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Passengers are being shuttled back to their ship after visiting Santa Bárbara. Dozens of passengers and crew were not allowed to leave the ship or even their cabin, because of a Norovirus outbreak. This is the fourth norovirus outbreak on that particular ship in four years!
Let’s hope that the sea lions on the nearby buoy did not catch the virus...;-)
Dunstanburgh Castle can only be reached by a 2 mile walk from either Craster or Embleton. On my last visit it was not possible to take in this view on the path from Craster village - access was closed on account of a foot and mouth outbreak.
This is part 2 of the Venom Outbreak. All the Spiders are
Knocked out so the hulk comes and it leads to what is happening now.
Note stationary clouds as cirrus over runs southeast Wyoming in upper left portion of this GOES image. The time lapse that follows covers 50 minutes. Note how stationary the clouds are. Gusty winds rock the camera every now and then.
Picture of the Day x 2
Lukka Rookswood
Age: 19
Birthdate: July 6th
Occupation: Runner for The Dollhouse
Type Class: Luck
Skills: Parkour, Speed, Flexibility, Armed Melee
Temperament: Hypomanic
Residence: Waterfront Apartment - Roommate: Brett Riggs
Relationship Status: Nothing Official / Non-monogamous
Blood Type: A-
Weaknesses: Naive, prone toward risky behavior, hand-to-hand combat, minimal knowledge of firearms
P.S. - Bruises made by me, full set available here: marketplace.secondlife.com/p/30-Fresh-Healing-Tintable-Fa...
by Light Painting and LightArt-Photography Master JanLeonardo
Done with Done with Sony A7R, Carl-Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS, Manrotto Carbon 057 & Gearhead 405
Only photography in total darkness, painted with light. No layers or digital composing.
Cheers JanLeonardo
#JanLeonardo #LedLenser #LightPainting #Light #Torch #lightart #lightartphotography #lightgraff #lightdraw #Sony #SonyA7R #carlzeiss #manfrotto #Lenovo #LenovoIn #alphaddicted #LenovoYoga900 #LightPaintingMadeInGermany
For an hour after the passage of severe thunderstorms, mammatus clouds put on a spectacular show. This time lapse only hints at what this event revealed.
Here is the series (A-F) I upload of this event.
A: www.flickr.com/photos/79387036@N07/48656597613/in/datepos...
B: www.flickr.com/photos/79387036@N07/48662270291
C: www.flickr.com/photos/79387036@N07/48668364578/in/photost...
D: www.flickr.com/photos/79387036@N07/48674070908/in/photost...
E: www.flickr.com/photos/79387036@N07/48680206916/in/photost...
F: www.flickr.com/photos/79387036@N07/48685339188/in/photost...
The clouds formation are very interesting, I suspect the dark color is due to the pollutions in the air!!
As the industries are growing too fast in China!!
Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, tr. Sankt-Peterburg,) is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with 5 million inhabitants in 2012, part of the Saint Petersburg agglomeration with a population of 6.2 million (2015). An important Russian port on the Baltic Sea, it has a status of a federal subject (a federal city).
Situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May [O.S. 16 May] 1703. During the periods 1713–1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of Imperial Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved to Moscow, which is about 625 km (388 miles) to the south-east.
Saint Petersburg is often considered Russia's cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. Many foreign consulates, international corporations, banks and businesses have offices in Saint Petersburg.
A proponent of westernising Russia, Peter the Great, who established the city, originally named it, Sankt-Peterburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербург; note that the Russian name lacks the letter s between Peter and burg). On 1 September 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, the Imperial government renamed the city Petrograd (Russian: Петрогра́д, meaning "Peter's city", in order to expunge the German name Sankt and Burg. On 26 January 1924, shortly after the death of Vladimir Lenin, it was renamed to Leningrad (Russian: Ленингра́д), meaning "Lenin's City". On 6 September 1991, the original name, Sankt-Peterburg, was returned. Today, in English the city is known as "Saint Petersburg". Local residents often refer to the city by its shortened nickname, Piter (Russian: Пи́тер,).
The city's traditional nicknames among Russians are the Window to the West and the Window to Europe. The northernmost metropolis in the world St. Petersburg is often called the Venice of the North or Russian Venice because of its structure which is built on water and its strongly European-inspired architecture, which is combined with the Russian heritage too. Furthermore, St. Petersburg is called Venice of the North because of an annual natural phenomenon called White Nights which arise due to the closeness to the polar region. Just as Venice is associated with romance, in St. Petersburg the White Nights have a high value for love couples.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg
www.thoughtco.com/when-was-st-petersburg-known-as-petrogr...
San Petersburgo (en ruso, Санкт-Петербург /sankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk/ Sankt-Peterburg) es la segunda ciudad más poblada de Rusia después de la capital nacional Moscú, con 5 351 935 habitantes (2018) y un área metropolitana de 5,85 millones. Está situada en la Región de Leningrado, nombre que compartía con la ciudad durante la época soviética (1924-1991). Los otros nombres de la ciudad fueron Petrogrado (en ruso, Петроград, Petrograd; del 31 de agosto de 1914 hasta el 24 de enero de 1924) y Leningrado (en ruso, Ленинград, Leningrad; después de la muerte de Lenin, el 24 de enero de 1924 hasta el 6 de septiembre de 1991). Conocida también como la “Venecia del Norte”, debido a sus más de 400 puentes que atraviesan a los numerosos canales que por ella pasan.
Fue fundada por el zar Pedro el Grande el 27 de mayo de 1703 con la intención de convertirla en la "ventana de Rusia hacia el mundo occidental". A partir de entonces se convirtió en capital del Imperio ruso durante más de doscientos años. Cuando estalló la Revolución rusa, la ciudad fue el centro de la rebelión. En marzo de 1918 la capital fue trasladada a Moscú. En enero de 1924, tras la victoria bolchevique, la creación de la Unión Soviética (1922) y el fallecimiento de Lenin (1924), San Petersburgo (en ese entonces llamado Petrogrado) cambió su nombre a Leningrado, en honor al dirigente comunista Lenin. Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, tuvo lugar el sitio de Leningrado, que duró 29 meses, en los cuales los alemanes bombardearon constantemente la ciudad y la bloquearon para que no pudiera abastecerse. Tras la derrota de Alemania en 1945, la ciudad fue nombrada Ciudad heroica por las autoridades soviéticas. Al desaparecer la URSS con el consiguiente colapso del comunismo, la ciudad fue renombrada San Petersburgo y se ha convertido en un importante centro económico y político de la actual Rusia.
San Petersburgo es hoy en día la segunda ciudad más grande de la Federación Rusa y una de las más grandes de Europa. El centro de la ciudad y otros monumentos de sus alrededores son considerados Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la UNESCO desde 1990. San Petersburgo es, además, sede de la Corte Constitucional de Rusia.
El nombre de San Petersburgo es de origen alemán y significa "ciudad de San Pedro". Pedro el Grande la nombró así en honor a su santo patrono, rechazando el de Petrograd, que quisieron darle, en su honor, sus súbditos alemanes que había contratado para construir y trabajar en los astilleros y la ciudad.
La ciudad cambió de nombre varias veces: Se llamó Petrogrado (Петроград Petrograd, que significa ciudad de Pedro, adaptación al ruso del alemán Petersburg) entre 1914 y 1924, a raíz del conflicto con Alemania durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, y Leningrado (Ленинград Leningrad tras la muerte de Lenin) entre 1924 y 1991; y nuevamente San Petersburgo después de un plebiscito. Coloquialmente los peterburgueses y rusos en general llaman a esta metrópolis Peterburg o de manera aún más familiar Piter (en ruso Питер).
Fue fundada por el zar Pedro el Grande el 16 (27) de mayo de 1703 con el propósito de deslocalizar la capital ubicada en Moscú, y de hecho fue capital de Rusia de 1712 a 1918. Por ello y por su ubicación geográfica le dio el sobrenombre de "La ventana a Europa". Pedro había vivido y estudiado en los Países Bajos por algún tiempo, por eso decidió bautizar su nueva ciudad con un nombre derivado del holandés Sint Pietersburg: Sankt Piterburj; pero pronto se germanizó a Sankt Petersburg.
En la misma desembocadura del río Nevá los suecos tenían anteriormente una fortaleza llamada Nyenschantz (Nevanlinna en finés) y un arrabal llamado Nyen. Todo el entorno geográfico de la desembocadura del Nevá estaba ocupado por marismas antes de que se construyese la ciudad.
A fines del siglo XVII, Rusia veía estancado su crecimiento económico por no tener salida al mar. El sueño del joven zar, Pedro el Grande, era corregir la situación abriendo una “ventana a Europa”. Dado que no podía hacerlo por el sur, pues el Imperio otomano impedía el acceso al mar Negro, apuntó en dirección contraria, a un territorio de Suecia cercano al Báltico. A fin de materializar sus aspiraciones, en agosto de 1700 declaró la guerra a los suecos, Guerra del Norte, quienes al principio lograron repeler sus ataques. Pero él no se dio por vencido, y en octubre de 1702 los hizo retirarse del Ládoga, el mayor lago de Europa, que está unido por el Nevá al Báltico, del cual dista unos 60 kilómetros. Aunque los suecos se atrincheraron en la fortaleza insular de Nóteburg, cerca del punto donde el río sale del lago, Pedro logró tomar aquella plaza militar y le cambió el nombre a Shlissel’burg (ciudad clave).
Posteriormente, una guarnición sueca defendió el fortín de Nienshants, cerca de la desembocadura del Nevá. Rusia la derrotó el 26 de abril de 1703 y asumió el dominio de todo el delta. Sin demora, Pedro comenzó a construir una ciudadela en la cercana isla Záyachi (de las liebres) para controlar la boca del río. Así, el 16 de mayo de 1703, hace poco más de tres siglos, puso la primera piedra de lo que hoy se conoce como la Fortaleza de San Pedro y San Pablo. Esta es la fecha aceptada de la fundación de San Petersburgo, llamada así en honor del apóstol Pedro, santo patrón del zar.
La construcción de la ciudad bajo condiciones climáticas adversas produjo una intensa mortalidad entre los trabajadores y requirió un continuo aporte de nuevos obreros. Dado que aquella zona estaba muy poco poblada, Pedro el Grande utilizó su prerrogativa de zar para atraer forzosamente a siervos trabajadores de todas las partes del país. Una cuota anual de 40.000 siervos llegaba a la ciudad equipados con sus herramientas y sus propios suministros de comida. Habitualmente recorrían cientos de kilómetros a pie en filas, escoltados por guardas que, para evitar las deserciones, no dudaban en usar la violencia física. Como consecuencia de su exposición al clima, las deficientes condiciones higiénicas y las enfermedades, la mortalidad durante estos primeros años fue muy elevada, llegando a perecer año tras año hasta el 50% de los trabajadores que llegaban.
Dado que la construcción de la ciudad se inició en tiempos de guerra, el primer edificio nuevo de la ciudad fue un fuerte militar que se llamaría fortaleza de San Pedro y San Pablo y que se levanta aún sobre la isla Záyachi en la ribera derecha del río Nevá. Los diseñadores de la nueva fortaleza eran ingenieros alemanes invitados por el propio Zar, pero la mayor parte de la mano de obra la pusieron los siervos rusos también para las labores de drenaje de los alrededores del río y los palacios y otros edificios de piedra de las afueras. Era la ciudad más artificial del mundo, diseñada para convertirse en la capital de Rusia. Una ciudad con relativo paralelismo es Venecia, en la cual se inspiró asimismo el zar Pedro, que prohibió los puentes permanentes sobre el Nevá para que se asemejase al Gran Canal y fomentó la construcción de canales en las calles siguiendo el patrón de Ámsterdam.
Pese a los inconvenientes de su ubicación en el lejano norte, el zar siguió adelante con su empresa. Trajo la madera de la región del Ládoga y de Nóvgorod. Las piedras para las edificaciones las obtuvo de diversos modos. Uno de ellos fue estipular que todo ruso que introdujera productos comerciales en la localidad aportara unas cuantas a modo de cuota. Además, prohibió hacer viviendas de este material, primero en Moscú y luego en el resto de su imperio, lo que indujo a los albañiles desempleados a mudarse a la nueva población.
Según la Bol’shaya Sovyetskaya Entsiklopedia (la gran enciclopedia soviética), los trabajos marcharon “a un ritmo vertiginoso para la época”. No tardaron en aparecer canales de drenaje, pilotes, calles, casas, iglesias, hospitales y oficinas del gobierno. El mismo año de la fundación se iniciaron las obras de un astillero, conocido como el Almirantazgo, que llegaría a ser el cuartel general de la armada rusa.
En 1710 se comenzó el Palacio de verano, residencia estival de los zares. En 1712, la capitalidad pasó de Moscú a San Petersburgo, y con ella muchas dependencias oficiales. Como fue el caso del traslado de la Casa de la Moneda de Moscú a San Petersburgo en 1724. El primer palacio de piedra, construido en 1714 y aún en pie, tenía por ocupante a Aleksandr Ménshikov, primer gobernador de la zona. Aquel mismo año se colocaron en la Fortaleza de Pedro y Pablo los cimientos de la catedral de igual nombre, cuya imponente aguja dorada se distingue en la silueta urbana. También se erigió a orillas del Nevá el Palacio de Invierno, que fue reedificado en diversas ocasiones. Más tarde se levantó en su lugar el actual, que cuenta con unas mil cien habitaciones y que hoy forma parte de un céntrico museo estatal, el famosísimo Ermitage.
En su primer decenio de existencia, San Petersburgo registró un asombroso crecimiento, hasta el punto de estimarse en 34.500 el número de edificios existentes en 1714. Siguieron añadiéndose palacios e inmensas construcciones, muchas de las cuales demuestran el gran influjo de la religión en la historia de Rusia.
Entre ellas figura la catedral de Kazán, con su columnata frontal en semicírculo. Su imponente presencia contribuye a que la arteria más famosa de la ciudad, la avenida Nevski, sea considerada una de las más grandiosas avenidas del mundo. De fecha posterior es la catedral de San Isaac, edificada sobre 24.000 pilotes hundidos en suelo pantanoso y que ostenta una enorme cúpula revestida de 100 kilos de oro puro.
La arquitectura avanzó igualmente a pasos agigantados en el extrarradio. Así, en 1714 se empezó a edificar una residencia para el zar, el palacio Peterhof, en Peterhof (hoy Petrodvoréts). Al mismo tiempo, en la cercana localidad de Tsárskoye Seló (hoy Pushkin) se construía el suntuoso palacio de Catalina, la esposa de Pedro el Grande. En la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII se concluyeron otras dos lujosas mansiones en las afueras: Pávlovsk y Gátchina.
Realzaban la belleza de la nueva capital los centenares de puentes que cruzaban los brazos fluviales y los múltiples canales, por los que se ha ganado el apelativo de “Venecia del norte”. Arquitectos franceses, alemanes e italianos colaboraron con colegas rusos de gran talento para producir “uno de los núcleos urbanos más espléndidos y armoniosos de Europa”
La abolición de la servidumbre en 1861 por el zar Alejandro II de Rusia provocó una fuerte corriente de inmigrantes pobres provenientes de todas las regiones del país. La mano de obra barata permitió un intenso incremento de la industria en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y San Petersburgo llegó a ser uno de los ejes industriales más grandes de Europa. En consecuencia, surgieron a su vez los movimientos obreros radicales.
La revolución de 1905 tras la derrota en la guerra ruso-japonesa comenzó en San Petersburgo y se extendió rápidamente por otras provincias. Como consecuencia el zar Nicolás II autorizó la creación del primer parlamento ruso o Duma.
Durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, se decidió que San Petersburgo era un nombre demasiado germánico para la ciudad y se le cambió por el de Petrogrado el 31 de agosto de 1914.
En 1917 San Petersburgo vio los primeros movimientos de la Revolución rusa. En primer lugar se destituyó al zar Nicolás II de su trono y se instaló en la ciudad el Gobierno provisional. En octubre una segunda fase de la revolución hizo que el poder pasase a los Sóviets y se formó el primer gobierno soviético de bolcheviques y socialistas revolucionarios (SR) de izquierda, el Sovnarkom. El líder bolchevique Lenin decidió trasladar la sede del gobierno de San Petersburgo a Moscú, por estar más alejada de los frentes de la Guerra Mundial y de los núcleos antirrevolucionarios. Moscú se convirtió en capital desde entonces hasta el día de hoy. Al morir Lenin en 1924, San Petersburgo tomó el nombre de Leningrado en su honor.
La pérdida de la capitalidad trajo un descenso poblacional a la ciudad, que se redujo a un tercio de lo que era en 1915.
Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Leningrado fue sitiada por las fuerzas armadas de la Alemania nazi (Wehrmacht) desde el 8 de septiembre de 1941 hasta el 27 de enero de 1944, un total de 29 meses. Por orden de Adolf Hitler, la ciudad era constantemente bombardeada y sistemáticamente privada de sus suministros. Se calcula que este asedio produjo la muerte de más de 1.500.000 personas, de las cuales cerca de 1.000.000 eran civiles. El 1 de mayo de 1945 (oficialmente el 8 de mayo de 1965) le fue otorgado a la ciudad el título de Ciudad Heroica.
Antes de la disolución de la Unión Soviética el 12 de junio de 1991, el 54 % de la población decidió restaurar el antiguo nombre de la ciudad, los de 39 calles emblemáticas y los de seis puentes. Tres meses después también se recuperó el escudo concedido a la ciudad por la emperatriz Catalina la Grande en 1780.
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Petersburgo
Some soldiers of the remnants of the UN army during the great Outbreak.
‘’The Outbreak’’ sometimes dubbed as ‘’The Apocalypse’’ or ‘’World War Z’’ is an global outbreak of Specimen Z, an experimental virus that spread around the globe. It spread globally in around 28 hours, and caused the collapse of several nations within those hours. Resulting into mass panic and global destruction.
UN forces are fighting against the infected during an massive global zombie outbreak. Consisting of several armies from around the globe united together in accordance to an secretive UN protocol.The cooperated with the total defense against the increase of infected, which resulted into a global conflict against the infected. The UN army is considered to be the largest and most powerful faction seen in the Outbreak series so far.
(Dubbed as the UN Army in the Outbreak videos) They are a faction that has appeared in future content, despite that. The UN army already made several appearance in my brickfilms. The most notable were the Zombie Outbreak videos.
Their main job during the Outbreak was to evacuate the civilians out of the infected ''Hot Zone'' areas by combating the infected with various weapons in order to buy time. They were also tasked with maintaining order in and outside the Quarantine Zones as mass panic was still in progress.
They suffered heavy casualties during the Outbreak.
The brickfilm where this scene is based on was partially sponsored by Brickizimo: www.brickizimo-toys.com/en/
Custom helmet: Brickarms/printed by Brickizimo
Custom vest: Brickarms
Link to the projects:
Part 1:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjqkZeMoI04
Part 2:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=quS1pl24RT4
Part 3:
This clip shows what high cirriform clouds look like from space.
Although this event lasted several hours, only 30 minutes of my time lapse is shown.
A longer version set to music can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECtnQ4U9eLA
A red wave of dying lodgepole pine marks the spread of the current outbreak of mountain pine beetle (MPB) in northern Colorado.
By the second summer of infestation, trees turn a reddish brown and die. Millions upon millions of pine trees will be lost to this historically devastating epidemic of MPB (980,000 acres in CO as of last year). In its wake we can likely expect some truly epic wildfires across the Rockies over the coming years.
Webb Coal Tank 1054 arrives at Quorn with the 10:00 Loughborough – Leicester North, 26th May 2013.
Locomotive History
The London and North Western Railway introduced in 1881 a tank engine version of its 17” Coal Engine 0-6-0. Both designs were by F.W. Webb and the tank engine had the tender replaced by a trailing radial truck supporting the bunker making it a 0-6-2T. Three hundred of the tank engine design were built at Crewe works between 1881 and 1897. The first to be withdrawn was as early as 1921 and withdrawals continued over the next thirty seven years with the final members of the class being withdrawn in 1958. Coal Tank 1054 entered service in 1888 and was renumbered 7799 and then 27799 by the London Midland and Scottish Railway, and then 58926 under British Railways after the railways were nationalised in 1948. The engine's early service before the First World War is understood to have been in the Birmingham area, followed by North and South Wales before it was withdrawn from service in January 1939. The locomotive was almost broken up however the outbreak of the Second World War granted it a reprieve and it was overhauled and reinstated in December 1940. The locomotive continued to move around the country seeing service in the Manchester area working local trains from Bolton, and the Liverpool area from Edge Hill, before moving south to Bletchley where it worked the local passenger service to Dunstable. In 1950 it was at Shrewsbury, again working local passenger trains this time to Craven Arms and, after four years, moved to Abergavenny from where it was loaned to the National Coal Board for 12 months working alongside two of its class mates at Windsor Colliery in Ynysybwl near Pontypridd. It returned to Abergavenny as the last survivor of its type and, incidentally, the last Webb designed locomotive in operation. It was kept as a spare engine and fitted with a snowplough during the winter months in case of heavy snowfalls on the line. It is doubtful, however, if it was ever utilized in this role. After working the last train on the Abergavenny to Merthyr line with 0-8-0 'Super D' 49121 it ended its days at Ponytpool, where it was finally withdrawn in October 1958. Following withdrawal it was sold for preservation and after twenty years on static display it was overhauled and returned to working order in 1980 and restored to the London and North Western Railway condition in which it would have appeared just prior to the First World War. In May that year it attended the great exhibition at Rainhill near Liverpool. 1054 was taken out of service in 1999 for its third and most extensive overhaul since it was bought for preservation. This was completed, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, during 2011.
6-20-11 Poole, NE tornado from one of the best tornado days of 2011. I will never forget the day. Great chase!
American postcard by Coral-Lee, Rancho Cordova, CA, Personality no. #60/1980. Photo: Douglas Kirkland / Contact, 1980.
English film and stage actress, singer, and author Julie Andrews (1935) was a former child actress and singer who rose to prominence starring in such stage musicals as 'My Fair Lady' and 'Camelot'. She is best known for her roles in the films Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965). Her voice spanned four octaves until it was damaged by a throat operation in 1997. In the 2000s she had a major revival of her film career in family films such as The Princess Diaries (2001) and the Shrek animated films (2004–2010).
Julie Andrews was born Julia Elizabeth Wells in Walton-on-Thames, England, in 1935. Her mother, music hall performer Barbara Wells (née Morris), was married to Edward C. ‘Ted’ Wells, a teacher of metal and woodworking, but Andrews was conceived as a result of an affair her mother had with a family friend. With the outbreak of World War II, Barbara and Ted Wells went their separate ways. Ted Wells assisted with evacuating children to Surrey during the Blitz, while Barbara joined Ted Andrews in entertaining the troops through the good offices of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). Barbara and Ted Wells were soon divorced. Barbara remarried to Ted Andrews in 1939. Julie had lessons at the Cone-Ripman School, an independent arts educational school in London, and then with the famous concert soprano and voice instructor Lilian Stiles-Allen. She continued her academic education at the Woodbrook School, a local state school in Beckenham. Julie performed spontaneously and unbilled on stage with her parents for about two years beginning in 1945. She got her big break when her stepfather introduced her to Val Parnell, whose Moss Empires controlled prominent venues in London. Andrews made her professional solo debut at the London Hippodrome singing the difficult aria Je Suis Titania from Mignon as part of a musical revue called Starlight Roof in 1947. She played the Hippodrome for one year. In 1948 she became the youngest solo performer ever to be seen in a Royal Command Variety Performance. Julie followed her parents into radio and television and reportedly made her television debut on the BBC program RadiOlympia Showtime in 1949. She garnered considerable fame throughout the United Kingdom for her work on the BBC radio comedy show Educating Archie (1950- 1952). In 1954 on the eve of her 19th birthday, Julie Andrews made her Broadway debut portraying Polly Browne in the already highly successful London musical The Boy Friend. To the critics, Andrews was the stand-out performer in the show. In November 1955 Andrews was signed to appear with Bing Crosby in what is regarded as the first made-for-television movie, High Tor.
In 1956 Julie Andrews appeared in the Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner musical My Fair Lady as Eliza Doolittle to Rex Harrison's Henry Higgins. Richard Rodgers was so impressed with her talent that concurrent with her run in My Fair Lady she was featured in the Rodgers and Hammerstein television musical, Cinderella (Ralph Nelson, 1957). Cinderella was broadcast live and attracted an estimated 107 million viewers. She married set designer Tony Walton in 1959 in Weybridge, Surrey. They had first met in 1948 when Andrews was appearing at the London Casino in the show Humpty Dumpty. The couple filed for a divorce in 1967. In 1960 Lerner and Loewe again cast her in a period musical as Queen Guinevere in Camelot, with Richard Burton. However, movie studio head Jack Warner decided Andrews lacked sufficient name recognition for her casting in the film version of My Fair Lady; Eliza was played by the established film actress Audrey Hepburn instead. As Warner later recalled, the decision was easy, "In my business, I have to know who brings people and their money to a movie theatre box office. Audrey Hepburn had never made a financial flop." Andrews played the title role in Disney's Mary Poppins (Robert Stevenson, 1964), a lavish musical fantasy that combined live-action and animation. Walt Disney had seen a performance of Camelot and thought Andrews would be perfect for the role of the British nanny who is "practically perfect in every way!" Andrews initially declined because of pregnancy, but Disney politely insisted. Andrews and her husband headed back to the United Kingdom in 1962 for the birth of daughter Emma Katherine Walton. As a result of her performance in Mary Poppins, Andrews won the 1964 Academy Award for Best Actress and the 1965 Golden Globe Award. She and her Mary Poppins co-stars also won the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Album for Children. As a measure of ‘sweet revenge’, as Poppins songwriter Richard M. Sherman put it, Andrews closed her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes by saying, "And, finally, my thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and who made all this possible in the first place, Mr. Jack Warner." Next, she appeared opposite James Garner in The Americanization of Emily (Arthur Hiller, 1964), which she has described as her favourite film.
Now, Julie Andrews was a real star, and it was her star power that helped make her third film, The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965), the highest-grossing movie of its day and one of the highest-grossing of all time. For her role as Maria von Trapp, she won her second Golden Globe Award in 1966 and was nominated for the 1965 Academy Award. After completing The Sound Of Music, Andrews appeared as a guest star on the NBC-TV variety series The Andy Williams Show, which gained her an Emmy nomination. She followed this with an Emmy Award-winning colour special, The Julie Andrews Show in 1965. By the end of 1967, Andrews had appeared in the television special Cinderella; the biggest Broadway musical of its time, My Fair Lady; the largest-selling long-playing album, the original cast recording of My Fair Lady; the biggest hit in Disney's history, Mary Poppins; the highest grossing movie of 1966, Hawaii (George Roy Hill, 1966); the biggest and second biggest hits in Universal's history, Thoroughly Modern Millie (George Roy Hill, 1967) and Torn Curtain (Alfred Hitchcock, 1967); and the biggest hit in 20th Century Fox's history The Sound of Music. Then Andrews appeared in Star! (Robert Wise, 1968), a biopic of Gertrude Lawrence, and Darling Lili (Blake Edwards, 1970), co-starring Rock Hudson, but both bombed at the box office. The problem was that audiences identified her with singing, sugary-sweet nannies and governesses, and could not accept her in dramatic roles. She married Blake Edwards in 1969. They adopted two children from Vietnam: Amy in 1974 and Joanna in 1975. She continued working in television. In 1969 she shared the spotlight with singer Harry Belafonte for an NBC-TV special, An Evening with Julie Andrews and Harry Belafonte. In 1971 she appeared as a guest for the Grand Opening Special of Walt Disney World, and that same year she and Carol Burnett headlined a CBS special, Julie and Carol At Lincoln Center. In 1972–1973, Andrews starred in her own television variety series, The Julie Andrews Hour, on the ABC network. The show won seven Emmy Awards but was cancelled after one season. Between 1973 and 1975, Andrews continued her association with ABC by headlining five variety specials for the network. She guest-starred on The Muppet Show in 1977 and appeared again with the Muppets on a CBS-TV special, Julie Andrews: One Step Into Spring, which aired in 1978. Then, she made a comeback in the cinema with an appearance in 10 (1979), directed by her husband Blake Edwards. He helped to keep her on the rise by directing her to subsequent roles that were entirely different from anything she had been in before. There was the film star Sally Miles who bared her breasts on-screen in S.O.B. (1981), and the woman (Victoria Grant) playing a man (Count Victor Grezhinski) playing a woman in Victor Victoria (1982). On IMDb Tommy Peter writes: “The sheer novelty of seeing Julie Andrews in these roles, not to mention her brilliant performances in both of them, undoubtedly helped make them successes”. Her roles in Victor/Victoria earned Andrews the 1983 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, as well as a nomination for the 1982 Academy Award for Best Actress, her third Oscar nomination. In 1987 Andrews starred in an ABC Christmas special, Julie Andrews: The Sound Of Christmas, which went on to win five Emmy Awards. Two years later she was reunited for the third time with Carol Burnett for a variety special which aired on ABC in 1989.
In 1991 Julie Andrews made her television dramatic debut in the ABC made-for-TV movie, Our Sons (John Erman, 1991), co-starring Ann-Margret. The following year she starred in her first television sitcom, Julie (1992), which co-starred James Farentino. In 1995 she starred in the stage musical version of Victor/Victoria, her first appearance in a Broadway show in 35 years. She was forced to quit the show towards the end of the Broadway run in 1997 when she developed vocal problems. She subsequently underwent surgery to remove non-cancerous nodules from her throat and was left unable to sing. In 1999 she was reunited with James Garner for the CBS made-for-TV movie, One Special Night (Roger Young, 1999). In the 2000 New Year's Honours, Andrews was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). She had a career revival when she appeared in The Princess Diaries (Garry Marshall, 2001), her first Disney film since Mary Poppins (1964). She starred as Queen Clarisse Marie Renaldi and reprised the role in a sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (Garry Marshall, 2004). In The Princess Diaries 2, Andrews sang on film for the first time since having throat surgery. Andrews continued her association with Disney when she appeared as the nanny in two 2003 made-for-television movies based on the Eloise books, a series of children's books by Kay Thompson about a child who lives in the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The same year she made her debut as a theatre director, directing a revival of The Boy Friend, the musical in which she made her 1954 Broadway debut. In 2004 Andrews performed the voice of Queen Lillian in the animated blockbuster Shrek 2 (2004), reprising the role for its sequels, Shrek the Third (2007) and Shrek Forever After (2010). She narrated Enchanted (Kevin Lima, 2007), a live-action Disney musical comedy that both poked fun and paid homage to classic Disney films such as Mary Poppins. In 2007 Andrews was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Screen Actors Guild's awards and stated that her goals included continuing to direct for the stage and possibly to produce her own Broadway musical. She published Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (2008), which she characterised as "part one" of her autobiography. Home chronicles her early years in UK's music hall circuit and ends in 1962 with her winning the role of Mary Poppins. For a Walt Disney video release, she again portrayed Mary Poppins and narrated the story of The Cat That Looked at a King in 2004. In 2010, Andrews made her London come-back after a 21-year absence (her last performance there was a Christmas concert at the Royal Festival Hall in 1989). Julie Andrews has long had something of a dual image, being both a family-friendly star and an icon for gays and lesbians. Andrews herself has acknowledged her strange status, commenting that "I'm that odd mixture of, on the one hand, being a gay icon and, on the other, having grandmas and parents grateful I'm around to be a babysitter for their kids."
Sources: Tommy Peter (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
An outbreak of killer tree disease P. ramorum has been confirmed at a new location in Northern Ireland.
The latest discovery at Moneyscalp Woods, part of Tollymore forest park in County Down, was confirmed following an earlier aerial survey of all woodlands.
Fourteen hectares of Japanese larch trees are to be felled immediately to prevent the disease spreading.
The new outbreak is far south of all the previous infections - a real concern for the forest service.
It was hoped that the disease could be contained in an area centred around Country Antrim in the north east of Northern Ireland.
Finding an outbreak so far away from the main infected area now raises fears that more diseased areas could be revealed when the trees start to produce needles next spring.
Six public woodlands and eight private sites in Northern Ireland have already been affected by P. ramorum which targets Japanese larch trees.
M MC KIMM BBC
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As the predicted Omicron Covid outbreak in December 2021 was about to go rogue the Perrotett NSW government removed most restrictions. Public and business backlash saw the NSW Government quickly reinstate some of the previously existing restrictions, like mask wearing in public spaces. Common sense was sadly lacking because the initial relaxation made no sense at all yet was hardly surprising given the abominable manner in which the NSW Government handled the Ruby Princess debacle as well as the June 2020 Bondi Junction outbreak.
At the same time as Omicron was arriving on the scene support services for contact tracing and PCR testing were being wound back and the Federal Government said they would not fund subsidization of Rapid Antigen tests (RAT) probably because they did not want to undercut their donors, among them Chemist Warehouse and Harvey Norman. Electrical goods and furniture retailer Harvey Norman, was very likely tipped off as to the government's intended policy, or indeed they lobbied for it, and immediately ordered many thousands of the Rapid Antigen tests which are now being sold. At the time of writing (5.1.21) online ordering of RAT tests via Chemist Warehouse yielded a nil result with tests out of stock as is the case, as I write, with most pharmacies and supermarkets. Some of those commercial sales outlets with stock have been guilty of price gouging with prices as high as $40 for a single test. The tests actually cost under $4 each to produce and the manufacturers say they can produce 15 million tests in a day.
The current dire shortage of tests is a legacy of callous and indifferent, if not incompetent management, by the Federal Government who failed to heed warnings issued by the Australian Medical Association in September 2020 that RAT tests would be an essential tool in managing the predicted tsunami of infections to occur from January 2022. Most health experts are of the belief that the Federal Government should be making the RAT tests free as a means to help minimize the impacts of the predicted explosion in cases of Omicron covid.
Are you looking to buy a RAT test in Australia or can you confirm via this site a business that is selling them - Try this site FindaRAT
Around 74% of the current NSW Covid ICU cases are of the Delta variant indicating that since Perrotett removed most restrictions before Xmas 2021 Delta has become rampant in the community. The situation is made much worse because the government has stopped tracking infections and our political leaders are selling the message that Omicron is the problem and it's less virulent, deflecting from the impacts of Delta which for now is much more problematic.
We have here a massive case of political failure to protect the Australian people. One could only imagine what would have happened if condoms had been made so ridiculously expensive during the AIDS crisis from 1981 onwards.
Chaos is increasingly the state of play in the NSW health system as hospitals begin to struggle with a lack of staff and rising Covid admissions which are detrimentally impacting on the opportunity for other urgent life-threatening procedures. Health workers are even being pressured by hospital administrators to come back to work even though they have Covid 19.
On the 5th Jan 2022 NSW recorded 35,054 cases a day but this is not an accurate assessment as it has become very difficult to be tested if an individual feels they have been exposed or have symptoms. The actual infection figures are likely to be up to 10 times higher according to some experts. People, some with Covid symptoms, are lining up at testing centres for up to 7 hours to get tested. It should come as no surprise that many just give up waiting. Drive through queuing is of a similar wait time. Many testing laboratories have become overwhelmed and understaffed due to some staff becoming infected with covid rendering them unable to work. For these reasons the labs are unable to return test results in a timely manner. Some tests results appear to be taking 4-7 days to be returned and there are almost no RAT tests available to buy anywhere in NSW.
The shambolic mismanagement by the Perrotett and Morrison Governments is there for all to see. Both governments, imbued with a business first ideology (or should that read donors first) are of the mindset to 'let it rip' and this ideologically driven approach has seen the virus escalate its intrusion into all other states of Australia, despite their best efforts to keep it at bay.
The failure to manage this health crisis appropriately is not only impacting people's lives and health but in fact doing immense damage to the bottom line of many businesses as well as the economy.
It might seem like I am stating the obvious when I say it's very unwise to catch covid yet many people appear to be confident in their trust in the effectiveness of triple dose vaccination. Hopefully this trust is proven to be correct in the coming months.
From my own limited observations, it appears some people out there on the streets are naively unconcerned about the risks to their own, or their family's well-being, believing they will catch covid, Delta or Omicron, eventually and that they'll survive it.
If Seal Rocks was any example on Boxing Day 2021 there are plenty of people in that category. I've never seen so many cars lining every road, occupying every parking space and indeed many illegal ones. It was 'wall to wall' people, like I'd never seen before.
Despite these crowds my solitary walk through the rainforest brought me out at the southern end of Number 1 Beach from where I took this shot. Most people had located themselves on the beach further north from this point while many had returned to their cars for lunch. To be fair though it was clear that many people were social distancing from strangers but not necessarily in their family groups.
As we enter 2022 the game is changing rapidly, the 'let it rip brigade' appear to have won the war, for now, at least in NSW.
It has been reported that Omicron may well be more infectious but the jury is still out as to whether it's as potent as Delta. Even if Omicron turns out to be less potent the sheer growth in Omicron infections to come may yet result in significant growth in ICU admissions and potentially, in more deaths.
With many children going back to school in a few weeks not having had their 2nd jab, let alone their boosters it appears 2022 is going to be one big game of Russian Roulette.
The ship is rudderless so good luck folks.
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ORK 30/03/20 Built 2011. Parked up at Cork among other company aircraft at Cork due to the Covid-19 outbreak.