en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siena_Cathedral

Adjoining the cathedral is the Piccolomini Library, housing precious illuminated choir books and frescoes painted by the Umbrian Bernardino di Betto, called Pinturicchio, probably based on designs by Raphael.

The visual impact of these very colorful frescoes is stunning. The frescoes tell the story of the life of Siena's favorite son, cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who eventually became Pope Pius II. He was the uncle of cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (then archbishop of Siena and the future pope Pius III), who commissioned this library in 1492 as a repository of the books and the manuscript collection of his uncle. Pope Pius II was a powerful person, which is why he created this space in the cathedral dedicated to himself. The ceiling is covered with painted panels of mythological subjects. They were executed between 1502 and 1503 by Pinturicchio and his assistants.

The entrance is a finely carved marble monument with two openings with round arches, executed in 1497 by Lorenzo di Mariano. It contains a round relief of St. John the Evangelist (probably) by Giovanni di Stefano and, below the altar, a polychrome Pietà by the sculptor Alberto di Betto da Assisi in 1421. Above this marble monument is a fresco of the Papal Coronation of Pius III by Pinturicchio in 1504.

In the middle of the library is the famous statue Three Graces, a Roman copy of a Greek original. These are based on more ancient original that dates back to the Hellenistic period.

Pinturicchio painted this cycle of frescoes around the library between 1502 and 1507, representing Raphael and himself in several of them. This masterpiece is full of striking detail and vivacious colours. Each scene is explained in Latin by the text below. They depict ten remarkable events from the secular and religious career of pope Pius II, first as a high prelate, then bishop, a cardinal and ultimately pope:

Enea Silvio Piccolomini (ESP) leaves for the Council of Basel. The storm scene in the background is a first in western art.

ESP, ambassador at the Scottish Court

ESP crowned court poet by emperor Frederick III

ESP makes an act of submission to Pope Eugene IV

ESP, bishop of Siena, presents emperor Frederick III with his bride-to-be Eleanora of Portugal at the Porta Camollia in Siena.

ESP receives the cardinal's hat in 1456

ESP, enters the Lateran as pontiff in 1458

Pius II convokes a Diet of Princes at Mantua to proclaim a new crusade in 1459

Pius II canonizes Saint Catherine of Siena in 1461

Pius II arrives in Ancona to launch the crusade.

Beneath the frescoes, the psalters of the cathedral's sacristy are on display. These exquisite illuminations by Liberale da Verona and Girolamo da Cremona were executed between 1466 and 1478 and later carried on by other Sienese illuminators.

Monpazier was originally an English bastide, founded in 1284 by a general of the English king Edward I. The Royal Charter granted to the bastide was associated with advantages for the residents, such as tax exemption and the abolition of sovereign rights.

During the Hundred Years' War, Monpazier was fiercely contested and was taken several times by the English and French. The inhabitants violently opposed the reformation, but Huguenots could temporarily occupy the town in 1574.

At the end of the 16th century, Monpazier was one of the main venues of the croquant rebellions ("Jacquerie des croquants") a long peasant uprising, that lasted for decades. One of the leaders, the weaver Buffarot, was captured in 1637 and executed in the central square of Monpazier.

Saint-Dominique was erected late 13th / early 14th century. As the bastide got captured, recaptured and looted during the Hundred Years' War, the church got repaired and rebuilt after 1450. Side chapels were added in the 16th century.

This strange carving is from the time, the church was built. A human to the right - and two snakes (one devouring a person)? Or two birds? Or chimaerae?

This morning, Thursday 2 February 2017, officers executed warrants at addresses across Miles Platting and Ancoats.

The warrants were executed as part of Operation Rudow a multi-agency operation targeting organised crime and the supply of drugs across Greater Manchester.

Chief Inspector Andy Cunliffe, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: "Drugs ruin lives and destroy communities. We will systematically root out and dismantle groups that seek to profit from flooding our streets with drugs.

"Today, we have made arrests after executing warrants across North Manchester.

"By sharing information with our partners, we are better equipped to tackle organised crime and make it impossible for them to profit from it.

"I'd like to thank the community who came forward with information that has proved vital in making this enforcement action a success.

“We still however, need people to come forward with information to prevent people from benefiting from the proceeds of crime at the demise of others. If you know about it, report it.

"Organised crime has no place on the streets of Greater Manchester and we will continue to work tirelessly to remove the scourge of criminal gangs."

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

This morning, Thursday 2 February 2017, officers executed warrants at addresses across Miles Platting and Ancoats.

The warrants were executed as part of Operation Rudow a multi-agency operation targeting organised crime and the supply of drugs across Greater Manchester.

Chief Inspector Andy Cunliffe, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: "Drugs ruin lives and destroy communities. We will systematically root out and dismantle groups that seek to profit from flooding our streets with drugs.

"Today, we have made arrests after executing warrants across North Manchester.

"By sharing information with our partners, we are better equipped to tackle organised crime and make it impossible for them to profit from it.

"I'd like to thank the community who came forward with information that has proved vital in making this enforcement action a success.

“We still however, need people to come forward with information to prevent people from benefiting from the proceeds of crime at the demise of others. If you know about it, report it.

"Organised crime has no place on the streets of Greater Manchester and we will continue to work tirelessly to remove the scourge of criminal gangs."

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Pictured are members of the British Army Pathfinders taking part in an Urban training environment.

Pathfinders (PF) are the advance force for 16 Air Assault Brigade, the British Army’s airborne rapid reaction force.

PF soldiers are trained in specialist airborne insertion techniques and capable of conducting offensive action tasks at very short notice.

PF operate behind enemy lines in small, self-sufficient patrols, finding and relaying vital information back to Brigade HQ to enable it to plan and execute missions.

A key role is identifying drop zones and landing zones where the main body of troops can be parachuted or landed by helicopter.

Photos: Cpl Danny Houghton

Klinkicht, Gerhard, * 1915, † 14.03.2000 Bavaria, Wehrmacht Captain. A commemorative plaque on St. Stephen's Cathedral (side of the gate Singertor) recalls that in April 1945 Klinkicht refused to execute the order to bombard the cathedral.

Klinkicht, Gerhard, * 1915, † 14.03.2000 Bayern, Wehrmachtshauptmann. Eine Gedenktafel am Stephansdom (Seite des Singertors) hält in Erinnerung, dass sich Klinkicht im April 1945 geweigert hatte, den Befehl zur Beschießung des Doms auszuführen.

Fire in St. Stephen's Cathedral: eyewitnesses cried in the face of devastation.

Despite great need after the war, the landmark of Austria was rebuilt within seven years.

04th April 2015

What happened in the heart of Vienna 70 years ago brought tears to many horrified residents. On 12 April 1945, the Pummerin, the largest bell of St. Stephen's Cathedral, fell as a result of a roof fire in the tower hall and broke to pieces. The following day, a collapsing retaining wall pierced through the vault of the southern side choir, the penetrating the cathedral fire destroyed the choir stalls and choir organ, the Imperial oratory and the rood screen cross. St. Stephen's Cathedral offered a pitiful image of senseless destruction, almost at the end of that terrible time when the Viennese asked after each bombing anxiously: "Is Steffl still standing?"

100 grenades for the cathedral

Already on April 10, the cathedral was to be razed to the ground. In retaliation for hoisting a white flag on St. Stephen's Cathedral, the dome must be reduced to rubble and ash with a fiery blast of a hundred shells. Such was the insane command of the commander of an SS Artillery Division in the already lost battle for Vienna against the Red Army.

The Wehrmacht Captain Gerhard Klinkicht, from Celle near Hanover, read the written order to his soldiers and tore the note in front of them with the words: "No, this order will not be executed."

What the SS failed to do, settled looters the day after. The most important witness of the events from April 11 to 13, became Domkurat (cathedral curate) Lothar Kodeischka (1905-1994), who, as the sacristan director of St. Stephen, was practically on the spot throughout these days. When Waffen-SS and Red Army confronted each other on the Danube Canal on April 11, according to Kodeischka a report had appeared that SS units were making a counter-attack over the Augarten Bridge. Parts of the Soviet artillery were then withdrawn from Saint Stephen's square. For hours, the central area of ​​the city center was without occupying forces. This was helped by gangs of raiders who set fire to the afflicted shops.

As a stone witness to the imperishable, the cathedral had defied all adversity for over 800 years, survived the conflagrations, siege of the Turks and the French wars, but in the last weeks of the Second World War St. Stephen was no longer spared the rage of annihilation. Contemporary witness Karl Strobl in those days observed "an old Viennese lady who wept over the burning cathedral".

The stunned spectators of destruction were joined, according to press reports, by a man in baggy trousers and a shabby hat, who incidentally remarked, "Well, we'll just have to rebuild him (the dome)." It was Cardinal Theodor Innitzer. Only a few weeks later, on May 15, 1945, the Viennese archbishop proclaimed to the faithful of his diocese: "Helping our cathedral, St. Stephen's Cathedral, to regain its original beauty is an affair of the heart of all Catholics, a duty of honor for all."

April 1945

In April 1945, not only St. Stephen's Cathedral burned. We did some research for you this month.

April 6: The tallest wooden structure of all time, the 190 meter high wooden tower (short-wave transmitter) of the transmitter Mühlacker, is blown up by the SS.

April 12: Following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman is sworn in as the 33rd US President.

April 13: Vienna Operation: Soviet troops conquer Vienna.

April 25: Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer, member of the ABBA group, is born.

April 27: The provisional government Renner proclaims the Austrian declaration of independence.

April 30: The Red Army hoists the Soviet flag on the Reichstag building. Adolf Hitler, the dictator of the Third Reich, commits suicide with Eva Braun.

Brand im Stephansdom: Augenzeugen weinten angesichts der Verwüstung.

Trotz großer Not nach dem Krieg wurde das Wahrzeichen Österreichs binnen sieben Jahren wieder aufgebaut.

04. April 2015

Was vor 70 Jahren im Herzen Wiens passierte, trieb vielen entsetzten Bewohnern die Tränen in die Augen. Am 12. April 1945 stürzte die Pummerin, die größte Glocke des Stephansdoms, als Folge eines Dachbrandes in die Turmhalle herab und zerbrach. Tags darauf durchschlug eine einbrechende Stützmauer das Gewölbe des südlichen Seitenchors, das in den Dom eindringende Feuer zerstörte Chorgestühl und Chororgel, Kaiseroratorium und Lettnerkreuz. Der Stephansdom bot ein erbarmungswürdiges Bild sinnloser Zerstörung, und das fast am Ende jener Schreckenszeit, in der die Wiener nach jedem Bombenangriff bang fragten: "Steht der Steffl noch?"

100 Granaten für den Dom

Bereits am 10. April sollte der Dom dem Erdboden gleichgemacht werden. Als Vergeltung für das Hissen einer weißen Fahne auf dem Stephansdom ist der Dom mit einem Feuerschlag von 100 Granaten in Schutt und Asche zu legen. So lautete der wahnwitzige Befehl des Kommandanten einer SS-Artillerieabteilung im schon verlorenen Kampf um Wien gegen die Rote Armee.

Der aus Celle bei Hannover stammende Wehrmachtshauptmann Gerhard Klinkicht las die schriftlich übermittelte Anordnung seinen Soldaten vor und zerriss den Zettel vor aller Augen mit den Worten: "Nein, dieser Befehl wird nicht ausgeführt."

Was der SS nicht gelang, besorgten einen Tag später Plünderer: Zum wichtigsten Zeugen der Geschehnisse vom 11. bis 13. April wurde Domkurat Lothar Kodeischka (1905–1994), der als Sakristeidirektor von St. Stephan in diesen Tagen praktisch durchgehend an Ort und Stelle war. Als am 11. April Waffen-SS und Rote Armee einander am Donaukanal gegenüberstanden, war laut Kodeischka die Nachricht aufgetaucht, SS-Einheiten würden einen Gegenstoß über die Augartenbrücke unternehmen. Teile der sowjetischen Artillerie wurden daraufhin vom Stephansplatz abgezogen. Für Stunden sei der zentrale Bereich der Innenstadt ohne Besatzung gewesen. Dies nützten Banden von Plünderern, die Feuer in den heimgesuchten Geschäften legten.

Als steinerner Zeuge des Unvergänglichen hatte der Dom über 800 Jahre hinweg "allen Widrigkeiten getrotzt, hatte Feuersbrünste, Türkenbelagerungen und Franzosenkriege überstanden. Doch in den letzten Wochen des Zweiten Weltkrieges blieb auch St. Stephan nicht mehr verschont vor der Wut der Vernichtung. Zeitzeuge Karl Strobl beobachtete damals "eine alte Wienerin, die über den brennenden Dom weinte".

Zu den fassungslosen Betrachtern der Zerstörung gesellte sich laut Presseberichten ein Mann in ausgebeulten Hosen und mit abgeschabtem Hut, der so nebenbei bemerkte: "Na, wir werden ihn (den Dom) halt wieder aufbauen müssen." Es handelte sich um Kardinal Theodor Innitzer. Nur wenige Wochen danach, am 15. Mai 1945, ließ der Wiener Erzbischof an die Gläubigen seiner Diözese verlautbaren: "Unsere Kathedrale, den Stephansdom, wieder in seiner ursprünglichen Schönheit erstehen zu helfen, ist eine Herzenssache aller Katholiken, eine Ehrenpflicht aller."

April 1945

Im April 1945 brannte nicht nur der Stephansdom. Wir haben für Sie recherchiert wa noch in diesem Monat geschah.

6. April: Das höchste Holzbauwerk aller Zeiten, der 190 Meter hohe Holzsendeturm des Senders Mühlacker, wird von der SS gesprengt.

12. April: Nach dem Tod von Präsident Franklin D. Roosevelt wird Harry S. Truman als 33. Präsident der USA vereidigt.

13. April: Wiener Operation: Sowjetischen Truppen erobern Wien.

25. April: Björn Ulvaeus, schwedischer Sänger, Mitglied der Gruppe ABBA, kommt zur Welt.

27. April: Von der provisorischen Regierung Renner wird die österreichische Unabhängigkeitserklärung proklamiert.

30. April: Die Rote Armee hisst die sowjetische Fahne auf dem Reichstagsgebäude. Adolf Hitler, der Diktator des Dritten Reiches, begeht mit Eva Braun Selbstmord.

www.nachrichten.at/nachrichten/150jahre/ooenachrichten/Vo...

Hauntingly dark is the only way to describe Bodmin Jail, so many people were executed here and you get a real sense of something dark and menacing within the bare bones of the building.

The U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon executes “Meat Grinders” during the Friends and Family Evening Parade at the Barracks, Apr. 28, 2017. The guest of honor for the parade was the Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert B. Neller and the hosting official was the Barracks’ commanding officer, Col. Tyler J. Zagurski. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Robert Knapp) www.dvidshub.net

The Albatros D.V was a fighter aircraft used by the Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family, and the last Albatros fighter to see operational service.

The Albatros D. V though not the most famous plane piloted by Baron Manfred von Richthofen, famously known as the Red Baron, was the one in which he sustained his most serious injuries in WW I prior to being shot down to his death a year later. The model shown here features the paint scheme flown by Richthofen with this aeroplane specification.

On 6 July 1917, during combat with a formation of F.E.2d two seat fighters of No. 20 Squadron RFC, near Wervicq, Richthofen sustained a serious head-wound, causing instant disorientation and temporary partial blindness. He regained consciousness in time to ease the aircraft out of a free-falling spin and executed a rough landing in a field within friendly territory. The injury required multiple surgical operations to remove bone splinters from the impact area. The air victory was credited to Captain Donald Cunnell of No. 20, who was himself shot down and killed a few days later (by anti-aircraft fire). The Red Baron returned to active service (against doctor's orders) on 25 July, but went on convalescent leave from 5 September to 23 October. His wound is thought to have caused lasting damage (he later often suffered from post-flight nausea and headaches) as well as a change in temperament. There is even a theory linking this injury with his eventual death.

In April 1917, Albatros received an order from the Idflieg (Inspektion der Fliegertruppen) for an improved version of the D.III. The resulting D.V prototype flew later that month.

The D.V closely resembled the D.III and used the same 127 kW (170 hp) Mercedes D.IIIa engine. The most notable difference was a new fuselage which was 32 kg (70 lb) lighter than that of the D.III. The elliptical cross-section required an additional longeron on each side of the fuselage. The vertical fin and tailplane remained unchanged from the D.III. The prototype D.V retained the standard rudder of the Johannisthal-built D.III, but production examples used the enlarged rudder featured on D.IIIs built by Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (OAW). The D.V also featured a larger spinner and ventral fin.

The Albatros' Daimler-Merceds D.IIIa engine forms the link between aircraft and car.

The Daimler Motors Works, the cars of which bore the name 'Mercedes', had supplied aero engines with an inline six configuration to the German airforce and aero industry (the three pointed star representing air, land and sea transportation).

Prior to the introduction of the 28-95, Mercedes cars had features engines up to the configuration of the inline four cylinder (though of large capacity). The 28-95 featured a road car-developed version of the Daimler D.F. 80 Aero engine. The engine was of 7.25 litre capacity, featured overhead camshaft. The car engine debuted in the Mercedes racing cars at the Sarthe Grand Prix at Le Mans in August 1913.

The engine then formed the basis for a series of premium Mercedes models for 1914 on two wheelbase lengths, 3,555mm (140 in) and 3065mm (120.6 in). Few were built prior to the war, 20 in 1914, and a further 5 in 1915.

After the war, the 28-95 was reintroduced in 1920, 40 cars being completed that year.

A limitation of the engine was a four bearing crank and unbalance crankshaft. This limited to road engines to engine speed not far above the vibration limitation of the aero engines of 1,800 rpm. Output at 1,800 rpm was calculated at 99 bhp. Further development with a larger 7.3 litre capacity along with supercharging led to the 1922 racecar which took victory at the 1922 Targa Florio, driven by Max Sailer.

The Mercedes 28-95 Roadster shown here was an un-supercharged model released for public sale. Known as the 'Targa Florio' after the race-winning works models, and small number of which were produced with this rakish roadster bodywork.

This Albatros D. V Biplane (1917) & Daimler Mercedes 28-95 Targa Florio Roadster (1923) have both been created in Lego miniland-scale for Flickr LUGNuts' 79th build challenge, - "LUGNuts goes Wingnuts" , - featuring automotive creation inspired by, or with some relationship to aeronautical vehicles.

This is the stone suspension where Portuguese and Dutch publicly hanged and executed the prisoners in Jaffna Fort.

Jaffna Fort (Sinhalese: යාපනය බලකොටුව; Tamil: யாழ்ப்பாணக் கோட்டை) is a fort built by the Portuguese at Jaffna, Sri Lanka in 1618 under Philip De Olivera following the Portuguese invasion of Jaffna. Due to numerous miracles attributed to the statue of Virgin Mary in the church inside the fort, Jaffna Fort was named as Fortress of Our Lady of Miracles of Jafanapatão (Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora dos Milagres de Jafanapatão). It was captured by the Dutch under Raiclop Van Goins in 1658 who expanded it. In 1795, it was taken over by the British, and remained under the control of a British garrison till 1948. - Wiki

This morning (Tuesday 1 February 2022), we executed warrants at six properties in the Chadderton area.

A 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

A second 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.

A 26-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

A 27-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

A 28-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

The warrants were executed as part of Operation Gabel - an investigation into the child sexual exploitation of two teenage girls in 2012/2013.

Inspector Nick Helme, of GMP's Oldham district, said: "This morning's action at several properties in the Chadderton area was a result of just one of a number of ongoing investigations into historic child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester.

"I can assure members of the public and warn offenders that investigating this type of crime is a top priority for the force. Regardless of time passed, dedicated teams in a specialist unit leave no stone unturned whilst gathering evidence to make arrests with the intention of bringing suspects to face justice.

"I hope these warrants build public trust and confidence that Greater Manchester Police is committed to fighting, preventing and reducing CSE to keep people safe and care for victims - giving them the faith they need in the force to come forward.

Greater Manchester is nationally recognised as a model of good practice in terms of support services available to victims.

If you or someone you know has been raped or sexually assaulted, we encourage you not to suffer in silence and report it to the police, or a support agency so you can get the help and support available.

- Saint Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Manchester provides a comprehensive and co-ordinated response to men, women and children who live or have been sexually assaulted within Greater Manchester. We offer forensic medical examinations, practical and emotional support as well as a counselling service for all ages. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and can be accessed by telephoning 0161 276 6515.

-Greater Manchester Rape Crisis is a confidential information, support and counselling service run by women for women over 18 who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Call us on 0161 273 4500 or email us at help@manchesterrapecrisis.co.uk

- Survivors Manchester provides specialist trauma informed support to boys and men in Greater Manchester who have experienced sexual abuse, rape or sexual exploitation. Call 0161 236 2182.

♢ Beautifully executed Tropical Mermaid Eye expertly created by our top dream @roisincusack 💚🐬🐠🐍💚 Model wearing our AZTEC LASH and our AZTEC Face Jewels 💚🌟 Shop these dreamy products from the link in our bio👉👉 Other products used: @illamasqua #illamasqua Foundation @Maccosmetics #Mac Highlighter @ctilburymakeup #charlottetilbury Moon Beach, Beach Stick @Urbandecay #urbandecay Naked 1 Palette @no7uk #no7 Eyebrow Pencil @mehronmakeup #mehron Detailz paint ♢

Vedersoe Church is nationally known after poet Kaj Munk was executed by the Gestapo in 1944 during the occupation. He had been parish priest of the place since 1924. Kaj Munk is with his family buried at the church's east end.

Romanesque choir and nave (granite with three late Gothic additions: southern expansion, which is in communication with the ship with a round arcade (probably originally sepulchral). Porch north (north door) with tympanum (two lions flanking a small human figure) and inside the door one ashlar with a man's head. tower to the west (with basement (opened 1956) cordoned off with wrought-iron railings.) in the choir memorial plaque for Kaj Munk (1898-1944), pastor of Vedersoe 1924-44, is buried at the choir gable.

Vedersø Kirke er landskendt, efter digterpræsten Kaj Munk blev henrettet af Gestapo i 1944 under besættelsen. Han havde da været sognepræst på stedet siden 1924. Kaj Munk ligger sammen med sin familie begravet ved kirkens østende.

Kirken er 800-900 år gammel og bygget i den store romanske byggeperiode 1100-1250, hvor ca. 90% af vore landsbykirker blev opført. De ældste dele er opført af blokke af granit og gnejs, kaldet kvadersten. Inden byggeriet hentede sognefolkene store marksten, som stenhuggere tilhuggede på de fem sider; den sjette blev ikke tilhugget, da den skulle vende indad i muren. Flere af stenene er prydet med relieffer, hvoraf fire er bevaret i kirken.

This is a creative commons image, which you may freely use by linking to this page. Please respect the photographer and his work.

The North Carolina Museum of Art has a large display of sculptures of French artist Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). This is my favorite. When I was there, the late afternoon sun coming in made every photo almost impossible. Neither the color nor the black and white convey the full impact of this masterful depiction of anguish. I never realized how much emotion can be conveyed in bronze. This viewing experience has enhanced appreciation of sculpture in general and of Rodin in specific.

Edward III, King of England, claimed authority over France at that time. In 1346 he began an 11-month siege of the port city of Calais in an early battle in the Hundred Years’ War. Unable to take the city by attack, Edward decided to starve the city into submission. His plan succeeded. He would spare the lives of the citizens of Calais if six of its prominent leaders would come to his encampment; they would be barefoot and without headwear, nooses around their neck, and hand over the keys to the city and beg for mercy. Six burghers ultimately volunteered in this act of selfless heroism. They expected to be executed but were saved through the intervention of England’s pregnant queen, Philippa of Hainault. She feared the killing of the burghers would be a bad omen for the birth of her child. Pierre de Wissant is one of those six burghers.

To honor this act of self-sacrifice, the city of Calais commissioned Rodin in 1885 to execute a monument. His finished work was The Burghers of Calais (Les Bourgeois de Calais). Rodin used the head of Pierre de Wissant alone in a larger-than life sculpture. The modeling of the head was done in 1884-1885 and enlarged in 1909. The figure in the North Carolina Museum of Art was cast in 1980 by the Musée Rodin.

The bust shows Pierre de Wissant with parted lips, eyes nearly shut, head leaning slightly to the side, and an elongated neck—all features contributing to the pathos of the situation of self-denial and sacrifice. His features reveal the emaciation resulting from the effort to starve out the city. His decision shows in the facial agony to sacrifice his life for his fellow citizens. Rodin remarkably creates a human being in flesh and blood using only bronze.

See also www.flickr.com/photos/universalpops/5714783308/ and www.flickr.com/photos/universalpops/5714221433/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Executing a low pass over Stockholm-Bromma on her way home to Västerås after a sightseeing flight over Stockholm city.

James Connolly 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican and socialist leader, aligned to syndicalism and the Industrial Workers of the World. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents. He left school at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of his day. He also took a role in Scottish and American politics. He was executed by a British firing squad because of his leadership role in the Easter Rising of 1916.

Connolly was not actually held in gaol, but in a room (now called the "Connolly Room") at the State Apartments in Dublin Castle, which had been converted to a first-aid station for troops recovering from the war.

Connolly was sentenced to death by firing squad for his part in the rising. On 12 May 1916 he was taken by military ambulance to Royal Hospital Kilmainham, across the road from Kilmainham Gaol, and from there taken to the gaol, where he was to be executed. Visited by his wife, and asking about public opinion, he commented, "They will all forget that I am an Irishman."

Connolly had been so badly injured from the fighting (a doctor had already said he had no more than a day or two to live, but the execution order was still given) that he was unable to stand before the firing squad; he was carried to a prison courtyard on a stretcher. His absolution and last rites were administered by a Capuchin, Father Aloysius Travers. Asked to pray for the soldiers about to shoot him, he said: "I will say a prayer for all men who do their duty according to their lights." Instead of being marched to the same spot where the others had been executed, at the far end of the execution yard, he was tied to a chair and then shot.

His body (along with those of the other rebels) was put in a mass grave without a coffin. The executions of the rebels deeply angered the majority of the Irish population, most of whom had shown no support during the rebellion. It was Connolly's execution, however, that caused the most controversy. Historians have pointed to the manner of execution of Connolly and similar rebels, along with their actions, as being factors that caused public awareness of their desires and goals and gathered support for the movements that they had died fighting for.

The executions were not well received, even throughout Britain, and drew unwanted attention from the United States, which the British Government was seeking to bring into the war in Europe. H. H. Asquith, the Prime Minister, ordered that no more executions were to take place; an exception being that of Roger Casement as he had not yet been tried.

The Greek offensive under King Constantine as Supreme Commander of the Greek Forces in Asia was committed on July 16. 1921, and was skilfully executed. A feint towards the Turkish right flank at Eskişehir distracted Ismet Pasha just as the major assault fell on the left at Kara Hisar. The Greeks then wheeled their axis to the north and swept towards Eskişehir, rolling up the Turkish defence in a series of frontal assaults combined with flanking movements.[21]

Eskişehir fell on July 17, despite a vigorous counter-attack by Ismet Pasha who was determined to fight to the finish. The saner counsels of Mustafa Kemal prevailed, however, and Ismet disengaged with great losses to reach the comparative safety of the Sakarya River, some 30 miles (48 km) to the north and only 50 miles (80 km) from Ankara.[22]

The battle took place along the Sakarya River around the vicinity of Polatlı, stretching a 62 miles long battle line.

The determining feature of the terrain was the river itself, which flows eastward across the plateau, suddenly curves north and then turns back westwards describing a great loop that forms a natural barrier. The river banks are awkward and steep, and bridges were few, there being only two on the frontal section of the loop. East of the loop, the landscape rises before an invader in rocky, barren ridges and hills towards Ankara. It was here in these hills, east of the river that the Turks dug in their defensive positions. The front followed the hills east of the Sakarya River from a point near Polatlı southwards to where the Gök River joins the Sakarya, and then swung at rightangles eastwards following the line of the Gök River. It was an excellent defensive ground.[23]

For the Greeks, the question on whether to dig in and rest on their previous gains, or to advance towards Ankara in great effort and destroy the Army of the Grand National Assembly was difficult to resolve, posing the eternal problems that the Greek Staff had to deal since the beginning of the War. The dangers of extending the lines of communications still further in such an inhospitable terrain that killed horses, caused vehicles to break down and prevented the movement of heavy artillery were obvious. The present front that gave the Greeks the control of the essential strategic railway was tactically most favourable. But because the Army of the Grand National Assembly had escaped encirclement at Kütahya, nothing had been settled; therefore the temptation of achieving a “knock-out-blow” became irresistible.[24]

Battle[edit]

The Greek 9th infantry division marches through the steppe

Turkish prisoners of war during the battle of Sakarya

On August 10, Constantine finally committed his forces to an assault against the Sakarya Line. The Greeks marched hard for nine days before making contact with the enemy. This march included an outflanking manoeuvre through the northern part of Anatolia through the Salt Desert where food and water scarcely existed, so the advancing infantry had to rifle the poor Turkish villages for maize and water or obtain meat from the flocks which were pastured on the fringe of the desert.[25]

On August 23, battle was finally joined when Greeks made contact with advanced Turkish positions south of the Gök River. The Turkish Staff had made their headquarters at Polatlı on the railway a few miles east of the coast of the Sakarya River and the troops were prepared to resist.

On August 26, the Greeks attacked all along the line. Crossing the shallow Gök, the infantry fought its way step up onto the heights where every ridge and hill top had to be stormed against strong entrenchments and withering fire.

By September 2 the commanding heights of the key Mount Chal were in Greek hands and once a Greek enveloping movement against the Turkish left flank had failed, the Battle of the Sakarya River descended to a typical head-on confrontation of infantry, machine-guns and artillery.[21] The Greeks launched their main effort in the centre, pushing forward some 10 miles (16 km) in 10 days, through the Turkish Second Line of defense. Some Greek units came as close as 31 miles (50 km) to the city of Ankara.[26] This was the summit of their achievement in the Asia Minor Campaign.[25]

For days during the battle neither ammunition nor food had reached the front, owing to successful harassment of the Greek lines of communications and raids behind the Greek lines by Turkish cavalry. All the Greek troops were committed to the battle, while fresh Turkish drafts were still arriving throughout the campaign in response to the Nationals mobilization. For all these reasons the impetus of the Greek attack was gone. For a few days there was a lull in the fighting in which neither exhausted army could press an attack.[27] The Greek king Constantine I, who commanded the battle personally, was almost taken prisoner by a Turkish patrol.[28]

Astute as ever at the decisive moment, Mustafa Kemal assumed personal command and led a small counter-attack against the Greek left and around the Mount Chal on September 8. The Greek line held and the attack itself achieved a limited military success,[27] but in fear that this presaged a major Turkish effort to outflank their forces as the severity of winter was approaching, Constantine broke off the Greek assault on September 14. 1921.[29]

Consequently, Anastasios Papoulas ordered a general retreat towards Eskişehir and Kara Hisar. The Greek troops evacuated the Mount Chal which had been taken at such cost and retired unmolested across the Sakarya River to the positions they have left a month before, taking with them their guns and equipment. In the line of the retreating army nothing was left that could benefit the Turks. Railways and bridges were blown up, the same way villages were burnt.[30]

Aftermath[edit]

Map of Greek and Turkish offensives.

The retreat from Sakarya marked the end of the Greek hopes of imposing settlement on Turkey by force of arms. In May 1922 General Papoulas and his complete staff resigned and was replaced by General Georgios Hatzianestis, who proved much more inept than his predecessor.[29]

On the other hand, Mustafa Kemal returned in triumph to Ankara where the Grand National Assembly awarded him the rank of Field Marshal of the Army, as well as the title of Gazi rendering honours as the saviour of the Turkish nation.[31]

According to the speech that was delivered years later before the same National Assembly at the Second General Conference of the Republican People's Party which took part from October 15 to October 20, 1927; Kemal said to have ordered that " ... not an inch of the country should be abandoned until it was drenched with the blood of the citizens...," upon realizing that the Turkish army was losing ground rapidly, with virtually no natural defenses left between the battle line and Ankara.[32][33]

Lord Curzon argued that the military situation became a stalemate with time tending in favour of the Turks. The Turkish position within the British views was improving. In his opinion, the Turkish Nationalists were at that point more ready to treat.[34]

After this, the Ankara government signed the Treaty of Kars with the Russians, and the most important Treaty of Ankara with the French, thus reducing the enemy's front notably in the Cilician theatre and concentrating against the Greeks on the West.[35]

For the Turkish troops it was the turning point of the war, which would develop in a series of victorious clashes against the Greeks, driving out the invaders from the whole Asia Minor in the Turkish War of Independence.[36] The Greeks could do nothing but retreat and this would almost inevitably decline into a rout characterized by the most appalling atrocities: rape, pillage and arson rendering up to one million Turks homeless.[29]

As by August 26. 1922 Turkish offensive started with Battle of Dumlupınar. Kemal dispatched his army on a drive to the coast of the Aegean Sea pursuing the shattered Greek army, which would culminate in the direct assault of Smyrna between September 9 and 11th 1922.

The war would be over and sealed with the defeat of the Greeks, formalized by the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24. 1

Jews being executed on the streets of Lodz, Poland.

In 1940 two million Jews were taken out of there homes and pushed into the ghettos. The Nazis built 1,000 Jewish quarters and/or ghettos.

Hey Guys! I just thought I'd make a small WWII scene. It took me a couple hours to find the perfect bricks and build.

Favorites & Comments are greatly appreciated! :-)

Credit to bent knees: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/59717297@N02/]

Remember, if you fave, please comment.

-Nicco

This is part of a well-executed anti-drone campaign in Brooklyn. As of a few weeks ago, the street signs are still hanging and the stencils still up as well. It's a bold move labeling them with "NYPD" at the bottom.

The following is an email I was forwarded January of last year:

Subject: Operation Drone Freedom - Anonymity Extremely Important

Hi Everyone,

I am writing to you for a couple of reasons, first and foremost I am working on a project that I think you will appreciate and wanted to share with you.

As you may or may not know the United States has begun using unmanned arial drone technology over US skies, the same drones they use to bomb innocent civilians in pakistan and US citizens deemed terrorists such as Anwar Al-Awlaki in Yemen.

A notice to airmen was released advising pilots to look out for drones in the New York area from Dec. 1-Feb. 7

A common question is, what are they doing? Because of our co-opted media establishment, no information regarding domestic drone activity is released. We can only assume this is a further debasement of our constitutional liberties through unwarranted survaleance of the general public.

What I have done in response is to create the authoritarian message through street signs being posted throughout the city, Also created is the grass roots "street art" response through quotes of the founding fathers on subjects of liberty, justice and freedom. (Photos are included)

Now for my second reason for contacting you... Your generous assistance. My request is simple and I will forever be indebted to those that choose to participate.

In order for real public awareness to spread throughout the city and the country I am asking you to use the photos I have supplied to spread the word on this drone activity. Weather that be via email, Facebook, blog or PR contacts you may have, all avenues are acceptable and appreciated, in fact the more the merrier!

The attached photos are simple iPhone photos of the 6 current locations (many more are currently in the works), I have also included maps of the locations so if you would like to take your own photos you may. It is very important to me that my anonymity be maintained due to the legal ramifications of the actions taken. I have sent this to you because I trust you and feel that you too may consider this government activity suspect. If you choose to participate I ask that you pose as an observer of these signs inquiring on the legality of their message, Example; "NYPD using Drones in New York! That cant be legal! Please spread the word!"

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart and hope that together we can bring this conversation to the forefront.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here's a recent times article about drones and the inherent privacy issues: www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/technology/rise-of-drones-in-u...;

They sat in judgement. A memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum to those tied to a wooden stake and executed by firing squad for showing cowardice in the face of the enemy.

They were sick, cold, hungry, tired and terrified. They saw their friends bombed, gassed and cut to pieces in spectacular numbers and they were reduced to trembling wrecks by relentless shellfire and the imminence of their own demise.

Many had lied about their age to fight for King and Country. But 307 of them were executed by their comrades, often for little more than being frightened, confused young men.

Between 1914 and 1920, more than 3,000 British soldiers were sentenced to death by courts martial for desertion, cowardice, striking an officer, disobedience, falling asleep on duty or casting away arms. Although only 11 per cent of the sentences were carried out, those who were shot at dawn were denied legal representation and the right of appeal. Medical evidence which showed that many were suffering from shell-shock - or post traumatic stress disorder - was either not submitted to the courts or was ignored. Most hearings lasted no more than 20 minutes.

Transcripts made public 75 years after the events suggest that some of the men were underage. Others appeared to have wandered away from the battlefield in states of extreme distress and confusion, yet they were charged with desertion.

One 19-year-old, Pte George Roe of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was executed for desertion, even though one witness told his court martial: "[Roe] came up to me and asked if I was a policeman. He told me that he had lost his way and had been wandering about for two days."

Another 19-year-old, Pte James Archibald of the 17th Royal Scots, told his comrades he "felt queer" while en route to the trenches at 6.30pm on 14 May 1916. At 3pm the next day, he was found asleep in a barn. He was shot by firing squad three weeks later.

Sgt Joe Stones of the Durham Light Infantry was arrested in January 1917 after an ambush in which his commanding officer was killed. Stones, whose previous bravery had been acknowledged by officers, had wedged his non- functioning rifle across a narrow trench to slow down Germans who were pursuing him. He was deemed to have "cast away his arms" and was executed.

Pte Joseph Byers was underage when he enlisted in 1914. By January 1915, the war had ground the young man down and he went absent without leave. After being caught, he admitted attempting to desert in the naive belief that his honesty and contrition would earn him a prison sentence. He was shot at dawn two weeks later.

Andrew Mackinlay, the Labour MP for Thurrock who has been campaigning for pardons for the men for five years, said: "When the suppressed documents relating to these courts martial were released, they showed that these men were demonstrably shell-shocked."

"Even where we can't prove the men were ill, we can say that there was one common denominator - they were all denied natural justice. None was given access to legal representation or the right of appeal. Most of them were not given proper medical examinations and so their conditions were ignored."

Mr Mackinlay would like to see either a blanket pardon by royal prerogative - which would not require legislation - or each case to be examined on its merits by High Court judges. None of the cases he is concerned with involves treason or mutiny.

Julian Putkowski, co-author of Shot at Dawn (Pen & Sword), said: "The function of these executions was to intimidate and frighten soldiers in the battlefield to get them to take part in pointless exercises in which thousands were slaughtered."

"The composite soldier in the trenches would be suffering from chronic insomnia and anxiety attacks. He would be wet and cold in wind-chill factors that dragged temperatures as low as minus-18.

"It was enough to drive anyone crazy. To say that all these men who were shot were bad and deserved their punishment is to ignore all these factors. Most just couldn't take any more."

By 1930, Parliament had introduced legislation banning the death sentence for the offences for which the 307 were shot.

Sgt Joe Stones stood at just 5ft 2ins tall, but he was promoted over the heads of stronger men because of his acknowledged bravery and leadership qualities.

Time and again he led barbed-wire parties out into No Man's Land, risking his life while caring for the men in his charge. But he was executed for "casting away his arms" in one of the most bizarre tragedies of the war.

Stones, 25, of the 19th Durham Light Infantry, had been in the trenches of northern France for a year when, one cold morning in January 1917, he went on patrol with his commanding officer. The men were ambushed by Germans and the officer was killed, but Stones couldn't to return fire because he had not removed a protective cover from the breach of his rifle.

The young sergeant turned and ran but had the presence of mind to wedge his rifle across a narrow trench to slow the Germans. He reached his comrades in the rear, shouting: "The Hun are upon us," and gave them enough time to escape.

However, he was charged with casting away his arms and two corporals, John McDonald and Peter Goggins, were charged with quitting their posts as they made their escape.

At Stones's court martial, one officer, Lt J.Rider, wrote: "I have personally been out with him in No Man's Land and always found him keen and bold. In the trenches, he never showed the least sign of funk. ...I have had countless opportunities of seeing him under bad circumstances. I can safely say that he was the last man I would have thought capable of any cowardly action."

But Stones, along with the corporals, was executed anyway.

Like many families whose sons were shot at dawn, Stones's never spoke of him again. His great nephew, Tom Stones, 56, found out about him only last year.

"My grandfather was a lay preacher and he kept a bible with details of family members, the war and battles written inside - but there was no mention of my great uncle Joe," he said.

"What they did to him makes me very angry. They shot him like a rat. It's clear that the poor bugger was no coward. I don't want a medal for him, but I do think he should get a pardon and an apology."

Pte Harry Farr of the West Yorkshire Regiment had been in hospital for five months recovering from shell shock before they sent him back to the trenches.

For two years, the 26-year-old married man from Kensington, west London, had been through some of the worst action of the war before he cracked up in 1916. And, four months after sending him back into the fray, he cracked up again.

The transcript of his court martial at Ville-sur-Ancre records that Farr failed to report for duty on 17 September. He fell out without permission, intending to find an officer to report sick to. However, his pleas fell on deaf ears and he was dragged, kicking and screaming, towards the front before being charged with cowardice.

He told the court martial: "I returned to the 1st Line Transport hoping to report sick to some medical officer there. On the sergeant major's return I reported to him and said I was sick and I could not stand it.

"He then said: `You are a fucking coward and you will go to the trenches. I give fuck all for my life and I give fuck all for yours and I'll get you fucking well shot.'" He was shot at dawn on 18 October.

While he was in the hospital suffering from shell shock, a nurse wrote a letter home for him to his wife, Gertrude, because his hands were shaking too much to hold a pen. It was the last she heard from him.

Gertrude kept her husband's fate a secret for more than 70 years. She was 99 when the papers relating to his case were released and her granddaughter, Janet Booth, was able to explain that he had not been a coward, but was simply a sick young man unable to take any more killing.

"After all those years not mentioning him, she spent the last days of her life talking about Harry Farr," said Mrs Booth. "It meant an awful lot to her to have the stigma removed. Now I'd like to see my grandfather pardoned."

andrew executes highly anticipated vimeo newton™ in the office of vimeo faithfully.

This morning (Tuesday 1 February 2022), we executed warrants at six properties in the Chadderton area.

A 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

A second 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.

A 26-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

A 27-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

A 28-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.

The warrants were executed as part of Operation Gabel - an investigation into the child sexual exploitation of two teenage girls in 2012/2013.

Inspector Nick Helme, of GMP's Oldham district, said: "This morning's action at several properties in the Chadderton area was a result of just one of a number of ongoing investigations into historic child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester.

"I can assure members of the public and warn offenders that investigating this type of crime is a top priority for the force. Regardless of time passed, dedicated teams in a specialist unit leave no stone unturned whilst gathering evidence to make arrests with the intention of bringing suspects to face justice.

"I hope these warrants build public trust and confidence that Greater Manchester Police is committed to fighting, preventing and reducing CSE to keep people safe and care for victims - giving them the faith they need in the force to come forward.

Greater Manchester is nationally recognised as a model of good practice in terms of support services available to victims.

If you or someone you know has been raped or sexually assaulted, we encourage you not to suffer in silence and report it to the police, or a support agency so you can get the help and support available.

- Saint Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Manchester provides a comprehensive and co-ordinated response to men, women and children who live or have been sexually assaulted within Greater Manchester. We offer forensic medical examinations, practical and emotional support as well as a counselling service for all ages. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and can be accessed by telephoning 0161 276 6515.

-Greater Manchester Rape Crisis is a confidential information, support and counselling service run by women for women over 18 who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Call us on 0161 273 4500 or email us at help@manchesterrapecrisis.co.uk

- Survivors Manchester provides specialist trauma informed support to boys and men in Greater Manchester who have experienced sexual abuse, rape or sexual exploitation. Call 0161 236 2182.

Michele Marieschi - View of the Cannaregio, looking towards the Grand Canal

This exceptionally executed and beautifully preserved canvas is a newly discovered picture by Michele Marieschi, one of the greatest Venetian vedutisti of the 18th century. That it has hung and remained in the same family collection for over 100 years has no doubt contributed to its wonderful condition, and indeed also explains the fact that it has remained unpublished. Long considered by the current owner’s family an anonymous Venetian work, it has only recently been rightly identified as an important addition to the mature oeuvre of Marieschi, and is without question among the most important rediscoveries by this artist to appear on the market in years.

The extraordinarily good condition of this painting allows us to admire the technique that distinguished Marieschi from other vedutisti: the wide-angled canal view enveloped in a swirl of dynamic pink and white clouds; the canal itself punctuated by gentle waves, the crests of which are painted with a swift touch of the brush; and the impasto on the façades of the buildings, with their varying hues of deep rusty red and ochre that successfully convey the effect of dappled sunlight on marble and stone. It is unclear what time of day it is, whether it is sunny or cloudy, but the figures on land and water go about their daily business with Marieschi carefully observing.

The design relates to two well-known versions of the composition. Both of these—one at Bowhill in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch, the other at Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin—have been dated by scholars to circa 1737-1739 (see F. Montecuccoli degli Erri and F. Pedrocco, Michele Marieschi, La vita, l’ambiente, l’opera. Milan 1999, pp. 94 and 98, cat. nos. 95 and 98, reproduced). As with a number of Marieschi’s versions, the essential architectural elements running through the pictures are entirely consistent. Of notable difference, however, is the staffage and small gondole which calmly move through the paved streets and under the Ponte delle Guglie of the Cannareggio. Furthermore, Marieschi has here imbued the atmosphere surmounting the scene with a particularly dynamic and vigorously painted cloud formation. The swirling sky above stands in contrast to the seemingly more subdued and gentle counterparts in the Bowhill and Charlottenburg versions.

Marieschi approaches both sky and water in a stylistically similar example, also from circa 1737, depicting A Stonemason's Yard on the Grand Canal, Venice, which was sold with a pendant in New York at Christie’s, 15 April 2008, lot 54, for $3,401,000. This comparable work employs a similarly vigorous impasto application within the architecture, as well as more clearly delineated waves one more often finds with the mature work of Canaletto.

Little is known of Marieschi’s early training although it is probable that he began his artistic career as a stage designer. His first recorded work in Venice was a 1731 set design for the setting of Carnival Thursday in the Piazzetta, prepared for the impresario Francesco Tasso. His early painted works took the form of capricci and vedute influenced by the work of fellow Venetians Luca Carlevarijs and Marco Ricci. Marieschi’s painting of vedute was further encouraged by the success Canaletto had with the genre. His paintings differ from those of his contemporaries, however, in his more theatrical compositions, exaggerated perspectives, atmospheric color and animated handling of figures. Marieschi’s first recorded vedute date from 1736 and were executed for Johann Matthias, Graf von der Schulenburg (1661-1747), around the same moment that this superlative painting was also created.

We are grateful to Charles Beddington for endorsing the attribution after first-hand inspection. We are also grateful to Dario Succi for endorsing the attribution based on photographs. Professor Succi plans to include this work in his forthcoming monograph on Marieschi and considers it the earliest of all the known versions of the composition.

www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/master-paint...

The church is dedicated to St Magnus the Martyr, earl of Orkney, who died on 16 April 1118. He was executed on the island of Egilsay having been captured during a power struggle with his cousin, a political rival. Magnus had a reputation for piety and gentleness and was canonised in 1135.

The identity of the St Magnus referred to in the church's dedication was only confirmed by the Bishop of London in 1926. Following this decision a patronal festival service was held on 16 April 1926. In the 13th century the patronage was attributed to one of the several saints by the name of Magnus who share a feast day on 19 August, probably St Magnus of Anagni (bishop and martyr, who was slain in the persecution of the Emperor Decius in the middle of the 3rd century). However, by the early 18th century it was suggested that the church was either "dedicated to the memory of St Magnus or Magnes, who suffer'd under the Emperor Aurelian in 276 [see St Mammes of Caesarea, feast day 17 August], or else to a person of that name, who was the famous Apostle or Bishop of the Orcades." For the next century historians followed the suggestion that the church was dedicated to the Roman saint of Cæsarea. The famous Danish archaeologist Professor Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae (1821–85) promoted the attribution to St Magnus of Orkney during his visit to the British Isles in 1846-7, when he was formulating the concept of the 'Viking Age', and a history of London written in 1901 concluded that "the Danes, on their second invasion ... added at least two churches with Danish names, Olaf and Magnus". A guide to the City Churches published in 1917 reverted to the view that St Magnus was dedicated to a martyr of the third century, but the discovery of St Magnus of Orkney's relics in 1919 renewed interest in a Scandinavian patron and this connection was encouraged by the Rector who arrived in 1921.

A metropolitan bishop of London attended the Council of Arles in 314, which indicates that there must have been a Christian community in Londinium by this date, and it has been suggested that a large aisled building excavated in 1993 near Tower Hill can be compared with the 4th-century Cathedral of St Tecla in Milan. However, there is no archaeological evidence to suggest that any of the mediaeval churches in the City of London had a Roman foundation. A grant from William I in 1067 to Westminster Abbey, which refers to the stone church of St Magnus near the bridge ("lapidee eccle sci magni prope pontem"), is generally accepted to be 12th century forgery, and it is possible that a charter of confirmation in 1108-16 might also be a later fabrication. Nonetheless, these manuscripts may preserve valid evidence of a date of foundation in the 11th century.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the area of the bridgehead was not occupied from the early 5th century until the early 10th century. Environmental evidence indicates that the area was waste ground during this period, colonised by elder and nettles. Following Alfred's decision to reoccupy the walled area of London in 886, new harbours were established at Queenhithe and Billingsgate. A bridge was in place by the early 11th century, a factor which would have encouraged the occupation of the bridgehead by craftsmen and traders. A lane connecting Botolph's Wharf and Billingsgate to the rebuilt bridge may have developed by the mid-11th century. The waterfront at this time was a hive of activity, with the construction of embankments sloping down from the riverside wall to the river. Thames Street appeared in the second half of the 11th century immediately behind (north of) the old Roman riverside wall and in 1931 a piling from this was discovered during the excavation of the foundations of a nearby building. It now stands at the base of the church tower. St Magnus was built to the south of Thames Street to serve the growing population of the bridgehead area and was certainly in existence by 1128-33.

The small ancient parish extended about 110 yards along the waterfront either side of the old bridge, from 'Stepheneslane' (later Churchehawlane or Church Yard Alley) and 'Oystergate' (later called Water Lane or Gully Hole) on the West side to 'Retheresgate' (a southern extension of Pudding Lane) on the East side, and was centred on the crossroads formed by Fish Street Hill (originally Bridge Street, then New Fish Street) and Thames Street. The mediaeval parish also included Drinkwater's Wharf (named after the owner, Thomas Drinkwater), which was located immediately West of the bridge, and Fish Wharf, which was to the South of the church. The latter was of considerable importance as the fishmongers had their shops on the wharf. The tenement was devised by Andrew Hunte to the Rector and Churchwardens in 1446. The ancient parish was situated in the South East part of Bridge Ward, which had evolved in the 11th century between the embankments to either side of the bridge.

In 1182 the Abbot of Westminster and the Prior of Bermondsey agreed that the advowson of St Magnus should be divided equally between them. Later in the 1180s, on their presentation, the Archdeacon of London inducted his nephew as parson.

Between the late Saxon period and 1209 there was a series of wooden bridges across the Thames, but in that year a stone bridge was completed. The work was overseen by Peter de Colechurch, a priest and head of the Fraternity of the Brethren of London Bridge. The Church had from early times encouraged the building of bridges and this activity was so important it was perceived to be an act of piety - a commitment to God which should be supported by the giving of alms. London’s citizens made gifts of land and money "to God and the Bridge". The Bridge House Estates became part of the City's jurisdiction in 1282.

Until 1831 the bridge was aligned with Fish Street Hill, so the main entrance into the City from the south passed the West door of St Magnus on the north bank of the river. The bridge included a chapel dedicated to St Thomas à Becket for the use of pilgrims journeying to Canterbury Cathedral to visit his tomb. The chapel and about two thirds of the bridge were in the parish of St Magnus. After some years of rivalry a dispute arose between the church and the chapel over the offerings given to the chapel by the pilgrims. The matter was resolved by the brethren of the chapel making an annual contribution to St Magnus. At the Reformation the chapel was turned into a house and later a warehouse, the latter being demolished in 1757-58.

The church grew in importance. On 21 November 1234 a grant of land was made to the parson of St Magnus for the enlargement of the church. The London eyre of 1244 recorded that in 1238 "A thief named William of Ewelme of the county of Buckingham fled to the church of St. Magnus the Martyr, London, and there acknowledged the theft and abjured the realm. He had no chattels." Another entry recorded that "The City answers saying that the church of ... St. Magnus the Martyr ... which [is] situated on the king's highway ... ought to belong to the king and be in his gift". The church presumably jutted into the road running to the bridge, as it did in later times. In 1276 it was recorded that "the church of St. Magnus the Martyr is worth £15 yearly and Master Geoffrey de la Wade now holds it by the grant of the prior of Bermundeseie and the abbot of Westminster to whom King Henry conferred the advowson by his charter."

In 1274 "came King Edward and his wife (Eleanor) from the Holy Land and were crowned at Westminster on the Sunday next after the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady (15 August), being the Feast of Saint Magnus (19 August); and the Conduit in Chepe ran all the day with red wine and white wine to drink, for all such as wished." Stow records that "in the year 1293, for victory obtained by Edward I against the Scots, every citizen, according to their several trade, made their several show, but especially the fishmongers" whose solemn procession including a knight "representing St Magnus, because it was upon St Magnus' day".

An important religious guild, the Confraternity de Salve Regina, was in existence by 1343, having been founded by the "better sort of the Parish of St Magnus" to sing the anthem 'Salve Regina' every evening. The Guild certificates of 1389 record that the Confraternity of Salve Regina and the guild of St Thomas the Martyr in the chapel on the bridge, whose members belonged to St Magnus parish, had determined to become one, to have the anthem of St Thomas after the Salve Regina and to devote their united resources to restoring and enlarging the church of St Magnus. An Act of Parliament of 1437 provided that all incorporated fraternities and companies should register their charters and have their ordinances approved by the civic authorities. Fear of enquiry into their privileges may have led established fraternities to seek a firm foundation for their rights. The letters patent of the fraternity of St Mary and St Thomas the Martyr of Salve Regina in St Magnus dated 26 May 1448 mention that the fraternity had petitioned for a charter on the grounds that the society was not duly founded.

In the mid-14th century the Pope was the Patron of the living and appointed five rectors to the benefice.

Henry Yevele, the master mason whose work included the rebuilding of Westminster Hall and the naves of Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, was a parishioner and rebuilt the chapel on London Bridge between 1384 and 1397. He served as a warden of London Bridge and was buried at St Magnus on his death in 1400. His monument was extant in John Stow's time, but was probably destroyed by the fire of 1666.

Yevele, as the King’s Mason, was overseen by Geoffrey Chaucer in his capacity as the Clerk of the King's Works. In The General Prologue of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales the five guildsmen "were clothed alle in o lyveree Of a solempne and a greet fraternitee" and may be thought of as belonging to the guild in the parish of St Magnus, or one like it. Chaucer's family home was near to the bridge in Thames Street.

In 1417 a dispute arose concerning who should take the place of honour amongst the Rectors in the City churches at the Whit Monday procession, a place that had been claimed from time to time by the Rectors of St Peter Cornhill, St Magnus the Martyr and St Nicholas Cole Abbey. The Mayor and Aldermen decided that the Rector of St Peter Cornhill should take precedence.

St Magnus Corner at the north end of London Bridge was an important meeting place in mediaeval London, where notices were exhibited, proclamations read out and wrongdoers punished. As it was conveniently close to the River Thames, the church was chosen by the Bishop between the 15th and 17th centuries as a convenient venue for general meetings of the clergy in his diocese. In pictures from the mid-16th century the old church looks very similar to the present-day St Giles without Cripplegate in the Barbican. According to the martyrologist John Foxe, a woman was imprisoned in the 'cage' on London Bridge in April 1555 and told to "cool herself there" for refusing to pray at St Magnus for the recently-deceased Pope Julius III.

Simon Lowe, a Member of Parliament and Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company during the reign of Queen Mary and one of the jurors who acquitted Sir Nicholas Throckmorton in 1554, was a parishioner. He was a mourner at the funeral of Maurice Griffith, Bishop of Rochester from 1554 to 1558 and Rector of St Magnus from 1537 to 1558, who was interred in the church on 30 November 1558 with much solemnity. In accordance with the Catholic church's desire to restore ecclesiastical pageantry in England, the funeral was a splendid affair, ending in a magnificent dinner.

Lowe was included in a return of recusants in the Diocese of Rochester in 1577, but was buried at St Magnus on 6 February 1578. Stow refers to his monument in the church. His eldest son, Timothy (died 1617), was knighted in 1603. His second son, Alderman Sir Thomas Lowe (1550–1623), was Master of the Haberdashers' Company on several occasions, Sheriff of London in 1595/96, Lord Mayor in 1604/05 and a Member of Parliament for London. His youngest son, Blessed John Lowe (1553–1586), having originally been a Protestant minister, converted to Roman Catholicism, studied for the priesthood at Douay and Rome and returned to London as a missionary priest. His absence had already been noted; a list of 1581 of "such persons of the Diocese of London as have any children ... beyond the seas" records "John Low son to Margaret Low of the Bridge, absent without licence four years". Having gained 500 converts to Catholicism between 1583 and 1586, he was arrested whilst walking with his mother near London Bridge, committed to The Clink and executed at Tyburn on 8 October 1586. He was beatified in 1987 as one of the eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales.

Sir William Garrard, Master of the Haberdashers' Company, Alderman, Sheriff of London in 1553/53, Lord Mayor in 1555/56 and a Member of Parliament was born in the parish and buried at St Magnus in 1571. Sir William Romney, merchant, philanthropist, Master of the Haberdashers' Company, Alderman for Bridge Within and Sheriff of London in 1603/04 was married at St Magnus in 1582. Ben Jonson is believed to have been married at St Magnus in 1594.

The patronage of St Magnus, having previously been in the Abbots and Convents of Westminster and Bermondsey (who presented alternatively), fell to the Crown on the suppression of the monasteries. In 1553, Queen Mary, by letters patent, granted it to the Bishop of London and his successors.

The church had a series of distinguished Rectors in the second half of the 16th and first half of the 17th century, including Myles Coverdale (Rector 1564-66), John Young (Rector 1566-92), Theophilus Aylmer (Rector 1592-1625), (Archdeacon of London and son of John Aylmer), and Cornelius Burges (Rector 1626-41). Coverdale was buried in the chancel of St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange, but when that church was pulled down in 1840 his remains were removed to St Magnus.

On 5 November 1562 the churchwardens were ordered to break, or cause to be broken, in two parts all the altar stones in the church. Coverdale, an anti-vestiarian, was Rector at the peak of the vestments controversy. In March 1566 Archbishop Parker caused great consternation among many clergy by his edicts prescribing what was to be worn and by his summoning the London clergy to Lambeth to require their compliance. Coverdale excused himself from attending. Stow records that a non-conforming Scot who normally preached at St Magnus twice a day precipitated a fight on Palm Sunday 1566 at Little All Hallows in Thames Street with his preaching against vestments. Coverdale's resignation from St Magnus in summer 1566 may have been associated with these events. Separatist congregations started to emerge after 1566 and the first such, who called themselves 'Puritans' or 'Unspottyd Lambs of the Lord', was discovered close to St Magnus at Plumbers' Hall in Thames Street on 19 June 1567.

St Magnus narrowly escaped destruction in 1633. A later edition of Stow's Survey records that "On the 13th day of February, between eleven and twelve at night, there happened in the house of one Briggs, a Needle-maker near St Magnus Church, at the North end of the Bridge, by the carelessness of a Maid-Servant setting a tub of hot sea-coal ashes under a pair of stairs, a sad and lamentable fire, which consumed all the buildings before eight of the clock the next morning, from the North end of the Bridge to the first vacancy on both sides, containing forty-two houses; water then being very scarce, the Thames being almost frozen over." Susannah Chambers "by her last will & testament bearing date 28th December 1640 gave the sum of Twenty-two shillings and Sixpence Yearly for a Sermon to be preached on the 12th day of February in every Year within the Church of Saint Magnus in commemoration of God's merciful preservation of the said Church of Saint Magnus from Ruin, by the late and terrible Fire on London Bridge. Likewise Annually to the Poor the sum of 17/6. "The tradition of a "Fire Sermon" was revived on 12 February 2004, when the first preacher was the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.

Parliamentarian rule and the more Protestant ethos of the 1640s led to the removal or destruction of "superstitious" and "idolatrous" images and fittings. Glass painters such as Baptista Sutton, who had previously installed "Laudian innovations", found new employment by repairing and replacing these to meet increasingly strict Protestant standards. In January 1642 Sutton replaced 93 feet of glass at St Magnus and in June 1644 he was called back to take down the "painted imagery glass" and replace it. In June 1641 "rail riots" broke out at a number of churches. This was a time of high tension following the trial and execution of the Earl of Strafford and rumours of army and popish plots were rife. The Protestation Oath, with its pledge to defend the true religion "against all Popery and popish innovation", triggered demands from parishioners for the removal of the rails as popish innovations which the Protestation had bound them to reform. The minister arranged a meeting between those for and against the pulling down of the rails, but was unsuccessful in reaching a compromise and it was feared that they would be demolished by force. However, in 1663 the parish resumed Laudian practice and re-erected rails around its communion table.

Joseph Caryl was incumbent from 1645 until his ejection in 1662. In 1663 he was reportedly living near London Bridge and preaching to an Independent congregation that met at various places in the City.

During the Great Plague of 1665, the City authorities ordered fires to be kept burning night and day, in the hope that the air would be cleansed. Daniel Defoe's semi-fictictional, but highly realistic, work A Journal of the Plague Year records that one of these was "just by St Magnus Church".

Despite its escape in 1633, the church was one of the first buildings to be destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. St Magnus stood less than 300 yards from the bakehouse of Thomas Farriner in Pudding Lane where the fire started. Farriner, a former churchwarden of St Magnus, was buried in the middle aisle of the church on 11 December 1670, perhaps within a temporary structure erected for holding services.

The parish engaged the master mason George Dowdeswell to start the work of rebuilding in 1668. The work was carried forward between 1671 and 1687 under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, the body of the church being substantially complete by 1676. At a cost of £9,579 19s 10d St Magnus was one of Wren's most expensive churches. The church of St Margaret New Fish Street was not rebuilt after the fire and its parish was united to that of St Magnus.

The chancels of many of Wren’s city churches had chequered marble floors and the chancel of St Magnus is an example, the parish agreeing after some debate to place the communion table on a marble ascent with steps and to commission altar rails of Sussex wrought iron. The nave and aisles are paved with freestone flags. A steeple, closely modelled on one built between 1614 and 1624 by François d'Aguilon and Pieter Huyssens for the church of St Carolus Borromeus in Antwerp, was added between 1703 and 1706. London's skyline was transformed by Wren's tall steeples and that of St Magnus is considered to be one his finest.

The large clock projecting from the tower was a well-known landmark in the city as it hung over the roadway of Old London Bridge. It was presented to the church in 1709 by Sir Charles Duncombe (Alderman for the Ward of Bridge Within and, in 1708/09, Lord Mayor of London). Tradition says "that it was erected in consequence of a vow made by the donor, who, in the earlier part of his life, had once to wait a considerable time in a cart upon London Bridge, without being able to learn the hour, when he made a promise, that if he ever became successful in the world, he would give to that Church a public clock ... that all passengers might see the time of day." The maker was Langley Bradley, a clockmaker in Fenchurch Street, who had worked for Wren on many other projects, including the clock for the new St Paul's Cathedral. The sword rest in the church, designed to hold the Lord Mayor's sword and mace when he attended divine service "in state", dates from 1708.

Duncombe and his benefactions to St Magnus feature prominently in Daniel Defoe's The True-Born Englishman, a biting satire on critics of William III that went through several editions from 1700 (the year in which Duncombe was elected Sheriff).

Shortly before his death in 1711, Duncombe commissioned an organ for the church, the first to have a swell-box, by Abraham Jordan (father and son). The Spectator announced that "Whereas Mr Abraham Jordan, senior and junior, have, with their own hands, joinery excepted, made and erected a very large organ in St Magnus' Church, at the foot of London Bridge, consisting of four sets of keys, one of which is adapted to the art of emitting sounds by swelling notes, which never was in any organ before; this instrument will be publicly opened on Sunday next [14 February 1712], the performance by Mr John Robinson. The above-said Abraham Jordan gives notice to all masters and performers, that he will attend every day next week at the said Church, to accommodate all those gentlemen who shall have a curiosity to hear it".

The organ case, which remains in its original state, is looked upon as one of the finest existing examples of the Grinling Gibbons's school of wood carving. The first organist of St Magnus was John Robinson (1682–1762), who served in that role for fifty years and in addition as organist of Westminster Abbey from 1727. Other organists have included the blind organist George Warne (1792–1868, organist 1820-26 until his appointment to the Temple Church), James Coward (1824–80, organist 1868-80 who was also organist to the Crystal Palace and renowned for his powers of improvisation) and George Frederick Smith FRCO (1856–1918, organist 1880-1918 and Professor of Music at the Guildhall School of Music). The organ has been restored several times - in 1760, 1782, 1804, 1855, 1861, 1879, 1891, 1924, 1949 after wartime damage and 1997 - since it was first built. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was one of several patrons of the organ appeal in the mid-1990s and John Scott gave an inaugural recital on 20 May 1998 following the completion of that restoration. The instrument has an Historic Organ Certificate and full details are recorded in the National Pipe Organ Register.

The hymn tune "St Magnus", usually sung at Ascensiontide to the text "The head that once was crowned with thorns", was written by Jeremiah Clarke in 1701 and named for the church.

Canaletto drew St Magnus and old London Bridge as they appeared in the late 1740s. Between 1756 and 1762, under the London Bridge Improvement Act of 1756 (c. 40), the Corporation of London demolished the buildings on London Bridge to widen the roadway, ease traffic congestion and improve safety for pedestrians. The churchwardens’ accounts of St Magnus list many payments to those injured on the Bridge and record that in 1752 a man was crushed to death between two carts. After the House of Commons had resolved upon the alteration of London Bridge, the Rev Robert Gibson, Rector of St Magnus, applied to the House for relief; stating that £48 6s. 2d. per annum, part of his salary of £170 per annum, was assessed upon houses on London Bridge; which he should utterly lose by their removal unless a clause in the bill about to be passed should provide a remedy. Accordingly, Sections 18 and 19 of 1756 Act provided that the relevant amounts of tithe and poor rate should be a charge on the Bridge House Estates.

A serious fire broke out on 18 April 1760 in an oil shop at the south east corner of the church, which consumed most of the church roof and did considerable damage to the fabric. The fire burnt warehouses to the south of the church and a number of houses on the northern end of London Bridge.

As part of the bridge improvements, overseen by the architect Sir Robert Taylor, a new pedestrian walkway was built along the eastern side of the bridge. With the other buildings gone St Magnus blocked the new walkway. As a consequence it was necessary in 1762 to 1763 to remove the vestry rooms at the West end of the church and open up the side arches of the tower so that people could pass underneath the tower. The tower’s lower storey thus became an external porch. Internally a lobby was created at the West end under the organ gallery and a screen with fine octagonal glazing inserted. A new Vestry was built to the South of the church. The Act also provided that the land taken from the church for the widening was "to be considered ... as part of the cemetery of the said church ... but if the pavement thereof be broken up on account of the burying of any persons, the same shall be ... made good ... by the churchwardens".

Soldiers were stationed in the Vestry House of St Magnus during the Gordon Riots in June 1780.

By 1782 the noise level from the activities of Billingsgate Fish Market had become unbearable and the large windows on the north side of the church were blocked up leaving only circular windows high up in the wall. At some point between the 1760s and 1814 the present clerestory was constructed with its oval windows and fluted and coffered plasterwork. J. M. W. Turner painted the church in the mid-1790s.

The rector of St Magnus between 1792 and 1808, following the death of Robert Gibson on 28 July 1791, was Thomas Rennell FRS. Rennell was President of Sion College in 1806/07. There is a monument to Thomas Leigh (Rector 1808-48 and President of Sion College 1829/30, at St Peter's Church, Goldhanger in Essex. Richard Hazard (1761–1837) was connected with the church as sexton, parish clerk and ward beadle for nearly 50 years and served as Master of the Parish Clerks' Company in 1831/32.

In 1825 the church was "repaired and beautified at a very considerable expense. During the reparation the east window, which had been closed, was restored, and the interior of the fabric conformed to the state in which it was left by its great architect, Sir Christopher Wren. The magnificent organ ... was taken down and rebuilt by Mr Parsons, and re-opened, with the church, on the 12th February, 1826". Unfortunately, as a contemporary writer records, "On the night of the 31st of July, 1827, [the church's] safety was threatened by the great fire which consumed the adjacent warehouses, and it is perhaps owing to the strenuous and praiseworthy exertions of the firemen, that the structure exists at present. ... divine service was suspended and not resumed until the 20th January 1828. In the interval the church received such tasteful and elegant decorations, that it may now compete with any church in the metropolis."

In 1823 royal assent was given to ‘An Act for the Rebuilding of London Bridge’ and in 1825 John Garratt, Lord Mayor and Alderman of the Ward of Bridge Within, laid the first stone of the new London Bridge. In 1831 Sir John Rennie’s new bridge was opened further upstream and the old bridge demolished. St Magnus ceased to be the gateway to London as it had been for over 600 years. Peter de Colechurch had been buried in the crypt of the chapel on the bridge and his bones were unceremoniously dumped in the River Thames. In 1921 two stones from Old London Bridge were discovered across the road from the church. They now stand in the churchyard.

Wren's church of St Michael Crooked Lane was demolished, the final service on Sunday 20 March 1831 having to be abandoned due to the effects of the building work. The Rector of St Michael preached a sermon the following Sunday at St Magnus lamenting the demolition of his church with its monuments and "the disturbance of the worship of his parishioners on the preceeding Sabbath". The parish of St Michael Crooked Lane was united to that of St Magnus, which itself lost a burial ground in Church Yard Alley to the approach road for the new bridge. However, in substitution it had restored to it the land taken for the widening of the old bridge in 1762 and was also given part of the approach lands to the east of the old bridge. In 1838 the Committee for the London Bridge Approaches reported to Common Council that new burial grounds had been provided for the parishes of St Michael, Crooked Lane and St Magnus, London Bridge.

Depictions of St Magnus after the building of the new bridge, seen behind Fresh Wharf and the new London Bridge Wharf, include paintings by W. Fenoulhet in 1841 and by Charles Ginner in 1913. This prospect was affected in 1924 by the building of Adelaide House to a design by John James Burnet, The Times commenting that "the new ‘architectural Matterhorn’ ... conceals all but the tip of the church spire". There was, however, an excellent view of the church for a few years between the demolition of Adelaide Buildings and the erection of its replacement. Adelaide House is now listed. Regis House, on the site of the abandoned King William Street terminus of the City & South London Railway (subsequently the Northern Line), and the Steam Packet Inn, on the corner of Lower Thames Street and Fish Street Hill, were developed in 1931.

By the early 1960s traffic congestion had become a problem and Lower Thames Street was widened over the next decade to form part of a significant new east-west transport artery (the A3211). The setting of the church was further affected by the construction of a new London Bridge between 1967 and 1973. The New Fresh Wharf warehouse to the east of the church, built in 1939, was demolished in 1973-4 following the collapse of commercial traffic in the Pool of London and, after an archaeological excavation, St Magnus House was constructed on the site in 1978 to a design by R. Seifert & Partners. This development now allows a clear view of the church from the east side. The site to the south east of The Monument (between Fish Street Hill and Pudding Lane), formerly predominantly occupied by fish merchants, was redeveloped as Centurion House and Gartmore (now Providian) House at the time of the closure of old Billingsgate Market in January 1982. A comprehensive redevelopment of Centurion House began in October 2011 with completion planned in 2013. Regis House, to the south west of The Monument, was redeveloped by Land Securities PLC in 1998.

The vista from The Monument south to the River Thames, over the roof of St Magnus, is protected under the City of London Unitary Development Plan, although the South bank of the river is now dominated by The Shard. Since 2004 the City of London Corporation has been exploring ways of enhancing the Riverside Walk to the south of St Magnus. Work on a new staircase to connect London Bridge to the Riverside Walk is due to commence in March 2013. The story of St Magnus's relationship with London Bridge and an interview with the rector featured in the television programme The Bridges That Built London with Dan Cruickshank, first broadcast on BBC Four on 14 June 2012. The City Corporation's 'Fenchurch and Monument Area Enhancement Strategy' of August 2012 recommended ways of reconnecting St Magnus and the riverside to the area north of Lower Thames Street.

www.stmagnusmartyr.org.uk/history/history-church

The Aramac War Memorial was unveiled on 12th April 1924 by Shire Chairman, E W Bowyer in lieu of the State Governor who was unable to attend. It was designed and executed by monumental masonry firm, F M Allan and cost £700 in total; £580 for the monument and £48 for the fence. Funds were raised by the Memorial Committee, a group of mostly young women who held entertainments and collected public subscriptions. The stone memorial honours the 132 local men who served in the First World War, including fifteen dead and eleven wounded.

The memorial serviced the whole of the Aramac Shire and is located in the main intersection of the town of Aramac. It is of a comparatively large scale and dominates the small town.

The area of Aramac was first settled in the late 1850s after the area was discovered by Nathaniel Buchanan and William Landsborough. The town reserve was gazetted on 26 June 1869. Settlement was slow and sheep and cattle stations difficult to establish due to the remoteness of the area and the lack of water. By the late 1870s most land settlement had taken place.

Australia, and Queensland in particular, had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became our first national monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young nation. Australia lost 60 000 from a population of about 4 million, representing one in five of those who served. No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact on the nation.

Even before the end of the war, memorials became a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief. To those who erected them, they were as sacred as grave sites, substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East. British policy decreed that the Empire war dead were to be buried where they fell. The word 'cenotaph', commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means 'empty tomb'.

Australian war memorials are distinctive in that they commemorate not only the dead. Australians were proud that their first great national army, unlike other belligerent armies, was composed entirely of volunteers, men worthy of honour whether or not they paid the supreme sacrifice. Many memorials honour all who served from a locality, not just the dead, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war. Such evidence is not readily obtainable from military records, or from state or national listings, where names are categorised alphabetically or by military unit.

Australian war memorials are also valuable evidence of imperial and national loyalties, at the time, not seen as conflicting; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects; and of popular taste. In Queensland, the soldier statue was the popular choice of memorial, whereas the obelisk predominated in the southern states, possibly a reflection of Queensland's larger working-class population and a lesser involvement of architects.

Many of the First World War monuments have been updated to record local involvement in later conflicts, and some have fallen victim to unsympathetic re-location and repair.

Although there are many different types of memorials in Queensland, the digger statue is the most common. It was the most popular choice of communities responsible for erecting the memorials, embodying the ANZAC myth and representing the qualities of the ideal Australian.....loyalty, courage, youth, innocence and masculinity. The digger was a phenomenon peculiar to Queensland, perhaps due to the fact that other states had followed Britain's lead and established Advisory Boards made up of architects and artists, prior to the erection of war memorials. The digger statue was not highly regarded by artists and architects who were involved in the design of relatively few Queensland memorials.

Most statues were constructed by local masonry firms, although some were by artists or imported.

The maker of the Aramac War Memorial, F M Allan was located in Rockhampton and was responsible for many war memorials in Central Queensland. This memorial and the one at Bundaberg are the two most intact digger memorials still remaining in their original settings at intersections.

Aramac, Queensland:

Aramac, a rural town, is 530 km west of Rockhampton and 70 km north of Barcaldine, central Queensland. It was the administrative centre of the former Aramac Shire.

William Landsborough explored the Aramac district in 1859 in his first expedition. Discovering a creek, which flowed south-west into the Thomson River, he named it Aramac, after a former pastoralist, Robert Ramsay Mackenzie (hence 'R. R. Mack'), who was also Queensland's first colonial treasurer. Pastoral occupation began in 1862 on the Bowen Downs station on Reedy Creek (north of Aramac) and the Aramac Station (1863).

In 1867 an employee of Aramac Station, John Kingston, opened a bark-hut store at an outlying point on the Aramac Creek. Enlarged two years later to include a hotel, Kingston's settlement was declared a town site in 1869 and surveyed as a town in 1875. It was the region's first town, and the centre of the first local-government division (see Aramac Shire). A post office was opened in 1874, a school in 1878 and a hospital in 1879.

By 1880 the western railway line from Rockhampton was half way to Aramac, and its further westerly extension was surveyed in an almost straight line, in a compromise alignment between Aramac and Blackall. Aramac missed the benefit of the railway, while the new railheads of Barcaldine and Longreach prospered.

From 1885 the Bowen Downs station was progressively partitioned for closer-settlement, and the Aramac township steadily increased in population. Bore water was brought to the surface for reticulated town supply and use in public baths by 1899.

Barcaldine's former shire hall (an attractive colonial timber building) was relocated by the council and re-constructed as Aramac's first shire hall in 1913. More famously, the shire financed a narrow gauge railway – the Aramac Tramway – joining the town with Barcaldine. Although well patronised by passengers and freight, throughput was seldom enough to generate good revenues. State assistance was needed after 1930 until the railway's closure in 1975, but the project stood as a celebrated example of local self help. The tramway station in Aramac was re-opened as a museum in 1994, and appears on the Queensland heritage register.

Rural roads absorbed most of the shire's funds until the 1960s, when at last the town's drainage, road surfaces, kerbs and channels were properly constructed. The primary school was extended to include a secondary department in 1965, and sewerage was connected in 1966.

Yet Aramac's population had peaked by the early 1960s. The end of the postwar wool boom and the reserve price scheme, and years of sagging demand for wool all contributed to a halving of the population by the early years of the twenty-first century. Low house prices (average $10,000) contributed to a small population increase in the early 2000s.

Aramac has a hotel, caravan park, local shops, primary-secondary school, Catholic and Uniting churches, and the former shire hall and offices. There are also swimming, bowling and tennis facilities and the Aramac Tramway Museum. A new ambulance station (2008) replaced the facility built in 1956. The 10-bed hospital closed in 2010 and was converted to a 'primary health care centre'.

The annual Harry Redford Cattle Drive begins in Aramac and partly traces the 1870 footsteps of renowned cattle duffer Harry Redford, known as Captain Starlight.

Source: Queensland Heritage Register & Queensland Places (queenslandplaces.com.au/aramac).

The Capuchin Friars first arrived in Dublin in 1615, but it was not until 1624 that the first friary was established, in Bridge Street. They came to Church Street in 1690, shortly after the Battle of the Boyne and opened a “Mass house” at the site of the present Church. The Mass house was enlarged in 1796. The present Church dates from 1881. The architect was James J.McCarthy. The altar and reredos was designed by James Pearse, the father of Pádraig and Willie Pearse who were executed after the 1916 Rising. It was friars from the Church Street community that attended those executed in 1916 and administered the last rites.

Today the friars serve the local community through parish work and through the Capuchin Day Centre. The Capuchin Mission Office which supports the work of the Irish friars overseas, in Zambia, South Africa, New Zealand and Korea is also located in Church Street. St Mary of the Angels is not a parish church, however, the Friars also have responsibility for Halston Street Parish, one of the oldest in Dublin City Centre.

model hit by a car

Probably the worst executed photo I will ever post, this shot is from 24 November 1979 - 44 years ago today. Numbered as picture 100 in my chronological collection, I tool it as a fledgling railfan seeing my first E-unit and trying to hold the camera steady in my excitement. The train is an Amtrak Empire Service run at the Syracuse NY station, probably the Niagara Rainbow, running with E8A No. 437 in place of the usual F40PH. My dad was driving by when he saw the train in the station with the old covered wagon, quickly drove home and got me, and we returned to the station just in time to hurriedly attempt a shot as they got the highball. Still a great memory.

Salvo D'Acquisto (15 or 17 October 1920 in Naples – 23 September 1943 in Fiumicino was a member of the Italian Carabinieri during the Second World War. He was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor and is being considered for beatification for sacrificing himself to save 22 civilians from being executed by German soldiers.

Salvo D'Acquisto (born October 15, 1920 in Naples, † September 23, 1943 in Torre di Palidoro) was a corporal of the Italian Carabinieri.

He sacrificed his life for 22 civilians, who were to be shot by the German SS as a repressive measure against resistance fighters.

Life

D'Acquisto joined the Carabinieri force as a volunteer in 1939 and participated in the war in North Africa, where he was also wounded. After recovering, he completed a NCO course and then served in the Carabinieri station of Torre in Pietra near Rome (Via Aurelia).

When fascist Italy left the war on September 8, 1943, German troops occupied the country, against which Italian partisans and resistance groups (Resistenza) took up the fight. On 22 September 1943, German soldiers searched some (probably left by the Guardia di Finanza) ammunition boxes near the village of Torre di Palidoro, which fell within the jurisdiction of the Carabinieri station of Torre in Pietra. During the search of an ammunition box, a hand grenade exploded, killing one German soldier and injuring several others.

The commander of the German SS unit then made unspecified local insurgents responsible for this "attack" and requested Carabinieri. Since the station chief of Torre was prevented in Pietra, D'Acquisto as his deputy led the investigation and came to the conclusion that the cause of the explosion was an accident. The German commander, however, insisted on his attack theory and ordered according to a few days old command of Kesselring (Albert Kesselring (30 November 1885 – 16 July 1960) was a German Luftwaffe Generalfeldmarschall during World War II) reprisals against the civilian population.

After a brief raid, they drove together 22 randomly selected people from the surrounding farms, who had to briefly question D'Acquisto on German orders. After all 22 had declared innocent, they demanded the disclosure of the backers. When they came here after insults and fisticuffs against D'Acquisto to no result, it was decided the shooting of the prisoners, who had to dig together with D'Acquisto immediately a mass grave.

To save the 22 people from dying, D'Acquisto charged himself with the alleged attack. He emphasized that he alone was responsible for the attack and had prepared it without outside help. He demanded the immediate release of all 22 prisoners. The German commander agreed.

D'Acquisto died at the age of 22. He is resting today in the church of Santa Chiara in Naples.

Honors

For his deed he received posthumously the highest Italian military order (gold medal for military bravery). The Vatican has been testing his beatification for several years. After Acquisto now a barracks in Rome (Tor di Quinto) and a military school in Velletri were named. The selfless act of the Carabiniere was publicly propagated in a film (1974), in an opera passage (2002) and in a TV series (2003). In Naples, in the 21st century, a modern-style monument was erected to him: a perforated steel plate symbolizes the people being rounded up, in front of them a human being larger than life and protecting the rest with his body. In Bozens Peter Rosegger park, since 1990, a statue designed by David Moroder commemorates Salvo D'Acquisto.

Salvo D’Acquisto (* 15. Oktober 1920 in Neapel; † 23. September 1943 in Torre di Palidoro) war ein Unteroffizier der italienischen Carabinieri.

Er opferte sein Leben für 22 Zivilisten, die von der deutschen SS als Repressionsmaßnahme gegen Widerstandskämpfer erschossen werden sollten.

Leben

D’Acquisto trat 1939 als Freiwilliger in die Carabinieri-Truppe ein und nahm am Krieg in Nordafrika teil, wo er auch verwundet wurde. Nach seiner Genesung absolvierte er einen Unteroffizierslehrgang und diente dann in der Carabinieri-Station von Torre in Pietra bei Rom (Via Aurelia).

Als das faschistische Italien am 8. September 1943 aus dem Krieg ausschied, besetzten deutsche Truppen das Land, gegen die italienische Partisanen und Widerstandsgruppen (Resistenza) den Kampf aufnahmen. Am 22. September 1943 durchsuchten deutsche Soldaten einige (wahrscheinlich von der Guardia di Finanza zurückgelassene) Munitionskisten in der Nähe des Ortes Torre di Palidoro, der in den Zuständigkeitsbereich der Carabinieri-Station von Torre in Pietra fiel. Während der Durchsuchung einer Munitionskiste explodierte eine Handgranate, wodurch ein deutscher Soldat getötet und mehrere andere verletzt wurden.

Der Kommandant der deutschen SS-Einheit machte daraufhin nicht näher bekannte ortsansässige Aufständische für diesen „Anschlag“ verantwortlich und forderte Carabinieri an. Da der Stationschef von Torre in Pietra verhindert war, leitete D'Acquisto als sein Stellvertreter die Ermittlungen und kam zu dem Schluss, dass es sich bei der Explosion um einen Unfall gehandelt haben musste. Der deutsche Kommandant beharrte jedoch auf seiner Anschlagstheorie und ordnete gemäß einem wenige Tage alten Befehl Kesselrings Repressalien gegen die Zivilbevölkerung an.

Nach einer kurzen Razzia trieb man 22 willkürlich ausgewählte Personen der umliegenden Bauernhöfe zusammen, die D'Acquisto auf deutschen Befehl hin kurz befragen musste. Nachdem sich alle 22 für unschuldig erklärt hatten, verlangte man die Preisgabe der Hintermänner. Als man auch hier nach Beschimpfungen und Handgreiflichkeiten gegen D'Acquisto zu keinem Ergebnis kam, beschloss man die Erschießung der Gefangenen, die zusammen mit D'Acquisto umgehend ein Massengrab ausheben mussten.

Um die 22 Menschen vor dem Tod zu bewahren, bezichtigte sich D'Acquisto des vermeintlichen Anschlags. Er hob hervor, dass er allein die Verantwortung für den Anschlag trug und diesen auch ohne fremde Hilfe vorbereitet hatte. Er forderte die sofortige Freilassung aller 22 Gefangenen. Dem stimmte der deutsche Kommandant zu.

D'Acquisto starb mit 22 Jahren. Er ruht heute in der Kirche Santa Chiara in Neapel.

Ehrungen

Für seine Tat erhielt er postum den höchsten italienischen Militärorden (Goldmedaille für militärische Tapferkeit). Der Vatikan prüft seit einigen Jahren seine Seligsprechung. Nach Acquisto wurden inzwischen eine Kaserne in Rom (Tor di Quinto) sowie eine Militärschule in Velletri benannt. Die selbstlose Tat des Carabiniere wurde in einem Film (1974), in einer Opernpassage (2002) sowie in einer TV-Serie (2003) öffentlich propagiert. In Neapel wurde ihm im 21. Jahrhundert ein modern gestaltetes Denkmal gesetzt: eine durchbrochene Stahlplatte symbolisiert die zusammengetriebenen Personen, davor steht überlebensgroß ein Mensch und schützt mit seinem Körper die übrigen. In Bozens Roseggerpark erinnert seit 1990 eine von David Moroder entworfene Statue an Salvo D'Acquisto.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvo_D%E2%80%99Acquisto

One of the three apse windows that constitute the first major stained glass commission of John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens, executed 1954-6 and portraying nine aspects of Christ's divinity.

The also constitute the first major flowering of a new, contemporary approach to stained glass design, radically different from anything produced in this country before, and therefore a milestone in the evolution of modern stained glass in Britain.

Right hand (south east) window representing Christ as the Judge, the Teacher & the Good Shepherd.

This was my second visit to Oundle School Chapel, an impressive building designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield in 1922-3 and standing completely detached in splendid isolation in the grounds of Oundle School. The chapel was built in a late Perpendicular Gothic style with a nave flanked by low aisles and a tall clerestorey that floods the interior with light..The east end is formed by a polygonal apse surrounded with a low ambulatory (forming a hidden corridor within).

The interior is vast and spacious as a grand school chapel should be, but fine though the architecture is it is the explosions of coloured light that punctuate the aisles and the deep, brooding tones of the glass in the apse that draw the eye here. Oundle's chapel is a treasure house of modern stained glass, from the three altar windows by John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens (their first ever commission dating from 1954-6, often considered the first windows in a modern style in Britain) to the extensive scheme of aisle windows recently commissioned from Mark Angus and installed in 2002-5.

Piper & Reyntiens' apse windows are quite unique, and more figurative than so much of their more familiar later work. The images represent nine aspects of Christ, each personifying a different aspect of his divinity. The colouring is rich and dense and the stylisation bold, many of the faces being more reminiscent of some powerful tribal mask than anything seen in a British church before. It took great vision and courage to commission these windows (Piper & Reyntiens had little experience at this stage and no previous collaboration to their names) and is perhaps symptomatic of postwar optimism and a more forward thinking approach than is often seen in today's commissions in glass. John Betjeman was so impressed on first seeing these works that he stated that the chapel would become a place of pilgrimage to art lovers, and so it should be to anyone with an interest in modern glass.

The aisle windows by Mark Angus are no less richly coloured, and some (at the west end) are equally figurative but most use a more abstract symbolic language. Much of the drawing has a rather charming, almost childlike naivety and the designs are in many cases kept refreshingly simple, allowing the various bold colours to dominate these smaller apertures.

Oundle School Chapel is a must for anyone with an interest in contemporary stained glass and the School is to be commended for its vision in making such a statement in its choice of artists. The chapel may be open to visitors much of the time but it might be advisable to check if making a special journey to see it.

Shot at dawn. A memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum to those tied to a wooden stake and executed by firing squad for showing cowardice the face of the enemy.

They were sick, cold, hungry, tired and terrified. They saw their friends bombed, gassed and cut to pieces in spectacular numbers and they were reduced to trembling wrecks by relentless shellfire and the imminence of their own demise.

Many had lied about their age to fight for King and Country. But 307 of them were executed by their comrades, often for little more than being frightened, confused young men.

Between 1914 and 1920, more than 3,000 British soldiers were sentenced to death by courts martial for desertion, cowardice, striking an officer, disobedience, falling asleep on duty or casting away arms. Although only 11 per cent of the sentences were carried out, those who were shot at dawn were denied legal representation and the right of appeal. Medical evidence which showed that many were suffering from shell-shock - or post traumatic stress disorder - was either not submitted to the courts or was ignored. Most hearings lasted no more than 20 minutes.

Transcripts made public 75 years after the events suggest that some of the men were underage. Others appeared to have wandered away from the battlefield in states of extreme distress and confusion, yet they were charged with desertion.

One 19-year-old, Pte George Roe of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was executed for desertion, even though one witness told his court martial: "[Roe] came up to me and asked if I was a policeman. He told me that he had lost his way and had been wandering about for two days."

Another 19-year-old, Pte James Archibald of the 17th Royal Scots, told his comrades he "felt queer" while en route to the trenches at 6.30pm on 14 May 1916. At 3pm the next day, he was found asleep in a barn. He was shot by firing squad three weeks later.

Sgt Joe Stones of the Durham Light Infantry was arrested in January 1917 after an ambush in which his commanding officer was killed. Stones, whose previous bravery had been acknowledged by officers, had wedged his non- functioning rifle across a narrow trench to slow down Germans who were pursuing him. He was deemed to have "cast away his arms" and was executed.

Pte Joseph Byers was underage when he enlisted in 1914. By January 1915, the war had ground the young man down and he went absent without leave. After being caught, he admitted attempting to desert in the naive belief that his honesty and contrition would earn him a prison sentence. He was shot at dawn two weeks later.

Andrew Mackinlay, the Labour MP for Thurrock who has been campaigning for pardons for the men for five years, said: "When the suppressed documents relating to these courts martial were released, they showed that these men were demonstrably shell-shocked."

"Even where we can't prove the men were ill, we can say that there was one common denominator - they were all denied natural justice. None was given access to legal representation or the right of appeal. Most of them were not given proper medical examinations and so their conditions were ignored."

Mr Mackinlay would like to see either a blanket pardon by royal prerogative - which would not require legislation - or each case to be examined on its merits by High Court judges. None of the cases he is concerned with involves treason or mutiny.

Julian Putkowski, co-author of Shot at Dawn (Pen & Sword), said: "The function of these executions was to intimidate and frighten soldiers in the battlefield to get them to take part in pointless exercises in which thousands were slaughtered."

"The composite soldier in the trenches would be suffering from chronic insomnia and anxiety attacks. He would be wet and cold in wind-chill factors that dragged temperatures as low as minus-18.

"It was enough to drive anyone crazy. To say that all these men who were shot were bad and deserved their punishment is to ignore all these factors. Most just couldn't take any more."

By 1930, Parliament had introduced legislation banning the death sentence for the offences for which the 307 were shot.

Sgt Joe Stones stood at just 5ft 2ins tall, but he was promoted over the heads of stronger men because of his acknowledged bravery and leadership qualities.

Time and again he led barbed-wire parties out into No Man's Land, risking his life while caring for the men in his charge. But he was executed for "casting away his arms" in one of the most bizarre tragedies of the war.

Stones, 25, of the 19th Durham Light Infantry, had been in the trenches of northern France for a year when, one cold morning in January 1917, he went on patrol with his commanding officer. The men were ambushed by Germans and the officer was killed, but Stones couldn't to return fire because he had not removed a protective cover from the breach of his rifle.

The young sergeant turned and ran but had the presence of mind to wedge his rifle across a narrow trench to slow the Germans. He reached his comrades in the rear, shouting: "The Hun are upon us," and gave them enough time to escape.

However, he was charged with casting away his arms and two corporals, John McDonald and Peter Goggins, were charged with quitting their posts as they made their escape.

At Stones's court martial, one officer, Lt J.Rider, wrote: "I have personally been out with him in No Man's Land and always found him keen and bold. In the trenches, he never showed the least sign of funk. ...I have had countless opportunities of seeing him under bad circumstances. I can safely say that he was the last man I would have thought capable of any cowardly action."

But Stones, along with the corporals, was executed anyway.

Like many families whose sons were shot at dawn, Stones's never spoke of him again. His great nephew, Tom Stones, 56, found out about him only last year.

"My grandfather was a lay preacher and he kept a bible with details of family members, the war and battles written inside - but there was no mention of my great uncle Joe," he said.

"What they did to him makes me very angry. They shot him like a rat. It's clear that the poor bugger was no coward. I don't want a medal for him, but I do think he should get a pardon and an apology."

Pte Harry Farr of the West Yorkshire Regiment had been in hospital for five months recovering from shell shock before they sent him back to the trenches.

For two years, the 26-year-old married man from Kensington, west London, had been through some of the worst action of the war before he cracked up in 1916. And, four months after sending him back into the fray, he cracked up again.

The transcript of his court martial at Ville-sur-Ancre records that Farr failed to report for duty on 17 September. He fell out without permission, intending to find an officer to report sick to. However, his pleas fell on deaf ears and he was dragged, kicking and screaming, towards the front before being charged with cowardice.

He told the court martial: "I returned to the 1st Line Transport hoping to report sick to some medical officer there. On the sergeant major's return I reported to him and said I was sick and I could not stand it.

"He then said: `You are a fucking coward and you will go to the trenches. I give fuck all for my life and I give fuck all for yours and I'll get you fucking well shot.'" He was shot at dawn on 18 October.

While he was in the hospital suffering from shell shock, a nurse wrote a letter home for him to his wife, Gertrude, because his hands were shaking too much to hold a pen. It was the last she heard from him.

Gertrude kept her husband's fate a secret for more than 70 years. She was 99 when the papers relating to his case were released and her granddaughter, Janet Booth, was able to explain that he had not been a coward, but was simply a sick young man unable to take any more killing.

"After all those years not mentioning him, she spent the last days of her life talking about Harry Farr," said Mrs Booth. "It meant an awful lot to her to have the stigma removed. Now I'd like to see my grandfather pardoned."

We always believe that dreaming is free and we can be whoever we are in our dreams but still, executing and reaching for that dream is another thing. We tend to stay dreaming and not plan to execute in order to reach it. So today to give life to the words I said, I asked Joanne to dress up like a Ballet dancer, though she really isn't. The pose, the expression and hand gestures just shows that she is dreaming to be a ballet dancer and she tries to execute and practice it in order to reach for her dreams :) That is why I used green light as representation of hope :). So dream big and live your dreams!

Strobist info: 1 430 EXII bare at 1/32 24mm zoom at left and a 580 EXII at 1/128 with green gel and speed grid at 105mm zoom at right

This morning, Thursday 2 February 2017, officers executed warrants at addresses across Miles Platting and Ancoats.

The warrants were executed as part of Operation Rudow a multi-agency operation targeting organised crime and the supply of drugs across Greater Manchester.

Chief Inspector Andy Cunliffe, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: "Drugs ruin lives and destroy communities. We will systematically root out and dismantle groups that seek to profit from flooding our streets with drugs.

"Today, we have made arrests after executing warrants across North Manchester.

"By sharing information with our partners, we are better equipped to tackle organised crime and make it impossible for them to profit from it.

"I'd like to thank the community who came forward with information that has proved vital in making this enforcement action a success.

“We still however, need people to come forward with information to prevent people from benefiting from the proceeds of crime at the demise of others. If you know about it, report it.

"Organised crime has no place on the streets of Greater Manchester and we will continue to work tirelessly to remove the scourge of criminal gangs."

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Officers investigating the recent spate of firearms discharges in Salford have executed a series of warrants in Little Hulton and Eccles.

In the early hours of this morning, Friday 16 October 2015, officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Salford Division searched nine properties throughout the division in the hunt for firearms linked to the recent shootings in the area.

The warrants were executed as part of a Project Gulf operation designed to tackle organised crime. Gulf is part of Programme Challenger, the Greater Manchester approach to tackling organised criminality across the region.

Seven men and one woman have been arrested on suspicion of a number of offences, ranging from possession with intent to supply to handling stolen goods.

A significant amount of Class A and Class B drugs were seized as part of the operation, though no firearms were found.

Detective Inspector Alan Clitherow said: “This series of warrants are just one element of the continuing and relentless operation being orchestrated to tackle organised crime gangs in Salford.

“They came about as a result of the on-going investigation into the recent spate of firearms discharges in Salford, including the horrific attack of young Christian Hickey and his mother Jayne.

“We wanted to show our communities that we are leaving no stone unturned in the hunt for those responsible for the abhorrent attack on an innocent child and his mother, and that we will not stand for the spate of shootings taking place on our streets in recent weeks.

“But there is still more to do and, as with any fight against organised crime groups embedded in our city, we need residents to come to us with information so we can put a stop to this criminality.

“There has been much said about people breaking this wall of silence in Salford, and once again I urge people to search their consciences and please come forward.

“You could provide the information that may help prevent any further innocent lives being touched by this senseless violence, and prevent further children being injured by thugs that many people within Salford seem so intent on protecting.

“I want to stress that if you come forward with what you know, we can offer you complete anonymity and I assure you that you will have our full support. Or if you don’t feel you can talk to police but you have information, you can speak to Crimestoppers anonymously.”

A dedicated information hotline has been set up on 0161 856 9775, or people can also pass information on by calling 101, or the independent charity, Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Its the first time i have come across a copy of the original death warrant for King Charles I 29 Jauary 1648

This evocative document, a flat parchment containing seals and signatures, is handwritten in iron gall ink and led to the execution of Charles I and subsequent rule of Oliver Cromwell, one of the 59 signatories. Charles was tried in the House of Commons and executed on 30 January 1649, outside Banqueting House in Whitehall. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the Death Warrant was used to identify the commissioners who had signed it (the 'regicides') and prosecute them for treason. Even the signatories, who had died, including Cromwell, were dug up and their bodies hanged. The House of Lords ordered the return of the Death Warrant from Charles’ executioner who was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It was returned on 31 July 1660 and it has been in the custody of Parliament ever since.

www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparlia...

The Regicides

Regicide n. 1. a person who kills or takes part in killing a king. 2. the act of killing a king [L rex regis king +CIDE]

In August 1660, following the Restoration of King Charles II, the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion was passed as a gesture of reconciliation to reunite the kingdom. Under the initial Restoration settlement, a free pardon was granted to everyone who had supported the Commonwealth and Protectorate, but exceptions were made for those who had directly participated in the trial and execution of King Charles I in 1649.

Regicides hanged, drawn and quartered

A special court was appointed in October 1660 and the regicides that were in custody were brought to trial. Ten were condemned to death and publicly hanged, drawn and quartered at Charing Cross or Tyburn, London, in October 1660: Thomas Harrison, John Jones, Adrian Scrope, John Carew, Thomas Scot, and Gregory Clement, who had signed the King's death warrant; the preacher Hugh Peter; Francis Hacker and Daniel Axtell, who commanded the guards at the King's trial and execution; and John Cook, the lawyer who had directed the prosecution. A further nineteen regicides were imprisoned for life.

By order of the Convention Parliament, all the regicides who had died before the Restoration were posthumously attainted for high treason and their property was confiscated. In January 1661, the corpses of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton and John Bradshaw were exhumed and hanged in their shrouds at Tyburn before their heads were hacked off and their skulls impaled at Westminster Hall.

Twenty regicides fled to Europe or to America. Sir George Downing (1623-84), English ambassador to the Netherlands, controversially arrested three of them: John Barkstead, John Okey and Miles Corbet, who were extradited to England and executed in April 1662. John Lisle was murdered by a royalist at Lausanne in Switzerland in 1664. The last survivor of the regicides was probably Edmund Ludlow, who died at Vevey, Switzerland, in 1692. The identity of the executioner who beheaded King Charles was never discovered.

59 Signatories of the King's Death Warrant

Thirty-nine of the commissioners who signed the King's death warrant in 1649 were still alive when Charles II was restored to the throne. All except two were excluded from pardon. John Hutchinson was granted his liberty by Parliament before the list of exemptions from prosecution was finalized; Richard Ingoldsby was pardoned after he defeated the last military resistance to the Restoration.

Ten signatories of the death warrant successfully escaped abroad. The others were brought to trial and sentenced to death. Nine were executed and two (Vincent Potter and Simon Mayne) died in custody before their death sentences were carried out. In all other cases, the death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment on appeal.

Listed in the order that their names were signed. Alphabetical biography listing here

1. John Bradshaw16. Peter Temple†31. Henry Marten†46. John Alured

2. Lord Grey of Groby17. Thomas Harrison†x32. Vincent Potter†47. Robert Lilburne†

3. Oliver Cromwell18. John Hewson†e33. Sir William Constable48. William Say†e

4. Edward Whalley†e19. Henry Smith†34. Richard Ingoldsby†49. Anthony Stapley

5. Sir Michael Livesey†20. Peregrine Pelham35. William Cawley†e50. Sir Gregory Norton

6. John Okey†x21. Richard Deane36. John Barkstead†x51. Thomas Chaloner†e

7. Sir John Danvers22. Robert Tichborne†37. Isaac Ewer52. Thomas Wogan†e

8. Sir John Bourchier†23. Humphrey Edwards38. John Dixwell†e53. John Venn

9. Henry Ireton24. Daniel Blagrave†39. Valentine Walton†e54. Gregory Clement†x

10. Sir Thomas Mauleverer25. Owen Rowe†40. Simon Mayne†55. John Downes†

11. Sir Hardress Waller†26. William Purefoy41. Thomas Horton56. Thomas Waite†

12. John Blakiston27. Adrian Scrope†x42. John Jones†x57. Thomas Scot†x

13. John Hutchinson†28. James Temple†43. John Moore58. John Carew†x

14. William Goffe†e29. Augustine Garland†44. Gilbert Millington†59. Miles Corbet†x

15. Thomas Pride30. Edmund Ludlow†e45. George Fleetwood†

† Still living at the Restoration

e Escaped abroad

x Executed

Commissioners who did not sign the death warrant

Most of the commissioners of the High Court of Justice who attended the King's trial but did not sign the death warrant were also excluded from pardon. An exception was Sir Thomas Fairfax, who only attended a preliminary meeting of the commissioners; he was granted a royal pardon and allowed to keep his titles and property. Others who had taken little part in the proceedings were treated leniently: John Dove was discharged unpunished; Sir Gilbert Pickering, Francis Lassels and Thomas Lister were forbidden from holding public office.

None of the other surviving commissioners were executed, but several were imprisoned for life. Sir James Harrington, John Lisle and Nicholas Love escaped abroad.

Sir Thomas AndrewsThomas HammondJohn Lisle†eIsaac Penington†

Francis AllenSir James Harrington†eThomas Lister†Sir Gilbert Pickering†

James Chaloner†Edmond Harvey†Nicholas Love†eRobert Wallop†

John Dove†William Heveningham†Sir Henry Mildmay†Sir Thomas Fairfax†

John FryFrancis Lassels†Viscount Monson†

† Still living at the Restoration

e Escaped abroad

bcw-project.org/biography/regicides-index

SUDELEY CASTLE & GARDENS

Located in the heart of the Cotswolds, Sudeley Castle & Gardens has played an important role in England’s history for over 1,000 years.

Rated amongst the top attractions on TripAdvisor for ‘Things to Do in the Cotswolds’, the castle rooms and exhibits contain many fascinating treasures, from ancient Roman times to the present day.

Outside, the castle is surrounded by a breathtaking 1,200 acre estate and ten award-winning gardens. The centrepiece is the Queens Garden, so named because four of England’s queens – Anne Boleyn, Katherine Parr, Lady Jane Grey and Elizabeth I – once walked upon the original Tudor Parterre.

The Pheasantry at Sudeley houses a collection of 16 rare and endangered species of birds from around the world as part of Sudeley’s programme of breeding and conservation.

Sudeley Castle & Gardens is also the only private castle in England to have a queen buried within its grounds – Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s six wives. Today visitors can explore the beautiful 15th century church where she lies entombed.

www.sudeleycastle.co.uk/

Klinkicht, Gerhard, * 1915, † 14.03.2000 Bavaria, Wehrmacht Captain. A commemorative plaque on St. Stephen's Cathedral (side of the gate Singertor) recalls that in April 1945 Klinkicht refused to execute the order to bombard the cathedral.

Klinkicht, Gerhard, * 1915, † 14.03.2000 Bayern, Wehrmachtshauptmann. Eine Gedenktafel am Stephansdom (Seite des Singertors) hält in Erinnerung, dass sich Klinkicht im April 1945 geweigert hatte, den Befehl zur Beschießung des Doms auszuführen.

Fire in St. Stephen's Cathedral: eyewitnesses cried in the face of devastation.

Despite great need after the war, the landmark of Austria was rebuilt within seven years.

04th April 2015

What happened in the heart of Vienna 70 years ago brought tears to many horrified residents. On 12 April 1945, the Pummerin, the largest bell of St. Stephen's Cathedral, fell as a result of a roof fire in the tower hall and broke to pieces. The following day, a collapsing retaining wall pierced through the vault of the southern side choir, the penetrating the cathedral fire destroyed the choir stalls and choir organ, the Imperial oratory and the rood screen cross. St. Stephen's Cathedral offered a pitiful image of senseless destruction, almost at the end of that terrible time when the Viennese asked after each bombing anxiously: "Is Steffl still standing?"

100 grenades for the cathedral

Already on April 10, the cathedral was to be razed to the ground. In retaliation for hoisting a white flag on St. Stephen's Cathedral, the dome must be reduced to rubble and ash with a fiery blast of a hundred shells. Such was the insane command of the commander of an SS Artillery Division in the already lost battle for Vienna against the Red Army.

The Wehrmacht Captain Gerhard Klinkicht, from Celle near Hanover, read the written order to his soldiers and tore the note in front of them with the words: "No, this order will not be executed."

What the SS failed to do, settled looters the day after. The most important witness of the events from April 11 to 13, became Domkurat (cathedral curate) Lothar Kodeischka (1905-1994), who, as the sacristan director of St. Stephen, was practically on the spot throughout these days. When Waffen-SS and Red Army confronted each other on the Danube Canal on April 11, according to Kodeischka a report had appeared that SS units were making a counter-attack over the Augarten Bridge. Parts of the Soviet artillery were then withdrawn from Saint Stephen's square. For hours, the central area of ​​the city center was without occupying forces. This was helped by gangs of raiders who set fire to the afflicted shops.

As a stone witness to the imperishable, the cathedral had defied all adversity for over 800 years, survived the conflagrations, siege of the Turks and the French wars, but in the last weeks of the Second World War St. Stephen was no longer spared the rage of annihilation. Contemporary witness Karl Strobl in those days observed "an old Viennese lady who wept over the burning cathedral".

The stunned spectators of destruction were joined, according to press reports, by a man in baggy trousers and a shabby hat, who incidentally remarked, "Well, we'll just have to rebuild him (the dome)." It was Cardinal Theodor Innitzer. Only a few weeks later, on May 15, 1945, the Viennese archbishop proclaimed to the faithful of his diocese: "Helping our cathedral, St. Stephen's Cathedral, to regain its original beauty is an affair of the heart of all Catholics, a duty of honor for all."

April 1945

In April 1945, not only St. Stephen's Cathedral burned. We did some research for you this month.

April 6: The tallest wooden structure of all time, the 190 meter high wooden tower (short-wave transmitter) of the transmitter Mühlacker, is blown up by the SS.

April 12: Following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman is sworn in as the 33rd US President.

April 13: Vienna Operation: Soviet troops conquer Vienna.

April 25: Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer, member of the ABBA group, is born.

April 27: The provisional government Renner proclaims the Austrian declaration of independence.

April 30: The Red Army hoists the Soviet flag on the Reichstag building. Adolf Hitler, the dictator of the Third Reich, commits suicide with Eva Braun.

Brand im Stephansdom: Augenzeugen weinten angesichts der Verwüstung.

Trotz großer Not nach dem Krieg wurde das Wahrzeichen Österreichs binnen sieben Jahren wieder aufgebaut.

04. April 2015

Was vor 70 Jahren im Herzen Wiens passierte, trieb vielen entsetzten Bewohnern die Tränen in die Augen. Am 12. April 1945 stürzte die Pummerin, die größte Glocke des Stephansdoms, als Folge eines Dachbrandes in die Turmhalle herab und zerbrach. Tags darauf durchschlug eine einbrechende Stützmauer das Gewölbe des südlichen Seitenchors, das in den Dom eindringende Feuer zerstörte Chorgestühl und Chororgel, Kaiseroratorium und Lettnerkreuz. Der Stephansdom bot ein erbarmungswürdiges Bild sinnloser Zerstörung, und das fast am Ende jener Schreckenszeit, in der die Wiener nach jedem Bombenangriff bang fragten: "Steht der Steffl noch?"

100 Granaten für den Dom

Bereits am 10. April sollte der Dom dem Erdboden gleichgemacht werden. Als Vergeltung für das Hissen einer weißen Fahne auf dem Stephansdom ist der Dom mit einem Feuerschlag von 100 Granaten in Schutt und Asche zu legen. So lautete der wahnwitzige Befehl des Kommandanten einer SS-Artillerieabteilung im schon verlorenen Kampf um Wien gegen die Rote Armee.

Der aus Celle bei Hannover stammende Wehrmachtshauptmann Gerhard Klinkicht las die schriftlich übermittelte Anordnung seinen Soldaten vor und zerriss den Zettel vor aller Augen mit den Worten: "Nein, dieser Befehl wird nicht ausgeführt."

Was der SS nicht gelang, besorgten einen Tag später Plünderer: Zum wichtigsten Zeugen der Geschehnisse vom 11. bis 13. April wurde Domkurat Lothar Kodeischka (1905–1994), der als Sakristeidirektor von St. Stephan in diesen Tagen praktisch durchgehend an Ort und Stelle war. Als am 11. April Waffen-SS und Rote Armee einander am Donaukanal gegenüberstanden, war laut Kodeischka die Nachricht aufgetaucht, SS-Einheiten würden einen Gegenstoß über die Augartenbrücke unternehmen. Teile der sowjetischen Artillerie wurden daraufhin vom Stephansplatz abgezogen. Für Stunden sei der zentrale Bereich der Innenstadt ohne Besatzung gewesen. Dies nützten Banden von Plünderern, die Feuer in den heimgesuchten Geschäften legten.

Als steinerner Zeuge des Unvergänglichen hatte der Dom über 800 Jahre hinweg "allen Widrigkeiten getrotzt, hatte Feuersbrünste, Türkenbelagerungen und Franzosenkriege überstanden. Doch in den letzten Wochen des Zweiten Weltkrieges blieb auch St. Stephan nicht mehr verschont vor der Wut der Vernichtung. Zeitzeuge Karl Strobl beobachtete damals "eine alte Wienerin, die über den brennenden Dom weinte".

Zu den fassungslosen Betrachtern der Zerstörung gesellte sich laut Presseberichten ein Mann in ausgebeulten Hosen und mit abgeschabtem Hut, der so nebenbei bemerkte: "Na, wir werden ihn (den Dom) halt wieder aufbauen müssen." Es handelte sich um Kardinal Theodor Innitzer. Nur wenige Wochen danach, am 15. Mai 1945, ließ der Wiener Erzbischof an die Gläubigen seiner Diözese verlautbaren: "Unsere Kathedrale, den Stephansdom, wieder in seiner ursprünglichen Schönheit erstehen zu helfen, ist eine Herzenssache aller Katholiken, eine Ehrenpflicht aller."

April 1945

Im April 1945 brannte nicht nur der Stephansdom. Wir haben für Sie recherchiert wa noch in diesem Monat geschah.

6. April: Das höchste Holzbauwerk aller Zeiten, der 190 Meter hohe Holzsendeturm des Senders Mühlacker, wird von der SS gesprengt.

12. April: Nach dem Tod von Präsident Franklin D. Roosevelt wird Harry S. Truman als 33. Präsident der USA vereidigt.

13. April: Wiener Operation: Sowjetischen Truppen erobern Wien.

25. April: Björn Ulvaeus, schwedischer Sänger, Mitglied der Gruppe ABBA, kommt zur Welt.

27. April: Von der provisorischen Regierung Renner wird die österreichische Unabhängigkeitserklärung proklamiert.

30. April: Die Rote Armee hisst die sowjetische Fahne auf dem Reichstagsgebäude. Adolf Hitler, der Diktator des Dritten Reiches, begeht mit Eva Braun Selbstmord.

www.nachrichten.at/nachrichten/150jahre/ooenachrichten/Vo...

Sometimes its the "power of the pen" that drives the deal to closure. Work of The Countess Saint Marché by Allen Pierson.

A perfectly executed 3-Way-Joint, between 4-tapered legs & expertly crafted Stretchers that support the table top.

At 22 years of age, Severin Hansen's Model 36 desk

was picked up by Danish Modern Furniture maker, Dagmar.

66 years ago.

dagmar-london.com/blogs/news/a-life-less-ordinary-the-sto...

Where the tapered leg meets the vertical plane,

each leg and "spreader" are cut on an extreme angled mitre.

The joint, is flawless. No Filler. No Exposed glue line.

AND?

The drawer boxes, have a exactly matching angle on the ends where the drawer box- meets the leg.

Fuc£ing INCREDIBLE craftsmanship.

apmidcenturymodern.com/designer/severin-hansen/

Tonight doctors informed us that they found a compatible kidney for my paternal granny, now they're executing the transplant.

She's waiting this moment for some years and in the meanwhile she started to do the dialysis.

I hope all will be ok, this will be a great Christmas present for her and all the family.

Dec. 20th, 2007

(111/365)

✔EXECUTE // SET TOP & SKIRT

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

✔ Full version includes

✔ Set Top with 42 Colors HUD

✔ Set Skirt with 42 Colors HUD

✔Set Panties with 42 Colors HUD

✔ Textures are for OLD and NEW Viewer compatible

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

✔ Sizes: Reborn, Peach, Legacy + Perky, Lara + Petite, Kupra, GenX Curvy + Curvy Dainty, GenX Classic + Dainty, Erika

✔ The item you are purchasing is meant for MESH BODIES.

✔ This item requires a viewer that supports MESH.

✔ Auto redelivery is enabled.

✔ No refunds except on DOUBLE PURCHASES.

✔ Always, ALWAYS purchase a demo first before committing to buy.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Enjoy your purchase ! You are welcome any time to contact me, Ena Venus for any support needed.

You are welcome to visit any time:)

Visit In-World -ExeCute- Mainstore

Costume executed by: Olgica Dojchinoska Momirovska

Hair and make up: Milena Kuzmanovska

Model: Miljana Atanasova

Photo and editing: Nikola Eftimov

Unlike the other images from this set that emerged as a result of visual research of old masters and dealt with other issues, in this case the starting point was a reconstructed costume and its presentation.

Executed by the artist's wife, Lazarine Baudrion. (That's her profile on the image. )

Embroidery, wool yarn on canvas

About the great Hungarian artist, József Rippl-Rónai (1861-1927): geigervonmuller.com/hungarian-painters/jozsef-rippl-ronai/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zsef_Rippl-R%C3%B3nai

Női fej virágokkal (1898)

Gyapjú, vászonhímzés, 60x60 cm

Felesége, Lazarine Baudrion kivitelezésében - az ő profilja látható a kárpiton.

mek.oszk.hu/02500/02571/html/eletrajz.htm</a

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (Sept. 14, 2020) - Paratroopers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, “Spartan Brigade,” execute a joint forcible entry operation into Donnelly Training Area, Alaska, Sept. 14, 2020. More than 250 Paratroopers participated as part of a U.S. Army Pacific exercise that included the movement of an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System from the 17th Fires Brigade based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord to Shemya Island, along with air support from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson F-22 fighter jets. The exercise demonstrated the capability of U.S. military forces in the Pacific theater to work together across vast distances to project force as needed to bolster safety and stability in the region. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Pfc. Colton Eller, Comanche Co., 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division) 200914-A-AB123-007

** Interested in following U.S. Indo-Pacific Command? Engage and connect with us at www.facebook.com/indopacom | twitter.com/INDOPACOM |

www.instagram.com/indopacom | www.flickr.com/photos/us-pacific-command; | www.youtube.com/user/USPacificCommand | www.pacom.mil/ **

Greetings, everybody!

It has been a busy six months for the Prichard Nixon administration. In addition to drafting and executing a successful public relations campaign – from January 25 to April 1 – I succeeded in accomplishing the following:

- Oversaw the successful release of Animals, my second full-length album, on February 1.

- Secured an interview with Matt King and the prestigious Coachella Valley Independent newspaper, whose profile on Prichard Nixon hit newsstands on March 1.

- Made my radio debut with “Hot Goat Yoga” on Z107-7 FM in Joshua Tree on March 20, courtesy of deejay Pat Kearns.

It has been refreshing to have the opportunity to step away from the Interwebs for a time and catch my breath. However, I haven’t stopped working in the meantime.

In addition to music, one of my long-time passions has been writing, and on this year’s “to-do” list was the goal of publishing a piece of my literary work. For the last several months I have been quietly working on achieving this goal and am happy to announce that those efforts have bore fruit: in late June the Desert Writer’s Guild, a collective of writers and publishers representing artists across the High-Desert and Greater Coachella Valley, reached out to inform me that one of my short stories (“Isabella”) had been selected by the collective for inclusion in their upcoming 2022 literary anthology.

This development is significant for Prichard Nixon in several ways: in addition to accomplishing a long-time personal goal of mine, this will allow me to branch out and explore avenues of artistic creativity and expression outside of music, expanding my fan base as I go.

In music news, I am pleased to report that the remastered version of Adventures in A Cappella was completed and released this morning, July 8, a full day ahead of schedule. This re-release includes all-new artwork and extensive liner notes discussing the background of each song.

I used to think that remix/remaster/re-release albums were super-cheesy record label cash grabs, but now I realize that I was mistaken. When done correctly, re-releases provide the listener with an expanded understanding of the artist's motivations and mindset (and, ideally, cool new album artwork and liner notes to boot!)

Give it a spin, pass it along and let me know what you think at prichardnixon.bandcamp.com/album/adventures-in-a-cappella....

Putting together this re-release was an absolute blast: in terms of quality, the remastered tracks are on par with those that appeared on Animals. Technically, they are the same songs, but they sound so different. Expanding upon the original album artwork and liner notes was great fun as well, and I found myself laughing out loud at several points while writing them. I am extremely happy with the finished result and am pleased to see these songs released in a more polished and professional form.

As for the remainder of the year, I want to have two or three new singles released by years end. I intend on remaining focused on my expansion into the local literary scene. Later this month I will engage in talks regarding potentially securing a practice space and recording studio. And I am in tentative conversations with a local gallery regarding the display of Prichard Nixon photography and artwork. Everything is on the table, and it is all worth reaching for.

Thank you as always for your continued support in these artistic undertakings of mine. Until next time, the politics of Prichard Nixon bids you farewell. Stay tuned, there will be more to come.

Sincerely,

Prichard Nixon

Desert Hot Springs, CA

July 8, 2022

Website: prichardnixon.bandcamp.com/.

Twenty people have been arrested following the latest phase of an operation to tackle the sale of stolen metal in Greater Manchester.

Earlier today, Wednesday 22 May 2013, Greater Manchester Police and British Transport Police executed a number of warrants at scrap metal dealers across the area as part of an intelligence-led Operation Alloy day of action.

Raids were executed at scrapyards in Rochdale, Bury, north Manchester, Oldham, Bolton and Salford.

The initiative also saw officers search the home addresses of those arrested as well as a number of partner agencies assist in the search of recycling yards and the recovery of potentially stolen metal.

Superintendent Craig Thompson, who leads Greater Manchester Police's Operation Alloy team, said: "Since Operation Alloy was launched more than two years ago, we have made huge inroads into tackling metal theft.

"However, despite a sharp drop in incidents of metal theft, we know there is still a culture that exists among thieves who believe they can off-load stolen metal onto scrapyards.

"Any scrapyard dealer who knowingly accepts stolen goods or pays cash for metal is propagating this cycle of criminality, creating a market for thieves for prosper, and that is exactly why we have taken this action today. If a burglar knows he can sell stolen metal to a rogue dealer, it will entice them into committing offences that can cause real hardship to businesses and victims.

"For example, if a pensioner has her boiler stolen in winter they will be unable to heat their home which could put their life in danger. We also know of businesses that have been forced to shell out hundreds of thousands of pounds to pay for repairs as a direct result of metal thieves. The knock-on effect of that is to put people's jobs on the line as businesses struggle to fund those repairs, so the human cost of what these rogue dealers are doing should not be underestimated.

"It is important to stress that of the 70 scrapyards across Greater Manchester, the vast majority have worked hand-in-hand with police and are fully compliant with all the legislation. They have helped us to create a hostile environment that has made it very difficult for thieves to off-load stolen metal.

"What today is all about is targeting those rogue dealers who are suspected of lining their own pockets and making huge swathes of cash by knowingly selling stolen metal. In terms of officer numbers and the sheer scale of the investigation, this is the biggest operation ourselves and British Transport Police have run which shows our determination to tackling metal theft."

When Operation Alloy was originally launched in August 2011 the region was recording up to 900 incidents of metal theft per month, a number which has now been reduced to about 200 per month.

T/Chief Superintendent Pete Mason, BTP's North West Area Commander, said: "Today's warrants are the culmination of a year-long joint investigation into the trade in stolen metal across Greater Manchester.

"Metal theft is a serious issue which has a major impact on the lives of those living and working in Greater Manchester.

"Whether thieves target railway cable, power lines, electrical substations or lead from homes or business, the impact felt by communities is marked and causes not only disruption but also financial loss and potential risk of harm.

"Thankfully, during the past 12 months, there have been significant reductions in the number of thefts recorded - due, in part, to legislative change which has gone hand in hand with enforcement activity under Operation Alloy."

T/Chief Supt Mason added: "Unfortunately, despite this recent success, the issue has not gone away and some scrap metal recyclers are keeping the market for stolen metal alive by continuing to flout the law and purchase metal with a 'no questions asked' attitude.

"This has to stop and GMP and BTP, together with partner agencies across the region, will continue to work together to take action against both thieves and unscrupulous scrap metal dealers."

Steve Cox, future network manager for Electricity North West, the company which owns and maintains the regional power network, said: "We have been working closely with Greater Manchester Police and British Transport Police and today's successful day of action highlights our commitment to crack down on this very serious crime.

"Metal theft not only affects us, your network operator, but also communities and residents, who could be left without power in their homes.

"These thieves, who are breaking into our substations or stealing from our overhead lines, are putting themselves and others in great danger and it causes thousands of pounds worth of damage.

"We are investing a lot of money and resources into putting a stop to metal theft in our region once and for all, but we would still urge people to get in touch if they hear or see anything suspicious."

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.

www.gmp.police.uk

You should call 101, the new national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

Executing a few crew training circuits

Hepple Tower is a partially collapsed 14th century tower house situated close to the road side at the eastern end of the small village of Hepple.

The tower still stands to 40 feet high with walls 6 feet thick and a vaulted basement and can be accessed from the roadside.

~ History ~

1415 ~ Sir Robert Ogle, constable of Norham Castle, sheriff and King's diplomat to Scotland, builds himself a tower at Hepple, in addition to his beloved Bothal Castle, which he obtained from his younger brother by a combination of force and cunning.

Sir Robert's uncle Thomas Grey is executed as a result of the Southampton Plot, to depose King Henry V in favour of Edmund Mortimer, second surviving son of King Edward III. Sir Robert's cousin also suffers the same fate for his involvement.

1419 ~ Sir Robert is appointed constable of Wark Castle and later Berwick-upon-Tweed and Roxburgh castles.

1436 ~ The loyal Sir Robert dies, leaving his son, also named Robert, captain of Berwick Castle, to inherit his title and lands.

Robert is captured by the Scots during a border raid and later ransomed for 750 marks.

1437 ~ Robert is appointed Sheriff of Northumberland.

1455 ~ As the political factions between Richard of York and the Duke of Somerset spills over into physical violence, Robert supports the House of York. He brings a force of 600 men from the Scottish Marches to support the Yorkist cause at the Battle of St Albans. Richard, Duke of York, and his allies, the Neville Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, defeat the royal army commanded by Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, who is killed.

With the Lancastrian King Henry VI captured, a subsequent parliament appoint Richard of York Lord Protector.

1461 ~ Following the Yorkist victory over the Lancastrian's in the largest and most bloodiest battle ever to be fought on English soil with some 50,000 men involved, amidst a snowstorm, Robert Ogle and his men assist in the hunt for the deposed King Henry, besieging him at Carham Castle.

For his loyal service to the House of York Robert is created Baron Ogle and placed in command of the Earl of Northumberland's forfeited castles; Alnwick, Warkworth and Prudhoe.

1465 ~ Baron Robert Ogle is awarded with the Lordship of Redesdale and Harbottle Castle.

1541 ~ A survey records the tower as decayed and in poor repair after it is burnt by the Scots.

The Ogles abandon the tower and transfer their court to nearby Great Tosson Tower.

Hepple is a small village and parish in rural Northumberland, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Rothbury, which provides most of its local services. It is on the edge of the Northumberland National Park, and lies on the bank of the river Coquet, at a location which was on the Coquet Stop Line, of which a pillbox remains. It is on the road between Rothbury and Otterburn. The village contains a church, village hall and post office.

Half a mile north-east of the village along the road to Rothbury are the ruins of Hepple Tower, a fourteenth-century tower house, which is listed by English Heritage as a building at risk. A mile to the west, close to the country house of Holystone Grange, is Woodhouses Bastle, dated 1602 and restored and re-roofed in the twentieth century, a well-preserved bastle which may have been converted from a pele tower.

Northumberland is a ceremonial county in North East England, bordering Scotland. It is bordered by the Scottish Borders to the north, the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The town of Blyth is the largest settlement.

The county has an area of 5,013 km2 (1,936 sq mi) and a population of 320,274, making it the least-densely populated county in England. The south-east contains the largest towns: Blyth (37,339), Cramlington (27,683), Ashington (27,670), and Morpeth (14,304), which is the administrative centre. The remainder of the county is rural, and the largest towns are Berwick-upon-Tweed (12,043) in the far north and Hexham (13,097) in the west. For local government purposes the county is a unitary authority area. The county historically included the parts of Tyne and Wear north of the River Tyne.

The west of Northumberland contains part of the Cheviot Hills and North Pennines, while to the east the land becomes flatter before reaching the coast. The Cheviot (815 m (2,674 ft)), after which the range of hills is named, is the county's highest point. The county contains the source of the River North Tyne and much of the South Tyne; near Hexham they combine to form the Tyne, which exits into Tyne and Wear shortly downstream. The other major rivers in Northumberland are, from south to north, the Blyth, Coquet, Aln, Wansbeck and Tweed, the last of which forms part of the Scottish border. The county contains Northumberland National Park and two national landscapes: the Northumberland Coast and part of the North Pennines.

Much of the county's history has been defined by its position on a border. In the Roman era most of the county lay north of Hadrian's Wall, and the region was contested between England and Scotland into the Early Modern era, leading to the construction of many castles, peel towers and bastle houses, and the early modern fortifications at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Northumberland is also associated with Celtic Christianity, particularly the tidal island of Lindisfarne. During the Industrial Revolution the area had significant coal mining, shipbuilding, and armaments industries.

Northumberland, England's northernmost county, is a land where Roman occupiers once guarded a walled frontier, Anglian invaders fought with Celtic natives, and Norman lords built castles to suppress rebellion and defend a contested border with Scotland. The present-day county is a vestige of an independent kingdom that once stretched from Edinburgh to the Humber, hence its name, meaning literally 'north of the Humber'.[1] Reflecting its tumultuous past, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, and the greatest number of recognised battle sites. Once an economically important region that supplied much of the coal that powered the industrial revolution, Northumberland is now a primarily rural county with a small and gradually shrinking population.

Prehistory

As attested by many instances of rock art, the Northumberland region has a rich prehistory. Archeologists have studied a Mesolithic structure at Howick, which dates to 7500 BC and was identified as Britain's oldest house until it lost this title in 2010 when the discovery of the even older Star Carr house in North Yorkshire was announced, which dates to 8770 BC. They have also found tools, ornaments, building structures and cairns dating to the bronze and iron ages, when the area was occupied by Brythonic Celtic peoples who had migrated from continental Europe, most likely the Votadini whose territory stretched from Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth to Northumberland. It is not clear where the boundary between the Votadini and the other large tribe, the Brigantes, was, although it probably frequently shifted as a result of wars and as smaller tribes and communities changed allegiances. Unlike neighbouring tribes, Votadini farms were surrounded by large walls, banks and ditches and the people made offerings of fine metal objects, but never wore massive armlets. There are also at least three very large hillforts in their territory (Yeavering Bell, Eildon Hill and Traprain Law, the latter two now in Scotland), each was located on the top of a prominent hill or mountain. The hillforts may have been used for over a thousand years by this time as places of refuge and as places for meetings for political and religious ceremonies. Duddo Five Stones in North Northumberland and the Goatstones near Hadrian's Wall are stone circles dating from the Bronze Age.

Roman occupation

When Gnaeus Julius Agricola was appointed Roman governor of Britain in 78 AD, most of northern Britain was still controlled by native British tribes. During his governorship Agricola extended Roman control north of Eboracum (York) and into what is now Scotland. Roman settlements, garrisons and roads were established throughout the Northumberland region.

The northern frontier of the Roman occupation fluctuated between Pons Aelius (now Newcastle) and the Forth. Hadrian's Wall was completed by about 130 AD, to define and defend the northern boundary of Roman Britain. By 142, the Romans had completed the Antonine Wall, a more northerly defensive border lying between the Forth and Clyde. However, by 164 they abandoned the Antonine Wall to consolidate defences at Hadrian's Wall.

Two important Roman roads in the region were the Stanegate and Dere Street, the latter extending through the Cheviot Hills to locations well north of the Tweed. Located at the intersection of these two roads, Coria (Corbridge), a Roman supply-base, was the most northerly large town in the Roman Empire. The Roman forts of Vercovicium (Housesteads) on Hadrian's Wall, and Vindolanda (Chesterholm) built to guard the Stanegate, had extensive civil settlements surrounding them.

The Celtic peoples living in the region between the Tyne and the Forth were known to the Romans as the Votadini. When not under direct Roman rule, they functioned as a friendly client kingdom, a somewhat porous buffer against the more warlike Picts to the north.

The gradual Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century led to a poorly documented age of conflict and chaos as different peoples contested territories in northern Britain.

Archaeology

Nearly 2000-year-old Roman boxing gloves were uncovered at Vindolanda in 2017 by the Vidolanda Trust experts led by Dr Andrew Birley. According to the Guardian, being similar in style and function to the full-hand modern boxing gloves, these two gloves found at Vindolanda look like leather bands date back to 120 AD. It is suggested that based on their difference from gladiator gloves warriors using this type of gloves had no purpose to kill each other. These gloves were probably used in a sport for promoting fighting skills. The gloves are currently displayed at Vindolanda's museum.

Anglian Kingdoms of Deira, Bernicia and Northumbria

Conquests by Anglian invaders led to the establishment of the kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia. The first Anglian settlement was effected in 547 by Ida, who, accompanied by his six sons, pushed through the narrow strip of territory between the Cheviots and the sea, and set up a fortress at Bamburgh, which became the royal seat of the Bernician kings. About the end of the 6th century Bernicia was first united with the rival kingdom of Deira under the rule of Æthelfrith of Northumbria, and the district between the Humber and the Forth became known as the kingdom of Northumbria.

After Æthelfrith was killed in battle around 616, Edwin of Deira became king of Northumbria. Æthelfrith's son Oswald fled northwest to the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata where he was converted to Christianity by the monks of Iona. Meanwhile, Paulinus, the first bishop of York, converted King Edwin to Roman Christianity and began an extensive program of conversion and baptism. By his time the kingdom must have reached the west coast, as Edwin is said to have conquered the islands of Anglesey and Man. Under Edwin the Northumbrian kingdom became the chief power in Britain. However, when Cadwallon ap Cadfan defeated Edwin at Hatfield Chase in 633, Northumbria was divided into the former kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira and Christianity suffered a temporary decline.

In 634, Oswald defeated Cadwallon ap Cadfan at the Battle of Heavenfield, resulting in the re-unification of Northumbria. Oswald re-established Christianity in the kingdom and assigned a bishopric at Hexham, where Wilfrid erected a famous early English church. Reunification was followed by a period of Northumbrian expansion into Pictish territory and growing dominance over the Celtic kingdoms of Dál Riata and Strathclyde to the west. Northumbrian encroachments were abruptly curtailed in 685, when Ecgfrith suffered complete defeat by a Pictish force at the Battle of Nechtansmere.

Monastic culture

When Saint Aidan came at the request of Oswald to preach to the Northumbrians he chose the island of Lindisfarne as the site of his church and monastery, and made it the head of the diocese which he founded in 635. For some years the see continued in peace, numbering among its bishops Saint Cuthbert, but in 793 Vikings landed on the island and burnt the settlement, killing many of the monks. The survivors, however, rebuilt the church and continued to live there until 883, when, through fear of a second invasion of the Danes, they fled inland, taking with them the body of Cuthbert and other holy relics.

Against this background, the monasteries of Northumbria developed some remarkably influential cultural products. Cædmon, a monk at Whitby Abbey, authored one of the earliest surviving examples of Old English poetry some time before 680. The Lindisfarne Gospels, an early example of insular art, is attributed to Eadfrith, the bishop of Lindisfarne from 698 to 721. Stenton (1971, p. 191) describes the book as follows.

In mere script it is no more than an admirable example of a noble style, and the figure drawing of its illustrations, though probably based on classical models, has more than a touch of naïveté. Its unique importance is due to the beauty and astonishing intricacy of its decoration. The nature of its ornament connects it very closely with a group of Irish manuscripts of which the Book of Kells is the most famous.

Bede's writing, at the Northumbrian monasteries at Wearmouth and Jarrow, gained him a reputation as the most learned scholar of his age. His work is notable for both its breadth (encompassing history, theology, science and literature) and quality, exemplified by the rigorous use of citation. Bede's most famous work is Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which is regarded as a highly influential early model of historical scholarship.

Earldom of Northumbria

Main article: Earl of Northumbria

The kingdom of Northumbria ceased to exist in 927, when it was incorporated into England as an earldom by Athelstan, the first king of a united England[citation needed].. In 937, Athelstan's victory over a combined Norse-Celtic force in the battle of Brunanburh secured England's control of its northern territory.

The Scottish king Indulf captured Edinburgh in 954, which thenceforth remained in possession of the Scots. His successors made repeated attempts to extend their territory southwards. Malcolm II was finally successful, when, in 1018, he annihilated the Northumbrian army at Carham on the Tweed, and Eadulf the earl of Northumbria ceded all his territory to the north of that river as the price of peace. Henceforth Lothian, consisting of the former region of Northumbria between the Forth and the Tweed, remained in possession of the Scottish kings.

The term Northumberland was first recorded in its contracted modern sense in 1065 in an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relating to a rebellion against Tostig Godwinson.

Norman Conquest

The vigorous resistance of Northumbria to William the Conqueror was punished by ruthless harrying, mostly south of the River Tees. As recounted by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

A.D. 1068. This year King William gave Earl Robert the earldom over Northumberland; but the landsmen attacked him in the town of Durham, and slew him, and nine hundred men with him. Soon afterwards Edgar Etheling came with all the Northumbrians to York; and the townsmen made a treaty with him: but King William came from the South unawares on them with a large army, and put them to flight, and slew on the spot those who could not escape; which were many hundred men; and plundered the town. St. Peter's minster he made a profanation, and all other places also he despoiled and trampled upon; and the ethelling went back again to Scotland.

The Normans rebuilt the Anglian monasteries of Lindisfarne, Hexham and Tynemouth, and founded Norman abbeys at Newminster (1139), Alnwick (1147), Brinkburn (1180), Hulne, and Blanchland. Castles were built at Newcastle (1080), Alnwick (1096), Bamburgh (1131), Harbottle (1157), Prudhoe (1172), Warkworth (1205), Chillingham, Ford (1287), Dunstanburgh (1313), Morpeth, Langley (1350), Wark on Tweed and Norham (1121), the latter an enclave of the palatine bishops of Durham.

Northumberland county is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but the account of the issues of the county, as rendered by Odard the sheriff, is entered in the Great Roll of the Exchequer for 1131.

In 1237, Scotland renounced claims to Northumberland county in the Treaty of York.

During the reign of Edward I (1272–1307), the county of Northumberland was the district between the Tees and the Tweed, and had within it several scattered liberties subject to other powers: Durham, Sadberge, Bedlingtonshire, and Norhamshire belonging to the bishop of Durham; Hexhamshire to the archbishop of York; Tynedale to the king of Scotland; Emildon to the earl of Lancaster; and Redesdale to Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus. These franchises were exempt from the ordinary jurisdiction of the shire. Over time, some were incorporated within the county: Tynedale in 1495; Hexhamshire in 1572; and Norhamshire, Islandshire and Bedlingtonshire by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.

Council of the North

The county court for Northumberland was held at different times at Newcastle, Alnwick and Morpeth, until by statute of 1549 it was ordered that the court should thenceforth be held in the town and castle of Alnwick. Under the same statute the sheriffs of Northumberland, who had been in the habit of appropriating the issues of the county to their private use, were required thereafter to deliver in their accounts to the Exchequer in the same manner as the sheriffs of other counties.

Border wars, reivers and rebels

From the Norman Conquest until the union of England and Scotland under James I and VI, Northumberland was the scene of perpetual inroads and devastations by the Scots. Norham, Alnwick and Wark were captured by David I of Scotland in the wars of Stephen's reign. In 1174, during his invasion of Northumbria, William I of Scotland, also known as William the Lion, was captured by a party of about four hundred mounted knights, led by Ranulf de Glanvill.[citation needed] This incident became known as the Battle of Alnwick. In 1295, Robert de Ros and the earls of Athol and Menteith ravaged Redesdale, Coquetdale and Tynedale. In 1314 the county was ravaged by king Robert Bruce. And so dire was the Scottish threat in 1382, that by special enactment the earl of Northumberland was ordered to remain on his estates to protect the border. In 1388, Henry Percy was taken prisoner and 1500 of his men slain at the battle of Otterburn, immortalised in the ballad of Chevy Chase.

Alnwick, Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh were garrisoned for the Lancastrian cause in 1462, but after the Yorkist victories of Hexham and Hedgley Moor in 1464, Alnwick and Dunstanburgh surrendered, and Bamburgh was taken by storm.

In September 1513, King James IV of Scotland was killed at the Battle of Flodden on Branxton Moor.

Roman Catholic support in Northumberland for Mary, Queen of Scots, led to the Rising of the North in 1569.

Harbottle

Border Reivers

Peel tower

Union and Civil War

After uniting the English and Scottish thrones, James VI and I sharply curbed the lawlessness of the border reivers and brought relative peace to the region. There were Church of Scotland congregations in Northumberland in the 17th and 18th centuries.

During the Civil War of the 17th century, Newcastle was garrisoned for the king by the earl of Newcastle, but in 1644 it was captured by the Scots under the earl of Leven, and in 1646 Charles I was led there a captive under the charge of David Leslie.

Many of the chief Northumberland families were ruined in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.

Industrialisation

The mineral resources of the area appear to have been exploited to some extent from remote times. It is certain that coal was used by the Romans in Northumberland, and some coal ornaments found at Angerton have been attributed to the 7th century. In a 13th-century grant to Newminster Abbey a road for the conveyance of sea coal from the shore about Blyth is mentioned, and the Blyth coal field was worked throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. The coal trade on the Tyne did not exist to any extent before the 13th century, but from that period it developed rapidly, and Newcastle acquired the monopoly of the river shipping and coal trade. Lead was exported from Newcastle in the 12th century, probably from Hexhamshire, the lead mines of which were very prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. In a charter from Richard I to Hugh de Puiset creating him earl of Northumberland, mines of silver and iron are mentioned. A salt pan is mentioned at Warkworth in the 12th century; in the 13th century the salt industry flourished at the mouth of the river Blyth, and in the 15th century formed the principal occupation of the inhabitants of North and South Shields. In the reign of Elizabeth I, glass factories were set up at Newcastle by foreign refugees, and the industry spread rapidly along the Tyne. Tanning, both of leather and of nets, was largely practised in the 13th century, and the salmon fisheries in the Tyne were famous in the reign of Henry I.

John Smeaton designed the Coldstream Bridge and a bridge at Hexham.

Stephenson's Rocket

Invention of the steam turbine by Charles Algernon Parsons

model shot dead

No correspondence.

In the Austro-Hungarian Army, rumours were abound of atrocities committed by civilians and civilian irregulars on soldiers: mutilations of the wounded and attacks from ambush by civilians, including women. In turn, the Austro-Hungarians retaliated in much the same fashion.