View on black:...

The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.

Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum

Last updated January 2014

Architecture in Vienna

Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.

Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.

Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom

The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.

The baroque residence

Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.

Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)

Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.

Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.

Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900

Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made ​​the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.

With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).

Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing

After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.

Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.

Expulsion, war and reconstruction

After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made ​​of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.

The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).

The youngsters come

Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) ​​by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.

MuseumQuarter and Gasometer

Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.

The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.

New Neighborhood

In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of ​​the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.

In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).

Flying high

International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.

Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.

Info: The folder "Architecture: From Art Nouveau to the Presence" is available at the Vienna Tourist Board and can be downloaded on www.wien.info/media/files/guide-architecture-in-wien.pdf.

The Al Adamson-helmed exploitation oater "Jessi's Girls" gets another roll-out in this still-rare second edition, with more English text along with the cunningly linguistic retitle of "Two Pistol (Double Pistol) Jessica."

synopsis

This biker gang exploitation picture from director Roger Corman and co-writer and editor Peter Bogdanovich earned critical respect in Europe for its gritty documentary style. Peter Fonda stars as Heavenly Blues, the leader of a wild, roving band of leather-clad bikers. When his best friend Loser (Bruce Dern) is injured in the midst of an attempt to steal a police motorcycle, the boys kidnap their debilitated buddy from the hospital, raping a black nurse and trashing the place in the process. Blues and his friends believe they've set Loser free, but he dies not long after the escape. Staging a funeral and drunken orgy in a small town church, the gang flees is set upon by the enraged locals, leaving Blues alone to face the law. Nancy Sinatra and a then-pregnant Diane Ladd co-star; a number of real-life Hell's Angels were hired to appear in scenes, adding authenticity to the picture.

Roger Corman didn't invent the biker movie (The Wild One blazed the trail in 1954), but, with The Wild Angels, he gave it a new lease on life. Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra stand out like sore thumbs among the real-life Hell's Angels hired to give the film its grubby atmosphere, but Fonda's studied cool nicely contrasts with the aggressive surliness of the rest of the male cast -- and enough rock bands have sampled Fonda's "We wanna be free to ride our bikes and not get hassled by the man!" speech to turn it into a classic moment in sleaze-movie history. The film's beer-swilling, pot-smoking, and unfocused brawling may have become screen clichés in record time, but they were newer and more shocking in 1966, and the film's rough, unpolished visual style gives it a ring of truth missing from most of the films that followed in its wake. Add Davie Allen and the Arrows's classic theme song, which sent a generation of garage rockers scurrying for fuzz boxes, and you get perhaps the definitive 1960s biker flick. The film also offers the curiosity factor of knowing that Diane Ladd was pregnant with Laura Dern during filming.

 

Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, although a few species are known that live in treeless areas, such as rocky hillsides and deserts, and the Gila woodpecker specialises in exploiting cacti.

 

Members of this family are chiefly known for their characteristic behaviour. They mostly forage for insect prey on the trunks and branches of trees, and often communicate by drumming with their beaks, producing a reverberatory sound that can be heard at some distance. Some species vary their diet with fruits, birds' eggs, small animals, tree sap, human scraps, and carrion. They usually nest and roost in holes that they excavate in tree trunks, and their abandoned holes are of importance to other cavity-nesting birds. They sometimes come into conflict with humans when they make holes in buildings or feed on fruit crops, but perform a useful service by their removal of insect pests on trees.

 

The Picidae are one of nine living families in the order Piciformes, the others being barbets (comprising three families), toucans, toucan-barbets, and honeyguides, which (along with woodpeckers) comprise the clade Pici, and the jacamars and puffbirds in the clade Galbuli. DNA sequencing has confirmed the sister relationships of these two groups. The family Picidae includes about 240 species arranged in 35 genera. Almost 20 species are threatened with extinction due to loss of habitat or habitat fragmentation, with one, the Bermuda flicker, being extinct and a further two possibly being so.

 

General characteristics

Woodpeckers include the tiny piculets, the smallest of which appears to be the bar-breasted piculet at 7.5 cm (3.0 in) in length and a weight of 8.9 g (0.31 oz). Some of the largest woodpeckers can be more than 50 cm (20 in) in length. The largest surviving species is the great slaty woodpecker, which weighs 430 g (15 oz) on average and up to 563 g (19.9 oz), and measures 45 to 55 cm (18 to 22 in), but the extinct imperial woodpecker, at 55 to 61 cm (22 to 24 in), and ivory-billed woodpecker, around 48 to 53 cm (19 to 21 in) and 516 g (18.2 oz), were probably both larger.

 

The plumage of woodpeckers varies from drab to conspicuous. The colours of many species are based on olive and brown and some are pied, suggesting a need for camouflage; others are boldly patterned in black, white, and red, and many have a crest or tufted feathers on their crowns. Woodpeckers tend to be sexually dimorphic, but differences between the sexes are generally small; exceptions to this are Williamson's sapsucker and the orange-backed woodpecker, which differ markedly. The plumage is moulted fully once a year apart from the wrynecks, which have an additional partial moult before breeding.

 

Woodpeckers, piculets, and wrynecks all possess characteristic zygodactyl feet, consisting of four toes, the first (hallux) and the fourth facing backward and the second and third facing forward. This foot arrangement is good for grasping the limbs and trunks of trees. Members of this family can walk vertically up tree trunks, which is beneficial for activities such as foraging for food or nest excavation. In addition to their strong claws and feet, woodpeckers have short, strong legs. This is typical of birds that regularly forage on trunks. Exceptions are the black-backed woodpecker and the American and Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers, which have only three toes on each foot. The tails of all woodpeckers, except the piculets and wrynecks, are stiffened, and when the bird perches on a vertical surface, the tail and feet work together to support it.

 

Woodpeckers have strong bills that they use for drilling and drumming on trees, and long, sticky tongues for extracting food (insects and larvae). Woodpecker bills are typically longer, sharper, and stronger than the bills of piculets and wrynecks, but their morphology is very similar. The bill's chisel-like tip is kept sharp by the pecking action in birds that regularly use it on wood. The beak consists of three layers; an outer sheath called rhamphotheca, made of scales formed from keratin proteins, an inner layer of bone which has a large cavity and mineralised collagen fibers, and a middle layer made of porous bone which connects the two other layers.

 

Furthermore, the tongue bone (or hyoid bone) of the woodpecker is very long, and winds around the skull through a special cavity, thereby cushioning the brain. Combined, this anatomy helps the beak absorb mechanical stress. Species of woodpecker and flicker that use their bills in soil or for probing as opposed to regular hammering tend to have longer and more decurved bills. Due to their smaller bill size, many piculets and wrynecks forage in decaying wood more often than woodpeckers. Their long, sticky tongues, which possess bristles, aid these birds in grabbing and extracting insects from deep within a hole in a tree. The tongue was reported to be used to spear grubs, but more detailed studies published in 2004 have shown that the tongue instead wraps around the prey before being pulled out.

  

Diagram showing the hyoid bone of Dendrocopos major

Many of the foraging, breeding, and signaling behaviors of woodpeckers involve drumming and hammering using their bills. To prevent brain damage from the rapid and repeated powerful impacts, woodpeckers have a number of physical features that protect their brains. These include a relatively small and smooth brain, narrow subdural space, little cerebrospinal fluid surrounding it to prevent it from moving back and forth inside the skull during pecking, the orientation of the brain within the skull (which maximises the contact area between the brain and the skull) and the short duration of contact. The skull consists of strong but compressible, sponge-like bone, which is most concentrated in the forehead and the back of the skull. Another anatomical adaptation of woodpeckers is the enormously elongated hyoid bone which subdivides, passes on either side of the spinal column and wraps around the brain case, before ending in the right nostril cavity. It plays the role of safety-belt.

 

Computer simulations have shown that 99.7% of the energy generated in pecking is stored in the form of strain energy, which is distributed throughout the bird's body, with only a small remaining fraction of the energy going into the brain. The pecking also causes the woodpecker's skull to heat up, which is part of the reason why they often peck in short bursts with brief breaks in between, giving the head some time to cool. During the millisecond before contact with wood, a thickened nictitating membrane closes, protecting the eye from flying debris.[ These membranes also prevent the retina from tearing. Their nostrils are also protected; they are often slit-like and have special feathers to cover them. Woodpeckers are capable of repeated pecking on a tree at high decelerations on the order of 10,000 m/s2 (33,000 ft/s2) (1000 g).[

 

Some large woodpeckers such as Dryocopus have a fast, direct form of flight, but the majority of species have a typical undulating flight pattern consisting of a series of rapid flaps followed by a swooping glide. Many birds in the genus Melanerpes have distinctive, rowing wing-strokes while the piculets engage in short bursts of rapid direct flight.

 

Distribution, habitat, and movements

Woodpeckers have a mostly cosmopolitan distribution, although they are absent from Australasia, Madagascar, and Antarctica. They are also absent from some of the world's oceanic islands, although many insular species are found on continental islands. The true woodpeckers, subfamily Picinae, are distributed across the entire range of the family. The Picumninae piculets have a pantropical distribution, with species in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Neotropics, with the greatest diversity being in South America. The second piculet subfamily, the Sasiinae, contains the African piculet and two species in the genus Sasia that are found in Southeast Asia. The wrynecks (Jynginae) are found exclusively in the Old World, with the two species occurring in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

 

Most woodpeckers are sedentary, but a few examples of migratory species are known, such as the rufous-bellied woodpecker, yellow-bellied sapsucker, and Eurasian wryneck, which breeds in Europe and west Asia and migrates to the Sahel in Africa in the winter. More northerly populations of Lewis's woodpecker, northern flicker, Williamson's sapsucker, red-breasted sapsucker, and red-naped sapsucker all move southwards in the fall in North America. Most woodpecker movements can be described as dispersive, such as when young birds seek territories after fledging, or eruptive, to escape harsh weather conditions. Several species are altitudinal migrants, for example the grey-capped pygmy woodpecker, which moves to lowlands from hills during winter. The woodpeckers that do migrate, do so during the day.

 

Habitat requirements

Overall, woodpeckers are arboreal birds of wooded habitats. They reach their greatest diversity in tropical rainforests, but occur in almost all suitable habitats, including woodlands, savannahs, scrublands, and bamboo forests. Even grasslands and deserts have been colonised by various species. These habitats are more easily occupied where a small number of trees exist, or in the case of desert species like the Gila woodpecker, tall cacti are available for nesting. Some are specialists and are associated with coniferous or deciduous woodlands, or even, like the acorn woodpecker, with individual tree genera (oaks in this case). Other species are generalists and are able to adapt to forest clearance by exploiting secondary growth, plantations, orchards, and parks. In general, forest-dwelling species need rotting or dead wood on which to forage.

 

Several species are adapted to spending a portion of their time feeding on the ground, and a very small minority have abandoned trees entirely and nest in holes in the ground. The ground woodpecker is one such species, inhabiting the rocky and grassy hills of South Africa, and the Andean flicker is another.

 

The Swiss Ornithological Institute has set up a monitoring program to record breeding populations of woodland birds. This has shown that deadwood is an important habitat requirement for the black woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, middle spotted woodpecker, lesser spotted woodpecker, European green woodpecker, and Eurasian three-toed woodpecker. Populations of all these species increased by varying amounts from 1990 to 2008. During this period, the amount of deadwood in the forest increased and the range of the white-backed woodpecker enlarged as it extended eastwards. With the exception of the green and middle-spotted woodpeckers, the increase in the amount of deadwood is likely to be the major factor explaining the population increase of these species.

 

Behavior

Most woodpeckers live solitary lives, but their behavior ranges from highly antisocial species that are aggressive towards their own kind, to species that live in groups. Solitary species defend such feeding resources as a termite colony or fruit-laden tree, driving away other conspecifics and returning frequently until the resource is exhausted. Aggressive behaviors include bill pointing and jabbing, head shaking, wing flicking, chasing, drumming, and vocalizations. Ritual actions do not usually result in contact, and birds may "freeze" for a while before they resume their dispute. The colored patches may be flouted, and in some instances, these antagonistic behaviors resemble courtship rituals.

 

Group-living species tend to be communal group breeders.[25] In addition to these species, a number of species may join mixed-species foraging flocks with other insectivorous birds, although they tend to stay at the edges of these groups. Joining these flocks allows woodpeckers to decrease their anti-predator vigilance and increase their feeding rate. Woodpeckers are diurnal, roosting at night inside holes and crevices. In many species the roost will become the nest-site during the breeding season, but in some species they have separate functions; the grey-and-buff woodpecker makes several shallow holes for roosting which are quite distinct from its nesting site. Most birds roost alone and will oust intruders from their chosen site, but the Magellanic woodpecker and acorn woodpecker are cooperative roosters.

 

Drumming is a form of nonvocal communication used by most species of woodpeckers, and involves the bill being repeatedly struck on a hard surface with great rapidity. After a pause, the drum roll is repeated, with each species having a pattern that is unique in the number of beats in the roll, the length of the roll, the length of the gap between rolls, and the cadence. The drumming is mainly a territorial call, equivalent to the song of a passerine. Woodpeckers choose a surface that resonates, such as a hollow tree, and may use man-made structures such as gutters and downpipes. Drumming serves for the mutual recognition of conspecifics and plays a part in courtship rituals. Individual birds are thought to be able to distinguish the drumming of their mates and those of their neighbors. Drumming can be reliably used to distinguish between multiple species in a region, even if those species are phenotypically similar. Cadence (or the mean number of drum beats per second) is heavily conserved within species. Comparative analyses within species between distant geographic populations have shown that cadence is heavily conserved across species' respective ranges, indicating that there likely are not 'dialects' as seen in passerine song. Drumming in woodpeckers is controlled by a set of nuclei in the forebrain that closely resemble the brain regions that underlie song learning and production in many songbirds. A 2023 study revealed a strong association between extractive foraging and relative brain size across the Family Picidae, indicating that a larger brain does not necessarily result in more powerful drumming abilities, but is implicated in foraging behaviors, as the act of sensing and retrieving wood-boring larvae from woody substrates likely requires an increase in sensory and motor control capabilities.

 

Calls

Woodpeckers do not have such a wide range of songs and calls as do passerine birds, and the sounds they make tend to be simpler in structure. Calls produced include brief, high-pitched notes, trills, rattles, twittering, whistling, chattering, nasal churrs, screams, and wails. These calls are used by both sexes in communication and are related to the circumstances of the occasion; these include courtship, territorial disputes, and alarm calls. Each species has its own range of calls, which tend to be in the 1.0 to 2.5 kHz range for efficient transmission through forested environments. Mated couples may exchange muted, low-pitched calls, and nestlings often issue noisy begging calls from inside their nest cavity. The wrynecks have a more musical song, and in some areas, the song of the newly arrived Eurasian wryneck is considered to be the harbinger of spring. The piculets either have a song consisting of a long, descending trill, or a descending series of two to six (sometimes more) individual notes, and this song alerts ornithologists to the presence of the birds, as they are easily overlooked.

 

Diet and feeding

Most woodpecker species feed on insects and other invertebrates living under bark and in wood, but overall, the family is characterized by its dietary flexibility, with many species being both highly omnivorous and opportunistic. The diet includes ants, termites, beetles and their larvae, caterpillars, spiders, other arthropods, bird eggs, nestlings, small rodents, lizards, fruit, nuts, and sap. Many insects and their grubs are taken from living and dead trees by excavation. The bird may hear sounds from inside the timber indicating where creating a hole would be productive. Crustaceans, molluscs, and carrion may be eaten by some species, including the great spotted woodpecker, and bird feeders are visited for suet and domestic scraps.

 

Other means are also used to garner prey. Some species, such as the red-naped sapsucker, sally into the air to catch flying insects, and many species probe into crevices and under bark, or glean prey from leaves and twigs. The rufous woodpecker specialises in attacking the nests of arboreal ants, and the buff-spotted woodpecker feeds on and nests in termite mounds. Other species, such as the wrynecks and the Andean flicker, feed wholly or partly on the ground.

 

Ecologically, woodpeckers help to keep trees healthy by keeping them from suffering mass infestations. The family is noted for its ability to acquire wood-boring grubs from the trunks and branches, whether the timber is alive or dead. Having hammered a hole into the wood, the prey is extracted by use of a long, barbed tongue. Woodpeckers consume beetles that burrow into trees, removing as many as 85% of emerald ash borer larvae from individual ash trees.

 

The ability to excavate allows woodpeckers to obtain tree sap, an important source of food for some species. Most famously, the sapsuckers (genus Sphyrapicus) feed in this fashion, but the technique is not restricted to these, and others such as the acorn woodpecker and white-headed woodpecker also feed on sap. The technique was once thought to be restricted to the New World, but Old World species, such as the Arabian woodpecker and great spotted woodpecker, also feed in this way.

 

Breeding

All members of the family Picidae nest in cavities, nearly always in the trunks and branches of trees, well away from the foliage. Where possible, an area of rotten wood surrounded by sound timber is used. Where trees are in short supply, the gilded flicker and ladder-backed woodpecker excavate holes in cactus, and the Andean flicker and ground woodpecker dig holes in earth banks. The campo flicker sometimes chooses termite mounds, the rufous woodpecker prefers to use ants' nests in trees and the bamboo woodpecker specialises in bamboos. Woodpeckers also excavate nest holes in residential and commercial structures and wooden utility poles.

 

Woodpeckers and piculets excavate their own nests, but wrynecks do not, and need to find pre-existing cavities. A typical nest has a round entrance hole that just fits the bird, leading to an enlarged vertical chamber below. No nesting material is used, apart from some wood chips produced during the excavation; other wood chips are liberally scattered on the ground, thus providing visual evidence of the site of the nest. Many species of woodpeckers excavate one hole per breeding season, sometimes after multiple attempts. It takes around a month to finish the job and abandoned holes are used by other birds and mammals that are cavity nesters unable to excavate their own holes.

 

Cavities are in great demand for nesting by other cavity nesters, so woodpeckers face competition for the nesting sites they excavate from the moment the hole becomes usable. This may come from other species of woodpecker, or other cavity-nesting birds such as swallows and starlings. Woodpeckers may aggressively harass potential competitors, and also use other strategies to reduce the chance of being usurped from their nesting sites; for example, the red-crowned woodpecker digs its nest in the underside of a small branch, which reduces the chance that a larger species will take it over and expand it.

 

Members of Picidae are typically monogamous, with a few species breeding cooperatively and some polygamy reported in a few others. Polyandry, where a female raises two broods with two separate males, has also been reported in the West Indian woodpecker. Another unusual social system is that of the acorn woodpecker, which is a polygynandrous cooperative breeder where groups of up to 12 individuals breed and help to raise the young.[4] Young birds from previous years may stay behind to help raise the group's young, and studies have found reproductive success for the group goes up with group size, but individual success goes down. Birds may be forced to remain in groups due to a lack of habitat to which to disperse.

  

Great spotted woodpecker feeding its chick

A pair works together to help build the nest, incubate the eggs, and raise their altricial young. In most species, though, the male does most of the nest excavation and takes the night shift while incubating the eggs. A clutch usually consists of two to five round, white eggs. Since these birds are cavity nesters, their eggs do not need to be camouflaged and the white color helps the parents to see them in dim light. The eggs are incubated for about 11–14 days before they hatch. About 18–30 days are then needed before the chicks are fully fledged and ready to leave the nest. In most species, soon after this, the young are left to fend for themselves, exceptions being the various social species, and the Hispaniolan woodpecker, where adults continue to feed their young for several months. In general, cavity nesting is a successful strategy and a higher proportion of young is reared than is the case with birds that nest in the open. In Africa, several species of honeyguide are brood parasites of woodpeckers.

 

Systematics and evolutionary history

The Picidae are just one of nine living families in the order Piciformes. Other members of this group, such as the jacamars, puffbirds, barbets, toucans, and honeyguides, have traditionally been thought to be closely related to the woodpecker family (true woodpeckers, piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers). The clade Pici (woodpeckers, barbets, toucans, and honeyguides) is well supported and shares a zygodactyl foot with the Galbuli (puffbirds and jacamars). More recently, several DNA sequence analyses have confirmed that Pici and Galbuli are sister groups.

 

The name Picidae for the family was introduced by English zoologist William Elford Leach in a guide to the contents of the British Museum published in 1819. The phylogeny has been updated according to new knowledge about convergence patterns and evolutionary history. Most notably, the relationship of the Picinae genera has been largely clarified, and the Antillean piculet was found to be a surviving offshoot of protowoodpeckers. Genetic analysis supports the monophyly of the Picidae, which seem to have originated in the Old World, but the geographic origins of the Picinae is unclear. The Picumninae are returned as paraphyletic. Morphological and behavioural characters, in addition to DNA evidence, highlights genus Hemicircus as the sister group of all remaining true woodpeckers, besides a sister-group relationship between the true woodpecker tribes Dendropicini and Malarpicini.

 

The evolutionary history of this group is not well documented, but the known fossils allow some preliminary conclusions; the earliest known modern picids were piculet-like forms of the Late Oligocene, about 25 million years ago (Mya). By that time, however, the group was already present in the Americas and Europe, and they actually may have evolved much earlier, maybe as early as the Early Eocene (50 Mya). The modern subfamilies appear to be rather young by comparison; until the mid-Miocene (10–15 Mya), all picids seem to have been small or mid-sized birds similar to a mixture between a piculet and a wryneck. A feather enclosed in fossil amber from the Dominican Republic, dated to about 25 Mya, however, seems to indicate that the Nesoctitinae were already a distinct lineage by then.

 

Stepwise adaptations for drilling, tapping, and climbing head first on vertical surfaces have been suggested. The last common ancestor of woodpeckers (Picidae) was incapable of climbing up tree trunks or excavating nest cavities by drilling with its beak. The first adaptations for drilling (including reinforced rhamphotheca, frontal overhang, and processus dorsalis pterygoidei) evolved in the ancestral lineage of piculets and true woodpeckers. Additional adaptations for drilling and tapping (enlarged condylus lateralis of the quadrate and fused lower mandible) have evolved in the ancestral lineage of true woodpeckers (Hemicircus excepting). The inner rectrix pairs became stiffened, and the pygostyle lamina was enlarged in the ancestral lineage of true woodpeckers (Hemicircus included), which facilitated climbing head first up tree limbs. Genus Hemicircus excepting, the tail feathers were further transformed for specialized support, the pygostyle disc became greatly enlarged, and the ectropodactyl toe arrangement evolved. These latter characters may have facilitated enormous increases in body size in some lineages.

 

Prehistoric representatives of the extant Picidae genera are treated in the genus articles. An enigmatic form based on a coracoid, found in Pliocene deposits of New Providence in the Bahamas, has been described as Bathoceleus hyphalus and probably also is a woodpecker.

 

The following cladogram is based on the comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study of the woodpeckers published in 2017 together with the list of bird species maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). The Cuban green woodpecker in the monotypic genus Xiphidiopicus was not included in the study. The relative positions of Picumninae, Sasiinae and Picinae in the cladogram are uncertain. In the 2017 study the results depended upon which of two different statistical procedures were used to analyse the DNA sequence data. One method found that Sasiinae was sister to Picinae (as shown below), the other method found that Sasiinae was sister to a clade containing both Picumninae and Picinae

 

The woodpecker family Picidae contains 37 genera.[56] For more detail, see list of woodpecker species.

  

Cuban green woodpecker

(Xiphidiopicus percussus)

female, Cuba

 

Campo flicker

Colaptes campestris

female, Brazil

Family: Picidae

 

Subfamily: Jynginae – wrynecks

Jynx (2 species)

Subfamily: Picumninae – piculets[57]

Picumnus – piculets (26 species)

Subfamily: Sasiinae

Verreauxia – African piculet

Sasia – Asian piculets (2 species)

Subfamily: Picinae – true woodpeckers

Tribe Nesoctitini

Nesoctites – monotypic: Antillean piculet

Tribe Hemicircini

Hemicircus – 2 species

Tribe Picini

Micropternus – monotypic: rufous woodpecker

Meiglyptes – 4 species

Gecinulus – 3 species

Dinopium – 5 species (flamebacks)

Picus – 14 species

Chrysophlegma – 3 species

Pardipicus – 2 species

Geocolaptes – monotypic: ground woodpecker

Campethera – 11 species

Mulleripicus – 4 species

Dryocopus – 6 species

Celeus – 13 species

Piculus – 7 species

Colaptes – 14 species

Tribe Campephilini

Campephilus – 12 species

Blythipicus – 2 species

Reinwardtipicus – monotypic: orange-backed woodpecker

Chrysocolaptes – 9 species (flamebacks)

Tribe Melanerpini

Sphyrapicus – 4 species (sapsuckers)

Melanerpes – 24 species

Picoides – 3 species

Yungipicus – 7 species

Leiopicus – monotypic: yellow-crowned woodpecker

Dendrocoptes – 3 species

Chloropicus – 3 species

Dendropicos – 12 species

Dendrocopos – 12 species

Dryobates – 5 species

Leuconotopicus – 6 species

Veniliornis – 14 species

Xiphidiopicus – monotypic: Cuban green woodpecker

Incertae sedis fossils

Genus: †Palaeopicus (Late Oligocene of France)

†Picidae gen. et sp. indet. (Middle Miocene of New Mexico, US)

†Picidae gen. et sp. indet. (Late Miocene of Gargano Peninsula, Italy)

Genus: †Palaeonerpes (Ogallala Early Pliocene of Hitchcock County, US) – possibly dendropicine

Genus: †Pliopicus (Early Pliocene of Kansas, US) – possibly dendropicine

cf. Colaptes DMNH 1262 (Early Pliocene of Ainsworth, US) – malarpicine?

Relationship with humans

In general, humans consider woodpeckers in a favourable light; they are viewed as interesting birds and fascinating to watch as they drum or forage, but their activities are not universally appreciated. Many woodpecker species are known to excavate holes in buildings, fencing, and utility poles, creating health and/or safety issues for affected structures. Such activity is very difficult to discourage and can be costly to repair.

 

Woodpeckers also drum on various reverberatory structures on buildings such as gutters, downspouts, chimneys, vents, and aluminium sheeting. Drumming is a less-forceful type of pecking that serves to establish territory and attract mates. Houses with shingles or wooden boarding are also attractive as possible nesting or roosting sites, especially when close to large trees or woodland. Several exploratory holes may be made, especially at the junctions of vertical boards or at the corners of tongue-and-groove boarding. The birds may also drill holes in houses as they forage for insect larvae and pupae hidden behind the woodwork.

 

Woodpeckers sometimes cause problems when they raid fruit crops, but their foraging activities are mostly beneficial as they control forest insect pests such as the woodboring beetles that create galleries behind the bark and can kill trees. They also eat ants, which may be tending sap-sucking pests such as mealybugs, as is the case with the rufous woodpecker in coffee plantations in India. Woodpeckers can serve as indicator species, demonstrating the quality of the habitat. Their hole-making abilities make their presence in an area an important part of the ecosystem, because these cavities are used for breeding and roosting by many bird species that are unable to excavate their own holes, as well as being used by various mammals and invertebrates.

 

The spongy bones of the woodpecker's skull and the flexibility of its beak, both of which provide protection for the brain when drumming, have provided inspiration to engineers; a black box needs to survive intact when a plane falls from the sky, and modelling the black box with regard to a woodpecker's anatomy has increased the resistance of this device to damage 60-fold.[61] The design of protective helmets is another field being influenced by the study of woodpeckers.

 

One of the accounts of the founding of Rome, preserved in the work known as Origo Gentis Romanae (unknown), refers to a legend of a woodpecker bringing food to the boys Romulus and Remus during the time they were abandoned in the wild, thus enabling them to survive and play their part in history.

 

Popular culture

Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced between 1940 and 1972.

 

The Pokémon Pikipek was introduced in the seventh generation games Pokémon Sun and Moon. In addition to being a visual homage to a pileated woodpecker, entries in the game's Pokédex encyclopedia describes the small Flying-type as analogous to its real-world counterpart. Its later forms (called "evolutions" in the series) Trumbeak and Toucannon resemble a honeyguide and toucan, respectively, perhaps as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the phylogenetic relationship woodpeckers share with these Piciformes families.

 

Status and conservation

In a global survey of the risk of extinction faced by the various bird families, woodpeckers were the only bird family to have significantly fewer species at risk than would be expected.

 

Nevertheless, several woodpeckers are under threat as their habitats are destroyed. Being woodland birds, deforestation and clearance of land for agriculture and other purposes can reduce populations dramatically. Some species adapt to living in plantations and secondary growth, or to open countryside with forest remnants and scattered trees, but some do not. A few species have even flourished when they have adapted to man-made habitats. There are few conservation projects directed primarily at woodpeckers, but they benefit whenever their habitat is conserved. The red-cockaded woodpecker has been the focus of much conservation effort in the southeastern United States, with artificial cavities being constructed in the longleaf pines they favour as nesting sites.

 

Two species of woodpeckers in the Americas, the ivory-billed woodpecker is critically endangered and the imperial woodpecker is classified as extinct in the wild, with some authorities believing them extinct, though possible but disputed ongoing sightings of ivory-billed woodpeckers have been made in the United States and a small population may survive in Cuba. A critically endangered species is the Okinawa woodpecker from Japan, with a single declining population of a few hundred birds. It is threatened by deforestation, golf course, dam, and helipad construction, road building, and agricultural development.

 

Anatomy

Woodpeckers possess many sophisticated shock-absorption mechanisms that help protect them from head injury. Micro-CT scans show that plate-like spongy bones are in the skull with an uneven distribution, highly accumulated in the forehead and occiput but not in other regions. Along with the long hyoid bone “safety belt” the woodpecker has uneven beak lengths which drastically reduce strains when compared to equal length. Models have shown that pecking force is changed to strain energy and stored into the body at around 99% absorption while 1% is in the head. The head also has many factors that reduce strain to the brain and small portions of energy are dissipated into the form of heat, therefore the pecks are always intermittent.

 

Tau protein accumulation is associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and thus has been studied in sports where athletes suffer repeated concussions. Tau is important as it helps hold together and stabilize brain neurons. Woodpeckers' brains share similarities to humans with CTE showing most build-up in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. It is not yet known whether these accumulations are pathological or the result of behavioral changes. More research is being done on the subject and the woodpecker is a suitable animal model to study. The orientation of the brain within the skull increases the area of contact when pecking to reduce stress on the brain, and their small size helps, given the acceleration speeds.

 

Mechanical properties

Straight-line trajectory was theorized to be the reason why woodpeckers do not injure themselves, since centripetal forces were the cause of concussion, but they do not always peck in straight lines, so they produce and resist centripetal forces. Laboratory tests show that the woodpeckers' cranial bone produces a significantly higher Young's modulus and ultimate strength scores compared to other birds its size. The cranial bone has a high bone mineral density with plate-like structures that are thick with high numbers of trabeculae that are spaced closely together which all may lead to lower deformation while pecking.

 

The jaw apparatus was studied, looking into its cushioning effects. When comparing the same impact to the beak and to the forehead, the forehead experiences an impact force 1.72 times that of the beak, due to the contact time being 3.25 ms in the forehead and 4.9 ms in the beak. This is impulse momentum where impulse is the integral of force over time. The quadrate bone and joints play an important role in extending impact time, which decreases impact load to brain tissue.

 

Bio-inspired honeycomb sandwich beams are inspired by the woodpecker's skull design; this beam's goal is to withstand continuous impacts without the need of replacement. The BHSB is composed of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP), this is to mimic the high-strength beak. Next is a rubber layer core for the hyoid bone for absorbing and spreading impact, a second core layer of aluminum honeycomb that is porous and light like the woodpecker's spongey bone for impact cushioning. The final layer is the same as the first a CFRP to act as the skull bone. Bio-inspired honeycomb sandwich beams when compared to conventional beams reduced area damage by 50–80% and carried 40 to 5% of the level of stresses in the bottom layer while having an impact-resistance efficiency 1.65 to 16.22 times higher.

Véhicule : Irisbus Iveco Récréo II (EEV) ;

Longueur : 10,66 mètres ;

Numéro de parc : 1301 ;

Immatriculation : CZ-713-BJ (83) ;

Mise en circulation : 30 septembre 2013 ;

Activité : Transports scolaires ;

Exploitant : Transdev Haute-Savoie.

Ex-Varlib ; arrivé chez Transdev Haute-Savoie en juin 2019.

 

En + :

Girouettes : Hanover Displays ;

 

Stationné à Drumettaz-Clarafond, le 30 octobre 2022.

Glastonbury is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, 23 miles (37 km) south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from Street, which is now larger than Glastonbury.

 

Evidence from timber trackways such as the Sweet Track show that the town has been inhabited since Neolithic times. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue and Sharpham Park approximately 2 miles (3 km) west of Glastonbury, that dates back to the Bronze Age. Centwine was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey, which dominated the town for the next 700 years. One of the most important abbeys in England, it was the site of Edmund Ironside's coronation as King of England in 1016. Many of the oldest surviving buildings in the town, including the Tribunal, George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn and the Somerset Rural Life Museum, which is based at the site of a 14th-century abbey manor barn, often referred to as a tithe barn, are associated with the abbey. The Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century.

 

The town became a centre for commerce, which led to the construction of the market cross, Glastonbury Canal and the Glastonbury and Street railway station, the largest station on the original Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust and nearby is the Ham Wall National Nature Reserve.

 

Glastonbury has been described as having a New Age community, and possibly being where New Age beliefs originated at the turn of the twentieth century. It is notable for myths and legends often related to Glastonbury Tor, concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury and stuck his staff into the ground, when it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn. The presence of a landscape zodiac around the town has been suggested but no evidence has been discovered. The Glastonbury Festival, held in the nearby village of Pilton, takes its name from the town.

 

Glastonbury is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, 23 miles (37 km) south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from Street, which is now larger than Glastonbury.

 

Evidence from timber trackways such as the Sweet Track show that the town has been inhabited since Neolithic times. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue and Sharpham Park approximately 2 miles (3 km) west of Glastonbury, that dates back to the Bronze Age. Centwine was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey, which dominated the town for the next 700 years. One of the most important abbeys in England, it was the site of Edmund Ironside's coronation as King of England in 1016. Many of the oldest surviving buildings in the town, including the Tribunal, George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn and the Somerset Rural Life Museum, which is based at the site of a 14th-century abbey manor barn,[5] often referred to as a tithe barn, are associated with the abbey. The Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century.

 

The town became a centre for commerce, which led to the construction of the market cross, Glastonbury Canal and the Glastonbury and Street railway station, the largest station on the original Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust and nearby is the Ham Wall National Nature Reserve.

 

Glastonbury has been described as having a New Age community, and possibly being where New Age beliefs originated at the turn of the twentieth century. It is notable for myths and legends often related to Glastonbury Tor, concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury and stuck his staff into the ground, when it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn. The presence of a landscape zodiac around the town has been suggested but no evidence has been discovered. The Glastonbury Festival, held in the nearby village of Pilton, takes its name from the town.

 

During the 7th millennium BC the sea level rose and flooded the valleys and low-lying ground surrounding Glastonbury so the Mesolithic people occupied seasonal camps on the higher ground, indicated by scatters of flints. The Neolithic people continued to exploit the reedswamps for their natural resources and started to construct wooden trackways. These included the Sweet Track, west of Glastonbury, which is one of the oldest engineered roads known and was the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe, until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000-year-old trackway in Belmarsh Prison. Tree-ring dating (dendrochronology) of the timbers has enabled very precise dating of the track, showing it was built in 3807 or 3806 BC. It has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world. The track was discovered in the course of peat digging in 1970, and is named after its discoverer, Ray Sweet. It extended across the marsh between what was then an island at Westhay, and a ridge of high ground at Shapwick, a distance close to 2,000 metres (1.2 mi). The track is one of a network of tracks that once crossed the Somerset Levels. Built in the 39th century BC, during the Neolithic period, the track consisted of crossed poles of ash, oak and lime (Tilia) which were driven into the waterlogged soil to support a walkway that mainly consisted of oak planks laid end-to-end. Since the discovery of the Sweet Track, it has been determined that it was built along the route of an even earlier track, the Post Track, dating from 3838 BC, and so 30 years older.

 

Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue, on the Somerset Levels near Godney, some 3 miles (5 km) north west of Glastonbury. It covers an area of 400 feet (120 m) north to south by 300 feet (90 m) east to west, and housed around 100 people in five to seven groups of houses, each for an extended family, with sheds and barns, made of hazel and willow covered with reeds, and surrounded either permanently or at certain times by a wooden palisade. The village was built in about 300 BC and occupied into the early Roman period (around AD 100) when it was abandoned, possibly due to a rise in the water level. It was built on a morass on an artificial foundation of timber filled with brushwood, bracken, rubble and clay.

 

Sharpham Park is a 300-acre (120-hectare) historic park, 2 miles (3 km) west of Glastonbury, which dates back to the Bronze Age.

 

Glæstyngabyrig. When the settlement is first recorded in the 7th and the early 8th century, it was called Glestingaburg. The burg element is Old English and could refer either to a fortified place such as a burh or, more likely, a monastic enclosure; however the Glestinga element is obscure, and may derive from a Celtic personal name or from Old English (either from a name or otherwise). It may derive from a person or kindred group named Glast. The name however is likely related to an Irish individual named Glas mac Caise 'Glas son of Cas'. Glas is an ancient Irish personal name meaning 'green, grey/green'. It is stated in the Life of St Patrick that he resurrected a swineherder by that name and he went to Glastonbury, to an area of the village known as 'Glastonbury of the Irish' and this could well be referring to the area of Beckery (Little Ireland) where it is believed an Irish Colony established itself in the 10th century and was thus nicknamed 'Little Ireland'. This area was known to the Irish as Glastimbir na n-Gaoidhil 'Glastonbury of the Gaels'. (The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey - Courteney Arthur Ralegh Radford). This is the earliest source for the name Glastonbury. The modern Irish form for Glastonbury is Glaistimbir.

 

Hugh Ross Williamson cites a tale about St. Collen, one of the earliest hermits to inhabit the Tor before the Abbey was built by St. Patrick, which has the Saint summoned by the King of the Fairies, Gwyn, to the summit of the Tor. Upon arrival there he beholds a hovering mansion inhabited by handsomely dressed courtiers and King Gwyn on a throne of gold; holy water disperses the apparition. This is from Druid mythology, in which the mansion is made of glass so as to receive the spirits of the dead, which were supposed to depart from the summit of the Tor. This was the chief reason why the chapel, and later the church, of St. Michael were built on the high hill; St. Michael being the chief patron against diabolic attacks which the monks believed the Fairy King to be numbered among. Accordingly, Williamson posits that the Tor was named after the glassy mansion of the dead.

 

William of Malmesbury in his De Antiquitate Glastonie Ecclesie gives the Old Celtic Ineswitrin (or Ynys Witrin) as its earliest name, and asserts that the founder of the town was the eponymous Glast, a descendant of Cunedda.

 

Centwine (676–685) was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey. King Edmund Ironside was buried at the abbey. The Domesday Book indicates that in the hundred of Glastingberiensis, the Abbey was the Lord in 1066 prior to the arrival of William the Conqueror then tenant-in chief with Godwin as Lord of Glastingberi in 1086.

 

To the southwest of the town centre is Beckery, which was once a village in its own right but is now part of the suburbs. Around the 7th and 8th centuries it was occupied by a small monastic community associated with a cemetery. Archaeological excavations in 2016 uncovered 50 to 60 skeletons thought to be those of monks from Beckery Chapel during the 5th or early 6th century.

 

Sharpham Park was granted by King Eadwig to the then abbot Æthelwold in 957. In 1191 Sharpham Park was gifted by the soon-to-be King John I to the Abbots of Glastonbury, who remained in possession of the park and house until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. From 1539 to 1707 the park was owned by the Duke of Somerset, Sir Edward Seymour, brother of Queen Jane; the Thynne family of Longleat, and the family of Sir Henry Gould. Edward Dyer was born here in 1543. The house is now a private residence and Grade II* listed building. It was the birthplace of Sir Edward Dyer (died 1607) an Elizabethan poet and courtier, the writer Henry Fielding (1707–54), and the cleric William Gould.

 

In the 1070s St Margaret's Chapel was built on Magdelene Street, originally as a hospital and later as almshouses for the poor. The building dates from 1444. The roof of the hall is thought to have been removed after the Dissolution, and some of the building was demolished in the 1960s. It is Grade II* listed, and a scheduled monument. Hospital of St Mary Magdalene, Glastonbury in 2010 plans were announced to restore the building.

 

During the Middle Ages the town largely depended on the abbey but was also a centre for the wool trade until the 18th century. A Saxon-era canal connected the abbey to the River Brue. Richard Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury, was executed with two of his monks on 15 November 1539 during the dissolution of the monasteries.

 

During the Second Cornish Uprising of 1497 Perkin Warbeck surrendered when he heard that Giles, Lord Daubeney's troops, loyal to Henry VII, were camped at Glastonbury.

 

In 1693 Glastenbury, Connecticut was founded and named after the English town from which some of the settlers had emigrated. It is rumored to have originally been called "Glistening Town" until the mid-19th century, when the name was changed to match the spelling of Glastonbury, England, but in fact, residents of the Connecticut town believe this to be a myth, based on the Glastonbury Historical Society's records. A representation of the Glastonbury thorn is incorporated onto the town seal.

 

The Somerset town's charter of incorporation was received in 1705. Growth in the trade and economy largely depended on the drainage of the surrounding moors. The opening of the Glastonbury Canal produced an upturn in trade, and encouraged local building. The parish was part of the hundred of Glaston Twelve Hides, until the 1730s when it became a borough in its own right.

 

By the middle of the 19th century the Glastonbury Canal drainage problems and competition from the new railways caused a decline in trade, and the town's economy became depressed. The canal was closed on 1 July 1854, and the lock and aqueducts on the upper section were dismantled. The railway opened on 17 August 1854. The lower sections of the canal were given to the Commissioners for Sewers, for use as a drainage ditch. The final section was retained to provide a wharf for the railway company, which was used until 1936, when it passed to the Commissioners of Sewers and was filled in. The Central Somerset Railway merged with the Dorset Central Railway to become the Somerset and Dorset Railway. The main line to Glastonbury closed in 1966.

 

In the Northover district industrial production of sheepskins, woollen slippers and, later, boots and shoes, developed in conjunction with the growth of C&J Clark in Street. Clarks still has its headquarters in Street, but shoes are no longer manufactured there. Instead, in 1993, redundant factory buildings were converted to form Clarks Village, the first purpose-built factory outlet in the United Kingdom.

 

During the 19th and 20th centuries tourism developed based on the rise of antiquarianism, the association with the abbey and mysticism of the town. This was aided by accessibility via the rail and road network, which has continued to support the town's economy and led to a steady rise in resident population since 1801.

 

Glastonbury received national media coverage in 1999 when cannabis plants were found in the town's floral displays.

 

Glastonbury is notable for myths and legends concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur as recorded by ancient historians William of Malmesbury, Venerable Bede, Gerald of Wales and Geoffrey of Monmouth. Many long-standing and cherished legends were examined in a four-year study by archaeologists, led by Professor Roberta Gilchrist, at the University of Reading, who, amongst other findings, speculated that the connection with King Arthur and his Queen, Guinevere, was created deliberately by the monks in 1184 to meet a financial crisis caused by a devastating fire. Other myths examined include the visit by Jesus, the building of the oldest church in England, and the flowering of the walking stick. Roberta Gilchrist stated, "We didn't claim to disprove the legendary associations, nor would we wish to". The site of King Arthur's supposed grave contained material dating from between the 11th and 15th centuries. Gilchrist said, "That doesn't dispel the Arthurian legend, it just means the pit [20th century archaeologist Ralegh Radford] excavated he rather over-claimed." The study made new archaeological finds; its leader found Glastonbury to be a remarkable archaeological site. The new results were reported on the Glastonbury Abbey Web site, and were to be incorporated into the Abbey's guidebook; however, the leader of the study, who became a trustee of Glastonbury, said "We are not in the business of destroying people's beliefs ... A thousand years of beliefs and legends are part of the intangible history of this remarkable place". Gilchrist went on to say, "archaeology can help us to understand how legends evolve and what people in the past believed". She noted that the project has actually uncovered the first definitive proof of occupation at the Glastonbury Abbey site during the fifth century—when Arthur allegedly lived.

 

The legend that Joseph of Arimathea retrieved certain holy relics was introduced by the French poet Robert de Boron in his 13th-century version of the grail story, thought to have been a trilogy though only fragments of the later books survive today. The work became the inspiration for the later Vulgate Cycle of Arthurian tales.

 

De Boron's account relates how Joseph captured Jesus's blood in a cup (the "Holy Grail") which was subsequently brought to Britain. The Vulgate Cycle reworked Boron's original tale. Joseph of Arimathea was no longer the chief character in the Grail origin: Joseph's son, Josephus, took over his role of the Grail keeper. The earliest versions of the grail romance, however, do not call the grail "holy" or mention anything about blood, Joseph or Glastonbury.

 

In 1191, monks at the abbey claimed to have found the graves of Arthur and Guinevere to the south of the Lady Chapel of the Abbey Church, which was visited by a number of contemporary historians including Giraldus Cambrensis. The remains were later moved and were lost during the Reformation. Many scholars suspect that this discovery was a pious forgery to substantiate the antiquity of Glastonbury's foundation, and increase its renown.

 

An early Welsh poem links Arthur to the Tor in an account of a confrontation between Arthur and Melwas, who had kidnapped Queen Guinevere.

 

Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury by boat over the flooded Somerset Levels. On disembarking he stuck his staff into the ground and it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn (also called Holy Thorn). This is said to explain a hybrid Crataegus monogyna (hawthorn) tree that only grows within a few miles of Glastonbury, and which flowers twice annually, once in spring and again around Christmas time (depending on the weather). Each year a sprig of thorn is cut, by the local Anglican vicar and the eldest child from St John's School, and sent to the Queen.

 

The original Holy Thorn was a centre of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages but was chopped down during the English Civil War. A replacement thorn was planted in the 20th century on Wearyall hill (originally in 1951 to mark the Festival of Britain, but the thorn had to be replanted the following year as the first attempt did not take). The Wearyall Hill Holy Thorn was vandalised in 2010 and all its branches were chopped off. It initially showed signs of recovery but now (2014) appears to be dead. A new sapling has been planted nearby. Many other examples of the thorn grow throughout Glastonbury including those in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, St Johns Church and Chalice Well.

 

Today, Glastonbury Abbey presents itself as "traditionally the oldest above-ground Christian church in the world," which according to the legend was built at Joseph's behest to house the Holy Grail, 65 or so years after the death of Jesus. The legend also says that as a child, Jesus had visited Glastonbury along with Joseph. The legend probably was encouraged during the medieval period when religious relics and pilgrimages were profitable business for abbeys. William Blake mentioned the legend in a poem that became a popular hymn, "Jerusalem".

 

In 1934 artist Katherine Maltwood suggested a landscape zodiac, a map of the stars on a gigantic scale, formed by features in the landscape such as roads, streams and field boundaries, could be found situated around Glastonbury. She held that the "temple" was created by Sumerians about 2700 BC. The idea of a prehistoric landscape zodiac fell into disrepute when two independent studies examined the Glastonbury Zodiac, one by Ian Burrow in 1975 and the other by Tom Williamson and Liz Bellamy in 1983. These both used standard methods of landscape historical research. Both studies concluded that the evidence contradicted the idea of an ancient zodiac. The eye of Capricorn identified by Maltwood was a haystack. The western wing of the Aquarius phoenix was a road laid in 1782 to run around Glastonbury, and older maps dating back to the 1620s show the road had no predecessors. The Cancer boat (not a crab as in conventional western astrology) consists of a network of 18th-century drainage ditches and paths. There are some Neolithic paths preserved in the peat of the bog formerly comprising most of the area, but none of the known paths match the lines of the zodiac features. There is no support for this theory, or for the existence of the "temple" in any form, from conventional archaeologists. Glastonbury is also said to be the centre of several ley lines.

 

The town council is made up of 16 members, and is based at Glastonbury Town Hall, Magdalene Street. The town hall was built in 1814 and has a two-storey late Georgian ashlar front. It is a Grade II* listed building.

 

For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, Glastonbury comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of Mendip, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Glastonbury Municipal Borough.

 

The town's retained fire station is operated by Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. Police and ambulance services are provided by Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the South Western Ambulance Service. There are two doctors' surgeries in Glastonbury, and a National Health Service community hospital operated by Somerset Primary Care Trust which opened in 2005.

 

There are 4 electoral wards within Glastonbury having in total the same population as is mentioned above.

 

Glastonbury falls within the Wells constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The Member of Parliament is Conservative, James Heappey, who replaced Tessa Munt of the Liberal Democrats in the 2015 general election.

 

Glastonbury is twinned with the Greek island of Patmos, and Lalibela, Ethiopia.

 

The walk up the Tor to the distinctive tower at the summit (the partially restored remains of an old church) is rewarded by vistas of the mid-Somerset area, including the Levels which are drained marshland. From there, on a dry point, 158 metres (518 ft) above sea level, it is easy to appreciate how Glastonbury was once an island and, in the winter, the surrounding moors are often flooded, giving that appearance once more. It is an agricultural region typically with open fields of permanent grass, surrounded by ditches with willow trees. Access to the moors and Levels is by "droves", i.e., green lanes. The Levels and inland moors can be 6 metres (20 ft) below peak tides and have large areas of peat. The low-lying areas are underlain by much older Triassic age formations of Upper Lias sand that protrude to form what would once have been islands and include Glastonbury Tor. The lowland landscape was formed only during the last 10,000 years, following the end of the last ice age.

 

The low-lying damp ground can produce a visual effect known as a Fata Morgana. This optical phenomenon occurs because rays of light are strongly bent when they pass through air layers of different temperatures in a steep thermal inversion where an atmospheric duct has formed. The Italian name Fata Morgana is derived from the name of Morgan le Fay, who was alternatively known as Morgane, Morgain, Morgana and other variants. Morgan le Fay was described as a powerful sorceress and antagonist of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere in the Arthurian legend.

 

Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from the village of Street. At the time of King Arthur the Brue formed a lake just south of the hilly ground on which Glastonbury stands. This lake is one of the locations suggested by Arthurian legend as the home of the Lady of the Lake. Pomparles Bridge stood at the western end of this lake, guarding Glastonbury from the south, and it is suggested that it was here that Sir Bedivere threw Excalibur into the waters after King Arthur fell at the Battle of Camlann. The old bridge was replaced by a reinforced concrete arch bridge in 1911.

 

Until the 13th century, the direct route to the sea at Highbridge was prevented by gravel banks and peat near Westhay. The course of the river partially encircled Glastonbury from the south, around the western side (through Beckery), and then north through the Panborough-Bleadney gap in the Wedmore-Wookey Hills, to join the River Axe just north of Bleadney. This route made it difficult for the officials of Glastonbury Abbey to transport produce from their outlying estates to the abbey, and when the valley of the River Axe was in flood it backed up to flood Glastonbury itself. Some time between 1230 and 1250 a new channel was constructed westwards into Meare Pool north of Meare, and further westwards to Mark Moor. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project based on the Somerset Levels and Moors and managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The project commenced in January 2009 and aims to restore, recreate and reconnect habitat, ensuring that wildlife is enhanced and capable of sustaining itself in the face of climate change, while guaranteeing farmers and other landowners can continue to use their land profitably. It is one of an increasing number of landscape-scale conservation projects in the UK.

 

The Ham Wall National Nature Reserve, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) west of Glastonbury, is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. This new wetland habitat has been established from out peat diggings and now consists of areas of reedbed, wet scrub, open water and peripheral grassland and woodland. Bird species living on the site include the bearded tit and the Eurasian bittern.

 

The Whitelake River rises between two low limestone ridges to the north of Glastonbury, part of the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. The confluence of the two small streams that make the Whitelake River is on Worthy Farm, the site of the Glastonbury Festival, between the small villages of Pilton and Pylle.

 

Along with the rest of South West England, Glastonbury has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately 10 °C (50.0 °F). Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than most of the United Kingdom because of the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately 21 °C (69.8 °F). In winter mean minimum temperatures of 1 or 2 °C (33.8 or 35.6 °F) are common. In the summer the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England, however convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours. In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton. Most of the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection. Most of the rainfall in autumn and winter is caused by the Atlantic depressions, which is when they are most active. In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is around 700 mm (28 in). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.

 

Glastonbury is a centre for religious tourism and pilgrimage. As with many towns of similar size, the centre is not as thriving as it once was but Glastonbury supports a large number of alternative shops.

 

The outskirts of the town contain a DIY shop, a former sheepskin and slipper factory site, once owned by Morlands, which is slowly being redeveloped. The 31-acre (13 ha) site of the old Morlands factory was scheduled for demolition and redevelopment into a new light industrial park, although there have been some protests that the buildings should be reused rather than being demolished. As part of the redevelopment of the site a project has been established by the Glastonbury Community Development Trust to provide support for local unemployed people applying for employment, starting in self-employment and accessing work-related training.

 

According to the Glastonbury Conservation Area Appraisal of July 2010, there are approximately 170 listed buildings or structures in the town's designated conservation area, of which eight are listed grade I, six are listed grade II* and the remainder are listed grade II.

 

The Tribunal was a medieval merchant's house, used as the Abbey courthouse and, during the Monmouth Rebellion trials, by Judge Jeffreys. It now serves as a museum containing possessions and works of art from the Glastonbury Lake Village which were preserved in almost perfect condition in the peat after the village was abandoned. The museum is run by the Glastonbury Antiquarian Society. The building also houses the tourist information centre.

 

The octagonal Market Cross was built in 1846 by Benjamin Ferrey.

 

The George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn was built in the late 15th century to accommodate visitors to Glastonbury Abbey, which is open to visitors. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The front of the 3-storey building is divided into 3 tiers of panels with traceried heads. Above the right of centre entrance are 3 carved panels with arms of the Abbey and Edward IV.

 

The Somerset Rural Life Museum is a museum of the social and agricultural history of Somerset, housed in buildings surrounding a 14th-century barn once belonging to Glastonbury Abbey. It was used for the storage of arable produce, particularly wheat and rye, from the abbey's home farm of approximately 524 acres (2.12 km2). Threshing and winnowing would also have been carried out in the barn, which was built from local shelly limestone with thick timbers supporting the stone tiling of the roof. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building, and is a scheduled monument.

 

The Chalice Well is a holy well at the foot of the Tor, covered by a wooden well-cover with wrought-iron decoration made in 1919. The natural spring has been in almost constant use for at least two thousand years. Water issues from the spring at a rate of 25,000 imperial gallons (110,000 L; 30,000 US gal) per day and has never failed, even during drought. Iron oxide deposits give the water a reddish hue, as dissolved ferrous oxide becomes oxygenated at the surface and is precipitated, providing chalybeate waters. As with the hot springs in nearby Bath, the water is believed to possess healing qualities. The well is about 9 feet (2.7 m) deep, with two underground chambers at its bottom. It is often portrayed as a symbol of the female aspect of deity, with the male symbolised by Glastonbury Tor (however, some consider Glastonbury Tor to be a 'hugh bounteous female figure'). As such, it is a popular destination for pilgrims in search of the divine feminine, including modern Pagans. The well is however popular with all faiths and in 2001 became a World Peace Garden.

 

Just a short distance from the Chalice Well site, across a road known as Well House Lane, can be found the "White Spring", where a temple has been created in the 21st century. Whilst the waters of the Chalice Well are touched red with iron, the water of the latter is white with calcite. Some people consider the red water of Chalice Well to have male properties, whilst the white water of White Spring has female qualities. Both springs rise from caverns underneath the Tor and it is claimed that both have healing in their flow.

 

The building now used as the White Spring Temple was originally a Victorian-built well house, erected by the local water board in 1872. Around that time, an outbreak of cholera in the area caused great concern and the natural caves were dug out, and a stone collection chamber was constructed to ensure the flow of a quality water supply. Study of the flow of water into the collection chamber has shown that the builders also tapped into other springs, besides the White Spring and judging from the high iron content of one of these springs, it appears that a small offshoot of Chalice Well finds its way under Well House Lane to emerge beside the White Spring. However, after building the reservoir, the water board soon discovered that the high calciferous content of the water caused pipes to block and by the end of the 19th century water was piped into Glastonbury from out of town. After lying derelict for many years, the water board sold off the well house, which is now maintained by a group of volunteers as a "water temple". On the outside of the building is a tap where visitors and locals can collect the water of the White Spring.

 

The Glastonbury Canal ran just over 14 miles (23 km) through two locks from Glastonbury to Highbridge where it entered the Bristol Channel in the early 19th century, but it became uneconomic with the arrival of the railway in the 1840s.

 

Glastonbury and Street railway station was the biggest station on the original Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway main line from Highbridge to Evercreech Junction until closed in 1966 under the Beeching axe. Opened in 1854 as Glastonbury, and renamed in 1886, it had three platforms, two for Evercreech to Highbridge services and one for the branch service to Wells. The station had a large goods yard controlled from a signal box. The site is now a timber yard for a local company. Replica level crossing gates have been placed at the entrance.

 

The nearest railway station is at Castle Cary but there is no direct bus route linking it to Glastonbury. There are convenient bus connections between Glastonbury and the railway stations at Bristol Temple Meads (over an hour travelling time) and at Taunton. It is also served by Berrys Coaches daily 'Superfast' service to and from London.

 

The main road in the town is the A39 which passes through Glastonbury from Wells connecting the town with Street and the M5 motorway. The other roads around the town are small and run across the levels generally following the drainage ditches. Local bus services are provided by Buses of Somerset (part of First), First West of England, Frome Bus & Libra Travel. The main routes are to Bristol via Wells, to Bridgwater, to Yeovil via Street and to Taunton.There is also a coach service to London Victoria provided by Berrys.

 

Television programmes and local news is provided by BBC West and ITV West Country from the Mendip TV transmitter.

 

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Somerset on 95.5 FM, Heart West on 102.6 FM, Greatest Hits Radio South West on 102.4 FM, Worthy FM on 87.7 FM which broadcast during The Glastonbury Festival and GWS Radio on 107.1 FM, a community radio station.

 

The town’s local newspapers are the Mid Somerset Series, Western Daily Press, Somerset County Gazette and Somerset Live.

 

There are several infant and primary schools in Glastonbury and the surrounding villages. Secondary education is provided by St Dunstan's School. In 2017, the school had 327 students between the ages of 11 and 16 years. It is named after St. Dunstan, an abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, who went on to become the Archbishop of Canterbury in 960 AD. The school was built in 1958 with major building work, at a cost of £1.2 million, in 1998, adding the science block and the sports hall. It was designated as a specialist Arts College in 2004, and the £800,000 spent at this time paid for the Performing Arts studio and facilities to support students with special educational needs. Tor School is a pupil referral unit based on Beckery New Road, which caters for 14-16-year-old students who have been excluded from mainstream education, or who have been referred for medical reasons.

 

Strode College in Street provides academic and vocational courses for those aged 16–18 and adult education. A tertiary institution and further education college, most of the courses it offers are A-levels or Business and Technology Education Councils (BTECs). The college also provides some university-level courses, and is part of The University of Plymouth Colleges network.

 

Glastonbury may have been a site of religious importance in pre-Christian times. The abbey was founded by Britons, and dates to at least the early 7th century, although later medieval Christian legend claimed that the abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea in the 1st century. This legend is intimately tied to Robert de Boron's version of the Holy Grail story and to Glastonbury's connection to King Arthur, which dates at least to the early 12th century. William of Malmesbury called this structure "the oldest church in England," and thenceforth it was known simply as the Old Church, inasmuch as it had existed for many years prior to the 7th century as a Celtic religious centre. In his "History of the English Church and People," written in the early eighth century, the Venerable Bede provides details regarding its construction to early missionaries. Glastonbury fell into Saxon hands after the Battle of Peonnum in 658. King Ine of Wessex enriched the endowment of the community of monks already established at Glastonbury. He is said to have directed that a stone church be built in 712. The Abbey Church was enlarged in the 10th century by the Abbot of Glastonbury, Saint Dunstan, the central figure in the 10th-century revival of English monastic life. He instituted the Benedictine Rule at Glastonbury and built new cloisters. Dunstan became Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. In 1184, a great fire at Glastonbury destroyed the monastic buildings. Reconstruction began almost immediately and the Lady Chapel, which includes the well, was consecrated in 1186.

 

The abbey had a violent end during the Dissolution and the buildings were progressively destroyed as their stones were removed for use in local building work. The remains of the Abbot's Kitchen (a grade I listed building.) and the Lady Chapel are particularly well-preserved set in 36 acres (150,000 m2) of parkland. It is approached by the Abbey Gatehouse which was built in the mid-14th century and completely restored in 1810.

 

There is also a strong Irish connection to Glastonbury as it is said to be along a route of pilgrimage from Ireland to Rome. It is supposed that St. Patrick and St. Brigid both came to the area and both Saints are documented by William of Malmesbury as having done so. There are Chapels named after them too - St. Patrick's Chapel, Glastonbury is within the Abbey grounds and St. Brigid's Chapel is at Beckery (Little Ireland).

 

The Church of St Benedict was rebuilt by Abbot Richard Beere in about 1520. This is now an Anglican church and is linked with the parishes of St John's Church in Glastonbury and St Mary's & All Saints Church in the village of Meare as a joint benefice.

 

Described as "one of the most ambitious parish churches in Somerset", the current Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The church is laid out in a cruciform plan with an aisled nave and a clerestorey of seven bays. The west tower has elaborate buttressing, panelling and battlements and at 134½ feet (about 41 metres), is the second tallest parish church tower in Somerset. Recent excavations in the nave have revealed the foundations of a large central tower, possibly of Saxon origin, and a later Norman nave arcade on the same plan as the existing one. A central tower survived until the 15th century, but is believed to have collapsed, at which time the church was rebuilt. The interior of the church includes four 15th-century tomb-chests, some 15th-century stained glass in the chancel, medieval vestments, and a domestic cupboard of about 1500 which was once at Witham Charterhouse.

 

In the centuries that followed the Reformation, many religious denominations came to Glastonbury to establish chapels and meeting houses. For such a relatively small town, Glastonbury has a remarkably diverse history of Christian places of worship, further enriched by the fact that several of these movements saw break-away factions, typically setting up new meeting places as a result of doctrinal disagreements, leaving behind them a legacy which would require a highly specialized degree of study in order to chart their respective histories and places of practice. Amongst their number have been Puritans/Undetermined Protestants, Quakers, Independents, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, Salvationists, Plymouth Brethren, Jehovah's Witnesses and Pentecostals.

 

The United Reformed Church on the High Street was built in 1814 and altered in 1898. It stands on the site of the Ship Inn where meetings were held during the 18th century. It is Grade II listed.

 

Glastonbury Methodist Church on Lambrook Street was built in 1843 and has a galleried interior, typical of a non-conformist chapel of that period, but an unusual number of stained glass windows. Close by the front of the church is an ancient pond, which was later covered to form a brick-arched reservoir. This is mentioned in property deeds of 1821, and is still accessible, containing approximately 31,500 gallons of water.

 

The Methodist Church on Lambrook street was originally the Glastonbury Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. A Primitive Methodist Chapel was built on Northload Street in 1844, with an adjoining house added for a minister in 1869. This chapel was closed in 1968, since which time it has had a number of different uses, being described in 2007 as the Maitreya Monastery, prior to which it had been the Archangel Michael Soul Therapy Centre.

 

The Bove Town Gospel Hall has been a place of worship in the town since at least 1889, when it was listed as a mission of the Plymouth Brethren. Jehovah's Witnesses originally occupied a Kingdom Hall on Archer's Way from 1942. This transferred to Church Lane in 1964, and subsequently to its present site on Old Wells Road. The Gospel Hall was registered for the solemnizing of marriages in 1964

 

The Catholic Church of Our Lady St Mary of Glastonbury was built, on land near to the Abbey, in 1939. A statue based on a 14th-century metal seal was blessed in 1955 and crowned in 1965 restoring the Marian shrine that had been in the Abbey prior to the reformation. The Shrine is now the home of the Community of Our Lady of Glastonbury, a Catholic Benedictine Monastery founded in August 2019.

 

The Glastonbury Order of Druids was formed on Mayday 1988.

 

Sufism has been long established in Glastonbury. Zikrs are held weekly in private homes, and on the first Sunday of every month a zikr is held at St Margaret's Chapel in Magdalene Street. A Sufi charity shop was established in Glastonbury in 1999, and supports missionary work in Africa. This shop was opened after Sheikh Nazim came to Glastonbury to visit the Abbey. Here he declared, "This is the spiritual heart of England ... It is from here that the spiritual new age will begin and to here that Jesus will return".

 

The pagan Glastonbury Goddess Temple was founded in 2002 and registered as a place of worship the following year. It is self-described as the first temple of its kind to exist in Europe in over a thousand years.

 

In April 2012, it was reported by The Guardian newspaper that, according to the Pilgrim Reception Centre in the town, Glastonbury had around seventy different faith groups. Some of these groups attended a special ceremony to celebrate this diversity, held in the Chalice Well Gardens on 21 April of that year.

 

The 22nd Jagannatha Ratha-yatra Krishna Festival took place in Glastonbury on Sunday 4 October 2015. Devotees of the Krishna Consciousness movement travelled to the town from London, Bath, Bristol and elsewhere to join with locals in a procession and Kirtan.

 

Glastonbury also headquarters the British Orthodox Church which is independent Oriental Orthodox denomination since 2015

 

Glastonbury has a particular significance for members of the Baháʼí Faith in that Wellesley Tudor Pole, founder of the Chalice Well Trust, was one of the earliest and most prominent adherents of this faith in the United Kingdom.

 

The local football team is Glastonbury F.C. They joined the Western Football League in 1919 and have won the Western Football League title three times in their history. The club are now playing in the Somerset County Football League.

 

Glastonbury Cricket Club previously competed in the West of England Premier League, one of the ECB Premier Leagues, the highest level of recreational cricket in England and Wales. The club plays at the Tor Leisure Ground, which used to stage Somerset County Cricket Club first-class fixtures.

 

The town is on the route of the Samaritans Way South West.

 

In a 1904 novel by Charles Whistler entitled A Prince of Cornwall Glastonbury in the days of Ine of Wessex is portrayed. It is also a setting in the Warlord Chronicles, a trilogy of books about Arthurian Britain written by Bernard Cornwell. Modern fiction has also used Glastonbury as a setting including The Age of Misrule series of books by Mark Chadbourn in which the Watchmen appear, a group selected from Anglican priests in and around Glastonbury to safeguard knowledge of a gate to the Otherworld on top of Glastonbury Tor. John Cowper Powys's novel A Glastonbury Romance is set in Glastonbury and is concerned with the Grail. The historical mystery novel Grave Goods by Diana Norman (writing under the pen name Ariana Frankin) is set in Glastonbury just after the abbey fire and concerns the supposed graves of Arthur and Guinevere, as well as featuring other landmarks such as the Tor.

 

The Children's World charity grew out of the festival and is based in the town. It is known internationally (as Children's World International). It was set up by Arabella Churchill in 1981 to provide drama participation and creative play and to work creatively in educational settings, providing social and emotional benefits for all children, particularly those with special needs. Children's World International is the sister charity of Children's World and was started in 1999 to work with children in the Balkans, in conjunction with Balkan Sunflowers and Save the Children. They also run the Glastonbury Children's Festival each August.

 

The local Brass Band is Glastonbury Brass which is currently placed in the first section for the West of England area. The band was founded in 2017 when the old Yeovil Town Band relocated after running into financial difficulty following a "notice to quit" on its rehearsal facility in September 2016. The band is featured twice on the Haiku Salut album There Is No Elsewhere (2018) and can be heard on the tracks Cold To Crack The Stones and The More And Moreness. In February 2020, the band was involved in the launch of Johnny Mars's "Dare to Dream" project aimed at raising awareness of the effects mankind is having on the world.

 

Glastonbury is the final venue for the annual November West Country Carnival.

 

Glastonbury has been described as a New Age community where communities have grown up to include people with New Age beliefs.

 

The first Glastonbury Festivals were a series of cultural events held in summer, from 1914 to 1926. The festivals were founded by English socialist composer Rutland Boughton and his librettist Lawrence Buckley. Apart from the founding of a national theatre, they envisaged a summer school and music festival based on utopian principles. With strong Arthurian connections and historic and prehistoric associations, Glastonbury was chosen to host the festivals.

 

The more recent Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts, founded in 1970, is now the largest open-air music and performing arts festival in the world. Although it is named after Glastonbury, it is actually held at Worthy Farm between the small villages of Pilton and Pylle, 6 miles (9.7 km) east of the town of Glastonbury. The festival is best known for its contemporary music, but also features dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and many other arts. For 2005, the enclosed area of the festival was over 900 acres (3.6 km2), had over 385 live performances and was attended by around 150,000 people. In 2007, over 700 acts played on over 80 stages and the capacity expanded by 20,000 to 177,000. The festival has spawned a range of other work including the 1972 film Glastonbury Fayre and album, 1996 film Glastonbury the Movie and the 2005 DVD Glastonbury Anthems.

 

Glastonbury has been the birthplace or home to many notable people. Peter King, 1st Baron King was the recorder of Glastonbury in 1705. Thomas Bramwell Welch the discoverer of the pasteurisation process to prevent the fermentation of grape juice was born in Glastonbury in 1825. The judge John Creighton represented Lunenburg County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1770 to 1775. The fossil collector Thomas Hawkins lived in the town during the 19th century.

 

The religious connections and mythology of the town have also attracted notable authors. The occultist and writer Dion Fortune (Violet Mary Firth) lived and is buried in Glastonbury. Her old house was home to the writer and historian Geoffrey Ashe, who was known for his works on local legends. Frederick Bligh Bond, archaeologist and writer. Eckhart Tolle, a German-born writer, public speaker, and spiritual teacher lived in Glastonbury during the 1980s. Eileen Caddy was at a sanctuary in Glastonbury when she first claimed to have heard the "voice of God" while meditating. Her subsequent instructions from the "voice" directed her to take on Sheena Govan as her spiritual teacher, and became a spiritual teacher and new age author, best known as one of the founders of the Findhorn Foundation community.

 

Popular entertainment and literature is also represented amongst the population. English composer Rutland Boughton moved from Birmingham to Glastonbury in 1911 and established the country's first national annual summer school of music. Gary Stringer, lead singer of rock band Reef, was a local along with other members of the band. The juggler Haggis McLeod and his late wife, Arabella Churchill, one of the founders of the Glastonbury Festival, lived in the town. The conductor Charles Hazlewood lives locally and hosts the "Play the Field" music festival on his farm nearby. Bill Bunbury moved on from Glastonbury to become a writer, radio broadcaster, and producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

 

Athletes and sports players from Glastonbury include cricketers Cyril Baily in 1880, George Burrough in 1907, and Eustace Bisgood in 1878. The footballer Peter Spiring was born in Glastonbury in 1950. Formula 1 driver Lando Norris grew up in Glastonbury.

 

Twin towns

France Bretenoux, France

Greece Patmos, Greece

Ethiopia Lalibela, Ethiopia

 

Freedom of the Town

Michael Eavis: 3 May 2022. The founder of the world-famous Glastonbury Festival has been made a Freeman of Glastonbury. Born in 1935, the celebrated dairy farmer held his first Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, Pilton in 1970. 52 years later, Mr. Eavis has been listed by Time magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world.

 

The Key of Avalon

This award was created in 2022 by the Glastonbury Town Council. The first recipient was Prem Rawat, international peace advocate and author, who spoke at the Glastonbury Festival in 1971.

 

Somerset is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east and the north-east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Bath, and the county town is Taunton.

 

Somerset is a predominantly rural county, especially to the south and west, with an area of 4,171 km2 (1,610 sq mi) and a population of 965,424. After Bath (101,557), the largest settlements are Weston-super-Mare (82,418), Taunton (60,479), and Yeovil (49,698). Wells (12,000) is a city, the second-smallest by population in England. For local government purposes the county comprises three unitary authority areas: Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, and Somerset.

 

The centre of Somerset is dominated by the Levels, a coastal plain and wetland, and the north-east and west of the county are hilly. The north-east contains part of the Cotswolds AONB, all of the Mendip Hills AONB, and a small part of Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB; the west contains the Quantock Hills AONB, a majority of Exmoor National Park, and part of the Blackdown Hills AONB. The main rivers in the county are the Avon, which flows through Bath and then Bristol, and the Axe, Brue, and Parrett, which drain the Levels.

 

There is evidence of Paleolithic human occupation in Somerset, and the area was subsequently settled by the Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The county played a significant part in Alfred the Great's rise to power, and later the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion. In the later medieval period its wealth allowed its monasteries and parish churches to be rebuilt in grand style; Glastonbury Abbey was particularly important, and claimed to house the tomb of King Arthur and Guinevere. The city of Bath is famous for its Georgian architecture, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The county is also the location of Glastonbury Festival, one of the UK's major music festivals.

 

Somerset is a historic county in the south west of England. There is evidence of human occupation since prehistoric times with hand axes and flint points from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras, and a range of burial mounds, hill forts and other artefacts dating from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. The oldest dated human road work in Great Britain is the Sweet Track, constructed across the Somerset Levels with wooden planks in the 39th century BCE.

 

Following the Roman Empire's invasion of southern Britain, the mining of lead and silver in the Mendip Hills provided a basis for local industry and commerce. Bath became the site of a major Roman fort and city, the remains of which can still be seen. During the Early Medieval period Somerset was the scene of battles between the Anglo-Saxons and first the Britons and later the Danes. In this period it was ruled first by various kings of Wessex, and later by kings of England. Following the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy by the Normans in 1066, castles were built in Somerset.

 

Expansion of the population and settlements in the county continued during the Tudor and more recent periods. Agriculture and coal mining expanded until the 18th century, although other industries declined during the industrial revolution. In modern times the population has grown, particularly in the seaside towns, notably Weston-super-Mare. Agriculture continues to be a major business, if no longer a major employer because of mechanisation. Light industries are based in towns such as Bridgwater and Yeovil. The towns of Taunton and Shepton Mallet manufacture cider, although the acreage of apple orchards is less than it once was.

 

The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods saw hunter-gatherers move into the region of Somerset. There is evidence from flint artefacts in a quarry at Westbury that an ancestor of modern man, possibly Homo heidelbergensis, was present in the area from around 500,000 years ago. There is still some doubt about whether the artefacts are of human origin but they have been dated within Oxygen Isotope Stage 13 (524,000 – 478,000 BP). Other experts suggest that "many of the bone-rich Middle Pleistocene deposits belong to a single but climatically variable interglacial that succeeded the Cromerian, perhaps about 500,000 years ago. Detailed analysis of the origin and modification of the flint artefacts leads to the conclusion that the assemblage was probably a product of geomorphological processes rather than human work, but a single cut-marked bone suggests a human presence." Animal bones and artefacts unearthed in the 1980s at Westbury-sub-Mendip, in Somerset, have shown evidence of early human activity approximately 700,000 years ago.

 

Homo sapiens sapiens, or modern man, came to Somerset during the Early Upper Palaeolithic. There is evidence of occupation of four Mendip caves 35,000 to 30,000 years ago. During the Last Glacial Maximum, about 25,000 to 15,000 years ago, it is probable that Somerset was deserted as the area experienced tundra conditions. Evidence was found in Gough's Cave of deposits of human bone dating from around 12,500 years ago. The bones were defleshed and probably ritually buried though perhaps related to cannibalism being practised in the area at the time or making skull cups or storage containers. Somerset was one of the first areas of future England settled following the end of Younger Dryas phase of the last ice age c. 8000 BC. Cheddar Man is the name given to the remains of a human male found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge. He is Britain's oldest complete human skeleton. The remains date from about 7150 BC, and it appears that he died a violent death. Somerset is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from about 6000 BCE; Mesolithic artefacts have been found in more than 70 locations. Mendip caves were used as burial places, with between 50 and 100 skeletons being found in Aveline's Hole. In the Neolithic era, from about 3500 BCE, there is evidence of farming.

 

At the end of the last ice age the Bristol Channel was dry land, but later the sea level rose, particularly between 1220 and 900 BC and between 800 and 470 BCE, resulting in major coastal changes. The Somerset Levels became flooded, but the dry points such as Glastonbury and Brent Knoll have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunters. The county has prehistoric burial mounds (such as Stoney Littleton Long Barrow), stone rows (such as the circles at Stanton Drew and Priddy) and settlement sites. Evidence of Mesolithic occupation has come both from the upland areas, such as in Mendip caves, and from the low land areas such as the Somerset Levels. Dry points in the latter such as Glastonbury Tor and Brent Knoll, have a long history of settlement with wooden trackways between them. There were also "lake villages" in the marsh such as those at Glastonbury Lake Village and Meare. One of the oldest dated human road work in Britain is the Sweet Track, constructed across the Somerset Levels with wooden planks in the 39th century BC, partially on the route of the even earlier Post Track.

 

There is evidence of Exmoor's human occupation from Mesolithic times onwards. In the Neolithic period people started to manage animals and grow crops on farms cleared from the woodland, rather than act purely as hunter gatherers. It is also likely that extraction and smelting of mineral ores to make tools, weapons, containers and ornaments in bronze and then iron started in the late Neolithic and into the Bronze and Iron Ages.

 

The caves of the Mendip Hills were settled during the Neolithic period and contain extensive archaeological sites such as those at Cheddar Gorge. There are numerous Iron Age Hill Forts, which were later reused in the Dark Ages, such as Cadbury Castle, Worlebury Camp and Ham Hill. The age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but is believed to be from the Neolithic period. There is evidence of mining on the Mendip Hills back into the late Bronze Age when there were technological changes in metal working indicated by the use of lead. There are numerous "hill forts", such as Small Down Knoll, Solsbury Hill, Dolebury Warren and Burledge Hill, which seem to have had domestic purposes, not just a defensive role. They generally seem to have been occupied intermittently from the Bronze Age onward, some, such as Cadbury Camp at South Cadbury, being refurbished during different eras. Battlegore Burial Chamber is a Bronze Age burial chamber at Williton which is composed of three round barrows and possibly a long, chambered barrow.

 

The Iron Age tribes of later Somerset were the Dobunni in north Somerset, Durotriges in south Somerset and Dumnonii in west Somerset. The first and second produced coins, the finds of which allows their tribal areas to be suggested, but the latter did not. All three had a Celtic culture and language. However, Ptolemy stated that Bath was in the territory of the Belgae, but this may be a mistake. The Celtic gods were worshipped at the temple of Sulis at Bath and possibly the temple on Brean Down. Iron Age sites on the Quantock Hills, include major hill forts at Dowsborough and Ruborough, as well as smaller earthwork enclosures, such as Trendle Ring, Elworthy Barrows and Plainsfield Camp.

 

Somerset was part of the Roman Empire from 47 AD to about 409 AD. However, the end was not abrupt and elements of Romanitas lingered on for perhaps a century.

 

Somerset was invaded from the south-east by the Second Legion Augusta, under the future emperor Vespasian. The hillforts of the Durotriges at Ham Hill and Cadbury Castle were captured. Ham Hill probably had a temporary Roman occupation. The massacre at Cadbury Castle seems to have been associated with the later Boudiccan Revolt of 60–61 AD. The county remained part of the Roman Empire until around 409 AD.

 

The Roman invasion, and possibly the preceding period of involvement in the internal affairs of the south of England, was inspired in part by the potential of the Mendip Hills. A great deal of the attraction of the lead mines may have been the potential for the extraction of silver.

 

Forts were set up at Bath and Ilchester. The lead and silver mines at Charterhouse in the Mendip Hills were run by the military. The Romans established a defensive boundary along the new military road known the Fosse Way (from the Latin fossa meaning ditch). The Fosse Way ran through Bath, Shepton Mallet, Ilchester and south-west towards Axminster. The road from Dorchester ran through Yeovil to meet the Fosse Way at Ilchester. Small towns and trading ports were set up, such as Camerton and Combwich. The larger towns decayed in the latter part of the period, though the smaller ones appear to have decayed less. In the latter part of the period, Ilchester seems to have been a "civitas" capital and Bath may also have been one. Particularly to the east of the River Parrett, villas were constructed. However, only a few Roman sites have been found to the west of the river. The villas have produced important mosaics and artifacts. Cemeteries have been found outside the Roman towns of Somerset and by Roman temples such as that at Lamyatt. Romano-British farming settlements, such as those at Catsgore and Sigwells, have been found in Somerset. There was salt production on the Somerset Levels near Highbridge and quarrying took place near Bath, where the Roman Baths gave their name to Bath.

 

Excavations carried out before the flooding of Chew Valley Lake also uncovered Roman remains, indicating agricultural and industrial activity from the second half of the 1st century until the 3rd century AD. The finds included a moderately large villa at Chew Park, where wooden writing tablets (the first in the UK) with ink writing were found. There is also evidence from the Pagans Hill Roman Temple at Chew Stoke. In October 2001 the West Bagborough Hoard of 4th century Roman silver was discovered in West Bagborough. The 681 coins included two denarii from the early 2nd century and 8 Miliarense and 671 Siliqua all dating to the period AD 337 – 367. The majority were struck in the reigns of emperors Constantius II and Julian and derive from a range of mints including Arles and Lyons in France, Trier in Germany and Rome.

 

In April 2010, the Frome Hoard, one of the largest-ever hoards of Roman coins discovered in Britain, was found by a metal detectorist. The hoard of 52,500 coins dated from the 3rd century AD and was found buried in a field near Frome, in a jar 14 inches (36 cm) below the surface. The coins were excavated by archaeologists from the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

 

This is the period from about 409 AD to the start of Saxon political control, which was mainly in the late 7th century, though they are said to have captured the Bath area in 577 AD. Initially the Britons of Somerset seem to have continued much as under the Romans but without the imperial taxation and markets. There was then a period of civil war in Britain though it is not known how this affected Somerset. The Western Wandsdyke may have been constructed in this period but archaeological data shows that it was probably built during the 5th or 6th century. This area became the border between the Romano-British Celts and the West Saxons following the Battle of Deorham in 577 AD. The ditch is on the north side, so presumably it was used by the Celts as a defence against Saxons encroaching from the upper Thames Valley. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Saxon Cenwalh achieved a breakthrough against the British Celtic tribes, with victories at Bradford-on-Avon (in the Avon Gap in the Wansdyke) in 65

A typical scene in Malé, new buildings coming up and almost all the construction workers are foreign and there's almost no attention to safety. Exploitation of foreign workers rivals fishing as the second most profitable sector of the Maldivian economy after tourism.

 

read more: www.mvdemocracynetwork.org/348/

 

An excerpt:

"“Recently I caught one Maldivian man who was bringing in over 1800 people. I asked him, ‘what will you do with them?’ He said there were ‘many projects’. I asked him to show me the projects and he couldn’t.

 

“I asked him if he had cleared this with the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports. I rang to check and it had – it was attested by one of the ministries of this government.

 

“I signed but had questions in my mind – why were the terms and conditions so small? There should be pages and pages – for 1800 people there should be hundreds of pages, and details of the project.

 

“But I had doubts in my mind so declared my signature null and void within Bangladesh within 4-5 days. I checked the company – it took me months – and then I found out the whole thing was a scam totalling over US$300 million.

 

“Those people would have come [to Male'] had I not checked. Had I not done it, 1800 people would have sold their homes and become delinquent in the Maldives. This did not bother a Maldivian broker – hell is not good enough for the people who are doing this.”"

Ligne 11 - Arrêt : Mellinet

Exploitant : SEMITAN

Réseau TAN - Nantes

A man pulls open an egg to show a chick to the children.

 

This was taken at a 4H display.

 

Animals have the right to not be used as property. Please reject speciesism and go vegan!

www.vegankit.com

Wattie, Rob and Matt from The Exploited @Astra, Berlin

 

Follow concert photography on Facebook and/or Twitter.

Common Starling / sturnus vulgaris. Wells Harbour, Norfolk. 26/02/17.

  

'Opportunistic' = exploiting immediate opportunities.

'Opportunist' = one who takes advantage of whatever opportunities confront them....who takes advantage of any circumstances of possible benefit.

 

The definitions above could have been written solely with the Common Starling in mind! Fish and chip shops and an old sailing ship converted into a bar/restaurant, cater for the many tourists visiting Wells. In turn, the tourists leave plenty of food scraps around the harbour area and the Starlings have learnt how to get an easy meal with minimum effort!

 

The fabulous old ship itself provides a safe haven between snacks. These two are having a pre-roost chill and watching the world go by.

The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.

Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum

Last updated January 2014

Architecture in Vienna

Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.

Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.

Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom

The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.

The baroque residence

Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.

Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)

Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.

Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.

Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900

Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made ​​the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.

With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).

Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing

After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.

Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.

Expulsion, war and reconstruction

After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made ​​of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.

The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).

The youngsters come

Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) ​​by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.

MuseumQuarter and Gasometer

Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.

The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.

New Neighborhood

In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of ​​the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.

In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).

Flying high

International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.

Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.

Info: The folder "Architecture: From Art Nouveau to the Presence" is available at the Vienna Tourist Board and can be downloaded on www.wien.info/media/files/guide-architecture-in-wien.pdf.

youtu.be/p0kjGOOZZog

 

Go-Go for a wild ride with the action girls! Russ Meyer, the king of exploitation, directs this lurid thrill-ride starring Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams as a trio of dancers who turn to murder and mayhem on a road trip from hell. Varla is well-endowed, beautiful, physically powerful, savvy and conniving. She lives for kicks, but she's also got a serious mad on for the world, and anyone who crosses her finds out the hard way. Her job as a go-go dancer, supplemented by a part time career in petty crime has afforded her a sleek and fast sports car, which she enjoys riding in the desert with her fellow dancers. One of them, Rosie, has a crush on Varla, which she happily encourages, even if Varla is really more interested in the control it gives her over Rosie than in Rosie herself. The other dancer, Billie, is a little harder for Varla to manage, but Billie isn't bright enough to outmaneuver Varla.

 

When the little gang run into a square drag racer, he winds up getting into a fight with Varla, losing of course. Varla makes sure he never talks back again, then kidnaps his girlfriend and makes a run for it. BIllie and Rosie tag along, and they soon become involved in intrigue with an old letch in the desert rumored to have a stash of cash hidden away somewhere. When Varla starts to lose control of the situation, things (again) become violent, leading to a revved-up climax! Three strippers seeking thrills encounter a young couple in the desert. After dispatching the boyfriend, they take the girl hostage and begin scheming on a crippled old man living with his two sons in the desert, reputedly hiding a tidy sum of cash. They become houseguests of the old man and try and seduce the sons in an attempt to locate the money, not realizing that the old man has a few sinister intentions of his own.

synopsis

Exploitation maven Russ Meyer created a cult classic with this turbo-charged action film. Three curvaceous go-go dancers in a cool sports car go on a desert crime spree, led by Varla (the amazing Tura Satana), a busty, nasty woman dressed entirely in black. Varla's lesbian moll, Rosie (Haji) -- who has an extremely overwrought accent -- and reluctant bimbo Billie (Lori Williams) are along for the ride. When they meet a naïve young couple, Tommy and Linda (Ray Barlow and Sue Bernard), Varla challenges the man to a race then kills him by breaking his back. They take Linda hostage and drive to a house owned by a crippled old lecher (Stuart Lancaster) and his muscular but retarded son, Vegetable (Dennis Busch). Varla discovers that the old man has money hidden on the property, so the girls try to find it. Meanwhile, Vegetable's perverted father tries to trick him into assaulting one of the girls as he watches, but his other son (Paul Trinka) finally shows up to save the day. A great deal of bloodshed, campy catfighting, and funny dialogue fills the bulk of this fast-paced comic book of a movie.

Born 1946 Quebec,Canada

Passed on 2013

Birth Name - Barbarella Catton Nickname - Haji

Haji was a Cando-American actress renowned for starring in Russ Meyer's sexploitation classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), in which she made her theatrical film debut. Barbarella Catton was born in Quebec City, Quebec on January 24, 1946, and at the age of 14, began dancing topless. The renamed Haji caught the eye of cinema's "King Leer" while performing as an exotic dancer.

He also cast her as one of three go-go dancers who turn into avenging furies in "Pussycat", which was her theatrical film debut as it was released before Motor Psycho (1965). She also appeared in Meyer's potboiler Good Morning... and Goodbye! (1967), his big budget Hollywood sextravaganza Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), and his cartoonish amalgamation of sex and violence, Supervixens (1975).

Haji died on August 10, 2013 at the age of 67.

Was a fervent supporter of animal rights and environmentalism. Interviewed in the book "Invasion of the B-Girls" by Jewel Shepard. Began as an exotic dancer. Moved to California at the age of fourteen and was discovered by filmmaker Russ Meyer performing in a topless bar. Her only child, a daughter she had at age 15, is named Cerlette. Haji was of British and Filipino descent, and her nickname was bestowed on her by an uncle. Was a friend and co-star of former stripper and long-time Russ Meyer paramour Kitten Natividad.

Haji, an Actress Featured in Cult Films by Russ Meyer, Dies at 67

By DANIEL E. SLOTNIK

Published: August 17, 2013

Haji, a voluptuous actress who played one of three homicidal go-go dancers in Russ Meyer’s 1965 cult film “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” died on Aug. 9 in Southern California. She was 67.

Her death was confirmed by the dancer and actress Kitten Natividad, a friend, who said she did not know the cause. She said Haji had high blood pressure and heart problems in recent years and was taken to a hospital after falling ill at a restaurant in Newport Beach.Haji, a brunette of Filipino and British descent, met Meyer, the celebrated B-movie director, in the mid-1960s while she worked in a strip club in California. He cast her as the lead in his biker movie “Motorpsycho” (1965) even though she had no acting experience.Later that year Haji appeared in “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” the tale of three dancers who beat a young man to death, kidnap his girlfriend and flee into the desert. She played the lesbian paramour of the lead character, Varla, played by Tura Satana. The film has acquired a devoted following and has been embraced by the filmmakers John Waters and Quentin Tarantino and even some feminists, including the film critic B. Ruby Rich, who praised it in The Village Voice as a “female fantasy.”“You just didn’t see women taking over and beating up men in those days,” Haji said in an interview posted on Russ Meyer’s Ultravixens, a Web site devoted to Meyer, who died in 2004, and his films. “Russ did something no one else had the imagination to do. And he was smart to use three bodied-up women, so whether the picture’s good or not, you still sort of stare at it.”Haji played a scantily clad bartender in Meyer’s “Supervixens” in 1975 and appeared in “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,” the story of an all-woman rock band’s descent into debauchery. It was the first of Meyer’s films produced by a mainstream studio. She also acted in John Cassavetes’s gritty drama “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie” in 1976.

Haji was born in Quebec on Jan. 24, 1946. Ms. Natividad said that Haji’s last name at birth was Catton, and that she thought her given name was Cerlette. (The name Haji, she said, was a nickname given to her by an uncle.) Haji left school before finishing the sixth grade and began stripping at 14. She had a daughter, also named Cerlette, at 15. She lived in Oxnard, Calif. Her survivors include her daughter and a granddaughter. Haji’s last screen role was in the 2003 comedy “Killer Drag Queens on Dope.”

www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/arts/haji-an-actress-featured-...;

 

youtu.be/wO9XjCM6tB8?t=3s Trailer

Additional Lobby Cards in Set www.flickr.com/photos/morbius19/sets/72157641173484945/

  

1964 was a better year for sci-fi and Columbia's First Men in the Moon (FMM) was the year's big-budget treat. HG Wells' 1899 novel was adapted to a more modern retelling by Nigel Kneal (of Quatermass fame), but is still fairly faithful to the original. Two men (and a woman) travel to the moon in 1899 and encounter a civilization of insect-like beings. FMM also features the animation of Ray Harryhausen. He gives the usual monster (moon cows), but brings the selenites to life.

Synopsis

A modern (1960s) UN moon mission lands, only to discover a little British flag and a paper claiming the moon for Queen Victoria. On earth, they trace the names to an old Arnold Bedford in a nursing home. He tells his story as flashback. He rented a cottage next door to an eccentric inventor. Cavor created Cavorite, a substance which blocks gravity. Bedford sees the money-making potential, so attaches himself to the work. Cavor, however, wants to explore the moon. To that end, he built a sphere. Bedford agrees to go with him, thinking of gold on the moon. Bedford's fiancee, Kate, is pulled aboard at the last minute. Amid some mild antics en route, they arrive on the moon. Cavor and Bedford explore, finding a labyrinth of tunnels and little insect people. They return to the surface, but the sphere (with Kate inside) has been taken by the selenites. They re-enter the tunnels in search, but become separated when a giant "moon cow" caterpillar beast attacks them. The selenite scientists study Cavor and Kate, eventually learning english. The selenites are disassembling the sphere for study. Cavor is given an audience with the Grand Lunar. He tells the Grand Lunar about earth and men. Cavor's description of war alarms the Grand Lunar, who decrees that Cavor must remain on the moon to prevent more defective earthmen make the trip. Meanwhile, Bedford and Kate have reassembled the sphere, but need Cavor to get the shutters to work. Bedford interrupts the Grand Lunar audience, causing a fight. Cavor and Bedford flee to the sphere. Cavor fixes it, but refuses to return to earth. Bedford and Kate return. End flashback. Old Bedford sums up his tale. TV reports that the astronauts on the moon find abandoned underground cities. Quick conjecture is that some virus wiped out the inhabitants. Bedford quips that Cavor did have a bad cold. The End.

 

There is much to like in FMM. Lionel Jeffries almost steals the show with his highly colorful portrayal of Cavor. The matt art, scenery, sets and models are well done. Harryhausen's work doesn't dominate, but enhances the alien-world feel.

 

There is more of Wells' original anti-imperialism message than anything of the Cold War. The portrayed fact that the first moon landing was an international effort shows a bit of optimism.

Nigel Kneal's screenplay tries to maintain much of Wells' original story, but a few concessions had to be made to make a good movie for mid-60s audiences. Rather than modernize the tale, Kneal framed the Victorian story as a flashback within modern bookends. Kneal omitted the frozen atmosphere and fungal plant life, (as modern audiences would not buy that). He kept a simplified version of the selenite civilization, and the moon cows. He also kept Bedford returning and Cavor remaining.

Kneal's script pulls in elements from a couple of Wells' other stories. He repeats the trope of the aliens taking the protagonist's machine underground, which Wells had in The Time Machine. Kneal borrows from Wells' War of the Worlds to have the aliens all killed off by a simple earth germ. In Wells' novel, the selenites are not wiped out. Modern folk knew the moon was lifeless, so a handy plague was needed.

Embedded in Wells' novel, and echoed somewhat in Kneal's screenplay, was stratified, dehumanizing industrial society. A cute counterfoil to that and commentary on unionized culture, was the scene at Cavor's house where the three workers argue about whose job it was to stoke the furnace. The metal worker complained that since he wasn't a stoker (by profession), it therefore wasn't his job. The gardener agreed that he wasn't a stoker either. The butler also agreed that he was a butler, not a stoker, so none of them stoked, but all went out for a pint.

In Wells' War of the Words, imperialist humans get a taste of their own medicine from the über-imperialist Martians. In FFM, imperialist humans go to someone else's planet. In both the novel and the screenplay, the two protagonists embody classic British imperialism. Cavor is the benevolent explorer, missionary and claimer of places. Bedford is the exploiter capitalist, who puts little value on the lives of the "brownies". This condensed duo of earth-ish imperialism plops down amid a greater power. Cavor and Bedford play out the traditional arguments (benevolence vs. conquest) but Bedford's view prevails and he goes about smashing their cities. In Kneal's script, imperialist man manages to completely ruins things -- even if only by accident (Cavor's cold germs). This has several earth history parallels too.

It was fairly common in 19th century sci-fi (e.g. Wells and Verne) to have only men as the protagonists. Post-WWII Hollywood was unable to resist inserting a woman into the character mix. They usually served as simple cheesecake, or love-triangle fodder, or the damel to be rescued. In FFM, Kate is a bit less flagrantly the intruded woman. She is useful to keep up dialogue while Cavor and Bedford are separated. She is a occasionally the damsel, but not obnoxiously so. (Heck, she blasts some selenites with a shotgun). We can be thankful the producers resisted including a cute animal in Disney fashion.

 

Bottom line? FMM is a classic that no one should miss -- even viewers who don't normally go in for sci-fi. The story is thoughtful, the acting good, and the production very good.

While many contemporary science fiction and fantasy films find their inspiration in graphic novels and comic books, H.G. Wells is still the gold standard when it comes to an indisputable master of the genre. More than 62 years after his death, the film industry continues to steal from and rework ideas and storylines from his popular fantasy novels. Most of them have been enormously successful (The War of the Worlds [1953 & 2005], The Time Machine [1960 & 2002], The Invisible Man [1932], Island of Lost Souls [1933]). In fact, one of the first silent films to become an international success was French filmmaker Georges Melies's 1902 adaptation of Wells' First Men in the Moon, released as Le Voyage dans la lune.

  

TCM review by Jeff Stafford

 

In Wells' original 1901 novel, the story, set in the rural village of Kent, focused on an eccentric scientist, Cavor, conducting anti-gravity experiments on a man-made substance called 'Cavorite,' and his neighbor, Mr. Bedford, a struggling, debt-ridden playwright. Enlisting Bedford's help, Cavor eventually succeeds in proving the "gravitational opacity" of cavorite and together the two men depart for the Moon in a glass-lined steel sphere powered by Cavor's invention. After successfully landing on the lunar surface and exploring the terrain, Cavor and Bedford are captured by moon men Selenites and imprisoned. Bedford manages to escape, and believing that Cavor has been killed, he locates their stolen sphere and returns to Earth. Once he is back, Bedford publishes an account of his adventures and learns from a Dutch scientist experimenting with wireless waves that messages are being sent from the moon by Cavor. It appears that Bedford's former neighbor has learned to live and communicate with the Selenites but eventually Cavor's messages become incoherent and then abruptly stop. The story ends with Bedford assuming that the Selenites silenced Cavor because they were afraid of further Earth expeditions to the moon.

Georges Melies's loose 1902 adaptation of Wells' First Men in the Moon condenses the story into a brief running time of barely eleven minutes but in 1919, Gaumont studio attempted a longer feature version, directed by J.L.V. Leigh, which added a female character as the love interest. It is now considered a lost film. No one else attempted to film Wells' story until the early sixties when screenwriter Nigel Kneale, stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, and director Nathan Juran were brought together by producer Charles Schneer.

After securing the rights from Frank Wells, son of the famous author, Schneer approached Columbia Pictures with the project. Despite their initial reluctance, Schneer's previous successes for them - 20 Million Miles to Earth [1957], The 7th Voyage of Sinbad [1958], Jason and the Argonauts [1963] convinced them to finance First Men in the Moon [1964]. Kneale, who had penned The Quatermass Experiment, a highly influential science fiction series on BBC-TV, updated Wells's original story to include a clever framing device set in present times in which a United Nations space mission to the moon discovers evidence of a British expedition in 1899, during the reign of Queen Victoria. Kneale also expanded the role of the female love interest who was first introduced in the 1919 version. Martha Hyer was cast in the latter role with Lionel Jeffries and Edward Judd being tapped to play Cavot and Bedford, respectively.

In the book Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life, the special effects master describes some of the difficulties of filming First Men in the Moon. "Along with numerous other tasks, I was also faced with the design basics for a whole alien civilization. Because the Selenites were to be insect-like, I decided that all doors and apertures were to be hexagonal, a common structure in the insect world. Whether it was scientifically accurate was secondary to the consideration that it should look realistic, be practical and above all spectacular. These basics were relatively straightforward, but when it came to broader aspects of the story that included tunnels, lunar landscapes, lens complexes, oxygen machines and the palace of the Grand Lunar, the budget prevented any of them from being built as full sets, so I designed them as miniatures and incorporated the actors with the aid of traveling mattes. For example, the huge bubbling vats that produced the oxygen were three- or four-foot high miniatures. However, these design headaches were nothing compared to Charles [Schneer] and Columbia Pictures announcing that the film, if possible, should be photographed in widescreen to give it an added attraction."

Filmed in the anamorphic process known as "Dynamation," in which live action and stop-motion animation can be combined via rear-projection and split-screen techniques, First Men in the Moon proved to be more restrictive and cost-prohibitive for Harryhausen on a creative level. As a result, his famous stop-motion work was only highlighted in three key sequences the Selenites in their high tech laboratories, the giant mooncalf and the Grand Lunar.

Most of the live-action cinematography took place at Shepperton Studios where a full-sized section of the moon's surface was constructed on a sound stage for the framing sequence and for the arrival and departure of Cavor's sphere from the lunar surface. NASA served as technical advisors on the film and the blueprints for their own Lunar module aided Harryhausen tremendously in designing the entire U.N. expedition sequence; it would also serve as a dry run for NASA which would stage a real moon walk for the entire world on television on July 20, 1969.

Less successful was the design of the Selenites. Harryhausen said, "I have never been keen on using 'men in suits' as animated creatures, but several scenes called for masses of smaller 'worker' Selenites, which would have taken an eternity to animate. So we had to resort to using children in suits. I designed a suit made into twenty-five moulded latex costumes with reinforced sections. Although they were never really convincing, mainly because the children's arms were not spindly enough to match the animated Selenites, the low-key lighting allowed Jerry [a nickname for director Nathan Juran] to use the suits with reasonable success."

Despite the many technical frustrations he experienced while working on First Men in the Moon, Harryhausen also enjoyed some aspects of it. "Some of my fondest memories during production," he said, "were the surprise visits of several personalities. The first was Frank Wells, son of H.G. Sadly, I only met him briefly, but he showed great enthusiasm for the design and animation, and we talked about his father. Another visit was by one of Hollywood's greatest directors, William Wyler. He was shooting a film on another stage, and although he wasn't there very long, I did manage to talk with him, and he seemed intrigued at what we were doing. Furthermore, when British performer William Rushton was unable to turn up for the part of the writ server, we unexpectedly secured the services of one of the world's top actors. Lionel [Jeffries] persuaded Peter Finch, who happened to be shooting The Pumpkin Eater (1964) on the next stage, to guest in the role. To save time, Lionel wrote out Finch's lines on the back of the summons paper, which he delivered with enormous enjoyment."

 

When First Men in the Moon opened theatrically, it was treated by most critics as a children's film and not as a bona-fide sci-fi thriller in the style of Wells' The War of the Worlds or The Time Machine. Howard Thompson of The New York Times dismissed it, writing, "Only the most indulgent youngsters should derive much stimulation let alone fun from the tedious, heavy-handed science-fiction vehicle that arrived yesterday from England..." The Variety review was more positive and reflected the film's general reception, calling it "an exploiteer's dream. Family audiences should flock to the wickets. It is an astute blend of comedy, occasional thrills and special effects work. Film is a good example of the kind of fare that television cannot hope to match in the foreseeable future."

Moviegoers did not, however, flock to see First Men in the Moon as they had previous Harryhausen ventures such as Jason and the Argonauts and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Part of the problem may have been the film's emphasis on comedy instead of suspense or action-adventure and many reviewers noted that the whimsical tone neutralized any potential excitement. The Hollywood Reporter, in fact, proclaimed it "the first space fantasy comedy." Harryhausen was also working with a different composer this time instead of Bernard Herrmann, who was unavailable. While Laurie Johnson's score is atmospheric and evocative of its setting, it lacked the dynamic range and intensity that Herrmann's music brought to such Harryhausen films as The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960) and Mysterious Island (1961), among others.

 

Harryhausen also admits that "...the poster Columbia came up with really didn't help to sell it. It was too childish in its attempts to point out that it was 'in' in the Moon, not 'on.'" Yet people who avoided the movie missed a visual treat, brimming with rich Victorian-era art direction, futuristic set designs reflecting the Selenites's world and unusual special effects. "Personally," Harryhausen stated, "I believe it is one of the most faithful adaptations of Wells' novels, but perhaps the time was not right for such a film, or perhaps the real moon landings were too close. Hopefully, posterity will look upon it with kinder eyes."

 

Producer: Charles H. Schneer

Director: Nathan Juran

Screenplay: Nigel Kneale, Jan Read; H.G. Wells (story)

Cinematography: Wilkie Cooper

Art Direction: John Blezard

Music: Laurie Johnson

Film Editing: Maurice Rootes

Cast: Edward Judd (Arnold Bedford), Martha Hyer (Katherine 'Kate' Callender), Lionel Jeffries (Joseph Cavor), Miles Malleson (Dymchurch Registrar), Norman Bird (Stuart), Gladys Henson (nursing home matron), Hugh McDermott (Richard Challis).

C-103m.

  

The Postcard

 

A postally unused Norman Series postcard that was published by Shoesmith & Etheridge of Hastings.

 

The card has a divided back.

 

Hastings

 

Hastings is a large seaside town in East Sussex on the south coast, 24 miles (39 km) east of the county town of Lewes, and 53 mi (85 km) south east of London.

 

The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings.

 

In the 19th. century, Hastings was a popular seaside resort, as the railway allowed tourists and visitors to reach the town.

 

Today, Hastings is a fishing port with the UK's largest beach-based fishing fleet. The fleet has been based on the same beach, below the cliffs, for at least 400, and possibly up to 600, years. Its longevity is attributed to the prolific fishing ground of Rye Bay nearby.

 

The town had a population of 92,855 in 2018.

 

Hastings in Pre-History

 

Evidence of prehistoric settlements has been found at the town site, including flint arrowheads and Bronze Age artefacts.

 

Iron Age forts have been excavated on both the East and West Hills. The settlement was already based on the port when the Romans arrived in Britain for the first time in 55 BC. They began to exploit the iron (Wealden rocks provide a plentiful supply of the ore), and shipped it out by boat.

 

Iron was worked locally at Beauport Park, to the north of the town. It employed up to a thousand men, and is thought to have been the third-largest mine in the Roman Empire.

 

With the departure of the Romans, the town suffered setbacks. The Beauport site was abandoned, and the town suffered attacks from nature and early adversaries.

 

The Sussex coast has always suffered from occasional violent storms, and with the additional hazard of longshore drift (the eastward movement of shingle along the coast), the coastline has been frequently changing. The original Roman port is probably now under the sea.

 

Medieval Hastings

 

The Battle of Hastings heralded the start of the Norman Conquest. The battle was fought on the 14th. October 1066, although it actually took place 8 miles (13 km) to the north at Senlac Hill, and William had landed on the coast between Hastings and Eastbourne at Pevensey.

 

Muslim scholar Muhammad al-Idrisi, writing circa 1153, described Hastings as:

 

"A town of large extent and many inhabitants,

flourishing and handsome, having markets,

workpeople and rich merchants".

 

Hastings and the Sea

 

By the end of the Saxon period, the port of Hastings had moved eastward to near the present town centre in the Priory Stream valley, whose entrance was protected by the White Rock headland (since demolished).

 

It was to be a short stay: Danish attacks and huge floods in 1011 and 1014 motivated the townspeople to relocate to the New Burgh.

 

In the Middle Ages Hastings became one of the Cinque Ports.

 

Much of the town and half of Hastings Castle was washed away in the South England flood of February 1287.

 

During a naval campaign of 1339, and again in 1377, the town was raided and burnt by the French, and seems then to have gone into a decline. As a port, Hastings' days were finished.

 

Hastings had suffered over the years from the lack of a natural harbour. Attempts were made to build a stone harbour during the reign of Elizabeth I, but the foundations were destroyed by the sea in terrible storms. Accordingly the town's fishing boats are still stored on, and launched from, the beach.

 

Hastings was then just a small fishing settlement, but it was soon discovered that the new taxes on luxury goods could be made profitable by smuggling; the town was ideally located for that purpose.

 

Near the castle ruins, on the West Hill, are St. Clement's Caves, partly natural, but mainly excavated by hand by smugglers from the soft sandstone.

 

Their trade came to an end with the period following the Napoleonic Wars, for the town became one of the most fashionable resorts in Britain, brought about by the so-called health-giving properties of seawater, as well as the local springs and Roman baths.

 

The double decker promenade that runs from Hastings Pier beyond Marine Court, with a break at Warrior Square, was built by the borough engineer Sidney Little.

 

The building of Pelham Crescent necessitated cutting away of the Castle Hill cliffs. Once that move away from the old town had begun, it led to the further expansion along the coast, eventually linking up with the new St. Leonards.

 

Judges Postcards

 

Between 1902 and 1919, Fred Judge FRPS photographed many of the town's events and disasters. These included storms, the first tram, the visit of the Lord Mayor of London, Hastings Marathon Race, and the pier fire of 1917.

 

Many of these images were produced as picture postcards by the firm he founded which is now known as Judges Postcards.

 

Hastings' Bathing Pool

 

In the 1930's, an Olympic-sized bathing pool was erected. Regarded in its day as one of the best open-air swimming and diving complexes in Europe, it later became a holiday camp before closing in 1986. It was demolished, but the area is still known by locals as "The Old Bathing Pool".

 

Hastings' Sunshine

 

Hastings, tied with Eastbourne, recorded the highest duration of sunshine of any month anywhere in the United Kingdom - 384 hours - in 1911.

 

A new record temperature of 34.7 °C (94.5 °F) was recorded for the town on the 19th. July 2022.

 

St. Leonards

 

The original part St. Leonards was bought by James Burton and laid out by his son, the architect Decimus Burton, in the early 19th. century as a new town: a place of elegant houses designed for the well-off.

 

It also included a central public garden, a hotel, an archery, assembly rooms and a church. Today's St. Leonards has extended well beyond that original design, although the original town still exists within it.

 

Priory Meadow Shopping Centre

 

Hastings' main shopping centre is the Priory Meadow Shopping Centre. It was built on the site of the old Central Recreation Ground which had played host to some Sussex CCC first-class fixtures, and famous cricketers such as Dr. W. G. Grace and Sir Don Bradman.

 

The Central Recreation Ground was one of England's oldest, most scenic and most famous cricket grounds. The first match was played there in 1864, and the last in 1989, after which the site was redeveloped into the shopping centre. The centre houses 56 stores, and covers around 420,000 square feet.

 

Marine Court

 

On the seafront at St. Leonards is Marine Court, a 1938 block of flats in the Art Deco style that was originally called 'The Ship' due to its style being based upon the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary.

 

Marine Court can be seen from 20 miles (32 km) away on a clear day from Eastbourne.

 

The Memorial

 

An important former landmark was the Memorial, a clock tower commemorating Albert the Prince Consort which stood for many years at the traffic junction in the town centre, but was demolished following an arson attack in the 1970's.

 

The Hastings Miniature Railway

 

The Hastings Miniature Railway operates along the beach from Rock-a-Nore to Marine Parade, and has provided tourist transport since 1948. The railway was considerably restored and re-opened in 2010.

 

Hastings' Tram Network

 

Hastings had a network of trams from 1905 to 1929. The trams ran as far as Bexhill, and were worked by overhead electric wires.

 

Notable People

 

Many notable figures were born, raised, or lived in Hastings, including computer scientist Alan Turing, poet Fiona Pitt-Kethley, actress Gwen Watford, comedian Jo Brand and Madness singer Suggs.

 

Additionally :

 

-- John Logie Baird lived in Hastings in the 1920's where he carried out experiments that led to the transmission of the first television image. In 1938, Baird Noel Gordon (of Crossroads fame) to take part in his colour television experiments. She became the first woman to be transmitted in colour from a camera to television sets later that year. (Earlier tests had shown static photos in colour, this was the first motion transmission of colour).

 

-- Robert Tressell wrote 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' in Hastings between 1906 and 1910.

 

-- Gareth Barry, who holds the record number of appearances in the Premier League, was born in Hastings.

 

-- The author who worked as Grey Owl was born In Hastings and lived there for several years.

 

-- Harry H. Corbett (Steptoe & Son) lived in Hastings up until his death in 1982.

 

-- Anna Brassey, a collector and feminist pioneer of early photography, was based in Hastings until her death in 1887.

 

Anna Brassey

 

Baroness Anna "Annie" Brassey was born in London on the 7th. October 1839. Annie was an English traveller and writer. Her bestselling book 'A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months' (1878) describes a voyage around the world.

 

Anna Brassey - The Early Years

 

Annie Brassey was born Anna Allnutt. As a child, she faced serious health problems. In his preface to Annie's book 'The Last Voyage', her husband recalled that she suffered from an inherited "weakness of the chest", apparently a form of chronic bronchitis.

 

As a young woman, she also suffered severe burns when she stood too close to a fireplace and her skirt caught fire. It took six months for her to recover from them.

 

Annie's Marriage to Lord Brassey

 

In 1860, she married the English Member of Parliament Thomas Brassey (knighted in 1881, becoming Earl Brassey in 1886), with whom she lived near his Hastings constituency. Thomas was born in 1836 and died in 1918.

 

The couple had five children together before they travelled aboard their luxury yacht Sunbeam. The yacht was said to have been named after their daughter - Lady Constance Alberta - who was nicknamed Sunbeam; she died of scarlet fever, aged four, on the 24th. January 1873.

 

The golden figurehead of the yacht depicting Constance is at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

 

Annie's Travels and Publications

 

'A Voyage in the Sunbeam', describing their journey round the world in 1876–1877 with a complement of 43, including family, friends and crew, ran through many English editions, and was translated into at least five languages.

 

Her accounts of later voyages include 'Sunshine and Storm in the East' (1880); 'In the Trades, the Tropics, and the Roaring Forties' (1885); and 'The Last Voyage' (1889, published posthumously).

 

Annie had published privately earlier works including 'A Flight of the Meteor', detailing two cruises in the Mediterranean on their earlier yacht Meteor, and 'A Voyage in the Eothen', a description of their travels to Canada and the United States in 1872.

 

In July 1881, King Kalākaua of Hawaii, who had been greatly pleased with her description of his kingdom, was entertained at Normanhurst Castle, and invested Lady Brassey with the Royal Order of Kapiolani.

 

Annie was also involved with the publication of Colonel Henry Stuart-Wortley's 'Tahiti, a Series of Photographs' (1882).

 

The Death and Legacy of Lady Brassey

 

Lady Brassey's last voyage on the Sunbeam was to India and Australia, undertaken in November 1886 in order to improve her health. On the way to Mauritius, Annie died of malaria at the age of 47 on the 14th. September 1887, and was buried at sea.

 

At home in England, she had performed charitable work, largely for the St. John Ambulance Association. Her collection of ethnographic and natural history material was shown in a museum at her husband's London house until it was moved to Hastings Museum in 1919. There are also several photograph albums and other ephemera held at Hastings Library.

 

However, the vast majority of her photograph albums are now housed in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. The collection of 70 albums, each containing 72 to 80 thick board pages, contains pre-eminent examples of historical travel.

 

The albums contain works by Annie and others she collected, including those of commercial photographers. Annie herself was an accomplished photographer. She joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1873 and remained a member until her death. She exhibited some of her work in its exhibitions in 1873 and 1886.

 

Lady Brassey was survived by four of her five children:

 

-- Thomas Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey

-- Lady Mabelle Brassey

-- Muriel Sackville, Countess De La Warr

-- Marie Freeman-Thomas, Marchioness of Willingdon.

During World War II, Western Allied tank development tended to lag behind their German enemies and Soviet counterparts: the British split their armored forces into infantry support tanks like the Matilda and Churchill, and exploitation tanks such as the Cruiser series. The former were tough but very slow; the latter were fast but thinly armored. None of them carried a large gun, as they were not meant to duel other tanks.

 

Experience in North Africa, where the British tanks were regularly outgunned by German Panzers and blown apart by 88mm antitank guns, led to a major change in British tank design. The success of the Germans with the Panther and the Russians with the T-34/85 led the British to begin designing a new main battle tank, the Comet--the Comet combined the speed of a Cruiser tank with the superb 17 pounder (76mm) gun of the Sherman Firefly. The Comet's armor was still considered to be too thin to resist a direct hit from an 88, so a heavier tank was ordered. This would become the Centurion.

 

Whereas the Comet was the answer to the Panther, the Centurion was meant to take on the German heavies: the Tiger and King Tiger. The design specification called for armor thick enough to take multiple 88mm hits, yet retain the mobility (if not the top speed) of the Comet. It would also be equipped with the 17 pounder main gun. The designers were able to meet these requirements by using sloped armor: though the Centurion's armor was actually thinner than that of the Churchill, the sloped design made it more resistant to hits. Although the Centurion was larger than the Comet, it was just as mobile. Design changes (such as dropping the 17 pounder in favor of a more powerful 20 pounder main gun) meant that the first Centurions did not reach the British Armoured Corps until after the end of World War II, but crews were enthusiastic about the design all the same: the Centurion was a winner.

 

They were right. The Centurion might not have ever dueled a Tiger, but it would prove to be one of the most successful postwar tank designs, equal to (and in some cases superior to) the American M48 Patton series and the Soviet T-55. Centurions quickly replaced all other British tank designs, and was heavily exported.

 

It would also be combat proven. The British used their Centurions to superb effect in Korea, where Centurion regiments reinvented tank doctrine in mountainous terrain; the Australians would use them in Vietnam, where only six out of 58 were lost. India used Centurions against Pakistan, while South Africa used theirs in Angola. By far, however, the most experienced Centurion users were the Israelis. The IDF Armored Corps began to receive ex-British and Canadian Centurions just before the Six-Day War of 1968; during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, about 80 IDF Centurions destroyed 500 Syrian T-55s in the Battle of the Valley of Tears. In Israeli service, the Centurion was known as the Sho't (Scourge), and most were upgunned with American 105mm main guns.

 

Centurions would be replaced by the Chieftain in British Army units, but hundreds of Centurions would persist in service well into the 1990s; South Africa still uses heavily modified Centurions as the Olifant. The Centurion also underwent several dozen variants as engineering vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and even heavily modified in Israeli as turretless armored personnel carriers.

 

One would be forgiven for thinking that I've put the wrong description on this page, as the tank in the picture looks very much like a M1 Abrams. It is, however, a Centurion. During the production of the 1996 movie Courage Under Fire, the producers of the film did not have the assistance of the US Department of Defense. This was a problem, as Denzel Washington's character is a former M1 Abrams tank commander and a scene in the movie is based roughly on the Battle of 73 Easting. With no privately-owned M1s to draw on, the producers needed to find another solution, and did: they bought a few former Australian Army Centurions and heavily modified them to resemble the M1. To the casual moviegoer, they looked just like the real thing.

 

After Courage Under Fire was completed, the Centurions were sold to a private firm in California, ArmyTrucks, which rents out "vismods" and military surplus to Hollywood for film production. Since 1996, the modified Centurions have been used in movies and TV shows such as Cloverfield, Iron Man and The Walking Dead. The way to differentiate the modded Centurion from an actual Abrams is to count the road wheels between the tracks: if it has seven wheels, it is an Abrams; if it has six, it's a Centurion. The hull is also slightly narrower and the fake turret longer, though this is very difficult to see in a movie. (In Walking Dead, the character Rick Grimes actually gave away the tank's identity: he climbs through a bottom escape hatch to escape the zombies in downtown Atlanta. The Abrams does not have a bottom escape hatch.)

 

The Russell Military Museum acquired this "M1 Abrams" Centurion vismod from Army Trucks; it is the only one of the Centurion vismods on public display. It has seen better days: rust has broken out over most of the tank, marring its desert tan paint job. (The water around the tank is due to two days of heavy rain just before the day I was there in May 2018.) Though fake, the gun shows the larger bore evacuator of the M1A1 series, with the 120mm main gun instead of the earlier 105mm. Though not in great shape, it was still interesting seeing one of these vismods.

How Fidget Spinners and stimming toys became mainstream popular $$$

I picked this hibiscus in the garden this afternoon and brought it inside to exploit where it's easier to control the light.

 

I placed the flower on a mirror and then setup the main light as a Yongnuo flash in a 24 inch gridded soft box at camera right. Back lighting is from another Yongnuo flash in a Rogue grid hand held and behind the flower at camera left. The strobes and my tripod mounted camera were triggered with a Yongnuo RF-603N.

 

I've photographed a lot of plants and flowers, because they're all around us, work cheap, and never complain. I have an album of these images with over 1200 pictures, and for each one, I have described how I lit them, in case you're interested in that kind of thing.

www.flickr.com/photos/9422878@N08/sets/72157628079460544

EXPLOIT YOURSELF I+D SPEC

Modèle : Irisbus / Renault Agora Line

n°8118 - ligne 110

Exploitant : RATP

Réseau : Île de France Mobilités, RATP

Lieu : Champigny sur Marne

Exploited By Power.

Imitant monotone intense nerfs voile,

magnus oculos perdidit voluptatem quia ignotus,,

Streitereien Schmerzen verlockend Vibrationen Schrecken Tiefen Himmel,

syllogisms trafferthion digyffelyb heidio rhwygo nebulously,

flotoare indolenței suflete crepusculare vise diafane parfumate,

alistaa johtajat kaihi Harmonyn kellertävän vihreä mielen uneliaaksi,

imbecis concentradas arrependimentos cruelmente ensurdecedores subiu,

kruhový monstra blábolení malomyslnosti marnosti kontaminaci uprostřed mizerně,

döbbenten által lakott contemplations erőteljes dokumentumok vádolják,

substance clos caves définies oniriquement construits,

σπειροειδή διαδρομή κοσμική ανασταλεί αναλογίες τεράστια χαρτιά ανθίσει,

eigentijdse standpunten kwaad reproduceren getuige vrijheden verdwijnt,

פּאָלעמיקאַל אינטערעסן ינעקסטריקאַבאַל דיווערטיד סטייטמאַנץ כאַמערד סאָמנאָלענט,

centralization umfutho prospector likhipha izinkanuko obucindezela ubufakazi,

sealúchais casta arb éard iad gcliathán tuiscint cumarsáide,

推論の複雑なボードの一枚は、すべてだった!

Steve.D.Hammond.

The king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. There are two subspecies, A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli in the South Indian Ocean (at the Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Island, Prince Edward Islands, and Heard Island and McDonald Islands) and at Macquarie Island.

 

King penguins mainly eat lanternfish, squid, and krill. On foraging trips, king penguins repeatedly dive to over 100 metres (300 ft), and have been recorded at depths greater than 300 metres (1,000 ft). Predators of the king penguin include giant petrels, skuas, the snowy sheathbill, the leopard seal, and the orca.

 

The king penguin breeds on the Subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, South Georgia, southern Argentina, and other temperate islands of the region. It also lives on Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean.

 

This bird was exploited commercially in the past for its blubber, oil, meat, and feathers. Today, it is fully protected.

 

Taxonomy

In 1778, the English illustrator John Frederick Miller included a hand-coloured engraving of the king penguin in his Icones animalium et plantarum. He coined the binomial name Aptenodytes patagonica and specified the type locality as the Mari antarctico, the Antarctic Ocean. The locality was restricted to South Georgia by Gregory Mathews in 1911. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

 

Appearance

 

The king penguin stands at 70 to 100 cm (28 to 39 in) tall and weighs from 9.3 to 18 kg (21 to 40 lb). Although female and male king penguins are monomorphic they can be separated by their calls. Males are also slightly larger than females. The mean body mass of adults from Marion Island was 12.4 kg (27 lb) for 70 males and 11.1 kg (24 lb) for 71 females. Another study from Marion Island found that the mean mass of 33 adults feeding chicks was 13.1 kg (29 lb). The king penguin is approximately 25% shorter and weighs around a third less than the emperor penguin.

 

At first glance, the king penguin appears very similar to the larger, closely related emperor penguin, with a broad cheek patch contrasting with surrounding dark feathers and yellow-orange plumage at the top of the chest. However, the cheek patch of the adult king penguin is a solid bright orange whereas that of the emperor penguin is yellow and white, and the upper chest tends to be more orange and less yellowish in the king species. Both have colourful markings along the side of their lower mandible, but these tend towards pink in emperor penguin and orange in king penguin.

 

Emperor and king penguins typically do not inhabit the same areas in the wild, with the possible exception of vagrants at sea, but the two can be distinguished from one another by the king's longer, straighter bill, larger flippers, and noticeably sleeker body. The juvenile king penguin with its long bill and heavy dark brown down is completely different in appearance from the mostly grey emperor chick with its black and white mask. Once moulted of its brown juvenile plumage, the king chick resembles the adult, but is somewhat less colourful.

 

King penguins often breed on the same large, circumpolar islands as at least half of all living penguins, but it is easily distinguished from other species by its much larger size and taller frame, colorful markings, and grizzled sooty-greyish rather than blackish back.

 

Distribution and habitat

 

King penguins breed on subantarctic islands between 45 and 55°S, at the northern reaches of Antarctica, as well as Tierra del Fuego (Argentinian part), the Falkland Islands, and other temperate islands of the region. The total population is estimated to be 2.23 million pairs and is increasing. The largest breeding populations are on the Crozet Islands, with around 455,000 pairs, 228,000 pairs on the Prince Edward Islands, 240,000–280,000 on the Kerguelen Islands, and over 100,000 in the South Georgia archipelago. By the early 1920s, the King penguin population in South Georgia and the Falklands was nearly wiped out by whalers on these islands.

 

The Falklands and South Georgia had no trees to use for firewood, so the whalers burned millions of oily, blubber-rich penguins as fuel for the constant fires needed to boil whale blubber for extraction of the oil; the whalers also used penguin oil for lamps, heating, and cooking, in addition to eating the birds and their eggs. Macquarie Island currently has around 70,000 pairs. The non-breeding range is unknown due to many vagrant birds having been seen on the Antarctic peninsula as well as in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

 

One of the largest known King penguin colonies, on Île aux Cochons in the Crozet Islands, is thought to have experienced a massive drop in its population over the last few decades, from about half a million breeding pairs in the 1980s to about 60,000 breeding pairs in 2017. The cause of this decline may be due to changes in the ecosystem related to climate change as their primary source of food is moving farther away from places where the penguins can breed. This may result in population declines and shifts in the locations of the King penguin breeding grounds.

 

The Nature Protection Society released several king penguins in Gjesvær in Finnmark, and Røst in Lofoten in northern Norway in August, 1936. Penguins were seen in the area several times during the 1940s; though none have been officially recorded since 1949, there were a few unconfirmed sightings of penguins in the area during the early 1950s.

 

Ecology and behavior

 

King penguin chick

American zoologist Gerry Kooyman revolutionized the study of penguin foraging behaviour in 1971 when he published his results from attaching automatic dive-recording devices to emperor penguins, and recording a dive of 235 metres (771 ft) by a king penguin in 1982. The current maximum dive recorded is 343 metres in the Falkland Islands region, and a maximum time submerged of 552 seconds was recorded at the Crozet Islands. The king penguin dives to depths of 100–300 meters (350–1000 feet), spending around five minutes submerged, during daylight hours, and less than 30 metres (98 ft) at night.

 

The majority (around 88% in one study) of dives undertaken by king penguins are flat-bottomed; that is, the penguin dives to a certain depth and remains there for a period of time hunting (roughly 50% of total dive time) before returning to the surface. They have been described as U-shaped or W-shaped, relating to the course of the dive. The remaining 12% of dives have a V-shaped or "spike" pattern, in which the bird dives at an angle through the water column, reaches a certain depth, and then returns to the surface. In contrast, other penguins dive in this latter foraging pattern. Observations at Crozet Islands revealed most king penguins were seen within 30 km (19 mi) of the colony. Using the average swimming speed, Kooyman estimated the distance travelled to foraging areas at 28 km (17 mi).

 

The king penguin's average swimming speed is 6.5–10 km/h (4–6 mph). On shallower dives under 60 m (200 ft), it averages 2 km/h (1.2 mph) descending and ascending, while on deeper dives over 150 m (490 ft) deep, it averages 5 km/h (3.1 mph) in both directions. King penguins also "porpoise", a swimming technique used to breathe while maintaining speed. On land, the king penguin alternates between walking with a wobbling gait and tobogganing—sliding over the ice on its belly, propelled by its feet and wing-like flippers. Like all penguins, it is flightless.

 

Diet

 

King penguins eat various species of small fish, squid, and krill. Fish constitute roughly 80% of their diet, except in the winter months of July and August, when they make up only around 30%. Lanternfish are the main fish taken, principally the species Electrona carlsbergi and Krefftichthys anderssoni, as well as Protomyctophum tenisoni. Slender escolar (Paradiplospinus gracilis) of the Gempylidae, and Champsocephalus gunneri, is also consumed. Cephalopods consumed include those of the genus Moroteuthis, the hooked squid or Moroteuthopsis longimana, the sevenstar flying squid (Martialia hyadesii), young Gonatus antarcticus, and Onychoteuthis species.

 

Predators

The king penguin's predators include other seabirds and aquatic mammals:

 

Giant petrels take many chicks of all sizes and some eggs. They will also occasionally kill adult king penguins, but very likely mostly sick or injured birds. Giant petrels also scavenge adult king penguins and chicks which have died from other causes.

Skua species (Stercorarius spp.) take smaller chicks and eggs. Some studies may have overstated the effect skua predation has on king penguin colonies, but large numbers of chicks and eggs are taken in areas where skua nest close to penguin colonies.

The snowy sheathbill (Chionis alba) and kelp gull (Larus dominicanus) scavenge for dead chicks and unattended eggs.

The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) takes adult birds and fledglings at sea.

Orcas also hunt king penguins.

Male and especially pre-adult male Antarctic fur seals on Marion Island have also been observed chasing, killing, and eating king penguins on the beach.

Courtship and breeding

 

The king penguin is able to breed at three years of age, although only a very small minority (5% recorded at Crozet Islands) actually do then; the average age of first breeding is around 5–6 years. King penguins are serially monogamous. They have only one mate each year, and stay faithful to that mate. However, fidelity between years is less than 30%. The unusually long breeding cycle probably contributes to this low rate.

 

The king penguin has an extremely prolonged breeding cycle, taking around 14–16 months from laying to offspring fledging. Although pairs will attempt to breed annually, they are generally only successful one year in two, or two years in three in a triennial pattern in South Georgia. The reproductive cycle begins in September to November, as birds return to colonies for a prenuptial moult. Those that were unsuccessful in breeding the previous season will usually arrive earlier. They then return to the sea for around three weeks before coming ashore in November or December.

 

The female penguin lays one pyriform (pear-shaped) white egg weighing 300 g (⅔ lb). It is initially soft but hardens and darkens to a pale greenish colour. It measures around 10 cm × 7 cm (3.9 in × 2.8 in). The egg is incubated for around 55 days with both birds sharing incubation in shifts of 6–18 days each. Like the closely related emperor penguin, the king penguin balances the egg on its feet and incubates it in a "brood pouch".

 

Hatching may take up to 2–3 days to complete and chicks are born semi-altricial and nidicolous. In other words, they have only a thin covering of down, and are entirely dependent on their parents for food and warmth. The guard phase begins with the hatching of the chick. Similar to the emperor penguin, the young king penguin chick spends its time balanced on its parents' feet, sheltered in the brood pouch formed from the abdominal skin of the latter. During this time, the parents alternate every 3–7 days, one guarding the chick while the other forages for food. The guard phase lasts for 30–40 days. By then the chick has grown much larger and is better able to both keep warm and protect itself against most predators. King chicks are very curious and will wander far when exploring their surroundings. The chicks form a group, called a crèche and are watched over by only a few adult birds; most parents leave their chick in these crèches to forage for themselves and their chick. Other species of penguins also practice this method of communal care for offspring.

 

By April, the chicks are almost fully grown but lose weight by fasting over the winter months, gaining it again during spring in September. Fledging then takes place in late spring/early summer.

 

King penguins form huge breeding colonies; for example, the colony on South Georgia Island at Salisbury Plain holds over 100,000 breeding pairs and the colony at St. Andrew's Bay holds over 100,000 birds. Because of the very long breeding cycle, colonies are continuously occupied year-round with both adult birds and chicks. During breeding, king penguins do not build nests, although they show strong territorial behaviour and keep a pecking distance to neighbouring penguins. Penguin positions in breeding colonies are highly stable over weeks and appear regularly spaced.

 

The king penguin feeds its chicks by eating fish, digesting it slightly, and regurgitating the food into the chick's mouth.

 

Because of their large size, king penguin chicks take 14–16 months before they are ready to go to sea. This is markedly different from smaller penguins, who rear their chicks through a single summer when food is plentiful. King penguins time their mating so the chicks will develop over the harshest season for fishing. In this way, by the time the young penguins are finally mature enough to leave their parents, it is summer when food is plentiful and conditions are more favorable for the young to survive alone at sea.

 

Conservation

Impact of climate change

Further information: Climate change and birds

70% of king penguins are expected to abruptly disappear in less than eighty years. Considered sensitive indicators of changes in marine ecosystems, king penguins serve as a key species for understanding the effects of climate change on the marine biome, especially throughout the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic areas.

 

King penguins primarily feed at the Antarctic Convergence, which provides 80% of their food biomass. King penguins currently travel 300–500 km over the course of over a week to complete the journey. However, ocean warming could easily move these fronts further away from breeding grounds. Continuous ocean warming could cause the convergence zone to move polewards, away from king penguin breeding sites like the Falklands and the Crozet Islands. It has been suggested that if carbon emissions continue to rise at their current rate, king penguins will need to travel an additional 200 km in order to reach their feeding areas. Breeding grounds will also suffer from the rise of emissions. Nearly half of the total population will likely lose their breeding grounds by the year 2100.

 

Resource competition

King penguins are also threatened by large-scale commercial fishing that could deplete their main source of food: myctophid fish. Over 200,000 tons of myctophid fish were commercially exploited by the beginning of the 1990s in the South Georgia region. Ongoing attempts to further develop this fishery for human consumption close to key penguin foraging areas are likely to have negative impacts on food provisioning.

 

Research and management

 

The Pew Charitable Trust recommends the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) implement "large-scale, fully protected marine reserves in the waters surrounding Antarctica." The Trust also recommends precautionary management of the Antarctic krill fishery in order to protect king penguins' main source of food. The CCAMLR is made up of 24 countries (plus the European Union), among those are the United States and China, that withhold the authority to enact such protective measures. It has also been suggested that in conservation modeling, special attention be paid to the southernmost breeding locations, given the predicted rise in water temperature in the Southern Ocean, and that complete regular censuses of breeding populations be carried out to detect temporal trends and environmental changes.

 

The species is classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. Since 2004, the IUCN has reported that the population size is large and has increased its breeding rates. Adult king penguins have maintained high survival rates since the 1970s. The steady population of king penguins is due largely to current conservation efforts to protect nesting habitats. Ecotourism and public access to all king penguin breeding sites are heavily restricted in order to prevent outbreaks of disease and general disturbance. All of the colonies in Crozet and Kerguelen Islands are protected under the oversight of the Reserve Naturelle Nationales des Terres australes et Antarctiques Françaises. Additionally, South Georgian penguins reside in a "special protected area within the Environmental Management Plan for South Georgia." And in the Falklands, all wildlife—including the king penguin—is protected under the Conservation of Wildlife and Nature Bill of 1999.

 

In captivity

Considered a flagship species, 176 individuals were counted in captivity in North American zoos and aquaria in 1999. The species is exhibited at SeaWorld Orlando, Indianapolis Zoo, Detroit Zoo, Saint Louis Zoo, Kansas City Zoo, Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky, Edinburgh Zoo and Birdland in the United Kingdom, Berlin Zoological Garden in Germany, Zurich Zoo and Zoo Basel in Switzerland, Diergaarde Blijdorp in the Netherlands, Antwerp Zoo in Belgium, 63 Seaworld in Seoul, South Korea, Melbourne Aquarium in Australia, Mar del Plata Aquarium in Argentina, Loro Parque in Spain and Ski Dubai in United Arab Emirates, Calgary Zoo and the Montreal Biodome in Canada, Odense Zoo in Denmark, Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, Japan, and many other collections.

 

Notable king penguins

Major General Sir Nils Olav, the Edinburgh-based mascot and colonel-in-chief of the Royal Norwegian Guard

Misha, a central character and metaphor in two novels by Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov

The king penguin is also the species of penguin represented by the popular character Pondus, an image found on various paraphernalia in many retail stores throughout Canada. Pondus originates in Danish children's books written and photographed by Ivar Myrhøj and published in 1997 by Lademann publisher in the late 1960s. These penguins appeared in the production of Batman Returns.

Lala the Penguin became a viral video star after an Animal Planet special featured him venturing to a nearby market in Japan to fetch a fish with a specially made backpack. Lala had been accidentally caught by a fisherman. The fisherman and his family nursed Lala back to health and then adopted him as a pet.

Exploitant : Transdev TVO

Réseau : R'Bus (Argenteuil)

Ligne : 8

Lieu : Gare d'Argenteuil (Argenteuil, F-95)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/34654

The Exploits River is one of four large rivers that drain central Newfoundland. In the historic past, it served as the main route taken by the Beothuk Indians on their travels to the coast for the summer and to the interior for the fall caribou hunt and their winter camps.

 

This image was taken using a graduated neutral density filter to handle the extreme in tones.

 

A rain shower is approaching from the left.

Exploitant : Keolis Dijon Mobilités

Réseau : Divia

Ligne : L7

Lieu : Chevigny (Chevigny-Saint-Sauveur, F-21)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/vehicule/35251

suffer from misuse and abuse

arte.tv/hellfest

© Cha Gonzalez

Exploiting the inverting tool, I made dynamic frames dissecting my model.

Ligne T10 - Arrêt : La Croix de Berny

Exploitant : RD Bièvre

Réseau IDF Mobilités – Bièvre

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

During the 1950s Douglas Aircraft studied a short- to medium-range airliner to complement their higher capacity, long range DC-8 (DC stands for “Douglas Commercial”). A medium-range four-engine Model 2067 was studied, but it did not receive enough interest from airlines and was subsequently abandoned. The idea was not dead, though, and, in 1960, Douglas signed a two-year contract with Sud Aviation for technical cooperation. Douglas would market and support the Sud Aviation Caravelle and produce a licensed version if airlines ordered large numbers. None were ordered and Douglas returned to its own design studies after the cooperation deal expired.

 

Towards late 1961, several design studies were already underway and various layouts considered. Initial plans envisioned a compact aircraft, powered by two engines, a gross weight of 69,000 lb (31,300 kg) and a capacity of 60-80 passengers. The aircraft was to be considerably smaller than Boeing’s 727, which was under development at that time, too, so that it would fill a different market niche. However, Douglas did not want to be late again, just as with the DC-8 versus the 707, so the development of the “small airliner” was soon pushed into two directions.

 

One of the development lines exploited the recent experience gathered through the cooperation with Sud Aviation, and the resulting aircraft shared the Caravelle’s general layout with a pair of the new and more economical Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbofan engines mounted to the rear fuselage and high-set horizontal stabilizers. Unlike the competing but larger Boeing 727 trijet, which used as many 707 components as possible, this aircraft, which should become the highly successful DC-9, was an all-new design with a potentially long development time.

 

This was a major business risk, and in order to avoid the market gap and loss of market shares to Boeing, a second design was driven forward, too. It copied Boeing’s approach for the 727: take a proven design and re-use as many proven and existing components as possible to create a new airliner. This aircraft became the DC-8/2, better known as the “Dash Two” or just “Dasher”. This aircraft heavily relied on DC-8 components – primarily the fuselage and the complete tail section, as well as structures and elements of the quad-airliner’s wings, landing gear and propulsion system. Even the engines, a pair of JT3D turbofans in underwing nacelles, were taken over from the DC-8-50 which currently came from Douglas’ production line.

 

The DC-8’s fuselage was relatively wide for such a compact airliner, and its inside width of 138.25 in (351.2 cm) allowed a six-abreast seating, making the passenger cabin relatively comfortable (the DC-9 developed in parallel had a narrower fuselage and offered only five-abreast seating). In fact, the Dash Two’s cabin layout initially copied many DC-8 elements like a spacious 1st class section with 12 seats, eight of them with wide benches facing each other in a kind of lounge space instead of single seats. The standard coach section comprised 66 seats with a luxurious 38” pitch. This together with the relatively large windows from the DC-8, created a roomy atmosphere.

 

Douglas decided to tailor the Dash Two primarily to the domestic market: in late 1962, market research had revealed that the original 60-80 seat design was too small to be attractive for North American airlines. In consequence, the Dash Two’s cabin layout was redesigned into a more conventional layout with 12 single 1st class seat in the first three rows (four abreast) plus 84 2nd class seats in fifteen rows (the last row with only four seats), so that the Dash Two’s standard passenger capacity grew to 100 seats in this standard layout and a maximum of 148 seats in a tight, pure economy seating. The needs of airlines from around the world, esp. from smaller airlines, were expected to be covered by the more sophisticated and economical DC-9.

 

Douglas gave approval to produce the DC-8 Dash Two in January 1963, followed by the decision to work seriously on the DC-9 in April of the same year. While this was a double burden, the Dash Two was regarded as a low risk project and somewhat as a stopgap solution until the new DC-9 would be ready. Until 1964, when the first prototype made its maiden flight, Douglas expected orders for as many as 250 aircraft from American and Canadian airlines. Launch customers included Delta Airlines and Braniff International (10 each with options for 20 and 6 more, respectively) and Bonanza Air Lines (4). Despite this limited number, production was started, since no completely new production line had to be built up – most of the Dash Two’s assembly took place in the DC-8 plant and with the same jigs and tools.

 

Two versions of the DC-8/2 were offered from the start. Both were powered by JT3D-1 engines, but differed in details. The basic version without water injection was designated DC-8/2-10 (or “Dash Two-Ten”). A second version featured the same engines with water injection for additional thrust and a slightly (3 ft/91 cm) extended wing span. This was offered in parallel as the -20 for operations in “hot and high” environments and for a slightly higher starting weight. Unlike the DC-8, no freight version was offered.

 

However, even though the Dash Two was designed for short to medium routes, its origins from a big, international airliner resulted in some weak points. For instance, the aircraft did not feature useful details like built-in airstairs or an APU that allowed operations from smaller airports with less ground infrastructure than the major airports. In fact, the Dash Two was operationally more or less confined to routes between major airports, also because it relied heavily on DC-8 maintenance infrastructure and ground crews.

 

Even though the Dash Two had a good timing upon market entry, many smaller airlines from the American continent remained hesitant, so that further sales quickly stalled. Things got even worse when the smaller, lighter and brand-new DC-9 entered the short-haul market and almost completely cannibalized Douglas’ Dash Two sales. Boeing’s new 737 was another direct competitor, and foreign players like the British BAC One-Eleven had entered the American market, too, despite political influence to support domestic products.

 

Even though the Dash Two was quite popular among its passengers and crews (it was, for its class, comfortable and handled well), the Dash Two turned out to be relatively expensive to operate, despite the many similarities with the DC-8. By 1970, only 62 aircraft had been sold. In an attempt to modernize the Dash Two’s design and make it more attractive, an upgraded version was presented in May 1971. It featured a slightly stretched fuselage for a passenger capacity of 124 (vs. 100 in the standard layout, total maximum of 162) and was powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney JT8D-11 turbofan engines, capable of generating up to 6800 kg of thrust. This version was designated -30, but it did not find any takers in the crowded mid-range market. The DC-8/2 was already outdated.

 

Therefore, a half-hearted plan to replace the Dash Two -10 and -20’s JT3D engines as -40 series with more fuel-efficient 22,000 lb (98.5 kN) CFM56-2 high-bypass turbofans, together with new nacelles and pylons built by Grumman Aerospace as well as new fairings of the air intakes below the nose, never left the drawing board, despite a similar update for the DC-8 was developed and offered. Douglas had given up on the DC-8/2 and now concentrated on the DC-9 family.

Another blow against the aircraft came in the early 1970s: legislation for aircraft noise standards was being introduced in many countries. This seriously affected the Dash Two with its relatively loud JT3D engines, too, and several airlines approached Douglas (by then merged with McDonnell into McDonnell Douglas) for noise reduction modifications, but nothing was done. Third parties had developed aftermarket hushkits for the Dash Two, actually adapted from DC-8 upgrades, but beyond this measure there was no real move to keep the relatively small DC-8/2 fleet in service. In consequence, Dash Two production was stopped in 1974, with 77 aircraft having been ordered, but only 66 were ever delivered (most open orders were switched to DC-9s). By 1984 all machines had been retired.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 3 (+ 3 flight attendants)

Length: 125 ft (38.16 m)

Wingspan: 105 ft 5 in (32.18 m)

Height: 42 ft 4 in (12.92 m)

Wing area: 1,970 sq ft (183 m2), 30° sweep

Empty weight: 96,562 lb (43,800 kg)

Gross weight: 172,181 lb (78,100 kg)

Fuel capacity: 46,297 lb (21,000 kg) normal; 58,422 lb (26,500 kg) maximum

Cabin width: 138.25 in (351.2 cm)

Two-class seats: 100 (12F@38" + 88Y@34")

Single-class seats: 128@34", maximum of 148 in pure economy setup

 

Powerplant:

2× Pratt & Whitney JT3D-1 turbofan engines, delivering 17,000 lb (76.1 kN) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 590 mph (950 km/h; 510 kn)

Cruising speed: 470–530 mph (750–850 km/h; 400–460 kn) at 32,808–39,370 ft (10,000–12,000 m)

Range: 1,320 mi (2,120 km; 1,140 nmi) with 26,455 lb (12,000 kg) payload

and 12,456 lb (5,650 kg) fuel reserve

1,709 mi (2,750 km) with 17,968 lb (8,150 kg) payload

and 12,456 lb (5,650 kg) fuel reserve

Service ceiling: 39,000 ft (12,000 m)

Rate of climb: 2,000 ft/min (10 m/s)

Take-off run at MTOW: 7,218 ft (2,200 m)

Landing run at normal landing weight: 4,757–6,070 ft (1,450–1,850 m)

  

The kit and its assembly:

This model was originally intended to be my final contribution to the “More or less engines” group build at whatifmodelers.com in October 2019, but procurement problems and general lack of time towards the GB’s deadline made me postpone the build, so that I could take more time for a proper build and paintjob.

 

The idea behind it was simple: since the original DC-8 was stretched (considerably) in order to expand its passenger capacity from 177 to 289(!) passengers, why not go the other way around and reduce its dimensions for a short/medium range airliner with just two engines, as a kind of alternative to the Boeing 737?

 

The basis is the Minicraft 1:144 DC-8 kit, in this case the late release which comes only in a bag without a box or any decals and which depicts a late -60/70 series aircraft with the maximum fuselage length. Inside of the fuselage halves, markings show where these parts should be cut in order to take the plugs out for shorter, earlier variants. However, my plan would be more radical!

 

Shortening the fuselage sound simple, but several indirect aspects have to be taken into account. For instance, wingspan has to be reduced accordingly and the aircraft’s overall proportions as well as its potential center of gravity have to be plausible, too. Furthermore, landing gear and engines will have to be modified, too.

 

Several measures were taken in order to find good points where the fuselage could be cut for a maximum length reduction - after all, a LOT of material had to disappear for the twin-engine variant!

First, the fuselage was completed for a solid cutting base. I decided to take out a total of three plugs, with the plan to achieve a length somewhere near a late Boeing 737, even though this turned out to be more complicated and challenging than expected. All in all, the fuselage length was reduced from ~39cm to ~26.5cm. Less than I hoped for, but anything more would have ended in a total reconstruction of the wing root sections.

 

Two plugs are logical, the third one in the middle, only 1.5cm long, is less obvious. But since the wing span would be reduced, too, the wings' depth at the (new) roots was also reduced, so that the original DC-8 wing roots/fuselage intersections would not match anymore. The wings themselves were, also based on late Boeing 737 and Dassault Mercure measures, were cut at a position slightly inside of the inner engine pylon positions.

 

Re-construction started with the rear fuselage; I initially worked separately on the cockpit section, because I filled it with as much lead as possible, and it was connected with the rest of the hull when its three segments were already completed.

The Minicraft DC-8 is basically nice and has good fit, but I found a weak spot: the fin's leading edge. Like on Minicarft’s 727's wings, which I recently built, it's virtually flat. It just looks weird if not awful, so I sculpted a more rounded edge with putty. Since the small air intakes under the radome are open, I added an internal visual block in the form of black foamed styrene.

 

The JT3D nacelles were taken OOB from the Minicraft kit, I used the inner pair because of the shorter pylons. They were attached under the wings in a new position, slightly outside of the original inner engine pair and of the main landing gear. The latter was modified, too: instead of the DC-8’s four-wheel bogies I used a pair of Boeing 727 struts and twin wheels, left over from the recent build. These were attached to 1.5 mm high consoles, so that the stance on the ground became level and mounted into newly cut well openings in the inner wings. The front wheel was taken OOB from the DC-8. I was a little skeptical concerning the main landing gear’s relative position (due to the wing sweep, it might have ended up too far forward), but IMHO the new arrangement looks quite fine, esp. with the engines in place, which visually shift the model’s center of gravity forward. I just had to shorten the engine pylons by maybe 2mm, because the lack of dihedral on the DC-8’s outer wing sections considerably reduce ground clearance for the engines, despite the added consoles to the landing gear. However, all in all the arrangement looks acceptable.

 

For the model’s in-flight pics, and also for the application of the final varnish coat, I added a ventral, vertical styrene tube in the model’s center of gravity as a display holder/adapter. Due to the massive lead weight in the nose, the adapter’s position ended up in front of the wing roots!

  

Painting and markings:

I usually do not build civil airliners, so I took the occasion to represent a design icon: the “flying Colors” livery of Braniff International Airlines from the early Seventies. Braniff featured several bright liveries, but my personal favorite is the simple one with uniform fuselages in varying bold colors, mated with simple, white fins, engine nacelles and wing areas.

 

This choice was also influenced by the fact that 26decals offers a 1:144 sheet for Braniff DC-8s of this era (remember: the bagged Minicraft kit comes without any decal sheet at all). Choosing a color was a long process. Bright red or orange were initial favorites, but the recent 727 already had orange markings, so I rather favored blue, green or even purple. I eventually settled on a light lime green, which has a high shock value and also offers a good contrast to the Braniff markings and the windows. A tone called “Lime Green” was actually an official Braniff tone (check this great overview: web.archive.org/web/20050711080200/http://www.geocities.c..., a great source provided by 26decals in the context oft he decal sheet I used, see below). But my intention was not to authentically replicate it – I rather just wanted a bright color for the model, and I like green.

 

The basic color I used is simple Humbrol 38 (Lime), which was applied with a brush after the wing areas had been painted in white (Humbrol 22) and aluminum (various shades, including Humbrol 11 and Revell 99). The characteristic black area around the cockpit glazing was created with mix of decals and paint, the silver ventral areas were painted with Humbrol’s Polished Aluminum Metallizer. The fin’s and the stabilizers’ leading edges were created with silver decal sheet material (TL Modellbau), grey and silver bits of similar material were used for some small details on the wings.

 

As already mentioned, the decals, including all windows, come from a 26decals sheet. Due to the reduced length, the windows’ and doors’ position and numbers had to be improvised. But thanks to the relatively simple livery design without cheatlines or other decorative elements, this was an easy task. Finally, the model received an overall coat of gloss acrylic varnish from the rattle can.

  

Just like my recent Boeing 727 with four engines, this conversion appears simple at first sight, but the execution caused some headaches. The biggest problem was the reduced depth of the shortened wings and how to mount then to the fuselage – but the attempt to take an additional fuselage plug away was an effective move that also helped to reduce overall length.

I am astonished how modern and plausible this shortened DC-8 looks. While building, the aircraft constantly reminded me of the Tupolev Tu-104 airliner, until the engines were added and it now resembled an Airbus A320!

Melle was known already during Roman times, when silver and lead were mined here. The silver mines were exploited over hundreds of years, got forgotten and "rediscovered" in the 19th century. Today they are a tourist attraction. Melle was wealthy and the pilgrims, walking the Via Turonensis, passed through Melle on their way to Santiago, what brought even more money into town.

 

Churches were erected during the heydays of the pilgrimage. Three (!) Romanesque churches can still be found here. Melle must have been a large building site within the 12th century, with hundreds of construction worker and dozends of carvers.

 

An oratory, dedicated to St. Peter, was existing here around 950 in the center of a Carolingian cementary. This humble chapel was dependent from the mighty Benedictine abbey of Saint-Maixent (25kms north). This small structure got extended and enlarged in two stages during the early 12th century. The choir with the nicely decorated chapels and transept form the oldest existing part.

 

The church was set on fire and defaced during the Wars of Religions. After the French Revolution this was the meeting place for the assemblies of the inhabitants. Prosper Mérimée initiated the restaurations undertaken from 1855 on.

 

The stair to the gallery was not locked, so I could take the photo from this vantage point. There are some interesting capitals, that can be easily seen from the galery. One of them depicts the "Burial of Jesus". While there are many icons about the "Empty Tomb", the burial is not often seen.

  

Mark 15: 42-46

 

"It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb."

 

Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset

"For sale"

 

Dushanbe airport (Tajikistan 2008)

 

Website : www.fluidr.com/photos/pat21

picssr.com/photos/pat21?ref=user

 

"Copyright © – Patrick Bouchenard

The reproduction, publication, modification, transmission or exploitation of any work contained here in for any use, personal or commercial, without my prior written permission is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved."

Plaque beneath this image of Jimmy Melrose reads:-

“Charles James (Jimmy) Melrose (1913–1936)

During the glamorous mid 1930s, few rivalled the celebrity of charismatic South Australian aviator Jimmy Melrose. Image a young 19 year old boy, 6 feet tall, blue eyes, unruly blond hair with a freckled face.

 

Born in Burnside and raised here on Glenelg’s Esplanade at Glenwood Mansions (now Melrose Apartments) Jimmy captivated the world with his aviation exploits across the globe.

He established several Australian flying records and set world records, all within 3 short years.

In August 1934 Jimmy flew his DH Puss Moth, affectionately named ‘My Hildergarde’ 8,000 miles (12,875 km) solo around Australia.

This slashed the previous record by 2 days to 5 days, 10 hours, 57 minutes.

 

Tragically, on 3 July 1936, aged 22, Jimmy died on a charter flight from Melbourne to Darwin when his Heston Phoenix broke up over South Melton, Victoria in turbulent conditions.

His death sent shock waves around the world as people mourned their chivalrous young knight of the air.”

 

*Jimmy Melrose was the youngest competitor in the 1934 MacRobertson Trophy London-Melbourne air race in October 1934 and the only Australian to finish the race. He made the record solo flight in 8 days and 9 hours coming third on handicap.

 

The event was held in 1934: dreamt up by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Harold Smith to celebrate Victoria’s centenary. It was sponsored by the Melbourne chocolate manufacturer Sir MacPherson Robertson, to test the feasibility of scheduled air services between Europe and Australia.

 

In 1936 Melrose was killed when his Heston Phoenix monoplane VH–AJM disintegrated in mid air at Melton South, Victoria. The tragedy was reported world-wide in the media at the time.

 

*Jimmy Melrose’s memorial is located on the edge of the Stirling Centenary Oval and was handed over to the District Council of Stirling. There was an infantile paralysis epidemic at the time and an unveiling was considered unwise.

It was erected by public subscription: Melrose was once a resident of the district. Of the £101 cost, £22 was raised by children of the following schools Stirling East, Bridgewater, Aldgate, Mylor, Scotts Creek, Heathfield, Upper Sturt and Crafers. [Ref: Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser 10-3-1938]

 

*Melrose Killed when Plane Crashes

MACHINE BURST INTO FRAGMENTS

Was on flight to Darwin

MR A G CAMPBELL ALSO A VICTIM

Charles James Melrose, 22, of Glenelg, Australia’s most popular airman, and Alexander George Campbell, 47 of Brighton, Victoria, who had a distinguished career as a soldier and as a mining engineer, were killed instantly when Melrose’s Heston Phoenix high-wing monoplane broke to pieces in dense clouds and crashed at South Melton, Victoria on Sunday morning.

 

They were on their way from Melbourne to Parafield on the stage of a flight to Darwin. Miss Lily Melrose, a cousin of the aviator, was about to leave Adelaide for the flying field to join the fliers when she received news of the fatality.

 

The wreckage was found over an area of two square miles, and the bodies of the two men were 400 yards apart.

 

Warm tributes were paid to the young airman by the Prime Minister (Mr Lyons), and by the Premier (Mr Butler), who recently took the air for the first time with Melrose as his pilot.

 

Melrose's place in the affection of South Australians was strikingly evidenced when the news was received. Mention of his death was made in many churches, and the Government immediately decided to arrange for a State funeral, subject to the approval of Mrs Melrose.

 

The tragedy of the disaster was increased by the fact that Mr Campbell had intended originally to go to Adelaide by train and join Mr Melrose there. Mr Melrose, however, flew his mother to Melbourne on Thursday for a holiday visit and then waited to fly Mr Campbell to Adelaide.

 

Mr Campbell had chartered Mr Melrose's machine on behalf of a syndicate of Melbourne and Adelaide business men. He intended to fly to Darwin, where he was to inspect gold mining areas at Pine Creek. He expected to be away for between 10 and 14 days.

 

The party was to comprise Miss Lily Melrose, cousin of Mr Melrose, and Mr O V Roberts, both of Adelaide, who intended to make the flight an opportunity for a holiday. Mr J Smith Roberts, a mining expert, was to be picked up at Tennant Creek.

 

Mrs Melrose went to the scene of tragedy and she wished to see her son's body at the City Morgue, but she was suffering from such prostration that it was considered inadvisable for her to do so.

The body was identified by the manager of the Oriental Hotel.

A watch which Mr Melrose was wearing had stopped at 8.34 am, indicating the time of the crash. A police wireless patrol prevented the souveniring of fragments from the main wreckage.

 

On the way to the Essendon aerodrome Mr Melrose and Mr Campbell were in high spirits, joking and discussing the projected flight to Darwin.

Mr Campbell had travelled in a taxi cab from his home in Brighton, and joined Mr Melrose at the Oriental Hotel, Collins street.

 

Light rain was sweeping over the aerodrome when they arrived, and Mr R Hart, of the Hart Aircraft Service Pty, Ltd, in whose hangar Mr Melrose had left his plane, advised Mr Melrose not to fly because of the inclement weather.

 

Mr Melrose had on Saturday postponed his flight because of the bad flying conditions, and when he saw a break in the clouds this morning he decided to make the flight, as he wished to reach Oodnadatta before night. He told Mr Hart that he expected to reach Port Augusta or Adelaide in three hours by flying at a height of 3,000 feet above the clouds.

 

Ascending toward a patch of clear sky, the machine reached a height of about 2,500 feet before it passed out of sight of the party on the aerodrome. Apparently Mr Melrose experienced difficulty in finding the break in the clouds, because the time which the machine took to travel the 15 miles to South Melton - 24 minutes - indicates that he spent some time searching for a clear sky.

 

Residents of South Melton saw the machine emerge from low-lying clouds above the railway station. Almost immediately there was a loud roar and many fragments were seen falling from the machine and drifting in the wind.

 

The engine and most of the fuselage spun at a steep angle toward the ground, while the starboard wing drifted in another direction towards the Toolern Creek, and hundreds of smaller fragments were carried by the wind to paddocks near the Ballarat road, which is about a mile and a half from the scene of the crash.

 

The two occupants were hurled out of the machine, but so many fragments were falling that none of the residents was certain of having seen them fall.

Mr Melrose's body was found on the southern end of the gorge of the Toolern Creek, about 50 yards from the engine, and the remnants of the fuselage, while Mr Campbell's body was found about 400 yards away in a paddock on the north side of the gorge. Both men had been killed instantly.

 

The two petrol tanks were found on different sides of the gorge. Tools and luggage were on the cliffs or in the flooded creek, and innumerable pieces of wood and fabric were scattered over an area of nearly two square miles to the north of the creek.

 

The desperate thoughts which must have passed through the minds of the victims in the few seconds before the crash were indicated by the condition of the safety belts. The pin had been drawn to release one safety belt, but in the other belt the pin was bent but still in the socket.

Apparently Mr Campbell had undone his belt so that, if he survived the crash, he could crawl from the machine.

Mr Melrose, who was probably struggling with the controls, apparently did not have time to withdraw the pin of his belt, consequently Mr Campbell was hurled further from the plane than Mr Melrose.

 

A close examination of the area over which the wreckage was strewn was made by the Air Accidents Investigation Committee soon after the tragedy.

The committee has no theory of the cause of the crash at present, but it is understood that it has reached several interesting conclusions.

 

From the range and position of the fragments it is considered possible that the machine disintegrated while it was in a wide spin with the engine running. If the spin was fast enough the strain might have caused the machine to collapse.

 

Because the port wing was found much farther from the engine and fuselage than the starboard wing, it is considered probable that the port wing was the first to crumple. The machine would then have become wholly out of control, and the increased strain would have quickly caused the collapse of the other wing, the tailplane, and other light parts of the machine.

 

The breaking up of the machine was described by Mr. Edward Wickham, of Melton South, who was gathering wood in the back yard of his home.

“For some time I heard the drone of an aeroplane in the clouds,' he said, 'but I could not see it. The clouds were low and a strong southerly wind was driving misty rain. Suddenly there was a roar and the plane came spinning out of the clouds. Just as it came into full view, the machine appeared to burst into fragments and the roar stopped.

“The engine and fuselage hurtled at a fairly steep angle towards the ground, but the other fragments drifted quite slowly with the wind and fell in the paddocks between the Toolern Creek and the Ballarat Road.

“With three other residents, I ran over the paddocks. We lifted the refuse expecting to find someone beneath, but no one was there. Then we searched among the rocks at the edge of the gorge and we found Mr Melrose lying shockingly injured on two flat rocks, just below the top of the cliff about 50 yards from the wreckage. Mr Campbell's body was then found on the other side of the gorge.”

 

Although Mr Campbell had flown many miles on mining business, his wife did not like his flying, and had tried to dissuade him from continuing it. He insured his life for £2,000 for the period of the flight to Darwin.

 

“I regret exceedingly to learn that yet another of Australia's great airmen has passed away,” said the Prime Minister (Mr Lyons).

“In his brief flying career, Melrose won considerable fame,” continued Mr Lyons. “Not the least of his achievements was his skilful search for Sir Charles Kingsford Smith last year. Australia loses a chivalrous young knight of the air whom it can ill afford to lose.

“The sympathy of all the Australian people will, I feel sure, go to his devoted mother.”

 

Before the evensong service at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, the organist (Dr A E Floyd) extemporised in the form of a threnody.

The Precentor (Rev Oliver Hole) announced that, in view of the sudden and tragic death of a brave young airman, the anthem had been changed. The choir sang the Memorial Anthem by Sir George Elvey from the Book of Wisdom:— “The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God: in the sight of the unwise they seem to die, but they are in peace.” [Ref: Chronicle (Adelaide) Thursday 9 July 1936]

 

* MELROSE'S MEMORY HONOURED

Crowds Attend Mourning Services In Two Cathedrals

Moving tributes were paid in Melbourne and Adelaide yesterday to the memory of Mr C J Melrose, who was killed when his plane crashed at South Melton, Victoria, on Sunday. Melrose's body was cremated at the necropolis, Springvale. Melbourne, yesterday afternoon.

The ceremony was preceded by a simple service in St Paul's Cathedral, which was crowded. The Archbishop of Melbourne (Dr Head), in his address, referred to "this boy, who was so wonderfully young and so attractive in personality, that he can only be called just lovable”.

 

Adelaide mourned the loss of Melrose at a special memorial service in St Peter's Cathedral which, at the request of the aviator's mother, synchronised with the funeral service in Melbourne.

As the crowds left the Cathedral after an inspiring address by the Bishop of Adelaide (Dr Thomas), three Royal Aero Club machines soared overhead in a last tribute to the club's distinguished member.

Tributes were paid and the sittings of both Houses of Parliament were suspended, the Assembly rising until the evening. [Ref: Advertiser (Adelaide), Wednesday 8 July 1936]

 

*LONDON, July 5

The news of the death of Melrose has caused sorrow in aviation circles. Mr Pemberton Billing, the uncle of Melrose, said:— “What a rotten shame. Jimmie was a protege of mine, and always stayed with me. I do not know what his mother will do now. When Jimmie was here, his thoughts were always with his mother, in Adelaide”.

 

The Agent-General for South Australia (Mr McCann) who bade farewell to Melrose when he flew to Australia in April, says:— “I am dreadfully sorry. He was one of the most charming men it was possible to meet”. [Ref: Chronicle 9-7-1936]

 

*SIMPLE SERVICE IN MELBOURNE

St Pauls Cathedral Crowded July 7

Simplicity marked James Melrose's funeral today. There was no display, the only uniform to be seen being that worn by the officer representing the Air Board.

Long before the service in St Paul's Cathedral was timed to begin, all the available pews were occupied, and knots of silent people gathered in Flinders street.

Inside the Cathedral, the coffin of dark wood rested on a bier of flowers in the choir. Placed on it were only two wreaths, one of laurels from the dead airman's mother, and the other of purple flowers and dark green leaves, inscribed simply ''From Rosebank." [Rosebank has been the station home of Mr Melrose's family in South Australia for nearly a century.]

 

"We have come together today in very sad circumstances,” Archbishop Head said. "Your first thought will be of sadness and terribleness of such an event, and how frightful it is that so precious a life should have been cut off so suddenly.

 

After another hymn, the blessing was pronounced by Archbishop Head from the altar, and the congregation stood while Beethoven's "Funeral March on the Death of a Hero" was played.

 

Then the coffin was carried along the aisle down which Melrose had walked on the day he finished the Centenary air race to Evensong. The people in the crowded street stood bareheaded and silent. Through the suburbs, where streets were lined by children from the schools, the procession passed, and along the Prince's Highway to Springvale. Six planes circled overhead.

The service was brief. The last prayers were offered by Archbishop Head.

The chief mourners were Mr Melrose's mother and his cousins, Mr Melrose MP, and Mrs Melrose, and Miss L M Melrose, all of South Australia, and Mr Brian and Mr F Hickling, of Melbourne (second cousins).

 

Those who attended included Mr Schofield MHR (representing the Prime Minister and Commonwealth Government). Mr Hyland MLA, and Major H A F Wilkinson (representing the Premier and State Government), Mr McIntosh (South Australian Commissioner of Crown Lands and Minister of Repatriation), and Mr Young MLC, (representing the Premier and Government of South Australia), Mr J D Malcolm (NZ), Mr F Emerson (Queensland), Mr L F Bruce (Tasmania), Flight-Lieutenant C S Wiggins (Air Board), Mr R Bennett (Lord Mayor of Melbourne), Mr J W Collins (Australian Aerial Medical Services), Mr B Bremner (Australian Broadcasting Commission), and Mr A P Bevan (Elder, Smith & Co, Ltd, Adelaide).

The pallbearers were the Director-General of Civil Aviation (Captain E C Johnston). Mr T P Manifold (the Aero Clubs of Australia), Mr F Penny (Shell Company of Australia), Mr G R Lamprell (South Australian Government representative), Mr E H Chaseing (Holyman’s Airways), and Mr R Hart.

 

Mr Melrose MP, who is remaining in Melbourne with Mrs James Melrose, said tonight that she had no plans for the future.

It had been arranged, he said, that she should go to Sydney and wait there for her son to join her after his flight to Darwin, but it was now impossible to say what her movements would be or her plans for the future. In the meantime, she would remain in Melbourne.

 

At the funeral, Mrs Melrose wore a brown costume, a fur, and a green hat with a black armband. She thought that her son would have preferred that she wear the colours in which he liked her best.

 

Telegrams were received from persons in all parts of the world, including the Governor-General (Lord Gowrie) and Lady Gowrie, the Governor of South Australia (Sir Winston Dugan), the Prime Minister (Mr Lyons), and the Minister for Health (Mr Hughes). [Ref: Advertiser (Adelaide) Wednesday 8 July 1936:

 

* On his return today from Melbourne, where he represented the State at the memorial service in St Paul's Cathedral to the late Mr C J Melrose, the Commissioner of Crown Lands (Mr McIntosh) said that Melbourne's sorrow was a magnificent tribute to a wonderfully beloved young hero.

"Victoria had taken him to its heart equally with South Australia," said the Minister. "His fame in Melbourne was as renowned as in Adelaide. and his memory as dearly cherished”.

 

Mr McIntosh said that the cathedral was crowded long before the time for the commencement of the service, and thousands, unable to gain admission, congregated outside.

The route from the cathedral to the crematorium, a distance of 16 miles, was lined the whole way by thousands of citizens, who stood with heads bowed in final homage to a young hero, triumphant even in death.

The service at the crematorium, said Mr. McIntosh, was equally impressive as at the cathedral, and the wonderful fortitude and courage displayed by Mrs Melrose at both ceremonies provided an example and inspiration to all who mourned with her. There would be some solace for her in the wonderful tributes paid by the people to the memory of her son.

 

Combined with the deep sorrow for Mrs Melrose. there was a deep sympathy for Mrs A G Campbell and her young family in the death of Colonel Campbell, who was killed with Melrose. [Ref: News (Adelaide) 8-7-1936]

 

*Funeral of Mr A G Campbell

There were impressive scenes at the funeral of Mr Campbell.

Officers and men of the 8th Battalion, with whom Mr Campbell served in the Great War, and of the 39th Battalion, of which until recently he was Lieutenant-Colonel commanding, paid many touching tributes to his memory.

 

Every returned soldier present filed past the open grave and dropped his poppy on to the coffin, after which the whole gathering stood to attention as “Last Post” was sounded. [Ref: Chronicle 9-7-1936]

 

**From an article by Craig Cook, published in the Advertiser (Adelaide) 13 September 2013 –

The long lost possessions of world famous aviator Jimmy Melrose were recently discovered in Victoria. Among the items are his white leather flying helmet and documents signed by the aviator.

The possessions were given by his mother to Clive Hamer, who had dinner with Melrose the night before his last flight, and asked him to pack and store them. She never asked for their return. The artefacts were then passed on as part of the estate of a deceased relative, ending up with Wayne and Judy Perry of Victoria. Subsequently they were given to the South Australian Aviation Museum.

 

There also is a permanent exhibition of Melrose’s achievements at the Bay Discovery Centre in Glenelg. It is suitably entitled, Australia’s Forgotten Hero.

 

Such was Melrose’s fame at the time of his death the then state government of Sir Richard Butler considered a proposal to build him a memorial, to “fly over the city”, on Montefiore Hill. The idea was finally scrapped when the statue of Colonel Light, then situated in Victoria Square, was moved to the hill instead.

 

In the first clear sign the local hero’s story was already fading from history, Melrose failed to be recognised among the initial 170 “SA Greats”, that includes his uncle, Sir John Melrose, to have their name on a bronze plaque on the Jubilee 150 Walkway.

 

The Walkway, commissioned as part of the celebrations commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the state, was established along North Terrace in 1986. Fellow air pioneers, Sir Ross and Keith Smith are honoured but, despite the year being the 50th anniversary of Jimmy’s death, he missed out.

  

The greater irony is that Melrose had agreed to be a major attraction at the 100th anniversary of the founding of South Australia, distributing flyers in the lead-up and flying over Adelaide on the anniversary day, December 28, 1936. He died five months before the event.

 

An only child from a prosperous family, Jimmy Melrose grew-up with his mother, Hilda, in a grand house, on the Glenelg South esplanade. His prominent pastoralist father, James, had died in 1922 when his son was aged nine.

 

Throughout his life he had a fascination with the number 13, never regarding it as unlucky. It was both the date and year of his birth and the number of his imposing home, demolished in 1969.

 

A natural athlete, he exercised daily including a morning swim from the beach just outside his home. He was a fanatical early riser, neither smoked nor drank alcohol, and a devotee of the “Oslo lunch” that consisted of a wholemeal bread sandwich filled with cheese and salad, a glass of milk and an apple or other seasonal fruit.

 

While still a student at St Peter’s School he took flying lessons with the (Royal) Aero Club of South Australia at Parafield, gaining his licence at 19. As reward, his mother bought him his own plane, a DeH Puss Moth, which he named My Hildergarde, deliberately using 13 letters, in her honour.

 

In August 1934, aged 20, he flew 12,875km solo around Australia, reducing the previous record by almost two days, to five days, 10 hours, 57 minutes.

 

On his twenty-first birthday he left Parafield in his beloved Puss Moth for England, reaching Croydon in a record eight days, nine hours.

He became a global sensation, as the youngest entrant and only solo competitor, coming third, in the 1934 Centenary Air Race from England to Australia.

 

A dedicated diarist, he recorded the scenes as he left England: “Saturday 20 October 1934, the start of the greatest air race the world had ever seen. 60,000 people came around the aerodrome at Mildenhall at dawn. Thrilling is not the word: we raced across the countryside east of London, the Thames, the Channel off Dover. I shall never forget it!”

 

Soon after returning to Australia [After his search for the missing Sir Charles Kingsford Smith], and in his first major accident, Melrose crashed his Percival Gull, used in the search for Smith, at Penrose in New South Wales. Recovering quickly from severe injuries he sailed to England and flew back in a five-seater Heston Phoenix he intended to use to start the nation’s first flying taxi service.

 

An incredible crowd of 8000 assembled in Adelaide on Anzac Day, 1936, to greet him on his return. Just six weeks later he was dead.

 

In 1968, when his mother died, Jimmy Melrose’s ashes were buried with her at the North Road Anglican cemetery at Nailsworth, north of Adelaide.

 

There are some commemorations to the life and times of Jimmy Melrose. The suburbs of Melrose Park in South Australia and New South Wales, a look-out tower at the Glenelg Surf Life-Saving Club, Jimmy Melrose Park on the Glenelg foreshore and James Melrose Road bordering Adelaide airport are all named after him.

 

Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, where the 1934 Air Race began, has Charles Melrose Close and there is a simple inscribed cairn close to the fatal crash-site at Melton South.

    

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

Exploitant : Cars Lacroix

Réseau : Valoise

Ligne : 95-19

Lieu : Léon Feix (Argenteuil, F-95)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/20707

(RPI Book News) – What Art Spieglman’s Maus did for the graphic novel, The Hustitute aims to do for gay porn.

 

Just don’t call it gay porn.

 

So says Hieroynamus Cupid, author and illustrator of the massive 550-page graphic novel chronicling the exploits (and exploitation) of Ricky “Mr. Amazing” Marks – up-and-coming home theater salesman by day, down-and-dirty male prostitute by night.

 

For all his efforts, Cupid is getting slammed by critics at both ends.

 

“This is simply another attempt to promote the homosexual agenda and foist the gay lifestyle on our children,” says Henry Blamblather of the Family Values Council. “Let’s call it what it is. It’s a how-to manual for gay sex in comic book form, which makes it even more repugnant.”

 

At the opposite end of the spectrum comes this terse book review from Gay Today Magazine.

 

“The dialogue makes Rocky Balboa look like Noam Chomsky, the crudity of the drawings make Jack Chick look like Davinci, and the storyline is so appallingly out of touch with reality it makes the rantings of Ralph Reed sound downright authoritative. And as far as the hot and steamy sex scenes, frankly we’ve gotten more titillation out of a random episode of Will and Grace. So if that’s what you’re after, take your money and buy a Stallion Studios DVD. We rate this two willie’s down.”

 

On that count, Cupid said he made a conscious attempt to downplay the sexual content of the novel.

 

“I didn’t want it to be about gay sex. This isn’t porn. This is visual literature.” explains Cupid. “As it worked out the main character just happens to be an incredibly well-endowed, Adonis-like male prostitute. That’s just how the story played itself out.”

 

He says that at the start the project, he originally set out to tell the tale of how Helen Puddingbottoms, a small 6-year old girl in Ames, Iowa and her talking Cocker Spaniel “Lucky” rallied their hometown to stop the demolition of the ice cream & soda shop where her parents met..

 

“But when I started getting into it, the characters took on a life of their own,” he explains.

 

That claim somewhat strains credulity however when one reads the first 2 panes and sees how quickly the characters “took on a life of their own”.

 

Pane 1: “That could have been me. Helen Puddingbottoms and her dog Lucky. Just a girl and her dog walking past the ice cream soda shop down Main Street, Anytown, U.S.A.”

 

Pane 2: “Instead, I’m a male prostitute with the moniker ‘Mr. Amazing’ hustling johns in Alphabet City. And this is my steamy story…”

 

Hieronymus Cupid will be appearing this Friday for a book signing at the Midtown Barnes and Noble at 1:30 and followed by a 4:30 signing at Bob’s Beefhouse Book and Movie Emporium.

 

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

 

Band flier & graffiti on wall, 16th&South, Philadelphia, PA, manipulated

 

Imagine my disappointment after writing the above, do a search and find out that my imaginary graphic novel based on playing with this shot actually was real-life porn novel (but not a graphic novel!) from the 70’s called The Hustitute.. Actually, the shot is here.

 

The band’s from Philly and although I’ve never seen them, after checking out their myspace page I definitely want to. Give ‘em a listen.

 

Delhi.

Exploitant : Transdev TVO

Réseau : Bus en Seine

Lieu : Centre Opérationnel Bus d'Argenteuil (Argenteuil, F-95)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/27741

Catch up with my recent birding exploits at my blog page - stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Barnacle Goose at Gaddon Loch, Fife.

The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.

Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum

Last updated January 2014

Architecture in Vienna

Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.

Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.

Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom

The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.

The baroque residence

Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.

Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)

Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.

Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.

Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900

Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made ​​the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.

With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).

Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing

After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.

Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.

Expulsion, war and reconstruction

After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made ​​of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.

The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).

The youngsters come

Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) ​​by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.

MuseumQuarter and Gasometer

Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.

The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.

New Neighborhood

In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of ​​the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.

In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).

Flying high

International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.

Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.

In honor of the month of the military child, the 3rd Military Intelligence Battalion (Aerial Exploitation) hosted a military child appreciation day on April 21. The unit hosted an open house tailored to children.

 

Both children and family members were treated to static displays consisting of unit equipment, vehicles, and reconnaissance aircraft. Children (and parents) were able to climb behind the wheel of an LMTV and a HEMMT. They were also able to pose for photos with M4 training aids otherwise known as ‘rubber ducks’.

B Company, 3rd MI BN (AE) had a static display of their GUARDRAIL RC-12 reconnaissance aircraft and A Company 3rd MI BN (AE) had a static display of their DHC-7 Airborne Reconnaissance Low (ARL) multi- mission aircraft. Under the watchful eyes of Soldiers, who volunteered their time to demonstrate the equipment, the children were able to go inside unit aircraft and learn about the responsibilities and missions of their military parents.

 

While the 3rd MI BN (AE) aircraft and military vehicles made an impression, the USAG-Humphreys Military Police working dogs made a guest appearance and held a working dog demonstration. The MP’s demonstrated how their dogs are trained to sniff for drugs and to attack on command.

 

Military children are a critical part of the Army family and it was great for Soldiers to have the interaction with an enthusiastic audience and teach the children about the unit and its mission.

 

The event concluded with a Family Readiness Group Potluck Dinner. Children and Spouses, of the 3rd MI BN (AE) are looking forward to another fun filled open house this summer.

 

Courtesy photos

 

For more information on U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys and living and working in Korea visit: USAG-Humphreys' official web site or check out our online videos.

 

Title: British Gangster & Exploitation Paperbacks Of The Postwar Years Vol 2.

Author: Maurice Flanagan.

Publisher: Zeon Books.

Date: 1997.

Artist: H. W. Perl.

NEW: The only thing you have to do is use our online generator. MODERN COMBAT 5 BLACKOUT generator saves you a lot of time as well as money. Thanks to the team of developers & hackers who managed to find some loopholes & exploit the server of MODERN COMBAT 5 BLACKOUT. #ModernCombat5BlackoutHack #generator #today #usegenerator #gamecheat #ModernCombat5BlackoutCheat #hacked #iphone #cheat #hacked #free #reddit #TagsForLikes #like4like #facebook #lol #legit #ModernCombat5Blackout #android #games #gamehack #ios #hack |||| Visit Here To Hack MODERN COMBAT 5 BLACKOUT : bit.ly/1R7vXAE ift.tt/1VmVU3K