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The International Finance Centre (abbr. IFC, branded as "ifc") is a skyscraper and an integrated commercial development on the waterfront of Hong Kong's Central District.

 

A prominent landmark on Hong Kong Island, IFC consists of two skyscrapers, the IFC Mall, and the 55-storey Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. Tower 2 is the second tallest building in Hong Kong (415 m), behind the International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon. It is the fourth-tallest building in the Greater China region and the eighth-tallest office building in the world, based on structural heights; by roof height, only the Taipei 101, Shanghai World Financial Center, Willis Tower, International Commerce Centre and Burj Khalifa exceed it. It is of similar height to the former World Trade Center. The Airport Express Hong Kong Station is directly beneath it.

 

IFC was constructed and is owned by IFC Development, a consortium of Sun Hung Kai Properties, Henderson Land and Towngas.[6]

 

In 2003, Financial Times, HSBC, and Cathay Pacific put up an advertisement on the facade that stretched more than 50 storeys, covering an area of 19,000 m2 (0.2 million square ft) and a length of 230 m, making it the world's largest advertisement ever put on a skyscraper.[7]

 

Contents

 

1 History

2 One International Finance Centre

3 Two International Finance Centre

4 Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

5 IFC Mall

6 Gallery

6.1 2 International Finance Centre

6.2 International Finance Centre Mall

7 See also

8 References

9 External links

 

History

 

Tower 1 is also known as 1IFC and branded in lowercase letters, as "One ifc". Likewise, Tower 2 is also known as 2IFC and branded as "Two ifc".[8]

 

1IFC opened in December 1998, towards the end of the Asian financial crisis. Tenants included ING Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Fidelity International, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority[9] and the Financial Times.[10]

 

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority purchased 14 floors in 2IFC;[10] the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation signed a 12-year lease on 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m2);[11] Nomura Group agreed to take 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) at 2 IFC; the Financial Times, an existing tenant at One IFC, took 10,000 sq ft (900 m2).[10] Ernst & Young took six floors (from the 11th to 18th floors), or about 180,000 square feet (16,700 m2), in 2IFC, to become the biggest tenant.[12]

 

2IFC, which was completed at the height of the SARS epidemic,[9] was initially available to rent at HK$25-HK$35 per square foot.[13] In 2007, as the economy has improved, high quality ("Grade A") office space is highly sought after; rents for current leases are $150 per square foot as of March 2007.[14]

 

The IFC's towers have featured in several Hollywood films, including Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, where Lara Croft leaps off the then-under-construction 2 International Finance Centre, landing on a ship out in the Kowloon Bay, and The Dark Knight, where Batman leapt from 2 IFC to 1 IFC, where an action scene then takes place.[15]

 

The 88th floor of 2IFC is the backdrop of core scenes of the German Thriller "Im Schatten der Lombardis" [1] by Berit Paton Reid, a German writer based in Dubai, UAE.

One International Finance Centre

One International Finance Centre

IFC mall Phase 1 shopping arcade

 

One International Finance Centre was constructed in 1998 and opened in 1999. It is 688 feet (210 m) tall,[16] has 39 storeys and four trading floors, 18 high speed passenger lifts in 4 zones, and comprises 784,000 square feet (72,800 m2). It is similar in design and appearance to 30 Hudson Street in Jersey City, New Jersey. The building currently accommodates approximately 5,000 people.

Two International Finance Centre

 

Two International Finance Centre, completed in 2003, is attached to the second phase of the ifc mall. This 415-metre-tall (1,362 ft) building, currently Hong Kong's second tallest, is quoted as having 88 storeys and 22 high-ceiling trading floors to qualify as being extremely auspicious in Chinese culture. It is, however, short of the magic number, because "taboo floors" like 14th and 24th are omitted as being inauspicious – because 4 sounds like 'die' in Cantonese.

 

The highrise is designed to accommodate financial institutions. For example, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is located at the 55th floor. It is equipped with advanced telecommunications, raised floors for flexible cabling management, and nearly column-free floor plans. The building expects to accommodate up to 15,000 people. It is one of relatively few buildings in the world equipped with double-deck elevators.

 

The 55th, 56th and the 77th to 88th floors were bought by the HKMA for US$480 million in 2001.[11] An exhibition area, currently containing an exhibit of Hong Kong's monetary history, and a library of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Information Centre occupy the 55th floor, and are open to the public during office hours.[17]

 

Despite common practice for owners to allow naming buildings after its important tenants, the owners decided not to allow renaming of the building.[18]

Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

Main article: Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

 

The Four Seasons Hotel is a luxury hotel that was built near the IFC One and Two. It was completed and opened in October 2005. The 206 m (674 ft), 60-storey oceanfront hotel is the only Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong. The hotel has 399 guest suites, and 519 serviced apartments. Amenities include a French restaurant Caprice and spa.[19]

IFC Mall

It is an 800,000 sq ft, 4-storey shopping mall, with many luxury retail brands and wide variety of restaurants. The first official Apple Store was also located in this mall (a 3-storey flagship store in Hong Kong).

 

Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港; pronunciation in Hong Kong Cantonese: [hœ́ːŋ.kɔ̌ːŋ]), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary in East Asia, south of the mainland Chinese province of Guangdong, and east of the former Portuguese colony and fellow special administrative region of Macau. With around 7.3 million Hong Kongers of various nationalities[note 1] in a territory of 1,104 km2, Hong Kong is the fourth-most densely populated region in the world.

 

Hong Kong was formerly a colony of the British Empire, after the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island from Qing China at the conclusion of the First Opium War in 1842. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860, and acquired a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during the Second World War, until British control resumed in 1945. The territory was returned to China under the framework of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed between the United Kingdom and China in 1984 and marked by the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, when it became a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China.[13]

 

Under the principle of "one country, two systems",[14][15] Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system apart from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong retains independent executive, legislative, and judiciary powers.[16] Nevertheless, Hong Kong does directly develop relations with foreign states and international organizations in a broad range of "appropriate fields",[17] being actively and independently involved in institutions such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum[18] and the World Trade Organization.[19]

 

Hong Kong is one of the world's most significant financial centres, holding the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranking as the world's most competitive and freest economic entity.[20][21] As the world's eighth-largest trading entity,[22] its legal tender, Hong Kong dollar, is the world's 13th most traded currency.[23] Hong Kong's tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by competitive simple taxation and supported by its independent judiciary system.[24] Although the city boasts one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it suffers from severe income inequality.[25]

 

Hong Kong features the most skyscrapers in the world, surrounding Victoria Harbour, which lies in the centre of the city's dense urban region.[26][27] It has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the world's longest life expectancy.[28][29] Over 90% of its population makes use of well-developed public transportation.[30] Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring industrial areas of mainland China, which adopts loose emissions standards, has resulted in a high level of atmospheric particulates in winter.[31][32][33]

Contents

 

1 Etymology

2 History

2.1 Prehistory

2.2 Imperial China

2.3 British colony

2.4 Japanese military occupation

2.5 Post-war industrialisation

2.6 Transfer of sovereignty

2.7 Special administrative region

3 Government and politics

3.1 Legal system and judiciary

3.2 Foreign relations

3.3 Regional and administrative divisions

3.4 Electoral and political reforms

3.5 Sociopolitical issues and human rights

3.6 Military

4 Geography

4.1 Climate

4.2 Architecture

4.3 Cityscape

5 Demographics

5.1 Languages

5.2 Religion

5.3 Personal income

6 Economy

6.1 Financial centre

6.2 International trading

6.3 Tourism and expatriation

6.4 Policy

7 Infrastructure

7.1 Energy

7.2 Water and sanitation

7.3 Health

8 Transport

8.1 Rail

8.2 Roads and taxis

8.3 Aviation

8.4 Ferries

8.5 Buses and trams

9 Education

10 Culture

10.1 Sport

11 Media

12 Notable people

13 See also

14 Notes

15 References

15.1 Citations

15.2 Sources

16 Further reading

17 External links

 

Etymology

Hong Kong

Hong Kong in Chinese 2.svg

"Hong Kong" in Chinese characters

Chinese 香港

Cantonese Yale Hēunggóng or Hèunggóng

Literal meaning Fragrant Harbour,

Incense Harbour[34][35]

[show]Transcriptions

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Traditional Chinese 香港特別行政區

(香港特區)

Simplified Chinese 香港特别行政区

(香港特区)

Cantonese Yale Hēunggóng Dahkbiht Hàhngjingkēui

(Hēunggóng Dahkkēui)

or

Hèunggóng Dahkbiht Hàhngjingkēui

(Hèunggóng Dahkkēui)

[show]Transcriptions

 

The name Hong Kong originally referred to a small inlet between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. The town of Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen.[36] The source of the romanised name is not known, but it is generally believed to be an early imprecise phonetic rendering of the spoken Cantonese pronunciation of 香港 (Cantonese Yale: hēung góng), which means "Fragrant Harbour" or "Incense Harbour".[34][35][37] Fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's fresh water influx from the Pearl River estuary or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Victoria Harbour was developed.[37] Another theory is that the name originates from the Tanka, early inhabitants of the region; it is equally probable that a romanisation of the name in their dialect was used (i.e. hōng, not hēung in Cantonese).[38] Regardless of origin, the name was recorded in the Treaty of Nanking to encompass all of Hong Kong Island, and has been used to refer to the territory in its entirety ever since.[39]

 

The name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926.[40] Nevertheless, a number of institutions founded during the early colonial era still retain the single-word form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric, and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

History

Main articles: History of Hong Kong and History of China

Prehistory

Main article: Prehistoric Hong Kong

 

Archaeological studies support human presence in the Chek Lap Kok area from 35,000 to 39,000 years ago and on Sai Kung Peninsula from 6,000 years ago.[41][42][43] Wong Tei Tung and Three Fathoms Cove are the earliest sites of human habitation in Hong Kong during the Paleolithic Period. It is believed that the Three Fathom Cove was a river-valley settlement and Wong Tei Tung was a lithic manufacturing site. Excavated Neolithic artefacts suggested cultural differences from the Longshan culture of northern China and settlement by the Che people, prior to the migration of the Baiyue to Hong Kong.[44][45] Eight petroglyphs dated to the Shang Dynasty were discovered on the surrounding islands.[46]

Imperial China

Main article: History of Hong Kong under Imperial China

 

In 214 BC, the Qin dynasty conquered the Baiyue tribes in Jiaozhi (modern-day Liangguang region and Vietnam) and incorporated the area of Hong Kong into China for the first time.[47] After a brief period of centralisation and subsequent collapse of the Qin dynasty, the area of Hong Kong was consolidated under the Nanyue kingdom, founded by general Zhao Tuo in 204 BC.[48] After the Han conquered Nanyue in 111 BC, Hong Kong was assigned to the Jiaozhi commandery. Archaeological evidence indicates an increase of population and expansion of salt production. The Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb on the Kowloon Peninsula is believed to have been built as a burial site during the Han dynasty.[49]

Sung Wong Toi, believed to be a memorial to the last two boy emperors of the Southern Song dynasty, as it appeared before the Second Sino-Japanese War.

 

During the Tang dynasty, the Guangdong region flourished as an international trading center. A military stronghold was established in Tuen Mun to strengthen defence of the coastal area.[50] Lantau Island was a salt production centre and smuggler riots occasionally broke out against the government. The first village school, Li Ying College, was established around 1075 in the modern-day New Territories by the Song dynasty.[51] During their war against the Mongols, the Southern Song court was briefly stationed at modern-day Kowloon City (the Sung Wong Toi site) before their ultimate defeat at the Battle of Yamen in 1279.[52]

 

The earliest European visitor on record was Jorge Álvares, a Portuguese explorer, who arrived in 1513.[53][54] Having established a trading post in a site they called "Tamão" in Hong Kong waters, Portuguese merchants commenced with regular trading in southern China. Subsequent military clashes between China and Portugal, however, led to the expulsion of all Portuguese merchants from southern China.[55] After the Qing conquest, Hong Kong was directly affected by the Great Clearance, an imperial decree that ordered the evacuation of coastal areas of Guangdong from 1661 to 1669 as part of his efforts against Ming loyalist rebels in southern China. Over 16,000 inhabitants of Xin'an County, which included Hong Kong, were forced to migrate inland; only 1,648 of those who had evacuated returned in subsequent years.[56] With frequent pirate attacks and ever increasing incursions by European explorers, forts were constructed at Tung Chung and the Kowloon Walled City.[57]

 

Though maritime trade had previously been banned, after repopulation of the coast and final defeat of all rebels with Ming sympathies, the Kangxi Emperor lifted the trade prohibition in 1684 and allowed foreigners to enter Chinese ports.[58] Trade with Europeans was more strictly regulated and became concentrated in the Pearl River Delta after establishment of the Canton System in 1757, which forbade non-Russian ships from northern Chinese ports and forced all commerce to be conducted solely in the port of Canton, just north of Hong Kong.[59] While European demand for Chinese commodities like tea, silk, and porcelain was high, Chinese interest in European manufactured goods was comparatively negligible, creating a large trade imbalance between Qing China and Great Britain. To counter this deficit, the British began to sell increasingly large volumes of Indian opium to China.[60] Faced with a drug addiction crisis,[61] Chinese officials pursued ever more aggressive actions in an attempt to halt the opium trade.[60]

British colony

Main articles: British Hong Kong and History of Hong Kong (1800s–1930s)

City of Victoria, 1860s

 

In 1839, threats by the Qing imperial court to place sanctions on opium imports caused diplomatic friction with the British Empire. Tensions escalated into the First Opium War. After British victory in the Second Battle of Chuenpi, the Qing initially admitted defeat. As part of a ceasefire agreement between Captain Charles Elliot and Qishan, Viceroy of Liangguang, Hong Kong Island was declared to be ceded under the Convention of Chuenpi. British forces took formal possession of the island on 26 January 1841. However, disputes between high-ranking officials of both countries led to the failure of the treaty's ratification.[62] After more than another year of further hostilities, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded in perpetuity to the United Kingdom under the terms of the Treaty of Nanking on 29 August 1842.[63] The British officially established a Crown colony and founded the City of Victoria in the following year.[64]

 

The population of Hong Kong Island was 7,450 when the Union Jack raised over Possession Point on 26 January 1841. It mostly consisted of Tanka fishermen and Hakka charcoal burners, whose settlements scattered along several coastal hamlets. In the 1850s, a large number of Chinese refugees crossed the open border fleeing from the Taiping Rebellion. Other natural disasters, such as flooding, typhoons, and famine in mainland China would play a role in establishing Hong Kong as a place for safe shelter.[65][66] Further conflicts over the opium trade between the British and Qing quickly escalated into the Second Opium War. Following the Anglo-French victory, the colony was expanded to include Kowloon Peninsula (south of Boundary Street) and Stonecutter's Island, both of which were ceded to the British in perpetuity under the Convention of Beijing in 1860. The colony was expanded further in 1898, when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of additional territory from the Qing under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory; Lantau Island, the area north of Boundary Street in Kowloon up to the Sham Chun River, and over 200 other outlying islands were given over to British control.[67][68][69]

Queen's Road Central at the junction of Duddell Street, c. 1900

 

Hong Kong soon became a major entrepôt thanks to its free port status, attracting new immigrants from both China and Europe. However, the population remained racially divided and polarised under early British colonial policies. Despite the rise of a British-educated Chinese upper-class by the late-19th century, racial discrimination laws, such as the Peak Reservation Ordinance, prevented ethnic Chinese from acquiring property in reserved areas, such as Victoria Peak. At this time, the majority of the Chinese population in Hong Kong had no political representation in the British colonial government. The British governors did rely, however, on a small number of Chinese elites, including Sir Kai Ho and Robert Hotung, who served as ambassadors and mediators between the government and local population.

File:1937 Hong Kong VP8.webmPlay media

Hong Kong filmed in 1937

 

The colony continued to experience modest growth during the first half of the 20th century. The University of Hong Kong was established in 1911 as the territory's first higher education institute. While there had been an exodus of 60,000 residents for fear of a German attack on the British colony during the First World War, Hong Kong remained unscathed. Its population increased from 530,000 in 1916 to 725,000 in 1925 and reached 1.6 million by 1941.[70]

 

In 1925, Cecil Clementi became the 17th Governor of Hong Kong. Fluent in Cantonese and without a need for translators, Clementi appointed Shouson Chow to the Executive Council as its first ethnic Chinese member. Under Clementi's tenure, Kai Tak Airport entered operation as RAF Kai Tak and several aviation clubs. At the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, when the Empire of Japan invaded China from its protectorate in Manchuria, Governor Geoffry Northcote declared the colony a neutral zone to safeguard Hong Kong's status as a free port.

Japanese military occupation

Main article: Japanese occupation of Hong Kong

Liberation of Hong Kong in 1945. Picture taken at the Cenotaph in Central.

 

On 8 December 1941, the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Army moved south from Guangzhou and crossed the Sham Chun River to attack Hong Kong as part of a coordinated military offensive against the Allied Powers.[71] The Battle of Hong Kong lasted for 17 days, through which British, Canadian, Indian, and local colonial units defended Hong Kong. By the fifth day, Commonwealth troops, under heavy artillery and aerial bombardment, had been forced to abandon their positions in Kowloon and retreated to Hong Kong Island.[72] With the remaining troops unable to further mount an effective defence, Governor Young surrendered the colony on Christmas Day. This day is remembered by locals as "Black Christmas".[73]

 

During the occupation, the garrisoned Japanese soldiers committed many atrocities against both civilians and prisoners of war, including the St. Stephen's College massacre. Local residents suffered widespread food shortages, strict rationing, and hyperinflation arising from the forced exchange of currency from Hong Kong dollars to Japanese military yen. Widespread starvation and forced deportation of residents for use as slave labour to mainland China drastically reduced the population of Hong Kong from 1.6 million in 1941 to 600,000 in 1945, when control of the colony returned to the British.[74]

Post-war industrialisation

Main articles: British Hong Kong, 1950s in Hong Kong, 1960s in Hong Kong, 1970s in Hong Kong, 1980s in Hong Kong, and 1990s in Hong Kong

Flag of British Hong Kong from 1959 to 1997

 

Hong Kong's population recovered quickly after the war, as a wave of skilled migrants from the Republic of China sought refuge from the Chinese Civil War in a territory neutral to the conflict. When the Communist Party took full control of mainland China in 1949, even more refugees fled across the open border in fear of persecution.[67] Many newcomers, especially those who had been based in the major port cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou, established corporations and small- to medium-sized businesses and shifted their base operations to British Hong Kong.[67] The establishment of the People's Republic of China caused the British colonial government to reconsider Hong Kong's open border to mainland China. In 1951, a boundary zone was demarked as a buffer zone against potential military attacks from communist China. Border posts along the north of Hong Kong began operation in 1953 to regulate the movement of people and goods into and out of the territory.

Hong Kong in 1965

 

In the 1950s, Hong Kong became the first of the Four Asian Tiger economies that was undergoing rapid industrialisation driven by textile exports, manufacturing industries, and re-exports of goods to China. As the population grew, with labour costs remaining low, living standards began to rise steadily.[75] The construction of the Shek Kip Mei Estate in 1953 marked the beginning of the public housing estate programme, which provided shelter for the less privileged and helped cope with the continuing influx of immigrants.

 

Under Governor Murray MacLehose, the government began a series of reforms to improve the quality of infrastructure and public services through the 1970s. Systemic corruption in the uniformed services had crippled trust in the government; MacLehose established the ICAC, an independent security service under the direct authority of the Governor, to restore the integrity of the civil service.[76] Chinese was recognised as an official language during his tenure, accelerating the process of localisation in the government, slowly handing key official posts long held only by British members of the government over to local ethnic Chinese people.[77][78] To alleviate road traffic congestion and provide a more reliable means of crossing the Victoria Harbour, the Mass Transit Railway was constructed and began operations of its first line in 1979. The Island Line, Kwun Tong Line, and Tsuen Wan Line all opened in the early 1980s, connecting Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and parts of the New Territories to a single transport system.[79] MacLehose was the longest-serving colonial governor and, by the end of his governorship, had become one of the most popular and well-known figures in the territory. MacLehose laid the foundation for Hong Kong to establish itself as a key global city in the 1980s and early 1990s.

A sky view of Hong Kong Island

An aerial view of the northern shore of Hong Kong Island in 1986

 

Since 1983, the value of the Hong Kong dollar has been pegged to that of the United States dollar. The territory's competitiveness in manufacturing gradually declined due to rising labour and property costs, as well as new industrial capacity developed in southern China under the Open Door Policy, which was introduced in 1978. Nevertheless, by the early 1990s, Hong Kong had established itself as a global financial centre, a regional hub for logistics and freight, one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, and the world's exemplar of laissez-faire market policy.[80]

The Hong Kong issue

 

In 1971, China's permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council was transferred from the Republic of China, which had evacuated to Taiwan at the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War, to the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong was soon after removed from the organization's list of non-self-governing territories, at the request of the PRC. Facing an uncertain future for the colony and the expiration of the New Territories lease beyond 1997, Governor MacLehose raised the question of Hong Kong's status with Deng Xiaoping in 1979.

 

Diplomatic negotiations with China resulted in the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984. The United Kingdom agreed to transfer to China the entirety of the colony, including the perpetually ceded areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula, at the conclusion of the 99-year New Territories lease in 1997, when Hong Kong would become a special administrative region governed separately from the mainland, retaining its free-market economy, common law judicial system, independent representation in international organizations, treaty arrangements, and self-governance in all areas except foreign diplomacy and military defence. The treaty further stipulated that the territory would be guaranteed a high degree of autonomy for at least 50 years after the transfer, with the Basic Law of Hong Kong serving as its constitutional document.[67]

A street at the edge of the Kowloon Walled City at night.

 

Under the terms of the Second Convention of Peking, the colony was expanded out to the New Territories, but the treaty did not include a small military outpost over which the Kowloon Walled City would later be built. After the end of Japanese occupation, thousands of refugees fleeing from the mainland during the Chinese Civil War made their way to the Walled City and became squatters occupying this parcel of land where China was technically still the sovereign power. Over the following decades, the population of this 2.6-hectare (6.4-acre) area dramatically increased, reaching 33,000 by 1987, making the Walled City the most densely populated area in the world at its peak.[81][82] Despite widespread illegal activity and unsanitary living conditions, the British largely took a 'hands-off' approach with regard to the Walled City due to the area's muddled territorial status and to avoid confrontation with the mainland authority.[83] The Sino-British Joint Declaration laid the groundwork for cooperation between the British and Chinese governments concerning any Hong Kong-related issues, including the fate of the former military fort. The Chinese government acquiesced to the demolition of the settlement in 1987.[84] The structure was cleared away in 1994 and the area converted into the Kowloon Walled City Park.[85]

Transfer of sovereignty

Main article: Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, where the handover ceremony took place in 1997

 

On 1 July 1997, sovereignty over Hong Kong was officially transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, marking the end of 156 years of British colonial rule. As Britain's last major and most populous remaining colony, the handover effectively represented the end of the British Empire. This event made Hong Kong the first special administrative region of China. Exactly at midnight, all government organisations with royal patronage simultaneously dropped the Royal prefix from their titles and any regalia with references to the Crown were replaced with insignia bearing the Bauhinia.[86] After the handover ceremony, Chris Patten, the last Governor of Hong Kong, together with Prince Charles, departed the city on board the Royal Yacht Britannia.[87]

Special administrative region

Main articles: 2000s in Hong Kong and Hong Kong–Mainland conflict

 

Almost immediately after the transfer of sovereignty, Hong Kong's economy was severely affected by the Asian financial crisis and further depressed by the outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian flu. Financial Secretary Donald Tsang used the substantial territorial foreign currency reserves to maintain the Hong Kong dollar's currency peg and spent over HK$120 billion on significant holdings of major Hong Kong companies to prevent a general market collapse.[67] While complete disaster was averted, Chief Executive Tung's housing policy of building 85,000 subsidised flats a year triggered a housing market crisis in 1998, depressing property prices and causing some homeowners to become bankrupt.[88] Hong Kong was again gravely affected by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003.[89][90] In total, 1,755 people were infected, with 299 fatalities.[91] Economic activities slowed and schools were closed for weeks at the height of the epidemic. An estimated HK$380 million (US$48.9 million) in contracts were lost as a result of the epidemic.[92] While Hong Kong was also severely affected by the global recession of the late 2000s, the Tsang government introduced a series of economic stimulus measures prevented a prolonged recession.[93]

 

Infrastructure post-handover has been rapidly developed, with major transport links continuing to be planned and constructed. The Rose Garden Project, which began under British administration, to construct a new international airport was completed in 1998 and operations began at the new site during the same year. The Ngong Ping Cable Car, West Kowloon Cultural District, multiple new railway lines, and additional cross-harbour tunnels were all completed in the first 20 years of territorial self-governance. Direct infrastructure links with mainland China are also being actively developed, with both the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge and Hong Kong section of the national high-speed railway currently under construction. Construction of the rail link generated a high level of controversy surrounding the demolition of key landmarks and displacement of residents along the planned route.[94]

Hong Kong Island north coast, overlooking Victoria Harbour and Central and East Kowloon from middle section of Lugard Road at daytime

 

Political debates have centred themselves predominately on issues surrounding electoral reform and Hong Kong's jurisdictional independence from the central government. Following the handover, democratic reform of the Legislative Council was immediately terminated and the government attempted to legislate sweeping national security legislation pursuant to Article 23 of the Basic Law. Coupled with years of economic hardships and discontent of Chief Executive Tung's pro-Beijing stance, over 500,000 people demonstrated against the government, which eventually led to Tung's resignation in 2005.[95] Further proposals by the government to introduce a national education curriculum and nominee pre-screening before allowing Chief Executive elections triggered a number of mass protests in 2014, collectively known as the Umbrella Revolution.[96] Violent attacks on journalists, an increasing level of press self-censorship, alleged extraterritorial abduction of anti-China publishers,[97] and covert intervention into Hong Kong's educational, political, and independent institutions have posed challenges to the policy of one country, two systems. In the 2016 legislative election, there were reports of discrepancies in the electorate registry, which contained ghost registrations across constituencies, as well as political intervention to strip pro-independence individuals of their right to stand in elections[98] and alleged death threats to election candidates.[99] Social tension heightened during Leung's term, with many residents believing that China increased their efforts to exert influence on everyday life in Hong Kong. A survey in 2016 showed that only 17.8% of residents considered themselves as "Chinese citizens", whereas 41.9% considered themselves purely as "citizens of Hong Kong".[100]

Government and politics

香港候任特首林鄭月娥13.jpg 政務司司長張建宗15.jpg

Carrie Lam

Chief Executive Matthew Cheung

Chief Secretary

Main articles: Government of Hong Kong, Politics of Hong Kong, and Elections in Hong Kong

 

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, maintaining a separate legislature, executive, and judiciary from the rest of the country. It has a parliamentary government modelled after the Westminster system, inheriting this from British colonial administration. The Sino-British Joint Declaration guarantees the territory's capitalist economic system and autonomous system of government for 50 years after the transfer of sovereignty.[note 2] Under this framework, the Basic Law of Hong Kong is the regional constitutional document, establishing the structure and responsibility of the government.[101][102] The head of government is the Chief Executive, who is selected by the Election Committee for a five-year term that is renewable once. The central government provides oversight for the regional government; final interpretative power of the Basic Law rests with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the Chief Executive is formally appointed by the State Council after nomination by the aforementioned Election Committee.[101] Responsibility for foreign and military affairs is also assumed by the central authority.[note 3]

Government House, official residence of the Chief Executive.

A chamber within the Legislative Council Complex.

The grey dome and front gable of a granite neo-classical building, with a skyscraper in the background against a clear blue sky.

Court of Final Appeal Building in Central. Formerly housed the Supreme Court and the Legislative Council before its current function.

 

The Legislative Council is a unicameral legislature with 70 members, consisting of 35 directly elected members apportioned to geographical constituencies, 30 members representing professional or special interest groups formed as functional constituencies, and 5 members nominated by members of the District Councils and elected in territory-wide elections.[14][103] Legislators are elected using multiple different voting systems, determined by whichever constituency a particular seat is representing. All directly elected seats are filled using a proportional representative system, while functional constituencies other than the all-territory District Council constituency choose their councillors using first-past-the-post or instant-runoff voting.[104]

 

Government policy is determined by the Executive Council, a body of advisors appointed by the Chief Executive with the authority to issue delegated legislation and proposes new bills to the legislature for debate and promulgation. Direct administration is managed by the Civil Service, an apolitical bureaucracy that ensures positive implementation of policy.[14][105] Hong Kong is nationally represented in the National People's Congress by 36 delegates chosen through an electoral college.[16][106]

 

22 political parties had representatives elected to the Legislative Council in the 2016 election.[107] These parties have aligned themselves into three ideological groups: the pro-Beijing camp who form the current government, the pro-democracy camp, and localist groups.[108] The Communist Party does not have an official political presence in Hong Kong and its members do not run in local elections.[109]

 

The Monetary Authority is the currency board and de facto central bank of the territory.[110] It is responsible for regulation of the Hong Kong dollar and, along with HSBC, Standard Chartered Hong Kong, and the Bank of China, issues currency in the form of banknotes. Coinage is solely minted by the Monetary Authority.[111]

Legal system and judiciary

Main articles: Law of Hong Kong and Judiciary of Hong Kong

 

The judicial system of Hong Kong is derived from the common law system of English law, and was created at the establishment of the territory as a British colony. Chinese national law does not generally apply in the region, and Hong Kong is treated as an independent jurisdiction.[112] The Court of Final Appeal is the territory's highest court, exercising final adjudication over interpretation of laws and has the power to strike down statutes and legislation inconsistent with the Basic Law.[113][114] It is led by the Chief Justice and consists of three additional permanent judges and one non-permanent seat filled by judges from overseas common law jurisdictions on a rotating basis.[14][115] However, final interpretation of the Basic Law itself is a power vested in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Judges on all courts are appointed by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of an independent commission.[14][116] As a common law system, judicial courts in Hong Kong may refer to precedents set in English law and Commonwealth jurisdictions.[14][115][14]

 

The Department of Justice is responsible for handling legal matters for the government. Its responsibilities include providing legal advice, criminal prosecution, civil representation, legal and policy drafting and reform and international legal co-operation between different jurisdictions.[112] Apart from prosecuting criminal cases, lawyers of the Department of Justice act on behalf of the government in all civil and administrative lawsuits against the government.[112] The department may call for judicial review of government action or legislation and may intervene in any cases involving the greater public interest.[117] The Basic Law protects the Department of Justice from any interference by the government when exercising its control over criminal prosecution.[14][118] Law enforcement is a responsibility of the Security Bureau and the Hong Kong Police, with agencies like the Customs and Excise Department and Immigration Department handling more specialised tasks.

  

External Penetration Testing at Avyaan

The UAE is in the midst of a crisis the likes of which have been unknown to the region until some of its cities opens its gates to foreign wealth.

 

How does the G20 compare with their debt.

 

Full article: www.fsteurope.com/news/global-national-debt/

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule Vostok 1 completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.

 

Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight but he served as the backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting with his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach.

Contents

 

1 Early life and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

3.1 Selection and training

3.2 Vostok 1

4 After the Vostok 1 flight

5 Personal life

6 Death

7 Awards and honours

7.1 Medals and orders of merit

7.2 Tributes

7.3 Statues and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

Yuri Gagarin was born 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino,[1] near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death).[2] His parents worked on a collective farm:[3] Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin as a carpenter and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina as a dairy farmer.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia during World War II. Klushino was occupied in November 1941 during the German advance on Moscow and a German officer took over the Gagarin residence. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] His two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour in 1943 and did not return until after the war in 1945.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] While in Saratov, Gagarin volunteered at a local flying club for weekend training as a Soviet air cadet, where he trained to fly a biplane, and later a Yak-18.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] Gagarin twice struggled to land the two-seater trainer aircraft, and risked dismissal from pilot training. However, the commander of the regiment decided to give him another chance at landing. Gagarin's flight instructor gave him a cushion to sit on, which improved his view from the cockpit, and he landed successfully. Having completed his evaluation in a trainer aircraft,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

On 5 November 1957, Gagarin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces having accumulated 166 hours and 47 minutes of flight time. He graduated from flight school the next day and was posted to the Luostari airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

Gagarin's selection for the Vostok programme was overseen by the Central Flight Medical Commission led by Major General Konstantin Fyodorovich Borodin of the Soviet Army Medical Service. He underwent physical and psychological testing conducted at Central Aviation Scientific-Research Hospital, in Moscow, commanded by Colonel A.S. Usanov, a member of the commission. The commission also included Colonel Yevgeniy Anatoliyevich Karpov, who later commanded the training centre, Colonel Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovskiy, the head physician for Gagarin's flight, and Major-General Aleksandr Nikolayevich Babiychuk, a physician flag officer on the Soviet Air Force General Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force.[17]

 

From a pool of 154 qualified pilots short-listed by their Air Force units, the military physicians chose 29 cosmonaut candidates, of which 20 were approved by the Credential Committee of the Soviet Government. The first twelve including Gagarin were approved on 7 March 1960 and eight more were added in a series of subsequent orders issued until June.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

Gagarin was a candidate favoured by his peers. When they were asked to vote anonymously for a candidate besides themselves they would like to be the first to fly, all but three chose Gagarin.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme would be chosen. The other members of the group were Anatoliy Kartashov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, German Titov, and Valentin Varlamov. However, Kartashov and Varlamov were injured and replaced by Khrunov and Grigoriy Nelyubov.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] Gagarin was also subjected to experiments that were designed to test physical and psychological endurance including oxygen starvation tests in which the cosmonauts were locked in an isolation chamber and the air slowly pumped out. He also trained for the upcoming flight by experiencing g-forces in a centrifuge.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] In August 1960, a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows:

 

Modest; embarrasses when his humor gets a little too racy; high degree of intellectual development evident in Yuriy; fantastic memory; distinguishes himself from his colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings; a well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering, prepares himself painstakingly for his activities and training exercises, handles celestial mechanics and mathematical formulae with ease as well as excels in higher mathematics; does not feel constrained when he has to defend his point of view if he considers himself right; appears that he understands life better than a lot of his friends.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, they were tested in a simulator at the M. M. Gromov Flight-Research Institute on a full-size mockup of the Vostok capsule. Gagarin, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov all received excellent marks on the first day of testing in which they were required to describe the various phases of the mission followed by questions from commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

In the end, at the State Commission meeting on April 8, Kamanin stood up and formally nominated Gagarin as the primary pilot and Titov as his backup. Without much discussion, the commission approved the proposal and moved on to other last-minute logistical issues. It was assumed that in the event Gagarin developed health problems prior to liftoff, Titov would take his place, with Nelyubov acting as his backup.

 

Vostok 1

Main article: Vostok 1

 

Poyekhali!

Menu

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Gagarin's voice

Problems playing this file? See media help.

 

On 12 April 1961, 6:07 am UTC, the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Aboard was Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, using the call sign Kedr (Russian: Кедр, Siberian pine or Cedar).[31] The radio communication between the launch control room and Gagarin included the following dialogue at the moment of rocket launch:

 

Korolev: Preliminary stage ... intermediate... main... LIFT-OFF! We wish you a good flight. Everything's all right.

 

Gagarin: Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] The five first-stage engines fired until the first separation event, when the four side-boosters fell away, leaving the core engine. The core stage then separated while the rocket was in a suborbital trajectory, and the upper stage carried it to orbit. Once the upper stage finished firing, it separated from the spacecraft, which orbited for 108 minutes before returning to Earth in Kazakhstan.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

An April 1961 newsreel of Gagarin arriving in Moscow to be greeted by First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev.

 

"The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended", Gagarin wrote in his post-flight report.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. There were concerns Gagarin's spaceflight record would not be certified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body for setting standards and keeping records in the field, which at the time required that the pilot land with the craft.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] an omission which became apparent after Titov's subsequent flight on Vostok 2 four months later. Gagarin's spaceflight records were nonetheless certified and again reaffirmed by the FAI, which revised it rules, and acknowledge that the crucial steps of the safe launch, orbit, and return of the pilot had been accomplished. Gagarin continues to be internationally recognised as the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program and he became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, as well as a worldwide celebrity. Newspapers around the globe published his biography and details of his flight. He was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Other cities in the Soviet Union also held mass demonstrations, the scale of which were second only to World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] While in Manchester, despite heavy rain, he refused an umbrella, insisted that the roof of the convertible car he was riding in remain open, and stood so the cheering crowds could see him.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] and was elected to the Central Committee of the Young Communist League. He later returned to Star City, the cosmonaut facility, where he spent several years working on designs for a reusable spacecraft. He became a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces on 12 June 1962, and received the rank of colonel on 6 November 1963.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai Kamanin, tried to keep Gagarin away from any flights, being worried about losing their hero in an accident noting that he was "too dear to mankind to risk his life for the sake of an ordinary space flight".[54] Kamanin was also concerned by Gagarin's drinking and believed the sudden rise to fame had taken its toll on the cosmonaut. While acquaintances say Gagarin had been a "sensible drinker", his touring schedule placed him in social situations in which he was increasingly expected to drink alcohol.[5][10]

Gagarin with U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou and the Gemini 4 astronauts at the 1965 Paris Air Show

 

Two years later, he was re-elected as a deputy of the Soviet Union but this time to the Soviet of Nationalities, the upper chamber of legislature.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] and was backup pilot for his friend Vladimir Komarov on the Soyuz 1 flight after five years without piloting duty. Kamanin had opposed Gagarin's reassignment to cosmonaut training; he had gained weight and his flying skills had deteriorated. Despite this, he remained a strong contender for Soyuz 1 until he was replaced by Komarov in April 1966 and reassigned to Soyuz 3.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] He was also grounded from flying aircraft solo, a demotion he worked hard to lift. He was temporarily relieved of duties to focus on academics with the promise that he would be able to resume flight training.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] Following his rise to fame, at a Black Sea resort in September 1961, he was reportedly caught by his wife during a liaison with a nurse who had aided him after a boating incident. He attempted to escape through a window and jumped off a second floor balcony. The resulting injury left a permanent scar above his left eyebrow.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

Plaque indicating Gagarin's interment in the Kremlin Wall

 

On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15UTI crashed near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and their ashes were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] According to a biography of Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin, the KGB worked "not just alongside the Air Force and the official commission members but against them."[75]

 

The KGB's report declassified in March 2003 dismissed various conspiracy theories and instead indicated the actions of airbase personnel contributed to the crash. The report states that an air-traffic controller provided Gagarin with outdated weather information and that by the time of his flight, conditions had deteriorated significantly. Ground crew also left external fuel tanks attached to the aircraft. Gagarin's planned flight activities needed clear weather and no outboard tanks. The investigation concluded Gagarin's aircraft entered a spin, either due to a bird strike or because of a sudden move to avoid another aircraft. Because of the out-of-date weather report, the crew believed their altitude was higher than it was and could not react properly to bring the MiG-15 out of its spin.[76] Another theory, advanced in 2005 by the original crash investigator, hypothesizes that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft.[73] A similar theory, published in Air & Space magazine, is that the crew detected the open vent and followed procedure by executing a rapid dive to a lower altitude. This dive caused them to lose consciousness and crash.[74]

 

On 12 April 2007, the Kremlin vetoed a new investigation into the death of Gagarin. Government officials said they saw no reason to begin a new investigation.[77] In April 2011, documents from a 1968 commission set up by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to investigate the accident were declassified. The documents revealed that the commission's original conclusion was that Gagarin or Seryogin had manoeuvered sharply, either to avoid a weather balloon or to avoid "entry into the upper limit of the first layer of cloud cover", leading the jet into a "super-critical flight regime and to its stalling in complex meteorological conditions".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, a member of a state commission established to investigate Gagarin's death, was conducting parachute training sessions that day and heard "two loud booms in the distance". He believes that a Sukhoi Su-15 was flying below its minimum altitude and, "without realizing it because of the terrible weather conditions, he passed within 10 or 20 meters of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier". The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG-15UTI into an uncontrolled spin. Leonov said the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "unauthorized" Su-15 flying in the area. However, as a condition of being allowed to discuss the declassified report, Leonov was barred from disclosing the name of the Su-15 pilot who was 80 years old and in poor health as of 2013.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

On 14 April 1961, Gagarin was honoured with a 12-mile (19 km) parade attended by millions of people that concluded at the Red Square. After a short speech, he was bestowed the Hero of the Soviet Union,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of Cuban Revolution (26 July), President Osvaldo Dorticos of Cuba presented him with the first Commander of the Order of Playa Girón, a newly created medal.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] He received numerous awards from other nations that year, including the Star of the Republic of Indonesia (2nd Class), the Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st Degree) in Poland, the Order of the Flag of the Republic of Hungary, the Hero of Labor award from Democratic Republic of Vietnam,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

Tributes

 

The date of Gagarin's space flight, 12 April, has been commemorated. Since 1962, it has been celebrated in the USSR and most of its former territories as Cosmonautics Day.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

Yuri Gagarin statue at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London

 

A number of buildings and locations have been named for Gagarin. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] The launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome from which Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched is now known as Gagarin's Start. Gagarin Raion in Sevastopol, Ukraine, was named after him during the period of the Soviet Union. The Russian Air Force Academy was renamed Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin left the small Fallen Astronaut sculpture at their landing site as a memorial to the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the Space Race; the names on its plaque included Yuri Gagarin and 14 others.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] He was the inspiration for the pieces "Hey Gagarin" by Jean-Michel Jarre on Métamorphoses, "Gagarin" by Public Service Broadcasting, and "Gagarin, I loved you" by Undervud.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

Two commemorative coins were issued in the Soviet Union to honour the 20th and 30th anniversaries of his flight: a one-ruble coin in copper-nickel (1981) and a three-ruble coin in silver (1991). In 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four coins bearing his likeness was issued in Russia; it consisted of a two-ruble coin in copper-nickel, a three-ruble coin in silver, a ten-ruble coin in brass-copper and nickel, and a 100-ruble coin in silver.[112] In 2011, Russia issued a 1,000-ruble coin in gold and a three-ruble coin in silver to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] A Russian docudrama titled Gagarin: First in Space was released in 2013. Previous attempts at portraying Gagarin were disallowed; his family took legal action over his portrayal in a fictional drama and vetoed a musical.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), Orenburg, Cheboksary, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Yoshkar-Ola in Russia, as well as in Nicosia, Cyprus, Druzhkivka, Ukraine, Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and Tiraspol, Moldova. On 4 June 1980, Monument to Yuri Gagarin in Gagarin Square, Leninsky Avenue, Moscow, was opened.[117] The monument is mounted to a 38 m (125 ft) tall pedestal and is constructed of titanium. Beside the column is a replica of the descent module used during his spaceflight.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

In 2011, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Admiralty Arch in The Mall in London, opposite the permanent sculpture of James Cook. It is a copy of the statue outside Gagarin's former school in Lyubertsy.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

In 2012, a statue was unveiled at the site of NASA's original spaceflight headquarters on South Wayside Drive in Houston. The sculpture was completed in 2011 by artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] The Russian Federation presented a bust of Gagarin to several cities in India including one that was unveiled at the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata in February 2012.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than week. A new work was commissioned following the outcry over the disproportionately small size of its head which locals said was an "insult" to Gagarin.[124][125] Belgrade City Manager Goran Vesic stated that neither the city, the Serbian Ministry of Culture, nor the foundation that financed it had prior knowledge of the design.[126]

50th anniversary

50th anniversary stamp of Ukraine

 

The 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey into space was marked in 2011 by tributes around the world. A film titled First Orbit was shot from the International Space Station, combining sound recordings from the original flight with footage of the route taken by Gagarin.[127] The Russian, American, and Italian crew of Expedition 27 aboard the ISS sent a special video message to wish the people of the world a "Happy Yuri's Night", wearing shirts with an image of Gagarin.[128]

 

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation released gold and silver coins to commemorate the anniversary.[129] The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft was named Gagarin with the launch in April 2011 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first manned space mission.

What craziness is this, a day in that London on a weekday? Well, working one day last weekend, and another next weekend, meant I took a day in Lieu.

 

So there.

 

And top of my list of places to visit was St Magnus. This would be the fifth time I have tried to get inside, and the first since I wrote to the church asking whether they would be open a particular Saturday, and then any Saturday. Letters which were ignored

 

So, I walked out of Monument Station, down the hill there was St Magnus: would it be open?

 

It was, and inside it was a box, nay a treasure chest of delights.

 

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

 

St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge is a Church of England church and parish within the City of London. The church, which is located in Lower Thames Street near The Monument to the Great Fire of London,[1] is part of the Diocese of London and under the pastoral care of the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Fulham.[2] It is a Grade I listed building.[3] The rector uses the title "Cardinal Rector". [4]

St Magnus lies on the original alignment of London Bridge between the City and Southwark. The ancient parish was united with that of St Margaret, New Fish Street, in 1670 and with that of St Michael, Crooked Lane, in 1831.[5] The three united parishes retained separate vestries and churchwardens.[6] Parish clerks continue to be appointed for each of the three parishes.[7]

St Magnus is the guild church of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, and the ward church of the Ward of Bridge and Bridge Without. It is also twinned with the Church of the Resurrection in New York City.[8]

Its prominent location and beauty has prompted many mentions in literature.[9] In Oliver Twist Charles Dickens notes how, as Nancy heads for her secret meeting with Mr. Brownlow and Rose Maylie on London Bridge, "the tower of old Saint Saviour's Church, and the spire of Saint Magnus, so long the giant-warders of the ancient bridge, were visible in the gloom". The church's spiritual and architectural importance is celebrated in the poem The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, who adds in a footnote that "the interior of St. Magnus Martyr is to my mind one of the finest among Wren's interiors".[10] One biographer of Eliot notes that at first he enjoyed St Magnus aesthetically for its "splendour"; later he appreciated its "utility" when he came there as a sinner.

 

The church is dedicated to St Magnus the Martyr, earl of Orkney, who died on 16 April in or around 1116 (the precise year is unknown).[12] He was executed on the island of Egilsay having been captured during a power struggle with his cousin, a political rival.[13] Magnus had a reputation for piety and gentleness and was canonised in 1135. St. Ronald, the son of Magnus's sister Gunhild Erlendsdotter, became Earl of Orkney in 1136 and in 1137 initiated the construction of St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.[14] The story of St. Magnus has been retold in the 20th century in the chamber opera The Martyrdom of St Magnus (1976)[15] by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, based on George Mackay Brown's novel Magnus (1973).

 

he identity of the St Magnus referred to in the church's dedication was only confirmed by the Bishop of London in 1926.[16] Following this decision a patronal festival service was held on 16 April 1926.[17] In the 13th century the patronage was attributed to one of the several saints by the name of Magnus who share a feast day on 19 August, probably St Magnus of Anagni (bishop and martyr, who was slain in the persecution of the Emperor Decius in the middle of the 3rd century).[18] However, by the early 18th century it was suggested that the church was either "dedicated to the memory of St Magnus or Magnes, who suffer'd under the Emperor Aurelian in 276 [see St Mammes of Caesarea, feast day 17 August], or else to a person of that name, who was the famous Apostle or Bishop of the Orcades."[19] For the next century historians followed the suggestion that the church was dedicated to the Roman saint of Cæsarea.[20] The famous Danish archaeologist Professor Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae (1821–85) promoted the attribution to St Magnus of Orkney during his visit to the British Isles in 1846-7, when he was formulating the concept of the 'Viking Age',[21] and a history of London written in 1901 concluded that "the Danes, on their second invasion ... added at least two churches with Danish names, Olaf and Magnus".[22] A guide to the City Churches published in 1917 reverted to the view that St Magnus was dedicated to a martyr of the third century,[23] but the discovery of St Magnus of Orkney's relics in 1919 renewed interest in a Scandinavian patron and this connection was encouraged by the Rector who arrived in 1921

 

A metropolitan bishop of London attended the Council of Arles in 314, which indicates that there must have been a Christian community in Londinium by this date, and it has been suggested that a large aisled building excavated in 1993 near Tower Hill can be compared with the 4th-century Cathedral of St Tecla in Milan.[25] However, there is no archaeological evidence to suggest that any of the mediaeval churches in the City of London had a Roman foundation.[26] A grant from William I in 1067 to Westminster Abbey, which refers to the stone church of St Magnus near the bridge ("lapidee eccle sci magni prope pontem"), is generally accepted to be 12th century forgery,[27] and it is possible that a charter of confirmation in 1108-16 might also be a later fabrication.[28] Nonetheless, these manuscripts may preserve valid evidence of a date of foundation in the 11th century.

 

Archaeological evidence suggests that the area of the bridgehead was not occupied from the early 5th century until the early 10th century. Environmental evidence indicates that the area was waste ground during this period, colonised by elder and nettles. Following Alfred's decision to reoccupy the walled area of London in 886, new harbours were established at Queenhithe and Billingsgate. A bridge was in place by the early 11th century, a factor which would have encouraged the occupation of the bridgehead by craftsmen and traders.[30] A lane connecting Botolph's Wharf and Billingsgate to the rebuilt bridge may have developed by the mid-11th century. The waterfront at this time was a hive of activity, with the construction of embankments sloping down from the riverside wall to the river. Thames Street appeared in the second half of the 11th century immediately behind (north of) the old Roman riverside wall and in 1931 a piling from this was discovered during the excavation of the foundations of a nearby building. It now stands at the base of the church tower.[31] St Magnus was built to the south of Thames Street to serve the growing population of the bridgehead area[32] and was certainly in existence by 1128-33.[33]

The small ancient parish[34] extended about 110 yards along the waterfront either side of the old bridge, from 'Stepheneslane' (later Churchehawlane or Church Yard Alley) and 'Oystergate' (later called Water Lane or Gully Hole) on the West side to 'Retheresgate' (a southern extension of Pudding Lane) on the East side, and was centred on the crossroads formed by Fish Street Hill (originally Bridge Street, then New Fish Street) and Thames Street.[35] The mediaeval parish also included Drinkwater's Wharf (named after the owner, Thomas Drinkwater), which was located immediately West of the bridge, and Fish Wharf, which was to the South of the church. The latter was of considerable importance as the fishmongers had their shops on the wharf. The tenement was devised by Andrew Hunte to the Rector and Churchwardens in 1446.[36] The ancient parish was situated in the South East part of Bridge Ward, which had evolved in the 11th century between the embankments to either side of the bridge.[37]

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

 

Between the late Saxon period and 1209 there was a series of wooden bridges across the Thames, but in that year a stone bridge was completed.[39] The work was overseen by Peter de Colechurch, a priest and head of the Fraternity of the Brethren of London Bridge. The Church had from early times encouraged the building of bridges and this activity was so important it was perceived to be an act of piety - a commitment to God which should be supported by the giving of alms. London’s citizens made gifts of land and money "to God and the Bridge".[40] The Bridge House Estates became part of the City's jurisdiction in 1282.

 

Until 1831 the bridge was aligned with Fish Street Hill, so the main entrance into the City from the south passed the West door of St Magnus on the north bank of the river.[41] The bridge included a chapel dedicated to St Thomas Becket[42] for the use of pilgrims journeying to Canterbury Cathedral to visit his tomb.[43] The chapel and about two thirds of the bridge were in the parish of St Magnus. After some years of rivalry a dispute arose between the church and the chapel over the offerings given to the chapel by the pilgrims. The matter was resolved by the brethren of the chapel making an annual contribution to St Magnus.[44] At the Reformation the chapel was turned into a house and later a warehouse, the latter being demolished in 1757-58.

The church grew in importance. On 21 November 1234 a grant of land was made to the parson of St Magnus for the enlargement of the church.[45] The London eyre of 1244 recorded that in 1238 "A thief named William of Ewelme of the county of Buckingham fled to the church of St. Magnus the Martyr, London, and there acknowledged the theft and abjured the realm. He had no chattels."[46] Another entry recorded that "The City answers saying that the church of ... St. Magnus the Martyr ... which [is] situated on the king's highway ... ought to belong to the king and be in his gift".[47] The church presumably jutted into the road running to the bridge, as it did in later times.[48] In 1276 it was recorded that "the church of St. Magnus the Martyr is worth £15 yearly and Master Geoffrey de la Wade now holds it by the grant of the prior of Bermundeseie and the abbot of Westminster to whom King Henry conferred the advowson by his charter.

 

In 1274 "came King Edward and his wife [Eleanor] from the Holy Land and were crowned at Westminster on the Sunday next after the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady [15 August], being the Feast of Saint Magnus [19 August]; and the Conduit in Chepe ran all the day with red wine and white wine to drink, for all such as wished."[50] Stow records that "in the year 1293, for victory obtained by Edward I against the Scots, every citizen, according to their several trade, made their several show, but especially the fishmongers" whose solemn procession including a knight "representing St Magnus, because it was upon St Magnus' day".

An important religious guild, the Confraternity de Salve Regina, was in existence by 1343, having been founded by the "better sort of the Parish of St Magnus" to sing the anthem 'Salve Regina' every evening.[51] The Guild certificates of 1389 record that the Confraternity of Salve Regina and the guild of St Thomas the Martyr in the chapel on the bridge, whose members belonged to St Magnus parish, had determined to become one, to have the anthem of St Thomas after the Salve Regina and to devote their united resources to restoring and enlarging the church of St Magnus.[52] An Act of Parliament of 1437[53] provided that all incorporated fraternities and companies should register their charters and have their ordinances approved by the civic authorities.[54] Fear of enquiry into their privileges may have led established fraternities to seek a firm foundation for their rights. The letters patent of the fraternity of St Mary and St Thomas the Martyr of Salve Regina in St Magnus dated 26 May 1448 mention that the fraternity had petitioned for a charter on the grounds that the society was not duly founded.

 

In the mid-14th century the Pope was the Patron of the living and appointed five rectors to the benefice.[56]

Henry Yevele, the master mason whose work included the rebuilding of Westminster Hall and the naves of Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, was a parishioner and rebuilt the chapel on London Bridge between 1384 and 1397. He served as a warden of London Bridge and was buried at St Magnus on his death in 1400. His monument was extant in John Stow's time, but was probably destroyed by the fire of 1666.[57]

Yevele, as the King’s Mason, was overseen by Geoffrey Chaucer in his capacity as the Clerk of the King's Works. In The General Prologue of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales the five guildsmen "were clothed alle in o lyveree Of a solempne and a greet fraternitee"[58] and may be thought of as belonging to the guild in the parish of St Magnus, or one like it.[59] Chaucer's family home was near to the bridge in Thames Street.

 

n 1417 a dispute arose concerning who should take the place of honour amongst the rectors in the City churches at the Whit Monday procession, a place that had been claimed from time to time by the rectors of St Peter Cornhill, St Magnus the Martyr and St Nicholas Cole Abbey. The Mayor and Aldermen decided that the Rector of St Peter Cornhill should take precedence.[61]

St Magnus Corner at the north end of London Bridge was an important meeting place in mediaeval London, where notices were exhibited, proclamations read out and wrongdoers punished.[62] As it was conveniently close to the River Thames, the church was chosen by the Bishop between the 15th and 17th centuries as a convenient venue for general meetings of the clergy in his diocese.[63] Dr John Young, Bishop of Callipolis (rector of St Magnus 1514-15) pronounced judgement on 16 December 1514 (with the Bishop of London and in the presence of Thomas More, then under-sheriff of London) in the heresy case concerning Richard Hunne.[64]

In pictures from the mid-16th century the old church looks very similar to the present-day St Giles without Cripplegate in the Barbican.[65] According to the martyrologist John Foxe, a woman was imprisoned in the 'cage' on London Bridge in April 1555 and told to "cool herself there" for refusing to pray at St Magnus for the recently deceased Pope Julius III.[66]

Simon Lowe, a Member of Parliament and Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company during the reign of Queen Mary and one of the jurors who acquitted Sir Nicholas Throckmorton in 1554, was a parishioner.[67] He was a mourner at the funeral of Maurice Griffith, Bishop of Rochester from 1554 to 1558 and Rector of St Magnus from 1537 to 1558, who was interred in the church on 30 November 1558 with much solemnity. In accordance with the Catholic church's desire to restore ecclesiastical pageantry in England, the funeral was a splendid affair, ending in a magnificent dinner.

 

Lowe was included in a return of recusants in the Diocese of Rochester in 1577,[69] but was buried at St Magnus on 6 February 1578.[70] Stow refers to his monument in the church. His eldest son, Timothy (died 1617), was knighted in 1603. His second son, Alderman Sir Thomas Lowe (1550–1623), was Master of the Haberdashers' Company on several occasions, Sheriff of London in 1595/96, Lord Mayor in 1604/05 and a Member of Parliament for London.[71] His youngest son, Blessed John Lowe (1553–1586), having originally been a Protestant minister, converted to Roman Catholicism, studied for the priesthood at Douay and Rome and returned to London as a missionary priest.[72] His absence had already been noted; a list of 1581 of "such persons of the Diocese of London as have any children ... beyond the seas" records "John Low son to Margaret Low of the Bridge, absent without licence four years". Having gained 500 converts to Catholicism between 1583 and 1586, he was arrested whilst walking with his mother near London Bridge, committed to The Clink and executed at Tyburn on 8 October 1586.[73] He was beatified in 1987 as one of the eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales.

 

Sir William Garrard, Master of the Haberdashers' Company, Alderman, Sheriff of London in 1553/53, Lord Mayor in 1555/56 and a Member of Parliament was born in the parish and buried at St Magnus in 1571.[74] Sir William Romney, merchant, philanthropist, Master of the Haberdashers' Company, Alderman for Bridge Within and Sheriff of London in 1603/04[75] was married at St Magnus in 1582. Ben Jonson is believed to have been married at St Magnus in 1594.[76]

The patronage of St Magnus, having previously been in the Abbots and Convents of Westminster and Bermondsey (who presented alternatively), fell to the Crown on the suppression of the monasteries. In 1553, Queen Mary, by letters patent, granted it to the Bishop of London and his successors.[77]

The church had a series of distinguished rectors in the second half of the 16th and first half of the 17th century, including Myles Coverdale (Rector 1564-66), John Young (Rector 1566-92), Theophilus Aylmer (Rector 1592-1625), (Archdeacon of London and son of John Aylmer), and Cornelius Burges (Rector 1626-41). Coverdale was buried in the chancel of St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange, but when that church was pulled down in 1840 his remains were removed to St Magnus.[78]

On 5 November 1562 the churchwardens were ordered to break, or cause to be broken, in two parts all the altar stones in the church.[79] Coverdale, an anti-vestiarian, was Rector at the peak of the vestments controversy. In March 1566 Archbishop Parker caused great consternation among many clergy by his edicts prescribing what was to be worn and by his summoning the London clergy to Lambeth to require their compliance. Coverdale excused himself from attending.[80] Stow records that a non-conforming Scot who normally preached at St Magnus twice a day precipitated a fight on Palm Sunday 1566 at Little All Hallows in Thames Street with his preaching against vestments.[81] Coverdale's resignation from St Magnus in summer 1566 may have been associated with these events. Separatist congregations started to emerge after 1566 and the first such, who called themselves 'Puritans' or 'Unspottyd Lambs of the Lord', was discovered close to St Magnus at Plumbers' Hall in Thames Street on 19 June 1567.

 

St Magnus narrowly escaped destruction in 1633. A later edition of Stow's Survey records that "On the 13th day of February, between eleven and twelve at night, there happened in the house of one Briggs, a Needle-maker near St Magnus Church, at the North end of the Bridge, by the carelessness of a Maid-Servant setting a tub of hot sea-coal ashes under a pair of stairs, a sad and lamentable fire, which consumed all the buildings before eight of the clock the next morning, from the North end of the Bridge to the first vacancy on both sides, containing forty-two houses; water then being very scarce, the Thames being almost frozen over."[83] Susannah Chambers "by her last will & testament bearing date 28th December 1640 gave the sum of Twenty-two shillings and Sixpence Yearly for a Sermon to be preached on the 12th day of February in every Year within the Church of Saint Magnus in commemoration of God's merciful preservation of the said Church of Saint Magnus from Ruin, by the late and terrible Fire on London Bridge. Likewise Annually to the Poor the sum of 17/6."[84] The tradition of a "Fire Sermon" was revived on 12 February 2004, when the first preacher was the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.

 

Parliamentarian rule and the more Protestant ethos of the 1640s led to the removal or destruction of "superstitious" and "idolatrous" images and fittings. Glass painters such as Baptista Sutton, who had previously installed "Laudian innovations", found new employment by repairing and replacing these to meet increasingly strict Protestant standards. In January 1642 Sutton replaced 93 feet of glass at St Magnus and in June 1644 he was called back to take down the "painted imagery glass" and replace it.[86] In June 1641 "rail riots" broke out at a number of churches. This was a time of high tension following the trial and execution of the Earl of Strafford and rumours of army and popish plots were rife. The Protestation Oath, with its pledge to defend the true religion "against all Popery and popish innovation", triggered demands from parishioners for the removal of the rails as popish innovations which the Protestation had bound them to reform. The minister arranged a meeting between those for and against the pulling down of the rails, but was unsuccessful in reaching a compromise and it was feared that they would be demolished by force.[87] However, in 1663 the parish resumed Laudian practice and re-erected rails around its communion table.[88]

Joseph Caryl was incumbent from 1645 until his ejection in 1662. In 1663 he was reportedly living near London Bridge and preaching to an Independent congregation that met at various places in the City.[89]

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

 

Despite its escape in 1633, the church was one of the first buildings to be destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.[91] St Magnus stood less than 300 yards from the bakehouse of Thomas Farriner in Pudding Lane where the fire started. Farriner, a former churchwarden of St Magnus, was buried in the middle aisle of the church on 11 December 1670, perhaps within a temporary structure erected for holding services.[92]

The parish engaged the master mason George Dowdeswell to start the work of rebuilding in 1668. The work was carried forward between 1671 and 1687 under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, the body of the church being substantially complete by 1676.[93] At a cost of £9,579 19s 10d St Magnus was one of Wren's most expensive churches.[94] The church of St Margaret New Fish Street was not rebuilt after the fire and its parish was united to that of St Magnus.

 

The chancels of many of Wren’s city churches had chequered marble floors and the chancel of St Magnus is an example,[95] the parish agreeing after some debate to place the communion table on a marble ascent with steps[96] and to commission altar rails of Sussex wrought iron. The nave and aisles are paved with freestone flags. A steeple, closely modelled on one built between 1614 and 1624 by François d'Aguilon and Pieter Huyssens for the church of St Carolus Borromeus in Antwerp, was added between 1703 and 1706.[97] London's skyline was transformed by Wren's tall steeples and that of St Magnus is considered to be one his finest.[98]

The large clock projecting from the tower was a well-known landmark in the city as it hung over the roadway of Old London Bridge.[99] It was presented to the church in 1709 by Sir Charles Duncombe[100] (Alderman for the Ward of Bridge Within and, in 1708/09, Lord Mayor of London). Tradition says "that it was erected in consequence of a vow made by the donor, who, in the earlier part of his life, had once to wait a considerable time in a cart upon London Bridge, without being able to learn the hour, when he made a promise, that if he ever became successful in the world, he would give to that Church a public clock ... that all passengers might see the time of day."[101] The maker was Langley Bradley, a clockmaker in Fenchurch Street, who had worked for Wren on many other projects, including the clock for the new St Paul's Cathedral. The sword rest in the church, designed to hold the Lord Mayor's sword and mace when he attended divine service "in state", dates from 1708.

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

 

Shortly before his death in 1711, Duncombe commissioned an organ for the church, the first to have a swell-box, by Abraham Jordan (father and son).[103] The Spectator announced that "Whereas Mr Abraham Jordan, senior and junior, have, with their own hands, joinery excepted, made and erected a very large organ in St Magnus' Church, at the foot of London Bridge, consisting of four sets of keys, one of which is adapted to the art of emitting sounds by swelling notes, which never was in any organ before; this instrument will be publicly opened on Sunday next [14 February 1712], the performance by Mr John Robinson. The above-said Abraham Jordan gives notice to all masters and performers, that he will attend every day next week at the said Church, to accommodate all those gentlemen who shall have a curiosity to hear it".[104]

The organ case, which remains in its original state, is looked upon as one of the finest existing examples of the Grinling Gibbons's school of wood carving.[105] The first organist of St Magnus was John Robinson (1682–1762), who served in that role for fifty years and in addition as organist of Westminster Abbey from 1727. Other organists have included the blind organist George Warne (1792–1868, organist 1820-26 until his appointment to the Temple Church), James Coward (1824–80, organist 1868-80 who was also organist to the Crystal Palace and renowned for his powers of improvisation) and George Frederick Smith FRCO (1856–1918, organist 1880-1918 and Professor of Music at the Guildhall School of Music).[106] The organ has been restored several times - in 1760, 1782, 1804, 1855, 1861, 1879, 1891, 1924, 1949 after wartime damage and 1997 - since it was first built.[107] Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was one of several patrons of the organ appeal in the mid-1990s[108] and John Scott gave an inaugural recital on 20 May 1998 following the completion of that restoration.[109] The instrument has an Historic Organ Certificate and full details are recorded in the National Pipe Organ Register.[110]

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

 

Canaletto drew St Magnus and old London Bridge as they appeared in the late 1740s.[112] Between 1756 and 1762, under the London Bridge Improvement Act of 1756 (c. 40), the Corporation of London demolished the buildings on London Bridge to widen the roadway, ease traffic congestion and improve safety for pedestrians.[113] The churchwardens’ accounts of St Magnus list many payments to those injured on the Bridge and record that in 1752 a man was crushed to death between two carts.[114] After the House of Commons had resolved upon the alteration of London Bridge, the Rev Robert Gibson, Rector of St Magnus, applied to the House for relief; stating that 48l. 6s. 2d. per annum, part of his salary of 170l. per annum, was assessed upon houses on London Bridge; which he should utterly lose by their removal unless a clause in the bill about to be passed should provide a remedy.[115] Accordingly, Sections 18 and 19 of 1756 Act provided that the relevant amounts of tithe and poor rate should be a charge on the Bridge House Estates.[116]

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

 

As part of the bridge improvements, overseen by the architect Sir Robert Taylor, a new pedestrian walkway was built along the eastern side of the bridge. With the other buildings gone St Magnus blocked the new walkway.[117] As a consequence it was necessary in 1762 to 1763 to remove the vestry rooms at the West end of the church and open up the side arches of the tower so that people could pass underneath the tower.[118] The tower’s lower storey thus became an external porch. Internally a lobby was created at the West end under the organ gallery and a screen with fine octagonal glazing inserted. A new Vestry was built to the South of the church.[119] The Act also provided that the land taken from the church for the widening was "to be considered ... as part of the cemetery of the said church ... but if the pavement thereof be broken up on account of the burying of any persons, the same shall be ... made good ... by the churchwardens"

 

Soldiers were stationed in the Vestry House of St Magnus during the Gordon Riots in June 1780.[121]

By 1782 the noise level from the activities of Billingsgate Fish Market had become unbearable and the large windows on the north side of the church were blocked up leaving only circular windows high up in the wall.[122] At some point between the 1760s and 1814 the present clerestory was constructed with its oval windows and fluted and coffered plasterwork.[123] J. M. W. Turner painted the church in the mid-1790s.[124]

The rector of St Magnus between 1792 and 1808, following the death of Robert Gibson on 28 July 1791,[125] was Thomas Rennell FRS. Rennell was President of Sion College in 1806/07. There is a monument to Thomas Leigh (Rector 1808-48 and President of Sion College 1829/30,[126] at St Peter's Church, Goldhanger in Essex.[127] Richard Hazard (1761–1837) was connected with the church as sexton, parish clerk and ward beadle for nearly 50 years[128] and served as Master of the Parish Clerks' Company in 1831/32.[129]

In 1825 the church was "repaired and beautified at a very considerable expense. During the reparation the east window, which had been closed, was restored, and the interior of the fabric conformed to the state in which it was left by its great architect, Sir Christopher Wren. The magnificent organ ... was taken down and rebuilt by Mr Parsons, and re-opened, with the church, on the 12th February, 1826".[130] Unfortunately, as a contemporary writer records, "On the night of the 31st of July, 1827, [the church's] safety was threatened by the great fire which consumed the adjacent warehouses, and it is perhaps owing to the strenuous and praiseworthy exertions of the firemen, that the structure exists at present. ... divine service was suspended and not resumed until the 20th January 1828. In the interval the church received such tasteful and elegant decorations, that it may now compete with any church in the metropolis.

 

In 1823 royal assent was given to ‘An Act for the Rebuilding of London Bridge’ and in 1825 John Garratt, Lord Mayor and Alderman of the Ward of Bridge Within, laid the first stone of the new London Bridge.[132] In 1831 Sir John Rennie’s new bridge was opened further upstream and the old bridge demolished. St Magnus ceased to be the gateway to London as it had been for over 600 years. Peter de Colechurch[133] had been buried in the crypt of the chapel on the bridge and his bones were unceremoniously dumped in the River Thames.[134] In 1921 two stones from Old London Bridge were discovered across the road from the church. They now stand in the churchyard.

Wren's church of St Michael Crooked Lane was demolished, the final service on Sunday 20 March 1831 having to be abandoned due to the effects of the building work. The Rector of St Michael preached a sermon the following Sunday at St Magnus lamenting the demolition of his church with its monuments and "the disturbance of the worship of his parishioners on the preceeding Sabbath".[135] The parish of St Michael Crooked Lane was united to that of St Magnus, which itself lost a burial ground in Church Yard Alley to the approach road for the new bridge.[136] However, in substitution it had restored to it the land taken for the widening of the old bridge in 1762 and was also given part of the approach lands to the east of the old bridge.[137] In 1838 the Committee for the London Bridge Approaches reported to Common Council that new burial grounds had been provided for the parishes of St Michael, Crooked Lane and St Magnus, London Bridge.

 

Depictions of St Magnus after the building of the new bridge, seen behind Fresh Wharf and the new London Bridge Wharf, include paintings by W. Fenoulhet in 1841 and by Charles Ginner in 1913.[139] This prospect was affected in 1924 by the building of Adelaide House to a design by John James Burnet,[140] The Times commenting that "the new ‘architectural Matterhorn’ ... conceals all but the tip of the church spire".[141] There was, however, an excellent view of the church for a few years between the demolition of Adelaide Buildings and the erection of its replacement.[142] Adelaide House is now listed.[143] Regis House, on the site of the abandoned King William Street terminus of the City & South London Railway (subsequently the Northern Line),[144] and the Steam Packet Inn, on the corner of Lower Thames Street and Fish Street Hill,[145] were developed in 1931.

 

By the early 1960s traffic congestion had become a problem[147] and Lower Thames Street was widened over the next decade[148] to form part of a significant new east-west transport artery (the A3211).[149] The setting of the church was further affected by the construction of a new London Bridge between 1967 and 1973.[150] The New Fresh Wharf warehouse to the east of the church, built in 1939, was demolished in 1973-4 following the collapse of commercial traffic in the Pool of London[151] and, after an archaeological excavation,[152] St Magnus House was constructed on the site in 1978 to a design by R. Seifert & Partners.[153] This development now allows a clear view of the church from the east side.[154] The site to the south east of The Monument (between Fish Street Hill and Pudding Lane), formerly predominantly occupied by fish merchants,[155] was redeveloped as Centurion House and Gartmore (now Providian) House at the time of the closure of old Billingsgate Market in January 1982.[156] A comprehensive redevelopment of Centurion House began in October 2011 with completion planned in 2013.[157] Regis House, to the south west of The Monument, was redeveloped by Land Securities PLC in 1998.[158]

The vista from The Monument south to the River Thames, over the roof of St Magnus, is protected under the City of London Unitary Development Plan,[159] although the South bank of the river is now dominated by The Shard. Since 2004 the City of London Corporation has been exploring ways of enhancing the Riverside Walk to the south of St Magnus.[160] Work on a new staircase to connect London Bridge to the Riverside Walk is due to commence in March 2013.[161] The story of St Magnus's relationship with London Bridge and an interview with the rector featured in the television programme The Bridges That Built London with Dan Cruickshank, first broadcast on BBC Four on 14 June 2012.[162] The City Corporation's 'Fenchurch and Monument Area Enhancement Strategy' of August 2012 recommended ways of reconnecting St Magnus and the riverside to the area north of Lower Thames Street.

 

A lectureship at St Michael Crooked Lane, which was transferred to St Magnus in 1831, was endowed by the wills of Thomas and Susannah Townsend in 1789 and 1812 respectively.[164] The Revd Henry Robert Huckin, Headmaster of Repton School from 1874 to 1882, was appointed Townsend Lecturer at St Magnus in 1871.[165]

St Magnus narrowly escaped damage from a major fire in Lower Thames Street in October 1849.

 

During the second half of the 19th century the rectors were Alexander McCaul, DD (1799–1863, Rector 1850-63), who coined the term 'Judaeo Christian' in a letter dated 17 October 1821,[167] and his son Alexander Israel McCaul (1835–1899, curate 1859-63, rector 1863-99). The Revd Alexander McCaul Sr[168] was a Christian missionary to the Polish Jews, who (having declined an offer to become the first Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem)[169] was appointed professor of Hebrew and rabbinical literature at King's College, London in 1841. His daughter, Elizabeth Finn (1825–1921), a noted linguist, founded the Distressed Gentlefolk Aid Association (now known as Elizabeth Finn Care).[170]

In 1890 it was reported that the Bishop of London was to hold an inquiry as to the desirability of uniting the benefices of St George Botolph Lane and St Magnus. The expectation was a fusion of the two livings, the demolition of St George’s and the pensioning of "William Gladstone’s favourite Canon", Malcolm MacColl. Although services ceased there, St George’s was not demolished until 1904. The parish was then merged with St Mary at Hill rather than St Magnus.[171]

The patronage of the living was acquired in the late 19th century by Sir Henry Peek Bt. DL MP, Senior Partner of Peek Brothers & Co of 20 Eastcheap, the country's largest firm of wholesale tea brokers and dealers, and Chairman of the Commercial Union Assurance Co. Peek was a generous philanthropist who was instrumental in saving both Wimbledon Common and Burnham Beeches from development. His grandson, Sir Wilfred Peek Bt. DSO JP, presented a cousin, Richard Peek, as rector in 1904. Peek, an ardent Freemason, held the office of Grand Chaplain of England. The Times recorded that his memorial service in July 1920 "was of a semi-Masonic character, Mr Peek having been a prominent Freemason".[172] In June 1895 Peek had saved the life of a young French girl who jumped overboard from a ferry midway between Dinard and St Malo in Brittany and was awarded the bronze medal of the Royal Humane Society and the Gold Medal 1st Class of the Sociâetâe Nationale de Sauvetage de France.[173]

In November 1898 a memorial service was held at St Magnus for Sir Stuart Knill Bt. (1824–1898), head of the firm of John Knill and Co, wharfingers, and formerly Lord Mayor and Master of the Plumbers' Company.[174] This was the first such service for a Roman Catholic taken in an Anglican church.[175] Sir Stuart's son, Sir John Knill Bt. (1856-1934), also served as Alderman for the Ward of Bridge Within, Lord Mayor and Master of the Plumbers' Company.

 

Until 1922 the annual Fish Harvest Festival was celebrated at St Magnus.[176] The service moved in 1923 to St Dunstan in the East[177] and then to St Mary at Hill, but St Magnus retained close links with the local fish merchants until the closure of old Billingsgate Market. St Magnus, in the 1950s, was "buried in the stink of Billingsgate fish-market, against which incense was a welcome antidote".

 

A report in 1920 proposed the demolition of nineteen City churches, including St Magnus.[179] A general outcry from members of the public and parishioners alike prevented the execution of this plan.[180] The members of the City Livery Club passed a resolution that they regarded "with horror and indignation the proposed demolition of 19 City churches" and pledged the Club to do everything in its power to prevent such a catastrophe.[181] T. S. Eliot wrote that the threatened churches gave "to the business quarter of London a beauty which its hideous banks and commercial houses have not quite defaced. ... the least precious redeems some vulgar street ... The loss of these towers, to meet the eye down a grimy lane, and of these empty naves, to receive the solitary visitor at noon from the dust and tumult of Lombard Street, will be irreparable and unforgotten."[182] The London County Council published a report concluding that St Magnus was "one of the most beautiful of all Wren's works" and "certainly one of the churches which should not be demolished without specially good reasons and after very full consideration."[183] Due to the uncertainty about the church's future, the patron decided to defer action to fill the vacancy in the benefice and a curate-in-charge temporarily took responsibility for the parish.[184] However, on 23 April 1921 it was announced that the Revd Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton would be the new Rector. The Times concluded that the appointment, with the Bishop’s approval, meant that the proposed demolition would not be carried out.[185] Fr Fynes-Clinton was inducted on 31 May 1921.[186]

The rectory, built by Robert Smirke in 1833-5, was at 39 King William Street.[187] A decision was taken in 1909 to sell the property, the intention being to purchase a new rectory in the suburbs, but the sale fell through and at the time of the 1910 Land Tax Valuations the building was being let out to a number of tenants. The rectory was sold by the diocese on 30 May 1921 for £8,000 to Ridgways Limited, which owned the adjoining premises.[188] The Vestry House adjoining the south west of the church, replacing the one built in the 1760s, may also have been by Smirke. Part of the burial ground of St Michael Crooked Lane, located between Fish Street Hill and King William Street, survived as an open space until 1987 when it was compulsorily purchased to facilitate the extension of the Docklands Light Railway into the City.[189] The bodies were reburied at Brookwood Cemetery.

 

The interior of the church was restored by Martin Travers in 1924, in a neo-baroque style,[191] reflecting the Anglo-Catholic character of the congregation[192] following the appointment of Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton as Rector.[193] Fr Fynes, as he was often known, served as Rector of St Magnus from 31 May 1921 until his death on 4 December 1959 and substantially beautified the interior of the church.[194]

Fynes-Clinton held very strong Anglo-Catholic views, and proceeded to make St Magnus as much like a baroque Roman Catholic church as possible. However, "he was such a loveable character with an old-world courtesy which was irresistible, that it was difficult for anyone to be unpleasant to him, however much they might disapprove of his views".[195] He generally said the Roman Mass in Latin; and in personality was "grave, grand, well-connected and holy, with a laconic sense of humour".[196] To a Protestant who had come to see Coverdale's monument he is reported to have said "We have just had a service in the language out of which he translated the Bible".[197] The use of Latin in services was not, however, without grammatical danger. A response from his parishioners of "Ora pro nobis" after "Omnes sancti Angeli et Archangeli" in the Litany of the Saints would elicit a pause and the correction "No, Orate pro nobis."

 

In 1922 Fynes-Clinton refounded the Fraternity of Our Lady de Salve Regina.[198] The Fraternity's badge[199] is shown in the stained glass window at the east end of the north wall of the church above the reredos of the Lady Chapel altar. He also erected a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham and arranged pilgrimages to the Norfolk shrine, where he was one of the founding Guardians.[200] In 1928 the journal of the Catholic League reported that St Magnus had presented a votive candle to the Shrine at Walsingham "in token of our common Devotion and the mutual sympathy and prayers that are we hope a growing bond between the peaceful country shrine and the church in the heart of the hurrying City, from the Altar of which the Pilgrimages regularly start".[201]

Fynes-Clinton was General Secretary of the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union and its successor, the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, from 1906 to 1920 and served as Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Eastern Churches Committee from 1920 to around 1924. A Solemn Requiem was celebrated at St Magnus in September 1921 for the late King Peter of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

At the midday service on 1 March 1922, J.A. Kensit, leader of the Protestant Truth Society, got up and protested against the form of worship.[202] The proposed changes to the church in 1924 led to a hearing in the Consistory Court of the Chancellor of the Diocese of London and an appeal to the Court of Arches.[203] Judgement was given by the latter Court in October 1924. The advowson was purchased in 1931, without the knowledge of the Rector and Parochial Church Council, by the evangelical Sir Charles King-Harman.[204] A number of such cases, including the purchase of the advowsons of Clapham and Hampstead Parish Churches by Sir Charles, led to the passage of the Benefices (Purchase of Rights of Patronage) Measure 1933.[205] This allowed the parishioners of St Magnus to purchase the advowson from Sir Charles King-Harman for £1,300 in 1934 and transfer it to the Patronage Board.

 

St Magnus was one of the churches that held special services before the opening of the second Anglo-Catholic Congress in 1923.[207] Fynes-Clinton[208] was the first incumbent to hold lunchtime services for City workers.[209] Pathé News filmed the Palm Sunday procession at St Magnus in 1935.[210] In The Towers of Trebizond, the novel by Rose Macauley published in 1956, Fr Chantry-Pigg's church is described as being several feet higher than St Mary’s Bourne Street and some inches above even St Magnus the Martyr.[211]

In July 1937 Fr Fynes-Clinton, with two members of his congregation, travelled to Kirkwall to be present at the 800th anniversary celebrations of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. During their stay they visited Egilsay and were shown the spot where St Magnus had been slain. Later Fr Fynes-Clinton was present at a service held at the roofless church of St Magnus on Egilsay, where he suggested to his host Mr Fryer, the minister of the Cathedral, that the congregations of Kirkwall and London should unite to erect a permanent stone memorial on the traditional site where Earl Magnus had been murdered. In 1938 a cairn was built of local stone on Egilsay. It stands 12 feet high and is 6 feet broad at its base. The memorial was dedicated on 7 September 1938 and a bronze inscription on the monument reads "erected by the Rector and Congregation of St Magnus the Martyr by London Bridge and the Minister and Congregation of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall to commemorate the traditional spot where Earl Magnus was slain, AD circa 1116 and to commemorate the Octocentenary of St Magnus Cathedral 1937"

 

A bomb which fell on London Bridge in 1940 during the Blitz of World War II blew out all the windows and damaged the plasterwork and the roof of the north aisle.[213] However, the church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950[214] and repaired in 1951, being re-opened for worship in June of that year by the Bishop of London, William Wand.[215] The architect was Laurence King.[216] Restoration and redecoration work has subsequently been carried out several times, including after a fire in the early hours of 4 November 1995.[217] Cleaning of the exterior stonework was completed in 2010.

 

Some minor changes were made to the parish boundary in 1954, including the transfer to St Magnus of an area between Fish Street Hill and Pudding Lane. The site of St Leonard Eastcheap, a church that was not rebuilt after the Great Fire, is therefore now in the parish of St Magnus despite being united to St Edmund the King.

Fr Fynes-Clinton marked the 50th anniversary of his priesthood in May 1952 with High Mass at St Magnus and lunch at Fishmongers' Hall.[218] On 20 September 1956 a solemn Mass was sung in St Magnus to commence the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the restoration of the Holy House at Walsingham in 1931. In the evening of that day a reception was held in the large chamber of Caxton Hall, when between three and four hundred guests assembled.[219]

Fr Fynes-Clinton was succeeded as rector in 1960 by Fr Colin Gill,[220] who remained as incumbent until his death in 1983.[221] Fr Gill was also closely connected with Walsingham and served as a Guardian between 1953 and 1983, including nine years as Master of the College of Guardians.[222] He celebrated the Mass at the first National Pilgrimage in 1959[223] and presided over the Jubilee celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Shrine in 1981, having been present at the Holy House's opening.[224] A number of the congregation of St Stephen's Lewisham moved to St Magnus around 1960, following temporary changes in the form of worship there.

 

In 1994 the Templeman Commission proposed a radical restructuring of the churches in the City Deanery. St Magnus was identified as one of the 12 churches that would remain as either a parish or an 'active' church.[226] However, the proposals were dropped following a public outcry and the consecration of a new Bishop of London.

The parish priest since 2003 has been Fr Philip Warner, who was previously priest-in-charge of St Mary's Church, Belgrade (Diocese in Europe) and Apokrisiarios for the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Serbian Orthodox Church. Since January 2004 there has been an annual Blessing of the Thames, with the congregations of St Magnus and Southwark Cathedral meeting in the middle of London Bridge.[227] On Sunday 3 July 2011, in anticipation of the feast of the translation of St Thomas Becket (7 July), a procession from St Magnus brought a relic of the saint to the middle of the bridge.[228]

David Pearson specially composed two new pieces, a communion anthem A Mhànais mo rùin (O Magnus of my love) and a hymn to St Magnus Nobilis, humilis, for performance at the church on the feast of St Magnus the Martyr, 16 April 2012.[229] St Magnus's organist, John Eady, has won composition competitions for new choral works at St Paul's Cathedral (a setting of Veni Sancte Spiritus first performed on 27 May 2012) and at Lincoln Cathedral (a setting of the Matin responsory for Advent first performed on 30 November 2013).[230]

In addition to liturgical music of a high standard, St Magnus is the venue for a wide range of musical events. The Clemens non Papa Consort, founded in 2005, performs in collaboration with the production team Concert Bites as the church's resident ensemble.[231] The church is used by The Esterhazy Singers for rehearsals and some concerts.[232] The band Mishaped Pearls performed at the church on 17 December 2011.[233] St Magnus featured in the television programme Jools Holland: London Calling, first broadcast on BBC2 on 9 June 2012.[234] The Platinum Consort made a promotional film at St Magnus for the release of their debut album In the Dark on 2 July 2012.[235]

The Friends of the City Churches had their office in the Vestry House of St Magnus until 2013.

 

Martin Travers modified the high altar reredos, adding paintings of Moses and Aaron and the Ten Commandments between the existing Corinthian columns and reconstructing the upper storey. Above the reredos Travers added a painted and gilded rood.[237] In the centre of the reredos there is a carved gilded pelican (an early Christian symbol of self-sacrifice) and a roundel with Baroque-style angels. The glazed east window, which can be seen in an early photograph of the church, appears to have been filled in at this time. A new altar with console tables was installed and the communion rails moved outwards to extend the size of the sanctuary. Two old door frames were used to construct side chapels and placed at an angle across the north-east and south-east corners of the church. One, the Lady Chapel, was dedicated to the Rector's parents in 1925 and the other was dedicated to Christ the King. Originally, a baroque aumbry was used for Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, but later a tabernacle was installed on the Lady Chapel altar and the aumbry was used to house a relic of the True Cross.

The interior was made to look more European by the removal of the old box pews and the installation of new pews with cut-down ends. Two new columns were inserted in the nave to make the lines regular. The Wren-period pulpit by the joiner William Grey[238] was opened up and provided with a soundboard and crucifix. Travers also designed the statue of St Magnus of Orkney, which stands in the south aisle, and the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham.[239]

On the north wall there is a Russian Orthodox icon, painted in 1908. The modern stations of the cross in honey-coloured Japanese oak are the work of Robert Randall and Ashley Sands.[240] One of the windows in the north wall dates from 1671 and came from Plumbers' Hall in Chequer Yard, Bush Lane, which was demolished in 1863 to make way for Cannon Street Railway Station.[241] A fireplace from the Hall was re-erected in the Vestry House. The other windows on the north side are by Alfred Wilkinson and date from 1952 to 1960. These show the arms of the Plumbers’, Fishmongers’ and Coopers’ Companies together with those of William Wand when Bishop of London and Geoffrey Fisher when Archbishop of Canterbury and (as noted above) the badge of the Fraternity of Our Lady de Salve Regina.

The stained glass windows in the south wall, which are by Lawrence Lee and date from 1949 to 1955, represent lost churches associated with the parish: St Magnus and his ruined church of Egilsay, St Margaret of Antioch with her lost church in New Fish Street (where the Monument to the Great Fire now stands), St Michael with his lost church of Crooked Lane (demolished to make way for the present King William Street) and St Thomas Becket with his chapel on Old London Bridge.[242]

The church possesses a fine model of Old London Bridge. One of the tiny figures on the bridge appears out of place in the mediaeval setting, wearing a policeman's uniform. This is a representation of the model-maker, David T. Aggett, who is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers and was formerly in the police service.[243]

The Mischiefs by Fire Act 1708 and the Fires Prevention (Metropolis) Act 1774 placed a requirement on every parish to keep equipment to fight fires. The church owns two historic fire engines that belonged to the parish of St Michael, Crooked Lane.[244] One of these is in storage at the Museum of London. The whereabouts of the other, which was misappropriated and sold at auction in 2003, is currently unknown.

In 1896 many bodies were disinterred from the crypt and reburied at the St Magnus's plot at Brookwood Cemetery, which remains the church's burial ground.

 

Prior to the Great Fire of 1666 the old tower had a ring of five bells, a small saints bell and a clock bell.[246] 47 cwt of bell metal was recovered[247] which suggests that the tenor was 13 or 14 cwt. The metal was used to cast three new bells, by William Eldridge of Chertsey in 1672,[248] with a further saints bell cast that year by Hodson.[249] In the absence of a tower, the tenor and saints bell were hung in a free standing timber structure, whilst the others remained unhung.[250]

A new tower was completed in 1704 and it is likely that these bells were transferred to it. However, the tenor became cracked in 1713 and it was decided to replace the bells with a new ring of eight.[251] The new bells, with a tenor of 21 cwt, were cast by Richard Phelps of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Between 1714 and 1718 (the exact date of which is unknown), the ring was increased to ten with the addition of two trebles given by two former ringing Societies, the Eastern Youths and the British Scholars.[252] The first peal was rung on 15 February 1724 of Grandsire Caters by the Society of College Youths. The second bell had to be recast in 1748 by Robert Catlin, and the tenor was recast in 1831 by Thomas Mears of Whitechapel,[253] just in time to ring for the opening of the new London Bridge. In 1843, the treble was said to be "worn out" and so was scrapped, together with the saints bell, while a new treble was cast by Thomas Mears.[254] A new clock bell was erected in the spire in 1846, provided by B R & J Moore, who had earlier purchased it from Thomas Mears.[255] This bell can still be seen in the tower from the street.

The 10 bells were removed for safe keeping in 1940 and stored in the churchyard. They were taken to Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1951 whereupon it was discovered that four of them were cracked. After a long period of indecision, fuelled by lack of funds and interest, the bells were finally sold for scrap in 1976. The metal was used to cast many of the Bells of Congress that were then hung in the Old Post Office Tower in Washington, D.C.

A fund was set up on 19 September 2005, led by Dickon Love, a member of the Ancient Society of College Youths, with a view to installing a new ring of 12 bells in the tower in a new frame. This was the first of three new rings of bells he has installed in the City of London (the others being at St Dunstan-in-the-West and St James Garlickhythe). The money was raised and the bells were cast during 2008/9 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The tenor weighed 26cwt 3qtr 9 lbs (1360 kg) and the new bells were designed to be in the same key as the former ring of ten. They were consecrated by the Bishop of London on 3 March 2009 in the presence of the Lord Mayor[256] and the ringing dedicated on 26 October 2009 by the Archdeacon of London.[257] The bells are named (in order smallest to largest) Michael, Margaret, Thomas of Canterbury, Mary, Cedd, Edward the Confessor, Dunstan, John the Baptist, Erkenwald, Paul, Mellitus and Magnus.[258] The bells project is recorded by an inscription in the vestibule of the church.

 

The first peal on the twelve was rung on 29 November 2009 of Cambridge Surprise Maximus.[260] Notable other recent peals include a peal of Stedman Cinques on 16 April 2011 to mark the 400th anniversary of the granting of a Royal Charter to the Plumbers' Company,[261] a peal of Cambridge Surprise Royal on 28 June 2011 when the Fishmongers' Company gave a dinner for Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at their hall on the occasion of his 90th birthday[262] and a peal of Avon Delight Maximus on 24 July 2011 in solidarity with the people of Norway following the tragic massacre on Utoeya Island and in Oslo.[263] On the latter occasion the flag of the Orkney Islands was flown at half mast. In 2012 peals were rung during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June and during each of the three Olympic/Paralympic marathons, on 5 and 12 August and 9 September.

The BBC television programme, Still Ringing After All These Years: A Short History of Bells, broadcast on 14 December 2011, included an interview at St Magnus with the Tower Keeper, Dickon Love,[264] who was captain of the band that rang the "Royal Jubilee Bells" during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.[265] Prior to this, he taught John Barrowman to handle a bell at St Magnus for the BBC coverage.

The bells are currently rung every Sunday around 12:15 (following the service) by the Guild of St Magnus.

 

Every other June, newly elected wardens of the Fishmongers' Company, accompanied by the Court, proceed on foot from Fishmongers' Hall[267] to St Magnus for an election service.[268] St Magnus is also the Guild Church of The Plumbers' Company. Two former rectors have served as master of the company,[269] which holds all its services at the church.[270] On 12 April 2011 a service was held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the granting of the company's Royal Charter at which the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Richard Chartres KCVO, gave the sermon and blessed the original Royal Charter. For many years the Cloker Service was held at St Magnus, attended by the Coopers' Company and Grocers' Company, at which the clerk of the Coopers' Company read the will of Henry Cloker dated 10 March 1573.[271]

St Magnus is also the ward church for the Ward of Bridge and Bridge Without, which elects one of the city's aldermen. Between 1550 and 1978 there were separate aldermen for Bridge Within and Bridge Without, the former ward being north of the river and the latter representing the City's area of control in Southwark. The Bridge Ward Club was founded in 1930 to "promote social activities and discussion of topics of local and general interest and also to exchange Ward and parochial information" and holds its annual carol service at St Magnus.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Magnus-the-Martyr

 

A shot from the photocall for Pardon/In Cuffs which is at the Traverse Theatre this Edinburgh Fringe.

 

Valentijn Dhaenens devised the concept and directs.

 

The performers are: Valentijn Dhaenens; Clara Van Der Broek; and Korneel Hamers.

 

You can find out more about the play and buy tickets, here: www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event-detail/617/pardon--in-c...

~*Photography Originally Taken By: www.CrossTrips.Com Under God*~

 

101st Airborne Division (United States)

 

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)—nicknamed the “Screaming Eagles”—is an airborne division of the United States Army primarily trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it earned renown by its actions in the Normandy Landings and the Battle of the Bulge. During the Vietnam War, the 101st was redesignated an airmobile division, and later as an air assault division. For historical reasons, it keeps the identifier “airborne”, but does not conduct parachute operations at a division level. Many modern members of the 101st are graduates of the U.S. Army Air Assault School, and wear the Air Assault Badge, but it is not a prerequisite to be assigned to the division. The division is headquartered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the only division in the U.S. Army that has two aviation brigades.

Contents

[hide]

 

* 1 History

o 1.1 World War II

+ 1.1.1 Units

+ 1.1.2 Helmet insignia

o 1.2 Reactivation

o 1.3 Civil rights

o 1.4 Vietnam War

o 1.5 Post-Vietnam

o 1.6 Persian Gulf War

o 1.7 Montana forest fires

o 1.8 Operation Enduring Freedom

o 1.9 Operation Iraqi Freedom

o 1.10 Second deployment to Iraq

* 2 Accusations of misconduct in Iraq

o 2.1 Third deployment to Iraq

* 3 General information

* 4 Parachute Demonstration Team

* 5 Current structure

* 6 Lineage

o 6.1 HHC, 101st Division

o 6.2 HHC, 1st Brigade

o 6.3 HHC, 2nd Brigade

o 6.4 HHC, 3rd Brigade

o 6.5 HHB, 101st Division Artillery

o 6.6 HHC, 101st Aviation Brigade

+ 6.6.1 HHC, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

+ 6.6.2 HHC, 2d Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

+ 6.6.3 HHC, 3d Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

+ 6.6.4 HHC, 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

+ 6.6.5 HHC, 5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

+ 6.6.6 HHC, 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

+ 6.6.7 HHC, 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

+ 6.6.8 HHC, 8th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

+ 6.6.9 HHC, 9th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

o 6.7 HHC, 159th Aviation Brigade[10]

* 7 Honors

o 7.1 Campaign Participation Credit

+ 7.1.1 Decorations

* 8 Division commanders

* 9 Noted Members (selection)

* 10 In popular culture

* 11 See also

* 12 Notes

* 13 External links

 

[edit] History

 

[edit] World War II

General Dwight D. Eisenhower speaks with paratroops of the 502d Parachute Infantry Regiment, on the evening of June 5, 1944.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower speaks with paratroops of the 502d Parachute Infantry Regiment, on the evening of June 5, 1944.

101st Airborne troops posing with a captured Nazi flag, two days after landing at Normandy

101st Airborne troops posing with a captured Nazi flag, two days after landing at Normandy

 

The division was activated on August 15, 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. On August 19, 1942, its first commander, Major General William C. Lee, promised his new recruits that the 101st had "no history but had a rendezvous with destiny."

 

General Order Number Five, which gave birth to the division, reads:

 

The 101st Airborne Division, activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, has no history, but it has a rendezvous with destiny. Like the early American pioneers whose invincible courage was the foundation stone of this nation, we have broken with the past and its traditions in order to establish our claim to the future.

 

Due to the nature of our armament, and the tactics in which we shall perfect ourselves, we shall be called upon to carry out operations of far-reaching military importance and we shall habitually go into action when the need is immediate and extreme.

 

Let me call your attention to the fact that our badge is the great American eagle. This is a fitting emblem for a division that will crush its enemies by falling upon them like a thunderbolt from the skies.

 

The history we shall make, the record of high achievement we hope to write in the annals of the American Army and the American people, depends wholly and completely on the men of this division. Each individual, each officer and each enlisted man, must therefore regard himself as a necessary part of a complex and powerful instrument for the overcoming of the enemies of the nation. Each, in his own job, must realize that he is not only a means, but an indispensable means for obtaining the goal of victory. It is, therefore, not too much to say that the future itself, in whose molding we expect to have our share, is in the hands of the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division.

 

During World War II, the Pathfinders of the 101st Airborne Division led the way on D-Day in the night drop prior to the invasion. They left from RAF North Witham having trained there with the 82nd Airborne Division

 

On August 25, 1944 the division became part of the XVIII Airborne Corps in the First Allied Airborne Army. As part of this formation, the division took part in Operation Market Garden.

 

During the Battle of the Bulge the 101st, as one of the few forces available to contain the German advance, was rushed forward by truck to defend the vital road junction of Bastogne. Famously, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe answered the German demand for surrender with the reply "To the German Commander: NUTS! -The American Commander" and the division fought on until the siege was lifted and the German advance halted.

 

On 1 August 1945, the 101st Airborne Division left Germany for Auxerre, France, to begin training for the invasion of Japan. When Japan surrendered two weeks later, the operation became unnecessary. The 101st inactivated on 30 November at Auxerre.

 

For their efforts during World War II, the 101st Airborne Division was awarded four campaign streamers and two Presidential Unit Citations. The division suffered 1,766 Killed In Action; 6,388 Wounded In Action; and 324 Died of Wounds during World War II.

 

[edit] Units

101st Airborne troops retrieving air dropped supplies during the siege of Bastogne.

101st Airborne troops retrieving air dropped supplies during the siege of Bastogne.

 

* Division Headquarters

* 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, attached 1 May 1944 – past 9 May 1945

* 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment

* 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, assigned 1 March 1945, previously attached 15 September 1943 - 1 March 1945

* 327th Glider Infantry Regiment

* 401st Glider Infantry Regiment, disbanded 1 March 1945 in France; assets to 327th GIR

* HHB, Division Artillery

o 321st Glider Field Artillery Battalion (75mm)

o 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (75mm)

o 907th Glider Field Artillery Battalion (75mm)

o 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (75mm)

* 81st Airborne Antiaircraft Battalion

* 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion

* 326th Airborne Medical Company

* 101st Parachute Maintenance Company

* 101st Signal Company

* 101st Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment

* Headquarters, Special Troops

o 801st Airborne Ordnance Maintenance Company

o 426th Airborne Quartermaster Company

o Headquarters Company, 101st Airborne Division

o Military Police Platoon

o Reconnaissance Platoon

o Band (assigned in 1 Mar 45 reorganization)

 

Source: Order of Battle: U.S. Army World War II by Shelby Stanton, Presidio Press, 1984.

 

[edit] Helmet insignia

 

The 101st is distinctive partly by their helmet decorations. The soldiers used card suits (diamonds, spades, hearts, and clubs) to indicate the regiment to which they belonged. The only exception being the 187th, who were added to the division later.

 

* These insignias were first seen in World War II, and can still be seen on 101st Division soldiers today.

o 327th: Clubs (♣) (Presently worn by the 1st Brigade Combat Team)

o 501st: Diamonds (♦) (Currently 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment is part of the 4th Brigade (ABN), 25th Infantry Division in Alaska.)(The Diamond is presently used by the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade)

o 502nd: Hearts (♥) (Presently worn by the 2nd Brigade Combat Team)

o 506th: Spades (♠)(Presently worn by the 4th Brigade Combat Team)

o 187th: Torii (Presently worn by the 3rd Brigade Combat Team; not during World War II, when the 187th Infantry Regiment was part of the 11th Airborne Division.)

 

[edit] Reactivation

Paratroopers from the 101st escorting students into Little Rock High School in Arkansas

Paratroopers from the 101st escorting students into Little Rock High School in Arkansas

 

The 101st Airborne Division was reactivated as a training unit at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, in 1948 and again in 1950. It was reactivated again in 1954 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and in March 1956, the 101st was transferred, less personnel and equipment, to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to be reorganized as a combat division. The 101st was reactivated as a "pentomic" division with five battle groups in place of its World War II structure that featured regiments and battalions. The reorganization was in place by late April 1957 and the division's battle groups were:

 

* 2nd Airborne Battle Group, 187th Infantry

* 1st Airborne Battle Group, 327th Infantry

* 1st Airborne Battle Group, 501st Infantry

* 1st Airborne Battle Group, 502nd Infantry

* 1st Airborne Battle Group, 506th Infantry

 

Division artillery consisted of the following units:

 

* Battery D, 319th Artillery (Abn)

* Battery A, 321st Artillery (Abn)

* Battery B, 321st Artillery (Abn)

* Battery C, 321st Artillery (Abn)

* Battery A, 377th Artillery (Abn)

 

Other supporting units were also assigned.

 

[edit] Civil rights

 

From September through November 1957 elements of the division's 1st Airborne Battle Group, 327th Infantry (bearing the lineage of the old Company A, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment) were deployed to Little Rock, Arkansas, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to enforce Federal court orders during the Little Rock Crisis.

 

[edit] Vietnam War

Men of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, fire from old Viet Cong trenches.

Men of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, fire from old Viet Cong trenches.

 

In the mid-1960s, the 1st Brigade and support troops were deployed to the Republic of Vietnam, followed by the rest of the division in late 1967. In almost seven years of combat in Vietnam, elements of the 101st participated in 15 campaigns. Notable among these were the Battle of Hamburger Hill in 1969 and Firebase Ripcord in 1970. The 101st was deployed in the northern I Corps region operating against the Vietnam People's Army (NVA) infiltration routes through Laos and the A Shau Valley. Elements of the division supported the ARVN Operation Lam Son 719, the invasion of southern Laos, in 1971, but only aviation units actually entered Laos. In the seven years that all or part of the division served in Vietnam it suffered 4,011 Killed in Action and 18,259 Wounded in Action.

 

It has been said that most North Vietnamese had never seen a bald eagle, so they called the 101st soldiers "Chicken Men" or "Rooster Men." Viet Cong commanders would regularly include in their briefings that they were to avoid confrontation with the "Chicken Men" at all costs, as they were sure to lose. Supposedly this remained a source of fierce pride among veterans who served in Vietnam under the 101st.[1]

 

Such claims must be balanced against the reality of combat losses. Casualties for the 101st in Viet Nam were twice those suffered in World War II, and its total number of Killed in Action (4,022) was the third highest of all U.S. Army ground units, behind the 1st Cavalry Division (5,464) and the 25th Infantry Division (4,561). Had the entire division arrived in 1965, as did the 1st Cav and 25th, its total casualties would have undoubtedly been even higher.

 

[edit] Post-Vietnam

A member of the 101st Airborne Division, armed with an M60 machine gun, participates in a field exercise in 1972. M16A1 rifle in background with each soldier wearing a M1 Helmet

A member of the 101st Airborne Division, armed with an M60 machine gun, participates in a field exercise in 1972. M16A1 rifle in background with each soldier wearing a M1 Helmet

 

In 1968, the 101st took on the structure and equipment of an airmobile division. Following its return from Vietnam, the division was rebuilt with one brigade (3rd) and supporting elements on jump status, using the assets of what had been the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The remaining two brigades and supporting units were organized as airmobile. With the exception of certain specialized units, such as the pathfinders and parachute riggers, in early 1974 the Army terminated jump status for the division. Concurrently the 101st introduced the Airmobile Badge (renamed later that year as the Air Assault Badge), the design of which was based on the Glider Badge of World War II. Initially the badge was only authorized for wear while assigned to the division, but in 1978 the Army authorized it for service-wide wear. Soldiers continued to wear the garrison cap with glider patch, bloused boots, and the cloth wing oval behind their wings, as had division paratroopers before them. The division also was authorized to wear a full color (white eagle) shoulder patch insignia instead of the subdued green eagle shoulder patch that was worn as a combat patch by soldiers who fought with the 101st in Vietnam, a distinction shared with the 1st and 5th Infantry divisions.

 

Tragedy struck the division on December 12, 1985. A civilian aircraft, Arrow Air Flight 1285, chartered to transport some of the division from peacekeeping duty with the Multinational Force Observers on the Sinai Peninsula to Kentucky, crashed near Gander, Newfoundland. All eight air crew members and 248 US servicemen died, most were from the 3d Battalion, 502d Infantry. The crash was the worst in Canadian aviation history. President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy travelled to Fort Campbell to comfort grieving family members. On March 8, 1988, two U.S. Army helicopters collided in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, killing 17 servicemen.

 

[edit] Persian Gulf War

 

In January 1991, the 101st once again had its "Rendezvous with Destiny" in Iraq during the combat air assault into enemy territory. The 101st sustained no soldiers killed in action during the 100-hour war and captured thousands of enemy prisoners of war. General Richard A. Cody, then lieutenant colonel, commander of the 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, fired the first shots of the war[citations needed] from his AH-64 Apache.

 

The division has supported humanitarian relief efforts in Rwanda and Somalia, then later supplied peacekeepers to Haiti and Bosnia.

 

[edit] Montana forest fires

 

In August and September 2000, the 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, helped fight fires on the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana. Designated Task Force Battle Force and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Jon S. Lehr, the battalion fought fires on the Valley Complex near Darby, Montana.

 

Reference: Military Support in Wildland Fire Suppression 1988 - 2003, National Interagency Fire Center, www.nifc.gov/pres_visit/military.html

 

[edit] Operation Enduring Freedom

Rakkasans of the 187th Infantry Regiment return from Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan.

Rakkasans of the 187th Infantry Regiment return from Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan.

 

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) was the first conventional unit to deploy in support of the American War on Terrorism.[citation needed] The 2nd Brigade, "Strike", built around the 502nd Infantry, was largely deployed to Kosovo on peacekeeping operations, with some elements of 3/502 deploying after 9/11 as a security element in the CENTCOM AOR with the Fort Campbell-based 5th Special Forces Group. The Division quickly deployed its 3rd Brigade, the 187th Infantry's "Rakkasans" as the first conventional unit to fight as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.[citation needed] After an intense period of combat in rugged Shoh-I-Khot Mountains of eastern Afghanistan during Operation Anaconda with elements of the 10th Mountain Division, the Rakkasans redeployed to Fort Campbell only to find the 101st awaiting another deployment order.

 

[edit] Operation Iraqi Freedom

3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment alongside Task Force 20 at Uday and Qusay Hussein's hideout.

3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment alongside Task Force 20 at Uday and Qusay Hussein's hideout.

 

In 2003, Major General David H. Petraeus ("Eagle 6") led the Screaming Eagles to war during the 2003 invasion of Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom). General Petraeus led the division into Iraq saying, "Guidons, Guidons. This is Eagle 6. The 101st Airborne Division's next Rendezvous with Destiny is North to Baghdad. Op-Ord Desert Eagle 2 is now in effect. Godspeed. Air Assault. Out." The division was in V Corps, providing support to the 3rd Infantry Division by clearing Iraqi strongpoints which that division had bypassed. The Division then went on to a tour of duty as part of the occupation forces of Iraq, using the city of Mosul as their primary base of operations. 1st and 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment (1st Brigade) oversaw the remote airfield Qayarrah West 30 miles south of Mosul. The 502nd Infantry Regiment (2nd Brigade) and 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment were responsible for Mosul itself while the 187th Infantry Regiment (3rd Brigade) controlled Tal Afar just north of Mosul.

 

Once replaced by the first operational Stryker Brigade, the 101st was withdrawn in early 2004 for rest and refit. As part of the Army's modular transformation, the existing infantry brigades, artillery brigade, and aviation brigades were transformed. The Army also activated the 4th Brigade Combat Team, which includes the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 506th Infantry Regiment ("Currahee") and subordinate units. Both battalions were part of the 101st in Vietnam but saw their colors inactivated during an Army-wide reflagging of combat battalions in the 1980s, with 1-506th INF resurfacing in Korea, along with 1-503rd INF and 2-503rd INF (the latter later inactivated), as Air Assault units within the 2nd Infantry Division. The colors of the 506th have returned to the 101st and 1-503rd and 2-503rd are parachute infantry battalions of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Italy, just as they were when the 173rd was in Viet Nam.

 

The reconfiguration of 101st formed seven major units in the division (four infantry BCTs, two combat aviation brigades (CABs), and one sustainment brigade), making it the largest formation currently in the U.S. Army.

 

As of December 2007, 143 members of the Division have died while on service in Iraq. [2]

 

[edit] Second deployment to Iraq

Soldiers from Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, pose at the end of a patrol near Wynot, Iraq.

Soldiers from Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, pose at the end of a patrol near Wynot, Iraq.

 

The division's second deployment to Iraq began in the late summer of 2005. The division headquarters replaced the 42nd Infantry Division, which had been directing security operations as the headquarters for Task Force Liberty. Renamed Task Force Band of Brothers, the 101st assumed responsibility on November 1, 2005 for four provinces in north central Iraq: Salah ad Din, Kirkuk, Diyala and As Sulymaniyah. On December 30, 2005, Task Force Band of Brothers also assumed responsibility for training Iraqi security forces and conducting security operations in Ninevah and Dahuk provinces as the headquarters for Task Force Freedom was disestablished.

CPL Jared Jenkins and 1SG Arthur Abiera, Apache Troop, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, patrol the outskirts of Sadr City, Iraq.

CPL Jared Jenkins and 1SG Arthur Abiera, Apache Troop, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, patrol the outskirts of Sadr City, Iraq.

 

During the second deployment, 2nd and 4th Brigades of the 101st Airborne Division were assigned to conduct security operations under the command of Task Force Baghdad, led initially by 3rd Infantry Division, which was replaced by 4th Infantry Division. The 1st Battalion of the 506th Infantry (4th Brigade) was separated from the division and served with the Marines in Ramadi, in the Al Anbar province. 3rd Brigade was assigned to Salah ad Din and Bayji sectors and 1st Brigade was assigned to the overall Kirkuk province which included Hawijah, one of the deadliest cities in Iraq.

 

Task Force Band of Brothers' primary mission during its second deployment to Iraq was the training of Iraqi security forces. When the 101st returned to Iraq, there were no Iraqi units capable of assuming the lead for operations against Iraqi and foreign terrorists. As the division concluded its tour, 33 battalions were in the lead for security in assigned areas, and two of four Iraq divisions in northern Iraq were commanding and controlling subordinate units.

 

Simultaneously with training Iraqi Soldiers and their leaders, 101st Soldiers conducted numerous security operations against terrorist cells operating in the division's assigned, six-province area of operations. Operation Swarmer was the largest air assault operation conducted in Iraq since April 22, 2003. 1st Brigade conducted Operation Scorpion with Iraqi units near Kirkuk.

 

Developing other aspects of Iraqi society also figured in 101st operations in Iraq. Division commander Major General Thomas Turner hosted the first governors' conference for the six provinces in the division's area of operations, as well as the neighboring province of Erbil.[3] Numerous civil affairs operations were directed by the division, including the construction and renovation of schools, clinics, police stations, and other important landmarks in civilian communities from Turkey to Baghdad and from the Syrian border to the Iranian border.

 

[edit] Accusations of misconduct in Iraq

 

On June 19 2006, the US military announced that three soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Private First Class Corey R. Clagett, Specialist William B. Hunsaker and Staff Sergeant Raymond L. Girouard, were being charged in connection of the deaths of three male detainees in an operation near a canal north of Baghdad on May 9. On June 21, a fourth soldier was charged, but none were convicted.

 

In July 2006, five troopers were charged in connection with the rape and murder of 14 year old Iraqi girl Abeer Qasim, and the murder of three of her family members, including a 5-year-old girl. The incident took place in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. Previously, an arrest in the case was also made in June of 2006 when former trooper Steven D. Green was apprehended in North Carolina. On November 17, 2006 Specialist James Barker was sentenced to life in prison for the incident. Friday February 23, 2007 saw the Sergeant, two specialists and two privates convicted with lengthy sentences.

 

[edit] Third deployment to Iraq

 

The 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 101st is currently deployed in Iraq, in the Salah ad Din Province, northeast of Baghdad. The 2nd Brigade Combat Team is currently deployed in Iskandariyah, and the 3rd Brigade Combat Team is currently deployed in the Southern belt region south of Baghdad.

 

[edit] General information

 

The most recent change of command within the division took place on November 10, 2006. During this change of command, MG Jeff Schloesser took command of the 101st from the division's previous commander, now-LTG Tom Turner. Turner left the 101st to command Fifth Army.

 

* Commanding General: Major General Jeffrey J. Schloesser

* Deputy Assistant Division Commander (Operations): Colonel (promotable) Mark A. Milley.[4]

* Deputy Assistant Division Commander (Support): Brigadier General James C. McConville.[4]

 

* Chief of Staff: Colonel Thomas D. Vail

* Division Command Sergeant Major: Command Sergeant Major Vincent F. Camacho

 

[edit] Parachute Demonstration Team

 

The "Screaming Eagles" is also the nickname for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Command Parachute Demonstration Team. Its history goes as far back as the late 1950s, during the infancy of precision freefall. The command group decided to form a full time team in 1984.

 

See website: www.campbell.army.mil/PDT/pdt.htm

 

[edit] Current structure

OrBat of the 101st Airborne Division

OrBat of the 101st Airborne Division

 

101st Airborne Division:

 

* 501st Special Troops Battalion

* 1st Brigade Combat Team ("Bastogne")(♣)

o 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment ("Above the Rest")

o 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment ("No Slack")

o 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment ("Balls of the Eagle")

o 1st Squadron (RSTA), 32nd Cavalry Regiment ("Victory or Death")

o 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion

o 426th Brigade Support Battalion

* 2d Brigade Combat Team ("Strike")(♥)

o 1st Battalion, 502d Infantry Regiment ("First Strike")

o 2nd Battalion, 502d Infantry Regiment ("Strike Force")

o 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment ("Top Guns")

o 1st Squadron (RSTA), 75th Cavalry Regiment ("Widowmakers")

o 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion

o 526th Brigade Support Battalion

* 3rd Brigade Combat Team ("Rakkasans") (Torii)

o 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment ("Leader Rakkasans")

o 2nd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment ("Raider Rakkasans")(inactivated 30 Sep 2005)

o 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment ("Iron Rakkasans")

o 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment ("Red Knight")

o 1st Squadron (RSTA), 33rd Cavalry Regiment("War Rakkasans")

o 626th Brigade Support Battalion ("Assurgam")

o 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion ("Rak Solid")

* 4th Brigade Combat Team ("Currahee")(♠)

o 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment ("Red Currahee")

o 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment ("White Currahee")

o 1st Squadron (RSTA), 61st Cavalry Regiment ("Panther")

o 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment ("Guns of Glory")

o 801st Brigade Support Battalion ("Maintaineers")

o 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion ("Apache")

* 101st Combat Aviation Brigade ("Wings of Destiny")(♦)

o 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment ("Out Front")

o 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment ("Expect No Mercy")

o 5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment ("Eagle Assault")[5]

o 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment (GSAB) ("Shadow of the Eagle")

o 96th Support Battalion (Aviation) ("Troubleshooters")

* 159th Combat Aviation Brigade ("Eagle Thunder") (Triangle)

o 7th Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment ("Pale Horse")

o 3rd Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment ("Eagle Attack")

o 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment ("Wings of the Eagle")[5].

o 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment (GSAB) ("Eagle Lift")

o 563rd Support Battalion (Aviation) ("Keep Them Fighting")

* HHC, 101st Sustainment Brigade ("Life Liners")[6]

o 106th Transportation Battalion

o 129th Corps Support Battalion

o 561st Combat Support Battalion (inactivated)

o 101st Soldier Support Battalion (inactivated)

o 101st Brigade Troops Battalion ("Trojans")

o 326th Engineer Battalion (CBT)

 

Note: The 49th Quartermaster Group at Fort Lee, Virginia, may provide support to, but is not part of, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).Quartermaster GroupQuartermaster Group

 

[edit] Lineage

 

[edit] HHC, 101st Division

 

* Constituted 23 July 1918 in the National Army as Headquarters, 101st Division

* Organized 2 November 1918 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi

* Demobilized 11 December 1918 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi

* Reconstituted 24 June 1921 in the Organized Reserves as Headquarters, 101st Division

* Organized 10 September 1921 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin

* Redesignated 31 March 1942 as Division Headquarters, 101st Division

* Disbanded 15 August 1942; concurrently, reconstituted in the Army of the United States as Headquarters, 101st Airborne Division, and activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana

* Inactivated 30 November 1945 in France

* Allotted 25 June 1948 to the Regular Army

* Activated 6 July 1948 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Inactivated 27 May 1949 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Activated 25 August 1950 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Inactivated 1 December 1953 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Activated 15 May 1954 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina

* Reorganized and redesignated 3 February 1964 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 101st Airborne Division

 

[edit] HHC, 1st Brigade

 

* Constituted 24 June 1921 in the Organized Reserves as Headquarters Company, 101st Division

* Organized in November 1921 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin

* Reorganized and redesignated 31 March 1942 as Headquarters and Military Police Company (less Military Police Platoon), 101st Division

* Disbanded 15 August 1942; concurrently reconstituted in the Army of the United States as Headquarters Company, 101st Airborne *Division, and activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana

* Inactivated 30 November 1945 in France

* Allotted 25 June 1948 to the Regular Army

* Activated 6 July 1948 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Inactivated 27 May 1949 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Activated 25 August 1950 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Inactivated 1 December 1953 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Activated 15 May 1954 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina

* Reorganized and redesignated 1 July 1956 as Headquarters and Service Company, 101st Airborne Division

* Reorganized and redesignated 25 April 1957 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Command and Control Battalion, 101st Airborne Division

* Reorganized and redesignated 3 February 1964 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division

 

[edit] HHC, 2nd Brigade

 

* Constituted 5 August 1917 in the National Army as Headquarters, 159th Infantry Brigade, an element of the 80th Division

* Organized 27 August 1917 at Camp Lee, Virginia

* Demobilized 1 June 1919 at Camp Lee, Virginia

* Reconstituted 24 June 1921 in the Organized Reserves as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 159th Infantry Brigade, an element of the 80th Division

* Organized in September 1922 at Richmond, Virginia

* Redesignated 23 March 1925 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 159th Brigade

* Redesignated 24 August 1936 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 159th Infantry Brigade

* Converted and redesignated 12 February 1942 as the 80th Reconnaissance Troop (less 3d Platoon), 80th Division (Headquarters and *Headquarters Company, 160th Infantry Brigade, concurrently converted and redesignated as the 3d Platoon, 80th Reconnaissance Company, 80th Division)

* Troop ordered into active military service 15 July 1942 and reorganized at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, as the 80th Cavalry *Reconnaissance Troop, an element of the 80th Division (later redesignated as the 80th Infantry Division)

* Reorganized and redesignated 12 August 1943 as the 80th Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized

* Inactivated 6 January 1946 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey

* Redesignated 15 July 1946 as the Reconnaissance Platoon, 80th Airborne Division

* Activated 21 May 1947 at Richmond, Virginia, as the 80th Airborne Reconnaissance Platoon, an element of the 80th Airborne Division

* (Organized Reserves redesignated 25 March 1948 as the Organized Reserve Corps; redesignated 9 July 1952 as the Army Reserve)

* Reorganized and redesignated 20 April 1948 as the Reconnaissance Platoon, 80th Airborne Division

* Reorganized and redesignated 18 September 1950 as the 80th Airborne Reconnaissance Company

* Reorganized and redesignated 10 May 1952 as the 80th Reconnaissance Company, an element of the 80th Infantry Division

* Disbanded 29 March 1959 at Richmond, Virginia

* Reconstituted (less 3d Platoon) 22 October 1963 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 159th Infantry *Brigade (3d Platoon, 80th Reconnaissance Company--hereafter separate lineage)

* Redesignated 21 January 1964 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division

* Activated 3 February 1964 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

 

[edit] HHC, 3rd Brigade

 

* Constituted 5 August 1917 in the National Army as Headquarters, 160th Infantry Brigade, an element of the 80th Division

* Organized 27 August 1917 at Camp Lee, Virginia

* Demobilized 7 June 1919 at Camp Lee, Virginia

* Reconstituted 24 June 1921 in the Organized Reserves as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 160th Infantry Brigade, an element of the 80th Division

* Organized in September 1922 at Baltimore, Maryland

* Redesignated 23 March 1925 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 160th Brigade

* Redesignated 24 August 1936 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 160th Infantry Brigade

* Converted and redesignated 12 February 1942 as the 3d Platoon, 80th Reconnaissance Troop, 80th Division (Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 159th Infantry Brigade, concurrently converted and redesignated as the 80th Reconnaissance Troop [less 3d Platoon], 80th Division)

* Troop ordered into active military service 15 July 1942 and reorganized at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, as the 80th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, an element of the 80th Division (later redesignated as the 80th Infantry Division)

* Reorganized and redesignated 12 August 1943 as the 80th Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized

* Inactivated 6 January 1946 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey

* Redesignated 15 July 1946 as the Reconnaissance Platoon, 80th Airborne Division

* Activated 21 May 1947 at Richmond, Virginia, as the 80th Airborne Reconnaissance Platoon, an element of the 80th Airborne Division

* (Organized Reserves redesignated 25 March 1948 as the Organized Reserve Corps; redesignated 9 July 1952 as the Army Reserve)

* Reorganized and redesignated 20 April 1948 as the Reconnaissance Platoon, 80th Airborne Division

* Reorganized and redesignated 18 September 1950 as the 80th Airborne Reconnaissance Company

* Reorganized and redesignated 10 May 1952 as the 80th Reconnaissance Company, an element of the 80th Infantry Division

* Disbanded 29 March 1959 at Richmond, Virginia

* 3d Platoon, 80th Reconnaissance Company, reconstituted 22 October 1963 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 160th Infantry Brigade (remainder of the company - hereafter separate lineage)

* Redesignated 21 January 1964 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division

* Activated 3 February 1964 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

 

[edit] HHB, 101st Division Artillery

 

* Constituted 24 June 1921 in the Organized Reserves as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 176th Field Artillery Brigade

* Organized in 1923 in Wisconsin

* Redesignated 30 January 1942 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 101st Division Artillery

* Disbanded 15 August 1942; concurrently reconstituted in the Army of the United States as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 101st Airborne Division Artillery, and activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana

* Inactivated 30 November 1945 in France

* Allotted 25 June 1948 to the Regular Army

* Activated 6 July 1948 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Inactivated 27 May 1949 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Activated 25 August 1950 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Inactivated 1 December 1953 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

* Activated 15 May 1954 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina

* Reorganized and redesignated 1 July 1956 as Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Battery, 101st Airborne Division Artillery

* Reorganized and redesignated 25 April 1957 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 101st Airborne Division Artillery

 

[edit] HHC, 101st Aviation Brigade

 

* Constituted 1950-12-07 in the Regular Army as the 4th Light Aviation Section

* Activated 1950-12-19 in Korea

* Inactivated 1954-11-05 in Korea

* Redesignated 1956-07-01 as the 101st Aviation Company, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, and activated at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

* Reorganized and redesignated 1962-12-03 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 101st Aviation Battalion[7]

* Reorganized and redesignated 1987-10-16 as the 101st Aviation Brigade, a parent regiment under the United States Army Regimental System

 

[edit] HHC, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

 

* Constituted 1962-11-15 in the Regular Army as Company A, 101st Aviation Battalion, an element of the 101st Airborne Division

* Activated 1962-12-03 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

* Inactivated 1979 -04-04 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

* Activated 1981-09-30 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

* Reorganized and redesignated 1987-10-16 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, and remained assigned to the 101st Airborne Division[8].

 

[edit] HHC, 2d Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

 

* Constituted 1962-11-15 in the Regular Army as Company B, 101st Aviation Battalion, an element of the 101st Airborne Division

* Activated 3 December 1962-12-03 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

* Reorganized and redesignated 1987-10-16 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2d Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, and remained assigned to the 101st Airborne Division[8]

* Inactivated 1988-11-16 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

* Activated 1991-08-16 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

 

[edit] HHC, 3d Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

 

* 1968-07-01 in the Regular Army as Company C, 101st Aviation Battalion, an element of the 101st Airborne Division

* Activated 1968-12-20 in Vietnam.

* Reorganized and redesignated 1987-10-16 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, and remained assigned to the 101st Airborne Division[8].

 

[edit] HHC, 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

 

* Constituted 1 July 1968-07-01 in the Regular Army as Company D, 101st Aviation Battalion, an element of the 101st Airborne Division

* Activated 1968-12-20 in Vietnam

* Inactivated 1981-09-30 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

* Redesignated 1987-10-16 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, and activated at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, as an element of the 101st Airborne Division[8]

 

[edit] HHC, 5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

 

* Constituted 1987-09-16 in the Regular Army as the 5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, and activated at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

 

[edit] HHC, 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

 

* Constituted 16 1987-09-16 in the Regular Army as the 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, and activated at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

 

[edit] HHC, 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

 

* Constituted 1950-12-07 in the Regular Army as the 4th Light Aviation Section.

* Activated 1950-12-19 in Korea

* Inactivated 1954-11-05 in Korea

* Redesignated 1956-07-01 as the 101st Aviation Company, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, and activated at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

* Reorganized and redesignated 1962-12-03 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 101st Aviation Battalion

* Headquarters Company, 101st Aviation Battalion[9] reorganized and redesignated 1987-10-16 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, and remained assigned to the 101st Airborne Division[8]

 

[edit] HHC, 8th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

 

* Constituted 1987-10-16 in the Regular Army as the 8th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, and activated at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

 

[edit] HHC, 9th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment

 

* Constituted 1989-12-16 in the Regular Army as the 9th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, and activated at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

 

[edit] HHC, 159th Aviation Brigade[10]

Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division fly to Forward Operating Base Dagger near Tikrit, Iraq, aboard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division fly to Forward Operating Base Dagger near Tikrit, Iraq, aboard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

 

* Constituted 16 October 1992 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 159th Aviation Group, and activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina

* Reorganized and redesignated 16 June 1998 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 159th Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.

 

[edit] Honors

 

[edit] Campaign Participation Credit

 

* World War I (2nd and 3rd Brigades ONLY):

 

1. Hundred Days Offensive (also known as the Battle of Saint-Quentin or the Second Battle of the Somme);

2. Meuse-Argonne Offensive;

3. Picardy 1918

 

* World War II (except 159th Aviation Brigade):

 

1. Normandy (with arrowhead);

2. Rhineland (with arrowhead);

3. Ardennes-Alsace;

4. Central Europe

 

* Vietnam War (Except 159th Aviation Brigade):

 

1. Defense (1st Brigade Only);

2. Counteroffensive (1st Brigade Only);

3. Counteroffensive, Phase II (1st Brigade Only)

4. Counteroffensive, Phase III;

5. Tet Counteroffensive;

6. Counteroffensive, Phase IV;

7. Counteroffensive, Phase V;

8. Counteroffensive, Phase VI;

9. Tet 1969/Counteroffensive;

10. Summer-Fall 1969;

11. Winter-Spring 1970;

12. Sanctuary Counteroffensive;

13. Counteroffensive, Phase VII;

14. Consolidation I;

15. Consolidation II

 

* Southwest Asia (Except 159th Aviation Brigade):

 

1. Defense of Saudi Arabia;

2. Liberation and Defense of Kuwait

 

[edit] Decorations

 

1. Presidential Unit Citation (Army) for NORMANDY (Division and 1st Brigade Only)

2. Presidential Unit Citation (Army) for BASTOGNE (Division and 1st Brigade Only)

3. Presidential Unit Citation (Army) for DAK TO, VIETNAM 1966 (1st Brigade only)

4. Presidential Unit Citation (Army) for DONG AP BIA MOUNTAIN (3rd Brigade Only)

5. Valorous Unit Award for THUA THIEN PROVINCE (3rd Brigade and DIVARTY Only)

6. Valorous Unit Award for TUY HOA (1st Brigade Only)

7. Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for VIETNAM 1965-1966 (1st Brigade Only)

8. Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for VIETNAM 1968 (3rd Brigade Only)

9. Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for SOUTHWEST ASIA (Except 159th Aviation Brigade)

10. French Croix de Guerre with Palm, World War II for NORMANDY (Division and 1st Brigade Only)

11. Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm for BASTOGNE (Division and 1st Brigade Only);

12. cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action at BASTOGNE (Division and 1st Brigade Only)

13. Belgian Fourragere 1944 (Division and 1st Brigade Only)

14. Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action in FRANCE AND BELGIUM (Division and 1st Brigade Only)

15. Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm for VIETNAM 1966-1967 (1st Brigade Only)

16. Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm for VIETNAM 1968 (2nd Brigade Only)

17. Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm for VIETNAM 1968-1969 (Except 159th Aviation Brigade)

18. Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm for VIETNAM 1971 (Except 159th Aviation Brigade)

19. Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class for VIETNAM 1968-1970 (Except 159th Aviation Brigade)

20. Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class for VIETNAM 1970 (DIVARTY only)

 

[edit] Division commanders

 

* MG William C. Lee Aug-42 - Feb-44

* BG Don F. Pratt 6-Feb-44 - 14-Mar-44[11]

* MG Maxwell D. Taylor Mar-44 - Aug-45

* BG Anthony C. McAuliffe 5-Dec-44 - 26-Dec-44[11]

* BG William N. Gillmore Aug-45 - Sep-45

* BG Gerald St. C. Mickle Sep-45 - Oct-45

* BG Stuart Cutler Oct-45 - Nov-45

* MG William R. Schmidt Jul-48 - May-49

* MG Cornelius E. Ryan Aug-50 - May-51

* MG Roy E. Porter May-51 - May-53

* MG Paul DeWitt Adams May-53 - Dec-53

* MG Riley F. Ennis May-54 - Oct-55

* MG F. S. Bowen Oct-55 - Mar-56

* MG Thomas L. Sherburne, Jr. May-56 - Mar-58

* MG William C. Westmoreland Apr-58 - Jun-60

* MG Ben Harrell Jun-60 - Jul-61

* MG C.W.G. Rich Jul-61 - Feb-63

* MG Harry H. Critz Feb-63 - Mar-64

* MG Beverly E. Powell Mar-64 - Mar-66

* MG Ben Sternberg Mar-66 - Jul-67

* MG Olinto M. Barsanti Jul-67 - Jul-68

* MG Melvin Zais Jul-68 - May-69

   

* MG John M. Wright May-69 - May-70

* MG John J. Hennessey May-70 - Feb-71

* MG Thomas M. Tarpley Feb-71 - Apr-72

* MG John H. Cushman Apr-72 - Aug-73

* MG Sidney B. Berry Aug-73 - Jul-74

* MG John W. McEnery Aug-74 - Feb-76

* MG John A. Wickham, Jr. Mar-76 - Mar-78

* MG John N. Brandenburg Mar-78 - Jun-80

* MG Jack V. Mackmull Jun-80 - Aug-81

* MG Charles W. Bagnal Aug-81 - Aug-83

* MG James E. Thompson Aug-83 - Jun-85

* MG Burton D. Patrick Jun-85 - May-87

* MG Teddy G. Allen May-87 - Aug-89

* MG J. H. Binford Peay III Aug-89 - Jun-91

* MG John Miller Jun-91 - Jul-93

* MG John M. Keane Jul-93 - Feb-96

* MG William F. "Buck" Kernan Feb-96 - Feb-98

* MG Robert T. Clark Feb-98 - Jun-00

* MG Richard A. Cody Jun-00 - Jul-02

* MG David H. Petraeus Jul-02 - May-04

* MG Thomas R. Turner II May-04 - Nov-06

* MG Jeffrey J. Schloesser Nov-06 - present

  

Mortality 2002 for various causes of death, organised hierarchically in a pie diagram (with constant area for each segment). Data originally from munnecke.com/papers/lse.htm

 

A PDF version can be found at www.aleph.se/andart/archives/images/death [Converted].pdf

This table is hinged on the right, locks on the left. Unlock and swing from 90 to 180 degrees, drop the adjustable legs, then open the hatch.

A cute little pigeon perched on the external metal structure outside the back of my office.

 

The title comes from the catch cry of the protagonist in a cartoon called "Pigeon Boy".

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule Vostok 1 completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.

 

Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight but he served as the backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting with his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach.

Contents

 

1 Early life and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

3.1 Selection and training

3.2 Vostok 1

4 After the Vostok 1 flight

5 Personal life

6 Death

7 Awards and honours

7.1 Medals and orders of merit

7.2 Tributes

7.3 Statues and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

Yuri Gagarin was born 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino,[1] near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death).[2] His parents worked on a collective farm:[3] Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin as a carpenter and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina as a dairy farmer.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia during World War II. Klushino was occupied in November 1941 during the German advance on Moscow and a German officer took over the Gagarin residence. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] His two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour in 1943 and did not return until after the war in 1945.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] While in Saratov, Gagarin volunteered at a local flying club for weekend training as a Soviet air cadet, where he trained to fly a biplane, and later a Yak-18.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] Gagarin twice struggled to land the two-seater trainer aircraft, and risked dismissal from pilot training. However, the commander of the regiment decided to give him another chance at landing. Gagarin's flight instructor gave him a cushion to sit on, which improved his view from the cockpit, and he landed successfully. Having completed his evaluation in a trainer aircraft,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

On 5 November 1957, Gagarin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces having accumulated 166 hours and 47 minutes of flight time. He graduated from flight school the next day and was posted to the Luostari airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

Gagarin's selection for the Vostok programme was overseen by the Central Flight Medical Commission led by Major General Konstantin Fyodorovich Borodin of the Soviet Army Medical Service. He underwent physical and psychological testing conducted at Central Aviation Scientific-Research Hospital, in Moscow, commanded by Colonel A.S. Usanov, a member of the commission. The commission also included Colonel Yevgeniy Anatoliyevich Karpov, who later commanded the training centre, Colonel Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovskiy, the head physician for Gagarin's flight, and Major-General Aleksandr Nikolayevich Babiychuk, a physician flag officer on the Soviet Air Force General Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force.[17]

 

From a pool of 154 qualified pilots short-listed by their Air Force units, the military physicians chose 29 cosmonaut candidates, of which 20 were approved by the Credential Committee of the Soviet Government. The first twelve including Gagarin were approved on 7 March 1960 and eight more were added in a series of subsequent orders issued until June.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

Gagarin was a candidate favoured by his peers. When they were asked to vote anonymously for a candidate besides themselves they would like to be the first to fly, all but three chose Gagarin.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme would be chosen. The other members of the group were Anatoliy Kartashov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, German Titov, and Valentin Varlamov. However, Kartashov and Varlamov were injured and replaced by Khrunov and Grigoriy Nelyubov.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] Gagarin was also subjected to experiments that were designed to test physical and psychological endurance including oxygen starvation tests in which the cosmonauts were locked in an isolation chamber and the air slowly pumped out. He also trained for the upcoming flight by experiencing g-forces in a centrifuge.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] In August 1960, a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows:

 

Modest; embarrasses when his humor gets a little too racy; high degree of intellectual development evident in Yuriy; fantastic memory; distinguishes himself from his colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings; a well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering, prepares himself painstakingly for his activities and training exercises, handles celestial mechanics and mathematical formulae with ease as well as excels in higher mathematics; does not feel constrained when he has to defend his point of view if he considers himself right; appears that he understands life better than a lot of his friends.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, they were tested in a simulator at the M. M. Gromov Flight-Research Institute on a full-size mockup of the Vostok capsule. Gagarin, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov all received excellent marks on the first day of testing in which they were required to describe the various phases of the mission followed by questions from commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

In the end, at the State Commission meeting on April 8, Kamanin stood up and formally nominated Gagarin as the primary pilot and Titov as his backup. Without much discussion, the commission approved the proposal and moved on to other last-minute logistical issues. It was assumed that in the event Gagarin developed health problems prior to liftoff, Titov would take his place, with Nelyubov acting as his backup.

 

Vostok 1

Main article: Vostok 1

 

Poyekhali!

Menu

0:00

Gagarin's voice

Problems playing this file? See media help.

 

On 12 April 1961, 6:07 am UTC, the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Aboard was Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, using the call sign Kedr (Russian: Кедр, Siberian pine or Cedar).[31] The radio communication between the launch control room and Gagarin included the following dialogue at the moment of rocket launch:

 

Korolev: Preliminary stage ... intermediate... main... LIFT-OFF! We wish you a good flight. Everything's all right.

 

Gagarin: Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] The five first-stage engines fired until the first separation event, when the four side-boosters fell away, leaving the core engine. The core stage then separated while the rocket was in a suborbital trajectory, and the upper stage carried it to orbit. Once the upper stage finished firing, it separated from the spacecraft, which orbited for 108 minutes before returning to Earth in Kazakhstan.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

An April 1961 newsreel of Gagarin arriving in Moscow to be greeted by First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev.

 

"The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended", Gagarin wrote in his post-flight report.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. There were concerns Gagarin's spaceflight record would not be certified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body for setting standards and keeping records in the field, which at the time required that the pilot land with the craft.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] an omission which became apparent after Titov's subsequent flight on Vostok 2 four months later. Gagarin's spaceflight records were nonetheless certified and again reaffirmed by the FAI, which revised it rules, and acknowledge that the crucial steps of the safe launch, orbit, and return of the pilot had been accomplished. Gagarin continues to be internationally recognised as the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program and he became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, as well as a worldwide celebrity. Newspapers around the globe published his biography and details of his flight. He was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Other cities in the Soviet Union also held mass demonstrations, the scale of which were second only to World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] While in Manchester, despite heavy rain, he refused an umbrella, insisted that the roof of the convertible car he was riding in remain open, and stood so the cheering crowds could see him.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] and was elected to the Central Committee of the Young Communist League. He later returned to Star City, the cosmonaut facility, where he spent several years working on designs for a reusable spacecraft. He became a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces on 12 June 1962, and received the rank of colonel on 6 November 1963.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai Kamanin, tried to keep Gagarin away from any flights, being worried about losing their hero in an accident noting that he was "too dear to mankind to risk his life for the sake of an ordinary space flight".[54] Kamanin was also concerned by Gagarin's drinking and believed the sudden rise to fame had taken its toll on the cosmonaut. While acquaintances say Gagarin had been a "sensible drinker", his touring schedule placed him in social situations in which he was increasingly expected to drink alcohol.[5][10]

Gagarin with U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou and the Gemini 4 astronauts at the 1965 Paris Air Show

 

Two years later, he was re-elected as a deputy of the Soviet Union but this time to the Soviet of Nationalities, the upper chamber of legislature.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] and was backup pilot for his friend Vladimir Komarov on the Soyuz 1 flight after five years without piloting duty. Kamanin had opposed Gagarin's reassignment to cosmonaut training; he had gained weight and his flying skills had deteriorated. Despite this, he remained a strong contender for Soyuz 1 until he was replaced by Komarov in April 1966 and reassigned to Soyuz 3.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] He was also grounded from flying aircraft solo, a demotion he worked hard to lift. He was temporarily relieved of duties to focus on academics with the promise that he would be able to resume flight training.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] Following his rise to fame, at a Black Sea resort in September 1961, he was reportedly caught by his wife during a liaison with a nurse who had aided him after a boating incident. He attempted to escape through a window and jumped off a second floor balcony. The resulting injury left a permanent scar above his left eyebrow.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

Plaque indicating Gagarin's interment in the Kremlin Wall

 

On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15UTI crashed near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and their ashes were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] According to a biography of Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin, the KGB worked "not just alongside the Air Force and the official commission members but against them."[75]

 

The KGB's report declassified in March 2003 dismissed various conspiracy theories and instead indicated the actions of airbase personnel contributed to the crash. The report states that an air-traffic controller provided Gagarin with outdated weather information and that by the time of his flight, conditions had deteriorated significantly. Ground crew also left external fuel tanks attached to the aircraft. Gagarin's planned flight activities needed clear weather and no outboard tanks. The investigation concluded Gagarin's aircraft entered a spin, either due to a bird strike or because of a sudden move to avoid another aircraft. Because of the out-of-date weather report, the crew believed their altitude was higher than it was and could not react properly to bring the MiG-15 out of its spin.[76] Another theory, advanced in 2005 by the original crash investigator, hypothesizes that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft.[73] A similar theory, published in Air & Space magazine, is that the crew detected the open vent and followed procedure by executing a rapid dive to a lower altitude. This dive caused them to lose consciousness and crash.[74]

 

On 12 April 2007, the Kremlin vetoed a new investigation into the death of Gagarin. Government officials said they saw no reason to begin a new investigation.[77] In April 2011, documents from a 1968 commission set up by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to investigate the accident were declassified. The documents revealed that the commission's original conclusion was that Gagarin or Seryogin had manoeuvered sharply, either to avoid a weather balloon or to avoid "entry into the upper limit of the first layer of cloud cover", leading the jet into a "super-critical flight regime and to its stalling in complex meteorological conditions".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, a member of a state commission established to investigate Gagarin's death, was conducting parachute training sessions that day and heard "two loud booms in the distance". He believes that a Sukhoi Su-15 was flying below its minimum altitude and, "without realizing it because of the terrible weather conditions, he passed within 10 or 20 meters of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier". The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG-15UTI into an uncontrolled spin. Leonov said the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "unauthorized" Su-15 flying in the area. However, as a condition of being allowed to discuss the declassified report, Leonov was barred from disclosing the name of the Su-15 pilot who was 80 years old and in poor health as of 2013.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

On 14 April 1961, Gagarin was honoured with a 12-mile (19 km) parade attended by millions of people that concluded at the Red Square. After a short speech, he was bestowed the Hero of the Soviet Union,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of Cuban Revolution (26 July), President Osvaldo Dorticos of Cuba presented him with the first Commander of the Order of Playa Girón, a newly created medal.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] He received numerous awards from other nations that year, including the Star of the Republic of Indonesia (2nd Class), the Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st Degree) in Poland, the Order of the Flag of the Republic of Hungary, the Hero of Labor award from Democratic Republic of Vietnam,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

Tributes

 

The date of Gagarin's space flight, 12 April, has been commemorated. Since 1962, it has been celebrated in the USSR and most of its former territories as Cosmonautics Day.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

Yuri Gagarin statue at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London

 

A number of buildings and locations have been named for Gagarin. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] The launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome from which Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched is now known as Gagarin's Start. Gagarin Raion in Sevastopol, Ukraine, was named after him during the period of the Soviet Union. The Russian Air Force Academy was renamed Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin left the small Fallen Astronaut sculpture at their landing site as a memorial to the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the Space Race; the names on its plaque included Yuri Gagarin and 14 others.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] He was the inspiration for the pieces "Hey Gagarin" by Jean-Michel Jarre on Métamorphoses, "Gagarin" by Public Service Broadcasting, and "Gagarin, I loved you" by Undervud.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

Two commemorative coins were issued in the Soviet Union to honour the 20th and 30th anniversaries of his flight: a one-ruble coin in copper-nickel (1981) and a three-ruble coin in silver (1991). In 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four coins bearing his likeness was issued in Russia; it consisted of a two-ruble coin in copper-nickel, a three-ruble coin in silver, a ten-ruble coin in brass-copper and nickel, and a 100-ruble coin in silver.[112] In 2011, Russia issued a 1,000-ruble coin in gold and a three-ruble coin in silver to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] A Russian docudrama titled Gagarin: First in Space was released in 2013. Previous attempts at portraying Gagarin were disallowed; his family took legal action over his portrayal in a fictional drama and vetoed a musical.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), Orenburg, Cheboksary, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Yoshkar-Ola in Russia, as well as in Nicosia, Cyprus, Druzhkivka, Ukraine, Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and Tiraspol, Moldova. On 4 June 1980, Monument to Yuri Gagarin in Gagarin Square, Leninsky Avenue, Moscow, was opened.[117] The monument is mounted to a 38 m (125 ft) tall pedestal and is constructed of titanium. Beside the column is a replica of the descent module used during his spaceflight.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

In 2011, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Admiralty Arch in The Mall in London, opposite the permanent sculpture of James Cook. It is a copy of the statue outside Gagarin's former school in Lyubertsy.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

In 2012, a statue was unveiled at the site of NASA's original spaceflight headquarters on South Wayside Drive in Houston. The sculpture was completed in 2011 by artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] The Russian Federation presented a bust of Gagarin to several cities in India including one that was unveiled at the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata in February 2012.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than week. A new work was commissioned following the outcry over the disproportionately small size of its head which locals said was an "insult" to Gagarin.[124][125] Belgrade City Manager Goran Vesic stated that neither the city, the Serbian Ministry of Culture, nor the foundation that financed it had prior knowledge of the design.[126]

50th anniversary

50th anniversary stamp of Ukraine

 

The 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey into space was marked in 2011 by tributes around the world. A film titled First Orbit was shot from the International Space Station, combining sound recordings from the original flight with footage of the route taken by Gagarin.[127] The Russian, American, and Italian crew of Expedition 27 aboard the ISS sent a special video message to wish the people of the world a "Happy Yuri's Night", wearing shirts with an image of Gagarin.[128]

 

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation released gold and silver coins to commemorate the anniversary.[129] The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft was named Gagarin with the launch in April 2011 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first manned space mission.

Leica S (006) + Summarit 70mm f/2.5 CS

heresienstadt concentration camp

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses of "Theresienstadt", see Theresienstadt (disambiguation).

 

Coordinates: 50°30′48″N 14°10′1″E

Theresienstadt concentration camp archway with the phrase "Arbeit macht frei" (work makes (you) free), placed over the entrance in a number of Nazi concentration camps

Location of Terezín within the modern Czech Republic

Part of a series on

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Jews on selection ramp at Auschwitz, May 1944

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v t e

 

Theresienstadt concentration camp, also referred to as Theresienstadt ghetto,[1][2][3] was a concentration camp established by the SS during World War II in the garrison city of Terezín (German: Theresienstadt), located in German-occupied Czechoslovakia.

 

Tens of thousands of people died there, some killed outright and others dying from malnutrition and disease. More than 150,000 other persons (including tens of thousands of children) were held there for months or years, before being sent by rail transports to their deaths at Treblinka and Auschwitz extermination camps in occupied Poland, as well as to smaller camps elsewhere.[4]

 

Contents

 

1 History

2 Small Fortress

3 Main fortress

4 Command and control authority

5 Internal organisation

6 Industrial labour

7 Western European Jews arrive at camp

8 Improvements made by inmates

9 Unequal treatment of prisoners

10 Cultural activities and legacy

11 Use as propaganda tool

12 Statistics

12.1 Allied POWs

13 Notable prisoners who died at the camp

14 Notable survivors

15 Final months at the camp in 1945

16 Postwar trials

17 Works about Theresienstadt

17.1 Documentary films

17.2 Dramatic films

17.3 Plays

17.4 Music

17.5 Literature

18 See also

19 Notes

20 References

21 Further reading

22 External links

 

History

 

The fortress of Theresienstadt in the north-west region of Bohemia was constructed between the years 1780 and 1790 on the orders of the Austrian emperor Joseph II. It was designed as part of a projected but never fully realised fort system of the monarchy, another piece being the fort of Josefov. Theresienstadt was named for the mother of the emperor, Maria Theresa of Austria, who reigned as archduchess of Austria in her own right from 1740 until 1780. By the end of the 19th century, the facility was obsolete as a fort; in the 20th century, the fort was used to accommodate military and political prisoners.

 

From 1914 until 1918, Gavrilo Princip was imprisoned here, after his conviction for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife on June 28, 1914, a catalyst for World War I. Princip died in Cell Number 1 from tuberculosis on April 28, 1918.

 

After Germany invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia, on June 10, 1940, the Gestapo took control of Terezín and set up a prison in the "Small Fortress" (kleine Festung, the town citadel on the east side of the Ohře river). The first inmates arrived June 14. By the end of the war, the small fortress had processed more than 32,000 prisoners, of whom 5,000 were female; they were imprisoned for varying sentences. The prisoners were predominantly Czech at first, and later other nationalities were imprisoned there, including citizens of the Soviet Union, Poland, Germany, and Yugoslavia. Most were political prisoners.[5]

 

By November 24, 1941, the Nazis adapted the "Main Fortress" (große Festung, i.e. the walled town of Theresienstadt), located on the west side of the river, as a ghetto.[5] Jewish survivors have recounted the extensive work they had to do for more than a year in the camp, to try to provide basic facilities for the tens of thousands of people who came to be housed there.

 

From 1942, the Nazis interned the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia, elderly Jews and persons of "special merit" in the Reich, and several thousand Jews from the Netherlands and Denmark. Theresienstadt thereafter became known as the destination for the Altentransporte ("elderly transports") of German Jews, older than 65. Although in practice the ghetto, run by the SS, served as a transit camp for Jews en route to extermination camps, it was also presented as a "model Jewish settlement" for propaganda purposes.[6][7]

 

On November 11, 1943, commandant Anton Burger ordered the entire camp population, approximately 40,000 people at that time, to stand in freezing weather during a camp census (sometimes referred to as the "Bohušovicer Kessel Census"). About 300 prisoners died of hypothermia as a result.[8]

 

During a 1944 Red Cross visit, and in a propaganda film, the Nazis presented Theresienstadt to outsiders as a model Jewish settlement, but it was a concentration camp. More than 33,000 inmates died as a result of malnutrition, disease, or the sadistic treatment by their captors.[9] Whereas some survivors claimed that the prison population reached 75,000 at one time, according to official records, the highest figure reached (on September 18, 1942) was 58,491. They were crowded into barracks designed to accommodate 7,000 combat troops.[10]

 

In the autumn of 1944, the Nazis began the liquidation of the ghetto, deporting more prisoners to Auschwitz and other camps; in one month, they deported 24,000 victims[11] (about 18,000 in 11 transports between September 28 and October 28).

Small Fortress

Crematorium

 

The "Small Fortress" (Malá pevnost in Czech, Kleine Festung in German) was part of the fortification on the left side of the river Ohře. Beginning in 1940, the Gestapo used it as a prison, the largest in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The first inmates arrived on June 14, 1940. By the end of the war, 32,000 prisoners, of whom 5,000 were female, passed through the Small Fortress. It was separate from and unrelated to the Jewish ghetto in the main fortress on the river's right side. An estimated 32,000 people were taken to the prison; most were usually deported later to a concentration camp.

Main fortress

 

In the spring of 1942, the Nazis expelled the 7,000 non-Jewish Czechs living in Terezín, and closed off the town. The Nazis established the ghetto and concentration camp in the main fortress on the east side of the river.

 

SS-Hauptsturmführer Siegfried Seidl[12] served as the first camp commandant, beginning in 1941. Seidl oversaw the labour of 342 Jewish artisans and carpenters, known as the Aufbaukommando, who converted the fortress into a concentration camp. Although the Aufbaukommando were promised that they and their families would be spared transport, during the liquidation of the camp in September 1944, all were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau[13] for Sonderbehandlung, or "special treatment", i.e. immediate gassing of all upon arrival.[14]

Command and control authority

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The camp, Theresienstadt/Terezin, was a hybrid of ghetto and concentration camp, (KZ), with features of both. It was established by order of the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) in 1941 and administered by its GESTAPO Amt of the RSHA, Department IV-B-4, (Jews), headed by Eichmann who oversaw the ghetto and its SS-Commandant; he, in turn, was in charge of the daily ghetto administration, the SS officers, about 12, and the Czech gendarmes, who collaborated with the Germans; these last two were in charge of security and guard duties. An internal police force, run by Jewish inmates, answered directly to the Jewish self-administration and indirectly to the SS-commandant. Thus was the organisation responsible for the enslavement, deportation, and murder of the Jews. Theresienstadt was also the only KZ excluded from the control of SS-Wirtschafthauptamt (main economic administration office) under Pohl and was classified as "concentration camp, class 4" (mildest). Furthermore, the SS-men in this ghetto/concentration camp were not members of the Waffen-SS usually guarding concentration camps, as reported sometimes. Pohl and the SS-Wirtschafthauptamt were in control of all concentration camps except Theresienstadt.

Stone marking the burial of ashes of 15,000 victims of Terezín at the New Jewish Cemetery, Prague

 

Gestapo and Sicherheitsdienst oversaw the day-to-day operations of the Kleine Festung, (Small Fortress), a prison of the Prague Gestapo which was controlled by the 'Higher SS and Police Führer', (HSSPF), Karl Frank, who reported directly to Himmler rather than the Office of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, a civilian department.

 

SS-Hauptsturmführer Ernst Möhs (1898–1945) was Eichmann's liaison-officer in Theresienstadt. During the camp's operations, three officers served as camp commandant: Siegfried Seidl, Anton Burger, and Karl Rahm.

Internal organisation

 

As in other European ghettos, the Nazis required the Jews to select a Jewish Council, which nominally governed the ghetto. In Theresienstadt, this was known as the "Cultural Council"; later it was called the "Jewish self-government of Theresienstadt".[15] The first of the Jewish elders of Theresienstadt was Jakob Edelstein, a Polish-born Zionist and former head of the Prague Jewish community. He served until 1943, when he was deported to Auschwitz and shot to death after being forced to watch the executions of his wife and son.[16] The second was Paul Eppstein (de), a sociologist originally from Mannheim, Germany. Earlier, Eppstein was the speaker of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland, the central organisation of Jews in Nazi Germany. He served until the autumn of 1944, when he was allegedly shot in the Small Fortress on Yom Kippur.

 

Benjamin Murmelstein, a Lvov-born rabbi from Vienna, had been part of the Cultural Council in Vienna after the Anschluss. As in other cities, the Jews were charged by the Nazis with organising actions in the Jewish community, including selection of people for transport when the Germans decided to deport them, beginning in 1942. Murmelstein was also deported to Theresienstadt. In the autumn of 1944, he succeeded Eppstein. He and other prominent Jews of the Cultural Council were deported to Auschwitz in the liquidation of the ghetto, but he and some others survived the war. He and other Jewish elders have been extremely controversial figures, condemned for years for what was seen as their collaboration with the Nazis.

 

In the 21st century, there has been some reassessment, given the conditions of the times. The Last of the Unjust, released in 2013, is a documentary centring on interviews with Murmelstein that were filmed by Claude Lanzmann in 1975, during the production of his masterwork Shoah. The interviews were not used in the earlier film.[17][18]

 

In the last days of the ghetto, Jiří Vogel of Prague served as the elder. From 1943 to 1945, Leo Baeck was the speaker of the Council of Elders of Theresienstadt. Before being deported to the camp from Berlin, he had served as the head of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland. He survived Theresienstadt, and emigrated to London after the war.[19]

Industrial labour

 

Theresienstadt was used to supply the German war effort with a source of Jewish slave labour. Their major contribution was the splitting of local ore mined from Czechoslovakian mica. Blind prisoners were often spared deportation by assignment to this task. Others manufactured boxes or coffins, or sprayed military uniforms with a white dye to provide camouflage for German soldiers on the Russian front. According to ex-prisoners, Theresienstadt was also a sorting and re-distribution centre for underwear and clothing confiscated from Jews:

 

... from all parts of Germany, the baggage taken away from the Jews was sent to Theresienstadt, and there it was packaged, sorted-out in order to be sent out all over the country, to various cities, for the people who were bombed-out and suffered a shortage of underwear and clothing.[15]

 

Western European Jews arrive at camp

 

Among the western European Jews deported to the camp were 456 Jews from Denmark, sent to Theresienstadt in 1943. They had not been able to escape to neutral Sweden before the Nazis started the deportation. Included also in the transports were European Jewish children whom Danish organisations had tried to conceal in foster homes.

 

The arrival of the Danes was significant, as their government gained access to the ghetto for the International Red Cross in 1944, to view conditions there. (This took place after the D-Day Invasion of Normandy by the Allies). Most European governments, when occupied by the Nazis, had not tried to protect their fellow Jewish citizens. Historians believe the Germans were trying to keep the Danes satisfied as they had impressed many of their workers in war factories. In addition, the tide of war was changing.

Improvements made by inmates

 

Survivor Friedrich Schlaefrig described in 1946 how the early residents of Theresienstadt, with the assistance of the Germans, overcame the lack of water to the town:

 

We had no water system in Theresienstadt ... a number of wells were contaminated in a short time with typhoid fever. That was the reason that we had to close a number of wells, and had to undertake to extend the existing water pipe system. That was really a great piece of public works created under Jewish inventiveness and by Jewish labor. They expanded the water supply system, and have achieved [a condition] that we not only produced for the people good drinking water or, at least, not objectionable drinking water, but that also the toilet installations could be flushed with water, so that these unhygienic conditions were removed ... The Germans have permitted it, and we even obtained through them the material, because otherwise it would have been impossible ...[15]

 

After this, a fire department was established, made up of Jewish prisoners, with an acting fire chief. They relied on the newly constructed water system. Constructing the water system was only part of the major work undertaken by Jews, in what was called the technical service, in the first year of the camp. They had to make many more changes to buildings to adapt the fortress and barracks for the overcrowded conditions that the Germans imposed.[15]

Unequal treatment of prisoners

 

After the changes and sprucing up to prepare for the Red Cross visit, in the spring of 1944, the Gestapo screened the Jews of Theresienstadt, classifying them according to social prominence. Many of the "Prominente" were profiled, with photographs, among a collection of documents smuggled out after the liberation..[20] The Gestapo reassigned some 150 to 200 prominent individuals to single rooms that would be shared by only two people, so that a husband and wife could live by themselves. Several members of the Cultural Council were included among the Prominente, due to the influence of Benjamin Murmelstein, then the "Jewish elder" of Theresienstadt. Former prisoners suggested in statements that those who held positions of authority practised nepotism, trying to protect individuals close to them, while struggling to avoid deportation and death in the closing days of the war. Murmelstein and other members of the Cultural Council were still deported in the final liquidation, but he and some others survived the war.[15]

Cultural activities and legacy

 

Theresienstadt was originally designated as a model community for middle-class Jews from Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. Many educated Jews were inmates of Theresienstadt. In a propaganda effort designed to fool the western allies, the Nazis publicised the camp for its rich cultural life. In reality, according to a Holocaust survivor, "during the early period there were no [musical] instruments whatsoever, and the cultural life came to develop itself only ... when the whole management of Theresienstadt was steered into an organized course."[15] An extremely rich cultural life then ensued, with lectures, recitals, poetry readings, concerts, and so on. At least four concert orchestras were organised in the camp, as well as chamber groups and jazz ensembles. Several stage performances were produced and attended by camp inmates. Many prominent artists from Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Germany were imprisoned at Theresienstadt, along with writers, scientists, jurists, diplomats, musicians, and scholars, and many of these contributed to the camp's cultural life.

 

The community in Theresienstadt tried to ensure that all the children who passed through the camp continued with their education. The Nazis required all camp children over a certain age to work, but accepted working on stage as employment. The prisoners achieved the children's education under the guise of work or cultural activity. Daily classes and sports activities were held. The community published a magazine, Vedem. The history of the magazine was studied and narrated by the Italian writer Matteo Corradini in his book "La repubblica delle farfalle" (The Republic of the Butterflies"). The English actor Sir Ben Kingsley read that novel, speaking on January 27, 2015 during the ceremony held at Theresienstadt to mark International Holocaust Memorial Day.

 

Ilse Weber, a noted Czech Jewish poet, writer and musician for children, was held in the camp from February 1942, and worked as a night nurse in the camp's children's infirmary. She volunteered to join a transport of children to Auschwitz in November 1944, where she, her son Tommy, and all the children with her were murdered in the gas chambers immediately on arrival.

Czech composer Rafael Schächter

 

The conductor Rafael Schächter was among those held at the camp, and he formed an adult chorus. He directed it in a performance of the massive and complex Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi. Schächter conducted 15 more performances of the work before he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.[21]

 

Violinist Julius Stwertka, a former leading member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and co-leader of the Vienna Philharmonic, died in the camp on December 17, 1942.

 

The pianist Alice Herz-Sommer performed 100 concerts while imprisoned at Theresienstadt. She and Edith Steiner-Kraus, her friend and colleague, both survived the camp, emigrated to Israel after the war, and became professors of music, Herz-Sommer at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, and Steiner-Kraus at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music.[22] In March 2012, a biography of Herz-Sommer was published.[23] At the time of her death in London in February 2014, at 110, she was the oldest known Holocaust survivor.[24]

 

Martin Roman and Coco Schumann were part of the jazz band Ghetto Swingers.

 

Artist and art teacher Friedl Dicker-Brandeis created drawing classes for children in the ghetto, among whom were Hana Brady ("Hana's suitcase"). They produced more than 4,000 drawings, which she hid in two suitcases before she was deported to Auschwitz in the final liquidation. The collection was preserved from destruction, and was discovered a decade later. Most of these drawings can now be seen at The Jewish Museum in Prague, whose archive of the Holocaust section administers the Terezín Archive Collection. Others are on display at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

 

The children of the camp also wrote stories and poems. Some were preserved and later published in a collection called I Never Saw Another Butterfly, its title taken from a poem by young Jewish Czech poet Pavel Friedman. He had arrived at Terezín on April 26, 1942, and later died at Auschwitz.

 

Painter Malva Schalek (Malvina Schalkova) was deported to Theresienstadt in February 1942. She produced more than 100 drawings and watercolours portraying life in the camp. On May 18, 1944, because of her refusal to paint the portrait of a collaborationist doctor, she was deported to Auschwitz, where she was killed.[25]

 

The artist and architect Norbert Troller produced drawings and watercolours of life inside Theresienstadt, to be smuggled to the outside world. When the Gestapo found out, he was arrested and deported to Auschwitz. His memoirs and two dozen of his artworks were published in 1991.[26]

 

The composer Viktor Ullmann was interned in September 1942, and died at Auschwitz in October 1944. He composed some twenty works at Theresienstadt, including the one-act opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis (The Emperor of Atlantis or The Refusal of Death). It was planned for performance at the camp, but the Nazis withdrew permission when it was in rehearsal, probably because the authorities perceived its allegorical intent. The opera was first performed in 1975, and shown in full on BBC television in Britain. It continues to be performed.

 

Music composed by inmates is featured in Terezín: The Music 1941–44, a two-CD set released in 1991.[27][28] The collection features music composed mostly in 1943 and 1944 by Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, Hans Krása, and Viktor Ullmann while interned at Theresienstadt. Haas, Krása, and Ullmann died in Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944, and Klein died in Fürstengrube in 1945.[29]

 

In 2007, the album Terezín – Theresienstadt of music composed at Theresienstadt was released by the Swedish singer Anne Sofie von Otter, assisted by baritone Christian Gerhaher, pianists, and chamber musicians. In 2008, Bridge Records released a recital by Austrian baritone Wolfgang Holzmair and American pianist Russell Ryan that drew on a different selection of songs.

Use as propaganda tool

Cell

Main article: Theresienstadt (film)

 

Late in the war, after D-Day and the invasion of Normandy, the Nazis permitted representatives from the Danish Red Cross and the International Red Cross to visit Theresienstadt in order to dispel rumours about the extermination camps. The commission that visited on June 23, 1944, included E. Juel-Henningsen, the head physician at the Danish Ministry of Health, and Franz Hvass, the top civil servant at the Danish Foreign Ministry. Dr. Paul Eppstein was instructed by the SS to appear in the role of the mayor of Theresienstadt.[30]

 

Weeks of preparation preceded the visit. The area was cleaned up, and the Nazis deported many Jews to Auschwitz to minimise the appearance of overcrowding in Theresienstadt. Also deported in these actions were most of the Czechoslovak workers assigned to "Operation Embellishment". The Nazis directed the building of fake shops and cafés to imply that the Jews lived in relative comfort.

 

The Danes whom the Red Cross visited lived in freshly painted rooms, not more than three in a room. Rooms viewed may have included the homes of the "prominent" Jews of Theresienstadt, who were afforded the special privilege of having as few as two occupants to a room.[15] The guests attended a performance of a children's opera, Brundibár, which was written by inmate Hans Krása.

 

The Red Cross representatives were conducted on a tour following a predetermined path designated by a red line on a map. The representatives apparently did not attempt to divert from the tour route on which they were led by the Germans, who posed questions to the Jewish residents along the way. If the representatives asked residents questions directly, they were ignored, in accordance with the Germans' instructions to the residents prior to the tour. Despite this, the Red Cross apparently formed a positive impression of the town.[15]

 

Following the successful use of Theresienstadt as a supposed model internment camp during the Red Cross visit, the Nazis decided to make a propaganda film there. It was directed by Jewish prisoner Kurt Gerron, an experienced director and actor; he had appeared with Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel. Shooting took eleven days, starting September 1, 1944.[31] After the film was completed, the director and most of the cast were deported to Auschwitz. Gerron was murdered by gas chamber on October 28, 1944.[32]

 

The film was intended to show how well the Jews were living under the purportedly benevolent protection of the Third Reich. If taken at face value, it documents the Jews of Theresienstadt living a relatively comfortable existence within a thriving cultural centre and functioning successfully during the hardships of World War II. They had to comply and perform according to Nazi orders. Often called The Führer Gives a Village to the Jews, the correct name of the film is Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet ("Terezin: A Documentary Film of the Jewish Resettlement").[a] As the film was not completed until near the end of the war, it was never distributed as intended, although a few screenings were held. Most of the film was destroyed, but some footage has survived.

Statistics

10 Kronen bill shown to the Red Cross committee. Ex-inmates of Theresienstadt have described how they each received 50 crowns every month with which to buy things.[33] Residents working at the camp were also paid in this currency,[15] a form of truck system.

 

Approximately 144,000 Jews were sent to Theresienstadt. Most inmates were Czech Jews, but 40,000 were from Germany, 15,000 from Austria, 5,000 from the Netherlands, and 300 from Luxembourg. In addition to the group of approximately 500 Jews from Denmark, Slovak and Hungarian Jews were deported to the ghetto. 1,600 Jewish children from Białystok, Poland, were deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz; none survived. About a quarter of the inmates (33,000) died in Theresienstadt, mostly because of the deadly conditions, which included hunger, stress, and disease. The typhus epidemic at the very end of war took an especially heavy toll.

 

About 88,000 prisoners were deported to Auschwitz and other extermination camps, including Treblinka. At the end of the war, 17,247 had survived. An estimated 15,000 children lived in the ghetto. Willy Groag, one of the youth care workers, mistakenly claimed after the war that only 93 survived.[34]

Allied POWs

 

During the war, Allied POWs who repeatedly attempted to escape from POW camps were sent to Theresienstadt as punishment. 21 British, 21 New Zealand, and 17 Australian POWs were held there.[35] Keeping POWs from signatory countries of the Geneva Convention in such camp conditions was a war crime. Many of the survivors suffered chronic physical and mental health problems for most of their lives.[35]

 

In 1964, Germany paid the British government £1 million as reparation for the illegal transfer of British POWs to Theresienstadt.[35] Britain made no provision for dominion troops. For many years, the governments of Australia and New Zealand denied that any of their servicemen had been held at the camp. In 1987, Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke established a committee of investigation. It confirmed that POWs were held at Theresienstadt. The government then authorised payments of A$10,000 each to the Australian survivors of the camp. The New Zealand government also arranged for compensation for the New Zealand survivors.[35]

146. - The External Oblique Muscles.

 

Original photograph taken with a Polaroid SX-70 Alpha1 SE using Impossible Project PX680 First Flush instant film.

 

Emulsion transfer onto heavyweight matt laser print of a scan from Gray's Anatomy 1st edition reprint.

 

See the full series here

 

Had some trouble with this, mostly due to the age of the film I think, so contrast has been slightly boosted after scanning.

External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar called on H. E. Mr. Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia in New Delhi

020

CHAPTER XV.

 

REPORT OF THE ALIENISTS.

 

The report of the sanity commission follows:

To the Honorable A. C. Backus, Judge of the Municipal Court of Milwaukee County:

Pursuant to your appointment of the undersigned on the 12th day of November, 1912, as a Commission to examine John Schrank with reference to his present mental condition, we respectfully submit our report.

This report consists of:

First: The examination of John Schrank with reference to his personal and family history, his present physical state, and his present mental state.

Second: Inquiry by means of data furnished by the New York Police Department, the Magistrate of Erding, Bavaria, reports furnished by the Milwaukee Police Department and other officials brought in contact with him, and certain documents furnished by the defendant himself, and others found in his possession, some of which are herewith submitted as exhibits, duly numbered.

Third: Summary and conclusions arrived at.

PERSONAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.

Age 36. Single. Born in Erding, Bavaria, March 5, 1876. Father born in Bavaria, and mother born in Bavaria. Occupation, bar tender and saloonkeeper. No regular occupation in the last one and one-half years. Education, common schools in Bavaria from the seventh to the twelfth year; three or four years in night school in New York, in English.

In early life a Roman Catholic; not a practical Catholic for the past 15 years.

His father died at the age of 38 of consumption; was a moderate drinker; the mother living at the age of 56 or 57. One brother and one sister living, in good health. One brother and one sister died in infancy.

A sister of mother insane, suffered from delusions of persecution; died of softening of the brain, so-called, in 1904, in Gabersee Asylum, Bavaria. Certified by Magistrate of Erding, Bavaria.

Patient states he was never seriously sick. Knows of no serious accident or injury. Never suffered from headaches.

Lived with grandparents from three to nine years of age; worked in a vegetable garden during that time, and then returned to parents.

HABITS.

Denies excesses; no use of tobacco until two years ago, never more than five or six cigars a day, average two or three cigars. Has generally taken about five pint bottles of beer in twenty-four hours, of late years. For two years, in 1902-1903, drank no intoxicants at all. He states he drank to slight excess at most half a dozen times a year. Never used drugs of any kind. Denies all venereal diseases, and presents no physical evidence of them. His usual habit was to retire before 10 o'clock at night.

PRESENT PHYSICAL STATE.

Height 5 feet 4½ inches in stocking feet. Weight, 160 pounds, with clothing. Is right-handed. Head presents no scars or injuries or evidence of injuries or irregularities of cranial bones; normal in shape, except measurements over left parietal bone from ear to median line at vertex is 1.25 centimeters larger than the right. Cephalic index 80. Cranial capacity normal. External ears normal in shape. Holds head slightly tilted to left. Shape of hard palate, mouth and teeth normal. Maxillary bones normal except lower jaw slightly prognathic. Blonde hair. Eyes, bluish gray. Complexion fair. Tongue, slight yellowish coating, edges clean. Appetite and general nutrition good. Stomach, digestion, bowels normal. Sleep good. State of heart and arteries normal. Blood pressure 125 to 130 systolic; 115 to 120 diastolic. Pulse 82-86. Temperature Nov. 12, 1912, P.M., 99.4. Nov. 14, normal. No scars on genitals. Urine practically a normal specimen.

NEUROLOGICAL.

The Eyes—Light, accommodation and sympathetic reflex present, but somewhat slow. Slight inequality of pupils, right distinctly larger than left. Color sense normal. No contraction of visual field. Slight horizontal nystagmus in both eyes on extreme outward rotation of the eyeballs. (Pupils equal and normal Nov. 20th, 1912.)

After above symptoms ascertained, 1.40 grain euphthalmine inserted, and examination of eye grounds showed no optic atrophy. The right eye ground (retina) was slightly higher in color than the left.

Hearing very acute, both sides.

Sense of taste and smell normal.

Tactile, pain, temperature and weight sense normal.

Deep Reflexes—Knee, reflex, right, irregularly present, regular on reinforcement; knee, left, absent; brought out by reinforcement irregularly.

Myotatic irritability of forearm, right markedly heightened; left slightly heightened.

No ankle-clonus.

Superficial Reflexes—Abdominal reflex present. Epigastric reflex absent. Cremasteric reflex, active both sides. No Oppenheim reflex. No Babinski reflex. Plantar reflex: right markedly heightened; left heightened.

Musculature—Arm and leg showed slightly diminished power on right side. The left side stronger, though subject right-handed.

Dynamometer, right 90, 90 (two tests); and left 100, 100 (two tests).

No Romberg symptom, and no inco-ordination of upper and lower extremities.

Gait and station normal.

Slight tremor of fingers, noticeable under mental excitement. At times slight tremor of lips.

EXAMINATION OF PRESENT MENTAL STATE.

Tests for attention show normal conditions.

Tests for memory, general and special, show normal conditions.

Tests for association of ideas and words showed special bearing upon his delusional state.

Logical power good, except as limited by his delusions.

Judgment the same.

Has no "insight" as to his own mental condition.

Emotional tests show tone of feeling exalted.

Orientation correct as to time and place.

Delusions present, as subsequently set forth.

 

CHAPTER XVI.

 

FINDING OF THE ALIENISTS.

 

We find that John Schrank came to New York at the age of 12, and lived with his uncle and aunt as foster parents, who kept a saloon at 370 East Tenth street, New York City.

Before coming to this country he had 5 years of the public schools of his native village in Bavaria, and after arrival in this country his only schooling was such as he could obtain at night schools in New York during 3 or 4 years.

Up to this time no peculiarity had been observed in him, from any evidence available. We note the fact that he was most especially interested in history and government, as illustrated by political writings and by the Bible. He speaks frequently of his very great admiration for the character of George Washington.

At 15 or 16 years of age he became greatly interested in poetry. This perhaps corresponds to the period of development at which eccentricities are wont to appear.

He represents that in the saloon in which he worked he was chiefly engaged in supplying beer to residents of neighboring tenements; that there was no gambling or other immoral conduct practiced or encouraged in this business place. He went on for over 12 years as barkeeper. His uncle and aunt had during this time accumulated means for the purchase of a small tenement. At the death of the uncle and aunt in 1910 and 1911 the defendant came into possession of this property.

In the last year and a half has not been in any regular business or employment, and spent his time in long walks about New York and Brooklyn, during which he meditated upon poetical compositions, and political and historical questions, jotting down ideas upon loose slips of paper as they came to him, night or day, forming the basis of his poems. He spent his evenings in a saloon, retiring early. The average daily quantity of stimulants or beer taken by him was insufficient to produce intoxication. He also states that in 1902 and 1903, for a period of nearly 2 years, he drank no intoxicants at all.

He states that in 1901, between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning of the day after President McKinley's death he experienced a vivid dream, in which he appeared to be in a room with many flowers and a casket, and saw a figure sit up in the casket, which he says was the form and figure of the assassinated President McKinley, who then pointed to a corner of the room, and said, "Avenge my death." He then looked where the finger pointed and saw a form clad in a Monkish garb, and recognized the form and face of this individual as the form and face of Theodore Roosevelt.

At the time this made a strong impression, but was not dwelt upon especially except in the light of later events.

Prior to the nomination of Colonel Roosevelt for the Presidency in the year 1912, he had felt great interest in the political campaign, and had read articles expressing great bitterness toward the idea of a third term, and toward Colonel Roosevelt personally in the newspapers of New York, and after the period when the nomination of Colonel Roosevelt began to be actively agitated, meditated more deeply upon these matters. He had always studied with the greatest interest the questions of free government, as illustrated by the Declaration of Independence, and Washington's Farewell Address. In this connection, the Monroe doctrine also assumed great importance in his mind, and the converse thereof, the duty of this nation to refrain from war of conquest; and out of these meditations grew what he elaborated into his declaration as to the unwritten laws, or "The Four Pillars of our Republic," namely (1) the Third Term Tradition, (2) the Monroe Doctrine, (3) that only a Protestant by creed can become president, (4) no wars of conquest. This document, hereunto annexed as Exhibit 1, fully sets forth his views on these subjects.

These "four unwritten laws" had assumed in his mind a character of sacredness. They were "sacred traditions" to be maintained at all hazards, and, as subsequently appeared, even the hazard of life.

The following are some quotations from this document:

"Tradition is an unwritten law."

"I would doubt the right of a court to have jurisdiction over a man who had defended tradition of his country against violation."

"The oldest of these traditions is the 'third term tradition,' it has never been violated and is an effective safeguard against unscrupulous ambition, but never before has been established a test case of its inviolability as a warning to coming adventurers."

"For the first time in American history we are confronted by a man to whom practically nothing is sacred, and he pretends to stand above tradition."

"Anybody who finances a Third Term Movement should be expatriated and his wealth confiscated."

"The dangers in this campaign are these, the third termer is sure that the nomination has been stolen, and that the country and the job belongs to him, therefore, if he gets honestly defeated in November he will again yell that the crooks of both parties have stolen the election and should he carry a solid West, he and the hungry office-seekers would not hesitate to take up arms to take by force what is denied him by the people, then we face a Civil War, * * * * * * and that he who wilfully invites war deserves death. We would then be compelled to wash out the sin of violating the Third Term with the blood of our sons. Yet this is not the gravest danger we are facing. We have allowed an adventurer to circumtravel the Union with military escort with the torch of revolution in his hands to burn down the very house we live in."

"Have we learned no lesson about a one man's rule experienced in France with such disastrous results as the end of the reign of Napoleon I and Napoleon III."

"Are we trying to establish here a system like our ancestors have done in Europe, which all revolutions of a thousand years could not abolish."

"Are we overthrowing our Republic, while the heroes of the French revolutions, and the martyrs of 1848 gladly gave their lives to establish Republican institutions."

"The abolition of the Third Term tradition is the abolition of the Monroe doctrine also."

"Hardly any revolution has started without pretending that their movement was progressive."

"The prudence of our forefathers has delivered to us an equally sacred unwritten law which reads that no president should embrace another creed than Protestant, if possible, a sect of the English Church. I am a Roman Catholic. I love my religion but I hate my church as long as the Roman parish is not independent from Rome, as long as Catholic priests are prevented from getting married, as long as Rome is still more engaged in politics and accumulation of money contrary to the teachings of the Lord. The Roman Catholic Church is not the religion for a president of the United States."

"The Fourth unwritten law, which is practically supplementary to the second, we find in George Washington's Farewell Address, where he advises us to live in peace with your neighbor. We have no right to start a war of conquest."

In his examination in this connection he stated as follows: "Four-fifths of the United States would take up arms to defend the Third Term tradition. Trying to get perpetual power and dictatorship would justify killing."

He also said he would be justified to the same extent, that is, by killing, a man who would seek the presidency and was a Roman Catholic; and also for a man who would start a war for conquest; and he thought also of the possibility of foreign powers to help Roosevelt possibly to annex the Panama Canal and break down the Monroe Doctrine. He said he believed the country would be facing a civil war if Roosevelt went on as he had done.

He gives as a reason for his present attack upon Roosevelt, that he did not wish to give him (Roosevelt) an opportunity to plead that no defense of the Third Term tradition had been made in 1912 should he aspire to another term in 1916. Asked as to how he reconciled his act with the commandment "Thou shalt not kill," he replied that, "religion is the fundamental law of human order, but to kill to try and do a good thing, and to avenge McKinley's murder, justifies the killing."

The proof of his position came to him in his dream and in his vision.

"Roosevelt's ambition and conduct proves to every man that he was back of McKinley's assassination in some way or other."

The defendant says that he prayed God to find a leader among men who would take this responsibility, and he expected all along someone else would do this thing, but no one did it, and as he was a single man of 36, without a family, and thought the deed was a good deed, and it made no difference to him, he was willing to sacrifice his life for that end, even if he were torn to pieces by the mob. He therefore concluded that it was his mission, and desired to make of this a test case.

  

Henry F. Cochems.

(Who was in the Automobile with Col. Roosevelt when the Ex-President was Shot.)

 

He thinks the election returns corroborate the fact that the people have been awakened to the idea of no Third Term.

In the progress of the campaign, when the progressive movement had taken shape, and Colonel Roosevelt had been nominated as the head of a third party, and on August 7th, 1912, the dream which had come to him in 1901, as above related, began to assume more importance, and special significance in his mind. He felt extreme agitation on this subject continuously. On the morning of September 15th, 1912, the anniversary of the date of his dream in 1901, having retired as usual the night before with his manuscript by his bedside, he suddenly awakened between 1 and 2 A.M., with the completion of a poem entitled "Be a Man" uppermost in his mind.

We insert the poem at this point:

1. Be a man from early to late

When you rise in the morning

Till you go to bed

Be a man.

2. Is your country in danger

And you are called to defend

Where the battle is hottest

And death be the end

Face it and be a man.

3. When you fail in business

And your honor is at stake

When you bury all your dearest

And your heart would break

Face it and be a man.

4. But when night draws near

And you hear a knock

And a voice should whisper your

Time is up; Refuse to answer

As long as you can

Then face it and be a man.

He found his ideas were taking shape, and getting up he sat writing, when he suddenly became aware of a voice speaking in a low and sad tone, "Let no murderer occupy the presidential chair for a third term. Avenge my death!" He felt a light touch upon his left shoulder, and turning, saw the face of former President McKinley. It bore a ghostlike aspect. This experience had a decisive effect in fixing in his mind the iniquity of the third term, and from this time he questioned as to his duty in the matter, and he finally regarded this vision and its connection with the exact anniversary of the dream as a command to kill Roosevelt, and as an inspiration. When asked by us whether he considered this as imagination or as inspiration and a command from God, while showing some reluctance to claim the vision as an inspiration, he finally answered decisively that he did.

When asked whether a man had a right to take a weapon and hunt down a man who had violated tradition, he submitted his written statement in reply, which is hereto annexed as Exhibit 2, some quotations from which are as follows:

"I should say where self-sacrifice begins the power of law comes to an end, and if I knew that my death during my act would have this tradition more sacred I would be sorry that my life was spared so convinced am I of my right to act as I did that if I were ever a free man again I would at once create an Order of Tradition."

"I presume you men would declare Joan d'Arc, the Maid of Orleans insane because the Holy Virgin appeared to her in a vision."

"When we read that God had appeared to Moses in the shape of a burning thorn bush, then again as a cloud, we will find many people who doubt the appearance of God to man in human or other shape."

"Why then in cases of dire national needs should not the God appear to one of us in vision."

The defendant states that at no time and under no circumstances did he communicate to anyone his intention. In fact, he kept it as an inviolable secret and took measures to throw off the scent persons who might inquire about his leaving New York. The defendant stated in this connection that he did not wish to commit the act in New York, as it would then be claimed that he had been "hired by Wall Street" and in that way the real purpose of the act would be obscured.

 

CHAPTER XVII.

 

SCHRANK DESCRIBES SHOOTING.

 

(BEFORE SANITY COMMISSION.)

 

On September 21, 1912, he left New York City, having first borrowed $350, and purchased a 38-caliber revolver, for which he paid $14. His efforts from this time were continuous to come within shooting distance of Colonel Roosevelt. He missed him at Chattanooga and at Atlanta, and then went to Evansville, where he remained seven days awaiting Colonel Roosevelt's return to the West. He then sought to come within range of Colonel Roosevelt in Chicago, and states that he waited for him at the exit of the building, where he spoke, but found afterwards that he had left by a different exit. He then preceded him to Milwaukee, arriving here at 1 o'clock P.M. the day preceding the attack.

On the evening of the shooting Schrank arrived at the hotel, where he had learned Colonel Roosevelt would stay, in advance of the time he was expected to start for the place of meeting. When a crowd began to collect around the automobile awaiting Colonel Roosevelt at the curb, he went into the street, standing near the automobile in a line just behind the front seat on the left hand side opposite the chauffeur's seat. He says,

"Seeing him enter the automobile and just about to seat himself, I fired. I did not pick any particular spot on his body. The crowd was all around me and in front of me. The next minute I was knocked down, but was not rendered insensible, and the gun was knocked out of my hands."

The defendant insists that he said nothing during his assault. He was then dragged to the sidewalk, and getting on his feet was hurried into the hotel, and the doors were locked. Here he said nothing, and was taken by the police through the back door to police headquarters.

From the examination at police headquarters, made at 9:25 P.M., October 14, 1912, by the Chief of Police, John T. Janssen, we find that he objected to telling his name, but did so when it was insisted upon. We also find that his statements made to the police concerning his following and attempting to gain access to Colonel Roosevelt, and his visits to various localities correspond, and his explanations of his acts agree with those made to us.

Some of his statements to the Chief of Police, are as follows, as extracted from document submitted herewith, marked Exhibit 3.

Q. Why did you want to meet him?

A. Because I wanted to put him out of the way. A man that wants a third term has no right to live.

Q. That is, you wanted to kill him?

A. I did.

Q. Have you any other reason in wanting to kill him?

A. I have.

Q. What is that?

A. I had a dream several years ago that Mr. McKinley appeared to me and he told me that Mr. Roosevelt is practically his real murderer, and not this here Czolgosz.

Q. Did you know Johann Most when he was alive?

A. No, sir.

Q. Did you ever hear him talk?

A. No, sir.

Q. Did you ever hear Emma Goldman?

A. No, sir; I am not an anarchist or socialist or democrat or republican; I just took up the thing the way I thought it was best to do.

(It seems worth while to note that the defendant differs from many assassins of rulers or prospective rulers in having no anarchistic ideas or connections, but rather that he intended to be an upholder of established government.)

"Mr. Grant was refused" (a third term) "and he was satisfied; this man was refused and he is not satisfied; it's gone beyond limits; if he keeps on doing this after election, he can't possibly carry a solid Western state; the next thing we will have a civil war, because he will say the scoundrels and thieves and crooks stole my nomination, and now they will steal my election, and they will take up arms in all the Western states; we are facing a civil war just to keep him in a third term."

Q. Where did you get all this idea from?

A. I have been reading history all the time.

Q. What schooling did you have?

A. Well, I have attended school in the old country, and I attended night school in New York for about four winters; that's all the schooling I had.

Q. You haven't a very good education then?

A. Indeed I ain't.

Q. Have you always enjoyed good health?

A. Yes, sir; I am a healthy sane man, never been sick.

Q. Well, do you believe that that is a sane act that you committed this evening?

A. I believe that is my duty as a citizen to do, it's the duty of every citizen to do so.

Q. Well, how did you happen to get the idea that it was your duty among all the people that live in the United States?

A. I don't know, I thought maybe somebody else might do it before I got there.

Q. And you spoke to no one about your intention on all the route you took concerning this, nobody?

A. No, sir; nobody.

While in jail the prisoner prepared a written defense, which we submit herewith as Exhibit 4, and we extract certain sentences from the same, as follows:

"Gentlemen of the Jury, I appeal to you as men of honor, I greet you Americans and countrymen and fathers of sons and daughters. I wish to apologize to the community of Milwaukee for having caused on October 14th last, great excitement, bitter feeling, and expenses."

"Gentlemen of the Jury: When on September 14th last I had a vision, I looked into the dying eyes of the late President McKinley, when a voice called me to avenge his death, I was convinced that my life was coming soon to an end, and I was at once happy to know that my real mission on this earth was to die for my country and the cause of Republicanism."

"You see that I have appeared here today without assistance of a counsellor at law, without any assistance save that of God, the Almighty, who is ever with him who is deserted, because I am not here to defend myself nor my actions."

"The law I have violated for which you will punish me is not in any statute book."

"The shot at Milwaukee which created an echo in all parts of the world was not a shot fired at the citizen Roosevelt, not a shot at an ex-president, not a shot at the candidate of a so-called prog. pty. (Progressive party), not a shot to influence the pending election, not a shot to gain for me notoriety; no, it was simply to once and forever establish the fact that any man who hereafter aspires to a third presidential term will do so at the risk of his life."

"If I do not defend tradition I cannot defend the country in case of war. You may as well send every patriot to prison."

(As showing the erratic reasoning of the defendant, the following passage, intimating that the assassination of President McKinley was a part of a conspiracy to elevate Colonel Roosevelt to a permanent control of the destinies of the United States, we quote further:)

"Political murders have occurred quite often, committed by some power that works in the dark and only too frequently of late the assassin was classed as an anarchist, but the real instigators could never be brought to justice. Whoever the direct murderer of President McKinley has been it could never be proven that he has ever been affiliated with any anarchistic or similar society, but we may well conclude that the man who in years after willingly violated the third unwritten law of the country whenever he thought it profitable to change his creed while president, perhaps to the mother of monarchies."

(From the remarks of the prisoner in our examination of him, we find by "the mother of monarchies" that he refers to the Roman Catholic Church.)

We further quote:

"Such was his fear that his machine, built up in 7½ years will be destroyed over night, that he threatened not to leave the chair unless he were allowed to nominate his successor."

"Gentlemen of the jury: The 3t (third termer) 'never again will I run for pres.' (president) has a parallel in the history of Rome. Whoever read the history of Julius Caesar knows that this smart politician while elected dictator managed to become so popular with the people that they offered him the kingly crown, but J. Caesar knew that he had to bide his time, that the rest of Senators know of his ambition, and after refusing three times he knew they would offer it to him a fourth time, and when then he accepted it he was murdered for ambition's sake."

"He" (Colonel Roosevelt) "was ambitiously waiting for the Government at Washington to start a military intervention in Mexico, but the leaders of the Republican party feared that the 3t (third termer) would muster an army of volunteer Rough Riders and return at election as the conquering hero."

"The danger even more grave than civil war is the possibility of intervention of foreign powers, who may help the 3t (third termer) in order to keep the Union disunited and separated." * * * * * *

"We would at once realize that we are surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves ready to destroy this hated Republic, ready to destroy Monroe Doctrine, ready to annex the Panama Canal and the great land of the brave and free, the home many millions free people, the dream of all heroes and martyrs for political freedom to 1848 would have ceased to be owing to the ambitions of one man, and one man's rule. I hope that the shot at Milwaukee has awakened the patriotism of the American nation."

"I have been accused of having selected a state where capital punishment is abolished. I would say that I did not know the laws of any state I travelled through. It would be ridiculous to fear death after the act as I expected to die during the act, and not live to tell the story, and if I knew that my death would have made the third term tradition more sacred, I am sorry I could not die for my country."

"Now, Honorable Men of the Jury, I wish to say no more, in the name of God go and do your duty, and only countries who ask admission by popular vote and accept the popular vote never wage a war of conquest murder for to steal abolishes opportunity for ambitious adv. (adventurers).

"All political adventurers and military leaders have adopted the career of conquering heroes wholesale murder, wholesale robbers called national aggrandizement. Prison for me is like martyrdom to me, like going to war. Before me is the spirit of George Washington, behind me, that of McKinley."

(The last sentence the prisoner explained, was written hastily, and he expected to revise it.)

MAIDSTONE

 

883/0/10030 MIDDLE ROW 17-SEP-10 14-19 Sunley House (former Barclays Bank)

 

II Former Barclays Bank, now mixed commercial use, 1956-60 with late C20 alterations, by Sir William Graham Holford (1907-1975)

 

MATERIALS: Reinforced concrete construction with panels of black two-inch bricks from High Brooms Brick and Tile Company, Southborough, Kent; Canterbury knapped flint and Portland stone dressings. Ground-floor windows are timber, whilst original external doors and first, second and third-floor windows are bronze. The building sits on a plinth of Belgian Fossil marble.

 

PLAN: Narrow, slightly wedge-shaped rectangular plan with long elevations to north and south. Principal stair tower to east, secondary stair to west. Open-plan at ground-floor, at first, second and third-floor rooms open off a corridor to the north running east to west.

 

EXTERIOR: Four-storeys plus basement, with a flat roof. There is a small attic storey to far west. The building has three public-facing elevations; to the north, south and west.

 

The north elevation has nine bays; bays two and eight (from left to right) expressed in stone. The first, second and third-floor windows of these bays are separated by panels of knapped flint and advance as a very shallow oriels over the ground-floor openings beneath. Originally the principal entrance doors were located in these bays; a door, although not original, remains in the second bay. The door in the eighth bay has been replaced with a window. A relief carving of the Barclays griffin logo remains above both openings. Above ground level the remaining bays and floor levels are delineated by a slender stone grid-work in-filled with square panels of brick. To the far east and west ends, the exposed grid terminates with a vertical strip of decorative 'quoining'. The ground-floor windows are separated by plain columns of Issogne green marble, either side of which are quadrant-shaped recesses lined with ribbed bronze sheet. Embedded at the top of the recesses are spotlights, which cast light downwards either side of each window. Beneath the ground-floor windows there were originally panels of knapped flint, however these have been removed. Historic photographs suggest that the door of bay one may be the original door from bay two, and bay one originally had a window at ground-floor.

 

The south elevation is similar to the north elevation, however it is bays two and nine which are expressed in stone and, in this case, the stone border is infilled with knapped flint. Above ground-floor these bays have five horizontal rows of three small square windows, and mark the internal location of the stair wells. There is a figurative carving above the ground-floor openings of both bays. At ground floor, there are large panelled bronze doors in bays one and nine, and a timber door in bay two. The doors in bays one and nine appear to be original to the building, however bay one originally had a window at ground-floor, suggesting this door was originally located in bay two. The windows in bays seven and eight have been converted to doors.

 

The west elevation is a single bay wide with landscape windows at first and second-floor, which advance and rest on three plain triangular corbels. At ground-floor the elevation is blind, with decorative panels of flint 'quoining'. The ground-floor corners of the building are cut back, and four carved stone coins adorn the stone recesses. The coins are: the reverse of a half penny, depicting a ship and with the date 1962, the reverse of a farthing, depicting a wren and with the date 1956, the obverse of a twenty shilling, or pound, coin, with a bust of Charles I, and the reverse of a ten shilling coin depicting St Michael slaying the serpent (also known as an 'Angel' coin), also dating from the reign of Charles I. At third-floor the building steps in at the centre to create a balcony, and above is a small attic storey with a pierced stone screen, to which a flag pole is attached.

 

INTERIOR: Internally the banking hall interior does not survive and suspended ceilings have been installed throughout. On the upper floors the original layout is not known; planning records suggest that the third-floor was originally a caretaker's flat. The principal and secondary stairs remain largely unaltered. The stylish principal stair has an open well; the stairs and landings are floored in white marble with black marble applied to the exposed edges. Paired black metal stick balusters are ringed with a bright brass band and support a rounded hardwood handrail. To the south the wall of the stairwell is lined in black marble, and at second and third-floor the north, east and west walls are lined with narrow hardwood strip panelling; the panels are slightly concave in section. The secondary stair shares similarities of design, however is considerably more modest in size and use of materials.

 

HISTORY: Sunley House was designed in the late 1950s by Sir William Graham Holford (1907-1975), as a local head office for Barclays Bank. The site was formerly occupied by five buildings which formed the west end of Middle Row. The building was opened in 1960 but closed as a bank in the mid 1990s.

 

Holford was born in South Africa, but in 1925 took up a place studying architecture at Liverpool University. In 1933 he set up practice as an architect and town planner, and a few years later became Lever Professor of Civic Design at his old university. During the Second World War Holford supervised a team of architects in the design and construction of munitions workers' hostels for the Ministry of Works, and became principal adviser to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, established in 1943. Holford was involved with the drafting of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, the forerunner of planning law in Britain. With Charles Holden, Holford acted as a planning consultant to the City of London, and together they put forward proposals for the long-term redevelopment of the city. Holford also became planning consultant to the University of Liverpool, Exeter University and Cambridgeshire County Council, as well as architect to Corby New Town Development Corporation. He also worked on plans for Pretoria and Durban, South Africa, as well as Canberra, Australia.

 

Holford was referred to in one obituary as 'the father of town planning as practised today'. In recognition of his contribution to his profession, Holford was knighted in 1953, and made a life peer in 1965. Despite Holford's work not always attracting critical acclaim; he is nevertheless a key figure in town planning, whose influence helped to shape the major redevelopment of towns and cities in the post-war period.

 

Although Holford was involved in a great number of planning schemes, much of this work was undertaken by his firm; Holford Associates, Holford's own involvement being more on the matter of architectural policy, rather than actual design. Sunley House is one of the few examples of Holford's personal work, and it reveals a skilled for pattern and texture, and a true regard for place.

 

The building conforms to no one particular style; although unquestionably a piece of modern architecture, it uses traditional building materials and subtle historicist references to create an aesthetic which is both idiosyncratic and contextual. Holford's use of pattern and materials allows the building to make a bold and modern contribution to the streetscape, without losing the human scale of detailing and texture.

 

SOURCES: Booker, Temples of Mammon, The Architecture of Banking (1990) GE Cherry and L Penny, Holford: a study in architecture, planning and civic design (1986), 219-221 J Newman, The Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald (1979), 412 'Lord Holford: modern town planning' Building Week, 24 October 1975, 53 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, www.oxforddnb.com, accessed online 26 October 2009 A perspective drawing of the building and a photograph of the building under construction are held at the Royal Institute of British Architects Library and can be viewed online at: www.ribapix.com (accessed 30 October 2009)

 

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Sunley House, a former local head office for Barclays Bank, 14-19 Middle Row, Maidstone, is listed for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: the building is a bold and accomplished piece of modern architectural design which employs a variety of high quality materials and sculptural decoration to create a rich composition of colour, pattern and surface texture * Interior interest: despite the loss of the banking hall interior, the distinctive principal stair survives intact, displaying a stylish use of colour and texture * Designer: the building is a notable work by Sir William Holford, a major figure in post-war town planning

   

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Patent US6506148 - Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors

  

Publication number US6506148 B2

Publication type Grant

Application number US 09/872,528

Publication date Jan 14, 2003

Filing date Jun 1, 2001

Priority date Jun 1, 2001

Fee status Paid

Also published as US20020188164

 

Inventors Hendricus G. Loos

Original Assignee Hendricus G. Loos

Export Citation BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan

Patent Citations (16), Non-Patent Citations (5), Referenced by (3), Classifications (6), Legal Events (3)

  

External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet

  

Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors

US 6506148 B2

  

Abstract

  

Physiological effects have been observed in a human subject in response to stimulation of the skin with weak electromagnetic fields that are pulsed with certain frequencies near ½ Hz or 2.4 Hz, such as to excite a sensory resonance. Many computer monitors and TV tubes, when displaying pulsed images, emit pulsed electromagnetic fields of sufficient amplitudes to cause such excitation. It is therefore possible to manipulate the nervous system of a subject by pulsing images displayed on a nearby computer monitor or TV set. For the latter, the image pulsing may be imbedded in the program material, or it may be overlaid by modulating a video stream, either as an RF signal or as a video signal. The image displayed on a computer monitor may be pulsed effectively by a simple computer program. For certain monitors, pulsed electromagnetic fields capable of exciting sensory resonances in nearby subjects may be generated even as the displayed images are pulsed with subliminal intensity.

  

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Claims(14)

  

I claim:

  

1. A method for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the subject having a sensory resonance frequency, the method comprising:

 

creating a video signal for displaying an image on the monitor, the image having an intensity;

 

modulating the video signal for pulsing the image intensity with a frequency in the range 0.1 Hz to 15 Hz; and

 

setting the pulse frequency to the resonance frequency.

  

2. A computer program for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the subject having cutaneous nerves that fire spontaneously and have spiking patterns, the computer program comprising:

 

a display routine for displaying an image on the monitor, the image having an intensity;

 

a pulse routine for pulsing the image intensity with a frequency in the range 0.1 Hz to 15 Hz; and

 

a frequency routine that can be internally controlled by the subject, for setting the frequency;

 

whereby the emitted electromagnetic field is pulsed, the cutaneous nerves are exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field, and the spiking patterns of the nerves acquire a frequency modulation.

  

3. The computer program of claim 2, wherein the pulsing has an amplitude and the program further comprises an amplitude routine for control of the amplitude by the subject.

  

4. The computer program of claim 2, wherein the pulse routine comprises:

 

a timing procedure for timing the pulsing; and

 

an extrapolation procedure for improving the accuracy of the timing procedure.

  

5. The computer program of claim 2, further comprising a variability routine for introducing variability in the pulsing.

  

6. Hardware means for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor being responsive to a video stream and emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the image having an intensity, the subject having cutaneous nerves that fire spontaneously and have spiking patterns, the hardware means comprising:

 

pulse generator for generating voltage pulses;

 

means, responsive to the voltage pulses, for modulating the video stream to pulse the image intensity;

 

whereby the emitted electromagnetic field is pulsed, the cutaneous nerves are exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field, and the spiking patterns of the nerves acquire a frequency modulation.

  

7. The hardware means of claim 6, wherein the video stream is a composite video signal that has a pseudo-dc level, and the means for modulating the video stream comprise means for pulsing the pseudo-dc level.

  

8. The hardware means of claim 6, wherein the video stream is a television broadcast signal, and the means for modulating the video stream comprise means for frequency wobbling of the television broadcast signal.

  

9. The hardware means of claim 6, wherein the monitor has a brightness adjustment terminal, and the means for modulating the video stream comprise a connection from the pulse generator to the brightness adjustment terminal.

  

10. A source of video stream for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the subject having cutaneous nerves that fire spontaneously and have spiking patterns, the source of video stream comprising:

 

means for defining an image on the monitor, the image having an intensity; and

 

means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity with a frequency in the range 0.1 Hz to 15 Hz;

 

whereby the emitted electromagnetic field is pulsed, the cutaneous nerves are exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field, and the spiking patterns of the nerves acquire a frequency modulation.

  

11. The source of video stream of claim 10 wherein the source is a recording medium that has recorded data, and the means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity comprise an attribute of the recorded data.

  

12. The source of video stream of claim 10 wherein the source is a computer program, and the means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity comprise a pulse routine.

  

13. The source of video stream of claim 10 wherein the source is a recording of a physical scene, and the means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity comprise:

 

pulse generator for generating voltage pulses;

 

light source for illuminating the scene, the light source having a power level; and

 

modulation means, responsive to the voltage pulses, for pulsing the power level.

  

14. The source of video stream of claim 10, wherein the source is a DVD, the video stream comprises a luminance signal and a chrominance signal, and the means for subliminal pulsing of the image intensity comprise means for pulsing the luminance signal.

  

Description

  

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the stimulation of the human nervous system by an electromagnetic field applied externally to the body. A neurological effect of external electric fields has been mentioned by Wiener (1958), in a discussion of the bunching of brain waves through nonlinear interactions. The electric field was arranged to provide “a direct electrical driving of the brain”. Wiener describes the field as set up by a 10 Hz alternating voltage of 400 V applied in a room between ceiling and ground. Brennan (1992) describes in U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,380 an apparatus for alleviating disruptions in circadian rythms of a mammal, in which an alternating electric field is applied across the head of the subject by two electrodes placed a short distance from the skin.

 

A device involving a field electrode as well as a contact electrode is the “Graham Potentializer” mentioned by Hutchison (1991). This relaxation device uses motion, light and sound as well as an alternating electric field applied mainly to the head. The contact electrode is a metal bar in Ohmic contact with the bare feet of the subject, and the field electrode is a hemispherical metal headpiece placed several inches from the subject's head.

 

In these three electric stimulation methods the external electric field is applied predominantly to the head, so that electric currents are induced in the brain in the physical manner governed by electrodynamics. Such currents can be largely avoided by applying the field not to the head, but rather to skin areas away from the head. Certain cutaneous receptors may then be stimulated and they would provide a signal input into the brain along the natural pathways of afferent nerves. It has been found that, indeed, physiological effects can be induced in this manner by very weak electric fields, if they are pulsed with a frequency near ½ Hz. The observed effects include ptosis of the eyelids, relaxation, drowziness, the feeling of pressure at a centered spot on the lower edge of the brow, seeing moving patterns of dark purple and greenish yellow with the eyes closed, a tonic smile, a tense feeling in the stomach, sudden loose stool, and sexual excitement, depending on the precise frequency used, and the skin area to which the field is applied. The sharp frequency dependence suggests involvement of a resonance mechanism.

 

It has been found that the resonance can be excited not only by externally applied pulsed electric fields, as discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,782,874, 5,899,922, 6,081,744, and 6,167,304, but also by pulsed magnetic fields, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,935,054 and 6,238,333, by weak heat pulses applied to the skin, as discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,800,481 and 6,091,994, and by subliminal acoustic pulses, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,302. Since the resonance is excited through sensory pathways, it is called a sensory resonance. In addition to the resonance near ½ Hz, a sensory resonance has been found near 2.4 Hz. The latter is characterized by the slowing of certain cortical processes, as discussed in the '481, '922, '302, '744, '944, and '304 patents.

 

The excitation of sensory resonances through weak heat pulses applied to the skin provides a clue about what is going on neurologically. Cutaneous temperature-sensing receptors are known to fire spontaneously. These nerves spike somewhat randomly around an average rate that depends on skin temperature. Weak heat pulses delivered to the skin in periodic fashion will therefore cause a slight frequency modulation (fm) in the spike patterns generated by the nerves. Since stimulation through other sensory modalities results in similar physiological effects, it is believed that frequency modulation of spontaneous afferent neural spiking patterns occurs there as well.

 

It is instructive to apply this notion to the stimulation by weak electric field pulses administered to the skin. The externally generated fields induce electric current pulses in the underlying tissue, but the current density is much too small for firing an otherwise quiescent nerve. However, in experiments with adapting stretch receptors of the crayfish, Terzuolo and Bullock (1956) have observed that very small electric fields can suffice for modulating the firing of already active nerves. Such a modulation may occur in the electric field stimulation under discussion.

 

Further understanding may be gained by considering the electric charges that accumulate on the skin as a result of the induced tissue currents. Ignoring thermodynamics, one would expect the accumulated polarization charges to be confined strictly to the outer surface of the skin. But charge density is caused by a slight excess in positive or negative ions, and thermal motion distributes the ions through a thin layer. This implies that the externally applied electric field actually penetrates a short distance into the tissue, instead of stopping abruptly at the outer skin surface. In this manner a considerable fraction of the applied field may be brought to bear on some cutaneous nerve endings, so that a slight modulation of the type noted by Terzuolo and Bullock may indeed occur.

 

The mentioned physiological effects are observed only when the strength of the electric field on the skin lies in a certain range, called the effective intensity window. There also is a bulk effect, in that weaker fields suffice when the field is applied to a larger skin area. These effects are discussed in detail in the '922 patent.

 

Since the spontaneous spiking of the nerves is rather random and the frequency modulation induced by the pulsed field is very shallow, the signal to noise ratio (S/N) for the fm signal contained in the spike trains along the afferent nerves is so small as to make recovery of the fm signal from a single nerve fiber impossibile. But application of the field over a large skin area causes simultaneous stimulation of many cutaneous nerves, and the fm modulation is then coherent from nerve to nerve. Therefore, if the afferent signals are somehow summed in the brain, the fm modulations add while the spikes from different nerves mix and interlace. In this manner the S/N can be increased by appropriate neural processing. The matter is discussed in detail in the '874 patent. Another increase in sensitivity is due to involving a resonance mechanism, wherein considerable neural circuit oscillations can result from weak excitations.

 

An easily detectable physiological effect of an excited ½ Hz sensory resonance is ptosis of the eyelids. As discussed in the '922 patent, the ptosis test involves first closing the eyes about half way. Holding this eyelid position, the eyes are rolled upward, while giving up voluntary control of the eyelids. The eyelid position is then determined by the state of the autonomic nervous system. Furthermore, the pressure excerted on the eyeballs by the partially closed eyelids increases parasympathetic activity. The eyelid position thereby becomes somewhat labile, as manifested by a slight flutter. The labile state is sensitive to very small shifts in autonomic state. The ptosis influences the extent to which the pupil is hooded by the eyelid, and thus how much light is admitted to the eye. Hence, the depth of the ptosis is seen by the subject, and can be graded on a scale from 0 to 10.

 

In the initial stages of the excitation of the ½ Hz sensory resonance, a downward drift is detected in the ptosis frequency, defined as the stimulation frequency for which maximum ptosis is obtained. This drift is believed to be caused by changes in the chemical milieu of the resonating neural circuits. It is thought that the resonance causes perturbations of chemical concentrations somewhere in the brain, and that these perturbations spread by diffusion to nearby resonating circuits. This effect, called “chemical detuning”, can be so strong that ptosis is lost altogether when the stimulation frequency is kept constant in the initial stages of the excitation. Since the stimulation then falls somewhat out of tune, the resonance decreases in amplitude and chemical detuning eventually diminishes. This causes the ptosis frequency to shift back up, so that the stimulation is more in tune and the ptosis can develop again. As a result, for fixed stimulation frequencies in a certain range, the ptosis slowly cycles with a frequency of several minutes. The matter is discussed in the '302 patent.

 

The stimulation frequencies at which specific physiological effects occur depend somewhat on the autonomic nervous system state, and probably on the endocrine state as well.

 

Weak magnetic fields that are pulsed with a sensory resonance frequency can induce the same physiological effects as pulsed electric fields. Unlike the latter however, the magnetic fields penetrate biological tissue with nearly undiminished strength. Eddy currents in the tissue drive electric charges to the skin, where the charge distributions are subject to thermal smearing in much the same way as in electric field stimulation, so that the same physiological effects develop. Details are discussed in the '054 patent.

SUMMARY

Computer monotors and TV monitors can be made to emit weak low-frequency electromagnetic fields merely by pulsing the intensity of displayed images. Experiments have shown that the ½ Hz sensory resonance can be excited in this manner in a subject near the monitor. The 2.4 Hz sensory resonance can also be excited in this fashion. Hence, a TV monitor or computer monitor can be used to manipulate the nervous system of nearby people.

 

The implementations of the invention are adapted to the source of video stream that drives the monitor, be it a computer program, a TV broadcast, a video tape or a digital video disc (DVD).

 

For a computer monitor, the image pulses can be produced by a suitable computer program. The pulse frequency may be controlled through keyboard input, so that the subject can tune to an individual sensory resonance frequency. The pulse amplitude can be controlled as well in this manner. A program written in Visual Basic(R) is particularly suitable for use on computers that run the Windows 95(R) or Windows 98(R) operating system. The structure of such a program is described. Production of periodic pulses requires an accurate timing procedure. Such a procedure is constructed from the GetTimeCount function available in the Application Program Interface (API) of the Windows operating system, together with an extrapolation procedure that improves the timing accuracy.

 

Pulse variability can be introduced through software, for the purpose of thwarting habituation of the nervous system to the field stimulation, or when the precise resonance frequency is not known. The variability may be a pseudo-random variation within a narrow interval, or it can take the form of a frequency or amplitude sweep in time. The pulse variability may be under control of the subject.

 

The program that causes a monitor to display a pulsing image may be run on a remote computer that is connected to the user computer by a link; the latter may partly belong to a network, which may be the Internet.

 

For a TV monitor, the image pulsing may be inherent in the video stream as it flows from the video source, or else the stream may be modulated such as to overlay the pulsing. In the first case, a live TV broadcast can be arranged to have the feature imbedded simply by slightly pulsing the illumination of the scene that is being broadcast. This method can of course also be used in making movies and recording video tapes and DVDs.

 

Video tapes can be edited such as to overlay the pulsing by means of modulating hardware. A simple modulator is discussed wherein the luminance signal of composite video is pulsed without affecting the chroma signal. The same effect may be introduced at the consumer end, by modulating the video stream that is produced by the video source. A DVD can be edited through software, by introducing pulse-like variations in the digital RGB signals. Image intensity pulses can be overlaid onto the analog component video output of a DVD player by modulating the luminance signal component. Before entering the TV set, a television signal can be modulated such as to cause pulsing of the image intensity by means of a variable delay line that is connected to a pulse generator.

 

Certain monitors can emit electromagnetic field pulses that excite a sensory resonance in a nearby subject, through image pulses that are so weak as to be subliminal. This is unfortunate since it opens a way for mischievous application of the invention, whereby people are exposed unknowingly to manipulation of their nervous systems for someone else's purposes. Such application would be unethical and is of course not advocated. It is mentioned here in order to alert the public to the possibility of covert abuse that may occur while being online, or while watching TV, a video, or a DVD.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the electromagnetic field that emanates from a monitor when the video signal is modulated such as to cause pulses in image intensity, and a nearby subject who is exposed to the field.

 

FIG. 2 shows a circuit for modulation of a composite video signal for the purpose of pulsing the image intensity.

 

FIG. 3 shows the circuit for a simple pulse generator.

 

FIG. 4 illustrates how a pulsed electromagnetic field can be generated with a computer monitor.

 

FIG. 5 shows a pulsed electromagnetic field that is generated by a television set through modulation of the RF signal input to the TV.

 

FIG. 6 outlines the structure of a computer program for producing a pulsed image.

 

FIG. 7 shows an extrapolation procedure introduced for improving timing accuracy of the program of FIG. 6.

 

FIG. 8 illustrates the action of the extrapolation procedure of FIG. 7.

 

FIG. 9 shows a subject exposed to a pulsed electromagnetic field emanating from a monitor which is responsive to a program running on a remote computer via a link that involves the Internet.

 

FIG. 10 shows the block diagram of a circuit for frequency wobbling of a TV signal for the purpose of pulsing the intensity of the image displayed on a TV monitor.

 

FIG. 11 depicts schematically a recording medium in the form of a video tape with recorded data, and the attribute of the signal that causes the intensity of the displayed image to be pulsed.

 

FIG. 12 illustrates how image pulsing can be embedded in a video signal by pulsing the illumination of the scene that is being recorded.

 

FIG. 13 shows a routine that introduces pulse variability into the computer program of FIG. 6.

 

FIG. 14 shows schematically how a CRT emits an electromagnetic field when the displayed image is pulsed.

 

FIG. 15 shows how the intensity of the image displayed on a monitor can be pulsed through the brightness control terminal of the monitor.

 

FIG. 16 illustrates the action of the polarization disc that serves as a model for grounded conductors in the back of a CRT screen.

 

FIG. 17 shows the circuit for overlaying image intensity pulses on a DVD output.

 

FIG. 18 shows measured data for pulsed electric fields emitted by two different CRT type monitors, and a comparison with theory.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Computer monitors and TV monitors emit electromagnetic fields. Part of the emission occurs at the low frequencies at which displayed images are changing. For instance, a rythmic pulsing of the intensity of an image causes electromagnetic field emission at the pulse frequency, with a strength proportional to the pulse amplitude. The field is briefly referred to as “screen emission”. In discussing this effect, any part or all what is displayed on the monitor screen is called an image. A monitor of the cathode ray tube (CRT) type has three electron beams, one for each of the basic colors red, green, and blue. The intensity of an image is here defined as

 

I=∫j dA,  (1)

 

where the integral extends over the image, and

 

j=jr+jg+jb,  (2)

 

jr, jg, and jb being the electric current densities in the red, green, and blue electron beams at the surface area dA of the image on the screen. The current densities are to be taken in the distributed electron beam model, where the discreteness of pixels and the raster motion of the beams are ignored, and the back of the monitor screen is thought to be irradiated by diffuse electron beams. The beam current densities are then functions of the coordinates x and y over the screen. The model is appropriate since we are interested in the electromagnetic field emision caused by image pulsing with the very low frequencies of sensory resonances, whereas the emissions with the much higher horizontal and vertical sweep frequencies are of no concern. For a CRT the intensity of an image is expressed in millamperes.

 

For a liquid crystal display (LCD), the current densities in the definition of image intensity are to be replaced by driving voltages, multiplied by the aperture ratio of the device. For an LCD, image intensities are thus expressed in volts.

 

It will be shown that for a CRT or LCD screen emissions are caused by fluctuations in image intensity. In composite video however, intensity as defined above is not a primary signal feature, but luminance Y is. For any pixel one has

 

Y=0.299R+0.587G+0.114B,  (3)

 

where R, G, and B are the intensities of the pixel respectively in red, green and blue, normalized such as to range from 0 to 1. The definition (3) was provided by the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE), in order to account for brightness differences at different colors, as perceived by the human visual system. In composite video the hue of the pixel is determined by the chroma signal or chrominance, which has the components R-Y and B-Y It follows that pulsing pixel luminance while keeping the hue fixed is equivalent to pulsing the pixel intensity, up to an amplitude factor. This fact will be relied upon when modulating a video stream such as to overlay image intensity pulses.

 

It turns out that the screen emission has a multipole expansion wherein both monopole and dipole contributions are proportional to the rate of change of the intensity I of (1). The higher order multipole contributions are proportional to the rate of change of moments of the current density j over the image, but since these contributions fall off rapidly with distance, they are not of practical importance in the present context. Pulsing the intensity of an image may involve different pulse amplitudes, frequencies, or phases for different parts of the image. Any or all of these features may be under subject control.

 

The question arises whether the screen emission can be strong enough to excite sensory resonances in people located at normal viewing distances from the monitor. This turns out to be the case, as shown by sensory resonance experiments and independently by measuring the strength of the emitted electric field pulses and comparing the results with the effective intensity window as explored in earlier work.

 

One-half Hertz sensory resonance experiments have been conducted with the subject positioned at least at normal viewing distance from a 15″ computer monitor that was driven by a computer program written in Visual Basic(R), version 6.0 (VB6). The program produces a pulsed image with uniform luminance and hue over the full screen, except for a few small control buttons and text boxes. In VB6, screen pixel colors are determined by integers R, G, and B, that range from 0 to 255, and set the contributions to the pixel color made by the basic colors red, green, and blue. For a CRT-type monitor, the pixel intensities for the primary colors may depend on the RGB values in a nonlinear manner that will be discussed. In the VB6 program the RGB values are modulated by small pulses ΔR, ΔG, ΔB, with a frequency that can be chosen by the subject or is swept in a predetermined manner. In the sensory resonance experiments mentioned above, the ratios ΔR/R, ΔG/G, and ΔB/B were always smaller than 0.02, so that the image pulses are quite weak. For certain frequencies near ½ Hz, the subject experienced physiological effects that are known to accompany the excitation of the ½ Hz sensory resonance as mentioned in the Background Section. Moreover, the measured field pulse amplitudes fall within the effective intensity window for the ½ Hz resonance, as explored in earlier experiments and discussed in the '874, '744, '922, and '304 patents. Other experiments have shown that the 2.4 Hz sensory resonance can be exited as well by screen emissions from monitors that display pulsed images.

 

These results confirm that, indeed, the nervous system of a subject can be manipulated through electromagnetic field pulses emitted by a nearby CRT or LCD monitor which displays images with pulsed intensity.

 

The various implementations of the invention are adapted to the different sources of video stream, such as video tape, DVD, a computer program, or a TV broadcast through free space or cable. In all of these implementations, the subject is exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field that is generated by the monitor as the result of image intensity pulsing. Certain cutaneous nerves of the subject exhibit spontaneous spiking in patterns which, although rather random, contain sensory information at least in the form of average frequency. Some of these nerves have receptors that respond to the field stimulation by changing their average spiking frequency, so that the spiking patterns of these nerves acquire a frequency modulation, which is conveyed to the brain. The modulation can be particularly effective if it has a frequency at or near a sensory resonance frequency. Such frequencies are expected to lie in the range from 0.1 to 15 Hz.

 

An embodiment of the invention adapted to a VCR is shown in FIG. 1, where a subject 4 is exposed to a pulsed electric field 3 and a pulsed magnetic field 39 that are emitted by a monitor 2, labeled “MON”, as the result of pulsing the intensity of the displayed image. The image is here generated by a video casette recorder 1, labeled “VCR”, and the pulsing of the image intensity is obtained by modulating the composite video signal from the VCR output. This is done by a video modulator 5, labeled “VM”, which responds to the signal from the pulse generator 6, labeled “GEN”. The frequency and amplitude of the image pulses can be adjusted with the frequency control 7 and amplitude control 8. Frequency and amplitude adjustments can be made by the subject.

 

The circuit of the video modulator 5 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 2, where the video amplifiers 11 and 12 process the composite video signal that enters at the input terminal 13. The level of the video signal is modulated slowly by injecting a small bias current at the inverting input 17 of the first amplifier 11. This current is caused by voltage pulses supplied at the modulation input 16, and can be adjusted through the potentiometer 15. Since the noninverting input of the amplifier is grounded, the inverting input 17 is kept essentially at ground potential, so that the bias current is is not influenced by the video signal. The inversion of the signal by the first amplifier 11 is undone by the second amplifier 12. The gains of the amplifiers are chosen such as to give a unity overall gain. A slowly varying current injected at the inverting input 17 causes a slow shift in the “pseudo-dc” level of the composite video signal, here defined as the short-term average of the signal. Since the pseudo-dc level of the chroma signal section determines the luminance, the latter is modulated by the injected current pulses. The chroma signal is not affected by the slow modulation of the pseudodc level, since that signal is determined by the amplitude and phase with respect to the color carrier which is locked to the color burst. The effect on the sync pulses and color bursts is of no consequence either if the injected current pulses are very small, as they are in practice. The modulated composite video signal, available at the output 14 in FIG. 2, will thus exhibit a modulated luminance, whereas the chroma signal is unchanged. In the light of the foregoing discussion about luminance and intensity, it follows that the modulator of FIG. 2 causes a pulsing of the image intensity I. It remains to give an example how the pulse signal at the modulation input 16 may be obtained. FIG. 3 shows a pulse generator that is suitable for this purpose, wherein the RC timer 21 (Intersil ICM7555) is hooked up for astable operation and produces a square wave voltage with a frequency that is determined by capacitor 22 and potentiometer 23. The timer 21 is powered by a battery 26, controlled by the switch 27. The square wave voltage at output 25 drives the LED 24, which may be used for monitoring of the pulse frequency, and also serves as power indicator. The pulse output may be rounded in ways that are well known in the art. In the setup of FIG. 1, the output of VCR 1 is connected to the video input 13 of FIG. 2, and the video output 14 is connected to the monitor 2 of FIG. 1.

 

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the image intensity pulsing is caused by a computer program. As shown in FIG. 4, monitor 2, labeled “MON”, is connected to computer 31 labeled “COMPUTER”, which runs a program that produces an image on the monitor and causes the image intensity to be pulsed. The subject 4 can provide input to the computer through the keyboard 32 that is connected to the computer by the connection 33. This input may involve adjustments of the frequency or the amplitude or the variability of the image intensity pulses. In particular, the pulse frequency can be set to a sensory resonance frequency of the subject for the purpose of exciting the resonance.

 

The structure of a computer program for pulsing image intensity is shown in FIG. 6. The program may be written in Visual Basic(R) version 6.0 (VB6), which involves the graphics interface familiar from the Windows(R) operating system. The images appear as forms equipped with user controls such as command buttons and scroll bars, together with data displays such as text boxes. A compiled VB6 program is an executable file. When activated, the program declares variables and functions to be called from a dynamic link library (DLL) that is attached to the operating system; an initial form load is performed as well. The latter comprises setting the screen color as specified by integers R, G, and B in the range 0 to 255, as mentioned above. In FIG. 6, the initial setting of the screen color is labeled as 50. Another action of the form load routine is the computation 51 of the sine function at eight equally spaced points, I=0 to 7, around the unit circle. These values are needed when modulating the RGB numbers. Unfortunately, the sine function is distorted by the rounding to integer RGB values that occurs in the VB6 program. The image is chosen to fill as much of the screen area as possible, and it has spatially uniform luminance and hue.

 

The form appearing on the monitor displays a command button for starting and stopping the image pulsing, together with scroll bars 52 and 53 respectively for adjustment of the pulse frequency F and the pulse amplitude A. These pulses could be initiated by a system timer which is activated upon the elapse of a preset time interval. However, timers in VB6 are too inaccurate for the purpose of providing the eight RGB adjustment points in each pulse cycle. An improvement can be obtained by using the GetTickCount function that is available in the Application Program Interface (API) of Windows 95(R) and Windows 98(R). The GetTickCount function returns the system time that has elapsed since starting Windows, expressed in milliseconds. User activation of the start button 54 provides a tick count TN through request 55 and sets the timer interval to TT miliseconds, in step 56. TT was previously calculated in the frequency routine that is activated by changing the frequency, denoted as step 52.

 

Since VB6 is an event-driven program, the flow chart for the program falls into disjoint pieces. Upon setting the timer interval to TT in step 56, the timer runs in the background while the program may execute subroutines such as adjustment of pulse frequency or amplitude. Upon elapse of the timer interval TT, the timer subroutine 57 starts execution with request 58 for a tick count, and in 59 an upgrade is computed of the time TN for the next point at which the RGB values are to be adjusted. In step 59 the timer is turned off, to be reactivated later in step 67. Step 59 also resets the parameter CR which plays a role in the extrapolation procedure 61 and the condition 60. For ease of understanding at this point, it is best to pretend that the action of 61 is simply to get a tick count, and to consider the loop controled by condition 60 while keeping CR equal to zero. The loop would terminate when the tick count M reaches or exceeds the time TN for the next phase point, at which time the program should adjust the image intensity through steps 63-65. For now step 62 is to be ignored also, since it has to do with the actual extrapolation procedure 61. The increments to the screen colors R1, G1, and B1 at the new phase point are computed according to the sine function, applied with the amplitude A that was set by the user in step 53. The number I that labels the phase point is incremented by unity in step 65, but if this results in I=8 the value is reset to zero in 66. Finally, the timer is reactivated in step 67, initiating a new ⅛-cycle step in the periodic progression of RGB adjustments.

 

A program written in this way would exhibit a large jitter in the times at which the RGB values are changed. This is due to the lumpiness in the tick counts returned by the GetTickCount function. The lumpiness may be studied separately by running a simple loop with C=GetTickCount, followed by writing the result C to a file. Inspection shows that C has jumped every 14 or 15 milliseconds, between long stretches of constant values. Since for a ½ Hz image intensity modulation the ⅛-cycle phase points are 250 ms apart, the lumpiness of 14 or 15 ms in the tick count would cause considerable inaccuracy. The full extrapolation procedure 61 is introduced in order to diminish the jitter to acceptable levels. The procedure works by refining the heavy-line staircase function shown in FIG. 8, using the slope RR of a recent staircase step to accurately determine the loop count 89 at which the loop controled by 60 needs to be exited. Details of the extrapolation procedure are shown in FIG. 7 and illustrated in FIG. 8. The procedure starts at 70 with both flags off, and CR=0, because of the assignment in 59 or 62 in FIG. 6. A tick count M is obtained at 71, and the remaining time MR to the next phase point is computed in 72. Conditions 77 and 73 are not satisfied and therefore passed vertically in the flow chart, so that only the delay block 74 and the assignments 75 are executed. Condition 60 of FIG. 6 is checked and found to be satisfied, so that the extrapolation procedure is reentered. The process is repeated until the condition 73 is met when the remaining time MR jumps down through the 15 ms level, shown in FIG. 8 as the transition 83. The condition 73 then directs the logic flow to the assignments 76, in which the number DM labeled by 83 is computed, and FLG1 is set. The computation of DM is required for finding the slope RR of the straight-line element 85. One also needs the “Final LM” 86, which is the number of loops traversed from step 83 to the next downward step 84, here shown to cross the MR=0 axis. The final LM is determined after repeatedly incrementing LM through the side loop entered from the FLG1=1 condition 77, which is now satisfied since FLG1 was set in step 76. At the transition 84 the condition 78 is met, so that the assignments 79 are executed. This includes computation of the slope RR of the line element 85, setting FLG2, and resetting FLG1. From here on, the extrapolation procedure increments CR in steps of RR while skipping tick counts until condition 60 of FIG. 6 is violated, the loop is exited, and the RGB values are adjusted.

 

A delay block 74 is used in order to stretch the time required for traversing the extrapolation procedure. The block can be any computation intensive subroutine such as repeated calculations of tangent and arc tangent functions.

 

As shown in step 56 of FIG. 6, the timer interval TT is set to 4/10 of the time TA from one RGB adjustment point to the next. Since the timer runs in the background, this arrangement provides an opportunity for execution of other processes such as user adjustment of frequency or amplitude of the pulses.

 

The adjustment of the frequency and other pulse parameters of the image intensity modulation can be made internally, i.e., within the running program. Such internal control is to be distinguished from the external control provided, for instance, in screen savers. In the latter, the frequency of animation can be modified by the user, but only after having exited the screen saver program. Specifically, in Windows 95(R) or Windows 98(R), to change the animation frequency requires stopping the screen saver execution by moving the mouse, whereafter the frequency may be adjusted through the control panel. The requirement that the control be internal sets the present program apart from so-called banners as well.

 

The program may be run on a remote computer that is linked to the user computer, as illustrated in FIG. 9. Although the monitor 2, labeled “MON”, is connected to the computer 31′, labeled “COMPUTER”, the program that pulses the images on the monitor 2 runs on the remoter computer 90, labeled “REMOTE COMPUTER”, which is connected to computer 31′ through a link 91 which may in part belong to a network. The network may comprise the Internet 92.

 

The monitor of a television set emits an electromagnetic field in much the same way as a computer monitor. Hence, a TV may be used to produce screen emissions for the purpose of nervous system manipulation. FIG. 5 shows such an arrangement, where the pulsing of the image intensity is achieved by inducing a small slowly pulsing shift in the frequency of the RF signal that enters from the antenna. This process is here called “frequency wobbling” of the RF signal. In FM TV, a slight slow frequency wobble of the RF signal produces a pseudo-dc signal level fluctuation in the composite video signal, which in turn causes a slight intensity fluctuation of the image displayed on the monitor in the same manner as discussed above for the modulator of FIG. 2. The frequency wobbling is induced by the wobbler 44 of FIG. 5 labeled “RFM”, which is placed in the antenna line 43. The wobbler is driven by the pulse generator 6, labeled “GEN”. The subject can adjust the frequency and the amplitude of the wobble through the tuning control 7 and the amplitude control 41. FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of the frequency wobbler circuit that employs a variable delay line 94, labelled “VDL”. The delay is determined by the signal from pulse generator 6, labelled “GEN”. The frequency of the pulses can be adjusted with the tuning control 7. The amplitude of the pulses is determined by the unit 98, labelled “MD”, and can be adjusted with the amplitude control 41. Optionally, the input to the delay line may be routed through a preprocessor 93, labelled “PRP”, which may comprise a selective RF amplifier and down converter; a complimentary up conversion should then be performed on the delay line output by a postprocessor 95, labelled “POP”. The output 97 is to be connected to the antenna terminal of the TV set.

 

The action of the variable delay line 94 may be understood as follows. Let periodic pulses with period L be presented at the input. For a fixed delay the pulses would emerge at the output with the same period L. Actually, the time delay T is varied slowly, so that it increases approximately by LdT/dt between the emergence of consecutive pulses at the device output. The pulse period is thus increased approximately by

 

ΔL=LdT/dt.  (4)

 

In terms of the frequency ∫, Eq. (4) implies approximately

 

Δ∫/∫=−dT/dt.  (5)

 

For sinusoidal delay T(t) with amplitude b and frequency g, one has

 

Δ∫/∫=−2πgb cos (2πgt),  (6)

 

which shows the frequency wobbling. The approximation is good for gb<<1, which is satisfied in practice. The relative frequency shift amplitude 2πgb that is required for effective image intensity pulses is very small compared to unity. For a pulse frequency g of the order of 1 Hz, the delay may have to be of the order of a millisecond. To accomodate such long delay values, the delay line may have to be implemented as a digital device. To do so is well within the present art. In that case it is natural to also choose digital implementations for the pulse generator 6 and the pulse amplitude controller 98, either as hardware or as software.

 

Pulse variability may be introduced for alleviating the need for precise tuning to a resonance frequency. This may be important when sensory resonance frequencies are not precisely known, because of the variation among individuals, or in order to cope with the frequency drift that results from chemical detuning that is discussed in the '874 patent. A field with suitably chosen pulse variability can then be more effective than a fixed frequency field that is out of tune. One may also control tremors and seizures, by interfering with the pathological oscillatory activity of neural circuits that occurs in these disorders. Electromagnetic fields with a pulse variability that results in a narrow spectrum of frequencies around the frequency of the pathological oscillatory activity may then evoke nerve signals that cause phase shifts which diminish or quench the oscillatory activity.

 

Pulse variability can be introduced as hardware in the manner described in the '304 patent. The variability may also be introduced in the computer program of FIG. 6, by setting FLG3 in step 68, and choosing the amplitude B of the frequency fluctuation. In the variability routine 46, shown in some detail in FIG. 13, FLG3 is detected in step 47, whereupon in steps 48 and 49 the pulse frequency F is modified pseudo randomly by a term proportional to B, every 4th cycle. Optionally, the amplitude of the image intensity pulsing may be modified as well, in similar fashion. Alternatively, the frequency and amplitude may be swept through an adjustable ramp, or according to any suitable schedule, in a manner known to those skilled in the art. The pulse variability may be applied to subliminal image intensity pulses.

 

When an image is displayed by a TV monitor in response to a TV broadcast, intensity pulses of the image may simply be imbedded in the program material. If the source of video signal is a recording medium, the means for pulsing the image intensity may comprise an attribute of recorded data. The pulsing may be subliminal. For the case of a video signal from a VCR, the pertinent data attribute is illustrated in FIG. 11, which shows a video signal record on part of a video tape 28. Depicted schematically are segments of the video signal in intervals belonging to lines in three image frames at different places along the tape. In each segment, the chroma signal 9 is shown, with its short-term average level 29 represented as a dashed line. The short-term average signal level, also called the pseudo-dc level, represents the luminance of the image pixels. Over each segment, the level is here constant because the image is for simplicity chosen as having a uniform luminance over the screen. However, the level is seen to vary from frame to frame, illustrating a luminance that pulses slowly over time. This is shown in the lower portion of the drawing, wherein the IRE level of the short-term chroma signal average is plotted versus time. The graph further shows a gradual decrease of pulse amplitude in time, illustrating that luminance pulse amplitude variations may also be an attribute of the recorded data on the video tape. As discussed, pulsing the luminance for fixed chrominance results in pulsing of the image intensity.

 

Data stream attributes that represent image intensity pulses on video tape or in TV signals may be created when producing a video rendition or making a moving picture of a scene, simply by pulsing the illumination of the scene. This is illustrated in FIG. 12, which shows a scene 19 that is recorded with a video camera 18, labelled “VR”. The scene is illuminated with a lamp 20, labelled “LAMP”, energized by an electric current through a cable 36. The current is modulated in pulsing fashion by a modulator 30, labeled “MOD”, which is driven by a pulse generator 6, labelled “GENERATOR”, that produces voltage pulses 35. Again, pulsing the luminance but not the chrominance amounts to pulsing the image intensity.

 

The brightness of monitors can usually be adjusted by a control, which may be addressable through a brightness adjustment terminal. If the control is of the analog type, the displayed image intensity may be pulsed as shown in FIG. 15, simply by a pulse generator 6, labeled “GEN”, that is connected to the brigthness adjustment terminal 88 of the monitor 2, labeled “MON”. Equivalent action can be provided for digital brightness controls, in ways that are well known in the art.

 

The analog component video signal from a DVD player may be modulated such as to overlay image intensity pulses in the manner illustrated in FIG. 17. Shown are a DVD player 102, labeled “DVD”, with analog component video output comprised of the luminance Y and chrominance C. The overlay is accomplished simply by shifting the luminance with a voltage pulse from generator 6, labeled “GENERATOR”. The generator output is applied to modulator 106, labeled “SHIFTER”. Since the luminance Y is pulsed without changing the chrominance C, the image intensity is pulsed. The frequency and amplitude of the image intensity pulses can be adjusted respectively with the tuner 7 and amplitude control 107. The modulator 105 has the same structure as the modulator of FIG. 2, and the pulse amplitude control 107 operates the potentiometer 15 of FIG. 2. The same procedure can be followed for editing a DVD such as to overlay image intensity pulses, by processing the modulated luminance signal through an analog-to-digital converter, and recording the resulting digital stream onto a DVD, after appropriate compression. Alternatively, the digital luminance data can be edited by electronic reading of the signal, decompression, altering the digital data by software, and recording the resulting digital signal after proper compression, all in a manner that is well known in the art.

 

The mechanism whereby a CRT-type monitor emits a pulsed electromagnetic field when pulsing the intensity of an image is illustrated in FIG. 14. The image is produced by an electron beam 10 which impinges upon the backside 88 of the screen, where the collisions excite phosphors that subsequently emit light. In the process, the electron beam deposits electrons 18 on the screen, and these electrons contribute to an electric field 3 labelled “E”. The electrons flow along the conductive backside 88 of the screen to the terminal 99 which is hooked up to the high-voltage supply 40, labelled “HV”. The circuit is completed by the ground connection of the supply, the video amplifier 87, labeled “VA”, and its connection to the cathodes of the CRT. The electron beams of the three electron guns are collectively shown as 10, and together the beams carry a current J. The electric current J flowing through the described circuit induces a magnetic field 39, labeled “B”. Actually, there are a multitude of circuits along which the electron beam current is returned to the CRT cathodes, since on a macroscopic scale the conductive back surface 88 of the screen provides a continuum of paths from the beam impact point to the high-voltage terminal 99. The magnetic fields induced by the currents along these paths partially cancel each other, and the resulting field depends on the location of the pixel that is addressed. Since the beams sweep over the screen through a raster of horizontal lines, the spectrum of the induced magnetic field contains strong peaks at the horizontal and vertical frequencies. However, the interest here is not in fields at those frequencies, but rather in emissions that result from an image pulsing with the very low frequencies appropriate to sensory resonances. For this purpose a diffuse electron current model suffices, in which the pixel discreteness and the raster motion of the electron beams are ignored, so that the beam current becomes diffuse and fills the cone subtended by the displayed image. The resulting low-frequency magnetic field depends on the temporal changes in the intensity distribution over the displayed image. Order-of-magnitude estimates show that the low-frequency magnetic field, although quite small, may be sufficient for the excitation of sensory resonances in subjects located at a normal viewing distance from the monitor.

 

The monitor also emits a low-frequency electric field at the image pulsing frequency. This field is due in part to the electrons 18 that are deposited on the screen by the electron beams 10. In the diffuse electron beam model, screen conditions are considered functions of the time t and of the Cartesian coordinates x and y over a flat CRT screen.

 

The screen electrons 18 that are dumped onto the back of the screen by the sum j(x,y,t) of the diffuse current distributions in the red, green, and blue electron beams cause a potential distribution V(x,y,t) which is influenced by the surface conductivity σ on the back of the screen and by capacitances. In the simple model where the screen has a capacitance distribution c(x,y) to ground and mutual capacitances between parts of the screen at different potentials are neglected, a potential distribution V(x,y,t) over the screen implies a surface charge density distribution

 

q=Vc(x,y),  (7)

 

and gives rise to a current density vector along the screen,

 

j s=−σgrads V,  (8)

 

where grads is the gradient along the screen surface. Conservation of electric charge implies

 

j=c{dot over (V)}−div s (σgrad s V),  (9)

 

where the dot over the voltage denotes the time derivative, and divs is the divergence in the screen surface. The partial differential equation (9) requires a boundary condition for the solution V(x,y,t) to be unique. Such a condition is provided by setting the potential at the rim of the screen equal to the fixed anode voltage. This is a good approximation, since the resistance Rr between the screen rim and the anode terminal is chosen small in CRT design, in order to keep the voltage loss JRr to a minimum, and also to limit low-frequency emissions.

 

Something useful can be learned from special cases with simple solutions. As such, consider a circular CRT screen of radius R with uniform conductivity, showered in the back by a diffuse electron beam with a spatially uniform beam current density that is a constant plus a sinusoidal part with frequency ∫. Since the problem is linear, the voltage V due to the sinusoidal part of the beam current can be considered separately, with the boundary condition that V vanish at the rim of the circular screen. Eq. (9) then simplifies to

 

V″+V″/r−i2π∫cn V=−Jη/A, r≦R,  (10)

 

where r is a radial coordinate along the screen with its derivative denoted by a prime, η=1/σ is the screen resistivity, A the screen area, J the sinusoidal part of the total beam current, and i=(−1), the imaginary unit. Our interest is in very low pulse frequencies ∫ that are suitable for excitation of sensory resonances. For those frequencies and for practical ranges for c and η, the dimensionless number 2π∫cAη is very much smaller than unity, so that it can be neglected in Eq. (10). The boundary value problem then has the simple solution V  ( r ) = J     η 4  π  ( 1 - ( r / R ) 2 ) . ( 11 )

Figure US06506148-20030114-M00001

 

In deriving (11) we neglected the mutual capacitance between parts of the screen that are at different potentials. The resulting error in (10) is negligible for the same reason that the i2π∫cAη term in (10) can be neglected.

 

The potential distribution V(r) of (11) along the screen is of course accompanied by electric charges. The field lines emanating from these charges run mainly to conductors behind the screen that belong to the CRT structure and that are either grounded or connected to circuitry with a low impedance path to ground. In either case the mentioned conductors must be considered grounded in the analysis of charges and fields that result from the pulsed component J of the total electron beam current. The described electric field lines end up in electric charges that may be called polarization charges since they are the result of the polarization of the conductors and circuitry by the screen emission. To estimate the pulsed electric field, a model is chosen where the mentioned conductors are represented together as a grounded perfectly conductive disc of radius R, positioned a short distance δ behind the screen, as depicted in FIG. 16. Since the grounded conductive disc carries polarization charges, it is called the polarization disc. FIG. 16 shows the circular CRT screen 88 and the polarization disc 101, briefly called “plates”. For small distances δ, the capacitance density between the plates of opposite polarity is nearly equal to ε/δ, where ε is the permittivity of free space. The charge distributions on the screen and polarization disc are respectively εV(r)/δ+q0 and −εV(r)/δ+q0, where the εV(r)/δ terms denote opposing charge densities at the end of the dense field lines that run between the two plates. That the part q0 is needed as well will become clear in the sequel.

 

The charge distributions εV(r)/δ+q0 and −εV(r)/δ+q0 on the two plates have a dipole moment with the density D  ( r ) = εV  ( r ) = J     ηε 4  π  ( 1 - ( r / R ) 2 ) , ( 12 )

Figure US06506148-20030114-M00002

 

directed perpendicular to the screen. Note that the plate separation δ has dropped out. This means that the precise location of the polarization charges is not critical in the present model, and further that δ may be taken as small as desired. Taking δ to zero, one thus arrives at the mathematical model of pulsed dipoles distributed over the circular CRT screen. The field due to the charge distribution q0 will be calculated later.

 

The electric field induced by the distributed dipoles (12) can be calculated easily for points on the centerline of the screen, with the result E  ( z ) = V  ( 0 ) R  { 2  ρ / R - R / ρ - 2   z  / R } , ( 13 )

Figure US06506148-20030114-M00003

 

where V(0) is the pulse voltage (11) at the screen center, ρ the distance to the rim of the screen, and z the distance to the center of the screen. Note that V(0) pulses harmonically with frequency ∫, because in (11) the sinusoidal part J of the beam current varies in this manner.

 

The electric field (13) due to the dipole distribution causes a potential distribution V(r)/2 over the screen and a potential distribution of −V(r)/2 over the polarization disc, where V(r) is nonuniform as given by (11). But since the polarization disc is a perfect conductor it cannot support voltage gradients, and therefore cannot have the potential distribution −V(r)/2. Instead, the polarization disc is at ground potential. This is where the charge distribution q0(r) comes in; it must be such as to induce a potential distribution V(r)/2 over the polarization disc. Since the distance between polarization disc and screen vanishes in the mathematical model, the potential distribution V(r)/2 is induced over the screen as well. The total potential over the monitor screen thus becomes V(r) of (11), while the total potential distribution over the polarization disc becomes uniformly zero. Both these potential distributions are as physically required. The electric charges q0 are moved into position by polarization and are partly drawn from the earth through the ground connection of the CRT.

 

In our model the charge distribution q0 is located at the same place as the dipole distribution, viz., on the plane z=0 within the circle with radius R. At points on the center line of the screen, the electric field due to the monopole distribution q0 is calculated in the following manner. As discussed, the monopoles must be such that they cause a potential φ0 that is equal to V(r)/2 over the disc with radius R centered in the plane z=0. Although the charge distribution q0(r) is uniquely defined by this condition, it cannot be calculated easily in a straightforward manner. The difficulty is circumvented by using an intermediate result derived from Excercise 2 on page 191 of Kellogg (1953), where the charge distribution over a thin disc with uniform potential is given. By using this result one readily finds the potential φ*(z) on the axis of this disc as φ *  ( z ) = 2 π  V *  β  ( R 1 ) , ( 14 )

Figure US06506148-20030114-M00004

 

where β(R1) is the angle subtended by the disc radius R1, as viewed from the point z on the disc axis, and V* is the disc potential. The result is used here in an attempt to construct the potential φ0(z) for a disc with the nonuniform potential V(r)/2, by the ansatz of writing the field as due to a linear combination of abstract discs with various radii R1 and potentials, all centered in the plane z=0. In the ansatz the potential on the symmetry axis is written φ 0  ( z ) = α     β  ( R ) + b  ∫ 0 R  β  ( R 1 )   W , ( 15 )

Figure US06506148-20030114-M00005

 

where W is chosen as the function 1−R1 2/R2, and the constants a and b are to be determined such that the potential over the plane z=0 is V(r)/2 for radii r ranging from 0 to R, with V(r) given by (11). Carrying out the integration in (15) gives

 

φ0(z)=αβ(R)−b{(1+z 2 /R 2)β(R)−|z|/R}.  (16)

 

In order to find the potential over the disc r<R in the plane z=0, the function φ0(z) is expanded in powers of z/R for 0<z<R, whereafter the powers zn are replaced by rnPn(cosθ), where the Pn are Legendre polynomials, and (r,θ) are symmetric spherical coordinates centered at the screen center. This procedure amounts to a continuation of the potential from the z-axis into the half ball r0, in such a manner that the Laplace equation is satisfied. The method is discussed by Morse and Feshbach (1953). The “Laplace continuation” allows calculation of the potential φ0 along the surface of the disc r0, the parts (13) and (19) contribute about equally to the electric field over a practical range of distances z. When going behind the monitor where z is negative the monopole field flips sign so that the two parts nearly cancel each other, and the resulting field is very small. Therefore, in the back of the CRT, errors due to imperfections in the theory are relatively large. Moreover our model, which pretends that the polarization charges are all located on the polarization disc, fails to account for the electric field flux that escapes from the outer regions of the back of the screen to the earth or whatever conductors happen to be present in the vincinity of the CRT. This flaw has relatively more serious consequences in the back than in front of the monitor.

 

Screen emissions in front of a CRT can be cut dramatically by using a grounded conductive transparent shield that is placed over the screen or applied as a coating. Along the lines of our model, the shield amounts to a polarization disc in front of the screen, so that the latter is now sandwiched between to grounded discs. The screen has the pulsed potential distribution V(r) of (11), but no electric flux can escape. The model may be modified by choosing the polarization disc in the back somewhat smaller than the screen disc, by a fraction that serves as a free parameter. The fraction may then be determined from a fit to measured fields, by minimizing the relative standard deviation between experiment and theory.

 

In each of the electron beams of a CRT, the beam current is a nonlinear function of the driving voltage, i.e., the voltage between cathode and control grid. Since this function is needed in the normalization procedure, it was measured for the 15″ computer monitor that has been used in the ½ Hz sensory resonance experiments and the electric field measurements. Although the beam current density j can be determined, it is easier to measure the luminance, by reading a light meter that is brought right up to the monitor screen. With the RGB values in the VB6 program taken as the same integer K, the luminance of a uniform image is proportional to the image intensity I. The luminance of a uniform image was measured for various values of K. The results were fitted with

 

I=c 1 K γ,  (20)

 

where c1 is a constant. The best fit, with 6.18% relative standard deviation, was obtained for γ=2.32.

 

Screen emissions also occur for liquid crystal displays (LCD). The pulsed electric fields may have considerable amplitude for LCDs that have their driving electrodes on opposite sides of the liquid crystal cell, for passive matrix as well as for active matrix design, such as thin film technology (TFT). For arrangements with in-plane switching (IPS) however, the driving electrodes are positioned in a single plane, so that the screen emission is very small. For arrangements other than IPS, the electric field is closely approximated by the frin

This and one other photo [update 2011: three others!] by me are now on Getty! :D I submitted the required 10 pics to their Flickr group and got the reply "Thanks but we don't need this stuff right now", sometime in January 2010. I assumed that was it, forever and ever, and even quit the group while cleaning out my group list. Then on March 5 I scrolled down my Flickr activity and found "An invitation from Getty Images."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8D

I had forgotten all about the "not right now" in their first reply. I also hadn't read their group rules properly... You get to submit 10 photos per month, not per lifetime! AHA! We'll see what happens. :B I do believe the two pics I have on Getty now are really among my best though, so maybe that's all there will ever be. STILL - WIN!!! XD

 

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Vegan FAQ! :)

 

The Web Site the Meat Industry Doesn't Want You to See.

 

Please watch Earthlings.

External entrance to boys locker room.

Detail of the bottom of the ariel showing how it was cut and bent to make an effective hook for Ernest's hopper windows.

Note also the way the USB extension cable is secured using cable ties.

Helsinki Cathedral (Helsingin tuomiokirkko) is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the neighbourhood of Kruununhaka in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. The church was originally built from 1830-1852 as a tribute to the Grand Duke of Finland, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. It was also known as St Nicholas' Church until the independence of Finland in 1917. It is a major landmark of the city. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki_Cathedral

 

Helsinki is the capital and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of 650,058. The city's urban area has a population of 1,268,296, making it by far the most populous urban area in Finland as well as the country's most important center for politics, education, finance, culture, and research. Helsinki is located 80 kilometres north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 km east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 km west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has close historical ties with these three cities. Together with the cities of Espoo, Vantaa, and Kauniainen, and surrounding commuter towns, Helsinki forms the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which has a population of nearly 1.5 million. Often considered to be Finland's only metropolis, it is the world's northernmost metro area with over one million people as well as the northernmost capital of an EU member state. After Stockholm and Oslo, Helsinki is the third largest municipality in the Nordic countries. The city is served by the international Helsinki Airport, located in the neighboring city of Vantaa, with frequent service to manO destinations in Europe and Asia. Helsinki was the World Design Capital for 2012, the venue for the 1952 Summer Olympics, and the host of the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest in 2007. Helsinki has one of the highest urban standards of living in the world. In 2011, the British magazine Monocle ranked Helsinki the world's most liveable city in its liveable cities index. In the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2016 liveability survey, Helsinki was ranked ninth among 140 cities. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki

Photos for participants and USLA. Tag waterbloggged! Others: DON'T PUT ON EXTERNAL SITES WITHOUT PERMISSION.

The eastern moat in Acre includes both internal and external operations.

 

Photo taken by Alla Laitus. Credit Attribution to the photographer

 

Disclaimer: The Ministry of Tourism do not have copyrights or ownership in this picture [or image/or photo]. The Ministry of Tourism was granted a non-exclusive, transferable, worldwide, sub-license to make any use in this picture, including transfer it to third parties. Credit to the photographer mast be given in any use of this picture [or image/or photo].

Subscribe to my youtube for epic bikini swimsuit model goddess videos shot at the same time as stills!

www.youtube.com/bikiniswimsuitmodels

 

New epic video of the day's bikini swimsuit model shoot:

youtu.be/yNo_xFAFeeU

youtu.be/2xk3_XcjdG4

 

The Sony ILCE7R A7r rocks! New Sony A7R Test Photos (with Sony HVL-F60M External Flash) of Tall, Thin, Fit Bikini Swimsuit Model Goddess! Long legs and then some! Shot with the Carl Zeiss Sony Sonnar T* FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA Lens finished in Lightroom 5.3 ! Was using the B+W 49mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer MRC Filter on partly cloudy day with some intermittent sun, but mostly cloudy. Check out the low glare off the rocks and water and dramatic, polarizwer-enhanced sky! Super sharp images and crystal-clear pictures!

 

Was testing the Sony HVL-F60M External Flash on the Sony A7r. You can see it going off in some of the photos (check the exif if in doubt)--worked great, but it overheated a bit sooner than my Nikon flash on the D800E. But it's all good!

 

Here's some epic goddess video shot at the same time as stills using my 45surfer method/philosophy:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUbE0ay7UeI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC-M9fVwk9k

 

Join Johnny Ranger McCoy's youtube channel for goddess video shot @ the same time as the stills with the Sony A7 !

 

www.youtube.com/user/bikiniswimsuitmodels

 

Beautiful swimsuit bikini model goddess on a beautiful December Malibu afternoon! Shot it yesterday. :) Love, love, love the new Sony A7 R!

 

Was a fun test shoot. Many, many more to come!

 

All the best on your Epic Hero's Journey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

 

Join my facebook!

www.facebook.com/45surfHerosJourneyMythology

Follow me on facebook www.facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken !

Corpus Christi Procession at Saint Francis de Sales Oratory on the External Solemnity of Corpus Christi, June 10, 2012. Saint Francis de Sales Oratory is located in the Fox Park Neighborhood of South Saint Louis, Missouri.

 

©2012 Phil Roussin You are welcome to share the photo’s freely, as long as you honor the conditions in the Creative Commons.

 

In short this means:

- Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes.

- Attribution — When you use a photograph you have to mention Phil Roussin as the creator (including a link).

- No Derivative Works — You may not alter the image.

 

If you are interested in using the photographs for commercial purposes, please don’t hesitate to contact the photographer at pbrphotos@me.com.

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