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Singapore Zoo ranks consistently (after San Diego Zoo) as one of the best in the world.
African red river hogs (Potamochoerus porcus), or bush pigs, have striking orange-brown fur and prominent facial whiskers.
For the story, please visit: www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/travel/teeth-claws-and-colou...
We'd climbed to ~450 m asl in consistently dense cloud, but once on the tops, occasional breaks gave beautiful glimpses of Whinlatter Forest on the adjacent hillside.
The movement in the clouds was facinating: the overall cloud banks were ponderous shifting from left to right, but individual tendrils swirled chaotically in all directions; a very dynamic scene, which I could have studied for hours.
I dropped the saturation to reduce distracting chromatic noise and slightly boosted the contrast, but apart from freezing the motion, this photo really is as I saw it.
Better On Black?
It was so dark when I took this. He's consistently easier to find in the evening. So probably won't be the last shot of him after the sun disappears behind the hill (possibly named Mount Waverley).
Geek speak - if not interested in observations / comparing Nikon D7200 & 200-500mm vs Oly E-M1 & Pana 100-400mm .. don't read further :-)
Taken hand-held at 1/20th in no light with the D7200. Cropped, no other edits. This D7200 & 200-500mm system continue to impress me very much. After spending the weekend with the light-and-easy-to-carry E-M1 and 100-400mm. The two systems achieve very similar focal lengths. Nikon FF equiv. 300-750mm, F5.6. Panasonic FF equiv 200-800mm, F6.3. But the weight difference is very significant. I hardly even notice the E-M1 & 100-400mm when hiking. Bought these mainly for cycling and remote locations. I've tried riding with the Nikon kit. While possible, it's impractical.
After a weekend with the E-M1 and brand-new Panasonic 100-400mm I am able to make a few observations. Some positive, others not so, usually overlooked by reviewers. I should write a blog on these.
Let's be positive:
* Great image quality (so sharp and nice colours when focussed properly; good background bokeh; reasonably resistant to flare);
* Compact, light, beautiful build quality;
* Should be able to go almost anywhere;
* The Panasonic 100-400mm VR is very capable - can easily hand-hold at equiv 800mm at 1/30 - and proved much more effective than the Olympus E-M1 built-in 5 axis IBIS. (After comparing I turned off the in-body system and used that in the lens).
Unfortunately there are a couple of negatives:
* Almost useless for inflight photography. Some reviewers try to convince themselves that mirrorless cameras (and the E-M1 in particular) can begin to compete with SLR's even comparing them to the Canon 7DII. Those reviewers have confused themselves and anyone who reads those rumours .. very badly .. indeed. The E-M1 is a very poor choice for in-flight or sport photography. It only takes 1 minute with a D7200 after a weekend with an E-M1 to notice how incredibly significant the focussing performance gap is between the "new mirrorless" and "trusty old DSLR" systems still is;
* On a few crucial occasions the in-lens VR seemed not to wake up from sleep quickly. I'd be trying to get it to focus on the bird and the bird would be floating around in the viewfinder. Maybe this is just a quirk of this brand-new Panasonic lens on the Olympus E-M1 body. Or maybe it's more serious. Hopefully it can be fixed in firmware updates. It didn't happen frequently, just often enough to leave one doubting that one would get the crucial shot if the right bird suddenly appeared.
* Focus is frequently missed even when the camera "locks" in AF-S. This , again, might be an Olympus-vs-Panasonic issue. Hopefully also rectified in firmware.. one day.
To conclude: it's a compromise. I'd use the Nikon system 9 out of 10 times. But for travel and/or cycling or if one simply wants to take a quick run with a light kit, the micro-four-thirds system is a winner.
DeGrazia consistently used seven colors to create drama and emotional appeal: brown, black, vermilion, blue, lemon yellow and brown yellow as seen in “Yucca Camp, Monument Valley”, oil on canvas, 1970.
Over the last 20 years the State of California has consistently cut funding each year for arts education in its public schools. Several years ago, arts were eliminated all together. The reaction to this from the artistic community was to raise funds privately, which are used specifically to fund arts education for k through 12 schools. Art for all the Kids is one of the most successful programs of this type in Southern California. Each year hundreds of artists donate artwork to the program, and thousands of donors purchase the works, raising millions of dollars for arts education.
18 artists are selected each year to design and create the program's signature hearts. Artists are provided with an 18inch tall polymer foam heart and may do whatever they want with it. The hearts are displayed in public spaces around the area and are part of very effective public promotion effort for the fundraising event.
2Roses' piece is "Secrets of the Heart.
21 vaults of different shapes were carved into the body of the heart, and a working vault door was fabricated from copper for each shape. The interior of the vaults was gilded in gold.
Each vault contains a special object.
The secret objects are highly metaphorical and taken individually and/or in conjunction with each other, will speak to the personal life events of everyone who sees them.
© all rights reserved
Ph.: Orarossa - Ascoli Piceno, Italy
Make: NIKON
Model: D810
Data Time: 21/05/2016 - 17:54
Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec
Exposure Program: P
F-Stop: f/3,2
ISO Speed Ratings: 125
Focal Length: 85 mm
Flash: ON
Commento:
Da ricerche effettuate da Don Virgilio Cognoli, (pubblicate in un suo libro) e dalla signora Patrizia Castelli (la cui tesi di laurea ha come oggetto i mulini ad acqua dell’alta Valle del Tronto), già nel 1504 un mulino è situato sul fosso di Piedicava, detto anche di fosso di Annicciano (in rigo de Pede Cavarum sive lu Rigo d’Anniciano); Cicco Luce di Torre Affinili ne vende la propria nona parte ad Antonio Mariani e soci de Pede Cavarum.
Nel 1693, Donna Argeria di Piedicava, acquista il diritto sul fosso di Piedicava, da capo parato al mulino, per rimettere in piedi l’esercizio e macinare grano nel fosso del "Rivo del Stallo di Piedicava" vicino alla villa di Piedicava.
Nel 1828 detto mulino è riportato attivo nell’elenco trovato nell’archivio storico del comune di Acquasanta Terme.
L’opificio al 1° gennaio 1835, costituito dal solo piano terra, con un solo palmento (macina) ed annessa gualchiera (macchina idraulica con magli per follare tessuti e pelli e conferire loro una consistenza simile al feltro), era intestato al Sig. Parnarelli Gaetano Saverio.
In vista del ripristino della tassa sul macinato, compare nell’elenco redatto il 4 settembre 1867 dal comune di Acquasanta terme, descritto come molino da grano con una ruota, posto in contrada sotto Piedicava, il cui proprietario era il Sig. Vannarelli Salvatore.
Nel 1913 il mulino di Piedicava fu acquistato da Angelini Luigi Raffaele detto Ernesto (mio nonno) che, in vista di una maggiore produzione lo ampliò portandolo da una a due macine e per esigenze abitative della sua famiglia lo sopraelevò, realizzando l’abitazione al primo piano.
Nel 1914, come riportato dalla scritta originale sulla "matrimonia" (tramoggia), riprese l’attività che fu proseguita poi dal figlio Guido (mio padre), ininterrottamente fino alla fine degli anni sessanta, del secolo scorso.
Con l’avvento dell’era industriale, l’attività è andata scemando fino a divenire inesistente, il mulino però non ha mai smesso di funzionare, perché mio padre con caparbietà, passione e consapevolezza di avere un bene da salvaguardare, ha continuato anche se saltuariamente, a macinare e a fare tutte le manutenzioni di cui aveva bisogno.
È stato soprattutto in quegli anni, aiutando mio padre, che anche in me è tornata fuori quella passione e quella consapevolezza (avute fin da piccolo, visto che li ci sono nato), così quando lui è venuto a mancare, sono rimasto forse, l’ultimo vero mugnaio della zona, continuando l’attività di famiglia da oltre cento anni.
For more info:
Bordes de Beixalis, Vila, Encamp, Vall d'Orient Andorra, Pyrenees - (c) Lutz Meyer
More Beixalis & Encamp parroquia: Follow the group links at right side.
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We offer 200.000+ photos of Andorra and North of Spain. 20.000+ visable here at Flickr. Its the largest professional image catalog of Andorra: all regions, all cities and villages, all times, all seasons, all weather(s). Consistent for additional advanced programming. For smartphones and web-db. REAL TIME!
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I'm going to try to consistently post 2 photographs a week this year. I'm always afraid to post art for that may be seen as trite or not comparing to other photographers. I've finally resided to the fact I will never be the best and that's not what I strive it be. Somethings, you just have to do to keep your sanity. These are 13 I intend to keep it this year:
1. Appreciate Mother Nature more. Use what's already been produced, recycle what can be used again, and stop lusting over shiny objects. Everything I need, the earth has provided.
2. Talk to more strangers; find out about other people.
3. Be still and ask why instead of how.
4. Use social media less. There's an entire world happening outside and we could all put down our screens and just stare for awhile.
5. Write more. Get those thoughts on to paper.
6. Be vulnerable with others. Humility is something I lack.
7. Read more. Listen without responding to stories.
8. Truly appreciate diversity among personalities. I refuse to see only the worst in people.
9. Sing in the morning. Sing in the car. Sing in the shower. Sing while I play ukulele. Find a song and tuck it in my heart.
10. Be more positive. Counteract every negative thought with a positive one.
11. Strike up meaningful conversations. Everyone wants to talk and someone has to listen.
12. Take a road trip somewhere and document every beautiful thing that I see.
Inspiration found here ---> www.flickr.com/photos/sealegssnapshots/8087189217/in/fave...
Doom: What really eats at me is how all these blind fools consistently fail to see how their petty, insignificant lives can only ever hope to ever serve any sort of a real worthwhile purpose if they were to totally submit to my will!
It should be obvious that I am in every way their better, and the better of their so-called "leaders"! Yet still, they oppose me at every turn, rather than assist me with achieving the godhood that I and only I so richly deserve!
The people of my homeland of Latveria have done nothing but benefit immensely from my years of guidance, from my wisdom, my boundless ingenuity! The whole world, NAY - the whole COSMOS, could benefit in an identical fashion if they would only stop with their useless resistance and serve the indomitable will of DOOM! Why can't they see this, Deanna? WHY? How it frustrates me! How they test the limits of my benevolence! I know I shouldn't care so much about the feelings of my inferiors, of these insects, these mere worms, and yet it is the measure of my magnanimity that I DO care!
Troi:....
Doom: Speechless, Councilor? Behold how the glory of my oration has struck even the comely councilor of Betazed dumb! Truly, Doom is a god among men!
Thanks for taking time out of your days to consistently look at my photos. I really appreciate it!
Have a beautiful day my friends!
Check out my drum video that I have posted on Youtube here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSwjxC_Jd0U&feature=plcp&...
Taken with my Sony a300 with my Tamron SP AF60mm f/2 DI II LD (IF) 1:1 Macro Lens
Taken at Missouri Botanical Gardens
Please also consider joining my group Flickr Bronze Trophy Group!
Here is the link:
Visita nuestro Blog de Semana Santa en:
asociacionredobles.blogspot.com
Actos que se van a desarrollar durante la conmemoración del 200º aniversario del
rescate del Cristo de la Cama, consistente en el traslado de la Imagen desde la Iglesia
de Santa Isabel de Portugal (vulgo San Cayetano) a la Basílica del Pilar.
El rescate se produjo el 17 de febrero de 1809 del Convento de San Francisco, lo que
actualmente es la Diputación Provincial. El día 10 los franceses volaron el Convento,
que era defendido por unos cuantos aragoneses y por los voluntarios de Valencia. El
día 17, María Blánquez entro en el convento y vio que todos los pasos que
procesionan en Semana santa, quince en total, estaban destruidos, salvo el Santísimo
Cristo de la Cama, que estaba indemne en su Capilla de la Hermandad. Salió a la
calle, cogió a cuatro hombres, volvió a entrar al convento y todos ellos cogieron al
Cristo de la cama. Lo llevaron primero a la parroquia de la santa Cruz, después a la
de Santiago y finalmente al Palacio Arzobispal, lugar en donde vivía el general
Palafox, que enfermo lo venero y ordeno fuera llevado al interior de la Basílica del
Pilar, siendo colocado en el Altar de los convertido mirando a su Madre, la virgen del
Pilar.
Este hecho es el que conmemoramos.
A las 18´00 horas se oirá en la Ciudad de Zaragoza a los Artilleros de Aragón
anunciando el comienzo de la procesión cívico religiosa.
Con la salida desde San Cayetano de la Bandera de la Hermandad de la Sangre de
Cristo dará comienzo la procesión, encontrándose el resto de participantes ubicados
en la plaza. Seguidamente saldrá la peana, portada a varal, del Cristo de la Cama. Lo
hará con un toque preparado para la ocasión por la Sección de Tambores de la
Hermandad de San Joaquín y Virgen de los Dolores. Una vez que nuestro Cristo de la
Cama este en la plaza sonara el Himno Nacional interpretado al órgano por Ignacio
Navarro Gil.
Finalizado el himno, se descubrirá una placa en cerámica de Muel, promovida por la
Asociación Cultural Redobles. Dicha placa será descubierta por el Ilmo. Sr. D.
Francisco Javier Lambán Montañés, o persona en quien en delegue, acompañado por
el Hermano Mayor de la Hermandad de la Sangre de Cristo. A la vez que se descubre
la placa, don José Antonio Armillas, Comisario del Bicentenario glosara brevemente
la figura de María Blánquez y lo que ella significo.
Finalizado este acto, dará comienzo en sí el desfile.
Por la calle Manifestación, calle Alfonso y calle Coso, nos dirigiremos a la plaza de
España, en donde se realiza el segundo acto del desfile. Este consiste en depositar dos
coronas de laurel. La primera en la placa que recuerda al Convento de San Francisco
y la segunda en el monumento a los Mártires.
La del Convento de San Francisco será portada por mujeres ataviadas con el traje
regional, en recuerdo y homenaje a María Blánquez. Entregada por don Francisco
Javier Lambán Montañés (o persona en quién delegue), le acompañaran el
Comandante Militar de Zaragoza, General Juan Pinto y el Hermano Mayor de la
Sangre de Cristo. La recibirán dos soldados del Batallón Pardos de Aragón.
La segunda corona, la entregara don Juan Alberto Belloch Julve (o persona en quién
delegue), acompañado también por el Comandante Militar y el Hermano Mayor,
siendo recibida por dos soldados del Batallón de Infantería Voluntarios de Aragón.
Durante este acto sonara en la plaza el Carillón de la Diputación Provincial con
marchas alusivas a los Sitios.
Finalizado el acto, continuaremos el desfile en dirección a la Plaza de la Seo por calle
don Jaime, calle Mayor, calle Dormer, calle Cisne y calle Cuellar.
En la plaza de la Seo se realiza el tercer y último acto. Consiste en una breve
alocución del General Pinto, Comandante Militar de Zaragoza y Teruel, en recuerdo
y homenaje del General Palafox. A Su conclusión, el Batallón de Infantería
Voluntarios de Aragón hará una descarga de fusilería.
Ya para finalizar, nos encaminaremos a la plaza del Pilar, finalizando el desfile,
alrededor de las 20´30 horas, con la entrada del Cristo de la Cama en la Basílica, en
donde permanecerá hasta el miércoles 25 de febrero.
Finalizado el desfile y por lo tanto el traslado, la Hermandad de la Sangre de Cristo
realizara una ofrenda a la Virgen del Pilar.
La Hermandad de la Sangre de Cristo, con el fin de dar mayor realce a este
acontecimiento histórico, ha invitado a participar a todos aquellos Ayuntamientos e
Instituciones galardonados con la Medalla del Bicentenario “Defensor de Zaragoza”,
distinción que también ha obtenido la propia Hermandad. Han confirmado su
asistencia una representación de los Ayuntamientos de Alcañiz, Barbastro, Calatayud,
Cariñena, Chelva, Huesca, Jaca, monzón y Valencia. También han confirmado su
participación los Artilleros de Aragón, Batallón Pardos de Aragón, Batallón de
Infantería Ligera Voluntarios de Aragón, la Asociación Cultural Royo del Rabal
(ronda y escenificación de personajes históricos de la época), la Asociación Cultural
Los Sitios (personajes históricos de la época), la Hermandad de San Juan de la Peña,
la Cofradía del Santo Sepulcro, la Hermandad del santo Refugio, la Real Ilustre
Congregación de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Madrid y la Real Maestranza de
Caballería.
La parte musical durante el desfile correrá a cargo de la Banda de Guerra de la
Brigada de Caballería Castillejos II, de la Banda Música de la Academia General
Militar y la Ronda de jotas de la Asociación Cultural el Rabal. Durante el desfile y
con el fin de que los peaneros lleven el ritmo adecuado, les acompaña un piquete de
diez instrumentos, cuyos miembros son de la cofradía de la Institución de la Sagrada
Eucaristía, que lo harán sin los distintivos propios de la Cofradía.
Cabe destacar el estreno de una marcha procesional en las calles de Zaragoza. La
primera y ultima pieza que interprete la Banda de Música será la Marcha al Cristo de
la Cama, cuyo autor es don Abel Moreno y que fue donada a la Hermandad por la
Asociación para el Estudio de la Semana Santa.
Ernesto Millán Lázaro
Hermano Mayor
Hermandad Sangre de Cristo
Every good gift bestowed, every perfect gift received comes to us from above, courtesy of the Father of lights. He is consistent. He won’t change His mind or play tricks in the shadows.
James 1: 17 (The Voice)
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent Duffy Square, Times Square is a bowtie-shaped plaza five blocks long between 42nd and 47th Streets.
Times Square is brightly lit by numerous digital billboards and advertisements as well as businesses offering 24/7 service. One of the world's busiest pedestrian areas, it is also the hub of the Broadway Theater District and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily, many of them tourists, while over 460,000 pedestrians walk through Times Square on its busiest days. The Times Square–42nd Street and 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal stations have consistently ranked as the busiest in the New York City Subway system, transporting more than 200,000 passengers daily.
Formerly known as Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the then newly erected Times Building, now One Times Square. It is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop, which began on December 31, 1907, and continues to attract over a million visitors to Times Square every year, in addition to a worldwide audience of one billion or more on various digital media platforms.
Times Square, specifically the intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street, is the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States for motorized vehicles. Times Square is sometimes referred to as "the Crossroads of the World" and "the heart of the Great White Way".
Times Square functions as a town square, but is not geometrically a square. It is closer in shape to a bowtie, with two triangles emanating roughly north and south from 45th Street, where Seventh Avenue intersects Broadway. Broadway similarly intersects other north–south avenues at Union Square, Madison Square, Herald Square, and Verdi Square, none of which are squares. The area is bounded by West 42nd street, West 47th street, 7th Avenue, and Broadway. Broadway runs diagonally, crossing through the horizontal and vertical street grid of Manhattan laid down by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, and that intersection creates the "bowtie" shape of Times Square.
Times Square is the official name of the southern triangle, below 45th Street. The northern triangle is officially known as Duffy Square and was dedicated in June 1939 to honor World War I chaplain Father Francis P. Duffy of the 69th New York Infantry Regiment. A statue by Charles Keck was dedicated in May 1937 as a memorial to Duffy. There is also a statue of composer and entertainer George M. Cohan, and the TKTS discount ticket booth for same-day Broadway and off-Broadway theaters that has been at the site since June 1973
New York, often called New York City or simply NYC, is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each of which is coextensive with a respective county. It is a global city and a cultural, financial, high-tech, entertainment, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care, scientific output, life sciences, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, and is sometimes described as the world's most important city and the capital of the world.
With an estimated population in 2022 of 8,335,897 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. New York is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area. With more than 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York City is one of the world's most populous megacities. The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. In 2021, the city was home to nearly 3.1 million residents born outside the U.S., the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world.
New York City traces its origins to Fort Amsterdam and a trading post founded on the southern tip of Manhattan Island by Dutch colonists in approximately 1624. The settlement was named New Amsterdam (Dutch: Nieuw Amsterdam) in 1626 and was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under English control in 1664 and was renamed New York after King Charles II granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. The city was temporarily regained by the Dutch in July 1673 and was renamed New Orange; however, the city has been named New York since November 1674. New York City was the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. The modern city was formed by the 1898 consolidation of its five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island, and has been the largest U.S. city ever since.
Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City has been called both the world's premier financial and fintech center and the most economically powerful city in the world. As of 2022, the New York metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan economy in the world with a gross metropolitan product of over US$2.16 trillion. If the New York metropolitan area were its own country, it would have the tenth-largest economy in the world. The city is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by market capitalization of their listed companies: the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. New York City is an established safe haven for global investors. As of 2023, New York City is the most expensive city in the world for expatriates to live. New York City is home to the highest number of billionaires, individuals of ultra-high net worth (greater than US$30 million), and millionaires of any city in the world
The written history of New York City began with the first European explorer, the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. European settlement began with the Dutch in 1608 and New Amsterdam was founded in 1624.
The "Sons of Liberty" campaigned against British authority in New York City, and the Stamp Act Congress of representatives from throughout the Thirteen Colonies met in the city in 1765 to organize resistance to Crown policies. The city's strategic location and status as a major seaport made it the prime target for British seizure in 1776. General George Washington lost a series of battles from which he narrowly escaped (with the notable exception of the Battle of Harlem Heights, his first victory of the war), and the British Army occupied New York and made it their base on the continent until late 1783, attracting Loyalist refugees.
The city served as the national capital under the Articles of Confederation from 1785 to 1789, and briefly served as the new nation's capital in 1789–90 under the United States Constitution. Under the new government, the city hosted the inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States, the drafting of the United States Bill of Rights, and the first Supreme Court of the United States. The opening of the Erie Canal gave excellent steamboat connections with upstate New York and the Great Lakes, along with coastal traffic to lower New England, making the city the preeminent port on the Atlantic Ocean. The arrival of rail connections to the north and west in the 1840s and 1850s strengthened its central role.
Beginning in the mid-19th century, waves of new immigrants arrived from Europe dramatically changing the composition of the city and serving as workers in the expanding industries. Modern New York traces its development to the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898 and an economic and building boom following the Great Depression and World War II. Throughout its history, New York has served as a main port of entry for many immigrants, and its cultural and economic influence has made it one of the most important urban areas in the United States and the world. The economy in the 1700s was based on farming, local production, fur trading, and Atlantic jobs like shipbuilding. In the 1700s, New York was sometimes referred to as a breadbasket colony, because one of its major crops was wheat. New York colony also exported other goods included iron ore as a raw material and as manufactured goods such as tools, plows, nails and kitchen items such as kettles, pans and pots.
The area that eventually encompassed modern day New York was inhabited by the Lenape people. These groups of culturally and linguistically related Native Americans traditionally spoke an Algonquian language now referred to as Unami. Early European settlers called bands of Lenape by the Unami place name for where they lived, such as "Raritan" in Staten Island and New Jersey, "Canarsee" in Brooklyn, and "Hackensack" in New Jersey across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan. Some modern place names such as Raritan Bay and Canarsie are derived from Lenape names. Eastern Long Island neighbors were culturally and linguistically more closely related to the Mohegan-Pequot peoples of New England who spoke the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language.
These peoples made use of the abundant waterways in the New York region for fishing, hunting trips, trade, and occasionally war. Many paths created by the indigenous peoples are now main thoroughfares, such as Broadway in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Westchester. The Lenape developed sophisticated techniques of hunting and managing their resources. By the time of the arrival of Europeans, they were cultivating fields of vegetation through the slash and burn technique, which extended the productive life of planted fields. They also harvested vast quantities of fish and shellfish from the bay. Historians estimate that at the time of European settlement, approximately 5,000 Lenape lived in 80 settlements around the region.
The first European visitor to the area was Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian in command of the French ship La Dauphine in 1524. It is believed he sailed into Upper New York Bay, where he encountered native Lenape, returned through the Narrows, where he anchored the night of April 17, and left to continue his voyage. He named the area New Angoulême (La Nouvelle-Angoulême) in honor of Francis I, King of France of the royal house of Valois-Angoulême and who had been Count of Angoulême from 1496 until his coronation in 1515. The name refers to the town of Angoulême, in the Charente département of France. For the next century, the area was occasionally visited by fur traders or explorers, such as by Esteban Gomez in 1525.
European exploration continued on September 2, 1609, when the Englishman Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, sailed the Half Moon through the Narrows into Upper New York Bay. Like Christopher Columbus, Hudson was looking for a westerly passage to Asia. He never found one, but he did take note of the abundant beaver population. Beaver pelts were in fashion in Europe, fueling a lucrative business. Hudson's report on the regional beaver population served as the impetus for the founding of Dutch trading colonies in the New World. The beaver's importance in New York's history is reflected by its use on the city's official seal.
The first Dutch fur trading posts and settlements were in 1614 near present-day Albany, New York, the same year that New Netherland first appeared on maps. Only in May 1624 did the Dutch West India Company land a number of families at Noten Eylant (today's Governors Island) off the southern tip of Manhattan at the mouth of the North River (today's Hudson River). Soon thereafter, most likely in 1626, construction of Fort Amsterdam began. Later, the Dutch West Indies Company imported African slaves to serve as laborers; they were forced to build the wall that defended the town against English and Indian attacks. Early directors included Willem Verhulst and Peter Minuit. Willem Kieft became director in 1638 but five years later was embroiled in Kieft's War against the Native Americans. The Pavonia Massacre, across the Hudson River in present-day Jersey City, resulted in the death of 80 natives in February 1643. Following the massacre, Algonquian tribes joined forces and nearly defeated the Dutch. Holland sent additional forces to the aid of Kieft, leading to the overwhelming defeat of the Native Americans and a peace treaty on August 29, 1645.
On May 27, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was inaugurated as director general upon his arrival and ruled as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. The colony was granted self-government in 1652, and New Amsterdam was incorporated as a city on February 2, 1653. The first mayors (burgemeesters) of New Amsterdam, Arent van Hattem and Martin Cregier, were appointed in that year. By the early 1660s, the population consisted of approximately 1500 Europeans, only about half of whom were Dutch, and 375 Africans, 300 of whom were slaves.
A few of the original Dutch place names have been retained, most notably Flushing (after the Dutch town of Vlissingen), Harlem (after Haarlem), and Brooklyn (after Breukelen). Few buildings, however, remain from the 17th century. The oldest recorded house still in existence in New York, the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, dates from 1652.
On August 27, 1664, four English frigates under the command of Col. Richard Nicolls sailed into New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded New Netherland's surrender, as part of an effort by King Charles II's brother James, Duke of York, the Lord High Admiral to provoke the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Two weeks later, Stuyvesant officially capitulated by signing Articles of Surrender and in June 1665, the town was reincorporated under English law and renamed "New York" after the Duke, and Fort Orange was renamed "Fort Albany". The war ended in a Dutch victory in 1667, but the colony remained under English rule as stipulated in the Treaty of Breda. During the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch briefly recaptured the city in 1673, renaming the city "New Orange", before permanently ceding the colony of New Netherland to England for what is now Suriname in November 1674 at the Treaty of Westminster.
The colony benefited from increased immigration from Europe and its population grew faster. The Bolting Act of 1678, whereby no mill outside the city was permitted to grind wheat or corn, boosted growth until its repeal in 1694, increasing the number of houses over the period from 384 to 983.
In the context of the Glorious Revolution in England, Jacob Leisler led Leisler's Rebellion and effectively controlled the city and surrounding areas from 1689 to 1691, before being arrested and executed.
Lawyers
In New York at first, legal practitioners were full-time businessmen and merchants, with no legal training, who had watched a few court proceedings, and mostly used their own common sense together with snippets they had picked up about English law. Court proceedings were quite informal, for the judges had no more training than the attorneys.
By the 1760s, the situation had dramatically changed. Lawyers were essential to the rapidly growing international trade, dealing with questions of partnerships, contracts, and insurance. The sums of money involved were large, and hiring an incompetent lawyer was a very expensive proposition. Lawyers were now professionally trained, and conversant in an extremely complex language that combined highly specific legal terms and motions with a dose of Latin. Court proceedings became a baffling mystery to the ordinary layman. Lawyers became more specialized and built their reputation, and their fee schedule, on the basis of their reputation for success. But as their status, wealth and power rose, animosity grew even faster. By the 1750s and 1760s, there was a widespread attack ridiculing and demeaning the lawyers as pettifoggers (lawyers lacking sound legal skills). Their image and influence declined. The lawyers organized a bar association, but it fell apart in 1768 during the bitter political dispute between the factions based in the Delancey and Livingston families. A large fraction of the prominent lawyers were Loyalists; their clientele was often to royal authority or British merchants and financiers. They were not allowed to practice law unless they took a loyalty oath to the new United States of America. Many went to Britain or Canada (primarily to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) after losing the war.
For the next century, various attempts were made, and failed, to build an effective organization of lawyers. Finally a Bar Association emerged in 1869 that proved successful and continues to operate.
By 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200. The Dutch West Indies Company transported African slaves to the post as trading laborers used to build the fort and stockade, and some gained freedom under the Dutch. After the seizure of the colony in 1664, the slave trade continued to be legal. In 1703, 42% of the New York households had slaves; they served as domestic servants and laborers but also became involved in skilled trades, shipping and other fields. Yet following reform in ethics according to American Enlightenment thought, by the 1770s slaves made up less than 25% of the population.
By the 1740s, 20% of the residents of New York were slaves, totaling about 2,500 people.
After a series of fires in 1741, the city panicked over rumors of its black population conspiring with some poor whites to burn the city. Historians believe their alarm was mostly fabrication and fear, but officials rounded up 31 black and 4 white people, who over a period of months were convicted of arson. Of these, the city executed 13 black people by burning them alive and hanged the remainder of those incriminated.
The Stamp Act and other British measures fomented dissent, particularly among Sons of Liberty who maintained a long-running skirmish with locally stationed British troops over Liberty Poles from 1766 to 1776. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York City in 1765 in the first organized resistance to British authority across the colonies. After the major defeat of the Continental Army in the Battle of Long Island in late 1776, General George Washington withdrew to Manhattan Island, but with the subsequent defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington the island was effectively left to the British. The city became a haven for loyalist refugees, becoming a British stronghold for the entire war. Consequently, the area also became the focal point for Washington's espionage and intelligence-gathering throughout the war.
New York was greatly damaged twice by fires of suspicious origin, with the Loyalists and Patriots accusing each other of starting the conflagration. The city became the political and military center of operations for the British in North America for the remainder of the war. Continental Army officer Nathan Hale was hanged in Manhattan for espionage. In addition, the British began to hold the majority of captured American prisoners of war aboard prison ships in Wallabout Bay, across the East River in Brooklyn. More Americans lost their lives aboard these ships than died in all the battles of the war. The British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783. George Washington triumphantly returned to the city that day, as the last British forces left the city.
Starting in 1785 the Congress met in the city of New York under the Articles of Confederation. In 1789, New York became the first national capital under the new Constitution. The Constitution also created the current Congress of the United States, and its first sitting was at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The first Supreme Court sat there. The United States Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified there. George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall. New York remained the national capital until 1790, when the role was transferred to Philadelphia.
During the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration, a visionary development proposal called the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 which expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan, and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Midwestern United States and Canada. By 1835, New York had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States. New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton's policies and practices as the first Secretary of the Treasury.
In 1842, water was piped from a reservoir to supply the city for the first time.
The Great Irish Famine (1845–1850) brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, and by 1850 the Irish comprised one quarter of the city's population. Government institutions, including the New York City Police Department and the public schools, were established in the 1840s and 1850s to respond to growing demands of residents. In 1831, New York University was founded by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin as a non-denominal institution surrounding Washington Square Park.
This period started with the 1855 inauguration of Fernando Wood as the first mayor from Tammany Hall. It was the political machine based among Irish Americans that controlled the local Democratic Party. It usually dominated local politics throughout this period and into the 1930s. Public-minded members of the merchant community pressed for a Central Park, which was opened to a design competition in 1857; it became the first landscape park in an American city.
During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city was affected by its history of strong commercial ties to the South; before the war, half of its exports were related to cotton, including textiles from upstate mills. Together with its growing immigrant population, which was angry about conscription, sympathies among residents were divided for both the Union and Confederacy at the outbreak of war. Tensions related to the war culminated in the Draft Riots of 1863 led by Irish Catholics, who attacked black neighborhood and abolitionist homes. Many blacks left the city and moved to Brooklyn. After the Civil War, the rate of immigration from Europe grew steeply, and New York became the first stop for millions seeking a new and better life in the United States, a role acknowledged by the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886.
From 1890 to 1930, the largest cities, led by New York, were the focus of international attention. The skyscrapers and tourist attractions were widely publicized. Suburbs were emerging as bedroom communities for commuters to the central city. San Francisco dominated the West, Atlanta dominated the South, Boston dominated New England; Chicago dominated the Midwest United States. New York City dominated the entire nation in terms of communications, trade, finance, popular culture, and high culture. More than a fourth of the 300 largest corporations in 1920 were headquartered here.
In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), Manhattan, and outlying areas. Manhattan and the Bronx were established as two separate boroughs and joined with three other boroughs created from parts of adjacent counties to form the new municipal government originally called "Greater New York". The Borough of Brooklyn incorporated the independent City of Brooklyn, recently joined to Manhattan by the Brooklyn Bridge; the Borough of Queens was created from western Queens County (with the remnant established as Nassau County in 1899); and the Borough of Richmond contained all of Richmond County. Municipal governments contained within the boroughs were abolished, and the county governmental functions were absorbed by the city or each borough. In 1914, the New York State Legislature created Bronx County, making five counties coterminous with the five boroughs.
The Bronx had a steady boom period during 1898–1929, with a population growth by a factor of six from 200,000 in 1900 to 1.3 million in 1930. The Great Depression created a surge of unemployment, especially among the working class, and a slow-down of growth.
On June 15, 1904, over 1,000 people, mostly German immigrant women and children, were killed when the excursion steamship General Slocum caught fire and sank. It is the city's worst maritime disaster. On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Greenwich Village took the lives of 146 garment workers. In response, the city made great advancements in the fire department, building codes, and workplace regulations.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication, marking its rising influence with such events as the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909. Interborough Rapid Transit (the first New York City Subway company) began operating in 1904, and the railroads operating out of Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station thrived.
From 1918 to 1920, New York City was affected by the largest rent strike wave in its history. Somewhere between several 10,000's and 100,000's of tenants struck across the city. A WW1 housing and coal shortage sparked the strikes. It became marked both by occasional violent scuffles and the Red Scare. It would lead to the passage of the first rent laws in the nations history.
The city was a destination for internal migrants as well as immigrants. Through 1940, New York was a major destination for African Americans during the Great Migration from the rural American South. The Harlem Renaissance flourished during the 1920s and the era of Prohibition. New York's ever accelerating changes and rising crime and poverty rates were reduced after World War I disrupted trade routes, the Immigration Restriction Acts limited additional immigration after the war, and the Great Depression reduced the need for new labor. The combination ended the rule of the Gilded Age barons. As the city's demographics temporarily stabilized, labor unionization helped the working class gain new protections and middle-class affluence, the city's government and infrastructure underwent a dramatic overhaul under Fiorello La Guardia, and his controversial parks commissioner, Robert Moses, ended the blight of many tenement areas, expanded new parks, remade streets, and restricted and reorganized zoning controls.
For a while, New York ranked as the most populous city in the world, overtaking London in 1925, which had reigned for a century.[58] During the difficult years of the Great Depression, the reformer Fiorello La Guardia was elected as mayor, and Tammany Hall fell after eighty years of political dominance.
Despite the effects of the Great Depression, some of the world's tallest skyscrapers were built during the 1930s. Art Deco architecture—such as the iconic Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, and 30 Rockefeller Plaza— came to define the city's skyline. The construction of the Rockefeller Center occurred in the 1930s and was the largest-ever private development project at the time. Both before and especially after World War II, vast areas of the city were also reshaped by the construction of bridges, parks and parkways coordinated by Robert Moses, the greatest proponent of automobile-centered modernist urbanism in America.
Returning World War II veterans and immigrants from Europe created a postwar economic boom. Demands for new housing were aided by the G.I. Bill for veterans, stimulating the development of huge suburban tracts in eastern Queens and Nassau County. The city was extensively photographed during the post–war years by photographer Todd Webb.
New York emerged from the war as the leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading the United States ascendancy. In 1951, the United Nations relocated from its first headquarters in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, to the East Side of Manhattan. During the late 1960s, the views of real estate developer and city leader Robert Moses began to fall out of favor as the anti-urban renewal views of Jane Jacobs gained popularity. Citizen rebellion stopped a plan to construct an expressway through Lower Manhattan.
After a short war boom, the Bronx declined from 1950 to 1985, going from predominantly moderate-income to mostly lower-income, with high rates of violent crime and poverty. The Bronx has experienced an economic and developmental resurgence starting in the late 1980s that continues into today.
The transition away from the industrial base toward a service economy picked up speed, while the jobs in the large shipbuilding and garment industries declined sharply. The ports converted to container ships, costing many traditional jobs among longshoremen. Many large corporations moved their headquarters to the suburbs or to distant cities. At the same time, there was enormous growth in services, especially finance, education, medicine, tourism, communications and law. New York remained the largest city and largest metropolitan area in the United States, and continued as its largest financial, commercial, information, and cultural center.
Like many major U.S. cities, New York suffered race riots, gang wars and some population decline in the late 1960s. Street activists and minority groups such as the Black Panthers and Young Lords organized rent strikes and garbage offensives, demanding improved city services for poor areas. They also set up free health clinics and other programs, as a guide for organizing and gaining "Power to the People." By the 1970s the city had gained a reputation as a crime-ridden relic of history. In 1975, the city government avoided bankruptcy only through a federal loan and debt restructuring by the Municipal Assistance Corporation, headed by Felix Rohatyn. The city was also forced to accept increased financial scrutiny by an agency of New York State. In 1977, the city was struck by the New York City blackout of 1977 and serial slayings by the Son of Sam.
The 1980s began a rebirth of Wall Street, and the city reclaimed its role at the center of the worldwide financial industry. Unemployment and crime remained high, the latter reaching peak levels in some categories around the close of the decade and the beginning of the 1990s. Neighborhood restoration projects funded by the city and state had very good effects for New York, especially Bedford-Stuyvesant, Harlem, and The Bronx. The city later resumed its social and economic recovery, bolstered by the influx of Asians, Latin Americans, and U.S. citizens, and by new crime-fighting techniques on the part of the New York Police Department. In 1989, New York City elected its first African American Mayor, David Dinkins. He came out of the Harlem Clubhouse.
In the late 1990s, the city benefited from the nationwide fall of violent crime rates, the resurgence of the finance industry, and the growth of the "Silicon Alley", during the dot com boom, one of the factors in a decade of booming real estate values. New York was also able to attract more business and convert abandoned industrialized neighborhoods into arts or attractive residential neighborhoods; examples include the Meatpacking District and Chelsea (in Manhattan) and Williamsburg (in Brooklyn).
New York's population reached an all-time high in the 2000 census; according to census estimates since 2000, the city has continued to grow, including rapid growth in the most urbanized borough, Manhattan. During this period, New York City was a site of the September 11 attacks of 2001; 2,606 people who were in the towers and in the surrounding area were killed by a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, an event considered highly traumatic for the city but which did not stop the city's rapid regrowth. On November 3, 2014, One World Trade Center opened on the site of the attack. Hurricane Sandy brought a destructive storm surge to New York in the evening of October 29, 2012, flooding numerous streets, tunnels, and subway lines in Lower Manhattan. It flooded low-lying areas of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Electrical power was lost in many parts of the city and its suburbs.
MADRID RIO
Madrid Río es un parque de la ciudad española de Madrid, consistente en una zona peatonal y de recreo construida entre los años 2006 a 2012 en los dos márgenes del río Manzanares, en buena parte sobre el trazado soterrado de la vía de circunvalación M-30,1 desde el nudo Sur hasta el enlace con la A-5. En 2016, el proyecto se hizo con el galardón Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design de la Universidad de Harvard por su diseño e impacto social y cultural en la transformación del río
Entre 2003 y 2007 se llevó a cabo la obra de soterramiento del arco oeste de la M-30 en el ámbito del río, obra que hizo posible la eliminación del tráfico en superficie y la consiguiente liberación de más de cincuenta hectáreas de terreno ocupado anteriormente por las calzadas. A esta superficie se sumaron otras casi cien hectáreas correspondientes a los diferentes suelos infrautilizados adyacentes a la autopista.
Tras la construcción de los túneles afloró una herida vacía formada por un rosario de espacios desocupados, que atesoraban la potencia latente de convertirse en nexo de unión de un corredor ambiental de casi tres mil hectáreas dentro del término municipal, que se extiende desde El Pardo hasta Getafe y que enlaza importantísimas áreas verdes de la ciudad como la Casa de Campo, el Parque de la Arganzuela o el Parque del Manzanares Sur.
Por tanto, los beneficios obtenidos al enterrar la antigua autopista, obviamente, no han quedado reducidos a la mejora de ciertos aspectos de la movilidad urbana, ni siquiera a la rehabilitación local de los barrios, sino que pueden adquirir en un futuro próximo, una dimensión de gran escala que necesariamente deberá repercutir en las relaciones entre la ciudad y el territorio, entendidas en su mayor alcance. La enorme trascendencia para la ciudad de los espacios liberados como consecuencia del soterramiento de la M-30, llevó al Ayuntamiento de Madrid a convocar un Concurso Internacional de Ideas para concebir y proyectar los nuevos espacios libres en el entorno del río. El concurso lo ganó el equipo de arquitectos dirigido por Ginés Garrido y formado por Burgos & Garrido Arquitectos, Porras & La Casta y Rubio & Álvarez-Sala y West8, con la solución para la construcción de un parque urbano de más de ciento veinte hectáreas, que ocupa la superficie liberada por el soterramiento de la autopista. Los inicios del proyecto pasaron por el intento de comprender en su totalidad las cualidades geográficas de la cuenca fluvial. Las características del territorio y la diversidad de sus elementos naturales constituyen un conjunto de claves que han sustentado muchas de las ideas contenidas en el proyecto.
Sumariamente, la estrategia del éste se basa en la convicción de que, a través del río es posible conectar la ciudad, expresión máxima de la acción artificial, con los territorios del norte y el sur de Madrid, en los que aún perviven los elementos naturales propios de la cuenca fluvial. El río se convierte en puerta o enlace entre interior urbano y exterior territorial y, a través de sus márgenes, se establece la continuidad y la permeabilidad, hasta hoy aniquiladas por los sucesivos anillos concéntricos, hollados por los cinturones viarios, M-30, M-40, M-45, M-50 …, que fueron el resultado de aplicar a la red circulatoria los modelos de movilidad propios de mediados del siglo XX.
El proyecto se ha concebido en sucesivas aproximaciones o escalas a partir de las que se ha aplicado la reflexión sobre el campo de juego, obteniendo respuestas o soluciones diversas, desde el ámbito territorial o estratégico al local o específico.
En la escala territorial se han establecido los parámetros de partida para que, en el medio plazo, sea posible la regeneración de las márgenes del río en toda su longitud, como verdaderas áreas de integración entre el paisaje y la actividad humana, bajo un entendimiento contemporáneo capaz de superar el antagonismo implícito en el binomio urbano-rural.
En la escala metropolitana, a través del proyecto y de su concepción como gran infraestructura, se lleva a cabo la incorporación del corredor que se extiende sobre los bordes fluviales a su paso por la ciudad como parte del GR 124 (Gran Recorrido de la Red de Senderos Europeos) que ya, en 2011 se podrá transitar en toda su extensión, desde Manzanares el Real hasta Aranjuez.
En la escala urbana, el proyecto incorpora el río como doble línea de fachada inédita y configura un conjunto enlazado de espacios verdes que se infiltra en la ciudad; establece en la superficie un nuevo sistema de movilidad y accesibilidad; incrementa la integración y calidad urbana de los barrios limítrofes al río; protege y revaloriza el patrimonio histórico y detecta áreas de oportunidad que, sobre este ámbito de nueva centralidad, serán capaces de generar un cambio potencial del conjunto de la ciudad en el largo plazo.
En la escala local, la propuesta se ejecuta como una operación radicalmente artificial, materializada sin embargo con instrumentos eminentemente naturales. No se debe olvidar que se actúa mayoritariamente sobre una infraestructura bajo tierra. El proyecto se implanta sobre un túnel o, más bien, sobre la cubierta de un conjunto complejísimo de instalaciones al servicio del viario enterrado. Un edificio de hormigón de más de seis kilómetros de longitud, con enormes y determinantes servidumbres y con una topografía cuya lógica obedece exclusivamente a la construcción de la infraestructura, que emerge inopinadamente sobre el suelo y con la que ha sido necesario negociar. Sobre esta edificación subterránea, la solución adoptada se ha basado en el uso de la vegetación como principal material de construcción. El proyecto establece como estrategia general la idea de implantar una densa capa vegetal, de carácter casi forestal, allá donde sea posible, es decir, fabricar un paisaje con materia viva, sobre un sustrato subterráneo inerte, modificado y excavado para el automóvil, sobre una construcción que expresa por sí misma el artificio máximo.
Las familias, formas y asociaciones de especies vegetales seleccionadas provienen de la extrapolación del estudio de la cuenca del río y su adaptación, en cada caso, al medio urbano específico. La ordenación de los distintos entornos y su caracterización como lugares de uso público se ha producido teniendo en cuenta, por un lado, las funciones requeridas y las necesidades detectadas en cada distrito y por otro, la capacidad de conformar espacios habitables, inherente a los conjuntos organizados de vegetación de distinto porte.
La solución se concreta en tres unidades de paisaje principales. Primero, el Salón de Pinos, o corredor verde que discurre por la margen derecha del río. Es la estructura que permite la continuidad de los recorridos y reacciona en su encuentro con los puentes existentes dando lugar a distintos tipos de jardines de ribera (Jardines bajos de Puente de Segovia, Jardines del Puente de San Isidro, Jardines del Puente de Toledo y Jardines del Puente de Praga). Segundo, el enlace definitivo del centro histórico (representado por la imagen imponente del Palacio Real y la cornisa elevada de la ciudad), con la Casa de Campo, parque de más de mil setecientas hectáreas. En este entorno se incluyen la Avenida de Portugal, la Huerta de la Partida, la Explanada del Rey y los Jardines de la Virgen del Puerto. Tercero, la ancha franja sobre la ribera izquierda donde se sitúa el conjunto del Parque de la Arganzuela que incluye el centro de creación de arte contemporáneo de Matadero, y que representa la mayor superficie de espacio verde unitario de la propuesta.
Además de estas tres grandes operaciones paisajísticas coherentes entre sí, el proyecto propone ciento cincuenta intervenciones de diferente carácter, entre las que destaca el sistema puentes que dotan de un inédito grado de permeabilidad al cauce. Se han desarrollado soluciones sobre más de veinte puentes o pasarelas sobre el río, rehabilitando las siete presas, reciclando algunos puentes existentes y creando nuevos pasos, unas veces con un lenguaje silencioso y otras, intencionadamente expresivo. Como en una acción microquirúrgica el proyecto incorpora, eslabón por eslabón, una cadena de fórmulas de integración del río en la ciudad y de la ciudad en el río. Son elementos que garantizarán el contagio de los nuevos valores de las orillas regeneradas sobre los ámbitos y barrios cercanos. Con este efecto de resonancia, se prevé una sucesión de operaciones que aseguren una renovación de gran alcance. Desde ahora y de manera irreversible, se está fraguando una radical metamorfosis, sin precedentes para la ciudad de Madrid.
La superestructura lineal del Salón de Pinos es el elemento que organiza la continuidad de recorridos a lo largo de la ribera derecha del río. Está construida sobre los túneles en su práctica totalidad y tiene un ancho medio de treinta metros. Sobre la losa de hormigón que cubre el paso de los automóviles se han plantado más de 9.000 unidades de diferentes especies de pinos, de diversos tamaños, formas y agrupaciones con un marco de plantación forestal. Los ejemplares han sido seleccionados fundamentalmente en campos en los que hubiese posibilidad de extraer plantas con morfologías naturales (troncos no lineales, troncos dobles, troncos inclinados, etc.) De este modo se obtiene una prolongación controlada de los pinares de la sierra situada al norte de Madrid que parecen extenderse hasta el confín de la ciudad. Estos árboles han sido anclados a la losa de los túneles mediante cables de acero y bridas biodegradables, para potenciar su estabilidad y el crecimiento de sus raíces en horizontal sobre el paquete de tierras disponible. No obstante, este paseo se encuentra frecuentemente con estructuras de gran valor urbano o patrimonial.
Dos ejemplos simbólicos de esta intersección son los puentes históricos de Segovia (1582) y de Toledo (1732). En estos enclaves el salón reacciona como espacio de estancia, ampliando sus límites y ofreciendo un diseño específico, con árboles de ribera de hoja caduca y alineaciones de setos y bancos de piedra. Las actividades integradas en el salón se incorporan con un lenguaje coherente con su carácter forestal. Un claro ejemplo de este procedimiento lo forma el conjunto de áreas de juegos infantiles, diseñado específicamente como un sistema completo de formas naturales.
Jardines del Puente de Segovia
El puente de Segovia está declarado Bien de Interés Cultural. Fue construido a finales del siglo XVI por el arquitecto Juan de Herrera, por encargo de Felipe II. El proyecto de ajardinamiento de su entorno conforma una excepción en el ámbito del Salón de Pinos, constituyendo un ensanchamiento de éste y ofreciendo un modo diferente de aproximación al río. Los jardines se ordenan mediante una serie de líneas de traza orgánica que modelan sucesivas terrazas que descienden hacia el río. Estas líneas están construidas con unas piezas de granito de gran formato que sirven también de bancos. Entre ellos se extiende una superficie de hierba de bajo consumo hídrico arbolada con diferentes especies de árboles frondosos de ribera de la familia de los populus. En las inmediaciones de la fábrica almohadillada del puente se han construido dos estanques de agua limpia sobre los cuales, por un lado alza una fuente monumental de 16 chorros con forma de ciprés y por otro se extiende un pequeño jardín de lirios acuáticos. Los estanques son accesibles mediante unas gradas de piedra que se acercan a ellos hasta sumergirse.
Jardines del Puente de Toledo
Los jardines del Puente de Toledo constituyen una de las áreas más significativas del Proyecto Madrid Río, ya que se están situados en un enclave de excepcional importancia en el que el Salón de Pinos se encuentra con uno de los puentes monumentales de Madrid, el puente de Toledo, construido entre 1718 y 1732. El proyecto aprovecha dicho monumento en un doble sentido: Por un lado se compone un espacio concebido para ser visto desde lo alto del puente que se convierte así en un mirador privilegiado. De este modo los jardines ofrecen una nueva e inédita panorámica de Madrid ya que sus trazados dibujan un enorme tatuaje que se extiende como una alfombra sobre la superficie, reproduciendo un motivo figurativo vegetal. Por otro lado, los jardines incorporan el Puente de Toledo, que es una estructura barroca diseñada por el arquitecto Pedro de Ribera, como un objeto al que admirar, al que tocar y bajo el que pasar. La disposición de los setos está organizada de modo que conforma una serie de líneas que toman como referencia los jardines barrocos de la época borbónica, aunque están trazadas con un lenguaje contemporáneo. Asimismo en este punto se ha construido un graderío que permite la máxima aproximación a la lámina de agua del río, y la mejor contemplación de los arcos del antiguo puente.
Segunda unidad de paisaje: La Escena Monumental
La vinculación del centro histórico y el barrio de La Latina con la Casa de Campo ha estado vedada a los peatones de forma secular. El nuevo contacto, que ya es posible por la desaparición de los automóviles bajo tierra, ha sido resuelto con diversas intervenciones que asumen el carácter monumental y panorámico de esta zona, en la que el zócalo elevado del Palacio Real (germen primigenio del nacimiento de la ciudad) contacta con el río. Se han propuesto diferentes soluciones afrontando con extremada atención el contexto en el que se sitúan: La “Explanada del Rey”, explanada abierta pavimentada con un gran patrón figurativo y que sirve de gran atrio ante la Casa de Campo. La huerta de la partida, que es un recinto cerrado en el que se han plantado diferentes retículas de árboles frutales (perales, manzanos, moreras, granados, higueras, nogales, avellanos, etc) acoge un extraordinario mirador de la cornisa. La avenida de Portugal, convertida en un bulevar pavimentado por calceteiros portugueses y poblado por cuatro especies de cerezos (Prunus avium, P. avium ‘Plena’, P.yedoensis y P.padus ‘Watereii’ ) permite la contemplación de una espectacular floración que se alarga más de un mes en primavera. Por último, los jardines de La Virgen del Puerto, en la otra margen del río, estructurados mediante la disposición de parterres orientados según los ejes de los principales acontecimientos urbanos del área: el puente de Segovia, el puente del Rey, la avenida de Portugal y la puerta del Rey que ha sido restaurada y resituada según los datos disponibles en la cartografía histórica de Madrid.
Plataforma del Rey
En el acceso monumental que enlaza el centro histórico de Madrid con la Casa de Campo, antiguo cazadero real, destaca la Explanada o Plataforma del Rey, que es un espacio abierto de una superficie aproximada de 14.000 m2 y un frente paralelo al río de poco menos de 250 m. El destino de este espacio es el de formar un escenario capaz de acoger diferentes manifestaciones cívicas (conciertos, celebraciones oficiales, actividades culturales, etc.) en un entorno de extraordinaria calidad ambiental, que permite contemplar la Cornisa Histórica de la Ciudad. Este lugar está conectado con el Salón de Pinos y forma parte de él, aunque por exigencias de su uso, sea un área casi desprovista de arbolado. En ella el principal elemento organizador es el pavimento que, de forma muy suave, se adapta a una topografía que integra todas las emergencias de los túneles hasta hacerlas imperceptibles. En este pavimento las pequeñas piezas de granito y basalto forman un patrón que desciende desde la Avenida de Portugal y se esparce sobre la superficie del suelo a una escala en aumento progresivo. Dicho patrón vincula la plataforma con el pavimento proyectado en la avenida. De este modo la Plataforma es un elemento que liga de manera natural importantes piezas del escenario monumental que se produce en este punto, como son el Puente del Rey, la Casa de Campo, la Avenida de Portugal y el Salón de Pinos.
Huerta de la Partida
Se trata de un espacio recuperado que en las pasadas décadas se dedicó a albergar uno de los principales nudos de la autopista. La propuesta de regeneración de este lugar incluye varias operaciones: En primer lugar la construcción de una tapia, a veces opaca, a veces permeable que constituye un cierre que confiere al recinto el carácter de huerto cerrado. En segundo lugar, el modelado artificial del terreno, regularizando su superficie y tallando un único plano inclinado de suave pendiente que se desliza hacia el río. En tercer lugar la plantación de diferentes agrupaciones de árboles frutales (granados, moreras, manzanos, perales, avellanos, almendros, higueras, olivos y nogales) que se incorporan en el entorno describiendo cuadrantes reticulados con sutiles variaciones de orientación. Por último, se ha proyectado una ría húmeda que describe la trayectoria del Arroyo Meaques, actualmente entubado y oculto. Este proyecto ha sido fruto del estudio minucioso de la historia del lugar, ya que en el pasado, cuando Felipe II adquirió esta finca después de establecer la capitalidad de Madrid, en esta posición se plantaron algunas huertas que producían el alimento necesario para los trabajadores de la Casa de Campo.
Tercera unidad de paisaje: La Ribera del Agua. Arganzuela y Matadero
En la margen izquierda del cauce la ciudad se separa del río. El ejemplo más importante de la propuesta en esta orilla es el nuevo Parque de la Arganzuela, construido sobre antiguas dehesas de pasto de uso comunal. En este entorno se construyó el Matadero Municipal, notable ejemplo de arquitectura posindustrial de la segunda década del siglo XX. Con el soterramiento de la autopista, Madrid dispone ahora en este punto de 33 hectáreas de espacios libres que forman el mayor parque del proyecto. Éste se ha concebido como un gran espacio en el que el río se ha retirado dejando su huella ancestral. Está organizado con diferentes líneas que se entrecruzan, como surcos por los que pasó el agua, dejando entre sí espacios para distintos usos. Estas líneas, de carácter marcadamente longitudinal, son los caminos de distinta especie que recorren el espacio de norte a sur.
Paseo junto al matadero
Un camino más plano y ancho (el Camino Rápido), otro más sinuoso y de pendiente variable (el Camino Lento) y una franja empedrada de márgenes frondosos (el Arroyo Seco), que vertebra el centro del parque. La construcción del espacio se plantea como una gran arboleda que contiene varios paisajes, algunos más naturales y otros más construidos, configurados por una variación de especies, alturas, densidades y texturas. De este modo el parque, concebido como un retazo de la cuenca del río, incorpora tres áreas botánicas: bosque mediterráneo, bosque atlántico y fronda de ribera. El carácter de estos paisajes interiores está relacionado con los trazados longitudinales del parque, con árboles que siguen los caminos y las sendas, con sotos y bosques que emergen sobre la topografía. La textura boscosa se intercala con las superficies plantadas de aromáticas entre los caminos y el Arroyo Seco. Siguiendo la orilla izquierda del río, se dispone una franja húmeda y verde, con una pradera de césped que se inclina hacia el agua. Una constelación de fuentes ornamentales y un conjunto de tres láminas elípticas de agua pura introducen este elemento como materia narrativa que relaciona las distintas asociaciones de vegetación. Cada fuente presenta un distinto juego sonoro y visual y se rodea de pequeñas laderas plantadas de frutales que remiten a la imagen de los jardines de las leyendas o del Paraíso. Las líneas entrelazadas que estructuran el parque permiten la formación de recintos en los que se han situado importantes instalaciones para el recreo al servicio de los usuarios de todas las edades. En él se incluye un campo de fútbol , dos pistas de patinaje y tres importantes conjuntos de juegos infantiles. El parque así mismo incorpora el conjunto dedicado a la creación de arte contemporáneo de Matadero, como una gran dotación cultural que vive dentro de él. A través de los caminos se accede a las naves del antiguo complejo, cuya rehabilitación está a punto de finalizar. El diseño de los trazados permite entender la relación entre Matadero y el parque como un continuo entre el río y la ciudad.
El sistema de puentes sobre el río
La implantación de puentes sobre el Manzanares se lleva a cabo como una estrategia global, es decir, como un conjunto en que cada elemento resuelve problemas puntuales detectados en el entorno próximo, pero también forma parte a su vez de un sistema integral de conectividad transversal de acuerdo con la relación entre la ciudad y el río. Las unidades de este conjunto son de diferente carácter: puentes y presas rehabilitados o reciclados, puentes rodados existentes acondicionados al nuevo sistema de tráfico ciclista y peatonal, puentes singulares que constituyen hitos en el recorrido del río, pasarelas funcionales situadas en los nodos de máximo tránsito transversal y puentes de grandes luces que enlazan los recorridos del parque con los territorios exteriores a la ciudad al norte y al sur, haciendo realidad la principal aspiración territorial del proyecto.
Entre los puentes existentes destaca la operación llevada a cabo con las siete presas que han sido convertidas en pasarelas peatonales a través de su restauración integral y la incorporación de un tablero de madera accesible. En segundo lugar dentro de esta serie, se debe destacar el reciclaje del puente rodado de la M-30 que cruzaba el río al sur del Puente de Segovia, reconvertido en un puente peatonal y ciclista que incorpora un talud plantado con pinos. Entre los puentes singulares cabe mencionar el puente con forma de Y construido con cajones de perfiles metálicos, que evoca el lenguaje de los puentes ferroviarios del s. XIX colgados sobre los desfiladeros forestales y los puentes gemelos de hormigón que se dan acceso al complejo Matadero, proyectados como elementos de paso capaces también de configurar un espacio al que se ingresa, como pabellones que gravitan sobre el río, pero que verdaderamente pertenecen al parque.
Pasarela de Almuñécar
Fabricada de una sola pieza con fibra de carbono, para salvar una luz de algo más de 40 metros. Se sitúa sobre el único tramo del cauce que carece de cajero de hormigón. Su diseño final responde a las capacidades del material con que está fabricada, extremadamente ligero y resistente.
Restauración de Presas
Las siete presas que regulan el río a su paso de la ciudad han sido restauradas y puestas al servicio del nuevo sistema de pasos transversales. Sus mecanismos y exclusas han sido reparados y se les ha incorporado un tablero accesible de madera y una escala de peces para favorecer la continuidad de la fauna subacuática a lo largo del río.
Puente Oblicuo
Esta estructura viaria coetánea de la M-30 se ha reciclado para incorporarla al Salón de Pinos como un paso privilegiado a través del cual los peatones, los ciclistas y los árboles pasan de una a otra orilla. La losa aligerada que componía el tablero de hormigón postesado se cortó y apeó reforzándose para soportar las cargas debidas a su nuevo uso.
Puente del Principado de Andorra
Es uno de los nuevos puentes singulares del proyecto. Está construido por jaulas de perfiles abiertos, de expresividad algo arcaica, que toma como referencia las estructuras ferroviarias sobre los desfiladeros boscosos que se construyeron en Europa y Estados Unidos a finales de siglo XIX. Antes conocido como Puente Y, en julio de 2011 se le cambió de nombre al actual de Principado de Andorra, para agradecer al gobierno de Andorra la construcción del Puente de Madrid en Andorra la Vieja. Se escogió este puente para nombrarlo como Principado de Andorra porque representa también la geografía de Andorra: el país pirenaico está formado por dos valles, el del Valira del Norte y el del Valira de Oriente, los cuales confluyen en Escaldes-Engordany y se convierten en uno solo, de nombre Gran Valira. Esta disposición de los valles y sus ríos es similar a una Y.
Puentes Cáscara
Son dos puentes gemelos construidos con una lámina de 15 cm de hormigón autonivelante que forma una superficie con doble curvatura, de la que cuelga el tablero. Se conciben como dos pabellones a los que acceder para cruzar el río. Su bóveda se ha ornamentado con un mosaico creado por el artista Daniel Canogar.
Pasarela de la Princesa
El canto necesario para el funcionamiento de la pasarela se incorpora en las barandillas que en realidad conforman una pareja de vigas de alma llena y rigidizadores verticales. El lenguaje de la pasarela es intencionadamente sobrio.
I have no idea if this young woman is an MIT student -- but I hope she won't mind if I use her to illustrate another bit of ancient MIT folklore:
Of the 900 incoming students each year, approximately 30 were female (I have no idea if that ratio is still true, but it was fairly consistent from one year to the next, while I was there).
We did not refer to them as females, or girls, or women; instead they were known as "coeds." As far as I know, no insult was intended; I think the point was that their presence demonstrated that MIT was no longer a single-sex university, but was legitimately coeducational.
Still, it did not surprise us to learn that, while all 900 freshmen were members of the intellectual elite, the coeds were really special.
I recall meeting only one coed during my freshman year -- actually, during an orientation party where we insecure, anti-social geeks were supposed to become acquainted with one another. She was 16 years old, she was incredibly sexy, she smoked a pipe, and her IQ was several hundred points higher than mine. Or so it seemed...
Note: this photo was published in a Jan 16, 2012 Traveling in US blog titled "Once upon a time, she was known as a “coed”," with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written here on this Flickr page. It was also published in an undated (early Jan 2012) blog titled "The State of Young America: Millennials Need More Expensive Education to Succeed." It was also published in an Apr 4, 2012 Jaggi blog, with the same caption that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in a Dec 10, 2012 blog titled "Should schools be allowed to separate boys and girls into one-gender classrooms?"
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It was a lifetime ago that I stumbled off a Greyhound bus in downtown Boston, a clueless 17 year old kid with two suitcases that held all my worldly possessions. I dragged them out to the street (no roll-aboard suitcases in those ancient times), and asked a taxi driver to take me to an address in Cambridge that I had scribbled on a scrap of paper: 77 Massachusetts Ave.
"Aye," the driver muttered, in a dialect that never did become familiar during the next several years. "SebendySebenMassAve."
When he dropped me off, I noticed two things. First, enormous stone steps leading up to the entrance to an imposing granite building. And second, a long line of scraggly, sloppily-dressed young men stretching from the building's entrance down toward the street where the taxi had dropped me. Aha, I thought: I'm not the only one who forgot to fill out the official form requesting a dorm room.
Welcome to MIT.
I waited in line for two hours before being assigned temporarily, with two other equally absent-minded, newly-arrived MIT students, to sleep on mattresses in an East Campus dorm room that had initially been assigned as a "single" room to an understandably annoyed fellow from Cincinnati. One of the other temporary misfits, whom we immediately nicknamed "Filthy Pierre," had just arrived from Paris with nothing but one large, heavy duffel bag that he dragged into the room. Its contents consisted of miscellaneous telephone parts, which he dumped on the floor and kicked under the bed before wandering out of the room to explore Boston. (He had not showered in weeks, and he was eventually expelled for burning a cross on MIT's Great Lawn on Easter morning. But that's another story.)
Thus began my four-year experience at what many still consider America's premiere scientific/engineering university. That I survived and graduated is a minor miracle; and while I'll hint at the adventures along the way, in this Flickr set, you'll have to look elsewhere for the details...
I continued to live in Cambridge for a couple of years after I graduated; took a couple of graduate courses in AI and computer science, taught a couple summer MIT classes to innocent high school students (one of whom challenged me to write the value of pi on the blackboard, to 100 places, from memory - which I did), took full advantage of MIT's athletic facilities, and 25-cent Saturday-nite movies at Kresge auditorium, which always featured the enormously popular RoadRunner cartoons, and occasionally walked through the same halls and pathways that I had first explored as an overwhelmed undergraduate student. But then I got a new job, moved to New York City, got married, settled down, and began raising family. After that, I typically travelled to Boston two or three times a year on business trips, but never seemed to have time to come back to MIT for a casual visit.
But one of the advantages of a near-fanatical devotion to the hobby of photography is that you begin to appreciate that all of the experiences you internalized and took for granted need to be photographed -- for posterity, if nothing else. Some of my most vivid memories of MIT, which we took for granted - like the huge,red, neon, flashing/pulsating "Heinz 57" sign out on the northern edge of the (Briggs) athletic fields -- are gone. Some of the legendary professors and deans have died and commemorative plaques have been erected in their honor. And there's a whole lot of new stuff - mostly new buildings and laboratories, whose specific purpose is a mystery to me - that I just have to shrug and accept.
But the basic campus is still there. And the memories are just as vivid as they were, so many years ago. I can't say that I captured them all in this Flickr set; the photos were taken at sunset one evening, and dawn the following morning. But they'll give you an idea of what it was like, a long long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away ... and what it's still like today.
The Japanese spent the 1970s and 80 consistently improving quality and features in the cars they produced. This led Toyota to introduce a new marque to sit above their mainstream cars, named Lexus. Nissan did the same with Infinti, Mazda with Amati, and Honda with Acura.
The first model to wear the Acura badge was the Legend - also sold globally under the Honda badge. The Legend was laucned in 1985, with a Coupe model following in 1987. The Legend was the first Honda to feature on V6 engines, initially of 2.5L , then 2.7L capacity, producing 165 PS and 180 PS respectively. The powertrain was mounted longitudinally, and drove the front wheels only - Honda had not yet marketed a rear-drive saloon car.
Though the US was considered the primary market for the car, and this showed strongly in the styling of the Coupe model.
The second generation Honda / Acura Legend was launched in 1990, again featuring both Saloon and Coupe models.
Here is the drawing I made of phantom manor. It's my take on the character, Melanie Ravenswood. Phantom manor is a Disney ride, strongly influenced by the haunted mansion. However, phantom manor is a darker ride, and actually has a consistent storyline, unlike the haunted mansion, whose story is just myths from guest. I will also put the story, as I've heard and read it, of phantom manor below. Phantom manor is only in Disneyland Paris, so I sadly never had the chance to ride the ride. But in my picture I really wanted to make the bride, Melanie, the main focus. As I felt so bad for her. I also wanted to incorporate some haunted mansion memorabilia. Such as the hatbox ghost as a king painting, medusa, and the original haunted mansion bride, Constance, who killed her five husbands with her infamous axe. And see the shadow up at the top left corner? That would be the phantom. This is all done in colored pencils too, so it's not a painting, but rather on paper.
Phantom manor story:
Henry Ravenswood was a western settler who struck gold in the big thunder mountain, and founded the thunder Mesa mining company. Thus creating the town, Thunder Mesa. Ravenswood became very wealthy, and married a woman named Martha. He built a Victorian manor high on Boot Hill, overlooking big thunder mountain, where he raised a family and had a daughter Melanie Ravenswood, born 1842.
Big thunder mountain was rumored by natives to be cursed, and to be the home of the thunder bird. A powerful spirit possessing a treasure. According to the legend, it's wrath could cause a devastating earthquake. However, Henry Ravenswood would not believe such stories. As time went on, the gold in big thunder mountain ran out, making miners dig deeper into the cursed mountain. It also led all the towns people, mainly miners, to leave thunder Mesa. Which made Henry Ravenswood very angry. Melanie at this time has grown up to be a beautiful woman, and became engaged to a train engineer who planned to take her far away from thunder Mesa, which upset Henry Ravenswood very much. Henry did everything he could to stop the wedding, even threatening his daughter, saying "you will never leave his house". But his useless attempts came to a hault, when the thunder bird was awakened, and caused a terrible earthquake that killed Henry and his wife, Martha, and half the town.
On Melanie's wedding day, a mysterious phantom appeared in the house. While Melanie was preparing herself for her wedding, the phantom lured her fiancé up to the attic, where he hung him by the neck from the rafters. In the ballroom the bride say alone, with no sign of her groom. At this time all of her guests left, and started to eat the grand feast in the dining hall, which was meant for after the wedding. As guests were partying, Melanie was convinced "some day, he will come". And so, never taking off her wedding dress, or put down her bouquet, she wandered aimlessly around the estate, looking for her lost fiancé, while singing melancholy songs of lost love. The phantom, which is rumored to be her father, laughs at her human devotion of true love. Days became months, and months became years, as Melanie lost her youth, she still has seen no sight of her intended. The house began to fall into disrepair, people fled the once gold rush town, making the town a ghost town. the phantom began to invite his ghostly demons to stay in the house and in the ghost town. As more time went on, Melanie found her long lost love dead in the attic. At that time she realized what was going on, and saw the phantom, who she realized was her father. As he laughs at her shocking sad discovery, saying "you will never leave this house!". She fled, she tried to escape by getting in a carriage, unknowing that the town she once knew, had become a ghost town. And everywhere she went, she kept seeing the phantom. As he kept laughing at her distress and mocking her true love. Melanie tried to escape her phantom father, but landed in a ditch with sharp rocks from the thunder bird earthquake, and died. She never got to leave her house, she was cursed from the beginning. She now is rumored to still be in the manor on Boot Hill, searching for her lost fiancé, singing melancholy songs of lost love. With the phantom, and his demons haunting her.
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seems to be a great apple- a cooker produces clean apples consistently,
For no good aesthetic reason, I am posting a bunch of pictures from today of some of the apples on the trees in our garden.
Nice time to look at them just now – mostly still quite small but swelling rapidly as we get to late summer.
My trees are on rootstock MM106 which is very common rootstock for non-dwarf trees and they are being grown as “half standards” (so first branch at 1.4M) which gives a tree big enough to produce a good crop but just manageable in a garden setting and reasonably easy to mow under with a ride-on. The trees are now 17 years old (planted as maiden whips in February 2004). I do tend to look at them a lot but don’t seem to photograph them as much as I might.
I have just registered for a 1-day course in cider making (along with 2 of my brothers) for late September down in Galway. So today looking at the apples with extra special interest. We need to bring 8kg of apples each to the course– so that is 24kg for the 3 of us. On looking around the trees this afternoon, I don’t think this will pose a challenge to achieve in 6 weeks’ time when the course is on.
Juliet Turner - Call Me Green
Went to Savage Mill Trail after work. This time I remembered to bring my B+W ND110 filter. I took nothing but long exposures this trip. I was like a kid in a candy store grinning from ear to ear :). I can't think of a more relaxing way to end the day.
It was extremely hot, the heat index made it 100 degrees. I took a majority of my shots from the shade, gotta love zooms :). The biggest annoyance were all the flies and mosquitoes that were interested in introducing themselves to me. Can't they see that I am busy lol? The fading sun added some interesting light to the water. Due to the light not being consistent across the scene, it made for some tricky exposures, that's why I always check my histogram after every shot and make adjustments from there. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!
Nikon D5000
ISO 200
f8
15 seconds
Nikon 55-200mm vr 4.0-5.6
Yet another from Fountains Abbey cellarium. Seems to be the only pictures of mine people consistently like! This was taken at a recent saturday night concert. These really are wonderful occassions. It's open quite a few more evenings this year, make sure you get to one if you can- you won't regret it. Don't forget your tripod!
The title describes something I consistently fail to do, but here, at least in a physical/literal sense, there is some truth in it (if only in as much as my hand made contact with the paper. I don't know if I will add colour to this drawing at a later stage, I think it stands as it is. Fingers, in general, are fascinating body parts and have long intrigued me. Perhaps this picture points the way to future work. Providing I can knuckle down and produce it of course.
MY BLOG, NAROLC'S WORLD:
A-Grade Driving Boosts GLW Feeds’ Sustainability
GLW Feeds driver, Colin Langley, was brought to our attention recently having scored consistent ‘A-Grade’ driver scores in his Scania S500 tractor unit (S500A6X2NA), sold last year by Keltruck Account Manager Ivor Morris.
Colin has worked for GLW Feeds for 18 years, originally working on presses, producing food at Burton on Trent before moving into driving for the firm in which he is on his 15th year as a professional HGV driver. Colin is now on his second Scania, the mighty S500. Colin commented, “Since having this Scania S500 I have never looked back. It is totally different to the previous model in terms of ride, comfort and visibility.”
Colin has been an advocate of the Scania Connected Services system and is constantly monitoring his own driver scores on the dedicated app on his smartphone which is feeding back vital information of his anticipation, coasting, MPG and idle time which has enabled him to consistently achieve his high score on the system with his economic and safe driving style. Scania Connected Services have helped achieve this too.
When Colin received the vehicle and set himself up on the system he was assisted by Jenny Lambert at Scania Connected Services in selecting the optimum settings on the system for his vehicle based on running 38,000 kgs at 110,000 kms per year. Colin commended Jenny at Scania commenting, “She is brilliant and has been so helpful.” When Keltruck made contact with Jenny she confirmed that Colin was one of over 700 drivers she provides coaching services to and reported that out of all 700 drivers only 3 people scored straight grade A scores for the entire month, Colin being one of these 3 people. In addition, Colin was reported as being in the top 10% of drivers who Scania have registered on telematics and they presently have over 30,000 drivers so that was an incredible feat.
As a token of appreciation, Colin and Transport Manager, Neale Jones of GLW Feeds, were taken to the Scania (Great Britain) Limited training centre in Loughborough which boasts a large open-plan workshop, nine technology training rooms, two conference rooms and a large restaurant. The state-of-the-art facilities include cutting-edge vehicle technology and diagnostic equipment, an extensive selection of trucks, coaches, buses and units to work on and structured training and development programmes for all business requirements – all set in beautifully landscaped grounds.
At GLW Feeds the new S500 tractor units are operating 2 mpg above other vehicles in the fleet, helping influence the business decision to invest in 19 Next Generation Scania tractor units purchased from Keltruck Limited over the last 18 months. All vehicles are maintained at Keltruck Scania Burton on Trent which has the added benefit of also being an ATF facility, helping GLW Feeds in minimising downtime for servicing, inspections and MOT.
Scania Connected Services deliver everything from automated tachograph reporting to remote diagnostics and driver coaching. The system is uniquely easy to use, which means they’re used more often, in more detail, and to greater effect. On Scania vehicles registered after January 2011 Scania Connected Services is fully available without any additional hardware. The service can be activated remotely with no downtime, no wires and no fuss.
Founded in 1873, GLW Feeds are one of the largest independent, family-owned livestock and speciality feed manufacturers in the UK, concentrating in roll, nut, pellet and meal-form compound feeds.
keltruckscania.com/about-keltruck/news-centre/press-relea...
Shuhada' Sadaqat[8][a] (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; 8 December 1966 – July 2023), known professionally as Sinéad O'Connor,[9][b] was an Irish singer, songwriter and political activist. Her debut studio album, The Lion and the Cobra, was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990), became her biggest success, selling over seven million copies worldwide.[11] Its lead single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", was named the number-one world single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards.[12]
O'Connor released ten studio albums. Am I Not Your Girl? (1992) and Universal Mother (1994) were certified gold in the UK,[13] Faith and Courage (2000) was certified gold in Australia,[14] and Throw Down Your Arms (2005) went gold in Ireland.[15] Her work included songs for films, collaborations with many other artists, and appearances at charity fundraising concerts. Her 2021 memoir Rememberings was a bestseller.[16]
In 1999, O'Connor was ordained as a priest by the Irish Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church, an Independent Catholic sect that is not recognised by the Roman Catholic Church.[17] She consistently spoke out on issues related to child abuse (including her 1992 Saturday Night Live protest against the continued cover-up of Catholic Church sexual abuse cases), human rights, racism, organised religion, and women's rights. Throughout her music career, she spoke about her spiritual journey, activism, socio-political views, as well as her trauma and mental health struggles. In 2017, O'Connor changed her name to Magda Davitt. After converting to Islam in 2018 she changed it to Shuhada' Sadaqat,[2][8][18] but continued to record and perform under her birth name.[
O'Connor was born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor[20] in the Cascia House Nursing Home at 13 Pembroke Road, Dublin, on 8 December 1966.[2] She was named Sinéad after Sinéad de Valera, the mother of the doctor presiding over the delivery, Éamon de Valera, Jnr., and Bernadette in honour of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.[21][22] She was the third of five children;[23] her siblings are novelist Joseph,[24] Eimear,[25] John,[26] and Eoin.[27]
Her parents are John Oliver "Seán" O'Connor, a structural engineer later turned barrister[23] and chairperson of the Divorce Action Group,[28] and Johanna Marie O'Grady (1939–1985), who married in the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Drimnagh, Dublin, in 1960. She attended Dominican College Sion Hill school in Blackrock, County Dublin.[29]
In 1979, O'Connor left her mother and went to live with her father, who had married Viola Margaret Suiter (née Cook) in Alexandria, Virginia, United States, in 1976.[30] At the age of 15, her shoplifting and truancy led to her being placed for 18 months in a Magdalene asylum called the Grianán Training Centre in Drumcondra run by the Order of Our Lady of Charity.[31] In some ways, she thrived there, especially in the development of her writing and music, but she also chafed under the imposed conformity. Unruly students there were sometimes sent to sleep in the adjoining nursing home, an experience of which she later commented, "I have never—and probably will never—experience such panic and terror and agony over anything."[32] She later for a period attended the Quaker Newtown School, Waterford for 5th and 6th year but did not sit the Leaving Certificate in 1985.[33][34]
On 10 February 1985, when O'Connor was 18, her mother Marie died in a car accident, aged 45, after losing control of her car on an icy road in Ballybrack and crashing into a bus.[35][36]
In June 1993, O'Connor wrote a public letter in The Irish Times which asked people to "stop hurting" her: "If only I can fight off the voices of my parents / and gather a sense of self-esteem / Then I'll be able to REALLY sing ..." The letter repeated accusations of abuse by her parents as a child which O'Connor had made in interviews. Her brother Joseph defended their father to the newspaper but agreed regarding their mother's "extreme and violent abuse, both emotional and physical". O'Connor said that month, "Our family is very messed up. We can't communicate with each other. We are all in agony. I for one am in agony."[37]
Musical career 1980s
One of the volunteers at Grianán was the sister of Paul Byrne, drummer for the band In Tua Nua, who heard O'Connor singing "Evergreen" by Barbra Streisand. She recorded a song with them called "Take My Hand" but they felt that at 15, she was too young to join the band.[38] Through an ad she placed in Hot Press in mid-1984, she met Colm Farrelly. Together they recruited a few other members and formed a band called Ton Ton Macoute.[22] The band moved to Waterford briefly while O'Connor attended Newtown School, but she soon dropped out of school and followed them to Dublin, where their performances received positive reviews. Their sound was inspired by Farrelly's interest in world music, though most observers thought O'Connor's singing and stage presence were the band's strongest features.[22][39]
O'Connor's time as singer for Ton Ton Macoute brought her to the attention of the music industry, and she was eventually signed by Ensign Records. She also acquired an experienced manager, Fachtna Ó Ceallaigh, former head of U2's Mother Records. Soon after she was signed, she embarked on her first major assignment, providing the vocals for the song "Heroine", which she co-wrote with U2's guitarist the Edge for the soundtrack to the film Captive. Ó Ceallaigh, who had been fired by U2 for complaining about them in an interview, was outspoken with his views on music and politics, and O'Connor adopted the same habits; she defended the actions of the Provisional IRA and said U2's music was "bombastic".[2] She later retracted her IRA comments saying they were based on nonsense, and that she was "too young to understand the tense situation in Northern Ireland properly".[40]
Her first album The Lion and the Cobra was "a sensation" when it was released in 1987 on Chrysalis Records,[41] and it reached gold record status, earning a Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy nomination. The single "Mandinka" was a big college radio hit in the United States, and "I Want Your (Hands on Me)" received both college and urban play in a remixed form that featured rapper MC Lyte. In her first U.S. network television appearance, O'Connor sang "Mandinka" on Late Night with David Letterman in 1988.[42] The song "Troy" was also released as a single in the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands, where it reached number 5 on the Dutch Top 40 chart.[43]
O'Connor named Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Bob Marley, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the Pretenders as the artists who influenced her on her debut album.[44] In 1989 O'Connor joined The The frontman Matt Johnson as a guest vocalist on the band's album Mind Bomb, which spawned the duet "Kingdom of Rain".[45] That same year, she made her first foray into cinema, starring in and writing the music for the Northern Irish film Hush-a-Bye-Baby.[46]
1990s
O'Connor's second album – 1990's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got – gained considerable attention and mostly positive reviews:[47] it was rated "second best album of the year" by the NME.[48] She was praised for her voice and original songs, while being noted for her appearance: trademark shaved head, often angry expression, and sometimes shapeless or unusual clothing.[47] The album featured Marco Pirroni (of Adam and the Ants fame), Andy Rourke (from The Smiths) and John Reynolds, her first husband;[49] most notably, it contained her international breakthrough hit "Nothing Compares 2 U", a song written by Prince[50][51] and originally recorded and released by a side project of his, the Family.[51] Hank Shocklee, producer for Public Enemy, remixed the album's next single, "The Emperor's New Clothes",[49] for a 12-inch that was coupled with another song from the LP, "I Am Stretched on Your Grave". Pre-dating but included on I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, was "Jump in the River", which originally appeared on the Married to the Mob soundtrack; the 12-inch version of the single had included a remix featuring performance artist Karen Finley.[52][53]
In July 1990, she joined other guests for former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters' performance of The Wall in Berlin.[54] She contributed a cover of "You Do Something to Me" to the Cole Porter tribute/AIDS fundraising album Red Hot + Blue produced by the Red Hot Organization.[55] Red Hot + Blue was followed by the release of Am I Not Your Girl?, an album made of covers of jazz standards and torch songs she had listened to while growing up; the album received mixed-to-poor reviews, and was a commercial disappointment in light of the success of her previous work.[56] Her take on Elton John's "Sacrifice" was acclaimed as one of the best efforts on the tribute album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin.[57]
Also in 1990, she was criticised after she stated that she would not perform if the United States national anthem was played before one of her concerts; Frank Sinatra threatened to "kick her in the ass".[58] After receiving four Grammy Award nominations, she withdrew her name from consideration.[2] Although nominated for the Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist, which she won, she did not attend the awards ceremony, but did accept the Irish IRMA in February 1991.[59]
I don't do anything in order to cause trouble. It just so happens that what I do naturally causes trouble. I'm proud to be a troublemaker.
—O'Connor in NME, March 1991[60]
She spent the following months studying bel canto singing with teacher Frank Merriman at the Parnell School of Music. In an interview with The Guardian, published in May 1993, she reported that singing lessons with Merriman were the only therapy she was receiving, describing Merriman as "the most amazing teacher in the universe."[61]
In 1992, she contributed backing vocals on the track "Come Talk To Me", and shared vocals on the single "Blood of Eden" from the studio album Us by Peter Gabriel. Gabriel invited her to join his ongoing Secret World Tour in May 1993, to sing these songs and more in an elaborate stage setting. O'Connor travelled and performed as a guest artist.[62] She was seen at Gabriel's side at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards in September. While in Los Angeles, she took too many sleeping pills, inciting media conjecture about a suicide attempt. She said she "was in a bad way emotionally at the time, but it wasn't a suicide attempt."[63] She left the tour suddenly, causing Gabriel to scramble for a replacement singer.[62] Decades later, she wrote in her memoir Rememberings that she left Gabriel because he treated her casually, and would not make a commitment.[6]
The 1993 soundtrack to the film In the Name of the Father featured O'Connor's "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart".[49] Her more conventional Universal Mother album (1994) spawned two music videos for the first and second singles, "Fire on Babylon" and "Famine", that were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.[64][65] She toured with Lollapalooza in 1995, but dropped out when she became pregnant with her second child.[66] In 1997, she released the Gospel Oak EP.[67]
In 1994, she appeared in A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who,[68] also known as Daltrey Sings Townshend. This was a two-night concert at Carnegie Hall produced by Roger Daltrey of the Who in celebration of his 50th birthday.[69] A CD and a VHS video of the concert were issued in 1994, followed by a DVD in 1998.[70][71]
In 1996, O'Connor guested on Broken China, a solo album by Pink Floyd's Richard Wright.[72]
O'Connor made her final feature film appearance in Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy in 1997, playing the Virgin Mary.[73]
In 1998, she worked again with the Red Hot Organization to co-produce and perform on Red Hot + Rhapsody.[74]
2000s
O'Connor at the "Music in My Head" festival in The Hague, 13 June 2008
Faith and Courage was released in 2000, including the single "No Man's Woman", and featured contributions from Wyclef Jean of the Fugees and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics.[75]
Her 2002 album, Sean-Nós Nua, marked a departure in that O'Connor interpreted or, in her own words, "sexed up" traditional Irish folk songs, including several in the Irish language.[76] In Sean-Nós Nua, she covered a well-known Canadian folk song, "Peggy Gordon".[77]
In 2003, she contributed a track to the Dolly Parton tribute album Just Because I'm a Woman, a cover of Parton's "Dagger Through the Heart". That same year, she also featured on three songs of Massive Attack's album 100th Window before releasing her double album, She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty. This compilation contained one disc of demos and previously unreleased tracks and one disc of a live concert recording. Directly after the album's release, O'Connor announced that she was retiring from music.[78] Collaborations, a compilation album of guest appearances, was released in 2005—featuring tracks recorded with Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack, Jah Wobble, Terry Hall, Moby, Bomb the Bass, the Edge, U2, and The The.[79]
Ultimately, after a brief period of inactivity and a bout with fibromyalgia, her retirement proved to be short-lived. O'Connor stated in an interview with Harp magazine that she had only intended to retire from making mainstream pop/rock music, and after dealing with her fibromyalgia she chose to move into other musical styles.[80] The reggae album Throw Down Your Arms appeared in late 2005.[81]
On 8 November 2006, O'Connor performed seven songs from her upcoming album Theology at The Sugar Club in Dublin. Thirty fans were given the opportunity to win pairs of tickets to attend along with music industry critics.[82] The performance was released in 2008 as Live at the Sugar Club deluxe CD/DVD package sold exclusively on her website.[83]
O'Connor released two songs from her album Theology to download for free from her official website: "If You Had a Vineyard" and "Jeremiah (Something Beautiful)". The album, a collection of covered and original Rastafari spiritual songs, was released in June 2007. The first single from the album, the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber classic "I Don't Know How to Love Him", was released on 30 April 2007.[84] To promote the album, O'Connor toured extensively in Europe and North America. She also appeared on two tracks of the new Ian Brown album The World Is Yours, including the anti-war single "Illegal Attacks".[85]
2010s
In January 2010, O'Connor performed a duet with R&B singer Mary J. Blige produced by former A Tribe Called Quest member Ali Shaheed Muhammad of O'Connor's song "This Is To Mother You" (first recorded by O'Connor on her 1997 Gospel Oak EP). The proceeds of the song's sales were donated to the organisation GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services).[86] In 2012 the song "Lay Your Head Down", written by Brian Byrne and Glenn Close for the soundtrack of the film Albert Nobbs and performed by O'Connor, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.[87]
O'Connor performing in 2013
In 2011, O'Connor worked on recording a new album, titled Home, to be released in the beginning of 2012,[88] titled How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?,[89][90] with the first single being "The Wolf is Getting Married". She planned an extensive tour in support of the album but suffered a serious breakdown between December 2011 and March 2012,[91] resulting in the tour and all other musical activities for the rest of 2012 being cancelled. O'Connor resumed touring in 2013 with The Crazy Baldhead Tour. The second single "4th and Vine" was released on 18 February 2013.[92]
In February 2014, it was revealed that O'Connor had been recording a new album of original material, titled The Vishnu Room, consisting of romantic love songs.[93] In early June 2014, the new album was retitled I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss, with an 11 August release date. The title derives from the Ban Bossy campaign that took place earlier the same year. The album's first single is entitled "Take Me to Church".[94][95]
In November 2014, O'Connor's management was taken over by Simon Napier-Bell and Björn de Water.[96] On 15 November, O'Connor joined the charity supergroup Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording a new version of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, to raise money for the West African Ebola virus epidemic.[97]
In September 2019, O'Connor performed live for the first time in five years, singing "Nothing Compares 2 U" with the Irish Chamber Orchestra on RTÉ's The Late Late Show.[98][99]
2020s
In October 2020, O'Connor released a cover of Mahalia Jackson's Trouble of the World, with proceeds from the single to benefit Black Lives Matter charities.[100]
On 4 June 2021, O'Connor announced her immediate retirement from the music industry. While her final studio album, No Veteran Dies Alone, was due to be released in 2022, O'Connor stated that she would not be touring or promoting it.[101] Announcing the news on Twitter, she said "This is to announce my retirement from touring and from working in the record business. I've gotten older and I'm tired. So it's time for me to hang up my nipple tassels, having truly given my all. NVDA in 2022 will be my last release. And there'll be no more touring or promo."[101][102] On 7 June she retracted her previous statement, describing the original announcement as "a knee-jerk reaction" to an insensitive interview, and announcing that she would go ahead with her already scheduled 2022 tour.[103]
On 1 June 2021, O'Connor's memoir Rememberings was released to positive critical reception. It was listed among the best books of the year on BBC Culture.[104]
On 7 January 2022, O'Connor's son, Shane, died by suicide at the age of 17.[42] She subsequently decided to cancel her 2022 tour and her album No Veteran Dies Alone was postponed indefinitely.[105]
In February 2023, she shared a new version of "The Skye Boat Song", a 19th century Scottish adaptation of a 1782 Gaelic song, which is also the theme for the fantasy drama series Outlander.[106] The following month, she was awarded the inaugural Choice Music Prize Classic Irish Album by Irish broadcaster RTÉ for her 1990 album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.[107][108]
Name
In 2017, O'Connor changed her legal name to Magda Davitt, saying in an interview that she wished to be "free of the patriarchal slave names. Free of the parental curses."[113][114] On her conversion to Islam in October 2018, she adopted the name 'Shuhada', and before mid-2019 also changed her surname from Davitt to Sadaqat.[115]
Personal and public image
Her shaved head has been seen as a statement against traditional views of femininity.[116]
Marriages and children
O'Connor had four children and was married and divorced four times. She had her first son, Jake, in 1987 with her first husband, music producer John Reynolds,[117] who co-produced several of her albums, including Universal Mother. Reynolds and O'Connor later married in Westminster register office in March 1989.[118][119] The same year, O'Connor had an abortion after things did not work out with the father. She later wrote the song "My Special Child" about the experience.[120] O'Connor and Reynolds announced their plan to divorce in November 1991 after being separated for some time.[121]
Soon after the birth of her daughter Brigidine Roisin Waters on 10 March 1996, O'Connor and the girl's father, Irish journalist John Waters, began a long custody battle that ended with O'Connor agreeing to let Roisin live in Dublin with Waters.[122][119][117] In August 2001, O'Connor married British journalist Nick Sommerlad in Wales; the marriage ended in July 2002 after 11 months.[123][117] She had her third child, son Shane, in 2004 with musician Donal Lunny.[117][119] In 2006, she had her fourth child, Yeshua Francis Neil Bonadio, whose father is Frank Bonadio.[124][125]
O'Connor was married a third time on 22 July 2010, to longtime friend and collaborator Steve Cooney,[4][126] and in late March 2011, made the decision to separate.[127] Her fourth marriage was to Irish therapist Barry Herridge. They wed on 9 December 2011, in Las Vegas, but their marriage ended after having "lived together for 7 days only".[128] The following week, on 3 January 2012, O'Connor issued a further string of internet comments to the effect that the couple had re-united.[5]
On 18 July 2015, her first grandson was born to her son Jake Reynolds and his girlfriend Lia.[129]
On 7 January 2022, two days after her 17-year-old son Shane was reported missing from Newbridge, County Kildare, he was found dead by suicide. His body was found by Gardaí in the Bray/Shankill part of Dublin.[130][131][132] O'Connor stated that her son, custody of whom she lost in 2013, had been on "suicide watch" at Tallaght Hospital, and had "ended his earthly struggle". O'Connor criticised the Health Service Executive (HSE) with regard to their handling of her son's case.[133][134][135] She initially criticised Ireland's family services agency, Tusla, but retracted this a few days later.[136][137] In January 2022, a week after her son's suicide, she was hospitalised on her own volition following a series of tweets in which she indicated she was going to take her own life.[138]
Relationship with Prince
Speaking about her relationship with Prince in an interview with Norwegian station NRK in November 2014 she said, "I did meet him a couple of times. We didn't get on at all. In fact we had a punch-up." She continued: "He summoned me to his house after 'Nothing Compares'. I made it without him. I'd never met him. He summoned me to his house – and it's foolish to do this to an Irish woman – he said he didn't like me saying bad words in interviews. So I told him to f*** off....He got quite violent. I had to escape out of his house at 5 in the morning. He packed a bigger punch than mine."[139] In her 2021 memoir Rememberings, O'Connor described her meeting with Prince in detail, which ranged from having his butler serve soup repeatedly despite no desire for soup, to hitting her with a hard object placed in a pillowcase after wanting a pillow fight, and stalking her with his car after she left the mansion.[140]
Health
In the early 2000s, O'Connor revealed that she suffered from fibromyalgia. The pain and fatigue she experienced caused her to take a break from music from 2003 to 2005.[141]
On an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show broadcast on 4 October 2007, O'Connor disclosed that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder four years earlier, and had attempted suicide on her 33rd birthday, 8 December 1999.[142] Then, on Oprah: Where Are They Now? of 9 February 2014, O'Connor said that she had received three "second opinions" and was told by all three that she was not bipolar.
O'Connor was also diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder.[143]
In August 2015, she announced that she was to undergo a hysterectomy after suffering gynaecological problems for over three years.[144] O'Connor later blamed the hospital's refusal to administer hormonal replacement therapy after the operation as the main reason for her mental health issues in the subsequent years, stating "I was flung into surgical menopause. Hormones were everywhere. I became very suicidal. I was a basket case."[145]
Having smoked cannabis for 30 years, O'Connor went to a rehabilitation centre in 2016, to end her "addiction".[146] O'Connor was agoraphobic.[147]
In August 2017, O'Connor posted a 12-minute video on her Facebook page in which she stated that she had felt alone since losing custody of her 13-year-old son, Shane, and that for the prior two years she had wanted to kill herself, with only her doctor and psychiatrist "keeping her alive".[148] The month after her Facebook post, O'Connor appeared on the American television talk show Dr. Phil on the show's 16th season debut episode.[149] According to Dr. Phil, O'Connor wanted to do the interview because she wanted to "destigmatize mental illness", noting the prevalence of mental health issues among musicians.[150] Shane died in January 2022. A week later, following a series of tweets in which she indicated that she was going to kill herself, O'Connor was hospitalised.[151]
Sexuality
In a 2000 interview in Curve, O'Connor said that she was a lesbian.[152] She later retracted the statement, and in 2005 told Entertainment Weekly "I'm three-quarters heterosexual, a quarter gay".[153]
In 2013, O'Connor published an open letter on her own website to American singer and actress Miley Cyrus in which she warned Cyrus of the treatment of women in the music industry and stated that sexuality is a factor in this, which was in response to Cyrus's music video for her song "Wrecking Ball".[154] Cyrus responded by mocking O'Connor and alluding to her mental health problems.[155]
Politics
O'Connor was a vocal supporter of a united Ireland, and called on the left-wing republican Sinn Féin party to be "braver". In December 2014 it was reported O'Connor had joined Sinn Féin.[156] O'Connor called for the "demolition" of the Republic of Ireland and its replacement with a new, united country. She also called for key Sinn Féin politicians like Gerry Adams to step down because "they remind people of violence", referring to the Troubles.[157]
In a 2015 interview with the BBC, O'Connor said she wished that Ireland had remained under British rule (which ended after the Irish War of Independence, except for Northern Ireland), saying "the church took over and it was disastrous".[158] Following the Brexit referendum in 2016, O'Connor wrote on Facebook "Ireland is officially no longer owned by Britain".[159]
Religion
Sinéad O'Connor on After Dark on 21 January 1995
In January 1995, O'Connor made an unexpected appearance on the British late-night television programme After Dark during an episode about sexual abuse and the Catholic Church in Ireland.[160] The discussion included a Dominican friar and another representative of the Catholic Church, along with former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. Host Helena Kennedy described the event: "Sinéad came on and argued that abuse in families was coded in by the church because it refused to accept the accounts of women and children."[161]
In the late 1990s, Bishop Michael Cox of the Irish Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church (an Independent Catholic group not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church) ordained O'Connor as a priest.[17] The Catholic Church considers the ordination of women to be invalid and asserts that a person attempting the sacrament of ordination upon a woman incurs excommunication.[17] The bishop had contacted her to offer ordination following her appearance on RTÉ's The Late Late Show, during which she told the presenter, Gay Byrne, that had she not been a singer she would have wished to have been a Catholic priest. After her ordination, she indicated that she wished to be called Mother Bernadette Mary.[17]
In a July 2007 interview with Christianity Today, O'Connor stated that she considered herself a Christian and that she believed in core Christian concepts about the Trinity and Jesus Christ. She said, "I think God saves everybody whether they want to be saved or not. So when we die, we're all going home ... I don't think God judges anybody. He loves everybody equally."[162] In an October 2002 interview, she credited her Christian faith in giving her the strength to live through and overcome the effects of her childhood abuse.[112]
On 26 March 2010, O'Connor appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° to speak out about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Ireland.[163] On 28 March 2010, she had an opinion piece published in the Sunday edition of The Washington Post in which she wrote about the scandal and her time in a Magdalene laundry as a teenager.[31] Writing for the Sunday Independent she labelled the Vatican as "a nest of devils" and called for the establishment of an "alternative church", opining that "Christ is being murdered by liars" in the Vatican.[164] Shortly after the election of Pope Francis, she said:[165][166]
Well, you know, I guess I wish everyone the best, and I don't know anything about the man, so I'm not going to rush to judge him on one thing or another, but I would say he has a scientifically impossible task, because all religions, but certainly the Catholic Church, is really a house built on sand, and it's drowning in a sea of conditional love, and therefore it can't survive, and actually the office of Pope itself is an anti-Christian office, the idea that Christ needs a representative is laughable and blasphemous at the same time, therefore it is a house built on sand, and we need to rescue God from religion, all religions, they've become a smokescreen that distracts people from the fact that there is a holy spirit, and when you study the Gospels you see the Christ character came to tell us that we only need to talk directly to God, we never needed Religion ...
Asked whether from her point of view, it is therefore irrelevant who is elected to be pope, O'Connor replied:
Genuinely I don't mean disrespect to Catholic people because I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe in the Holy Spirit, all of those, but I also believe in all of them, I don't think it cares if you call it Fred or Daisy, you know? Religion is a smokescreen, it has everybody talking to the wall. There is a Holy Spirit who can't intervene on our behalf unless we ask it. Religion has us talking to the wall. The Christ character tells us himself: you must only talk directly to the Father; you don't need intermediaries. We all thought we did, and that's ok, we're not bad people, but let's wake up ... God was there before religion; it's there [today] despite religion; it'll be there when religion is gone.[167]
Tatiana Kavelka wrote about O'Connor's later Christian work, describing it as "theologically charged yet unorthodox, oriented toward interfaith dialogue and those on the margins".[168]
In August 2018, via an open letter, she asked Pope Francis to excommunicate her as she had also asked Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II.[113]
In October 2018, O'Connor converted to Islam, calling it "the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian's journey".[169] The ceremony was conducted in Ireland by Sunni Islamic theologian Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri. She also changed her name to Shuhada' Davitt. In a message on Twitter, she thanked fellow Muslims for their support and uploaded a video of herself reciting the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer. She also posted photos of herself wearing a hijab.[170]
After her conversion to Islam, O'Connor called those who were not Muslims "disgusting" and criticised Christian and Jewish theologians on Twitter in November 2018. She wrote: "What I'm about to say is something so racist I never thought my soul could ever feel it. But truly I never wanna spend time with white people again (if that's what non-muslims are called). Not for one moment, for any reason. They are disgusting."[171][172] Later that month, O'Connor stated that her remarks were made in an attempt to force Twitter to close down her account.[173] In September 2019, she apologised for the remarks, saying "They were not true at the time and they are not true now. I was triggered as a result of Islamophobia dumped on me. I apologize for hurt caused. That was one of many crazy tweets lord knows."[174]
Death
On 26 July 2023, O'Connor was found dead at her flat in Herne Hill, South London, at the age of 56 Her family issued a statement later the same day, without indicating the cause of her death.[108][177][178] The following day, the Metropolitan Police reported that O'Connor's death was not being treated as suspicious] On 28 July, the Coronor in London said that the date of death was still unknown.
© yohanes.budiyanto, 2014
PRELUDE
The 1st of August, 2014 was such an historic day as the world finally welcomed the birth of the first in line to the Parisian throne after a painstaking and extraordinary "labor" process that took four years in creation, and almost a decade in the making. I was not talking about a French rival to baby George, but instead a newborn that has sent shivers down the spines of Paris' oldest and current Kings and Grand Dames from the day it was conceived. Yes, I was referring to The Peninsula Paris, the youngest sister to the legendary Peninsula Hong Kong (circa 1928).
Ever since the project was announced to the public four years ago, it has been on my top list of the most eagerly awaited hotel openings of the decade. So when the hotel announced 1st of August as an opening date back in March, I immediately issued my First Class return tickets to the City of Light, risking the usual opening delay. A man of his word, Peninsula Paris finally opened as scheduled.
HISTORY
The Peninsula brand needs no introduction, as it is synonymous with quality, technology, innovation, craftsmanship and sophistication, -much like a slogan for French top brands and their savoir faire. Despite having only 10 current properties worldwide in its portfolio (Paris is its tenth), each Peninsula hotel is a market leader in each respective cities, and consistently tops the chart in many bonafide travel publications and reigns supreme as the world's best, especially elder sisters in Hong Kong and Bangkok. The Peninsula model is different from other rival hotel groups, which usually expand aggressively through both franchise and managed models worldwide. Instead, the Peninsula focuses on acquiring majority to sole ownership on all its properties to ensure control on quality (Hong Kong, New York, Chicago and Tokyo are 100% owned; Bangkok, Beijing and Manila are over 75%; Shanghai is 50%, while Beverly Hills and Paris are the only two with only 20% ownership).
The history of the Peninsula Paris could be traced back to a modest villa aptly called Hotel Basilevski on the plot of land at 19 Avenue Kleber back in 1864, -named after its Russian diplomat owner, Alexander Petrovich Basilevski, which caught the attention of hotelier Leonard Tauber for his prospective hotel project. The Versailles-styled property was partly a museum housing Basilevski's vast and impressive collection of 19th century medieval and Renaissance art, which eventually was acquired by Alexander III, -a Russian Tsar, at the sums of six millions francs. These collections were later transported to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and formed the base collection for the newly established Department of Medieval and Renaissance Art. After Basilevski sold the villa and moved to a more palatial residence at Avenue du Trocadero, the property was then acquired and rebranded the Palais de Castille as the residence of the exiled Queen Isabella II of Spain in 1868, who seeked refuge and continued to live there until 1904. Upon her death, the property was later demolished in 1906 to make way for the Majestic hotel, which finally opened in 1908 with much satisfaction of Leonard Tauber, who has eyed the premise from the very beginning.
The Majestic Hotel was exquisitely designed in the Beaux-Art style as a grand hotel by prominent architect of that time, Armand Sibien. Together with The Ritz (circa 1898), the two became the most preferred places to stay and entertain in Paris of the time. The Majestic has attracted the well-heeled crowd, and hosted many high profile events, most notably for a particular dinner hosted by rich British couple Sydney and Violet Schiff on 18 May 1922 as the after party of Igor Stravinsky's 'Le Renard' ballet premiere, and the hotel becomes an instant legend. The guests list were impressive: Igor Stravinsky himself, Pablo Picasso, Sergei Diaghilev, and two of the 20th century most legendary writers: James Joyce and Marcel Proust, who met for the first and only time before Proust's death six months later. Since then, the Majestic continued to draw high profile guests, including George Gershwin on 25 March 1928, where he composed "An American in Paris" during the stay.
If the walls could talk, the Majestic has plenty of stories to tell. It was once converted into a hospital during the infamy in 1914, and the British took residency at the hotel during the Paris Peace Conference back in 1919. The hotel was then acquired by the French State in 1936 as the offices of the Ministry of Defence; and later had a stint as the German Military High Command in France between October 1940 to July 1944 during the World War II. Post war, it then became the temporary home for UNESCO from 16 September 1946 until 1958. More than a decade after, the Paris Peace talks was opened by Henry Kissinger in one of its spectacular Ballrooms in 1969 with the Northern Vietnamese. Four years later, the Paris Peace Accord was finally signed at the oak paneled-room next to the Ballroom on 27 January 1973, which ended the Vietnam War. This triumphant event has also led to another victorious event when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize that same year.
The hotel continued to serve as the International Conference Center of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs until it was up for sale by the government in 2008 as part of the cost cutting program to the Qatari Diar, -which later transferred its ownership to Katara Hospitality, for a staggering USD 460 million. An excess of USD 600 million was further spent on the massive rebuilding and refurbishment not only to restore the hotel to its former glory, but also to transform it into a Peninsula with the highest standard.
The epic restoration work was led by prominent French architect, Richard Martinet, who has also previously work with the restoration of Prince Roland Bonaparte's former mansion into the Shangri-La Paris and also the Four Seasons George V; and involved teams of France's leading craftsmen; heritage designers and organisations; stonemasons from historic monument specialist; master glass crafters; crystal manufacturer; wood, moulding and gilder restoration experts, -many of whom are third generation, and have carried out high profile projects such as the Palace of Versailles, Louvre Museum, the dome of Les Invalides, the Grand and Petit Palais, and even the flame of the Statue of Liberty in New York. The result is truly breathtaking, and it was certainly money well spent to revive and recreate one of the nation's most treasured landmark. One of my favorite places within the hotel is the Main Lobby at Avenue des Portugais where the grand hall is adorned with a spectacular chandelier installation comprising 800 pieces of glass leaves inspired by the plane trees along Avenue Kleber. The work of Spain's most influential artist since Gaudi, Xavier Corbero, could also be found nearby in the form of a beautiful sculpture called Moon River.
Katara Hospitality owns 80% of The Peninsula Paris, and already has a spectacular portfolio ownership consisting some of the world's finest hotels, including The Raffles Singapore, Le Royal Monceau-Raffles Paris, Ritz-Carlton Doha, Schweizerhof Bern, and most recently, 5 of the InterContinental Hotel's European flagships, including Amstel in Amsterdam, Carlton in Cannes, De la Ville in Rome, Madrid and Frankfurt. It is interesting to note that Adrian Zecha, founder of the extraordinary Amanresorts chain is a member of the Board of Directors at Katara since September 2011, lending his immense hospitality expertise to the group.
At over USD 1 billion cost, the Pen Paris project is easily the most expensive to ever being built, considering it has only 200 rooms over 6 storeys. As a comparison, the cost of building the 101 storey, 494m high Shanghai World Financial Center (where the Park Hyatt Shanghai resides) is USD 1.2 billion; whereas Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building on earth at 163 storey and 828m, costed a 'modest' USD 1.5 billion to build. The numbers are truly mind boggling, and The Peninsula Paris is truly an extraordinary project. It might took the Majestic Hotel two years to build; but it took four years just to restore and reincarnate it into a Peninsula.
HOTEL OPENING
On a pleasant afternoon of 1 August 2014, the hotel finally opened its door to a crowd of distinguished guests, international journalists, first hotel guests and local crowds who partake to witness the inauguration and rebirth of a Parisian legend and grande dame (Many A-list celebrities and even Head of State flocked to the hotel to witness its sheer beauty). It was an historic day not just for Paris, but also for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group as it marks their arrival in Europe with its first ever Peninsula, while the second is already on the pipeline with the future opening of The Peninsula London, located just behind The Lanesborough at Knightsbridge.
The eagerly-awaited opening ceremony was attended by the Chairman of Katara Hospitality, His Excellency Sheikh Nawaf Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani; CEO of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Limited (HSH), Clement Kwok; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Laurent Fabius; General Manager of the Peninsula Paris, Nicolas Béliard; and the event kicked off with an opening speech by the famous French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, Madame Fleur Pellerin, who clearly stole the show with her public persona. A ribbon cutting and spectacular lion dance show concluded the event, which drew quite a spectacle on Avenue des Portugais as it brought a unique display of Asian heritage to the heart of cosmopolitan Paris.
LOCATION
The Peninsula Paris stands majestically at the tree-lined Avenue Kléber, just off the Arc de Triomphe. Personally, this is an ideal location in Paris as it is a stone's throw away from all the happenings at the Champs-Élysées, but is set away from its hustle and bustle, which is constantly a tourist trap day and night. Once you walk pass the leafy Avenue Kléber, the atmosphere is very different: peaceful and safe. The Kléber Metro station is just a few steps away from the hotel, providing guests a convenient access to further parts of town.
Champs-Élysées is the center of Parisian universe, and it is just a short and pleasant stroll away from the hotel, where some of the city's most legendary commercial and cultural institutions reside. For a start, Drugstore Publicis at the corner by the roundabout has been a legendary hang-out since the 1960s, and is my ultimate favourite place in town. The Post Modern edifice by architect Michele Saee (renovated in 2004) houses almost everything: a Cinema; side walk Brasserie & Steak House; Newsagency; Bookshop (you can find Travel publications and even the Michelin Guide); upscale Gift shop and Beauty corner (even Acqua di Parma is on sale here); Pharmacy (whose pharmacist thankfully speaks English and gladly advises you on your symptoms); upscale deli (stocking pretty much everything from Foie gras burger on the counter, to fine wines & cigar cellar; to Pierre Herme & Pierre Marcolini chocolates; Dalloyau bakery; Marriage Freres tea; and even the Petrossian Caviar!). Best of all, it features a 2 Michelin star L'atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile on its basement; and the store is even opened on Sunday until 2am. It is a one stop shopping, eating and entertainment, showcasing the best of France.
Further down the road, Maison Louis Vuitton stands majestically on its own entire 7 storey building, which was opened in 2005 as one of the biggest flagship stores in the world, covering a total area of 1,800m2. Designed by Eric Carlson and Peter Marino, the entire store is an architectural marvel and the temple of luxury, elegance and sophistication. This is one of the very few stores to open in Sunday as the French Labour Unions prohibits commercial stores to open on Sunday, unless if it involves cultural, recreational and sporting aspect. Initially, Maison LV was ordered by the court to close on Sunday, but LVMH finally wins an appeal in 2007 on the grounds of cultural experience; and the store has continued to draw endless queue on Sunday.
A block away from Maison LV is the legendary Parisian Tea Room of Ladurée, which was founded in 1862 by Louis Ernest Ladurée on its original store at 16 Rue Royal as a bakery. The Champs-Élysées store was opened in 1997 and has since attracted an endless queue of tourists and locals who wish to savour its legendary Macarons and pastries. The Ladurée phenomenon and popularity could only be rivaled by fellow Frenchmen Pierre Hermé, who has also attracted a cult of loyal fans worldwide. It may not have a flagship store at Champs-Élysées, but one could easily stop by Drugstore Publicis for a quick purchase to ease the craving.
For those looking for upscale boutiques, Avenue Montaigne located just nearby on a perpendicular, and features the flagship presence of the world's finest luxury fashion labels: Armani, Bottega Veneta, Valention, Prada, Dior, Versace, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Fendi and Salvatore Ferragamo to name a few. For the ultimate in shopping extravaganza, head down to Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré where all money will (hopefully) be well spent.
Champs-Élysées is the most famous and expensive boulevard in the world, yet it has everything for everyone; and myriad of crowds flocking its grand boulevards for a pleasant stroll. It has no shortage of luxury stores, but it also offers mainstream stores for the general public, from Levi's to Zara and Lacoste; to McDonalds and Starbucks; and FNAC store (French answer to HMV).
In terms of fine dining experience, the areas around Champs-Élysées has plenty to offer. I have mentioned about the 2 Michelin L'atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile at the Drugstore Publicis, which was excellent. Robuchon never disappoints as it consistently serves amazing French cuisine amidst its signature red and black interior everywhere I visited, including Tokyo (3 Michelin), Hong Kong (3 Michelin), Paris (2 Michelin) and Taipei.
During my stay, I also managed to sample the finest cuisine from the kitchens of two, 3-Michelin Paris institutions: Pierre Gagnaire at Rue Balzac, just off Champs-Élysées; and Epicure at Le Bristol by Chef Eric Frechon on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, which was undoubtedly the best and most memorable dining experiences I have ever had in Paris to date. It is certainly the gastronomic highlight of this trip.
Other 3 Michelin establishment, such as Ledoyen is also located nearby at an 18th century pavilion by the Gardens of Champs-Élysées by newly appointed famous French Chef Yannick Alléno, who previously also resided at the Le Meurice with 3 Michelin, until Alain Ducasse took over last year during the Plaza Athénée closure for expansion.
August is a time of misery for international visitors to Paris as most fine dining restaurants are closed for the summer holiday. When choices are limited, foodies could rely on Epicure and Robuchon, which are opened all year round; and also the 2 Michelin star Le Cinq at the Four Seasons George V. Although its food could not compete with Robuchon, Epicure and Gagnaire, guests could still enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
ROOMS:
On my visit to Paris last year, I was not too impressed with my stay at the Four Seasons George V, as everything seemed to be pretty basic: the room design; the in-room tech and amenities; and even the much lauded service. It simply does not justify the hefty price tag. The only thing stood out there were the ostentatious designer floral display at the lobby, which reportedly absorbed a six digit figure budget annually. When I saw them at the first time, this was what came to mind: guests are paying for these excessive flowers, whether you like it or not.
Fortunately, the Peninsula Paris skips all this expensive gimmick, and instead spends a fortune for guests to enjoy: advance room technology; a host of complimentary essential amenities, including internet access, non-alcoholic minibar, and even long distance phone calls. In fact, every single items inside the room has been well thought and designed for guest's ultimate comfort.
Ever since The Peninsula Bangkok opened in 1998 to much success, the group has used it as a template for its signature rooms for future sister hotels, which consists of an open plan, ultra-wide spacious room equivalent to a 2 bays suite, with 5-fixtures bathroom, and a separate Dressing Room, which soon becomes a Peninsula signature.
The Peninsula Tokyo followed this template when it opened in 2007 to rave reviews; and it was soon adopted as a model for Peninsula Shanghai, which later opened in 2009 as the flagship property in Mainland China. This layout is also being applied at The Peninsula Paris, albeit for its Suites categories, i.e. Junior Suite, which measure at an astonishing 50 - 60m2. The entry level Superior and Deluxe Rooms lack the signature layout with smaller size at 35 - 45m2, but they are already spacious for a Parisian standard; and each is equipped with Peninsula's signature technology.
Technology is indeed at the core of the Peninsula DNA, and no expense is spared in creating the world's most advance in-room technology. When other hotels try to cut costs and budgets on in-room technology with lame excuses, the Peninsula actually spends a fortune to innovate and set a new benchmark. In fact, it is probably the only hotel group to have its own Technology laboratory at a secret location deep inside Aberdeen, Hong Kong, where in-room tech is being developed and tested. It was here where innovative devices, such as the outside temperature indicator; my favourite Spa Button by the bathtub; or even the portable nail dryer for the ladies are invented. The Peninsula took the world by storm when it introduced the Samsung Galaxy tablet device at the Peninsula Hong Kong in 2012, which is programmed in 11 languages and virtually controls the entire room, including the lights, temperature, curtains, TV, radio, valet calls and Do Not Disturb sign. It even features touch screen Room Service Menu, hotel information, city guide, and a function to request room service and housekeeping items, thus creating an entirely paperless environment.
All these technological marvel are also being replicated at the Peninsula Paris, together with other 'standard' features, such as Nespresso Coffee Machine; flat-screen 3D LED television; LED touch screen wall panels; an iPod/iPad docking station; memory card reader; 4-in1 fax/scanner/printer/photocopier machine; DVD player; complimentary in-house HD movies; complimentary internet access and long distance calls through the VOIP platform. Even the room's exterior Parisian-styled canopy is electronically operated. All these technological offerings is so extremely complex, that it resulted in 2.5 km worth of cabling in each room alone.
Bathroom at the Junior Suite also features Peninsula's signature layout: a stand alone bathtub as the focal point, flanked by twin vanities and separate shower and WC compartments amidst acres of white marble. Probably the first in Paris, it features a Japanese Toilet complete with basic control panel, and a manual handheld bidet sprayer.
When all these add up to the stay, it actually brings a very good value to the otherwise high room rates. Better yet, the non-alcoholic Minibar is also complimentary, which is a first for a Peninsula hotel. The Four Seasons George V may choose to keep looking back to its antiquity past and annihilate most technological offerings to its most basic form, but the Pen always looks forward to the future and brings the utter convenience, all at your finger tip. The Peninsula rooms are undoubtedly the best designed, best equipped and most high-tech in the entire universe.
ROOM TO BOOK:
The 50 - 60m2 Junior Suite facing leafy Avenue Kléber is the best room type to book as it is an open-plan suite with Peninsula's signature bathroom and dressing room; and the ones located on the Premiere étage (first floor) have high ceilings and small balcony overlooking Kleber Terrace's iconic glass canopy. Personally, rooms facing the back street at Rue La Pérouse are the least preferred, but its top level rooms inside the Mansart Roof on level 5 have juliet windows that allow glimpse of the tip of Eiffel Tower despite being smaller in size due to its attic configuration. Superior Rooms also lack the signature Peninsula 5 fixtures bathroom configuration, so for the ultimate bathing experience, make sure to book at least from the Deluxe category.
If money is no object, book one of the five piece-de-resistance suites with their own private rooftop terrace and gardens on the top floor, which allow 360 degree panoramic views of Paris. Otherwise, the mid-tier Deluxe Suite is already a great choice with corner location, multiple windows and 85m2 of pure luxury.
DINING:
Looking back at the hotel's illustrious past, the Peninsula offers some of the most unique and memorable dining experiences in Paris, steep in history.
The area that once housed Igor Stravinksy's after party where James Joyce met Marcel Proust for the first time is now the hotel's Cantonese Restaurant, aptly called LiLi; and is led by Chef Chi Keung Tang, formerly of Peninsula Tokyo's One Michelin starred Hei Fung Terrace. Lili was actually modeled after Peninsula Shanghai's Yi Long Court, but the design here blends Chinese elements with Art Nouveau style that flourished in the late 1920s. It also boasts a world first: a spectacular 3x3.3m fiber optic installation at the entrance of the restaurant, depicting the imaginary portrait of LiLi herself. The Cantonese menu was surprisingly rather simple and basic, and features a selection of popular dim sum dishes. The best and most memorable Chinese restaurants I have ever experienced are actually those who masterfully fuse Chinese tradition with French ingredients: Jin Sha at the Four Seasons Hangzhou at Westlake; 2 Michelin Tin Lung Heen at Level 102 of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong; Jiang at Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou by Chef Fei; and Ya Ge at Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Ironically, the world's only 3 Michelin star Chinese restaurant, Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons Hong Kong failed to impress me.
The former Ballroom area where Henry Kissinger started the Paris Peace talks with the Vietnamese has now been transformed as The Lobby, which is a signature of every Peninsula hotels where the afternoon tea ritual takes place daily. The spectacular room with intricate details and crystal chandeliers has been meticulously restored, and is an ideal place to meet, see and be seen. Breakfast is served daily here, and guests could choose to have it either inside or outside at the adjoining al fresco La Terrasse Kléber, which connects all the F&B outlets on the ground floor, including Lili. Guests could choose from a Chinese set breakfast, which includes dim sum, fried vermicelli, and porridge with beef slices; or the Parisian set, which includes gourmet items such as Egg Benedict with generous slices of Jamon Iberico on top. The afternoon tea ritual is expected to be very popular as renowned Chef Pattissier Julien Alvarez, -who claimed the World Pastry Champion in 2009; and also the Spanish World Chocolate Master in 2007 at the tender age of 23, is at the helm; and the venue quickly booked out from the opening day.
Next to the Lobby is a small, intimate bar covered in exquisite oak panelling where Henry Kissinger signed the Paris Peace Accord back in 1973 that ended the Vietnam War. Kissinger politely declined the offer to have the Bar named after him, and instead it is simply called Le Bar Kléber.
On the top floor of the hotel lies the signature restaurant L'Oiseau Blanc, which is named after the French biplane that disappeared in 1927 in an attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight between Paris and New York. A 75% replica of the plane has even been installed outside the main entrance of the restaurant with the Eiffel Tower on its background. The restaurant is divided into 3 distinct areas: a spectacular glass enclosed main dining room; a large outdoor terrace that runs the entire length of the hotel's roof; and an adjoining lively bar, all with breathtaking uninterrupted views of Paris' most identifiable landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré-Cœur at the highest point of the city at Montmartre.
L'Oiseau Blanc is led by Chef Sidney Redel, a former protégé of Pierre Gagnaire, and serves contemporary French cuisine focussing on 'terroir' menu of locally sourced seasonal ingredients from the region. During my stay, tomato was the seasonal ingredients, and Chef Redel created four courses incorporating tomato, even on dessert. While the food was of high quality, personally the menu still needs fine tuning, considering the sort of clientele the Pen is aiming for: the ultra rich (Chinese), who usually seek top establishments with luxury ingredients, such as caviar, black truffle, foie gras, blue lobster, Jamon Iberico, Wagyu beef, Kurobuta pork and Challans chicken.
LEISURE:
The Peninsula Paris features one of the best health and recreational facilities in the city, housed within the basement of the hotel, and covers an expansive area of 1,800m2. For a comparison, rival Mandarin Oriental Spa covers a total area of only 900m2 over two floors. The Peninsula Spa is undoubtedly one of the nicest urban spa that I have been to, it easily beats the Spa at the Four Seasons George V. The pool is also one of the city's largest at 22m long, -compared to both the Shangri-La and Mandarin Oriental at 15m; the George V at only 9m, which is more like a bigger jacuzzi. The only two other pools better than the Peninsula is the one designed by Phillippe Starck at the Le Royal Monceau at 28m; and the spectacular grand pool at the Ritz.
There is the usual 24 hours gym within two fitness spaces equipped with Technogym machines and free weights; and the locker rooms features steam, sauna, and experience shower room. There is a total of 8 treatment rooms within the Spa area, and the highlight is certainly the Relaxation Room, which is equipped with amazing day beds with specially placed deep cushions. The best part? the beds are electronically operated, much like a first class seat on a plane.
X-FACTOR:
The Peninsula signature technology; The Spa Button in the bathroom; VOIP technology for complimentary long distance calls; The top suites (Historic, Katara and Peninsula Suites); Xavier Corbero's Moon River sculpture at the Lobby; Lili; The Lobby and Bar where Henry Kissinger signed Paris Peace Accord; L'Oiseau Blanc Restaurant; The 1,800m2 Peninsula Spa; and the 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II.
SERVICE:
There are a total of 600 staffs for just 200 rooms, so the service level is expected to be high; but it is perhaps unfair to judge the service during the opening weeks when all staffs were not at their best due to the intense preparation leading to the opening event. Furthermore, teething problems are expected for a newly opened hotel as great hotels are not born overnight, but takes a good few years of refinement.
Nonetheless, I was actually quite impressed with the level of service during the whole stay, as the majority of the staffs showed great attitude and much enthusiasm, which is a testament of great intense training. As one of the first guests arriving on the opening day, check-in was truly delightful and memorable as a battalion of staffs of different ranks welcomed and wished the most pleasant stay. The mood could not have been more festive as moments later, the hotel was finally inaugurated.
I was also particularly impressed with the service at both LiLi and The Lobby where staffs performed at an exceptional level like a veteran. There are two distinct qualities that made a lot of difference during the stay: humility and friendliness, which is quite a challenge to find, not only in Paris and the entire Europe, but even in Asian cities, such as Hong Kong. It is like finding needles in a haystack. A genuine smile seems to be a rare commodity these days, so I was happy to see plenty of smiles at the Peninsula Paris during the stay, from the signature Peninsula Pageboys to waiters, Maître d, receptionists and even to Managers and Directors. In fact, there were more smiles in Paris than Hong Kong.
When I woken up too early for breakfast one day, the restaurant was just about to open; and there were hardly anyone. I realized that even the birds were probably still asleep, but I was extremely delighted to see how fresh looking and energetic the staffs were at the dining room. There was a lot of genuine smile that warmed the rather chilly morning; and it was a great start to the day. One of the staffs I met during the stay even candidly explained how they were happy just to be at work, and it does not feel like working at all, which was clearly shown in their passion and enthusiasm.
That said, the Shangri-La Paris by far is still my top pick for best service as it is more personalized and refined due to its more intimate scale. The Shangri-La Paris experience is also unique as guests are welcomed to a sit down registration by the historic lounge off the Lobby upon arrival, and choice of drinks are offered, before being escorted to the room for in-room check-in. Guests also receive a Pre-Arrival Form in advance, so the hotel could anticipate and best accommodate their needs. During the stay, I was also addressed by my last name everywhere within the hotel, so it was highly personalized. I did receive similar treatment at The Peninsula Paris, -albeit in a lesser extent due to its size; and even the housekeeping greeted me by my last name. Every requests, from room service to mineral water were all handled efficiently at a timely manner. At times, service could be rather slow at the restaurants (well, it happens almost everywhere in Paris), but this is part of the Parisian lifestyle where nothing is hurried; and bringing bills/checks upfront is considered rude. I did request the food servings to be expedited during a lunch at LiLi on the last day due to the time constraint; and the staffs managed to succeed the task not only ahead of the time limit, but also it never felt hurried all along. Everything ran as smooth as silk.
VERDICT:
It was a personal satisfaction to witness the history in the making during the opening day on 1 August 2014, as the Peninsula Paris is my most eagerly awaited hotel opening of the decade. It was also historic, as it was a first in my travel to dedicate a trip solely for a particular hotel in a particular city (in this case Paris, some 11,578km away from home), without staying at other fine hotels. It was money well spent, and a trip worth taking as it was an amazing stay; and certainly a lifetime experience.
The Peninsula Paris could not have arrived at a better time, as two of the most established Parisian grande dames (Ritz and de Crillon) are still closed for a complete renovation, and will only be revealed in 2015; so there is plenty of time to adapt, grow and hone its skills. But with such pedigree, quality and illustrious history, the Pen really has nothing to be worried about. The Four Seasons George V seems to have a cult of highly obsessed fans (esp. travel agents) worldwide, but personally (and objectively), it is no match to the Peninsula. Based on physical product alone, the Pen wins in every aspect as everything has been meticulously designed with the focus on guest comfort and convenience. In terms of technology, the Pen literally has no rival anywhere on the planet, except from the obvious sibling rivalry.
The only thing that the Pen still needs to work on is its signature restaurants as all its rival hotels have at least 2 Michelin star restaurants (L'abeille at the Shangri-La; Sur Mesure at the Mandarin Oriental; and 3 Michelin at Epicure, Le Bristol; Le Cinq at the Four Seasons George V and Alain Ducasse at Le Meurice). L'Oiseau Blanc design is truly breathtaking and would certainly be the most popular gastronomic destination in Paris, but at the moment, the food still needs some works.
There were the expected teething problems and some inconsistencies with the service; but with years of refinement, The Peninsula Paris will no doubt ascend the throne. Personally, the Shangri-La Paris is currently the real competitor, together with the upcoming Ritz and de Crillon when they open next year, especially when Rosewood has taken over Crillon management and Karl Lagerfeld is working on its top suites. The two, however, may still need to revisit the drawing boards and put more effort on the guestrooms if they ever want to compete; because at the moment, The Peninsula Paris is simply unrivaled.
UPDATE 2016:
*I have always been very spot-on with my predictions. After only two years since its opening, The Peninsula Paris has been awarded the much coveted Palace status. In fact, it is the only hotel in Paris to receive such distinction in 2016. Congratulations, it is very much deserving*
PERSONAL RATING:
1. Room: 100
2. Bathroom: 100
3. Bed: 100
4. Service: 90
5. In-room Tech: 100
6. In-room Amenities: 100
7. Architecture & Design: 100
8. Food: 80
9. View: 80
10. Pool: 95
11. Wellness: 95
12. Location: 95
13. Value: 100
Overall: 95.00
Compare with other Parisian hotels (all with Palace status) that I have stayed previously:
SHANGRI-LA HOTEL, PARIS: 95.00
PARK HYATT PARIS-VENDOME: 90.00
My #1 ALL TIME FAVORITE HOTEL
LANDMARK MANDARIN ORIENTAL, HONG KONG: 95.38
THE PENINSULA, PARIS
19, Avenue Kléber, Paris
Awarded Palace Status in 2016
General Manager: Nicolas Béliard
Hotel Manager: Vincent Pimont
Executive Chef: Jean-Edern Hurstel
Head Chef (Lili): Chi Keung Tang
Head Chef (L'oiseau Blanc): Sidney Redel
Head Chef (The Lobby): Laurent Poitevin
Chef Patissier: Julien Alvarez
Architect (original Majestic Hotel, circa 1908): Armand Sibien
Architect (renovation & restoration, 2010-2014): Richard Martinet
Interior Designer: Henry Leung of Chhada Siembieda & Associates
Landscape Designer: D. Paysage
Art Curator: Sabrina Fung
Art Restorer: Cinzia Pasquali
Artist (Courtyard installation): Ben Jakober & Yannick Vu
Crystal work: Baccarat
Designer (Lili fiber optic installation): Clementine Chambon & Francoise Mamert
Designer (Chinaware): Catherine Bergen
Gilder Specialist & Restorer: Ateliers Gohard
Glass Crafter (Lobby Installation): Lasvit Glass Studio
Master Glass Crafters: Duchemin
Master Sculptor (Lobby): Xavier Corbero
Metalwork: Remy Garnier
Plaster & Moulding Expert: Stuc et Staff
Silverware: Christofle
Silk & Trimmings: Declercq Passementiers
Wood Restoration Expert: Atelier Fancelli
Hotel Opening Date: 01 August 2014
Notable owners: Katara Hospitality; Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group (HSH)
Total Rooms & Suites: 200 (including 35m2 Superior, 45m2 Deluxe, 50m2 Grand Deluxe, 55m2 Premier and 60m2 Grand Premier Rooms)
Total Suites: 34 Suites (including 70m2 Superior, 85m2 Deluxe and 100m2 Premier
Top Suites: Historic Suite, Katara Suite, and The Peninsula Suite
Bathroom Amenities: Oscar de la Renta
Restaurants: The Lobby (All day dining & Afternoon tea), LiLi (Cantonese), L'Oiseau Blanc (French), La Terrasse Kléber
Bars and Lounges: Le Bar Kléber; Kléber Lounge; Cigar Lounge; and L'Oiseau Blanc Bar
Meeting & Banquets: Salon de l'Étoile for up to 100 guests, and 3 smaller Function Rooms
Health & Leisure: 24 hours gym & 1,800m2 Peninsula Spa with 22m indoor swimming pool and jacuzzis; Steam & Sauna, Relaxation Room, and 8 treatment rooms
Transport: chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce Extended Wheel Base Phantom; a 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II; 2 MINI Cooper S Clubman; and a fleet of 10 BMW 7 Series
Complimentary facilities: Non-alcoholic Minibar; Wired and Wireless Internet; VOIP long distance calls; HD Movies; Daily fruit Basket; International Newspaper; Chauffeured MINI Cooper S Clubman for Suites guests; and Chauffeured Rolls Royce for top Suites
paris.peninsula.com
Consistently fine food and cocktails. Where genial warmth and atmosphere prevail. Highway 100 at Olson Drive, Minneapolis, Minn. For reservations call Juniper 1400.
Mailed from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Miss Eleanor Bailer c/o Thayer House General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts on September 13, 1955:
9/8/55
Hi There! Don't consider this a Round Robin. Just to you. Plan to stay two weeks here, plus a weekend in Chicago. Barbara's parent just the bestest. Entertained two gentlemen Wed. night, today had cocktails & luncheon here. Plan to go to Sheiks Sat. night. Bob's parents own it. Supposed to be the spot in the Midwest, Will write a letter after weekend. Love, Roz
Copyright 1953
L.L. Cook Co.
71280
CAPA-019594
To: You, From: The Universe 🎁
This beautiful new image from Webb is a gift from a past star. In near-infrared light, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) resembles a shiny ornament.
With its powerful vision, Webb can detect the tiniest knots of sulfur, oxygen, argon and neon gas from the star. Embedded in the gas are dust and molecules that will eventually become part of new stars and planets.
See that blob in the bottom right? Scientists have nicknamed it Baby Cas A since it looks like a tiny version of Cas A itself. Baby Cas A is a light echo: Light from the supernova has reached and is warming the distant dust in this blob. Although Baby Cas A appears very close to Cas A, it’s actually about 170 light-years behind the supernova remnant.
Since its launch nearly two years ago, Webb has consistently awed us with its wondrous views of the universe. We’re looking forward to a new year of stunning science and imagery to come.
Read more:
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University), T. Temim (Princeton University), I. De Looze (Ghent University)
This image: go.nasa.gov/47OjZZ7
This image highlights several interesting features of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A as seen with Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera):
1. NIRCam’s exquisite resolution is able to detect tiny knots of gas, comprised of sulfur, oxygen, argon, and neon from the star itself. Some filaments of debris are too tiny to be resolved even by Webb, meaning they are comparable to or less than 10 billion miles across (around 100 astronomical units). Researchers say this represents how the star shattered like glass when it exploded.
2. Circular holes visible in the MIRI image within the Green Monster, a loop of green light in Cas A’s inner cavity, are faintly outlined in white and purple emission in the NIRCam image—this represents ionized gas. Researchers believe this is due to the supernova debris pushing through and sculpting gas left behind by the star before it exploded.
3. This is one of a few light echoes visible in NIRCam’s image of Cas A. A light echo occurs when light from the star’s long-ago explosion has reached, and is warming, distant dust, which is glowing as it cools down.
4. NIRCam captured a particularly intricate and large light echo, nicknamed Baby Cas A by researchers. It is actually located about 170 light-years behind the supernova remnant.
Image description: The image is split into 5 boxes. A large image at the left-hand side takes up most of the image. There are four images along the right-hand side in a column, labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4. The 4 images in the column are zoomed-in areas of the larger square image on the left. The image on the left has a circular-shaped cloud of gas and dust with complex structure, with an inner shell of bright pink and orange filaments that look like tiny pieces of shattered glass. A zoom-in of this material appears in the box labeled 1. Around the exterior of the inner shell in the main image there are wispy curtains of gas that look like campfire smoke. Within the cavity of the inner shell, there are small circular bubbles outlined in white. Box 2 is a zoom-in on these circles. Scattered outside the nebula in the main image, there are also clumps of yellow dust. Boxes 3 and 4 are zoomed-in areas of these clumps. Box 4 highlights a particularly large clump at the bottom right of the main image that is detailed and striated.
The Maasai comprise 5 clans. They have reputation of fierce warriors. But they are traditionally seminomadic, and live off their cattle almost exclusively. The Maasai believe that all cattle belong to them and they are known to be cattle raiders. Cattle raiding used to be a common inter tribal activity. The livestock is a sign of wealth and is traditionally used to pay dowry for the wedding. Women are worth 10 cows. They consistently come from another village. Parents are the ones who negociate for the marriage. In the Maasai community, women construct the huts, collect firewood, bring water, milk the herds of cattle and cook for the family. Young boys look after the beasts while the warriors protect the clan. Older men take care of the daily operations in the community. The Maasai live in families in a Manyatta (a form of enclosed homestead), surrounded by a fence made of thorny bushes to protect them and their livestock from intruders and predators. Each Manyatta has about 10 to 20 huts known as "Inkajijik". These huts are made of tree branches, mud, grass and cow dung. If a man has more than one woman, he must build another house to welcome his second wife (to avoid rivalry). So a man who has 3 wifes must own 3 houses and therefore be rich. In the Maasai culture, the colorful ornaments are dedicated to their beauty, which is one of the most important aspects. Visual arts consist mainly of body decoration and beaded ornaments. These decorations are displayed in their dances, which are a popular art form. Women wear beaded necklaces and bangles, and men a red checked shuka (Maasai blanket). The warriors carry a spear and a ball-ended club, and paint their body with ochre. Maasai's diet includes meat, cow blood 2 times a week, and a lot of milk. The cows are bled by opening a vein in the neck with a blunt arrow or knife. The blood is then drunk on it’s own or with milk. The Maasai speak a Nilotic language, called Maa.
They believe in one God, Ngai (meaning "One Creator God"), the creator and giver of all things. They also believe in witchcraft. In each tribal group, there is a prophet who is seen as helping to cope with the endemic sorcery, by the means of protective medicines and advices for the rituals. In addition to the prophets, they also have diviners who are supposed to have the power to diagnose illnesses and causes of misfortune, and can prescribe a range of herbal medicines and ritual cures. Despite the fact that some members have moved to cities, many have kept their customs. The most distinctive feature of Maasai society is the age system for men, divided in sets and spaced apart by about fifteen years. Excision, as well as circoncision, is an initiatory ceremony that mark the passage to adulthood. Although excisions are prohibited in Kenya, it is widespread throughout the country, especially in rural areas. Only 4 ethnic groups (Luo, Luhya, Teso and Turkana) out of 42 don't practise it. According to the ethnies and regions, excisions vary considerably and range from 4.1% in the western region to 98.8% in the North-Est. They are common within the Somali (97%), Kisii (96%) and Maasai (93%) while they are less frequent among the Kikuyu (34%) and Kamba (27%). The kenyan law is rarely enforced and it sometimes lead this practice to clandestinity instead of slowing it down. For the 3 months of recovery period after excision, Maasai girls wear jewellery and chalk make-up, to show they must not be seen by men. Circumcision happens at the age of 18 in the Maasai tribes. Maasai woman are not allowed to attend the ceremony. Boys who show their pain with tears during the operation, are considered as cowards and bear this shame all his life. On the contrary, the ones who don't cry during circumcision are authorized to hunt colorful birds with their bow and arrows. Then they make a headdress indicating their new warrior's status. After the operation, boys go in their mother's hut to drink cow's fresh blood to recover their forces. The promotion of warriors to elderhood involve two distinct ceremonies. The 4 days eunoto ceremony raise the warriors to the senior warrior status. For this occasion, warriors gather in the same village. They are led by a ritual leader (olotuno). Each one of them has a part of his head shaved by his mother, which often makes them cry. It symbolizes the end of their freedom and of the bond with their mother. At the end of the ritual, the warrior can select any girl to marry. The olghesher ceremony promote them to senior elderhood thanks to which they have the power to bless and curse, and become protective leaders of the next new age-set.
During one of the ceremonies, maasai girls accompany their lover to the ceremonial dance. Pearl neacklaces and headbands follow the rhythm. This is the sole moment when girls can choose freely 3 lovers among the warriors.Traditionally, as long as the father was alive, no son has final control over his cattle nor over his choice in marriage. At marriage, the bride is allocated a herd of cattle, from which all her sons will build up herds of their own. In any case, women are raised to accept her submission to her future husband.
© Eric Lafforgue
i remember my heart pounding as the package this was in arrived. the mailman handed it to me personally. "this one came far, eh?"
nervous laughter from me. i said yeah, veeeeery delicately took the bubble mailer from his hands, and slunk back inside.
the listing had promised 15 inches, but the mailer was clearly less than that in every direction. i began to worry that my trophy might be curled in there. that it might take on a strange shape.
it was perfect.
the young woman it belonged to looked mousy in her pictures. 5'4 at most, slim, bespectacled and cute in a meekish way, but otherwise not the type to stand out. she'd agreed to part with everything from her chin to her waist. a full back's length of hair. all for me. pin-straight, healthy, thick, and just about the only erotic edge to the girl's being.
maybe that's a bit harsh. you'd melt at her after photo. shiny, feathery chin-length bob. a picture of her standing in the mirror holding up her perfect pony in her right hand for the internet hair fetish goons to see.
if i could have my way, i'd proposition this type of girl every few years for another trophy like this. you and i both know she'd take no risks with her health and the health of her hair. consistent quality every time. ahh be still my beating heart. be still.
Photo of Lake Crescent captured alongside U.S. Highway 101 via Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm F/1.7 lens and the bracketing method of photography. Olympic National Park. Olympic Peninsula. Clallam County, Washington. On the first day of April 2016.
Exposure Time: 1/250 sec. * ISO Speed: ISO-200 * Aperture: F/8 * Bracketing: +1 / -1
Oh Flickr! I haven't been consistent with you for around 3 years. How time as flown by and the business has grown. I've become so busy lately. I remember when I first joined on flickr. I was only posting horrible images on flowers and water drops from my sink... LOL! From offering free photoshoots to those who I would beg to finally charging a beginning package at $125, I have come a long way.
I've participated in unprofessional gestures and snide comments towards other photographers growing up. I think for me it was more so of me trying to put my foot in the door in the photography world and the only way I knew how was to be "intimidating" and other photographers really started to hate me... so in return, I got worse.
From starting Flickr when I was 17 until now... I'm 23. How time has changed me. I hope you all enjoy my photostream because I promise promise promise... I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!
Photo Copyright 2012, dynamo.photography.
All rights reserved, no use without license
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Hong kong)
Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory south to Mainland China and east to Macao in East Asia. With around 7.2 million Hong Kongers of various nationalities[note 2] in a territory of 1,104 km2, Hong Kong is the world's fourth most densely populated country or territory.
Hong Kong used to be a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island from the Qing Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and acquired a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during the Second World War until British control resumed in 1945. The Sino-British Joint Declaration signed between the United Kingdom and China in 1984 paved way for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, when it became a special administrative region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China with a high degree of autonomy.[15]
Under the principle of "one country, two systems",[16][17] Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative and judiciary powers.[18] In addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of "appropriate fields".[19] Hong Kong involves in international organizations, such as the WTO[20] and the APEC [21], actively and independently.
Hong Kong is one of the world's most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the world's most competitive and freest economic entity.[22][23] As the world's 8th largest trading entity,[24] its legal tender, the Hong Kong dollar, is the world's 13th most traded currency.[25] As the world's most visited city,[26][27] Hong Kong's tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by competitive simple taxation and supported by its independent judiciary system.[28] Even with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it suffers from severe income inequality.[29]
Nicknamed "Pearl of the Orient", Hong Kong is renowned for its deep natural harbour, which boasts the world's fifth busiest port with ready access by cargo ships, and its impressive skyline, with the most skyscrapers in the world.[30][31] It has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the world's longest life expectancy.[32][33] Over 90% of the population makes use of well-developed public transportation.[34][35] Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring industrial areas of Mainland China, which adopts loose emissions standards, has resulted in a high level of atmospheric particulates in winter.[36][37][38]
Contents
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Prehistory
2.2 Imperial China
2.3 British Crown Colony: 1842–1941
2.4 Japanese occupation: 1941–45
2.5 Resumption of British rule and industrialisation: 1945–97
2.6 Handover and Special Administrative Region status
3 Governance
3.1 Structure of government
3.2 Electoral and political reforms
3.3 Legal system and judiciary
3.4 Foreign relations
3.5 Human rights
3.6 Regions and districts
3.7 Military
4 Geography and climate
5 Economy
5.1 Financial centre
5.2 International trading
5.3 Tourism and expatriation
5.4 Policy
5.5 Infrastructure
6 Demographics
6.1 Languages
6.2 Religion
6.3 Personal income
6.4 Education
6.5 Health
7 Culture
7.1 Sports
7.2 Architecture
7.3 Cityscape
7.4 Symbols
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
10.1 Citations
10.2 Sources
11 Further reading
12 External links
Etymology
Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island.[39]
The source of the romanised name "Hong Kong" is not known, but it is generally believed to be an early imprecise phonetic rendering of the pronunciation in spoken Cantonese 香港 (Cantonese Yale: Hēung Góng), which means "Fragrant Harbour" or "Incense Harbour".[13][14][40] Before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour (Chinese: 香港仔; Cantonese Yale: Hēunggóng jái), literally means "Little Hong Kong"—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen.[41]
Another theory is that the name would have been taken from Hong Kong's early inhabitants, the Tankas (水上人); it is equally probable that romanisation was done with a faithful execution of their speeches, i.e. hōng, not hēung in Cantonese.[42] Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time.[43]
Fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour.[40]
The name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926.[44] Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the single-word form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
As of 1997, its official name is the "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China". This is the official title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law and the Hong Kong Government's website;[45] however, "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" and "Hong Kong" are widely accepted.
Hong Kong has carried many nicknames. The most famous among those is the "Pearl of the Orient", which reflected the impressive nightscape of the city's light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour. The territory is also known as "Asia's World City".
History
Main articles: History of Hong Kong and History of China
Prehistory
Main article: Prehistoric Hong Kong
Archaeological studies support human presence in the Chek Lap Kok area (now Hong Kong International Airport) from 35,000 to 39,000 years ago and on Sai Kung Peninsula from 6,000 years ago.[46][47][48]
Wong Tei Tung and Three Fathoms Cove are the earliest sites of human habitation in Hong Kong during the Paleolithic Period. It is believed that the Three Fathom Cove was a river-valley settlement and Wong Tei Tung was a lithic manufacturing site. Excavated Neolithic artefacts suggested cultural differences from the Longshan culture of northern China and settlement by the Che people, prior to the migration of the Baiyue to Hong Kong.[49][50] Eight petroglyphs, which dated to the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC – 1066 BC) in China, were discovered on the surrounding islands.[51]
Imperial China
Main article: History of Hong Kong under Imperial China
In 214 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a centralised China, conquered the Baiyue tribes in Jiaozhi (modern-day Liangguang region and Vietnam) and incorporated the area of Hong Kong into his imperial China for the first time. Hong Kong proper was assigned to the Nanhai commandery (modern-day Nanhai District), near the commandery's capital city Panyu.[52][53][54]
After a brief period of centralisation and collapse of the Qin dynasty, the area of Hong Kong was consolidated under the Kingdom of Nanyue, founded by general Zhao Tuo in 204 BC.[55] When Nanyue lost the Han-Nanyue War in 111 BC, Hong Kong came under the Jiaozhi commandery of the Han dynasty. Archaeological evidence indicates an increase of population and flourish of salt production. The Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb on the Kowloon Peninsula is believed to have been built as a burial site during the Han dynasty.[56]
From the Han dynasty to the early Tang dynasty, Hong Kong was a part of Bao'an County. In the Tang dynasty, modern-day Guangzhou (Canton) flourished as an international trading centre. In 736, the Emperor Xuanzong of Tang established a military stronghold in Tuen Mun to strengthen defence of the coastal area.[57] The nearby Lantau Island was a salt production centre and salt smuggler riots occasionally broke out against the government. In c. 1075, The first village school, Li Ying College, was established around 1075 AD in modern-day New Territories by the Northern Song dynasty.[58] During their war against the Mongols, the imperial court of Southern Song was briefly stationed at modern-day Kowloon City (the Sung Wong Toi site) before their ultimate defeat by the Mongols at the Battle of Yamen in 1279.[59] The Mongols then established their dynastic court and governed Hong Kong for 97 years.
From the mid-Tang dynasty to the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Hong Kong was a part of Dongguan County. During the Ming dynasty, the area was transferred to Xin'an County. The indigenous inhabitants at that time consisted of several ethnicities such as Punti, Hakka, Tanka and Hoklo.
European discovery
The earliest European visitor on record was Jorge Álvares, a Portuguese explorer, who arrived in 1513.[60][61] Having established a trading post in a site they called "Tamão" in Hong Kong waters, Portuguese merchants commenced with regular trading in southern China. Subsequent military clashes between China and Portugal, however, led to the expulsion of all Portuguese merchants from southern China.
Since the 14th century, the Ming court had enforced the maritime prohibition laws that strictly forbade all private maritime activities in order to prevent contact with foreigners by sea.[62] When the Manchu Qing dynasty took over China, Hong Kong was directly affected by the Great Clearance decree of the Kangxi Emperor, who ordered the evacuation of coastal areas of Guangdong from 1661 to 1669. Over 16,000 inhabitants of Xin'an County including those in Hong Kong were forced to migrate inland; only 1,648 of those who had evacuated subsequently returned.[63][64]
British Crown Colony: 1842–1941
A painter at work. John Thomson. Hong Kong, 1871. The Wellcome Collection, London
Main articles: British Hong Kong and History of Hong Kong (1800s–1930s)
In 1839, threats by the imperial court of Qing to sanction opium imports caused diplomatic friction with the British Empire. Tensions escalated into the First Opium War. The Qing admitted defeat when British forces captured Hong Kong Island on 20 January 1841. The island was initially ceded under the Convention of Chuenpi as part of a ceasefire agreement between Captain Charles Elliot and Governor Qishan. A dispute between high-ranking officials of both countries, however, led to the failure of the treaty's ratification. On 29 August 1842, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded in perpetuity to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Treaty of Nanking.[65] The British officially established a Crown colony and founded the City of Victoria in the following year.[66]
The population of Hong Kong Island was 7,450 when the Union Flag raised over Possession Point on 26 January 1841. It mostly consisted of Tanka fishermen and Hakka charcoal burners, whose settlements scattered along several coastal hamlets. In the 1850s, a large number of Chinese immigrants crossed the then-free border to escape from the Taiping Rebellion. Other natural disasters, such as flooding, typhoons and famine in mainland China would play a role in establishing Hong Kong as a place for safe shelter.[67][68]
Further conflicts over the opium trade between Britain and Qing quickly escalated into the Second Opium War. Following the Anglo-French victory, the Crown Colony was expanded to include Kowloon Peninsula (south of Boundary Street) and Stonecutter's Island, both of which were ceded to the British in perpetuity under the Convention of Beijing in 1860.
In 1898, Britain obtained a 99-year lease from Qing under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory, in which Hong Kong obtained a 99-year lease of Lantau Island, the area north of Boundary Street in Kowloon up to Shenzhen River and over 200 other outlying islands.[69][70][71]
Hong Kong soon became a major entrepôt thanks to its free port status, attracting new immigrants to settle from both China and Europe. The society, however, remained racially segregated and polarised under early British colonial policies. Despite the rise of a British-educated Chinese upper-class by the late-19th century, race laws such as the Peak Reservation Ordinance prevented ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong from acquiring houses in reserved areas such as Victoria Peak. At this time, the majority of the Chinese population in Hong Kong had no political representation in the British colonial government. The British governors did rely, however, on a small number of Chinese elites, including Sir Kai Ho and Robert Hotung, who served as ambassadors and mediators between the government and local population.
File:1937 Hong Kong VP8.webmPlay media
Hong Kong filmed in 1937
In 1904, the United Kingdom established the world's first border and immigration control; all residents of Hong Kong were given citizenship as Citizens of United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC).
Hong Kong continued to experience modest growth during the first half of the 20th century. The University of Hong Kong was established in 1911 as the territory's first higher education institute. While there had been an exodus of 60,000 residents for fear of a German attack on the British colony during the First World War, Hong Kong remained unscathed. Its population increased from 530,000 in 1916 to 725,000 in 1925 and reached 1.6 million by 1941.[72]
In 1925, Cecil Clementi became the 17th Governor of Hong Kong. Fluent in Cantonese and without a need for translator, Clementi introduced the first ethnic Chinese, Shouson Chow, into the Executive Council as an unofficial member. Under Clementi's tenure, Kai Tak Airport entered operation as RAF Kai Tak and several aviation clubs. In 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out when the Japanese Empire expanded its territories from northeastern China into the mainland proper. To safeguard Hong Kong as a freeport, Governor Geoffry Northcote declared the Crown Colony as a neutral zone.
Japanese occupation: 1941–45
Main article: Japanese occupation of Hong Kong
The Cenotaph in Hong Kong commemorates those who died in service in the First World War and the Second World War.[73]
As part of its military campaign in Southeast Asia during Second World War, the Japanese army moved south from Guangzhou of mainland China and attacked Hong Kong in on 8 December 1941.[74] Crossing the border at Shenzhen River on 8 December, the Battle of Hong Kong lasted for 18 days when British and Canadian forces held onto Hong Kong Island. Unable to defend against intensifying Japanese air and land bombardments, they eventually surrendered control of Hong Kong on 25 December 1941. The Governor of Hong Kong was captured and taken as a prisoner of war. This day is regarded by the locals as "Black Christmas".[75]
During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the Japanese army committed atrocities against civilians and POWs, such as the St. Stephen's College massacre. Local residents also suffered widespread food shortages, limited rationing and hyper-inflation arising from the forced exchange of currency from Hong Kong dollars to Japanese military banknotes. The initial ratio of 2:1 was gradually devalued to 4:1 and ownership of Hong Kong dollars was declared illegal and punishable by harsh torture. Due to starvation and forced deportation for slave labour to mainland China, the population of Hong Kong had dwindled from 1.6 million in 1941 to 600,000 in 1945, when the United Kingdom resumed control of the colony on 2 September 1945.[76]
Resumption of British rule and industrialisation: 1945–97
Main articles: British Hong Kong, 1950s in Hong Kong, 1960s in Hong Kong, 1970s in Hong Kong, 1980s in Hong Kong, and 1990s in Hong Kong
Flag of British Hong Kong from 1959 to 1997
Hong Kong's population recovered quickly after the war, as a wave of skilled migrants from the Republic of China moved in to seek refuge from the Chinese Civil War. When the Communist Party eventually took full control of mainland China in 1949, even more skilled migrants fled across the open border for fear of persecution.[69] Many newcomers, especially those who had been based in the major port cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou, established corporations and small- to medium-sized businesses and shifted their base operations to British Hong Kong.[69] The establishment of a socialist state in China (People's Republic of China) on 1 October 1949 caused the British colonial government to reconsider Hong Kong's open border to mainland China. In 1951, a boundary zone was demarked as a buffer zone against potential military attacks from communist China. Border posts along the north of Hong Kong began operation in 1953 to regulate the movement of people and goods into and out of the territory.
Stamp with portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, 1953
In the 1950s, Hong Kong became the first of the Four Asian Tiger economies under rapid industrialisation driven by textile exports, manufacturing industries and re-exports of goods to China. As the population grew, with labour costs remaining low, living standards began to rise steadily.[77] The construction of the Shek Kip Mei Estate in 1953 marked the beginning of the public housing estate programme to provide shelter for the less privileged and to cope with the influx of immigrants.
Under Sir Murray MacLehose, 25th Governor of Hong Kong (1971–82), a series of reforms improved the public services, environment, housing, welfare, education and infrastructure of Hong Kong. MacLehose was British Hong Kong's longest-serving governor and, by the end of his tenure, had become one of the most popular and well-known figures in the Crown Colony. MacLehose laid the foundation for Hong Kong to establish itself as a key global city in the 1980s and early 1990s.
A sky view of Hong Kong Island
An aerial view of the northern shore of Hong Kong Island in 1986
To resolve traffic congestion and to provide a more reliable means of crossing the Victoria Harbour, a rapid transit railway system (metro), the MTR, was planned from the 1970s onwards. The Island Line (Hong Kong Island), Kwun Tong Line (Kowloon Peninsula and East Kowloon) and Tsuen Wan Line (Kowloon and urban New Territories) opened in the early 1980s.[78]
In 1983, the Hong Kong dollar left its 16:1 peg with the Pound sterling and switched to the current US-HK Dollar peg. Hong Kong's competitiveness in manufacturing gradually declined due to rising labour and property costs, as well as new development in southern China under the Open Door Policy introduced in 1978 which opened up China to foreign business. Nevertheless, towards the early 1990s, Hong Kong had established itself as a global financial centre along with London and New York City, a regional hub for logistics and freight, one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia and the world's exemplar of Laissez-faire market policy.[79]
The Hong Kong question
In 1971, the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s permanent seat on the United Nations was transferred to the People's Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong's status as a recognised colony became terminated in 1972 under the request of PRC. Facing the uncertain future of Hong Kong and expiry of land lease of New Territories beyond 1997, Governor MacLehose raised the question in the late 1970s.
The British Nationality Act 1981 reclassified Hong Kong into a British Dependent Territory amid the reorganisation of global territories of the British Empire. All residents of Hong Kong became British Dependent Territory Citizens (BDTC). Diplomatic negotiations began with China and eventually concluded with the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. Both countries agreed to transfer Hong Kong's sovereignty to China on 1 July 1997, when Hong Kong would remain autonomous as a special administrative region and be able to retain its free-market economy, British common law through the Hong Kong Basic Law, independent representation in international organisations (e.g. WTO and WHO), treaty arrangements and policy-making except foreign diplomacy and military defence.
It stipulated that Hong Kong would retain its laws and be guaranteed a high degree of autonomy for at least 50 years after the transfer. The Hong Kong Basic Law, based on English law, would serve as the constitutional document after the transfer. It was ratified in 1990.[69] The expiry of the 1898 lease on the New Territories in 1997 created problems for business contracts, property leases and confidence among foreign investors.
Handover and Special Administrative Region status
Main articles: Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong and 2000s in Hong Kong
Transfer of sovereignty
Golden Bauhinia Square
On 1 July 1997, the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China took place, officially marking the end of Hong Kong's 156 years under British colonial governance. As the largest remaining colony of the United Kingdom, the loss of Hong Kong effectively represented the end of the British Empire. This transfer of sovereignty made Hong Kong the first special administrative region of China. Tung Chee-Hwa, a pro-Beijing business tycoon, was elected Hong Kong's first Chief Executive by a selected electorate of 800 in a televised programme.
Structure of government
Hong Kong's current structure of governance inherits from the British model of colonial administration set up in the 1850s. The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration states that "Hong Kong should enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all areas except defence and foreign affairs" with reference to the underlying principle of one country, two systems.[note 3] This Declaration stipulates that Hong Kong maintains her capitalist economic system and guarantees the rights and freedoms of her people for at least 50 years after the 1997 handover. [note 4] Such guarantees are enshrined in the Hong Kong's Basic Law, the territory's constitutional document, which outlines the system of governance after 1997, albeit subject to interpretation by China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC).[95][96]
Hong Kong's most senior leader, Chief Executive, is elected by a committee of 1,200 selected members (600 in 1997) and nominally appointed by the Government of China. The primary pillars of government are the Executive Council, Legislative Council, civil service and Judiciary.
Policy-making is initially discussed in the Executive Council, presided by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, before passing to the Legislative Council for bill adoption. The Executive Council consists of 30 official/unofficial members appointed by the Chief Executive and one member among them acts as the convenor.[97][98]
The Legislative Council, set up in 1843, debates policies and motions before voting to adopt or rejecting bills. It has 70 members (originally 60) and 40 (originally 30) among them are directly elected by universal suffrage; the other 30 members are "functional constituencies" (indirectly) elected by a smaller electorate of corporate bodies or representatives of stipulated economic sectors as defined by the government. The Legislative Council is chaired by a president who acts as the speaker.[99][100]
In 1997, seating of the Legislative Council (also public services and election franchises) of Hong Kong modelled on the British system: Urban Council (Hong Kong and Kowloon) and District Council (New Territories and Outlying Islands). In 1999, this system has been reformed into 18 directly elected District Offices across 5 Legislative Council constituencies: Hong Kong Island (East/West), Kowloon and New Territories (East/West); the remaining outlying islands are divided across the aforementioned regions.
Hong Kong's Civil Service, created by the British colonial government, is a politically neutral body that implements government policies and provides public services. Senior civil servants are appointed based on meritocracy. The territory's police, firefighting and customs forces, as well as clerical officers across various government departments, make up the civil service.[101][102]
This floor housed The Paul Andrews Collection. I have no idea who Paul Andrews is or was.
The lighting in this room was much brighter and more consistent.
2021: RM Sotheby Auction, Monterey
Fraser Riverfront Trail — the most consistent viewing area; look for eagles perched above the river.
Bald eagles are one of the signature wildlife sightings at Kanaka Creek Regional Park, especially along the Fraser Riverfront Trail, where they perch in cottonwoods, hunt for salmon, and ride the river winds. The mix of creek, river, and open shoreline makes this one of Maple Ridge’s most reliable year‑round eagle‑watching spots.
📍 Best Places to See Eagles
• Fraser Riverfront Trail — the most consistent viewing area; look for eagles perched above the river.
• Viewing towers along the Riverfront section offer elevated vantage points.
• Near the mouth of Kanaka Creek where salmon gather and gulls feed — eagles often follow.
• Tall snags and cottonwoods near the picnic area and along the dyke.
🐟 What They Feed On
• Salmon carcasses during spawning seasons.
• Waterfowl and small mammals in the marshy edges.
• Carrion along the riverbanks.
Thank you kindly for visiting—faves and comments are always deeply appreciated. ~Sonja
The end of the this gorgeous autumn day had us driving up to the top of Bear Mountain, situated wonderfully as it offers superb views in all directions. Down toward the Hudson Valley and River sits the historic Bear Mountain Inn, Lake Hessian, the sprawling grounds and an ice skating rink and antique indoor carousel. Furthermore, in that direction, one can enjoy the views across the river with the layers of mountains and the Bear Mountain Bridge that spans from one end of the river to the other. Anthony’s Nose, the name of the mountain on the other side of the bridge is great to hike and climb, for the views facing west toward where we stood are just as impressive. I had finally taken done the hike in more recently, and accordingly, will have the photos from that outing posted in the future. Views to the south and west, or north, depict the lush wooded landscape, and the colors can be nicely appreciated as you look as far as you can, taking in the amazing scenery. Many photographers would arrive toward this latter part of the day to catch sunset views, and when the observation tower is open, the views can be even better--it was not on this day. Our old-timer pal, Lou (93 at the time), was delighted to sit on the seat of these very attractive motorcycles—I had asked the riders if he could sit on one or more of the bikes for photos. They were more than happy, and even offered Lou a helmet to wear. As the sun begins its final descent, the granite boulders take on a very attractive salmon hue, and when the golden orb decides to get dramatic toward the western end, one never knows exactly what type of show it will put on for the admiring onlookers. We were fortunate enough on this day to witness that of an inferno sky. A perfect ending for all . . .
Although at the time of this upload, the period in which the photos in the series were taken is not current, but from October 22, 2015; however, the overall scenery and the colors/shades of the foliage is consistent over the years, with only slight variations depending on any particular weather influence.
The brilliant autumn colors of Harriman State Park of New York, just north of the New Jersey border and a bit west of the Hudson River, never fails. If at all possible, it is usually best to take shots rather late in the day, starting a little before the sun begins to descend—unless, of course, the overcast or inclement weather is a factor.
When the sun is just right, and the “magical light” is cast upon the land and water scape, everything becomes so much more spectacular in the golden tones and the vibrant reflections in the water.
The variety of colors seen in the NJ-PA-NY Tri-State region can match anything in the popular New England states. In spite of the scale, on average, in the New England states being greater, the variety of tree species changing colors around the same time frame is more pronounced in our Tri-State area, thus, allowing a wider range of the rainbow array to capture at any given time during the autumn foliage visits.
The 100s are quite consistent with their 67 plate MMCs, although over the past few days some ALXs have crept onto it. I'm still searching for 10901 with its new front logo, but here on 20.5.21 it's 10899 passing by on Newland with a 100 to Scotter.
Singapore Zoo ranks consistently (after San Diego Zoo) as one of the best in the world.
The penguins are a delight to watch.
For the story, please visit: www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/travel/teeth-claws-and-colou...
Atop the gatepost at the Ancient Playground in Central Park, New York.
Sculpture by Paul Manship, 1957.
Here's what we should know about the sculptor (spoiler: he created the state of Prometheus at Rockefeller Center):
Paul Howard Manship (December 24, 1885 – January 28, 1966) was an American sculptor. He consistently created mythological pieces in a classical style, and was a major force in the Art Deco movement. He is well known for his large public commissions, including the iconic Prometheus in Rockefeller Center. He is also credited for designing the modern rendition of New York City's official seal.
Manship gained notice early in his career for rejecting the Beaux Arts movement and preferring linear compositions with a flowing simplicity. Additionally, he shared a summer home in Plainfield, New Hampshire, part of the Cornish Art Colony, with William Zorach for a number of years. Other members of the highly social colony were also contemporary artists.
Manship created his own artist retreat on Cape Ann, developing a 15-acre site in Gloucester, MA that had been two former granite quarries. A local nonprofit, the Manship Artists Residence and Studios has been formed to preserve this estate and establish an artist residency program at the site.
Early Life, Education
Paul Howard Manship was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on December 24, 1885, the son of Charles H. and Mary Etta (Friend) Manship. His father, born in Mississippi, was a clerk for the St. Paul gas company, and with his wife, who was born in Pennsylvania, were parents of seven children.
Charles and Mary were married in St. Paul, on July 14, 1870, and raised their family in a home they owned at 304 Nelson (later Marshall) Avenue.
Paul H. Manship began his art studies at the St. Paul School of Art in Minnesota. From there he moved to Philadelphia and continued his education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Following that he migrated to New York City where he enrolled in the Art Students League of New York, studying anatomy with George Bridgman and modeling under Hermon Atkins MacNeil. From 1905 to 1907 he served as an assistant to sculptor Solon Borglum and spent the two years after that studying with Charles Grafly and assisting Isidore Konti.
In 1909, at Konti's urging, he entered the competition for, and won, the Rome Prize and shortly thereafter decamped for Rome where he attended the American Academy from 1909 until 1912.
While in Europe he became increasingly interested in Archaic art, his own work began to take on some archaic features, and he became more and more attracted to classical subjects. He also developed an interest in classical sculpture of India, and traces of that influence can be observed in his work (see "Dancer and Gazelles" in Gallery). Manship was one of the first artists to become aware of the vast scope of art history being newly excavated at the time and became intensely interested in Egyptian, Assyrian and pre-classical Greek sculpture.
Career
Prometheus at Rockefeller Center
When he returned to America from his European sojourn, Manship found that his style was attractive to both modernists and conservatives. His simplification of line and detail appealed to those who wished to move beyond the Beaux-Arts classical realism prevalent in the day. Also, his view of and use of a more traditional "beauty" as well as an avoidance of the more radical and abstract trends in art made his works attractive to more conservative art collectors. Manship's work is often considered to be a major precursor to Art Deco.
Manship produced over 700 works and always employed assistants of the highest quality. At least two of them, Gaston Lachaise and Leo Friedlander, went on to create significant places for themselves in the history of American sculpture.
Although not known as a portraitist, he did produce statues and busts of Theodore Roosevelt, Samuel Osgood, John D. Rockefeller, Robert Frost, Gifford Beal and Henry L. Stimson.
Manship was very adept at low relief and used these skills to produce a large number of coins and medals. Among his more prominent are the Dionysus medal, the second issue of the long running Society of Medalists; the first term inaugural medal for Franklin D. Roosevelt; and the John F. Kennedy inaugural medal. Additionally, during WW II he designed the U. S. Merchant Marine's Distinguished Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal and Mariner's Medal.
Manship was chosen by the American Battle Monuments Commission to create monuments following both the First and Second World Wars. They are located respectively in the American Cemetery at Thiaucourt, France in 1926, and in the military cemetery at Anzio, Italy.
Affiliations and Awards
For a number of summers early in his career, Manship found social and artistic companionship in Plainfield, New Hampshire, then part of the Cornish Art Colony, which attracted sculptors such as Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Herbert Adams, Daniel Chester French, and William Zorach. He visited first in 1916, returned the next three years, and then returned again a decade later. This period in his life has been recognized as significant, and Harry Rand observed that "Manship recognized 1916 as the year of his artistic maturity...[he] seemed to express modern ideas in terms of the primitive.
Manship served on the board of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and chaired the board. Manship was affiliated with the National Academy of Design, the National Sculpture Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He served on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1937 to 1941. His many honors include a Pierpont Morgan fellowship, a Widener Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the award of Chevalier from the French Legion of Honor. Manship's extensive papers, maquettes and sculptures are housed in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. In 2004 the Smithsonian mounted a retrospective of Manship's career which resulted in a reappraisal of the sculptor's work.
There is a gallery dedicated to the display of Manship's work at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Manship was father of the artist John Paul Manship (1927–2000).
The Old Newsagency:
This building is locally known as the 'cafe'. The verandah detailing suggests a circa 1880 Victorian period construction. The shop is currently empty and boarded up. It appears to be a purpose built retailing structure and is well located overlooking the river bank. The history of this building is not known.
Aboriginal History of Wilcannia:
Wilcannia is located on the Darling River, about halfway between Bourke and Wentworth. The river is known as Barka by the local Aboriginal people or Barkandji, literally people belonging to the Barka, and it is surrounded on all sides by Barkandji speaking people. The people from along the Barka and varying distances either side from near Bourke down to Wentworth all recognised the Barkandji language as their primary language, but they were divided into subgroups with different dialects of this one language. The Barkandji language is very different from all the neighbouring languages including the adjoining Ngiyampaa/Ngemba to the east, the Kulin, and Murray River languages to the south, and the Yardli and Thura-Yura language groups to the west and north.
Barkandji have a unique culture and depended heavily on the grinding or pounding of seeds on large grinding dishes or mortars and pestles, such as grass, portulaca, and acacia seeds. In the riverine areas, there is a strong emphasis on aquatic plant food tubers and corms, and fish, yabbies, turtles, mussels, and shrimps as well as water birds and their eggs. Insect foods were also important, such as parti or witchetty grubs along the rivers and creeks, and termite larvae in the Mallee country. Large and small canoes were cut out, necessitating ground edge axes, and string manufacture for fish nets, hunting nets, bags, and belts was an important part of the culture. The Wilcannia area still shows tangible evidence of traditional life in the form of canoe trees, coolamon trees, middens, heat retainer ovens, ashy deposits, stone tool quarries and artefacts.
Thomas Mitchell led the first exploring party to reach Wilcannia and gave the Barkandji their first unpleasant taste of what was to come. Mitchell travelled via the Bogan to the Darling River near Bourke and then down the river to Wilcannia then Menindee, reaching it in July 1835. Mitchell was harassed by Barkandji as he did not understand that he had to properly negotiate permission for use of water, grass, land to camp on etc., and in addition his men were abusing women behind his back and breaking all the rules. He gave them names such as the Fire Eaters and the Spitting Tribe as they tried to warn him off. His comments show that the Barkandji groups he met occupied "different portions of the river", and that they owned the resources in their territories including the water in the river. The exclusive possession enjoyed by the Barkandji and the need to obtain permission before using any of their resources is demonstrated by the following comment about the "Spitting Tribe" from the river near Wilcannia:
"The Spitting Tribe desired our men to pour out the water from their buckets, as if it had belonged to them; digging, at the same time a hole in the ground to receive it when poured out; and I have more than once seen a river chief, on receiving a tomahawk, point to the stream and signify that we were then at liberty to take water from it, so strongly were they possessed with the notion that the water was their own"
A hill 15 kilometres north of Wilcannia was named Mount Murchison by Mitchell and this became the name of the very large original station that included the location that was to become Wilcannia township.
In 1862 the area northwest of Mount Murchison Station was still frontier country with continual conflict. Frederic Bonney was based at Mount Murchison homestead and then nearby Momba homestead from 1865 to 1881 and he bluntly states in his notebooks that in this period "natives killed by settlers - shot like dogs"
Bonney recorded extensive detail about the lives, language, culture, and personalities of the Aboriginal people at Mount Murchison/Momba and left us with extremely significant series of photos of Aboriginal people taken in this period. He does not elaborate about the way the station was set up except for his comment above. Frederic Bonney not only respected and looked after the local people but he sympathised with them, worked with them, and respected them. The Bonney papers and photographs are a treasure of information about the Aboriginal people living there between 1865 and 1881. Bonney published a paper in 1884 but long after he had returned to England to live he campaigned for the better treatment of the Aboriginal people, and he tried to educate the public about the complexity of Aboriginal culture.
Bonney names about 44 individual Aboriginal people living at Momba in this period, and one group photo from the same period shows a total of 38 people. Descendants of some of the people Bonney describes still live in Wilcannia and surrounding areas today.
Aboriginal people worked on Moomba and Mount Murchison Station, and from very early times fringe camps grew up around Wilcannia. The land straight across the River from the Wilcannia post office was gazetted as an Aboriginal Reserve, and this became the nucleus of a very large fringe camp that grew into a substantial settlement spaced out along the river bank in the 1930s to the 1970s. By 1953 the Aboriginal Welfare Board had built a series of 14 barrack-like and inappropriately designed houses in an enlarged reserve, now an attractive tree lined settlement known as the Mission (although never a mission it was beside a Catholic School and clinic, thus the name). Today Aboriginal people are the majority of the population of the vibrant, creative, and culturally active town of Wilcannia, and the main users of the post office facilities.
Wilcannia History:
The first secure pastoralists at Mount Murchison were the brothers Hugh and Bushby Jamieson of Mildura Station on the Murray, who in 1856 took up Tallandra and Moorabin blocks, later extended with other blocks and named Mount Murchison Station. Captain Cadell's paddlesteamer Albury was the first to travel up the Darling, landing flour and other stores for the Jamiesons at Mount Murchison in February 1859. The Albury then loaded 100 bales of wool from their woolshed and brought it down to Adelaide. At this time there were no other stations on the Darling between Mt Murchison and Fort Bourke. A little later:
"An enterprising attempt has just been made by Mr. Hugh Jamieson, of Mount Murchison, to bring fat sheep speedily to Adelaide. Mr. Jamieson having chartered Captain Cadell's steamer, Albury, that vessel was prepared, and received on board at Mildura 550 fine fat sheep. These were landed at Moorundee last Tuesday, after a rapid passage of two days, all the sheep being in splendid condition when put ashore"
Jamiesons sold in 1864 to Robert Barr Smith and Ross Reid from Adelaide. The brothers Edward and Frederic Bonney were leasing some adjacent blocks and possibly worked at Mount Murchison for these owners. In 1875 they bought the Mount Murchison/Momba complex, one of the largest stations in New South Wale. In 1865 it was known as Mount Murchison, in 1881 it was all known as Momba, later splitting into smaller stations. The original Mount Murchison Station homestead block was also known as Head Station or Karannia, the Barkandji name for the area just north of the town near where the Paroo River comes into the Barka. The original Mount Murchison woolshed was located on what is now Baker Park, Wilcannia, which is adjacent to the current Post Office.
The site of Wilcannia was selected on Mount Murchison Station in 1864 by John Chadwick Woore, who was appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands of the Albert District in 1863 and was based at Wilcannia. The town was proclaimed in 1866 and in the 1870s it became a coaching centre for prospectors exploiting the region's gold, copper, silver, and opal resources, and the administrative, service, and shipping centre for the pastoral industry. Wilcannia was incorporated as a municipality in 1881, and around this time it became New South Wales biggest inland port and Australia's third largest inland port (after Echuca Victoria and Morgan South Australia). 'The Queen of the River' or 'Queen City of the West'. At the height of its prosperity around 1880, the town boasted a population of 3,000. According to the Register of the National Estate, during 1887 alone, 222 steamers took on 26,550 tonnes of wool and other goods at Wilcannia wharves. The value of goods coming down the Darling River in 1884 was 1,359,786 pounds, and included over 30,000 bales of wool. The customs house, another Wilcannia stone building now demolished, located immediately between the Post office and the river bank and wharfs, took 17,544 pounds in customs duties in 1889. Paddlesteamers gradually declined, particularly after the 1920s, although a few continued to trade up and down the river into the 1940's, still remembered by elderly Wilcannia residents.
Wilcannia in the 1870s and into the 1900s was the centre of the pastoral and mining boom of the far west of New South Wales, and it was the centre of the paddlesteamer river trade from the Upper Darling to the Murray River and outlets such as Adelaide and Melbourne. The frequent dry seasons and lack of water in the river led to other methods of transporting goods being used, such as camel trains, but when the water came down the river trade always returned. The river trade built Wilcannia's fine buildings, but it was also its undoing, as the New South Wales government intervened to reduce the river trade because goods were moving to and from Adelaide and Melbourne, not Sydney.
Plans to improve navigation on the river were suggested in 1859 after Captain Cadell's first successful voyage up the Darling that was followed by other paddlesteamers. Cadell gave evidence at a New South Wales Select Committee that the Darling would be become reliable for boats if a system of locks were built at very reasonable cost that would hold back water during the drier seasons. The plans to build locks along the Darling River to make navigation more consistent were investigated again and again, but were not realised because the New South Wales government believed trade would benefit Victoria and South Australia.
After the opening of the Sydney to Bourke railway line in 1885, Wilcannia lost its status as the major commercial centre of the Darling River. The trade from the far North West New South Wales then tended to go to the railhead at Bourke and straight to Sydney. There were plans in the 1880s for the railway to be run from Cobar to Wilcannia, however this plan was continuously put off. Plans for a railway to Wilcannia continued to be made throughout the 1890's and early 1900's, and including a proposal from Cobar to Broken Hill then linking to South Australia as the Great Western Railway. In 1907 "a large petition was forwarded to Sydney from Wilcannia for presentation to the Premier urging immediate construction of the Cobar-Wilcannia Railway, and subsequent extension to Broken Hill".
The New South Wales government attempt to stop trade leaking out of the state resulted in their refusal to build a railway to Wilcannia (as goods tended to go to Wilcannia and down the river), or to extend the railway to South Australia for the same reasons. The bend in the river on the north side of town celebrates this government intransigence by its name "Iron Pole Bend", the iron pole said to have been placed at the surveyed location of the proposed railway bridge. New South Wales eventually built a railway through the low population Ivanhoe route to the south of Wilcannia reaching Broken Hill in 1927, and even then it stopped at Broken Hill and did not join the South Australian line until 1970. The link between Broken Hill and the South Australian railway was provided from 1884 to 1970 by the narrow gauge private railway 'the Silverton Tramway', which also took trade from Wilcannia.
The combination of missing out on the railway and locking of the river, the severe drought on 1900 - 1901, and the damage to the pastoral economy by drought, rabbits, and over grazing, led to a down turn in Wilcannia's prospects, leaving the fine stone buildings such as the post office languishing as tangible reminders of a time when Wilcannia was known as the "Queen City of the West" and was the largest inland port in New South Wales and the third largest inland port in Australia.
Source: New South Wales Heritage Register.
Escomb Church is the Church of England parish church of Escomb, County Durham, a village about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) west of Bishop Auckland. It is one of the oldest Anglo-Saxon churches in England and one of only four complete Anglo-Saxon churches remaining in England, the others being St Lawrence's Church, Bradford-on-Avon, Greensted Church and All Saints' Church, Brixworth. The church is a Grade I listed building.
The church was founded about AD 670–675, when the area was part of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Much of the stone was taken from the nearby Roman fort at Vinovia (Binchester). On the gable of the south porch is a 7th or early 8th Century sundial, and on the north wall is a reused Roman stone with the markings "LEG VI" (Sixth Legion) set upside down. Above the sundial projects an Anglo-Saxon relief of an animal's head.
Because Bede (circa AD 673–735) did not mention the church, some have argued that it was not built until after his death. However, he only named churches which were associated with events he recorded.
The proportions of the nave are typically Anglo-Saxon: narrow and tall. The chancel is rectangular. The church is built of large roughly dressed, squared stones, with particularly large quoins, many of which are up to 2 ft (0.6 m) high and between 3 ft (0.9 m) and 4 ft (1.2 m) long. The early character of the building and its similarity to other early work in Northumbria are consistent with it having been built between AD 650 and 800.
Internally the nave is 43 ft 6 in (13.3 m) long by 14 ft 6 in (4.4 m) wide. Its walls are 2 ft 4 in (0.7 m) thick and about 23 ft (7.0 m) high. The chancel is 10 ft (3.0 m) square. The chancel arch is 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) wide and its apex is15 ft (4.6 m) above the floor of the nave.
Internally the most notable feature is the tall, narrow chancel arch. The southern impost of the arch is reminiscent of those in a gateway of the Roman fort at Chesters on Hadrian's Wall. This strengthens the theory that stones used at Escomb were brought from Binchester. Many of the stones show Roman tooling, which is common in Anglo-Saxon churches.
The chancel arch is of typical Roman form, tall with massive stone jambs, simple chamfered imposts and precisely-cut, radial voussoirs. It is unlike the non-radial voussoirs that the Anglo-Saxons typically made.
In the restoration of 1880 were found a number of delicately carved fragments of cross-shafts of the high quality commonly assigned to the Hexham school. They were found built into the gables, presumably during earlier restorations.
At an unknown date the eaves were raised. The nave now has a crow-stepped gable at each end. Some simple Gothic windows were inserted in the 13th century and the south porch was built in the 14th century. In the 19th century more windows were inserted and a new door was installed in the porch.
But the majority of the windows, small and set high in the walls, are original Anglo-Saxon work. The church is essentially little changed from when it was built.
Until the 19th century Escomb was a dependent chapelry of Bishop Auckland. In 1848 a vicarage was built at the top of the hill and Rev. Henry Atkinson became Escomb's first resident vicar for centuries.
The Anglo-Saxon church seated only 65 people, and in the 19th century Escomb's population outgrew it. In 1863 a new parish church, St John's, was completed next to the vicarage.
Thereafter the Anglo-Saxon church quickly fell into disrepair. By 1867 it had lost part of its roof. It was restored in 1875–80 by RJ Johnson at a cost of between £500 and £550. In October 1880 Joseph Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham, came and preached at a service to mark the completion of the restoration.[8] But the building had no heating or artificial light, and thereafter was used for only a few services a year, from June until August.
By 1904 the roof was again in poor condition. In the 1920s the parish again raised money to restore the church, and on 1 June 1927 Handley Moule, Bishop of Durham presided at the Eucharist in the church to mark completion of the work.
The first surviving record of a proposal to install electric lighting in the church dates from 1940. In 1944 it was proposed again, along with gas heating. But the Diocesan Advisory Committee objected and the Diocese of Durham did not grant a faculty for the work. Heating and lighting were discussed again in 1950, but not installed.
In 1959 a new vicar, Rev. Henry Lee, was appointed to the parish. In 1960 the parish agreed to refurbish the building and Lee resumed summer services in it. The architect Sir Albert Richardson prepared plans and in 1962 both the parish and the diocese accepted them.
1960s altar in the chancel
The plan was now for electric lighting and heating to be installed, along with a new altar and other furnishings. The cost of restoration and modernisation was estimated at £6,500. Historic Churches Preservation Trust donated £500 to the fund.
In 1963 St John's church, completed only a century earlier, was inspected and found to need repairs estimated to cost £6,500. But church attendance had declined, so the Diocesan Pastoral Committee decided that restoring both of Escomb's churches was not justified. It decided that the Anglo-Saxon church should once again be the parish church, and St John's should be deconsecrated and demolished.
Lee refused the proposal, but in 1964 he retired and the diocese suspended the living and the rural dean was made priest in charge. In 1967 restoration of the Anglo-Saxon church was begun, in December 1969 it reverted to being the parish church, and in 1971 St John's was demolished.
County Durham, officially simply Durham is a ceremonial county in North East England. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to the north, the North Sea to the east, North Yorkshire to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The largest settlement is Darlington, and the county town is the city of Durham.
The county has an area of 2,721 km2 (1,051 sq mi) and a population of 866,846. The latter is concentrated in the east; the south-east is part of the Teesside built-up area, which extends into North Yorkshire. After Darlington (92,363), the largest settlements are Hartlepool (88,855), Stockton-on-Tees (82,729), and Durham (48,069). For local government purposes the county comprises three unitary authority areas—County Durham, Darlington, and Hartlepool—and part of a fourth, Stockton-on-Tees. The county historically included the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne, and excluded the part of County Durham south of the River Tees.
The west of the county contains part of the North Pennines uplands, a national landscape. The hills are the source of the rivers Tees and Wear, which flow east and form the valleys of Teesdale and Weardale respectively. The east of the county is flatter, and contains by rolling hills through which the two rivers meander; the Tees forms the boundary with North Yorkshire in its lower reaches, and the Wear exits the county near Chester-le-Street in the north-east. The county's coast is a site of special scientific interest characterised by tall limestone and dolomite cliffs.
What is now County Durham was on the border of Roman Britain, and contains survivals of this era at sites such as Binchester Roman Fort. In the Anglo-Saxon period the region was part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. In 995 the city of Durham was founded by monks seeking a place safe from Viking raids to house the relics of St Cuthbert. Durham Cathedral was rebuilt after the Norman Conquest, and together with Durham Castle is now a World Heritage Site. By the late Middle Ages the county was governed semi-independently by the bishops of Durham and was also a buffer zone between England and Scotland. County Durham became heavily industrialised in the nineteenth century, when many collieries opened on the Durham coalfield. The Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, opened in 1825. Most collieries closed during the last quarter of the twentieth century, but the county's coal mining heritage is remembered in the annual Durham Miners' Gala.
Remains of Prehistoric Durham include a number of Neolithic earthworks.
The Crawley Edge Cairns and Heathery Burn Cave are Bronze Age sites. Maiden Castle, Durham is an Iron Age site.
Brigantia, the land of the Brigantes, is said to have included what is now County Durham.
There are archaeological remains of Roman Durham. Dere Street and Cade's Road run through what is now County Durham. There were Roman forts at Concangis (Chester-le-Street), Lavatrae (Bowes), Longovicium (Lanchester), Piercebridge (Morbium), Vindomora (Ebchester) and Vinovium (Binchester). (The Roman fort at Arbeia (South Shields) is within the former boundaries of County Durham.) A Romanised farmstead has been excavated at Old Durham.
Remains of the Anglo-Saxon period include a number of sculpted stones and sundials, the Legs Cross, the Rey Cross and St Cuthbert's coffin.
Around AD 547, an Angle named Ida founded the kingdom of Bernicia after spotting the defensive potential of a large rock at Bamburgh, upon which many a fortification was thenceforth built. Ida was able to forge, hold and consolidate the kingdom; although the native British tried to take back their land, the Angles triumphed and the kingdom endured.
In AD 604, Ida's grandson Æthelfrith forcibly merged Bernicia (ruled from Bamburgh) and Deira (ruled from York, which was known as Eforwic at the time) to create the Kingdom of Northumbria. In time, the realm was expanded, primarily through warfare and conquest; at its height, the kingdom stretched from the River Humber (from which the kingdom drew its name) to the Forth. Eventually, factional fighting and the rejuvenated strength of neighbouring kingdoms, most notably Mercia, led to Northumbria's decline. The arrival of the Vikings hastened this decline, and the Scandinavian raiders eventually claimed the Deiran part of the kingdom in AD 867 (which became Jórvík). The land that would become County Durham now sat on the border with the Great Heathen Army, a border which today still (albeit with some adjustments over the years) forms the boundaries between Yorkshire and County Durham.
Despite their success south of the river Tees, the Vikings never fully conquered the Bernician part of Northumbria, despite the many raids they had carried out on the kingdom. However, Viking control over the Danelaw, the central belt of Anglo-Saxon territory, resulted in Northumbria becoming isolated from the rest of Anglo-Saxon Britain. Scots invasions in the north pushed the kingdom's northern boundary back to the River Tweed, and the kingdom found itself reduced to a dependent earldom, its boundaries very close to those of modern-day Northumberland and County Durham. The kingdom was annexed into England in AD 954.
In AD 995, St Cuthbert's community, who had been transporting Cuthbert's remains around, partly in an attempt to avoid them falling into the hands of Viking raiders, settled at Dunholm (Durham) on a site that was defensively favourable due to the horseshoe-like path of the River Wear. St Cuthbert's remains were placed in a shrine in the White Church, which was originally a wooden structure but was eventually fortified into a stone building.
Once the City of Durham had been founded, the Bishops of Durham gradually acquired the lands that would become County Durham. Bishop Aldhun began this process by procuring land in the Tees and Wear valleys, including Norton, Stockton, Escomb and Aucklandshire in 1018. In 1031, King Canute gave Staindrop to the Bishops. This territory continued to expand, and was eventually given the status of a liberty. Under the control of the Bishops of Durham, the land had various names: the "Liberty of Durham", "Liberty of St Cuthbert's Land" "the lands of St Cuthbert between Tyne and Tees" or "the Liberty of Haliwerfolc" (holy Wear folk).
The bishops' special jurisdiction rested on claims that King Ecgfrith of Northumbria had granted a substantial territory to St Cuthbert on his election to the see of Lindisfarne in 684. In about 883 a cathedral housing the saint's remains was established at Chester-le-Street and Guthfrith, King of York granted the community of St Cuthbert the area between the Tyne and the Wear, before the community reached its final destination in 995, in Durham.
Following the Norman invasion, the administrative machinery of government extended only slowly into northern England. Northumberland's first recorded Sheriff was Gilebert from 1076 until 1080 and a 12th-century record records Durham regarded as within the shire. However the bishops disputed the authority of the sheriff of Northumberland and his officials, despite the second sheriff for example being the reputed slayer of Malcolm Canmore, King of Scots. The crown regarded Durham as falling within Northumberland until the late thirteenth century.
Following the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror appointed Copsig as Earl of Northumbria, thereby bringing what would become County Durham under Copsig's control. Copsig was, just a few weeks later, killed in Newburn. Having already being previously offended by the appointment of a non-Northumbrian as Bishop of Durham in 1042, the people of the region became increasingly rebellious. In response, in January 1069, William despatched a large Norman army, under the command of Robert de Comines, to Durham City. The army, believed to consist of 700 cavalry (about one-third of the number of Norman knights who had participated in the Battle of Hastings), entered the city, whereupon they were attacked, and defeated, by a Northumbrian assault force. The Northumbrians wiped out the entire Norman army, including Comines, all except for one survivor, who was allowed to take the news of this defeat back.
Following the Norman slaughter at the hands of the Northumbrians, resistance to Norman rule spread throughout Northern England, including a similar uprising in York. William The Conqueror subsequently (and successfully) attempted to halt the northern rebellions by unleashing the notorious Harrying of the North (1069–1070). Because William's main focus during the harrying was on Yorkshire, County Durham was largely spared the Harrying.
Anglo-Norman Durham refers to the Anglo-Norman period, during which Durham Cathedral was built.
Matters regarding the bishopric of Durham came to a head in 1293 when the bishop and his steward failed to attend proceedings of quo warranto held by the justices of Northumberland. The bishop's case went before parliament, where he stated that Durham lay outside the bounds of any English shire and that "from time immemorial it had been widely known that the sheriff of Northumberland was not sheriff of Durham nor entered within that liberty as sheriff. . . nor made there proclamations or attachments". The arguments appear to have prevailed, as by the fourteenth century Durham was accepted as a liberty which received royal mandates direct. In effect it was a private shire, with the bishop appointing his own sheriff. The area eventually became known as the "County Palatine of Durham".
Sadberge was a liberty, sometimes referred to as a county, within Northumberland. In 1189 it was purchased for the see but continued with a separate sheriff, coroner and court of pleas. In the 14th century Sadberge was included in Stockton ward and was itself divided into two wards. The division into the four wards of Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Easington and Stockton existed in the 13th century, each ward having its own coroner and a three-weekly court corresponding to the hundred court. The diocese was divided into the archdeaconries of Durham and Northumberland. The former is mentioned in 1072, and in 1291 included the deaneries of Chester-le-Street, Auckland, Lanchester and Darlington.
The term palatinus is applied to the bishop in 1293, and from the 13th century onwards the bishops frequently claimed the same rights in their lands as the king enjoyed in his kingdom.
The historic boundaries of County Durham included a main body covering the catchment of the Pennines in the west, the River Tees in the south, the North Sea in the east and the Rivers Tyne and Derwent in the north. The county palatinate also had a number of liberties: the Bedlingtonshire, Islandshire and Norhamshire exclaves within Northumberland, and the Craikshire exclave within the North Riding of Yorkshire. In 1831 the county covered an area of 679,530 acres (2,750.0 km2) and had a population of 253,910. These exclaves were included as part of the county for parliamentary electoral purposes until 1832, and for judicial and local-government purposes until the coming into force of the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, which merged most remaining exclaves with their surrounding county. The boundaries of the county proper remained in use for administrative and ceremonial purposes until the Local Government Act 1972.
Boldon Book (1183 or 1184) is a polyptichum for the Bishopric of Durham.
Until the 15th century, the most important administrative officer in the Palatinate was the steward. Other officers included the sheriff, the coroners, the Chamberlain and the chancellor. The palatine exchequer originated in the 12th century. The palatine assembly represented the whole county, and dealt chiefly with fiscal questions. The bishop's council, consisting of the clergy, the sheriff and the barons, regulated judicial affairs, and later produced the Chancery and the courts of Admiralty and Marshalsea.
The prior of Durham ranked first among the bishop's barons. He had his own court, and almost exclusive jurisdiction over his men. A UNESCO site describes the role of the Prince-Bishops in Durham, the "buffer state between England and Scotland":
From 1075, the Bishop of Durham became a Prince-Bishop, with the right to raise an army, mint his own coins, and levy taxes. As long as he remained loyal to the king of England, he could govern as a virtually autonomous ruler, reaping the revenue from his territory, but also remaining mindful of his role of protecting England’s northern frontier.
A report states that the Bishops also had the authority to appoint judges and barons and to offer pardons.
There were ten palatinate barons in the 12th century, most importantly the Hyltons of Hylton Castle, the Bulmers of Brancepeth, the Conyers of Sockburne, the Hansards of Evenwood, and the Lumleys of Lumley Castle. The Nevilles owned large estates in the county. John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby rebuilt Raby Castle, their principal seat, in 1377.
Edward I's quo warranto proceedings of 1293 showed twelve lords enjoying more or less extensive franchises under the bishop. The repeated efforts of the Crown to check the powers of the palatinate bishops culminated in 1536 in the Act of Resumption, which deprived the bishop of the power to pardon offences against the law or to appoint judicial officers. Moreover, indictments and legal processes were in future to run in the name of the king, and offences to be described as against the peace of the king, rather than that of the bishop. In 1596 restrictions were imposed on the powers of the chancery, and in 1646 the palatinate was formally abolished. It was revived, however, after the Restoration, and continued with much the same power until 5 July 1836, when the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 provided that the palatine jurisdiction should in future be vested in the Crown.
During the 15th-century Wars of the Roses, Henry VI passed through Durham. On the outbreak of the Great Rebellion in 1642 Durham inclined to support the cause of Parliament, and in 1640 the high sheriff of the palatinate guaranteed to supply the Scottish army with provisions during their stay in the county. In 1642 the Earl of Newcastle formed the western counties into an association for the King's service, but in 1644 the palatinate was again overrun by a Scottish army, and after the Battle of Marston Moor (2 July 1644) fell entirely into the hands of Parliament.
In 1614, a Bill was introduced in Parliament for securing representation to the county and city of Durham and the borough of Barnard Castle. The bishop strongly opposed the proposal as an infringement of his palatinate rights, and the county was first summoned to return members to Parliament in 1654. After the Restoration of 1660 the county and city returned two members each. In the wake of the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned two members for two divisions, and the boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland acquired representation. The bishops lost their secular powers in 1836. The boroughs of Darlington, Stockton and Hartlepool returned one member each from 1868 until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.
The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 reformed the municipal boroughs of Durham, Stockton on Tees and Sunderland. In 1875, Jarrow was incorporated as a municipal borough, as was West Hartlepool in 1887. At a county level, the Local Government Act 1888 reorganised local government throughout England and Wales. Most of the county came under control of the newly formed Durham County Council in an area known as an administrative county. Not included were the county boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland. However, for purposes other than local government, the administrative county of Durham and the county boroughs continued to form a single county to which the Crown appointed a Lord Lieutenant of Durham.
Over its existence, the administrative county lost territory, both to the existing county boroughs, and because two municipal boroughs became county boroughs: West Hartlepool in 1902 and Darlington in 1915. The county boundary with the North Riding of Yorkshire was adjusted in 1967: that part of the town of Barnard Castle historically in Yorkshire was added to County Durham, while the administrative county ceded the portion of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in Durham to the North Riding. In 1968, following the recommendation of the Local Government Commission, Billingham was transferred to the County Borough of Teesside, in the North Riding. In 1971, the population of the county—including all associated county boroughs (an area of 2,570 km2 (990 sq mi))—was 1,409,633, with a population outside the county boroughs of 814,396.
In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 abolished the administrative county and the county boroughs, reconstituting County Durham as a non-metropolitan county. The reconstituted County Durham lost territory to the north-east (around Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland) to Tyne and Wear and to the south-east (around Hartlepool) to Cleveland. At the same time it gained the former area of Startforth Rural District from the North Riding of Yorkshire. The area of the Lord Lieutenancy of Durham was also adjusted by the Act to coincide with the non-metropolitan county (which occupied 3,019 km2 (1,166 sq mi) in 1981).
In 1996, as part of 1990s UK local government reform by Lieutenancies Act 1997, Cleveland was abolished. Its districts were reconstituted as unitary authorities. Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees (north Tees) were returned to the county for the purposes of Lord Lieutenancy. Darlington also became a third unitary authority of the county. The Royal Mail abandoned the use of postal counties altogether, permitted but not mandatory being at a writer wishes.
As part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England initiated by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the seven district councils within the County Council area were abolished. The County Council assumed their functions and became the fourth unitary authority. Changes came into effect on 1 April 2009.
On 15 April 2014, North East Combined Authority was established under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 with powers over economic development and regeneration. In November 2018, Newcastle City Council, North Tyneside Borough Council, and Northumberland County Council left the authority. These later formed the North of Tyne Combined Authority.
In May 2021, four parish councils of the villages of Elwick, Hart, Dalton Piercy and Greatham all issued individual votes of no confidence in Hartlepool Borough Council, and expressed their desire to join the County Durham district.
In October 2021, County Durham was shortlisted for the UK City of Culture 2025. In May 2022, it lost to Bradford.
Eighteenth century Durham saw the appearance of dissent in the county and the Durham Ox. The county did not assist the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. The Statue of Neptune in the City of Durham was erected in 1729.
A number of disasters happened in Nineteenth century Durham. The Felling mine disasters happened in 1812, 1813, 1821 and 1847. The Philadelphia train accident happened in 1815. In 1854, there was a great fire in Gateshead. One of the West Stanley Pit disasters happened in 1882. The Victoria Hall disaster happened in 1883.
One of the West Stanley Pit disasters happened in 1909. The Darlington rail crash happened in 1928. The Battle of Stockton happened in 1933. The Browney rail crash happened in 1946.
The First Treaty of Durham was made at Durham in 1136. The Second Treaty of Durham was made at Durham in 1139.
The county regiment was the Durham Light Infantry, which replaced, in particular, the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and the Militia and Volunteers of County Durham.
RAF Greatham, RAF Middleton St George and RAF Usworth were located in County Durham.
David I, the King of Scotland, invaded the county in 1136, and ravaged much of the county 1138. In 17 October 1346, the Battle of Neville's Cross was fought at Neville's Cross, near the city of Durham. On 16 December 1914, during the First World War, there was a raid on Hartlepool by the Imperial German Navy.
Chroniclers connected with Durham include the Bede, Symeon of Durham, Geoffrey of Coldingham and Robert de Graystanes.
County Durham has long been associated with coal mining, from medieval times up to the late 20th century. The Durham Coalfield covered a large area of the county, from Bishop Auckland, to Consett, to the River Tyne and below the North Sea, thereby providing a significant expanse of territory from which this rich mineral resource could be extracted.
King Stephen possessed a mine in Durham, which he granted to Bishop Pudsey, and in the same century colliers are mentioned at Coundon, Bishopwearmouth and Sedgefield. Cockfield Fell was one of the earliest Landsale collieries in Durham. Edward III issued an order allowing coal dug at Newcastle to be taken across the Tyne, and Richard II granted to the inhabitants of Durham licence to export the produce of the mines, without paying dues to the corporation of Newcastle. The majority was transported from the Port of Sunderland complex, which was constructed in the 1850s.
Among other early industries, lead-mining was carried on in the western part of the county, and mustard was extensively cultivated. Gateshead had a considerable tanning trade and shipbuilding was undertaken at Jarrow, and at Sunderland, which became the largest shipbuilding town in the world – constructing a third of Britain's tonnage.[citation needed]
The county's modern-era economic history was facilitated significantly by the growth of the mining industry during the nineteenth century. At the industry's height, in the early 20th century, over 170,000 coal miners were employed, and they mined 58,700,000 tons of coal in 1913 alone. As a result, a large number of colliery villages were built throughout the county as the industrial revolution gathered pace.
The railway industry was also a major employer during the industrial revolution, with railways being built throughout the county, such as The Tanfield Railway, The Clarence Railway and The Stockton and Darlington Railway. The growth of this industry occurred alongside the coal industry, as the railways provided a fast, efficient means to move coal from the mines to the ports and provided the fuel for the locomotives. The great railway pioneers Timothy Hackworth, Edward Pease, George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson were all actively involved with developing the railways in tandem with County Durham's coal mining industry. Shildon and Darlington became thriving 'railway towns' and experienced significant growths in population and prosperity; before the railways, just over 100 people lived in Shildon but, by the 1890s, the town was home to around 8,000 people, with Shildon Shops employing almost 3000 people at its height.
However, by the 1930s, the coal mining industry began to diminish and, by the mid-twentieth century, the pits were closing at an increasing rate. In 1951, the Durham County Development Plan highlighted a number of colliery villages, such as Blackhouse, as 'Category D' settlements, in which future development would be prohibited, property would be acquired and demolished, and the population moved to new housing, such as that being built in Newton Aycliffe. Likewise, the railway industry also began to decline, and was significantly brought to a fraction of its former self by the Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Darlington Works closed in 1966 and Shildon Shops followed suit in 1984. The county's last deep mines, at Easington, Vane Tempest, Wearmouth and Westoe, closed in 1993.
Postal Rates from 1801 were charged depending on the distance from London. Durham was allocated the code 263 the approximate mileage from London. From about 1811, a datestamp appeared on letters showing the date the letter was posted. In 1844 a new system was introduced and Durham was allocated the code 267. This system was replaced in 1840 when the first postage stamps were introduced.
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911): "To the Anglo-Saxon period are to be referred portions of the churches of Monk Wearmouth (Sunderland), Jarrow, Escomb near Bishop Auckland, and numerous sculptured crosses, two of which are in situ at Aycliffe. . . . The Decorated and Perpendicular periods are very scantily represented, on account, as is supposed, of the incessant wars between England and Scotland in the 14th and 15th centuries. The principal monastic remains, besides those surrounding Durham cathedral, are those of its subordinate house or "cell," Finchale Priory, beautifully situated by the Wear. The most interesting castles are those of Durham, Raby, Brancepeth and Barnard. There are ruins of castelets or peel-towers at Dalden, Ludworth and Langley Dale. The hospitals of Sherburn, Greatham and Kepyer, founded by early bishops of Durham, retain but few ancient features."
The best remains of the Norman period include Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, and several parish churches, such as St Laurence Church in Pittington. The Early English period has left the eastern portion of the cathedral, the churches of Darlington, Hartlepool, and St Andrew, Auckland, Sedgefield, and portions of a few other churches.
'Durham Castle and Cathedral' is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Elsewhere in the County there is Auckland Castle.
Singapore Zoo ranks consistently (after San Diego Zoo) as one of the best in the world.
Watching the power of this animal as he leaps for the incoming food is just breathtaking. You can see the deadly canines in the powerful jaw. At 16, Omar was already old for a tiger, and he died 16 months after this was taken.
For the story, please visit: www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/travel/teeth-claws-and-colou...
This magnificent scene of the Roman campagna is impressive not only for its scale and dramatic composition, but also for the consistently high quality one finds throughout the painting. Busiri Vici rightly stated that the main protagonists of Van Bloemen’s landscapes are the trees, the natural elements which he so vividly portrays, rather than any of the figures that populate them, and this is one of the most significant examples in his œuvre. The artist has created a convincing sense of depth by drawing us into the landscape through a river placed in the centre foreground. The men and women resting on its banks act as repoussoir figures and our eye is immediately led to the hills beyond where the real focus of the painting is: a bolt of lightning has just struck a hill-top and a fire is just breaking out beside a farmhouse that the bolt narrowly missed.
In this, as in other arcadian landscapes painted by the artist, Van Bloemen shows his skill in rendering different atmospheric effects. We sense the storm moving swiftly over the landscape, the storm-clouds being driven by a wind which bends trees under its force. The bolt of lightning in the centre of the painting is a motif which recurs in other paintings by Van Bloemen, but never on the same scale or with the same dramatic emphasis as it does here: compare, for example, his Stormy landscapes in the Galleria Doria Pamphilij, Rome, and Galleria Sabauda, Turin (Busiri Vici, see Literature, nos. 22 and 340, both reproduced); or the small copper tondo in a Roman private collection (ibid., no. 105, reproduced). The Temple of Vesta (or Temple of the Sibyl) was a favourite motif not just for Van Bloemen but for the many vedutisti who portrayed the Roman campagna and Tivoli in particular. Its partially ruined structure, still visible today, dominates a rocky hill-top and the waterfall pours out from under it; a detail used again by Van Bloemen on numerous occasions (compare a painting of upright format in which this becomes the main subject of the painting; ibid., no. 135, reproduced). The figures, which are of exceedingly high quality, are probably by Van Bloemen himself rather than by any of the painters with whom he frequently collaborated.
This work is likely to be identifiable with a painting recorded in a letter, dated 14 January 1736, sent by Van Bloemen to the architect Filippo Juvarra in Madrid. The artist talks of four paintings he is working on for Elisabetta Farnese (1692-1766), second wife of Philip V and Queen of Spain, all of which measure seven by ten palmi romani (approx. 156 by 223 cm.); a pair of vertical format (showing Villa Medici with antique vases) and another horizontal pair: “…gli altri due sono per traverso l’uno rappresenta gli Orti Farnesiani, con tutta la veduta di Campovaccino di Roma, l’altro rappresenta la gran cascata di Tivoli” (cited in Busiri Vici, op. cit., pp. 228-9, doc. no. 3). The former is to be identified with the painting belonging to the Gruppo Ferruzzi and sold, Milan, Sotheby's, 8 June 1994, lot 268, which is of very similar dimensions to the present work (172 by 247 cm.; ibid., no. 211, figs. 10, 33, 34 and 190). Van Bloemen goes on to say that he wishes them to be hung in the Palacio Real and that he would like to be paid a sum of 300 scudi Romani for each pair, given the effort he has put into them (“quadri che mi costano una lunga fatica”). Pascoli, in his biography on the artist written shortly afterwards, mentions only two paintings for the Queen of Spain and records only the Farnese-related subjects, but Van Bloemen’s letter should be taken as firm evidence: the fact that paintings on such a large scale, particularly of Tivoli, are rare in his work, makes an identification with the Farnese painting more than likely.
www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2005/old-master-p...
Harpobittacus australis
Family: Bittacidae
Order: Mecoptera
Location is consistent with Harpobittacus australis which has a distribution across southern regions of Australia.
Common name is the Australian Scorpionfly in the Hangingfly family of Bittacidae. They are unique in having raptorial hind legs which they use for holding prey. Male present insect prey to female as nuptial gifts.
Character(s) used for identification: Slender elongate body and legs. Red and black colouration. Long, narrow wings with 30-50mm span. Wings are brown tinged and held roof-like above the abdomen. Head is hypognathous with the clypeus, labrum and other mouthparts forming a rostrum. Large compound eyes. Ocelli present. Cervix (neck) membranous, somewhat elongate. Pronotum saddle-like, wider than long and with transverse ridges. Long slender legs which are used for their characteristic ‘hanging’ pose on branches. Coxae are elongate. Hind legs have raptorial tarsal segments.
It was seen here apparently feeding on the Flannel Flowers (Actinotus helianthi), but it was probably looking for an opportunity to feed on insect prey too.
The following is an interesting video by Denis Crawford:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5NpN8Vn2Bw
DSC01793 _DSC01798 _DSC01796 LR TZ
www.jdclassics.com/Cars/For-Sale/1958-Lister-Chevrolet/79...
DESCRIPTION
Encouraged by the considerable successes achieved with his earlier sports cars, in the later 1950s Brian Lister began to finalise plans for the production of the Lister-Jaguar “Knobbly” range, which was introduced for the 1957 season and further refined in 1958. At this time Lister was also becoming aware of the potential export market for large-engine sports cars in the new North American Pro-Series and, following suggestions from existing customers, he realised that a more powerful engine would be required to stay competitive in the States. Accordingly he began to modify a small number of chassis in England to accommodate the Chevrolet small block V8. The first five cars were dispatched in 1958, engine-less, to the US where they were supplied to dealers Carroll Shelby, Kjell Qvale and Seattle-based Tom Carstens, who had the cars fitted with their Chevy power plants.
This genuine Lister-Chevrolet, chassis BHL110, was built up in Cambridge England and then exported to Tom Carstens for his team’s own use. It won the first time out with Carstens but his friend, well-known driver Bill Pollock (who was sponsored by Dean Van Lines), persuaded him to part with it, less the V8, in mid-1958. The chassis was sent to famed engine builder Bruce Crower in San Diego to be powered and prepared for its Riverside Pro race debut. Pollock’s exploits in that race are wonderfully recounted in a March 1959 issue of Sports Cars Illustrated. Despite problems of engine overheating and poor brakes, Pollock worked his way up to fourth all prior to a massive spin when the brake pedal went to the floor. After a second off-track excursion caused by rear wheel lock up, a hot and tired Pollock was classified as a fine eighth overall in the LA Times Grand Prix. The next owner, Fike Plumbing of Phoenix, Arizona, ran BHL110 for two years with his driver Don Hulette achieving some success in a support race at the 1960 LA Times Grand Prix. However, in the main event that weekend, Hulette crashed with the ensuing fire damaging further the bodywork of BHL110 but fortunately not injuring the driver. Following this mishap the Lister was then purchased by Bob Sorrell who stored it at Riverside until it was acquired by car hunter Klaus Hubert who in turn sold it to a Canadian Dentist, Dr Evans in 1969. Evans now commenced a major restoration, involving Brian Lister himself who authenticated the chassis as a genuine Lister-built unit and arranged for the original coachbuilder – Williams and Pritchard – to make a new body for the car. Lister also introduced Evans to Bryan Wingfield who supplied correct Lister mechanical components. After completion of the work Evans raced the car in the US, Canada and the Bahamas for several decades until he retired from competition in 2011 and sold the car to the UK. At this point the Lister was repainted in its 1958 Dean Van Lines livery and was prepared to FIA European specification, which was complete by 2013. Since then the car has been regularly campaigned with 8 of its 18 races being at the Goodwood Revival and Members Meetings, where it has consistently recorded the fastest top speed of any Lister, in large part due to its small block engine, which has been bored to the largest allowable size of 5.8 Litres, the capacity it raced with in period. Over this time it has benefitted from constantmaintenance with a major refresh from noted Lister and Chevrolet experts taking place in the summer of 2017. This wonderful Chevy Lister is now offered in race ready condition with a long duration FIA HTP (expires 2024) and has the additional benefit of being road registered in the UK. It is eligible for many of the world’s most prestigious events and comes accompanied by an excellent history file containing correspondence, period race results and many photographs. Please contact us for further details.
One of the most iconic Touring Cars in Australia, Dick Johnson's Greens-Tuf Falcon was seen in 3 iterations.
Pictured
A recreation of Dick Johnson’s famous Greens-Tuf Ford Falcon as part of a new program launched by V8 Race Experience.
The firm, which runs a fleet of late-model, production based Falcon and Commodore V8s throughout Australia, has added the replica to its stable with the endorsement of Johnson.
Although not part of Johnson’s team during the Group C era, DJR legend John Bowe’s ongoing association with V8 Race saw him kick-start the replica idea.
Like the original it has a Volkmann Motorsport built 351 Cleveland V8 that produces around 500bhp.
No#3
The XE Falcon campaigned by the team was built over the 1983/84 off-season, and made its debut at the opening event of the 1984 season.
Dick completed a highly consistent season - finishing on the podium at every event, and despite only taking one round win (at Surfers Paradise Raceway), claimed the 1984 ATCC in the car.
John French returned to drive with Dick in the endurance races, and after starting third at Bathurst, the race ended for the car with a broken axle after 107 laps. Following the final Group C-era race in November 1984, the car was retired from competition and retained by the team. The car now forms part of the Bowden collection.
No#2
The 2nd car was purchased by the team from a fellow competitor (Andrew Harris) on the Saturday evening of Bathurst 1983, the DJR, Harris and TAFE Repair teams worked through the night to convert this 'new' car into a DJR Greens-Tuf XE, as a replacement for the car destroyed in Hardie's Heroes.
The conversion included stripping the damaged shell of its undamaged mechanical components, installing them into the new car, repainting & signwriting, and electrical work.
The rebuilt car was rolled onto the grid - with its paintwork still damp - to a standing ovation, just in time for the race start. Unfortunately a faulty electrical fuse in the dash ended the team’s day after 61 laps.
The car was sold following the Bathurst 1000 race, as a new DJR XE Falcon was under construction for 1984.
No#1
Debuted in the 1982 Endurance Races in Palmer Red Roo pipe colours (blue car with red bumpers), the XE Falcon had several changes & upgrades over the XD model. At Bathurst 1982, Dick, again paired with John French, crossed the line in 4th place, however was later excluded due to a technical infringement.
Still with Red Roo signage, but now all-blue in colour, the 1983 ATCC season was a tough one, as the team continued to develop the car with new homologated components (including larger wheels & tyres and a new aero pack). Dick finished the ATCC season in 6th place.
For the 1983 Endurance races, Dick paired with Kevin Bartlett, and the car appeared in the famous Greens-Tuf colours for the first time. During the Hardie’s Heroes (top 10 shootout) at Bathurst, Dick clipped the tyre bundle on the exit of Forrest’s Elbow, sending the car crashing through the trees next to the track. The mechanicals of the destroyed car were transferred into a new car rebuilt overnight at Bathurst.
This started on Tumblr but I appreciate a lot of people on Flickr so I'm bringing it over! ;)
@lostfrontier, I appreciate your honesty and practicality in a very frivolous hobby, and I'm so glad you work so hard to make the Boston meets as consistent and awesome as they are! Your nail art and faceups are getting so good, it's a genuine inspiration.
@sephyelysian, I'm so glad we're friends, and by friends I mean mutual enabling society ;) ;) ;) You always have an open ear/chatbox, and it's so fun to discuss plans with you! Also I appreciate Ro, I am the secretary of his fan club (because Mitchell is the president, obviously!)
ChriseeV, I'll never forget how you restrung my very first doll at my second ever meet, out of the kindness of your heart. And because you're really good at it! ;) I'm so glad you moved closer than Mars and I can't wait to come harass you at your new place a little more!
@dolltrash, welcome to the cesspit that is Tumblr! Not as classy as LJ ;) I'm so glad we're friends and I absolutely adore your crew. Especially Sally! ;) I'm glad we've gotten to do dolly travels together, and I'm hoping fortune will give us more opportunities to do that in the future!
@theapathetic, JEEZ could you STOP having a life and COME PLAY DOLLS i mean damn leveling up in your life is fine and like whatever but I mean DOLLS. Dolls dolls dolls. I'm so glad we can play games or dolls, and that your partner is such a kind and sweet vampire.
@magicallyabsurdly, I appreciate your low-key humor and kindness. It's very relaxing to spend time with you because you're so chill. Here's hoping school is a little less brutal next year!
Sjaan, I MISS YOUUUUUU! I'm looking forward to tiny people party times. You're such a genuinely kind person, and your artistic skills are amazing!
Arthur, my world traveling friend, servant of the Daraes, run away from your cold barren home and return to Boston! I miss you too!
@sicktress, it's always fun to see what you're working on, you have so many creative ideas! Naoto being my favorite of those, of course ;) And I like bumping elbows with the Tumblr glitterati ;) ;) ;)
@bellaanaris, I'm so glad you come to the meets, you're such a kind and funny person! :D Morrigan and Eleanor are such cuties!
@traumer-of-dreams, your devotion to Luci is inspiring, Marcus is such a sweetheart, and I can't wait to see what you do with Mr. Aragorn when he gets home! :D
@blithefool, I love seeing your dolls, and I'm so glad you can come to the meets so I can see them in person! You have an amazingly hip collection of dolls and t-shirts, and such a nice sense of humor, too. :D
Lady Kanna and @azurepalerthanthesky, I hope we get to hang out more in 2016! I really enjoy spending time just talking to you guys, and marveling at your dolls' cuteness! :D Your pictures always end up so pretty, with perfect fashion and a perfect backdrop. Lady Kanna, I've known you since the earliest days I was in the hobby, ever since you were kind to my first Littlefee, and it's been so nice to see how our collections have developed over time. Also many thanks for the kind Christmas gifts! I still need to take pictures but both of the necklaces are absolutely perfect!
Essie, thank you again for inviting us to your lovely home! You're so kind and welcoming, and I'm absolutely in awe of your sewing skills, and your generosity in letting me play with your dolls! Here's hoping we get to spend more time together in 2016!
@hushikins, thank you for being a good dolly friend! :D Your crew is lovely and it was so good to see you at Dolpa. Here's hoping 2016 brings health and happiness for you and your family!
@micaeverywhere, I can never stop thanking you for giving my dearest dolly Sofie her perfect face! Your faceups are true art and I love seeing your fabulous cosplays, too!
@darjeeling-shop, your faceups are gorgeous and you're such a sweet person! I'm looking forward to seeing your work, it's always innovative and beautiful!
@mogrifae, your dolls always have such a consistent nature-y mori-y aesthetic that I clearly can't put into words very well, but I love just the same! ;)
@gu-wak-jai, it was so nice to 'meet' you on IG this year. Lately I've felt like it's really hard to talk to new people in the doll hobby because it's so hard to know who's actually nice, but your comments on my dolls were always so kind, and I'm looking forward to knowing you and your cute crew even better in 2016!
And finally, if you've bought a legit doll this year, to support the artists, or even just saved up to do that when you can, you go! Congratulations on your hard work and I hope you enjoy your dolls!
If you've given up recasts and gone legit this year, and posted about it publicly, you go! Please keep speaking out so that others can see the benefits of making an ethical choice in dolly buying.
And last but not least, @anblargray, I love you.