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When Thiess Services won the massive collection contract for the Gosford and Wyong council areas (Central Coast Council today), they went down an irregular path for bulk waste clean-ups. In general across the country it has been a 2 or 3 man job, manually loading junk in the back of a rear loader, with odd exceptions of mechanical assistance in some locations. Instead of what has been typical, Thiess went with the concept of a solo operation, acquiring a group of rear loaders consisting of Iveco cab chassis’ and Garwood bodies, but they also fitted Hiab grapple cranes. The idea was to have a single driver do bulky general and garden waste services alone, while eliminating manual handling by providing a hydraulic crane system to do all the heavy lifting and physical work. While great in concept, it worked out to be impractical and too slow of a process, so later on the company reverted to the common driver and offsider method of tackling this task. Still a different and cool idea anyway!
So here we have L&B currently running the MS & SNS contract on behalf of GCT who run the contract of GNE for the MS & The SNS contract who was previously ran by GNE and JH
Contract changes in early March 2021 lead to Hornsbys giving away their 35 and 90 to Stagecoach East Midlands. Due to this, they got given a MAN Enviro 300 from Stagecoach Highlands and a Megabus Plaxton Panther from Stagecoach Hulls Megabus operation. This is because the contract, apparently, requires a vehicle with seatbelts. Considering the bus on the 90 today didn't have seatbelts, i doubt that is true...
Seen at Scunthorpe Bus Station operating a service 90 to Crowle is 34572, a 2004 Dart SLF Plaxton Pointer 2. New to Stagecoach Hull in 2004.
With a hint of overnight dew and the rising sun just piercing the morning mist, DB Schenker 66111 rumbles through Cummersdale on the outskirts of Carlisle on 23 May 2015 heading the 6C33 05:22 Carlisle Yard to Dalston loaded bogie fuel tankers as some of the Blackwell Hall pedigree herd remain unperturbed by the train (but one with interest in the photographer behind a hedge I might add!). I was unaware at the time that this long-running BP contract with EWS/DBS would soon pass over to Colas Rail Freight.
© Gordon Edgar - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission
IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
Fotografia feta amb una Rolleicord 1a "Polizei" (K3-541), fabricada per a la policia alemana el 1939; Carl Zeiss Triotar f3.5/75mm; Ilford FP4+ revelat amb HC110, dissolució b, durant 6 minuts.
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En aquest paller sota el castell de Ferran, a l'entrada nord del poblet, Josep Marimon portà enganyats tres dels nens que venien d'escola, i els matà a ells també. Un quart nen, Josep Torres, ho va veure, també el va matar d'un tret quan fugia.
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La Pobla de Ferran a la primavera pot semblar un raconet rural idilic. Però durant una tarda de 1928, fou un autentic infern de matança i tragedia.
La Pobla de Ferran es un petit i quasi despoblat poblet d’un sol carrer, proper a Passanant, el cap del municipi. Només una casa sembla habitada sempre, però la resta es troben en bon estat ja que son segones residencies, i el poble es veu força arreglat. No té església però si les restes d’una ermita romànica. Es troba al extrem nord de la Conca de Barberà però dins de la Baixa Segarra, pel que té molts més lligams amb Tàrrega i Cervera. El paisatge és clàrament segarrenc, molt sec bona part de l’any peró preciosament verd al abril i maig, per exemple en aquest 2025 joiosament plujós.
També sembla que era excepcionalment verd el maig de 1928, en que havia plogut molt i s’esperava una molt bona collita. Aleshores el conreu del cereal era el nucli vital de la vida de tothom a La Pobla de Ferran. Tothom eren menys de 50 persones. D’aquestes, 9 eren nens i nenes. Un dels adults era Josep Marimon Carles, de 26 anys. Feia uns 5 anys que, durant el servei militar, va contraure tuberculosi vertebral o Mal de Pott, una malaltia que provocava malformacions, molt dolor, i impedia treballar. Per això es pasava moltes hores estirat a l’entrada de casa prenent el sol, que li mitigava el dolor. Però potser alguns veins ho confonien amb peresa, i així li feien saber. Probablement tot això va fer anant alienant soterradament a Marimon, que va dir més d’una vegada que “quan jo m’aixequí d’aqui, no s’hi posarà mai més ningú”.
La tarda del dissabte 19 de maig de 1928 quasi tot el poble era treballant als camps, netejant-los de males herbes. Només quedaven unes poques dones grans, els nens petits (els grans eren encara a escola), i el Marimon. Aleshores començà. Cap a les 4, va convencer a dues nenes i un nen de 3 i 4 anys (Carme Rabadà, Teresa Roca i Miquel Torres) que l’acompanyessin a una pallissa de la casa més al nord del poble, per veure com caçava colomins. Un cop allà sols, Marimon mata amb una destral a les tres víctimes i les tapà amb palla. Hi ha testimonis que en aquest punt arribà un esquilador al poble i el Marimon dissimulà durant uns 40 minuts, però no està clar. En tot cas, un cop va tenir camp lliure, armat amb una destral i una escopeta, va anar resseguint el carrer únic tot matant. A Can Corona va trobar Rosa Aloi de 45 anys, cosint. Amb ella hi havia una nena de 4 anys, Ramona Rabadà. Atacà la dona amb la destral, ferint-la greument al cap i, veient que la nena fugia cap al cobert del davant del carrer, la perseguí i matà allà. Rosa Aloi va morir pocs dies després. Marimon segui carrer amunt i matà d’un tret a Francesca Canela, de 70 anys, que donava menjar a les gallines de casa seva. No estic segur de quina casa era.
En aquest punt, Antonia Marimon (no eren familia) i Marina Roca, tornaren al poble i començaren a preocupar-se en no veure les criatures, i les començaren a buscar. Mentrestant, l’assassí havia vist que els nens més grans tornaven d’escola a Passanant (a uns 2 km), i les va enganyar amb la mateixa excusa dels colomins, portant-los a un paller que hi ha sota el castell i una mica apartat de les cases. Allà en matà tres més (Ramon Canela, Josep Rabadà i Salvador Torres, de 5, 6 i 11 anys). En aquell moment, en Josep Torres, de 8 anys, ho va veure i començà a fugir, però en Marimon li disparà per la esquena i el va matar.
En Marimon tornà a casa seva, on ja havia preparat la fugida. Agafà roba, menjar, beguda i recarregà la escopeta. En aquells moments Antonia Marimon i Marina Roca ja havien descobert els cadavers dels infants i pujaven pel carrer en estat de panic buscant ajuda. L’assassí els hi disparà diversos trets des de la finestra de casa seva, deixant-les greument ferides al mig del carrer, i després fugí en direcció sud. Encara va tenir temps de veure una avia amb la darrera criatura viva de tot el poble, que fugien, i els hi va disparar. Però estaven més lluny i afortunadament va fallar el tret.
Tots els habitants que treballaven dispersos pels camps havien sentit alguns trets, però era usual que Marimon cacés colomins, pel que inicialment no en deurien fer cas. Però en començar a sentir els crits desesperats de les dones, així com més trets, tornaren alarmats cap al poble, però no era rapid, sobretot perque La Pobla de Ferran està al cim d’una serra. Arribaren a una escena de horror absolut, amb tots els menors del poble morts excepte un, una dona gran morta i tres més de greument ferides. I amb l’assassí desaparegut.
Aviat les campanes de Passanant i de tots els pobles del entorn tocaren a sometent, i s’organitzà una batuda per caçar el criminal, al que tothom qualificava de boig. El primer dia ja eren 300 homes, i ràpidament foren quasi 2000, incloent decenes de guardies civils espanyols. En els propers dies es feu l’enterrament de les 9 victimes directes d’aquell 21 de maig, i pocs dies després, el de Rosa Aloi, que mori de les greus ferides al cap. Dos matrimonis perderen tres fills cadascun d’ells. I l’assassí encara estava sense localitzar. Diversos rumors el situaren a Montblanc, Tàrrega o Cervera, i part de la cerca es desvià cap allà. Molts pensaven que havia fugit cap a Barcelona o fins i tot França. Però altres pensaven que un noi sol, coix no havia pogut anar pas tant lluny, i intensificaren la busqueda per l’entorn més inmediat. I així fou com vuit dies després, de bon matí, el somatent el va trobar prop d’una cabana situada a menys de dos quilometres de La Pobla de Ferran, en direcció sud. El jutge i la guardia civil el volien agafar viu, però el somatent, lligat al territori i els seus habitants, volia venjança. Per tant, tal i com el van veure, li varen fotre un tret al cap. Així acabà aquesta tragedia. O casi, perquè pel que sembla, tot i que he vist versions contradictories, tant la Antonia Marimon com la Marina Roca, les altres dues ferides, acabaren morint per culpa dels trets que els hi disparà en Josep Marimon, pel que possiblement el balanç final fou de 12 assassinats.
Avui en dia La Pobla de Ferran és un llogaret que, tot i que poc habitat entre setmana, en gran part continua intacte en segona residencia. Aixó sí, encara hi manca un memorial per a les victimes de Josep Marimon aquell 21 de maig de 1928.
www.3cat.cat/3cat/la-pobla-de-ferran-cap-1-la-mort-dels-c...
www.guimera.info/noticies/dues-croniques-sobre-el-crim-de...
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Pobla_de_Ferran
www.poblesdecatalunya.cat/element.php?e=5551
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Picture taken with a Rolleicord 1a "Polizei" (K3-541), made for the German police in 1939; Carl Zeiss Triotar f3.5/75mm; Ilford FP4+ home developed with HC110, dilution b, for 6 minutes.
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In this hay shed at the northern entrance to the hamlet of La Pobla de Ferran, Josep Marimon tricked three of the children who were coming from school, and killed them too. A fourth child, Josep Torres, saw it and also shot him dead as he fled.
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La Pobla de Ferran in the spring may seem like an idyllic rural corner in Western Catalonia. But during an afternoon in 1928, it was a real hell of slaughter and tragedy.
La Pobla de Ferran is a small and almost deserted village with only one street, near Passanant, the head of the municipality. Only one house seems to be always inhabited these days, but the rest are in good condition since they are second residences, and the village looks quite tidy. It has no church but the remains of a Romanesque chapel. The landscape is very dry for much of the year but beautifully green in April and May, for example in this joyfully rainy 2025.
It also seems that it was exceptionally green in May 1928, when it had rained a lot and a very good harvest was expected. At that time, cereal cultivation was the vital nucleus of everyone's life in La Pobla de Ferran. There were less than 50 people in all. Of these, 9 were boys and girls. One of the adults was Josep Marimon Carles, aged 26. About 5 years ago, during his military service, he contracted spinal tuberculosis or Pott’s Disease, that caused malformations, a lot of pain, and prevented him from working. That is why he spent many hours lying in the entrance to his house taking sunbaths, which alleviated his pain. But perhaps some neighbors confused this with laziness, and that is how they let him know. Probably all this rejecting and pain slowly alienated Marimon, who said more than once that "when I get up from here, no one will ever lay here again".
On the afternoon of Saturday, May 19th, 1928, almost the entire village was working in the fields, clearing them of weeds. Only a few old women remained, the small children (the older ones were still at school in the village of Passanant, 2 km away), and Josep Marimon. Then it began. At around 4 o'clock, he convinced two girls and a boy aged 3 and 4 (Carme Rabadà, Teresa Roca and Miquel Torres) to accompany him to a hay room at the house further north of the village, to see how he hunted pigeons, something he usually did. Once there alone, Marimon killed the three little innocent victims with an axe and covered them with straw. There are witnesses that at this point a shearer arrived in the village and Marimon coldly helped him for about 40 minutes, but it is not clear. In any case, once he had a free field, armed with an axe and a shotgun, he went around the only street killing everyone he found. In Can Corona house he found Rosa Aloi, aged 45, sewing. With her was a 4-year-old girl, Ramona Rabadà. He attacked the woman with the axe, seriously wounding her in the head, and, seeing the girl flee towards the shed across the street, he chased and killed her there. Rosa Aloi died a few days later. Marimon continued up the street and shot and killed Francesca Canela, 70, who was feeding the chickens in her house. I am not sure which house it was, maybe the one further south with a large barn door.
At this point, Antonia Marimon (they were not family) and Marina Roca, returned to the village and began to worry when they did not see the children, and began to look for them. Meanwhile, the murderer had seen the older children returning from school in Passanant (about 2 km away), and deceived them with the same excuse of the pigeons, taking them to a haystack under the castle and a little away from the houses. There he killed three more (Ramon Canela, Josep Rabadà and Salvador Torres, aged 5, 6 and 11). At that moment, Josep Torres, aged 8, saw him and started to run away, but Marimon shot him in the back and killed him.
Marimon returned to his house, where he had already prepared his escape. He took clothes, food, drink and reloaded his shotgun. At that moment, Antonia Marimon and Marina Roca had already discovered the bodies of the children and were running up the street in a state of panic looking for help. The murderer fired several shots at them from the window of his house, leaving them seriously injured in the middle of the street, and then fled south. He still had time to see an grandmother with the last living child in the whole village, who were fleeing, and he shot them. But they were further away and fortunately the shot missed. All the inhabitants who were working scattered in the fields had heard some shots, but it was usual for Marimon to hunt pigeons, so initially they should not have paid attention. But when they began to hear the desperate cries of the women, as well as more shots, they returned in alarm to the village, but it was not fast, especially because La Pobla de Ferran is on the top of a hill. They arrived at a scene of absolute horror, with all the children in the village dead except one, an elderly woman dead and three more seriously injured. And with the murderer missing.
Soon the bells of Passanant and all the surrounding towns rang out calling for the “somatent” (militia), and a raid was organized to hunt down the criminal, whom everyone described as crazy. On the first day there were already 300 men, and quickly they were almost 2000, including dozens of Spanish police. In the following days the burial of the 9 direct victims of that May 21st took place, and a few days later, that of Rosa Aloi, who died of serious head injuries. Two couples lost three children each. And the murderer was still unaccounted for. Various rumors placed him in Montblanc, Tàrrega or Cervera, and part of the search was diverted there. Many thought he had fled to Barcelona or even France. But others thought that a lonely, lame boy could not have gone that far, and they intensified the search in the immediate area. And so it was that eight days later, early in the morning, a group of “somatent” found him near a cabin located less than two kilometers from La Pobla de Ferran, heading south.
The judge and the police wanted to take him alive, but the “somatent”, tied to the territory and its inhabitants, wanted revenge. Therefore, as they saw him, they shot him in the head. That's how this tragedy ended. Or almost, because apparently, although I have seen contradictory versions, both Antonia Marimon and Marina Roca, the other two wounded, ended up dying because of the shots that Josep Marimon fired at them, so possibly the final tally was 12 murdered.
Today La Pobla de Ferran is a village that, although sparsely inhabited during the week, remains largely intact as a second residence. However, there is still a lack of a memorial for the victims of Josep Marimon on that May 21, 1928.
Milana is killing the time among the ruins of Grozny during the Second Chechen War (1999-2009). Milana is a russian trained killer. Her mission is to neutralize Chechen terrorists leaders under the command of Aslan Maskhadov. View on black
Let me introduce you my new 1/6 scaled character Milana, better known under the nickname : Razorblade. Kontraktnikis, contract soldiers who have replaced regular russian troops in Chechenya, spread some stories about her nickname. In her childhood some tells she was daily raped by her father, until one day she cut off his genitals parts with a razor blade. Others tells she likes to cut off the tongue of her targets before of after they died, and she keep all her trophies on a necklace. Lots of story are put about Milana, nobody knows her past. One thing is certain, despite her lovely features, she's a cold heart killer, who is capable of the worst.
My first 1/6 scale diorama !
The figure : Female PMC baby
The gun : M14 sniper rifle
Don't forget to visit my Red Bubble Store, some times new stuff which is not visible on my flickr is avalaible.
Unfortunately it isn't returning to being allocated to Redditch depot. However, Diamond's FJ08 VRD (30947) is seen on layover in Redditch Bus Station before taking a 43 to the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bromsgrove. The 43 interworks with the 42 (Kidderminster-Redditch) at the Redditch end of the route and drivers change over at Kidderminster Bus Station before the bus continues to Kidderminster General. This E300 was allocated to Redditch depot when it was first acquired by the Rotala PLC's Diamond Bus operation. FJ08VRD was new in May 2008 to Stagecoach East Midlands, as their 27595 and was for use on Council Contracts. It then went to Premiere Travel of Nottingham, until they went bust at which point it was required by the Rotala PLC. It is an Alexander Dennis (ADL) Enviro 300.
Steam gauge purported to be from the battleship Oregon.
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USS Oregon (BB-3) was a pre-dreadnought Indiana-class battleship of the United States Navy. Her construction was authorized on 30 June 1890, and the contract to build her was awarded to Union Iron Works of San Francisco, California on 19 November 1890. Her keel was laid exactly one year later. She was launched on 26 October 1893, sponsored by Miss Daisy Ainsworth (daughter of Oregon steamboat magnate John C. Ainsworth), delivered to the Navy on 26 June 1896, and commissioned on 15 July 1896 with Captain H.L. Howison in command. Later she was commanded by Captains Albert S. Barker and Alexander H. McCormick. Captain Charles E. Clark assumed command 17 March 1898 throughout the Spanish–American War.
Oregon served for a short time with the Pacific Squadron before being ordered on a voyage around South America to the East Coast in March 1898 in preparation for war with Spain. She departed from San Francisco on 19 March, and reached Jupiter Inlet 66 days later, a journey of 14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km; 16,000 mi). This was considered a remarkable achievement at the time. The journey popularized the ship with the American public and demonstrated the need for a shorter route, which led to construction of the Panama Canal.
After completing her journey Oregon was ordered to join the blockade at Santiago as part of the North Atlantic Squadron under Rear Admiral William T. Sampson.
She took part in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, where she and the cruiser Brooklyn were the only ships fast enough to chase down the Spanish cruiser Cristóbal Colón, forcing its surrender. Around this time she received the nickname "Bulldog of the Navy", most likely because of her high bow wave—known as "having a bone in her teeth" in nautical slang—and her perseverance during the cruise around South America and the battle of Santiago.
After the war, the Oregon was refitted and sent back to the Pacific. She served for a year in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War and then spent a year in China at Wusong during the Boxer Rebellion before returning to the United States for an overhaul.
In March 1903, the Oregon returned to Asiatic waters and stayed there for three years, decommissioning in April 1906. The Oregon was recommissioned in August 1911, but she saw little activity and was officially placed on reserve status in 1914. After the United States joined World War I in 1917, the Oregon acted as one of the escorts for transport ships during the Siberian Intervention.
In October 1919, she was decommissioned for the final time. As a result of the Washington Naval Treaty, the Oregon was declared "incapable of further warlike service" in January 1924. In June 1925, she was lent to the State of Oregon, which used her as a floating monument and museum in Portland, Oregon.
In February 1941, the Oregon was redesignated IX–22. Due to the outbreak of World War II, it was decided that her scrap value was more important than her historical value, so she was sold. Her stripped hulk was later returned to the Navy, and it used as an ammunition barge during the Battle of Guam, where she remained for several years. The USCGC Tupelo (WLB-303) assisted in towing the Oregon to Guam. During a typhoon in November 1948, she broke loose and drifted out to sea. She was located 500 miles southeast of Guam and then towed back. She was sold on 15 March 1956 and reduced to scrap iron in Japan.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oregon_(BB-3)
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Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.
An 1892 description of the yards stated that between 1200 and 1500 men were employed and the yearly gross revenue was between $2,000,000 and $4,000,000.
By the turn of the century, the shipyard had expanded in area and employment had more than doubled to 3,500.[2]
These industrial facilities used five types of power, distributed throughout; electricity, compressed air, steam, hydraulic and coal or gas fire.
Union Iron works built a number of ships for the United States Navy. These ships include USS Oregon laid down in 1891, and Adder-class submarines Grampus and Pike which were launched in 1902 and 1903, respectively. The latter two were subcontracted from the Holland Torpedo Boat Company, and were the first submarines built on the West Coast.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Iron_Works
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Star Brass Manufacturing Company, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and London, England. Made internal- and external-spring indicators from the 1880s until the 1920s?
Ex Empress Coaches of London now with Anderson's of Langholm Volvo B10M-62 Plaxton Premiere N247 HWX is working a School contract from Annan Academy. Behind Stagecoach Cumbria North Lancashire Dennis Trident Alexander ALX 400 MX55 KRE is working the 579 service from the Academy to Gretna.
The Woolloongabba Post & Telegraph Office was constructed in 1905 for the Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs, to a plan designed and supervised by the Queensland Department of Public Works, government architect's office.
It replaced an earlier Woolloongabba Post & Telegraph Office, opened in rented premises in Logan Road, in 1887. The population of Woolloongabba, which had grown steadily between the 1860s and 1880s, increased rapidly following the expansion of the railway line to Woolloongabba in 1884, and the extension of the electric tramway to Woolloongabba/East Brisbane in 1897. During the 1880s and 1890s the 'Gabba developed as Brisbane's fourth major shopping centre, the others being central Brisbane, Fortitude Valley and Stanley Street at South Brisbane. By the turn of the century, most of the allotments facing Stanley Street, Logan Road, and Ipswich Road at the Fiveways were fully developed commercial sites.
Following Separation in 1859 and prior to Federation in 1901, the Queensland Government organised the postal service for the state. In 1901 the newly established Commonwealth Government became responsible for communications, and the Commonwealth Postmaster General's Department was created. The transfer of responsibilities from the States to the Commonwealth was gradual, and the Queensland Department of Works continued to carry out design and documentation of post offices on behalf of the Commonwealth Government until 1920.
Alfred Barton Brady was employed with the Queensland Government as Government Architect from 1892 - 1922. Brady claimed that he always advised on arrangement, style and materials, but it appears that his Senior Assistant, Thomas Pye supervised much of the detailed design. During the 30 years they worked together in the Department, Brady and Pye assembled a talented group of architects and draftsmen who were considered the equal of any in Australia, including from 1893 to 1903 John Smith Murdoch, who was to become Commonwealth Director-General of Works in 1927. Pye later served as deputy government architect from 1906 to 1921, and a major example of his work is the former Executive Building in William Street. From the office of the Government Architect there developed a tradition of fine government buildings, including many post offices, customs houses and court houses throughout the State.
A new post office building was proposed as early as 1901, and approval was given in August 1902 to purchase the present site for £1,250. The site was previously owned by the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and provided the Commonwealth with the opportunity to acquire a site for the post office that was on one of the three major streets which formed the Fiveways and was within close proximity of the centre of local activity, the Woolloongabba railway and the tramway.
In October 1903 the Commonwealth requested the Queensland Department of Public Works to prepare sketch plans for the building and to survey the site.
Working plans for the building were completed in 1904, under Pye's supervision.
The design accommodated a large mail room on the ground floor and residential accommodation for the postmaster on the first. This comprised dining and sitting rooms, four bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, scullery, store, rear verandah and front piazza. The latter was a concession to the climate which was unusual in commercial buildings of the time. Provision was made for a ground floor extension along the northwestern side.
Tenders were called in February-March 1905, and the contract was let to builder Thomas Rees with a price of £2174.
Completed in November 1905, the Woolloongabba Post & Telegraph Office was one of only five masonry post offices constructed in Queensland between 1900 and 1910. In addition to Woolloongabba, these included post offices at Ipswich (1900), Stanthorpe (1901), Cairns (1906) no longer extant and Mount Morgan (1910).
The ground floor of the building has undergone several alterations, as the spaces were re-organised to suit the changing functions of the post office. The first floor ceased to function as a residence during the 1950s, and was converted for use by the staff and the district inspector. During the 1960s the first floor was further altered to include a mail room, and most of the remaining partitions were removed. The building was refurbished in 1988, and from 1989 the first floor was leased to the Genealogical Society of Queensland.
The building closed as a post office in 1994, although some offices remain in use by Australia Post.
Source: Queensland Heritage Register.
The Royal Air Force unveiled impressive images of a unique aircraft formation to celebrate the forty years of service of the Panavia "Tornado GR4" attack jet.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Panavia "Tornado" is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom, and West Germany. There are three primary "Tornado" variants: the "Tornado IDS" (interdictor/strike) fighter-bomber, the suppression of enemy air defences "Tornado ECR" (electronic combat/reconnaissance) and the "Tornado ADV" (air defence variant) interceptor aircraft.
The "Tornado" was developed and built by Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a tri-national consortium consisting of British Aerospace (previously British Aircraft Corporation), MBB of West Germany, and Aeritalia of Italy. It first flew on 14 August 1974 and was introduced into service in 1979–1980. Due to its multirole design, it was able to replace several different fleets of aircraft in the adopting air forces. The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) became the only export operator of the "Tornado" in addition to the three original partner nations. A tri-nation training and evaluation unit operating from RAF Cottesmore, the Tri-National "Tornado" Training Establishment, maintained a level of international co-operation beyond the production stage.
The "Tornado" was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), Italian Air Force, and RSAF during the Gulf War of 1991, in which the "Tornado" conducted many low-altitude penetrating strike missions. The "Tornado's" of various services were also used in conflicts in the former Yugoslavia during the Bosnian War and Kosovo War, the Iraq War, Libya during the Libyan civil war, as well as smaller roles in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria. Including all variants, 992 aircraft were built.
Development
Origins
During the 1960s, aeronautical designers looked to variable-geometry wing designs to gain the manoeuvrability and efficient cruise of straight wings with the speed of swept wing designs. The United Kingdom had cancelled the procurement of the TSR-2 and subsequent F-111K aircraft, and was still looking for a replacement for its Avro "Vulcan" and Blackburn "Buccaneer" strike aircraft. Britain and France had initiated the AFVG (Anglo French Variable Geometry) project in 1965, but this had ended with French withdrawal in 1967. Britain continued to develop a variable-geometry aircraft similar to the proposed AFVG, and sought new partners to achieve this. West German EWR had been developing the swing-wing EWR-Fairchild-Hiller "A400 AVS (Advanced Vertical Strike) (which has a similar configuration to the "Tornado").
In 1968, West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Canada formed a working group to examine replacements for the Lockheed F-104 "Starfighter", initially called the Multi Role Aircraft (MRA), later renamed as the Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA). The participating nations all had ageing fleets that required replacing; but, as the requirements were so diverse, it was decided to develop a single aircraft that could perform a variety of missions that were previously undertaken by a fleet of different aircraft. Britain joined the MRCA group in 1968, represented by Air Vice-Marshal Michael Giddings, and a memorandum of agreement was drafted between Britain, West Germany, and Italy in May 1969.
By the end of 1968, the prospective purchases from the six countries amounted to 1,500 aircraft. Canada and Belgium had departed before any long-term commitments had been made to the programme; Canada had found the project politically unpalatable; there was a perception in political circles that much of the manufacturing and specifications were focused on Western Europe. France had made a favorable offer to Belgium on the Dassault "Mirage 5", which created doubt as to whether the MRCA would be worthwhile from Belgium's operational perspective.
Panavia Aircraft GmbH
On 26 March 1969, four partner nations – United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, agreed to form a multinational company, Panavia Aircraft GmbH, to develop and manufacture the MRCA. The project's aim was to produce an aircraft capable of undertaking missions in the tactical strike, reconnaissance, air defence, and maritime roles; thus allowing the MRCA to replace several different aircraft then in use by the partner nations. Various concepts, including alternative fixed-wing and single-engine designs, were studied while defining the aircraft. The Netherlands pulled out of the project in 1970, citing that the aircraft was too complicated and technical for the RNLAF's preferences, which had sought a simpler aircraft with outstanding manoeuvrability. An additional blow was struck by the German requirement reduced from an initial 600 aircraft to 324 in 1972. It has been suggested that Germany deliberately placed an unrealistically high initial order to secure the company headquarters and initial test flight in Germany rather than the UK, so as to have a bigger design influence.
When the agreement was finalised, the United Kingdom and West Germany each had a 42.5% stake of the workload, with the remaining 15% going to Italy; this division of the production work was heavily influenced by international political bargaining. The front fuselage and tail assembly was assigned to BAC (now BAE Systems) in the United Kingdom; the centre fuselage to MBB (now EADS) in West Germany; and the wings to Aeritalia (now Alenia Aeronautica) in Italy. Similarly, tri-national worksharing was used for engines, general and avionic equipment. A separate multinational company, Turbo-Union, was formed in June 1970 to develop and build the RB199 engines for the aircraft, with ownership similarly split 40% Rolls-Royce, 40% MTU, and 20% FIAT.
At the conclusion of the project definition phase in May 1970, the concepts were reduced to two designs; a single seat Panavia 100 which West Germany initially preferred, and the twin-seat Panavia 200 which the RAF preferred (this would become the "Tornado"). The aircraft was briefly called the Panavia "Panther", and the project soon coalesced towards the two-seat option. In September 1971, the three governments signed an Intention to Proceed (ITP) document, at which point the aircraft was intended solely for the low-level strike mission, where it was viewed as a viable threat to Soviet defences in that role. It was at this point that Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff announced "two-thirds of the fighting front line will be composed of this single, basic aircraft type".
Prototypes and testing
The first of more than a dozen "Tornado" prototypes took flight on 14 August 1974 at Manching, Germany; the pilot, Paul Millett described his experience: "Aircraft handling was delightful... the actual flight went so smoothly that I did begin to wonder whether this was not yet another simulation". Flight testing led to the need for minor modifications. Airflow disturbances were responded to by re-profiling the engine intakes and the fuselage to minimise surging and buffeting experienced at supersonic speeds.
According to Jim Quinn, programmer of the "Tornado" development simulation software and engineer on the "Tornado" engine and engine controls, the prototype was safely capable of reaching supercruise, but the engines had severe safety issues at high altitude while trying to decelerate. The triple shaft engine, designed for maximum power at low altitude, resulted in severe vibrations while attempting to decelerate at high altitude. At high altitude and low turbine speed the compressor did not provide enough pressure to hold back the combustion pressure and would result in a violent vibration as the combustion pressure backfired into the intake. To avoid this effect the engine controls would automatically increase the minimum idle setting as altitude increased, until at very high altitudes the idle setting was so high, however, that it was close to maximum dry thrust. This resulted in one of the test aircraft being stuck in a mach 1.2 supercruise at high altitude and having to reduce speed by turning the aircraft, because the idle setting at that altitude was so high that the aircraft could not decelerate.
The British Ministry of Supply ordered Chief Engineer Ted Talbot from the Concorde development team to provide intake design assistance to the "Tornado" development team in order to overcome these issues, which they hesitantly agreed to after noting that the "Concorde" intake data had apparently already been leaked to the Soviet Union. The German engineers working on the "Tornado" intake were unable to produce a functional "Concorde" style intake despite having data from the "Concorde" team. To make the problem worse, their management team incorrectly filed a patent on the "Concorde" design, and then tried to sue the British engineers who had provided the design to them. The German lawyers realized that the British had provided the designs to the German team, and requested further information to help their engineers overcome the problems with the "Tornado" intake, but Chief Engineer Talbot refused. According to Talbot, the "Concorde" engineers had determined the issue with the "Tornado" intake was that the engine did not respond to unexpected changes in the intake position, and therefore the engine was running at the wrong setting for a given position of the intake ramps. This was because the "Concorde" had similar issues due to control pressure not being high enough to maintain proper angles of the intake ramps. Aerodynamic forces could force the intakes into the improper position, and so they should have the ability to control the engines if this occurs. The "Tornado" intake system did not allow for this. Due to the behaviour of the German management team, the British engineers declined to share this information, and so the "Tornado" was not equipped with the more advanced intake design of the "Concorde".
Testing revealed that a nose-wheel steering augmentation system, connecting with the yaw damper, was necessary to counteract the destabilising effect produced by deploying the thrust reverser during landing rollouts.
From 1967 until 1984 Soviet KGB agents were provided details on the "Tornado" by the head of the West German Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Planning department, Manfred Rotsch.
Two prototypes were lost in accidents, both of which had been primarily caused by poor piloting decisions and errors leading to two ground collision incidents; a third "Tornado" prototype was seriously damaged by an incident involving pilot-induced pitch oscillation. During the type's development, aircraft designers of the era were beginning to incorporate features such as more sophisticated stability augmentation systems and autopilots. Aircraft such as the "Tornado" and the General Dynamics F-16 "Fighting Falcon" made use of these new technologies. Failure testing of the "Tornado's" triplex analogue command and stability augmentation system (CSAS) was conducted on a series of realistic flight control rigs; the variable-sweep wings in combination with varying, and frequently very heavy, payloads complicated the clearance process.
Production
The contract for the Batch 1 aircraft was signed on 29 July 1976. The first aircraft were delivered to the RAF and German Air Force on 5 and 6 June 1979 respectively. The first Italian "Tornado" was delivered on 25 September 1981. On 29 January 1981, the Tri-National "Tornado" Training Establishment (TTTE) officially opened at RAF Cottesmore, remaining active in training pilots from all operating nations until 31 March 1999. The 500th "Tornado" to be produced was delivered to West Germany on 19 December 1987.
Export customers were sought after West Germany withdrew its objections to exporting the aircraft; Saudi Arabia was the only export customer of the "Tornado". The agreement to purchase the "Tornado" was part of the controversial Al-Yamamah arms deal between British Aerospace and the Saudi government. Oman had committed to purchasing "Tornado's" and the equipment to operate them for a total value of £250 million in the late 1980s, but cancelled the order in 1990 due to financial difficulties.
During the 1970s, Australia considered joining the MRCA programme to find a replacement for their ageing Dassault "Mirage IIIs"; ultimately the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 "Hornet" was selected to meet the requirement. Canada similarly opted for the F/A-18 after considering the "Tornado". Japan considered the "Tornado" in the 1980s, along with the General Dynamics F-16 "Fighting Falcon" and F/A-18, before selecting the "Mitsubishi F-2", a domestically produced design based on the F-16. In the 1990s, both Taiwan and South Korea expressed interest in acquiring a small number of "Tornado ECR" aircraft. In 2001, EADS proposed a "Tornado ECR" variant with a greater electronic warfare capability for Australia.
Production came to an end in 1998; the last batch of aircraft being produced went to the Royal Saudi Air Force, who had ordered a total of 96 IDS "Tornado's". In June 2011, it was announced that the RAF's "Tornado" fleet had flown collectively over one million flying hours. Aviation author Jon Lake noted that "The Trinational Panavia Consortium produced just short of 1,000 Tornados, making it one of the most successful postwar bomber programs". In 2008, AirForces Monthly said of the "Tornado": "For more than a quarter of a century ... the most important military aircraft in Western Europe."
N231FL - B-727-22C - Contract Air Cargo
(reg. to International Trading Co. of Yukon, Oklahoma City/OK) -
at Hamilton International Airport (YHM)
operated still in basic Purolator c/s - visible registration is only "N23"
c/n 19.205 - built in 1967 for United Airlines -
operated by Kelowna Flightcraft air Charter between 02/1994 and 05/2002 as C-FKFP -
leased to All Canada Express between 08/1995 and 07/1996 -
retired in 2011 - stored at Kelowna (YLW)
No - this is not an AEW-727 !
WV-740 rolled off the Hunting production line at Luton on March 2nd 1955. Built to Air Ministry contract 6/AIR/6847/CB5(a) of June 5th 1951, she was given construction number K66/027, also quoted as P66/41 which would tie in with the issue of the RAF batch of serial numbers (WV-699 to WV-740). She flew for the first time on March 12th 1955 and was delivered to Number 9 Maintenance Unit at RAF Cosford on March 14th 1955, and allocated to the Middle East Air Force on April 15th. Arriveing at RAF Khormaksar, Aden on April 20th she joined the Aden Protectorate Support Flight. On December 20th 1956, WV740 was damaged in a Category 3R accident, repaired, and joined Number 84 Squadron at Khormaksar on January 22nd 1957. It was not long before trouble occurred again, and she was badly damaged in a further Category 3R accident on May 30th 1957. She moved into the repair shops of the Aden Repair Squadron on June 1st, and rejoined the Station Flight at RAF Khormaksar on December 3rd, before being transferred to Number 78 Squadron in Aden on June 13th 1958, before flying off to RAF Eastleigh in Nairobi, where she joined the Station Flight on December 15th 1958. Just under a year later, on November 27th 1959, she made the long ferry flight home to UK where she entered a period of storage at Number 5 Maintenance Unit based at RAF Kemble, where she remained until September 28th 1961. She then joined the Metropolitan Communication Squadron at RAF Northolt. Through the next five years she spent her life with various communications flight in UK, being with Bomber Command Communications Squadron at Booker on May 1st 1962, Number 5 Maintenance Unit at Kemble on June 6th, the Maintenance Command Communications and Ferry Squadron August 9th 1962. With the latter organisation, she met with a further Category 3R accident on February 20th 1963 and was repaired on site by personnel of Number 60 Maintenance Unit for a week before being returned to the Maintenance Command Communications Squadron. The highlight of this period of her life occurred on June 26th 1963 when she flew Prime Minister Harold Macmillan to Gatwick. She was transferred to the Western Command Communications Squadron at
RAF Andover on April 1st 1964 and was loaned to the Ministry of Aviation on February 15th 1965 before being returned to N°5 Maintenance Unit at RAF Kemble on March 24th 1965, then to Andover on May 28th 1965.
On February 13th 1967 she flew eastwards again, and back to her old haunts in Aden when she joined Number 21 Squadron at RAF Khormaksar on February 13th 1967. Her record is not clear, but she must have left Aden later that year with the withdrawal of the British presence, and probably moved with N°21 Squadron to RAF Muharraq at Bahrain. Whatever the case, she was one of the fourteen aircraft chosen to be resparred, and she was returned to the British Aircraft Corporation at Luton on March 8th 1971. Making her first flight after this major work on June 16th 1971, she flew to Wisley in Surrey and was then returned through N°5 Maintenance Unit at Kemble to N°21 Squadron at RAF Andover on June 24th 1971 serving with this unit for five years.
Returning to Number 5 Maintenance Unit for heavy maintenance on March 25th 1976, WV740 was then sent to join the Station Flight (Dragon Airlines) at RAF St Athan on July 30th. On March 29th 1978, she made the short flight to Germany where she joined Number 60 Squadron at RAF Wildenrath, the airfield where she would spend the rest of her service life, and acquire the German instructions written on her fuselage!
At Wildenrath, she joined five other Pembroke's with this unit, and flew extensively throughout Europe. Carrying many VIP’s as well as completing more mundane tasks, this aircraft was, for a time, the personal aircraft of Air Chief Marshal Sir Dennis Spottiswood. Her record shows that from 10th until 30th March 1981 she was attached to Number 5 Maintenance Unit at RAF Brize Norton for a repaint and interior refurbishment, before returning to RAF Wildenrath where she remained until March 23rd 1987 when she was flown to RAF Shawbury for storage and disposal.
On June 24th 1987, together with her sister ship XK-884, WV740 was purchased by Air Commodore John Allison and moved to RAF Benson for storage. Air Commodore Allison together with Mr Mike Searle placed WV740 on the civil register as G-BNPH. Both aircraft were retained for several years until WV-740 was sold to Mr Richard J.F.Parker in mid-June 1991. Mr Parker, a property developer and aviation enthusiast returned WV-740 to her former splendour, refurbished her interior, and flew her for many years at air displays and for pleasure. The closure of both Leavesden and Hatfield in Hertfordshire in 1994 forced Mr Parker to consider the future of his fleet of vintage aircraft, and with great regret, he offered WV-740 for sale. March 15th 1994 saw WV740 sold to Captain Martin Willing, a Cathay Pacific pilot now retired who lives in Jersey, and she was flown to that lovely location. WV740 continued to fly, and was based mainly at Duxford, where she was operated by Radial Revelation, a company set up to foster the preservation and operation of radial engined aircraft. In 2003 ownership of the aircraft passed to Andrew and Geraldine Dixon at Bournemouth who operated the Pembroke as a personnel transport and air show duties.
During 2011 WV740 was put up for sale and and acquired by Mr Mark Stott in 2012 along with Sea Prince T1 WP321. Now based at MoD St Athan, WV740 is maintained by Horizon Aircraft Services and is available for display, flight training and corporate events.
Transdev Flyer at Idle depot started operating two contracts in January to a school in Menston. Two Volvo B9s arrived for the work No 2422 & 2423 in the grey & black livery. With new Mercedes hybrid buses on order for the airport routes, the existing Optare Versa buses appear to be having more off days than usual of late. Couple this with horrendous traffic congestion, it has meant that the deckers have been helping out on normal service work. Their use...completely haphazard, random, and often in darkness or when it was dire weather. I finally nailed one down at Little London, Rawdon with a A2 service from Harrogate to Bradford. Even this only did 5 hours out on the road until the offending Optare was fixed. Back in the days of Yorkshire Tiger, deckers on here did happen but under Transdev has only ever been singles. These four 2011 Volvo b9s in this batch have proved to be some of the most versatile, useful and reliable buses within the group.
Theban Sphinx mauling a boy. Reconstruction after fragments in showcase II, on loan from the University of Vienna, Institute of Classical Archaeology.
Austria Kunsthistorisches Museum
Federal Museum
Logo KHM
Regulatory authority (ies)/organs to the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture
Founded 17 October 1891
Headquartered Castle Ring (Burgring), Vienna 1, Austria
Management Sabine Haag
www.khm.at website
Main building of the Kunsthistorisches Museum at Maria-Theresa-Square
The Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM abbreviated) is an art museum in Vienna. It is one of the largest and most important museums in the world. It was opened in 1891 and 2012 visited of 1.351.940 million people.
The museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is with its opposite sister building, the Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum), the most important historicist large buildings of the Ringstrasse time. Together they stand around the Maria Theresa square, on which also the Maria Theresa monument stands. This course spans the former glacis between today's ring road and 2-line, and is forming a historical landmark that also belongs to World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna.
History
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Gallery
The Museum came from the collections of the Habsburgs, especially from the portrait and armor collections of Ferdinand of Tyrol, the collection of Emperor Rudolf II (most of which, however scattered) and the art collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm into existence. Already In 1833 asked Joseph Arneth, curator (and later director) of the Imperial Coins and Antiquities Cabinet, bringing together all the imperial collections in a single building .
Architectural History
The contract to build the museum in the city had been given in 1858 by Emperor Franz Joseph. Subsequently, many designs were submitted for the ring road zone. Plans by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Null planned to build two museum buildings in the immediate aftermath of the Imperial Palace on the left and right of the Heroes' Square (Heldenplatz). The architect Ludwig Förster planned museum buildings between the Schwarzenberg Square and the City Park, Martin Ritter von Kink favored buildings at the corner Währingerstraße/ Scots ring (Schottenring), Peter Joseph, the area Bellariastraße, Moritz von Loehr the south side of the opera ring, and Ludwig Zettl the southeast side of the grain market (Getreidemarkt).
From 1867, a competition was announced for the museums, and thereby set their current position - at the request of the Emperor, the museum should not be too close to the Imperial Palace, but arise beyond the ring road. The architect Carl von Hasenauer participated in this competition and was able the at that time in Zürich operating Gottfried Semper to encourage to work together. The two museum buildings should be built here in the sense of the style of the Italian Renaissance. The plans got the benevolence of the imperial family. In April 1869, there was an audience with of Joseph Semper at the Emperor Franz Joseph and an oral contract was concluded, in July 1870 was issued the written order to Semper and Hasenauer.
Crucial for the success of Semper and Hasenauer against the projects of other architects were among others Semper's vision of a large building complex called "Imperial Forum", in which the museums would have been a part of. Not least by the death of Semper in 1879 came the Imperial Forum not as planned for execution, the two museums were built, however.
Construction of the two museums began without ceremony on 27 November 1871 instead. Semper moved to Vienna in the sequence. From the beginning, there were considerable personal differences between him and Hasenauer, who finally in 1877 took over sole construction management. 1874, the scaffolds were placed up to the attic and the first floor completed, built in 1878, the first windows installed in 1879, the Attica and the balustrade from 1880 to 1881 and built the dome and the Tabernacle. The dome is topped with a bronze statue of Pallas Athena by Johannes Benk.
The lighting and air conditioning concept with double glazing of the ceilings made the renunciation of artificial light (especially at that time, as gas light) possible, but this resulted due to seasonal variations depending on daylight to different opening times .
Kuppelhalle
Entrance (by clicking the link at the end of the side you can see all the pictures here indicated!)
Grand staircase
Hall
Empire
The Kunsthistorisches Museum was on 17 October 1891 officially opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I. Since 22 October 1891 , the museum is accessible to the public. Two years earlier, on 3 November 1889, the collection of arms, Arms and Armour today, had their doors open. On 1 January 1890 the library service resumed its operations. The merger and listing of other collections of the Highest Imperial Family from the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Hofburg Palace and Ambras in Tyrol will need another two years.
189, the farm museum was organized in seven collections with three directorates:
Directorate of coins, medals and antiquities collection
The Egyptian Collection
The Antique Collection
The coins and medals collection
Management of the collection of weapons, art and industrial objects
Weapons collection
Collection of industrial art objects
Directorate of Art Gallery and Restaurieranstalt (Restoration Office)
Collection of watercolors, drawings, sketches, etc.
Restoration Office
Library
Very soon the room the Court Museum (Hofmuseum) for the imperial collections was offering became too narrow. To provide temporary help, an exhibition of ancient artifacts from Ephesus in the Theseus Temple was designed. However, additional space had to be rented in the Lower Belvedere.
1914, after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne, his " Estonian Forensic Collection " passed to the administration of the Court Museum. This collection, which emerged from the art collection of the house of d' Este and world travel collection of Franz Ferdinand, was placed in the New Imperial Palace since 1908. For these stocks, the present collection of old musical instruments and the Museum of Ethnology emerged.
The First World War went by, apart from the oppressive economic situation without loss. The farm museum remained during the five years of war regularly open to the public.
Until 1919 the K.K. Art Historical Court Museum was under the authority of the Oberstkämmereramt (head chamberlain office) and belonged to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The officials and employees were part of the royal household.
First Republic
The transition from monarchy to republic, in the museum took place in complete tranquility. On 19 November 1918 the two imperial museums on Maria Theresa Square were placed under the state protection of the young Republic of German Austria. Threatening to the stocks of the museum were the claims raised in the following weeks and months of the "successor states" of the monarchy as well as Italy and Belgium on Austrian art collection. In fact, it came on 12th February 1919 to the violent removal of 62 paintings by armed Italian units. This "art theft" left a long time trauma among curators and art historians.
It was not until the Treaty of Saint-Germain of 10 September 1919, providing in Article 195 and 196 the settlement of rights in the cultural field by negotiations. The claims of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Italy again could mostly being averted in this way. Only Hungary, which presented the greatest demands by far, was met by more than ten years of negotiation in 147 cases.
On 3 April 1919 was the expropriation of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine by law and the acquisition of its property, including the "Collections of the Imperial House" , by the Republic. Of 18 June 1920 the then provisional administration of the former imperial museums and collections of Este and the secular and clergy treasury passed to the State Office of Internal Affairs and Education, since 10 November 1920, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Education. A few days later it was renamed the Art History Court Museum in the "Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna State", 1921 "Kunsthistorisches Museum" . Of 1st January 1921 the employees of the museum staff passed to the state of the Republic.
Through the acquisition of the former imperial collections owned by the state, the museum found itself in a complete new situation. In order to meet the changed circumstances in the museum area, designed Hans Tietze in 1919 the "Vienna Museum program". It provided a close cooperation between the individual museums to focus at different houses on main collections. So dominated exchange, sales and equalizing the acquisition policy in the interwar period. Thus resulting until today still valid collection trends. Also pointing the way was the relocation of the weapons collection from 1934 in its present premises in the New Castle, where since 1916 the collection of ancient musical instruments was placed.
With the change of the imperial collections in the ownership of the Republic the reorganization of the internal organization went hand in hand, too. Thus the museum was divided in 1919 into the
Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection (with the Oriental coins)
Collection of Classical Antiquities
Collection of ancient coins
Collection of modern coins and medals
Weapons collection
Collection of sculptures and crafts with the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments
Picture Gallery
The Museum 1938-1945
Count Philipp Ludwig Wenzel Sinzendorf according to Rigaud. Clarisse 1948 by Baroness de Rothschildt "dedicated" to the memory of Baron Alphonse de Rothschildt; restituted to the Rothschilds in 1999, and in 1999 donated by Bettina Looram Rothschild, the last Austrian heiress.
With the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich all Jewish art collections such as the Rothschilds were forcibly "Aryanised". Collections were either "paid" or simply distributed by the Gestapo at the museums. This resulted in a significant increase in stocks. But the KHM was not the only museum that benefited from the linearization. Systematically looted Jewish property was sold to museums, collections or in pawnshops throughout the empire.
After the war, the museum struggled to reimburse the "Aryanised" art to the owners or their heirs. They forced the Rothschild family to leave the most important part of their own collection to the museum and called this "dedications", or "donations". As a reason, was the export law stated, which does not allow owners to perform certain works of art out of the country. Similar methods were used with other former owners. Only on the basis of international diplomatic and media pressure, to a large extent from the United States, the Austrian government decided to make a change in the law (Art Restitution Act of 1998, the so-called Lex Rothschild). The art objects were the Rothschild family refunded only in the 1990s.
The Kunsthistorisches Museum operates on the basis of the federal law on the restitution of art objects from the 4th December 1998 (Federal Law Gazette I, 181 /1998) extensive provenance research. Even before this decree was carried out in-house provenance research at the initiative of the then archive director Herbert Haupt. This was submitted in 1998 by him in collaboration with Lydia Grobl a comprehensive presentation of the facts about the changes in the inventory levels of the Kunsthistorisches Museum during the Nazi era and in the years leading up to the State Treaty of 1955, an important basis for further research provenance.
The two historians Susanne Hehenberger and Monika Löscher are since 1st April 2009 as provenance researchers at the Kunsthistorisches Museum on behalf of the Commission for Provenance Research operating and they deal with the investigation period from 1933 to the recent past.
The museum today
Today the museum is as a federal museum, with 1st January 1999 released to the full legal capacity - it was thus the first of the state museums of Austria, implementing the far-reaching self-financing. It is by far the most visited museum in Austria with 1.3 million visitors (2007).
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is under the name Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum with company number 182081t since 11 June 1999 as a research institution under public law of the Federal virtue of the Federal Museums Act, Federal Law Gazette I/115/1998 and the Museum of Procedure of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum, 3 January 2001, BGBl II 2/ 2001, in force since 1 January 2001, registered.
In fiscal 2008, the turnover was 37.185 million EUR and total assets amounted to EUR 22.204 million. In 2008 an average of 410 workers were employed.
Management
1919-1923: Gustav Glück as the first chairman of the College of science officials
1924-1933: Hermann Julius Hermann 1924-1925 as the first chairman of the College of the scientific officers in 1925 as first director
1933: Arpad Weixlgärtner first director
1934-1938: Alfred Stix first director
1938-1945: Fritz Dworschak 1938 as acting head, from 1938 as a chief in 1941 as first director
1945-1949: August von Loehr 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections in 1949 as general director of the historical collections of the Federation
1945-1949: Alfred Stix 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections in 1949 as general director of art historical collections of the Federation
1949-1950: Hans Demel as administrative director
1950: Karl Wisoko-Meytsky as general director of art and historical collections of the Federation
1951-1952: Fritz Eichler as administrative director
1953-1954: Ernst H. Buschbeck as administrative director
1955-1966: Vincent Oberhammer 1955-1959 as administrative director, from 1959 as first director
1967: Edward Holzmair as managing director
1968-1972: Erwin Auer first director
1973-1981: Friderike Klauner first director
1982-1990: Hermann Fillitz first director
1990: George Kugler as interim first director
1990-2008: Wilfried Seipel as general director
Since 2009: Sabine Haag as general director
Collections
To the Kunsthistorisches Museum are also belonging the collections of the New Castle, the Austrian Theatre Museum in Palais Lobkowitz, the Museum of Ethnology and the Wagenburg (wagon fortress) in an outbuilding of Schönbrunn Palace. A branch office is also Ambras in Innsbruck.
Kunsthistorisches Museum (main building)
Picture Gallery
Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection
Collection of Classical Antiquities
Vienna Chamber of Art
Numismatic Collection
Library
New Castle
Ephesus Museum
Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments
Arms and Armour
Archive
Hofburg
The imperial crown in the Treasury
Imperial Treasury of Vienna
Insignia of the Austrian Hereditary Homage
Insignia of imperial Austria
Insignia of the Holy Roman Empire
Burgundian Inheritance and the Order of the Golden Fleece
Habsburg-Lorraine Household Treasure
Ecclesiastical Treasury
Schönbrunn Palace
Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna
Armory in Ambras Castle
Ambras Castle
Collections of Ambras Castle
Major exhibits
Among the most important exhibits of the Art Gallery rank inter alia:
Jan van Eyck: Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, 1438
Martin Schongauer: Holy Family, 1475-80
Albrecht Dürer : Trinity Altar, 1509-16
Portrait Johann Kleeberger, 1526
Parmigianino: Self Portrait in Convex Mirror, 1523/24
Giuseppe Arcimboldo: Summer 1563
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary 1606/ 07
Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary (1606-1607)
Titian: Nymph and Shepherd to 1570-75
Portrait of Jacopo de Strada, 1567/68
Raffaello Santi: Madonna of the Meadow, 1505 /06
Lorenzo Lotto: Portrait of a young man against white curtain, 1508
Peter Paul Rubens: The altar of St. Ildefonso, 1630-32
The Little Fur, about 1638
Jan Vermeer: The Art of Painting, 1665/66
Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Fight between Carnival and Lent, 1559
Kids, 1560
Tower of Babel, 1563
Christ Carrying the Cross, 1564
Gloomy Day (Early Spring), 1565
Return of the Herd (Autumn), 1565
Hunters in the Snow (Winter) 1565
Bauer and bird thief, 1568
Peasant Wedding, 1568/69
Peasant Dance, 1568/69
Paul's conversion (Conversion of St Paul), 1567
Cabinet of Curiosities:
Saliera from Benvenuto Cellini 1539-1543
Egyptian-Oriental Collection:
Mastaba of Ka Ni Nisut
Collection of Classical Antiquities:
Gemma Augustea
Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós
Gallery: Major exhibits
Volvo B12B/Caetano Enigma.
ex National Express C049.
Departing Birmingham Airport car park on the JLR contract.
5 Nov 14
Elvis Aaron Presley[a] (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), often referred to mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to both great success and initial controversy.
Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on rhythm acoustic guitar, and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. In 1955, drummer D. J. Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage him for more than two decades. Presley's first RCA Victor single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. Within a year, RCA would sell ten million Presley singles. With a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records, Presley became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll; though his performative style and promotion of the then-marginalized sound of African Americans[6] led to him being widely considered a threat to the moral well-being of the White American youth.
In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender. Drafted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. He held few concerts, however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. Some of his most famous films included Jailhouse Rock (1957), Blue Hawaii (1961), and Viva Las Vegas (1964). In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii. Years of prescription drug abuse and unhealthy eating habits severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42.
Having sold over 400 million records worldwide, Presley is recognized as the best-selling solo music artist of all time by Guinness World Records. He was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, rhythm & blues, adult contemporary, and gospel. Presley won three Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. He holds several records, including the most RIAA-certified gold and platinum albums, the most albums charted on the Billboard 200, the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, and the most number-one singles by any act on the UK Singles Chart. In 2018, Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Vernon Elvis (April 10, 1916 – June 26, 1979) and Gladys Love (née Smith; April 25, 1912 – August 14, 1958) Presley in a two-room shotgun house that his father built for the occasion. Elvis's identical twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley, was delivered 35 minutes before him, stillborn. Presley became close to both parents and formed an especially close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God church, where he found his initial musical inspiration.
A photo of Elvis's parents at the Historic Blue Moon Museum in Verona, Mississippi
Presley's father Vernon was of German, Scottish and English origins. He was a descendant of the Harrison family of Virginia through his ancestor Tunis Hood. Presley's mother Gladys was Scots-Irish with some French Norman ancestry. His mother and the rest of the family believed that her great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was Cherokee. This belief was restated by Elvis's granddaughter Riley Keough in 2017. Elaine Dundy, in her biography, supports the belief.
Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, showing little ambition. The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of altering a check written by his landowner and sometime-employer. He was jailed for eight months, while Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives.
In September 1941, Presley entered first grade at East Tupelo Consolidated, where his teachers regarded him as "average". He was encouraged to enter a singing contest after impressing his schoolteacher with a rendition of Red Foley's country song "Old Shep" during morning prayers. The contest, held at the Mississippi–Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on October 3, 1945, was his first public performance. The ten-year-old Presley stood on a chair to reach the microphone and sang "Old Shep". He recalled placing fifth. A few months later, Presley received his first guitar for his birthday; he had hoped for something else—by different accounts, either a bicycle or a rifle. Over the following year, he received basic guitar lessons from two of his uncles and the new pastor at the family's church. Presley recalled, "I took the guitar, and I watched people, and I learned to play a little bit. But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it."
In September 1946, Presley entered a new school, Milam, for sixth grade; he was regarded as a loner. The following year, he began bringing his guitar to school on a daily basis. He played and sang during lunchtime and was often teased as a "trashy" kid who played hillbilly music. By then, the family was living in a largely black neighborhood. Presley was a devotee of Mississippi Slim's show on the Tupelo radio station WELO. He was described as "crazy about music" by Slim's younger brother, who was one of Presley's classmates and often took him into the station. Slim supplemented Presley's guitar instruction by demonstrating chord techniques. When his protégé was 12 years old, Slim scheduled him for two on-air performances. Presley was overcome by stage fright the first time, but succeeded in performing the following week.
In November 1948, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. After residing for nearly a year in rooming houses, they were granted a two-bedroom apartment in the public housing complex known as the Lauderdale Courts. Enrolled at L. C. Humes High School, Presley received only a C in music in eighth grade. When his music teacher told him that he had no aptitude for singing, he brought in his guitar the next day and sang a recent hit, "Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers Off Me", to prove otherwise. A classmate later recalled that the teacher "agreed that Elvis was right when he said that she didn't appreciate his kind of singing". He was usually too shy to perform openly and was occasionally bullied by classmates who viewed him as a "mama's boy".
In 1950, he began practicing guitar regularly under the tutelage of Lee Denson, a neighbor two and a half years his senior. They and three other boys—including two future rockabilly pioneers, brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette—formed a loose musical collective that played frequently around the Courts. That September, he began working as an usher at Loew's State Theater. Other jobs followed at Precision Tool, Loew's again, and MARL Metal Products. Presley also helped Jewish neighbors, the Fruchters, by being their shabbos goy.
During his junior year, Presley began to stand out more among his classmates, largely because of his appearance: he grew his sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil and Vaseline. In his free time, he would head down to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis's thriving blues scene, and gaze longingly at the wild, flashy clothes in the windows of Lansky Brothers. By his senior year, he was wearing those clothes. Overcoming his reticence about performing outside the Lauderdale Courts, he competed in Humes' Annual "Minstrel" show in April 1953. Singing and playing guitar, he opened with "Till I Waltz Again with You", a recent hit for Teresa Brewer. Presley recalled that the performance did much for his reputation: "I wasn't popular in school ... I failed music—only thing I ever failed. And then they entered me in this talent show ... when I came onstage I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering and so forth, 'cause nobody knew I even sang. It was amazing how popular I became in school after that."
Presley, who received no formal music training and could not read music, studied and played by ear. He also frequented record stores that provided jukeboxes and listening booths to customers. He knew all of Hank Snow's songs, and he loved records by other country singers such as Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Wills. The Southern gospel singer Jake Hess, one of his favorite performers, was a significant influence on his ballad-singing style. He was a regular audience member at the monthly All-Night Singings downtown, where many of the white gospel groups that performed reflected the influence of African-American spiritual music. He adored the music of black gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Like some of his peers, he may have attended blues venues—of necessity, in the segregated South—only on nights designated for exclusively white audiences. He certainly listened to the regional radio stations, such as WDIA-AM, that played "race records": spirituals, blues, and the modern, backbeat-heavy sound of rhythm and blues. Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African-American musicians such as Arthur Crudup and Rufus Thomas. B.B. King recalled that he had known Presley before he was popular when they both used to frequent Beale Street. By the time he graduated from high school in June 1953, Presley had already singled out music as his future.
Graceland is a mansion on a 13.8-acre (5.6-hectare) estate in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, which was once owned by the rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. His daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited Graceland after his death in 1977. Following Lisa Marie Presley's death in 2023, the mansion is to be inherited by her daughters. In addition to being the final resting place of Elvis Presley himself, the property contains the graves of his parents, paternal grandmother and grandson, and contains a memorial to Presley's stillborn twin brother. In addition, Lisa Marie Presley will be buried there.
Graceland is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the Whitehaven neighborhood, about nine miles (14 kilometers) south of central Memphis and fewer than four miles (6.4 km) north of the Mississippi border.[5] It was opened to the public as a house museum on June 7, 1982. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991, becoming the first site recognized for significance related to rock music. Graceland was declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006, also a first for such a site. Graceland attracts more than 650,000 visitors annually.
Graceland Farms was originally owned by Stephen C. Toof, founder of S.C. Toof & Co., the oldest commercial printing firm in Memphis. He worked previously as the pressroom foreman of the Memphis newspaper, the Memphis Daily Appeal. The "grounds" (before the mansion was built in 1939) were named after Toof's daughter, Grace. She inherited the farm/property from her father in 1894. After her death, the property was passed to her niece Ruth Moore, a Memphis socialite. Together with her husband, Thomas Moore, Ruth Moore commissioned construction of a 10,266-square-foot (953.7 m2) Colonial Revival style mansion in 1939. The house was designed by architects Furbringer and Ehrman.
After Elvis Presley began his musical career, he purchased a $40,000 home for himself and his family at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis. As his success and fame grew, especially after his appearances on television, the number of fans who would congregate outside the house multiplied. Presley's neighbors, although happy to have a celebrity living nearby, soon concluded that the constant gathering of fans and journalists was a nuisance.
In early 1957, Presley gave his parents, Vernon and Gladys Presley, a budget of $100,000 and asked them to find a "farmhouse"-like property to purchase, with buffer space around it. At the time, Graceland was located in southern Shelby County, several miles south of Memphis' main urban area. In later years, Memphis would expand with residential developments, resulting in Graceland being surrounded by other properties. Presley purchased Graceland on March 19, 1957, for the amount of $102,500.
Later that year, Presley invited Richard Williams and singer Buzz Cason to the house. Cason said: "We proceeded to clown around on the front porch, striking our best rock 'n' roll poses and snapping pictures with the little camera. We peeked in the not-yet-curtained windows and got a kick out of the pastel colored walls in the front rooms with shades of bright reds and purples that Elvis most certainly had picked out." Presley was fond of claiming that the US government had mooted a visit to Graceland by Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, "to see how in America a fellow can start out with nothing and, you know, make good."
After Gladys died in 1958 aged 46, Presley's father Vernon remarried to Dee Stanley in 1960, and the couple lived at Graceland for a time. There was some discord between Presley and his stepmother Dee at Graceland, however. Elaine Dundy, who wrote about Presley and his mother, said that
"Vernon had settled down with Dee where Gladys had once reigned, while Dee herself – when Elvis was away – had taken over the role of mistress of Graceland so thoroughly as to rearrange the furniture and replace the very curtains that Gladys had approved of." This was too much for the singer, who still loved his late mother deeply. One afternoon, "a van arrived ... and all Dee's household's goods, clothes, 'improvements,' and her own menagerie of pets, were loaded on ... while Vernon, Dee and her three children went by car to a nearby house on Hermitage until they finally settled into a house on Dolan Drive which ran alongside Elvis' estate."
According to Mark Crispin Miller, Graceland became for Presley "the home of the organization that was himself, was tended by a large vague clan of Presleys and deputy Presleys, each squandering the vast gratuities which Elvis used to keep his whole world smiling." The author adds that Presley's father Vernon "had a swimming pool in his bedroom", that there "was a jukebox next to the swimming pool, containing Elvis' favorite records", and that the singer himself "would spend hours in his bedroom, watching his property on a closed-circuit television." According to the singer's cousin, Billy Smith, Presley spent the night at Graceland with Smith and his wife Jo many times: "we were all three there talking for hours about everything in the world! Sometimes he would have a bad dream and come looking for me to talk to, and he would actually fall asleep in our bed with us."
Priscilla Beaulieu lived at Graceland for five years before she and Presley wed in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 1, 1967. Their daughter Lisa Marie Presley was born on February 1, 1968, and spent the first years of her life on the estate. After her parents divorced in 1972, her mother moved with the girl to California. Every year around Christmas, Lisa Marie Presley and all her family would go to Graceland to celebrate Christmas together. Lisa Marie often returned to Graceland for visits.
When Elvis would tour, staying in hotels, "the rooms would be remodeled in advance of his arrival, so as to make the same configurations of space as he had at home – the Graceland mansion. His furniture would arrive, and he could unwind after his performances in surroundings which were completely familiar and comforting." 'The Jungle Room' was described as being "an example of particularly lurid kitsch."[
On August 16, 1977, Presley died aged 42 at Graceland. The official cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, although later toxicology reports strongly suggested that polypharmacy was the primary cause of death; "fourteen drugs were found in Elvis' system, with several drugs such as codeine in significant quantities. Presley lay in repose in a 900-pound (410 kg), copper-lined coffin just inside the foyer; more than 3,500 of his mourning fans passed by to pay their respects. A private funeral with 200 mourners was held on August 18, 1977, in the house, with the casket placed in front of the stained glass doorway of the music room. Graceland continued to be occupied by members of the family until the death of Presley's aunt Delta in 1993, who had moved in at Elvis's invitation after her husband's death. Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited the estate in 1993 when she turned 25.
Presley's tombstone, along with those of his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, and his grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, are installed in the Meditation Garden next to the mansion. They can be visited during the mansion tours or for free before the mansion tours begin. A memorial gravestone for Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon, is also at the site.
In 2019, the owners of Graceland threatened to leave Memphis unless the city provided tax incentives. The Memphis City Council subsequently voted on a deal to help fund a $100 million expansion of Graceland.
Constructed at the top of a hill and surrounded by rolling pastures and a grove of oak trees, Graceland is designed by the Memphis architectural firm, Furbringer and Erhmanis. It's a two-story, five-bay residence in the Colonial Revival style, with a side-facing gabled roof covered in asphalt shingles, a central two-story projecting pedimented portico, and two one-story wings on the north and south sides. Attached to the wing is an additional one-story stuccoed wing, which was originally a garage that houses up to four cars. The mansion has two chimneys; one on the north side's exterior wall, the second rising through the south side's roof ridge. The central block's front and side facades are veneered with tan Tishomingo limestone from Mississippi and its rear wall is stuccoed, as are the one-story wings. The front facade fenestration on the first floor includes 9x9 double-hung windows set in arched openings with wooden panels above, and 6x6 double-hung windows on the second floor.
Flanked by two marble lions, four stone steps ascend from the driveway to the two-story central projecting pedimented portico. The pediment has dentils and a small, leaded oval window in the center while the portico contains four Corinthian columns with capitals modeled after architect James Stuart's conjectural porticos for the "Tower of the Winds" in Athens, Greece. The portico's cornered columns are matched by pilasters on the front facade. The doorway has a broken arched pediment, full entablature, and engaged columns while its transom and sidelights contain elaborate and colorful stained glass. And above the main entrance is another rectangular window, completed with a shallow iron balcony.
Graceland is 17,552 square feet (1,630.6 m2) and has a total of 23 rooms, including eight bedrooms and bathrooms. To the right of the Entrance Hall, through an elliptical-arched opening with classical details, is the Living Room. The Living Room contains a 15-foot-long (4.6 m) white couch against the wall overlooking the front yard. To the left are two white sofas, a china cabinet and a fireplace with a mirrored wall. The painting that hangs in the room was Elvis' last Christmas present from his father, Vernon, and also displayed are photographs of Elvis' parents Vernon and Gladys, Elvis and Lisa Marie. Behind an adjoined doorway is the Music Room, framed by vivid large peacocks set in stained glass and contains a black baby grand piano and a 1950s style TV. And the third adjacent room is a bedroom that was occupied by Elvis' parents. The walls, carpet, dresser, and queen size bed are bright white with the bed draped in a velvet-looking dark purple bedspread along with an en-suite full bathroom done in pink.
To the left of the Entrance Hall, mirroring the Living Room, is the Dining Room, headlined by a massive crystal chandelier. It features six plush chairs in golden metal frames set around a marble table, all of which are placed on black marble flooring in the center with carpet around the perimeter. Connected to the Dining Room is the Kitchen, which was used by Elvis' aunt Delta until her death in 1993 before it was opened to the public two years later.
The original one-story wing on the north end of the residence includes a mechanical room, bedroom, and bath. In the mid-1960s, Presley enlarged the house to create a den known as the Jungle Room which features an indoor waterfall of cut field stone on the north wall. The room also contains items both related to and imported from the state of Hawaii because, after starring in the tropical film "Blue Hawaii" (1961), the musician wanted to bring some memorabilia from The Aloha State to his mansion, which gives visitors the same feeling. In 1976, the Jungle Room was converted into a recording studio, where he recorded the bulk of his final two albums, From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee (1976) and Moody Blue (1977); these were his final known recordings in a studio setting.[27] During the mid-1960s expansion of the house, Presley constructed a large wing on the south side of the main house that was a sidewalk, between the music room in the original one-story wing and the swimming pool area, that connected to the house by a small enclosed gallery. The new wing initially housed a slot car track and to store his many items of appreciation, but was later remodeled to what is now known as the Trophy Building, which now features an exhibit about the Presley family, and includes Priscilla's wedding dress, Elvis' wedding tuxedo, Lisa Marie's toy chest and baby clothes and more.
The Entrance Hall contains a white staircase leading to the house's second floor with a wall of mirrors. However, the second floor is not open to visitors, out of respect for the Presley family, and partially to avoid any improper focus on the bathroom which was the site of his death. Still, it features Elvis' bedroom at the southwest corner that connects to his dressing room and bathroom in the northwest. His daughter Lisa Marie's bedroom is in the northeast corner, and in the southeast is a bedroom that served as a private personal office for the musician. The floor has been untouched since the day Elvis died and is rarely seen by non-family members.
Downstairs in the basement is the TV room, where Elvis often watched three television sets at once, and was within close reach of a wet bar. The three TV sets are built into the room's south wall and there's a stereo, and cabinets for Elvis' record collection. And painted on the west wall is The King's 1970s logo of a lightning bolt and cloud with the initials TCB, both of which represent 'taking care of business in a flash'. And the last room in the mansion opposite of the TV room is the billiard room; an avid billiards player, Elvis bought the pool table in 1960 and had the walls and ceiling covered with 350–400 yards of pleated cotton fabric after the two basement rooms were remodeled in 1974. The pool balls are arranged just the way they were in the musician's final days along with a strict warning sign to visitors that says "Please Do Not Touch! Thank You!" in capital letters. And in one corner of the pool table, there's a rip in the green felt, which was caused by one of Elvis' friends in a failed attempt of a trick shot.
Critics such as Albert Goldman write: "Though it cost a lot of money to fill up Graceland with the things that appealed to Elvis Presley, nothing in the house is worth a dime." In chapter 1 of his book, Elvis (1981), the author describes Graceland as looking like a brothel: "it appears to have been lifted from some turn-of-the-century bordello down in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Lulu White or the Countess Willie Piazza might have contrived this plushy parlor for the entertainment of Gyp the Blood. The room is a gaudy mélange of red velour and gilded tassels, Louis XV furniture and porcelain bric-a-brac..." And he dismisses the interior as "bizarre," "garish" and "phony," adding that "King Elvis's obsession with royal red reaches an intensity that makes you gag."
In similar terms, Greil Marcus writes that people who visited the inside of Graceland—"people who to a real degree shared Elvis Presley’s class background, and whose lives were formed by his music—have returned with one word to describe what they saw: ‘Tacky.’ Tacky, garish, tasteless—words others translated as white trash."
According to Karal Ann Marling, Graceland is "a Technicolor illusion. The façade is Gone With the Wind all the way. The den in the back is Mogambo with a hint of Blue Hawaii. Living in Graceland was like living on a Hollywood backlot, where patches of tropical scenery alternated with the blackened ruins of antebellum Atlanta. It was like living in a Memphis movie theater... Diehard fans are sometimes disappointed by the formal rooms along the highway side of Graceland. They’re beautiful, in a chilly blue-and-white way, but remote and overarranged." The Jungle Room's "overt bad taste" lets nonbelievers "recoil in horror and imagine themselves a notch or two higher than Elvis on the class scale."
After purchasing the property Presley spent in excess of $500,000 carrying out extensive modifications to suit his needs including a pink Alabama fieldstone wall surrounding the grounds that has several years' worth of graffiti (signatures and messages) from visitors, who simply refer to it as "the wall". Designed and built by Abe Sauer is the wrought-iron front gate shaped like a book of sheet music, along with green colored musical notes and two mirrored silhouettes of Elvis playing his guitar. Sauer also installed a kidney shaped swimming pool and a racquetball court, which is reminiscent of an old country club, furnished in dark leather and a functional bar. There is a sunken sitting area with the ever-present stereo system found throughout Graceland, as well as the dark brown upright piano upon which Elvis played for what were to be his last songs, Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and "Unchained Melody".
However, reports conflict about which one was the last song. The sitting area has a floor-to-ceiling shatterproof window designed to watch the many racquetball games that took place there when Elvis was alive. In the early hours of the morning on which Elvis died, he played a game of racquetball with his girlfriend Ginger Alden, his first cousin Billy Smith and Billy's wife Jo before ending the game with the song on the piano before walking into the main house to wash his hair and go to bed. Today the two story court has been restored to the way it was when Elvis used the building.
Elsewhere on the estate is a small white building that served as an office for Vernon, along with an old smokehouse that housed a shooting range and a fully functional stable of horses.
One of Presley's better known modifications was the addition of the Meditation Garden, designed and built by architect Bernard Grenadier. It was used by the musician to reflect on any problems or situations that arose during his life. It is also where his entire family is buried: himself (1935–1977), his parents Gladys (1912–1958) and Vernon (1916–1979), and grandmother Minnie Mae Hood (1890–1980) while a small stone memorializes his twin brother Jesse Garon, who died at birth thirty minutes before Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. In late 2020, Lisa Marie's son Benjamin Keough was laid to rest on the opposite end of the Meditation Garden after his death from suicide in July of that year. Lisa Marie Presley died from sudden cardiac arrest in January 2023 and is buried next to her son.
After Elvis Presley's death in 1977, Vernon Presley served as executor of his estate. Upon his death in 1979, he chose Priscilla to serve as the estate executor for Elvis's only child, Lisa Marie, who was only 11. Graceland itself cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Elvis's and Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie's inheritance to only $1 million. Taxes were due on the property; those and other expenses due came to over $500,000. Faced with having to sell Graceland, Priscilla examined other famous houses/museums, and hired a CEO, Jack Soden, to turn Graceland into a moneymaker. Graceland was opened to the public on June 7, 1982. Priscilla's gamble paid off; after only a month of opening Graceland's doors the estate made back all the money it had invested. Priscilla Presley became the chairwoman and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises, or EPE, stating at that time she would do so until Lisa Marie reached 21 years of age. The enterprise's fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million.
An annual procession through the estate and past Elvis's grave is held on the anniversary of his death. Known as Elvis Week, it includes a full schedule of speakers and events, including the only Elvis Mass at St. Paul's Church, the highlight for many Elvis fans of all faiths. The 20th Anniversary in 1997 had several hundred media groups from around the world that were present resulting in the event gaining its greatest media publicity.
One of the largest gatherings assembled on the 25th anniversary in 2002 with one estimate of 40,000 people in attendance, despite the heavy rain. On the 38th anniversary of Elvis's death, an estimated 30,000 people attended the Candlelight Vigil during the night of August 15–16, 2015. On the 40th anniversary of Elvis's death, on August 15–16, 2017, at least 50,000 fans were expected to attend the Candlelight Vigil. No official figure seems to have been released, maybe because, for the first time, attendees had to pay at least the lowest tour fare, $28.75, to cover the extra security costs due to a larger than usual crowd.
For many of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Graceland each year, the visit takes on a quasi-religious perspective. They may plan for years to journey to the home of the 'King' of rock and roll. On site, headphones narrate the salient events of Elvis's life and introduce the relics that adorn the rooms and corridors. The rhetorical mode is hagiographic, celebrating the life of an extraordinary man, emphasizing his generosity, his kindness and good fellowship, how he was at once a poor boy who made good, an extraordinary musical talent, a sinner and substance abuser, and a religious man devoted to the Gospel and its music. At the meditation garden, containing Elvis's grave, some visitors pray, kneel, or quietly sing one of Elvis's favorite hymns. The brick wall that encloses the mansion's grounds is covered with graffiti that express an admiration for Presley as well as petitions for help and thanks for favors granted.
The Graceland grounds include a new exhibit complex, Elvis Presley's Memphis, which includes a new car museum, Presley Motors, which houses Elvis's Pink Cadillac. The complex features new exhibits and museums, as well as a studio for Sirius Satellite Radio's all-Elvis Presley channel. The service's subscribers all over North America can hear Presley's music from Graceland around the clock. Not far away on display are his two aircraft including Lisa Marie (a Convair 880 jetliner) and Hound Dog II (a Lockheed JetStar business jet). The jets are owned by Graceland and are on permanent static display.
In early August 2005, Lisa Marie Presley sold 85% of the business side of her father's estate. She kept the Graceland property itself, as well as the bulk of the possessions found therein, and she turned over the management of Graceland to CKX, Inc., an entertainment company (on whose board of directors Priscilla Presley sat) that also owns 19 Entertainment, creator of the American Idol TV show.
Graceland Holdings LLC, led by managing partner Joel Weinshanker, is the majority owner of EPE. Lisa Marie Presley's estate retains a 15% ownership in the company.
In August 2018, Gladys Presley's headstone, which contained the Jewish star of David on one side and a cross on the other and was designed by Elvis himself, which become publicly displayed when it placed in Graceland's Mediation Garden after being stored for many years in the Graceland Archive.
Lisa Marie Presley's estate, which is being held in trust for her daughters Riley Keough and Harper and Finley Lockwood, retain 100% sole personal ownership of Graceland Mansion itself and its over 13-acre original grounds as well as Elvis Presley's personal effects – including costumes, wardrobe, awards, furniture, cars, etc. Prior to her death in 2023, Lisa Marie Presley had made the mansion property and her father's personal effects permanently available for tours of Graceland and for use in all of EPE's operations.
According to Elvis Presley's Enterprises, staff at Graceland informally kept a list of celebrities who had visited in the first years following Elvis's death. This practice was not formalized for a decade. Muhammad Ali was an early celebrity visitor in 1978, as was singer Paul Simon. He toured Graceland in the early 80s and afterward wrote a song of the same name; it was the title track of his Grammy-winning album Graceland.
During the Joshua Tree Tour in 1987, U2 toured Graceland. The footage was filmed for the film Rattle & Hum. During the visit, drummer, Larry Mullen Jr., sat on Elvis Presley's motorcycle -- against the rules for Graceland visitors.
On June 30, 2006, then US President George W. Bush hosted Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for a tour of the mansion. It was one of the few private residences on United States soil to have been the site of an official joint-visit by a sitting US president and a serving head of a foreign government. On August 6, 2010, Prince Albert II, Head of State of the Principality of Monaco, and his fiancée (now Princess of Monaco) Charlene Wittstock, toured Graceland while vacationing in the US. On May 26, 2013, Paul McCartney of The Beatles visited Graceland. Prince William and Prince Harry, while in Memphis for a friend's wedding, visited Graceland on May 2, 2014.
The home has also been visited by former US President Jimmy Carter; the late Duchess of Devonshire, the sitting ambassadors of India, France, China, Korea and Israel to the United States; as well as several US governors, members of the US Congress, and at least two Nobel Prize winners, namely singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, a Literature Prize laureate, and the former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, a Peace Prize honoree, who visited it on October 10, 2001.
In May 2016, Graceland welcomed a newlywed couple as its 20 millionth visitor.
In June 2022, actors Austin Butler and Tom Hanks visited the mansion and were interviewed virtually by the Good Morning America news program from the Jungle Room to talk about their biographical film Elvis.
In popular culture
Paul Simon named an album Graceland, as well as its title track. The song won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1987.
The song "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn mentions Graceland; in the second verse, he refers to the mansion and the Jungle Room. This song was later covered by Cher and Lonestar, among others.
The film 3000 Miles to Graceland is about a group of criminals who plan to rob a casino during an international Elvis week, disguised as Elvis impersonators. No scenes take place at or near the estate.
The film Finding Graceland stars Harvey Keitel with Johnathon Schaech. Keitel is an impersonator who claims to be the real Elvis after Schaech picks him up as a hitch-hiker.
In the rock music "mockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap, band members gather around Presley's grave at Graceland and attempt to sing a verse of "Heartbreak Hotel".
Pop punk group Groovie Ghoulies have a song called "Graceland" on their 1997 album Re-Animation Festival.
In the movie Zombieland: Double Tap, the protagonists venture to Graceland in hopes of shelter during a zombie apocalypse, but are distressed to find it in a ruined state.
During the credits of Lilo & Stitch, there's a photograph of Lilo, Nani, David and Stitch visiting the front gates of Graceland. Almost 20 years later, the original painting of that shot was put on display as part of the traveling Walt Disney Archives exhibition at Graceland.
In the season three episode of American Dad “The Vacation Goo”, Steve Smith asks Stan Smith if they can go to Graceland for their next vacation and Stan says “Steve, if you want to pay your respects to a fat man who died on the toilet, we can visit your Aunt Mary’s grave.”
Phoebe Bridgers has a song "Graceland Too" on her second studio album Punisher.
In the third episode of National Treasure: Edge of History, "Graceland Gambit," the main protagonist, Jess (portrayed by Lisette Olivera) is on a treasure hunt that leads her and her friends to Graceland.
Florence + The Machine reference Graceland and Elvis in their song "Morning Elvis" on their 2022 album Dance Fever.
Reptons Coaches won the Surrey CC contract for Spelthorne shoppers services 570, 571, 572 & 574 starting from September 2017, replacing Abellio Surrey on the services.
After a few months of using the spare bus, Mini Pointer Dart SL52 REP, with no destination blinds, a new bus has now arrived for the services.
It's Enviro200 SL18 REP.
Flanked by First hybrid 8s departing in either direction, it's seen here looking extremely smart leaving Staines bus station on a Monday 570 journey to Grovebarns and Wheatsheaf Lane.
Behind, a new Decathlon store had opened just one hour previously! Nice to see a new shop opening, given the current state of the High Street. BHS had previously occupied this unit.
South Street, Staines, Surrey.
twitter.com/KeltruckLtd/status/990148390930481152
New #Scania XT G410 joins the Scania only #Prichards fleet #TomPrichard #TomPrichardContacting #Llantrisant #Wales #SouthWales #Cymru #CF72 #ScaniaXT prichardholdings.co.uk
Cracking job, Peter Harris!
#SuppliedByKeltruck keltruckscania.com/suppliedbykeltruck
LLH6K was a Leyland Atlantean PDR2/1 / Roe H45/24F delivered new to Hall's of Hounslow for use on TWA airport work in April 1972. In addition to its Silverline Tours operations, the company had contracts to carry passengers between London (Heathrow) Airport and West London air terminals for both Trans World Airlines and Pan American World Airways, with coaches painted in the standard liveries of the two airlines.
On disposal in April 1975 it was sold to Lubi t/a London Cityrama and is shown on a tour of the city. It was later converted to open-top layout. In August 1984 it passed to Culture Bus of Feltham, then moved to Brown of Welling in 1987.
How to Heal Mindfully if Your Candidate Loses t.co/bVnYg2mRW3 via @GoodNewsNetwork (via Twitter twitter.com/GehresLaw/status/811360013239353344)
Photo by Astralia
Model - Beatrice Serendipity
TOP MODEL COMPETITION 2014
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BOSL is excited to announce the beginning of the amazing journey that our TOP MODEL COMPETITION is going to be for all of us. We are looking for an experienced model with great presence and the ability to be creative and style with class and good taste. If you want to be recognized and stand out from the crowd this is the contest of your dreams! We want to find the best TOP MODEL in SL and that could be you!
The TOP MODEL COMPETITION is open to all models in SL, male, female, from any agency, including former Miss and Mister Virtual World candidates, and previous Top Model competition finalists. You need a genuine hunger for success as a top model, and the look, style and runway posing abilities to sell any outfit.
The TOP MODEL competition is organised by BOSL, but the judges will be some of the best designers in SL, plus some of the fashion industry's most seasoned professionals. This is your chance to be seen by some of the most successful designers and influential people in the SL fashion world.
The winner will secure contracts with some of SL's best known designers, be on the cover and have a fashion spread in BOSL Magazine, walk in BOSL Fashion Week shows and receive a package of other rewards including magazine interviews and professional photographs.
Let's see if you have what it takes to be SL's Top Model!
Here are the steps to follow:
1. Join "the Best of SL Magazine Readers" group to get the most current contest information.
2. Create a FOLDER named "TOP MODEL COMPETITION Call 2014 - Your Name" and include the following:
3. A 512x512 or 1024x0124 raw snapshot FULL PERM in a white or black background, FULL BODY, of your BEST STYLING to show us why you should be the next Top Model. (LABEL - TOP MODEL - YOUR NAME - FULL BODY)
4. A 512x512 or 1024x1024 raw snapshot FULL PERM HEAD SHOT (LABEL - TOP MODEL - YOUR NAME - HEAD)
And include in the folder.
5. A notecard (full perm) called "I AM A TOP MODEL [YOUR NAME]" With your model resume, including details of your formal model training, agency affiliations, runway and print experience, plus your Flickr and blog URLs (if any).
6. Send the folder to me, Locuala Madruga, by MIDNIGHT SLT on Sunday, 25th May.
Please follow all these instructions - failure to do so will mean your application is disregarded. Incomplete applications will be excluded from the selection process.
LIVE CASTING
Chosen models will be announced in the BOSL Readers Group on May 27th 2014.
They will be invited to take part in an initial walk at 10 AM SLT on SUNDAY 1st June. From this walk off, 30 finalists will be selected to go through to the live heats.
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SELECTION PHASES
• Live heats will take place EVERY SUNDAY in JUNE at 10 AM SLT.
Make sure you will be available for these times.
• THE GRAND FINALE will be on SUNDAY JULY 6th time to be confirmed
• A jury of professionals in SL fashion industry (Top Models, Designers, etc..) will judge you on your Live Heats presentation based on your appearance, styling and interpretation of the assigned theme, as well as execution of the choreography. They will pick the models they consider are worth saving for the next round. Each week 5 finalists will be eliminated, until just 10 remain for the GRAND FINALE!
• A new and exciting element will be added to this year's contest - social media! Finalists styling will be published on the TOP MODEL Facebook page, and public votes in the form of "likes" will be counted in the live heats. So the public will be your judges too!
We can't wait to see what you have to show us!!!
Hugs!
*NOTE: We will not accept entries by The Best of SL Executives.
Locuala Madruga
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BOSL and BLVD Organitation
twitter.com/prichards1995/status/1101452418695479296
March 1st can only mean one thing... three brand new trucks have arrived and are out on the road! #Prichards #growingfleet #19plates #scania #suppliedbykeltruck
One of 99 gas buses currently in use in Bristol. 78 are operated by First West of England, and the remaining 21 are used by Bristol Community Transport on the Metrobus M1 contract.
There were 8 livery variations in use by First at the time the vehicles first started in service:
- 1 x Bristol's Gas bus (39401)
- 44 x Citylines East (39402-39404, 39406-39427, 39429-39441 & 39443-39448)
- 1 x Bristol Spare (39449)
- 13 x South Glos Lynx (39450-39462)
- 9 x Citylines 73 (39463-39466 & 39468-39472)
- 7 x Metrobus M3 (39481-39485, 39487 & 39488)
- 1 x Metrobus Red spare (39489)
- 2 x Bristol Spare, Metrobus spec (39491 & 39492)
Fleet number: 39415
Vehicle Registration: YN69DWF
Make & Model: Scania N280UD CNG Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 City
Operating Company: First West of England
Livery: Citylines East
Depot: Lawrence Hill
Feel free to 'like' my Facebook page to view more of my photographs.
Being on maternity leave means my work is looking after my babies. My husband also has a contracting business and does a lot of work from home. She was playing "working just little daddy!"
What happens when two models are contracted to do the same photoshoot by mistake? Harry Emmalong, the unfortunate fashion photographer found out when sisters Flambo and Gissles Lank turned up at the same time.
The plan had been a simple shot, featuring an armchair by the newly formed furniture company, Shabby Sheik. However, both women were determined they should be the model employed, not accepting it to be a back-office mistake.
Harry said "Frankly, I just let them argue it out amongst themselves. There was much squealing from the back room, and afterwards I found tufts of hair all over the floor. But I wasn't going to get involved".
Eventually, Harry took this shot of the pair trying to force themselves into the same chair. It was as good he was going to get that day, especially as they broke the chair.
Shabby Sheik were delighted with the picture, and paid both girls half the amount.
On receiving the news of this, there was much squealing from the back room.