Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City,_Missouri

 

Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the most populated municipality and historic core city of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the Kansas–Missouri state line and has a population of 2,392,035. Most of the city lies within Jackson County, with portions spilling into Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a port on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River coming in from the west. On June 1, 1850, the town of Kansas was incorporated; shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Territory. Confusion between the two ensued, and the name Kansas City was assigned to distinguish them soon after.

 

Sitting on Missouri's western boundary with Kansas, with Downtown near the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, the city encompasses about 319.03 square miles (826.3 km2), making it the 23rd largest city by total area in the United States. It serves as one of the two county seats of Jackson County, along with the major suburb of Independence. Other major suburbs include the Missouri cities of Blue Springs and Lee's Summit and the Kansas cities of Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, and Kansas City, Kansas.

 

The city is composed of several neighborhoods, including the River Market District in the north, the 18th and Vine District in the east, and the Country Club Plaza in the south. Celebrated cultural traditions include Kansas City jazz, theater, which was the center of the Vaudevillian Orpheum circuit in the 1920s, the Chiefs and Royals sports franchises, and famous cuisine based on Kansas City-style barbecue, Kansas City strip steak, and craft breweries.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kauffman_Center_for_the_Performing_...

 

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, at 16th and Broadway, near the Power & Light District, the T-Mobile Center and the Crossroads Arts District. Its construction was a major part of the ongoing redevelopment of downtown Kansas City.

 

The Center was created as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Unlike some other major civic construction projects, no taxpayer funds went into its construction. The City of Kansas City contributed to and operates a parking garage adjacent to the Kauffman Center.

 

It is the performance home to the Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and the Kansas City Ballet which in the past performed at the Lyric Theatre, eight blocks north of the center. The Kauffman Center houses two unique performance venues: Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall.

 

According to its website, the Kauffman Center's mission is "to enrich the lives of communities throughout the region, country and world by offering extraordinary and diverse performing arts experiences". Not only do notable performances take place almost weekly, but the Center is a place where the KC community comes together and celebrates the city's rich arts culture. The Kauffman Center seeks to fulfill this mission by offering a wide selection of performances, and also by offering specific programs to connect with the youth in the Kansas City area.

First picture on the left Is Flying Officer Peter Raw DFC. Died Aged 25. The room walls are covered with such images. "Lest we forget."

 

Peter Raw was a well known pilot with 609 Squadron and regularly flew a Typhoon which he named after his wife Mavis, and appears in many photos with the squadron mascot W/C Billy de Goat. He was awarded the DFC for his gallantry in low flying operations in Europe credited with destroying 17 locomotives and a FW 190.

On the 21st March 1944 he led his flight on a Ranger mission (flying Typhoon MN247) in the Twente-Enschede area in Holland with Flt Lt JE Mitchell and F/O AE Napier, when they came across some barges on the Waal which they shot at. Further along they came across more barges which they also attacked. Peter's aircraft then appeared to be hit by flak and crashed into a field near Boxmeer. A later police report told a different story. The barge captain, Petrus van den Hurksteam gave a statement which described the wing of the Typhoon hitting the loading boom, snapping it in two, and then seeing the Typhoon spinning out of control crashing in a field on the opposite bank, killing Peter Raw instantly. The Germans buried his body in the cemetery in Eindhoven, where he still lies today.

During 2016 a group of Dutch aviation historians (named The PlaneHunters) decided to try and locate the crash sites of the 27 aircraft known to have crashed in this area, and were lucky in locating the remains of Peter Raw's Typhoon in a meadow between the Meuse and Schultkool.

The group then raised funds to install a small monument to Peter Raw.

At 1400 hrs on Saturday 7th October 2017 the memorial was unveiled by Peter Raw's daughter Maureen (who was only 6 months old at the time of his death) and was attended by the local Mayor and school children who sang hymns. The RAFA from Amsterdam layed a wreath whilst a flypast took place. Peter's other three brothers were all decorated pilots with the RAF, two who were also killed during WW2.

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, commonly known as Saint Francis Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

The cathedral was built by Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy between 1869 and 1886 on the site of an older adobe church, La Parroquia (built in 1714–1717). An older church on the same site, built in 1626, was destroyed in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. The new cathedral was built around La Parroquia, which was dismantled once the new construction was complete. A small chapel on the north side of the cathedral was kept from the old church.

Influenced by the French-born Archbishop Lamy and in dramatic contrast to the surrounding adobe structures, Saint Francis Cathedral was designed in the Romanesque Revival style. As such, the cathedral features characteristic round arches separated by Corinthian columns and truncated square towers. The large rose window in front and those of the Twelve Apostles in the lateral nave windows were imported from Clermont-Ferrand in France. The towers were originally planned to be topped with dramatic 160-foot (49 m) steeples, but due to lack of funds, these were never built. The north tower is a single row of bricks taller than the south tower. The cathedral was built from yellow limestone blocks quarried near the present site of Lamy. A 2005 addition to the upper façade of the cathedral is a small, round window featuring a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit. It is a stained glass replica of the translucent alabaster window designed in the 17th century by the Italian artist Bernini for St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

The Cathedral of Saint Francis of Assisi was officially elevated to a basilica by Pope Benedict XVI on October 4, 2005, when it was named the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

My travel funds got low during my trip, so I decided to ditch Canada because I didn't really have enough cash for another National Parks pass, and I needed to eventually start heading south instead of north. I was on my way to Mt. Rainier, but I realized that I was going to hit Seattle about an hour before dark, so I decided to stop at Kerry Park. Thankfully, I'm rocking a GPS in the truck now, so getting there wasn't terribly difficult.

Local fundraising efforts were pushed and enough funds were in the bank in the city of Lake Worth Beach to begin construction of the new library in 1940. Architect Edgar S. Wortman received the commission for the library building. His design was a Mediterranean-style building that would complement other buildings in the downtown Lake Worth area. Just as construction began, two longtime winter residents, twin brothers James D. Strait and William S. Strait, made a $10,000 donation to the library board for the erection of a museum. A museum wing was added to the library plans, and the Strait Museum added to the cultural offerings of the town.

 

Ground was broken on October 7, 1940; by February, 1941, the building was substantially complete. Although funds were not available for air-conditioning the building was constructed to allow for its eventual installation with ducts and a small room for the plant. The dedication took place on August 12, 1941.

 

The Lake Worth Art League took up residence in the Strait Museum, and patrons enjoyed may years of art instruction and exhibitions. The design of the building, with its high ceilings and open spaces, also made it a wonderful venue for paintings and other forms of art, including the R.Sherman Winton collection of paintings, and many other paintings depicting historic and colorful subjects.

 

During the 1950's the Lake Worth Library had the highest number of patrons and circulation among all Palm Beach County libraries by a wide margin, and seasonal patrons especially enjoyed its spacious rooms and customer service.

 

By the early 1960s, sufficient funds were collected to install a heating and air-conditioning plant. This would keep patrons more comfortable, especially in the hot Florida summers, but more importantly allowed the book collection to be kept under better conditions for preservation.

 

As the decades passed, the library kept up with the needs of patrons. LP vinyl records were replace by cassettes and CDs; books on tape became books on CD. Lake Worth installed one of the first library security systems to reduce theft of library materials, and in 1982 the library became handicapped accessible. In the 1990s, computers for patron use were introduced, and soon the Internet became a service the library offered its patrons.

 

As the City of Lake Worth celebrated it centennial in 2013, the library played a central role in the festivities. A groundbreaking look into the city's hidden history revealed the town's original inhabitants, Samuel and Fannie James, and resulted in the publication of Pioneers of Jewell. All proceeds from the book benefited the library.

 

The evolution continues into the twenty-first century. Most recently the library opened its "CreatE-Lab" were children and teens can study and explore technology to support their studies and interests.

 

Over its more than one hundreds years, the Lake Worth Public Library has served thousands of patrons, from locals to winter residents. The library building is the focal point of downtown Lake Worth, as it has been for more than seven decades, and it will continue to serve its patrons with information and services for education, entertainment, and enjoyment that only a good book, or new knowledge, can bring.

 

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

friendsoflwbl.org/history-of-the-library

www.pbcgov.org/papa/Asps/PropertyDetail/PropertyDetail.as...

 

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

  

Built 1832-36 and located at no. 100 University Street East.

 

"The building at 100 University Street East, commonly known as Victoria College, is situated on a rise of land at the northern terminus of College Street in the Town of Cobourg. The three-storey brick and stucco building was designed in the Greek Revival Style by architect Edward Crane and was constructed from 1832 to 1836.

 

The exterior of the building and the scenic character of the property are protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement. The property is also designated by the Town of Cobourg under Part IV (By-law 11-88) and Part V (By-law 27-90) of the Ontario Heritage Act.

 

Located upon a rise of land near the northeast edge of the town, Victoria College is one of Cobourg's most prominent and recognizable buildings. It is situated on the north side of University Street East at the terminus of College Street, which allows for a scenic view of the building from the southern limits of the town at Lake Ontario. The building is also situated at the northeast edge of Cobourg's Heritage District, which protects the heritage character of all of the properties bounding the viewscape along College Street.

 

Victoria College is historically significant for its association with Egerton Ryerson, its contributions as an early educational institution and its various uses as a medical treatment facility throughout the 20th century. The history of the building dates back to 1832 when construction first began with money collected from the Upper Canada constituents of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The cost for erecting the building was estimated at between $25,000 and $30,000, so when it was realized that expenditures would be closer to $40,000, construction was put on hold. Funds were eventually raised and the building was officially opened in 1836 with Reverend Egerton Ryerson serving as the school's first president. Although the building was originally opened as Upper Canada Academy, a school offering pre-university instruction to both sexes, it became Victoria College in 1841 when it received Royal Charter from Queen Victoria. With this distinction, Victoria College became the second institution in Upper Canada to receive degree-granting powers. Following a split in the Methodist Church, Victoria College merged with Albert College in 1884 to form Victoria University. Six years later, Victoria University declared federation with the University of Toronto and in 1892 the university left Cobourg for permanent residence in Toronto. In 1897, the vacant building was sold to the Government of Ontario and in 1900 it began operations as the Cobourg Insane Asylum to alleviate overcrowding at the seven other provincial asylums. The onset of WW I resulted in the transformation of the building to the Cobourg Military Convalescent Hospital and a large number of wounded soldiers were treated at the site until 1920 when it became the Ontario Hospital D'Arcy Place. The building maintained this use until 1970 and it is currently operated as a retirement living centre.

 

Victoria College is architecturally significant as an excellent early example of Greek Revival design. When construction commenced on the building in 1832, this style was only beginning to come into fashion and its future importance to the design of large public buildings was unknown. The College, which was designed and built by Edward Crane, was originally composed of a central three-storey block flanked by two-storey end pavilions with the west pavilion built to accommodate females and the east pavilion to accommodate males. Due to the complex history of the building, it experienced various alterations and additions over the years. The conversion of the building into an asylum at the end of the 19th Century, as overseen by Provincial Architect F.R. Heakes, resulted in the most dramatic changes with the addition of a third storey to the east and west pavilions and extensions to their rears. Despite the additions, the triple-pedimented profile remained intact and the large entrance portico and cupola continued to function as the building's most prominent features. The conversion of the building to a convalescent hospital also resulted in major alterations, with a large wing designed by W.L Symons added to the north end of the building and an even larger “H-shaped” wing added to the east end. The H-shaped wing was demolished in 1987." - info from Historic Places.

 

"Cobourg (/ˈkoʊbɜːrɡ/ KOH-burg) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario 95 km (59 mi) east of Toronto and 62 km (39 mi) east of Oshawa. It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, 7 km (4 mi) to the west. It is located along Highway 401 (exits 472 and 474) and the former Highway 2 (now Northumberland County Road 2). To the south, Cobourg borders Lake Ontario. To the north, east and west, it is surrounded by Hamilton Township.

 

The land which present-day Cobourg occupies was previously inhabited by Mississauga (Anishinaabe-speaking) peoples. The settlements that make up today's Cobourg were founded by United Empire Loyalists in 1798 within Northumberland County, Home District, Province of Upper Canada. Some of the founding fathers and early settlers were Eliud Nickerson, Joseph Ash, Zacheus Burnham and Asa Allworth Burnham. The Town was originally a group of smaller villages such as Amherst and Hardscrabble, which were later named Hamilton. In 1808 it became the district town for the Newcastle District. It was renamed Cobourg in 1819, in recognition of the marriage of Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (later Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who would later become King of Belgium).

 

By the 1830s, Cobourg had become a regional centre, mostly due to its fine harbour on Lake Ontario. In 1835 the Upper Canada Academy was established in Cobourg by Egerton Ryerson and the Wesleyan Conference of Bishops. On 1 July 1837, Cobourg was officially incorporated as a town. In 1841 the Upper Canada Academy's name was changed to Victoria College. In 1842 Victoria College was granted powers to confer degrees. Victoria College remained in Cobourg until 1892, when it was moved to Toronto and federated with the University of Toronto. In 1842, John Strachan founded the Diocesan Theological Institute in Cobourg, an Anglican seminary that became integrated into the University of Trinity College in Toronto in 1852." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Late June to early July, 2024 I did my 4th major cycling tour. I cycled from Ottawa to London, Ontario on a convoluted route that passed by Niagara Falls. during this journey I cycled 1,876.26 km and took 21,413 photos. As with my other tours a major focus was old architecture.

 

Find me on Instagram.

 

Feel free to make a donation if you appreciate my photos.

Local fundraising efforts were pushed and enough funds were in the bank in the city of Lake Worth Beach to begin construction of the new library in 1940. Architect Edgar S. Wortman received the commission for the library building. His design was a Mediterranean-style building that would complement other buildings in the downtown Lake Worth area. Just as construction began, two longtime winter residents, twin brothers James D. Strait and William S. Strait, made a $10,000 donation to the library board for the erection of a museum. A museum wing was added to the library plans, and the Strait Museum added to the cultural offerings of the town.

 

Ground was broken on October 7, 1940; by February, 1941, the building was substantially complete. Although funds were not available for air-conditioning the building was constructed to allow for its eventual installation with ducts and a small room for the plant. The dedication took place on August 12, 1941.

 

The Lake Worth Art League took up residence in the Strait Museum, and patrons enjoyed may years of art instruction and exhibitions. The design of the building, with its high ceilings and open spaces, also made it a wonderful venue for paintings and other forms of art, including the R.Sherman Winton collection of paintings, and many other paintings depicting historic and colorful subjects.

 

During the 1950's the Lake Worth Library had the highest number of patrons and circulation among all Palm Beach County libraries by a wide margin, and seasonal patrons especially enjoyed its spacious rooms and customer service.

 

By the early 1960s, sufficient funds were collected to install a heating and air-conditioning plant. This would keep patrons more comfortable, especially in the hot Florida summers, but more importantly allowed the book collection to be kept under better conditions for preservation.

 

As the decades passed, the library kept up with the needs of patrons. LP vinyl records were replace by cassettes and CDs; books on tape became books on CD. Lake Worth installed one of the first library security systems to reduce theft of library materials, and in 1982 the library became handicapped accessible. In the 1990s, computers for patron use were introduced, and soon the Internet became a service the library offered its patrons.

 

As the City of Lake Worth celebrated it centennial in 2013, the library played a central role in the festivities. A groundbreaking look into the city's hidden history revealed the town's original inhabitants, Samuel and Fannie James, and resulted in the publication of Pioneers of Jewell. All proceeds from the book benefited the library.

 

The evolution continues into the twenty-first century. Most recently the library opened its "CreatE-Lab" were children and teens can study and explore technology to support their studies and interests.

 

Over its more than one hundreds years, the Lake Worth Public Library has served thousands of patrons, from locals to winter residents. The library building is the focal point of downtown Lake Worth, as it has been for more than seven decades, and it will continue to serve its patrons with information and services for education, entertainment, and enjoyment that only a good book, or new knowledge, can bring.

 

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

friendsoflwbl.org/history-of-the-library

www.pbcgov.org/papa/Asps/PropertyDetail/PropertyDetail.as...

 

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

  

bsh

Local fundraising efforts were pushed and enough funds were in the bank in the city of Lake Worth Beach to begin construction of the new library in 1940. Architect Edgar S. Wortman received the commission for the library building. His design was a Mediterranean-style building that would complement other buildings in the downtown Lake Worth area. Just as construction began, two longtime winter residents, twin brothers James D. Strait and William S. Strait, made a $10,000 donation to the library board for the erection of a museum. A museum wing was added to the library plans, and the Strait Museum added to the cultural offerings of the town.

 

Ground was broken on October 7, 1940; by February, 1941, the building was substantially complete. Although funds were not available for air-conditioning the building was constructed to allow for its eventual installation with ducts and a small room for the plant. The dedication took place on August 12, 1941.

 

The Lake Worth Art League took up residence in the Strait Museum, and patrons enjoyed may years of art instruction and exhibitions. The design of the building, with its high ceilings and open spaces, also made it a wonderful venue for paintings and other forms of art, including the R.Sherman Winton collection of paintings, and many other paintings depicting historic and colorful subjects.

 

During the 1950's the Lake Worth Library had the highest number of patrons and circulation among all Palm Beach County libraries by a wide margin, and seasonal patrons especially enjoyed its spacious rooms and customer service.

 

By the early 1960s, sufficient funds were collected to install a heating and air-conditioning plant. This would keep patrons more comfortable, especially in the hot Florida summers, but more importantly allowed the book collection to be kept under better conditions for preservation.

 

As the decades passed, the library kept up with the needs of patrons. LP vinyl records were replace by cassettes and CDs; books on tape became books on CD. Lake Worth installed one of the first library security systems to reduce theft of library materials, and in 1982 the library became handicapped accessible. In the 1990s, computers for patron use were introduced, and soon the Internet became a service the library offered its patrons.

 

As the City of Lake Worth celebrated it centennial in 2013, the library played a central role in the festivities. A groundbreaking look into the city's hidden history revealed the town's original inhabitants, Samuel and Fannie James, and resulted in the publication of Pioneers of Jewell. All proceeds from the book benefited the library.

 

The evolution continues into the twenty-first century. Most recently the library opened its "CreatE-Lab" were children and teens can study and explore technology to support their studies and interests.

 

Over its more than one hundreds years, the Lake Worth Public Library has served thousands of patrons, from locals to winter residents. The library building is the focal point of downtown Lake Worth, as it has been for more than seven decades, and it will continue to serve its patrons with information and services for education, entertainment, and enjoyment that only a good book, or new knowledge, can bring.

 

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

friendsoflwbl.org/history-of-the-library

www.pbcgov.org/papa/Asps/PropertyDetail/PropertyDetail.as...

 

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

  

Charity raft race at the Ship Inn on Langstone Harbour to raise funds for the RNLI. These participants seem to have a problem but all good fun!

Local fundraising efforts were pushed and enough funds were in the bank in the city of Lake Worth Beach to begin construction of the new library in 1940. Architect Edgar S. Wortman received the commission for the library building. His design was a Mediterranean-style building that would complement other buildings in the downtown Lake Worth area. Just as construction began, two longtime winter residents, twin brothers James D. Strait and William S. Strait, made a $10,000 donation to the library board for the erection of a museum. A museum wing was added to the library plans, and the Strait Museum added to the cultural offerings of the town.

 

Ground was broken on October 7, 1940; by February, 1941, the building was substantially complete. Although funds were not available for air-conditioning the building was constructed to allow for its eventual installation with ducts and a small room for the plant. The dedication took place on August 12, 1941.

 

The Lake Worth Art League took up residence in the Strait Museum, and patrons enjoyed may years of art instruction and exhibitions. The design of the building, with its high ceilings and open spaces, also made it a wonderful venue for paintings and other forms of art, including the R.Sherman Winton collection of paintings, and many other paintings depicting historic and colorful subjects.

 

During the 1950's the Lake Worth Library had the highest number of patrons and circulation among all Palm Beach County libraries by a wide margin, and seasonal patrons especially enjoyed its spacious rooms and customer service.

 

By the early 1960s, sufficient funds were collected to install a heating and air-conditioning plant. This would keep patrons more comfortable, especially in the hot Florida summers, but more importantly allowed the book collection to be kept under better conditions for preservation.

 

As the decades passed, the library kept up with the needs of patrons. LP vinyl records were replace by cassettes and CDs; books on tape became books on CD. Lake Worth installed one of the first library security systems to reduce theft of library materials, and in 1982 the library became handicapped accessible. In the 1990s, computers for patron use were introduced, and soon the Internet became a service the library offered its patrons.

 

As the City of Lake Worth celebrated it centennial in 2013, the library played a central role in the festivities. A groundbreaking look into the city's hidden history revealed the town's original inhabitants, Samuel and Fannie James, and resulted in the publication of Pioneers of Jewell. All proceeds from the book benefited the library.

 

The evolution continues into the twenty-first century. Most recently the library opened its "CreatE-Lab" were children and teens can study and explore technology to support their studies and interests.

 

Over its more than one hundreds years, the Lake Worth Public Library has served thousands of patrons, from locals to winter residents. The library building is the focal point of downtown Lake Worth, as it has been for more than seven decades, and it will continue to serve its patrons with information and services for education, entertainment, and enjoyment that only a good book, or new knowledge, can bring.

 

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

friendsoflwbl.org/history-of-the-library

www.pbcgov.org/papa/Asps/PropertyDetail/PropertyDetail.as...

 

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

  

"JPMorgan to Pay $307 Million for Steering Clients to Own Funds" by NATHANIEL POPPER via NYT t.co/sBJZDZrmfI (via Twitter twitter.com/felipemassone/status/677933158944399361)

Julius von Verdy du Vernois war ein preußischer General der Infanterie sowie 1889/90 Kriegsminister. Er war Ritter des Ordens „Pour le Mérite“ für Wissenschaft und Künste. Bedeutung erlangte er vor allem durch seine strategischen Studien und Veröffentlichungen, die auch im Ausland große Beachtung fanden.. Das Denkmal galt nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer als verschollen. Es wurde 2010 bis 2013 mit privaten Mitteln restauriert.. Offenbar wurde die originale Engelsskulptur aber doch noch gefunden, denn bei näherer Betrachtung zeigt sie deutliche Einschusslöcher aus Kriegszeiten.

 

Julius von Verdy du Vernois was a Prussian infantry general and Minister of War in 1889/90. He was a Knight of the Order ‘Pour le Mérite’ for Sciences and Arts. He became famous above all for his strategic studies and publications, which also attracted a great deal of attention abroad. The memorial was considered lost after the construction of the Berlin Wall. It was restored with private funds between 2010 and 2013. Apparently, however, the original angel sculpture was found after all, because on closer inspection it shows clear bullet holes from wartime.

 

Der 1748 angelegte Friedhof war einst Teil des Invalidenhauses der preußischen Armee, das von Friedrich II. in den Jahren 1747/48 errichtet wurde und in dem Kriegsinvaliden ihren Lebensabend verbringen konnten. Zum Invalidenhaus gehörten eine evangelische und eine katholische Kirche, aus der 1860 eine eigene Pfarrei entstand. Die Pfarrei umfasste neben den katholischen Invaliden auch die in den nördlichen Bezirken wohnenden Einwohner Berlins.

Nach den Befreiungskriegen 1813/15 fanden hier vor allem hohe Militärs ihre letzte Ruhestätte, ab Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts auch Zivilpersonen. Die Ausdehnung der Zivilgemeinde hatte zur Folge, dass von den insgesamt 30.000 Beisetzungen etwa ein Drittel dem Invalidenhaus und zwei Drittel der Zivilgemeinde zugeordnet werden mussten.

Auf dem heutigen Feld C des Invalidenfriedhofs entstand ein Ehrenplatz für Persönlichkeiten, die in den Befreiungskriegen eine herausragende Rolle gespielt hatten. Das Feld A blieb das bevorzugte Feld des Invalidenhauses, Feld B hingegen blieb über lange Zeit für die Zivilgemeinde reserviert. Da aufgrund der steigenden Beisetzungen Platzmangel bestand, erfolgte nach 1870 eine Erweiterung des Friedhofs.

Wichtige Persönlichkeiten der Berliner Stadtgeschichte haben auf dem Invalidenfriedhof ihre letzte Ruhestätte gefunden; einige Grabstellen sind erhalten. 1951 wurde der Invalidenfriedhof geschlossen und alle Grabstellen aus der Zeit vor 1925 eingeebnet.

Am 13. August 1961 dem Tag des Mauerbaus befanden sich auf dem Friedhof 3.000 Grabstellen; aufgrund seiner direkten Mauerlage erklärte man große Bereiche zum Grenzgebiet, die Felder E, F und G gehörten zum sogenannten Todestreifen. In den folgenden Jahren wurde der Invalidenfriedhof verwüstet, zahlreiche Grabdenkmäler und Gedenksteine abtransportiert, sodass heute nur noch 200 Grabstätten erhalten sind.

Der Invalidenfriedhof ist als eine Gedenkstätte zu betrachten; der ehemalige Todesstreifen und alle anderen Spuren der Zerstörung sollen auch in Zukunft zum mahnenden Gedenken erhalten bleiben. In den vergangenen Jahren sind einige charakteristische Friedhofsalleen wieder aufgepflanzt und auch erste bedeutende Gräber vollständig restauriert worden, davon auch einige in den Bereichen, die im Todesstreifen lagen.

 

www.berlin.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/3561200-3558930-invalid...

 

The cemetery, which was established in 1748, was once part of the Prussian army's Invalid's House, which was built by Frederick II in 1747/48 and where war invalids could spend their twilight years. The Invalids' House included a Protestant and a Catholic church, from which a separate parish was created in 1860. In addition to the Catholic invalids, the parish also included the inhabitants of Berlin living in the northern districts.

After the Wars of Liberation in 1813/15, it was mainly high-ranking military personnel who found their final resting place here, followed by civilians from the end of the 19th century. The expansion of the civilian community meant that of the total of 30,000 burials, around one third had to be allocated to the Invalids' House and two thirds to the civilian community.

In what is now Field C of the Invalids' Cemetery, a place of honour was created for personalities who had played an outstanding role in the Wars of Liberation (Anti-Napoleonic Wars). Field A remained the favoured field of the Invalids' House, while Field B was reserved for the civilian community for a long time. As there was a lack of space due to the increasing number of burials, the cemetery was extended after 1870.

Important figures in Berlin's history have found their final resting place in the Invalids' Cemetery; some graves have been preserved. The Invalids' Cemetery was closed in 1951 and all graves from before 1925 were levelled.

On 13 August 1961, the day the Berlin Wall was built, there were 3,000 graves in the cemetery; due to its direct location on the Wall, large areas were declared a border area, with fields E, F and G belonging to the so-called death strip, a broad area between the outer Wall and the inner, "Hinterland" Wall, where all vegetation was extinguished and all graves where levelled. In the years that followed, the Invalids' Cemetery was vandalised and numerous grave monuments and memorial stones were removed, so that today only 200 graves remain.

The Invalids' Cemetery is to be regarded as a memorial site; the former death strip and all other traces of the destruction are to be preserved in the future as a reminder. In recent years, several characteristic cemetery avenues have been replanted and the first significant graves have been completely restored, including some in the areas that were located in the death strip.

 

www.berlin.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/3561200-3558930-invalid...

Hobnobbing with our social betters can be a hit-or-miss proposition, a fact that has an etymological justification. The verb hobnob originally meant "to drink together" and occurred as a varying phrase, hob or nob, hob-a-nob, or hob and nob, the first of which is recorded in 1763. This phrasal form reflects the origins of the verb in similar phrases that were used when two people toasted each other. The phrases were probably so used because hob is a variant of hab and nob of nab, which are probably forms of have and its negative. In Middle English, for example, one finds the forms habbe, "to have," and nabbe, "not to have." Hab or nab, or simply hab nab, thus meant "get or lose, hit or miss," and the variant hob-nob also meant "hit or miss." Used in the drinking phrase, hob or nob probably meant "give or take"; from a drinking situation hob nob spread to other forms of chumminess. (free dictionary)

Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon, Auvernia-Ródano-Alpes, France.

 

La basílica Notre-Dame de Fourvière es una basílica menor de culto católico ubicada en la ciudad francesa de Lyon. Fue construida con fondos privados entre 1872 y 1896 en una colina que domina la ciudad como marca del triunfo de los valores cristianos sobre los socialistas de la comuna de Lyon de 1870. Como la Basílica del Sacré Cœur de París, su diseño inusual, de Pierre Bossan, toma elementos de la arquitectura románica y bizantina.

 

Entre sus atractivos se encuentran sus mosaicos, las hermosas vidrieras y la cripta de San José. La visitan unos 1,5 millones de turistas al año, y ofrece visitas guiadas y un Museo de Arte Sacro.

 

Situada sobre la colina de Fourvière, desde la basílica se obtienen unas impresionantes vistas de toda la ciudad de Lyon y sus alrededores. De hecho, Notre-Dame de Fourvière se ha convertido en uno de los símbolos de Lyon gracias a que es vista desde prácticamente cualquier punto.

 

La basílica tiene cuatro torres principales y un campanario, coronado con la estatua dorada de la Virgen María. Fourvière cuenta realmente con dos catedrales, una encima de la otra. El santuario superior está extremadamente ornado, en comparación con el sobrio exterior, mientras que el inferior tiene un diseño mucho más sencillo.

 

Notre-Dame de Fourvière fue incluida en el patrimonio de la Unesco en 1998, al tiempo que todo el casco histórico de la ciudad de Lyon.

 

The Notre-Dame de Fourvière basilica is a minor basilica of Catholic worship located in the French city of Lyon. It was built with private funds between 1872 and 1896 on a hill overlooking the city as a mark of the triumph of Christian values ​​over the socialists of the commune of Lyon in 1870. Like the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur in Paris, its unusual design, by Pierre Bossan, takes elements of Byzantine and Romanesque architecture.

 

Among its attractions are its mosaics, the beautiful stained glass windows and the crypt of San José. It is visited by about 1.5 million tourists a year, and offers guided tours and a Museum of Sacred Art.

 

Located on the Fourvière hill, from the basilica there are impressive views of the entire city of Lyon and its surroundings. In fact, Notre-Dame de Fourvière has become one of the symbols of Lyon thanks to the fact that it is seen from practically any point.

 

The basilica has four main towers and a bell tower, crowned with the golden statue of the Virgin Mary. Fourvière actually has two cathedrals, one on top of the other. The upper sanctuary is extremely ornate compared to the sober exterior, while the lower one is much simpler in design.

 

Notre-Dame de Fourvière was included in the Unesco heritage in 1998, as well as the entire historic center of the city of Lyon.

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All of my photographs are under copyright ©. None of these photographs may be reproduced and/or used in any way without my permission.

 

© VanveenJF Photography

The Fifty Funds Class 50 No. 50031 'Hood' makes a triumphant return to main line operations on 1st November 1997 at the head of Past Time Rail's 'Pilgrim Hoover'. The train had originated at London Euston and was hauled by No. 87101 to Birmingham International where 'The Mighty Hood' took over for a swashbuckling trip to Plymouth, seen here leaving Bristol Temple Meads. It had been just over three years since the final 'Hoover' working for BR in March 1994. Copyright Photograph John Whitehouse - all rights reserved

Roaring Brook Falls is Connecticut's highest single drop waterfall. The waterfall is 80 feet. The waterfall is longer than pictured here. I had to take it in 3 sections because I had to use my 50 mm prime because for some bizarre reason I bought my polarizer filter for this lens. LOL Hopefully at some point I can stitch them together.

 

If anyone would like to visit these falls, OMG, I hope you are in good shape. I took the path that led to the left side of the falls and that path was straight up. I got to a point that I could barely put one foot in front of the other. LOL My husband came along with me and he chose to wait at the bottom. That is a good thing because he doesn't like heights and I had to photograph this from an extremely steep bank. I believe it is a gorge cut out from the Ice Age. A photo just does not do justice for this magnificent waterfall. I will definitely go back and I expect in the Autumn this will be even more beautiful.

 

"Arrowheads tell of early men who hunted the woodlands and fished the watercourse of what came to be known as Roaring Brook on West Mountain (southern extension of Peck Mountain) in Cheshire. Foundation stones tell of an old mill powered by the falling water of this stream. Tumble-down rock walls tell of early farmers. Cedar stumps tell of former pastures now overgrown with encroached forest. Earlier Cheshire residents could tell of coaches and buggies that brought holiday visitors to view the impressive 80-foot, aptly named, cascades that in flood can be heard a mile away.

 

For many years benevolent stewardship of this natural area was in private hands. Then came a time when possible fragmentation threatened to alter the character of the area. But this threat also provided an opportunity for a portion of the area to be taken into the public domain. Recognizing this opportunity, the Cheshire Land Trust enthusiastically sought and received support from local residents, town officials, students, and civic groups. It contributed funds of its own and catalyzed the acquisition of other resources from two local garden clubs. Significant gifts were received from Lawrence Copeland (owner of the property) and the George Dudley Seymour Trust, the Town of Cheshire, through its Parks and Recreation Department, shared further funding with the federal Heritage Conservation and Recreation Services, and so the natural area of Roaring Brook became a town-owned facility on December 7, 1978.

 

The watercourse draws upon a significant watershed on top of the basalt ridge. Its stream drops off the ridge in a main waterfall with similar cascades above and below; it flows on as a braided stream on an old delta, continuing on to join Willow Brook and Mill River." Written by Tom Pool, 1979

 

source- www.cheshirelandtrust.org/roaring-brook.htm

 

Taken in Chesire Connecticut.

  

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Nothing personal, but I will no longer be returning favs or comments on Sims, (second life or whatever they call that) or other digital artwork that is not photography at all as I honestly don't know much about it and I am not really interested in anything but photography on Flickr.

 

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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COPYRIGHT- Skyelyte Photography

 

None of my images may be downloaded, copied, reproduced, manipulated or used on websites, blogs or other media or used in any way without my explicit written permission. THANK YOU!

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The mission: to raise funds for the Werneth Concert Band to go towards a foreign tour to Catalunya in Spain in May 2000.

 

The event: a one-day bus trip around Greater Manchester, with sponsors pledging cash for each individual journey I completed that day.

 

The chance to sample the famous 400 Trans Lancs service at some point on my jaunt was too good to miss. Having already sampled its lesser known counterpart, the 500, on the outward western section, it made sense to match that up with a 400 on the homeward eastbound portion. Happy childhood memories of GMT Scania Metropolitans abounded, but sadly by this time, things were a little more prosaic, and First Manchester B10B 531 (N531 WVR) was what was on offer, featuring the by-then-typical misted-up window unit.

 

Once again an obliging queue of punters at Bolton has made my photographing life a whole lot easier. We left at 13.30, reaching Bury at 13.55.

 

17/07/1999.

 

Interior and bank vault of a bank built in the late 1800's in a former resort town that at one time had more than 100 Sulphur Springs. The town suffered a severe flood in 1913 followed up by a flu outbreak in 1919 and a fire in 1929 which caused the town to pick up and move about a mile from this location. This building appears on page 91 of my book, Abandoned Texas: Under A Lone Star Moon.

 

Night, near full moon, 180 second exposure, handheld light producing device set to white & gold.

‘LOTUS ON THE PIER’ - RAISING FUNDS FIT THE RNLI’ - JULY 26th 2025

Title

Comme tirer sur des poissons dans un tonneau

 

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This is a link to a You Tube Video of a thief not unlike our Angie.

youtu.be/HAZdjhNVjxk

 

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Case Study 113 :

Warning, these are the raw, bare unusual facts as originally recorded. Some names, times, places and some facts have , of course been altered.

Name: Angelica D circa 192__

Subject: an unscrupulous light-fingered body thief

Event: A Sisters of Mercy charity sponsored ball

Place: The Hamptons

Time: Warm early Spring Friday Evening

 

It had been a very busy 3 day working weekend for “poor” Angie, a rather handsome lady with flaming red hair, whose life during these depressive years had forced her too constantly work to sustain herself.

 

The joint where now Angie found herself was filled with a bevy of ladies and girls dressed up royally for the occasion, A Sisters of Mercy charity sponsored ball. The Ball’s objective was to raise funds for the good sister’s bread lines, Angie’s objective was to raise some funds of her own.

 

Needless to say, she did not fit in with her present environment. The reason Angie did not fit in was, although she was also dressed up in a sleekly colorful frock of her own, she was probably the only female guest to whom the term “working lady” would be an oxy-moron. Actually, it was almost as If her fellow guests sensed this, almost acting like she did not even exist. As she found out almost as soon as she had entered, two ladies were walking towards her, her, one in a long flowing lavender gown and pearls, the other in a shorter grey satin number with a bouncy skirt and decked out with enough silver trinkets to have drained a small mine. Angie nodded to them, but their noses were so held high they didn’t even see her, and the one in grey satin actually would have ran Angie over if she had not moved quicker, as it was they brushed against one another, and Angie had to actually grasp the Ladies’ wrist with the pearled bracelet,to steady herself. Angie found herself on the end of a few rather severe words of disdain as they looked back at her..

 

Angie just sighed to herself, and watched the pair saunter off, with a rather thoughtful look in her bright green eyes. Her left hand was clasped, playing with something she was holding in it. She then slipped that hand behind her satin sash, straighten it, she did so favor wearing slick sash’s with her silk party dresses.

 

It was at that moment that a pristine young lady walked by her. Looking like an escapee from a high society debutant’s coming out affair. Her lithe figure was draped in a gleaming white taffeta gown, its long layered skirt that swirled provocatively as she moved, Her elbow length gloves and purse were made of the same material as her gown. Angie’s eyes travelled up and down the passing enchantress (without moving her head), looking her over head to toe , from the spray of white flowers in her hair, to her clicking white high heels. Surprisingly the only jewelry she was wearing was a thick gold bracelet, set with rubies, as bright as the fire crackling in the mammoth fireplace by the bar.. Waiting ten seconds after the pristine miss was out of her roving eyes view, Angie turned and followed. She did not get far, a male voice called out “Sheila” and the lady was met by a rather charming appearing male of the same age, and smiling, the pair trotted off to the dance floor.

 

Angie hovered for a bit watching the show put on by the waltzing young couple, as well as their paired co dancers out on the almost 1 acre ballroom floor. As Angie stood watching, mesmerized by her thoughts, she first noticed the opened, wide double glass doors on the far side of the ballroom. Many of the well-dressed guests seemed to be coming and going from this newly discovered area.

 

It was then that a pretty young thing passed by Angie, heading towards those very same double doors. Although she carried herself well, the charming princess appeared to be a little too young to be wondering about by herself. She was definitely too young to be flitting about unescorted while wearing the costly jewels that glittered a pretty fire as she swished about on her merry way. The girl was expensively attired in an excessively glossy, purple satin blouse, a tailored black satin jacket with rhinestone buttons ,and a long silky black satin pleated skirt that fell spilling out from underneath the matching jacket ,swishing with every step of whispering silk at the heels of her black shoes. Her long soft chestnut hair done up in a long plait, with pearls interwoven throughout its length , held back by a sapphire encrusted clip, sapphires sparkled from all over ; ears, neckline, wrists and fingers, even her jacket had a sapphire brooch shaped like a waning moon. Very pretty Angie observed as the young scamp reached the double doors.

  

Angie, her curiosity now aroused by what lay past those doors, turned heel and with the girl as an unwary guide, followed her towards them. Now, curiosity may have killed a cat or two, but for Angie, being curious usually put food on her table. She soon discovered that the doors led out onto a wide cement patio, off of which was a rather extensive flower Garden, walled in by a rows of high green hedges. Angie watched as the last wisp of the, surprisingly still unescorted, young lady’s skirt disappeared from view into the gardens. Someone should warn her about going outside alone for walks when dressed like that ! Angie thought to herself, but before moving off with the intention of doing that very thing. But she stopped first, checking her surroundings.

  

The patio was home to a number of mostly occupied tables. With one exception, all the occupied tables were home to couples in groups of two to six, men in tuxes, their paramours in vibrant gowns that spread out quite nicely, spilling down rainbow like coloures from chairs to the cement floor. As Angie looked around, she observed the array of glittering jewels worn by the happily chatting women. Then Angie darted her eyes the one table that made the exception on the patio. Located in an isolated corner, that table was the only one with a lone female occupant. The occupant was resplendently dressed in a shiny mint green gown of fine satin that literally poured along the shapely curves of her seated figure, before finally splaying out around her feet like a soft, shiny pool. Her many jewels were set with majestic diamonds, especially her earrings, or at least the one Angie could see. For the ladies long hair fell over one heavily mascaraed eye, making the lady appear to be a one eye Cyclops, with an incredibly sparkling bright diamonded earing dripping from her one visible earlobe. Angie scrutinized the scene before her as she pondered a bit. Then, spying a shiny mint green purse dangling from the chair behind the Cyclops, a grin, wider than that of the Cheshire cat’s begins to spread across Angie’s handsomely sly face.

 

**

Why the grin like a Cheshire cat?

**

Now when a young Angie had first started on her adulthood path, she self -taught herself on how to be a pickpocket, ( body thief, and cutpurse were her preferred terms) and progressed to the point whereupon she was able to make a comfortable living.

Back then, as in the present, women of all ages were her preferred target, for several reasons:

A) Easily more distractible, especially the younger versions.

B) Silken and satiny types of dress, smoothly slick, were far more accommodating when preforming a dip or pick than trying the same maneuvers on the more unforgiving formal attire of their male counterparts.

C) Likewise the possessions of women and girls were more plentiful, and shiningly richer than those of most gentlemen.

Now, as was stated, Angie was self-taught. She did this by discreetly watching the pickpockets who worked the back streets and alleyways off of fancy theatres and dance halls in the area she grew up. She also did research by gleaning information from old newspapers and haunting the local libraries.

(See more of Angie’s background in the Album, Angie picks Chicago)

Angie especially liked the methods employed by cutpurses, and found enough success in this method that she still habitually carried a penknife with a long, finely honed, razor sharp blade. Even though she had not nicked a soft purse in a few years, she was still always up to the challenge.

 

**

 

So this, then, was the reason behind the evil grin, and the reason Angie now slipped a hand discreetly behind her colorful dress’s satin sash , extracting the finely honed folded razor, which she opened with one hand and concealed behind her back. She walked up, and looking around, let her hand holding the razor drop and allowed the blade to skim across the bottom of the purse as she walked past. She heard something tingle behind her, and then a muted gasp. Angie turned, quite a natural thing to do, noting the lady was reaching for her purse as its contents spilled out. Angie’s practiced eyes took inventory, a calf skin wallet, gold (solid!) compact, matching lipstick container, expensive tortoise shell comb, and several silky handkerchiefs had fallen out. Angie came to the ladies rescue, effectively cutting off any of the ladies at the nearby tables from doing the same. Their attention quickly turning back to their own personal business, as the rich are happily wont to do.

  

As the purses owner was bending down, her long hair falling totally straight down, Angie comes up and bumps into her as she leant down also. Apologizing, Angie cordially helped the lady pick up the purses’ strewn contents. Angie chats happily with the girl, easing the tension. The girl looks up into Angie’s face, thanking her, her long hair had fallen back, covering her eye, her only visible earring was swaying, still sending out showers of bright sparkles. Angie willingly accepting the young ladies gracious gratitude, before happily waltzing away, leaving the solitary lady to scratch her head over the ruined purse, as she makes sure all the rather pricey items it had contained are accounted for. Happily she discovers that nothing from her purse is missing.

  

Angie had not touched one item that had spilled out from the slashed bottom of the small silk purse.

  

For you see, Angie had graduated from being a common pickpocket of wallets and the contents of expensive purses

 

( as explained in the stories located the albums, Angie having a Ball @ Angie at Play).

  

Angie now was able to lift things far more valuable, as evidenced by the shiny diamond earring that Angie now had secreted inside the hidden pocket of her dresses’ her satin sash, the very earring that had been hidden beneath the long silky hair that had made the victim resemble a sexy Cyclops. The clasped earring had been exposed briefly as the distracted young lady had bent down to collect her scattered possession’s, and Angie’s practiced fingers had scooped it up and gently pulled it free from her earlobe, without the unsuspecting lady feeling so much as a prick..

 

Now Angie could have easily snatched both earrings, or had taken a necklace or bracelet along with it. But if she had, than once discovered, it would have been immediately apparent that something sinister had happened, and she would likely have been at the center point of that suspicion. But, by taking only a single piece of jewelry, it would more likely be surmised it had fallen off in the fracas, or possibly even earlier in the evening.

See Addendum SS

  

**

Angie left the sexy Cyclops, retreating back towards the garden. Now I wonder where the inquisitive young miss wondered off too. Someone really should warn her about going outside for a walk alone wearing all those precious jewels ,Angie thought, not really all that concerned about actually warning anyone.

  

Angie savored gardens and small parks with the feeling that she had done some of her best handiwork in places like that whenever they were haunted by ultra-wealthy fat cats. So it was with some great measure of pleasure that she now took to prowling this particular gardens maze of winding paths as she slowly made her get away, still open for opportunity.

  

As Angie meandered through the garden, passing many young couples milling about, happily eyeing the various fancily attired and jewel laden ladies that were flaunting their goods about, she remembered about being in a similar Garden not too very long ago, and the amazing luck that she had ended up having that evening.

 

(See Album “Angie being receptive” to read about that luck)

  

Angie turned a corner and saw that there was a side path almost hidden from view behind an untrimmed moss rose bush. She turned down it and found the path almost deserted. At the far end was a small alcove. Angie peered inside, it was not empty. The young miss in the purple blouse and black satin jacket and skirt, was knelling, happily admiring some small cement statues of animals she had discovered. Behind her was a small stone bench that lay before the hedge. Angie noticed that some of the hedge’s crooked branches had formed a small opening to the outside. Angie snuck behind one of the bushes that formed the inner wall of the alcove, and watched with open interest . The happily unaware girl’s sapphires glittered beckoningly, especially her sapphire pendent on its long braided silver chain that bounced on and off the front of her thick, glossy satin blouse . The girls black satin jacket was open, and the waning moon brooch was clearly visible, glittering in the lights of a nearby gas lamp. Angie flexed her fingers, waiting for an opening; it really ought to be an easy pick.

  

But at that very moment a dark figure came silently through the break in the outside hedge. A Gypsyish young female vagabond, wearing a slightly ragged dress with a colourful long scarf came into the pool of light , and crept up to the bench. The young lady had her back to the bench, never heard a thing, and kept on playing blissfully, unaware she now had, good or bad, uninvited company. The female vagabond only looked about a couple of years older, with a stronger figure than that of the well-dressed girl, but physically about the same size. The female vagabond sat on the bench, black eyes darting about, looking like she was being protective of the young lady in shiny satin, and even shinier sapphires.

  

Angie rose from her crouch; she had not been noticed, and decided to keep it that way. She carefully circled around the entrance to the alcove, without looking back. Her conscious, like most thieves, clear and unworried about the fate, good or bad, that may befall the stylishly attired rich young girl.

  

Actually, as she carefully snuck off, Angie’s thoughts were dwelling on how she would have distracted that pretty miss long enough to flick open the dangling silver chains clasp, and slip it and its shimmering pendent from around the high collared neckline of the accommodating slippery purple satin blouse. As she played it out, Angie almost turned back to see if somehow she could still accomplish it, it would be that easy. But she didn’t, and headed back past the moss rose bush and entered back on the main path.

 

Angie continued to nonchalantly prowl along the gardens long paths, staying to the outer edge she discovered several alcoves that were hidden in a similar manner to the one behind the overgrown Moss Rose bush. They all had been empty, until the fifth one she discovered, located behind a statue of a winged Hermes.

 

She heard the giggling first, and carefully shadowed her way around for a peek through some of the hedges branches., and what she saw made her perk right up. Angie observed a pair of young twenty something missus dressed resplendently in shiny gowns of royal blue and blood red that fluttered fetchingly as they quivered about. . Angie salivated over the copious collection fine jewels the pair was exhibiting, mesmerizingly flashing as the girls giggled in a conspiratorial fashion. All in all, Angie found it to be a most enthralling performance.

 

Angie watched as they sat their shiny purses(matching their gowns) on the old mossy stone bench and opened them. They began to slip off their rings and bracelets, setting them inside, than peeled off their long satin gloves( also matching their gowns, and laid them alongside. Then as they both looked around, one bent down and lifted up her long gown, revealing a black garter that held a gold cigarette case. Pulling it out, she opened it and both took a cigarette and started to smoke, giggling away the whole time at their daring. The other than looked around, and bending over lifted her long gown, her brooch dangling, and pulled a small flask from her garter! Then the both took long swigs, and started to giggle even more. In the time it took to do all this, Angie had come up with a plan of action designed to relive the young ladies of some of their finery. “Comme tirer sur des poissons dans un tonneau!” Angie murmured to herself.

  

She edged around till she was on the hedge directly behind the bench. At the bottom was an opening just large enough to crawl through with a little effort. Angie picked up a small stone and threw it as hard as she could at the fountain. Hearing the noise, the girls jump, and go to the entrance of the alcove to investigate, their purses and its valuable cargo momentarily unguarded. As their colorfully shimmering backs are turned, Angie reaches through and pulls one of the purses down, spilling its contents. She reached in the glittering pile and spirits away a long, serpentine bracelet, and the biggest and brightest ring she could find amongst the group. She scattered the rest liberally about and slipped back before the girls turned back.

  

Angie waited until their curiosity was sated, and the pair came back inside the alcove. They soon began to meander about playfully, blowing puffs of smoke into each other’s faces, laughing at themselves, as their earrings, necklaces and a fine emerald brooch sparkled ever so invitingly to Angie’s shrewd eyes.

  

Now for the Coup de Gras, Angie thought as she rose, and walked over to the entrance, entering the alcove with a chirpy “why hello there!” The startled princesses jumped, and twirled around, their gowns delightfully coiling and swirling along their fine sanguine figures. Quickly placing them at ease, Angie looked about, and in a co-conspirator tone asked if she could join in a smoke. The girls eagerly obliged and soon all three of them were sending rings spiraling about. Angie admired their necklaces, and they happily lifted them up for her to see,. As the gas lights touched them, the sparklers came to life, sending cascading showers of shimmering fireworks into the night. Angie’s eyes absorbed it all in as she felt a welcoming tingle wash over her, making her shiver inwardly with absolute delight. But on the outside she appeared calm, and as she commented in a rather subdued tone of voice, “ My that is pretty”, she asked the other girl her opinion. As the girl leaned inward, Angie’s fingers darted in, and cupping the girls dangling brooch in her fingers, felt and flicked open it’s clasp, working it off all in one swift motion..

As Angie stashed her brooch in a secret pocket, he other princess, not to be outdone, presented her earrings to Angie, which Angie also cordially admired, secretly acknowledging that that the one hidden in her sash was far more pretty and valuable. But not as pretty or as valuable as her dangling brooch, which Angie had just lifted.

 

As Angie absorbed the rich fire of the remaining glittery gems the girls wore, she wondered ( not for the first time!) what attracted her more, the jewels, or the cash they may bring. Not that it mattered at the moment, for it was time to make her exit before the pair discovered the chicanery that Angie had caused, both on the bench behind them, and from the very gowns they were wearing so very fetchingly over their svelte figures.

 

They gave Angie her leave, cheerfully thanking her for joining them. As she walked away, Angie reflected that it had been a bit of a sticky wicket pulling it off, but she had slammed the score so to speak, and it was with a rather upmost felling of confidence in the luck she was experiencing this evening, that she left the alcoves hidden path and started to meander her way back the way she had come, like with any good gambler, with the intention of leaving while she was ahead.

 

When Angie reached the path outside the statue, she was abruptly snapped out of her musings as she realized that a man was approaching her. For a second Angie was taken aback, should she retreat back up the hidden path before being noticed? . Then she recognized him, and smiled evilly to herself.

 

It was the man, who earlier in the evening man had swirled “Sheila” , the wayward debutante in white satin ,to the dance floor. He looked up, seeing Angie standing there. She felt his eyes checking her out, and she smiled oh so prettily for him, her mind going a mile a minute. Where could his dance partner be? The man looked back over his shoulder. Ahh, there she was, standing at a rose bush just by a curve in the path. “Sheila” looked up past Angie, and catching her boyfriend’s eye, he called out to her, promising not to be long, and passed Angie without another look, as he marched away down the path. “Sheila” turned, exposing a back covered in sleek white satin, and headed off around the bend. Angie’s eyes meanwhile had been glued on the ruby bracelet, smelling opportunity, the way a fox smells the feathers adorning a plump hen.

  

Angie followed at a distance, calmly awaiting the prime moment to make her move. “Sheila” traveled quite away s into the depth of the garden, eventually coming along one to an outer wall of the high hedge. At one point she turned to admire a fountain, placing a satiny white glove on its rim, the rubies around her wrist glistening like mad. Angie, darting behind a nearby bush, was able to fully study the bracelet. It was a tiffany piece, with a clasp Angie knew would not put up much effort to stay clasped around the ladies’ slender gloved wrist.

  

When “Sheila” moved off, Angie shadowed even closer, she now had a plan, the debutante liked water fountains. Soon enough Angie heard the gurgling that meant another was close by. It came into view, an statue of a winged Midas, water pouring out of the flute he was playing. “Sheila” stopped abruptly, and Angie began a careful approach, the young lady, still with her back to Angie, could hear nothing above the murmuring water of the fountain.

  

Angie came up right behind her, eyeballing the pleasing gown worn in such a fetchingly manner by her prey. The lady stepped back, coming right up against Angie, whose slipping hands did their magic. Her right arm and hand caught the young lady by the waist, steadying her as she teetered in a startled manner, looking back at what was behind her. Angie had gripped the right side, and the lady looked in that direction, her attention away from her left side, and the wrist from which her only piece of jewellery lay. Angie’s left hand reached around and found its mark. Gliding along the satiny white glove, she lifted the bracelet with practiced finger’s, two of which turned it to the clasp, snapping it open and flicking it off “Shelia’s” wrist in one, deft, synchronized effort.

   

Come to mama Angie purrs as she sees the bracelet land in a soft bunch of leaves under one of the rose bush’s that lined the sparkling fountain. At the same time she was accepting the young ladies apologies, Angie looked “Sheila “ directly, innocently, In the eyes, accepting her apologies graciously, and calmly told her it as no fault of hers. The young lady left, embarrassed, and Angie waited until the coast was clear and then retrieved the bracelet, securing it away, before heading back the opposite way. She had just passed the part of the path where the moss rose bush hid to the little alcove, when she saw “Sheila’s” boyfriend heading her way. she turned and darted down the path. Then remembering the miss in purple and black satin, she thought she should check in on her. Angie reached the little alcove, finding it empty, nothing of interest except that a few of the statuses were now laying on their sides.

  

Angie reaches the patio, and without looking about, cuts back inside. She calmly heads through the mulling crown and leaving the same way she came.

  

As she left, Angie decided to walk a bit before hailing a cabby. It was a rough area, but there were a few people milling about and as long as she did not go down any dark alley ways, she should remain untouched. At the thought of dark alleyways she wondered what had happened with the female vagabond that had come into the alcove.

  

At that moment Angie spies a familiarly dressed figure, a long fluttering black satin skirt nipping at the toes of her heels, wearing a black satin jacket with rhinestone buttons, covering a glossy purple satin blouse. The figure was walking across the street, alone.

  

Someone should have warned that young lady about going outside for a walk alone, dressed like she was, foolishly displaying all those precious jewels. No one obviously had, Angie smirked to herself. For the girl now wearing the outfit was the young vagabond girl. Angie hoped the rich young lady was okay,( gypsy would had only had enough time to strip the girl of her valuables ) and not catching a chill, for everything she had been wearing, right down to her silky slips, would fetch the young gypsy a handsome price.

  

Angie had heard stories about Victorian child strippers – unscrupulous women who would cunningly lure unsuspecting children of the well-to-do away from safety in order to strip them bare of their clothing and any other valuables they had with them. The colder the weather the better, for they would be wearing more clothes. She wondered if the gypsy looking vagabond had heard the same stories. Angie shuddered in disgust. She had morals, aside from secreting away jewelry, she would never do anything else to any victim. She looked at the young lady walking haughtily ahead of her, and she had no tolerance for someone who would!

  

Angie reflected for a moment as she watched the girl swish away. She was glad the she had left when she did. Once the rich scamps plight had been discovered ( as it would soon be she knew) the other guest would instinctively check over their own valuables. Angie knew of a few wealthy ladies in attendance whom would soon become frantic. Angie started to follow the gypsy girl.

  

The gypsy girl may have decided to wear the fancy clothes, but none of the sapphires … she was too smart to wear those openly in this part of town. Angie had noticed a small bulge in a side pocket of the jacket, and she knew what was making it.

  

A soft breeze came from down the street, fluttering the young ladies long hair. A gypsy wind, Angie thought, how appropriate. She closed in on the oblivious young girl, her eyes focusing on the bulging side pocket of the shiny jacket. Never before had Angie ever encountered a satiny pocket that deserved to be picked clean as this one, now almost within her reach.

  

Someone should warn this girl about traipsing about alone dressed like that. Not me, Angie thought unforgivingly as she prepared her fingers to make their move.

Fini?

  

*************************************************************************************

Addendum SS

 

Now, one of the observations the author of the phamplet noted was the pretty much any lady who loses a piece of jewelery while out and about will go to great lengts to justify its looss, short of someone actually stealing it from her. Broken clasp, loose fitting, melting away(in the vcase of pearls) slipped off

To the point that they will give any reason to convince themselves that its loss was accidental, and almost turn a stubbornly deaf ear that it may have been otherwise

On one occasion, soley to test his throry, he himself stood next to a lady who was lamenting the loss of a brooch. A brooch he himself had lifted from her gowns sash and still, daruingly, had about his person.

On a whim he suggested that he had seen a stranger lurking about, and wondered if he may have taken it while dancing with her.

She totally poo pooed the idea with a nervous giigle, and placing a hand with well ringed fingers onto his shoulder, said, dear, things like that simply do noy occur.

Tis inherent belief has

been the foundation for lifting a persons valuables.master pickpockets in the generations since

 

*************************************************************************************

Like shooting fish in a barrel

comme tirer sur des poissons dans un tonneau

 

Editor’s Note:

Our Thanks to Mr J. Gardner for pointing out the existence of Mr. Monescu’s 1826 guide

Here are some links to videos depicting females not unlike our Angie

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls8rw2V1QCU&authuser=0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAZdjhNVjxk&authuser=0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RbLiI9ZFQ8&authuser=0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XZ8s-R9vl4

 

Courtesy of Chatwick University Archives

 

Funds were raised by public subscription for a memorial to fallen soldiers in World War I and in 1928 a competition was held for its design. The competition was won by Sydney architects Buchanan and Cowper who proposed a Greek Revival structure. The Shrine took two years to build and was dedicated on Armistice Day 11 November 1930 by Governor John Goodwin with a dedication plaque.

The flags of Australia and New Zealand are permanently flown and the Eternal Flame burns at all times.

This particular ferris wheel "Splendid" was found in Cannes, France

 

A Ferris wheel is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, capsules, gondolas, or pods) attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, they are kept upright, usually by gravity. Some of the largest modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on the outside of the rim, with electric motors to independently rotate each car to keep it upright. These wheels are sometimes referred to as observation wheels and their cars referred to as capsules. However, these alternative names are also used for wheels with conventional gravity-oriented cars.

  

The original Ferris Wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The generic term Ferris wheel, now used in American English for all such structures, has become the most common type of amusement ride at state fairs in the United States.

The current tallest Ferris wheel is the 167.6-metre (550 ft) High Roller in Las Vegas, Nevada, which opened to the public in March 2014.

 

The original Ferris Wheel, sometimes also referred to as the Chicago Wheel, was designed and constructed by Ferris Jr.

With a height of 80.4 metres (264 ft) it was the tallest attraction at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, where it opened to the public on June 21, 1893. It was intended to rival the 324-metre (1,063 ft) Eiffel Tower, the center piece of the 1889 Paris Exposition.

Ferris was a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bridge-builder. He began his career in the railroad industry and then pursued an interest in bridge building. Ferris understood the growing need for structural steel and founded G.W.G. Ferris & Co. in Pittsburgh, a firm that tested and inspected metals for railroads and bridge builders.

The wheel rotated on a 71-ton, 45.5-foot axle comprising what was at that time the world's largest hollow forging, manufactured in Pittsburgh by the Bethlehem Iron Company and weighing 89,320 pounds, together with two 16-foot-diameter (4.9 m) cast-iron spiders weighing 53,031 pounds.

There were 36 cars, each fitted with 40 revolving chairs and able to accommodate up to 60 people, giving a total capacity of 2,160. The wheel carried some 38,000 passengers daily and took 20 minutes to complete two revolutions, the first involving six stops to allow passengers to exit and enter and the second a nine-minute non-stop rotation, for which the ticket holder paid 50 cents.

The Exposition ended in October 1893, and the wheel closed in April 1894 and was dismantled and stored until the following year. It was then rebuilt on Chicago's North Side, near Lincoln Park, next to an exclusive neighborhood. This prompted William D. Boyce, then a local resident, to file a Circuit Court action against the owners of the wheel to have it removed, but without success. It operated there from October 1895 until 1903, when it was again dismantled, then transported by rail to St. Louis for the 1904 World's Fair and finally destroyed by controlled demolition using dynamite on May 11, 1906.

Antique Ferris wheels

The Wiener Riesenrad (German for "Viennese Giant Wheel") is a surviving example of nineteenth-century Ferris wheels. Erected in 1897 in the Wurstelprater section of Prater public park in the Leopoldstadt district of Vienna, Austria, to celebrate Emperor Franz Josef I's Golden Jubilee, it has a height of 64.75 metres (212 ft) and originally had 30 passenger cars. A demolition permit for the Riesenrad was issued in 1916, but due to a lack of funds with which to carry out the destruction, it survived.

Following the demolition of the 100-metre (328 ft) Grande Roue de Paris in 1920, the Riesenrad became the world's tallest extant Ferris wheel. In 1944 it burnt down, but was rebuilt the following year with 15 passenger cars, and remained the world's tallest extant wheel until its 97th year, when the 85-metre (279 ft) Technocosmos was constructed for Expo '85, at Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

Still in operation today, it is one of Vienna's most popular tourist attractions, and over the years has featured in numerous films (including Madame Solange d`Atalide (1914), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), The Third Man (1949), The Living Daylights (1987), Before Sunrise (1995)) and novels.

World's tallest Ferris wheels

Chronology of world's tallest-ever wheels

•1893: the original Ferris Wheel was 80.4 metres (264 ft) tall. Built for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, it was moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904 for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and demolished there in 1906.

•1895: the Great Wheel was built for the Empire of India Exhibition at Earls Court, London, UK, and was 94 metres (308 ft) tall.[15] Construction began in March 1894[16] and it opened to the public on 17 July 1895. It stayed in service until 1906 and was demolished in 1907, having carried over 2.5 million passengers.

•1900: the Grande Roue de Paris was built for the Exposition Universelle, a world's fair held in Paris, France. It was demolished in 1920,[8] but its 100-metre (328 ft) height was not surpassed until almost 90 years after its construction.

•1920: the Wiener Riesenrad was built to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Emperor Franz Josef I, at the entrance of the Wurstelprater amusement park in Austria's capital Vienna. Constructed in 1897, when the Grande Roue de Paris was demolished in 1920, the Riesenrad became the world's tallest extant Ferris wheel with 64.75-metre (212 ft), and it remained so for the next 65 years until 1985, its 97th year.

•1985: Technocosmos, later renamed Technostar, was an 85-metre (279 ft) tall giant Ferris wheel, originally built for the Expo '85 World Fair in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. Work began on dismantling Technostar in November 2009.

•1989: the Cosmo Clock 21 was built for the YES '89 Yokohama Exposition at Minato Mirai 21, Yokohama, Japan. Originally constructed with a height of 107.5 metres (353 ft),it was dismantled in 1997 and then in 1999 relocated onto a taller base which increased its overall height to 112.5 metres (369 ft).

•1992: Igosu 108 at Biwako Tower, Shiga, Japan, opened April 26 at 108 metres (354 ft) tall, hence its name. It has since been moved to Vietnam, where it opened as the Sun Wheel on a new base, now totaling 115 metres (377 ft) tall.

•1997: the Tempozan Ferris Wheel, in Osaka, Japan, opened to the public on 13 July, and is 112.5 metres (369 ft) tall.

•1999: the Daikanransha at Palette Town in Odaiba, Japan, is 115 metres (377 ft) tall.

•2000: the London Eye, in London, United Kingdom, is 135 metres (443 ft) tall. Although officially opened on 31 December 1999, it did not open to the public until March 2000, because of technical problems.

•2006: the Star of Nanchang, in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China, opened for business in May and is 160 metres (525 ft) tall.

•2008: the Singapore Flyer, in Singapore, is 165 metres (541 ft) tall. It started rotating on 11 February, and officially opened to the public on 1 March 2008.

•2014: the High Roller, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, is 167.6 metres (550 ft) tall. It opened to the public on 31 March 2014, and is currently the world's tallest Ferris wheel in operation.

•2020: the Ain Dubai, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is 250 metres (820 ft) tall. It is due to open in 2020.

  

Une grande roue ou roue panoramique est une variante de très grande taille des manèges.

L'attraction est constituée d'une roue à la verticale ainsi que de nacelles attachées à la jante où montent les passagers. La première grande roue fut conçue par George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. à l'occasion de l'Exposition universelle de 1893 à Chicago. On trouve généralement les grandes roues dans les parcs d'attractions ou les fêtes foraines, mais depuis l'inauguration de London Eye, la grande roue de Londres, on en trouve de plus en plus dans les centres-villes.

Son but est principalement de donner aux passagers une vue panoramique sur une ville, en tournant à une vitesse modérée, voire parfois très lente. Elle n'est majoritairement pas une attraction à sensations, excepté les quelques effets éventuels de vertige dus à la hauteur en la faisant pivoter, de légers balancements dus au vent, ou d'effets inattendus de descentes, comme sur la Pixar Pal-A-Round.

La première évocation d'une grande roue à proprement parler figure dans les journaux de voyages de Peter Mundy, un navigateur et voyageur britannique du XVIIe siècle, originaire de Penryn en Cornouailles. Lors de son exploration de l'empire ottoman, il passe quelques jours à Plovdiv en Bulgarie et évoque les différents systèmes de balançoires à but festif, dont les moins dangereuses, pour les enfants seraient les ancêtres de la grande roue.

La grande roue « moderne » voit le jour grâce à George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., diplômé de Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, il fabriquait des ponts à Pittsburgh en Pennsylvanie. Il commença sa carrière dans l'industrie des voies ferrées, puis fut intéressé par la construction des ponts. Ferris comprit le besoin croissant d'acier de construction et fonda G.W.G. Ferris & Co. à Pittsburgh, une entreprise qui testait et contrôlait les métaux utilisés pour les voies ferrés et les ponts.

Ferris conçut la première grande roue, à l'occasion de l'exposition universelle de 1893 à Chicago1. La grande roue était censée être une attraction rivale de la tour Eiffel, l'œuvre centrale de l'Exposition universelle de Paris de 1889. Ce fut l'attraction la plus imposante de l'exposition, du haut de ses 80 mètres, elle était constituée de deux moteurs à vapeur et pouvait supporter 2 160 personnes. Elle contenait 36 nacelles de 60 places chacune (40 assises et 20 debout). Cela prenait vingt minutes pour que la roue fasse deux tours. Au premier tour, six arrêts permettaient aux passagers de monter et de descendre et le deuxième tour était complet sans arrêt. Le ticket coutait 50 cents à l'époque. À la fin de l'exposition universelle, la grande roue fut déplacée près d'un quartier huppé du nord de Chicago. Elle fut à nouveau utilisée pour l'exposition universelle de Saint-Louis dans le Missouri en 1904, qui célébrait le centenaire de l'acquisition de la Louisiane. Elle fut démantelée en 19062. Son axe, qui pesait 70 tonnes, a été le plus grand projet forgé de tous les temps. Des morceaux de cette grande roue furent utilisés pour construire un pont au-dessus de la rivière Kankakee, à 72 km au sud de Chicago3.

La seconde grande roue construite mesure 94 mètres. Nommée Gigantic Wheel (« roue géante »), elle fut construite à Londres dans le quartier d'Earls Court en 1895 sur le modèle de celle de Chicago. Les concepteurs de cette roue, deux Australiens, Adam Gaddelin et Gareth Watson, en construiront ensuite plus de 200.

La troisième installation fut édifiée en 1897, elle mesure 65 mètres. Conçue par Hubert Cecil Booth, elle se situe dans le parc du Prater à Vienne (Autriche). Elle tourne aujourd'hui encore et reste l'un des symboles du parc.

Une grande roue fut construite lors de l'Exposition universelle de 1900 à Paris avenue de Suffren (actuel village suisse), elle avait un diamètre de 106 mètres et comportait 80 nacelles (contre 36 pour celle de Chicago) pouvant contenir chacune 20 personnes4. Elle fut démolie en 19375. La grande roue de la jetée de Santa Monica est, avec celle de la jetée centrale de Blackpool, un des rares exemples de grande roue non édifiés sur terre ferme.

Certaines versions récentes permettent d'avoir des nacelles mobiles par rapport à la distance avec l'axe et ainsi se rapprocher du centre de la roue durant la rotation sans être cantonnée au seul périmètre de la roue (par exemple Pixar Pal-A-Round à Disney California Adventure).

Une autre évolution de la grande roue est constituée de plusieurs grandes roues reliés à l'aide de bras hydrauliques comme le Sky Whirl (Six Flags Great America, Illinois) conçu par la société Intamin.

Certaines grandes roues sont désormais transportables et itinérantes et s'installent dans les plus grands centres-villes.

Certains propriétaires de grande roue préfèrent le terme de « roue panoramique » (« observation wheel ») à celui de grande roue, c'est souvent le cas pour les roues les plus imposantes, même si elles ressemblent fortement à la grande roue originale de Ferris. Souvent en centre-ville, elles visent à observer la ville de haut avec un but panoramique.

Plusieurs grandes roues célèbres sont décrites comme panoramiques par leur concepteur, parmi elles figurent le Singapore Flyer6, mais également le London Eye7 à Londres ou encore la High Roller à Las Vegas.

  

'HUMBAR' - 'OAKSTOCK' - 'RAISING FUNDS FOR MACMILLAN CANCER CHARITY' - 6th JULY 2018

66190 Martin House Childrens Hospice, named ther day prior at an event at York station in a colaberation with DB Cargo and the Branch Line Society runs along the North Sea Coast at Cabois. The train is the Branch Line Societys "Tabs on the Tyne"; day one of a two-day tour "The Tyne Tees Maid", raising funds for Martin House Hospice. Running as train 1Z28 the train has just visited Battleship Wharf, formerly used by rail for shipping power station coal, something which has not happened here for a long time, and is on its way to Lynemouth Power Station. 60047 is the tail loco, which was attached to the train at Tyne Dock. June the 3rd 2023, a strike day for most of the railway!

Join in with an exciting, free public art trail that will add colour to the streets, parks and public spaces of Newcastle this summer!

  

Shaun the Sheep on the Tyne is presented by and raising funds for St Oswald’s Hospice. The charity has partnered with creative producers Wild in Art, Shaun the Sheep creator Aardman and Headline Partners Newcastle City Council to bring you a ewe-nique art adventure that the whole family can enjoy.

  

Following the success of Great North Snowdogs in 2016 and Elmer’s Great North Parade in 2019, St Oswald’s Hospice’s third art trail celebrates the support shown by their community throughout the pandemic. From now until Wednesday 27th September 2023, Newcastle city centre and surrounding areas will be transformed by the arrival of 45 super-sized sculptures, inspired by the much-loved star of film and television, Shaun the Sheep. Located alongside some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, each Shaun the Sheep sculpture has been uniquely designed by artists from the region and beyond, providing a fun, family-friendly art trail for locals and visitors to follow.

  

A series of smaller ‘Little Shaun’ sculptures, adopted and painted by schools and youth groups, are also displayed as part of the adventure, at indoor venues across the city.

  

A trail map and App are available to navigate avid art adventurers across the accessible trail, helping you discover each sculpture and unlock a series of rewards and milestones.

  

Whilst exciting and inspiring people of all ages to celebrate our beautiful city through creativity, the trail hopes to increase public awareness about hospice care and its importance and impact on our whole community. When the trail ends, the super-sized Shaun sculptures will be auctioned to raise funds for St Oswald’s Hospice.

  

Shaun the Sheep on the Tyne is the perfect summer holiday activity, free for all and packed full of baa-rilliant adventure. Join the flock now, ewe won’t regret it!

  

Follow the Flock!

45 Big Shaun sculptures and 70 Little Shaun sculptures inspired by the much-loved star of film and television, Shaun the Sheep have taken over the parks and streets of Newcastle upon Tyne. How many can ewe find?

 

This building was built in 1974, funds from the Wu merchants overseas remittances. Wu businessman never came back, this building for the poor folks to live, not their own holiday mansion. Here lived several families, and now no one is living.

The Postcard

 

A Valentine's Series postcard with photography by Lafayette of Dublin. The date of posting is not legible, but it was posted prior to the 3rd. June 1918, because the card only bears a half-penny stamp, and on the 3rd. June 1918, the UK inland postal rate for postcards was raised to one penny in order to help pay for the Great War.

 

The card was posted to:

 

Mr. E. King,

83, Winchelsea Road,

Tottenham,

London N.W.

 

The pencilled message on the divided back of the card was as follows:

 

"Dear Dad,

I hope you got back

alright on Sunday night.

I have been to school

today.

Aunt Mabel has not

been up today.

I went on the pond this

afternoon.

I wish you were with me.

Love from Violet & Mum.

xx"

 

Madame Sarah Bernhardt

 

Sarah Bernhardt was born Henriette-Rosine Bernard on the 22nd. or 23rd. October 1844. The exact date is not known.

 

Sarah was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th. and early 20th. centuries, including 'La Dame Aux Camelias' by Alexandre Dumas, 'Ruy Blas' by Victor Hugo; 'Fédora' and 'La Tosca' by Victorien Sardou; and 'L'Aiglon' by Edmond Rostand.

 

Sarah also played male roles, including Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.

 

Rostand called her "The Queen of the Pose and the Princess of the Gesture", while Hugo praised her "Golden Voice".

 

Sarah made several theatrical tours around the world, and was one of the first prominent actresses to make sound recordings and to act in motion pictures.

 

Sarah Bernhardt - The Early Years

 

Henriette-Rosine Bernard was born at 5 Rue de L'École-de-Médecine in the Latin Quarter of Paris. She was the illegitimate daughter of Judith Bernard, a Dutch-Jewish courtesan with a wealthy clientele.

 

The name of Sarah's father is not recorded. Bernhardt later wrote that her father's family paid for her education, insisted she be baptised as a Catholic, and left a large sum to be paid when she came of age. Her mother travelled frequently, and saw little of her daughter. She placed Sarah with a nurse in Brittany, then in a cottage in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

 

When Sarah was seven, her mother sent her to a boarding school for young ladies in the Paris suburb of Auteuil, paid with funds from her father's family. There, she acted in her first theatrical performance in the play 'Clothilde', where she held the role of the Queen of the Fairies, and performed the first of many dramatic death scenes.

 

While she was at the boarding school, Sarah's mother rose to the top ranks of Parisian courtesans, consorting with politicians, bankers, generals, and writers. Her patrons and friends included Charles, Duke of Morny, the half-brother of Emperor Napoleon III and President of the French legislature.

 

At the age of 10, with the sponsorship of Morny, Bernhardt was admitted to Grandchamp, an exclusive Augustine convent school near Versailles. At the convent, she performed the part of the Archangel Raphael in 'Tobias and the Angel'.

 

Sarah declared her intention to become a nun, but did not always follow convent rules; she was accused of sacrilege when she arranged a Christian burial, with a procession and ceremony, for her pet lizard.

 

She received her first communion as a Roman Catholic in 1856, and thereafter she was fervently religious. However, she never forgot her Jewish heritage. When asked years later by a reporter if she were a Christian, she replied:

 

"No, I'm a Roman Catholic, and a

member of the great Jewish race.

I'm waiting until Christians become

better."

 

Sarah accepted the last rites shortly before her death.

 

In 1859, Bernhardt learned that her father had died overseas. Her mother summoned a family council, including Morny, to decide what to do with her. Morny proposed that Bernhardt should become an actress, an idea that horrified Sarah, as she had never been inside a theatre.

 

Morny arranged for her to attend her first theatre performance at the Comédie Française in a party which included her mother, Morny, and his friend Alexandre Dumas Père. The play they attended was 'Brittanicus', by Jean Racine, followed by the classical comedy 'Amphitryon' by Plautus.

 

Bernhardt was so moved by the emotion of the play, she began to sob loudly, disturbing the rest of the audience. Morny and others in their party were angry with her and left, but Dumas comforted her, and later told Morny that he believed that she was destined for the stage. After the performance, Dumas called her "My little star".

 

Sarah Bernhardt and the Paris Conservatory

 

Morny used his influence with the composer Daniel Auber, the head of the Paris Conservatory, to arrange for Bernhardt to audition. She began preparing, as she described it in her memoirs:

 

"With that vivid exaggeration with

which I embrace any new enterprise."

 

Dumas coached her. The jury comprised Auber and five leading actors and actresses from the Comédie Française. Sarah was supposed to recite verses from Racine, but no one had told her that she needed someone to give her cues as she recited.

 

Sarah told the jury she would instead recite the fable of the Two Pigeons by La Fontaine. The jurors were sceptical, but the fervour and pathos of her recitation won them over, and she was invited to become a student.

 

Bernhardt studied acting at the Conservatory from January 1860 until 1862 under two prominent actors of the Comédie Française, Joseph-Isidore Samson and Jean-Baptiste Provost. She wrote in her memoirs that Provost taught her diction and grand gestures, while Samson taught her the power of simplicity.

 

For the stage, Sarah changed her name from 'Bernard' to 'Bernhardt'. While studying, she also received her first marriage proposal, from a wealthy businessman who offered her 500 thousand francs. He wept when she refused. Bernhardt later wrote:

 

"I was confused, sorry, and delighted -

because he loved me the way people

love in plays at the theatre".

 

Before the first examination for her tragedy class, she tried to straighten her abundance of frizzy hair, which made it even more uncontrollable, and came down with a bad cold, which made her voice so nasal that she hardly recognized it.

 

Furthermore, the parts assigned for her performance were classical and required carefully stylized emotions, while she preferred romanticism and fully and naturally expressing her emotions. The teachers ranked her 14th. in tragedy, and 2nd. in comedy.

 

Sarah Bernhardt and The Théâtre Français

 

Once again, Morny came to her rescue. He put in a good word for her with the National Minister of the Arts, Camille Doucet. Doucet recommended her to Edouard Thierry, the chief administrator of the Théâtre Français, who offered Bernhardt a place as a pensionnaire at the theatre, at a minimum salary.

 

Bernhardt made her debut with the company on the 31st. August 1862 in the title role of Racine's 'Iphigénie'. Her premiere was not a success. She experienced stage fright and rushed her lines. Furthermore some audience members made fun of her thin figure.

 

When the performance ended, Provost was waiting in the wings, and she asked his forgiveness. He told her:

 

"I can forgive you, and you'll

eventually forgive yourself,

but Racine in his grave never

will."

 

Francisque Sarcey, the influential theatre critic of 'L'Opinion Nationale' and 'Le Temps', wrote:

 

'She carries herself well and pronounces

with perfect precision. That is all that can

be said about her at the moment.'

 

Bernhardt did not remain long with the Comédie-Française. She played Henrietta in Molière's 'Les Femmes Savantes' and Hippolyte in 'L'Étourdi', and the title role in Scribe's 'Valérie', but did not impress the critics, or the other members of the company, who had resented her rapid rise.

 

The weeks passed, but she was given no further roles. Her hot temper also got her into trouble; when a theatre doorkeeper addressed her as "Little Bernhardt", she broke her umbrella over his head. She apologised profusely, and when the doorkeeper retired 20 years later, she bought him a cottage in Normandy.

 

At a ceremony honouring the birthday of Molière on the 15th. January 1863, Bernhardt invited her younger sister, Regina, to accompany her. Regina accidentally stood on the train of the gown of a leading actress of the company, Zaire-Nathalie Martel (1816–1885). Madame Nathalie pushed Regina off the gown, causing her to strike a stone column and gash her forehead.

 

Regina and Madame Nathalie began shouting at one another, and Bernhardt stepped forward and slapped Madame Nathalie on the cheek. The older actress fell onto another actor. Thierry asked that Bernhardt apologise to Madame Nathalie. Bernhardt refused to do so until Madame Nathalie apologised to Regina.

 

Bernhardt had already been scheduled for a new role with the theatre, and had begun rehearsals. Madame Nathalie demanded that Bernhardt be dropped from the role unless she apologised. Since neither would yield, and Madame Nathalie was the more senior member of the company, Thierry was forced to ask Bernhardt to leave.

 

The Gymnase and Brussels (1864–1866)

 

Sarah's family could not understand her departure from the theatre; it was inconceivable to them that anyone would walk away from the most prestigious theatre in Paris at the age of 18.

 

Instead, Sarah went to a popular theatre, the Gymnase, where she became an understudy to two of the leading actresses. She almost immediately caused another offstage scandal, when she was invited to recite poetry at a reception at the Tuileries Palace hosted by Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie, along with other actors from the Gymnase.

 

Sarah chose to recite two romantic poems by Victor Hugo, unaware that Hugo was a bitter critic of the Emperor. Following the first poem, the Emperor and Empress rose and walked out, followed by the court and all the other guests.

 

Her next role at the Gymnase, as a foolish Russian princess, was entirely unsuited for her; her mother told her that her performance was "ridiculous". She decided abruptly to quit the theatre to travel, and like her mother, to take on lovers. She went briefly to Spain, then, at the suggestion of Alexandre Dumas, to Belgium.

 

Sarah carried to Brussels letters of introduction from Dumas, and was admitted to the highest levels of society. She attended a masked ball in Brussels where she met the Belgian aristocrat Henri, Prince de Ligne, and had an affair with him. However the affair was cut short when she learned that her mother had suffered a heart attack. She returned to Paris, where she found that her mother was better, but that she herself was pregnant from her affair with the Prince.

 

She did not notify the Prince. Her mother did not want the fatherless child born under her roof, so Sarah moved to a small apartment on Rue Duphot, and on the 22nd. December 1864, the 20-year-old actress gave birth to her only child, Maurice Bernhardt.

 

Sarah never discussed Maurice's parentage with anyone. When asked who his father was, she sometimes answered:

 

"I could never make up my mind

whether his father was Gambetta,

Victor Hugo, or General Boulanger."

 

Many years later, in January 1885, when Bernhardt was famous, the Prince came to Paris and offered to formally recognise Maurice as his son, but Maurice politely declined, explaining he was entirely satisfied to be the son of Sarah Bernhardt.

 

Sarah Bernhardt and the Théâtre de l'Odéon (1866–1872)

 

To support herself after the birth of Maurice, Bernhardt played minor roles and understudies at the Porte-Saint-Martin, a popular melodrama theatre.

 

In early 1866, she obtained a reading with Felix Duquesnel, director of the Théâtre de L’Odéon on the Left Bank. Duquesnel described the reading years later, saying:

 

"I had before me a creature who

was marvellously gifted, intelligent

to the point of genius, with enormous

energy under an appearance frail and

delicate, and a savage will."

 

The co-director of the theatre, Charles de Chilly, wanted to reject Sarah as unreliable and too thin, but Duquesnel was enchanted; he hired her for the theatre at a modest salary of 150 francs a month, which he paid out of his own pocket.

 

The Odéon was second in prestige only to the Comédie Française, and unlike that very traditional theatre, specialised in more modern productions. The Odéon was popular with the students of the Left Bank.

 

Sarah's first performances at the Odéon were not successful. She was cast in highly stylised and frivolous 18th.-century comedies, whereas her strong point on stage was her complete sincerity.

 

Sarah's thin figure also made her look ridiculous in the ornate costumes. Dumas, her strongest supporter, commented after one performance:

 

"She has the head of a virgin

and the body of a broomstick."

 

Soon, however, with different plays and more experience, her performances improved; Sarah was praised for her performance of Cordelia in 'King Lear'. In June 1867, she played two roles in 'Athalie' by Jean Racine: the part of a young woman and a young boy, Zacharie, the first of many male parts she played in her career. The influential critic Sarcey wrote

 

'She charmed her audience

like a little Orpheus.'

 

Sarah's breakthrough performance was in the 1868 revival of 'Kean' by Alexandre Dumas, in which she played the female lead part of Anna Danby. The play was interrupted in the beginning by disturbances in the audience by young spectators who called out:

 

"Down with Dumas!

Give us Hugo!"

 

Bernhardt addressed the audience directly:

 

"Friends, you wish to defend the

cause of justice. Are you doing it

by making Monsieur Dumas

responsible for the banishment of

Monsieur Hugo?"

 

With this, the audience laughed and applauded, and then fell silent. At the final curtain, she received an enormous ovation, and Dumas hurried backstage to congratulate her. When she exited the theatre, a crowd had gathered at the stage door and tossed flowers at her. Her salary was immediately raised to 250 francs a month.

 

Sarah's next success was her performance in François Coppée's 'Le Passant', which premiered at the Odéon on the 14th. January 1868, playing the part of the boy troubadour, Zanetto, in a romantic renaissance tale. Critic Theophile Gautier described the 'delicate and tender charm' of her performance.

 

'Le Passant' played for 150 performances, plus a command performance at the Tuileries Palace for Napoleon III and his court. Afterwards, the Emperor sent her a brooch with his initials written in diamonds.

 

In her memoirs, Sarah wrote of her time at the Odéon:

 

"It was the theatre that I loved the most,

and that I only left with regret. We all

loved each other. Everyone was gay.

The theatre was a like a continuation of

school. All the young came there...

I remember my few months at the

Comédie Française. That little world was

stiff, gossipy, jealous.

I remember my few months at the Gymnase.

There they talked only about dresses and

hats, and chattered about a hundred things

that had nothing to do with art.

At the Odéon, I was happy. We thought only

of putting on plays. We rehearsed mornings,

afternoons, all the time. I adored that."

 

Bernhardt lived with her longtime friend and assistant Madame Guerard and her son in a small cottage in the suburb of Auteuil, and drove herself to the theatre in a small carriage. She developed a close friendship with the writer George Sand, and performed in two plays that she had written.

 

Sarah received celebrities in her dressing room, including Gustave Flaubert and Leon Gambetta. In 1869, as she became more prosperous, she moved to a larger seven-room apartment at 16 Rue Auber in the centre of Paris. Her mother began to visit her for the first time in years, and her Orthodox Jewish grandmother moved into the apartment to take care of Maurice.

 

Bernhardt added a maid and a cook to her household, as well as the beginning of a collection of animals; she had one or two dogs with her at all times, and two turtles moved freely around the apartment.

 

In 1868, a fire completely destroyed Sarah's apartment, along with all of her belongings. She had neglected to purchase insurance. The brooch presented to her by the Emperor and her pearls melted, as did the tiara presented by one of her lovers, Khalid Bey. She found the diamonds in the ashes.

 

The managers of the Odéon organized a benefit performance for Sarah. The most famous soprano of the time, Adelina Patti, performed for free. In addition, the grandmother of her father donated 120,000 francs. Bernhardt was able to buy an even larger residence, with two salons and a large dining room, at 4 Rue de Rome.

 

Sarah Bernhardt's Wartime service at the Odéon (1870–1871)

 

The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War abruptly interrupted Sarah's theatrical career. The news of the defeat of the French Army, the surrender of Napoleon III at Sedan, and the proclamation of the Third French Republic on the 4th. September 1870 was followed by a siege of the city of Paris by the Prussian Army.

 

Paris was cut off from news and from its food supply, and the theatres were closed. Bernhardt took charge of converting the Odéon into a hospital for soldiers wounded in the battles outside the city. She organized the placement of 32 beds in the lobby and in the foyers, brought in her personal chef to prepare soup for the patients, and persuaded her wealthy friends and admirers to donate supplies to the hospital.

 

Besides organising the hospital, Sarah worked as a nurse, assisting the chief surgeon with amputations and operations. When the coal supply of the city ran out, Bernhardt used old scenery, benches, and stage props for fuel to heat the theatre. In early January 1871, after 16 weeks of siege, the Germans began to bombard the city with long-range artillery. The patients had to be moved to the cellar, and before long, the hospital was forced to close.

 

Bernhardt arranged for serious cases to be transferred to another military hospital, and she rented an apartment on Rue de Provence to house the remaining 20 patients. By the end of the siege, Bernhardt's hospital had cared for more than 150 wounded soldiers, including a young undergraduate from the École Polytechnique, Ferdinand Foch, who later commanded the Allied armies in the First World War.

 

The French government signed an armistice on the 19th. January 1871, and Bernhardt learned that her son and family had been moved to Hamburg. She went to the new chief executive of the French Republic, Adolphe Thiers, and obtained a pass to go to Germany to bring them back.

 

When she returned to Paris several weeks later, the city was under the rule of the Paris Commune. She moved again, taking her family to Saint-Germain-en-Laye. She later returned to her apartment on the Rue de Rome in May, after the Commune was defeated by the French Army.

 

The Tuileries Palace, the City Hall of Paris, and many other public buildings had been burned by the Commune or damaged in the fighting, but the Odéon was still intact.

 

Charles-Marie Chilly, the co-director of the Odéon, came to her apartment, where Bernhardt received him reclining on a sofa. He announced that the theatre would re-open in October 1871, and he asked her to play the lead in a new play, 'Jean-Marie' by André Theuriet. Bernhardt replied that she was finished with the theatre, and was going to move to Brittany in order to start a farm.

 

Chilly, who knew Bernhardt's moods well, told her that he understood and accepted her decision, and would give the role to Jane Essler, a rival actress. According to Chilly, Bernhardt immediately jumped up from the sofa and asked:

 

"When are the rehearsals beginning?"

 

'Jean-Marie', featuring a young Breton woman forced by her father to marry an old man she did not love, was another critical and popular success for Bernhardt. The critic Sarcey wrote:

 

'She has the sovereign grace, the

penetrating charm, the I don't

know what. She is a natural artist,

an incomparable artist.'

 

The directors of the Odéon next decided to stage 'Ruy Blas', a play written by Victor Hugo in 1838, with Bernhardt playing the role of the Queen of Spain. Hugo himself attended all the rehearsals. At first, Bernhardt pretended to be indifferent to him, but he gradually won her over, and she became a fervent admirer.

 

The play premiered on the 16th. January 1872. The opening night was attended by the Prince of Wales and by Hugo himself; after the performance, Hugo approached Bernhardt, dropped to one knee, and kissed her hand. After the 100th. performance of 'Ruy Blas', Hugo gave a dinner for Bernhardt and her friends, toasting:

 

"My adorable Queen

and her Golden Voice."

 

'Ruy Blas' played to packed houses. A few months after it opened, Bernhardt received an invitation from Emile Perrin, Director of the Comédie Française, asking if she would return, and offering her 12,000 francs a year, compared with less than 10,000 at the Odéon. Bernhardt asked Chilly if he would match the offer, but he refused.

 

Always pressed by her growing expenses and growing household to earn more money, she announced her departure from the Odéon when she finished the run of 'Ruy Blas'. Chilly responded with a lawsuit, and she was forced to pay 6,000 francs in damages.

 

Sarah Bernhardt and the Comédie Française

 

Sarah returned to the Comédie Française on the 1st. October 1872, and quickly took on some of the most famous and demanding roles in French theatre. She played Junie in 'Britannicus' by Jean Racine, the male role of Cherubin in 'The Marriage of Figaro' by Pierre Beaumarchais, and the lead in Voltaire's five-act tragedy 'Zaïre'.

 

In 1873, with just 74 hours to learn the lines and practise the part, Sarah played the lead in Racine's 'Phédre', playing opposite the celebrated tragedian, Jean Mounet-Sully, who soon became her lover. The leading French critic Sarcey wrote:

 

'This is nature itself served by marvellous

intelligence, by a soul of fire, by the most

melodious voice that ever enchanted

human ears. This woman plays with her

heart, with her entrails.'

 

Phédre became her most famous classical role, performed over the years around the world, often for audiences who knew little or no French; she made them understand by her voice and gestures.

 

In 1877, Sarah had another success as Dona Sol in 'Hernani', a tragedy written 47 years earlier by Victor Hugo. Her lover in the play was her lover off-stage, as well, Mounet-Sully. Hugo himself was in the audience. The next day, he sent her a note:

 

"Madame, you were great and charming;

you moved me, me the old warrior, and,

at a certain moment when the public,

touched and enchanted by you, applauded,

I wept. The tear which you caused me to

shed is yours. I place it at your feet."

 

The note was accompanied by a tear-shaped pearl on a gold bracelet.

 

Sarah maintained a highly theatrical lifestyle in her house on the Rue de Rome. She kept a satin-lined coffin in her bedroom, and occasionally slept in it, or lay in it to study her roles, though, contrary to popular belief, she never took it with her on her travels.

 

Sarah cared for her younger sister who was ill with tuberculosis, and allowed her to sleep in her own bed, while she slept in the coffin. She posed in it for photographs, adding to the legends she created about herself.

 

Bernhardt repaired her old relationships with the other members of the Comédie Française; she participated in a benefit for Madame Nathalie, the actress she had once slapped. However, she was frequently in conflict with Perrin, the director of the theater.

 

In 1878, during the Paris Universal Exposition, she took a flight over Paris with balloonist Pierre Giffard, in a balloon decorated with the name of her current character, Dona Sol. However, an unexpected storm carried the balloon far outside of Paris to a small town.

 

When she returned by train to the city, Perrin was furious; he fined Bernhardt a thousand francs, citing a theatre rule which required actors to request permission before they left Paris. Bernhardt refused to pay, and threatened to resign from the Comédie. Perrin recognised that he could not afford to let her go. Perrin and the Minister of Fine Arts arranged a compromise; she withdrew her resignation, and in return was raised to a Societaire, the highest rank of the theatre.

 

Triumph in London and Departure from the Comédie Française (1879–1880)

 

Bernhardt was earning a substantial amount at the theatre, but her expenses were even greater. By this time she had eight servants, and she built her first house, an imposing mansion on rue Fortuny, not far from the Parc Monceau. She looked for additional ways to earn money.

 

In June 1879, while the theatre of the Comédie Française in Paris was being remodelled, Perrin took the company on tour to London. Shortly before the tour began, a British theatre impresario named Edward Jarrett travelled to Paris and proposed that she give private performances in the homes of wealthy Londoners; the fee she would receive for each performance was greater than her monthly salary with the Comédie.

 

When Perrin read in the press about the private performances, he was furious. Furthermore, the Gaiety Theatre in London demanded that Bernhardt star in the opening performance, contrary to the traditions of Comédie Française, where roles were assigned by seniority, and the idea of stardom was scorned.

 

When Perrin protested, saying that Bernhardt was only 10th. or 11th. in seniority, the Gaiety manager threatened to cancel the performance; Perrin had to give in. He scheduled Bernhardt to perform one act of 'Phèdre' on the opening night, between two traditional French comedies, 'Le Misanthrope' and 'Les Précieuses'.

 

On the 4th. June 1879, just before the opening curtain of her premiere in 'Phèdre', she suffered an attack of stage fright. She wrote later that she also pitched her voice too high, and was unable to lower it. Nonetheless, the performance was a triumph. Though most of the audience could not understand Racine's classical French, she captivated them with her voice and gestures; one member of the audience, Sir George Arthur, wrote that:

 

"She set every nerve and fibre in

their bodies throbbing, and held

them spellbound."

 

In addition to her performances of 'Zaire', 'Phèdre', 'Hernani', and other plays with her troupe, she gave the private recitals in the homes of British aristocrats arranged by Jarrett, who also arranged an exhibition of her sculptures and paintings in Piccadilly. This was attended by both the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister Gladstone.

 

While in London, Sarah added to her personal menagerie of animals by buying three dogs, a parrot, and a monkey. She also made a side trip to Liverpool, where she purchased a cheetah, a parrot, and a wolfhound, as well as receiving a gift of six chameleons, which she kept in her rented house on Chester Square, before taking them all back to Paris.

 

Having returned to Paris, Sarah was increasingly discontented with Perrin and the management of the Comédie Française. He insisted that she perform the lead in a new play, 'L'Aventurière' by Emile Augier, a play which she thought was mediocre. When she rehearsed the play without enthusiasm, and frequently forgot her lines, she was criticised by the playwright.

 

She responded:

 

"I know I'm bad, but not

as bad as your lines."

 

The play went ahead, but was a failure. She wrote immediately to Perrin:

 

"You forced me to play when I

was not ready... what I foresaw

came to pass... this is my first

failure at the Comédie and my

last."

 

Sarah sent a resignation letter to Perrin, made copies, and sent them to all the major newspapers. Perrin sued her for breach of contract; the court ordered her to pay 100,000 francs, plus interest, and she lost her accrued pension of 43,000 francs. She did not settle the debt until 1900.

 

Later, however, when the Comédie Française theatre was nearly destroyed by fire, she allowed her old troupe to use her own theatre.

 

'La Dame aux Camélias' and the first American tour (1880–1881)

 

In April 1880, as soon as he learned Bernhardt had resigned from the Comédie Française, the impresario Edward Jarrett hurried to Paris and proposed that she make a theatrical tour of England and then the United States. She could select her repertoire and the cast. She would receive 5,000 francs per performance, plus 15% of any earnings over 150,000 francs, plus all of her expenses, plus an account in her name for 100,000 francs, the amount she owed to the Comédie Française. Sarah accepted immediately.

 

Now on her own, Bernhardt first assembled and tried out her new troupe at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Lyrique in Paris. She performed for the first time 'La Dame aux Camélias', by Alexandre Dumas. She did not create the role; the play had first been performed by Eugénie Dochein in 1852, but it quickly became Sarah's most performed and most famous role. She eventually played the role more than a thousand times, and acted regularly and successfully in it until the end of her life. Audiences were often in tears during her famous death scene at the end.

 

Sarah could not perform 'La Dame aux Camélias' on a London stage because of British censorship laws; instead, she put on four of her proven successes, including 'Hernani' and 'Phèdre', plus four new roles, including 'Adrienne Lecouvreur' by Eugène Scribe and the drawing-room comedy 'Frou-Frou' by Meilhac-Halévy, both of which were highly successful in London.

 

In six of the eight plays in her repertoire, Sarah died dramatically in the final act. When she returned to Paris from London, the Comédie Française asked her to come back, but she refused their offer, explaining that she was making far more money on her own. Instead, she took her new company and new plays on tour to Brussels and Copenhagen, and then on a tour of French provincial cities.

 

Sarah and her troupe departed from Le Havre for America on the 15th. October 1880, arriving in New York on the 27th. October. On the 8th. November, she performed Scribe's 'Adrienne Lecouvreur' at Booth's Theatre before an audience which had paid a top price of $40 for a ticket, an enormous sum at the time.

 

Few in the audience understood French, but it was not necessary; her gestures and voice captivated the audience, and she received a thunderous ovation. She thanked the audience with her distinctive curtain call; she did not bow, but stood perfectly still, with her hands clasped under her chin, or with her palms on her cheeks, and then suddenly stretched them out to the audience.

 

After her first performance in New York, she made 27 curtain calls. However, although she was welcomed by theatre-goers, she was entirely ignored by New York high society, who considered her personal life scandalous.

 

Bernhardt's first American tour carried her to 157 performances in 51 cities. She travelled on a special train with her own luxurious palace car, which carried her two maids, two cooks, a waiter, her maitre d'hôtel, and her personal assistant, Madame Guérard. It also carried an actor named Édouard Angelo whom she had selected to serve as her leading man, and, according to most accounts, her lover during the tour.

 

From New York, Sarah made a side trip to Menlo Park, where she met Thomas Edison, who made a brief recording of her reciting a verse from Phèdre, which has not survived. She crisscrossed the United States and Canada from Montreal and Toronto to Saint Louis and New Orleans, usually performing each evening, and departing immediately after the performance.

 

Sarah gave countless press interviews, and in Boston posed for photos on the back of a dead whale. She was condemned as immoral by the Bishop of Montreal and by the Methodist press, which only increased ticket sales.

 

Sarah performed 'Phèdre' six times and 'La Dame aux Camélias' 65 times (which Jarrett had renamed 'Camille' to make it easier for Americans to pronounce, despite the fact that no character in the play has that name).

 

On the 3rd. May 1881, Sarah gave her final performance of 'La Dame aux Camélias' in New York. Throughout her life, she always insisted on being paid in cash. When Bernhardt returned to France, she brought with her a chest filled with $194,000 in gold coins. She described the result of her trip to her friends:

 

"I crossed the oceans, carrying my

dream of art in myself, and the genius

of my nation triumphed.

I planted the French verb in the heart

of a foreign literature, and it is that of

which I am most proud."

 

Return to Paris, European tour, Fédora to Theodora (1881–1886)

 

No crowd greeted Bernhardt when she returned to Paris on the 5th. May 1881, and theatre managers offered no new roles; the Paris press ignored her tour, and much of the Paris theatre world resented her leaving the most prestigious national theatre to earn a fortune abroad.

 

When no new plays or offers appeared, she went to London for a successful three-week run at the Gaiety Theatre. This London tour included the first British performance of 'La Dame aux Camelias' at the Shaftesbury Theatre; her friend, the Prince of Wales, had persuaded Queen Victoria to authorise the performance. Many years later, Sarah gave a private performance of the play for the Queen while she was on holiday in Nice.

 

When she returned to Paris, Bernhardt contrived to make a surprise performance at the annual 14th. July patriotic spectacle at the Paris Opera, which was attended by the President of France, and a houseful of dignitaries and celebrities.

 

Sarah recited the Marseillaise, dressed in a white robe with a tricolor banner, and at the end dramatically waved the French flag. The audience gave her a standing ovation, showered her with flowers, and demanded that she recite the song two more times.

 

With her place in the French theatre world restored, Bernhardt negotiated a contract to perform at the Vaudeville Theatre in Paris for 1,500 francs per performance, as well as 25 percent of the net profit. She also announced that she would not be available to begin until 1882.

 

She departed on a tour of theatres in the French provinces, and then on to Italy, Greece, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Austria, and Russia. In Kiev and Odessa, she encountered anti-Semitic crowds who threw stones at her; pogroms were being conducted, forcing the Jewish population to leave.

 

However, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, she performed before Czar Alexander III, who broke court protocol and bowed to her. During her tour, she also gave performances for King Alfonso XII of Spain, and the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.

 

The only European country where she refused to play was Germany, due to the German annexation of French territory after the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War.

 

When she returned to Paris, she was offered a new role in 'Fédora', a melodrama written for her by Victorien Sardou. It opened on the 12th. December 1882, with her husband Damala as the male lead. The play received good reviews. Critic Maurice Baring wrote:

 

'A secret atmosphere emanated from her,

an aroma, an attraction, which was at once

exotic and cerebral. She literally hypnotised

her audience.'

 

Another journalist wrote,

 

'She is incomparable ... The extreme love,

the extreme agony, the extreme suffering.'

 

However, the abrupt end of her marriage shortly after the premiere put her back into financial distress. She had leased and refurbished a theatre, the 'Ambigu', specifically to give her husband Damala leading roles, and made her 18-year-old son Maurice, who had no business experience, the manager.

 

'Fédora' ran for just 50 performances and lost 400,000 francs. She was forced to give up the Ambigu, and then, in February 1883, to sell her jewellery, her carriages, and her horses at an auction.

 

When Damala left, she took on a new leading man and lover, the poet and playwright Jean Richepin, who accompanied her on a quick tour of European cities to help pay off her debts. She renewed her relationship with the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII.

 

When they returned to Paris, Bernhardt leased the theatre of Porte-Saint-Martin and starred in a new play by Richepin, 'Nana-Sahib', a costume drama about love in British India in 1857. The play and Richepin's acting were poor, and it quickly closed. Richepin then wrote an adaptation of 'Macbeth' in French, with Bernhardt as Lady Macbeth, but it was also a failure.

 

The only person who praised the play was Oscar Wilde, who was then living in Paris. He began writing a play, 'Salomé', in French, especially for Bernhardt, though it was quickly banned by British censors, and Sarah never performed it.

 

Bernhardt then performed a new play by Sardou, 'Theodora' (1884), a melodrama set in sixth-century Byzantium. Sardou wrote a non-historic but dramatic new death scene for Bernhardt; in his version, the empress was publicly strangled, whereas the historical empress died of cancer.

 

Bernhardt travelled to Ravenna, Italy, to study and sketch the costumes seen in Byzantine mosaic murals, and had them reproduced for her own costumes. The play opened on the 26th. December 1884 and ran for 300 performances in Paris, and 100 in London, and was a financial success.

 

Sarah was able to pay off most of her debts, and bought a lion cub, which she named Justinian, for her home menagerie. She also renewed her love affair with her former lead actor, Philippe Garnier.

 

World tours (1886–1892)

 

Theodora was followed by two failures. In 1885, in homage to Victor Hugo, who had died a few months earlier, she staged one of his older plays, 'Marion Delorme', written in 1831, but the play was outdated, and her role did not give her a chance to show her talents. She next put on 'Hamlet', with Philippe Garnier in the leading role and Bernhardt in the relatively minor role of Ophelia. The critics and audiences were not impressed, and the play was unsuccessful.

 

Bernhardt had built up large expenses, which included a 10,000 francs a month allowance paid to her son Maurice, a passionate gambler. Bernhardt was forced to sell her chalet in Sainte-Addresse and her mansion on Rue Fortuny, and part of her collection of animals.

 

Her impresario, Edouard Jarrett, immediately proposed she make another world tour, this time to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Panama, Cuba, and Mexico, then on to Texas, New York, England, Ireland, and Scotland.

 

Sarah was on tour for 15 months, from early 1886 until late 1887. On the eve of departure, she told a French reporter:

 

"I passionately love this life of adventures.

I detest knowing in advance what they are

going to serve at my dinner, and I detest a

hundred thousand times more knowing

what will happen to me, for better or worse.

I adore the unexpected."

 

In every city she visited, she was feted and cheered by audiences. Emperor Pedro II of Brazil attended all of her performances in Rio de Janeiro, and presented her with a gold bracelet with diamonds, which was almost immediately stolen from her hotel.

 

The two leading actors both fell ill with yellow fever, and her long-time manager, Edward Jarrett, died of a heart attack. Bernhardt was undaunted, however, and went crocodile hunting at Guayaquil, and also bought more animals for her menagerie.

 

Her performances in every city were sold out, and by the end of the tour, she had earned more than a million francs. The tour allowed her to purchase her final home, which she filled with her paintings, plants, souvenirs, and animals.

 

From then on, whenever she ran short of money (which generally happened every three or four years), she went on tour, performing both her classics and new plays. In 1888, she toured Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. She returned to Paris in early 1889 with an enormous owl given to her by the Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovich, the brother of the Czar.

 

Sarah's 1891–92 tour was her most extensive, including much of Europe, Russia, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Samoa. Her personal luggage consisted of 45 costume crates for her 15 different productions, and 75 crates for her off-stage clothing, including her 250 pairs of shoes. She carried a trunk for her perfumes, cosmetics and makeup, and another for her sheets and tablecloths and her five pillows.

 

After the tour, she brought back a trunk filled with 3,500,000 francs, but she had also suffered a painful injury to her knee when she leaped off the parapet of the Castello Sant' Angelo in 'La Tosca'. The mattress on which she was supposed to land was misplaced, and she landed on the boards.

 

La Tosca to Cleopatra (1887–1893)

 

When Bernhardt returned from her 1886–87 tour, she received a new invitation to return to the Comédie Française. The theatre management was willing to forget the conflict of her two previous periods there, and offered a payment of 150,000 francs a year.

 

The money appealed to her, and she began negotiations. However, the senior members of the company protested the high salary offered, and conservative defenders of the more traditional theatre also complained; one anti-Bernhardt critic, Albert Delpit of 'Le Gaulois', wrote:

 

'Madame Sarah Bernhardt is forty-three;

she can no longer be useful to the Comédie.

Moreover, what roles could she have?

I can only imagine that she could play mothers'.

 

Bernhardt was deeply offended, and immediately broke off negotiations. She turned once again to Sardou, who had written a new play for her, 'La Tosca', which featured a prolonged and extremely dramatic death scene at the end.

 

The play was staged at the Porte-Saint-Martin Theatre, opening on the 24th. November 1887. It was extremely popular, and critically acclaimed. Bernhardt played the role for 29 consecutive sold-out performances.

 

The success of 'La Tosca' allowed Bernhardt to buy a new pet lion for her household menagerie. She named him Scarpia, after the villain of 'La Tosca'. The play inspired Giacomo Puccini to write one of his most famous operas, 'Tosca' (1900).

 

Following this success, Sarah acted in several revivals and classics, and many French writers offered her new plays. In 1887, she acted in a stage version of the controversial drama 'Thérèse Raquin' by Emile Zola. Zola had previously been attacked due to the book's confronting content. Asked why she chose this play, she declared to reporters:

 

"My true country is the free air,

and my vocation is art without

constraints."

 

The play was unsuccessful; it ran for just 38 performances. She then performed another traditional melodrama, 'Francillon' by Alexandre Dumas in 1888. A short drama Sarah wrote herself, 'l'Aveu', disappointed both critics and the audience, and lasted only 12 performances.

 

Sarah had considerably more success with 'Jeanne d'Arc' by the poet Jules Barbier, in which the 45-year-old actress played Joan of Arc, a 19-year-old martyr.

 

Sarah's next success was another melodrama by Sardou and Moreau, 'Cleopatra', which allowed her to wear elaborate costumes and finished with a memorable death scene. For this scene, she kept two live garter snakes, which played the role of the poisonous asp which bites Cleopatra. For realism, she painted the palms of her hands red, though they could hardly be seen from the audience. Sarah explained:

 

"I shall see them. If I catch sight

of my hand, it will be the hand

of Cleopatra."

 

Bernhardt's violent portrayal of Cleopatra led to the theatrical story of a matron in the audience exclaiming to her companion:

 

"How unlike, how very unlike, the

home life of our own dear Queen!"

 

Théâtre de la Renaissance (1893–1899)

 

Bernhardt made a two-year world tour (1891–1893) to replenish her finances. Upon returning to Paris, she paid 700,000 francs for the Théâtre de la Renaissance, and from 1893 until 1899, was its artistic director and lead actress.

 

She managed every aspect of the theatre, from the finances to the lighting, sets, and costumes, as well as appearing in eight performances a week.

 

Sarah imposed a rule that women in the audience, no matter how wealthy or famous, had to take off their hats during performances, so the rest of the audience could see, and eliminated the prompter's box from the stage, declaring that actors should know their lines.

 

She abolished in her theatre the common practice of hiring claqueurs in the audience to applaud stars. She used the new technology of lithography to produce vivid colour posters, and in 1894, she hired Czech artist Alphonse Mucha to design the first of a series of posters for her play 'Gismonda'. He continued to make posters for her for six years.

 

In five years, Bernhardt produced nine plays, three of which were financially successful. The first was a revival of her performance as 'Phédre', which she took on tour around the world. In 1898, she had another success, in the play 'Lorenzaccio', playing the male lead role in a Renaissance revenge drama written in 1834 by Alfred de Musset, but never before actually staged.

 

As her biographer Cornelia Otis Skinner wrote, she did not try to be overly masculine when she performed male roles:

 

'Her male impersonations had the

sexless grace of the voices of

choirboys, or the not quite real

pathos of Pierrot.'

 

Anatole France wrote of her performance in 'Lorenzaccio':

 

'She formed out of her own self

a young man melancholic, full of

poetry and of truth.'

 

This was followed by another successful melodrama by Sardou, 'Gismonda', one of Bernhardt's few plays not finishing with a dramatic death scene. Her co-star was Lucien Guitry, who also acted as her leading man until the end of her career. Besides Guitry, she shared the stage with Edouard de Max, her leading man in 20 productions, and Constant Coquelin, who frequently toured with her.

 

In April 1895, she played the lead role in a romantic and poetic fantasy, 'Princess Lointaine', by the little-known 27-year-old poet Edmond Rostand. It was not a monetary success and lost 200,000 francs, but it began a long theatrical relationship between Bernhardt and Rostand. Rostand went on to write 'Cyrano de Bergerac' and became one of the most popular French playwrights of the period.

 

In 1898, she performed the female lead in the controversial play 'La Ville Morte' by the Italian poet and playwright Gabriele D'Annunzio; the play was fiercely attacked by critics because of its theme of incest between brother and sister.

 

Along with Emile Zola and Victorien Sardou, Bernhardt also became an outspoken defender of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer falsely accused of betraying France. The issue divided Parisian society; a conservative newspaper ran the headline:

 

'Sarah Bernhardt has joined

the Jews against the Army'.

 

Even Bernhardt's own son Maurice condemned Dreyfus; he refused to speak to her for a year.

 

At the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Bernhardt staged and performed in several modern plays, but she was not a follower of the more natural school of acting that was coming into fashion at the end of the 19th. century, preferring a more dramatic expression of emotions. She declared:

 

"In the theatre the natural is good,

but the sublime is even better."

 

Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt (1899–1900)

 

Despite her successes, Sarah's debts continued to mount, reaching two million gold francs by the end of 1898. Bernhardt was forced to give up the Renaissance, and was preparing to go on another world tour when she learned that a much larger Paris theatre, the Théâtre des Nations on the Place du Châtelet, was for lease. The theatre had 1,700 seats, twice the size of the Renaissance, enabling her to pay off the cost of performances more quickly; it had an enormous stage and backstage, allowing her to present several different plays a week; and since it was originally designed as a concert hall, it had excellent acoustics. On the 1st. January 1899, she signed a 25-year lease with the City of Paris, though she was already 55 years old.

 

She renamed it the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, and began to renovate it to suit her needs. The façade was lit by 5,700 electric bulbs, 17 arc lights, and 11 projectors. She completely redecorated the interior, replacing the red plush and gilt with yellow velvet, brocade, and white woodwork. The lobby was decorated with life-sized portraits of her in her most famous roles.

 

Her dressing room was a five-room suite, which, after the success of her Napoleonic play 'l'Aiglon', was decorated in Empire Style, featuring a marble fireplace with a fire Bernhardt kept burning all year round, a huge bathtub that was filled with the flowers she received after each performance, and a dining room seating 12 people, where she entertained guests after the final curtain.

 

Bernhardt opened the theatre on the 21st. January 1899 with a revival of Sardou's 'La Tosca', which she had first performed in 1887. This was followed by revivals of her other major successes, including 'Phédre', 'Theodora', 'Gismonda', and 'La Dame aux Camélias', plus Octave Feuillet's 'Dalila', Gaston de Wailly's 'Patron Bénic', and Rostand's 'La Samaritaine'.

 

On the 20th. May, Sarah premiered one of her most famous roles, playing the titular character of Hamlet in a prose adaptation. She played Hamlet in a manner which was direct, natural, and very feminine. Her performance received largely positive reviews in Paris, but mixed reviews in London. The British critic Max Beerbohm wrote:

 

'The only compliment one can

conscientiously pay her is that

her Hamlet was, from first to last,

a truly grand dame.'

 

In 1900, Bernhardt presented 'l'Aiglon', a new play by Rostand. She played the Duc de Reichstadt, the son of Napoleon Bonaparte, imprisoned by his unloving mother and family until his melancholy death in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. 'l'Aiglon' was a verse drama, six acts long.

 

The 56-year-old actress studied the walk and posture of young cavalry officers, and had her hair cut short to impersonate the young Duke. The Duke's stage mother, Marie-Louise of Austria, was played by Maria Legault, an actress 14 years younger than Bernhardt. The play ended with a memorable death scene; according to one critic:

 

'She died as dying angels would

die if they were allowed to."

 

The play was extremely successful; it was especially popular with visitors to the 1900 Paris International Exposition, and ran for nearly a year, with standing-room places selling for as much as 600 gold francs.

 

The play inspired the creation of Bernhardt souvenirs, including statuettes, medallions, fans, perfumes, postcards of her in the role, uniforms and cardboard swords for children, and pastries and cakes; the famed chef Escoffier added Peach Aiglon with Chantilly Cream to his repertoire of desserts.

 

Bernhardt continued to employ Mucha to design her posters, and expanded his work to include theatrical sets, programs, costumes, and jewellery props. His posters became icons of the Art Nouveau style. To earn more money, Bernhardt set aside a certain number of printed posters of each play to sell to collectors.

 

Farewell tours (1901–1913)

 

After her season in Paris, Bernhardt performed 'l'Aiglon' in London, and then made her sixth tour of the United States. On this tour, she travelled with Constant Coquelin, then the most popular leading man in France.

 

Bernhardt played the secondary role of Roxanne to his Cyrano de Bergerac, a role which he had premiered, and he co-starred with her as Flambeau in 'l'Aiglon' and as the first grave-digger in 'Hamlet'.

 

Sarah also changed, for the first time, her resolution not to perform in Germany or the "occupied territories" of Alsace and Lorraine. In 1902, at the invitation of the French Ministry of Culture, she took part in the first cultural exchange between Germany and France since the 1870 war. She performed 'l'Aiglon' 14 times in Germany; Kaiser William II of Germany attended two performances and hosted a dinner in her honour in Potsdam.

 

During her German tour, she began to suffer agonising pain in her right knee, probably connected with the fall she had suffered on stage during her tour in South America. She was forced to reduce her movements in l'Aiglon.

 

A German doctor recommended that she halt the tour immediately and have surgery, followed by six months of complete immobilisation of her leg. Bernhardt promised to see a doctor when she returned to Paris, but continued the tour.

 

In 1903, she had another unsuccessful role playing another masculine character in the opera 'Werther', a gloomy adaptation of the story by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

 

However, Sarah quickly came back with another hit, 'La Sorcière' by Sardou. She played a Moorish sorceress in love with a Christian Spaniard, leading to her persecution by the church. This story of tolerance, coming soon after the Dreyfus affair, was financially successful, with Bernhardt often giving both a matinee and evening performance.

 

Between 1904 and 1906, Sarah appeared in a wide range of parts, including in 'Francesca di Rimini' by Francis Marion Crawford, the role of Fanny in 'Sappho' by Alphonse Daudet, the magician Circe in a play by Charles Richet, and the part of Marie Antoinette in the historical drama 'Varennes' by Lavedan and Lenôtre.

 

Sarah also played the part of the prince-poet Landry in a version of 'Sleeping Beauty' by Richepin and Henri Cain, and a new version of the play 'Pelléas and Mélissande' by Maurice Maeterlinck, in which she played the male role of Pelléas with the British actress Mrs Patrick Campbell as Mélissande.

 

Sarah also starred in a new version of 'Adrienne Lecouvreur', which she wrote herself, departing from the earlier version which had been written for her by Scribe.

 

During this time, she wrote a drama, 'Un Coeur d'Homme', in which she had no part, which was performed at the Théâtre des Arts, but lasted only three performances. She also taught acting briefly at the Conservatory, but found the system there too rigid and traditional. Instead, she took aspiring actresses and actors into her company, trained them, and used them as unpaid extras and bit players.

 

Bernhardt made her first American Farewell Tour in 1905–1906, the first of four farewell tours she made to the US, Canada, and Latin America, with her new managers, the Shubert brothers.

 

Sarah attracted controversy and press attention when, during her 1905 visit to Montreal, the Roman Catholic bishop encouraged his followers to throw eggs at Bernhardt, because she portrayed prostitutes as sympathetic characters.

 

The US portion of the tour was complicated due to the Shuberts' competition with the powerful syndicate of theatre owners who controlled nearly all the major theatres and opera houses in the United States. The syndicate did not allow outside producers to use their stages.

 

As a result, in Texas and Kansas City, Bernhardt and her company performed under an enormous circus tent, seating 4,500 spectators, and in skating rinks in Atlanta, Savannah, Tampa, and other cities.

 

Her private train took her to Knoxville, Dallas, Denver, Tampa, Chattanooga, and Salt Lake City, then on to the West Coast. She could not play in San Francisco because of the recent 1906 earthquake, but she performed across the bay in the Hearst Greek Theatre at the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Sarah also gave a recital, entitled 'A Christmas Night during the Terror', for inmates at San Quentin penitentiary. (Johnny Cash - Sarah did it first!)

 

In April 1906 Bernhardt toured the ruins of San Francisco after the earthquake and fire, escorted by the critic Ashton Stevens.

 

Sarah's tour continued into South America, where it was marred by a more serious event: at the conclusion of 'La Tosca' in Rio de Janeiro, she leaped, as always, from the wall of the fortress to plunge to her death in the Tiber. This time, however, the mattress on which she was supposed to land had been positioned incorrectly.

 

She landed on her right knee, which had already been damaged in earlier tours. She fainted, and was taken from the theatre on a stretcher, but refused to be treated in a local hospital. She later sailed by ship from Rio to New York. When she arrived, her leg had swollen, and she was immobilised in her hotel for 15 days before returning to France.

 

In 1906–1907, the French government finally awarded Bernhardt the Legion of Honour, but only in her role as a theatre director, not as an actress. The award at that time required a review of the recipient's moral standards, and Bernhardt's behaviour was still considered scandalous.

 

Bernhardt ignored the snub, and continued to play both inoffensive and controversial characters. In November 1906, she starred in 'La Vierge d'Avila, ou La Courtisan de Dieu', by Catulle Mendes, playing Saint Theresa, followed on the 27th. January 1907 by 'Les Bouffons', by Miguel Zamocois, in which she played a young and amorous medieval lord.

 

In 1909, she again played the 19-year-old Joan of Arc in 'Le Procès de Jeanne d'Arc' by Émile Moreau. French newspapers encouraged schoolchildren to view her personification of French patriotism.

 

Despite the injury to her leg, Sarah continued to go on tour every summer, when her own theatre in Paris was closed. In June 1908, she made a 20-day tour of Great Britain and Ireland, performing in 16 different cities.

 

In 1908–1909, she toured Russia and Poland. Her second American farewell tour (her eighth tour in America) began in late 1910. She took along a new leading man, the Dutch-born Lou Tellegen, a very handsome actor who had served as a model for the sculpture 'Eternal Springtime' by Auguste Rodin, and who became her co-star for the next two years, as well as her escort to all events, functions, and parties.

 

Lou was not a particularly good actor, and had a strong Dutch accent, but he was successful in roles such as Hippolyte in 'Phédre', where he could take off his shirt and show off his physique.

 

In New York, Sarah created yet another scandal when she appeared in the role of Judas Iscariot in 'Judas' by the American playwright John Wesley De Kay. It was performed in New York's Globe Theatre for only one night in December 1910 before it was banned by local authorities. It was also banned in Boston and Philadelphia.

 

In April 1912, Bernhardt presented a new production in her theatre, 'Les Amours de la Reine Élisabeth', a romantic costume drama by Émile Moreau about Queen Elizabeth's romances with Robert Dudley and Robert Devereux.

 

It was lavish and expensive, but was a financial failure, lasting only 12 performances. Fortunately for Bernhardt, she was able to pay off her debt with the money she received from the American producer Adolph Zukor for a film version of the play.

 

Sarah departed on her third farewell tour of the United States in 1913–1914, when she was 69. Her leg had not yet fully healed, and she was unable to perform an entire play, only selected acts. She also separated from her co-star and lover of the time, Lou Tellegen. When the tour ended, he remained in the United States, where he briefly became a silent movie star, while she returned to France in May 1913.

 

Amputation of Sarah's Leg and Wartime Performances (1914–1918)

 

In December 1913, Bernhardt achieved another success with the drama 'Jeanne Doré'. On the 16th. March, she was made a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur. Despite her successes, she was still short of money. She had made her son Maurice the director of her new theatre, and permitted him to use the receipts of the theatre to pay his gambling debts, eventually forcing her to pawn some of her jewels to pay her bills.

 

In 1914, she went as usual to her holiday home on Belle-Île with her family and close friends. There, she received the news of the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and the beginning of the Great War.

 

Sarah hurried back to Paris, which was threatened by an approaching German army. In September, Bernhardt was asked by the Minister of War to move to a safer place. She departed for a villa on the Bay of Arcachon, where her physician discovered that gangrene had developed on her injured leg.

 

She was transported to Bordeaux, where on the 22nd. February 1915, a surgeon amputated her leg almost to the hip. She refused the idea of an artificial leg, crutches, or a wheelchair, and instead was usually carried in a palanquin she had designed, supported by two long shafts and carried by two men. She had the chair decorated in the Louis XV style, with white sides and gilded trim.

 

She returned to Paris on the 15th. October, and, despite the loss of her leg, continued to go on stage at her theatre; scenes were arranged so she could be seated, or supported by a prop with her leg hidden. She took part in a patriotic 'scenic poem' by Eugène Morand, 'Les Cathédrales', playing the part of Strasbourg Cathedral; first, while seated, she recited a poem; then she hoisted herself up on her one leg, leaned against the arm of the chair, and declared:

 

"Weep, weep, Germany! The German

eagle has fallen into the Rhine!"

 

Bernhardt joined a troupe of famous French actors and travelled to the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Argonne, where she performed for soldiers who had just returned or were about to go into battle.

 

Propped on pillows in an armchair, she recited her patriotic speech at Strasbourg Cathedral. Another actress present at the event, Beatrix Dussanne, described her performance:

 

"The miracle again took place; Sarah,

old, mutilated, once more illuminated

a crowd by the rays of her genius.

This fragile creature, ill, wounded and

immobile, could still, through the magic

of the spoken word, re-instil heroism in

those soldiers weary from battle."

 

Sarah returned to Paris in 1916 and made two short films on patriotic themes, one based on the story of Joan of Arc, the other called 'Mothers of France'.

 

Sarah then embarked on her final American farewell tour. Despite the threat of German submarines, she crossed the Atlantic and toured the United States, performing in major cities including New York and San Francisco.

 

Bernhardt was diagnosed with uremia, and had to have an emergency kidney operation. She recuperated in Long Beach, California, for several months, writing short stories and novellas for publication in French magazines. In 1918, she returned to New York and boarded a ship to France, landing in Bordeaux on the 11th. November 1918, the day that the Armistice was signed ending the First World War.

 

Sarah Bernhardt - The Final years (1919–1923)

 

In 1920, Sarah resumed acting in her theatre, usually performing single acts of classics such as Racine's 'Athelée', which did not require much movement. For her curtain calls, she stood, balancing on one leg and gesturing with one arm.

 

She also starred in a new play, 'Daniel', written by her grandson-in-law, playwright Louis Verneuil. She played the male lead role, but appeared in just two acts. She took the play and other famous scenes from her repertory on a European tour and then for her last tour of England, where she gave a special performance for Queen Mary.

 

In 1921, Bernhardt made her last tour of the French provinces, lecturing about the theatre and reciting the poetry of Rostand. Later that year, she produced a new play by Rostand, 'La Gloire', and another play by Verneuil, 'Régine Arnaud' in 1922. She continued to entertain guests at her home. One such guest, French author Colette, described being served coffee by Bernhardt:

 

"The delicate and withered hand offering

the brimming cup, the flowery azure of the

eyes, so young still in their network of fine

lines, the questioning and mocking coquetry

of the tilted head, and that indescribable

desire to charm, to charm still, to charm

right up to the gates of death itself."

 

In 1922, Sarah began rehearsing a new play by Sacha Guitry, called 'Un Sujet de Roman'. On the night of the dress rehearsal she collapsed into a coma for an hour, then awakened with the words, "When do I go on?"

 

She recuperated for several months, before preparing for a new role as Cleopatra in 'Rodogune' by Corneille, and agreed to make a new film called 'La Voyante', for a payment of 10,000 francs a day.

 

The Death of Sarah Bernhardt

 

Sarah was too weak to travel, so a room in her house on Boulevard Pereire was set up as a film studio, with scenery, lights, and cameras. However, on the 21st. March 1923, Sarah collapsed again, and never recovered. She died at the age of 78 from uremia on the 26th. March 1923.

 

Sarah died peacefully in the arms of her son. At her request, her Funeral Mass was celebrated at the church of Saint-François-de-Sales, which she attended when she was in Paris.

 

The following day, 30,000 people attended her funeral to pay their respects, and an enormous crowd followed her casket from the church to Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Original Caption: Young Woman Soliciting Funds For A Chicago Organization In A Shopping Center Parking Lot, She Is One Of The Nearly 1.2 Million Black People Who Make Up Over One Third Of The Population Of Chicago, It Is One Of The Many Black Faces In This Project That Portray Life In All Its Seasons, The Photos Are Portraits That Reflect Pride, Love, Beauty, Hope, Struggle, Joy, Hate, Frustration Discontent, Worship And Faith, She Is A Member Of Her Race Who Is Proud Of Her Heritage , 08/1973

 

U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-13682

 

Photographer: White, John H, 1945-

 

Subjects:

African-American

Chicago (Cook county, Illinois, United States)

Environmental Protection Agency

Project DOCUMERICA

 

Persistent URL: arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=556134

 

Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.

 

For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html

 

Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html

 

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted

Use Restrictions: Unrestricted

Manhattan, New York. September 16, 2011.

2019 Southern Grilles & Gasoline Car and Bike Show, Saturday 2 Feb, Collegiate Rugby Club Grounds, Lindisfarne Rd, Invercargill, All funds raised to St John Invercargill.

Photographer: Leighton Smith

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

 

Buffalo's first bishop, John Timon, established St. Joseph's in 1847 to be the new diocese's cathedral. Because of the economic situation in the city he raised funds to build the church while he was in Europe. New York architect Patrick C. Keely, who had worked with A. W. N. Pugin, was chosen to design the new church. The cornerstone was laid on February 6, 1851. During construction a storm struck the city off of Lake Erie and destroyed several homes in the area. Bishop Timon allowed the residents to set up tents within the cathedral's walls for several weeks. The cathedral was usable, but not complete, when it was dedicated on July 1, 1855. The south tower was completed in the summer of 1862. Bishop Timon consecrated the completed cathedral on August 21, 1863.

 

Although the original plans called for two towers on the north and south ends of the facade; only the south tower was built. The Cathedral's tower contained a 43-bell carillon that was made by Bollee & Son, in Le Mans France. At the time of its completion in 1869, the clarion was the largest in America and the third largest in the world. Installed in St. Joseph's in 1870, the bells were too large for the cathedral's tower and never worked properly. Currently all but 2 of the bells have been removed from the church tower. Bishop Stephen V. Ryan had the Lady Chapel built in the rear of the cathedral in 1873. The loft in the rear of the church contains a 3,627 pipe Hook & Hastings organ. The organ was originally built in 1876 for the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where it was played frequently for concerts. It was moved to the Cathedral following the end of the Exposition in November, 1876.

 

It was determined that a new cathedral was necessary in Buffalo and so property was bought by Bishop James Quigley at Delaware Avenue and Utica Street beginning in 1902. Italian architect Aristide Leonori designed a new Gothic Revival cathedral. The New St. Joseph Cathedral was constructed from 1912 to 1915, and this church became known as St. Joseph's Old Cathedral. This time both towers of the new cathedral were completed and topped off at 260 feet (79 m). Unfortunately, the cathedral was better suited for Rome's climate rather than Buffalo's. Major repairs had to be made to the north and south transepts in 1924 and the towers were removed in 1927. The exterior marble started to separate from the brick and Bishop Edward D. Head determined in 1976 that repairs would be too costly for the "new" St. Joseph's and the diocese. In 1977 after the demolition of the new cathedral, this "old cathedral" once again became known as St. Joseph's Cathedral.

Funds were running low at Harrier after the establishment of its Australian division and the pricy introduction of the Harpoon muscle car, so their 2213 offer for most of the off-road season was a specially prepped Harpoon named the A/T, or All Terrain. Faster than the previous years' TT, (TT for Trophy Truck), it is a sure finisher, if not winner, at the Baja 1000.

 

Using the six-point-five-liter V8 from the Harpoon G/S, the A/T incorporates a trademarked Harrier intake: similar to velocity stacks - vertical holes in the hood shaped to the last 100th of a millimeter for maximum air induction. Despite Harrier's teal racing colors, the Cascadian company ran out of it and had to paint it blue, white and gray.

 

Rollcage by Tommy.

'HOMESTEADS' - 'OAKSTOCK' - 'RAISING FUNDS FOR MACMILLAN CANCER CHARITY' - 7th JULY 2018

'HOMESTEADS' - 'OAKSTOCK' - 'RAISING FUNDS FOR MACMILLAN CANCER CHARITY' - 7th JULY 2018

Kormakitis (Cypriot Arabic: Kurmajit; Greek: Κορμακίτης, Kormakítis; Turkish: Kormacit or Koruçam) is a small village in Cyprus. It is under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus. Kormakitis is one of four traditionally Maronite villages in Cyprus, the other three being Asomatos, Agia Marina and Karpaseia. The Maronites of Kormakitis traditionally speak their own variety of Arabic called Cypriot Maronite Arabic (CMA) in addition to Greek and recently Turkish and they follow the Catholic Maronite Church. Cape Kormakitis is named after the village.

 

All of the remaining Maronites villagers are elderly. The Republic of Cyprus government gives those who stayed in the north pensions of $670 a month per couple and around $430 for an individual. It also pays instructors to teach CMA, and funds week-long summer visits by young Maronites to put them in touch with their communal roots. Maronites also receive help from the United Nations. Every two weeks UN troops make the trip from Nicosia to deliver food, water, fuel and medical supplies across the border to the north's Maronite population. The UN aid convoy is manned by soldiers from the 12 Regiment Royal Artillery. Aid is funded by the Republic of Cyprus government but is delivered by the UN.

 

During the weekends the population of Kormakitis increases to more than 600 as displaced former residents return to visit relatives and celebrate Mass. Access has been made easier since 2003 when the Turkish Cypriot authorities relaxed rules on visits to Northern Cyprus. Many Maronites who were displaced from Kormakitis have renovated and upgraded the village and homes for weekend use.

 

There are several versions for the name of the village. The most common instance of folk etymology is related to the Maronites who arrived from Kour, Batroun. Feeling nostalgic, they used to repeat the sentence "Nahni jina wa Kour ma jit" "We came (to Cyprus) but Kour hasn't come". Another instance of folk etymology is related to the Phoenician settlement of Kormia. The present village would take its name from the expression Kormia jdide, or "New Kormia". These hypotheses seem consistent with the pronunciation of the village in Cypriot Greek (Κορματζίτης /Korma'dʒitis/) and Cypriot Turkish (Kormacit /Korma'dʒit/). The standard Greek name Kormakitis is an attempt to adjust the name to standard Greek pronunciation, whereas the new Turkish name Koruçam was made up after 1974 for political reasons.

 

Originally from Lebanon and Syria, today's Maronite community in Cyprus was shaped by four successive waves of emigration that started in the 8th century. With the Islamic conquests radiating outward from the Arab Peninsula, many Maronites abandoned Syria and Lebanon[dubious – discuss] and settled in Cyprus. In 938, the destruction of St Maron's Monastery[citation needed][dubious – discuss] in Lebanon prompted a second wave of refugees. Another three centuries passed and Crusader king Guy of Lusignan purchased Cyprus from Richard the Lionheart, leading the former to import Maronite warriors to the island to protect its coastlines. The last wave of emigration came 100 years later when Acre, last outpost of the Crusader edifice, collapsed leading to the last migration of Maronites to Cyprus. Kormakitis was originally built near Cape Kormakitis, but because of Arab raids the village was moved to its current location. The new location of the village was chosen because it provided better protection against raids and contained an ample supply of water and lush vegetation for agriculture and livestock. During the period of 1191–1489, the village of Kormakitis was one of the richest fiefs of the island, which belonged to the French feudal Denores. The Maronites at the time held 60 villages with a reported number of 60,000 and was the second largest community after the Greek Cypriots. In 1570, Kormakitis had 850 inhabitants.

 

During the Ottoman rule of Cyprus, the number of residences decreased; in 1841, there were only 200 inhabitants. Villagers who remained were highly taxed and harassed by Ottoman Turks and Greek Cypriots alike. The number of Maronites across Cyprus decreased simultaneously: In 1572, there were between 7,000 and 8,000 Maronites, living in 23 villages, while, in 1596, there were 4.000 Maronites, living in 19 villages. Under the British administration in Cyprus, the Maronite Community was promoted by the British government, whose policy was to support minorities. This resulted in better living conditions for the population of Kormakitis. By 1910, Kormakitis relied on agriculture and livestock, which produced grain, olives, beans, cotton, cocoons and other crops.

 

After Cyprus gained independence in 1960, projects were carried out within the village. In 1962, the village school was constructed, which was able to enrol 210 students and employ seven teachers. In 1965, the village was connected to the electric grid and houses were connected to water mains for the first time.

 

Following years of intercommunal violence, on 15 July 1974, there was an attempted coup d'état led by the Greek military junta to unite the island with Greece. The coup ousted president Makarios III and replaced him with pro-enosis nationalist Nikos Sampson. On 20 July 1974, the Turkish army invaded the island in response to the coup d'état. Despite the restoration of constitutional order and the return of Archbishop Makarios III to Cyprus in December 1974, the Turkish troops remained on the island occupying the northeastern portion of the island. This resulted in the island being divided into its Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities respectively. Many of Kormakitis's residents choose to migrate to the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus.

 

Before the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Kormakitis had around 1,000 inhabitants. The number of Maronites has since decreased. It is estimated that between 100 and 165 Maronites remained in the TRNC. The decline in population has been attributed to a lack of jobs and secondary education, leading to migration, migrating mainly to Nicosia and Limassol. During the school year 1999–2000, the Kormakitis Primary School was forced to close down, due to a lack of pupils, providing evidence of Kormakitis's declining young population.

 

In 2006, TRNC officials announced that Maronites from the village of Kormakitis have been given an opportunity to return to the village. This has been made possible by the fact that the houses and properties in question at Kormakitis, were not seized by Turkish settlers and Turkish Cypriots during the aftermath of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. However, the Maronites have to meet a certain criteria. Firstly, they need to be the legitimate owner of a house or property in the village to be allowed to resettle. Secondly, they also have to move back to the village and reside there. Maronites are not allowed to reclaim their property and then commute to and from Kormakitis to the Republic of Cyprus controlled areas. Some 40 people, mainly elderly couples, meanwhile, have permanently resettled in the village.

 

Several churches and chapels have been built within Kormakitis and the surrounding fields. These churches and chapels belong to the Maronite Church, a denomination of the Catholic Church. Saint George's Church, located within Kormakitis was built in 1930. Devoted to the patron saint of the village the Church, construction started in 1900. The designs and plans of the church were prepared by the Maltese architect Fenec and the Maltese Civil Engineer Cafiero. The inhabitants of the village offered donations for the construction of the church. The church constituted as the official church of the Maronite Church of Cyprus, prior 1974. Today, Saint George's Church is used by the remaining inhabitants. Icons and religious items dating from the 12th century are located within the cathedral.

 

The Chapel of Saint George, often referred as Chapel of Saint George of the seeds, is a chapel situated near the Mediterranean Sea, north of Kormakitis. It was built in 1852. Every year, on 3 November, a Mass is celebrated by the Maronite Community dedicated to Saint George. This is done to coincide with the start of the agricultural season, the farmers pray to Saint George for a successful harvest. According to the tradition, after Mass, the Maronites have lunch by the sea to celebrate Saint George.

 

The Chapel of the Holy Virgin is a small chapel situated in the west of the village. The chapel was thought to have been built in 1453. Recently renovated it is frequently visited.

 

The Chapel of Saint George, often referred as Chapel of Saint George of the Nuns, is a chapel situated next to the monastery of the Franciscan sisters, in the center of the village. It was built in 1534 and was the first chapel to be built inside the village. The monastery of the Franciscan sisters was built in 1936, next to the village's square.

 

Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.

 

Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.

 

A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.

 

Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

 

Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.

 

Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.

 

Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.

 

The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.

 

Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.

 

Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.

 

By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.

 

EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.

 

However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.

 

On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.

 

In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.

 

By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.

 

In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.

 

The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.

 

After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".

 

As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.

 

Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

 

On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.

 

The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.

 

Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.

 

The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.

 

Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.

 

Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria

An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."

 

In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.

 

Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.

 

In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.

 

Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.

 

Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.

 

Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.

 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:

 

UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.

 

The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.

 

By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."

 

After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.

 

On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.

 

The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.

 

During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.

 

In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.

 

Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.

 

A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.

I had already seen Alex a few times in Caen. He raises funds for an NGO. We talked for a while, I explained the 100 strangers to him and he was very keen to take part in it. I asked him if he’d be fine with us talking a bit more before I took his picture. I told him people were usually more comfortable after we’d talked for a while. That was true although it wasn’t the whole truth. It so happens that I’m more relaxed once I feel like I know people a bit more before I take their picture.

 

The NGO for which Alex works raises funds to try and improve access to education all over the world, whether it be in Europe, France included, in Asia or in Africa. Some of the barriers to education are things I had never thought about. Alex used one of the NGO’s projects as an example : In Togo, there are villages without easy access to water. Boys are sent to school while girls are sent to water holes to fetch water so that they can drink, because of that, they can’t go to school. The aim of the project was to create water holes in these villages so that girls would be able to go to school as well. Elsewhere, this NGO gets solar panels to villages so that they get access to electricity and contributes to child protection. Alex has a beautiful way to put it “The dream is to change the world. We do what we can with what we have.” When Alex started his contract, they were nine. On the day I met him, they were down to four and one of them was on sick leave if I remember correctly. I don’t recall whether this was due to how cold it had been the week before or if there was some other reason for that. Stopping people in the street and talking to them isn’t easy, it’s even more difficult to raise funds, yet Alex’s enthusiasm was unwavering. “I’m like a madman, I’m jumping everywhere.” After having seen him working a few times since, I can bear witness to his energy.

 

Alex had had a job interview a few days earlier to work in a senior home serving meals to the elderly. He got the job and he’ll start two days after his contract as a fund raiser ends. He will start his new job on his birthday. After I took his picture, Alex checked my Flickr page and when he browsed through the pictures I had taken, he recognised Julien which surprised me at first. Then again, Caen isn’t that big a city. What struck me with Alex was how contagious his energy and enthusiasm are.

 

I weighed the pros and cons of taking Alex’s picture in soft light or in hard light and I settled on hard light, the sun was already quite low on the horizon. This isn’t something specifically related to Alex’s portrait but I should try to troubleshoot a portrait before I even look into the viewfinder. Once I look through the viewfinder, I tend to get tunnel vision.

 

Thank you very much Alex!

 

This picture is #12 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

 

This is my 7th submission to the Human Family Group. To view more street portraits and stories visit The Human Family Flickr Group page

  

J’avais déjà aperçu Alex à plusieurs reprises à Caen. Il démarche les gens dans les rues pour une ONG. Nous avons discuté quelques minutes, je lui ai expliqué le projet 100 strangers auquel je participe et il a été pour le moins enthousiaste. Je lui ai demandé si l’on pouvait discuter un moment avant que je le prenne en photo, j’ai argué du fait que les gens sont souvent légèrement plus à l’aise après avoir fait connaissance, c’est en partie la raison. Il se trouve que je suis également plus détendu quand j’ai parlé avec les inconnu-e-s avant de les prendre en photo.

 

L’ONG pour laquelle Alex travaille lève des fonds pour tenter d’améliorer l’accès à l’éducation dans le monde, que ce soit en Europe, y compris en France, en Asie ou en Afrique. Certains des obstacles à l’accès à l’éducation sont des choses auxquelles je n’avais pas pensé. Alex m’a donné l’exemple du Togo où dans certains villages, les garçons vont à l’école pendant que les filles doivent ramener de l’eau pour que les garçons puissent boire, de ce fait, elles ne sont pas scolarisées. L’un des projets de cette ONG a été de créer des points d’eau dans ces villages pour permettre aux filles le même accès à l’éducation. Ailleurs, les projets de cette ONG prennent la forme d’installer des panneaux solaires pour fournir un village en électricité ou encore contribuer à la protection de l’enfance. Alex a une belle manière de résumer l’action de l’ONG pour laquelle il lève des fonds :

« Le rêve c’est de changer le monde. On fait ce qu’on peut avec ce qu’on a. »

Quand Alex a commencé son contrat, ils étaient neuf, après la semaine de froid que nous avons eue sur la région, ils ne sont plus que quatre dont un était en arrêt le jour où j’ai rencontré Alex si je me souviens bien. Je ne me rappelle plus si c’est le froid qui a découragé certains collègues d’Alex ou bien s’il y avait eu une autre raison. Arrêter les gens et leur parler n’est pas évident, il est encore plus difficile de lever des fonds, ce n’est pourtant pas l’enthousiasme qui manque à Alex. « Je suis comme un fou, je saute partout. » Après l’avoir aperçu à l’œuvre à plusieurs reprises depuis, je peux témoigner de son énergie.

 

Alex avait eu un entretien d’embauche en début de semaine pour travailler dans une résidence senior pour servir les repas. Il a été embauché et commencera son contrat dans la résidence deux jours après l’échéance de son contrat actuel. Il découvrira son nouveau travail le jour de son anniversaire. Après que j’ai pris sa photo, Alex a été sur Flickr voir les photos que j’ai prises et il a reconnu Julien. Cela m’a surpris initialement mais le fait est que Caen n’est pas une si grande ville que ça. Ce qui m’a marqué c’est à quel point l’énergie et l’enthousiasme d’Alex sont contagieux.

 

J’ai hésité entre prendre Alex en photo sous une lumière douce ou une lumière dure, j’ai opté pour la lumière dure du soleil qui était déjà assez bas sur l’horizon. Ce n’est pas une remarque spécifique par rapport à la photo d’Alex mais à l’avenir je devrais tenter de vérifier quelques détails avant de regarder à travers le viseur optique.

 

Merci beaucoup Alex !

 

Cette photo est la #12 dans mon projet 100 strangers. Apprenez-en plus au sujet du projet et visionnez les photos prises par d’autres photographes sur la page Flickr du groupe 100 Strangers

 

C’est ma septième participation au groupe The Human Family. Pour voir plus de portraits de rue et d’histoires, visitez la page Flickr du groupe The Human Family

Mayor Bill de Blasio joins Senator Chuck Schumer and Dr. Mitch Katz to deliver remarks about FEMA’s reimbursement at NYC Health+Hospitals/Lincolnon in the Bronx on Wednesday, September 15, 2021. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

At the end of 2022 it was announced that Serbia would benefit from an EU land of Euro 550m, the funds if which are to be used to help rebuilt and upgrade the 230 mile stretch of line between the nations capitol, Belgrade and their second city Nis. The 200kph line upgrade project will theoretically cost Euro 2.4 billion in total and will form part of a rail corridor through the Western Balkan region.

 

This view taken at Nis back in 2018 depicts 661 112 one of the JŽ 661 class of locomotives that were originally introduced via a class of Yugoslav Railways. They are an GM-EMD export model of type EMD G16, built by General Motors in the USA and under licence by Clyde Engineering in Australia and MACOSA in Spain. The class was known as Kenedi, after the US President John F. Kennedy. After the breakup in 1991, the locomotives were passed on to successor states. In Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Slovenia have all kept the JŽ-era designation series 661. Today there are around 15 operational series 661 with Serbian Railways. They are used used mostly on non-electrified railways, primarily to haul freight trains, but also the occasional passenger trains.