2019, the stadium increased its disabled capacity from 168 to 214 at a cost of around £100,000. As a result, the overall capacity of the stadium was reduced from 74,500 to 73,931.
Statue of Sir Tasker Watkins
A statue of Sir Tasker Watkins, the former WRU president between 1993 and 2004, was commissioned to stand outside Gate 3 of the stadium. The bronze statue, 9 feet (2.7 m) tall, was sculpted by Llantwit Major based sculptor Roger Andrews. The Welsh Government contributed £50,000, as did Cardiff Council. It was officially unveiled on 15 November 2009 by his daughter, Lady Mair Griffith-Williams.
Usage
As well as international rugby union and association football, the Millennium Stadium has hosted a variety of sports, including, rugby league (including the Challenge Cup Final on three occasions between 2003 and 2005, the opening ceremony of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup and Welsh Rugby League internationals), speedway, boxing, the Wales Rally Great Britain stage of the World Rally Championship, Monster Jam and indoor cricket. The indoor cricket match between The Brits and a Rest of the World team for the Pertemps Power Cricket Cup, which took place on 4 and 5 October 2002.
Rugby union
The stadium is the home of the Welsh rugby union team, who play all of their home fixtures at the venue. These games include those during the Six Nations, as well as the Autumn Internationals against nations from the Southern Hemisphere. Apart from the national team, the stadium has also hosted the European Rugby Champions Cup finals on five occasions. In total, the site, including the National Stadium, has hosted the final of the European Rugby Champions Cup on seven occasions.
The stadium has also been used for Celtic League games, and the semi-finals of the Anglo-Welsh Cup in 2006 and 2007. Since 2013, the Millennium Stadium has hosted Judgement Day, a double-header between the four Welsh United Rugby Championship teams. The 2016 edition had 68,262 spectators, the highest in the history of the league.
The stadium hosted the first match in the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand when they drew 25–25 against Argentina in a warm-up test match.
Welsh Varsity rugby matches
On 30 March 2011, the stadium hosted the Welsh Varsity rugby match for the first time in the history of the match between the senior teams of Cardiff University and Swansea University. The stadium is used alternating years with Liberty Stadium in Swansea. The Welsh Varsity event celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2016.
Rugby World Cup
The Welsh Rugby Union hosted the 1999 Rugby World Cup with the Final being played at the stadium. The stadium also hosted 3 pool matches and 1 quarter-final match (New Zealand 18–20 France) of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
On 15 October 2011, the stadium was open to Welsh Rugby Union fans free of charge, providing that they wear red so that they could watch a live screening of the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-final between Wales and France that was played at Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand. The match was screened on the stadium's existing large screens, on all of their television screens and on a screen that was brought in for the occasion. The same was done for the Bronze Final between Wales and Australia which saw Wales defeated and take fourth place.
The stadium hosted six pool matches, including two featuring Wales, and two quarter-final matches during the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Rugby league
The stadium first hosted rugby league football during the 2000 World Cup: a double header featuring Cook Islands versus Lebanon and Wales versus New Zealand that attracted a crowd of 17,612. It was again used as Wales' home ground during the 2002 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France when they again hosted the Kiwis this time attracting 8,746 spectators.
The Stadium has hosted three Challenge Cup Finals, which are usually played at Wembley, from 2003 to 2005. In 2003 the Bradford Bulls defeated the Leeds Rhinos 22–20 in front of 71,212 fans. St. Helens defeated Wigan 36–16 in 2004 in front of 73,734 fans, while Hull F.C. defeated Leeds 25–24 in 2005 in front of 74,213 fans, the largest rugby league crowd at the stadium.
Also, in 2007 the stadium hosted the inaugural Millennium Magic weekend. This was a two-day event in May when an entire round of Super League matches were played, three games on the Saturday and three games on the Sunday. The event was deemed a success by the sport's governing body, the RFL, and second Millennium Magic event took place in May 2008, although the 2009 and 2010 events were held at Murrayfield Stadium and were renamed Magic Weekend. In 2011, Magic Weekend moved back to Cardiff with the opening round of Super League being played.
On 26 October 2013, the Millennium Stadium hosted the opening ceremony and the first two fixtures of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup: a double-header featuring Wales against Italy and England against title favourites and eventual tournament champions Australia. This double header produced an overall attendance of 45,052, which is an international rugby league record at the stadium.
Association football
From 2000 to 2009, the stadium was the almost-permanent home of Welsh football. The national team played the vast majority of home matches at the Millennium Stadium, with a handful of friendly matches once or twice a year at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham or Liberty Stadium, Swansea. The first Welsh football game at the stadium was played against Finland in 2000, and drew a then-record home crowd for Welsh football of over 66,000. This has since been beaten on several occasions. However, since 2010, the majority of home games have been played at the smaller Cardiff City Stadium, the home of Cardiff City. Wales have only played at the stadium twice since 2009; in 2011 against England and in 2018 against Spain.
While the Millennium Stadium was under construction, the original Wembley Stadium had hosted the Welsh rugby team during the building of the new ground. The favour was returned from 2001 while the new Wembley Stadium was being built, with the Millennium hosting:
FA Cup Final
League Cup Final
Football League Trophy Final
Football League play-off Finals
FA Community Shield
The stadium became notorious for an apparent "away team hoodoo"; the first 11 major cup finals were all won by the teams occupying the home dressing room. Stoke City beat Brentford 2–0 in 2002 to end the "hoodoo", after Paul Darby carried out a feng shui blessing.
Liverpool were the first team to win the FA Cup at the Millennium Stadium in 2001 after beating Arsenal 2–1. They were also the first team to win the League Cup at the Stadium, defeating Birmingham City in a penalty shoot-out earlier that year. In 2003, Liverpool won the League Cup for the seventh time in their history thanks to a 2–0 win over Manchester United in the final at the stadium. Liverpool also won the last FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium in 2006, beating West Ham United 3–1 in a penalty shoot-out that followed a 3–3 draw after extra time in what was billed as 'the best cup final of the modern era'.
The Football League Third Division play-offs in 2003 saw AFC Bournemouth beat Lincoln City 5–2. In this game, Bournemouth set a new record for the most goals scored by one team in a single match at the stadium. This record has since been matched but not beaten. The last domestic cup match played was when Doncaster Rovers beat Bristol Rovers 3–2 after extra time in the Football League Trophy Final on 1 April 2007.
In 2001, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) confirmed that they had bid to host the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final. The stadium had recently been rated as a five-star stadium by UEFA, making it one of the favorites to host the match, but the final was eventually awarded to Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United.
It was suggested that the stadium would have been one of the venues of a proposed UEFA Euro 2016 championship hosted jointly by Wales and Scotland. However, the bid did not reach the formal UEFA selection stage, having been abandoned by the Welsh and Scottish Football Associations for financial reasons. In April 2014, the FAW did submit a formal bid to host three group matches and either a round of 16 match or a quarter-final at Euro 2020, which UEFA planned to host at 13 venues across Europe. When the host venues were voted on in September 2014, the Millennium Stadium lost out by a single vote behind Glasgow's Hampden Park, a decision that FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford put down to UEFA politics. The stadium, however, would be selected for UEFA Euro 2028. On 30 June 2015, the Millennium Stadium was chosen as the venue for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final. UEFA rules meant it could not be branded as the Principality Stadium during the event, resulting in all titles and logos – as well as those of other non-UEFA sponsors – being covered or removed for the duration. The game was played on 3 June 2017 between Italian club Juventus and Spanish club Real Madrid, in a repeat of the 1998 final; Real Madrid won the match 4–1.
When London was selected as the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Millennium Stadium was named as one of the six venues for the football competition. It had the distinction of hosting the opening event of the Games – a 1–0 win for the Great Britain women's team against New Zealand – as well as four other group games and a quarter-final in the women's tournament, and three group games, a quarter-final and the bronze medal match in the men's.
Boxing
There have been five nights of boxing at the stadium.
On 8 July 2006 when Matt Skelton beat Danny Williams for the Commonwealth heavyweight title. On 7 April 2007, Joe Calzaghe beat Peter Manfredo to retain his WBO super middleweight belt. On 3 November 2007, Calzaghe beat Mikkel Kessler to retain his WBO super middleweight belt and win the WBA and WBC super middleweight titles.
On 28 October 2017 Anthony Joshua successfully retained his WBA (Super), IBF and IBO heavyweight titles against mandatory challenger Carlos Takam with a 10th round stoppage.
On 31 March 2018, it hosted the World heavyweight unification fight between Anthony Joshua, holder of the WBA and IBF belts, and Joseph Parker, holder of the WBO belt. Joshua beat Parker on points.
Motorsports
In 2001, it staged its first ever motorsport event, hosting the Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain, and has done so every year since, attracting a record crowd of 44,150 in 2010. The temporary motorcycle speedway track is 278 metres (304 yards) in length and with sections of the stadiums lower seating bowl covered, the capacity of the stadium for the Grand Prix is set at 62,500.
In September 2005 the stadium was host to the first ever indoor stage of the World Rally Championship during the Wales Rally Great Britain. The lower tier of the stadium was removed to create a figure-of-eight course. In addition to this, the stadium has also hosted Supercross events. In October 2007, the stadium first hosted the UK leg of the Monster Jam trucks Europe tour, and returned in June 2008, again in 2009, 2010, 2016, 2018 and 2019.
Film
The stadium has been used on numerous occasions as a venue for shooting film and television productions. Scenes from the 2001 Hindi film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... were filmed there.
Between 2004 and 2011, the stadium was used several times as a filming location for episodes of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. The 2005 episode "Dalek" was shot primarily on location at the stadium, using its underground areas to represent a bunker in Utah, US, in the year 2012. The location shooting for the episode took place during October and November 2004. The underground areas of the stadium were used again in August 2005 to film Mission Control scenes for the Doctor Who Christmas special, "The Christmas Invasion", and again the following year to film scenes in the underground corridors of Torchwood in "The Runaway Bride" episode, broadcast on Christmas Day 2006. Shots of the Stormcage Facility in which River Song is incarcerated in series 5 and 6 of Doctor Who are also in the stadium, filmed between October 2010 and January 2011.
The stadium has also been used as a location for the filming of Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures. The 2010 story, "Death of the Doctor", included corridor scenes for the UNIT headquarters that were filmed underground at the Millennium Stadium.
The Wembley Stadium scene in the film 28 Weeks Later was actually filmed at the Millennium Stadium. Although the outside is footage of Wembley, the inside is all filmed in Cardiff. The visual effects team on the film edited the footage to make it look more like Wembley.
Sébastien Foucan jumped over the gap of the opening of the stadium roof in the parkour documentary "Jump Britain".
Eventing
The inaugural Express Eventing International Cup took place at the stadium on 30 November 2008. The three-event competition made up of dressage, cross-country and show jumping all took place over the one day. The event was won by Oliver Townend.
Concerts
The stadium has also been used for a variety of musical events, including the Manic Street Preachers concert held on Millennium Eve, and, on the following day, a recording of the BBC's Songs of Praise, which attracted an attendance of 60,000. Tina Turner performed a sold-out concert at the stadium during her highly successful Twenty Four Seven Tour in 2000. Welsh rockers Stereophonics have played two sold-out shows at the stadium: In July 2001 as part of their two-day "A Day at the Races" festival which would later be released to DVD and in 2003, shortly after the departure of the late Stuart Cable.
American rock band Bon Jovi played the venue during the One Wild Night Tour in 2001. At the end of January 2005, the stadium hosted a tsunami relief concert in aid of the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, with Eric Clapton headlining the event. The stadium has also been host to Madonna on two occasions, the first in July 2006 when she opened the UK leg of her Confessions Tour, and most recently in August 2008 when she kicked off her Sticky & Sweet Tour at the stadium. Other performers who have played at the stadium include Robbie Williams as part of his Weddings, Barmitzvahs & Stadiums Tour, U2 as part of their Vertigo Tour, Red Hot Chili Peppers as part of their By the Way tour, The Rolling Stones as part of their A Bigger Bang Tour, R.E.M. as part of their Monster tour and again for their Around the Sun tour.
Paul McCartney also played at the stadium as part of his Up and Coming Tour, and The Police performed there as part of their Reunion Tour. In late 2005, Oasis played at the stadium during their Don't Believe the Truth Tour and again on their Dig Out Your Soul Tour in 2009. In 2008, the stadium hosted Neil Diamond and Bruce Springsteen with the E Street Band as part of their Magic Tour, On 22 August 2009, U2 again played at the stadium, as part of their European leg of their U2 360° Tour, playing to a record-breaking concert attendance of 73,354. On 17 May 2023, Beyoncé performed at the stadium as part of her Renaissance World Tour. Taylor Swift played at the stadium on 18 June 2024 as part of The Eras Tour. In 2024, it was announced Oasis would play at the stadium on the 4th and 5th of July 2025 as part of their UK and Ireland Reunion tour.
Conferences
The stadium offers conferencing facilities via the foodservice organisation Compass Group. The facilities consist of six individually designed lounges and 124 pitch-facing executive box suites.
In addition to business events, the facilities are also available for dinners, banquets, balls, parties and weddings receptions.
Temporary hospital
On 28 March 2020 it was announced that the stadium was to be converted at a cost of £8 million into a temporary field hospital to accommodate up to 2000 patients of the COVID-19 pandemic, at the same time as the Excel Centre, London, NEC, Birmingham, and the Manchester Central Convention Complex. By the weekend of 11–12 April 2020, it had a capacity of 330 beds.
Professional wrestling
On 12 April 2022, American professional wrestling company WWE announced that it would hold a major event at Millennium Stadium on 3 September, and opened pre-registration for tickets. The event was announced as being WWE's largest show in the UK since SummerSlam at the original Wembley Stadium in 1992. On 29 April 2022, it was announced that the event would be titled Clash at the Castle, in reference to nearby Cardiff Castle. The event attracted over 59,000 ticket pre-sale registrations, a company record.
See also
Sport in Cardiff
Millennium Stadium Charitable Trust
List of stadiums by capacity
List of covered stadiums by capacity
List of stadiums in Wales by capacity
List of European stadiums by capacity
List of association football stadiums by capacity
List of tallest buildings in Cardiff
Lists of stadiums
Notes
References
General
Wales’ Principality Stadium at 25: 'The Eras Tour', BBC Sport, 26 June 2024.
Inline
External links
Media related to Millennium Stadium at Wikimedia Commons
Official website
Populous website on the Millennium Stadium |
List_of_concerts_at_the_Millennium_Stadium | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concerts_at_the_Millennium_Stadium | [
523
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concerts_at_the_Millennium_Stadium"
] | Concerts have been held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, since the stadium's opening in 1999. The musicians who have played at the stadium include Tina Turner, Beyoncé, Spice Girls, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Madonna and Rihanna. The highest concert audience at the stadium was 73,354, who saw U2 in 2009. In 2018 Ed Sheeran performed for a record-breaking 4 nights at the Stadium on his ÷ Tour. The stadium's total seating capacity for sporting events is 73,434.
History
The first concert held was on New Year's Eve 1999 when the Manic Street Preachers headlined Manic Millennium, followed two days later by a concert for the BBC's Songs of Praise programme, with Cliff Richard performing his UK number-one single "The Millennium Prayer". This event attracted an attendance of 66,000.
During 2003, the stadium established a new in-house promotions and events department to attract major concerts to the stadium, taking over from SJM Concerts. The stadium's General Manager Paul Sergeant at the time said of the change, "We looked at the current way our business was run, (and) realized that if we do it ourselves and have direct contact with the event owners and promoters...we will be able to offer an improved service".
At the end of January 2005, the stadium hosted a Tsunami Relief Cardiff, a tsunami relief concert, in aid of victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, with Eric Clapton headlining the event. On 22 August 2009, U2 played at the stadium as part of their European leg of their U2 360° Tour, playing to a record-breaking concert attendance for a concert at the stadium of 73,354.
In 2005 the stadium installed an "Arena Partition Drape System" – a 1,100 kg black curtain made up of 12 drapes measuring 9 m (30 ft) x 35 m (115 ft) – to vary the audience from a capacity of over 73,000 down to between 12,000 and 46,000, depending on the four different positions that it can be hung. The curtains can be stored in the roof of the stadium when not in use. The £1m cost of the curtain was funded by the stadium, the Millennium Commission, its caterers Letherby and Christopher (Compass Group) and by the then Wales Tourist Board. The curtain was supplied by Blackout Ltd.
It was feared that music concerts and sporting events would take business away from local shops. However, David Hughes Lewis, chairman of Cardiff Retail Partnership, said in 2005 that "Despite initial concerns that major events in the Millennium Stadium hit trading in the shops, it now believed such events had a positive impact...When people come to Cardiff for the concerts, they more often than not arrive the night before and they'll spend the morning shopping".
Concerts
See also
Music of Cardiff
List of events held at the Millennium Stadium
List of concerts at the National Stadium, Cardiff Arms Park
List of highest-grossing concert tours
Notes
External links
Media related to Concerts at the Millennium Stadium at Wikimedia Commons
Upcoming events at the Millennium Stadium website |
Manic_Street_Preachers | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Street_Preachers | [
523
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Street_Preachers"
] | Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, in 1986. The band consists of Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics) and cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (drums, percussion, soundscapes). They form a key part of the 1990s Welsh Cool Cymru cultural movement.
Following the release of their debut single "Suicide Alley" in 1988, Manic Street Preachers became a quartet with the addition of Richey Edwards as co-lyricist and rhythm guitarist. The band's early albums were in a punk vein, eventually broadening to a greater alternative rock sound. Their early combination of androgynous glam imagery and lyrics about "culture, alienation, boredom and despair" gained them a loyal following.
Manic Street Preachers' first charting single was "Motown Junk" in 1991, followed by their debut album, Generation Terrorists, in February 1992. The band's next two albums were Gold Against the Soul in 1993 and The Holy Bible in 1994, the latter being the last album with Edwards, who disappeared in February 1995 and was legally presumed dead in 2008. The band continued as a trio, and achieved commercial success with the albums Everything Must Go (1996) and This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998).
The Manics have headlined festivals including Glastonbury, T in the Park, V Festival and Reading, winning eleven NME Awards, eight Q Awards and four BRIT Awards. They were nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1996 and 1999, and have had one nomination for the MTV Europe Music Awards. The band has sold more than ten million albums worldwide. The Manics have two number-one singles in the UK charts: "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" (1998) and "The Masses Against the Classes" (2000), as well as two number-one albums: This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours and The Ultra Vivid Lament (2021). From 1991 to 2010, the band recorded 33 consecutive top 40 singles in the UK.
History
Formation and early years (1986–1991)
Manic Street Preachers formed in 1986 at Oakdale Comprehensive School, Blackwood, South Wales, which all the band members attended. Bradfield and the slightly older Moore are cousins and shared bunk beds in the Bradfield family home after Moore's parents divorced.
During the band's early years, Bradfield, alongside the classically trained Moore, primarily wrote the music while Wire focused on the lyrics. Some of their earliest performances were held at the Blackwood Miners Welfare Institute in the town. The origin of the band's name remains unclear, but the most often-told story relates that Bradfield while busking one day in Cardiff, got into an altercation with someone (sometimes said to be a homeless man) who asked him "What are you, boyo, some kind of manic street preacher?"
Original bassist Flicker (Miles Woodward) left the band in early 1988, reportedly because he believed that the band were moving away from their punk roots. The band continued as a three-piece, with Wire switching from guitar to bass, and in 1988 they released their first single, "Suicide Alley". Despite its recording quality, this single provides an early insight into both Bradfield's guitar work and Moore's live drumming. The Manics intended to restore revolution to rock and roll at a time when Britain was dominated by shoegaze and acid house. The NME gave "Suicide Alley" an enthusiastic review, citing a press release by Richey Edwards: "We are as far away from anything in the '80s as possible."
After the release of "Suicide Alley," Edwards joined the band on rhythm guitar and contributed to lyrics alongside Wire. Edwards also designed record sleeves and artwork and drove the band to and from gigs.
In 1990 the Manic Street Preachers signed a deal with label Damaged Goods Records for one EP. The four-track New Art Riot E.P. attracted as much media interest for its attacks on fellow musicians as for the actual music. With the help of Hall or Nothing management, the Manics signed to indie label Heavenly Records. The band recorded their first single for the label, entitled "Motown Junk". Their next single, "You Love Us", sampled Krzysztof Penderecki's "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" as well as Iggy Pop. The video featured Nicky Wire in drag as Marilyn Monroe and contained visual references to the film Betty Blue and to Aleister Crowley.
On 15 May 1991, during an interview with then-NME journalist Steve Lamacq following a gig at Norwich Arts Centre, Edwards carved the phrase "4REAL" into his arm with a razor blade in a bid to prove the sincerity of the band. He was taken to hospital and received seventeen stitches. NME subsequently ran a full-page story on the incident, including a phone interview with Richey on his motivations for doing it. A recording of the editorial meeting discussing whether or not they could publish the image was included as a b-side on the band's 1992 charity single Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless), featuring Lamacq, the then-editor of NME Danny Kelly and James Brown (who went on to edit Loaded and the British version of GQ).
As a result of their controversial behaviour, the Manics quickly became favourites of the British music press, which helped them build a dedicated following.
Columbia Records of Sony Music UK signed the band shortly afterwards and they began work on their debut album.
Richey Edwards era: Generation Terrorists to The Holy Bible (1992–1995)
The band's debut album, Generation Terrorists, was released in 1992 on the Columbia Records imprint. The record contained six singles and sold 250,000 copies. The liner notes contained a literary quote for each of the album's eighteen songs and the album lasted just over seventy minutes. The album's lyrics are politicised like those of the Clash and Public Enemy, with the album's songs regularly switching from a critical focus on global capitalism to more personal tales of despair and the struggles of youth. Other tracks combine personal and political themes; "Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds" was written as a critique of overseas banking credit policies, but also concerned Richey Edwards' issues involving overdrafts and refused loans. The single "Motorcycle Emptiness", meanwhile, criticises consumerism as a "shallow dream" that makes human life overtly commercialised. "Little Baby Nothing", a duet between Traci Lords and Bradfield, was described by Priya Elan of the NME as a "perfect snapshot of [female] innocence bodysnatched and twisted".
The band also made a cover version of the song "Suicide Is Painless" which peaked at number 7 in the UK charts, spending 3 weeks in the Top 10, and giving the band their first ever Top 10 hit single.
The group's second album, Gold Against the Soul, had a more commercial, grungy sound. It was released to mixed reviews but performed well, reaching number eight in the UK album chart.
The band stated that the choice to work with Dave Eringa again was important for this album. The band have described Gold Against the Soul as their least favourite album and the period surrounding the album as being the most unfocused of their career. The band's vocalist and guitarist James Dean Bradfield has said "All we wanted to do was go under the corporate wing. We thought we could ignore it but you do get affected."
By early 1994, Edwards' difficulties became worse and began to affect the other band members as well as himself. He was admitted into The Priory in 1994 to overcome his problems and the band played a few festivals as a three-piece to pay for his treatment. During one such three-piece performance at Reading '94, James played Richey's black Gibson as a mark of respect (although James later commented that he regretted playing Richey's guitar).
The group's next album, The Holy Bible, was released in August to critical acclaim, but sold poorly. The album displayed yet another musical and aesthetic change for the band, largely featuring army/navy uniforms. Musically, The Holy Bible marks a shift from the modern rock sound of their first two albums, Generation Terrorists and Gold Against the Soul. In addition to the album's alternative rock sound the album incorporates various elements from other musical genres, such as hard rock, British punk, post-punk, new wave, industrial, art rock and gothic rock.
Lyrically the album deals with subjects including prostitution, American consumerism, British imperialism, freedom of speech, the Holocaust, serial killers, the death penalty, political revolution, childhood, fascism and suicide. According to Q: "the tone of the album is by turns bleak, angry and resigned". There was also an element of autobiographic subjects, like in the song "4st 7lb" where the lyrics clearly tackle Richey's own experience with anorexia. The song was named after 4 stones 7 pounds, or 63 pounds (29 kg), because it is the weight below which death is said to be medically unavoidable for an anorexic sufferer.
The title "The Holy Bible" was chosen by Edwards to reflect an idea, according to Bradfield, that "everything on there has to be perfection". Interviewed at the end of 1994, Edwards said: "The way religions choose to speak their truth to the public has always been to beat them down [...] I think that if a Holy Bible is true, it should be about the way the world is and that's what I think my lyrics are about. [The album] doesn't pretend things don't exist".
In support of the album the band appeared on Top of the Pops, performing its first single, "Faster", which reached No. 16. The performance was extremely controversial at the time, as the band were all dressed in army regalia. Bradfield wore a "terrorist-style" balaclava. At the time, the band was told by the BBC that they had received the most complaints ever. The album eventually has sold over 600,000 copies worldwide.
In April and May 1994 the band first performed songs from The Holy Bible at concerts in Thailand and Portugal and at a benefit concert for the Anti-Nazi League at Brockwell Park, London. In June, they played the Glastonbury Festival. In July and August, without Richey Edwards, they played T in the Park in Scotland, the Alte Wartesaal in Cologne, the Parkpop Festival in The Hague and the Reading Festival. During September, October and December there was a headline tour of the UK and Ireland and two tours in mainland Europe with Suede and Therapy?. In December, three nights at the London Astoria ended with the band smashing up their equipment and the venue's lighting rig, causing £26,000 worth of damage.
The disappearance of Richey Edwards
Edwards disappeared on 1 February 1995, on the day when he and James Dean Bradfield were due to fly to the US on a promotional tour. In the two weeks before his disappearance, Edwards withdrew £200 a day from his bank account, which totalled £2,800 by the day of the scheduled flight. He checked out of the Embassy Hotel in Bayswater Road, London, at seven in the morning, and then drove to his apartment in Cardiff, Wales. In the two weeks that followed he was apparently spotted in the Newport passport office, and the Newport bus station. On 7 February, a taxi driver from Newport supposedly picked up Edwards from the King's Hotel in Newport, and drove him around the valleys, including Blackwood (Edwards' home as a child). The passenger got off at the Severn View service station near Aust and paid the £68 fare in cash.
On 14 February, Edwards' Vauxhall Cavalier received a parking ticket at the Severn View service station and on 17 February, the vehicle was reported as abandoned. Police discovered the battery to be flat, with evidence that the car had been lived in. Due to the service station's proximity to the Severn Bridge (which has been a renowned suicide location in the past) it was widely believed that he took his own life by jumping from the bridge.
Manic Street Preachers was put on hold for six months and disbanding the group was seriously considered, but with the blessing of Edwards' family, the other members continued. Edwards was legally "presumed dead" in 2008, to enable his parents to administer his estate. The band continue to set up a microphone for Edwards at every live performance.
Everything Must Go to Lifeblood (1996–2006)
The first album without Edwards, Everything Must Go, was released on 20 May 1996. The band had chosen to work with new producer Mike Hedges, mainly for his work on Siouxsie and the Banshees' single "Swimming Horses" that Bradfield rated highly. Everything Must Go debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number 2, so far the album has gone Triple Platinum in the UK and is their most successful album to date, spending 103 weeks in the Top 100 with the album still in the Top 5 a year after its release. Containing five songs either written or co-written by Edwards the album was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews. The No. 2 hit single "A Design for Life" was the first to be written and released by the band following the disappearance of Richey Edwards the previous year. James Dean Bradfield later recalled that the lyric had been a fusion of two sets of lyrics-"Design for Life" and "Pure Motive"-sent to him from Wales by bassist Nicky Wire, while he was living in Shepherd's Bush. The music was written "in about ten minutes" and Bradfield felt a sense of euphoria with the result. The song was credited with having "rescued the band" from the despair felt after the disappearance of Edwards, with Wire describing the song as "a bolt of light from a severely dark place".
The album was shortlisted for the 1996 Mercury Prize award for best album and won the band two Brit Awards for Best British Band and Best British Album, as well as yielding the hit singles "Australia", "Everything Must Go" and "Kevin Carter". The album has sold over two million copies around the world, and it is still considered one of the finest releases of the decade, a classic album from the 1990s and frequently voted in polls in the category of best albums of all time by many publications. The success of Everything Must Go at the 1997 Brit Awards ensured that sales of their earlier albums Generation Terrorists, Gold Against the Soul and The Holy Bible enjoyed a late surge; the band's debut sold an extra 110,000 copies.
In 1997 the band performed a special gig at the Manchester Arena for more than 20,000 people. Bassist Nicky Wire said that was the moment he knew that the band had "made it". The recording was released as a VHS video on 29 September 1997 and has only been reissued on DVD in Japan.
The band's next album, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998), was the first number 1 of the band in the UK, remaining at the top of the albums chart for 3 weeks, selling 136,000 copies in the first week and spending a total of 74 weeks in the Album Chart. The title is a quotation taken from a speech given by Aneurin Bevan, a Labour Party politician from Wales. The cover photograph was taken on Black Rock Sands near Porthmadog, Wales. Around the world the album also peaked at number 1 in countries like Sweden and Ireland, and it sold over five million copies worldwide.
With their fifth album, the group also had a No. 1 single, "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next". The song's theme is taken from the Spanish Civil War, and the idealism of Welsh volunteers who joined the left-wing International Brigades fighting for the Spanish Republic against Francisco Franco's military rebels. The song takes its name from a Republican poster of the time, displaying a photograph of a young child killed by the Nationalists under a sky of bombers with the stark warning "If you tolerate this, your children will be next" written at the bottom. The song is in the Guinness World Records as the number one single with the longest title without brackets. The album also included the hit singles "You Stole the Sun from My Heart", "Tsunami" and "The Everlasting". The Manics won Best British Band and Album awards at the BRIT Awards in 1999. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours was also shortlisted for the 1999 Mercury Prize and the band received a further nomination in the category of Best UK & Ireland Act in the 1999 MTV Europe Music Awards, where the band performed live the single If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next. In the NME Awards in 1999, the band won every single big prize, Best Band, Best Album, Best Live Act, Best Single and Best Video, as well as the Best Band in the World Today award in the Q Awards 1998.
After headlining Glastonbury Festival, T in the Park and V Festival, the band played the Leaving the 20th Century concert at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 31 December 1999, the first concert to be held there, with 57,000 people attending and the final song being broadcast around the world by satellite as part of 2000 Today. The concert is available on VHS and DVD. Subtitled English lyrics, available as an extra, contain errors when compared to the official lyrics in the band's album booklets and in between some of the tracks there are interview clips where the band discusses their history and the songs.
In 2000, they released the limited edition single "The Masses Against the Classes". Despite receiving little promotion, the single sold 76,000 copies in its first week and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 16 January 2000, beating "U Know What's Up" by Donell Jones to the top. The catalogue entry for the single was deleted (removed from wholesale supply) on the day of release, but the song nevertheless spent 9 weeks in the UK chart.
In 2001, they became the first popular Western rock band to play in Cuba (at the Karl Marx Theatre) and met with President Fidel Castro. Their concert and trip to Cuba was documented and then released as a DVD entitled Louder Than War. At this concert, they revealed many tracks from their upcoming sixth album, Know Your Enemy, which was released on 19 March. The left-wing political convictions of the Manic Street Preachers are apparent in many of the album's songs, such as "Baby Elián" as they comment on the strained relations between the United States and Cuba as seen in the Elián González affair, a hot topic around the album's release.
The band also pays tribute to singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson in the song "Let Robeson Sing", but the song "Ocean Spray", which was a single, was written entirely by James about his mother's battle with cancer. The first singles from the album, "So Why So Sad" and "Found That Soul", were both released on the same day. The final single "Let Robeson Sing" was released later. The Manics also headlined Reading and Leeds Festival.
The greatest hits (plus remixes) album Forever Delayed was released in 2002, containing two new songs, "Door to the River" and the single "There by the Grace of God". Several songs were edited for length ("Motorcycle Emptiness," "You Love Us", "Australia," "Everything Must Go," "Little Baby Nothing," and "The Everlasting") so that more tracks could fit onto the CD (though not listed as edits in the liner notes).
The Forever Delayed DVD was released in 2002 together with the greatest hits CD and photo book that bear the same name, and features all the promo music videos from the start of the band's career released before the DVD. Along with the promo videos, there is a selection of 14 remix videos, where the visual material is taken from clips of the other promo videos as well as backdrop visuals from the band's live concerts.
The album peaked and debuted on the UK Albums Chart at #4.
An album of B-sides, rarities, and cover versions was released in 2003 entitled Lipstick Traces (A Secret History of Manic Street Preachers), which contains the last song the band worked on with Edwards. The album received a far more positive reception from fans than the Forever Delayed greatest hits album, which was heavily criticised for favouring the band's more commercially successful singles. The only recurring criticism of Lipstick Traces was the exclusion of the fan favourite "Patrick Bateman", from the "La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)" single. The band explained that it was excluded mainly because it was almost seven minutes long and simply would not fit on the album.
The band's seventh studio album, Lifeblood, was released on 1 November 2004 and reached No. 13 on the UK album chart. Critical response to the album was mixed. The album was more introspective and more focused on the past, Wire talked about the ghosts that haunted this record and stated that the record was a retrospective: "The main themes are death and solitude and ghosts. Being haunted by history and being haunted by your own past. Sleep is beautiful for me. I hate dreaming because it ruins ten hours of bliss. I had a lot of bad dreams when Richey first disappeared. Not ugly dreams, but nagging things. Until we wrote 'Design for Life', it was six months of misery. Lifeblood doesn't seek to exorcise Edwards' ghost, though, just admits that there are no answers". Tony Visconti helped the band produce three songs on the album, which was followed by a UK arena tour in December 2004. "Empty Souls" and "The Love of Richard Nixon" were the two singles released from the album, both reaching No. 2 in the UK.
A tenth-anniversary edition of The Holy Bible was released on 6 December 2004, which included a digitally remastered version of the original album, a rare U.S. mix (which the band themselves have admitted to preferring to the original UK mix) and a DVD of live performances and extras including a band interview.
In April 2005, the band played several shows as the Past-Present-Future tour—announced as their last for at least two years. The band released an EP entitled God Save the Manics with only a limited number of copies available and given out to fans as they arrived at the venue. After all the copies were gone, the band made the EP available as a free download on their website. In September, the band contributed the new track "Leviathan" to the War Child charity album Help!: A Day in the Life.
In 2006 the band received the prize for the Q Merit Award in the Q Awards 2006 and also the 10th-anniversary edition of Everything Must Go was released on 6 November. It included the original album, demos, B-sides, remixes, rehearsals and alternate takes of the album's songs, spread out over two CDs. An additional DVD, featuring music videos, live performances, TV appearances, a 45-minute documentary on the making of the album, and two films by Patrick Jones, completed the three-disc set.
In the 10th-anniversary edition, the band itself claims that they're still fond of the record, and Wire goes further saying: "I think it's our best record, I am not afraid to say that."
Send Away the Tigers to National Treasures (2007–2012)
The band's eighth studio album, Send Away the Tigers, was released on 7 May 2007 on Columbia Records. It entered the official UK album charts at No. 2. Critical response to the album was largely positive, with some critics hailing the album as the band's best in a decade. A free download of a song entitled "Underdogs" from the album was made available through the group's website on 19 March 2007. The first official single released from the album was "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough", featuring Cardigans vocalist Nina Persson. According to singer Bradfield, the title was the last line of a suicide note left by the friend of someone close to the group. The second single, "Autumnsong", and a third, "Indian Summer", were released in August. "Indian Summer" peaked at number 22, making it the first Manics single not to chart in the Top 20 since 1994's "She Is Suffering". The album sleeve features a quotation from Wyndham Lewis: "When a man is young, he is usually a revolutionary of some kind. So here I am, speaking of my revolution".
A Christmas single, "The Ghosts of Christmas", was released as a free download on the band's official website throughout December 2007 and January 2008. In February 2008, the band were presented with the God-Like Geniuses Award at the NME Awards ceremony.
The ninth Manics album, Journal for Plague Lovers, was released on 18 May 2009 and features lyrics left behind by Edwards. Wire commented in an interview that "there was a sense of responsibility to do his words justice." The album was released to positive critical reviews and reached No. 3 on the UK Album Chart. However, the cover of the album generated some controversy, with the top four UK supermarkets stocking the CD in a plain slipcase, as the cover was deemed "inappropriate".
Several tracks refer to Edwards' time in a couple of hospitals in 1994. Bradfield commented that Journal for Plague Lovers was an attempt to finally secure the legacy of their former member Richey Edwards and the result was that, during the recording process, it was as close to feeling his presence since his disappearance: "There was a sense of responsibility to do his words justice. That was part of the whole thing of letting enough time lapse. Once we actually got into the studio, it almost felt as if we were a full band; it [was] as close to him being in the room again as possible."
The band's tenth album Postcards from a Young Man was recorded with producer Dave Eringa and was mixed in America by Chris Lord-Alge. The album cover art uses a black and white photograph of British actor Tim Roth. The first single from the album, "(It's Not War) Just the End of Love", was released on 13 September. The album was supported by the Manics' most extensive tour of the UK to date, starting in Glasgow on 29 September 2010. British Sea Power were the support act for the band on the tour. Two further singles were released from the album—the McCulloch-featuring "Some Kind of Nothingness" and the title track "Postcards from a Young Man". "Some Kind of Nothingness" peaked at No. 44 in the UK making it the first-ever Manics single to not make the Top 40 since they signed to Sony in 1991.
National Treasures – The Complete Singles was released on 31 October 2011, preceded by the release of the single "This Is the Day", a cover of the song by the The. On 17 December 2011, the group performed 'A Night of National Treasures' at O2 Arena in London to celebrate the band's 25 years to date, and enter into a period of hiatus where the eleventh album was written. The band performed all 38 singles, with around 20,000 people in attendance, as well as guest performers including Nina Persson from the Cardigans who sings with the band on the single "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" and Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals who sang with the band that night on the track Let Robeson Sing. In April and May 2012, the band embarked on a European greatest hits tour. The compilation was voted by NME magazine as the best re issue of 2011, beating Nirvana's deluxe and super deluxe edition of Nevermind to the top spot.
Despite the "complete singles" title, National Treasures does not contain every Manic Street Preachers single. Notable omissions are the band's very first single, "Suicide Alley" (1989), "Strip It Down" from the New Art Riot EP (1990), for which the band's first promotional video was made, and "You Love Us (Heavenly Version)" (1991). For singles originally released as double-A sides, only one song is included: therefore from "Love's Sweet Exile/Repeat" (1992) and "Faster/P.C.P." (1994), only the first of each pair are included.
A film-interview-documentary about their album Generation Terrorists was screened on Saturday 20 October 2012 at Chapter Arts Centre as part of the Sŵn Festival, with all profits donated to Young Promoters Network. The film was made available in the 20th-anniversary re-issue of Generation Terrorists.
Rewind the Film to The Ultra Vivid Lament (2013–present)
In May 2013, the band announced an Australasian tour for June and July, that would see them play their first-ever show in New Zealand. This tour coincided with the British and Irish Lions rugby tour to Australia and the Melbourne concert on the eve of the 2nd Test featured Lions' centre Jamie Roberts as a guest guitarist on "You Love Us".
In May 2013 the Manics released information about their most recent recording sessions, saying that they had enough material for two albums; the first would be almost exclusively without electric guitars. The name of the first album and title track was revealed to be Rewind the Film on 8 July. In a statement, the band announced, "(If) this record has a relation in the Manics back catalogue, it's probably the sedate coming of age that was This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours." The band also stated via Twitter, "MSP were in the great Hansa Studios in January with Alex Silva (who recorded The Holy Bible with us). Berlin was inspirational... Sean been playing a french horn in the studio today—sounding wonderful." The lead single of the album, "Show Me the Wonder", was released on 9 September 2013 to a positive critical reception. The album itself was released on 16 September 2013 and reached No. 4 on the UK Album Chart. The second single of the album "Anthem for a Lost Cause" was released on 25 November 2013.
The other album, Futurology, the band's twelfth studio album, was released on 7 July 2014 and it received immediate critical acclaim. The lead single from the album, "Walk Me to the Bridge", was released as a digital download on the day of the announcement, on 28 April. The album sold about 20,000 copies in its first week and reached No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. The title track, "Futurology", was the second and final single released from the album on 22 September, the video debuted on YouTube on 10 August. The video was directed by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts winner Kieran Evans, who worked with the band on videos from their previous effort Rewind the Film. The band promoted the album with a tour around the UK and Europe from March to May 2014, they also made appearances in festivals like T in the Park in Scotland and Glastonbury Festival in the summer.
In December 2014, the band toured The Holy Bible, playing it in full for the very first time, to coincide with its 20th anniversary reissue. After the tour in the UK, the Manics took The Holy Bible tour to North America, in April 2015, they played in Washington DC, Toronto, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. They also played in the Cardiff Castle on 5 June 2015 with 10,000 fans attending the gig, it was broadcast nationwide by BBC Two Wales. In the NME Awards 2015, the album won "Reissue of the Year".
In November 2015, the Manic Street Preachers announced that they were going to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their 1996 album Everything Must Go, with their biggest headline show since 1999, in the Liberty Stadium, in Swansea on 28 May 2016, featuring special guests like Super Furry Animals. The album was performed in full, with Nicky Wire teasing "B-sides, rarities and curios, greatest hits and a few brand-new songs". Before the final show in Swansea the band played: Liverpool, Echo Arena (13 May), Birmingham, Genting Arena (14 May), London, Royal Albert Hall (16–17 May), Leeds, First Direct Arena (20 May) and Glasgow, the SSE Hydro (21 May). In early 2016 the band announced the European tour of Everything Must Go, they played across Europe, in Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany.
The band announced in March 2016 that they would be releasing a theme song for the Wales national team ahead of the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament in the summer, entitled "Together Stronger (C'mon Wales)", it was released on 20 May, featuring also a video with the band and the Welsh team, the Manics tweeted: "It's with great pride we can announce the Manics are providing the official Wales Euro 2016 song – 'Together Stronger (C'mon Wales)'". All profits from the song went to the Princes Gate Trust and Tenovus Cancer Care. On 8 July the band was at the Cardiff City Stadium to give a home welcome to the Wales football national team after they were knocked out of the UEFA Euro 2016 by Portugal in the semi-finals, the band played a few songs in the stadium including the official theme song "Together Stronger (C'mon Wales)". On the next night, 9 July, the Manics headlined a night at the Cornwall's Eden Project, and later the band managed to secure a new recording studio near Newport, Wales. The city's council ensured that only the band can use the studio, there would be an increase on-site parking and a series of soundproofing measures to ensure nearby properties aren't disturbed by noise. To end the summer, the Manics went on to headline another two festivals, Wasa Open Air in Finland in mid-August and in late August the Victorious Festival in Portsmouth. The band also received a nomination in the 25th British Academy Cymru Awards for the best live outside broadcast after their 2015 gig in the Cardiff Castle, celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Holy Bible.
In February 2017 the band revealed a teaser trailer for a documentary entitled Escape from History, charting the band's journey from The Holy Bible, through to the disappearance of lyricist and guitarist Richey Edwards, to the huge success of Everything Must Go. The documentary aired on Sky Arts on 15 April. The band also stated that they would release an album later in that year.
The band released a special edition of their album Send Away the Tigers on 12 May. 2017 marks the 10th anniversary of the record and the Manics said that "this is a very important album" in their career. The special edition featured a remastered album as well as B-sides and rarities spread over two discs, plus a DVD which features the band's 2007 Glastonbury performance, rehearsal footage, an album track-by-track, and promo videos.
On 17 November 2017, the band announced that their thirteenth album, Resistance Is Futile, would be released on 13 April 2018. After much delay, the band wrote "The main themes of 'Resistance Is Futile' are memory and loss; forgotten history; confused reality and art as a hiding place and inspiration", the band say in a statement. "It's obsessively melodic—in many ways referencing both the naive energy of 'Generation Terrorists' and the orchestral sweep of 'Everything Must Go'. After delay and difficulties getting started, the record has come together really quickly over the last few months through a surge of creativity and some old school hard work." It is the first album to be recorded at the "Door to the River" studio.
In January 2018, Manic Street Preachers signed a publishing contract with Warner/Chappell Music, leaving their longtime home Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
On the album, the Manics launched their first single "International Blue" as a download on 8 December 2017. The second single "Distant Colours" was released, also as a download, on 16 February 2018. About the first single the band said that there was certain naive energy and widescreen melancholia on the song that is reflected through the whole album, comparing it to "Motorcycle Emptiness". Furthermore, the album focused on "(...)things that make your life feel a little bit better. Rather than my internalised misery, I tried to put a sense of optimism into the lyrics by writing about things that we find really inspiring." Said Wire, taking inspiration from David Bowie and seen as almost an escape and a wave of optimism, just like the previous album was described.
On the other hand, "Distant Colours" was written by James Dean Bradfield, rather than Nicky Wire, and inspired by disenchantment and Nye Bevan's old Labour. He said: "Musically, the verse is downcast and melancholic and the chorus is an explosion of disillusionment and tears." The third single "Dylan & Caitlin" was released as a download on 9 March 2018. The fourth single "Liverpool Revisited" is about a magical day in the city, Nicky added that: "It was on the Everything Must Go (anniversary) tour and I got up really early at sunrise to walk around Liverpool, polaroid camera in hand on a balmy day. It sounds clichéd I know, but Liverpool in the sun does take on a hypnotic quality, with the Mersey and the stone." The band also revealed that they were to support Guns N' Roses during their summer tour. The fifth and final single, "Hold Me Like a Heaven", was released as a download on 4 May 2018. Wire said that the song was inspired musically by David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes", something that the band wanted to write about, and Nicky thinks that this the closest that the band is going to get, sharing also that lyrics were informed by the work of Philip Larkin.
The album sold around 24,000 copies in the first week, entering the UK Albums Chart at number 2, despite being number 1 during the week. It was the highest new entry on the chart, and on physical sales the album peaked at number 1, both on CD and vinyl.
In October 2018, the band announced a twentieth-anniversary collector's edition re-release of This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. It was made available on digital, CD, and vinyl, with the CD edition featuring bonus demos, live rehearsal recordings, remixes, and B-sides. The album was launched on 7 December 2018 and to promote it, the band went on tour in Spring and Summer 2019, performing the album in full alongside other content.
In March 2020, the Manics announced a deluxe reissue of their Gold Against the Soul album for release on 12 June 2020. Bonus content included previously unreleased demos, B-sides from the era, remixes, and a live recording, while the CD was released alongside a book of unseen photographs from the era with handwritten annotations and lyrics from the band. The next day, the unnamed follow-up album to Resistance Is Futile, their fourteenth overall, was confirmed to NME alongside Bradfield's second solo album. The group's album, including a track called "Orwellian", was described as "expansive" and is due for release in Summer 2021.
On 14 May 2021, the Manics announced the title of their fourteenth studio album: The Ultra Vivid Lament. The first single from the album, "Orwellian", was released on the same day. "The Secret He Had Missed", the second single from the album, was released on 16 July 2021. The Ultra Vivid Lament was released on 10 September 2021 and received generally positive reviews from critics: on Metacritic, the album has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The album sold 27,000 copies in the first week, granting the band their second UK Number 1 album as they narrowly beat Steps to the number 1 spot.
In May and June 2022, Manic Street Preachers opened for The Killers in some of their UK tour dates.
In September 2022, the Manics announced a co-headlining tour of United States and Canada with Suede for November 2022, which would be the first time the two bands would share the stage since they toured Europe together in 1994.
On 24 June 2023, the band played the Glastonbury Festival. Speaking to the Other Stage crowd, Nicky Wire said: "The first time we played was 1994 and it was the four of us, we had the one and only Richard Edwards with us, oh yes, we had a f**king blast. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, it was f**king fun you know."
All four band members were honoured with a mural in their hometown of Blackwood in April 2024, designed by street artist Paul Shepherd.
Collaborations and covers
The band released a split single in 1992 with the Fatima Mansions, a rock cover of "Suicide Is Painless", which became their first UK Top 10 hit. They have recorded many cover versions of songs by other artists, primarily as B-sides for their own singles. Bands and artists to whom the group have paid tribute in this way include the Clash, Guns N' Roses, Alice Cooper, Happy Mondays, McCarthy, Chuck Berry, Faces and Nirvana.
The band's first musical appearance since Edwards' departure was recording a cover of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" for The Help Album, a charity effort in 1995 in support of aid efforts in war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Lightning Seeds' song "Waiting for Today to Happen", from their fifth album, Dizzy Heights (1996), was written by Nicky Wire and Ian Broudie. That same year, James Dean Bradfield and Dave Eringa produced Northern Uproar's first single, "Rollercoaster/Rough Boys". The 808 State song "Lopez" (1997) features lyrics by Wire and vocals by Bradfield. It is featured on their greatest hits album, 808:88:98. Kylie Minogue's sixth album, Impossible Princess (1997), features two songs co-written and produced by the Manics: "Some Kind of Bliss" (Bradfield, Minogue and Sean Moore) and "I Don't Need Anyone" (Bradfield, Jones and Minogue) were produced by Bradfield and Dave Eringa. Bradfield provided backing vocals, bass guitar and production for the Massive Attack song "Inertia Creeps" (1998), which features on their successful third album, Mezzanine. Patrick Jones's album of poetry set to music, Commemoration and Amnesia (1999), features two songs with music written by Bradfield: the title track and "The Guerilla Tapestry". Bradfield plays the guitar on both songs. Furthermore, the track "Hiraeth" features a section called "Spoken Word", in which Nicky Wire talks about Welsh identity.
In February 2006, the band contributed a cover version of "The Instrumental" to the album Still Unravished: A Tribute to the June Brides.
In February 2008, the Manics covered Rihanna's hit pop song "Umbrella". Their version appeared on a CD titled NME Awards 2008 given away free with a special souvenir box-set issue of NME magazine, which went on sale 27 February. Additionally, the Manics' version of the song was made available on iTunes from 5 March 2008. Despite being chart-eligible (it reached number 47 in the UK), the release was not intended as an official single. Two further versions (the Acoustic and Grand Slam mixes) were later made available on iTunes and now comprise a three-track Umbrella EP.
James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire contributed an original song, "The Girl from Tiger Bay", to Shirley Bassey's 2009 studio album, The Performance.
Musical style and influences
Manic Street Preachers' music has been variously described as
alternative rock, Britpop, hard rock glam rock, pop rock, punk metal, and punk rock.
The band have stated that the Clash were "probably our biggest influence of all". When they saw them on television, "we thought it was fantastic and got really excited. They were the catalyst for us". In addition, they have cited artists including Guns N' Roses, Alice in Chains, Red Hot Chili Peppers, PiL, Skids, Gang of Four, Sex Pistols, Magazine, Bruce Springsteen, the New York Dolls, Girls Against Boys, Anna Meredith, Wire, Julia Holter, Rush, Felt, Simple Minds, ABBA, the Associates, and Talk Talk as influences on their music. Bradfield's guitar hero is guitarist John McGeoch: "He taught me, you can have that rock'n'roll swagger, but still build something into it that's really unsettling, and can cut like a razor blade".
Though the band's first album Generation Terrorists was mostly politically charged glam-rock mixed with punk influences, their style shifted towards a darker sound on Gold Against the Soul. When The Holy Bible was released, the Manic Street Preachers had incorporated post-punk into their musical style, starting many songs on the album with either recordings of interviews or quotes, or clean, reverberated guitar sounds before abruptly changing tempo and engaging distortion. After Edwards' disappearance in 1995, the bands sound has become less dissonant and more appealing to a broader mainstream audience. Following albums have been described as string driven and slower-paced than their early work.
Alluding to the band's early relationship with Britpop, Cam Lindsay of Canadian music publication Exclaim! opined that "Britpop was rising, the Manics were offering the polar opposite: a bleak, uncompromising work that wanted nothing to do with the party".
Members
Timeline
Discography
Generation Terrorists (1992)
Gold Against the Soul (1993)
The Holy Bible (1994)
Everything Must Go (1996)
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998)
Know Your Enemy (2001)
Lifeblood (2004)
Send Away the Tigers (2007)
Journal for Plague Lovers (2009)
Postcards from a Young Man (2010)
Rewind the Film (2013)
Futurology (2014)
Resistance Is Futile (2018)
The Ultra Vivid Lament (2021)
Awards and nominations
Best Art Vinyl Awards
The Best Art Vinyl Awards are yearly awards established in 2005 by Art Vinyl Ltd to celebrate the best album artwork of the past year.
NME Awards
The NME Awards is an annual music award show in the United Kingdom.
Q Awards
The Q Awards are the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine Q.
Žebřík Music Awards
7th Best Band of All Time – 1999 NME Best Ever Category
7th Best Album of All Time (The Holy Bible) – 1999 NME Best Ever Category
8th Best Single of All Time (A Design For Life) – 1999 NME Best Ever Category
The MOJO Maverick Award 2009
References
Sources
Price, Simon (1999). Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers). London: Virgin Books. ISBN 0-7535-0139-2.
Clarke, Martin (1997). Manic Street Preachers: Sweet Venom. London: Plexus. ISBN 0-85965-259-9.
External links
Official website
Manic Street Preachers discography at Discogs
Manic Street Preachers at IMDb |
Director_Special_Forces | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_Special_Forces | [
524
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_Special_Forces"
] | Director Special Forces (DSF) is the senior British Armed Forces officer responsible for the United Kingdom Special Forces. The post is a senior role within the Ministry of Defence (MoD). As director, the incumbent is responsible for the provision of special forces capability to MoD, and holds operational command for discrete special forces operations.
History
The post of Colonel SAS (Special Air Service) was created in 1964; this post evolved into Director SAS with the post holder commanding the SAS corps from 1969.
In March 1987, the post of Director SAS became Director Special Forces; it consisted of the Army's Special Air Service, Royal Navy's Special Boat Service and the Army's 14 Intelligence Company under the command of the DSF, who held the rank of brigadier, and with a Deputy, who held the rank of colonel.
During the 2000s, the size of the directorate increased substantially with the inclusion of the Special Forces Support Group and the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing. Other changes included the 14th Intelligence Company renamed as the Special Reconnaissance Regiment. This was to meet a demand for a special reconnaissance capability identified in the Strategic Defence Review: A New Chapter published in 2002 in response to the 2001 September 11 attacks. Following a review, it was found that the SAS Reserve lacked a clearly defined role, and also stated that the reservists lacked the capability, equipment, and skills to serve alongside the regular special forces. What followed was a reduction in the scope of UK Special Forces. As an outcome of this review, on 1 September 2014, 21 and 23 SAS were removed from the UKSF order of battle and placed with the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC), under the command of 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade. This change was partly reversed in 2019 with 21 and 23 SAS returning as an integrated part of the UKSF group.
In 2008, the rank of the DSF was upgraded from brigadier to major-general with the directorate becoming an independent, operational-level component command, alongside Land, Navy and Air elements in the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) and in the deployable Joint Force Headquarters (JFHQ).
The DSF is only accountable to the Defence Secretary and the Prime Minister. UKSF may operate in locations where the UK does not formally acknowledge a military presence.
List of commanders
Commanders of special forces have been:
Colonel SAS
1964–1967 Colonel John Waddy (late Parachute Regiment)
1967–1969 Colonel Mike Wingate Gray (late Black Watch)
Director SAS
1969–1972 Brigadier Fergie Semple (late Royal Engineers)
1972–1975 Brigadier John Simpson (late Gordon Highlanders)
1975–1979 Brigadier John Watts (late Royal Ulster Rifles)
1979–1983 Brigadier Peter de la Billière (late Durham Light Infantry)
1983–1985 Brigadier John Foley (late Royal Green Jackets)
Director Special Forces
1986–1988 Brigadier Michael Wilkes (late Royal Artillery)
1988–1989 Brigadier Michael Rose (late Coldstream Guards)
1989–1993 Brigadier Jeremy Phipps (late Queen's Own Hussars)
1993–1996 Brigadier Cedric Delves (late Devonshire and Dorset Regiment)
1996–1999 Brigadier John Sutherell (late Royal Anglian Regiment)
1999–2001 Brigadier John Holmes (late Scots Guards)
2001–2003 Brigadier Graeme Lamb (late Queen's Own Highlanders)
2003–2006 Brigadier Jonathan Shaw (late Parachute Regiment)
2006–2009 Brigadier Adrian Bradshaw (late King's Royal Hussars)
2009–2012 Major General Jacko Page (late Parachute Regiment)
2012–2015 Major General Mark Carleton-Smith (late Irish Guards)
2015–2018 Major General James Chiswell (late Parachute Regiment)
2018–2021 Major General Roland Walker (late Grenadier Guards)
== References == |
1985_UK_Athletics_Championships | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_UK_Athletics_Championships | [
524
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_UK_Athletics_Championships"
] | The 1985 UK Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for the United Kingdom held at Antrim Stadium, Antrim. It was the second time that a national track and field championship was held in Northern Ireland, after hosting the 1981 event.
It was the ninth edition of the competition limited to British athletes only, launched as an alternative to the AAA Championships, which was open to foreign competitors. However, due to the fact that the calibre of national competition remained greater at the AAA event, the UK Championships this year were not considered the principal national championship event by some statisticians, such as the National Union of Track Statisticians (NUTS). Many of the athletes below also competed at the 1985 AAA Championships.
Fatima Whitbread won her fifth consecutive women's javelin throw UK title. Both the men's and women's champions defended in the 5000 metres (Eamonn Martin, Angela Tooby) and shot put (Billy Cole, Judy Oakes), as did men's hammer thrower Dave Smith. Linford Christie and John Regis recorded the same times in both the 100 metres and 200 metres finals. Christie was given the 100 m title while the two shared the 200 m title. Christie was the only athlete at the competition to win two titles.
The main international track and field competition for the United Kingdom that year was the 1985 European Cup. Three UK champions medalled at that event: Whitbread in the javelin, Angela Tooby in the 10,000 m and Tom McKean in the 800 metres. Derek Redmond was third in the 400 metres at the European competition, despite coming second at the UK race.
Medal summary
Men
Women
== References == |
Morse_code | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code | [
524
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code"
] | Morse code is a telecommunications method which encodes text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes, or dits and dahs. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of the early developers of the system adopted for electrical telegraphy.
International Morse code encodes the 26 basic Latin letters A to Z, one accented Latin letter (É), the Arabic numerals, and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals (prosigns). There is no distinction between upper and lower case letters. Each Morse code symbol is formed by a sequence of dits and dahs. The dit duration can vary for signal clarity and operator skill, but for any one message, once established it is the basic unit of time measurement in Morse code. The duration of a dah is three times the duration of a dit (although some telegraphers deliberately exaggerate the length of a dah for clearer signalling). Each dit or dah within an encoded character is followed by a period of signal absence, called a space, equal to the dit duration. The letters of a word are separated by a space of duration equal to three dits, and words are separated by a space equal to seven dits.
Morse code can be memorized and sent in a form perceptible to the human senses, e.g. via sound waves or visible light, such that it can be directly interpreted by persons trained in the skill. Morse code is usually transmitted by on-off keying of an information-carrying medium such as electric current, radio waves, visible light, or sound waves. The current or wave is present during the time period of the dit or dah and absent during the time between dits and dahs.
Since many natural languages use more than the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, Morse alphabets have been developed for those languages, largely by transliteration of existing codes.
To increase the efficiency of transmission, Morse code was originally designed so that the duration of each symbol is approximately inverse to the frequency of occurrence of the character that it represents in text of the English language. Thus the most common letter in English, the letter E, has the shortest code – a single dit. Because the Morse code elements are specified by proportion rather than specific time durations, the code is usually transmitted at the highest rate that the receiver is capable of decoding. Morse code transmission rate (speed) is specified in groups per minute, commonly referred to as words per minute.
Development and history
Pre-Morse telegraphs and codes
Early in the nineteenth century, European experimenters made progress with electrical signaling systems, using a variety of techniques including static electricity and electricity from Voltaic piles producing electrochemical and electromagnetic changes. These experimental designs were precursors to practical telegraphic applications.
Following the discovery of electromagnetism by Hans Christian Ørsted in 1820 and the invention of the electromagnet by William Sturgeon in 1824, there were developments in electromagnetic telegraphy in Europe and America. Pulses of electric current were sent along wires to control an electromagnet in the receiving instrument. Many of the earliest telegraph systems used a single-needle system which gave a very simple and robust instrument. However, it was slow, as the receiving operator had to alternate between looking at the needle and writing down the message. In Morse code, a deflection of the needle to the left corresponded to a dit and a deflection to the right to a dah. The needle clicked each time it moved to the right or left. By making the two clicks sound different (by installing one ivory and one metal stop), transmissions on the single needle device became audible as well as visible, which led in turn to the Double Plate Sounder System.
William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone in Britain developed an electrical telegraph that used electromagnets in its receivers. They obtained an English patent in June 1837 and demonstrated it on the London and Birmingham Railway, making it the first commercial telegraph. Carl Friedrich Gauss and Wilhelm Eduard Weber (1833) as well as Carl August von Steinheil (1837) used codes with varying word lengths for their telegraph systems. In 1841, Cooke and Wheatstone built a telegraph that printed the letters from a wheel of typefaces struck by a hammer.: 79
Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail
The American artist Samuel Morse, the American physicist Joseph Henry, and mechanical engineer Alfred Vail developed an electrical telegraph system. The simple "on or off" nature of its signals made it desirable to find a method of transmitting natural language using only electrical pulses and the silence between them. Around 1837, Morse therefore developed such a method, an early forerunner to the modern International Morse code.: 79
The Morse system for telegraphy, which was first used in about 1844, was designed to make indentations on a paper tape when electric currents were received. Morse's original telegraph receiver used a mechanical clockwork to move a paper tape. When an electrical current was received, an electromagnet engaged an armature that pushed a stylus onto the moving paper tape, making an indentation on the tape. When the current was interrupted, a spring retracted the stylus and that portion of the moving tape remained unmarked. Morse code was developed so that operators could translate the indentations marked on the paper tape into text messages.
In his earliest design for a code, Morse had planned to transmit only numerals, and to use a codebook to look up each word according to the number which had been sent. However, the code was soon expanded by Alfred Vail in 1840 to include letters and special characters, so it could be used more generally. Vail estimated the frequency of use of letters in the English language by counting the movable type he found in the type-cases of a local newspaper in Morristown, New Jersey.: 84 The shorter marks were called "dots" and the longer ones "dashes", and the letters most commonly used were assigned the shortest sequences of dots and dashes. This code, first used in 1844, was what later became known as Morse landline code, American Morse code, or Railroad Morse, until the end of railroad telegraphy in the U.S. in the 1970s.
Operator-led change from graphical to audible code
In the original Morse telegraph system, the receiver's armature made a clicking noise as it moved in and out of position to mark the paper tape. Early telegraph operators soon learned that they could translate the clicks directly into dots and dashes, and write these down by hand, thus making the paper tape unnecessary. When Morse code was adapted to radio communication, the dots and dashes were sent as short and long tone pulses.
Later telegraphy training found that people become more proficient at receiving Morse code when it is taught "like a language", with each code perceived as a whole "word" instead of a sequence of separate dots and dashes, such as might be shown on a page.
With the advent of tones produced by radiotelegraph receivers, the operators began to vocalize a dot as dit, and a dash as dah, to reflect the sounds of Morse code they heard. To conform to normal sending speed, dits which are not the last element of a code became voiced as di. For example, the letter L ( ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ) is voiced as di dah di dit. Morse code was sometimes facetiously known as "iddy-umpty", a dit lampooned as "iddy" and a dah as "umpty", leading to the word "umpteen".
Gerke's refinement of Morse's code
The Morse code, as specified in the current international standard, International Morse Code Recommendation, ITU-R M.1677-1, was derived from a much-improved proposal by Friedrich Gerke in 1848 that became known as the "Hamburg alphabet", its only real defect being the use of an excessively long code ( ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ and later the equal duration code ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ) for the frequently used vowel O.
Gerke changed many of the codepoints, in the process doing away with the different length dashes and different inter-element spaces of American Morse, leaving only two coding elements, the dot and the dash. Codes for German umlauted vowels and CH were introduced. Gerke's code was adopted in Germany and Austria in 1851.
This finally led to the International Morse code in 1865. The International Morse code adopted most of Gerke's codepoints. The codes for O and P were taken from a code system developed by Steinheil. A new codepoint was added for J since Gerke did not distinguish between I and J. Changes were also made to X, Y, and Z. This left only four codepoints identical to the original Morse code, namely E, H, K and N, and the latter two had their dahs extended to full length. The original American code being compared dates to 1838; the later American code shown in the table was developed in 1844.
Radiotelegraphy and aviation
In the 1890s, Morse code began to be used extensively for early radio communication before it was possible to transmit voice. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most high-speed international communication used Morse code on telegraph lines, undersea cables, and radio circuits.
Although previous transmitters were bulky and the spark gap system of transmission was dangerous and difficult to use, there had been some early attempts: In 1910, the U.S. Navy experimented with sending Morse from an airplane. However the first regular aviation radiotelegraphy was on airships, which had space to accommodate the large, heavy radio equipment then in use. The same year, 1910, a radio on the airship America was instrumental in coordinating the rescue of its crew.
During World War I, Zeppelin airships equipped with radio were used for bombing and naval scouting, and ground-based radio direction finders were used for airship navigation. Allied airships and military aircraft also made some use of radiotelegraphy.
However, there was little aeronautical radio in general use during World War I, and in the 1920s, there was no radio system used by such important flights as that of Charles Lindbergh from New York to Paris in 1927. Once he and the Spirit of St. Louis were off the ground, Lindbergh was truly incommunicado and alone. Morse code in aviation began regular use in the mid-1920s. By 1928, when the first airplane flight was made by the Southern Cross from California to Australia, one of its four crewmen was a radio operator who communicated with ground stations via radio telegraph.
Beginning in the 1930s, both civilian and military pilots were required to be able to use Morse code, both for use with early communications systems and for identification of navigational beacons that transmitted continuous two- or three-letter identifiers in Morse code. Aeronautical charts show the identifier of each navigational aid next to its location on the map.
In addition, rapidly moving field armies could not have fought effectively without radiotelegraphy; they moved more quickly than their communications services could put up new telegraph and telephone lines. This was seen especially in the blitzkrieg offensives of the Nazi German Wehrmacht in Poland, Belgium, France (in 1940), the Soviet Union, and in North Africa; by the British Army in North Africa, Italy, and the Netherlands; and by the U.S. Army in France and Belgium (in 1944), and in southern Germany in 1945.
Maritime flash telegraphy and radio telegraphy
Radiotelegraphy using Morse code was vital during World War II, especially in carrying messages between the warships and the naval bases of the belligerents. Long-range ship-to-ship communication was by radio telegraphy, using encrypted messages because the voice radio systems on ships then were quite limited in both their range and their security. Radiotelegraphy was also extensively used by warplanes, especially by long-range patrol planes that were sent out by navies to scout for enemy warships, cargo ships, and troop ships.
Morse code was used as an international standard for maritime distress until 1999 when it was replaced by the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System. When the French Navy ceased using Morse code on January 31, 1997, the final message transmitted was "Calling all. This is our last call before our eternal silence."
Demise of commercial telegraphy
In the United States the final commercial Morse code transmission was on July 12, 1999, signing off with Samuel Morse's original 1844 message, WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT, and the prosign SK ("end of contact").
As of 2015, the United States Air Force still trains ten people a year in Morse.
The United States Coast Guard has ceased all use of Morse code on the radio, and no longer monitors any radio frequencies for Morse code transmissions, including the international medium frequency (MF) distress frequency of 500 kHz. However, the Federal Communications Commission still grants commercial radiotelegraph operator licenses to applicants who pass its code and written tests. Licensees have reactivated the old California coastal Morse station KPH and regularly transmit from the site under either this call sign or as KSM. Similarly, a few U.S. museum ship stations are operated by Morse enthusiasts.
Operator proficiency
Morse code speed is measured in words per minute (WPM) or characters per minute (CPM). Characters have differing lengths because they contain differing numbers of dits and dahs. Consequently, words also have different lengths in terms of dot duration, even when they contain the same number of characters. For this reason, some standard word is adopted for measuring operators' transmission speeds: Two such standard words in common use are PARIS and CODEX. Operators skilled in Morse code can often understand ("copy") code in their heads at rates in excess of 40 WPM.
In addition to knowing, understanding, and being able to copy the standard written alpha-numeric and punctuation characters or symbols at high speeds, skilled high-speed operators must also be fully knowledgeable of all of the special unwritten Morse code symbols for the standard Prosigns for Morse code and the meanings of these special procedural signals in standard Morse code communications protocol.
International contests in code copying are still occasionally held. In July 1939 at a contest in Asheville, North Carolina in the United States Ted R. McElroy (W1JYN) set a still-standing record for Morse copying, 75.2 WPM. Pierpont (2004) also notes that some operators may have passed 100 WPM. By this time, they are "hearing" phrases and sentences rather than words. The fastest speed ever sent by a straight key was achieved in 1942 by Harry Turner (W9YZE) (d. 1992) who reached 35 WPM in a demonstration at a U.S. Army base. To accurately compare code copying speed records of different eras it is useful to keep in mind that different standard words (50 dit durations versus 60 dit durations) and different interword gaps (5 dit durations versus 7 dit durations) may have been used when determining such speed records. For example, speeds run with the CODEX standard word and the PARIS standard may differ by up to 20%.
Today among amateur operators there are several organizations that recognize high-speed code ability, one group consisting of those who can copy Morse at 60 WPM. Also, Certificates of Code Proficiency are issued by several amateur radio societies, including the American Radio Relay League. Their basic award starts at 10 WPM with endorsements as high as 40 WPM, and are available to anyone who can copy the transmitted text. Members of the Boy Scouts of America may put a Morse interpreter's strip on their uniforms if they meet the standards for translating code at 5 WPM.
Through May 2013, the First, Second, and Third Class (commercial) Radiotelegraph Licenses using code tests based upon the CODEX standard word were still being issued in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission. The First Class license required 20 WPM code group and 25 WPM text code proficiency, the others 16 WPM code group test (five letter blocks sent as simulation of receiving encrypted text) and 20 WPM code text (plain language) test. It was also necessary to pass written tests on operating practice and electronics theory. A unique additional demand for the First Class was a requirement of a year of experience for operators of shipboard and coast stations using Morse. This allowed the holder to be chief operator on board a passenger ship. However, since 1999 the use of satellite and very high-frequency maritime communications systems (GMDSS) has made them obsolete. (By that point meeting experience requirement for the First was very difficult.)
Currently, only one class of license, the Radiotelegraph Operator License, is issued. This is granted either when the tests are passed or as the Second and First are renewed and become this lifetime license. For new applicants, it requires passing a written examination on electronic theory and radiotelegraphy practices, as well as 16 WPM code-group and 20 WPM text tests. However, the code exams are currently waived for holders of Amateur Extra Class licenses who obtained their operating privileges under the old 20 WPM test requirement.
International Morse code
Morse codes of one version or another have been in use for more than 160 years — longer than any other electrical message encoding system. What is called Morse code today is actually somewhat different from what was originally developed by Vail and Morse. The Modern International Morse code, or continental code, was created by Friedrich Clemens Gerke in 1848 and initially used for telegraphy between Hamburg and Cuxhaven in Germany. Gerke changed nearly half of the alphabet and all of the numerals, providing the foundation for the modern form of the code. After some minor changes to the letters and a complete revision of the numerals, International Morse Code was standardized by the International Telegraphy Congress in 1865 in Paris, and later became the standard adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Morse and Vail's final code specification, however, was only really used only for land-line telegraphy in the United States and Canada, with the International code used everywhere else, including all ships at sea and sailing in North American waters. Morse's version became known as American Morse code or railroad code, and is now almost never used, with the possible exception of historical re-enactments.
Aviation
In aviation, pilots use radio navigation aids. To allow pilots to ensure that the stations they intend to use are serviceable, the stations transmit a set of identification letters (usually a two-to-five-letter version of the station name) in Morse code. Station identification letters are shown on air navigation charts. For example, the VOR-DME based at Vilo Acuña Airport in Cayo Largo del Sur, Cuba is identified by "UCL", and Morse code UCL is repeatedly transmitted on its radio frequency.
In some countries, during periods of maintenance, the facility may instead transmit the signal TEST ( ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ), or the identification may be removed, which tells pilots and navigators that the station is unreliable. In Canada, the identification is removed entirely to signify the navigation aid is not to be used.
In the aviation service, Morse is typically sent at a very slow speed of about 5 words per minute. In the U.S., pilots do not actually have to know Morse to identify the transmitter because the dot/dash sequence is written out next to the transmitter's symbol on aeronautical charts. Some modern navigation receivers automatically translate the code into displayed letters.
Amateur radio
International Morse code today is most popular among amateur radio operators, in the mode commonly referred to as "continuous wave" or "CW".
Other, faster keying methods are available in radio telegraphy, such as frequency-shift keying (FSK).
The original amateur radio operators used Morse code exclusively since voice-capable radio transmitters did not become commonly available until around 1920. Until 2003, the International Telecommunication Union mandated Morse code proficiency as part of the amateur radio licensing procedure worldwide. However, the World Radiocommunication Conference of 2003 made the Morse code requirement for amateur radio licensing optional. Many countries subsequently removed the Morse requirement from their license requirements.
Until 1991, a demonstration of the ability to send and receive Morse code at a minimum of five words per minute (WPM) was required to receive an amateur radio license for use in the United States from the Federal Communications Commission. Demonstration of this ability was still required for the privilege to use the shortwave bands. Until 2000, proficiency at the 20 WPM level was required to receive the highest level of amateur license (Amateur Extra Class); effective April 15, 2000, in the FCC reduced the Extra Class requirement to 5 WPM. Finally, effective on February 23, 2007, the FCC eliminated the Morse code proficiency requirements from all amateur radio licenses.
While voice and data transmissions are limited to specific amateur radio bands under U.S. rules, Morse code is permitted on all amateur bands: LF, MF low, MF high, HF, VHF, and UHF. In some countries, certain portions of the amateur radio bands are reserved for transmission of Morse code signals only.
Because Morse code transmissions employ an on-off keyed radio signal, it requires less complex equipment than other radio transmission modes. Morse code also uses less bandwidth (typically only 100–150 Hz wide, although only for a slow data rate) than voice communication (roughly 2,400~2,800 Hz used by SSB voice).
Morse code is usually received as a high-pitched audio tone, so transmissions are easier to copy than voice through the noise on congested frequencies, and it can be used in very high noise / low signal environments. The fact that the transmitted power is concentrated into a very limited bandwidth makes it possible to use narrow receiver filters, which suppress or eliminate interference on nearby frequencies. The narrow signal bandwidth also takes advantage of the natural aural selectivity of the human brain, further enhancing weak signal readability. This efficiency makes CW extremely useful for DX (long distance) transmissions, as well as for low-power transmissions (commonly called "QRP operation", from the Q-code for "reduce power"). There are several amateur clubs that require solid high speed copy, the highest of these has a standard of 60 WPM. The American Radio Relay League offers a code proficiency certification program that starts at 10 WPM.
The relatively limited speed at which Morse code can be sent led to the development of an extensive number of abbreviations to speed communication. These include prosigns, Q codes, and a set of Morse code abbreviations for typical message components. For example, CQ is broadcast to be interpreted as "seek you" (I'd like to converse with anyone who can hear my signal). The abbreviations OM (old man), YL (young lady), and XYL ("ex-young lady" – wife) are common. YL or OM is used by an operator when referring to the other operator (regardless of their actual age), and XYL or OM (rather than the expected XYM) is used by an operator when referring to his or her spouse. QTH is "transmitting location" (spoken "my Q.T.H." is "my location"). The use of abbreviations for common terms permits conversation even when the operators speak different languages.
Although the traditional telegraph key (straight key) is still used by some amateurs, the use of mechanical semi-automatic keyers
(informally called "bugs"), and of fully automatic electronic keyers (called "single paddle" and either "double-paddle" or "iambic" keys) is prevalent today. Software is also frequently employed to produce and decode Morse code radio signals. The ARRL has a readability standard for robot encoders called ARRL Farnsworth spacing that is supposed to have higher readability for both robot and human decoders. Some programs like WinMorse have implemented the standard.
Other uses
Radio navigation aids such as VORs and NDBs for aeronautical use broadcast identifying information in the form of Morse Code, though many VOR stations now also provide voice identification. Warships, including those of the U.S. Navy, have long used signal lamps to exchange messages in Morse code. Modern use continues, in part, as a way to communicate while maintaining radio silence.
Automatic Transmitter Identification System (ATIS) uses Morse code to identify uplink sources of analog satellite transmissions.
Many amateur radio repeaters identify with Morse, even though they are used for voice communications.
Applications for the general public
An important application is signalling for help through SOS, " ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ". This can be sent many ways: keying a radio on and off, flashing a mirror, toggling a flashlight, and similar methods. The SOS signal is not sent as three separate characters; rather, it is a prosign SOS, and is keyed without gaps between characters.
Some Nokia mobile phones offer an option to alert the user of an incoming text message with the Morse tone " ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ " (representing SMS or Short Message Service). In addition, applications are now available for mobile phones that enable short messages to be input in Morse Code.
Morse code as an assistive technology
Morse code has been employed as an assistive technology, helping people with a variety of disabilities to communicate. For example, the Android operating system versions 5.0 and higher allow users to input text using Morse Code as an alternative to a keypad or handwriting recognition.
Morse can be sent by persons with severe motion disabilities, as long as they have some minimal motor control. An original solution to the problem that caretakers have to learn to decode has been an electronic typewriter with the codes written on the keys. Codes were sung by users; see the voice typewriter employing Morse or votem.
Morse code can also be translated by computer and used in a speaking communication aid. In some cases, this means alternately blowing into and sucking on a plastic tube ("sip-and-puff" interface). An important advantage of Morse code over row column scanning is that once learned, it does not require looking at a display. Also, it appears faster than scanning.
In one case reported in the radio amateur magazine QST, an old shipboard radio operator who had a stroke and lost the ability to speak or write could communicate with his physician (a radio amateur) by blinking his eyes in Morse. Two examples of communication in intensive care units were also published in QST magazine. Another example occurred in 1966 when prisoner of war Jeremiah Denton, brought on television by his North Vietnamese captors, Morse-blinked the word TORTURE. In these two cases, interpreters were available to understand those series of eye-blinks.
Representation, timing, and speeds
International Morse code is composed of five elements:: §3
short mark, dot or dit ( ▄ ): "dit duration" is one time unit long
long mark, dash or dah ( ▄▄▄ ): three time units long
inter-element gap between the dits and dahs within a character: one dot duration or one unit long
short gap (between letters): three time units long
medium gap (between words): seven time units long (formerly five)
Transmission
Morse code can be transmitted in a number of ways: Originally as electrical pulses along a telegraph wire, but later extended to an audio tone, a radio signal with short and long tones, or high and low tones, or as a mechanical, audible, or visual signal (e.g. a flashing light) using devices like an Aldis lamp or a heliograph, a common flashlight, or even a car horn. Some mine rescues have used pulling on a rope - a short pull for a dot and a long pull for a dah. Ground forces send messages to aircraft with panel signalling, where a horizontal panel is a dah and a vertical panel a dit.
Morse messages are generally transmitted by a hand-operated device such as a telegraph key, so there are variations introduced by the skill of the sender and receiver — more experienced operators can send and receive at faster speeds. In addition, individual operators differ slightly, for example, using slightly longer or shorter dahs or gaps, perhaps only for particular characters. This is called their "fist", and experienced operators can recognize specific individuals by it alone. A good operator who sends clearly and is easy to copy is said to have a "good fist". A "poor fist" is a characteristic of sloppy or hard to copy Morse code.
Digital storage
Morse code is transmitted using just two states (on and off). Morse code may be represented as a binary code, and that is what telegraph operators do when transmitting messages. Working from the above ITU definition and further defining a bit as a dot time, a Morse code sequence may be crudely represented a combination of the following five bit-strings:
short mark, dot or dit ( ▄ ): '1'b
longer mark, dash or dah ( ▄▄▄ ): '111'b
intra-character gap (between the dits and dahs within a character): 0
short gap (between letters): '000'b
medium gap (between words): '0000000'b
The marks and gaps alternate: Dits and dahs are always separated by one of the gaps, and that the gaps are always separated by a dit or a dah.
A more efficient binary encoding uses only two-bits for each dit or dah element, with the 1 dit-length pause that must follow after each automatically included for every 2 bit code. One possible coding is by number value for the length of signal tone sent one could use '01'b for a dit and the automatic single-dit pause after it, and '11'b for a dah and the automatic single-dit following pause, and '00'b for the extra pause between letters (in effect, an end-of-letter mark). That leaves the code '10'b available for some other purpose, such as an escape character, or to more compactly represent the extra space between words (an end-of-word mark) instead of '00 00 00'b (only 6 dit lengths, since the 7th is automatically inserted as part of the prior dit or dah). Although the dit and inter-letter pauses work out to be the same, for any letter containing a dah, the two-bit encoding uses digital memory more compactly than the direct-conversion bit strings mentioned above. Including the letter-separating spaces, all International Morse letter codes pack into 12 bits or less (5 symbols), and most fit into 10 bits or less (4 symbols); most of the procedural signs fit into 14 bits, with a few only needing 12 bits (5 symbols); and all digits require exactly 12 bits.
For example, Morse G ( ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ + 2 extra empty dits for "end of letter") would binary-encode as '11'b, '11'b, '01'b, '00'b; when packed it is '1111 0100'b = 'F4'x, which stores into only one byte (two nibbles) (as does every three-element code). The bit encoding for the longer method mentioned earlier the same letter would encode as '1110'b, '1110'b, '1000'b = '1110 1110 1000'b = 'EE8'x, or one-and-a-half bytes (three nibbles). The space saving allows small devices, like portable memory keyers, to have more and longer International Morse code sequences in small, conventional device-driver microprocessors' RAM chips.
Cable code
The very long time constants of 19th and early 20th century submarine communications cables required a different form of Morse signalling. Instead of keying a voltage on and off for varying times, the dits and dahs were represented by two polarities of voltage impressed on the cable, for a uniform time.
Timing
Below is an illustration of timing conventions. The phrase MORSE CODE, in Morse code format, would normally be written something like this, where – represents dahs and · represents dits:
Next is the exact conventional timing for this phrase, with ▓ representing "signal on", and ˽ representing "signal off", each for the time length of exactly one dit:
Spoken representation
Morse code is often spoken or written with dah for dashes, dit for dots located at the end of a character, and di for dots located at the beginning or internally within the character. Thus, the following Morse code sequence:
is spoken (or sung):
Dah dah dah dah dah di dah dit di di dit dit, Dah di dah dit dah dah dah dah di dit dit.
For use on radio, there is little point in learning to read written Morse as above; rather, the sounds of all of the letters and symbols need to be learned, for both sending and receiving.
Speed in words per minute
All Morse code elements depend on the dot / dit length. A dah is the length of 3 dits (with no gaps between), and spacings are specified in number of dit lengths. An unambiguous method of specifying the transmission speed is to specify the dit duration as, for example, 50 milliseconds.
Specifying the dit duration is, however, not the common practice. Usually, speeds are stated in words per minute. That introduces ambiguity because words have different numbers of characters, and characters have different dit lengths. It is not immediately clear how a specific word rate determines the dit duration in milliseconds.
Some method to standardize the transformation of a word rate to a dit duration is useful. A simple way to do this is to choose a dit duration that would send a typical word the desired number of times in one minute. If, for example, the operator wanted a character speed of 13 words per minute, the operator would choose a dit rate that would send the typical word 13 times in exactly one minute.
The typical word thus determines the dit length. It is common to assume that a word is 5 characters long. There are two common typical words: PARIS and CODEX. PARIS mimics a word rate that is typical of natural language words and reflects the benefits of Morse code's shorter code durations for common characters such as E and T. CODEX offers a word rate that is typical of 5 letter code groups (sequences of random letters). Using the word PARIS as a standard, the number of dit units is 50 and a simple calculation shows that the dit length at 20 words per minute is 60 milliseconds. Using the word CODEX with 60 dit units, the dit length at 20 words per minute is 50 milliseconds.
Because Morse code is usually sent by hand, it is unlikely that an operator could be that precise with the dit length, and the individual characteristics and preferences of the operators usually override the standards.
For commercial radiotelegraph licenses in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission specifies tests for Morse code proficiency in words per minute and in code groups per minute.: §13.207(c), §13.209(d) The FCC specifies that a "word" is 5 characters long. The Commission specifies Morse code test elements at 16 code groups per minute, 20 words per minute, 20 code groups per minute, and 25 words per minute.: §13.203(b) The word per minute rate would be close to the PARIS standard, and the code groups per minute would be close to the CODEX standard.
While the Federal Communications Commission no longer requires Morse code for amateur radio licenses, the old requirements were similar to the requirements for commercial radiotelegraph licenses.: §97.503, 1996
A difference between amateur radio licenses and commercial radiotelegraph licenses is that commercial operators must be able to receive code groups of random characters along with plain language text. For each class of license, the code group speed requirement is slower than the plain language text requirement. For example, for the Radiotelegraph Operator License, the examinee must pass a 20 word per minute plain text test and a 16 word per minute code group test.
Based upon a 50 dit duration standard word such as PARIS, the time for one dit duration or one unit can be computed by the formula:
T
=
1
,
200
W
{\displaystyle ~T={\frac {\,1,200\,}{W}}~}
where: T is the unit time, or dit duration in milliseconds, and W is the speed in WPM.
High-speed telegraphy contests are held; according to the Guinness Book of Records in June 2005 at the International Amateur Radio Union's 6th World Championship in High Speed Telegraphy in Primorsko, Bulgaria, Andrei Bindasov of Belarus transmitted 230 Morse code marks of mixed text in one minute.
Farnsworth speed
Sometimes, especially while teaching Morse code, the timing rules above are changed so two different speeds are used: A character speed and a text speed. The character speed is how fast each individual letter is sent. The text speed is how fast the entire message is sent. For example, individual characters may be sent at a 13 words-per-minute rate, but the intercharacter and interword gaps may be lengthened so the word rate is only 5 words per minute.
Using different character and text speeds is, in fact, a common practice, and is used in the Farnsworth method of learning Morse code.
Alternative display of common characters in International Morse code
Some methods of teaching Morse code use a dichotomic search table.
Learning methods
People learning Morse code using the Farnsworth method are taught to send and receive letters and other symbols at their full target speed, that is with normal relative timing of the dits, dahs, and spaces within each symbol for that speed. The Farnsworth method is named for Donald R. "Russ" Farnsworth, also known by his call sign, W6TTB. However, initially exaggerated spaces between symbols and words are used, to give "thinking time" to make the sound "shape" of the letters and symbols easier to learn. The spacing can then be reduced with practice and familiarity.
Another popular teaching method is the Koch method, invented in 1935 by the German engineer and former stormtrooper Ludwig Koch, which uses the full target speed from the outset but begins with just two characters. Once strings containing those two characters can be copied with 90% accuracy, an additional character is added, and so on until the full character set is mastered.
In North America, many thousands of individuals have increased their code recognition speed (after initial memorization of the characters) by listening to the regularly scheduled code practice transmissions broadcast by W1AW, the American Radio Relay League's headquarters station. As of 2015, the United States military taught Morse code as an 81-day self-paced course, having phased out more traditional classes.
Mnemonics
Visual mnemonic charts have been devised over the ages. Baden-Powell included one in the Girl Guides handbook in 1918.
In the United Kingdom, many people learned the Morse code by means of a series of words or phrases that have the same rhythm as a Morse character. For instance, Q in Morse is dah dah di dah , which can be memorized by the phrase "God Save the Queen", and the Morse for F is di di dah dit , which can be memorized as "Did she like it?"
Letters, numbers, punctuation, prosigns for Morse code and non-Latin variants
Cut numbers
Most numbers have an unofficial short-form, given in the table below. They are only used when both the sender and the receiver understand that numbers, and not letters, are intended; for example, one often sees the most common R-S-T signal report rendered as 5NN[‡] instead of 599.
Prosigns
Prosigns for Morse code are special (usually) unwritten procedural signals or symbols that are used to indicate changes in communications protocol status or white space text formatting actions.
Symbol representations
The symbols [!], [$], and [&] are not defined inside the official ITU-R International Morse Code Recommendation, but informal conventions for them exist. (The [@] symbol was formally added in 2004.)
Exclamation mark
There is no standard representation for the exclamation mark [!], although the KW digraph ( ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ) was proposed in the 1980s by the Heathkit Company. While Morse code translation software prefers the Heathkit version, on-air use is not yet universal as some amateur radio operators in North America and the Caribbean continue to use the older MN digraph ( ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ) copied over from American Morse landline code.
Currency symbols
The ITU has never formally codified any currency symbols into Morse code: The unambiguous ISO 4217 currency codes are preferred for transmission.
The [$] sign code was represented in the Phillips Code as two characters "SX", which became merged into SX ( ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ).
Ampersand [&]
The suggested unofficial encoding of the ampersand [&] sign listed above, often shown as AS, is also the official Morse prosign for wait. In addition, the American Morse encoding for an ampersand ( ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ) was similar to ES ( ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ) and hams have nearly universally carried over this use as an abbreviation for "and" (e.g. WX HR COLD ES RAINY the weather here is cold and rainy).
Keyboard "at" sign [@]
On 24 May 2004 – the 160th anniversary of the first public Morse telegraph transmission – the Radiocommunication Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) formally added the [@] ("commercial at" or "commat") character to the official Morse character set, using the sequence denoted by the AC digraph: ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ .
This sequence was reported to have been chosen to represent "A[t] C[ommercial]", or a letter "a" inside a swirl represented by a letter "C". The new character facilitates sending e‑mail addresses by Morse code, and is notable since it is the first official addition to the Morse set of characters since World War I.
Diacritics and non-Latin extensions
The typical tactic for creating Morse codes for diacritics and non-Latin alphabetic scripts has been to begin by simply using the International Morse codes used for letters whose sound matches the sound of the local alphabet. Because Gerke code (the predecessor to International Morse) was in official use in central Europe, and included four characters not included in the International Morse standard (Ä, Ö, Ü, and CH) it has served as a beginning-point for other languages that use an alphabetic script, but require codes for letters not accommodated by International Morse.
The usual method has been to first transliterate the sounds represented by the International code and the four unique Gerke codes into the local alphabet, hence Greek, Hebrew, Russian, and Ukrainian Morse codes. If more codes are needed, one can either invent a new code or convert an otherwise unused code from either code set to the non-Latin letter. For example:
Ñ in Spanish Morse is ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ , a language-specific code not used in either International or Gerke Morse.
For the Greek letter Ψ, Greek Morse code uses the International Morse code for Q, ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ , which has no corresponding letter in modern Greek; Ψ and Q have no historical, phonetic, or shape relationship.
For Russian and Bulgarian, Russian Morse code is used to map the Cyrillic characters to four-element codes. Many of the characters are encoded the same as their latin-alphabet look-alikes or sound-alikes (A, O, E, I, T, M, N, R, K, etc.). The Bulgarian alphabet contains 30 characters, which exactly match all possible combinations of 1, 2, 3, and 4 dits and dahs (Russian Ы is used as Bulgarian Ь, Russian Ь is used as Bulgarian Ъ). Russian requires two more codes, for letters Э and Ъ which are each encoded with 5 elements.
Non-alphabetic scripts require more radical adaption. Japanese Morse code (Wabun code) has a separate encoding for kana script; although many of the codes are used for International Morse, the sounds they represent are mostly unrelated. The Japanese / Wabun code includes special prosigns for switching back-and-forth from International Morse: ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ signals a switch from International Morse to Wabun, and ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ to return from Wabun to International Morse.
For Chinese, Chinese telegraph code is used to map Chinese characters to four-digit codes and send these digits out using standard Morse code. Korean Morse code uses the SKATS mapping, originally developed to allow Korean to be typed on western typewriters. SKATS maps hangul characters to arbitrary letters of the Latin script and has no relationship to pronunciation in Korean.
Unusual variants
During early World War I (1914–1916), Germany briefly experimented with 'dotty' and 'dashy' Morse, in essence adding a dot or a dash at the end of each Morse symbol. Each one was quickly broken by Allied SIGINT, and standard Morse was resumed by Spring 1916. Only a small percentage of Western Front (North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea) traffic was in 'dotty' or 'dashy' Morse during the entire war. In popular culture, this is mostly remembered in the book The Codebreakers by David Kahn and in the national archives of the UK and Australia (whose SIGINT operators copied most of this Morse variant). Kahn's cited sources come from the popular press and wireless magazines of the time.
Other variations include forms of "fractional Morse" or "fractionated Morse", which recombine the characters of the Morse code–encoded message and then encrypt them using a cipher in order to disguise the text.
Decoding software
Decoding software for Morse code ranges from software-defined wide-band radio receivers, coupled to the Reverse Beacon Network, which decodes signals and detects CQ messages on ham bands, to smartphone applications.
See also
Footnotes
References
External links
"Morse code". Encyclopædia Britannica. 16 October 2023.
"Morse code". Radio Amateur. Curlie.org. Recreation.
"Morse Code resources". DXZone.com.
"Morse code MP3 practice files". starling.us. — 200 hours of at increasing speeds plus an ASCII-to-CW file generator program.
International Morse code, hand sending. YouTube (training film). U.S. Army. 1966. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
Technique of hand sending. YouTube (training film). Morse code radio operator training. U.S. Navy. 1944. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012.
"Codes of the World" (PDF). nonstopsystems.com. |
Latrobe,_Pennsylvania | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrobe,_Pennsylvania | [
525
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrobe,_Pennsylvania"
] | Latrobe ( lə-TROHB) is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,060 as of the 2020 census. A part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, it is located near Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Ridge. Latrobe was incorporated as a borough in 1854, and as a city in 1999. The current mayor is Eric J. Bartels.
Latrobe is the home of the Latrobe Brewery, the original brewer of Rolling Rock beer. Latrobe was the birthplace and childhood home of children's television personality Fred Rogers and former professional golfer Arnold Palmer. The banana split was invented there by David Strickler in 1904. Latrobe is also home to the training camp of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Latrobe was long recognized as the site of the first professional American football game in 1895 until research found an 1892 game with paid players.
History
In 1852, Oliver Barnes (a civil engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad) laid out the plans for the community that was incorporated in 1854 as the Borough of Latrobe. Barnes named the town for his best friend and college classmate, Benjamin Henry Latrobe II, who was chief engineer for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. (His father, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, was the architect who rebuilt the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., after the War of 1812.)
Its location along the route of the Pennsylvania Railroad helped Latrobe develop into a significant industrial hub. Latrobe was also served by the Ligonier Valley Railroad from 1877 to 1952.
The banana split is claimed to have been invented 1904 in Latrobe by David Evans Strickler at the pharmacy that later became named Strickler's Drug Store. In 2004, the National Ice Cream Retailers Association (NICRA) certified the city of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, as the birthplace of the banana split. Both towns hold an annual festival in honor of the dessert.
Two interurban (long-distance trolley) lines served Latrobe:
The Westmoreland County Railway Company connected Latrobe to Derry and operated from 1904 to 1932.
The Latrobe Street Railway Company connected Latrobe to Kingston and began operations in 1900. This line was purchased by West Penn Railways, which eventually linked it with its network running through Youngstown, Pleasant Unity, and eventually to Greensburg and Uniontown. Service ceased in 1952.
Latrobe has two sites on the National Register of Historic Places within its city boundaries:
Pennsylvania Railroad Station at Latrobe (325 McKinley Avenue): This station was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1903.
Citizens National Bank of Latrobe (816 Ligonier Street, at Main Street): This was previously known as the Mellon Bank Building. This six-story, 1926 structure was designed by the Greensburg firm of Batholomew and Smith.
The former Fort Sloan, a small fortress established by the British settlers in the 1700s, is now a private residence, situated on the corner of Cedar St. and Raymond Ave.
Early professional football team
From 1895 until 1909, Latrobe was the home of the Latrobe Athletic Association, one of the earliest professional football teams. The team's quarterback, John Brallier, became the first football player to admit playing for money. In 1895, he accepted $10 and expenses to play for Latrobe in a 12–0 victory over the Jeannette Athletic Club. Brallier was thought to be the first professional football player, until the 1960s. Then, documents surfaced showing that Pudge Heffelfinger, a former three-time All-American from Yale, was employed to play guard for the Allegheny Athletic Association three years earlier. In 1897, Latrobe was the first football team to play a full season with a team composed entirely of professional players. In 1898, Latrobe and two players from their rivals, the Greensburg Athletic Association, formed the first professional football all-star team for a game against the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club, to be played at Pittsburgh's Exposition Park. Duquesne went on to win the game 16–0. On November 18, 1905, Latrobe defeated the Canton Bulldogs, which later became a founding member, and two-time champion, of the National Football League, 6–0.
Aside from Brallier, the Latrobe Athletic Association included several of the era's top players, such as Ed Abbaticchio, Charles Barney, Alf Bull, Jack Gass, Walter Okeson, Harry Ryan, Doggie Trenchard, and Eddie Wood, and manager Dave Berry.
Brewing
The Latrobe Brewing Company, founded in 1939, was one of the largest breweries in the United States and the maker of Rolling Rock beer.
In May 2006, Anheuser-Busch purchased the Rolling Rock brands, but not the brewery. In June 2006, City Brewing Company from LaCrosse, Wisconsin, entered into negotiations to buy the brewery. In September 2006, City Brewing Company agreed to purchase the brewery, and they licensed it to the Boston Beer Company in April 2007 as a satellite brewery to produce Samuel Adams beers. Sam Adams production did not last long. The plant is currently brewing Iron City Beer under contract. In addition, Duquesne Bottling Company has brewed the revived Duquesne Beer, "The Prince of Pilseners", at the Latrobe plant.
Mining
Coal mining was once an important industry in Westmoreland County. While mining activity has largely ceased, most of the city of Latrobe lies in a zone where abandoned underground mines are prevalent, according to a March 1, 2022, article in The Latrobe Bulletin. In 2017, a home in the city's Cramer Heights neighborhood started to collapse after its foundation shifted. The house was condemned and eventually had to be torn down. After this incident, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection urged Latrobe residents to research whether their properties are undermined and consider applying for mine subsidence insurance.
Geography
Latrobe is located at 40°18′54″N 79°22′52″W (40.314940, -79.381171). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.3 square miles (6.0 km2), all land. It has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa) and average monthly temperatures range from 28.9 °F in January to 72.0 °F in July.
Surrounding neighborhoods
Latrobe shares borders with the townships of Derry to the north, northwest, east, and southeast, and Unity to the west and southwest.
Demographics
As of the census of 2010, 8,338 people, 3,786 households, and 2,458 families resided in the city. The population density was 3,913.6 people per square mile (1,511.0 people/km2). The 4,258 housing units averaged 1,852.8 per square mile (715.4/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 98.78% White, 0.32% African American, 0.08% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 0.07% from other races, and 0.31% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 0.37% of the population.
Of 3,786 households, 26.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.1% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.0% were not families. About 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.86.
In the city, the population was distribute as 1,730 persons under the age of 18, 429 persons from 20 to 24, 2583 persons from 25 to 49, 1780 persons from 50 to 64, and 1614 persons who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $33,268, and for a family was $42,168. Males had a median income of $31,802 versus $22,227 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,208. About 6.5% of families and 9.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.2% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over.
Federally, Latrobe is part of Pennsylvania's 14th congressional district.
Media
Latrobe is part of the Pittsburgh television market. Only one television station in the Johnstown-Altoona market, WJAC-TV, can be received in Latrobe.
Transportation
Arnold Palmer Regional Airport (formerly known as Westmoreland County Airport)
Latrobe (Amtrak station)
Westmoreland Transit Daily runs locally and commuter runs to Pittsburgh and Johnstown
Notable people
Mary Temple Bayard (1853–1916), American writer, journalist
John Brallier (1876–1960), first openly paid professional football player and the first star of the professional game.
Victory Brinker, an opera singer who achieved prominence at the age of nine
Walt Corey, National Football League player and coach
Keith Ferrazzi, author and entrepreneur
Dennis Ferry, trumpeter for Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Gregory S. Forbes, meteorologist and severe weather expert for the Weather Channel
Hanna Green, track and field runner
Kevin Guskiewicz, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Francis J. Harvey, United States Secretary of the Army
Daniel Lentz, classical and electronic music composer
Chris Lightcap, jazz bassist
Jackie Mason, comedian and actor after serving as a rabbi in Latrobe
Arnold Palmer, iconic professional golfer, member of World Golf Hall of Fame
Fred Rogers, host of PBS series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, lived in Latrobe from birth through high school. He is buried in Unity Cemetery.
Eliza Kennedy Smith, also known as Mrs. R. Templeton Smith; suffragist, civic activist, and government watchdog, and president of the Allegheny County League of Women Voters
Andy Stynchula, National Football League player
Scott Warner, lighting designer and fixture development
Boniface Wimmer, Benedictine monk, founded Saint Vincent Archabbey in 1846
See also
Arnold Palmer Regional Airport
Greater Latrobe School District
Kennametal
Latrobe Athletic Association
Latrobe Country Club
Loyalhanna Creek
Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area
Saint Vincent College
Saint Vincent Seminary
Trump House
WAOB Catholic Radio
WJFG
WXVE
References
External links
Official website
Greater Latrobe Community Network |
Being_and_Time | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_and_Time | [
526
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_and_Time"
] | Being and Time (German: Sein und Zeit) is the 1927 magnum opus of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and a key document of existentialism. Being and Time is among the most influential texts of 20th century philosophy. It had a notable impact on subsequent philosophy, literary theory and many other fields. Though controversial, its stature in intellectual history has been compared with works by Kant and Hegel. The book attempts to revive ontology through an analysis of Dasein, or "being-in-the-world." It is also noted for an array of neologisms and complex language, as well as an extended treatment of "authenticity" as a means to grasp and confront the unique and finite possibilities of the individual.
Background
Richard Wolin notes that the work "implicitly adopted the critique of mass society” epitomized earlier by Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. "Elitist complaints about the "dictatorship of public opinion" were common currency to the German mandarins of the twenties," according to J. Habermas (1989). Wolin writes that Being and Time is "suffused by a sensibility derived from secularized Protestantism” and its stress on original sin. The human condition is portrayed as "essentially a curse.” Wolin cites the work's extended emphasis on “emotionally laden concepts” like guilt, conscience, angst and death.
The book is likened to a secularized version of Martin Luther's project, which aimed to turn Christian theology back to an earlier and more “original” phase. Taking this view, John D. Caputo notes that Heidegger made a systematic study of Luther in the 1920s after training for 10 years as a Catholic theologian. Similarly, Hubert Dreyfus likens Division II of the volume to a secularized version of Kierkegaard's Christianity. Almost all central concepts of Being and Time are derived from Augustine, Luther, and Kierkegaard, according to Christian Lotz.
The critic George Steiner argues that Being and Time is a product of the crisis of German culture following Germany's defeat in World War I. In this respect Steiner compared it to Ernst Bloch's The Spirit of Utopia (1918), Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West (1918), Franz Rosenzweig's The Star of Redemption (1921), Karl Barth's The Epistle to the Romans (1922), and Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf (1925).
In terms of structure, Being and Time consists of the lengthy two-part introduction, followed by Division One, the "Preparatory Fundamental Analysis of Dasein," and Division Two, "Dasein and Temporality.” Heidegger originally planned to write a separate, second volume but quickly abandoned the project. The unwritten “second half” was to include a critique of Western philosophy.
Summary
Dasein
Being and Time explicitly rejects Descartes' notion of the human being as a subjective spectator of objects, according to Marcella Horrigan-Kelly (et al.). The book instead holds that both subject and object are inseparable. In presenting the subject, "being" as inseparable from the objective "world," Heidegger introduced the term “Dasein” (literally being there), intended to embody a ‘‘living being’’ through their activity of ‘’being there” and “being in the world” (Horrigan-Kelly). Understood as a unitary phenomenon rather than a contingent, additive combination, being-in-the-world is an essential characteristic of Dasein, according to Michael Wheeler (2011).
Heidegger's account of Dasein passes through an analysis of Angst, "the Nothing" and mortality, and of the structure of "Care" as such. He then defines "authenticity," as a means to grasp and confront the finite possibilities of Dasein. Moreover, Dasein is "the being that will give access to the question of the meaning of Being," according to Heidegger.
Being
The work claims that ordinary and even mundane "being-in-the-world" provides "access to the meaning, or 'sense of being.' [Sinn des Seins]." This access via Dasein is also that "in terms of which something becomes intelligible as something." This meaning would then elucidate ordinary "prescientific" understanding, which precedes abstract ways of knowing, such as logic or theory.
Heidegger's concept of Being is metaphorical, according to Richard Rorty, who agrees with Heidegger that there is no "hidden power" called Being. Heidegger emphasizes that no particular understanding of Being (nor of Dasein) is to be valued over another, according to an account of Rorty's analysis by Edward Grippe. This supposed "non-linguistic, pre-cognitive access" to the meaning of Being didn't underscore any particular, preferred narrative.
Thomas Sheehan and Mark Wrathall each separately assert that commentators' emphasis on the term "Being" is misplaced, and that Heidegger's central focus was never on "Being" as such. Wrathall wrote (2011) that Heidegger's elaborate concept of "unconcealment" was his central, life-long focus, while Sheehan (2015) proposed that the philosopher's prime focus was on that which "brings about being as a givenness of entities.")
Being and Time actually offers "no sense of how we might answer the question of being as such," writes Simon Critchley in a nine-part blog commentary on the work for The Guardian (2009). The book instead provides "an answer to the question of what it means to be human" (Critchley). Nonetheless, Heidegger does present the concept: "'Being' is not something like a being but is rather "what determines beings as beings."
Time
Heidegger believes that time finds its meaning in death, according to Michael Kelley. That is, time is understood only from a finite or mortal vantage. Dasein's fundamental characteristic and mode of "being-in-the-world" is temporal: Having been "thrown" into a world implies a "pastness" in its being. "The present is the nodal moment which makes past and future intelligible," writes Lilian Alweiss. Dasein occupies itself with the present tasks required by goals it has projected on the future.
Dasein as an intertwined subject/object cannot be separated from its objective "historicality," a concept Heidegger credits in the text to Wilhelm Dilthey. Dasein is "stretched along" temporally between birth and death, and thrown into its world; into its future possibilities which Dasein is charged with assuming. Dasein's access to this world and these possibilities is always via a history and a tradition—or "world historicality".
Methodologies
Phenomenology
Heidegger's mentor Edmund Husserl developed a method of analysis called "phenomenological reduction" or "bracketing," that emphasized primordial experience as its key element. Husserl used this method to define the structures of consciousness and show how they are directed at both real and ideal objects within the world.
Being and Time employs this method but purportedly modifies Husserl's subjectivist tendencies. Whereas Husserl conceived humans as constituted by consciousness, Heidegger countered that consciousness is peripheral to Dasein, which cannot be reduced to consciousness. Consciousness is thus an "effect" rather than a determinant of existence. By shifting the priority from consciousness (psychology) to existence (ontology), Heidegger altered the subsequent direction of phenomenology.
But Being and Time misrepresented its phenomenology as a departure from methods established earlier by Husserl, according to Daniel O. Dahlstrom. In this vein, Robert J. Dostal asserts that "if we do not see how much it is the case that Husserlian phenomenology provides the framework for Heidegger's approach," then it's impossible to exactly understand Being and Time.
On publication in 1927, Being and Time bore a dedication to Husserl, who beginning a decade earlier, championed Heidegger's work, and helped him secure the retiring Husserl's chair in Philosophy at the University of Freiburg in 1928. Because Husserl was Jewish, in 1941 Heidegger, then a member of the Nazi Party, agreed to remove the dedication from Being and Time (restored in 1953 edition).: 253–258
Hermeneutics
Being and Time employed the "hermeneutic circle" as a method of analysis or structure for ideas. According to Susann M. Laverty (2003), Heidegger's circle moves from the parts of experience to the whole of experience and back and forth again and again to increase the depth of engagement and understanding. Laverty writes (Kvale 1996), "This spiraling through a hermeneutic circle ends when one has reached a place of sensible meaning, free of inner contradictions, for the moment."
The hermeneutic circle and certain theories concerning history in Being and Time are acknowledged within the text to rely on the writings of Wilhelm Dilthey. The technique was later employed in the writings of Jürgen Habermas, per "Influence and reception" below.
Destructuring
In Being and Time Heidegger briefly refutes the philosophy of René Descartes (in an exercise he called "destructuring"), but the second volume, intended as a Destruktion of Western philosophy, was never written. Heidegger sought to explain how theoretical knowledge came to be seen, incorrectly in his view, as fundamental to being. This explanation takes the form of a destructuring (Destruktion) of the philosophical tradition, an interpretative strategy that reveals the fundamental experience of being hidden within the theoretical attitude of the metaphysics of presence.: 11–13
In later works, while becoming less systematic and more obscure than in Being and Time, Heidegger turns to the exegesis of historical texts, especially those of Presocratic philosophers, but also of Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Plato, Nietzsche, and Hölderlin, among others.: 24
Influence and reception
Upon its publication, reviewers credited Heidegger with "brilliance" and "genius". The book was later seen as the "most influential version of existential philosophy."
Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism (of 1943) has been described as merely "a version of Being and Time". The work also influenced other philosophers of Sartre's generation, and exerted a notable influence on French philosophy.
Heidegger's work influenced the output of the Frankfurt School including Jürgen Habermas's hermeneutics and Herbert Marcuse's early and abortive attempt to develop "Heideggerian Marxism." Theodore Adorno, in his 1964 book The Jargon of Authenticity, was critical of Heidegger's popularity in post-war Western Europe. Adorno accused Heidegger of evading ethical judgment by disingenuously presenting "authenticity" as a value-free, technical term—rather than a positive doctrine of the good life.
Heidegger influenced psychoanalysis through Jacques Lacan as well as Medard Boss and others. Paul Celan, in his essays on poetic theory, incorporated some of Heidegger's ideas. Being and Time also separately influenced Alain Badiou's work Being and Event (1988), and also separately the enactivist approach to cognition theory.
Bertrand Russell was dismissive of Being and Time ("One cannot help suspecting that language is here running riot"), and the analytic philosopher A. J. Ayer outright called Heidegger a charlatan. But the American philosopher Richard Rorty ranked Heidegger among the important philosophers of the twentieth century, including John Dewey and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
The conservative British writer Roger Scruton called (2002) Being and Time a "description of a private spiritual journey" rather than genuine philosophy. But Stephen Houlgate (1999) compares Heidegger's achievements in Being and Time to those of Kant and Hegel. Simon Critchley (2009) writes that it is impossible to understand developments in continental philosophy after Heidegger without understanding Being and Time.
Related work
Being and Time is the major achievement of Heidegger's early career, but he produced other important works during this period:
The publication in 1992 of the early lecture course, Platon: Sophistes (Plato's Sophist, 1924), made clear the way in which Heidegger's reading of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics was crucial to the formulation of the thought expressed in Being and Time.
The lecture course, Prolegomena zur Geschichte des Zeitbegriffs (History of the Concept of Time: Prolegomena, 1925), was something like an early version of Being and Time.
The lecture courses immediately following the publication of Being and Time, such as Die Grundprobleme der Phänomenologie (The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, 1927), and Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik (Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics, 1929), elaborated some elements of the destruction of metaphysics which Heidegger intended to pursue in the unwritten second part of Being and Time.
Although Heidegger did not complete the project outlined in Being and Time, later works explicitly addressed the themes and concepts of Being and Time. Most important among the works which do so are the following:
Heidegger's inaugural lecture upon his return to Freiburg, "Was ist Metaphysik?" (What Is Metaphysics?, 1929), was an important and influential clarification of what Heidegger meant by being, non-being, and nothingness.
Einführung in die Metaphysik (An Introduction to Metaphysics), a lecture course delivered in 1935, is identified by Heidegger, in his preface to the seventh German edition of Being and Time, as relevant to the concerns which the second half of the book would have addressed.
Beiträge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis) (Contributions to Philosophy [From Enowning], composed 1936–38, published 1989), a sustained attempt at reckoning with the legacy of Being and Time.
Zeit und Sein (Time and Being), a lecture delivered at the University of Freiburg on January 31, 1962. This was Heidegger's most direct confrontation with Being and Time. It was followed by a seminar on the lecture, which took place at Todtnauberg on September 11–13, 1962, a summary of which was written by Alfred Guzzoni. Both the lecture and the summary of the seminar are included in Zur Sache des Denkens (1969; translated as On Time and Being [New York: Harper & Row, 1972]).
See also
Existential isolation
Heideggerian terminology
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Primary literature
Martin Heidegger, Sein und Zeit, in Heidegger's Gesamtausgabe, volume 2, ed. F.-W. von Herrmann, 1977, XIV, 586p.
Martin Heidegger (1962). Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie & Edward Robinson. London: SCM Press.
Martin Heidegger (1996). Being and Time. A Translation of "Sein und Zeit". Translated by Joan Stambaugh (7th ed.). Albany, New York: SUNY Press. ISBN 9780791426777.
Martin Heidegger (2010). Being and Time. Translated by Joan Stambaugh, revised by Dennis J. Schmidt. Albany, New York: SUNY Press.
Secondary literature
Robert Bernasconi, "'The Double Concept of Philosophy' and the Place of Ethics in Being and Time", Heidegger in Question: The Art of Existing (New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1993).
William D. Blattner, Heidegger's Temporal Idealism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
Lee Braver. A Thing of This World: a History of Continental Anti-Realism. Northwestern University Press: 2007.
Richard M. Capobianco, Engaging Heidegger with a foreword by William J. Richardson. University of Toronto Press, 2010.
Taylor Carman, Heidegger's Analytic: Interpretation, Discourse, and Authenticity in "Being and Time" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
Cristian Ciocan (ed.), Translating Heidegger's Sein und Zeit, Studia Phaenomenologica V (2005)
Jacques Derrida, "Ousia and Gramme: Note on a Note from Being and Time", Margins of Philosophy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982).
Hubert Dreyfus, Being-in-the-World: A Commentary on Heidegger's Being and Time, Division I (Cambridge, Massachusetts, & London: MIT Press, 1990).
Hubert Dreyfus, podcast of Philosophy 185 Fall 2007 Heidegger, UC Berkeley
Hubert Dreyfus, podcast of Philosophy 189 Spring 2008 Heidegger, UC Berkeley
Christopher Fynsk, Heidegger: Thought and Historicity (Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1993, expanded edn.), ch. 1.
Michael Gelven, A Commentary on Heidegger's "Being and Time" (Northern Illinois University Press; Revised edition, 1989).
Magda King (2001). John Llewellyn (ed.). A guide to Heidegger's "Being and time". Albany, New York: SUNY Press. ISBN 9780791447994.
Theodore Kisiel, The Genesis of Heidegger's Being and Time (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993).
James Luchte, Heidegger's Early Thought: The Phenomenology of Ecstatic Temporality (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008).
Richard M. Mcdonough (2006). Martin Heidegger's "Being and Time". Bern: Peter Lang. ISBN 9780820455549.
William McNeill, The Glance of the Eye: Heidegger, Aristotle, and the Ends of Theory (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999), ch. 3–4.
Jean-Luc Nancy, "The Decision of Existence", The Birth to Presence (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993), pp. 82–109.
William J. Richardson (1963). Heidegger. Through Phenomenology to Thought. Preface by Martin Heidegger. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.; 4th Edition (2003). New York City: Fordham University Press.
External links
Næss, Arne D. E., Being and Time on Encyclopædia Britannica
Munday, Roderick (March 2009). "Glossary of Terms in Being and Time".
Heidegger Being and Time, Sein und Zeit (1927): An Index. By Daniel Fidel Ferrer and Ritu Sharma. German and English. Free online. |
1964_Nobel_Prize_in_Literature | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Nobel_Prize_in_Literature | [
526
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Nobel_Prize_in_Literature"
] | The 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded the French writer Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) "for his work which, rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, has exerted a far-reaching influence on our age".
Sartre declined the prize, saying that he never accepted any official honours and that he did not want the writer to become an institution. Furthermore, regarding the political grounds for his action, Sartre declared about the Nobel prize that it is one that goes only to Westerners "or to rebels of the East". "It is regrettable that the only Soviet work honored was one that was published abroad and forbidden in its own country." The Swedish Academy said in announcement: "It will be recalled that the laureate has made it known that he did not wish to accept the prize. The fact that he has declined this distinction does not in the least modify the validity of the award. Under the circumstances, however, the Academy can only state that the presentation of the prize cannot take place." It is the only known occasion when a Laureate has voluntarily declined to accept the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Laureate
Sartre was a philosopher – formulated and popularized the philosophy existentialism largely formed in his Being and Nothingness ("L'Être et le néant", 1943) – and playwright but also wrote novels and short stories. Through the protagonist Antoine Roquentin, his first novel La Nausée ("Nausea", 1938) articulates the existentialist themes of alienation, devotion and loneliness. His play Huis Clos ("No Exit", 1944) depicts hell as a perpetual co-existence with other people, while Les Mouches ("The Flies", 1943) is an adaptation of the ancient Electra myth. His autobiography Les Mots ("The Words", 1964), in which the author tries to distance himself from his writing and reconstruct his childhood, was received with great acclaim when it came out.
Deliberations
Nominations
Sartre had received 16 nominations since 1957. In 1964, the Swedish Academy received two nominations for him with which he was eventually awarded. He was nominated by the Swedish PEN-Club and a professor of German language from the University of Strasbourg. Sartre was included in the shortlisted nominees together with Russian novelist Mikhail Sholokhov (awarded in 1965) and British writer W. H. Auden.
There were 76 authors nominated in 1964. Nineteen of them were nominated first-time, among them Eugène Ionesco, Paul Celan, José María Pemán, Hossein Ghods-Nakhai, James T. Farrell, Camilo José Cela (awarded in 1989), Harry Martinson (awarded in 1974), Hugh MacDiarmid, and Miguel Ángel Asturias (awarded in 1967). The highest number of nominations – 3 nominations each – were for Väinö Linna, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, André Malraux, and Mikhail Sholokhov (awarded in 1965). Four of the nominees were women: Judith Wright, Ina Seidel, Nelly Sachs (awarded in 1966), and Katherine Anne Porter.
Prize Decision
On 17 September 1964 the Nobel committee proposed that the prize should be awarded to Jean-Paul Sartre. The second name on the list was Mikhail Sholokov (who was awarded the prize in 1965) and the third name was W.H. Auden. There was some ambivalence within the Swedish Academy to award Sartre. He had been nominated the first time in 1957, but his candidacy was postponed for the future as the Academy was not sure if Sartre's work would have any historical importance. His candidacy was considered and postponed again in 1962 for similar reasons. The publication of Les Mots in 1963 is believed to have strengthened Sartre's candidacy and in October 1964 the Academy decided to award Sartre, their decision was sealed with a final vote on 22 October 1964. A week earlier Sartre, knowing that he was a candidate for the prize, had sent a letter to the Swedish Academy saying he would not accept the award, but as the Academy had already made their decision before the formal final vote they disregarded the letter. The Academy's permanent secretary Karl Ragnar Gierow replied to Sartre's letter saying that the decision had already been made and urged Sartre to reconsider and accept the prize.
Reactions
In a text published in Le Figaro on 23 October 1964 Sartre wrote that he regretted that his refusal to accept the prize had caused a scandal. He explained that he never accepted any prizes or membership of institutions as he believed an author who accepted such things became forever associated with the prize or institution, and that the author should not allow himself to become an institution.
Aftermath
In his memoirs Lars Gyllensten claimed that someone, either Sartre himself or someone related to him, in 1975 had contacted the Swedish Academy and asked if the prize money was available.
References
External links
List of all nominations for the 1964 Nobel Prize in literature nobelprize.org |
Four-minute_mile | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile | [
526
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile"
] | A four-minute mile is the completion of a mile run (1.6 km) in four minutes or less. It translates to a speed of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h). It is a standard of professional middle distance runners in several cultures.
The first four-minute mile is usually attributed to the English athlete Roger Bannister, who ran it in 1954 at age 25, in 3:59.4. The mile record has since been lowered by 16.27 seconds. As of June 2022, the "four-minute barrier" has been broken by 1,755 athletes. The record for the fastest time stands at 3:43.13, achieved by the Moroccan athlete Hicham El Guerrouj, at age 24, in 1999.
Record holders
On 30 October 1863, William Lang ran a downhill mile time trial in 4:02 in Newmarket, Suffolk, England. Due to the downhill slope, the time would not have been valid for record-keeping but nonetheless would be the fastest mile ever run until 1943, and began speculation about when the first sub-four-minute mile would be performed.
The four-minute barrier was first broken on 6 May 1954 at Oxford University's Iffley Road Track, by British athlete Roger Bannister, with the help of fellow runners Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher as pacemakers.
On 21 June 1954, at an international meet at Turku, Finland, Australia's John Landy became the second man, after Bannister, to achieve a sub-four-minute mile. He achieved a world record time of 3:57.9, ratified by the IAAF as 3:58.0 owing to the rounding rules then in effect. He held this record for more than three years.
Two months later, on 7 August, during the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games hosted in Vancouver, B.C., Landy and Bannister both ran the distance of one mile in under four minutes. The race's end is memorialised in a photo, and later a statue, of the two, with Landy looking over his left shoulder, just as Bannister is passing him on the right. Landy thus lost the race. The statue was placed in front of the Pacific National Exhibition entrance plaza. Bannister won in 3 min 58.8 s, with Landy 0.8 s behind in 3 min 59.6 s.
New Zealand's John Walker, who with a 3:49.4 performance in August 1975 became the first man to run the mile under 3:50, ran 135 sub-four-minute miles during his career (during which he was the first person to run over 100 sub-four-minute miles), and American Steve Scott has run the most sub-four-minute miles, with 136. Algeria's Noureddine Morceli was the first under 3:45. Currently, the mile record is held by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj, who ran a time of 3:43.13 in Rome in 1999.
In 1964, America's Jim Ryun became the first high-school runner to break four minutes for the mile, running 3:59.0 as a junior and a then American record 3:55.3 as a senior in 1965. Tim Danielson (1966) and Marty Liquori (1967) also came in under four minutes, but Ryun's high-school record stood until Alan Webb ran 3:53.43 in 2001. Ten years later, in 2011, Lukas Verzbicas became the fifth high-schooler under four minutes. In 2015, Matthew Maton and Grant Fisher became the sixth and seventh high-schoolers to break four minutes, both running 3:59.38 about a month apart. Webb was the first high schooler to run sub-4 indoors, running 3:59.86 in early 2001. On 6 February 2016, Andrew Hunter significantly improved upon Webb's mark, running 3:58.25 on the same New York Armory track and 3:57.81 two weeks later. Hunter achieved the 4-minute mile mark outdoors later in the season at the Prefontaine Classic. At that same meet Michael Slagowski ran his second sub-4-minute of the season. Reed Brown dipped under the barrier on 1 June 2017, running the 4th fastest high school mile time ever recorded in a race: 3:59.30. In 2020, Leo Daschbach clocked 3:59.54 during the Quarantine Clasico, moving to ninth on the all time list.
Another illustration of the progression of performance in the men's mile is that, in 1994, forty years after Bannister's breaking of the barrier, the Irish runner Eamonn Coghlan became the first man over the age of 40 to run a sub-four-minute mile. Because Coghlan surpassed the mark indoors and before the IAAF validated indoor performances as being eligible for outdoor records, World Masters Athletics still had not recognised a sub-4-minute-mile performance as a record in the M40 division. Many elite athletes made the attempts to extend their careers beyond age 40 to challenge that mark. Over 18 years after Coghlan, that was finally achieved by UK's Anthony Whiteman, running 3:58.79 on 2 June 2012.
In 1997, Daniel Komen of Kenya ran two miles in less than eight minutes, doubling up on Bannister's accomplishment. He did it again in February 1998, falling just 0.3 seconds behind his previous performance of 7:58.61. On 9 June 2023, Norwegian runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen bested that time, running 7:54.10 to become only the second individual to run two miles in less than eight minutes.
Ingebrigtsen also holds the record as the youngest runner to run a four-minute mile, having run 3:58.07 at the Prefontaine Classic in May 2017, when he was 16 years and 250 days old. However, indoor world champion Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia, born 1 August 1997, ran 4:57.74 in an indoor 2000 m race on 28 February 2014, at age 16 years and 212 days. The run averages to a pace of 3:59.58 per mile for the 1.24-mile race.
Women
No woman has yet run a four-minute mile. The women's world record is currently at 4:07.64, set by Faith Kipyegon of Kenya at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco on 21 July 2023. An earlier women's world record, 4:12.56 set by Svetlana Masterkova of Russia on 14 August 1996 at Zürich, stood for almost 23 years: Masterkova became the first woman to run the mile in less than 4 minutes and 15 seconds.
Kipyegon's run has led some to speculate that the first women's sub-four minute mile may come within the 21st century. Some organizations such as the Fast Forest project have considered the 4:30-minute mile barrier to be a roughly equivalent benchmark for women, though there are fewer women's sub-4:30 runners than there are men's sub-4:00 runners.
Possible other claims
A number of people have claimed to have beaten the four-minute mile before Bannister.
James Parrott (1770)
Some (notably Olympic medallist Peter Radford) contend the first successful four-minute mile was run by James Parrott on 9 May 1770. He ran the 1-mile, west-to-east, length of Old Street to finish somewhere within the grounds/building of Shoreditch Church. Timing methods at this time were—after the invention of the chronometer by John Harrison—accurate enough to measure the four minutes correctly, and sporting authorities of the time accepted the claim as genuine. Old Street has a c. 11 foot downward fall, with intermittent gentle undulations. Neal Bascomb notes in The Perfect Mile that "even nineteenth-century historians cast a skeptical eye on the account."
Weller Run (1796)
On 10 October 1796, The Sporting Magazine reported that a young man called Weller, who was one of three brothers, "undertook for a wager of three guineas to run one mile on the Banbury Road, in four minutes, which he performed two seconds within the time." This is equivalent to £391 in 2023 yet about 5 months' worth of typical rural labourer pay at the time. By the late 1700s, a mile could be routinely measured to within a few inches; watches, thanks to John Harrison, could measure 4 minutes to within 0.0009 sec (i.e. gain or lose 10 seconds a month), and after about 1750 the mass production of highly accurate watches was well underway.
Big Hawk Chief (1876 or 1877)
During his time as a Pawnee runner, Big Hawk Chief possibly became the first person documented to run a sub-four-minute mile. The details of the event, as chronicled by Army Officer, Captain Luther North, clocked the mile at 3 minutes and 58 seconds.
Glenn Cunningham (1920s)
It is also reputed that Glenn Cunningham achieved a four-minute mile in a workout in the 1920s. In addition to being unsubstantiated, a workout run would not count as a record.
In popular culture
In 1955 Putnam & Co. Ltd. published Roger Bannister's account of the events in First Four Minutes. This was later adapted as "The Four-Minute Mile" by Reader's Digest in 1958.
In the 17 November 1956 Season 2 Episode 26 Whole No. 65 of Science Fiction Theatre entitled "Three Minute Mile", a scientist (Marshall Thompson) attempts to create a super athlete (Martin Milner).
In the 1971 film The Omega Man, protagonist Robert Neville, as played by Charlton Heston, claims to have run a mile in 3 minutes and 50 seconds.
In 1988, the ABC and the BBC co-produced The Four Minute Mile, a miniseries dramatization of the race to the four-minute mile, featuring Richard Huw as Bannister and Nique Needles as John Landy (who was simultaneously pursuing the milestone). It was written by David Williamson and directed by Jim Goddard.
In 2004, Neal Bascomb wrote a book entitled The Perfect Mile about Roger Bannister, John Landy, and Wes Santee, portraying their individual attempts to break the four-minute mile and the context of the sport of mile racing. A second film version (entitled Four Minutes) was made in 2005, starring Jamie Maclachlan as Bannister.
Also in 2004, a 50 pence coin was minted in the United Kingdom to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bannister running the four-minute mile. There were 9,032,500 minted in 2004. The coin was re-struck in 2019 as part of the '50 years of the 50p coin' set released by the Royal Mint, only for collector sets.
In 2005, ESPN released a television adaptation of the event called "Four Minutes" featuring Jamie Maclachlan as Roger Bannister and Christopher Plummer as his wheelchair-using coach, Archie Mason.
In June 2011, the watch used to time the original event was donated by Jeffrey Archer to a charity auction for Oxford University Athletics Club; it sold for £97,250.
In July 2016, the BBC broadcast the documentary Bannister: Everest on the Track, The Roger Bannister Story with firsthand interviews from Bannister and various other figures on the first sub-4-minute mile.
See also
Mile run
Mile run world record progression
Dream Mile
10-second barrier
The two-hour marathon, a similar barrier that was broken in 2019 by Eliud Kipchoge as part of the Ineos 1:59 Challenge
References
Further reading
Bannister, Roger (1955). The First Four Minutes. Putnam.
Bascomb, Neil (2004). The Perfect Mile. Willow. ISBN 978-0-00-717373-0.
Bryant, John (2004). 3:59.4 The Quest To Break The Four Minute Mile. Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0-09-180033-8.
Nelson, Cordner; Quercetani, Roberto (1985). The Milers. Tafnews Press. ISBN 0-911521-15-1.
Phillips, Bob (2004). 3:59.4 The Quest for the Four-Minute Mile. Parrs Wood Press. ISBN 978-1-903158-49-4.
External links
Roger Bannister and the Four-Minute Mile Original reports from The Times
Forbes magazine declared four-minute mile as "greatest athletic achievement"
The Four Minute Mile at IMDb
Four Minutes at IMDb
Official website for documentary – Franz Stampfl: The Man Behind the Miracle Mile – a film about the coach behind Bannister's successful mile record attempt Archived 19 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine |
Roger_Bannister | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister | [
526
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister"
] | Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile.
At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and finished in fourth place. This achievement strengthened his resolve to become the first athlete to finish the mile run in under four minutes. He accomplished this feat on 6 May 1954 at Iffley Road track in Oxford, with Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher providing the pacing. When the announcer, Norris McWhirter, declared "The time was three...", the cheers of the crowd drowned out Bannister's exact time, which was 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. He had attained this record with minimal training, while practising as a junior doctor. Bannister's record lasted just 46 days.
Bannister went on to become a neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, before retiring in 1993. As Master of Pembroke, he was on the governing body of Abingdon School from 1986 to 1993. When asked whether the 4-minute mile was his proudest achievement, he said he felt prouder of his contribution to academic medicine through research into the responses of the nervous system. Bannister was patron of the MSA Trust. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011.
Early life and education
Bannister was born on 23 March 1929 in Harrow, London. His parents Ralph and Alice were both from working-class families in Lancashire. Ralph had moved to London at the age of 15 to work in the Civil Service, and met Alice on a trip home. They married in 1925, and had a daughter, Joyce, before Roger was born.
The family moved to Bath shortly after the outbreak of World War II when Ralph was relocated there, and Roger continued his education at City of Bath Boys' School. Here he discovered a talent for cross country running, winning the junior cross-country cup three consecutive times, which led to him being presented with a miniature replica trophy.
During a bombing raid on Bath, the family house was severely damaged as the Bannisters sheltered in the basement.
In 1944, the family returned to London and Roger went to University College School. Bannister was accepted into St John's College, Cambridge but the Senior Tutor Robert Howland, a former Olympic shot putter, suggested that Bannister wait a year. After the year he proceeded to apply to Exeter College, Oxford and was accepted for a three-year degree in Medicine.
Athletics career
Early running career
Bannister was inspired by miler Sydney Wooderson's comeback in 1945. Eight years after setting the mile record and seeing it surpassed during the war years by the Swedish runners Arne Andersson and Gunder Hägg, Wooderson regained his old form and challenged Andersson over the distance in several races. Wooderson lost to Andersson but set a British record of 4:04.2 in Gothenburg on 9 September.
Like Wooderson, Bannister would ultimately set a mile record, see it broken, and then set a new personal best slower than the new record.
Bannister started his running career at Oxford in the autumn of 1946 at the age of 17. He had never worn running spikes previously or run on a track. His training was light, even compared to the standards of the day, but he showed promise in running a mile in 1947 in 4:24.6 on only three weekly half-hour training sessions.
He was selected as an Olympic "possible" in 1948 but declined as he felt he was not ready to compete at that level. However, he was further inspired to become a great miler by watching the 1948 Olympics. He set his training goals on the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.
In 1949, he improved in the 880-yard (804.67 m) run to 1:52.7 and won several mile races in 4:11. Then, after a period of six weeks with no training, he came in third at White City in 4:14.2.
The year 1950 saw more improvements as he finished a relatively slow 4:13-mile on 1 July with an impressive 57.5 last quarter. Then, he ran the AAA 880 in 1:52.1, losing to Arthur Wint, and then ran 1:50.7 for the 800 m at the European Championships on 26 August, placing third. Chastened by this lack of success, Bannister started to train harder and more seriously.
His increased attention to training paid quick dividends, as he won a mile race in 4:09.9 on 30 December. Then in 1951 at the Penn Relays, Bannister broke away from the pack with a 56.7 final lap, finishing in 4:08.3. Then, in his biggest test to date, he won a mile race on 14 July in 4:07.8 at the AAA Championships at White City before 47,000 people. The time set a meet record and he defeated defending champion Bill Nankeville in the process.
Bannister suffered defeat, however, when Yugoslavia's Andrija Otenhajmer, aware of Bannister's final-lap kick, took a 1500 m race in Belgrade 25 August out at near-record pace, forcing Bannister to close the gap by the bell lap. Otenhajmer won in 3:47.0, though Bannister set a personal best finishing second in 3:48.4. Bannister was no longer seen as invincible.
His training was a very modern individualised mixture of interval training influenced by coach Franz Stampfl with elements of block periodisation, fell running and anaerobic elements of training which were later perfected by Arthur Lydiard.
From 1951 to 1954, Bannister trained at the track at Paddington Recreation Ground in Maida Vale while he was a medical student at the nearby St Mary's Hospital. There are two Bannister plaques at the pavilion, both unveiled by him on 10 September 2000; a circular blue plaque and a rectangular historic plaque containing additional information. According to the latter, Bannister was able to train for just an hour each day due to his medical studies.
1952 Olympics
Bannister avoided racing after the 1951 season until late in the spring of 1952, saving his energy for Helsinki and the Olympics. He ran an 880-yard (800 m) run on 28 May 1952 in 1:53.00, followed by a 4:10.6-mile time-trial on 7 June, proclaiming himself satisfied with the results. At the AAA championships, he skipped the mile and won the 880 in 1:51.5. Then, 10 days before the Olympic final, he ran a 3⁄4 mile time trial in 2:52.9, which gave him confidence that he was ready for the Olympics as he considered the time to be the equivalent of a four-minute mile.
His confidence soon dissipated, however, as it was announced there would be semi-finals for the 1500 m at the Olympics, which he felt favoured runners who had much deeper training regimens than he did. When he ran his semi-final, Bannister finished fifth and thereby qualified for the final, but he felt "blown and unhappy".
The 1500 m final on 26 July 1952 would prove to be one of the more dramatic in Olympic history. The race was not decided until the final metres, Josy Barthel of Luxembourg prevailing in an Olympic-record 3:45.28 (3:45.1 by official hand-timing) with the next seven runners all under the old record. Bannister finished fourth, out of the medals, but set a British record of 3:46.30 (3:46.0) in the process.
New goal
After his relative failure at the 1952 Olympics, Bannister spent two months deciding whether to give up running. He set himself on a new goal: to be the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Accordingly, he intensified his training and did hard intervals.
On 2 May 1953, he made an attempt on the British record at Oxford. Paced by Chris Chataway, Bannister ran 4:03.6, shattering Wooderson's 1945 standard. "This race made me realise that the four-minute mile was not out of reach," said Bannister.
On 27 June 1953, a mile race was inserted into the programme of the Surrey schools athletic meeting. Australian runner Don Macmillan, ninth in the 1500 m at the 1952 Olympics, set a strong pace with 59.6 for one lap and 1:59.7 for two. He gave up after two and a half laps, but Chris Brasher took up the pace. Brasher had jogged the race, allowing Bannister to lap him so he could be a fresh pace-setter. At 3⁄4 mile, Bannister was at 3:01.8, the record—and first sub-four-minute mile—in reach. But the effort fell short with a finish in 4:02.0, a time bettered by only Arne Andersson (4:01.6 in 1944) and Gunder Hägg (4:01.4 in 1945). British officials would not allow this performance to stand as a British record, which, Bannister felt in retrospect, was a good decision. "My feeling as I look back is one of great relief that I did not run a four-minute mile under such artificial circumstances," he said.
But other runners were making attempts at the four-minute barrier and coming close as well. American Wes Santee ran 4:02.4 on 5 June 1953, the fourth-fastest mile ever. And at the end of the year, Australian John Landy ran 4:02.0.
Then early in 1954, Landy made some more attempts at the distance. On 21 January 1954, he ran 4:02.4 in Melbourne, then 4:02.6 on 23 February 1954, and at the end of the Australian season on 19 April he ran 4:02.6 again.
Bannister had been following Landy's attempts and was certain his Australian rival would succeed with each one. But knowing that Landy's season-closing attempt on 19 April would be his last until he travelled to Finland for another attempt, Bannister knew he had to make his attempt soon.
Sub-4-minute mile
This historic event took place on 6 May 1954 during a meet between British AAA and Oxford University at Iffley Road Track in Oxford, watched by about 3,000 spectators. With winds of up to twenty-five miles per hour (40 km/h) before the event, Bannister had said twice that he preferred not to run, to conserve his energy and efforts to break the 4-minute barrier; he would try again at another meet. However, the winds dropped just before the race was scheduled to begin, and Bannister did run.
The pace-setters from his major 1953 attempts, future Commonwealth Games gold medallist Christopher Chataway from the 2 May attempt, and future Olympic Games gold medallist Chris Brasher from the 27 June attempt, combined to provide pacing for Bannister's run. The race was broadcast live by BBC Radio and commentated by 1924 Olympic 100 metres champion Harold Abrahams, of Chariots of Fire fame.
Bannister had begun his day at a hospital in London, where he sharpened his racing spikes and rubbed graphite on them so they would not pick up too much cinder ash. He took a mid-morning train from Paddington Station to Oxford, nervous about the rainy, windy conditions that afternoon.
Being a dual-meet format, there were seven men entered in the mile: Alan Gordon, George Dole and Nigel Miller from Oxford University; and four British AAA runners: Bannister, his two pacemakers Brasher and Chataway, and Tom Hulatt. Nigel Miller arrived as a spectator and he only realised that he was due to run when he read the programme. Efforts to borrow a running kit failed and he could not take part, thus reducing the field to six.
The race went off as scheduled at 6:00 pm, and Brasher and Bannister went immediately to the front of the pack. Brasher (wearing No. 44) led both the first lap in 58 seconds and the half-mile in 1:58, with Bannister (No. 41) tucked in behind, and Chataway (No. 42) a stride behind Bannister. Chataway moved to the front after the second lap and maintained the pace with a 3:01 split at the final lap bell. Chataway continued to lead around the front turn until Bannister began his finishing kick with about 275 yards to go (just over half a lap), running the last lap in just under 59 seconds.
The stadium announcer for the race was Norris McWhirter, who went on to co-publish and co-edit the Guinness Book of Records. He teased the crowd by delaying his announcement of Bannister's race time for as long as possible:
Ladies and gentlemen, here is the result of event nine, the one mile: first, number forty one, R. G. Bannister, Amateur Athletic Association and formerly of Exeter and Merton Colleges, Oxford, with a time which is a new meeting and track record, and which—subject to ratification—will be a new English Native, British National, All-Comers, European, British Empire and World Record. The time was three...
The roar of the crowd drowned out the rest of the announcement. Bannister's time was 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.
The claim that a four-minute mile was once thought to be impossible by "informed" observers was and is a widely propagated myth created by sportswriters and debunked by Bannister himself in his memoir, The Four Minute Mile (1955).
The reason the myth took hold was that four minutes was a round number that lay slightly out of reach of the world record (by just 1.4 seconds) for nine years, which was longer than it might otherwise have been due to the effect of the Second World War in interrupting athletic progress in the combatant countries. The Swedish runners, Gunder Hägg and Arne Andersson, in a series of head-to-head races in the period 1942–45, had already lowered the world mile record by five seconds to the pre-Bannister record. Knowledgeable track fans are still most impressed by the fact that Bannister ran a four-minute mile on very low-mileage training by modern standards.
Just 46 days later, on 21 June 1954, Bannister's record was broken by his rival, John Landy, in Turku, Finland, with a time of 3 minutes 57.9 seconds, which the IAAF ratified as 3 minutes 58.0 seconds due to the rounding rules then in effect.
1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
On 7 August, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, B.C., Bannister, running for England, competed against Landy for the first time in a race billed as "The Miracle Mile". They were the only two men in the world to have broken the 4-minute barrier, with Landy still holding the world record.
Landy led for most of the race, building a lead of 10 yards in the third lap (of four), but was overtaken on the last bend, and Bannister won in 3 min 58.8 s, with Landy 0.8 s behind in 3 min 59.6 s. Bannister and Landy have both pointed out that the crucial moment of the race was that at the moment when Bannister decided to try to pass Landy, Landy looked over his left shoulder to gauge Bannister's position and Bannister burst past him on the right, never relinquishing the lead.
A larger-than-life bronze sculpture of the two men at that moment was created by Vancouver sculptor Jack Harman in 1967 from a photograph by Vancouver Sun photographer Charlie Warner and stood for many years at the entrance to Empire Stadium; after the stadium was demolished the sculpture was moved a short distance away to the Hastings and Renfrew entrance of the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) fairgrounds. Regarding this sculpture, Landy quipped: "While Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, I am probably the only one ever turned into bronze for looking back."
Bannister went on that season to win the so-called metric mile, the 1500 m, at the European Championships in Bern, Switzerland, on 29 August, with a championship record in a time of 3 min 43.8 s. He retired from athletics late in 1954 to concentrate on his work as a junior doctor and to pursue a career in neurology. He was appointed a CBE the following year for "services to amateur athletics".
Sports Council and knighthood
Bannister later became the first Chairman of the Sports Council (now called Sport England) and was knighted for this service in 1975. Under his patronage, central and local government funding of sports centres and other sports facilities was rapidly increased, and he also initiated the first testing for use of anabolic steroids in sport.
Medical career
After retiring from athletics in 1954, Bannister spent the next forty years practising medicine in the field of neurology. In March 1957, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps at Crookham, where he started his two years of National Service with the rank of lieutenant.
His major contribution to academic medicine was in the field of autonomic failure, an area of neurology concerning illnesses characterised by the loss of certain automatic responses of the nervous system (for example, elevated heart rate when standing up). He ultimately published more than eighty papers, mostly concerned with the autonomic nervous system, cardiovascular physiology, and multiple system atrophy. He edited Autonomic Failure: A Textbook of Clinical Disorders of the Autonomic Nervous System with C.J. Mathias, a colleague at St Mary's, as well as five editions of Brain and Bannister's Clinical Neurology.
Bannister always said he was more proud of his contribution to medicine than his running career. In 2014, Bannister said in an interview: "I'd rather be remembered for my work in neurology than my running. If you offered me the chance to make a great breakthrough in the study of the autonomic nerve system, I'd take that over the four minute mile right away. I worked in medicine for sixty years. I ran for about eight."
Personal life
In 1955, Bannister married the Swedish artist Moyra Elver Jacobsson in Basel, Switzerland. Moyra Jacobsson-Bannister was the daughter of the Swedish economist Per Jacobsson, who served as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
They had four children: Carol E. E. Bannister (b. 1957); Clive C. R. Bannister (b. 1959), an insurance industry executive; Thurstan R. R. Bannister (b. July 1960), a company director in New York; and Charlotte B. M. Bannister (b. 1963), now Charlotte Bannister-Parker, associate priest at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford.
In 2011, Bannister was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He died of pneumonia at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford on 3 March 2018, at the age of 88, 20 days before his 89th birthday. He is buried in Wolvercote Cemetery near Oxford. His widow, Lady Moyra Bannister, died in Oxford on 4 November 2022, at the age of 94.
Legacy
On the 50th anniversary of running the mile in under four minutes, Bannister was interviewed by the BBC's sports correspondent Rob Bonnet. At the conclusion of the interview, Bannister was asked whether he looked back on the sub-4-minute mile as the most important achievement of his life. Bannister replied that he instead saw his subsequent forty years of practising medicine and some of the new procedures he introduced as being more significant. He also said that, in terms of athletic achievement, he felt his performances at the 1952 Olympics and the 1954 Commonwealth Games were more significant than running the sub-4-minute mile.
Ironically, although Roger Bannister is arguably the most famous record-setter in the mile, he is also the man who held the record for the shortest period of time, at least since the IAAF started to ratify records.
Media
For his efforts, Bannister was also made the inaugural recipient of the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year award for 1954 (awarded in January 1955) and is one of the few non-Americans recognised by the American-published magazine as such.
In a UK poll conducted by Channel 4 in 2002, the British public voted Bannister's historic sub-4-minute mile as number 13 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.
Bannister is the subject of the ESPN film Four Minutes (2005). This film is a dramatisation, its major departures from the factual record being the creation of a fictional character as Bannister's coach, who was actually Franz Stampfl, an Austrian, and secondly his meeting his wife, Moyra Jacobsson, in the early 1950s when in fact they met in London only a few months before the Miracle Mile itself took place. Bannister was portrayed by Jamie Maclachlan.
Bannister: Everest on the Track, The Roger Bannister Story is a 2016 TV documentary about his childhood and youth in WWII and postwar Britain and the breaking of the 4-minute mile barrier, with interviews of participants and witnesses to the 1954 race, and later runners inspired by Bannister and his achievement, including Phil Knight who says that Roger Bannister inspired him to start Nike.
In the 1988 television mini-series The Four Minute Mile, about the rivalry between Bannister, John Landy and Wes Santee to be first to break the 4-minute mile mark, Bannister was portrayed by actor Richard Huw.
Places
In 1996 Pembroke College at the University of Oxford (where Bannister was Master for eight years) named a building in honour of his achievements. The Bannister Building, an 18th-century townhouse in Brewer Street, was converted to provide accommodation for graduate students. Following extensive refurbishments during 2011 and 2012, it became part of the building complex surrounding the Rokos Quad, and was then used for undergraduate accommodation.
In March 2004 St Mary's Hospital Medical School named a lecture theatre after Bannister; on display is the stopwatch that was used to time the race, stopped at 3:59. Bannister also gave his name to the trophy presented to the winning team in the annual athletics varsity match between Imperial College School of Medicine and Imperial College London, as well as the award given to the graduating doctor of Imperial College School of Medicine who has achieved most in the sporting community. Bannister also purchased the cup (which bears his name) awarded to the winning team in the annual United Hospitals Cross-Country Championship, organised by London Universities and Colleges Athletics. The championship is contested by the five medical schools in London and the Royal Veterinary College.
In 2012 Bannister carried the Olympic flame at the site of his memorable feat, in the Oxford University track stadium now named after him.
On 28 September 2021 a memorial stone honouring Sir Roger, "pioneering neurologist, world champion runner", was unveiled in Westminster Abbey, in the area known as 'Scientists' corner'.
Memorabilia
The 50th anniversary of Bannister's achievement was marked by a commemorative British 50-pence coin. The reverse of the coin shows the legs of a runner and a stopwatch (stopped at 3:59.4). There were 9,032,500 minted. The coin was re-struck for collector sets in 2019 as part of the Royal Mint's '50 Years of the 50p coin', along with other designs.
In the gallery of Pembroke College dining hall there is a cabinet containing over 80 exhibits covering Bannister's athletic career and including some academic highlights.
Anniversary Races
On 6 May 2024, exactly seventy years after Bannister's sub-four minute mile, hundreds of runners converged in Oxford to run a mile in Bannister's honor. The event saw thousands run a "Community Mile", and several races for elite runners on the Iffley Track. In the elite mile, four athletes broke the four minute barrier, with Italy's Ossama Meslek clocking the fastest mile, at 3:56.15.
This is the second time Iffley Track hosted an anniversary event for Bannister's achievement, with the previous time being in 2004.
Retired, accomplished milers including Steve Cram, Hicham El Guerrouj, Filbert Bayi, Noureddine Morceli, and Eamonn Coghlan attended, all of whom have had the mile world record to their name. Bayi ran 3:51.0 in May of 1975, holding the mile world record for three months until August of 1975, when John Walker of New Zealand ran 3:49.4. Cram ran 3:46.32 in 1985, holding the mile world record until Noureddine Morceli of Algeria ran 3:44.39 in 1993. Finally, on 7 July 1999, El Guerrouj ran 3:43.13, the current mile world record to this day, which is over sixteen seconds faster than Bannister's 3:59.4. Although not an outdoor record, Coghlan set an indoor mile world record of 3:49.78 in 1983, which was bettered by El Guerrouj in 1997 who ran 3:48.45.
Awards and honours
Bannister received many honours for his achievements in sports and medicine. He was knighted in the 1975 New Year Honours, and appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to sport.
Bannister was an Honorary Fellow of both Exeter College and Merton College, where he studied at the University of Oxford; he was also Honorary Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford. He received honorary degrees (Doctor of Science) from the University of Sheffield in 1978, and from the University of Bath in 1984. He also received honorary degrees from the University of Pavia in 1986 and from Brunel University London in 2008 (DUniv), as well as an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University in 2014. In 2000, Bannister received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
Bannister was made an Honorary Freeman of the London Borough of Harrow on 4 May 2004, and was granted the Freedom of the City of Oxford in 2004.
Selected publications
Autobiography
The Four Minute Mile. Dodd, Mead. 1955.
First Four Minutes. Putnam. 1955.
Twin Tracks: The Autobiography. London: The Robson Press. 2014. ISBN 978-1-84954-686-7.
Academic
Bannister, R.; Mathias, C. J., eds. (1999). Autonomic failure : a textbook of clinical disorders of the autonomic nervous system (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192628518. OCLC 39982611.
Bannister, Roger; Brain, Walter Russell, eds. (1992). Brain and Bannister's clinical neurology (7th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192619136. OCLC 24318711.
Other media
In 2014, he appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's Midweek with Libby Purves, Kevin Warwick and Rachael Stirling.
References
Citations
Sources
Bascomb, Neal (2004). The Perfect Mile. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0618391127.
Bannister, Roger (2015). Twin Tracks: The Autobiography. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84954-836-6.
Bannister, Roger (2004). The First Four Minutes. Sutton. ISBN 978-0-7509-3530-2.
Notes
Further reading
Bale, John. Roger Bannister and the four-minute mile: Sports myth and sports history (Routledge, 2012). excerpt
Bale, John. "Amateurism, Capital and Roger Bannister." Sport in History 26.3 (2006): 484–501.
Bannister, Roger (1955), The Four-Minute Mile. Revised and enlarged 50th anniversary (of the race) edition, 2004, The Lyons Press.
Bascomb, Neal (2004), The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It. ISBN 0-618-39112-6.
Booth, Douglas. "Sport history and the seeds of a postmodern discourse." Rethinking History 13.2 (2009): 153–174.
Bourne, Nicholas David. Fast science: A history of training theory and methods for elite runners through 1975 (U of Texas at Austin, 2008). online
The First Four Minutes: ESPN Classic Television Programme.
The Four Minute Mile TV mini-series (1988), available on DVD.
Cameron, Julia (1993), The Artist's Way. Oxford, London: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-34358-0.
Freeman, Roy; Low, Philip; Joyner, Mike (January 2019). "Obituary: Sir Roger Bannister (1929–2018)". Autonomic Neuroscience. 216: iii–v. doi:10.1016/j.autneu.2018.09.007.
Nelson, Cordner and Quercetani, Roberto (1985), The Milers, Tafnews Press, 1985, ISBN 0-911521-15-1, pp. 181–215
Quercetani, R. L. (1964), A World History of Track and Field Athletics, 1864–1964, Oxford University Press. (A history of the mile/1500 m. event.)
External links
Portraits of Roger Bannister at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Roger Bannister at World Athletics
Roger Bannister at Olympics.com
Roger Bannister at Olympedia
Newsreel footage of Roger Bannister achieving the four-minute mile
Roger Bannister and the Four-Minute Mile, original reports from The Times (archived)
"Bannister triumphs with sub-four minute mile", original report from The Guardian (from the Guardian archive)
Live TV coverage of the "Miracle Mile"
Multiple System Atrophy Trust website – Bannister was patron of the MSA Trust
Images of Roger Bannister in the Queen Square Archives (10 images)
Sir Roger Bannister Biography and Interview by American Academy of Achievement
Roger Bannister on the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group website (3 images)
2018 Oxford memorial event |
World_War_I_casualties | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties | [
527
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties"
] | The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was about 40 million: estimates range from around 15 to 22 million deaths and about 23 million wounded military personnel, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.
The total number of deaths includes from 9 to 11 million military personnel. The civilian death toll was about 6 to 13 million. The Triple Entente (also known as the Allies) lost about 6 million military personnel while the Central Powers lost about 4 million. At least 2 million died from diseases and 6 million went missing, presumed dead. This article lists the casualties of the belligerent powers based on official published sources.
About two-thirds of military deaths in World War I were in battle, unlike the conflicts that took place in the 19th century when the majority of deaths were due to disease. Nevertheless, disease, including the 1918 flu pandemic and deaths while held as prisoners of war, still caused about one third of total military deaths for all belligerents.
Classification of casualty statistics
Casualty statistics for World War I vary to a great extent; estimates of total deaths range from 9 million to over 15 million. Military casualties reported in official sources list deaths due to all causes, including an estimated 7 to 8 million combat related deaths (killed or died of wounds) and another two to three million military deaths caused by accidents, disease and deaths while prisoners of war. Official government reports listing casualty statistics were published by the United States and Great Britain. These secondary sources published during the 1920s, are the source of the statistics in reference works listing casualties in World War I. This article summarizes the casualty statistics published in the official government reports of the United States and Great Britain as well as France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Russia. More recently the research of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has revised the military casualty statistics of the UK and its allies; they include in their listing of military war dead personnel outside of combat theaters and civilians recruited from Africa, the Middle East and China who provided logistical and service support in combat theaters. The casualties of these support personnel recruited outside of Europe were previously not included with British war dead, however the casualties of the Labour Corps recruited from the British Isles were included in the rolls of British war dead published in 1921. The methodology used by each nation to record and classify casualties was not uniform, a general caveat regarding casualty figures is that they cannot be considered comparable in all cases. First World War civilian deaths are "hazardous to estimate" according to Micheal Clodfelter who maintains that "the generally accepted figure of noncombatant deaths is 6.5 million."
Casualties in the borders of 1914–1918
The source of population data is: Haythornthwaite, Philip J., The World War One Source Book pp. 382–383
Casualties by post-war (1924) borders
The war involved multi-ethnic empires such as Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. Many ethnic groups in these territories were conscripted for military service. The casualties listed by modern borders are also included in the above table of figures for the countries that existed in 1914. The casualty figures by 1924 post war borders are rough estimates by Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century, the sources of his figures were published in the Soviet era and in post-Soviet Russia. According to the 1914–1918 Online Encyclopedia "In addition to losses suffered by African military personnel and the laborers supporting their operations, very large, but unknown numbers of African civilians perished during the war." They made an estimate of civilian losses in Africa of 750,000 based on the study by the Vadim Erlikman. They noted that Erlikman's figures are based on the work of the Russian demographer Boris Urlanis, they noted that these estimates were "imprecise" and "could be used to provide a frame of reference for further inquiry". The Oxford History of World War One notes that "In east and central Africa the harshness of the war resulted in acute shortages of food with famine in some areas, a weakening of populations, and epidemic diseases which killed hundreds of thousands of people and also cattle."
Austria
The following estimates of Austrian deaths, within contemporary borders, were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead 175,000: including military losses 120,000 with the Austro-Hungarian forces and POW deaths in captivity of 30,000. Civilian dead due to famine and disease were 25,000.
Belarus
The following estimates of Belarusian deaths, within contemporary borders, were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead 130,000: including military losses 70,000 with the Russian forces. Civilian dead were 60,000.
Ukraine
The following estimates of Ukrainian deaths, within contemporary borders, were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead 590,000: including military losses 450,000,(Erlikman did not break out military losses between Austro-Hungarian and Russian armed forces). Civilian dead were 140,000.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Belgian Congo was part of the Kingdom of Belgium during the war. A Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia estimated a total of 155,000 deaths in the Belgian Congo during the war.
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia was part of Austro-Hungary during the war. The estimates of Czechoslovak deaths within 1991 borders were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead 185,000: including military losses 110,000 with the Austro-Hungarian forces and POW deaths in captivity of 45,000. Civilian dead due to famine and disease were 30,000. The Czechoslovak Legions fought with the armies of the Allies during the war.
Estonia
Estonia was part of the Russian Empire during the war and about 100,000 Estonians served in the Russian Army. Of them about 10,000 were killed.
Finland
From 1809 Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. Finland's autonomous status meant that Finns were exempt from conscription into the Russian Army. Approximately 800 Finns voluntarily served during World War I. According to data regarding Finnish war casualties, 317 Finns were killed between 1914 and 1917.
French colonies
The following estimates of deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Erlikman's estimates are based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia. These numbers only include military deaths, total civilian deaths in Africa could amount up to 750,000.
Algeria (1914 known as French Algeria): 26,000
Vietnam (1914 known as French Indochina): 12,000
Mali (1914 part of French West Africa): 10,000
Morocco (1914 known as the French protectorate of Morocco): 8,000
Senegal (1914 part of French West Africa): 6,000
Guinea (1914 part of French West Africa): 2,500
Madagascar: 2,500 military
Benin (1914 part of French West Africa): 2,000
Burkina Faso (1914 part of French West Africa): 2,000
Republic of the Congo (1914 part of French Equatorial Africa): 2,000
Ivory Coast (1914 part of French West Africa): 2,000
Tunisia (1914 known as French Tunisia): 2,000
Chad (1914 part of French Equatorial Africa): 1,500
Central African Republic (1914 known as French Oubangui-Chari): 1,000
Niger (1914 part of French West Africa): 1,000
Gabon (1914 part of French Equatorial Africa): 500
India (French Establishments in India): 195
Total: 82,000
Georgia
The following estimates of Georgian deaths, within contemporary borders, were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Georgia was part of the Russian Empire during the war and about 150,000 Georgians served in the Russian Army. Of them about 10,000 were killed.
German colonies
The following estimates of deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Erlikman's estimates are based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia. These numbers only include military deaths, total civilian deaths in Africa could amount up to 750,000.
Tanzania (1914 part of German East Africa): 20,000
Namibia (1914 known as German South-West Africa): 1,000
Cameroon (1914 known as Kamerun): 5,000 military and 50,000 civilian
Togo (1914 known as German Togoland): 2,000
Rwanda (1914 part of German East Africa): 15,000
Total: 48,000
Hungary
The following estimates of Hungarian deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead 385,000: including military losses 270,000 with the Austro-Hungarian forces and POW deaths in captivity of 70,000. Civilian dead due to famine and disease were 45,000.
Ireland
Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom during World War I. Five-sixths of the island left to form the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland, in 1922. A total of 206,000 Irishmen served in the British forces during the war. The number of Irish deaths in the British Army recorded by the registrar general was 27,405. A significant number of these casualties were from what, in 1920, became Northern Ireland. While 49,400 soldiers died serving in Irish divisions (the 10th, 16th and 36th), although not all of the men serving in these divisions were natives of Ireland and many Irish who died in non-Irish regiments are not listed. For example, 29% of the casualties in the 16th Division were not natives of Ireland. Neither does it include Irish emigrants in Britain who enlisted there and are not categorised as Irish. Australia lists 4,731 of its first World War soldiers as having been born in Ireland and more than 19,000 Irish-born soldiers served in the Canadian Corps. According to research done by John Horne of Trinity College Dublin, there are at least 30,986 soldiers who were born in Ireland that died; however, that's considered a "conservative" estimate and is very likely to raise.
Mozambique
The losses of Portuguese Mozambique were estimated by a Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Erlikman's estimates are based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia. 52,000
Poland
Poland was territory of Germany, Austria-Hungary and partially annexed by Russia, from 1795 to 1918. By late 1915, Germany had complete control over modern-day Poland. A 2005 Polish study estimated 3,376,800 Poles were conscripted into the armed forces of these countries during World War I, an additional 300,000 were conscripted for forced labor by the Germans. The Russians and Austrians forcibly resettled 1.6 to 1.8 million persons from the war zone in Poland. According to Micheal Clodfelter, Polish war dead were 1,080,000, whilst 200,000 Polish civilians were killed in the fighting on the Eastern Front; 870,000 men served in the German, Austrian and Russian armies. Another estimate made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century, put total Polish war dead at 640,000, including military losses of 270,000 Poles conscripted, civilian losses of 120,000 due to military operations and 250,000 caused by famine and disease. The ethnic Polish Blue Army served with the French Army. The ethnic Polish Legions fought as part of the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Eastern Front.
Romania
The territory of Transylvania was part of Austria-Hungary during World War I. The following estimates of Romanian deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead: 748,000, including military losses of 220,000 with the Romanian forces, 150,000 with the Austro-Hungarian forces and POW deaths in captivity of 48,000. Civilian dead were as follows due to famine and disease: 200,000, killed in military operations 120,000 and 10,000 dead in Austrian prisons.
British colonies
Britain recruited Indian, Chinese, native South African, Egyptian and other overseas labour to provide logistical support in the combat theatres. Included with British casualties in East Africa are the deaths of 44,911 recruited labourers. The CWGC reports that nearly 2,000 workers from the Chinese Labour Corps are buried with British war dead in France.
The following estimates of British Empire colonial military deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Erlikman's estimates are based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia.
Ghana (1914 known as the Gold Coast): 1,200
Kenya (1914 known as British East Africa): 2,000
Malawi (1914 known as Nyasaland): 3,000
Nigeria (1914 part of British West Africa): 5,000
Sierra Leone (1914 part of British West Africa): 1,000
Uganda (1914 known as the Uganda Protectorate): 1,500
Zambia (1914 known as Northern Rhodesia): 3,000
Zimbabwe (1914 known as Southern Rhodesia): 5,716 persons of European origin served in the war, of whom about 700 were killed, or died of wounds or other causes. In explicitly Rhodesian units, 127 were killed, 24 died of wounds, 101 died of disease or other causes and 294 were wounded. Of the territory's black African servicemen, 31 were killed in action, 142 died of other causes and 116 were wounded.
Total: 18,000
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The following estimates are for Yugoslavia within the 1991 borders.
Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Vojvodina (Now part of Serbia) were part of Austria-Hungary during World War I. Serbia, which included Macedonia, and Montenegro was an independent nation. The Yugoslav historian Vladimir Dedijer put the total losses of the Yugoslav lands at 1.9 million, of which 43% were from Serbia. The following estimates of Yugoslav deaths, within 1991 borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead: 996,000 including military losses, 260,000 with the Serbian forces, 80,000 with the Austro-Hungarian forces, 13,000 with Montenegrin forces and POW deaths in captivity of 93,000. Civilian dead were as follows due to famine and disease: 400,000, killed in military operations: 120,000 and 30,000 dead in Austrian prisons or executed.
Nepal
During World War I, the Nepalese army was expanded and six new regiments, totaling more than 20,000 troops—all volunteers—were sent to India, most of them to the North-West Frontier Province, to release British and Indian troops for service overseas. Simultaneously, the Nepalese government agreed to maintain recruitment at a level that would sustain the existing British Gurkha units and allow the establishment of additional ones. The battalions were increased to thirty-three with the addition of 55,000 new recruits and Gurkha units were placed at the disposal of the British high command for service on all fronts. Many volunteers were assigned to non-combat units, such as the Army Bearer Corps and the labour battalions but they also were in combat in France, Turkey, Palestine and Mesopotamia. The Rana prime ministers urged Nepalese males to fight in the war. Of the more than 200,000 Nepalese who served in the British army, there were some 20,000 Gurkha casualties included above with the British Indian Army.
Footnotes
^a East and Central Africa
The conflict in East Africa caused enormous civilian casualties. The Oxford History of World War One notes that "In east and central Africa the harshness of the war resulted in acute shortages of food with famine in some areas, a weakening of populations, and epidemic diseases which killed hundreds of thousands of people and also cattle." According to the 1914–1918 Online Encyclopedia "In addition to losses suffered by African military personnel and the laborers supporting their operations, very large, but unknown numbers of African civilians perished during the war." They made an estimate of civilian losses in Africa of 750,000 The following estimates of civilian deaths in East Africa during World War I were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century: Kenya 30,000; Tanzania 100,000; Mozambique 50,000; Rwanda 15,000; Burundi 20,000 and the Belgian Congo 150,000.
The military casualties of the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and Portugal include Africans who served with their armed forces, the details are noted above in the list of the various colonies.
^b Australia
The Australian War Memorial puts their war dead at 61,513.
The Australian War Memorial maintains a database listing the names of war dead.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figure for Australian war dead is 62,149.
The report of the UK War Office listed 59,330 Army war dead, 152,171 wounded and 4,084 taken prisoner.
In 1924 the Australian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 412,953 men mobilized and 59,337 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total military deaths are 54,000 killed and died of wounds.
^c Belgium
Belgian government figures for military losses in Europe were 40,367 (26,338 killed, died of wounds or accidents and 14,029 died of disease or missing). In Africa: 2,620 soldiers were killed and 15,650 porters died. The combined total for Europe and Africa is 58,637.
United States War Dept. figures for Belgium are: Total mobilized force 267,000; total casualties 93,061 including killed and died 13,716; wounded 44,686; Prisoners and missing 34,659.
The report of the UK War Office listed 93,061 casualties up until 11 November 1918 including 13,716 killed and died; 24,456 missing; 44,686 wounded and 10,208 POW. "These figures are approximate only, the records being incomplete."
In 1924, the Belgian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 365,000 men mobilized and 40,936 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Belgian military deaths are 35,000 killed and died of wounds
Civilian deaths according to Belgian government statistics were 23,700 (6,000 killed in the 1914 German massacres and 17,700 victims in prisons, deportations and by military tribunals). According to a demographic study, there were 92,000 indirect deaths in Belgium (62,000 deaths due to wartime privations and 30,000 in the Spanish flu pandemic). John Horne estimated that 6,500 Belgian and French civilians were killed in German reprisals.
^d Canada
According to the Canadian War Museum Close to 61,000 Canadians were killed during the war, and another 172,000 were wounded. The small Dominion of Newfoundland suffered 1,305 killed and several thousand wounded. The Canadian Expeditionary Force lost 59,544 in the war, including 51,748 due to enemy action; the Royal Canadian Navy reported 150 deaths from all causes and 1,388 Canadians died while serving with the British Flying Services.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figure for Canadian war dead is 64,996.
The report of the UK War Office listed 56,639 Canadian war dead, 149,732 wounded and 3,729 taken prisoner.
In 1924, the Canadian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 628,964 men mobilized and 51,674 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Canadian military deaths are 53,000 killed and died of wounds.
The Canadian Virtual War Memorial contains a registry of information about the graves and memorials of Canadians and Newfoundlanders who served valiantly and gave their lives for their country.
The 2,000 civilian deaths were due to the Halifax Explosion.
^e France
French casualty figures up until 1 June 1919 were listed in a French government report of 1 August 1919 presented to the French Chamber of Deputies. Total Army dead and missing up until 11 November 1918 were 1,357,800; in addition there were 28,600 deaths after 11 November 1918 of those wounded and 11,400 Navy dead which brings total dead and missing to 1,397,800. These figures include 35,200 French Colonial Forces, 35,900 "north Africans" and 4,600 French Foreign Legion personnel.
According to the French Army official report "La Statistique médicale de l'armée" Total dead were 1,325,000 (675,000 killed in action, 225,000 missing and prisoners killed, 250,000 died of wounds and 175,000 died of disease.)
A breakdown of French casualties published in the Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918 lists 674,700 killed in action, 250,000 died of wounds, 225,300 missing and presumed dead and 175,000 dead from disease and injury. Wounded amounted to 2,300,000.
United States War Dept. figures for French casualties are: Total mobilized force 8,410,000; total casualties 6,160,800 including killed and died: 1,357,800, wounded: 4,266,000, prisoners and missing: 537,000.
The UK War Office put French dead, killed and missing at 1,385,300 dead and missing, including 58,000 colonial soldiers up until 1 November 1918. They noted that a government report of 1 August 1919, listed the number of killed and died at 1,357,000. There were no figures available of the wounded.
In 1924, the French government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 7,935,000 men mobilized and 1,400,000 dead and missing in World War I.
The names of the soldiers who died for France during World War I are listed on-line by the French government.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total French military deaths are 1,126,000 killed and died of wounds.
According to the French encyclopedia Quid 30–40,000 foreign volunteers from about 40 nationalities served in the French army, including 12,000 with the Czechoslovak Legion and the ethnic Polish Blue Army; 5,000 Italians served in a "Legion" commanded by Colonel Garibaldi. There were also 1,000 Spaniards and 1,500 Swiss in French service, 200 American volunteers served with the French from 1914 to 1916, including the Lafayette Escadrille. Luxembourg was occupied by Germany during the war. According to the Mobile Reference travel Guide 3,700 Luxembourg citizens served in the French armed forces, 2,800 gave their lives in the war. They are commemorated at the Gëlle Fra in Luxembourg. The French Armenian Legion served as part of the French armed forces during the war. French colonies, such as Algeria and Vietnam, also sent troops to fight and serve on the battlefront. American military historian Douglas Porch reported of the French Foreign Legion, in which most non-French nationals served, that some estimates put Legion casualties during the war as high as 31,000 of the 44,150 men who served in the Legion, a 70 per cent casualty rate.
According to a demographic study, there were 500,000 indirect deaths in France (300,000 deaths due to wartime privations and 200,000 in the Spanish flu pandemic). Another estimate of the demographic loss of the civilian population in the France during the war, put total excess deaths at 264,000 to 284,000, not including an additional 100,000 to 120,000 Spanish flu deaths. Civilian dead include 1,509 merchant sailors and 3,357 killed in air attacks and long range artillery bombardments Kramer quotes Huber as estimating 600,000 excess deaths, though it's unclear what proportion are due to influenza.
Tertiary sources put French civilian war dead at 40,000.
^f Greece
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated total military dead of 26,000, including 15,000 deaths due to disease and 11,000 killed and died of wounds
United States War Dept. figures for Greek casualties are: Total mobilized force 230,000; total casualties 27,000 (killed and died 5,000; wounded 21,000; prisoners and missing 1,000).
The report of the UK War Office listed 27,000 casualties (5,000 killed or died of wounds; 21,000 wounded and 1,000 prisoners and missing).
In 1924, the Greek government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 355,000 men mobilized and no dead and missing in World War I.
Jean Bujac in a campaign history of the Greek Army in World War I, listed 8,365 combat related deaths and 3,255 missing.
According to a demographic study there were 150,000 indirect deaths in Greece due to wartime privations.
^g India (British)
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figure for Indian war dead is 73,905.
The report of the UK War Office listed 64,449 Army war dead, 69,214 wounded and 11,264 taken prisoner, these figures include British serving in the Indian Army (2,393 dead, 2,325 wounded and 194 taken prisoner).
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Indian military deaths are 27,000 killed and died of wounds.
^h Italy
The Italian government put military war deaths at 651,000 (killed in action or died of wounds 378,000; died of disease 186,000 plus an additional 87,000 deaths of invalids from 12 November 1918 until 30 April 1920, due to war related injuries.) These official figures were published in an Italian study of war losses by G. Mortara, however he estimated actual losses until the war's end in Nov. 1918, at 600,000 (400,000 killed or died of wounds and 200,000 deaths due to disease). A brief summary of data from this study can be found online.
United States War Dept. figures for Italian casualties are: Total mobilized force 5,615,000; total casualties 2,197,000 (killed and died 650,000; wounded 947,000; prisoners and missing 600,000).
The report of the UK War Office listed 1,937,000 casualties up until 11 November 1918 (460,000 dead; 947,000 wounded and 530,000 prisoners).
In 1924, the Italian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 5,615,000 men mobilized and 750,000 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Italian military deaths are 433,000 killed and died of wounds.
According to a demographic study there were 1,021,000 indirect deaths in Italy (589,000 deaths due to wartime privations and 432,000 in the Spanish flu pandemic). Another estimate of the demographic loss of the civilian population in the Italy during the war, put total excess deaths at 324,000 not including an additional 300,000 Spanish flu deaths. Civilian deaths due to military action were 3,400 (including 2,293 by attacks on shipping, 965 during air raids and 142 by sea bombardment). Kramer cites Mario Isnenghi and Giorgio Rochat, La Grande Guerra, 1914–1918 (Florence: Scandicci, 2000), pp. 301–2. They give excess war-related civilian mortality for the period 1915–18 of 606,407, of which influenza accounts for 274,041.
^i Japan
In 1924, the Japanese government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 800,000 men mobilized and 4,661 dead and missing in World War I.
The Yasukuni Shrine lists 4,850 dead in World War I.
United States War Dept. figures for Japanese casualties are: total mobilized force 800,000; total casualties 1,210 (including Killed and died 300; wounded 907; Prisoners and missing 3).
^k Montenegro
In 1924, the Yugoslav government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported Montenegro mobilized 50,000 men and 13,325 were dead and missing in World War I.
United States War Dept. figures for Montenegrin casualties are: total mobilized force 50,000; total casualties 20,000 including killed and died 3,000; wounded 10,000; prisoners and missing 7,000.
^l New Zealand
The Auckland War Memorial Museum commemorates the 18,060 New Zealand World War I dead.
The Auckland War Memorial Museum maintains a database listing the names of the New Zealand war dead.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figure for New Zealand war dead is 18,060.
The report of the UK War Office listed 16,711 army war dead, 41,317 wounded and 498 taken prisoner.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total New Zealand military deaths are 14,000 killed and died of wounds.
^m Newfoundland
The Dominion of Newfoundland was not part of Canada during World War I. The report of the UK War Office listed 1,204 Army war dead, 2,314 wounded and 150 taken prisoner.
An academic journal published in Newfoundland has given the details of Newfoundland's military casualties. Fatalities totaled 1,570 The Royal Newfoundland Regiment suffered 1,297 dead; there were an additional 171 dead in the Royal Navy and 101 in the Merchant Navy.
^n Portugal
United States War Dept. figures for Portuguese casualties are: total mobilized force 100,000; total casualties 33,291 (including killed and died 7,222; wounded 13,751; prisoners and missing 12,318).
The report of the UK War Office listed 33,291 casualties: 7,222 dead (1,689 in Europe and 5,533 in Africa); 13,751 wounded (figure for Europe only) and 12,318 prisoners and missing (6,678 in Europe and "a large number of missing in Mozambique).
In 1924, the Portuguese government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 100,000 men mobilized and 4,000 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Portuguese military deaths are 6,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds.
According to a demographic study there were 220,000 indirect deaths in Portugal (82,000 deaths due to wartime privations and 138,000 in the Spanish flu pandemic).
13 Portuguese civilians that were killed during bombardment of Funchal, Madeira Island on 3 December 1916, and 12 December 1917, by German submarines.
^o Romania
In 1924, the Romanian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 1,000,000 men mobilized and 250,000 dead and missing in World War I.
United States War Dept. figures for Romanian casualties are: total mobilized force 750,000; total casualties 535,706 (including killed and died 335,706; wounded 120,000; prisoners and missing 80,000).
The report of the UK War Office listed military casualties of 335,706 killed or missing. In addition 265,000 civilians were killed or missing.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Romanian military deaths are 177,000 killed and died of wounds.
According to a demographic study there were 430,000 indirect deaths in Romania due to wartime privations.
A Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century estimated 330,000 civilian dead (120,000 due to military activity, 10,000 as prisoners and 200,000 caused by famine and disease).
^p Russian Empire
According to the Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis the sources for Russian casualties are difficult to ascertain. Casualty figures, compiled from the field reports during the war, were published in 1925 by the Soviet Central Statistical office They put Russia's total losses at 775,400 dead and missing, 348,500 disabled and 3,343,900 POW. Those evacuated to the rear area were 1,425,000 sick and 2,844,500 wounded. Included in these figures are battle casualties of 7,036,087. (626,440 killed in action, 17,174 died of wounds, 228,838 missing, 3,409,433 held as prisoners of war and 2,754,202 wounded in action). Urlanis believes that the figures for those killed were considerably underestimated, because a large part of the reports were lost in retreats. Urlanis estimated the actual total military war dead at 1,811,000 (killed 1,200,000, died of wounds 240,000, gassed 11,000, died from disease 155,000, POW deaths 190,000, deaths due to accidents and other causes 15,000).
A study by the Russian military historian G.F. Krivosheev estimated the total war dead at 2,254,369 (killed in action 1,200,000; missing and presumed dead 439,369; died of wounds 240,000, gassed 11,000, died from disease 155,000, POW deaths 190,000, deaths due to accidents and other causes 19,000). Wounded 3,749,000. POW 3,343,900. Total mobilized force 15,378,000.
United States War Dept. figures for Russian casualties are: Total mobilized force 12,000,000. Total casualties 9,150,000 (including Killed and died 1,700,000, wounded 4,950,000, prisoners and missing 2,500,000).
The UK War Office Based on a telegram from Petrograd to Copenhagen in December 1918 listed military casualties of 9,150,000 (including 1,700,000 killed, 1,450,000 disabled, 3,500,000 wounded and 2,500,000 POW).
In 1924, the Soviet government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported for Russia 15,070,000 men mobilized and 1,700,000 dead and missing in World War I.
According to the Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis there were 1,500,000 civilian deaths due to wartime privations up until the end of 1917.
A Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century estimated 1,140,000 war related Russian civilian deaths, from 1914 to 1917 in 1914 borders (410,000 due to military operations and 730,000 caused by famine and disease).
^q Serbia
Sources for total Serbian casualties range from 750,000 to 1,250,000.
A demographic study in 1927, put total the war dead for Serbia and Montenegro at 750,000 (300,000 military and 450,000 civilians). The overall population loss from 1912 to 1920, based on the pre-war level was 1,236,000 persons (including 750,000 in World War I; 150,000 killed in the Balkan Wars and a decline in the number of births of 336,000), in addition there were 47,000 war related deaths during 1914–1920, that are included with deaths by natural causes.
According to Frédéric Le Moal, Serbian historian Dušan T. Bataković puts their losses at 1,250,000 (450,000 military and 800,000 civilians). These losses are from 1912 to 1918 and include the Balkan Wars. In July 2014, Serbian poet and academic Matija Bećković said "that 402,435 Serbian soldiers have been killed and 845,000 civilians hanged or exterminated in concentration camps during WWI. At a September 2014 conference sponsored by the Serbian Ministry of Defense, Dr. Alexander Nedok put Serbian war dead at 1,247,435 persons.
According to the Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis regarding Serbia "it is particularly difficult to ascertain the number of killed". Based on a demographic analysis of the population, Urlanis estimated total Serbian and Montenegrin casualties of 728,000 including military dead: 278,000 (140,000 killed in action; 25,000 died of wounds; 50,000 disease; 60,000 POW and 3,000 from other causes) and total civilian dead of 450,000.
In 1924, the Serbian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 1,008,240 men mobilized and 365,164 dead and missing in World War I.
United States War Dept. figures for Serbian casualties are: total mobilized force 707,343; total casualties 331,106 (including killed and died 45,000; wounded 133,148; prisoners and missing 152,958).
The report of the UK War Office listed military casualties of 331,106 including 45,000 killed, 133,148 wounded and 70,243 prisoners and 82,535 missing.
A Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century, estimated 120,000 Serbian civilian deaths due to military activity and 30,000 executed (казнено и убито) by the Austro-Hungarians. His estimate for total Yugoslav civilian casualties including Austro-Hungarian territory was 550,000.
^r South Africa
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figure for South Africa war dead is 9,726
The report of the UK War Office listed 7,121 Army war dead, 12,029 wounded and 1,538 taken prisoner.
In 1924, the South African government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 136,070 men mobilized and 7,134 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total South African military deaths are 5,000 killed and died of wounds.
^s United Kingdom
^s1 UK military casualties were reported separately by branch of service: Total of 744,000 dead and missing from the British Isles: Army 702,410 "soldiers"; Royal Navy 32,287 Losses at sea were 908 UK civilians and 63 fisherman killed in U-boat attacks.
Overseas labor units serving with the British and French forces. The UK employed about 300,000 Indian, Chinese, native South African, Egyptian and other nations as laborers during the war. By the end of 1917, there were 50,000 Chinese workers in France, rising to 96,000 by August 1918 (with another 30,000 working for the French). 100,000 Egyptians were working in France and the Middle East, alongside 21,000 Indians and 20,000 South Africans, who were also in East Africa. A total of about 140,000 Chinese workers recruited in the Beiyang government, served on the Western Front during and after the war with the British and French Armed Forces. According to the Commonwealth war Graves Commission "In all, nearly 2,000 men from the Chinese Labour Corps died during the First World War, some as a direct result of enemy action, or of wounds received in the course of their duties, but many more in the influenza epidemic that swept Europe in 1918–19" One historical controversy is the number who died in the war. Some Chinese scholars say the number was as high as 20,000 but records kept by the British and French recruiters, show just under 2,000 lost their lives, many from the flu pandemic that swept the world starting in 1919. According to the Commonwealrh War Graves Commission, "The African combatant troops raised for the East African campaign numbered 34,000. The non-combatant porters, stevedores and followers of the Military Labour Corps 600,000. Almost 50,000 of these men were lost, killed in action died of sickness or wounds" According to The Africa Research Institute official British figures the death toll exceeded 105,000 native African troops and military carriers
Kramer gives 600,000 excess civilian deaths, of which 200,000 are due to the influenza pandemic, citing Brill’s Encyclopedia of the First World War, pp. 732–3.
^t United States
US Dept. of Defense figures from 2010, list 116,516 war dead from all causes for the period ending 31 December 1918, including 106,378 in the Army, 7,287 in the Navy and 2,851 in the Marine Corps. There were 53,402 battle deaths, including 50,510 in the Army, 431 in the navy and 2,461 in the Marines. There were 63,114 non-combat deaths, 55,868 in the Army, 6,856 in the Navy and 390 in the Marines. Wounded: 204,002 (Army: 193,663, Navy: 819, Marines: 9,520). The figures include 279 deaths during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1920. The U.S. casualty figures were revised by the US Dept. of Defense in 1957. The US Coast Guard lost 192 dead (111 deaths in action and 81 from other causes).
United States War Dept. figures from 1924 for U.S. casualties were: total mobilized force 4,355,000; total casualties 350,300 (including killed and died from all causes 126,000; wounded 234,300 (including 14,500 died of wounds); prisoners and missing 4,500).
In 1924, the U.S. government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 4,272,521 men mobilized and 67,813 dead and missing in World War I.
United States civilian losses include 128 killed in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania (before the U.S. became a belligerent) as well as 629 Merchant Mariners killed in enemy submarine attacks on their merchant ships.
^u Austria-Hungary
The official history of Austria-Hungary's involvement in the First World War put total military dead at 1,494,200: (1,016,200 killed and 478,000 while prisoners of war).
In 1924, the Austrian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 9,000,000 men mobilized and 1,542,817 dead and missing in World War I.
United States War Dept. figures for Austro-Hungarian casualties are: total mobilized force 7,800,000; total casualties 7,020,000 (including killed and died 1,200,000; wounded 3,620,000; prisoners and missing 2,200,000).
The UK War Office estimate for Austro-Hungarian casualties up to 31 December 1918: total casualties of 7,020,000 including 1,200,000 killed, 3,620,000 wounded and 2,200,000 prisoners. Preliminary figures up to the end of May 1918, given by the U. K. Director of Military Intelligence give the following estimated totals: 800,000 killed, 1,800,000 prisoners/missing, and 3,200,000 wounded/sick, for a total of 5,800,000. An additional 80,000 killed, 320,000 wounded/sick, and 20,000 prisoners are estimated in the Austrian offensive against Italy from 1 June to 24 October 1918. At the same time there 72,500 casualties on the Balkans and Western Fronts. Finally, during the last Italian offensive the prisoners claimed by the Italians amounted to 448,000, while a further 30,000 Austro-Hungarians were killed and 50,000 wounded.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Austro-Hungarian military deaths are 900,000 killed and died of wounds.
A study published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace estimated that there were 467,000 civilian deaths attributable to wartime privations caused by the allied blockade.
A Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century estimated 120,000 civilian deaths due to military activity in Austro-Hungarian Galicia.
^v Bulgaria
United States War Dept. figures for Bulgarian casualties are: total mobilized force 1,200,000; total casualties 266,919 (including Killed and died 87,500; wounded 152,930; Prisoners and missing 27,029).
The UK War Office listed casualties reported by the Bulgarian War Office: 87,500 total dead (48,917 killed, 13,198 died of wounds, 888? accidentally killed, 24,497 died of disease); 13,729 missing; 152,390 wounded and 10,623 prisoners. The Bulgarian War Office stated that "losses during the retreat from sickness and privations were much greater than the figures they possess".
In 1924, the Bulgarian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 400,000 men mobilized and 32,772 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Bulgarian military deaths are 62,000 killed and died of wounds.
According to the Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis there were 100,000 civilian deaths due to wartime privations.
^w German Empire
In 1934 the official German war history listed 2,037,000 military dead. Confirmed dead from all causes 1,936,897 (Army 1,900,876, Navy 34,836, Colonial troops 1,185); wounded 4,215,662; prisoners and missing 974,977 of which an estimated 100,000 were presumed dead.
United States War Dept. figures for German casualties are: total mobilized force 11,000,000; total casualties 7,142,558 (including Killed and died 1,773,700; wounded 4,216,058; prisoners and missing 1,152,800).
The UK War Office listed official German figures from 1921 of 1,808,545 killed and 4,247,143 wounded, exclusive of 14,000 African conscript deaths during the war.
In 1924, the German government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 13,250,000 men mobilized and 2,000,000 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total German military deaths are 1,796,000 killed and died of wounds.
The UK War Office listed official German figures from 1919 of 720 German civilians who were killed by allied air raids.
The figures for civilian deaths due to the Blockade of Germany are disputed. The German Board of Public Health in December 1918 maintained that 763,000 German civilians died from malnutrition and disease caused by the blockade up until the end of December 1918. A German academic study in 1928 put the death toll at 424,000. A study sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1940, estimated the German civilian death toll due to the war at over 600,000. Based on the above-mentioned German study of 1928, they maintained that "A thorough inquiry has led to the conclusion that the number of "civilian" deaths traceable to the war was 424,000, to which number must be added about 200,000 deaths caused by the influenza epidemic". Finally, Kramer cites Jay Winter, who estimates 478,500 civilian war-related excess deaths, of which 180,000 was due to the influenze pandemic.
^x Ottoman Empire
Based on his analysis of the non-published individual World War I campaign histories in the Ottoman Archives, Edward J. Erickson estimated Ottoman military casualties in the study Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War. The casualties included total war dead of 771,844, (243,598 killed in action, 61,487 missing action and 466,759 deaths due to disease). The number of wounded was 763,753 and POWs 145,104.
The Ottoman official casualty statistics published in 1922 were: total dead 325,000 including (killed in action 50,000, 35,000 died of wounds, 240,000 died of disease). Wounded 400,000. POWs, sick and missing 1,565,000 and total mobilized: 2,850,000.
United States War Dept. figures for Ottoman casualties are: total mobilized force 2,850,000; total casualties 975,000 (including killed and died 325,000; wounded 400,000; prisoners and missing 250,000).
The UK War Office figures for Ottoman casualties were: total accounted for 725,000 (killed 50,000, died of wounds 35,000, died of disease 400,000, wounded 400,000). Total unaccounted for: 1,565,000 (prisoners, deserters, invalids and missing).
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Ottoman military deaths are 318,000 killed and died of wounds.
Estimates of Ottoman civilian casualties in western sources range from 2,000,000 to 2,150,000. A Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century estimated total Ottoman civilian dead from 1915 to 1918 at about 3.2 million including the deaths of 2.2 million Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek victims of genocides committed by the Ottomans and 1,000,000 war-related civilian deaths in the Ottoman Empire due to famine and disease.(In current borders Turkey 500,000; Syria 160,000; Lebanon 110,000; Iraq 150,000; Israel/Palestine 35,000 and Jordan 20,000) According to the BBC 200,000 persons perished in the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon during the war.
Civilian casualties include the Armenian genocide. The total number of resulting Armenian deaths is generally held to have been 1.5 million. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians and Greeks. Some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination. The overwhelming majority of historians as well as academic institutions on Holocaust and Genocide Studies recognize the Armenian Genocide. "Despite the vast amount of evidence that points to the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide, eyewitness accounts, official archives, photographic evidence, the reports of diplomats, and the testimony of survivors, denial of the Armenian Genocide by successive regimes in Turkey has gone on from 1915 to the present".
^y Denmark
Denmark was neutral in the war but Germany at that time included part of Danish Schleswig. Men from this area were conscripted into the German forces and their losses are included with German casualties. Over 700 Danish merchant sailors and fisherman died, mostly due to vessels torpedoed by German submarines.
The Danish National Archives estimated the losses of Danes in the German forces at 6,000.
^j Luxembourg
Luxembourg remained under German occupation during the war. The government, led by Paul Eyschen, chose to remain neutral. This strategy had the approval of Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. Some citizens were conscripted into the German forces and others escaped to volunteer for the Allies. According to the Mobile Reference travel Guide, 3,700 Luxembourgeois citizens served in the French armed forces and 2,800 gave their lives in the war. They are commemorated at the Gëlle Fra in Luxembourg.
^z Norway
Norway was neutral in the war but lost ships and merchant sailors in trading through the war zones. Norway is at times referred to as the Neutral Ally due to its close relationship with the United Kingdom during the war. In 1924, the Norwegian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 1,180 persons dead and missing in World War I.
^az Qajar Persia
Though Qajar Persia maintained a neutral stance, the country was divided into many factions and militaries, some allying with the Allied powers such as the Persian Cossack Brigade and others with the Central Powers such as the Persian Central Government Gendarmerie and Khamseh Tribesmen. The presence of British and Russian troops led to blockades of food distribution, which culminated into the Persian famine of 1917–1919, which under most modern estimates caused 2 million deaths.
^bz Sweden
Sweden was neutral in the war but lost ships and merchant sailors in trading through the war zones. In 1924, the Swedish government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 800 persons dead and missing in World War I.
^cz Albania
Albania was invaded and occupied by both Allied and Central powers despite its neutrality. During occupation, Albanians were massacred on numerous occasions, both inside and outside of Albania. The total number of Albanian deaths is approximately 70,000 according to Spencer Tucker, roughly 8.75% to 10% of the pre-war population.
^dz Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein was neutral in the war yet held sympathies to the Central Powers, particularly Austria-Hungary. As such, a number of Liechtensteiner citizens volunteered for both the German and Austro-Hungarian armies, of which 4 were confirmed to have been killed.
Foreign nationals living in Liechtenstein who were conscripted into the armies of their home countries are not counted.
Sources
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Annual Report 2014–2015 provides current statistics on the military dead for the British Empire. The war dead totals listed in the report are based on the research by the CWGC to identify and commemorate Commonwealth war dead. The statistics tabulated by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission are representative of the number of names commemorated for all servicemen/women of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth and former UK Dependencies, whose death was attributable to their war service. Some auxiliary and civilian organizations are also accorded war grave status if death occurred under certain specified conditions. For the purposes of CWGC the dates of inclusion for Commonwealth War Dead are 4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921. Total World War I dead were 1,116,371 (UK and former colonies 887,711; Undivided India 73,895; Canada 64,997; Australia 62,123; New Zealand 18,053; South Africa 9,592). The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figures also include the Merchant Navy.
Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914–1920, The War Office March 1922. This official report lists Army casualties (including Royal Naval Division) of 908,371 killed in action, died of wounds, died as prisoners of war and were missing in action from 4 August 1914 to 31 December 1920, (British Isles 702,410; India 64,449; Canada 56,639; Australia 59,330; New Zealand 16,711; South Africa 7,121 and Newfoundland 1,204, other colonies 507). Figures of the Royal Navy war dead and missing of 32,287 were listed separately. These figures do not include the Merchant Navy dead of 14,661. The losses of France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Greece, Russia, the USA, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey were also listed in the UK War Office report.
The official "final and corrected" casualty figures for British Army, including the Territorial Force (not including allied British Empire forces) were issued on 10 March 1921. The losses were for the period 4 August 1914 until 30 September 1919, included 573,507 "killed in action, died from wounds and died of other causes"; 254,176 missing less 154,308 released prisoners; for a net total of 673,375 dead and missing. There were 1,643,469 wounded also listed in the report.
Sources for British Empire casualties are divergent and contradictory. The report of the War Office published in 1922 put the total number of British Empire "soldiers who lost their lives" at 908,371. On a separate schedule the War Office listed the losses of the Royal Navy at 32,237 dead and missing. It is implicit in this presentation that the figures for "soldiers who lost their lives" do not include the Royal Navy. However many published reference works list total British Empire(including the Dominions) losses at 908,371, it is implicit in these presentations that the figures for total losses include the Royal Navy.
The War Office report puts the number of "soldiers who lost their lives" from the British Regular Army and Royal Naval Division at 702,410. This is not in agreement with the "final and corrected" figures in the 1921 report for the army published in the General Annual Report of the British Army 1912–1919, which put British Army dead and missing at 673,375 and the official compilation of Army war dead published in 1921 that put total losses at about 673,000. The War Office report did not explain the reason for this discrepancy; the difference is more than likely due to their inclusion of the Royal Naval Division and deaths outside of combat theaters.
Casualties and Medical Statistics published in 1931. was the final volume of the Official Medical History of the War, gives British Empire, including the Dominions, for Army losses by cause of death. Total war dead in combat theaters from 1914 to 1918 were 876,084, which included 418,361 killed, 167,172 died of wounds, 113,173 died of disease or injury, 161,046 missing and presumed dead and 16,332 prisoner of war deaths. Also listed were 2,004,976 wounded and 6,074,552 sick and injured. Total losses were not broken out for the UK and each Dominion, the figures are for losses in combat theaters only and do not include casualties of forces stationed in the UK from accidents or disease, casualties of the Royal Naval Division are also not included in these figures; the losses of the Gallipoli Campaign are for British forces only, since records for Dominion forces were incomplete. Figures do not include the Royal Navy.
Military Casualties–World War–Estimated," Statistics Branch, General Staff, U.S. War Department, 25 February 1924. This report prepared by the U.S. War Department estimated the casualties of the belligerents in the war. The figures from this report are listed in the Encyclopædia Britannica and often cited in historical literature.
Huber, Michel La Population de la France pendant la guerre, Paris 1931. This study published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, lists official French government figures for war-related military deaths and missing of France and its colonies.
Mortara, Giorgo La Salute pubblica in Italia durante e dopo la Guerra, New Haven: Yale University Press 1925. The official government Italian statistics on war dead are listed here. A brief summary of data from this report can be found online. go to Vol 13, No. 15
The demographer Boris Urlanis, analysis of the military dead for the belligerents in the war including his estimates for the combat related deaths included in total deaths.
The Belgian government published statistics on their war losses in the Annuaire statistique de la Belgique et du Congo Belge 1915–1919
Heeres-Sanitätsinspektion im Reichskriegsministeriums, Sanitätsbericht über das deutsche Heer, (Deutsches Feld- und Besatzungsheer), im Weltkriege 1914–1918, Volume 3, Sec. 1, Berlin 1934. The official German Army medical war history listed German losses.
Grebler, Leo and Winkler, Wilhelm The Cost of the World War to Germany and Austria-Hungary This study published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace details the losses of Austria-Hungary and Germany in the war.
Erickson, Edward J. Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War The authors estimates were made based data from official Ottoman sources.
Hersch, Liebmann, La mortalité causée par la guerre mondiale, Metron. The International Review of Statistics, 1927, Vol 7. No 1. This study published in an academic journal, detailed the demographic impact of the war on France, the UK, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Serbia, Romania and Greece. The total estimated increase in the number of civilian deaths due to the war was 2,171,000, not including an additional 984,000 Spanish flu deaths. These losses were due primarily wartime privations.
Dumas, Samuel (1923). Losses of Life Caused by War published by Oxford University Press. This study detailed the impact of the war on the civilian population. The study estimated excess civilian deaths at: France (264,000 to 284,000), the UK (181,000), Italy (324,000) and Germany(692,000).
In The International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, published statistics on the military dead and missing for the belligerents in the war.
The source of population data is:
Haythornthwaite, Philip J., The World War One Source Book pp. 382–383
See also
General Pershing WWI casualty list
List of nurses who died in World War I
Thankful Villages – villages in England and Wales which lost no men in World War I
World War I memorials
World War II casualties
References
Further reading
Other languages
External links
1914–1918 online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War
Prost, Antoine: War Losses
Schmied-Kowarzik, Anatol: War Losses (Austria-Hungary)
Lunn, Joe Harris: War Losses (Africa)
Majerus, Benoît: War Losses (Belgium)
Lafon, Alexandre: War Losses (France)
Scolè, Pierluigi: War Losses (Italy)
Tang, Chi-hua: War Losses and Reparations (China)
Whalen, Robert Weldon: War Losses (Germany)
Noonan, David C.: War Losses (Australia)
Byerly, Carol R.: War Losses (US)
Cook, Tim; Stewart, William: War Losses (Canada)
Baş, Mehmet Fatih: War Losses (Ottoman Empire/Middle East)
World War I casualties from Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century
Long way to Tipperary – an Irish story of the great war |
World_War_II_casualties | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties | [
527
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties"
] | World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. An estimated total of 70–85 million people perished, or about 3% of the estimated global population of 2.3 billion in 1940. Deaths directly caused by the war (including military and civilian fatalities) are estimated at 50–56 million, with an additional estimated 19–28 million deaths from war-related disease and famine. Civilian deaths totaled 50–55 million. Military deaths from all causes totaled 21–25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war. More than half of the total number of casualties are accounted for by the dead of the Republic of China and of the Soviet Union. The following tables give a detailed country-by-country count of human losses. Statistics on the number of military wounded are included whenever available.
Recent historical scholarship has shed new light on the topic of Second World War casualties. Research in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union has caused a revision of estimates of Soviet World War II fatalities. According to Russian government figures, USSR losses within postwar borders now stand at 26.6 million, including 8 to 9 million due to famine and disease. In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) researchers estimated Poland's dead at between 5.6 and 5.8 million. Historian Rüdiger Overmans of the Military History Research Office (Germany) published a study in 2000 estimating the German military dead and missing at 5.3 million, including 900,000 men conscripted from outside of Germany's 1937 borders, in Austria, and in east-central Europe. The Red Army claimed responsibility for the majority of Wehrmacht casualties during World War II. The People's Republic of China puts its war dead at 20 million, while the Japanese government puts its casualties due to the war at 3.1 million. An estimated 7–10 million people died in the Dutch, British, French and US colonies in South and Southeast Asia, mostly from war-related famine.
Classification of casualties
Compiling or estimating the numbers of deaths and wounded caused during wars and other violent conflicts is a controversial subject. Historians often put forward many different estimates of the numbers killed and wounded during World War II. The authors of the Oxford Companion to World War II maintain that "casualty statistics are notoriously unreliable". The table below gives data on the number of dead and military wounded for each country, along with population information to show the relative impact of losses. When scholarly sources differ on the number of deaths in a country, a range of war losses is given, in order to inform readers that the death toll is disputed. Since casualty statistics are sometimes disputed the footnotes to this article present the different estimates by official governmental sources as well as historians. Military figures include battle deaths (KIA) and personnel missing in action (MIA), as well as fatalities due to accidents, disease and deaths of prisoners of war in captivity. Civilian casualties include deaths caused by strategic bombing, Holocaust victims, German war crimes, Japanese war crimes, population transfers in the Soviet Union, Allied war crimes, and deaths due to war-related famine and disease.
The sources for the casualties of the individual countries do not use the same methods, and civilian deaths due to starvation and disease make up a large proportion of the civilian deaths in China and the Soviet Union. The losses listed here are actual deaths; hypothetical losses due to a decline in births are not included with the total dead. The distinction between military and civilian casualties caused directly by warfare and collateral damage is not always clear-cut. For states that suffered huge losses such as the Soviet Union, China, Poland, Germany, and Yugoslavia, sources can give only the total estimated population loss caused by the war and a rough estimate of the breakdown of deaths caused by military activity, crimes against humanity and war-related famine. The casualties listed here include 19 to 25 million war-related famine deaths in the USSR, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and India that are often omitted from other compilations of World War II casualties.
The footnotes give a detailed breakdown of the casualties and their sources, including data on the number of wounded where reliable sources are available.
Human losses by country
Total deaths by country
Figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth place.
Military casualties include deaths of regular military forces from combat as well as non-combat causes. Partisan and resistance fighter deaths are included with military losses. The deaths of prisoners of war in captivity and personnel missing in action are also included with military deaths. Whenever possible the details are given in the footnotes.
The armed forces of the various states are treated as single entities, for example the deaths of Austrians, French and foreign nationals of German ancestry in eastern Europe in the Wehrmacht are included with German military losses. For example, Michael Strank is included in the American, not Czechoslovak, war dead total.
The bare minimum amount of military deaths from all causes is 21,124,905.
Civilian war dead are included with the territories where they resided. For example, German Jewish refugees in France who were deported to the death camps are included with French casualties in the published sources on the Holocaust.
The official casualty statistics published by the governments of the United States, France, and the United Kingdom do not give the details of the national origin, ethnic background, and religion of the losses.
Civilian casualties include deaths caused by strategic bombing, Holocaust victims, German war crimes, Japanese war crimes, population transfers in the Soviet Union, Allied war crimes, and deaths due to war related famine and disease. The exact breakdown is not always provided in the sources cited.
Soviet Union
The estimated breakdown for each Soviet republic of total war dead[8]^AY4
The source of the figures is Vadim Erlikman. Erlikman, a Russian historian, notes that these figures are his estimates.
The population listed here of 194.090 million is taken from Soviet era sources. Recent studies published in Russia put the actual corrected population in 1940 at 192.598 million.
According to Russian estimates the population in 1939 included 20.268 million in the territories annexed by the USSR from 1939 to 1940: the eastern regions of Poland 12.983 million; Lithuania 2.440 million; Latvia 1.951 million; Estonia 1.122 million; Romanian Bessarabia and Bukovina 3.7 million; less transfers out of (392,000) ethnic Germans deported during the Nazi–Soviet population transfers; the Anders Army (120,000); the First Polish Army (1944–45) (26,000) and Zakerzonia & the Belastok Region (1,392,000) which was returned to Poland in 1945.
Russian sources estimate post-war population transfers resulted in a net loss of (622,000). The additions were the annexation of the Carpatho-Ukraine 725,000; the Tuvan People's Republic 81,000; the remaining population on South Sakhalin 29,000 and in the Kaliningrad Oblast 5,000; and the deportation of Ukrainians from Poland to the USSR in 1944–47 518,000. The transfers out included the flight and expulsion of Poles from the USSR 1944–47 (1,529,000) and the post-war emigration to the west (451,000) According to Viktor Zemskov, 3/4 of the post-war emigration to the west was of persons who were from the territories annexed in 1939–40.
Estimates in the west for the population transfers differ. According to Sergei Maksudov, a Russian demographer living in the west, the population of the territories annexed by the USSR was 23 million less the net population transfers out of 3 million persons who emigrated from the USSR including 2,136,000 Poles who left the USSR; 115,000 Polish soldiers of the Anders Army; 392,000 Germans who left in the era of the Nazi-Soviet Pact and 400,000 Jews, Romanians, Germans Czech and Hungarians who emigrated after the war The Polish government-in-exile put the population of the territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union at 13.199 million.
Polish sources put the number of refugees from the territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union living in post war Poland at about 2.2 million, about 700,000 more than those listed in the Soviet sources of Poles repatriated. The difference is due to the fact that Poles from the eastern regions who were deported to Germany during the war or had fled Volhynia and Eastern Galicia were not included in the figures of the organized transfers in 1944–47.
Figures for Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania include about two million civilian dead that are also listed in Polish sources in the total war dead of Poland. Polish historian Krystyna Kersten estimated losses of about two million in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. The formal transfer of the territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union occurred with the Polish–Soviet border agreement of August 1945.
According to Erlikman, in addition to the war dead, there were 1,700,000 deaths due to Soviet repression (200,000 executed; 4,500,000 sent to prisons and Gulag of whom 1,200,000 died; 2,200,000 deported of whom 300,000 died).
Nazi Germany
German sources do not provide figures for Soviet citizens conscripted by Germany. Russian historian Grigoriy Krivosheyev puts the losses of the "Vlasovites, Balts and Muslims etc." in German service at 215,000.
United States
Estimated breakdown for each US state and territory of total war dead
This table displays the number of people who are believed to have died in the United States by state and territory. This list includes those who died at sea.
Japanese Empire
Holocaust deaths
Included in the figures of total war dead for each country are victims of the Holocaust.
Jewish deaths
The Holocaust is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II. Martin Gilbert estimates 5.7 million (78%) of the 7.3 million Jews in German-occupied Europe were Holocaust victims. Estimates of Holocaust deaths range between 4.9 and 5.9 million Jews.
Statistical breakdown of Jewish dead
In Nazi extermination camps: according to Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) researchers, 2,830,000 Jews were murdered in the Nazi death camps (500,000 Belzec; 150,000 Sobibor; 850,000 Treblinka; 150,000 Chełmno; 1,100,000 Auschwitz; 80,000 Majdanek). Raul Hilberg puts the Jewish death toll in the death camps, including Romanian Transnistria, at 3.0 million.
In the USSR by the Einsatzgruppen: Raul Hilberg puts the Jewish death toll in the area of the mobile killing groups at 1.4 million.
Aggravated deaths in the Ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe: Raul Hilberg puts the Jewish death toll in the Ghettos at 700,000.
Yad Vashem estimated that, in early 2019, its Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names contained the names of 4.8 million Jewish Holocaust dead.
The figures for the pre-war Jewish population and deaths in the table below are from The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust. The low, high and average percentage figures for deaths of the pre-war population have been added.
The total population figures from 1933 listed here are taken from The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust. From 1933 to 1939 about 400,000 Jews fled Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. Some of these refugees were in western Europe when Germany occupied these countries in 1940. In 1940 there were 30,000 Jewish refugees in the Netherlands, 12,000 in Belgium, 30,000 in France, 2,000 in Denmark, 5,000 in Italy, and 2,000 in Norway.
Hungarian Jewish losses of 569,000 presented here include the territories annexed in 1939–41. The number of Holocaust dead in 1938 Hungarian borders were 220,000. According to Martin Gilbert, the Jewish population inside Hungary's 1941 borders was 764,000 (445,000 in the 1938 borders and 319,000 in the annexed territories). Holocaust deaths from inside the 1938 borders was 200,000, not including 20,000 men conscripted as forced labor for the military.
Netherlands figure listed in the table of 112,000 Jews taken from The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust includes those Jews who were resident in Holland in 1933. By 1940, the Jewish population had increased to 140,000 with the inclusion of 30,000 Jewish refugees. In the Netherlands, 8,000 Jews in mixed marriages were not subject to deportation. However, an article in the Dutch periodical De Groene Amsterdammer maintains that some Jews in mixed marriages were deported before the practice was ended by Hitler.
Hungarian Jewish Holocaust victims within the 1939 borders were 200,000.
Romanian Jewish Holocaust victims totalled 469,000 within the 1939 borders, which includes 300,000 in Bessarabia and Bukovina occupied by the USSR in 1940.
According to Martin Gilbert, Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 8,000 in Italy, and 562 in the Italian colony of Libya.
Non-Jews persecuted and killed by Nazi and Nazi-affiliated forces
Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the other victims persecuted and killed by the Nazis.
Donald L. Niewyk, professor of history at Southern Methodist University, maintains that the Holocaust can be defined in four ways: first, that it was the genocide of the Jews alone; second, that there were several parallel Holocausts, one for each of the several groups; third, the Holocaust would include Roma and the handicapped along with the Jews; fourth, it would include all racially motivated German crimes, such as the murder of Soviet prisoners of war, Polish and Soviet civilians, as well as political prisoners, religious dissenters, and homosexuals. Using this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims is between 11 million and 17 million people.
According to the College of Education of the University of South Florida "Approximately 11 million people were killed because of Nazi genocidal policy".
R.J. Rummel estimated the death toll due to Nazi Democide at 20.9 million persons.
Timothy Snyder put the number of victims of the Nazis killed as a result of "deliberate policies of mass murder" only, such as executions, deliberate famine and in death camps, at 10.4 million persons including 5.4 million Jews.
German scholar Hellmuth Auerbach puts the death toll in the Hitler era at 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust and 7 million other victims of the Nazis.
Dieter Pohl puts the total number of victims of the Nazi era at between 12 and 14 million persons, including 5.6–5.7 million Jews.
Roma Included in the figures of total war dead are the Roma victims of the Nazi persecution; some scholars include the Roma deaths with the Holocaust. Most estimates of Roma (Gypsies) victims range from 130,000 to 500,000. Ian Hancock, Director of the Program of Romani Studies and the Romani Archives and Documentation Center at the University of Texas at Austin, has argued in favour of a higher figure of between 500,000 and 1,500,000 Roma dead. Hancock writes that, proportionately, the death toll equaled "and almost certainly exceed[ed], that of Jewish victims". In a 2010 publication, Ian Hancock stated that he agrees with the view that the number of Romanis killed has been underestimated as a result of being grouped with others in Nazi records under headings such as "remainder to be liquidated", "hangers-on" and "partisans".
In 2018, the United States Holocaust museum has the number of murdered during the time period of the holocaust at 17 million – 6 million Jews and 11 million others.
The following figures are from The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust, the authors maintain that "statistics on Gypsy losses are especially unreliable and controversial. These figures (cited below) are based on necessarily rough estimates".
Handicapped persons: 200,000 to 250,000 handicapped persons were killed. A 2003 report by the German Federal Archive put the total murdered during the Action T4 and Action 14f13 programs at 200,000.
Prisoners of War: POW deaths in Nazi captivity totalled 3.1 million including 2.6 to 3.0 million Soviet prisoners of war.
Ethnic Poles: According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum "It is estimated that the Germans killed at least 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians during World War II." They maintain that "Documentation remains fragmentary, but today scholars of independent Poland believe that 1.8 to 1.9 million Polish civilians (non-Jews) were victims of German Occupation policies and the war." However, the Polish government affiliated Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in 2009 estimated 2,770,000 ethnic Polish deaths due to the German occupation (see World War II casualties of Poland).
Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians: According to Nazi ideology, Slavs were useless sub-humans. As such, their leaders, the Soviet elite, were to be killed and the remainder of the population enslaved, starved to death, or expelled further eastward. As a result, millions of civilians in the Soviet Union were deliberately killed, starved, or worked to death. Contemporary Russian sources use the terms "genocide" and "premeditated extermination" when referring to civilian losses in the occupied USSR. Civilians killed in reprisals during the Soviet partisan war and wartime-related famine account for a major part of the huge toll. The Cambridge History of Russia puts overall civilian deaths in the Nazi-occupied USSR at 13.7 million persons including 2 million Jews. There were an additional 2.6 million deaths in the interior regions of the Soviet Union. The authors maintain "scope for error in this number is very wide". At least 1 million perished in the wartime GULAG camps or in deportations. Other deaths occurred in the wartime evacuations and due to war related malnutrition and disease in the interior. The authors maintain that both Stalin and Hitler "were both responsible but in different ways for these deaths", and "In short the general picture of Soviet wartime losses suggests a jigsaw puzzle. The general outline is clear: people died in colossal numbers but in many different miserable and terrible circumstances. But individual pieces of the puzzle do not fit well; some overlap and others are yet to be found". Bohdan Wytwycky maintained that civilian losses of 3.0 million Ukrainians and 1.4 million Belarusians "were racially motivated". According to Paul Robert Magocsi, between 1941 and 1945, approximately 3,000,000 Ukrainian and other non-Jewish victims were killed as part of Nazi extermination policies in the territory of modern Ukraine. Dieter Pohl puts the total number of victims of the Nazi policies in the USSR at 500,000 civilians killed in the repression of partisans, 1.0 million victims of the Nazi Hunger Plan, c. 3.0 million Soviet POW and 1.0 million Jews (in pre-war borders). Soviet author Georgiy A. Kumanev put the civilian death toll in the Nazi-occupied USSR at 8.2 million (4.0 million Ukrainians, 2.5 million Belarusians, and 1.7 million Russians). A report published by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1995 put the death toll due to the German occupation at 13.7 million civilians (including Jews): 7.4 million victims of Nazi genocide and reprisals; 2.2 million persons deported to Germany for forced labor; and 4.1 million famine and disease deaths in occupied territory. Sources published in the Soviet Union were cited to support these figures.
Homosexuals: According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum "Between 1933 and 1945 the police arrested an estimated 100,000 men as homosexuals. Most of the 50,000 men sentenced by the courts spent time in regular prisons, and between 5,000 and 15,000 were interned in concentration camps." They also noted that there are no known statistics for the number of homosexuals who died in the camps.
Other victims of Nazi persecution: Between 1,000 and 2,000 Roman Catholic clergy, about 1,000 Jehovah's Witnesses, and an unknown number of Freemasons perished in Nazi prisons and camps. "The fate of black people from 1933 to 1945 in Nazi Germany and in German-occupied territories ranged from isolation to persecution, sterilization, medical experimentation, incarceration, brutality, and murder." During the Nazi era Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, and trade union leaders were victims of Nazi persecution.
Serbs: The numbers of Serbs murdered by the Ustaše is the subject of debate and estimates vary widely. Yad Vashem estimates over 500,000 murdered, 250,000 expelled and 200,000 forcibly converted to Catholicism. The estimate of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is that the Ustaše murdered between 320,000 and 340,000 ethnic Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia between 1941 and 1945, with roughly 45,000 to 52,000 murdered at the Jasenovac concentration camp alone. According to the Wiesenthal Center at least 90,000 Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croatians perished at the hands of the Ustashe at the camp at Jasenovac. According to Yugoslav sources published in the Tito era the estimates of the number of Serb victims range from 200,000 to at least 600,000 persons. See also World War II persecution of Serbs.
German war crimes
Nazi Germany ordered, organized and condoned a substantial number of war crimes in World War II. The most notable of these is the Holocaust in which millions of Jews, Poles, and Romani were systematically murdered or died from abuse and mistreatment. Millions also died as a result of other German actions.
While the Nazi Party's own SS forces (in particular the SS-Totenkopfverbände, Einsatzgruppen and Waffen-SS) of Nazi Germany was the organization most responsible for the genocidal killing of the Holocaust, the regular armed forces represented by the Wehrmacht committed war crimes of their own, particularly on the Eastern Front in the war against the Soviet Union.
Japanese war crimes
Included with total war dead are victims of Japanese war crimes.
R. J. Rummel
R. J. Rummel estimates the civilian victims of Japanese democide at 5,964,000. Detailed by country:
China: 3,695,000
Indochina: 457,000
Korea: 378,000
Indonesia: 375,000
Malaya-Singapore: 283,000
Philippines: 119,000
Burma: 60,000
Pacific Islands: 57,000
Rummel estimates POW deaths in Japanese custody at 539,000. Detailed by country:
China: 400,000
French Indochina: 30,000
Philippines: 27,300
Netherlands: 25,000
France: 14,000
Britain: 13,000
British Colonies: 11,000
U.S.: 10,700
Australia: 8,000
Werner Gruhl
Werner Gruhl estimates the civilian deaths at 20,365,000.
Detailed by country
China: 12,392,000
Indochina: 1,500,000
Korea: 500,000
Dutch East Indies: 3,000,000
Malaya and Singapore: 100,000
Philippines: 500,000
Burma: 170,000
Forced laborers in Southeast Asia: 70,000, 30,000 interned non-Asian civilians
Timor: 60,000
Thailand and Pacific Islands: 60,000.
Gruhl estimates POW deaths in Japanese captivity at 331,584.
Detailed by country
China: 270,000
Netherlands: 8,500
Britain: 12,433
Canada: 273
Philippines: 20,000
Australia: 7,412
New Zealand: 31
United States: 12,935
Out of 60,000 Indian Army POWs taken at the Fall of Singapore, 11,000 died in captivity. There were 14,657 deaths among the total 130,895 western civilians interned by the Japanese due to famine and disease.
Oppression in the Soviet Union
The total war dead in the USSR includes about 1 million victims of Stalin's regime. The number of deaths in the Gulag labor camps increased as a result of wartime overcrowding and food shortages. The Stalin regime deported the entire populations of ethnic minorities considered to be potentially disloyal. Since 1990 Russian scholars have been given access to the Soviet-era archives and have published data on the numbers of people executed and those who died in Gulag labor camps and prisons. The Russian scholar Viktor Zemskov puts the death toll from 1941 to 1945 at about 1 million based on data from the Soviet archives. The Soviet-era archive figures on the Gulag labor camps has been the subject of a vigorous academic debate outside Russia since their publication in 1991. J. Arch Getty and Stephen G. Wheatcroft maintain that Soviet-era figures more accurately detail the victims of the Gulag labor camp system in the Stalin era. Robert Conquest and Steven Rosefielde have disputed the accuracy of the data from the Soviet archives, maintaining that the demographic data and testimonials by survivors of the Gulag labor camps indicate a higher death toll. Rosefielde posits that the release of the Soviet Archive figures is disinformation generated by the modern KGB. Rosefielde maintains that the data from the Soviet archives is incomplete; for example, he pointed out that the figures do not include the 22,000 victims of the Katyn massacre. Rosefielde's demographic analysis puts the number of excess deaths due to Soviet repression at 2,183,000 in 1939–40 and 5,458,000 from 1941 to 1945. Michael Haynes and Rumy Husun accept the figures from the Soviet archives as being an accurate tally of Stalin's victims, they maintain that the demographic data depicts an underdeveloped Soviet economy and the losses in World War Two rather than indicating a higher death toll in the Gulag labor camps.
In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) researchers estimated 150,000 Polish citizens were killed due to Soviet repression. Since the collapse of the USSR, Polish scholars have been able to do research in the Soviet archives on Polish losses during the Soviet occupation. Andrzej Paczkowski puts the number of Polish deaths at 90,000–100,000 of the 1.0 million persons deported and 30,000 executed by the Soviets. In 2005 Tadeusz Piotrowski estimated the death toll in Soviet hands at 350,000.
The Estonian State Commission for the Examination of Repressive Policies Carried out During the Occupations put civilian deaths due to the Soviet occupation in 1940–1941 at 33,900 including (7,800 deaths) of arrested people, (6,000) deportee deaths, (5,000) evacuee deaths, (1,100) people gone missing and (14,000) conscripted for forced labor. After the reoccupation by the USSR, 5,000 Estonians died in Soviet prisons during 1944–45.
The following is a summary of the data from the Soviet archives:
Reported deaths for the years 1939–1945 1,187,783, including: judicial executions 46,350; deaths in Gulag labor camps 718,804; deaths in labor colonies and prisons 422,629.
Deported to special settlements: (figures are for deportations to Special Settlements only, not including those executed, sent to Gulag labor camps or conscripted into the Soviet Army. Nor do the figures include additional deportations after the war).
Deported from annexed territories 1940–41 380,000 to 390,000 persons, including: Poland 309–312,000; Lithuania 17,500; Latvia 17,000; Estonia 6,000; Moldova 22,842. In August 1941, 243,106 Poles living in the Special Settlements were amnestied and released by the Soviets.
Deported during the War 1941–1945 about 2.3 million persons of Soviet ethnic minorities including: Soviet Germans 1,209,000; Finns 9,000; Karachays 69,000; Kalmyks 92,000; Chechens and Ingush 479,000; Balkars 37,000; Crimean Tatars 191,014; Meskhetian Turks 91,000; Greeks, Bulgarians and Armenians from Crimea 42,000; Ukrainian OUN members 100,000; Poles 30,000.
A total of 2,230,500 persons were living in the settlements in October 1945 and 309,100 deaths were reported in special settlements for the years 1941–1948.
Russian sources list Axis prisoner of war deaths of 580,589 in Soviet captivity based on data in the Soviet archives (Germany 381,067; Hungary 54,755; Romania 54,612; Italy 27,683; Finland 403, and Japan 62,069). However, some western scholars estimate the total at between 1.7 and 2.3 million.
Military casualties by branch of service
Germany
The number killed in action was 2,303,320; died of wounds, disease or accidents 500,165; 11,000 sentenced to death by court martial; 2,007,571 missing in action or unaccounted for after the war; 25,000 suicides; 12,000 unknown; 459,475 confirmed POW deaths, of whom 77,000 were in the custody of the U.S., UK and France; and 363,000 in Soviet custody. POW deaths includes 266,000 in the post-war period after June 1945, primarily in Soviet captivity.
Rüdiger Overmans writes "It seems entirely plausible, while not provable, that one half of the 1.5 million missing on the eastern front were killed in action, the other half (700,000) having died in Soviet custody".
Soviet sources list the deaths of 474,967 of the 2,652,672 German Armed Forces POW taken in the war.
USSR
Estimated total Soviet military war dead in 1941–45 on the Eastern Front (World War II) including missing in action, POWs and Soviet partisans range from 8.6 to 10.6 million. There were an additional 127,000 war dead in 1939–40 during the Winter War with Finland.
The official figures for military war dead and missing in 1941–45 are 8,668,400 comprising 6,329,600 combat related deaths, 555,500 non-combat deaths. 500,000 missing in action and 1,103,300 POW dead and another 180,000 liberated POWs who most likely emigrated to other countries. Figures include Navy losses of 154,771. Non-combat deaths include 157,000 sentenced to death by court martial.
Casualties in 1939–40 include the following dead and missing: Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 (8,931), Invasion of Poland of 1939 (1,139), Winter War with Finland (1939–40) (126,875).
The number of wounded includes 2,576,000 permanently disabled.
The official Russian figure for total POW held by the Germans is 4,059,000; the number of Soviet POW who survived the war was 2,016,000, including 180,000 who most likely emigrated to other countries, and an additional 939,700 POW and MIA who were redrafted as territory was liberated. This leaves 1,103,000 POW dead. However, western historians put the number of POW held by the Germans at 5.7 million and about 3 million as dead in captivity (in the official Russian figures 1.1 million are military POW and remaining balance of about 2 million are included with civilian war dead).
Conscripted reservists is an estimate of men called up, primarily in 1941, who were killed in battle or died as POWs before being listed on active strength. Soviet and Russian sources classify these losses as civilian deaths.
British Commonwealth
Number served: UK and Crown Colonies (5,896,000); India-(British colonial administration) (2,582,000), Australia (993,000); Canada (1,100,000); New Zealand (295,000); South Africa (250,000).
Total war related deaths reported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission: UK and Crown Colonies (383,898); India-(British colonial administration) (87,026), Australia (40,696); Canada (45,388); New Zealand (11,926); South Africa (11,914).
Total military dead for the United Kingdom alone (according to preliminary 1945 figures): 264,443. Royal Navy (50,758); British Army (144,079); Royal Air Force (69,606).
Wounded: UK and Crown Colonies (284,049); India-(British colonial administration) (64,354), Australia (39,803); Canada (53,174); New Zealand (19,314); South Africa (14,363).
Prisoner of war: UK and Crown Colonies (180,488); India-(British colonial administration) (79,481); Australia (26,358); South Africa (14,750); Canada (9,334); New Zealand (8,415).
The Debt of Honour Register from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists the 1.7m men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars.
U.S.
Battle deaths (including Army POWs who died in captivity, does not include those who died of disease and accidents) were 293,121: Army 234,874 (including Army Air Forces 52,173); Navy/Coast Guard 38,257; Marine Corps 19,990 (185,179 deaths occurred in the European/Atlantic theater of operations and 107,903 deaths occurred in Asia/Pacific theater of operations).
US Army Battle and Non-battle Deaths in military theaters of World War II: 39,982 in Continental U.S, 1,787 in Africa-Middle East Theater, 1,691 in Caribbean Defense Command and South Atlantic, 152,109 in European Theater, 46,689 in Mediterranean Theater, 62,462 in Pacific Theaters, 7,813 in Burma, China and India Theaters, 997 in Alaskan Department.
During World War II, 14,059 American POWs died in enemy captivity throughout the war (12,935 held by Japan and 1,124 held by Germany).
During World War II, 1.2 million African Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces and 708 were killed in action. 350,000 American women served in the Armed Forces during World War II and 16 were killed in action. During World War II, 26,000 Japanese-Americans served in the Armed Forces and over 800 were killed in action.
Commonwealth military casualties
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Annual Report 2014–2015 is the source of the military dead for the British Empire. The war dead totals listed in the report are based on the research by the CWGC to identify and commemorate Commonwealth war dead. The statistics tabulated by the CWGC are representative of the number of names commemorated for all servicemen/women of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth and former UK Dependencies, whose death was attributable to their war service. Some auxiliary and civilian organizations are also accorded war grave status if death occurred under certain specified conditions. For the purposes of CWGC the dates of inclusion for Commonwealth War Dead are 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947.
See also
World War II casualties of the Soviet Union
German casualties in World War II
World War II casualties of Poland
Allied war crimes during World War II
Equipment losses in World War II
World War I casualties
Footnotes
References
Further reading
Suppan, Arnold (2019). "The Death Tolls in World War II". Hitler–Beneš–Tito: National Conflicts, World Wars, Genocides, Expulsions, and Divided Remembrance in East-Central and Southeastern Europe, 1848–2018. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. pp. 733–738. doi:10.2307/j.ctvvh867x. ISBN 978-3-7001-8410-2. JSTOR j.ctvvh867x. S2CID 214097654.
External links
Media related to Casualties of World War II at Wikimedia Commons
Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution
The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names |
Baldur%27s_Gate_3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate_3 | [
528
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate_3#"
] | Baldur's Gate 3 is a 2023 role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main installment to the Baldur's Gate series, based on the tabletop fantasy role-playing system of Dungeons & Dragons. A partial version of the game was released in early access format for macOS and Windows in October 2020. It remained in early access until its full release for Windows in August 2023, with versions for PlayStation 5, macOS, and Xbox Series X/S releasing later that year.
Set in the universe of the Forgotten Realms, the game begins with the protagonist waking up from unconsciousness on a mind flayer dimension-crossing ship infected with a parasitic tadpole that threatens to transform them into a mind flayer. Alongside several others who have met the same fate, they are forced to go on a quest to find a remedy to prevent ceremorphosis. Players choose from twelve character classes and customise their characters at the beginning of the game; they also select an origin from several options. Through interacting with other characters, engaging in round-based combat against enemies, and making plot decisions, players determine not only their fate but also the fate of Faerûn. That determination is also impacted by the game's dice roll mechanic where a player's roll determines if the outcome of a character action is a success or failure.
Baldur's Gate 3 received critical acclaim, with praise for its gameplay, narrative, production quality and voice-acting performances. It won many Game of the Year awards and became the first game that won GOTY awards at all five major video game award ceremonies at the Golden Joystick Awards, The Game Awards, the D.I.C.E. Awards, the Game Developers Choice Awards, and the British Academy Games Awards.
Gameplay
Baldur's Gate 3 is a role-playing video game with single-player and cooperative multiplayer elements. Players can create one or more characters and form a party along with a number of pre-generated characters to explore the game's story. Optionally, players are able to take one of their characters and team up online with other players to form a party.
The game implements a flexible quest system with various approaches to resolving most quests. Players can eliminate almost any non-player character, regardless of their importance to the storyline, yet still continue to advance through the game. The game is divided into three acts, each taking place in a distinct region of the world. Within these acts, the game adopts a non-linear format, permitting players to tackle quests in virtually any sequence.
Unlike previous games in the Baldur's Gate series, Baldur's Gate 3 has turn-based combat, similar to Larian's earlier games Divinity: Original Sin and Divinity: Original Sin II; all combat is based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition rules. Most mechanics and spells are taken from the tabletop role-playing game version of Dungeons & Dragons, although some are modified or omitted due to the adaptation of the game into a role-playing video game format. There are 12 character classes, which are further subdivided into 46 subclasses. Each class focuses on a different aspect of the combat system, such as the wizard, who focuses on casting a large variety of spells or the barbarian, who focuses on unarmoured melee combat. The player can also select more than one class per character, which is referred to as multiclassing, allowing the player to build their character in many different and unique ways.
The game incorporates a roster of ten companion characters who are available for players to enlist into their party. Each of these characters has a personal story and a narrative that the player can explore further. The player can develop relationships with companion characters based on plot and dialogue choices made. Some of the companion characters are only accessible provided that the player makes specific plot or dialogue choices.
All characters, both major and minor, are fully voice acted and motion captured, amounting to approximately 1.5 million words of performance capture.
The game features a limited free floating camera, allowing the player to play the game in any camera ranging from fully third-person camera to an isometric top-down view. The game's user interface has both a mouse and keyboard and a controller mode. In both modes, the player can use spells and combat actions, manage inventory, see the map, display player and companion character's statistics and select various gameplay elements such as allied and enemy characters.
The game has modding support, although not all features and tools are available at launch, and modding options are expected to expand with subsequent updates. Many mods are available from the community, allowing the player to change various aspects of the game.
Plot
Setting
Baldur's Gate 3 takes place in the fictional world of the Forgotten Realms during the year of 1492 DR, over 120 years after the events of the previous game, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and months after the events of the playable Dungeons & Dragons 5e module, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. The story is set primarily in the Sword Coast in western Faerûn, encompassing a forested area that includes the Emerald Grove, a druid grove dedicated to the deity Silvanus; Moonrise Towers and the Shadow-Cursed Lands, which are covered by an unnatural and sentient darkness that can only be penetrated through magical means; and Baldur's Gate, the largest and most affluent city in the region, as well as its outlying suburb of Rivington. Other places the player visits include the Underdark, the Astral Plane and Avernus.
Characters
The game is fully narrated by voice actress Amelia Tyler, who acts as the Dungeon Master, describing the world and the player's actions throughout the story. The player character can either be created from scratch by the player, chosen from six pre-made "origin characters", or a customisable seventh origin character known as The Dark Urge (Neil Roberts). All six pre-made origin characters can be recruited as part of the player character's party. They include Lae'zel (Devora Wilde), a githyanki fighter; Shadowheart (Jennifer English), a half-elf cleric; Astarion (Neil Newbon), a high elf vampire rogue; Gale (Tim Downie), a human wizard; Wyll (Theo Solomon), a human warlock; and Karlach (Samantha Béart), a tiefling barbarian. Four other characters may join the player's party: Halsin (Dave Jones), a wood elf druid; Jaheira (Tracy Wiles), a half-elf druid; Minsc (Matthew Mercer), a human ranger who carries a hamster named Boo with him; and Minthara (Emma Gregory), a drow paladin. Jaheira and Minsc previously appeared in both Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.
The primary antagonists of the game are the Absolute (Cissy Jones), and her three chosen followers General Ketheric Thorm (J. K. Simmons), Lord Enver Gortash (Jason Isaacs), and Orin the Red (Maggie Robertson). Additional major characters include: Withers (Stephen Boxer), a mysterious undead entity who supports the player in camp; Raphael (Andrew Wincott), a devil with a penchant for making deals; Elminster (Crispin Redman), a renowned wizard and mentor to Gale; Auntie Ethel (Rena Valeh), a fussy trader of potions and sundries; Bhaal (Doug Cockle), the God of Murder; Mystra (Jane Perry), Goddess of Magic; Shar, Goddess of Darkness; Volo (Stephen Hogan), an unlucky writer; Mizora (Tamaryn Payne), a manipulative devil with a connection to Wyll; Isobel (Mia Foo), a half elf cleric working with Jaheria; Dame Aylin (Helen Keeley), Isobel's partner and an aasimar paladin; Ulder Ravengard (Chris Jarman), Wyll's father and Duke of Baldur's Gate; Kith'rak Voss (Richard Cotton), a githyanki knight; Dammon (Frazer Blaxland), a tiefling blacksmith, and The Emperor (Scott Joseph), a mind flayer with a key role in the main story. Sceleritas Fel (Brian Bowles), a fiend and manservant to the Dark Urge, only appears if the player has chosen to create a Dark Urge character. Viconia DeVir (Jess Nesling), a drow cleric and Mother Superior serving Shar who is integral to Shadowheart's storyline, previously appeared as a companion in Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn where she was voiced by Grey DeLisle.
Story
The protagonist wakes up inside a giant dimension-crossing illithid (mind flayer) flying ship. They are infected with a parasitic tadpole that enthrals and transforms people into illithids; however, the transformation does not happen, and the ship comes under attack from githyanki warriors riding red dragons. The mind flayer crew teleports the ship to the Nine Hells and are attacked by an army of Devils. The protagonist is freed during the fighting and steers the damaged ship to Faerûn, where it crashes. They encounter other survivors of the wreck, all likewise implanted with tadpoles.
The party seeks to remove their parasites through numerous avenues, all of which fail to provide a cure. They are saved from the tadpoles' overwhelming psychic force by a "Dream Visitor" inside Shadowheart's mysterious prism, a device that is sought after by the githyanki. The protagonist then becomes involved in the fate of the Emerald Grove, where local druids and tiefling refugees face off against the goblin horde that worships a cult of the "Absolute". Once the party either sacks or saves the grove, they travel through the mountains or the Underdark to reach Moonrise Towers, a cultist stronghold, in search of a new cure.
The protagonist seeks sanctuary from the curse around Moonrise Towers in a tavern called the Last Light, held by a group of tiefling refugees, Flaming Fist conscripts and Harpers. General Ketheric Thorm, the reigning lord of Moonrise and Chosen of Myrkul, is using a relic named the "Nightsong" as an engine for his immortality. The party scours the depths of Moonrise in pursuit of the Nightsong, revealed to be Dame Aylin, a daughter of Selûne. After either slaying or freeing the Nightsong, the protagonist confronts Ketheric, as well as his cohorts—Orin the Red, the Chosen of Bhaal and Enver Gortash, the Chosen of Bane. Through their Netherstones and a mysterious crown, the triumvirate collectively controls the Absolute, revealed to be an Elder Brain, the ultimate form of the illithid race, and seeks to rule the Sword Coast by manipulating everyone infected with a tadpole. Orin and Gortash depart with the Elder Brain for Baldur's Gate, while the protagonist defeats Ketheric and claims his Netherstone.
The protagonist arrives at Baldur's Gate as Gortash and Orin attempt to pit them against the other, while the companions find closure for their personal quests. It is revealed that the "Dream Visitor" is, in fact, a visage taken by a renegade illithid called the Emperor, who resides within the prism and oversees the imprisonment of a powerful githyanki, Orpheus. Orpheus is the source of psionic resistance the party possesses against the Absolute, and the Emperor has been leveraging this in his favour. The protagonist eventually faces off against Gortash and Orin, assembling the Netherstones to subdue the Elder Brain. The Elder Brain, having anticipated the triumvirate and the protagonist's every move, overpowers the party before the Emperor comes to the rescue.
Realising that the Netherstones require an illithid wielder with Orpheus' powers to be effective, the protagonist either frees Orpheus and allows him to transform, which causes the Emperor to resign to his fate and join the Absolute, or has either the Emperor, a transformed Karlach or the player character consume Orpheus in order to see the mission through. After defeating the Elder Brain, the protagonist can choose to either kill it and every illithid tadpole with it, ending the threat forever, or betray their comrades and rule as the Absolute.
Development
The original Baldur's Gate game was developed by BioWare and Black Isle Studios, and published by Interplay Entertainment in 1998. The game used a licensed version of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) rule set, specifically in the Forgotten Realms setting. The game's success led to a sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and its expansion pack, as well as the Icewind Dale series and Planescape: Torment. After the success of the spinoff Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance by Snowblind Studios, Interplay announced plans to produce further sequels to the Baldur's Gate series. A planned sequel developed by Black Isle Studios, Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound, was cancelled in 2003. Black Isle Studios would develop Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II before being shut down by Interplay in December 2003. Further development on the series was halted due to a lawsuit between Interplay and Snowblind over the rights to the Dark Alliance trademark, and the Baldur's Gate trademark would revert to Atari.
Atari would publish Neverwinter Nights, developed by BioWare, in 2002 and Neverwinter Nights 2, developed by Obsidian Entertainment, founded by former members of Black Isle Studios, in 2007. After the release of Neverwinter Nights 2, Obsidian Entertainment founder Feargus Urquhart unsuccessfully approached Atari to develop a sequel to Baldur's Gate. Further attempts to develop a new Baldur's Gate were made by Brian Fargo, the founder of both Interplay and inXile Entertainment, as well as Beamdog, developers of enhanced ports of the original games and the standalone expansion Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear.
Larian Studios were interested in making a sequel in the Baldur's Gate series for some time, having first approached Wizards of the Coast after their release of Divinity: Original Sin around 2014. At this time, Wizards of the Coast felt the studio was still too new to the industry to be trusted with the Baldur's Gate licence. Larian then developed Divinity: Original Sin II, which was released in September 2017. Pre-release materials related to the game impressed Wizards of the Coast, so they contacted Larian to ask if they still had interest in Baldur's Gate 3. Larian accepted, and while working to wrap up the release stage of development for Divinity: Original Sin II, a small group gathered to develop the design document to present to Wizards of the Coast with their ideas for the new Baldur's Gate.
The game is based on the 5th-edition Dungeons & Dragons rule set, though it includes tweaks and modifications that Larian found necessary in adapting it to a video game. For example, the combat system is more in favour of the player than in the tabletop version, to make the game more enjoyable.
Larian Studios teased Baldur's Gate 3 in the week prior to E3 2019. They formally revealed it during Google's presentation on the Stadia platform just ahead of E3, confirming its release for both Windows and Stadia. The tabletop adventure Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus was published by Wizards of the Coast in September 2019, and has been described as a "prequel" to Baldur's Gate 3. The Descent into Avernus adventure takes place roughly 100 years after the events of Baldur's Gate II, and the story of Baldur's Gate 3 takes place immediately following the events of the Descent into Avernus tabletop module. On 5 October 2020, Larian Studios announced the game would be released for macOS in addition to Windows and Stadia. Baldur's Gate 3 runs on Divinity Engine 4.0.
In March 2024, Swen Vincke announced that Larian Studios would not be producing any DLC or sequels for Baldur's Gate 3, citing the constraints of developing within the D&D ruleset and a desire to "pass the torch to the next developer" and pursue other projects.
Release
Baldur's Gate 3 was originally set to be released in early access on 30 September 2020 before being delayed a week to 6 October. The early access version contained only the first act, amounting to approximately 25 hours of content. Additional features and content, including multiplayer functionality and more classes, were added throughout early access.
The version for Stadia was cancelled following the closure of the platform in January 2023. In February 2023, it was announced that Baldur's Gate 3 would be released for Windows, macOS, and PlayStation 5 on 31 August 2023. The PlayStation 5 and macOS versions would be delayed to 6 and 22 September. Spike Chunsoft published the PlayStation 5 version in Japan on 21 December 2023. An Xbox Series X and Series S version was released on 7 December 2023, which was delayed due to performance issues on the Xbox Series S with splitscreen co-op, which was cut from the Series S version.
Gameplay features like the Magic Mirror, allowing users to change their character's appearance, were added with patches after release. A patch in December 2023 added two new difficulty modes, quality of life enhancements, and a new playable epilogue containing over 3,500 new dialogue lines. A physical version released in May 2024.
Reception
Baldur's Gate 3 received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic, with 98% of critics recommending the game on aggregator OpenCritic.
Critics praised the quality of the writing, including the detailed depiction of the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Faerûn; the intertwined storylines enabling alternate story moments and a large degree of player freedom; and the characters, particularly companions, that feel interesting and memorable. Critics also praised the production quality, including the voice acting, character and facial animations, and detailed environments. The game's implementation of the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition ruleset was well received, although some critics were concerned that the complexity of the system could be daunting for players wholly unfamiliar with the tabletop version of the game. The technical performance and its few bugs were highlighted, especially given many vast and complex game systems and interactions. Critics were more lukewarm on the inventory system and some aspects of the user interface, such as needing to micromanage the equipment of multiple characters.
Fraser Brown of PC Gamer called the game "the new pinnacle of the [CRPG] genre", while IGN Portugal called it a "must-play masterpiece that sets a new bar in the RPG universe".
Alex Battaglia of Eurogamer praised the game's performance on PC, and added that "Baldur's Gate 3 launches in a polished state with no game-breaking issues, shaming the technical quality of other big AAA releases".
Sales
Baldur's Gate 3 became the best-selling game on both Steam and GOG.com on the day of its early access launch. On Steam, the game had about 537,000 concurrent players on release day and peaked at 875,000 two weeks after release. It sold more than 2.5 million copies during its early access phase. Sales surpassed Larian's expectations, as well as those of Microsoft when considering the Xbox release. By 26 February 2024, the game had sold upwards of 10 million copies, according to the Director of Publishing at Larian.
Accolades
It was selected by Ars Technica, GameSpot, GamesRadar, 3DJuegos, PC Gamer, and Screen Rant as their Game of the Year.
References
External links
Official website |
Neil_Newbon | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Newbon | [
528
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Newbon"
] | Neil Christie Newbon (born 14 August 1977) is an English actor known for voicing Elijah Kamski and Gavin Reed in Detroit: Become Human, Nicholai Ginovaef and Karl Heisenberg in Resident Evil, Zeon in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3, for which he won the Game Award for Best Performance.
Early life
Neil Christie Newbon was born in Birmingham on 14 August 1977, the son of sports presenter Gary Newbon. He is of Scottish descent on his mother's side and Belarusian descent on his father's side. His sister Claire is a journalist, while his twin brother Laurence is a cameraman. He played football as a teenager, usually as a goalkeeper.
Career
In 1998, Newbon appeared in the BBC Two comedy series Goodness Gracious Me as James, a waiter in the show's notable "Going for an English" sketch. He has appeared in numerous films. He voiced a tank driver in Jackboots on Whitehall. He starred in the music videos for the Now Voyager Mix of "You Got the Love" by The Source and Candi Staton in 2006 and "Kingdom of Rust" by Doves in 2009. In 2012, he joined the cast of the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks as Simon Walker.
Since 2012, Newbon has provided the voice and motion capture for numerous video game characters, including Elijah Kamski and Gavin Reed in Detroit: Become Human, Nicholai Ginovaef in Resident Evil 3, Karl Heisenberg in Resident Evil Village, and Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3. For his performance as Astarion, he won Best Performance at the 2023 Game Awards, as well as the Golden Joystick for Best Supporting Performer.
Newbon is a co-founder of the training facility Performance Captured Academy, which offers courses on motion capture for aspiring actors.
Personal life
Newbon married film director China Moo-Young in October 2012, and they had one daughter together before divorcing in 2015. He confirmed that he was in a relationship with his Performance Captured Academy co-founder Saleta Losada in 2018, and they were married in June 2023.
Newbon has trained in various martial arts for over 16 years, including kung fu (in the styles Crane, Shaolin, Snake, and Tiger), kickboxing, judo, and Wadō-ryū karate.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official website
Neil Newbon at IMDb |
Olivia_Newton-John | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_Newton-John | [
529
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_Newton-John"
] | Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included fifteen top-ten singles, including five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200: If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975). Eleven of her singles (including two Platinum) and fourteen of her albums (including two Platinum and four 2× Platinum) have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
In 1978, Newton-John starred in the musical film Grease, which was the highest-grossing musical film at the time and whose soundtrack remains one of the world's best-selling albums. It features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta: "You're the One That I Want"—which is one of the best-selling singles of all time—and "Summer Nights". Her signature solo recordings include the Record of the Year Grammy winner "I Honestly Love You" (1974) and "Physical" (1981)—Billboard's highest-ranking Hot 100 single of the 1980s. Other defining hit singles include "If Not for You" and "Banks of the Ohio" (both 1971), "Let Me Be There" (1973), "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" (1974), "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975), "Sam" (1977), "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (1978; also from Grease), "A Little More Love" (1978), "Twist of Fate" (1983) and, from the 1980 film Xanadu, "Magic" and "Xanadu" (with the Electric Light Orchestra).
With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John is one of the best-selling music artists of all time as well as the highest-selling female Australian recording artist of all-time.
Newton-John, who had breast cancer three times, was an advocate and sponsor for breast cancer research. In 2012, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer & Wellness Centre at the Austin Hospital opened in her home town of Melbourne; in 2015, the facility was rechristened the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre. She was also an activist for environmental and animal rights causes.
Early life and family
Olivia Newton-John was born on 26 September 1948 in Cambridge to Brinley "Bryn" Newton-John (1914–1992) and Irene Helene (née Born; 1914–2003). Her father was born and raised in Wales to a middle-class family. Her mother was born and raised in Germany to a German Jewish academic family who came to the UK in 1933 to escape the Nazi regime.
Newton-John's maternal grandfather was German Jewish Nobel Prize–winning physicist Max Born. Her maternal grandmother Hedwig was the daughter of German Jewish jurist Victor Ehrenberg and his Lutheran wife, Helene Agatha von Jhering. Through Helene Agatha, Newton-John was a descendant of Protestant theologian Martin Luther. She was also descended from an unspecified Spanish monarch. Helene Agatha's own father, Newton-John's great-great-grandfather, was jurist Rudolf von Jhering. Newton-John's uncle was pharmacologist Gustav Victor Rudolf Born. Through her Ehrenberg line, Newton-John was a third cousin of comedian Ben Elton.
Newton-John's father was an MI5 officer on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park who took Rudolf Hess into custody during World War II. After the war, he became the headmaster of the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys and was in this post when Newton-John was born.
Newton-John was the youngest of three children, following her brother Hugh (1939–2019), a medical doctor, and her sister Rona (1941–2013), an actress who was married to restaurateur Brian Goldsmith and was later married to Newton-John's Grease co-star Jeff Conaway (from 1980 until their divorce in 1985). She also had a half-brother, Toby, and a half-sister, Sarah, both of whom were born of her father's second marriage.
In early 1954, when Newton-John was five, her family emigrated to Melbourne, Victoria, on the SS Strathaird. Her father worked as a professor of German and as the master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne. Her family attended church while her father served as the head of the Presbyterian college.
Newton-John attended Christ Church Grammar School in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra and then the University High School in Parkville.
Career
Career beginnings
Newton-John went to primary school with Daryl Braithwaite, who also followed a singing career. At age 14, with three classmates, Newton-John formed a short-lived, all-girl group called Sol Four which often performed at a coffee shop owned by her brother-in-law.
Newton-John originally wanted to become a veterinarian but then chose to focus on performance after doubting her ability to pass science exams.
In 1964, Newton-John's acting talent was first recognised portraying Lady Mary Lasenby in her University High School's production of The Admirable Crichton as she became the Young Sun's Drama Award best schoolgirl actress runner-up. She then became a regular on local Australian television shows, including Time for Terry and HSV-7's The Happy Show, where she performed as "Lovely Livvy". She also appeared on The Go!! Show, where she met her future duet partner, singer Pat Carroll, and her future music producer, John Farrar. (Carroll and Farrar later married.)
In 1965, she entered and won a talent contest on the television program Sing, Sing, Sing, hosted by 1960s Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe. She performed the songs "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses". She was initially reluctant to use her prize, a trip to Great Britain, but travelled there nearly a year later after her mother encouraged her to broaden her horizons.
While in Britain, Newton-John missed her then-boyfriend, Ian Turpie, with whom she had co-starred in the 1965 Australian telefilm Funny Things Happen Down Under. She repeatedly booked trips back to Australia that her mother cancelled.
In 1966, Newton-John recorded her first single, "Till You Say You'll Be Mine", in Britain for Decca Records.
Newton-John's outlook changed when Pat Carroll moved to the UK. The two formed a duo called Pat and Olivia and toured nightclubs in Europe. (In one incident, they were booked at Paul Raymond's Revue in Soho, London, and were unaware that it was a strip club until they began to perform onstage dressed primly in frilly high-collared dresses.) During this period, she and Carroll contributed backup vocals to recordings by a number of other artists, notably the song "Come In, You'll Get Pneumonia" by the Easybeats. After Carroll's visa expired, Carroll was forced to return to Australia but Newton-John remained in Britain to pursue solo work.
Newton-John was recruited for the group Toomorrow, formed by American producer Don Kirshner. In 1970, the group starred in the science fiction musical Toomorrow and recorded an accompanying soundtrack album on RCA Records; both the LP and the movie were named after the group. That same year, the group made two single recordings: "You're My Baby Now"/"Goin' Back" and "I Could Never Live Without Your Love"/"Roll Like a River". Neither track became a chart success; the project failed and the group disbanded.
1971–1974: Early success
In 1971, Newton-John released her first solo album, If Not for You (US No. 158 Pop). In the UK, the album was released as Olivia Newton-John. The title track, written by Bob Dylan, was her first international hit (US No. 25 Pop, No. 1 Adult Contemporary/"AC"). Her follow-up single, "Banks of the Ohio", was a top 10 hit in the UK and Australia, but only peaked at number 94 in the United States. She was voted Best British Female Vocalist two years in a row by the magazine Record Mirror. She made frequent appearances on Cliff Richard's weekly show It's Cliff Richard and starred with him in the telefilm The Case.
Newton-John's 1972 single "What Is Life" (No. 34 AC) made minimal impact in the United States. As a result, her second studio album Olivia was never formally issued in the United States. Subsequent single "Take Me Home, Country Roads" similarly saw little success. Her fortune changed with the release of "Let Me Be There" in 1973. The song reached the American top 10 on the Pop (No. 6), Country (No. 7), and AC (No. 3) charts and earned her a Grammy for Best Country Female and an Academy of Country Music award for Most Promising Female Vocalist.
Her third studio album Let Me Be There was released in November 1973, retitled Music Makes My Day in Britain. The US and Canadian versions featured an alternate track list that mixed new cuts with selections from Olivia and also recycled six songs from If Not for You, which was going out of print.
In 1974, Newton-John represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Long Live Love". The song was chosen for Newton-John by the British public out of six possible entries (Newton-John later admitted that she disliked the song). Newton-John finished fourth at the contest, held in Brighton, behind the Swedish winning entry, "Waterloo" by ABBA. All six Eurovision contest song candidates—"Have Love, Will Travel", "Lovin' You Ain't Easy", "Long Live Love", "Someday", "Angel Eyes" and "Hands Across the Sea"—were recorded by Newton-John and included on her Long Live Love album, her first for the EMI Records label.
The Long Live Love album was released in the US and Canada as If You Love Me, Let Me Know. All the Eurovision entries were dropped for different and more country-flavoured tunes intended to capitalise on the success of "Let Me Be There"; the North American offering used selections from Long Live Love, Olivia and Music Makes My Day, and only the title cut was new. The album reached No. 1 on both the pop (one week) and country (eight weeks) albums charts. If You Love Me, Let Me Know's title track was its first single and reached No. 5 Pop, No. 2 Country (her highest-peaking song on the chart) and No. 2 AC. The next single, "I Honestly Love You", became Newton-John's signature song. Written and composed by Jeff Barry and Peter Allen, the ballad became her first Pop number-one (staying there for two weeks), second AC number-one (for three weeks) and third top 10 Country (No. 6) hit and earned Newton-John two more Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance – Female. In her 2018 autobiography, Don't Stop Believin', Newton-John describes "I Honestly Love You" as a song which is "so simple, with a meaning that was deeper than the ocean". In 1974, she received the (BCMA) British Country Music Association Award for "Female Vocalist of the Year" in London, England.
In the United States, Newton-John's success in country music sparked a debate among purists, who took issue with a foreigner singing country-flavoured pop music being classed with native Nashville artists. In addition to her Grammy for "Let Me Be There", in 1974 Newton-John was also named the Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year, a designation which made her the first British singer to have won the award; and the title also meant she defeated more established Nashville-based nominees Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tanya Tucker, as well as Canadian artist Anne Murray.
This protest by country music participants led to the formation of the short-lived Association of Country Entertainers (ACE). Newton-John was eventually supported by the country music community. Stella Parton, Dolly's sister, recorded "Ode to Olivia" and Newton-John recorded her 1976 album, Don't Stop Believin', in Nashville, Tennessee.
1975–1977: Have You Never Been Mellow, Clearly Love, and continued success
Encouraged by expatriate Australian singer Helen Reddy, Newton-John left the UK and moved to the US. Newton-John topped the Pop (one week) and Country (six weeks) albums charts with her next album, Have You Never Been Mellow. For 45 years, Olivia held the Guinness World Record for the shortest gap (154 days) by a female between new Number 1 albums (If You Love Me, Let Me Know > Have You Never Been Mellow) on the US Billboard 200 album charts until Taylor Swift in 2020 (140 days with folklore > evermore).
The Have You Never Been Mellow album generated two singles – the John Farrar-penned title track (No. 1 Pop, No. 3 Country, No. 1 AC) and "Please Mr. Please" (No. 3 Pop, No. 5 Country, No. 1 AC).
Her pop career cooled with the release of her next album, Clearly Love. Her streak of five consecutive gold top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 ended when the album's first single, "Something Better to Do", stopped at No. 13 (also No. 19 Country and No. 1 AC). Her albums still achieved gold status, and she returned to the top ten of the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts again in 1978.
Newton-John's singles continued to top the AC chart, where she amassed ten No. 1 singles, including a record seven consecutively:
"I Honestly Love You" (1974) – 3 weeks
"Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975) – 1 week
"Please Mr. Please" (1975) – 3 weeks
"Something Better to Do" (1975) – 3 weeks
"Let It Shine"/"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (1976) – 2 weeks
"Come on Over" (1976) – 1 week
"Don't Stop Believin'" (1976) – 1 week
She provided a prominent, but uncredited, vocal on John Denver's "Fly Away" single, which was succeeded by her own single, "Let It Shine"/"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", at No. 1 on the AC chart. ("Fly Away" returned to No. 1 after the two-week reign of "Let It Shine".) Newton-John also continued to reach the Country top 10 where she tallied seven top 10 singles through 1976's "Come on Over" (No. 23 Pop, No. 5 Country, No. 1 AC) (from the same-titled album) and six consecutive (of a career nine total) top 10 albums through 1976's Don't Stop Believin' (No. 30 Pop, No. 7 Country). She headlined her first US television special, A Special Olivia Newton-John, in November 1976.
In 1977, the single "Sam", a mid-tempo waltz from Don't Stop Believin', returned her to the No. 1 spot on the AC (No. 40 Country) and also reached No. 20 Pop, her highest chart placement since "Something Better to Do". By mid-1977, Newton-John's pop, AC, and country success all suffered a slight blow. Her Making a Good Thing Better album (No. 34 Pop, No. 13 Country) was not certified gold, and its only single, the title track (No. 87 Pop, No. 20 AC), did not reach the AC top 10 or the Country chart. Later that year, Olivia Newton-John's Greatest Hits (No. 13 Pop, No. 7 Country) became her first platinum album.
Newton-John was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1979 New Year Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to charity, cancer research, and entertainment.
1978–1979: Grease and Totally Hot
In 1978, Newton-John's career soared after she starred as Sandy in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease. She was offered the role after meeting producer Allan Carr at a dinner party at Helen Reddy's home. Disillusioned by her Toomorrow experience and concerned that she was too old to play a high school senior (she was 28 during the filming of Grease), Newton-John insisted on a screen test with the film's co-lead, John Travolta. Newton-John previewed some of the film's soundtrack during her second American network television special, Olivia, featuring guests ABBA and Andy Gibb.
Grease became the biggest box-office hit of 1978. The soundtrack album spent 12 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 and yielded three Top 5 singles for Newton-John: the platinum "You're the One That I Want" (No. 1 Pop, No. 23 AC) with John Travolta, the gold "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (No. 3 Pop, No. 20 Country, No. 7 AC) and the gold "Summer Nights" (No. 5 Pop, No. 21 AC) with John Travolta and the film's cast. Newton-John became the second woman (after Linda Ronstadt in 1977) to have two singles—"Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Summer Nights"—in the Billboard top 5 simultaneously. The soundtrack is one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time. In June 2006, Newton-John's company ON-J Productions Ltd filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) for $1 million in unpaid royalties from the Grease soundtrack. In 2007, it was announced that she and UMG had reached a "conditional settlement".
Newton-John's performance earned her a People's Choice Award for Favourite Film Actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Musical and performed the Oscar-nominated "Hopelessly Devoted to You" at the 1979 Academy Awards. The film's popularity has endured. It was re-released for its 20th anniversary in 1998 and ranked as the second highest-grossing film behind Titanic in its opening weekend. Following her death in August 2022, AMC announced that the picture would reappear in some of its cinemas over the weekend and that a portion of the proceeds would go to breast cancer research.
In November 1978, she released her next studio album, Totally Hot, which became her first solo top 10 (No. 7) album since Have You Never Been Mellow. Dressed on the cover all in leather, Newton-John capitalised on her character's look that was introduced at the end of Grease; moreover, Totally Hot's singles—"A Little More Love" (No. 3 Pop, No. 94 Country, No. 4 AC), "Deeper Than the Night" (No. 11 Pop, No. 87 Country, No. 4 AC), and the title track (No. 52 Pop)—all demonstrated a more aggressive and uptempo sound for Newton-John. Although the album de-emphasised the country sound, the LP still reached No. 4 on the Country Albums chart. Newton-John released the B-side, "Dancin' 'Round and 'Round", of the "Totally Hot" single to Country radio. The entry peaked at No. 29 (as well as No. 82 Pop and No. 25 AC), and it became her last charted solo Country airplay single.
Newton-John cancelled a 1978 concert tour of Japan to protest the slaughter of dolphins caught in tuna fishing nets. She subsequently rescheduled the tour when the Japanese government assured her that the practice was being curbed. In honor of dolphins, in 1981 she also composed and recorded the song "The Promise (the Dolphin Song)" on the Physical album.
She was a performer on the 1979 Music for UNICEF Concert for the UN's International Year of the Child televised worldwide. During the concert, artists performed songs for which they donated their royalties, some in perpetuity, to benefit the cause.
Lawsuit against MCA Records
In April 1975, Newton-John and MCA entered into an initial two-year, four-album deal in which she was expected to deliver two LPs a year for the record company. MCA also had the option of extending the contract for six more records and three more years; and if the artist did not deliver on time, MCA was allegedly allowed to lengthen the term of the contract.
Per her new agreement with MCA, Newton-John's first three albums, beginning with Clearly Love, came out on schedule. Her fourth, Making a Good Thing Better, was late. This delay occurred around the same time she was working on Grease for RSO Records, and the postponement arguably gave MCA—which seemed to want to keep its hold on the performer—the right to exercise its option, extend its contract, and stop her from signing with another enterprise. She also did not deliver a "newly optioned" album.
On 31 May 1978, Newton-John and MCA each filed breach-of-contract actions against the other. Newton-John sued for $10 million and claimed that MCA's failure to adequately promote and advertise her product freed her from their agreement. MCA's countersuit requested $1 million in damages and an injunction against Newton-John working with another music firm.
Ultimately, Newton-John was forbidden from offering her recording services to another label until the five-year pact had run its course. The original covenant was not automatically extended, though she had not duly supplied the total sum of vinyls indicated in the contract.
As a result of the lawsuit, record companies changed their contracts to be based on the number of albums recorded by a musician and not a specific number of years.
1980–1988: Physical, Soul Kiss, and The Rumour
Newton-John began 1980 by releasing "I Can't Help It" (No. 12 Pop, No. 8 AC), a duet with Andy Gibb from his After Dark album, and by starring in her third television special, Hollywood Nights. Later that year, she appeared in her first film since Grease when she starred with Gene Kelly and Michael Beck in the musical fantasy Xanadu. Although the film was a critical failure, its soundtrack (No. 4 Pop) was certified double platinum and scored five top 20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Newton-John charted with "Magic" (No. 1 Pop, No. 1 AC), "Suddenly" with Cliff Richard (No. 20 Pop, No. 4 AC) and the title song "Xanadu" with the Electric Light Orchestra (No. 8 Pop, No. 2 AC). [ELO also charted with "I'm Alive" (No. 16 Pop, No. 48 AC) and "All Over the World" (No. 13 Pop, No. 46 AC).]
"Magic" was Newton-John's biggest pop hit to that point (four weeks at No. 1) and still ranks as the biggest AC hit of her career (five weeks at No. 1). The film Xanadu has since become a cult classic and the basis for a Broadway show that ran for more than 500 performances beginning in 2007 and was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical.
In 1981, Newton-John released her most successful studio album, the double platinum Physical, which strongly reinforced her image change by showcasing risqué, rock-oriented material. Newton-John explained: "I just wasn't in the mood for tender ballads. I wanted peppy stuff because that's how I'm feeling." Of the title cut, Newton-John said: "Roger Davies was my manager at the time; he played it for me and I knew it was a very catchy song." The title track, written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick, spent ten weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. This matched the record at that time held by Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" for most weeks spent at No. 1 on the Hot 100. The single was certified platinum, and it ultimately ranked as the biggest song of the decade. (In 2008, Billboard ranked the song No. 6 among all songs that charted in the 50-year history of the Hot 100.)
"Physical" earned Newton-John her only placement ever on the R&B Singles (No. 28) and Albums (No. 32) charts. The Physical album spawned two more singles, "Make a Move on Me" (No. 5 Pop, No. 6 AC) and "Landslide" (No. 52 Pop).
The provocative lyrics of the "Physical" title track prompted two Utah radio stations to ban the single from their playlists. (In 2010, Billboard magazine ranked this as the most popular single ever about sex.) To counter its overtly suggestive tone, Newton-John filmed an exercise-themed video that turned the song into an aerobics anthem and made headbands a fashion accessory outside the gym.
She helped pioneer the music video industry by recording a video album for Physical, featuring videos of all the album's tracks and three of her older hits. The video album earned her a fourth Grammy and was aired as an ABC prime-time special, Let's Get Physical, becoming a top-10 Nielsen hit. Newton-John asserted: "Like everyone, I've got different sides of my personality. I've my dominant self, my need-to-be-dominated self, the sane Olivia and the crazy Olivia. Playing these different characters gave me a chance to show strange parts people haven't seen much."
The success of Physical led to an international tour and the release of her second hits collection, the double-platinum Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (No. 16 Pop), which yielded two more top-40 singles: "Heart Attack" (No. 3 Pop) and "Tied Up" (No. 38 Pop). The tour was filmed for her Olivia in Concert television special, which premiered on HBO in January 1983. The special was subsequently released to video, earning Newton-John another Grammy nomination.
Newton-John reteamed with Travolta in 1983 for the critically and commercially unsuccessful movie Two of a Kind, redeemed by its platinum soundtrack (No. 26 Pop) featuring "Twist of Fate" (No. 5 Pop), "Livin' in Desperate Times" (No. 31 Pop), and a new duet with Travolta, "Take a Chance" (No. 3 AC). Newton-John released another video package, the Grammy-nominated Twist of Fate, featuring videos of her four songs on the Two of a Kind soundtrack and the two new singles from Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2.
That same year Newton-John and Pat Farrar (formerly Pat Carroll) founded Koala Blue. The store, originally for Australian imports, evolved into a chain of women's clothing boutiques. The chain was initially successful, but it eventually declared bankruptcy and closed in 1992. Newton-John and Farrar were the targets of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit when Koala Blue franchise holders alleged breach of contract and unfair competition; agreeing with a motion citing insufficient evidence, a judge dismissed the case on summary judgment in 1993. Newton-John and Farrar later licensed the brand name for a line of Australian wines.
Newton-John, a supporter of Australian rules football Carlton, performed the Australian national anthem at the 1986 VFL Grand Final between Carlton and Hawthorn.
Newton-John's music career cooled again with the release of her next studio album, the gold Soul Kiss (No. 29 Pop), in 1985. The album's only charted single was the title track (No. 20 Pop, No. 20 AC). The video album for Soul Kiss featured only five of the album's ten tracks (concept videos for the album's singles "Soul Kiss" and "Toughen Up" as well as performance videos of the tracks "Culture Shock", "Emotional Tangle" and "The Right Moment").
After a nearly three-year hiatus following the birth of her daughter Chloe in January 1986, Newton-John resumed her recording career with the 1988 album The Rumour. The album was promoted by an HBO special, Olivia Down Under. Its first single, the title track, was written and produced by Elton John. Both the single (No. 62 Pop, No. 33 AC) and the album (No. 67 Pop) faltered commercially as the nearly 40-year-old Newton-John seemed "old" when compared with the teen queens Debbie Gibson and Tiffany ruling the pop charts at that time. (The album was praised by critics as more mature, with Newton-John addressing topics such as AIDS ("Love and Let Live"), the environment and single-parent households.)
The second single, "Can't We Talk It Over in Bed", did not chart, but was released in 1989 by Grayson Hugh, the song's arranger, and became a top-20 pop hit as "Talk It Over".
1989–1998: Motherhood, cancer, and advocacy
In September 1989, Newton-John released her self-described "self-indulgent" album, Warm and Tender, which reunited her with producer John Farrar, absent from her previous LP, and also marked a return to a more wholesome image. Inspired by her daughter, who appeared on the cover, the album featured lullabies and love songs for parents and their children. This album, the last one produced by Farrar, also failed to revive her recording career, as the disc reached only No. 124 Pop.
She was appointed a Goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Environment Programme.
Newton-John's television work included starring in two Christmas films, A Mom for Christmas (1990) and A Christmas Romance (1994) – both top 10 Nielsen hits.
Newton-John was primed for another comeback in 1992 when she compiled her third hits collection, Back to Basics: The Essential Collection 1971–1992, and planned her first tour since her Physical trek ten years earlier. Shortly after the album's release, Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer, forcing her to cancel all publicity for the album, including the tour. She received her diagnosis the same weekend her father died.
Newton-John recovered. In 1991, she became the National Spokesperson for the Colette Chuda Environmental Fund/CHEC (Children's Health Environmental Coalition) following the death from Wilms' tumour of five-year-old Colette Chuda, daughter of Newton-John's friend Nancy Chuda. Later, Newton-John became an advocate for breast cancer research and other health issues. She was a product spokesperson for the Liv-Kit, a breast self-examination product, and also founded her own cancer centre in her home town in Australia.
Newton-John's cancer diagnosis also affected the type of music she recorded. In 1994, she released Gaia: One Woman's Journey, which chronicled her ordeal. Co-produced by Newton-John for ONJ Productions, Gaia was originally issued by Festival in Australia but also distributed by various independent labels in Japan and Europe. In 2002, there was an American distribution by Hip-O Records, and a subsequent re-release in 2012 by Green Hill featured an alternative cover photo. Gaia was the first album on which Newton-John wrote all the music and lyrics herself, and this endeavour encouraged her to become more active as a songwriter thereafter. The single "No Matter What You Do" entered the Australian top 40, and the second single, the environmentally themed "Don't Cut Me Down", was also used in the film It's My Party, a 1996 AIDS drama. The Latin-fuelled "Not Gonna Give into It" eventually became heavily showcased in concert performance; "The Way of Love" was featured in the telefilm A Christmas Romance, and "Trust Yourself" was incorporated into both the TV-movie The Wilde Girls and the theatrical film Sordid Lives.
Newton-John was listed as president of the Isle of Man Basking shark Society between 1998 and 2005.
1998–2012: Later releases
Newton-John continued to record and perform pop-oriented music as well. In 1998, she returned to Nashville to record Back with a Heart (No. 59 Pop). The album returned her to the top 10 (No. 9) on the Country Albums chart. Its first single was a re-recording of "I Honestly Love You" produced by David Foster and featuring Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds on background vocals that charted on the Pop (No. 67) and AC (No. 18) charts. Country radio dismissed the song, though it did peak at No. 16 on the Country Sales chart. The album track, "Love Is a Gift", won Newton-John a 1999 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song after being featured on the daytime serial, As the World Turns.
During October–December 1998, Newton-John, John Farnham and Anthony Warlow performed in The Main Event Tour. The album Highlights from The Main Event peaked at No. 1 in December, was certified 4× platinum, won an ARIA Award for Highest Selling Australian CD at the 1999 Awards and was also nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album.
For the 2000 Summer Olympics, Newton-John and Farnham re-teamed to perform "Dare to Dream" during the Parade of Nations at the Opening Ceremony. Broadcast of the ceremony was viewed by an estimated 3.5 billion people around the world.
In December 1998, following a hiatus of about 16 years, Newton-John also resumed touring by herself and in 2000 released a solo CD, One Woman's Live Journey, her first live album since 1981's Love Performance.
In 2000, she appeared in a dramatically different role as Bitsy Mae Harling, a bisexual former-convict country singer, in Del Shores' Sordid Lives. Newton-John reprised her role for Sordid Lives: The Series which aired one season on the LOGO television network. The series featured five original songs written and composed by Newton-John specifically for the show. In 2000, she teamed with Vince Gill and the London Symphony Orchestra for 'Tis the Season sold exclusively through Hallmark. The following year, she released The Christmas Collection, which compiled seasonal music previously recorded for her Hallmark Christmas album, her appearance on Kenny Loggins' 1999 TNN Christmas special and her contributions to the Mother and Child and Spirit of Christmas multi-artist collections.
Newton-John's subsequent albums were released primarily in Australia. In 2002, she released (2), a duets album featuring mostly Australian artists (Tina Arena, Darren Hayes, Jimmy Little, Johnny O'Keefe, Billy Thorpe and Keith Urban), as well as a "duet" with the deceased Peter Allen. In addition, (2) offered a hidden 12th track, a samba version of "Physical" which Newton-John later performed occasionally in concert instead of the more rock-style original. The album's 2004 Japanese release includes the bonus track "Let It Be Me", a duet with Cliff Richard with whom she had previously been coupled on "Suddenly" and Songs from Heathcliff.
In 2002, Newton-John was also inducted into Australia's ARIA Hall of Fame.
Produced by Phil Ramone and recorded at the Indigo Recording Studios in Malibu for ONJ Productions, Indigo: Women of Song was released in October 2004 in Australia. The tribute album featured Newton-John covering songs by artists such as Joan Baez, the Carpenters, Doris Day, Nina Simone and Minnie Riperton. She dedicated the album to her mother, who had died the previous year of breast cancer. Indigo was subsequently released in the UK in April 2005 and in Japan in March 2006. A rebranded and resequenced version called Portraits: A Tribute to Great Women of Song was eventually issued in the United States in 2011.
In 2005, she released Stronger Than Before, sold exclusively in the United States by Hallmark. This was her second exclusive album for Hallmark Cards after her successful first Christmas album Tis the Season with Vince Gill five years earlier. Proceeds from the album's sales benefited breast cancer research. The album featured the song "Phenomenal Woman," based on the poem by Maya Angelou, and guest vocals from Diahann Carroll, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Delta Goodrem, Amy Holland, Patti LaBelle and Mindy Smith—all survivors of or affected by cancer.
In 2006, Newton-John released a healing CD, Grace and Gratitude. The album was sold exclusively by Walgreens, also to benefit various charities including Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization. The CD was the "heart" of their Body – Heart – Spirit Wellness Collection, which also featured a re-branded Liv-Kit and breast-health dietary supplements.
In 2007, she re-teamed with her Grace and Gratitude producer, Amy Sky, for Christmas Wish (No. 187 Pop) which was sold exclusively by Target in its first year of release. Newton-John released another concert DVD, Olivia Newton-John and the Sydney Symphony: Live at the Sydney Opera House and a companion CD, her third live album titled Olivia's Live Hits.
In 2008, she raised funds to help build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia. She led a three-week, 228 km walk along the Great Wall of China during April, joined by various celebrities and cancer survivors throughout her trek. She released a companion CD, A Celebration in Song, the following month in Australia and later worldwide, featuring new and previously recorded duets by "Olivia Newton-John & Friends", including Jann Arden, Jimmy Barnes, John Farrar, Barry Gibb, Delta Goodrem, Sun Ho, Richard Marx, Cliff Richard, Melinda Schneider, Amy Sky, and Keith Urban.
In 2008, Newton-John took part in the BBC Wales program Coming Home about her Welsh family history. Also, in 2008, Newton-John joined Anne Murray on Murray's last album, titled Duets: Friends & Legends. She sang Gordon Lightfoot's hit "Cotton Jenny" with Murray.
She re-recorded some tracks from Grace and Gratitude in 2010 and re-released the album as Grace and Gratitude Renewed on the Green Hill music label. The Renewed CD includes a new track, "Help Me to Heal", not featured on the original album.
Newton-John was featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docu-drama, 1 a Minute, released in October 2010. The documentary was made by actress Namrata Singh Gujral and featured other celebrities who had survived breast cancer or who were affected by the disease. During the same month, Bluewater Productions released a comic book featuring Newton-John to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
In 2010, Newton-John starred in the film Score: A Hockey Musical, released in Canada. She portrayed Hope Gordon, the mother of a home-schooled hockey prodigy. The film opened the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.
Newton-John guest-starred as herself in the sitcoms Ned and Stacey, Murphy Brown and Bette and also made two appearances as herself on Glee.
For her first Glee appearance, Newton-John recreated her "Physical" video with series regular Jane Lynch. The performance was released as a digital single which peaked at number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 2010. In Australia, Newton-John hosted the animal and nature series Wild Life and guest-starred as Joanna on two episodes of the Australian series The Man From Snowy River.
In January 2011, Newton-John began filming the comedy A Few Best Men in Australia with director Stephan Elliott, in the role of mother of the bride. The groom is played by Xavier Samuel.
2012–2022: Vegas residency and final releases
Newton-John was actively touring and doing concerts from 2012 to 2017 and also performed a handful of shows in 2018. Her dates for A Summer Night with Olivia Newton-John even included stops in Asia and Canada and culminated in a rare concert appearance in London in 2013. Her March 2013 UK trek also encompassed Bournemouth, Brighton, Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff, Wales.
In November 2012, Newton-John teamed with John Travolta to make the charity album This Christmas, in support of The Olivia Newton-John Cancer & Wellness Centre and the Jett Travolta Foundation. Artists featured on the album include: Barbra Streisand, James Taylor, Chick Corea, Kenny G, Tony Bennett, Cliff Richard and the Count Basie Orchestra.
A 2013 residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas was postponed due to the May 2013 death of her elder sister, Rona (aged 72), from a brain tumour. Newton-John resumed performing, doing 45 shows beginning in April 2014. Along with the Vegas shows, Newton-John released a new EP in April 2014 entitled Hotel Sessions, which consisted of seven tracks of unreleased demos that were recorded between 2002 and 2011 with her nephew Brett Goldsmith. The CD contains a cover of "Broken Wings" as well as the popular-with-fans original "Best of My Love", which had leaked on the internet many years prior.
Her Vegas stay was eventually extended beyond August 2014, and her Summer Nights residency finished in December 2016 after 175 shows. Her successful three-year run even prompted a fourth live album, Summer Nights: Live in Las Vegas (2015). In 2015, Newton-John also reunited with John Farnham for a joint venture called Two Strong Hearts Live.
In 2015, Newton-John was a guest judge on an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race. That same year, she scored her first number-one single on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart with "You Have to Believe" with daughter Chloe and producer Dave Audé. The song was a re-imagining of her 1980 single "Magic", which she noted was to celebrate both the 35th anniversary of Xanadu and as a dedication to her daughter. About the latter, Newton-John stated: "I met Chloe's dad on the set of Xanadu; so, without that film, Chloe wouldn't be here. She was the real 'magic' that came out of that film!" The song became the first mother-daughter single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart.
In 2015, Newton-John was inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame.
In 2017, she collaborated with two North American singer-songwriters, Beth Nielsen Chapman and Amy Sky, on a joint concert tour entitled Liv On after co-producing a 2016 CD by the same name.
On 7 May 2019, Newton-John's elder brother Hugh, a doctor, died at age 80; his death left Newton-John as the sole surviving sibling from the original family.
In recognition for "her work as an entertainer and philanthropist", she was bestowed Australia's highest honour, the Companion of the Order of Australia, in June 2019.
In December 2019, Newton-John and Travolta also re-teamed for three live Meet 'n' Grease sing-along events in the Florida cities of Tampa, West Palm Beach and Jacksonville. Subsequently, a sing-along re-broadcast of Grease aired on CBS Television.
In February 2020, Newton-John appeared at the Fire Fight Australia charity event. This was her final public performance.
In January 2021, Newton-John released her final single, "Window in the Wall", a duet about unity which she recorded with her daughter Chloe Lattanzi. The music video for the song peaked at No. 1 on the iTunes pop music video chart the week of its release.
In the media
On 2 November 2019, Julien's Auctions auctioned hundreds of memorabilia items from Newton-John's career. The sale raised $2.4 million. Newton-John's Grease outfit garnered $405,700; her pants and jacket were purchased separately by two different billionaires. Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, bought Newton-John's black skintight pants from Grease for $162,000. The anonymous buyer who acquired her famous Grease leather jacket for $243,200 (£185,000) returned the item to her and said: "It should not sit in a billionaire's closet for country-club bragging rights [...] The odds of beating a recurring cancer using the newest emerging therapies is a thousandfold greater than someone appearing out of the blue, buying your most famous and cherished icon, and returning it to you." All proceeds were donated to her Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Australia.
Musical legacy
Newton-John's first boyfriend, Ian Turpie, once said of her early appearances: "In those days she had a small voice, but it was very pure. She could sing prettily in tune....The improvement in her singing since she went to England has been remarkable. She told me Shirley Bassey has been a big influence on her. After hearing Bassey, she worked at developing her head voice to sound like a chest voice, the way Bassey uses hers. The power she's developed is amazing".
Michael Dwyer of the Sydney Morning Herald maintains that following Newton-John's career was like watching "our slightly older and braver sister growing up in public" and her passing "feels today like a lost member of the family". Rachel Syme of The New Yorker also suggests that her familial, down-to-earth demeanor and humanity may have even superseded her singing accomplishments: "Her most lasting legacy might be as the rare celebrity who was almost universally well liked, and thought of as an essentially kind and warmhearted person".
Her musical abilities on their own merits were also impressive. In her 1982 Olivia in Concert performance of Dolly Parton's "Jolene," Newton-John showcases a down-falling note range covering three octaves. (Much later, Newton-John and Parton recorded a duet of "Jolene," which was not formally released until after Newton-John's death.) In her memoir, Newton-John describes herself as "not a power singer but more of an interpretive one"; and author Lauren O'Neill concurs: "She sang with clarity and precision, her high notes bright and open like a window on a summer morning, but her voice was never clinical – a sultry purr, euphoric cry or breathy gasp seemed always available to her....Her vocal [on "Hopelessly Devoted to You" from Grease] is clean and soaring, but to hear it is to be right down in the dirt with Sandy too; to feel, and perhaps even identify with, her total frustration with herself. As she slides between notes while singing 'I'm out of my head,' she shows us her emotional freefall as well as telling us about it."
Long before and after the career summit of Grease, Newton-John proved herself to be a fairly versatile performer, lending her instrument to everything from sentimental ballads and New Age soul searching to lively dance productions and rock & soul fervor. Maura Johnston of Vulture assesses: "Newton-John was a regular chart-topper...throughout the '70s, her lithe soprano adapting well to the soft pop sound" of the era with "AM Gold staples and tracks from the folk and country world...As it turned out, Newton-John's voice was pretty well suited to the spiky dance pop that would become popular in the early 1980s" too. However, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the Los Angeles Times offers a counterpoint on her career decline in the mid-1980s: "Hardness never was Newton-John's comfort zone, though, and the 1980s were a much harder decade than the 1970s. The inherent warmth of 1970s studio sessions gave way to the cold, synthesized gleam of the 1980s, a sterile sound that suited her well only once: the candied faux-new wave of 'Twist of Fate'", produced by David Foster. Johnston further maintains: "Her pop heyday transcended any attempts to musically pigeonhole her"; and by the time she stopped having many new hits, "her musical legacy ... had been pretty well solidified."
Newton-John's work has inspired many other female vocalists, including Juliana Hatfield, Lisa Loeb, Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Natalie Maines and Alanis Morissette. Pink staged a commemorative Newton-John cover during the 2022 American Music Awards. At the 2022 ARIA Music Awards, a special tribute in her honour featured performances by Natalie Imbruglia, Peking Duk and Tones and I.
Personal life
Relationships
In the mid-1960s, Newton-John dated Australian actor and singer Ian Turpie, her co-star in the 1965 musical film Funny Things Happen Down Under. They met in 1963 when Turpie attended the coffee shop where Newton-John's group Sol Four performed. The relationship continued until she returned to England in 1966.
In 1968, Newton-John was engaged to but never married Bruce Welch, one of her early producers and co-writer of her hit "Please Mr. Please". In 1972, Newton-John ended her relationship with Welch, who subsequently attempted suicide.
In 1973, while vacationing on the French Riviera, Newton-John met British businessman Lee Kramer, who became both her new boyfriend and manager. Newton-John lived with Kramer on and off and they stayed a couple until 1979; she called their turbulent pairing "one long breakup". Kramer subsequently returned to England and married. He also managed vocalist Krishna Das. Kramer died in 2017.
Newton-John married her long-time, live-in partner, actor Matt Lattanzi, in December 1984. The pair had met in 1980 while filming Xanadu. They announced their separation in April 1995, and they divorced in 1996. According to People magazine, people close to the twosome cited the disparity between her spiritual interests and his more earthly ones as a key factor in the dissolution. The couple remained friends. Their daughter, Chloe Rose, was born in January 1986.
Newton-John met gaffer/cameraman Patrick McDermott soon after her divorce from Lattanzi. They dated on and off for nine years. McDermott vanished during a 2005 fishing trip off the Californian coast. Newton-John was in Australia at her Gaia Retreat & Spa at the time of McDermott's disappearance. A United States Coast Guard investigation, based on then-available evidence and released in 2008, "suggest[ed] McDermott was lost at sea", with a friend telling investigators McDermott had appeared sad though not despondent after their breakup. In April 2010, a private investigator, hired by an American television program, claimed that McDermott is alive and had faked his death for a life insurance payout – but did not provide proof beyond their own statement that they were confident. Unsubstantiated claims have been made, particularly in Australian tabloids, that McDermott is living in Mexico.
In 1993, Newton-John met John Easterling, founder and president of the Amazon Herb Company, which he started in 1990 and sold to TriVita, Inc., in 2012. Also known as "Amazon John", Easterling is an eco-entrepreneur who initially marketed rainforest botanicals and currently owns and operates Happy Tree Microbes, which offers natural plant performance products. When Newton-John and Easterling first met, they were both married to other people. In 2007, they started dating and married in an Incan spiritual ceremony in Peru on 21 June 2008, followed by a legal ceremony nine days later (30 June 2008) on Jupiter Island, Florida.
Residences and citizenship
Although principally raised in Australia, Newton-John remained a British subject throughout her childhood. She initially pursued Australian citizenship in 1981 with an application that Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was asked to expedite. However, she finally became an Australian citizen in 1994.
In 1973, Newton-John purchased a modest one-bedroom flat in northwest London.
After relocating from England to the United States in late 1974, Newton-John set up residence in Malibu, California, where for 35 years she owned various real estate, including a horse ranch and several beachfront properties.
In June 2009, Newton-John and her second husband, John Easterling, purchased a new $4.1 million home in Jupiter Inlet, Florida. In 2013, while renovations were being done on the property and the couple was not there, a contractor named Christopher Pariseleti committed suicide on the estate, which at the time was up for sale. Following the death on the premises, Newton-John and Easterling bought a nearby condo; their larger home lingered on and off the market for two years but was eventually sold in 2015 to a Swedish advertising executive for $5.1 million.
In 2015, the couple purchased a $5.3 million, 12-acre horse ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley outside Santa Barbara.
In 2019, Newton-John sold her 187-acre Australian farm, which she had owned for nearly 40 years and is located near Byron Bay in New South Wales. The Dalwood estate sold for $4.6 million; in 1980, Newton-John had paid $622,000 for the property, which had additional land adjoined in both 1983 and in 2002.
Newton-John was also partial owner of Byron Bay's Gaia Retreat & Spa, which was founded in 2005 and sold in 2021 for $30 million to the investment firm of Tattarang.
When asked in 2017 whether she considered herself to be a British, Australian or American citizen, she said, "I am still Australian." In December 2019, upon being given the title of Dame, she expressed her thanks by stating: "As a girl born in Cambridge [England], I am very proud of my British ancestry and so appreciative to be recognised in this way by the United Kingdom."
Illness and death
In May 2017, it was announced that Newton-John's breast cancer had returned and metastasised to her lower back. Her back pains had initially been diagnosed as sciatica. She subsequently revealed this was actually her third bout with breast cancer, as she did have a recurrence of the disease in 2013 in addition to her initial 1992 diagnosis. With the 2017 recurrence, the cancer had spread to her bones and progressed to stage IV. Newton-John experienced significant pain from the metastatic bone lesions and had spoken of using cannabis oil to ease her pain. She was an advocate for the use of medical cannabis; her daughter Chloe owns a cannabis farm in Oregon.
Newton-John died on 8 August 2022, at the age of 73, at her home in the Santa Ynez Valley of California. Tributes were paid by John Travolta, Barbra Streisand, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and many other celebrities. As a mark of respect, Melbourne and Sydney lit up many of their landmarks.
In September 2022, Newton-John's family held a "small and very private" memorial service in California for the singer, who asked to be cremated and have her ashes scattered in Byron Bay, on her Santa Ynez ranch and "in other places that I love".
The State of Victoria offered Newton-John's family a state funeral, which her niece Tottie Goldsmith accepted. Newton-John's Australian memorial service, hosted by David Campbell, was held on 26 February 2023 at Hamer Hall in Melbourne and included eulogies from her widower and daughter; a testimonial to her strength of character, optimism and magnanimity by television personality Richard Wilkins; montages of her career, family life and wellness centre; a medley of her hits performed by Delta Goodrem, and pre-recorded video tributes from Elton John, Mariah Carey, Barry Gibb, Dolly Parton and Nicole Kidman.
Awards and honours
Discography
Filmography
Television
Tours
Headlining
Co-headlining
The Main Event Tour (with John Farnham and Anthony Warlow) (1998)
Two Strong Hearts Tour (with John Farnham) (2015)
Liv On In Concert (with Beth Nielsen Chapman and Amy Sky) (2017)
Residency show
Summer Nights (2014–2016)
See also
List of artists who reached number one on the US dance chart
List of best-selling music artists
List of British Grammy winners and nominees
List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You, miniseries
Perry v. Louisiana – 1990 United States Supreme Court casePages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
References
Further reading
Ewbank, Tim (2008). Olivia: The Biography of Olivia Newton-John. London: Piatkus Books. ISBN 978-0-7499-0983-3. OCLC 298705080.
Newton-John, Olivia (2018). Don't Stop Believin'. Camberwell, Australia: Viking Australia. ISBN 978-0143788935.
Read, Mike (1983). The Story of the Shadows: An Autobiography. London: Elm Tree books. ISBN 9780241108611. OCLC 473318038.
Welch, Bruce (1989). Rock 'n' Roll—I Gave You the Best Years of My Life: A Life in the Shadows. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780670827053. OCLC 19741528.
Wood, Gerry (1998). "Olivia Newton-John". In Kingsbury, Paul (ed.). The encyclopedia of country music : The ultimate guide to the music. The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to the Music (First ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 380–381. ISBN 9780195116717. OCLC 932391260.
External links
Olivia Newton-John at AllMusic
Olivia Newton-John discography at Discogs
Olivia Newton-John at IMDb
Olivia Newton-John at Rotten Tomatoes |
Grease_2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_2 | [
529
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_2"
] | Grease 2 is a 1982 American musical romantic comedy film, and a standalone sequel to the 1978 film Grease, adapted from the 1971 musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Originally titled More Grease, the film was produced by Allan Carr and Robert Stigwood, and directed and choreographed by Patricia Birch, who choreographed the original stage production and prior film. The plot returns to Rydell High School two years after the original film's graduation, with a largely new cast, led by Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer in her first starring role.
The film was released in United States theaters on June 11, 1982, and grossed $15 million against a production budget of $11 million, a far cry from its predecessor's $132 million domestic box office. Despite breakthrough roles for Pfeiffer, Adrian Zmed, and Christopher McDonald, the film received mostly negative reviews from critics. Despite this, Grease 2 maintains a devoted fan base decades after its release.
Plot
It is 1961, three years after the events of the prior film, and the first day of school has arrived ("Alma Mater" from the original stage musical). Principal McGee and her secretary, Blanche, react as the students—including the laid-back, ruffian T-Birds, and their trendy, “bad-girl” counterparts, the Pink Ladies—arrive at high school ("Back to School Again"). The Pink Ladies are now led by Stephanie Zinone, who feels she has "outgrown" her relationship with her ex-boyfriend Johnny Nogerelli, the arrogant, chauvinistic (and rather immature) bully leader of the motorcycle-riding T-Birds.
A new arrival comes in the form of clean-cut British student Michael Carrington (a cousin of Sandy Olsson from the previous film). He is introduced to the school atmosphere by former Pink Lady Frenchy, who agreed to help show Michael around. Frenchy has returned to Rydell to obtain her diploma so she can start her own cosmetics company (as preluded with “Beauty School Dropout” in the previous film). Michael eventually meets Stephanie, and quickly becomes smitten with her.
At the local bowling alley, a game ("Score Tonight") turns sour from the animosity between Johnny and Stephanie. Stephanie retaliates by kissing the next man who walks in the door, who happens to be Michael. Bemused by this unexpected kiss, Michael falls in love with Stephanie. He asks her out, but learns she has a very specific vision of her ideal man ("Cool Rider"). After realizing how he can win her affection, Michael gets to work on acquiring a motorcycle. Michael begins to covertly accept payments from the T-Birds to write their term papers and uses the cash to buy a motorcycle. Substitute teacher Mr. Stuart leads a rousing biology lesson ("Reproduction").
A rival gang called the Cycle Lords (including members of the defunct Scorpions), led by Leo Balmudo, surprises the T-Birds at the bowling alley. Before a fight ensues, a lone, mysterious “Cool Rider” biker appears (actually Michael, in disguise), defeats the enemy gang, and disappears into the night ("Who's That Guy?"). Stephanie is fascinated with this stranger. Meanwhile, T-Bird Louis attempts to trick his sweetheart, Pink Lady Sharon, into losing her virginity to him by taking her to a fallout shelter and faking a nuclear attack ("Let's Do It for Our Country").
The next evening while working at a gas station/auto garage, Stephanie is surprised again by the Cool Rider, and they enjoy a romantic twilight motorcycle ride, which includes a kiss. Just as Michael is about to reveal his identity, they are interrupted by the arrival of the T-Birds and Pink Ladies. Before Michael departs, he tells Stephanie that he will see her at the school talent show. Johnny, enraged by Stephanie's new romance, threatens to fight the Cool Rider if he sees him with her again. The Pink Ladies walk away haughtily, but this has little effect on the T-Birds' self-confidence ("Prowlin'").
At school, Stephanie's poor grades in English lead her to accept Michael's offer of help. Johnny, upon seeing them together in a discussion, demands that Stephanie quit the Pink Ladies to preserve his honor. Although still enchanted by the mysterious Cool Rider, interactions with Michael reveal that she has become romantically interested in him now, as well. Michael ponders over the continuing charade he is putting on for Stephanie ("Charades").
At the talent show, Stephanie and the Cool Rider meet up but are abruptly ambushed by the T-Birds, who pursue Michael on their respective motorcycles, with Stephanie, Sharon, Paulette, and Rhonda following in a car. They chase him to a construction site which conceals a deadly drop, and the biker's absence suggests that he has gone over the edge and perished, leaving Stephanie heartbroken and inconsolable. Johnny and his T-Birds remove the competing Preptones – preppie boys – by tying them to a shower pole in the boys' locker room and drenching them. During the Pink Ladies' performance in the talent show ("Girl for All Seasons"), Stephanie enters a dreamlike, fantasy world, where she is reunited with her mystery biker ("(Love Will) Turn Back the Hands of Time"). She is named winner of the contest, and crowned the Queen of the upcoming graduation luau; likewise, Johnny is hailed as King for his performance of "Prowlin'", along with his fellow T-Birds.
The school year ends with the luau ("Rock-a-Hula Luau (Summer Is Coming)"), during which the Cycle Lords appear and begin to disrupt the celebration. The Cool Rider then reappears, defeats the Cycle Lords again, and reveals his true identity as Michael. Initially shocked, Johnny gives him a T-Birds jacket, officially welcoming him into the gang, and Stephanie is delighted that she can now be with him. Michael and Stephanie share a passionate kiss, and he whispers that he loves her. All the couples pair-off happily, as the graduating class sings ("We'll Be Together"). The credits start rolling in yearbook-style, as in the original film ("Back to School Again").
Cast
Principal cast
Lead roles
Maxwell Caulfield as Michael Carrington, a British exchange student and Sandy Olsson's cousin.
Michelle Pfeiffer as Stephanie Zinone, the leader of the Pink Ladies.
The T-Birds
Adrian Zmed as Johnny Nogerelli, the leader of The T-Birds
Christopher McDonald as Goose McKenzie
Peter Frechette as Louis DiMucci
Leif Green as Davey Jaworski
The Pink Ladies
Maureen Teefy as Sharon Cooper
Lorna Luft as Paulette Rebchuck
Alison Price as Rhonda Ritter
Pamela Segall as Dolores Rebchuck
Reprising roles from Grease
Didi Conn as Frenchy
Eve Arden as Principal McGee (Arden's final film role)
Sid Caesar as Coach Vince Calhoun
Dody Goodman as Secretary Blanche Hodel
Eddie Deezen as Eugene Felsnick
Dennis C. Stewart as Leo Balmudo (Craterface), leader of the Cycle Lords (appeared as the gang leader of the Scorpions in the previous film)
Dick Patterson as Mr. Spears (appeared as Mr. Rudie in the previous film)
Supporting cast
Tab Hunter as Mr. Stuart
Connie Stevens as Miss Yvette Mason
Jean and Liz Sagal as the Sorority / Cheerleader Twins
Matt Lattanzi as Brad, one of the Prep-Tones
Donna King as Girl Greaser (lead dancer)
Lucinda Dickey as Girl Greaser
Ivy Austin as Girl Greaser 'Francine'
Andy Tennant as Boy Greaser 'Artie' (Arnold in Grease)
Bernard Hiller as Boy Greaser
Tom Villard as Boy Greaser 'Willie' (performs "Cry" at the talent show)
Vernon Scott as Henry Dickey, one of the Prep-Tones
Tom Willett as bowling alley manager (uncredited)
Janet Jones as the girl who missed her last two periods (uncredited)
William N. Clark as Cycle Salvage Yard Manager (uncredited) – also was a cameraman
Aurelio Padrón as Boy Greaser
John Robert Garrett as Boy Greaser (Bubba in Grease)
Helena Andreyko as Girl Greaser (Trix in Grease)
Dennis Daniels as Boy Greaser (Bart in Grease)
Vicki Hunter as Girl Greaser
Sandra Gray as Girl Greaser (Big G. in Grease)
John Allee as student with basketball (Calhoun: "We'll put high-heels on your sneakers and we'll make you a center!")
Michael David Eilert as Boy Greaser (uncredited)
Bill Baker as High School Student (uncredited)
Production
Development
Grease co-producer Allan Carr had a deal with Paramount Pictures to be paid $5 million to produce a sequel, with production beginning within three years of the original film. Carr decided to hire Patricia Birch as director for the sequel, as she had previously served as the choreographer for the stage and film versions of Grease. Birch was initially hesitant to accept after learning that neither composers Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey nor John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John would be involved in the film. Bronte Woodard, the writer who adapted the original stage material for the original film, had died in 1980, and Canadian comic Ken Finkleman (who was also writing and directing Airplane II at the same time) was tasked with penning a new script mostly from scratch. The total budget for the production was $11.2 million, almost double the budget of the original. Birch's approach to the material was to hew closer to the original, grittier stage productions from which Grease came; she had resisted changes made to the original film (largely made at Newton-John's behest) but was overruled.
Grease 2 was intended to be the second film (and first sequel) in a proposed Grease franchise of four films and a television series. (The third and fourth films were to take place in the 1960s and during the counterculture era.) However, the projects were scrapped due to the underwhelming box office performance of Grease 2. Maxwell Caulfield was unhappy with the film's "drab" title, and unsuccessfully lobbied to change it to Son of Grease.
Casting
Birch proposed an idea to feature Travolta and Newton-John reprising their characters as a now married couple running a gas station near the end of the film, with Travolta to sing a new number "Gas Pump Jockey;" this did not come to fruition. Newton John rejected the offer to return, as she was more interested in doing Xanadu. Paramount tried to get Jeff Conaway and Stockard Channing from the first film to do cameos but this did not happen (Channing, by then 37 years old, had left Hollywood for a time in the early 1980s to focus on her stage career). Early plans for Grease 2 had Conaway and Channing's characters, Kenickie and Rizzo, as main characters while they attended summer school, which would have culminated in the two getting married.
Andy Gibb was screen tested to play the male lead but this proved unsatisfactory. At one stage Timothy Hutton was announced as the male lead, and Carr later claimed after Grease 2 was released "Hutton came, sang, and danced in my living room. He had done Guys and Dolls in college, and that’s who I wanted and preferred. But they didn’t consider him sexy enough.”
Maxwell Caulfield was cast after impressing producers off-Broadway in Entertaining Mr. Sloane. Having seen his performances, Allan Carr offered Caulfield the role of Michael over thousands of applicants.
“They were all in love with Maxwell,” said Patricia Birch. “Robert and Allan saw him onstage without his clothes."
Unlike co-star Pfeiffer, Caulfield's career following Grease 2 was damaged by the film's failure. He has been quoted as saying: "Before Grease 2 came out, I was being hailed as the next Richard Gere or John Travolta. However, when Grease 2 flopped, nobody would touch me. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown in my face. It took me 10 years to get over Grease 2."
With only a few television roles and small film appearances, Michelle Pfeiffer, then aged 23, was a relatively unknown actress when she attended the casting call audition for the role of Stephanie. Other actresses considered for the part included Lisa Hartman, Kristy McNichol, Andrea McArdle, and singer Pat Benatar. Pfeiffer was a wild card choice, but according to Birch, she won the part because she "has a quirky quality you don't expect." She later commented on being cast:
That was really weird for me. I'd been taking singing lessons and I had taken dance, because I loved to dance, but I had never considered myself a professional at all. I went on this audition as a fluke, and somehow, through the process of going back and dancing, and then going back and singing, I ended up getting the part. I went crazy with that movie. I came to New York and the paparazzi were waiting at the hotel. I know the producers put them up to it. I am basically very private, and I'm really nervous about doing publicity. Every time I set up an interview, I say, "That's it, this is my last one. I'll do this because I committed to doing it, but I'm never doing another one." It was insane.
Lorna Luft was the last star cast. The part played by Connie Stevens was originally meant for Annette Funicello but she was unable to appear because her schedule as Skippy peanut butter spokeswoman did not allow her time to film the scene.
Adrian Zmed had previously played the role of Danny Zuko in the stage version of Grease, a role he would later reprise in the 1990s.
Filming
Scenes at Rydell High School were filmed at Excelsior High School, a recently closed high school in Norwalk, California. Filming took place throughout a 58-day shooting schedule during the autumn of 1981. According to director Birch, the script was still incomplete when filming commenced. Sequences that were filmed but cut during post-production include scenes in which Frenchy helps Michael become a motorcycle rider, and a sequence at the end of the film showing Michael and Stephanie flying off into the sky on a motorcycle.
In the film, after Stephanie wins the contest, it goes on to show the luau in the final scene. Originally, there were a few minutes dedicated to a scene in which Michael (believed to be dead in his alter ego, by Stephanie) comes out on stage as Stephanie is exiting the stage, unbeknownst to her that he is the cool rider and he is alive. He attempts to ask her what's wrong and she storms past him and runs off crying, then it cuts to the luau. There was a scene within the "Who's that Guy?" number in which Goose accidentally smashes Rhonda's nose at the Bowl-A-Rama door. None of these scenes have been shown since the film's release.
Music
"Back to School Again" – Cast and The Four Tops (verses by the Pink Ladies are absent from the soundtrack)
"Score Tonight" – T-Birds, Pink Ladies, Cast
"Brad" – Noreen and Doreen
"Cool Rider" – Stephanie
"Reproduction" – Mr. Stuart and Students
"Who's That Guy?" – Michael, T-Birds, Pink Ladies, Cycle Lords, and Cast
"Do It for Our Country" – Louis and Sharon (Sharon's part is absent from the soundtrack)
"Prowlin'" – Johnny and T-Birds
"Charades" – Michael
"Girl for All Seasons" – Sharon, Paulette, Rhonda, and Stephanie
"(Love Will) Turn Back the Hands of Time" – Stephanie and Michael
"Rock-a-Hula Luau (Summer Is Coming)" – Cast
"We'll Be Together" – Michael, Stephanie, Johnny, Paulette, and Cast
Featured as background music at Rydell Sport Field:
"Moon River" (The Spirit of Troy- University of Southern California Marching Band)
Featured as background music at the bowling alley:
"Our Day Will Come" – Ruby & The Romantics (Grease 2 takes place in 1961–62 and "Our Day Will Come" did not come out until 1963)
"Rebel Walk" – Duane Eddy (this was the B-side of his biggest hit "Because They're Young")
Featured at the beginning:
"Alma Mater" – Instrumental (this song was played at the beginning when Principal McGee and Blanche put up the 1961 Rydell flag)
Release
Box office
The sequel took in just over $15 million after coming at fifth on opening weekend behind E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Rocky III, and Poltergeist.
Caulfield said "basically we just got blown off the map by that little movie by Spielberg."
Critical response
As of July 2022, on Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an approval rating of 35% based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 4.3/10. The site's consensus read: "Grease 2 is undeniably stocked with solid songs and well-choreographed dance sequences, but there's no getting around the fact that it's a blatant retread of its far more entertaining predecessor." As of October 2020, on Metacritic it had a score of 52% based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Janet Maslin of The New York Times condemned the film as "dizzy and slight, with an even more negligible plot than its predecessor had. This time the story can't even masquerade as an excuse for stringing the songs together. Songs? What songs? The numbers in Grease 2 are so hopelessly insubstantial that the cast is forced to burst into melody about pastimes like bowling."
Variety commended the staging of the musical numbers, writing that Patricia Birch has come up with some unusual settings (a bowling alley, a bomb shelter) for some of the scenes, and employs some sharp montage to give most of the songs and dances a fair amount of punch."
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 stars out of 4, saying: "This movie just recycles Grease, without the stars, without the energy, without the freshness and without the grease."
Pfeiffer received positive notices for her first major role. The New York Times review cited her performance as the "one improvement" on the original film: "Miss Pfeiffer is as gorgeous as any cover girl, and she has a sullen quality that's more fitting to a Grease character than Miss Newton-John's sunniness was." Variety wrote that she was "all anyone could ask for in the looks department, and she fills Olivia Newton-John's shoes and tight pants very well." Pfeiffer told the Los Angeles Times three years later:
That film was a good experience for me. It taught me a valuable lesson. Before it even came out the hype had started. Maxwell and I were being thrust down the public's throat in huge full page advertisements. There was no way we could live up to any of that and we didn't. So the crash was very loud. But it did teach me not to have expectations.
Barry Diller of Paramount said that the film "on no level is as good as the first. The quality isn't there."
Jim Jacobs described it at the time as "awful ... the pits." In an interview 27 years later, Jacobs noted that Grease 2 "still brings a brief frown to his face."
During an appearance for Rotten Tomatoes to promote the film Tick, Tick... Boom!, actor Andrew Garfield cited the film as one of his five favorite musicals, calling it "great".
Accolades
Pfeiffer was nominated for a 1983 Young Artist Award in the category of Best Young Motion Picture Actress.
The film was nominated for a Stinkers Bad Movie Awards for Worst Picture. Later on, the Stinkers would unveil their picks for the 100 worst films of the 20th century with their "100 Years, 100 Stinkers" list. Grease 2 ranked in the listed bottom 20 at #13.
The film was given a special screening at the 2021 online TCM Festival.
Remakes
The film's screenplay was adapted in the Kannada (South India) feature film Premaloka, starring Ravichandran and Juhi Chawla, released in 1987, which went on to become a blockbuster.
Plans for a third film
In 2003, Olivia Newton-John confirmed that a second sequel was being developed. "They're writing it, and we'll see what happens. If the script looks good, I'll do it. But I haven't seen the script, and it has to be cleverly done." Newton-John died in 2022 before any such script was completed.
In 2008, it was reported that Paramount was planning a new sequel to Grease that would debut straight to DVD. However, the project never came to fruition.
In 2019, it was announced that a prequel to the original film entitled Summer Lovin' with John August attached to write the screenplay was in the works at Paramount.
Stage musical
The film was later adapted into a musical, Cool Rider, with the script re-written and modified for the stage.
References
Bibliography
External links
Grease 2 at IMDb
Grease 2 at AllMovie
Grease 2 at Box Office Mojo
Grease 2 at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
Grease 2 at the TCM Movie Database |
Vancouver_Cherry_Blossom_Festival | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Cherry_Blossom_Festival | [
530
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Cherry_Blossom_Festival"
] | The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (VCBF) is an annual spring festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to celebrate the city's cherry trees. The festival’s fundamental objectives include public education through seasonal, cherry-themed citywide viewing programs, musical performances, and fine art and craft exhibitions.
History
The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival was founded in 2005 by Linda Poole, its executive director, to commemorate the 800 cherry (also known as sakura in Japanese) trees gifted to the city by Japan.
Since then, Vancouver has over 40,000 cherry trees as of 2023. The festival incorporates opportunities to capture their beauty every spring, including bike rides, cherry blossom viewing tours, and traditional Japanese festivities.
In 2020, the festival went on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From 1 to 25 April 2021, the 15th annual Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival ran virtually.
References
External links
A Guide to Vancouver's Cherry Blossoms from Tourism Vancouver
Vancouver Haiku Stone Photographs
Article from CBC Kids (March 31, 2014)
Article from CNN.com (March 5, 2012)
Article from BC Living (April 4, 2011)
Official website |
YouTube | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube | [
530
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube"
] | YouTube is an American online video sharing platform owned by Google. Accessible worldwide, YouTube was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States, it is the second-most visited website in the world, after Google Search. As of January 2024, YouTube has more than 2.7 billion monthly users, who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos every day. As of May 2019, videos were being uploaded to the platform at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute, and as of 2021, there were approximately 14 billion videos in total.
On the 9th of October 2006, YouTube was purchased by Google for $1.65 billion (equivalent to $2.31 billion in 2023). Google expanded YouTube's business model of generating revenue from advertisements alone, to offering paid content such as movies and exclusive content produced by and for YouTube. It also offers YouTube Premium, a paid subscription option for watching content without ads. YouTube incorporated Google's AdSense program, generating more revenue for both YouTube and approved content creators. In 2022, YouTube's annual advertising revenue increased to $29.2 billion, more than $9 billion higher than in 2020.
Since its purchase by Google, YouTube has expanded beyond the core website into mobile apps, network television, and the ability to link with other platforms. Video categories on YouTube include music videos, video clips, news, short and feature films, songs, documentaries, movie trailers, teasers and TV spots, live streams, vlogs, and more. Most content is generated by individuals, including collaborations between "YouTubers" and corporate sponsors. Established media, news, and entertainment corporations have also created and expanded their visibility to YouTube channels in order to reach greater audiences.
YouTube has had unprecedented social impact, influencing popular culture, internet trends, and creating multimillionaire celebrities. Despite its growth and success, the platform is sometimes criticized for facilitating the spread of misinformation and copyrighted content, routinely violating its users' privacy, excessive censorship, endangering child safety and wellbeing, and for its inconsistent or incorrect implementation of platform guidelines.
History
Founding and initial growth (2005–2006)
YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. The trio were early employees of PayPal, which left them enriched after the company was bought by eBay. Hurley had studied design at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
According to a story that has often been repeated in the media, Hurley and Chen developed the idea for YouTube during the early months of 2005, after they had experienced difficulty sharing videos that had been shot at a dinner party at Chen's apartment in San Francisco. Karim did not attend the party and denied that it had occurred, but Chen remarked that the idea that YouTube was founded after a dinner party "was probably very strengthened by marketing ideas around creating a story that was very digestible".
Karim said the inspiration for YouTube came from the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, when Janet Jackson's breast was briefly exposed by Justin Timberlake during the halftime show. Karim could not easily find video clips of the incident and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami online, which led to the idea of a video-sharing site. Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not. They created posts on Craigslist asking attractive women to upload videos of themselves to YouTube in exchange for a $100 reward. Difficulty in finding enough dating videos led to a change of plans, with the site's founders deciding to accept uploads of any video.
YouTube began as a venture capital–funded technology startup. Between November 2005 and April 2006, the company raised money from various investors, with Sequoia Capital and Artis Capital Management being the largest two. YouTube's early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and a Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. In February 2005, the company activated www.youtube.com. The first video was uploaded on April 23, 2005. Titled "Me at the zoo", it shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo and can still be viewed on the site. In May, the company launched a public beta and by November, a Nike ad featuring Ronaldinho became the first video to reach one million total views. The site launched officially on December 15, 2005, by which time the site was receiving 8 million views a day. Clips at the time were limited to 100 megabytes, as little as 30 seconds of footage.
YouTube was not the first video-sharing site on the Internet; Vimeo was launched in November 2004, though that site remained a side project of its developers from CollegeHumor. The week of YouTube's launch, NBC-Universal's Saturday Night Live ran a skit "Lazy Sunday" by The Lonely Island. Besides helping to bolster ratings and long-term viewership for Saturday Night Live, "Lazy Sunday"'s status as an early viral video helped establish YouTube as an important website. Unofficial uploads of the skit to YouTube drew in more than five million collective views by February 2006 before they were removed when NBCUniversal requested it two months later based on copyright concerns. Despite eventually being taken down, these duplicate uploads of the skit helped popularize YouTube's reach and led to the upload of more third-party content. The site grew rapidly; in July 2006, the company announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day.
The choice of the name www.youtube.com led to problems for a similarly named website, www.utube.com. That site's owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006, after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube subsequently changed its website to www.utubeonline.com.
"Broadcast Yourself" era (2006–2013)
On October 9, 2006, Google announced that they had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock. The deal was finalized on November 13, 2006. Google's acquisition launched newfound interest in video-sharing sites; IAC, which now owned Vimeo, focused on supporting the content creators to distinguish itself from YouTube. It is at this time YouTube issued the slogan "Broadcast Yourself".
The company experienced rapid growth. The Daily Telegraph wrote that in 2007, YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. By 2010, the company had reached a market share of around 43% and more than 14 billion views of videos, according to comScore. That year, the company simplified its interface to increase the time users would spend on the site. In 2011, more than three billion videos were being watched each day with 48 hours of new videos uploaded every minute. However, most of these views came from a relatively small number of videos; according to a software engineer at that time, 30% of videos accounted for 99% of views on the site. That year, the company again changed its interface and at the same time, introduced a new logo with a darker shade of red. A subsequent interface change, designed to unify the experience across desktop, TV, and mobile, was rolled out in 2013. By that point, more than 100 hours were being uploaded every minute, increasing to 300 hours by November 2014.
During this time, the company also went through some organizational changes. In October 2006, YouTube moved to a new office in San Bruno, California. Hurley announced that he would be stepping down as chief executive officer of YouTube to take an advisory role and that Salar Kamangar would take over as head of the company in October 2010.
In December 2009, YouTube partnered with Vevo. In April 2010, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" became the most viewed video, becoming the first video to reach 200 million views on May 9, 2010.
YouTube faced a major lawsuit by Viacom International in 2011 that nearly resulted in the discontinuation of the website. The lawsuit was filed as a result of alleged copyright infringement of Viacom's material by YouTube. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that YouTube was not liable, and thus YouTube won the case in 2012.
Susan Wojcicki and going mainstream (2014–2018)
Susan Wojcicki was appointed CEO of YouTube in February 2014. In January 2016, YouTube expanded its headquarters in San Bruno by purchasing an office park for $215 million. The complex has 51,468 square metres (554,000 square feet) of space and can house up to 2,800 employees. YouTube officially launched the "polymer" redesign of its user interfaces based on Material Design language as its default, as well a redesigned logo that is built around the service's play button emblem in August 2017.
Through this period, YouTube tried several new ways to generate revenue beyond advertisements. In 2013, YouTube launched a pilot program for content providers to offer premium, subscription-based channels. This effort was discontinued in January 2018 and relaunched in June, with US$4.99 channel subscriptions. These channel subscriptions complemented the existing Super Chat ability, launched in 2017, which allows viewers to donate between $1 and $500 to have their comment highlighted. In 2014, YouTube announced a subscription service known as "Music Key", which bundled ad-free streaming of music content on YouTube with the existing Google Play Music service. The service continued to evolve in 2015 when YouTube announced YouTube Red, a new premium service that would offer ad-free access to all content on the platform (succeeding the Music Key service released the previous year), premium original series, and films produced by YouTube personalities, as well as background playback of content on mobile devices. YouTube also released YouTube Music, a third app oriented towards streaming and discovering the music content hosted on the YouTube platform.
The company also attempted to create products appealing to specific viewers. YouTube released a mobile app known as YouTube Kids in 2015, designed to provide an experience optimized for children. It features a simplified user interface, curated selections of channels featuring age-appropriate content, and parental control features. Also in 2015, YouTube launched YouTube Gaming—a video gaming-oriented vertical and app for videos and live streaming, intended to compete with the Amazon.com-owned Twitch.
The company was attacked on April 3, 2018, when a shooting occurred at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California, which wounded four and resulted in the death of the shooter.
Recent history (2019–present)
By February 2017, one billion hours of YouTube videos were being watched every day, and 400 hours worth of videos were uploaded every minute. Two years later, the uploads had risen to more than 500 hours per minute. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when most of the world was under stay-at-home orders, usage of services like YouTube significantly increased. One data firm estimated that YouTube was accounting for 15% of all internet traffic, twice its pre-pandemic level. In response to EU officials requesting that such services reduce bandwidth as to make sure medical entities had sufficient bandwidth to share information, YouTube and Netflix stated they would reduce streaming quality for at least thirty days as to cut bandwidth use of their services by 25% to comply with the EU's request. YouTube later announced that they would continue with this move worldwide: "We continue to work closely with governments and network operators around the globe to do our part to minimize stress on the system during this unprecedented situation."
Following a 2018 complaint alleging violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the company was fined $170 million by the FTC for collecting personal information from minors under the age of 13. YouTube was also ordered to create systems to increase children's privacy. Following criticisms of its implementation of those systems, YouTube started treating all videos designated as "made for kids" as liable under COPPA on January 6, 2020. Joining the YouTube Kids app, the company created a supervised mode, designed more for tweens, in 2021. Additionally, to compete with TikTok, YouTube released YouTube Shorts, a short-form video platform.
During this period, YouTube entered disputes with other tech companies. For over a year, in 2018 and 2019, no YouTube app was available for Amazon Fire products. In 2020, Roku removed the YouTube TV app from its streaming store after the two companies were unable to reach an agreement.
After testing earlier in 2021, YouTube removed public display of dislike counts on videos in November 2021, claiming the reason for the removal was, based on its internal research, that users often used the dislike feature as a form of cyberbullying and brigading. While some users praised the move as a way to discourage trolls, others felt that hiding dislikes would make it harder for viewers to recognize clickbait or unhelpful videos and that other features already existed for creators to limit bullying. YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim referred to the update as "a stupid idea", and that the real reason behind the change was "not a good one, and not one that will be publicly disclosed." He felt that users' ability on a social platform to identify harmful content was essential, saying, "The process works, and there's a name for it: the wisdom of the crowds. The process breaks when the platform interferes with it. Then, the platform invariably declines." Shortly after the announcement, software developer Dmitry Selivanov created Return YouTube Dislike, an open-source, third-party browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that allows users to see a video's number of dislikes. In a letter published on January 25, 2022, by then YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, acknowledged that removing public dislike counts was a controversial decision, but reiterated that she stands by this decision, claiming that "it reduced dislike attacks."
In 2022, YouTube launched an experiment where the company would show users who watched longer videos on TVs a long chain of short un-skippable adverts, intending to consolidate all ads into the beginning of a video. Following public outrage over the unprecedented amount of un-skippable ads, YouTube "ended" the experiment on September 19 of that year. In October, YouTube announced that they would be rolling out customizable user handles in addition to channel names, which would also become channel URLs.
On February 16, 2023, Wojcicki announced that she would step down as CEO, with Neal Mohan named as her successor. Wojcicki will take on an advisory role for Google and parent company Alphabet.
In late October 2023, YouTube began cracking down on the use of ad blockers on the platform. Users of ad blockers may be given a pop-up warning saying "Video player will be blocked after 3 videos". Users of ad blockers are shown a message asking them to allow ads or inviting them to subscribe to the ad-free YouTube Premium subscription plan. YouTube says that the use of ad blockers violates its terms of service.
In April 2024, YouTube announced it would be "strengthening our enforcement on third-party apps that violate YouTube's Terms of Service, specifically ad-blocking apps".
Senior leadership
YouTube has been led by a CEO since its founding in 2005, beginning with Chad Hurley, who led the company until 2010. After Google's acquisition of YouTube, the CEO role was retained. Salar Kamangar took over Hurley's position and kept the job until 2014. He was replaced by Susan Wojcicki, who later resigned in 2023. The current CEO is Neal Mohan, who was appointed on February 16, 2023.
Features
Video technology
YouTube primarily uses the VP9 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video codecs, and the Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP protocol. MPEG-4 Part 2 streams contained within 3GP containers are also provided for low bandwidth connections. By January 2019, YouTube had begun rolling out videos in AV1 format. In 2021 it was reported that the company was considering requiring AV1 in streaming hardware in order to decrease bandwidth and increase quality. Video is usually streamed alongside the Opus and AAC audio codecs.
At launch in 2005, viewing YouTube videos on a personal computer required the Adobe Flash Player plug-in to be installed in the browser. In January 2010, YouTube launched an experimental version of the site that used the built-in multimedia capabilities of Web browsers supporting HTML video. This allowed videos to be viewed without requiring Adobe Flash Player or any other plug-in to be installed. On January 27, 2015, YouTube announced that HTML video would be the default playback method on supported browsers. HTML video streams use Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), an HTTP-based adaptive bit-rate streaming solution optimizes the bitrate and quality for the available network.
The platform can serve videos at optionally lower resolution levels starting at 144p for smoother playback in areas and countries with limited Internet speeds, improving compatibility, as well as for the preservation of limited cellular data plans. The resolution can be adjusted automatically based on detected connection speed or set manually.
From 2008 to 2017, users could add "annotations" to their videos, such as pop-up text messages and hyperlinks, which allowed for interactive videos. By 2019, all annotations had been removed from videos, breaking some videos that depended on the feature. YouTube introduced standardized widgets intended to replace annotations in a cross-platform manner, including "end screens" (a customizable array of thumbnails for specified videos displayed near the end of the video).
In 2018, YouTube became an International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) registry, and announced its intention to begin creating ISNI identifiers to uniquely identify the musicians whose videos it features.
Users can verify their account, normally through a mobile phone, to gain the ability to upload videos up to 12 hours in length, as well as produce live streams. Users who have built sufficient channel history and have a good track record of complying with the site's Community Guidelines will also gain access to these aforementioned features as well. When YouTube was launched in 2005, it was possible to upload longer videos, but a 10-minute limit was introduced in March 2006 after YouTube found that the majority of videos exceeding this length were unauthorized uploads of television shows and films. The 10-minute limit was increased to 15 minutes in July 2010. Videos can be at most 256 GB in size or 12 hours, whichever is less. As of 2021, automatic closed captions using speech recognition technology when a video is uploaded are available in 13 languages, and can be machine-translated during playback.
YouTube also offers manual closed captioning as part of its creator studio. YouTube formerly offered a 'Community Captions' feature, where viewers could write and submit captions for public display upon approval by the video uploader, but this was deprecated in September 2020.
YouTube accepts the most common container formats, including MP4, Matroska, FLV, AVI, WebM, 3GP, MPEG-PS, and the QuickTime File Format. Some intermediate video formats (i.e., primarily used for professional video editing, not for final delivery or storage) are also accepted, such as ProRes. YouTube provides recommended encoding settings.
Each video is identified by an eleven-character case-sensitive alphanumerical Base64 string in the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) which can contain letters, digits, an underscore (_), and a dash (-).
In 2018, YouTube added a feature called Premiere which displays a notification to the user mentioning when the video will be available for the first time, like for a live stream but with a prerecorded video. When the scheduled time arrives, the video is aired as a live broadcast with a two-minute countdown. Optionally, a premiere can be initiated immediately.
Quality and formats
YouTube originally offered videos at only one quality level, displayed at a resolution of 320×240 pixels using the Sorenson Spark codec (a variant of H.263), with mono MP3 audio. In June 2007, YouTube added an option to watch videos in 3GP format on mobile phones. In March 2008, a high-quality mode was added, which increased the resolution to 480×360 pixels. In December 2008, 720p HD support was added. At the time of the 720p launch, the YouTube player was changed from a 4:3 aspect ratio to a widescreen 16:9. With this new feature, YouTube began a switchover to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC as its default video compression format. In November 2009, 1080p HD support was added. In July 2010, YouTube announced that it had launched a range of videos in 4K format, which allows a resolution of up to 4096×3072 pixels. In July 2010, support for 2160p UHD was added, with the videos playing at 3840 × 2160 pixels. In June 2014, YouTube began to deploy support for high frame rate videos up to 60 frames per second (as opposed to 30 before), becoming available for user uploads in October. YouTube stated that this would enhance "motion-intensive" videos, such as video game footage. In June 2015, support for 8K resolution was added, with the videos playing at 7680×4320 pixels. In November 2016, support for HDR video was added which can be encoded with hybrid log–gamma (HLG) or perceptual quantizer (PQ). HDR video can be encoded with the Rec. 2020 color space.
YouTube videos are available in a range of quality levels. Viewers only indirectly influence the video quality. In the mobile apps, users choose between "Auto", which adjusts resolution based on the internet connection, "High Picture Quality" which will prioritize playing high-quality video, "Data saver" which will sacrifice video quality in favor of low data usage and "Advanced" which lets the user choose a stream resolution. On desktop, users choose between "Auto" and a specific resolution. It is not possible for the viewer to directly choose a higher bitrate (quality) for any selected resolution.
Since 2009, viewers have had the ability to watch 3D videos. In 2015, YouTube began natively supporting 360-degree video. Since April 2016, it allowed live streaming 360° video, and both normal and 360° video at up to 1440p, and since November 2016 both at up to 4K (2160p) resolution. Citing the limited number of users who watched more than 90-degrees, it began supporting an alternative stereoscopic video format known as VR180 which it said was easier to produce, which allows users to watch any video using virtual reality headsets.
In response to increased viewership during the COVID-19 pandemic, YouTube temporarily downgraded the quality of its videos. YouTube developed its own chip, called "Argos", to help with encoding higher resolution videos in 2021.
In April 2023, YouTube began offering some videos in an enhanced bitrate "1080p Premium" option for YouTube Premium subscribers on iOS. In August 2023, the feature became available to subscribers on desktop platforms.
In certain cases, YouTube allows the uploader to upgrade the quality of videos uploaded a long time ago in poor quality. One such partnership with Universal Music Group included remasters of 1,000 music videos.
Live streaming
YouTube carried out early experiments with live streaming, including its YouTube Live event in 2008, a concert by U2 in 2009, and a question-and-answer session with US President Barack Obama in February 2010. These tests had relied on technology from 3rd-party partners, but in September 2010, YouTube began testing its own live streaming infrastructure. In April 2011, YouTube announced the rollout of YouTube Live. The creation of live streams was initially limited to select partners. It was used for real-time broadcasting of events such as the 2012 Olympics in London. In October 2012, more than 8 million people watched Felix Baumgartner's jump from the edge of space as a live stream on YouTube.
In May 2013, creation of live streams was opened to verified users with at least 1,000 subscribers; in August of the same year the number was reduced to 100 subscribers, and in December the limit was removed. In February 2017, live streaming was introduced to the official YouTube mobile app. Live streaming via mobile was initially restricted to users with at least 10,000 subscribers, but as of mid-2017 it has been reduced to 100 subscribers. Live streams support HDR, can be up to 4K resolution at 60 fps, and also support 360° video.
User features
Comment system
Most videos enable users to leave comments, which have attracted attention for the negative aspects of their form and content. In 2006, Time praised Web 2.0 for enabling "community and collaboration on a scale never seen before", and added that YouTube "harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom. Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone, never mind the obscenity and the naked hatred". The Guardian in 2009 described users' comments on YouTube as:
Juvenile, aggressive, misspelt, sexist, homophobic, swinging from raging at the contents of a video to providing a pointlessly detailed description followed by a LOL, YouTube comments are a hotbed of infantile debate and unashamed ignorance—with the occasional burst of wit shining through.
The Daily Telegraph commented in September 2008, that YouTube was "notorious" for "some of the most confrontational and ill-formed comment exchanges on the internet", and reported on YouTube Comment Snob, "a new piece of software that blocks rude and illiterate posts". The Huffington Post noted in April 2012 that finding comments on YouTube that appear "offensive, stupid and crass" to the "vast majority" of the people is hardly difficult.
Google subsequently implemented a comment system oriented on Google+ on November 6, 2013, that required all YouTube users to use a Google+ account to comment on videos. The stated motivation for the change was giving creators more power to moderate and block comments, thereby addressing frequent criticisms of their quality and tone. The new system restored the ability to include URLs in comments, which had previously been removed due to problems with abuse. In response, YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim posted the question "why the fuck do I need a google+ account to comment on a video?" on his YouTube channel to express his negative opinion of the change. The official YouTube announcement received 20,097 "thumbs down" votes and generated more than 32,000 comments in two days. Writing in the Newsday blog Silicon Island, Chase Melvin noted that "Google+ is nowhere near as popular a social media network like Facebook, but it's essentially being forced upon millions of YouTube users who don't want to lose their ability to comment on videos" and added that "Discussion forums across the Internet are already bursting with the outcry against the new comment system". In the same article Melvin goes on to say:
Perhaps user complaints are justified, but the idea of revamping the old system isn't so bad.
Think of the crude, misogynistic and racially-charged mudslinging that has transpired over the last eight years on YouTube without any discernible moderation. Isn't any attempt to curb unidentified libelers worth a shot? The system is far from perfect, but Google should be lauded for trying to alleviate some of the damage caused by irate YouTubers hiding behind animosity and anonymity.
Later, on July 27, 2015, Google announced in a blog post that it would be removing the requirement to sign up to a Google+ account to post comments to YouTube. On November 3, 2016, YouTube announced a trial scheme which allows the creators of videos to decide whether to approve, hide or report the comments posted on videos based on an algorithm that detects potentially offensive comments. Creators may also choose to keep or delete comments with links or hashtags to combat spam. They can also allow other users to moderate their comments.
In December 2020, it was reported that YouTube would launch a new feature that will warn users who post a comment that "may be offensive to others."
Community
On September 13, 2016, YouTube launched a public beta of Community, a social media-based feature that allows users to post text, images (including GIFs), live videos and others in a separate "Community" tab on their channel. Prior to the release, several creators had been consulted to suggest tools Community could incorporate that they would find useful; these YouTubers included Vlogbrothers, AsapScience, Lilly Singh, The Game Theorists, Karmin, The Key of Awesome, The Kloons, Peter Hollens, Rosianna Halse Rojas, Sam Tsui, Threadbanger and Vsauce3.
After the feature has been officially released, the community post feature gets activated automatically for every channel that passes a specific threshold of subscriber counts or already has more subscribers. This threshold was lowered over time, from 10,000 subscribers to 1500 subscribers, to 1000 subscribers, to 500 subscribers.
Channels that the community tab becomes enabled for, get their channel discussions (previously known as channel comments) permanently erased, instead of co-existing or migrating.
TestTube
Experimental features of YouTube could be accessed in an area of the site formerly named TestTube.
For example, in October 2009, a comment search feature accessible under /comment_search was implemented as part of this program. The feature was removed later. Later the same year, YouTube Feather was introduced as a "lightweight" alternative website for countries with limited internet speeds. Following the transition to the Polymer layout, TestTube was disabled, and the URL redirects to video playback settings. TestTube was replaced by a new system that requires users to be premium members to enable or disable experiments.
Content accessibility
YouTube offers users the ability to view its videos on web pages outside their website. Each YouTube video is accompanied by a piece of HTML that can be used to embed it on any page on the Web. This functionality is often used to embed YouTube videos in social networking pages and blogs. Users wishing to post a video discussing, inspired by, or related to another user's video can make a "video response". The eleven character YouTube video identifier (64 possible characters used in each position), allows for a theoretical maximum of 6411 or around 73.8 quintillion (73.8 billion billion) unique ids.
YouTube announced that it would remove video responses for being an underused feature on August 27, 2013. Embedding, rating, commenting and response posting can be disabled by the video owner. YouTube does not usually offer a download link for its videos, and intends for them to be viewed through its website interface. A small number of videos can be downloaded as MP4 files. Numerous third-party web sites, applications and browser plug-ins allow users to download YouTube videos.
In February 2009, YouTube announced a test service, allowing some partners to offer video downloads for free or for a fee paid through Google Checkout. In June 2012, Google sent cease and desist letters threatening legal action against several websites offering online download and conversion of YouTube videos. In response, Zamzar removed the ability to download YouTube videos from its site. Users retain copyright of their own work under the default Standard YouTube License, but have the option to grant certain usage rights under any public copyright license they choose.
Since July 2012, it has been possible to select a Creative Commons attribution license as the default, allowing other users to reuse and remix the material.
Platforms
Most modern smartphones are capable of accessing YouTube videos, either within an application or through an optimized website. YouTube Mobile was launched in June 2007, using RTSP streaming for the video. Not all of YouTube's videos are available on the mobile version of the site.
Since June 2007, YouTube's videos have been available for viewing on a range of Apple products. This required YouTube's content to be transcoded into Apple's preferred video standard, H.264, a process that took several months. YouTube videos can be viewed on devices including Apple TV, iPod Touch and the iPhone.
The mobile version of the site was relaunched based on HTML video in July 2010, avoiding the need to use Adobe Flash Player and optimized for use with touch screen controls. The mobile version is also available as an app for the Android platform.
In September 2012, YouTube launched its first app for the iPhone, following the decision to drop YouTube as one of the preloaded apps in the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 operating system. According to GlobalWebIndex, YouTube was used by 35% of smartphone users between April and June 2013, making it the third-most used app.
A TiVo service update in July 2008 allowed the system to search and play YouTube videos.
In January 2009, YouTube launched "YouTube for TV", a version of the website tailored for set-top boxes and other TV-based media devices with web browsers, initially allowing its videos to be viewed on the PlayStation 3 and Wii video game consoles.
During the month of June that same year, YouTube XL was introduced, which has a simplified interface designed for viewing on a standard television screen. YouTube is also available as an app on Xbox Live.
On November 15, 2012, Google launched an official app for the Wii, allowing users to watch YouTube videos from the Wii channel. An app was available for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, but was discontinued in August 2019. Videos can also be viewed on the Wii U Internet Browser using HTML video. Google made YouTube available on the Roku player on December 17, 2013, and, in October 2014, the Sony PlayStation 4.
YouTube launched as a downloadable app for the Nintendo Switch in November 2018.
International and localization
In early years of operation, Google faced some criticism for 'encouraging the dominance of US values', by prioritising English over other languages. On June 19, 2007, at a conference in Paris, Google CEO Eric Schmidt launched YouTube localization, with stated aims including customizing the YouTube experience by country, including country-specific comments, metrics, and video rankings. From 2007, YouTube's localization was rolled out.
A 2015 report on YouTube's localization showed it to be continuing, and expanding. In February 2023, YouTube made it possible to upload a single video in multiple languages. Prior to 2023, the only option for YouTubers to broaden their content's reach to audiences speaking different languages was to launch an entirely separate secondary channel for each language and upload dubbed versions of their videos across all those channels. MrBeast called multi-language dub tracks a “giant win” for creators. With the introduction of the dubbing localization option, many creators switched from uploading to separate channels to uploading to their main channel with dubbed versions.
YouTube localization by country
As of 2024, the interface of YouTube is available with localized versions in 109 countries, two territories (Hong Kong & Puerto Rico) and a worldwide version and continues to extend the availability of its localized version to additional countries and regions.
If YouTube is unable to identify a specific country or region according to the IP address, the default location is the United States. However, YouTube offers language and content preferences for all accessible countries, regions, and languages.
The YouTube interface suggests which local version should be chosen based on the IP address of the user. In some cases, the message "This video is not available in your country" may appear because of copyright restrictions or inappropriate content. The interface of the YouTube website is available in 76 language versions, including Amharic, Albanian, Armenian, Burmese, Haitian Creole, Kyrgyz, Malagasy, Mongolian, Persian, Samoan, Somali and Uzbek, which do not have local channel versions. Access to YouTube was blocked in Turkey between 2008 and 2010, following controversy over the posting of videos deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and some material offensive to Muslims. In October 2012, a local version of YouTube was launched in Turkey, with the domain youtube.com.tr. The local version is subject to the content regulations found in Turkish law. In March 2009, a dispute between YouTube and the British royalty collection agency PRS for Music led to premium music videos being blocked for YouTube users in the United Kingdom. The removal of videos posted by the major record companies occurred after failure to reach an agreement on a licensing deal. The dispute was resolved in September 2009. In April 2009, a similar dispute led to the removal of premium music videos for users in Germany.
Videos
In January 2012, it was estimated that visitors to YouTube spent an average of 15 minutes a day on the site, in contrast to the four or five hours a day spent by a typical US citizen watching television. In 2017, viewers on average watched YouTube on mobile devices for more than an hour every day.
In December 2012, two billion views were removed from the view counts of Universal and Sony music videos on YouTube, prompting a claim by The Daily Dot that the views had been deleted due to a violation of the site's terms of service, which ban the use of automated processes to inflate view counts. This was disputed by Billboard, which said that the two billion views had been moved to Vevo, since the videos were no longer active on YouTube. On August 5, 2015, YouTube patched the formerly notorious behavior which caused a video's view count to freeze at "301" (later "301+") until the actual count was verified to prevent view count fraud. YouTube view counts once again updated in real time.
Since September 2019, subscriber counts are abbreviated. Only three leading digits of channels' subscriber counts are indicated publicly, compromising the function of third-party real-time indicators such as that of Social Blade. Exact counts remain available to channel operators inside YouTube Studio.
On November 11, 2021, after testing out this change in March of the same year, YouTube announced it would start hiding dislike counts on videos, making them invisible to viewers. The company stated the decision was in response to experiments which confirmed that smaller YouTube creators were more likely to be targeted in dislike brigading and harassment. Creators will still be able to see the number of likes and dislikes in the YouTube Studio dashboard tool, according to YouTube.
Copyright issues
YouTube has faced numerous challenges and criticisms in its attempts to deal with copyright, including the site's first viral video, Lazy Sunday, which had to be taken down, due to copyright concerns. At the time of uploading a video, YouTube users are shown a message asking them not to violate copyright laws. Despite this advice, many unauthorized clips of copyrighted material remain on YouTube. YouTube does not view videos before they are posted online, and it is left to copyright holders to issue a DMCA takedown notice pursuant to the terms of the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act. Any successful complaint about copyright infringement results in a YouTube copyright strike. Three successful complaints for copyright infringement against a user account will result in the account and all of its uploaded videos being deleted. From 2007 to 2009 organizations including Viacom, Mediaset, and the English Premier League have filed lawsuits against YouTube, claiming that it has done too little to prevent the uploading of copyrighted material.
In August 2008, a US court ruled in Lenz v. Universal Music Corp. that copyright holders cannot order the removal of an online file without first determining whether the posting reflected fair use of the material. YouTube's owner Google announced in November 2015 that they would help cover the legal cost in select cases where they believe fair use defenses apply.
In the 2011 case of Smith v. Summit Entertainment LLC, professional singer Matt Smith sued Summit Entertainment for the wrongful use of copyright takedown notices on YouTube. He asserted seven causes of action, and four were ruled in Smith's favor. In April 2012, a court in Hamburg ruled that YouTube could be held responsible for copyrighted material posted by its users. On November 1, 2016, the dispute with GEMA was resolved, with Google content ID being used to allow advertisements to be added to videos with content protected by GEMA.
In April 2013, it was reported that Universal Music Group and YouTube have a contractual agreement that prevents content blocked on YouTube by a request from UMG from being restored, even if the uploader of the video files a DMCA counter-notice. As part of YouTube Music, Universal and YouTube signed an agreement in 2017, which was followed by separate agreements other major labels, which gave the company the right to advertising revenue when its music was played on YouTube. By 2019, creators were having videos taken down or demonetized when Content ID identified even short segments of copyrighted music within a much longer video, with different levels of enforcement depending on the record label. Experts noted that some of these clips said qualified for fair use.
Content ID
In June 2007, YouTube began trials of a system for automatic detection of uploaded videos that infringe copyright. Google CEO Eric Schmidt regarded this system as necessary for resolving lawsuits such as the one from Viacom, which alleged that YouTube profited from content that it did not have the right to distribute. The system, which was initially called "Video Identification" and later became known as Content ID, creates an ID File for copyrighted audio and video material, and stores it in a database. When a video is uploaded, it is checked against the database, and flags the video as a copyright violation if a match is found. When this occurs, the content owner has the choice of blocking the video to make it unviewable, tracking the viewing statistics of the video, or adding advertisements to the video.
An independent test in 2009 uploaded multiple versions of the same song to YouTube and concluded that while the system was "surprisingly resilient" in finding copyright violations in the audio tracks of videos, it was not infallible. The use of Content ID to remove material automatically has led to controversy in some cases, as the videos have not been checked by a human for fair use. If a YouTube user disagrees with a decision by Content ID, it is possible to fill in a form disputing the decision.
Before 2016, videos were not monetized until the dispute was resolved. Since April 2016, videos continue to be monetized while the dispute is in progress, and the money goes to whoever won the dispute. Should the uploader want to monetize the video again, they may remove the disputed audio in the "Video Manager". YouTube has cited the effectiveness of Content ID as one of the reasons why the site's rules were modified in December 2010 to allow some users to upload videos of unlimited length.
Moderation and offensive content
YouTube has a set of community guidelines aimed to reduce abuse of the site's features. The uploading of videos containing defamation, pornography, and material encouraging criminal conduct is forbidden by YouTube's "Community Guidelines". Generally prohibited material includes sexually explicit content, videos of animal abuse, shock videos, content uploaded without the copyright holder's consent, hate speech, spam, and predatory behavior. YouTube relies on its users to flag the content of videos as inappropriate, and a YouTube employee will view a flagged video to determine whether it violates the site's guidelines. Despite the guidelines, YouTube has faced criticism over aspects of its operations, its recommendation algorithms perpetuating videos that promote conspiracy theories and falsehoods, hosting videos ostensibly targeting children but containing violent or sexually suggestive content involving popular characters, videos of minors attracting pedophilic activities in their comment sections, and fluctuating policies on the types of content that is eligible to be monetized with advertising.
YouTube contracts companies to hire content moderators, who view content flagged as potentially violating YouTube's content policies and determines if they should be removed. In September 2020, a class-action suit was filed by a former content moderator who reported developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after an 18-month period on the job. The former content moderator said that she was regularly made to exceed YouTube's stated limit of four hours per day of viewing graphic content. The lawsuit alleges that YouTube's contractors gave little to no training or support for its moderators' mental health, made prospective employees sign NDAs before showing them any examples of content they would see while reviewing, and censored all mention of trauma from its internal forums. It also purports that requests for extremely graphic content to be blurred, reduced in size or made monochrome, per recommendations from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, were rejected by YouTube as not a high priority for the company.
To limit the spread of misinformation and fake news via YouTube, it has rolled out a comprehensive policy regarding how it plans to deal with technically manipulated videos.
Controversial content has included material relating to Holocaust denial and the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 football fans from Liverpool were crushed to death in 1989. In July 2008, the Culture and Media Committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom stated that it was "unimpressed" with YouTube's system for policing its videos, and argued that "proactive review of content should be standard practice for sites hosting user-generated content". YouTube responded by stating:
We have strict rules on what's allowed, and a system that enables anyone who sees inappropriate content to report it to our 24/7 review team and have it dealt with promptly. We educate our community on the rules and include a direct link from every YouTube page to make this process as easy as possible for our users. Given the volume of content uploaded on our site, we think this is by far the most effective way to make sure that the tiny minority of videos that break the rules come down quickly. (July 2008)
In October 2010, U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner urged YouTube to remove from its website videos of imam Anwar al-Awlaki. YouTube pulled some of the videos in November 2010, stating they violated the site's guidelines. In December 2010, YouTube added the ability to flag videos for containing terrorism content.
In 2018, YouTube introduced a system that would automatically add information boxes to videos that its algorithms determined may present conspiracy theories and other fake news, filling the infobox with content from Encyclopædia Britannica and Wikipedia as a means to inform users to minimize misinformation propagation without impacting freedom of speech. The Wikimedia Foundation said in a statement that "neither Wikipedia nor the Wikimedia Foundation are part of a formal partnership with YouTube. We were not given advance notice of this announcement."
In the wake of the Notre-Dame fire on April 15, 2019, several user-uploaded videos of the landmark fire were flagged by YouTube' system automatically with an Encyclopædia Britannica article on the false conspiracy theories around the September 11 attacks. Several users complained to YouTube about this inappropriate connection. YouTube officials apologized for this, stating that their algorithms had misidentified the fire videos and added the information block automatically, and were taking steps to remedy this.
On April 18, 2023, YouTube revealed its changes in handling content associated with eating disorders. This social media platform's Community Guidelines now prohibit content that could encourage emulation from at-risk users. This content includes behavior that shows severe calorie tracking and purging after eating. However, videos featuring positive behavior such as in the context of recovery will be permitted on the platform under two conditions—the user must have a registered (logged-in) account and must be older than 18.
This policy was created in collaboration with nonprofit organizations as well as the National Eating Disorder Association. Garth Graham, YouTube's Global Head of Healthcare revealed in an interview with CNN that this policy change was geared at ensuring that this video-sharing platform provides an avenue for "community recovery and resources" while ensuring continued viewer protection.
Homophobia and transphobia
Five leading content creators whose channels were based on LGBTQ+ materials filed a federal lawsuit against YouTube in August 2019, alleging that YouTube's algorithms divert discovery away from their channels, impacting their revenue. The plaintiffs claimed that the algorithms discourage content with words like "lesbian" or "gay", which would be predominant in their channels' content, and because of YouTube's near-monopolization of online video services, they are abusing that position.
In June 2022, Media Matters, a media watchdog group, reported that homophobic and transphobic content calling LGBT people "predators" and "groomers" was becoming more common on YouTube. The report also referred to common accusations in YouTube videos that LGBT people are mentally ill. The report stated the content appeared to be in violation of YouTube's hate speech policy.
Animal torture
From 2020 on, the issue of videos featuring animal cruelty on YouTube has started to attract increasing attention in the media. In late 2020, animal welfare charity Lady Freethinker identified 2,053 videos on YouTube in which they stated animals were "deliberately harmed for entertainment or were shown to be under severe psychological distress, physical pain or dead."
In 2021, Lady Freethinker filed a lawsuit accusing YouTube of a breach of contract in allowing a large number of videos on its site showing animal abuse and failing to remove them when notified. YouTube responded by stating that they had "expanded its policy on animal abuse videos" in 2021, and since the introduction of the new policy "removed hundreds of thousands of videos and terminated thousands of channels for violations."
In 2022, Google defeated the Lady Freethinker lawsuit, with a judge ruling that YouTube was protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, that shields internet platforms from lawsuits based on content posted by their users.
In 2023, YouTube stated that animal abuse "has no place on their platforms, and they are working to remove content (of that nature)".
YouTube as a tool to promote conspiracy theories and far-right content
YouTube has been criticized for using an algorithm that gives great prominence to videos that promote conspiracy theories, falsehoods and incendiary fringe discourse. According to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal, "YouTube's recommendations often lead users to channels that feature conspiracy theories, partisan viewpoints and misleading videos, even when those users haven't shown interest in such content. When users show a political bias in what they choose to view, YouTube typically recommends videos that echo those biases, often with more-extreme viewpoints." When users search for political or scientific terms, YouTube's search algorithms often give prominence to hoaxes and conspiracy theories. After YouTube drew controversy for giving top billing to videos promoting falsehoods and conspiracy when people made breaking-news queries during the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, YouTube changed its algorithm to give greater prominence to mainstream media sources. In 2018, it was reported that YouTube was again promoting fringe content about breaking news, giving great prominence to conspiracy videos about Anthony Bourdain's death.
In 2017, it was revealed that advertisements were being placed on extremist videos, including videos by rape apologists, anti-Semites, and hate preachers who received ad payouts. After firms started to stop advertising on YouTube in the wake of this reporting, YouTube apologized and said that it would give firms greater control over where ads got placed.
Alex Jones, known for far-right conspiracy theories, had built a massive audience on YouTube. YouTube drew criticism in 2018 when it removed a video from Media Matters compiling offensive statements made by Jones, stating that it violated its policies on "harassment and bullying". On August 6, 2018, however, YouTube removed Alex Jones' YouTube page following a content violation.
University of North Carolina professor Zeynep Tufekci has referred to YouTube as "The Great Radicalizer", saying "YouTube may be one of the most powerful radicalizing instruments of the 21st century." Jonathan Albright of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University described YouTube as a "conspiracy ecosystem".
In January 2019, YouTube said that it had introduced a new policy starting in the United States intended to stop recommending videos containing "content that could misinform users in harmful ways." YouTube gave flat earth theories, miracle cures, and 9/11 truther-isms as examples. Efforts within YouTube engineering to stop recommending borderline extremist videos falling just short of forbidden hate speech, and track their popularity were originally rejected because they could interfere with viewer engagement.
In January 2019, the site announced it would be implementing measures directed towards "raising authoritative content and reducing borderline content and harmful misinformation." That June, YouTube announced it would be banning Holocaust denial and neo-Nazi content. YouTube has blocked the neo-Nazi propaganda film Europa: The Last Battle from being uploaded.
Multiple research studies have investigated cases of misinformation in YouTube. In a July 2019 study based on ten YouTube searches using the Tor Browser related to climate and climate change, the majority of videos were videos that communicated views contrary to the scientific consensus on climate change. A May 2023 study found that YouTube was monetizing and profiting from videos that included misinformation about climate change. A 2019 BBC investigation of YouTube searches in ten different languages found that YouTube's algorithm promoted health misinformation, including fake cancer cures. In Brazil, YouTube has been linked to pushing pseudoscientific misinformation on health matters, as well as elevated far-right fringe discourse and conspiracy theories. In the Philippines, numerous channels disseminated misinformation related to the 2022 Philippine elections. Additionally, research on the dissemination of Flat Earth beliefs in social media, has shown that networks of YouTube channels form an echo chamber that polarizes audiences by appearing to confirm preexisting beliefs.
Use among white supremacists
Before 2019, YouTube took steps to remove specific videos or channels related to supremacist content that had violated its acceptable use policies but otherwise did not have site-wide policies against hate speech.
In the wake of the March 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks, YouTube and other sites like Facebook and Twitter that allowed user-submitted content drew criticism for doing little to moderate and control the spread of hate speech, which was considered to be a factor in the rationale for the attacks. These platforms were pressured to remove such content, but in an interview with The New York Times, YouTube's chief product officer Neal Mohan said that unlike content such as ISIS videos which take a particular format and thus easy to detect through computer-aided algorithms, general hate speech was more difficult to recognize and handle, and thus could not readily take action to remove without human interaction.
In May 2019, YouTube joined an initiative led by France and New Zealand with other countries and tech companies to develop tools to be used to block online hate speech and to develop regulations, to be implemented at the national level, to be levied against technology firms that failed to take steps to remove such speech, though the United States declined to participate. Subsequently, on June 5, 2019, YouTube announced a major change to its terms of service, "specifically prohibiting videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion based on qualities like age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status." YouTube identified specific examples of such videos as those that "promote or glorify Nazi ideology, which is inherently discriminatory". YouTube further stated it would "remove content denying that well-documented violent events, like the Holocaust or the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, took place."
In August 2019, the channel of the white nationalist website VDARE was banned. The ban was later reversed. The channel was permanently banned in August 2020 for violating YouTube's policies against hate speech.
In September 2018, YouTube limited some videos by Red Ice, a white supremacist multimedia company, after it posted a video claiming that white women were being "pushed" into interracial relationships. In October 2019, YouTube banned Red Ice's main channel for hate speech violations. The channel had about 330,000 subscribers. Lana Lokteff and Red Ice promoted a backup channel in an attempt to circumvent the ban. A week later, the backup channel was also removed by YouTube.
In June 2020, YouTube was criticized for allowing white supremacist content on its platform for years after it announced it would be pledging $1 million to fight racial injustice. Later that month, it banned several channels associated with white supremacy, including those of Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, and Richard B. Spencer, asserting these channels violated their policies on hate speech. The ban occurred the same day that Reddit announced the ban on several hate speech sub-forums including r/The Donald.
Handling of COVID-19 pandemic and other misinformation
Following the dissemination via YouTube of misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic that 5G communications technology was responsible for the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 which led to multiple 5G towers in the United Kingdom being attacked by arsonists, YouTube removed all such videos linking 5G and the coronavirus in this manner.
In September 2021, YouTube extended this policy to cover videos disseminating misinformation related to any vaccine, including those long approved against measles or Hepatitis B, that had received approval from local health authorities or the World Health Organization. The platform proceeded to remove the accounts of anti-vaccine campaigners such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joseph Mercola.
YouTube had extended this moderation to non-medical areas. In the weeks following the 2020 United States presidential election, the site added policies to remove or label videos promoting election fraud claims; however, it reversed this policy in June 2023, citing that the removal was necessary to "openly debate political ideas, even those that are controversial or based on disproven assumptions".
Google and YouTube implemented policies in October 2021 to deny monetization or revenue to advertisers or content creators that promoted climate change denial, which "includes content referring to climate change as a hoax or a scam, claims denying that long-term trends show the global climate is warming, and claims denying that greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change." In January 2024, the Center for Countering Digital Hate reported that climate change deniers were instead pushing other forms of climate change denial that have not yet been banned by YouTube, including false claims that global warming is "beneficial or harmless", and which undermined climate solutions and climate science.
In July 2022, YouTube announced policies to combat misinformation surrounding abortion, such as videos with instructions to perform abortion methods that are considered unsafe and videos that contain misinformation about the safety of abortion.
Child safety and wellbeing
Leading into 2017, there was a significant increase in the number of videos related to children, coupled between the popularity of parents vlogging their family's activities, and previous content creators moving away from content that often was criticized or demonetized into family-friendly material. In 2017, YouTube reported that time watching family vloggers had increased by 90%. However, with the increase in videos featuring children, the site began to face several controversies related to child safety. During Q2 2017, the owners of popular channel FamilyOFive, which featured themselves playing "pranks" on their children, were accused of child abuse. Their videos were eventually deleted, and two of their children were removed from their custody. A similar case happened in 2019 when the owner of the channel Fantastic Adventures was accused of abusing her adopted children. Her videos would later be deleted.
Later that year, YouTube came under criticism for showing inappropriate videos targeted at children and often featuring popular characters in violent, sexual or otherwise disturbing situations, many of which appeared on YouTube Kids and attracted millions of views. The term "Elsagate" was coined on the Internet and then used by various news outlets to refer to this controversy. On November 11, 2017, YouTube announced it was strengthening site security to protect children from unsuitable content. Later that month, the company started to mass delete videos and channels that made improper use of family-friendly characters. As part of a broader concern regarding child safety on YouTube, the wave of deletions also targeted channels that showed children taking part in inappropriate or dangerous activities under the guidance of adults. Most notably, the company removed Toy Freaks, a channel with over 8.5 million subscribers, that featured a father and his two daughters in odd and upsetting situations. According to analytics specialist SocialBlade, it earned up to $11.2 million annually prior to its deletion in November 2017.
Even for content that appears to be aimed at children and appears to contain only child-friendly content, YouTube's system allows for anonymity of who uploads these videos. These questions have been raised in the past, as YouTube has had to remove channels with children's content which, after becoming popular, then suddenly include inappropriate content masked as children's content. Alternative, some of the most-watched children's programming on YouTube comes from channels that have no identifiable owners, raising concerns of intent and purpose. One channel that had been of concern was "Cocomelon" which provided numerous mass-produced animated videos aimed at children. Up through 2019, it had drawn up to US$10 million a month in ad revenue and was one of the largest kid-friendly channels on YouTube before 2020. Ownership of Cocomelon was unclear outside of its ties to "Treasure Studio", itself an unknown entity, raising questions as to the channel's purpose, but Bloomberg News had been able to confirm and interview the small team of American owners in February 2020 regarding "Cocomelon", who stated their goal for the channel was to simply entertain children, wanting to keep to themselves to avoid attention from outside investors. The anonymity of such channel raise concerns because of the lack of knowledge of what purpose they are trying to serve. The difficulty to identify who operates these channels "adds to the lack of accountability", according to Josh Golin of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and educational consultant Renée Chernow-O'Leary found the videos were designed to entertain with no intent to educate, all leading to critics and parents to be concerned for their children becoming too enraptured by the content from these channels. Content creators that earnestly make child-friendly videos have found it difficult to compete with larger channels, unable to produce content at the same rate as them, and lacking the same means of being promoted through YouTube's recommendation algorithms that the larger animated channel networks have shared.
In January 2019, YouTube officially banned videos containing "challenges that encourage acts that have an inherent risk of severe physical harm" (such as the Tide Pod Challenge) and videos featuring pranks that "make victims believe they're in physical danger" or cause emotional distress in children.
Sexualization of children and pedophilia
Also in November 2017, it was revealed in the media that many videos featuring children—often uploaded by the minors themselves, and showing innocent content such as the children playing with toys or performing gymnastics—were attracting comments from pedophiles with predators finding the videos through private YouTube playlists or typing in certain keywords in Russian. Other child-centric videos originally uploaded to YouTube began propagating on the dark web, and uploaded or embedded onto forums known to be used by pedophiles.
As a result of the controversy, which added to the concern about "Elsagate", several major advertisers whose ads had been running against such videos froze spending on YouTube. In December 2018, The Times found more than 100 grooming cases in which children were manipulated into sexually implicit behavior (such as taking off clothes, adopting overtly sexual poses and touching other children inappropriately) by strangers. After a reporter flagged the videos in question, half of them were removed, and the rest were removed after The Times contacted YouTube's PR department.
In February 2019, YouTube vlogger Matt Watson identified a "wormhole" that would cause the YouTube recommendation algorithm to draw users into this type of video content, and make all of that user's recommended content feature only these types of videos. Most of these videos had comments from sexual predators commenting with timestamps of when the children were shown in compromising positions or otherwise making indecent remarks. In some cases, other users had re-uploaded the video in unlisted form but with incoming links from other videos, and then monetized these, propagating this network. In the wake of the controversy, the service reported that they had deleted over 400 channels and tens of millions of comments, and reported the offending users to law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. A spokesperson explained that "any content—including comments—that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube. There's more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly." Despite these measures, AT&T, Disney, Dr. Oetker, Epic Games, and Nestlé all pulled their advertising from YouTube.
Subsequently, YouTube began to demonetize and block advertising on the types of videos that have drawn these predatory comments. The service explained that this was a temporary measure while they explore other methods to eliminate the problem. YouTube also began to flag channels that predominantly feature children, and preemptively disable their comments sections. "Trusted partners" can request that comments be re-enabled, but the channel will then become responsible for moderating comments. These actions mainly target videos of toddlers, but videos of older children and teenagers may be protected as well if they contain actions that can be interpreted as sexual, such as gymnastics. YouTube stated it was also working on a better system to remove comments on other channels that matched the style of child predators.
A related attempt to algorithmically flag videos containing references to the string "CP" (an abbreviation of child pornography) resulted in some prominent false positives involving unrelated topics using the same abbreviation, including videos related to the mobile video game Pokémon Go (which uses "CP" as an abbreviation of the statistic "Combat Power"), and Club Penguin. YouTube apologized for the errors and reinstated the affected videos. Separately, online trolls have attempted to have videos flagged for takedown or removal by commenting with statements similar to what the child predators had said; this activity became an issue during the PewDiePie vs T-Series rivalry in early 2019. YouTube stated they do not take action on any video with these comments but those that they have flagged that are likely to draw child predator activity.
In June 2019, The New York Times cited researchers who found that users who watched erotic videos could be recommended seemingly innocuous videos of children. As a result, Senator Josh Hawley stated plans to introduce federal legislation that would ban YouTube and other video sharing sites from including videos that predominantly feature minors as "recommended" videos, excluding those that were "professionally produced", such as videos of televised talent shows. YouTube has suggested potential plans to remove all videos featuring children from the main YouTube site and transferring them to the YouTube Kids site where they would have stronger controls over the recommendation system, as well as other major changes on the main YouTube site to the recommended feature and auto-play system.
Misogyny
An August 2022 report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a British think tank, found that harassment against women was flourishing on YouTube. It noted that channels espousing a similar ideology to that of men's rights influencer Andrew Tate were using YouTube to grow their audience, despite Tate being banned from the platform. In his 2022 book Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube's Chaotic Rise to World Domination, Bloomberg reporter Mark Bergen said that many female content creators were dealing with harassment, bullying, and stalking.
Russia
In 2021, two accounts linked to RT Deutsch, the German channel of the Russian RT network were removed as well for breaching YouTube's policies relating to COVID-19. Russia threatened to ban YouTube after the platform deleted two German RT channels in September 2021.
Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, YouTube removed all channels funded by the Russian state. YouTube expanded the removal of Russian content from its site to include channels described as 'pro-Russian'. In June 2022, the War Gonzo channel run by Russian military blogger and journalist Semyon Pegov was deleted. In July 2023, YouTube removed the channel of British journalist Graham Phillips, active in covering the War in Donbas from 2014.
In August 2023, a Moscow court fined Google 3 million rubles, around $35,000, for not deleting what it said was "fake news about the war in Ukraine".
April Fools gags
YouTube featured an April Fools prank on the site on April 1 of every year from 2008 to 2016. In 2008, all links to videos on the main page were redirected to Rick Astley's music video "Never Gonna Give You Up", a prank known as "rickrolling". The next year, when clicking on a video on the main page, the whole page turned upside down, which YouTube claimed was a "new layout". In 2010, YouTube temporarily released a "TEXTp" mode which rendered video imagery into ASCII art letters "in order to reduce bandwidth costs by $1 per second."
The next year, the site celebrated its "100th anniversary" with a range of sepia-toned silent, early 1900s-style films, including a parody of Keyboard Cat. In 2012, clicking on the image of a DVD next to the site logo led to a video about a purported option to order every YouTube video for home delivery on DVD.
In 2013, YouTube teamed up with satirical newspaper company The Onion to claim in an uploaded video that the video-sharing website was launched as a contest which had finally come to an end, and would shut down for ten years before being re-launched in 2023, featuring only the winning video. The video starred several YouTube celebrities, including Antoine Dodson. A video of two presenters announcing the nominated videos streamed live for 12 hours.
In 2014, YouTube announced that it was responsible for the creation of all viral video trends, and revealed previews of upcoming trends, such as "Clocking", "Kissing Dad", and "Glub Glub Water Dance". The next year, YouTube added a music button to the video bar that played samples from "Sandstorm" by Darude. In 2016, YouTube introduced an option to watch every video on the platform in 360-degree mode with Snoop Dogg.
Services
YouTube Premium
YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red) is YouTube's premium subscription service. It offers advertising-free streaming, access to original programming, and background and offline video playback on mobile devices. YouTube Premium was originally announced on November 12, 2014, as "Music Key", a subscription music streaming service, and was intended to integrate with and replace the existing Google Play Music "All Access" service. On October 28, 2015, the service was relaunched as YouTube Red, offering ad-free streaming of all videos and access to exclusive original content. As of November 2016, the service has 1.5 million subscribers, with a further million on a free-trial basis. As of June 2017, the first season of YouTube Originals had received 250 million views in total.
YouTube Kids
YouTube Kids is an American children's video app developed by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. The app was developed in response to parental and government scrutiny on the content available to children. The app provides a version of the service-oriented towards children, with curated selections of content, parental control features, and filtering of videos deemed inappropriate viewing for children aged under 13, 8 or 5 depending on the age grouping chosen. First released on February 15, 2015, as an Android and iOS mobile app, the app has since been released for LG, Samsung, and Sony smart TVs, as well as for Android TV. On May 27, 2020, it became available on Apple TV. As of September 2019, the app is available in 69 countries, including Hong Kong and Macau, and one province. YouTube launched a web-based version of YouTube Kids on August 30, 2019.
YouTube Music
On September 28, 2016, YouTube named Lyor Cohen, the co-founder of 300 Entertainment and former Warner Music Group executive, the Global Head of Music.
In early 2018, Cohen began hinting at the possible launch of YouTube's new subscription music streaming service, a platform that would compete with other services such as Spotify and Apple Music. On May 22, 2018, the music streaming platform named "YouTube Music" was launched.
YouTube Movies & TV
YouTube Movies & TV is a video on demand service that offers movies and television shows for purchase or rental, depending on availability, along with a selection of movies (encompassing between 100 and 500 titles overall) that are free to stream, with interspersed ad breaks. YouTube began offering free-to-view movie titles to its users in November 2018; selections of new movies are added and others removed, unannounced each month.
In March 2021, Google announced plans to gradually deprecate the Google Play Movies & TV app, and eventually migrate all users to the YouTube app's Movies & TV store to view, rent and purchase movies and TV shows (first affecting Roku, Samsung, LG, and Vizio smart TV users on July 15). Google Play Movies & TV formally shut down on January 17, 2024, with the web version of that platform migrated to YouTube as an expansion of the Movies & TV store to desktop users. (Other functions of Google Play Movies & TV were integrated into the Google TV service.)
YouTube Primetime Channels
On November 1, 2022, YouTube launched Primetime Channels, a channel store platform offering third-party subscription streaming add-ons sold a la carte through the YouTube website and app, competing with similar subscription add-on stores operated by Apple, Prime Video and Roku. The add-ons can be purchased through the YouTube Movies & TV hub or through the official YouTube channels of the available services; subscribers of YouTube TV add-ons that are sold through Primetime Channels can also access their content via the YouTube app and website. A total of 34 streaming services (including Paramount+, Showtime, Starz, MGM+, AMC+ and ViX+) were initially available for purchase.
NFL Sunday Ticket, as part of a broader residential distribution deal with Google signed in December 2022 that also made it available to YouTube TV subscribers, was added to Primetime Channels as a standalone add-on on August 16, 2023. The ad-free tier of Max was added to Primetime Channels on December 12, 2023, coinciding with YouTube TV converting its separate HBO (for base plan subscribers) and HBO Max (for all subscribers) linear/VOD add-ons into a single combined Max offering.
YouTube TV
On February 28, 2017, in a press announcement held at YouTube Space Los Angeles, YouTube announced YouTube TV, an over-the-top MVPD-style subscription service that would be available for United States customers at a price of US$65 per month. Initially launching in five major markets (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco) on April 5, 2017, the service offers live streams of programming from the five major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox and NBC, along with selected MyNetworkTV affiliates and independent stations in certain markets), as well as approximately 60 cable channels owned by companies such as The Walt Disney Company, Paramount Global, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, Allen Media Group and Warner Bros. Discovery (including among others Bravo, USA Network, Syfy, Disney Channel, CNN, Cartoon Network, E!, Fox Sports 1, Freeform, FX and ESPN).
Subscribers can also receive premium cable channels (including HBO (via a combined Max add-on that includes in-app and log-in access to the service), Cinemax, Showtime, Starz and MGM+) and other subscription services (such as NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB.tv, NBA League Pass, Curiosity Stream and Fox Nation) as optional add-ons for an extra fee, and can access YouTube Premium original content. In September 2022, YouTube TV began allowing customers to purchase most of its premium add-ons (excluding certain services such as NBA League Pass and AMC+) without an existing subscription to its base package.
YouTube Go
In September 2016, YouTube Go was announced, as an Android app created for making YouTube easier to access on mobile devices in emerging markets. It was distinct from the company's main Android app and allowed videos to be downloaded and shared with other users. It also allowed users to preview videos, share downloaded videos through Bluetooth, and offered more options for mobile data control and video resolution.
In February 2017, YouTube Go was launched in India, and expanded in November 2017 to 14 other countries, including Nigeria, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Kenya, and South Africa. On February 1, 2018, it was rolled out in 130 countries worldwide, including Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, and Iraq. Before it shut down, the app was available to around 60% of the world's population. In May 2022, Google announced that they would be shutting down YouTube Go in August 2022.
YouTube Shorts
In September 2020, YouTube announced that it would be launching a beta version of a new platform of 15-second videos, similar to TikTok, called YouTube Shorts. The platform was first tested in India but as of March 2021 has expanded to other countries including the United States with videos now able to be up to 1 minute long. The platform is not a standalone app, but is integrated into the main YouTube app. Like TikTok, it gives users access to built-in creative tools, including the possibility of adding licensed music to their videos. The platform had its global beta launch in July 2021.
YouTube Stories
In 2018, YouTube started testing a new feature initially called "YouTube Reels". The feature was nearly identical to Instagram Stories and Snapchat Stories. YouTube later renamed the feature "YouTube Stories". It was only available to creators who had more than 10,000 subscribers and could only be posted/seen in the YouTube mobile app. On May 25, 2023, YouTube announced that they would be shutting down this feature on June 26, 2023.
YouTube VR
In November 2016, YouTube released YouTube VR, a dedicated version with an interface for VR devices, for Google's Daydream mobile VR platform on Android. In November 2018, YouTube VR was released on the Oculus Store for the Oculus Go headset. YouTube VR was updated since for compatibility with successive Quest devices, and was ported to Pico 4.
YouTube VR allows for access to all YouTube-hosted videos, but particularly supports headset access for 360° and 180°-degree video (both in 2D and stereoscopic 3D). Starting with the Oculus Quest, the app was updated for compatibility with mixed-reality passthrough modes on VR headsets. In April 2024, YouTube VR was updated to support 8K SDR video on Meta Quest 3.
Social impact
Private individuals and large production corporations have used YouTube to grow their audiences. Indie creators have built grassroots followings numbering in the thousands at very little cost or effort, while mass retail and radio promotion proved problematic. Concurrently, old media celebrities moved into the website at the invitation of a YouTube management that witnessed early content creators accruing substantial followings and perceived audience sizes potentially larger than that attainable by television. While YouTube's revenue-sharing "Partner Program" made it possible to earn a substantial living as a video producer—its top five hundred partners each earning more than $100,000 annually and its ten highest-earning channels grossing from $2.5 million to $12 million—in 2012 CMU business editor characterized YouTube as "a free-to-use ... promotional platform for the music labels." In 2013 Forbes' Katheryn Thayer asserted that digital-era artists' work must not only be of high quality, but must elicit reactions on the YouTube platform and social media. Videos of the 2.5% of artists categorized as "mega", "mainstream" and "mid-sized" received 90.3% of the relevant views on YouTube and Vevo in that year. By early 2013, Billboard had announced that it was factoring YouTube streaming data into calculation of the Billboard Hot 100 and related genre charts.
Observing that face-to-face communication of the type that online videos convey has been "fine-tuned by millions of years of evolution", TED curator Chris Anderson referred to several YouTube contributors and asserted that "what Gutenberg did for writing, online video can now do for face-to-face communication." Anderson asserted that it is not far-fetched to say that online video will dramatically accelerate scientific advance, and that video contributors may be about to launch "the biggest learning cycle in human history." In education, for example, the Khan Academy grew from YouTube video tutoring sessions for founder Salman Khan's cousin into what Forbes' Michael Noer called "the largest school in the world," with technology poised to disrupt how people learn. YouTube was awarded a 2008 George Foster Peabody Award, the website being described as a Speakers' Corner that "both embodies and promotes democracy." The Washington Post reported that a disproportionate share of YouTube's most subscribed channels feature minorities, contrasting with mainstream television in which the stars are largely white. A Pew Research Center study reported the development of "visual journalism", in which citizen eyewitnesses and established news organizations share in content creation. The study also concluded that YouTube was becoming an important platform by which people acquire news.
YouTube has enabled people to more directly engage with government, such as in the CNN/YouTube presidential debates (2007) in which ordinary people submitted questions to U.S. presidential candidates via YouTube video, with a techPresident co-founder saying that Internet video was changing the political landscape. Describing the Arab Spring (2010–2012), sociologist Philip N. Howard quoted an activist's succinct description that organizing the political unrest involved using "Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world." In 2012, more than a third of the U.S. Senate introduced a resolution condemning Joseph Kony 16 days after the "Kony 2012" video was posted to YouTube, with resolution co-sponsor Senator Lindsey Graham remarking that the video "will do more to lead to (Kony's) demise than all other action combined."
Conversely, YouTube has also allowed government to more easily engage with citizens, the White House's official YouTube channel being the seventh top news organization producer on YouTube in 2012 and in 2013 a healthcare exchange commissioned Obama impersonator Iman Crosson's YouTube music video spoof to encourage young Americans to enroll in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)-compliant health insurance. In February 2014, U.S. President Obama held a meeting at the White House with leading YouTube content creators not only to promote awareness of Obamacare but more generally to develop ways for government to better connect with the "YouTube Generation." Whereas YouTube's inherent ability to allow presidents to directly connect with average citizens was noted, the YouTube content creators' new media savvy was perceived necessary to better cope with the website's distracting content and fickle audience.
Some YouTube videos have themselves had a direct effect on world events, such as Innocence of Muslims (2012) which spurred protests and related anti-American violence internationally. TED curator Chris Anderson described a phenomenon by which geographically distributed individuals in a certain field share their independently developed skills in YouTube videos, thus challenging others to improve their own skills, and spurring invention and evolution in that field. Journalist Virginia Heffernan stated in The New York Times that such videos have "surprising implications" for the dissemination of culture and even the future of classical music.
A 2017 article in The New York Times Magazine posited that YouTube had become "the new talk radio" for the far right. Almost a year before YouTube's January 2019 announcement that it would begin a "gradual change" of "reducing recommendations of borderline content and content that could misinform users in harmful ways", Zeynep Tufekci had written in The New York Times that, "(g)iven its billion or so users, YouTube may be one of the most powerful radicalizing instruments of the 21st century". Under YouTube's changes to its recommendation engine, the most recommended channel evolved from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (2016) to Fox News (2019). According to a 2020 study, "An emerging journalistic consensus theorizes the central role played by the video 'recommendation engine', but we believe that this is premature. Instead, we propose the 'Supply and Demand' framework for analyzing politics on YouTube." A 2022 study found that "despite widespread concerns that YouTube's algorithms send people down 'rabbit holes' with recommendations to extremist videos, little systematic evidence exists to support this conjecture", "exposure to alternative and extremist channel videos on YouTube is heavily concentrated among a small group of people with high prior levels of gender and racial resentment.", and "contrary to the 'rabbit holes' narrative, non-subscribers are rarely recommended videos from alternative and extremist channels and seldom follow such recommendations when offered."
The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers and the YouTube Symphony Orchestra selected their membership based on individual video performances. Further, the cyber-collaboration charity video "We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube edition)" was formed by mixing performances of 57 globally distributed singers into a single musical work, with The Tokyo Times noting the "We Pray for You" YouTube cyber-collaboration video as an example of a trend to use crowdsourcing for charitable purposes.
The anti-bullying It Gets Better Project expanded from a single YouTube video directed to discouraged or suicidal LGBT teens, that within two months drew video responses from hundreds including U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice President Biden, White House staff, and several cabinet secretaries. Similarly, in response to fifteen-year-old Amanda Todd's video "My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self-harm", legislative action was undertaken almost immediately after her suicide to study the prevalence of bullying and form a national anti-bullying strategy. In May 2018, after London Metropolitan Police claimed that drill music videos glamorizing violence gave rise to gang violence, YouTube deleted 30 videos.
Finances
Prior to 2020, Google did not provide detailed figures for YouTube's running costs, and YouTube's revenues in 2007 were noted as "not material" in a regulatory filing. In June 2008, a Forbes magazine article projected the 2008 revenue at $200 million, noting progress in advertising sales. In 2012, YouTube's revenue from its ads program was estimated at $3.7 billion. In 2013, it nearly doubled and estimated to hit $5.6 billion according to e-Marketer, while others estimated $4.7 billion. The vast majority of videos on YouTube are free to view and supported by advertising. In May 2013, YouTube introduced a trial scheme of 53 subscription channels with prices ranging from $0.99 to $6.99 a month. The move was seen as an attempt to compete with other providers of online subscription services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu.
Google first published exact revenue numbers for YouTube in February 2020 as part of Alphabet's 2019 financial report. According to Google, YouTube had made US$15.1 billion in ad revenue in 2019, in contrast to US$8.1 billion in 2017 and US$11.1 billion in 2018. YouTube's revenues made up nearly 10% of the total Alphabet revenue in 2019. These revenues accounted for approximately 20 million subscribers combined between YouTube Premium and YouTube Music subscriptions, and 2 million subscribers to YouTube TV.
YouTube had $29.2 billion ads revenue in 2022, up by $398 million from the prior year. In Q2 2024, ad revenue rose to $8.66 billion, up 13% on Q1.
Partnership with corporations
YouTube entered into a marketing and advertising partnership with NBC in June 2006. In March 2007, it struck a deal with BBC for three channels with BBC content, one for news and two for entertainment. In November 2008, YouTube reached an agreement with MGM, Lions Gate Entertainment, and CBS, allowing the companies to post full-length films and television episodes on the site, accompanied by advertisements in a section for U.S. viewers called "Shows". The move was intended to create competition with websites such as Hulu, which features material from NBC, Fox, and Disney. In November 2009, YouTube launched a version of "Shows" available to UK viewers, offering around 4,000 full-length shows from more than 60 partners. In January 2010, YouTube introduced an online film rentals service, which is only available to users in the United States, Canada, and the UK as of 2010. The service offers over 6,000 films.
2017 advertiser boycott
In March 2017, the government of the United Kingdom pulled its advertising campaigns from YouTube, after reports that its ads had appeared on videos containing extremist content. The government demanded assurances that its advertising would "be delivered safely and appropriately". The Guardian newspaper, as well as other major British and U.S. brands, similarly suspended their advertising on YouTube in response to their advertising appearing near offensive content. Google stated that it had "begun an extensive review of our advertising policies and have made a public commitment to put in place changes that give brands more control over where their ads appear". In early April 2017, the YouTube channel h3h3Productions presented evidence claiming that a Wall Street Journal article had fabricated screenshots showing major brand advertising on an offensive video containing Johnny Rebel music overlaid on a Chief Keef music video, citing that the video itself had not earned any ad revenue for the uploader. The video was retracted after it was found that the ads had been triggered by the use of copyrighted content in the video.
On April 6, 2017, YouTube announced that to "ensure revenue only flows to creators who are playing by the rules", it would change its practices to require that a channel undergo a policy compliance review, and have at least 10,000-lifetime views, before they may join the Partner Program.
YouTuber earnings
In May 2007, YouTube launched its Partner Program (YPP), a system based on AdSense which allows the uploader of the video to share the revenue produced by advertising on the site. YouTube typically takes 45 percent of the advertising revenue from videos in the Partner Program, with 55 percent going to the uploader.
There are over two million members of the YouTube Partner Program. According to TubeMogul, in 2013 a pre-roll advertisement on YouTube (one that is shown before the video starts) cost advertisers on average $7.60 per 1000 views. Usually, no more than half of the eligible videos have a pre-roll advertisement, due to a lack of interested advertisers.
YouTube's policies restrict certain forms of content from being included in videos being monetized with advertising, including videos containing violence, strong language, sexual content, "controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown" (unless the content is "usually newsworthy or comedic and the creator's intent is to inform or entertain"), and videos whose user comments contain "inappropriate" content.
In 2013, YouTube introduced an option for channels with at least a thousand subscribers to require a paid subscription in order for viewers to watch videos. In April 2017, YouTube set an eligibility requirement of 10,000 lifetime views for a paid subscription. On January 16, 2018, the eligibility requirement for monetization was changed to 4,000 hours of watch-time within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. The move was seen as an attempt to ensure that videos being monetized did not lead to controversy, but was criticized for penalizing smaller YouTube channels.
YouTube Play Buttons, a part of the YouTube Creator Rewards, are a recognition by YouTube of its most popular channels. The trophies made of nickel plated copper-nickel alloy, golden plated brass, silver plated metal, ruby, and red tinted crystal glass are given to channels with at least one hundred thousand, a million, ten million, fifty million subscribers, and one hundred million subscribers, respectively.
YouTube's policies on "advertiser-friendly content" restrict what may be incorporated into videos being monetized; this includes strong violence, language, sexual content, and "controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown", unless the content is "usually newsworthy or comedic and the creator's intent is to inform or entertain". In September 2016, after introducing an enhanced notification system to inform users of these violations, YouTube's policies were criticized by prominent users, including Philip DeFranco and Vlogbrothers. DeFranco argued that not being able to earn advertising revenue on such videos was "censorship by a different name". A YouTube spokesperson stated that while the policy itself was not new, the service had "improved the notification and appeal process to ensure better communication to our creators". Boing Boing reported in 2019 that LGBT keywords resulted in demonetization.
As of November 2020 in the United States, and June 2021 worldwide, YouTube reserves the right to monetize any video on the platform, even if their uploader is not a member of the YouTube Partner Program. This will occur on channels whose content is deemed "advertiser-friendly", and all revenue will go directly to Google without any share given to the uploader.
Revenue to copyright holders
The majority of YouTube's advertising revenue goes to the publishers and video producers who hold the rights to their videos; the company retains 45% of the ad revenue. In 2010, it was reported that nearly a third of the videos with advertisements were uploaded without permission of the copyright holders. YouTube gives an option for copyright holders to locate and remove their videos or to have them continue running for revenue. In May 2013, Nintendo began enforcing its copyright ownership and claiming the advertising revenue from video creators who posted screenshots of its games. In February 2015, Nintendo agreed to share the revenue with the video creators through the Nintendo Creators Program. On March 20, 2019, Nintendo announced on Twitter that the company will end the Creators program. Operations for the program ceased on March 20, 2019.
Censorship and bans
YouTube has been censored, filtered, or banned for a variety of reasons, including:
Limiting public access and exposure to content that may ignite social or political unrest.
Preventing criticism of a ruler (e.g. in North Korea), government (e.g. in China) or its actions (e.g. in Morocco), government officials (e.g. in Turkey and Libya), or religion (e.g. in Pakistan).
Morality-based laws, e.g. in Iran.
Access to specific videos is sometimes prevented due to copyright and intellectual property protection laws (e.g. in Germany), violations of hate speech, and preventing access to videos judged inappropriate for youth, which is also done by YouTube with the YouTube Kids app and with "restricted mode". Businesses, schools, government agencies, and other private institutions often block social media sites, including YouTube, due to its bandwidth limitations and the site's potential for distraction.
As of 2018, public access to YouTube is blocked in many countries, including China, North Korea, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan. In some countries, YouTube is blocked for more limited periods of time such as during periods of unrest, the run-up to an election, or in response to upcoming political anniversaries. In cases where the entire site is banned due to one particular video, YouTube will often agree to remove or limit access to that video in order to restore service.
Reports emerged that since October 2019, comments posted with Chinese characters insulting the Chinese Communist Party (共匪 "communist bandit" or 五毛 "50 Cent Party", referring to state-sponsored commentators) were being automatically deleted within 15 seconds.
Specific incidents where YouTube has been blocked include:
Thailand blocked access in April 2007 over a video said to be insulting the Thai king.
Morocco blocked access in May 2007, possibly as a result of videos critical of Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara. YouTube became accessible again on May 30, 2007, after Maroc Telecom unofficially announced that the denied access to the website was a mere "technical glitch".
Turkey blocked access between 2008 and 2010 after controversy over videos deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In November 2010, a video of the Turkish politician Deniz Baykal caused the site to be blocked again briefly, and the site was threatened with a new shutdown if it did not remove the video. During the two and a half-year block of YouTube, the video-sharing website remained the eighth-most-accessed site in Turkey. In 2014, Turkey blocked the access for the second time, after "a high-level intelligence leak."
Pakistan blocked access on February 23, 2008, because of "offensive material" towards the Islamic faith, including display of the Danish cartoons of Muhammad. This led to a near global blackout of the YouTube site for around two hours, as the Pakistani block was inadvertently transferred to other countries. On February 26, 2008, the ban was lifted after the website had removed the objectionable content from its servers at the request of the government. Many Pakistanis circumvented the three-day block by using virtual private network software. In May 2010, following the Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, Pakistan again blocked access to YouTube, citing "growing sacrilegious content". The ban was lifted on May 27, 2010, after the website removed the objectionable content from its servers at the request of the government. However, individual videos deemed offensive to Muslims posted on YouTube will continue to be blocked. Pakistan again placed a ban on YouTube in September 2012, after the site refused to remove the film Innocence of Muslims. The ban was lifted in January 2016 after YouTube launched a Pakistan-specific version.
Libya blocked access on January 24, 2010, because of videos that featured demonstrations in the city of Benghazi by families of detainees who were killed in Abu Salim prison in 1996, and videos of family members of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at parties. The blocking was criticized by Human Rights Watch. In November 2011, after the Libyan Civil War, YouTube was once again allowed in Libya.
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sudan blocked access in September 2012 following controversy over a 14-minute trailer for the film Innocence of Muslims which had been posted on the site. A court in the southern Russian Republic of Chechnya ruled that Innocence of Muslims should be banned. In Libya and Egypt, it was blamed for violent protests. YouTube stated: "This video—which is widely available on the Web—is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube. However, given the very difficult situation in Libya and Egypt we have temporarily restricted access in both countries."
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, YouTube announced on March 1 the immediate removal of RT (and other Russian-government funded outlets) from its platform in Europe. The removal was soon expanded globally. From late 2024, Users across Russia started experiencing sharp declines in YouTube loading speeds.
See also
Criticism of Google#Algorithms
iFilm
Google Video
Metacafe
Revver
vMix
blip.tv
Videosift
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Official website |
Florida_Atlantic_Owls_men%27s_basketball | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Atlantic_Owls_men%27s_basketball | [
531
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Atlantic_Owls_men%27s_basketball"
] | The Florida Atlantic Owls men's basketball team represents Florida Atlantic University and competes in the American Athletic Conference of NCAA Division I college basketball. Their home games are played on the Abessinio Court in the Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena on the school's Boca Raton, Florida campus. The Owls have appeared in the NCAA tournament three times: in 2002, 2023, and 2024. The Owls joined Conference USA (C-USA) in 2013 as part of the early-2010s NCAA conference realignment. After not winning a single NCAA Tournament game coming into 2023, the Owls qualified for their first Final Four in program history by defeating the Kansas State Wildcats 79–76. After the 2022–23 season, FAU left C-USA for the American Athletic Conference.
Overview and history
Florida Atlantic University basketball began play in the 1988–89 season. The Owls competed as an NCAA Division II independent until the 1993–94 season, when they moved up to Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference, now known as the ASUN Conference. After spending 11 seasons in the Atlantic Sun, the Owls moved to the Sun Belt Conference, with the rest of Florida Atlantic University's intercollegiate sports teams. The Owls moved to C-USA in July 2013, and then moved to The American in July 2023.
Beginning: FAU gets basketball (1988–1993)
Florida Atlantic University played its first-ever intercollegiate basketball contest on November 18, 1988, against fellow local NCAA Division II school, Palm Beach Atlantic University. The Owls won the game 111–62. Even though the newly formed college squad hung 111 points in their first game, they would finish the inaugural season 9–19, which included a 12-game losing streak in the middle of the year. Head coach, Lonnie Williams, was known to be a "program-builder", but after one year, left FAU after its first season to become head coach at the University of California, Davis. Williams would only last one year at UC Davis, posting an 11–16 record.
Replacing Williams was Penn State assistant coach, Tim Loomis. Loomis started his coaching career with a 21–7 record, and followed that up with back-to-back 15–13 seasons. The three consecutive winning seasons is a feat that no other Owls coach has ever matched, until Dusty May did it in his first three seasons. Along with the winning seasons, Loomis was able to schedule games against neighbor and powerhouse, University of Miami Hurricanes. Though Miami would beat the Owls soundly in the appearances, the ability to schedule games against them was seen as the Owls basketball program's growth. Loomis would lose the core of that inaugural team after the Owls' fourth season, and the Owls would suffer devastating 3–24 (1992–93) and 3–25 (1993–94) seasons the latter being their first official year as Division One. The members of these teams were true pioneers and super fundraisers for the athletic department as they hit the road to play teams like Florida State, Georgetown, and Iowa State while taking large paydays and suffering losses to higher ranked (#10 Georgetown) opponents. In fact, Loomis' team beat NC State on the road in 1993–94 to become the first Atlantic Sun team to ever beat an ACC team at the time.
Move to Division I (1993–2005)
The 1993–94 season would mark the beginning of the Owls competition in the NCAA Division I. The Owls joined the Atlantic Sun Conference later, mostly due to the fact that the Owls baseball team was exceeding expectations so early in its development. In 1994–95, the team improved to 9–19 while in Loomis' last year. The team repeated that win total in 1995–96 under new coach Kevin Billerman but showed improvement by taking South Florida, Saint Louis, and Southern Illinois to close road losses determined by the last possession, while winning two conference games to end the season. Former Duke Blue Devil captain and leader, Kevin Billerman, was hired to further lead the Owls into Division I; his second season produced the most wins of any Division One FAU men's basketball coach up to that point. Due to NCAA's rule, the Owls were not eligible for the NCAA tournament for four years, with their first season of tournament eligibility coming in 1993–94. In Billerman's four seasons, the Owls had two 20+ loss seasons (his last two) and only one winning season (his second).
For the 1999–2000 season, FAU hired decorated UNLV All-American forward/center and NBA first-round draft pick Sidney Green. In his first season, Green's Owls went 2–28, with a 25-game losing streak in the middle of the season. In each of his first and second seasons, the Owls would win their opening round game in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament, but would lose in the second round.
2001–02 season: A-Sun champions
During the 2001–02 season, Green would lead the Owls to his only winning season, as FAU finished 19–12 and 13–7 in the Atlantic Sun. In the first-round of the 2002 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament, FAU would again win their opening game, this time defeating Jacksonville University. The Owls would break their second-round losing tradition, beating Jacksonville State University. In the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, the Owls faced Georgia State University and won 76–75, clinching their first conference championship and a bid to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
In the 2002 NCAA tournament, the Owls were seeded as a 15-seed, and placed in the South Region, and were paired with 2-seed Alabama. Though the Owls hung tight throughout the game, heavily favored Alabama held on to win 86–78.
Coaching carousel (2005–2018)
Green was fired after the 2004–05 season and the Owls landed former NCAA Coach of the Year and Tar Heel Matt Doherty. Doherty led the Owls to a 15–13 record and then left abruptly to become the head coach at Southern Methodist University.
With the rapid success of the football program, created from scratch just in 2001, the Florida Atlantic sports programs again moved up in level of competition. This time, the Owls would move to the Sun Belt Conference, and basketball played its first season of competition in the Sun Belt in the 2006–07 season. To replace Doherty, assistant coach and former Kansas Jayhawk star, Rex Walters, was elevated. In his first season, Walters' Owls were 16–15 and 10–8 in the Sun Belt. The 16–15 marked the first time FAU posted back-to-back winning seasons since the 1989–90 and 1990–91 seasons. The 10–8 conference record was only the fourth time the Owls had a winning record in conference play. Walters' sophomore season regressed a bit, as FAU finished 15–18. After the 2007–08 season completed, Rex Walters accepted the head coaching job at the University of San Francisco, and for the third time in four years, the Owls were searching for a new coach.
FAU hired Mike Jarvis as their new coach. Jarvis had been the head coach at Boston University, George Washington University and, most recently, St. John's University. Between the three schools, Jarvis led his teams to nine total NCAA tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight appearance with St. John's in 1999. Jarvis was fired from St. John's on December 19, 2003—the first Big East Conference coach to be fired during the season. It later emerged that school officials had fired Jarvis in part due to a series of embarrassing off-court incidents. Among these, a junior college transfer had been charged with assaulting a female student, and a senior guard had been kicked off the team after being caught smoking marijuana near St. John's campus in Queens. During the 2003–04 season, St. John's center Abe Keita claimed that a member of Jarvis's basketball staff had paid him nearly $300 a month for the past four seasons. As a result, St. John's placed itself on two years' probation, withdrew from postseason consideration for the 2004–05 season, and forfeited 43 wins including the 2002 NCAA Tournament and the 2003 NIT. Jarvis was faulted for not properly monitoring Keita's situation. After his ouster, Jarvis was criticized for ignoring New York City's rich pool of high school players, which particularly rankled fans used to seeing national powerhouses built primarily on New York City talent. At FAU, he looked to become the first coach in NCAA basketball history to win 100 games at four different schools. Following the 2014 season, Jarvis resigned after reports indicated that he was going to be fired. He finished with a 76–112 after six years in Boca Raton.
On April 7, 2014, the school hired Michael Curry, a former NBA player and coach of the Detroit Pistons. Curry's teams never finished with more than 12 wins overall or more than six wins in conference. They never finished higher than 11th in C-USA. Following the hiring of a new athletic director, Brian White, Curry was fired after four seasons at the school and a 39–84 record.
Dusty May era and 2023 Final Four run (since 2018)
White, brother to then-Florida head coach Mike White, thanked Curry for his years at FAU, but saw no reason the Owls could not compete in C-USA. On March 22, 2018, the school hired Florida assistant coach Dusty May as head coach.
The FAU Owls began to experience much improved results and consistent success under May, as they finished that first season in 2018-19 with an above .500 record at 17-15 and an invite to the 2019 CIT, where they lost to the Charleston Southern Buccaneers in the first round, 68-66. The Owls followed that success with winning records in each of the first 5 seasons with Dusty May at the helm.
The 2022-23 FAU Owls, led by May, had their most successful season in program history, going 31-3 en-route to winning that season’s Conference USA Championship for both the regular season and the conference tournament. During that season, FAU was ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in school history, as they at one point won 20 consecutive games. In March of 2023, the Owls made the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in program history and remarkably, made it to the Final Four in Houston after defeating the Kansas State Wildcats 79-76 in the Elite Eight at Madison Square Garden. The Owls then narrowly lost to the San Diego State Aztecs in that Final Four, 72-71, as San Diego State’s Lamont Butler hit a buzzer-beating jumpshot to help the Aztecs advance to the 2023 NCAA Tournament National Championship Game. The 2022-23 FAU Owls finished the season 35-4, the most wins of any program in Men’s Division I College Basketball that season.
Head coaches
Current coaching staff
Postseason
NCAA tournament results
The Owls have appeared in the NCAA tournament three times. Their combined record to date is 4–3.
NIT results
The Owls have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) once. Their record is 0–1.
CBI results
The Owls have appeared in the College Basketball Invitational once. Their combined record is 0–1.
CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) results
The Owls have appeared in one CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). Their record is 0–1.
Team records
All-time record vs. current AAC teams
Official record (including any NCAA imposed vacates and forfeits) against all current AAC opponents as of the completion of the 2022–23 season:
Through April 1, 2023.
Owls in international leagues
Aleksandar Zečević (born 1996), Serbian basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
References
External links
Official website |
American_Athletic_Conference_Men%27s_Basketball_Player_of_the_Year | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Athletic_Conference_Men%27s_Basketball_Player_of_the_Year | [
531
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Athletic_Conference_Men%27s_Basketball_Player_of_the_Year"
] | The American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an award given to the American Athletic Conference's most outstanding player. The conference formed in 2013–14 after many schools departed from the original Big East Conference to form their own conference. Shabazz Napier of UConn was the first-ever winner.
Key
Winners
Winners by school
The "year joined" reflects the calendar year in which each school joined the conference. Years for each award reflect the calendar year in which each season ended.
== References == |
Johnell_Davis | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnell_Davis | [
531
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnell_Davis"
] | Johnell Davis (born May 23, 2001) is an American college basketball player for the Arkansas Razorbacks of the Southeastern Conference.[1]
High school career
Davis played basketball for 21st Century Charter School in Gary, Indiana. As a senior, he averaged 31.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.6 steals and 2.6 assists per game, earning player of the year honors from the Post-Tribune and The Times of Northwest Indiana. He helped his team win four straight sectional titles. Davis broke the school's career and single-game (53) scoring records held by Eugene German. He committed to play college basketball for Florida Atlantic over offers from Northern Illinois, Miami (Ohio) and Kent State.
College career
As a freshman at Florida Atlantic, Davis averaged 3.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. In his sophomore season, he averaged 6.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Davis moved into a leading role as a junior, despite initially coming off the bench due to injuries. He helped Florida Atlantic achieve its best season in program history, with Conference USA regular season and tournament titles. Davis was named first-team All-C-USA and C-USA Sixth Player of the Year. In the second round of the 2023 NCAA tournament, he recorded 29 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, five steals in a 78–70 win over Fairleigh Dickinson. In FAU's victory, Davis became the first player in NCAA Tournament history to tally 25 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals in a single game.
Career statistics
College
References
External links
Florida Atlantic Owls bio
Arkansas Razorbacks bio |
1977_NBA_Finals | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_NBA_Finals | [
532
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_NBA_Finals"
] | The 1977 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1976–77 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Portland Trail Blazers played against the Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers, with the 76ers holding home-court advantage. Their four regular season meetings had been split evenly, 2–2, with neither side winning away from home. The series was played under a best-of-seven format.
The 1976–77 NBA season started with the ABA–NBA merger. Portland had benefited from the resulting ABA dispersal draft as they acquired Spirits of St. Louis power forward Maurice Lucas to partner with Bill Walton, and Philadelphia had signed ABA All-Star and 3-time ABA MVP Julius "Dr. J" Erving, who had taken the New York Nets to the ABA title the previous year. In the 1977 NBA Finals, five of the ten starting players were former ABA players (Julius Erving, Caldwell Jones, George McGinnis, Dave Twardzik, and Maurice Lucas).
While it was no surprise that Philadelphia had made it to the championship series, having posted the best record in the Eastern Conference (50-32), Portland's appearance in the finals was a mild surprise. Portland had joined the league in 1970 and it was making its playoff debut in its seventh season as the third best team in the Western Conference (49-33). It was also making its Finals debut after sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers in four close games in the Western Conference Finals to make this the second straight NBA Finals with at least one team making their first Finals appearance.
The series started 2-0 in favor of Philadelphia, but Portland rebounded in the next four games to become the second team to overcome a 2-0 deficit to win the Finals since the Boston Celtics in 1969 and the first to do so with four straight wins. No team would accomplish the feat again until 2006.
Background
The Portland Trail Blazers franchise entered the NBA as an expansion team in 1970, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Buffalo Braves. Like most expansion teams, the Trail Blazers struggled, but in 1974, hope was on the way.
Superstar center Bill Walton, who led UCLA to an 86-4 record and two national titles in three years, was drafted first overall by the Trail Blazers in the 1974 NBA draft. The Trail Blazers missed the playoffs the next two seasons as Walton struggled with injuries, but continued to add key pieces, such as Dave Twardzik, Lloyd Neal, Lionel Hollins, and Maurice Lucas. In 1976, Jack Ramsay was hired as head coach, and with a fully healthy Walton, Portland made the playoffs for the first time in the 1976–77 season, winning 49 games. The 3rd seeded Blazers would defeat the Chicago Bulls in three games, the Denver Nuggets in six games, and then shockingly swept league MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals.
The Philadelphia 76ers made it back to the playoffs in 1976, after missing the previous four years, which included a league-worst nine wins in the 1972–73 season. They acquired former ABA All-Star Julius Erving, late of the New York Nets, in the offseason. The 76ers won 50 games for the first time since 1969, defeated the defending champion Boston Celtics in a tough seven-game series, then advanced to the finals for the first time since 1967 by ousting the Houston Rockets in six games.
Road to the Finals
Regular season series
Both teams split the four-game series, each won by the home team.
Team rosters
Series summary
Trail Blazers win series 4–2
Game summaries
Game 1
Game 1 started with a Dr. J windmill slam dunk off the opening tip, and never got much better for the Blazers, who committed 34 turnovers. Erving scored 33 points and Doug Collins had 30, as the 76ers won 107–101. Walton finished with 28 points and 20 rebounds.
Game 2
Game 2 was an easy 107–89 win for the 76ers, who at one point scored 14 points in under 3 minutes. In the final 5 minutes, however, Philadelphia's Darryl Dawkins and Portland's Bob Gross both went up for a rebound and wrestled each other to the floor. Dawkins and Gross squared off and both benches cleared, including the coaches. In the middle of the fray, Maurice Lucas, in an act of team unity and in support of Gross, slapped Dawkins from behind and challenged him. Dawkins and Lucas were ejected, and Doug Collins needed four stitches after he caught a punch from Dawkins that had missed its target. Dawkins and Lucas were each fined $2,500. This brawl is commonly looked upon as the turning point in this series, as the Blazers unified and showed the Sixers that they wouldn't be humiliated.
Game 3
The series moved to Portland for the next two games, and game 3 got underway following a few tense moments as Lucas approached the Philadelphia bench before the game and offered his hand in friendship to Dawkins and the 76ers. The Blazers offense took charge of the game, and posted a 42-point fourth quarter to win 129–107. The turning point came early in the fourth with the score 91-87, when Walton tipped in an alley-oop pass from Bob Gross over Darryl Dawkins, who knocked him to the floor. Dave Twardzik then stole the Sixers' ensuing inbounds pass and found Walton, who was back on his feet, for another alley-oop dunk. Lucas had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and Walton contributed 20 points, 18 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Game 4
Philadelphia attempted to use George McGinnis and Caldwell Jones on the inside for Game 4, but Walton had other ideas, going on a shot-blocking frenzy. Portland quickly led the game by 17 points and never looked back, scoring 41 points in the third quarter and winning 130–98, the largest margin of victory in a game 4 in NBA history.
Game 5
Game 5 returned to Philadelphia with the series tied 2–2. Philadelphia spent much of the first half fouling the Blazers, racking up 22 personal fouls and sending the half-time score into the 40s. The Blazers added another 40 points to their total in the third quarter, and with a little over 8 minutes left in the game, Portland led 91–69. Erving rallied his team late in the fourth, scoring 37 points himself, but the Sixers ultimately lost 110–104. Portland set numerous rebounding records for its team, 59 (48 defensive, team record) in all which stood until 1985, 24 (20 defensive, another team record) of which belonged to Walton alone; his team record still stands.
Game 6
Philadelphia ball.Five seconds to go...Free will inbound.Here we go.The inbound to McGinnis.Drives, stops, pumps, shoots, short, no good!AND THE GAME IS OVER! THE GAME IS OVER!
Portland, now leading the series 3–2, arrived back home for Game 6 in the middle of the night to a crowd of 5,000 fans waiting at the airport. With just 48 minutes separating the Blazers from their first championship, "Blazermania" had gripped the city. Philadelphia kept the game close throughout the first quarter, but were down by 15 at halftime after the Blazers netted 40 points in the second quarter. Erving tried in vain to force a Game 7 for his team, scoring 40 points, but Bill Walton's 20 points, 23 rebounds, 7 assists and 8 blocks kept the game in Portland's favor.
The last play of the game took place with Philadelphia inbounding the ball with five seconds left, down just two points. Philadelphia's George McGinnis missed the game-tying jump shot, but all other nine players swarmed to position themselves to get the rebound. Portland's Bill Walton reached over all of them and slapped the ball up the court with two seconds left, and the clock expired for a heart-stopping 109–107 Portland win. The crowd stormed onto the court in a celebratory frenzy.
Walton was named finals MVP and was called "an inspiration" by the defeated Julius Erving. Maurice Lucas later said of Walton's post-game thrown jersey that was sent into the rushing crowd of fans, "if I had caught the shirt, I would have eaten it. Bill's my hero."
Portland was awarded two trophies for winning the NBA Championship: The Walter A. Brown Trophy, which was kept by the winning team for only a year until the next NBA Finals; and a newly designed trophy later to be known as the Larry O'Brien Trophy which was now to be kept by the winning team with a new one produced at every NBA Finals since. The Walter A. Brown Trophy was retired shortly after this game.
Notes
Game 6 in Portland was originally scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. PT (1:30 p.m. ET) on Sunday morning, because CBS wanted to accommodate a golf telecast of the Kemper Open—such scheduling had been used in the 1976 NBA Finals, for Game 3 played in Phoenix. However, the NBA refused and CBS agreed to a noon start.
Despite the fact that this was the Finals' clinching game, CBS cut away from their NBA coverage very quickly after the game ended, skipping the trophy presentation in the Portland locker room to instead televise the golf tournament. The only known footage of the trophy presentation was of Blazers head coach Jack Ramsay voicing his opinion about Bill Walton's performance in the NBA Finals.
I've never coached a better player. I've never coached a better competitor. And I've never coached a better person than Bill Walton.
See also
1977 NBA Playoffs
1976–77 NBA season
References
Further reading
Love, Matt (2007). Red Hot and Rollin': A Retrospection of the Portland Trail Blazers' 1976–77 NBA Championship Season. Pacific City, Oregon: Nestucca Spit Press. ISBN 978-0-9744364-8-7.
External links
Portland Trail Blazers Playoff Records
NBA History: Walton, Lucas Ignite 'Blazermania'
1977 NBA Season Summary – Basketball-Reference.com
"1977 NBA Finals Look Back: Philadelphia 76ers vs Portland Trail Blazers". NBA.com. May 30, 2017. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube. |
1976%E2%80%9377_Portland_Trail_Blazers_season | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976%E2%80%9377_Portland_Trail_Blazers_season | [
532
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976%E2%80%9377_Portland_Trail_Blazers_season"
] | The 1976–77 season was the Portland Trail Blazers' 7th season in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The revamped Trail Blazers had an exceptional start, winning 22 of their first 31 games. The team won their last 5 games to post a record of 49–33. The Trail Blazers reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history and proceeded to stampede through the postseason. By the time the Blazers had made it to the 1977 NBA Finals, the city of Portland was truly in the grips of "Blazermania". After losing the first two games of the championship series at Philadelphia, the Trail Blazers won four in a row to bring the trophy to Portland. The championship capped the team's first winning season. The Blazers had a remarkable 45–6 record at home, which included a perfect 10–0 mark in the playoffs.
As of 2024, this remains the only NBA championship in Blazers franchise history, though they made NBA Finals appearances in 1990 and 1992, losing to the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls, respectively.
Offseason
NBA draft
Note: This is not a complete list; only the first three rounds are covered, as well as any other picks by the franchise who played at least one NBA game.
ABA Dispersal Draft
The American Basketball Association joined the NBA with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. Of the teams remaining in the ABA, four joined the NBA. The two teams, the Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis, which folded had their players assigned to a dispersal draft for draft purposes.
Roster
Regular season
Just months earlier, the American Basketball Association had ended its ninth and last campaign and the two leagues combined. Despite the changes, it would become the season of Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers. Walton's college performance led to predictions that Walton would be pro basketball's next great player. Yet those dreams went largely unfulfilled because of a series of foot injuries that hampered him. But in the 1977 playoffs, a healthy Walton and his teammates found a chemistry that enabled them to beat one of the most talented pro teams ever assembled.
For Walton, it wasn't a question of wanting to play but of being able to. Injuries repeatedly interrupted his progress as a pro player. On the court, when he was healthy, he was a key contributor. He missed 17 games over the 1976–77 season; the Blazers lost 12 of them. With Walton in the lineup, the Blazers were 44–21, and their .677 winning percentage during those games was the best in the league.
The dispersal of ABA players had been particularly beneficial to the Blazers. Maurice Lucas was simply the most dominating power forward in the game, and his arrival only boosted Walton's effectiveness in the frontcourt. Lucas led the team in scoring at 20.2 points per game and averaged better than 11 rebounds. Coming over with Lucas from the ABA was lead guard Dave Twardzik. He had four pro seasons with the Virginia Squires of the ABA and was a starter in Ramsay's system. Another key contributor was Lionel Hollins, a second-year player out of Arizona State who averaged nearly 15 points per game.
The Blazers set a team record on November 2, 1976, when they scored 45 points in the first quarter against the Atlanta Hawks in their 129-116 win.
Season standings
z – clinched division title
y – clinched division title
x – clinched playoff spot
Record vs. opponents
Season schedule
Playoffs
NBA Finals
The Finals opened in the Spectrum on Sunday, May 22. The 76ers seemed unbeatable after the first two games. Julius Erving opened Game 1 with a stupendous dunk off the opening tip. He finished with 33 points and Doug Collins had 30 as Philadelphia won 107–101. The Blazers were rattled enough to commit 34 turnovers. Walton finished with 28 points and 20 rebounds.
In Game 2 four nights later, the Sixers won handily, 107–89. Caldwell Jones and Darryl Dawkins handled Walton easily, while the Sixers dominated in the second quarter, scoring 14 points in one three-minute stretch on their way to a 61–43 halftime lead. The game became very physical with about five minutes left. First, Portland's Lloyd Neal and George McGinnis squared off, followed by Lucas and Erving trading elbows. Then, Dawkins & Gross got into some extracurricular activity battling for a rebound. Dawkins punched Gross, then Lucas punched Dawkins, resulting in a bench clearing brawl.
In Game 3, played on Sunday, May 29, Lucas strode directly to the Philadelphia bench, then startled everybody, including Dawkins, by sticking out his hand for a shake. The Blazers had a high scoring attack to win the game. Lucas contributed 27 points and 12 rebounds. Walton had nine assists, 20 points, and 18 rebounds. Twardzik, too, had returned to speed, driving the Portland offense along to a 42-point fourth quarter. They won 129–107, closing the series gap to 2–1.
In Game 4, Portland opened up a quick 17-point lead, then cruised to a 130–98 win despite Walton being sent to the bench with five fouls in the third. With a little more than eight minutes left in Game 5, Portland led 91–69 and the crowd was headed home. Erving rallied the Sixers to make it respectable at the end, 110–104. He had managed 37 points in the game. Gross scored 25 points to lead the Blazers, while Lucas had 20 with 13 rebounds. Walton finished with 24 rebounds and 14 points.
In the sixth and deciding game, Portland was up by 12 with half of the fourth quarter left when Erving led his teammates on one final run. At the four-minute mark, the lead was cut to four, 102–98. McGinnis hit a jumper, and the lead was only two points with 18 seconds left. The Sixers needed a turnover, and they finally got it from McGinnis, who was able to force a jump ball with Gross. With eight seconds remaining, Erving put up a jumper in the lane but missed. Free got the ball and lofted a baseline shot and missed too. With a second left, McGinnis tried to force a seventh and deciding game but he missed. Walton, (who had 20 points, 23 rebounds, eight blocks and seven assists) knocked the loose ball away, then when time ran out, ripped off his jersey & hurled it into the crowd.
Player statistics
Season
Playoffs
Awards and records
Bill Walton, All-NBA Second Team
Bill Walton, NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award
References
External links
Blazers on Database Basketball
Blazers on Reference Basketball |
Henry_Simonds | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Simonds | [
533
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Simonds"
] | Henry John Simonds (23 March 1828 – 25 January 1896) was an English first-class cricketer and barrister.
The son of William May Simonds, he was born at Caversham in March 1828. He was educated at Eton College, before going up to King's College, Cambridge. While studying at Cambridge, he played two first-class cricket matches for Cambridge University Cricket Club, against Cambridge Town Club at Fenner's in 1849 and in The University Match against Oxford University at Oxford in 1850. He had little success in these two matches, scoring just 5 runs. He was a fellow of King's College from 1849 to 1858.
A student of the Inner Temple, he was called to the bar in January 1853 to practice on the Western Circuit. He was appointed a justice of the peace for Oxfordshire in January 1868. He was a partner in the family brewing business, H & G Simonds Ltd, which was named by his father after him and his brother, George. He was active in local politics and was a Chairman of his local Conservative Association. Simonds died at his residence in Caversham in January 1896.
References
External links
Henry Simonds at ESPNcricinfo |
Cricket | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket | [
533
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket#Governance"
] | Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a 22-yard (20-metre; 66-foot) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the batting team, the striker and nonstriker, stand in front of either wicket holding bats, while one player from the fielding team, the bowler, bowls the ball toward the striker's wicket from the opposite end of the pitch. The striker's goal is to hit the bowled ball with the bat and then switch places with the nonstriker, with the batting team scoring one run for each of these exchanges. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally.
The fielding team tries to prevent runs from being scored by dismissing batters (so they are "out"). Means of dismissal include being bowled, when the ball hits the striker's wicket and dislodges the bails, and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it is hit by the bat but before it hits the ground, or hitting a wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease line in front of the wicket. When ten batters have been dismissed, the innings (playing phase) ends and the teams swap roles. Forms of cricket range from traditional Test matches played over five days to the newer Twenty20 format (also known as T20), in which each team bats for a single innings of 20 overs (each "over" being a set of 6 fair opportunities for the batting team to score) and the game generally lasts three to four hours.
Traditionally, cricketers play in all-white kit, but in limited overs cricket, they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball, which is a hard, solid spheroid made of compressed leather with a slightly raised sewn seam enclosing a cork core layered with tightly wound string.
The earliest known definite reference to cricket is to it being played in South East England in the mid-16th century. It spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, with the first international matches in the second half of the 19th century. The game's governing body is the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has over 100 members, twelve of which are full members who play Test matches. The game's rules, the Laws of Cricket, are maintained by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London. The sport is followed primarily in South Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Southern Africa, and the West Indies.
Women's cricket, which is organised and played separately, has also achieved international standard.
The most successful side playing international cricket is Australia, which has won eight One Day International trophies, including six World Cups, more than any other country, and has been the top-rated Test side more than any other country.
History
Origins
Cricket is one of many games in the "club ball" sphere that involve hitting a ball with a hand-held implement. Others include baseball (which shares many similarities with cricket, both belonging in the more specific bat-and-ball games category), golf, hockey, tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis. In cricket's case, a key difference is the existence of a solid target structure, the wicket (originally, it is thought, a "wicket gate" through which sheep were herded), that the batter must defend. The cricket historian Harry Altham identified three "groups" of "club ball" games: the "hockey group", in which the ball is driven to and from between two targets (the goals); the "golf group", in which the ball is driven towards an undefended target (the hole); and the "cricket group", in which "the ball is aimed at a mark (the wicket) and driven away from it".
It is generally believed that cricket originated as a children's game in the south-eastern counties of England, sometime during the medieval period. Although there are claims for prior dates, the earliest definite reference to cricket being played comes from evidence given at a court case in Guildford in January 1597 (Old Style, equating to January 1598 in the modern calendar). The case concerned ownership of a certain plot of land, and the court heard the testimony of a 59-year-old coroner, John Derrick, who gave witness that:
Being a scholler in the ffree schoole of Guldeford hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play there at creckett and other plaies.
Given Derrick's age, it was about half a century earlier when he was at school, and so it is certain that cricket was being played c. 1550 by boys in Surrey. The view that it was originally a children's game is reinforced by Randle Cotgrave's 1611 English-French dictionary in which he defined the noun "crosse" as "the crooked staff wherewith boys play at cricket", and the verb form "crosser" as "to play at cricket".
One possible source for the sport's name is the Old English word "cryce" (or "cricc") meaning a crutch or staff. In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick". In Old French, the word "criquet" seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch (in use in Flanders at the time) "krick"(-e), meaning a stick (crook). Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word "krickstoel", meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church that resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket. According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, "met de (krik ket)sen" ("with the stick chase"). Gillmeister has suggested that not only the name but also the sport itself may be of Flemish origin.
Growth of amateur and professional cricket in England
Although the main object of the game has always been to score the most runs, the early form of cricket differed from the modern game in certain key technical aspects; the North American variant of cricket known as wicket retained many of these aspects. The ball was bowled underarm by the bowler and along the ground towards a batter armed with a bat that in shape resembled a hockey stick; the batter defended a low, two-stump wicket; and runs were called notches because the scorers recorded them by notching tally sticks.
In 1611, the year Cotgrave's dictionary was published, ecclesiastical court records at Sidlesham in Sussex state that two parishioners, Bartholomew Wyatt and Richard Latter, failed to attend church on Easter Sunday because they were playing cricket. They were fined 12d each and ordered to do penance. This is the earliest mention of adult participation in cricket and it was around the same time that the earliest known organised inter-parish or village match was played, at Chevening, Kent. In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall died after he was accidentally struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex.
Cricket remained a low-key local pursuit for much of the 17th century. It is known, through numerous references found in the records of ecclesiastical court cases, to have been proscribed at times by the Puritans before and during the Commonwealth. The problem was nearly always the issue of Sunday play, as the Puritans considered cricket to be "profane" if played on the Sabbath, especially if large crowds or gambling were involved.
According to the social historian Derek Birley, there was a "great upsurge of sport after the Restoration" in 1660. Several members of the court of King Charles II took a strong interest in cricket during that era. Gambling on sport became a problem significant enough for Parliament to pass the 1664 Gambling Act, limiting stakes to £100, which was, in any case, a colossal sum exceeding the annual income of 99% of the population. Along with horse racing, as well as prizefighting and other types of blood sport, cricket was perceived to be a gambling sport. Rich patrons made matches for high stakes, forming teams in which they engaged the first professional players. By the end of the century, cricket had developed into a major sport that was spreading throughout England and was already being taken abroad by English mariners and colonisers—the earliest reference to cricket overseas is dated 1676. A 1697 newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" played in Sussex "for fifty guineas apiece", the earliest known contest that is generally considered a First Class match.
The patrons and other players from the gentry began to classify themselves as "amateurs" to establish a clear distinction from the professionals, who were invariably members of the working class, even to the point of having separate changing and dining facilities. The gentry, including such high-ranking nobles as the Dukes of Richmond, exerted their honour code of noblesse oblige to claim rights of leadership in any sporting contests they took part in, especially as it was necessary for them to play alongside their "social inferiors" if they were to win their bets. In time, a perception took hold that the typical amateur who played in first-class cricket, until 1962 when amateurism was abolished, was someone with a public school education who had then gone to one of Cambridge or Oxford University. Society insisted that such people were "officers and gentlemen" whose destiny was to provide leadership. In a purely financial sense, the cricketing amateur would theoretically claim expenses for playing while his professional counterpart played under contract and was paid a wage or match fee; in practice, many amateurs claimed more than actual expenditure, and the derisive term "shamateur" was coined to describe the practice.
English cricket in the 18th and 19th centuries
The game underwent major development in the 18th century to become England's national sport. Its success was underwritten by the twin necessities of patronage and betting. Cricket was prominent in London as early as 1707 and, in the middle years of the century, large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury. The single wicket form of the sport attracted huge crowds and wagers to match, its popularity peaking in the 1748 season. Bowling underwent an evolution around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch (bounce) the ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batter. This caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape.
The Hambledon Club was founded in the 1760s and, for the next twenty years until the formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal point. MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of Cricket. New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century include the three-stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw).
The 19th century saw underarm bowling superseded by first roundarm and then overarm bowling. Both developments were controversial. Organisation of the game at county level led to the creation of the county clubs, starting with Sussex in 1839. In December 1889, the eight leading county clubs formed the official County Championship, which began in 1890.
The most famous player of the 19th century was W. G. Grace, who started his long and influential career in 1865. It was especially during the career of Grace that the distinction between amateurs and professionals became blurred by the existence of players like him who were nominally amateur but, in terms of their financial gain, de facto professional. Grace himself was said to have been paid more money for playing cricket than any professional.
The last two decades before the First World War have been called the "Golden Age of cricket". It is a nostalgic name prompted by the collective sense of loss resulting from the war, but the period did produce some great players and memorable matches, especially as organised competition at county and Test level developed.
Cricket becomes an international sport
In 1844, the first-ever international match took place between what were essentially club teams, from the United States and Canada, in Toronto; Canada won. In 1859, a team of English players went to North America on the first overseas tour. Meanwhile, the British Empire had been instrumental in spreading the game overseas, and by the middle of the 19th century it had become well established in Australia, the Caribbean, British India (which includes present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh), New Zealand, North America and South Africa.
In 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia. The first Australian team to travel overseas consisted of Aboriginal stockmen who toured England in 1868.
In 1876–77, an England team took part in what was retrospectively recognised as the first-ever Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia. The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882, which remains Test cricket's most famous contest. Test cricket began to expand in 1888–89 when South Africa played England.
Cricket in the 20th century
The inter-war years were dominated by Australia's Don Bradman, statistically the greatest Test batter of all time. To curb his dominance, England employed bodyline tactics during the 1932–33 Ashes series. These involved bowling at the body of the batter and setting a field, resulting in batters having to choose between being hit or risk getting out. This series moved cricket from a game to a matter of national importance, with diplomatic cables being passed between the two countries over the incident.
During this time, the number of Test nations continued to grow, with the West Indies, New Zealand and India being admitted as full Test members within a four-year period from 1928 to 1932.
An enforced break during the Second World War stopped Test Cricket for a time, although the Partition of India caused Pakistan to gain Test status in 1952. As teams began to travel more, the game quickly grew from 500 tests in 84 years to 1000 within the next 23.
Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the limited overs variant. As it was sure to produce a result, limited overs cricket was lucrative, and the number of matches increased. The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971, and the governing International Cricket Council (ICC), seeing its potential, staged the first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975.
Sri Lanka joined the ranks in 1982. Meanwhile, South Africa was banned by the ICC due to apartheid from 1970 until 1992. 1992 also brought about the introduction of the Zimbabwe team.
Cricket in the 21st century
The 21st century brought with it the Bangladesh Team, who made their Test debut in 2000. The game itself also grew, with a new format made up of 20-over innings being created. This format, called T20 cricket, quickly became a highly popular format, putting the longer formats at risk. The new shorter format also introduced franchise cricket, with new tournaments like the Indian Premier League and the Australian Big Bash League. The ICC has selected the T20 format as cricket's growth format, and has introduced a T20 World Cup which is played every two years; T20 cricket has also been increasingly accepted into major events such as the Asian Games. The resultant growth has seen cricket's fanbase cross one billion people, with 90% of them in South Asia. T20's success has also spawned even shorter formats, such as 10-over cricket (T10) and 100-ball cricket, though not without controversy.
Outside factors have also taken their toll on cricket. For example, the 2008 Mumbai attacks led India and Pakistan to suspend their bilateral series indefinitely. The 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team during their tour of Pakistan led to Pakistan being unable to host matches until 2019.
In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland became the 11th and 12th Test nations.
Laws and gameplay
In cricket, the rules of the game are codified in The Laws of Cricket (hereinafter called "the Laws"), which has a global remit. There are 42 Laws (always written with a capital "L"). The earliest known version of the code was drafted in 1744, and since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London.
Playing area
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played on a cricket field (see image of cricket pitch and creases) between two teams of eleven players each. The field is usually circular or oval in shape, and the edge of the playing area is marked by a boundary, which may be a fence, part of the stands, a rope, a painted line, or a combination of these; the boundary must if possible be marked along its entire length.
In the approximate centre of the field is a rectangular pitch (see image, below) on which a wooden target called a wicket is sited at each end; the wickets are placed 22 yards (20 m) apart. The pitch is a flat surface 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, with very short grass that tends to be worn away as the game progresses (cricket can also be played on artificial surfaces, notably matting). Each wicket is made of three wooden stumps topped by two bails.
As illustrated, the pitch is marked at each end with four white painted lines: a bowling crease, a popping crease and two return creases. The three stumps are aligned centrally on the bowling crease, which is eight feet eight inches long. The popping crease is drawn four feet in front of the bowling crease and parallel to it; although it is drawn as a 12 ft (3.7 m) line (six feet on either side of the wicket), it is, in fact, unlimited in length. The return creases are drawn at right angles to the popping crease so that they intersect the ends of the bowling crease; each return crease is drawn as an 8 ft (2.4 m) line, so that it extends four feet behind the bowling crease, but is also, in fact, unlimited in length.
Match structure
Before a match begins, the team captains (who are also players) toss a coin to decide which team will bat first and so take the first innings. "Innings" is the term used for each phase of play in the match. In each innings, one team bats, attempting to score runs, while the other team bowls and fields the ball, attempting to restrict the scoring and dismiss the batters. When the first innings ends, the teams change roles; there can be two to four innings depending upon the type of match. A match with four scheduled innings is played over three to five days; a match with two scheduled innings is usually completed in a single day. During an innings, all eleven members of the fielding team take the field, but usually only two members of the batting team are on the field at any given time. The order of batters is usually announced just before the match, but it can be varied.
The main objective of each team is to score more runs than their opponents, but in some forms of cricket, it is also necessary to dismiss all but one of the opposition batters (making their team 'all out') in their final innings in order to win the match, which would otherwise be drawn (not ending with a winner or tie.)
Clothing and equipment
The wicket-keeper (a specialised fielder behind the batter) and the batters wear protective gear because of the hardness of the ball, which can be delivered at speeds of more than 145 kilometres per hour (90 mph) and presents a major health and safety concern. Protective clothing includes pads (designed to protect the knees and shins), batting gloves or wicket-keeper's gloves for the hands, a safety helmet for the head, and a box for male players inside the trousers (to protect the crotch area). Some batters wear additional padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads. The only fielders allowed to wear protective gear are those in positions very close to the batter (i.e., if they are alongside or in front of him), but they cannot wear gloves or external leg guards.
Subject to certain variations, on-field clothing generally includes a collared shirt with short or long sleeves; long trousers; woolen pullover (if needed); cricket cap (for fielding) or a safety helmet; and spiked shoes or boots to increase traction. The kit is traditionally all white, and this remains the case in Test and first-class cricket, but in limited overs cricket, team colours are now worn instead.
Bat and ball
The essence of the sport is that a bowler delivers (i.e., bowls) the ball from their end of the pitch towards the batter who, armed with a bat, is "on strike" at the other end (see next sub-section: Basic gameplay).
The bat is made of wood, usually Salix alba (white willow), and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) wide and the total length of the bat not more than 38 inches (97 cm). There is no standard for the weight, which is usually between 2 lb 7 oz and 3 lb (1.1 and 1.4 kg).
The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid, with a circumference of 9 inches (23 cm). The ball has a "seam": six rows of stitches attaching the leather shell of the ball to the string and cork interior. The seam on a new ball is prominent and helps the bowler propel it in a less predictable manner. During matches, the quality of the ball deteriorates to a point where it is no longer usable; during the course of this deterioration, its behaviour in flight will change and can influence the outcome of the match. Players will, therefore, attempt to modify the ball's behaviour by modifying its physical properties. Polishing the ball and wetting it with sweat or saliva was legal, even when the polishing was deliberately done on one side only to increase the ball's swing through the air. The use of saliva has since been made illegal due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The acts of rubbing other substances into the ball, scratching the surface or picking at the seams constitute illegal ball tampering.
Player roles
Basic gameplay: bowler to batter
During normal play, thirteen players and two umpires are on the field. Two of the players are batters and the rest are all eleven members of the fielding team. The other nine players in the batting team are off the field in the pavilion. The image with overlay below shows what is happening when a ball is being bowled and which of the personnel are on or close to the pitch.
In the photo, the two batters (3 and 8, wearing yellow) have taken position at each end of the pitch (6). Three members of the fielding team (4, 10 and 11, wearing dark blue) are in shot. One of the two umpires (1, wearing white hat) is stationed behind the wicket (2) at the bowler's (4) end of the pitch. The bowler (4) is bowling the ball (5) from his end of the pitch to the batter (8) at the other end who is called the "striker". The other batter (3) at the bowling end is called the "non-striker". The wicket-keeper (10), who is a specialist, is positioned behind the striker's wicket (9), and behind him stands one of the fielders in a position called "first slip" (11). While the bowler and the first slip are wearing conventional kit only, the two batters and the wicket-keeper are wearing protective gear, including safety helmets, padded gloves and leg guards (pads).
While the umpire (1) in shot stands at the bowler's end of the pitch, his colleague stands in the outfield, usually in or near the fielding position called "square leg", so that he is in line with the popping crease (7) at the striker's end of the pitch. The bowling crease (not numbered) is the one on which the wicket is located between the return creases (12). The bowler (4) intends to hit the wicket (9) with the ball (5) or at least prevent the striker (8) from scoring runs. The striker (8) intends, by using his bat, to defend his wicket and, if possible, hit the ball away from the pitch in order to score runs.
Some players are skilled in both batting and bowling, or either of these as well as wicket-keeping, so are termed all-rounders. Bowlers are classified according to their style, generally as fast bowlers, seam bowlers or spinners. Batters are classified according to whether they are right-handed or left-handed.
Overs
The Laws state that, throughout an innings, "the ball shall be bowled from each end alternately in overs of 6 balls". The name "over" came about because the umpire calls "Over!" when six legal balls (deliveries) have been bowled. At this point, another bowler is deployed at the other end, and the fielding side changes ends while the batters do not. A bowler cannot bowl two successive overs, although a bowler can (and usually does) bowl alternate overs, from the same end, for several overs which are termed a "spell"; if the captain wants a bowler to "change ends", another bowler must temporarily fill in so that the change is not immediate. The batters do not change ends at the end of the over, and so the one who was non-striker is now the striker and vice versa. The umpires also change positions so that the one who was at "square leg" now stands behind the wicket at the nonstriker's end and vice versa.
Fielding
Of the eleven fielders, three are in shot in the image above. The other eight are elsewhere on the field, their positions determined on a tactical basis by the captain or the bowler. Fielders often change position between deliveries, again as directed by the captain or bowler.
If a fielder is injured or becomes ill during a match, a substitute is allowed to field instead of the aforementioned fielder, but the substitute cannot bowl or act as a captain, except in the case of concussion substitutes in international cricket. The substitute leaves the field when the injured player is fit to return. The Laws of Cricket were updated in 2017 to allow substitutes to act as wicket-keepers.
Batting and scoring
Batters take turns to bat via a batting order which is decided beforehand by the team captain and presented to the umpires, though the order remains flexible when the captain officially nominates the team. Substitute batters are generally not allowed, except in the case of concussion substitutes in international cricket.
In order to begin batting the batter first adopts a batting stance. Standardly, this involves adopting a slight crouch with the feet pointing across the front of the wicket, looking in the direction of the bowler, and holding the bat so it passes over the feet and so its tip can rest on the ground near to the toes of the back foot.
A skilled batter can use a wide array of "shots" or "strokes" in both defensive and attacking mode. The idea is to hit the ball to the best effect with the flat surface of the bat's blade. If the ball touches the side of the bat, it is called an "edge". The batter does not have to play a shot and can allow the ball to go through to the wicket-keeper. Equally, the batter does not have to attempt a run when hitting the ball with their bat. Batters do not always seek to hit the ball as hard as possible, and a good player can score runs by simply making a deft stroke with a turn of the wrists, or by simply "blocking" the ball but directing it away from fielders so that the player has time to take a run. A wide variety of shots are played, the batter's repertoire including strokes named according to the style of swing and the direction aimed: e.g., "cut", "drive", "hook", and "pull".
The batter on strike (i.e., the "striker") must prevent the ball from hitting the wicket and try to score runs by hitting the ball with their bat so that the batter and their partner have time to switch places, with each of them running from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielding side can return the ball and attempt a run out (throwing the ball at one of the wickets before the run is scored.) To register a run, both runners must touch the ground behind the popping crease with either their bats or their bodies (the batters carry their bats as they run) before a fielder can throw the ball at the nearby wicket. Each completed run increments the score of both the team and the striker.
The decision to attempt a run is ideally made by the batter who has the better view of the ball's progress, and this is communicated by calling, usually "yes", "no" or "wait". More than one run can be scored from a single hit. Hits worth one to three runs are common, but the size of the field is such that it is usually difficult to run four or more. To compensate for this, hits that reach the boundary of the field are automatically awarded four runs if the ball touches the ground en route to the boundary or six runs if the ball clears the boundary without touching the ground within the boundary. In these cases the batters do not need to run. Hits for five are unusual and generally rely on the help of "overthrows" by a fielder returning the ball.
If an odd number of runs is scored by the striker, the two batters have changed ends, and the one who was non-striker is now the striker. Only the striker can score individual runs, but all runs are added to the team's total.
Additional runs can be gained by the batting team as extras (called "sundries" in Australia) due to errors made by the fielding side. This is achieved in four ways: no-ball, a penalty of one extra conceded by the bowler if they break the rules (often by failing to bowl the ball before their front foot passes the popping crease at their end); wide, a penalty of one extra conceded by the bowler if they bowl so that the ball is out of the batter's reach; bye, an extra awarded if the batter misses the ball and it goes past the wicket-keeper and gives the batters time to run in the conventional way; and leg bye, as for a bye except that the ball has hit the batter's body, though not their bat. If the bowler has bowled an illegal delivery (i.e., a no-ball or a wide), the bowler's team incurs an additional penalty because that ball (i.e., delivery) has to be bowled again, and hence the batting side has the opportunity to score more runs from this extra ball. In addition, the ways in which the batters can be dismissed on an illegal delivery greatly narrow down; in the case of a no-ball, which is the more egregious type of illegal delivery, the only common way in which the batters can be dismissed is by being run out.
Dismissals
There are nine ways in which a batter can be dismissed: five relatively common and four extremely rare. When a batter is dismissed, they are said to have 'lost their wicket', and are barred from batting again in that innings; their team is also said to have 'lost a wicket'. Once a team has lost 10 wickets, its innings is over. The common forms of dismissal are bowled (when the striker fails to prevent a delivery from hitting their wicket), caught (when a ball struck by the bat is caught by a fielder before it hits the ground), leg before wicket (lbw - when the striker's body 'unfairly' prevents a delivery from hitting the wicket), run out (generally when the ball is thrown at a wicket by a fielder while the batters are running between the wickets), and stumped (a special type of run out). Rare methods are hit wicket (a striker hitting their own wicket), hit the ball twice, obstructing the field, and timed out (a batter failing to enter the field in a timely manner). The Laws state that the fielding team, usually the bowler in practice, must appeal for a dismissal before the umpire can give their decision. If the batter is out, the umpire raises a forefinger and says "Out!"; otherwise, the umpire will shake their head and say "Not out". There is, effectively, a tenth method of dismissal, retired out (self-dismissal - generally permanent except in cases of injury), which is not an on-field dismissal as such but rather a retrospective one for which no fielder is credited.
Bowling
Most bowlers are considered specialists in that they are selected for the team because of their skill as a bowler, although some are all-rounders, and even specialist batters bowl occasionally. These specialists bowl "spells" that are generally 4 to 8 overs long in order not to physically exhaust the bowler, cause muscle strain and stress the skeleton. The rules prevent a single bowler from bowling consecutive overs, resulting in at least two bowlers alternating each over. If the captain wants a bowler to "change ends", another bowler must temporarily fill in so that the change is not immediate. The action of bowling the ball is akin to throwing, with the caveat that a bowler's elbow extension is almost entirely restricted, resulting in most bowlers maintaining a straight arm when releasing the ball during their delivery stride. Additionally, while the bowler is not required to pitch (bounce) the ball, a full toss (non-bouncing) delivery that reaches the striker above waist height is penalised as a no-ball.
A bowler reaches their delivery stride by means of a "run-up", and an over is deemed to have begun when the bowler starts their run-up for the first delivery of that over, the ball then being "in play". Fast bowlers, or pacemen, need momentum, taking a lengthy run up, while bowlers with a slow delivery take no more than a couple of steps before bowling. The fastest bowlers can deliver the ball at a speed of over 145 kilometres per hour (90 mph), and they sometimes rely on sheer speed to try to defeat the batter, who is forced to react very quickly. Other fast bowlers rely on a mixture of speed and guile by making the ball seam or swing (i.e., curve) in flight. This type of delivery can deceive a batter into miscuing their shot, for example, so that the ball just touches the edge of the bat and can then be "caught behind" by the wicket-keeper or a slip fielder. At the other end of the bowling scale is the spin bowler, who bowls at a relatively slow pace and relies entirely on guile to deceive the batter. A spinner will often "buy their wicket" by "tossing one up" (in a slower, steeper parabolic path) to lure the batter into making a poor shot. The batter has to be very wary of such deliveries, as the batter is often "flighted" or spun so that the ball will not behave quite as the batter expects it to, and the batter could be "trapped" into getting themself out. Accidental full toss deliveries can also get wickets, as the failure of the ball to bounce can surprise a batsman or induce a poor stroke in an effort to punish the poor delivery with a boundary hit. In between the pacemen and the spinners are the medium-paced seamers, who rely on persistent accuracy to try to contain the rate of scoring and wear down the batter's concentration.
Specialist roles
The captain is often the most experienced player in the team, certainly the most tactically astute, and can possess any of the main skillsets as a batter, a bowler or a wicket-keeper. Within the Laws, the captain has certain responsibilities in terms of nominating their players to the umpires before the match and ensuring that the captain's players conduct themselves "within the spirit and traditions of the game as well as within the Laws".
The wicket-keeper (sometimes called simply the "keeper") is a specialist fielder subject to various rules within the Laws about their equipment and demeanour. The wicket-keeper is the only member of the fielding side who can effect a stumping and is the only one permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards.
Depending on their primary skills, the other ten players in the team tend to be classified as specialist batters or specialist bowlers. Generally, a team will include five or six specialist batters, and four or five specialist bowlers, plus the wicket-keeper.
Match closure
There are a number of ways that a cricket match can end and its result be described, depending on whether the team batting first or last wins as well as the format of the game.
If the team batting last is 'all out' having scored fewer runs than their opponents, they are said to have "lost by n runs" (where n is the difference between the aggregate number of runs scored by the teams). If the team that bats last scores enough runs to win, it is said to have "won by n wickets", where n is the number of wickets left to fall (batters yet to be dismissed) until the team would have been all out. For example, a team that passes its opponents' total having lost six wickets (i.e., six of their batters have been dismissed) wins the match "by four wickets", since the team would only have been prevented from scoring the winning runs if four more of its batters had been dismissed, which would have resulted in all but one of its eleven batters being dismissed.
In a two-innings-a-side match, one team's combined first and second innings total may be less than the other side's first innings total. The team with the greater score is then said to have "won by an innings and n runs" and does not need to bat again: n is the difference between the two teams' aggregate scores. If the team batting last is all out and both sides have scored the same number of runs, then the match is a tie; this result is quite rare in matches of two innings a side with only 62 happening in first-class matches from the earliest known instance in 1741 until January 2017. In the traditional form of the game, if the time allotted for the match expires before either side can win, then the game is declared a draw.
If the match has only a single innings per side, then usually a maximum number of overs applies to each innings. Such a match is called a "limited overs" or "one-day" match, and the side scoring more runs wins regardless of the number of wickets lost, so that a draw cannot occur. In some cases, ties are broken by having each team bat for a one-over innings known as a Super Over; subsequent Super Overs may be played if the first Super Over ends in a tie. If this kind of match is temporarily interrupted by bad weather, then a complex mathematical formula, known as the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method after its developers, is often used to recalculate a new target score. A one-day match can also be declared a "no-result" if fewer than a previously agreed number of overs have been bowled by either team, in circumstances that make normal resumption of play impossible, for example, wet weather.
In all forms of cricket, the umpires can abandon the match if bad light or rain makes it impossible to continue. There have been instances of entire matches, even Test matches scheduled to be played over five days, being lost to bad weather without a ball being bowled, for example, the third Test of the 1970/71 series in Australia.
Innings
The innings (ending with 's' in both singular and plural form) is the term used for each phase of play during a match. Depending on the type of match being played, each team has either one or two innings. Sometimes all eleven members of the batting side take a turn to bat but, for various reasons, an innings can end before they have all done so. The innings terminates if the batting team is "all out", a term defined by the Laws: "At the fall of a wicket or the retirement of a batter, further balls remain to be bowled but no further batter is available to come in". In this situation, one of the batters has not been dismissed and is termed not out; this is because he has no partners left and there must always be two active batters while the innings is in progress.
An innings may end early while there are still two not out batters:
the batting team's captain may declare the innings closed, even though some of the captain's players have not had a turn to bat: this is a tactical decision by the captain, usually because the captain believes that their team have scored sufficient runs and need time to dismiss the opposition in their innings
the set number of overs (i.e., in a limited overs match) have been bowled
the match has ended prematurely due to bad weather or running out of time
in the final innings of the match, the batting side has reached its target (i.e., scored more runs than the opposition) and won the game.
Umpires and scorers
The game on the field is regulated by the two umpires, one of whom stands behind the wicket at the bowler's end and the other in a position called "square leg", which is about 15–20 m (49–66 ft) away from the batter on strike and in line with the popping crease on which that umpire is taking guard. The umpires have several responsibilities, including adjudication on whether a ball has been correctly bowled (i.e., not a no-ball or a wide); when a run is scored; whether a batter is out (the fielding side must first appeal to the umpire, usually with the phrase "How's that?" or "Howzat?"); when intervals start and end; and the suitability of the pitch, field and weather for playing the game. The umpires are authorised to interrupt or even abandon a match due to circumstances likely to endanger the players, such as a damp pitch or deterioration of the light.
Off the field in televised matches, there is usually a third umpire who can make decisions on certain incidents with the aid of video evidence. The third umpire is mandatory under the playing conditions for Test and Limited Overs International matches played between two ICC full member countries. These matches also have a match referee whose job is to ensure that play is within the Laws and the spirit of the game.
The match details, including runs and dismissals, are recorded by two official scorers, one representing each team. The scorers are directed by the hand signals of an umpire (see image, right). For example, the umpire raises a forefinger to signal that the batter is out (has been dismissed); the umpire raises both arms above their head if the batter has hit the ball for six runs. The scorers are required by the Laws to record all runs scored, wickets taken, and overs bowled; in practice, they also note significant amounts of additional data relating to the game.
A match's statistics are summarised on a scorecard. Prior to the popularisation of scorecards, most scoring was done by men sitting on vantage points cuttings notches on tally sticks, and runs were originally called notches. According to historian Rowland Bowen, the earliest known scorecard templates were introduced in 1776 by T. Pratt of Sevenoaks and soon came into general use. It is believed that scorecards were printed and sold at Lord's for the first time in 1846.
Scores are displayed differently depending on location, although it is standard to show how many wickets have been lost and how many runs a team has made. Within Australia, the format is Wickets/Runs, while in the rest of the world, the format is Runs/Wickets. For example, a score of 125 runs with 4 wickets lost would be displayed as 4/125 or 125/4, respectively.
Spirit of the Game
Besides observing the Laws, cricketers must respect the "Spirit of Cricket", a concept encompassing sportsmanship, fair play and mutual respect. This spirit has long been considered an integral part of the sport but is only nebulously defined. Amidst concern that the spirit was weakening, in 2000, a Preamble was added to the Laws instructing all participants to play within the spirit of the game. The Preamble was last updated in 2017, now opening with the line:
Cricket owes much of its appeal and enjoyment to the fact that it should be played not only according to the Laws, but also within the Spirit of Cricket.
The Preamble is a short statement intended to emphasise the "positive behaviours that make cricket an exciting game that encourages leadership, friendship, and teamwork". Its second line states that, "the major responsibility for ensuring fair play rests with the captains, but extends to all players, match officials and, especially in junior cricket, teachers, coaches and parents".
The umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play. They are required under the Laws to intervene in case of dangerous or unfair play or in cases of unacceptable conduct by a player.
Previous versions of the Spirit identified actions that were deemed contrary (for example, appealing knowing that the batter is not out), but all specifics are now covered in the Laws of Cricket, the relevant governing playing regulations and disciplinary codes, or left to the judgement of the umpires, captains, their clubs and governing bodies. The terse expression of the Spirit of Cricket now avoids trying to enumerate the diverse cultural conventions that exist in the detail of sportsmanship, or its absence.
Women's cricket
Women's cricket was first recorded in Surrey in 1745. International development began at the start of the 20th century, and the first Test match was played between Australia and England in December 1934. The following year, New Zealand joined them, and in 2007 Netherland became the tenth women's Test nation when they made their debut against South Africa. In 1958, the International Women's Cricket Council was founded (it merged with the ICC in 2005). In 1973, the first Cricket World Cup of any kind took place when a Women's World Cup was held in England. In 2005, the International Women's Cricket Council was merged with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to form one unified body to help manage and develop cricket. The ICC Women's Rankings were launched on 1 October 2015 covering all three formats of women's cricket. In October 2018 following the ICC's decision to award T20 International status to all members, the Women's rankings were split into separate ODI (for Full Members) and T20I lists.
Governance
The International Cricket Council (ICC), which has its headquarters in Dubai, is the global governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965 and took up its current name in 1989. The ICC in 2017 has 105 member nations, twelve of which hold full membership and can play Test cricket. The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, notably the men's and women's versions of the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, Limited Overs Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.
Each member nation has a national cricket board which regulates cricket matches played in its country, selects the national squad, and organises home and away tours for the national team. In the West Indies, which for cricket purposes is a federation of nations, these matters are addressed by Cricket West Indies.
The table below lists the ICC full members and their national cricket boards:
Forms of cricket
Cricket is a multifaceted sport with multiple formats that can effectively be divided into first-class cricket, limited overs cricket, and historically, single wicket cricket.
The highest standard is Test cricket (always written with a capital "T") which is in effect the international version of first-class cricket and is restricted to teams representing the twelve countries that are full members of the ICC (see above). Although the term "Test match" was not coined until much later, Test cricket is deemed to have begun with two matches between Australia and England in the 1876–77 Australian season; since 1882, most Test series between England and Australia have been played for a trophy known as The Ashes. The term "first-class", in general usage, is applied to top-level domestic cricket. Test matches are played over five days and first-class over three to four days; in all of these matches, the teams are allotted two innings each and the draw is a valid result.
Limited overs cricket is always scheduled for completion in a single day, and the teams are allotted one innings each. There are two main types: List A which normally allows fifty overs per team; and Twenty20 in which the teams have twenty overs each. Both of the limited overs forms are played internationally as Limited Overs Internationals (LOI) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). List A was introduced in England in the 1963 season as a knockout cup contested by the first-class county clubs. In 1969, a national league competition was established. The concept was gradually introduced to the other leading cricket countries and the first limited overs international was played in 1971. In 1975, the first Cricket World Cup took place in England. Twenty20 is a new variant of limited overs itself with the purpose being to complete the match within about three to four hours, usually in an evening session. The first Twenty20 World Championship was held in 2007. In addition, a few full-member cricket boards have decided to start leagues that are played in the T10 format, in which games are intended to last approximately 90 minutes. Most recently, in 2021, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) introduced a new league featuring a hundred-ball tournament, known as The Hundred. Limited overs matches cannot be drawn, although a tie is possible and an unfinished match is a "no result".
Single wicket was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, and its matches were generally considered top-class. In this form, although each team may have from one to six players, there is only one batter in at a time, and that batter must face every delivery bowled while their innings lasts. Single wicket has rarely been played since limited overs cricket began. Matches tended to have two innings per team like a full first-class one and they could end in a draw.
Competitions
Cricket is played at both the international and domestic level. There is one major international championship per format, and top-level domestic competitions mirror the three main international formats. There are now a number of T20 leagues, which have spawned a "T20 freelancer" phenomenon.
International competitions
Most international matches are played as parts of 'tours', when one nation travels to another for a number of weeks or months, and plays a number of matches of various sorts against the host nation. Sometimes a perpetual trophy is awarded to the winner of the Test series, the most famous of which is The Ashes.
The ICC also organises competitions that are for several countries at once, including the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, ICC T20 World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy. A league competition for Test matches played as part of normal tours, the ICC World Test Championship, had been proposed several times, and its first instance began in 2019. A league competition for ODIs, the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League, began in August 2020 and lasted only for one edition. The ICC maintains Test rankings, ODI rankings and T20 rankings systems for the countries which play these forms of cricket.
Competitions for member nations of the ICC with Associate status include the ICC Intercontinental Cup, for first-class cricket matches, and the World Cricket League for one-day matches, the final matches of which now also serve as the ICC World Cup Qualifier.
The game's only appearance in an Olympic Games was the 1900 Olympics. However, it is scheduled to make a return, with the T20 format of the game, in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
National competitions
First-class
First-class cricket in England is played for the most part by the 18 county clubs which contest the County Championship. The concept of a champion county has existed since the 18th century but the official competition was not established until 1890. The most successful club has been Yorkshire, who had won 32 official titles (plus one shared) as of 2019.
Australia established its national first-class championship in 1892–93 when the Sheffield Shield was introduced. In Australia, the first-class teams represent the various states. New South Wales has the highest number of titles.
The other ICC full members have national championship trophies called the Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament (Afghanistan); the National Cricket League (Bangladesh); the Ranji Trophy (India); the Inter-Provincial Championship (Ireland); the Plunket Shield (New Zealand); the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (Pakistan); the Currie Cup (South Africa); the Premier Trophy (Sri Lanka); the Shell Shield (West Indies); and the Logan Cup (Zimbabwe).
Limited overs
Other
Club and school cricket
The world's earliest known cricket match was a village cricket meeting in Kent which has been deduced from a 1640 court case recording a "cricketing" of "the Weald and the Upland" versus "the Chalk Hill" at Chevening "about thirty years since" (i.e., c. 1611). Inter-parish contests became popular in the first half of the 17th century and continued to develop through the 18th with the first local leagues being founded in the second half of the 19th.
At the grassroots level, local club cricket is essentially an amateur pastime for those involved but still usually involves teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. Schools cricket, first known in southern England in the 17th century, has a similar scenario and both are widely played in the countries where cricket is popular. Although there can be variations in game format, compared with professional cricket, the Laws are always observed and club/school matches are therefore formal and competitive events. The sport has numerous informal variants such as French cricket.
Rivalries
Culture
Influence on everyday life
Cricket has had a broad impact on popular culture, both in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere. It has, for example, influenced the lexicon of these nations, especially the English language, with various phrases such as "that's not cricket" (that's unfair), "had a good innings" (lived a long life), and "sticky wicket". "On a sticky wicket" (aka "sticky dog" or "glue pot") is a metaphor used to describe a difficult circumstance. It originated as a term for difficult batting conditions in cricket, caused by a damp and soft pitch.
In the arts and popular culture
Cricket is the subject of works by noted English poets, including William Blake and Lord Byron. Beyond a Boundary (1963), written by Trinidadian C. L. R. James, is often named the best book on any sport ever written.
In the visual arts, notable cricket paintings include Albert Chevallier Tayler's Kent vs Lancashire at Canterbury (1907) and Russell Drysdale's The Cricketers (1948), which has been called "possibly the most famous Australian painting of the 20th century." French impressionist Camille Pissarro painted cricket on a visit to England in the 1890s. Francis Bacon, an avid cricket fan, captured a batter in motion. Caribbean artist Wendy Nanan's cricket images are featured in a limited edition first day cover for Royal Mail's "World of Invention" stamp issue, which celebrated the London Cricket Conference 1–3 March 2007, first international workshop of its kind and part of the celebrations leading up to the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
In music, many calypsos make reference to the Sport of Cricket.
Influence on other sports
Cricket has close historical ties with Australian rules football and many players have competed at top levels in both sports. In 1858, prominent Australian cricketer Tom Wills called for the formation of a "foot-ball club" with "a code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during the off-season. The Melbourne Football Club was founded the following year, and Wills and three other members codified the first laws of the game. It is typically played on modified cricket fields.
In England, a number of association football clubs owe their origins to cricketers who sought to play football as a means of keeping fit during the winter months. Derby County was founded as a branch of the Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1884; Aston Villa (1874) and Everton (1876) were both founded by members of church cricket teams. Sheffield United's Bramall Lane ground was, from 1854, the home of the Sheffield Cricket Club, and then of Yorkshire; it was not used for football until 1862 and was shared by Yorkshire and Sheffield United from 1889 to 1973.
In the late 19th century, a former cricketer, English-born Henry Chadwick of Brooklyn, New York, was credited with devising the baseball box score (which he adapted from the cricket scorecard) for reporting game events. The first box score appeared in an 1859 issue of the Clipper. The statistical record is so central to the game's "historical essence" that Chadwick is sometimes referred to as "the Father of Baseball" because he facilitated the popularity of the sport in its early days.
The influence of English sports such as cricket in British India resulted in the local sports becoming standardised by the 1920s. The 21st century success of the Indian Premier League also inspired the growth of other sports leagues in India, with some of the native sports being further modernised, as with the popular Pro Kabaddi League.
See also
Glossary of cricket terms
Willow and Stumpy
Related sports
Street cricket
Baseball
Comparison of baseball and cricket
Stoolball
Footnotes
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Guha, Ramachandra (2002). A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport. London: Picador. ISBN 0-330-49117-2. OCLC 255899689.
External links
Cricket at Curlie
International Cricket Council (ICC)
ESPNcricinfo |
Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher%27s_Stone | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher%27s_Stone | [
534
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher%27s_Stone"
] | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a fantasy novel written by the British author J. K. Rowling. It is the first novel in the Harry Potter series and was Rowling's debut novel. It follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday when he receives a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school. With the help of his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, he faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents but failed to kill Harry when he was just 15 months old.
The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 26 June 1997 by Bloomsbury. It was published in the United States the following year by Scholastic Corporation under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It won most of the British book awards that were judged by children and other awards in the US. The book reached the top of the New York Times list of best-selling fiction in August 1999, and stayed near the top of that list for much of 1999 and 2000. It has been translated into at least 73 other languages and made into a feature-length film of the same name, as have all six of its sequels. The novel has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it the fourth best-selling book of all time.
Most reviews were very favourable, commenting on Rowling's imagination, humour, simple, direct style and clever plot construction, although a few complained that the final chapters seemed rushed. The writing has been compared to that of Jane Austen, one of Rowling's favourite authors; Roald Dahl, whose works dominated children's stories before the appearance of Harry Potter; and the ancient Greek story-teller Homer. While some commentators thought the book looked backward to Victorian and Edwardian boarding school stories, others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues, as well as showing overcoming obstacles like bullying.
The Harry Potter series has been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques, sociological analysis, and marketing.
Plot
Harry Potter lives with his abusive uncle and aunt, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, and their bullying, spoiled son, Dudley. On Harry's eleventh birthday, he learns that he is a wizard. A man named Rubeus Hagrid tells him that he can attend Hogwarts, a school of magic. Hagrid explains that when Harry was an infant, a Dark wizard named Voldemort murdered his parents and tried to kill him as well. However, Voldemort's killing curse rebounded and seemingly destroyed him, leaving a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead. Unbeknownst to Harry, this event made him famous among wizards.
Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, where he buys a wand and other school supplies. A month later, Harry takes the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts. During the journey, he befriends Ron Weasley, a fellow first-year student. The two boys also meet Hermione Granger and have a confrontation with Draco Malfoy. At Hogwarts, a magical Sorting Hat assigns each first-year student to a House. Harry, Ron and Hermione are assigned to Gryffindor, although the Hat considers putting Harry in Slytherin.
Harry's broomstick flying ability earns him a place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as the Seeker. He develops a dislike for the Potions professor Severus Snape, who seems to hate Harry. One night, Harry and Ron discover a gigantic three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor. The two boys later save Hermione from a troll, after which they begin a friendship with her. During Harry's first Quidditch match, his broomstick attempts to throw him off. Snape's strange behaviour during the match convinces Hermione that he jinxed Harry's broom. On Christmas, Harry receives an anonymous gift – his father's invisibility cloak. While using the cloak to explore the school undisturbed, he discovers the Mirror of Erised, which shows the viewer what they most desire. Harry sees his family in the mirror.
Harry, Ron and Hermione learn that the three-headed dog is guarding a magical object called the Philosopher's Stone, which grants its user immortality. A centaur named Firenze warns Harry that Voldemort is plotting to steal the Stone to restore his body. When Dumbledore is lured away from Hogwarts, Harry and his friends fear the theft is imminent and descend through the trapdoor to retrieve the artefact. Various obstacles force Ron and Hermione to remain behind while Harry proceeds towards the Stone. He encounters Professor Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, who explains that he serves Voldemort and that it was he who jinxed Harry's broom. Quirrell attempts to retrieve the Stone from the Mirror of Erised, but cannot figure out how. When Harry looks in the Mirror, he feels the Stone drop into his pocket. Quirrell then reveals that Voldemort has possessed his body, and shows Harry Voldemort's face on the back of his head. Quirrell attempts to seize the Stone, but his flesh burns upon contact with Harry. As Harry and Quirrell struggle, Harry's scar begins hurting and he passes out.
Harry awakens in the school's infirmary. The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, explains that Harry survived because he is protected by a magical charm that was created when his mother died trying to protect him. Quirrell's hatred and greed caused him to burn upon contact with Harry, and Voldemort abandoned him to die. Dumbledore also reveals that the Stone has been destroyed. During the school's year-end feast, Gryffindor is awarded the House Cup. Harry then returns to the home of the Dursleys for the summer.
Characters
Harry Potter is an orphan whom Rowling imagined as a "scrawny, black-haired, green eyed and bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard." She developed the series' story and characters to explain how Harry came to be in this situation and how his life unfolded from there. Apart from the first chapter, the events of this book take place just before and in the year following Harry's eleventh birthday. Voldemort's attack left a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead, which produces stabbing pains whenever Voldemort is present. Harry has a natural talent for Quidditch and became the first person in a century to get on their team in their first year.
Ron Weasley is Harry's age, and Rowling describes him as the ultimate best friend "always there when you need him". He is freckled, red-haired, and quite tall. He grew up in a fairly large pure-blood family as the sixth born of seven children. Although his family is quite poor, they still live comfortably and happily. His loyalty and bravery in the face of a game of Wizard Chess plays a vital part in finding the Philosopher's Stone.
Hermione Granger, the daughter of an all-Muggle family, is a bossy girl who has apparently memorised most of the textbooks before the start of term. Rowling described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness". Despite her nagging efforts to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble, she becomes a close friend of the two boys after they save her from a troll and her magical and analytical skills play an important role in finding the Philosopher's Stone. She has bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.
Neville Longbottom is a plump, diffident boy, so forgetful that his grandmother gives him a Remembrall, to remind him if he forgets something. Neville's magical abilities are weak and appeared just in time to save his life when he was eight. Despite his timidity, Neville will fight anyone after some encouragement or if he thinks it is right and important.
Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant nearly 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, with tangled black hair and beard, who was expelled from Hogwarts and his wand was snapped in half (resulting in him never to use a wand again), though Professor Dumbledore let him stay on as the school's gamekeeper, a job which enables him to give lavish affection, care and even pet names (such as Norbert the dragon) on even the most dangerous of magical creatures. Hagrid is fiercely loyal to Dumbledore and quickly becomes a close friend of Harry, Ron and, later, Hermione, but his carelessness makes him unreliable.
Professor Albus Dumbledore, a tall, thin man who wears half-moon spectacles and has silver hair and a beard that tucks into his belt, is the headmaster of Hogwarts, and thought to be the only wizard Voldemort fears. Dumbledore, while renowned for his achievements in magic, shrugs off praise, though he is aware of his own brilliance. Rowling described him as the "epitome of goodness".
Professor Minerva McGonagall, a tall, severe-looking woman with black hair tied in a tight bun, teaches Transfiguration and is able to transform herself into a cat. She is Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House.
Petunia Dursley, the sister of Harry's mother Lily, is a thin woman with a long neck that she uses for spying on the neighbours. As a Muggle, she regards her magical sister as a freak and tries to pretend that she never existed.
Vernon Dursley, the husband of Petunia Dursley, is a heavily built man whose irascible bluster covers a narrow mind and a fear of anything unusual.
Dudley Dursley is an overweight, spoilt bully and Harry's cousin.
Draco Malfoy is a slim, pale boy who speaks in a bored drawl. He is arrogant about his skill in Quidditch, and despises anyone who is not a pure-blood wizard and wizards who do not share his views. His parents had supported Voldemort, but changed sides after the dark wizard's disappearance, claiming they had been bewitched. Draco avoids direct confrontations and tries to get Harry and his friends into trouble.
Oliver Wood is Harry's Quidditch captain and keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Professor Quirrell is a twitching, stammering, and nervous man who teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts. Reputedly he was a brilliant scholar, but his nerve was shattered by an encounter with vampires. Quirrell wears a turban to conceal the fact that he is voluntarily possessed by Voldemort, whose face appears on the back of Quirrell's head.
Professor Severus Snape, who has a hooked nose, sallow complexion, and greasy black hair, teaches Potions, but would prefer to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape favours pupils in Slytherin, his own House and seizes every opportunity to humiliate others, especially Harry. Several incidents, beginning with the shooting pain in Harry's scar during the start-of-term feast, lead Harry and his friends to think Snape is aiding Voldemort.
Argus Filch, the school caretaker who knows the school's secret passages better than anyone else except, perhaps, the Weasley twins. His cat, Mrs. Norris, aids his constant hunt for misbehaving pupils.
Other members of staff include: the dumpy Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff House Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, the tiny and excitable Charms teacher and Head of Ravenclaw House, the soporific History of magic teacher, Professor Binns, a ghost who does not seem to have noticed his own death, and Madam Hooch, the Quidditch coach, who is strict, but a considerate and methodical teacher. The poltergeist Peeves wanders around the castle causing trouble wherever he can.
In the book, Rowling introduces an eclectic cast of characters. The first character to be introduced is Vernon Dursley, Harry's uncle. Most of the actions centre on the eponymous hero, Harry Potter, an orphan who escapes his miserable childhood with the Dursley family. Rowling imagined him as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard" and says she transferred part of her pain about losing her mother to him. During the book, Harry makes two close friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron is described by Rowling as the ultimate best friend, "always there when you need him". Rowling has described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".
Rowling also imagined a supporting cast of adults. The headmaster of Hogwarts is the powerful, but kind wizard Albus Dumbledore, who becomes Harry's confidant. Rowling described him as "the epitome of goodness". His right hand is severe Minerva McGonagall, the friendly half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, who saved Harry from the Dursley family and the sinister Severus Snape. Professor Quirrell is also featured in the novel.
The main antagonists are Draco Malfoy, an elitist, bullying classmate, and Lord Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard who becomes disembodied when he tries to kill baby Harry. According to a 1999 interview with Rowling, the character of Voldemort was created as a literary foil for Harry and his backstory was intentionally not fleshed-out at first:
The basic idea... Harry, I saw Harry very very very clearly. Very vividly. And I knew he didn't know he was a wizard. ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... And—so—but for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since.
Development, publication and reception
Development
The book, which was Rowling's debut novel, was written between approximately June 1990 and some time in 1995. In 1990, Jo Rowling, as she preferred to be known, wanted to move with her boyfriend to a flat in Manchester and in her words, "One weekend after flat hunting, I took the train back to London on my own and the idea for Harry Potter fell into my head... A scrawny, little, black-haired, bespectacled boy became more and more of a wizard to me... I began to write Philosopher's Stone that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product." Then, Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry. Rowling spent six years working on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and after it was accepted by Bloomsbury, she obtained a grant of £8,000 from the Scottish Arts Council, which enabled her to plan the sequels. She sent the book to a literary agent and a publisher and then the second agent she approached spent a year trying to sell the book to publishers, most of whom thought it was too long at about 90,000 words. Barry Cunningham, who was building a portfolio of distinctive fantasies by new authors for Bloomsbury Children's Books, recommended accepting the book and the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chief executive said it was "so much better than anything else".
Publication and reception in the United Kingdom
Bloomsbury accepted the book, paying Rowling a £2,500 advance and Cunningham sent proof copies to carefully chosen authors, critics and booksellers in order to obtain comments that could be quoted when the book was launched. He was less concerned about the book's length than about its author's name, since the title sounded like a boys' book to him and he believed boys preferred books by male authors. Rowling therefore adopted the pen name J. K. Rowling just before publication.
In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 500 copies in hardback, three hundred of which were distributed to libraries. Her original name, "Joanne Rowling", can be found on the copyright page of all British editions until September 1999. (The 1998 first American edition would remove reference to "Joanne" completely.) The short initial print run was standard for first novels and Cunningham hoped booksellers would read the book and recommend it to customers. Examples from this initial print run have sold for as much as US$471,000 in a 2021 Heritage auction. Thomas Taylor created the cover for the first edition.
Lindsey Fraser, who had previously supplied one of the blurb comments, wrote what is thought to be the first published review, in The Scotsman on 28 June 1997. She described Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as "a hugely entertaining thriller" and Rowling as "a first-rate writer for children". Another early review, in The Herald, said: "I have yet to find a child who can put it down." Newspapers outside Scotland started to notice the book, with glowing reviews in The Guardian and The Sunday Times and in September 1997 Books for Keeps, a magazine that specialised in children's books, gave the novel four stars out of five. Sunday Times said: "comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified", while The Guardian called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit" and The Scotsman said it had "all the makings of a classic".
In 1997 the UK edition won a National Book Award and a gold medal in the 9- to 11-year-olds category of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. The Smarties award, which is voted for by children, made the book well known within six months of publication, while most children's books have to wait for years. The following year, Philosopher's Stone won almost all the other major British awards that were decided by children. It was also shortlisted for children's books awards adjudicated by adults, but did not win. Sandra Beckett commented that books that were popular with children were regarded as undemanding and as not of the highest literary standards – for example, the literary establishment disdained the works of Dahl, an overwhelming favourite of children before the appearance of Rowling's books. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 22 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone won two publishing industry awards given for sales rather than literary merit, the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year and the Booksellers' Association / Bookseller Author of the Year. By March 1999 UK editions had sold just over 300,000 copies and the story was still the UK's best-selling title in December 2001. A Braille edition was published in May 1998 by the Scottish Braille Press.
Platform 9+3⁄4, from which the Hogwarts Express left London, was commemorated in the real-life King's Cross railway station with a sign and a trolley apparently passing through the wall.
US publication and reception
Scholastic Corporation bought the US rights at the Bologna Book Fair in April 1997 for US$105,000, an unusually high sum for a children's book. Scholastic's Arthur Levine thought that "philosopher" sounded too archaic for readers and after some discussion (including the proposed title "Harry Potter and the School of Magic"), the American edition was published in September 1998 under the title Rowling suggested, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Rowling later said that she regretted this change and would have fought it if she had been in a stronger position at the time. Philip Nel has pointed out that the change lost the connection with alchemy and some other changes lost the meaning of other terms changed in translation, for example from "crumpet" to "muffin". While Rowling accepted the change from both the British English "mum" and Seamus Finnigan's Irish variant "mam" to the American variant "mom" in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, she vetoed this change in the later books, which was then reversed in later editions of Philosopher's Stone. However, Nel considered that Scholastic's translations were considerably more sensitive than most of those imposed on British English books of the time and that some other changes could be regarded as useful copyedits. Since the UK editions of early titles in the series were published months prior to the American versions, some American readers became familiar with the British English versions owing to having bought them from online retailers.
On BookBrowse, a site that aggregates book reviews such as media reviews, the book received a from "Critics' Opinion". At first the most prestigious reviewers ignored the book, leaving it to book trade and library publications such as Kirkus Reviews and Booklist, which examined it only by the entertainment-oriented criteria of children's fiction. However, more penetrating specialist reviews (such as one by Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, which noted complexity, depth and consistency in the world that Rowling had built) attracted the attention of reviewers in major newspapers. Although The Boston Globe and Michael Winerip in The New York Times complained that the final chapters were the weakest part of the book, they and most other American reviewers gave glowing praise.
A year later, the US edition was selected as an American Library Association Notable Book, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998 and a New York Public Library 1998 Best Book of the Year and won Parenting Magazine's Book of the Year Award for 1998, the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. In 2012 it was ranked number 3 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by School Library Journal.
In August 1999, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone topped the New York Times list of best-selling fiction and stayed near the top of the list for much of 1999 and 2000, until the New York Times split its list into children's and adult sections under pressure from other publishers who were eager to see their books given higher placings. Publishers Weekly's report in December 2001 on cumulative sales of children's fiction placed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 19th among hardbacks (over 5 million copies) and 7th among paperbacks (over 6.6 million copies).
In May 2008, Scholastic announced the creation of a 10th Anniversary Edition of the book that was released on 1 October 2008 to mark the tenth anniversary of the original American release. For the fifteenth anniversary of the books, Scholastic re-released Sorcerer's Stone, along with the other six novels in the series, with new cover art by Kazu Kibuishi in 2013.
Translations
By mid-2008, official translations of the book had been published in 67 languages. By November 2017, the book had been translated into 80 languages, the 80th being Lowland Scots. Bloomsbury have published translations in Latin and in Ancient Greek, with the latter being described as "one of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek prose written in many centuries".
Style and themes
Philip Nel highlighted the influence of Jane Austen, whom Rowling has greatly admired since the age of twelve. Both novelists greatly encourage re-reading, because details that look insignificant foreshadow important events or characters much later in the story-line – for example Sirius Black is briefly mentioned near the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and then becomes a major character in the third to fifth books. Like Austen's heroines, Harry often has to re-examine his ideas near the ends of books. Some social behaviour in the Harry Potter books is reminiscent of Austen, for example the excited communal reading of letters. Both authors satirise social behaviour and give characters names that express their personalities. However, in Nel's opinion Rowling's humour is more based on caricature and the names she invents are more like those found in Charles Dickens's stories,: 13–15 and Amanda Cockrell noted that many of these express their owners' traits through allusions that run from ancient Roman mythology to eighteenth-century German literature. Rowling, like the Narnia series' author C. S. Lewis, thinks there is no rigid distinction between stories for children and for adults. Nel also noted that, like many good writers for children, Rowling combines literary genres—fantasy, young adult fiction, boarding school stories, Bildungsroman and many others.: 51–52
Some reviewers compared Philosopher's Stone to the stories of Roald Dahl, who died in 1990. Many writers since the 1970s had been hailed as his successor, but none had attained anything near his popularity with children and, in a poll conducted shortly after the launch of Philosopher's Stone, seven of the ten most popular children's books were by Dahl, including the one in top place. The only other really popular children's author of the late 1990s was an American, R. L. Stine. Some of the story elements in Philosopher's Stone resembled parts of Dahl's stories. For example, the hero of James and the Giant Peach lost his parents and had to live with a pair of unpleasant aunts—one fat and one thin rather like Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, who treated Harry as a servant. However Harry Potter was a distinctive creation, able to take on the responsibilities of an adult while remaining a child inside.
Librarian Nancy Knapp and marketing professor Stephen Brown noted the liveliness and detail of descriptions, especially of shop scenes such as Diagon Alley. Tad Brennan commented that Rowling's writing resembles that of Homer: "rapid, plain, and direct in expression". Stephen King admired "the sort of playful details of which only British fantasists seem capable" and concluded that they worked because Rowling enjoys a quick giggle and then moves briskly forward.
Nicholas Tucker described the early Harry Potter books as looking back to Victorian and Edwardian children's stories: Hogwarts was an old-style boarding school in which the teachers addressed pupils formally by their surnames and were most concerned with the reputations of the houses with which they were associated; characters' personalities were plainly shown by their appearances, starting with the Dursleys; evil or malicious characters were to be crushed rather than reformed, including Argus Filch's cat Mrs Norris; and the hero, a mistreated orphan who found his true place in life, was charismatic and good at sports, but considerate and protective towards the weak. Several other commentators have stated that the books present a highly stratified society including many social stereotypes. However Karin Westerman drew parallels with 1990s Britain: a class system that was breaking down but defended by those whose power and status it upheld; the multi-ethnic composition of Hogwarts' students; the racial tensions between the various intelligent species; and school bullying.
Susan Hall wrote that there is no rule of law in the books, as the actions of Ministry of Magic officials are unconstrained by laws, accountability or any kind of legal challenge. This provides an opportunity for Voldemort to offer his own horrific version of order. As a side-effect Harry and Hermione, who were brought up in the highly regulated Muggle world, find solutions by thinking in ways unfamiliar to wizards. For example, Hermione notes that one obstacle to finding the Philosopher's Stone is a test of logic rather than magical power, and that most wizards have no chance of solving it.
Nel suggested that the unflattering characterisation of the extremely conventional, status-conscious, materialistic Dursleys was Rowling's reaction to the family policies of the British government in the early 1990s, which treated the married heterosexual couple as the "preferred norm", while the author was a single mother. Harry's relationships with adult and juvenile wizards are based on affection and loyalty. This is reflected in his happiness whenever he is a temporary member of the Weasley family throughout the series, and in his treatment of first Rubeus Hagrid and later Remus Lupin and Sirius Black as father-figures.: 13–15, 47–48
Legacy
Sequels
The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and later, in the US on 2 June 1999. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version. It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published on 16 July 2005 and sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release. The seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published on 21 July 2007. The book sold 11 million copies within 24 hours of its release: 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.
Illustrated version
An illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 6 October 2015, with illustrations by Jim Kay. The book carries over 100 illustrations and will be followed by illustrated versions of all seven books from the series by the same artist.
Podcast version
In May 2020, a reading podcast by Spotify was created and entitled Harry Potter at Home: Readings. Each chapter is narrated by a celebrity guest from the Harry Potter and Wizarding World franchises.
Film adaptation
In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights of the first two Harry Potter books to Warner Bros. for a reported £1 million. Rowling demanded that the principal cast be kept strictly British, but allowed for the casting of Irish actors such as Richard Harris as Dumbledore and of foreign actors as characters of the same nationalities in later books. After extensive casting, filming began in September 2000 at Leavesden Film Studios and in London, with production ending in July 2001. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in London on 14 November 2001. Reviewers' comments were positive, as reflected by an 81% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and by a score of 65% at Metacritic, representing "generally favourable reviews".
Video games
Five unique video games by different developers were released between 2001 and 2003 by Electronic Arts, that were loosely based on the film and book:
Uses in education and business
Writers on education and business subjects have used the book as an object lesson. Writing about clinical teaching in medical schools, Jennifer Conn contrasted Snape's technical expertise with his intimidating behaviour towards students. Quidditch coach Madam Hooch on the other hand illustrated useful techniques in the teaching of physical skills, including breaking down complex actions into sequences of simple ones and helping students to avoid common errors. Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class: "sociological concepts including culture, society, and socialisation; stratification and social inequality; social institutions; and social theory".
Stephen Brown noted that the early Harry Potter books, especially Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, were a runaway success despite inadequate and poorly organised marketing. Brown advised marketing executives to be less preoccupied with rigorous statistical analyses and the "analysis, planning, implementation, and control" model of management. Instead he recommended that they should treat the stories as "a marketing masterclass", full of enticing products and brand names. For example, a real-world analogue of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans was introduced under licence in 2000 by toymaker Hasbro.
Release history
Notes
References
Works cited
Gunelius, Susan (2008). Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon. Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/9780230594104. ISBN 978-0-230-59410-4.
Smith, Sean (2002). J.K. Rowling: A Biography. Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-944542-5.
External links
Quotations related to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone at Wikiquote
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone at Open Library |
Harry_Potter_and_the_Chamber_of_Secrets | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Chamber_of_Secrets | [
534
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Chamber_of_Secrets"
] | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the second novel in the Harry Potter series. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, during which a series of messages on the walls of the school's corridors warn that the "Chamber of Secrets" has been opened and that the "heir of Slytherin" would kill all pupils who do not come from all-magical families. These threats are found after attacks that leave residents of the school petrified. Throughout the year, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione investigate the attacks.
The book was published in the United Kingdom on 2 July 1998 by Bloomsbury and later in the United States on 2 June 1999 by Scholastic Inc. Although Rowling says she found it difficult to finish the book, it won high praise and awards from critics, young readers, and the book industry, although some critics thought the story was perhaps too frightening for younger children. Much like with other novels in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets triggered religious debates; some religious authorities have condemned its use of magical themes, whereas others have praised its emphasis on self-sacrifice and the way one's character is the result of one's choices.
Several commentators have noted that personal identity is a strong theme in the book and that it addresses issues of racism through the treatment of non-human, non-magical, and non-living people. Some commentators regard the story's diary that writes back as a warning against uncritical acceptance of information from sources whose motives and reliability cannot be checked. Institutional authority is portrayed as self-serving and incompetent.
The film adaptation of the novel, released in 2002, became (at the time) the fifth highest-grossing film ever and received generally favourable reviews. Video games loosely based on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were also released for several platforms, and most obtained favourable reviews.
Plot
While spending the summer with the Dursleys, the twelve-year-old Harry Potter is visited by Dobby, a house-elf. Dobby says Harry is in danger and must promise not to return to Hogwarts. When Harry refuses, Dobby uses magic to destroy a pudding made by Aunt Petunia. Believing that Harry created the mess, Uncle Vernon locks him in his room. The Ministry of Magic sends a notice accusing Harry of performing underage magic and threatening to dismiss him from Hogwarts.
The Weasley brothers Ron, Fred, and George arrive in their father's flying car and take Harry to their home. When Harry and the Weasleys go to Diagon Alley for school supplies, they meet Gilderoy Lockhart, a celebrity author who is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. At King's Cross station, Harry and Ron cannot enter Platform 9¾ to board the Hogwarts Express, so they fly to Hogwarts in the enchanted car.
During the school year, Harry hears a strange voice emanating from the castle walls. Argus Filch's cat is found Petrified, along with a warning scrawled on the wall: "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware". Harry learns that the Chamber supposedly houses a monster that attacks Muggle-born students, and which only the Heir of Slytherin can control. During a Quidditch match, a rogue Bludger strikes Harry, breaking his arm. Professor Lockhart botches an attempt to mend it, which sends Harry to the hospital wing. Dobby visits Harry and reveals that he jinxed the Bludger and sealed the portal at King's Cross. He also tells Harry that house-elves are bound to serve a master, and cannot be freed unless their master gives them clothing.
After another attack from the monster, students attend a defensive duelling class. During the class, Harry displays the rare ability to speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes. Moaning Myrtle, a ghost who haunts a bathroom, shows Harry and his friends a diary that was left in her stall. It belonged to Tom Riddle, a student who witnessed another student's death when the Chamber was last opened. During the next attack by the monster, Hermione Granger is Petrified.
Harry and Ron discover that the monster is a Basilisk, a gigantic snake that can kill victims with a direct gaze and Petrify them with an indirect gaze. Harry realizes the Basilisk is producing the voice he hears in the walls. After Ron's sister Ginny is abducted and taken into the Chamber, Harry and Ron discover the Chamber entrance in Myrtle's bathroom. When they force Lockhart to enter with them, he confesses that the stories he told of his heroic adventures are fabrications. He attempts to erase the boys' memories, but his spell backfires and obliterates his own memory.
Harry finds an unconscious Ginny in the Chamber. A manifestation of Tom Riddle appears and reveals that he is Lord Voldemort and the Heir of Slytherin. After explaining that he opened the Chamber, Riddle summons the Basilisk to kill Harry. Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes arrives, bringing Harry the Sorting Hat. While Fawkes blinds the Basilisk, Harry pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the Hat. He slays the serpent, then stabs the diary with a Basilisk fang, destroying it and the manifestation of Riddle. Later, Harry liberates Dobby by tricking his master into giving him clothing. At the end of the novel, the Petrified students are cured and Gryffindor wins the House Cup.
Publication and reception
Development
J.K Rowling found it difficult to finish Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets because she was afraid it would not live up to the expectations raised by Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. After delivering the manuscript to Bloomsbury on schedule, she took it back for six weeks of revision.
In early drafts of the book, the ghost Nearly Headless Nick sang a self-composed song explaining his condition and the circumstances of his unknown death. This was cut because the book's editor did not care for the poem, which has been subsequently published as an extra on J. K. Rowling's official website. The family background of Dean Thomas was removed because Rowling and her publishers considered it an "unnecessary digression," and she considered Neville Longbottom's own journey of discovery "more important to the central plot."
Gilderoy Lockhart is the only Harry Potter character based on a real-life person. His character was inspired by an acquaintance of Rowling who was, in her words, "even more objectionable than his fictional counterpart" and "used to tell whopping great fibs about his past life, all of them designed to demonstrate what a wonderful, brave and brilliant person he was."
Publication
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and in the US on 2 June 1999. It immediately took first place in UK bestseller lists, displacing popular authors such as John Grisham, Tom Clancy and Terry Pratchett, and making Rowling the first author to win the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year for two years in succession. In June 1999, it went straight to the top of three US bestseller lists, including in The New York Times.
First edition printings had several errors, which were fixed in subsequent reprints. Initially, Dumbledore said Voldemort was the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin instead of his descendant. Gilderoy Lockhart's book on werewolves is entitled Weekends with Werewolves at one point and Wanderings with Werewolves later in the book.
Critical response
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was met with near-universal acclaim. On BookBrowse, a site that aggregates book reviews such as media reviews, the book received a from "Critics' Opinion".
In The Times, Deborah Loudon described it as a children's book that would be "re-read into adulthood" and highlighted its "strong plots, engaging characters, excellent jokes and a moral message which flows naturally from the story". Fantasy author Charles de Lint agreed, and considered the second Harry Potter book to be just as good as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a rare achievement among series of books. Thomas Wagner regarded the plot as very similar to that of the first book, based on searching for a secret hidden under the school. However, he enjoyed the parody of celebrities and their fans that centres round Gilderoy Lockhart, and approved of the book's handling of racism. Tammy Nezol found the book more disturbing than its predecessor, particularly in the rash behaviour of Harry and his friends after Harry withholds information from Dumbledore, and in the human-like behaviour of the mandragoras used to make a potion that cures petrification. Nevertheless, she considered the second story as enjoyable as the first.
Mary Stuart thought the final conflict with Tom Riddle in the Chamber was almost as scary as in some of Stephen King's works, and perhaps too strong for young or timid children. She commented that "there are enough surprises and imaginative details thrown in as would normally fill five lesser books." Like other reviewers, she thought the book would give pleasure to both children and adult readers. According to Philip Nel, the early reviews gave unalloyed praise while the later ones included some criticisms, although they still agreed that the book was outstanding.
Writing after all seven books had been published, Graeme Davis regarded Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the weakest of the series, and agreed that the plot structure is much the same as in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. He described Fawkes's appearance to arm Harry and then to heal him as a deus ex machina: he said that the book does not explain how Fawkes knew where to find Harry; and Fawkes's timing had to be very precise, as arriving earlier would probably have prevented the battle with the basilisk, while arriving later would have been fatal to Harry and Ginny.
Awards and honours
Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was the recipient of several awards. The American Library Association listed the novel among its 2000 Notable Children's Books,
as well as its Best Books for Young Adults. In 1999, Booklist named Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as one of its Editors' Choices, and as one of its Top Ten Fantasy Novels for Youth. The Cooperative Children's Book Center made the novel a CCBC Choice of 2000 in the "Fiction for Children" category. The novel also won Children's Book of the Year British Book Award, and was shortlisted for the 1998 Guardian Children's Award and the 1998 Carnegie Award.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 1998 Gold Medal in the 9–11 years division. Rowling also won two other Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The Scottish Arts Council awarded their first ever Children's Book Award to the novel in 1999, and it was also awarded Whitaker's Platinum Book Award in 2001. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 23 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
Main themes
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets continues to examine what makes a person who he or she is, which began in the first book. As well as maintaining that Harry's identity is shaped by his decisions rather than any aspect of his birth, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets provides contrasting characters who try to conceal their true personalities: as Tammy Nezol puts it, Gilderoy Lockhart "lacks any real identity" because he is nothing more than a charming liar. Riddle also complicates Harry's struggle to understand himself by pointing out the similarities between the two: "both half-bloods, orphans raised by Muggles, probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin."
Opposition to class, death and its impacts, experiencing adolescence, sacrifice, love, friendship, loyalty, prejudice, and racism are constant themes of the series. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry's consideration and respect for others extends to the lowly, non-human Dobby and the ghost Nearly Headless Nick. According to Marguerite Krause, achievements in the novel depend more on ingenuity and hard work than on natural talents.
Edward Duffy, associate professor at Marquette University, says that one of the central characters of Chamber of Secrets is Tom Riddle's enchanted diary, which takes control of Ginny Weasley – just as Riddle planned. Duffy suggests Rowling intended this as a warning against passively consuming information from sources that have their own agendas. Although Bronwyn Williams and Amy Zenger regard the diary as more like an instant messaging or chat room system, they agree about the dangers of relying too much on the written word, which can camouflage the author, and they highlight a comical example, Lockhart's self-promoting books.
Antonello Fabio Caterino, an Italian forensic linguist and philologist, stated that the conversations Harry and Voldemort had through the diary could be considered a "modern transposition" of Petrarca's Secretum, a text often compared to a diary, which details an imaginary dialogue between the writer and Augustine of Hippo. Caterino analysed similarities between themes found in both books, starting from the idea of a fragmented soul: Harry and Voldemort are both seeking Voldemort's Horcruxes, which are fragments of his soul, and Petrarca also focuses on the concept animae fragmenta, meaning soul's fragments.
Immorality and the portrayal of authority as negative are significant themes in the novel. Marguerite Krause states there are few absolute moral rules in Harry Potter's world, for example Harry prefers to tell the truth, but lies whenever he considers it necessary – very like his enemy Draco Malfoy. At the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore retracts his promise to punish Harry and Ron if they break any more school rules – after Professor McGonagall estimates they have broken over 100 – and lavishly rewards them for ending the threat from the Chamber of Secrets. Krause further states that authority figures and political institutions receive little respect from Rowling. William MacNeil of Griffith University, Queensland, Australia states that the Minister for Magic is presented as a mediocrity. In his article "Harry Potter and the Secular City", Ken Jacobson suggests the Ministry as a whole is portrayed as a tangle of bureaucratic empires, saying that "Ministry officials busy themselves with minutiae (e.g. standardising cauldron thicknesses) and coin politically correct euphemisms like 'non-magical community' (for Muggles) and 'memory modification' (for magical brainwashing)."
This novel implies it begins in 1992: the cake for Nearly-Headless Nick's 500th deathday party bears the words "Sir Nicholas De Mimsy Porpington died 31 October 1492".
Connection to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Chamber of Secrets has many links with the sixth book of the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In fact, Half-Blood Prince was the working title of Chamber of Secrets and Rowling says she originally intended to present some "crucial pieces of information" in the second book, but ultimately felt "this information's proper home was book six". Some objects that play significant roles in Half-Blood Prince first appear in Chamber of Secrets: the Hand of Glory and the opal necklace that are on sale in Borgin and Burkes; a Vanishing Cabinet in Hogwarts that is damaged by Peeves the Poltergeist; and Tom Riddle's diary, which is later revealed to be a Horcrux. Additionally, these two novels are the ones with the most focus on Harry's relationship with Ginny Weasley.
Adaptations
Film
The film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released in 2002. Chris Columbus directed the film, and the screenplay was written by Steve Kloves. It became the third film to exceed $600 million in international box office sales, preceded by Titanic, released in 1997, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, released in 2001. The film was nominated for a Saturn Award for the Best Fantasy Film, According to Metacritic, the film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets received "generally favourable reviews" with an average score of 63%, and another aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes, gave it a score of 82%.
Video games
Five unique video games by different developers were released between 2002 and 2003 by Electronic Arts, loosely based on the book:
References
External links
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database |
Harry_Potter_and_the_Prisoner_of_Azkaban | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Prisoner_of_Azkaban | [
534
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Prisoner_of_Azkaban"
] | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a fantasy novel written by the British author J. K. Rowling. It is the third instalment in the Harry Potter series. The novel follows Harry Potter, a young wizard, in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Along with friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry investigates Sirius Black, an escaped prisoner from Azkaban, the wizard prison, believed to be one of Lord Voldemort's old allies.
The book was published in the United Kingdom on 8 July 1999 by Bloomsbury and in the United States on 8 September 1999 by Scholastic, Inc. Rowling found the book easy to write, finishing it just a year after she began writing it. The book sold 68,000 copies in just three days after its release in the United Kingdom and since has sold over three million in the country. The book won the 1999 Whitbread Children's Book Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the 2000 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and was short-listed for other awards, including the Hugo.
The film adaptation of the novel was released in 2004, grossing more than $796 million and earning critical acclaim. Video games loosely based on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban were also released for several platforms, and most obtained favourable reviews.
Plot
During the summer, Harry accidentally performs magic at the home of his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. After this incident, he leaves their house and spends the summer in London. While staying at the Leaky Cauldron inn, Harry is visited by Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, who warns him about Sirius Black, a mass-murderer who escaped from the wizard prison Azkaban.
With Black at large, Dementors have been stationed at Hogwarts as a security measure. During a Care of Magical Creatures lesson with Hagrid, Draco Malfoy is injured after provoking a hippogriff named Buckbeak. Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, gets Hagrid put on trial for owning a dangerous creature. Harry repeatedly faints in the presence of the Dementors, but eventually is taught by Professor Lupin how to repel them using the Patronus Charm. When Harry is unable to participate in weekend trips to Hogsmeade Village, Fred and George give him a magical map that shows him how to get there using a secret passage. At the Three Broomsticks pub, Harry overhears that Black is his godfather, that he betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, and that he now seeks to kill Harry as well.
When Ron's pet rat Scabbers disappears, he blames Hermione and her cat Crookshanks. Ron and Hermione stop talking to each other, although Hermione is distraught when Ron survives an attack by Black inside the Gryffindor dormitory. After the attack, Black cannot be found. After Harry, Ron and Hermione learn that Buckbeak will be executed, they console Hagrid, and Ron and Hermione resume their friendship. Ron also finds Scabbers, who was hiding in Hagrid's hut. As the friends make their way back to the castle, Ron is attacked by a large black dog, which drags him through the passageway leading to Hogsmeade. Harry and Hermione give chase, and find themselves in the Shrieking Shack, where the dog is revealed to be Black in his Animagus form. Lupin arrives, and Black states that he intends to kill Scabbers, not Harry. He explains that Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew, who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort and framed Black for mass murder. Black and Lupin compel Pettigrew to transform into human form, then haul him back to Hogwarts.
On the way to the castle, the full moon causes Lupin to transform into a werewolf. Pettigrew escapes and is pursued by Black, Harry and Hermione, who encounter Dementors and lose consciousness. They awaken in the castle, where Black is now being held captive. Harry and Hermione proclaim his innocence to Dumbledore, who suggests using Hermione's Time Turner. Harry and Hermione travel back in time and save both Black and Buckbeak, who fly away together. Snape blames Lupin for Black's disappearance and makes his werewolf-identity public, which forces Lupin to resign. On the train back to London, Harry receives a letter from Black, expressing his gratitude to Harry for saving his life.
Publication and reception
Pre-release history
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in the Harry Potter series. The first, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published by Bloomsbury on 26 June 1997 and the second, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published on 2 July 1998. Rowling started to write the Prisoner of Azkaban the day after she finished The Chamber of Secrets. Rowling said in 2004 that Prisoner of Azkaban was "the best writing experience I ever had...I was in a very comfortable place writing (number) three. Immediate financial worries were over, and press attention wasn't yet by any means excessive".
Critical reception
Upon release, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban received mostly positive reviews. The Daily Telegraph reported on reviews from several British publications with a rating scale for the novel out of "Love It", "Pretty Good", "Ok", and "Rubbish": Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Times, Independent, Sunday Telegraph, and Sunday Times reviews under "Love It" and Observer review under "Pretty Good". The Guardian reported an average rating of 9 out of 10 for the book based on reviews from multiple British newspapers. On BookBrowse, based on American press, the book received a from "Critics' Consensus" and for the media reviews on a rating scale out of five: Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal reviews under five and Publishers Weekly review under four.
Gregory Maguire wrote a review in The New York Times for Prisoner of Azkaban: in it he said, "So far, in terms of plot, the books do nothing new, but they do it brilliantly...so far, so good." In a newspaper review in The New York Times, it was said that "'The Prisoner of Azkaban' may be the best 'Harry Potter' book yet". A reviewer for KidsReads said, "This crisply-paced fantasy will leave you hungry for the four additional Harry books that J.K. Rowling is working on. Harry's third year is a charm. Don't miss it." Kirkus Reviews did not give a starred review but said, "a properly pulse-pounding climax...The main characters and the continuing story both come along so smartly...that the book seems shorter than its page count: have readers clear their calendars if they are fans, or get out of the way if they are not." Martha V. Parravano also gave a positive review for The Horn Book Magazine, calling it "quite a good book." In addition, a Publishers Weekly review said, "Rowling's wit never flags, whether constructing the workings of the wizard world...or tossing off quick jokes...The Potter spell is holding strong".
However, Anthony Holden, who was one of the judges against Prisoner of Azkaban for the Whitbread Award, was negative about the book, saying that the characters are "all black-and-white", and the "story-lines are predictable, the suspense minimal, the sentimentality cloying every page".
In 2012 it was ranked number 12 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by School Library Journal.
Awards
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban won several awards, including the 1999 Booklist Editors' Choice Award, the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers, the 1999 FCBG Children's Book Award, the 1999 Whitbread Book of the Year for children's books, and the 2000 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. It was also nominated for the 2000 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the first in the series nominated, but lost to A Deepness in the Sky. Prisoner of Azkaban additionally won the 2004 Indian Paintbrush Book Award and the 2004 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award. Additionally, it was named an American Library Association Notable Children's Book in 2000 as well as one of their Best Books for Young Adults. As with the previous two books in the series, Prisoner of Azkaban won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Gold Medal for children aged 9–11 and made the top of the New York Times Best Seller list. In both cases, it was the last in the series to do so. However, in the latter case, a Children's Best Sellers list was created just before the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in July 2000 in order to free up more room on the original list. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 24 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
Sales
Prisoner of Azkaban sold more than 68,000 copies in the UK within three days of publication, which made it the fastest selling British book of the time. The sales total by 2012 is said by The Guardian to be 3,377,906.
Editions
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was issued, prior to publication, in two distinct UK proof editions, and one US "Advance Reader's Edition". The first UK proof, in purple wrappers, differs from the second in a number of respects, and is thought to have been printed in a small edition of 50 copies. The second UK proof is in green wrappers and was printed in a somewhat larger run. The US Advance Reader's Edition is the last of its kind in the Harry Potter series, as no Advance Reader's Editions are known for books 4 through 7. The rear wrapper of the Advance Reader's Edition reveals the circumstances of the US publication of the book:
Due to the unprecedented demand for this book, we have moved the publication date up a full year. (We understand, we couldn’t wait to read it either!). Accordingly, we have rushed to bring this Advance Reader’s Edition to you as quickly as possible.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in hardcover in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September. The UK edition was released at the unusually precise time of 3.45pm, so as to avoid children skipping school in order to purchase the book. The first state of the hardback edition features an error on p. 7, with an unintended carriage return in a block quote. Two further issues were released, both fixing the error. Across all three states, 5,150 were printed by Clays Ltd.
The British paperback edition was released on 1 April 2000, while the US paperback was released 1 October 2001.
Bloomsbury additionally released an adult edition with a different cover design to the original, in paperback on 10 July 2004 and in hardcover in October 2004. A hardcover special edition, featuring a green border and signature, was released on 8 July 1999. In May 2004, Bloomsbury released a Celebratory Edition, with a blue and purple border. On 1 November 2010, they released the 10th anniversary Signature edition illustrated by Clare Mellinsky and in July 2013 a new adult cover illustrated by Andrew Davidson, both these editions were designed by Webb & Webb Design Limited.
Beginning on 27 August 2013, Scholastic will release new covers for the paperback editions of Harry Potter in the United States to celebrate 15 years of the series. The covers were designed by the author and illustrator Kazu Kibuishi.
An illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released on 3 October 2017, and was illustrated by Jim Kay, who illustrated the previous two instalments. This includes over 115 new illustrations and will be followed by Illustrated editions of the following 4 novels in the future. Jim Kay announced on 6 October 2022 that he would not be illustrating the final two Harry Potter books and that his last work, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, would be released on 11 October 2022.
Adaptations
Film
The film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in 2004 and was directed by Alfonso Cuarón from a screenplay by Steve Kloves. The film débuted at number one at the box office and held that position for two weeks. It made a total of $796.7 million worldwide, which made it the second highest-grossing film of 2004 behind Shrek 2. However, among all eight entries in the Harry Potter franchise, Prisoner of Azkaban grossed the lowest; yet among critics and fans, the film is often cited as the best in the franchise – in large part due to Cuarón's stylistic influence. The film ranks at number 471 in Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.
Video games
Three unique video games by different developers were released in 2004 by Electronic Arts, loosely based on the book:
References
External links
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database |
Harry_Potter_and_the_Goblet_of_Fire | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Goblet_of_Fire | [
534
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Goblet_of_Fire"
] | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a fantasy novel written by the British author J. K. Rowling. It is the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series. It follows Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the mystery surrounding the entry of Harry's name into the Triwizard Tournament, in which he is forced to compete.
The book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury and in the United States by Scholastic. In both countries, the release date was 8 July 2000. This was the first time a book in the series was published in both countries at the same time. The novel won a Hugo Award, the only Harry Potter novel to do so, in 2001. The book was adapted into a film, released worldwide on 18 November 2005, and a video game by Electronic Arts.
Plot
During the summer, there is an attack at the Quidditch World Cup. The cloaked assailants resemble Death Eaters, the followers of Voldemort. When the school term begins at Hogwarts, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody is introduced as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Dumbledore announces that students from the foreign wizarding schools Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at Hogwarts to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. An artefact called the Goblet of Fire is placed in the main hall, and students are invited to nominate themselves for the tournament by putting their name into it. Although Harry does not nominate himself, he is mysteriously selected to compete against the older students Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum.
Harry is interviewed by the Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter, who writes a scathing article portraying him as a disturbed attention-seeker. Using the Hogwarts Floo Network, Harry speaks with his godfather, Sirius Black, who warns him about the Durmstrang principal, Igor Karkaroff, who is a former Death Eater. Sirius believes Harry's selection for the dangerous tournament is somehow connected to the attack at the World Cup. Hagrid alerts Harry that the First Task involves a dragon. After Moody reminds Harry that he is an expert flyer, Harry uses his broomstick to fly past the dragon and accomplish the task.
As Christmas approaches, Harry asks a girl named Cho Chang to the Yule Ball, but she is already going with Cedric. Harry and Ron end up going to the ball with the twin sisters Parvati and Padma Patil. Ron is sullen as he observes Hermione dancing with Krum. As the Second Task nears, Harry learns that he will need to rescue someone from the lake. The house-elf Dobby gives him Gillyweed, which allows him to breathe underwater long enough to rescue both Ron and Fleur's sister Gabrielle. He is awarded extra points for his bravery and is tied for first place.
In the Third Task, Harry and his competitors must navigate a maze of obstacles to reach the Triwizard Cup. Harry and Cedric reach the Cup at the same time and decide to grab it together. They are immediately transported to a graveyard, where Peter Pettigrew kills Cedric and subdues Harry. Using Harry's blood, he performs a ritual that returns Voldemort to bodily form. As Voldemort and Harry duel, their wands magically connect. This distraction allows Harry the chance to escape back to Hogwarts with the Cup and Cedric's body.
Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape discover that Moody is actually the Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr. When they administer him a truth potion, he reveals that he placed Harry's name in the Goblet, supported him through the Tasks, and ensured he was transported to the graveyard for the ritual. Crouch Jr is handed over to the Dementors, who render him soulless with the Dementor's Kiss. Recovering in the hospital wing, Harry narrates the events to Cedric's parents. He offers them his tournament winnings, but they refuse it, so he gives the gold to Fred and George Weasley so they can open their joke shop. During a memorial service for Cedric, Dumbledore tells the students at Hogwarts that Voldemort has returned.
Development
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth book in the Harry Potter series. The first, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published by Bloomsbury on 26 June 1997. The second, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published on 2 July 1998. The third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, followed on 8 July 1999. Goblet of Fire is almost twice the size of the first three books (the paperback edition was 636 pages). Rowling stated that she "knew from the beginning it would be the biggest of the first four." She said there needed to be a "proper run-up" for the conclusion and rushing the "complex plot" could confuse readers. She also stated that "everything is on a bigger scale," which was symbolic, as Harry's horizons widened both literally and metaphorically as he grew up. She also wanted to explore more of the magical world.
Until the official title's announcement on 27 June 2000, the book was called by its working title, "Harry Potter IV". Previously, in April, the publisher had listed it as Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament. However, J. K. Rowling expressed her indecision about the title in an Entertainment Weekly interview.
"I changed my mind twice on what [the title] was. The working title had got out — Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament. Then I changed Doomspell to Triwizard Tournament. Then I was teetering between Goblet of Fire and Triwizard Tournament. In the end, I preferred Goblet of Fire because it's got that kind of cup of destiny feel about it, which is the theme of the book."
Rowling mentioned that she originally wrote a Weasley relative named Mafalda, who, according to Rowling, "was the daughter of the 'second cousin who's a stockbroker' mentioned in Philosopher's Stone. This stockbroker had been very rude to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in the past, but now he and his (Muggle) wife had inconveniently produced a witch, they came back to the Weasleys asking for their help in introducing her to wizarding society before she starts at Hogwarts." Mafalda was supposed to be a Slytherin and was to fill in the Rita Skeeter subplot, but she was eventually removed because "there were obvious limitations to what an eleven-year-old closeted at school could discover." Rowling considered Rita Skeeter to be "much more flexible." Rowling also admitted that the fourth book was the most difficult to write at the time because the Mafalda character also served as a giant plot hole, which she discovered halfway through writing.
Themes
Jeff Jensen, who interviewed Rowling for Entertainment Weekly in 2000, pointed out that bigotry is a big theme in the Harry Potter novels and Goblet of Fire in particular. He mentioned how Voldemort and his followers are prejudiced against Muggles and how, in Goblet of Fire, Hermione forms a group to liberate Hogwarts' house-elves who have "been indentured servants so long they lack desire for anything else." When asked why she explored this theme, Rowling replied,
Because bigotry is probably the thing I detest most. All forms of intolerance, the whole idea of that which is different from me is necessarily evil. I really like to explore the idea that difference is equal and good. But there's another idea that I like to explore, too. Oppressed groups are not, generally speaking, people who stand firmly together – no, sadly, they kind of subdivide among themselves and fight like hell. That's human nature, so that's what you see here. This world of wizards and witches, they're already ostracized, and then within themselves, they've formed a loathsome pecking order.
She also commented that she did not feel this was too "heavy" for children, as it was one of those things that a "huge number of children at that age start to think about."
Publication and reception
UK/US release
Goblet of Fire was the first book in the Harry Potter series to be released in the United States on the same date as the United Kingdom, on 8 July 2000, strategically on a Saturday so children did not have to worry about school conflicting with buying the book. It had a combined first-printing of over five million copies. It was given a record-breaking print run of 3.9 million. Three million copies of the book were sold over the first weekend in the US alone. FedEx dispatched more than 9,000 trucks and 100 planes to fulfil book deliveries. The pressure in editing caused a mistake which shows Harry's father emerging first from Voldemort's wand; however, as confirmed in Prisoner of Azkaban, James died first, so then Harry's mother ought to have come out first. This was corrected in later editions.
Launch publicity
To publicise the book, a special train named Hogwarts Express was organised by Bloomsbury, and run from King's Cross to Perth, carrying J.K. Rowling, a consignment of books for her to sign and sell, also representatives of Bloomsbury and the press. The book was launched on 8 July 2000, on platform 1 at King's Cross – which had been given "Platform 9+3⁄4" signs for the occasion – following which the train departed. En route it called at Didcot Railway Centre, Kidderminster, the Severn Valley Railway, Crewe (overnight stop), Manchester, Bradford, York, the National Railway Museum (overnight stop), Newcastle, Edinburgh, arriving at Perth on 11 July. The locomotive was West Country class steam locomotive no. 34027 Taw Valley, which was specially repainted red for the tour; it later returned to its normal green livery (the repaints were requested and paid for by Bloomsbury). The coaches of the train included a sleeping car. A Diesel locomotive was coupled at the other end, for use when reversals were necessary, such as the first stage of the journey as far as Ferme Park, just south of Hornsey. The tour generated considerably more press interest than the launch of the film Thomas and the Magic Railroad which was premiered in London the same weekend.
Critical reception
Upon release, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire received mostly positive reviews. The Daily Telegraph reported on reviews from several British publications with a rating scale for the novel out of "Love It", "Pretty Good", "Ok", and "Rubbish": Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, and Independent On Sunday reviews under "Love It" and Independent review under "Pretty Good" and Times review under "Ok". The Guardian reported an average rating of 8.4 out of 10 for the book based on reviews from multiple British and American newspapers. On BookBrowse, based on American and British press, the book received a from "Critics' Consensus" and for the media reviews on a rating scale out of five: Salon, The Guardian, London Times, and Publishers Weekly reviews under five.
In The New York Times Book Review, author Stephen King stated the Goblet of Fire was "every bit as good as Potters 1 through 3" and praised the humour and subplots, although he commented that "there's also a moderately tiresome amount of adolescent squabbling...it's a teenage thing". Kirkus Reviews called it "another grand tale of magic and mystery...and clicking along so smoothly that it seems shorter than it is". However, they commented that it did tend to lag, especially at the end where two "bad guys" stopped the action to give extended explanations, and that the issues to be resolved in sequels would leave "many readers, particularly American ones, uncomfortable". For The Horn Book Magazine, Martha V. Parravano gave a mixed review, saying "some will find [it] wide-ranging, compellingly written, and absorbing; others, long, rambling, and tortuously fraught with adverbs". A Publishers Weekly review praised the book's "red herrings, the artful clues and tricky surprises that disarm the most attentive audience" and saying it "might be her most thrilling yet." Writing for The New Yorker, Joan Acocella noted that "where the prior volumes moved like lightning, here the pace is slower, the energy more dispersed. At the same time, the tone becomes more grim."
Kristin Lemmerman of CNN said that it is not great literature: 'Her prose has more in common with your typical beach-blanket fare and the beginning contained too much recap to introduce characters to new readers, although Rowling quickly gets back on track, introducing readers to a host of well-drawn new characters.' Writing for Salon.com, Charles Taylor was generally positive about the change of mood and development of characters. Entertainment Weekly's reviewer Kristen Baldwin gave Goblet of Fire the grade of A−, praising the development of the characters as well as the many themes presented. However, she did worry that a shocking climax may be a "nightmare factory" for young readers.
In 2012 it was ranked number 98 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by School Library Journal.
Awards and honours
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire won several awards, including the 2001 Hugo Award for Best Novel. It won the 2002 Indian Paintbrush Book Award, the third after Philosopher's Stone and Prisoner of Azkaban. The novel also won an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award for one of the best books, who claimed it was "more intense than the first three books". In addition, Entertainment Weekly listed Goblet of Fire in second place on their list of The New Classics: Books – The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008. The Guardian ranked Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire #97 in its list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.
Adaptations
Film
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was adapted into a film, released worldwide on 18 November 2005, which was directed by Mike Newell and written by Steve Kloves. The film grossed $102.7 million for the opening weekend, and eventually grossed $896 million worldwide. The film was also nominated for Best Art Direction at the 78th Academy Awards.
Video game
It was also made into a video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation Portable by Electronic Arts. It was released just before the film.
References
Further reading
Laurence, Charles (29 December 2002). "J. K. Rowling read unfinished book to dying girl". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
External links
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Harry Potter Wiki, an external wiki
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database |
Harry_Potter_and_the_Order_of_the_Phoenix | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Order_of_the_Phoenix | [
534
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Order_of_the_Phoenix"
] | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a fantasy novel written by the British author J. K. Rowling. It is the fifth novel in the Harry Potter series. It follows Harry Potter's struggles through his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including the surreptitious return of the antagonist Lord Voldemort, O.W.L. exams, and an obstructive Ministry of Magic. The novel was published on 21 June 2003 by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic in the United States, and Raincoast in Canada. It sold five million copies in the first 24 hours of publication.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix won several awards, including the American Library Association Best Book Award for Young Adults in 2003. The book was also made into a 2007 film, and a video game by Electronic Arts.
Plot
During the summer, Harry is frustrated by the lack of communication from his friends and by Dumbledore's refusal to let him help in the struggle against Lord Voldemort. One evening, Dementors attack him and his cousin Dudley, but Harry fends them off using the Patronus Charm. Later, members of the Order of the Phoenix arrive at the Dursley residence and take Harry to Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Number 12 is Sirius Black's family home and the headquarters of the Order, which is a secret organisation founded by Dumbledore to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Harry wants to join the Order, but is too young.
Under the leadership of Cornelius Fudge, the Ministry of Magic is waging a smear campaign against Harry and Dumbledore, claiming they are lying about the return of Voldemort. Harry faces legal charges for the Patronus Charm he performed, but is exonerated and returns to Hogwarts. Dolores Umbridge, a senior Ministry employee, is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. She implements a textbook-only curriculum and forbids the students from practicing defensive spells. Harry, Ron, and Hermione form a secret student group called Dumbledore's Army, which meets in the Room of Requirement to practice defensive magic under Harry's instruction.
One night, Harry dreams that Arthur Weasley is attacked by Voldemort's snake, Nagini. The attack actually occurred, and Dumbledore realises that Harry's mind is connected to Voldemort. He orders Professor Snape to teach Harry Occlumency to keep Voldemort out of his mind. When Umbridge discovers Dumbledore's Army, Dumbledore saves Harry from expulsion by claiming he formed the group. To avoid arrest, he goes into hiding. Umbridge is appointed headmistress and begins enacting strict rules and regulations.
During exams, Harry has a vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius at the Department of Mysteries. He attempts to contact Sirius at Grimmauld Place, but Umbridge catches and interrogates him. Hermione intervenes and convinces Umbridge to go with her and Harry into the Forbidden Forest. When Umbridge provokes the centaurs who live there, they take her captive. Harry and his friends fly to the Ministry to rescue Sirius, but he is not there. Instead, they find shelves containing glass spheres, one of which bears Harry's name. Harry picks it up and is immediately surrounded by Death Eaters. Lucius Malfoy reveals that Harry was lured to the Ministry by a false vision from Voldemort, who wishes to hear the prophecy contained in the sphere. He asks Harry for the sphere, but Harry refuses to give it to him.
The students fight the Death Eaters with help from several Order of the Phoenix members. Neville accidentally knocks the sphere down some steps, destroying it. Bellatrix Lestrange kills Sirius by knocking him through a mysterious stone archway. Voldemort appears and tries to kill Harry, but Dumbledore arrives and thwarts him. Fudge and other Ministry of Magic employees arrive on the scene and witness Voldemort just before he flees. Back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore tells Harry the prophecy was made by Professor Trelawney, who predicted the birth of a child with the power to vanquish Voldemort. This prophecy caused Voldemort to murder Harry's parents, and it is why he wishes to kill Harry as well. Harry feels overwhelmed by the prophecy and the loss of Sirius, but the wizarding community now believes him and respects him.
Publication and release
Potter fans waited three years between the releases of the fourth and fifth books. Before the release of the fifth book, 200 million copies of the first four books had already been sold and translated into 55 languages in 200 countries. As the series was already a global phenomenon, the book forged new pre-order records, with thousands of people queuing outside book stores on 20 June 2003 to secure copies at midnight. Despite the security, thousands of copies were stolen from an Earlestown, Merseyside warehouse on 15 June 2003.
Critical response
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was met with mostly positive reviews and received several awards. The Guardian reported on reviews from several British publications with a rating scale for the novel out of five: Daily Mail review under four, The Observer, Evening Standard, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph and The Times reviews under three and Independent on Sunday review under two. On BookBrowse, based on American press, the book received a from "Critics' Consensus" and for the media reviews on a rating scale out of five: AudioFile, The Denver Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal reviews under five.
In 2004, the book was cited as an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and as an American Library Association Notable Book. It also received the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio 2004 Gold Medal, along with several other awards. Rowling was praised for her imagination by USA Today writer Deirdre Donahue.
The New York Times writer John Leonard praised the novel, saying "The Order of the Phoenix starts slow, gathers speed and then skateboards, with somersaults, to its furious conclusion....As Harry gets older, Rowling gets better." However, he also criticised "the one-note Draco Malfoy" and the predictable Lord Voldemort.
Predecessors and sequels
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth book in the Harry Potter series. The first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was first published by Bloomsbury in 1997 with an initial print-run of 500 copies in hardback, 300 of which were distributed to libraries. By the end of 1997, the UK edition won a National Book Award and a gold medal in the 9-to-11-year-olds category of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. The second novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in the UK on 2 July 1998. The third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, was published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999. The fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was published 8 July 2000, simultaneously by Bloomsbury and Scholastic. The fifth novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is the longest book in the series, yet it is the second-shortest film at 2 hours 18 minutes.
After the publishing of Order of the Phoenix, the sixth book of the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was published on 2 April 2005 and sold 9 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release. The seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published 21 July 2007. The book sold 11 million copies within 24 hours of its release: 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.
Adaptations
Film
In 2007, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released in a film version directed by David Yates and written by Michael Goldenberg. The film was produced by David Heyman's company, Heyday Films, alongside David Barron. The budget was reportedly between £75 and 100 million (US$150–200 million), and it became the unadjusted eleventh-highest-grossing film of all time and a critical and commercial success. The film opened to a worldwide 5-day opening of $333 million, the third best of all time, and grossed $940 million total, second to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End for the greatest total of 2007.
Video games
A video game adaptation of the book and film versions of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was made for Microsoft Windows, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii, Game Boy Advance, and Mac OS X. It was released on 25 June 2007 in the U.S., 28 June 2007 in Australia, and 29 June 2007 in the UK and Europe for PlayStation 3, PSP, PlayStation 2, Windows, and 3 July 2007 for most other platforms. The games were published by Electronic Arts.
The book is also depicted in the 2011 video game Lego Harry Potter: Years 5–7.
Translations
The first official foreign translation of the book appeared in Vietnamese on 21 July 2003, when the first of twenty-two instalments was released. The first official European translation appeared in Serbia and Montenegro in Serbian by the official publisher Narodna Knjiga in early September 2003. Other translations appeared later (e.g. in November 2003 in Dutch and German). The English-language version has topped the bestseller list in France, whereas in Germany and the Netherlands, an unofficial distributed translation process was started on the internet.
See also
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series
References
External links
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Harry Potter Wiki, an external wiki
Common Sense Media Age Rating
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database |
Harry_Potter_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince | [
534
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince"
] | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a fantasy novel written by the British author J. K. Rowling. It is the sixth novel in the Harry Potter series, and takes place during Harry Potter's sixth year at the wizard school Hogwarts. The novel reveals events from the early life of Lord Voldemort, and chronicles Harry's preparations for the final battle against him.
The book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury and in the United States by Scholastic on 16 July 2005, as well as in several other countries. It sold almost seven million copies in the first 24 hours after its release, a record eventually broken by its sequel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There were many controversies before and after it was published, including the right-to-read copies delivered before the release date in Canada. Reception to the novel was generally positive, and it won several awards and honours, including the 2006 British Book of the Year award.
Reviewers noted that the book had a darker tone than its predecessors, though it did contain some humour. Some considered the main themes love, death, trust, and redemption. The considerable character development of Harry and many other teenage characters also drew attention.
Plot
After his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry has spent two weeks mourning the loss of his godfather, Sirius Black. As Albus Dumbledore escorts him to the Weasley home, they visit the retired Hogwarts professor Horace Slughorn, who agrees to resume teaching. Meanwhile, Bellatrix Lestrange and her sister Narcissa Malfoy convince Severus Snape to make an Unbreakable Vow to protect Narcissa's son Draco at Hogwarts.
While out shopping for school supplies, Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger observe Draco making inquiries at Borgin and Burkes, a shop known for its connection to the Dark Arts. At Hogwarts, the students learn that Slughorn will be teaching Potions, while Snape will be taking over Defence Against the Dark Arts. For Slughorn's first class, Harry and Ron borrow a pair of old textbooks. Harry's textbook previously belonged to someone known as "The Half-Blood Prince", and it contains many helpful tips. Following the instructions of the Prince, Harry becomes an expert potion brewer. He rises to the top of the class and wins a vial of the luck potion Felix Felicis.
Dumbledore prepares Harry for his eventual battle with Voldemort by educating him about Voldemort's past as Tom Riddle. While a student at Hogwarts, Riddle had asked Slughorn about objects called Horcruxes, which can grant immortality by encasing fragments of a wizard's soul. Dumbledore wants to see the memory as it appears in Slughorn's mind, and asks Harry to retrieve it from him. Harry joins the Slug Club, a group of Slughorn's famous, talented and well-connected students. Hermione and Ginny also attend the club, which causes Ron to feel left out. He accepts an invitation from Hermione to Slughorn's Christmas party, but upsets her when he kisses Lavender Brown. Meanwhile, Harry develops a crush on Ginny.
When Ron is poisoned and admitted to the infirmary, Hermione visits him, which brings an abrupt end to his relationship with Lavender. Harry discards his Potions textbook after he nearly kills Draco with one of the Prince's scribbled spells. Later, Harry's luck potion helps him obtain Slughorn's memory and causes Ginny to break up with her boyfriend Dean Thomas, which allows Harry to start seeing her instead. Slughorn's memory suggests that Voldemort created six Horcruxes, though Dumbledore explains that two are already destroyed. He asks Harry to accompany him to retrieve another.
In a remote cave, Harry and Dumbledore overcome many obstacles before seizing the Horcrux. Back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore unexpectedly immobilizes Harry under his invisibility cloak. A group of Death Eaters arrives with Draco, who falters in an attempt to kill Dumbledore. Snape then casts the killing curse on Dumbledore and sends him falling to his death. Harry tries to fight Snape as he flees, but is overpowered. Snape reveals himself as the Half-Blood Prince and brags about creating the spells Harry is using. After Snape escapes, Harry discovers that the Horcrux he obtained is fake. He resolves to find and destroy all the remaining Horcruxes, and Ron and Hermione pledge to join him.
Development
Series
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth novel in the Harry Potter series. The first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was originally published by Bloomsbury in 1997. Philosopher's Stone was followed by Chamber of Secrets (1998), Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Goblet of Fire (2000), and Order of the Phoenix (2003). Half-Blood Prince was followed by the final novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Half-Blood Prince sold 9 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release.
Background
Rowling stated that she had Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince "planned for years," but she spent two months revisiting her plan before she began writing the story's first draft. This was a lesson learned after she did not check the plan for Goblet of Fire and had to rewrite an entire third of the book. She started writing the book before her second child, David, was born, but she took a break to care for him. The first chapter, "The Other Minister", which features meetings between the Muggle Prime Minister, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, and his successor, Rufus Scrimgeour, was a concept Rowling tried to start in Philosopher's Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Order of the Phoenix, but she found "it finally works" in Half-Blood Prince. She stated that she was "seriously upset" writing the end of the book, although Goblet of Fire was the hardest to write. When asked if she liked the book, she responded, "I like it better than I liked Goblet, Phoenix or Chamber when I finished them. Book six does what I wanted it to do and even if nobody else likes it (and some won't), I know it will remain one of my favourites of the series. Ultimately you have to please yourself before you please anyone else!"
Rowling revealed the title of Half-Blood Prince on her website on 24 June 2004. This was the title she had once considered for the second book, Chamber of Secrets, though she decided the information disclosed belonged later on in the story. On 21 December 2004, she announced she had finished writing it, along with the release date of 16 July. Bloomsbury unveiled the cover on 8 March 2005.
Controversies
The record-breaking publication of Half-Blood Prince was accompanied by controversy. In May 2005, bookmakers in the UK suspended bets on which main character would die in the book amid fears of insider knowledge. A number of high-value bets were made on the death of Albus Dumbledore, many coming from the town of Bungay where it was believed the books were being printed at the time. Betting was later reopened. Additionally, in response to Greenpeace's campaign on using forest-friendly paper for big-name authors, Bloomsbury published the book on 30% recycled paper.
Right-to-read controversy
In early July 2005, a Real Canadian Superstore in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, accidentally sold fourteen copies of The Half-Blood Prince before the authorised release date. The Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books, obtained an injunction from the Supreme Court of British Columbia that prohibited the purchasers from reading the books before the official release date or discussing the contents. Purchasers were offered Harry Potter T-shirts and autographed copies of the book if they returned their copies before 16 July.
On 15 July, less than twelve hours before the book went on sale in the Eastern time zone, Raincoast warned The Globe and Mail newspaper that publishing a review from a Canada-based writer at midnight, as the paper had promised, would be seen as a violation of the trade secret injunction. The injunction sparked a number of news articles alleging that the injunction had restricted fundamental rights. Canadian law professor Michael Geist posted commentary on his blog. Richard Stallman called for a boycott and requested the publisher issue an apology. The Globe and Mail published a review from two UK-based writers in its 16 July edition and posted the Canadian writer's review on its website at 9:00 that morning. Commentary was also provided on the Raincoast website.
Style and themes
Some reviewers noted that Half-Blood Prince contained a darker tone than the previous Potter novels. The Christian Science Monitor's reviewer Yvonne Zipp argued the first half contained a lighter tone to soften the unhappy ending. The Boston Globe reviewer Liz Rosenberg wrote, "lightness [is] slimmer than ever in this darkening series...[there is] a new charge of gloom and darkness. I felt depressed by the time I was two-thirds of the way through." She also compared the setting to Charles Dickens's depictions of London as it was "brooding, broken, gold-lit, as living a character as any other." Christopher Paolini called the darker tone "disquieting" because it was so different from the earlier books. Liesl Schillinger, a contributor to The New York Times book review, also noted that Half-Blood Prince was "far darker" but "leavened with humor, romance and snappy dialogue." She suggested a connection to the 11 September attacks, as the later, darker novels were written after that event. David Kipen, a critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, considered the "darkness as a sign of our paranoid times" and singled out curfews and searches that were part of the tightened security at Hogwarts as resemblances to our world.
Julia Keller, a critic for the Chicago Tribune, highlighted the humour found in the novel and claimed it to be the success of the Harry Potter saga. She acknowledged that "the books are dark and scary in places" but "no darkness in Half-Blood Prince...is so immense that it cannot be rescued by a snicker or a smirk." She considered that Rowling was suggesting difficult times can be worked through with imagination, hope, and humour and compared this concept to works such as Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows.
Rosenberg wrote that the two main themes of Half-Blood Prince were love and death and praised Rowling's "affirmation of their central position in human lives." She considered love to be represented in several forms: the love of parent to child, teacher to student, and the romances that developed between the main characters. Zipp noted trust and redemption to be themes promising to continue in the final book, which she thought "would add a greater layer of nuance and complexity to some characters who could sorely use it." Deepti Hajela also pointed out Harry's character development, that he was "no longer a boy wizard; he's a young man, determined to seek out and face a young man's challenges." Paolini had similar views, claiming, "the children have changed...they act like real teenagers."
Publication and reception
Critical reception
On Metacritic, the book received a 77 out of 100 based on 23 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Liesl Schillinger of The New York Times praised the novel's various themes and suspenseful ending. However, she considered Rowling's gift "not so much for language as for characterisation and plotting." Kirkus Reviews said it "will leave readers pleased, amused, excited, scared, infuriated, delighted, sad, surprised, thoughtful and likely wondering where Voldemort has got to, since he appears only in flashbacks." They considered Rowling's "wry wit" to turn into "outright merriment" but called the climax "tragic, but not uncomfortably shocking." Yvonne Zipp of The Christian Science Monitor praised the way Rowling evolved Harry into a teenager and how the plot threads found as far back as Chamber of Secrets came into play. On the other hand, she noted it "gets a little exposition-heavy in spots," and older readers may have seen the ending coming.
The Boston Globe correspondent Liz Rosenberg wrote, "The book bears the mark of genius on every page" and praised the imagery and darker tone of the book, considering that the series could be crossing over from fantasy to horror. The Associated Press writer Deepti Hajela praised the newfound emotional tones and ageing Harry to the point at which "younger fans may find [the series] has grown up too much." Emily Green, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, was generally positive about the book but was concerned whether young children could handle the material. Cultural critic Julia Keller of the Chicago Tribune called it the "most eloquent and substantial addition to the series thus far" and considered the key to the success of the Potter novels to be humour.
Awards and honours
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince won several awards, including the 2006 British Book of the Year Award and the 2006 Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children's Books for ages 8–12 in its native United Kingdom. In the United States, the American Library Association listed it among its 2006 Best Books for Young Adults. It won both the 2005 reader-voted Quill Awards for Best Book of the Year and Best Children's Book. It also won the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Seal for notable book.
Sales
Before publication, 1.4 million pre-orders were placed for Half-Blood Prince on Amazon.com, breaking the record held by the previous novel, Order of the Phoenix, with 1.3 million. The initial print run for Half-Blood Prince was a record-breaking 10.8 million. Within the first 24 hours after release, the book sold 9 million copies worldwide: 2 million in the UK and about 6.9 million in the US, which prompted Scholastic to rush an additional 2.7 million copies into print. Within the first nine weeks of publication, 11 million copies of the US edition were reported to have been sold. The US audiobook, read by Jim Dale, set sales records with 165,000 sold over two days, besting the adaptation of Order of the Phoenix by twenty percent.
Translations
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published simultaneously in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Along with the rest of the books in the Harry Potter series, it was eventually translated into 67 languages. However, because of high security surrounding the manuscript, translators did not get to start on translating Half-Blood Prince until its English release date, and the earliest were not expected to be released until the fall of 2005. In Germany, a group of "hobby translators" translated the book via the internet less than two days after release, long before German translator Klaus Fritz could translate and publish the book.
Editions
Since its wide hardcover release on 16 July 2005, Half-Blood Prince was released as a paperback on 23 June 2006 in the UK. Two days later on 25 July, the paperback edition was released in Canada and the US, where it had an initial print run of 2 million copies. To celebrate the release of the American paperback edition, Scholastic held a six-week sweepstakes event in which participants in an online poll were entered to win prizes. Simultaneous to the original hardcover release was the UK adult edition that featured a new cover and was also released as a paperback on 23 June. Also released on 16 July was the Scholastic "Deluxe Edition," which featured reproductions of Mary GrandPré's artwork and had a print run of about 100,000 copies. Bloomsbury later released a paperback "Special Edition" on 6 July 2009 and a "Signature Edition" paperback on 1 November 2010.
Adaptations
Film
The film adaptation of the sixth book was originally scheduled to be released on 21 November 2008 but was changed to 15 July 2009. Directed by David Yates, the screenplay was adapted by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman and David Barron. The film grossed over $934 million worldwide, which made it the second-highest-grossing film of 2009 worldwide and the fifteenth-highest of all time. Additionally, Half-Blood Prince gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.
Video games
A video game adaptation of the book was developed by EA Bright Light Studio and published by Electronic Arts in 2009. The game was available on the Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360, and macOS platforms.
The book was also adapted in the 2011 video game Lego Harry Potter: Years 5–7.
Notes
References
External links
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Harry Potter Wiki, an external wiki
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database |
Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows | [
534
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows"
] | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a fantasy novel written by the British author J. K. Rowling. It is the seventh and final novel in the Harry Potter series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing, in the United States by Scholastic, and in Canada by Raincoast Books. The novel chronicles the events directly following Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005) and the final confrontation between the wizards Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.
Deathly Hallows shattered sales records upon release, surpassing marks set by previous titles of the Harry Potter series. It holds the Guinness World Record for most novels sold within 24 hours of release, with 8.3 million sold in the US and 2.65 million in the UK. Reception to the book was generally positive, and the American Library Association named it a "Best Book for Young Adults".
A film adaptation of the novel was released in two parts: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 in November 2010 and Part 2 in July 2011.
Plot
The young wizard Harry Potter is about to turn seventeen and is being escorted to The Burrow by members of the Order of the Phoenix. The group is attacked by Death Eaters, who kill "Mad-Eye" Moody and injure George Weasley. Lord Voldemort attempts to kill Harry but fails.
Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger begin searching for Voldemort's four remaining Horcruxes. They learn that the locket Horcrux is in the possession of Dolores Umbridge at the Ministry of Magic. Harry and his friends infiltrate the Ministry and steal the locket from Umbridge, but are unable to destroy it. The locket's Dark magic affects Ron, who abandons Harry and Hermione. In Godric's Hollow, Harry and Hermione are attacked by Voldemort's snake Nagini, but manage to escape. One night, a Patronus guides Harry to a pond containing the Sword of Gryffindor. When he tries to recover it, the locket tightens around his neck, nearly drowning him. Ron returns and saves Harry, then destroys the Horcrux with the sword.
The three friends visit Xenophilius Lovegood, who tells them of the mythical objects known as the Deathly Hallows: the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Cloak of Invisibility. Xenophilius then alerts Death Eaters to the presence of the trio in his home, but Harry and his friends escape. Soon after, they are captured by Snatchers and imprisoned in Malfoy Manor. Harry and Ron are thrown into a makeshift dungeon with Luna Lovegood, Mr Ollivander and Griphook the goblin, while the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange tortures Hermione. The house-elf Dobby helps all six prisoners escape, but dies in the process.
Harry, Ron and Hermione break into Gringotts Bank and retrieve another Horcrux. Harry has visions which inform him that Nagini is a Horcrux, and that another is hidden at Hogwarts. After the trio enters the school with the help of Aberforth Dumbledore, Voldemort prepares to assault the castle. As the Death Eaters enter the school and fight the professors and students, Ron and Hermione destroy the Horcrux from Gringotts. They then accompany Harry to the Room of Requirement, where they discover the next Horcrux. Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle ambush them, and Crabbe casts a fire spell which grows out of his control and destroys both him and the Horcrux.
After stealing the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb, Voldemort struggles to make it obey him. Believing that Severus Snape is the master of the wand, Voldemort uses Nagini to mortally wound him. Before dying, Snape passes his memories to Harry, who views them in the Pensieve. The memories reveal that Snape loved Harry's mother, and acted as a double agent against Voldemort in an attempt to protect her. Albus Dumbledore had learned he was dying, and decided to plan his own death at the hands of Snape so that Snape could gain Voldemort's trust. The memories also reveal that Harry himself became a Horcrux when Voldemort first tried to kill him. Now, Harry must die to render Voldemort mortal. On his way to surrender himself to Voldemort, Harry instructs Neville Longbottom to destroy Nagini. He also uses the Resurrection Stone to communicate with his deceased loved ones: his parents, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
Voldemort casts the Killing Curse on Harry, who then awakens in a dreamlike place. He is greeted by Albus Dumbledore, who explains that the curse destroyed the fragment of Voldemort's soul inside Harry, and that Harry can now return to life. Harry subsequently regains consciousness and pretends to be dead. Voldemort orders Hagrid to carry Harry's body Hogwarts, and demands that the professors and students surrender. Neville, however, pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and kills Nagini. The battle resumes, during which Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix. Harry reveals himself to be alive and duels with Voldemort, who casts another Killing Curse. However, the Elder Wand refuses to kill Harry, because Harry is its true master. Voldemort's spell rebounds and destroys him.
In the novel's epilogue, set nineteen years later, Harry and his friends see their children off to Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny have three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Ron and Hermione have a daughter named Rose and a son named Hugo.
Background
Series
The first novel in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published by Bloomsbury in 1997. It was followed by Chamber of Secrets (1998), Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Goblet of Fire (2000), Order of the Phoenix (2003) and Half-Blood Prince (2005).
Title
The title of the novel refers to three mythical objects featured in the story, which are collectively known as the "Deathly Hallows". Rowling announced the title in December 2006 through a Christmas-themed hangman puzzle on her website. Other titles that Rowling considered were Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest.
Writing
Rowling completed the novel in January 2007 while staying at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh. In a statement on her website, she said, "I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." She compared her mixed feelings to those expressed by Charles Dickens in the preface of the 1850 edition of David Copperfield, "a two-years' imaginative task". "To which," she added, "I can only sigh, try seventeen years, Charles". She ended her message by saying "Deathly Hallows is my favourite, and that is the most wonderful way to finish the series".
When asked before publication about the forthcoming book, Rowling stated that she could not change the ending even if she wanted. "These books have been plotted for such a long time, and for six books now, that they're all leading a certain direction. So, I really can't". She also commented that the final volume related closely to the previous book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, "almost as though they are two-halves of the same novel". She said the last chapter of Deathly Hallows was written around 1990 as part of her earliest work on the series. She also revealed that the last sentence was originally something akin to "Only those who he loved could see his lightning scar". She changed the sentence to "All was well" because she wanted it to be clear that Harry had triumphed over Voldemort and that he would not have to face him again.
Release
Marketing and promotion
The launch of Deathly Hallows was celebrated by an all-night book signing and reading by Rowling at the Natural History Museum in London. The 1,700 guests in attendance were chosen by ballot. Rowling toured the United States in October 2007, where another event was held at Carnegie Hall in New York City with tickets allocated by sweepstake.
Scholastic, the American publisher of the Harry Potter series, launched a multimillion-dollar "There will soon be 7" marketing campaign with a Knight Bus travelling to 40 libraries across the United States, online fan discussions and competitions, collectible bookmarks, tattoos, and the staged release of seven Deathly Hallows questions most debated by fans.
Rowling arranged with her publishers for a poster bearing the face of the missing British child Madeleine McCann to be made available to book sellers when Deathly Hallows was launched on 21 July 2007, and said that she hoped that the posters would be displayed prominently in shops all over the world.
After it was announced that the novel would be released on 21 July 2007, Warner Bros. stated that the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix would be released on 13 July. In response, fans proclaimed July 2007 as the month of Harry Potter.
Spoiler embargo
Bloomsbury invested £10 million in an attempt to keep the book's contents secure until 21 July, the release date. Arthur Levine, US editor of the Harry Potter series, denied distributing any copies of Deathly Hallows in advance for press review, but two US papers published early reviews anyway. There was speculation that some shops would break the embargo and distribute copies of the book early, as the penalty imposed for previous instalments—that the distributor would not be supplied with any further copies of the series—would no longer be a deterrent.
Online leaks and early delivery
In the week before its release, a number of texts purporting to be genuine leaks appeared in various forms. On 16 July, a set of photographs representing all 759 pages of the US edition was leaked and was fully transcribed prior to the official release date. The photographs later appeared on websites and peer-to-peer networks, leading Scholastic to seek a subpoena in order to identify one source. This represented the most serious security breach in the Harry Potter series' history. Rowling and her lawyer confirmed that there were genuine online leaks. Reviews published in both The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times on 18 July 2007, corroborated many of the plot elements from this leak, and about one day prior to release, The New York Times confirmed that the main circulating leak was real.
Scholastic announced that approximately one-ten-thousandth (0.0001) of the US supply had been shipped early — interpreted to mean about 1,200 copies. One reader in Maryland received a copy of the book in the mail from DeepDiscount.com four days before it was launched, which evoked incredulous responses from both Scholastic and DeepDiscount. Scholastic initially reported that they were satisfied it had been a "human error" and would not discuss possible penalties; however, the following day Scholastic announced that it would be launching legal action against DeepDiscount.com and its distributor, Levy Home Entertainment. Scholastic filed for damages in Chicago's Circuit Court of Cook County, claiming that DeepDiscount engaged in a "complete and flagrant violation of the agreements that they knew were part of the carefully constructed release of this eagerly awaited book." Some of the early-release books soon appeared on eBay, in one case being sold to Publishers Weekly for US$250 from an initial price of US$18.
Price wars and other controversies
Asda, along with several other UK supermarkets, having already taken pre-orders for the book at a heavily discounted price, sparked a price war two days before the book's launch by announcing they would sell it for just £5 a copy. Other retail chains then also offered the book at discounted prices. At these prices the book became a loss leader. This caused uproar from traditional UK booksellers who argued they had no hope of competing in those conditions. Independent shops protested loudest, but even Waterstone's, the UK's largest dedicated chain bookstore, could not compete with the supermarket price. Some small bookstores hit back by buying their stock from the supermarkets rather than their wholesalers. Asda attempted to counter this by imposing a limit of two copies per customer to prevent bulk purchases. Philip Wicks, a spokesman for the UK Booksellers Association, said, "It is a war we can't even participate in. We think it's a crying shame that the supermarkets have decided to treat it as a loss-leader, like a can of baked beans." Michael Norris, an analyst at Simba Information, said: "You are not only lowering the price of the book. At this point, you are lowering the value of reading."
In Malaysia, a similar price war caused controversy regarding sales of the book. Four of the biggest bookstore chains in Malaysia, MPH Bookstores, Popular Bookstores, Times and Harris, decided to pull Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows off their shelves as a protest against Tesco and Carrefour hypermarkets. The retail price of the book in Malaysia was MYR 109.90, while the hypermarkets Tesco and Carrefour sold the book at MYR 69.90. The move by the bookstores was seen as an attempt to pressure the distributor Penguin Books to remove the books from the hypermarkets. However, as of 24 July 2007, the price war had ended, with the four bookstores involved resuming selling the books in their stores with discount. Penguin Books has also confirmed that Tesco and Carrefour were selling the book at a loss, urging them to practice good business sense and fair trade.
The book's early Saturday morning release in Israel was criticised for violating Shabbat. Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai commented "It is forbidden, according to Jewish values and Jewish culture, that a thing like this should take place at 2 am on Saturday. Let them do it on another day." Yishai indicated that he would issue indictments and fines based on the Hours of Work and Rest Law.
Editions
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in hardcover on 21 July 2007 and in paperback in the United Kingdom on 10 July 2008 and the United States on 7 July 2009. In SoHo, New York, there was a release party for the American paperback edition, with many games and activities. An "Adult Edition" with a different cover illustration was released by Bloomsbury on 21 July 2007. To be released simultaneously with the original US hardcover on 21 July with only 100,000 copies was a Scholastic deluxe edition, highlighting a new cover illustration by Mary GrandPré. In October 2010, Bloomsbury released a "Celebratory" paperback edition, which featured a foiled and starred cover. Lastly, on 1 November 2010, a "Signature" edition of the novel was released in paperback by Bloomsbury.
Translations
As with previous books in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been translated into many languages. The first translation to be released was the Ukrainian translation, on 25 September 2007 (as Гаррі Поттер і смертельні реліквії – Harry Potter i smertel'ni relikviji). The Swedish title of the book was revealed by Rowling as Harry Potter and the Relics of Death (Harry Potter och Dödsrelikerna), following a pre-release question from the Swedish publisher about the difficulty of translating the two words "Deathly Hallows" without having read the book. This is also the title used for the French translation (Harry Potter et les reliques de la mort), the Spanish translation (Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte), the Dutch translation (Harry Potter en de Relieken van de Dood), the Serbian translation (Хари Потер и реликвије смрти – Hari Poter i relikvije smrti) and the Brazilian Portuguese translation (Harry Potter e as Relíquias da Morte). The first Polish translation was released with a new title: Harry Potter i Insygnia Śmierci – Harry Potter and the Insignia of Death. The Hindi translation Harry Potter aur Maut ke Tohfe (हैरी पॉटर और मौत के तोहफे), which means "Harry Potter and the Gifts of Death", was released by Manjul Publication in India on 27 June 2008. The Romanian version was released on 1 December 2007 using the title (Harry Potter și Talismanele Morții).
Reception
Critical response
Upon release, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was generally well-received. On Metacritic, the book received a 83 out of 100 based on 16 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The Baltimore Sun's critic, Mary Carole McCauley, noted that the book was more serious than the previous novels in the series and had more straightforward prose. Furthermore, reviewer Alice Fordham from The Times wrote that "Rowling's genius is not just her total realisation of a fantasy world, but the quieter skill of creating characters that bounce off the page, real and flawed and brave and lovable". Fordham concluded, "We have been a long way together, and neither Rowling nor Harry let us down in the end". The New York Times writer Michiko Kakutani agreed, praising Rowling's ability to make Harry both a hero and a character that can be related to.
Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it one of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007, ranking it at No. 8, and praised Rowling for proving that books can still be a global mass medium. Novelist Elizabeth Hand criticised that "... the spectacularly complex interplay of narrative and character often reads as though an entire trilogy's worth of summing-up has been crammed into one volume." In a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, the reviewer said, "Rowling has shown uncommon skill in playing them with and against each other, and also woven them into a darn good bildungsroman, populated by memorable characters and infused with a saving, irrepressible sense of fun". They also praised the second half of the novel, but criticised the epilogue, calling it "provocatively sketchy". In another review from The Times, reviewer Amanda Craig said that while Rowling was "not an original, high-concept author", she was "right up there with other greats of children's fiction". Craig went on to say that the novel was "beautifully judged, and a triumphant return to form", and that Rowling's imagination changed the perception of an entire generation, which "is more than all but a handful of living authors, in any genre, have achieved in the past half-century".
In contrast, Jenny Sawyer of The Christian Science Monitor said that, "There is much to love about the Harry Potter series, from its brilliantly realised magical world to its multilayered narrative", however, "A story is about someone who changes. And, puberty aside, Harry doesn't change much. As envisioned by Rowling, he walks the path of good so unwaveringly that his final victory over Voldemort feels, not just inevitable, but hollow". In The New York Times, Christopher Hitchens compared the series to World War Two-era English boarding school stories, and while he wrote that "Rowling has won imperishable renown" for the series as a whole, he also stated that he disliked Rowling's use of deus ex machina, that the mid-book camping chapters are "abysmally long", and Voldemort "becomes more tiresome than an Ian Fleming villain". Catherine Bennett of The Guardian praised Rowling for putting small details from the previous books and making them large in Deathly Hallows, such as Grindelwald being mentioned on a Chocolate Frog Card in the first book. While she points out "as her critics say, Rowling is no Dickens", she says that Rowling "has willed into a fictional being, in every book, legions of new characters, places, spells, rules and scores of unimagined twists and subplots".
Stephen King criticised the reactions of some reviewers to the books, including McCauley, for jumping too quickly to surface conclusions of the work. He felt this was inevitable, because of the extreme secrecy before launch which did not allow reviewers time to read and consider the book, but meant that many early reviews lacked depth. Rather than finding the writing style disappointing, he felt it had matured and improved. He acknowledged that the subject matter of the books had become more adult, and that Rowling had clearly been writing with the adult audience firmly in mind since the middle of the series. He compared the works in this respect to Huckleberry Finn and Alice in Wonderland which achieved success and have become established classics, in part by appealing to the adult audience as well as children.
Sales
Sales for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were record-setting. The initial US print run for Deathly Hallows was 12 million copies, and more than a million were pre-ordered through Amazon and Barnes & Noble, 500 per cent higher than pre-sales had been for Half-Blood Prince. On 12 April 2007, Barnes & Noble declared that Deathly Hallows had broken its pre-order record, with more than 500,000 copies pre-ordered through its site. On opening day, a record 8.3 million copies were sold in the United States (over 96 per second), and 2.65 million copies in the United Kingdom. It holds the Guinness World record for fastest selling book of fiction in 24 hours for US sales. At WH Smith, sales reportedly reached a rate of 15 books sold per second. By June 2008, nearly a year after it was published, worldwide sales were reportedly around 44 million.
Awards and honours
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has won several awards. In 2007, the book was named one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books, and one of its Notable Children's Books. The novel was named the best book of 2007, by Newsweek's critic Malcolm Jones. Publishers Weekly also listed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows among their Best Books of 2007. Also in 2007 the book received the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy at the Nebula Awards. In 2008, the American Library Association named the novel one of its Best Books for Young Adults, and also listed it as a Notable Children's Book. Furthermore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows received the 2008 Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award.
Themes
Death
In a 2006 interview, Rowling said that the main theme of the series is Harry dealing with death, which was influenced by her mother's death in 1990. Lev Grossman of Time asserted that the main theme of the series is the importance of continuing to love in the face of death.
Living in a corrupted society
Academics and journalists have developed many other interpretations of themes in the books, some more complex than others, and some including political subtexts. Themes such as normality, oppression, survival, and overcoming imposing odds have all been considered as prevalent throughout the series. Similarly, the theme of making one's way through adolescence and "going over one's most harrowing ordeals—and thus coming to terms with them" has also been considered. Rowling has stated that the books comprise "a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry" and that also pass on a message to "question authority and ... not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth". Timothy Snyder in his book On Tyranny mentioned the novel as a recent example illustrating resistance to totalitarianism.
Christian allegories
The Harry Potter series has been criticised for supposedly supporting witchcraft and the occult. Before publication of Deathly Hallows, Rowling refused to speak out about her religion, stating, "If I talk too freely, every reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books". However, many have commented on Christian allegories that appear in Deathly Hallows. For example, Harry dies and then comes back to life to save mankind, like Christ. The location where this occurs is King's Cross. Rowling also stated that "my belief and my struggling with religious belief ... I think is quite apparent in this book", which is shown as Harry struggles with his faith in Dumbledore.
Deathly Hallows begins with a pair of epigraphs, one by Quaker leader William Penn and one from Aeschylus' The Libation Bearers. Of this, Rowling said "I really enjoyed choosing those two quotations because one is pagan, of course, and one is from a Christian tradition. I'd known it was going to be those two passages since Chamber was published. I always knew [that] if I could use them at the beginning of book seven then I'd cued up the ending perfectly. If they were relevant, then I went where I needed to go. They just say it all to me, they really do".
When Harry visits his parents' grave, the biblical reference "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26) is inscribed on the grave. The Dumbledores' family tomb also holds a biblical quote: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also", which is from Matthew 6:21. Rowling states, "They're very British books, so on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones ... [but] I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric's Hollow, they sum up – they almost epitomise the whole series".
Harry Potter pundit John Granger additionally noted that one of the reasons the Harry Potter books were so popular is their use of literary alchemy (similar to Romeo and Juliet, C. S. Lewis's Perelandra and Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities) and vision symbolism. In this model, authors weave allegorical tales along the alchemical magnum opus. Since the medieval period, alchemical allegory has mirrored the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. While the entire series utilises symbols common in alchemy, the Deathly Hallows completes this cycle, tying themes of death, rebirth, and the Resurrection Stone to the principal motif of alchemical allegory, and topics presented in the first book of the series.
Adaptations
Films
The two-part film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was directed by David Yates, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman, David Barron and J. K. Rowling. Part 1 was released on 19 November 2010, and Part 2 on 15 July 2011. Filming began in February 2009, and ended on 12 June 2010. However, the cast confirmed they would reshoot the epilogue scene as they only had two days to shoot the original. Part 1 ended at Chapter 24 of the book, when Voldemort regained the Elder Wand. However, there were a few omissions, such as the appearances of Dean Thomas and Viktor Krum, and Peter Pettigrew's death. James Bernadelli of Reelviews said that the script stuck closest to the text since Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, yet this was met with negativity from some audiences as the film inherited "the book's own problems".
Audiobooks
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released simultaneously on 21 July 2007, in both the UK and the United States. The UK edition features the voice of Stephen Fry and runs about 24 hours while the US edition features the voice of Jim Dale and runs about 21 hours. Both Fry and Dale recorded 146 different and distinguishable character voices, and was the most recorded by an individual on an audiobook at the time.
For his work on Deathly Hallows, Dale won the 2008 Grammy Award for the Best Spoken Word Album for Children. He also was awarded an Earphone Award by AudioFile, who claimed, "Dale has raised the bar on audiobook interpretation so high it's hard to imagine any narrator vaulting over it."
Video games
Two action-adventure video games were produced by Electronic Arts (EA) to coincide with the release of the film adaptations, as with each of the previous Harry Potter films. Part 1 was released on 16 November 2010, and Part 2 on 12 July 2011. Both games received a mixed to negative reaction from critics.
Subsequent works
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
On 4 December 2008, Rowling released The Tales of Beedle the Bard both in the UK and US. The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a spin-off of Deathly Hallows and contains fairy tales that are told to children in the "Wizarding World". The book includes five short stories, including "The Tale of the Three Brothers" which is the story of the Deathly Hallows.
Amazon released an exclusive collector's edition of the book which is a replica of the book that Amazon purchased at auction in December 2007.
Seven copies were auctioned off in London by Sotheby's. Each was illustrated and handwritten by Rowling and is 157 pages. It was bound in brown Moroccan leather and embellished with five hand-chased hallmarked sterling silver ornaments and mounted moonstones.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
In 2016, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was released, a two-part play written by Jack Thorne based on an original story by Rowling, Thorne, and John Tiffany. Billed as the eighth story in the Harry Potter series, it picks up where the epilogue of Deathly Hallows left off, following an adult Harry Potter and his son, Albus Severus Potter. Previews of the play began at the Palace Theatre, London, on 7 June 2016, and it premiered on 30 July 2016. The play opened on Broadway on 21 April 2018 at the Lyric Theatre, with previews starting on 16 March 2018.
Both parts of the stage play's script have been released in print and digital formats as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II. The first edition, the Special Rehearsal Edition, corresponded to the script used in the preview shows and was published on 31 July 2016, the date of Harry's birthday in the series and Rowling's birthday, as well. Since revisions to the script continued after the book was printed, an edited version was released on 25 July 2017, as the "Definitive Collector's Edition". According to CNN, this was the most preordered book of 2016.
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Harry Potter at Bloomsbury.com web site UK publisher book information
Harry Potter at Scholastic.com web site US publisher book information
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database |
List_of_Bad_Religion_members | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bad_Religion_members | [
535
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bad_Religion_members"
] | Bad Religion is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1980, the group originally included vocalist Greg Graffin, guitarist Brett Gurewitz, bassist Jay Bentley and drummer Jay Ziskrout. The band consists of Graffin, Gurewitz (who doesn't tour) and Bentley, alongside guitarists Brian Baker (since 2005) and Mike Dimkich (since 2013) and drummer Jamie Miller (since 2015).
History
Ziskrout left the band halfway through the recording of their debut full-length album How Could Hell Be Any Worse? and was replaced for the rest of the sessions by Pete Finestone. 1983's Into the Unknown featured bassist Paul Dedona and Davy Goldman, both of whom left after the album was released. Bad Religion briefly broke up in 1984, as Gurewitz left the band to focus on his record label Epitaph Records and recording studio Westbeach Recorders, before returning with guitarist Greg Hetson, bassist Tim Gallegos and drummer Finestone for the 1985 EP Back to the Known.
Bentley and later Gurewitz returned to Bad Religion in 1986, with the five-piece lineup releasing three albums in three years before Finestone left again in 1991. He was replaced by Bobby Schayer, whose first album with the band was Generator in 1992. After Bad Religion signed to Atlantic Records and released Stranger than Fiction in 1994, Gurewitz left the band again. Shortly after the album's release, Brian Baker took Gurewitz's place in the group. After three more albums, Schayer departed the band in 2001 due to a shoulder injury, and was replaced by Brooks Wackerman. Around the same time, Gurewitz returned to the band for a third time. Longtime guitarist Hetson left in 2013 and was replaced by Mike Dimkich, and in 2016 Jamie Miller replaced Wackerman after he joined Avenged Sevenfold.
Members
Current
Former
Timeline
Lineups
References
External links
Bad Religion official website |
Jamie_Miller_(drummer) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Miller_(drummer) | [
535
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Miller_(drummer)"
] | Jamie Miller is an American musician, currently the drummer for rock bands Bad Religion, Vanishing Life and Snot. He is also the lead guitarist and the backing vocalist for theStart, and was formerly the drummer for Souls at Zero and the drummer and guitarist for ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead.
Career
Souls at Zero (1994–1996)
Miller joined the band Souls at Zero, replacing drummer Shannon Larkin after he left to join Ugly Kid Joe in 1994. He played on Souls at Zero's final album A Taste for the Perverse.
Snot (1996–present)
Miller joined Snot in 1996. Snot signed with Geffen Records, and began work on their debut album, Get Some, released on May 27, 1997. Although the album received positive critical notice, sales were disappointing.
The band performed on the 1998 Ozzfest tour. In December 1998, band member Lynn Strait died in a car accident when a truck struck his car.
In 2008, the band reformed, with former Divine Heresy singer Tommy Vext on vocals. Tommy Cummings and Sonny Mayo left the band, and a new band, Tons, was formed in 2009 with a new vocalist. They recorded three new songs titled "Ability & Control", "1000 Ways of Pain" and "Fan the Flames" before members of the group moved on to new projects.
On February 11, 2014, Snot reunited again at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood.
theStart (1998–present)
Jamie Miller formed the synthrock band theStart (originally named Hero) along with Aimee Echo as the band's lead guitarist, synthesizer player and backing vocalist. They released three full-length studio albums and an EP on Geffen, Nitro and Metropolis. The band toured extensively.
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (2011–2020)
Miller was a drummer and guitarist of the band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead from 2011 to 2020. He replaced Kevin Allen.
Bad Religion (2015–present)
In 2016, Miller became the drummer for Bad Religion by replacing longtime drummer Brooks Wackerman, who joined Avenged Sevenfold. Miller would not appear on a Bad Religion album until four years later, with Age of Unreason.
The Offspring (2021)
In September 2021, Miller performed with The Offspring filling in for friend Josh Freese due to Freese' prior commitments with Devo .
Influences
Miller cited Budgie of Siouxsie and the Banshees as his favourite drummer for having "a signature feel" the Banshees as his favourite band. "Whenever I hear one of their songs, I can hear his drumming and know that it's him. I love drummers like that. It's not necessarily that they have a signature sound, but rather a signature feel".
Discography
Souls at Zero
A Taste for the Perverse (1995)
Snot
Get Some (1997)
Strait Up (2000)
Alive! (2002)
theStart
Shakedown! (2001)
The 1234 (2002)
Death Via Satellite (2003)
Initiation (2004)
Ciao, Baby (2007)
Night Horse
Perdition Hymns (2010)
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
Lost Songs (2012)
IX (2014)
Bad Religion
Age of Unreason (2019)
References
External links
Media related to Jamie Miller (US musician) at Wikimedia Commons |
Lucky_Lehrer | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Lehrer | [
535
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Lehrer"
] | Keith "Lucky" Lehrer (born April 18, 1958) is a drummer from Los Angeles, California associated with several influential LA punk rock bands. He was originally trained in jazz then played in a number of LA punk rock bands, particularly the Circle Jerks, Redd Kross, Bad Religion, Darby Crash Band and LA's Wasted Youth, among others. Lehrer also appeared in three notable documentary films charting the punk rock music scene. He is the brother of LA's Wasted Youth guitarist Chett Lehrer. Lehrer also teaches drums, with notable students being future Bad Religion drummers Pete Finestone and Bobby Schayer. He was an early developer of hardcore punk drumming and he has been called the "Godfather of hardcore drumming". Lehrer was voted the best punk drummer of all-time by fanzine Flipside.
Career
Early life
Lucky credits his early music start to his mother, who died of cancer. "I quit guitar after 6 weeks and she let me try the drums. Years later, she said that all the racket in the house from hours of practicing drums never bothered her," Lucky remembers. Early birthdays were spent at venues like Shelly's Manne Hole watching Louie Bellson, or at the Brass Ring, where young Lucky got so close to his idol, Buddy Rich, he quipped "get outta here kid, you bother me." They visited jazz clubs until his mother died, such as Jaxx, Vibrato and La Ve Lee, where Lucky met his mentor, Los Angeles session drummer Joey Heredia.
He attributes his innovative, syncopated style to his interpretation of jazz and Latin drumming in a crash collision with speed metal. Early inspirations include jazz legends Buddy Rich and Max Roach. Later influences involve Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, session and Flamenco drummer Joey Heredia, and teaching pioneer Murray Spivak.
Equipment
Drums
Lucky has a long-time relationship with Drum Workshop (DW) which designed a custom "Speed Demon" kit in 6 ply maple shells that’s finished in "Caution" yellow. The kit features a pair of 10" and 12" Piccolo Toms DW designed in conjunction with Terry Bozzio that are positioned in lieu of a floor tom. The standard mounted "rack" tom tom is 10" in diameter (8" in depth). For touring, Lucky uses a 24" diameter bass drum (18" depth) but prefers a smaller drum for recording. For live shows, he uses a one-off prototype 13" diameter custom concrete snare drum by DW (6" in depth) that was a personal gift from DW Senior V.P. John Good. All hardware is heavy duty DW.
Lucky uses a variety of DW drum heads made by Remo. On the batter side of his snare drum, a coated Remo Powerstroke 3; DW Clear Pinstripes on the batter sides of toms, and coated, white Ambassador-type drum heads for the resonant sides. He uses a Pinstripe on the bass drum. The front is a logo head by Remo with a special hole pattern developed by John Good of DW.
Sticks
The Lucky Lehrer signature Speed Stick by Ahead that is distributed by Big Bang Percussion is designed to be lighter to support faster playing. It is made from a composite material so that the stick lasts longer and performers can play harder.
Cymbals
In 2013 Lucky disbanded a long association with Zildjian and joined the roster of sponsored Sabian artists. He added more cymbals both to his live and studio drum kits, currently playing Sabian 16" AAX X-Plosion hi-hats remotely mounted to on a DW x-stacker. He also includes a 10" Sabian O-zone on a kit featuring a 20" AA Metal X-ride and two 16" Sabian crash cymbals and 14" AAX Fusion Hi-hats.
Political views
Lehrer is a supporter of marijuana legalization and decriminalization. He states that the current US system, with different states having different laws is arbitrary, because a person found with marijuana in one state faces no penalties, but goes to jail for the same amount in a different state. He states that marijuana is less dangerous than the combination of alcohol and pills that killed Led Zeppelin's John Bonham and The Who's Keith Moon.
Film appearances
The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
The Slog Movie (1981)
American Hardcore (2006)
My Career As A Jerk (2012)
References
External links
Official website
Lucky Lehrer at IMDb |
Bobby_Schayer | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Schayer | [
535
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Schayer"
] | Bobby Schayer (born December 23, 1966, in Los Angeles, California) is an American drummer. He was a member of Bad Religion from 1991 to 2001. Schayer is from Encino, a suburb in the San Fernando Valley. He started drumming in 1976 at the age of 10, but it was not until 1980 that he became a student of original Circle Jerks drummer Lucky Lehrer.
Schayer has cited Tommy Ramone, Paul Cook, Clem Burke, Mick Tucker, Bun E. Carlos, Charlie Watts, and Keith Moon as some of his earliest drumming influences. He officially joined Bad Religion on April 1, 1991, after previous drummer, Pete Finestone, left the band after their fifth LP, Against the Grain. He was present on their sixth LP, Generator, in 1992. He also played drums on Recipe For Hate (1993), Stranger Than Fiction (1994), The Gray Race (1996), Tested (1997), No Substance (1998), and The New America in 2000. In 2001, he suffered an injury to his shoulder, and deciding to venture in a new direction, left Bad Religion. Schayer was replaced by Brooks Wackerman, formerly of Infectious Grooves and Suicidal Tendencies.
For over ten years from 2001 to 2011, Schayer was the drum tech for Sam Fogarino of the band Interpol.
Schayer currently lives in Los Angeles, CA.
== References == |
Brooks_Wackerman | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Wackerman | [
535
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Wackerman"
] | Brooks Wackerman (born February 15, 1977) is an American musician. He is the current drummer of heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, which he joined in 2015. His first album with Avenged Sevenfold was The Stage (2016). He was previously the drummer for the punk rock band Bad Religion (2001 to 2015). Wackerman has also performed, either as a member or a session or touring member, with Blink-182, Bad4Good, Infectious Grooves, Glenn Tipton, Mass Mental, Suicidal Tendencies, The Vandals, Avril Lavigne, Korn, Kidneys (in which he sang and played guitar, releasing two albums), Fear and the Nervous System, Tenacious D, Farmikos, Tom Delonge, and Big Talk. His brothers, Chad Wackerman, and John Wackerman, are also drummers.
Early life
Wackerman's father Chuck, also a drummer, started teaching him how to play drums as early as five years old and was also his jazz band teacher at Los Alamitos High School, winning Most Outstanding Musician at the Reno Jazz Festival in 1993. Wackerman started his musical career as a teen with a group called Bad4Good in 1991. The band released one album in 1992 called Refugee, produced by Steve Vai.
Career
Infectious Grooves (1993–2024)
From 1993 to 2000, Wackerman was a member of Infectious Grooves, playing drums on the albums Groove Family Cyco in 1994 and Mas Borracho in 2000 as well as touring with the band. He returned to the band when they resumed activities and did a show in Brazil in November 2019.
Suicidal Tendencies (1996–2001)
Wackerman was a member of Suicidal Tendencies from 1996 to 2001, playing drums on Six the Hard Way in 1998, Freedumb in 1999, and Free Your Soul and Save My Mind in 2000. He left the band to join Bad Religion in 2001.
Bad Religion (2001–2015)
In 2001, he became the drummer for Bad Religion by replacing Bobby Schayer, who left the band due to a shoulder injury. He appeared on five albums with them (The Process of Belief, The Empire Strikes First, New Maps of Hell, The Dissent of Man and True North) as well as their 2013 EP Christmas Songs. On October 27, 2015, Brooks left Bad Religion after deciding it was time to pursue another path. At the time of his departure, Wackerman was Bad Religion's all-time longest standing drummer, surpassing Bobby Schayer, who was in the band for ten years. He was also the youngest member of the band, with all of the other members being at least ten years his senior. Wackerman was replaced by Jamie Miller.
Tenacious D (2006–2015)
In 2006, for The Pick of Destiny tour, Wackerman was selected to feature as the drummer for Tenacious D due to his previous work on the Vandals' Look What I Almost Stepped In... album, which both Jack Black and Kyle Gass cameo on. He would go on to play for Tenacious D at various festivals as well as support act and benefit concerts throughout 2008 to 2011. in 2012, Wackerman played with Tenacious D again on their Rize of the Fenix tour where he got the nickname "Thunderskin" from Jack Black for comical remark, making appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. They also performed at the 2012 Rock am Ring Festival. Wackerman also appeared in the music videos for their songs "Roadie" and "Rize of the Fenix". He would perform on their 2012 EP Tenacious D Jazz and their 2015 live album Tenacious D Live.
Avenged Sevenfold (2015–present)
On November 4, 2015, it was revealed that Wackerman was the new drummer for Avenged Sevenfold. Brooks was working with the band one year prior to the official announcement because the band wanted to "fit in" with the new drummer. Like his predecessors Mike Portnoy and Arin Ilejay, but unlike the rest of the band members, he doesn't have a stage name. His first full-length album with the band was their October 2016 release The Stage, which showcased his progressive metal style of drumming, often using fast double kicks and blast beats.
Other projects
Alongside Terry Bozzio, Wackerman contributed drums and percussion for Korn's untitled album. Wackerman is also the drummer for the Innocent, a thrash metal band featuring bassist Ryan Sinn (formerly of Angels & Airwaves and the Distillers), vocalist Brandan Schieppati (Bleeding Through), and guitarist Dave Nassie (No Use for a Name). In March 2008, Wackerman joined Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer's newest solo project, experimental industrial rock band Fear and the Nervous System, alongside vocalist Steve Krolikowski (Repeater), Billy Gould (Faith No More), Leopold Ross (Error), and Zac Baird (Korn, Billy Goat). Brooks also played drums for Avril Lavigne. Brooks filled in for Travis Barker during Blink-182's 2013 tour of Australia in the Soundwave festival as well as their sideshows. Brooks was hired to record drums on Blink-182 member Tom DeLonge's debut solo album To the Stars... Demos, Odds and Ends.
Wackerman formerly fronted Kidneys alongside fellow Tenacious D band member John Spiker. Initially, his brother, John Wackerman played with Kidneys, but he would later be replaced by Todd Hennig (Death By Stereo). A full-length self-titled album was released in 2007, and another album in 2012, entitled Hold Your Fire, is available for digital download. The band parted ways in 2012.
Wackerman appeared in The Suicide Machines "S.O.S." music video in place of drummer Derek Grant, due to Grant's refusal to appear in photos or videos.
Gear
Wackerman currently endorses Drum Workshop drums, Remo drumheads and also uses Innovative Percussion drumsticks. Additionally, in 2021, after many years of using and endorsing Zildjian cymbals Wackerman officially signed on as an Istanbul Agop artist. He also once had a signature line of drumsticks manufactured by Zildjian as well.
Drum setup circa 2015 (Avenged Sevenfold tour): Drum Workshop drums, Evans drumheads and Zildjian cymbals and sticks:
Drums: Drum Workshop collector's series w/ maple/mahogany shells in black ice finish:
22"x16" bass drums (x2)
6"x12" rata drums (x2)
10"x8" rack tom
12"x9" rack tom
13"x9" rack tom
15"x13" floor tom
16"x14" floor tom
14"x6.5" nickel over brass snare
Drumheads: Evans:
Snare: ST dry/300 snare side
Toms: G2 clear/G1 clear
Bass: EQ4 clear/EQ3 reso black
Cymbals: Zildjian:
21" A mega bell ride (left side)
15" A Custom hi-hats
20" A Custom EFX
19" A Custom crash
14" FX Oriental china "trash"/12" K splash (stacked)
19" A Custom crash
22" S rock ride or 22" S medium ride
15" A Custom hi-hats
20" S trash crash
19" A ultra-hammered china
Sticks:
Zildjian Brooks Wackerman signature
Drum setup 2021 (current): Drum Workshop drums, Remo drumheads, Innovative Percussion drumsticks and Istanbul Agop cymbals:
Drums: Drum Workshop collector's series w/ maple shells in black ice or cherry finish:
22"x18" bass drums (x2)
10"x8" rack tom
12"x10" rack tom
13"x10" rack tom
14"x12" floor tom
16"x14" floor tom
14"x5.5" bronze snare
14"x7" maple snare
Drumheads: Remo:
Snare: Powerstroke 77 clear/Ambassador hazy snare side
Toms: Controlled Sound clear black dot or Emperor coated/Ambassador clear
Bass: Powerstroke P3 clear
Cymbals: Istanbul Agop:
18" Xist china or 20" Xist china
15" Mantra hi-hats
8" Xist Brilliant bell
19" Xist Brilliant crash
14" Traditional trash hit stack
19" Xist Brilliant crash or 20" Traditional heavy crash
24" Joey Waronker ride
15" Xist Dry Dark hi-hats
20" Agop Signature china
Sticks:
Innovative Percussion Brooks Wackerman A7X signature sticks
Discography
With Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold - "Jade Helm Score" from Call of Duty: Black Ops III (2015)
Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage (2016)
Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage Deluxe Edition (2017)
Avenged Sevenfold - "Mad Hatter" from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018)
Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But a Dream... (2023)
With Mass Mental
Mass Mental – How to Write Love Songs (1999)
With Bad Religion
Bad Religion – The Process of Belief (2002)
Bad Religion – The Empire Strikes First (2004)
Bad Religion – New Maps of Hell (2007)
Bad Religion – The Dissent of Man (2010)
Bad Religion – True North (2013)
Bad Religion – Christmas Songs (2013)
With Tenacious D
Tenacious D - Jazz (2012)
Tenacious D - Tenacious D Live (2015)
With Suicidal Tendencies
Suicidal Tendencies - Prime Cuts (new recordings only)
Suicidal Tendencies – Freedumb (1999)
Suicidal Tendencies – Free Your Soul and Save My Mind (2000)
With Infectious Grooves
Infectious Grooves – Groove Family Cyco (1994)
Infectious Grooves – Mas Borracho (2000)
Infectious Grooves - Take U on a Ride EP (2020)
Other
Bad4Good – Refugee (1992)
Glenn Tipton – Baptizm of Fire (1997)
The Vandals – Look What I Almost Stepped In (2000)
Hot Potty – One Step Closer to Broadway (with Josh Freese) (2002)
Avril Lavigne – Under My Skin (2004)
Korn – Untitled (2007)
Kidneys – Kidneys (2007)
Fear and the Nervous System – Fear and the Nervous System (2011)
Kidneys – Hold Your Fire (2012)
Farmikos – Farmikos (2014)
Tom DeLonge - To the Stars... Demos, Odds and Ends (2015)
Big Talk - Straight In No Kissin' (2015)
References
External links
Official Twitter page |
Eagle_Awards | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Awards | [
536
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Awards"
] | The Eagle Awards were a series of British awards for comic book titles and creators. They were awarded by UK fans voting for work produced during the previous year. Named after the UK's seminal boys' comic Eagle, the awards were launched in 1977 for comics released in 1976.
"[S]et up and financed by a group of dealers and fanzine editors" with the intention of including "people with... diverse interests... to make the poll as impartial as possible," the Eagles were described as "the first independent [in the UK], nationally organised comic art awards poll." The hope was that the Eagle Awards would "become a regular annual fandom event," and indeed, they were the preeminent British comics award in the 1980s and the 2000s (being mostly dormant in the 1990s), variously described as the country's comics equivalent of the Oscars or the BAFTAs. The Eagle Awards were usually presented in a ceremony at a British comic book convention; venues over the years included the British Comic Art Convention, UKCAC, Comic Festival, Comic Expo, and the London MCM Expo. Hosts for the ceremonies included such notables as Simon Pegg, Norman Lovett, Fraser Ayres, Billy West, and Anthony Stewart Head.
Initially the Eagle Award itself was a certificate; eventually the award became an engraved trophy.
Notable repeat Eagle Award winners included Alan Moore, who won the Favourite Comicbook Writer award an impressive eleven times (including sweeping the U.K. and U.S. categories in the period 1985–1987); Terry Austin, who won the Favourite Inker award nine times; Alex Ross, who won the Favourite Comics Artist (Fully Painted Artwork) seven times in ten possible years; and Laura DePuy Martin, who won the Favourite Colourist award six straight times. 2000 AD won the Favourite (Colour) Comic award 12 times, while The Walking Dead won Favourite Black & White Comicbook seven straight times. Batman was voted Favourite Comicbook Character 12 times and Judge Dredd won the award seven times; while the X-Men dominated the Favourite Comicbook Group or Team category, winning it eight times in the span of 11 years. Wolverine won the Favourite Comicbook Character category three times, the Favourite Supporting Character award three times, and the Character Most Worthy of Own Title twice.
In 2014, in connection with Stan Lee, the Eagle Awards were renamed, and presented as, the True Believer Comic Awards. They have not returned since then.
History
1977: conception and debut
The Eagle Awards were set up by prominent British comics enthusiasts Mike Conroy, Nick Landau, Colin Campbell, Phil Clarke, and Richard Burton. Because the Eagle logo was perceived (as described by Burton) as "a standard of quality ... seldom reached" in early 1977, the Eagle Awards were named "with official blessing from IPC" (Eagle's former publisher).
The Eagle Awards were launched at the British Comic Art Convention, the earliest British fan convention devoted entirely to comics (and usually known by the moniker Comicon). The first awards ceremony was held on 3 September 1977, at the Bloomsbury Centre Hotel, London. The 1978 and 1979 awards were also presented at the British Comic Art Convention. Almost from the beginning, the awards included separate UK and US sections.
The 1980s: a Golden Age
The 1980 Eagle Awards (for comics published in 1979) were sponsored by Burton, Conroy, Colin Campbell, Dark They Were and Golden Eyed, Steve Dillon, Forbidden Planet, Forever People, Nostalgia & Comics, Bob Smart, and Valhalla Books; and organised by Burton and Conroy. The 1981 edition was again organised by Burton and Conroy, and sponsored by Burton, Conroy, Colin Campbell, Forbidden Planet, Nostalgia & Comics, Bob Smart, and Comics Showcase. Marvel's X-Men comic and creators dominated the 1981 Eagles, winning Favourite Comic Book, Artist (John Byrne), Writer (Chris Claremont), Inker (Terry Austin), Character (Wolverine), Single Comic Book Story (X-Men #137, "The Fate of the Phoenix"), Continued Comic Book Story ("The Dark Phoenix Saga," X-Men #135–137), and Cover (X-Men #136, by Byrne and Austin). The 1981 awards were organised by Burton and Conroy, and sponsored by Burton, Conroy, Colin Campbell, Bob Smart, and four UK comics retailers: Forbidden Planet, Forever People, Nostalgia & Comics, and Comics Showcase.
After a hiatus in 1982, the Eagle Awards returned in 1983, presented at the London Comic Mart by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
The 1984 Eagle Award nominations were announced in May with Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! dominating the nominations – Favourite Penciler, Inker, Writer, Comic, Character (Reuben Flagg), Supporting Character (Raul the cat), New Comic, Single or Continued Story, and two nominations for Favourite Cover – and winning seven of them. The 1984 awards presentation was at the Birmingham Comic Art Show.
By the mid-1980s the work of British authors often dominated both the UK and US categories. In 1985 Alan Moore won favorite writer in both categories, and in 1986 (presented on June 1 at the Birmingham Comic Art Show), the awards "proved to be a virtual clean sweep ... by Alan Moore," who not only again won "favourite writer in both the US and UK categories," but had his work win for favourite comic book, supporting character and new title in the US, and character, continuing story and "character worthy of own title" in the UK (in which last category his works held all top three spots).
The awards became almost fully annual in 1987, in conjunction with the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention (UKCAC); they were held at the UKCAC in 1987, 1988, and 1990.
The 1990s: a fallow period
The Eagle Awards went dormant during most of the 1990s, as organizer Mike Conroy focused on his freelance writing (including becoming an editor of Comics International). From 1990 to 1997, the Eagles were replaced by the UK Comic Art Awards, and then from 1997 until 2003 (with the exception of the year 2000) were supplanted by the National Comics Awards.
The 2000s: a return to (hesitant) prominence
In 2000, on the 50th anniversary of the birth of Eagle, the Eagle Awards returned. The ceremony was held April 22, 2000, at the Bristol Comic Festival (known as "Comics 2000"); this time MC'd by actor/comedian Simon Pegg. There were no Eagle Awards distributed in 2001; voting for comics published in 2000 ended in October 2001 and the winners were announced in June 2002 (at the Comic Festival, which had replaced UKCAC), so news reports announced these variously as the 2000, 2001, or 2002 Eagle Awards. The Eagles again went dormant in 2003 (replaced by the National Comics Awards).
The Eagle Awards returned in 2004 (sponsored by the retailer Ace Comics) and were presented at the inaugural Comic Expo, held November 6–7, at the Ramada City Inn in Bristol; the Eagles were again not presented in 2005.
The 2006–2008 awards presentations were held at the Comic Expo in Bristol, with the 2008 awards being notable for accusations of ballot-stuffing.
Management of the Eagle Awards was transferred from co-founder Mike Conroy to his teenage daughter Cassandra Conroy in 2009 (although Mike Conroy stayed on as advisor). The previous years' venue the Bristol Comic Expo scaled back that year, and was not available for the evening awards ceremony. After attempting to go forward with the Eagle Awards as an online-only process, the Conroys were forced to cancel the 2009 awards due to a "lack of nominations."
2010–2014: rifts, name changes, and demise
The 2010–2012 awards were presented at the London MCM Expo. At the 2012 awards it was announced that the award would in future be called the MCM Award. The announcement prompted a public rift between MCM and the Conroys; as a result no Eagles were awarded in 2013.
The Conroys decided to continue the awards separate from MCM, and in April 2014 it was announced that the award would be presented at the London Film and Comic Con (LFCC) and be named The Stan Lee Eagle Award, with the backing of Stan Lee in his last European convention appearance. In June 2014, however, it was announced that the new award would be called the True Believer Comic Awards. The inaugural True Believer Comics Awards were presented July 12, 2014, at the LFCC, with host Anthony Stewart Head and a special appearance by Stan Lee. They have not been awarded since.
Dates and locations
Nominations and voting
At the outset of the Eagle Award, ballots were made available to "most dealers, shops and fanzines." The initial method of casting votes was designed to be inclusive and straightforward, with completed forms able to be returned to the same place, rather than a centralised location. An initial ballot formed a list of nominees, from which the voting ballot was created and disseminated in the same manner.
The awards for 1983 used an open voting system, with no pre-selected nominees. In 1984, the Eagles introduced a new nomination system composed of "prominent British fans, publishers, dealers, and artists," which put forward three names in each category.
The 1986 Eagles saw the introduction of a "free vote . . . rather than pre-selected nominees," creating a "fairer reflection of fans' opinions – and some anomalous results, especially in the Roll of Honor category."
The 2004 awards saw online voting for the first time; over 13,000 voting forms were "received via post, email and website counting centres."
For the 2007 awards, nominations were made by the general comics-reading public via the Eagle Awards website; the five most popular became nominees for the awards.
Categories
Over the course of their existence, the Eagle Awards were eventually awarded in more than 30 categories.
The first ballot had nominations in 19 categories:
The next year's ballot, 1978, had 21 categories, dropping Favourite British Fan Personality and Favourite Comic Publication "All Time," and adding categories for Inker, Villain, and Supporting Character. The 1979 ballot dropped categories for Favourite Comic – Dramatic and Favourite Comic – Humour and added categories for Cover and Character Most Worthy of Own Title.
The nominations for Favourite Single Comicbook Story and Favorite Continued Comicbook Story were separate from 1977 to 1980 and then again from 2011 to 2014; they were merged as one category from 2000 to 2010. Similarly, the Favourite Cover category was only divided into British and American sections from 1984 to 1990.
Reflecting an interest in long-form comics, the Best Original Graphic Novel category was added in 1986. The Favourite Team category was dropped after 1990.
With the revival of the Eagles in 2000, categories for Favourite Writer and Favourite Artist were no longer separated into UK and US sections, and a host of new categories were added:
Favourite Comics Artist – Fully Painted Artwork
Favourite Colourist
Favourite Comics Editor
Favourite Black & White Comicbook
Favourite British Small Press Title
Favourite Trade Paperback/Reprint Collection
Favourite Comic Strip/Newspaper Strip
Favourite Comics-Based Movie or TV
Favourite Comics Related Website
Favourite Comics Related Website (fan-organised)
Favourite Comics E-Zine
The Favourite Comics Related Website (Fan-Organized) category was dropped in 2002, but five more award categories were added:
Favourite Comics Writer/Artist
Favourite Manga Comic
Favourite European Comic
Favourite Comics-Related Book
Favourite Web-based Comic
The 2004 Eagles dropped awards for the long-running categories Supporting Character and Character Most Worthy of Own Title, as well as the relatively new categories of British Small Press Title, Comic Strip/Newspaper Strip, and Comics E-Zine. It added a Favourite Letterer category as well as the one-off category Favourite Comics-Related Merchandise.
The 2006 Eagles saw the addition of a Favourite Publisher award, and the 2008 Eagle Awards added categories for Favourite Newcomer: Writer and Favourite Newcomer: Artist while dropping the long-running categories Favourite Character/Hero and Favourite Villain.
The final set of awards, in 2014, were given in 28 categories.
The following is a comprehensive list of the Eagle Award categories and the years they were presented, many of which were divided into British sections and (North) American sections. These categories included:
Favourite Writer (1977–2014)
Favourite Artist/Penciler (1977–2014)
Favourite Comic/Colour Comicbook (1977–2014)
Favourite Black & White Comicbook (2000–2014)
Favourite New Title (1977–2014)
Favourite Single or Continued Story (1977–2014) – divided into separate categories for Single and Continued 1977–1980, and 2011–2014
Best Original Graphic Novel (1986–2014)
Favourite Comic Strip/Newspaper Strip (2000–2004)
Favourite Cover (1979–2014)
Favourite Character/Hero (1977–2008)
Favourite Villain (1978–2008)
Favourite Supporting Character (1978–2004)
Character Most Worthy of Own Title (1979–2004)
Favourite Specialist Comics Publication/Magazine About Comics (1977–2014)
General categories not divided into U.K. and U.S. sections were:
Favourite Comics Writer/Artist (2002–2012)
Favourite Inker (1978–2014)
Favourite Comics Artist – Fully Painted Artwork (2000–2014)
Favourite Colourist (2000–2014)
Favourite Comics Letterer (2004–2014)
Favourite Comics Editor (2000–2014)
Favourite Publisher (2006–2014)
Favourite Newcomer (1997)
Favourite Newcomer: Writer (2008–2014)
Favourite Newcomer: Artist (2008–2014)
Favourite Comic: Dramatic (1977–1978)
Favourite Comic: Humour (1977–1978)
Favourite Black & White Comicbook - Humour (1977–1980)
Favourite Comics Magazine (1977–1980)
Favourite British Small Press Title (2000–2004) – specific to the U.K.
Favourite Manga Comic (2002–2014)
Favourite European Comic (2002–2014)
Favourite Team (1977–1990) – divided into U.K./U.S. in 1985 only
Favourite Trade Paperback/Reprint Collection (2000–2014)
Favourite Comics-Related Book (2002–2014)
Favourite Comics-Based Movie or TV (2000–2014)
Favourite Comics Related Website (2000–2014)
Favourite Comics E-Zine (2000–2004)
Favourite Web-based Comic (2002–2014)
Roll of Honour (1977–2014) – originally called "Favourite Comics Creator All Time"
Finally, there were a few one-off awards:
Favourite British Fan Personality (1977)
Favourite Comic Excluding North American and UK titles (2000) – became separate awards for Favourite Manga and Favourite European Comic
Favourite Comics Related Website (fan-organised) (2000)
Favourite Comics-Related Merchandise (2004)
30th Anniversary Award for Outstanding Achievements in British Comics (2006)
Past winners
Listed by year presented
People
Favourite Comicbook Writer
Alan Moore won this award an impressive eleven times (including sweeping the U.K. and U.S. categories in the period 1985–1987), with Chris Claremont winning it four times (all in the span 1977–1981).
1977
U.K.: Chris Claremont
U.S.: Roy Thomas
1978
U.K.: Martin Lock
U.S.: Steve Englehart
1979
U.K.: T.B. Grover (pseudonym of John Wagner)
U.S.: Chris Claremont
1980
U.K.: John Howard
U.S.: Chris Claremont
1981
U.K.: T.B. Grover
U.S. Chris Claremont
1983
U.K.: Alan Moore
U.S.: Frank Miller
1984
U.K.: Pat Mills
U.S.: Howard Chaykin
1985 (U.K. and U.S.) Alan Moore
1986 (U.K. and U.S.) Alan Moore
1987 (U.K. and U.S.) Alan Moore
1988
U.K.: Pat Mills
U.S.: Alan Moore
1989
U.S.: Neil Gaiman (for The Sandman)
1990
U.K.: Grant Morrison
U.S.: Neil Gaiman, Sandman (DC)
2000 Alan Moore
2002 Alan Moore
2004 J. Michael Straczynski
2006 Grant Morrison
2007 Warren Ellis
2008 Alan Moore
2010 Warren Ellis
2011 Grant Morrison
2012 Scott Snyder
2014 Matt Fraction
Favourite Comics Writer/Artist
Mike Mignola won this award three times while Frank Miller won it twice.
2002 Frank Miller
2004 Mike Mignola
2006 Howard Chaykin
2007 Mike Mignola
2008 Alan Davis
2010 Darwyn Cooke
2011 Mike Mignola
2012 Frank Miller
Favourite Comicbook Artist/Penciler
Multiple winners of this award included John Byrne, Brian Bolland, and Alan Davis with three wins; and Neal Adams, John Bolton, George Pérez, Bill Sienkiewicz, Frank Miller, Brian Talbot, Frank Quitely, and J. H. Williams III with two awards apiece.
1977
U.K.: Frank Bellamy
U.S.: Neal Adams
1978
U.K.: John Bolton
U.S.: Neal Adams
1979
U.K.: John Bolton
U.S.: John Byrne
1980
U.K.: Brian Bolland
U.S.: John Byrne
1981
U.K.: Brian Bolland
U.S.: John Byrne
1983
U.K.: Brian Bolland
U.S.: Frank Miller
1984
U.S.: Howard Chaykin
1985
U.K.: Alan Davis
U.S. Bill Sienkiewicz
1986
U.K.: Alan Davis
U.S.: George Pérez
1987
U.K.: Alan Davis
U.S.: Frank Miller
1988
U.K.: Bryan Talbot
U.S.: Bill Sienkiewicz
1989
U.K.: Bryan Talbot (for The Adventures of Luther Arkwright)
1990
U.K.: Simon Bisley
U.S.: Todd McFarlane
2000 George Pérez
2002 Frank Quitely
2004 Jim Lee
2006 Bryan Hitch
2007 John Cassaday
2008 Frank Cho
2010 Frank Quitely
2011 J. H. Williams III
2012 J. H. Williams III
2014 Fiona Staples
Favourite Inker
Terry Austin won this award nine times in an eleven-year span (from 1978 to 1988).
1978 Terry Austin
1979 Terry Austin
1980:
U.K.: Brian Bolland
U.S.: Terry Austin
1981 Terry Austin
1983 Terry Austin
1984 Howard Chaykin
1985 Terry Austin
1986 Terry Austin
1987 Terry Austin
1988 Terry Austin
1990 Paul Neary
2000 Jimmy Palmiotti
2002 Mark Farmer
2004 Scott Williams
2006 Jimmy Palmiotti
2007 Paul Neary
2008 D'Israeli (Matt Brooker)
2010 Kevin O'Neill
2011 Mike Mignola
2012 Scott Williams
2014 Becky Cloonan
Favourite Comics Artist (Fully Painted Artwork)
Alex Ross dominated this award, winning it seven times in 10 possible years.
2000 Alex Ross
2002 Alex Ross
2004 Alex Ross
2006 Alex Ross
2007 Alex Ross
2008 Alex Ross
2010 J. H. Williams III
2011 J. H. Williams III
2012 Alex Ross
2014 Fiona Staples
Favourite Colourist
Laura DePuy Martin won this award six straight times from 2000 to 2008.
2000 Laura DePuy
2002 Laura Depuy
2004 Laura Martin
2006 Laura Martin
2007 Laura Martin
2008 Laura Martin
2010 Ben Templesmith
2011 Dave Stewart
2012 Dave Stewart
2014 Matt Hollingsworth
Favourite Letterer
2006 Todd Klein
2007 Chris Eliopoulos
2008 Dave Gibbons
2010 Todd Klein
2011 Richard Starkings
2012 Richard Starkings/Comicraft
2014 Annie Parkhouse
Favourite Comics Editor
2000 AD's Tharg the Mighty won this award four times (with three of those awards going to Matt Smith); Axel Alonso also won the award three times.
2000 Dennis O'Neil
2002 Andy Diggle (Mighty Tharg: 2000 AD)
2004 Axel Alonso (Marvel Comics)
2006 Axel Alonso
2007 Matt Smith
2008 Tharg (Matt Smith)
2010 Axel Alonso
2011 Matt Smith/Tharg
2012 Karen Berger
2014 Chris Ryall
Best Newcomer
1997 Alex Ronald
Award for Favourite Newcomer Writer/Rising Star
2008 Matt Fraction
2010 Jonathan Hickman
2011 Paul Cornell
2012 Jeff Lemire
2014 Matt Fraction
Award for Favourite Newcomer Artist/Rising Star
1978 Marshall Rogers
2008 David Aja
2010 Jamie McKelvie
2011 Sara Pichelli
2012 Francesco Francavilla
2014 Fiona Staples
Works
Favourite (Colour) Comic
2000 AD was dominant in this category, winning 12 times; X-Men was in second place with six wins (five of them in the period 1977–1981).
1977 X-Men
1978 X-Men
1979
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: X-Men
1980
U.K.: 2000 A.D.
U.S.: X-Men
1981
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: X-Men
1983
U.K.: Warrior
U.S.: Daredevil
1984
U.K.: The Daredevils
U.S.: American Flagg!
1985
U.K.: Warrior, edited by Dez Skinn (Quality Communications)
U.S.: Swamp Thing
1986
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: Swamp Thing
1987
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: Watchmen
1988
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: Watchmen
1990
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: Uncanny X-Men
2000
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: Preacher, by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
2002
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: JSA
2004
U.K.: Warhammer Monthly (Black Library)
U.S.: Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics)
2006
U.K.: Judge Dredd Megazine (Rebellion)
U.S.: The Ultimates Volume 2 (Marvel Comics)
2007
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: All-Star Superman
2008
U.K.: The Spectacular Spider-Man
U.S.: Hellboy: Darkness Calls
2010
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: Batman and Robin
2011
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: Batman and Robin
2012
U.K.: Doctor Who Magazine
U.S.: Batman
2014
U.K.: 2000 AD
U.S.: Saga
Favourite Comic Magazine
Savage Sword of Conan prevailed in this category three times in the five years it was awarded.
1977 Savage Sword of Conan
1978 Savage Sword of Conan
1979 Savage Sword of Conan
1980
U.K.: 2000 AD Summer Special
U.S.: Howard the Duck
1981 Epic Illustrated
Favourite Comicbook - Humour
1977 Howard the Duck
1978 Howard the Duck
Favourite Black & White Comicbook - Humour
1977 Mad magazine
Favourite Black & White Comicbook
The Walking Dead won this category seven straight times.
2000 Hell and Back (A Sin City Love Story), by Frank Miller
2002 Liberty Meadows, by Frank Cho
2004 Bone (Cartoon Books)
2006 The Walking Dead (Image Comics)
2007 The Walking Dead
2008 The Walking Dead
2010 The Walking Dead
2011 The Walking Dead
2012 The Walking Dead
2014 The Walking Dead
Favourite UK Small Press Title/Black and White Comicbook
2000 Kane by Paul Grist
2002 Jack Staff by Paul Grist (Dancing Elephant Press)
2004 Thrud the Barbarian (Carl Critchlow)
2006 Springheeled Jack (Black Boar Press)
2007 Hero Killers (Moonface Press)
2008 How to Date a Girl in Ten Days by Tom Humberstone
2010 Whatever Happened to The World's Fastest Man? by Dave West and Marleen Lowe
2011 Commando (D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd)
2012 Viz (Dennis Publishing)
2014 Good Cop Bad Cop by Jim Alexander
Favourite Comic Album/Graphic Novel/Original Graphic Novel
1986
U.K.: Nemesis Book III by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill
U.S.: American Flagg!: Hard Times by Howard Chaykin
1987
U.K.: D.R. & Quinch's Totally Awesome Guide to Life by Alan Moore and Alan Davis
U.S.: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson
1988
U.K.: Violent Cases by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
U.S.: Daredevil: Love and War by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz
1989 Violent Cases by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
1990
U.K.: Sláine: The Horned God Book I by Pat Mills and Simon Bisley
U.S.: Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean
2000 JLA: Earth 2 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
2002 Safe Area Goražde by Joe Sacco
2004 Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place by Brian Azzarello and Joe Kubert
2006 Top 10: The Forty-Niners by Alan Moore and Gene Ha
2007 Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon
2008 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
2010 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
2011 Scott Pilgrim, Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley
2012 Batman: Noël by Lee Bermejo
2014 Avengers: Endless Wartime by Warren Ellis, et al.
Favourite Trade Paperback/Reprint Collection
2000 From Hell: To Hell, by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
2002 The Authority: Under New Management by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
2004 The Chronicles of Conan (Dark Horse)
2006 Absolute Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
2007 Absolute Sandman Volume 1 by Neil Gaiman
2008 Absolute Sandman Volume 2 by Neil Gaiman
2010 Captain Britain by Alan Moore and Alan Davis Omnibus
2011 Absolute All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
2012 Thor Omnibus by Walt Simonson
2014 Hawkeye Volume 1 Oversized HC by Matt Fraction, et al.
Favourite New Comic Title
1977 Howard the Duck
1978 John Carter, Warlord of Mars
1979 Micronauts
1980
U.K.: Doctor Who Weekly
U.S.: Howard the Duck
1981 The New Teen Titans
1983
U.K.: Warrior
U.S.: Camelot 3000
1984
U.S.: American Flagg!
1985
U.K.: Captain Britain
U.S.: Power Pack, written by Louise Simonson (Marvel Comics)
1986
U.K.: Captain Britain
U.S. Miracleman
1987
U.K.: Redfox
U.S.: Watchmen
1988
U.K.: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
U.S.: Marshal Law
1989
U.K.: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
1990
U.K.: The Bogie Man
U.S.: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight
2000 Top 10, by Alan Moore and Gene Ha
2002 Ultimate Spider-Man
2004 Conan (Dark Horse)
2006 All-Star Superman (DC) by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
2007 Nextwave
2008 Thor
2010 Batman and Robin
2011 Daytripper
2012 Batman
2014 Guardians of the Galaxy
Favourite Single or Continued Comicbook Story
1977
Single: Howard the Duck #3: "Four Feathers of Death" (Steve Gerber/John Buscema)
Continued: Master of Kung Fu #48-51 (Doug Moench/Paul Gulacy)
1978
Single: Avengers Annual #7 – The Final Threat (Jim Starlin)
Continued: Avengers Annual #7/Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 (Jim Starlin)
1979
Single: X-Men #111 – Mindgames (Chris Claremont/John Byrne)
Continued: The Avengers #167, 168, 170-177 (Jim Shooter/George Pérez, Sal Buscema, David Wenzel)
1980
U.K.:
Single: Hulk Weekly #2 (Night Raven)
Continued: Hulk Weekly 1–30, 42, 43 (Black Knight)
U.S.:
Single: Iron Man #128 – Demon in a Bottle (David Michelinie, Bob Layton/John Romita Jr.)
Continued: X-Men #125-128 (Chris Claremont/John Byrne)
1981
U.K.
Single: "Terror Tube," 2000 AD #167
Continued: "The Judge Child," 2000 AD #156–181
U.S.
Single: X-Men #137 "The Fate of the Phoenix"
Continued: X-Men #135–137, "The Dark Phoenix Saga"
1983
U.K.: Marvelman (Warrior #1-3, 5, & 6)
U.S.: Wolverine #1-4 (limited series)
1984
U.S.: American Flagg! #1–2, "Hard Times"
1985
U.K.: 2000 AD #355–359
U.S.: Superman #400
1986
U.K.: Halo Jones Book Two (2000 AD #406-415)
U.S.: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-9
1987
U.K.: Halo Jones Book Three
U.S.: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
1988
U.K.: Zenith (2000 AD #535-550)
U.S.: Batman #404-407: Year One
1990
U.K.: Sláine: The Horned God Book I (2000 AD #626-635)
U.S.: Skreemer (limited series)
2000 Daredevil (#1-8), by Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada
2002 The Authority: The Nativity
2004 Daredevil #46-50: Hardcore (Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev)
2006 The Ultimates volume 2 #1-9 (Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch, and Paul Neary)
2007 Nextwave #1-6
2008 Captain America #25-30: The Death of Captain America
2010
Single: Phonogram: The Singles Club #4: "Konichiwa Bitches"
Continued: The Walking Dead #61-65: "Fear The Hunters"
2011
Single: Daytripper #8
Continued: The Walking Dead #73-79: "Too Far Gone"
2012
Single: Doctor Who #12
Continued: Walking Dead #79-84: "No Way Out"
2014
Single: "Pizza is my Business," Hawkeye #11
Continued: Saga
Favourite Cover
1979 Master of Kung Fu #67 (Paul Gulacy)
1980
U.K.: 2000 AD 144
U.S.: The Avengers #185 (George Pérez)
1981
U.K.: 2000 AD #173 (Brian Bolland)
U.S.: X-Men #136 (John Byrne/Terry Austin)
1983
U.K.: Warrior #7 (Mick Austin)
U.S.: Doctor Strange #55 (Michael Golden)
1985
U.K.: Warrior #19 (David Lloyd/Garry Leach)
U.S.: New Mutants #22 (Bill Sienkiewicz)
1986
U.K.: Captain Britain #6 (Alan Davis)
U.S.: Swamp Thing #34 (John Totleben)
1987
U.K.: 2000 AD #500 (multiple artists)
U.S.: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1 (Frank Miller/Klaus Janson)
1988
U.K.: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright #1 (Bryan Talbot)
U.S.: Wonder Woman #10 (George Pérez)
1989
U.K.: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (Bryan Talbot)
1990
U.K.: 2000 AD Prog 626 (Simon Bisley)
U.S.: Aliens #1 (Denis Beauvais)
2000 Batman: Harley Quinn (Alex Ross)
2002 Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (Joe Quesada)
2004 JLA: Liberty and Justice (Alex Ross)
2006 All-Star Superman #1 (Frank Quitely)
2007 Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (James Jean)
2008 World War Hulk 1A (David Finch)
2010 Batman and Robin #4 (Frank Quitely)
2011 Batwoman #0 (J.H. Williams III)
2012 Batwoman #1 (J.H. Williams III)
2014 Hawkeye #9 (David Aja)
Favourite Comic (excluding North American and UK titles)
1990 Akira (Japan)
2000 Bacchus, by Eddie Campbell (Australia)
Favourite Manga Comic
2002 Lone Wolf and Cub
2004 Blade of the Immortal (Dark Horse)
2006 Blade of the Immortal (Dark Horse)
2007 Blade of the Immortal
2008 Death Note
2010 Fullmetal Alchemist
2011 Fullmetal Alchemist
2012 20th Century Boys
Favourite European Comic
2002 Metabarons (Les Humanoïdes Associés, France)
2004 Tex (Sergio Bonelli Editore, Italy)
2006 Asterix and the Falling Sky (Albert Rene Editions, France)
2007 Asterix and the Vikings (France)
2008 Requiem, Vampire Knight (Nickel Editions, France)
2010 Requiem Chevalier Vampire (France)
2011 Blacksad (Dargaud, France)
2012 Dylan Dog (Sergio Bonelli Editore, Italy)
Favourite Newspaper Strip
2000 Peanuts
2002 Liberty Meadows
2004 Mutts (Patrick McDonnell)
Favourite Comic Strip in a UK Comic or Magazine
2000 Judge Dredd (2000 AD/Judge Dredd Megazine)
2002 Nikolai Dante (2000 AD)
2004 Judge Dredd (2000 AD/Judge Dredd Megazine – Rebellion)
Favourite Web-Based Comic
2000 Astounding Space Thrills by Steve Conley
2002 Sluggy Freelance by Pete Abrams
2004 PvP by Scott Kurtz
2006 Supernatural Law by Batton Lash
2007 Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik
2008 The Order of the Stick by Rich Burlew
2010 FreakAngels by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield
2011 Axe Cop by Malachai Nicolle and Ethan Nicolle
2012 Freakangels
2014 Aces Weekly by David Lloyd, et al. (www.acesweekly.co.uk)
Favourite Publisher
2006 DC Comics
2007 Marvel Comics
2008 Marvel Comics
2010 DC Comics/Vertigo Comics
2011 DC Comics/Vertigo/WildStorm
2012 DC Comics/Vertigo
2014 IDW Publishing
Characters
Favourite Comicbook Character
Batman won this category 12 times; Judge Dredd won seven times, and Wolverine won it three times.
1977
U.K.: Captain Britain
U.S.: Conan the Barbarian
1978
U.K.: Judge Dredd
U.S.: Batman
1979
U.K.: Judge Dredd
U.S.: Batman
1980
U.K.: Judge Dredd
U.S.: Wolverine
1981
U.K.: Judge Dredd
U.S.: Wolverine
1983
U.K.: Marvelman
U.S.: Wolverine
1985
U.K.: Judge Dredd
U.S.: Reuben Flagg
1986
U.K.: Halo Jones
U.S.: Batman
1987
U.K.: Judge Dredd
U.S.: Batman
1988
U.K.: Luther Arkwright
U.S.: Batman
1989
U.K.: Luther Arkwright
1990
U.K.: Judge Dredd
U.S.: Batman
2000 Batman
2002 Batman
2004 Batman
2006 Batman
2007 Batman
2008 Batman
Favourite Villain
DC's The Joker won this category five times, 2000 AD's Torquemada won four times, and Marvel's Magneto came away with three wins.
1978 Thanos
1979 Magneto
1980
U.K.: Judge Cal
U.S.: Magneto
1981
U.K.: Judge Death
U.S.: Magneto
1983
U.K.: Kid Marvelman
U.S.: Darkseid
1985
U.K.: Torquemada, from Nemesis the Warlock (2000 AD), by Pat Mills and Brian Talbot (Fleetway)
U.S.: Doctor Doom
1986
U.K.: Torquemada
U.S.: Anti-Monitor
1987
U.K.: Torquemada
U.S.: The Joker
1988
U.K.: Torquemada
U.S.: The Joker
1990
U.K.: Judge Death
U.S.: The Joker
2000 Herr Starr (Preacher)
2002 Lex Luthor (Superman)
2004 Doctor Doom (Fantastic Four – Marvel Comics)
2006 The Joker
2007 Dirk Anger (Nextwave: Marvel Comics|)
2008 The Joker
Favourite Supporting Character
1978 Pip the Troll
1979 Wolverine
1980
U.K.: Ro-Jaws
U.S.: Wolverine
1981
U.K.: Hoagy (Robo-Hunter)
U.S.: Wolverine
1983
U.K.: Zirk (Warrior)
U.S.: Elektra
1984
U.S.: Raul the cat (American Flagg!)
1985
U.K.: Evey (V for Vendetta)
U.S.: Raul the cat (American Flagg!)
1986
U.K.: Meggan (Captain Britain)
U.S.: John Constantine (Swamp Thing)
1987
U.K.: Ukko the Dwarf (Sláine)
U.S.: John Constantine
1988
U.K.: Ukko the Dwarf
U.S.: Abigail Arcane Cable
1990
U.K.: Middenface McNulty (Strontium Dog)
2000 Oracle/Barbara Gordon (Batman/Birds of Prey)
2002 Commissioner James Gordon (Batman)
2004 Mary Jane Watson (Spider-Man – Marvel Comics)
Character Most Worthy of Own Title
1978 Silver Surfer
1979 Silver Surfer
1980
U.K.: Judge Dredd
U.S.: Warlock
1981
U.K.: Judge Dredd
U.S.: Silver Surfer
1983
U.K.: Judge Anderson
U.S.: The Spectre
1985
U.K.: D.R. & Quinch
U.S.: The Spectre
1986
U.K.: Halo Jones
U.S.: Wolverine
1987
U.K.: Captain Britain
U.S.: Wolverine
1988
U.K.: Halo Jones
U.S.: Rorschach
1990
U.K.: Captain Britain
2000 Luther Arkwright (Heart of Empire)
2002 Elijah Snow (Planetary)
2004 Doctor Strange (Marvel Comics)
Favourite Comicbook Group or Team
The X-Men dominated this category, winning it eight times in the span of 11 years.
1977 X-Men
1978 X-Men
1979 X-Men
1980
U.K.: Ro-Busters
U.S.: X-Men
1981 X-Men
1983 X-Men
1985
U.K.: Mega City Judges
U.S.: Teen Titans
1986 X-Men
1987 X-Men
1988 Justice League International
1990 Doom Patrol
Comics Press & Media
Favourite Specialist Comics Publication/Trade Publication
Multiple award-winners in this category included Wizard with six wins, Fantagraphics Books with its publications Amazing Heroes and The Comics Journal racking up seven wins in total, and the British publication Speakeasy with four wins.
1977
Pro: House of Hammer
Fan: Comic Media News
1978
Pro: Starburst
Fan: Comic Media News
1980
U.K. (fan): BEM
U.S. (fan): The Comics Journal
1981
U.K.: BEM
U.S.: The Comics Journal
1985
U.K.: Fantasy Advertiser
U.S.: Amazing Heroes
1986
U.K.: Speakeasy
U.S.: Amazing Heroes
1987
U.K.: Speakeasy
U.S.: Amazing Heroes
1988
U.K.: Speakeasy
U.S.: Amazing Heroes
1990
U.K.: Speakeasy
U.S.: Marvel Age
2000 Wizard
2002 Wizard
2004 The Comics Journal (Fantagraphics Books)
2006 The Comics Journal (Fantagraphics Books)
2007 Wizard
2008 Wizard
2010 Wizard
2011 Wizard
2012 DC Comics Super Hero Collection
2014 Bleeding Cool
Favourite Comics-Related Book
2002 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon
2004 Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross by Chip Kidd with Geoff Spear
2006 Eisner/Miller (edited by Charles Brownstein & Diana Schutz)
2007 Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud (HarperCollins)
2008 Our Gods Wear Spandex by Christopher Knowles
2010 The Insider's Guide to Creating Comics and Graphic Novels by Andy Schmidt
2011 75 Years of DC Comics by Paul Levitz (Taschen)
2012 Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero by Grant Morrison
2014 The Secret History of Marvel Comics: Jack Kirby and the Moonlighting Artists at Martin Goodman's Empire by Blake Bell and Michael J. Vassallo
Favourite Comics Related Website (professional)
Comic Book Resources was a repeat winner in this category, with five wins in 14 years.
2000 Comic Book Resources
2002 Comic Book Resources
2004 Comicon.com
2006 Silver Bullet Comic Books
2007 Newsarama
2008 Marvel.com
2010 Comic Book Resources
2011 Comic Book Resources
2012 Bleeding Cool
2014 Comic Book Resources
Favourite Comics Related Website (fan-organised)
2000 Sequential Tart
Favourite Comics E-Zine
2002 Comic Book Electronic Magazine
2004 Newsarama
Favourite Comics-based Film or TV Series
2000 Batman Beyond
2004 X2 (Bryan Singer, director)
2006 Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, director)
2007 Heroes
2008 300
2010 Watchmen
2011 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2012 The Big Bang Theory
2014 Iron Man 3
Favourite British Fan Personality
1977 Martin Lock
Favourite Comics-Related Merchandise
2004 Kingdom Come action figures (DC Select; second series)
Special awards
Favourite Comic Publication "All Time"
1977 Fantastic Four
Roll of Honour
1977 Stan Lee
1978 Steve Englehart
1979 Jack Kirby
1980 Roy Thomas
1981 Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
1982 Mick Austin
1983 Will Eisner
1985 Steve Ditko
1986 Alan Moore
1987 Frank Miller
1988 Pat Mills
1990 2000 AD
2000 Gil Kane
2002 Joe Quesada
2004 Neil Gaiman
2006 Grant Morrison
2007 Warren Ellis
2008 Mike Mignola
2010 Brian Bolland
2011 Dave Gibbons
2012 Frank Quitely
2014 Gail Simone
See also
List of comics awards
Alley Award
Bill Finger Award
Eisner Awards
Harvey Awards
Inkpot Award
Kirby Awards
National Comics Awards
Russ Manning Award
Shazam Awards
Notes
Citations
References
List of all winners, 1977–2011 at the official Eagle Awards website, archived at The Wayback Machine
List of 2004's winners Archived 7 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine at Comicsbulletin.com
Eagle Awards at the Comic Book Awards Almanac website, archived at Wayback Machine
Stan Lee Eagle Awards homepage archived at the Wayback Machine
True Believer Comic Awards website homepage archived at the Wayback Machine
Stringer, Lew. "Conventions of the Past - Part 1," Blimey! The Blog of British Comics (May 5, 2009) – information about the 1984 Eagles
External links
Eagle Awards website homepage archived at the Wayback Machine |
Richard_Burton_(comics) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burton_(comics) | [
536
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burton_(comics)"
] | Richard Burton is a British comic publisher and editor who had a lengthy career at IPC Magazines. While an assistant editor at 2000 AD, he became known to readers as Tharg the Mighty's bumbling assistant Burt, who appeared in a number of strips with him. (Burton was later top editor at 2000 AD.) Earlier in his career, Burton published the popular fanzine Comic Media News, and was a co-founder of the Eagle Awards.
Career
Comic Media News
In 1972, Burton and fellow enthusiast Nick Landau took over a fanzine called Comic Catalog, renaming it Comic Media and establishing the Comic Media brand. Burton and Landau produced a few issues of Comic Media, assisted by Dennis Lee and Tom Downes. In 1973, receiving permission to reprint U.S. comics industry news items from the long-running American comic fanzine The Comic Reader, Burton launched the four-page Comic Media and The Comic Reader Newsletter #1, which eventually came to be known as Comic Media News (CMN).
Meanwhile, Landau produced the 1972 UK Comicon and then branched out to one-day London Comic Marts and direct market distribution. Landau's Comic Media Distribution Service imported American comics from the "big two" publishers DC and Marvel; it later became known as Titan Distributors.
Burton produced Comic Media News from 1973 to 1980, eventually publishing 40 issues. Continuing the fanzine's relationship with The Comic Reader, the first seven issues were titled Comic Media & The Comic Reader UK Edition Newsletter before shortening to Comic Media News. Martin Lock was features editor for CMN from 1973 to 1977, while he was publishing his own comics fanzine, Bemusing Magazine (BEM). CMN had a circulation of close to 2,000 in late 1977, and began to feature art contributions from such established creators as Brian Bolland. With issue #34, the magazine expanded its title to Comic Media News International, reflecting its readership in more than 20 different countries.
In 1977, along with fellow British comics enthusiast Mike Conroy, Burton started the Eagle Awards (voted on by British comics enthusiasts). (Comic Media News won the Eagle Award for Favourite Specialist Comics Publication/Trade Publication in both 1977 and 1978.)
2000 AD
After turning down a job offer with DC Comics, Burton was hired as an assistant editor at Marvel UK in March 1978, working for editor Dez Skinn (whom Burton knew from the early days of US conventions and fanzine publishing). With Skinn, he created the popular character Night Raven, who first appeared in Marvel UK's Hulk Comic #1 (March 7, 1979).
After less than a year at Marvel UK, in March 1979 Burton left for a new job at the weekly comic magazine Tornado, published by IPC Magazines. Tornado only lasted through August 1979, at which point Burton moved to 2000 AD (also published by IPC). At this point, Burton retired Comic Media News, though he continued to co-produce the Eagle Awards for another couple of years with Mike Conroy.
Burton stayed with 2000 AD throughout the 1980s and into the mid-1990s. In 1986 he became editor of Battle. In 1987, IPC's comics line was sold to Robert Maxwell and renamed Fleetway Publications; Burton was at that point promoted to editor of 2000 AD, succeeding Steve MacManus. Egmont UK bought Fleetway from Maxwell in 1991, merging it with their own comics publishing operation, London Editions, to form Fleetway Editions. At that point, Burton took the opportunity to launch the very successful videogame tie-in Sonic the Comic with Fleetway, which lasted nine years (three with him as editor). Notable strips and storylines published under Burton's editorship as "Tharg" include:
"Democracy," a Judge Dredd storyline inherited from MacManus and published through 1991
Zenith (Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell), launched in 1987
Friday (Dave Gibbons and Will Simpson), launched in 1989
The Dead Man (John Wagner and John Ridgway), published in 1989–1990
"Necropolis" (John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra), 26-part Judge Dredd storyline published in 1990
Time Flies (Garth Ennis and Philip Bond), launched in 1990
Finn (Pat Mills), acquired in 1991
"Judgement Day" (Garth Ennis), published in 1992
Firekind (John Smith and Paul Marshall), published in 1993
Burton held the editor position at 2000 AD from 1987 to 1994. He then worked on the computer magazine Fun Online.
Burton has since made a career in computers and digital cameras.
Bibliography
Tharg's Future Shocks: "Galactic Garbage" (with Trevor Goring, in 2000 AD #51, 1978)
References
Notes
Sources consulted
Richard Burton at 2000 AD online
Richard Burton at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original) |
Michael_Bay | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bay | [
537
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bay"
] | Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget, high-concept action films characterized by fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special effects, including frequent depictions of explosions. The films he has directed include Bad Boys (1995) and its sequel Bad Boys II (2003), The Rock (1996), Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), the first five films in the Transformers film series, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016), 6 Underground (2019), and Ambulance (2022). His films have grossed over US$7.8 billion worldwide, making him one of the most commercially successful directors in history.
He is co-founder of commercial production house The Institute, a.k.a. The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness. He co-owns Platinum Dunes, a production house which has remade horror films, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), The Amityville Horror (2005), The Hitcher (2007), Friday the 13th (2009) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010).
Early life and education
Bay was born in Los Angeles. He was raised by his adoptive parents Harriet, a bookstore owner and child psychiatrist, and Jim, a Certified Public Accountant. He was raised Jewish. His grandfather was from Russia. His cousin, Susan Bay, is the widow of Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy (whom he eventually cast as the voice actor for Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon). He attended the exclusive Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California.
Bay often traces his interest in action films back to an incident during his childhood. As a boy, he attached some firecrackers to a toy train and filmed the ensuing fiery disaster with his mother's 8 millimeter camera. The fire department was called and he was grounded.
Bay got his start in the film industry interning with George Lucas when he was 15, filing the storyboards for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which Bay believed was going to be terrible. His opinion changed after seeing it in the theater and he was so impressed by the experience that he decided to become a film director. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1986, majoring in both English and film. He was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity and a favorite student of film historian Jeanine Basinger. For his graduate work, he attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where he also studied film. His classmates included future Hollywood film directors Tarsem Singh and Zack Snyder. Singh also appeared in one of Bay's student films as a camel salesman.
Career
1992–2005: Breakthrough and stardom
Bay began working at Propaganda Films, directing commercials and music videos, two weeks after finishing his postgraduate degree. His 90-second World War II-inspired Coca-Cola advertisement was picked up by Capitol Records. His first national commercial was for the Red Cross, which won a Clio Award in 1992. He directed Goodby, Silverstein & Partners' "Aaron Burr" commercial as part of the "Got Milk?" ad campaign for the California Milk Processors Board in 1993, which also won a Grand Prix Clio Award for Commercial of the Year.
Bay's success in music videos gained the attention of producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who selected him to direct his first feature-length film, Bad Boys. It was shot in Miami in 1994 and starred Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The action film was a breakout role for Smith, who was making a transition from television at the time. Shooting in Miami was a good experience for Bay, who would later own a home in the city and spend a great deal of time there. The film was completed for $19 million and grossed a remarkable $141 million in the summer of 1995. Bay's success led to a strong partnership and friendship with Jerry Bruckheimer.
His follow-up film, The Rock (1996), an action movie set on Alcatraz Island and in the San Francisco Bay area, starred Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. It was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and the late Don Simpson, who died five months before its release. The film is dedicated to him. Connery and Cage won 'Best On-Screen Duo' at the MTV Movie Awards in 1997, and the film was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Achievement in Sound category for the work of Greg P. Russell, Kevin O'Connell and Keith A. Wester. After the success of The Rock, Bay established his production company Bay Films, with a two-picture deal with Disney.
In 1998, Bay again collaborated with Jerry Bruckheimer, this time as a co-producer, as well as directing the action-adventure film Armageddon. The film, about a group of tough oil drillers who are sent by NASA to deflect an asteroid from a collision course with Earth, starred Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler. It was nominated for four Oscars at the 71st Academy Awards, including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing and Best Original Song. It earned $9.6 million on its opening day and $36.5 million through the first weekend. Its budget of $140 million was one of the highest of the summer of 1998. It went on to gross over $553 million worldwide, the highest-grossing film of that year.
In 2001, Bay directed Pearl Harbor, starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale and Cuba Gooding, Jr. It was released on Memorial Day weekend in 2001, again produced by Bay with Jerry Bruckheimer. It received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing and Best Song. Kevin O'Connell received another nomination for Best Sound, but did not win. Pearl Harbor won in the category for Sound Editing, making it Bay's first (and, to date, only) film to win an Oscar. Bay also directed the music video for the nominated track "There You'll Be" by vocal artist Faith Hill.
Bay reteamed with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys II, a sequel that was Bay's fifth collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer. It grossed $138 million domestically, enough to cover the production budget, and $273 million worldwide, almost twice as much as the first movie. In 2005, Bay directed The Island, a science fiction film starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. It was the first film Bay made without Jerry Bruckheimer as a producer. It cost $126 million to produce and earned $36 million domestically and $127 million overseas, for a total of $163 million. Bay said that he was not comfortable with the domestic marketing campaign, as it confused the audience about the film's true subject.
2007–2016
In 2007, he teamed up with executive producer Steven Spielberg to direct Transformers, a live action film based on the Transformers franchise. Released in July 2007, by November of that year it had made over $709 million worldwide.
Bay returned as director and executive producer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which was released on June 24, 2009 and grossed over $832 million worldwide. Although it received mostly negative reviews by critics, including aggressively critical reviews by American film critics such as Roger Ebert, Michael Phillips and David Denby (who referred to Bay as "stunningly, almost viciously, untalented"), the film was well received by its intended audience and one of the highest-grossing of 2009. In 2010, it earned seven Golden Raspberry Award nominations, and won three: Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay. It was also one of the best-selling DVD and Blu-ray Discs of 2009, second only to Twilight in DVD format, and the #1 of all time in Blu-ray format until it was surpassed by Blu-ray sales of James Cameron's Avatar in April 2010.
Bay directed Transformers: Dark of the Moon, released on June 29, 2011, which grossed $1.123 billion globally. His next film was a comparatively small one he had been developing for years, called Pain & Gain. The true crime story, based on events described in a Miami New Times article by Pete Collins, concerns a group of bumbling bodybuilders working together to commit a robbery. It starred Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub and Ed Harris.
Bay produced DreamWorks' I Am Number Four, based on a series of novels by Pittacus Lore published by HarperCollins Children's Books. D. J. Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) directed.
A fourth Bay-directed Transformers movie, Transformers: Age of Extinction, was released in June 2014. Starring Mark Wahlberg, it earned $1.1 billion at the global box office. On January 12, 2016, Paramount Pictures released 13 Hours, which Bay produced and directed, based on the 2012 Benghazi attack. While the lowest-grossing film of Bay's career at the box office, it went on to massive DVD sales on its digital release in May 2016, earning over $40 million in home video revenue.
2017–present
On May 23, 2017, Bay was honored with his own hand-and-footprint ceremony at The TCL Chinese Theatre. His English mastiff, Rebel, put her paw in the cement with him.
Bay's fifth Transformers film as director, Transformers: The Last Knight, was released on June 21, 2017. It grossed $68.5 million in its five-day North American opening weekend, the franchise's lowest opening, and $605 million worldwide. In a 2016 Rolling Stone interview, Bay said it would be his final Transformers film as director.
In 2018, it was announced that Bay would direct the Netflix action thriller film 6 Underground, starring Ryan Reynolds, Mélanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Corey Hawkins, Ben Hardy and Dave Franco. It was released on December 13, 2019. In August 2019, Bay signed to direct the action film Black Five for Sony Pictures. However, the film, which was set to begin production in 2020, was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bay subsequently moved on to direct Ambulance.
Bay produced the pandemic-themed thriller Songbird starting Demi Moore, Craig Robinson, Paul Walter Hauser and Peter Stormare. He is set to direct the dystopian thriller Little America, which was scheduled to film in California sometime in 2020.
In 2021, it was reported that Bay requested financial compensation from film studio Paramount Pictures for indirectly limiting his income as a result of Paramount cutting the theatrical-only run of A Quiet Place Part II from 90 to 45 days due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bay, and other producers as well as actors for the film, as is typically the case, receive payment in part based on box-office performance, and a reduction in the theatrical run's exclusivity affected the pay they received.
Bay's next film was 2022's Ambulance, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Eiza González. It follows two bank robbers who hijack an ambulance and take two hostages. Shot during the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles, it was released in the US on April 8, 2022, by Universal Pictures.
In February 2023, Bay was hired to direct and executive produce an untitled action drama series for A&E Studios and Amazon Studios.
In July 2024, it was reported that Bay was developing a franchise based on Alexey Gerasimov's Skibidi Toilet web series.
On September 2, 2024, Bay's first documentary series, Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior, premiered on Investigation Discovery. Bay directed and executive produced the 5-episode series about serial killer Hadden Clark.
Production and effects companies
Platinum Dunes
Bay founded production house Platinum Dunes with fellow producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form in 2001.
Digital Domain
Bay and Wyndcrest Holdings, a Florida-based investment firm, acquired the digital effects company Digital Domain from James Cameron and Stan Winston in 2006, infusing the struggling business with a $50 million investment. Digital Domain considered an initial public offering in 2009 but withdrew the offer due to lack of interest. It was sold to the production group Beijing Galloping Horse in 2012.
The Institute
After leaving Propaganda Films, Bay and producer Scott Gardenhour, also formerly at Propaganda, formed The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness (now known as The Institute), to produce commercials and other projects. Through The Institute, Bay has directed and produced spots for Victoria's Secret, Lexus, Budweiser, Reebok, Mercedes-Benz, and Nike. One of his Victoria's Secret ads was for the 2009 "A Thousand Fantasies" holiday campaign.
451 Media Group
Bay co-founded 451 Media Group with Doug Nunes (who serves as CEO), and with John and Anthony Gentile, who previously marketed brands such as Micronauts, Visionaries, Sky Dancers and the Power Glove. In 2015, the company announced an interactive publishing division to offer "augmented reality" content from printed graphic novels with digital video. The graphic novels employ Touchcode technology from T+ink (previously used in the Power Glove), in which ink used in the printing process unlocks access to exclusive content that is housed on the Machinima Network, which is transferred to users' touch-screen-enabled mobile devices when the printed books are touched to those devices. The company's premiere slate of graphic novels was unveiled at the October 2015 New York Comic Con. The creators involved included Scott Rosenberg, Skip Woods, George Pelecanos, Mark Mallouk, Clay McLeod Chapman and Peter and Paul Williams.
Rogue Initiative
In June 2016, Bay joined The Rogue Initiative, a production studio and technology company, as a strategic advisor and stakeholder. The studio merges Hollywood production with interactive talent to generate story-driven content for games, mobile, virtual reality, mixed reality, television and feature film. As part of the partnership, Bay will develop and direct a multiplatform action-adventure game and cinematic VR experiences, based on an original IP conceived by him.
Personal life
Bay lives in Miami with his three English mastiffs, named for characters in his films. As a boy, he donated his Bar Mitzvah money to an animal shelter and he now often includes his dogs in his films. Bonecrusher appeared as Mikaela's dog "Bones" in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Mason, his first English mastiff, was named for John Patrick Mason, played by Sean Connery in The Rock. Mason appeared as Marcus's dog in Bad Boys II and as Miles' dog in Transformers; he died during production of the latter film in March 2007.
Bay is not married and has no children. He previously dated sportscaster Lisa Dergan.
In a 2016 Rolling Stone interview, Bay said that his net worth was around $500 million. He owned a $50 million Gulfstream G550 jet, as well as a Bentley, a Range Rover, an Escalade, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and two Camaros from the Transformers franchise.
Filmography
Critical reception
Bay's work is divisive and has often been poorly received by film critics, and his name has been used pejoratively in art-house circles. Bay has responded to his critics, saying: "I make movies for teenage boys. Oh, dear, what a crime." Besides accusing him of making films that pander to a young demographic, critics and audiences have been critical of elements of Bay's filmmaking style such as the overuse of Dutch angles, extreme patriotism, overly broad and sophomoric humor, excessive product placement, oversaturated orange and teal color grading, reusing footage from his previous films, and his preference of action and spectacle over story and characters, with his films' excessive use of explosions often being mentioned or parodied. Another point of contention with Bay's films is his portrayal and use of offensive racial stereotypes as comedic relief; one alleged example being the characters Skids and Mudflap in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Bay has also been accused of heavily objectifying women in his films, with critics describing Bay's manner of filming actresses as "lascivious" and "pornographic". He has faced criticism for routinely making sexist remarks and showing female characters in a stereotypical light. He came under scrutiny for firing Megan Fox in retaliation after she made comments about him mistreating her on the set of the Transformers films and compared him to Adolf Hitler and Napoleon. Bay published an open letter written by three anonymous members of the crew of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that referred to Fox as, among other things, "Ms. Sourpants", "porn star", "unfriendly bitch", and "dumb-as-a-rock".
In 2009, it was reported that Fox, at the age of 15, was made to wash Bay's car while auditioning for Transformers. In 2020, Fox revisited the incident and denied that she was underaged (for Transformers) or "made to 'wash' or work on someone's cars in a way that was extraneous from the materials in the actual script." Fox was 15 when she first appeared as a bikini-clad extra in the Bay film Bad Boys II.
Actress Kate Beckinsale also spoke out publicly by reporting that she was body-shamed and regularly criticized for her appearance by Bay during the making of Pearl Harbor.
Six of Bay's films have been nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture and Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction and Transformers: The Last Knight), with Revenge of the Fallen and Age of Extinction winning the award for "Worst Director". Revenge of the Fallen also became the first film by Bay and also the highest-grossing film to be awarded "Worst Picture".
Conversely, some critics and actors have praised Bay's films and style. Film historian Jeanine Basinger has described him as "the most cinematic and fluid and unafraid director", while Scott Foundas of Variety has lauded his "grand, epic vision" and positively compared him to William Wyler. Actress Scarlett Johansson wrote that Bay is "a truly ambitious storyteller who celebrates characters, actors, and leading men and women alike."
Accolades
References
External links
Official website
The Institute
Michael Bay at IMDb
Michael Bay at AllMovie |
Hans_Zimmer | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer | [
537
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer#Grammy_Awards"
] | Hans Florian Zimmer (German pronunciation: [ˈhans ˈfloːʁi̯aːn ˈtsɪmɐ] ; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars, four Grammys, and has been nominated for three Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living Geniuses, published by The Daily Telegraph in 2007.
His works are notable for integrating electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements. Since the 1980s, Zimmer has composed music for over 150 films. He has won two Academy Awards for Best Original Score for The Lion King (1994), and for Dune (2021). His works include Gladiator, The Last Samurai, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Man of Steel, Interstellar, Dunkirk, No Time to Die, and the Dune series.
Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States. He is the head of the film music division at DreamWorks Pictures and DreamWorks Animation studios and works with other composers through the company that he founded, Remote Control Productions, formerly known as Media Ventures. His studio in Santa Monica, California, has an extensive range of computer equipment and keyboards, allowing demo versions of film scores to be created quickly.
Zimmer has collaborated on multiple projects with directors including Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Ron Howard, Gore Verbinski, Michael Bay, Guy Ritchie, and Denis Villeneuve.
Early life
Zimmer was born in Frankfurt, West Germany. As a young child, he lived in Königstein-Falkenstein, where he played the piano at home but had piano lessons only briefly, as he disliked the discipline of formal lessons. In one of his Reddit AMAs, he said: "My formal training was two weeks of piano lessons. I was thrown out of eight schools. But I joined a band. I am self-taught. But I've always heard music in my head. And I'm a child of the 20th century; computers came in very handy." Zimmer attended the Ecole d'Humanité, an international boarding school in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland.
He moved to London as a teenager and attended Hurtwood House school. During his childhood, he was strongly influenced by the film scores of Ennio Morricone and has cited Once Upon a Time in the West as the score that inspired him to become a film composer.
In a speech at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival, Zimmer stated that he is Jewish, and talked about his mother surviving World War II thanks to her escape from Germany to England in 1939. In an interview in May 2014, Zimmer revealed that it was difficult growing up in post-War Germany being Jewish and said, "I think my parents were always wary of me telling the neighbors" that they were Jewish. In an interview with Mashable in February 2013, he said of his parents: "My mother was very musical, basically a musician and my father was an engineer and an inventor. So I grew up modifying the piano, shall we say, which made my mother gasp in horror, and my father would think it was fantastic when I would attach chainsaws and stuff like that to the piano because he thought it was an evolution in technology." In an interview with the German television station ZDF in 2006, he said: "My father died when I was just a child, and I escaped somehow into the music and music has been my best friend."
Career
1977–1988
Zimmer began his career playing keyboards and synthesizers in the 1970s, with the band Krakatoa. He worked with the Buggles, a new wave band formed in London in 1977 with Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley. Zimmer can be seen briefly in the Buggles' music video for the 1979 song "Video Killed the Radio Star". After working with the Buggles, he started to work for the Italian group Krisma, a new wave band formed in 1976 with Maurizio Arcieri and Christina Moser. He was a featured synthesist for Krisma's third album, Cathode Mamma. He has also worked with the band Helden (with Warren Cann from Ultravox). Both Zimmer (on keyboards) and Cann (on drums), were invited to be part of the Spanish group Mecano for a live performance in Segovia (Spain) in 1984. Two songs from this concert were included in the Mecano: En Concierto album released in 1985 only in Spain. In 1985, he contributed to the Shriekback album Oil and Gold. In 1980, Zimmer co-produced a single, "History of the World, Part 1", with, and for, UK punk band The Damned, which was also included on their 1980 LP release, The Black Album, and carried the description of his efforts as "Over-Produced by Hans Zimmer."
While living in London, Zimmer wrote advertising jingles for Air-Edel Associates. In the 1980s, Zimmer partnered with Stanley Myers, a prolific film composer who wrote the scores for over sixty films. Zimmer and Myers co–founded the London–based Lillie Yard recording studio. Together, Myers and Zimmer worked on fusing the traditional orchestral sound with electronic instruments. Some of the films on which Zimmer and Myers worked are Moonlighting (1982), Success Is the Best Revenge (1984), Insignificance (1985), and My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). Zimmer's first solo score was Terminal Exposure for director Nico Mastorakis in 1987, for which he also wrote the songs. Zimmer acted as score producer for the 1987 film The Last Emperor, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
One of Zimmer's most durable works from his time in the United Kingdom was the theme song for the television game show Going for Gold, which he composed with Sandy McClelland in 1987. In an interview with the BBC, Zimmer said: "Going for Gold was a lot of fun. It's the sort of stuff you do when you don't have a career yet. God, I just felt so lucky because this thing paid my rent for the longest time."
1988–2000
A turning point in Zimmer's career occurred with the 1988 film Rain Man. Hollywood director Barry Levinson was looking for someone to score Rain Man, and his wife heard the soundtrack CD of the anti-apartheid drama A World Apart, for which Zimmer had composed the music. Levinson was impressed by Zimmer's work and hired him to score Rain Man. In the score, Zimmer uses synthesizers (mostly a Fairlight CMI) mixed with steel drums. Zimmer explained that "It was a road movie, and road movies usually have jangly guitars or a bunch of strings. I kept thinking don't be bigger than the characters. Try to keep it contained. The Raymond character doesn't actually know where he is. The world is so different to him. He might as well be on Mars. So, why don't we just invent our own world music for a world that doesn't really exist?" Zimmer's score for Rain Man was nominated for an Academy Award in 1989, and the film won four Academy Awards including Best Picture.
A year after Rain Man, Zimmer was asked to compose the score for Bruce Beresford's Driving Miss Daisy which, like Rain Man, won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Driving Miss Daisy's instrumentation consisted entirely of synthesizers and samplers, played by Zimmer. According to an interview with Sound on Sound magazine in 2002, the piano sounds heard within the score come from the Roland MKS–20, a rackmount synthesizer. Zimmer joked: "It didn't sound anything like a piano, but it behaved like a piano."
The soundtrack to Ridley Scott's 1991 film Thelma & Louise by Zimmer featured the trademark slide guitar performance by Pete Haycock on the "Thunderbird" theme in the film. As a teenager, Zimmer was a fan of Haycock, and their collaboration on film scores includes K2 and Drop Zone.
Zimmer wrote the theme for Tony Scott's 1993 film True Romance, which he based on Carl Orff's Gassenhauer. Gassenhauer had previously been used in the 1973 film Badlands, which had a similar story of a young man and a girl on the run following a violent crime. The catchy theme, played on nine marimbas, contrasts starkly with the violence of the film.
For the 1992 film The Power of One, Zimmer travelled to Africa in order to use African choirs and drums in the recording of the score. On the strength of this work, Walt Disney Feature Animation approached Zimmer to compose the score for the 1994 film The Lion King. This was to be his first score for an animated film. Zimmer said that he had wanted to go to South Africa to record parts of the soundtrack, but was unable to visit the country as he had a police record there "for doing 'subversive' movies" after his work on The Power of One. Disney studio bosses expressed fears that Zimmer would be killed if he went to South Africa, so the recording of the choirs was organised during a visit by Lebo M. Zimmer won numerous awards for his work on The Lion King, including an Academy Award for Best Original Score, a Golden Globe, and two Grammys. In 1997, the score was adapted into a Broadway musical version which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1998.
As of April 2012, the musical version of The Lion King is the highest grossing Broadway show of all time, having grossed $853.8 million.
Zimmer's score for Tony Scott's 1995 film Crimson Tide won a Grammy Award for the main theme, which makes heavy use of synthesizers in place of traditional orchestral instruments. For The Thin Red Line (1998), Zimmer said that the director Terrence Malick wanted the music before he started filming, so he recorded six and a half hours of music. Zimmer's next project was The Prince of Egypt (1998), which was produced by DreamWorks Animation. He introduced Ofra Haza, an Israeli Yemenite singer, to the directors, and they thought she was so beautiful that they designed one of the characters in the film to look like her.
Zimmer's score for the 1998 film The Thin Red Line is regarded as one of his most important works. The nine-minute cue at the climax of the film, "The Journey to the Line", uses a recurring theme based on four chords, combined with a "ticking clock" motif that has been featured in a range of subsequent scores composed by Zimmer. The piece has been used in numerous trailers and video games, and has earned the nickname "the forbidden cue" due to the tendency of film makers to use it as a temp track for dramatic scenes.
2000–2012
In the 2000s, Zimmer composed scores for Hollywood blockbuster films including three Ridley Scott films, Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down and Hannibal (2001), followed by The Last Samurai (2003), Madagascar (2005), The Da Vinci Code (2006), The Simpsons Movie (2007), Kung Fu Panda (2008), which he co-composed with John Powell, Angels & Demons (2009), and Sherlock Holmes (2009). Other work in the 2000s included the Spanish language film Casi Divas, and The Burning Plain (2009). He composed the theme for the television boxing series The Contender and worked with Lorne Balfe on the music for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was his first video game project. Zimmer also collaborated with composers Borislav Slavov and Tilman Sillescu to create the score for the video game Crysis 2.
In October 2000, Zimmer performed live in concert for the first time with an orchestra and choir at the 27th Annual Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent. While writing the score for The Last Samurai, Zimmer felt that his knowledge of Japanese music was extremely limited. He began doing extensive research, but the more he studied, the less he felt he knew. Finally, Zimmer took what he had written to Japan for feedback and was shocked when he was asked how he knew so much about Japanese music.
During the scoring of The Last Samurai in early 2003, Zimmer was approached by the producer Jerry Bruckheimer, with whom he had worked previously on Crimson Tide, Days of Thunder, The Rock, and Pearl Harbor. Bruckheimer had finished shooting Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl but was unhappy with the music composed for the film by Alan Silvestri and wanted a replacement score. Bruckheimer wanted Zimmer to rescore the film, but due to his commitments on The Last Samurai, the task of composing and supervising music for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was given to Klaus Badelt, one of Zimmer's colleagues at Media Ventures. Zimmer provided some themes that were used in the film, although he is not credited on screen. Zimmer was hired as the composer for the three subsequent films in the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), collaborating with Rodrigo y Gabriela for the last.
Zimmer is also noted for his work on the scores of Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008), which he co-composed with James Newton Howard. For the soundtrack of The Dark Knight, Zimmer decided to represent the villain of the Joker by a single note played on the cello by his long-time colleague Martin Tillman. Zimmer said: "I wanted to write something people would truly hate." The scores for these films were disqualified from receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score due to too many composers being listed on the cue sheet. Zimmer succeeded in reversing the decision not to nominate The Dark Knight in December 2008, arguing that the process of creating a modern film score was collaborative and that it was important to credit a range of people who had played a part in its production. Zimmer explained his approach to scoring with other musicians in an interview with Soundtrack.net in 2006:
Originally I had this idea that it should be possible to create some kind of community around this kind of work, and I think by muddying the titles – not having "you are the composer, you are the arranger, you are the orchestrator" – it just sort of helped us to work more collaboratively. It wasn't that important to me that I had "score by Hans Zimmer" and took sole credit on these things. It's like Gladiator: I gave Lisa Gerrard the co-credit because, even though she didn't write the main theme, her presence and contributions were very influential. She was more than just a soloist, and this is why I have such a problem with specific credits.
For the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes, Daily Variety reported that Zimmer purchased an out-of-tune piano for 200 dollars and used it throughout the scoring process because of its "quirkiness". For the 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Zimmer and director Guy Ritchie incorporated authentic Romani music, which they researched by visiting Slovakia, Italy, and France. The music in the film is played by Romani virtuoso musicians.
For the 2010 film Inception, Zimmer used electronic manipulation of the song "Non, je ne regrette rien". The horn sound in the score, described by Zimmer as "like huge foghorns over a city" became a popular feature in film trailers. "It's funny how that sort of thing becomes part of the zeitgeist", he said. "But I suppose that's exactly what trailers are looking for: something iconic, lasts less than a second, and shakes the seats in the theater."
In 2012, Zimmer composed and produced the music for the 84th Academy Awards with Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes. He also composed a new version of the theme music for ABC World News. Zimmer also composed the score for The Dark Knight Rises, the final instalment of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. The film was released in July 2012. Zimmer described himself as "devastated" in the aftermath of the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting, which occurred at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises: "I just feel so incredibly sad for these people." He recorded a track entitled "Aurora", a choral arrangement of a theme from the Dark Knight Rises soundtrack, to raise money for the victims of the shooting.
2012–present
Zimmer co-composed the music for the television series The Bible, which was broadcast in March 2013, with Lorne Balfe and Lisa Gerrard, and the score for 12 Years a Slave, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in March 2014. Zimmer composed the Tomorrowland Hymn for the Tomorrowland festival to celebrate its tenth anniversary in July 2014.
Zimmer composed the music for the 2014 film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 alongside "The Magnificent Six", which consisted of Pharrell Williams, Johnny Marr, Michael Einziger, Junkie XL, Andrew Kawczynski, and Steve Mazzaro.
Zimmer also composed the music for Christopher Nolan's 2014 film Interstellar, which earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score. He partnered with Junkie XL to compose the music for the 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In an interview with BBC News in March 2016, Zimmer said that he was retiring from composing the music for superhero films, saying of Batman v Superman: "This one was very hard for me to do, to try to find new language".
Zimmer composed the main theme for the 2016 BBC nature documentary Planet Earth II, presented by David Attenborough. He later composed the score for the 2017 BBC nature documentary Blue Planet II alongside Jacob Shea and David Fleming, also presented by David Attenborough. In an interview with Kirsty Wark on BBC Radio, Zimmer said in October 2022: "I think the only work that I've done that's worth anything is working for Sir David Attenborough on those programmes, because it's the only thing that actually means something to this world and ultimately might have an impact on how we approach this world."
Zimmer composed the main theme for the 2016 Netflix production The Crown. Also in 2016 Zimmer released an online course teaching the basics of film scoring. He next composed the score for Christopher Nolan's 2017 film Dunkirk, basing part of the score on a recording of a ticking watch that he had been given by Nolan. Zimmer also worked on the score for Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049. Hans Zimmer and co-composer Benjamin Wallfisch took over scoring duties after Jóhann Jóhannsson left the project.
In 2018, Zimmer composed the score for the new FIFA Anthem, called "Living Football" in reference to the new motto of FIFA, "Living Football" was also used as television intro theme for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Also in 2018, Zimmer remixed the UEFA Champions League Anthem with rapper Vince Staples for EA Sports' FIFA video game FIFA 19, with it also featuring in the game's reveal trailer. Zimmer composed the score for Dark Phoenix, directed by Simon Kinberg, contrary to his 2016 statements of not scoring another superhero film following his experience working on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Also for 2019, he scored the photorealistic animated remake of Disney's The Lion King, directed by Jon Favreau.
On 22 August 2018, Zimmer was also announced as the composer for Wonder Woman 1984. On 18 March 2019, it was announced that Zimmer would be scoring Denis Villeneuve's Dune.
In June 2019, Zimmer was hired to create sounds for BMW's concept vehicle, the Vision M Next. He produced and composed warning sounds for the electric car line. These sounds are both for those on the interior and on the exterior, and could help warn pedestrians that an electric car is approaching.
On 6 January 2020, it was announced that he would be taking over as composer for the James Bond film No Time to Die after previous composer Dan Romer left the project. Speaking on scoring for No Time to Die, Zimmer told The Hindu, "Having done the three Batman movies—which are three movies to you but are 12 years of my life to me—I really understand where Daniel [Craig] was with this; he dedicated 16 years of his life to Bond... I wanted to not only do a good score but dig a little deeper and honour the man, the work and all the people who've been working on this for so long".
On 26 February 2020, Major League Soccer released an anthem for its 25th season, which was composed by Zimmer. In March 2020, Zimmer composed the score for Hillbilly Elegy.
In 2022, he collaborated with Camila Cabello on the song "Take Me Back Home" for the documentary series Frozen Planet II. Zimmer worked on the 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick, contributing to the main title credits and other tracks.
Zimmer also composed the score for the film Dune (2021), which earned him his second Academy Award for Best Original Score. The film's music was released in several different volumes. He also composed the score for the sequel, released in 2024. As of 2024, Zimmer has begun writing music for a potential third Dune film while Villeneuve has started on the film's script. During the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, Zimmer announced he will be scoring F1, a film starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski.
Personal life
Zimmer's first wife was model Vicki Carolin, with whom he has a daughter. The couple divorced in 1992. On 3 April 2020, Zimmer filed for divorce from his second wife, Suzanne Zimmer, with whom he has three children. On 15 June 2023, Zimmer proposed to his partner Dina De Luca on stage at London's O2 Arena during one of his shows.
Awards and honours
Zimmer has received a range of honours and awards, including the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award at Hollywood in Vienna in 2018, the Career Achievement Award "for excellence in film music composition" from the National Board of Review in 2003, the Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2003, the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award in 2003, and the Richard Kirk Career Achievement Award from the BMI Film Music Awards in 1996.
In December 2010, Zimmer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He dedicated the award to his publicist and long-term friend Ronni Chasen, who had been shot and killed in Beverly Hills the previous month.
In June 2016, Zimmer was one of the inaugural winners of the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication.
In November 2017, a main-belt asteroid—(495253) 2013 OC8—discovered by Polish astronomers Michał Kusiak and Michał Żołnowski, was named "Hanszimmer".
As of 2022, Zimmer has received twelve Academy Award nominations for his work, with two wins; the first being at the 67th Academy Awards for the 1994 film The Lion King and the second being for the 2021 film Dune at the 94th Academy Awards.
On 2 October 2018, Zimmer received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
In 2019, Zimmer was inducted as a Disney Legend.
References
External links
Official website
Hans Zimmer at IMDb
Interview with Hans Zimmer in Film Score Monthly
Interview with Hans Zimmer about Sherlock Holmes from C Music TV Archived 20 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
Focus.De
Interviews with Hans Zimmer |
Bad_Boys_(1995_film) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Boys_(1995_film) | [
537
] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Boys_(1995_film)"
] | Bad Boys is a 1995 American action comedy film directed by Michael Bay in his feature directorial debut and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. The film stars Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey, two Miami narcotics detectives who are investigating the $100 million stolen packs of heroin and must order to protect a murder witness from an international drug dealer.
The film received mixed reviews from critics, but was commercially successful, grossing $141 million worldwide, and spawned three sequels: Bad Boys II (2003), Bad Boys for Life (2020), and Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024).
Plot
Lifelong friends Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett are devoted Miami Police narcotics detectives investigating $100 million of seized Mafia heroin, their biggest career bust which was stolen from a secure police vault. Internal Affairs suspects that it was an inside job and threatens to shut down the entire department unless they recover the drugs within 72 hours.
Mike asks one of his informants and ex-girlfriend Maxine "Max" Logan to look for people who are newly rich and therefore suspects. She gets herself and her best friend Julie Mott hired as escorts by Eddie Dominguez, a crooked former cop.
The party is soon interrupted by Dominguez's French drug kingpin boss Fouchet and his henchmen Casper, Ferguson, and Noah. To further cover his tracks because of this slip up, Fouchet kills Dominguez and Max, while Julie manages to escape. The madam who hired Julie and Max is disposed of by Noah, who then knocks out Mike as he investigates Max's death.
Frantically calling the police, Julie insists on talking only to Mike, who is following up on a lead with the Madam. Knowing she never met Mike, captain Conrad Howard forces Marcus to impersonate him to talk to her. At her apartment, Marcus and Julie are attacked by some of Fouchet's henchmen, one of whom Marcus kills.
When they rendezvous with Mike, Marcus and Mike have to impersonate each other, with Mike living at the Burnett residence while Marcus stays with Julie at Mike's. They struggle to keep up the charade in Julie's presence, and she soon begins to suspect the truth.
Looking through mugshots, Julie identifies Noah as one of the henchmen. The partners go to Club Hell, one of Noah's known hangouts, and she follows unbeknownst to them. After being spotted, Marcus knocks Casper unconscious during a bathroom fight. Julie tries to kill Fouchet, but Marcus stops her.
In the ensuing car chase, Mike kills Noah. The three manage to get away, but are caught on camera by a news helicopter. The ensuing report is later seen by Marcus's family, who were told that he was temporarily reassigned to Cleveland.
Mike and Marcus meet their old informant Jojo and learn about the location of the chemist who is cutting the stolen drugs. The three return to Mike's apartment, where Marcus's wife Theresa confronts them and confirms Julie's suspicion they have been impersonating each other. Fouchet and his gang show up and kidnap Julie.
Mike and Marcus's department is shut down by Internal Affairs. Despite being reassigned, Howard delays the order, giving Mike and Marcus more time to solve the case. They access Dominguez's private police database profile and learn that the police secretary Francine is his former girlfriend. She was being blackmailed by Fouchet and Dominguez after they took nude photos of her, threatening to post them at her kids' school.
Mike, Marcus, and detectives Sanchez and Ruiz, head to the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport. During a fierce shootout, they kill Fouchet's remaining henchmen, including Casper and Ferguson, and rescue Julie. They chase a fleeing Fouchet and force his car into a concrete barrier. As he tries to flee, Mike shoots him in the leg and arrests him at gunpoint.
After a tense conversation with Marcus, Fouchet surreptitiously draws a gun but is shot to death by Mike before he can kill Marcus, avenging Max's death. An exhausted Marcus leaves Julie with Mike and heads home, eager to be reunited with his family.
Cast
Production
Principal photography began on June 27, 1994, at the Dade Tire company near downtown Miami, the city chosen to replace the original New York locale. Filming continued throughout the area, including South Beach's Tides Hotel, the Mediterranean Biltmore Hotel, the Dade County Courthouse and a multimillion-dollar estate on a private island. The second floor of downtown Miami's Alfred DuPont building was converted into a police station; a freighter on the Miami River into a drug lab. Bad Boys' climactic scenes were filmed at the Opa-Locka Airport. Filming was quick due to the TV schedules of the stars with production wrapping on August 31. The opening sequence was written and shot during post-production. In the film's early stages of development, Simpson and Bruckheimer initially envisioned Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz in the roles. When the film was written for Carvey and Lovitz, the original title for Bad Boys was Bulletproof Hearts. The film was initially set up at Hollywood Pictures, a Walt Disney Studios subsidiary, but it was placed into turnaround by management and sell the project to Columbia Pictures. Arsenio Hall turned down the role of Lowrey and cites that choice as the worst mistake he has ever made. The role eventually went to Smith. Both Lawrence and Smith were starring in their own hit TV shows, Martin and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, when filming Bad Boys. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air even references the film in an episode. In the season 6, episode 20, called "I Stank Horse", Nicholas "Nicky" Banks tells Will that his parents will not let him watch Bad Boys, to which Will replies, "Bad Boys, huh? What'cha gonna do?"
Improvisation
Director Bay did not like the script and often engaged Smith and Lawrence in discussions about how the dialogue and scenes could improve. He often allowed them to improvise while the cameras were rolling. He secretly told Smith to call Lawrence a bitch before the car scene. The whole "two bitches in the sea" was improvised, as was Lawrence's comment when Leoni called him gay. The scene in the convenience store, when the clerk puts a gun to Burnett and Lowrey's heads and yells, telling them to "Freeze, mother bitches!", is also improvised. They came up with: "No, you freeze, bitch! Now back up, put the gun down and get me a pack of Tropical Fruit Bubbalicious". "And some Skittles." According to Bay in the DVD commentary, at the end of the film when Mike and Marcus are recuperating, Mike says "I love you, man." Bay claims that Smith refused to say the line, causing the director and actor to argue back and forth over the line. Bay wanted Smith to say the line as he felt it summed up the friendship between the cops. After their argument had lasted for half of the day's shoot and much of the crew was ready to pack up, a fed up Bay told Smith to do whatever he wanted, after which Smith changed his mind and agreed to say the line.
Music
Reception
Box office
Bad Boys generated a total of $15.5 million during its opening weekend, beating out A Goofy Movie and Tommy Boy to reach the number one spot. For its second weekend, it remained at the top spot with $11 million. Despite being dethroned by While You Were Sleeping, the film still made $7 million in its third weekend, while also outgrossing Kiss of Death. Bad Boys was commercially successful, grossing $141,407,024 worldwide — $65,807,024 in North America and $75,600,000 internationally.
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, Bad Boys holds an approval rating of 43% based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Bad Boys stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have enjoyable chemistry; unfortunately, director Michael Bay too often drowns it out with set pieces and explosions in place of an actual story." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
Most of the criticisms focused on the fact that despite the production of the film and the ability of the stars, the script did not diverge from the generic plot of a buddy-cop genre film, instead opting for repeated use of formulaic scenes.
Roger Ebert in his video review of the film on At the Movies noted that despite the highly energetic approach of the two lead actors and the visual style of the film, their acting talents were mostly "new wine in old bottles". He illustrated that many of the elements featured in the film including both the plot and characters had been recycled from other films, particularly those from the Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop series—recurrent stock-characters, police detective clichés and over-long action scenes. In describing the archetypal cop-buddy genre action scene adhered to by the film, Ebert noted "Whenever a movie like this starts to drag, there's always one infallible solution; have a car-chase and then blow something up real good." Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars.
Gene Siskel in his appraisal of the film said that he had lost interest in the film after its introduction due to the very formulaic approach, and repeated Roger Ebert's criticism that the talents of the lead actors were wasted; suggesting that the production company did not spend significant time producing a script which would be suitable for their talents. Siskel gave the film 2 out of 4.
Home media
Bad Boys was released on DVD on June 27, 2000. A UMD was released on December 20, 2005. A Blu-ray release followed on June 1, 2010. Bad Boys was released in a two movie pack that includes its successor Bad Boys II on Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 4, 2018.
See also
Bad Boys (franchise)
Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998), an Indian film inspired from Bad boys.
References
External links
Bad Boys at IMDb
Bad Boys at the TCM Movie Database
Bad Boys at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.