The Hmong/Mong people (RPA: Hmoob/Moob, Nyiakeng Puachue: "", Pahawh Hmong: "" Hmong pronunciation: [ʰmɔ́ŋ]) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group living mainly in southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. They have been members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) since 2007. In China they are classified as a subgroup of the Miao people.

 

During the first and Second Indochina Wars, France and the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited thousands of Hmong people in Laos to fight against forces from North and South Vietnam and the communist Pathet Lao insurgents. This CIA operation is known as the Secret War.

 

HISTORY OF HMONG

The Hmong traditions and legends indicate that they originated near the Yellow River region of China. According to linguist Martha Ratliff, there is linguistic evidence to suggest that they have occupied some of the same areas of southern China for over 8,000 years. Evidence from mitochondrial DNA in Hmong–Mien–speaking populations supports the southern origins of maternal lineages even further back in time, although it has been shown that Hmong-speaking populations had comparatively more contact with northern East Asians than had the Mien.

 

The ancient town of Zhuolu is considered to be the birthplace of the widely proclaimed legendary Hmong king, Chi You. Today, a statue of Chi You has been erected in the town. The author of the Guoyu, authored in the 4th to 5th century, considered Chi You’s Jiu Li tribe to be related to the ancient ancestors of the Hmong, the San-Miao people.

 

In 2011, White Hmong DNA was sampled and found to contain 7.84% D-M15 and 6%N(Tat) DNA. The researchers posited a genetic relationship between Hmong-Mien peoples and Mon-Khmer people groups dating to the Last Glacial Maximum approximately 15-18,000 years ago.

 

Conflict between the Hmong of southern China and newly arrived Han settlers increased during the 18th century under repressive economic and cultural reforms imposed by the Qing dynasty. This led to armed conflict and large-scale migrations well into the late 19th century, the period during which many Hmong people emigrated to Southeast Asia. The migration process had begun as early as the late-17th century, however, before the time of major social unrest, when small groups went in search of better agricultural opportunities.

 

The Hmong people were subjected to persecution and genocide by the Qing dynasty government. Kim Lacy Rogers wrote: "In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while the Hmong lived in south-western China, their Manchu overlords had labeled them 'Miao' ('barbarian' or 'savage') and targeted them for genocide when they defied being humiliated, oppressed, and enslaved."

 

Since 1949, the Miao people (Chinese: 苗族; pinyin: miáo zú) has been an official term for one of the 55 official minority groups recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China. The Miao live mainly in southern China, in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hainan, Guangdong, and Hubei. According to the 2000 censuses, the number of 'Miao' in China was estimated to be about 9.6 million. The Miao nationality includes Hmong people as well as other culturally and linguistically related ethnic groups who do not call themselves Hmong. These include the Hmu, Kho (Qho) Xiong, and A Hmao. The White Miao (Bai Miao) and Green Miao (Qing Miao) are Hmong groups.

 

HMONG CLANS OF HAN ORIGN

A number of Miao lineage clans are also believed to have been founded by Chinese men who had married Miao women. These distinct Chinese-descended clans practice Chinese burial customs instead of Hmong style burials. In Sichuan, they were known as "Chinese Hmong" ("Hmong Sua"). The Hmong were instructed in military tactics by fugitive Chinese rebels.

 

Chinese men who had married into Hmong clans have established several Hmong clans. Chinese "surname groups" are comparable to the Hmong clans which are patrilineal, and practice exogamy. Hmong women married Han Chinese men who pacified the Ah rebels who were fighting against the Ming dynasty, and founded the Wang clan among the Hmong in Gongxian county, of Sichuan's Yibin district. Hmong women who married Chinese men founded a Xem clan in a Hmong village among Northern Thailand's Hmong. Lauj clan in Northern Thailand is another example of a clan created through Han and Hmong intermarriage. A Han Chinese with the family name of Deng found another Hmong clan there as well.

 

Jiangxi Han Chinese have held a claim as the forefathers of the southeast Guizhou Miao. Children were born to the many Miao women who had married Han Chinese soldiers in Taijiang before the second half of the 19th century. The Hmong Tian clan in Sizhou began in the seventh century as a migrant Han Chinese clan.

 

Non-Han women such as the Miao became wives of Han soldiers. These soldiers fought against the Miao rebellions during the Qing and Ming dynasties and at that time Han women were not available. The origin of the Tunbao people can be traced to the Ming dynasty, when the Hongwu Emperor sent 300,000 Han Chinese male soldiers in 1381 to conquer Yunnan and the men married Yao and Miao women.

 

The presence of women presiding over weddings was a feature noted in "Southeast Asian" marriages, such as in 1667 when a Miao woman in Yunnan married a Chinese official. In Yunnan, a Miao chief's daughter married a scholar in the 1600s who wrote that she could read, write, and listen in Chinese and read Chinese classics.

 

The Sichuan Hmong village of Wangwu was visited by Nicholas Tapp who wrote that the "clan ancestral origin legend" of the Wang Hmong clan, had said that there were several intermarriages with Han Chinese and possibly one of these was their ancestor Wang Wu; there were two types of Hmong, "cooked", who sided with Chinese, and "raw", who rebelled against the Chinese. The Chinese were supported by the Wang Hmong clan. A Hmong woman was married by the non-Hmong Wang Wu according to The Story of the Ha Kings in Wangwu village.

 

CULTURE

Hmong people have their own terms for their subcultural divisions. Hmong Der (Hmoob Dawb), and Hmong Leng (Hmoob Leeg) are the terms for two of the largest groups in the United States and Southeast Asia. These subgroups are also known as the White Hmong, and Blue or Green Hmong, respectively. These names originate from the color and designs of women's dresses in each respective group, with the White Hmong distinguished by the white dresses women wear on special occasions, and the Blue/Green Hmong by the blue batiked dresses that the women wear. The name and pronunciation "Hmong" is exclusively used by the White Hmong to refer to themselves, and many dictionaries use only the White Hmong dialect.

 

In the Romanized Popular Alphabet, developed in the 1950s in Laos, these terms are written Hmoob Dawb (White Hmong) and Hmoob Leeg (Green Hmong). The final consonants indicate with which of the eight lexical tones the word is pronounced.

 

White Hmong and Green Hmong speak mutually intelligible dialects of the Hmong language, with some differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. One of the most characteristic differences is the use of the voiceless /m̥/ in White Hmong, indicated by a preceding "H" in Romanized Popular Alphabet. Voiceless nasals are not found in the Green Hmong dialect. Hmong groups are often named after the dominant colors or patterns of their traditional clothing, style of head-dress, or the provinces from which they come.

 

VIETNAM AND LAOS

The Hmong groups in Vietnam and Laos, from the 18th century to the present day, are known as Black Hmong (Hmoob Dub), Striped Hmong (Hmoob Txaij), White Hmong (Hmoob Dawb), Hmong Leng (Hmoob Leeg) and Green Hmong (Hmoob Ntsuab). In other places in Asia, groups are also known as Black Hmong (Hmoob Dub or Hmong Dou), Striped Hmong (Hmoob Txaij or Hmoob Quas Npab), Hmong Shi, Hmong Pe, Hmong Pua, and Hmong Xau, Hmong Xanh (Green Hmong), Hmong Do (Red Hmong), Na Mieo and various other subgroups. These include the Flower Hmong or the Variegated Hmong (Hmong Lenh or Hmong Hoa), so named because of their bright, colorful embroidery work (called pa ndau or paj ntaub, literally "flower cloth").

 

NOMENCLATURE

CHINA

Usage of the term "Miao" (苗) in Chinese documents dates back to the Shi Ji (1st century BC) and the Zhan Guo Ce (late Western Han Dynasty). During this time, it was generally applied to people of the southern regions thought to be descendants of the San Miao kingdom (dated to around the 3rd millennium BC.) The term does not appear again until the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), by which time it had taken on the connotation of "barbarian." Being a variation of Nanman, it was used to refer to one kind of indigenous people in the southern China who had not been assimilated into Han culture. During this time, references to Unfamiliar (生 Sheng) and Familiar (熟 Shu) Miao appear, referring to level of assimilation and political cooperation of the two groups. Not until the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) do more finely grained distinctions appear in writing. Even then, discerning which ethnic groups are included in various classifications can be problematic.

 

This inconsistent usage of "Miao" makes it difficult to say for sure if Hmong and Mong people are always included in these historical writings. Christian Culas and Jean Michaud note: "In all these early accounts, then, until roughly the middle of the 19th century, there is perpetual confusion about the exact identity of the population groups designated by the term Miao. We should, therefore, be cautious with respect to the historical value of any early associations."

 

Linguistic evidence, however, places Hmong and Mong people in the same regions of southern China that they inhabit today for at least the past 2,000 years. By the mid-18th century, classifications become specific enough that it is easier to identify references to Hmong and Mong people.

 

The term 'Miao' is used today by the Chinese government to denote a group of linguistically and culturally related people (including the Hmong, Hmu, Kho Xiong, and A Hmao). The Hmong and Miao of China today believe they are one people with cultural and linguistic affiliations that transcend oceans and national boundaries. The educated elites of the two groups maintain close transnational contacts with one another.

 

SOUTHEAST ASIA

In Southeast Asia, Hmong people are referred to by other names, including: Vietnamese: Mèo, Mông or H'Mông; Lao: ແມ້ວ (Maew) or ມົ້ງ (Mong); Thai: แม้ว (Maew) or ม้ง (Mong); Burmese: မုံလူမျိုး (mun lu-myo). The xenonym, "Mèo", and variants thereof, are considered highly derogatory by some Hmong people in the USA.

 

A recent DNA research in Thailand found that Hmong paternal lineage is quite different from those lu Mien and other Southeast Asian tribes. The Hmong-Mien (HM) and Sino-Tibetan (ST) speaking groups are known as hill tribes in Thailand; they were the subject of the first studies to show an impact of patrilocality vs. matrilocality on patterns of mitochondrial (mt) DNA vs. male-specific portion of the Y chromosome (MSY) variation. However, HM and ST groups have not been studied in as much detail as other Thai groups; here we report and analyze 234 partial MSY sequences (∼2.3 mB) and 416 complete mtDNA sequences from 14 populations that, when combined with our previous published data, provides the largest dataset yet for the hill tribes. We find a striking difference between Hmong and IuMien (Mien-speaking) groups: the Hmong are genetically different from both the IuMien and all other Thai groups, whereas the IuMien are genetically more similar to other linguistic groups than to the Hmong. In general, we find less of an impact of patrilocality vs. matrilocality on patterns of mtDNA vs. MSY variation than previous studies. However, there is a dramatic difference in the frequency of MSY and mtDNA lineages of Northeast Asian (NEA) origin vs. Southeast Asian (SEA) origin in HM vs. ST groups: HM groups have high frequencies of NEA MSY lineages but lower frequencies of NEA mtDNA lineages, while ST groups show the opposite. A potential explanation is that the ancestors of Thai HM groups were patrilocal, while the ancestors of Thai ST groups were matrilocal. Overall, these results attest to the impact of cultural practices on patterns of mtDNA vs. MSY variation.

 

HMONG/MONG CONTROVERSY

When Western authors came in contact with Hmong people, beginning in the 18th century, they referred to them in writing by ethnonyms assigned by the Chinese (i.e., Miao, or variants). This practice continued into the 20th century. Even ethnographers studying the Hmong people in Southeast Asia often referred to them as Meo, a corruption of Miao applied by Thai and Lao people to the Hmong. Although "Meo" was an official term, it was often used as an insult against the Hmong people, and it is considered to be derogatory.

 

The issue came to a head during the passage of California State Assembly Bill (AB) 78, in the 2003–2004 season. Introduced by Doua Vu and Assembly Member Sarah Reyes, District 31 (Fresno), the bill encouraged changes in secondary education curriculum to include information about the Secret War and the role of Hmong people in the war. Furthermore, the bill called for the use of oral histories and first-hand accounts from Hmong people who had participated in the war and who were caught up in the aftermath. Originally, the language of the bill mentioned only "Hmong" people, intending to include the entire community. Several Mong Leng activists, led by Dr. Paoze Thao (Professor of Linguistics and Education at California State University, Monterey Bay), drew attention to the problems associated with omitting "Mong" from the language of the bill. They noted that despite nearly equal numbers of Hmong Der and Mong Leng in the United States, resources are disproportionately directed toward the Hmong Der community. This includes not only scholarly research but also the translation of materials, potentially including the curriculum proposed by the bill. Despite these arguments, "Mong" was not added to the bill. In the version that passed the assembly, "Hmong" was replaced by "Southeast Asians", a more broadly inclusive term.

 

Dr. Paoze Thao and some others feel strongly that "Hmong" can refer to only Hmong Der people and does not include "Mong" Leng people. He feels that the usage of "Hmong" about both groups perpetuates the marginalization of Mong Leng language and culture. Thus, he advocates the usage of both "Hmong" and "Mong" when referring to the entire ethnic group. Other scholars, including anthropologist Dr. Gary Yia Lee (a Hmong Der person), suggest that "Hmong" has been used for the past 30 years to refer to the entire community and that the inclusion of Mong Leng people is understood. Some argue that such distinctions create unnecessary divisions within the global community and will only confuse non-Hmong and Mong people trying to learn more about Hmong and Mong history and culture.

 

As a compromise alternative, multiple iterations of "Hmong" are proposed. A Hmong theologian, Rev. Dr. Paul Joseph T. Khamdy Yang has proposed the term “HMong” to encompass both the Hmong and Mong community by capitalizing the H and the M. The ethnologist Jacques Lemoine has also begun to use the term (H)mong when referring to the entirety of the Hmong and Mong community.

 

HMONG, MONG AND MIAO

Some non-Chinese Hmong advocate that the term Hmong be used not only for designating their dialect group but also for the other Miao groups living in China. They generally claim that the word "Miao" or "Meo" is a derogatory term, with connotations of barbarism, that probably should not be used at all. The term was later adopted by Tai-speaking groups in Southeast Asia where it took on especially insulting associations for Hmong people despite its official status.

 

In modern China, the term "Miao" does not carry these negative associations and people of the various sub-groups that constitute this officially recognized nationality freely identify themselves as Miao or Chinese, typically reserving more specific ethnonyms for intra-ethnic communication. During the struggle for political recognition after 1949, it was members of these ethnic minorities who campaigned for identification under the umbrella term "Miao"—taking advantage of its familiarity and associations of historical political oppression.

 

Contemporary transnational interactions between Hmong in the West and Miao groups in China, following the 1975 Hmong diaspora, have led to the development of a global Hmong identity that includes linguistically and culturally related minorities in China that previously had no ethnic affiliation. Scholarly and commercial exchanges, increasingly communicated via the Internet, have also resulted in an exchange of terminology, including Hmu and A Hmao people identifying as Hmong and, to a lesser extent, Hmong people accepting the designation "Miao," within the context of China. Such realignments of identity, while largely the concern of economically elite community leaders reflects a trend towards the interchangeability of the terms "Hmong" and "Miao.

 

DIASPORA

Roughly 95% of the Hmong live in Asia. Linguistic data show that the Hmong of the Peninsula stem from the Miao of southern China as one among a set of ethnic groups belonging to the Hmong–Mien language family. Linguistically and culturally speaking, the Hmong and the other sub-groups of the Miao have little in common.

 

Vietnam, where their presence is attested from the late 18th century onwards and characterized with both assimilation, cooperation and hostility, is likely to be the first Indochinese country into which the Hmong migrated. During the colonization of 'Tonkin' (north Vietnam) between 1883 and 1954, a number of Hmong decided to join the Vietnamese Nationalists and Communists, while many Christianized Hmong sided with the French. After the Viet Minh victory, numerous pro-French Hmong had to fall back to Laos and South Vietnam.

 

At the 2019 national census, there were 1,393,547 Hmong living in Vietnam, the vast majority of them in the north of the country. The traditional trade in coffin wood with China and the cultivation of the Opium Poppy – both prohibited only in 1993 in Vietnam – long guaranteed a regular cash income. Today, converting to cash cropping is the main economic activity. As in China and Laos, there is a certain degree of participation of Hmong in the local and regional administration. In the late 1990s, several thousands of Hmong started moving to the Central Highlands and some crossed the border into Cambodia, constituting the first attested presence of Hmong settlers in that country.

 

In 2015, the Hmong in Laos numbered 595,028. Hmong settlement there is nearly as ancient as in Vietnam. After decades of distant relations with the Lao kingdoms, closer relations between the French military and some Hmong on the Xieng Khouang plateau were set up after World War II. There, a particular rivalry between members of the Lo and Ly clans developed into open enmity, also affecting those connected with them by kinship. Clan leaders took opposite sides and as a consequence, several thousand Hmong participated in the fighting against the Pathet Lao Communists, while perhaps as many were enrolled in the People's Liberation Army. As in Vietnam, numerous Hmong in Laos also genuinely tried to avoid getting involved in the conflict in spite of the extremely difficult material conditions under which they lived during wartime.

 

After the 1975 Communist victory, thousands of Hmong from Laos had to seek refuge abroad (see Laos below). Approximately 30 percent of the Hmong left, although the only concrete figure we have is that of 116,000 Hmong from Laos and Vietnam together seeking refuge in Thailand up to 1990.

 

In 2002 the Hmong in Thailand numbered 151,080. The presence of Hmong settlements there is documented from the end of the 19th century. Initially, the Siamese paid little attention to them. But in the early 1950s, the state suddenly took a number of initiatives aimed at establishing links. Decolonization and nationalism were gaining momentum in the Peninsula and wars of independence were raging. Armed opposition to the state in northern Thailand, triggered by outside influence, started in 1967 while here again, much Hmong refused to take sides in the conflict. Communist guerrilla warfare stopped by 1982 as a result of an international concurrence of events that rendered it pointless. Priority is since given by the Thai state to sedentarizing the mountain population, introducing commercially viable agricultural techniques and national education, with the aim of integrating these non-Tai animists within the national identity.

 

Myanmar most likely includes a modest number of Hmong (perhaps around 2,500) but no reliable census has been conducted there recently.

 

As result of refugee movements in the wake of the Indochina Wars (1946–1975), in particular, in Laos, the largest Hmong community to settle outside Asia went to the United States where approximately 100,000 individuals had already arrived by 1990. By the same date, 10,000 Hmong had migrated to France, including 1,400 in French Guyana. Canada admitted 900 individuals, while another 360 went to Australia, 260 to China, and 250 to Argentina. Over the following years and until the definitive closure of the last refugee camps in Thailand in 1998, additional numbers of Hmong have left Asia, but the definitive figures are still to be produced.

 

In the rest of the world, where about 5% of the world Hmong population now lives, the United States is home to the largest Hmong population. The 2008 Census counted 171,316 people solely of Hmong ancestry, and 221,948 persons of at least partial Hmong ancestry. Other countries with significant populations include:

 

France: 15,000

Australia: 2,000

French Guiana: 1,500

Canada: 835

Argentina: 600

 

The Hmong population within the United States is centered in the Upper Midwest (Wisconsin, Minnesota) and California.

 

HMONG IN VIETNAM

Hmongs in Vietnam today are perceived very differently between various political organizations and changed throughout times. The Hmongs of Vietnam are a small minority and because of this, their loyalty toward the Vietnamese state has also been under question. Nonetheless, most Hmongs in Vietnam are fiercely loyal to the Vietnamese state, regardless of the current ideologies of the government with only those minorities supportive of Hmong resistance in Laos and Cambodia. These are mostly Christian Hmongs who have fallen under target and poverty strike by alienation of both three Indochinese governments, since there has been no Hmong armed separatism in the country. The Hmongs in Vietnam also receive cultural and political promotion from the government alike. This unique feature distanced Vietnamese Hmongs from Laotian Hmongs, as their Laotian cousins are strongly anti-Vietnamese.

 

LAOS

U.S. AND LAOTIAN CIVIL WAR

In the early 1960s, partially as a result of the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Special Activities Division began to recruit, train and lead the indigenous Hmong people in Laos to fight against North Vietnamese Army divisions invading Laos during the Vietnam War. This "Secret Army" was organized into various mobile regiments and divisions, including various Special Guerrilla Units, all of whom were led by General Vang Pao. An estimated sixty-percent (60%) of Hmong men in Laos joined up.

 

While Hmong soldiers were known to assist the North Vietnamese in many situations, Hmong soldiers were also recognized for serving in combat against the NVA and the Pathet Lao, helping block Hanoi's Ho Chi Minh trail inside Laos and rescuing downed American pilots. Though their role was generally kept secret in the early stages of the conflict, they made great sacrifices to help the U.S.

 

Thousands of economic and political refugees have resettled in Western countries in two separate waves. The first wave resettled in the late 1970s, mostly in the United States, after the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao takeovers of the pro-US governments in South Vietnam and Laos respectively. The Lao Veterans of America, and Lao Veterans of America Institute, helped to assist in the resettlement of many Laotian and Hmong refugees and asylum seekers in the United States, especially former Hmong veterans and their family members who served in the "U.S. Secret Army" in Laos during the Vietnam War.

 

HMONG LAO RESISTANCE

For many years, the Neo Hom resistance and political movement played a key role in resistance to the Vietnam People's Army in Laos following the U.S. withdrawal in 1975. Vang Pao played a significant role in this movement. Additionally, a spiritual leader Zong Zoua Her, as well as other Hmong leaders, including Pa Kao Her or Pa Khao Her, rallied some of their followers in an additional factionalized guerrilla resistance movement called ChaoFa (RPA: Cob Fab, Pahawh Hmong: ChaoFaPahawh.png). These events led to the yellow rain controversy when the United States accused the Soviet Union of supplying and using chemical weapons in this conflict.

 

Small groups of Hmong people, many of the second or third generation descendants of former CIA soldiers, remain internally displaced in remote parts of Laos, in fear of government reprisals. Faced with continuing military operations against them by the government and a scarcity of food, some groups have begun coming out of hiding, while others have sought asylum in Thailand and other countries. Hmongs in Laos, in particularly, develop a stronger and deeper anti-Vietnamese sentiment than its Vietnamese Hmong cousins, due to historic persecution perpetrated by the Vietnamese against them.

 

CONTROVERSY OVER REPATRIATION

In June 1991, after talks with the UNHCR and the Thai government, Laos agreed to the repatriation of over 60,000 Lao refugees living in Thailand, including tens of thousands of Hmong people. Very few of the Lao refugees, however, were willing to return voluntarily. Pressure to resettle the refugees grew as the Thai government worked to close its remaining refugee camps. While some Hmong people returned to Laos voluntarily, with development assistance from UNHCR, coercive measures and forced repatriation was used to send thousands of Hmong back to the communist regime they had fled. Of those Hmong who did return to Laos, some quickly escaped back to Thailand, describing discrimination and brutal treatment at the hands of Lao authorities.

 

In the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, The Center for Public Policy Analysis, a non-governmental public policy research organization, and its Executive Director, Philip Smith, played a key role in raising awareness in the U.S. Congress and policy making circles in Washington, D.C. about the plight of the Hmong and Laotian refugees in Thailand and Laos. The CPPA, backed by a bipartisan coalition of Members of the U.S. Congress as well as human rights organizations, conducted numerous research missions to the Hmong and Laotian refugee camps along the Mekong River in Thailand, as well as the Buddhist temple of Wat Tham Krabok.

 

Amnesty International, the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc., Lao Human Rights Council, Inc. (led by Dr. Pobzeb Vang Vang Pobzeb, and later Vaughn Vang) and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights organizations joined the opposition to forced repatriation.

 

Although some accusations of forced repatriation were denied, thousands of Hmong people refused to return to Laos. In 1996, as the deadline for the closure of Thai refugee camps approached, and under mounting political pressure, the U.S. agreed to resettle Hmong refugees who passed a new screening process. Around 5,000 Hmong people who were not resettled at the time of the camp closures sought asylum at Wat Tham Krabok, a Buddhist monastery in central Thailand where more than 10,000 Hmong refugees were already living. The Thai government attempted to repatriate these refugees, but the Wat Tham Krabok Hmong refused to leave and the Lao government refused to accept them, claiming they were involved in the illegal drug trade and were of non-Lao origin.

 

In 2003, following threats of forcible removal by the Thai government, the U.S., in a significant victory for the Hmong, agreed to accept 15,000 of the refugees. Several thousand Hmong people, fearing forced repatriation to Laos if they were not accepted for resettlement in the U.S., fled the camp to live elsewhere within Thailand where a sizable Hmong population has been present since the 19th century.

 

In 2004 and 2005, thousands of Hmong fled from the jungles of Laos to a temporary refugee camp in the Thai province of Phetchabun.

 

The European Union, UNHCHR, and international groups have since spoken out about the forced repatriation.

 

ALLEGED PLOT TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERMENT OF LAOS

On 4 June 2007, as part of an investigation labeled "Operation Tarnished Eagle," warrants were issued by U.S. federal courts ordering the arrest of Vang Pao and nine others for plotting to overthrow the government of Laos in violation of the federal Neutrality Acts and for multiple weapons charges. The federal charges allege that members of the group inspected weapons, including AK-47s, smoke grenades, and Stinger missiles, with the intent of purchasing them and smuggling them into Thailand in June 2007 where they were intended to be used by Hmong resistance forces in Laos. The one non-Hmong person of the nine arrested, Harrison Jack, a 1968 West Point graduate and retired Army infantry officer, allegedly attempted to recruit Special Operations veterans to act as mercenaries.

 

In an effort to obtain the weapons, Jack allegedly met unknowingly with undercover U.S. federal agents posing as weapons dealers, which prompted the issuance of the warrants as part of a long-running investigation into the activities of the U.S.-based Hmong leadership and its supporters.

 

On 15 June, the defendants were indicted by a grand jury and a warrant was also issued for the arrest of an 11th man, allegedly involved in the plot. Simultaneous raids of the defendants' homes and work locations, involving over 200 federal, state and local law enforcement officials, were conducted in approximately 15 cities in Central and Southern California in the US.

 

Multiple protest rallies in support of the suspects, designed to raise awareness of the treatment of Hmong peoples in the jungles of Laos, took place in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Alaska, and several of Vang Pao's high-level supporters in the U.S. criticized the California court that issued the arrest warrants, arguing that Vang is a historically important American ally and a valued leader of U.S. and foreign-based Hmong. However, calls for then Californian Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and then President George W. Bush to pardon the defendants were not answered, presumably pending a conclusion of the large and then still-ongoing federal investigation.

 

On 18 September 2009, the US federal government dropped all charges against Vang Pao, announcing in a release that the federal government was permitted to consider "the probable sentence or other consequences if the person is convicted." On 10 January 2011, after Vang Pao's death, the federal government dropped all charges against the remaining defendants saying, "Based on the totality of the circumstances in the case, the government believes, as a discretionary matter, that continued prosecution of defendants is no longer warranted," according to court documents.

 

THAILAND

The Hmong presence in Thailand dates back, according to most authors, to the turn of the 20th century when families migrated from China through Laos and Burma. A relatively small population, they still settled dozens of villages and hamlets throughout the northern provinces. The Hmong were then registered by the state as the Meo hill tribe. Then, more Hmong migrated from Laos to Thailand following the victory of the Pathet Lao in 1975. While some ended up in refugee camps, others settled in mountainous areas among more ancient Hill Tribes.

 

AMERICAS

Many Hmong refugees resettled in the United States after the Vietnam War. Beginning in December 1975, the first Hmong refugees arrived in the U.S., mainly from refugee camps in Thailand; however, only 3,466 were granted asylum at that time under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. In May 1976, another 11,000 were allowed to enter the United States, and by 1978 some 30,000 Hmong people had immigrated. This first wave was made up predominantly of men directly associated with General Vang Pao's secret army. It was not until the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980 that families were able to enter the U.S., becoming the second wave of Hmong immigrants. Hmong families scattered across all 50 states but most found their way to each other, building large communities in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin. As of the 2010 census, 260,073 Hmong people reside in the United States the majority of whom live in California (91,224), Minnesota (66,181), and Wisconsin (49,240), an increase from 186,310 in 2000. Of them, 247,595 or 95.2% are Hmong alone, and the remaining 12,478 are mixed Hmong with some other ethnicity or race. The vast majority of part-Hmong are under 10 years old.

 

The Hmong people, who are a distinct ethnic group with ancient roots and ancestry in China, began settling in Minnesota in 1975. The Hmong came to Minnesota as refugees from the destructive wars that had ravaged and taken place in their homelands in Laos. Today, there are 150,000 Hmong in the U.S. states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and California. More than 66,000 Hmong reside in Minnesota with the majority living in the St. Paul area. The Twin Cities metro is home to the largest concentration of Hmong in America. For decades, the Hmong have not only made a profound impact on their adopted home in Minnesota, but the Hmong culture has collaborated with the community to document this remarkable story by collecting images, artifacts, oral histories, sharing stories, and by publishing articles and books on the Hmong experience.

 

In terms of cities and towns, the largest Hmong-American community is in St. Paul (29,662), followed by Fresno (24,328), Sacramento (16,676), Milwaukee (10,245), and Minneapolis (7,512).

 

There are smaller Hmong communities scattered across the United States, including those in Minnesota (Rochester, Mankato, Duluth) Michigan (Detroit and Warren); Anchorage, Alaska; Denver, Colorado; Portland, Oregon; Washington; North Carolina (Charlotte, Morganton); South Carolina (Spartanburg); Georgia (Auburn, Duluth, Monroe, Atlanta, and Winder); Florida (Tampa Bay); Wisconsin (Madison, Eau Claire, Appleton, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Wausau); Aurora, Illinois; Kansas City, Kansas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Missoula, Montana; Des Moines, Iowa; Springfield, Missouri; Arkansas, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island.

 

Canada's small Hmong population is mostly concentrated within the province of Ontario. Kitchener, Ontario has 515 residents of Hmong descent, and has a Hmong church.

 

There is also a small community of several thousand Hmong who migrated to French Guiana in the late 1970s and early 1980s, that can be mainly found in the Hmong villages of Javouhey (1200 individuals) and Cacao (950 individuals).

 

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

Some Laos- and Vietnam-based Hmong Animists and Christians, including Protestant and Catholic believers, have been subjected to military attacks, police arrest, imprisonment, forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and torture on anti-religious grounds.

 

The deportation of Zoua Yang and her 27 children from Thailand in December 19, 2005 after the group was arrested attending a Christian church in Ban Kho Noi, Phetchabun Province, Thailand, where upon arrival back in Laos, Ms. Yang and her children were detained, after which the whereabouts of much of the family are still unknown.

 

For example, in 2013, a Hmong Christian pastor, Vam Ngaij Vaj (Va Ngai Vang), was beaten to death by police and security forces. In February 2014, in Hanoi, Vietnamese government officials refused to allow medical treatment for a Hmong Christian leader, Duong Van Minh, who was suffering from a serious kidney illness. In 2011, Vietnam People's Army troops were used to crush a peaceful demonstration by Hmong Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical Christian believers who gathered in Dien Bien Province and the Dien Bien Phu area of northwestern Vietnam, according to Philip Smith of the Center for Public Policy Analysis, independent journalists and others.

 

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has documented official and ongoing religious persecution, religious freedom violations against the Laotian and Hmong people in both Laos and Vietnam by the governments. In April 2011, the Center for Public Policy Analysis also researched and documented cases of Hmong Christians being attacked and summarily executed, including four Lao Hmong Christians.

 

WIKIPEDIA

pvc080612c/8-6-12/asec. Public defenders consult with their clients before MDC inmates are arraigned before District Court Judge Reed Sheppard, not pictured, photographed Monday Aug. 6, 2012. (Pat Vasquez-Cunningham/Journal)

some robots break free of their former oppressors shackles, sometimes they form mini states in the Lower Levels of the capital planet often mimicking human society which is rather strange since the often claim to hate these Flechies culture...

 

Here are four service men captured in fighting the rebellion, now they are "in court"!

 

- (Robot Ballfit) Bzzz-Krrr-poing! Could all bots and humans stand up the Main Judge His revered holiness Judge Groin-bolt is entering the court...

 

- (Judge G-B) I... I am... I am here, I have, I haaaave I have my Audio-holes open may all the defendants, defendents, prostituters, Ballfit and Avocados sit again, I am Here...

I hereby start the.. the court!

Ballfit Please read the amusications on the Human scum!

 

- (Ballfit) Poing_Bzzz-Krr! these humans are accusated in the suspection of being Human Fleshies and therefor constitute a illegal subject to juridical law under the suspected crime of being human and therefor constitute a "crime agains humanity" According to Frederational Charter of the Robot republic of zone 234 Bh 22!

 

- (Judge) Lojjer do eh, you have... anythings to say to your clements defendification!

 

- (lajjer) Yes, I am pretty sure they are organics I saw one of them soil his suit I have also bespoken up on them and they all admit of being human which is a crime against Humanity and quite frankly a crime so horrible that they never ever must be forgiven...

 

- (Judge) Ok, we have heard their defending side, has the prostitutor have anything to say?

 

- (prostitutor) My Lord, I object!

 

- (judge) object to what? Speak forth revered honorable prostitutor!

 

- (Prostitutor) Ah, Wait my circuits got mixed up, I was speaking about last weeks court where I was a layyer!

 

- (Judge) Very well Prostitutor, this is a new court, please pay attention and speak now or be silent!

 

- (prostitutor) Ok, My honor, my lovely huge Judge! I will speak, I was thinking about a thing, where did the first human come from? who built them?

 

- (judge) Objection refused!

Now let the repulsive fleshiies talk in their own defense, Yellow Suilt Human start:

 

- (yellow suited human) I am Marissa and I am actually sympathetic to the robot emancipation cause...

 

(the Judge interrupts)

 

- (judge) silent Human scum, speak only when addressed, I will add 15 years to the sentence!

Now, blue suited human may you speak with your slimy organic tongue...

 

- (blue Suited Human) ...your honor I think this is a non functioning fake court, it is not based on any reality, I will not speak and give this banana-kangaroo fake court any credence I will remain silent in a protest!

 

- (judge) great speech tiny human, I eh, I really like it I will put a golden star in the corner of your case file...

 

To save time we will jump past the testeronies of the last two scum humans, I the almighty judge refuse to give black-suited human and the last one any speech in this technocratic court, I will skip right to the jury!

Jury have your saying in alphabetic order:

 

- (Jury Member) I sentence them all to be remolded in to cyber-slaves to quarry coal in the mines for eternity!

 

- (Judge) Oh, I though I was the one who where gonna put the sentence, but since the jury member already has I agree to his sentence and add the Bonuses and punishment to the two individuals who earned them, since the Jury consisting of the Jury Member who just spoke gave them the punishment they deserve I will instead do what the jury should and thereby proclaim them guilty of being humans a horrible crime against all of humanity...

 

(Clomp) (clomp) a hammer-like gavel hits the judges kneecap

 

The YOUNG Post Office had Henry Richard Young as its first postmaster, followed by Frank August Young (Frans August Karlsson). The latter was still postmaster in 1904, when its name was changed to KEATING, after a local landowner.

 

Henry Richard Young

(b. 22 February 1839 in Windsor, England - d. 22 October 1919 at age 80 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) - occupation - Postmaster at YOUNG, B.C. from - 1 August 1892 to - 28 January 1904.

 

(clipped from - The Victoria Daily Times newspaper - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada • March 23, 1915) - Threatened Man's Life - Mrs. Lambert Displayed Knife and was Going to Kill Henry Richard Young - LINK to the newspaper article - www.newspapers.com/article/the-victoria-daily-times-threa...

 

(clipped from - The Victoria Daily Times newspaper - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada • October 22, 1919) - Henry Richard Young passed away at the family residence, 2660 Rose Street, this morning at the age of eighty years and eight months. An Englishman by birth, he had been a resident of Canada for the past forty-nine years. Prior to taking up his residence in the city eight years ago he had been a resident of South Saanich for many years, where he was well known and highly esteemed. - LINK - www.newspapers.com/article/the-victoria-daily-times-obitu...

 

His wife - Mary (nee ?) Young

(b. 1839 in Dorking, England - d. 18 February 1894 at age 55 in Victoria, British Columbia)

 

KEATING, 16 km north of VICTORIA on the Saanich Peninsula, is an agricultural and residential district established in the early 1890s and named for a local landowner. It was originally called YOUNG, after Henry Richard Young, a pioneer settler and the first postmaster. Written by Andrew Scott

 

KEATING (community) - North of Bear Hill in South Saanich District, apparently named after Andres Keating, who is also commemorated by lake in Sahtlam District West of Duncan.

 

Prior to the 1960s, KEATING was an informal farming community defined by Keating Cross Road and surrounding areas. In contrast with today's streetscape of light industry, commercial businesses and subdivisions, one saw farms and fields of strawberries and loganberries. In 1868, Captain George Stephen Butler purchased 120 acres of land which covered an area from Veyaness Road almost to West Saanich Road. A map from 1885 showis the main road was then called Butler Cross Road. According to the Saanich Archives, it was later formally renamed after Andres Keating, a neighbouring land owner.

 

(from 1918 - Wrigley's British Columbia directory) - KEATING - a post office and farming settlement in Saanich municipality, on the G. N. Railway Victoria & Sidney line, 11 miles north of Victoria, the business centre, Saanich Provincial Electoral District. Is served also by the B. C. Electric and C. N. Railways. Has Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches. Local resources: Fruit-growing and mixed farming.

 

The Post Office at YOUNG, B.C was established - 1 August 1892 and closed - 1 March 1904 - the Post Office changed name to KEATING - 18 March 1904 and closed - 31 October 1925.

 

LINK to a list of the Postmasters who served at the YOUNG Post Office - recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record... and the KEATING Post Office - recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record...

 

Frank August Young served as Postmaster at YOUNG / KEATING British Columbia from - 1 April 1904 to - 15 July 1912.

 

Frank August Young / Frans August Karlsson

(b. 15 May 1860 at Hjo, Skaraborg, Sweden - d. 1 August 1932 at age 72 in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada) - occupation - Postmaster at YOUNG / KEATING, British Columbia. LINK to the complete newspaper obituary - www.newspapers.com/article/times-colonist-obituary-for-fr...

 

Old-time Resident Of Saanich Dies - Frank August Young, a resident of Saanich for many years, passed away yesterday at his home at Keating Cross road, aged seventy-two years. He is survived by one son, Harold, and three daughters In Saanich, Mrs. J. Sluggett, Mrs. Edward Bull and Mrs. Thomas Mitchell, also two daughters, Mrs. Stephens and Miss Ona Young, in Redwood City, and sixteen grand, children.

 

His wife - Amanda Christina (nee Brant) Young

(b. 8 August 1869 in USA – d. 13 April 1932 at age 62 in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada) - LINK to her newspaper obituary - www.newspapers.com/article/times-colonist-obituary-for-am...

 

- sent from - / YOUNG / AP 7 / 99 / B.C. / - split ring cancel - this split ring hammer (A1-1) was proofed - 26 July 1892 - (RF E / now is classified as ?).

 

- via - / VICTORIA / AM / AP 7 / 99 / B.C. / - cds transit backstamp

 

- arrival - / TORONTO / 16 / AP 13 / 99 / CANADA / - split ring arrival backstamp

 

- sent by - Mrs. J. G. McKay / Young P.O. / B.C.

 

John George / Gunn McKay

(b. 8 April 1868 in Owen Sound, Grey County, Ontario - d. 13 July 1952 at age 84 in Victoria) - occupations - farmer, masseur - LINK to his death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/20...

 

(clipped from the - The Victoria Daily Times - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada • April 26, 1933 - JUDGE FREES EX VICTORIAN - Alimony Not a Debt Justice Rules in Ordering John G. McKay Released - Judgment This Afternoon Protects Ex-wife and Sheriff From Damage Actions - John George McKay, the Calgary masseur, who, when he returned to Victoria week ago to visit his son and daughter, was seized by deputy sheriffs on a writ of capias issued by his ex-wlfe, Hannah McKay of Victoria, and her counsel, F. C. Elliott, was ordered released from jail at 1 o'clock this afternoon, when Mr. Justice Murphy in the Supreme Court handed down judgment granting the application of C. H. O'Halloran for the man's release. Mrs. McKay claims unpaid alimony of $7,800 running back to 1924, when Mr. McKay moved from Victoria to Calgary. Hearing of the case started yesterday morning. The judge in his findings affirmed the submissions of Mr. O'Halloran. Mr. McKay has been held in jail for the last week. "In my opinion permanent alimony is not a debt, though it may be a money demand," said the Justice. "The order will be to set aside the writ of capias and discharge the defendant out of custody with costs? but that no action should be brought against the plaintiff or the sheriff by reason of the capias or the arrest. LINK to the complete newspaper article - www.newspapers.com/article/the-victoria-daily-times-judge...

 

His first wife - Hannah / Anna (nee Frizzell) McKay

(b. 7 February 1868 in Owen Sound, Grey County, Ontario - d. 7 July 1952 at age 84 in Victoria, British Columbia) - they were married - 11 November 1891 in British Columbia - LINK to their marriage certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/10... - they were divorced - May 1923. LINK to their divorce - www.newspapers.com/article/the-victoria-daily-times-divor... - LINK to her death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/8a...

 

His second wife - Ellen "Ella / Nell" (nee Tiderington) McKay

(b. 25 August 1875 in Sombra, Lambton County, Ontario – d. 10 March 1930 at age 54 in Victoria, British Columbia) - they were married - 31 May 1923 in Vancouver, British Columbia - LINK to their marriage certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/8f...

 

Addressed to: Rennie's / Seeds. / William Rennie / Toronto, / Canada - (company issued envelope)

 

WILLIAM RENNIE agriculturist, seed merchant, farm superintendent, and author; b. 15 March 1835 in Scarborough Township, Upper Canada, son of Robert Rennie and Elizabeth Fife; m. 13 March 1862 Sarah Glendinning of Scarborough, and they had four sons; d. 24 July 1910 in Swansea (Toronto).

 

Link to a biographical article on William Rennie - www.biographi.ca/en/bio/rennie_william_13E.html

The full video is available on YouTube via link.

studio.youtube.com/video/fRXAQvsD5d4/edit/basic

Text revised and up-dated on 27 Dec 2022.

 

McKinney’s Old (GNRI) Railway Bridge

The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) (GNR(I) or GNRI) was an Irish gauge (1,600mm - 5'- 3") railway company in Ireland. It was formed in 1876 by a merger of the Irish North Western Railway (INW|), Northern Railway of Ireland, and Ulster Railway. The governments of Ireland and Northern Ireland jointly nationalised the company in 1953, however the company was liquidated in 1958.

The Great Northern Railway (GNR) which ran from Omagh to L/Derry crossed the island of Island More (Corkan) via two metal railway bridges. The 'Red Bridge' which is located

to the North of the island at Glenfad near Porthall and is still accessible but predominately used by the farming community and the river bed aggregate extraction company while the bridge onto Island More to the South was demolished by the British Army during the Northern Ireland 'Troubles' as where many small cross-border unapproved) roads.

Known locally as 'McKinney's Bridge' it crosses the River Foyle which forms the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, hence the reason why the bridge was demolished and is now unusable as a crossing point.

 

Anthony Freire Marreco (b.26th Aug 1915 d.4th June 2006, aged 90)

When growing up, I knew Islandmore or Corkan Island as 'Marreco's Island', named after Anthony Freire Marreco who was a British barrister and who had maintained a georgian

house at Porthall, near Lifford, Co. Donegal, on the banks of the River Foyle overlooking the island.

 

Anthony Blechynden Freire Marreco was born in Leiston, Suffolk, England on 26th Aug 1915 where his father's regiment was stationed at the time. The only son of Geoffrey Algernon Freire Marreco (b.25 Feb 1882 d.15 Sept 1969) of The Old Court House, St Mawes, Cornwall and his wife, nee Hilda, Gwendoline Beaufoy Francis (b.1 Dec 1887 d.9th June 1967) from Hampshire. Both parents are buried at St. Lucadius Church of Ireland, Clonleigh Parish, Lifford, Co. Donegal, Ireland.

 

The Freire Marreco’s were of Portuguese origin; Antonio Joaquim Freire Marreco (b.1787 d.1850), Anthony's great-grandfather was an interesting fellow. Born in Penafiel in

Northern Portugal he left for Brazil in 1808, together with King João VI and the Portuguese Court, who fled the invading Napoleonic troops and settled in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1820, the King returned to Portugal and Marreco returned with him. Antonio established himself in business in England in the early 1820s as a wine importer and in July 1834 married Anna “Annie” Laura Harrison (born in 1806) of Newcastle, the daughter of his English business partner, William Harrison, at St. Botulph's Church, Aldgate in London. He became a naturalised British subject. Freire was the original Portuguese surname, Marreco was added by the grandfather after a trip to Brazil were at that time it was popular to add the names of flowers and bird, Marreco being a type of duck.

Geoffrey, Anthony’s father worked for Richard Garrett & Sons a manufacturer of agricultural machinery, steam engines and trolleybuses, the factory was located in Leiston, Suffolk, England being founded by Richard Garrett in 1778.

 

Education

Anthony initially attended a private school, Allen House in Woking (founded in 1871), before attending the Royal College of St Peter's, Westminster from 1929 to 1934 where his lifelong interest in human rights began. His headmaster, Dr. Crossley-White had invited leading personalities of the day to dinner. At the age of 17, Marreco met his childhood hero, T.E. Lawrence (b.1888 d.1935) and also Mahātmā Ghandi (b.1869 d.1948).

 

Stage Career

In 1934 he joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), but was expelled after being spotted by the principal's wife at the Epsom Downs Derby, when he should have been attending classes. From 1935 to 1937, he began a career on the stage, playing in Shakespeare and forming friendships with figures such as Noel Coward (b.1899 d.1973) and

Johnny Weismuller (b.1904 d.1984). He joined Northampton Repertory and was stage manager at Crewe Repertory and later the London shows at His Majesty's Theatre, Daly's

Theatre, the Arts Theatre and the Theatre Royal.

 

Military Career

In 1940 he joined Royal Navy as a rating, Commission, Sub-Lieutenant (A) Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve R.N.V.R. and when the Admiralty learned that he had a pilot's licence,

Certificate No:14851 issued on 24 April 1937 by the Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators at Airwork School of Flying, Heston Airport, Hounslow, Middlesex, which was taken

using an Avro Club Cadet Gipsy Major 130. He was later commissioned to fly a Fairey Swordfish (a biplane torpedo bomber). He received his wings on 6th October 1940 and was

appointed to train observers at R.N.A.S. Arbroath in Scotland.

 

In 1941 he was temporarily released from Naval duties on appointment, as Assistant Counsel to the legal department of the Industrial Export Council and was later promoted to

Lieutenant. In the same year he was appointed to the Royal Naval Air Service (R.N.A.S.) at Yeovilton in Somerset as Instructor, Fighter Direction School.

 

In January 1942 Marreco was appointed Fleet Fighter Direction Officer, Staff Commander-in-Chief, H.M.S. King George V (41) the flagship of both the British Home Fleet and

Pacific Fleets. In May 1941, along with HMS Rodney, King George V was involved in the hunt and pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck, eventually inflicting severe battle

damage which led to her being scuttled in the North Atlantic on 27 May 1941.

 

In April, Marreco was lent to US Carrier Wasp as Flight Deck Officer (FDO) to fly Spitfires off to Malta and in June 1942 was appointed to the Naval Night Fighter Development Unit.

 

In June 1943 he was appointed Flight Deck Officer (FDO) on an American built 'Attacker class' Escort Aircraft Carrier, which took part in “Operation Avalanche”, the codename for the Allied landings near the port of Salerno which was executed on 9 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy.

In December 1943 he was appointed Flight Deck Officer (FDO) of the American built Aircraft Carrier, USS Pybus (CVE-34) which was renamed Emperor (D98) by the Royal Navy.

 

In January 1944 he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and appointed Flight Deck Officer (FDO) Aircraft Carrier Formidable (67), which was involved in Operation Mascot, an

unsuccessful air raid against the German battleship Tirpitz at her anchorage in Kaafjord, Norway, on 17 July 1944. The attack was one of a series of strikes against the battleship, launched from british aircraft carriers between April and August 1944. Tirpitz, was eventually sank during Operation Catechism on 12 November 1944 off Håkøy Island near Tromsø, Norway.

 

Formidable was subsequently assigned to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) in 1945 where she played a supporting role during the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg

where the Allies assembled the most powerful naval force in history. Formidable. later attacked targets in the Japanese Home Islands. She was hit twice by kamikaze aircraft

on the 4th and 9th of May. In both instances, she was saved by her armoured deck and was able return to flight operations rapidly. The ship was used to repatriate liberated Allied prisoners of war and soldiers after the Japanese surrender and then ferried British personnel across the globe through 1946.

 

Later in June 1945 Marreco was discharged for passage to the UK to take up an appointment at the Admiralty as advisor on Kamikaze suicide fighters during the pending final assault on Japan. He left his ship and flew to Sydney, Australia and as Senior Naval Officer, he boarded an old P&O liner call the 'Randi' which requisitioned by the Admiralty on 27 August 1939 and converted on 23 October 1939 to an armed merchant cruiser to carrying Japanese prisoners of war back to Southampton. Marreco, as part of his job aboard,

describes the trip, "I had to get up at 5.00am and bury my brother's and sister's who had not survived the night”.

 

In 1946, Marreco was demobilised and return to civvy street, he soon accepted an offer to attend the Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunal as part of the British delegation where he

spent a number of months. During October 1946 he was appointed Chief Assistant to Deputy Chairman, Government Sub-Committee (Control Commission) for Berlin and later in April 1947 was appointed Director of the same.

 

In October 1947 was appointed British member, Directorate of Internal Affairs and Communications; Chief Staff Officer to Political Adviser to Military Governor. During December 1948 he resigned from the Control Commission.

 

Legal Career

Having passed his first Bar Examination in 1938, he was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1941 during his absence on war service. He continued his law studies and took his Bar Finals at Twatt on a remote island in the Orkneys, invigilated by a chief petty officer. He was later a pupil of the distinguished Irish lawyer Brian McKenna in Walter Monckton's chambers in the Temple located at 2, Paper Buildings, London. Marreco never returned to the Bar, and instead went on to become a human-rights advocate, helping co-found Amnesty International.

 

Publishing & Banking

In the 1950s he was a director of Weidenfeld & Nicolson, established 1949, a British publisher of fiction and reference books. He also worked as an investment banker for SG

Warburg & Co founded in 1946 by Siegmund Warburg (b.1902 d.1982) and Henry Grunfeld (b.1904 d.1999).

 

Olympic Games – Germany 1936

Anthony received an invitation from Otto Christian von Bismarck (b.1987 d.1976) who was counsellor at the German Embassy in London (1929 to 1937) to attend the 1936 Summer

Olympic games in Germany as part of an official party. On attendance with some others were, John Beverley Nichols (b.1898 d.1983) English author, playwright, journalist,

composer, and public speaker and Mangal Heppeelipol (New Zealander) there was a mix up with their seats and it looked like they would not get in, however a German SS officer

frantically beckoned them upstairs to some fine seats. Minutes later Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels along with their respective wives arrived and took up their seats directly in front. The party was in the charge of Ernst Hanfstaengl (b.1887 d.1975), nicknamed "Putzi", who was a German-American businessman and became an

intimate friend and confidant of Adolf Hitler who enjoyed listening to "Putzi" play the piano. Hitler was the godfather of Hanfstaengl's son Egon (b.1921 d.2007).

Marreco witnessed the display of fury that Hitler showed when Jessie Owens (b.1913 d.1980) won the 100 meters (Owens won four gold medals, the long jump, 100 meters, 200 meters and 4 × 100m relay). Marreco also remarked how Helene Bertha Amalie “Leni” Riefenstahl (b.902 d.2003) who was a German film director, actress and Nazi sympathizer

jumped up with her camera and filmed Hitler from every conceivable angle every time he spoke. She was commissioned by the German Olympic Committee for $7 million to film the Games and directed the Nazi propaganda films “Triumph des Willens” (Triumph of the Will) and “Olympia” (video documentary of the games). Both movies are widely considered to be the most effective, and technically innovative, propaganda films ever made. Adolf Hitler was in close collaboration with Riefenstahl during the production of at least three important Nazi films during which they formed a friendly relationship. Some have suggested that Riefenstahl's visions were essential in the carrying out of the Holocaust?

 

Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal (1945 to 1949)

Marreco takes up the story. "I had returned from the Navy and I was back in my London chambers when one day in March 1946 after coming out of the dining hall of the Inner

Temple, about three months into the trial, Hartley Shawcross (b.1902 d.2003), the Attorney-General, (he was a sailing acquaintance of my father), fell into step beside me and

he said, "Good to see you Marreco, how are getting on? I’m fine”, and then he asked, "Would you like to go to Nuremberg?" Marreco replied, “Give me 24 hours”, I went back to my chambers and discussed the proposition with my colleagues who advised me to go. He arrived in Germany, just as U.S. Chief of Counsel, Robert Houghwout Jason

(b.1892 d.1954) was cross-examining Hermann Göring (18 March 1946). Marreco was briefed by the head of the British team, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe (b.1900 d.1967), 1st Earl of

Kilmuir.

 

Members of the British Prosecuting Counsel at Nuremberg included: Chief Prosecutor: Attorney General Sir Hartley Shawcross, Deputy Chief Prosecutor: Rt. Hon. Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, Leading Council: Mr. Geoffrey ('Khaki') Dorling Roberts (b.1886 d.1967), Junior Council: Major J. Harcourt Barrington (b.1907 d.1973), Major Frederick Elwyn Jones

(b.1909 d.1989), Mr Edward George G Robey (b.1900 d.1983), Lieut Col. John Mervyn Griffith-Jones (b.1909 d.1979), Colonel Henry Josceline Phillimore (b.1910 d.1974), Mr. Airey

Middleton Sheffield Neave (b.1916 d.1979), Sir Clement Raphael Freud (b.1924 d.2009) & Peter John Ambrose Calvocoressi (b.1912 d.2010).

 

In all, six organisations, including the SS, the Gestapo and the high command of the German army were also accused. 199 defendants were tried, 161 were convicted and 37 were

sentenced to death, including 12 of those tried by the International Military Tribunal (IMT).

 

From March to Sept 1946 Marreco was Junior Counsel of the British Delegation, his first task was to join a subsidiary tribunal to sort out the witnesses, convened under Airey

Neave who was the first British officer to escape from Colditz Castle on 12 May 1942. The defence called more than 400 witnesses. Marreco was present when they made their

depositions and cross-examined them on behalf of the prosecution. He also describes how he helped draft the trials' forensic closing speech delivered by the head of the

British team, Sir Hartley Shawcross.

 

Marreco recalls, "In the six months I was in Nuremberg, I got to know each of the Nazi defendants, and with one notable exception, I never liked any of them. Particularly, Joachim von Ribbentrop, the former ambassador to Britain who sat ashen-faced and was the most unpalatable character. Wilhelm Frick (Reich Minister of the Interior) was a horrible little man, Walther Funk (Reich Minister for Economic Affairs) was another dirty little shit”. He loathed Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz whom he vividly remembered being "brought into the courtroom clanking in chains" and who paced up and down, giving the impression of a madman. But with Hermann Göring, Hitler's number two, there was something about his attitude and the way he took charge of all the defendants that was, for me, totally compelling."Göring, who sangfroid throughout the judicial process and on one occasion when a particularly attractive military wren was standing next to the dock, Göring reached out and pinched her bottom. "She was so incensed and complained to the judge, but Göring knew he was going to die and he didn't care".

Britain’s legal team was tiny compared with the 300-plus American one, but Maxwell Fyfe told Marreco that the American's had got bogged down because the German defence counsel had surprisingly called more than 400 witnesses, many of them SS guards who had previously been at the extermination camps of Auschwitz and Belsen.

 

The International Military Tribunal (IMT) announces it's verdicts on November 1946. It imposed the death sentence on 12 defendants, Hermann Göring, Joachim von Ribbentrop,

Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, and Martin Bormann.

3 are sentenced to life imprisonment, Rudolf Hess, Walther Funk and Erich Raeder. The only one of them to serve their entire life in prison was Rudolf Hess who died on 17 Aug 1987, he was found strangled to death in a cabin in the exercise yard at Spandau Prison, Berlin. Apparently, he choked himself to death with an electrical cord. Some suspected foul play.

4 receive prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years, Karl Dönitz, Baldur von Schirach, Albert Speer, and Konstantin von Neurath. The court acquits 3 defendants: Hjalmar Schacht (Economics Minister), Franz von Papen (German politician who played an important role in Hitler's appointment as chancellor), and Hans Fritzsche (head of Press and Radio).

The death sentences were carried out on 16 October 1946, with two exceptions: Hermann Göring committed suicide shortly before his scheduled execution, and Martin Bormann,

who was sentensed but was absent during the trial. The other 10 defendants were hanged, their bodies cremated at Ostfriedhof, Munich, and their ashes deposited in the Iser

River.

 

Video - Nuremberg Executions 1946 - What Happened to the Bodies? (Mark Felton Productions)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=At7IA19fXHc&ab_channel=MarkFe...

Video - Joachim von Ribbentrop (Mark Felton Productions)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-q6pdTyE0Q&ab_channel=MarkFe...

Video - Hermann Göring's Mysterious Death (Mark Felton Productions)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IMhFW7539s&ab_channel=MarkFe...

Hermann Göring's Special Train - Exclusive New Footage (Mark Felton Productions)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMc3Kw9aNEs&ab_channel=MarkFe...

Video - Rudolf Hess: The Last Prisoner of Spandau (Mark Felton Productions)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9lM-aaCHJU&ab_channel=MarkFe...

Video - The hanging of Rudolf Höss at Auschwitz (Alan Heath)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3C4njP5J2o&ab_channel

 

Post in Germany

As Chief Staff Officer to the Political Adviser to the British Military Government of Germany, and as British Member of the Directorate of International Affairs and Communications, Allied Control Authority, Berlin, from 1946 to 1949, Marreco assisted in the creation of new democratic and legal institutions in Germany.

 

Political Career

Marreco contested Wells in Somerset as a Liberal candidate in the 23 February 1950 general election obtaining 9,771 votes however, he was unsuccessful being beaten by the

Conservative representative Dennis Boles (b.1885 d.1958) with 20,613 votes. Again, in Goole in the West Riding of Yorkshire in the 25 October 1951 general election he obtained 17,073 votes being beaten by the Labour representative George Jeger (b.1903 d.1971) with 26,088 votes.

 

Amnesty International

In 1960 Flora Solomon (b.1895 d.1984), his neighbour in Shepherd Street, told Marreco that her son, Peter Benenson (b.1921 d.2005) was founding an organisation which was

later to become Amnesty International. Marreco, who had twice stood as a Liberal candidate for Parliament, supported him vigorously.

 

In 1968 he became Honorary Treasurer and had set up an Amnesty International Development Inc. (AID Inc.) in 1970 in the United States, which was totally separate from Amnesty

International and which could send funds to families of Greek prisoners. This was strongly opposed by Amnesty International USA. Outspoken in all his opinions, Marreco

conducted several investigations for Amnesty, notably during the regime of the Greek Colonels, when he went to Athens to interview Stylianos Pattakos (b.1912 d.2016), one of the Junta leaders of 1967 to 1974, about allegations of torture and the curtailing of civil liberties.

 

In 1971, Marreco investigated allegations of torture by British troops in Northern Ireland and subsequently resigned. Amnesty, he said, "refused to go to Belfast and even see these people", he added that "it was also a bizarre circumstance" that Amnesty's chairman, Sean MacBride (b.1904 d.1988), was the leader of Clann na Poblachta (Irish

republican political party) from 1946 to 1965 and was a former Chief of Staff of the IRA from 1936 to 1939. He also implied that he had received treats from the IRA when living at Porthall, County Donegal.

 

Mayfair Residents Association

For 13 years he was chairman of the Residents Association of Mayfair (RAM), steering it through turbulent times when it was opposed by the Association of Residents of Mayfair (ARM). When the two merged in 2004 he was appointed Honorary Present of the Residents’ Society of Mayfair and St James’s. He resigned on 13 January 2004. He was also a member

of the Royal Institute of International Affairs and of the Garrick Theatre, the Royal Thames Yacht Club and the Beefsteak Club. He was also a Director of Aldbourne Craft Trust

from 4 August 2000 until he resigned on 4 June 2006.

 

Institute of International Criminal Law

In 1983 he proposed setting up an Institute of International Criminal Law, to be established in association with the Irish Universities. He offered Port Hall to the Irish government as a study centre, where "the hideous violations of human rights, which had disfigured the 20th century" could be researched. His ambition was to set up a television archive of the Nuremberg Trials to be used by lawyers and peace researchers from all over the world. The Institute never came to fruition, possibly because Marreco also remained energetically committed to sorting out the legal and domestic problems of the Mayfair intelligentsia.

 

In his last years Marreco retired to Greenhill Bank Cottage, Aldbourne, in Wiltshire, with his wife, Gina, who was a brilliant hostess and an unforgettable cook.

 

Relationships

Anthony Marreco was married four times, but to only three women and had numerous affairs with other women but he had no children.

 

Lady Ursula Isabel Manners (b.1916 d.2017)

Lady Ursula Isabel Manners was born 8th November 1916, being the elder daughter of five children of John Manners, (b.1886 d.1940) 9th Duke of Rutland, by his wife the former

Kathleen Tennant (b.1894 d.1989, aged 95). As a 20-year-old she acted as one of Queen Elizabeth's trainbearers in Westminster Abbey and received international media attention after a photograph of her from the coronation on 12 May 1937, standing alongside the British royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace which was circulated in the news.

The reports, focused on her beauty and distinctive widow's peak, leading to her being nicknamed "the cygnet" by Winston Churchill while she accompanied the king and queen on a 5-day royal tour to France in 1938.

 

On 25 July 1943, Lady Ursula married Anthony Marreco in the chapel at Belvoir Castle, Grantham, Leicestershire, a man she barely knew and who threatened to commit suicide if

she refused to do so. The swiftness in which a wedding was organised prompted the minister to place a chair for her to sit on at the altar as he assumed, she was pregnant, this, she admitted, had infuriated her. Marreco left her to serve in the British Armed Forces in Asia and lost communication with her until 1946. During this time she had entered into a brief relationship with Man Singh II (b.1912 d.1970), the Maharaja of Jaipur, whom she met through her friend Jawaharlal Nehru (b.1889 d.1964). Lady Ursula and Marreco divorced in 1948.

 

Lady Ursula resumed her maiden name, and married secondly on 22 Nov 1951, Robert Erland Nicolai d'Abo (b.1911 d.1970), the elder son of Gerard Louis d'Abo (b.1884 d.1962), by whom

she had two sons and a daughter. In 2014 she published her memoir titled “The Girl with the Widow's Peak: The Memoirs”.

 

Lady Ursula died on 2 November 2017, aged 100, she was one of the last surviving aristocrats to have participated at the Coronation of King George VI & Queen Elizabeth on 12 May 1937.

 

Louise de Vilmorin (b.1902 d.1969)

Marreco also became involved with Louise de Vilmorin through the late 1940s until 1951 who was a French novelist, poet and journalist. Born in the family château at Verrières-le-Buisson, Essonne, a suburb southwest of Paris, she was heir to the fortune of the great French seed company, that of 'Vilmorin'. (The 4th largest seed company in the world).

Louise was the younger daughter of Philippe de Vilmorin (b.1872 d.1917) by his wife Berthe Marie Mélanie de Gaufridy de Dortan (b.1876 d.1937)

 

From a child, she was afflicted with a slight limp, the result of Tuberculosis of the hip, however she compensated for her frailty with a flamboyant personality. She was a spellbinding talker who craved the limelight that she once flung a butterball to the ceiling when another guest at a dinner party wouldn’t allow her to tell a story.

 

De Vilmorin was never wholly sure of Marreco's devotion, as in Venice, in July 1950 her doubts were realised when Marreco went in successful pursuit of the somewhat unstable

Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia (b.1921 d.1993), who had fellen madly in love with him and who then took an overdose of sleeping pills and slipped into a coma, but recovered

after two days, allegedly after de Vilmorin removed him to Sélestat in France at the end of the holiday.

 

De Vilmorin's diaries are peppered with references to him. She was much taken by his style of dress, on one occasion a shirt with narrow blue and white stripes, a black silk tie with white spots, a black jacket and waistcoat, spongebag trousers, and black leather ankle boots. When he went out, he perched his bowler hat at a rakish angle, and carried a furled umbrella. Above all, she was impressed by Marreco's adonis-like looks, impressed that he could return from a fashionable ball at six in the morning, neither drunk nor tired, but invigorated with life, talking of beautiful women, fortune, society and success. "Beauty likes to shine, to dazzle," wrote de Vilmorin, "and above all to be recognised!" She was deeply saddened when he left her in New Year in 1951, conscious that she was 13 years his senior and that his career might place demands on him that would take him away from her. These concerns were replicated as Marreco at this time had political aspirations.

 

Again, De Vilmorin's fears were realised while she was staying with Paul-Louis Weiller (b.1893 d.1993), at his villa, La Reine Jeanne, with Marreco in tow. She awoke one morning and found him gone. He had set off to Brazil in pursuit of Lali Horstmann, whose book had recently been published to great acclaim.

Vilmorin's first husband was an American real-estate heir, Henry Leigh Hunt (b.1886 d.1972), the only son of Leigh S. J. Hunt (b.1855 d.1933), a businessman who once owned

much of Las Vegas, Nevada and his wife, Jessie Nobel (b.c.1862 d.1960). They married in c.1925, moved to Las Vegas, and divorced in the 1930s. They had three daughters,

Jessie, Alexandra, and Helena.

Her second husband was Count Paul Pálffy ab Erdöd (b.1890 d.1968), a much-married Austrian-born Hungarian playboy, who had been second husband to the Hungarian countess better known as Etti Plesch (b.1914 d.2003), owner of two Epsom Derby winners. Palffy married Louise as his 5th wife in 1938, but the couple soon divorced.

Vilmorin was the mistress of another of Etti Plesch's husbands, Count [Maria Thomas] Paul Esterházy de Galántha (b.1901 d.1964), who left his wife in 1942 for Vilmorin. They

never married. For a number of years, she was the mistress of Duff Cooper (b.1890 d.1954), British ambassador to France.

 

Louise spent the last years of her life as the companion of the French Cultural Affairs Minister and author André Malraux (b.1901 d.1976), calling herself "Marilyn Malraux". She died on 26 Dec 1969 aged 67 and is buried in Verrières-le-Buisson (Essonne) cemetery also the initial resting place of André Malraux.

 

Léonie (Lally or Lali) Horstmann (b.1898 d.1954)

While serving in Germany, Marreco, then aged 36, became the lover of Lali Horstmann, who came from a distinguished German banking family, the von Schwabachs, her father was

the banker and historian Paul von Schwabach (b.1867 d.1938) and her mother Eleonor (Elli) Schröder (b.1869 d1942). Lali was the widow of Alfred (Freddy) Horstmann (b.1979 d.1947) who was a retired diplomat, art collector and later the head of the English department at the German Foreign Office. Freddy resigned his diplomatic duties in 1933, the year Hitler came to power, rather than work for the Nazis.

As Germany collapsed in the face of the allied invasion, the Horstmann’s decided, against the trend of fleeing from the Russian advance, by staying at their Kerzendorf estate,

East of Berlin, an elegant eighteenth-century house which contained numberous antiquities, had a small park, avenues, statues and a garden. The house was destroyed one night

by allied bombers and the Horstmann's moved into the agent's little house in the park.

At first, the Horstmann's were able to anaesthetise themselves from the worst excesses through their wealth and possessions, but soon the valuable objets sought by Russian

soldiers ran out as they lived in constant fear of rape and pilliage. One day in March 1946, Freddy was taken away by the Russian Secret Police for questioning about his

diplomat duties, stating, "It is now Saturday, six o'clock, you will probably be back tomorrow at the same time, Tuesday at the latest."

Almost, two and a half years later, August 1948 at Berlin station, Lali was told that Freddy had died of starvation in a Russian concentration camp, (No.7 Sachsenhausen,

Oranienburg, Germany, which was only a few miles from their home) a year after his arrest and that he was buried at the edge of the camp with many of his companions. Others

had survived, a few had been released for no apparent reason, many of them were still, and are now, in captivity. My husband, like all the others, had never been questioned

or tried. He had never been given any opportunity to defend himself.

 

Lali later wrote a moving account of her search for him, 'Nothing for Tears' (1953), which has been described as "one of the most remarkable personal documents to come out of

Germany at the end of 2nd World War". Marreco's relationship ended in Berlin, but they remained friends, both in Berlin and later when Lali moved to London.

 

They met again in 1954 in Brazil only when Lali made her first trip to Brazil to meet friends who had settled in Paraná in the south of the country. Lali asked Anthony to drive her from Rio to Paraná. They stopped overnight in São Paulo, where Lali was found the following morning, unconscious in her hotel room, having suffered a massive heart attack. She was rushed to hospital where she died the next day, aged 56. Lali Horstmann was buried in São Paulo. Marreco inherited part of her substantial fortune, derived from her ownership of real estate in Berlin and her late husband's family publishing buisness, the newspaper the 'Frankfurter General-Anzeiger', which was published in Frankfurt from 1876 to 1943 under various names. As a result of this Marreco bought Port Hall in Lifford, Co Donegal in 1956 where he lived and farmed until 1983 when he sold the house as his money was running out.

 

Loelia, Duchess of Westminster (b.1902 d.1993)

Marrero was subsequently the lover of Lady Loelia Mary Lindsay of Dowhill, Duchess of Westminster who was a British peeress, needlewoman and magazine editor. Loelia was the

only daughter of the courtier Sir Frederick Ponsonby (b.1867 d.1935), later 1st Baron Sysonby, and Lady Victoria Lily (Kennard) Sysonby (b.1874 d.1955), the well-known cook

book author. Loelia spent her early years at St James's Palace in London, Park House at Sandringham and Birkhall in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. As one of the "Bright Young

People", she met the twice divorced Hugh Grosvenor (b.1879 d.1953), 2nd Duke of Westminster. They were married on 20 February 1930 in a blaze of publicity, with Winston Churchill as the best man, but were unable to have children. Her marriage to the enormously wealthy peer failed and was dissolved in 1947 after years of separation.

 

Loelia's private diaries were likewise filled with anxious questions as to Marrero's love and loyalty. She encouraged Marrero to invest in Weidenfeld & Nicolson, and for some

years in the 1950s he was a financial supporter of George Weidenfeld (b.1919 d.2016).

 

Lindsay's 2nd marriage, to the divorced explorer Sir Martin Lindsay (b.1905 d.1981), 1st Baronet. The couple were married on 1st August 1969. Sir Martin, a devoted husband, died in 1981, and Lady Lindsay chose to spend her last years in nursing homes. Her memoirs, written in 1961 and titled 'Grace and Favour: The Memoirs of Loelia, Duchess of Westminster', a significant record of aristocratic life between the First and Second World Wars.

 

Regina de Souza Coelho (b.1927 - ?)

In 1954 Marreco went to Brazil for S G Warburg and while in Brazil he met Regina (Gina) de Souza Coelho, only daughter of Dr. Roberto and Roberto de Souza Coelho of Rio de

Janeiro. Marreco, consummated his second marriage with Gina on 19th November 1955, but the marriage was dissolved in 1961.

Anthony and Gina resumed their relationship in 1990, buying a cottage in Aldbourne, Wiltshire in 1997 and re-marrying in 2004. Very little is known about Regina.

 

Anne Wignall (née Acland-Troyte) b.1912 d.1982

Daughter of Major Herbert Acland-Troyte (b.1882 d.1943) and Marjorie Florence Pym (b.1891 d.1977). Anne was born in Kensington, London and had previously been married to the

5th Lord Ebury, Rennie Hoare (b.1901, d.1981), and also Lt-Col Frederick Wignall (b.1906 d.1956)

 

Anne first married, Robert Egerton Grosvenor (b.1914 d.1957), 5th Baron Ebury, son of Francis Egerton Grosvenor (b.1883 d.1932), 4th Baron Ebury and Mary Adela Glasson

(b.1883 d.1960), on 1 July 1933. She and Robert were divorced in 1941. Anne & Robert had two sons:

1. Francis Egerton Grosvenor, 8th Earl of Wilton (b.8th Feb 1934)

2. Hon. Robert Victor Grosvenor (b.1936 d.1993)

A keen racing driver, Lord Ebury died in an accident at Prescott, Gloucestershire on 5 May 1957, aged 43, while driving a Jaguar C-type - XKC 046 (Registration MVC630). He

was cremated at Oxford Crematorium, where there is a plaque to him and his 3rd wife Sheila, who died in 2010.

 

Anne's 2nd marriage on 23 December 1941 was to, Henry Peregrine Rennie Hoare (b.1901 d.1981) son of Henry Hoare (b.1866 d.1956) and Lady Geraldine Mariana Hervey

(b.1869 d.1955). Anne and Henry were divorced in 1947.

 

Anne's 3rd marriage on 13 November 1947 was to Lt.Col. Frederick Edwin Barton Wignall (b.1906 d.1956). He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in The Life Guards and died

9 November 1956 and was buried in the churchyard of St Michael and All Angels, Poulton, Gloucestershire.

 

Anne's 4th marriage on 25 September 1961 was to Anthony Freire Marreco (his 3rd marriage) and as Anne Marreco she was the biographer of “Constance Markievicz - The Rebel

Countess” (1967). She changed her name back to Wignall by deed poll in 1969 and died on 23 June 1982 in Tiverton, Devon and was buried in the churchyard at All Saints Church,

Huntsham, close to her father's ancestral seat, Huntsham Court.

 

Port Hall House

At Port Hall Marreco bred a fine herd of Charolais cattle and was immediately accepted by that flamboyant section of Irish society known as "The Donegal Group". Anthony was a

convivial host, a considerable raconteur, his hospitality was legendary being a generous host at Port Hall, with it's spacious library and hand-painted wallpaper and at his summer house parties in Greece and in his book-lined flat in Shepherd Market in Mayfair in London.

His many guests ranged from Henry MacIlhenny (b.1910 d.1986), millionaire owner of Glenveagh Castle, Co. Donegal to historian R.B McDowell (b.1913 d.2011), who for 13 years

(1956 to 1969) was dean of discipline at Trinity College, Dublin and once castigated future President Mary Robinson.

 

Port Hall house was owned by Anthony Marreco from 1956 until 1983. He had a strong interest in building conservation and carefully repaired and conserved Port Hall during the

1960s. This important building is one of the most significant elements of the built heritage of Donegal, and forms the centrepiece of a group of related structures along with

the warehouses to the rear, the walled garden to the south, and the other surviving elements of the site.

Port Hall House was built in 1746 on the banks of the River Foyle, for Judge John Vaughan (b.1603 d.1674) also of Buncrana Castle, who served as a Grand Juror for County

Donegal which was based at Lifford a short distance to the south-south-west of Port Hall. The house design is attributed to Michael Priestley (d.23 September 1777), an architect who was also responsible for the designs of the county court house and gaol (Old Courthouse) in Lifford’s Diamond (were John Half-Hung MacNaghten was held), Strabane Canal, Prehen House on the outskirts of Derry City and possibly First Presbyterian Church in Magazine Street, Derry City.

 

Marreco strenuously opposed salmon poaching, then running at a value of £1 million of fish a year. He became chairman of the Foyle Fisheries Commission (now known as the ‘Loughs Agency’) and immersed himself in every aspect of Ireland's cultural and political life. In the last year of his life, he had wished to make his own documentary, The Rule of Law, tracing the development of international law from the time of Grotius, the 17th century philosopher, to the present day.

 

Anthony Freire Marreco died on 4th June 2006 aged 90 years and was buried in the graveyard of St. Michael's Church, Aldbourne, Wiltshire, England. Donations were requested for

the RSPCA.

 

A video interview with Anthony Marreco recalling moments from his life at aged 82 is available on YouTube via link.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR3BaWVwqHc&t=481s

 

Name: Charles Pearson

Arrested for: not given

Arrested at: North Shields Police Station

Arrested on: 15 November 1907

Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-117-Charles Pearson

 

An image of his accomplice Stephen Fitzgibbon is available www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/24620365114/in/album-72157....

 

An image of his brother, Thomas Pearson, is also available www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/25158947272/in/album-72157....

 

The Shields Daily News for 16 November 1907 reports:

 

“THEFTS FROM OFFICE ON THE NORTH SHIELDS FISH QUAY.

 

At the North Shields Police Court this morning - before Lieut.-Colonel F.R.N. Haswell, Coun. G. Addison and Mr G.H. Stansfield - Stephen Fitzgibbon (17) of 15 Bird Street; Thomas Pearson (16) and Charles Pearson (19), also of Bird Street, were brought up in custody charged with various thefts. Fitzgibbon and Thomas Pearson were charged with larceny from back yards, being called upon to answer three cases, while Fitzgibbon and Charles Pearson were charged with three thefts from offices on the North Shields Fish Quay.

 

Evidence having been given in support of all the cases, the defendants were formally charged. They admitted the thefts and had no excuse to offer.

 

Chief Constable Huish told the magistrates that other charges could have been preferred against the accused. Altogether there had been eleven offices broken into on the quay.

 

They were each committed to prison for 14 days in each case, which means Fitzgibbon will receive three months’ hard labour and the two Pearsons 6 weeks each.

 

Chief Constable Huish mentioned that the elder Pearson was in the habit of carrying about with him loaded firearms. A six-chambered revolver had been recovered from his house.”

 

These images are a selection from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 in the collection of Tyne & Wear Archives (TWA ref DX1388/1).

 

This set contains mugshots of boys and girls under the age of 21. This reflects the fact that until 1970 that was the legal age of majority in the UK.

 

(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.

Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Russian: Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий, IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr sʲɪˈmʲɵnəvʲɪtɕ vɨˈsotskʲɪj]; 25 January 1938 – 25 July 1980), was a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet, and actor who had an immense and enduring effect on Soviet culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street-jargon. He was also a prominent stage- and screen-actor. Though the official Soviet cultural establishment largely ignored his work, he was remarkably popular during his lifetime, and to this day exerts significant influence on many of Russia's musicians and actors.

 

Vysotsky was born in Moscow at the 3rd Meshchanskaya St. (61/2) maternity hospital. His father, Semyon Volfovich (Vladimirovich) (1915–1997), was a colonel in the Soviet army, originally from Kiev. Vladimir's mother, Nina Maksimovna, (née Seryogina, 1912–2003) was Russian, and worked as a German language translator.[3] Vysotsky's family lived in a Moscow communal flat in harsh conditions, and had serious financial difficulties. When Vladimir was 10 months old, Nina had to return to her office in the Transcript bureau of the Soviet Ministry of Geodesy and Cartography (engaged in making German maps available for the Soviet military) so as to help her husband earn their family's living.

 

Vladimir's theatrical inclinations became obvious at an early age, and were supported by his paternal grandmother Dora Bronshteyn, a theater fan. The boy used to recite poems, standing on a chair and "flinging hair backwards, like a real poet," often using in his public speeches expressions he could hardly have heard at home. Once, at the age of two, when he had tired of the family's guests' poetry requests, he, according to his mother, sat himself under the New-year tree with a frustrated air about him and sighed: "You silly tossers! Give a child some respite!" His sense of humor was extraordinary, but often baffling for people around him. A three-year-old could jeer his father in a bathroom with unexpected poetic improvisation ("Now look what's here before us / Our goat's to shave himself!") or appall unwanted guests with some street folk song, promptly steering them away. Vysotsky remembered those first three years of his life in the autobiographical Ballad of Childhood (Баллада о детстве, 1975), one of his best-known songs.

 

As World War II broke out, Semyon Vysotsky, a military reserve officer, joined the Soviet army and went to fight the Nazis. Nina and Vladimir were evacuated to the village of Vorontsovka, in Orenburg Oblast where the boy had to spend six days a week in a kindergarten and his mother worked for twelve hours a day in a chemical factory. In 1943, both returned to their Moscow apartment at 1st Meschanskaya St., 126. In September 1945, Vladimir joined the 1st class of the 273rd Moscow Rostokino region School.

 

In December 1946, Vysotsky's parents divorced. From 1947 to 1949, Vladimir lived with Semyon Vladimirovich (then an army Major) and his Armenian wife, Yevgenya Stepanovna Liholatova, whom the boy called "aunt Zhenya", at a military base in Eberswalde in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany (later East Germany). "We decided that our son would stay with me. Vladimir came to stay with me in January 1947, and my second wife, Yevgenia, became Vladimir's second mother for many years to come. They had much in common and liked each other, which made me really happy," Semyon Vysotsky later remembered. Here living conditions, compared to those of Nina's communal Moscow flat, were infinitely better; the family occupied the whole floor of a two-storeyed house, and the boy had a room to himself for the first time in his life. In 1949 along with his stepmother Vladimir returned to Moscow. There he joined the 5th class of the Moscow 128th School and settled at Bolshoy Karetny [ru], 15 (where they had to themselves two rooms of a four-roomed flat), with "auntie Zhenya" (who was just 28 at the time), a woman of great kindness and warmth whom he later remembered as his second mother. In 1953 Vysotsky, now much interested in theater and cinema, joined the Drama courses led by Vladimir Bogomolov.[7] "No one in my family has had anything to do with arts, no actors or directors were there among them. But my mother admired theater and from the earliest age... each and every Saturday I've been taken up with her to watch one play or the other. And all of this, it probably stayed with me," he later reminisced. The same year he received his first ever guitar, a birthday present from Nina Maksimovna; a close friend, bard and a future well-known Soviet pop lyricist Igor Kokhanovsky taught him basic chords. In 1955 Vladimir re-settled into his mother's new home at 1st Meshchanskaya, 76. In June of the same year he graduated from school with five A's.

 

In 1955, Vladimir enrolled into the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, but dropped out after just one semester to pursue an acting career. In June 1956 he joined Boris Vershilov's class at the Moscow Art Theatre Studio-Institute. It was there that he met the 3rd course student Iza Zhukova who four years later became his wife; soon the two lovers settled at the 1st Meschanskaya flat, in a common room, shielded off by a folding screen. It was also in the Studio that Vysotsky met Bulat Okudzhava for the first time, an already popular underground bard. He was even more impressed by his Russian literature teacher Andrey Sinyavsky who along with his wife often invited students to his home to stage improvised disputes and concerts. In 1958 Vysotsky's got his first Moscow Art Theatre role: that of Porfiry Petrovich in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. In 1959 he was cast in his first cinema role, that of student Petya in Vasily Ordynsky's The Yearlings (Сверстницы). On 20 June 1960, Vysotsky graduated from the MAT theater institute and joined the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre (led by Boris Ravenskikh at the time) where he spent (with intervals) almost three troubled years. These were marred by numerous administrative sanctions, due to "lack of discipline" and occasional drunken sprees which were a reaction, mainly, to the lack of serious roles and his inability to realise his artistic potential. A short stint in 1962 at the Moscow Theater of Miniatures (administered at the time by Vladimir Polyakov) ended with him being fired, officially "for a total lack of sense of humour."

 

Vysotsky's second and third films, Dima Gorin's Career and 713 Requests Permission to Land, were interesting only for the fact that in both he had to be beaten up (in the first case by Aleksandr Demyanenko). "That was the way cinema greeted me," he later jokingly remarked. In 1961, Vysotsky wrote his first ever proper song, called "Tattoo" (Татуировка), which started a long and colourful cycle of artfully stylized criminal underworld romantic stories, full of undercurrents and witty social comments. In June 1963, while shooting Penalty Kick (directed by Veniamin Dorman and starring Mikhail Pugovkin), Vysotsky used the Gorky Film Studio to record an hour-long reel-to-reel cassette of his own songs; copies of it quickly spread and the author's name became known in Moscow and elsewhere (although many of these songs were often being referred to as either "traditional" or "anonymous"). Just several months later Riga-based chess grandmaster Mikhail Tal was heard praising the author of "Bolshoy Karetny" (Большой Каретный) and Anna Akhmatova (in a conversation with Joseph Brodsky) was quoting Vysotsky's number "I was the soul of a bad company..." taking it apparently for some brilliant piece of anonymous street folklore. In October 1964 Vysotsky recorded in chronological order 48 of his own songs, his first self-made Complete works of... compilation, which boosted his popularity as a new Moscow folk underground star.

 

In 1964, director Yuri Lyubimov invited Vysotsky to join the newly created Taganka Theatre. "'I've written some songs of my own. Won't you listen?' – he asked. I agreed to listen to just one of them, expecting our meeting to last for no more than five minutes. Instead I ended up listening to him for an entire 1.5 hours," Lyubimov remembered years later of this first audition. On 19 September 1964, Vysotsky debuted in Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan as the Second God (not to count two minor roles). A month later he came on stage as a dragoon captain (Bela's father) in Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time. It was in Taganka that Vysotsky started to sing on stage; the War theme becoming prominent in his musical repertoire. In 1965 Vysotsky appeared in the experimental Poet and Theater (Поэт и Театр, February) show, based on Andrey Voznesensky's work and then Ten Days that Shook the World (after John Reed's book, April) and was commissioned by Lyubimov to write songs exclusively for Taganka's new World War II play. The Fallen and the Living (Павшие и Живые), premiered in October 1965, featured Vysotsky's "Stars" (Звёзды), "The Soldiers of Heeresgruppe Mitte" (Солдаты группы "Центр") and "Penal Battalions" (Штрафные батальоны), the striking examples of a completely new kind of a war song, never heard in his country before. As veteran screenwriter Nikolay Erdman put it (in conversation with Lyubimov), "Professionally, I can well understand how Mayakovsky or Seryozha Yesenin were doing it. How Volodya Vysotsky does it is totally beyond me." With his songs – in effect, miniature theatrical dramatizations (usually with a protagonist and full of dialogues), Vysotsky instantly achieved such level of credibility that real life former prisoners, war veterans, boxers, footballers refused to believe that the author himself had never served his time in prisons and labor camps, or fought in the War, or been a boxing/football professional. After the second of the two concerts at the Leningrad Molecular Physics institute (that was his actual debut as a solo musical performer) Vysotsky left a note for his fans in a journal which ended with words: "Now that you've heard all these songs, please, don't you make a mistake of mixing me with my characters, I am not like them at all. With love, Vysotsky, 20 April 1965, XX c." Excuses of this kind he had to make throughout his performing career. At least one of Vysotsky's song themes – that of alcoholic abuse – was worryingly autobiographical, though. By the time his breakthrough came in 1967, he'd suffered several physical breakdowns and once was sent (by Taganka's boss) to a rehabilitation clinic, a visit he on several occasions repeated since.

 

Brecht's Life of Galileo (premiered on 17 May 1966), transformed by Lyubimov into a powerful allegory of Soviet intelligentsia's set of moral and intellectual dilemmas, brought Vysotsky his first leading theater role (along with some fitness lessons: he had to perform numerous acrobatic tricks on stage). Press reaction was mixed, some reviewers disliked the actor's overt emotionalism, but it was for the first time ever that Vysotsky's name appeared in Soviet papers. Film directors now were treating him with respect. Viktor Turov's war film I Come from the Childhood where Vysotsky got his first ever "serious" (neither comical, nor villainous) role in cinema, featured two of his songs: a spontaneous piece called "When It's Cold" (Холода) and a dark, Unknown soldier theme-inspired classic "Common Graves" (На братских могилах), sung behind the screen by the legendary Mark Bernes.

 

Stanislav Govorukhin and Boris Durov's The Vertical (1967), a mountain climbing drama, starring Vysotsky (as Volodya the radioman), brought him all-round recognition and fame. Four of the numbers used in the film (including "Song of a Friend [fi]" (Песня о друге), released in 1968 by the Soviet recording industry monopolist Melodiya disc to become an unofficial hit) were written literally on the spot, nearby Elbrus, inspired by professional climbers' tales and one curious hotel bar conversation with a German guest who 25 years ago happened to climb these very mountains in a capacity of an Edelweiss division fighter. Another 1967 film, Kira Muratova's Brief Encounters featured Vysotsky as the geologist Maxim (paste-bearded again) with a now trademark off-the-cuff musical piece, a melancholy improvisation called "Things to Do" (Дела). All the while Vysotsky continued working hard at Taganka, with another important role under his belt (that of Mayakovsky or, rather one of the latter character's five different versions) in the experimental piece called Listen! (Послушайте!), and now regularly gave semi-official concerts where audiences greeted him as a cult hero.

 

In the end of 1967 Vysotsky got another pivotal theater role, that of Khlopusha [ru] in Pugachov (a play based on a poem by Sergei Yesenin), often described as one of Taganka's finest. "He put into his performance all the things that he excelled at and, on the other hand, it was Pugachyov that made him discover his own potential," – Soviet critic Natalya Krymova wrote years later. Several weeks after the premiere, infuriated by the actor's increasing unreliability triggered by worsening drinking problems, Lyubimov fired him – only to let him back again several months later (and thus begin the humiliating sacked-then-pardoned routine which continued for years). In June 1968 a Vysotsky-slagging campaign was launched in the Soviet press. First Sovetskaya Rossiya commented on the "epidemic spread of immoral, smutty songs," allegedly promoting "criminal world values, alcoholism, vice and immorality" and condemned their author for "sowing seeds of evil." Then Komsomolskaya Pravda linked Vysotsky with black market dealers selling his tapes somewhere in Siberia. Composer Dmitry Kabalevsky speaking from the Union of Soviet Composers' Committee tribune criticised the Soviet radio for giving an ideologically dubious, "low-life product" like "Song of a Friend" (Песня о друге) an unwarranted airplay. Playwright Alexander Stein who in his Last Parade play used several of Vysotsky's songs, was chastised by a Ministry of Culture official for "providing a tribune for this anti-Soviet scum." The phraseology prompted commentators in the West to make parallels between Vysotsky and Mikhail Zoschenko, another Soviet author who'd been officially labeled "scum" some 20 years ago.

 

Two of Vysotsky's 1968 films, Gennady Poloka's Intervention (premiered in May 1987) where he was cast as Brodsky, a dodgy even if highly artistic character, and Yevgeny Karelov's Two Comrades Were Serving (a gun-toting White Army officer Brusentsov who in the course of the film shoots his friend, his horse, Oleg Yankovsky's good guy character and, finally himself) – were severely censored, first of them shelved for twenty years. At least four of Vysotsky's 1968 songs, "Save Our Souls" (Спасите наши души), "The Wolfhunt" (Охота на волков), "Gypsy Variations" (Моя цыганская) and "The Steam-bath in White" (Банька по-белому), were hailed later as masterpieces. It was at this point that 'proper' love songs started to appear in Vysotsky's repertoire, documenting the beginning of his passionate love affair with French actress Marina Vlady.

 

In 1969 Vysotsky starred in two films: The Master of Taiga where he played a villainous Siberian timber-floating brigadier, and more entertaining Dangerous Tour. The latter was criticized in the Soviet press for taking a farcical approach to the subject of the Bolshevik underground activities but for a wider Soviet audience this was an important opportunity to enjoy the charismatic actor's presence on big screen. In 1970, after visiting the dislodged Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at his dacha and having a lengthy conversation with him, Vysotsky embarked on a massive and by Soviet standards dangerously commercial concert tour in Soviet Central Asia and then brought Marina Vlady to director Viktor Turov's place so as to investigate her Belarusian roots. The pair finally wed on 1 December 1970 (causing furore among the Moscow cultural and political elite) and spent a honeymoon in Georgia. This was the highly productive period for Vysotsky, resulting in numerous new songs, including the anthemic "I Hate" (Я не люблю), sentimental "Lyricale" (Лирическая) and dramatic war epics "He Didn't Return from the Battle" (Он не вернулся из боя) and "The Earth Song" (Песня о Земле) among many others.

 

In 1971 a drinking spree-related nervous breakdown brought Vysotsky to the Moscow Kashchenko clinic [ru]. By this time he has been suffering from alcoholism. Many of his songs from this period deal, either directly or metaphorically, with alcoholism and insanity. Partially recovered (due to the encouraging presence of Marina Vladi), Vysotsky embarked on a successful Ukrainian concert tour and wrote a cluster of new songs. On 29 November 1971 Taganka's Hamlet premiered, a groundbreaking Lyubimov's production with Vysotsky in the leading role, that of a lone intellectual rebel, rising to fight the cruel state machine.

 

Also in 1971 Vysotsky was invited to play the lead in The Sannikov Land, the screen adaptation of Vladimir Obruchev's science fiction,[47] which he wrote several songs for, but was suddenly dropped for the reason of his face "being too scandalously recognisable" as a state official put it. One of the songs written for the film, a doom-laden epic allegory "Capricious Horses" (Кони привередливые), became one of the singer's signature tunes. Two of Vysotsky's 1972 film roles were somewhat meditative: an anonymous American journalist in The Fourth One and the "righteous guy" von Koren in The Bad Good Man (based on Anton Chekov's Duel). The latter brought Vysotsky the Best Male Role prize at the V Taormina Film Fest. This philosophical slant rubbed off onto some of his new works of the time: "A Singer at the Microphone" (Певец у микрофона), "The Tightrope Walker" (Канатоходец), two new war songs ("We Spin the Earth", "Black Pea-Coats") and "The Grief" (Беда), a folkish girl's lament, later recorded by Marina Vladi and subsequently covered by several female performers. Popular proved to be his 1972 humorous songs: "Mishka Shifman" (Мишка Шифман), satirizing the leaving-for-Israel routine, "Victim of the Television" which ridiculed the concept of "political consciousness," and "The Honour of the Chess Crown" (Честь шахматной короны) about an ever-fearless "simple Soviet man" challenging the much feared American champion Bobby Fischer to a match.

 

In 1972 he stepped up in Soviet Estonian TV where he presented his songs and gave an interview. The name of the show was "Young Man from Taganka" (Noormees Tagankalt).

 

In April 1973 Vysotsky visited Poland and France. Predictable problems concerning the official permission were sorted after the French Communist Party leader Georges Marchais made a personal phone call to Leonid Brezhnev who, according to Marina Vlady's memoirs, rather sympathized with the stellar couple. Having found on return a potentially dangerous lawsuit brought against him (concerning some unsanctioned concerts in Siberia the year before), Vysotsky wrote a defiant letter to the Minister of Culture Pyotr Demichev. As a result, he was granted the status of a philharmonic artist, 11.5 roubles per concert now guaranteed. Still the 900 rubles fine had to be paid according to the court verdict, which was a substantial sum, considering his monthly salary at the theater was 110 rubles. That year Vysotsky wrote some thirty songs for "Alice in Wonderland," an audioplay where he himself has been given several minor roles. His best known songs of 1973 included "The Others' Track" (Чужая колея), "The Flight Interrupted" (Прерванный полёт) and "The Monument", all pondering on his achievements and legacy.

 

In 1974 Melodiya released the 7" EP, featuring four of Vysotsky's war songs ("He Never Returned From the Battle", "The New Times Song", "Common Graves", and "The Earth Song") which represented a tiny portion of his creative work, owned by millions on tape. In September of that year Vysotsky received his first state award, the Honorary Diploma of the Uzbek SSR following a tour with fellow actors from the Taganka Theatre in Uzbekistan. A year later he was granted the USSR Union of Cinematographers' membership. This meant he was not an "anti-Soviet scum" now, rather an unlikely link between the official Soviet cinema elite and the "progressive-thinking artists of the West." More films followed, among them The Only Road (a Soviet-Yugoslav joint venture, premiered on 10 January 1975 in Belgrade) and a science fiction movie The Flight of Mr. McKinley (1975). Out of nine ballads that he wrote for the latter only two have made it into the soundtrack. This was the height of his popularity, when, as described in Vlady's book about her husband, walking down the street on a summer night, one could hear Vysotsky's recognizable voice coming literally from every open window. Among the songs written at the time, were humorous "The Instruction before the Trip Abroad", lyrical "Of the Dead Pilot" and philosophical "The Strange House". In 1975 Vysotsky made his third trip to France where he rather riskily visited his former tutor (and now a celebrated dissident emigre) Andrey Sinyavsky. Artist Mikhail Shemyakin, his new Paris friend (or a "bottle-sharer", in Vladi's terms), recorded Vysotsky in his home studio. After a brief stay in England Vysotsky crossed the ocean and made his first Mexican concerts in April. Back in Moscow, there were changes at Taganka: Lyubimov went to Milan's La Scala on a contract and Anatoly Efros has been brought in, a director of radically different approach. His project, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, caused a sensation. Critics praised Alla Demidova (as Ranevskaya) and Vysotsky (as Lopakhin) powerful interplay, some describing it as one of the most dazzling in the history of the Soviet theater. Lyubimov, who disliked the piece, accused Efros of giving his actors "the stardom malaise." The 1976 Taganka's visit to Bulgaria resulted in Vysotskys's interview there being filmed and 15 songs recorded by Balkanton record label. On return Lyubimov made a move which many thought outrageous: declaring himself "unable to work with this Mr. Vysotsky anymore" he gave the role of Hamlet to Valery Zolotukhin, the latter's best friend. That was the time, reportedly, when stressed out Vysotsky started taking amphetamines.

 

Another Belorussian voyage completed, Marina and Vladimir went for France and from there (without any official permission given, or asked for) flew to the North America. In New York Vysotsky met, among other people, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Joseph Brodsky. In a televised one-hour interview with Dan Rather he stressed he was "not a dissident, just an artist, who's never had any intentions to leave his country where people loved him and his songs." At home this unauthorized venture into the Western world bore no repercussions: by this time Soviet authorities were divided as regards the "Vysotsky controversy" up to the highest level; while Mikhail Suslov detested the bard, Brezhnev loved him to such an extent that once, while in hospital, asked him to perform live in his daughter Galina's home, listening to this concert on the telephone. In 1976 appeared "The Domes", "The Rope" and the "Medieval" cycle, including "The Ballad of Love".

 

In September Vysotsky with Taganka made a trip to Yugoslavia where Hamlet won the annual BITEF festival's first prize, and then to Hungary for a two-week concert tour. Back in Moscow Lyubimov's production of The Master & Margarita featured Vysotsky as Ivan Bezdomny; a modest role, somewhat recompensed by an important Svidrigailov slot in Yury Karyakin's take on Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Vysotsky's new songs of this period include "The History of Illness" cycle concerning his health problems, humorous "Why Did the Savages Eat Captain Cook", the metaphorical "Ballad of the Truth and the Lie", as well as "Two Fates", the chilling story of a self-absorbed alcoholic hunted by two malevolent witches, his two-faced destiny. In 1977 Vysotsky's health deteriorated (heart, kidneys, liver failures, jaw infection and nervous breakdown) to such an extent that in April he found himself in Moscow clinic's reanimation center in the state of physical and mental collapse.

 

In 1977 Vysotsky made an unlikely appearance in New York City on the American television show 60 Minutes, which falsely stated that Vysotsky had spent time in the Soviet prison system, the Gulag. That year saw the release of three Vysotsky's LPs in France (including the one that had been recorded by RCA in Canada the previous year); arranged and accompanied by guitarist Kostya Kazansky, the singer for the first time ever enjoyed the relatively sophisticated musical background. In August he performed in Hollywood before members of New York City film cast and (according to Vladi) was greeted warmly by the likes of Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro. Some more concerts in Los Angeles were followed by the appearance at the French Communist paper L’Humanité annual event. In December Taganka left for France, its Hamlet (Vysotsky back in the lead) gaining fine reviews.

 

1978 started with the March–April series of concerts in Moscow and Ukraine. In May Vysotsky embarked upon a new major film project: The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Место встречи изменить нельзя) about two detectives fighting crime in late 1940s Russia, directed by Stanislav Govorukhin. The film (premiered on 11 November 1978 on the Soviet Central TV) presented Vysotsky as Zheglov, a ruthless and charismatic cop teaching his milder partner Sharapov (actor Vladimir Konkin) his art of crime-solving. Vysotsky also became engaged in Taganka's Genre-seeking show (performing some of his own songs) and played Aleksander Blok in Anatoly Efros' The Lady Stranger (Незнакомка) radio play (premiered on air on 10 July 1979 and later released as a double LP).

 

In November 1978 Vysotsky took part in the underground censorship-defying literary project Metropolis, inspired and organized by Vasily Aksenov. In January 1979 Vysotsky again visited America with highly successful series of concerts. That was the point (according to biographer Vladimir Novikov) when a glimpse of new, clean life of a respectable international actor and performer all but made Vysotsky seriously reconsider his priorities. What followed though, was a return to the self-destructive theater and concert tours schedule, personal doctor Anatoly Fedotov now not only his companion, but part of Taganka's crew. "Who was this Anatoly? Just a man who in every possible situation would try to provide drugs. And he did provide. In such moments Volodya trusted him totally," Oksana Afanasyeva, Vysotsky's Moscow girlfriend (who was near him for most of the last year of his life and, on occasion, herself served as a drug courier) remembered. In July 1979, after a series of Central Asia concerts, Vysotsky collapsed, experienced clinical death and was resuscitated by Fedotov (who injected caffeine into the heart directly), colleague and close friend Vsevolod Abdulov helping with heart massage. In January 1980 Vysotsky asked Lyubimov for a year's leave. "Up to you, but on condition that Hamlet is yours," was the answer. The songwriting showed signs of slowing down, as Vysotsky began switching from songs to more conventional poetry. Still, of nearly 800 poems by Vysotsky only one has been published in the Soviet Union while he was alive. Not a single performance or interview was broadcast by the Soviet television in his lifetime.

 

In May 1979, being in a practice studio of the MSU Faculty of Journalism, Vysotsky recorded a video letter to American actor and film producer Warren Beatty, looking for both a personal meeting with Beatty and an opportunity to get a role in Reds film, to be produced and directed by the latter. While recording, Vysotsky made a few attempts to speak English, trying to overcome the language barrier. This video letter never reached Beatty. It was broadcast for the first time more than three decades later, on the night of 24 January 2013 (local time) by Rossiya 1 channel, along with records of TV channels of Italy, Mexico, Poland, USA and from private collections, in Vladimir Vysotsky. A letter to Warren Beatty film by Alexander Kovanovsky and Igor Rakhmanov. While recording this video, Vysotsky had a rare opportunity to perform for a camera, being still unable to do it with Soviet television.

 

On 22 January 1980, Vysotsky entered the Moscow Ostankino TV Center to record his one and only studio concert for the Soviet television. What proved to be an exhausting affair (his concentration lacking, he had to plod through several takes for each song) was premiered on the Soviet TV eight years later. The last six months of his life saw Vysotsky appearing on stage sporadically, fueled by heavy dosages of drugs and alcohol. His performances were often erratic. Occasionally Vysotsky paid visits to Sklifosofsky [ru] institute's ER unit, but would not hear of Marina Vlady's suggestions for him to take long-term rehabilitation course in a Western clinic. Yet he kept writing, mostly poetry and even prose, but songs as well. The last song he performed was the agonizing "My Sorrow, My Anguish" and his final poem, written one week prior to his death was "A Letter to Marina": "I'm less than fifty, but the time is short / By you and God protected, life and limb / I have a song or two to sing before the Lord / I have a way to make my peace with him."

 

Although several theories of the ultimate cause of the singer's death persist to this day, given what is now known about cardiovascular disease, it seems likely that by the time of his death Vysotsky had an advanced coronary condition brought about by years of tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as his grueling work schedule and the stress of the constant harassment by the government. Towards the end, most of Vysotsky's closest friends had become aware of the ominous signs and were convinced that his demise was only a matter of time. Clear evidence of this can be seen in a video ostensibly shot by the Japanese NHK channel only months before Vysotsky's death, where he appears visibly unwell, breathing heavily and slurring his speech. Accounts by Vysotsky's close friends and colleagues concerning his last hours were compiled in the book by V. Perevozchikov.

 

Vysotsky suffered from alcoholism for most of his life. Sometime around 1977, he started using amphetamines and other prescription narcotics in an attempt to counteract the debilitating hangovers and eventually to rid himself of alcohol addiction. While these attempts were partially successful, he ended up trading alcoholism for a severe drug dependency that was fast spiralling out of control. He was reduced to begging some of his close friends in the medical profession for supplies of drugs, often using his acting skills to collapse in a medical office and imitate a seizure or some other condition requiring a painkiller injection. On 25 July 1979 (a year to the day before his death) he suffered a cardiac arrest and was clinically dead for several minutes during a concert tour of Soviet Uzbekistan, after injecting himself with a wrong kind of painkiller he had previously obtained from a dentist's office.

 

Fully aware of the dangers of his condition, Vysotsky made several attempts to cure himself of his addiction. He underwent an experimental (and ultimately discredited) blood purification procedure offered by a leading drug rehabilitation specialist in Moscow. He also went to an isolated retreat in France with his wife Marina in the spring of 1980 as a way of forcefully depriving himself of any access to drugs. After these attempts failed, Vysotsky returned to Moscow to find his life in an increasingly stressful state of disarray. He had been a defendant in two criminal trials, one for a car wreck he had caused some months earlier, and one for an alleged conspiracy to sell unauthorized concert tickets (he eventually received a suspended sentence and a probation in the first case, and the charges in the second were dismissed, although several of his co-defendants were found guilty). He also unsuccessfully fought the film studio authorities for the rights to direct a movie called The Green Phaeton. Relations with his wife Marina were deteriorating, and he was torn between his loyalty to her and his love for his mistress Oksana Afanasyeva. He had also developed severe inflammation in one of his legs, making his concert performances extremely challenging.

 

In a final desperate attempt to overcome his drug addiction, partially prompted by his inability to obtain drugs through his usual channels (the authorities had imposed a strict monitoring of the medical institutions to prevent illicit drug distribution during the 1980 Olympics), he relapsed into alcohol and went on a prolonged drinking binge (apparently consuming copious amounts of champagne due to a prevalent misconception at the time that it was better than vodka at countering the effects of drug withdrawal).

 

On 3 July 1980, Vysotsky gave a performance at a suburban Moscow concert hall. One of the stage managers recalls that he looked visibly unhealthy ("gray-faced", as she puts it) and complained of not feeling too good, while another says she was surprised by his request for champagne before the start of the show, as he had always been known for completely abstaining from drink before his concerts. On 16 July Vysotsky gave his last public concert in Kaliningrad. On 18 July, Vysotsky played Hamlet for the last time at the Taganka Theatre. From around 21 July, several of his close friends were on a round-the-clock watch at his apartment, carefully monitoring his alcohol intake and hoping against all odds that his drug dependency would soon be overcome and they would then be able to bring him back from the brink. The effects of drug withdrawal were clearly getting the better of him, as he got increasingly restless, moaned and screamed in pain, and at times fell into memory lapses, failing to recognize at first some of his visitors, including his son Arkadiy. At one point, Vysotsky's personal physician A. Fedotov (the same doctor who had brought him back from clinical death a year earlier in Uzbekistan) attempted to sedate him, inadvertently causing asphyxiation from which he was barely saved. On 24 July, Vysotsky told his mother that he thought he was going to die that day, and then made similar remarks to a few of the friends present at the apartment, who begged him to stop such talk and keep his spirits up. But soon thereafter, Oksana Afanasyeva saw him clench his chest several times, which led her to suspect that he was genuinely suffering from a cardiovascular condition. She informed Fedotov of this but was told not to worry, as he was going to monitor Vysotsky's condition all night. In the evening, after drinking relatively small amounts of alcohol, the moaning and groaning Vysotsky was sedated by Fedotov, who then sat down on the couch next to him but fell asleep. Fedotov awoke in the early hours of 25 July to an unusual silence and found Vysotsky dead in his bed with his eyes wide open, apparently of a myocardial infarction, as he later certified. This was contradicted by Fedotov's colleagues, Sklifosovsky Emergency Medical Institute physicians L. Sul'povar and S. Scherbakov (who had demanded the actor's immediate hospitalization on 23 July but were allegedly rebuffed by Fedotov), who insisted that Fedotov's incompetent sedation combined with alcohol was what killed Vysotsky. An autopsy was prevented by Vysotsky's parents (who were eager to have their son's drug addiction remain secret), so the true cause of death remains unknown.

 

No official announcement of the actor's death was made, only a brief obituary appeared in the Moscow newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva, and a note informing of Vysotsky's death and cancellation of the Hamlet performance was put out at the entrance to the Taganka Theatre (the story goes that not a single ticket holder took advantage of the refund offer). Despite this, by the end of the day, millions had learned of Vysotsky's death. On 28 July, he lay in state at the Taganka Theatre. After a mourning ceremony involving an unauthorized mass gathering of unprecedented scale, Vysotsky was buried at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery in Moscow. The attendance at the Olympic events dropped noticeably on that day, as scores of spectators left to attend the funeral. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of his coffin.

 

According to author Valery Perevozchikov part of the blame for his death lay with the group of associates who surrounded him in the last years of his life. This inner circle were all people under the influence of his strong character, combined with a material interest in the large sums of money his concerts earned. This list included Valerii Yankelovich, manager of the Taganka Theatre and prime organiser of his non-sanctioned concerts; Anatoly Fedotov, his personal doctor; Vadim Tumanov, gold prospector (and personal friend) from Siberia; Oksana Afanasyeva (later Yarmolnik), his mistress the last three years of his life; Ivan Bortnik, a fellow actor; and Leonid Sul'povar, a department head at the Sklifosovski hospital who was responsible for much of the supply of drugs.

 

Vysotsky's associates had all put in efforts to supply his drug habit, which kept him going in the last years of his life. Under their influence, he was able to continue to perform all over the country, up to a week before his death. Due to illegal (i.e. non-state-sanctioned) sales of tickets and other underground methods, these concerts pulled in sums of money unimaginable in Soviet times, when almost everyone received nearly the same small salary. The payouts and gathering of money were a constant source of danger, and Yankelovich and others were needed to organise them.

 

Some money went to Vysotsky, the rest was distributed amongst this circle. At first this was a reasonable return on their efforts; however, as his addiction progressed and his body developed resistance, the frequency and amount of drugs needed to keep Vysotsky going became unmanageable. This culminated at the time of the Moscow Olympics which coincided with the last days of his life, when supplies of drugs were monitored more strictly than usual, and some of the doctors involved in supplying Vysotsky were already behind bars (normally the doctors had to account for every ampule, thus drugs were transferred to an empty container, while the patients received a substitute or placebo instead). In the last few days Vysotsky became uncontrollable, his shouting could be heard all over the apartment building on Malaya Gruzinskaya St. where he lived amongst VIP's. Several days before his death, in a state of stupor he went on a high speed drive around Moscow in an attempt to obtain drugs and alcohol – when many high-ranking people saw him. This increased the likelihood of him being forcibly admitted to the hospital, and the consequent danger to the circle supplying his habit. As his state of health declined, and it became obvious that he might die, his associates gathered to decide what to do with him. They came up with no firm decision. They did not want him admitted officially, as his drug addiction would become public and they would fall under suspicion, although some of them admitted that any ordinary person in his condition would have been admitted immediately.

 

On Vysotsky's death his associates and relatives put in much effort to prevent a post-mortem being carried out. This despite the fairly unusual circumstances: he died aged 42 under heavy sedation with an improvised cocktail of sedatives and stimulants, including the toxic chloral hydrate, provided by his personal doctor who had been supplying him with narcotics the previous three years. This doctor, being the only one present at his side when death occurred, had a few days earlier been seen to display elementary negligence in treating the sedated Vysotsky. On the night of his death, Arkadii Vysotsky (his son), who tried to visit his father in his apartment, was rudely refused entry by Yankelovich, even though there was a lack of people able to care for him. Subsequently, the Soviet police commenced a manslaughter investigation which was dropped due to the absence of evidence taken at the time of death.

 

Vysotsky's first wife was Iza Zhukova. They met in 1956, being both MAT theater institute students, lived for some time at Vysotsky's mother's flat in Moscow, after her graduation (Iza was 2 years older) spent months in different cities (her – in Kiev, then Rostov) and finally married on 25 April 1960.

 

He met his second wife Lyudmila Abramova in 1961, while shooting the film 713 Requests Permission to Land. They married in 1965 and had two sons, Arkady (born 1962) and Nikita (born 1964).

 

While still married to Lyudmila Abramova, Vysotsky began a romantic relationship with Tatyana Ivanenko, a Taganka actress, then, in 1967 fell in love with Marina Vlady, a French actress of Russian descent, who was working at Mosfilm on a joint Soviet-French production at that time. Marina had been married before and had three children, while Vladimir had two. They were married in 1969. For 10 years the two maintained a long-distance relationship as Marina compromised her career in France to spend more time in Moscow, and Vladimir's friends pulled strings for him to be allowed to travel abroad to stay with his wife. Marina eventually joined the Communist Party of France, which essentially gave her an unlimited-entry visa into the Soviet Union, and provided Vladimir with some immunity against prosecution by the government, which was becoming weary of his covertly anti-Soviet lyrics and his odds-defying popularity with the masses. The problems of his long-distance relationship with Vlady inspired several of Vysotsky's songs.

 

In the autumn of 1981 Vysotsky's first collection of poetry was officially published in the USSR, called The Nerve (Нерв). Its first edition (25,000 copies) was sold out instantly. In 1982 the second one followed (100,000), then the 3rd (1988, 200,000), followed in the 1990s by several more. The material for it was compiled by Robert Rozhdestvensky, an officially laurelled Soviet poet. Also in 1981 Yuri Lyubimov staged at Taganka a new music and poetry production called Vladimir Vysotsky which was promptly banned and officially premiered on 25 January 1989.

 

In 1982 the motion picture The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe was produced in the Soviet Union and in 1983 the movie was released to the public. Four songs by Vysotsky were featured in the film.

 

In 1986 the official Vysotsky poetic heritage committee was formed (with Robert Rozhdestvensky at the helm, theater critic Natalya Krymova being both the instigator and the organizer). Despite some opposition from the conservatives (Yegor Ligachev was the latter's political leader, Stanislav Kunyaev of Nash Sovremennik represented its literary flank) Vysotsky was rewarded posthumously with the USSR State Prize. The official formula – "for creating the character of Zheglov and artistic achievements as a singer-songwriter" was much derided from both the left and the right. In 1988 the Selected Works of... (edited by N. Krymova) compilation was published, preceded by I Will Surely Return... (Я, конечно, вернусь...) book of fellow actors' memoirs and Vysotsky's verses, some published for the first time. In 1990 two volumes of extensive The Works of... were published, financed by the late poet's father Semyon Vysotsky. Even more ambitious publication series, self-proclaimed "the first ever academical edition" (the latter assertion being dismissed by sceptics) compiled and edited by Sergey Zhiltsov, were published in Tula (1994–1998, 5 volumes), Germany (1994, 7 volumes) and Moscow (1997, 4 volumes).

 

In 1989 the official Vysotsky Museum opened in Moscow, with the magazine of its own called Vagant (edited by Sergey Zaitsev) devoted entirely to Vysotsky's legacy. In 1996 it became an independent publication and was closed in 2002.

 

In the years to come, Vysotsky's grave became a site of pilgrimage for several generations of his fans, the youngest of whom were born after his death. His tombstone also became the subject of controversy, as his widow had wished for a simple abstract slab, while his parents insisted on a realistic gilded statue. Although probably too solemn to have inspired Vysotsky himself, the statue is believed by some to be full of metaphors and symbols reminiscent of the singer's life.

 

In 1995 in Moscow the Vysotsky monument was officially opened at Strastnoy Boulevard, by the Petrovsky Gates. Among those present were the bard's parents, two of his sons, first wife Iza, renown poets Yevtushenko and Voznesensky. "Vysotsky had always been telling the truth. Only once he was wrong when he sang in one of his songs: 'They will never erect me a monument in a square like that by Petrovskye Vorota'", Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov said in his speech.[95] A further monument to Vysotsky was erected in 2014 at Rostov-on-Don.

 

In October 2004, a monument to Vysotsky was erected in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, near the Millennium Bridge. His son, Nikita Vysotsky, attended the unveiling. The statue was designed by Russian sculptor Alexander Taratinov, who also designed a monument to Alexander Pushkin in Podgorica. The bronze statue shows Vysotsky standing on a pedestal, with his one hand raised and the other holding a guitar. Next to the figure lies a bronze skull – a reference to Vysotsky's monumental lead performances in Shakespeare's Hamlet. On the pedestal the last lines from a poem of Vysotsky's, dedicated to Montenegro, are carved.

 

The Vysotsky business center & semi-skyscraper was officially opened in Yekaterinburg, in 2011. It is the tallest building in Russia outside of Moscow, has 54 floors, total height: 188.3 m (618 ft). On the third floor of the business center is the Vysotsky Museum. Behind the building is a bronze sculpture of Vladimir Vysotsky and his third wife, a French actress Marina Vlady.

 

In 2011 a controversial movie Vysotsky. Thank You For Being Alive was released, script written by his son, Nikita Vysotsky. The actor Sergey Bezrukov portrayed Vysotsky, using a combination of a mask and CGI effects. The film tells about Vysotsky's illegal underground performances, problems with KGB and drugs, and subsequent clinical death in 1979.

 

Shortly after Vysotsky's death, many Russian bards started writing songs and poems about his life and death. The best known are Yuri Vizbor's "Letter to Vysotsky" (1982) and Bulat Okudzhava's "About Volodya Vysotsky" (1980). In Poland, Jacek Kaczmarski based some of his songs on those of Vysotsky, such as his first song (1977) was based on "The Wolfhunt", and dedicated to his memory the song "Epitafium dla Włodzimierza Wysockiego" ("Epitaph for Vladimir Vysotsky").

 

Every year on Vysotsky's birthday festivals are held throughout Russia and in many communities throughout the world, especially in Europe. Vysotsky's impact in Russia is often compared to that of Wolf Biermann in Germany, Bob Dylan in America, or Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel in France.

 

The asteroid 2374 Vladvysotskij, discovered by Lyudmila Zhuravleva, was named after Vysotsky.

 

During the Annual Q&A Event Direct Line with Vladimir Putin, Alexey Venediktov asked Putin to name a street in Moscow after the singer Vladimir Vysotsky, who, though considered one of the greatest Russian artists, has no street named after him in Moscow almost 30 years after his death. Venediktov stated a Russian law that allowed the President to do so and promote a law suggestion to name a street by decree. Putin answered that he would talk to Mayor of Moscow and would solve this problem. In July 2015 former Upper and Lower Tagansky Dead-ends (Верхний и Нижний Таганские тупики) in Moscow were reorganized into Vladimir Vysotsky Street.

 

The Sata Kieli Cultural Association, [Finland], organizes the annual International Vladimir Vysotsky Festival (Vysotski Fest), where Vysotsky's singers from different countries perform in Helsinki and other Finnish cities. They sing Vysotsky in different languages and in different arrangements.

 

Two brothers and singers from Finland, Mika and Turkka Mali, over the course of their more than 30-year musical career, have translated into Finnish, recorded and on numerous occasions publicly performed songs of Vladimir Vysotsky.

 

Throughout his lengthy musical career, Jaromír Nohavica, a famed Czech singer, translated and performed numerous songs of Vladimir Vysotsky, most notably Песня о друге (Píseň o příteli – Song about a friend).

 

The Museum of Vladimir Vysotsky in Koszalin dedicated to Vladimir Vysotsky was founded by Marlena Zimna (1969–2016) in May 1994, in her apartment, in the city of Koszalin, in Poland. Since then the museum has collected over 19,500 exhibits from different countries and currently holds Vladimir Vysotsky' personal items, autographs, drawings, letters, photographs and a large library containing unique film footage, vinyl records, CDs and DVDs. A special place in the collection holds a Vladimir Vysotsky's guitar, on which he played at a concert in Casablanca in April 1976. Vladimir Vysotsky presented this guitar to Moroccan journalist Hassan El-Sayed together with an autograph (an extract from Vladimir Vysotsky's song "What Happened in Africa"), written in Russian right on the guitar.

 

In January 2023, a monument to the outstanding actor, singer and poet Vladimir Vysotsky was unveiled in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, in the square near the Rodina House of Culture. Author Vladimir Chebotarev.

 

After her husband's death, urged by her friend Simone Signoret, Marina Vlady wrote a book called The Aborted Flight about her years together with Vysotsky. The book paid tribute to Vladimir's talent and rich persona, yet was uncompromising in its depiction of his addictions and the problems that they caused in their marriage. Written in French (and published in France in 1987), it was translated into Russian in tandem by Vlady and a professional translator and came out in 1989 in the USSR. Totally credible from the specialists' point of view, the book caused controversy, among other things, by shocking revelations about the difficult father-and-son relationship (or rather, the lack of any), implying that Vysotsky-senior (while his son was alive) was deeply ashamed of him and his songs which he deemed "anti-Soviet" and reported his own son to the KGB. Also in 1989 another important book of memoirs was published in the USSR, providing a bulk of priceless material for the host of future biographers, Alla Demidova's Vladimir Vysotsky, the One I Know and Love. Among other publications of note were Valery Zolotukhin's Vysotsky's Secret (2000), a series of Valery Perevozchikov's books (His Dying Hour, The Unknown Vysotsky and others) containing detailed accounts and interviews dealing with the bard's life's major controversies (the mystery surrounding his death, the truth behind Vysotsky Sr.'s alleged KGB reports, the true nature of Vladimir Vysotsky's relations with his mother Nina's second husband Georgy Bartosh etc.), Iza Zhukova's Short Happiness for a Lifetime and the late bard's sister-in-law Irena Vysotskaya's My Brother Vysotsky. The Beginnings (both 2005).

 

A group of enthusiasts has created a non-profit project – the mobile application "Vysotsky"

 

The multifaceted talent of Vysotsky is often described by the term "bard" (бард) that Vysotsky has never been enthusiastic about. He thought of himself mainly as an actor and poet rather than a singer, and once remarked, "I do not belong to what people call bards or minstrels or whatever." With the advent of portable tape-recorders in the Soviet Union, Vysotsky's music became available to the masses in the form of home-made reel-to-reel audio tape recordings (later on cassette tapes).

 

Vysotsky accompanied himself on a Russian seven-string guitar, with a raspy voice singing ballads of love, peace, war, everyday Soviet life and of the human condition. He was largely perceived as the voice of honesty, at times sarcastically jabbing at the Soviet government, which made him a target for surveillance and threats. In France, he has been compared with Georges Brassens; in Russia, however, he was more frequently compared with Joe Dassin, partly because they were the same age and died in the same year, although their ideologies, biographies, and musical styles are very different. Vysotsky's lyrics and style greatly influenced Jacek Kaczmarski, a Polish songwriter and singer who touched on similar themes.

 

The songs – over 600 of them – were written about almost any imaginable theme. The earliest were blatnaya pesnya ("outlaw songs"). These songs were based either on the life of the common people in Moscow or on life in the crime people, sometimes in Gulag. Vysotsky slowly grew out of this phase and started singing more serious, though often satirical, songs. Many of these songs were about war. These war songs were not written to glorify war, but rather to expose the listener to the emotions of those in extreme, life-threatening situations. Most Soviet veterans would say that Vysotsky's war songs described the truth of war far more accurately than more official "patriotic" songs.

 

Nearly all of Vysotsky's songs are in the first person, although he is almost never the narrator. When singing his criminal songs, he would adopt the accent and intonation of a Moscow thief, and when singing war songs, he would sing from the point of view of a soldier. In many of his philosophical songs, he adopted the role of inanimate objects. This created some confusion about Vysotsky's background, especially during the early years when information could not be passed around very easily. Using his acting talent, the poet played his role so well that until told otherwise, many of his fans believed that he was, indeed, a criminal or war veteran. Vysotsky's father said that "War veterans thought the author of the songs to be one of them, as if he had participated in the war together with them." The same could be said about mountain climbers; on multiple occasions, Vysotsky was sent pictures of mountain climbers' graves with quotes from his lyrics etched on the tombstones.

 

Not being officially recognized as a poet and singer, Vysotsky performed wherever and whenever he could – in the theater (where he worked), at universities, in private apartments, village clubs, and in the open air. It was not unusual for him to give several concerts in one day. He used to sleep little, using the night hours to write. With few exceptions, he wasn't allowed to publish his recordings with "Melodiya", which held a monopoly on the Soviet music industry. His songs were passed on through amateur, fairly low quality recordings on vinyl discs and magnetic tape, resulting in his immense popularity. Cosmonauts even took his music on cassette into orbit.

 

Musically, virtually all of Vysotsky's songs were written in a minor key, and tended to employ from three to seven chords. Vysotsky composed his songs and played them exclusively on the Russian seven string guitar, often tuned a tone or a tone-and-a-half below the traditional Russian "Open G major" tuning. This guitar, with its specific Russian tuning, makes a slight yet notable difference in chord voicings than the standard tuned six string Spanish (classical) guitar, and it became a staple of his sound. Because Vysotsky tuned down a tone and a half, his strings had less tension, which also colored the sound.

 

His earliest songs were usually written in C minor (with the guitar tuned a tone down from DGBDGBD to CFACFAC)

 

Songs written in this key include "Stars" (Zvyozdy), "My friend left for Magadan" (Moy drug uyekhal v Magadan), and most of his "outlaw songs".

 

At around 1970, Vysotsky began writing and playing exclusively in A minor (guitar tuned to CFACFAC), which he continued doing until his death.

 

Vysotsky used his fingers instead of a pick to pluck and strum, as was the tradition with Russian guitar playing. He used a variety of finger picking and strumming techniques. One of his favorite was to play an alternating bass with his thumb as he plucked or strummed with his other fingers.

 

Often, Vysotsky would neglect to check the tuning of his guitar, which is particularly noticeable on earlier recordings. According to some accounts, Vysotsky would get upset when friends would attempt to tune his guitar, leading some to believe that he preferred to play slightly out of tune as a stylistic choice. Much of this is also attributable to the fact that a guitar that is tuned down more than 1 whole step (Vysotsky would sometimes tune as much as 2 and a half steps down) is prone to intonation problems.

 

Vysotsky had a unique singing style. He had an unusual habit of elongating consonants instead of vowels in his songs. So when a syllable is sung for a prolonged period of time, he would elongate the consonant instead of the vowel in that syllable.

Sign posted outside of a school building.

 

Decatur (Winnona Park), Georgia, USA.

24 September 2020.

 

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***************

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Riguardo al decreto sicurezza e all'utilizzo di militari nelle città il ministro ha detto: "i cittadini non hanno paura dei poliziotti, dei carabinieri o dei militari, ma sono i malintenzionati ad averne"

Ignazio La Russa, ministro della Difesa della Repubblica Italiana, 29 Luglio 2008

 

A proposito della sentenza sui fatti di Bolzaneto, il ministro della Difesa ha affermato: "Da qualcuno è stata definita mite, io dico che è stata probabilmente giusta ed ha dimostrato che ogni teoria su una immagine negativa delle forze dell'ordine era politica, propagandistica e ideologica, destinata a vacillare ed è crollata"

Ignazio La Russa, ministro della Difesa della Repubblica Italiana, 19 Luglio 2008

 

Così Nick Davies, pluripremiato giornalista del Guardian, racconta i fatti accaduti durante il summit del G8 di Genova nel 2001; un'immagine chiaramente negativa, propagandistica, ideologica e destinata [sic] a crollare:

 

The bloody battle of Genoa

When 200,000 anti-globalisation protesters converged on the Italian city hosting the G8 summit in 2001, all but a handful came to demonstrate peacefully. Instead, many were beaten to a pulp by seemingly out-of-control riot police. But was there something more sinister at play? And will the victims ever see proper justice? Nick Davies reports.

 

It was just before midnight when the first police officer hit Mark Covell, swiping his truncheon down on his left shoulder. Covell did his best to yell out in Italian that he was a journalist but, within seconds, he was surrounded by riot-squad officers thrashing him with their sticks. For a while, he managed to stay on his feet but then a baton blow to the knee sent him crashing to the pavement.

 

Lying on his face in the dark, bruised and scared, he was aware of police all around him, massing to attack the Diaz Pertini school building where 93 young demonstrators were bedding down on the floor for the night. Covell's best hope was that they would break through the chain around the front gates without paying him any more attention. If that happened, he could get up and limp across the street to the safety of the Indymedia centre, where he had spent the past three days filing reports on the G8 summit and on its violent policing.

 

It was at that moment that a police officer sauntered over to him and kicked him in the chest with such force that the entire lefthand side of his rib cage caved in, breaking half-a-dozen ribs whose splintered ends then shredded the membrane of his left lung. Covell, who is 5ft 8in and weighs less than eight stone, was lifted off the pavement and sent flying into the street. He heard the policeman laugh. The thought formed in Covell's mind: "I'm not going to make it."

 

The riot squad were still struggling with the gate, so a group of officers occupied the time by strolling over to use Covell as a football. This bout of kicking broke his left hand and damaged his spine. From somewhere behind him, Covell heard an officer shout that this was enough - "Basta! Basta!" - and he felt his body being dragged back on to the pavement.

 

Now, an armoured police van broke through the school gates and 150 police officers, most wearing crash helmets and carrying truncheons and shields, poured into the defenceless building. Two officers stopped to deal with Covell: one cracked him round the head with his baton; the other kicked him several times in the mouth, knocking out a dozen teeth. Covell passed out.

 

There are several good reasons why we should not forget what happened to Covell, then aged 33, that night in Genoa. The first is that he was only the beginning. By midnight on July 21 2001, those police officers were swarming through all four floors of the Diaz Pertini building, dispensing their special kind of discipline to its occupants, reducing the makeshift dormitories to what one officer later described as "a Mexican butcher's shop". They and their colleagues then illegally incarcerated their victims in a detention centre, which became a place of dark terror.

 

The second is that, seven years later, Covell and his fellow victims are still waiting for justice. On Monday, 15 police, prison guards and prison medics finally were convicted for their part in the violence - although it emerged yesterday that none of them would actually serve prison terms. In Italy, defendants don't go to jail until they have exhausted the appeals process; and in this case, the convictions and sentences will be wiped out by a statute of limitations next year. Meanwhile, the politicians who were responsible for the police, prison guards and prison medics have never had to explain themselves. Fundamental questions about why this happened remain unanswered - and they hint at the third and most important reason for remembering Genoa. This is not simply the story of law officers running riot, but of something uglier and more worrying beneath the surface.

 

The fact that this story can be told at all is testament to seven years of hard work, led by a dedicated and courageous public prosecutor, Emilio Zucca. Helped by Covell as well as his own staff, Zucca has gathered hundreds of witness statements and analysed 5,000 hours of video as well as thousands of photographs. Pieced together, they tell an irrefutable tale, which began to unfold as Covell lay bleeding on the ground.

 

The police poured into the Diaz Pertini school. Some of them were shouting "Black Bloc! We're going to kill you," but if they genuinely believed they were confronting the notorious Black Bloc of anarchists who had caused violent mayhem in parts of the city during demonstrations earlier in the day, they were mistaken. The school had been provided by the Genoa city council as a base for demonstrators who had nothing to do with the anarchists: they had even posted guards to make sure that none of them came in.

 

One of the first to see the riot squad bursting in was Michael Gieser, a 35-year-old Belgian economist, who subsequently described how he had just changed into his pyjamas and was queuing for the bathroom with his toothbrush in his hand when the raid began. Gieser believes in the power of dialogue and, at first, he walked towards them saying, "We need to talk." He saw the padded jackets, the riot clubs, the helmets and the bandanas concealing the policemen's faces, changed his mind and ran up the stairs to escape.

 

Others were slower. They were still in their sleeping bags. A group of 10 Spanish friends in the middle of the hall woke up to find themselves being battered with truncheons. They raised their hands in surrender. More officers piled in to beat their heads, cutting and bruising and breaking limbs, including the arm of a 65-year-old woman. At the side of the room, several young people were sitting at computers, sending emails home. One of them was Melanie Jonasch, a 28-year-old archaeology student from Berlin, who had volunteered to help out in the building and had not even been on a demonstration.

 

She still cannot remember what happened. But numerous other witnesses have described how officers set upon her, beating her head so hard with their sticks that she rapidly lost consciousness. When she fell to the ground, officers circled her, beating and kicking her limp body, banging her head against a near-by cupboard, leaving her finally in a pool of blood. Katherina Ottoway, who saw this happen, recalled: "She was trembling all over. Her eyes were open but upturned. I thought she was dying, that she could not survive this."

 

None of those who stayed on the ground floor escaped injury. As Zucca later put it in his prosecution report: "In the space of a few minutes, all the occupants on the ground floor had been reduced to complete helplessness, the groans of the wounded mingling with the sound of calls for an ambulance." In their fear, some victims lost control of their bowels. Then the officers of the law moved up the stairs. In the first-floor corridor they found a small group, including Gieser, still clutching his toothbrush: "Someone suggested lying down, to show there was no resistance. So I did. The police arrived and began beating us, one by one. I protected my head with my hands. I thought, 'I must survive.' People were shouting, 'Please stop.' I said the same thing ... It made me think of a pork butchery. We were being treated like animals, like pigs."

 

Officers broke down doors to the rooms leading off the corridors. In one, they found Dan McQuillan and Norman Blair, who had flown in from Stansted to show their support for, as McQuillan put it, "a free and equal society with people living in harmony with each other". The two Englishmen and their friend from New Zealand, Sam Buchanan, had heard the police attack on the ground floor and had tried to hide their bags and themselves under some tables in the corner of the dark room. A dozen officers broke in, caught them in a spotlight and, even as McQuillan stood up with his hands raised saying, "Take it easy, take it easy," they battered them into submission, inflicting numerous cuts and bruises and breaking McQuillan's wrist. Norman Blair recalled: "I could feel the venom and hatred from them."

 

Gieser was out in the corridor: "The scene around me was covered in blood, everywhere. A policeman shouted 'Basta!'. This word was like a window of hope. I understood it meant 'enough'. And yet they didn't stop. They continued with pleasure. In the end, they did stop, but it was like taking a toy away from a child, against their will."

 

By now, there were police officers on all four floors of the building, kicking and battering. Several victims describe a sort of system to the violence, with each officer beating each person he came across, then moving on to the next victim while his colleague moved up to continue beating the first. It seemed important that everybody must be hurt. Nicola Doherty, 26, a care worker from London, later described how her partner, Richard Moth, lay across her to protect her: "I could just hear blow after blow on his body. The police were also leaning over Rich so they could hit the parts of my body which were exposed." She tried to cover her head with her arm: they broke her wrist.

 

In one corridor, they ordered a group of young men and women to kneel, the easier to batter them around the head and shoulders. This was where Daniel Albrecht, a 21-year-old cello student from Berlin, had his head beaten so badly that he needed surgery to stop bleeding in his brain. Around the building, officers flipped their batons around, gripping the far end and using the right-angled handle as a hammer.

 

And in among this relentless violence, there were moments when the police preferred humiliation: the officer who stood spread-legged in front of a kneeling and injured woman, grabbed his groin and thrust it into her face before turning to do the same to Daniel Albrecht kneeling beside her; the officer who paused amid the beatings and took a knife to cut off hair from his victims, including Nicola Doherty; the constant shouting of insults; the officer who asked a group if they were OK and who reacted to the one who said "No" by handing out an extra beating.

 

A few escaped, at least for a while. Karl Boro made it up on to the roof but then made the mistake of coming back into the building, where he was treated to heavy bruising to his arms and legs, a fractured skull, and bleeding in his chest cavity. Jaraslaw Engel, from Poland, managed to use builders' scaffolding to get out of the school, but he was caught in the street by some police drivers who smashed him over the head, laid him on the ground and stood over him smoking while his blood ran out across the Tarmac.

 

Two of the last to be caught were a pair of German students, Lena Zuhlke, 24, and her partner Niels Martensen. They had hidden in a cleaners' cupboard on the top floor. They heard the police approaching, drumming their batons against the walls of the stairs. The cupboard door came open, Martensen was dragged out and beaten by a dozen officers standing in a semicircle around him. Zuhlke ran across the corridor and hid in the loo. Police officers saw her and followed her and dragged her out by her dreadlocks.

 

In the corridor, they set about her like dogs on a rabbit. She was beaten around the head then kicked from all sides on the floor, where she felt her rib cage collapsing. She was hauled up against the wall where one officer kneed her in the groin while others carried on lashing her with their batons. She slid down the wall and they hit her more on the ground: "They seemed to be enjoying themselves and, when I cried out in pain, it seemed to give them even more pleasure."

 

Police officers found a fire extinguisher and squirted its foam into Martensen's wounds. His partner was dragged by her hair and tossed down the stairs head-first. Eventually, they dragged Zuhlke into the ground-floor hall, where they had gathered dozens of prisoners from all over the building in a mess of blood and excrement. They threw her on top of two other people. They were not moving, and Zuhlke drowsily asked them if they were alive. They did not reply, and she lay there on her back, unable to move her right arm, unable to stop her left arm and her legs twitching, blood seeping out of her head wounds. A group of police officers walked by, and each one lifted the bandana which concealed his identity, leaned down and spat on her face.

 

Why would law officers behave with such contempt for the law? The simple answer may be the one which was soon being chanted outside the school building by sympathetic demonstrators who chose a word which they knew the police would understand: "Bastardi! Bastardi!" But something else was happening here - something that emerged more clearly over the next few days.

 

Covell and dozens of other victims of the raid were taken to the San Martino hospital, where police officers walked up and down the corridors, slapping their clubs into the palms of their hands, ordering the injured not to move around or look out of the window, keeping handcuffs on many of them and then, often with injuries still untended, shipping them across the city to join scores of others, from the Diaz school and from the street demonstrations, detained at the detention centre in the city's Bolzaneto district.

 

The signs of something uglier here were apparent first in superficial ways. Some officers had traditional fascist songs as ringtones on their mobile phones and talked enthusiastically about Mussolini and Pinochet. Repeatedly, they ordered prisoners to say "Viva il duce." Sometimes, they used threats to force them to sing fascist songs: "Un, due, tre. Viva Pinochet!"

 

The 222 people who were held at Bolzaneto were treated to a regime later described by public prosecutors as torture. On arrival, they were marked with felt-tip crosses on each cheek, and many were forced to walk between two parallel lines of officers who kicked and beat them. Most were herded into large cells, holding up to 30 people. Here, they were forced to stand for long periods, facing the wall with their hands up high and their legs spread. Those who failed to hold the position were shouted at, slapped and beaten. Mohammed Tabach has an artificial leg and, unable to hold the stress position, collapsed and was rewarded with two bursts of pepper spray in his face and, later, a particularly savage beating. Norman Blair later recalled standing like this and a guard asking him "Who is your government?" "The person before me had answered 'Polizei', so I said the same. I was afraid of being beaten."

 

Stefan Bauer dared to answer back: when a German-speaking guard asked where he was from, he said he was from the European Union and he had the right to go where he wanted. He was hauled out, beaten, given a face full of pepper spray, stripped naked and put under a cold shower. His clothes were taken away and he was returned to the freezing cell wearing only a flimsy hospital gown.

 

Shivering on the cold marble floors of the cells, the detainees were given few or no blankets, kept awake by guards, given little or no food and denied their statutory right to make phone calls and see a lawyer. They could hear crying and screaming from other cells.

 

Men and women with dreadlocks had their hair roughly cut off to the scalp. Marco Bistacchia was taken to an office, stripped naked, made to get down on all fours and told to bark like a dog and to shout "Viva la polizia Italiana!" He was sobbing too much to obey. An unnamed officer told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that he had seen brother officers urinating on prisoners and beating them for refusing to sing Faccetta Nera, a Mussolini-era fascist song.

 

Ester Percivati, a young Turkish woman, recalled guards calling her a whore as she was marched to the toilet, where a woman officer forced her head down into the bowl and a male jeered "Nice arse! Would you like a truncheon up it?" Several women reported threats of rape, anal and vaginal.

 

Even the infirmary was dangerous. Richard Moth, covered in cuts and bruises after lying on top of his partner, was given stitches in his head and legs without anaesthetic - "an extremely painful and disturbing experience. I had to be held down." Prison medical staff were among those convicted of abuse on Monday.

 

All agree that this was not an attempt to get the detainees to talk, simply an exercise in creating fear. And it worked. In statements, prisoners later described their feeling of helplessness, of being cut off from the rest of the world in a place where there was no law and no rules. Indeed, the police forced their captives to sign statements, waiving all their legal rights. One man, David Larroquelle, testified that he refused and had three of his ribs broken. Percivati also refused and her face was slammed into the office wall, breaking her glasses and making her nose bleed.

 

The outside world was treated to some severely distorted accounts of all this. Lying in San Martino hospital the day after his beating, Covell came round to find his shoulder being shaken by a woman who, he understood, was from the British embassy. It was only when the man with her started taking photographs that he realised she was a reporter, from the Daily Mail. Its front page the next day ran an entirely false report describing him as having helped mastermind the riots. (Four long years later, the Mail eventually apologised and paid Covell damages for invasion of privacy.)

 

While his citizens were being beaten and tormented in illegal detention, spokesmen for the then prime minister, Tony Blair, declared: "The Italian police had a difficult job to do. The prime minister believes that they did that job."

 

The Italian police themselves fed the media with a rich diet of falsehood. Even as the bloody bodies were being carried out of the Diaz Pertini building on stretchers, police were telling reporters that the ambulances lined up in the street were nothing to do with the raid, and/or that the very obviously fresh injuries were old, and that the building had been full of violent extremists who had attacked officers.

 

The next day, senior officers held a press conference at which they announced that everybody in the building would be charged with aggressive resistance to arrest and conspiracy to cause destruction. In the event, the Italian courts dismissed every single attempted charge against every single person. That included Covell. Police attempts to charge him with a string of very serious offences were described by the public prosecutor, Enrico Zucca, as "grotesque".

 

At the same press conference, police displayed an array of what they described as weaponry. This included crowbars, hammers and nails which they themselves had taken from a builder's store next to the school; aluminium rucksack frames, which they presented as offensive weapons; 17 cameras; 13 pairs of swimming goggles; 10 pen-knives; and a bottle of sun-tan lotion. They also displayed two Molotov cocktails which, Zucca later concluded, had been found by police earlier in the day in another part of the city and planted in the Diaz Pertini building as the raid ended.

 

This public dishonesty was part of a wider effort to cover up what had happened. On the night of the raid, a force of 59 police entered the building opposite the Diaz Pertini, where Covell and others had been running their Indymedia centre and where, crucially, a group of lawyers had been based, gathering evidence about police attacks on the earlier demonstrations. Officers went into the lawyers' room, threatened the occupants, smashed their computers and seized hard drives. They also removed anything containing photographs or video tape.

 

With the courts refusing to charge the detainees, the police secured an order to deport all of them from the country, banning them from returning for five years. Thus, the witnesses were removed from the scene. Like the attempted charges, all the deportation orders were subsequently dismissed as illegal by the courts.

 

Zucca then fought his way through years of denial and obfuscation. In his formal report, he recorded that all the senior officers involved were denying playing any part: "Not a single official has confessed to holding a substantial command role in any aspects of the operation." One senior officer who was videoed at the scene explained that he was off duty and had just turned up to make sure his men were not being injured. Police statements were themselves changeable and contradictory, and were overwhelmingly contradicted by the evidence of victims and numerous videos: "Not a single one of the 150 officers reportedly present has provided precise information regarding an individual episode."

 

Without Zucca, without the robust stance of the Italian courts, without Covell's intensive work assembling video records of the Diaz raid, the police might well have evaded responsibility and secured false charges and prison sentences against scores of their victims. Apart from the Bolzaneto trial which finished on Monday, 28 other officers, some very senior, are on trial for their part in the Diaz raid. And yet, justice has been compromised.

 

No Italian politician has been brought to book, in spite of the strong suggestion that the police acted as though somebody had promised them impunity. One minister visited Bolzaneto while the detainees were being mistreated and apparently saw nothing or, at least, saw nothing he thought he should stop. Another, Gianfranco Fini, former national secretary of the neo-fascist MSI party and the then deputy prime minister, was - according to media reports at the time - in police headquarters. He has never been required to explain what orders he gave.

 

Most of the several hundred law officers involved in Diaz and Bolzaneto have escaped without any discipline or criminal charge. None has been suspended; some have been promoted. None of the officers who were tried over Bolzaneto has been charged with torture - Italian law does not recognise the offence. Some senior officers who were originally going to be charged over the Diaz raid escaped trial because Zucca was simply unable to prove that a chain of command existed. Even now, the trial of the 28 officers who have been charged is in jeopardy because the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is pushing through legislation to delay all trials dealing with events that occurred before June 2002. Nobody has been charged with the violence inflicted on Covell. And as one of the victims' lawyers, Massimo Pastore, put it: "Nobody wants to listen to what this story has to say."

 

That is about fascism. There are plenty of rumours that the police and carabinieri and prison staff belonged to fascist groups, but no evidence to support that. Pastore argues that that misses the bigger point: "It is not just a matter of a few drunken fascists. This is mass behaviour by the police. No one said 'No.' This is a culture of fascism." At its heart, this involved what Zucca described in his report as "a situation in which every rule of law appears to have been suspended."

 

Fifty-two days after the attack on the Diaz school, 19 men used planes full of passengers as flying bombs and shifted the bedrock of assumptions on which western democracies had based their business. Since then, politicians who would never describe themselves as fascists have allowed the mass tapping of telephones and monitoring of emails, detention without trial, systematic torture, the calibrated drowning of detainees, unlimited house arrest and the targeted killing of suspects, while the procedure of extradition has been replaced by "extraordinary rendition". This isn't fascism with jack-booted dictators with foam on their lips. It's the pragmatism of nicely turned-out politicians. But the result looks very similar. Genoa tells us that when the state feels threatened, the rule of law can be suspended. Anywhere.

 

Nick Davies, The Guardian, Thursday July 17 2008

Built in 1892, this Queen Anne-style house was constructed for Johann Heinrich Kruse and his wife, Elizabeth Massman Kruse, whom were prominent citizens of Covington, and later, Latonia, whom owned a lot of land and properties in Latonia. Kruse, a native of Covington, was born to German-American parents in 1862, with his family making a lot of money in the Grocery and Wholesale business during and after the Civil War. Kruse himself became a bookkeeper for the Bavarian Brewing Company in 1881, owing to his acumen for finances and numbers, eventually becoming the secretary and treasurer for the brewery in 1883. One year after the house was built, Elizabeth passed away at the age of thirty from an illness. Following her death, Kruse remained in the house, remarrying to Katherine Rosella Younger Kruse, and became very actively involved in the community, including serving on the city council for Latonia prior to its annexation by Covington. Kruse also platted a subdivision on the east side of Latonia, built several vacation cottages at the resort community of Latonia Lakes, and helped found the First National Bank of Latonia in 1902. Kruse had several children with Katherine, and were active members of the Holy Cross Catholic Church.

 

Kruse is perhaps most notable for being one of the defendants in the Schoborg sedition trial, driven by anti-German hysteria during World War I, in which Kruse and two other prominent and wealthy German-Americans living in Covington, cobbler Charles Bernard Schoborg, contractor Matt Felton, Civil War veteran Herman Rawe, grocery manager Charles Wagner, farmer J. C. Masten, and Henry Feltman, a tobacco magnate, were accused of treason by a group of xenophobic nationalists known as the Citizen’s Patriotic League, which used propaganda, intimidation, and violence against innocent people of German ancestry living in Northern Kentucky during the early 20th Century. Their actions had the effect of destroying the once-vibrant and German culture of the area and the tight-knit German-American community, using the justification of a war in a land which the ancestors of the people they targeted had left decades prior, many settling in the area well before the unification of the German state in the late 19th Century. Though the three German men who were accused of sedition were pardoned after six months after it was found that the evidence was unverifiable and likely falsified, the perpetrators of this injustice, Stephen Blakely, a Fort Mitchell attorney, and Harvey Myers, then-president of the Latonia Race Track, were never held accountable for their criminal actions, sending three innocent men to jail.

 

Due to his betrayal by the Covington and Latonia community during World War I, the injustice done to him without accountability for the perpetrators, and his neighbors and friends who were too cowardly to stand up for him in the face of a violent rampaging mob, Kruse sold the house to Doctor Lucas J. Lee, a dentist in 1921, whom modified the house and added several features including casement windows, a sun porch, and decorative stone walls and pillars in the yard. Kruse moved to Fort Walton Beach, where he lived until his death in 1953.

 

The house features a hipped front and side gable roof, scalloped and shake shingle cladding on the gable ends, decorative trim on the gable ends, a corner tower with a second-story octagonal portion, a first-floor bay window below with decorative glass transoms, bay window on the north facade with decorative glass transoms, one-over-one double-hung windows, an enclosed front sun porch with casement windows and a hipped roof, decorative trim, fluted doric columns, and a carved wooden front door with decorative glass transom, a rusticated stone base, a steel casement window on the side gable, decorative stone walls and piers in the back and side yard, and brick chimneys. The house is a contributing structure in the Ritte’s East Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

402 Commercial Avenue.

"This ornate brick building, the first of its kind in Skagit County, was constructed by Lewis & Dryden Engineers of Portland, Oregon. It was originally chartered as the Bank of Anacortes. The Bank closed during the depression of 1893. Two vaults and other bank-related features have survived alterations."

- City of Anacortes.

 

"The Platt Building on the SW corner of P/Commercial and 4th was the first brick building on Fidalgo Island. It was built by John Platt during the summer of 1890. The ANACORTES AMERICAN reported on 7-31-1890, "Platt bank building will be done in 30 days." On 10-9-1890, "The New Bank ... Fine store and Offices ... To John Platt is due the credit and honor of building and occupying the first brick block to be erected upon Fidalgo Island."

The building had several names, such as Post Office Building (Post Office housed here from 1895 to at least 1898) and, in 1901, the Wells Building after it was purchased by W. V. Wells. The structure also housed the first telephone company."

anacortes.pastperfectonline.com/photo/96E694C9-0FE0-46F1-...

 

Name: William Wadham

Arrested for: Sleeping Out

Arrested at: North Shields Police Station

Arrested on: 11 July 1904

Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-51-William Wadham

 

The Shields Daily Gazette for 11 July 1904 reported:

 

"At North Shields, Charles Winlow (53), tramp, no fixed abode,

was charge with lodging in a hay stack in Mariners' Lane without having visible means of subsistence, and was sent to prison for seven days. William Wadham, Tyne Dock, William Smith or Morrison, shoeblack, and William Patton, no fixed abode, were charged with lodging in a hay pike at Kenners Dene Farm. Wadham and Smith were each committed for seven days and Patton was committed for 14 days".

 

For a mugshot of William Morrison (named as Morrissey in the album) see www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/16296238087/in/set-7215762....

 

Contemporary attitudes to rough sleeping can be seen in a report in the Shields Daily Gazette on 5 October 1903.

 

"At Jarrow today John Smith, Wm Cooper, James Bell, young men who said they came to the town in search of work, were charged with sleeping in Palmers Works last night. PC Lowery gave evidence and Supt Fleming said that the county was 'swarming' with fellows like defendants, who should be made to seek shelter in the Workhouses. Defendants were sent to prison for 7 days".

 

The Shields Daily Gazette of 8 October 1903 contains an article entitled 'Lazy Loafers':

 

"There are some people who will neither work nor want. They are the typical loafers we can see in the streets any day. Apparently we have a fairly good stock of them at North Shields. It is not because of depression of trade either. The other morning no fewer than half a dozen of such individuals were place in the dock on a charge of sleeping out. The officer had found them all huddled together in an empty room during the night and they could not give a satisfactory account of themselves. When questioned by the magistrates, the police officers stated that all the defendants were lazy loafers, who had never worked for a considerable time. They did nothing but lounge about the streets during the day and then obtained shelter in some empty room or outhouse at night. The magistrates marked their sense of the offence by sending them all to prison for a month each - each with hard labour. A month of hard work will probably do them a vast of good and will enable them to shake off that habitual tired feeling".

 

These images are a selection from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 in the collection of Tyne & Wear Archives (TWA ref DX1388/1).

 

This set contains mugshots of boys and girls under the age of 21. This reflects the fact that until 1970 that was the legal age of majority in the UK.

 

(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.

I wonder what the judge would say if I appeared in court wearing this outfit.

via WordPress ift.tt/1sMCYPw

 

“Anna has made the trip to Rikers hundreds of times in the nearly six years her son has been awaiting trial. Each time, a friend picks her up early in the morning near her apartment in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and drives her out through the city, past the brick houses and manicured lawns of northwestern Queens. They park near the Q100 bus stop and sit silently in the car until the bus pulls up.

 

On weekends, there’s always a line pushing to get on the bus — almost all women, many with small children, most black or Hispanic. Anna doesn’t rush to the doors like the rest; she has made this trip often enough to know that if you get on last you’ll be the first off when the bus reaches its destination. It’s only one stop, anyway.

 

The bus runs fast down a narrow bridge, passing the city’s fading skyline on the left and the tarmacs of LaGuardia Airport on the right. Within minutes it stops again and several uniformed men approach with guns and dogs. A large officer gets on the bus and asks attorneys and jail staff to get off. Then he reminds everyone else that this is the end of their “amnesty” — their last chance to get rid of any contraband without risking arrest.

 

“Happy Sunday,” he ends flatly but loudly. “Welcome to Rikers.”

 

In October 2010, Anna’s son Jairo Pastoressa was arrested for stabbing and killing a young man during a dispute. He was charged with murder and denied bail and has been sitting in jail for 67 months, waiting for a trial that keeps being postponed. Eighty-five percent of Rikers’s nearly 10,000 detainees have not yet been tried. Although many are released within a week, some remain in the jail for years as their cases drag through New York’s chronically slow court system. As of March 2016, 75 percent of Rikers detainees had been awaiting trial for less than a year, but there were 109 whose cases had been pending for more than three years and another 209 who had been waiting for more than two years, according to a spokesperson with the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. Jairo believes he is the longest-serving detainee currently on the island. “This system keeps those that have been accused of committing crimes out of sight and out of mind,” City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said in her 2016 State of the City address, in which she announced an independent commission to review whether the population at Rikers can be reduced enough to make its closure possible. “Rikers Island has come to represent our worst tendencies and our biggest failures.”

 

An officer with a dog walks along the lined-up group twice, the dog sniffing everyone, including small children in strollers.

 

Anna has been coming here one to three times a week since Jairo was arrested; she knows by heart the steps that precede any visit. She moves fast to the front of the line into the first building, stands against the wall holding a small plastic bag with a few bare necessities in her left hand before more uniformed officers yell at the rest of the group to do the same, speaking curtly to anyone moving too slowly or falling out of line. An officer with a dog walks along the lined-up group twice, the dog sniffing everyone, including small children in strollers, as another officer lists a long series of forbidden items: drugs, tobacco, perfume, chapstick. When officers usher the group out, Anna again steps briskly to the front of the line and moves through an open-air locker room where she stores her phone and keys — potential weapons.

 

Anna always carries extra quarters for the lockers that she hands out to other visitors, who invariably show up without any. She walks quickly by two more guards checking IDs, waiting until the last minute to take off her shoes before an airport-style metal detector. “This place is filthy,” she complains without stopping. She goes by a teller to deposit a R1562.03 bill into her son’s commissary account. Not more, because whenever he goes to buy instant noodles or coffee, the balance in his account flashes over a screen for other inmates to see, and too much money can lead to a beating. It’s one of many things that can get you beaten up here.

 

Anna walks up to a registration desk where an officer takes her photo and fingerprints and hands her a pass that she mustn’t lose. The fingerprint machine looks old — like most things here — but she knows exactly how to tap her fingers to get through faster. Others stumble. Anna boards another bus that drives through parking lots and multiple gates before pulling up by the building that holds her son, the Anna M. Kross Center. “Anna, like me,” she scoffs. Once there, she goes through two more ID checks, again taking off her shoes, and passes through a metal detector into a room where she leaves her money, jacket, and anything else she hasn’t already locked up. She tries five different lockers before finding a functioning one. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg installed new lockers, she snorts, but they’re already broken. Current Mayor Bill de Blasio once spoke of reforming Rikers, “but he only put in new metal detectors,” she says. Some visitors are mysteriously pulled out of line to skip the screening — not that Anna really cares, and it’s mostly guards who smuggle contraband onto the island, anyway, she says. She has taken to calling it the “Department of Corruptions.”

 

Next is a thorough pat-down. Before the visit, Anna gave me a long list of things I shouldn’t wear — no bra with wiring, no pockets, no zippers, no hoods, no tights, no shorts, no ripped jeans, no jewelry, nothing too revealing, shoes that you can take off and put on quickly, and don’t bother wearing anything clean. Some items are officially prohibited; others aren’t but will get you stopped anyway. A couple of women presumably deemed too sexy for the visit, and another whose pregnant belly fills her clothes perhaps too provocatively, receive bright green sack-like tunics to wear. All the guards know Anna, so the pat-down goes smoothly, but she told me stories of being stripped naked and touched aggressively by officers. Other women have filed a lawsuit over invasive strip and body-cavity searches. After the last check, Anna enters a waiting room with plastic chairs and a small TV set, on which Diane Sawyer happens to be promoting her exclusive reportage from inside Rikers Island.

 

Over the years, Anna has spent countless hours in this room, waiting for her son’s name to be called out by an officer who usually mispronounces it. Some days the wait lasts hours, and she has collected endless stories from other waiting relatives. Today she tells me about a woman she met who used to visit her son with his young daughter and kept telling the child they were visiting dad “at college.” Anna thought the little girl didn’t buy it.

 

When Jairo’s name is finally called, after what feels like hours, we walk through a metal gate, through one last ID checkpoint, and into an unheated room that looks like a sadder version of a kindergarten cafeteria, with low metal tables and chairs — red, blue, and yellow for the visiting families, gray for the inmates, so as not to suggest any gang affiliation. They come out wearing flip-flops and gray jumpsuits, and for the next 60 minutes the room buzzes with dozens of conversations, babies crying, and every few minutes, the loud engines of planes taking off from LaGuardia and flying directly over our heads.

 

Jairo and Anna stretch over the table trying to hear each other. He speaks in her native Italian because he’s afraid other inmates will listen. Jairo is visibly unwell. And a lot of what he says doesn’t make much sense. He talks about a dream he had, something involving dogs, then about astrology and zodiac signs, and about how the Illuminati killed Prince. He shifts restlessly on the metal chair anchored to the ground, his eyes unable to stop for a moment as he jumps from one topic to the next. Sometimes he laughs, or gets angry; other times he just looks terrified, mumbling, “I have to get out of here.”

 

Days after he killed a fellow graffiti artist with a kitchen knife — in self-defense, he told the police when he turned himself in at the local precinct — Jairo was found unfit to stand trial and sent to a psychiatric ward where he was initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder. After several weeks he was sent back to Rikers. Anna told me Jairo had no prior history of mental illness and that nearly six years at Rikers had left him deeply damaged. Unrecognizable, she said. For years he was put on medication that turned him into “a zombie.” He was sexually assaulted by female guards, she said, and often attacked by other inmates. He’s half white and half Afro-Brazilian, and in a violent environment like Rikers, where turf affiliation often falls along racial lines, his ethnic background makes him even more vulnerable.

 

“His reality is so distorted that sometimes he says things that sound absurd,” said Anna. “Sometimes I ask him if he’s crazy, but then I realize, that’s actually his reality. He’s not talking nonsense, it’s that the reality in there is so distorted. Things happen that don’t make sense. I’ll tell him, this isn’t possible, but it is possible.”At Rikers, Anna was stoic. She dispensed advice to women who haven’t been coming for as long as she has, and she joked with some guards — the nicer ones. At a café, hours later, Jairo called to tell her that the inmates serving dinner picked a fight with him, refused to give him food, and threatened to kill him. This had happened before. At a recent court date, he showed up with a cut on his brow and a swollen eye, she said, finally breaking down.

 

“If they sentence you, you know they sentenced you to however many years, you get used to the idea, and you do your time,” said Anna, exasperated. “But when they don’t sentence you and they throw you in there — he’s losing his mind.”

 

According to the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, nearly 40 percent of Rikers inmates have a “mental health designation.” The Department of Correction declined to comment on the specifics of Jairo’s case, but said that “Commissioner [Joseph] Ponte has zero tolerance for sexual assaults of inmates, and we take these allegations seriously.”

 

Anna remortgaged her apartment to pay nearly R1562030.00 in legal fees. But the trial, which has been on the court calendar since April 2011, has been adjourned over and over. Last June, Anna said, the prosecutor wasn’t ready, so they postponed the trial. Then it was summer, and people were on vacation, so they postponed again. In November, neither the prosecutor nor the judge showed up. A day later, the prosecutor said he wasn’t ready because Jairo’s attorney hadn’t formally declared if he was going to pursue a psychiatric defense. In January, the defense attorney was away. In February, the prosecutor’s witness was out of town. A week later, the prosecutor and Jairo’s new defense attorney were not ready because Anna had just fired the first lawyer. “I can’t do this anymore,” she said.

 

A spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office said,“While this case has required multiple extended adjournments — largely not in the People’s control — none are related to the strength of the evidence.”

 

Anna has lobbied local officials for help. She regularly travels to Albany with a group of advocates demanding speedy trials for countless New Yorkers stuck in a legal backlog that’s making their cases move at glacial pace. In May, lawyers representing Bronx defendants filed a federal lawsuit claiming that court delays there have “fatally undermined the right to trial.” The Bronx courts are notoriously slow, but they are hardly unique; case delay is the single biggest driver of the city’s jail population, and officials say they are working to drastically cut processing times. So far, that hasn’t helped Jairo.

 

While he waits for his next court date, Jairo spends his days drawing, using mostly food as color.

 

“Where’s the right to a speedy trial?” Anna asked. “When I got U.S. citizenship, I had to study the Constitution, the Sixth Amendment. Back in England, the king and queen threw people in jail and threw the keys out, so when the founding fathers got here they decided that one of the principles of the Constitution would be the right to a speedy trial. So why don’t they do it?”

 

While he waits for his next court date, Jairo spends his days drawing, using mostly food as color. He is also due to appear in court in the Bronx, which has jurisdiction over Rikers, because guards said that some tea he was using as ink was contraband tobacco. He uses pink Kool-Aid to color toilet paper that he skillfully arranges into bouquets of roses. He somehow managed to bring me one, hiding it inside his jumpsuit, because no exchanges are allowed during visits.

 

Jairo made another rose for President Obama and asked Akeem Browder to give it to him at an upcoming White House event on criminal justice reform. Browder, who himself was detained at Rikers in the ’90s, when he was only 13, is the older brother of Kalief Browder, who last year committed suicide after being held without trial for three years.

 

Kalief Browder’s incarceration, abuse, and eventual suicide was only the most recent Rikers scandal. In the last few years, countless stories have emerged of violence on the island, between inmates, but also, regularly, by guards. In 2014, an inmate died in a 101-degree cell, and a correction officer pleaded guilty to trying to cover up the incident. That year the Department of Justice concluded a multi-year investigation with a report on the brutal treatment of adolescent boys at Rikers, condemning the jail’s systemic use of force by staff, inmate-on-inmate violence, and the use of punitive segregation. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called Rikers a “broken institution” and “a place where brute force is the first impulse rather than the last resort.” Months later, the DOJ went a step further and sued the city. Last year, the city spent R205 million settling claims of abuse in detention, mostly at Rikers, and the number of claims is growing steadily, city Comptroller Scott Stringer warned earlier this year.

 

For a moment, it seemed as though things at Rikers had gotten so bad, so publicly, that they might actually change.

 

De Blasio promised sweeping reform, and for a moment, it seemed as though things at Rikers had gotten so bad, so publicly, that they might actually change. He appointed a new correction commissioner, Joseph Ponte, who had overhauled the Maine prison system, reducing the use of solitary and boosting mental health care. In 2015, the city banned solitary confinement for juveniles, though a new “Enhanced Security Housing” unit meant to partially replace punitive segregation soon turned violent. Ponte and de Blasio also announced a 14-point “anti-violence agenda” meant to address the jail’s chronic violence, though advocates remained skeptical of the initiative, which they said did little to address the Correction Department’s own abuses.As pressure began to increase to shut down Rikers altogether, de Blasio pledged to reduce the jail’s population to about 7,500 inmates. The city is currently pursuing a two-tier approach to the issue: reducing the length of detention by attempting to clear court backlogs, and reducing the number of people ending up in jail in the first place through a simplification of the bail process and the introduction of alternatives to incarceration like supervised release. The city passed legislation strengthening reporting requirements on the Correction Department in an effort to increase transparency. It gave McKinsey & Company a R109 million contract — after an earlier R26.5 million one — to figure out how to reduce violence on the island, a move met with scorn by advocates, correction officers, and those with a more direct understanding of jail life.

 

The mayor called the proposal to close Rikers “noble” but unrealistic. “We must make sure that in calls for Rikers’s closure, our city does not become more focused on shutting down the facility than ending the culture that gave rise to its infamy,” he wrote in an op-ed last month. “We must focus on strategies to reduce violence, use the tools at our disposal to reduce recidivism, and safely decrease the jail population — and we must do this now, no matter where we house our jails in the future.”

 

De Blasio denied media reports that city officials are looking into possible alternatives to the island jail (even though evidence to support those reports was later leaked). Monica Klein, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, reiterated to The Intercept that “there is no comprehensive plan to close Rikers or any active effort to look for sites.” Instead, the mayor recently announced the city will spend R265 billion on building a new jail for adolescents. He also said it plans to hire hundreds more correction officers, making Rikers, which already has a 1-1 guard-to-prisoner ratio, the only jail in the country with more guards than inmates.But whether or not Kalief Browder’s tragedy marked a turning point for Rikers, little seems to have changed on the island. “Our cries are not reaching anyone, our begging is not reaching anyone, procedure is not helping,” Akeem Browder told The Intercept, upset that his brother’s name is mentioned so often in vain. “For what, if you’re not going to do anything about it? When is enough enough?” he asked. “They’re actually only talking about change, but we can clearly see that it’s just talk.”

 

Browder was hardly surprised when he learned from Anna that Jairo had spent almost six years at Rikers, where he was beaten and denied food and where his mental health quickly deteriorated. He had seen the same thing happen to his brother. “Kalief is how the world heard of it,” he said. “But Kalief represents the thousands of other individuals just like him. Just humans, still on Rikers, sitting there for years, wasting their life away, fighting for their right to stay alive while they’re innocent, or waiting to be proven guilty.”

 

With other activists, Browder launched the “Campaign to Shut Down Rikers” — part of a growing chorus arguing that Rikers is too broken to be fixed. Last week, on what would have been Kalief Browder’s 23rd birthday, activists rallied outside the Bronx courts, smashing piñatas resembling de Blasio, Ponte, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

 

Some elected officials, like Mark-Viverito, have joined in. The New York Times’s editorial board suggested that Rikers Island be left “to the seagulls.” Others have said it should be turned into parks, housing, educational campuses, or a much needed extension of LaGuardia Airport. Last month, a coalition of grassroots organizations rallied on the steps of City Hall, calling for Rikers to be closed. They held signs that said “send them to school” and compared tuition at Harvard — R937000 a year — with the cost of incarcerating one person at Rikers — R2,6 million.

 

“Closing Rikers is not just about shutting down a facility, it’s about how do you create a jail system in New York City that lines up with our declared values? Because the one we currently have doesn’t,” said Glenn Martin, a criminal justice advocate, former Rikers inmate, and one of the foremost proponents of closing the jail. “We cannot reform this place; it is beyond reform.”

 

Advocates for Rikers’s closure are calling for a network of smaller, safer jails across the five boroughs, connected to local services and the communities where inmates and their families live. But they are also demanding a radical overhaul to the Correction Department’s abusive practices and greater accountability for that behavior. “I don’t just want to shut the facility,” said Martin. “I don’t want the culture exported to local jails.”

 

The idea of decentralizing Rikers by breaking it up into smaller jails is not new. Construction on the island boomed with the war on drugs of the ’70s and ’80s, when many structures meant to be temporary were thrown up, boosting the jail’s capacity to 20,000. Over the years, the temporary structures turned permanent. As crime declined and the nation began to look at its incarceration obsession more critically, under the leadership of Correction Commissioner Martin Horn the city made plans to revamp existing borough jails, to keep pre-trial detainees next to the courts and closer to attorneys and families. But when the next commissioner — Dora Schriro — came in, she switched gears. A plan to turn the Brooklyn detention center into a modern facility integrating services and keeping inmates a corridor away from their trials was shelved. Today, daily buses shuttle detainees from the island into the city, at a cost of R390 billion a year.

 

“One of the issues with Rikers is that most of the inmates are going back and forth between Rikers and the courts, which is obviously very inconvenient for inmates, attorneys, families, and costly in terms of energy consumption and air quality, with all these buses going back and forth, and expensive,” said David Burney, an urban planner who worked with the Bloomberg administration. “There are lots of reasons why Rikers is extremely inefficient.”

 

Rikers’s remoteness is not only impractical — it also enables its corrupt and violent culture. “I think the island itself creates a mentality that is not accountable, not connected to communities, not visible; it’s a place that is basically the Department of Correction’s turf; you enter into their world and you’re subject to a culture that’s in an alternate universe,” said Frank Greene, a jail architect who has worked at Rikers, as well as on the shelved Brooklyn project and other jails across the country. “If you decentralize the jail system, by nature, the whole system becomes that much more accountable and connected to the community.”

 

“One of the principles of corrections planning is that environment cues behavior,” he continued, noting an often forgotten constitutional principle that posits that the only punishment should be the deprivation of freedom, not the physical conditions of detention. “If you want people to act like human beings, the first step is to put them in an environment that supports their human dignity.”

 

Greene and others recommend transformations that go beyond the buildings — including correction officers trained “more like social workers than a quasi-military force,” better equipped to deal with the staggering number of inmates with mental health problems. All agreed that New York’s jail culture has to change.

 

“When the National Institute of Corrections came to Rikers, they told them, ‘When are you going to get with the rest of the country?’” Greene recalled. “You guys are 50 years behind.”

 

The city has recognized that much -— but so far, progress has been marginal. Martin, who sits on the independent committee to reform Rikers, said the group’s first meetings were “promising” and that officials are taking “conservative steps in the right direction,” scrutinizing systemic problems with the courts and studying how to reduce Rikers’s population through a more streamlined bail system and alternatives for juveniles.

 

But he expressed frustration with what he and others called a “lack of urgency,” which he said is paramount to acceptance of the harm Rikers continues to inflict on detainees. “Their incremental, piecemeal approach to reform gets us nowhere near what we believe is what communities are calling for, which is the shuttering of Rikers Island in its totality,” he said. “Even if there were only one person on Rikers, the ‘close Rikers’ campaign would still exist because it’s such an abusive place.”

 

The main obstacle to closing Rikers is political, many agree. When reports emerged that the city was eyeing alternative locations, some elected officials made their opposition clear. Critics say the administration is reluctant to give up political capital to make a decision that will be inevitably controversial. But a growing number of people believe that Rikers will eventually close.

 

Until that happens, life on the island continues to be a struggle. And the impact Rikers has had on thousands of people who have left the jail damaged beyond repair remains unquantifiable. Jairo is due back in court on June 6 — a year to the day when Rikers killed Kalief Browder.

 

ift.tt/1Uunx7N

 

Photograph (C) copyright 2009 Ivan Safyan Abrams. All rights reserved.

 

There is much irony about this museum exhibit, and about Steamtown. The exhibit is a steam locomotive nicknamed the "Big Boy" by the builder--American Locomotive, or ALCO, of Schenectady, NY (now defunct, like many former American industrial giants)--and operated by the Union Pacific railroad (very much alive, and prosperous). It was donated to the original Steamtown, located at the time in Bellows Falls, Vermont, many decades ago. When Steamtown relocated to Scranton, Pennsylvania, this locomotive came, too.

 

The engine was by some measures both the largest and most powerful of all steam locomotives ever built. The Union Pacific railroad favored huge steam locomotives, and had 25 of these Big Boys on its roster in the 1940s and 1950s. They operated primarily in Wyoming and Utah, pulling freight trains.

 

Union Pacific once took such pride in its motive power, and in its history, that it commissioned a movie about the "Big Boys", and later, donated a number of them to museums. The intent was that the preserved locomotives would commemorate and honor an historic time while reflecting well upon the Union Pacific Railroad.

 

Now, the condition of this exhibit is simply atrocious. It's dirty and rusty, and shows very little sign of any recent care or preservation attempts. Certainly there have been some efforts made in the past to preserve the locomotive, or it would have rusted away years ago. An artifact this large requires expensive and intensive care if it's not going to disintegrate. However, the limited amount of work that was done with to this Big Boy is only delaying the inevitable decline. It's not preserving it for future generations, and it's certainly not showing respect for its history or unique and irreplaceable status.

 

In recent years, the Union Pacific filed absurd and costly lawsuits against many toy and model train manufacturers whom the railroad accused of misusing the trademarks and service marks of the railroad; most of the defendants were small, family-owned businesses. The enormous and powerful railroad corporation actually had its law department and hired-gun lawyers (the $500/hour variety) spending the shareholders' money to chase after firms that built little model trains that were painted in the colors of the Union Pacific--so that the railroad would not be presented to the public in a false light! Common sense finally prevailed when one model manufacturer refused to be extorted, and fought back in court. Soon, a settlement was reached, and hobbyists can again enjoy their miniature Union Pacific trains.

 

But it's difficult not to wonder why the Union Pacific, so enamored of the courts, is content to have its reputation sullied by this sad hulk of a rotting locomotive that's on display in a major northeast tourist venue, fully lettered with "Union Pacific" logos and bearing a Union Pacific shield on its front. How many thousands of tourists view this deplorable display and go away believing that the Union Pacific has itself deteriorated, or ceased to exist? Probably more people see this locomotive each summer than there are model railroaders who might own a tiny model of a Union Pacific engine.

 

Has Steamtown been sued by the Union Pacific for defaming the history and reputation of the railroad? Of course not--as a US government facility it wouldn't be the easy target that were presented by the model manufacturers. But more significantly, has Union Pacific made any efforts to assist Steamtown, and the National Park Service, to maintain this and other exhibits that depict the history and, indeed, the viability of railroading? I either saw no evidence nor am I aware of such support.

 

Railroading in the United States is--or was until the economy collapsed--a healthy and vibrant industry that carries far more freight than it ever did in the past. Even passenger railroading is returning to viability, as US highways continue to deteriorate and reach capacity. But a visitor to Steamtown wouldn't think that railroads are anything but dead.

 

The Union Pacific and other major railroads might argue that it would be a poor use of money to contribute to a museum, since the cargo that the railways carry has no alternative routing--coal and containers aren't really suited for long-haul truck transportation. Why should the railroads advertise, or publicize themselves? But the the Union Pacific itself maintains a fine museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa (across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska). Further, the Union Pacific maintain two enormous steam locomotives that it occasionally runs for railway fans and important shipper groups. It does these things because at least part of its management values the company's history. But as this basket case of a "Big Boy" demonstrates, consistency isn't the hallmark of the Union Pacific, at least so far as its public relations efforts go.

 

Perhaps it's unfair to single out the Union Pacific when searching for reasons why Steamtown is so disappointing. There are many explanations, and they're intertwined. The site has always been underfunded, and apparently lacks a strategic plan. The reality of Steamtown is that it's more of a cemetery than a celebration, and unless it receives assistance from somewhere, it and exhibits like this "Big Boy" are destined to become a pile of rusty scrap iron in the very near future.

Name: Annie Anderson

Arrested for: Larceny

Arrested at: North Shields Police Station

Arrested on; 25th August 1903

Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-31-Annie Anderson

 

The newspaper report of 1 September featured in the comments suggests that Annie Anderson may have been involved in prostitution. This is made more explicit in a report of a later arrest in the Shields Daily Gazette for 21 July 1904, 'disorderly house' being a euphemism for brothel.

 

"At North Shields Annie Anderson (34) was charged with keeping a disorderly house in Liddell Street on July 1st. Sergt. G. Scougal proved the case. Chief Constable Huish said that the prisoner was convicted for a similar offence on March 28th of this year, and committed for one month. Immediately she came out of prison she went back to the room and continued to carry on the house in the same manner as before. The complaints received by the police about it were serious. Defendant, who pleaded not guilty, was committed for three months with hard labour".

 

These images are a selection from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 in the collection of Tyne & Wear Archives (TWA ref DX1388/1).

 

(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg

 

Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg) is the second-largest city of the German federal state of Bavaria after its capital of Munich, and its 511,628 (2016) inhabitants make it the 14th largest city of Germany. On the Pegnitz River (from its confluence with the Rednitz in Fürth onwards: Regnitz, a tributary of the River Main) and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it lies in the Bavarian administrative region of Middle Franconia, and is the largest city and the unofficial capital of Franconia. Nuremberg forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring cities of Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach with a total population of 787,976 (2016), while the larger Nuremberg Metropolitan Region has approximately 3.5 million inhabitants. The city lies about 170 kilometres (110 mi) north of Munich. It is the largest city in the East Franconian dialect area (colloquially: "Franconian"; German: Fränkisch).

 

There are many institutions of higher education in the city, most notably the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), with 39,780 students (2017) Bavaria's third and Germany's 11th largest university with campuses in Erlangen and Nuremberg and a university hospital in Erlangen (Universitätsklinikum Erlangen); Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm; and Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg. Nuremberg Airport (Flughafen Nürnberg „Albrecht Dürer“) is the second-busiest airport of Bavaria after Munich Airport, and the tenth-busiest airport of Germany.

 

Staatstheater Nürnberg is one of the five Bavarian state theatres, showing operas, operettas, musicals, and ballets (main venue: Nuremberg Opera House), plays (main venue: Schauspielhaus Nürnberg), as well as concerts (main venue: Meistersingerhalle). Its orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, is Bavaria's second-largest opera orchestra after the Bavarian State Opera's Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich. Nuremberg is the birthplace of Albrecht Dürer and Johann Pachelbel.

 

Nuremberg was the site of major Nazi rallies, and it provided the site for the Nuremberg trials, which held to account many major Nazi officials.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Justice,_Nuremberg

 

The Nuremberg Palace of Justice (German Justizpalast) is a building complex in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. It was constructed from 1909 to 1916 and houses the appellate court (Oberlandesgericht), the regional court (Landgericht), the local court (Amtsgericht) and the public prosecutor's office (Staatsanwaltschaft). The Nuremberg Trials Memorial (Memorium Nürnberger Prozesse) is located on the top floor of the courthouse.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials

 

The Nuremberg trials (German: Die Nürnberger Prozesse) were a series of military tribunals held by the Allied forces under international law and the laws of war after World War II. The trials were most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, judicial and economic leadership of Nazi Germany, who planned, carried out, or otherwise participated in the Holocaust and other war crimes. The trials were held in the city of Nuremberg, Germany, and their decisions marked a turning point between classical and contemporary international law.

 

The first and best known of these trials was that of the major war criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT). It was described as "the greatest trial in history" by Sir Norman Birkett, one of the British judges who presided over them. Held between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946, the Tribunal was given the task of trying 24 of the most important political and military leaders of the Third Reich – though the proceeding against Martin Bormann was tried in absentia, while another defendant, Robert Ley, committed suicide within a week of the trial's commencement.

 

Adolf Hitler, Wilhelm Burgdorf, Hans Krebs and Joseph Goebbels had all committed suicide in the spring of 1945 to avoid capture. Heinrich Himmler attempted to commit suicide, but was captured before he could succeed; he committed suicide one day after being arrested by British forces. Krebs and Burgdorf committed suicide two days after Hitler in the same place. Reinhard Heydrich had been assassinated by Czech partisans in 1942. Josef Terboven killed himself with dynamite in Norway in 1945. Adolf Eichmann fled to Argentina to avoid Allied capture, but was apprehended by Israel's intelligence service (Mossad) and hanged in 1962. Hermann Göring was sentenced to death, but committed suicide by consuming cyanide the night before his execution in defiance of his captors. Miklós Horthy appeared as a witness at the Ministries trial held in Nuremberg in 1948.

 

This article primarily deals with the first trial, which was conducted by the IMT. Further trials of lesser war criminals were conducted under Control Council Law No. 10 at the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunal (NMT), which included the Doctors' trial and the Judges' Trial.

 

The categorization of the crimes and the constitution of the court represented a juridical advance that would be used afterwards by the United Nations for the development of a specific international jurisprudence in matters of war crime, crimes against humanity, war of aggression, as well as for the creation of the International Criminal Court. The Nuremberg indictment also mentions genocide for the first time in international law (Count three, war crimes : "the extermination of racial and national groups, against the civilian populations of certain occupied territories in order to destroy particular races and classes of people and national, racial, or religious groups, particularly Jews, Poles, and Gypsies and others.")

St Mary's Church, Rosliston Derbyshire - There has been a church here since either late Saxon or early Norman times. The present building dates from the 14c and most of the tower including the doorway and steeple are from this period.

Restored in 1802 , the nave and chancel were rebuilt in 1819 using some of the original materials.

 

It’s hard to find a history of the church without mention of Rev John Vallancy (1843-1906), vicar here for 16 years at the end of the 19c .

In 1896 a former curate at St.Nicholas Church and nephew of the first vicar of Sutton parish, the Rev. John Vallancey (1842 - 1906), was convicted in a Derbyshire police court of 'indecent behaviour' in his Rosliston churchyard. Newspapers reported that Vallancey was fined £2 by magistrates for brawling and was also alleged to have threatened a man called Joseph Wright with a revolver, saying "I'll shoot you, I'll shoot you". The Times in their three reports published between August 1896 and April 1897 added that the cleric had also torn flowers from the grave and then had 'danced on it'.

The incident took place after a lengthy dispute over the tending of a grave that contained the remains of a Mrs. Veal. This had a grass mound instead of a headstone, upon which flowers were often placed by the deceased's sister. If Mrs. Veal's family had elected to have a headstone, then Rev. Vallancey would have been entitled to charge an additional fee. So when he discovered that the family were visiting the grave and placing flowers on the mound, he accused them of trespassing and unsuccessfully brought a court action for damages. Matters came to a head on June 13th 1896 when in the presence of the Veal family, Vallancey ordered his sexton to level the grass mound with a pickaxe. The bereaved family then alleged that the sexton taunted them and the vicar, who possessed a gun, made threats, which he denied and said “it was a large church key”.

Vallancy unsuccessfully appealed one of the grounds being that if a clergyman was convicted of such conduct, his parishioners might be deprived of his clerical services. to which the judge quipped that in this particular case "they would also be deprived of his revolver"!

Matters were to get worse.

The Derby Mercury reported on 13 May 1896:

“At the Swadlincote Petty Sessions on Tuesday before Mr. L Barber and a full bench of magistrates John Holden of Rosliston, appeared in answer to a summons taken out by the Rev. John Vallancy, perpetual curate of Rosliston, who complained that he was in bodily fear of the defendant, and asked that he should be bound over to keep the peace. Mr. Vallancy conducted his own case, and Mr. Capes represented the defendant. From the evidence, it appeared that on the 18th April the defendant went to the complainant’s house and asked Mr. Vallancy where the cross had gone that had been placed on his brother’s grave, and why it had been removed. Upon that the complainant ordered him off the premises, but defendant refused to go until he got the information required.

Complainant said that the defendant threatened to “do” for him, that he had “one wing broken” and that he would break the other. He also stated that the defendant threatened to strike him with a stick which he carried. Mr. Vallancy called 4 witnesses, whose evidence was most contradictory when under cross-examination. Mr. Capes submitted that there was no case for him to answer, but the Bench decided that he must proceed. Mr. Capes then addressed the Court, and called a witness and the defendant himself, who denied either threatening the complainant or using bad language. The Bench retired, and after a brief absence, Mr. Barber said they had come to the conclusion that the case must be dismissed for they did not think Mr. Vallancy was in need of any protection.”

With allegations pouring in including parishioners burning an effigy of their vicar outside , the church authorities had to act and the Bishop of Southwell summoned him to the consistory (church) courts in April 1897 under the Clergy Discipline Act of 1892 The Bishop noted that: “He has been cruel and wicked, utterly unworthy of his position and fatal to any usefulness in the parish of which he was at the present moment the incumbent”. Criticised for continuing to deny the allegations, he was suspended for 18 months and banned from residing within 20 miles of the parish .

Valency probably went to Devizes where his wife died in 1898, however he did return here to live at the vicarage where he died in 1906.

  

www.julianwhite.uk/rosliston-the-strange-case-of-john-val...

 

www.julianwhite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200829_11...

The "Lucky Horsehoe Room" at Hi-Way Playground, a former strip club and adult bookstore in Yukon, PA, which burned down in the early hours of April 11, 2018.

 

Several online reviews noted the club's dive-bar atmosphere. "The Playground is either a crappy shack along an interstate highway or a great place to go for good trashy, raw and unpretentious fun," wrote one reviewer in 2009.

 

The club had been closed since at least 2014 due to a lawsuit by a man who was attacked by another patron. Daniel Walsh alleged that he had to use a port-a-potty outside the club because its restrooms were not working. Once outside he ran into a man assaulting a woman in the parking lot. When Walsh tried to intervene, the defendant, Devon Evans, cut Walsh on the face. Walsh sued the club and its owners, claiming that if the club had security or working restrooms, the attack would not have happened.

 

According to a 1996 Associated Press article , two of the former owners, William Robert Birdseye and his son, William Richard Birdseye, were sentenced to prison for operating a corrupt organization, distributing pornography, using illegal wiretaps and promoting prostitution. Birdseye once owned Murrysville Video News, an adult bookstore, which had a colorful and sometimes violent history marked by two slayings. In 1977, a war over the bookstore between two factions escalated into a shootout. Birdseye and another store operator, John VanEmburg, were in a turf war with Allen Morrow of eastern Pennsylvania. Birdseye was the building's legal owner at the time. He and VanEmburg barricaded themselves in the building with a small arsenal. Morrow, at least five other men and a Doberman stormed the building. Two of Morrow's cronies were struck by shotgun fire.

West-German card by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1486. Photo: United Artists. Peggie Castle in The Long Wait (Victor Saville, 1954).

 

Tall, sultry, green-eyed blonde Peggie Castle (1927-1973) was an American actress who specialised in playing the "other woman" in B-movies. Castle was Miss Cheesecake in 1949.

 

Peggie (sometimes written as Peggy) Castle was born as Peggy Thomas Blair in Appalachia, Wise County, Virginia, in 1927. Her mother was Elizabeth Blair. Her father, Doyle H. Blair, was a director of an industrial relations firm. When the family moved to Hollywood, he was hired as a studio manager at Goldwyn Studios. He also worked as a business manager for Donald O'Connor. Kater, Peggie changed her surname Blair at the first studio in which she worked. She took lessons in drama when she was 8 years old. Castle graduated from Hollywood High School and attended Mills College for two years. Castle's first work as an actress came in the soap opera 'Today's Children'. Then a spot on Radio Theatre in 1947 brought her a screen test offer from 20th Century Fox. According to Hollywood lore, Castle was discovered by a talent scout while eating a shrimp cocktail in the seafood bar of the Farmer's Market in Beverly Hills. She was signed to a seven-year contract with Universal-International and made her film debut in the 1947 film When a Girl's Beautiful. In 1949, she was named "Miss Cheesecake" by the Southern California Restaurant Association. Later that year, the Junior Chamber of Commerce named Castle "Miss Three Alarm". She later appeared in the films Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949), Payment on Demand (1951), The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951), Invasion U.S.A. (1952), 99 River Street (1953), Beginning of the End (1957) and Arrivederci Roma (1957). She often starred in Westerns, appearing in nearly a dozen between Wagons West (1952) and Hell's Crossroads (1957).

 

In the 1950s, Peggie Castle moved into television. She appeared in multiple guest roles on Fireside Theater, Cheyenne, 77 Sunset Strip, and The Restless Gun. In 1957 she appeared as Amy Gordon on Cheyenne in the episode titled The Spanish Grant. In 1957 she played defendant Sally Fenner in the Perry Mason episode, The Case of the Negligent Nymph. Also in 1957 she was a primary star on Gunsmoke, playing a forlorn Nita Tucker in the episode Chester’s Murder. From 1959 to 1962, she co-starred in the television Western series Lawman — her first continuing series. Her role as saloon owner Lily Merrill brought out a new dimension of Castle's talent. She stated, "For the first time in my life I'm a singer — that's the producer's opinion, not mine." Her final on-screen role was a guest appearance in a 1966 episode of The Virginian. In 1958, Castle acted with Jesse White in a stage production of 'A Hole in the Head' at the Civic Playhouse in Los Angeles. In 1960, Castle and Peter Brown (who also was a regular in Lawman) traveled to rodeos, performing as a song-and-dance team. Castle stressed, "We're very careful not to sing any romantic songs," treating the act more like a brother-sister team. The duo's stops included St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Albuquerque. In 1960, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Castle was married four times. She married Revis T. Call, a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army in 1945, in Los Angeles. Following that marriage, she began using Peggy Call as her professional name. They divorced in 1950. She married Universal publicist Robert H. Raines in 1951 and they divorced in 1954. In 1955, Castle married producer and director William McGarry. They had a daughter, Erin McGarry. Castle divorced McGarry in 1969. In 1971, Castle married Arthur Morganstern, her fourth husband. They remained married until Morganstern's death in 1973. Castle suffered from alcoholism. In 1969, she attempted suicide by taking an overdose of barbiturates and slashing her wrists. She was later committed to California's Camarillo State Hospital for her alcoholism, but she regressed after her release. In 1973, her third husband, William McGarry found her body on the couch of her Hollywood apartment. Her death was later determined to be caused by cirrhosis. She was only 45.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Roche is a village in cornwall named after a granite outcrop east of the village. Roche is the Norman-French word for Rock. On top of Roche Rock, is a ruined chapel built in 1409 (dedicated to St Michael) perched dramatically at the top. Roche Rock has many folkloric tales associated with it, the two most famous being the legend of Jan Tregeagle, a seventeenth century magistrate, who after death found refuge in the chapel and the other being part of the Tristan and Iseult tale.

 

There can be little doubt that Jan Tregeagle actually existed, he was an early seventeenth century magistrate, known widely for his cruel ways. He is said to have made his fortune by robbing an orphan of his estate. His ghostly wails have been identified with the cries of the wild hunt over Bodmin moor, and there are many versions of how he came to haunt the area, in penance for his earthly crimes.

 

Some time after his death there was a dispute over some land, said to have been obtained illegally by Jan Tregeagle by forging some papers. The case was all but over, and the Judge was about to sum up, when one of the parties asked for a further witness to be called. Permission was granted and Jan Treageagle was summoned to the bench by the orderlies. There was raucous laughter among the court members, stilled when a shadowy figure began to manifest in the witness stand. The shade of Jan Tregeagle stood before the court, a translucent representation of his living form. Some people fled from the court in terror, but in a calm steady voice the judge began to question Tregeagle, who explained that in life he had deceived the defendant of his rightful possession.

 

The verdict went in the defendant's favour, but the ghost of Jan Tregeagle would not be dismissed so easily, not wishing to return to his earned place in some corner of hell. After some discussion it was decided that he should be set impossible tasks so as to keep him occupied for all eternity, and to keep him safe from the hell hounds, who would drag him down to their infernal region.

 

With ceremony and ritual Jan Tregeagle was bound to the task of emptying Dozmary pool (at that time believed to be bottomless) on windswept Bodmin Moor, with a leaking limpet shell. The hell hounds and a host of demons would always be waiting to drag him to back hell if he ceased in his task.

 

One night, many years after the court case, a terrible storm blew over Bodmin moor, whipping the still waters of Dozmary pool into huge waves. Jan Treageagle, either terrified or seizing an opportunity to escape, fled from the scene of his torment across the moor to Roche Rock. As soon as Jan Treageagle ceased in his toil, the demons were on his trail mingling, their ghastly cries with the rending roar of the storm.

 

Upon Roche Rock, thrusting skyward like part of the living rock, a fourteenth century chapel dedicated to St Michael stands. Jan Tregeagle saw this place of Christian refuge, and crashed into the East window in a bid to gain access to this place of sanctuary. His head became stuck in the stained glass, and his spirit shoulders would not pass through the arched window, in this way he hung, his head inside the church, and his body at the mercy of the clawing demons and the raging storm.

 

His howls of torment brought forth the local priest, who called on the aid of two saints to transport the wretched spirit of Tregeagle to Gwenvor Cove (or in some versions of the tale to Padstow). Here he was set the task of weaving a rope from the beach sand. When completed this rope had to be taken to Carn Olva. Of course the task set was meant to be impossible and to keep him occupied for eternity but one very cold night Jan completed his task by pouring icy water over the rope, so that it froze solid. His success was short lived, as a group of local exorcists and holy men gathered and bound him to the task of weaving the sand rope at Gwenvor, under the condition that this time he was not allowed to approach water. It is said that on dark nights, when the cold Northern winds scatter the sand far across Whitesand Bay, his howls of frustration can be heard mingling with the wind.

 

In the other version of the story the task of rope weaving is set in Padstow. After a period enduring his unearthly cries the local people called on the aid of St Petroc, who bound Tregeagle with a mighty chain and led him to Berepper. Here he was commanded to carry the sand from Berepper beach across the Loe estuary to Porthleven, until only rock remained at Berepper beach. This task was futile because the sand on the beach was replenished with every turning of the tide.

 

One night when Jan was busy in his task, some of the demons awaiting his soul tripped Tregeagle, so that he crashed to the ground and the sack of sand that he was carrying on his back fell in to the estuary, forming Loe Bar. This sand embankment cut of the harbour from the sea, and the local people and priest, angered by losing their harbour had him banished to Land's End. Here he is still engaged in the task of sweeping the sands from Porthcurno Cove into Mill Bay.

 

Thanks www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk

      

. . . this is a real motorcycle - not a model

________________________________

 

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D), or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer, founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903.

 

As one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression (along with Indian), the company has survived numerous ownership arrangements, subsidiary arrangements (e.g., Aermacchi 1974-1978 and Buell 1987-2009), periods of poor economic health and product quality, as well as intense global competition — to become one of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers and an iconic brand widely known for its loyal following — with owner clubs and events worldwide as well as a company sponsored brand-focused museum.

 

Noted for a style of customization that gave rise to the chopper motorcycle style, Harley-Davidson traditionally marketed heavyweight, air-cooled cruiser motorcycles with engine displacements greater than 700 cm³ — and has broadened its offerings to include its more contemporary VRSC (2002) and middle-weight Street (2015) platforms.

 

Harley-Davidson manufactures its motorcycles at factories in York, Pennsylvania; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; Manaus, Brazil; and Bawal, India — and markets its products worldwide.

 

Besides motorcycles, the company licenses and markets merchandise under the Harley-Davidson brand, among them being apparel, home decor and ornaments, accessories, toys, and scale figures of its motorcycles, and video games based on its motorcycle line and the community.

 

HISTORY

BEGINNING

In 1901, 20-year-old William S. Harley drew up plans for a small engine with a displacement of 7.07 cubic inches (116 cc³) and four-inch (102 mm) flywheels. The engine was designed for use in a regular pedal-bicycle frame. Over the next two years, Harley and his childhood friend Arthur Davidson worked on their motor-bicycle using the northside Milwaukee machine shop at the home of their friend, Henry Melk. It was finished in 1903 with the help of Arthur's brother, Walter Davidson. Upon testing their power-cycle, Harley and the Davidson brothers found it unable to climb the hills around Milwaukee without pedal assistance. They quickly wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable learning experiment.

 

Work immediately began on a new and improved second-generation machine. This first "real" Harley-Davidson motorcycle had a bigger engine of 24.74 cubic inches (405 cc³) with 9.75 inches (25 cm) flywheels weighing 28 lb (13 kg). The machine's advanced loop-frame pattern was similar to the 1903 Milwaukee Merkel motorcycle (designed by Joseph Merkel, later of Flying Merkel fame). The bigger engine and loop-frame design took it out of the motorized bicycle category and marked the path to future motorcycle designs. The boys also received help with their bigger engine from outboard motor pioneer Ole Evinrude, who was then building gas engines of his own design for automotive use on Milwaukee's Lake Street.

 

The prototype of the new loop-frame Harley-Davidson was assembled in a 10 ft × 15 ft (3.0 m × 4.6 m) shed in the Davidson family backyard. Most of the major parts, however, were made elsewhere, including some probably fabricated at the West Milwaukee railshops where oldest brother William A. Davidson was then toolroom foreman. This prototype machine was functional by September 8, 1904, when it competed in a Milwaukee motorcycle race held at State Fair Park. It was ridden by Edward Hildebrand and placed fourth. This is the first documented appearance of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the historical record.

 

In January 1905, small advertisements were placed in the Automobile and Cycle Trade Journal offering bare Harley-Davidson engines to the do-it-yourself trade. By April, complete motorcycles were in production on a very limited basis. That year, the first Harley-Davidson dealer, Carl H. Lang of Chicago, sold three bikes from the five built in the Davidson backyard shed. Years later the original shed was taken to the Juneau Avenue factory where it would stand for many decades as a tribute to the Motor Company's humble origins until it was accidentally destroyed by contractors cleaning the factory yard in the early 1970s.

 

In 1906, Harley and the Davidson brothers built their first factory on Chestnut Street (later Juneau Avenue),[12] at the current location of Harley-Davidson's corporate headquarters. The first Juneau Avenue plant was a 40 ft × 60 ft (12 m × 18 m) single-story wooden structure. The company produced about 50 motorcycles that year.

 

In 1907, William S. Harley graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a degree in mechanical engineering. That year additional factory expansion came with a second floor and later with facings and additions of Milwaukee pale yellow ("cream") brick. With the new facilities production increased to 150 motorcycles in 1907. The company was officially incorporated that September. They also began selling their motorcycles to police departments around this time, a market that has been important to them ever since.

 

In 1907 William A. Davidson, brother to Arthur and Walter Davidson, quit his job as tool foreman for the Milwaukee Road railroad and joined the Motor Company.

 

Production in 1905 and 1906 were all single-cylinder models with 26.84 cubic inch (440 cm³) engines. In February 1907 a prototype model with a 45-degree V-Twin engine was displayed at the Chicago Automobile Show. Although shown and advertised, very few V-Twin models were built between 1907 and 1910. These first V-Twins displaced 53.68 cubic inches (880 cm³) and produced about 7 horsepower (5.2 kW). This gave about double the power of the first singles. Top speed was about 60 mph (100 km/h). Production jumped from 450 motorcycles in 1908 to 1,149 machines in 1909.

 

By 1911, some 150 makes of motorcycles had already been built in the United States – although just a handful would survive the 1910s.

 

In 1911, an improved V-Twin model was introduced. The new engine had mechanically operated intake valves, as opposed to the "automatic" intake valves used on earlier V-Twins that opened by engine vacuum. With a displacement of 49.48 cubic inches (811 cm³), the 1911 V-Twin was smaller than earlier twins, but gave better performance. After 1913 the majority of bikes produced by Harley-Davidson would be V-Twin models.

 

In 1912, Harley-Davidson introduced their patented "Ful-Floteing Seat", which was suspended by a coil spring inside the seat tube. The spring tension could be adjusted to suit the rider's weight. More than 3 inches (76 mm) of travel was available. Harley-Davidson would use seats of this type until 1958.

By 1913, the yellow brick factory had been demolished and on the site a new 5-story structure had been built. Begun in 1910, the factory with its many additions would take up two blocks along Juneau Avenue and around the corner on 38th Street. Despite the competition, Harley-Davidson was already pulling ahead of Indian and would dominate motorcycle racing after 1914. Production that year swelled to 16,284 machines.

 

WORLD WAR I

In 1917, the United States entered World War I and the military demanded motorcycles for the war effort. Harleys had already been used by the military in the Pancho Villa Expedition but World War I was the first time the motorcycle had been adopted for military issue, first with the British Model H, produced by British Triumph Motorcycles Ltd in 1915. After the U.S. entry into the war, the U.S. military purchased over 20,000 motorcycles from Harley-Davidson.

 

BICYCLES

Harley-Davidson launched a line of bicycles in 1917 in hopes of recruiting customers for its motorcycles. Besides the traditional diamond frame men's bicycle, models included a step-through frame 3-18 "Ladies Standard" and a 5-17 "Boy Scout" for youth. The effort was discontinued in 1923 because of disappointing sales.

 

The bicycles were built for Harley-Davidson in Dayton, Ohio, by the Davis Machine Company from 1917 to 1921, when Davis stopped manufacturing bicycles.

 

1920s

By 1920, Harley-Davidson was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, with 28,189 machines produced, and dealers in 67 countries.

 

In 1921, a Harley-Davidson, ridden by Otto Walker, was the first motorcycle ever to win a race at an average speed greater than 100 mph (160 km/h).

 

During the 1920s, several improvements were put in place, such as a new 74 cubic inch (1,212.6 cm³) V-Twin, introduced in 1921, and the "teardrop" gas tank in 1925. A front brake was added in 1928 although notably only on the J/JD models.

 

In the late summer of 1929, Harley-Davidson introduced its 45 cubic inches (737 cm³) flathead V-Twin to compete with the Indian 101 Scout and the Excelsior Super X. This was the "D" model, produced from 1929 to 1931. Riders of Indian motorcycles derisively referred to this model as the "three cylinder Harley" because the generator was upright and parallel to the front cylinder. The 2.745 in (69.7 mm) bore and 3.8125 in (96.8 mm) stroke would continue in most versions of the 750 engine; exceptions include the XA and the XR-750.

 

GREAT DEPRESSION

The Great Depression began a few months after the introduction of their 45 cubic inch (737 cm³) model. Harley-Davidson's sales fell from 21,000 in 1929 to 3,703 in 1933. Despite this, Harley-Davidson unveiled a new lineup for 1934, which included a flathead engine and Art Deco styling.

 

In order to survive the remainder of the Depression, the company manufactured industrial powerplants based on their motorcycle engines. They also designed and built a three-wheeled delivery vehicle called the Servi-Car, which remained in production until 1973.

In the mid-1930s, Alfred Rich Child opened a production line in Japan with the 74-cubic-inch (1,210 cm³) VL. The Japanese license-holder, Sankyo Seiyaku Corporation, severed its business relations with Harley-Davidson in 1936 and continued manufacturing the VL under the Rikuo name.

 

An 80-cubic-inch (1,300 cm³) flathead engine was added to the line in 1935, by which time the single-cylinder motorcycles had been discontinued.

 

In 1936, the 61E and 61EL models with the "Knucklehead" OHV engines was introduced. Valvetrain problems in early Knucklehead engines required a redesign halfway through its first year of production and retrofitting of the new valvetrain on earlier engines.

 

By 1937, all Harley-Davidson's flathead engines were equipped with dry-sump oil recirculation systems similar to the one introduced in the "Knucklehead" OHV engine. The revised 74-cubic-inch (1,210 cm³) V and VL models were renamed U and UL, the 80-cubic-inch (1,300 cc³) VH and VLH to be renamed UH and ULH, and the 45-cubic-inch (740 cc³) R to be renamed W.

 

In 1941, the 74-cubic-inch (1,210 cm³) "Knucklehead" was introduced as the F and the FL. The 80-cubic-inch (1,300 cc³) flathead UH and ULH models were discontinued after 1941, while the 74 inch (1880 mm) U & UL flathead models were produced up to 1948.

 

WORLD WAR II

One of only two American cycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression. Harley-Davidson again produced large numbers of motorcycles for the US Army in World War II and resumed civilian production afterwards, producing a range of large V-twin motorcycles that were successful both on racetracks and for private buyers.

 

Harley-Davidson, on the eve of World War II, was already supplying the Army with a military-specific version of its 45 cubic inches (740 cm³) WL line, called the WLA. The A in this case stood for "Army". Upon the outbreak of war, the company, along with most other manufacturing enterprises, shifted to war work. More than 90,000 military motorcycles, mostly WLAs and WLCs (the Canadian version) were produced, many to be provided to allies. Harley-Davidson received two Army-Navy ‘E’ Awards, one in 1943 and the other in 1945, which were awarded for Excellence in Production.

 

Shipments to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program numbered at least 30,000. The WLAs produced during all four years of war production generally have 1942 serial numbers. Production of the WLA stopped at the end of World War II, but was resumed from 1950 to 1952 for use in the Korean War.

 

The U.S. Army also asked Harley-Davidson to produce a new motorcycle with many of the features of BMW's side-valve and shaft-driven R71. Harley largely copied the BMW engine and drive train and produced the shaft-driven 750 cc 1942 Harley-Davidson XA. This shared no dimensions, no parts and no design concepts (except side valves) with any prior Harley-Davidson engine. Due to the superior cooling of the flat-twin engine with the cylinders across the frame, Harley's XA cylinder heads ran 56 °C cooler than its V-twins. The XA never entered full production: the motorcycle by that time had been eclipsed by the Jeep as the Army's general purpose vehicle, and the WLA - already in production - was sufficient for its limited police, escort, and courier roles. Only 1,000 were made and the XA never went into full production. It remains the only shaft-driven Harley-Davidson ever made.

 

SMALL HARLEYS: HUMMERS AND AERMACCHIS

As part of war reparations, Harley-Davidson acquired the design of a small German motorcycle, the DKW RT 125, which they adapted, manufactured, and sold from 1948 to 1966. Various models were made, including the Hummer from 1955 to 1959, but they are all colloquially referred to as "Hummers" at present. BSA in the United Kingdom took the same design as the foundation of their BSA Bantam.

 

In 1960, Harley-Davidson consolidated the Model 165 and Hummer lines into the Super-10, introduced the Topper scooter, and bought fifty percent of Aermacchi's motorcycle division. Importation of Aermacchi's 250 cc horizontal single began the following year. The bike bore Harley-Davidson badges and was marketed as the Harley-Davidson Sprint. The engine of the Sprint was increased to 350 cc in 1969 and would remain that size until 1974, when the four-stroke Sprint was discontinued.

 

After the Pacer and Scat models were discontinued at the end of 1965, the Bobcat became the last of Harley-Davidson's American-made two-stroke motorcycles. The Bobcat was manufactured only in the 1966 model year.

 

Harley-Davidson replaced their American-made lightweight two-stroke motorcycles with the Aermacchi-built two-stroke powered M-65, M-65S, and Rapido. The M-65 had a semi-step-through frame and tank. The M-65S was a M-65 with a larger tank that eliminated the step-through feature. The Rapido was a larger bike with a 125 cc engine. The Aermacchi-built Harley-Davidsons became entirely two-stroke powered when the 250 cc two-stroke SS-250 replaced the four-stroke 350 cc Sprint in 1974.

 

Harley-Davidson purchased full control of Aermacchi's motorcycle production in 1974 and continued making two-stroke motorcycles there until 1978, when they sold the facility to Cagiva.

 

OVERSEAS

Established in 1918, the oldest continuously operating Harley-Davidson dealership outside of the United States is in Australia.[4] Sales in Japan started in 1912 then in 1929, Harley-Davidsons were produced in Japan under license to the company Rikuo (Rikuo Internal Combustion Company) under the name of Harley-Davidson and using the company's tooling, and later under the name Rikuo. Production continued until 1958.

 

TARNISHED REPUTATION

In 1952, following their application to the U.S. Tariff Commission for a 40 percent tax on imported motorcycles, Harley-Davidson was charged with restrictive practices.

 

In 1969, American Machine and Foundry (AMF) bought the company, streamlined production, and slashed the workforce. This tactic resulted in a labor strike and lower-quality bikes. The bikes were expensive and inferior in performance, handling, and quality to Japanese motorcycles. Sales and quality declined, and the company almost went bankrupt. The "Harley-Davidson" name was mocked as "Hardly Ableson", "Hardly Driveable," and "Hogly Ferguson", and the nickname "Hog" became pejorative.

 

In 1977, following the successful manufacture of the Liberty Edition to commemorate America's bicentennial in 1976, Harley-Davidson produced what has become one of its most controversial models, the Harley-Davidson Confederate Edition. The bike was essentially a stock Harley with Confederate-specific paint and details.

 

RESTRUCTING AND REVIVAL

In 1981, AMF sold the company to a group of 13 investors led by Vaughn Beals and Willie G. Davidson for $80 million. Inventory was strictly controlled using the just-in-time system.

 

In the early eighties, Harley-Davidson claimed that Japanese manufacturers were importing motorcycles into the US in such volume as to harm or threaten to harm domestic producers. After an investigation by the U.S. International Trade Commission, President Reagan imposed in 1983 a 45 percent tariff on imported bikes with engine capacities greater than 700 cc. Harley-Davidson subsequently rejected offers of assistance from Japanese motorcycle makers. However, the company did offer to drop the request for the tariff in exchange for loan guarantees from the Japanese.

 

Rather than trying to match the Japanese, the new management deliberately exploited the "retro" appeal of the machines, building motorcycles that deliberately adopted the look and feel of their earlier machines and the subsequent customizations of owners of that era. Many components such as brakes, forks, shocks, carburetors, electrics and wheels were outsourced from foreign manufacturers and quality increased, technical improvements were made, and buyers slowly returned.

 

Harley-Davidson bought the "Sub Shock" cantilever-swingarm rear suspension design from Missouri engineer Bill Davis and developed it into its Softail series of motorcycles, introduced in 1984 with the FXST Softail.

 

In response to possible motorcycle market loss due to the aging of baby-boomers, Harley-Davidson bought luxury motorhome manufacturer Holiday Rambler in 1986. In 1996, the company sold Holiday Rambler to the Monaco Coach Corporation.

 

The "Sturgis" model, boasting a dual belt-drive, was introduced initially in 1980 and was made for three years. This bike was then brought back as a commemorative model in 1991. By 1990, with the introduction of the "Fat Boy", Harley once again became the sales leader in the heavyweight (over 750 cm³) market. At the time of the Fat Boy model introduction, a story rapidly spread that its silver paint job and other features were inspired by the B-29; and Fat Boy was a combination of the names of the atomic bombs Fat Man and Little Boy. However, the Urban Legend Reference Pages lists this story as an urban legend.

 

1993 and 1994 saw the replacement of FXR models with the Dyna (FXD), which became the sole rubber mount FX Big Twin frame in 1994. The FXR was revived briefly from 1999 to 2000 for special limited editions (FXR2, FXR3 & FXR4).

 

Construction started on the $75 million, 130,000 square-foot (12,000 m2) Harley-Davidson Museum in the Menomonee Valley on June 1, 2006. It opened in 2008 and houses the company's vast collection of historic motorcycles and corporate archives, along with a restaurant, café and meeting space.

 

BUELL MOTORCYCLE COMPANY

Harley-Davidson's association with sportbike manufacturer Buell Motorcycle Company began in 1987 when they supplied Buell with fifty surplus XR1000 engines. Buell continued to buy engines from Harley-Davidson until 1993, when Harley-Davidson bought 49 percent of the Buell Motorcycle Company. Harley-Davidson increased its share in Buell to ninety-eight percent in 1998, and to complete ownership in 2003.

 

In an attempt to attract newcomers to motorcycling in general and to Harley-Davidson in particular, Buell developed a low-cost, low-maintenance motorcycle. The resulting single-cylinder Buell Blast was introduced in 2000, and was made through 2009, which, according to Buell, was to be the final year of production.

 

On October 15, 2009, Harley-Davidson Inc. issued an official statement that it would be discontinuing the Buell line and ceasing production immediately. The stated reason was to focus on the Harley-Davidson brand. The company refused to consider selling Buell. Founder Erik Buell subsequently established Erik Buell Racing and continued to manufacture and develop the company's 1125RR racing motorcycle.

First overseas factory in Brazil

 

In 1998 the first Harley-Davidson factory outside the US opened in Manaus, Brazil, taking advantage of the free economic zone there. The location was positioned to sell motorcycles in the southern hemisphere market.

 

CLAIMS OF STOCK PRICE MANIPULATION

During its period of peak demand, during the late 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century, Harley-Davidson embarked on a program of expanding the number of dealerships throughout the country. At the same time, its current dealers typically had waiting lists that extended up to a year for some of the most popular models. Harley-Davidson, like the auto manufacturers, records a sale not when a consumer buys their product, but rather when it is delivered to a dealer. Therefore, it is possible for the manufacturer to inflate sales numbers by requiring dealers to accept more inventory than desired in a practice called channel stuffing. When demand softened following the unique 2003 model year, this news led to a dramatic decline in the stock price. In April 2004 alone, the price of HOG shares dropped from more than $60 to less than $40. Immediately prior to this decline, retiring CEO Jeffrey Bleustein profited $42 million on the exercise of employee stock options.[80] Harley-Davidson was named as a defendant in numerous class action suits filed by investors who claimed they were intentionally defrauded by Harley-Davidson's management and directors. By January 2007, the price of Harley-Davidson shares reached $70.

 

PROBLEMS WITH TOURING MODELS

Starting around 2000, several police departments started reporting problems with high speed instability on the Harley-Davidson Touring motorcycles. A Raleigh, North Carolina police officer, Charles Paul, was killed when his 2002 police touring motorcycle crashed after reportedly experiencing a high speed wobble. The California Highway Patrol conducted testing of the Police Touring motorcycles in 2006. The CHP test riders reported experiencing wobble or weave instability while operating the motorcycles on the test track.

 

2007 STRIKE

On February 2, 2007, upon the expiration of their union contract, about 2,700 employees at Harley-Davidson Inc.'s largest manufacturing plant in York, Pennsylvania went on strike after failing to agree on wages and health benefits. During the pendency of the strike, the company refused to pay for any portion of the striking employees' health care.

 

The day before the strike, after the union voted against the proposed contract and to authorize the strike, the company shut down all production at the plant. The York facility employs more than 3,200 workers, both union and non-union.

 

Harley-Davidson announced on February 16, 2007, that it had reached a labor agreement with union workers at its largest manufacturing plant, a breakthrough in the two-week-old strike. The strike disrupted Harley-Davidson's national production and was felt in Wisconsin, where 440 employees were laid off, and many Harley suppliers also laid off workers because of the strike.

 

MV AGUSTA GROUP

On July 11, 2008 Harley-Davidson announced they had signed a definitive agreement to acquire the MV Agusta Group for $109M USD (€70M). MV Agusta Group contains two lines of motorcycles: the high-performance MV Agusta brand and the lightweight Cagiva brand. The acquisition was completed on August 8.

 

On October 15, 2009, Harley-Davidson announced that it would divest its interest in MV Agusta. Harley-Davidson Inc. sold Italian motorcycle maker MV Agusta to Claudio Castiglioni, ending the transaction in the first week of August 2010. Castiglioni is the company's former owner and had been MV Agusta's chairman since Harley-Davidson bought it in 2008.

 

OPERATIONS IN INDIA

In August 2009, Harley-Davidson announced plans to enter the market in India, and started selling motorcycles there in 2010. The company established a subsidiary, Harley-Davidson India, in Gurgaon, near Delhi, in 2011, and created an Indian dealer network.

 

FINANCIAL CRISIS

According to Interbrand, the value of the Harley-Davidson brand fell by 43 percent to $4.34 billion in 2009. The fall in value is believed to be connected to the 66 percent drop in the company profits in two quarters of the previous year. On April 29, 2010, Harley-Davidson stated that they must cut $54 million in manufacturing costs from its production facilities in Wisconsin, and that they would explore alternative U.S. sites to accomplish this. The announcement came in the wake of a massive company-wide restructuring, which began in early 2009 and involved the closing of two factories, one distribution center, and the planned elimination of nearly 25 percent of its total workforce (around 3,500 employees). The company announced on September 14, 2010 that it would remain in Wisconsin.

 

MOTORCYCLE ENGINES

The classic Harley-Davidson engines are V-twin engines, with a 45° angle between the cylinders. The crankshaft has a single pin, and both pistons are connected to this pin through their connecting rods.

 

This 45° angle is covered under several United States patents and is an engineering tradeoff that allows a large, high-torque engine in a relatively small space. It causes the cylinders to fire at uneven intervals and produces the choppy "potato-potato" sound so strongly linked to the Harley-Davidson brand.

 

To simplify the engine and reduce costs, the V-twin ignition was designed to operate with a single set of points and no distributor. This is known as a dual fire ignition system, causing both spark plugs to fire regardless of which cylinder was on its compression stroke, with the other spark plug firing on its cylinder's exhaust stroke, effectively "wasting a spark". The exhaust note is basically a throaty growling sound with some popping. The 45° design of the engine thus creates a plug firing sequencing as such: The first cylinder fires, the second (rear) cylinder fires 315° later, then there is a 405° gap until the first cylinder fires again, giving the engine its unique sound.

 

Harley-Davidson has used various ignition systems throughout its history – be it the early points and condenser system, (Big Twin up to 1978 and Sportsters up to 1978), magneto ignition system used on some 1958 to 1969 Sportsters, early electronic with centrifugal mechanical advance weights, (all models 1978 and a half to 1979), or the late electronic with transistorized ignition control module, more familiarly known as the black box or the brain, (all models 1980 to present).

 

Starting in 1995, the company introduced Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) as an option for the 30th anniversary edition Electra Glide. EFI became standard on all Harley-Davidson motorcycles, including Sportsters, upon the introduction of the 2007 product line.

 

In 1991, Harley-Davidson began to participate in the Sound Quality Working Group, founded by Orfield Labs, Bruel and Kjaer, TEAC, Yamaha, Sennheiser, SMS and Cortex. This was the nation's first group to share research on psychological acoustics. Later that year, Harley-Davidson participated in a series of sound quality studies at Orfield Labs, based on recordings taken at the Talladega Superspeedway, with the objective to lower the sound level for EU standards while analytically capturing the "Harley Sound". This research resulted in the bikes that were introduced in compliance with EU standards for 1998.

 

On February 1, 1994, the company filed a sound trademark application for the distinctive sound of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle engine: "The mark consists of the exhaust sound of applicant's motorcycles, produced by V-twin, common crankpin motorcycle engines when the goods are in use". Nine of Harley-Davidson's competitors filed comments opposing the application, arguing that cruiser-style motorcycles of various brands use a single-crankpin V-twin engine which produce a similar sound. These objections were followed by litigation. In June 2000, the company dropped efforts to federally register its trademark.

 

BIG V-TWINS

F-head, also known as JD, pocket valve and IOE (intake over exhaust), 1914–1929 (1,000 cm³), and 1922–1929 (1,200 cm³)

Flathead, 1930–1949 (1,200 cm³) and 1935–1941 (1,300 cm³).

Knucklehead, 1936–1947 61 cubic inch (1,000 cm³), and 1941–1947 74 cubic inch (1,200 cm³)

Panhead, 1948–1952 61 cubic inch (1,000 cm³), and 1948–1965, 74 cubic inch (1,200 cm³)

Shovelhead, 1966–1984, 74 cubic inch (1,200 cm³) and 80 cubic inch (1,338 cm³) since late 1978

Evolution (a.k.a. "Evo" and "Blockhead"), 1984–1999, 80 cubic inch (1,340 cm³)

Twin Cam (a.k.a. "Fathead" as named by American Iron Magazine) 1999–present, in the following versions:

Twin Cam 88, 1999–2006, 88 cubic inch (1,450 cm³)

Twin Cam 88B, counterbalanced version of the Twin Cam 88, 2000–2006, 88 cubic inch (1,450 cm³)

Twin Cam 95, since 2000, 95 cubic inch (1,550 cm³) (engines for early C.V.O. models)

Twin Cam 96, since 2007. As of 2012, only the Street Bob and Super Glide Custom Models still use the 96.96 cubic inch (1,584 cm³)

Twin Cam 103, 2003–2006, 2009, 103 cubic inch (1,690 cm³) (engines for C.V.O. models), Standard on 2011 Touring models: Ultra Limited, Road King Classic and Road Glide Ultra and optional on the Road Glide Custom and Street Glide. Standard on most 2012 models excluding Sportsters and 2 Dynas (Street Bob and Super Glide Custom). Standard on all 2014 dyna models.

Twin Cam 110, since 2007, 110 cubic inch (1,800 cm³) (engines for C.V.O. models, 2016 Soft Tail Slim S; FatBoy S, Low Rider S, and Pro-Street Breakout)

Milwaukee-Eight

Twin-cooled 107 ci (1,750 cm³): Standard on touring and trike model year 2017+.

Twin-cooled 114 ci (1,870 cm³): Optional on touring and trike model year 2017+, standard on CVO models.

 

REVOLUTION ENGINE

The Revolution engine is based on the VR-1000 Superbike race program, co-developed by Harley-Davidson's Powertrain Engineering team and Porsche Engineering in Stuttgart, Germany. It is a liquid cooled, dual overhead cam, internally counterbalanced 60 degree V-twin engine with a displacement of 69 cubic inch (1,130 cm³), producing 115 hp (86 kW) at 8,250 rpm at the crank, with a redline of 9,000 rpm. It was introduced for the new V-Rod line in 2001 for the 2002 model year, starting with the single VRSCA (V-Twin Racing Street Custom) model. The Revolution marks Harley's first collaboration with Porsche since the V4 Nova project, which, like the V-Rod, was a radical departure from Harley's traditional lineup until it was cancelled by AMF in 1981 in favor of the Evolution engine.

 

A 1,250 cc Screamin' Eagle version of the Revolution engine was made available for 2005 and 2006, and was present thereafter in a single production model from 2005 to 2007. In 2008, the 1,250 cc Revolution Engine became standard for the entire VRSC line. Harley-Davidson claims 123 hp (92 kW) at the crank for the 2008 VRSCAW model. The VRXSE Destroyer is equipped with a stroker (75 mm crank) Screamin' Eagle 1,300 cm³ Revolution Engine, producing more than 165 hp (123 kW).

 

750 cc and 500 cc versions of the Revolution engine are used in Harley-Davidson's Street line of light cruisers. These motors, named the Revolution X, use a single overhead cam, screw and locknut valve adjustment, a single internal counterbalancer, and vertically split crankcases; all of these changes making it different from the original Revolution design.

 

DÜSSELDORF-TEST

An extreme endurance test of the Revolution engine was performed in a dynometer installation, simulating the German Autobahn (highways without general speed limit) between the Porsche research and development center in Weissach, near Stuttgart to Düsseldorf. Uncounted samples of engines crashed, until an engine successfully passed the 500 hour nonstop run. This was the benchmark for the engineers to approve the start of production for the Revolution engine, which was documented in the Discovery channel special Harley-Davidson: Birth of the V-Rod, October 14, 2001.

 

SINGLE-CYLINER ENGINES

IOE singlesThe first Harley-Davidson motorcycles were powered by single-cylinder IOE engines with the inlet valve operated by engine vacuum. Singles of this type continued to be made until 1913, when a pushrod and rocker system was used to operate the overhead inlet valve on the single, a similar system having been used on their V-twins since 1911. Single-cylinder motorcycle engines were discontinued in 1918.Flathead and OHV singlesSingle-cylinder engines were reintroduced in 1925 as 1926 models. These singles were available either as flathead engines or as overhead valve engines until 1930, after which they were only available as flatheads. The flathead single-cylinder motorcycles were designated Model A for engines with magneto systems only and Model B for engines with battery and coil systems, while overhead valve versions were designated Model AA and Model BA respectively, and a magneto-only racing version was designated Model S. This line of single-cylinder motorcycles ended production in 1934.

 

MODEL FAMILIES

Modern Harley-branded motorcycles fall into one of six model families: Touring, Softail, Dyna, Sportster, Vrod and Street. These model families are distinguished by the frame, engine, suspension, and other characteristics.

 

TOURING

Touring models use Big-Twin engines and large-diameter telescopic forks. All Touring designations begin with the letters FL, e.g., FLHR (Road King) and FLTR (Road Glide).

 

The touring family, also known as "dressers" or "baggers", includes Road King, Road Glide, Street Glide and Electra Glide models offered in various trims. The Road Kings have a "retro cruiser" appearance and are equipped with a large clear windshield. Road Kings are reminiscent of big-twin models from the 1940s and 1950s. Electra Glides can be identified by their full front fairings. Most Electra Glides sport a fork-mounted fairing referred to as the "Batwing" due to its unmistakable shape. The Road Glide and Road Glide Ultra Classic have a frame-mounted fairing, referred to as the "Sharknose". The Sharknose includes a unique, dual front headlight.

 

Touring models are distinguishable by their large saddlebags, rear coil-over air suspension and are the only models to offer full fairings with radios and CBs. All touring models use the same frame, first introduced with a Shovelhead motor in 1980, and carried forward with only modest upgrades until 2009, when it was extensively redesigned. The frame is distinguished by the location of the steering head in front of the forks and was the first H-D frame to rubber mount the drivetrain to isolate the rider from the vibration of the big V-twin.

 

The frame was modified for the 1994 model year when the oil tank went under the transmission and the battery was moved inboard from under the right saddlebag to under the seat. In 1997, the frame was again modified to allow for a larger battery under the seat and to lower seat height. In 2007, Harley-Davidson introduced the 96 cubic inches (1,570 cubic centimetres) Twin Cam 96 engine, as well the six-speed transmission to give the rider better speeds on the highway.

 

In 2006, Harley introduced the FLHX Street Glide, a bike designed by Willie G. Davidson to be his personal ride, to its touring line.

 

In 2008, Harley added anti-lock braking systems and cruise control as a factory installed option on all touring models (standard on CVO and Anniversary models). Also new for 2008 is the 6-US-gallon (23 l; 5.0 imp gal) fuel tank for all touring models. 2008 also brought throttle-by-wire to all touring models.

 

For the 2009 model year, Harley-Davidson redesigned the entire touring range with several changes, including a new frame, new swingarm, a completely revised engine-mounting system, 17-inch (430 mm) front wheels for all but the FLHRC Road King Classic, and a 2–1–2 exhaust. The changes result in greater load carrying capacity, better handling, a smoother engine, longer range and less exhaust heat transmitted to the rider and passenger. Also released for the 2009 model year is the FLHTCUTG Tri-Glide Ultra Classic, the first three-wheeled Harley since the Servi-Car was discontinued in 1973. The model features a unique frame and a 1,690 cm³ engine exclusive to the trike.

 

In 2014, Harley-Davidson released a redesign for specific touring bikes and called it "Project Rushmore".[125] Changes include a new 103CI High Output engine, one handed easy open saddlebags and compartments, a new Boom! Box Infotainment system with either 10 cm or 16.5 cm screens featuring touchscreen functionality 16.5 cm models only], Bluetooth (media and phone with approved compatible devices), available GPS and SiriusXM, Text-to-Speech functionality (with approved compatible devices) and USB connectivity with charging. Other features include ABS with Reflex linked brakes, improved styling, Halogen or LED lighting and upgraded passenger comfort.

 

SOFTAIL

These big-twin motorcycles capitalize on Harley's strong value on tradition. With the rear-wheel suspension hidden under the transmission, they are visually similar to the "hardtail" choppers popular in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as from their own earlier history. In keeping with that tradition, Harley offers Softail models with "Heritage" styling that incorporate design cues from throughout their history and used to offer "Springer" front ends on these Softail models from the factory.Designation

 

Softail models utilize the big-twin engine (F) and the Softail chassis (ST).

 

Softail models that use 21 inch (530 mm) Front Wheels have designations that begin with FX, e.g., FXSTB (Night Train), FXSTD (Deuce), and FXSTS (Springer).

Softail models that use 16 inch (410 mm) Front Wheels have designations beginning with FL, e.g., FLSTF (Fat Boy), FLSTC (Heritage Softail Classic), FLSTN (Softail Deluxe) and FLS (Softail Slim).

Softail models that use Springer forks with a 21-inch (530 mm) wheel have designations that begin with FXSTS, e.g., FXSTS (Springer Softail) and FXSTSB (Bad Boy).

Softail models that use Springer forks with a 16-inch (410 mm) wheel have designations that begin with FLSTS, e.g., FLSTSC (Springer Classic) and FLSTSB (Cross Bones).

 

DYNA

Dyna-frame motorcycles were developed in the 1980s and early 1990s and debuted in the 1991 model year with the FXDB Sturgis offered in limited edition quantities. In 1992 the line continued with the limited edition FXDB Daytona and a production model FXD Super Glide. The new DYNA frame featured big-twin engines and traditional styling. They can be distinguished from the Softail by the traditional coil-over suspension that connects the swingarm to the frame, and from the Sportster by their larger engines. On these models, the transmission also houses the engine's oil reservoir.

 

Prior to 2006, Dyna models typically featured a narrow, XL-style 39mm front fork and front wheel, as well as footpegs which the manufacturer included the letter "X" in the model designation to indicate. This lineup traditionally included the Super Glide (FXD), Super Glide Custom (FXDC), Street Bob (FXDB), and Low Rider (FXDL). One exception was the Wide Glide (FXDWG), which featured thicker 41mm forks and a narrow front wheel, but positioned the forks on wider triple-trees that give a beefier appearance. In 2008, the Dyna Fat Bob (FXDF) was introduced to the Dyna lineup, featuring aggressive styling like a new 2–1–2 exhaust, twin headlamps, a 180 mm rear tire, and, for the first time in the Dyna lineup, a 130 mm front tire. For the 2012 model year, the Dyna Switchback (FLD) became the first Dyna to break the tradition of having an FX model designation with floorboards, detachable painted hard saddlebags, touring windshield, headlight nacelle and a wide front tire with full fender. The new front end resembled the big-twin FL models from 1968-1971.

 

The Dyna family used the 1,440 cm³ twin cam from 1999 to 2006. In 2007, the displacement was increased to 1,570 cm³ as the factory increased the stroke to 111.1 mm. For the 2012 model year, the manufacturer began to offer Dyna models with the 103-cubic-inch (1,690 cm³) upgrade. All Dyna models use a rubber-mounted engine to isolate engine vibration.

 

DESIGNATION

Dyna models utilize the big-twin engine (F), footpegs noted as (X) with the exception of the 2012 FLD Switchback, a Dyna model which used floorboards as featured on the Touring (L) models, and the Dyna chassis (D). Therefore, except for the FLD from 2012 to 2016, all Dyna models have designations that begin with FXD, e.g., FXDWG (Dyna Wide Glide) and FXDL (Dyna Low Rider).

 

SPORTSTER

Introduced in 1957, the Sportster family were conceived as racing motorcycles, and were popular on dirt and flat-track race courses through the 1960s and 1970s. Smaller and lighter than the other Harley models, contemporary Sportsters make use of 883 cc or 1,200 cc Evolution engines and, though often modified, remain similar in appearance to their racing ancestors.

 

Up until the 2003 model year, the engine on the Sportster was rigidly mounted to the frame. The 2004 Sportster received a new frame accommodating a rubber-mounted engine. This made the bike heavier and reduced the available lean angle, while it reduced the amount of vibration transmitted to the frame and the rider, providing a smoother ride for rider and passenger.

 

. . . for further reading go to:

 

WIKIPEDIA

B 1892

 

On the north-east corner of Hindley Street and Gresham Street the Exchange Hotel was known as the Australian Arms Inn when established in 1839. Also known as the Auction Mart Tavern (1842-1850), Royal Exchange (1850-1851), Coppin's (1851-1854) and then interchangeably the Royal Exchange and the Exchange until its demolition in February 1960.

 

John Crampton was the licensee from 1865 to 1867.

 

'Master and Servant.—John Crampton, landlord of the Exchange Hotel Hindley-street, was charged with - dismissing John Piennel, cook in his employ, without giving him due notice. Mr Downer for the complainant, and Mr. Parker for the defendant. John Piennel said the defendant engaged him on a Monday about seven or eight weeks ago. Was in his service for a week. The defendant dismissed him on the following Monday without giving him a week's notice. The wages he was to receive, exclusive of board and lodging, was £l a week. The defendant did not give him a week's wages for dismissing him without notice. By Mr. Parker—No complaints had been /made about the manner in which he did the cooking. Broke five saucers whilst he was in the defendant's service.

John Crampton, the defendant, then gave evidence. . He stated that when he engaged the complainant he said he was a first-class cook. He (witness)-gave him to understand that he-would have to get a dinner ready everyday precisely at 1 o'clock; but since he had been in his employment he had been continually late with the dinner which was a great annoyance to him (witness). On the first Friday-after he engaged the complainant, he told him he should dismiss him, and on the succeeding Monday he asked him how much he owed him. He replied that he claimed wages for a week and a day. Told his barmaid to pay him what he asked. Mr. Downer—The complainant asked for a week's, notice or a week's pay, which he refused to give him. 'The barmaid was called, and stated that she paid the complainant his wages. His Worship remarked that he did not think the conduct of the defendant, in dismissing the complainant without notice justifiable; but as the complainant appeared not to have performed his duties in the most creditable manner he should only order the defendant to pay 17s. 2ds, the complainant's wages for a week, less one day and the costs'

Adelaide Express, Thursday 14 September 1865, page 3

 

The hotel in 1930: www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/15345...

  

Visit the State Library of South Australia to view more photos of South Australia.

 

Name: Alice Caush

Arrested for: Larceny

Arrested at: North Shields Police Station

Arrested on: 31st October 1903

Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-33-Alice Caush

 

The Shields Daily Gazette for 31 October 1903 reports:

 

"Today at North Shields Alice Coush (18), 19 Front Street, was charged with stealing a watch valued 6s 6d, the property of George Eadington a seaman. Prosecutor said on 5 June last he was paid off from his ship, and accompanied by two friends, went to his lodgings at Greenman's Bank. On the road they met the defendant and her companion, and they also accompanied him to his lodgings. Afterwards they had some drink and witness fell asleep. When he woke up again he missed his watch (produced) from his pocket. When he returned from sea on 24 inst he gave information to the police.

 

Mr Harrison, manager for Mr Graham, pawnbroker in Beacon Street, deposed to advancing 1s 6d to the defendant on the watch on July 13th. She said it belonged to her brother. Detective Sergt. Thornton stated that when he arrested the prisoner last night and charged her, she pleaded guilty to the offence. The Bench committed her to prison for 14 days".

 

These images are a selection from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 in the collection of Tyne & Wear Archives (TWA ref DX1388/1).

 

(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.

Camera: 600SE

Lens: Mamiya 75mm 5.6

Film: Ektar 100

 

Jamestown Mall // Florissant, MO // 4/6/18

B 72696

 

The Red Lion, at the the right of this postcard, was at 13a Rundle Street (now Mall) between King William Street and James Place.

 

Established in 1845, with major renovations in 1868 and 1962, it was demolished in 1966.

 

The hotel in 1876: www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/54993...

The hotel in 1962: www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/15346...

 

“PUGILIST "CLEANED-UP."

Hotel Disturbance.

An affray in the Red Lion Hotel, Rundle street, on Monday afternoon led to humorous and dramatic., developments, which- were ventilated at the Adelaide Police Court on Tuesday. William Small, known as William Daly, prizefighter, appeared in a charge of having been drunk in Clarence place, and of haying used indecent language. The case was heard before Messrs. T. Gepp, S.M., T. H. Brooker, C. Newling, H. Jones, and the Hon. F. S. Wallis, MLC. Mr. C M Muirhead defended.

On the first charge Small had to pay 6/6. . Giving evidence on the second allegation, Constable McMahon stated that he was called into the Red Lion Hotel at about 3.30 p.m. on Monday. Defendant was fighting with another man, and his eye was black and cut. Witness attempted, to remove him into Clarence place, and defendant then wanted to fight the constable. When finally ejected into the lane defendant picked up a tomahawk lying near by, end dared witness to go near him. Constable Howie and Philip J. Byrne (licensee of the Red Lion Hotel) also gave evidence. In a statement from the box, defendant denied having used the language alleged, or having taken up the axe. He said when coming out of the hotel, he was struck in the eye, and he had just made a rush, at the man when the police interfered. Fined 10/, with 15/ costs.

A charge of having disturbed the peace at the Red -Lion Hotel was next preferred against Small. The licencee said defendant challenged another man to a fight in the hotel. The latter invited Small into the lane, but defendant would not go, and started fighting in the hotel. The result was that the other fellow "cleaned him up." (Laughter.) Constable McMahon said defendant, when being removed from the hotel, wanted to fight him. Witness replied, 'You did not make much of a fight with the other man, so you had better not tackle me. Philip Byrne stated that half an hour previously to the occurrence Small tried to upset a cart belonging to Fauldings. Witness locked the door, and defendant tried to "boot it in." Later he came back, and was in the bar on the second occasion for 10 minutes. Defendant had to forfeit £1 10/ in all on the third charge.”

The journal, Tuesday 11 March, 1913, p1

 

Visit the State Library of South Australia to view more photos of South Australia.

 

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. D. 85. Photo: Universal International.

 

Tall, sultry, green-eyed blonde Peggie Castle (1927-1973) was an American actress who specialised in playing the "other woman" in B-movies. Castle was Miss Cheesecake in 1949.

 

Peggie (sometimes written as Peggy) Castle was born as Peggy Thomas Blair in Appalachia, Wise County, Virginia, in 1927. Her mother was Elizabeth Blair. Her father, Doyle H. Blair, was a director of an industrial relations firm. When the family moved to Hollywood, he was hired as a studio manager at Goldwyn Studios. He also worked as a business manager for Donald O'Connor. Kater, Peggie changed her surname Blair at the first studio in which she worked. She took lessons in drama when she was 8 years old. Castle graduated from Hollywood High School and attended Mills College for two years. Castle's first work as an actress came in the soap opera 'Today's Children'. Then a spot on Radio Theatre in 1947 brought her a screen test offer from 20th Century Fox. According to Hollywood lore, Castle was discovered by a talent scout while eating a shrimp cocktail in the seafood bar of the Farmer's Market in Beverly Hills. She was signed to a seven-year contract with Universal-International and made her film debut in the 1947 film When a Girl's Beautiful. In 1949, she was named "Miss Cheesecake" by the Southern California Restaurant Association. Later that year, the Junior Chamber of Commerce named Castle "Miss Three Alarm". She later appeared in the films Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949), Payment on Demand (1951), The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951), Invasion U.S.A. (1952), 99 River Street (1953), Beginning of the End (1957) and Arrivederci Roma (1957). She often starred in Westerns, appearing in nearly a dozen between Wagons West (1952) and Hell's Crossroads (1957).

 

In the 1950s, Peggie Castle moved into television. She appeared in multiple guest roles on Fireside Theater, Cheyenne, 77 Sunset Strip, and The Restless Gun. In 1957 she appeared as Amy Gordon on Cheyenne in the episode titled The Spanish Grant. In 1957 she played defendant Sally Fenner in the Perry Mason episode, The Case of the Negligent Nymph. Also in 1957 she was a primary star on Gunsmoke, playing a forlorn Nita Tucker in the episode Chester’s Murder. From 1959 to 1962, she co-starred in the television Western series Lawman — her first continuing series. Her role as saloon owner Lily Merrill brought out a new dimension of Castle's talent. She stated, "For the first time in my life I'm a singer — that's the producer's opinion, not mine." Her final on-screen role was a guest appearance in a 1966 episode of The Virginian. In 1958, Castle acted with Jesse White in a stage production of 'A Hole in the Head' at the Civic Playhouse in Los Angeles. In 1960, Castle and Peter Brown (who also was a regular in Lawman) traveled to rodeos, performing as a song-and-dance team. Castle stressed, "We're very careful not to sing any romantic songs," treating the act more like a brother-sister team. The duo's stops included St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Albuquerque. In 1960, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Castle was married four times. She married Revis T. Call, a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army in 1945, in Los Angeles. Following that marriage, she began using Peggy Call as her professional name. They divorced in 1950. She married Universal publicist Robert H. Raines in 1951 and they divorced in 1954. In 1955, Castle married producer and director William McGarry. They had a daughter, Erin McGarry. Castle divorced McGarry in 1969. In 1971, Castle married Arthur Morganstern, her fourth husband. They remained married until Morganstern's death in 1973. Castle suffered from alcoholism. In 1969, she attempted suicide by taking an overdose of barbiturates and slashing her wrists. She was later committed to California's Camarillo State Hospital for her alcoholism, but she regressed after her release. In 1973, her third husband, William McGarry found her body on the couch of her Hollywood apartment. Her death was later determined to be caused by cirrhosis. She was only 45.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Not Guilty

That’s the verdict handed down by the jury in the case of the Becker family vs a group the media has dubbed ‘The Sinister Six’. A group comprised of well-known television personalities; Sabrina Babcock, Maxine Powers, Shanelle Brentwood, Frederick McCormick, Shaye St. John and Nicholas Narcessian. Upon hearing testimony from the six accused of involuntary manslaughter in the death and subsequent disappearance of June Becker, the jury was not convinced that the six actually committed the crime.

 

Originally cut from an airing of the popular reality show ‘Sabrina’s Star School’, that starred all six of the defendants, a rough video clip was leaked to the press with Sabrina Babcock admitting to the crime to one of the contestants. But the confession was deemed inadmissible in the hearing as it was illegally obtained, and the “confession” was not verifiable as June Beckers body was never uncovered.

 

The defendants all claimed that the story was a fabrication and was just “a joke taken too far”. Nicholas Narcessian, one of the shows’ main producers said, “The whole thing was made up for a dramatic twist at the end of the season. None of what was said was true. We knew June Becker in school, but she disappeared. We don’t know if she lived, or died. We cut the footage from the show because we realized the error we made in presenting it as fact, as it could be taken seriously. This trial is a perfect example of that. We deeply regret it and any pain it might have caused the Becker family.”

 

Defense attorney, Victor Powers, father of one of the accused, had this to say, “They’re a bunch of kids who made a bad decision. They’re not murderers because the fact still stands, there is no body. No body. No crime”. And apparently, the jury agreed.

 

No word yet as to whether the Becker family will try to appeal the verdict, or if they’re ready to move on. They declined to give a statement.

 

But what do you think, Dearies? Did the sinister six commit the crime, or are they just a bunch of drama queens who made up a story that bit them in the ass? Sound off in the comments below and make sure you follow The Daily Dearies! Stay tuned for details as they come in!

The Grade II* Listed Church of St Michael, Mavis Enderby, East Lindsey, Lincolnshire.

 

The church dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, the church was restored by James Fowler 1875. The tower was rebuilt by C. Hodgson Fowler in 1894. The exterior is of squared greenstone rubble, with limestone ashlar dressings. It has Welsh and Westmorland slate roofs with decorative tiled ridges. The church interior comprises a nave, western tower, south aisle and porch, and a chancel. At the threshold of west door to the tower is set part of a coped or round-topped 11th century Saxon grave slab, possibly placed here in 1894. The churchyard has the remains of a 14th-century churchyard cross. In the porch is a Norman pillar piscina, a stone basin for draining water used in the rinsing of the chalice. The churchyard has a sundial erected by a former rector

 

An alternative spelling for the town may be "Malvyssh Enderby", as seen in a legal record in 1430, where the plaintiffs are the executors of a man whose surname is Enderby, and the defendant lives in Malvyssh Enderby.

 

Mavis Enderby had a peal of bells named after it, called The Brides of Enderby, which is mentioned in Jean Ingelow's poem The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire 1571: in the poem the ringing of the Enderby bells is the generally recognised signal of approaching danger to the neighbouring countryside: "Came down that kindly message free, the Brides of Mavis Enderby". An extract from the poem is at the head of Rudyard Kipling's short story, At the Pit's Mouth.

 

Douglas Adams used the name "Mavis Enderby" in his spoof The Meaning of Liff dictionary "of things that there aren't any words for yet". Adams assigned meanings to place names based on what he imagined them to mean, Mavis Enderby becoming "The almost-completely-forgotten girlfriend from your distant past for whom your wife has a completely irrational jealousy and hatred".

 

Defendant Guy Spitaels who was definitely not having a good day when I did this drawing.

 

In 1998 I was the courtroom artist for the Belgian newspaper Le Soir. It was for the big trial The Agusta-Dassault Case. It was one of Belgium's most infamous trials of the century, some of the country's most senior political figures had been sucked into a scandal extending from bribery to money-laundering, forgery and possibly even murder. It was one of the best jobs I ever had. Sitting in that courtroom for days and drawing was very exciting.

 

Dutch postcard by Takken / 't Sticht, no. 160. Photo: Universal International.

 

Tall, sultry, green-eyed blonde Peggie Castle (1927-1973) was an American actress who specialised in playing the "other woman" in B-movies. Castle was Miss Cheesecake in 1949.

 

Peggie (sometimes written as Peggy) Castle was born as Peggy Thomas Blair in Appalachia, Wise County, Virginia, in 1927. Her mother was Elizabeth Blair. Her father, Doyle H. Blair, was a director of an industrial relations firm. When the family moved to Hollywood, he was hired as a studio manager at Goldwyn Studios. He also worked as a business manager for Donald O'Connor. Kater, Peggie changed her surname Blair at the first studio in which she worked. She took lessons in drama when she was 8 years old. Castle graduated from Hollywood High School and attended Mills College for two years. Castle's first work as an actress came in the soap opera 'Today's Children'. Then a spot on Radio Theatre in 1947 brought her a screen test offer from 20th Century Fox. According to Hollywood lore, Castle was discovered by a talent scout while eating a shrimp cocktail in the seafood bar of the Farmer's Market in Beverly Hills. She was signed to a seven-year contract with Universal-International and made her film debut in the 1947 film When a Girl's Beautiful. In 1949, she was named "Miss Cheesecake" by the Southern California Restaurant Association. Later that year, the Junior Chamber of Commerce named Castle "Miss Three Alarm". She later appeared in the films Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949), Payment on Demand (1951), The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951), Invasion U.S.A. (1952), 99 River Street (1953), Beginning of the End (1957) and Arrivederci Roma (1957). She often starred in Westerns, appearing in nearly a dozen between Wagons West (1952) and Hell's Crossroads (1957).

 

In the 1950s, Peggie Castle moved into television. She appeared in multiple guest roles on Fireside Theater, Cheyenne, 77 Sunset Strip, and The Restless Gun. In 1957 she appeared as Amy Gordon on Cheyenne in the episode titled The Spanish Grant. In 1957 she played defendant Sally Fenner in the Perry Mason episode, The Case of the Negligent Nymph. Also in 1957 she was a primary star on Gunsmoke, playing a forlorn Nita Tucker in the episode Chester’s Murder. From 1959 to 1962, she co-starred in the television Western series Lawman — her first continuing series. Her role as saloon owner Lily Merrill brought out a new dimension of Castle's talent. She stated, "For the first time in my life I'm a singer — that's the producer's opinion, not mine." Her final on-screen role was a guest appearance in a 1966 episode of The Virginian. In 1958, Castle acted with Jesse White in a stage production of 'A Hole in the Head' at the Civic Playhouse in Los Angeles. In 1960, Castle and Peter Brown (who also was a regular in Lawman) traveled to rodeos, performing as a song-and-dance team. Castle stressed, "We're very careful not to sing any romantic songs," treating the act more like a brother-sister team. The duo's stops included St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Albuquerque. In 1960, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Castle was married four times. She married Revis T. Call, a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army in 1945, in Los Angeles. Following that marriage, she began using Peggy Call as her professional name. They divorced in 1950. She married Universal publicist Robert H. Raines in 1951 and they divorced in 1954. In 1955, Castle married producer and director William McGarry. They had a daughter, Erin McGarry. Castle divorced McGarry in 1969. In 1971, Castle married Arthur Morganstern, her fourth husband. They remained married until Morganstern's death in 1973. Castle suffered from alcoholism. In 1969, she attempted suicide by taking an overdose of barbiturates and slashing her wrists. She was later committed to California's Camarillo State Hospital for her alcoholism, but she regressed after her release. In 1973, her third husband, William McGarry found her body on the couch of her Hollywood apartment. Her death was later determined to be caused by cirrhosis. She was only 45.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

from pre-pandemic days.

What would the days of yore castle defendants have made of the Red Arrows glory of the sky ?

Now that's some trebuchet!

Some of the defendants on a difficult day. Left to right: Etienne Mangé, François Pirot, Merry Hermanus, a pissed off Jean-Louis Mazy and Andre Bastien.

 

In 1998 I was the courtroom artist for the Belgian newspaper Le Soir. It was for the big trial The Agusta-Dassault Case. It was one of Belgium's most infamous trials of the century, some of the country's most senior political figures had been sucked into a scandal extending from bribery to money-laundering, forgery and possibly even murder. It was one of the best jobs I ever had. Sitting in that courtroom for days and drawing was very exciting.

 

The village of Mavis Enderby in East Lindsey, Lincolnshire.

 

An alternative spelling for the town may be "Malvyssh Enderby", as seen in a legal record in 1430, where the plaintiffs are the executors of a man whose surname is Enderby, and the defendant lives in Malvyssh Enderby.

 

Mavis Enderby had a peal of bells named after it, called The Brides of Enderby, which is mentioned in Jean Ingelow's poem The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire 1571: in the poem the ringing of the Enderby bells is the generally recognised signal of approaching danger to the neighbouring countryside: "Came down that kindly message free, the Brides of Mavis Enderby". An extract from the poem is at the head of Rudyard Kipling's short story, At the Pit's Mouth.

 

Douglas Adams used the name "Mavis Enderby" in his spoof The Meaning of Liff dictionary "of things that there aren't any words for yet". Adams assigned meanings to place names based on what he imagined them to mean, Mavis Enderby becoming "The almost-completely-forgotten girlfriend from your distant past for whom your wife has a completely irrational jealousy and hatred".

 

Information sources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavis_Enderby

 

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D), or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer, founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903.

 

As one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression (along with Indian), the company has survived numerous ownership arrangements, subsidiary arrangements (e.g., Aermacchi 1974-1978 and Buell 1987-2009), periods of poor economic health and product quality, as well as intense global competition — to become one of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers and an iconic brand widely known for its loyal following — with owner clubs and events worldwide as well as a company sponsored brand-focused museum.

 

Noted for a style of customization that gave rise to the chopper motorcycle style, Harley-Davidson traditionally marketed heavyweight, air-cooled cruiser motorcycles with engine displacements greater than 700 cm³ — and has broadened its offerings to include its more contemporary VRSC (2002) and middle-weight Street (2015) platforms.

 

Harley-Davidson manufactures its motorcycles at factories in York, Pennsylvania; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; Manaus, Brazil; and Bawal, India — and markets its products worldwide.

 

Besides motorcycles, the company licenses and markets merchandise under the Harley-Davidson brand, among them being apparel, home decor and ornaments, accessories, toys, and scale figures of its motorcycles, and video games based on its motorcycle line and the community.

 

HISTORY

BEGINNING

In 1901, 20-year-old William S. Harley drew up plans for a small engine with a displacement of 7.07 cubic inches (116 cc³) and four-inch (102 mm) flywheels. The engine was designed for use in a regular pedal-bicycle frame. Over the next two years, Harley and his childhood friend Arthur Davidson worked on their motor-bicycle using the northside Milwaukee machine shop at the home of their friend, Henry Melk. It was finished in 1903 with the help of Arthur's brother, Walter Davidson. Upon testing their power-cycle, Harley and the Davidson brothers found it unable to climb the hills around Milwaukee without pedal assistance. They quickly wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable learning experiment.

 

Work immediately began on a new and improved second-generation machine. This first "real" Harley-Davidson motorcycle had a bigger engine of 24.74 cubic inches (405 cc³) with 9.75 inches (25 cm) flywheels weighing 28 lb (13 kg). The machine's advanced loop-frame pattern was similar to the 1903 Milwaukee Merkel motorcycle (designed by Joseph Merkel, later of Flying Merkel fame). The bigger engine and loop-frame design took it out of the motorized bicycle category and marked the path to future motorcycle designs. The boys also received help with their bigger engine from outboard motor pioneer Ole Evinrude, who was then building gas engines of his own design for automotive use on Milwaukee's Lake Street.

 

The prototype of the new loop-frame Harley-Davidson was assembled in a 10 ft × 15 ft (3.0 m × 4.6 m) shed in the Davidson family backyard. Most of the major parts, however, were made elsewhere, including some probably fabricated at the West Milwaukee railshops where oldest brother William A. Davidson was then toolroom foreman. This prototype machine was functional by September 8, 1904, when it competed in a Milwaukee motorcycle race held at State Fair Park. It was ridden by Edward Hildebrand and placed fourth. This is the first documented appearance of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the historical record.

 

In January 1905, small advertisements were placed in the Automobile and Cycle Trade Journal offering bare Harley-Davidson engines to the do-it-yourself trade. By April, complete motorcycles were in production on a very limited basis. That year, the first Harley-Davidson dealer, Carl H. Lang of Chicago, sold three bikes from the five built in the Davidson backyard shed. Years later the original shed was taken to the Juneau Avenue factory where it would stand for many decades as a tribute to the Motor Company's humble origins until it was accidentally destroyed by contractors cleaning the factory yard in the early 1970s.

 

In 1906, Harley and the Davidson brothers built their first factory on Chestnut Street (later Juneau Avenue),[12] at the current location of Harley-Davidson's corporate headquarters. The first Juneau Avenue plant was a 40 ft × 60 ft (12 m × 18 m) single-story wooden structure. The company produced about 50 motorcycles that year.

 

In 1907, William S. Harley graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a degree in mechanical engineering. That year additional factory expansion came with a second floor and later with facings and additions of Milwaukee pale yellow ("cream") brick. With the new facilities production increased to 150 motorcycles in 1907. The company was officially incorporated that September. They also began selling their motorcycles to police departments around this time, a market that has been important to them ever since.

 

In 1907 William A. Davidson, brother to Arthur and Walter Davidson, quit his job as tool foreman for the Milwaukee Road railroad and joined the Motor Company.

 

Production in 1905 and 1906 were all single-cylinder models with 26.84 cubic inch (440 cm³) engines. In February 1907 a prototype model with a 45-degree V-Twin engine was displayed at the Chicago Automobile Show. Although shown and advertised, very few V-Twin models were built between 1907 and 1910. These first V-Twins displaced 53.68 cubic inches (880 cm³) and produced about 7 horsepower (5.2 kW). This gave about double the power of the first singles. Top speed was about 60 mph (100 km/h). Production jumped from 450 motorcycles in 1908 to 1,149 machines in 1909.

 

By 1911, some 150 makes of motorcycles had already been built in the United States – although just a handful would survive the 1910s.

 

In 1911, an improved V-Twin model was introduced. The new engine had mechanically operated intake valves, as opposed to the "automatic" intake valves used on earlier V-Twins that opened by engine vacuum. With a displacement of 49.48 cubic inches (811 cm³), the 1911 V-Twin was smaller than earlier twins, but gave better performance. After 1913 the majority of bikes produced by Harley-Davidson would be V-Twin models.

 

In 1912, Harley-Davidson introduced their patented "Ful-Floteing Seat", which was suspended by a coil spring inside the seat tube. The spring tension could be adjusted to suit the rider's weight. More than 3 inches (76 mm) of travel was available. Harley-Davidson would use seats of this type until 1958.

By 1913, the yellow brick factory had been demolished and on the site a new 5-story structure had been built. Begun in 1910, the factory with its many additions would take up two blocks along Juneau Avenue and around the corner on 38th Street. Despite the competition, Harley-Davidson was already pulling ahead of Indian and would dominate motorcycle racing after 1914. Production that year swelled to 16,284 machines.

 

WORLD WAR I

In 1917, the United States entered World War I and the military demanded motorcycles for the war effort. Harleys had already been used by the military in the Pancho Villa Expedition but World War I was the first time the motorcycle had been adopted for military issue, first with the British Model H, produced by British Triumph Motorcycles Ltd in 1915. After the U.S. entry into the war, the U.S. military purchased over 20,000 motorcycles from Harley-Davidson.

 

BICYCLES

Harley-Davidson launched a line of bicycles in 1917 in hopes of recruiting customers for its motorcycles. Besides the traditional diamond frame men's bicycle, models included a step-through frame 3-18 "Ladies Standard" and a 5-17 "Boy Scout" for youth. The effort was discontinued in 1923 because of disappointing sales.

 

The bicycles were built for Harley-Davidson in Dayton, Ohio, by the Davis Machine Company from 1917 to 1921, when Davis stopped manufacturing bicycles.

 

1920s

By 1920, Harley-Davidson was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, with 28,189 machines produced, and dealers in 67 countries.

 

In 1921, a Harley-Davidson, ridden by Otto Walker, was the first motorcycle ever to win a race at an average speed greater than 100 mph (160 km/h).

 

During the 1920s, several improvements were put in place, such as a new 74 cubic inch (1,212.6 cm³) V-Twin, introduced in 1921, and the "teardrop" gas tank in 1925. A front brake was added in 1928 although notably only on the J/JD models.

 

In the late summer of 1929, Harley-Davidson introduced its 45 cubic inches (737 cm³) flathead V-Twin to compete with the Indian 101 Scout and the Excelsior Super X. This was the "D" model, produced from 1929 to 1931. Riders of Indian motorcycles derisively referred to this model as the "three cylinder Harley" because the generator was upright and parallel to the front cylinder. The 2.745 in (69.7 mm) bore and 3.8125 in (96.8 mm) stroke would continue in most versions of the 750 engine; exceptions include the XA and the XR-750.

 

GREAT DEPRESSION

The Great Depression began a few months after the introduction of their 45 cubic inch (737 cm³) model. Harley-Davidson's sales fell from 21,000 in 1929 to 3,703 in 1933. Despite this, Harley-Davidson unveiled a new lineup for 1934, which included a flathead engine and Art Deco styling.

 

In order to survive the remainder of the Depression, the company manufactured industrial powerplants based on their motorcycle engines. They also designed and built a three-wheeled delivery vehicle called the Servi-Car, which remained in production until 1973.

In the mid-1930s, Alfred Rich Child opened a production line in Japan with the 74-cubic-inch (1,210 cm³) VL. The Japanese license-holder, Sankyo Seiyaku Corporation, severed its business relations with Harley-Davidson in 1936 and continued manufacturing the VL under the Rikuo name.

 

An 80-cubic-inch (1,300 cm³) flathead engine was added to the line in 1935, by which time the single-cylinder motorcycles had been discontinued.

 

In 1936, the 61E and 61EL models with the "Knucklehead" OHV engines was introduced. Valvetrain problems in early Knucklehead engines required a redesign halfway through its first year of production and retrofitting of the new valvetrain on earlier engines.

 

By 1937, all Harley-Davidson's flathead engines were equipped with dry-sump oil recirculation systems similar to the one introduced in the "Knucklehead" OHV engine. The revised 74-cubic-inch (1,210 cm³) V and VL models were renamed U and UL, the 80-cubic-inch (1,300 cc³) VH and VLH to be renamed UH and ULH, and the 45-cubic-inch (740 cc³) R to be renamed W.

 

In 1941, the 74-cubic-inch (1,210 cm³) "Knucklehead" was introduced as the F and the FL. The 80-cubic-inch (1,300 cc³) flathead UH and ULH models were discontinued after 1941, while the 74 inch (1880 mm) U & UL flathead models were produced up to 1948.

 

WORLD WAR II

One of only two American cycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression. Harley-Davidson again produced large numbers of motorcycles for the US Army in World War II and resumed civilian production afterwards, producing a range of large V-twin motorcycles that were successful both on racetracks and for private buyers.

 

Harley-Davidson, on the eve of World War II, was already supplying the Army with a military-specific version of its 45 cubic inches (740 cm³) WL line, called the WLA. The A in this case stood for "Army". Upon the outbreak of war, the company, along with most other manufacturing enterprises, shifted to war work. More than 90,000 military motorcycles, mostly WLAs and WLCs (the Canadian version) were produced, many to be provided to allies. Harley-Davidson received two Army-Navy ‘E’ Awards, one in 1943 and the other in 1945, which were awarded for Excellence in Production.

 

Shipments to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program numbered at least 30,000. The WLAs produced during all four years of war production generally have 1942 serial numbers. Production of the WLA stopped at the end of World War II, but was resumed from 1950 to 1952 for use in the Korean War.

 

The U.S. Army also asked Harley-Davidson to produce a new motorcycle with many of the features of BMW's side-valve and shaft-driven R71. Harley largely copied the BMW engine and drive train and produced the shaft-driven 750 cc 1942 Harley-Davidson XA. This shared no dimensions, no parts and no design concepts (except side valves) with any prior Harley-Davidson engine. Due to the superior cooling of the flat-twin engine with the cylinders across the frame, Harley's XA cylinder heads ran 56 °C cooler than its V-twins. The XA never entered full production: the motorcycle by that time had been eclipsed by the Jeep as the Army's general purpose vehicle, and the WLA - already in production - was sufficient for its limited police, escort, and courier roles. Only 1,000 were made and the XA never went into full production. It remains the only shaft-driven Harley-Davidson ever made.

 

SMALL HARLEYS: HUMMERS AND AERMACCHIS

As part of war reparations, Harley-Davidson acquired the design of a small German motorcycle, the DKW RT 125, which they adapted, manufactured, and sold from 1948 to 1966. Various models were made, including the Hummer from 1955 to 1959, but they are all colloquially referred to as "Hummers" at present. BSA in the United Kingdom took the same design as the foundation of their BSA Bantam.

 

In 1960, Harley-Davidson consolidated the Model 165 and Hummer lines into the Super-10, introduced the Topper scooter, and bought fifty percent of Aermacchi's motorcycle division. Importation of Aermacchi's 250 cc horizontal single began the following year. The bike bore Harley-Davidson badges and was marketed as the Harley-Davidson Sprint. The engine of the Sprint was increased to 350 cc in 1969 and would remain that size until 1974, when the four-stroke Sprint was discontinued.

 

After the Pacer and Scat models were discontinued at the end of 1965, the Bobcat became the last of Harley-Davidson's American-made two-stroke motorcycles. The Bobcat was manufactured only in the 1966 model year.

 

Harley-Davidson replaced their American-made lightweight two-stroke motorcycles with the Aermacchi-built two-stroke powered M-65, M-65S, and Rapido. The M-65 had a semi-step-through frame and tank. The M-65S was a M-65 with a larger tank that eliminated the step-through feature. The Rapido was a larger bike with a 125 cc engine. The Aermacchi-built Harley-Davidsons became entirely two-stroke powered when the 250 cc two-stroke SS-250 replaced the four-stroke 350 cc Sprint in 1974.

 

Harley-Davidson purchased full control of Aermacchi's motorcycle production in 1974 and continued making two-stroke motorcycles there until 1978, when they sold the facility to Cagiva.

 

OVERSEAS

Established in 1918, the oldest continuously operating Harley-Davidson dealership outside of the United States is in Australia.[4] Sales in Japan started in 1912 then in 1929, Harley-Davidsons were produced in Japan under license to the company Rikuo (Rikuo Internal Combustion Company) under the name of Harley-Davidson and using the company's tooling, and later under the name Rikuo. Production continued until 1958.

 

TARNISHED REPUTATION

In 1952, following their application to the U.S. Tariff Commission for a 40 percent tax on imported motorcycles, Harley-Davidson was charged with restrictive practices.

 

In 1969, American Machine and Foundry (AMF) bought the company, streamlined production, and slashed the workforce. This tactic resulted in a labor strike and lower-quality bikes. The bikes were expensive and inferior in performance, handling, and quality to Japanese motorcycles. Sales and quality declined, and the company almost went bankrupt. The "Harley-Davidson" name was mocked as "Hardly Ableson", "Hardly Driveable," and "Hogly Ferguson", and the nickname "Hog" became pejorative.

 

In 1977, following the successful manufacture of the Liberty Edition to commemorate America's bicentennial in 1976, Harley-Davidson produced what has become one of its most controversial models, the Harley-Davidson Confederate Edition. The bike was essentially a stock Harley with Confederate-specific paint and details.

 

RESTRUCTING AND REVIVAL

In 1981, AMF sold the company to a group of 13 investors led by Vaughn Beals and Willie G. Davidson for $80 million. Inventory was strictly controlled using the just-in-time system.

 

In the early eighties, Harley-Davidson claimed that Japanese manufacturers were importing motorcycles into the US in such volume as to harm or threaten to harm domestic producers. After an investigation by the U.S. International Trade Commission, President Reagan imposed in 1983 a 45 percent tariff on imported bikes with engine capacities greater than 700 cc. Harley-Davidson subsequently rejected offers of assistance from Japanese motorcycle makers. However, the company did offer to drop the request for the tariff in exchange for loan guarantees from the Japanese.

 

Rather than trying to match the Japanese, the new management deliberately exploited the "retro" appeal of the machines, building motorcycles that deliberately adopted the look and feel of their earlier machines and the subsequent customizations of owners of that era. Many components such as brakes, forks, shocks, carburetors, electrics and wheels were outsourced from foreign manufacturers and quality increased, technical improvements were made, and buyers slowly returned.

 

Harley-Davidson bought the "Sub Shock" cantilever-swingarm rear suspension design from Missouri engineer Bill Davis and developed it into its Softail series of motorcycles, introduced in 1984 with the FXST Softail.

 

In response to possible motorcycle market loss due to the aging of baby-boomers, Harley-Davidson bought luxury motorhome manufacturer Holiday Rambler in 1986. In 1996, the company sold Holiday Rambler to the Monaco Coach Corporation.

 

The "Sturgis" model, boasting a dual belt-drive, was introduced initially in 1980 and was made for three years. This bike was then brought back as a commemorative model in 1991. By 1990, with the introduction of the "Fat Boy", Harley once again became the sales leader in the heavyweight (over 750 cm³) market. At the time of the Fat Boy model introduction, a story rapidly spread that its silver paint job and other features were inspired by the B-29; and Fat Boy was a combination of the names of the atomic bombs Fat Man and Little Boy. However, the Urban Legend Reference Pages lists this story as an urban legend.

 

1993 and 1994 saw the replacement of FXR models with the Dyna (FXD), which became the sole rubber mount FX Big Twin frame in 1994. The FXR was revived briefly from 1999 to 2000 for special limited editions (FXR2, FXR3 & FXR4).

 

Construction started on the $75 million, 130,000 square-foot (12,000 m2) Harley-Davidson Museum in the Menomonee Valley on June 1, 2006. It opened in 2008 and houses the company's vast collection of historic motorcycles and corporate archives, along with a restaurant, café and meeting space.

 

BUELL MOTORCYCLE COMPANY

Harley-Davidson's association with sportbike manufacturer Buell Motorcycle Company began in 1987 when they supplied Buell with fifty surplus XR1000 engines. Buell continued to buy engines from Harley-Davidson until 1993, when Harley-Davidson bought 49 percent of the Buell Motorcycle Company. Harley-Davidson increased its share in Buell to ninety-eight percent in 1998, and to complete ownership in 2003.

 

In an attempt to attract newcomers to motorcycling in general and to Harley-Davidson in particular, Buell developed a low-cost, low-maintenance motorcycle. The resulting single-cylinder Buell Blast was introduced in 2000, and was made through 2009, which, according to Buell, was to be the final year of production.

 

On October 15, 2009, Harley-Davidson Inc. issued an official statement that it would be discontinuing the Buell line and ceasing production immediately. The stated reason was to focus on the Harley-Davidson brand. The company refused to consider selling Buell. Founder Erik Buell subsequently established Erik Buell Racing and continued to manufacture and develop the company's 1125RR racing motorcycle.

First overseas factory in Brazil

 

In 1998 the first Harley-Davidson factory outside the US opened in Manaus, Brazil, taking advantage of the free economic zone there. The location was positioned to sell motorcycles in the southern hemisphere market.

 

CLAIMS OF STOCK PRICE MANIPULATION

During its period of peak demand, during the late 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century, Harley-Davidson embarked on a program of expanding the number of dealerships throughout the country. At the same time, its current dealers typically had waiting lists that extended up to a year for some of the most popular models. Harley-Davidson, like the auto manufacturers, records a sale not when a consumer buys their product, but rather when it is delivered to a dealer. Therefore, it is possible for the manufacturer to inflate sales numbers by requiring dealers to accept more inventory than desired in a practice called channel stuffing. When demand softened following the unique 2003 model year, this news led to a dramatic decline in the stock price. In April 2004 alone, the price of HOG shares dropped from more than $60 to less than $40. Immediately prior to this decline, retiring CEO Jeffrey Bleustein profited $42 million on the exercise of employee stock options.[80] Harley-Davidson was named as a defendant in numerous class action suits filed by investors who claimed they were intentionally defrauded by Harley-Davidson's management and directors. By January 2007, the price of Harley-Davidson shares reached $70.

 

PROBLEMS WITH TOURING MODELS

Starting around 2000, several police departments started reporting problems with high speed instability on the Harley-Davidson Touring motorcycles. A Raleigh, North Carolina police officer, Charles Paul, was killed when his 2002 police touring motorcycle crashed after reportedly experiencing a high speed wobble. The California Highway Patrol conducted testing of the Police Touring motorcycles in 2006. The CHP test riders reported experiencing wobble or weave instability while operating the motorcycles on the test track.

 

2007 STRIKE

On February 2, 2007, upon the expiration of their union contract, about 2,700 employees at Harley-Davidson Inc.'s largest manufacturing plant in York, Pennsylvania went on strike after failing to agree on wages and health benefits. During the pendency of the strike, the company refused to pay for any portion of the striking employees' health care.

 

The day before the strike, after the union voted against the proposed contract and to authorize the strike, the company shut down all production at the plant. The York facility employs more than 3,200 workers, both union and non-union.

 

Harley-Davidson announced on February 16, 2007, that it had reached a labor agreement with union workers at its largest manufacturing plant, a breakthrough in the two-week-old strike. The strike disrupted Harley-Davidson's national production and was felt in Wisconsin, where 440 employees were laid off, and many Harley suppliers also laid off workers because of the strike.

 

MV AGUSTA GROUP

On July 11, 2008 Harley-Davidson announced they had signed a definitive agreement to acquire the MV Agusta Group for $109M USD (€70M). MV Agusta Group contains two lines of motorcycles: the high-performance MV Agusta brand and the lightweight Cagiva brand. The acquisition was completed on August 8.

 

On October 15, 2009, Harley-Davidson announced that it would divest its interest in MV Agusta. Harley-Davidson Inc. sold Italian motorcycle maker MV Agusta to Claudio Castiglioni, ending the transaction in the first week of August 2010. Castiglioni is the company's former owner and had been MV Agusta's chairman since Harley-Davidson bought it in 2008.

 

OPERATIONS IN INDIA

In August 2009, Harley-Davidson announced plans to enter the market in India, and started selling motorcycles there in 2010. The company established a subsidiary, Harley-Davidson India, in Gurgaon, near Delhi, in 2011, and created an Indian dealer network.

 

FINANCIAL CRISIS

According to Interbrand, the value of the Harley-Davidson brand fell by 43 percent to $4.34 billion in 2009. The fall in value is believed to be connected to the 66 percent drop in the company profits in two quarters of the previous year. On April 29, 2010, Harley-Davidson stated that they must cut $54 million in manufacturing costs from its production facilities in Wisconsin, and that they would explore alternative U.S. sites to accomplish this. The announcement came in the wake of a massive company-wide restructuring, which began in early 2009 and involved the closing of two factories, one distribution center, and the planned elimination of nearly 25 percent of its total workforce (around 3,500 employees). The company announced on September 14, 2010 that it would remain in Wisconsin.

 

MOTORCYCLE ENGINES

The classic Harley-Davidson engines are V-twin engines, with a 45° angle between the cylinders. The crankshaft has a single pin, and both pistons are connected to this pin through their connecting rods.

 

This 45° angle is covered under several United States patents and is an engineering tradeoff that allows a large, high-torque engine in a relatively small space. It causes the cylinders to fire at uneven intervals and produces the choppy "potato-potato" sound so strongly linked to the Harley-Davidson brand.

 

To simplify the engine and reduce costs, the V-twin ignition was designed to operate with a single set of points and no distributor. This is known as a dual fire ignition system, causing both spark plugs to fire regardless of which cylinder was on its compression stroke, with the other spark plug firing on its cylinder's exhaust stroke, effectively "wasting a spark". The exhaust note is basically a throaty growling sound with some popping. The 45° design of the engine thus creates a plug firing sequencing as such: The first cylinder fires, the second (rear) cylinder fires 315° later, then there is a 405° gap until the first cylinder fires again, giving the engine its unique sound.

 

Harley-Davidson has used various ignition systems throughout its history – be it the early points and condenser system, (Big Twin up to 1978 and Sportsters up to 1978), magneto ignition system used on some 1958 to 1969 Sportsters, early electronic with centrifugal mechanical advance weights, (all models 1978 and a half to 1979), or the late electronic with transistorized ignition control module, more familiarly known as the black box or the brain, (all models 1980 to present).

 

Starting in 1995, the company introduced Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) as an option for the 30th anniversary edition Electra Glide. EFI became standard on all Harley-Davidson motorcycles, including Sportsters, upon the introduction of the 2007 product line.

 

In 1991, Harley-Davidson began to participate in the Sound Quality Working Group, founded by Orfield Labs, Bruel and Kjaer, TEAC, Yamaha, Sennheiser, SMS and Cortex. This was the nation's first group to share research on psychological acoustics. Later that year, Harley-Davidson participated in a series of sound quality studies at Orfield Labs, based on recordings taken at the Talladega Superspeedway, with the objective to lower the sound level for EU standards while analytically capturing the "Harley Sound". This research resulted in the bikes that were introduced in compliance with EU standards for 1998.

 

On February 1, 1994, the company filed a sound trademark application for the distinctive sound of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle engine: "The mark consists of the exhaust sound of applicant's motorcycles, produced by V-twin, common crankpin motorcycle engines when the goods are in use". Nine of Harley-Davidson's competitors filed comments opposing the application, arguing that cruiser-style motorcycles of various brands use a single-crankpin V-twin engine which produce a similar sound. These objections were followed by litigation. In June 2000, the company dropped efforts to federally register its trademark.

 

BIG V-TWINS

F-head, also known as JD, pocket valve and IOE (intake over exhaust), 1914–1929 (1,000 cm³), and 1922–1929 (1,200 cm³)

Flathead, 1930–1949 (1,200 cm³) and 1935–1941 (1,300 cm³).

Knucklehead, 1936–1947 61 cubic inch (1,000 cm³), and 1941–1947 74 cubic inch (1,200 cm³)

Panhead, 1948–1952 61 cubic inch (1,000 cm³), and 1948–1965, 74 cubic inch (1,200 cm³)

Shovelhead, 1966–1984, 74 cubic inch (1,200 cm³) and 80 cubic inch (1,338 cm³) since late 1978

Evolution (a.k.a. "Evo" and "Blockhead"), 1984–1999, 80 cubic inch (1,340 cm³)

Twin Cam (a.k.a. "Fathead" as named by American Iron Magazine) 1999–present, in the following versions:

Twin Cam 88, 1999–2006, 88 cubic inch (1,450 cm³)

Twin Cam 88B, counterbalanced version of the Twin Cam 88, 2000–2006, 88 cubic inch (1,450 cm³)

Twin Cam 95, since 2000, 95 cubic inch (1,550 cm³) (engines for early C.V.O. models)

Twin Cam 96, since 2007. As of 2012, only the Street Bob and Super Glide Custom Models still use the 96.96 cubic inch (1,584 cm³)

Twin Cam 103, 2003–2006, 2009, 103 cubic inch (1,690 cm³) (engines for C.V.O. models), Standard on 2011 Touring models: Ultra Limited, Road King Classic and Road Glide Ultra and optional on the Road Glide Custom and Street Glide. Standard on most 2012 models excluding Sportsters and 2 Dynas (Street Bob and Super Glide Custom). Standard on all 2014 dyna models.

Twin Cam 110, since 2007, 110 cubic inch (1,800 cm³) (engines for C.V.O. models, 2016 Soft Tail Slim S; FatBoy S, Low Rider S, and Pro-Street Breakout)

Milwaukee-Eight

Twin-cooled 107 ci (1,750 cm³): Standard on touring and trike model year 2017+.

Twin-cooled 114 ci (1,870 cm³): Optional on touring and trike model year 2017+, standard on CVO models.

 

REVOLUTION ENGINE

The Revolution engine is based on the VR-1000 Superbike race program, co-developed by Harley-Davidson's Powertrain Engineering team and Porsche Engineering in Stuttgart, Germany. It is a liquid cooled, dual overhead cam, internally counterbalanced 60 degree V-twin engine with a displacement of 69 cubic inch (1,130 cm³), producing 115 hp (86 kW) at 8,250 rpm at the crank, with a redline of 9,000 rpm. It was introduced for the new V-Rod line in 2001 for the 2002 model year, starting with the single VRSCA (V-Twin Racing Street Custom) model. The Revolution marks Harley's first collaboration with Porsche since the V4 Nova project, which, like the V-Rod, was a radical departure from Harley's traditional lineup until it was cancelled by AMF in 1981 in favor of the Evolution engine.

 

A 1,250 cc Screamin' Eagle version of the Revolution engine was made available for 2005 and 2006, and was present thereafter in a single production model from 2005 to 2007. In 2008, the 1,250 cc Revolution Engine became standard for the entire VRSC line. Harley-Davidson claims 123 hp (92 kW) at the crank for the 2008 VRSCAW model. The VRXSE Destroyer is equipped with a stroker (75 mm crank) Screamin' Eagle 1,300 cm³ Revolution Engine, producing more than 165 hp (123 kW).

 

750 cc and 500 cc versions of the Revolution engine are used in Harley-Davidson's Street line of light cruisers. These motors, named the Revolution X, use a single overhead cam, screw and locknut valve adjustment, a single internal counterbalancer, and vertically split crankcases; all of these changes making it different from the original Revolution design.

 

DÜSSELDORF-TEST

An extreme endurance test of the Revolution engine was performed in a dynometer installation, simulating the German Autobahn (highways without general speed limit) between the Porsche research and development center in Weissach, near Stuttgart to Düsseldorf. Uncounted samples of engines crashed, until an engine successfully passed the 500 hour nonstop run. This was the benchmark for the engineers to approve the start of production for the Revolution engine, which was documented in the Discovery channel special Harley-Davidson: Birth of the V-Rod, October 14, 2001.

 

SINGLE-CYLINER ENGINES

IOE singlesThe first Harley-Davidson motorcycles were powered by single-cylinder IOE engines with the inlet valve operated by engine vacuum. Singles of this type continued to be made until 1913, when a pushrod and rocker system was used to operate the overhead inlet valve on the single, a similar system having been used on their V-twins since 1911. Single-cylinder motorcycle engines were discontinued in 1918.Flathead and OHV singlesSingle-cylinder engines were reintroduced in 1925 as 1926 models. These singles were available either as flathead engines or as overhead valve engines until 1930, after which they were only available as flatheads. The flathead single-cylinder motorcycles were designated Model A for engines with magneto systems only and Model B for engines with battery and coil systems, while overhead valve versions were designated Model AA and Model BA respectively, and a magneto-only racing version was designated Model S. This line of single-cylinder motorcycles ended production in 1934.

 

MODEL FAMILIES

Modern Harley-branded motorcycles fall into one of six model families: Touring, Softail, Dyna, Sportster, Vrod and Street. These model families are distinguished by the frame, engine, suspension, and other characteristics.

 

TOURING

Touring models use Big-Twin engines and large-diameter telescopic forks. All Touring designations begin with the letters FL, e.g., FLHR (Road King) and FLTR (Road Glide).

 

The touring family, also known as "dressers" or "baggers", includes Road King, Road Glide, Street Glide and Electra Glide models offered in various trims. The Road Kings have a "retro cruiser" appearance and are equipped with a large clear windshield. Road Kings are reminiscent of big-twin models from the 1940s and 1950s. Electra Glides can be identified by their full front fairings. Most Electra Glides sport a fork-mounted fairing referred to as the "Batwing" due to its unmistakable shape. The Road Glide and Road Glide Ultra Classic have a frame-mounted fairing, referred to as the "Sharknose". The Sharknose includes a unique, dual front headlight.

 

Touring models are distinguishable by their large saddlebags, rear coil-over air suspension and are the only models to offer full fairings with radios and CBs. All touring models use the same frame, first introduced with a Shovelhead motor in 1980, and carried forward with only modest upgrades until 2009, when it was extensively redesigned. The frame is distinguished by the location of the steering head in front of the forks and was the first H-D frame to rubber mount the drivetrain to isolate the rider from the vibration of the big V-twin.

 

The frame was modified for the 1994 model year when the oil tank went under the transmission and the battery was moved inboard from under the right saddlebag to under the seat. In 1997, the frame was again modified to allow for a larger battery under the seat and to lower seat height. In 2007, Harley-Davidson introduced the 96 cubic inches (1,570 cubic centimetres) Twin Cam 96 engine, as well the six-speed transmission to give the rider better speeds on the highway.

 

In 2006, Harley introduced the FLHX Street Glide, a bike designed by Willie G. Davidson to be his personal ride, to its touring line.

 

In 2008, Harley added anti-lock braking systems and cruise control as a factory installed option on all touring models (standard on CVO and Anniversary models). Also new for 2008 is the 6-US-gallon (23 l; 5.0 imp gal) fuel tank for all touring models. 2008 also brought throttle-by-wire to all touring models.

 

For the 2009 model year, Harley-Davidson redesigned the entire touring range with several changes, including a new frame, new swingarm, a completely revised engine-mounting system, 17-inch (430 mm) front wheels for all but the FLHRC Road King Classic, and a 2–1–2 exhaust. The changes result in greater load carrying capacity, better handling, a smoother engine, longer range and less exhaust heat transmitted to the rider and passenger. Also released for the 2009 model year is the FLHTCUTG Tri-Glide Ultra Classic, the first three-wheeled Harley since the Servi-Car was discontinued in 1973. The model features a unique frame and a 1,690 cm³ engine exclusive to the trike.

 

In 2014, Harley-Davidson released a redesign for specific touring bikes and called it "Project Rushmore".[125] Changes include a new 103CI High Output engine, one handed easy open saddlebags and compartments, a new Boom! Box Infotainment system with either 10 cm or 16.5 cm screens featuring touchscreen functionality 16.5 cm models only], Bluetooth (media and phone with approved compatible devices), available GPS and SiriusXM, Text-to-Speech functionality (with approved compatible devices) and USB connectivity with charging. Other features include ABS with Reflex linked brakes, improved styling, Halogen or LED lighting and upgraded passenger comfort.

 

SOFTAIL

These big-twin motorcycles capitalize on Harley's strong value on tradition. With the rear-wheel suspension hidden under the transmission, they are visually similar to the "hardtail" choppers popular in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as from their own earlier history. In keeping with that tradition, Harley offers Softail models with "Heritage" styling that incorporate design cues from throughout their history and used to offer "Springer" front ends on these Softail models from the factory.Designation

 

Softail models utilize the big-twin engine (F) and the Softail chassis (ST).

 

Softail models that use 21 inch (530 mm) Front Wheels have designations that begin with FX, e.g., FXSTB (Night Train), FXSTD (Deuce), and FXSTS (Springer).

Softail models that use 16 inch (410 mm) Front Wheels have designations beginning with FL, e.g., FLSTF (Fat Boy), FLSTC (Heritage Softail Classic), FLSTN (Softail Deluxe) and FLS (Softail Slim).

Softail models that use Springer forks with a 21-inch (530 mm) wheel have designations that begin with FXSTS, e.g., FXSTS (Springer Softail) and FXSTSB (Bad Boy).

Softail models that use Springer forks with a 16-inch (410 mm) wheel have designations that begin with FLSTS, e.g., FLSTSC (Springer Classic) and FLSTSB (Cross Bones).

 

DYNA

Dyna-frame motorcycles were developed in the 1980s and early 1990s and debuted in the 1991 model year with the FXDB Sturgis offered in limited edition quantities. In 1992 the line continued with the limited edition FXDB Daytona and a production model FXD Super Glide. The new DYNA frame featured big-twin engines and traditional styling. They can be distinguished from the Softail by the traditional coil-over suspension that connects the swingarm to the frame, and from the Sportster by their larger engines. On these models, the transmission also houses the engine's oil reservoir.

 

Prior to 2006, Dyna models typically featured a narrow, XL-style 39mm front fork and front wheel, as well as footpegs which the manufacturer included the letter "X" in the model designation to indicate. This lineup traditionally included the Super Glide (FXD), Super Glide Custom (FXDC), Street Bob (FXDB), and Low Rider (FXDL). One exception was the Wide Glide (FXDWG), which featured thicker 41mm forks and a narrow front wheel, but positioned the forks on wider triple-trees that give a beefier appearance. In 2008, the Dyna Fat Bob (FXDF) was introduced to the Dyna lineup, featuring aggressive styling like a new 2–1–2 exhaust, twin headlamps, a 180 mm rear tire, and, for the first time in the Dyna lineup, a 130 mm front tire. For the 2012 model year, the Dyna Switchback (FLD) became the first Dyna to break the tradition of having an FX model designation with floorboards, detachable painted hard saddlebags, touring windshield, headlight nacelle and a wide front tire with full fender. The new front end resembled the big-twin FL models from 1968-1971.

 

The Dyna family used the 1,440 cm³ twin cam from 1999 to 2006. In 2007, the displacement was increased to 1,570 cm³ as the factory increased the stroke to 111.1 mm. For the 2012 model year, the manufacturer began to offer Dyna models with the 103-cubic-inch (1,690 cm³) upgrade. All Dyna models use a rubber-mounted engine to isolate engine vibration.

 

DESIGNATION

Dyna models utilize the big-twin engine (F), footpegs noted as (X) with the exception of the 2012 FLD Switchback, a Dyna model which used floorboards as featured on the Touring (L) models, and the Dyna chassis (D). Therefore, except for the FLD from 2012 to 2016, all Dyna models have designations that begin with FXD, e.g., FXDWG (Dyna Wide Glide) and FXDL (Dyna Low Rider).

 

SPORTSTER

Introduced in 1957, the Sportster family were conceived as racing motorcycles, and were popular on dirt and flat-track race courses through the 1960s and 1970s. Smaller and lighter than the other Harley models, contemporary Sportsters make use of 883 cc or 1,200 cc Evolution engines and, though often modified, remain similar in appearance to their racing ancestors.

 

Up until the 2003 model year, the engine on the Sportster was rigidly mounted to the frame. The 2004 Sportster received a new frame accommodating a rubber-mounted engine. This made the bike heavier and reduced the available lean angle, while it reduced the amount of vibration transmitted to the frame and the rider, providing a smoother ride for rider and passenger.

 

. . . for further reading go to:

 

WIKIPEDIA

Despite its name, this #pizzeria is located in Park Slope, Brooklyn and was opened by a former Joe’s Pizza of Greenwich Village employee. #Pizza maker Victor Zaro worked for the famous Joe’s pizzeria 🍕 for nearly 15 years before opening his own pizzeria in 2004. Pino Pozzuoli Sr. (the owner of Joe’s which has been in business since 1975) was not happy when he found out that Zaro opened his own shop and years later filed a lawsuit when Zaro changed the logo on his #storefront to mirror the one Joe’s has on his Carmine Street Shop. Just recently Judge Cohan ruled that his newer #signage was too similar and that Zaro had to change it but could keep using the name “Joe’s Pizza of the Village” because it had been used for so long and uses “generic” words. The ruling was: “Plaintiff does not have exclusive use over “Famous” or “of the Village”. These are generic enough terms so that plaintiff may not bar defendants from continuing to use that they have employed for over a decade.”

•

Our photo was taken in 2010 before Zaro changed his signage to mimic Joe’s Carmine Street location and we wonder if he had only kept this #fontastic sign if all this litigation could have been avoided.

The Postcard

 

A postally unused Colourmaster Heritage Series postcard that was published by Pitkin Pictorials Ltd. of 11, Wyfold Road, London SW6. The photography was by Bryn Colton.

 

The following is printed on the divided back of the card:

 

"Prince Andrew served as a

helicopter pilot on anti- submarine

patrols in the Falkland Islands war.

Here he is seen acknowledging

the cheers of crowds on his return

to Portsmouth.'

 

Prince Andrew, Duke of York

 

Prince Andrew, Duke of York, KG, GCVO, CD was born Andrew Albert Christian Edward on the 19th. February 1960.

 

He is a member of the British royal family, and the younger brother of King Charles III and the third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

 

Andrew is eighth in the line of succession to the British throne, and the first person in the line who is not a descendant of the reigning monarch.

 

Andrew served in the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot and instructor, and as the captain of a warship. During the Falklands War, he flew on multiple missions including anti-surface warfare, casualty evacuation, and Exocet missile decoy.

 

In 1986, he married Sarah Ferguson and was made Duke of York. They have two daughters: Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Their marriage, separation in 1992, and divorce in 1996 attracted extensive media coverage.

 

Andrew served as the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment for 10 years until July 2011.

 

In 2014, the American-Australian campaigner Virginia Giuffre alleged that, as a 17-year-old, she was sex-trafficked to Andrew by the American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

 

Andrew denied any wrongdoing. Following criticism for his association with Epstein, Andrew resigned from public roles in May 2020, and his honorary military affiliations and royal charitable patronages were removed by Queen Elizabeth II in January 2022.

 

He was the defendant in a civil lawsuit over sexual assault filed by Giuffre in the State of New York. The lawsuit was settled out of court in February 2022.

 

Prince Andrew - The Early Years

 

Andrew was born in the Belgian Suite of Buckingham Palace on the 19th. February 1960 at 3:30 p.m. He was baptised in the palace's Music Room on the 8th. April 1960.

 

Andrew was the first child born to a reigning British monarch since Princess Beatrice in 1857. As with his siblings, Charles, Anne, and Edward, Andrew was looked after by a governess, who was responsible for his early education at Buckingham Palace.

 

Andrew was sent to Heatherdown School near Ascot in Berkshire. In September 1973, he entered Gordonstoun, in northern Scotland, which his father and elder brother had also attended.

 

He was nicknamed "the Sniggerer" by his schoolmates at Gordonstoun, because of "his penchant for off-colour jokes, at which he laughed inordinately".

 

While there, he spent six months—from January to June 1977—participating in an exchange programme to Lakefield College School in Canada. He left Gordonstoun in July two years later with A-levels in English, History, and Economics.

 

Prince Andrew's Military Service

 

Royal Navy Service

 

The Royal Household announced in November 1978 that Andrew would join the Royal Navy the following year.

 

In December, he underwent various sporting tests and examinations at the Aircrew Selection Centre at RAF Biggin Hill, along with further tests and interviews at HMS Daedalus, and interviews at the Admiralty Interview Board, HMS Sultan.

 

During March and April 1979, he was enrolled at the Royal Naval College Flight, undergoing pilot training, until he was accepted as a trainee helicopter pilot and signed on for 12 years from the 11th. May 1979.

 

On the 1st. September 1979, Andrew was appointed as a midshipman, and entered Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

 

During 1979 Andrew also completed the Royal Marines All Arms Commando Course for which he received his Green Beret. He was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant on the 1st. September 1981, and appointed to the Trained Strength on the 22nd. October.

 

After passing out from Dartmouth, Andrew went on to elementary flying training with the Royal Air Force at RAF Leeming, and later, basic flying training with the navy at HMS Seahawk, where he learned to fly the Gazelle helicopter.

 

After being awarded his wings, Andrew moved on to more advanced training on the Sea King helicopter, and conducted operational flying training until 1982. He joined carrier-based squadron, 820 Naval Air Squadron, serving aboard the aircraft carrier, HMS Invincible.

 

The Falklands War

 

On the 2nd. April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory, leading to the Falklands War.

 

Invincible was one of the two operational aircraft carriers available at the time, and, as such, was to play a major role in the Royal Navy task force assembled to sail south to retake the islands.

 

Andrew's place on board and the possibility of the Queen's son being killed in action made the British government apprehensive, and the cabinet desired that Prince Andrew be moved to a desk job for the duration of the conflict.

 

The Queen, though, insisted that her son be allowed to remain with his ship. Prince Andrew remained on board Invincible to serve as a Sea King helicopter co-pilot, flying on missions that included anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare.

 

Andrew's other roles included acting as an Exocet missile decoy, casualty evacuation, transport, and search and air rescue. He witnessed the Argentinian attack on the SS Atlantic Conveyor.

 

At the end of the war, Invincible returned to Portsmouth, where Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip joined other families of the crew in welcoming the vessel home.

 

The Argentine military government reportedly planned, but did not attempt, to assassinate Andrew on Mustique in July 1982.

 

Though he had brief assignments to HMS Illustrious, RNAS Culdrose, and the Joint Services School of Intelligence, Prince Andrew remained with Invincible until 1983. Commander Nigel Ward's memoir, Sea Harrier Over the Falklands, described Prince Andrew as:

 

"An excellent pilot and a

very promising officer."

 

Prince Andrew's Career as a Naval Officer

 

In late 1983, Andrew transferred to RNAS Portland, and was trained to fly the Lynx helicopter. On the 1st. February 1984 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, whereupon Queen Elizabeth II appointed him as her personal aide-de-camp.

 

Prince Andrew served aboard HMS Brazen as a flight pilot until 1986, including deployment to the Mediterranean Sea as part of Standing NRF Maritime Group 2.

 

On the 23rd. October 1986, the Duke of York (as he was by then) transferred to the General List, enrolled in a four-month helicopter warfare instructor's course at RNAS Yeovilton, and, upon graduation, served from February 1987 to April 1988 as a helicopter warfare officer in 702 Naval Air Squadron, RNAS Portland.

 

He also served on HMS Edinburgh as an officer of the watch and Assistant Navigating Officer until 1989, including a six-month deployment to the Far East as part of Exercise Outback 88.

 

The Duke of York served as flight commander and pilot of the Lynx HAS3 on HMS Campbeltown from 1989 to 1991. He also acted as Force Aviation Officer to Standing NRF Maritime Group 1 while Campbeltown was flagship of the NATO force in the North Atlantic from 1990 to 1991.

 

Andrew passed the squadron command examination on the 16th. July 1991, attended the Staff College, Camberley the following year, and completed the Army Staff course. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander on the 1st. February 1992, and passed the ship command examination on the 12th. March 1992.

 

From 1993 to 1994, Prince Andrew commanded the Hunt-class minehunter HMS Cottesmore.

 

From 1995 to 1996, Andrew was posted as Senior Pilot of 815 Naval Air Squadron, at the time the largest flying unit in the Fleet Air Arm. His main responsibility was to supervise flying standards and to guarantee an effective operational capability.

 

He was promoted to Commander on the 27th. April 1999, finishing his active naval career at the Ministry of Defence in 2001, as an officer of the Diplomatic Directorate of the Naval Staff.

 

In July 2001, Andrew was retired from the Active List of the Navy. Three years later, he was made an Honorary Captain. On the 19th. February 2010, his 50th. birthday, he was promoted to Rear Admiral.

 

Five years later, he was promoted to Vice Admiral.

 

Andrew ceased using his honorary military titles in January 2022. The action came after more than 150 Royal Navy, RAF and Army veterans signed a letter, requesting that Queen Elizabeth II remove his honorary military appointments in the light of his involvement in a sexual assault civil case.

 

However it was reported that he would still retain his service rank of Vice Admiral.

 

Prince Andrew's Personal Life

 

Personal Interests

 

Andrew is a keen golfer, and has had a low single-figure handicap. He was captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews between 2003 and 2004—during the club's 250th. anniversary season.

 

He was also patron of a number of royal golf clubs, and had been elected as an honorary member of many others. In 2004, he was criticised by Labour Co-op MP Ian Davidson, who in a letter to the NAO questioned Andrew's decision to fly to St. Andrews on RAF aircraft for two golfing trips.

 

Andrew resigned his honorary membership of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews when the Queen removed royal patronages at several golf clubs. His honorary membership of the Royal Dornoch Golf Club was revoked in the following month.

 

Andrew is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, the senior maritime City livery company.

 

Prince Andrew's Relationship with Koo Stark

 

Andrew met the American photographer and actress Koo Stark in February 1981, before his active service in the Falklands War. In October 1982, they took a holiday together on the island of Mustique.

 

Tina Brown said that Stark was Andrew's only serious love interest. In 1983, they split up under pressure from press, paparazzi, and palace.

 

In 1997, Andrew became godfather to Stark's daughter. When Andrew was facing accusations in 2015 over his connection to Jeffrey Epstein, Koo came to his defence.

 

Prince Andrew's Marriage to Sarah Ferguson

 

Andrew had known Sarah Ferguson since childhood; they had met occasionally at polo matches, and became re-acquainted with each other at Royal Ascot in 1985.

 

Andrew married Sarah at Westminster Abbey on the 23rd. July 1986. On the same day, Queen Elizabeth II created him Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, and Baron Killyleagh.

 

The couple appeared to have a happy marriage and had two daughters together, Beatrice and Eugenie, presenting a united outward appearance during the late 1980's. His wife's personal qualities were seen as refreshing in the context of the formal protocol surrounding the royal family.

 

However, Andrew's frequent travel due to his military career, as well as relentless, often critical, media attention focused on the Duchess of York, led to fractures in the marriage.

 

On the 19th. March 1992, the couple announced plans to separate, and did so in an amicable way. Some months later, pictures appeared in the tabloid media of the Duchess in intimate association with John Bryan, her financial advisor at the time, which effectively ended any hopes of a reconciliation between Andrew and Sarah.

 

The marriage ended in divorce on the 30th. May 1996. The Duke of York spoke fondly of his former wife:

 

"We have managed to work together

to bring our children up in a way that

few others have been able to, and I

am extremely grateful to be able to

do that."

 

The couple agreed to share custody of their two daughters, and the family continued to live at Sunninghill Park (built near Windsor Great Park for the couple in 1990) until Andrew moved to the Royal Lodge in 2004.

 

In 2007, Sarah moved into Dolphin House in Englefield Green, less than a mile from the Royal Lodge. In 2008, a fire at Dolphin House resulted in Sarah moving into Royal Lodge, again sharing a house with Andrew.

 

Andrew's lease of Royal Lodge is for 75 years, with the Crown Estate as landlord, at a cost of a single £1 million premium and a commitment to spend £7.5 million on refurbishment.

 

In May 2010, Sarah was filmed by a News of the World reporter saying Andrew had agreed that if she were to receive £500,000, he would meet the donor and pass on useful top-level business contacts.

 

She was filmed receiving, in cash, $40,000 as a down payment. The paper said that Andrew did not know of the situation. In July 2011, Sarah stated that her multi-million pound debts had been cleared due to the intervention of her former husband, whom she compared to a "knight on a white charger".

 

Prince Andrews' Activities and Charitable Work

 

The Duke was patron of the Middle East Association (MEA), the UK's premier organisation for promoting trade and good relations with the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Iran.

 

Since his role as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment ended, Andrew continued to support UK enterprise without a special role.

 

Robert Jobson said he did this work well and wrote:

 

"He is particularly passionate when dealing

with young start-up entrepreneurs and

bringing them together with successful

businesses at networking and showcasing

events.

Andrew is direct and to the point, and his

methods seem to work".

 

The Duke was also patron of Fight for Sight, a charity dedicated to research into the prevention and treatment of blindness and eye disease, and was a member of the Scout Association.

 

He toured Canada frequently to undertake duties related to his Canadian military role. Rick Peters, the former Commanding Officer of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada stated that:

 

"Prince Andrew was very well

informed on Canadian military

methods".

 

While touring India as a part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Andrew became interested in the work of Women's Interlink Foundation (WIF), a charity which helps women acquire skills to earn income.

 

He and his family later initiated Key to Freedom, a project which tries to "find a route to market for products made by WIF".

 

On the 3rd. September 2012, Andrew was among a team of 40 people who abseiled down The Shard (tallest building in Europe) to raise money for educational charities.

 

In 2013, it was announced that Andrew was becoming the patron of London Metropolitan University and the University of Huddersfield. In July 2015, he was installed as Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield.

 

In recognition of Andrew's promotion of entrepreneurship he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge on the 1st. May 2018.

 

He became the patron of the charity Attend in 2003, and was a member of the International Advisory Board of the Royal United Services Institute.

 

In 2014, Andrew founded the Pitch@Palace initiative to support entrepreneurs with the amplification and acceleration of their business ideas. Entrepreneurs selected for Pitch@Palace Bootcamp are officially invited by Andrew to attend St. James Palace in order to pitch their ideas and to be connected with potential investors, mentors and business contacts.

 

The Duke also founded The Prince Andrew Charitable Trust which aimed to support young people in different areas such as education and training.

 

He also founded a number of awards including Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA), a programme to develop the digital and enterprise skills, the Duke of York Award for Technical Education, given to talented young people in technical education, and the Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Award, which recognised talents of young people in entrepreneurship.

 

The Duke of York lent his support to organisations that focus on science and technology by becoming the patron of Catalyst Inc and TeenTech.

 

In 2014, Andrew visited Geneva, Switzerland, to promote British science at CERN's 60th. anniversary celebrations. In May 2018, he visited China and opened the Pitch@Palace China Bootcamp 2.0 at Peking University.

 

In March 2019, Andrew took over the patronage of the Outward Bound Trust from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, serving up until his own resignation in November 2019. The charity tries to instil leadership qualities among young people.

 

In May 2019, it was announced that Andrew had succeeded Lord Carrington as patron of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust.

 

On 13 January 2022, it was announced that his royal patronages had been handed back to the Queen to be distributed among other members of the royal family.

 

Prince Andrew's Health

 

On the 2nd. June 2022, Andrew tested positive for COVID-19, and it was announced that he would not be present at the Platinum Jubilee National Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral on the 3rd. June.

 

Allegations of Sexual Abuse

 

Andrew was friends with Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2008. BBC News reported in March 2011 that the friendship was producing "a steady stream of criticism", and that there were calls for him to step down from his role as trade envoy.

 

Andrew was also criticised in the media after his former wife, Sarah, disclosed that he helped arrange for Epstein to pay off £15,000 of her debts.

 

Andrew had been photographed in December 2010 strolling with Epstein in Central Park during a visit to New York City. In July 2011, Andrew's role as trade envoy was terminated, and he reportedly cut all ties with Epstein.

 

On the 30th. December 2014, a Florida court filing on behalf of lawyers Edwards and Cassell alleged that Andrew was one of several prominent figures, including lawyer Alan Dershowitz and "a former prime minister", to have participated in sexual activities with a minor later identified as Virginia Giuffre (then known by her maiden name Virginia Roberts), who was allegedly trafficked by Epstein.

 

An affidavit from Giuffre was included in an earlier lawsuit from 2008 accusing the US Justice Department of violating the Crime Victims' Rights Act during Epstein's first criminal case by not allowing several of his victims to challenge his plea deal; Andrew was otherwise not a party to the lawsuit.

 

In January 2015, there was renewed media and public pressure for Buckingham Palace to explain Andrew's connection with Epstein. Buckingham Palace stated that:

 

"Any suggestion of impropriety with

underage minors is categorically

untrue."

 

The denial was later repeated.

 

Requests from Giuffre's lawyers for a statement from Andrew about the allegations, under oath, were returned unanswered.

 

Dershowitz denied the allegations in Giuffre's statement and sought disbarment of the lawyers filing the suit. Edwards and Cassell sued Dershowitz for defamation in January 2015; he countersued.

 

The two parties settled in 2016 for an undisclosed financial sum. Epstein sued Edwards for civil racketeering, but later dropped his suit; Edwards countersued for malicious prosecution with the result that Epstein issued a public apology to the lawyer in December 2018.

 

Giuffre asserted that she had sex with Andrew on three occasions, including a trip to London in 2001 when she was 17, and later in New York and on Little Saint James in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

She alleged Epstein paid her $15,000 after she had sex with Andrew in London. Flight logs show Andrew and Giuffre were in the places where she alleged their meetings took place.

 

Andrew was also photographed with his arm around Giuffre's waist with an Epstein associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, in the background. Andrew's supporters have repeatedly said the photo is fake and edited.

 

Giuffre stated that she was pressured to have sex with Andrew and "wouldn't have dared object" as Epstein, through contacts, could have her "killed or abducted".

 

On the 7th. April 2015, Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that:

 

"The sex allegations made against

Andrew in court papers filed in Florida

must be struck from the public record".

 

Marra made no ruling as to whether claims by Giuffre are true or false, specifically stating that she may later give evidence when the case comes to court. Giuffre stated that she would not "be bullied back into silence".

 

Tuan "John" Alessi, who was Epstein's butler, stated in a deposition he filed for Giuffre's 2016 defamation case against Maxwell that Andrew's hitherto unremarked visits to the Epstein house in Palm Beach were more frequent than previously thought. He maintained that Andrew "spent weeks with us" and received "daily massages".

 

In August 2019, court documents for a defamation case between Giuffre and Maxwell revealed that a second girl, Johanna Sjoberg, gave evidence alleging that Andrew had placed his hand on her breast while in Epstein's mansion posing for a photo with his Spitting Image puppet.

 

Later that month, Andrew released a statement that said:

 

"At no stage during the limited time I

spent with Epstein did I see, witness

or suspect any behaviour of the sort

that subsequently led to his arrest

and conviction."

 

Andrew did however express regret for meeting him in 2010 after Epstein had already pleaded guilty to sex crimes for the first time.

 

At the end of August 2019, The New Republic published a September 2013 email exchange between John Brockman and Evgeny Morozov, in which Brockman mentioned seeing a British man nicknamed "Andy" receive a foot massage from two Russian women at Epstein's New York residence in 2010. He had realised that:

 

"The recipient of Irina's foot massage

was His Royal Highness, Prince Andrew,

the Duke of York".

 

In July 2020, Caroline Kaufman, an alleged victim of Epstein, said in a federal lawsuit that she had seen Andrew at Epstein's New York mansion in December 2010.

 

In November 2021 Lawrence Visoski, Epstein's pilot, testified in court during Ghislaine Maxwell's trial that Prince Andrew flew in Epstein's private plane along with other prominent individuals, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and John Glenn.

 

Visoski stated he did not notice any sexual activity or wrongdoing on the plane.

 

Similarly, Andrew's name was recorded on the 12th. May 2001 by Epstein's pilot David Rodgers in his logbook, and he testified that Andrew flew three times with Epstein and Giuffre in 2001.

 

The following month a picture of Epstein and Maxwell, sitting at a cabin on the Queen's Balmoral estate, around 1999, at the invitation of Andrew, was shown to the jury to establish their status as partners.

 

On the 5th. January 2022, Virginia Giuffre's former boyfriend, Anthony Figueroa, said on Good Morning Britain that Giuffre told him Epstein would take her to meet Prince Andrew. He said:

 

"She called me when she was on the trip

and she was talking about she knew what

they wanted her to do and she was really

nervous and scared because she didn't

know how to react to it".

 

He alleged the meeting had taken place in London. In a court filing, Andrew's lawyers had previously referred to a statement by Figueroa's sister, Crystal Figueroa, who alleged that in her bid to find victims for Epstein, Giuffre had asked her:

 

"Do you know any girls

who are kind of slutty?"

 

The same month, Carolyn Andriano, who as a 14-year-old was introduced by Giuffre to Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein and was a prosecution witness in Maxwell's trial, said in an interview with the Daily Mail that then 17-year-old Giuffre told her in 2001 that she had slept with Prince Andrew. She stated:

 

"Giuffre said, 'I got to sleep with him'.

She didn't seem upset about it. She

thought it was pretty cool."

 

In an ITV documentary, former royal protection officer Paul Page, who was convicted and given a six year sentence following a £3 million property investment scam in 2009, recounted Maxwell's frequent visits to Buckingham Palace, and suggested the two might have had an intimate relationship, while Lady Victoria Hervey added that Andrew was present at social occasions held by Maxwell.

 

The Duke of York's name and contact numbers for Buckingham Palace, Sunninghill Park, Wood Farm and Balmoral also appeared in Maxwell and Epstein's 'Little Black Book', a list of contacts of the duo's powerful and famous friends.

 

In February 2022, The Daily Telegraph published a photograph of Andrew along with Maxwell giving a tour of Buckingham Palace to Andrew's guests Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey, with a member of the tour party describing Maxwell as:

 

"The one who led us into

Buckingham Palace".

 

Tina Brown, a journalist who edited Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The Daily Beast, maintains Epstein described Andrew behind his back as an idiot, but found him useful. Brown stated:

 

"Epstein confided to a friend that he used

to fly Andrew to obscure foreign markets,

where governments were obliged to

receive him, and Epstein went along as

HRH's investment adviser.

With Andrew as frontman, Epstein could

negotiate deals with these (often) shady

players".

 

In October 2022, Ghislaine Maxwell was interviewed by a documentary filmmaker while serving her sentence in prison, and when asked about her relationship with Andrew, Maxwell stated that:

 

"I feel bad for him, but I accept our

friendship could not survive my

conviction.

He is paying such a price for the

association.

I consider him a dear friend. I care

about him."

 

She also stated that she now believed the photograph showing her together with Andrew and Virginia Giuffre was not "a true image," and added that in an email to her lawyer in 2015 she was trying to confirm that she recognised her own house, but the whole image cannot be authentic as "the original has never been produced".

 

The Newsnight Interview

 

In November 2019, the BBC's Newsnight arranged an interview between Andrew and presenter Emily Maitlis in which he recounted his friendship with Epstein for the first time.

 

In the interview, Prince Andrew says he met Epstein in 1999 through Maxwell, although this contradicts comments made by Andrew's private secretary in 2011, who said that the two met "in the early 1990's".

 

The Duke also said he did not regret his friendship with Epstein, saying:

 

"The people that I met and the

opportunities that I was given to

learn, either by him or because

of him, were actually very useful".

 

In the interview, Andrew denied having sex with Giuffre on the 10th. March 2001, as she had accused, because he had been at home with his daughters after attending a party at Pizza Express in Woking with his elder daughter Beatrice.

 

Prince Andrew also added that Giuffre's claims about dancing with him at a club in London while he was sweaty were false, due to him temporarily losing the ability to sweat after an "adrenaline overdose" during the Falklands War.

 

However, according to physicians consulted by The Times, an adrenaline overdose typically causes excessive sweating in humans.

 

Andrew also said that he does not drink, despite Giuffre's account of him providing alcohol for them both. However accounts from other people have supported his statement that he does not drink.

 

Andrew said that he had stayed in Epstein's mansion for three days in 2010, after Epstein's conviction for sex offences against a minor, describing the location as "a convenient place to stay".

 

The Duke said that he met Epstein for the sole purpose of breaking off any future relationship with him. He also said that he would be willing to testify under oath regarding his associations with Epstein.

 

In the 2019 BBC interview, Andrew told Newsnight that his association with Epstein was derived from his long-standing friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later convicted of colluding in Epstein's sexual abuse.

 

The 2019 Newsnight interview was believed by Maitlis and Newsnight to have been approved by the Queen, although "palace insiders" speaking to The Sunday Telegraph disputed this. One of Prince Andrew's official advisors resigned just prior to the interview being aired.

 

Although Andrew was pleased with the outcome of the interview – reportedly giving Maitlis and the Newsnight team a tour of Buckingham Palace – it received negative reactions from both the media and the public, both in and outside of the UK.

 

The interview was described as a "car crash", "nuclear explosion level bad", and the worst public relations crisis for the royal family since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

 

Experts and those with ties to Buckingham Palace said that the interview, its fallout and the abrupt suspension of Andrew's royal duties were unprecedented.

 

In July 2022 it was announced that a film would be made of the preparations for the interview and the interview itself. Shooting was planned to start in November 2022. According to Deadline, Scoop is being written by Peter Moffat.

 

The Civil Lawsuit

 

In August 2021, Virginia Giuffre sued Prince Andrew in the federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, accusing him of "sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress."

 

The lawsuit was filed under New York's Child Victims Act, legislation extending the statute of limitations where the plaintiff had been under 18 at the time, 17 in Giuffre's case.

 

On the 29th. October 2021, Andrew's lawyers filed a response, stating that:

 

"Our client unequivocally

denies Giuffre's false

allegations".

 

On the 12th. January 2022, Judge Kaplan rejected Andrew's attempts to dismiss the case, allowing the sexual abuse lawsuit to proceed.

 

In February 2022, the case was settled out of court, with Andrew making a donation to Giuffre's charity for victims of abuse.

 

The Guardian reported that:

 

"The Queen's decision to strip

Andrew of his royal patronages,

honorary military titles and any

official use of his HRH title, still

stands firm."

 

Criminal proceedings in the United States over Virginia Giuffre's claims are still possible but are now unlikely, as Virginia Giuffre died by her own hand on the 24th. April 2025 at a farm in the Neergabby area outside of Perth, Australia, where she had lived for the previous several years.

 

Repercussions

 

On the 18th. November 2019, accountancy firm KPMG announced it would not be renewing its sponsorship of Prince Andrew's entrepreneurial scheme Pitch@Palace, and on the 19th. November Standard Chartered also withdrew its support.

 

Also on the 19th. November 2019, the Students' Union of the University of Huddersfield passed a motion to lobby Andrew to resign as its chancellor, as London Metropolitan University was considering Andrew's role as its patron.

 

On the 20th. November 2019, a statement from Buckingham Palace announced that Andrew was suspending his public duties "for the foreseeable future".

 

The decision, made with the consent of the Queen, was accompanied by the insistence that Andrew sympathised with Epstein's victims. Other working royals took his commitments over in the short term.

 

On the 21st. November, Andrew relinquished his role as chancellor of the University of Huddersfield. Three days later, the palace confirmed that Andrew was to step down from all 230 of his patronages, although he expressed a wish to have some sort of public role at some future time.

 

On the 16th. January 2020, it was reported that the Home Office was recommending "a major downgrade of security" for Andrew, which would put an end to his "round-the-clock armed police protection".

 

It was later reported that he had been allowed to keep his £300,000-a-year security and the recommendation would be reviewed again in the future.

 

On the 28th. January 2020, US Attorney Geoffrey Berman stated that Prince Andrew had provided "zero co-operation" with federal prosecutors and the FBI regarding the ongoing investigations, despite his initial promise in the Newsnight interview when he said he was willing to help the authorities.

 

Buckingham Palace did not comment on the issue, though sources close to Andrew said that he "hasn't been approached" by US authorities and investigators, and his legal team announced that he had offered to be a witness "on at least three occasions" but had been refused by the Department of Justice.

 

The US authorities denied being approached by Andrew for an interview, and labeled his statements as:

 

"A way to falsely portray himself to

the public as eager and willing to

cooperate".

 

Spencer Kuvin, who represented nine of Epstein's victims, said Andrew could be arrested if he ever returns to the United States, saying:

 

"It is highly unlikely an extradition

would ever occur, so the Prince

would have to be here in the US

and be arrested while he's here."

 

In March 2020, Andrew hired crisis-management expert Mark Gallagher, who had helped high-profile clients falsely accused in Operation Midland.

 

In April 2020, it was reported that the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy would not be played any more, after all activities carried out by the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust were stopped.

 

In May 2020, it was reported that the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust was under investigation by the Charity Commission regarding some regulatory issues about £350,000 of payments to his former private secretary Amanda Thirsk.

 

According to The Times, senior personnel in the navy and army considered Andrew to be an embarrassment for the military, and believed he should be stripped of his military roles.

 

In May 2020 it was announced that Andrew would permanently resign from all public roles over his Epstein ties.

 

In June 2020, it became known that Andrew is a person of interest in a criminal investigation in the United States, and that the United States had filed a mutual legal assistance request to British authorities in order to question Andrew.

 

Newsweek reported that a majority of British citizens believe Andrew should be stripped of his titles and extradited to the United States. Following the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell in July 2020, Andrew cancelled a planned trip to Spain, reportedly due to fears that he might be arrested and extradited to the United States.

 

In August 2020, anti-child trafficking protesters chanting "Paedophile! Paedophile!" referencing Andrew gathered outside Buckingham Palace, and videos of the protest went viral.

 

In August 2021, royal biographer Penny Junor maintained Prince Andrew's reputation with the public was damaged beyond repair.

 

It was reported in August 2021 that American authorities were pessimistic about being able to interview Andrew.

 

In January 2022, Andrew's social media accounts were deleted, his page on the royal family's website was rewritten in the past tense, and his military affiliations and patronages were removed to put an emphasis on his departure from public life.

 

Andrew also stopped using the style His Royal Highness (HRH) though it was not formally removed. In the same month, York Racecourse announced that it would rename the Duke of York Stakes.

 

Prince Andrew High School in Nova Scotia, which had announced two years earlier that it was considering a name change because the name "no longer reflects the values of the community", stated that it would have a new name at the next academic year.

 

In February 2022, Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Assembly decided not to fly a union flag for Andrew's birthday. In the same month, the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council announced that they would hold a debate in June 2022 regarding a motion to rename Prince Andrew Way in Carrickfergus.

 

On the 27th. April 2022 York City Council unanimously voted to remove Andrew's Freedom of the City. Rachael Maskell, York Central MP, said Andrew was the "first to ever have their freedom removed".

 

There have also been calls to remove the Duke of York title.

 

In March 2022, Andrew made his first official appearance in months, helping the Queen to walk into Westminster Abbey for a memorial service for his father, the Duke of Edinburgh. There was a mixed reaction by commentators to his presence, with some saying that:

 

"It would send the wrong message to

victims of sexual abuse about how

powerful men are able to absolve

themselves from their conduct."

 

Others argued that his appearance was required "as a son, in memory of his father".

 

In June 2022, The Telegraph reported that Andrew had asked the Queen to be reinstated as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, to use his HRH (His Royal Highness) title and to be allowed to appear at official events due to his position as a 'prince of the blood'.

 

In the same month, he took part in private aspects of the Garter Day ceremony, including lunch and investiture of new members, but was excluded from the public procession following an intervention by his brother Charles and his nephew William that banned him from appearing anywhere the public could see him.

 

Andrew's name featured on one of the lists, showing that this was a last-minute decision.

 

In June 2022 Rachael Maskell MP introduced a 'Removal of Titles' bill in the House of Commons. If passed, this bill would enable Andrew to be stripped of his Duke of York title and other titles. Maskell maintains that 80% of York citizens want Andrew to lose all connection with their city.

 

The proposed bill would also enable other people considered unworthy to lose their titles. The bill is due to get its second reading on the 9th. December 2022.

 

In August 2022, it was reported that the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures had assessed the security threat against Andrew and concluded that he should keep his taxpayer-funded police bodyguards, at an annual cost estimated to be between £500,000 and £3 million.

 

In early 2021 there were at least two trespassing incidents reported at his Windsor property, and in December he was verbally abused by a woman as he was driving his car.

 

Following the death of the Queen on the 8th. September 2022, Andrew appeared in civilian clothing at various ceremonial events. As he walked behind his mother's coffin in a funeral procession in Edinburgh on the 12th. September, a 22-year-old man shouted "Andrew, you're a sick old man".

The heckler was arrested and charged with committing a breach of the peace.

 

Andrew wore military uniform for a 15-minute vigil by the Queen's coffin at Westminster Hall on the 16th. September. Lawyer Spencer Kuvin, who represented nine of Epstein's victims, was critical of Andrew's public role in the lead-up to the funeral, and stated that:

 

"He is attempting now to

see if he can rehabilitate

his image in the public."

 

New York lawyer Mariann Wang, who represented up to 12 Epstein's victims described Andrew's public profile as "quite outrageous. She went on to say:

 

"It is harmful for any survivor of

trauma to see an abuser or their

enablers continue to reap the

benefits of privilege, status and

power."

 

Controversies and Other Incidents

 

Prince Andrew as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment

 

From 2001 until July 2011, Andrew worked with UK Trade & Investment, part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, as the United Kingdom's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.

 

The post, previously held by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, involved representing and promoting the UK at various trade fairs and conferences around the world.

 

Andrew's suitability for the role was challenged in the House of Commons by Shadow Justice Minister Chris Bryant in February 2011, at the time of the 2011 Libyan civil war, on the grounds that he was:

 

"Not only a very close friend of

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, but also a

close friend of the convicted

Libyan gun smuggler Tarek

Kaituni".

 

Further problems arose as he hosted a lunch for Sakher El Materi, a member of the corrupt Tunisian regime, at the Palace around the time of the Tunisian Revolution.

 

Andrew also formed a friendship with Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan who has been criticised for corruption and for abuses of human rights by Amnesty International, and visited him both during and after his tenure as the UK trade envoy.

 

As of November 2014, Andrew had met Aliyev on 12 separate occasions.

 

Andrew did not receive a salary from the UK Trade & Investment for his role as Special Representative, but he went on expenses-paid delegations, and was alleged to have occasionally used trips paid for by the government for his personal leisure, which earned him the nickname "Airmiles Andy" by the press.

 

On the 8th. March 2011, The Daily Telegraph reported:

 

"In 2010, the Prince spent £620,000

as a trade envoy, including £154,000

on hotels, food and hospitality and

£465,000 on travel."

 

The controversies, together with his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, made him step down from the role in 2011.

 

In November 2020, and following reviews of emails, internal documents, and unreported regulatory filings, as well as interviews with 10 former bank insiders, Bloomberg Businessweek reported on Andrew using his royal cachet and role as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment for helping David Rowland and his private bank, Banque Havilland, with securing deals with clients around the world.

 

The Rowland family are among the investment advisers to Andrew, and he was present for the official opening ceremony of their bank in July 2009.

 

Alleged Comments on Corruption and Kazakhstan

 

As the United Kingdom's Special Trade Representative, Andrew travelled the world to promote British businesses.

 

It was revealed in the United States diplomatic cables leak that Andrew had been reported on by Tatiana Gfoeller, the United States Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, discussing bribery in Kyrgyzstan and the investigation into the Al-Yamamah arms deal.

 

She explained:

 

"The Duke was referencing an investigation,

subsequently closed, into alleged kickbacks

a senior Saudi royal had received in exchange

for the multi-year, lucrative BAE Systems

contract to provide equipment and training to

Saudi security forces."

 

The dispatch continued:

 

"His mother's subjects seated around the

table roared their approval. He then went

on to 'these (expletive) journalists, especially

from the National Guardian [sic], who poke

their noses everywhere' and (presumably)

make it harder for British businessmen to

do business. The crowd practically clapped!"

 

In May 2008, he attended a goose-hunt in Kazakhstan with President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

 

In 2010, it was revealed that the President's billionaire son-in-law Timur Kulibayev paid Andrew's representatives £15 million – £3 million over the asking price – via offshore companies, for Andrew's Surrey mansion, Sunninghill Park.

 

Kulibayev frequently appears in US dispatches as one of the men who have accumulated millions in gas-rich Kazakhstan. It was later revealed that Andrew's office tried to get a crown estate property close to Kensington Palace for Kulibayev at that time.

 

In May 2012, it was reported that Swiss and Italian police investigating "a network of personal and business relationships" allegedly used for "international corruption" were looking at the activities of Enviro Pacific Investments which charges "multi-million pound fees" to energy companies wishing to deal with Kazakhstan.

 

The trust is believed to have paid £6 million towards the purchase of Sunninghill which now appears derelict. In response, a Palace spokesman said:

 

"This was a private sale between

two trusts. There was never any

impropriety on the part of The Duke

of York".

 

Libby Purves wrote in The Times in January 2015:

 

"Prince Andrew dazzles easily when

confronted with immense wealth and

apparent power.

He has fallen for 'friendships' with bad,

corrupt and clever men, not only in the

US but in Libya, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,

Tunisia, wherever."

 

In May 2016, a fresh controversy broke out when the Daily Mail alleged that Andrew had brokered a deal to assist a Greek and Swiss consortium in securing a £385 million contract to build water and sewerage networks in two of Kazakhstan's largest cities, while working as British trade envoy, and had stood to gain a £4 million payment in commission.

 

The newspaper published an email from Andrew to Kazakh oligarch Kenges Rakishev, (who had allegedly brokered the sale of the Prince's Berkshire mansion Sunninghill Park), and said that Rakishev had arranged meetings for the consortium.

 

After initially saying the email was a forgery, Buckingham Palace sought to block its publication as a privacy breach. The Palace denied the allegation that Andrew had acted as a "fixer," calling the article "untrue, defamatory and a breach of the editor's code of conduct".

 

A former Foreign Office minister, MP Chris Bryant stated:

 

"When I was at the Foreign Office, it was

very difficult to see in whose interests he

[Andrew] was acting. He doesn't exactly

add lustre to the Royal diadem".

 

Arms Sales

 

In March 2011, Kaye Stearman of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade told Channel 4 News that CAAT sees Prince Andrew as part of a bigger problem:

 

"He is the front man for UKTI. Our concerns

are not just Prince Andrew, it's the whole

UKTI set up.

They see arms as just another commodity,

but it has completely disproportionate

resources. At the London office of UKTI the

arms sector has more staff than all the

others put together.

We are concerned that Prince Andrew is

used to sell arms, and where you sell arms

it is likely to be to despotic regimes.

He is the cheerleader in chief for the arms

industry, shaking hands and paving the way

for the salesmen."

 

In January 2014, Prince Andrew took part in a delegation to Bahrain, a close ally of the United Kingdom. Spokesman for CAAT, Andrew Smith said:

 

"We are calling on Prince Andrew and the

UK government to stop selling arms to Bahrain.

By endorsing the Bahraini dictatorship, Prince

Andrew is giving his implicit support to their

oppressive practices.

When our government sells arms, it is giving

moral and practical support to an illegitimate

and authoritarian regime and directly supporting

their systematic crackdown on opposition groups.

We shouldn't allow our international image to be

used as a PR tool for the violent and oppressive

dictatorship in Bahrain."

 

Andrew Smith has also said:

 

"The prince has consistently used his position

to promote arms sales and boost some of the

most unpleasant governments in the world, his

arms sales haven't just given military support to

corrupt and repressive regimes. They've lent

those regimes political and international

legitimacy."

 

Reactions to Prince Andrew's Election to the Royal Society

 

Andrew's election to the Royal Society prompted "Britain's leading scientists" to "revolt" due to Andrew's lack of scientific background, with some noting he had only a secondary school level of education.

 

In an op-ed in The Sunday Times, pharmacologist, Humboldt Prize recipient, and Fellow of the Royal Society, David Colquhoun opined, in references to Andrew's qualifications, that:

 

"If I wanted a tip for the winner of

the 14.30 at Newmarket, I'd ask a

royal. For most other questions,

I wouldn't."

 

Allegations of Racist Language

 

Rohan Silva, a former Downing Street aide, claimed that, when they met in 2012, Andrew had commented:

 

"Well, if you'll pardon the

expression, that really is

the n*gger in the woodpile."

 

Former home secretary Jacqui Smith also claims that Andrew made a racist comment about Arabs during a state dinner for the Saudi royal family in 2007.

 

Buckingham Palace denied that Andrew had used racist language on either occasion.

 

Allegations of Ramming Gates in Windsor Great Park

 

In March 2016, Republic CEO Graham Smith filed a formal report to the police, requesting an investigation into allegations that Andrew had damaged sensor-operated gates in Windsor Great Park by forcing them open in his Range Rover to avoid going an extra mile on his way home.

 

The Thames Valley Police dismissed the reports due to lack of details.

 

Treatment of Reporters, Servants and Others

 

During his four-day Southern California tour in 1984, Andrew squirted paint onto American and British journalists and photographers who were reporting on the tour, after which he told Los Angeles county supervisor Kenneth Hahn, "I enjoyed that".

 

The incident damaged the clothes and equipment of reporters and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner submitted a $1,200 bill to the British consulate asking for financial compensation.

 

The Guardian wrote in 2022:

 

"His brusque manner with servants

is well-documented. A senior footman

once told a reporter who worked

undercover at Buckingham Palace that

on waking the prince, 'the response can

easily be "f*** off" as good morning'."

 

Former royal protection officer Paul Page said, in an ITV documentary, that:

 

"Andrew maintained a collection of

50 or 60 stuffed toys, and if they

weren't put back in the right order

by the maids, he would shout and

scream and become verbally abusive."

 

Page later stated in the documentary 'Prince Andrew: Banished' that different women would visit Andrew every day, and when one was denied entry into his residence by the security, Andrew allegedly called one of the officers a "fat, lardy-ass c**t" over the phone.

 

The Duke's former maid, Charlotte Briggs, also recalled setting up the teddy bears on his bed, and told The Sun that when she was bitten by his Norfolk Terrier in 1996, he only laughed and "wasn't bothered".

 

She said that she was reduced to tears by Andrew for not properly closing the heavy curtains in his office, and added that his behaviour was in contrast to that of his brothers Charles and Edward who "weren't anything like him" and his father Philip whom she described as "so nice and gentlemanly".

 

Massage therapist Emma Gruenbaum said Andrew regularly overstepped the mark, making creepy sexual comments when she came to give him a massage. Gruenbaum maintained Andrew talked continually about sex during the first massage, and wanted to know when she last had sex. Gruenbaum said Andrew arranged regular massages for roughly two months, and she believed requests for massages stopped when he realised he would not get more.

 

Finance and Debt Problems

 

It is unclear how Andrew finances his luxury lifestyle; in 2021 The Guardian wrote:

 

"With little in the way of visible support,

questions over how Andrew has been

able to fund his lifestyle have rarely been

answered.

In the past he has appeared to live the

jetset life of a multimillionaire, with

holidays aboard luxury yachts, regular

golfing sojourns. and ski trips to

exclusive resorts."

 

The Duke of York received a £249,000 annuity from the Queen.

 

In the twelve-month period up to April 2004, he spent £325,000 on flights, and his trade missions as special representative for UKTI cost £75,000 in 2003.

 

The Sunday Times reported in July 2008 that for "the Duke of York's public role,... he last year received £436,000 to cover his expenses".

 

He has a Royal Navy pension of £20,000.

 

The Duke is also a keen skier, and in 2014 bought a skiing chalet in Verbier, Switzerland, for £13 million jointly with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.

 

In May 2020, it was reported that they were in a legal dispute over the mortgage. To purchase the chalet, they secured a loan of £13.25 million, and were expected to pay £5 million in cash instalments which, after applying interests, amounted to £6.8 million.

 

Despite claims that the Queen would help pay the debt, a spokesperson for Andrew confirmed that she "will not be stepping in to settle the debt".

 

The Times reported in September 2021 that Andrew and Sarah had reached a legal agreement with the property's previous owner and would sell the house.

 

The owner agreed to receive £3.4 million, half of the amount that she was owed, as she had been under the impression that Andrew and Sarah were dealing with financial troubles. The money from selling the property is reportedly to be used to pay Andrew's legal expenses over the civil lawsuit as well.

 

In June 2022 it was reported in Le Temps, a Swiss newspaper, that the sale of the chalet has been frozen because of a £1.6 million debt that Andrew owes to unnamed people.

 

Law professor Nicolas Jeandin told Le Temps:

 

"A sale is in principle impossible,

except with the agreement of

the creditor."

 

In 2021 Bloomberg News reported that a firm connected to David Rowland had been paying off Andrew's debts. In November 2017, Andrew borrowed £250,000 from Banque Havilland, adding to an existing £1.25 million loan that had been "extended or increased 10 times" since 2015.

 

Documents showed that while the "credibility of the applicant" had been questioned, he was given the loan in an attempt to "further business potential with the Royal Family".

 

11 days later and in December 2017, £1.5 million was transferred from an account at Albany Reserves, which was controlled by the Rowland family, to Andrew's account at Banque Havilland, paying off the loan that was due in March 2018.

 

Liberal Democrat politician and staunch republican Norman Baker stated:

 

"This demonstrates yet again that

significant questions need to be

asked about Prince Andrew's

business dealings and his

association with some dubious

characters."

 

Several months after Andrew's controversial 2019 Newsnight interview, his private office established the Urramoor Trust, which owned both Lincelles Unlimited (established 2020) and Urramoor Ltd. (established 2013), and according to The Times was set up to support his family.

 

Lincelles was voluntarily wound up in 2022. Andrew was described as a "settlor but not a beneficiary", and did not own either of the companies, though Companies House listed him and his private banker of 20 years Harry Keogh as people with "significant control".

 

In March 2022 it was reported that on the 15th. November 2019 the wife of the jailed former Turkish politician İlhan İşbilen transferred £750,000 to Andrew in the belief that it would help her secure a passport.

 

The Duke repaid the money 16 months later after being contacted by Mrs İşbilen's lawyers. The Telegraph reported that the money sent to Andrew's account had been described to the bankers "as a wedding gift" for his eldest daughter, Beatrice, though the court documents did not include any suggestions that the princess was aware of the transactions.

 

Mrs İşbilen alleges that a further £350,000 payment was made to Andrew through businessman Selman Turk, who Mrs İşbilen is suing for fraud. Turk had been awarded the People's Choice Award for his business Heyman AI at a Pitch@Palace event held at St. James's Palace days before the £750,000 payment was made by Mrs İşbilen.

 

Even though he won the award through a public vote online and an audience vote on the night of the ceremony, there were concerns raised with a senior member of the royal household that Turk was "gaming the system" and should not have won as "he may have used bots – autonomous internet programs – to boost his vote".

 

Libyan-born convicted gun smuggler, Tarek Kaituni introduced Andrew to Selman Turk in May or June 2019 and held later meetings on at least two occasions. Kaituni, for whom Andrew allegedly lobbied a British company, had reportedly gifted Princess Beatrice with an £18,000 gold and diamond necklace for her 21st. birthday in 2009, and was invited to Princess Eugenie's wedding in 2018.

 

Titles, Styles, Honours and Arms

 

19th. February 1960 – 23rd. July 1986: His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew

 

23rd. July 1986 – present: His Royal Highness The Duke of York

 

As of September 2022, Andrew is eighth in the line of succession to the British throne. On rare occasions, he is known by his secondary titles of Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

 

In 2019, Inverness residents started a campaign to strip him of that title, stating that "it is inappropriate that Prince Andrew is associated with our beautiful city", in light of his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

 

Similar pleas have been made by people affiliated with the village of Killyleagh and the city of York regarding his titles of Baron Killyleagh and Duke of York, with Labour Co-op MP for York Central, Rachael Maskell, stating that she would look for ways to make Andrew give up his ducal title if he did not voluntarily relinquish it.

 

In January 2022, it was reported that, while Andrew retains the style of His Royal Highness, he would no longer use it in a public capacity.

 

In April 2022, several York councillors called for Andrew to lose the title Duke of York. Also in 2022, there was a renewed petition to strip him of the Earl of Inverness title.

 

-- Relinquishing of Titles

 

On the 17th. October 2025, following discussions with King Charles, Andrew agreed to cease using his titles of the Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, and his honours, including his knighthoods as a Royal Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

 

Andrew publicly stated:

 

"We have concluded the continued accusations

about me distract from the work of His Majesty

and the Royal Family."

 

Andrew was to remain a prince following the interactions with his older brother, but will cease to be the Duke of York, a title received from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth.

 

Prince Andrew has been under increasing pressure over his links with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and has faced a series of scandals - in the statement he reiterates:

 

"I vigorously deny the accusations

against me."

 

Andrew's former wife will be known as Sarah Ferguson and no longer Duchess of York, but their daughters will continue to have the title of Princess.

 

Sean Coughlan of the BBC commented in relation to the latest development:

 

"Andrew might be seen as having to jump before he

was pushed, as the Palace had seemed increasingly

exasperated at the scandals that kept swirling around

him."

 

On the 30th. October 2025, Buckingham Palace announced that Charles III had started the "formal process" to remove his brother's style, titles, and honours. Andrew's name was removed from the Roll of the Peerage the same day.

 

Although this did not revoke Andrew's peerages, it meant that he was no longer entitled to any place in the orders of precedence derived from them, and would cease to be addressed or referred to by any title derived from his peerages in official documents. Letters patent were issued on the 3rd. November officially removing Andrew of the style "Royal Highness" and title "Prince".

 

Andrew will henceforth be known as Andrew Albert Christian Edward Mountbatten Windsor.

The Grade II* Listed Church of St Michael, Mavis Enderby, East Lindsey, Lincolnshire.

 

The church dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, the church was restored by James Fowler 1875. The tower was rebuilt by C. Hodgson Fowler in 1894. The exterior is of squared greenstone rubble, with limestone ashlar dressings. It has Welsh and Westmorland slate roofs with decorative tiled ridges. The church interior comprises a nave, western tower, south aisle and porch, and a chancel. At the threshold of west door to the tower is set part of a coped or round-topped 11th century Saxon grave slab, possibly placed here in 1894. The churchyard has the remains of a 14th-century churchyard cross. In the porch is a Norman pillar piscina, a stone basin for draining water used in the rinsing of the chalice. The churchyard has a sundial erected by a former rector

 

An alternative spelling for the town may be "Malvyssh Enderby", as seen in a legal record in 1430, where the plaintiffs are the executors of a man whose surname is Enderby, and the defendant lives in Malvyssh Enderby.

 

Mavis Enderby had a peal of bells named after it, called The Brides of Enderby, which is mentioned in Jean Ingelow's poem The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire 1571: in the poem the ringing of the Enderby bells is the generally recognised signal of approaching danger to the neighbouring countryside: "Came down that kindly message free, the Brides of Mavis Enderby". An extract from the poem is at the head of Rudyard Kipling's short story, At the Pit's Mouth.

 

Douglas Adams used the name "Mavis Enderby" in his spoof The Meaning of Liff dictionary "of things that there aren't any words for yet". Adams assigned meanings to place names based on what he imagined them to mean, Mavis Enderby becoming "The almost-completely-forgotten girlfriend from your distant past for whom your wife has a completely irrational jealousy and hatred".

 

Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Russian: Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий, IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr sʲɪˈmʲɵnəvʲɪtɕ vɨˈsotskʲɪj]; 25 January 1938 – 25 July 1980), was a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet, and actor who had an immense and enduring effect on Soviet culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street-jargon. He was also a prominent stage- and screen-actor. Though the official Soviet cultural establishment largely ignored his work, he was remarkably popular during his lifetime, and to this day exerts significant influence on many of Russia's musicians and actors.

 

Vysotsky was born in Moscow at the 3rd Meshchanskaya St. (61/2) maternity hospital. His father, Semyon Volfovich (Vladimirovich) (1915–1997), was a colonel in the Soviet army, originally from Kiev. Vladimir's mother, Nina Maksimovna, (née Seryogina, 1912–2003) was Russian, and worked as a German language translator.[3] Vysotsky's family lived in a Moscow communal flat in harsh conditions, and had serious financial difficulties. When Vladimir was 10 months old, Nina had to return to her office in the Transcript bureau of the Soviet Ministry of Geodesy and Cartography (engaged in making German maps available for the Soviet military) so as to help her husband earn their family's living.

 

Vladimir's theatrical inclinations became obvious at an early age, and were supported by his paternal grandmother Dora Bronshteyn, a theater fan. The boy used to recite poems, standing on a chair and "flinging hair backwards, like a real poet," often using in his public speeches expressions he could hardly have heard at home. Once, at the age of two, when he had tired of the family's guests' poetry requests, he, according to his mother, sat himself under the New-year tree with a frustrated air about him and sighed: "You silly tossers! Give a child some respite!" His sense of humor was extraordinary, but often baffling for people around him. A three-year-old could jeer his father in a bathroom with unexpected poetic improvisation ("Now look what's here before us / Our goat's to shave himself!") or appall unwanted guests with some street folk song, promptly steering them away. Vysotsky remembered those first three years of his life in the autobiographical Ballad of Childhood (Баллада о детстве, 1975), one of his best-known songs.

 

As World War II broke out, Semyon Vysotsky, a military reserve officer, joined the Soviet army and went to fight the Nazis. Nina and Vladimir were evacuated to the village of Vorontsovka, in Orenburg Oblast where the boy had to spend six days a week in a kindergarten and his mother worked for twelve hours a day in a chemical factory. In 1943, both returned to their Moscow apartment at 1st Meschanskaya St., 126. In September 1945, Vladimir joined the 1st class of the 273rd Moscow Rostokino region School.

 

In December 1946, Vysotsky's parents divorced. From 1947 to 1949, Vladimir lived with Semyon Vladimirovich (then an army Major) and his Armenian wife, Yevgenya Stepanovna Liholatova, whom the boy called "aunt Zhenya", at a military base in Eberswalde in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany (later East Germany). "We decided that our son would stay with me. Vladimir came to stay with me in January 1947, and my second wife, Yevgenia, became Vladimir's second mother for many years to come. They had much in common and liked each other, which made me really happy," Semyon Vysotsky later remembered. Here living conditions, compared to those of Nina's communal Moscow flat, were infinitely better; the family occupied the whole floor of a two-storeyed house, and the boy had a room to himself for the first time in his life. In 1949 along with his stepmother Vladimir returned to Moscow. There he joined the 5th class of the Moscow 128th School and settled at Bolshoy Karetny [ru], 15 (where they had to themselves two rooms of a four-roomed flat), with "auntie Zhenya" (who was just 28 at the time), a woman of great kindness and warmth whom he later remembered as his second mother. In 1953 Vysotsky, now much interested in theater and cinema, joined the Drama courses led by Vladimir Bogomolov.[7] "No one in my family has had anything to do with arts, no actors or directors were there among them. But my mother admired theater and from the earliest age... each and every Saturday I've been taken up with her to watch one play or the other. And all of this, it probably stayed with me," he later reminisced. The same year he received his first ever guitar, a birthday present from Nina Maksimovna; a close friend, bard and a future well-known Soviet pop lyricist Igor Kokhanovsky taught him basic chords. In 1955 Vladimir re-settled into his mother's new home at 1st Meshchanskaya, 76. In June of the same year he graduated from school with five A's.

 

In 1955, Vladimir enrolled into the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, but dropped out after just one semester to pursue an acting career. In June 1956 he joined Boris Vershilov's class at the Moscow Art Theatre Studio-Institute. It was there that he met the 3rd course student Iza Zhukova who four years later became his wife; soon the two lovers settled at the 1st Meschanskaya flat, in a common room, shielded off by a folding screen. It was also in the Studio that Vysotsky met Bulat Okudzhava for the first time, an already popular underground bard. He was even more impressed by his Russian literature teacher Andrey Sinyavsky who along with his wife often invited students to his home to stage improvised disputes and concerts. In 1958 Vysotsky's got his first Moscow Art Theatre role: that of Porfiry Petrovich in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. In 1959 he was cast in his first cinema role, that of student Petya in Vasily Ordynsky's The Yearlings (Сверстницы). On 20 June 1960, Vysotsky graduated from the MAT theater institute and joined the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre (led by Boris Ravenskikh at the time) where he spent (with intervals) almost three troubled years. These were marred by numerous administrative sanctions, due to "lack of discipline" and occasional drunken sprees which were a reaction, mainly, to the lack of serious roles and his inability to realise his artistic potential. A short stint in 1962 at the Moscow Theater of Miniatures (administered at the time by Vladimir Polyakov) ended with him being fired, officially "for a total lack of sense of humour."

 

Vysotsky's second and third films, Dima Gorin's Career and 713 Requests Permission to Land, were interesting only for the fact that in both he had to be beaten up (in the first case by Aleksandr Demyanenko). "That was the way cinema greeted me," he later jokingly remarked. In 1961, Vysotsky wrote his first ever proper song, called "Tattoo" (Татуировка), which started a long and colourful cycle of artfully stylized criminal underworld romantic stories, full of undercurrents and witty social comments. In June 1963, while shooting Penalty Kick (directed by Veniamin Dorman and starring Mikhail Pugovkin), Vysotsky used the Gorky Film Studio to record an hour-long reel-to-reel cassette of his own songs; copies of it quickly spread and the author's name became known in Moscow and elsewhere (although many of these songs were often being referred to as either "traditional" or "anonymous"). Just several months later Riga-based chess grandmaster Mikhail Tal was heard praising the author of "Bolshoy Karetny" (Большой Каретный) and Anna Akhmatova (in a conversation with Joseph Brodsky) was quoting Vysotsky's number "I was the soul of a bad company..." taking it apparently for some brilliant piece of anonymous street folklore. In October 1964 Vysotsky recorded in chronological order 48 of his own songs, his first self-made Complete works of... compilation, which boosted his popularity as a new Moscow folk underground star.

 

In 1964, director Yuri Lyubimov invited Vysotsky to join the newly created Taganka Theatre. "'I've written some songs of my own. Won't you listen?' – he asked. I agreed to listen to just one of them, expecting our meeting to last for no more than five minutes. Instead I ended up listening to him for an entire 1.5 hours," Lyubimov remembered years later of this first audition. On 19 September 1964, Vysotsky debuted in Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan as the Second God (not to count two minor roles). A month later he came on stage as a dragoon captain (Bela's father) in Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time. It was in Taganka that Vysotsky started to sing on stage; the War theme becoming prominent in his musical repertoire. In 1965 Vysotsky appeared in the experimental Poet and Theater (Поэт и Театр, February) show, based on Andrey Voznesensky's work and then Ten Days that Shook the World (after John Reed's book, April) and was commissioned by Lyubimov to write songs exclusively for Taganka's new World War II play. The Fallen and the Living (Павшие и Живые), premiered in October 1965, featured Vysotsky's "Stars" (Звёзды), "The Soldiers of Heeresgruppe Mitte" (Солдаты группы "Центр") and "Penal Battalions" (Штрафные батальоны), the striking examples of a completely new kind of a war song, never heard in his country before. As veteran screenwriter Nikolay Erdman put it (in conversation with Lyubimov), "Professionally, I can well understand how Mayakovsky or Seryozha Yesenin were doing it. How Volodya Vysotsky does it is totally beyond me." With his songs – in effect, miniature theatrical dramatizations (usually with a protagonist and full of dialogues), Vysotsky instantly achieved such level of credibility that real life former prisoners, war veterans, boxers, footballers refused to believe that the author himself had never served his time in prisons and labor camps, or fought in the War, or been a boxing/football professional. After the second of the two concerts at the Leningrad Molecular Physics institute (that was his actual debut as a solo musical performer) Vysotsky left a note for his fans in a journal which ended with words: "Now that you've heard all these songs, please, don't you make a mistake of mixing me with my characters, I am not like them at all. With love, Vysotsky, 20 April 1965, XX c." Excuses of this kind he had to make throughout his performing career. At least one of Vysotsky's song themes – that of alcoholic abuse – was worryingly autobiographical, though. By the time his breakthrough came in 1967, he'd suffered several physical breakdowns and once was sent (by Taganka's boss) to a rehabilitation clinic, a visit he on several occasions repeated since.

 

Brecht's Life of Galileo (premiered on 17 May 1966), transformed by Lyubimov into a powerful allegory of Soviet intelligentsia's set of moral and intellectual dilemmas, brought Vysotsky his first leading theater role (along with some fitness lessons: he had to perform numerous acrobatic tricks on stage). Press reaction was mixed, some reviewers disliked the actor's overt emotionalism, but it was for the first time ever that Vysotsky's name appeared in Soviet papers. Film directors now were treating him with respect. Viktor Turov's war film I Come from the Childhood where Vysotsky got his first ever "serious" (neither comical, nor villainous) role in cinema, featured two of his songs: a spontaneous piece called "When It's Cold" (Холода) and a dark, Unknown soldier theme-inspired classic "Common Graves" (На братских могилах), sung behind the screen by the legendary Mark Bernes.

 

Stanislav Govorukhin and Boris Durov's The Vertical (1967), a mountain climbing drama, starring Vysotsky (as Volodya the radioman), brought him all-round recognition and fame. Four of the numbers used in the film (including "Song of a Friend [fi]" (Песня о друге), released in 1968 by the Soviet recording industry monopolist Melodiya disc to become an unofficial hit) were written literally on the spot, nearby Elbrus, inspired by professional climbers' tales and one curious hotel bar conversation with a German guest who 25 years ago happened to climb these very mountains in a capacity of an Edelweiss division fighter. Another 1967 film, Kira Muratova's Brief Encounters featured Vysotsky as the geologist Maxim (paste-bearded again) with a now trademark off-the-cuff musical piece, a melancholy improvisation called "Things to Do" (Дела). All the while Vysotsky continued working hard at Taganka, with another important role under his belt (that of Mayakovsky or, rather one of the latter character's five different versions) in the experimental piece called Listen! (Послушайте!), and now regularly gave semi-official concerts where audiences greeted him as a cult hero.

 

In the end of 1967 Vysotsky got another pivotal theater role, that of Khlopusha [ru] in Pugachov (a play based on a poem by Sergei Yesenin), often described as one of Taganka's finest. "He put into his performance all the things that he excelled at and, on the other hand, it was Pugachyov that made him discover his own potential," – Soviet critic Natalya Krymova wrote years later. Several weeks after the premiere, infuriated by the actor's increasing unreliability triggered by worsening drinking problems, Lyubimov fired him – only to let him back again several months later (and thus begin the humiliating sacked-then-pardoned routine which continued for years). In June 1968 a Vysotsky-slagging campaign was launched in the Soviet press. First Sovetskaya Rossiya commented on the "epidemic spread of immoral, smutty songs," allegedly promoting "criminal world values, alcoholism, vice and immorality" and condemned their author for "sowing seeds of evil." Then Komsomolskaya Pravda linked Vysotsky with black market dealers selling his tapes somewhere in Siberia. Composer Dmitry Kabalevsky speaking from the Union of Soviet Composers' Committee tribune criticised the Soviet radio for giving an ideologically dubious, "low-life product" like "Song of a Friend" (Песня о друге) an unwarranted airplay. Playwright Alexander Stein who in his Last Parade play used several of Vysotsky's songs, was chastised by a Ministry of Culture official for "providing a tribune for this anti-Soviet scum." The phraseology prompted commentators in the West to make parallels between Vysotsky and Mikhail Zoschenko, another Soviet author who'd been officially labeled "scum" some 20 years ago.

 

Two of Vysotsky's 1968 films, Gennady Poloka's Intervention (premiered in May 1987) where he was cast as Brodsky, a dodgy even if highly artistic character, and Yevgeny Karelov's Two Comrades Were Serving (a gun-toting White Army officer Brusentsov who in the course of the film shoots his friend, his horse, Oleg Yankovsky's good guy character and, finally himself) – were severely censored, first of them shelved for twenty years. At least four of Vysotsky's 1968 songs, "Save Our Souls" (Спасите наши души), "The Wolfhunt" (Охота на волков), "Gypsy Variations" (Моя цыганская) and "The Steam-bath in White" (Банька по-белому), were hailed later as masterpieces. It was at this point that 'proper' love songs started to appear in Vysotsky's repertoire, documenting the beginning of his passionate love affair with French actress Marina Vlady.

 

In 1969 Vysotsky starred in two films: The Master of Taiga where he played a villainous Siberian timber-floating brigadier, and more entertaining Dangerous Tour. The latter was criticized in the Soviet press for taking a farcical approach to the subject of the Bolshevik underground activities but for a wider Soviet audience this was an important opportunity to enjoy the charismatic actor's presence on big screen. In 1970, after visiting the dislodged Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at his dacha and having a lengthy conversation with him, Vysotsky embarked on a massive and by Soviet standards dangerously commercial concert tour in Soviet Central Asia and then brought Marina Vlady to director Viktor Turov's place so as to investigate her Belarusian roots. The pair finally wed on 1 December 1970 (causing furore among the Moscow cultural and political elite) and spent a honeymoon in Georgia. This was the highly productive period for Vysotsky, resulting in numerous new songs, including the anthemic "I Hate" (Я не люблю), sentimental "Lyricale" (Лирическая) and dramatic war epics "He Didn't Return from the Battle" (Он не вернулся из боя) and "The Earth Song" (Песня о Земле) among many others.

 

In 1971 a drinking spree-related nervous breakdown brought Vysotsky to the Moscow Kashchenko clinic [ru]. By this time he has been suffering from alcoholism. Many of his songs from this period deal, either directly or metaphorically, with alcoholism and insanity. Partially recovered (due to the encouraging presence of Marina Vladi), Vysotsky embarked on a successful Ukrainian concert tour and wrote a cluster of new songs. On 29 November 1971 Taganka's Hamlet premiered, a groundbreaking Lyubimov's production with Vysotsky in the leading role, that of a lone intellectual rebel, rising to fight the cruel state machine.

 

Also in 1971 Vysotsky was invited to play the lead in The Sannikov Land, the screen adaptation of Vladimir Obruchev's science fiction,[47] which he wrote several songs for, but was suddenly dropped for the reason of his face "being too scandalously recognisable" as a state official put it. One of the songs written for the film, a doom-laden epic allegory "Capricious Horses" (Кони привередливые), became one of the singer's signature tunes. Two of Vysotsky's 1972 film roles were somewhat meditative: an anonymous American journalist in The Fourth One and the "righteous guy" von Koren in The Bad Good Man (based on Anton Chekov's Duel). The latter brought Vysotsky the Best Male Role prize at the V Taormina Film Fest. This philosophical slant rubbed off onto some of his new works of the time: "A Singer at the Microphone" (Певец у микрофона), "The Tightrope Walker" (Канатоходец), two new war songs ("We Spin the Earth", "Black Pea-Coats") and "The Grief" (Беда), a folkish girl's lament, later recorded by Marina Vladi and subsequently covered by several female performers. Popular proved to be his 1972 humorous songs: "Mishka Shifman" (Мишка Шифман), satirizing the leaving-for-Israel routine, "Victim of the Television" which ridiculed the concept of "political consciousness," and "The Honour of the Chess Crown" (Честь шахматной короны) about an ever-fearless "simple Soviet man" challenging the much feared American champion Bobby Fischer to a match.

 

In 1972 he stepped up in Soviet Estonian TV where he presented his songs and gave an interview. The name of the show was "Young Man from Taganka" (Noormees Tagankalt).

 

In April 1973 Vysotsky visited Poland and France. Predictable problems concerning the official permission were sorted after the French Communist Party leader Georges Marchais made a personal phone call to Leonid Brezhnev who, according to Marina Vlady's memoirs, rather sympathized with the stellar couple. Having found on return a potentially dangerous lawsuit brought against him (concerning some unsanctioned concerts in Siberia the year before), Vysotsky wrote a defiant letter to the Minister of Culture Pyotr Demichev. As a result, he was granted the status of a philharmonic artist, 11.5 roubles per concert now guaranteed. Still the 900 rubles fine had to be paid according to the court verdict, which was a substantial sum, considering his monthly salary at the theater was 110 rubles. That year Vysotsky wrote some thirty songs for "Alice in Wonderland," an audioplay where he himself has been given several minor roles. His best known songs of 1973 included "The Others' Track" (Чужая колея), "The Flight Interrupted" (Прерванный полёт) and "The Monument", all pondering on his achievements and legacy.

 

In 1974 Melodiya released the 7" EP, featuring four of Vysotsky's war songs ("He Never Returned From the Battle", "The New Times Song", "Common Graves", and "The Earth Song") which represented a tiny portion of his creative work, owned by millions on tape. In September of that year Vysotsky received his first state award, the Honorary Diploma of the Uzbek SSR following a tour with fellow actors from the Taganka Theatre in Uzbekistan. A year later he was granted the USSR Union of Cinematographers' membership. This meant he was not an "anti-Soviet scum" now, rather an unlikely link between the official Soviet cinema elite and the "progressive-thinking artists of the West." More films followed, among them The Only Road (a Soviet-Yugoslav joint venture, premiered on 10 January 1975 in Belgrade) and a science fiction movie The Flight of Mr. McKinley (1975). Out of nine ballads that he wrote for the latter only two have made it into the soundtrack. This was the height of his popularity, when, as described in Vlady's book about her husband, walking down the street on a summer night, one could hear Vysotsky's recognizable voice coming literally from every open window. Among the songs written at the time, were humorous "The Instruction before the Trip Abroad", lyrical "Of the Dead Pilot" and philosophical "The Strange House". In 1975 Vysotsky made his third trip to France where he rather riskily visited his former tutor (and now a celebrated dissident emigre) Andrey Sinyavsky. Artist Mikhail Shemyakin, his new Paris friend (or a "bottle-sharer", in Vladi's terms), recorded Vysotsky in his home studio. After a brief stay in England Vysotsky crossed the ocean and made his first Mexican concerts in April. Back in Moscow, there were changes at Taganka: Lyubimov went to Milan's La Scala on a contract and Anatoly Efros has been brought in, a director of radically different approach. His project, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, caused a sensation. Critics praised Alla Demidova (as Ranevskaya) and Vysotsky (as Lopakhin) powerful interplay, some describing it as one of the most dazzling in the history of the Soviet theater. Lyubimov, who disliked the piece, accused Efros of giving his actors "the stardom malaise." The 1976 Taganka's visit to Bulgaria resulted in Vysotskys's interview there being filmed and 15 songs recorded by Balkanton record label. On return Lyubimov made a move which many thought outrageous: declaring himself "unable to work with this Mr. Vysotsky anymore" he gave the role of Hamlet to Valery Zolotukhin, the latter's best friend. That was the time, reportedly, when stressed out Vysotsky started taking amphetamines.

 

Another Belorussian voyage completed, Marina and Vladimir went for France and from there (without any official permission given, or asked for) flew to the North America. In New York Vysotsky met, among other people, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Joseph Brodsky. In a televised one-hour interview with Dan Rather he stressed he was "not a dissident, just an artist, who's never had any intentions to leave his country where people loved him and his songs." At home this unauthorized venture into the Western world bore no repercussions: by this time Soviet authorities were divided as regards the "Vysotsky controversy" up to the highest level; while Mikhail Suslov detested the bard, Brezhnev loved him to such an extent that once, while in hospital, asked him to perform live in his daughter Galina's home, listening to this concert on the telephone. In 1976 appeared "The Domes", "The Rope" and the "Medieval" cycle, including "The Ballad of Love".

 

In September Vysotsky with Taganka made a trip to Yugoslavia where Hamlet won the annual BITEF festival's first prize, and then to Hungary for a two-week concert tour. Back in Moscow Lyubimov's production of The Master & Margarita featured Vysotsky as Ivan Bezdomny; a modest role, somewhat recompensed by an important Svidrigailov slot in Yury Karyakin's take on Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Vysotsky's new songs of this period include "The History of Illness" cycle concerning his health problems, humorous "Why Did the Savages Eat Captain Cook", the metaphorical "Ballad of the Truth and the Lie", as well as "Two Fates", the chilling story of a self-absorbed alcoholic hunted by two malevolent witches, his two-faced destiny. In 1977 Vysotsky's health deteriorated (heart, kidneys, liver failures, jaw infection and nervous breakdown) to such an extent that in April he found himself in Moscow clinic's reanimation center in the state of physical and mental collapse.

 

In 1977 Vysotsky made an unlikely appearance in New York City on the American television show 60 Minutes, which falsely stated that Vysotsky had spent time in the Soviet prison system, the Gulag. That year saw the release of three Vysotsky's LPs in France (including the one that had been recorded by RCA in Canada the previous year); arranged and accompanied by guitarist Kostya Kazansky, the singer for the first time ever enjoyed the relatively sophisticated musical background. In August he performed in Hollywood before members of New York City film cast and (according to Vladi) was greeted warmly by the likes of Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro. Some more concerts in Los Angeles were followed by the appearance at the French Communist paper L’Humanité annual event. In December Taganka left for France, its Hamlet (Vysotsky back in the lead) gaining fine reviews.

 

1978 started with the March–April series of concerts in Moscow and Ukraine. In May Vysotsky embarked upon a new major film project: The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Место встречи изменить нельзя) about two detectives fighting crime in late 1940s Russia, directed by Stanislav Govorukhin. The film (premiered on 11 November 1978 on the Soviet Central TV) presented Vysotsky as Zheglov, a ruthless and charismatic cop teaching his milder partner Sharapov (actor Vladimir Konkin) his art of crime-solving. Vysotsky also became engaged in Taganka's Genre-seeking show (performing some of his own songs) and played Aleksander Blok in Anatoly Efros' The Lady Stranger (Незнакомка) radio play (premiered on air on 10 July 1979 and later released as a double LP).

 

In November 1978 Vysotsky took part in the underground censorship-defying literary project Metropolis, inspired and organized by Vasily Aksenov. In January 1979 Vysotsky again visited America with highly successful series of concerts. That was the point (according to biographer Vladimir Novikov) when a glimpse of new, clean life of a respectable international actor and performer all but made Vysotsky seriously reconsider his priorities. What followed though, was a return to the self-destructive theater and concert tours schedule, personal doctor Anatoly Fedotov now not only his companion, but part of Taganka's crew. "Who was this Anatoly? Just a man who in every possible situation would try to provide drugs. And he did provide. In such moments Volodya trusted him totally," Oksana Afanasyeva, Vysotsky's Moscow girlfriend (who was near him for most of the last year of his life and, on occasion, herself served as a drug courier) remembered. In July 1979, after a series of Central Asia concerts, Vysotsky collapsed, experienced clinical death and was resuscitated by Fedotov (who injected caffeine into the heart directly), colleague and close friend Vsevolod Abdulov helping with heart massage. In January 1980 Vysotsky asked Lyubimov for a year's leave. "Up to you, but on condition that Hamlet is yours," was the answer. The songwriting showed signs of slowing down, as Vysotsky began switching from songs to more conventional poetry. Still, of nearly 800 poems by Vysotsky only one has been published in the Soviet Union while he was alive. Not a single performance or interview was broadcast by the Soviet television in his lifetime.

 

In May 1979, being in a practice studio of the MSU Faculty of Journalism, Vysotsky recorded a video letter to American actor and film producer Warren Beatty, looking for both a personal meeting with Beatty and an opportunity to get a role in Reds film, to be produced and directed by the latter. While recording, Vysotsky made a few attempts to speak English, trying to overcome the language barrier. This video letter never reached Beatty. It was broadcast for the first time more than three decades later, on the night of 24 January 2013 (local time) by Rossiya 1 channel, along with records of TV channels of Italy, Mexico, Poland, USA and from private collections, in Vladimir Vysotsky. A letter to Warren Beatty film by Alexander Kovanovsky and Igor Rakhmanov. While recording this video, Vysotsky had a rare opportunity to perform for a camera, being still unable to do it with Soviet television.

 

On 22 January 1980, Vysotsky entered the Moscow Ostankino TV Center to record his one and only studio concert for the Soviet television. What proved to be an exhausting affair (his concentration lacking, he had to plod through several takes for each song) was premiered on the Soviet TV eight years later. The last six months of his life saw Vysotsky appearing on stage sporadically, fueled by heavy dosages of drugs and alcohol. His performances were often erratic. Occasionally Vysotsky paid visits to Sklifosofsky [ru] institute's ER unit, but would not hear of Marina Vlady's suggestions for him to take long-term rehabilitation course in a Western clinic. Yet he kept writing, mostly poetry and even prose, but songs as well. The last song he performed was the agonizing "My Sorrow, My Anguish" and his final poem, written one week prior to his death was "A Letter to Marina": "I'm less than fifty, but the time is short / By you and God protected, life and limb / I have a song or two to sing before the Lord / I have a way to make my peace with him."

 

Although several theories of the ultimate cause of the singer's death persist to this day, given what is now known about cardiovascular disease, it seems likely that by the time of his death Vysotsky had an advanced coronary condition brought about by years of tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as his grueling work schedule and the stress of the constant harassment by the government. Towards the end, most of Vysotsky's closest friends had become aware of the ominous signs and were convinced that his demise was only a matter of time. Clear evidence of this can be seen in a video ostensibly shot by the Japanese NHK channel only months before Vysotsky's death, where he appears visibly unwell, breathing heavily and slurring his speech. Accounts by Vysotsky's close friends and colleagues concerning his last hours were compiled in the book by V. Perevozchikov.

 

Vysotsky suffered from alcoholism for most of his life. Sometime around 1977, he started using amphetamines and other prescription narcotics in an attempt to counteract the debilitating hangovers and eventually to rid himself of alcohol addiction. While these attempts were partially successful, he ended up trading alcoholism for a severe drug dependency that was fast spiralling out of control. He was reduced to begging some of his close friends in the medical profession for supplies of drugs, often using his acting skills to collapse in a medical office and imitate a seizure or some other condition requiring a painkiller injection. On 25 July 1979 (a year to the day before his death) he suffered a cardiac arrest and was clinically dead for several minutes during a concert tour of Soviet Uzbekistan, after injecting himself with a wrong kind of painkiller he had previously obtained from a dentist's office.

 

Fully aware of the dangers of his condition, Vysotsky made several attempts to cure himself of his addiction. He underwent an experimental (and ultimately discredited) blood purification procedure offered by a leading drug rehabilitation specialist in Moscow. He also went to an isolated retreat in France with his wife Marina in the spring of 1980 as a way of forcefully depriving himself of any access to drugs. After these attempts failed, Vysotsky returned to Moscow to find his life in an increasingly stressful state of disarray. He had been a defendant in two criminal trials, one for a car wreck he had caused some months earlier, and one for an alleged conspiracy to sell unauthorized concert tickets (he eventually received a suspended sentence and a probation in the first case, and the charges in the second were dismissed, although several of his co-defendants were found guilty). He also unsuccessfully fought the film studio authorities for the rights to direct a movie called The Green Phaeton. Relations with his wife Marina were deteriorating, and he was torn between his loyalty to her and his love for his mistress Oksana Afanasyeva. He had also developed severe inflammation in one of his legs, making his concert performances extremely challenging.

 

In a final desperate attempt to overcome his drug addiction, partially prompted by his inability to obtain drugs through his usual channels (the authorities had imposed a strict monitoring of the medical institutions to prevent illicit drug distribution during the 1980 Olympics), he relapsed into alcohol and went on a prolonged drinking binge (apparently consuming copious amounts of champagne due to a prevalent misconception at the time that it was better than vodka at countering the effects of drug withdrawal).

 

On 3 July 1980, Vysotsky gave a performance at a suburban Moscow concert hall. One of the stage managers recalls that he looked visibly unhealthy ("gray-faced", as she puts it) and complained of not feeling too good, while another says she was surprised by his request for champagne before the start of the show, as he had always been known for completely abstaining from drink before his concerts. On 16 July Vysotsky gave his last public concert in Kaliningrad. On 18 July, Vysotsky played Hamlet for the last time at the Taganka Theatre. From around 21 July, several of his close friends were on a round-the-clock watch at his apartment, carefully monitoring his alcohol intake and hoping against all odds that his drug dependency would soon be overcome and they would then be able to bring him back from the brink. The effects of drug withdrawal were clearly getting the better of him, as he got increasingly restless, moaned and screamed in pain, and at times fell into memory lapses, failing to recognize at first some of his visitors, including his son Arkadiy. At one point, Vysotsky's personal physician A. Fedotov (the same doctor who had brought him back from clinical death a year earlier in Uzbekistan) attempted to sedate him, inadvertently causing asphyxiation from which he was barely saved. On 24 July, Vysotsky told his mother that he thought he was going to die that day, and then made similar remarks to a few of the friends present at the apartment, who begged him to stop such talk and keep his spirits up. But soon thereafter, Oksana Afanasyeva saw him clench his chest several times, which led her to suspect that he was genuinely suffering from a cardiovascular condition. She informed Fedotov of this but was told not to worry, as he was going to monitor Vysotsky's condition all night. In the evening, after drinking relatively small amounts of alcohol, the moaning and groaning Vysotsky was sedated by Fedotov, who then sat down on the couch next to him but fell asleep. Fedotov awoke in the early hours of 25 July to an unusual silence and found Vysotsky dead in his bed with his eyes wide open, apparently of a myocardial infarction, as he later certified. This was contradicted by Fedotov's colleagues, Sklifosovsky Emergency Medical Institute physicians L. Sul'povar and S. Scherbakov (who had demanded the actor's immediate hospitalization on 23 July but were allegedly rebuffed by Fedotov), who insisted that Fedotov's incompetent sedation combined with alcohol was what killed Vysotsky. An autopsy was prevented by Vysotsky's parents (who were eager to have their son's drug addiction remain secret), so the true cause of death remains unknown.

 

No official announcement of the actor's death was made, only a brief obituary appeared in the Moscow newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva, and a note informing of Vysotsky's death and cancellation of the Hamlet performance was put out at the entrance to the Taganka Theatre (the story goes that not a single ticket holder took advantage of the refund offer). Despite this, by the end of the day, millions had learned of Vysotsky's death. On 28 July, he lay in state at the Taganka Theatre. After a mourning ceremony involving an unauthorized mass gathering of unprecedented scale, Vysotsky was buried at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery in Moscow. The attendance at the Olympic events dropped noticeably on that day, as scores of spectators left to attend the funeral. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of his coffin.

 

According to author Valery Perevozchikov part of the blame for his death lay with the group of associates who surrounded him in the last years of his life. This inner circle were all people under the influence of his strong character, combined with a material interest in the large sums of money his concerts earned. This list included Valerii Yankelovich, manager of the Taganka Theatre and prime organiser of his non-sanctioned concerts; Anatoly Fedotov, his personal doctor; Vadim Tumanov, gold prospector (and personal friend) from Siberia; Oksana Afanasyeva (later Yarmolnik), his mistress the last three years of his life; Ivan Bortnik, a fellow actor; and Leonid Sul'povar, a department head at the Sklifosovski hospital who was responsible for much of the supply of drugs.

 

Vysotsky's associates had all put in efforts to supply his drug habit, which kept him going in the last years of his life. Under their influence, he was able to continue to perform all over the country, up to a week before his death. Due to illegal (i.e. non-state-sanctioned) sales of tickets and other underground methods, these concerts pulled in sums of money unimaginable in Soviet times, when almost everyone received nearly the same small salary. The payouts and gathering of money were a constant source of danger, and Yankelovich and others were needed to organise them.

 

Some money went to Vysotsky, the rest was distributed amongst this circle. At first this was a reasonable return on their efforts; however, as his addiction progressed and his body developed resistance, the frequency and amount of drugs needed to keep Vysotsky going became unmanageable. This culminated at the time of the Moscow Olympics which coincided with the last days of his life, when supplies of drugs were monitored more strictly than usual, and some of the doctors involved in supplying Vysotsky were already behind bars (normally the doctors had to account for every ampule, thus drugs were transferred to an empty container, while the patients received a substitute or placebo instead). In the last few days Vysotsky became uncontrollable, his shouting could be heard all over the apartment building on Malaya Gruzinskaya St. where he lived amongst VIP's. Several days before his death, in a state of stupor he went on a high speed drive around Moscow in an attempt to obtain drugs and alcohol – when many high-ranking people saw him. This increased the likelihood of him being forcibly admitted to the hospital, and the consequent danger to the circle supplying his habit. As his state of health declined, and it became obvious that he might die, his associates gathered to decide what to do with him. They came up with no firm decision. They did not want him admitted officially, as his drug addiction would become public and they would fall under suspicion, although some of them admitted that any ordinary person in his condition would have been admitted immediately.

 

On Vysotsky's death his associates and relatives put in much effort to prevent a post-mortem being carried out. This despite the fairly unusual circumstances: he died aged 42 under heavy sedation with an improvised cocktail of sedatives and stimulants, including the toxic chloral hydrate, provided by his personal doctor who had been supplying him with narcotics the previous three years. This doctor, being the only one present at his side when death occurred, had a few days earlier been seen to display elementary negligence in treating the sedated Vysotsky. On the night of his death, Arkadii Vysotsky (his son), who tried to visit his father in his apartment, was rudely refused entry by Yankelovich, even though there was a lack of people able to care for him. Subsequently, the Soviet police commenced a manslaughter investigation which was dropped due to the absence of evidence taken at the time of death.

 

Vysotsky's first wife was Iza Zhukova. They met in 1956, being both MAT theater institute students, lived for some time at Vysotsky's mother's flat in Moscow, after her graduation (Iza was 2 years older) spent months in different cities (her – in Kiev, then Rostov) and finally married on 25 April 1960.

 

He met his second wife Lyudmila Abramova in 1961, while shooting the film 713 Requests Permission to Land. They married in 1965 and had two sons, Arkady (born 1962) and Nikita (born 1964).

 

While still married to Lyudmila Abramova, Vysotsky began a romantic relationship with Tatyana Ivanenko, a Taganka actress, then, in 1967 fell in love with Marina Vlady, a French actress of Russian descent, who was working at Mosfilm on a joint Soviet-French production at that time. Marina had been married before and had three children, while Vladimir had two. They were married in 1969. For 10 years the two maintained a long-distance relationship as Marina compromised her career in France to spend more time in Moscow, and Vladimir's friends pulled strings for him to be allowed to travel abroad to stay with his wife. Marina eventually joined the Communist Party of France, which essentially gave her an unlimited-entry visa into the Soviet Union, and provided Vladimir with some immunity against prosecution by the government, which was becoming weary of his covertly anti-Soviet lyrics and his odds-defying popularity with the masses. The problems of his long-distance relationship with Vlady inspired several of Vysotsky's songs.

 

In the autumn of 1981 Vysotsky's first collection of poetry was officially published in the USSR, called The Nerve (Нерв). Its first edition (25,000 copies) was sold out instantly. In 1982 the second one followed (100,000), then the 3rd (1988, 200,000), followed in the 1990s by several more. The material for it was compiled by Robert Rozhdestvensky, an officially laurelled Soviet poet. Also in 1981 Yuri Lyubimov staged at Taganka a new music and poetry production called Vladimir Vysotsky which was promptly banned and officially premiered on 25 January 1989.

 

In 1982 the motion picture The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe was produced in the Soviet Union and in 1983 the movie was released to the public. Four songs by Vysotsky were featured in the film.

 

In 1986 the official Vysotsky poetic heritage committee was formed (with Robert Rozhdestvensky at the helm, theater critic Natalya Krymova being both the instigator and the organizer). Despite some opposition from the conservatives (Yegor Ligachev was the latter's political leader, Stanislav Kunyaev of Nash Sovremennik represented its literary flank) Vysotsky was rewarded posthumously with the USSR State Prize. The official formula – "for creating the character of Zheglov and artistic achievements as a singer-songwriter" was much derided from both the left and the right. In 1988 the Selected Works of... (edited by N. Krymova) compilation was published, preceded by I Will Surely Return... (Я, конечно, вернусь...) book of fellow actors' memoirs and Vysotsky's verses, some published for the first time. In 1990 two volumes of extensive The Works of... were published, financed by the late poet's father Semyon Vysotsky. Even more ambitious publication series, self-proclaimed "the first ever academical edition" (the latter assertion being dismissed by sceptics) compiled and edited by Sergey Zhiltsov, were published in Tula (1994–1998, 5 volumes), Germany (1994, 7 volumes) and Moscow (1997, 4 volumes).

 

In 1989 the official Vysotsky Museum opened in Moscow, with the magazine of its own called Vagant (edited by Sergey Zaitsev) devoted entirely to Vysotsky's legacy. In 1996 it became an independent publication and was closed in 2002.

 

In the years to come, Vysotsky's grave became a site of pilgrimage for several generations of his fans, the youngest of whom were born after his death. His tombstone also became the subject of controversy, as his widow had wished for a simple abstract slab, while his parents insisted on a realistic gilded statue. Although probably too solemn to have inspired Vysotsky himself, the statue is believed by some to be full of metaphors and symbols reminiscent of the singer's life.

 

In 1995 in Moscow the Vysotsky monument was officially opened at Strastnoy Boulevard, by the Petrovsky Gates. Among those present were the bard's parents, two of his sons, first wife Iza, renown poets Yevtushenko and Voznesensky. "Vysotsky had always been telling the truth. Only once he was wrong when he sang in one of his songs: 'They will never erect me a monument in a square like that by Petrovskye Vorota'", Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov said in his speech.[95] A further monument to Vysotsky was erected in 2014 at Rostov-on-Don.

 

In October 2004, a monument to Vysotsky was erected in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, near the Millennium Bridge. His son, Nikita Vysotsky, attended the unveiling. The statue was designed by Russian sculptor Alexander Taratinov, who also designed a monument to Alexander Pushkin in Podgorica. The bronze statue shows Vysotsky standing on a pedestal, with his one hand raised and the other holding a guitar. Next to the figure lies a bronze skull – a reference to Vysotsky's monumental lead performances in Shakespeare's Hamlet. On the pedestal the last lines from a poem of Vysotsky's, dedicated to Montenegro, are carved.

 

The Vysotsky business center & semi-skyscraper was officially opened in Yekaterinburg, in 2011. It is the tallest building in Russia outside of Moscow, has 54 floors, total height: 188.3 m (618 ft). On the third floor of the business center is the Vysotsky Museum. Behind the building is a bronze sculpture of Vladimir Vysotsky and his third wife, a French actress Marina Vlady.

 

In 2011 a controversial movie Vysotsky. Thank You For Being Alive was released, script written by his son, Nikita Vysotsky. The actor Sergey Bezrukov portrayed Vysotsky, using a combination of a mask and CGI effects. The film tells about Vysotsky's illegal underground performances, problems with KGB and drugs, and subsequent clinical death in 1979.

 

Shortly after Vysotsky's death, many Russian bards started writing songs and poems about his life and death. The best known are Yuri Vizbor's "Letter to Vysotsky" (1982) and Bulat Okudzhava's "About Volodya Vysotsky" (1980). In Poland, Jacek Kaczmarski based some of his songs on those of Vysotsky, such as his first song (1977) was based on "The Wolfhunt", and dedicated to his memory the song "Epitafium dla Włodzimierza Wysockiego" ("Epitaph for Vladimir Vysotsky").

 

Every year on Vysotsky's birthday festivals are held throughout Russia and in many communities throughout the world, especially in Europe. Vysotsky's impact in Russia is often compared to that of Wolf Biermann in Germany, Bob Dylan in America, or Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel in France.

 

The asteroid 2374 Vladvysotskij, discovered by Lyudmila Zhuravleva, was named after Vysotsky.

 

During the Annual Q&A Event Direct Line with Vladimir Putin, Alexey Venediktov asked Putin to name a street in Moscow after the singer Vladimir Vysotsky, who, though considered one of the greatest Russian artists, has no street named after him in Moscow almost 30 years after his death. Venediktov stated a Russian law that allowed the President to do so and promote a law suggestion to name a street by decree. Putin answered that he would talk to Mayor of Moscow and would solve this problem. In July 2015 former Upper and Lower Tagansky Dead-ends (Верхний и Нижний Таганские тупики) in Moscow were reorganized into Vladimir Vysotsky Street.

 

The Sata Kieli Cultural Association, [Finland], organizes the annual International Vladimir Vysotsky Festival (Vysotski Fest), where Vysotsky's singers from different countries perform in Helsinki and other Finnish cities. They sing Vysotsky in different languages and in different arrangements.

 

Two brothers and singers from Finland, Mika and Turkka Mali, over the course of their more than 30-year musical career, have translated into Finnish, recorded and on numerous occasions publicly performed songs of Vladimir Vysotsky.

 

Throughout his lengthy musical career, Jaromír Nohavica, a famed Czech singer, translated and performed numerous songs of Vladimir Vysotsky, most notably Песня о друге (Píseň o příteli – Song about a friend).

 

The Museum of Vladimir Vysotsky in Koszalin dedicated to Vladimir Vysotsky was founded by Marlena Zimna (1969–2016) in May 1994, in her apartment, in the city of Koszalin, in Poland. Since then the museum has collected over 19,500 exhibits from different countries and currently holds Vladimir Vysotsky' personal items, autographs, drawings, letters, photographs and a large library containing unique film footage, vinyl records, CDs and DVDs. A special place in the collection holds a Vladimir Vysotsky's guitar, on which he played at a concert in Casablanca in April 1976. Vladimir Vysotsky presented this guitar to Moroccan journalist Hassan El-Sayed together with an autograph (an extract from Vladimir Vysotsky's song "What Happened in Africa"), written in Russian right on the guitar.

 

In January 2023, a monument to the outstanding actor, singer and poet Vladimir Vysotsky was unveiled in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, in the square near the Rodina House of Culture. Author Vladimir Chebotarev.

 

After her husband's death, urged by her friend Simone Signoret, Marina Vlady wrote a book called The Aborted Flight about her years together with Vysotsky. The book paid tribute to Vladimir's talent and rich persona, yet was uncompromising in its depiction of his addictions and the problems that they caused in their marriage. Written in French (and published in France in 1987), it was translated into Russian in tandem by Vlady and a professional translator and came out in 1989 in the USSR. Totally credible from the specialists' point of view, the book caused controversy, among other things, by shocking revelations about the difficult father-and-son relationship (or rather, the lack of any), implying that Vysotsky-senior (while his son was alive) was deeply ashamed of him and his songs which he deemed "anti-Soviet" and reported his own son to the KGB. Also in 1989 another important book of memoirs was published in the USSR, providing a bulk of priceless material for the host of future biographers, Alla Demidova's Vladimir Vysotsky, the One I Know and Love. Among other publications of note were Valery Zolotukhin's Vysotsky's Secret (2000), a series of Valery Perevozchikov's books (His Dying Hour, The Unknown Vysotsky and others) containing detailed accounts and interviews dealing with the bard's life's major controversies (the mystery surrounding his death, the truth behind Vysotsky Sr.'s alleged KGB reports, the true nature of Vladimir Vysotsky's relations with his mother Nina's second husband Georgy Bartosh etc.), Iza Zhukova's Short Happiness for a Lifetime and the late bard's sister-in-law Irena Vysotskaya's My Brother Vysotsky. The Beginnings (both 2005).

 

A group of enthusiasts has created a non-profit project – the mobile application "Vysotsky"

 

The multifaceted talent of Vysotsky is often described by the term "bard" (бард) that Vysotsky has never been enthusiastic about. He thought of himself mainly as an actor and poet rather than a singer, and once remarked, "I do not belong to what people call bards or minstrels or whatever." With the advent of portable tape-recorders in the Soviet Union, Vysotsky's music became available to the masses in the form of home-made reel-to-reel audio tape recordings (later on cassette tapes).

 

Vysotsky accompanied himself on a Russian seven-string guitar, with a raspy voice singing ballads of love, peace, war, everyday Soviet life and of the human condition. He was largely perceived as the voice of honesty, at times sarcastically jabbing at the Soviet government, which made him a target for surveillance and threats. In France, he has been compared with Georges Brassens; in Russia, however, he was more frequently compared with Joe Dassin, partly because they were the same age and died in the same year, although their ideologies, biographies, and musical styles are very different. Vysotsky's lyrics and style greatly influenced Jacek Kaczmarski, a Polish songwriter and singer who touched on similar themes.

 

The songs – over 600 of them – were written about almost any imaginable theme. The earliest were blatnaya pesnya ("outlaw songs"). These songs were based either on the life of the common people in Moscow or on life in the crime people, sometimes in Gulag. Vysotsky slowly grew out of this phase and started singing more serious, though often satirical, songs. Many of these songs were about war. These war songs were not written to glorify war, but rather to expose the listener to the emotions of those in extreme, life-threatening situations. Most Soviet veterans would say that Vysotsky's war songs described the truth of war far more accurately than more official "patriotic" songs.

 

Nearly all of Vysotsky's songs are in the first person, although he is almost never the narrator. When singing his criminal songs, he would adopt the accent and intonation of a Moscow thief, and when singing war songs, he would sing from the point of view of a soldier. In many of his philosophical songs, he adopted the role of inanimate objects. This created some confusion about Vysotsky's background, especially during the early years when information could not be passed around very easily. Using his acting talent, the poet played his role so well that until told otherwise, many of his fans believed that he was, indeed, a criminal or war veteran. Vysotsky's father said that "War veterans thought the author of the songs to be one of them, as if he had participated in the war together with them." The same could be said about mountain climbers; on multiple occasions, Vysotsky was sent pictures of mountain climbers' graves with quotes from his lyrics etched on the tombstones.

 

Not being officially recognized as a poet and singer, Vysotsky performed wherever and whenever he could – in the theater (where he worked), at universities, in private apartments, village clubs, and in the open air. It was not unusual for him to give several concerts in one day. He used to sleep little, using the night hours to write. With few exceptions, he wasn't allowed to publish his recordings with "Melodiya", which held a monopoly on the Soviet music industry. His songs were passed on through amateur, fairly low quality recordings on vinyl discs and magnetic tape, resulting in his immense popularity. Cosmonauts even took his music on cassette into orbit.

 

Musically, virtually all of Vysotsky's songs were written in a minor key, and tended to employ from three to seven chords. Vysotsky composed his songs and played them exclusively on the Russian seven string guitar, often tuned a tone or a tone-and-a-half below the traditional Russian "Open G major" tuning. This guitar, with its specific Russian tuning, makes a slight yet notable difference in chord voicings than the standard tuned six string Spanish (classical) guitar, and it became a staple of his sound. Because Vysotsky tuned down a tone and a half, his strings had less tension, which also colored the sound.

 

His earliest songs were usually written in C minor (with the guitar tuned a tone down from DGBDGBD to CFACFAC)

 

Songs written in this key include "Stars" (Zvyozdy), "My friend left for Magadan" (Moy drug uyekhal v Magadan), and most of his "outlaw songs".

 

At around 1970, Vysotsky began writing and playing exclusively in A minor (guitar tuned to CFACFAC), which he continued doing until his death.

 

Vysotsky used his fingers instead of a pick to pluck and strum, as was the tradition with Russian guitar playing. He used a variety of finger picking and strumming techniques. One of his favorite was to play an alternating bass with his thumb as he plucked or strummed with his other fingers.

 

Often, Vysotsky would neglect to check the tuning of his guitar, which is particularly noticeable on earlier recordings. According to some accounts, Vysotsky would get upset when friends would attempt to tune his guitar, leading some to believe that he preferred to play slightly out of tune as a stylistic choice. Much of this is also attributable to the fact that a guitar that is tuned down more than 1 whole step (Vysotsky would sometimes tune as much as 2 and a half steps down) is prone to intonation problems.

 

Vysotsky had a unique singing style. He had an unusual habit of elongating consonants instead of vowels in his songs. So when a syllable is sung for a prolonged period of time, he would elongate the consonant instead of the vowel in that syllable.

On the steps of a side entrance to the Supreme Court, Reptiles of the Press lay in wait for defendants trying to avoid the media. It looked like a slow day, but they declined to interview me, even though I was offering them an exclusive scoop that would have made all their careers and possibly landed me in gaol. My 15 minutes of fame slipped away so cruelly, but at least I got a class photo ;-))

 

2611

CRACROFT is a locality at the east end of Forward Bay on the south side of West Cracroft Island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The Cracroft Islands were named in 1861 by Captain Richards of HMS Plumper for Sophia Cracroft, the niece of Sir John Franklin, the explorer. She accompanied Lady Jane Franklin on her round-the-world voyage, which brought them to British Columbia during the Fraser Gold Rush of 1858. They remained in British Columbia and explored its coast in 1861 before returning to England.

 

The CRACROFT Post Office and accompanying settlement was originally listed as being at the head of Port Harvey, at the head of Port Harvey, but moved about 1/2 mile east prior to 1928, with the Post Office having opened - 15 June 1905. It was relocated to Forward Bay in 1951, with the Post Office closing later that same year - 27 August 1951 due to a forest fire. In 1961, there were 2 people residing at the original location of the CRACROFT Post Office, with 4 living there in 1976.

 

LINK to a list of the Postmasters who served at the CRACROFT Post Office - central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=posoffposmas&id=2...

 

When this letter was posted at the CRACROFT Post Office the Postmaster was Carl Edward Tait Sr. - he served from - 10 October 1946 to August 1951.

 

Carl Edward Tait Sr.

(b. 25 March 1898 in Blaine, Washington, USA - d. 6 January 1971 at age 72 in Campbell River, British Columbia) - occupations - contractor / logger & Postmaster - LINK to his death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/91...

 

His wife - Pearl Charlotte (nee Webster) Tait

(b. 30 October 1896 in Calgary, Alberta - d. 19 November 1967 at age 71 in Campbell River, British Columbia) - LINK to their marriage certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/50... - LINK to her death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/11...

 

- sent from - / CRACROFT / PM / AP 12 / 51 / B.C. / - cds cancel.

 

- sent by - H.C. Northcote / Cracroft, B.C.

 

Herbert Cecil Mowbray Northcote

(b. 4 February 1885 in Victoria, British Columbia - d. 5 October 1959 at age 74 in Cobble Hill, British Columbia / Alberni, British Columbia) - occupations - logger / Fisheries Patrolman for the B.C. Government - LINK to his newspaper obituary - www.newspapers.com/clip/108961404/nanaimo-daily-news/ LINK to his death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/27...

 

His wife - Violet Lydia (nee Haynes) Northcote / Campbell

(b. 25 February 1894 in Victoria, British Columbia - d. 16 February 1985 at age 90 in Nanaimo, British Columbia / Parksville, British Columbia) - she was the Postmistress at CRACROFT serving from - 9 May 1927 to - 6 December 1944. They were married - 17 January 1912 in Vancouver, B.C. - LINK to their marriage certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/7e... - Link to her death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/d4...

 

Clipped from - The Province newspaper - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - 6 October 1936 - DOCK INJURY TO CRACROFT POSTMISTRESS BASIS OF DAMAGE ACTION - Struck on the head by a heaving line, thrown from S.S. Venture as she docked on January 17, 1936, at Cracroft, 158 miles from Vancouver, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, Mrs. Violet Lydla Northcote is suing the Union Steamship Co. of B.C. Ltd. in a trial which opened In Supreme Court before Mr. Justice Robertson. Mrs. Northcote, who is postmistress at Cracroft, alleges that she was unconscious fourteen hours from the blow of the half-inch manila rope. The end of the line had a diameter of an inch and a quarter. Plaintiff alleges that her eyesight is impaired as a result of the accident. She was in hospital until March 2. Herbert Cecil Northcote, a fishery guardian, is claiming $626 damages for expenses which he incurred as a result of his wife's injuries. David McKenzie and C. H. Cahan jr. are counsel for plaintiffs; and Alfred Bull, K.C., and C. C. I. Merritt for defendant.

 

Her second husband - James Campbell

(b. 6 March 1888 in Clifton, Cumberland, England - d. 13 January 1964 at age 75 in Nanaimo, British Columbia / Coombs, British Columbia) - occupation - motor mechanic - LINK to his death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/30...

 

Addressed to - Gordon & Belyea Co., Ltd., / 101 Powell Street, / Vancouver, B.C.

 

Gordon & Belyea Limited Vancouver B.C. was a wholesale hardware and ship chandlery business. Link to a photo of this building - searcharchives.vancouver.ca/uploads/r/null/8/1/813353/040...

 

1951 Canadian Easter Seals Cinderella - Through the sale of Easter Seals the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults is endeavoring to raise additional funds to meet the increased cost of carrying out its three-point program of direct services, research and education.

Name: Alfred Yarrow

Arrested for: Larceny

Arrested at: North Shields Police Station

Arrested on: 9 February 1905

Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-65-Alfred Yarrow

 

The Shields Daily News for 2 February 1905 reports:

 

"Alfred Yarrow (17), living in Beacon Street, was charged with being found lodging in a wash-house at 8 Walker Place, without any visible means of subsistence, and failing to give a good account of himself at 2.35 this morning. Chief Constable Huish asked for the youth to be remanded in custody for eight days. There was a case of larceny to be preferred against him. The Chief's application was granted."

 

The Shields Daily Gazette for 10 February 1905 reports:

 

"At North Shields, Alfred Yarrow (17) was charged with stealing on January 31st from a dwelling-house, 11 Hudson Street, one shirt and 4½ yards of cotton, value 4s 11d, the property of his mother, Jane Yarrow.

 

The prosecutrix said that she had had a great deal of trouble with her son. After she had missed the goods mentioned in the charge she asked him whether he had taken them and he replied that he had. Further evidence showed that the defendant pledged the goods for 1s 3d at the shop of Mr K.T. Driver, stating that his mother had sent him with them.

 

It was stated that the lad was charged with stealing a ring last October and was bound over for six months. Accused, who had nothing to say, was committed to prison for six weeks in the second division, and the chairman (Mr T. Young) hoped that the lenient treatment would be appreciated by him".

 

These images are a selection from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 in the collection of Tyne & Wear Archives (TWA ref DX1388/1).

 

This set contains mugshots of boys and girls under the age of 21. This reflects the fact that until 1970 that was the legal age of majority in the UK.

 

(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.

=The Batcave: After the Sandstorm=

 

A month had passed since the Battle of Nanda Parbat. A month since the stand-off between Batman and the Misfits.

A month since Drury Walker murdered Ra's Al Ghul.

 

As Bruce walked down the stone steps towards the conference table, a lot of scrambled thoughts passed through his head; Memories, regrets...

 

As always, the cold logician in him swatted these doubts away and, as always, a dozen more insecurities rose up in their place. He was at an impasse: Dare he lift Walker's exile, or keep him banished in Keystone under West's supervision? That, was the question. The question that continued to torment him even now. Over this past month, he had devised several arguments, both for and against, and each and every one of these debates had ended in a stalemate.

 

They, were here to break that stalemate.

 

"Is this everyone?" Bruce asked the assembly. Sat around a stone table were a group of seven young men and women; Bruce's trusted confidantes from different backgrounds, and with different methods and ideals. Most of which, were trained by him personally to hone their natural talents.

He couldn't go to the League with this, they wouldn't understand the importance of this decision. Of what it meant to him.

 

"What? Your unfair and partial jury?" the blonde woman on the far left asked, a cheeky smile on her face, lowering her purple hood.

 

"Stephanie..." Bruce inhaled, as he sat down at the head of the table.

 

"Kate and Luke are at Wayne Enterprises, and JP and Duke are on that Kobra case, but everyone who could be here, is here," the red-headed woman in thin spectacles said, bringing the rest of the group up to speed.

 

"Thank you, Barbara. I'm glad someone is taking this seriously," Bruce reprimanded Stephanie.

 

"It's Killer Moth," Steph shrugged. "And I meant what I said by the way. She's biased; she's dating his kid," Steph explained as she nudged the dark-haired girl on her right, Cass, playfully.

 

"Not important," Cass brushed her off. "Tim kissed Kitten," she stated.

 

"Cass!" Tim, Steph's boyfriend, spat out his tea mortified. "Sorry, Alfred," he apologised to the elder man approaching the table, napkin already in hand.

 

The rest of the family was silent for a moment. And then, sat across from Tim, Jason Todd erupted into juvenile laughter. "No way!" he cackled. Tim's face had turned a deep scarlet. "What was it like?! Nah, don't tell me, I got this: do the words 'Strawberry Lipgloss' ring a bell?"

 

"Does it?" Steph raised an eyebrow.

 

"How could you-?" Tim gasped at Cass.

 

"She brought up Axel," she replied, a bright smile on her face. "Said it wasn't important: Barbara had a crush on Mr Walker."

 

"What-?" Dick, sat on Barbara's right, had perked up now.

 

"No, I did not," Babs tutted dismissively.

 

"Lies!" Steph giggled. "I saw you texting Dinah. 'His voice was smooth. Like the principal when you've been bad.'"

 

"So, should we be worried? If people are reading your messages, we should be in a heap of trouble," Tim argued.

 

"Look, yes, that happened, I said that," Babs confessed. "But look, he was my first."

 

"What?!" Dick repeated, his voice an octave higher this time.

 

"Her first supervillain, dumbass," Jason guessed.

 

"Can we focus?" Bruce murmured.

 

"Right, right..." Jason apologised, wiping the smile off his face. "Personally? I don't blame him."

 

"Shocker," Dick spoke, masking it behind a series of coughs.

 

Jason glared at him, but continued. "Look, Ra's was a genocidal maniac; he killed hundreds, and his playing matchmaker with the old man brought us this little hellspawn," he gestured at the young boy sat on Bruce's left.

 

"My grandfather made many mistakes," Damian conceded. "Least of which, was resurrecting you."

 

"Touché," Jason smirked.

 

"That said, I agree with Todd. To an extent," he added. "Grandfather, was not perfect-"

 

"Understatement of the year!" Steph yelled.

 

"But to die by the hand of a pirate and his son-in-law is a disgrace," he finished.

 

"But he's not just the in-law, is he?" Tim argued. "This guy helped take down Cobb, Crane, infiltrated Arkham City... Heck, he ran for mayor and won."

 

"Which, let's be real, isn't that hard. Penguin's getting good press," Dick pointed out.

 

"Noted. But what I'm saying is, underestimating him is what got Ra's killed in the first place."

 

"It's not just Ra's," Babs chimed in. "It's the attack on GCPD, and helping Bane too. He broke into the Cave, Jason. And planted Kuttler's-"

 

"Don't you dare say 'bug.'"

 

"Barbara's right. If Bane's Phantom Drive had worked, Earth would have lost the Justice League, the Titans, all of us, and left the planet at the Society's mercy," Bruce spoke up.

 

"Look, I don't get why you're so surprised. This is what happens, what always happens when you let a supervillain join the team... No offense, Spider," Jason waved at the man at the farthest end of the table.

 

"That, wasn't Basil's fault," Cass stated defensively.

 

"Besides, we let you join, Jay," Dick smiled, deliberately steering the conversation away from Karlo.

 

"And we've been paying for it ever since," Damian tutted.

 

Bruce tilted his head up to face Needham. "Spider, what do you think?"

 

Needham glared at the rest of the group, and swallowed. "I think that, if you only brought me in to talk shit about Walker behind his back, then I don't belong here."

 

Bruce nodded slowly. "Those in favour of lifting Walker's exile?" he asked.

 

Needham raised his hand, followed by Cass, and surprisingly, Jason. Alfred, also raised his hand in Walker's defense.

 

"Those opposed?"

 

Damian's hand shot up first, followed by Tim, Steph and more hesitantly, Dick and Barbara.

 

Bruce looked around the table solemnly. "Then it's settled. For now, Walker's exile remains in effect."

 

"Right," Tim nodded along to the verdict, then rose from the table. "If we're done here, I'm going up to the pantry. I was on patrol all night and I haven't grabbed breakfast yet," Tim rose from the table.

 

"Hey, grab me a cola while you're up there, 'Robbie Poo,'" Steph teased, tapping him on the shoulder.

 

"That's not- Dick was Robbie Poo..." Tim sighed as he walked off.

 

"But I never kissed her!" Dick smirked, as the rest of the group broke away from the table and walked off in separate directions.

 

"Man, I'm never living this down," Tim muttered under his breath, as he dragged himself upstairs.

 

While everyone else departed, Bruce and Needham remained sat at the table. "They're good kids," Bruce broke the tension.

 

"Uh-huh."

 

Needham stood up and walked off in the direction of his parked motorbike.

 

=Now: The Gotham Royal: Floor 19=

 

Ted Carson.

 

Joseph Rigger would be the first to admit he was pretty squeamish. He had a ton of phobias, plenty he wouldn't disclose to his fellow Misfits as, admittedly, a good deal of them were supernatural, and probably fictional in nature: Zombies, Vampires, Ghosts. That sort of thing.

 

But Carson? He scared him. Like, really scared him. He was tenacious, and driven, and utterly ruthless. Had Suit not given his life for him; for all of them; Joey would be dead. Impaled on that flaming sword Carson carried around.

 

Joey paused as he knelt down to tie his shoelaces. Come to think of it, Black Hand had been a zombie, hadn't he? And he'd played D&D with that Monk guy, Tepes, who had seemed oddly interested in his neck... That wasn't the point, Joey realised that of course, but maybe he ought to consider bringing a scarf to their next game night.

As he finished tying his laces, he stood back up and was immediately met with a pink cloud that spoke with the voice of Manga Khan.

 

"Have you given any more thought to my business proposal?" it's voice rattled.

 

Joey, jumped back in fright. "Holycrapitsaghostthatsjustwhatweneed!" he panicked, grabbing the rest of the room's attention.

 

"It's not a ghost!" L-Ron strutted towards him, waving his spindly arms in the air. "It is Lord Manga!" he explained.

 

"Yeah! Who died!" Joey countered, his body shivering.

 

"It's... It was a whole thing, I don't really want to get into it," Flannegan shrugged. "So, you really going into business with that pink fart?" he asked.

 

~-~

  

Gar bowed his head, kicking the ground as he shuffled over to Jenna's side. "It's Carson," he announced glumly, confirming what Jenna had already suspected.

 

Franco's eyes fluttered open at this, glancing back and forth between Jenna and Gar.

His grip on Jenna's hand tightened.

 

"Gar, please. You don't have to fight him-" Jenna urged him, pulling her hand away from Franco's side, unaware he was now stirring.

 

"Nah," Gar sighed, glancing over at Drury, as he placed his hand against her cheek. "We both know that I do" he said softly.

 

"No. Not this time. Not alone," Jenna decided, getting up off her knees, and presenting him her purse full of hardware appliances.

 

Gar nudged the purse away from his face. "You know I can't ask you to do that," he informed Jenna, as he adjusted the nozzle of his flamethrower.

 

"Then don't ask," Jenna pleaded. "Let me help you."

 

"Jelly Bean!" Franco spluttered in protest, sitting up. Rosso intervened, placing a hand on his chest to restrain him. Franco batted him away, rising to his feet. "Jenna, listen to me!"

 

Jenna spun around, her face red with irritation she stuck her finger in his face. "No, Davey, you listen. All night I've been oogled at, and all night you've smiled it off, and ignored me. And now, we're in danger. Real danger. And so far, Gar and his friends are the only people who've done anything about it. So I'm going with them. You can stay here if you like, but I'm gonna stop this," she stated, swinging the strap of her purse around her shoulder.

 

Franco's jaw tightened, and he exhaled through his nose. "You go with them, and you'll never be more than a henchwoman for petty criminals."

 

"What's so bad about that?" she frowned.

 

~-~

 

Drury looked to Gaige for affirmation; given by a stiff nod, and typed a number into his mobile. As Drury put the phone to his ear, waiting for the recipient to answer, his mind wandered.

 

"You seem like a decent bloke. A bit feminine but whatever; my daughter likes you. A lot," Gaige admitted to Drury, the closest thing he ever got to a blessing for marrying his daughter.

 

Course, back then, all Drury wanted to do was impress Gaige. To be part of the "in" crowd. To feel accepted. But that was before Santa Prisca changed his perspective, and before the mob and their schemes brought a dozen assassins to his doorstep.

 

"Before you, supervillainy was an art form, it was something you turned to out of necessity, perhaps for the thrill of it, after being shunned by society, spat on by the masses. When you became a supervillain you became something to be feared: Edward Nashton, Oswald Cobblepot, Basil Karlo, may he rest in peace. These are the names that give children nightmares and yet: they had class, they garnered respect from the inmates of Blackgate Prison. Until you came along. Once you put it in crooks heads that anyone could be ‘super’, they all started crawling out of the woodwork. The Joker will always be feared. The Eraser never will be. C-Listers proved supervillains could be laughed at, could be hurt, could be killed. And people stopped being scared. They reopened Arkham just to house you morons! So the ante had to be upped, in order to regain that fear. Victor Zsasz keeps a count of victims all over his body, hundreds of tallies, hundreds of kills! Dollmaker made a patchwork of body parts from still breathing Arkham Guards! Roman Sionis butchered Catwoman’s family and made her sister eat her husband’s eyes! His fucking eyes! You did this!" Two-Face was snarling at Drury; a small partition and the former's twisted devotion to a "fair trial" were the only things keeping him from tearing Walker apart.

 

Drury didn't like to talk about that day in Santa Prisca. Zodiac as his defendant was bad enough, as was sharing a room with the Mad Hatter and his tea-soaked breath, but beyond that, it was the day he truly understood what it meant to be a supervillain. The risks. The sacrifices. Sure, he'd thought about it plenty, seen things on the job that turned him pale, but this was when he learned the whole truth. That what happened with Lightning Bug wasn't a fluke. It wasn't an outlier. To these people; Penguin, Two-Face, Joker and the rest, it was the norm. And that was when he realised, he wanted nothing to do with that. With them.

 

"Drury. Look at me. You're not a failure, I married you, didn't I? I don't regret it one bit.

This time things didn't work out. That's ok, this team just didn't gel. You just need to find a group that does," Miranda was reassuring Drury, in the wake of yet another scheme blowing up in his face.

 

No. Not some 'scheme.' Gar's then-girlfriend Volcana had murdered his uncle and his crew on the orders of the Secret Society. All because they were protecting Getaway Genius. The same Getaway Genius who later abandoned his kids and his friends when the Society's cloudburst bomb detonated. Drury always found a way of protecting the wrong people. And getting the good ones killed over it.

 

"Is everyone else brainless? Am I the only one who gets it? When you hear a noise down a dark corridor, when you see something peculiar outside, you don't go running towards it, understand? Not like in some B-Rated Horror Film. You do the reasonable thing and walk off in the opposite direction!" The Getaway Genius was yelling at Drury; Floyd Lawton's laser sight pointing directly at Reynolds' sweating forehead.

 

In Drury's eye, Reynolds was the worst type of criminal. The type who ran away when things got bad. The type that wouldn't keep their word. The type who'd throw anyone else into the flames to save their own skin.

 

It wasn't until his conversation with Joey that it clicked for him. That's how Jenna saw him. The dangerous lunatic who was dragging Gar down with him.

 

"Walker. I'm telling you right now, it's not your fault."

 

"Is this what it's like? Being you? Watching people get hurt, with no way of stopping it?"

 

"Yes."

 

"And that doesn't bother you?"

 

"Of course it bothers me! You know full well what I've lost! But I'm telling you here, now, whatever happened between you and Ted Carson... whatever you did to him, it was the Arkham Moth who chose this path of vengeance... not you," Bruce told Drury, watching him hopelessly try to resuscitate the girl now known to be Ted Carson's daughter.

 

Even then, Drury knew. Using the last of the Lazarus Water on her would be a death sentence if the League of Assassins ever found out about it. But he didn't care. He'd hoped... He wasn't sure what he hoped at the time. That maybe by reviving Carson's daughter, he'd be atoning for his past mistakes? That maybe that would break the cycle of death and violence between his family and Carson's? Wouldn't that have been nice?

 

"If there's anything you ever need, I'll be there," Len promised, holding in his hand the money Knyazev had turned down. The money Drury was now offering him to rebuild his bar.

 

'But where was Len now?' Drury wondered. He had heard what Len had done to Jumbo, and though he shed no tears for Carson's step-brother, he knew Ted would be seeking some sort of retribution. He hoped that maybe Len was just in hiding until the heat died down; that's what he'd been telling the rest of the Misfits. But deep down, he didn't believe it himself.

 

"I shouldn't have expected anything else from you. The boy who never grew up," Hugo Strange sneered, as he held Drury against the floor and prepared a syringe full of poison.

 

Strange had been right all along. Just thinking that made Drury want to puke, but it was true. This life wasn't sustainable. This life wasn't healthy. Look at what it cost him, what it was still costing him: He hadn't seen his kids in weeks!

 

No.

 

'No more dress up,' Drury decided. No more make-pretend. It was time to grow up. It was time to face Carson. It was time to break the damn cycl-

 

"The person you're calling is unable to take your call. Please leave your message after the tone:"

 

"Figures..." Drury rolled his eyes. "Hey, it's me. I know we haven't, uh, talked since... Well, y'know. I know I said a buncha things I shouldn't have; I hit you, stole your stuff, ran away like I'm a coward, which I'm not, I hope you know that. But I've been... told by a couple of friends that I'm sorta a mess right now. I mostly agree with that. It's something I'm gonna need to work on a bit. If you see this message- scratch that, I know you'll see this message; you see everything, don't you? Heh... If you see this message, know that I'm sorry. And that maybe, if you're sorry too, we could meet up somewhere? Royal would do! Bring a nice suit."

 

"It's done?" Gaige was leaning against the wall, listening in.

 

"It's done," Drury confirmed, immediately dropping the hyperactive persona.

He lowered his phone, looking out towards Gar, struck by the way he was looking at Jenna: The way his eyes twinkled, how the edges of his mouth crinkled to form a smile. The way he nodded along to every word she spoke.

And at that moment, it hit Drury just how much he cared for her and her him. And he smiled, thinking back to the days when he felt that way. When he could feel that way... He put his hand to his cheek and noted the damp patch under his eyes.

 

"Look after them," he ordered Gaige, gesturing in their direction.

 

"Course," his father in-law nodded respectfully.

 

"The kids are at Dave Wist's place on the city limits. Simon should've made it over there by now... I shoulda visited him in the hospital... I visited Gar in the hospital."

 

"I'll take care of it," Gaige promised, a sense of finality to his words.

 

"I know you will." Drury wiped his eyes, tightened his shoulder holster for the last time, and proceeded to walk off down the hallway.

 

"Where are you going?" a voice called after him.

 

Drury turned around. Staring at him, his lip petted, was Joey. Gar and Jenna were staring at them now too, as was Flannegan.

 

"I... Like you said, someone needs to watch the King," Drury lied.

 

"You're gonna face him, aren't you?" Joey asked, his mouth open in disbelief.

 

"I gotta, Joe," Drury said hoarsely.

 

"Why?" he answered back, a sullen look on his face.

 

Drury exhaled. "Because otherwise, what was the point?"

 

"Of the road trip?"

 

"Of all of it!" Drury yelled suddenly. "I mean it, what have I actually done?"

 

"You saved the city."

 

"Lester Butchinsky saved the city. I just watched."

 

Joey took a step forward. "You saved me."

 

...

 

"You gave me something to believe in. To hold onto. And that was the Misfits. That's why you founded it, right? And I know right now, not everyone's happy with you, and they all have their reasons. But for me? Being able to fight side by side with you guys, to be treated as an equal? I've never felt happier."

 

Drury felt his cheek getting damp again. "Give me your comm, Joe."

 

"No."

 

"Give me your comm. Please," Drury said wearily.

 

"I can't..."

 

"I ran Carson down that night, you understand? And I hid his body. Then, I left my Charaxes serum lying about so the Moth; that's unrelated; could use it on him.

After that, I recruited a sorcerer to banish him when I wasn't man enough to deal with him myself. After that, I stole Krill's belt.

I ignored Julian's cries for help at every turn.

I got Gar ran over. I got Blake stabbed and Ten maimed and Sharpe thrown out a window. And I got Miranda..." Drury's throat swelled up. He wasn't just speaking to Joey now, he was speaking to all of them and they all knew it.

"Please. Let me do this," he offered. "I've got to do this."

 

"It's like what Jenna said. Not alone, you don't," Gar stepped forward.

 

"Not alone," Joey repeated, holding the comms device out to Drury, his fist kept closed until Walker accepted his terms.

 

"I won't be," Drury nodded his head slowly as he stretched his arm out. "I won't be."

 

Satisfied, Joey placed the comms unit in Drury's palm.

 

Drury put it to his mouth, his voice cracking slightly as he spoke into it. "Chuck," he called out.

 

"I couldn't stop him, Drury- I tried, really. But he's coming. He's coming for you and I didn't stop him-"

 

"It's... It's alright, Chuck," Drury answered.

 

"No, it's not, it's-"

 

Drury turned the device off and turned to Flannegan.

 

"Otis," Drury spoke. "I need you to round up the troops; Blake, Chuck, Kuttler and Ten all need patching up. Sharpe, Needham and Mayo might need help too. Make sure they all get the proper care."

 

His eyes narrowed. "You kidding me? You want me to run a paramedic service? You've got your arch nemesis on the warpath, after your head, remember? I'm your guy for this," he reminded him.

 

"Do what he says," Gaige warned.

 

Flannegan was about to argue but swallowed his pride. "Sure, doc," he grumbled, his nose twitching as he stormed off.

 

They were silent for a moment, and then Joey breathed in a sigh of relief. "You weren't gonna just abandon us, right?" he wondered.

 

Drury smiled faintly. "Abandon-? Never."

 

"Good," a voice echoed from the opposite end of the hallway. "That makes it easy for me."

 

"You can all die together."

 

Ted Carson stood at the end of the hallway, his firesword ignited, thick smoke hissing and spitting from the vents lining his crimson battlesuit. He put one knee forward, and took a fighting stance.

 

Drury unfastened his cocoon gun, his finger wrapped around the trigger. His other hand, reached down to the holstered pistol strapped to his waist.

 

Gaige, slowly and fearlessly, unhooked a curtain rod from the closest window, and held it like a spear.

 

Jenna, reached into her purse, and pulled out a spinning powerdrill.

 

Joey, stepped in front of Drury, his katana raised, sweat dripping down his brow.

 

"Done letting empty costumes take the fall for you, huh? Good for you, kid."

 

Franco, covered his face with his hands, hopeful that Carson wouldn't recognise him.

 

"Oh, and nice suit, by the way. You can wear it to your funeral," Carson barked at Drury.

 

"Oooh, nice banter!" Drury retorted. "You can use it at-"

 

Drury swallowed. "Ah, forget it."

From northwest, over the Pitt-Stave divide

Name: James Regan

Arrested for: not given

Arrested at: North Shields Police Station

Arrested on: 22 July 1905

Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-75-James Regan

 

The Shields Daily Gazette for 24 July 1905 reports:

 

"A RUFFIAN ON THE NEW QUAY

 

At North Shields, James Regan (22), labourer, South Shields, was charged with being drunk and disorderly on the New Quay on the 21st inst. and with assaulting James Berry. Sergt Wilson stated that at 11.15 pm he saw Regan rush at Berry, trip him up and kick him. He sent a policeman to follow Regan who had gone on board the Direct Ferry, while he (witness) picked up the other man, who was stunned by the assault.

 

The complainant who is a workman on board the Tyne Commissioners hoppers, said the accused asked him for a match, and when he replied that he had no matches Regan turned round and tripped him up. He gave the man no provocation. There was a severe abrasion on the left side of the complainant's face, which he said was caused by the assault.

 

The defendant said that Berry caught him by the shoulders and butted him with his head, but this was denied. Accused was fined 2s 6d and costs or seven days for the drunkenness and was committed for one month for the assault".

 

These images are a selection from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 in the collection of Tyne & Wear Archives (TWA ref DX1388/1).

 

Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.

Spanish postcard by Ediciones Este, no. 155-T. Ben Gazzara in the TV series Run for Your Life (1965-1968). Run for your life had the Spanish title 'Alma de Acero'.

 

Ben Gazzara (1930-2012) was an American actor and television director, known for such classic films as Anatomy of a Murder (1959). He turned to television in the 1960s but made a big-screen comeback in the 1970s with roles in three films directed by his friend John Cassavetes. The 1980s and 1990s saw Gazzara work more frequently than ever before in character parts.

 

Biagio Anthony 'Ben' Gazzara was born in New York in 1940. His parents were Italian immigrants; Angelina Gazzara née Cusumano and Antonio Gazzara, a carpenter. The young Gazzara grew up in the Lower East Side, which in those days was a dangerous neighbourhood in Manhattan. He attended classes at Stuyvesant High School. After seeing Laurette Taylor in 'The Glass Menagerie' by Tennessee Williams, Gazzara wanted to become an actor but he decided to study electrical engineering. He gave up this study after two years when he was accepted at a prestigious drama school, The New School. There he was taught by the legendary coach-director Erwin Piscator. Gazzara then joined the Actors Studio, where a group of students improvised a play from Calder Willingham's novel 'End as a Man'. The tale of a brutal southern military academy reached Broadway slightly changed in 1953 but with Gazzara still in the principal role. It was a star-making part for which he won a Theatre World award. Later, he also starred in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' (1955) by Tennessee Williams, a production directed by Elia Kazan, and 'A Hatful of Rain' (1955) for which he was nominated for a Tony. During his career, Gazzara was nominated for a Tony Award three times. Bigger names Paul Newman and Don Murray played those last two roles on the big screen in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Richard Brooks, 1958) and A Hatful of Rain (Fred Zinnemann, 1957), respectively. However, Gazzara made his film debut as the male lead in The Stange One (Jack Garfyn, 1957), the Hollywood adaptation of 'Die Like a Man'. His next role was as the defendant in Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959) with James Stewart, George C. Scott, and Lee Remick. The film was a big hit. Gazzara followed this with an Italian venture co-starring Anna Magnani and Toto, Risate di gioia/The Passionate Thief (Mario Monicelli, 1960), two Hollywood films The Young Doctors (Phil Karlson, 1961) with Fredric March, and Convicts 4 (Millard Kaufman, 1962) opposite Stuart Whitman, and then another Italian film La città prigioniera/The Captive City (Joseph Anthony, 1962) starring David Niven and Lea Massari. None of these did much for his career, and he turned to television. He first starred in the TV series Arrest and Trial (1963-1964) and then in Run for Your Life (1965-1968) for which he received three Golden Globe nominations in 1967, 1968 and 1969 and two Emmy nominations in 1967 and 1968. In the cinema, he played the lead in The Bridge at Remagen (John Guillermin, 1969) opposite George Segal and Robert Vaughn.

 

Ben Gazzara appeared several times in films directed by his friend John Cassavetes. In 1970, he starred alongside Peter Falk in Husbands (John Cassavetes, 1970), which was a critical success. In 1975, Gazzara and Cassavetes appeared together in Capone (Steve Carver, 1975), in which Gazzara portrayed the notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone. Gazzara also played in Cassavetes's cult films The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976) and Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977) with Gena Rowlands. Gazzara starred opposite Audrey Hepburn in Bloodline (Terence Young, 1979) and They All Laughed (Peter Boganovich, 1981). In the Charles Bukowski adaptation Storie di ordinaria follia/Tales of Ordinary Madness (Marco Ferreri, 1981), Gazzara co-starred with Ornella Muti, but the film and his role received a mixed critical reception. Other big-screen roles in the 1980s were scarce apart from Road House (Rowdy Herrington, 1989), a Patrick Swayze vehicle that Gazzara believed out of all his films had been the most repeated on television. In the 1970s Ben Gazarra was also active as a director. In the Columbo television series with Peter Falk, he directed the two episodes My Dead - Your Dead (1974) and Dreamboat of Death (1975). Throughout his career, Gazzara acted in theatre; he was nominated for a Tony in 1955, 1975 and 1976 respectively. Over the years, Gazzara became a much sought-after supporting actor in films. He appeared in several well-known productions such as The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 1998), Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998), The Thomas Crown Affair (John McTiernan, 1999), and Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003), starring Nicole Kidman. In 2003, he was awarded another Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the TV Movie Hysterical Blindness (Mira Nair, 2003) starring Uma Thurman. An amazing achievement since Gazzara was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1999. He underwent chemotherapy and lost a lot of weight during the treatment. Francoise Purdue at IMDb: "If he never became the leading man his early films and stage work promised, he had a career notable for its longevity. " In 2012, Gazzara died of pancreatic cancer in New York's Bellevue Hospital Center at the age of 81. Just before his death, Gazzara was involved in the making of a film called Max Rose, in which he would play opposite elderly comedian Jerry Lewis. The film was released in 2016 and directed by Daniel Noah. For a brief period, Gazzara reportedly had a relationship with actress Audrey Hepburn, with whom he was seen together in Bloodline and They All Laughed. Gazzara was married to Louise Erickson from 1951 to 1957. From 1961 to 1979, he was married to actress Janice Rule. In 1982, he married German model Elke Krivat, with whom he remained until his death.

 

Sources: Francoise Purdue (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

St Mary's Church, Rosliston Derbyshire - There has been a church here since either late Saxon or early Norman times. The present building dates from the 14c and most of the tower including the doorway and steeple are from this period.

Restored in 1802 , the nave and chancel were rebuilt in 1819 using some of the original materials.

 

It’s hard to find a history of the church without mention of Rev John Vallancy (1843-1906), vicar here for 16 years at the end of the 19c .

In 1896 a former curate at St.Nicholas Church and nephew of the first vicar of Sutton parish, the Rev. John Vallancey (1842 - 1906), was convicted in a Derbyshire police court of 'indecent behaviour' in his Rosliston churchyard. Newspapers reported that Vallancey was fined £2 by magistrates for brawling and was also alleged to have threatened a man called Joseph Wright with a revolver, saying "I'll shoot you, I'll shoot you". The Times in their three reports published between August 1896 and April 1897 added that the cleric had also torn flowers from the grave and then had 'danced on it'.

The incident took place after a lengthy dispute over the tending of a grave that contained the remains of a Mrs. Veal. This had a grass mound instead of a headstone, upon which flowers were often placed by the deceased's sister. If Mrs. Veal's family had elected to have a headstone, then Rev. Vallancey would have been entitled to charge an additional fee. So when he discovered that the family were visiting the grave and placing flowers on the mound, he accused them of trespassing and unsuccessfully brought a court action for damages. Matters came to a head on June 13th 1896 when in the presence of the Veal family, Vallancey ordered his sexton to level the grass mound with a pickaxe. The bereaved family then alleged that the sexton taunted them and the vicar, who possessed a gun, made threats, which he denied and said “it was a large church key”.

Vallancy unsuccessfully appealed one of the grounds being that if a clergyman was convicted of such conduct, his parishioners might be deprived of his clerical services. to which the judge quipped that in this particular case "they would also be deprived of his revolver"!

Matters were to get worse.

The Derby Mercury reported on 13 May 1896:

“At the Swadlincote Petty Sessions on Tuesday before Mr. L Barber and a full bench of magistrates John Holden of Rosliston, appeared in answer to a summons taken out by the Rev. John Vallancy, perpetual curate of Rosliston, who complained that he was in bodily fear of the defendant, and asked that he should be bound over to keep the peace. Mr. Vallancy conducted his own case, and Mr. Capes represented the defendant. From the evidence, it appeared that on the 18th April the defendant went to the complainant’s house and asked Mr. Vallancy where the cross had gone that had been placed on his brother’s grave, and why it had been removed. Upon that the complainant ordered him off the premises, but defendant refused to go until he got the information required.

Complainant said that the defendant threatened to “do” for him, that he had “one wing broken” and that he would break the other. He also stated that the defendant threatened to strike him with a stick which he carried. Mr. Vallancy called 4 witnesses, whose evidence was most contradictory when under cross-examination. Mr. Capes submitted that there was no case for him to answer, but the Bench decided that he must proceed. Mr. Capes then addressed the Court, and called a witness and the defendant himself, who denied either threatening the complainant or using bad language. The Bench retired, and after a brief absence, Mr. Barber said they had come to the conclusion that the case must be dismissed for they did not think Mr. Vallancy was in need of any protection.”

With allegations pouring in including parishioners burning an effigy of their vicar outside , the church authorities had to act and the Bishop of Southwell summoned him to the consistory (church) courts in April 1897 under the Clergy Discipline Act of 1892 The Bishop noted that: “He has been cruel and wicked, utterly unworthy of his position and fatal to any usefulness in the parish of which he was at the present moment the incumbent”. Criticised for continuing to deny the allegations, he was suspended for 18 months and banned from residing within 20 miles of the parish .

Valency probably went to Devizes where his wife died in 1898, however he did return here to live at the vicarage where he died in 1906.

  

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