Musée Marmottan Monet features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 Impression, Sunrise.

Marmottan Museum's fame is the result of a donation in 1966 by Michel Monet, Claude's second son and only heir.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_Marmottan_Monet

Built in 1890-1891, this Chicago School-style skyscraper was designed by Adler and Sullivan for Ellis Wainwright to house the offices of the St. Louis Brewers Association. The building was the first skyscraper to break from traditional architectural styles, utilizing ornament that fit the scale of the building, and taking advantage of the steel frame and masonry curtain wall to create a building that embraced the skyscraper form through its design, rather than trying to make the skyscraper fit the box of previous traditional architectural styles, and is widely regarded as being the most precedent-setting building designed by Sullivan. The 10-story, 135 foot (41 meter) tall building features a tripartite exterior composed of a base, shaft, and capital, which was a novel facade treatment, but was highly influential. The building eschewed classical ornament in favor of Sullivanesque ornament inspired by natural forms, as well as the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements. The building originally housed retail space on the ground floor, with offices above, with many tenants in the building in addition to the St. Louis Brewers Association.

 

The building is clad in red brick with terra cotta trim and ornament, with a decorative frieze at the top of the building with small oxeye windows, an overhanging cornice at the crown of the building, recessed ornamented spandrel panels, and decorative brick pilasters, one-over-one double-hung windows, a glass curtain wall on the north facade, added in the 1980s, a relatively simple and unadorned base, large storefront openings at the base of the building, recessed doorways with decorative trim surrounds, natural and geometric ornamental motifs, and brick pilasters between the window bays with decorative bases and capitals. The interior has been heavily modified, with several renovations in the 20th Century removing most original elements and features, and it features a very standard modern office interior.

 

The building has housed office space for much of its history, though it was threatened with demolition during the late 20th Century. It was saved in large part thanks to the intervention of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, though several neighboring buildings that formed an intact ensemble of late 19th Century architecture were demolished, robbing the building of its context. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968, owing to its major architectural and historical significance. The building presently serves as an office building for the State of Missouri.

Vintage postcard, no. 1022832, 2007. Photo: Universal / Focus Features. Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005). Caption: "Jake Gyllenhaal is flawless. His performance is a mercurial mix of plain, poetic and practical." - Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal

 

The career of American actor Jake Gyllenhaal (1980) spanned more than three decades. He is the son of film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, and the younger brother of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He had his breakthrough in the cult film Donnie Darko (2001). He earned praise for his performance as Jack Twist in Ang Lee's gay drama Brokeback Mountain (2005), including the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Gyllenhaal starred in various action films and thrillers, including David Fincher's Zodiac (2007) and Nightcrawler (2014).

 

Jake Gyllenhaal was born in 1980 in Los Angeles, California, as Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal. He is the son of producer and screenwriter Naomi Foner and director Stephen Gyllenhaal, and the younger brother of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. Paul Newman was his godfather, and Jamie Lee Curtis is his godmother. He made his film debut at 11 in the comedy City Slickers (Ron Underwood, 1991) as the son of Billy Crystal. He appeared in his father's films several times, including A Dangerous Woman (Stephen Gyllenhaal, 1993) along with his sister Maggie, Bop Gun (Stephen Gyllenhaal, 1994), an episode of the TV series Homicide: Life on the Street, and the comedy Homegrown (Stephen Gyllenhaal, 1998), starring Billy Bob Thornton. Gyllenhaal graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in 1998 and attended Columbia University. After two years, he dropped out to focus on his acting career. He starred in the successful October Sky (Joe Johnston, 1999). His next film, Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001), was not a box-office success on its initial release, but the film became a cult favourite. Gyllenhaal starred as a troubled teenager who experiences visions of a six-foot-tall (1.8-meter) rabbit named Frank, who tells him that the world is coming to an end. For this role, he received an Independent Spirit Award Best Actor nomination. Gyllenhaal followed up with roles in the box-office bomb Bubble Boy (Blair Hayes, 2001), The Good Girl (Miguel Arteta, 2002) with Jennifer Aniston, and Moonlight Mile (Brad Silberling, 2002) opposite Dustin Hoffman. In 2002, Gyllenhaal made his theatre debut in Kenneth Lonergan's revival of 'This Is Our Youth' in London. The play was well-received and played for eight weeks in the West End. Then the Sci-Fi Blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow (Roland Emmerich, 2004) followed, in which Dennis Quaid co-starred as his father. Gyllenhaal also starred as a U.S. Marine during the first Gulf War in Jarhead (Sam Mendes, 2005) and played a graduate student in mathematics in the drama Proof (John Madden, 2005) with Gwyneth Paltrow.

 

Jake Gyllenhaal was critically acclaimed for his performance as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005), based on the story by Annie Proulx. He and Heath Ledger play young men who meet as sheep herders. They embark upon a sexual relationship that begins in the summer of 1963 and lasts for 20 years. The film won numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion prize at the 62nd Venice Film Festival and three Academy Awards. Gyllenhaal won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He and Ledger also won an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss in 2006. Afterwards, he starred in the thriller Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007), the drama Brothers (Jim Sheridan, 2009) with Tobey Maguire, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Mike Newell, 2010), based on the video game. He starred opposite Anne Hathaway in the romantic-comedy Love and Other Drugs (Edward Zwick, 2010), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. In the 2010s, he starred in the techno-thriller Source Code (Duncan Jones, 2011), the crime film End of Watch (David Ayer, 2012), for which Gyllenhaal was also an executive producer, and the thriller Prisoners (Denis Villeneuve, 2013) with Hugh Jackman. A new highlight was his role in the thriller Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy, 2014) as a petty thief who moves into Los Angeles crime journalism. For his role, he was nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award. In 2015, Gyllenhaal debuted on Broadway in British playwright Nick Payne's 'Constellations' at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. His later film roles include Demolition (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2015), The Covenant (Guy Ritchie, 2023) and In the Grey (Guy Ritchie, 2026). Jake Gyllenhaal was in relationships with Kirsten Dunst (2002-2004) and Reese Witherspoon (2007-2009), and since 2018, he has been in a relationship with French model Jeanne Cadieu. Following the release of Brokeback Mountain, rumours circulated regarding the actor's sexual orientation. Gyllenhaal reacted: 'You know it's flattering when there's a rumour that says I'm bisexual. It means I can play more kinds of roles. I'm open to whatever people want to call me. I've never really been attracted to men sexually, but I don't think I would be afraid of it if it happened.' Gyllenhaal is the godfather of Matilda Rose Ledger (2005), daughter of his Brokeback Mountain co-stars Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams.

 

Sources: Pedro Borges, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Montacute is an Elizabethan manor house, very grand with lots of windows (at a time when windows were expensive) and decorative features.

 

At Montacute, Somerset, England. A National Trust property.

  

Plaza Mayor, Almagro, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, España.

 

La plaza medieval sufrió una notable transformación a lo largo del siglo XVI, coincidiendo con la llegada a Almagro de los Fúcar - castellanización del apellido flamenco Fugger -, banqueros súbditos del emperador Carlos V, a quienes se les había arrendado las minas de azogue de Almadén como privilegio por el apoyo económico de la banca familiar durante las guerras de Europa. Se levantaron nuevos edificios en la plaza y se debe a ellos la influencia de las galerías acristaladas, con recuerdos septentrionales, que ennoblecen y dan un aspecto singular a los dos lados mayores de esta Plaza Mayor de Almagro, denominación con la que tradicionalmente se le ha conocido, aunque en distintos momentos haya recibido otros nombre como de la Constitución, de la República, Real o de España, tras la última Guerra Civil. En la década de 1960 se comenzó su restauración que concluyó en 1967, tal como figura en una placa colocada en el edificio del Ayuntamiento. La obra, dirigida por el arquitecto Francisco Pons-Sorolla, devolvió al singular conjunto la nobleza y el esplendor del siglo XVI.

 

De planta rectangular irregular, uno de sus lados mayores se abre en la parte correspondiente al Palacio Maestral, y según planos antiguos tiene 125 varas de longitud por 44 de anchura, es decir, 104,5 por 37 metros, aproximadamente.

 

La mayor singularidad de esta plaza se centra en sus lados mayores, donde se levanta un armónico conjunto de viviendas que se disponen sobre soportales en dos alturas, sostenidas por ochenta y cinco columnas de piedra de orden toscano, sobre las que descansan las gruesas zapatas y vigas de madera pintadas de almagre. Estas edificaciones de modestos materiales tienen su mayor originalidad en el doble piso de galería acristalada, que proporciona un característico sabor y notable originalidad al conjunto por tratarse de un caso singular de la arquitectura castellana. Estas galerías estuvieron inicialmente abiertas, eran de carácter público y se utilizaban para presenciar los espectáculos que tenían lugar en la plaza. Posteriormente, fueron cerradas. Sus ventanas balconcillos, al igual que los barrotes torneados, debieron de estar pintados de almagre, pero posteriormente, con motivo de la proclamación del rey Carlos IV en 1788, se pintaron de verde turquesa . Sobre las galerías, sencillos canecillos soportan el alero, y en el tejado, cubierto con teja árabe se levantan buhardillas encaladas, blancas chimeneas y algunas veletas de hierro.

 

En el lado norte de la plaza, a la derecha desde el Ayuntamiento, se abre el callejón del Villar, donde puede observarse la estructura de la construcción de las viviendas, además de otros elementos, como una columna con capitel tallado en el que figura una jarra con azucenas. En el lado sur se localiza la antigua calle del Toril, hoy del Capitán Parras, en recuerdo de un hijo de este pueblo que murió en 1924, durante la Guerra de África. En esta calle se encuentra la casa de Diego de Molina el Viejo. El soportal y las galerías acristaladas se truncan con dos grandes columnas de granito que sostienen zapatas y una poderosa viga con escudos familiares. La portada enmarcada de piedra, de finales del siglo XVI, presenta un escudo con las armas de Molina, Dávila y Fajardo. Otras edificaciones mantienen algún tipo de interés, como dos casas con dinteles de piedra o la casa de los Rosales, con fachada de fines del siglo XVII.

 

The medieval square underwent a significant transformation throughout the 16th century, coinciding with the arrival in Almagro of the Fúcars - the Spanish version of the Flemish surname Fugger -, bankers subject to the Emperor Charles V, to whom the Almadén mercury mines had been leased as a privilege for the financial support of the family bank during the wars in Europe. New buildings were built in the square and it is to them that the glass galleries, with northern reminders, which ennoble and give a unique appearance to the two largest sides of this Plaza Mayor de Almagro, the name by which it has traditionally been known, began to be restored, such as the Constitution, the Republic, the Royal or Spain, after the last Civil War. In the 1960s, its restoration began and was completed in 1967, as shown on a plaque placed on the Town Hall building. The work, directed by the architect Francisco Pons-Sorolla, restored the nobility and splendour of the 16th century to the unique complex.

 

With an irregular rectangular floor plan, one of its larger sides opens onto the part corresponding to the Maestral Palace, and according to old plans it is 125 yards long by 44 wide, that is, approximately 104.5 by 37 metres.

 

The greatest uniqueness of this square is centred on its larger sides, where a harmonious group of houses is built, arranged on arcades on two levels, supported by eighty-five Tuscan stone columns, on which rest the thick wooden foundations and beams painted in red ochre. These buildings made of modest materials have their greatest originality in the double-storey glass gallery, which provides a characteristic flavour and notable originality to the complex, as it is a unique case of Castilian architecture. These galleries were initially open, were public and were used to watch the shows that took place in the square. Later, they were closed. Their small balconies, like the turned bars, must have been painted red ochre, but later, on the occasion of the proclamation of King Charles IV in 1788, they were painted turquoise green. Above the galleries, simple corbels support the eaves, and on the roof, covered with Arabic tiles, there are whitewashed dormers, white chimneys and some iron weather vanes.

 

On the north side of the square, to the right of the Town Hall, is the Villar alley, where you can see the structure of the construction of the houses, as well as other elements, such as a column with a carved capital depicting a jar with lilies. On the south side is the old Toril street, today called Captain Parras, in memory of a son of this town who died in 1924, during the African War. On this street is the house of Diego de Molina el Viejo. The arcade and the glass galleries are truncated by two large granite columns that support footings and a powerful beam with family shields. The stone-framed doorway, from the end of the 16th century, features a shield with the arms of Molina, Dávila and Fajardo. Other buildings maintain some kind of interest, such as two houses with stone lintels or the Rosales house, with a façade from the end of the 17th century.

Paxton’s Tower,

Llanarthne,

Carmarthenshire.

 

TAKEN - Sat 30th Oct'21

 

The tower is 36 feet high. The lower part of the tower is triangular in shape with a turret at each corner. On the first floor there is a banqueting room. Coloured glass from one of the windows can now be seen in the Carmarthen Museum at Abergwili. On the second floor there is a hexagonal prospect room surrounded by roof terraces. The windows to the prospect room are now bricked up. There is currently public access to the first floor banqueting room via stairs in one of the corner turrets.

Mizutani Shion "Coyote" with standard and fully enclosed cockpit versions:

 

Features:

- 8 stud wide build

- Both versions can fit 2 minifigs. However the enclosed version only can fit them without hairpieces.

- The standard version can fit minifigs with hairpieces, but only with flat ones

 

www.instagram.com/p/CNfnJSqJ6Pe/

 

www.instagram.com/p/CN-nipTpfnY/

 

I captured this view of the harbour as I stood on the Jetty below Torry Battery .

 

Harbour History from 1797

 

The oldest part of the harbour is the North Pier which was built (in 1775-81) by John Smeaton, extended (in 1810-16) by Thomas Telford, and extended again (in 1874-7).

 

The inner South Breakwater was completed in 1816 (by Telford) and superseded by a longer one, built of concrete, in 1870-3 The 1st dock was the Victoria Dock which was built in 1840-8; the Albert Basin which was the fish dock, followed in 1869-70.

 

The mouth of the River Dee is also Quayed and had a small dock opening off it. Perhaps the most interesting features, since the demolition of the hydraulic Regent Bridge in 1974, are the control tower an unusual 5-storey octagonal building from which are operated signal balls; the slotted post signals which control the entrance to Victoria Dock; the 2-storey harbour workshops on Matthew's Quay; the 18-bay, 2-storey, snecked-rubble warehouse on Regent's Quay with its 8 covered hoists, 4 roof cranes and bowed ends, built c. 1900 and two riveted light-towers in Torry built 1842.

  

John Rennie Proposals

 

The original Harbour Act of 1773 was followed by 2 subsidiary Acts in 1795 and 1797. The former was merely a continuation of the previous Act, but the latter gave additional powers. Before applying for it the magistrates consulted John Rennie, who planned the London Docks and drained the great marshy district on the Ouse in England.

 

He recommended bringing into the harbour below Shore Brae a branch channel from the Dee which entered lower down; but he proposed to put a breastwork upon it so that the river water would have some fall in entering the harbour and help to scour out mud. The salmon fishers caught their fish at low tide, and they objected to anything tending to hinder the rapid fall of the river, so this scheme had to be left out of the new Act.

 

The North Pier had been founded on the natural bed of the sea, cleared perhaps of some sand. It had done its work so well that the navigation channel had been scoured out 2 feet below the foundation of the Pier, and a footing of loose stones had been laid down to protect it.

 

These, Rennie said, should be removed, substituting 2 rows of piles, 1 close to the Pier and the other 10 feet off. He said the clay between the rows should be excavated and dressed stones should be put in instead on end. The upper part of the Harbour had been cleaned out by digging out the mud and putting it on lighters at low water and Boating them down the harbour at high water.

 

The original Quay had been founded on the muddy bottom of the harbour, and the foundation was now laid bare. He proposed to bring forward the quay 10 or 12 feet and found a new wall 6 feet deeper. The Waterloo Quay - not so called then, however - he said should be put back all the way down to the shipbuilding yards. Lastly, the proposal to have a wet dock should not be attempted in the Harbour because the bottom was pure fine sand full of water, and a foundation for a lock would be expensive; therefore, he proposed to form a wet dock at Futtie, 7 acres in extent, with the surface of the water above the level of the Quay.

 

The Canal Act had been passed, and he proposed to fill the dock with water from the Canal. The entrance was to be at the bar, which began at the head of the navigation channel. It does not appear that much of Rennie's advice was followed at the time. His wet dock was too far from the town, and it was feared that it would leak, being on a sandy bottom at a higher elevation than the water in the harbour.

  

Improvements inside the harbour were recommended in later years by several leading engineers, the names of Rennie, Telford, Walker, Gibb and Stevenson all appearing in the record, as well as that of James Abernethy who was appointed resident engineer in 1840. Rennie was consulted in 1797, and, although his recommendation were not carried out, it is important to remember that they included the formation of a wet dock.

 

Telford made a report in 1802, and a Bill based on it was passed in 1810 which authorised an extension to Smeaton's North Pier, the construction of a wet dock and spillway, and the diversion of the River's current. By 1829 all these works had been carried out apart from the wet dock, of which only the quay-walls had been completed; the length of the North Pier, no doubt in its extended form, is given as 2000 ft (610m) at this date. Other major works of this period were the South Breakwater of 1812-15, stretching 800 ft (244m) from the South shore at a point outside the entrance and reaching to within 250 ft (76m) of the end of the North Pier; and wharfage along the whole length of Waterloo and Regent Quays.

 

To attempt to describe in detail the whole process of the harbour's development in the 1st half of the 19th century would not be a rewarding exercise, partly for the danger of obscuring the wood through over-attention to the trees.

 

Reference, however, may usefully be made to a general account of what was done between 1840 and 1846 as given in evidence to the Tidal Harbours Commission by James Abernethy, the Resident Engineer; this shows that, in the course of these years, the harbour as a whole had been widened and deepened, some sand-banks at the entrance had been dredged away, part of Abercromby's Jetty had been found to be unserviceable and removed, and likewise old warping-posts and cairns of stones which caused obstruction in the fairway. At the same time, 330 yds (301m) of new wharfage had been built and effective leading lights set up at the harbour entrance.

 

The depth of water at the entrance was now 19 ft (5.8m) and the width between pier-heads 380 ft (116m); that between Pocra Jetty and the point of the 'inch' opposite it was 350 ft (107 m). Navigation at this point was difficult, especially for long steamers, as it was necessary to make a turn of almost 90 degrees.

 

Thomas Telford 1757 - 1834

Born in Westerkirk, Scotland. He was a stonemason, architect and civil engineer and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.

  

Telford's Recommendations.

In 1802 Thomas Telford was consulted, and he recommended the conversion of the whole harbour - that is the long, narrow, winding channel extending from Poynernook to Pocra Jetty - into a wet dock, in 2 divisions, separated by a gate which would be usually open, but which could be shut at spring tides to allow the lower division to scour out the Lower Basin and the Navigation Channel.

 

In 1805 Mr Jessop was called to inspect and report, which he did, but nothing followed. In 1809 the Town Council again applied to Telford, and he gave in a report and proposals with an estimate, and the Magistrates resolved to apply to Parliament next year. In April, 1810, Telford gave in a more complete scheme, the chief features of which were:- Extension of the North Pier 300 feet, and of the South Pier 300 feet; a lower wet dock 2350 feet in length, about 22 acres, and an upper, 1550 feet, about 11 acres; 3 graving docks, each for 2 large ships; altering the course of the Dee; embanking the Inches, and raising the whole above high water; and excluding the Dee from the Harbour.

 

His plan was shown in London to Mr Jessop, and approved by him. In spite of opposition from Shipowners and Shipmasters, who dreaded increased expense, the Bill became an Act. The Provost, Mr James Hadden of Persley, got a dinner, at which Alexander Bannerman (MP for Aberdeen), one of the opponents of the Bill, was present somewhat reluctantly. The dinner bill, he said afterwards was £2 19s 6d per head, and he did not recover from the effects of the dinner for 3 months

  

EXTENSIONS OF THE NORTH PIER

Mr Telford thought that the most important of the works to be done was the extension of the North Pier. He recommended the appointment of Mr John Gibb as Resident Engineer, residing in Aberdeen, and he was engaged by the magistrates. In 1811 the North Pier was extended 300 feet, and when work could not be carried on at the pier the workmen were employed in building a wharf wall at Waterloo Quay. This extension of the North Pier gave an increase of depth of 3 feet, and so well satisfied was everybody that a farther extension was resolved upon: and in 1812 an addition of 450 feet was made, which was extended to 865 feet next year, and completed with a circular head of dressed granite blocks dovetailed together. The whole length of the pier was now 2000 feet, the length of the original head being lost. The 2nd addition had given 3 feet more water, and the 14 feet had before 1810 became 20 feet.

 

The pier had been founded on sand, and in 1813 in a severe storm the sand was washed out at the sides of the head, leaving them unsupported, but the head stuck together for a few days. At length a breach was made between the head and the pier, and the head fell. It was rebuilt with a better foundation, but it fell again in 1815, and was rebuilt with a long slope into the sea and shorter slopes at the sides. This stood well for several years, but the North Pier head cost £6655 between 1827 and 1831.

 

THE SOUTH BREAKWATER

 

It had been proposed to make a breakwater, not connected with the land at either end, to cover the points of the North and South Piers, but in 1812 at the instigation of Mr Gibb it was commenced by extending it from the south shore in the same direction as it had been originally planned.

 

It was finished in 1815, and it extended 800 feet from the south shore, reaching within 250 feet of the North Pier. The cost of the work was £14,000.

 

This had not been contemplated in the estimate, but the erection of this breakwater rendered the extension of the South Pier unnecessary, which was a great saving, all that was done to the South Pier being replacing with dressed granite the original wooden head, destroyed before 1809. The breakwater was constructed of stones quarried at Greyhope Bay, and conveyed by a railway. The stones were tumbled into the sea without dressing or building, the only care taken being to put the larger blocks to the outside.

 

This breakwater was thought unnecessary and in the way of ships entering the harbour after the last extension of the North Pier and the erection of the present South Breakwater. It was, therefore, removed, all but 100 yards at the shore end. Telford seems to have kept most in view the scouring of the navigation channel by the River, and was unwilling to give up the South Pier; but Gibb, looking more to the safety and comfortable quarters of ships in the Harbour, favoured the breakwater as providing a broad space where waves could expand within the Pier Heads. In this he was supported by Robert Stevenson, the light-house engineer, who said that if he had been consulted by the Harbour Trustees he would have advised them to abandon the South Pier and construct the breakwater, because when a wave was confined between 2 Piers it would continue to undulate to the very top of the Harbour. Mr Alexander Bannerman, an amateur engineer who opposed Telford because he would not adopt his proposals, regarded it as a proof of his ineffable folly that he had allowed the breakwater to take the place of the South Pier.

 

The Harbour Channel

 

The Harbour, then being naturally only the channel of the Denburn though the tide flowed and ebbed in it, was very narrow, not exceeding 50 yards in width at the Quay head and 100 yards at Point Law. It did not, therefore, require a great expenditure of labour to make some improvement upon it.

 

At first this was done by spade work and lighters; but after the navigation channel had been deepened by a steam dredger which was procured after 1810 it was used in the harbour, and so efficient did it prove that in a short time the foundations of the piers were out of the water at low tide, and they were constantly falling and needing rebuilding.

 

This mending and patching up continued till 1827, when new wharf walls began to be made at Trinity; but they were built 30 or 40 feet in front of the old quay to have a broad road between the houses and the water. The walls were founded on piles, which afterwards enabled the harbour to be dredged to a considerable depth without endangering the walls. The walls were next extended downwards to Commerce Street and upwards to Poynernook.

  

MANAGEMENT

 

For a long time when any improvement had to be made in the Harbour, or when the entrance had to be cleared, the Magistrates called on the citizens to turn out and do the work themselves. By the Acts of 1773, 1795, 1797, the management was left with the Town Council, to whom the harbour belonged. But when the Act of 1810 was first proposed the political party calling themselves Radical Reformers insisted on 2/3rds of the Managers being men chosen by the citizens, which the Town Council were not at that time. The Magistrates would not agree to this, but proposed the appointment under the Act of 7 Auditors, with power of controlling to some extent the actions of the Magistrates. In spite of the opposition of the Radicals, the Town Council's Bill passed into law. In another Act, passed in 1813 to amend the former Act, the same controlling body was retained. In 1828 the Magistrates wished to have a new Act for the improvement of the Harbour. Again the Radicals demanded that the citizens, who would have to pay the dues on goods imported and exported, and the shipping dues, should have the Management of the Harbour. The Magistrates were anxious to conciliate them and agreed to admit men outside the Town Council to a large extent; but the Radicals would not be satisfied with less than a majority and successfully opposed the passing of the Bill.

 

THE ACT OF 1829

 

In 1829 a new Act of Parliament was obtained repealing and consolidating all former Acts. The new Act was to endure for 21 years, but it was enacted that everything to be done under it should be completed within 5 years, except that the course of the River might be altered after the expiry of the 5 years, if deemed necessary. The Management was committed to 9 members of the Town Council, 5 Burgesses of Guild, and 1 member of the Incorporated Trades. The objects of the Act were to cleanse, deepen, and scour the Harbour; to exclude from it the polluted Denburn and Millburn; to make a spillwater channel on the south side of the Dee to hasten its fall after high tide, and thereafter to close up channels from the Dee entering the harbour at high tide. Power was given to raise £200,000 to carry out the works sanctioned by the Act and to pay a debt of £113,000, consisting of £30,000 taken over in 1810 from previous Acts, and £83,000 additional incurred under the Act of 1810. Under the powers of this Act were completed the quay extending 1900 yards from the lower end of Waterloo Quay to Poynernook, which was not near the modern Poynernook Road, but to the north of the line of Marywell Street, on the south side of the Denburn when it turned east. Its site is outside the south end of the Joint Station arched building. Regent Bridge was also erected, a stone and iron structure 200 feet long resting on 2 end piers and 2 in the water. It gave access to the south side of the harbour, where Provost Blaikie's Quay, a wooden wharf for lime ships, was constructed. Enormous quantities of lime were used as manure at this time, and the Quay for the Lime Vessels was 1200 to 1300 feet long, opposite the angle where Waterloo and Regent Quays meet.

 

THE FROST AND FLOOD OF 1831

 

In February, 1831, during a severe frost, the Pot above the Craiglug was frozen over. A thaw came on the 16th and melted the snow on the hills, causing a great flood in the river, which burst the ice barrier and swept it before it. The Inch Dyke (about the north-west corner of Albert Basin) resisted the ice, but both above and below it the river swept over the Inches into the Harbour. A great deal of water and ice entered the Harbour by the Back Burn at Poynernook, meeting with some obstruction at the wooden bridge at Shore Brae.

 

So great was the force of the current that 3 vessels pulled out their mooring posts and were swept along till they were stopped by 2 large Steamships which had broken loose and had grounded, entirely blocking up the harbour.

 

The old dredger lying farther down was carried out to sea and must have sunk as it was never seen again. In the Upper Harbour the current ran strongly between ships and the pier, and though the foundation was deeply piled, with a platform for the wall, it sunk 6 feet, and 150 feet had to be taken down and rebuilt. In the end of 1831 the Raik Dyke was removed from the head of the channel which branched off from the River and flowed past Torry on the south side of Point Law.

 

This hastened the fall of the River after flood tide, and let the Raik fishers begin work sooner. Then the embanking of the Inches on the south side was completed, and the Back Burn connecting the River and the Harbour at high water at Poynernook was closed up.

 

The interior of the harbour was greatly improved by dredging out the silt and mud which had accumulated in it. Market Street was not formed till 1842; but west of the line of it Trinity Quay had been extended in a double curve lo Poynernook, the first concave curve facing the south-east and the second the north-west.

 

This part of the harbour allowed ships with coals to approach the then Gasworks, the site of which was in the open space on the east of the Joint Station. The extreme upper end accommodated the Clayhills Brick Works, giving access to ships bringing coals for the kilns and to barges and lighters taking away bricks and drain pipes. The Clayhills were high steep banks of alluvial clay on the site of Wellington Road, between Portland Street and Affleck Street. The clay banks were so high that sandmartins built nests in them.

  

"THE OLD OAK TREE"

Much excavation had to be made in the inner part of the Upper Harbour alongside the Quay, and in 1832 a large oak tree was found within 150 yards of the Trades Hospital, which was near the bottom of Exchange Street. It was within a few inches of the surface and some people remembered seeing part of a branch of it projecting above the ground in the edge of the Trinity Inche. When taken out it was found to be 20ft 2in. in circumference, and the trunk was 6ft 6in. in length from the root to the first branch, which was 23ft 6in. long, and 13ft 10in in circumference. Part of another limb was 6ft 7in. in circumference and 3ft long. The tree was lying horizontally from south-east to north-west. It was not much decayed, and did not seem to have lain very long where it was found. There were anciently many oak trees in the Forest of Birse, and as that parish is liable to heavy rains, causing floods in the Feugh when the wind is in the South-east in autumn, the tree may have come from Birse. A South-east wind would have prevented it from going out to sea and would have blown it into the north-west corner of the estuary of the Dee. There were anciently many oaks in some parts of Aberdeenshire; but the oak rarely produces ripe acorns in the north of Scotland, and most likely they had been grown from acorns imported from England. The introduction of the oak into Scotland may be ascribed either to Margaret, wife of Malcolm Canmore, an English lady, or to David I., her youngest son, who had been much in England before he became King. The oak tree was set up near the then Inches (now Commercial Road/Quay) at the far end of Regents Road in 1836, where it stood till it was found to be somewhat in the way. It suffered from a fire in an adjoining Timber Yard and was removed to the Duthie Park (Inset).

 

Permanently berthed in Aberdeen Harbour was HMS Clyde a Naval Training Ship. HMS Clyde was a man o' war with 14 guns and 1081 tons. The ship was for a long time moored in the Upper Dock where it served as a training ship. Connected to the quay by a floating gangway, the ship was open to visitors on Sunday mornings. After being shifted to Albert Quay it was towed away to be scrapped.

 

THE EXCAVATION OF VICTORIA DOCK

 

The Lower Jetty at the south end of Pocra Quay was removed in 1832. Apparently no useful purpose was served by its removal, but the stones forming it were good and were utilised in building part of Waterloo Quay. The greatest improvement effected on the Harbour under the Act of 1829 was the excavation of Victoria Dock (though it did not bear that name till afterwards) and the making up of the Inches. Before 1829 the Harbour near the head of Waterloo Quay was only 60 yards wide, and its south side was where the north edge of the dock is. Under the Act of 1829 the dock was excavated, the quay was completed in 1804, and the old harbour was filled up. From Market Street to Church Street the whole of the old harbour is now covered by the Quays. Below Church Street the area of the old harbour was in the space now covered by the east end of the dock and the tidal harbour. These works cost £122,200, and as the working powers of the Act expired in 1834 there was neither time nor money to do anything at the entrance of the harbour or to attempt the formation of a wet dock.

 

Mr James Walker's Proposals.

 

In 1837, when there were still thirteen years of the Act to run, there being a clamant demand for the immediate completion of the harbour by the formation of a wet dock, the Harbour Trustees resolved to have the harbour surveyed and examined by an engineer of eminence and experience. Mr James Walker, civil engineer, London, was selected to examine and report upon the subject of a wet dock. He came to Aberdeen in January, 1838, and after examining plans, sections, and reports in the possession of the Trustees, and hearing the opinions and wishes of all concerned he gave in a plan and report in April of the same year.

 

He recommended the formation of a dock in the harbour by a lock at Lime Street, with a gate at Regent Bridge forming an inner dock above it. About 160 yards of the upper end of the harbour was to be cut off and filled up; but the remainder was to be widened, and new quays were to be formed on the south and east sides; the tidal harbour was to be greatly extended by prolonging Provost Blaikie's Quay to the eastward ; the river was to be diverted southward; and a new spill water channel was to be formed on the south side of the river to prevent opposition from the salmon fishers.

 

A bill was brought into Parliament in 1839 to carry out Mr Walker's proposals ; but it unexpectedly met with opposition from shopkeepers on account of the increasing shore dues proposed to be levied on their goods, from the shipping companies, and from Messrs Hogarth, Reid, and Pirie, who proposed a Dock in the river with a new channel for it. The bill, moreover, was opposed in Committee by the City member of Parliament, who had agreed to introduce it and had promised to give his best aid and assistance in carrying it through Parliament. The decision of the Committee was unanimously against the bill, and it was lost, mainly apparently on the ground that due time had not been given to the inhabitants to consider it maturely. Nothing was done for three years.

 

THE ACT OF 1843 — Mr James Abernethy's Proposals.

 

Notwithstanding the rejection of the bill of 1839 there was still a great desire for a wet dock, and in 1842 Provost Thomas Blaikie called a public meeting of the citizens to obtain their sanction to a bill for the improvement of the harbour by the construction of a wet dock and the extension of the quays, and the removal of the nuisance caused by the infall of sewers into the harbour. A large meeting was held, at which a Committee was appointed to consider schemes and plans and to prepare a new Harbour Bill. Several schemes and plans were considered : — three by Mr James Walker, London; four by Mr Alexander Gibb, engineer, Aberdeen; one by Mr William Leslie, Aberdeen; and two by Mr James Abernethy, Resident Harbour Engineer, Aberdeen.

 

The plan by Mr James Abernethy was adopted, which showed the upper part of the harbour converted into a wet dock by a lock at the end of York Place, by it ships could pass in and out of the dock at any state of the tide, and alongside of it there was another lock with a single gate by which ships of any length could easily pass in and out at high tide. The dock was to be divided into 2 parts by Regent Bridge and a pier extending southward from the bridge.

 

The upper part was shown to be 550 feet wide, with its north and south sides parallel; and the south-west corner of Victoria Dock was to be extended till its South side came into line with the South side of the Upper Dock. Two jetties were proposed to give more berths for ships, 1 extending Southward into the Harbour at Sugarhouse Lane, and the other at Market Street.

 

The west end of the Old Harbour was to be filled up, and the new Upper Dock was not to go beyond Stirling Street. The bill passed, and operations were begun at once, but the 1st Contractors failed after making some progress, and they abandoned the contract.

 

The Aberdeen Railway Act was passed in 1844, and as the station was planned to be between the Market and Guild Street it was seen that the Railway Company would need the whole of the Upper Harbour west of the line of Market Street, so instead of the jetty a Quay was made. The other jetty, at Sugarhouse Lane, was also relinquished.

 

The Upper Dock was widened out at its West end and narrowed at its East end; the pier extending south from Regent Bridge was abandoned; and the extension of the South-west corner of Victoria Dock was also given up, so that the South side of the 2 docks is not parallel to Regent Quay as was proposed in the plan sanctioned by Parliament. The plan adopted was probably cheaper than James Abernethy's, but not so shapely in appearance.

 

THE HARBOUR AND THE RAILWAY

The resolution of the Aberdeen Railway Company to abandon the site on the north side of Guild Street, which they had at first selected for their station, for a larger and more commodious site on the south side required new Acts of Parliament, both for the Harbour Commissioners to sell part of their ground and for the railway company to buy it. The railway company wished to acquire not only the Inner Dock, but the part of the Inches west of Regent Bridge. The Harbour Commissioners, however, resolved to retain for themselves ground sufficient for the foundation of a quay in the line of Market Street and a row of houses on the west side of the quay, and also the whole of the ground lying east of the line of the new quay.

  

THE LIME BASIN AND THE CANAL BASIN

The dust of calcined limestone is injurious to the clothing and the persons of those on whom it lights, and ships freighted with lime were ordained to discharge their cargoes at a place apart from other ships. The part of the harbour assigned to them was what is now covered by the south end of Waterloo Railway Station, lying west of Church Street. When the Canal Company was formed in 1797 it was settled that the canal was to terminate beside the Lime Basin, and a lime shed was erected for storing lime discharged from ships, where it would be near the canal barges which conveyed it into the interior of the county. The Canal Basin was on the north-west of the Lime Basin, both lying between the ends of Commerce Street and Canal Terrace; but the south end of the terrace has been absorbed into the railway station. Both the Lime Basin and the Canal Basin were originally within the harbour area, being in the wide mouth of the Powcreek Burn; but though they were in close proximity to one another, there was no connection between them. The Lime Basin was merely a nook of the harbour, quite open to it on the west side. The Canal Basin was an excavation with a road between it and the harbour, made on material excavated from the basin. The water in the Canal Basin was fresh, and only its overflow entered the harbour. That it was originally part of the harbour is shown by Kennedy's " Annals," wherein there is mention of ships' anchors being found when it was excavated. The. south end of Waterloo Quay began to be formed in 1811, and when it was extended to its full length northward and joined to Regent Quay the Lime Basin was cut off and rendered useless for ships. For their use a wooden wharf was formed at Provost Blaikie's Quay, on the other side of the harbour, well towards the upper end, to be near Regent Bridge, so as to shorten the cartage of lime between the ships and the Canal. In 1834 the Canal was connected with the harbour by a sea lock, and in 1835 the old Lime Basin was filled up and afterwards built upon.

 

Kennedys Annals 1818

 

In 1844 the Great North of Scotland Railway Act was passed, and in view of this an agreement was entered into between the Canal Company and the Railway Company that after the passing of the Act the Canal should be worked for the Railway Company and transferred to them when its bed was required for the construction of the railway. It was given up in 1853, and the Canal Basin and the site of the old Lime Basin were required for the formation of Waterloo Railway Station.

 

After the formation of the dock-gates in 1848 and the subsequent dredging of the Victoria Dock no new works requiring the borrowing of more money were undertaken for a long time; but the penalty for making a harbour in the mouth of a river had constantly to be paid in the shape of unceasing dredging of sand and gravel brought down by the Dee. This is deposited where the outflow of the river is met by the influx of the tide. When the current of the river is brought to rest the sand and gravel which roll along its bed sink to the bottom and form a firm, compact bed which can be removed only by dredging.

 

THE ACT OF 1868

 

In 1867 the great increase of the harbour revenue induced the Commissioners to think of undertaking new works for the improvement of the harbour; and Messrs Hawkshaw and Abernethy, Consulting Engineers, were employed to report on the best means of improving the harbour. Following upon their report a bill was introduced into Parliament, which became an Act in 1868.

 

This Act repealed and consolidated the Acts of 1843 and 1844. It vested the management of the harbour in a Commission composed of the Town Council and twelve elected members, with a duration of 55 years. In 1923 the harbour reverts to the Town Council.

 

The Commissioners hold a statutory meeting on the first Monday of the year, and monthly meetings thereafter. The limits of Aberdeen Harbour include the mouths of the Don and Dee, and the intermediate sea coast. The purposes of the Act are defined to be : — the extension of the North Pier to the extent of 166 yards; a new pier or breakwater 420 yards south-east of the then existing breakwater, which had been erected under the superintendence of Telford ; the improvement and deepening of the navigation channel along its whole length from the pier heads to a point 50 yards west of the lower jetty; the removal of 50 yards of the north end of the South Breakwater; the removal of Telford's South Pier on the river side; the improvement, deepening, and widening of a navigation channel between the lower jetty and the dock-gates; the removal of 160 yards of the point of the Inches; the diversion of the Dee, beginning at Wellington Bridge and terminating 120 yards west of the lower jetty; the reclamation and filling up of the old bed of the river Dee; and the widening of Trinity Quay east of Market Street.

 

MR DYCE CAY'S WORKS

 

The Commission was empowered to borrow to the extent of £450,000, which covered the debt on the harbour at the commencement of the Act. Mr William Dyce Cay, the resident Harbour Engineer, was appointed to carry out the works sanctioned by the Act, which were to be begun early in 1869, and Messrs Hawkshaw and Abernethy were consulted as to the order in which they should be executed. In 1868 the revenue of the harbour was £2,500, the highest yet reached; and the debt amounted to £180,000, a third of which was for property purchased. £7332 was given to reduce the debt.

 

THE NEW SOUTH BREAKWATER

 

The first work undertaken was the erection of the New South Breakwater, which was begun in July, 1869. As long as the work could be carried on without going under water the foundation was prepared by blasting, and the pier was formed of liquid concrete in frames; but when the work had to be carried on in the sea a staging was formed by means of tall Oregon Spars which cost £55 each.

 

So long as the foundation of the pier was on rock, iron shoes to receive the lower ends of the spars were bolted to the rock. The spars were set up vertically and fastened together by horizontal and diagonal bars. At the top of the spars, at; !0 feet above the sea, a staging was erected with rails for waggons to convey blocks of concrete to be lowered into position.

  

When the new breakwater had made some progress the stones of the old breakwater and the South Pier were used as "hearting." A railway was laid along the edge of the sea to the Bay of Nigg, where sand and gravel and loose stones were got to help to form the breakwater. Sand was also got from a quarry on the hill of Balnagask. The Work was carried on during summer only, and everything movable was removed during winter. The breakwater extends 1050 feet from high-water mark, and 700 feet from low- water mark of ordinary spring tides. It cost £78,000, an unusually large proportion of which went for preliminary expenses and works and purposes other than the cost of the materials used in construction and the wages of workmen employed at the breakwater.

 

When the breakwater was finished the spars of the staging were sawn off at the level of the top of the pier. Though they were of the finest quality of wood that could be obtained - such spars could not be obtained now - they did not last long, and only the upper parts remained sound. Large holes were bored in the spars with augers, and liquid cement was poured in to take the place of the decayed wood.

 

In 1870 the widening of Trinity Quay was ordered. This was a much-needed improvement, as the roadway between the houses and the water was very narrow. The cost of the whole work was £4900, the greater part of which went for paving and other purposes than the building of the quay wall.

 

THE DIVERSION OF THE RIVER DEE

 

The diversion of the River Dee was effected under a contract which amounted to nearly £60,000. Borings made in the channel formed for the river yielded fresh water, but it rose and fell in harmony with the rise and fall of the tide. The whole area of the estuary of the Dee, and also the bed of the river for a good way up, had been at one time a bed of fine laminated clay resting upon sand. Water from the river enters below the upper edge of the clay, and passing through the sand comes out at the lower edge of the clay, where the Navigation Channel begins.

 

As the tide rises the under current of water is stopped and rises in bores, but it runs away again when the tide falls. About 200 yards below Craiglug Bridge, where there was anciently a ferry, dressed sandstone blocks were found.

 

They could hardly have been the remains of a bridge over the river, but they might have been in a pier projecting into the river, at which passengers and horses embarked and disembarked. Farther down beams of oak were found, still connected together. These might have formed part of a wooden bridge, formed with planks resting on piles driven into the river bed. Such a bridge would easily have been constructed — one in Switzerland is carried across a broad lake — but it would have been in danger from ice and snow coming down the river.

 

This might have been the bridge for the upholding of which John Crab made a bequest. The diversion of the river cost £37,000, and as the salmon fishers were tenacious of their rights and obstructed the operations of the Commissioners an Act of Parliament was obtained in 1871, empowering the Commissioners to purchase the 'fishings' at a price to be fixed by arbiters. £38,000 was paid for the fishings in the sea within the new breakwater and for those in the river up to the Chain Bridge at Craiglug.

 

The material excavated from the new channel for the river was employed in filling up the old channel, and by it and the dredgings from the Victoria Dock a large extent of ground was reclaimed. Some material was obtained also from the point of the Inches, which was removed lo facilitate the entrance of large ships into the dock.

 

The Navigation Channel was cleared of all obstructions by the removal of the greater part of the old breakwater and the South Pier, only the end of it being left. Both these works had cost, much money and had been regarded as great improvements when they were made. In dredging the Navigation Channel, cairns built up around posts were found and removed, and the channel was widened out to 300 feet. The posts had been used in warping ships into the harbour against the wind.

 

THE ACT OF 1879

 

No new works in connection with the outer entrance to the harbour were contemplated by this Act; but the channel had been so much deepened that the platform at the base of the head of the old North Pier had become a source of danger to ships entering the harbour, and it had to be removed. At the same time something had to be done to secure the foundation of the old part of the North Pier.

 

By much dredging the channel had been lowered below the base of the pier, and it was in danger of being undermined by the rush of waves inward along the south face of the wall. Large blocks of stones had been laid down at the foot of the wall to protect it.

 

These were now removed, and a row of piles was driven into the hard clay at some distance from the wall. Then an excavation was made between the piling and the wall, and this was filled with concrete. But the chief works carried out by the money borrowed under the Act were done within the harbour. Mr William Smith, the resident Harbour engineer, proposed to remove Regent Bridge to the end of Commerce Street; to continue Provost Jamieson's Quay eastward to join Provost Blaikie's Quay; to project a jetty 650 feet into the Upper Dock from Market Quay; and to lay a double line of railway along the quays. Some of. these recommendations, however, were not carried out. Trinity Quay was narrow, and its foundation was only 7 feet above the sill of the dock gate. Smith proposed to found a new wall 50 feet from the old quay, making it 120 feet wide, and to found it 20 feet deeper than the old wall. Another great undertaking was the filling up of the old bed of the Dee. It would have been desirable to utilise for this purpose the whole of the dredgings from the docks and the navigation channel, but this would have greatly hindered the work of dredging, and most of the excavated matter was carried out to sea and dropped in deep water.

 

The enormous quantity of 22,000 tons of refuse had to be removed every year from the town, and it was arranged to deposit a considerable part of this in the old bed of the Dee. By September, 1880, the whole of the old bed of the river, west of Market Street, had been filled up and laid out in streets or roads, and the part east of Market Street was formed into a tidal harbour, called Albert Basin. The name Commercial Road was given to the new road formed along the northern bank of this basin, where the Fish Market was. It was also resolved to form a quay, to be called Provost Jamieson's Quay, along the south side of the Upper Dock. The cost was estimated at £11,000 but it ultimately amounted to £15,000.

 

The herring fishing began at Aberdeen in 1836 at the instillation of the fishermen of the Cove and Portlethen. Some provision for accommodating herring boats had been made at Point Law, and it was proposed to do more for the promotion of this industry when there was more money at the command of the Harbour Board.

  

RECENT IMPROVEMENTS

 

Under the powers conferred by the Act of 1899 the Old Regent Bridge was removed and a new and wider bridge has taken its place, which is opened and closed by electric power. It was completed in 1905. Part of Point Law has been removed and a wharf has been erected on the north side of the channel of the Dee, on the south side of the point. Much dredging has been done between the dock gates and the pier heads. The sills of the two gates are 22 Feet and 26 feet, respectively, below high water, and the depth between the pier heads is now 29 feet. Sand and gravel and some shells, called Solen siliqua, are driven in during storms to a distance of 300 yards from the entrance, and they form a bar, which has to be removed by dredging.

  

First established as a business in 1136 by King David 1st of Scotland, Aberdeen Harbour is, according to the Guinness Book of Business Records, the oldest existing business in Britain, with a history that has spanned almost 900 years.

 

It is only when we map this history against the development of Aberdeen itself into a busy and vibrant city, and against a backdrop of important world events, that we can truly appreciate the port’s incredible story, and its transformation in to a modern, state-of-the-art facility.

 

Before the harbour improvements began in 1773, and even for many years after, the whole estuary of the Dee was covered at high water. This required such a volume of water that, as soon as the tide began to rise, the current of the river was arrested and the sea began to flow in, which ordinarily caused a scour in the harbour mouth when it flowed out. This state of matters has been completely changed by the deepening and widening of the navigation channel and the formation of the wet dock and the embankment of the Inches.

 

There is less influx of sea water at the bottom, and there is a steady flow outward of the warm, light river-water at the surface at all states of the tide. When the tide begins to rise, sea-water gently comes along the bottom of the channel without arresting the outward flow of the River till Point Law is reached, where the depth of the River rapidly diminishes. Here the stream of sand and gravel incessantly rolling along the bed of the river is arrested and a bank is formed which must be removed by dredging, and there is now no scour in the navigation channel.

 

Foreseeing the necessity of enlarging the accommodation for shipping the Harbour Commissioners spent a large sum in the purchase of land on the south side of the Dee for the formation of new docks. The dimensions of ships are increasing, and they wish to deepen the entrance channel and some parts of the harbour to 30 feet. This requires more money and new powers, and they obtained a Provisional Order, titled the Aberdeen Harbour Order, 1907, authorising them to borrow £300,000 additional for the execution of new works, comprehending : — securing the foundations of the North Pier; improvement of the Upper Dock by deepening, reconstructing the quays, and extension southward ; widening Waterloo Quay and Provost Blaikie's Quay; removal of the Graving Dock; construction of floating docks ; wharves at Point Law and Albert Quay; wharves at the Fish Market; docking of the River Dee ; reconstruction of the harbour railways ; the purchase of locomotive engines; and the purchase of land. When deepening the Navigation Channel by dredging began the first obstacle met with was loose boulders which had been dropped by the Dee Glacier as it melted on entering the sea.

 

These were lifted and removed, and dredging went on till another difficulty was encountered. It was found that solid rock extends northward from the Torry side under the Channel. For a time it was possible to remove upstanding points and decayed parts of the rock by dredging, and a depth of 27 feet was obtained by this means; but the deeper the dredging was carried the further the rocky area was found to extend northward and eastward. It is at present known to extend 400 feet from east to west, and in some places nearly as far as to the North Pier. Beyond it rock is found at the depth of 100 feet under the beach.

 

The increasing size of ships coming to Aberdeen has made it desirable to attain a depth of 30 feet in the entrance channel of the harbour, and this cannot be got by dredging. Hitherto the removal of submarine rock in harbours has been done by boring a row of holes, charging them with explosives, and firing them off simultaneously by electricity.

 

At Aberdeen another method of breaking up solid rock has been adopted. A small ship has been furnished with an iron cylinder weighing 26 tons, with a steel pointed head. This is raised vertically and dropped on the rock several times in succession on the same place. In a short time the rock is broken up to the depth of 3 feet and then the ship is shifted to another place. The apparatus does its work efficiently and economically, and after a depth of 30 feet is obtained all over the Channel an effort may be made to reach 33 feet.

 

River Dee Dock

 

By the early 20th century, Aberdeen was Scotland's leading white fish port and with this came the need for expanded quayside facilities.

 

The River Dee Dock was built between 1909 and 1915 and was used to provide servicing for the fishing fleet. It is now the site for tankers to offload petroleum to the large tanks on shore. This has recently been piled and filled in 2012 to provide more Quay space on the Torry side.

 

Working Docks

 

Wood and Davidson's had a small ship repair works at Point Law which employed the floating pontoons to make jobbing repairs to small vessels such as trawlers.

 

Thanks goes to the wonderful people at The Doric Columns for the above history on the harbour .

   

Aberdeen Harbour

 

Aberdeen Harbour is the UK's oldest existing business and Europe’s premier marine support centre for the oil and gas industry. Construction of the new South Harbour commenced in 2017 and the £350m project will up-scale opportunities for existing customers and open the door to new markets. Combined with the existing port, Aberdeen Harbour will soon become the largest port in Scotland in terms of berthage, and one of the most tidally unrestricted.o

The primary historic post office in downtown Macon is the William Augustus Bootle Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, located at 475 Mulberry Street. Originally completed in 1908, it served as the city's main post office and federal courthouse for decades.

 

Architecture & Design

Style: The building is a premier example of Beaux Arts Classicism, designed by James Knox Taylor, the Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury.

 

Exterior: Its facade is clad in white Georgia marble with a rusticated first floor and monumental paired columns.

 

Interior: The original postal lobby features verde marble pilasters, terrazzo floors with brass dividers, and richly detailed plaster ceilings. Some of the original octagonal postal tables remain in place today.

 

Key Historical Milestones

1896: Planning began due to Macon's rapid growth requiring a larger postal and judicial facility.

 

1905–1908: Construction took three years, replacing an older courthouse that was demolished in 1906.

 

1917 & 1934: The building underwent significant expansions to accommodate growing needs while maintaining its original architectural style.

 

1972: It was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

1998: The building was renamed to honor Judge William Augustus Bootle, a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement who issued landmark rulings desegregating the University of Georgia and Macon’s public services.

 

Current Use

Today the building serves as the headquarters for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. It also houses the U.S. Marshals Service and offices for the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Augustus_Bootle_Federal_Bui...

www.google.com/search?q=history+of+post+office+building+d...

www.google.com/search?q=history+of+post+office+building+d...

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 26: Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong (L) and Ryu "Keria" Min-seok of T1 pose at the League of Legends World Championship Semifinals Features Day on October 26, 2022 in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Fernando Decillis/Riot Games)

The perfect spooky activity to do this fall.

   

The interactive pumpkin features a system which allows you to remove the lid, scoop the flesh, carve the pumpkin and then place a candle inside.

   

A smaller model is included for child avatars (tested with bebe youth).

   

A decor pack is also provided which is perfect to use as a photo prop or for decorating your home.

   

How to use:

   

-Rez the pumpkin on a suitable surface (Make sure it's facing the right way - the sticker is an indication).

 

- Stand directly in front of the pumpkin.

 

- Attach the item named "Pumpkin Carving Tool".

 

- Click the pumpkin to begin the interactive functions.

   

I hope you enjoy it guys!

This Miami Beach beach-front resort features a full-service spa and 6 restaurants and lounges. The honored Guests can lounge at the outdoor pool and hot tub or visit the Art Deco District, which is just a 5-minute walk away.

 

This hotel offers a city or ocean view in all rooms; a flat-screen cable TV, small refrigerator, and sofa bed are also provided. Room service is available 24 hours a day.

 

The front desk is open 24 hours a day for added convenience to the Guests. The Loews Miami Beach Hotel guests can also stay in touch with free public Wi-Fi. Shops are on site as well.

 

The Loews Miami Beach Hotel was designed by Nichols Architects (formerly known as Nichols Brosch Sandoval & Associates or NBWW).

 

The project, completed in 1998, involved the construction of a new 800-key tower and the restoration of the historic 1939 Art Deco St. Moritz building.

 

Key details regarding the design team include:

Original Architecture: John Nichols served as the founder and lead designer. The architectural team also included partners Don Wolfe, Patrick Busteed, and Henry Paredes.

 

Recent Renovations (2025): A major $55 million guestroom transformation, completed in late 2025, was designed by the New York-based firm Meyer Davis.

 

Specialty Design: Interior architecture for specific hospitality areas has previously involved Cass Calder Smith, with Design Principal Cass Calder Smith and Project Architect Taylor Lawson leading the team.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

www.loewshotels.com/miami-beach

apps.miamidadepa.gov/PropertySearch/#/?address=1601%20col...

www.google.com/search?q=who+was+the+architect+of+the+loew...

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

 

I love the green plants along the white picket fence

 

7 Days of Shooting - Week 15 (w/b 15th October) Barrier: What barriers divide the area where you live, work or visit? Perhaps you have a garden wall, or an ornamental gate. For this week, show us those barriers, including fences, walls, & gates.

Features one large, 4 medium and two small engines in the back. Had plenty of fun building these

Beaghmore is a complex of early Bronze Age megalithic features, stone circles and cairns, 8.5 miles north west of Cookstown, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, on the south-east edge of the Sperrin Mountains.

 

Mackay's Dictionary of Ulster Place-names says that it is from Irish an Bheitheach Mhór, meaning "big place of birch trees", a name that reflects the fact that the area was a woodland before being cleared by Neolithic farmers.

 

Beaghmore stone circles, alignments and cairns are State Care Historic Monuments in the townland of Beaghmore, in the Cookstown District Council area.

 

The site was discovered by George Barnett in the late 1930s during peat cutting when 1,269 stones were uncovered, and partially excavated in 1945–1949 when it was taken into state care. It was also excavated again in 1965. Hearths and deposits of flint tools were discovered and have been carbon dated to 2900-2600BC. Several of the stone rows run over the tumbled walls of field structures which also date from the Neolithic period. Excavation of one of the cairns revealed a polished porcellanite axe, which may have originated from the Tievebulliagh axe factory, some 70 miles away in County Antrim. The largest cairn featured a central pit containing an oak branch.

 

There are seven low stone circles of different sizes, six of which are paired, twelve cairns and ten stone rows. The circles are between 10 and 20m in diameter, and are associated with earlier burial cairns and alignments of stone rows lead towards them. The stones are small with few more than 0.5m in height and the circles are distorted, suggesting they are related to kerbs surrounding some megalithic tombs. A typical feature of the stone rows is a high and low arrangement where short rows of tall stones run beside much longer rows of small stones. The stone rows radiate from the circles in a roughly north-east direction.

 

Excavation has revealed that the site overlays a Neolithic cultivation site, and it is thought that the stones may have been erected in response to deteriorating soil fertility and the encroachment of peat.(Wikipedia)

Prompt:

The image presents a stylized portrait of a woman with futuristic, cyborg-like features against a dark teal-blue backdrop.

  

The most striking element is the transparent, helmet-like device partially enclosing her head. It's rounded and appears to be made of clear plastic or glass. Inside the helmet, visible mechanical components in a metallic olive green are attached to the back of her head, suggesting technological integration. These components include what looks like wiring, small cameras, and other indeterminate parts.

  

The woman's skin and lips have a glossy, almost plastic-like sheen with a matching green hue. This unusual texture reinforces the impression of artificiality and possibly modification. Her eyes are also highlighted, adding to the surreal quality of the image. Thin golden lines or wires extend from the helmet down the side of her neck, appearing integrated with her skin. Fabric-like material in a similar transparent green extends from her shoulders and trails off to the right, blending somewhat with the background.

  

The lighting emphasizes the woman's features and the technological elements, contributing to the overall otherworldly and technologically advanced aesthetic. The backdrop is simple but creates a sense of depth and mystery. The overall impression is one of a futuristic being or a human enhanced with technology.

NASA image captured March 6, 2012

 

To view a video of this event go to: www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6815861366

 

The sun erupted with one of the largest solar flares of this solar cycle on March 6, 2012 at 7PM ET. This flare was categorized as an X5.4, making it the second largest flare -- after an X6.9 on August 9, 2011 -- since the sun’s activity segued into a period of relatively low activity called solar minimum in early 2007. The current increase in the number of X-class flares is part of the sun’s normal 11-year solar cycle, during which activity on the sun ramps up to solar maximum, which is expected to peak in late 2013.

 

About an hour later, at 8:14 PM ET, March 6, the same region let loose an X1.3 class flare. An X1 is 5 times smaller than an X5 flare.

 

These X-class flares erupted from an active region named AR 1429 that rotated into view on March 2. Prior to this, the region had already produced numerous M-class and one X-class flare. The region continues to rotate across the front of the sun, so the March 6 flare was more Earthward facing than the previous ones. It triggered a temporary radio blackout on the sunlit side of Earth that interfered with radio navigation and short wave radio.

 

In association with these flares, the sun also expelled two significant coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are travelling faster than 600 miles a second and may arrive at Earth in the next few days. In the meantime, the CME associated with the X-class flare from March 4 has dumped solar particles and magnetic fields into Earth’s atmosphere and distorted Earth's magnetic fields, causing a moderate geomagnetic storm, rated a G2 on a scale from G1 to G5. Such storms happen when the magnetic fields around Earth rapidly change strength and shape. A moderate storm usually causes aurora and may interfere with high frequency radio transmission near the poles. This storm is already dwindling, but the Earth may experience another enhancement if the most recent CMEs are directed toward and impact Earth.

 

In addition, last night’s flares have sent solar particles into Earth’s atmosphere, producing a moderate solar energetic particle event, also called a solar radiation storm. These particles have been detected by NASA’s SOHO and STEREO spacecraft, and NOAA’s GOES spacecraft. At the time of writing, this storm is rated an S3 on a scale that goes up to S5. Such storms can interfere with high frequency radio communication.

 

Besides the August 2011 X-class flare, the last time the sun sent out flares of this magnitude was in 2006. There was an X6.5 on December 6, 2006 and an X9.0 on December 5, 2006. Like the most recent events, those two flares erupted from the same region on the sun, which is a common occurrence.

 

Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA

 

NASA image use policy.

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

 

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Very small softbox was used to add dimension to her features. Slighton off to camera right, no fill on camera left. Lots of P-shop on this one. Speedlight on 1/16 power on a boom and behind her about 24" for side/hair light.

 

Older shot. Trying out some Phsop ideas and figured I would share.

Pacific Fair Shopping Centre in Broadbeach,Gold Coast, Queensland Australia. August 2018.

 

The shopping centre has been done up since we were last here and it is amazing.

Note the accumulation of iron (redox feature) and areas of reduction (gray color) from the lower subsoil of an Augusta soil.

 

For a detailed description of the soil, visit:

soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/A/AUGUSTA.html

 

Redoximorphic features (RMFs) consist of color patterns in a soil that are caused by loss (depletion) or gain (concentration) of pigment compared to the matrix color, formed by oxidation/reduction of iron and/or manganese coupled with their removal, translocation, or accrual.

 

For more information about describing and sampling soils, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...

or Chapter 3 of the Soil Survey manual:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Su...

 

For additional information on "How to Use the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils" (video reference), visit:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hQaXV7MpM

 

For additional information about soil classification using USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/keys-...

or;

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/soil-...

 

For more information about Hydric Soils and their Field Indicators, visit:

www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/field...

 

the-flow.ru/features/bahh-tee-2018-interview

One of the main features of the May 1978 timetable change was the improved Birmingham suburban services introduced by the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive. The main focus was on the new through services from Litchfield/Four Oaks to Redditch, however there were also improvements to services into Moor Street. These improvements required significant infrastructure alterations and on the weekend 22/23rd April 1978 I was one of four Nottingham Division S & T Engineers loaned to the Birmingham Division to assist in the testing and commissioning of the signalling alterations. We were allocated to works associated with the improvements to services into Moor Street and during a short lull on the Sunday I was able to put my feet up for half an hour or so and have a cup of tea in Bentley Heath Crossing Signal Box.

 

The box was built by the Great Western Railway as part of the quadrupling of the Birmingham Main line between Olton and Lapworth, which was completed in May 1933. The new signal box was opened in 1932. This type 28b signal box design had been introduced at the turn of the century and over a hundred were constructed by the Great Western Railway, however only a few were built after 1924. The design had several distinctive features; including horizontal boarding, three up and two down sliding windows, a gabled roof with no finals and a plain gabled end. The box was fitted with a 49 lever Great Western Railway vertical tappet, three bar mechanical frame. The box was reduced to a crossing box when Saltley Power Signal Box was commissioned in 1968 and finally closed and was demolished in February 2008.

 

Praktica LTL, Ektachrome 200

 

Striking features on this gorgeous girl. 😊

 

Opisthoncus quadratarius. 💛

Victoria Point SE QLD Australia.

 

Adult Female that lives in my grandma's pot plant on the balcony. She's a little shy at first but friendly. With patientce and a gentle touch I managed to get her in position for a couple of snaps. She sat pretty chilled for the whole time.

 

Nikon D810, AF-S 60mm f/2.8G ED, Neewer LED with diffuser. 📷

Features split tail fins and rear elevator

Features from left to right include Coe and Ladd Glaciers, Pulpit Rock, Cathedral Ridge, Queens Chair, Sandy Glacier Headwall, and Yocum Ridge.

Quite an old MOC of a Peterbilt 352 tractor.

After it was stored in a box for more than two years finally took some pics of it.

Many features of this creation are inspired by the great Ford W Series Tractor made by Misterzumbi.

Added a cab that could be tilted to show the engine.

Still not happy with the rough tire pattern...going to change the tyres for different ones someday.

Explanation: A dramatic study in contrasts, this colorful skyscape features stars, dust, and glowing gas in NGC 6914. The complex of nebulae lies some 6,000 light-years away, toward the high-flying northern constellation Cygnus and the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. With foreground dust clouds in silhouette, both reddish hydrogen emission nebulae and dusty blue reflection nebulae fill the 1/2 degree wide field. The view spans nearly 50 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 6914. Ultraviolet radiation from the massive, hot, young stars of the extensive Cygnus OB2 association ionize the region's atomic hydrogen gas, producing the characteristic red glow as protons and electrons recombine. Embedded Cygnus OB2 stars also provide the blue starlight strongly reflected by the dusty clouds. (text apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110304.html )

 

This picture was photographed on June, 29 and July 5-7, 2013 in the Crimea during the festival of amateur astronomy, "Southern Nights 2013" (height of 600 m. above sea level)

 

Equipment: home assembled reflector 10" f/3.8, mount WhiteSwan-180, camera QSI-583wsg, Tevevue Paracorr-2. Off-axis guidecamera SX Lodestar.

LRGB filter set Baader Planetarium.

L: 37x600 sec., bin.1, Ha= 7*1800 sec. bin1. RGB: 17*450-600 sec. each filter, bin.2.

16,75 hours total.

FWHM 2.16"-2.69" , sum in L channel - 2.46"

Processed Pixinsight 1.8, Fitstacker and Photoshop CS6.

The White Falcon features '59 styling, High Sensitive Filter'Tron™ pickups, trestle bracing, Neo-Classic™ thumbnail inlays, Space Control™ bridge, sleek Gretsch horizontal headstock logo and a Bigsby B6GB vibrato tailpiece. Comes with deluxe hardshell case.

 

TOP: Arched Laminated Maple

BRACING: 1959 Style Trestle Bracing

BACK AND SIDES: Laminated Maple Body, 17" Wide, 2.75" Deep

NECK: 3-Piece Maple

PICKUPS: 2 High Sensitive Filter'Tron Pickups

FRETBOARD: Ebony, 12" Radius (305mm)

SCALE LENGTH: 25.5" (648mm)

BRIDGE: Ebony-Based Space Control Roller-Bridge

TAILPIECE: Bigsby¨ B6GB Vibrato Tailpiece

HARDWARE: Gold-Plated

FINISH: Gloss Urethane

NO. OF FRETS: 22

MACHINE HEADS: Grover Imperial Gold-Plated Die-cast Tuners

 

UNIQUE FEATURES

V-Shaped Falcon Headstock with Horizontal Gretsch Logo

Neo Classic "Thumbnail" Inlay Position Markers

Gold-Sparkle Fingerboard and Headstock Bindings

Oversized Bound F-Holes

Multiple Gold-Sparkle Body Bindings

Gold-Sparkle Inlaid Gretsch Logo on Headstock

Gold Plexi Dove-Style Pickguard with Falcon Detail

Knurled Strap Retainer Knobs

Adjustable Truss Rod

"Casa Cuseni is a house-garden-museum, with countless delightful works of art of all shapes and types: here a table lamp with the features of a beautiful girl, in Art Nouveau style."

 

“Casa Cuseni è una casa-giardino-museo, con innumerevoli deliziose opere d'arte di ogni foggia e tipo: qui una lampada da tavolo con le fattezze di una bella fanciulla, in stile liberty.”

 

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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

oppure…. premi il tasto “L” per ingrandire l'immagine;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

 

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A history of Taormina: chronicles of a forbidden love and its great secret (not only Paolo and Francesca) with an unexpected "scoop".

This story is an integral part of the story previously told, the historical period is the same, the place is the same, the various characters often meet each other because they know each other; Taormina, between the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s, in an ever increasing growth, became the place of residence of elite tourism, thanks to the international interest aroused by writers and artists, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , or great personalities like Lady Florence Trevelyan: Taormina becomes so famous, thanks to the paintings of the painter Otto Geleng and the photographs of the young Sicilian models by Wilhelm von Gloeden; in the air of Taormina there is a sense of libertine, its famous and histrionic visitors never fail to create scandal, even surpassing the famous Capri, in which, to cite just one example, the German gunsmith Krupp, trying to recreate the he environment of Arcadia that one breathed in Taormina (thanks to the photos of von Gloeden) was overwhelmed by the scandal for homosexuality, and took his own life. Taormina thus becomes a heavenly-like place, far from industrial civilizations, where you can freely live your life and sexuality; this is the socio-cultural environment in which the two protagonists of this story move, the British painter Robert Hawthorn Kitson (1873 - 1947) and the painter Carlo Siligato (born in Taormina in 1875, and died there in 1959). Robert H. Kitson, born in Leeds in England, belonged to a more than wealthy family, as a young engineer he had begun to replace his father in the family locomotive construction company (Kitson & Co.), on the death of his father in 1899 sells everything and decides to move very rich in Sicily to Taormina (he had been there the previous year with a trip made with his parents, here he had met, in addition to Baron von Gloeden, also the writer and poet Oscar Wilde who came to Italy, immediately after having served two years in prison in forced labor, on charges of sodomy); Kitson settled there because he was suffering from a severe form of rheumatic fever (like von Gloeden was advised to treat himself in the Mediterranean climate milder), and because as a homosexual, he leaves England because the Labouchere amendment considered homosexuality a crime. The other protagonist of this story is Carlo Siligato, he was from Taormina, he had attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, a very gifted painter, he was very good at oil painting (he exhibited his paintings in an art workshop, even now existing, in via Teatro Greco in Taormina), the meeting with the painter Robert Kitson, led him to adopt the watercolor technique: almost to relive Dante's verses on Paolo and Francesca "Galeotto was the book and who wrote it" the common passion for painting led the two artists to live an intense love story. Kitson built his home in the "Cuseni" district of Taormina, called for this "Casa Cuseni", the house was built between 1900 and 1905, its decorations were entrusted to the artists Alfred East (realist landscape painter, president of the Royal Society ), and Frank Brangwyn (painter, decorator, designer), he was a pupil of William Morris, leader of the English movement "Arts and Crafts" which spread to England in the second half of the nineteenth century (the Arts and Crafts was a response to the industrialization of Europe, of mass production operated by factories, all this at the expense of traditional craftsmanship, from this movement originated the Art Nouveau, in Italy also known as Liberty Style or Floral Style, which distinguished itself for having been a artistic and philosophical movement, which developed between the end of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, whose style spread in such a way as to be present everywhere). Casa Cuseni has kept a secret for 100 years that goes far beyond the forbidden love lived by Robert and Carlo, a secret hidden inside the "secret room", that dinning room that was reopened in 2012; entering the dining room, you can witness a series of murals painted on the four walls by Frank Brangwyn, in Art Nouveau style, which portray the life and love story between the painter Robert Kitson, and his life partner, the Carlo Siligato from Taormina, but the thing that makes these murals even more special, full of tenderness and sweetness, is that "their secret" (!) is represented in them, it is described visually, as in an "episodic" story that really happened in their lives: Messina (and Reggio Calabria) are destroyed by the terrible earthquake with a tsunami on December 28, 1908, Carlo Siligato, Robert Kitson, Wilhelm von Gloeden and Anatole France leave for Messina, to see and document in person the tragedy, the city was a pile of rubble, many dead, Robert and Carlo see a baby, Francesco, he is alone in the world, without parents who died in the earthquake, abandoned to a certain and sad destiny, a deep desire for protection is born in the two of them, a maternal and paternal desire is born, they decide to takes that little child with them even knowing that they are risking a lot ... (!), what they want to do is something absolutely unthinkable in that historical period, they are a homosexual couple, what they are about to do is absolutely forbidden ..(!) but now there is Francesco in their life, thus becoming, in fact, the first homogenitorial family (with a more generic term, rainbow family) in world history: hence the need to keep the whole story absolutely hidden, both from an artistic point of view , represented by the murals (for more than 100 years, the "dinning room" will be kept hidden), both of what happens in real life, with little Francesco cared for lovingly, but with great risk or. I have allegorically inserted, in the photographic story, some photographs of the artists of the company "Casa del Musical", who came to Taormina to perform during the Christmas period: today as yesterday, Taormina has always been (starting from the last 20 years of the 19th century) center of a crossroads of artists and great personalities, Casa Cuseni also in this has an enormous palmares of illustrious guests, too long to state. The young boys painted on the murals of Casa Cuseni, wear white, this is a sign of purity, they wanted to represent their ideal homosexual world, fighting against the figure dressed in black, short in stature, disturbing, which acquires a negative value, an allegorical figure of the English society of the time, indicating the Victorian morality that did not hesitate to condemn Oscar Wilde, depriving him of all his assets and rights, even preventing him from giving the surname to his children. The boys are inspired by the young Sicilian models photographed by Wilhelm von Gloeden, dressed in white tunics, with their heads surrounded by local flowers. The only female figure present has given rise to various interpretations, one could be Kitson's detachment from his motherland, or his detachment from his mother. On the third wall we witness the birth of the homogenitorial family, both (allegorically Carlo and Kitson with the child in their arms) are in profile, they are walking, the younger man has a long, Greek-style robe, placed on the front, next to him behind him, the sturdier companion holds and gently protects the little child in his arms, as if to spare the companion the effort of a long and uncertain journey, there is in the representation of the family the idea of a long journey, in fact the man holding the child wears heavy shoes, their faces are full of apprehension and concern: in front of them an empty wall, so deliberately left by Frank Brangwin, since their future is unknown, in front of them they have a destiny full of unknowns (at the same time, their path points east, they go towards the rising sun: opening the large window the sun floods everything in the room). In the "secret room" there is the picture painted in 1912 by Alfred E. East, an oil on canvas, representing Lake Bourget. Carlo Siligato later married Costanza, she was my father's grandmother's sister, they had a son, Nino, who for many years lived and worked as a merchant in his father's art workshop. I sincerely thank my colleague Dr. Francesco Spadaro, doctor and esteemed surgeon, owner and director of the "Casa Cuseni" House-Garden-Museum, who, affectionately acting as a guide, gave me the precious opportunity to create "this photographic tour" inside the house- museum and in the "metaphysical garden" of Casa Cuseni. … And the scoop that I announced in the title ..? After photographing the tomb of Carlo Siligato, in the Catholic cemetery of Taormina, I started looking for that of Robert Kitson, in the non-Catholic cemetery of Taormina: when I finally found it (with him lies his niece Daphne Phelps, buried later in 2005) ... I felt a very strong emotion, first of all I was expecting a mausoleum, instead I found a small, very modest tomb on this is not a photo of him, not an epitaph, not a Cross, not a praying Angel to point it out, but ... unexpectedly for a funerary tombstone ... a small bas-relief carved on marble (or stone) depicting ... the Birth ... (!), obviously , having chosen her could have a very specific meaning: a desire to transmit a message, something very profound about him, his tomb thus testified that in his soul, what was really important in life was having a family, with Carlo and baby Francesco, certainly beloved, saved from a certain and sad fate, in the terrible Messina earthquake-tsunami of 28 December 1908 ... almost recalling in an absolute synthesis, at the end of his life, what had already been told in the "secret murals" of Casa Cuseni.

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Una storia di Taormina: cronache di un amore proibito e del suo grande segreto (non solo Paolo e Francesca) con inaspettato “scoop”.

Questa storia fa parte integrante della storia precedentemente raccontata, il periodo storico è lo stesso, il luogo è lo stesso, i vari personaggi spesso si frequentano tra loro poiché si conoscono; Taormina, tra la fine dell’800 e l’inizio del’900, in un sempre maggiore crescendo, diventa luogo di residenza del turismo d’élite, grazie all’interesse internazionale suscitato ad opera di scrittori ed artisti, come Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, o grandi personalità come Lady Florence Trevelyan: Taormina diventa così famosa, complici i quadri del pittore Otto Geleng e le fotografie dei giovani modelli siciliani di Wilhelm von Gloeden; nell’aria di Taormina si respira un che di libertino, i suoi famosi ed istrionici frequentatori non mancano mai di creare scandalo, superando persino la famosa Capri, nella quale, per citare solo un esempio, l’armiere tedesco Krupp, cercando di ricreare l’ambiente dell’Arcadia che si respirava a Taormina (grazie alle foto di von Gloeden) viene travolto dallo scandalo per omosessualità, e si toglie la vita. Taormina diviene quindi un luogo simil-paradisiaco, lontana dalle civiltà industriali, nella quale poter vivere liberamente la propria vita e la propria sessualità; questo è l’ambiente socio-culturale nel quale si muovono i due protagonisti di questa vicenda, il pittore britannico Robert Hawthorn Kitson (1873 – 1947) ed il pittore Carlo Siligato (nato a Taormina nel 1875, ed ivi morto nel 1959). Robert H. Kitson, nacque a Leeds in Inghilterra, apparteneva ad una famiglia più che benestante, da giovane ingegnere aveva cominciato a sostituire il padre nell’impresa familiare di costruzioni di locomotive (la Kitson & Co.), alla morte del padre nel 1899 vende tutto e decide di trasferirsi ricchissimo in Sicilia a Taormina (vi era stato l’anno precedente con un viaggio fatto coi suoi genitori, qui aveva conosciuto, oltre al barone von Gloeden, anche lo scrittore e poeta Oscar Wilde venuto in Italia, subito dopo aver scontato due anni di prigione ai lavori forzati, con l’accusa di sodomia); Kitson vi si stabilisce perché affetto da una grave forma di febbre reumatica (come von Gloeden gli fu consigliato di curarsi nel clima mediterraneo più mite), sia perché in quanto omosessuale, lascia l’Inghilterra perché l’emendamento Labouchere considerava l’omosessualità un crimine. L’altro protagonista di questa storia è Carlo Siligato, egli era taorminese, aveva frequentato l’Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, pittore molto dotato, era bravissimo nel dipingere ad olio (esponeva i suoi quadri in una bottega d’arte, ancora adesso esistente, in via Teatro Greco a Taormina), l’incontro col pittore Robert Kitson, lo portò ad adottare la tecnica dell’acquarello: quasi a rivivere i versi di Dante su Paolo e Francesca “Galeotto fu ‘l libro e chi lo scrisse” la comune passione per la pittura condusse i due artisti a vivere una intensa storia d’amore. Kitson costruì nel quartiere “Cuseni” di Taormina la sua abitazione, detta per questo “Casa Cuseni”, la casa fu costruita tra il 1900 ed il 1905, le sue decorazioni furono affidate agli artisti Alfred East (pittore verista paesaggista, presidente della Royal Society), e Frank Brangwyn (pittore, decoratore, designer, progettista), egli era allievo di William Morris, leader del movimento inglese “Arts and Crafts” (Arti e Mestieri) che si diffuse in Inghilterra nella seconda metà del XIX secolo (l’Arts and Crafts era una risposta alla industrializzazione dell’Europa, della produzione in massa operata dalle fabbriche, tutto ciò a scapito dell’artigianato tradizionale, da questo movimento ebbe origine l’Art Nouveau, in Italia conosciuta anche come Stile Liberty o Stile Floreale, che si distinse per essere stata un movimento artistico e filosofico, che si sviluppò tra la fine dell’800 ed il primo decennio del ‘900, il cui stile si diffuse in tal modo da essere presente dappertutto). Casa Cuseni ha custodito per 100 anni un segreto che va ben oltre quell’amore proibito vissuto da Robert e Carlo, segreto celato all’interno della “stanza segreta”, quella dinning room che è stata riaperta nel 2012; entrando nella sala da pranzo, si assiste ad una serie di murales realizzati sulle quattro pareti da Frank Brangwyn, in stile Art Nouveau, che ritraggono la vita e la storia d’amore tra il pittore Robert Kitson, ed il suo compagno di vita, il pittore taorminese Carlo Siligato, ma la cosa che rende questi murales ancora più particolari, carichi di tenerezza e dolcezza, è che in essi viene rappresentato “il loro segreto” (!), viene descritto visivamente, come in un racconto “ad episodi” quello che è realmente avvenuto nella loro vita: Messina (e Reggio Calabria) vengono distrutte dal terribile sisma con maremoto il 28 dicembre del 1908, partono per Messina, Carlo Siligato, Robert Kitson, Wilhelm von Gloeden ed Anatole France, per vedere e documentare di persona la tragedia, la città era un cumulo di macerie, moltissimi i morti, Robert e Carlo vedono un piccolo bimbo, Francesco, egli è solo al mondo, privo dei genitori periti nel terremoto, abbandonato ad un certo e triste destino, nasce in loro due un profondo desiderio di protezione, nasce un desiderio materno e paterno, decidono di prende quel piccolo bimbo con loro pur sapendo che stanno rischiando moltissimo…(!) , quello che vogliono fare è una cosa assolutamente impensabile in quel periodo storico, loro sono una coppia omosessuale, quello che stanno per fare è assolutamente proibito..(!) ma oramai c’è Francesco nella loro vita, divenendo così, di fatto, la prima famiglia omogenitoriale (con termine più generico, famiglia arcobaleno) nella storia mondiale: da qui la necessità di tenere assolutamente nascosta tutta la vicenda, sia dal punto di vista artistico, rappresentata dai murales (per più di 100 anni, la “dinning room” verrà tenuta nascosta), sia di quanto accade nella vita reale, col piccolo Francesco accudito amorevolmente, ma con grandissimo rischio. Ho inserito allegoricamente, nel racconto fotografico, alcune fotografie degli artisti della compagnia “Casa del Musical”, giunti a Taormina per esibirsi durante il periodo natalizio: oggi come ieri, Taormina è sempre stata (a partire dagli ultimi 20 anni dell’800) al centro di un crocevia di artisti e grandi personalità, Casa Cuseni anche in questo ha un enorme palmares di ospiti illustri, troppo lungo da enunciare. I giovani ragazzi dipinti sui murales di Casa Cuseni, vestono di bianco, questo è segno di purezza, si è voluto in tal modo rappresentare il loro mondo ideale omosessuale, in lotta contro la figura vestita di nero, bassa di statura, inquietante, che acquista un valore negativo, figura allegorica della società inglese dell’epoca, indicante la morale Vittoriana che non ha esitato a condannare Oscar Wilde, privandolo di tutti i suoi beni e diritti, impedendogli persino di dare il cognome ai suoi figli. I ragazzi sono ispirati ai giovani modelli siciliani fotografati da Wilhelm von Gloeden, vestiti con tuniche bianche, col capo cinto dei fiori locali. L’unica figura femminile presente, ha dato spunto a varie interpretazioni, una potrebbe essere il distacco da parte di Kitson dalla sua madre patria, oppure il distacco da sua madre. Sulla terza parete si assiste alla nascita della famiglia omogenitoriale, entrambi (allegoricamente Carlo e Kitson col bimbo in braccio) sono di profilo, sono in cammino, l’uomo più giovane ha una veste lunga, alla greca, posto sul davanti, accanto a lui, alle sue spalle, il compagno più robusto sostiene in braccio e protegge con dolcezza il piccolo bimbo, quasi a voler risparmiare al compagno la fatica di un lungo ed incerto percorso, vi è nella rappresentazione della famiglia l’idea di un lungo percorso, infatti l’uomo che regge il bimbo indossa delle calzature pesanti, i loro volti sono carichi di apprensione e preoccupazione: davanti a loro una parete vuota, così volutamente lasciata da Frank Brangwin, poiché il loro futuro è ignoto, davanti hanno un destino pieno di incognite (al tempo stesso, il loro cammino indica l’est, vanno verso il sole nascente: aprendo la grande finestra il sole inonda ogni cosa nella stanza).

Nella “stanza segreta” c’è il quadro dipinto nel 1912 da Alfred E. East, un olio su tela, rappresentante il lago Bourget.

Carlo Siligato, successivamente si sposò con Costanza, una sorella della nonna di mio padre, da lei ebbe un figlio, Nino, il quale per tantissimi anni ha vissuto e lavorato come commerciante nella bottega d’arte del padre. Ringrazio di cuore il mio collega dott. Francesco Spadaro, medico e stimato chirurgo, proprietario e direttore della Casa-Giardino-Museo “Casa Cuseni”, il quale, facendomi affettuosamente da cicerone, mi ha dato la preziosa opportunità di realizzare “questo tour fotografico” all’interno dell’abitazione-museo e nel “giardino-metafisico” di Casa Cuseni.

…E lo scoop che ho annunciato nel titolo..? Dopo aver fotografato la tomba di Carlo Siligato, nel cimitero cattolico di Taormina, mi sono messo alla ricerca di quella di Robert Kitson, nel cimitero acattolico di Taormina: quando finalmente l’ho trovata (insieme a lui giace sua nipote Daphne Phelps, seppellita successivamente nel 2005)…ho provato una fortissima commozione, innanzitutto mi aspettavo un mausoleo, invece ho trovato una tomba piccola, molto modesta, su questa non una sua foto, non un epitaffio, non una Croce, non un Angelo pregante ad indicarla, ma … inaspettatamente per una lapide funeraria…un piccolo bassorilievo scolpito su marmo (o su pietra) raffigurante…la Natalità…(!), evidentemente, l’averla scelta potrebbe avere un significato ben preciso: un desiderio di trasmettere un messaggio, qualcosa di molto profondo di lui, la sua tomba testimoniava così che nel suo animo, ciò che in vita fu davvero importante fu l’aver avuto una famiglia, con Carlo e col piccolo Francesco, certamente amatissimo, salvato da un molto probabile triste destino, nel terribile terremoto-maremoto di Messina del 28 dicembre del 1908…quasi rievocando in una sintesi assoluta, al termine della sua vita, ciò che era già stato raccontato nei “murales segreti” di Casa Cuseni.

  

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Features working brakes!...yeah I know there is not really any point, but I could so I did :) 2x 9v motors wheel-spin behind this when the brakes are clicked "on"

Also has a lightbrick in the firebox, actuated by pushing the main boiler slightly backwards. This light also serves as a "through" light to the rear tail lamp. Plus a "quick release" cab to be able to access the click hinge brake lever.

Had to sit on this for 8 months or so, but now able to show some of the pictures as "teasers".....designed and made exclusively for "The Lego Adventure" book: www.flickr.com/groups/2021445@N23/ which includes a full 18 page feature on how to build this, starting from chassis to end result.

Was an honour and a privilige to be chosen for this line up of "inspirational" builders throughout the world :)

Inamorata Tumaini features the young and adorably grumpy Akech sculpt in Chocolate resin and M bust 4.0 athletic body. Her custom hard cap wig is needle felted mohair wool over poseable copper frame. The inspiration of her fashion was a African quilted dress, but miniaturise it we went for a printed quilt pattern instead (miniature quilting seams would be quite stiff and bulky). To make the traditional look more young and trendy, I reinterpreted the empire waist dress as a crop top and skirt.

 

* Commissioned art doll and not for sale.

This striking image features a relatively rare celestial phenomenon known as a Herbig–Haro object. This particular Herbig–Haro object is named HH111.

 

Newly formed stars are often very active, and in some cases they expel very narrow jets of rapidly moving ionised gas — gas that is so hot that its molecules and atoms have lost their electrons, making the gas highly charged. The streams of ionised gas then collide with the clouds of gas and dust surrounding newly-formed stars at speeds of hundreds of miles per second. These energetic collisions create Herbig–Haro objects such as HH111.

 

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, B. Nisini

 

For more information, visit: esahubble.org/images/potw2135a/

 

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Lakeland Shopping Center located at 336 Eastside Blvd. in Muskogee,OK. The shopping center which was constructed in 1958 still retains many of its original architectural features. The two most notable holdovers are the original folded plate roof which spans the entire shopping center along with the matching Lakeland sign in the parking lot. The (once rotating) sign was altered at some point as it once had a few randomly placed spikes and spires atop the Lakeland lettering. The shopping center was originally anchored by a Humpty Dumpty Market, TG&Y Variety Store and a C.R. Anthony Department Store. The space originally occupied by Humpty Dumpty is currently occupied by an independently owned supermarket operating under the name Always Low Price Food Store abbreviated as ALPS on their signage. The space occupied by TG&Y is currently occupied by a thrift store operating under the name Super Thrift. The original TG&Y terrazzo facade is still intact at the doorway to the thrift store! The space occupied by C.R. Anthony is currently occupied by a Family Dollar.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn9oxb052bI

Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah, United States. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, 4 miles (6 km) north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world.

 

The park consists of 310.31 square kilometres (76,680 acres; 119.81 sq mi; 31,031 ha) of high desert located on the Colorado Plateau. The highest elevation in the park is 5,653 feet (1,723 m) at Elephant Butte, and the lowest elevation is 4,085 feet (1,245 m) at the visitor center. The park receives an average of less than 10 inches (250 mm) of rain annually.

 

Administered by the National Park Service, the area was originally named a national monument on April 12, 1929, and was re designated as a national park on November 12, 1971. The park received more than 1.6 million visitors in 2018.

 

As stated in the foundation document in U.S. National Park Service website:

 

The purpose of Arches National Park is to protect extraordinary examples of geologic features including arches, natural bridges, windows, spires, and balanced rocks, as well as other features of geologic, historic, and scientific interest, and to provide opportunities to experience these resources and their associated values in their majestic natural settings.

 

The national park lies above an underground evaporite layer or salt bed, which is the main cause of the formation of the arches, spires, balanced rocks, sandstone fins, and eroded monoliths in the area. This salt bed is thousands of feet thick in places and was deposited in the Paradox Basin of the Colorado Plateau some 300 million years ago (Mya) when a sea flowed into the region and eventually evaporated. Over millions of years, the salt bed was covered with debris eroded from the Uncompahgre Uplift to the northeast. During the Early Jurassic (about 200 Mya), desert conditions prevailed in the region and the vast Navajo Sandstone was deposited. An additional sequence of stream laid and windblown sediments, the Entrada Sandstone (about 140 Mya), was deposited on top of the Navajo. Over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of younger sediments were deposited and have been mostly eroded. Remnants of the cover exist in the area including exposures of the Cretaceous Mancos Shale. The arches of the area are developed mostly within the Entrada formation.

 

The weight of this cover caused the salt bed below it to liquefy and thrust up layers of rock into salt domes. The evaporites of the area formed more unusual "salt anticlines" or linear regions of uplift. Faulting occurred and whole sections of rock subsided into the areas between the domes. In some places, they turned almost on edge. The result of one such 2,500-foot (760 m) displacement, the Moab Fault, is seen from the visitor center.

 

As this subsurface movement of salt shaped the landscape, erosion removed the younger rock layers from the surface. Except for isolated remnants, the major formations visible in the park today are the salmon-colored Entrada Sandstone, in which most of the arches form, and the buff-colored Navajo Sandstone. These are visible in layer-cake fashion throughout most of the park. Over time, water seeped into the surface cracks, joints, and folds of these layers. Ice formed in the fissures, expanding and putting pressure on surrounding rock, breaking off bits and pieces. Winds later cleaned out the loose particles. A series of free-standing fins remained. Wind and water attacked these fins until, in some, the cementing material gave way and chunks of rock tumbled out. Many damaged fins collapsed. Others, with the right degree of hardness and balance, survived despite their missing sections. These became the famous arches.

 

Although the park's terrain may appear rugged and durable, it is extremely fragile. More than 1 million visitors each year threaten the fragile high-desert ecosystem. The problem lies within the soil's crust, which is composed of cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, and lichens that grow in the dusty parts of the park. Factors that make Arches National Park sensitive to visitor damage include being a semiarid region, the scarce, unpredictable rainfall, lack of deep freezing, and lack of plant litter, which results in soils that have both a low resistance to and slow recovery from, compressional forces such as foot traffic. Methods of indicating effects on the soil are cytophobic soil crust index, measuring of water infiltration, and t-tests that are used to compare the values from the undisturbed and disturbed areas.

 

Geological processes that occurred over 300 million years ago caused a salt bed to be deposited, which today lies beneath the landscape of Arches National Park.[ Over time, the salt bed was covered with sediments that eventually compressed into rock layers that have since been named Entrada Standstone. Rock layers surrounding the edge of the salt bed continued to erode and shift into vertical sandstone walls called fins. Sand collected between vertical walls of the fins, then slightly acidic rain combined with carbon dioxide in the air allowed for the chemical formation of carbonic acid within the trapped sand. Over time, the carbonic acid dissolved the calcium carbonate that held the sandstone together. Many of the rock formations have weaker layers of rock on bottom that are holding stronger layers on top. The weaker layers would dissolve first, creating openings in the rock. Gravity caused pieces of the stronger rock layer to fall piece by piece into an arch shape. Arches form within rock fins at points of intense fracturing localization, or weak points in the rock's formation, caused by horizontal and vertical discontinuities. Lastly, water, wind, and time continued this erosion process and ultimately created the arches of Arches National Park. All of the arches in the park are made of Entrada Sandstone, however, there are slight differences in how each arch was developed. This allows the Entrada Sandstone to be categories into 3 groups including Slick rock members, Dewey rock members, and Moab members. Vertical arches can be developed from Slick rock members, a combination of Slick rock members and Moab members, or Slick rock members resting above Dewey rock members. Horizontal arches (also called potholes) are formed when a vertical pothole formation meets a horizontal cave, causing a union into a long arch structure. The erosion process within Arches National Park will continue as time continues to pass. Continued erosion combined with vertical and horizontal stress will eventually cause arches to collapse, but still, new arches will continue to form for thousands of years.

 

Humans have occupied the region since the last ice age 10,000 years ago. Fremont people and Ancestral Puebloans lived in the area until about 700 years ago. Spanish missionaries encountered Ute and Paiute tribes in the area when they first came through in 1775, but the first European-Americans to attempt settlement in the area were the Mormon Elk Mountain Mission in 1855, who soon abandoned the area. Ranchers, farmers, and prospectors later settled Moab in the neighboring Riverine Valley in the late 1870s. Word of the beauty of the surrounding rock formations spread beyond the settlement as a possible tourist destination.

 

The Arches area was first brought to the attention of the National Park Service by Frank A. Wadleigh, passenger traffic manager of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Wadleigh, accompanied by railroad photographer George L. Beam, visited the area in September 1923 at the invitation of Alexander Ringhoffer, a Hungarian-born prospector living in Salt Valley. Ringhoffer had written to the railroad to interest them in the tourist potential of a scenic area he had discovered the previous year with his two sons and a son-in-law, which he called the Devils Garden (known today as the Klondike Bluffs). Wadleigh was impressed by what Ringhoffer showed him, and suggested to Park Service director Stephen T. Mather that the area be made a national monument.

 

The following year, additional support for the monument idea came from Laurence Gould, a University of Michigan graduate student (and future polar explorer) studying the geology of the nearby La Sal Mountains, who was shown the scenic area by local physician Dr. J. W. "Doc" Williams.

 

A succession of government investigators examined the area, in part due to confusion as to the precise location. In the process, the name Devils Garden was transposed to an area on the opposite side of Salt Valley that includes Landscape Arch, the longest arch in the park. Ringhoffer's original discovery was omitted, while another area nearby, known locally as the Windows, was included. Designation of the area as a national monument was supported by the Park Service in 1926 but was resisted by President Calvin Coolidge's Interior Secretary, Hubert Work. Finally, in April 1929, shortly after his inauguration, President Herbert Hoover signed a presidential proclamation creating the Arches National Monument, consisting of two comparatively small, disconnected sections. The purpose of the reservation under the 1906 Antiquities Act was to protect the arches, spires, balanced rocks, and other sandstone formations for their scientific and educational value. The name Arches was suggested by Frank Pinkely, superintendent of the Park Service's southwestern national monuments, following a visit to the Windows section in 1925.

 

In late 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a proclamation that enlarged the Arches to protect additional scenic features and permit the development of facilities to promote tourism. A small adjustment was made by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 to accommodate a new road alignment.

 

In early 1969, just before leaving office, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation substantially enlarging the Arches. Two years later, President Richard Nixon signed legislation enacted by Congress, which significantly reduced the total area enclosed, but changed its status. Arches National Park was formally dedicated in May 1972.

 

In 1980, vandals attempted to use an abrasive kitchen cleanser to deface ancient petroglyphs in the park, prompting park officials to recruit physicist John F. Asmus, who specialized in using lasers to restore works of art, to use his technology to repair the damage. Asmus "zapped the panel with intense light pulses and succeeded in removing most of the cleanser".

 

Climbing Balanced Rock or any named or unnamed arch in Arches National Park with an opening larger than 3 ft (0.9 m) is banned by park regulations. Climbing on other features in the park is allowed but regulated; in addition, slacklining and BASE jumping are banned parkwide.

 

Climbing on named arches within the park had long been banned by park regulations, but following Dean Potter's successful free climb on Delicate Arch in May 2006, the wording of the regulations was deemed unenforceable by the park attorney. In response, the park revised its regulations later that month, eventually imposing the current ban on arch climbing in 2014.

 

Approved recreational activities include auto touring, hiking, bicycling, camping at the Devils Garden campground, backpacking, canyoneering, and rock climbing, with permits required for the last three activities. Guided commercial tours and ranger programs are also available.

 

Astronomy is also popular in the park due to its dark skies, despite the increasing light pollution from towns such as Moab.

 

Delicate Arch is the subject of the third 2014 quarter of the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful Quarters program commemorating national parks and historic sites. The Arches quarter had the highest production of the five 2014 national park quarters, with more than 465 million minted.

 

American writer Edward Abbey was a park ranger at Arches National Monument in 1956 and 1957, where he kept journals that became his book Desert Solitaire. The success of Abbey's book, as well as interest in adventure travel, has drawn many hikers, mountain bikers, and off-pavement driving enthusiasts to the area. Permitted activities within the park include camping, hiking along designated trails, backpacking, canyoneering, rock climbing, bicycling, and driving along existing roads, both paved and unpaved. The Hayduke Trail, an 812 mi (1,307 km) backpacking route named after one of Edward Abbey's characters, begins in the park.

 

An abundance of wildlife occurs in Arches National Park, including spadefoot toads, antelope squirrels, scrub jays, peregrine falcons, many kinds of sparrows, red foxes, desert bighorn sheep, kangaroo rats, mule deers, cougars, midget faded rattlesnakes, yucca moths, western rattlesnakes, and collared lizards.

 

A number of plant species are common in the park, including prickly pear cactus, Indian ricegrass, bunch grasses, cheatgrass, moss, liverworts, Utah juniper, Mormon tea, blackbrush, cliffrose, four-winged saltbrush, pinyon pine, evening primrose, sand verbena, yucca, and sacred datura.

 

Biological soil crust consisting of cyanobacteria, lichen, mosses, green algae, and microfungi is found throughout southeastern Utah. The fibrous growths help keep soil particles together, creating a layer that is more resistant to erosion. The living soil layer readily absorbs and stores water, allowing more complex forms of plant life to grow in places with low precipitation levels.

 

Among the notable features of the park are the following:

Balanced Rock – a large balancing rock, the size of three school buses

Courthouse Towers – a collection of tall stone columns

Dark Angel – a free-standing 150 ft-tall (46 m) sandstone pillar at the end of the Devils Garden Trail

Delicate Arch – a lone-standing arch that has become a symbol of Utah and the most recognized arch in the park

Devils Garden – many arches and columns scattered along a ridge

Double Arch – two arches that share a common end

Fiery Furnace – an area of maze-like narrow passages and tall rock columns (see biblical reference, Book of Daniel, chapter 3)

Landscape Arch – a very thin and long arch in the Devils Garden with a span of 290 ft (88 m) (the longest arch in the park)

Petrified Dunes – petrified remnants of dunes blown from the ancient lakes that covered the area

The Phallus – a rock spire that resembles a phallus

Wall Arch – located along the popular Devils Garden Trail; collapsed sometime on August 4/5, 2008

The Three Gossips –a mid-sized sandstone tower located in the Courthouse Towers area.

 

Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Colorado to its east, Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, Arizona to its south, and Nevada to its west. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. Of the fifty U.S. states, Utah is the 13th-largest by area; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which is home to roughly two-thirds of the population and includes the capital city, Salt Lake City; and Washington County in the southwest, with more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.

 

Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups such as the ancient Puebloans, Navajo, and Ute. The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the mid-16th century, though the region's difficult geography and harsh climate made it a peripheral part of New Spain and later Mexico. Even while it was Mexican territory, many of Utah's earliest settlers were American, particularly Mormons fleeing marginalization and persecution from the United States via the Mormon Trail. Following the Mexican–American War in 1848, the region was annexed by the U.S., becoming part of the Utah Territory, which included what is now Colorado and Nevada. Disputes between the dominant Mormon community and the federal government delayed Utah's admission as a state; only after the outlawing of polygamy was it admitted in 1896 as the 45th.

 

People from Utah are known as Utahns. Slightly over half of all Utahns are Mormons, the vast majority of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which has its world headquarters in Salt Lake City; Utah is the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church. A 2023 paper challenged this perception (claiming only 42% of Utahns are Mormons) however most statistics still show a majority of Utah residents belong to the LDS church; estimates from the LDS church suggests 60.68% of Utah's population belongs to the church whilst some sources put the number as high as 68%. The paper replied that membership count done by the LDS Church is too high for several reasons. The LDS Church greatly influences Utahn culture, politics, and daily life, though since the 1990s the state has become more religiously diverse as well as secular.

 

Utah has a highly diversified economy, with major sectors including transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, multi-level marketing, and tourism. Utah has been one of the fastest growing states since 2000, with the 2020 U.S. census confirming the fastest population growth in the nation since 2010. St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah ranks among the overall best states in metrics such as healthcare, governance, education, and infrastructure. It has the 12th-highest median average income and the least income inequality of any U.S. state. Over time and influenced by climate change, droughts in Utah have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Utah's water security and impacting the state's economy.

 

The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Utah located in the western United States.

 

Archaeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of humans in Utah to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Paleolithic people lived near the Great Basin's swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, birds, and small game animals. Big game, including bison, mammoths and ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. Over the centuries, the mega-fauna died, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake. Relying more on gathering than the previous Utah residents, their diet was mainly composed of cattails and other salt tolerant plants such as pickleweed, burro weed and sedge. Red meat appears to have been more of a luxury, although these people used nets and the atlatl to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Artifacts include nets woven with plant fibers and rabbit skin, woven sandals, gaming sticks, and animal figures made from split-twigs. About 3,500 years ago, lake levels rose and the population of Desert Archaic people appears to have dramatically decreased. The Great Basin may have been almost unoccupied for 1,000 years.

 

The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River in Utah, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from approximately 600 to 1300 AD. These people lived in areas close to water sources that had been previously occupied by the Desert Archaic people, and may have had some relationship with them. However, their use of new technologies define them as a distinct people. Fremont technologies include:

 

use of the bow and arrow while hunting,

building pithouse shelters,

growing maize and probably beans and squash,

building above ground granaries of adobe or stone,

creating and decorating low-fired pottery ware,

producing art, including jewelry and rock art such as petroglyphs and pictographs.

 

The ancient Puebloan culture, also known as the Anasazi, occupied territory adjacent to the Fremont. The ancestral Puebloan culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the Southwest United States, including the San Juan River region of Utah. Archaeologists debate when this distinct culture emerged, but cultural development seems to date from about the common era, about 500 years before the Fremont appeared. It is generally accepted that the cultural peak of these people was around the 1200 CE. Ancient Puebloan culture is known for well constructed pithouses and more elaborate adobe and masonry dwellings. They were excellent craftsmen, producing turquoise jewelry and fine pottery. The Puebloan culture was based on agriculture, and the people created and cultivated fields of maize, beans, and squash and domesticated turkeys. They designed and produced elaborate field terracing and irrigation systems. They also built structures, some known as kivas, apparently designed solely for cultural and religious rituals.

 

These two later cultures were roughly contemporaneous, and appear to have established trading relationships. They also shared enough cultural traits that archaeologists believe the cultures may have common roots in the early American Southwest. However, each remained culturally distinct throughout most of their existence. These two well established cultures appear to have been severely impacted by climatic change and perhaps by the incursion of new people in about 1200 CE. Over the next two centuries, the Fremont and ancient Pueblo people may have moved into the American southwest, finding new homes and farmlands in the river drainages of Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.

 

In about 1200, Shoshonean speaking peoples entered Utah territory from the west. They may have originated in southern California and moved into the desert environment due to population pressure along the coast. They were an upland people with a hunting and gathering lifestyle utilizing roots and seeds, including the pinyon nut. They were also skillful fishermen, created pottery and raised some crops. When they first arrived in Utah, they lived as small family groups with little tribal organization. Four main Shoshonean peoples inhabited Utah country. The Shoshone in the north and northeast, the Gosiutes in the northwest, the Utes in the central and eastern parts of the region and the Southern Paiutes in the southwest. Initially, there seems to have been very little conflict between these groups.

 

In the early 16th century, the San Juan River basin in Utah's southeast also saw a new people, the Díne or Navajo, part of a greater group of plains Athabaskan speakers moved into the Southwest from the Great Plains. In addition to the Navajo, this language group contained people that were later known as Apaches, including the Lipan, Jicarilla, and Mescalero Apaches.

 

Athabaskans were a hunting people who initially followed the bison, and were identified in 16th-century Spanish accounts as "dog nomads". The Athabaskans expanded their range throughout the 17th century, occupying areas the Pueblo peoples had abandoned during prior centuries. The Spanish first specifically mention the "Apachu de Nabajo" (Navaho) in the 1620s, referring to the people in the Chama valley region east of the San Juan River, and north west of Santa Fe. By the 1640s, the term Navaho was applied to these same people. Although the Navajo newcomers established a generally peaceful trading and cultural exchange with the some modern Pueblo peoples to the south, they experienced intermittent warfare with the Shoshonean peoples, particularly the Utes in eastern Utah and western Colorado.

 

At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, the Ute, the Paiute and the Navajo.

 

The Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary Cíbola.

 

A group led by two Spanish Catholic priests—sometimes called the Domínguez–Escalante expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the California coast. The expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. All of what is now Utah was claimed by the Spanish Empire from the 1500s to 1821 as part of New Spain (later as the province Alta California); and subsequently claimed by Mexico from 1821 to 1848. However, Spain and Mexico had little permanent presence in, or control of, the region.

 

Fur trappers (also known as mountain men) including Jim Bridger, explored some regions of Utah in the early 19th century. The city of Provo was named for one such man, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah is named for a brigade leader of the Hudson's Bay Company, Peter Skene Ogden who trapped in the Weber Valley. In 1846, a year before the arrival of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, the ill-fated Donner Party crossed through the Salt Lake valley late in the season, deciding not to stay the winter there but to continue forward to California, and beyond.

 

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormon pioneers, first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, the U.S. had already captured the Mexican territories of Alta California and New Mexico in the Mexican–American War and planned to keep them, but those territories, including the future state of Utah, officially became United States territory upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10, 1848.

 

Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormon pioneers found no permanent settlement of Indians. Other areas along the Wasatch Range were occupied at the time of settlement by the Northwestern Shoshone and adjacent areas by other bands of Shoshone such as the Gosiute. The Northwestern Shoshone lived in the valleys on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake and in adjacent mountain valleys. Some years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley Mormons, who went on to colonize many other areas of what is now Utah, were petitioned by Indians for recompense for land taken. The response of Heber C. Kimball, first counselor to Brigham Young, was that the land belonged to "our Father in Heaven and we expect to plow and plant it." A 1945 Supreme Court decision found that the land had been treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone had been recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States.

 

Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons had to make a place to live. They created irrigation systems, laid out farms, built houses, churches, and schools. Access to water was crucially important. Almost immediately, Brigham Young set out to identify and claim additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the Great Basin where water sources were dependable and growing seasons long enough to raise vitally important subsistence crops, satellite communities began to be formed.

 

Shortly after the first company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the community of Bountiful was settled to the north. In 1848, settlers moved into lands purchased from trapper Miles Goodyear in present-day Ogden. In 1849, Tooele and Provo were founded. Also that year, at the invitation of Ute chief Wakara, settlers moved into the Sanpete Valley in central Utah to establish the community of Manti. Fillmore, Utah, intended to be the capital of the new territory, was established in 1851. In 1855, missionary efforts aimed at western native cultures led to outposts in Fort Lemhi, Idaho, Las Vegas, Nevada and Elk Mountain in east-central Utah.

 

The experiences of returning members of the Mormon Battalion were also important in establishing new communities. On their journey west, the Mormon soldiers had identified dependable rivers and fertile river valleys in Colorado, Arizona and southern California. In addition, as the men traveled to rejoin their families in the Salt Lake Valley, they moved through southern Nevada and the eastern segments of southern Utah. Jefferson Hunt, a senior Mormon officer of the Battalion, actively searched for settlement sites, minerals, and other resources. His report encouraged 1851 settlement efforts in Iron County, near present-day Cedar City. These southern explorations eventually led to Mormon settlements in St. George, Utah, Las Vegas and San Bernardino, California, as well as communities in southern Arizona.

 

Prior to establishment of the Oregon and California trails and Mormon settlement, Indians native to the Salt Lake Valley and adjacent areas lived by hunting buffalo and other game, but also gathered grass seed from the bountiful grass of the area as well as roots such as those of the Indian Camas. By the time of settlement, indeed before 1840, the buffalo were gone from the valley, but hunting by settlers and grazing of cattle severely impacted the Indians in the area, and as settlement expanded into nearby river valleys and oases, indigenous tribes experienced increasing difficulty in gathering sufficient food. Brigham Young's counsel was to feed the hungry tribes, and that was done, but it was often not enough. These tensions formed the background to the Bear River massacre committed by California Militia stationed in Salt Lake City during the Civil War. The site of the massacre is just inside Preston, Idaho, but was generally thought to be within Utah at the time.

 

Statehood was petitioned for in 1849-50 using the name Deseret. The proposed State of Deseret would have been quite large, encompassing all of what is now Utah, and portions of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and California. The name of Deseret was favored by the LDS leader Brigham Young as a symbol of industry and was derived from a reference in the Book of Mormon. The petition was rejected by Congress and Utah did not become a state until 1896, following the Utah Constitutional Convention of 1895.

 

In 1850, the Utah Territory was created with the Compromise of 1850, and Fillmore (named after President Fillmore) was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital.

 

The first group of pioneers brought African slaves with them, making Utah the only place in the western United States to have African slavery. Three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with this first group in 1847. The settlers also began to purchase Indian slaves in the well-established Indian slave trade, as well as enslaving Indian prisoners of war. In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County. Slavery didn't become officially recognized until 1852, when the Act in Relation to Service and the Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners were passed. Slavery was repealed on June 19, 1862, when Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories.

 

Disputes between the Mormon inhabitants and the federal government intensified after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' practice of polygamy became known. The polygamous practices of the Mormons, which were made public in 1854, would be one of the major reasons Utah was denied statehood until almost 50 years after the Mormons had entered the area.

 

After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed by some as un-American and rebellious. In 1857, after news of a possible rebellion spread, President James Buchanan sent troops on the Utah expedition to quell the growing unrest and to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming. The expedition was also known as the Utah War.

 

As fear of invasion grew, Mormon settlers had convinced some Paiute Indians to aid in a Mormon-led attack on 120 immigrants from Arkansas under the guise of Indian aggression. The murder of these settlers became known as the Mountain Meadows massacre. The Mormon leadership had adopted a defensive posture that led to a ban on the selling of grain to outsiders in preparation for an impending war. This chafed pioneers traveling through the region, who were unable to purchase badly needed supplies. A disagreement between some of the Arkansas pioneers and the Mormons in Cedar City led to the secret planning of the massacre by a few Mormon leaders in the area. Some scholars debate the involvement of Brigham Young. Only one man, John D. Lee, was ever convicted of the murders, and he was executed at the massacre site.

 

Express riders had brought the news 1,000 miles from the Missouri River settlements to Salt Lake City within about two weeks of the army's beginning to march west. Fearing the worst as 2,500 troops (roughly 1/3rd of the army then) led by General Albert Sidney Johnston started west, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City and neighboring communities to prepare their homes for burning and evacuate southward to Utah Valley and southern Utah. Young also sent out a few units of the Nauvoo Legion (numbering roughly 8,000–10,000), to delay the army's advance. The majority he sent into the mountains to prepare defenses or south to prepare for a scorched earth retreat. Although some army wagon supply trains were captured and burned and herds of army horses and cattle run off no serious fighting occurred. Starting late and short on supplies, the United States Army camped during the bitter winter of 1857–58 near a burned out Fort Bridger in Wyoming. Through the negotiations between emissary Thomas L. Kane, Young, Cumming and Johnston, control of Utah territory was peacefully transferred to Cumming, who entered an eerily vacant Salt Lake City in the spring of 1858. By agreement with Young, Johnston established the army at Fort Floyd 40 miles away from Salt Lake City, to the southwest.

 

Salt Lake City was the last link of the First Transcontinental Telegraph, between Carson City, Nevada and Omaha, Nebraska completed in October 1861. Brigham Young, who had helped expedite construction, was among the first to send a message, along with Abraham Lincoln and other officials. Soon after the telegraph line was completed, the Deseret Telegraph Company built the Deseret line connecting the settlements in the territory with Salt Lake City and, by extension, the rest of the United States.

 

Because of the American Civil War, federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory (and their fort auctioned off), leaving the territorial government in federal hands without army backing until General Patrick E. Connor arrived with the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers in 1862. While in Utah, Connor and his troops soon became discontent with this assignment wanting to head to Virginia where the "real" fighting and glory was occurring. Connor established Fort Douglas just three miles (5 km) east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his bored and often idle soldiers to go out and explore for mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County, and some miners began to come to the territory. Conner also solved the Shoshone Indian problem in Cache Valley Utah by luring the Shoshone into a midwinter confrontation on January 29, 1863. The armed conflict quickly turned into a rout, discipline among the soldiers broke down, and the Battle of Bear River is today usually referred to by historians as the Bear River Massacre. Between 200 and 400 Shoshone men, women and children were killed, as were 27 soldiers, with over 50 more soldiers wounded or suffering from frostbite.

 

Beginning in 1865, Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief Antonga Black Hawk died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the Ghost Dance of 1872. The war is unique among Indian Wars because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos Utes led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and Utah local militia.

 

On May 10, 1869, the First transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad brought increasing numbers of people into the state, and several influential businessmen made fortunes in the territory.

 

Main article: Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late-19th century

During the 1870s and 1880s, federal laws were passed and federal marshals assigned to enforce the laws against polygamy. In the 1890 Manifesto, the LDS Church leadership dropped its approval of polygamy citing divine revelation. When Utah applied for statehood again in 1895, it was accepted. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896.

 

The Mormon issue made the situation for women the topic of nationwide controversy. In 1870 the Utah Territory, controlled by Mormons, gave women the right to vote. However, in 1887, Congress disenfranchised Utah women with the Edmunds–Tucker Act. In 1867–96, eastern activists promoted women's suffrage in Utah as an experiment, and as a way to eliminate polygamy. They were Presbyterians and other Protestants convinced that Mormonism was a non-Christian cult that grossly mistreated women. The Mormons promoted woman suffrage to counter the negative image of downtrodden Mormon women. With the 1890 Manifesto clearing the way for statehood, in 1895 Utah adopted a constitution restoring the right of women's suffrage. Congress admitted Utah as a state with that constitution in 1896.

 

Though less numerous than other intermountain states at the time, several lynching murders for alleged misdeeds occurred in Utah territory at the hand of vigilantes. Those documented include the following, with their ethnicity or national origin noted in parentheses if it was provided in the source:

 

William Torrington in Carson City (then a part of Utah territory), 1859

Thomas Coleman (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1866

3 unidentified men at Wahsatch, winter of 1868

A Black man in Uintah, 1869

Charles A. Benson in Logan, 1873

Ah Sing (Chinese man) in Corinne, 1874

Thomas Forrest in St. George, 1880

William Harvey (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1883

John Murphy in Park City, 1883

George Segal (Japanese man) in Ogden, 1884

Joseph Fisher in Eureka, 1886

Robert Marshall (Black man) in Castle Gate, 1925

Other lynchings in Utah territory include multiple instances of mass murder of Native American children, women, and men by White settlers including the Battle Creek massacre (1849), Provo River Massacre (1850), Nephi massacre (1853), and Circleville Massacre (1866).

 

Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park, Utah began to become known for its natural beauty. Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes, and such natural landmarks as Delicate Arch and "the Mittens" of Monument Valley are instantly recognizable to most national residents. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, with the construction of the Interstate highway system, accessibility to the southern scenic areas was made easier.

 

Beginning in 1939, with the establishment of Alta Ski Area, Utah has become world-renowned for its skiing. The dry, powdery snow of the Wasatch Range is considered some of the best skiing in the world. Salt Lake City won the bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, and this has served as a great boost to the economy. The ski resorts have increased in popularity, and many of the Olympic venues scattered across the Wasatch Front continue to be used for sporting events. This also spurred the development of the light-rail system in the Salt Lake Valley, known as TRAX, and the re-construction of the freeway system around the city.

 

During the late 20th century, the state grew quickly. In the 1970s, growth was phenomenal in the suburbs. Sandy was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country at that time, and West Valley City is the state's 2nd most populous city. Today, many areas of Utah are seeing phenomenal growth. Northern Davis, southern and western Salt Lake, Summit, eastern Tooele, Utah, Wasatch, and Washington counties are all growing very quickly. Transportation and urbanization are major issues in politics as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas.

 

In 2012, the State of Utah passed the Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act in an attempt to gain control over a substantial portion of federal land in the state from the federal government, based on language in the Utah Enabling Act of 1894. The State does not intend to use force or assert control by limiting access in an attempt to control the disputed lands, but does intend to use a multi-step process of education, negotiation, legislation, and if necessary, litigation as part of its multi-year effort to gain state or private control over the lands after 2014.

 

Utah families, like most Americans everywhere, did their utmost to assist in the war effort. Tires, meat, butter, sugar, fats, oils, coffee, shoes, boots, gasoline, canned fruits, vegetables, and soups were rationed on a national basis. The school day was shortened and bus routes were reduced to limit the number of resources used stateside and increase what could be sent to soldiers.

 

Geneva Steel was built to increase the steel production for America during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had proposed opening a steel mill in Utah in 1936, but the idea was shelved after a couple of months. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war and the steel plant was put into progress. In April 1944, Geneva shipped its first order, which consisted of over 600 tons of steel plate. Geneva Steel also brought thousands of job opportunities to Utah. The positions were hard to fill as many of Utah's men were overseas fighting. Women began working, filling 25 percent of the jobs.

 

As a result of Utah's and Geneva Steels contribution during the war, several Liberty Ships were named in honor of Utah including the USS Joseph Smith, USS Brigham Young, USS Provo, and the USS Peter Skene Ogden.

 

One of the sectors of the beachhead of Normandy Landings was codenamed Utah Beach, and the amphibious landings at the beach were undertaken by United States Army troops.

 

It is estimated that 1,450 soldiers from Utah were killed in the war.

 

75252 Duel on Mustafar - $119.99

 

Battle it out between the light and dark sides of the Force!

This LEGO® recreation of the epic duel between Jedi in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith includes a full playset of the Mustafar mining facility with force jump floor panels, collapsing building parts, a table with turning plates, lava shooter, and more! This set includes 1126 pieces, 4 minifigures and an R2-D2 Astromech droid figure.

 

Includes 4 minifigures: Anakin Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, C-3PO, and an R2-D2 Astromech droid figure.

 

• Features the Mustafar mining facility with mining platform, robot, and high ground builds.

 

• Launch Anakin off the mining platform at Obi-wan on the high ground.

 

• Breakaway the building's platforms into the lava.

 

• Spin and shoot magma blasts from atop the building.

 

• Place Anakin and Obi-wan on the conference table and move the levers underneath for lightsaber battle action.

 

• Change Anakin to the dark side with reversible minifigure head!

 

• Relive exciting scenes from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

 

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was published in 1986 by Whiteway Publications Ltd. of Unit 1, Bard Road, London W10. The photography was by Rex Features, and the card, which has a divided back, was printed in England.

 

Prince Andrew, Duke of York

 

Prince Andrew, Duke of York, KG, GCVO, CD was born Andrew Albert Christian Edward on the 19th. February 1960.

 

He is a member of the British royal family, and the younger brother of King Charles III and the third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

 

Andrew is eighth in the line of succession to the British throne, and the first person in the line who is not a descendant of the reigning monarch.

 

Andrew served in the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot and instructor, and as the captain of a warship. During the Falklands War, he flew on multiple missions including anti-surface warfare, casualty evacuation, and Exocet missile decoy.

 

In 1986, he married Sarah Ferguson and was made Duke of York. They have two daughters: Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Their marriage, separation in 1992, and divorce in 1996 attracted extensive media coverage.

 

Andrew served as the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment for 10 years until July 2011.

 

In 2014, the American-Australian campaigner Virginia Giuffre alleged that, as a 17-year-old, she was sex-trafficked to Andrew by the American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

 

Andrew denied any wrongdoing. Following criticism for his association with Epstein, Andrew resigned from public roles in May 2020, and his honorary military affiliations and royal charitable patronages were removed by Queen Elizabeth II in January 2022.

 

He was the defendant in a civil lawsuit over sexual assault filed by Giuffre in the State of New York. The lawsuit was settled out of court in February 2022.

 

Prince Andrew - The Early Years

 

Andrew was born in the Belgian Suite of Buckingham Palace on the 19th. February 1960 at 3:30 p.m. He was baptised in the palace's Music Room on the 8th. April 1960.

 

Andrew was the first child born to a reigning British monarch since Princess Beatrice in 1857. As with his siblings, Charles, Anne, and Edward, Andrew was looked after by a governess, who was responsible for his early education at Buckingham Palace.

 

Andrew was sent to Heatherdown School near Ascot in Berkshire. In September 1973, he entered Gordonstoun, in northern Scotland, which his father and elder brother had also attended.

 

He was nicknamed "the Sniggerer" by his schoolmates at Gordonstoun, because of "his penchant for off-colour jokes, at which he laughed inordinately".

 

While there, he spent six months—from January to June 1977—participating in an exchange programme to Lakefield College School in Canada. He left Gordonstoun in July two years later with A-levels in English, History, and Economics.

 

Prince Andrew's Military Service

 

Royal Navy Service

 

The Royal Household announced in November 1978 that Andrew would join the Royal Navy the following year.

 

In December, he underwent various sporting tests and examinations at the Aircrew Selection Centre at RAF Biggin Hill, along with further tests and interviews at HMS Daedalus, and interviews at the Admiralty Interview Board, HMS Sultan.

 

During March and April 1979, he was enrolled at the Royal Naval College Flight, undergoing pilot training, until he was accepted as a trainee helicopter pilot and signed on for 12 years from the 11th. May 1979.

 

On the 1st. September 1979, Andrew was appointed as a midshipman, and entered Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

 

During 1979 Andrew also completed the Royal Marines All Arms Commando Course for which he received his Green Beret. He was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant on the 1st. September 1981, and appointed to the Trained Strength on the 22nd. October.

 

After passing out from Dartmouth, Andrew went on to elementary flying training with the Royal Air Force at RAF Leeming, and later, basic flying training with the navy at HMS Seahawk, where he learned to fly the Gazelle helicopter.

 

After being awarded his wings, Andrew moved on to more advanced training on the Sea King helicopter, and conducted operational flying training until 1982. He joined carrier-based squadron, 820 Naval Air Squadron, serving aboard the aircraft carrier, HMS Invincible.

 

The Falklands War

 

On the 2nd. April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory, leading to the Falklands War.

 

Invincible was one of the two operational aircraft carriers available at the time, and, as such, was to play a major role in the Royal Navy task force assembled to sail south to retake the islands.

 

Andrew's place on board and the possibility of the Queen's son being killed in action made the British government apprehensive, and the cabinet desired that Prince Andrew be moved to a desk job for the duration of the conflict.

 

The Queen, though, insisted that her son be allowed to remain with his ship. Prince Andrew remained on board Invincible to serve as a Sea King helicopter co-pilot, flying on missions that included anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare.

 

Andrew's other roles included acting as an Exocet missile decoy, casualty evacuation, transport, and search and air rescue. He witnessed the Argentinian attack on the SS Atlantic Conveyor.

 

At the end of the war, Invincible returned to Portsmouth, where Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip joined other families of the crew in welcoming the vessel home.

 

The Argentine military government reportedly planned, but did not attempt, to assassinate Andrew on Mustique in July 1982.

 

Though he had brief assignments to HMS Illustrious, RNAS Culdrose, and the Joint Services School of Intelligence, Prince Andrew remained with Invincible until 1983. Commander Nigel Ward's memoir, Sea Harrier Over the Falklands, described Prince Andrew as:

 

"An excellent pilot and a

very promising officer."

 

Prince Andrew's Career as a Naval Officer

 

In late 1983, Andrew transferred to RNAS Portland, and was trained to fly the Lynx helicopter. On the 1st. February 1984 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, whereupon Queen Elizabeth II appointed him as her personal aide-de-camp.

 

Prince Andrew served aboard HMS Brazen as a flight pilot until 1986, including deployment to the Mediterranean Sea as part of Standing NRF Maritime Group 2.

 

On the 23rd. October 1986, the Duke of York (as he was by then) transferred to the General List, enrolled in a four-month helicopter warfare instructor's course at RNAS Yeovilton, and, upon graduation, served from February 1987 to April 1988 as a helicopter warfare officer in 702 Naval Air Squadron, RNAS Portland.

 

He also served on HMS Edinburgh as an officer of the watch and Assistant Navigating Officer until 1989, including a six-month deployment to the Far East as part of Exercise Outback 88.

 

The Duke of York served as flight commander and pilot of the Lynx HAS3 on HMS Campbeltown from 1989 to 1991. He also acted as Force Aviation Officer to Standing NRF Maritime Group 1 while Campbeltown was flagship of the NATO force in the North Atlantic from 1990 to 1991.

 

Andrew passed the squadron command examination on the 16th. July 1991, attended the Staff College, Camberley the following year, and completed the Army Staff course. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander on the 1st. February 1992, and passed the ship command examination on the 12th. March 1992.

 

From 1993 to 1994, Prince Andrew commanded the Hunt-class minehunter HMS Cottesmore.

 

From 1995 to 1996, Andrew was posted as Senior Pilot of 815 Naval Air Squadron, at the time the largest flying unit in the Fleet Air Arm. His main responsibility was to supervise flying standards and to guarantee an effective operational capability.

 

He was promoted to Commander on the 27th. April 1999, finishing his active naval career at the Ministry of Defence in 2001, as an officer of the Diplomatic Directorate of the Naval Staff.

 

In July 2001, Andrew was retired from the Active List of the Navy. Three years later, he was made an Honorary Captain. On the 19th. February 2010, his 50th. birthday, he was promoted to Rear Admiral.

 

Five years later, he was promoted to Vice Admiral.

 

Andrew ceased using his honorary military titles in January 2022. The action came after more than 150 Royal Navy, RAF and Army veterans signed a letter, requesting that Queen Elizabeth II remove his honorary military appointments in the light of his involvement in a sexual assault civil case.

 

However it was reported that he would still retain his service rank of Vice Admiral.

 

Prince Andrew's Personal Life

 

Personal Interests

 

Andrew is a keen golfer, and has had a low single-figure handicap. He was captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews between 2003 and 2004—during the club's 250th. anniversary season.

 

He was also patron of a number of royal golf clubs, and had been elected as an honorary member of many others. In 2004, he was criticised by Labour Co-op MP Ian Davidson, who in a letter to the NAO questioned Andrew's decision to fly to St. Andrews on RAF aircraft for two golfing trips.

 

Andrew resigned his honorary membership of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews when the Queen removed royal patronages at several golf clubs. His honorary membership of the Royal Dornoch Golf Club was revoked in the following month.

 

Andrew is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, the senior maritime City livery company.

 

Prince Andrew's Relationship with Koo Stark

 

Andrew met the American photographer and actress Koo Stark in February 1981, before his active service in the Falklands War. In October 1982, they took a holiday together on the island of Mustique.

 

Tina Brown said that Stark was Andrew's only serious love interest. In 1983, they split up under pressure from press, paparazzi, and palace.

 

In 1997, Andrew became godfather to Stark's daughter. When Andrew was facing accusations in 2015 over his connection to Jeffrey Epstein, Koo came to his defence.

 

Prince Andrew's Marriage to Sarah Ferguson

 

Andrew had known Sarah Ferguson since childhood; they had met occasionally at polo matches, and became re-acquainted with each other at Royal Ascot in 1985.

 

Andrew married Sarah at Westminster Abbey on the 23rd. July 1986. On the same day, Queen Elizabeth II created him Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, and Baron Killyleagh.

 

The couple appeared to have a happy marriage and had two daughters together, Beatrice and Eugenie, presenting a united outward appearance during the late 1980's. His wife's personal qualities were seen as refreshing in the context of the formal protocol surrounding the royal family.

 

However, Andrew's frequent travel due to his military career, as well as relentless, often critical, media attention focused on the Duchess of York, led to fractures in the marriage.

 

On the 19th. March 1992, the couple announced plans to separate, and did so in an amicable way. Some months later, pictures appeared in the tabloid media of the Duchess in intimate association with John Bryan, her financial advisor at the time, which effectively ended any hopes of a reconciliation between Andrew and Sarah.

 

The marriage ended in divorce on the 30th. May 1996. The Duke of York spoke fondly of his former wife:

 

"We have managed to work together

to bring our children up in a way that

few others have been able to, and I

am extremely grateful to be able to

do that."

 

The couple agreed to share custody of their two daughters, and the family continued to live at Sunninghill Park (built near Windsor Great Park for the couple in 1990) until Andrew moved to the Royal Lodge in 2004.

 

In 2007, Sarah moved into Dolphin House in Englefield Green, less than a mile from the Royal Lodge. In 2008, a fire at Dolphin House resulted in Sarah moving into Royal Lodge, again sharing a house with Andrew.

 

Andrew's lease of Royal Lodge is for 75 years, with the Crown Estate as landlord, at a cost of a single £1 million premium and a commitment to spend £7.5 million on refurbishment.

 

In May 2010, Sarah was filmed by a News of the World reporter saying Andrew had agreed that if she were to receive £500,000, he would meet the donor and pass on useful top-level business contacts.

 

She was filmed receiving, in cash, $40,000 as a down payment. The paper said that Andrew did not know of the situation. In July 2011, Sarah stated that her multi-million pound debts had been cleared due to the intervention of her former husband, whom she compared to a "knight on a white charger".

 

Prince Andrews' Activities and Charitable Work

 

The Duke was patron of the Middle East Association (MEA), the UK's premier organisation for promoting trade and good relations with the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Iran.

 

Since his role as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment ended, Andrew continued to support UK enterprise without a special role.

 

Robert Jobson said he did this work well and wrote:

 

"He is particularly passionate when dealing

with young start-up entrepreneurs and

bringing them together with successful

businesses at networking and showcasing

events.

Andrew is direct and to the point, and his

methods seem to work".

 

The Duke was also patron of Fight for Sight, a charity dedicated to research into the prevention and treatment of blindness and eye disease, and was a member of the Scout Association.

 

He toured Canada frequently to undertake duties related to his Canadian military role. Rick Peters, the former Commanding Officer of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada stated that Prince Andrew was "very well informed on Canadian military methods".

 

While touring India as a part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Andrew became interested in the work of Women's Interlink Foundation (WIF), a charity which helps women acquire skills to earn income.

 

He and his family later initiated Key to Freedom, a project which tries to "find a route to market for products made by WIF".

 

On the 3rd. September 2012, Andrew was among a team of 40 people who abseiled down The Shard (tallest building in Europe) to raise money for educational charities.

 

In 2013, it was announced that Andrew was becoming the patron of London Metropolitan University and the University of Huddersfield. In July 2015, he was installed as Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield.

 

In recognition of Andrew's promotion of entrepreneurship he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge on the 1st. May 2018.

 

He became the patron of the charity Attend in 2003, and was a member of the International Advisory Board of the Royal United Services Institute.

 

In 2014, Andrew founded the Pitch@Palace initiative to support entrepreneurs with the amplification and acceleration of their business ideas. Entrepreneurs selected for Pitch@Palace Bootcamp are officially invited by Andrew to attend St. James Palace in order to pitch their ideas and to be connected with potential investors, mentors and business contacts.

 

The Duke also founded The Prince Andrew Charitable Trust which aimed to support young people in different areas such as education and training.

 

He also founded a number of awards including Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA), a programme to develop the digital and enterprise skills, the Duke of York Award for Technical Education, given to talented young people in technical education, and the Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Award, which recognised talents of young people in entrepreneurship.

 

The Duke of York lent his support to organisations that focus on science and technology by becoming the patron of Catalyst Inc and TeenTech.

 

In 2014, Andrew visited Geneva, Switzerland, to promote British science at CERN's 60th. anniversary celebrations. In May 2018, he visited China and opened the Pitch@Palace China Bootcamp 2.0 at Peking University.

 

In March 2019, Andrew took over the patronage of the Outward Bound Trust from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, serving up until his own resignation in November 2019. The charity tries to instil leadership qualities among young people.

 

In May 2019, it was announced that Andrew had succeeded Lord Carrington as patron of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust.

 

On 13 January 2022, it was announced that his royal patronages had been handed back to the Queen to be distributed among other members of the royal family.

 

Prince Andrew's Health

 

On the 2nd. June 2022, Andrew tested positive for COVID-19, and it was announced that he would not be present at the Platinum Jubilee National Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral on the 3rd. June.

 

Allegations of Sexual Abuse

 

Andrew was friends with Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2008. BBC News reported in March 2011 that the friendship was producing "a steady stream of criticism", and that there were calls for him to step down from his role as trade envoy.

 

Andrew was also criticised in the media after his former wife, Sarah, disclosed that he helped arrange for Epstein to pay off £15,000 of her debts.

 

Andrew had been photographed in December 2010 strolling with Epstein in Central Park during a visit to New York City. In July 2011, Andrew's role as trade envoy was terminated, and he reportedly cut all ties with Epstein.

 

On the 30th. December 2014, a Florida court filing on behalf of lawyers Edwards and Cassell alleged that Andrew was one of several prominent figures, including lawyer Alan Dershowitz and "a former prime minister", to have participated in sexual activities with a minor later identified as Virginia Giuffre (then known by her maiden name Virginia Roberts), who was allegedly trafficked by Epstein.

 

An affidavit from Giuffre was included in an earlier lawsuit from 2008 accusing the US Justice Department of violating the Crime Victims' Rights Act during Epstein's first criminal case by not allowing several of his victims to challenge his plea deal; Andrew was otherwise not a party to the lawsuit.

 

In January 2015, there was renewed media and public pressure for Buckingham Palace to explain Andrew's connection with Epstein. Buckingham Palace stated that:

 

"Any suggestion of impropriety with

underage minors is categorically

untrue."

 

The denial was later repeated.

 

Requests from Giuffre's lawyers for a statement from Andrew about the allegations, under oath, were returned unanswered.

 

Dershowitz denied the allegations in Giuffre's statement and sought disbarment of the lawyers filing the suit. Edwards and Cassell sued Dershowitz for defamation in January 2015; he countersued.

 

The two parties settled in 2016 for an undisclosed financial sum. Epstein sued Edwards for civil racketeering, but later dropped his suit; Edwards countersued for malicious prosecution with the result that Epstein issued a public apology to the lawyer in December 2018.

 

Giuffre asserted that she had sex with Andrew on three occasions, including a trip to London in 2001 when she was 17, and later in New York and on Little Saint James in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

She alleged Epstein paid her $15,000 after she had sex with Andrew in London. Flight logs show Andrew and Giuffre were in the places where she alleged their meetings took place.

 

Andrew was also photographed with his arm around Giuffre's waist with an Epstein associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, in the background. Andrew's supporters have repeatedly said the photo is fake and edited.

 

Giuffre stated that she was pressured to have sex with Andrew and "wouldn't have dared object" as Epstein, through contacts, could have her "killed or abducted".

 

On the 7th. April 2015, Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that:

 

"The sex allegations made against

Andrew in court papers filed in Florida

must be struck from the public record".

 

Marra made no ruling as to whether claims by Giuffre are true or false, specifically stating that she may later give evidence when the case comes to court. Giuffre stated that she would not "be bullied back into silence".

 

Tuan "John" Alessi, who was Epstein's butler, stated in a deposition he filed for Giuffre's 2016 defamation case against Maxwell that Andrew's hitherto unremarked visits to the Epstein house in Palm Beach were more frequent than previously thought. He maintained that Andrew "spent weeks with us" and received "daily massages".

 

In August 2019, court documents for a defamation case between Giuffre and Maxwell revealed that a second girl, Johanna Sjoberg, gave evidence alleging that Andrew had placed his hand on her breast while in Epstein's mansion posing for a photo with his Spitting Image puppet.

 

Later that month, Andrew released a statement that said:

 

"At no stage during the limited time I

spent with Epstein did I see, witness

or suspect any behaviour of the sort

that subsequently led to his arrest

and conviction."

 

Andrew did however express regret for meeting him in 2010 after Epstein had already pleaded guilty to sex crimes for the first time.

 

At the end of August 2019, The New Republic published a September 2013 email exchange between John Brockman and Evgeny Morozov, in which Brockman mentioned seeing a British man nicknamed "Andy" receive a foot massage from two Russian women at Epstein's New York residence in 2010. He had realised that:

 

"The recipient of Irina's foot massage

was His Royal Highness, Prince Andrew,

the Duke of York".

 

In July 2020, Caroline Kaufman, an alleged victim of Epstein, said in a federal lawsuit that she had seen Andrew at Epstein's New York mansion in December 2010.

 

In November 2021 Lawrence Visoski, Epstein's pilot, testified in court during Ghislaine Maxwell's trial that Prince Andrew flew in Epstein's private plane along with other prominent individuals, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and John Glenn.

 

Visoski stated he did not notice any sexual activity or wrongdoing on the plane.

 

Similarly, Andrew's name was recorded on the 12th. May 2001 by Epstein's pilot David Rodgers in his logbook, and he testified that Andrew flew three times with Epstein and Giuffre in 2001.

 

The following month a picture of Epstein and Maxwell, sitting at a cabin on the Queen's Balmoral estate, around 1999, at the invitation of Andrew, was shown to the jury to establish their status as partners.

 

On the 5th. January 2022, Virginia Giuffre's former boyfriend, Anthony Figueroa, said on Good Morning Britain that Giuffre told him Epstein would take her to meet Prince Andrew. He said:

 

"She called me when she was on the trip

and she was talking about she knew what

they wanted her to do and she was really

nervous and scared because she didn't

know how to react to it".

 

He alleged the meeting had taken place in London. In a court filing, Andrew's lawyers had previously referred to a statement by Figueroa's sister, Crystal Figueroa, who alleged that in her bid to find victims for Epstein, Giuffre had asked her:

 

"Do you know any girls

who are kind of slutty?"

 

The same month, Carolyn Andriano, who as a 14-year-old was introduced by Giuffre to Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein and was a prosecution witness in Maxwell's trial, said in an interview with the Daily Mail that then 17-year-old Giuffre told her in 2001 that she had slept with Prince Andrew. She stated:

 

"Giuffre said, 'I got to sleep with him'.

She didn't seem upset about it. She

thought it was pretty cool."

 

In an ITV documentary, former royal protection officer Paul Page, who was convicted and given a six year sentence following a £3 million property investment scam in 2009, recounted Maxwell's frequent visits to Buckingham Palace, and suggested the two might have had an intimate relationship, while Lady Victoria Hervey added that Andrew was present at social occasions held by Maxwell.

 

The Duke of York's name and contact numbers for Buckingham Palace, Sunninghill Park, Wood Farm and Balmoral also appeared in Maxwell and Epstein's 'Little Black Book', a list of contacts of the duo's powerful and famous friends.

 

In February 2022, The Daily Telegraph published a photograph of Andrew along with Maxwell giving a tour of Buckingham Palace to Andrew's guests Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey, with a member of the tour party describing Maxwell as:

 

"The one who led us into

Buckingham Palace".

 

Tina Brown, a journalist who edited Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The Daily Beast, maintains Epstein described Andrew behind his back as an idiot, but found him useful. Brown stated:

 

"Epstein confided to a friend that he used

to fly Andrew to obscure foreign markets,

where governments were obliged to

receive him, and Epstein went along as

HRH's investment adviser.

With Andrew as frontman, Epstein could

negotiate deals with these (often) shady

players".

 

In October 2022, Ghislaine Maxwell was interviewed by a documentary filmmaker while serving her sentence in prison, and when asked about her relationship with Andrew, Maxwell stated that:

 

"I feel bad for him, but I accept our

friendship could not survive my

conviction.

He is paying such a price for the

association.

I consider him a dear friend. I care

about him."

 

She also stated that she now believed the photograph showing her together with Andrew and Virginia Giuffre was not "a true image," and added that in an email to her lawyer in 2015 she was trying to confirm that she recognised her own house, but the whole image cannot be authentic as "the original has never been produced".

 

The Newsnight Interview

 

In November 2019, the BBC's Newsnight arranged an interview between Andrew and presenter Emily Maitlis in which he recounted his friendship with Epstein for the first time.

 

In the interview, Prince Andrew says he met Epstein in 1999 through Maxwell; this contradicts comments made by Andrew's private secretary in 2011, who said the two met in "the early 1990's".

 

The Duke also said he did not regret his friendship with Epstein, saying:

 

"The people that I met and the opportunities

that I was given to learn, either by him or

because of him, were actually very useful".

 

In the interview, Andrew denied having sex with Giuffre on the 10th. March 2001, as she had accused, because he had been at home with his daughters after attending a party at PizzaExpress in Woking with his elder daughter Beatrice.

 

Prince Andrew also added that Giuffre's claims about dancing with him at a club in London while he was sweaty were false due to him temporarily losing the ability to sweat after an "adrenaline overdose" during the Falklands War.

 

However, according to physicians consulted by The Times, an adrenaline overdose typically causes excessive sweating in humans.

 

Andrew also said that he does not drink, despite Giuffre's account of him providing alcohol for them both. Accounts from other people have supported his statement that he does not drink.

 

Andrew said that he had stayed in Epstein's mansion for three days in 2010, after Epstein's conviction for sex offences against a minor, describing the location as "a convenient place to stay".

 

The Duke said that he met Epstein for the sole purpose of breaking off any future relationship with him. He also said that he would be willing to testify under oath regarding his associations with Epstein.

 

In the 2019 BBC interview, Andrew told Newsnight that his association with Epstein was derived from his long-standing friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later convicted of colluding in Epstein's sexual abuse.

 

In July 2022 it was announced that a film would be made of the preparations for the interview and the interview itself. Shooting was planned to start in November 2022. According to Deadline, Scoop is being written by Peter Moffat.

 

The Civil Lawsuit

 

In August 2021, Virginia Giuffre sued Prince Andrew in the federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, accusing him of "sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress."

 

The lawsuit was filed under New York's Child Victims Act, legislation extending the statute of limitations where the plaintiff had been under 18 at the time, 17 in Giuffre's case.

 

On the 29th. October 2021, Andrew's lawyers filed a response, stating that:

 

"Our client unequivocally denies

Giuffre's false allegations".

 

On the 12th. January 2022, Judge Kaplan rejected Andrew's attempts to dismiss the case, allowing the sexual abuse lawsuit to proceed.

 

In February 2022, the case was settled out of court, with Andrew making a donation to Giuffre's charity for victims of abuse.

 

The Guardian reported that:

 

"The Queen's decision to strip Andrew

of his royal patronages, honorary military

titles and any official use of his HRH title,

still stands firm."

 

Criminal proceedings in the United States over Virginia Giuffre's claims are still possible but are now unlikely, as Virginia Giuffre died by her own hand on the 24th. April 2025 at a farm in the Neergabby area outside of Perth, Australia, where she had lived for the previous several years.

 

Repercussions

 

The 2019 Newsnight interview was believed by Maitlis and Newsnight to have been approved by the Queen, although "palace insiders" speaking to The Sunday Telegraph disputed this. One of Prince Andrew's official advisors resigned just prior to the interview being aired.

 

Although Andrew was pleased with the outcome of the interview – reportedly giving Maitlis and the Newsnight team a tour of Buckingham Palace – it received negative reactions from both the media and the public, both in and outside of the UK.

 

The interview was described as a "car crash", "nuclear explosion level bad", and the worst public relations crisis for the royal family since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

 

Experts and those with ties to Buckingham Palace said that the interview, its fallout and the abrupt suspension of Andrew's royal duties were unprecedented.

 

On the 18th. November 2019, accountancy firm KPMG announced it would not be renewing its sponsorship of Prince Andrew's entrepreneurial scheme Pitch@Palace, and on the 19th. November Standard Chartered also withdrew its support.

 

Also on the 19th. November 2019, the Students' Union of the University of Huddersfield passed a motion to lobby Andrew to resign as its chancellor, as London Metropolitan University was considering Andrew's role as its patron.

 

On the 20th. November 2019, a statement from Buckingham Palace announced that Andrew was suspending his public duties "for the foreseeable future".

 

The decision, made with the consent of the Queen, was accompanied by the insistence that Andrew sympathised with Epstein's victims. Other working royals took his commitments over in the short term.

 

On the 21st. November, Andrew relinquished his role as chancellor of the University of Huddersfield. Three days later, the palace confirmed that Andrew was to step down from all 230 of his patronages, although he expressed a wish to have some sort of public role at some future time.

 

On the 16th. January 2020, it was reported that the Home Office was recommending "a major downgrade of security" for Andrew, which would put an end to his "round-the-clock armed police protection".

 

It was later reported that he had been allowed to keep his £300,000-a-year security and the recommendation would be reviewed again in the future.

 

On the 28th. January 2020, US Attorney Geoffrey Berman stated that Prince Andrew had provided "zero co-operation" with federal prosecutors and the FBI regarding the ongoing investigations, despite his initial promise in the Newsnight interview when he said he was willing to help the authorities.

 

Buckingham Palace did not comment on the issue, though sources close to Andrew said that he "hasn't been approached" by US authorities and investigators, and his legal team announced that he had offered to be a witness "on at least three occasions" but had been refused by the Department of Justice.

 

The US authorities denied being approached by Andrew for an interview, and labeled his statements as:

 

"A way to falsely portray himself to

the public as eager and willing to

cooperate".

 

Spencer Kuvin, who represented nine of Epstein's victims, said Andrew could be arrested if he ever returns to the United States, saying:

 

"It is highly unlikely an extradition

would ever occur, so the Prince

would have to be here in the US

and be arrested while he's here."

 

In March 2020, Andrew hired crisis-management expert Mark Gallagher, who had helped high-profile clients falsely accused in Operation Midland.

 

In April 2020, it was reported that the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy would not be played anymore, after all activities carried out by the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust were stopped.

 

In May 2020, it was reported that the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust was under investigation by the Charity Commission regarding some regulatory issues about £350,000 of payments to his former private secretary Amanda Thirsk.

 

According to The Times, senior personnel in the navy and army considered Andrew to be an embarrassment for the military, and believed he should be stripped of his military roles.

 

In May 2020 it was announced that Andrew would permanently resign from all public roles over his Epstein ties.

 

In June 2020, it became known that Andrew is a person of interest in a criminal investigation in the United States, and that the United States had filed a mutual legal assistance request to British authorities in order to question Andrew.

 

Newsweek reported that a majority of British citizens believe Andrew should be stripped of his titles and extradited to the United States. Following the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell in July 2020, Andrew cancelled a planned trip to Spain, reportedly due to fears that he might be arrested and extradited to the United States.

 

In August 2020, anti-child trafficking protesters chanting "Paedophile! Paedophile!" referencing Andrew gathered outside Buckingham Palace, and videos of the protest went viral.

 

In August 2021, royal biographer Penny Junor maintained Prince Andrew's reputation with the public was damaged beyond repair.

 

It was reported in August 2021 that American authorities were pessimistic about being able to interview Andrew.

 

In January 2022, Andrew's social media accounts were deleted, his page on the royal family's website was rewritten in the past tense, and his military affiliations and patronages were removed to put an emphasis on his departure from public life.

 

He also stopped using the style His Royal Highness (HRH) though it was not formally removed. In the same month, York Racecourse announced that it would rename the Duke of York Stakes.

 

Prince Andrew High School in Nova Scotia, which had announced two years earlier that it was considering a name change because the name "no longer reflects the values of the community", stated that it would have a new name at the next academic year.

 

In February 2022, Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Assembly decided not to fly a union flag for Andrew's birthday. In the same month, the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council announced that they would hold a debate in June 2022 regarding a motion to rename Prince Andrew Way in Carrickfergus.

 

On the 27th. April 2022 York City Council unanimously voted to remove Andrew's Freedom of the City. Rachael Maskell, York Central MP, said Andrew was the "first to ever have their freedom removed".

 

There have also been calls to remove the Duke of York title.

 

In March 2022, Andrew made his first official appearance in months, helping the Queen to walk into Westminster Abbey for a memorial service for his father, the Duke of Edinburgh. There was a mixed reaction by commentators to his presence, with some saying that:

 

"It would send the wrong message to

victims of sexual abuse about how

powerful men are able to absolve

themselves from their conduct."

 

Others argued that his appearance was required "as a son, in memory of his father".

 

In June 2022, The Telegraph reported that Andrew had asked the Queen to be reinstated as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, to use his HRH (His Royal Highness) title and to be allowed to appear at official events due to his position as a 'prince of the blood'.

 

In the same month, he took part in private aspects of the Garter Day ceremony, including lunch and investiture of new members, but was excluded from the public procession following an intervention by his brother Charles and his nephew William that banned him from appearing anywhere the public could see him.

 

Andrew's name featured on one of the lists, showing that this was a last-minute decision.

 

In June 2022 Rachael Maskell MP introduced a 'Removal of Titles' bill in the House of Commons. If passed, this bill would enable Andrew to be stripped of his Duke of York title and other titles. Maskell maintains that 80% of York citizens want Andrew to lose all connection with their city.

 

The proposed bill would also enable other people considered unworthy to lose their titles. The bill is due to get its second reading on the 9th. December 2022.

 

In August 2022, it was reported that the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures had assessed the security threat against Andrew and concluded that he should keep his taxpayer-funded police bodyguards, at an annual cost estimated to be between £500,000 and £3 million.

 

In early 2021 there were at least two trespassing incidents reported at his Windsor property, and in December he was verbally abused by a woman as he was driving his car.

 

Following the death of the Queen on the 8th. September 2022, Andrew appeared in civilian clothing at various ceremonial events. As he walked behind his mother's coffin in a funeral procession in Edinburgh on the 12th. September, a 22-year-old man shouted "Andrew, you're a sick old man".

The heckler was arrested and charged with committing a breach of the peace.

 

Andrew wore military uniform for a 15-minute vigil by the Queen's coffin at Westminster Hall on the 16th. September. Lawyer Spencer Kuvin, who represented nine of Epstein's victims, was critical of Andrew's public role in the lead-up to the funeral, and stated that:

 

"He is attempting now to see if he

can rehabilitate his image in the public."

 

New York lawyer Mariann Wang, who represented up to 12 Epstein's victims described Andrew's public profile as "quite outrageous. She went on to say:

 

"It is harmful for any survivor of trauma

to see an abuser or their enablers

continue to reap the benefits of privilege,

status and power."

 

Controversies and Other Incidents

 

Prince Andrew as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment

 

From 2001 until July 2011, Andrew worked with UK Trade & Investment, part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, as the United Kingdom's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.

 

The post, previously held by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, involved representing and promoting the UK at various trade fairs and conferences around the world.

 

Andrew's suitability for the role was challenged in the House of Commons by Shadow Justice Minister Chris Bryant in February 2011, at the time of the 2011 Libyan civil war, on the grounds that he was:

 

"Not only a very close friend of

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, but also a

close friend of the convicted

Libyan gun smuggler Tarek

Kaituni".

 

Further problems arose as he hosted a lunch for Sakher El Materi, a member of the corrupt Tunisian regime, at the Palace around the time of the Tunisian Revolution.

 

Andrew also formed a friendship with Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan who has been criticised for corruption and for abuses of human rights by Amnesty International, and visited him both during and after his tenure as the UK trade envoy.

 

As of November 2014, Andrew had met Aliyev on 12 separate occasions.

 

Andrew did not receive a salary from the UK Trade & Investment for his role as Special Representative, but he went on expenses-paid delegations, and was alleged to have occasionally used trips paid for by the government for his personal leisure, which earned him the nickname "Airmiles Andy" by the press.

 

On the 8th. March 2011, The Daily Telegraph reported:

 

"In 2010, the Prince spent £620,000

as a trade envoy, including £154,000

on hotels, food and hospitality and

£465,000 on travel."

 

The controversies, together with his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, made him step down from the role in 2011.

 

In November 2020, and following reviews of emails, internal documents, and unreported regulatory filings, as well as interviews with 10 former bank insiders, Bloomberg Businessweek reported on Andrew using his royal cachet and role as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment for helping David Rowland and his private bank, Banque Havilland, with securing deals with clients around the world.

 

The Rowland family are among the investment advisers to Andrew, and he was present for the official opening ceremony of their bank in July 2009.

 

Alleged Comments on Corruption and Kazakhstan

 

As the United Kingdom's Special Trade Representative, Andrew travelled the world to promote British businesses.

 

It was revealed in the United States diplomatic cables leak that Andrew had been reported on by Tatiana Gfoeller, the United States Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, discussing bribery in Kyrgyzstan and the investigation into the Al-Yamamah arms deal.

 

She explained:

 

"The Duke was referencing an investigation,

subsequently closed, into alleged kickbacks

a senior Saudi royal had received in exchange

for the multi-year, lucrative BAE Systems

contract to provide equipment and training to

Saudi security forces."

 

The dispatch continued:

 

"His mother's subjects seated around the

table roared their approval. He then went

on to 'these (expletive) journalists, especially

from the National Guardian [sic], who poke

their noses everywhere' and (presumably)

make it harder for British businessmen to

do business. The crowd practically clapped!"

 

In May 2008, he attended a goose-hunt in Kazakhstan with President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

 

In 2010, it was revealed that the President's billionaire son-in-law Timur Kulibayev paid Andrew's representatives £15 million – £3 million over the asking price – via offshore companies, for Andrew's Surrey mansion, Sunninghill Park.

 

Kulibayev frequently appears in US dispatches as one of the men who have accumulated millions in gas-rich Kazakhstan. It was later revealed that Andrew's office tried to get a crown estate property close to Kensington Palace for Kulibayev at that time.

 

In May 2012, it was reported that Swiss and Italian police investigating "a network of personal and business relationships" allegedly used for "international corruption" were looking at the activities of Enviro Pacific Investments which charges "multi-million pound fees" to energy companies wishing to deal with Kazakhstan.

 

The trust is believed to have paid £6 million towards the purchase of Sunninghill which now appears derelict. In response, a Palace spokesman said:

 

"This was a private sale between

two trusts. There was never any

impropriety on the part of The Duke

of York".

 

Libby Purves wrote in The Times in January 2015:

 

"Prince Andrew dazzles easily when

confronted with immense wealth and

apparent power.

He has fallen for 'friendships' with bad,

corrupt and clever men, not only in the

US but in Libya, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,

Tunisia, wherever."

 

In May 2016, a fresh controversy broke out when the Daily Mail alleged that Andrew had brokered a deal to assist a Greek and Swiss consortium in securing a £385 million contract to build water and sewerage networks in two of Kazakhstan's largest cities, while working as British trade envoy, and had stood to gain a £4 million payment in commission.

 

The newspaper published an email from Andrew to Kazakh oligarch Kenges Rakishev, (who had allegedly brokered the sale of the Prince's Berkshire mansion Sunninghill Park), and said that Rakishev had arranged meetings for the consortium.

 

After initially saying the email was a forgery, Buckingham Palace sought to block its publication as a privacy breach. The Palace denied the allegation that Andrew had acted as a "fixer," calling the article "untrue, defamatory and a breach of the editor's code of conduct".

 

A former Foreign Office minister, MP Chris Bryant stated:

 

"When I was at the Foreign Office, it was

very difficult to see in whose interests he

[Andrew] was acting. He doesn't exactly

add lustre to the Royal diadem".

 

Arms Sales

 

In March 2011, Kaye Stearman of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade told Channel 4 News that CAAT sees Prince Andrew as part of a bigger problem:

 

"He is the front man for UKTI. Our concerns

are not just Prince Andrew, it's the whole

UKTI set up.

They see arms as just another commodity,

but it has completely disproportionate

resources. At the London office of UKTI the

arms sector has more staff than all the

others put together.

We are concerned that Prince Andrew is

used to sell arms, and where you sell arms

it is likely to be to despotic regimes.

He is the cheerleader in chief for the arms

industry, shaking hands and paving the way

for the salesmen."

 

In January 2014, Prince Andrew took part in a delegation to Bahrain, a close ally of the United Kingdom. Spokesman for CAAT, Andrew Smith said:

 

"We are calling on Prince Andrew and the

UK government to stop selling arms to Bahrain.

By endorsing the Bahraini dictatorship, Prince

Andrew is giving his implicit support to their

oppressive practices.

When our government sells arms, it is giving

moral and practical support to an illegitimate

and authoritarian regime and directly supporting

their systematic crackdown on opposition groups.

We shouldn't allow our international image to be

used as a PR tool for the violent and oppressive

dictatorship in Bahrain."

 

Andrew Smith has also said:

 

"The prince has consistently used his position

to promote arms sales and boost some of the

most unpleasant governments in the world, his

arms sales haven't just given military support to

corrupt and repressive regimes. They've lent

those regimes political and international

legitimacy."

 

Reactions to Prince Andrew's Election to the Royal Society

 

Andrew's election to the Royal Society prompted "Britain's leading scientists" to "revolt" due to Andrew's lack of scientific background, with some noting he had only a secondary school level of education.

 

In an op-ed in The Sunday Times, pharmacologist, Humboldt Prize recipient, and Fellow of the Royal Society, David Colquhoun opined, in references to Andrew's qualifications, that:

 

"If I wanted a tip for the winner of

the 14.30 at Newmarket, I'd ask a

royal. For most other questions,

I wouldn't."

 

Allegations of Racist Language

 

Rohan Silva, a former Downing Street aide, claimed that, when they met in 2012, Andrew had commented:

 

"Well, if you'll pardon the expression,

that really is the nigger in the woodpile."

 

Former home secretary Jacqui Smith also claims that Andrew made a racist comment about Arabs during a state dinner for the Saudi royal family in 2007.

 

Buckingham Palace denied that Andrew had used racist language on either occasion.

 

Allegations of Ramming Gates in Windsor Great Park

 

In March 2016, Republic CEO Graham Smith filed a formal report to the police, requesting an investigation into allegations that Andrew had damaged sensor-operated gates in Windsor Great Park by forcing them open in his Range Rover to avoid going an extra mile on his way home.

 

The Thames Valley Police dismissed the reports due to lack of details.

 

Treatment of Reporters, Servants and Others

 

During his four-day Southern California tour in 1984, Andrew squirted paint onto American and British journalists and photographers who were reporting on the tour, after which he told Los Angeles county supervisor Kenneth Hahn, "I enjoyed that".

 

The incident damaged the clothes and equipment of reporters and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner submitted a $1,200 bill to the British consulate asking for financial compensation.

 

The Guardian wrote in 2022:

 

"His brusque manner with servants

is well-documented. A senior footman

once told a reporter who worked

undercover at Buckingham Palace that

on waking the prince, 'the response can

easily be "f*** off" as good morning'."

 

Former royal protection officer Paul Page said, in an ITV documentary, that:

 

"Andrew maintained a collection of

50 or 60 stuffed toys, and if they

weren't put back in the right order

by the maids, he would shout and

scream and become verbally abusive."

 

Page later stated in the documentary 'Prince Andrew: Banished' that different women would visit Andrew every day, and when one was denied entry into his residence by the security, Andrew allegedly called one of the officers a "fat, lardy-ass c**t" over the phone.

 

The Duke's former maid, Charlotte Briggs, also recalled setting up the teddy bears on his bed, and told The Sun that when she was bitten by his Norfolk Terrier in 1996, he only laughed and "wasn't bothered".

 

She said that she was reduced to tears by Andrew for not properly closing the heavy curtains in his office, and added that his behaviour was in contrast to that of his brothers Charles and Edward who "weren't anything like him" and his father Philip whom she described as "so nice and gentlemanly".

 

Massage therapist Emma Gruenbaum said Andrew regularly overstepped the mark, making creepy sexual comments when she came to give him a massage. Gruenbaum maintained Andrew talked continually about sex during the first massage, and wanted to know when she last had sex. Gruenbaum said Andrew arranged regular massages for roughly two months, and she believed requests for massages stopped when he realised he would not get more.

 

Finance and Debt Problems

 

It is unclear how Andrew finances his luxury lifestyle; in 2021 The Guardian wrote:

 

"With little in the way of visible support,

questions over how Andrew has been

able to fund his lifestyle have rarely been

answered. In the past he has appeared

to live the jetset life of a multimillionaire,

with holidays aboard luxury yachts,

regular golfing sojourns and ski trips to

exclusive resorts."

 

The Duke of York received a £249,000 annuity from the Queen.

 

In the twelve-month period up to April 2004, he spent £325,000 on flights, and his trade missions as special representative for UKTI cost £75,000 in 2003.

 

The Sunday Times reported in July 2008 that for "the Duke of York's public role,... he last year received £436,000 to cover his expenses".

 

He has a Royal Navy pension of £20,000.

 

The Duke is also a keen skier, and in 2014 bought a skiing chalet in Verbier, Switzerland, for £13 million jointly with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.

 

In May 2020, it was reported that they were in a legal dispute over the mortgage. To purchase the chalet, they secured a loan of £13.25 million, and were expected to pay £5 million in cash instalments which, after applying interests, amounted to £6.8 million.

 

Despite claims that the Queen would help pay the debt, a spokesperson for Andrew confirmed that:

 

"The Queen will not be

stepping in to settle the

debt".

 

The Times reported in September 2021 that Andrew and Sarah had reached a legal agreement with the property's previous owner and would sell the house.

 

The owner agreed to receive £3.4 million, half of the amount that she was owed, as she had been under the impression that Andrew and Sarah were dealing with financial troubles. The money from selling the property is reportedly to be used to pay Andrew's legal expenses over the civil lawsuit as well.

 

In June 2022 it was reported in Le Temps, a Swiss newspaper, that the sale of the chalet has been frozen because of a £1.6 million debt that Andrew owes to unnamed people.

 

Law professor Nicolas Jeandin told Le Temps:

 

"A sale is in principle impossible,

except with the agreement of the

creditor."

 

In 2021 Bloomberg News reported that a firm connected to David Rowland had been paying off Andrew's debts. In November 2017, Andrew borrowed £250,000 from Banque Havilland, adding to an existing £1.25 million loan that had been "extended or increased 10 times" since 2015.

 

Documents showed that while the "credibility of the applicant" had been questioned, he was given the loan in an attempt to "further business potential with the Royal Family".

 

11 days later and in December 2017, £1.5 million was transferred from an account at Albany Reserves, which was controlled by the Rowland family, to Andrew's account at Banque Havilland, paying off the loan that was due in March 2018.

 

Liberal Democrat politician and staunch republican Norman Baker stated:

 

"This demonstrates yet again that

significant questions need to be

asked about Prince Andrew's

business dealings and his

association with some dubious

characters."

 

Several months after Andrew's controversial 2019 Newsnight interview, his private office established the Urramoor Trust, which owned both Lincelles Unlimited (established 2020) and Urramoor Ltd. (established 2013), and according to The Times was set up to support his family.

 

Lincelles was voluntarily wound up in 2022. Andrew was described as a "settlor but not a beneficiary", and did not own either of the companies, though Companies House listed him and his private banker of 20 years Harry Keogh as people with "significant control".

 

In March 2022 it was reported that on the 15th. November 2019 the wife of the jailed former Turkish politician İlhan İşbilen transferred £750,000 to Andrew in the belief that it would help her secure a passport.

 

The Duke repaid the money 16 months later after being contacted by Mrs İşbilen's lawyers. The Telegraph reported that the money sent to Andrew's account had been described to the bankers "as a wedding gift" for his eldest daughter, Beatrice, though the court documents did not include any suggestions that the princess was aware of the transactions.

 

Mrs İşbilen alleges that a further £350,000 payment was made to Andrew through businessman Selman Turk, who Mrs İşbilen is suing for fraud. Turk had been awarded the People's Choice Award for his business Heyman AI at a Pitch@Palace event held at St. James's Palace days before the £750,000 payment was made by Mrs İşbilen.

 

Even though he won the award through a public vote online and an audience vote on the night of the ceremony, there were concerns raised with a senior member of the royal household that Turk was "gaming the system" and should not have won as "he may have used bots – autonomous internet programs – to boost his vote".

 

Libyan-born convicted gun smuggler, Tarek Kaituni introduced Andrew to Selman Turk in May or June 2019 and held later meetings on at least two occasions. Kaituni, for whom Andrew allegedly lobbied a British company, had reportedly gifted Princess Beatrice with an £18,000 gold and diamond necklace for her 21st. birthday in 2009, and was invited to Princess Eugenie's wedding in 2018.

 

Titles, Styles, Honours and Arms

 

19th. February 1960 – 23rd. July 1986: His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew

 

23rd. July 1986 – present: His Royal Highness The Duke of York

 

As of September 2022, Andrew is eighth in the line of succession to the British throne. On rare occasions, he is known by his secondary titles of Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

 

In 2019, Inverness residents started a campaign to strip him of that title, stating that "it is inappropriate that Prince Andrew is associated with our beautiful city", in light of his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

 

Similar pleas have been made by people affiliated with the village of Killyleagh and the city of York regarding his titles of Baron Killyleagh and Duke of York, with Labour Co-op MP for York Central, Rachael Maskell, stating that she would look for ways to make Andrew give up his ducal title if he did not voluntarily relinquish it.

 

In January 2022, it was reported that, while Andrew retains the style of His Royal Highness, he would no longer use it in a public capacity.

 

In April 2022, several York councillors called for Andrew to lose the title Duke of York. Also in 2022, there was a renewed petition to strip him of the Earl of Inverness title.

 

-- Relinquishing of Titles

 

On the 17th. October 2025, following discussions with King Charles, Andrew agreed to cease using his titles of the Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, and his honours, including his knighthoods as a Royal Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

 

Andrew publicly stated:

 

"We have concluded the continued accusations

about me distract from the work of His Majesty

and the Royal Family."

 

Andrew was to remain a prince following the interactions with his older brother, but will cease to be the Duke of York, a title received from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth.

 

Prince Andrew has been under increasing pressure over his links with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and has faced a series of scandals - in the statement he reiterates:

 

"I vigorously deny the accusations

against me."

 

Andrew's former wife will be known as Sarah Ferguson and no longer Duchess of York, but their daughters will continue to have the title of Princess.

 

Sean Coughlan of the BBC commented in relation to the latest development:

 

"Andrew might be seen as having to jump before he

was pushed, as the Palace had seemed increasingly

exasperated at the scandals that kept swirling around

him."

 

On the 30th. October 2025, Buckingham Palace announced that Charles III had started the "formal process" to remove his brother's style, titles, and honours. Andrew's name was removed from the Roll of the Peerage the same day.

 

Although this did not revoke Andrew's peerages, it meant that he was no longer entitled to any place in the orders of precedence derived from them, and would cease to be addressed or referred to by any title derived from his peerages in official documents. Letters patent were issued on the 3rd. November officially removing Andrew of the style "Royal Highness" and title "Prince".

 

Andrew will henceforth be known as Andrew Albert Christian Edward Mountbatten Windsor.

You may be interested in viewing the blog post that features this picture: blogs.loc.gov/picturethis/2015/10/work-horses-pulling-the...

 

About this picture:

Title: Logs being hauled on a sleigh by a team of horses along the government railway, 35 miles from Seward

Date: [between ca. 1900 and ca. 1930]

 

Notes:

Title transcribed from caption accompanying item.

Forms part of: Frank and Frances Carpenter collection (Library of Congress). More information about the Carpenter Collection is available at www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ffcarp/

Gift; Mrs. W. Chapin Huntington; 1951.

 

Subjects:

Horse teams--Alaska--1890-1940.

Logs--Alaska--1890-1940.

Lumber industry--Alaska--1890-1940.

United States--Alaska

Format: photographic print.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

 

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.01617

 

Call Number: LOT 11453-1, no. 62

  

This image features a Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), characterized by its prominent orange bill with a black base and a graceful, long neck often held in an "S" curve. The species is known for its heavy body, dense white plumage, and generally silent nature compared to other swan species. Mute Swans are often found swimming in pairs or small groups on lakes, ponds, and slow-moving rivers.

This week's Saturday Timewatch features a locomotive with quite a varied life. The photo above shows TKh 5387 going across an unmanned crossing at Vierves-sur-Viroi, Belgium, hauling the afternoon passenger service from Mariembourg to Treignes on the heritage Chemin de fer a vapeur des 3 vavallees (Three Valleys Steam Railway).

 

There are many details of her life that I cannot answer. However, the 0-6-0T locomotive was built in Poland in 1959, destined for work at the Cementownia Saturn (Saturn Cement Plant) Wojkowice, Poland. I do not know when that work came to an end. At some stage she then found herself in England, being a resident at the Northampton and Lamport Railway, though whether this was directly from Poland or via a stint in Belgium again I do not know. What is clear is that in more recent years she has been based at Maldegem Stoomcentrum, Belgium, but is now to loan to Three Valleys Steam Railway.

 

Two asides :

# 1 The volunteer on the footplate had just got back on board having used a 'flag' to ensure a safe crossing of the road.

#2 A close relative TKh 2944 (built earlier in 1952) currently runs at Churnet Valley Railway, Staffordshire.

 

This build is part of a larger display I’m developing for exhibition next year, where I’ll be revisiting and expanding on the concept of Neo Fabuland—a reinterpretation of the classic Fabuland aesthetic, much like how Neo-Classic Space draws inspiration from the original Classic Space theme. If you’re curious, you can read more about the goals of the project here.

 

I currently have several builds in progress for this display, and this is the first one to be completed.

 

While not directly based on any specific Fabuland set, this watermill draws loose inspiration from 3679 Flour Mill and Shop. It features a weathered stone-and-timber structure beside a millpond, complete with a working waterwheel, lily pads, reeds, and rounded rocks. The water cascades over the rocks to form a small waterfall. I’m especially pleased with the textures throughout—the flowing water, the stonework, and the building itself—as well as a custom spreading tree technique I developed for this scene (and will likely reuse in future Neo Fabuland builds).

 

This build also showcases my approach to Neo Fabuland windows, using brick-built frames with vinyl-cut sticker panes to echo the distinctive charm of original Fabuland designs.

•Set includes a spring-loaded Spell Launcher with fiery shots, disguised as a craggy rock

•Push the button on the Frost Dragon’s back and make her head strike downward

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 02: Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong of T1 poses at the League of Legends World Championship Finals Features Day on November 2, 2022 in San Francisco, CA. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND - APRIL 7: Team ZETA DIVISION poses for the VALORANT Masters Features Day on April 7, 2022 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)

This view features the old Kirkby South signal box and signals 28/29 which were shown on the opposite side of the Branch line on the Signal Box track diagram. Also of interest is the infamous Up passenger train 1O42, which we always knew as the "York-Bournemouth" That train continued to run right up to the final through working on Saturday 3 September 1966.

 

Now, a bit about the possible date and loco identity:

 

I have a contact who has amassed quite a bit of data about 1O42 (and the return working 1N83) trains. Also he has a lot of info on the Brush Type 2 diesels.

 

It transpires that the Brush Type 2 in the photo has English Electric exhaust ports in the roof. D5677 was the prototype for the engine replacement, in April 1964, with no others being done until February 1965. By that time Doncaster was also doing another modification, the little shields over the windscreen washer nozzles. As far as it is known D5677 was the only loco from GC times that combined English Electric exhaust ports with no shields over the windscreen washer nozzles. (There's one other known exception, D5500, which was one of the last to be re-engined and somehow never got the shields over the windscreen washer nozzles; it is still without them in the NRM).

 

So it is strongly believed that the photo is of D5677. However, I having a nagging feeling that the 3rd digit of the loco number doesn't look like a '7'. So if anyone else has evidence to identify the date and loco number I'd be pleased to hear their views.

 

Therefore, unless proved otherwise, I am saying:

 

D5677 was a Finsbury Park loco when first re-engined but reallocated to Tinsley in November 1964 so the photo was probably taken after that.

 

There are no leaves on the branches in the left of the shot. so the time would be around winter.

 

D5677 is known to have worked 1N83 on Saturday 21 November 1964. It is plausible this Kirkby Bentinck picture could be on this date as the 1O42 stock in the picture is the SR rake.

 

The only other known working for D5677 on 1O42/1N83 is an unidentified date in the week 10-14 May 1965 from a photo of 1N83 in the RCTS photo archive, but the Kirkby Bentinck photo is not that date.

 

In both instances there's also known workings of D5677 on Cleethorpes-Kings Cross trains around the same time. This suggests in both periods Tinsley were using D5677 as a Type 3 loco.

 

And it could, of course, be that the photo is of a loco working that is not known about at this moment. There are suspicions that D5677 probably did 1O42/1N83 more than once in November-December 1964, so we can't say for certain that the photo is Saturday 21 November 1964.

 

Finally, as things stand at present, there's no known workings on 1O42/1N83 of English Electric powered Brush T2s, apart from the 2 known D5677 workings. Finding another one would be an interesting development ........ Over to you !!!!!

I’m always looking for something new and different and spotted features in my bathroom which are interesting. If I didn’t have a camera I would never think they were “interesting” :-)

BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA - MAY 18: Ryu "Keria" Min-seok of T1 poses at the League of Legends - Mid-Season Invitational Rumble Features Day on May 18, 2022 in Busan, South Korea. (Photo by Lee Aiksoon/Riot Games)