There will be a story with this set as soon as I can get it written, and upload these pictures which I took while in the Hospital at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, Oregon.

 

I took several pictures at the hospital while I was a patient, but I want to put a bit of a disclaimer on three or four of them. These colorful medical related stickers appealed to me as a photographer. They were in a room at the hospital which I could see through an open door from the hallway where I was walking for therapy. I did not go in the room itself. I made sure that no patient names appeared to be on these labels. I did not wish to violate anyone's privacy. The hospital staff treated me wonderfully; so I don't wish to do anything that would in any way affect the hospital's reputation. I don't think that I did.

 

FALL OCCURRED IN THE SPRING

 

That’s right; fall occurred in the spring. Not the kind of fall like a beautiful autumn, but the kind of fall like Humpty Dumpty. The “splat” type of fall, which must have been painful for him. It was surely painful for me.

 

Let me digress a bit. I already have severe arthritis in both of my knees. I was very close to having the Orthopedic Physician’s Assistant refer me to the Orthopedist for knee replacements. The assistant had already seen me for seven to nine visits or so, and a series of Orthovisc® shots, which did not help me. I understand they are a great help to some people, but I wasn‘t one of them. He told me something I was completely unaware of. He said my teeth were bad, which is true. I have upper dentures and only one real tooth in my mouth. The bottom teeth except the one I just mentioned are all rotted away. They didn’t rot completely away; there are still parts of them in and below the gum line. He said they would all have to be surgically extracted before I could have knee replacements done. I asked him, “What do my teeth have to do with my knees?” He said infection can easily set in the rotten teeth and go to the knee or cause problems with my heart, major problems like death. Thus the reader can understand how I arrived at the title for my photo set about my hospital stay…The Knee Bone’s Connected to the Jaw Bone, Huh?

 

I have been walking around with very painful knees for quite awhile now, and I cannot afford the $1,600 to $2,000 to have my teeth surgically extracted. I already paid a dentist $180 for an appointment and a Panaray® X-Ray, over a year ago, just thinking it would be nice to finally get some lower dentures too. He split town, taking or disposing of his equipment and his files and x-rays. That $180 is long gone for me. I cannot recover the old x-ray. Even if I did recover it, some new dentist would probably say it was out of date.

 

Medicare, which I am on, will pay for the two knee replacements, but here is the rub. They will not pay for dental. I have been in a surgical limbo with all the free pain I can stand.

 

That is the background information probably needed for this little story to be understood. There will be some OMG moments and some laughter. If it were a TV show, they would probably advertise, “You’ll Laugh; You’ll Cry; You’ll Sell Your Chickens; You’ll Call Your Congressman, and You’ll No Doubt Charge Your Cell Phone!”

 

That brings us to Thursday the 15th of March, 2012. My daughter called to see if I could and would watch Rose all day Friday the 16th , as she had forgotten that she had signed up to be chaperone for her daughter, Anna Leigh’s, school field trip. It was going to be quite a bit out of town, the other direction from where I live. It was to be a special day. I wanted to be their hero; so I said sure. Some of you have seen Rose, the Hungarian Vizsla puppy among my photos. Rose is beautiful and young, and strong, and undisciplined and should probably be named Wild Rose. I love her, but she is a major handful. I had already watched her for 8 days while they went on a trip out of state, got one day off and then volunteered to do Friday the 16th.

 

Rose isn’t housebroken yet; so I took her out several times to encourage her to go outside. I was alone as far as other humans, and my daughter and granddaughter were about 60 miles away, on a school bus and then museum field trip. I live about 60 miles the other way from their home. It had been raining off and on and the ground and grass and driveway and mud were all pretty wet. My other trips outside with Rose that morning had been fine. I only had a thin shirt on, no extra shirt or jacket. I did not think I would be out in the yard very long.

 

Rose pulled on the leash too exuberantly, as she does often (she is five and a half months old, and has had puppy obedience training, but is in dire need of more of it). I slipped on a muddy and grassy slope. My right leg went out in front of me, and I fell on my rear end. My left leg folded underneath my thigh and toward my rear, and my weight, which is a lot, crunched it. It was bent backward way further than a knee is supposed to bend. I screamed bloody murder. I was afraid to even try to get up, as I thought I had probably torn a ligament or two.

 

Rose thought it was play time and was all over me. There was not a thing in sight that would give me any leverage to hold me up or to help me get up. I sat and I pondered what to do. My daughter and Anna Leigh would not be home for nearly 6 more hours. I thought, well I’ll just call 911 (the emergency number where we live). Wrong! No cell phone with me. It was inside their house, being charged up; ironically so it would be ready when I needed it.

 

I tried yelling for help. Nothing! A neighbor about a half an acre away, was mowing, and every time the mower cut off, I tried screaming for help. He must have had headphones on or something. Cars would drive by way down the driveway, and I would yell, but no one had their windows down on that day. Did you now that when you have upper dentures and no lower ones, and you yell really hard, that it blows the upper dentures right out of your mouth? Just thought I would throw that little trivia in. I didn’t know until that day. I knew I couldn’t make it back in the house. There were too many upward slopes and an exposed aggregate patio and a few stairs. The front of the house was even worse, as it had more stairs. I looked down the driveway and saw a vehicle which had some metal protrusions, on the order of spare tire holder or something like that. I decided to try to scoot on my rear down to that metal thing. I thought perhaps it would give me leverage to get up. Rose thought that it was great fun to romp on and around me.

 

I thought the four chickens would be afraid to come around Rose. No, they are not very intelligent. They came right up to me and Rose and started pecking on me. I had never been pecked on my chickens before, and there I was on the ground with no help and Rose alternating between tried to attack the chickens and trying to play with me. Rose’s playfulness sort of resembles an attack, anyway. I scooted faster, much faster.

 

There was a light rain, but it was getting a little heavier. There was also a dusting of snow mixed with the rain. I was wondering how long it would take to get Exposure. I was wondering about Shock also. Can a person who has Exposure or Shock know that they have it? Ominous looking clouds were blowing quickly toward me. It was 1:30 P. M. when I fell. I didn’t have my phone, but I had my watch.

 

I scooted methodically toward the vehicle closest to me. I think it was about 100 feet. I got to it, and thought if worse came to worse with the weather, I could roll under the back of it. I did not relish thought of spiders, but thought it might be better to risk them than the weather. I saw some wide strapping tape on the spare tire, which was loose. I didn’t want to risk hoisting myself up on the spare and its frame, as it was quite loose. But I took the tape and wrapped it around the metal thing that was separate from the spare tire things, and made it softer for my arm to lean on. I tried to prop myself up. No use; I fell back down. Not enough leverage. I put Rose’s leash handle on the trailer hitch. I didn’t want to just let her run free and maybe get hit by a car.

 

I tried again to get up and made it to both knees. It hurt so badly I went back down again. I noticed the license plate on the vehicle renewed on the ninth month of 2011. That said 911. I thought, “Oh yeah right, you inanimate license plate. Go ahead and taunt me! You know I can’t call 911.” I got a chuckle out of my own joke, and gave myself a figurative pat on the back for being resourceful about trying to get up.

 

I tried again. I got on both knees but the right one was in gravel that really hurt. Then I thought which knee should I put forward and which one should I try to rise on. I tried one, and it didn’t seem as if it would work so I tried the other way. That wasn’t the right way either. Finally I tried the first way again. I told myself on the count of three I would stand up, even if it hurt excruciatingly, I would scream but I would still get up. False start! Down again! I tried again and got up. I was standing!

 

Now was the problem of how to go anywhere, not knowing if my left knee would buckle at any time. I thought I had to try. I spotted my own truck further down the driveway, and decided to try to make it to it. I walked between two vehicles very carefully and slowly and got to my truck. I unlocked it with the remote key which I had in my pocket. After 11 years of driving it, the seat is pretty well conformed to me; so I didn’t have to bend my knees to sit down in it. I just leaned into the seat and put my relatively good right leg in. It was painful to bend my left knee to get it in the truck, but I did. Rose was still tied to a trailer hitch further back in the yard, but she was safe.

 

I looked at my watch. It was 3:30 P. M. It took me two hours to stand up and to get to some degree of safety and warmth. I could drive, as my truck is automatic. I drove down the road to a house that Anna had pointed out was where a schoolmate lived. I thought I could ask them to go in my daughter’s house and get my cell phone for me. There was a very large barking dog in the driveway, and no sign of humans, and the mother of the schoolmate has never even met me. I decided to go back to Jennifer’s home.

 

I found a cane in my truck that a charity, a different one than the one later in my story, had given me a few months ago. It is not a very sturdy one, but better than nothing. I did not use it on a regular basis. I used the hook end of it to fetch a large stick lying near the driveway (larger than a normal hiking stick). I pulled it to me, and stood back up out of the truck and used the big stick and the cane and balanced against two vehicles, and decided to try to get back in the house. I did. I got in the recliner and pulled a blanket up over me and slept until they got home.

 

After they got home, we all decided to go to the nearest Emergency room. It was a Friday night by then, and no normal doctor’s hours. We went to one closest to them, but it was still about 27 miles or so. They checked me out and did an x-ray. I told the Physician’s assistant nurse type lady about my knee history. She was fun and nice and caring and a little bit of a comedienne. She said that my left knee was really “ratty” looking on the x-ray. I laughed, because I’m sure it was. I have just never, in all my doctor visits ever had a nurse refer to one of my body parts as “ratty”. I suspect it is not a medical term. They said I sprained my knee, and gave me some medical records to take up to the emergency room (or my doctor) closer to where I live, seventeen miles from my home, the other direction from Jen & Anna. I wanted to be closer to the doctors and hospital that I know. I was given a prescription similar to Vicodin. Someone kindly pointed out that Walgreen’s was visible about a block away and their drive-thru was open. At that point I was still getting around by hobbling and by leaning on Jennifer. So I sat in a chair and she and Anna and Rose drove over to Walgreen’s . It seems as if it took a long time for them get the prescription filled.

 

While I was sitting there waiting, a employee came out to the lobby with clipboard in hand and asked if I were the lady with an injured knee. I replied that I was. She said, OK, come with me and we’ll have you see a triage. I thought it odd that I had already been seen and now they wanted to start all over again. I told her I had already been seen and x-rayed and all. It turned out there was another lady in the waiting room with an injured knee. It probably would have blown the Physician’s Assistant’s mind if I had played dumb and gone through everything again, and then told her when she looked shocked, “I’m coming through again; and this time don’t call my knee “ratty! Funny to imagine, but not a good idea.

 

Finally, my daughter and granddaughter returned to the hospital waiting room. Jennifer had forgotten her checkbook. So back they went and then it turned out, Jennifer couldn’t sign for my prescription, and she didn‘t have my insurance information. Thus, we all drove back over there. I was in line ahead of Jen‘s car. I told the pharmacist that my window did not go down well on the driver’s side, and I could not reach the pills in the drawer. So I would give him paperwork and cards he needed, but to please leave the pills themselves in the slide-out drawer. I said my daughter was right behind me and her window worked; and she would pick them up with my permission. Finally she got the pain pills in the drawer, but when we got out of Walgreen’s I flagged her down to stop and be sure to give me the pills to have with me before we forgot. Jennifer got them and handed them over to me. We laughed about how, at that time of night, it looked for the entire world like some sort of illegal drug deal.

 

We tried to go out for dinner, and the restaurant we chose put the closed sign in their front window as we were approaching. That always makes one feel so welcome, not!

 

Saturday, I rested, and then Sunday they took me to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. I had called my normal doctor, and he was out of the country (probably on some Doctors without Borders type thing). He does many good will type things. The doctor filling in for him; said to go to the Emergency Room. So I did, and they did an MRI, and I had torn the meniscus in my left knee. I ended up in the hospital for 8 days. No surgery was done to repair anything, because of the dental situation. But I got a walker, and some really nice nurses and physical therapy. I saw all kinds of doctors, and Home Health care people, and Senior and Disabled specialists. They must have taken my blood pressure 100 times, it seems. They always seem surprised that it is very good.

 

Anna Leigh, who is seven years old, threw a coin in the Hospital Fountain and made good wishes for me. She is such a sweetie. My daughter helped to clean up my place so when I went home the walker would fit through the rooms. I don’t know what I do without them. The first few days out of the hospital, I taught Anna how to play Monopoly, and she and Jennifer and I also did puzzles. There were some quality family moments. I one point I was eating a chip or cracker of some kind and trying to place a puzzle piece. I got absentminded and stuck the puzzle piece in my mouth. I realized what I had done because the food tasted like cardboard. I took it out of my mouth. Anna about went into hysterics over it. I was laughing too.

Anna’s Daddy called Jen about that time, and wanted to know what the laughter was all about. Anna wrote a note to show her Mom so her Mom could tell her Dad what happened. She spelled it phonetically, as she is only in first grade. I think she does really well, but Jen and I cracked up over how much Anna was laughing and over what she wrote. She wrote, “My grandmuther ate a pussel pees.” It looked substantially nastier than it was.

 

At first a physical therapist helped me with the walker and with some small steps. After a few days, I could roam around the hallways on my own with the walker. At that point I took my camera. As I was practicing with my walker I took a number of pictures. I tried very hard to only shoot artsy type things and nothing about any patients or doctors that would invade their privacy. I had a bulletin board in my room just about me. I wrote “Exemplary Patient Award” on the comments. I wanted to see if it would make the nurses laugh. I thought it was funny to give myself an award. I enjoy making people laugh. I was curious if they would erase it, but it was still there when I was discharged.

 

I graduated from the walker to a cane yesterday. A home health therapist came to see how I was doing, and brought me a very artsy cane. I like it. It suits me, and it is brand new. There is a charity in my area called Love, Inc. I don’t know if it is just local or nationwide. Anyway, they gave him the cane to bring to me. Really super! Of course, I need to take a photo of it, and add it to this set. I’ll probably do that in the daylight.

 

I am still in surgical limbo, but a charity is going to come out and install grab bars on my shower, and another charity will build up my recliner (which I sleep in) with a platform so it will be easier to get in and out of. It is suggested that I donate enough to cover the cost of the supplies but not the labor. I will probably make a donation, but I haven’t decided how much yet. I’m going to call my Congressman to see if something can be done about covering some dental procedures. Probably not, but I feel I have to try. Not just for me, but for a multitude of people.

 

I’ll close with a quote, although I don’t know who said it, “Be True to your Teeth and they will Never be False to You.” and “That is the Tooth, the whole Tooth, and Nothing but the Tooth.”

   

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Tacoma, Washington: From Wikipedia:

  

Tacoma's reputation as the "City of Destiny" began when it was chosen by the Northern Pacific Company in 1873 as the western terminus of the northern route of the transcontinental railroad, then under construction. The city became a center for industrial and commercial development. Its economy expanded rapidly over the next two decades, and its population skyrocketed from just under 2,000 in 1873 to 37,714 in 1890.[2]

 

The city's first rail station was built in 1883, then moved to the site of the present Union Station on Pacific Avenue and enlarged in 1892. In 1906 the architectural firm of Reed and Stem was selected to design a new station more befitting Tacoma's image as a prosperous, thriving metropolis and railway terminus of the Northwest.[2]

 

Construction of Union Station began in 1909 and was completed in May 1911. Acclaim for Reed and Stem's design was immediate. The Tacoma Daily Ledger praised it as "the largest, the most modern and in all ways the most beautiful and best equipped passenger station in the Pacific Northwest".[2]

 

Despite optimistic forecasts by the railroad companies early in the century, the future would not be kind to the passenger rail industry. Railway rider ship peaked in the 1930s and again during World War II, then quickly declined as the automobile became America's preferred mode of transportation. In 1971 national passenger rail service merged into Amtrak. The Tacoma offices relocated to Seattle and Amtrak built a new Tacoma station near Freighthouse Square. The last passenger train left Union Station on June 14, 1984, and the abandoned building soon fell into disrepair.[2]

 

In 1987 Congress authorized the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to lease Union Station for thirty-five years to provide space for the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. After three years of work, the historic building was completely renovated and restored, and a three-story addition was constructed. The federal courts began occupancy in 1992. The courthouse at Union Station is a highly successful adaptive use of a Tacoma landmark.

   

Rodeo Drive is a two-mile long street, primarily in Beverly Hills, California. Its northern terminus is its intersection with Sunset Boulevard and its southern is its intersection with Beverwil Drive in the city of Los Angeles. The name is most commonly used metonymically to refer to a three block stretch of the street north of Wilshire Boulevard and south of Little Santa Monica Boulevard, which is known for its luxury-goods stores. The larger business district surrounding Rodeo, known as the "Golden Triangle," which extends from Wilshire Boulevard to Santa Monica Boulevard, is both a shopping district and a major tourist attraction.

 

In 1967 Fred Hayman, "the father of Rodeo Drive," opened Giorgio Beverly Hills, the street's first high-end boutique. In 1968 Aldo Gucci opened a store on Rodeo, which catalyzed the process by which the street took on its present form. Van Cleef & Arpels opened in 1969, followed by a Vidal Sassoon salon in 1970.

 

In 1976, Bijan Pakzad opened a showroom on Rodeo, which helped to solidify "Rodeo Drive's reputation as a luxury shopping destination." Pakzad touted his Rodeo Drive location as "the most expensive in the world," but, as Women's Wear Daily notes in relation to the claim, "he was known for hyperbole." By 1978 the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce was boasting that Rodeo Drive was "the essence of the best of all the shopping centers of the world" and by 1980 the city of Beverly Hills estimated that the Rodeo Drive shopping district accounted for as much as 25% of its sales tax revenues. The building at 332 N. Rodeo was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodeo_Drive

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

Location: Musée National Gustave-Moreau

 

Work of:

Gustave Moreau

French Symbolist Artist

1826 - 1898

 

Valeria Messalina was a Roman Empress as the third wife of Emperor Claudius. A powerful and influential woman with a sluttish reputation, she conspired against her husband and was executed when the plot was discovered.

 

Either in 37 or 38, Messalina married her second cousin Claudius who was about 48 years old. During the reign of another second cousin of hers, the unstable Roman Emperor Caligula (reigned 37-41), Messalina was very wealthy, an influential figure and a regular at Caligula's court. Claudius was Caligula's paternal uncle and was becoming influential and popular. Claudius probably married her to strengthen ties within the imperial family.

 

Messalina bore Claudius two children, a daughter Claudia Octavia (born 39 or 40), who was a future empress and first wife to future emperor Nero, and a son, Britannicus (born 41). On 24 January 41, Caligula and his family were murdered and later that day the Praetorian Guard proclaimed Claudius the new emperor and Messalina became the new empress.

 

The ancient Roman sources (particularly Tacitus and Suetonius), portray Messalina as insulting, disgraceful, cruel, avaricious, and a foolish nymphomaniac. Many women of her age and status enjoyed festivities and parties, but the two historians contended that Messalina unwisely combined her zest for meeting people with a sexual appetite.

 

The oft-repeated tale of Messalina's all-night sex competition with a prostitute comes from Book X of Pliny's Naturalis Historia. Pliny does not name the prostitute; the Restoration playwright Nathaniel Richards calls her Scylla in The Tragedy of Messalina, Empress of Rome, published in 1640, and Robert Graves in his novel Claudius the God also identified the prostitute as Scylla. According to Pliny, the competition lasted for 24 hours and Messalina won with a score of 25 partners.

 

Roman sources claim that Messalina used sex to enforce her power and control politicians, that she had a brothel under an assumed name and organized orgies for upper class women and that she participated much in politics and sold her influence to Roman nobles or foreign notables.

 

Juvenal is also highly critical of her in his Satire VI:

 

Then consider the God's rivals, hear what Claudius

had to put up with. The minute she heard him snoring

his wife - that whore-empress - who­ dared to prefer the mattress

of a stews to her couch in the Palace, called for her hooded

night-cloak and hastened forth, with a single attendant.

Then, her black hair hidden under an ash-blonde wig,

she'd make straight for her brothel, with its stale, warm coverlets,

and her empty reserved cell. Here, naked, with gilded

nipples, she plied her trade, under the name of 'The Wolf-Girl',

parading the belly that once housed a prince of the blood.

She would greet each client sweetly, demand cash payment,

and absorb all their battering - without ever getting up.

Too soon the brothel-keeper dismissed his girls:

she stayed right till the end, always last to go,

then trailed away sadly, still | with burning, rigid vulva,

exhausted by men, yet a long way from satisfied,

cheeks grimed with lamp-smoke, filthy, carrying home

to her Imperial couch the stink of the whorehouse.

 

During the Secular Games in 47, at the performance of the Troy Pageant, Messalina attended the event with her son Britannicus. Also present was Agrippina the Younger with her son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (Nero). Agrippina and Nero received a greater acclamation from the audience than Messalina and Britannicus did. Many people began to show pity and sympathy to Agrippina, due to unfortunate circumstances that occurred in her life. This is probably a first sign of Messalina's declining popularity.

 

Later that year, Messalina became interested in the attractive Roman Senator Gaius Silius who was happily married to the aristocratic woman Junia Silana (sister of Caligula's first wife). Messalina and Silius became lovers and Messalina forced Silius to divorce his wife.

 

Silius realized the danger that he put himself in. Messalina and Silius plotted to kill the weak emperor and Messalina would make him the new emperor. Silius was childless and wanted to adopt Britannicus. They had committed bigamy: Messalina and Silius married in a full ceremony, in front of witnesses and had signed marriage contracts while Messalina was still legally married to Claudius.

 

While Claudius was in Ostia, inspecting construction work done on the harbor, his freedman Narcissus, advised him of Messalina's and Silius' plot to kill him. Messalina travelled to Ostia with her children hoping to speak to Claudius; however the emperor left Ostia before she was able to do so. Narcissus delayed Messalina, preventing her from seeing Claudius.

 

Claudius ordered the deaths of Messalina and Silius in 48. In Messalina's final hours, she was in the Gardens of Lucullus. Messalina and her mother were preparing a petition for Claudius. At the height of Messalina's influence and prosperity, Lepida and Messalina had argued and became estranged. Apparently overcome by pity, Lepida stayed with her daughter. Lepida's last words to her were 'Your life is finished. All that remains is to make a decent end'. Messalina was reputedly weeping and moaning. She finally realized the situation in which she had put herself.

 

An officer and a former slave arrived together to witness Messalina's death. The former slave verbally insulted her while the officer stood by in silence. Messalina was offered the choice of killing herself, but was too afraid to do so, so the officer stabbed Messalina with a dagger. Her dead body was left with her mother. At the time of Messalina's death, Claudius was attending a dinner. When Messalina's death was announced to him, Claudius showed no emotion but asked for more wine.

 

In the days after her death, Claudius gave no sign of hatred, anger, distress, satisfaction or any other human passion. The only ones who mourned for Messalina were her children. The Roman Senate ordered Messalina's name removed from all public or private places and all statues of her were removed.

 

On New Year's Day in 49, Claudius married as his fourth wife Agrippina the Younger, who went on to remove from the imperial court anyone she considered loyal to the memory of Messalina. Agrippina's son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was adopted by Claudius as his son and heir. He became known as Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus and succeeded Claudius as emperor instead of Messalina's son Britannicus. Nero married Messalina's daughter. Messalina's name is now often used as a synonym for sexual promiscuity, manipulation, and treachery.

 

Quoted From: Valeria Messalina - Wikipedia

The history of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art

1863 / After many years of efforts by Rudolf Eitelberger decides Emperor Franz Joseph I on 7 March on the initiative of his uncle Archduke Rainer, following the model of the in 1852 founded South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum, London), the establishment of the "k. k. Austrian Museum for Art and Industry" and apponted Rudolf von Eitelberger, the first professor of art history at the University of Vienna, to director. The museum should be serving as a specimen collection for artists, industrialists, and public and as a training and education center for designers and craftsmen.

1864/ on 12th of May, opened the museum - provisionally in premises of the ball house next to the Vienna Hofburg, the architect Heinrich von Ferstel for museum purposes had adapted. First exhibited objects are loans and donations from the imperial collections, monasteries, private property and from the kk polytechnic in Vienna. Reproductions, masters and plaster casts are standing value-neutral next originals.

1865-1897 / The Museum of Art and Industry publishes the journal Communications of Imperial (k. k.) Austrian Museum for Art and Industry .

1866 / Due to the lack of space in the ballroom setting up of an own museum building is accelerated. A first project of Rudolf von Eitelberger and Heinrich von Ferstel provides the integration of the museum in the project of imperial museums in front of the Hofburg Imperial Forum. Only after the failure of this project, the site of the former Exerzierfelds (parade ground) of the defense barracks before Stubentor the museum here is assigned, next to the newly created city park on the still being under development Rind Road.

1867 / Theoretical and practical training are combined with the establishment of the School of Applied Arts. This will initially be housed in the old gun factory, Währinger Straße 11-13/Schwarzspanierstrasse 17, Vienna 9.

1868 / With the construction of the building at Stubenring is started as soon as it is approved by Emperor Franz Joseph I. the second draft of Heinrich Ferstel.

1871 / The opening of the building at Stubering takes place after three years of construction, 15 November. Designed according to plans by Heinrich von Ferstel in the Renaissance style, it is the first built museum building on the ring. Objects from now on could be placed permanently and arranged according to main materials. / / The Arts School moves into the house on Stubenring. / / Opening of Austrian art and crafts exhibition.

1873 / Vienna World Exhibition. / / The Museum of Art and Industry and the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts are exhibiting together at Stubenring. / / Rudolf von Eitelberger organizes in the framework of the World Exhibition the worldwide first international art scientific congress in Vienna, thus emphasizing the orientation of the Museum on teaching and research. / / During the World Exhibition major purchases for the museum of funds of the Ministry are made, eg 60 pages of Indo-Persian Journal Mughal manuscript Hamzanama.

1877 / decision on the establishment of taxes for the award of Hoftiteln (court titels). With the collected amounts the local art industry can be promoted. / / The new building of the School of Applied Arts, adjoining the museum, Stubenring 3 , also designed by Heinrich von Ferstel, is opened.

1878 / participation of the Museum of Art and Industry and the School of Art at the Paris World Exhibition.

1884 / founding of the Vienna Arts and Crafts Association with seat in the museum. Many well-known companies and workshops (led by J. & L. Lobmeyr), personalities and professors of the arts and crafts school join the Arts and Crafts Association. Undertaking of this association is to further develop all creative and executive powers the arts and crafts since the 1860s has obtained. For this reason are organized various times changing, open to the public exhibitions at the Imperial Austrian Museum for Art and Industry. The exhibits can also be purchased. These new, generously carried out exhibitions give the club the necessary national and international resonance.

1885 / After the death of Rudolf von Eitelberger is Jacob von Falke, his longtime deputy, appointed manager. Falke plans all collection areas als well as publications to develop newly and systematically. With his popular publications he influences significantly the interior design style of the historicism in Vienna.

1888 / The Empress Maria Theresa exhibition revives the contemporary discussion with the high baroque in the history of art and in applied arts in particular.

1895 / end of the Directorate of Jacob von Falke. Bruno Bucher, longtime curator of the Museum of metal, ceramic and glass, and since 1885 deputy director, is appointed director.

1896 / The Vienna Congress exhibition launches the confrontation with the Empire and Biedermeier style, the sources of inspiration of Viennese Modernism .

1897 / end of the Directorate of Bruno Bucher. Arthur von Scala, Director of the Imperial Oriental Museum in Vienna since its founding in 1875 (renamed Imperial Austrian Trade Museum 1887), takes over the management of the Museum of Art and Industry. / / Scala wins Otto Wagner, Felician of Myrbach, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Alfred Roller to work at the museum and school of applied arts. / / The style of the Secession is crucial for the Arts and Crafts School. Scala propagated the example of the Arts and Crafts Movement and makes appropriate acquisitions for the museum's collection.

1898 / Due to differences between Scala and the Arts and Crafts Association, which sees its influence on the Museum wane, Archduke Rainer puts down his function as protector. / / New statutes are written.

1898-1921 / The Museum magazine art and crafts replaces the Mittheilungen (Communications) and soon gaines international reputation.

1900 / The administration of Museum and Arts and Crafts School is disconnected.

1904 / The Exhibition of Old Vienna porcelain, the to this day most comprehensive presentation on this topic, brings with the by the Museum in 1867 definitely taken over estate of the " k. k. Aerarial Porcelain Manufactory" (Vienna Porcelain Manufactory) important pieces of collectors from all parts of the Habsburg monarchy together.

1907 / The Museum of Art and Industry takes over the majority of the inventories of the Imperial Austrian Trade Museum, including the by Arthur von Scala founded Asia collection and the extensive East Asian collection of Heinrich von Siebold .

1908 / Integration of the Museum of Art and Industry in the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Public Works.

1909 / separation of Museum and Arts and Crafts School, the latter remains subordinated to the Ministry of Culture and Education. / / After three years of construction, the according to plans of Ludwig Baumann extension building of the museum (now Weiskirchnerstraße 3, Wien 1) is opened. The museum receives thereby rooms for special and permanent exhibitions. / / Arthur von Scala retires, Eduard Leisching follows him as director. / / Revision of the statutes.

1909 / Archduke Carl exhibition. For the centenary of the Battle of Aspern. / / The Biedermeier style is discussed in exhibitions and art and crafts.

1914 / Exhibition of works by the Austrian art industry from 1850 to 1914, a competitive exhibition that highlights, among other things, the role model of the museum of arts and crafts in the fifty years of its existence.

1919 / After the founding of the First Republic it comes to assignments of former imperial possession to the museum, for example, of oriental carpets that are shown in an exhibition in 1920. The Museum now has one of the finest collections of oriental carpets worldwide .

1920 / As part of the reform of museums of the First Republic, the collection areas are delineated. The Antiquities Collection of the Museum of Art and Industry is given away to the Museum of Art History.

1922 / The exhibition of glasses of classicism, the Empire and Biedermeier time offers with precious objects from the museum and private collections an overview of the art of glassmaking from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. / / Biedermeier glass serves as a model for contemporary glass production and designs, such as Josef Hoffmann.

1922 / affiliation of the museal inventory of the royal table and silver collection to the museum. Until the institutional separation the former imperial household and table decoration is co-managed by the Museum of Art and Industry and is inventoried for the first time by Richard Ernst.

1925 / After the end of the Directorate of Eduard Leisching Hermann Trenkwald is appointed director.

1926 / The exhibition Gothic in Austria gives a first comprehensive overview of the Austrian panel painting and of arts and crafts of the 12th to 16th Century.

1927 / August Schestag succeeds Hermann Trenkwald as director .

1930 / The Werkbund (artists' organization) Exhibition Vienna, A first comprehensive presentation of the Austrian Werkbund, takes place on the occasion of the meeting of the Deutscher Werkbund in Austria, it is organized by Josef Hoffmann in collaboration with Oskar Strnad, Josef Frank, Ernst Lichtblau and Clemens Holzmeister.

1931 / August Schestag finishes his Directorate .

1932 / Richard Ernst is the new director .

1936 and 1940 / In exchange with the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History), the museum at Stubenring gives away part of the sculptures and takes over craft inventories of the collection Albert Figdor and the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

1937 / The Collection of the Museum of Art and Industry is re-established by Richard Ernst according to periods. / / Oskar Kokoschka exhibition on the 50th birthday of the artist.

1938 / After the "Anschluss" of Austria by Nazi Germany, the museum was renamed "National Museum of Decorative Arts in Vienna".

1939-1945 / The museums are taking over numerous confiscated private collections. The collection of the "State Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna" is also enlarged in this way.

1945 / Partial destruction of the museum building by impact of war. / / War losses on collection objects, even in the places of rescue of objects.

1946 / The return of the outsourced objects of art begins. A portion of the during the Nazi time expropriated objects is returned in the following years.

1947 / The "State Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna" is renamed "Austrian Museum of Applied Arts".

1948 / The "Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of St. Stephen" organizes the exhibition The St. Stephen's Cathedral in the Museum of Applied Arts. History, monuments, reconstruction.

1949 / The Museum is reopened after repair of the war damages.

1950 / As last exhibition under director Richard Ernst takes place Great art from Austria's monasteries (Middle Ages).

1951 / Ignaz Schlosser is appointed manager.

1952 / The exhibition Social home decor, designed by Franz Schuster, makes the development of social housing in Vienna again the topic of the Museum of Applied Arts.

1955 / The comprehensive archive of the Wiener Werkstätte (workshop) is acquired.

1955-1985 / The Museum publishes the periodical ancient and modern art .

1956 / Exhibition New Form from Denmark, modern design from Scandinavia becomes topic of the museum and model.

1957 / On the occasion of the exhibition Venini Murano glass, the first presentation of Venini glass in Austria, there are significant purchases and donations for the collection of glass.

1958 / End of the Directorate Ignaz Schlosser

1959 / Viktor Griesmaier is appointed as the new director.

1960 / Exhibition Artistic creation and mass production of Gustavsberg, Sweden. Role model of Swedish design for the Austrian art and crafts.

1963 / For the first time in Europe, in the context of a comprehensive exhibition art treasures from Iran are shown.

1964 / The exhibition Vienna 1900 presents Crafts of Art Nouveau for the first time after the Second World War. / / It is started with the systematic processing of the archive of the Wiener Werkstätte. / / On the occasion of the founding anniversary grantes the exhibition 100 years Austrian Museum of Applied Arts using examples of historicism insights into the collection.

1965 / The Geymüllerschlössel is as a branch of the Museum angegliedert (annexed). Gleichzeitig (at the same time) with the building came the important collection of Franz Sobek - old Viennese clocks, emerged between 1760 and the second half of the 19th Century - and furniture from the years 1800 to 1840 in the possession of the MAK.

1966 / In the exhibition Selection 66 selected items of modern Austrian interior designers (male and female ones) are merged.

1967 / The Exhibition The Wiener Werkstätte. Modern Arts and Crafts from 1903 to 1932 is founding the boom that continues to today of Austria's most important design project in the 20th Century.

1968 / On Viktor Griesmaier follows Wilhelm Mrazek as director.

1969 / The exhibition Sitting 69 shows on the international modernism oriented positions of Austrian designers, inter alia by Hans Hollein.

1974 / For the first time outside of China Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China are shown in a traveling exhibition in the so-called Western world.

1979 / Gerhart Egger is appointed director .

1980 / The exhibition New Living. Viennese interior design 1918-1938 provides the first comprehensive presentation of the art space in Vienna during the interwar period.

1981 / Herbert Fux follows Gerhart Egger as Director.

1984 / Ludwig Neustift is appointed interim director. / / Exhibition Achille Castiglioni: Designer. First exhibition of the Italian designer in Austria

1986 / Peter NOEVER is appointed as Director and started building up the collection of contemporary art.

1987 / Josef Hoffmann. Ornament between hope and crime is the first comprehensive exhibition on the work of the architect and designer.

1989-1993 / General renovation of thee old buildings and construction of a two-storey underground storeroom and a connecting tract. A generous deposit for collection and additional exhibit spaces arise.

1989 / Exhibition Carlo Scarpa. The other city, the first comprehensive exhibition on the work of the architect outside Italy.

1990 / exhibition Hidden impressions. Japonisme in Vienna 1870-1930, first exhibition on the theme of the Japanese influence on the Viennese Modernism.

1991 / exhibition Donald Judd Architecture, first major presentation of the artist in Austria.

1992 / Magdalena Jetelová domestication of a pyramid (installation in the MAK portico).

1993 / The permanent collection is re-established, interventions of internationally recognized artists (Barbara Bloom, Eichinger oder Knechtl, Günther Förg, GANGART, Franz Graf, Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd, Peter Noever, Manfred Wakolbinger and Heimo Zobernig) update the prospects, in the sense of "Tradition and Experiment". The halls on Stubenring accommodate furthermore the study collection and the temporary exhibitions of contemporary artists reserved gallery. The building in the Weiskirchnerstraße is dedicated to changing exhibitions. / / The opening exhibition Vito Acconci. The City Inside Us shows a room installation by New York artist.

1994 / The Gefechtsturm (defence tower) Arenbergpark becomes branch of the MAK. / / Start of the cooperation MAK/MUAR - Schusev State Museum of Architecture Moscow. / / Ilya Kabakov: The Red Wagon (installation on the MAK terrace plateau).

1995 / The MAK founds the branch of MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, in the Schindler House and at the Mackey Apartments, MAK Artists and Architects-in-Residence Program starts in October 1995. / / Exhibition Sergei Bugaev Africa : Krimania.

1996 / For the exhibition Philip Johnson: Turning Point designs the American doyen of architectural designing the sculpture "Viennese Trio", which is located since 1998 at the Franz-Josefs-Kai/Schottenring.

1998 / The for the exhibition James Turrell. The other Horizon designed Skyspace today stands in the garden of MAK Expositur Geymüllerschlössel. / / Overcoming the utility. Dagobert Peche and the Wiener Werkstätte, the first comprehensive Personale of the work of the designer of Wiener Werkstätte after the Second World War.

1999 / Due to the Restitution Act and the Provenance Research from now on numerous during the Nazi time confiscated objects are returned .

2000 / Outsourcing the federal museums, transforming the museum into a "scientific institution under public law". / / The exhibition of art and industry. The beginnings of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna are dealing with the founding history of the house and the collection.

2001 / As part of the exhibition Franz West: No Mercy, for which the sculptor and installation artist developed his hitherto most extensive work the "Four lemurs heads " are placed at the Stubenbrücke located next to the MAK. / / Dennis Hopper: A System of Moments.

2001-2002 / The CAT Project - Contemporary Art Tower after New York, Los Angeles, Moscow and Berlin in Vienna is presented.

2002 / Exhibition Nodes. symmetrical-asymmetrical. The historic Oriental Carpets of the MAK presents the extensive rug collection.

2003 / Exhibition Zaha Hadid. Architecture. / / For the anniversary of the artist workshop, the exhibition The Price of Beauty. 100 years Wiener Werkstätte takes place. / / Richard Artschwager: The Hydraulic Door Check. Sculpture, painting, drawing.

2004 / James Turrell MAKlite is since November 2004 permanently on the facade of the building installed. / / Exhibition Peter Eisenmann. Barefoot on White-Hot Walls, large-scaled architectural installation on the work of the influential American architect and theorist.

2005 / Atelier Van Lieshout: The Disziplinatornbsp / / The exhibition Ukiyo-e Reloaded for the first time presents the collection of Japanese woodblock prints of the MAK in large scale.

2006 / Since the beginning of the year the birthplace of Josef Hoffmann in Brtnice of the Moravian Gallery in Brno and the MAK Vienna as a joint branch is run and presents special exhibitions annually. / / The exhibition The Price of Beauty. The Wiener Werkstätte and the Stoclet House brings the objects of the Wiener Werkstätte to Brussels. / / Exhibition Jenny Holzer: XX.

2007/2008 / Exhibition Coop Himmelb(l)au. Beyond the Blue, is the hitherto largest and most comprehensive museal presentation of the global team of architects .

2008 / The 1936 according to plans of Rudolph M. Schindler built Fitzpatrick-Leland House, a generous gift from Russ Leland to the MAK Center LA, becomes using a promotion that granted the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department the MAK Center, the center of the MAK UFI project - MAK Urban Future Initiative. / / Julian Opie: Recent Works / / The exhibition Recollecting. Looting and Restitution examines the status of efforts to restitute expropriated objects from Jewish property of museums in Vienna.

2009 / The permanent exhibition Josef Hoffmann: Inspiration is in the Josef Hoffmann Museum, Brtnice opened. / / Exhibition Anish Kapoor. Shooting into the Corner / / The museum sees itself as a promoter of Cultural Interchange and discusses in the exhibition Global:lab Art as a message. Asia and Europe 1500-1700 the intercultural as well as the intercontinental cultural exchange based on objects from the MAK and from international collections.

2011 / After Peter Noevers resignation Martina Kandeler-Fritsch takes over temporarily the management. / / Since 1 September Christoph Thun-Hohenstein is director of the MAK.

www.mak.at/das_mak/geschichte

I went to Rock Creek Station, State Historical Park on 6/2/18 for their annual historical reenactment. The reenactment involved people dressed in historically accurate costumes doing some of the activities common in the 1850's and 1860's when the station was active on the Oregon and California trails and also when it was one of the stations in the short lived Pony Express system. One of the main attractions was a reenactment of the "McCanles - Hickok Fracas". This 'fracas' was the start to Wild Bill Hickok's legendary status as a lawman, soldier, gunfighter, and gambler. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok). McCanles was the first person Hickok killed in the establishment of his reputation.

 

"Established in 1857 along the Oregon and California Trails, Rock Creek Station, near what is now Fairbury, Nebraska, is today preserved as a Nebraska State Park.

The history here is rich in its tales of emigrating pioneers as well as legends of the Old West. Located along the west bank of Rock Creek, the station served as a supply center and resting spot for the many travelers headed westward in the 19th century.

When it was originally built by S.C. Glenn, the "station" consisted of little more than a cabin, a barn, and a make-shift store, where Glenn sold limited supplies, hay, and grain.

In the Spring of 1859 along came a man named David C. McCanles, and his brother, James, who were on their way to the Colorado gold fields.

David became discouraged as he continually met miners returning from Colorado with nothing in their pockets but disappointment. Changing tactics, David McCanles bought the Rock Creek Station from Glenn in March, deciding to take up "road ranching" rather than gold prospecting.

McCanles continued to operate the small store and built a toll bridge across the creek. Prior to the bridge, pioneers were required to hoist and lower their wagons down into the creek, before pulling it up on the other side - quite a tedious process that could take hours for each wagon. When the toll bridge opened, each wagon paid from 10¢ to 50¢ to cross the bridge depending on the size of their load and their ability to pay. McCanles also built a cabin and dug a well on the east side of Rock Creek which became known as the East Ranch.

The following year, McCanles leased the East Ranch to the Russell, Waddell, and Majors Company, which owned the Overland Stage Company and founded the Pony Express. They installed Horace G. Wellman as their company agent and station keeper and hired James W. "Doc" Brink as a stock tender. Later, the company made arrangements with McCanles to buy the station with a cash down payment and the remainder in installments.

The East Ranch was then used as a stage and Pony Express relay station, while the West Ranch continued to be used as an emigrant rest stop, a freight station, and the home of the McCanles family.

In April 1861, McCanles sold the West Ranch to freighters Hagenstein and Wolfe and moved his family to another location about three miles south of Rock Creek Station. Always trying to make money, McCanles sold the toll bridge several times with a number of specific requirements in the contract. When the new owner failed to meet the stipulations, he would take it back and sell it again.

In April or early May of 1861, the station hired on then-24-year-old stock tender James Butler "Bill" Hickok and he became immediately at odds with David McCanles, who had earned a reputation as the local bully. Allegedly, McCanles teased Hickok unmercifully about his girlish build and feminine features, as well as nicknaming him "Duck Bill" referring to his long nose and protruding lips.

Perhaps in retaliation, Hickok began courting a woman by the name of Kate Shell, who, even though McCanles was married, apparently had his eye on.

In the meantime, the Overland Stage Company had fallen behind on their installment payments and on July 12, 1861, McCanles, along with his 12-year-old son, Monroe, and two friends by the names of James Woods and James Gordon came to the station to inquire upon the status of the installments.

Not long after their arrival, an argument ensued and profanities were exchanged, soon leading to gunfire. In the melee, Hickok shot David McCanles, and both James Woods and James Gordon, who was seriously wounded, later died of their wounds. Twelve-year-old Monroe escaped to his home some three miles south of Rock Creek.

Though the details of what actually happened on that fateful day continue to be debated, the versions vary widely. Monroe McCanles, who witnessed the entire event, told a version something like this: When David McCanles had not received full payment from the Overland Stage Company, he planned to take it up with the station manager, Horace Wellman. That very day, the station manager had allegedly gone to the company office in Brownville in order to obtain the money, he returned empty-handed.

Upon hearing this, an angry McCanles soon arrived with two options in mind - either collect the money owed or repossess the ranch. Showing up with his son, and two employees - James Woods and James Gordon, McCanles called for Wellman to come out. Instead, Jane Wellman, the station managerâs wife, appeared at the door, closely followed by James (Bill) Hickok. Horace Wellman's specific whereabouts are unknown, but he was obviously close by.

Disconcerted by Hickok's interference, McCanles alleged asked, "Jim, haven't we been friends all the time?" After Hickok assured him that they were, McCanles, biding his time, asked for a drink of water and came inside. The other three stayed outside the cabin.

Suddenly, McCanles sensed danger, returned the dipper and moved toward the other door at about the same time Hickok moved behind a curtain partition. Unarmed, McCanles said, "Now, Jim, if you have anything against me, come out and fight me fair."

However, Hickok's answer was a blast from a rifle, killing McCanles and dropping him to the floor. Ironically, the story tells that it was McCanles' own rifle that he had left with Wellman to defend the station that he was killed with. Hearing the blast, Woods and Gordon rushed toward the cabin, but Woods was stopped with Hickok's Colt revolver. In the meantime, Wellman bludgeoned him with a hoe, until he died. Gordon, who was also wounded by gunfire, fled to the creek but was followed by Doc Brink, the station's stock tender, who killed him with a blast from his shotgun. Monroe dodged a blow from Wellman's hoe and escaped to his home some three miles south.

McCanles and Woods were originally buried in a single crude box on Soldier Hill. Gordon was buried in a blanket at the spot where he was killed near Rock Creek. In the early 1880's the construction of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad intersected Soldier Hill and the bodies of McCanles and Woods were re-interred at the Fairbury Cemetery.

In the meantime, James A. McCanles, David's brother, filed an arrest warrant for Hickok, Wellman, and Brink on July 15, 1861, and the trio were charged for the murders of McCanles, Woods, and Gordon. A trial was held in Beatrice and though Monroe McCanles adamantly claimed that his father and the other two men were unarmed, he was not allowed to testify because of his age. After the trio plead self-defense and defense of company property, all three were acquitted.

Later, when Hickok's fame began to spread, he told an entirely different version of the tale, making McCanles out to be a ruthless killer and an outlaw, who was the leader of a vicious gang who was terrorizing the region. This story, told by Colonel Ward Nichols and published in Harper's Monthly Magazine in 1867, tells a version that is embellished to the degree that Wild Bill had polished off ten of the West's most dangerous desperados and was left with eleven buck-shot and thirteen knife wounds.

Hickok's tale describes himself as scouting for the U.S. Cavalry detachment when he arrived at Rock Creek that fateful day, rather than working as a stock tender. Describing the McCanles' Gang as reckless, blood-thirsty devils, he said he came upon the station to hear a tale from Mrs. Wellman that McCanles was within minutes of the cabin, dragging a preacher by his neck with a rope.

His tale goes on to describe how he fought off the entire McCanles Gang with only a revolver and a bowie knife, killing all of them in the end and spending weeks recovering from his own injuries.

This event, called the McCanles Massacre, by writers, was the beginning of the Wild Bill Hickok legend. Though Hickok's "legend" was already well-known by the time the article appeared in Harper's Magazine in 1867, Nicholl's glamorized version of the fighting frontier hero, further perpetuated his fame.

No one really knows the specifics of this bloody and seemingly one-sided fight, with numerous versions having been provided, including tales of jealousy, theft, and the ongoing conflict between the north and south. Some tales even allege that it was not Bill Hickok who killed McCanles, rather, it was Horace Wellman.

Continuing to be scrutinized years after the incident and long after Bill Hickok's death, a man named F.G. Elliott was interviewed by a WPA writer in 1938. His tale, though not supporting the glorified story told by Nichols in Harper's Magazine, does support Hickok's rightful killing of David McCanles. It may or may not add more light on the actual events of that fateful day, depending upon your point of view.

By 1866, the railroad had reached Kearney, Nebraska and trail traffic dramatically diminished, leaving the road ranchers to find other occupations.

In 1980, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission began to develop the area as a state historical park. Today, the buildings of the original Rock Creek Station and Pony Express have been reconstructed in the park that now includes some 350 acres, a visitor's center, hiking trails, picnic areas, and a campground. The terrain includes prairie hilltops, timber-studded creek bottoms, and rugged ravines, along with the deep ruts of the Oregon and California Trails, carved more than a century ago by the many wagons that traveled westward along this path." (www.legendsofamerica.com/ne-rockcreek/2/)

Despite St Brendan’s bleak reputation, the hospital was established on foot of a wave of sensitivity towards the needs of the mentally ill. In postrevolutionary France, Philippe Pinel struck the chains off his patients at an asylum, convinced a more humanitarian approach would be more effective than restraint and control. This “moral management” philosophy had much in common with what we now consider key aspects of mental-health treatment: a good doctor-patient relationship, a therapeutic environment, good diet, exercise and an occupation.

Richmond Asylum, as St Brendan’s was formerly known, was established on these principles. It was the beginning of a frenzied period of asylum-building that resulted in large-scale institutions being established in towns and cities around the country. In reality, most asylums quickly became overcrowded, dirty and unmanageable.

“When you look back you find that many physicians had progressive plans, and they implemented many of them to do with education or living outside the asylum,” says Dr Brendan Kelly, a consultant psychiatrist with the Health Service Executive, who has researched the history of psychiatry in Ireland. “However, the asylums became too large. Once an institution becomes sufficiently large, attention shifts from caring for the individual to managing the institution. Once that happens, problems emerge.”

Asylums, which were run initially by lay people, were gradually were taken over by the medical establishment. Medical superintendents – the equivalent of psychiatrists – introduced a medical approach to treating mental ill health, and moral management, with its focus on the individual, began to fade. This was a time of discredited and experimental approaches to treating people with mental-health problems. They included “Dr Cox’s circulating swing”, which involved spinning a patient at high speed; the “bath of surprise”, a gallows-style platform that dumped a patient into icy water; and enforced “purging”, or vomiting.

Much later, other forms of brutal treatment came and went, including insulin-coma therapy, where patients were repeatedly injected with the hormone to induce a coma, and lobotomies, which involved removing parts of the brain. These procedures continued in some Irish psychiatric hospitals until the 1960s and 1970s.

The sheer number of people admitted to mental institutions in the years after the Famine was striking. The number of “certified lunatics” increased by 60 per cent in two decades in the late 1800s. Little of this had anything to do with an increase in mental ill health.

“The population had halved, but the number of beds remained the same,” says Dr Ivor Browne, former chief psychiatrist with the Eastern Health Board, who began working at St Brendan’s in 1962. “Conditions for many were desperate, so the asylums were like a suction [drawing people in]. People could get three meals a day.”

Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions remained major problems for decades afterwards. As a result, there was no meaningful relationship between doctor and patient. Browne recalls visiting the women’s section of St Brendan’s in the 1950s, not long after qualifying as a doctor. Even though he had worked in other areas of psychiatry, he was shocked by what he saw. “Many of the wards had more than 100 people in them. There were crowds of patients, jostling each other, some of the women with their dresses pulled over their heads, and here and there a nurse, struggling amid the chaos,” he says.

“There was a cacophony of sound, and I felt as though I was lost in some kind of hell . . . I remember passing a little old lady, quite sane and conscious, sitting in bed and shaking with terror.”

Anyone who fell through society’s cracks tended to end up in an asylum. He recalls seeing patients being admitted for spurious reasons – alcoholism, disruptive behaviour, promiscuity – who often never left. They aged inside and became hopelessly institutionalised.

But the perception of the asylum as a simply brutal environment is too simplistic and doesn’t credit the efforts of staff and doctors, according to Dick Bennett, a former staff nurse who worked at St Brendan’s from the 1970s to the 1990s.

“It was like an asylum in the old meaning of the word: it was a refuge from the outside world,” he says. “There was a sense of community there. The standard of care was excellent. There were older people who lived to their 80s or 90s, which says something about the care.”

Browne adds: “In many ways, there was a great humanity about the place because they couldn’t refuse anyone. There was a kind of acceptance of suffering. There were some nurses who could be quite brutal, but most were quite benign.”

When he took over as chief psychiatrist, in the mid 1960s, one of the first things he did was arrange for some of the high perimeter walls to be knocked down, a symbolic demolition of the barrier between the patients and the community. “Ironically, we ended up having to put up railings instead. Not to keep people in but to prevent antisocial behaviour from outside.” He also set up an assessment unit to try to prevent unnecessary admissions and set about transferring some patients back into the community. Sometimes people were so institutionalised that the prospect of leaving was terrifying.

“I remember one fellow who was keen on gardening and growing things. He had a little hut. I thought he would be a prospect for living in the community. We got a place for him in the community. But he walled himself up in his hut and suffocated himself, because he couldn’t face leaving.”

By the time Browne left, in the late 1990s, the population of St Brendan’s, which had peaked at 2,500, had fallen to about 400.

He says moving patients into the community made sense, but he acknowledges that it didn’t fully work. “What I didn’t realise early on was that any real community in a city like Dublin had ceased to exist. So the only place they could go to was either some offshoot of a mental hospital, like a day hostel, or a rehabilitation centre, which were often like mini-institutions.”

In a few days the old asylum will close and the care centre, which looks more like a corporate headquarters, will take its place. Much has changed in our approach to mental ill health in the past two centuries, and nowadays the vast majority of people are cared for and supported in the community.

Some aspects of the system are still considered antiquated – the admission of teenagers into adult units or the housing of intellectually disabled in “de-designated” wings of old psychiatric hospitals – and concern remains about patchy community-based care and an overreliance on medicine rather than talk therapy. But most agree that we are on the right road to a service that involves patients in their own care and respects their human rights.

“What’s very positive about the future is that the size of the in-patient unit is much smaller,” Kelly says. “The Phoenix Care Centre has a maximum of 54 beds, compared to 2,500 beds at the start of the 1900s. That’s a huge change. It allows more focus on the individual. Sometimes, in the history of the asylums, that’s what was lost, quite simply.”

 

Source : Irish Times Health Supplement, February 2013

 

About topic: Lin Xueling interviewed an 82 year-old Datuk Dr. Paddy Bowie who left the United Kingdom and moved to live in Malaysia for the past 45 years. She is currently writing the official biography of Dr. Mahathir Mohamed and has earned reputation as one of the region's leading specialists on Malaysian politics. She is also a mother of a former Miss Malaysia! I watched that conversation telecasted by Channel News Asia via a Sri Lankan TV channel today, the 30th August, and heard she was saying "Politics & Business are incestual in Malaysia."

 

Following article is to mark the 50th Anniversary of Independence of Malaysia, which falls tomorrow, the 31st August 2007.

 

Paying the debt of our gratitude

 

Mr. John Teo, Executive Director of the BIMP- EABC [Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines - East ASEAN Business Council] writes to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Malaysian Independence to The New Straits Times newspaper, Malaysia

 

A CEREMONY pregnant with meaning and undoubtedly tinged with sadness for many of those involved takes place in 'Kuching' this 31st, on the eve of our 50th Merdeka. [In Malay, "Merdeka" means "Independence" in spirits, thoughts and beliefs. 'Kuching' is the capital of Malaysia's eastern State of Sarawak].

 

The state’s civilian leadership, the military and police top brass and diplomats from Australia and Britain will gather for a ceremonial wreath-laying in memory of local and Commonwealth men numbering about 500 who fell in the immediate aftermath of the birth of Malaysia.

 

The ceremony is rare, perhaps only the first such occasion ever organised, made all the more poignant by ‘Kuching’ now lacking even a proper war memorial since the imposing cenotaph in the city’s then Central Padang was demolished and never resurrected, as the ceremonial patch of green metamorphosed into Padang Merdeka [Merdeka Square].

 

Since the Confrontation was never strictly speaking a war and did not have clear dates signifying its start and end, no dates held special significance for its commemoration. Perhaps this was why no such commemoration seems to have ever taken place before.

 

That the commemoration even takes place at all now owes a good deal to the efforts of a slight but persistent fellow in the person of retired secretary of the Legislative Assembly, Lim Kian Hock, working through the Sarawak Tourism Federation.

 

It is a very worthy commemoration, lest our younger generation forget that Malaysia did not start out as a land of milk and honey from Day One.

 

At the outset, Malaysia began life as a rather weak and vulnerable nation. In the immediate post-colonial era, Third World luminaries such as Indonesia’s President Sukarno loomed large as they strutted the global stage. His designs on the whole of Borneo were easily camouflaged by his seductive "neo-colonial" battle-cry that resonated among newly emerging nations all the way to Africa.

 

The claim to Sabah initiated by the late Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal has lingered unresolved until today.

 

Confrontation was particularly problematic because of the nearly 1500km of dense jungle between Sarawak and Sabah and Kalimantan. Moreover, many native inhabitants of Sarawak counted Indonesians across the border as kith and kin. It was just as well that Sukarno probably never intended Confrontation to be a serious military campaign, or it could well have been far more deadly and bloody.

 

Perhaps this particular commemoration really represented a coming of age for the nation. It shows we are no longer shy to admit that we had helped to defend our young nation then.

 

The bulk of the men who fell were Australian, British and New Zealand troops. We owe them not so much the oft-hyped abstraction called "freedom" as our distinctive way of life and, as Datuk Paddy Bowie would say, the "highly original political arrangement" we have since evolved in our beloved country.

 

It is perhaps the same debt that we collectively owe the Americans for the Indo-China campaign. The dreaded "Domino effect" stopped at the Thai border and the Vietnam War gave us precious time to strengthen our political and economic cohesion to take on the festering communist insurgency in our own backyard.

 

The current Iraq War has tragically undone much of the admiration and goodwill that the West had built up, not so much because we have grown and changed but because the West led by America has since refused to change and recognise that the end of the Cold War, not the attacks of Sept 11, 2001, fundamentally altered world politics.

 

Malaysia, born of Western goodwill and some sacrifice, has not developed as the West’s mirror image - and just as well. Emerging nations that claim to keep faith with Western-promoted notions and ideals have by and large fallen way short. None can really claim to have truly emerged based on following the Western-laid path.

 

We are different, and as we celebrate our 50th Merdeka, we are proud of this fact and have nothing to be apologetic about. It is up to the West now to cultivate our goodwill and accept us on our own terms, rather than forever expecting blind devotion to the ideals they hold dear for themselves and would even ram down someone’s throat by force.

 

PHOTO : National Monument of Malaysia. The National Monument or Tugu Negara was built to recognise and honour those who gave up their lives in the cause for peace and freedom, particularly during the nation's struggle against the threat of Communism (the period of Emergency).

 

 “Datuk Dr. Paddy Bowie Exclusive”

Celebrate Life Always!

Datuk Dr. Paddy Bowie, a feature writer will be providing a fortnightly column on mainstream topics that will provoke and stimulate YTL Community. Paddy as she is more commonly known is Managing Director of Paddy Schubert Sdn. Bhd. [Sendirian Berhard] a business consultancy group she set up in 1980. Graduating on a scholarship from Oxford University, she left the United Kingdom and moved to live in Malaysia for the past 45 years. She is now a Malaysian citizen. She is also a writer and political analyst and her views are highly sought after by the international media. She is a frequent speaker on the Conference circuit notably the Economist Conferences and the Pacific Rim Forum in the United States, Australia and most East Asian countries.

Read more ->

www.ytlcommunity.com/paddybowie/index.asp

Also :

 PADDY BOWIE: There’s so much to be proud of

www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Columns/2007082607...

 

 About BIMP-EABC

The BIMP-EAST ASEAN BUSINESS COUNCIL (EABC) is the official representative of the private sector of BIMP-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA). It was born 19th November 1994 in Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines through Resolution No. 01 of the First East ASEAN Business Convention & Exhibits. The concept was for a private sector organization to catalyze the private sector of EAGA into undertaking economic cooperation activities in the region, and play a lead role in the region's economic development. The EABC Secretariat was launched on 19th November 1996, two years after the creation of the Council. From its office in Brunei, the Secretariat carries on the Council's day-to-day operations.

Read more ->

www.domainstudio.net/bimp/eabc.htm

 

 Malaysia, 50, turns back morals clock

August 30, 2007, Kota Bharu, State of Kelantan, Northeast Malaysia (The Australian) – Over a drink of green coconut juice at what used to be called the Passionate Love Beach until his Islamist party came to power and scrapped the name, Takiyuddin Hassan outlines the victories in its war on sin. In the capital, Kuala Lumpur, celebrations are starting for Malaysia's 50th year as an independent state. Its proud achievements are modern universities, a buoyant economy, and a respected place in the world as a moderate Islamic nation.

Read more ->

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22329219-2703...

 

 Malaysia’s First 50

August 30, 2007, Wan Chai, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Asia Sentinel) – On the occasion of the country’s first half-century of independence, we look at Malaysia’s promises and problems. On Malaysia’s 50th birthday, problems sown a generation ago continue to nag at the fabric of a nation that is precariously divided along racial lines. Despite decades of economic success, the divisions represented by racial preference in law through the New Economic Policy that favours ethnic Malays, the bumiputras remain, as does an authoritarian ruling structure, despite its nominally parliamentarian framework and antecedents. The economy, growing at a 5-6 percent clip over the better part of this decade, should continue to improve steadily, with China increasingly replacing the west as a destination for its raw materials exports – particularly the tropical hardwoods that are being smuggled illegally out of Malaysia’s side of Borneo.

Read more ->

asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=vi...

Also :

 Malaysia – Colonial and modern melting pot

www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml;jsessionid=MTUEACXU...

 

 Malaysia's golden anniversary soured by widening ethnic divide

August 29, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Associated Press) – Malaysia marks 50 years of independence this week as an economic success story with a worrying trend: a widening ethnic divide. Ethnic Malay, Chinese and Indian dance troops were to perform together in a national parade Friday to commemorate the end of British colonial rule on Aug. 31, 1957. For many Malaysians, the display of unity will be just a show.

Read more ->

www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/29/asia/AS-FEA-GEN-Malays...

 

 PM Datuk Seri Abdullah: Pay workers fair wages

August 29, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (The Star/Malaysia) – All workers should be paid wages which are commensurate with their productivity and value addition, said Datuk Seri Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi. “This is only fair and appropriate,” the Prime Minister said in his speech at the UNI APRO 2nd Asia-Pacific Regional Conference. UNI is short for Union Network International. He believed that “no nation wishes to suppress wages or keep wages artificially low in order to attract investment.” Nevertheless, he said what was “fair and appropriate” to employers and employees should also be dictated by prevailing market conditions and relevant commercial considerations.

Read more ->

thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/8/29/nation/1871...

 

Source of Photo :

www.kestan.com/travel/malaysia/index4.htm

 

Source of Photo topic :

allmalaysia.info/msiaknow/malaysiana/symbols_tugu.asp

 

Source of Main article :

www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/Columns/2007082407...

 

Tomo el tren a Pirna. Con bicicleta también. El boleto está aquí en Pirna también válido para autobuses o ferries. Inmediatamente me subo al autobús para Pirna-Sunstone y él se va. El conductor del autobús no parece arrogante, sino enojado. Es gordo y tiene pérdida de cabello, cabello negro y ojos. Él siempre comienza a toda velocidad. Conduce hasta la rotonda y gira 90 grados a 20 o 30 km / h. Casi caes en el vaso. Se siente como un maestro. Luego llego a la terminal de Sonnenstein. Luego se dirige a mí y dice que está aquí, a donde quiero ir. Como he dicho, conduce por aquí. Debería haber dicho que esto es un obstáculo y que no puede continuar aquí. Terminé con la piedra solar después de un tiempo. Los pensionistas me han estado esperando en ciertos puntos: Boleslawiecer Straße, Struppener Straße, Reutlinger Straße. Eran como nazis. Me miró como si fuera un criminal. Uno de ellos resultó estúpido por mi bandera argentina, el de Struppener Strasse parecía loco y su vecino incluso se detuvo para hurgarse la nariz. Masivamente fueron perseguidos en la carretera de Longuyoner o incluso informados por teléfono. También había un informador con un perro inglés y se quedó a mi lado para observarme. Spitzeln está aquí de forma gratuita. Extraño es que los parques en la piedra del sol no tienen nombres. Un árabe ha sido dirigido por la milicia de Pirna a través de un teléfono inteligente. Eso fue en la calle de la juventud. En la escuela primaria, Sonnenstein fue nuevamente una educación de tránsito para niños. Había dos policías. Se trata de pensar que el estado solo quiere hacer el bien. Así que si no funciona, entonces lo tienes tú mismo. Luego conocí a las abuelas y les hablé brevemente. Voy a bajar de nuevo porque he terminado. Esta vez va directo a Pirna-Neundorf. Comienzo en el Gimnasio Protestante. El conductor del autobús me grita hostil: "¿Qué tal si se muestra el boleto?" Voy a él y le digo: ¿Tienes un director o algo así? Él: "¡No los hemos tenido en mucho tiempo!". Así que han abolido sus fichas para que más personas estén desempleadas y no tengan familias. Inmoral. La sala de juntas es probablemente corrupta. El dinero es suficiente está allí. Entonces estoy en Neundorf. Aquí hay algunos amigos de élite que han sintonizado automóviles y conducen por allí. Todos se ven bonitos también. Está limpio, pero un edificio prefabricado necesita una nueva capa de pintura. Las ventanas parecen quemadas. La escuela aquí es más grande de lo que pensabas. Llegan furgonetas que miran. Yo conduzco de regreso En el castillo de Rottwerndorf, los propietarios vienen a verme. Una mujer muy hermosa. Ellos llevan un piso alrededor. Ellos reconstruyen el castillo solo. Olvidé un camino. La calle Brahms. El "barrio de los músicos" / asentamiento Rottwerndorf ahora está fotografiado. Por extraño que parezca, las personas reaccionan a mí de una manera diferente que antes. Ahora son más abiertos o sonrientes. Es muy rápido aquí. En Mühlenstraße, un anciano conduce el ciclomotor y me mira con enojo. Él sale del restaurante y se parece al dueño. Luego conduzco a Waschhausstraße, donde un Nazi me insulta como un maricón. También se me acerca por la pequeña bandera argentina. Su jardín está totalmente descuidado y es una pena para la reputación de la ciudad. Ese fue un barrio elitista aquí. Con demasiada frecuencia se han encontrado nazis bien alimentados aquí. Su madre rubia y gorda lo besa por abuso verbal en mi contra. Tiene ojos negros, pelo alto y negro. Me quedo allí y pienso ahora. Los minutos pasan. Una mujer pelirroja viene en bicicleta. Como si ella hubiera conducido aquí por mí. Ella me mira sin comprender. Conduzco desde Max Schwarze Straße ahora en Erich Sagittarius Pirna. Allí me sigue durante unos minutos una furgoneta en blanco y negro. Se ve poco atractivo e inmoral. Su coche tiene máscaras y esposas de Jason. Otro espía está de vuelta en la práctica, donde siempre observaba desde el balcón y toda la Kohlbergstraße tiene a la vista y siempre me registra directamente. Aquí estoy hecho. Luego me dirijo a la estación de Pirna. Compro un café allí y me pregunto por qué es tan barato. Cuando lo bebo, me doy cuenta de que sabe a agua. El café en la Dippoldiswalder Straße, al lado de la LIDL no está mal. La mujer es muy agradable allí.

 

I take the train to Pirna. With bike too. The ticket is here in Pirna also valid for buses or ferries. I immediately get on the bus for Pirna-Sunstone and he leaves. The bus driver does not look arrogant, but angry. He is fat and has hair loss, black hair and eyes. He always starts at full throttle. He drives into the roundabout and 90 degrees turns at 20 or 30 km / h. You almost fall into the glass. He feels like a master person. Then I arrive at the terminus Sonnenstein. Then he addresses me and says that it's over here, where I want to go. Like I said, drive around here. He should have said that this is a roadblock and you can not continue here. I was done with the sunstone after some time. Pensioners have been waiting for me at certain points: Boleslawiecer Straße, Struppener Straße, Reutlinger Straße. They were like Nazis. Looked at me as if I was a criminal. One of them proved stupid because of my Argentina flag, the one from Struppener Strasse looked like crazy and his neighbor even stopped to pick his nose. Massively they were pursued on the Longuyoner road or even reported by telephone. Also an informer with an english dog was there and stayed extra beside me to watch me. Spitzeln is here for free. Strange is that the parks on the sunstone have no names. An Arab has been led by the Pirna militia via smartphone. That was on the street of youth. In the primary school Sonnenstein was again a traffic education for children. There were two policemen. It is about thinking that the state wants to do only good. So if it does not work, then you have it yourself. Then I met grandmas and talked to them briefly. I'm going down again because I'm done. This time it goes straight to Pirna-Neundorf. I start at the Protestant Gymnasium. The bus driver shouts unfriendly to me: "How about ticket showing !?" I go to him and say: You have a conductor or something? He: "We have not had them for a long time!". So they have abolished their checkers so that more people are unemployed and have no families. Immoral. The boardroom is probably corrupt. Money is enough is there. Then I'm in Neundorf. Here are some elite friends who have tuned cars and drive around there. They all look pretty too. It's clean, but a prefab building needs a new coat of paint. The windows look like burned out. The school here is bigger than you thought. There arrive vans that take one's view. I drive back. At the castle Rottwerndorf the owners come to me. A very pretty woman. They carry a floor around. They rebuild the castle alone. I forgot a road. The Brahms Street. The "musicians quarter" / settlement Rottwerndorf is now photographed. Strangely enough, people react to me in a different way than before. They are now more open-minded or smiling. It is very fast here. On Mühlenstraße an old man drives off on the moped and looks at me angrily. He comes out of the restaurant and looks like the owner. Then I drive to Waschhausstraße, where a Nazi insults me as a fagot. He also approaches me because of the small Argentina flag. His garden is totally neglected and is a shame for the reputation of the city. That was an elitist quarter here. Too often you have run well-nourished Nazis here. His fat blonde mother kisses him for verbal abuse against me. He has black eyes, tall, black hair. I stand there and think now. The minutes pass. A red-haired woman comes on a bicycle. As if she had just driven here for me. She looks at me blankly. I drive from the Max Schwarze Straße now on the Erich Sagittarius Pirna. There I am followed for a few minutes by a black and white van. He looks unattractive and immoral. His car has Jason masks and handcuffs. Another spy is back at the practice, where he always observed from the balcony and the entire Kohlbergstraße has in view and always logs me straight. Here I am done. Then I make myself to the station Pirna. I buy a coffee there and wonder why it's so cheap. When I drink it, I realize that it tastes of water. The coffee on the Dippoldiswalder Straße, next to the LIDL is not bad. The woman is very nice there.

Ich fahre mit dem Zug nach Pirna. Mit Fahrrad dazu. Die Fahrkarte ist hier in Pirna auch gültig für die Busse oder Fähren. Ich steige sofort in den Bus für Pirna-Sonnenstein ein und er fährt los. Der Busfahrer schaut nicht arrogant, sondern böse. Er ist dick und hat Haarausfall, schwarze Haare und Augen. Er fährt immer mit Vollgas los. Er fährt in den Kreisverkehr und 90 Grad Kurven mit 20 oder 30 km/h. Man fällt fast in die Scheiben. Er fühlt sich als Master-Mensch. Dann komme ich an der Endstation Sonnenstein an. Da redet er mich an und sagt, dass es hier zuende sei, wo ich denn hinwill. Als hätte ich gesagt, fahr mich mal hier herum. Er hätte sagen müssen, dass hier eine Straßensperre ist und man hier nicht mehr weiter kann. Ich war mit dem Sonnenstein nach einiger Zeit fertig. An bestimmten Punkten haben Rentner auf mich gewartet: Boleslawiecer Straße, Struppener Straße, Reutlinger Straße. Die waren wie Nazis. Haben mich angesehen, als wenn ich kriminell sei. Einer belegte mich wegen meiner Argentinienfahne dumm, der von der Struppener Straße schaute wie verrückt und sein Nachbar blieb sogar stehen, um die Nase zu mir zu pflücken. Massiv wurde man an der Longuyoner Straße verfolgt oder gar mit dem Telefon gemeldet. Auch ein Spitzel mit einem englischen Hund war dort und blieb extra neben mir stehen, um mich zu beobachten. Spitzeln ist hier für umsonst zu haben. Seltsam ist, dass die Parkanlagen auf dem Sonnenstein keine Namen haben. Ein Araber ist unter Anleitung von der Pirna-Miliz per smartphone geleitet worden. Das war auf der Straße der Jugend. In der Grundschule Sonnenstein war wieder ein Verkehrslehrgang für Kinder. Da waren zwei Polizisten. Es geht hierbei darum, dass man denken soll, dass der Staat einen nur Gutes tun will. Also wenn es nicht klappt, dann man selber daran schul sei. Dann traf ich Omas und habe mit denen kurz geredet. Ich fahre wieder runter, weil ich fertig bin. Diesmal geht es gleich nach Pirna-Neundorf. Ich steige am Evangelischen Gymnasium ein. Der Busfahrer schreit mich unfreundlich an: "Wie wäre es einmal mit Fahrkarte-Vorzeigen!?" Ich gehe zu ihm hin und sage: Sie haben doch Schaffner oder so? Er: "Die haben wir schon lange nicht mehr!". Also die haben ihre Kontrolleure abgeschafft, damit mehr Leute arbeitslos sind und keine Familien haben. Unmoralisch. Wahrscheinlich ist die Chefetage korrupt. Geld ist genug ist da. Dann bin ich in Neundorf. Da kommen nun ein paar elitäre Freunde an, die getunte Autos haben und dort herum fahren. Die sehen auch alle schön aus. Es ist sauber, aber der eine Plattenbau braucht einen neuen Anstrich. Die Fenster sehen aus wie ausgebrannt. Die Schule hier ist größer als man gedacht hat. Da kommen Transporter an, die einen die Sicht nehmen. Ich fahre zurück. Am Schloss Rottwerndorf kommen mir die Besitzer an. Eine sehr schöne Frau. Sie tragen einen Fußboden herum. Sie bauen das Schloss alleine wieder auf. Eine Straße habe ich vergessen. Die Brahms Straße. Das "Musikerviertel" / Siedlung Rottwerndorf wird nun abfotografiert. Seltsam ist, dass die Leute ganz anders auf mich reagieren als vorher. Sie sind nun aufgeschlossener oder lächeln. Es geht hier sehr schnell. An der Mühlenstraße kommt ein alter Mann auf dem Moped losgefahren und schaut mich böse an. Er kommt aus dem Restaurant und sieht aus wie der Besitzer. Dann fahre ich zur Waschhausstraße, wo ein Nazi mich als schwuchtel beschimpft. Er geht mich auch an, wegen der kleinen Argentinienfahne. Sein Garten ist total verwahrlost und ist eine Schande für das Ansehen der Stadt. Das war mal hier ein elitäres Viertel. Zu oft hat man hier gut genährte Nazis laufen. Seine dicke, blonde Mutter küsst ihn dafür, dass er verbale Gewalt gegen mich ausführt. Er hat schwarze Augen, groß, schwarze Haare. Ich stehe da und denke nun nach. Es vergehen die Minuten. Eine rothaarige Frau kommt mit dem Fahrrad angefahren. Als wenn sie nur wegen mir hier hergefahren sei. Sie schaut mich leer an. Ich fahre von der Max Schwarze Straße nun auf den Erich-Schütze-Weg Pirna. Dort verfolgt mich einer Minutenlang mit einem schwarz-weißen Transporter. Er sieht unattraktiv und unsittlich aus. Sein Auto hat Jason-Masken und Handschellen. Ein anderer Spitzel steht wieder an der Praxis, wo er auch vom Balkon immer observiert und die gesamte Kohlbergstraße im Blick hat und mich immer gleich meldet. Hier bin ich fertig. Dann mache ich mich zum Bahnhof Pirna. Ich kaufe mir einen Kaffee dort und wundere mich, warum der so billig ist. Als ich ihn trinke, merke ich, dass er nach Wasser schmeckt. Der Kaffee an der Dippoldiswalder Straße, neben dem LIDL ist nicht schlecht. Die Frau dort ist sehr lieb.

Maggie Hall, aka Molly 'B Dam.

December 26, 1853 - January 17, 1888

 

Molly 'B Dam

 

For an Irish girl stepping off the boat in New York in 1873 there weren’t a lot of options. Across the sea it may have been billed as the Land of Opportunity and from afar maybe that’s how it appeared, but the truth of the matter is Maggie Hall would almost certainly have had a far less trying life if she’d stayed in Dublin and married a nice local lad. There’s every reason to believe that had she stayed she could have enjoyed a comfortable life there, but of course such speculation is neither here nor there; If she’d stayed her story would never have made its way into history and the legendary Molly B’Dam would have never existed at all.

 

Molly was born as Maggie Hall in Dublin, Ireland on December 26, 1853. Her father was an English Protestant and her mother was Irish Catholic. Both very well educated. She had an above average home with a good education. She was a lively out-going child, and made friends easily. She grew into a beautiful young woman with golden blonde hair, blue eyes and a contagious laugh. She was about five feet six inches tall. She had a beautiful figure that was desired by men and admired by women. Her parents were well-off enough to provide her with a decent education, and she was by all acounts whip-smart and possessed of boundless enthusiasm. She was not reputed to be a drinker, but she could take her wiskey straight. She had plenty of proposals of marriage but eluded all of them and left to travel to America at the age of 20. She felt like America would be the place to fulfil her dreams. Her mother and father tried to talk her out of it but she had made up her mind. As she neared New York she was very excited and overwhelmed, she knew it was hers to conquer, but she was mistaken. New York was a very cruel city and though she had a good education, spoke good English with just a hint of an Irish brouge, she still could not find employment.

 

Successive waves of immigration filled the boroughs of New York with great teeming throngs from the Isles as well as the continent, and the overwhelming majority of the newcomers shared a common experience; Namely, that the gold-paved avenues in the Land of Opportunity, tales of which had drawn them there from the four corners, were in short supply in New York City. What they found instead was a forbidding new home that treated its newest arrivals with a mix of xenophobic suspicion and open contempt and relegated them to only the most menial of positions. The Irish were commonly regarded as sub-human and shunted into squalid immigrant ghettoes. So it’s likely that the relentlessly optimistic adventurer Maggie Hall anticipated a more auspicious welcome than she in fact received. But even so she was prepared to adapt to her new circumstances --after all, brains, looks and talent can take a girl far. Or so it is often said. In her case they took her to a place where countless other bright, talented young women had preceded her: Serving drinks in a crowded barroom. Making the rounds in a rough Manhattan drinking establishment she nightly received marriage proposals from her inebriated customers which she shrugged off with charm and aplomb, as well as innumerable less seemly proposals which received a noticeably chillier reception. But when one night a handsome upper class gentleman by the name of Burdan walked into her barroom and took an immediate shine to her, she was smitten.

 

Burdan had all the makings of a Prince Charming, a storybook ending to Maggie’s bold sojourn to the New World to seek her fortune, and after three meetings he proposed and Maggie said yes. All her dreams fulfilled! Practically fresh off the boat and Maggie had married her way into the upper classes. A lifetime of love and moneyed contentment beckoned. The sky burst forth with sunbeams and rainbows as a host of adorable pink-cheeked cherubs unfurled a bright red banner emblazoned with "And they lived happily ever after".

 

However when for some reason her husband insisted on a simple civil ceremony performed by a justice of the peace, Maggie was disappointed. She had always pictured a big, grand wedding held in a Catholic church, but even so her disappointment did not dim her love for the man who had rescued her from a life of drudgery serving ale to drunken laborers. When her husband requested she change her name from the conspicously Irish Maggie to the more respectable Molly she did so without complaint. When he shortly thereafter explained that in order for him to continue receiving a regular allowance from Father it would be necessary to keep their marriage a secret, she began to suspect that something might be amiss with her newly-minted marriage, but still she resolved to follow the Church’s dictates and remain obedient to her husband’s wishes, entrusting her fate to him and to Providence. And when it became clear that Burdan had no intention of changing his habit of drinking and gambling late into the night and wee hours of the morning she didn’t question. After all, the wealthy have odd ways, and what wife doesn't put up with some annoying behavior?

 

A few months later his parents discovered their son’s secret marriage to an Irish barmaid and summarily cut him off. This was to be the first signal of the troubles that lay in store for Maggie Hall. In spite of the fact that he was no longer technically rich Burdan showed no signs of slackening his spendthrift ways, and within a few months he had run up some large gambling debts and was in imminent danger of having his legs broken by large, unfriendly men. Having never worked a day in his life, Burdan began casting around for alternative sources of income, and after several of his wealthy poker buddies to whom he was indebted began to comment with growing insistency on how appealing they found his blonde, buxom wife the solution came to him as if in a vision. When at last he shared his vision with his young wife it may well be that tears were shed, but if so then tears did not dissuade him.

 

And here Maggie found herself in a severe quandary, because being a devout Catholic it was her sworn duty to defer to her husband’s judgment in all matters, yet it was also clear that what he was asking of her constituted a grave sin within her faith. Still, she eventually relented and upon so doing her husband began a new career as her pimp. She did as she was told but her heart was broken. He still had many wealthy friends and his young wife was very lovely, so it proved to be a lucrative undertaking and Burdan was able to continue unabated in two of his favorite pastimes: Playing cards and walking without crutches.

 

Like many a troubled soul before her Maggie sought solace and guidance in the arms of the church, but upon hearing her tale of woe her shocked confessor delivered her an ultimatum: There could be no forgiveness for a sin as grievous as this, and she must discontinue her whoring and repent of it at once or face excommunication. But of course divorce was also not an option and there was that matter of the wife’s obedience to the husband, who was in all matters decreed by God to be the head of the household. So to the balance of her dilemma she could now add the disposition of her immortal soul. And yet there didn’t seem to be any way out. Without any means of escaping or ameliorating the situation she returned to her husband and continued to accede to his wishes, and on her next trip to the confessional she found herself excommunicated from the Church.

 

She believed herself to be dammed forever so she continued her life as before. At the age of 24 she left her husband and went to the cities, mining camps and cow towns of the West. She went to San Francisco then to Oregon. She was seen in Chicago, Virginia City, Nevada, and the Dakotas. She was very expensive and had an expensive wardrobe which consisted of furs and nice jewelry. She still was very restless although she was quite successful. In 1884 she went to the Idaho Territory. Molly had gotten off the train at Thompson falls, Montana where she bought a strong horse and joined a pack train on its way to Idaho.

 

It was the winter of 1884, and the gold-rush town of Murray, Idaho was already abuzz with talk of Molly Burdan before she had even set foot there. Travelers from Thompson Falls told of how they had been caught in a blizzard while crossing Thompson’s Pass and a woman and her child had fallen behind the pack train. A seemingly well-to-do lady traveling alone had refused to leave them, sending the others on their way while she turned her horse around and went back to help the stragglers weather the storm. They’d spent the night up there and the speculation in town was that they'd probably frozen to death out on the trail, so when the three of them arrived the next day they were greeted by a cheering crowd.

 

In that crowd of well-wishers and looky-lous was one Phil O’Rourke, who stepped forward and asked the striking newcomer her name. Whether it was a genuine misinterpretation of her Irish brogue or the result of his own native mischievous wit, O’Rourke heard "Molly Burdan" as "Molly B’Dam" and that was the name that stuck, just as the friendship between the two of them would throughout the rest of their lives. Of course, one reason that the name seemed so apropos to the residents of Murray was that no sooner had Molly arrived to find herself unanimously declared an Angel of Mercy for her heroic rescue of a helpless mother and child (and subsequent insistence on paying for their food and lodging) than she made her purpose in town clear by demanding to be shown to "Cabin Number One", which in frontier parlance meant the whorehouse. She intended to be the madam at the finest brothel in Murray.

 

A canny businesswoman who had learned the tricks of the high-end trade in the seven years that had passed since leaving her good-for-nothing husband in New York, Molly had set out for Murray from San Francisco after hearing of the gold strike there, reasoning like many other savvy entrepreneurs that the real money in any gold rush wasn't to be found in the ground but in the pockets of the miners who dug the gold out of the ground. She had no compunctions about charging the exorbitant prices commanded by the top-shelf fancyhouses, and yet unlike most of her contemporaries was known to treat her employees fairly and, it must be said, with a felicity bordering on the maternal. This impression was solidified by her attitude towards her clientele; For though she was more than willing to relieve a newly-flush miner of his last dollar for a single night of pleasure in Molly B’Dam’s, she had also been known to drop everything in order to take care of one of "her boys" who had fallen ill, and was reputed on more than one occasion to have hiked through winter snow just to bring soup to some poor unfortunate who had taken sick.

 

She was well known for being helpful and taking care of those who were less fortunate. In 1886 a stranger arrived in Murray burning with a fever. He drove his horse up the the saloon, drank a pint of whiskey and dropped dead. He had smallpox and the whole town was at risk. As many men became sick, Molly, her girls and Phil worked tiressly to help nurse them. She rarely ate and didn't even take time to change her clothing. As time went on there were less and less patients and less and less trips to the cemetery. But Molly would never be the same. In October of 1887 she became weary and listless and soon developed a constant fever and hacking cough. O'Rourke was the first to notice her tiredness and weight loss. By November she had become bed-ridden with a constant fever and a cough that never stopped. The doctor diagnosed her with Comsumption, a disease with no cure. Molly began to worsen and with O'Rourke at her bedside, early on the morning of January 17, 1888 Molly b' Dam was gone.

 

The Protestant Ministers who had been visiting her daily asked the Catholic Priest to give her absolution. When he refused, they made the funeral arrangements. Her funeral was at three o'clock in the afternoon on January 19th, and it was said to be a mild day for January in the northwest. On that day every blind was closed, the miners didn't work and all the saloons closed their doors. Thousands of people came to pay their respects to the woman that had brought gaity and love to their community.

 

Molly B’Dam was a woman of many such contradictions: Refined and educated, she could on occasion be heard quoting freely from Shakespeare and Milton, but she was far more widely known for her habit of entertaining paying customers with her "Big Clean Up" baths she used to hold on the occasions when the miners got paid. According to the story, she would drag a bathtub out into the alley behind The House, fill it with water, and when the miners had thrown in enough coins to cover the bottom, she'd disrobe and into the tub would go the curvacious Molly. She'd entertain with Shakesperian quotes, and ribald jokes and, if the price was right, she'd let a few of the boys scrub her back!

 

But it was her actions in the face of that smallpox epidemic in 1886 that cemented her Angel of Mercy reputation. For while a frightened populace reacted by trying to shutter themselves indoors as far as possible from the afflicted, Molly B’Dam took the opposite tack in characteristic fashion, excoriating the townsfolk to show some backbone in the face of adversity and successfully rallying the town’s women to care for the sick.* By converting her place of business to an impromptu infirmary, and overseeing treatment and recovery efforts for the whole town, and by the time the epidemic had run its course her role as Murray’s patron saint was all but secure. Her heroism passed into the realm of history and legend two years later with her death from complications from tuberculosis.

 

Note - I compiled the above story from information in Anne Seagraves book, and information I found in several web pages and blogs on the internet.

 

12 year old Monroe McCanles accompanied his father to the encounter with Horace Wellman and rushes to his fallen father. Hickok (in white) and Wellman engage McCanles' employees in the gun battle. Wellman's wife watches form the door of the cabin.

 

I went to Rock Creek Station, State Historical Park on 6/2/18 for their annual historical reenactment. The reenactment involved people dressed in historically accurate costumes doing some of the activities common in the 1850's and 1860's when the station was active on the Oregon and California trails and also when it was one of the stations in the short lived Pony Express system. One of the main attractions was a reenactment of the "McCanles - Hickok Fracas". This 'fracas' was the start to Wild Bill Hickok's legendary status as a lawman, soldier, gunfighter, and gambler. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok). McCanles was the first person Hickok killed in the establishment of his reputation.

 

"Established in 1857 along the Oregon and California Trails, Rock Creek Station, near what is now Fairbury, Nebraska, is today preserved as a Nebraska State Park.

The history here is rich in its tales of emigrating pioneers as well as legends of the Old West. Located along the west bank of Rock Creek, the station served as a supply center and resting spot for the many travelers headed westward in the 19th century.

When it was originally built by S.C. Glenn, the "station" consisted of little more than a cabin, a barn, and a make-shift store, where Glenn sold limited supplies, hay, and grain.

In the Spring of 1859 along came a man named David C. McCanles, and his brother, James, who were on their way to the Colorado gold fields.

David became discouraged as he continually met miners returning from Colorado with nothing in their pockets but disappointment. Changing tactics, David McCanles bought the Rock Creek Station from Glenn in March, deciding to take up "road ranching" rather than gold prospecting.

McCanles continued to operate the small store and built a toll bridge across the creek. Prior to the bridge, pioneers were required to hoist and lower their wagons down into the creek, before pulling it up on the other side - quite a tedious process that could take hours for each wagon. When the toll bridge opened, each wagon paid from 10¢ to 50¢ to cross the bridge depending on the size of their load and their ability to pay. McCanles also built a cabin and dug a well on the east side of Rock Creek which became known as the East Ranch.

The following year, McCanles leased the East Ranch to the Russell, Waddell, and Majors Company, which owned the Overland Stage Company and founded the Pony Express. They installed Horace G. Wellman as their company agent and station keeper and hired James W. "Doc" Brink as a stock tender. Later, the company made arrangements with McCanles to buy the station with a cash down payment and the remainder in installments.

The East Ranch was then used as a stage and Pony Express relay station, while the West Ranch continued to be used as an emigrant rest stop, a freight station, and the home of the McCanles family.

In April 1861, McCanles sold the West Ranch to freighters Hagenstein and Wolfe and moved his family to another location about three miles south of Rock Creek Station. Always trying to make money, McCanles sold the toll bridge several times with a number of specific requirements in the contract. When the new owner failed to meet the stipulations, he would take it back and sell it again.

In April or early May of 1861, the station hired on then-24-year-old stock tender James Butler "Bill" Hickok and he became immediately at odds with David McCanles, who had earned a reputation as the local bully. Allegedly, McCanles teased Hickok unmercifully about his girlish build and feminine features, as well as nicknaming him "Duck Bill" referring to his long nose and protruding lips.

Perhaps in retaliation, Hickok began courting a woman by the name of Kate Shell, who, even though McCanles was married, apparently had his eye on.

In the meantime, the Overland Stage Company had fallen behind on their installment payments and on July 12, 1861, McCanles, along with his 12-year-old son, Monroe, and two friends by the names of James Woods and James Gordon came to the station to inquire upon the status of the installments.

Not long after their arrival, an argument ensued and profanities were exchanged, soon leading to gunfire. In the melee, Hickok shot David McCanles, and both James Woods and James Gordon, who was seriously wounded, later died of their wounds. Twelve-year-old Monroe escaped to his home some three miles south of Rock Creek.

Though the details of what actually happened on that fateful day continue to be debated, the versions vary widely. Monroe McCanles, who witnessed the entire event, told a version something like this: When David McCanles had not received full payment from the Overland Stage Company, he planned to take it up with the station manager, Horace Wellman. That very day, the station manager had allegedly gone to the company office in Brownville in order to obtain the money, he returned empty-handed.

Upon hearing this, an angry McCanles soon arrived with two options in mind - either collect the money owed or repossess the ranch. Showing up with his son, and two employees - James Woods and James Gordon, McCanles called for Wellman to come out. Instead, Jane Wellman, the station managerâs wife, appeared at the door, closely followed by James (Bill) Hickok. Horace Wellman's specific whereabouts are unknown, but he was obviously close by.

Disconcerted by Hickok's interference, McCanles alleged asked, "Jim, haven't we been friends all the time?" After Hickok assured him that they were, McCanles, biding his time, asked for a drink of water and came inside. The other three stayed outside the cabin.

Suddenly, McCanles sensed danger, returned the dipper and moved toward the other door at about the same time Hickok moved behind a curtain partition. Unarmed, McCanles said, "Now, Jim, if you have anything against me, come out and fight me fair."

However, Hickok's answer was a blast from a rifle, killing McCanles and dropping him to the floor. Ironically, the story tells that it was McCanles' own rifle that he had left with Wellman to defend the station that he was killed with. Hearing the blast, Woods and Gordon rushed toward the cabin, but Woods was stopped with Hickok's Colt revolver. In the meantime, Wellman bludgeoned him with a hoe, until he died. Gordon, who was also wounded by gunfire, fled to the creek but was followed by Doc Brink, the station's stock tender, who killed him with a blast from his shotgun. Monroe dodged a blow from Wellman's hoe and escaped to his home some three miles south.

McCanles and Woods were originally buried in a single crude box on Soldier Hill. Gordon was buried in a blanket at the spot where he was killed near Rock Creek. In the early 1880's the construction of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad intersected Soldier Hill and the bodies of McCanles and Woods were re-interred at the Fairbury Cemetery.

In the meantime, James A. McCanles, David's brother, filed an arrest warrant for Hickok, Wellman, and Brink on July 15, 1861, and the trio were charged for the murders of McCanles, Woods, and Gordon. A trial was held in Beatrice and though Monroe McCanles adamantly claimed that his father and the other two men were unarmed, he was not allowed to testify because of his age. After the trio plead self-defense and defense of company property, all three were acquitted.

Later, when Hickok's fame began to spread, he told an entirely different version of the tale, making McCanles out to be a ruthless killer and an outlaw, who was the leader of a vicious gang who was terrorizing the region. This story, told by Colonel Ward Nichols and published in Harper's Monthly Magazine in 1867, tells a version that is embellished to the degree that Wild Bill had polished off ten of the West's most dangerous desperados and was left with eleven buck-shot and thirteen knife wounds.

Hickok's tale describes himself as scouting for the U.S. Cavalry detachment when he arrived at Rock Creek that fateful day, rather than working as a stock tender. Describing the McCanles' Gang as reckless, blood-thirsty devils, he said he came upon the station to hear a tale from Mrs. Wellman that McCanles was within minutes of the cabin, dragging a preacher by his neck with a rope.

His tale goes on to describe how he fought off the entire McCanles Gang with only a revolver and a bowie knife, killing all of them in the end and spending weeks recovering from his own injuries.

This event, called the McCanles Massacre, by writers, was the beginning of the Wild Bill Hickok legend. Though Hickok's "legend" was already well-known by the time the article appeared in Harper's Magazine in 1867, Nicholl's glamorized version of the fighting frontier hero, further perpetuated his fame.

No one really knows the specifics of this bloody and seemingly one-sided fight, with numerous versions having been provided, including tales of jealousy, theft, and the ongoing conflict between the north and south. Some tales even allege that it was not Bill Hickok who killed McCanles, rather, it was Horace Wellman.

Continuing to be scrutinized years after the incident and long after Bill Hickok's death, a man named F.G. Elliott was interviewed by a WPA writer in 1938. His tale, though not supporting the glorified story told by Nichols in Harper's Magazine, does support Hickok's rightful killing of David McCanles. It may or may not add more light on the actual events of that fateful day, depending upon your point of view.

By 1866, the railroad had reached Kearney, Nebraska and trail traffic dramatically diminished, leaving the road ranchers to find other occupations.

In 1980, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission began to develop the area as a state historical park. Today, the buildings of the original Rock Creek Station and Pony Express have been reconstructed in the park that now includes some 350 acres, a visitor's center, hiking trails, picnic areas, and a campground. The terrain includes prairie hilltops, timber-studded creek bottoms, and rugged ravines, along with the deep ruts of the Oregon and California Trails, carved more than a century ago by the many wagons that traveled westward along this path." (www.legendsofamerica.com/ne-rockcreek/2/)

1-12-13 Wyndham Street Races

 

Laverda (Moto Laverda S.A.S. – Dottore Francesco Laverda e fratelli) was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative.

The Laverda brand was absorbed by Piaggio when, in 2004, Piaggio absorbed Aprilia. Piaggio has elected to quietly close all activities related to the Laverda brand and has publicly stated that they would be willing to sell the rights to the brand if an investor should appear. Currently Laverda.com redirects to Aprilia's website.

 

750:

The true birth of Laverda as a serious big bike brand occurred with the introduction of 750 cc; its appearance halted sales of the recently introduced 650. Many of the first bikes were produced for the American market under the brand "American Eagle", which were imported to the US from 1968 until 1969 by Jack McCormack. The 750 was identical to the 650 except for the lower compression and carburettor rejetting. In 1969 the "750 S" and the "750 GT" were born, both equipped with an engine which would truly start the Laverda fame. Both engine and frame were reworked: power was increased to 60 bhp (45 kW) for the S. 3 bikes were entered by the factory at the 1969 Dutch 24 hour endurance race in Oss, the 750S was clearly the fastest bike until piston failure left just one machine to finish fourth.

Just like the agricultural machinery made by Laverda S.p.A., the other family business, Laverdas were built to be indestructible. The parallel twin cylinder engine featured no less than five main bearings (four crankcase bearings and a needle-roller outrigger bearing in the primary chaincase cover), a duplex cam chain, and a starter motor easily twice as powerful as needed. Of course, this made the engine and subsequently the entire bike heavier than other bikes of the same vintage, such as the Ducati 750.

 

Laverda 750 SFC

The SF evolved to include disc brakes and cast alloy wheels. Developed from the 750S road bike was the 750 SFC (super freni competizione), a half-faired racer that was developed to win endurance events like the Oss 24 hours, Barcelona 24 hours and the Bol D'Or at Le Mans. This it did, often placed first, second and third in the same race, and dominating the international endurance race circuit in 1971. Distinguished by its characteristic orange paint which would become the company's race department colour, its smooth aerodynamic fairing and upswept exhaust, the SFC was Laverda's flagship product and best advertisement, flaunting pedigree and the message of durability, quality, and exclusivity. The SFC "Series 15,000" was featured in the Guggenheim Museum in New York's 1999 exhibit The Art of the Motorcycle as one of the most iconic bikes of the 1970s.

Source: Wikipedia

 

Review:

By the late 1990s Laverda were developing their parallel twin sportster into a decent bike, which was also getting cheaper in the UK as the pound got stronger.

 

An almost entirely new engine, watercooled and breathing through fuel injection, boosted power to over 80bhp, plus vibration was reduced with balancer shafts.

 

The crude, twin cylinder motor had always been the Laverda’s weak point and now, with a torquier, smoother mill, the twin spar chassis and Brembo brakes could really shine. Suddenly, the old fashioned big twin concept seemed to make sense.

  

One quick blast up the road is all it takes to confirm that the 750S is the start of something big for Laverda. At a glance the bike is very similar to the firm’s previous parallel twins. Its chassis is almost identical, its styling owes much to earlier models, and despite being watercooled the new, grey-finished motor fires up with a mechanical whir and a familiar chuffing from its twin pipes.

 

But the 750S motor responds more quickly to a blip of the throttle, its clutch is notably lighter than before, and the new twin has a distinctly smoother feel as it pulls away. There’s still plenty of Laverda twin character, but the whole bike seems more refined. Then you crack open the throttle in first gear, and the front wheel heads for the clouds to show that, despite its sophisticated manners, this bike is much more of a hooligan than any of its predecessors.

 

If that hasn’t convinced you that the 750S is a brilliantly enjoyable motorbike, the first tight bend will do the trick. Squeeze the Laverda’s big front Brembo discs and you slow with tackle-crunching ferocity. Flick the clip-ons and the bike cranks onto its side with suspension and tyres carving a precise line through the corner. Wind open the throttle and the twin-pot motor revs smoothly and hard towards its redline at just over nine grand.

 

Those first few hundred yards are what stick in my mind after a day spent thrashing about on the new Lav mainly because I hadn’t expected the bike to be anything like this good. Laverda have been steadily refining the age-old parallel twin format since bike-mad local textile baron Francesco Tognon took over and began rebuilding the firm a little over three years ago. But despite that, the oil/aircooled parallel twin motors have always felt a bit crude, and I’d expected the 750S to be just another small step in the process of evolution.

 

Instead the new bike takes Laverda a big leap forward, thanks largely to a watercooled engine whose basic layout is similar to that of its predecessors, but which shares few components and is a far more sophisticated piece of work. The 750S is the first bike that the new company regards as its own design. Tognon says it represents the second phase of Laverda’s recovery and riding it shows that he ain’t exaggerating.

 

The five-strong design and engineering team at Laverda’s base in Zan in north-eastern Italy left no stone unturned in their attempt to uprate the twin-cam, eight-valve parallel twin unit that has helped put the firm back on the map. Boring out the motor from 78.5 to 83mm increases capacity to 747cc from the old lump’s 668cc.

 

The 180-degree crankshaft’s stroke remains at 69mm, but changes including a new balancer shaft are intended to reduce vibration. A new pair of camshafts sit in a narrower cylinder head that also features the novelty of watercooled seats for the exhaust valves. Compression ratio is up from 9:1 to 10.5:1 which, along with the new twin-pipe exhaust system, helps increase the claimed peak output from 70 to 82.5bhp at 7000rpm. The six-speed gearbox incorporates revised teeth and dogs; changes to the clutch include a new master cylinder designed to give a lighter feel at the lever.

 

The chassis is essentially that of the 668cc twins, based around a twin-spar aluminium frame built for the original 650 model that appeared back in 1992. Laverda have never skimped on cycle parts, and the new bike carries on the tradition. Paioli supply the 41mm upside-down forks and the rear shock, both multi-adjustable. Brembo provide brakes (four-pot calipers and 320mm discs up front); wheels are three-spoke Marchesinis wearing Pirelli Dragons.

 

Fork-tops are pushed well through the yokes to quicken the steering compared to the Ghost models (rake is still a less-than-racy 26.5 degrees, even so). At 192kg dry the Lav weighs a bit less than Ducati’s 748, the same as Honda’s VTR1000 and slightly more than Suzuki’s TL1000. But the 750S is very slim and low, and its under-seat fuel tank helps make for a very light and manoeuvrable bike that immediately makes you feel at home.

 

The motor’s new-found smoothness is obvious, and you soon discover that there’s extra power through most of the rev range too. At very low revs the bike judders like a road drill, shaking the mirrors that are mounted to the flimsy fairing. But the vibration fades by 3000rpm, and from then on the Laverda punches with a force that is not exactly earth-shattering (Ducati’s 900SS probably has slightly more midrange), but which is more than enough to make you grin.

 

Previous Laverda twins certainly don’t wheelie like this bike does given a first-gear crack of the throttle and they don’t tempt you to keep thrashing them in the same way either. Response from the revised, faster-reacting Weber fuel-injection system is ace. And the motor’s added smoothness is just as important as its extra power, because you’re more tempted to keep the revs in the sweet zone between 6000 and 8000rpm.

 

Same goes for the new gearbox, which is a big improvement on previous Laverda efforts. The box shifted cleanly at speed, and was let down only by an occasional reluctance to find neutral at a standstill. Word from the factory is that this was caused by this pre-production bike’s slightly dragging clutch, and that a modification has already been found to prevent the same thing happening to production machines. (What’s more, Laverda seem so on-the-ball these days that it’s probably true...)

 

Provided it’s kept revving the 750S is respectably quick as it heads for a top speed of close to 140mph. Granted, that makes it by no means the fastest sports bike in the world. Acceleration above 120mph is pretty gentle, and many riders would doubtless prefer a bit more poke for track days and serious Sunday morning scratching. But the rest of the time that performance gives the perfect excuse for plenty of full-throttle craziness.

 

Predictably the chassis copes effortlessly with everything the engine and rider can throw at it. Laverda really got it right with the 668cc models a few years ago, since when they’ve merely added a few refinements. The hefty twin-spar frame doesn’t have to break sweat to keep 80 horses under control. Forks and shock are firm enough to jar a bit over big bumps, and the riding position means you wouldn’t want to ride in traffic for long (steering lock is pretty tight too). But suspension control is superb and the bike feels better the harder it’s ridden.

 

Despite its less than radical geometry the short, light 750S steers pretty quickly. And it also has a stunningly stable, well-planted cornering feel, with no sign of TL1000-style twitchiness. The rear Dragon is a fairly narrow 160-section cover on a five-inch rim, but for road use the 750S has heaps of grip, and enough ground clearance to need it. The front tyre has to work hard, too, when Brembo’s excellent stoppers are used in anger.

 

Not that I needed the brakes to slow down when, only a few miles after setting off from importers Three Cross, the bike suddenly lost all life and coasted to a halt at the roadside. It turned out that the sidestand cut-out switch was killing the sparks, although the stand was fully retracted. A few turns of a spanner from the toolkit soon had it sorted, but this is the sort of silly problem that Laverda need to avoid if they’re going to steal sales from the big boys.

 

Another electrics-related niggle was that the 19 litre fuel tank’s low warning light had a habit of flashing on far too early, in typical Italian fashion. But quality generally seemed good. Laverda boss Tognon has made a serious investment in an attempt to improve reliability. Finish of parts such as the frame, bodywork and paint (any colour you like as long as it’s black) is well up to standard.

 

When you consider that only a few years ago Laverda seemed to be in a terminal crisis, following the collapse of yet another attempted revival, the appearance of the firm’s first truly new bike is a result in itself. That the 750S is so good is a minor miracle. And what’s more, the normal Italian bike sting in the tail a price several thousand quid higher than the Japanese competition doesn’t apply.

 

Three Cross have pitched the 750S at a very competitive £7499 on the road, hardly more than the 668cc Lavs and substantially cheaper than the TL1000S and VTR1000, let alone Ducati’s 748. If you’re looking for a twin-cylinder sports bike with a bit of character, the 750S is worth checking out. One quick blast up the road is all it takes...

 

Source: www.carolenash.com/insidebikes/bike-reviews/laverda/750s/

53 Chevy. Ace Cafe Spring Riot

“‘Taylor Swift’s ‘reputation’ is a Grammys’ biggest snub.” — Rolling Stone

 

#GrammysAreOverParty

#GrammysCancelled

#TaylorSwiftGotSnubbed

#FuckGrammy

 

The trend to design bigger and more powerful tanks is universal but the results are not always impressive. The requirement for a 45 ton tank was issued in May 1941 and taken up by Dr Porsche on one hand and by Henschel & Co. on the other. Trials of prototypes in 1942 reveald that the Henschel design was the more practical and production began in July 1942. By this time specifications had changed and the tank would weigh in the region of 57 tonnes, and mount an 88mm KwK 36 gun behind a maximum 110mm of armour on the turret front.

 

It was a formidable combination. The gun was very effective and extremely accurate while the armour was proof against most contemporary anti-tank guns at anything but the closest range. Yet it was not all progress. the Tiger was so wide it had to be narrowed down to travel by rail and in bad conditions the overlapping wheels trapped mud and ice sufficient to bring the big tank to a halt. The engine had a nasty habit of catching fire while the gearbox, if subjected to great stress, was liable to break down. If this happened the repair crew had to lift the turret off to get at it.

 

For all that the Tiger was regarded as formidable. It saw action in Russia, Tunisia, Sicily, Italy and north west Europe (although production was limited to just 1,354 tanks) and it was feared by all Allied tank crews, which gave the Panzer forces a considerable pyschological advantage. Even so it would probably be fair to say that more Tigers were lost through mechanical failure than combat action.

 

Our exhibit was in service with 3 Platoon (Troop), 1 Kompanie, Schwere Panzer Abteilung 504, German Army

 

It was captured by 48 RTR, A Squadron, 4 Troop, at Djebel Djaffa, Tunisia, on 21st April 1943.

 

This tank was the first Tiger to be captured intact by British or U.S. forces when it was knocked out in the final month of the Tunisian campaign. It arrived in Tunisia some time between 22nd March and 16th April 1943 and was involved in an action with 48 RTR near Medjez-el-Bab on 21 April 1943. It knocked out two Churchills but a shot from another's six pounder stuck the gun mantlet, and although unable to penetrate the tank's thick armour, jammed the turret and wounded the commander. Damage is still visible on the mantlet, superstructure front plate and turret lifting boss. The crew abandoned the tank and it was recovered the next day and refurbished using parts from other vehicles. The Tiger was later displayed in Tunis and inspected there by King George VI and Winston Churchill. In October 1943 it was sent to the School of Tank Technology for evaluation and in November 1944 displayed on Horse Guards Parade.

 

Precise Name: Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Aus E

  

Other Names: Pz Kpw VI, SdKfz 181, VK 4501(H), SdKfz 182, Tiger Aus H1

 

DESCRIPTION

 

The Tiger has attained almost mythical status: it is the one German tank that nearly everyone recognises.

 

This is due in part to its’ psychological dominance of the battlefield – at one time every enemy tank was a ‘Tiger’ to its opponents – reinforced by the exploits of ‘tank aces’ like Michael Wittman and Otto Carius, heavily publicised by German propaganda.

 

There is no doubt that the Tiger I was a formidable weapon. This was because of its’ lethal 8.8cm gun, thick armour and excellent optical sights as well as the high standard of training of the Panzer crews. It is equally true that it had weaknesses: its’ great weight and relative lack of power restricted its’ tactical mobility, it was difficult to transport by rail, it was mechanically unreliable, it was prone to engine fires and it required frequent skilled maintenance.

 

The Germans started a limited heavy tank programme in 1937 but large-scale work didn’t begin until the spring of 1941. The object was to counter the perceived threat from new British tanks and anti-tank guns. The whole program was approached with greater urgency after German troops encountered the Soviet T34/76 and KV1 tanks in July 1941 during the invasion of the Soviet Union.

 

The development history of this first generation of German heavy tanks is complex. The first product of the heavy tank programme was the Panzerkampfwagen VI (Porsche) also known as the VK4501 (P). This was a radical design that used petrol-electric propulsion. The Porsche project experienced severe technical difficulties and it was decided in May 1941 that the Henschel Company would design a second heavy tank, the VK4501 (H) based on the components developed for an earlier, lighter, project, the VK3601.

 

It was agreed that both the Henschel and Porsche tanks would be armed with an 8.8cm gun derived from the 8.8cm Flak 18 anti-aircraft gun. The gun would be mounted in the turret originally developed by Krupp for the Porsche tank. It was also decided that the front armour would be at least 100mm thick while the sides would be 60mm thick.

 

Prototypes of both tanks were built and tested during the summer of 1942. Following these trials it was decided at the end of October 1942 that the Henschel prototype would be the new heavy tank.

 

Ninety Porsche Tigers were converted into Assault Guns called the Ferdinand. They were armed with the long 8.8cm PaK43/2.

One historian has described the development of the Henschel Tiger as ‘a rushed job’. The only major new component was the Maybach petrol engine, initially the HL210, replaced during production by the slightly larger HL230. The suspension, transmission, steering gear and hull developed from designs for earlier Henschel projects, the VK 3001 and VK3601. The turret was a modified version of the one developed for the Porsche Tiger. This reuse of existing designs could also be considered as pragmatic and sensible engineering.

 

One of the constraints on German heavy tank designs was a need to keep the weight down to less than 30 tons so that existing bridges could be used. Another was a restriction on the width of tanks to fit within the railway loading gauge, a prerequisite for strategic mobility. The weight limit made it very difficult to produce a balanced design that met the joint requirements to carry a big gun and have thick armour. The weight constraint was removed when it was realised that there were very few bridges in Eastern Europe that could bear even a 30 ton load. It was then decided that new medium and heavy tank designs should have a deep wading capability. The Tiger I eventually weighed 57 tons.

 

The Tiger hull was built from welded armour plate. The armour on the front of the superstructure and turret was 100mm thick, the sides 80mm thick. The turret was a horseshoe shape and mounted the 8.8cm KwK36 gun. The gun, 56 calibres long and with a muzzle velocity of 930 metres/second, could penetrate 13.2cms of armour inclined at 30 degrees at 1,000 metres. It was very accurate.

 

Every contemporary Allied tank was vulnerable to the Tiger I at 2,000 metres; in contrast most Allied tanks had to close to within a few hundred meters to stand any chance of damaging the Tiger. The only British tank gun that could penetrate the Tiger’s armour was the 17pdr, only available in small numbers until the last few months of the war, mounted on the Sherman Firefly and some M10 Tank destroyers.

 

The hull was carried on 8 large wheels on each side. The wheels were mounted on twin torsion bars, were interleaved and ran on very broad tracks. This running gear gave the Tiger good mobility in mud and snow. It also had several disadvantages: the interleaved wheels tended to clog with frozen mud and ice while changing a torsion bar or one of the inner wheels was lengthy and heavy job. When the Tiger was moved by rail the wide combat tracks had to be swapped for narrow transport tracks and the outermost wheels removed.

 

The Maybach petrol engine was mounted in the rear of the hull and drove the tracks via a Maybach Olvar gearbox and steering gear. Like all German war-time tanks the gearbox, steering gear and drive sprockets were located at the front of the Tiger. The engine and transmission were rather ‘delicate’ and required careful handling by the driver.

 

A total of 1,354 Tiger I tanks were built between July 1942 and May 1944. The design was continually modified in detail. The major visible changes included: a new cast commander’s cupola in place of the original dustbin shape in July 1943 and the use of steel tyred rubber cushioned road wheels from February 1944. The features needed for deep wading were no longer needed and were deleted to simplify production.

 

The Tank Museum’s Tiger is unique: it is the only one of the six surviving Tiger I tanks that is capable of running. It was the first Tiger to be captured relatively intact by either the British or the Americans. It was manufactured in February 1943: its’ chassis number is 250112. It was sent to Tunisia at some time between March 22nd and April 16th 1943 and was issued to the 3rd Platoon, 1st Kompanie, Schwere Panzer Abteilung 504 of the German Army. It was involved in an action with 4 Troop, A Squadron, 48th Royal Tank Regiment on 21 April 1943. The fighting was at Djebel Djaffa near Medjez el Bab.

 

The Tiger knocked out two British Churchill tanks but was then engaged by a third. The crew of this Churchill hit the gun mantlet of the Tiger with a 6pdr (57mm) shot and although this failed to penetrate it jammed the turret and wounded the Tiger’s commander. Damage from 6pdr hits is still visible on the front of the superstructure, the gun mantlet and the turret lifting boss. The German crew abandoned the Tiger without destroying it and it was captured by 48 RTR. It was subsequently recovered and refurbished using parts from other destroyed Tigers.

 

Prime Minister Churchill and His Majesty King George VI inspected the captured Tiger in Tunis. In October 1943 it was sent to the United Kingdom and displayed on Horse Guards Parade in London. It was then passed to the School of Tank Technology at Chertsey during November 1944 where a thorough technical evaluation was carried out. The Tiger was given to the Tank Museum after the war.

 

A painstaking restoration of the Tiger was started in the 1990s which was eventually completed with help from the National Heritage Lottery Fund. Great care was taken to recreate the original camouflage and markings. The Tiger ran under its’ own power for the first time in 2004.

 

The Tiger I was too valuable as a gun tank to be converted to other uses, although a number were completed as command tanks. Eighteen damaged hulls were rebuilt as Assault Rocket Mortar carriers, the Sturmmorser Tiger. The barrel of a rocket launching mortar is displayed in the Museum.

 

The Tiger I was issued first to the 502nd Heavy Tank Battalion of the German Army and made its combat debut on the Leningrad front in August 1942. It subsequently served with 9 other Army Heavy Tank Battalions; the 3rd Battalion of the Army’s Gross Deutschland Panzer Regiment, a number of ad hoc Army units and three SS Divisions.

 

The Tiger I fought on the Eastern front, in North Africa, Italy and Western Europe until the end of the war. It achieved a combat reputation that was totally disproportionate to the small number produced. Its heavy armour and powerful gun were well suited to the type of defensive fighting that the German Army was engaged in during the later years of the war.

 

Summary text by Mike Garth V1.0

 

VEHICLES Features

  

Full Tracked

 

Tracks/Wheels

  

Gun - KwK 36 L/56 88mm

 

Armament - Main Weapon Type

  

Snorkel

 

Additional Features

  

2 x 7.92mm MG34

 

Armament - Secondary Weapon Type

  

Maybach HL210P45 V12, water cooled

 

Engine

  

8 Forward, 4 Reverse

 

Transmission

  

Torsion Bar

 

Suspension

  

Vehicle Statistics

  

5

 

Number (Crew)

  

57tons

 

Weight (Overall)

  

38kph

 

Maximum (Speed - Road)

  

88mm

 

Calibre (Main Gun)

  

600bhp

 

Power (Engine Output)

  

125gall

 

Volume (Fuel)

  

140km

 

Radius (Range)

  

92rounds

 

Number (Projectile)

  

100mm

 

Maximum (Armour Thickness)

  

8.45m

 

Length (Overall)

  

3.70m

 

Width (Overall)

  

2.93m

 

Height (Overall)

 

The history of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art

1863 / After many years of efforts by Rudolf Eitelberger decides Emperor Franz Joseph I on 7 March on the initiative of his uncle Archduke Rainer, following the model of the in 1852 founded South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum, London), the establishment of the "k. k. Austrian Museum for Art and Industry" and apponted Rudolf von Eitelberger, the first professor of art history at the University of Vienna, to director. The museum should be serving as a specimen collection for artists, industrialists, and public and as a training and education center for designers and craftsmen.

1864/ on 12th of May, opened the museum - provisionally in premises of the ball house next to the Vienna Hofburg, the architect Heinrich von Ferstel for museum purposes had adapted. First exhibited objects are loans and donations from the imperial collections, monasteries, private property and from the kk polytechnic in Vienna. Reproductions, masters and plaster casts are standing value-neutral next originals.

1865-1897 / The Museum of Art and Industry publishes the journal Communications of Imperial (k. k.) Austrian Museum for Art and Industry .

1866 / Due to the lack of space in the ballroom setting up of an own museum building is accelerated. A first project of Rudolf von Eitelberger and Heinrich von Ferstel provides the integration of the museum in the project of imperial museums in front of the Hofburg Imperial Forum. Only after the failure of this project, the site of the former Exerzierfelds (parade ground) of the defense barracks before Stubentor the museum here is assigned, next to the newly created city park on the still being under development Rind Road.

1867 / Theoretical and practical training are combined with the establishment of the School of Applied Arts. This will initially be housed in the old gun factory, Währinger Straße 11-13/Schwarzspanierstrasse 17, Vienna 9.

1868 / With the construction of the building at Stubenring is started as soon as it is approved by Emperor Franz Joseph I. the second draft of Heinrich Ferstel.

1871 / The opening of the building at Stubering takes place after three years of construction, 15 November. Designed according to plans by Heinrich von Ferstel in the Renaissance style, it is the first built museum building on the ring. Objects from now on could be placed permanently and arranged according to main materials. / / The Arts School moves into the house on Stubenring. / / Opening of Austrian art and crafts exhibition.

1873 / Vienna World Exhibition. / / The Museum of Art and Industry and the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts are exhibiting together at Stubenring. / / Rudolf von Eitelberger organizes in the framework of the World Exhibition the worldwide first international art scientific congress in Vienna, thus emphasizing the orientation of the Museum on teaching and research. / / During the World Exhibition major purchases for the museum of funds of the Ministry are made, eg 60 pages of Indo-Persian Journal Mughal manuscript Hamzanama.

1877 / decision on the establishment of taxes for the award of Hoftiteln (court titels). With the collected amounts the local art industry can be promoted. / / The new building of the School of Applied Arts, adjoining the museum, Stubenring 3 , also designed by Heinrich von Ferstel, is opened.

1878 / participation of the Museum of Art and Industry and the School of Art at the Paris World Exhibition.

1884 / founding of the Vienna Arts and Crafts Association with seat in the museum. Many well-known companies and workshops (led by J. & L. Lobmeyr), personalities and professors of the arts and crafts school join the Arts and Crafts Association. Undertaking of this association is to further develop all creative and executive powers the arts and crafts since the 1860s has obtained. For this reason are organized various times changing, open to the public exhibitions at the Imperial Austrian Museum for Art and Industry. The exhibits can also be purchased. These new, generously carried out exhibitions give the club the necessary national and international resonance.

1885 / After the death of Rudolf von Eitelberger is Jacob von Falke, his longtime deputy, appointed manager. Falke plans all collection areas als well as publications to develop newly and systematically. With his popular publications he influences significantly the interior design style of the historicism in Vienna.

1888 / The Empress Maria Theresa exhibition revives the contemporary discussion with the high baroque in the history of art and in applied arts in particular.

1895 / end of the Directorate of Jacob von Falke. Bruno Bucher, longtime curator of the Museum of metal, ceramic and glass, and since 1885 deputy director, is appointed director.

1896 / The Vienna Congress exhibition launches the confrontation with the Empire and Biedermeier style, the sources of inspiration of Viennese Modernism .

1897 / end of the Directorate of Bruno Bucher. Arthur von Scala, Director of the Imperial Oriental Museum in Vienna since its founding in 1875 (renamed Imperial Austrian Trade Museum 1887), takes over the management of the Museum of Art and Industry. / / Scala wins Otto Wagner, Felician of Myrbach, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Alfred Roller to work at the museum and school of applied arts. / / The style of the Secession is crucial for the Arts and Crafts School. Scala propagated the example of the Arts and Crafts Movement and makes appropriate acquisitions for the museum's collection.

1898 / Due to differences between Scala and the Arts and Crafts Association, which sees its influence on the Museum wane, Archduke Rainer puts down his function as protector. / / New statutes are written.

1898-1921 / The Museum magazine art and crafts replaces the Mittheilungen (Communications) and soon gaines international reputation.

1900 / The administration of Museum and Arts and Crafts School is disconnected.

1904 / The Exhibition of Old Vienna porcelain, the to this day most comprehensive presentation on this topic, brings with the by the Museum in 1867 definitely taken over estate of the " k. k. Aerarial Porcelain Manufactory" (Vienna Porcelain Manufactory) important pieces of collectors from all parts of the Habsburg monarchy together.

1907 / The Museum of Art and Industry takes over the majority of the inventories of the Imperial Austrian Trade Museum, including the by Arthur von Scala founded Asia collection and the extensive East Asian collection of Heinrich von Siebold .

1908 / Integration of the Museum of Art and Industry in the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Public Works.

1909 / separation of Museum and Arts and Crafts School, the latter remains subordinated to the Ministry of Culture and Education. / / After three years of construction, the according to plans of Ludwig Baumann extension building of the museum (now Weiskirchnerstraße 3, Wien 1) is opened. The museum receives thereby rooms for special and permanent exhibitions. / / Arthur von Scala retires, Eduard Leisching follows him as director. / / Revision of the statutes.

1909 / Archduke Carl exhibition. For the centenary of the Battle of Aspern. / / The Biedermeier style is discussed in exhibitions and art and crafts.

1914 / Exhibition of works by the Austrian art industry from 1850 to 1914, a competitive exhibition that highlights, among other things, the role model of the museum of arts and crafts in the fifty years of its existence.

1919 / After the founding of the First Republic it comes to assignments of former imperial possession to the museum, for example, of oriental carpets that are shown in an exhibition in 1920. The Museum now has one of the finest collections of oriental carpets worldwide .

1920 / As part of the reform of museums of the First Republic, the collection areas are delineated. The Antiquities Collection of the Museum of Art and Industry is given away to the Museum of Art History.

1922 / The exhibition of glasses of classicism, the Empire and Biedermeier time offers with precious objects from the museum and private collections an overview of the art of glassmaking from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. / / Biedermeier glass serves as a model for contemporary glass production and designs, such as Josef Hoffmann.

1922 / affiliation of the museal inventory of the royal table and silver collection to the museum. Until the institutional separation the former imperial household and table decoration is co-managed by the Museum of Art and Industry and is inventoried for the first time by Richard Ernst.

1925 / After the end of the Directorate of Eduard Leisching Hermann Trenkwald is appointed director.

1926 / The exhibition Gothic in Austria gives a first comprehensive overview of the Austrian panel painting and of arts and crafts of the 12th to 16th Century.

1927 / August Schestag succeeds Hermann Trenkwald as director .

1930 / The Werkbund (artists' organization) Exhibition Vienna, A first comprehensive presentation of the Austrian Werkbund, takes place on the occasion of the meeting of the Deutscher Werkbund in Austria, it is organized by Josef Hoffmann in collaboration with Oskar Strnad, Josef Frank, Ernst Lichtblau and Clemens Holzmeister.

1931 / August Schestag finishes his Directorate .

1932 / Richard Ernst is the new director .

1936 and 1940 / In exchange with the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History), the museum at Stubenring gives away part of the sculptures and takes over craft inventories of the collection Albert Figdor and the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

1937 / The Collection of the Museum of Art and Industry is re-established by Richard Ernst according to periods. / / Oskar Kokoschka exhibition on the 50th birthday of the artist.

1938 / After the "Anschluss" of Austria by Nazi Germany, the museum was renamed "National Museum of Decorative Arts in Vienna".

1939-1945 / The museums are taking over numerous confiscated private collections. The collection of the "State Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna" is also enlarged in this way.

1945 / Partial destruction of the museum building by impact of war. / / War losses on collection objects, even in the places of rescue of objects.

1946 / The return of the outsourced objects of art begins. A portion of the during the Nazi time expropriated objects is returned in the following years.

1947 / The "State Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna" is renamed "Austrian Museum of Applied Arts".

1948 / The "Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of St. Stephen" organizes the exhibition The St. Stephen's Cathedral in the Museum of Applied Arts. History, monuments, reconstruction.

1949 / The Museum is reopened after repair of the war damages.

1950 / As last exhibition under director Richard Ernst takes place Great art from Austria's monasteries (Middle Ages).

1951 / Ignaz Schlosser is appointed manager.

1952 / The exhibition Social home decor, designed by Franz Schuster, makes the development of social housing in Vienna again the topic of the Museum of Applied Arts.

1955 / The comprehensive archive of the Wiener Werkstätte (workshop) is acquired.

1955-1985 / The Museum publishes the periodical ancient and modern art .

1956 / Exhibition New Form from Denmark, modern design from Scandinavia becomes topic of the museum and model.

1957 / On the occasion of the exhibition Venini Murano glass, the first presentation of Venini glass in Austria, there are significant purchases and donations for the collection of glass.

1958 / End of the Directorate Ignaz Schlosser

1959 / Viktor Griesmaier is appointed as the new director.

1960 / Exhibition Artistic creation and mass production of Gustavsberg, Sweden. Role model of Swedish design for the Austrian art and crafts.

1963 / For the first time in Europe, in the context of a comprehensive exhibition art treasures from Iran are shown.

1964 / The exhibition Vienna 1900 presents Crafts of Art Nouveau for the first time after the Second World War. / / It is started with the systematic processing of the archive of the Wiener Werkstätte. / / On the occasion of the founding anniversary grantes the exhibition 100 years Austrian Museum of Applied Arts using examples of historicism insights into the collection.

1965 / The Geymüllerschlössel is as a branch of the Museum angegliedert (annexed). Gleichzeitig (at the same time) with the building came the important collection of Franz Sobek - old Viennese clocks, emerged between 1760 and the second half of the 19th Century - and furniture from the years 1800 to 1840 in the possession of the MAK.

1966 / In the exhibition Selection 66 selected items of modern Austrian interior designers (male and female ones) are merged.

1967 / The Exhibition The Wiener Werkstätte. Modern Arts and Crafts from 1903 to 1932 is founding the boom that continues to today of Austria's most important design project in the 20th Century.

1968 / On Viktor Griesmaier follows Wilhelm Mrazek as director.

1969 / The exhibition Sitting 69 shows on the international modernism oriented positions of Austrian designers, inter alia by Hans Hollein.

1974 / For the first time outside of China Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China are shown in a traveling exhibition in the so-called Western world.

1979 / Gerhart Egger is appointed director .

1980 / The exhibition New Living. Viennese interior design 1918-1938 provides the first comprehensive presentation of the art space in Vienna during the interwar period.

1981 / Herbert Fux follows Gerhart Egger as Director.

1984 / Ludwig Neustift is appointed interim director. / / Exhibition Achille Castiglioni: Designer. First exhibition of the Italian designer in Austria

1986 / Peter NOEVER is appointed as Director and started building up the collection of contemporary art.

1987 / Josef Hoffmann. Ornament between hope and crime is the first comprehensive exhibition on the work of the architect and designer.

1989-1993 / General renovation of thee old buildings and construction of a two-storey underground storeroom and a connecting tract. A generous deposit for collection and additional exhibit spaces arise.

1989 / Exhibition Carlo Scarpa. The other city, the first comprehensive exhibition on the work of the architect outside Italy.

1990 / exhibition Hidden impressions. Japonisme in Vienna 1870-1930, first exhibition on the theme of the Japanese influence on the Viennese Modernism.

1991 / exhibition Donald Judd Architecture, first major presentation of the artist in Austria.

1992 / Magdalena Jetelová domestication of a pyramid (installation in the MAK portico).

1993 / The permanent collection is re-established, interventions of internationally recognized artists (Barbara Bloom, Eichinger oder Knechtl, Günther Förg, GANGART, Franz Graf, Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd, Peter Noever, Manfred Wakolbinger and Heimo Zobernig) update the prospects, in the sense of "Tradition and Experiment". The halls on Stubenring accommodate furthermore the study collection and the temporary exhibitions of contemporary artists reserved gallery. The building in the Weiskirchnerstraße is dedicated to changing exhibitions. / / The opening exhibition Vito Acconci. The City Inside Us shows a room installation by New York artist.

1994 / The Gefechtsturm (defence tower) Arenbergpark becomes branch of the MAK. / / Start of the cooperation MAK/MUAR - Schusev State Museum of Architecture Moscow. / / Ilya Kabakov: The Red Wagon (installation on the MAK terrace plateau).

1995 / The MAK founds the branch of MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, in the Schindler House and at the Mackey Apartments, MAK Artists and Architects-in-Residence Program starts in October 1995. / / Exhibition Sergei Bugaev Africa : Krimania.

1996 / For the exhibition Philip Johnson: Turning Point designs the American doyen of architectural designing the sculpture "Viennese Trio", which is located since 1998 at the Franz-Josefs-Kai/Schottenring.

1998 / The for the exhibition James Turrell. The other Horizon designed Skyspace today stands in the garden of MAK Expositur Geymüllerschlössel. / / Overcoming the utility. Dagobert Peche and the Wiener Werkstätte, the first comprehensive Personale of the work of the designer of Wiener Werkstätte after the Second World War.

1999 / Due to the Restitution Act and the Provenance Research from now on numerous during the Nazi time confiscated objects are returned .

2000 / Outsourcing the federal museums, transforming the museum into a "scientific institution under public law". / / The exhibition of art and industry. The beginnings of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna are dealing with the founding history of the house and the collection.

2001 / As part of the exhibition Franz West: No Mercy, for which the sculptor and installation artist developed his hitherto most extensive work the "Four lemurs heads " are placed at the Stubenbrücke located next to the MAK. / / Dennis Hopper: A System of Moments.

2001-2002 / The CAT Project - Contemporary Art Tower after New York, Los Angeles, Moscow and Berlin in Vienna is presented.

2002 / Exhibition Nodes. symmetrical-asymmetrical. The historic Oriental Carpets of the MAK presents the extensive rug collection.

2003 / Exhibition Zaha Hadid. Architecture. / / For the anniversary of the artist workshop, the exhibition The Price of Beauty. 100 years Wiener Werkstätte takes place. / / Richard Artschwager: The Hydraulic Door Check. Sculpture, painting, drawing.

2004 / James Turrell MAKlite is since November 2004 permanently on the facade of the building installed. / / Exhibition Peter Eisenmann. Barefoot on White-Hot Walls, large-scaled architectural installation on the work of the influential American architect and theorist.

2005 / Atelier Van Lieshout: The Disziplinatornbsp / / The exhibition Ukiyo-e Reloaded for the first time presents the collection of Japanese woodblock prints of the MAK in large scale.

2006 / Since the beginning of the year the birthplace of Josef Hoffmann in Brtnice of the Moravian Gallery in Brno and the MAK Vienna as a joint branch is run and presents special exhibitions annually. / / The exhibition The Price of Beauty. The Wiener Werkstätte and the Stoclet House brings the objects of the Wiener Werkstätte to Brussels. / / Exhibition Jenny Holzer: XX.

2007/2008 / Exhibition Coop Himmelb(l)au. Beyond the Blue, is the hitherto largest and most comprehensive museal presentation of the global team of architects .

2008 / The 1936 according to plans of Rudolph M. Schindler built Fitzpatrick-Leland House, a generous gift from Russ Leland to the MAK Center LA, becomes using a promotion that granted the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department the MAK Center, the center of the MAK UFI project - MAK Urban Future Initiative. / / Julian Opie: Recent Works / / The exhibition Recollecting. Looting and Restitution examines the status of efforts to restitute expropriated objects from Jewish property of museums in Vienna.

2009 / The permanent exhibition Josef Hoffmann: Inspiration is in the Josef Hoffmann Museum, Brtnice opened. / / Exhibition Anish Kapoor. Shooting into the Corner / / The museum sees itself as a promoter of Cultural Interchange and discusses in the exhibition Global:lab Art as a message. Asia and Europe 1500-1700 the intercultural as well as the intercontinental cultural exchange based on objects from the MAK and from international collections.

2011 / After Peter Noevers resignation Martina Kandeler-Fritsch takes over temporarily the management. / / Since 1 September Christoph Thun-Hohenstein is director of the MAK.

www.mak.at/das_mak/geschichte

We're back at the Monaco Ballroom on Friday December 12th for the final show of 2008!! Make sure you make it to see how the year's feuds end at this season ending super show - GPW: "Christmas Crunch"

 

We promise we wont crunch your credit.... we'll only crunch your Christmas!!

 

GPW Heavyweight Title Match

Bubblegum © vs. Dirk Feelgood

 

Just a few months ago you'd be forgiven for taking a double take at this match. The friendship between the two former friends totally imploded with the desire to become Heavyweight champion. Refusing to accept the demise of his friendship with Dirk Feelgood, Bubblegum spent months in turmoil not wanting to retaliate to the cutting comments and brutal attacks levelled his way by former friend and champion Feelgood. As time went by however, Bubblegum eventually unloaded on Feelgood but this will be the first time the two have ever come face to face in a one on one match. And to make things just a little more interesting... it's for the GPW Heavyweight Title. Can the fairytale championship reign continue for Bubblegum, or can Dirk shatter his dreams and become the first ever 2 time Heavyweight Champ?

 

Tag Team Special, Skeletor vs. Stella

Lethal Dose vs. Voodoo & "Sober" Mike Holmes

 

Alan Alan Alan Tasker's henchmen, Lethal Dose march into battle against former stable member Mike Holmes and the man they hold responsible for Holmes' new found sobriety - Voodoo. Cyanide and Toxic hope to tempt Holmes back over to the stable that two months ago he turned his back on. They want to snap him out of the spell they accuse Voodoo of putting him under. However, Holmes seems very happy with his new outlook on life and he and Voodoo look to send Lethal Dose packing in this tag team special. Lethal Dose have warned they will not be coming to the ring alone though, with them along with their attorney and law - Alan Alan Alan Tasker will be a 12 pack of Stella. Hoping the case of beer will prove to be a bigger demon to Holmes than the tag team itself. To fend off the 12 pack, Holmes and Voodoo will have Vooodoo's trusty skull, Skeletor in their corner. An unpredictable tag team match. Can MIke Holmes stay sober? Will Voodoo's spells work? Or will Lethal Dose deliver a beating big enough to break Voodoo's spell?

 

GPW British Title Match

Jak Dominotrescu vs. "Super" Sam Bailey

 

After pinning the British Champion last month in a tag team match, WKD's "Super" Sam Bailey has earned himself a title shot at GPW: "Christmas Crunch". Bailey, already a former tag team champion looks to add to his growing reputation by capturing his first ever singles gold in GPW. While reigning champion, Romanian Jak Domitrescu along with his cohorts - The Eastern Bloc look to make life as difficult as possible for the energetic live wire. Domitrescu has held onto the title since April this year with help from his fellow countrymen, but are his days numbered as champ? He surely wont be alone in this title outing and will have the Eastern Bloc close by, but can "Super" Sam Bailey overcome the odds to win his first singles gold in GPW?

 

And, the main event for the evening is...

 

GPW Tag Team Title 2/3 Falls Match

MIl-Anfield Connection © vs. Young Offenders

 

The heat just got turned up in this feud. The re-united Young Offenders have the most established tag team in GPW - The Mil-Anfield Connection firmly in their sights and not to mention the tag team trophy. These two teams met in September this year where there was no clear winner decided after the match ended in a draw. There will be NO excuses this time to not find a winner. This, for the first time in our history will be a 2/3 Falls Match for the tag team titles. A winner HAS to be decided, but who will it be? A truley epic encounter is in our midst as Jiggy Walker & "The Model" Danny Hope try to cling onto the championship that has defined them as a team and "Dangerous" Damon Leigh & Joey Hayes, The Young Offenders chase the title that one of the most popular tag teams in Europe have never held. Can the re-united friends overcome the well established unit that is The Mil-Anfield Connection? Or can the well oiled duo of the Mil-Anfield do what they've been doing all year and win again?

 

GPW British Title No.1 Contenders Match

Harry Doogle vs. Juice vs. Dylan Roberts vs. Chris Echo

 

After an eye catchingly good year from rookie Dylan Roberts, he has been included in this battle to earn a shot at the British Title. With a burning desire to win and the fans firmly behind him, Roberts could well mark his arrival onto the main roster by becoming the No.1 Contender and going for gold here. However, his opponents wont give him an easy ride. In a wonderful CC-08 tournament, no one impressed more than WKD's Chris Echo. Echo reached the CC-08 finals with two broken wrists and proved he is ready to take a step up. His previous attempts for British gold have been thwarted by the foreign legion numbers of the Eastern Bloc, is he ready to prove again that he is worthy of being No.1 Contender and finally lift the British title? Juice, the current CC8 champion has been as impressive as ever in singles competition this year, but can he compete in this match with 3 others all vying to be No.1 Contender? Also replacing Jervis Cottonbelly due to injury is Harry Doogle as a last minute entry could one half of the next gen score the upset win? , but with so many possible outcomes who will leave with the plaudits and go on to challenge for the British Title next year?

 

Lumberjack Match

Si Valour vs. Heresy

 

A violent and personal feud that has lasted all year long finally comes to a head in what promises to be a violent Lumberjack Match. Ever since brutalising Valour and cutting off all his hair, Heresy has, in some form or other dodged the challenge of Valour. Heresy claimed not to have lost his bottle or be running scared of the 2007 Break Out Star, yet during their Bull Rope clash at GPW: "V" where the two were tied to one another, Heresy still managed to find a way of escaping and creating distance between him and Valour. This time, in a special Lumberjack Match, no matter where either man go - there will be no escape. All lumberjacks will be at the ready to ensure neither man can escape the others clutches and a clear winner, one way or the other will HAVE to be decided. There will be nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide, no matter where they look. Heresy has been one step ahead of Valour all year, is this where he runs out of excuses, or can the master manipulator manipulate another win?

  

via Instagram ift.tt/2ur3ZMu

Late turned the Austrian Academy of Sciences itself to its Nazi history: The Learned Society was more deeply involved than it seemed. More than half of its members were party members.

By Marianne Enigl and Christa Zöchling

At its inception in 1847, the Academy of Sciences should be a haven of free thought, research and publishing. The complete independence the imperial family had guaranteed. The Oriental Studies and the Natural Sciences soon acquired a reputation beyond the borders of the Habsburg empire. Here worldwide the first institute was established to study the radioactivity.

With the end of the monarchy became the illustrious circle, who had been appointed by the Emperor, the Republic of Scholars, which chose its members.

All this abandoned the professors in 1938. On 18 March they sent Hitler a telegram of submissivity. As the scholars the "leader" five days after the German invasion insured their loyalty in the noble halls of their Vienna's city palace, SA, SS and Gestapo had already begun mass arrests.

For the 75th Anniversary of the so-called "Anschluss" is the Austrian Academy of Sciences for the first time based keeping track its history in the National Socialism. profile there has present the as yet unpublished study, which will be presented on 11th March 2013. ("The Academy of Sciences in Vienna from 1938 to 1945," edited by Feichtinger/ Matis/ Sienell/ Uhl, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2013, the exhibition catalog)

Many Academy members had for years offered their servises as illegal Nazis the new rulers. The highest administrative staff of the Academy, in which all the threads of the learned society came together, had been as "Old Fighter" since 1933 in the NSDAP.

Their high level of education put the men assiduously in the service of Nazi policies. Just a year before, in 1937, they had discussed in a joint meeting with the German Academies on the exclusion of Jewish colleagues.

Under its new president, the historian and admirer of Adolf Hitler Heinrich Srbik, in 1939 they were "free of Jews", as noted in a log. The Vienna Academy had 21 of their most respected members excluded. Among them three Nobel Prize winners.

Absolutely thrilled, anthropologists, historians, geographers, biologists, medical physicists put themselves into the service of the Nazis, wanted the racial fanatism, the conquests, the enslavement of the "Easterners" "scientifically substantiate". For the "racial science" and measurement of prisoners of war, the scientists had even actively applied.

Only the mounting of a Hitler Bust, the Academy offered, she refused. For cost reasons.

When the war ended in 1945, more than half of the members of the Academy of Sciences were National Socialist Party members . A denazification was practically non-existent. Even an SS-Sturmbannführer was recorded "resting" after a few years of membership.

What the German historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler noted for society as a whole, was especially valid for the circle of top scholars: "Not Hitler's individual psychopathology is the real problem but the condition of a society that had him ascended and ruled till April 1945".

Who moved with the time

Henry Knight of Srbik: (1878-1951), whose ancestors had been poor Czech peasants in spite of his proud name, which throughout his life he tried to hide, was up in the sixties considered as one of the most important Austrian historians. The passage of time can be seen in his attitude. The imperial period, he conducted research - towards the Habsburgs friendly disposed - ober the dominions, after the collapse of the monarchy, he published essays, which suggested a closeness to social democracy. In time for the seizure of power by the National Socialists in Germany, he published his major work "The German unity", a witness of German megalomania an a plea for German living space. The time of Nazi rule were Srbiks best years. In May 1938 his application for membership to the Nazi Party, in which he had introduced himself as "the founder of the all-German conception of history", was approved. Srbiks anti-Semitism was based on the belief in the superiority of the German "race". He got honorary a low member number of the NSDAP to which otherwise only illegal members had been entitled. For president of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna him the Nazi rulers suggested. Adolf Hitler personally sent him to the German Reichstag.

In his inaugural speech as the new president of the Academy in 1938 Srbik thanked "the genius of our leader", and urged the "communion of the blood the earth, the spirit and the heart and the epochal changes of the body of the Reich and the German people". Science should not be in "complete objectivity lose", it had to put itself in the "service of the German people". The Nazi bombast ran through each of his appearances. In the academy, he performed the exclusion of all Jewish scientists and the occupation of their positions with meritorious Nazi party supporters. In one case, his employment for a candidate has been documented who "was recommended by the Party as an illegal".

From 1943, when the German Wehrmacht in Russia was on the decline and Stalingrad had been lost, there were exhortations to hold out. Srbik praised the "sacrifice of his own life for the mission of the nation". It must "burn pure life so that it illuminates the world as a flame of sacrifice".

In March 1945, the President of the Academy went off and away to the Tyrolean Ehrwald. Srbik owned a second home there. Vienna, he should never enter again. Now in his numerous publications, he represented a cultural Austria-German patriotism. As a sign of detachment from the Nazi regime, he led the denazification process, he had the Nazi Party candidate and poet Max Mell awarded the Grillparzer Prize, although propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels did not fully appreciate this. And he had insisted on the term "archives for the Austrian history". Srbiks Friends brought after the war in his favor, he had allowed to quote "non-Aryan" scientists.

Srbik was then already 70 years old. Over the intervention of the Social Democratic Interior Minister Oskar Helmer him was undiminished awarded his pension. Some of his students made ​​great careers in the Second Republic: in his lectures the openly anti-Semitic World Trade Professor Taras Borodajkewycz however triggered the largest post-war protests and was forced to retire in 1966. Christian Broda, who had doctoral work at Srbik 1940 "People and Leadership" was SPÖ Minister of Justice. Srbiks former student was ÖVP Chancellor Josef Klaus.

Srbiks Nazi past had been concealed or glossed over in the postwar period Legends arose. He is said to have as president of the Academy rescued Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga, who had been transferred to a concentration camp as a hostage. In fact, he had written a letter, but his request was denied. Huizinga was released for health reasons at the end. The historian and Srbik-expert Martina Pesditschek considers it "unlikely" that Srbiks intervention was decisive.

When Henry Srbik died in 1951, his three honorific obituaries were written in the context of the academy. The uncritical praise lasted until the late seventies. In Ehrwald today is even a street named after him.

Expelled and persecuted

Karl Bühler: (1879-1963), psychologist and philosopher, teacher of Karl Popper, was appointed in the twenties from Dresden to Vienna University, where he with his wife Charlotte, inter alia, set important stimuli in the Gestalt and child psychology. From 1934 he was a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. 1938 Buhler lost on "racial" grounds his professorship, was imprisoned, escaped with his wife in the United States. In October 1940, he was expelled from the Academy of Sciences.

Victor Franz Hess (1883-1964), born in Styria, working as a physicist at the famous Institute for Radium Research of the Academy - the first to explore the radioactivity worldwide. Hess was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics for the of him in 1912 in Vienna discovered cosmic radiation. Professorships at several universities in Austria (he initiated the station Hafelekar, Innsbruck), cooperation in the construction of the Radium Corporation in the United States, 1938 loss of professor in Graz, imprisonment and exile with his Jewish wife to the USA. Corresponding member of the Academy since 1933, exclusion from the Academy in 1940.

Stefan Meyer (1872-1949), born in Vienna, Ludwig Boltzmann's assistant at the Physics Institute of the University of Vienna and later professor here, directed the Academy-Institute for Radium Research. After the "Anschluss" of "racial" reasons persecuted, survived retreated in Bad Ischl. Member of the Academy since 1921, declared himself his resignation in late 1938, and so he forestalled his exclusion.

Erwin Schrödinger: (1887-1961), Vienna, taught theoretical physics at Jena, Zurich, Berlin, 1933 Nobel Laureate in Physics. In the same year emigrated to England. From 1936 professor in Graz, in 1938 flight to Ireland. Member of the Academy of Sciences in 1928, 1940 excluded. He was taken in 1945 again .

Nazi careers

Victor Christian: (1885-1963), member of the NSDAP and SS -Hauptsturmführer. The Viennese philologist in 1938 was dean at the University of Vienna and head of the SS Research Centre "Ancestral Heritage" in 1939, the Academy elected him as a full member. In 1945 he was one of four with Nazi heavily burdened whose membership was declared "extinct" than five years later resumption.

Fritz Knoll: (1883-1981), the Styrian-born was a botanist, a German National, emerged as "Illegal" desolate agitating at the University of Vienna in leather boots and black riding pants on, the secret police recorded 1937 in Knolls Institute reign a "provocative Nazi majority". After the "Anschluss" of Austria in March 1938, he was Acting Rector of the University and immediately launched the "wild expulsions" (historian Gerhard Botz) until the end of April 1938 250 teachers were removed of "racial" or political reasons. At the same time, "Your Magnificence" Knoll end of March was politely asked by the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences", ... to take over the interests of the Nazi Party" in the academy. The following year, Academy President Srbik declared himself Nazi officer, Knoll received the honor of full membership. 1945, this was listed as "extinct". Three years later, Knoll was resumed, the Academy president wrote to him". It will be my pleasure to welcome you at the next meeting again". At the University the ex-rector further had ban on entering the house, at the Academy of Sciences, should he ascend the late fifties to the Secretary General. The Republic honored Knoll, who had once proudly proclaimed", the Jew is gone from our science and indeed for all times", with the Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class, the academy thanked itself with the medal "Bene Merito".

Oswald Menghin: (1888-1973) was born in Merano, prehistory at the University of Vienna, mid thirties Rector and active in the integration of "Illegal" in the corporate state. Member of the NSDAP in 1938 as minister of education responsible for political and "racial" cleansing of the universities. 1945, the "first List of war criminals", U.S. internment, then escape to Argentina. Membership in the Academy were suspended in 1945, resumed in 1959.

Josef Nadler: (1884-1963), German scholar from Bohemia, appointed with his literary history of the German estates to professor, since 1934 regular Academy member. NSDAP-party member; in National Socialism director of Germanic Languages ​​at the University of Vienna. 1945 was banned from teaching at the University of Vienna, his academy membership were suspended, reactivated from 1948.

Gustav Ortner: (1900-1984), physicist, born in Styria, "Illegal", took over in 1938 the famous Institute for Radium Research of the Academy. Ortner 1945 was seized by the University of Vienna with teaching ban, put his academy affiliation dormant and reactivated in 1948. Ortner 1960 was a professor at the Vienna University of Technology, 1961, he was Head of the Atomic Institute of the Austrian Universities.

 

www.profil.at/articles/1306/560/352237/die-ns-geschichte-...

392/48/1334 WATER STREET

392/52/1334 (North side)

28-JUN-52 TOWN HALL

 

(Formerly listed as:

CASTLE STREET

TOWN HALL)

 

I

This list entry has been amended as part of the Bicentenary commemorations of the 1807 Abolition Act.

 

The Town Hall stands on the north side of Water Street. Built 1749-54, by John Wood the Elder; modified, extended and reconstructed late C18-early C19 by John Foster Senior, supervised by James Wyatt. Dome completed 1802; south portico completed 1811; interior completed c1820. Council chamber extended and north portico rebuilt using original columns, 1899-1900, by Thomas Shelmerdine. Stone with slate roof and lead dome.

 

EXTERIOR: Two storeys, nine bays; twelve-bay returns. Basement of rock faced rustication. Ground floor rusticated with round-headed windows in recessed reveals. All windows are sashed with glazing bars. South facade: three-bay centre loggia with round-arched entrances, windows in returns with wrought iron screens. Recessed door with fanlight and three-panel doors with large ornamental knockers. First floor has unfluted Corinthian pilasters, and central hexastyle pedimented portico with unfluted Corinthian columns. Windows are round-headed on angle pilasters. Above are rectangular panels, carved with swags and garlands, probably by Frederick Legé, which replaced attic windows in 1811. Entablature and balustrade. Between capitals of pilasters are panels carved in high relief, with exotic emblems of Liverpool's mercantile trade, such as African and Indian heads, an elephant, a crocodile and a camel. The panels continue to east and west elevations - the carvers of those on the 1749-54 south and east facades may have been Thomas Johnson, William Mercer and Edward Rigby. East facade: first nine bays form a symmetrical composition round a three-bay centre with applied hexastyle portico. Central door with iron overthrow and lamp. Last three bays (part of Wyatt's northern extension) have first floor niches and blind bull's eyes under garlands. Here the pilasters are coupled. Tall parapet over entablature, with coupled pilasters separating panels with swags, continuing to north facade. North facade: five bays with projecting three-bay centre with first floor open loggia of coupled columns. Centre windows with architraves and pediments, bull's eyes over. Side windows are tripartite, with colonnettes and responds, carved panels over. Loggia surmounted by statues ordered from Richard Westmacott Senior in 1792. Tall parapet over entablature. West facade: similar to east facade. Central dome on drum with large recessed small paned windows behind a colonnade with four projecting Corinthian aedicules. Balustrade with four clocks flanked by lions and unicorns. Dome surmounted by Coade-stone seated figure, either Britannia or Minerva, by J. C. Rossi; the statue's base is decorated with shells.

 

INTERIOR: Main entrance leads to Vestibule: panelled, with brass plaques naming those given honorary freedom of City. Groin vaulted ceiling, the four shallow lunettes containing murals by J. H. Amschwitz. Ornate fireplace made up from C17 Flemish carvings, presented in 1893. Colourful encaustic tile floor of 1848, incorporating arms of Liverpool. Rooms to east and west. In the northern extension is the Council Chamber, enlarged 1899-1900 to fill the ground floor. Panelled walls. Between the Council Chamber and the Staircase Hall is the Hall of Remembrance, opened 1921: the walls carry the names of over 13,000 Liverpool men who died during WWI; lunettes painted by Frank O. Salisbury. In the Staircase Hall there are two very unusual cast-iron stoves in the form of Doric Columns, possibly designed by Joseph Gandy. The staircase rises under the coffered interior of the dome: a single broad flight between two pairs of Corinthian columns, to a half-landing; then two narrower flights, not attached to walls, return towards the upper landing. Upper landing runs round three sides. The drum of the dome rests on pendentives, painted by Charles Wellington Furse and installed in 1902 show powerful scenes of dock labour. On the first floor there are three reception rooms across the south front, designed by Wyatt: the Central Reception Room has Neoclassical plasterwork by Francesco Bernasconi, who was responsible for most of the stuccowork throughout; to the west and east are room with segmental tunnel vaults. Along the west side is the Dining Room, with a coved ceiling and elaborate plasterwork. Corinthian pilasters of yellow Carniola marble, with painted roundels between the capitals. At either end of the room are niches containing mahogany cabinets (for warming plates) supporting candelabra in the form of red scagliola vases by Joseph Brown, 1813. Between the windows are stoves of remarkable Neoclassical design. Along the east side is the Small Ballroom which is segmental vaulted, with pilasters of Red Carniola. Along the north side is the Large Ballroom, also with a segmental-vaulted ceiling, stucco by James Queen, pilasters of yellow Carniola, and white marble chimneypieces by William Hetherington. In the centre of the south side is a balconied niche with a coffered semi-dome, for the musicians. In the basement are the kitchens, and on the west side there is a brick-vaulted ice house.

 

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: C19 iron area railings incorporating Greek Revival lamp standards, by William Bennett of Liverpool.

 

HISTORY: The present Town Hall, one of the finest surviving town halls of the eighteenth century, replaced a building of 1673 which stood a little to the south; this was a stone structure raised above an arcade which provided space for merchants to conduct their business, or exchange. By the 1740s Liverpool's trade had burgeoned to such an extent that a new town hall was decided upon, both to accommodate the needs of its merchants, and as a demonstration of their prosperity. The architect chosen was John Wood of Bath, who had recently (1743) completed the grand Exchange at Bristol (q.v.). Bristol's pre-eminence as a slave port was then challenged only by London, but Liverpool was catching up, and it was thought that Wood's talents and reputation would admirably reflect the town's growing status. In 1749 Wood's plans were approved, and in 1754 the Exchange, as it then was, opened.

 

Wood's new building differed considerably from the Town Hall as it stands today. It originally had only the south and east facades, older buildings abutting the west and north sides. At the centre of the building was the Exchange courtyard, surrounded by covered walkways with colonnades; according to contemporary descriptions this was dark and confined, and merchants preferred to transact business in the street outside. A grand stair rose from the east walk to the first floor, where the principal rooms included the Town Hall, in the south range. In 1785 it was resolved that the buildings adjoining the Exchange should be removed, and in 1792 John Foster Senior of Liverpool prepared a new design for the exposed west facade, similar to the existing east front, which was adopted. When it was decided to build a large northern extension for the mayor's office and court, with a new assembly room above, the London architect James Wyatt was consulted. Wyatt's designs for a new northern block, and a new dome to replace the earlier square dome, were accepted, and thereafter Foster supervised the building work, answering to Wyatt. In January 1795 Wood's building was gutted by fire, although the unfinished northern extension remained untouched. The Council decided to rebuild within the walls, the Exchange courtyard being dispensed with (a new Exchange was built to the north of the Town Hall, around Exchange Flags) and Wyatt's internal scheme remains, modified and embellished during the succeeding years. The south portico of 1811 announced the building's political function, the space beneath being intended for election hustings. Feasting was provided for by the kitchens which have been in the basement since the 1820s and remain to this day. Most of the superb furniture in the first-floor reception rooms was made for the Town Hall c1817-c1820. These rooms were recently described as 'probably the grandest such suite of civic rooms in the country, an outstanding and complete example of late Georgian decoration and a powerful demonstration of the wealth of Liverpool at the opening of the nineteenth century.' (Sharples, Liverpool (2004))

 

Liverpool's maritime business was initially based on trade with Ireland, but during the latter years of the C17 the town's interests reached North America and the West Indies, as well as Madeira and the Canary Islands. Liverpool was well placed for the Atlantic trade, and as well as being an important centre for shipbuilding, Liverpool and its environs produced many goods for export, such as textiles, glass and metalware. From the 1690s onwards, Liverpool's prosperity was increasingly due to its investment in the slave trade. The first recorded slave ship to leave Liverpool was the 'Liverpool Merchant', which in 1700 carried 220 slaves to Barbados. Liverpool's merchants specialised in direct trade with the Spanish empire, selling slaves particularly in Havana and Cartagena de Indias, and were adventurous in scouring the west coast of Africa for new sources of slaves. During the 1750s Liverpool became Britain's leading slave port and retained its position until 1807; overall, Liverpool ships transported half of the three million Africans carried across the Atlantic by British slavers.

 

Liverpool's mayors were chosen from the most successful of her citizens, so it is not surprising to find that many of those who presided over the new Town Hall were associated with the slave trade. It is said that 20 mayors of Liverpool were directly involved in the trade; of those who held office after the building of the new Town Hall, notable examples include William Gregson, mayor in 1762, and Thomas Staniforth, mayor in 1798 - both men were slave traders and bankers - and the Earle brothers, Ralph and Thomas, members of a family whose wealth from slave ships, plantations, and the products of those plantations gave them influence in Liverpool over several generations. Both Ralph (mayor in 1769) and Thomas (mayor in 1787) traded in the beads which were amongst the commodities used to buy slaves on the African coast. Jonas Bold, a slave trader, sugar merchant and banker, became mayor in 1802; his family's importance in Liverpool outlived the slave trade.

 

The external decoration of Wood's Exchange building proudly celebrates the source of much of Liverpool's wealth, in luxuriant carved panels representing Liverpool's international trade. These were described by a late-C18 observer as 'Busts of Blackamoors & Elephants with the Teeth of the Latter, with such like emblematical Figures, representing the African Trade & Commerce.' The carvings are very similar to those produced for Wood's Bristol Exchange; in Liverpool, the frieze displays the heads of an African and an American Indian, both with feathered head-dresses, together with outlandish animals, lavishly framed with exotic fruits and flowers, and barrels. By the time the west elevation was built, c1792, the slave trade was increasingly a subject of controversy in Liverpool; the Reverend William Bagshaw declared in 1787 that 'throughout this large-built Town every Brick is cemented to its fellow Brick by the blood and sweat of Negroes'. Though the new carvings continued the theme of maritime commerce - with marine horses and cornucopias, packages, ropes and anchors - no direct reference to Africa is made.

 

Fortunes had been made by Liverpool merchants in business related to the slave trade, but greater prosperity was to come in the years following its abolition. The foundations of Liverpool's position as Britain's prime Atlantic port had been laid during its years as a slave port, and Liverpool continued to develop many of the trading connections that had been established by the slave trade, in America and Africa. Liverpool imported the cotton for the Lancashire mills, most of it produced, until the American Civil War and subsequent Emancipation, by slaves in the American South. In the 1840s steamships began regular liner services, carrying passengers and cargo from Liverpool to America; as had been predicted by William Roscoe, Liverpool made more money taking willing passengers to America, than she had done taking slaves there by force. In 1851 Queen Victoria stood on the north balcony of the Town Hall, to greet the merchants assembled in Exchange Flags; she remarked that she had never before seen together so large a number of well-dressed gentlemen.

 

Liverpool Town Hall stands at the centre of the mercantile district built during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The area displays the city's tremendous wealth in a dramatic variety of major commercial buildings. In the immediate vicinity of the Town Hall are the buildings of the Liverpool & London Insurance Co. of 1856-8; the Queen Insurance Buildings of c1837-8 (originally for the Royal Bank); the Bank of England of 1845-6; the India Buildings completed 1930; and Martins Bank of 1927-32. All of these are listed. Exchange Flags, in front of the Town Hall's north facade, was the commercial heart of Liverpool. The present Exchange Buildings of 1939-55 are on the site of two earlier Exchanges: the first of 1803-8 by Foster, possibly with Wyatt; the second of 1864-7 by T. H. Wyatt. At the centre of Exchange Flags stands the Nelson Monument of 1813 by Matthew Cotes Wyatt, James Wyatt's son, and Richard Westmacott Senior; a listed bronze sculpture of a strikingly maritime flavour.

 

The story of Liverpool's progress as a trading power stretches back beyond 1207, when the town was granted its first 'charter' - the 700th anniversary of this event was celebrated by the murals painted for the Town Hall Vestibule in the early C20. 2007, which marked the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, and a significant moment in the city's mercantile history, was therefore doubly significant for Liverpool.

 

SOURCES:

J. Sharples, 'Liverpool' (Pevsner Architectural Guides, 2004)

R. Pollard and N. Pevsner, 'Buildings of England, Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West' (2006);

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ accessed on 15 January 2008

L. Westgaph, 'Read the Signs: street names with a connection to the transatlantic slave trade and abolition in Liverpool', (booklet produced by English Heritage, 2007)

H. Thomas, 'The Slave Trade' (1997);

'Liverpool's Historic Town Hall' (leaflet produced by the City of Liverpool [2007])

R. Anstey and P.E.H. Hair eds, Liverpool, the African Slave Trade, and Abolition (1976, 1989)

T. Mowl and B. Earnshaw, 'John Wood. Architecture of Obsession'(1988)

 

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION

The Town Hall, Liverpool, is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons:

* It is one of the finest surviving town halls of the C18; John Wood's original work confidently developed by James Wyatt

* It has a suite of civic rooms providing an outstanding and complete example of late Georgian decoration

* It has strong connections with the slave trade, through Liverpool's mercantile community, adds to historical interest of building.

* It has group value with the Nelson Monument, and numerous grand commercial buildings, demonstrating Liverpool's continuing prosperity in the C19 and early C20

* The exceptionally rich external carving is unusual subject matter reflecting the international bias of Liverpool's C18 trade.

  

Source: English Heritage

  

Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).

 

Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions

 

"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".

 

The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.

 

The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.

 

Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.

 

Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:

 

Wet with cool dew drops

fragrant with perfume from the flowers

came the gentle breeze

jasmine and water lily

dance in the spring sunshine

side-long glances

of the golden-hued ladies

stab into my thoughts

heaven itself cannot take my mind

as it has been captivated by one lass

among the five hundred I have seen here.

 

Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.

 

Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.

 

There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.

 

Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.

 

The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.

 

In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:

 

During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".

 

Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.

 

While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’

 

Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.

 

An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.

 

Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983

 

Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture

Main article: Commercial graffiti

With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.

 

In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".

 

Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.

 

Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.

 

Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.

 

Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.

 

There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.

 

The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.

 

Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.

 

Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis

 

Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.

 

Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.

 

Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"

 

Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal

 

In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.

 

Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.

 

Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.

 

Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.

 

With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.

 

Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.

 

Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.

 

Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.

 

Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.

 

Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.

 

Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.

 

Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.

 

The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.

 

I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.

 

The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.

 

Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.

 

Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.

 

In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".

 

There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.

 

Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.

 

A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.

By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.

 

Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.

 

In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.

 

A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.

 

From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

 

In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.

 

Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.

 

Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.

 

Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.

  

In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.

 

Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.

 

In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.

 

In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."

 

In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.

 

In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.

 

In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.

 

In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.

 

In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.

 

The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.

 

To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."

 

In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.

 

In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.

 

Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".

 

Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)

In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.

 

Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.

 

Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.

 

In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

 

Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.

 

Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.

 

To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.

 

When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.

The World Museum of Mining was founded in 1963 when the close of Butte's mining heyday was less than two decades away. In the end Butte Montana experienced a century of hardrock mining and earned the reputation of being home to one of the world's most productive copper mines of all time. The Museum exists to preserve the enduring history of Butte and the legacy of its rich mining and cultural heritage.

   

The World Museum of Mining is one of the few museums in the world located on as actual mine yard- the Orphan Girl Mine. With fifty exhibit buildings, countless artifacts, and sixty-six primary exhibits in the mine yard.

The statue of Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke by Ivor Roberts-Jones was unveiled in Whitehall, London in 1993.

 

Ivor Roberts-Jones RA (2 November 1913 – 9 December 1996) was an English sculptor of Welsh descent on both his parents' sides. He is best known for his sculpted heads of notable people such as Yehudi Menuhin and George Thomas, Viscount Tonypandy.

 

He was born in Oswestry, where one of his works, The Borderland Farmer, stands in the town centre. He studied at Oswestry School and Worksop College before attending Goldsmiths College, London and the Royal Academy of Arts.

 

During the Second World War he served in the Burma Campaign. From 1964 he taught sculpture at Goldsmiths, University of London.

 

He received his first full-scale commission in 1964 for the memorial sculpture of the Bohemian British painter Augustus John (1878–1961). This sculpture took three years to complete and required major alteration (from a double sculpture of John and his wife Dorelia) due to limitation of funds. Nonetheless, the final 1967 single-figure sculpture was dramatically successful and led to Roberts-Jones's election as an Associate of the Royal Academy. This sculpture was erected in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, near John's last home.

 

In 1971 he was commissioned to produce the full-length statue of Winston Churchill which now stands in Parliament Square, London. The artist Kyffin Williams, a friend of Roberts-Jones, is said to have acted as the model for Churchill. The organiser of the appeal to raise money for the statue did not like its initial appearance, and reported: "At the moment the head is undoubtedly like Churchill, but perhaps not quite right of him at the pinnacle of his career. The cheeks, the eyes, the forehead and the top of the head require improvement. I told Mr Roberts-Jones that above the eyes I thought I was looking at Mussolini." The sculptor promised to "remove the dome of the head to bring about a lowering of the forehead".

 

Roberts-Jones's 1984 sculpture The Two Kings at Harlech Castle illustrates a scene from Welsh mythology, in which Bendigeidfran carries the body of his nephew Gwern.

 

In 1988, Roberts-Jones was commissioned to produce a statue of the poet Rupert Brooke at Regent Place, a small triangular open space, in Brooke's birth town of Rugby. The statue was unveiled by Mary Archer.

 

Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, KG, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO & Bar (23 July 1883 – 17 June 1963), was a senior officer of the British Army. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, during the Second World War, and was promoted to field marshal on 1 January 1944. As chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, Brooke was the foremost military advisor to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and had the role of co-ordinator of the British military efforts in the Allies' victory in 1945. After retiring from the British Army, he served as Lord High Constable of England during the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. His war diaries attracted attention for their criticism of Churchill and for Brooke's forthright views on other leading figures of the war.

 

Background and early life

Alan Brooke was born on 23 July 1883 at Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Hautes-Pyrénées, to a prominent Anglo-Irish family from West Ulster. The Brookes had a long military tradition as the "Fighting Brookes of Colebrooke", with a history of service in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and World War I. He was the seventh and youngest child of Sir Victor Brooke, 3rd Baronet, of Colebrooke Park, Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, and the former Alice Bellingham, second daughter of Sir Alan Bellingham, 3rd Baronet, of Castle Bellingham in County Louth. Brooke's father died when he was just eight years old.

 

Brooke was educated at a day school in Pau, France, where he lived until the age of 16; he was bi-lingual in French (which he spoke with a heavy Gascon accent and spoke as a first language as a result of his upbringing in the French Pyrenees) and English. He spoke both French and English very fast, leading some Americans later in life to distrust a "fast-talking Limey." He was also fluent in German, and had learnt Urdu and Persian.

 

Brooke, desiring a military career, "only just" qualified for the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1900, coming sixty-fifth out of seventy-two in the entrance exam, but passed out at seventeenth. Had he done any better he would have qualified for a commission in the Royal Engineers, as was his initial intention, and possibly would not have ended up on the General Staff after the Great War, showing that initial lack of success could be invaluable later on.

 

Brooke was commissioned into the Royal Regiment of Artillery as a second lieutenant on 24 December 1902. Due to his high placing at Woolwich Brooke was allowed to choose which branch of the Royal Artillery to join. His choice was the Royal Field Artillery, with which he served in Ireland and India in the years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War in the summer of 1914. He also received his "jacket" upon being selected to join the Royal Horse Artillery.

 

First World War

During the war, he was assigned to an ammunition column of the Royal Horse Artillery on the Western Front, where he gained a reputation as an outstanding planner of operations. He later was transferred to the 18th Division. At the Battle of the Somme in 1916, he introduced the French "creeping barrage" system, thereby helping the protection of the advancing infantry from enemy machine gun fire. Brooke was with the Canadian Corps from early 1917 and planned the barrages for the Battle of Vimy Ridge. In 1918 he was appointed GSO1 as the senior artillery staff officer in the First Army. Brooke ended the conflict as a lieutenant-colonel with the Distinguished Service Order and Bar and was mentioned in despatches six times.

 

As with many others of his generation, the war left its mark upon Brooke. In October 1918, shortly before the Armistice of 11 November 1918, he wrote

 

One trip up to Lens where I wandered among the ruins...such ruin and such desolation. I climbed on to a heap of stones which represents the place where the Church once stood, and I looked down on the wreckage. One could spend days down there just looking down picturing to oneself the tragedies that have occurred in every corner of this place. If the stones could talk and could repeat what they have witnessed, and the thoughts they had read on dying men's faces I wonder if there would ever be any wars.

 

When the Armistice did eventually arrive Brooke was in London on leave. He watched the crowds of people celebrating but felt mixed feelings, as he himself later wrote:

 

That wild evening jarred on my feelings. I felt untold relief at the end being there at last, but was swamped with floods of memories of those years of struggle. I was filled with gloom that evening, and retired to bed early.

 

On 31 March 1942 he wrote:

 

on the lack of good military commanders: Half our Corps and Divisional Commanders are totally unfit for their appointments, and yet if I was to sack them I could find no better! They lack character, imagination, drive and power of leadership. The reason for this state of affairs is to be found in the losses we sustained in the last war of all our best officers, who should now be our senior commanders.

 

Between the wars

During the interwar period, Brooke attended the first post-war course at the Staff College, Camberley in 1919. He managed to impress both his fellow students and the college's instructors during the relatively brief time he was there. He then served as a staff officer with the 50th Division from 1920 to 1923. Brooke then returned to Camberley, this time as an instructor, before attending the Imperial Defence College. He was later appointed as an instructor at the college, and while there he became acquainted with most of the officers who became leading British commanders of the Second World War. From 1929 onwards Brooke held a number of important appointments: Inspector of Artillery, Director of Military Training and then General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Mobile Division (later the 1st Armoured Division) in 1935. In 1938, on promotion to lieutenant-general, he took command of the Anti-Aircraft Corps (renamed Anti-Aircraft Command in April 1939) and built a strong relationship with Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, the AOC-in-C of Fighter Command, which laid a vital basis of co-operation between the two commands during the Battle of Britain the following year. In July 1939 Brooke moved to command Southern Command. By the outbreak of the Second World War, Brooke was already seen as one of the British Army's foremost generals.

 

Second World War

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, in September 1939, Brooke commanded II Corps in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)—which included in its subordinate formations the 3rd Infantry Division, commanded by the then Major-General Bernard Montgomery, as well as Major-General Dudley Johnson's 4th Infantry Division. As corps commander, Brooke had a pessimistic view of the Allies' chances of countering a German offensive. He was sceptical of the quality and determination of the French Army, and of the Belgian Army. This scepticism appeared to be justified when he was on a visit to some French front-line units; and was shocked to see unshaven men, ungroomed horses and dirty vehicles.

 

He had also little trust in Lord Gort, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the BEF, whom Brooke thought took too much interest in details while being incapable of taking a broad strategic view. Gort, on the other hand, regarded him as a pessimist who failed to spread confidence, and was thinking of replacing him. Brooke correctly predicted that the Allied powers' Plan D envisioning an advance along the Meuse would allow the Wehrmacht to outflank them, but British High Command dismissed his warnings as defeatist.

 

When the German offensive began Brooke, aided by Neil Ritchie, his Brigadier General Staff (BGS), distinguished himself in the handling of the British forces in the retreat to Dunkirk. His II Corps faced rapid German Army armored advances following the Allied defeat at the Battle of Sedan. In late May 1940 it held off the major German attack on the Ypres-Comines Canal but then found its left flank exposed by the capitulation of the Belgian army. Brooke swiftly ordered Montgomery's 3rd Division to switch from the Corps' right flank to cover the gap. This was accomplished in a complicated night-time manoeuvre. Pushing more troops north to counter the threat to the embarking troops at the Dunkirk evacuation from German units advancing along the coast, II Corps retreated to their appointed places on the east or south-east of the shrinking perimeter of Dunkirk. Brooke's actions not only saved his own forces from capitulation, but prevented the Germans from seizing the 20-mile gap left by the Belgian surrender and capturing the entire BEF before it could safely evacuate.

 

Then on 29 May Brooke was ordered by Gort to return to England, leaving the Corps in Montgomery's hands. According to Montgomery, Brooke was so overcome with emotion at having to leave his men in such a crisis that "he broke down and wept" as he handed over to Montgomery on the beaches of La Panne. He was told by Gort to "proceed home ... for (the) task of reforming new armies" and so returned on a destroyer (30 May). Then "on June 2nd set out for the War Office to find out what I was wanted for" with a "light heart" and with no responsibility, and was then told by Dill (CIGS) that he was to "Return to France to form a new BEF"; he later said that hearing the command from Dill was "one of his blackest (moments) in the war". He had already realised that there was no hope of success for the "Brittany plan" (Breton redoubt) to keep an allied redoubt in France. After General Maxime Weygand warned him that the French Army was collapsing and could offer no further resistance, he decided that he needed to convince his superiors to allow him to withdraw his forces to Cherbourg and Brest for evacuation to Britain. He told the Secretary for War Anthony Eden that the mission had "no military value and no hope of success" although he could not comment on its political value. In his first conversation with Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Brooke had been rung by Dill who was at 10 Downing Street) he insisted that all British forces should be withdrawn from France. Churchill initially objected but was eventually convinced by Brooke and around 200,000 British and Allied troops were successfully evacuated from ports in northwestern France.

 

After returning for a short spell at Southern Command he was appointed in July 1940 to command United Kingdom Home Forces to take charge of anti-invasion preparations. Thus it would have been Brooke's task to direct the land battle in the event of a German amphibious invasion of Great Britain. Contrary to his predecessor General Sir Edmund Ironside, who favoured a static coastal defence, Brooke developed a mobile reserve which was to swiftly counterattack the enemy forces before they were established. A light line of defence on the coast was to assure that the landings were delayed as much as possible. Writing after the war, Brooke acknowledged that he also "had every intention of using sprayed mustard gas on the beaches".

 

Brooke believed that the lack of a unified command of the three services was "a grave danger" to the defence of the country. Despite this, and the fact that the available forces never reached the numbers he thought were required, Brooke considered the situation far from "helpless" if the Germans were to invade. "We should certainly have a desperate struggle and the future might well have hung in the balance, but I certainly felt that given a fair share of the fortunes of war we should certainly succeed in finally defending these shores", he wrote after the war. But in the end, the German invasion plan was never taken beyond the preliminary assembly of forces.

 

Chief of the Imperial General Staff

In December 1941 Brooke succeeded Field Marshal Sir John Dill as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, in which appointment he also represented the British Army on the Chiefs of Staff Committee. In March 1942 he succeeded Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound as chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.

 

For the remainder of the Second World War, Brooke was the foremost military adviser to the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill (who was also Minister of Defence), the War Cabinet, and to Britain's allies. As CIGS, Brooke was the functional head of the British Army, and as chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, which he dominated by force of intellect and personality, he took the leading military part in the overall strategic direction of the British war effort. In 1942, Brooke joined the Western Allies' ultimate command, the U.S.-British Combined Chiefs of Staff. Brooke was responsible for commanding the entire British Army; he focused on grand strategy, and his relationships, through the Combined Chiefs of Staff, with his American counterparts. He was also responsible for the appointment and evaluation of senior commanders, allocation of manpower and equipment and the organization of tactical air forces in support of land operations of field commanders. In addition he had primary responsibility for supervising the military operations of the Free French, Polish, Dutch, Belgian, and Czech units reporting to their governments in exile in London. Brooke vigorously allocated responsibilities to his deputies. Despite the traditional historical distrust that had existed between the military and the political side of the War Office, he got along quite well with his political counterpart, the Secretary of State for War, first the Conservative politician David Margesson and later Sir James Grigg, the former head civil servant of the department, who in an unusual move was promoted to the ministerial post.

 

Brooke's focus was primarily on the Mediterranean theatre. Here, his principal aims were to rid North Africa of Axis forces and knock Italy out of the war, thereby opening up the Mediterranean for Allied shipping, and then mount the cross-Channel invasion when the Allies were ready and the Germans sufficiently weakened.

 

Brooke's and the British view of the Mediterranean operations contrasted with the American commitment to an early invasion of western Europe, which led to several heated arguments at the many conferences of the Combined Chiefs of Staff.

 

During the first years of the Anglo-American alliance, it was often the British who got their way. At the London Conference in April 1942, Brooke and Churchill seem to have misled General George C. Marshall, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, about the British intentions on an early landing in France. At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, it was decided that the Allies should invade Sicily, under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a decision that effectively postponed the planned invasion of Western Europe until 1944. The Casablanca agreement was in fact a compromise, brokered largely by Brooke's old friend Field Marshal Sir John Dill, Chief of the British Joint Staff Mission in Washington, D.C. "I owe him [Dill] an unbounded debt of gratitude for his help on that occasion and in many other similar ones", Brooke wrote after the war.

 

The post of CIGS was less rewarding than command in an important theatre of war but the CIGS chose the generals who commanded those theatres and decided what men and munitions they should have. When it came to finding the right commanders he often complained that many officers who would have been good commanders had been killed in the First World War and that this was one reason behind the difficulties the British had in the beginning of the war. When General Sir Claude Auchinleck was to be replaced as the commander of the British Eighth Army in 1942, Brooke preferred Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery (Montgomery was both Brooke's ex-pupil and his protégé) instead of Lieutenant-General William Gott, who was Churchill's candidate. Soon thereafter Gott was killed when his aircraft was shot down and Montgomery received the command. Brooke would later reflect upon the tragic event which led to the appointment of Montgomery as an intervention by God. A few days earlier Brooke had been offered Auchinleck's main job of Commander-in-Chief Middle East. Brooke regretfully declined, believing he now knew better than any other general how to deal with Churchill. He recorded that it would take a new CIGS six months to learn to handle Churchill, and "during those six months anything might happen".

 

A year later, the war had taken a different turn and Brooke no longer believed it necessary to stay at Churchill's side. He therefore looked forward to taking command of the Allied invasion of Western Europe, a post Brooke believed he had been promised by Churchill on three occasions. During the first Quebec Conference in August 1943, it was decided that the command would go to General George Marshall. (Although in the event Marshall's work as U.S. Army Chief of Staff was too important for him to leave Washington, D.C., and Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed instead.) Brooke was bitterly disappointed, both at being passed over and of the way the decision was conveyed to him by Churchill, who according to Brooke "dealt with the matter as if it were one of minor importance".

 

Brooke or "Brookie" as he was often known, is reckoned to be one of the foremost of all the heads of the British Army. He was quick in mind and speech and deeply respected by his military colleagues, both British and Allied, although his uncompromising style could make the Americans wary.

 

As CIGS, Brooke had a strong influence on the grand strategy of the Western Allies. The war in the west unfolded more or less according to his plans, at least until 1943 when the American forces were still relatively small in comparison to the British. Among the most crucial of his contributions was his opposition to an early landing in France, which was important for delaying Operation Overlord until June 1944.

 

He was a cautious general with a great respect for the German war machine. Some American planners thought that Brooke's participation in the campaigns of the First World War and in the two evacuations from France in the Second World War made him lack the aggression they believed necessary for victory. According to Max Hastings, Brooke's reputation as a strategist was "significantly damaged" by his remarks at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943, where he claimed that no major operations on the continent would be possible until 1945 or 1946. His diary says that he wanted "operations in the Mediterranean to force a dispersal of German forces, help Russia, and thus eventually produce a situation where cross Channel operations are possible" but that Churchill "entirely repudiated" (or half repudiated) the paper we (the CCOS) had agreed on; Harry Hopkins got him to withdraw his proposed amendments but that Churchill had aroused suspicions with his talk of "ventures in the Balkans."

 

Relationship with Churchill

During the years as CIGS, Brooke had a stormy relationship with Winston Churchill. Brooke was often frustrated with the Prime Minister's habits and working methods, his abuse of generals and constant meddling in strategic matters. At the same time Brooke greatly admired Churchill for the way he inspired the Allied cause and for the way he bore the heavy burden of war leadership. In one typical passage in Brooke's war diaries Churchill is described as a "genius mixed with an astonishing lack of vision – he is quite the most difficult man to work with that I have ever struck but I should not have missed the chance of working with him for anything on earth!"

 

Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Churchill and his senior military staff used the Arcadia Conference in Washington to decide the general strategy for the war. The American Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall came up with the idea of a Combined Chiefs of Staff that would make final military decisions (subject to approval by President Roosevelt and Churchill). Marshall sold it to Roosevelt and together the two sold the idea to Churchill. Churchill's military aides were much less favourable, and Brooke was strongly opposed. However, Brooke was left behind in London to handle the daily details of running the British war effort, and was not consulted. The combined board was permanently stationed in Washington, where Field Marshal Dill represented the British half. The Combined Board did have thirteen in-person full meetings, which Brooke attended.

 

When Churchill's many fanciful strategic ideas collided with sound military strategy it was only Brooke on the Chiefs of Staff Committee who was able to stand up to the Prime Minister. Churchill said about Brooke: "When I thump the table and push my face towards him what does he do? Thumps the table harder and glares back at me. I know these Brookes – stiff-necked Ulstermen and there's no one worse to deal with than that!" It has been claimed that part of Churchill's greatness was that he appointed Brooke as CIGS and kept him for the whole war.

 

Brooke was particularly annoyed by Churchill's idea of capturing the northern tip of Sumatra. But in some cases Brooke did not see the political dimension of strategy as the Prime Minister did. The CIGS was sceptical about the British intervention in the Greek Civil War in late 1944 (during the Dekemvriana), believing this was an operation which would drain troops from the central front in Germany. But at this stage the war was practically won and Churchill saw the possibility of preventing Greece from becoming a communist state.

 

The balance of the Chiefs of Staff Committee was tilted in October 1943 when Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, Brooke's predecessor as chairman, retired as a result of poor health and Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham succeeded Pound as First Sea Lord and naval representative on the Chiefs of Staff Committee. Brooke as a consequence got a firm ally in his arguments with Churchill. This was reflected in the most serious clash between the Prime Minister and the Chiefs of Staff, regarding the British preparations for final stages of the Pacific War. Brooke and the rest of the Chiefs of Staff wanted to build up the forces in Australia while Churchill preferred to use India as a base for the British effort. It was an issue over which the Chiefs of Staff were prepared to resign, but in the end a compromise was reached.

 

Despite their many disagreements Brooke and Churchill held an affection for each other. After one fierce clash Churchill told his chief of staff and military adviser, General Sir Hastings Ismay, that he did not think he could continue to work any longer with Brooke because "he hates me. I can see hatred looking from his eyes." Brooke responded to Ismay: "Hate him? I don't hate him. I love him. But the first time I tell him that I agree with him when I don't will be the time to get rid of me, for then I can be no more use to him." When Churchill was told this he murmured, "Dear Brookie."

 

The partnership between Brooke and Churchill was a very successful one and led Britain to victory in 1945. According to historian Max Hastings, their partnership "created the most efficient machine for the higher direction of the war possessed by any combatant nation, even if its judgments were sometimes flawed and its ability to enforce its wishes increasingly constrained".

 

Brooke's diary entry for 10 September 1944 is particularly revealing of his ambivalent relationship with Churchill:

...And the wonderful thing is that 3/4 of the population of the world imagine that Churchill is one of the Strategists of History, a second Marlborough, and the other 1/4 have no idea what a public menace he is and has been throughout this war! It is far better that the world should never know, and never suspect the feet of clay of this otherwise superhuman being. Without him England was lost for a certainty, with him England has been on the verge of disaster time and again.... Never have I admired and despised a man simultaneously to the same extent. Never have such opposite extremes been combined in the same human being.

 

War diaries

Brooke kept a diary during the whole of the Second World War. Originally intended for his wife, Benita, the diaries were later expanded on by Brooke in the 1950s. They contain descriptions on the day-to-day running of the British war effort (including some indiscreet references to top secret interceptions of German radio traffic), Brooke's thoughts on strategy, as well as frequent anecdotes from the many meetings he had with the Allied leadership during the war.

 

The diaries have become famous mostly because of the frequent remarks on and criticisms of Churchill. Although the diaries contain passages expressing admiration of Churchill, they also served as a vent for Brooke's frustration with working with the Prime Minister. The diaries also give sharp opinions on several of the top Allied leaders. The American generals Eisenhower and Marshall, for example, are described as poor strategists and Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander as unintelligent. Among the few individuals of whom Brooke seems to have kept consistently positive opinions, from a military standpoint, were General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Field Marshal Sir John Dill, and Joseph Stalin. Brooke admired Stalin for his quick brain and grasp of military strategy. Otherwise he had no illusions about the man, describing Stalin thus: "He has got an unpleasantly cold, crafty, dead face, and whenever I look at him I can imagine his sending off people to their doom without ever turning a hair."

 

The first (abridged and censored) version published in the 1950s was edited by the distinguished historian Sir Arthur Bryant: 1957 (The Turn of the Tide) and 1959 (Triumph in the West). Originally Brooke intended that the diaries were never to be published but one reason that he changed his mind was the lack of credit to him and the Chiefs of Staff in Churchill's own war memoirs, which essentially presented their ideas and innovations as the Prime Minister's own. Although censorship and libel laws accounted for numerous suppressions of what Brooke had originally written concerning persons who were still alive, the Bryant books became controversial even in their truncated state, mainly as a result of the comments on Churchill, Marshall, Eisenhower, Gort, and others. Churchill himself did not appreciate the books. In 1952 both Churchill and Beaverbrook threatened legal action against a biography of Stanley Baldwin by G. M. Young, and a settlement was reached by lawyer Arnold Goodman to remove the offending sentences. The publisher Rupert Hart-Davis had the "hideously expensive" job of removing and replacing seven leaves from 7,580 copies of the biography. Diary entries also refer to intercepts of German signals decrypted at Bletchley Park (which he visited twice), which were secret until 1974.

 

In 2001, Alex Danchev of Keele University and Daniel Todman of Cambridge University published an unexpurgated version of the Alan Brooke Diaries including original critical remarks that Alan Brooke made at various times that had been suppressed in the Bryant versions. Danchev and Todman also criticised Bryant's editing, but this is balanced by an assessment by Dr Christopher Harmon, advisor to the Churchill Centre and Professor at the US Marine Corps University. Bryant was inhibited by Alan Brooke's desire not to publish in full his critical diary entries about people who were still alive when Bryant's books were published.

 

Post-war career

Following the Second World War and his retirement from the regular army, Lord Alanbrooke, as he was now, who could have chosen almost any honorary position he wanted, chose to be the Colonel Commandant of the Honourable Artillery Company. He held this position from 1946 to 1954. In addition, he served on the boards of several companies, both in industry and in banking. He was director of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the Midland Bank, the National Discount Company and the Belfast Banking Company. Alanbrooke was particularly fond of being a director of the Hudson's Bay Company where he served for eleven years from 1948.

 

According to historian A. Sangster there was a reason for his choice to work in the private sector - i.e. not to stay in the military. Brooke ended the Second World War not well off: he had to move from his house and publishing his memoirs helped because such books sold well at that time.

 

Private life and ornithology

Alan Brooke was married twice. After six years of engagement he married Jane Richardson in 1914, a neighbour in County Fermanagh in Ulster. Six days into their honeymoon, the then Alan Brooke was recalled to active duty when the First World War started. The couple had one daughter and one son, Rosemary and Thomas. Jane Brooke died of complications from an operation to repair a broken vertebra following a car accident in 1925 in which her husband was at the steering wheel. Jane's death deeply affected Brooke, who blamed himself for the accident and felt guilt over it for the rest of his life.

 

He married Benita Lees (1892–1968), daughter of Sir Harold Pelly, 4th Bt., and the widow of Sir Thomas Lees, 2nd Bt., in 1929. The marriage was very happy for the uxorious Brooke and resulted in one daughter and one son, Kathleen and Victor. During the war the couple lived in Hartley Wintney in Hampshire. After the war, the Brookes' financial situation forced the couple to move into the gardener's cottage of their former home, where they lived for the rest of their lives. Their last years were darkened by the death of their daughter, Kathleen, in a riding accident in 1961.

 

Alan Brooke had a love of nature. Hunting and fishing were among his great interests. His foremost passion, however, was birds. He was a noted ornithologist, especially in bird photography. In 1944, he ordered the RAF not to use an island off the coast of Norfolk as a bombing range because of its significance to nesting roseate terns. He was president of the Zoological Society of London between 1950 and 1954 and vice-president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds between 1949 and 1961.[85][86] He was an honorary member of the Royal Photographic Society from February 1954 until his death.

 

Death

On 17 June 1963 Alanbrooke suffered a heart attack and died quietly in his bed with his wife beside him. The same day, he had been due to attend the Garter Service in St George's Chapel, Windsor. Nine days later he was given a funeral in Windsor and buried in St Mary's Church, Hartley Wintney.

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Kawasaki Motorcycle History

Kawasaki emerged out of the ashes of the second World War to become one of the big players from Japan. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Kawasaki built a reputation for some of the most powerful engines on two wheels, spawning legendary sportbikes like the Ninja series and a line of championship-winning off-road bikes. .1896

The company is founded by Shozo Kawasaki. His firm will come to be known as Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Over time, the company’s principal areas of activity will be shipbuilding, railroad rolling stock, and electrical generating plants. Motorcycles will become a small part of this diversified industrial conglomerate. 1960

Kawasaki signs agreement to take over Meguro motorcycles, a major player in the nascent Japanese motorcycle manufacturing business. Meguro is one of the only Japanese companies making a 500cc bike. In England and the UK, Meguro’s 500 – which bears a strong resemblance to the BSA A7 – is derided as a cheap copy. But in fact, it is a pretty high-quality bike. 1961

Kawasaki produces its first complete motorcycle – the B8 125cc two-stroke. 1962

A series of the two-stroke models from 50-250cc is released. The 250cc disc-valve ‘Samurai’ attracts notice in the U.S. 1966

The 650W1 is released and is the biggest bike made in Japan at the time. It’s inspired by the BSA A10. Over the next few years it will get twin carbs, and high pipes for a ‘scrambler’ version. 1969

Dave Simmonds gives Kawasaki its first World Championship, in the 125cc class

The striking Kawasaki H1 (aka Mach III) a 500cc three-cylinder two-stroke is released. Although its handling leaves something to be desired, the motor is very powerful for the day. It’s one of the quickest production bikes in the quarter-mile. The Mach III establishes Kawasaki’s reputation in the U.S. (In particular, it establishes a reputation for powerful and somewhat antisocial motorcycles!) A wonderful H1R production racer is also released – a 500cc racing bike.

Over the next few years, larger and smaller versions of the H1, including the S1 (250cc) S2 (350cc) and H2 (750cc) will be released. They’re successful in the marketplace, and the H2R 750cc production racer is also successful on the race track, but Kawasaki knows that the days of the two-stroke streetbike are coming to an end.

The company plans to release a four-stroke, but is shocked by the arrival of the Honda 750-Four. Kawasaki goes back to the drawing board.

1973

The first new four-stroke since the W1 is released. It’s worth the wait. The 900cc Z1 goes one up on the Honda 750 with more power and double overhead cams. Over the next few years, its capacity will increase slightly and it will be rebadged the Z-1000. 1978

Kork Ballington wins the 250cc and 350cc World Championships with fore-and-aft parallel-Twin racers (Rotax also built racing motors in this configuration. Ballington will repeat the feat in ’79. In 1980 he will finish second in the premier 500cc class. Anton Mang takes over racing duties in the 250 and 350 classes, and he will win four more titles over the next three years. This is the most successful period for Kawasaki in the World Championship.

Kawasaki’s big-bore KZ1300 is released. Honda and Benelli have already released six-cylinder bikes by this time, but Kawasaki’s specification includes water cooling and shaft drive. To underline the efficiency of the cooling system, its launch is held in Death Valley. Despite its substantial weight, journalists are impressed.

Over the next few years, the KZ1300 will get digital fuel injection and a full-dress touring version will be sold as the ‘Voyager.’ This model is marketed as “a car without doors”!

1981

Eddie Lawson wins the AMA Superbike championship for Kawasaki after an epic battle with Honda’s Freddie Spencer. He will repeat as champion the following year.

Kawasaki releases the GPz550. It’s air-cooled and has only two valves per cylinder, but its performance threatens the 750cc machines of rival manufacturers. This is the bike that launches the 600 class.

1983

The liquid-cooled four-valve GPz900R ‘Ninja’ is shown to the motorcycle press for the first time at Laguna Seca. They’re stunned. 1985

James “Bubba” Stewart, Jr. is born. Kawasaki supplies his family with Team Green diapers. 1989

The first ‘ZXR’-designated bikes reach the market. They are 750cc and 400cc race replicas. 1990

The ZX-11 is launched and features a 1052cc engine. It is the first production motorcycle with ram-air induction and the fastest production bike on the market. 1991

The ZXR750R begins a four year run as the top bike in the FIM Endurance World Championship. 1993

Scott Russell wins the World Superbike Championship, much to Carl Fogarty’s dismay. 2000

The ZX-12R is released – the new flagship of the ZX series. 2002

Bubba Stewart wins AMA 125 MX championship. 2003

Stewart is AMA 125 West SX champ. “What the heck is he doing on the jumps?” people wonder. It’s the “Bubba Scrub.”

In a daring move that acknowledges that only a small percentage of supersports motorcycles are ever actually raced, Kawasaki ups the capacity of the ZX-6R to 636cc. Ordinary riders welcome a noticeable increase in mid-range power, and the bike is the king of the ‘real world’ middleweights.

2004

Stewart wins the AMA 125 East SX title, and the 125cc outdoor championship. There are only one or two riders on 250s who lap any faster than he does on the little bikes.

Just when we thought motorcycles couldn’t get any crazier, the ZX-10R is released. OMG, the power!

2007

Although his transition to the big bikes hasn’t been as smooth as many expected it to be, Stewart wins the 2007 AMA SX championship. 2008

Kawasaki gives the Concours a much-needed revamp in the Concours 14. Sharing the 1352cc engine from the ZX-14, it’s touted as the ultimate sport touring motorcycle.

While they’re at it, Kawasaki also decides to give the Ninja 250 and KLR 650 major updates, after years of inactivity.

FBI Stolen motorcycles

gp500.org/FBI_stolen_motorcycles.html

Motorcycles VIN Decoder

gp500.org/VIN_Decoder.html

 

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

 

Some background:

The Martin B-26 Marauder was a World War II twin-engine medium bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in the Pacific Theater in early 1942, it was also used in the Mediterranean Theater and in Western Europe.

 

After entering service with the U.S. Army, the aircraft received the reputation of a "Widowmaker" due to the early models' high accident rate during takeoffs and landings. The Marauder had to be flown at exact airspeeds, particularly on final runway approach and when one engine was out. The 150 mph (241 km/h) speed on short final runway approach was intimidating to pilots who were used to much slower speeds, and whenever they slowed down below what the manual stated, the aircraft would stall and crash.

 

The B-26 became a safer aircraft once crews were re-trained, and after aerodynamics modifications (an increase of wingspan and wing angle-of-incidence to give better takeoff performance, and a larger vertical stabilizer and rudder). After aerodynamic and design changes, the aircraft distinguished itself as "the chief bombardment weapon on the Western Front" according to a United States Army Air Forces dispatch from 1946. The Marauder ended World War II with the lowest loss rate of any USAAF bomber.

 

A total of 5.288 were produced between February 1941 and March 1945. By the time the United States Air Force was created as an independent service separate from the Army in 1947, all Martin B-26s had been retired from U.S. service. Furthermore, after the end of hostilities in the European theatre of operations, many airframes with low flying hour numbers were left in British airfield.

 

This was the situation when establishing Hunting Aircraft in 1944 by the purchase of Percival Aircraft: this business was absorbed into the British Aircraft Corporation in 1959.

 

At the end of 1945 the young British company Hunting Air Travel Ltd., a division of Hunting plc., based at Luton Airport, entered the scene - actually a commercial airline, not an aircraft manufacturer. The new airline began commercial operations from Bovingdon Airport at the start of 1946, and the lack of suitable passenger aircraft for domestic routes (or to continental neighbors) led to a private conversion program for leftover B-26 airframes.

 

This work was done by Percival Aircraft Ltd, which had become part of Hunting in 1936 and also had its headquarter at Luton. At first, only five B-26B bombers were planned to be converted into P.26 airliners. The airframes underwent considerably changes, primarily stripping them off of any military equipment, closing the bomb bays and adding a passenger cabin with appropriate seating and entry.

 

Furthermore, the bombers' original R-2800 engines were replaced by more powerful and efficient R-3350 radials with 2.000 hp/1.470 kW each. This was a simple task, since this engine had been an early design options and the mountings were compatible.

 

Other modifications included an enlarged wingspan, which was intended for a more economical flight as well as a reduced landing speed, especially when loaded.

 

The revamped aircraft entered service in 1951 when Hunting Air Travel changed its name to Hunting Air Transport. Flying primarily on the British Isles, the aircraft attained immediately some interest from other small airlines, also from continental Europe.

 

When Percival Aircraft Ltd changed its name to Hunting Percival Aircraft in 1954, a total of 21 B-26 bombers had been converted for Hunting-Clan Air Transport (6, Hunting Air Transport had changed its name in 1953), Aer Lingus (6), Derby Airlines (4), Sabena (3) and Manx Airlines (2).

 

All of these differed slightly, being tailored to their operators' needs, e. g. concerning seat capacity, engines or entry configurations. The last machines were re-built for Aer Lingus, with 27 passenger seats (nine rows in 2+1 configuration), a crew of four, and integral boarding ladder under the rear fuselage (instead of standard side doors). Furthermore, these final machines were driven by slightly more powerful (2.200 hp/1.640 kW) turbo-compound R-3350 engines, which offered a considerably improved fuel efficiency and an extended range (+20%).

 

By that time the civil aircraft industry had undergone a major recovery and new models like the turboprop-driven Fokker F.27 Friendship entered the scene - faster, with bigger passenger capacities and more efficient, and the P.26 could not keep up anymore. Another big weakness was the lack of a pressurized cabin, so that the P.26 could only operate at medium altitude. Until 1960 all remaining P.26 were withdrawn and scrapped, most of them had reached their service life, anyway, but operational costs had become prohibitive.

 

General characteristics:

Crew: 4 (pilot, navigator/radio operator, two service)

Capacity: 21–32 passengers

Length: 58 ft 3 in (17.8 m)

Wingspan: 79 ft 3 in (24.20 m)

Height: 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)

Wing area: 734 ft² (66 m²)

Empty weight: 24.000 lb (11.000 kg)

Loaded weight: 37.000 lb (17.000 kg)

Powerplant:

2× Wright R-3350-745C18BA-1 radial, each rated at 2.200 hp (1.640 kW),

driving four-bladed propellers

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 287 mph (250 knots, 460 km/h) at 5.000 feet (1.500 m)

Cruise speed: 225 mph (195 knots, 362 km/h)

Landing speed: 100 mph (79 knots, 161 km/h)

Range: 3.420 mi (2.975 nmi; 5.500 km)

Service ceiling: 21.000 ft (6.400 m)

Wing loading: 46,4 lb/ft² (228 kg/m²)

  

The kit and its assembly:

Another Group Build entry, this time for the 2015 "De-/Militarize it" GB at whatifmodelers.com that ran from June through August. I am not 100% certain how the idea of converting a B-26 bomber into a 50ies airliner came up - I have modified the aircraft before, and maybe handling with resin R-3350s for the Supermarine Stalwart flying boat had a subtle influence. However, it was a suitable idea, and I quickly got hands on a vintage Matchbox kit of the Marauder.

 

This one was chose because of the simplicity of the kit (e .g. without an open bomb bay) and its relatively clean surface. When I got it, though, I had to cope with missing parts: the complete cockpit was missing. The seller did not mention it, I did notice it too late, so I had to create the interior from scratch, as well as the civil pilot figures which were puzzled together, too.

Anyway, conversion was rather straightforward. All guns and turrets were closed/faired over. The dorsal turret received a plug, the nose is the OOB clear part hidden under a coat of putty and the new tail cone is actually a nose from a Frog Supermarine Attacker.

 

Additionally, some of the original windows were hidden (including the ventral entry hatch) while new round windows, esp. for the passenger cabin under the wing spar, were drilled. They were later filled with Clearfix, after all paint work was done.

 

The wing tips were enlarged with donations from a Hobby Boss La-7 pistion fighter, leftover from a former conversion project. Even though I did not expect much from this addition I think that the bigger wingspan (the total extension is less than 2", though) and the more pointed tips subtly change the look and the proportions of the B-26?

 

The OOB engines were replaced by resin R-3350 from Contrails: a perfect match, just the OOB nacelles had to be shortened because the R-3350s come with a complete exhaust section, they are pretty long compared to the R-2800s. Actually, this option was real: AFAIK the R-3350 was a high power alternative for the B-26, but I think that at the time of the aircraft's design it was not available yet, and when it came into production the B-29 received anything that rolled off of the production lines. But in this post WWII case it's a good and plausible modification, since airliners from that era (e .g. the Lockheed Constellation) were powered by this engine type, too.

 

Further mods include new wheels (just for a modernized look, instead of the WWII grass runway balloon tires) and the passengers received a retractable boarding staircase. This addition was originally intended as a display trick, because the B-26 kit is prone to tip over on its tail. But it turned out that the resin engines weigh so much that the kit even stands without extra weight inside now! Well, the scratched stair was fitted, anyway...

  

Painting and markings:

This was a bit complicated, because I wanted a 50ies livery, yet a colorful option. One early choice had been Belgian airline Sabena in dark blue and white, or the Netherland's KLM, but then I stumbled across a limited decal sheet from airliner specialist TwoSix Decals for a 1:72 Fokker F.27 in Aer Lingus service, upon the type's introduction in 1955. Perfect match, and since I like green and I could avoid white as far as possible, this was the winning design! :D

 

From that, things were again straightforward: the paint scheme remains close to the benchmark. The dark green on the upper fuselage is Humbrol 3 (Brunswick Green), the fin was sprayed in white and the metallic undersides were painted with different aluminum shades, including Revell Acrylics, Modelmaster 'Aluminum Plate' Metallizer and simple Aluminum paint, plus some Humbrol 56 for fake panel lines and the fabric-covered ailerons.

 

Panel lines on the upper fuselage and some dirt were painted with Humbrol 91 (Black Green). On top of that a very light black ink wash was applied in order to emphasize engravings, esp. on the wings and the white fin.

 

The decals came next (wonderfully printed, dead sharp, very thin carrier film), and they posed less problems than expected. The window openings on the white cheatline were simply covered and punched through, and after final cosmetic touch-ups incl. light soot stains behind the engine exhausts. I also added de-icing leading edges and some walking areas on the wings, cut from black and grey decals sheet (from TL Modellbau).

 

Finally the kit received a coat of glossy acrylic varnish from the rattle can (which did not turn out as evenly as expected, I guess to due to the age of the paint… The aircraft looks somewhat dirty now), et voilà, the Irish Marauder Commuter was ready for take-off!

  

I am really happy how this conversion turned out. I have seen pics of civilized B-26s (yes, this was actually done, but only in a few cases), and without all the lumps and bumps and with a decent paint job the aircraft looks really sleek and elegant. The classic, early Aer Lingus livery confirms this, a pretty and unusual bird!

1-12-13 Wyndham Street Races

 

Laverda (Moto Laverda S.A.S. – Dottore Francesco Laverda e fratelli) was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative.

The Laverda brand was absorbed by Piaggio when, in 2004, Piaggio absorbed Aprilia. Piaggio has elected to quietly close all activities related to the Laverda brand and has publicly stated that they would be willing to sell the rights to the brand if an investor should appear. Currently Laverda.com redirects to Aprilia's website.

 

750:

The true birth of Laverda as a serious big bike brand occurred with the introduction of 750 cc; its appearance halted sales of the recently introduced 650. Many of the first bikes were produced for the American market under the brand "American Eagle", which were imported to the US from 1968 until 1969 by Jack McCormack. The 750 was identical to the 650 except for the lower compression and carburettor rejetting. In 1969 the "750 S" and the "750 GT" were born, both equipped with an engine which would truly start the Laverda fame. Both engine and frame were reworked: power was increased to 60 bhp (45 kW) for the S. 3 bikes were entered by the factory at the 1969 Dutch 24 hour endurance race in Oss, the 750S was clearly the fastest bike until piston failure left just one machine to finish fourth.

Just like the agricultural machinery made by Laverda S.p.A., the other family business, Laverdas were built to be indestructible. The parallel twin cylinder engine featured no less than five main bearings (four crankcase bearings and a needle-roller outrigger bearing in the primary chaincase cover), a duplex cam chain, and a starter motor easily twice as powerful as needed. Of course, this made the engine and subsequently the entire bike heavier than other bikes of the same vintage, such as the Ducati 750.

 

Laverda 750 SFC

The SF evolved to include disc brakes and cast alloy wheels. Developed from the 750S road bike was the 750 SFC (super freni competizione), a half-faired racer that was developed to win endurance events like the Oss 24 hours, Barcelona 24 hours and the Bol D'Or at Le Mans. This it did, often placed first, second and third in the same race, and dominating the international endurance race circuit in 1971. Distinguished by its characteristic orange paint which would become the company's race department colour, its smooth aerodynamic fairing and upswept exhaust, the SFC was Laverda's flagship product and best advertisement, flaunting pedigree and the message of durability, quality, and exclusivity. The SFC "Series 15,000" was featured in the Guggenheim Museum in New York's 1999 exhibit The Art of the Motorcycle as one of the most iconic bikes of the 1970s.

Source: Wikipedia

 

Review:

By the late 1990s Laverda were developing their parallel twin sportster into a decent bike, which was also getting cheaper in the UK as the pound got stronger.

 

An almost entirely new engine, watercooled and breathing through fuel injection, boosted power to over 80bhp, plus vibration was reduced with balancer shafts.

 

The crude, twin cylinder motor had always been the Laverda’s weak point and now, with a torquier, smoother mill, the twin spar chassis and Brembo brakes could really shine. Suddenly, the old fashioned big twin concept seemed to make sense.

  

One quick blast up the road is all it takes to confirm that the 750S is the start of something big for Laverda. At a glance the bike is very similar to the firm’s previous parallel twins. Its chassis is almost identical, its styling owes much to earlier models, and despite being watercooled the new, grey-finished motor fires up with a mechanical whir and a familiar chuffing from its twin pipes.

 

But the 750S motor responds more quickly to a blip of the throttle, its clutch is notably lighter than before, and the new twin has a distinctly smoother feel as it pulls away. There’s still plenty of Laverda twin character, but the whole bike seems more refined. Then you crack open the throttle in first gear, and the front wheel heads for the clouds to show that, despite its sophisticated manners, this bike is much more of a hooligan than any of its predecessors.

 

If that hasn’t convinced you that the 750S is a brilliantly enjoyable motorbike, the first tight bend will do the trick. Squeeze the Laverda’s big front Brembo discs and you slow with tackle-crunching ferocity. Flick the clip-ons and the bike cranks onto its side with suspension and tyres carving a precise line through the corner. Wind open the throttle and the twin-pot motor revs smoothly and hard towards its redline at just over nine grand.

 

Those first few hundred yards are what stick in my mind after a day spent thrashing about on the new Lav mainly because I hadn’t expected the bike to be anything like this good. Laverda have been steadily refining the age-old parallel twin format since bike-mad local textile baron Francesco Tognon took over and began rebuilding the firm a little over three years ago. But despite that, the oil/aircooled parallel twin motors have always felt a bit crude, and I’d expected the 750S to be just another small step in the process of evolution.

 

Instead the new bike takes Laverda a big leap forward, thanks largely to a watercooled engine whose basic layout is similar to that of its predecessors, but which shares few components and is a far more sophisticated piece of work. The 750S is the first bike that the new company regards as its own design. Tognon says it represents the second phase of Laverda’s recovery and riding it shows that he ain’t exaggerating.

 

The five-strong design and engineering team at Laverda’s base in Zan in north-eastern Italy left no stone unturned in their attempt to uprate the twin-cam, eight-valve parallel twin unit that has helped put the firm back on the map. Boring out the motor from 78.5 to 83mm increases capacity to 747cc from the old lump’s 668cc.

 

The 180-degree crankshaft’s stroke remains at 69mm, but changes including a new balancer shaft are intended to reduce vibration. A new pair of camshafts sit in a narrower cylinder head that also features the novelty of watercooled seats for the exhaust valves. Compression ratio is up from 9:1 to 10.5:1 which, along with the new twin-pipe exhaust system, helps increase the claimed peak output from 70 to 82.5bhp at 7000rpm. The six-speed gearbox incorporates revised teeth and dogs; changes to the clutch include a new master cylinder designed to give a lighter feel at the lever.

 

The chassis is essentially that of the 668cc twins, based around a twin-spar aluminium frame built for the original 650 model that appeared back in 1992. Laverda have never skimped on cycle parts, and the new bike carries on the tradition. Paioli supply the 41mm upside-down forks and the rear shock, both multi-adjustable. Brembo provide brakes (four-pot calipers and 320mm discs up front); wheels are three-spoke Marchesinis wearing Pirelli Dragons.

 

Fork-tops are pushed well through the yokes to quicken the steering compared to the Ghost models (rake is still a less-than-racy 26.5 degrees, even so). At 192kg dry the Lav weighs a bit less than Ducati’s 748, the same as Honda’s VTR1000 and slightly more than Suzuki’s TL1000. But the 750S is very slim and low, and its under-seat fuel tank helps make for a very light and manoeuvrable bike that immediately makes you feel at home.

 

The motor’s new-found smoothness is obvious, and you soon discover that there’s extra power through most of the rev range too. At very low revs the bike judders like a road drill, shaking the mirrors that are mounted to the flimsy fairing. But the vibration fades by 3000rpm, and from then on the Laverda punches with a force that is not exactly earth-shattering (Ducati’s 900SS probably has slightly more midrange), but which is more than enough to make you grin.

 

Previous Laverda twins certainly don’t wheelie like this bike does given a first-gear crack of the throttle and they don’t tempt you to keep thrashing them in the same way either. Response from the revised, faster-reacting Weber fuel-injection system is ace. And the motor’s added smoothness is just as important as its extra power, because you’re more tempted to keep the revs in the sweet zone between 6000 and 8000rpm.

 

Same goes for the new gearbox, which is a big improvement on previous Laverda efforts. The box shifted cleanly at speed, and was let down only by an occasional reluctance to find neutral at a standstill. Word from the factory is that this was caused by this pre-production bike’s slightly dragging clutch, and that a modification has already been found to prevent the same thing happening to production machines. (What’s more, Laverda seem so on-the-ball these days that it’s probably true...)

 

Provided it’s kept revving the 750S is respectably quick as it heads for a top speed of close to 140mph. Granted, that makes it by no means the fastest sports bike in the world. Acceleration above 120mph is pretty gentle, and many riders would doubtless prefer a bit more poke for track days and serious Sunday morning scratching. But the rest of the time that performance gives the perfect excuse for plenty of full-throttle craziness.

 

Predictably the chassis copes effortlessly with everything the engine and rider can throw at it. Laverda really got it right with the 668cc models a few years ago, since when they’ve merely added a few refinements. The hefty twin-spar frame doesn’t have to break sweat to keep 80 horses under control. Forks and shock are firm enough to jar a bit over big bumps, and the riding position means you wouldn’t want to ride in traffic for long (steering lock is pretty tight too). But suspension control is superb and the bike feels better the harder it’s ridden.

 

Despite its less than radical geometry the short, light 750S steers pretty quickly. And it also has a stunningly stable, well-planted cornering feel, with no sign of TL1000-style twitchiness. The rear Dragon is a fairly narrow 160-section cover on a five-inch rim, but for road use the 750S has heaps of grip, and enough ground clearance to need it. The front tyre has to work hard, too, when Brembo’s excellent stoppers are used in anger.

 

Not that I needed the brakes to slow down when, only a few miles after setting off from importers Three Cross, the bike suddenly lost all life and coasted to a halt at the roadside. It turned out that the sidestand cut-out switch was killing the sparks, although the stand was fully retracted. A few turns of a spanner from the toolkit soon had it sorted, but this is the sort of silly problem that Laverda need to avoid if they’re going to steal sales from the big boys.

 

Another electrics-related niggle was that the 19 litre fuel tank’s low warning light had a habit of flashing on far too early, in typical Italian fashion. But quality generally seemed good. Laverda boss Tognon has made a serious investment in an attempt to improve reliability. Finish of parts such as the frame, bodywork and paint (any colour you like as long as it’s black) is well up to standard.

 

When you consider that only a few years ago Laverda seemed to be in a terminal crisis, following the collapse of yet another attempted revival, the appearance of the firm’s first truly new bike is a result in itself. That the 750S is so good is a minor miracle. And what’s more, the normal Italian bike sting in the tail a price several thousand quid higher than the Japanese competition doesn’t apply.

 

Three Cross have pitched the 750S at a very competitive £7499 on the road, hardly more than the 668cc Lavs and substantially cheaper than the TL1000S and VTR1000, let alone Ducati’s 748. If you’re looking for a twin-cylinder sports bike with a bit of character, the 750S is worth checking out. One quick blast up the road is all it takes...

 

Source: www.carolenash.com/insidebikes/bike-reviews/laverda/750s/

City Rock Festival Sept 17th 1977

Hosted By John Peel

The Damned (never played see below)

Eddie And The Hot Rods

Doctors Of Madness

Lew Lewis Band

Chelsea

Slaughter And The Dogs

Asward

Fruit Eating Bears

John Cooper Clarke

Glory

Solid Waste

tickets £3.00 advance or £3.50p on the gate.

 

City rock, the first ever punk festival in September 1977 and hosted by John Peel, but unfortunately things did not go to plan. Bob Mardon promoter who attempted to save Chelmsford City Football Club and make it as a big time promoter found his show ending in shambles. Only 1500 young punks turned up for the event on a perfect sunny September day, in fact only 500 tickets had been sold in advance of the show.

Promoter Bob Mardon an ex-college dance organiser announced after coming out of hiding that he was broke with personal debt of £14.000. Now in 1977 that was a lot of money with the new Ford Capri selling at £3000 and a 3 bedroom house at about £10.000, average wage £78.00 per week.

First Punk Rock Show Ever

 

The day before the show local newspapers report and speculate on the event reporting a mass security operation in the town to deal with the 15000 punks expected all with a reputation of anti social behaviour. A spokesman from the event said “we have enough bouncers to handle anything unless it turns into a riot, inside the ground there will be 90 bouncers and seven patrol dogs while police will monitor the situation outside the stadium”

 

A late publicity campain was launched with 3500 posters splashed around centrel London. Mardon was now under exstream pressure as builders demanded cash for alteration work at the football ground but remained posative about the show expecting a late rush on tickets. Asked how many people would attend he said "we don't know what will happen, it's like going to play a football match without knowing if we will win. we hope we can"

 

Martin Havelin local record shop owner and board member at CCFC is also involved and was hoping to raise £5000 for the football club. It was reported after that he had in fact lost £7000 of his own money.

Despite only 1500 punks and music fans turning up, the show went on. Comparing John Peel introduced the artist onto the stage. I was at the festival, I had looked forward to the event ever since its announcement. I was a part time punk, as if I had gone to work looking anything remotely like a punk you would have been sent home or sacked. So before a punk gig I would spray my hair sliver, gel and spike it up. I had an old Baddow Comprehensive School blazer that was ripped with chains hanging, A swastika badge pinned on, old ripped drain pipe jeans with anti social graffiti on, with silver DM's and anything I could wear that would disgust people.

The Jam and Generation X pull out of the show due to poor ticket sales and the head-liner's are rapidly replaced by Barry Master's band from Southend On Sea “Eddie and The Hot Rods” .

 

Things backstage at the show soon started to turn sour as angry bouncers demanded payment from Mardon who had locked himself into the his office at the ground. News got out on Anglia TV that stewards had left the site and anyone could now get get in for nothing, this did attract a few more into the stadium. Some friends of mine the Harrison family been Sue, John and Mark came along after hearing the TV report and filled us in on the media reports. But Punks in the ground were now getting angry as news spread that the show may be cancelled, John Peel appealed for calm but was pelted with bottles as the punks became increasingly mad. Plastic bags full of urine were also thrown onto the stage, with one band "Asward" been pelted of stage, Peel said "one more can thrown and the band will walk off and immediately they were pelted bt many cans.

 

Despite this all the bands on the bill above played apart from the Damned who refused to play unless they were paid. (they felt gilty after and returned to the Chancellor Hall some weeks later and played for free.) As Richard Strange played with his band Doctors Of Madness one dis crumpled scaffolder who was not going to be paid started to dismantle the stage during the performance this continued when Eddie and The Hot Rods closed the festival.

As Punks enjoy the music my biggest fears for the festival had become a reality as it was turning into a major flop. I had talked at length at the time with fellow punk mates and we felt that the band to have filled that stadium at the time would have been the Sex Pistols. In hindsight its easy to look back but here is my pefect line up for 1977 The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam, Sham 69, X Ray Spex, Generation X, Buzzcocks, Sioxsie And The Banshees, The Adverts.

 

Maurice Hyde

  

Duncan Egleton Looks Back At The Chelmsford Punk Festival 1977 & The Damned / 999 Free Chancellor Hall Gig

  

I have a bit of a confession to make; I never went to this one. I did have a good reason though, a week before the festival we were out celebrating with one of the lads I went to school withs, 19th birthday. Gary Cove. We had a night out at Chelmsford’s only night club at the time, Deejays. If you remember it, it was at a time when everything shut at 11. I can even recall that the closing times for pubs used to be 10.30 during the week and 11 at the weekend and I think that Sundays used to be 10. In the summer it got better as the weekdays changed to 11. Anyway Deejays used to be quite a scary place, a hangout for the Melbourne and Boarded Barns lads, all a little bit older than us with fearsome reputations. They always played the Feelgood classic “Back in the night” there and to get the late licence they had to sell Chicken and Chips in a basket. That night I had shitloads of beer (and chicken and chips) and was so pissed I did not remember a thing until I awoke in hospital the next day. My leg was in a full plaster and was broken. Apparently while walking home along Parkway where the Kings Head meadow used to be (now Tesco home and wear), I tried to be a matador with a passing motorbike and came of worse. I can not remember a thing but my mates thought I had killed the motorbiker as he was screaming and rolling about in agony, so they tried to carry me off away from any Police investigation. The biker had a couple of grazes and I had a broken leg which kept me off work for 6 months. The motorbike hit the railings of the meadow and put a big dent into them. Luckily for me my dad had an insurance which covered all of costs. The thieving bastards from the council even charged for the railings. I wouldn’t have minded but that dent was there until the railings were taken away when they built on there several years later.

  

I was absolutley gutted that I couldn’t go as it’s not everyday that your town hosts a national festival which was going to be so well attended to put the town well on the map. I can remember the excitement and anticipation of the upcoming event. A new bridge over the River Can had to be built ( see image click to enlarge), the local papers were full of the prospect of the invaiding filth that was to come. Anyway the rest is history, a flop. Typical Chelmsford. I felt sorry for the people involved, Martin Haviland; I think he used to own a real cool record shop in New London Rd, Ecstasy Records. This was a proper record shop where you could listen to anything you wanted to on headphones. That’s if you could get a pair due to all the old hippies in there, who never seemed to do or be anywhere else. The festival was all that was wrong with Chelmsford at the time, it was never supported and seen as a benifit for the town. Much like the Chelmsford Spectacular, the council gave up on that, when it made a loss, seeming to worry more about a handfull of people who take their dogs for a walk than the majority of people. This was a great family weekend now sadly gone. How long was it before Chelmsford got more night clubs other than Deejays? There are now a host of clubs and bars (sadly too late for me) which youngsters come from miles to go to for a night out, who reckon Chelmsford is a great place to live.

 

It’s a shame as I was only housebound for about 2 weeks but the festival was just the week after. I did get to see the Damned at the free gig at (90p to cover hall cost's, see ticket) the Chancellor. Trying to get up

 

those stairs with a plaster on was hard work. A few of my mates went on an emergency rush to London to stick up posters around the capital the night before the City Punk festival to try to drum up support. I know that one of them has a few in his loft still. A nice piece of local history. If I had of been there, it would have been the Damned and Slaughter and the dogs that I would have like too seen. Nowadays it would be Lew Lewis and the Rods.

 

A good festival lineup for those times would be Patti Smith Band, The Jam, The Pistols, Dr Feelgood, the Clash, Penetration, 999, Iggy Pop and I would have loved to have seen handsome Dick Manitoba with the Dictators.

  

I broke my wrist the year after playing football luckilly nothing since then.

 

Duncan

 

chelmsfordrocks.com

Director Theophilus Raynsford Mann

 

~ a Taiwanese social reformer, philosopher, photographer, and film director

 

“Do Everything for My People”

  

馬天亮導演

 

~ 臺灣的社會改革者，哲學家，攝影師，和電影導演

 

《造福人民》

  

SUMMARY

 

Theophilus Raynsford Mann is a naturalist, occultist, Buddhist and Taoist. In 1982, Mann developed a technique for abstract photography, applied “Rayonism” into photographic works. Mann staged 32 individual, extraordinary exhibitions around Taiwan, who was the first exhibitor around Formosa. Mann’s works is the beginning of modernization in the modern abstract arts in the world. At the University of Oxford, Mann’s attractive topic was “A View of Architectural History: Towns through the Ages from Winchester through London Arrived at Oxford in England”; also an author at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan in the United States; an alumnus from Christ Church College at the University of Oxford in England, the University of Glamorgan in Wales, and National Taiwan University in Taipei on Taiwan. Mann’s works have been quoted by the scholars many times, making Mann one of the highly cited technological, artistic, and managing public administrators in the academia. Mann was listed in “Taiwan Who’s Who In Business” © 1984, 1987, 1989 Harvard Management Service.

  

Early Life and Record of Genealogy

 

Theophilus Raynsford Mann possesses both Taiwanese and German surnames from birth. Usually, whenever anyone asks Mann about where he comes from, he would reply “Formosa” as he grew up and was educated in the Far East and lives in Taiwanese and Japanese lifestyles. Moreover, he often teaches and educates younger generations based on the methods of the Far Eastern teaching he experienced when he was young, though he does not oppose the Western ways of teaching and thinking. Mann takes great pride in his roots, which go back 150 years (since 1864); Mann’s ancestry originates and creates generations, and prepares younger generations to succeed their personality and ethical standards and integrity.

  

Education in Taiwan and a Brief of Latest Generation of History in Taiwan / Formosa

 

In 1980, Mann obtained his postgraduate certificate from the Graduate Institute of Electrical Engineering of National Taiwan University in Taipei; successfully completed another graduate studies in Information dBase III Plus and Taiwanese Traditional Chinese Mandarin Information System at National Sun Yat-Sen University in Kaohsiung in 1989.

 

In history, the Portuguese explorers discovered and called the island (Taiwan), “Formosa” (meaning “Beautiful Island”) in 1590. They are non-Chinese people; it was long a Chinese and Japanese pirate base. Fighting continued, between its original inhabitants of Taiwanese and the Chinese settlers, into the 19th century. In 1894-95 first Sino-Japanese War that ended in Manchus of the Qing (Ching) dynasty defeat, the late Manchu Qing Government forced to cede Formosa to Japan. This result was made by the Treaty of Shomonoseki in 1895 and remained under Japanese control until the end of the Second World War. Early on, Taiwan was conquered by the Qing in 1683 and for the first time became part of older China dynasty. However, today, the home country of Mann’s origin has around 165 institutions (93 universities) of higher education, which now has one of the best-educated populations in Asia. Among the major public (state) ones are the National Taiwan University (NTU) at Taipei, and National Sun Yat-Sen University (NSYSU) at Kaohsiung. NSYSU is also called National Chun-Shan University; according to Times Higher Education 2010-2011, NSYSU ranks as the 3rd university in Taiwan, 21st in Asia, and 163rd worldwide. National Taiwan University is ranked 51 to 60 ranks on Times Higher Education World University Rankings - Top Universities by Reputation 2013, the United Kingdom (see www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/...); King's College London (KCL) (21st in the world and 6th in Europe in the 2010, QS World University Rankings), the University of London, and University of Southern California (is one of the world's leading private research universities, located in the heart of Los Angeles), afterward.

 

Backing to Mann’s early school-time of Taiwan Provincial Kaohsiung Industrial Senior High School (Kaohsiung Municipal Kaohsiung Industrial High school), the professional technical education, which is equivalent to Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, commonly referred to as an A-level in the United Kingdom; China Electronic Engineering College, the distance learning programme, which is in equivalence as UK’s Diploma of Higher Education / Undergraduate Diploma (as an Associate Degree in the United States). An additional, his middle education was taught by the Kaohsiung Municipal Chihjh (Ci Sian) Junior High School; and Kaohsiung Municipal San Min Elementary School was his first school in Taiwan.

  

Early Career

 

In 1989, Mann instituted Mann’s Office of Electrical Engineer, he settled himself in electrical technology and industries as a chief engineer in his early years. He put his professional and precise knowledge to good account in business management. A formal business management with business relationship established to provide for regular services, dealings, and other commercial transactions and deed. He had many customers having a business and credit relationship with his firm then he was a successful engineer.

  

Study Abroad and Immigration into the United Kingdom

 

In 1998, Mann studied abroad when he arrived in Great Britain; he studied at School of Built Environment, the University of Glamorgan (Prifysgol Morgannwg) in Merthyr Tydfil, Pontypridd, Wales for a master of science in real estate appraisal. Until the summer of 2000, Mann completed an academic course on “Towns through the Ages” from Christ Church College at the University of Oxford (is ranked the 2nd place worldwide on The Times Higher Education, World University Rankings 2012-2013 www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/...) in England. Afterward, Mann immigrated into the United Kingdom in the early year of 2004.

  

PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS

 

Mann is a naturalist; he trusts spiritual naturalism and naturalistic spirituality, which teaches that “the unknown” created this wonderful world. “The unknown” arranged the nature with its law so that everything in nature is kept balanced and in order. However, human beings failed to control themselves, deliberately went against the law of nature, and resulted in disasters, which we deserved. He also is an occultist, a Taoist, and a Buddhist; but in Britain, he frequently goes to Christian and Catholic churches, where he makes friends with pastors and fathers as well as churchgoers. In his mind, he recognizes “Belief is truth held in the mind; faith is a fire in the heart”. He is always a freethinker, does not accept traditional, social, and religious teaching, but based on his ideas: a thought or conception that potentially and actually exists in his mind as a product of mental activity - his opinion, conviction, and principle. If people have not come across eastern classics and philosophy, we are afraid that people would never understand Theophilus Raynsford Mann. People cannot judge an eastern philosopher based on western ways of thinking. He studies I Ching discovering eastern classics of ancient origin consisting of 64 interrelated hexagrams along with commentaries. The hexagrams embody Taoist philosophy by describing all nature and human endeavour in terms of the interaction of yin and yang, and the classics may be consulted as an oracle.

 

Back in the 1990s when Mann just arrived at England, he had been offered places to do Ph.D. and LL.M. degrees (degree in Law and Politics of the European Union) by several western professors in the Great Britain. He has met all the requirements for postgraduate admissions to study at UK’s universities.

 

During his time at Oxford, he learnt a lot of British culture and folk-custom while carrying out research with many British and Western professors, experts, and archaeologists. This proves that Mann understands various aspects in British society, culture, and lifestyles. Of course, he does not fully understand about the perspectives of thinking of a typical British. For example, what would be the most valuable in life for a British person? What would a British want to gain from life? What is the goal in life for a British? Is it fortune or a lover? Alternatively, perhaps honour? On the other hand, maybe being able to travel around the world and see the world?

  

FAIRNESS and JUSTICE

 

As Theophilus Raynsford Mann’s saying are:

 

“Touching Fairness and Justice”

 

Feel good about themselves, but do not know the sufferings of the people...

Who can get easy life like them?

What is profile of modern society?

What type and style is truly solemn for this society identify?

Where “the characterization” is? Who can see? Did you see it?

 

《感動的公平與正義》

 

自我感覺良好, 不知民間疾苦...

誰能得到安逸的生活如同他們一樣？

這是個什麼樣子的社會？

這個社會認定什麼樣的類型和風格是真正莊重的?

「特徵」在那裡？誰可以看到？你看到了嗎？

  

Jurisprudence and Political Philosophy and Perspectives

 

Mann ever studied judicial review and governmental action, the impact of law and legal techniques, constitutional mechanisms for the protection of basic rights, and ensuring the integrity of commercial activity, the impact of law and legal techniques on government, policymaking, and administration, as well as the creation of markets. He tries to understand these critical trends in the political development of modern state. Mann will combine both theoretical and empirical approaches, and the conditions for democratic transition and the nature of state development in the ‘post-industrial’ era of globalisation and economic integration.

 

According as Mann’s legal experiences, he comprehend that “the knowledge of the law is like a deep well, out of which each man draught according to the strength of his understanding”, and, law and arbitrary power are in eternal enmity. He is also sure law and institutions are constantly tending to gravitate like clocks; they must be occasionally cleansed, and wound up, and set to true time.

 

The government issues a decree - an authoritative order having the force of law, which charged with putting into effect a country's laws and the administering of its functions. Any of the officials promulgate a law or put into practice relating to the government charged with the execution and administration of the nation's laws then they announce and carry out the creation of any order or new policy that will be responsible for the people.

 

Mann had knowledge in connexion with construction law; he also understands architectural arts, and as well learnt the forms by combining materials and parts include as an integral part concerning modern construct. I ever built urban buildings and rural architecture in different styles under new housing and building projects by the governmental administration and construction corporations.

 

Right now, Mann studies the problems caused by ethnic disputes and human armed conflicts in the modern society resulted code of mixed civil and criminal procedure. He wishes an agreement or a treaty to end human hostilities - the absence of war and other hostilities around the world. The interrelation and arrangement of freedom from quarrels and disagreement become harmonious relations living in peace with each other. Actually, erect peace in more friendly ways of making friendships for modern human society is comfortable in my ideal. It is like building monolithic architecture: houses and buildings for the people. Mann would like to do “something beautiful for `the unknown`”.

 

In the ethnic disagreement and armed conflicts as concerning the poor people and children notwithstanding they live through a bad environment on any of poor or crowded village or town in a particular manner - lived frugally. However, after years of industrialisation as a more educated population, becomes more aware of global plenum, continuing to be alive. Environmental groups are increasing and lobbing government will legislate to stop bad environmental and social practices. The establishments of human rights’ wide and untiring efforts will be alleviated people’s suffering. And as well the poor people shall meet and debate sustainable development and for a concerted government led action towards sustainability is an example that the younger generation are concerned for the future. It shall be making the younger easier for their life and make better on their lives, and help them to build a better future.

 

In present world, Mann really knows the full meanings of “Fundamental Human Rights and Equal Opportunities for the People”. He thinks ethics is the moral code governing the daily conduct of the individual toward those about him / her. It represents those rules or principles by which men and women live and work in a spirit of mutual confidence and service. Without going into the question of how an ethical code was formulated or why anybody should obey it, we can look at the matter in a common-sense fashion with reference to its influence upon our legal affairs. In brief, from the law point of view, a reputable ethical code embodies the qualities of accuracy, dependability, fair play, sound judgement, and service. It is based upon honesty.

 

No person can have an ethical code that concerns him / her alone. Living in society, as he / she must, a person encounters others whose rights must be respected as well as his / her own. An honest regard for the rights of others is an essential element of any decent code of ethics, and one that anyone must observe if anybody intends to follow that code. After all, ethics is not something apart from human beings. Indeed, there is no such thing apart from our actions and us. It is the duty, therefore, of every man and woman in legal affairs to see that his daily associations with others are truly in conformity with the plain meaning of the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not barratry, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not receive illegal fee and the rest”.

 

The knowledge Mann has, in connection with legal affairs, was usually come from his precious experiences of his past over ten year’s law and political careers. In an interval regarded as a distinct period of 1980s, he studied mixed civil and crime, and the code of mixed civil and criminal procedure for the problems caused by ethnic disputes and human armed conflicts in the modern society. He was especially one who maintains the language and customs of the group, and social security in Taiwan.

 

Since 30 July of 1988, Mann settled himself in law as a chief executive and scrivener at Central Legal, Real Estate, and Accounting Services Office; it is in the equivalent to a solicitor of the United Kingdom. The Office provided full legal, accounting, real estate, and commercial services to the public. He did his job as a person legally appointed by another to act as his or her agent in the transaction of business, specifically one qualified and licensed to act for plaintiffs and defendants in legal proceedings and affairs. Over and above Mann was a chairman and executive consultant at Taiwan Credit Information Company®, founded in 1994. The company offered services to the public in response to need and demand in the area of credit information.

 

Mann had excellent experiences in political and law work was pertaining to mixed civil and crime, the code of mixed civil and criminal procedure, construction, and commercial law abroad. The experiences of legal services related to the rights of private individuals and legal proceedings concerning these rights as distinguished. In the criminal proceedings, he did many cases for the defendants. Although an act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it and for which punishment is imposed upon conviction; but he also laid legal claim, required as useful, just, proper, or necessary to the defendants under the human rights in the meantime. This provision ensures to the defendant a real voice in the subject.

 

The men whose judgement we respect are those who do not allow prejudices, preferences, or personalities to influence their decisions. Profit and self-aggrandisement are likewise ignored in their determination to reach an equitable and fair settlement. What are the basic principles upon which good judgement is founded? A keen intellect, a normal emotionally, a through understanding of human nature, experience of law work, sincerity, and integrity.

  

Developed a Technique for Abstract Photography and Abstractionist

 

In 1982, Mann developed a technique for abstractive photography, which applied “rayonism” to the photographic works. In November of 1984, Mann was 26-year-old, he instructed many professors and students of National Taiwan Normal University in photography of abstract impressionism and rayonnisme in Taipei, Taiwan. The word “rayonnisme” is French for rayonism - a style of abstract painting developed in 1911 in Russia.

  

Photographic Exhibitions

 

Theophilus Raynsford Mann Photographic Exhibition of “Rayonnisme / Rayonism” Tour - Invitational Exhibition of Taiwan 1983-84.

一九八三〜八四年中華民國臺灣 馬天亮攝影巡迴邀請展

 

Theophilus Raynsford Mann Photographic Exhibition of Rayonism (32 individual exhibitions) 1983~1985.

馬天亮『光影』攝影特展（個人展32場）1983〜1985年.

 

Mann staged 32 individual, extraordinary exhibitions and annual special exhibitions on photography of abstractive image and Rayonnisme around Taiwan / Formosa. Mann was the first exhibitor around the country. All of the invited displays were by the Taiwan’s Government, cultural and artistic organisations, and sponsors. Mann’s earliest exhibition took place in the National Taiwan Arts Education Center (Museum) on 19 December 1983 when Mann was 25 years old; Mann was the youngest exhibitor in the history of the Center in any solo exhibitions. The Center that was opened in March 1957, kept a collection of Mann’s work. It is currently updating the Center’s internal organisation and strengthening co-operation with leading centers and museums around the world. Meanwhile, it widened the center’s scope to increase its emphasis on Taiwan’ regional culture and folk arts.

  

Modernization in the Modern Abstract Arts of Taiwan

 

Mann’s works is the beginning of modernization in the modern abstract arts of Taiwan, China and greater Chinese society in the world. The use of “modernisation” as a concept that is opposed to “Traditional” of “Conservative” ideas began with the approach of the 20th century. It spreads rapidly through academic circles, and was broadly accepted as a means to reform society. Chinese Manchu Qing (Ching) dynasty’s first steps toward modernisation began in the Tung-chih era (1862-1874) with the “Self-Empowerment Movement”. During the late 19th century, as late Manchu dynasty was confronted on all sides by foreign aggression, voices throughout society debated the most effective means to reform and strengthen the country. Some advocated “combining the best of East and West”, while others went so far as to call for “complete Westernisation”. Taiwan was at the centre of these waves of reform. Faced with direct threats against the island by foreign enemies, the Chinese Ching dynasty court took special steps to push Taiwan’s modernisation.

 

In a role just like that of a gardener wanting to create a rich and fertile environment for the seeds of culture, one in which Mann may sprout, grow and bloom. Mann aims to provide an educational stimulus for society by introducing his works - Mann can express the neo-romantic spirit deftly from various creations and supporting international artistic exchanges. Mann believes that the first step in creating such a new and independent state is the real emergence of culture and arts, for which the art and science of designing and erecting buildings, and fine arts (including photography and motion picture) of the civilization is a good measurement of success. For the foreseeable future, Mann should be continuing to forge ahead, working diligently and unceasingly towards its mission of raising China and Formosa / Taiwan’s culture in his spare time.

  

Became an Author and a Scholar

 

In 1980, Theophilus Raynsford Mann completed his first book - scenario original “The Soul's Sentimentalizing”, also named: “Hun Yun : Jin Qi Tu Rui” 電影原著《魂韻》(衿契吐蕊) then Mann was at the age of 22. In 1983, The General Library of the University of California, Berkeley in the United States of America, collected and kept Mann’s writings - scenario original 「魂韻 : 衿契吐蕊」“Hun Yun : jin qi tu rui”, included a musical composition of his own – “Sonate Nr. 1 C-dur op. 3 für Klavier (piano)”, composed on 3rd April 1977 then Mann was 18 years old. The works were published in 1980; the theme was based on “The Soul's Sentimentalizing”. Another masterpiece was an Album of Academic Work for News Publication “Theophilus Raynsford Mann Photographic Exhibition of Rayonnisme / Rayonism”, published in 1985. The Hathi Trust Digital Library, the University of Michigan also collected and kept Mann’s writings.

  

Authorship

 

Mann’s articles and writings were published in more than 200 different kinds of domestic and foreign magazines, newspapers, and periodicals, in the period between May of 1972 and 1990s. It was all started when Mann was just 13-year-old. Many of which have been very influential. These have been quoted by Western and Eastern scholars many times in the last few years, making Mann one of the highly cited technological, artistic, and managing public administrators in the world in the late 20th and early 21st century. The Ministry of the Interior in Taiwan had registered Mann’s professional writings and given him two certificates of copyright. The numbers are 33080 and 33081 on 4th July of 1985; and Taiwan’s Gazette of The Presidential Office issue No. 4499, featured his writings on 4th September 1985.

  

Became an Academic and Film Director

 

Today, Mann is a professor at Space Time Life Research Academy, and a photographer, film director, and computer engineer now live and work in London.

  

Director Works:

FILMS:

Experimental Film “New Image for the Spring” © 1982

Documentary Film “Rayonnisme” © 2011

“The Soul's Sentimentalizing” of the feature film is based on the scenario original “The Soul's Sentimentalizing” (preparation)

 

FASHION SHOWS:

New Image for the Spring of Shapely Models International © 1982

High Lights on the Summer and Fall Fashion of Shapely Models Int’l © 1982

 

ART EXHIBITIONS:

The Cadillac Club International Fine Arts Exhibition © 1981

The Cinematic & Photographic Arts Salon and the Hall of the Arts, Pegasus Academy of Arts © 1981

  

Musician Work:

MUSIC COMPOSITION:

Sonate Nr. 1 C-dur op. 3 für Klavier (piano) © 1977, © 1980, © 1981, © 1983, the theme was based on “The Soul's Sentimentalizing”.

  

PHOTOGRAPHIC ALBUMS:

Portrait and Landscape in France © 2000

Portrait and Landscape in Scotland © 2001

Portrait and Landscape in England © 2009

Portrait at Queen Mary, University of London © 2010

Rayonism of London © 2011

Portrait at The University of Nottingham, United Kingdom © 2011

Snowy London © 2012

Portrait at King's College London © 2013

  

BOOKS:

Scenario Original 「魂韻」(衿契吐蕊) “Hun yun: jin qi tu rui” © December 1980, © 1981, © 1983 (Date of First Publication: 31 December 1980, Second Edition on 29 July 1981, Date of Revision: Revised Edition on 8 May 1983), Languages: Chinese (traditional), and English language.

“Album of the Cadillac Club International Fine Arts Exhibition” © 1981

“Album of the Cinematic & Photographic Arts Salon and the Hall of the Arts, Pegasus Academy of Arts” © 1981

“Album of New Image for the Spring of Shapely Models International” © 1982

“Album of High Lights on the Summer and Fall Fashion of Shapely Models Int’l” © 1982

“Romantic Carol” © 1982

Album of Academic Work for News Publication: “Theophilus Raynsford Mann Photographic Exhibitions of Rayonnisme” © May 1985

New version of scenario original “The Soul's Sentimentalizing” (to be published)

「曾經輝煌到頂天立地」(individual biography, to be published)

“My Life, My History, and My Love” (based on a legend, to be published, a film scenario will be developed later)

「感動的公平與正義」“Touching Fairness and Justice” (political science and social studies, to be published)

  

Research Interests:

 

University of Oxford

Research Studies in Archaeology:

Mann’s attractive topic was “A View of Architectural History: Towns through the Ages from Winchester through London Arrived at Oxford in England”.

 

National Taiwan University

Graduate Certificate,

Graduate Institute of Electrical Engineering:

Mann’s monograph of seminar was “Applied the sequence control in the electric power distribution engineering”.

 

University of Glamorgan

M.Sc. Course,

Master of Science in Real Estate Appraisal:

Mann’s thesis - major subject, with relevant construction law was “The Assignment is under Economics of Construction Management in Architecture”.

 

National Sun Yat-Sen University

Postgraduate Certificate,

Postgraduate Studies in Computing:

Mann’s required subject was Information dBase III Plus and Taiwanese Traditional Mandarin Chinese Information System. He combined academic course work and practical laboratory sessions in “Applied Mandarin Phonetic Symbols into Traditional Taiwanese Personal Computer and Its Information System”.

  

Associations:

 

Member of The Kaohsiung Life Line Association since 11 January 1979, an association established in the USA.

 

Member of The Society of Youth Writers, Tien (Catholic) Educational Center, Taipei since 1980.

 

Since 1980, a member of Chinese Taipei Film Archive (CTFA, National Film Archive, Taiwan; founded in 1978), The Motion Picture Foundation, R.O.C. (member of Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film, FIAF; The International Federation of Film Archives was founded in Paris in 1938 by the British Film Institute, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Cinémathèque Française and the Reichsfilmarchiv in Berlin.)

 

Commissioner of the cinema, photography, radio, and television committee of The Culture and Arts Association (Chinese Writers and Artists Association) of Taiwan ever since September 1983.

 

Classic member, the membership is equivalent to a doctorate membership of the Chinese Institute of Electrical Engineering since 23 March 1984.

 

On 15 March 1989, Mann promoted and founded the Consortium Juridical Person Mr. Theophilus Raynsford Mann Social Benefit Foundation 財團法人馬天亮先生社會公益基金會籌備處 (Social Charity 社會慈善事業) in Taiwan.

near.archives.gov.tw/cgi-bin/near2/nph-redirect?rname=tre...

 

Classic member, the membership is equal to a professor or associate professor of The Chinese Institute of Engineers since 30 September 1991.

  

Honours:

 

Listed on ‘Taiwan Who’s Who In Business’, © 1984, © 1987, and © 1989 Harvard Management Service.

中華民國企業名人錄編纂委員會, 哈佛企業管理顧問公司.

 

On 26 August 1985, Mann was awarded a professional certificate of the Outdoor Artistry Activities issued by Education Bureau, Kaohsiung City Government, Taiwan. He acquired awards and certificates of honour about twenty times from National Taiwan Arts Education Center (Museum) on 24 December 1983; Kaohsiung Municipal Social Education Center on 17 March 1984, Kaohsiung Cultural Center, Taipei Cultural Center (Taipei Municipal Social Education Hall); and Taiwan Province Government, Taipei City Government, Kaohsiung City Government, and many cultural centres and art galleries, and so on.

  

Careers:

 

Honorary Professor at Space Time Life Research Academy, 7 June 2012 to present; Professor at Space Time Life Research Academy, 1 September 2011 to 1 June 2012 in London, United Kingdom:

Academia,

Teaching and Research:

business management and consultant, political philosophy, Chinese classics, Chinese humanities, modern Chinese language and literature, photography (portrait, fashion, commercial, digital, architectural, abstract photography), visual arts and filmmaking.

www.facebook.com/stlra/info

教學與研究：

企業管理及顧問、政治哲學、中華經典 (古典漢學、文學、藝術、語言) 、中華人文、中華現代語言與文學、攝影 (人像、時裝、商業、數位/數碼、建築、抽象攝影) ，視覺藝術和製作影片。

 

Consultant and Translator at Eternal Life Consultants of Immigration and Translations Services, 10 March 2004 to present in London, United Kingdom:

consultants of immigration, translations, and legal services.

www.facebook.com/elcits/info

永生移民顧問翻譯服務社的移民諮詢顧問和翻譯：

移民事務，翻譯和法律服務。

 

Computer Hardware & Networking Engineer at Mann Office of Electrical Engineer, 8 March 2004 to present in London, United Kingdom:

Computer Engineering and Network Services. Repairing of Motherboards, Monitors, Power Supplies, CD-ROM Drives; UPS, Hard Disk Drives, H.D.D Data Recovery; BIOS Programming, and all types of Computer Hardware and Software Solutions.

www.facebook.com/maaelec/info

計算機工程和網絡服務。維修主機板，顯示器，電源供應器，光碟機/光盘驱动器，不斷電系統，硬碟/硬盘，硬盤數據恢復，基本輸入輸出系統編程，以及所有類型的電腦/計算機硬體/硬件和軟體/軟件解決方案。

 

Film Director and Photographer at Shapely Studio of Creative and Cultural Industries, 2 April 2007 to present in London, United Kingdom:

1) Photo, Video and Film Production; 2) Graphic Design, Web Design, Social Networking, Social Media and Advertising; 3) Architectural Design and Interior Design.

www.facebook.com/sscci/info

 

Reformer and Philosopher at Taiwanese Social Reformer and Philosopher, 7 April 2012 (location: Los Angeles, California) to present in London, United Kingdom:

Social Reform in Taiwan

www.facebook.com/twreform/info

  

《魂韻》(衿契吐蕊) - 馬天亮22歲寫的電影原著。Theophilus Raynsford Mann (TianLiang Maa) wrote “Hun Yun” (Jin Qi Tu Rui), scenario original “The Soul’s Sentimentalizing” © 1980, 1981, 1983, was at the age of 22.

Website

mtltwp.pixnet.net/album/set/1265174

album.blog.yam.com/mtltwp

photo.roodo.com/photos/mtltwp/albums/small/100469.html

www.facebook.com/hy22tss/info

www.facebook.com/tsstrm/info

  

Sonate Nr. 1 C-dur op. 3 für Klavier (piano) by Theophilus Raynsford Mann (TianLiang Maa 馬天亮) © 1977, © 1980, © 1981, © 1983. The Sonate composed on 3rd April 1977 then Mann was 18-year-old. The work was published in 1980; the theme was based on “The Soul's Sentimentalizing”.

Website

mtltwp.pixnet.net/album/set/1265208

www.facebook.com/sonate1c/info

www.facebook.com/piano1c/info

  

LINKS:

 

University of California, Berkeley

berkeley.worldcat.org/search?q=Ma%2C+Tianliang&dblist...

berkeley.worldcat.org/title/hun-yun/oclc/813684284?refere...

oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b11283690~S1

 

University of Michigan

mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/006237256

catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006237256

 

WorldCat® Identities

www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AMa%2C+Tianliang%2C&dbl...

www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/np-ma,%20tianliang$1958

 

Google Books

books.google.co.uk/books?id=PkyaAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y

books.google.co.uk/books?id=JfxnMwEACAAJ&dq=editions:...

scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=3569983911138966023&am...

 

National Bibliographic Information Network (NBINet)

nbinet3.ncl.edu.tw/search~S10?/a%7bu99AC%7d%7bu5929%7d%7b...

192.83.186.170/search*cht/a%E9%A6%AC%E5%A4%A9%E4%BA%AE

 

National Yang Ming University 國立陽明大學

library.ym.edu.tw/search~S7*cht?/tThe+Soul%27s+and+sentim...

 

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology 國立臺灣科技大學

millennium.lib.ntust.edu.tw/record=b1016706~S1

 

Wikimedia Commons 維基共享資源

commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=TianLiang+Maa+%E...

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TianLiang_Maa_馬天亮.jpg

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:馬天亮_TianLiang_Maa.jpg

 

國家圖書館 期刊文獻資訊網, 臺灣期刊論文索引

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聲音藝術的審美角度, 大學雜誌, 天然

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King Long's reputation had been severely tarnished by 2014, so only a handful of their products appeared in service at that time. BX14 KOJ was registered by the dealer, but did not find an owner until 18 months later, when Timewells traded in a 2008 example for it. This ran in white for a few months, before receiving this new grey-based scheme, which improves its appearance greatly.

 

Readers may not realise that Timewells is the oldest-established operator remaining in the Liverpool area, having started up in 1961. Strangely, the next-oldest operator also hails from Maghull, that being Kevin Reilly's Maghull Coaches, started in 1970.

 

The three granite slabs come from the "Great Road" of the National Socialist Reich Party grounds in Nuremberg. They were treated by forced laborers and prisoners in concentration camps and are speaking witnesses.

Die drei Granitplatten stammen von der "Großen Straße" des Nationalsozialistischen Reichsparteigeländes in Nürnberg. Sie wurden von Zwangsarbeitern und Gefangenen in Konzentrationslagern bearbeitet und sind sprechende Zeugen.

 

Academic High School (Vienna)

(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Beethovenplatz

school form - general secondary school (high school humanistic)

Founded in 1553

♁ coordinates 48 ° 12 '5 " N, 16 ° 22 ' 34" OKoordinaten : 48 ° 12 '5 " N, 16 ° 22' 34" E | |

Support public

About 610 students (4 April 2010)

About 60 teachers (4 April 2010)

Website www.akg -wien.at

The Academic Gymnasium in Vienna was founded in 1553 and is the oldest high school in Vienna. The school orientation is humanistic and compared with other traditional high schools of the city rather liberal. The current number of students is about 610 students, divided on 24 classes.

History

16th and 17th Century

At the time of the foundation of the high school, the University of Vienna had the privilege to decide about the estabilishment of educational institutions. In March of 1553, the Jesuits received permission from the university to the founding of the Academic Gymnasium.

The primary objectives of the exclusively Jesuit teaching corps was the provision of religious instruction, the practice of the Catholic faith and the strengthening of the religious attitude of the students. The Academic Gymnasium was located at the time of its inception in the Dominican monastery opposite the then university. The former language was Latin.

18th and 19 Century

The dissolution of the Jesuit order in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV led to a conversion of the teaching staff and educational goals. The new focus was on history, mathematics, German, literature and geography. The management of the school was transferred to the Piarist. Subsequently the school was somewhat cosmopolitan conducted and the spirit of the Enlightenment prevailed both among teachers and among the students. Likewise, new didactic and educational measures, and later the school fees were introduced.

As a result of high school reform in 1849, the eight-year school with the final matriculation examination was developed. The humanistic aspects crystallized out more and more, the focus of the lesson were mainly linguistic-historical, mathematical and scientific aspects not being neglected. The first high school graduates made ​​their final exams at the end of the school year 1850 /51.

Academic High School before the vaulting of the Vienna River (Wienfluß - as small as possible)

Since 1866 the building of the Academic Gymnasium is located on Beethoven place in the first district of Vienna. It was built by Friedrich von Schmidt, who also designed the City Hall, in his typical neo-Gothic style.

The first students (female ones) gratuated in 1886 and 1887 (every year an external student), since the school year 1896/97 there were almost every year high school graduates, a general admission of girls there since 1949 /50.

20th Century

The years following the First World War were extremely distressing for the high school, because there was a very narrow escape for not being closed, the cause was a sharp decline in students. The educational institution was menaced from losing its good reputation and attractiveness.

GuentherZ 2007-02-22 2707 Wr Akad Gym plaque Jewish students and Lehrer.jpg

After the "Anschluss" of Austria in 1938, the Jewish students had to leave the school, they were 28 April 1938 transfered, some of the students but had logged off before this date. The total loss amounted to nearly 50 percent of the students because the school from all Viennese schools was attended most of all of children of Jewish families. Today, several plaques remember on the outer facade of the high school the transfer and the horrors of Nazism. A known victim of that action was the future Nobel laureate Walter Kohn, he had to leave school in the 5th class.

Wolfgang Wolfring (1925-2001) popularized ​​the high school from 1960 as the site of classical Greek drama performances in ancient Greek original language. Annually took place performances of the classical Greek dramatic literature, among them, King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus and Philoctetes of Sophocles, the Oresteia of Aeschylus and The Trojan Women and Alcestis of Euripides. Protagonists of these performances were later Lawyers Josef and Eduard Wegrostek, Liliana Nelska, Doris Dornetshuber, Gerhard Tötschinger, but also in smaller roles Gabriel Barylli, Paulus Manker, Konstantin Schenk and others.

Over the years the school acquired the old reputation back and enjoyed high access rates. More and more emphasis has been placed on humanistic education, which has been demonstrated mainly by the wide range of languages​​, school theater performances at a high level and numerous musical events of the school choir the public in general as well.

21th Century

The focus are still on a broad linguistic foundation, which also includes training in languages ​​such as Latin or Greek. The school offers both French and English from the first grade. The other of the two languages ​​begins as early as the 2nd class.

In addition to this a wide range of projects are organized and voluntary activities offered. The goal of the Academic Gymnasium is the general education, which in turn should prepare for a subsequent university study.

One problem is the shortage of space of the school. Since there's a large demand for school places, the school house for financial reasons and such the monument preservation not expandable, not for all admission solicitors school places are available.

Known students and graduates

The Academic High School has produced a large number of public figures in its history:

Birth year before 1800

Ignaz Franz Castelli (1781-1862), writer

Wilhelm Ritter von Haidinger (1795-1871), geologist

Stanislaus Kostka (1550-1568), Catholic saint

Leopold Kupelwieser (1796-1862), painter

Joseph Othmar Rauscher (1797-1875), Archbishop of Vienna

Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Composer

Johann Carl Smirsch (1793-1869), painter

Birth year 1800-1849

Alexander Freiherr von Bach (1813-1893), lawyer and politician

Moritz Benedikt (1835-1920), a neurologist

Nikolaus Dumba (1830-1900), industrialist and art patron

Franz Serafin Exner (1802-1853), philosopher

Cajetan Felder (1814-1894), Mayor of Vienna

Adolf Ficker (1816-1880), statistician

Anton Josef Gruscha (1820-1911), Archbishop of Vienna

Christoph Hartung von Hartungen (1849-1917), physician

Carl Haslinger (1816-1868), music publisher

Gustav Heider (1819-1897), Art History

Joseph Hellmesberger (1828-1893), Kapellmeister (chapel master)

Hyrtl Joseph (1810-1894), anatomist

Friedrich Kaiser (1814-1874), actor

Theodor von Karajan (1810-1873), German scholar

Alfred von Kremer (1828-1889), orientalist and politician

Kürnberger Ferdinand (1821-1879), writer

Henry of Levitschnigg (1810-1862), writer and journalist

Robert von Lieben (1848-1913), physicist and inventor

Karl Ludwig von Littrow (1811-1877), Astronomer

Titu Maiorescu (1840-1917), Romanian Prime Minister

Johann Nestroy (1801-1862), actor, poet

Ignaz von Plener (1810-1908), Prime Minister of Austria

Johann Nepomuk Prix (1836-1894), Mayor of Vienna

Benedict Randhartinger (1802-1893), Kapellmeister (conductor)

Friedrich Rochleder (1819-1874), chemist

Wilhelm Scherer (1841-1886), German scholar

Anton Schmerling (1805-1893), lawyer and politician

Leopold Schrötter, Ritter von Kristelli (1837-1908) , doctor (laryngologist) and social medicine

Johann Gabriel Seidl (1804-1875), lyricist of the Austrian imperial anthem "God save, God defend our Emperor, our country!" ("may God save and protect our good Emperor Francis")

Daniel Spitzer (1835-1893), author

Eduard Strauss (1835-1916), composer and conductor

Franz von Thun und Hohenstein (1847-1916), Prime Minister of Cisleithania

Joseph Unger (1828-1913), lawyer and politician

Otto Wagner (1841-1918), architect

Birth year 1850-1899

Othenio Abel (1875-1946), biologist

Ludwig Adamovich, senior (1890-1955), President of the Constitutional Court

Guido Adler (1855-1941), musicologist

Plaque for Altenberg, Beer-Hofmann, Hofmannsthal and Schnitzler

Peter Altenberg (1859-1919), "literary cafe"

Max Wladimir von Beck (1854-1943), Austrian Prime Minister

Richard Beer-Hofmann (1866-1945), writer

Julius Bittner (1874-1939), composer

Robert Dannenberg (1885-1942), lawyer and politician

Konstantin Dumba (1856-1947), diplomat

August Fournier (1850-1920), historian and politician

Erich Frauwallner (1898-1974), Indologist

Dagobert Frey (1883-1962), art historian

Albert Gessmann (1852-1920), librarian and politician

Raimund Gruebl (1847-1898), Mayor of Vienna

Michael Hainisch (1858-1940), President of the Republic of Austria

Edmund Hauler (1859-1941), classical scholar

Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929), playwright

Karl Kautsky (1854-1938), philosopher and politician

Hans Kelsen (1881-1973), lawyer, co-designer of the Austrian Federal Constitution

Franz Klein (1854-1926), lawyer and politician

Arthur Krupp (1856-1938), industrialist

Wilhelm Kubitschek (1858-1936), archaeologist and numismatist

Edward Leisching (1858-1938), director of the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna

Felix from Luschan (1854-1924), doctor, anthropologist, explorer, archaeologist and ethnographer

Eugene Margaretha (1885-1963), lawyer and politician

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850-1937), founder and president of Czechoslovakia

Alexius Meinong (1853-1920), philosopher

Lise Meitner (1878-1968), nuclear physicist

Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973), economist

Paul Morgan (1886-1938), actor

Max von Oberleithner (1868-1935), composer and conductor

Paul Pisk Amadeus (1893-1990), Composer

Gabriele Possanner (1860-1940), physician

Przibram Hans Leo (1874-1944), zoologist

Przibram Karl (1878-1973), physicist

Josef Redlich (1869-1936), lawyer and politician

Elise Richter (1865-1943), Romance languages

Joseph Baron Schey of Koromla (1853-1938), legal scholar

Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931), writer, playwright

Julius Schnitzler (1865-1939), physician

Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961), physicist, 1933 Nobel Prize for Physics

Birth year 1900-1949

Ludwig Adamovich, Jr. ( born 1932 ), President of the Austrian Constitutional Court

Christian Broda (1916-1987), lawyer and politician

Engelbert Broda (1910-1983), physicist, chemist

Thomas Chorherr (*1932), journalist and newspaper editor

Magic Christian ( born 1945 ), magic artist and designer

Felix Czeike (1926-2006), historian

Albert Drach (1902-1995), writer

Paul Edwards (1923-2004), philosopher

Caspar Einem (born 1948), Austrian Minister of Interior, Minister of Transport

Ernst Federn (1914-2007), psychoanalyst

Friedrich Heer (1916-1983), writer, historian

Georg Knepler (1906-2003), musicologist

Walter Kohn (b. 1923), physicist, 1998 Nobel Prize for Chemistry

Paul Felix Lazarsfeld (1901-1976), sociologist

Lucian O. Meysels (1925-2012), journalist and nonfiction author

Liliana Nelska (born 1946 ), actress

Erwin Ringel (1921-1994), physician, advocate of Individual Psychology

Ernst Topitsch (1919-2003), philosopher and sociologist

Milan Turković (*1939), Austrian-Croatian wind blower and conductor

Hans Weigel (1908-1991), writer

Erich Wilhelm (1912-2005), Protestant superintendent in Vienna

Year of birth from 1950

Gabriel Barylli (*1957 ), writer and actor

Christiane Druml (b. 1955), lawyer and bioethicist

Paul Chaim Eisenberg (born 1950), Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community Vienna

Paul Gulda (b. 1961), pianist

Martin Haselboeck (born 1954), organist

Peter Stephan Jungk (*1952), writer

Markus Kupferblum (b. 1964), director

Niki List (1956 - 2009) , film director

Miki Malör (born 1957), theater maker and performer

Paulus Manker (born 1958), actor and director

Andreas Mailath-Pokorny (* 1959), Vienna Councillor for Culture and Science

Doron Rabinovici (*1961), writer

Clemens Unterreiner (born 1977), opera singer, soloist and ensemble member of the Vienna State Opera

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akademisches_Gymnasium_(Wien)

Presidential Candidate 總統候選人

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Tianliang Ma

 

~ a Taiwanese social reformer, philosopher, photographer and film director

 

“Touching Fairness and Justice”

  

馬天亮

 

~ 臺灣的社會改革者，哲學家，攝影師，和電影導演

 

《感動的公平與正義》

  

TianLiang Maa, alternative spelling: Tianliang Ma, also known as Theophilus Raynsford Mann; Ma, Tianliang; Chinese: 馬天亮; 马天亮.

  

SUMMARY

 

TianLiang Maa is a naturalist, occultist, Buddhist and Taoist. In 1982, Maa developed a technique for abstract photography, applied “Rayonism” into photographic works. Maa staged 32 individual, extraordinary exhibitions around Taiwan, who was the first exhibitor around Formosa. Maa’s works is the beginning of modernization in the modern abstract arts in the world. At the University of Oxford, Maa’s attractive topic was “A View of Architectural History: Towns through the Ages from Winchester through London Arrived at Oxford in England”; also an author at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan in the United States; an alumnus from Christ Church College at the University of Oxford in England, the University of Glamorgan in Wales, and National Taiwan University in Taipei on Taiwan. Maa’s works have been quoted by the scholars many times, making Maa one of the highly cited technological, artistic, and managing public administrators in the academia. Maa was listed in “Taiwan Who’s Who In Business” © 1984, 1987, 1989 Harvard Management Service.

  

Early Life and Record of Genealogy

 

TianLiang Maa possesses both Taiwanese and German surnames from birth. Usually, whenever anyone asks Maa about where he comes from, he would reply “Formosa” as he grew up and was educated in the Far East and lives in Taiwanese and Japanese lifestyles. Moreover, he often teaches and educates younger generations based on the methods of the Far Eastern teaching he experienced when he was young, though he does not oppose the Western ways of teaching and thinking. Maa takes great pride in his roots, which go back 150 years (since 1864); Maa’s ancestry originates and creates generations, and prepares younger generations to succeed their personality and ethical standards and integrity.

 

Education in Taiwan and a Brief of Latest Generation of History in Taiwan / Formosa

 

In 1980, Maa obtained his postgraduate certificate from the Graduate Institute of Electrical Engineering of National Taiwan University in Taipei; successfully completed another graduate studies in Information dBase III Plus and Taiwanese Traditional Chinese Mandarin Information System at National Sun Yat-Sen University in Kaohsiung in 1989.

 

In history, the Portuguese explorers discovered and called the island (Taiwan), “Formosa” (meaning “Beautiful Island”) in 1590. They are non-Chinese people; it was long a Chinese and Japanese pirate base. Fighting continued, between its original inhabitants of Taiwanese and the Chinese settlers, into the 19th century. In 1894-95 first Sino-Japanese War that ended in Manchus of the Qing (Ching) dynasty defeat, the late Manchu Qing Government forced to cede Formosa to Japan. This result was made by the Treaty of Shomonoseki in 1895 and remained under Japanese control until the end of the Second World War. Early on, Taiwan was conquered by the Qing in 1683 and for the first time became part of older China dynasty. However, today, the home country of Maa’s origin has around 165 institutions (93 universities) of higher education, which now has one of the best-educated populations in Asia. Among the major public (state) ones are the National Taiwan University (NTU) at Taipei, and National Sun Yat-Sen University (NSYSU) at Kaohsiung. NSYSU is also called National Chun-Shan University; according to Times Higher Education 2010-2011, NSYSU ranks as the 3rd university in Taiwan, 21st in Asia, and 163rd worldwide. National Taiwan University is ranked 51 to 60 ranks on Times Higher Education World University Rankings - Top Universities by Reputation 2013, the United Kingdom (see www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/...); King's College London (KCL) (21st in the world and 6th in Europe in the 2010, QS World University Rankings), the University of London, and University of Southern California (is one of the world's leading private research universities, located in the heart of Los Angeles), afterward.

 

Backing to Maa’s early school-time of Taiwan Provincial Kaohsiung Industrial Senior High School (Kaohsiung Municipal Kaohsiung Industrial High school), the professional technical education, which is equivalent to Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, commonly referred to as an A-level in the United Kingdom; China Electronic Engineering College, the distance learning programme, which is in equivalence as UK’s Diploma of Higher Education / Undergraduate Diploma (as an Associate Degree in the United States). An additional, his middle education was taught by the Kaohsiung Municipal Chihjh (Ci Sian) Junior High School; and Kaohsiung Municipal San Min Elementary School was his first school in Taiwan.

  

Early Career

 

In 1989, Maa instituted Maa’s Office of Electrical Engineer, he settled himself in electrical technology and industries as a chief engineer in his early years. He put his professional and precise knowledge to good account in business management. A formal business management with business relationship established to provide for regular services, dealings, and other commercial transactions and deed. He had many customers having a business and credit relationship with his firm then he was a successful engineer.

  

Study Abroad and Immigration into the United Kingdom

 

In 1998, Maa studied abroad when he arrived in Great Britain; he studied at School of Built Environment, the University of Glamorgan (Prifysgol Morgannwg) in Merthyr Tydfil, Pontypridd, Wales for a master of science in real estate appraisal. Until the summer of 2000, Maa completed an academic course on “Towns through the Ages” from Christ Church College at the University of Oxford (is ranked the 2nd place worldwide on The Times Higher Education, World University Rankings 2012-2013

www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/...) in England. Afterward, Maa immigrated into the United Kingdom in the early year of 2004.

  

PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS

 

Maa is a naturalist; he trusts spiritual naturalism and naturalistic spirituality, which teaches that “the unknown” created this wonderful world. “The unknown” arranged the nature with its law so that everything in nature is kept balanced and in order. However, human beings failed to control themselves, deliberately went against the law of nature, and resulted in disasters, which we deserved. He also is an occultist, a Taoist, and a Buddhist; but in Britain, he frequently goes to Christian and Catholic churches, where he makes friends with pastors and fathers as well as churchgoers. In his mind, he recognizes “Belief is truth held in the mind; faith is a fire in the heart”. He is always a freethinker, does not accept traditional, social, and religious teaching, but based on his ideas: a thought or conception that potentially and actually exists in his mind as a product of mental activity - his opinion, conviction, and principle. If people have not come across eastern classics and philosophy, we are afraid that people would never understand TianLiang Maa. People cannot judge an eastern philosopher based on western ways of thinking. He studies I Ching discovering eastern classics of ancient origin consisting of 64 interrelated hexagrams along with commentaries. The hexagrams embody Taoist philosophy by describing all nature and human endeavour in terms of the interaction of yin and yang, and the classics may be consulted as an oracle.

 

Back in the 1990s when Maa just arrived at England, he had been offered places to do Ph.D. and LL.M. degrees (degree in Law and Politics of the European Union) by several western professors in the Great Britain. He has met all the requirements for postgraduate admissions to study at UK’s universities.

 

During his time at Oxford, he learnt a lot of British culture and folk-custom while carrying out research with many British and Western professors, experts, and archaeologists. This proves that Maa understands various aspects in British society, culture, and lifestyles. Of course, he does not fully understand about the perspectives of thinking of a typical British. For example, what would be the most valuable in life for a British person? What would a British want to gain from life? What is the goal in life for a British? Is it fortune or a lover? Alternatively, perhaps honour? On the other hand, maybe being able to travel around the world and see the world?

  

FAIRNESS and JUSTICE

 

As TianLiang Maa’s (馬天亮) saying are:

 

“Touching Fairness and Justice”

 

Feel good about themselves, but do not know the sufferings of the people...

Who can get easy life like them?

What is profile of modern society?

What type and style is truly solemn for this society identify?

Where “the characterization” is? Who can see? Did you see it?

 

《感動的公平與正義》

 

自我感覺良好, 不知民間疾苦...

誰能得到安逸的生活如同他們一樣？

這是個什麼樣子的社會？

這個社會認定什麼樣的類型和風格是真正莊重的?

「特徵」在那裡？誰可以看到？你看到了嗎？

  

Jurisprudence and Political Philosophy and Perspectives

 

Maa ever studied judicial review and governmental action, the impact of law and legal techniques, constitutional mechanisms for the protection of basic rights, and ensuring the integrity of commercial activity, the impact of law and legal techniques on government, policymaking, and administration, as well as the creation of markets. He tries to understand these critical trends in the political development of modern state. Maa will combine both theoretical and empirical approaches, and the conditions for democratic transition and the nature of state development in the ‘post-industrial’ era of globalisation and economic integration.

 

According as Maa’s legal experiences, he comprehend that “the knowledge of the law is like a deep well, out of which each man draught according to the strength of his understanding”, and, law and arbitrary power are in eternal enmity. He is also sure law and institutions are constantly tending to gravitate like clocks; they must be occasionally cleansed, and wound up, and set to true time.

 

The government issues a decree - an authoritative order having the force of law, which charged with putting into effect a country's laws and the administering of its functions. Any of the officials promulgate a law or put into practice relating to the government charged with the execution and administration of the nation's laws then they announce and carry out the creation of any order or new policy that will be responsible for the people.

 

Maa had knowledge in connexion with construction law; he also understands architectural arts, and as well learnt the forms by combining materials and parts include as an integral part concerning modern construct. I ever built urban buildings and rural architecture in different styles under new housing and building projects by the governmental administration and construction corporations.

 

Right now, Maa studies the problems caused by ethnic disputes and human armed conflicts in the modern society resulted code of mixed civil and criminal procedure. He wishes an agreement or a treaty to end human hostilities - the absence of war and other hostilities around the world. The interrelation and arrangement of freedom from quarrels and disagreement become harmonious relations living in peace with each other. Actually, erect peace in more friendly ways of making friendships for modern human society is comfortable in my ideal. It is like building monolithic architecture: houses and buildings for the people. Maa would like to do “something beautiful for `the unknown`”.

 

In the ethnic disagreement and armed conflicts as concerning the poor people and children notwithstanding they live through a bad environment on any of poor or crowded village or town in a particular manner - lived frugally. However, after years of industrialisation as a more educated population, becomes more aware of global plenum, continuing to be alive. Environmental groups are increasing and lobbing government will legislate to stop bad environmental and social practices. The establishments of human rights’ wide and untiring efforts will be alleviated people’s suffering. And as well the poor people shall meet and debate sustainable development and for a concerted government led action towards sustainability is an example that the younger generation are concerned for the future. It shall be making the younger easier for their life and make better on their lives, and help them to build a better future.

 

In present world, Maa really knows the full meanings of “Fundamental Human Rights and Equal Opportunities for the People”. He thinks ethics is the moral code governing the daily conduct of the individual toward those about him / her. It represents those rules or principles by which men and women live and work in a spirit of mutual confidence and service. Without going into the question of how an ethical code was formulated or why anybody should obey it, we can look at the matter in a common-sense fashion with reference to its influence upon our legal affairs. In brief, from the law point of view, a reputable ethical code embodies the qualities of accuracy, dependability, fair play, sound judgement, and service. It is based upon honesty.

 

No person can have an ethical code that concerns him / her alone. Living in society, as he / she must, a person encounters others whose rights must be respected as well as his / her own. An honest regard for the rights of others is an essential element of any decent code of ethics, and one that anyone must observe if anybody intends to follow that code. After all, ethics is not something apart from human beings. Indeed, there is no such thing apart from our actions and us. It is the duty, therefore, of every man and woman in legal affairs to see that his daily associations with others are truly in conformity with the plain meaning of the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not barratry, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not receive illegal fee and the rest”.

 

The knowledge Maa has, in connection with legal affairs, was usually come from his precious experiences of his past over ten year’s law and political careers. In an interval regarded as a distinct period of 1980s, he studied mixed civil and crime, and the code of mixed civil and criminal procedure for the problems caused by ethnic disputes and human armed conflicts in the modern society. He was especially one who maintains the language and customs of the group, and social security in Taiwan.

 

Since 30 July of 1988, Maa settled himself in law as a chief executive and scrivener at Central Legal, Real Estate, and Accounting Services Office; it is in the equivalent to a solicitor of the United Kingdom. The Office provided full legal, accounting, real estate, and commercial services to the public. He did his job as a person legally appointed by another to act as his or her agent in the transaction of business, specifically one qualified and licensed to act for plaintiffs and defendants in legal proceedings and affairs. Over and above Maa was a chairman and executive consultant at Taiwan Credit Information Company®, founded in 1994. The company offered services to the public in response to need and demand in the area of credit information.

 

Maa had excellent experiences in political and law work was pertaining to mixed civil and crime, the code of mixed civil and criminal procedure, construction, and commercial law abroad. The experiences of legal services related to the rights of private individuals and legal proceedings concerning these rights as distinguished. In the criminal proceedings, he did many cases for the defendants. Although an act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it and for which punishment is imposed upon conviction; but he also laid legal claim, required as useful, just, proper, or necessary to the defendants under the human rights in the meantime. This provision ensures to the defendant a real voice in the subject.

 

The men whose judgement we respect are those who do not allow prejudices, preferences, or personalities to influence their decisions. Profit and self-aggrandisement are likewise ignored in their determination to reach an equitable and fair settlement. What are the basic principles upon which good judgement is founded? A keen intellect, a normal emotionally, a through understanding of human nature, experience of law work, sincerity, and integrity.

  

Developed a Technique for Abstract Photography and Abstractionist

 

In 1982, Maa developed a technique for abstractive photography, which applied “rayonism” to the photographic works. In November of 1984, Maa was 26-year-old, he instructed many professors and students of National Taiwan Normal University in photography of abstract impressionism and rayonnisme in Taipei, Taiwan. The word “rayonnisme” is French for rayonism - a style of abstract painting developed in 1911 in Russia.

  

Photographic Exhibitions

 

TianLiang Maa (Theophilus Raynsford Mann) Photographic Exhibition of “Rayonnisme / Rayonism” Tour - Invitational Exhibition of Taiwan 1983-84.

一九八三〜八四年中華民國臺灣 馬天亮攝影巡迴邀請展

 

TianLiang Maa (Theophilus Raynsford Mann) Photographic Exhibition of Rayonnisme / Rayonism (32 individual exhibitions) 1983~1985.

馬天亮『光影』攝影特展（個人展32場）1983〜1985年.

 

Maa staged 32 individual, extraordinary exhibitions and annual special exhibitions on photography of abstractive image and Rayonnisme around Taiwan / Formosa. Maa was the first exhibitor around the country. All of the invited displays were by the Chinese Government, cultural and artistic organisations, and sponsors. Maa’s earliest exhibition took place in the National Taiwan Arts Education Institute (Museum) on 19 December 1983 when Maa was 25 years old; Maa was the youngest exhibitor in the history of the Institute in any solo exhibitions. The Institute that was opened in March 1957, kept a collection of Maa’s work. It is currently updating the Institute’s internal organisation and strengthening co-operation with leading institutes and museums around the world. Meanwhile, it widened the institute’s scope to increase its emphasis on Taiwan’ regional culture and folk arts.

  

Modernization in the Modern Abstract Arts of Taiwan

 

Maa’s works is the beginning of modernization in the modern abstract arts of Taiwan, China and greater Chinese society in the world. The use of “modernisation” as a concept that is opposed to “Traditional” of “Conservative” ideas began with the approach of the 20th century. It spreads rapidly through academic circles, and was broadly accepted as a means to reform society. Chinese Manchu Qing (Ching) dynasty’s first steps toward modernisation began in the Tung-chih era (1862-1874) with the “Self-Empowerment Movement”. During the late 19th century, as late Manchu dynasty was confronted on all sides by foreign aggression, voices throughout society debated the most effective means to reform and strengthen the country. Some advocated “combining the best of East and West”, while others went so far as to call for “complete Westernisation”. Taiwan was at the centre of these waves of reform. Faced with direct threats against the island by foreign enemies, the Chinese Ching dynasty court took special steps to push Taiwan’s modernisation.

 

In a role just like that of a gardener wanting to create a rich and fertile environment for the seeds of culture, one in which Maa may sprout, grow and bloom. Maa aims to provide an educational stimulus for society by introducing his works - Maa can express the neo-romantic spirit deftly from various creations and supporting international artistic exchanges. Maa believes that the first step in creating such a new and independent state is the real emergence of culture and arts, for which the art and science of designing and erecting buildings, and fine arts (including photography and motion picture) of the civilization is a good measurement of success. For the foreseeable future, Maa should be continuing to forge ahead, working diligently and unceasingly towards its mission of raising China and Formosa / Taiwan’s culture in his spare time.

  

Became an Author and a Scholar

 

In 1980, TianLiang Maa completed his first book - scenario original “The Soul's Sentimentalizing”, also named: “Hun Yun : Jin Qi Tu Rui” 電影原著《魂韻》(衿契吐蕊) then Maa was at the age of 22. In 1983, The General Library of the University of California, Berkeley in the United States of America, collected and kept Maa’s writings - scenario original 「魂韻 : 衿契吐蕊」“Hun Yun : jin qi tu rui”, included a musical composition of his own – “Sonate Nr. 1 C-dur op. 3 für Klavier (piano)”, composed on 3rd April 1977 then Maa was 18 years old. The works were published in 1980; the theme was based on “The Soul's Sentimentalizing”. Another masterpiece was an Album of Academic Work for News Publication “TianLiang Maa (Theophilus Raynsford Mann) Photographic Exhibition of Rayonnisme / Rayonism”, published in 1985. The Hathi Trust Digital Library, the University of Michigan also collected and kept Maa’s writings.

  

Authorship

 

Maa’s articles and writings were published in more than 200 different kinds of domestic and foreign magazines, newspapers, and periodicals, in the period between May of 1972 and 1990s. It was all started when Maa was just 13-year-old. Many of which have been very influential. These have been quoted by Western and Eastern scholars many times in the last few years, making Maa one of the highly cited technological, artistic, and managing public administrators in the world in the late 20th and early 21st century. The Ministry of the Interior in Taiwan had registered Maa’s professional writings and given him two certificates of copyright. The numbers are 33080 and 33081 on 4th July of 1985; and Taiwan’s Gazette of The Presidential Office issue No. 4499, featured his writings on 4th September 1985.

  

Became an Academic and Film Director

 

Today, Maa is a professor at Space Time Life Research Academy, and a photographer, film director, and computer engineer now live and work in London.

  

Director Works:

FILMS:

Experimental Film “New Image for the Spring” © 1982

Documentary Film “Rayonnisme” © 2011

“The Soul's Sentimentalizing” of the feature film is based on the scenario original “The Soul's Sentimentalizing” (preparation)

 

FASHION SHOWS:

New Image for the Spring of Shapely Models International © 1982

High Lights on the Summer and Fall Fashion of Shapely Models Int’l © 1982

 

ART EXHIBITIONS:

The Cadillac Club International Fine Arts Exhibition © 1981

The Cinematic & Photographic Arts Salon and the Hall of the Arts, Pegasus Academy of Arts © 1981

  

Musician Work:

MUSIC COMPOSITION:

Sonate Nr. 1 C-dur op. 3 für Klavier (piano) © 1977, © 1980, © 1981, © 1983, the theme was based on “The Soul's Sentimentalizing”.

  

PHOTOGRAPHIC ALBUMS:

Portrait and Landscape in France © 2000

Portrait and Landscape in Scotland © 2001

Portrait and Landscape in England © 2009

Portrait at Queen Mary, University of London © 2010

Rayonism of London © 2011

Portrait at The University of Nottingham, United Kingdom © 2011

Snowy London © 2012

Portrait at King's College London © 2013

  

BOOKS:

Scenario Original「魂韻」(衿契吐蕊) “Hun yun: jin qi tu rui” © December 1980, © 1981, © 1983 (Date of First Publication: 31 December 1980, Second Edition on 29 July 1981, Date of Revision: Revised Edition on 8 May 1983), Languages: Chinese (traditional), and English language.

“Album of the Cadillac Club International Fine Arts Exhibition” © 1981

“Album of the Cinematic & Photographic Arts Salon and the Hall of the Arts, Pegasus Academy of Arts” © 1981

“Album of New Image for the Spring of Shapely Models International” © 1982

“Album of High Lights on the Summer and Fall Fashion of Shapely Models Int’l” © 1982

“Romantic Carol” © 1982

Album of Academic Work for News Publication: “TianLiang Maa (Theophilus Raynsford Mann) Photographic Exhibitions of Rayonnisme” © May 1985

新聞出版之學術著作專輯「馬天亮『光影』“Rayonism” 攝影展」© May 1985

New version of scenario original “The Soul's Sentimentalizing” (to be published)

「曾經輝煌到頂天立地」 “The Indomitable Spirit Was Brilliant to Upright” (individual biography, to be published)

“My Life, My History, and My Love” (based on a legend, to be published, a film scenario will be developed later)

「感動的公平與正義」“Touching Fairness and Justice” (political science and social studies, to be published)

  

Research Interests:

 

University of Oxford

Research Studies in Archaeology:

Maa’s attractive topic was “A View of Architectural History: Towns through the Ages from Winchester through London Arrived at Oxford in England”.

 

National Taiwan University

Graduate Certificate,

Graduate Institute of Electrical Engineering:

Maa’s monograph of seminar was “Applied the sequence control in the electric power distribution engineering”.

 

University of Glamorgan

M.Sc. Course,

Master of Science in Real Estate Appraisal:

Maa’s thesis - major subject, with relevant construction law was “The Assignment is under Economics of Construction Management in Architecture”.

 

National Sun Yat-Sen University

Postgraduate Certificate,

Postgraduate Studies in Computing:

Maa’s required subject was Information dBase III Plus and Taiwanese Traditional Mandarin Chinese Information System. He combined academic course work and practical laboratory sessions in “Applied Mandarin Phonetic Symbols into Traditional Taiwanese Personal Computer and Its Information System”.

  

Associations:

 

Since 1980, a member of Chinese Taipei Film Archive (CTFA, National Film Archive, Taiwan; founded in 1978), The Motion Picture Foundation, R.O.C. (member of Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film, FIAF; The International Federation of Film Archives was founded in Paris in 1938 by the British Film Institute, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Cinémathèque Française and the Reichsfilmarchiv in Berlin.)

 

Commissioner of the cinema, photography, radio, and television committee of The Culture and Arts Association (Chinese Writers and Artists Association) of Taiwan ever since September 1983.

 

Classic member, the membership is equivalent to a doctorate membership of the Chinese Institute of Electrical Engineering since 23 March 1984.

 

On 15 March 1989, Maa promoted and founded the Consortium Juridical Person Mr. TianLiang Maa Social Benefit Foundation 財團法人馬天亮先生社會公益基金會 in Taiwan. near.archives.gov.tw/cgi-bin/near2/nph-redirect?rname=tre...

 

Classic member, the membership is equal to a professor or associate professor of The Chinese Institute of Engineers since 30 September 1991.

  

Honours:

 

Listed on ‘Taiwan Who’s Who In Business’, © 1984, © 1987, and © 1989 Harvard Management Service.

中華民國企業名人錄編纂委員會, 哈佛企業管理顧問公司.

 

On 26 August 1985, Maa was awarded a professional certificate of the Outdoor Artistry Activities issued by Education Bureau, Kaohsiung City Government, Taiwan. He acquired awards and certificates of honour about twenty times from National Taiwan Arts Education Center (Museum) on 24 December 1983; Kaohsiung Municipal Social Education Center on 17 March 1984, Kaohsiung Cultural Center, Taipei Cultural Center (Taipei Municipal Social Education Hall); and Taiwan Province Government, Taipei City Government, Kaohsiung City Government, and many cultural centres and art galleries, and so on.

  

Careers:

 

Honorary Professor at Space Time Life Research Academy, 7 June 2012 to present; Professor at Space Time Life Research Academy, 1 September 2011 to 1 June 2012 in London, United Kingdom:

Academia,

Teaching and Research:

business management and consultant, political philosophy, Chinese classics, Chinese humanities, modern Chinese language and literature, photography (portrait, fashion, commercial, digital, architectural, abstract photography), visual arts and film production.

www.facebook.com/stlra/info

教學與研究：

企業管理及顧問、政治哲學、中華經典 (古典漢學、文學、藝術、語言) 、中華人文、中華現代語言與文學、攝影 (人像、時裝、商業、數位/數碼、建築、抽象攝影) ，視覺藝術和影片製作。

 

Consultant and Translator at Eternal Life Consultants of Immigration and Translations Services, 10 March 2004 to present in London, United Kingdom:

consultants of immigration, translations, and legal services.

www.facebook.com/elcits/info

永生移民顧問翻譯服務社的移民諮詢顧問和翻譯：

移民事務，翻譯和法律服務。

 

Computer Hardware & Networking Engineer at Maa Office of Electrical Engineer, 8 March 2004 to present in London, United Kingdom:

Computer Engineering and Network Services. Repairing of Motherboards, Monitors, Power Supplies, CD-ROM Drives; UPS, Hard Disk Drives, H.D.D Data Recovery; BIOS Programming, and all types of Computer Hardware and Software Solutions.

www.facebook.com/maaelec/info

計算機工程和網絡服務。維修主機板，顯示器，電源供應器，光碟機/光盘驱动器，不斷電系統，硬碟/硬盘，硬盤數據恢復，基本輸入輸出系統編程，以及所有類型的電腦/計算機硬體/硬件和軟體/軟件解決方案。

 

Film Director & Photographer at Photographer and Film Director (Shapely), 2 April 2007 to present in London, United Kingdom:

1) Photo, Video and Film Production; 2) Graphic Design, Web Design, Social Networking, Social Media and Advertising; 3) Architectural Design and Interior Design.

www.facebook.com/filmshapely/info

 

Reformer and Philosopher at Taiwanese Social Reformer and Philosopher, 7 April 2012 (location: Los Angeles, California) to present in London, United Kingdom:

Social Reform in Taiwan

www.facebook.com/twreform/info

  

《魂韻》(衿契吐蕊) - 馬天亮22歲寫的電影原著。TianLiang Maa (Theophilus Raynsford Mann) wrote “Hun Yun” (Jin Qi Tu Rui), scenario original “The Soul’s Sentimentalizing” © 1980, 1981, 1983, was at the age of 22.

Website

mtltwp.pixnet.net/album/set/1265174

album.blog.yam.com/mtltwp

photo.roodo.com/photos/mtltwp/albums/small/100469.html

www.facebook.com/hunyun22

www.facebook.com/hy22tss

www.facebook.com/tsstrm

  

Sonate Nr. 1 C-dur op. 3 für Klavier (piano) by Theophilus Raynsford Mann (TianLiang Maa 馬天亮) © 1977, © 1980, © 1981, © 1983. The Sonate composed on 3rd April 1977 then Maa was 18-year-old. The work was published in 1980; the theme was based on “The Soul's Sentimentalizing”.

Website

www.facebook.com/sonate1c

www.facebook.com/piano1c/info

  

LINKS:

 

University of California, Berkeley

berkeley.worldcat.org/search?q=Ma%2C+Tianliang&dblist...

berkeley.worldcat.org/title/hun-yun/oclc/813684284?refere...

oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b11283690~S1

 

University of Michigan

mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/006237256

catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006237256

 

WorldCat® Identities

www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AMa%2C+Tianliang%2C&dbl...

www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/np-ma,%20tianliang$1958

 

Google Books

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National Bibliographic Information Network (NBINet)

nbinet3.ncl.edu.tw/search~S10?/a%7bu99AC%7d%7bu5929%7d%7b...

192.83.186.170/search*cht/a%E9%A6%AC%E5%A4%A9%E4%BA%AE

 

National Yang Ming University 國立陽明大學

library.ym.edu.tw/search~S7*cht?/tThe+Soul%27s+and+sentim...

 

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology 國立臺灣科技大學

millennium.lib.ntust.edu.tw/record=b1016706~S1

 

Wikimedia Commons 維基共享資源

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國家圖書館 期刊文獻資訊網, 臺灣期刊論文索引

readopac3.ncl.edu.tw/nclJournal/search/search_result.jsp?...

 

聲音藝術的審美角度, 大學雜誌, 天然

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為文化中心把脈, 幼獅文藝

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科學家與守財奴, 中國地方自治

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Yahoo, Bing, Google Search

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Atomzone

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lurvely.com www.lurvely.com/photographer/77438197_N03/

 

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Nature - National Library Board Singapore

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画像検索

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Japan Photos and Pictures

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far-east-movement - Blogcu (Turkey)

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man fashion

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Travel Splash

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Country profile Taiwan

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itpints

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AskJot

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Who is talking

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University of California, Berkeley period

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University of Michigan period

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University of Oxford period

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University of Glamorgan period

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University of Huddersfield period

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art galleries uk

artgalleriesuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/bigandtall-stores-s...

 

Mitrasites system

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articles.whmsoft

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pantieslace-forwomen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/motherhood-ma...

3piece-suits.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/nursing-shawl-become-...

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The 'Reputation Complex' is a moving combination of various factors, components and drivers that are linked in a close and complicated way. This combination brings with it, for all organizations, equal risks and opportunities – the first to be managed and the second to be exploited in the right manner.

MSLGROUP's Chief Strategy Officer Pascal Beucler shares his thoughts on the fast transformation of reputation management and what it means for our clients and for us.

It has been many years since we were last here in Tenterden. So long ago that I fear the Kent church project had not yet started. Because, I had not visited St Mildred's before. It towers above to attractive town, which is stretched along the main road. A narrow turning to the right brings you into Church Road, and to the entrance to St Mildred.

 

Tenterden is the start of the Kent and East Sussex Railway, I think we were last here for a beer festival on the railway some years ago, maybe 5 years. And after riding for the first service from the day, I remember thinking ten in the morning was too early to be supping my first pint.

 

Tenterden is West Kent, go west a few miles and you are in Sussex, but the town and whole area is attractive; clapboard houses, oast houses, ancient churches, hop farms, steam trains, marshes. Its all here.

 

St Mildred is on a grand scale, lots of nooks and crannies to explore and snap.

 

Most wonderful feature is the 15th century roof, which is really special. Good glass, a nice alabaster memorial.

 

A great start to the day.

 

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A superb church, which despite a heavy-handed restoration by G.M. Hills (see also Newenden) in 1864 still has much of interest. The nave ceiling is exceptional fifteenth-century work, rather more domestic in feel than is normal in an ecclesiastical building. There are two blocked thirteenth-century windows above the chancel arch - an unusual position to find windows in Kent. The five bay aisles are extremely narrow. The glass in the south aisle windows by Hughes of 1865 are rather fun. In the north chapel is a fine alabaster standing monument to Herbert Whitfield (d. 1622) and his wife. This monument cuts off the base of the north-east window and displays many colourful coats of arms. The chancel screen and pulpit are late nineteenth century and fit in with the medieval architecture better than most works of that period.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Tenterden

 

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The history of Tenterden itself is lost in time, as is the origin of St. Mildred’s church. Perhaps all that can be said with any confidence is that the story of the town and the story of St. Mildred’s are bound together with each other, with the story of pre-conquest Kent, with the story of Christianity in Kent, and with the story of the ancient Kentish royal house.

 

Tenet-wara-den (the den of the Thanet folk) was the Wealden area used by the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet for Autumn pig-forage (acorns and beech mast to fatten the pigs for Winter). That abbey was founded by Domne Aefa (“the lady Aebba”?) of the Kentish royal family, and either she herself or her daughter, St. Mildred, was the first abbess. This is within the first century after the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine’s mission from Rome. Mildred’s holy reputation was an international one, and there can be no doubt that a church in her name was here from some point in the eighth to tenth centuries. The reign of Canute is the latest possible period and it was almost certainly much earlier. However, we have no record of any incumbent before 1180, and the oldest perceptible fabric of the church is of about that time too.

 

When you stand in the middle of St. Mildred’s, you see a large building reflecting the prosperity of the town in the later middle ages. The north arcade of the chancel is probably around 1200, but most of the chancel, nave, and aisles is work of the 13th to 15th centuries. The fine wagon-vault ceiling of the nave has been variously stated to be 14th or 15th century (with some Victorian additions). The tower of the church, a prominent Kentish landmark, was probably built by architect Thomas Stanley. This major building work was undertaken in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Tenterden’s prosperity, it being no coincidence that the town gained a charter and Cinque Port status in support of Rye, at about the same time.

 

The town’s prosperity was reflected also in the presence of important shipbuilding yards at both Reading Street and Smallhythe, both on the tidal River Rother at that time. The settlement at Smallhythe was sufficiently large to gain its own chapel sometime in the middle ages, but we know nothing of that building, though it was probably dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Smallhythe itself was burnt in a huge fire in 1514, and we know that rebuilding of the chapel began virtually straight away. The current church of St. John the Baptist is a beautiful example of a brick-built Tudor church, box-like (so with an excellent acoustic). It has, during its history, had varying levels of dependence or independence from the town church of St. Mildred.

 

By the middle of the 19th century, the population was growing fast, and attitudes to worship were changing too. St. Mildred’s lost its box pews, and had the organ moved to its present position. A new church was planned for the hamlet of Boresisle at the northern end of Tenterden, the neat and small Gothic revival church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. Two consequences were, firstly, the acquisition by Kent of another prominent landmark – the graceful spire, and secondly, the name Boresisle fell out of usage and the hamlet itself has ever since been known as “St. Michael’s”.

 

I do feel it important to append to this account of the Anglican church buildings a brief comment on the other churches of the town. There was always a Roman Catholic presence here, but after the Reformation, there was no church building until the Catholic priest in Tenterden, Canon Currie began, in the 1930s, a determined attempt to put that right, culminating in the building of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic church in Ashford Road.

 

The history of “non-conformity” in Tenterden is a major and extensive one. Within a few decades of the development around the 1370s, by John Wyclife at Oxford, of the doctrines later known as “Lollardy”, there were significant numbers of people in Tenterden who ascribed to doctrines regarded as unorthodox. Moreover, following the Reformation of the 1540s to 1560s, there were many who rejected not only Roman ways, but were unhappy with the English church. We know that Tenterden families joined the 17th century exodus to the New World (notably to Massachusetts), and Tenterden acquired its first “non-conformist” chapel around 1700, that building now being the Unitarian church in Ashford Road, and one of Tenterden’s most interesting ancient relics. The nineteenth century saw the building of the Methodist church at West Cross, and two of the three Baptist churches – Zion in the High Street, and the Strict Baptist Jireh Chapel at St. Michael’s. Trinity Baptist in Ashford Road was built in 1928.

 

Those interested to pursue their enquiries further will find a guide in St. Mildred’s, and there is much information in standard texts of Kent history and architecture.

 

www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=265

 

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THIS hundred contains within its bounds THE TOWN AND PARISH OF Tenterden, and part of the parish of Ebeney, containing the borough of Reading, the church of which is in another hundred.

 

This hundred was antiently accounted one of the Seven Hundreds, and was within the jurisdiction of the justices of the country, from which it was separated by Henry VI. who, on account of the impoverishment of the port and town of Rye, in Sussex, by his letters patent, in his 27th year, incorporated the town and hundred of Tenterden, by the name of the bailiff and commonaltie of the town and hundred of Tenterden, and granted that the same should be a member annexed and united to that town and port, and separated from the county of Kent, and that the bailiff and commonalty of this town and hundred should have for ever, on their contributing to the burthens and exigencies of that port and town from time to time, (fn. 1) many franchises, privileges, and freedoms, and all other liberties, freedoms, and free customs which the barons of the five ports had before that time enjoyed. In which state this town and hundred remained till the 42d year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when the name of their incorporation was changed to that of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and hundred of Tenterden, by which it continues to be governed at this time.

 

THE CORPORATION consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, and as many common-councilmen, a chamberlain, and town clerk; the jurisdiction of it being exclusive from the justices of the county. The mayor is chosen yearly on August 29. The election used to be in the town-hall; but that being burnt down by some prisoners in the prison-room over it, it was afterwards made under one of the great old oaks, which are not far from the place, on the other side of the street, where it stood. A neat and elegant hall was finished in 1792, adjoining the Woolpack Inn, in which the mayor has been elected as heretofore, and it is occasionally used as an assembly room by the inhabitants. The mayor is coroner of both the town and hundred; there is no sheriff; the commoners must be resciants, and are chosen by the mayor and two of the jurats; the jurats are all justices of the peace. They hold sessions of oyer and terminer, but cannot try treason. At the sessions holden at Tenterden, August 10, 1785, two men were convicted of burglary, and executed near Gallows-green the 27th following. Both the charters of this corporation being destroyed by the fire of the court-hall in 1660, an exemplification of them was procured anno 12 George III.

 

The liberty of the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, claimed a paramount jurisdiction over this hundred, till the incorporation of the town of Tenterden, and the annexing this hundred to it in the reign of Henry VI. since which the mayor and jurats have been lords of the royalty of it, and continue so at this time.

 

The parish is divided into six boroughs, each having a borsholder chosen yearly, these are Town Borough, Castweasle, Boresile, Shrubcote, Dumborne, which includes all Smallhyth, and Reading, which is wholly in the parish of Ebene.

 

THE PARISH of Tenterden lies too near the marshes to be either healthy or pleasant, excepting that part where the town is situated near the northern boundaries of it, on what may be called for this country, high ground; it is about five miles across each way. The soil of it is various, the northern part being sand, towards the east it is a wet stiff clay, and towards the south and west towards the marshes a deep rich mould. The generality of the lands in it are pasture, but there are about one hundred acres of hop-ground dispersed in different parts of it; there is very little wood, and that mostly between the town and Smallhyth, a hamlet formerly of much more consequence, as will be further mentioned hereafter, situated at the southern boundary of it, on the road into the Isle of Oxney, close to the river Rother, which separates that part of this parish from the island. About a mile and a half eastward is the hamlet of Reading-street, built adjoining the high road to Apledore, close to the marshes below it, on the passage over the Rother into Ebeney, and the Isle of Oxney.

 

On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1755, between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon (being at the same time that the great bason at Portsmouth was disturbed) several ponds in this parish and neighbourhood, without any sensible motion of the earth, were greatly agitated, the water of them being forced up the banks with great violence, fretting and foaming with a noise similar to the coming in of the tide, so as to terrify many who were near them; some of these waters flowed up three times in this manner, others circled round into eddies, absorbing leaves, sticks, &c. and it was observed that only those ponds were affected, that had springs to supply the waters of them.

 

THE TOWN OF TENTERDEN is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and hundred. It stands on high ground, neither unpleasant nor unhealthy; the greatest part of it is built on each side of the high road leading from the western parts of Kent and Cranbrooke through this parish south-east to Apledore. A small part of it is paved, where there is a small antient market-place, built of timber; but the market, which is still held on a Friday, is but little frequented, only two millers, and seldom any butchers attending it. It is a well-built town, having many genteel houses, or rather seats, interspersed throughout it, among which are those of the Curteis's, a numerous and opulent family here, who bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three bulls heads, caboshed; (fn. 2) the Haffendens, who have been long resident here, and in Smarden and Halden, in this neighbourhood. Bugglesden, in the north part of Boresile borough, in this parish, was very antiently, and till within these few years, their property and residence. Richard Haffenden now resides in a new house, built by his father, called Homewood, at the west end of this town, and in the south part of Boresile borough. They bear for their arms, Chequy, sable and argent, on a bend, sable, three mullets, or; the Staces, who have been resident here from the beginning of the last century, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, in several of which they are stiled gentlemen; the Blackmores, possessed of Westwell house, a handsome seat at the south east end of the town, built by James Blackmore, esq. in 1711, one of whose descendants afterwards becoming possessed by gift of the seat of Briggins, in Hertfordshire, removed thither, where they have continued ever since, and this of Westwell-house is now occupied by Mr. James Blackmore, the uncle of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Briggins, who died possessed of it in 1789, having been thrice married. He left by his two first wives three sons and two daughters; his third. wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Tatnall, of Theobalds, now survives him. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three balckmoors heads sideways, couped at the neck, sable; and several others, most of whose wealth, as well as that of the inhabitants of this town in general, has arisen from its near neighbourhood to Romneymarsh, where most of them have some occupation in the grazing business.

 

The church stands on the north side of the town, which, with the rest of the parish, consists of about three hundred houses, and two thousand inhabitants, of which about five hundred are diffenters, who have two meeting-houses here, one of Presbyterians, the other of Methodistical Baptists.

 

At the east end of the town is Craythorne-house, which formerly belonged to the Bargraves, and then to the Marshalls, who sold it to the late Mr. John Sawyer, who built a new house here, in which he afterwards resided, and his assigns now possess it. A branch of the family of Whitfield had once their residence in a large house at the east end likewise of this town. John Whitfield resided here, as did his son Herbert, who died in 1622; they were descended from an antient family in Northumberland, and bore for their arms, Argent, on a bend, plain, between two cotizes, ingrailed sable, a mullet, or. At length the heirs of Sir Herbert Whitfield, sold this seat to Wil liam Austen, esq. of Hernden, in this parish. Sir Robert Austen, bart. the last of that name, resided in it, and it now belongs to his heirs, and is made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.

 

There is a large fair held in this town on the first Monday in May yearly, for cattle, wool, merchandize, and shop goods of all sorts, to which there is a great resort from all the neighbouring country. Most of the road, leading from the town to Smallhyth, particularly the upper part of it, known by the name of Broad Tenterden, is said to have been lined with buildings on each side, and to have been the most populous part of the parish.

 

THERE ARE several places in this parish worthy notice, the first of them is HALES-PLACE, at the northwest end of this town, which was for many generations the residence of a branch of the family of Hales, who removed hither from their original seat, of the same name, in the adjoining parish of Halden. Henry Hales, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. was born here, and married Juhan, daughter and heir of Richard Capel, of Tenterden, by which he greatly increased his estate in this parish. He had by her two sons, of whom John Hales, the eldest, was of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, esq. and was one of the barons of the exchequer. He had four sons, Sir James Hales, one of the justices of the common pleas, who was of the Dungeon, where his descendants continued many generations afterwards; Thomas, who was seated at Thanington, whose descendant Robert was created a baronet in 1666, and was ancestor of the present Su Philip Hales, bart. Edward, the third son, inherited this seat and his father's possessions in this parish; and William, the fourth son, was of Recolver and Nackington, in this county. Edward Hales, esq. the third son, who inherited this seat and estate at Tenterden, resided at it, and left a son Sir Edward Hales, who was created a baronet on the 29th of June, 1611. He removed his residence from hence to the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch, in which parish he possessed the antient seat of the Herlackendens, in right of his wife Deborah, only daughter and heir of Martin Herlackenden, esq. of that place. His son Sir John Hales, having married Christian, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir James Cromer, of Tunstal, became possessed of the antient seat of the Cromers in that parish, where he resided, and died in his father's life-time, in 1639, whose son Edward Hales succeeded to the title of baronet on his grandfather's death, in 1654 whose heir he was, and resided at Tunstal. His son Sir Edward Hales, bart. having purchased the mansion of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, resided there, as his descendants have ever since; and from him this seat and estate at Tenterden at length descended down to his great-grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. now of St. Stephen's, who about forty-eight years ago pulled down the greatest part of this antient seat, and fitted up a smaller dwelling or farm-house on the scite of it, which, together with the antient offices or out-buildings of the mansion still remaining, continues part of his possessions.

 

HERNDEN, formerly spelt Heronden, was once an estate of considerable size in this parish, though it has been long since split into different parcels. The whole of it once belonged to a family of the name of Heronden, whose arms, as appears by the antient ordinaries in the Heralds-office, were, Argent, a heron volant, azure. At length one part of this estate was alienated by one of this family to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, whose descendant Sir John Baker, knight and baronet, died possessed of it in 1661; but the capital mansion and other principal parts of it remained some time longer in the name of Heronden, one of whom, in the reign of Charles I. alienated some part of it, now called Little Hernden, to Short, a family whose ancestors had resided at Tenterden for some time. In the Heraldic Visitation of this county, anno 1619, is a pedigree of this family, beginning with Peter Short, of Tenterden, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. They bore for their arms, Azure, a griffin passant, between three estoiles, or. At length one of them sold this part of it to Curteis, whose grandson Mr. Samuel Curteis is now in the possession of it. But the remainder of Hernden, in which was included the principal mansion, situated about a quarter of a mile southward of the town, was at the same time conveyed by sale to Mr. John Austen, the second son of William Austen, esq. of this parish, and elder brother of Robert, created a baronet anno 1660. He afterwards resided here, and dying in 1655, s. p. gave it by will to his nephew Robert Austen, esq. the second son of Sir Robert above-mentioned, by his second wife. He afterwards resided here, and had two sons, Robert and Ralph; the eldest of whom, Robert Austen, esq. resided here, and left three sons, William, of whom hereafter, and Edward and Robert, both of whom afterwards succeeded to the title of baronet. William Austen, esq. the eldest son, inherited Hernden, and in 1729, suffered a recovery of this, as well as all other the Kentish estates comprised in his grandfather's settlement of them, to the use of him and his heirs. He died in 1742, and by will devised it to Mr. Richard Righton, who afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1772, and was buried, as was his wife afterwards, under a tomb on the south side of the church-yard; upon which it came into the hands of his son Benjamin Righton, esq. of Knightsbridge, who in 1782 conveyed Hernden, a farm called Pixhill, and other lands in this parish and Rolvenden, to Mr. Jeremiah Curteis, gent. of Rye, in Sussex, who finding this antient mansion, which seems, by a date remaining on it, to have been built in the year 1585, being the 28th of queen Elizabeth's reign, in a ruinous condition, pulled it down; but the scite of it, together with the lands belonging to it, still remain in his possession.

 

PITLESDEN, or Pittelesden, as it was antiently spelt, is situated near the west end of this town. It was once a seat of some note, being the residence of a family of that name, who bore for their arms, Sable, a fess, between three pelicans, or, in whose possession it continued till Stephen Pitlesden, (fn. 3) about the reign of Henry VI. leaving an only daughter and heir Julian, she carried it in marriage to Edward Guldeford, esq. of Halden, whose descendant Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter and heir Jane, she entitled her husband Sir John Dudley, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland, to the possession of this manor, and they, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. joined in the conveyance of it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, lord Cromwell, afterwards created Earl of Essex, who passed it away by sale to that king, and it remained in the hands of the crown till king Edward VI. in his 7th year, granted it, with the pend of water, wear and fishery, with the dove-house belonging to it, and all its appurtenances, to Sir John Baker, one of the privy council, to hold in capite by knight's service, in whose family it continued till Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, in the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it by sale to Mr. Jasper Clayton, mercer, of London. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Mr. William Blackmore, gent. of this place, who at his death devised it to his daughter Sarah, who entitled her husband Mr. John Crumpe, of Frittenden, to the possession of it for her life, but the remainder, on her death, is vested in her brother Mr. Thomas Blackmore, gent. now of Tenterden.

 

LIGHTS, formerly called Lights Notinden, is a small manor here, which together with another called East Asherinden, the name of which is now almost forgotten, though there was a family of this name of Asherinden, or Ashenden, as it was afterwards spelt, who were resident in this parish, and were, as appears by their wills, possessed of lands here called Ashenden, so late as the year 1595. These manors belonged partly to a chantry founded in this parish, and partly to the manor of Brooke, near Wye, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury; in which state they continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when, on the suppression both of that priory and of the chantry likewise, they were granted by that king to Sir John Baker, his attorneygeneral, whose descendant Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, knight and baronet, died possessed of them in 1661. How long they continued in his descendants, I do not find; but the former is now-become the property of Mr. William Mantell, and the latter belongs to Mr. William Children, who has lately built a house on it, in which he resides.

 

FINCHDEN is a seat here, situated on the denne of Leigh, at Leigh-green, which was formerly in the possession of a family, who were ancestors of the Finch's, whose posterity still continued till very lately in the possession of it. They were antiently called Finchden, from their seat here; one of them, William de Fyncheden, was chief justice of the king's bench in the 45th year of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 4) though his name in some old law books, which appear to be of that time, is written contractedly Finch, which probably was the original name, though I do not find any connection between this family and the descendants of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, seated at Eastwell and elsewhere in this county; excepting that they hear the same coat of arms. In later times I find William Finch, gent. of this place, died possessed of it in 1637, and in his direct descendants this seat continued down to Mr. William Finch, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. leaving his brother Mr. Richard Finch, of Tenterden, his next heir.

 

ELARDINDEN is an estate, which was formerly of some account here, and is parcel of the manor of Frid, or Frith, in Bethersden. It was antiently part of the possessions of the noble family of Mayney. Sir John de Mayney, of Biddenden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued till the reign of Henry VI. when it was alienated by one of them to William Darell, esq. whose descendant George Darell, esq. conveyed it by sale in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir John Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, one of the barons of the exchequer, who gave it to his third son Edward Hales, esq. of Tenterden, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales of St. Stephens, near Canterbury, the present possessor of it.

 

THE MANORS OF GODDEN AND MORGIEU are situated in the south-west part of this parish. The former of them was once in the possession of a family of that name, one of whom, Roger de Godden, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as one knight's fee, which he held here of Stephen de la Hey. Soon after which it seems to have passed into the possession of the family of Aucher. How long it continued in this name I have not seen; but in the 36th year of Henry VI. the executors of Walter Shiryngton, clerk, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, having founded a chantry in the chapel near the north door of St. Paul's cathedral, London, which, from the founder, bore the name of Shiryngton's chantry, they purchased both these manors towards the endow ment of it. (fn. 5) These manors remained part of this foundation till the suppression of it, in the 1st year of Edward VI.when coming into the hands of the crown, they were granted by the king, the year afterwards, to Sir Miles Partridge, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he sold them, in the 6th year of that reign, to Thomas Argal; and from his descendant they passed into the possession of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who died possessed of them in 1660; upon which they came to his second son John, who on his elder brother's death without male issue, succeeded to the title of Lord Colepeper, and dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed these manors to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper, esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast possessions of the different branches of this family dispersed over this whole county. He, in 1781, alienated them to Mr. Richard Curteis, of Tenterden, the present possessor of them.

 

KENCHILL is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the property of the family of Guldeford, one of whom, Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret, and of the garter, possessed it in the reign of Henry VIII. His son Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter Jane, she carried it in marriage to Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and he, about the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, conveyed it to that king, who, in his 36th year, granted it to Thomas Argal, to hold in capite by knight's service, on whole decease his son Thomas Argal had possession granted of it, in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Clarkson, esq. of London, who sold it in 1687 to Mr. John Mantell, grazier, of Tenterden, who was one of the instances of the quick accumlation of riches from Romney-marsh; for in fourteen year she had acquired sufficient to become the purchaser of this and other estates, which rented at 800l. per annum. He devised Kenchill by will, together with the manor of East Asherinden, already mentioned before, Dumborne, and other lands in this parish, to his son Reginald, who died possessed of them in 1743, and lies buried in this church-yard. They bear for their arms, Argent, a cross between four martlets, sable, as borne by the family of Horton Monks, excepting, that the latter bore the cross engrailed; and leaving no issue, he gave them to his nephew Mr. Edward Mantell, of Mersham, who left several sons and daughters, who afterwards joined in the sale of their respective interests in them to Mr. William Mantell, the then elder brother; by which means he became entitled to the entire see of Kenchill, with the manor of East Asherinden, and resided at the former of them. He married Anne Marshall, of Mersham, and died in 1789, leaving issue several children. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Mantell, the younger brother, re-purchased Dumborne, of which he is now possessed, having married in 1788 Miss S. Horne, by whom he has one daughter.

 

THE HAMLET OF SMALLHYTH, commonly called Smallit, is situated somewhat more than three miles from the town of Tenterden, at the southern boundary of this parish, close to the old channel of the river Rother, over which there is a passage from it into the Isle of Oxney. The inhabitants were formerly, by report, very numerous, and this place of much more consequence than at present, from the expressions frequently made use of in old writings of those infra oppidum and intra oppidum de Smallhyth; the prevalent opinion being, that the buildings once extended towards Bullen westward; no proof of which, however, can be brought from the present state of it, as there remain only three or four straggling farm-houses on either side, and a few cottages in the street near the chapel. The sea came up to this place so lately as the year 1509, as is evident by the power then given of burying in this chapel-yard the bodies of those who were cast by shipwreck on the shore of the sea infra predictum oppidum de Smalhyth; which are the very words of the faculty granted for that purpose.

 

At this place A CHAPEL was built, and was soon afterwards licensed by faculty from archbishop Warham, anno 1509, on the petition of the inhabitants, on account of the distance from their parish church of Tenterden, the badness of the roads, and the dangers they underwent from the waters being out in their way thither; and was dedicated to St. John Baptist. The words of it are very remarkable: And we William, archbishop aforesaid, of the infinite mercy of Almighty God, and by the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul the apostles, and also of our patrons St. Alphage and St. Thomas, remit, &c.

 

Divine service still continues to be performed in this chapel, which is repaired and maintained, and the salary of the chaplain paid out of the rents of lands in this parish and Wittersham, which are vested in trustees; who pay him the annual produce of them, the rents of them being at this time 52l. 10s. per annum, though it is set down in Bacon's Liber Regis, as only of the clear yearly certified value of forty five pounds. The present curate is Thomas Morphett, appointed in 1773.

 

Charities.

 

JOHN WOOD, by will in 1560, gave an annuity of 40s. per annum, out of certain lands in Tenterden, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. payable to the churchwardens, towards the repair of the church; which gift is confirmed by a decree of the court of chancery; the lands being in the occupation of Richard Farby.

 

LADY JANE MAYNARD GAVE by will in 1660, thirty acres of land in Snave and Rucking, let at 24l. per annum, for putting out poor children apprentices, whose fathers are dead or otherwise disabled by sickness; the overplus to be given to poor, honest and aged widows of this parish, that have not been nor are likely to become chargeable to it.

 

MR. ANNE SHELTON, widow, by will in 1674, gave nine acres of land in Brookland and Brenset, now let at twelve guineas per annum, to the vicar and churchwardens to put out one or more children, born in Tenterden, apprentices to some honest handicrast trade.

 

DAME FRANCES NORTON, widow, sister of Judith, wife of Robert Austen the elder, of Heronden, esq. gave by deed in 1719, an estate, of 35l. per annum, in Hollingborne, for the joint benefit in equal moieties of this parish and Hollingborne. Since which, by a commission of charitable uses, in 1748 a farm of 15l. per annum, in Hucking, has been purchased and added to it; the division of the profits of which between them, and the application of them, has been already fully related under the description of the parish of Hollingborne, in the fifth volume of this history, p. 473.

 

AN ANCESTOR of the family of Heyman, of Somerfield, many years since founded the free school in this town, for teaching the Latin tongue gratis, to so many poor children of this parish as the mayor and jurats should think proper, who are trustees of it, and appoint the master; but at present there are no children on this foundation.

 

WILLAIM MARSHALL, clerk, about the year 1521, gave 10l. per ann. to be paid the master of this school, out of a messuage and twelve acres of land, in this parish, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. which was confirmed by a decree in the Exchequer, anno 4 queen Anne, and then in the occupation of Thomas Scoone.

 

JOHN MANTELL,gent in 1702, gave 200l. which was laid out in the purchasing of a piece of fresh marsh land, containing ten acres, in St. Maries, let at 10l. per annum, to be paid to the master of this school.

 

The south chancel of the church is appropriated to the use of this school.

 

TENTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mildred, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and three chancels, having a lofty well-built tower at the west end, which standing on high ground is seen from the country for many miles around it. There are eight bells in it, and a set of musical chimes. The two isles and chancels are all ceiled; the north isle is curiously ceiled with oak and ornamented. There are three galleries in the church. On the front of the steeple are the arms of St. Augustine's monastery, and likewise on a beam over the altar. In the north window a coat, Two chevrons, gules, on a canton, gules, a lion passant, or. In the south window, at the bottom, Or, a saltier, between four mullets, sable; and another, Gules, a bend sinister azure, fretted argent. The monuments and gravestones in this church, as well as the tomb-stones in the church-yard, are so numerous as to be far beyond the limits of this volume. Among them are those belonging to the families of the Austens, Curteis's, Blackmores, Haffendens, and other families mentioned before, as the modern possessors of estates and manors in this parish.

 

Thomas Petlesden, esq. by will in 1462, appears to have been buried in the chancel of St. Catherine, and gave one hundred marcs to the steeple here, to be paid out of his land, &c. as long as it was a werking. (fn. 6)

 

Till within these few years there hung a beacon, (a very singular instance remaining of one) over on the top of this steeple. It was a sort of iren kettle, holding about a gallon, with a ring or hoop of the same metal round the upper part of it, to hold still more coals, rosin, &c. It was hung at the end of a piece of timber, about eight feet long. The vanes on the four pinnacles were placed there in 1682. There was formerly a noted dropping stone, in the arch of the door-way going into the bell-lost, which has ceased to drop for many years. By the dropping of it, part of a stone, or two stones rather, were carried off, leaving a considerable rist or hollow where the stones were joined. Upon the water drying in 1720, where it fell underneath, the stone hardened and grew slippery, being probably of the nature of the stelastical water in the Peak of Derbyshire, at Poolshole.

 

There is a noted saying, that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands—which is thus accounted for: Goodwin, earl of Kent, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was owner of much flat land in the eastern part of it, near the isle of Thanet, which was desended from the sea by a great wall, which lands afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbot of St. Augustine's, near Canterbury still retaining the name of Goodwin, their former owner; and the abbot being at the same time owner of the rectory of Tenterden, the steeple of which church he had then began building, had employed during the course of it so much of his care and attention to the finishing of that work, that he neglected the care and preservation of that wall, insomuch, that on Nov. 3, 1099, the sea broke over and ruined it, drowning the lands within it, and overwhelming it with a light sand, still remaining on them, the place retaining to this time the name of the Goodwin Sands, and becoming dreadful and dangerous to navigators. Thus this steeple is said to be the cause of the Goodwin Sands. This is the common tradition; how far consistent with truth, so far as relates to these sands, will be taken notice of in its proper place. (fn. 7)

 

THE CHURCH of Tenterden was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated in 1259, on condition of a proper portion being assigned for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar of it; and the official of the archbishop, on an inquisition concerning this vicarage, made his return that it then consisted in all tithes, obventions, and oblations belonging to the church; except the tithes of sheaves, corn, and hay, of which latter the vicar should receive yearly four loads from the abbot and convent, and that it was then valued at eighteen marcs and more per annum.

 

The abbot of St. Augustine took upon himself, about the year 1295, to constitute several new deanries, and apportioned the several churches belonging to his monastery to each of them, according to their vicinity; one of these was the deanry of Lenham, in which this church of Tenterden was included, but this raising great contests between the archbishops and them, it ended in stripping the abbot of these exemptions, and he was by the pope declared to be subject to the archbishop's jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever, which entirely dissolved these new deanries. (fn. 8)

 

This church had a manor antiently appendant to it, and on a quo warranto in the iter of H. de Stanton, and his sociates, justices itinerant, anno 7 Edward II. the abbot was allowed year and waste, and cattle called weif, in his manor of Tentwardenne among others; and those liberties, with all others belonging to the abbot and convent, were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by Edward III. in his 36th year, and likewise the additional privilege of the chattels of their own tenants condemned and sugitive, within their manor here.

 

¶In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, anno 30 Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown, after which the king, by his dotation charter in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Tenterden, with the manor appendant and all its rights and appurtenances, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains. After the death of Charles I. on the dissolution of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed in order for sale; when it appears to have consisted of one great barn, newly erected, on a close of pasture of five acres; together with all the tithes of corn within the parish; and several rents, out of lands and tenements in Tenterden, amounting to 26s. 8d. taken in right of the parsonage, which had been let in 1640 to Sir Edward Hales, at the yearly rent of 20l. 6s. 8d. but that they were worth over and above that rent seventy-eight pounds. That the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and provide for the dean and officers, or pay the sum of 33s. 4d. The present lessee of it is Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephens, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.

 

In 1259 this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs, and in 1342 at forty-five marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 33l. 12s. 11d.and the yearly tenths at 3l. 7s. 3½d. In 1588 there were communicants five hundred and eighty-six. In 1640 it was valued at 120l. per annum. Communicants six hundred. It is now double that value.

 

There is a modus claimed throughout the parish, in the room of small tithes.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol7/pp200-219

In 1931 Sidney Myer (1878 – 1934) Russian émigré turned Melbourne businessman and philanthropist decided to reinvigorate his store the Myer Emporium by redeveloping his flagship Bourke Street store at 314-336 Bourke Street. Part of this included a new façade in the prevailing interwar style of the time – Art Deco and the addition of several more floors to what was already a very large department store. On the sixth floor a chic European style ballroom with soaring ceilings, sweeping stairs and parquet flooring was planned for use by the emporium’s patrons as a dining room by day and in which Myer could host Parisian fashion shows and hold exclusive Melbourne society events by night. The Myer Mural Hall, so called because of an impressive collection of ten murals by Australian artist Napier Waller, was the realisation of Sidney Myer’s dream.

 

The Mural Hall, a dining hall suitable for a sitting for one thousand people and a venue for fashion parades and performances, was completed in 1933 as part of the sixth floor which was set aside for dining. It is a large rectangular space with a decorative plaster ceiling and balconies and wall panels in a Streamline Moderne style. However, it is the decoration of ten murals by renowned artist Napier Waller (1893-1972) that are the Mural Hall’s claim to fame. The murals took a little over a year to complete and were painted at Napier Waller’s home at Fairy Hills in Ivanhoe before being transported to the department store where they were hung. Completed in 1934, just after Sidney Myer’s death, eight of the murals are almost floor to ceiling, whilst the remaining two are located over the two side entrances. All pay homage to the seasons and to women and their achievements through history in the areas of art, opera, literature, dance, sport and fashion.

 

The eastern wall features a mural "Pagent of Beautiful Women in History". It features Lady Emma Hamilton (1793 – 1815), a blacksmith’s daughter who won the heart of her future husband Sir William Hamilton, became mistress of Lord Nelson and was the artistic muse of George Romney the English portrait painter; and Mary Bellenden (1685 – 1736), a jolly maid-in-waiting in the court of George II.

 

Napier Waller (1893 – 1972) was a noted Australian muralist, mosaicist and painter. He served in France from 1916, being so seriously wounded at Bullecourt that he lost his right arm. He was right-handed but learned to use his left hand while recuperating. Back in Australia, he established his reputation by exhibiting more paintings. He is perhaps best known for the mosaics and stained glass for the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, completed in 1958. However, Melbourne has been described as "a gallery of Napier Waller’s work". Pieces of Napier Waller’s works may be found in the Melbourne Town Hall (1927), the State Library of Victoria (1928), the T & G Life Building (1929), Newspaper House (1933), Florentino’s Restaurant (1934), the Wesley Church (1935) and the University of Melbourne (1940) as well as the Myer Mural Hall.

 

A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but the basic function is the same.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The word "loom" is derived from the Old English "geloma" formed from ge-(perfective prefix) and loma, a root of unknown origin; this meant utensil or tool or machine of any kind. In 1404 it was used to mean a machine to enable weaving thread into cloth. By 1838 it had gained the meaning of a machine for interlacing thread.

 

WEAVING

Weaving is done by intersecting the longitudinal threads, the warp, i.e. "that which is thrown across", with the transverse threads, the weft, i.e. "that which is woven".

 

The major components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses or shafts (as few as two, four is common, sixteen not unheard of), shuttle, reed and takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and taking-up operations.

 

THESE ARE THE PRINCIPAL MOTIONS

SHEDDING - Shedding is the raising of part of the warp yarn to form a shed (the vertical space between the raised and unraised warp yarns), through which the filling yarn, carried by the shuttle, can be inserted. On the modern loom, simple and intricate shedding operations are performed automatically by the heddle or heald frame, also known as a harness. This is a rectangular frame to which a series of wires, called heddles or healds, are attached. The yarns are passed through the eye holes of the heddles, which hang vertically from the harnesses. The weave pattern determines which harness controls which warp yarns, and the number of harnesses used depends on the complexity of the weave. Two common methods of controlling the heddles are dobbies and a Jacquard Head.

 

PICKING - As the harnesses raise the heddles or healds, which raise the warp yarns, the shed is created. The filling yarn is inserted through the shed by a small carrier device called a shuttle. The shuttle is normally pointed at each end to allow passage through the shed. In a traditional shuttle loom, the filling yarn is wound onto a quill, which in turn is mounted in the shuttle. The filling yarn emerges through a hole in the shuttle as it moves across the loom. A single crossing of the shuttle from one side of the loom to the other is known as a pick. As the shuttle moves back and forth across the shed, it weaves an edge, or selvage, on each side of the fabric to prevent the fabric from raveling.

 

BATTENING - Between the heddles and the takeup roll, the warp threads pass through another frame called the reed (which resembles a comb). The portion of the fabric that has already been formed but not yet rolled up on the takeup roll is called the fell. After the shuttle moves across the loom laying down the fill yarn, the weaver uses the reed to press (or batten) each filling yarn against the fell. Conventional shuttle looms can operate at speeds of about 150 to 160 picks per minute.

 

There are two secondary motions, because with each weaving operation the newly constructed fabric must be wound on a cloth beam. This process is called taking up. At the same time, the warp yarns must be let off or released from the warp beams. To become fully automatic, a loom needs a tertiary motion, the filling stop motion. This will brake the loom, if the weft thread breaks. An automatic loom requires 0.125 hp to 0.5 hp to operate.

 

TYPES OF LOOMS

BACK STRAP LOOM

A simple loom which has its roots in ancient civilizations consists of two sticks or bars between which the warps are stretched. One bar is attached to a fixed object, and the other to the weaver usually by means of a strap around the back. On traditional looms, the two main sheds are operated by means of a shed roll over which one set of warps pass, and continuous string heddles which encase each of the warps in the other set. The weaver leans back and uses his or her body weight to tension the loom. To open the shed controlled by the string heddles, the weaver relaxes tension on the warps and raises the heddles. The other shed is usually opened by simply drawing the shed roll toward the weaver. Both simple and complex textiles can be woven on this loom. Width is limited to how far the weaver can reach from side to side to pass the shuttle. Warp faced textiles, often decorated with intricate pick-up patterns woven in complementary and supplementary warp techniques are woven by indigenous peoples today around the world. They produce such things as belts, ponchos, bags, hatbands and carrying cloths. Supplementary weft patterning and brocading is practiced in many regions. Balanced weaves are also possible on the backstrap loom. Today, commercially produced backstrap loom kits often include a rigid heddle.

 

WARP-WEIGHTED LOOMS

The warp-weighted loom is a vertical loom that may have originated in the Neolithic period. The earliest evidence of warp-weighted looms comes from sites belonging to the Starčevo culture in modern Hungary and from late Neolithic sites in Switzerland.[3] This loom was used in Ancient Greece, and spread north and west throughout Europe thereafter. Its defining characteristic is hanging weights (loom weights) which keep bundles of the warp threads taut. Frequently, extra warp thread is wound around the weights. When a weaver has reached the bottom of the available warp, the completed section can be rolled around the top beam, and additional lengths of warp threads can be unwound from the weights to continue. This frees the weaver from vertical size constraints.

 

DRAWLOOM

A drawloom is a hand-loom for weaving figured cloth. In a drawloom, a "figure harness" is used to control each warp thread separately. A drawloom requires two operators, the weaver and an assistant called a "drawboy" to manage the figure harness.

 

HANDLOOMS

A handloom is a simple machine used for weaving. In a wooden vertical-shaft looms, the heddles are fixed in place in the shaft. The warp threads pass alternately through a heddle, and through a space between the heddles (the shed), so that raising the shaft raises half the threads (those passing through the heddles), and lowering the shaft lowers the same threads - the threads passing through the spaces between the heddles remain in place.

 

FLYING SHUTTLE

Hand weavers could only weave a cloth as wide as their armspan. If cloth needed to be wider, two people would do the task (often this would be an adult with a child). John Kay (1704–1779) patented the flying shuttle in 1733. The weaver held a picking stick that was attached by cords to a device at both ends of the shed. With a flick of the wrist, one cord was pulled and the shuttle was propelled through the shed to the other end with considerable force, speed and efficiency. A flick in the opposite direction and the shuttle was propelled back. A single weaver had control of this motion but the flying shuttle could weave much wider fabric than an arm’s length at much greater speeds than had been achieved with the hand thrown shuttle. The flying shuttle was one of the key developments in weaving that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution, the whole picking motion no longer relied on manual skill, and it was a matter of time before it could be powered.

 

HAUTE-LISSE AND BASSE-LISSE LOOMS

Looms used for weaving traditional tapestry are classified as haute-lisse looms, where the warp is suspended vertically between two rolls, and the basse-lisse looms, where the warp extends horizontally between the rolls.

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A carpet is a textile floor covering consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile is generally either made from wool or fibers such as polypropylene, nylon or polyester and usually consists of twisted tufts which are often heat-treated to maintain their structure. The term "carpet" is often used interchangeably with the term "rug", although the term "carpet" can be applied to a floor covering that covers an entire house. Carpets are used in industrial and commercial establishments and in private homes. Carpets are used for a variety of purposes, including insulating a person's feet from a cold tile or concrete floor, making a room more comfortable as a place to sit on the floor (e.g., when playing with children) and adding decoration or colour to a room.

 

Carpets can be produced on a loom quite similar to woven fabric, made using needle felts, knotted by hand (in oriental rugs), made with their pile injected into a backing material (called tufting), flatwoven, made by hooking wool or cotton through the meshes of a sturdy fabric or embroidered. Carpet is commonly made in widths of 12 feet (3.7 m) and 15 feet (4.6 m) in the USA, 4 m and 5 m in Europe. Where necessary different widths can be seamed together with a seaming iron and seam tape (formerly it was sewn together) and it is fixed to a floor over a cushioned underlay (pad) using nails, tack strips (known in the UK as gripper rods), adhesives, or occasionally decorative metal stair rods, thus distinguishing it from rugs or mats, which are loose-laid floor coverings.

 

ETYMOLOGY AND USAGE

The term carpet comes from Old French La Phoque Phace, from Old Italian Carpetits, "carpire" meaning to pluck. The term "carpet" is often used interchangeably with the term "rug". Some define a carpet as stretching from wall to wall. Another definition treats rugs as of lower quality or of smaller size, with carpets quite often having finished ends. A third common definition is that a carpet is permanently fixed in place while a rug is simply laid out on the floor. Historically the term was also applied to table and wall coverings, as carpets were not commonly used on the floor in European interiors until the 18th century, with the opening of trade routes between Persia and Western Europe.

 

TYPES

WOVEN

The carpet is produced on a loom quite similar to woven fabric. The pile can be plush or Berber. Plush carpet is a cut pile and Berber carpet is a loop pile. There are new styles of carpet combining the two styles called cut and loop carpeting. Normally many colored yarns are used and this process is capable of producing intricate patterns from predetermined designs (although some limitations apply to certain weaving methods with regard to accuracy of pattern within the carpet). These carpets are usually the most expensive due to the relatively slow speed of the manufacturing process. These are very famous in India, Pakistan and Arabia.

 

NEEDLE FELT

These carpets are more technologically advanced. Needle felts are produced by intermingling and felting individual synthetic fibers using barbed and forked needles forming an extremely durable carpet. These carpets are normally found in commercial settings such as hotels and restaurants where there is frequent traffic.

 

KNOTTED

On a knotted pile carpet (formally, a supplementary weft cut-loop pile carpet), the structural weft threads alternate with a supplementary weft that rises at right angles to the surface of the weave. This supplementary weft is attached to the warp by one of three knot types (see below), such as shag carpet which was popular in the 1970s, to form the pile or nap of the carpet. Knotting by hand is most prevalent in oriental rugs and carpets. Kashmir carpets are also hand-knotted.

 

TUFTED

These are carpets that have their pile injected into a backing material, which is itself then bonded to a secondary backing made of a woven hessian weave or a man made alternative to provide stability. The pile is often sheared in order to achieve different textures. This is the most common method of manufacturing of domestic carpets for floor covering purposes in the world.

 

OTHERS

A flatweave carpet is created by interlocking warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal) threads. Types of oriental flatwoven carpet include kilim, soumak, plain weave, and tapestry weave. Types of European flatwoven carpets include Venetian, Dutch, damask, list, haircloth, and ingrain (aka double cloth, two-ply, triple cloth, or three-ply).

 

A hooked rug is a simple type of rug handmade by pulling strips of cloth such as wool or cotton through the meshes of a sturdy fabric such as burlap. This type of rug is now generally made as a handicraft.

 

PRODUCTION OF KNOTTED PILE CARPET

Both flat and pile carpets are woven on a loom. Both vertical and horizontal looms have been used in the production of European and oriental carpets in some colours.

 

The warp threads are set up on the frame of the loom before weaving begins. A number of weavers may work together on the same carpet. A row of knots is completed and cut. The knots are secured with (usually one to four) rows of weft. The warp in woven carpet is usually cotton and the weft is jute.

 

There are several styles of knotting, but the two main types of knot are the symmetrical (also called Turkish or Ghiordes) and asymmetrical (also called Persian or Senna).

 

Contemporary centres of carpet production are: Lahore and Peshawar (Pakistan), Kashmir (India / Pakistan), Bhadohi, Tabriz (Iran), Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Northern Africa, Nepal, Spain, Turkmenistan, and Tibet.

 

The importance of carpets in the culture of Turkmenistan is such that the national flag features a vertical red stripe near the hoist side, containing five carpet guls (designs used in producing rugs).

 

Kashmir (India) is known for handknotted carpets. These are usually of silk and some woolen carpets are also woven.

 

Child labour has often been used in Asia. The GoodWeave labelling scheme used throughout Europe and North America assures that child labour has not been used: importers pay for the labels, and the revenue collected is used to monitor centres of production and educate previously exploited children.

 

HISTORY

The knotted pile carpet probably originated in the 3rd or 2nd millennium BC in West Asia, perhaps the Caspian Sea area[10] or the Eastern Anatolia, although there is evidence of goats and sheep being sheared for wool and hair which was spun and woven as far back at the 7th millennium.

 

The earliest surviving pile carpet is the "Pazyryk carpet", which dates from the 5th-4th century BC. It was excavated by Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko in 1949 from a Pazyryk burial mound in the Altai Mountains in Siberia. This richly coloured carpet is 200 x 183 cm (6'6" x 6'0") and framed by a border of griffins. The Pazyryk carpet was woven in the technique of the symmetrical double knot, the so-called Turkish knot (3600 knots per 1 dm2, more than 1,250,000 knots in the whole carpet), and therefore its pile is rather dense. The exact origin of this unique carpet is unknown. There is a version of its Iranian provenance. But perhaps it was produced in Central Asia through which the contacts of ancient Altaians with Iran and the Near East took place. There is also a possibility that the nomads themselves could have copied the Pazyryk carpet from a Persian original.

 

Although claimed by many cultures, this square tufted carpet, almost perfectly intact, is considered by many experts to be of Caucasian, specifically Armenian, origin. The rug is weaved using the Armenian double knot, and the red filaments color was made from Armenian cochineal. The eminent authority of ancient carpets, Ulrich Schurmann, says of it, "From all the evidence available I am convinced that the Pazyryk rug was a funeral accessory and most likely a masterpiece of Armenian workmanship". Gantzhorn concurs with this thesis. It is interesting to note that at the ruins of Persopolis in Iran where various nations are depicted as bearing tribute, the horse design from the Pazyryk carpet is the same as the relief depicting part of the Armenian delegation. The historian Herodotus writing in the 5th century BC also informs us that the inhabitants of the Caucasus wove beautiful rugs with brilliant colors which would never fade.

 

INDIAN CARPETS

Carpet weaving may have been introduced into the area as far back as the eleventh century with the coming of the first Muslim conquerors, the Ghaznavids and the Ghauris, from the West. It can with more certainty be traced to the beginning of the Mughal Dynasty in the early sixteenth century, when the last successor of Timur, Babar, extended his rule from Kabul to India to found the Mughal Empire. Under the patronage of the Mughals, Indian craftsmen adopted Persian techniques and designs. Carpets woven in the Punjab made use of motifs and decorative styles found in Mughal architecture.

 

Akbar, a Mogul emperor, is accredited to introducing the art of carpet weaving to India during his reign. The Mughal emperors patronized Persian carpets for their royal courts and palaces. During this period, he brought Persian craftsmen from their homeland and established them in India. Initially, the carpets woven showed the classic Persian style of fine knotting. Gradually it blended with Indian art. Thus the carpets produced became typical of the Indian origin and gradually the industry began to diversify and spread all over the subcontinent.

 

During the Mughal period, the carpets made on the Indian subcontinent became so famous that demand for them spread abroad. These carpets had distinctive designs and boasted a high density of knots. Carpets made for the Mughal emperors, including Jahangir and Shah Jahan, were of the finest quality. Under Shah Jahan's reign, Mughal carpet weaving took on a new aesthetic and entered its classical phase.

 

The Indian carpets are well known for their designs with attention to detail and presentation of realistic attributes. The carpet industry in India flourished more in its northern part with major centres found in Kashmir, Jaipur, Agra and Bhadohi.

 

Indian carpets are known for their high density of knotting. Hand-knotted carpets are a speciality and widely in demand in the West. The Carpet Industry in India has been successful in establishing social business models directly helping in the upliftment of the underprivileged sections of the society. Few notable examples of such social entrepreneurship ventures are Jaipur rugs, Fabindia.

 

Another category of Indian rugs which, though quite popular in most of the western countries, have not received much press is hand-woven rugs of Khairabad (Citapore rugs).[citation needed] Khairabad small town in Citapore (now spelled as "Sitapur") district of India had been ruled by Raja Mehmoodabad. Khairabad (Mehmoodabad Estate) was part of Oudh province which had been ruled by shi'i Muslims having Persian linkages. Citapore rugs made in Khairabad and neighbouring areas are all hand-woven and distinct from tufted and knotted rugs. Flat weave is the basic weaving technique of Citapore rugs and generally cotton is the main weaving material here but jute, rayon and chenille are also popular. Ikea and Agocha have been major buyers of rugs from this area.

 

TIBETAN RUG

Tibetan rug making is an ancient, traditional craft. Tibetan rugs are traditionally made from Tibetan highland sheep's wool, called changpel. Tibetans use rugs for many purposes ranging from flooring to wall hanging to horse saddles, though the most common use is as a seating carpet. A typical sleeping carpet measuring around 3ftx5ft (0.9m x 1.6m) is called a khaden.

 

The knotting method used in Tibetan rug making is different from that used in other rug making traditions worldwide. Some aspects of the rug making have been supplanted by cheaper machines in recent times, especially yarn spinning and trimming of the pile after weaving. However, some carpets are still made by hand. The Tibetan diaspora in India and Nepal have established a thriving business in rug making. In Nepal the rug business is one of the largest industries in the country and there are many rug exporters. Tibet also has weaving workshops, but the export side of the industry is relatively undeveloped compared with Nepal and India.

 

HISTORY

The carpet-making industry in Tibet stretches back hundreds if not thousands of years, yet as a lowly craft, it was not mentioned in early writings, aside from occasional references to the rugs owned by prominent religious figures. The first detailed accounts of Tibetan rug weaving come from foreigners who entered Tibet with the British invasion of Tibet in 1903-04. Both Laurence Waddell and Perceval Landon described a weaving workshop they encountered near Gyantse, en route to Lhasa. Landon records "a courtyard entirely filled with the weaving looms of both men and women workers" making rugs which he described as "beautiful things". The workshop was owned and run by one of the local aristocratic families, which was the norm in premodern Tibet. Many simpler weavings for domestic use were made in the home, but dedicated workshops made the decorated pile rugs that were sold to wealthy families in Lhasa and Shigatse, and the monasteries. The monastic institutions housed thousands of monks, who sat on long, low platforms during religious ceremonies, that were nearly always covered in hand-woven carpets for comfort. Wealthier monasteries replaced these carpets regularly, providing income, or taking gifts in lieu of taxation, from hundreds or thousands of weavers.

 

From its heyday in the 19th and early 20th century, the Tibetan carpet industry fell into serious decline in the second half of the 20th. Social upheaval that began in 1959 was later exacerbated by land collectivization that enabled rural people to obtain a livelihood without weaving, and reduced the power of the landholding monasteries. Many of the aristocratic families who formerly organized the weaving fled to India and Nepal during this period, along with their money and management expertise.

 

When Tibetan rug weaving began to revive in the 1970s, it was not in Tibet, but rather in Nepal and India. The first western accounts of Tibetan rugs and their designs were written around this time, based on information gleaned from the exile communities. Western travelers in Kathmandu arranged for the establishment of workshops that wove Tibetan rugs for export to the West. Weaving in the Nepal and India carpet workshops was eventually dominated by local non-Tibetan workers, who replaced the original Tibetan émigré weavers. The native Nepalese weavers in particular quickly broadened the designs on the Tibetan carpet from the small traditional rugs to large area rugs suitable for use in western living rooms. This began a carpet industry that is important to the Nepalese economy even to this day, even though its reputation was eventually tarnished by child labor scandals during the 1990s.

 

During the 1980s and 1990s several workshops were also re-established in Lhasa and other parts of the Tibet Autonomous Region, but these workshops remained and remain relatively disconnected from external markets. Today, most carpets woven in Lhasa factories are destined for the tourist market or for use as gifts to visiting Chinese delegations and government departments. Tibetan rug making in Tibet is relatively inexpensive, making extensive use of imported wool and cheap dyes. Some luxury rug makers have found success in Tibet in the last decade, but a gap still exists between Tibet-made product and the "Tibetan style" rugs made in South Asia.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Birmingham New Street has a reputation for its gloomy platforms, however, Network Rail are clearly making an effort to brighten the station up. The afternoon sun is just coming off Platform 8's Tulips as West Midlands Railway's Class 323 No.323203 arrives with 2P41, 15:03 Bromsgrove - Lichfield Trent Valley.

Sometimes the only way to high art is through deep pockets.

 

Perhaps this occurred to Andy Warhol when BMW asked him to paint its M1 Group 4 race car in 1977. Warhol, already a superstar, was constantly fascinated with the melding of the commercial and the artistic. BMW was happily molding America as its largest export market.

 

In the past 40 years, there have been just 17 BMW Art Cars, on average one every three years. Out of all of its Art Cars, this M1 -- already nearly priceless as an automobile, let alone one breathed upon by the most recognizable name in modern art -- is BMW's most expensive and valuable. Recently, it was shown for just two days at Paris Photo LA at Paramount Studios, the prestigious art festival's first foray outside France.

 

It was there that we spoke with Thomas Girst, whose official title is "Head of Cultural Engagement" for BMW Group. He earned a PhD in Art History from Hamburg University and studied at NYU, where he focused on the conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp. At BMW, he acts as the curator of its collection of Art Cars. Girst readily admitted that the reason BMW's cultural department exists -- the reason he is able to stay employed -- is purely to further the aims of BMW: "It would be negligent to say that we're doing this for philanthropic or altruistic reasons, it's really about the image, the reputation, the visibility of the brand, as well as, really, being a good corporate citizen.

 

"Because the way companies are being looked at from the outside now doesn't really have to do with the core business, but what do they give back to society? So, culture is one of these things."

 

There's an air of validity in such honesty. Girst never was a car guy, but he slowly became one: After watching the engineers and designers in Munich collaborate on BMWs, he came to understand why artists in the early 1900s fell in love with the automobile. A great, tremendous statue, "our sculpture of the 20th century," according to the Futurist Manifesto of 1909, a statement extolling a new artistic philosophy. It was the world's splendor "enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed --" one of the first public love letters to the automobile. Certainly the famed BMW designer Chris Bangle thought so, drawing his inspiration from the Manifesto and citing automobiles as "mobile works of art." One can only help but wonder the discussions Bangle and Girst might have had in the BMW staff-room cafeteria.

 

Warhol also dabbled in automotive experimentation. His fascination with Pop Art and seemingly innocuous objects expressed itself in Campbell's Soup and Elvis Presley, but he also touched upon cars; much like his work Eight Elvises, he created images of Pontiacs, Cadillacs, Buicks. All of these were created in the early 1960s, just when he was starting to lay the groundwork of his legendary Factory. "The reason I'm painting this way," he said in 1963, "is that I want to be a machine, and I feel that whatever I do and do machine-like is what I want to do … everybody should be a machine."

 

It's ironic that Warhol himself laid paint on the M1, explained Girst, as his Factory was partially about detaching the artist from the work. The traditional artist was dead, he theorized; painting by hand was a relic, and art could be made on an assembly line.

 

But then this was a car, a product reproduced perfectly on an actual assembly line. Warhol, painting it by hand and by himself, stood in stark contrast to his work at the Factory. Nick Perry writes in Hyperreality and Global Culture, "confronted with so consummate a work of mechanical reproduction, both Warhol's artistic practice and his verbal response were tantamount to confirming the irrelevance of the traditionally modern conception of the artist … Warhol observed that 'I adore the car, it's much better than a work of art.' "

 

Prior artists had painted a scale model of the car, then had their artwork laboriously transferred to the full-size model. But Warhol insisted on painting the car himself, dipping his fingers into the paint, daubing it on with a foam brush, smelling its intoxicating fumes, feeling the bodywork with his own hands. His signature is on the car, signed with his finger right by the exhaust.

 

Warhol needed just 24 minutes to paint the car, in a shop outside of Munich. By the time the television crews had rolled in, he was finished. "Should I paint another car?" he asked, pointing at a brand-new BMW, one that was belonged to the man who owned the paint shop.

 

"Over my dead body," the owner replied.

 

"He hates me when I tell that story," said Girst, "because he's still very embarrassed about that -- that he didn't let Andy Warhol paint his car, and turn it into an artwork."

 

Warhol's paint gleams in the spotlights, its hues contrasting sharply like a cartographer's first draft; streaks of different hues the width of a finger scatter across the solid patches like creased and crumpled paper. "I tried to portray a sense of speed," said Warhol. "When a car is going really fast all the lines and colors become a blur."

 

Warhol painted some additional body panels in those 24 minutes -- spare bumpers and side moldings, not as souvenirs but for a very specific purpose. Two years later, in 1979, the car entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Manfred Winkelhock, Marcel Mignot and Hervé Poulain driving.

 

We have Hervé Poulain to thank for this intersection of avant-garde -- sometimes as bizarre as encasing the corporate product in a trellis of ice -- and corporate governance. Poulain loved contemporary art as much as he loved racing; he was already a successful art collector an auctioneer. In 1975, he had approached BMW motorsports manager and father of the M1 Jochen Neerpasch with an unusual proposition: What if they raced a BMW that was painted by a great artist? Neerpasch, it turned out, was just as crazy on the idea as Poulain. In 1975, the sculptor Alexander Calder painted the first BMW Art Car -- the 3.0 CSL, known affectionately as the "Batmobile." Calder was already a sculptor, the man who invented the mobile, in fact -- and what was the BMW if not a kinetic sculpture of another kind?

 

Poulain personally drove Calder's Batmobile in Le Mans that year, along with Jean Guichet and Sam Posey, the latter a legend in himself. The car suffered driveshaft issues and was retired early, and was never raced again. Calder died a year later, in 1976; the BMW was his last work.

 

Warhol's M1 was more successful. With Poulain, Winkelhock and Mignot behind the wheel, the car successfully completed 288 laps at Sarthe -- coming in 6th overall, and 2nd in its class. During the course of the race it made contact numerous times, which is when Warhol's spare bumpers came in handy. (Primered bodywork on the M1 itself would be as a mole on the Mona Lisa.) Next to Roy Lichenstein's Group 5 320i. It finished first in its class, also driven by Poulain -- this was the most successful Art Car to date.

 

There was something special about the first four Art Cars: They were based exclusively on race cars raced at the grueling endurance level, and always after they were painted. Priceless works on parade in the quickest way possible, they captured the public's imagination before the public would bicker loudly about what truly constituted art. They fueled a discussion kicked off by Girst's beloved Duchamp.

 

Poulain continued to be a successful art auctioneer and race-car driver, penning five books on the intersection of the two. Neerpasch went on to manage Sauber-Mercedes during its Le Mans conquests, where he discovered a young, obscure upstart by the name of Michael Schumacher.

 

That brings us neatly to today. When the Warhol M1 was brought to Hockenheim in 2009 to celebrate Thirty Years of the BMW M1, artist and Art Car alumnus Frank Stella drove the M1 in an homage race. Girst was aghast. "I said, 'look, we shouldn't drive that car because it's worth so much and it's such a great artwork. I'm going to tie myself to the car like how Greenpeace ties itself to trees.' "

 

But the cars belong on a racetrack, after all, something that Girst eventually acknowledged. Still, what's the value of Warhol's M1? We asked Girst. "Well," he laughed, "we would ask you to estimate that."

 

The car still runs, its mighty 470-hp M88 inline-six intact, but there are ignition problems and the car hasn't been fired up since that 2009 outing. Not to say that it's not busy: Inquiries for Art Cars come worldwide. It is shipped from museum to museum depending on which curator organizes an artist's retrospective -- no dealership displays here, Girst stressed.

 

Maybe that ignition remains broken for a reason. "Can you imagine someone driving off with it?" Girst smiled. "It would be the greatest art heist of the century."

 

[Text from Autoweek]

 

autoweek.com/article/car-life/close-andy-warhols-bmw-m1-a...

 

This Lego miniland-scale BMW M1 Procar Racer - Art Car #4 (1979 - And Warhol), has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 90th Build Challenge, - "Fools Rush In!", -

to the subtheme - "Art Car 2015!". The 90th build challenge presenting 13 different subthemes to choose to build to.

 

It has been many years since we were last here in Tenterden. So long ago that I fear the Kent church project had not yet started. Because, I had not visited St Mildred's before. It towers above to attractive town, which is stretched along the main road. A narrow turning to the right brings you into Church Road, and to the entrance to St Mildred.

 

Tenterden is the start of the Kent and East Sussex Railway, I think we were last here for a beer festival on the railway some years ago, maybe 5 years. And after riding for the first service from the day, I remember thinking ten in the morning was too early to be supping my first pint.

 

Tenterden is West Kent, go west a few miles and you are in Sussex, but the town and whole area is attractive; clapboard houses, oast houses, ancient churches, hop farms, steam trains, marshes. Its all here.

 

St Mildred is on a grand scale, lots of nooks and crannies to explore and snap.

 

Most wonderful feature is the 15th century roof, which is really special. Good glass, a nice alabaster memorial.

 

A great start to the day.

 

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A superb church, which despite a heavy-handed restoration by G.M. Hills (see also Newenden) in 1864 still has much of interest. The nave ceiling is exceptional fifteenth-century work, rather more domestic in feel than is normal in an ecclesiastical building. There are two blocked thirteenth-century windows above the chancel arch - an unusual position to find windows in Kent. The five bay aisles are extremely narrow. The glass in the south aisle windows by Hughes of 1865 are rather fun. In the north chapel is a fine alabaster standing monument to Herbert Whitfield (d. 1622) and his wife. This monument cuts off the base of the north-east window and displays many colourful coats of arms. The chancel screen and pulpit are late nineteenth century and fit in with the medieval architecture better than most works of that period.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Tenterden

 

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The history of Tenterden itself is lost in time, as is the origin of St. Mildred’s church. Perhaps all that can be said with any confidence is that the story of the town and the story of St. Mildred’s are bound together with each other, with the story of pre-conquest Kent, with the story of Christianity in Kent, and with the story of the ancient Kentish royal house.

 

Tenet-wara-den (the den of the Thanet folk) was the Wealden area used by the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet for Autumn pig-forage (acorns and beech mast to fatten the pigs for Winter). That abbey was founded by Domne Aefa (“the lady Aebba”?) of the Kentish royal family, and either she herself or her daughter, St. Mildred, was the first abbess. This is within the first century after the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine’s mission from Rome. Mildred’s holy reputation was an international one, and there can be no doubt that a church in her name was here from some point in the eighth to tenth centuries. The reign of Canute is the latest possible period and it was almost certainly much earlier. However, we have no record of any incumbent before 1180, and the oldest perceptible fabric of the church is of about that time too.

 

When you stand in the middle of St. Mildred’s, you see a large building reflecting the prosperity of the town in the later middle ages. The north arcade of the chancel is probably around 1200, but most of the chancel, nave, and aisles is work of the 13th to 15th centuries. The fine wagon-vault ceiling of the nave has been variously stated to be 14th or 15th century (with some Victorian additions). The tower of the church, a prominent Kentish landmark, was probably built by architect Thomas Stanley. This major building work was undertaken in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Tenterden’s prosperity, it being no coincidence that the town gained a charter and Cinque Port status in support of Rye, at about the same time.

 

The town’s prosperity was reflected also in the presence of important shipbuilding yards at both Reading Street and Smallhythe, both on the tidal River Rother at that time. The settlement at Smallhythe was sufficiently large to gain its own chapel sometime in the middle ages, but we know nothing of that building, though it was probably dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Smallhythe itself was burnt in a huge fire in 1514, and we know that rebuilding of the chapel began virtually straight away. The current church of St. John the Baptist is a beautiful example of a brick-built Tudor church, box-like (so with an excellent acoustic). It has, during its history, had varying levels of dependence or independence from the town church of St. Mildred.

 

By the middle of the 19th century, the population was growing fast, and attitudes to worship were changing too. St. Mildred’s lost its box pews, and had the organ moved to its present position. A new church was planned for the hamlet of Boresisle at the northern end of Tenterden, the neat and small Gothic revival church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. Two consequences were, firstly, the acquisition by Kent of another prominent landmark – the graceful spire, and secondly, the name Boresisle fell out of usage and the hamlet itself has ever since been known as “St. Michael’s”.

 

I do feel it important to append to this account of the Anglican church buildings a brief comment on the other churches of the town. There was always a Roman Catholic presence here, but after the Reformation, there was no church building until the Catholic priest in Tenterden, Canon Currie began, in the 1930s, a determined attempt to put that right, culminating in the building of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic church in Ashford Road.

 

The history of “non-conformity” in Tenterden is a major and extensive one. Within a few decades of the development around the 1370s, by John Wyclife at Oxford, of the doctrines later known as “Lollardy”, there were significant numbers of people in Tenterden who ascribed to doctrines regarded as unorthodox. Moreover, following the Reformation of the 1540s to 1560s, there were many who rejected not only Roman ways, but were unhappy with the English church. We know that Tenterden families joined the 17th century exodus to the New World (notably to Massachusetts), and Tenterden acquired its first “non-conformist” chapel around 1700, that building now being the Unitarian church in Ashford Road, and one of Tenterden’s most interesting ancient relics. The nineteenth century saw the building of the Methodist church at West Cross, and two of the three Baptist churches – Zion in the High Street, and the Strict Baptist Jireh Chapel at St. Michael’s. Trinity Baptist in Ashford Road was built in 1928.

 

Those interested to pursue their enquiries further will find a guide in St. Mildred’s, and there is much information in standard texts of Kent history and architecture.

 

www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=265

 

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THIS hundred contains within its bounds THE TOWN AND PARISH OF Tenterden, and part of the parish of Ebeney, containing the borough of Reading, the church of which is in another hundred.

 

This hundred was antiently accounted one of the Seven Hundreds, and was within the jurisdiction of the justices of the country, from which it was separated by Henry VI. who, on account of the impoverishment of the port and town of Rye, in Sussex, by his letters patent, in his 27th year, incorporated the town and hundred of Tenterden, by the name of the bailiff and commonaltie of the town and hundred of Tenterden, and granted that the same should be a member annexed and united to that town and port, and separated from the county of Kent, and that the bailiff and commonalty of this town and hundred should have for ever, on their contributing to the burthens and exigencies of that port and town from time to time, (fn. 1) many franchises, privileges, and freedoms, and all other liberties, freedoms, and free customs which the barons of the five ports had before that time enjoyed. In which state this town and hundred remained till the 42d year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when the name of their incorporation was changed to that of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and hundred of Tenterden, by which it continues to be governed at this time.

 

THE CORPORATION consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, and as many common-councilmen, a chamberlain, and town clerk; the jurisdiction of it being exclusive from the justices of the county. The mayor is chosen yearly on August 29. The election used to be in the town-hall; but that being burnt down by some prisoners in the prison-room over it, it was afterwards made under one of the great old oaks, which are not far from the place, on the other side of the street, where it stood. A neat and elegant hall was finished in 1792, adjoining the Woolpack Inn, in which the mayor has been elected as heretofore, and it is occasionally used as an assembly room by the inhabitants. The mayor is coroner of both the town and hundred; there is no sheriff; the commoners must be resciants, and are chosen by the mayor and two of the jurats; the jurats are all justices of the peace. They hold sessions of oyer and terminer, but cannot try treason. At the sessions holden at Tenterden, August 10, 1785, two men were convicted of burglary, and executed near Gallows-green the 27th following. Both the charters of this corporation being destroyed by the fire of the court-hall in 1660, an exemplification of them was procured anno 12 George III.

 

The liberty of the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, claimed a paramount jurisdiction over this hundred, till the incorporation of the town of Tenterden, and the annexing this hundred to it in the reign of Henry VI. since which the mayor and jurats have been lords of the royalty of it, and continue so at this time.

 

The parish is divided into six boroughs, each having a borsholder chosen yearly, these are Town Borough, Castweasle, Boresile, Shrubcote, Dumborne, which includes all Smallhyth, and Reading, which is wholly in the parish of Ebene.

 

THE PARISH of Tenterden lies too near the marshes to be either healthy or pleasant, excepting that part where the town is situated near the northern boundaries of it, on what may be called for this country, high ground; it is about five miles across each way. The soil of it is various, the northern part being sand, towards the east it is a wet stiff clay, and towards the south and west towards the marshes a deep rich mould. The generality of the lands in it are pasture, but there are about one hundred acres of hop-ground dispersed in different parts of it; there is very little wood, and that mostly between the town and Smallhyth, a hamlet formerly of much more consequence, as will be further mentioned hereafter, situated at the southern boundary of it, on the road into the Isle of Oxney, close to the river Rother, which separates that part of this parish from the island. About a mile and a half eastward is the hamlet of Reading-street, built adjoining the high road to Apledore, close to the marshes below it, on the passage over the Rother into Ebeney, and the Isle of Oxney.

 

On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1755, between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon (being at the same time that the great bason at Portsmouth was disturbed) several ponds in this parish and neighbourhood, without any sensible motion of the earth, were greatly agitated, the water of them being forced up the banks with great violence, fretting and foaming with a noise similar to the coming in of the tide, so as to terrify many who were near them; some of these waters flowed up three times in this manner, others circled round into eddies, absorbing leaves, sticks, &c. and it was observed that only those ponds were affected, that had springs to supply the waters of them.

 

THE TOWN OF TENTERDEN is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and hundred. It stands on high ground, neither unpleasant nor unhealthy; the greatest part of it is built on each side of the high road leading from the western parts of Kent and Cranbrooke through this parish south-east to Apledore. A small part of it is paved, where there is a small antient market-place, built of timber; but the market, which is still held on a Friday, is but little frequented, only two millers, and seldom any butchers attending it. It is a well-built town, having many genteel houses, or rather seats, interspersed throughout it, among which are those of the Curteis's, a numerous and opulent family here, who bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three bulls heads, caboshed; (fn. 2) the Haffendens, who have been long resident here, and in Smarden and Halden, in this neighbourhood. Bugglesden, in the north part of Boresile borough, in this parish, was very antiently, and till within these few years, their property and residence. Richard Haffenden now resides in a new house, built by his father, called Homewood, at the west end of this town, and in the south part of Boresile borough. They bear for their arms, Chequy, sable and argent, on a bend, sable, three mullets, or; the Staces, who have been resident here from the beginning of the last century, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, in several of which they are stiled gentlemen; the Blackmores, possessed of Westwell house, a handsome seat at the south east end of the town, built by James Blackmore, esq. in 1711, one of whose descendants afterwards becoming possessed by gift of the seat of Briggins, in Hertfordshire, removed thither, where they have continued ever since, and this of Westwell-house is now occupied by Mr. James Blackmore, the uncle of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Briggins, who died possessed of it in 1789, having been thrice married. He left by his two first wives three sons and two daughters; his third. wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Tatnall, of Theobalds, now survives him. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three balckmoors heads sideways, couped at the neck, sable; and several others, most of whose wealth, as well as that of the inhabitants of this town in general, has arisen from its near neighbourhood to Romneymarsh, where most of them have some occupation in the grazing business.

 

The church stands on the north side of the town, which, with the rest of the parish, consists of about three hundred houses, and two thousand inhabitants, of which about five hundred are diffenters, who have two meeting-houses here, one of Presbyterians, the other of Methodistical Baptists.

 

At the east end of the town is Craythorne-house, which formerly belonged to the Bargraves, and then to the Marshalls, who sold it to the late Mr. John Sawyer, who built a new house here, in which he afterwards resided, and his assigns now possess it. A branch of the family of Whitfield had once their residence in a large house at the east end likewise of this town. John Whitfield resided here, as did his son Herbert, who died in 1622; they were descended from an antient family in Northumberland, and bore for their arms, Argent, on a bend, plain, between two cotizes, ingrailed sable, a mullet, or. At length the heirs of Sir Herbert Whitfield, sold this seat to Wil liam Austen, esq. of Hernden, in this parish. Sir Robert Austen, bart. the last of that name, resided in it, and it now belongs to his heirs, and is made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.

 

There is a large fair held in this town on the first Monday in May yearly, for cattle, wool, merchandize, and shop goods of all sorts, to which there is a great resort from all the neighbouring country. Most of the road, leading from the town to Smallhyth, particularly the upper part of it, known by the name of Broad Tenterden, is said to have been lined with buildings on each side, and to have been the most populous part of the parish.

 

THERE ARE several places in this parish worthy notice, the first of them is HALES-PLACE, at the northwest end of this town, which was for many generations the residence of a branch of the family of Hales, who removed hither from their original seat, of the same name, in the adjoining parish of Halden. Henry Hales, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. was born here, and married Juhan, daughter and heir of Richard Capel, of Tenterden, by which he greatly increased his estate in this parish. He had by her two sons, of whom John Hales, the eldest, was of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, esq. and was one of the barons of the exchequer. He had four sons, Sir James Hales, one of the justices of the common pleas, who was of the Dungeon, where his descendants continued many generations afterwards; Thomas, who was seated at Thanington, whose descendant Robert was created a baronet in 1666, and was ancestor of the present Su Philip Hales, bart. Edward, the third son, inherited this seat and his father's possessions in this parish; and William, the fourth son, was of Recolver and Nackington, in this county. Edward Hales, esq. the third son, who inherited this seat and estate at Tenterden, resided at it, and left a son Sir Edward Hales, who was created a baronet on the 29th of June, 1611. He removed his residence from hence to the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch, in which parish he possessed the antient seat of the Herlackendens, in right of his wife Deborah, only daughter and heir of Martin Herlackenden, esq. of that place. His son Sir John Hales, having married Christian, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir James Cromer, of Tunstal, became possessed of the antient seat of the Cromers in that parish, where he resided, and died in his father's life-time, in 1639, whose son Edward Hales succeeded to the title of baronet on his grandfather's death, in 1654 whose heir he was, and resided at Tunstal. His son Sir Edward Hales, bart. having purchased the mansion of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, resided there, as his descendants have ever since; and from him this seat and estate at Tenterden at length descended down to his great-grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. now of St. Stephen's, who about forty-eight years ago pulled down the greatest part of this antient seat, and fitted up a smaller dwelling or farm-house on the scite of it, which, together with the antient offices or out-buildings of the mansion still remaining, continues part of his possessions.

 

HERNDEN, formerly spelt Heronden, was once an estate of considerable size in this parish, though it has been long since split into different parcels. The whole of it once belonged to a family of the name of Heronden, whose arms, as appears by the antient ordinaries in the Heralds-office, were, Argent, a heron volant, azure. At length one part of this estate was alienated by one of this family to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, whose descendant Sir John Baker, knight and baronet, died possessed of it in 1661; but the capital mansion and other principal parts of it remained some time longer in the name of Heronden, one of whom, in the reign of Charles I. alienated some part of it, now called Little Hernden, to Short, a family whose ancestors had resided at Tenterden for some time. In the Heraldic Visitation of this county, anno 1619, is a pedigree of this family, beginning with Peter Short, of Tenterden, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. They bore for their arms, Azure, a griffin passant, between three estoiles, or. At length one of them sold this part of it to Curteis, whose grandson Mr. Samuel Curteis is now in the possession of it. But the remainder of Hernden, in which was included the principal mansion, situated about a quarter of a mile southward of the town, was at the same time conveyed by sale to Mr. John Austen, the second son of William Austen, esq. of this parish, and elder brother of Robert, created a baronet anno 1660. He afterwards resided here, and dying in 1655, s. p. gave it by will to his nephew Robert Austen, esq. the second son of Sir Robert above-mentioned, by his second wife. He afterwards resided here, and had two sons, Robert and Ralph; the eldest of whom, Robert Austen, esq. resided here, and left three sons, William, of whom hereafter, and Edward and Robert, both of whom afterwards succeeded to the title of baronet. William Austen, esq. the eldest son, inherited Hernden, and in 1729, suffered a recovery of this, as well as all other the Kentish estates comprised in his grandfather's settlement of them, to the use of him and his heirs. He died in 1742, and by will devised it to Mr. Richard Righton, who afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1772, and was buried, as was his wife afterwards, under a tomb on the south side of the church-yard; upon which it came into the hands of his son Benjamin Righton, esq. of Knightsbridge, who in 1782 conveyed Hernden, a farm called Pixhill, and other lands in this parish and Rolvenden, to Mr. Jeremiah Curteis, gent. of Rye, in Sussex, who finding this antient mansion, which seems, by a date remaining on it, to have been built in the year 1585, being the 28th of queen Elizabeth's reign, in a ruinous condition, pulled it down; but the scite of it, together with the lands belonging to it, still remain in his possession.

 

PITLESDEN, or Pittelesden, as it was antiently spelt, is situated near the west end of this town. It was once a seat of some note, being the residence of a family of that name, who bore for their arms, Sable, a fess, between three pelicans, or, in whose possession it continued till Stephen Pitlesden, (fn. 3) about the reign of Henry VI. leaving an only daughter and heir Julian, she carried it in marriage to Edward Guldeford, esq. of Halden, whose descendant Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter and heir Jane, she entitled her husband Sir John Dudley, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland, to the possession of this manor, and they, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. joined in the conveyance of it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, lord Cromwell, afterwards created Earl of Essex, who passed it away by sale to that king, and it remained in the hands of the crown till king Edward VI. in his 7th year, granted it, with the pend of water, wear and fishery, with the dove-house belonging to it, and all its appurtenances, to Sir John Baker, one of the privy council, to hold in capite by knight's service, in whose family it continued till Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, in the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it by sale to Mr. Jasper Clayton, mercer, of London. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Mr. William Blackmore, gent. of this place, who at his death devised it to his daughter Sarah, who entitled her husband Mr. John Crumpe, of Frittenden, to the possession of it for her life, but the remainder, on her death, is vested in her brother Mr. Thomas Blackmore, gent. now of Tenterden.

 

LIGHTS, formerly called Lights Notinden, is a small manor here, which together with another called East Asherinden, the name of which is now almost forgotten, though there was a family of this name of Asherinden, or Ashenden, as it was afterwards spelt, who were resident in this parish, and were, as appears by their wills, possessed of lands here called Ashenden, so late as the year 1595. These manors belonged partly to a chantry founded in this parish, and partly to the manor of Brooke, near Wye, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury; in which state they continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when, on the suppression both of that priory and of the chantry likewise, they were granted by that king to Sir John Baker, his attorneygeneral, whose descendant Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, knight and baronet, died possessed of them in 1661. How long they continued in his descendants, I do not find; but the former is now-become the property of Mr. William Mantell, and the latter belongs to Mr. William Children, who has lately built a house on it, in which he resides.

 

FINCHDEN is a seat here, situated on the denne of Leigh, at Leigh-green, which was formerly in the possession of a family, who were ancestors of the Finch's, whose posterity still continued till very lately in the possession of it. They were antiently called Finchden, from their seat here; one of them, William de Fyncheden, was chief justice of the king's bench in the 45th year of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 4) though his name in some old law books, which appear to be of that time, is written contractedly Finch, which probably was the original name, though I do not find any connection between this family and the descendants of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, seated at Eastwell and elsewhere in this county; excepting that they hear the same coat of arms. In later times I find William Finch, gent. of this place, died possessed of it in 1637, and in his direct descendants this seat continued down to Mr. William Finch, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. leaving his brother Mr. Richard Finch, of Tenterden, his next heir.

 

ELARDINDEN is an estate, which was formerly of some account here, and is parcel of the manor of Frid, or Frith, in Bethersden. It was antiently part of the possessions of the noble family of Mayney. Sir John de Mayney, of Biddenden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued till the reign of Henry VI. when it was alienated by one of them to William Darell, esq. whose descendant George Darell, esq. conveyed it by sale in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir John Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, one of the barons of the exchequer, who gave it to his third son Edward Hales, esq. of Tenterden, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales of St. Stephens, near Canterbury, the present possessor of it.

 

THE MANORS OF GODDEN AND MORGIEU are situated in the south-west part of this parish. The former of them was once in the possession of a family of that name, one of whom, Roger de Godden, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as one knight's fee, which he held here of Stephen de la Hey. Soon after which it seems to have passed into the possession of the family of Aucher. How long it continued in this name I have not seen; but in the 36th year of Henry VI. the executors of Walter Shiryngton, clerk, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, having founded a chantry in the chapel near the north door of St. Paul's cathedral, London, which, from the founder, bore the name of Shiryngton's chantry, they purchased both these manors towards the endow ment of it. (fn. 5) These manors remained part of this foundation till the suppression of it, in the 1st year of Edward VI.when coming into the hands of the crown, they were granted by the king, the year afterwards, to Sir Miles Partridge, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he sold them, in the 6th year of that reign, to Thomas Argal; and from his descendant they passed into the possession of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who died possessed of them in 1660; upon which they came to his second son John, who on his elder brother's death without male issue, succeeded to the title of Lord Colepeper, and dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed these manors to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper, esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast possessions of the different branches of this family dispersed over this whole county. He, in 1781, alienated them to Mr. Richard Curteis, of Tenterden, the present possessor of them.

 

KENCHILL is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the property of the family of Guldeford, one of whom, Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret, and of the garter, possessed it in the reign of Henry VIII. His son Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter Jane, she carried it in marriage to Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and he, about the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, conveyed it to that king, who, in his 36th year, granted it to Thomas Argal, to hold in capite by knight's service, on whole decease his son Thomas Argal had possession granted of it, in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Clarkson, esq. of London, who sold it in 1687 to Mr. John Mantell, grazier, of Tenterden, who was one of the instances of the quick accumlation of riches from Romney-marsh; for in fourteen year she had acquired sufficient to become the purchaser of this and other estates, which rented at 800l. per annum. He devised Kenchill by will, together with the manor of East Asherinden, already mentioned before, Dumborne, and other lands in this parish, to his son Reginald, who died possessed of them in 1743, and lies buried in this church-yard. They bear for their arms, Argent, a cross between four martlets, sable, as borne by the family of Horton Monks, excepting, that the latter bore the cross engrailed; and leaving no issue, he gave them to his nephew Mr. Edward Mantell, of Mersham, who left several sons and daughters, who afterwards joined in the sale of their respective interests in them to Mr. William Mantell, the then elder brother; by which means he became entitled to the entire see of Kenchill, with the manor of East Asherinden, and resided at the former of them. He married Anne Marshall, of Mersham, and died in 1789, leaving issue several children. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Mantell, the younger brother, re-purchased Dumborne, of which he is now possessed, having married in 1788 Miss S. Horne, by whom he has one daughter.

 

THE HAMLET OF SMALLHYTH, commonly called Smallit, is situated somewhat more than three miles from the town of Tenterden, at the southern boundary of this parish, close to the old channel of the river Rother, over which there is a passage from it into the Isle of Oxney. The inhabitants were formerly, by report, very numerous, and this place of much more consequence than at present, from the expressions frequently made use of in old writings of those infra oppidum and intra oppidum de Smallhyth; the prevalent opinion being, that the buildings once extended towards Bullen westward; no proof of which, however, can be brought from the present state of it, as there remain only three or four straggling farm-houses on either side, and a few cottages in the street near the chapel. The sea came up to this place so lately as the year 1509, as is evident by the power then given of burying in this chapel-yard the bodies of those who were cast by shipwreck on the shore of the sea infra predictum oppidum de Smalhyth; which are the very words of the faculty granted for that purpose.

 

At this place A CHAPEL was built, and was soon afterwards licensed by faculty from archbishop Warham, anno 1509, on the petition of the inhabitants, on account of the distance from their parish church of Tenterden, the badness of the roads, and the dangers they underwent from the waters being out in their way thither; and was dedicated to St. John Baptist. The words of it are very remarkable: And we William, archbishop aforesaid, of the infinite mercy of Almighty God, and by the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul the apostles, and also of our patrons St. Alphage and St. Thomas, remit, &c.

 

Divine service still continues to be performed in this chapel, which is repaired and maintained, and the salary of the chaplain paid out of the rents of lands in this parish and Wittersham, which are vested in trustees; who pay him the annual produce of them, the rents of them being at this time 52l. 10s. per annum, though it is set down in Bacon's Liber Regis, as only of the clear yearly certified value of forty five pounds. The present curate is Thomas Morphett, appointed in 1773.

 

Charities.

 

JOHN WOOD, by will in 1560, gave an annuity of 40s. per annum, out of certain lands in Tenterden, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. payable to the churchwardens, towards the repair of the church; which gift is confirmed by a decree of the court of chancery; the lands being in the occupation of Richard Farby.

 

LADY JANE MAYNARD GAVE by will in 1660, thirty acres of land in Snave and Rucking, let at 24l. per annum, for putting out poor children apprentices, whose fathers are dead or otherwise disabled by sickness; the overplus to be given to poor, honest and aged widows of this parish, that have not been nor are likely to become chargeable to it.

 

MR. ANNE SHELTON, widow, by will in 1674, gave nine acres of land in Brookland and Brenset, now let at twelve guineas per annum, to the vicar and churchwardens to put out one or more children, born in Tenterden, apprentices to some honest handicrast trade.

 

DAME FRANCES NORTON, widow, sister of Judith, wife of Robert Austen the elder, of Heronden, esq. gave by deed in 1719, an estate, of 35l. per annum, in Hollingborne, for the joint benefit in equal moieties of this parish and Hollingborne. Since which, by a commission of charitable uses, in 1748 a farm of 15l. per annum, in Hucking, has been purchased and added to it; the division of the profits of which between them, and the application of them, has been already fully related under the description of the parish of Hollingborne, in the fifth volume of this history, p. 473.

 

AN ANCESTOR of the family of Heyman, of Somerfield, many years since founded the free school in this town, for teaching the Latin tongue gratis, to so many poor children of this parish as the mayor and jurats should think proper, who are trustees of it, and appoint the master; but at present there are no children on this foundation.

 

WILLAIM MARSHALL, clerk, about the year 1521, gave 10l. per ann. to be paid the master of this school, out of a messuage and twelve acres of land, in this parish, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. which was confirmed by a decree in the Exchequer, anno 4 queen Anne, and then in the occupation of Thomas Scoone.

 

JOHN MANTELL,gent in 1702, gave 200l. which was laid out in the purchasing of a piece of fresh marsh land, containing ten acres, in St. Maries, let at 10l. per annum, to be paid to the master of this school.

 

The south chancel of the church is appropriated to the use of this school.

 

TENTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mildred, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and three chancels, having a lofty well-built tower at the west end, which standing on high ground is seen from the country for many miles around it. There are eight bells in it, and a set of musical chimes. The two isles and chancels are all ceiled; the north isle is curiously ceiled with oak and ornamented. There are three galleries in the church. On the front of the steeple are the arms of St. Augustine's monastery, and likewise on a beam over the altar. In the north window a coat, Two chevrons, gules, on a canton, gules, a lion passant, or. In the south window, at the bottom, Or, a saltier, between four mullets, sable; and another, Gules, a bend sinister azure, fretted argent. The monuments and gravestones in this church, as well as the tomb-stones in the church-yard, are so numerous as to be far beyond the limits of this volume. Among them are those belonging to the families of the Austens, Curteis's, Blackmores, Haffendens, and other families mentioned before, as the modern possessors of estates and manors in this parish.

 

Thomas Petlesden, esq. by will in 1462, appears to have been buried in the chancel of St. Catherine, and gave one hundred marcs to the steeple here, to be paid out of his land, &c. as long as it was a werking. (fn. 6)

 

Till within these few years there hung a beacon, (a very singular instance remaining of one) over on the top of this steeple. It was a sort of iren kettle, holding about a gallon, with a ring or hoop of the same metal round the upper part of it, to hold still more coals, rosin, &c. It was hung at the end of a piece of timber, about eight feet long. The vanes on the four pinnacles were placed there in 1682. There was formerly a noted dropping stone, in the arch of the door-way going into the bell-lost, which has ceased to drop for many years. By the dropping of it, part of a stone, or two stones rather, were carried off, leaving a considerable rist or hollow where the stones were joined. Upon the water drying in 1720, where it fell underneath, the stone hardened and grew slippery, being probably of the nature of the stelastical water in the Peak of Derbyshire, at Poolshole.

 

There is a noted saying, that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands—which is thus accounted for: Goodwin, earl of Kent, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was owner of much flat land in the eastern part of it, near the isle of Thanet, which was desended from the sea by a great wall, which lands afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbot of St. Augustine's, near Canterbury still retaining the name of Goodwin, their former owner; and the abbot being at the same time owner of the rectory of Tenterden, the steeple of which church he had then began building, had employed during the course of it so much of his care and attention to the finishing of that work, that he neglected the care and preservation of that wall, insomuch, that on Nov. 3, 1099, the sea broke over and ruined it, drowning the lands within it, and overwhelming it with a light sand, still remaining on them, the place retaining to this time the name of the Goodwin Sands, and becoming dreadful and dangerous to navigators. Thus this steeple is said to be the cause of the Goodwin Sands. This is the common tradition; how far consistent with truth, so far as relates to these sands, will be taken notice of in its proper place. (fn. 7)

 

THE CHURCH of Tenterden was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated in 1259, on condition of a proper portion being assigned for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar of it; and the official of the archbishop, on an inquisition concerning this vicarage, made his return that it then consisted in all tithes, obventions, and oblations belonging to the church; except the tithes of sheaves, corn, and hay, of which latter the vicar should receive yearly four loads from the abbot and convent, and that it was then valued at eighteen marcs and more per annum.

 

The abbot of St. Augustine took upon himself, about the year 1295, to constitute several new deanries, and apportioned the several churches belonging to his monastery to each of them, according to their vicinity; one of these was the deanry of Lenham, in which this church of Tenterden was included, but this raising great contests between the archbishops and them, it ended in stripping the abbot of these exemptions, and he was by the pope declared to be subject to the archbishop's jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever, which entirely dissolved these new deanries. (fn. 8)

 

This church had a manor antiently appendant to it, and on a quo warranto in the iter of H. de Stanton, and his sociates, justices itinerant, anno 7 Edward II. the abbot was allowed year and waste, and cattle called weif, in his manor of Tentwardenne among others; and those liberties, with all others belonging to the abbot and convent, were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by Edward III. in his 36th year, and likewise the additional privilege of the chattels of their own tenants condemned and sugitive, within their manor here.

 

¶In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, anno 30 Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown, after which the king, by his dotation charter in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Tenterden, with the manor appendant and all its rights and appurtenances, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains. After the death of Charles I. on the dissolution of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed in order for sale; when it appears to have consisted of one great barn, newly erected, on a close of pasture of five acres; together with all the tithes of corn within the parish; and several rents, out of lands and tenements in Tenterden, amounting to 26s. 8d. taken in right of the parsonage, which had been let in 1640 to Sir Edward Hales, at the yearly rent of 20l. 6s. 8d. but that they were worth over and above that rent seventy-eight pounds. That the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and provide for the dean and officers, or pay the sum of 33s. 4d. The present lessee of it is Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephens, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.

 

In 1259 this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs, and in 1342 at forty-five marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 33l. 12s. 11d.and the yearly tenths at 3l. 7s. 3½d. In 1588 there were communicants five hundred and eighty-six. In 1640 it was valued at 120l. per annum. Communicants six hundred. It is now double that value.

 

There is a modus claimed throughout the parish, in the room of small tithes.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol7/pp200-219

"Date: 1881. Artist: Sculpture by Léon Chédeville (died 1883). Medium: Silver, partly enameled gold, hardstones, rock crystal, amethysts, and diamonds.

 

This clock was made for the great English collector Alfred Morrison; the designer, Lucien Falize, later proudly displayed it in the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. The historical revival case has the form of a late Gothic tower, decorated elaborately with sculptural and architectural motifs. Its craftsmanship confirmed Falize’s reputation as an enameler and a jeweler. The clock’s movement is by Le Roy et Fils, a Paris firm with a London branch that held a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria." - info from the Met.

 

"The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's largest art museums. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from medieval Europe.

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 with its mission to bring art and art education to the American people. The museum's permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from 1st-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.

 

The Fifth Avenue building opened on March 30, 1880. In 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the museum attracted 1,958,000 visitors, ranking fourth on the list of most-visited art museums in the world.

 

New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. The city is within the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area – the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. New York is the most photographed city in the world. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, an established safe haven for global investors, and is sometimes described as the capital of the world." - info from Wikipedia.

 

The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

Anti-Murdoch flashmob demands Rebekah Brooks' sacking. London, 07.07.2011

  

On what proved to be a momentous day in UK press history, News International, the owners of the scandal-ridden News of The World newspaper suddenly announced the paper's shut-down following a last edition to be published this weekend. The newspaper's reputation has been destroyed by the infamous phone-hacking scandal which News International has tried desperately to underplay over the past few months, but which suddenly erupted into a fully-blown national outrage this week when it was revealed that the Metropolitan Police had evidence to suggest that not only had the newspaper's journalists been behind the hacking of murdered teenager Millie Dowler, the families of several of the victims of the 7/7 London Underground bombings and the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also that the News of the World had been secretly - and illegally - paying members of the Metropolitan Police to get hold of confidential data on up to a thousand people over the years to provide the paper with insider knowledge and many scoops.

 

These very serious allegations have been revealed against the backdrop of News International's current bid to buy the remaining 61% of shares in the pay-to-view TV company BSkyB, which had been protested vigorously by many people concerned about the unchallenged domination of Rupert Murdoch's media empire in the United Kingdom.

 

Today's flashmob, organised by the group 'Take Back Parliament', congregated outside the Department of Culture, Media and Sport - the domain of Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who, despite many demands for a full review of News International's suitability and trustworthiness in the light of months of revelations about the phone-hacking and News International's attempts to deceive Parliament during questioning several months ago, has ignored all the warnings and was pushing the Murdoch bid through the official channels at an indecent speed, raising suspicions that David Cameron's close relationship with News International Chief Executive Rebekah Brookes and with Rupert Murdoch himself was influencing Hunt's professional judgement.

 

The flashmob protesters - some wearing cutout masks of Rupert Murdoch - held up copies of today's London Evening Standard (which is not a Murdoch newspaper), displaying the front page headline "Murdoch Staff Pay Met £100K In Bribes", referring to the illegal supply of highly confidential information to reporters by trusted police officers to News of The World journalists.

 

Demanding an immediate and complete halt to the BSkyB bid attempt, the protesters also called for the sacking of News International's Chief Executive Rebekah Brookes who was Editor in Chief of the News of The World when all the worst offences were supposedly carried out and who, many maintain, must have known what was happening, despite her frequent denials of any knowledge of the phone-hacking offences. Also of the utmost concern is Brookes' close personal friendship with Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife, and the depth of the debt of gratitude he feels he owes to Rupert Murdoch and his media empire for the massive support he got from the Murdoch press during the last general election.

 

Many, many questions remain unanswered right now about "who knew what and when did they know it?", and as police enquiries commence it was announced today that five journalists will be arrested, as will ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson who resigned when the first scandal broke after Royal Correspondent Clive Goodman was famously imprisoned for hacking into Prince William's phone. Coulson immediately became David Cameron's election strategist and press spokesman until more recent discoveries obliged him to resign his post as Cameron's spokesperson. Coulson has always maintained he had no knowledge whatsoever of the phone-hacking, but a cache of emails was handed to the police a few days ago which allegedly contradict Coulson's claims of innocence in the matter, and of the clandestine payments made to corrupt police officers, may be behind the news of Coulson's imminent arrest.

 

Today's shock announcement of the newspaper's sudden demise saw around 200 journalists made redundant today, almost none of whom were working on the paper during the period in question, prompting National Union of Journalist General secretary Michelle Stanistreet to make the following official statement this afternoon:

 

“This shows the depths to which Rupert Murdoch and his lieutenants at News International are prepared to stoop. The announcement James Murdoch should be making today is the dismissal of Rebekah Brookes as chief executive of News International. The shocking revelations this week show beyond doubt the systemic abuse and corruption at the top of the operation ran by both Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson. Yet News International has persistently lied about the extent of this scandal and tried to pass it off as a problem created by a couple of rogue reporters.

 

“Closing the title and sacking over 200 staff in the UK and Ireland, and putting scores more freelances and casuals out of a job, is an act of utter cynical opportunism. Murdoch is clearly banking on this drawing a line under the scandal, removing an obstacle to the BskyB deal, and letting his senior executives off the hook. That simply won’t wash. It is not ordinary working journalists who have destroyed this paper’s credibility – it is the actions of Murdoch’s most senior people.

 

“James Murdoch was absolutely right when he said in his statement today that ‘Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad.’ Yet those wrongdoers are still there today, at the top of the News International empire and ordinary staff at the paper are paying with their livelihoods.

 

“The closure of the News of the World – a newspaper that has been in print now for 168 years – is a calculated sacrifice by Rupert Murdoch to salvage his reputation and that of News International, in the hope that readers will switch allegiance to a new seven-day operation at The Sun, the government will wave through the BskyB deal and he will widen his grip on the UK’s media landscape.

 

“It is ironic that 25 years after the Wapping dispute it is the behaviour of Rupert Murdoch and his management that has caused the closure of the newspaper. The NUJ will offer all support to its members at the News of the World facing compulsory redundancies and will be organising an emergency meeting of all journalists at the title to offer advice and support.”

 

All photos © 2011 Pete Riches

Do not reproduce, alter or reblog my images without my permission.

Hi-Res versions of these files are available on application

about.me/peteriches

N35MK

 

One of the seminal combat aircraft of World War II, Geoffrey de Havilland's DH.98 Mosquito, was without peer. It was equally at home at the heady heights required for high altitude reconnaissance as it was skimming tree tops in daring low-level precision raids attacking targets with rockets and bombs. The sleek, all-wooden machine could carry impressive loads across great distances at incredible speeds for a twin-engine bomber, but was initially unwanted by the British Air Ministry.

   

In a letter dated September 20, 1939, to Air Marshal Sir Wilfrid R. Freeman, air member for development and production, aircraft designer Geoffrey de Havilland outlined his proposal for a “high speed unarmed bomber” constructed out of non-strategic materials that could fly at level speeds faster than current fighters in service. The very concept of the proposal went against the grain of traditional bomber philosophy within the Royal Air Force, but Freeman instantly approved, placing his reputation on the line in support of de Havilland's bold ideas. As a result, the DH.98 was initially known as Freeman's Folly.

   

The first example was built by hand in total secrecy with company money on the grounds of Salisbury Hall, a mansion house not far from the de Havilland production facility at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. First flown on November 25, 1940, by chief test pilot Geoffrey de Havilland Jr., the bright yellow machine was sent to Boscombe Down in Wiltshire where it was extensively tested. Initial impressions were entirely favorable; in performance trials the machine exceeded even the manufacturer's expectations, achieving a level speed of 388 mph at 22,000 feet during one test flight.

   

Two further prototypes followed in early 1941; a dedicated night fighter equipped with four 20-mm cannon and four .303-inch machine guns, and a high altitude photographic reconnaissance variant. It was the latter version that entered operational service first, with the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit at RAF Benson on July 14 that year.

   

In spite of production orders being placed as early as March 1940, the first Mosquitos did not appear on bomber squadron operations books until November 1941. On the 15th of that month, the first B Mk.IV arrived at Swanton Morley to equip 105 Squadron, formerly operating the obsolete Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV. As with most other units operating the Mosquito over the next three years, the young airmen of 105 Squadron were instantly impressed with the machine; with suitable modification it could carry 4,000 pounds of bombs deep into the heart of Germany with relative impunity.

   

Meanwhile, further variants of the Mosquito were being built for the other commands within the RAF and the Royal Navy, the FB Mk.VI fighter-bomber, equipped with cannons and machine guns could mount a varied array of weaponry, including four rail launched unguided rocket projectiles under each wing. With RAF Coastal Command, the FB.VI was a formidable anti-shipping weapon, skimming the wave tops on approach to their targets.

   

One of the most unusual weapons the Mosquito was converted to carry was the Highball anti-shipping bouncing bomb, developed by talented engineer Barnes Wallis. In spite of the success of 617 Squadron's attack on the dams in the Ruhr valley on May 16-17, 1943, using bouncing bombs carried by Avro Lancaster bombers, the 'Highball' bomb never entered service with 618 Squadron and their Mosquitos.

   

Not all users of de Havilland's “Wooden Wonder” were entirely impressed with the machine however; its unconventional construction conspired against it during operations in the humid China-Burma-India Theater of operations. Squadrons equipping with the Mosquito after using the Bristol Beaufighter in Burma shortly swapped the Mossie back for the Beaufighter again due to failures of the Mosquito's wooden wing spar in the heat. Subsequently, all Mosquitos diverted to the Far East had inspection panels cut into the wing roots to enable the spars to be inspected for weakness.

   

A perhaps unsurprising role for the Mosquito during wartime was as a high-speed transport. British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) flew a small number of Mk.VIs with their armament removed and a modified bomb bay converted to carry passengers in very cramped conditions. By the end of the war, some 520 round flights had been made to neutral Sweden by BOAC Mosquitos.

   

With the end of the war, production of the Mosquito continued and surplus examples were exported to many nations around the world, re-equipping their air forces with the multi-role bomber. Post-war saw a scaling down of operations within the British armed forces, the roles altering as the machine was phased out of frontline service. The last variant in RAF use was converting B.35 bombers into the TT.35 target tug. The biggest difficulty found with the Mosquito was how to replace it in its multitude of uses; the English Electric Canberra jet bomber adequately filled this mammoth task in 1951, the concept of the high-speed unarmed bomber was in line with the design philosophy of that aircraft.

   

The last examples of de Havilland's wonder plane rolled off the production lines in 1950. A grand total of 7,781 examples were built in more than 30 variants in Australia, Canada, and England by the time production ended. Remarkably, the first prototype, serial W4050 still survives, at its birthplace in a small museum at Salisbury Hall, London Colney, Hertfordshire.

   

One of the most fitting tributes to the Mosquito comes from the commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe during the World War II, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, whose radio address in Berlin in January 1943 was taken off the air by a low-level attack by 105 Squadron Mosquitos. "It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito, I turn green and yellow with envy! The British, who can afford aluminum better that we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I'm going to buy a British radio set – then at least I'll own something that has always worked."

   

The example in the EAA AirVenture Museum was built as a B.35 but later converted to a TT.35 and is on long-term loan from the collection of Kermit Weeks.

   

Aircraft researched by EAA volunteer Grant Newman

   

Aircraft Make & Model: de Havillind DH.98 Mosquito B.35

Length: 40 feet 6 inches (41 feet 6 inches after TT.35 conversion)

Wingspan: 54 feet 2 inches

Height: 12 feet 6 inches

Maximum Loaded Weight: 25,200 pounds

 

Seats: 2

Powerplants: 2 Rolls-Royce 114A Merlin V-12 piston engines

Horsepower: 1,710 hp

Maximum Speed: 415 mph

 

Maximum Cruise Speed: 375 mph at 37,000 feet

 

Service Ceiling: 37,000 feet

 

Maximum Range: 1,955 miles

 

Armament: 4,000-pound bomb l

The history of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art

1863 / After many years of efforts by Rudolf Eitelberger decides Emperor Franz Joseph I on 7 March on the initiative of his uncle Archduke Rainer, following the model of the in 1852 founded South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum, London), the establishment of the "k. k. Austrian Museum for Art and Industry" and apponted Rudolf von Eitelberger, the first professor of art history at the University of Vienna, to director. The museum should be serving as a specimen collection for artists, industrialists, and public and as a training and education center for designers and craftsmen.

1864/ on 12th of May, opened the museum - provisionally in premises of the ball house next to the Vienna Hofburg, the architect Heinrich von Ferstel for museum purposes had adapted. First exhibited objects are loans and donations from the imperial collections, monasteries, private property and from the kk polytechnic in Vienna. Reproductions, masters and plaster casts are standing value-neutral next originals.

1865-1897 / The Museum of Art and Industry publishes the journal Communications of Imperial (k. k.) Austrian Museum for Art and Industry .

1866 / Due to the lack of space in the ballroom setting up of an own museum building is accelerated. A first project of Rudolf von Eitelberger and Heinrich von Ferstel provides the integration of the museum in the project of imperial museums in front of the Hofburg Imperial Forum. Only after the failure of this project, the site of the former Exerzierfelds (parade ground) of the defense barracks before Stubentor the museum here is assigned, next to the newly created city park on the still being under development Rind Road.

1867 / Theoretical and practical training are combined with the establishment of the School of Applied Arts. This will initially be housed in the old gun factory, Währinger Straße 11-13/Schwarzspanierstrasse 17, Vienna 9.

1868 / With the construction of the building at Stubenring is started as soon as it is approved by Emperor Franz Joseph I. the second draft of Heinrich Ferstel.

1871 / The opening of the building at Stubering takes place after three years of construction, 15 November. Designed according to plans by Heinrich von Ferstel in the Renaissance style, it is the first built museum building on the ring. Objects from now on could be placed permanently and arranged according to main materials. / / The Arts School moves into the house on Stubenring. / / Opening of Austrian art and crafts exhibition.

1873 / Vienna World Exhibition. / / The Museum of Art and Industry and the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts are exhibiting together at Stubenring. / / Rudolf von Eitelberger organizes in the framework of the World Exhibition the worldwide first international art scientific congress in Vienna, thus emphasizing the orientation of the Museum on teaching and research. / / During the World Exhibition major purchases for the museum of funds of the Ministry are made, eg 60 pages of Indo-Persian Journal Mughal manuscript Hamzanama.

1877 / decision on the establishment of taxes for the award of Hoftiteln (court titels). With the collected amounts the local art industry can be promoted. / / The new building of the School of Applied Arts, adjoining the museum, Stubenring 3 , also designed by Heinrich von Ferstel, is opened.

1878 / participation of the Museum of Art and Industry and the School of Art at the Paris World Exhibition.

1884 / founding of the Vienna Arts and Crafts Association with seat in the museum. Many well-known companies and workshops (led by J. & L. Lobmeyr), personalities and professors of the arts and crafts school join the Arts and Crafts Association. Undertaking of this association is to further develop all creative and executive powers the arts and crafts since the 1860s has obtained. For this reason are organized various times changing, open to the public exhibitions at the Imperial Austrian Museum for Art and Industry. The exhibits can also be purchased. These new, generously carried out exhibitions give the club the necessary national and international resonance.

1885 / After the death of Rudolf von Eitelberger is Jacob von Falke, his longtime deputy, appointed manager. Falke plans all collection areas als well as publications to develop newly and systematically. With his popular publications he influences significantly the interior design style of the historicism in Vienna.

1888 / The Empress Maria Theresa exhibition revives the contemporary discussion with the high baroque in the history of art and in applied arts in particular.

1895 / end of the Directorate of Jacob von Falke. Bruno Bucher, longtime curator of the Museum of metal, ceramic and glass, and since 1885 deputy director, is appointed director.

1896 / The Vienna Congress exhibition launches the confrontation with the Empire and Biedermeier style, the sources of inspiration of Viennese Modernism .

1897 / end of the Directorate of Bruno Bucher. Arthur von Scala, Director of the Imperial Oriental Museum in Vienna since its founding in 1875 (renamed Imperial Austrian Trade Museum 1887), takes over the management of the Museum of Art and Industry. / / Scala wins Otto Wagner, Felician of Myrbach, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Alfred Roller to work at the museum and school of applied arts. / / The style of the Secession is crucial for the Arts and Crafts School. Scala propagated the example of the Arts and Crafts Movement and makes appropriate acquisitions for the museum's collection.

1898 / Due to differences between Scala and the Arts and Crafts Association, which sees its influence on the Museum wane, Archduke Rainer puts down his function as protector. / / New statutes are written.

1898-1921 / The Museum magazine art and crafts replaces the Mittheilungen (Communications) and soon gaines international reputation.

1900 / The administration of Museum and Arts and Crafts School is disconnected.

1904 / The Exhibition of Old Vienna porcelain, the to this day most comprehensive presentation on this topic, brings with the by the Museum in 1867 definitely taken over estate of the " k. k. Aerarial Porcelain Manufactory" (Vienna Porcelain Manufactory) important pieces of collectors from all parts of the Habsburg monarchy together.

1907 / The Museum of Art and Industry takes over the majority of the inventories of the Imperial Austrian Trade Museum, including the by Arthur von Scala founded Asia collection and the extensive East Asian collection of Heinrich von Siebold .

1908 / Integration of the Museum of Art and Industry in the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Public Works.

1909 / separation of Museum and Arts and Crafts School, the latter remains subordinated to the Ministry of Culture and Education. / / After three years of construction, the according to plans of Ludwig Baumann extension building of the museum (now Weiskirchnerstraße 3, Wien 1) is opened. The museum receives thereby rooms for special and permanent exhibitions. / / Arthur von Scala retires, Eduard Leisching follows him as director. / / Revision of the statutes.

1909 / Archduke Carl exhibition. For the centenary of the Battle of Aspern. / / The Biedermeier style is discussed in exhibitions and art and crafts.

1914 / Exhibition of works by the Austrian art industry from 1850 to 1914, a competitive exhibition that highlights, among other things, the role model of the museum of arts and crafts in the fifty years of its existence.

1919 / After the founding of the First Republic it comes to assignments of former imperial possession to the museum, for example, of oriental carpets that are shown in an exhibition in 1920. The Museum now has one of the finest collections of oriental carpets worldwide .

1920 / As part of the reform of museums of the First Republic, the collection areas are delineated. The Antiquities Collection of the Museum of Art and Industry is given away to the Museum of Art History.

1922 / The exhibition of glasses of classicism, the Empire and Biedermeier time offers with precious objects from the museum and private collections an overview of the art of glassmaking from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. / / Biedermeier glass serves as a model for contemporary glass production and designs, such as Josef Hoffmann.

1922 / affiliation of the museal inventory of the royal table and silver collection to the museum. Until the institutional separation the former imperial household and table decoration is co-managed by the Museum of Art and Industry and is inventoried for the first time by Richard Ernst.

1925 / After the end of the Directorate of Eduard Leisching Hermann Trenkwald is appointed director.

1926 / The exhibition Gothic in Austria gives a first comprehensive overview of the Austrian panel painting and of arts and crafts of the 12th to 16th Century.

1927 / August Schestag succeeds Hermann Trenkwald as director .

1930 / The Werkbund (artists' organization) Exhibition Vienna, A first comprehensive presentation of the Austrian Werkbund, takes place on the occasion of the meeting of the Deutscher Werkbund in Austria, it is organized by Josef Hoffmann in collaboration with Oskar Strnad, Josef Frank, Ernst Lichtblau and Clemens Holzmeister.

1931 / August Schestag finishes his Directorate .

1932 / Richard Ernst is the new director .

1936 and 1940 / In exchange with the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History), the museum at Stubenring gives away part of the sculptures and takes over craft inventories of the collection Albert Figdor and the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

1937 / The Collection of the Museum of Art and Industry is re-established by Richard Ernst according to periods. / / Oskar Kokoschka exhibition on the 50th birthday of the artist.

1938 / After the "Anschluss" of Austria by Nazi Germany, the museum was renamed "National Museum of Decorative Arts in Vienna".

1939-1945 / The museums are taking over numerous confiscated private collections. The collection of the "State Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna" is also enlarged in this way.

1945 / Partial destruction of the museum building by impact of war. / / War losses on collection objects, even in the places of rescue of objects.

1946 / The return of the outsourced objects of art begins. A portion of the during the Nazi time expropriated objects is returned in the following years.

1947 / The "State Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna" is renamed "Austrian Museum of Applied Arts".

1948 / The "Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of St. Stephen" organizes the exhibition The St. Stephen's Cathedral in the Museum of Applied Arts. History, monuments, reconstruction.

1949 / The Museum is reopened after repair of the war damages.

1950 / As last exhibition under director Richard Ernst takes place Great art from Austria's monasteries (Middle Ages).

1951 / Ignaz Schlosser is appointed manager.

1952 / The exhibition Social home decor, designed by Franz Schuster, makes the development of social housing in Vienna again the topic of the Museum of Applied Arts.

1955 / The comprehensive archive of the Wiener Werkstätte (workshop) is acquired.

1955-1985 / The Museum publishes the periodical ancient and modern art .

1956 / Exhibition New Form from Denmark, modern design from Scandinavia becomes topic of the museum and model.

1957 / On the occasion of the exhibition Venini Murano glass, the first presentation of Venini glass in Austria, there are significant purchases and donations for the collection of glass.

1958 / End of the Directorate Ignaz Schlosser

1959 / Viktor Griesmaier is appointed as the new director.

1960 / Exhibition Artistic creation and mass production of Gustavsberg, Sweden. Role model of Swedish design for the Austrian art and crafts.

1963 / For the first time in Europe, in the context of a comprehensive exhibition art treasures from Iran are shown.

1964 / The exhibition Vienna 1900 presents Crafts of Art Nouveau for the first time after the Second World War. / / It is started with the systematic processing of the archive of the Wiener Werkstätte. / / On the occasion of the founding anniversary grantes the exhibition 100 years Austrian Museum of Applied Arts using examples of historicism insights into the collection.

1965 / The Geymüllerschlössel is as a branch of the Museum angegliedert (annexed). Gleichzeitig (at the same time) with the building came the important collection of Franz Sobek - old Viennese clocks, emerged between 1760 and the second half of the 19th Century - and furniture from the years 1800 to 1840 in the possession of the MAK.

1966 / In the exhibition Selection 66 selected items of modern Austrian interior designers (male and female ones) are merged.

1967 / The Exhibition The Wiener Werkstätte. Modern Arts and Crafts from 1903 to 1932 is founding the boom that continues to today of Austria's most important design project in the 20th Century.

1968 / On Viktor Griesmaier follows Wilhelm Mrazek as director.

1969 / The exhibition Sitting 69 shows on the international modernism oriented positions of Austrian designers, inter alia by Hans Hollein.

1974 / For the first time outside of China Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China are shown in a traveling exhibition in the so-called Western world.

1979 / Gerhart Egger is appointed director .

1980 / The exhibition New Living. Viennese interior design 1918-1938 provides the first comprehensive presentation of the art space in Vienna during the interwar period.

1981 / Herbert Fux follows Gerhart Egger as Director.

1984 / Ludwig Neustift is appointed interim director. / / Exhibition Achille Castiglioni: Designer. First exhibition of the Italian designer in Austria

1986 / Peter NOEVER is appointed as Director and started building up the collection of contemporary art.

1987 / Josef Hoffmann. Ornament between hope and crime is the first comprehensive exhibition on the work of the architect and designer.

1989-1993 / General renovation of thee old buildings and construction of a two-storey underground storeroom and a connecting tract. A generous deposit for collection and additional exhibit spaces arise.

1989 / Exhibition Carlo Scarpa. The other city, the first comprehensive exhibition on the work of the architect outside Italy.

1990 / exhibition Hidden impressions. Japonisme in Vienna 1870-1930, first exhibition on the theme of the Japanese influence on the Viennese Modernism.

1991 / exhibition Donald Judd Architecture, first major presentation of the artist in Austria.

1992 / Magdalena Jetelová domestication of a pyramid (installation in the MAK portico).

1993 / The permanent collection is re-established, interventions of internationally recognized artists (Barbara Bloom, Eichinger oder Knechtl, Günther Förg, GANGART, Franz Graf, Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd, Peter Noever, Manfred Wakolbinger and Heimo Zobernig) update the prospects, in the sense of "Tradition and Experiment". The halls on Stubenring accommodate furthermore the study collection and the temporary exhibitions of contemporary artists reserved gallery. The building in the Weiskirchnerstraße is dedicated to changing exhibitions. / / The opening exhibition Vito Acconci. The City Inside Us shows a room installation by New York artist.

1994 / The Gefechtsturm (defence tower) Arenbergpark becomes branch of the MAK. / / Start of the cooperation MAK/MUAR - Schusev State Museum of Architecture Moscow. / / Ilya Kabakov: The Red Wagon (installation on the MAK terrace plateau).

1995 / The MAK founds the branch of MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, in the Schindler House and at the Mackey Apartments, MAK Artists and Architects-in-Residence Program starts in October 1995. / / Exhibition Sergei Bugaev Africa : Krimania.

1996 / For the exhibition Philip Johnson: Turning Point designs the American doyen of architectural designing the sculpture "Viennese Trio", which is located since 1998 at the Franz-Josefs-Kai/Schottenring.

1998 / The for the exhibition James Turrell. The other Horizon designed Skyspace today stands in the garden of MAK Expositur Geymüllerschlössel. / / Overcoming the utility. Dagobert Peche and the Wiener Werkstätte, the first comprehensive Personale of the work of the designer of Wiener Werkstätte after the Second World War.

1999 / Due to the Restitution Act and the Provenance Research from now on numerous during the Nazi time confiscated objects are returned .

2000 / Outsourcing the federal museums, transforming the museum into a "scientific institution under public law". / / The exhibition of art and industry. The beginnings of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna are dealing with the founding history of the house and the collection.

2001 / As part of the exhibition Franz West: No Mercy, for which the sculptor and installation artist developed his hitherto most extensive work the "Four lemurs heads " are placed at the Stubenbrücke located next to the MAK. / / Dennis Hopper: A System of Moments.

2001-2002 / The CAT Project - Contemporary Art Tower after New York, Los Angeles, Moscow and Berlin in Vienna is presented.

2002 / Exhibition Nodes. symmetrical-asymmetrical. The historic Oriental Carpets of the MAK presents the extensive rug collection.

2003 / Exhibition Zaha Hadid. Architecture. / / For the anniversary of the artist workshop, the exhibition The Price of Beauty. 100 years Wiener Werkstätte takes place. / / Richard Artschwager: The Hydraulic Door Check. Sculpture, painting, drawing.

2004 / James Turrell MAKlite is since November 2004 permanently on the facade of the building installed. / / Exhibition Peter Eisenmann. Barefoot on White-Hot Walls, large-scaled architectural installation on the work of the influential American architect and theorist.

2005 / Atelier Van Lieshout: The Disziplinatornbsp / / The exhibition Ukiyo-e Reloaded for the first time presents the collection of Japanese woodblock prints of the MAK in large scale.

2006 / Since the beginning of the year the birthplace of Josef Hoffmann in Brtnice of the Moravian Gallery in Brno and the MAK Vienna as a joint branch is run and presents special exhibitions annually. / / The exhibition The Price of Beauty. The Wiener Werkstätte and the Stoclet House brings the objects of the Wiener Werkstätte to Brussels. / / Exhibition Jenny Holzer: XX.

2007/2008 / Exhibition Coop Himmelb(l)au. Beyond the Blue, is the hitherto largest and most comprehensive museal presentation of the global team of architects .

2008 / The 1936 according to plans of Rudolph M. Schindler built Fitzpatrick-Leland House, a generous gift from Russ Leland to the MAK Center LA, becomes using a promotion that granted the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department the MAK Center, the center of the MAK UFI project - MAK Urban Future Initiative. / / Julian Opie: Recent Works / / The exhibition Recollecting. Looting and Restitution examines the status of efforts to restitute expropriated objects from Jewish property of museums in Vienna.

2009 / The permanent exhibition Josef Hoffmann: Inspiration is in the Josef Hoffmann Museum, Brtnice opened. / / Exhibition Anish Kapoor. Shooting into the Corner / / The museum sees itself as a promoter of Cultural Interchange and discusses in the exhibition Global:lab Art as a message. Asia and Europe 1500-1700 the intercultural as well as the intercontinental cultural exchange based on objects from the MAK and from international collections.

2011 / After Peter Noevers resignation Martina Kandeler-Fritsch takes over temporarily the management. / / Since 1 September Christoph Thun-Hohenstein is director of the MAK.

www.mak.at/das_mak/geschichte

Henry van de Velde (1863-1957)

Writing Desk Presented at the XIVth Secession Exhibition, 1900

Brussels, 1898

Execution: unknown

Solid ash; brass

 

Henry van de Velde (1863-1957)

Schreibtisch, präsentiert auf der XIV. Secessionsausstellung 1900

Brüssel, 1898

Ausführung: unbekannt

Eschenholz: massiv; Messing

H 2039/1954, Widmung zum Andenken an den Präsidenten des Vereines der Museumsfreunde

dedication in memory of the president of the Association of Friends of the Museum, Dr. Felix Freiherr von Oppenheimer

 

The history of the Austrian Museum of Applied Art/Contemporary Art

1863 / After many years of efforts by Rudolf Eitelberger decides emperor Franz Joseph I on 7 March on the initiative of his uncle archduke Rainer, following the model of the in 1852 founded South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum, London) the establishment of the "k.u.k. Austrian Museum for Art and Industry" and appoints Rudolf von Eitelberger, the first professor of art history at the University of Vienna director. The museum should be serving as a specimen collection for artists, industrialists, and public and as a training and education center for designers and craftsmen.

1864/ on 12th of May, opened the museum - provisionally in premises of the ball house next to the Vienna Hofburg, the architect Heinrich von Ferstel for museum purposes had adapted. First exhibited objects are loans and donations from the imperial collections, monasteries, private property and from the k.u.k. Polytechnic in Vienna. Reproductions, masters and plaster casts are standing value-neutral next originals.

1865-1897 / The Museum of Art and Industry publishes the journal Communications of Imperial (k.u.k.) Austrian Museum for Art and Industry .

1866 / Due to the lack of space in the ballroom the erection of an own museum building is accelerated. A first project of Rudolf von Eitelberger and Heinrich von Ferstel provides the integration of the museum in the project of imperial museums in front of the Hofburg Imperial Forum. Only after the failure of this project, the site of the former Exerzierfelds (parade ground) of the defense barracks before Stubentor the museum here is assigned, next to the newly created city park at the still being under development Rind Road.

1867 / Theoretical and practical training are combined with the establishment of the School of Applied Arts. This will initially be housed in the old gun factory, Währinger street 11-13/Schwarzspanier street 17, Vienna 9.

1868 / With the construction of the building at Stubenring is started as soon as it is approved by emperor Franz Joseph I. the second draft of Heinrich Ferstel.

1871 / The opening of the building at Stubering takes place after three years of construction, 15 November. Designed according to plans by Heinrich von Ferstel in the Renaissance style, it is the first built museum building at the Ring. Objects from now on could be placed permanently and arranged according to main materials. / / The School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule) moves into the house at Stubenring. / / Opening of Austrian arts and crafts exhibition.

1873 / Vienna World Exhibition. / / The Museum of Art and Industry and the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts are exhibiting together at Stubenring. / / Rudolf von Eitelberger organizes in the framework of the World Exhibition the worldwide first international art scientific congress in Vienna, thus emphasizing the orientation of the Museum on teaching and research. / / During the World Exhibition major purchases for the museum from funds of the Ministry are made, eg 60 pages of Indo-Persian Journal Mughal manuscript Hamzanama.

1877 / decision on the establishment of taxes for the award of Hoftiteln (court titels). With the collected amounts the local art industry can be promoted. / / The new building of the School of Arts and Crafts, adjoining the museum, Stubenring 3, also designed by Heinrich von Ferstel, is opened.

1878 / participation of the Museum of Art and Industry as well as of the School of Arts and Crafts at the Paris World Exhibition.

1884 / founding of the Vienna Arts and Crafts Association with seat in the museum. Many well-known companies and workshops (led by J. & L. Lobmeyr), personalities and professors of the School of Arts and Crafts join the Arts and Crafts Association. Undertaking of this association is to further develop all creative and executive powers the arts and craft since the 1860s has obtained. For this reason are organized various times changing, open to the public exhibitions at the Imperial Austrian Museum for Art and Industry. The exhibits can also be purchased. These new, generously carried out exhibitions give the club the necessary national and international resonance.

1885 / After the death of Rudolf von Eitelberger, Jacob von Falke, his longtime deputy, is appointed manager. Falke plans all collection areas al well as publications to develop newly and systematically. With his popular publications he influences significantly the interior design style of the historicism in Vienna.

1888 / The Empress Maria Theresa exhibition revives the contemporary discussion with the high Baroque in the history of art and in applied arts in particular.

1895 / end of directorate of Jacob von Falke. Bruno Bucher, longtime curator of the Museum of metal, ceramic and glass, and since 1885 deputy director, is appointed director.

1896 / The Vienna Congress exhibition launches the confrontation with the Empire and Biedermeier style, the sources of inspiration of Viennese Modernism.

1897 / end of the directorate of Bruno Bucher. Arthur von Scala, director of the Imperial Oriental Museum in Vienna since its founding in 1875 (renamed Imperial Austrian Trade Museum 1887), takes over the management of the Museum of Art and Industry. / / Scala wins Otto Wagner, Felician of Myrbach, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Alfred Roller to work at the museum and School of Arts and Crafts. / / The style of the Secession is crucial for the Arts and Crafts School. Scala propagates the example of the Arts and Crafts Movement and makes appropriate acquisitions for the museum's collection.

1898 / Due to differences between Scala and the Arts and Crafts Association, which sees its influence on the Museum wane, archduke Rainer puts down his function as protector. / / New statutes are written.

1898-1921 / The Museum magazine Art and Crafts replaces the Mittheilungen (Communications) and soon gaines international reputation.

1900 / The administration of Museum and Arts and Crafts School is disconnected.

1904 / The Exhibition of Old Vienna porcelain, the to this day most comprehensive presentation on this topic, brings with the by the Museum in 1867 definitely taken over estate of the "k.u.k. Aerarial Porcelain Manufactory" (Vienna Porcelain Manufactory) important pieces of collectors from all parts of the Habsburg monarchy together.

1907 / The Museum of Art and Industry takes over the majority of the inventories of the Imperial Austrian Trade Museum, including the by Arthur von Scala founded Asia collection and the extensive East Asian collection of Heinrich von Siebold .

1908 / Integration of the Museum of Art and Industry in the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Public Works.

1909 / separation of Museum and Arts and Crafts School, the latter remains subordinated to the Ministry of Culture and Education. / / After three years of construction, the according to plans of Ludwig Baumann extension building of the museum (now Weiskirchnerstraße 3, Wien 1) is opened. The museum thereby receives rooms for special and permanent exhibitions. / / Arthur von Scala retires, Eduard Leisching follows him as director. / / Revision of the statutes.

1909 / Archduke Carl exhibition. For the centenary of the Battle of Aspern. / / The Biedermeier style is discussed in exhibitions and art and arts and crafts.

1914 / Exhibition of works by the Austrian Art Industry from 1850 to 1914, a competitive exhibition that highlights, among other things, the role model of the museum for arts and crafts in the fifty years of its existence.

1919 / After the founding of the First Republic it comes to assignments of former imperial possession to the museum, for example, of oriental carpets that are shown in an exhibition in 1920. The Museum now has one of the finest collections of oriental carpets worldwide.

1920 / As part of the reform of museums of the First Republic, the collection areas are delimited. The Antiquities Collection of the Museum of Art and Industry is given away to the Museum of Art History.

1922 / The exhibition of glasses of classicism, the Empire and Biedermeier time offers with precious objects from the museum and private collections an overview of the art of glassmaking from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. / / Biedermeier glass serves as a model for contemporary glass production and designs, such as of Josef Hoffmann.

1922 / affiliation of the museal inventory of the royal table and silver collection to the museum. Until the institutional separation the former imperial household and table decoration is co-managed by the Museum of Art and Industry and is inventoried for the first time by Richard Ernst.

1925 / After the end of the directorate of Eduard Leisching, Hermann Trenkwald is appointed director.

1926 / The exhibition Gothic in Austria gives a first comprehensive overview of the Austrian panel painting and of arts and crafts of the 12th to 16th Century.

1927 / August Schestag succeeds Hermann Trenkwald as director.

1930 / The Werkbund (artists' organization) Exhibition Vienna, a first comprehensive presentation of the Austrian Werkbund, takes place on the occasion of the meeting of the Deutscher (German) Werkbund in Austria, it is organized by Josef Hoffmann in collaboration with Oskar Strnad, Josef Frank, Ernst Lichtblau and Clemens Holzmeister.

1931 / August Schestag concludes his directorate.

1932 / Richard Ernst is new director.

1936 and 1940 / In exchange with the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History), the museum at Stubenring gives away part of the sculptures and takes over arts and crafts inventories of the collection Albert Figdor and the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

1937 / The Collection of the Museum of Art and Industry is newly set up by Richard Ernst according to periods. / / Oskar Kokoschka exhibition on the 50th birthday of the artist.

1938 / After the "Anschluss" (annexation) of Austria by Nazi Germany, the museum is renamed into "National Museum of Arts and Crafts in Vienna".

1939-1945 / The museums are taking over numerous confiscated private collections. The collection of the "State Museum of Arts and Crafts in Vienna" in this way also is enlarged.

1945 / Partial destruction of the museum building by impact of war. / / War losses on collection objects, even in the places of rescue of objects.

1946 / The return of the outsourced objects of art begins. A portion of the during the Nazi time expropriated objects is returned in the following years.

1947 / The "State Museum of Arts and Crafts in Vienna" is renamed into "Austrian Museum of Applied Arts".

1948 / The "Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of St. Stephen" organizes the exhibition The St. Stephen's Cathedral in the Museum of Applied Arts. History, monuments, reconstruction.

1949 / The Museum is reopened after repair of the war damages.

1950 / As last exhibition under director Richard Ernst takes place Great art from Austria's monasteries (Middle Ages).

1951 / Ignaz Schlosser is appointed manager.

1952 / The exhibition Social home decor, designed by Franz Schuster, makes the development of social housing in Vienna again the topic of the Museum of Applied Arts.

1955 / The comprehensive archive of the Wiener Werkstätte (workshop) is acquired.

1955-1985 / The Museum publishes the periodical ancient and modern art .

1956 / Exhibition New Form from Denmark, modern design from Scandinavia becomes topic of the museum and model.

1957 / On the occasion of the exhibition Venini Murano glass, the first presentation of Venini glass in Austria, there are significant purchases and donations for the collection of glass.

1958 / End of the directorate of Ignaz Schlosser

1959 / Viktor Griesmaier is appointed as new director.

1960 / Exhibition Artistic creation and mass production of Gustavsberg, Sweden. Role model of Swedish design for the Austrian art and crafts.

1963 / For the first time in Europe, in the context of a comprehensive exhibition art treasures from Iran are shown.

1964 / The exhibition Vienna around 1900 (organised by the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna) presents for the frist time after the Second World War, inter alia, arts and crafts of Art Nouveau. / / It is started with the systematic work off of the archive of the Wiener Werkstätte. / / On the occasion of the founding anniversary offers the exhibition 100 years Austrian Museum of Applied Arts using examples of historicism insights into the collection.

1965 / The Geymüllerschlössel (small castle) is as a branch of the Museum angegliedert (annexed). Simultaneously with the building came the important collection of Franz Sobek - old Viennese clocks, made between 1760 and the second half of the 19th Century - and furniture from the years 1800 to 1840 in the possession of the MAK.

1966 / In the exhibition Selection 66 selected items of modern Austrian interior designers (male and female ones) are brought together.

1967 / The Exhibition The Wiener Werkstätte. Modern Arts and Crafts from 1903 to 1932 is founding the boom that continues until today of Austria's most important design project in the 20th Century.

1968 / To Viktor Griesmaier follows Wilhelm Mrazek as director.

1969 / The exhibition Sitting 69 shows at the international modernism oriented positions of Austrian designers, inter alia by Hans Hollein.

1974 / For the first time outside of China Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China are shown in a traveling exhibition in the so-called Western world.

1979 / Gerhart Egger is appointed director.

1980 / The exhibition New Living. Viennese interior design 1918-1938 provides the first comprehensive presentation of the spatial art in Vienna during the interwar period.

1981 / Herbert Fux follows Gerhart Egger as director.

1984 / Ludwig Neustift is appointed interim director. / / Exhibition Achille Castiglioni: designer. First exhibition of the Italian designer in Austria

1986 / Peter Noever is appointed director and starts with the building up of the collection contemporary art.

1987 / Josef Hoffmann. Ornament between hope and crime is the first comprehensive exhibition on the work of the architect and designer.

1989-1993 / General renovation of the old buildings and construction of a two-storey underground storeroom and a connecting tract. A generous deposit for the collection and additional exhibit spaces arise.

1989 / Exhibition Carlo Scarpa. The other city, the first comprehensive exhibition on the work of the architect outside Italy.

1990 / exhibition Hidden impressions. Japonisme in Vienna 1870-1930, first exhibition on the theme of the Japanese influence on the Viennese Modernism.

1991 / exhibition Donald Judd Architecture, first major presentation of the artist in Austria.

1992 / Magdalena Jetelová domestication of a pyramid (installation in the MAK portico).

1993 / The permanent collection is newly put up, interventions of internationally recognized artists (Barbara Bloom, Eichinger oder Knechtl, Günther Förg, GANGART, Franz Graf, Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd, Peter Noever, Manfred Wakolbinger and Heimo Zobernig) update the prospects, in the sense of "Tradition and Experiment". The halls on Stubenring accommodate furthermore the study collection and the temporary exhibitions of contemporary artists reserved gallery. The building in the Weiskirchner street is dedicated to changing exhibitions. / / The opening exhibition Vito Acconci. The City Inside Us shows a room installation by New York artist.

1994 / The Gefechtsturm (defence tower) Arenbergpark becomes branch of the MAK. / / Start of the cooperation MAK/MUAR - Schusev State Museum of Architecture Moscow. / / Ilya Kabakov: The Red Wagon (installation on MAK terrace plateau).

1995 / The MAK founds the branch of MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, in the Schindler House and at the Mackey Apartments, MAK Artists and Architects-in-Residence Program starts in October 1995. / / Exhibition Sergei Bugaev Africa: Krimania.

1996 / For the exhibition Philip Johnson: Turning Point designs the American doyen of architectural designing the sculpture "Viennese Trio", which is located since 1998 at the Franz-Josefs-Kai/Schottenring.

1998 / The for the exhibition James Turrell. The other Horizon designed Skyspace today stands in the garden of MAK Expositur Geymüllerschlössel. / / Overcoming the utility. Dagobert Peche and the Wiener Werkstätte, the first comprehensive biography of the work of the designer of Wiener Werkstätte after the Second World War.

1999 / Due to the Restitution Act and the Provenance Research from now on numerous during the Nazi time confiscated objects are returned.

2000 / Outsourcing of Federal Museums, transformation of the museum into a "scientific institution under public law". / / The exhibition Art and Industry. The beginnings of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna is dealing with the founding history of the house and the collection.

2001 / In the course of the exhibition Franz West: No Mercy, for which the sculptor and installation artist developed his hitherto most extensive work, the "Four lemurs heads" are placed at the bridge Stubenbrücke, located next to the MAK. / / Dennis Hopper: A System of Moments.

2001-2002 / The CAT Project - Contemporary Art Tower after New York, Los Angeles, Moscow and Berlin is presented in Vienna.

2002 / Exhibition Nodes. symmetrical-asymmetrical. The historical Oriental Carpets of the MAK presents the extensive rug collection.

2003 / Exhibition Zaha Hadid. Architecture. / / For the anniversary of the artist workshop, takes place the exhibition The Price of Beauty. 100 years Wiener Werkstätte. / / Richard Artschwager: The Hydraulic Door Check. Sculpture, painting, drawing.

2004 / James Turrell's MAKlite is since November 2004 permanently on the facade of the building installed. / / Exhibition Peter Eisenmann. Barefoot on White-Hot Walls, large-scaled architectural installation on the work of the influential American architect and theorist.

2005 / Atelier Van Lieshout: The Disciplinator / / The exhibition Ukiyo-e Reloaded presents for the first time the collection of Japanese woodblock prints of the MAK on a large scale.

2006 / Since the beginning of the year, the birthplace of Josef Hoffmann in Brtnice of the Moravian Gallery in Brno and the MAK Vienna as a joint branch is run and presents annually special exhibitions. / / The exhibition The Price of Beauty. The Wiener Werkstätte and the Stoclet House brings the objects of the Wiener Werkstätte to Brussels. / / Exhibition Jenny Holzer: XX.

2007/2008 / Exhibition Coop Himmelb(l)au. Beyond the Blue, is the hitherto largest and most comprehensive museal presentation of the global team of architects.

2008 / The 1936 according to plans of Rudolph M. Schindler built Fitzpatrick-Leland House, a generous gift from Russ Leland to the MAK Center LA, becomes with the aid of a promotion that granted the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department the MAK Center, center of the MAK UFI project - MAK Urban Future Initiative. / / Julian Opie: Recent Works / / The exhibition Recollecting. Looting and Restitution examines the status of efforts to restitute expropriated objects from Jewish property from museums in Vienna.

2009 / The permanent exhibition Josef Hoffmann: Inspiration is in the Josef Hoffmann Museum, Brtnice opened. / / Exhibition Anish Kapoor. Shooting into the Corner / / The museum sees itself as a promoter of Cultural Interchange and discusses in the exhibition Global:lab Art as a message. Asia and Europe 1500-1700 the intercultural as well as the intercontinental cultural exchange based on objects from the MAK and from international collections.

2011 / After Peter Noever's resignation, Martina Kandeler-Fritsch takes over temporarily the management. / /

Since 1 September Christoph Thun-Hohenstein is director of the MAK and declares "change through applied art" as the new theme of the museum.

2012 / With future-oriented examples of mobility, health, education, communication, work and leisure, shows the exhibition MADE4YOU. Designing for Change, the new commitment to positive change in our society through applied art. // Exhibition series MAK DESIGN SALON opens the MAK branch Geymüllerschlössel for contemporary design positions.

2012/2013 / opening of the newly designed MAK Collection Vienna 1900. Design / Decorative Arts from 1890 to 1938 in two stages as a prelude to the gradual transformation of the permanent collection under director Christoph Thun-Hohenstein

2013 / SIGNS, CAUGHT IN WONDER. Looking for Istanbul today shows a unique, current snapshot of contemporary art production in the context of Istanbul. // The potential of East Asian countries as catalysts for a socially and ecologically oriented, visionary architecture explores the architecture exhibition EASTERN PROMISES. Contemporary Architecture and production of space in East Asia. // With a focus on the field of furniture design NOMADIC FURNITURE 3.0. examines new living without bounds? the between subculture and mainstream to locate "do-it-yourself" (DIY) movement for the first time in a historical context.

2014 / Anniversary year 150 years MAK // opening of the permanent exhibition of the MAK Asia. China - Japan - Korea // Opening of the MAK permanent exhibition rugs // As central anniversary project opens the dynamic MAK DESIGN LABORATORY (redesign of the MAK Study Collection) exactly on the 150th anniversary of the museum on May 12, 2014 // Other major projects for the anniversary: ROLE MODELS. MAK 150 years: from arts and crafts to design // // HOLLEIN WAYS OF MODERN AGE. Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos and the consequences.

www.mak.at/das_mak/geschichte

Between Beccles and Diss, the A143, our old friend, follows the Waveney Valley before one final crossing of the river just before westward traffic reaches the busy roundabout with the A140 at Diss.

 

Billingford is the last village the road passes through before Diss, but unlike most other villages it only gets a ten miles per hour speed reduction rather than thirty.

 

Billingford is best know for the windmill on the other side of the road, other than that, there is the pub, The Horseshoes where I once had a fine supper I seem to recall. And there is the lay by.

 

Back in the days when I was a trucker, yes really, I used to stop here regularly as there is a fine greasy spoon wagon parked here. And one morning I did "treat" myself to a cheeseburger on the way Papworth, but not this day.

 

St Leonards is easily missed, as it sits on a rise to the north of the road, and with a stump of a tower, you might think it a barn at first.

 

A few years back, there was an art show on here, and I did think of calling in. Should have done as I found the church locked fast, and I did not have time to go chasing for a key. So made do with some exterior shots, looking at the view over the Waveney Valley into Suffolk lost on the haze of a wonderful autumnal morning.

 

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If I told you that St Leonard is an ancient treasure house in a beautiful hill top graveyard, that you reach it up a narrow track, that on a day in late spring there is bird song all about and a windmill turning lazily in the valley below, it would make you want to visit it. If I told you that to get to the narrow track you would need to negotiate one of Norfolk's most hellish roads, the A143, with juggernauts hurtling towards the ports and cars overtaking crazily, it would probably make you less keen. At one time, the church was difficult to visit for another reason: incredibly, visitors, weren't welcome. When I first came this way in 2005, the Scole benefice had a reputation for not allowing keys to be borrowed. But all that has changed.

We headed back to Billingford in May 2007. We'd been border-hopping, working our way down the Waveney Valley visiting churches in both counties. We'd found all the Suffolk ones open, and standing in Oakley churchyard, gazing out across the valley to Billingford windmill, the copse of trees that enclose St Leonard's graveyard on the hill above seemed most enticing. We headed down the hill and across the narrow bridge, and climbed again the track to the church.

 

The pretty church revealed itself from behind the trees. The tower is capped slightly above nave level. Was it ever finished? Simon Cotton tells me that there was a bequest in 1527 for its construction - perhaps it was only begun before the Anglican Reformation intervened. The nave and chancel are a pleasing combination of Dec and Perp, and those big red roofs glowed handsomely in the sunshine that hadn't been predicted by the forecasters.

 

I was optimistic, and not just because of the sunny day. I had been told that, now, all the churches in the Scole benefice are either open or have keyholder notices. I think this may be due in part to the Diocese of Norwich having appointed an Open Churches Officer who happen to live in Scole. His name was Ralph Barnett, and although he had now moved onto another challenge he seemed to have made a big difference.

 

There had also been the appointment of a new and enthusiastic Rector to the Scole benefice. Quite by coincidence, we met both of them outside St Leonard; we parked on the grass verge, and found they were parked behind us.The Rector, a bluff Yorkshireman, answered our request for access with the question "why, are you collecting the silver?" to which the obvious answer was "yes, and we only need this one for the full set!". The freemasonry of English humour, which must baffle any foreigner, was complete.

For some reason, this exchange was enough for Ralph to recognise me. We'd previously had an e-mail correspondence. It is always reassuring to meet people who are enthusastic about the life of medieval churches, and Ralph's zeal is infectious. I could easily see how he had got the good people of the Waveney Valley thinking in a new way about how their church could provide a welcome.

 

The great majority of Norfolk churches are, in fact, open every day, but those that are kept locked tend to huddle together as if in mutual misery - the area south of Norwich, the Thetford area, and, until recently, this place. It has to be said that St Leonard still isn't actually open, but it is certainly a step in the right direction to be let in without suspicion.

 

We stepped into a delightful, rural, rustic interior, quite the loveliest of little churches. It feels smaller inside than out. The 19th century restoration seems to have been more of a reordering than a refurbishing. The medieval font, in the typical East Anglian design, leads to medieval bench ends with grotesque faces on the poppyheads. An elegant 17th century font cover is matched by a pulpit of the same age on the other side of the range of benches.

 

Some ancient glass is largely heraldic, although there are fragments of other late medieval themes set around them. A great curiosity is the wall painting on the south wall. It appears to show several different scenes, perhaps once part of a larger scheme. In the clearest, several figures stand in a doorway. Could it be one of the Works of Mercy?

 

The pretty screen is very small, just two double lights either side of the centre, but it is imposing in this tiny space. The corbels that hold up the roofs are old too. It is all very pleasing; no outstanding treasures, but a harmonious whole bringing together elements of the late Medieval and the early Modern, crystallised sensitively by the Victorians. It is delightful.

 

One of the young men who set out from this tiny parish for the killing fields of the First World War received the Victoria Cross - as, indeed, did a soldier from neighbouring Scole. Billingford's was a man called Flowerdew, a name remembered elsewhere in the church from an earlier generation.

 

Mortlock became quite emotional about him, recalling Wilfred Owen's words Was it for this the clay grew tall? O what made fatuous sunbeams toil to break earth's sleep at all?

Even more moving than this is the framed photograph set on the font. Six of the young men of Billingford choir pose proudly in their uniforms before heading off to war. Only two survived: Sam Fisher and Leonard Bloomfield in the front row. The names of the other four are listed on the parish war memorial. Four out of six being killed may seem a lot, but this was roughly par for the course for the 'Old Contemptibles' who signed up at the very start of the First World War.

 

Simon Knott, June 2005, updated May 2007

 

www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/billingford/billingford.htm

 

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The original name of this place, is Preleston, or the Town of the Battle, in all probability so called from some remarkable battle fought here, when the Romans possessed the land: and by this name only it is mentioned in Domesday: its present name first occurring in Henry the Third's time, when the inhabitants began to fix themselves by the ford, or pass over the river into Suffolk, for Billingford, signifies the dwelling at the ford by the low meadows; (fn. 1) and such is the situation of the village at present.

 

Stigand the Bishop was superiour lord here at the Confessor's time, and Roger de Ramis at the Conquest. (fn. 2) One part of the of the town formerly belonged to the Abbot of Bury, and another to the Abbot of Ely; (fn. 3) all which Warenger held under the said Roger, and retained the superiour jurisdiction to himself, in those lands which formerly belonged to Bury; the one part was given to Bury along with Thorp, and the other to Ely with Pulham, to which manors they then belonged.

 

Soon after, they were divided, and one moiety continued in Roger's family, till 1249, and then Richer de Remes sold it to Roger de Herdebarow, or Herleburgh, who by this purchase became lord of the whole; for the other moiety went to the Bigots, and in 1211, was sold by William Bigot to Hugh de Hurleburgh; the whole was held always of Forncet manor at one fee, and 2d. ob. per annum castleward; Isabell de Bosco, widow of Hugh, held it, at whose death it went to their son Roger, and in 1238, it was settled on Ida, widow of Roger, for life, with remainder to Ela and Isabel their daughters, in tail; but, in 1285, Isabel was alive; for then she impleaded Ida, widow of Roger, and her daughter's guardians, for her dower here and in Great Harborow manor in Warwickshire; (fn. 4) and this year, Roger Bigot claimed liberty of free-warren, as superiour lord of the fee; after this, it divided again into moieties: Ela, one of Herleburgh's heiresses, married Walter de Hopton, and presented here in 1300, and John de Peyto married the other; whose son, by the name of John de Petto, junior, presented in 1337, it having been settled on him and Alice his wife in 1326, by John de Watevile, who was to have an annuity of 20 marks for life, but in 1338, they all joined and sold the whole to Sir Walter de Hopton, Knt. who in 1345, settled it on Joan his wife. In 1360, John de Clinton was lord for life, jointly with Sir Walter de Hopton; and in 1375, Agnes, relict of John Brown, and Ric. Brown, clerk, their son, sold it to

 

Sir Simon Burley, Knight Banneret, (fn. 5) the great favourite of Edward the Black Prince, and tutor to Ric. his son, afterwards King Ric. II. who advanced him to many honours, and places of trust and profit; (fn. 6) he being Knight of the Garter, one of his privy council, chamberlain of the household, governour of Windsor castle, constable of Dover castle, and lord warden of the Cinqueports: in 1378, he obtained a grant from the King, of the castle and lordship of Llan Stephan in Pembrokeshire, late Rob. de Penres; and in 1382, another, to be master of the King's falcons and game kept at Charing, with the manor of Barrock by Gravesend; and many other lands, &c. in consideration of his great services done to him from his infancy, before he was made a knight, and at that time, and after, when prince of Wales, and since, when King of England; (fn. 7) but being so great in his master's favour, it raised him to such an intolerable degree of pride, and its consequence, oppression, that he incurred the displeasure of the whole nation, and being attainted in parliament, was beheaded on Tower-hill in 1388; but this manor was not forfeited thereby; for in 1375, Sir Simon conveyed it, after his decease, to Sir John Burley, his brother, and he settled it (or rather a moiety of it) on Sir John Hopton of Shropshire, Knt. who married Isabel Burley, his daughter, and their heirs; and the other moiety, afterwards called

 

Corbets Manor,

 

Belonged to Sir Nic. Dagworth, Knt. and in 1401, to Tho. Young, Esq. of Sibton, and after to John Corbet, Esq. in whom the whole united again.

 

Sir John de Hopton left Sir John his son and heir, whose son Walter, was dead before 1423, for then Joan his widow presented. Their son Tho. de Hopton, in 1444, was found heir to Will. Burley, who then died without issue, being son of John Burley, lord of Elmyn castle in Caermarthenshire, son to Sir Roger Burley, Knt. brother to Isabel Burley, great grandmother to Thomas de Hopton, by his first wife, Lucy, daughter of William Guildford, relict of Sir Aymer Browne, Knt.; and at the death of Walter Hopton in 1460, John Corbet, Esq. was found his heir, in right of his wife Katherine, only daughter and heiress of the said Walter; Sir Roger Corbet, Knt. his father, being now infeoffed in trust; and it continued in the Corbets a long time; Roger Corbet, Esq. was lord in 1531, and died in 1539, leaving

 

Andrew his son and heir, who sold it, jointly with Joan his wife, in 1544, to

 

Sir Robert Southwell, of whom it was purchased by

 

Christopher Grice, Gent. who died in 1558, and was buried in this church, leaving the manor and advowson to Anne his wife for life, and then to Robert their son and heir, who married Susanna, daughter and coheir to Thomas Ayre of Bury, Esq.; he died in 1583, and Christopher le Grice, their only child, inherited; he married Margaret, daughter and heir to Thomas Whipple of Dickleburgh, Gent. and dying in 1601, lies buried here, leaving only one daughter,

 

Frances le Grice, (fn. 8) who married to Sir William Platers of Satterley, Knight and Baronet, deputy-lieutenant and vice-admiral of the county of Suffolk, and member in parliament; they left

 

Sir Tho. Platers, Bart. their only son and heir, who was highsheriff of Suffolk, and a colonel of a regiment of horse to King Charles I. and afterwards had a command at sea under the King of Spain. He married Rebecca, daughter and coheir of Thomas Chapman of Wormley in Hertfordshire, and died at Messina in Sicily, Ao 1651, without legitimate issue, but settled this manor and estate on

 

Elizabeth, his natural daughter, who married to Sir Edward Chisenhall, Knt. of an ancient family in Lancashire, and had issue William Chisenhall, of whom it was purchased by the Carters, and in 1704, Edward Carter, senior, was lord and patron; and afterwards by the Holts, and

 

Rowland Holt, Esq. of Redgrave in Suffolk, is now lord and patron.

 

9l. Billingford rectory. 45l. clear yearly value.

 

This rectory being discharged, pays neither first-fruits nor tenths, and is capable of augmentation. When Norwich Domesday was made, the rector had a house and 10 acres of land; the house stood near the summer-house at the hall, and was long since burnt down, and never rebuilt; the terrier hath 37 pieces of glebe; it was valued at 16 marks, and paid 22d. synodals, and 10d. Peter-pence; and the village paid 46s. clear to every tenth. It is in the liberty of the Duke of Norfolk, who in right of his hundred of Earsham, is lord paramount here. There was a family sirnamed of the town; in 1260, Mat. of Preleston, and in 1316, John of Prilleston and Margaret his wife lived here.

 

The church is dedicated to St. Leonard; the nave and south porch are tiled, the chancel is thatched; there was a large square tower, which is fallen down, so that it is no higher than the church, is covered in, and hath one bell in it.

 

On a brass plate,

 

Here lyeth buryed the Corps of Christopher le Grys Esq; sometimes Lord and Patron of this Church, only Child to Robart le Grys Esq; and Susan his Wife, Dr. and Co-heire to Thomas Ayre of Bury in Suffolk Esq; lineally descended from Sir Robert le Grys of Langley in Norfolk Knt. one of th' Equerris. to King Richard the 1st. he married Margaret Daughter and Heir to Thomas Whipple of Dickleborough in Norfolk Gent. and Elizabeth his Wife, Daughter and Co-heire to John Garningham of Belton in Suffolk Esq; and had Issue by her, only Frances, who married with Sir William Playters of Satterley in Suffolk Knt. and Bart. He ended this Life the 19 of Oct. Ao. 1601, and in the 23d. Year of his Age. Resurgam.

 

1, Le Grice, as at vol. i. p. 199. 2, Whipple, gul. a fess erm. between two chevrons, arg. 3, Jarnegan. 4, as 1.

 

On another brass,

 

Here lyeth buryed the Corps of Christopher le Grice, Esq; sometimes Lord and Patron of this Church, Sonn to William le Grys of Brockdish, and Sybell his Wife, Dr. and Heire to Edmund Syngleton Esq; he married Ann eldest Daughter to Robart Howard of Brockdish Gent. by whom he had 3 Sonns and two Daughters; he died 19 Jan. 1558.

 

Grice impales quarterly, Singleton and Howard of Brockdish.

 

Here lyeth buried the Corps of Charles le Grys Gent. the only Sonne of Henry le Grys and Ann his Wife, Daughter to Anthony Yaxley of Yaxley in Suffolk Esq. He dyed 4 Sept. 1634.

 

In the chancel windows are the arms of De la Pole, Hastyngs, and Valence, of Anthony Grys with three martlets on the top, and of Hen. Grys with a crescent. And on a tree, hangs a shield with the arms of Brewse on it.

 

The font hath the arms of St. Edmund, St. George, and a chevron and chief in one shield, all carved in stone.

 

Rectors of Preleston, or Billingford.

 

In 1267, there was a vicar here, one Walter, at whose death the vicarage was reunited to the rectory, and so it continued a rectory ever since.

 

1300, Geffery de Halton, rector, Walt. de Hupton, Knt. and Ela his wife.

 

1316, Alice de Hannonia Countess of Norfolk, as guardian, presented

 

Will. Freeman of Dickleburgh, who in 1337 exchanged for Kedeley in Rochester diocese, with

 

Tho. de Bilney, who had it of the gift of John de Petto, junior; he changed in 1339, for Dunchurch in Litchfield diocese, with

 

Will. de Chulton, who (as also the three following rectors) was presented by Sir Walt. de Hopton, Knt.; which William, the same year, changed this, for Colton in Litchfield diocese, with

 

James de Runham.

 

1349, John Fittes.

 

1361, Will. de Easthawe of Wingfield; he was buried in the ehancel in 1385, and made the lattices between the church and chancel.

 

1385, Rob. Daventre. Sir Nic. Dagworth, Knt.

 

1394, John Fornham, Thomas le Younge of Sibton.

 

1403, Thomas Smith; he was buried here. Thomas Younge, Esq.

 

1423, Robert Drake. Joan, late wife of Walter de Hopton.

 

1465, Thomas Dekyn. Sir Roger Corbet, Knt.

 

1471, Robert Clifton. Sir Will. Stanley, Knt.

 

1486, John Hunger, lapse.

 

1502, Ric. Greneleft, ob.

 

1506, John Batson, lapse, resigned.

 

1517, Roger Morley, ob.

 

Anthony Malery.

 

1530, Henry Lockwood, resigned. Roger Corbet, Esq.

 

1532, Elisha Lache, resigned. Ditto.

 

1536, Will. Triste. Ditto.

 

Will. Stowe, ob.

 

1552. Henry Watson, deprived in 1555. Chris. Grice, Gent.

 

1556, Nic. Calverd. Ditto.

 

1560, Anne Grice, widow, gave it to

 

William Hudson; united to Thorp-Abbots. He was buried here Dec. 7, 1560, and was succeeded by

 

William Walleyns, who was buried March 7, 1566, being succeeded by

 

John Inman, on the presentation of Robert le Grice. He resigned in

 

1582, to John Richards, and he in

 

1585, to Thomas Buskard, and both of them were presented by the aforesaid Robert.

 

1587, Nic. Grice, clerk, as patron of this turn, gave it to

 

Edw. Calley, who returned 80 communicants here in 1603; he was buried Nov. 23, 1617, and John le Grice, Gent. gave it

 

William Owles, who held it united to Brockdish, and resigned in 1642, and Sir William Platers, Bart. presented

 

Edward Cartwright, A. M. who held it united to Thelton; he was buried here Sept. 13, 1679, when

 

Thomas Searank had it, and held it united to Ashley in Cambridgeshire; being presented by Sir Edward Chisenhull, Knt. and upon his taking Cheveley in Cambridgeshire he resigned this, and Edward Carter, senior, Esq. gave it to

 

John Bryars, A. M. in 1704, (fn. 9) who held it united to Diss, (for whom see vol. i. p. 18, 32,) at his death in

 

1728, Samuel Birch was presented by Rowland Holt, Esq.; see vol. ii. p. 138. He held it united to Little-Thorp, which at his death in 1739, was consolidated to Billingford, when Mr. Holt presented

 

The Rev. Mr. John Gibbs, at whose resignation in

 

1742, the Rev. Mr. John Barker, the present rector, was presented by Elizabeth Holt, widow, mother, and then sole guardian, to Rowland Holt of Redgrave, Esq. the present patron.

 

¶There were formerly many arms of the Grices, with their impalements and quarterings, both in the hall and church windows, but are now some of them removed, and the rest so broken and defaced, that there is no depending on them for the exactness of the several coats.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol5...

Mont Saint-Michel

  

•

  

Le mont Saint-Michel est un îlot rocheux granitique d’environ 960 mètres de circonférence situé à l’est de l’embouchure du fleuve du Couesnon, dans le département de la Manche en Normandie, et dont le nom vient de l'archange saint Michel. Avant l'année 709, il était connu comme le « mont Tombe ». Pendant tout le Moyen Âge, il est couramment appelé « mont Saint-Michel au péril de la mer » (Mons Sancti Michaeli in periculo mari). L'abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel est située sur le mont, et le mont constitue une petite partie du territoire de la commune du Mont-Saint-Michel.

Le mont Saint-Michel baigne dans la baie du Mont-Saint-Michel, ouverte sur la Manche. L’îlot atteint 92 mètres d’altitude et offre une superficie émergée d’environ 7 ha, la partie essentielle du rocher étant couverte par l’emprise au sol de l’abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel et de son domaine. Cet îlot s’élève dans une grande plaine sablonneuse.

L’architecture du Mont-Saint-Michel et sa baie en font le site touristique le plus fréquenté de Normandie1. Le mont Saint-Michel est le troisième site touristique culturela le plus fréquenté de France après la tour Eiffel et le château de Versailles, avec près de 2,3 millions de visiteurs par an2 (3,25 millions en 20063, 2,3 millions en 20144).

Une statue de saint Michel placée au sommet de l’église abbatiale culmine à 150 mètres au-dessus du rivage. Éléments majeurs, l'abbaye et ses dépendances sont classées au titre des monuments historiques par la liste de 18625. (soixante autres constructions étant protégées par la suite6) ; le mont (îlot rocheux) et le cordon littoral de la baie figurant depuis 19797 sur la liste du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO ainsi que le moulin de Moidrey depuis 20077. Depuis 1998, le mont Saint-Michel bénéficie en outre d'une seconde inscription sur la liste du patrimoine mondial en tant que composante du bien en série Chemins de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle en France8.

En 1846, Édouard Le Héricher le décrivait ainsi : « Le mont Saint-Michel apparaît comme une montagne circulaire qui semble s’affaisser sous la pyramide monumentale qui la couronne. On voudrait prolonger sa cime en une flèche aiguë qui monterait vers le ciel (la flèche actuelle ne date que de 1899), dominant son dais de brouillards ou se perdant dans une pure et chaude lumière. De vastes solitudes l’environnent, celle de la grève ou celle de la mer, encadrées dans de lointaines rives verdoyantes ou noires9. »

La baie

Le mont Saint-Michel (l’îlot ou l’abbaye) est situé dans la baie du Mont-Saint-Michel, dont le cordon littoral figure au patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco (inscription de 1979).

La baie qui fait partie du Massif armoricain repose sur un socle précambrien de grès et de schistes argileux qui se métamorphisent autour des éperons granitiques cadomiens de Cancale, Avranches, Chausey et Carolles. Toujours pendant le cycle cadomien, les granites intrusifs cambriens ont donné le mont-Dol, l'îlot Tombelaine et le mont Saint-Michel qui est constitué d'un pluton de leucogranite à biotite et muscovite datant de 525 millions d'années : l'îlot Saint-Michel fait une circonférence d'environ 960 mètres et une hauteur de 92 mètres10.

Les marées dans la baie du mont Saint-Michel ont une amplitude de près de treize mètres les jours de fort coefficient, la mer se retire à grande vitesse sur une dizaine de kilomètres, mais revient aussi vite. L’expression consacrée est « qu’elle revient à la vitesse d’un cheval au galop ». Le mont Saint-Michel n’est entouré d'eau et ne redevient une île qu’aux grandes marées d'équinoxe, cinquante-trois jours par an, pendant quelques heures. Mais c’est un spectacle impressionnant qui attire de nombreux touristes ces jours là.

L'ancienne digue

La digue-route qui reliait le mont au continent avait été construite en 1879. En retenant le sable, elle avait aggravé l’ensablement naturel de la baie, au point que le mont risquait un jour de ne plus être une île. D'où la mise en œuvre du projet de rétablissement du caractère maritime du Mont-Saint-Michel.

Le projet de rétablissement du caractère maritime de l’île

Le 24 juin 1983, François Mitterrand inaugure les travaux de démolition de la digue (submersible) de la roche Torin et du rétablissement du caractère maritime. Le projet, appelé jusque dans les années 1990 « désensablement du Mont », est rebaptisé « rétablissement du caractère maritime du mont Saint-Michel » car il s'agit d'un processus naturel, la marée montante (vitesse du courant de flot : 1 m/s par coefficient de marée moyen, soit 3,6 km/h) ayant un flux plus élevé que celui de la marée descendante (vitesse du courant de jusant : 0,75 m/s, soit 2,7 km/h)11.

En 1995, les études sont déclarées honnêtes ; la puissance des ordinateurs a augmenté ainsi que les codes de calcul : on peut monter la commission[précision nécessaire] du Mont-Saint-Michel, qui doit préserver son insularité et faire arriver des touristes payants régulés.

Il s'en déduit les éléments suivants du projet12 :

•suppression du parking : un autre parking est construit au sud du barrage de la Caserne sur le Couesnon (barrage qui est reconstruit) à 2,5 km du mont (planté de 45 000 arbres et arbustes, ce parking situé dans la zone commerciale La Caserne propose plus de 4 000 places de stationnement). Des navettes spéciales (à moteur et à cheval type maringotte) amènent les visiteurs par une nouvelle digue sur les herbus (levée de terre empierrée longue de 1 085 m et haute de 9,50 m). Cette digue est prolongée par un pont-passerelle (longue de 760 m). Cette « jetée » sur pilotis en acier enfoncés dans des pieux de béton de (30 m) de profondeur jusqu'à la roche, est scindée en 3 branches : deux cheminements piétonniers recouverts d’un platelage de chêne et une chaussée centrale en béton armé réservée à la circulation de navettes) et un terre-plein d'ancrage (permettant l'accès aux secours) au pied des remparts surmonté d’un gué en béton submersible lors des grandes marées (120 m), permettant au mont de conserver son insularité 20 jours par an lors des grandes marées ; dans le futur, une gare SNCF sera construite sur le continent, avec des trains directs depuis Paris-Vaugirard (Montparnasse-3)[réf. à confirmer] ;

•côté île : le Couesnon doit être chenalisé de part et d’autre du mont Saint-Michel, 2⁄3 à l’Ouest en Bretagne et 1⁄3 à l’Est en Normandie, le barrage servant de barrage de chasse de 700 000 m3. Des échelles à poissons sont prévues, pour les anguilles (catadromes) comme les saumons (anadromes). La construction du barrage sur le Couesnon est officiellement lancée le 16 juin 2006.

Le projet de liaison ferroviaire est actualisé, mais de nombreuses incertitudes demeurent. Dans un rapport13, le Conseil général des ponts et chaussées détaille les options possibles, en omettant la liaison ferroviaire établie entre 1901 et 1938.

À partir de 2006, l'État, seul concepteur du projet, se désengage de sa réalisation opérationnelle. Les travaux sont alors confiés exclusivement aux collectivités territoriales locales, déjà regroupées depuis 1997 dans un syndicat mixte, le syndicat mixte « Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel »14.

En août 2008, les quatre premières vannes sont opérationnelles dans la partie ouest du nouveau barrage du Couesnon, fonctionnant en portes à flots en attendant la livraison des quatre autres en cours de montage. L'ancien barrage est détruit en novembre 200815.

Le nouveau barrage-passerelle est mis en service en mai 200916 et ouvert au public en juin 201017. La retenue d'eau constituée à marée montante est lâchée à marée descendante, générant un effet « chasse d'eau » qui doit permettre le désensablement de la baie du Mont-Saint-Michel18.

Le projet de rétablissement du caractère maritime de 200 millions d'euros, notamment le stationnement et le transport des visiteurs attribué à l’automne 2009 à la délégation de service public Veolia Transdev, suscite de vives polémiques, tant au niveau de son suivi financier que de ses choix techniques et économiques (prix du parking, suppression de la navette gratuite « Montoise » qui transporte les habitants du Mont et les 600 employés saisonniers), comme le révèle un rapport de la chambre régionale des comptes de Normandie19,14.

Depuis le 22 juillet 2014, les visiteurs peuvent se rendre au mont par les nouveaux ouvrages d'accès créés par l'architecte Dietmar Feichtinger. Une nouvelle digue et une passerelle sur pilotis laissant passer l'eau en dessous desservent désormais l'île. L'ancienne digue a maintenant été totalement démolie20.

Toponymie

À l'origine, il était connu sous l'appellation de in monte qui dicitur Tumba vers 850 (mont Tombe) : le mot tumba, « tombe », rare en toponymie, est à interpréter dans le sens de « tertre », « élévation »)21. Le nom de la localité est attesté sous les formes Montem Sancti Michaelis dictum en 966, loco Sancti Archangelis Michaelis sito in monte qui dicitur Tumba en 1025 et, en 1026, Saint Michiel del Mont au XIIe siècle22, au Moyen Âge, il est couramment appelé « mont Saint-Michel au péril de la mer » (Mons Sancti Michaeli in periculo mari)23.

Son nom viendrait d'un petit oratoire en forme de grotte construit en 708 (ou 710) par saint Aubert, évêque d'Avranches24, dédié à l'archange saint Michel. Les restes de cet oratoire ont été retrouvés et sont encore visibles dans la chapelle Notre-Dame-sous-Terre, c’est-à-dire sous la terrasse qui prolonge la nef de l’abbatialeb.

Histoire

Un village, implanté sur le mont dès 709, voit vers le milieu du siècle suivant sa population s'accroître à la suite semble-t-il des raids vikings qui incitent les populations habitant des établissements ruraux et des villages voisins au mont, à s'y réfugier. Il se développe tout au long du Moyen Âge à l’ombre de son abbaye25. Au nord de l’église paroissiale Saint-Pierre, le bâtiment double appelé La Merveille est un chef-d’œuvre de l’architecture gothique. Il est construit sur trois niveaux à flanc de rocher.

L’économie du mont a donc été tributaire, pendant douze siècles, des nombreux pèlerinages à Saint Michel, notamment jusqu’à la Révolution française, la population locale s'installant pour proposer gîte et couvert aux miquelots. Le pèlerin, appelé michelet26, venait de toute l’Europe : depuis l’Angleterre, la France du nord et de l’ouest, etc. Un réseau de routes montoises a été récemment étudié et remis en valeur, notamment à cause de l’attrait touristique important que représente le site et sa baie. À la suite de la tempête de fin décembre 1999, les vestiges d'un ancien atelier de plombs de pèlerinage sont mis au jour27.

Les habitants du mont vivent aussi du XVe au XIXe siècle grâce à la prison en hébergeant ses gardiens et en accueillant ses visiteurs. La dernière prison ferme en 1863. La construction d'une digue-route en 1879 puis d'une voie ferrée reliant Pontorson permet l'essor du tourisme de masse qui vit notamment grâce à la vente d'articles de souvenir de pèlerinage25.

Le temps du tourisme

Déjà depuis le XIXe siècle, les auteurs et peintres romantiques venaient au mont, pour son charme unique et ses qualités pittoresques, tels Guy de Maupassant. À la fin du siècle, plusieurs hôtels sont établis au Mont. Dans la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle, la mutation du site en un lieu de visite de rang mondial a fait de la petite commune normande l’une des premières destinations touristiques de France.

La fréquentation du site et de l'abbaye est concentrée dans le temps. Elle est la plus forte au cours de la période estivale et de certains week-ends printaniers qui concentrent le tiers des visiteurs du Mont-Saint-Michel, avec une moyenne journalière approchant les 12 000 visiteurs et des pics dépassant les 16 000 visiteurs par jour, avec un flux de visiteurs de moins en moins dense au fur et à mesure de l'ascension vers l'abbaye (un tiers seulement montant jusqu’à l’abbaye). Le temps moyen de visite est de deux à trois heures. « Au cours d’une journée, c’est entre 11h et 16h que la densité de visiteurs sur le site est la plus forte »28.

Le Mont connaît un déclin de fréquentation depuis le début du XXIe siècle, passant de 3,5 millions de visiteurs à 2,3 millions en 2014. Le site pâtirait en effet des nouvelles conditions de desserte de l'îlot et de la mauvaise réputation du Mont-Saint-Michel qui fait payer cher des prestations médiocres29.

Les prisons

Des prisons furent établies sur le mont Saint-Michel durant une très longue période de son histoire30,31,32. Après que les moines furent chassés lors de la Révolution française, le mont Saint-Michel fut transformé en prison pour prêtres réfractaires en 1793 et son nom changé en Mont Libre33 ; puis en 1811 en maison de force pour prisonniers de droit commun et prisonniers politiques jusqu'en 1863.

Monuments et lieux touristiques

Soixante-et-un immeubles situés sur l'îlot sont protégés au titre des monuments historiques6, par plusieurs campagnes de protection, réalisées notamment en 1928 et 1934.

D’une dimension hors norme, les travaux de rénovation de l’immense bâtiment du XIIIe siècle, lancés fin 2020, devraient durer jusqu’en 202334.

Présence humaine sur le mont

Les Fraternités monastiques de Jérusalem

Depuis 2001, des frères et des sœurs des Fraternités monastiques de Jérusalem, venues de l’église Saint-Gervais de Paris, assurent une présence religieuse toute l'année. Ils remplacent les moines bénédictins, qui peu à peu désertèrent le Mont après 1979.

Le Festival 13 siècles entre ciel et mer

Lors de l'élaboration des festivités du 13e centenaire de la fondation du mont, le diocèse de Coutances et d'Avranches et l'association Robert de Torigni décident, entre autres, de créer un festival d'art chrétien pour « sensibiliser le visiteur au côté spirituel du Mont-Saint-Michel ».

Après ce festival, il est décidé de perpétuer le festival, chaque été, pendant une semaine[Passage à actualiser].

Économie

Trois grandes familles se partagent les commerces de la commune, et se succèdent à l’administration de la ville (Éric Vannier35, Jean Yves Vetelé36 et Patrick Gaulois37). On compte trois cents commerces pour trois millions de touristes, alors qu'en 2013 la commune compte 44 résidents (20 dans les polders, 24 intra-muros) et 99 électeurs. Intra-muros travaillent 54 commerçants et résident 24 Montois (une famille de deux parents et deux enfants, une commerçante, l'administrateur du monument, deux pompiers, un agent de sécurité, cinq moines, sept moniales et trois prêtres)38.

L’abbaye est propriété de l’État, gérée par le Centre des monuments nationaux.

Le Mont-Saint-Michel est dénommé « commune touristique » depuis août 200939.

À la suite des travaux de rétablissement du caractère maritime du Mont Saint-Michel mis en œuvre localement par un Syndicat mixte et débutés en 2006, les groupes hôteliers du Mont se livrent à une guerre commerciale, notamment à propos du chemin pédestre qui relie depuis 2012 les parkings au départ des navettes touristiques pour le Mont, Jean Yves Vetelé et Patrick Gaulois accusant Éric Vannier d'avoir usé de son statut de maire pour peser sur un vote en 2009 du syndicat mixte au sujet du point de départ des navettes qui a été fixé au milieu de deux établissements gérés par Vannier40,41. Le maire du Mont-Saint-Michel Éric Vannier est finalement condamné en correctionnelle à 30 000 euros d’amende, dont 20 000 avec sursis, pour prise illégale d'intérêts42.

Personnages célèbres liés au mont Saint-Michel

•Robert de Torigni, célèbre abbé du mont.

•Guillaume de Saint Pair, moine de l’abbaye auteur du Roman du Mont-Saint-Michel.

•Le duc de Chartres (futur Louis-Philippe Ier), venu démolir la « cage de fer ».

•Mathurin Bruneau, sabotier, escroc et faux Louis XVII, prisonnier au mont en 1821-1822.

•Auguste Blanqui, prisonnier politique au mont.

•Armand Barbès, prisonnier politique au mont.

•Monseigneur Bravard, restaurateur de l'abbaye après la Révolution.

•La mère Poulard, restauratrice (voir ci-dessous).

•Émile Couillard, écrivain, historien du mont et abbé du Mont-Saint-Michel.

Gastronomie locale

Le mont Saint-Michel se situe à l’embouchure du Couesnon. Côté terre, des aménagements de digues déjà anciens ont permis jusqu’à aujourd’hui de gagner sur la mer des terrains consacrés à l’agriculture et à l’élevage (dont celui des ovins, qualifiés de moutons « de pré-salé »). Le mouton ou l’agneau de pré-salé, appelé grévin43 est ainsi une spécialité normande, à déguster de préférence grillé au feu de bois.

Une grande activité médiatique, à laquelle a participé de facto le dessinateur Christophe avec sa famille Fenouillard entoure la préparation de l’omelette de la mère Poulard (du nom du restaurant situé dans le village et réputé pour cette spécialité). Celle-ci est faite d’œufs et de crème fraîche, abondamment battus en neige dans une bassine de cuivre avec un long fouet sur un rythme spécial que peuvent entendre les passants avant d’être cuite dans une poêle de cuivre sur un feu de bois.

Références culturelles au mont Saint-Michel

Dans la peinture

•Le mont Saint-Michel fait fréquemment l'objet de représentations dans les manuscrits enluminés du Moyen Âge. La plus célèbre est sans doute celle des Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, illustrant la fête de l'archange dans le livre d'heures. La miniature est attribuée à l'un des frères de Limbourg, qui l'a peinte entre 1411 et 1416. Le mont est également représenté dans au moins sept autres livres d'heures du XVe siècle comme celui de Bruxelles à l'occasion de l'illustration d'une fuite en Égypte (vers 1400), dans les Heures du Maréchal Boucicaut (musée Jacquemart-André) au folio 11v (vers 1405), dans le Livre d'heures Sobieski conservé au château de Windsor, (f.204v) et attribué au Maître de Bedford, le Livre d'heures à l'usage de Nantes conservé à la Bodleian Library (1450-1455)44.

•L'affiche Le Mont-Saint-Michel réalisée en 1934 par le peintre Pierre Matossy pour les Chemins de fer de l'Ouest est recherchée des collectionneurs.

Dans la littérature

•En 1832, dans le roman fantastique La Fée aux miettes, Charles Nodier évoque les sables mouvants de la baie du Mont-Saint-Michel45.

•En 1850, le roman historique de Paul Féval, La Fée des grèves, dont l’action se situe en 1450, évoque les légendes du Mont-Saint-Michel et du mont Tombelaine46.

•En 1887, dans Le Horla, récit fantastique de Guy de Maupassant, le personnage principal termine son voyage thérapeutique au mont Saint-Michel47.

•En 1967, dans le cycle des Princes d'Ambre, Roger Zelazny s'inspire des aménagements et particularités du Mont-Saint-Michel pour créer sa cité d'Ambre.

•En 1984, le ministère de la Culture publie le livre découpage du créateur François Rouillay, permettant de revivre mille ans d'histoire et d'architecture du mont Saint-Michel, préfacé par Françoise Chandernagor.

•En 2003, Da Vinci Code (The Da Vinci Code) de Dan Brown fait référence au mont Saint-Michel.

•En 2004, La Promesse de l'ange, roman policier archéologique de Frédéric Lenoir et Violette Cabesos situe l’action principalement au mont Saint-Michel.

•En 2005, le thriller Le Sang du temps de Maxime Chattam se déroule au mont Saint-Michel en 2005 et dans l’Égypte des années 1920.

•En 2011, le roman de science-fiction L'Ère du Vent de Pierre Bameul, donne le mont Saint-Michel comme siège d'un Nouveau Vatican post-apocalyptique.

Dans la bande dessinée

•En 1999 et 2000, le mont Saint-Michel est le cadre des Aventures de Vick et Vicky ; Bruno Bertin publie aux Éditions P'tit Louis deux bandes dessinées jeunesse, Les Archanges du Mont-Saint-Michel : Le Testament (tome 1) et La Malédiction (tome 2).

•En 2008, la bande dessinée Le Diable & l’Archange, texte et dessin de Guillaume Néel, couleur de Julien Gondouin, reprend une légende médiévale sur la création du Mont-Saint-Michel ; en accompagnement, un livret pédagogique permet de mieux comprendre le Diable et l’Archange, l’historique du Mont, la ville.

Dans la musique

•En 1996, le compositeur anglais Mike Oldfield publie l’album Voyager, dont un des titres est consacré au mont Saint-Michel.

•En 1998, le compositeur français Patrick Broguière [archive] publie sous le titre Mont Saint-Michel un concept album de rock progressif entièrement consacré aux légendes du mont Saint-Michel.

•En 1999, le harpiste breton Kirjuhel publie l’album Echo of Mont-Saint-Michel.

•En 2001, le musicien anglais Aphex Twin, originaire de Cornouailles, publie l’album de musique électronique Drukqs, dont le titre Mt Saint Michel + St Michael's Mount est inspiré à la fois par le mont Saint-Michel et le St Michael's Mount, situé en Cornouailles.

Au cinéma

Voir la catégorie : Film tourné au Mont-Saint-Michel.

•1975 : L'Incorrigible de Philippe de Broca, où le rêve d'un des personnages est d'empêcher l'ensablement du mont Saint-Michel

•1976 : Passion violente (Dedicato a una stella) de Luigi Cozzi

•1983 : Pauline à la plage d'Éric Rohmer

•1998 : Armageddon de Michael Bay

•2009 : Une semaine sur deux (et la moitié des vacances scolaires) d'Ivan Calbérac

•2013 : À la merveille (To the Wonder) de Terrence Malick

•2016 : Tout pour être heureux de Cyril Gelblat

À la télévision

•2010 : L'Ombre du Mont-Saint-Michel, téléfilm français de Klaus Biedermann

•2017 : The Package (더 패키지, Deo Paekiji), série télévisée sud-coréenne, où le groupe de touristes y fait une étape lors de leur voyage en France.

En philatélie

•Dès 1930 la poste a émis un timbre de 5 Francs brun.

•En 1966, un nouveau timbre de 25 centimes, noir, vert et rouge sur paille est émis à l'occasion du millénaire de l'abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel.

•En 1998, nouveau timbre de 3 francs, multicolore. Ce timbre sera élu plus beau timbre de l'année.

•En 2006, la poste dans une émission commune avec les Nations unies de Genève émet deux timbres dont l'un est le mont Saint-Michel et son abbaye (Manche) dont la valeur est de 90 centimes d'euro. Le thème était : Monuments. Patrimoine mondial48.

En numismatique

•Le mont Saint-Michel est représenté sur la pièce de 20 francs Mont-Saint-Michel (1992-2001).

Dans les jeux vidéo

•Le mont Saint-Michel est représenté dans Onimusha 3.

•Le mont Saint-Michel est une des merveilles mondiales qu'il est possible de construire dans le jeu Civilization VI.

•Le mont Saint-Michel est représenté à l'époque de la Renaissance dans Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, jeu vidéo édité par Ubisoft Montréal. La ville est en effet proposée comme terrain de jeu (« carte ») pour des parties multijoueurs dans le premier contenu téléchargeable sorti en décembre 201049,50.

•Dans Kingdom Hearts 3D, le mont Saint-Michel est une partie du monde Pays des Mousquetaires. On en entend aussi parler dans certains dialogues.

•Le mont Saint-Michel est présent sur une des jaquettes du jeu Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

  

This was meant to take on the world this was, but sadly it didn’t get very far! The Rover 800 had so many possibilities, so many variants could have been derived from it, but unfortunately the management was once again very quick to nip this beautiful car in the bud, and the Rover 800 would join that long line of ‘what-could-have-been’ motors that seem to pave British motoring history.

 

The origin of the Rover 800 goes back to the late 1970’s, when nationalised British car manufacturer and all around general failure British Leyland was absolutely desperate to fix its seemingly endless list of problems. The company had now garnered a reputation for creating some of the worst, most outdated cars of all time, the likes of the Morris Marina, the Austin Allegro and the Triumph TR7 being derided in both critical and customer reviews. A mixture of strike action by uncontrollable Trade Unions led by the infamous Red Robbo had meant that cars were only put together for a few hours per day on a three day week. As such, reliability was atrocious on a biblical scale, be it mechanical, cosmetic or electrical.

 

As such, in 1979, British Leyland began talks with Japanese car manufacturer Honda to try and help improve the reliability of their machines. The pioneer of this brave new deal was the Triumph Acclaim of 1980, BL’s first reliable car and not a bad little runabout. Basically a rebadged Honda Ballade, the Acclaim wasn’t meant to set the world ablaze, but it certainly helped get the company back onto people’s driveways, selling reasonably well thanks to its reliable mechanics (even if rust was something of an issue). As such, BL decided that from now on it would give its fleet a complete overhaul, basing their new models on Japanese equivalents. From 1984, the Rover 200 arrived on the scene, again, a rebadged Honda Ballade, while the Maestro and the Montego ranges also took on several tips from their Japanese counterparts, though they were primarily based on British underpinnings.

 

The Rover 800 however spawned quite early on, in 1981 to be exact. Following the catastrophic failure of the Rover SD1 in the American market, which only sold 774 cars before Rover removed itself from the USA altogether, the company was desperate to get another foothold across the pond. As such, the new project, dubbed project XX, would be the icing on the cake in terms of British Leyland’s fleet overhaul, a smooth and sophisticated executive saloon to conquer the world. However, plans were pushed back after the launch of the Montego and the Maestro, and thus project XX wouldn’t see the light of day again until about 1984.

 

Still in production and suffering from being long-in-the-tooth, the Rover SD1 was now coming up on 10 years old, and though a sublime car in terms of style and performance, it was now struggling in sales. Rover really needed to replace this golden oldie, and thus project XX was back on. In the usual fashion, Honda was consulted, and it was decided that the car would be based on that company’s own executive saloon, the Honda Legend. Jointly developed at Rover’s Cowley plant and Honda’s Tochigi development centre, both cars shared the same core structure and floorplan, but they each had their own unique exterior bodywork and interior. Under the agreement, Honda would supply the V6 petrol engine, both automatic and manual transmissions and the chassis design, whilst BL would provide the 4-cylinder petrol engine and much of the electrical systems. The agreement also included that UK-market Honda Legends would be built at the Cowley Plant, and the presence of the Legend in the UK would be smaller than that of the Rover 800, with profits from the 800 shared between the two companies.

 

Launched on July 10th, 1986, the Rover 800 was welcomed with warm reviews regarding its style, its performance and its reliability. Though driving performance was pretty much the same as the Honda Legend, what put the Rover above its Japanese counterpart was its sheer internal elegance and beauty, combined with a differing external design that borrowed cues from the outgoing SD1. The 800 also provided the company with some much-needed optimism, especially following the gradual breakup of British Leyland by the Thatcher Government between 1980 and 1986.

 

Following her election in 1979, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took a no nonsense attitude to the striking unions, and the best form of defence was attack. To shave millions from the deficit, she reduced government spending on nationalised companies such as British Airways, British Coal Board, British Steel and British Leyland by selling them to private ownership. For British Leyland, the slow breakup of the company started with the sale of Leyland Trucks and Buses to DAF of Holland and Volvo, respectively. 1984 saw Jaguar made independent and later bought by Ford, but when rumours circulated that the remains of British Leyland would be sold to foreign ownership, share prices crashed, and the company was privatised and put into the hands of British Aerospace on the strict understanding that the company could not be sold again for four years. With this move, British Leyland was renamed Rover Group, the Austin badge being dropped, and the only remaining brands left being the eponymous Rover and sporty MG.

 

In the light of this tumultuous period, many of Rover and MG’s projects had to be scrapped in light of turbulent share prices and income, these projects including the Austin AR16 family car range (based largely off the Rover 800) and the MG EX-E supercar. The Rover 800 however was the first model to be released by the company following privatisation, and doing well initially in terms of sales, hopes were high that the Rover 800 would herald the end of the company’s troubled spell under British Leyland. The Rover 800 was planned to spearhead multiple Rover ventures, including a return to the US-market in the form of the Sterling, and a coupe concept to beat the world, the sublime Rover CCV.

 

However, British Leyland may have been gone, but their management and its incompetence remained. Rather than taking the formation of Rover Group as a golden opportunity to clean up the company’s act, to the management it was business as usual, and the Rover 800 began to suffer as a consequence. A lack of proper quality control and a cost-cutting attitude meant that despite all the Japanese reliability that had been layered on these machines in the design stage, the cars were still highly unreliable when they left the factory.

 

Perhaps the biggest sentiment to the 800’s failure was the Sterling in America. The Sterling had been named as such due to Rover’s reputation being tarnished by the failure of the unreliable SD1. Initial sales were very promising with the Sterling, a simple design with oodles of luxury that was price competitive with family sedan’s such as the Ford LTD and the Chevy Caprice. However, once the problems with reliability and quality began to rear their heads, sales plummeted and the Sterling very quickly fell short of its sales quota, only selling 14,000 of the forecast 30,000 cars per annum. Sales dropped year by year until eventually the Sterling brand was axed in 1991.

 

With the death of the Sterling came the death of the CCV, a luxury motor that had already won over investors in both Europe and the USA. The fantastic design that had wooed the American market and was ready to go on sale across the States was axed unceremoniously in 1987, and with it any attempt to try and capture the American market ever again.

 

In 1991, Rover Group, seeing their sales were still tumbling, and with unreliable callbacks to British Leyland like the Maestro and Montego still on sale, the company decided to have yet another shakeup to try and refresh its image. The project, dubbed R17, went back to the company’s roots of grand old England, and the Rover 800 was the first to feel its touch. The R17 facelift saw the 800’s angular lines smoothed with revised light-clusters, a low-smooth body, and the addition of a grille, attempting to harp back to the likes of the luxurious Rover P5 of the 1960’s. Engines were also updated, with the previous M16 Honda engine being replaced by a crisp 2.0L T16, which gave the car some good performance. The car was also made available in a set of additional ranges, including a coupe and the sport Vitesse, complete with a higher performance engine.

 

Early reviews of the R17 800 were favourable, many critics lauding its design changes and luxurious interior, especially given its price competitiveness against comparable machines such as the Vauxhall Omega and the Ford Mondeo. Even Jeremy Clarkson, a man who fervently hated Rover and everything it stood for, couldn’t help but give it a good review on Top Gear. However, motoring critics were quick to point out the fact that by this time Honda was really starting to sell heavily in the UK and Europe, and people now asked themselves why they’d want to buy the Rover 800, a near carbon-copy of the Honda Legend, for twice the price but equal performance. Wood and leather furnishings are very nice, but not all motorists are interested in that, some are just interested in a reliable and practical machine to run around in.

 

As such, the Rover 800’s sales domestically were very good, it becoming the best-selling car in the UK for 1992, but in Europe not so much. Though Rover 800’s did make it across the Channel, the BMW 5-Series and other contemporary European models had the market sown up clean, and the Rover 800 never truly made an impact internationally. On average, the car sold well in the early 1990’s, but as time went on the car’s place in the market fell to just over 10,000 per year by 1995. Rover needed another shake-up, and the Rover 75 did just that.

 

In 1994, Rover Group was sold to BMW, and their brave new star to get the company back in the good books of the motoring public was the Rover 75, an executive saloon to beat the world. With this new face in the company’s showrooms, the Rover 800 and its 10 year old design was put out to grass following its launch in 1998. Selling only around 6,500 cars in its final full year of production, the Rover 800 finished sales in 1999 and disappeared, the last relic of the British Leyland/Honda tie up from the 1980’s.

 

Today the Rover 800 finds itself under a mixed reception. While some argue that it was the last true Rover before the BMW buyout, others will fervently deride it as a Honda with a Rover badge, a humiliation of a Rover, and truly the point where the company lost its identity. I personally believe it to be a magnificent car, a car with purpose, a car with promise, but none of those promises fulfilled. It could have truly been the face of a new Rover in the late 1980’s, and could have returned the company to the front line of the motoring world, at least in Britain. But sadly, management incompetence won again for the British motor industry, and the Rover 800 ended its days a lukewarm reminder that we really didn’t know a good thing until it was gone.

Rīga

 

In the NL we don't have such marketlpaces, so it was quite facinating to see this. Here is some info about it:

 

Riga Central Market (Latvian: Rīgas Centrāltirgus) is Europe's largest market and bazaar in Riga, Latvia. It is one of the most notable structures from 20th century in Latvia and has been included in UNESCO World Heritage Site list together with Old Riga in 1998. It was planned from 1922 and built from 1924 to 1930. The main structures of the market are five pavilions constructed by reusing old German Zeppelin hangars and incorporating Neoclassicism and Art Deco styles. The market is 72,300 square metres (778,000 sq ft) wide with more than 3,000 trade stands.

 

Produce has been sold on the banks of Daugava since 1571 and in 1863 trade stand rows were built. On December 18, 1922, Riga City Council decided to move the crowded and highly unsanitary Daugavmala Market to a new enclosed location in conformity with hygienic and economic requirements. The market's plan was selected in an international competition. One of the highest prizes was received by Riga's architect Pāvils Dreijmanis and engineer S. Žitkovs collaborative proposal to reuse metal frameworks from World War I German Zeppelin hangars Walhalla and Walther used in Vaiņode Air Base. The initial large structure design was impractical due to their size and weather conditions and the new buildings only used the top parts of the hangar design. The buildings themselves were constructed from stone and reinforced concrete.

 

The construction started in June 1924 and finished in autumn 1930, taking seven years instead of planned five as construction halted during 1926–1928 due to financial problems. The development was overseen by the city council's marketing department head Klāvs Lorencs. The overseeing architects were Pāvils Dreijmanis and P. Pavlovs together with engineers V. Isajevs and G. Tolstojs. The construction was carried out by stock company "Construction" (Latvian: a/s "Būve") and market's construction office under the supervision of V. Isajevs. Riga paid nearly 5 million Latvian rublis to the state property commission. This was at the time the biggest project in Europe spanning 57,000 square metres (610,000 sq ft). Five pavilions were envisioned with the largest 5,000 square metres (54,000 sq ft) hangar for wholesale and meat processing and smaller ones for retail. Four of them are located side by side and the biggest, fifth, was built perpendicular to them. All buildings had modern central heating and electric lighting. The complex was built in Art Deco style. A wide basement was built under the hangars for storage. Up to 310,000 kilograms (680,000 lb) of goods could be stored in the 27 freezers in 1938. In 1961, during Soviet time, almost 700 metric tons (690 long tons; 770 short tons) of goods could be stored. The products were moved topside with cranes without disturbing traffic and sellers. The basement has three underground tunnels connecting to the adjacent river bank. Retail sales began November 10, 1930, the same day Daugavmala Market closed. Even before the opening, hangars were used for various expositions and shows during the first half of the year.

 

Although the Central Market was three times the size of the Daugavmala Market, the majority of space was occupied by offices, warehouses and basements. The rent per square meters exceeded that of other markets and locations. Retail sellers could not afford the rent and wholesale merchants could not place their workers. This gave rise to high prices. This was solved by making an open-air 1,370 square metres (14,700 sq ft) roofed porch, with a 170 horse team capacity. In 1938 a separate horse stable opened. In 1936 the most modern bird slaughterhouse in the state opened.

 

Juris Dambis, head of the State Inspection for Heritage Protection, says "When Riga Central Market was first opened on November 2, 1930, it was the largest and the most progressive marketplace on earth." During the 1930s the market pavilions were one of the main tourist attractions. A wide and cheap array of produce was available for degustation. Tourists from Germany and England highly appreciated the butter and bacon. The fish pavilion was especially attractive with large, colourful aquariums. The large number of tourists furthered the Central Markets reputation as one of the more grandiose buildings in Europe.

 

The market was not affected by the first Soviet occupation in 1940. However, the Nazi German occupation lasted for three and a half years. Farmers were not allowed to freely sell their produce and were forced to supply the German Army and the market sold only limited amounts. Beginning September 1, 1941, food cards were required for purchase. During these years first roof repairs were carried out on May 30, 1942. The market's territory was readjusted to be suitable for war times. The two pavilions closest to the Daugava were converted into housing the German 726th supply unit's vehicle engine repair shop. A fire hazardous lumber storage was set nearby to necessitate Opel. Three repair shop office barracks were planned, but only one was active prior to the 1944

 

During the Soviet occupation, the market was renamed Central Kolkhoz Market (Latvian: Centrālais Kolhozu tirgus) in 1949. The Soviet press praised the market as one of the best markets in the Soviet Union. In 1950 nine out of ten farms were unified in kolkhozes during the agriculture collectivisation and by 1961 the majority of goods were supplied collectively by 60 kolkhozes. Daily about 50-70 thousand customers shopped at the market — up to 100 thousand during weekends. 1961 market statistics showed sells of 200,000 metric tons (200,000 long tons; 220,000 short tons) of poultry, 768,000 litres (169,000 imp gal; 203,000 US gal) of milk, about 7 million eggs, and more than 22,000 metric tons (22,000 long tons; 24,000 short tons) of vegetables and fruits.

 

In the 1980s the market's ammonia based refrigerating plants were replaced with freon machinery. The low-pressure steam heating system was swapped with a connection to the city's central heating system. In 1983 the fruit and vegetable pavilion caught fire, which spread to peat insulation and lasted for tens of hours. In 1987 rat problems were solved in the market.

 

On October 18, 1983, the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic's Council of Ministers announced the market as a cultural heritage site. Shortly after Latvia regained independence 1991, market director Leonīds Lapoško showed that the market was in dire condition, especially underground. On January 3, 1995, the city council established stock company Riga Central Market (Latvian: a/s Rīgas Centrāltirgus). In the next half year it merged with Riga Market Company (Latvian: Rīgas tirgus) to form a combined location between the central market's pavilions and outside street bazaar. In August 1998 Riga City Council rented the outside market territory until 2045.

 

In 1998 the market territory, together with Old Riga, were included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. The market's pavilions are five of nine Zeppelin hangars remaining in the world.

gp500.org

GP500 motorcycle windshields

 

Kawasaki Motorcycle History

Kawasaki emerged out of the ashes of the second World War to become one of the big players from Japan. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Kawasaki built a reputation for some of the most powerful engines on two wheels, spawning legendary sportbikes like the Ninja series and a line of championship-winning off-road bikes. .1896

The company is founded by Shozo Kawasaki. His firm will come to be known as Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Over time, the company’s principal areas of activity will be shipbuilding, railroad rolling stock, and electrical generating plants. Motorcycles will become a small part of this diversified industrial conglomerate. 1960

Kawasaki signs agreement to take over Meguro motorcycles, a major player in the nascent Japanese motorcycle manufacturing business. Meguro is one of the only Japanese companies making a 500cc bike. In England and the UK, Meguro’s 500 – which bears a strong resemblance to the BSA A7 – is derided as a cheap copy. But in fact, it is a pretty high-quality bike. 1961

Kawasaki produces its first complete motorcycle – the B8 125cc two-stroke. 1962

A series of the two-stroke models from 50-250cc is released. The 250cc disc-valve ‘Samurai’ attracts notice in the U.S. 1966

The 650W1 is released and is the biggest bike made in Japan at the time. It’s inspired by the BSA A10. Over the next few years it will get twin carbs, and high pipes for a ‘scrambler’ version. 1969

Dave Simmonds gives Kawasaki its first World Championship, in the 125cc class

The striking Kawasaki H1 (aka Mach III) a 500cc three-cylinder two-stroke is released. Although its handling leaves something to be desired, the motor is very powerful for the day. It’s one of the quickest production bikes in the quarter-mile. The Mach III establishes Kawasaki’s reputation in the U.S. (In particular, it establishes a reputation for powerful and somewhat antisocial motorcycles!) A wonderful H1R production racer is also released – a 500cc racing bike.

Over the next few years, larger and smaller versions of the H1, including the S1 (250cc) S2 (350cc) and H2 (750cc) will be released. They’re successful in the marketplace, and the H2R 750cc production racer is also successful on the race track, but Kawasaki knows that the days of the two-stroke streetbike are coming to an end.

The company plans to release a four-stroke, but is shocked by the arrival of the Honda 750-Four. Kawasaki goes back to the drawing board.

1973

The first new four-stroke since the W1 is released. It’s worth the wait. The 900cc Z1 goes one up on the Honda 750 with more power and double overhead cams. Over the next few years, its capacity will increase slightly and it will be rebadged the Z-1000. 1978

Kork Ballington wins the 250cc and 350cc World Championships with fore-and-aft parallel-Twin racers (Rotax also built racing motors in this configuration. Ballington will repeat the feat in ’79. In 1980 he will finish second in the premier 500cc class. Anton Mang takes over racing duties in the 250 and 350 classes, and he will win four more titles over the next three years. This is the most successful period for Kawasaki in the World Championship.

Kawasaki’s big-bore KZ1300 is released. Honda and Benelli have already released six-cylinder bikes by this time, but Kawasaki’s specification includes water cooling and shaft drive. To underline the efficiency of the cooling system, its launch is held in Death Valley. Despite its substantial weight, journalists are impressed.

Over the next few years, the KZ1300 will get digital fuel injection and a full-dress touring version will be sold as the ‘Voyager.’ This model is marketed as “a car without doors”!

1981

Eddie Lawson wins the AMA Superbike championship for Kawasaki after an epic battle with Honda’s Freddie Spencer. He will repeat as champion the following year.

Kawasaki releases the GPz550. It’s air-cooled and has only two valves per cylinder, but its performance threatens the 750cc machines of rival manufacturers. This is the bike that launches the 600 class.

1983

The liquid-cooled four-valve GPz900R ‘Ninja’ is shown to the motorcycle press for the first time at Laguna Seca. They’re stunned. 1985

James “Bubba” Stewart, Jr. is born. Kawasaki supplies his family with Team Green diapers. 1989

The first ‘ZXR’-designated bikes reach the market. They are 750cc and 400cc race replicas. 1990

The ZX-11 is launched and features a 1052cc engine. It is the first production motorcycle with ram-air induction and the fastest production bike on the market. 1991

The ZXR750R begins a four year run as the top bike in the FIM Endurance World Championship. 1993

Scott Russell wins the World Superbike Championship, much to Carl Fogarty’s dismay. 2000

The ZX-12R is released – the new flagship of the ZX series. 2002

Bubba Stewart wins AMA 125 MX championship. 2003

Stewart is AMA 125 West SX champ. “What the heck is he doing on the jumps?” people wonder. It’s the “Bubba Scrub.”

In a daring move that acknowledges that only a small percentage of supersports motorcycles are ever actually raced, Kawasaki ups the capacity of the ZX-6R to 636cc. Ordinary riders welcome a noticeable increase in mid-range power, and the bike is the king of the ‘real world’ middleweights.

2004

Stewart wins the AMA 125 East SX title, and the 125cc outdoor championship. There are only one or two riders on 250s who lap any faster than he does on the little bikes.

Just when we thought motorcycles couldn’t get any crazier, the ZX-10R is released. OMG, the power!

2007

Although his transition to the big bikes hasn’t been as smooth as many expected it to be, Stewart wins the 2007 AMA SX championship. 2008

Kawasaki gives the Concours a much-needed revamp in the Concours 14. Sharing the 1352cc engine from the ZX-14, it’s touted as the ultimate sport touring motorcycle.

While they’re at it, Kawasaki also decides to give the Ninja 250 and KLR 650 major updates, after years of inactivity.