The Duran: U.S. and Japan prepare for conflict with China, citing this Financial Times article, "US military deepens ties with Japan and Philippines to prepare for China threat" and quoting U.S. Lt General James Biermann.

youtu.be/UJqwTcUFy0k

 

www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/is-japan-getting-ready-for-a...

 

Is Japan Getting Ready for a War with China? It Looks Like It

 

Throughout history, there has been no love lost between China and Japan. While the island nation of Japan has been influenced throughout its history by China, modern relations have been strained due to past conflicts. Today, China’s and Japan’s economies are respectively the world’s second and third-largest by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), and in recent years the two have become close business partners since relations were normalized in 1972.

 

Yet, Tokyo sees Beijing as its biggest security challenge, and as a result, the Japanese government has announced it would sharply increase military spending, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. This would mark Japan’s largest post-World War II shift away from pacifism.

 

Point of Contention

Among the sources of contention is actually an uninhabited group of Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed East China Sea islands called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. According to Japan, the islands, which had previously hosted a Japanese seafood factory, are part of its territory, both historically and by international law.

 

However, Beijing maintains that the islands were stolen in 1895, and should have been returned to mainland control at the end of World War II.

 

Though the actual islands may have little value, the region’s waters are rich fishing grounds while undersea oil deposits have been discovered. The 1972 normalization communiqué did not address the issue, and the dispute only intensified in 2012 after Tokyo nationalized the islands.

 

Arms Buildup

 

Japan will undertake its biggest arms buildup since the war, in an effort to deter China from war in East Asia. It was in a 2019 defense white paper that Tokyo had identified Beijing as its chief adversary – noting that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was undergoing a rapid modernization that had the potential to pose a serious security threat.

 

In addition, Japan has monitored China’s saber-rattling to return self-ruling Taiwan to mainland control, and by force if necessary. The concerns have only intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine, which has weakened public opposition in Japan to the rearming. The next Communist Party delegation to gather in Beijing is scheduled for 2027 when Chinese leaders will determine where its own modernization stands. It is already being seen as a potentially noteworthy milestone for Beijing as it will mark the centennial of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.

 

Clearly, Tokyo plans to be ready to stand up to any Chinese aggression that could occur – as well as any from North Korea or Russia. The strategy document reaffirmed concerns about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and its recent string of missile launches.

 

However, it placed North Korea below China on the current threat list, reversing the order from a previous strategy released in 2013. Tokyo’s spending plans commit Japan to 43 trillion yen (approximately $312 billion), in defense outlays over the next five years, starting in the next fiscal year that will begin in April. Japan would spend about 2% of its GDP on defense, which put it in line with spending targets shared by the U.S.’s European allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Around $3.7 billion is reportedly earmarked just for missile systems, including the American Tomahawk, which would enable the Japanese military to target an adversary’s facilities if an attack appeared imminent. The message that Japan will likely want to send is that it would be far too costly to attack the island nation, thus pursuing a peace through strength strategy.

 

A Senior Editor for 1945, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,000 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.

 

Below is U.S. Ambassador Kennedy's concerns about handing administrative control of DiaoYu Islands, aka Senkaku Islands, to Japan while negotiating with Taiwan on textile "voluntary" quotas. Also attached below are several conversations among U.S. politicians on the Islands. (GRC = Government of the Republic of China)

 

history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v17/d133

 

(c) Offer certain concessions to Taiwan. Ambassador Kennedy feels the impasse can be broken without causing disastrous side effects for either our industry or the Taiwan Government. While the Chinese have stressed the importance of certain military items (F–4's for example) Ambassador Kennedy is convinced that the “only” way to resolve the issues is to withhold turning the Senkaku Islands over to Japanese administrative control under the Okinawa Reversion Agreement.3

 

4. Ambassador Kennedy's argument on the Senkaku follows:

 

“This is a major issue in Taiwan with both domestic and international implications. If the U.S. were to maintain administrative control, it would give the GRC a tremendous public boost since they have expressed themselves so forcefully on the issues. Further, it would be a very direct indication of our continued interest in and support for the GRC—and it would be done at Japan's expense, a point that is vital to our ability to proceed effectively with textile negotiations in Hong Kong and Korea and subsequently in Japan. Announcement of such a decision allows the GRC to save face both at home (it takes the Vice Premier off the hook) and abroad. Taiwan could accept the current textile package in face of Hong Kong and Korean pressure.

 

“In addition, such an act would, in my opinion, provide a very badly needed shock effect on the Japanese. It would indicate that U.S. acquiescence in all matters requested by the Japanese could no longer be taken for granted.

 

“I can fully appreciate the opposition which such a proposal will generate in certain quarters of our government. But I feel that this can and must be done. We accepted stewardship of these Islands after World War II. Neither historically nor geographically are they a part of the Ryukyus Chain containing Okinawa. Consequently, the GRC suffers a great loss of face if we allow Japan to gain administrative control of them. Since possession of the Islands is still in dispute, there is every reason for the United States to maintain administrative control until such time as the dispute is settled. Taiwan feels very strongly that once Japan had administrative control there is absolutely no possibility of their ever relinquishing that control. By no means am I suggesting that we hand the islands over to Taiwan. Rather, I am strongly recommending the wisdom of preserving the status quo rather than allowing Japan to assume administrative control with the great loss of face this entails for Taiwan.

 

“I know of no other action sufficiently important or sufficiently dramatic to resolve our textile problems specifically as well as to pave the way for resolution of several general international trade difficulties. The stakes involved are very high which I fully realize. I realize, too, that only the President can make such a decision. Therefore, I urge you in the strongest possible terms to present to him all the potential benefits and ramifications of my recommendations.”

 

5. Henry Kissinger is looking into the background of the Senkaku Islands dispute and will be able to report to you at our meeting this afternoon on what would be involved in not turning over the Senkaku Islands to Japan at this point.

  

3 See Documents 113, 114, and 115.

 

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976

Volume XVII, China, 1969–1972, Document 113

 

He then raised this issue of the Senkaku Islands.6

 

6 Japanese-American negotiations over Okinawa sparked renewed Chinese interest in the Senkaku Islands (Taioyutai or Daioyutai in Chinese). Chow gave a 4-page aidemémoire to Green on September 16, 1970, outlining the ROC's objections to Japanese sovereignty over these islands. (National Archives, RG 59, EA/ROC Files: Lot 75 D 61, Subject Files, Petroleum–Senkakus, January–September 1970) Shoesmith summarized reports of student demonstrations in Taipei against Japanese control of the Senkaku Islands and noted: “The Embassy believes that the initiative for the demonstrations has come from the students rather than the government. But the latter probably has given tacit approval out of reluctance to oppose the fruits of youthful patriotism and its own dissatisfaction over our China policy and oil exploration moratorium.” (Memorandum from Shoesmith t. Green, April 17; ibid., Lot 75 D 76, Petroleum–Senkakus, January–March 1971) There were also student protests in the United States and Hong Kong. The White House tape of the April 12 meeting indicates that Chow emphasized that the final disposition of the Senkakus should be kept open, and that this issue was a measure of the ROC's ability to protect itself. He emphasized the symbolic importance of the islands. (Ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Tapes, Recording of conversation between Nixon and Kissinger, April 12, 1971, Oval Office, Conversation No. 477–3)

______________

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976

Volume XVII, China, 1969–1972, Document 114

Ambassador Chow said that in the measures the U.S. was taking which affected his country, the understanding if not the support of the Chinese people was needed. He described the strong sentiments which various Chinese groups had with regard to a number of issues, particularly the question of the status of Senkaku Islets. The demonstration which had taken place in Washington on April 10 was a case in point—those demonstrating had been scientists, engineers, and professional people and not just students. The demonstration had come on all of a sudden because these people had become excited, and was symbolic of what they and the country would stand for. Ambassador Chow declared that he had been asked by President Chiang to take up the Senkaku question with the President and Dr. Kissinger.

 

Dr. Kissinger stated that he was looking into the Senkaku matter, and asked Mr. Holdridge to forward a report to him on the issues involved by April 13.3

 

Ambassador Chow, in commenting further on the Senkakus, remarked that even when the Japanese had occupied Taiwan and the Ryukyus, legal matters involving the Senkakus had been handled by courts on Taiwan, and the fishing boats which went to the Senkakus had been from Taiwan. From the Japanese point of view, they didn't care how the Senkakus were administered. For the Chinese though, the issue of nationalism was deeply involved.

 

__________

 

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976

Volume XVII, China, 1969–1972, Document 115

115. Memorandum From John H. Holdridge of the National Security Council Staff to the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1

Washington, April 13, 1971.

 

SUBJECT

The Chinese Claim to the Senkaku Islets

 

You asked for information on the Chinese claim to the Senkaku Islets. The most recent summary of this was contained in a Note Verbale sent the State Department by the Chinese Embassy on March 15 (Tab A).2 Its main points are as follows:

 

—As early as the 15th century Chinese historical records considered the Senkakus as the boundary separating Taiwan from the independent kingdom of the Ryukyus.

 

—The geological structure of the Senkaku Islets is similar to that of other islets associated with Taiwan. The Senkakus are closer to Taiwan than to the Ryukyus and are separated from the Ryukyus by the Okinawa Trough at the end of the Continental Shelf, which is 2,000 meters in depth.

 

—Taiwanese fisherman have traditionally fished in the area of the Senkakus and called at these islets.

 

—The Japanese Government did not include the Senkakus in Okinawa Prefecture until after China's cession of Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan after the first Sino-Japanese war in 1895.

 

—For regional security considerations the GRC has hitherto not challenged the U.S. military occupation of the Senkakus under Article 3 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. However, according to international law temporary military occupation of an area does not affect the ultimate determination of its sovereignty.

 

—In view of the expected termination of the U.S. occupation of the Ryukyu Islands in 1972, the U.S. is requested to respect the GRC's sovereign rights over the Senkaku Islets and restore them to the GRC when this termination takes place.

 

Comment. As you can imagine, the Japanese Government has a comparable list of apparently offsetting arguments and maintains simply that the Senkakus remain Japanese. State's position is that in occupying the Ryukyus and the Senkakus in 1945, and in proposing to return them to Japan in 1972, the U.S. passes no judgement as to conflicting claims over any portion of them, which should be settled directly by the parties concerned.3

 

1 Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 521, Country Files, Far East, China, Vol. VI. Confidential. Sent for information. A notation on the memorandum indicates Kissinger saw it on April 23.

 

2 Attached but not printed.

 

3 Kissinger's handwritten comment in the margin reads: “But that is nonsense since it gives islands to Japan. How can we get a more neutral position?”

 

__________

history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v17/d134

Nixon, Kissinger, and Peterson met at Camp David from 3:25 to 4:10 p.m. on June 7. (Ibid., White House Central Files, President's Daily Diary) According to a draft telegram to Rogers by U. Alexis Johnson: “Henry Kissinger stepped into the breach with material that I supplied him, and last night [June 7] obtained the President's decision that we would not change our position on the Senkakus. However, this points up the heat that GRC is bringing to bear on us and in turn in some degree probably reflects the heat that GRC is feeling on a subject which it neglected for so long.” (Ibid., RG 59, U. Alexis Johnson Files: Lot 96 D 695, Nodis Chrono 1971) Kissinger and Johnson discussed the Senkaku Island issue by telephone on the morning of June 7. Johnson stated: “The principle that we are applying is that we receive the islands from Japan for administration and are returning them to Japan without prejudice to the rights—no position between the two governments on it.” (Memorandum of conversation between Kissinger and Johnson, June 7, 10:35 a.m.; ibid., Telcons, May–June 1971)

 

On June 7 Kennedy told Chiang Ching-Kuo of the decision on the Senkaku Islands. Chiang asked that the U.S. Government categorically state at the time of the signing of the Okinawa reversion agreement that the final status of the islands had not been determined and should be settled by all parties involved. (Backchannel message from Kennedy to Peterson, June 9; ibid., White House Special Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Peter Peterson, Box 1, 1971, Textile Negotiations (cables)) In a June 10 memorandum to Kissinger, Johnson noted that Rogers had raised this issue with Japanese Foreign Minister Aichi at their meeting in Paris on June 9. (Ibid., RG 59, U. Alexis Johnson Files: Lot 96 D 695, Kissinger, Henry, 1971) On June 12 Peterson informed Kennedy, who was in Seoul, that Rogers had approached Aichi, “strongly urging GOJ to discuss issue with GRC prior to signature of Okinawa Agreement on June 17.” He also noted that a Department of State spokesman would announce on June 17 that a return of “administrative rights” to Japan of the Senkaku Islands “can in no way prejudice the underlying claims of the Republic of China.” (Ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Peter Peterson, Box 1, 1971, Textile Negotiations (cables)) On June 15 Peterson cabled Kennedy, in Seoul, stating that Aichi had met with the ROC Ambassador in Tokyo to discuss the Senkaku issue. (Ibid.) On July 12 Chiang Ching-Kuo complained to McConaughy that “the Japanese so far have refused to talk in any meaningful way on the subject.” (Telegram 3388 from Taipei, July 12; ibid., RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL CHINAT)

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Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.

Wasn't going to upload these for a couple days, but had a slightly disturbing conversation with my Father tonight about a previous neighbors immanent demise, and I realized that I may not live forever, so here you go.

  

Last day of the first month of 2021. Got out to the depot/yard at 10AM. Beautiful weather. The night before I'd invited my Nephew to come out benching with me. He'd never been out and I'm sure didn't know what to expect.

 

Well, I brought him to the yard because I thought it would at the minimum be interesting to him watching the crane operators loading the containers on the cars. Well, when I got there the nearest tracks were loaded with freights blocking most of the view, and half of the cranes weren't operating anyway. Didn't really bother me because as an active bencher I'm used to waiting for something interesting to happen.

 

I apologized and assured him that "Any minute" a freight could roll through with some amazing pieces on it. And 3 or 4 did while he was there. I shot my flicks and talked to him about what he saw. Said he saw some really cool pieces and even mentioned some hand re-painted numbers on the cars. Somehow he already knew that the writers shouldn't be covering the numbers. He knows zero about graff, and understood this. How is it that so many writers don't understand this?? I'm not sure the Nephews' a fan of graff. I really haven't talked to him about it much. He did ask me how people didn't get caught, or in trouble for doing it. I tried to explain layups, people sneaking into yards etc. And to his credit, he never sounded judgmental. He just had questions.

 

Anyway.. Had a fun time, and shot some nice pieces. I used the same 7.5mm lens I've used there before but used a Lightroom lens correction to flatten the images so they don't have the fisheye effect. Not sure which I like better, flat or fisheye. Both have their appeal.. The furthest I can stand from a freight on the first rail is about 15ft. so the ultra wide angle is necessary. I can get a whole autorack in one shot. It's actually pretty cool.

 

As always, thanks to all of the writers!

 

For freight graffiti slideshows hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven

Pictured: John Harwood (Chief Washington Correspondent for CNBC and Political Writer for The New York Times) and Douglas Elmendorf, former Director of CBO.

 

Meditation is a powerful tool to incorporate into your daily life, bringing you clarity, a peaceful mind, better concentration, a sense of well being, and increased energy. Meditation is synonymous with yoga and, in reality, is an integral part of any yoga practice. The forefather of yoga, Patanjali, in his systemic approach to yoga categorizes yoga as having eight limbs. Of the eight limbs, meditation is the water that awakens and nourishes the quiet spirit within. A famous western yogi often said that meditation was like “watering the root to enjoy the fruit."1 A regular meditation practice enhances and accelerates the progress firefighters will reap from their yoga practice.

  

It is important to understand that meditation incorporates a wide range of disciplines, all with healthy results. Each type of meditation is beneficial to practice. Jeanne Ball, a writer for the David Lynch Foundation, outlines three major types of meditation and gives a brief explanation of the benefits.  

 

Controlled focus: Classic examples of concentration or controlled focus are found in the revered traditions of Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Qiqong, Yoga, Christianity, and Vedanta, though many methods involve attempts to control or direct the mind. Attention is focused on an object of meditation--such as one's breath, an idea or image, or an emotion. Brain waves recorded during these practices are typically in the gamma frequency (20-50 Hz), seen whenever you concentrate or during "active" cognitive processing.2

   

Open monitoring: These mindfulness type practices, common in Vipassana and Zazen, involve watching or actively paying attention to experiences--without judging, reacting, or holding on. Open monitoring gives rise to frontal theta (4-8 Hz), an EEG pattern commonly seen during memory tasks or reflection on mental concepts.3

 

Automatic self-transcending: This category describes practices designed to go beyond their own mental activity--enabling the mind to spontaneously transcend the process of meditation itself. Whereas concentration and open monitoring require degrees of effort or directed focus to sustain the activity of meditation, this approach is effortless because there is no attempt to direct attention--no controlled cognitive processing. The EEG pattern of this category is frontal alpha coherence, associated with a distinct state of relaxed inner wakefulness.4,5

  

Immediately one would ask, Which meditation is right for me?  We would encourage that you find a meditation practice and teacher that you are comfortable with. Our recommendation is that you do an Automatic Self Transcending meditation, which is a form of mantra meditation. The meditation should be done twice a day.

 

 

 

 There are several mantra meditations that produce the desired results. Most of the research on the physiological benefits of mantra meditation has been done in conjunction with or under the sponsorship of the TM (Transcendental Meditation) organization. These techniques are taught through individualized instruction and are intended to give maximum results to the practitioner. A brief summary of the benefits include increased alertness, increased IQ and mental clarity, reduced stress, reduced cholesterol, reduced incidence of coronary heart disease, increased creativity, increased workplace performance, and significant sociological benefits of reduction in crime and increased peace.6

  

Practitioners of mantra meditation techniques describe the above measured benefits as easy to achieve, because the techniques are effortless in their practice.  Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras states in the second sutra, “Yoga is the complete settling of the activity of the mind.” A mantra meditation technique takes the mind effortlessly to that state of “complete settling of the mind.”

  

Sleeping, Dreaming, and Waking are the three states of consciousness that our bodies cycle through daily. Beginning a mantra meditation practice introduces us to a new state of consciousness. This state has a physiological correlation now known as “Restful Alertness,” a fourth major state of consciousness.7

 

 

  

If you are unable to learn a mantra meditation from a qualified teacher, then the So Hum meditation described below will settle the mind and take it to the state of “pure awareness.” 

   

So Hum Meditation:

  

1.       Sit comfortably where you will not be disturbed, and softly close your eyes.

 

2.       For a few minutes, simply observe the inflow and outflow of your breath.

 

3.       Now, take a slow deep breath through the nose while thinking the word So.

 

4.       Exhale slowly through the nose while thinking the word HUM.

 

5.       Allow your breathing to flow easily, silently repeating, So… Hum… with each inflow and outflow of breath.

 

6.       Whenever your attention drifts to thoughts in your mind, sounds in your environment, or sensations in your body, gently return to your breath, silently repeating, So… Hum.

 

7.       Continue this process for 15 or 30 minutes, with an attitude of effortlessness and simplicity.

 

8.       When the time is up, sit with your eyes closed for a couple of minutes before resuming your daily activity.8

 

 

  

Experiences during meditation will fall into four categories: (1) Repeating the mantra, (2) having thoughts, (3) falling asleep, or (4) experiencing pure awareness. Keep these guidelines in mind.

 

A.      Repeat the mantra easily and effortlessly. It may change, become vague, or follow a certain rhythm. Just let it go and experience any changes innocently.

   

B.      If you notice that your attention has drifted away from the mantra to thoughts, sensations in the body, or noise in the environment, gently bring your awareness back to the mantra.

 

C.      If you fall asleep, it is OK. The body will naturally take the rest it needs. When you notice that you have been asleep, just return to the mantra. If your meditation time is up, spend a few minutes repeating the mantra before stopping and coming out of meditation.

  

D.      If you notice that there has been some time without thoughts or the mantra, yet you were aware, that is called “slipping into the gap,” or pure awareness. The experience of the mind settling down to a state of no activity yet has awareness is a transcendent experience of the peace within. As the experience grows, you will notice that this quiet witness begins to become part of your everyday awareness.

  

Meditation is not for tuning out; it is for tuning in. It is not for getting away from it all; it is for getting in touch with it all. You will find that the value of meditation is not found specifically in meditation but in a more enjoyable and fulfilling life. We encourage you to begin a regular meditation practice and begin the process of experiencing your true self, which is kind, compassionate, lighthearted, understanding, creative, brilliant, calm, and focused.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

For DVD's and more info on Meditation Visit: www.AmericanYogaAcademy.com and www.ClaireDiab.com

 

 

 

REFERENCES

 

1. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

 

2. Lutz, Greischar, Rawlings, Ricard, Davidson, 2004. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101,16369-73.

 

3. Cahn, Delorme, & Polich, 2010. Cognitive Processing 2010 11(1):39-56.

 

4. Travis et al, 2010. Cognitive Processing 11(1), 21-30.

 

5. www.huffingtonpost.com/jeanne-ball/how-meditation-techniq...

 

6. www.tm.org/benefits-of-meditation

 

7. www.cbeprograms.org/brain_development/research/index.html

 

8. Dr. Deepak Chopra & Dr. David Simon “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga” pgs. 90-92.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Freeze Frame by Linden Hudson (amateur photog)

 

Who is Linden Hudson?

 

CLASSICBANDS DOT COM said: “According to former roadie David Blayney in his book SHARP DRESSED MEN: sound engineer Linden Hudson co-wrote much of the material on the ZZ Top ELIMINATOR album.” (end quote)

 

(ZZ Top never opted to give Linden credit, which would have been THE decent thing to do. It would have helped Linden's career as well. The band and management worked ruthlessly to take FULL credit for the hugely successful album which Linden had spent a good deal of time working on. Linden works daily to tell this story. Also, the band did not opt to pay Linden, they worked to keep all the money and they treated Linden like dirt. It was abuse. Linden launched a limited lawsuit, brought about using his limited resources which brought limited results and took years. No one should treat the co-writer of their most successful album like this. It's just deeply fucked up.)

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Hear the original ZZ Top ELIMINATOR writing/rehearsal tapes made by Linden Hudson and Billy Gibbons at: youtu.be/2QZ8WUTaS18

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Read Linden's story of the making of the super-famous ZZ Top ELIMINATOR album at: www.flickr.com/people/152350852@N02/

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Follow this Wikipedia link and find Linden's name throughout the article & read the album songwriter credits about halfway down at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliminator_%28album%29

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Linden's name is all over this Wikipedia page as well: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Loco

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LICKLIBRARY DOT COM (2013 Billy Gibbons interview) ZZ TOP'S BILLY GIBBONS FINALLY ADMITTED: “the Eliminator sessions in 1983 were guided largely by another one of our associates, Linden Hudson, a gifted engineer, during the development of those compositions.” (end quote) (Gibbons admits this after 30 years, but offers Linden no apology or reparations for lack of credit/royalties)

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MUSICRADAR DOT COM (2013 interview with ZZ Top's guitarist Billy Gibbons broke 30 years of silence about Linden Hudson introducing synthesizers into ZZ Top's sound.) Gibbons said: “This was a really interesting turning point. We had befriended somebody who would become an influential associate, a guy named Linden Hudson. He was a gifted songwriter and had production skills that were leading the pack at times. He brought some elements to the forefront that helped reshape what ZZ Top were doing, starting in the studio and eventually to the live stage. Linden had no fear and was eager to experiment in ways that would frighten most bands. But we followed suit, and the synthesizers started to show up on record.” (once again, there was no apology from ZZ Top or Billy Gibbons after this revelation).

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TEXAS MONTHLY MAGAZINE (Dec 1996, By Joe Nick Patoski): "Linden Hudson floated the notion that the ideal dance music had 124 beats per minute; then he and Gibbons conceived, wrote, and recorded what amounted to a rough draft of an album before the band had set foot inside Ardent Studios."

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FROM THE BOOK: SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP (By David Blayney) : "Probably the most dramatic development in ZZ Top recording approaches came about as Eliminator was constructed. What had gone on before evolutionary; this change was revolutionary. ZZ Top got what amounted to a new bandsman (Linden) for the album, unknown to the world at large and at first even to Dusty and Frank."

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CNET DOT COM: (question posed to ZZ Top): Sound engineer Linden Hudson was described as a high-tech music teacher on your highly successful "Eliminator" album. How much did the band experiment with electronic instruments prior to that album?

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THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE, MARCH 2018: "Eliminator" had a tremendous impact on us and the people who listen to us," says ZZ Top’s bass player. Common band lore points to production engineer Linden Hudson suggesting that 120 beats per minute was the perfect rock tempo, or "the people's tempo" as it came to be known.

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FROM THE BOOK: SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP by David Blayney: (page 227): "...the song LEGS Linden Hudson introduced the pumping synthesizer effect."

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(Search Linden Hudson in the various ZZ Top Wikipedia pages which are related to the ELIMINATOR album and you will find bits about Linden. Also the main ZZ Top Wikipedia page mentions Linden. He's mentioned in at least 7 ZZ Top related Wikipedia pages.)

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FROM THE BOOK: SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP By David Blayney: "Linden found himself in the position of being Billy's (Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top guitarist) closest collaborator on Eliminator. In fact, he wound up spending more time on the album than anybody except Billy. While the two of them spent day after day in the studio, they were mostly alone with the equipment and the ideas."

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FROM THE BOOK: BEER DRINKERS & HELL RAISERS: A ZZ TOP GUIDE (By Neil Daniels, released 2014): "Hudson reportedly had a significant role to play during the planning stages of the release (ELIMINATOR)."

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FROM THE BOOK: ZZ TOP - BAD AND WORLDWIDE (ROLLING STONE PRESS, WRITTEN BY DEBORAH FROST): "Linden was always doing computer studies. It was something that fascinated him, like studio technology. He thought he might understand the components of popular songs better if he fed certain data into his computer. It might help him understand what hits (song releases) of any given period share. He first found out about speed; all the songs he studied deviated no more than one beat from 120 beats per minute. Billy immediately started to write some songs with 120 beats per minute. Linden helped out with a couple, like UNDER PRESSURE and SHARP DRESSED MAN. Someone had to help Billy out. Dusty and Frank didn't even like to rehearse much. Their studio absence wasn't really a problem though. The bass and drum parts were easily played with a synthesizer or Linn drum machine." (end quote)

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FROM THE BOOK: "SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP" BY DAVID BLAYNEY: "After his quantitative revelations, Linden informally but instantly became ZZ Top's rehearsal hall theoretician, producer, and engineer." (end quote)

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FROM THE BOOK: "ZZ TOP - BAD AND WORLDWIDE" (ROLLING STONE PRESS, BY DEBORAH FROST): "With the release of their ninth album, ELIMINATOR, in 1983, these hairy, unlikely rock heroes had become a pop phenomenon. This had something to do with the discoveries of a young preproduction engineer (Linden Hudson) whose contributions, like those of many associated with the band over the years, were never acknowledged."

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FROM THE BOOK: ​SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP (By DAVID BLAYNEY) : "The integral position Linden occupied in the process of building El​iminator was demonstrated eloquently in the case of song Under Pressure. Billy and Linden, the studio wizards, did the whole song all in one afternoon without either the bass player or drummer even knowing it had been written and recorded on a demo tape. Linden synthesized the bass and drums and helped write the lyrics; Billy did the guitars and vocals."

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FROM THE BOOK: "TRES HOMBRES - THE STORY OF ZZ TOP" BY DAVID SINCLAIR (Writer for the Times Of London): "Linden Hudson, the engineer/producer who lived at Beard's house (ZZ's drummer) had drawn their attention to the possibilities of the new recording technology and specifically to the charms of the straight drumming pattern, as used on a programmed drum machine. On ELIMINATOR ZZ Top unveiled a simple new musical combination that cracked open a vast worldwide market.

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FROM THE BOOK: "SHARP DRESS MEN - ZZ TOP" BY DAVID BLAYNEY: "ELIMINATOR went on to become a multi-platinum album, just as Linden had predicted when he and Billy were setting up the 124-beat tempos and arranging all the material. Rolling Stone eventually picked the album as number 39 out of the top 100 of the 80's. Linden Hudson in a fair world shoud have had his name all over ELIMINATOR and gotten the just compensation he deserved. Instead he got ostracized."

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FROM THE BOOK: ​SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP by DAVID BLAYNEY: "He (Linden) went back with the boys to 1970 when he was working as a radio disc jocky aliased Jack Smack. He was emcee for a show ZZ did around that time, and even sang an encore tune with the band, perhaps the only person ever to have that honor." (side note: this was ZZ Top's very first show).

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FROM THE BOOK: "SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP" BY DAVID BLAYNEY: "Linden remained at Frank's (ZZ Top drummer) place as ZZ's live-in engineer throughout the whole period of ELIMINATOR rehearsals, and was like one of the family... as he (Linden) worked at the controls day after day, watching the album (ELIMINATOR) take shape, his hopes for a big step forward in his production career undoubtably soared. ELIMINATOR marked the first time that ZZ Top was able to rehearse an entire album with the recording studio gadgetry that Billy so loved. With Linden Hudson around all the time, it also was the first time the band could write, rehearse, and record with someone who knew the men and the machines. ZZ Top was free to go musically crazy, but also musically crazy like a fox. Linden made that possible too."

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FROM THE BOOK "ZZ TOP - BAD AND WORLDWIDE" (ROLLING STONE PRESS, BY DEBORAH FROST, WRITER FOR ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE): "... SHARP DRESSED MAN which employed Hudson's 120 beat-per-minute theory. The feel, the enthusiasm, the snappy beat and crisp clean sound propelled ELIMINATOR into the ears and hearts of 5 million people who previously could have cared less about the boogie band of RIO GRANDE MUD."

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THE GREATEST ROCK REBRAND OF ALL TIME (by Jason Miller): "Sound engineer Linden Hudson researched the tempos at which the most popular rock tracks in the charts had been recorded. His data showed that there was something very special about 120 beats to a minute. Gibbons decided to record pretty much the whole of ZZ Top’s new album at that tempo. The result? 1983’s Eliminator. It was named after Gibbons’ Ford Coupé; it had been created through a unique combination of creative collaboration and data mining. And it was about to take the world by storm."

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ULTIMATECLASSICROCK DOT COM: "This new melding of styles was encouraged by Hudson, who served as a kind of pre-producer for ​EL LOCO ... ... Hudson helped construct ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard's home studio, and had lived with him for a time. That led to these initial sessions, and then a closer collaboration on 1983's ​ELIMINATOR.

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FIREDOGLAKE DOT COM: "I like Billy Gibbons' guitar tone quite a lot, but I lost all respect for them after reading how badly they fucked over Linden Hudson (the guy who was the brains behind their move to include synthesizers and co-wrote most of their career-defining Eliminator record)."

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EMAIL FROM A ZZ TOP FAN TO LINDEN (One Of Many): "I write you today about broken hearts, one is mine and one is for you. I have been a ZZ Top fan since I was 6 years old. I purchased ELIMINATOR vinyl from Caldors in Connecticut with the $20 my grandma gave me for my birthday. I will spare the #1 fan epic saga of tee shirts, harassing Noreen at the fan club via phone weekly for years, over 40 shows attended. Posters, non stop conversation about the time I have spent idolizing this band, but more Billy G, as he has seemed to break free of the Lone Wolf shackles and it became more clear this was his baby. In baseball I was Don Mattingly's #1 fan, Hershel Walker in football, Billy Gibbons in music. What do these individuals have in common? They were role models. Not a DUI, not a spousal abuse, not a drug overdose, not a cheater. Until I read your web page. I read Blayney's book around 1992 or so, I was in middle school and I was familiar with your name for a long time. I didn't realize you suffered so greatly or that your involvement was so significant. It pains me to learn my idol not only cheated but did something so wrong to another being. I now know this is where tall tales and fun loving bullshit and poor morals and ethics are distinguished and where I would no longer consider myself to look up to Billy. I love to joke and I love credit but I have always prided myself on ethics and principles... I hold them dear. I wanted to say, the snippet of UNDER PRESSURE you played sounded very new wave and I may like it more than the finished product. Well that's all. You have reached ZZ Top's biggest fan and I can let others know. Bummer. Cheers and good luck. James."​

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VINYLSTYLUS DOT COM: Much of Eliminator was recorded at 124bpm, the tempo that considered perfect for dance music by the band’s associate Linden Hudson. An aspiring songwriter, former DJ and – at the time – drummer Frank Beard’s house-sitter, Hudson’s involvement in the recording of the album would come back to haunt them. Despite assisting Gibbons with the pre-production and developing of the material that would end up on both El Loco and Eliminator, his contribution wasn’t credited when either record was released.

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INFOMORY DOT COM: ‘Eliminator’ is a studio album of the American rock band ZZ Top. It was released on March 23, 1983 and topped the charts worldwide. Its lyrics were co-written by the band’s sound engineer Linden Hudson while the band denied it.

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MUSICMISCELLANEOUS DOT COM: (ELIMINATOR ALBUM):

However, despite the album credits bass-player Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard were replaced during the recording process by synthesizers and a drum machine programmed by engineer Linden Hudson, who allegedly co-wrote much of the music with Gibbons despite receiving no credit at the time. Gibbons would later say of Hudson that “he was a gifted songwriter and had production skills that were leading the pack at times. He brought some elements to the forefront that helped reshape what ZZ Top were doing”. Hudson did no less than show the band how to stay relevant in an age where three guys from Texas with long beards (except famously for Frank Beard) and blues licks were one of the last things the contemporary market was demanding.

Originally come from Frank Herbert's Dune, Ornithopters inspiring thousands of artists and writers for more than 50 years! As you can see, I'm not an exception. Its original design and features make ornithopters far different from any other vehicles shown in books and movies.

 

The building represents the House Atreides' thopter from the recently released movie by Denis Villeneuve. It's unique dragonfly look has completely blown my mind! I've tried to clearly recreate most iconic features of the vehicle including wings flapping and landing gear. The model contains about 1000 pieces + Paul Atreides' minifigure. There's enough space for three minifigs in the cockpit. The set includes a black stand for the Ornithopter with rubber pieces on the bottom, so three options of placing make it an ideal display piece for expert builders.

 

Hope, you'll appreciate it!

San Bernardino Santa Fe / BNSF Yard with Keith of "Railroad Fans of the Cajon Pass" @cajonpassrailroadfans @railfanscajonpass

 

Overcast, and weather reports said it was going to rain, but let's be real, I live in Southern California, and rain isn't something we see on a regular basis.

 

Met up with Keith at 9AM out in front of the depot. The plan was to take him on a little tour of the museum there, as it's only open on Saturdays between 10am-3pm. Walking across the parking lot towards the museum, there were a whole lot more cars than usual. Well, they were having their railroad swap meet deal. Dozens of folding tables full of model trains, and all kind of other train related stuff. Cool.

 

After a half hour of looking at all the cool model trains and the museum, we finally got out trackside to watch the real trains. We were out there for a few hours, saw a lot of great trains. A few autoracks rolling through and I'm sure Keith was catching some cool video of the freights and the Metrolinks' for his YouTube.

 

About 3PM? it started sprinkling a little bit, and then it started coming down pretty hard. On the platform there's a couple little covered benches with gutters, etc. We hunkered down, and the rain let up pretty quick, and then it started again, then stopped and started. This went on for the rest of the time we were there.

 

Overall, pretty fun day. Caught a lot of great pieces rolling by and got to hang out with Keith for the day (Sans Buddy).

 

Honestly, I prefer to be out there by myself, but it's a nice change to be out there with someone else to talk shop with and share stories.

 

As always, thanks to the writers for giving me something to go out and hunt. *Man Hugs* & Thanks to the Santa Fe Depot for being cool with people hanging out and catching freights on "film".

Llawhaden Castle is a ruined castle in Llawhaden, Pembrokeshire, Wales, 10 miles (16 km) east of Haverfordwest. A motte-and-bailey castle is thought to have previously occupied the site and the present structure was built by the bishops of the Diocese of St David in the 13th century. The castle was abandoned in the 16th century and some of the stone was removed for local building projects. The site is privately owned by the Lord of the Manor of Llawhaden and managed by Cadw.

 

The ruins of Llawhaden Castle stands on a hill overlooking the River Cleddau, The remaining ruins date from the early 13th century. It is surrounded by a ditch, which was designed to be only crossable by a drawbridge. The castle is pentagonal in shape and while the north-western and western sides of the castle are no longer present, the other three sides remain. The gatehouse is located on the southern side, which is formed of two drum towers and a gateway. This was also where the drawbridge would have been located to allow entrance to the interior of the castle. The ruins are managed by Cadw, and are open to the public.

 

Llawhaden and its hinterland were lands owned by the Bishopric of the Diocese of St David, since at least the later years of the realm of Deheubarth. Following the Norman conquest of Deheubarth, these lands (of which Llawhaden and its hinterland were a detached part) became the Marcher Lordship of Dewisland, ruled by the Bishops;[6] it was the only ecclesiastically-ruled Marcher Lordship. Marcher Lords had such great authority that they were almost sovereign.

 

The first Norman Bishop, Bernard, constructed a castle on the site in the year that he was appointed - 1115. Only a moat and an earth bank from this period survive, although it is thought to have been a motte-and-bailey castle. The stone-built building came later; the vast majority of the ruins seen today date from the construction commissioned by Bishop Adam de Houghton between 1362 and 1389. This was much grander, with two suites of residences situated on the first floor. The gatehouse shown in the picture was probably added at a later date.[8] Additions continued to be made to the castle into the early years of the reign of Henry VIII of England.

 

The building fell into decline under the control of Bishop William Barlow, the first Bishop appointed after Henry's Laws in Wales Acts had abolished Marcher Lordships. Barlow was an ardent Church Reformist, whose appointment had been encouraged by Thomas Cranmer, and who was significantly unenamoured with St. Davids and its traditions. Barlow sold the lead from the castle roof, supposedly to pay for the dowry of one of his daughters, resulting in damage to the rest of the building from which it never recovered. After the dissolution of the monasteries (which met no resistance from Protestant reformists like Barlow), the castle was completely abandoned, falling into disrepair; it was subsequently quarried for building stone.

 

In 1930, George Lansbury, then First Commissioner of Works in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, organised a party of 1,300 previously unemployed men for six months to do renovation work on several castles. Llawhaden Castle was among those worked on, with several tasks undertaken including digging out moats and ditches, as well as removing ivy and undergrowth.

 

Pembrokeshire is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and is otherwise surrounded by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and administrative headquarters of Pembrokeshire County Council.

 

The county is generally sparsely populated and rural, with an area of 200 square miles (520 km2) and a population of 123,400. After Haverfordwest, the largest settlements are Milford Haven (13,907), Pembroke Dock (9,753), and Pembroke (7,552). St Davids (1,841) is a city, the smallest by population in the UK. Welsh is spoken by 17.2 percent of the population, and for historic reasons is more widely spoken in the north of the county than in the south.

 

Pembrokeshire's coast is its most dramatic geographic feature, created by the complex geology of the area. It is a varied landscape which includes high sea cliffs, wide sandy beaches, the large natural harbour of Milford Haven, and several offshore islands which are home to seabird colonies. Most of it is protected by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and can be hiked on the 190-mile (310 km) Pembrokeshire Coast Path. The interior of Pembrokeshire is relatively flat and gently undulating, with the exception of the Preseli Mountains in the north.

 

There are many prehistoric sites in Pembrokeshire, particularly in the Preseli Mountains. During the Middle Ages several castles were built by the Normans, such as Pembroke and Cilgerran, and St David's Cathedral became an important pilgrimage site. During the Industrial Revolution the county remained relatively rural, with the exception of Milford Haven, which was developed as a port and Royal Navy dockyard. It is now the UK's third-largest port, primarily because of its two liquefied natural gas terminals. The economy of the county is now focused on agriculture, oil and gas, and tourism.

 

Human habitation of the region that is now Pembrokeshire extends back to between 125,000 and 70,000 years  and there are numerous prehistoric sites such as Pentre Ifan, and neolithic remains (12,000 to 6,500 years ago), more of which were revealed in an aerial survey during the 2018 heatwave; in the same year, a 1st-century Celtic chariot burial was discovered, the first such find in Wales. There may have been dairy farming in Neolithic times.

 

There is little evidence of Roman occupation in what is now Pembrokeshire. Ptolemy's Geography, written c. 150, mentioned some coastal places, two of which have been identified as the River Teifi and what is now St Davids Head, but most Roman writers did not mention the area; there may have been a Roman settlement near St Davids and a road from Bath, but this comes from a 14th-century writer. Any evidence for villas or Roman building materials reported by mediaeval or later writers has not been verified, though some remains near Dale were tentatively identified as Roman in character by topographer Richard Fenton in his Historical Tour of 1810. Fenton stated that he had "...reason to be of opinion that they had not colonized Pembrokeshire till near the decline of their empire in Britain".

 

Part of a possible Roman road is noted by CADW near Llanddewi Velfrey, and another near Wiston. Wiston is also the location of the first Roman fort discovered in Pembrokeshire, investigated in 2013.

 

Some artefacts, including coins and weapons, have been found, but it is not clear whether these belonged to Romans or to a Romanised population. Welsh tradition has it that Magnus Maximus founded Haverfordwest, and took a large force of local men on campaign in Gaul in 383 which, together with the reduction of Roman forces in south Wales, left a defensive vacuum which was filled by incomers from Ireland.

 

Between 350 and 400, an Irish tribe known as the Déisi settled in the region known to the Romans as Demetae.  The Déisi merged with the local Welsh, with the regional name underlying Demetae evolving into Dyfed, which existed as an independent petty kingdom from the 5th century.  In 904, Hywel Dda married Elen (died 943), daughter of the king of Dyfed Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, and merged Dyfed with his own maternal inheritance of Seisyllwg, forming the new realm of Deheubarth ("southern district"). Between the Roman and Norman periods, the region was subjected to raids from Vikings, who established settlements and trading posts at Haverfordwest, Fishguard, Caldey Island and elsewhere.

 

Dyfed remained an integral province of Deheubarth, but this was contested by invading Normans and Flemings who arrived between 1067 and 1111.  The region became known as Pembroke (sometimes archaic "Penbroke":), after the Norman castle built in the cantref of Penfro. In 1136, Prince Owain Gwynedd at Crug Mawr near Cardigan met and destroyed a 3,000-strong Norman/Flemish army and incorporated Deheubarth into Gwynedd.  Norman/Flemish influence never fully recovered in West Wales.  In 1138, the county of Pembrokeshire was named as a county palatine. Rhys ap Gruffydd, the son of Owain Gwynedd's daughter Gwenllian, re-established Welsh control over much of the region and threatened to retake all of Pembrokeshire, but died in 1197. After Deheubarth was split by a dynastic feud, Llywelyn the Great almost succeeded in retaking the region of Pembroke between 1216 and his death in 1240.  In 1284 the Statute of Rhuddlan was enacted to introduce the English common law system to Wales, heralding 100 years of peace, but had little effect on those areas already established under the Marcher Lords, such as Cemais in the north of the county.

 

Henry Tudor, born at Pembroke Castle in 1457, landed an army in Pembrokeshire in 1485 and marched to Cardigan.  Rallying support, he continued to Leicestershire and defeated the larger army of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. As Henry VII, he became the first monarch of the House of Tudor, which ruled England until 1603.

 

The Laws in Wales Act 1535 effectively abolished the powers of the Marcher Lords and divided the county into seven hundreds, roughly corresponding to the seven pre-Norman cantrefi of Dyfed. The hundreds were (clockwise from the northeast): Cilgerran, Cemais, Dewisland, Roose, Castlemartin, Narberth and Dungleddy and each was divided into civil parishes; a 1578 map in the British Library is the earliest known to show parishes and chapelries in Pembrokeshire. The Elizabethan era brought renewed prosperity to the county through an opening up of rural industries, including agriculture, mining and fishing, with exports to England and Ireland, though the formerly staple woollen industry had all but disappeared. 

 

During the First English Civil War (1642–1646) the county gave strong support to the Roundheads (Parliamentarians), in contrast to the rest of Wales, which was staunchly Royalist. In spite of this, an incident in Pembrokeshire triggered the opening shots of the Second English Civil War when local units of the New Model Army mutinied. Oliver Cromwell defeated the uprising at the Siege of Pembroke in July 1648.  On 13 August 1649, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland began when New Model Army forces sailed from Milford Haven.

 

In 1720, Emmanuel Bowen described Pembrokeshire as having five market towns, 45 parishes and about 4,329 houses, with an area of 420,000 acres (1,700 km2). In 1791 a petition was presented to the House of Commons concerning the poor state of many of the county's roads, pointing out that repairs could not be made compulsory by the law as it stood. The petition was referred to committee.  People applying for poor relief were often put to work mending roads. Workhouses were poorly documented. Under the Poor Laws, costs and provisions were kept to a minimum, but the emphasis was often on helping people to be self-employed. While the Poor Laws provided a significant means of support, there were many charitable and benefit societies. After the Battle of Fishguard, the failed French invasion of 1797, 500 French prisoners were held at Golden Hill Farm, Pembroke. From 1820 to 1878 one of the county's prisons, with a capacity of 86, was in the grounds of Haverfordwest Castle. In 1831, the area of the county was calculated to be 345,600 acres (1,399 km2) with a population of 81,424.

 

It was not until nearly the end of the 19th century that mains water was provided to rural south Pembrokeshire by means of a reservoir at Rosebush and cast iron water pipes throughout the district.

 

Throughout much of the 20th century (1911 to 1961) the population density in the county remained stable while it rose in England and Wales as a whole. There was considerable military activity in Pembrokeshire and offshore in the 20th century: a naval base at Milford Haven because German U-boats were active off the coast in World War I and, in World War II, military exercises in the Preseli Mountains and a number of military airfields. The wartime increase in air activity saw a number of aircraft accidents and fatalities, often due to unfamiliarity with the terrain. From 1943 to 1944, 5,000 soldiers from the United States Army's 110th Infantry Regiment were based in the county, preparing for D-Day. Military and industrial targets in the county were subjected to bombing during World War II. After the end of the war, German prisoners of war were accommodated in Pembrokeshire, the largest prison being at Haverfordwest, housing 600. The County of Pembroke War Memorial in Haverfordwest carries the names of 1,200 of those that perished in World War I.

 

In 1972, a second reservoir for south Pembrokeshire, at Llys y Fran, was completed.

 

Pembrokeshire's tourism portal is Visit Pembrokeshire, run by Pembrokeshire County Council. In 2015 4.3 million tourists visited the county, staying for an average of 5.24 days, spending £585 million; the tourism industry supported 11,834 jobs. Many of Pembrokeshire's beaches have won awards, including Poppit Sands and Newport Sands. In 2018, Pembrokeshire received the most coast awards in Wales, with 56 Blue Flag, Green Coast or Seaside Awards. In the 2019 Wales Coast Awards, 39 Pembrokeshire beaches were recognised, including 11 awarded Blue Flag status.

 

The Pembrokeshire coastline is a major draw to tourists; in 2011 National Geographic Traveller magazine voted the Pembrokeshire Coast the second best in the world and in 2015 the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park was listed among the top five parks in the world by a travel writer for the Huffington Post. Countryfile Magazine readers voted the Pembrokeshire Coast the top UK holiday destination in 2018, and in 2019 Consumers' Association members placed Tenby and St Davids in the top three best value beach destinations in Britain. With few large urban areas, Pembrokeshire is a "dark sky" destination. The many wrecks off the Pembrokeshire coast attract divers. The decade from 2012 saw significant, increasing numbers of Atlantic bluefin tuna, not seen since the 1960s, and now seen by some as an opportunity to encourage tourist sport fishing.

 

The county has a number of theme and animal parks (examples are Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo, Manor House Wildlife Park, Blue Lagoon Water Park and Oakwood Theme Park), museums and other visitor attractions including Castell Henllys reconstructed Iron Age fort, Tenby Lifeboat Station and Milford Haven's Torch Theatre. There are 21 marked cycle trails around the county.

 

Pembrokeshire Destination Management Plan for 2020 to 2025 sets out the scope and priorities to grow tourism in Pembrokeshire by increasing its value by 10 per cent in the five years, and to make Pembrokeshire a top five UK destination.

 

As the national sport of Wales, rugby union is widely played throughout the county at both town and village level. Haverfordwest RFC, founded in 1875, is a feeder club for Llanelli Scarlets. Village team Crymych RFC in 2014 plays in WRU Division One West. There are numerous football clubs in the county, playing in five leagues with Haverfordwest County A.F.C. competing in the Cymru Premier.

 

Triathlon event Ironman Wales has been held in Pembrokeshire since 2011, contributing £3.7 million to the local economy, and the county committed in 2017 to host the event for a further five years. Ras Beca, a mixed road, fell and cross country race attracting UK-wide competitors, has been held in the Preselis annually since 1977. The record of 32 minutes 5 seconds has stood since 1995. Pembrokeshire Harriers athletics club was formed in 2001 by the amalgamation of Cleddau Athletic Club (established 1970) and Preseli Harriers (1989) and is based in Haverfordwest.

 

The annual Tour of Pembrokeshire road-cycling event takes place over routes of optional length. The 4th Tour, in April 2015, attracted 1,600 riders including Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman and there were 1,500 entrants to the 2016 event. Part of Route 47 of the Celtic Trail cycle route is in Pembrokeshire. The Llys y Fran Hillclimb is an annual event run by Swansea Motor Club, and there are several other county motoring events held each year.

 

Abereiddy's Blue Lagoon was the venue for a round of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2012, 2013, and 2016; the Welsh Surfing Federation has held the Welsh National Surfing Championships at Freshwater West for several years, and Llys y Fran Country Park hosted the Welsh Dragonboat Championships from 2014 to 2017.

 

While not at major league level, cricket is played throughout the county and many villages such as Lamphey, Creselly, Llangwm, Llechryd and Crymych field teams in minor leagues under the umbrella of the Cricket Board of Wales.

 

Notable people

From mediaeval times, Rhys ap Gruffydd (c. 1132-1197), ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth, was buried in St Davids Cathedral. and Gerald of Wales was born c. 1146 at Manorbier Castle. Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) was born in 1457 at Pembroke Castle.

 

The pirate Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart) (Welsh: Barti Ddu) was born in Casnewydd Bach, between Fishguard and Haverfordwest in 1682.

 

In later military history, Jemima Nicholas, heroine of the so-called "last invasion of Britain" in 1797, was from Fishguard, Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton GCB, born in Haverfordwest, was killed at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and Private Thomas Collins is believed to be the only Pembrokeshire man that fought in the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879.

 

In the arts, siblings Gwen and Augustus John were both born in Pembrokeshire, as was the novelist Sarah Waters; singer Connie Fisher grew up in Pembrokeshire. The actor Christian Bale was born in Haverfordwest.

 

Stephen Crabb, a former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Wales, was brought up in Pembrokeshire and is one of the county's two Members of Parliament, the other being Simon Hart,[90] who served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2019 to 2022.

Writer for life

11/97 and still going strong.

 

Benched in Southern California

To say the Republican Party has lost it's way seems an understatement. Trump, Cruz, Carson, and the rest of the pack have turned their party into a circus. A very sorry circus. I would be laughing if it wasn't so sad. But sad clowns are a staple under circus tents.

 

More interestingly, there are those who believe the rhetoric many of the GOP Presidential contenders hand out is serious policy. That's because the party has focused on people's fears without delivering. As an example, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson has stated, the GOP has talked for years about immigration. Have they done anything about it? Nothing. So, along comes Trump calling out the party on its failed promises. No wonder he's a saint to those who afraid of their futures.

 

But the blame for the rise of this circus is not the GOP's alone. The media has played its part, for its own self-interest. Political antics sell. Matt Bai, a writer for Yahoo Politics has recently written: "We treat our candidates like contestants, creating narrative arcs for them that are intended to suck you in for the next episode.... We order up reams of mostly worthless polls, so we can show who’s impressed the judges and who needs a breakout performance in order to move on to the knockout rounds." In other words, the media has couched important civics as entertainment to sell newspapers and increase its ad revenue.

 

Republicans, you get what you deserve: Cirque Désolé. We warned you four years ago in this poster. Now, it is the citizens we worry about.

 

See all the posters from the Chamomile Tea Party! Digital high res downloads are free here. Other options are available. And join our Facebook group.

History of Otis Redding

ATCO S 418

 

Notice the song writer for track 2 - “Nick Jagger”!

At least they spelled Keith Richards’ name right (and Steve Cropper)

Sneak peek of the photoshoot I did a couple of days ago for the amazing 71 Queens clothing store in Bristol.

It was a great photoshoot, a spontaneous thing with little planning, and it turned out great! I've been given the opportunity by the shop to be their full-time photographer, which will be an amazing experience. I will be shooting lots of fashion shoots and studio shoots in the coming months for them, and if you spot anything you like (nudge nudge ;) ), their online store will be going up very very soon!

 

I'm also very excited to announce that I've been made editorial assistant over at <a href=www.fuelyourphotography.comFuel Your Photography where I've been a writer for about 2 and a half years now. Hopefully the magazine will be taking off again soon. For anyone interested, it's an online photography magazine with tips, interviews with photographers, gadget reviews, competitions with prizes and more!

 

If you are interested in being interviewed, please email me at a.rojee@hotmail.co.uk!!

 

:)

 

4BR love xxx

 

71 Queens |www.ameenarojee.co.uk|facebook of lurve|twitter|visual journal|blog

  

Two important members of the Senate Budget Committee, Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) (pictured center) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) (pictured right), discussed their efforts to implement reforms to streamline the annual budget process. Can an improved budget process lead to less gridlock, more fiscal policy certainty, and, ultimately, economic growth and stability? How can budget process reforms set the stage for Congress to lead the country to a more secure fiscal and economic future? Moderated by John Harwood (pictured left), chief Washington correspondent, CNBC, and political writer for The New York Times.

 

Watch the video: youtu.be/TWXRHKf7NUY

The Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea is a Minor Basilica of the Catholic Church located in Key West, Florida, United States. It is one of the oldest Catholic parishes in the state of Florida and the oldest parish in the Archdiocese of Miami. The church is a contributing property in the Key West Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

The first Catholic presence in the Florida Keys was established on Upper Matecumbe Key by Spanish Jesuits in 1566. The Jesuit superiors in Spain abandoned the Florida missions in 1572 and the missionaries were recalled to Mexico. They attempted to establish a permanent mission on Key West as early as 1724. However, the Native peoples on the Keys were unpredictable and the English raiders from the Carolinas forced the missionaries to return to Cuba in 1727. Two Italian Jesuits from Havana opened a mission chapel on Key West in 1743 for the Native peoples. The Spanish governor ordered them to return to Cuba as well as he could not protect them.

 

The Rev. John F. Kirby was sent by Bishop Francis X. Gartland of the Diocese of Savannah to Key West in 1851 and established St. Mary Star of the Sea parish in 1851. The first permanent Catholic Church on Key West was dedicated on February 26, 1852, on the corner of Duval and Eaton Streets. It was the fifth Catholic parish established in the state of Florida and the first parish in South Florida. Because of its location between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean it was placed under the patronage of Our Lady, Star of the Sea. Rev. Anthony B. Friend, S.J. arrived in Key West as pastor on February 15, 1898. He was the first many American Jesuits to serve the parish.

 

Five Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary from Montreal, Quebec, Canada arrived in 1868 to open a school for girls and to establish a convent. It is the first Catholic School in the state of Florida. The sisters bought the present school property in 1874. The Convent of Mary Immaculate, later known as Mary Immaculate High School, operated from 1886 to 1986, St. Francis Xavier School for blacks operated from 1872 to 1961, a school for Cuban girls operated from 1873 to 1878 and St. Joseph School for boys operated from 1880 to 1961. All the schools were integrated in the 1960s.

 

The original church building was destroyed in a fire in 1901. Until a new church could be built, Mass was celebrated in the convent music hall.[5] The present structure was built in 1905. The Jesuits ended their service to the parish after seventy-two years in 1970 and the Rev. Charles Zinn of Archdiocese of Miami became pastor. St. Mary Star of the Sea Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 as a contributing property in the Key West Historic District. In 1983 the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary ended their service in Key West after 115 years. The church was raised to a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI on February 11, 2012.

 

The exterior of the church reflects the eclectic period of American Victorian Architecture. It also shows elements of a modified, early Renaissance Revival style. This may be found in the rusticated walls, rounded arches and lunettes that are composed of transitional gothic arches, louvered shutters and colored glass. Many interior elements have both Romanesque and early Renaissance characteristics. Behind the altar is a stained glass window that depicts the church's patroness.

 

Key West (Spanish: Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it constitutes the City of Key West.

 

The Island of Key West is about 4 miles (6 kilometers) long and 1 mile (2 km) wide, with a total land area of 4.2 square miles (11 km2). It lies at the southernmost end of U.S. Route 1, the longest north–south road in the United States. Key West is about 95 miles (153 km) north of Cuba at their closest points. It is also 130 miles (210 km) southwest of Miami by air, about 165 miles (266 km) by road, and 106 miles (171 km) north-northeast of Havana.

 

The City of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County, which includes a majority of the Florida Keys and part of the Everglades. The total land area of the city is 5.6 square miles (14.5 km2). The official city motto is "One Human Family".

 

Key West is the southernmost city in the contiguous United States and the westernmost island connected by highway in the Florida Keys. Duval Street, its main street, is 1.1 miles (1.8 km) in length in its 14-block-long crossing from the Gulf of Mexico to the Straits of Florida and the Atlantic Ocean. Key West is the southern terminus of U.S. Route 1, State Road A1A, the East Coast Greenway and, before 1935, the Florida East Coast Railway. Key West is a port of call for many passenger cruise ships. The Key West International Airport provides airline service. Naval Air Station Key West is an important year-round training site for naval aviation due to the tropical weather, which is also the reason Key West was chosen as the site of President Harry S. Truman's Winter White House. The central business district is located along Duval Street and includes much of the northwestern corner of the island.

 

At various times before the 19th century, people who were related or subject to the Calusa and the Tequesta inhabited Key West. The last Native American residents of Key West were Calusa refugees who were taken to Cuba when Florida was transferred from Spain to Great Britain in 1763.

 

Cayo Hueso (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaʝo ˈweso]) is the original Spanish name for the island of Key West. It literally means "bone cay", cay referring to a low island or reef. It is said that the island was littered with the remains (bones) of prior native inhabitants, who used the isle as a communal graveyard. This island was the westernmost Key with a reliable supply of water.

 

Between 1763, when Great Britain took control of Florida from Spain, and 1821, when the United States took possession of Florida from Spain, there were few or no permanent inhabitants anywhere in the Florida Keys. Cubans and Bahamians regularly visited the Keys, the Cubans primarily to fish, while the Bahamians fished, caught turtles, cut hardwood timber, and salvaged wrecks. Smugglers and privateers also used the Keys for concealment. In 1766 the British governor of East Florida recommended that a post be set up on Key West to improve control of the area, but nothing came of it. During both the British and Spanish periods no nation exercised de facto control. The Bahamians apparently set up camps in the Keys that were occupied for months at a time, and there were rumors of permanent settlements in the Keys by 1806 or 1807, but the locations are not known. Fishermen from New England started visiting the Keys after the end of the War of 1812, and may have briefly settled on Key Vaca in 1818.

 

In 1815, the Spanish governor of Cuba in Havana deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas, an officer of the Royal Spanish Navy Artillery posted in Saint Augustine, Florida. After Florida was transferred to the United States in 1821, Salas was so eager to sell the island that he sold it twice – first for a sloop valued at $575 to a General John Geddes, a former governor of South Carolina, and then to a U.S. businessman John W. Simonton, during a meeting in a Havana café on January 19, 1822, for the equivalent of $2,000 in pesos in 1821. Geddes tried in vain to secure his rights to the property before Simonton who, with the aid of some influential friends in Washington, was able to gain clear title to the island. Simonton had wide-ranging business interests in Mobile, Alabama. He bought the island because a friend, John Whitehead, had drawn his attention to the opportunities presented by the island's strategic location. John Whitehead had been stranded in Key West after a shipwreck in 1819 and he had been impressed by the potential offered by the deep harbor of the island. The island was indeed considered the "Gibraltar of the West" because of its strategic location on the 90-mile (140 km)–wide deep shipping lane, the Straits of Florida, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

 

On March 25, 1822, Lt. Commander Matthew C. Perry sailed the schooner USS Shark to Key West and planted the U.S. flag, claiming the Keys as United States property. No protests were made over the American claim on Key West, so the Florida Keys became the de facto property of the United States.

 

After claiming the Florida Keys for the United States, Perry renamed Cayo Hueso (Key West) to Thompson's Island for Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson, and the harbor Port Rodgers in honor of War of 1812 hero and President of the Navy Supervisors Board John Rodgers. In 1823, Commodore David Porter of the United States Navy West Indies Anti-Pirate Squadron took charge of Key West, which he ruled as military dictator under martial law. The United States Navy gave Porter the mission of countering piracy and the slave trade in the Key West area.

 

Soon after his purchase, John Simonton subdivided the island into plots and sold three undivided quarters of each plot to:

 

John Mountain and U.S. Consul John Warner, who quickly resold their quarter to Pardon C. Greene, who took up residence on the island. Greene is the only one of the four "founding fathers" to establish himself permanently on the island, where he became quite prominent as head of P.C. Greene and Company. He was a member of the city council and also served briefly as mayor. He died in 1838 at the age of 57.

John Whitehead, his friend who had advised him to buy Key West. John Whitehead lived in Key West for only eight years. He became a partner in the firm of P.C. Greene and Company from 1824 to 1827. A lifelong bachelor, he left the island for good in 1832. He came back only once, during the Civil War in 1861, and died the next year.

John Fleeming (nowadays spelled Fleming). John W.C. Fleeming was English-born and was active in mercantile business in Mobile, Alabama, where he befriended John Simonton. Fleeming spent only a few months in Key West in 1822 and left for Massachusetts, where he married. He returned to Key West in 1832 with the intention of developing salt manufacturing on the island but died the same year at the age of 51.

Simonton spent the winter in Key West and the summer in Washington, where he lobbied hard for the development of the island and to establish a naval base on the island, both to take advantage of the island's strategic location and to bring law and order to the town. He died in 1854.

 

The names of the four "founding fathers" of modern Key West were given to main arteries of the island when it was first platted in 1829 by William Adee Whitehead, John Whitehead's younger brother. That first plat and the names used remained mostly intact and are still in use today. Duval Street, the island's main street, is named after Florida's first territorial governor, William Pope Duval, who served between 1822 and 1834 as the longest-serving governor in Florida's U.S. history.

 

William Whitehead became chief editorial writer for the Enquirer, a local newspaper, in 1834. He preserved copies of his newspaper as well as copies from the Key West Gazette, its predecessor. He later sent those copies to the Monroe County clerk for preservation, which gives us a view of life in Key West in the early days (1820–1840).

 

In the 1830s, Key West was the richest city per capita in the United States.

 

In 1846, the city suffered severely from the 1846 Havana hurricane.

 

In 1852 the first Catholic Church, St. Mary's Star-Of-The-Sea, was built. The year 1864 became a landmark for the church in South Florida when five Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary arrived from Montreal, Canada, and established the first Catholic school in South Florida. At the time it was called Convent of Mary Immaculate. The school is still operating today and is now known as Mary Immaculate Star of the Sea School.

 

During the American Civil War, while Florida seceded and joined the Confederate States of America, Key West remained in U.S. Union hands because of the naval base. Most locals were sympathetic to the Confederacy, however, and many flew Confederate flags over their homes. However, Key West was also home to a large free black population. This population grew during the war as more enslaved black people fled from their masters and came under the relative safety of the Union garrison there. Fort Zachary Taylor, constructed from 1845 to 1866, was an important Key West outpost during the Civil War. Construction began in 1861 on two other forts, East and West Martello Towers, which served as side armories and batteries for the larger fort. When completed, they were connected to Fort Taylor by railroad tracks for movement of munitions. Early in 1864, 900 men from the 2nd United States Colored Troops (USCT) arrived in Key West as replacements for the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Many of these men would see action in southern Florida and the 2nd USCT would become "one of the most active" black regiments in Florida. Fort Jefferson, located about 68 miles (109 km) from Key West on Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas, served after the Civil War as the prison for Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, convicted of conspiracy for setting the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.

 

In the 19th century, major industries included wrecking, fishing, turtling, and salt manufacturing. From 1830 to 1861, Key West was a major center of U.S. salt production, harvesting the commodity from the sea (via receding tidal pools) rather than from salt mines.[26] After the outbreak of the Civil War, Union troops shut down the salt industry after Confederate sympathizers smuggled the product into the South.[26] Salt production resumed at the end of the war, but the industry was destroyed by an 1876 hurricane and never recovered, in part because of new salt mines on the mainland.

 

During the Ten Years' War (an unsuccessful Cuban war for independence in the 1860s and 1870s), many Cubans sought refuge in Key West. Several cigar factories relocated to the city from Cuba, and Key West quickly became a major producer of cigars. A fire on April 1, 1886, that started at a coffee shop next to the San Carlos Institute and spread out of control, destroyed 18 cigar factories and 614 houses and government warehouses. Some factory owners chose not to rebuild and instead moved their operations to the new community of Ybor City in Tampa, leading to a slow decline in the cigar industry in Key West. Still, Key West remained the largest and wealthiest city in Florida at the end of the 1880s.

 

USS Maine sailed from Key West on her fateful visit to Havana, where she blew up and sank in Havana Harbor, igniting the Spanish–American War. Crewmen from the ship are buried in Key West, and the Navy investigation into the blast occurred at the Key West Customs House.

 

In October 1909, Key West was devastated by the 1909 Florida Keys hurricane. Further damage was suffered the following year in the 1910 Cuba hurricane.

 

Key West was relatively isolated until 1912, when it was connected to the Florida mainland via the Overseas Railway extension of Henry M. Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). Flagler created a landfill at Trumbo Point for his railyards.

 

The 1919 Florida Keys hurricane caused catastrophic damage to the city.

 

On December 25, 1921, Manuel Cabeza was lynched by members of the Ku Klux Klan for living with a black woman.

 

Pan American Airlines was founded in Key West, originally to fly visitors to Havana, in 1926. The airline contracted with the United States Postal Service in 1927 to deliver mail to and from Cuba and the United States. The mail route was known as the Key West, Florida – Havana Mail Route.

 

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 destroyed much of the Overseas Railway and killed hundreds of residents, including around 400 World War I veterans who were living in camps and working on federal road and mosquito-control projects in the Middle Keys. The FEC could not afford to restore the railroad.

 

The U.S. government then rebuilt the rail route as an automobile highway, completed in 1938, built atop many of the footings of the railroad. It became an extension of U.S. Route 1. The portion of U.S. 1 through the Keys is called the Overseas Highway. Franklin Roosevelt toured the road in 1939.

 

During World War II, more than 14,000 ships came through the island's harbor. The population, because of an influx of soldiers, sailors, laborers, and tourists, sometimes doubled or even tripled at times during the war.

 

Starting in 1946, US President Harry S. Truman established a working vacation home in Key West, the Harry S. Truman Little White House, where he would spend 175 days of his presidency.

 

In 1948, Key West suffered damage from two hurricanes within as many months, from the September 1948 Florida hurricane then the 1948 Miami hurricane.

 

Prior to the Cuban revolution of 1959, there were regular ferry and airplane services between Key West and Havana.

 

John F. Kennedy was to use "90 miles from Cuba" extensively in his speeches against Fidel Castro. Kennedy himself visited Key West a month after the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 

In 1982, the city of Key West briefly asserted independence as the Conch Republic as a protest over a United States Border Patrol blockade. This blockade was set up on US 1, where the northern end of the Overseas Highway meets the mainland at Florida City. A traffic jam of 17 miles (27 km) ensued while the Border Patrol stopped every car leaving the Keys, supposedly searching for illegal immigrants attempting to enter the mainland United States. This paralyzed the Florida Keys, which rely heavily on the tourism industry. Flags, T-shirts and other merchandise representing the Conch Republic are still popular souvenirs for visitors to Key West, and the Conch Republic Independence Celebration—including parades and parties—is celebrated annually, on April 23.

 

In 1998 Hurricane Georges damaged the city.

 

In 2017, Hurricane Irma caused substantial damage with wind and flooding, killing three people.

 

The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Miami and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. The islands lie along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and defining one edge of Florida Bay. The southern part of Key West is 93 miles (150 km) from Cuba. The Keys are located between about 24.3 and 25.5 degrees North latitude.

 

More than 95% of the land area lies in Monroe County, but a small portion extends northeast into Miami-Dade County, such as Totten Key. The total land area is 137.3 square miles (356 km2). At the 2010 census the population was 73,090, with an average density of 532.34 per square mile (205.54/km2), although much of the population is concentrated in a few areas of much higher density, such as the city of Key West, which has 32% of the Keys' total population. The 2014 Census population estimate was 77,136. The 2020 Census population estimate was 82,874.

 

The city of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County. The county consists of a section on the mainland which is almost entirely in Everglades National Park, and the Keys islands from Key Largo to Dry Tortugas National Park.

 

The Keys were originally inhabited by the Calusa and Tequesta tribes and were charted by Juan Ponce de León in 1513. De León named the islands Los Martires ("The Martyrs"), as they looked like suffering men from a distance. "Key" is derived from the Spanish word cayo, meaning small island. For many years, Key West was the largest town in Florida, and it grew prosperous on wrecking revenues. The isolated outpost was well located for trade with Cuba and the Bahamas and was on the main trade route from New Orleans. Improved navigation led to fewer shipwrecks, and Key West went into a decline in the late nineteenth century.

 

The Keys were long accessible only by water. This changed with the completion of Henry Flagler's Overseas Railway in the early 1910s. Flagler, a major developer of Florida's Atlantic coast, extended his Florida East Coast Railway down to Key West with an ambitious series of oversea railroad trestles. Three hurricanes disrupted the project in 1906, 1909, and 1910.

 

The strongest hurricane to strike the U.S. made landfall near Islamorada in the Upper Keys on Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 1935. Winds were estimated to have gusted to 200 mph (320 km/h), raising a storm surge more than 17.5 feet (5.3 m) above sea level that washed over the islands. More than 400 people were killed, though some estimates place the number of deaths at more than 600.

 

The Labor Day hurricane was one of only four hurricanes to make landfall at Category 5 strength on the U.S. coast since reliable weather records began (about 1850). The other storms were Hurricane Camille (1969), Hurricane Andrew (1992), and Hurricane Michael (2018).

 

In 1935, new bridges were under construction to connect a highway through the entire Keys. Hundreds of World War I veterans working on the roadway as part of a government relief program were housed in non-reinforced buildings in three construction camps in the Upper Keys. When the evacuation train failed to reach the camps before the storm, more than 200 veterans perished. Their deaths caused anger and charges of mismanagement that led to a Congressional investigation.

 

The storm also ended the 23-year run of the Overseas Railway; the damaged tracks were never rebuilt, and the Overseas Highway (U.S. Highway 1) replaced the railroad as the main transportation route from Miami to Key West.

 

One of the longest bridges when it was built, the Seven Mile Bridge connects Knight's Key (part of the city of Marathon in the Middle Keys) to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. The piling-supported concrete bridge is 35,862 ft (10,931 m) or 6.79 miles (10.93 km) long. The current bridge bypasses Pigeon Key, a small island that housed workers building Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway in the 1900s, that the original Seven Mile Bridge crossed. A 2.2-mile (3.5 km) section of the old bridge remains for access to the island, although it was closed to vehicular traffic on March 4, 2008. The aging structure has been deemed unsafe by the Florida Department of Transportation. Costly repairs, estimated to be as much as $34 million, were expected to begin in July 2008. Monroe County was unable to secure a $17 million loan through the state infrastructure bank, delaying work for at least a year. On June 14, 2008, the old bridge section leading to Pigeon Key was closed to fishing as well. While still open to pedestrians—walking, biking and jogging—if the bridge were closed altogether, only a ferry subsidized by FDOT and managed by the county would transport visitors to the island.

 

After the destruction of the Keys railway by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, the railroad bridges, including the Seven Mile Bridge, were converted to automobile roadways. This roadway, U.S. Highway 1, became the Overseas Highway that runs from Key Largo south to Key West. Today this highway allows travel through the tropical islands of the Florida Keys and the viewing of exotic plants and animals found nowhere else on the US mainland and the largest coral reef chain in the United States.

 

Following the Cuban Revolution, many Cubans emigrated to South Florida. Key West traditionally had strong links with its neighbor ninety miles south by water, and large numbers of Cubans settled there. The Keys still attract Cubans leaving their home country, and stories of "rafters" coming ashore are not uncommon.

 

In 1982, the United States Border Patrol established a roadblock and inspection points on US Highway 1, stopping all northbound traffic returning to the mainland at Florida City, to search vehicles for illegal drugs and undocumented immigrants. The Key West City Council repeatedly complained about the roadblocks, which were a major inconvenience for travellers, and hurt the Keys' important tourism industry.

 

After various unsuccessful complaints and attempts to get a legal injunction against the blockade failed in federal court in Miami, on April 23, 1982, Key West mayor Dennis Wardlow and the city council declared the independence of the city of Key West, calling it the "Conch Republic". After one minute of secession, he (as "Prime Minister") surrendered to an officer of the Key West Naval Air Station (NAS) and requested US$1,000,000,000 in "foreign aid".

 

The stunt succeeded in generating great publicity for the Keys' plight, and the inspection station roadblock was removed. The idea of the Conch Republic has provided a new source of revenue for the Keys by way of tourist keepsake sales, and the Conch Republic has participated in later protests.

 

The northern and central sections of the Florida Keys are the exposed portions of an ancient coral reef, the Key Largo Limestone. The northernmost island arising from the ancient reef formation is Elliott Key, in Biscayne National Park. North of Elliott Key are several small transitional keys, composed of sand built up around small areas of exposed ancient reef. Further north, Key Biscayne and places north are barrier islands, built up of sand. The islands in the southwestern part of the chain, from Big Pine Key to the Marquesas Keys, are exposed areas of Miami Limestone.

 

The Florida Keys have taken their present form as the result of the drastic changes in sea level associated with recent glaciations or ice ages. Beginning some 130,000 years ago the Sangamonian Stage raised sea levels about 25 feet (7.6 m) feet above the current level. All of southern Florida was covered by a shallow sea. Several parallel lines of reef formed along the edge of the submerged Florida Platform, stretching south and then west from the present Miami area to what is now the Dry Tortugas. This reef formed the Key Largo Limestone that is exposed on the surface from Soldier Key (midway between Key Biscayne and Elliott Key) to the southeast portion of Big Pine Key and the Newfound Harbor Keys. The types of coral that formed Key Largo Limestone can be identified on the exposed surface of these keys. Minor fluctuations in sea level exposed parts of the reef, subjecting it to erosion. Acidic water, which can result from decaying vegetation, dissolves limestone. Some of the dissolved limestone redeposited as a denser cap rock, which can be seen as outcrops overlying the Key Largo and Miami limestones throughout the Keys. The limestone that eroded from the reef formed oolites in the shallow sea behind the reef, and together with the skeletal remains of bryozoans, formed the Miami Limestone that is the current surface bedrock of the lower Florida peninsula and the lower keys from Big Pine Key to Key West. To the west of Key West the ancient reef is covered by recent calcareous sand. While the islands of the upper and middle keys, consisting of Key Largo Limestone, form a long narrow arc, the islands of the lower keys are perpendicular to the line of that arc. This configuration arose from an ancient tidal-bar system, in which tidal channels cut through a submerged oolitic deposit. The bars lithified into Miami Limestone, and with changes in sea level are presently exposed as the islands, while the channels between the bars now separate the islands.

 

Just offshore of the Florida Keys along the edge of the Florida Straits is the Florida Reef (also known as the Florida Reef Tract). The Florida Reef extends 170 miles (270 km) from Fowey Rocks just east of Soldier Key to just south of the Marquesas Keys. It is the third-largest barrier reef system in the world.

 

The climate and environment of the Florida Keys are closer to that of the Caribbean than the rest of Florida, though unlike the Caribbean's volcanic islands, the Keys were built by plants and animals. The Upper Keys islands are composed of sandy-type accumulations of limestone grains produced by plants and marine organisms. The Lower Keys are the remnants of large coral reefs, which became fossilized and exposed when the sea level dropped.

 

The natural habitats of the Keys are upland forests, inland wetlands and shoreline zones. Soil ranges from sand to marl to rich, decomposed leaf litter. In some places, "caprock" (the eroded surface of coral formations) covers the ground. Rain falling through leaf debris becomes acidic and dissolves holes in the limestone, where soil accumulates and trees root.

 

The Florida Keys have distinctive plant and animals species, some found nowhere else in the United States, as the Keys define the northern extent of their ranges. The climate also allows many imported plants to thrive. Some exotic species which arrived as landscape plants now invade and threaten natural areas.

 

The native flora of the Keys is diverse, including members of both temperate families, such as red maple (Acer rubrum), slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa) and oaks (Quercus spp.), growing at the southern end of their ranges, and tropical families, including mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni), gumbo limbo (Bursera simaruba), stoppers (Eugenia spp.), Jamaican dogwood (Piscidia piscipula), and many others, which grow only in tropical climates. Several types of palms are native to the Florida Keys, including the Florida thatch palm (Thrinax radiata), which grows to its greatest size in Florida on the islands of the Keys.

 

The Keys are also home to unique animal species, including the American crocodile, Key deer (protected by the National Key Deer Refuge), and the Key Largo woodrat. The Keys are part of the northernmost range of the American crocodile, which is found throughout the Neotropics. The Key Largo Woodrat is found only in the northern part of its namesake island and is a focus of management activities in Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge. About 70 miles (110 km) west of Key West is Dry Tortugas National Park.

 

The waters surrounding the Keys are part of a protected area known as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

 

U.S. Highway 1, the "Overseas Highway", runs over most of the inhabited islands of the Florida Keys. The islands are listed in order from southwest to north. Mile markers are listed for keys that the Overseas Highway runs across or near:

Dry Tortugas

Loggerhead Key

Marquesas Keys

Sunset Key

Wisteria Island

Key West (MM 0-4)

Fleming Key

Sigsbee Park (off to the north at MM 2¾)

Stock Island (MM 5)

Raccoon Key (off to the north at MM 5¼)

Boca Chica Key (MM 7-8)

Rockland Key (MM 9)

East Rockland Key (MM 9½)

Big Coppitt Key (MM 10)

Geiger Key (off to the south at MM 10¾)

Shark Key (off to the north at MM 11¼)

Saddlebunch Keys (MM 12-16)

Lower Sugarloaf Key (MM 17)

Park Key (MM 18)

Sugarloaf Key (MM 19-20)

Cudjoe Key (MM 21-23)

Knockemdown Key

Summerland Key (MM 24-25)

Ramrod Key (MM 27)

Middle Torch Key, Big Torch Key (off to the north at MM 27¾)

Little Torch Key (MM 28½)

Big Pine Key (MM 30-32)

No Name Key

Scout Key (MM 34-35), formerly known as West Summerland Key

Bahia Honda Key (MM 37-38)

Ohio Key (MM 38¾), also known as Sunshine Key

Missouri Key (MM 39¼)

Little Duck Key (MM 39¾)

 

The Seven Mile Bridge (MM 40-46¾) separates the Lower Keys from the Middle Keys:

Pigeon Key (off to the north near MM 45; access is at MM 46¾)

Knights Key (MM 47)

Vaca Key (MM 48-53)

Boot Key (off to the south at MM 48; bridge closed)

Fat Deer Key (MM 53¼-55)

Shelter Key (off to the south at MM 53¾)

Long Point Key (MM 56)

Crawl Key (MM 56½)

Grassy Key (MM 58-60)

 

(Knights, Vaca, Boot, Long Point, Crawl, and Grassy Keys, as well as most of Fat Deer Key, are incorporated in the city of Marathon. The remaining portion of Fat Deer Key and most of Shelter Key are part of Key Colony Beach.):

Duck Key (MM 61)

Conch Key (MM 62-63)

 

The Long Key Bridge (MM 63¼-65¼) separates the Middle Keys from the Upper Keys:

Long Key (MM 66-70), formerly known as Rattlesnake Key

Fiesta Key (off to the north at MM 70)

Craig Key (MM 72)

Lower Matecumbe Key (MM 74-77)

Lignumvitae Key

Indian Key

Indian Key Fill (MM 79)

Tea Table (MM 79½)

Upper Matecumbe Key (MM 80-83)

Windley Key (MM 85)

Plantation Key (MM 86-90)

 

(Lower Matecumbe through Plantation Keys are incorporated as Islamorada, Village of Islands. The "towns" of Key Largo, North Key Largo and Tavernier, all on the island of Key Largo, are not incorporated.):

Key Largo (MM 91-107)

Tavernier Key

Rodriguez Key

 

All keys north of Broad Creek are in Biscayne National Park and Miami-Dade County. The following are "true" Florida Keys (exposed ancient coral reefs):

Old Rhodes Key

Totten Key

Reid Key

Rubicon Keys

Adams Key

Elliott Key

 

The following are "transitional keys", made of exposed ancient reef surrounded by sand:

Sands Key

Boca Chita Key

Ragged Keys

Soldier Key

Key Biscayne is not one of the Florida Keys, but the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida.

 

"We understand that God, the Creator of all things, is superior to the things that are to be changed. If, therefore, on some points we teach the same things as the poets and philosophers whom you honour, and on other points are fuller and more divine in our teaching, and if we alone afford proof of what we assert, why are we unjustly hated more than all others? For while we say that all things have been produced and arranged into a world by God, we shall seem to utter the doctrine of Plato; and while we say that there will be a burning up of all, we shall seem to utter the doctrine of the Stoics: and while we affirm that the souls of the wicked, being endowed with sensation even after death, are punished, and that those of the good being delivered from punishment spend a blessed existence, we shall seem to say the same things as the poets and philosophers; and while we maintain that men ought not to worship the works of their hands, we say the very things which have been said by the comic poet Menander, and other similar writers, for they have declared that the workman is greater than the work."

 

- First Apology of St Justin Martyr, chapter XX

 

Today, 1 June, is the feast of St Justin Martyr, the philosopher martyred c.167 in Rome.

 

This mosaic is in a bath house in Ostia Antica.

Day two day in Rome the next day was the start of the Comos tour, September 2012

 

Rome (Rōma) is a city and special comune ("Roma Capitale") in Italy. Rome is the capital of Italy and the capital of Lazio (Latin: Latium). With 2.8 million residents in 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi), it is also the country's largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. Between 3.2 and 3.8 million people live in the Rome urban and metropolitan area. The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy. Rome is referred to as "The Eternal City", a notion expressed by ancient Roman poets and writers.

For more info:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome

Uploading these WAY late. Sorry. Moving to new PC after being on the same Win7-Pro machine for like 8+ years (I don't like change!), and it's been a mini-nightmare. Caught these a couple weeks ago at my local BNSF / Santa Fe yard.

 

====================

 

FYI.

 

These were shot with a 7.5mm fisheye lens because of the location, and poorly corrected so they look somewhat normal...

 

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Decided to head out to my local yard on a Saturday, got there at 9:30 and I was the only one out at the freight side platform. After a half hour I noticed someone down at the other end that I thought I recognized. Messaged him, and yep, it was him. My dude PasadenaSubColin.

 

We were both out there to just enjoy the day, me catching freights, and him freights & Metrolinks. He's a good dude to have around, as he lets me know when something cool is on its way into the yard, and I appreciate that he's all plugged into the grid to give the "heads up" when something's coming soon.

 

Well, this time I had, or rather found out, the "Heads Up" about 15 mins before he let me in on what would be the joke of the day. There apparently was a bicentennial engine coming through the depot today on its way to a RR museum in Perris, CA. The 5704!!!!! Big whoop.... One dude chatted me up asking if I knew when "IT" was supposed to come through. I had no idea what he was talking about and told him I don't follow trains. :-)

 

15-20 mins. later Colin messages me an FYI, that there's a "Special" train about to roll through. I've been in this situation before. I'm there benching graff, and all of the sudden 20 cars pull up and a bunch of "Railfans" jump out of their cars, run over, take a few photos of the "Special" car(s), engine or train, and when it's gone, they're gone. I feel like these are the people who only get out of bed when something "cool" is rolling through town. I really doubt they care about day-to-day operations of the RR. And honestly there's no way they give a shit about the graff.

 

Most people out at the tracks are cool, but there's a certain group of people who seem to have zero social skills when something "Special" is coming through, and we had at least one on this day. Some dude that kept walking past us, standing in my spot, like he was going to shoot from there when I got there at 9:30, and he got there at Noon. Walking past us by inches, and not saying a word, head down... Walking in front of cameras that were filming, hanging around my backpack and gear while I was like 30 feet away, just weird, un-cool shit. I'm not down with any of this. But I don't want to burn this spot as a bencher and didn't start any trouble, even though I wanted to punch this dude.. GRRR!

 

Will not be posting flicks of this special train car. Sorry. I saw it, I flicked it, but the whole experience was crap, and it was just one engine, big deal. I was there for the graff that you're seeing me post.

 

Was hot, no clouds, and at my end of the platform I had a 2ft. x 3ft. spot of slowly moving shade that was cast by one of the platform lights. After a while Colin and I were sharing this tiny moving spot of shade. No worries, we get along just fine.

 

BTW: PasadenaSubColin is a FOAMER!!!!!!!! ;-p

 

Managed to re-flick a few cars that I caught at the beginning of the month at the other end of the valley. Anyway........ I'll be back to try and ID these pieces soon. Might take me a little longer than usual as, like I said before, new computer, new crap to deal with..

 

Stay safe out there homies.

 

And..... As always, Thanks to the writers!

 

For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven

 

Please Subscribe to the YouTube, every little bit helps.

I'm the lead photographer and a contributing writer for The Ultimate Horse Lover. I wrote one chapter about Alibar and one chapter about how to photograph horses. You'll recognize many of my favorite equine images that I've taken over the past two years, plus the work of many other talented writers and photographers.

 

The Ultimate Horse Lover is a collection of stories about horses, tips on horse care, and full-page color photos of beautiful horses. I love the variety and fresh feel to it- there are up-to-date chapters about saddle fit, nutrition, and behavior. I remember spending my entire childhood poring over horse books- this is one of those books!

 

It was a pleasure to work with this group of people- they are the team that put together the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. When I was out in California for Breeders' Cup coverage, I met Gina Spadafori, sydnicated pet columnist and author of Dogs for Dummies, among many other accomplishments. She's the coolest!

 

I also have a photo in The Ultimate Cat Lover :^)

 

If you purchase a copy of either of these books, send me a FlickrMail so we can arrange mailing and it would be my pleasure to sign it for you. It's the perfect time to order holiday gifts:

 

Click Here to order The Ultimate Horse Lover

Click Here to order The Ultimate Cat Lover

 

If Amazon is out of stock, try some of your other favorite bookstores like Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc.

The Postcard

 

A 'Town and City' Series postcard published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, Art Publishers to Their Majesties the King and Queen. The card was phototyped in Berlin.

 

The card was posted in Folkestone on Sunday the 12th. May 1907 to:

 

Monsieur et Madame Wirrion,

c/o Madame Wirrith-Pellering,

Grand'rue,

Luxembourg,

Grand-Duché.

 

Folkestone - Gateway to the Trenches

 

During the Great War, Folkestone was known as the Gateway to the Trenches because of the vast number of troops who set sail for the Western Front from the harbour.

 

Between 1914 and 1918, an estimated 8 million troops passed through Folkestone on their way to war.

 

A memorial arch now stands at the top of the hill above the harbour where boats awaited the troops.

 

So many men failed to return that the steep downhill street leading down to the harbour (formerly known as Slope Road), is now named Road of Remembrance.

 

Commemorations in Folkestone marking 100 years since Great Britain entered the Great War were organised by Shepway District Council and the charity Step Short, which is named after the order given to the marching men to shorten their stride as they progressed downhill to their destiny.

 

Leslie Charteris

 

So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?

 

Well, the 12th. May 1907 marked the birth of Leslie Charteris (born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin). Leslie was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.

 

He is best-known for his many books chronicling the adventures of the charming antihero Simon Templar, alias 'The Saint.'

 

Leslie Charteris - The Early Years

 

Charteris was born in Singapore to a Chinese father, Dr S. C. Yin and Lydia Florence Bowyer, who was English. His father was a physician, who claimed to be able to trace his lineage back to the emperors of the Shang dynasty.

 

Charteris became interested in writing at an early age. At one point, he created his own magazine with articles, short stories, poems, editorials, serials, and even a comic strip. He attended Rossall School in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England.

 

Career of Leslie Charteris

 

Once his first book, written during his first year at King's College, Cambridge, was accepted, he left the university and embarked on a new career. Charteris was motivated by a desire to be unconventional, and to become financially well off by doing what he liked to do.

 

He continued to write British thriller stories while he undertook various jobs from working on a freighter to being a barman in a country inn. He prospected for gold, dived for pearls, worked in a tin mine and on a rubber plantation, toured Great Britain with a carnival, and drove a bus.

 

In 1926, he legally changed his last name to Charteris; in a later BBC Radio 4 documentary, his daughter stated that he selected his surname from the telephone directory.

 

The Origin of Simon Templar

 

Leslie's third novel, 'Meet the Tiger' (1928), introduced his most famous creation, Simon Templar. However, in his 1980 introduction to a reprint by Charter Books, Charteris indicated he was dissatisfied with the work, suggesting its only value was as the start of the long-running Saint series.

 

Occasionally, he chose to ignore the existence of 'Meet the Tiger' altogether, and claimed that the Saint series actually began with the second volume, 'Enter the Saint' (1930).

 

Although he wrote a few other books (including a novelisation of his screenplay for the Deanna Durbin mystery-comedy 'Lady on a Train', and the English translation of 'Juan Belmonte: Killer of Bulls by' Manuel Chaves Nogales), his lifework – at least in the literary world — consisted primarily of Simon Templar Saint adventures.

 

These were presented in novel, novella, and short-story formats over the next 35 years (with other authors ghost writing the stories on Charteris' behalf from 1963 onward; Charteris acted as an editor for these books, approving stories and making revisions when needed).

 

Leslie Charteris' Move to the United States

 

Charteris relocated to the United States in 1932, where he continued to publish short stories and also became a writer for Paramount Pictures, working on the George Raft film, 'Midnight Club'.

 

However, Charteris was excluded from permanent residency in the United States because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, a law which prohibited immigration for persons of '50% or greater' Oriental blood. As a result, Charteris was forced to continually renew his six-month temporary visitor's visa.

 

Eventually, an act of Congress personally granted Charteris and his daughter the right of permanent residence in the United States, with eligibility for naturalisation, which he later completed.

 

Leslie Charteris' Other Activities

 

In 1936, Charteris was a passenger on the maiden voyage of the Hindenburg.

 

In America, 'The Saint' became a radio series starring Vincent Price. In the 1940's, Charteris, besides continuing to write 'The Saint' stories, scripted the Sherlock Holmes radio series featuring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. In 1941, Charteris appeared in a Life photographic adaptation of a short story of 'The Saint', with himself playing the Saint.

 

'The Saint' on Film

 

Long-term success eluded Charteris' creation outside the literary arena until RKO produced an eight-film series between 1938 and 1943, all with George Sanders as The Saint. Another Briton, Hugh Sinclair, took over the role in 'The Saint's Vacation' (filmed by RKO's British studio in 1941) and 'The Saint Meets the Tiger' (again produced by RKO in 1941).

 

A film loosely based on the character simply titled 'The Saint' was released in 1997 with Val Kilmer in the title role.

 

'The Saint' on TV

 

In 1962–1969 the British-produced television series 'The Saint' went into production with Roger Moore in the Simon Templar role.

 

Many episodes of the TV series were based upon Charteris' short stories. Later, as original scripts were commissioned, Charteris permitted some of these scripts to be novelised and published as further adventures of the Saint in printed form. These later books carried Charteris' name as author, but were in fact written by others.

 

Charteris lived to see a second British TV series, 'Return of the Saint' starring Ian Ogilvy as Simon Templar, enjoy a well-received, if brief, run in the late 1970's (with Charteris himself making a cameo appearance in one episode) and, in the 1980's, a series of TV movies starring Simon Dutton kept interest in The Saint alive.

 

Also, an ill-fated attempt at a 1980's TV series was made in the United States, which resulted in only a pilot episode being produced and broadcast. Charteris also produced the original theme tune to the series, as can be seen on the end credits.

 

Leslie Charteris' Later Life

 

The adventures of The Saint were chronicled in nearly 100 books (about 50 published in the UK and US, with others published in France). Charteris himself stepped away from writing the books after 'The Saint in the Sun' (1963).

 

The next year, 'Vendetta for the Saint' was published, and while it was credited to Charteris, it was actually written by science fiction writer Harry Harrison. Following Vendetta came a number of books adapting televised episodes, credited to Charteris, but written by others, although Charteris did collaborate on several Saint books in the 1970's. Charteris appears to have served in an editorial capacity for these later volumes.

 

He also edited and contributed to The Saint Mystery Magazine, a digest-sized publication. The final book in the Saint series was 'Salvage for the Saint', published in 1983. Two additional books were published in 1997, a novelisation of the film loosely based on the character, and an original novel published by "The Saint Club", a fan club that Charteris himself founded in the 1930's. Both books were written by Burl Barer, who also wrote the definitive history on Charteris and The Saint.

 

Charteris spent 55 years – 1928 to 1983 – as either writer of or custodian of Simon Templar's literary adventures, one of the longest uninterrupted spans of a single author in the history of mystery fiction, equalling that of Agatha Christie, who wrote her novels and stories featuring detective Hercule Poirot.

 

Leslie Charteris' Personal Life and Death

 

Charteris also wrote a column on cuisine for an American magazine, and invented a wordless, pictorial sign language called Paleneo, which he wrote a book on. Charteris was also one of the earliest members of Mensa.

 

In 1952, Charteris married Hollywood actress Audrey Long (1922–2014); the couple eventually returned to England, where he spent his last years living in Surrey. He died at Princess Margaret's Hospital Windsor, Berkshire, on the 15th. April 1993, survived by his wife and daughter, Patricia.

Uploading these WAY late. Sorry. Moving to new PC after being on the same Win7-Pro machine for like 8+ years (I don't like change!), and it's been a mini-nightmare. Caught these a couple weeks ago at my local BNSF / Santa Fe yard.

 

====================

 

FYI.

 

These were shot with a 7.5mm fisheye lens because of the location, and poorly corrected so they look somewhat normal...

 

====================

 

Decided to head out to my local yard on a Saturday, got there at 9:30 and I was the only one out at the freight side platform. After a half hour I noticed someone down at the other end that I thought I recognized. Messaged him, and yep, it was him. My dude PasadenaSubColin.

 

We were both out there to just enjoy the day, me catching freights, and him freights & Metrolinks. He's a good dude to have around, as he lets me know when something cool is on its way into the yard, and I appreciate that he's all plugged into the grid to give the "heads up" when something's coming soon.

 

Well, this time I had, or rather found out, the "Heads Up" about 15 mins before he let me in on what would be the joke of the day. There apparently was a bicentennial engine coming through the depot today on its way to a RR museum in Perris, CA. The 5704!!!!! Big whoop.... One dude chatted me up asking if I knew when "IT" was supposed to come through. I had no idea what he was talking about and told him I don't follow trains. :-)

 

15-20 mins. later Colin messages me an FYI, that there's a "Special" train about to roll through. I've been in this situation before. I'm there benching graff, and all of the sudden 20 cars pull up and a bunch of "Railfans" jump out of their cars, run over, take a few photos of the "Special" car(s), engine or train, and when it's gone, they're gone. I feel like these are the people who only get out of bed when something "cool" is rolling through town. I really doubt they care about day-to-day operations of the RR. And honestly there's no way they give a shit about the graff.

 

Most people out at the tracks are cool, but there's a certain group of people who seem to have zero social skills when something "Special" is coming through, and we had at least one on this day. Some dude that kept walking past us, standing in my spot, like he was going to shoot from there when I got there at 9:30, and he got there at Noon. Walking past us by inches, and not saying a word, head down... Walking in front of cameras that were filming, hanging around my backpack and gear while I was like 30 feet away, just weird, un-cool shit. I'm not down with any of this. But I don't want to burn this spot as a bencher and didn't start any trouble, even though I wanted to punch this dude.. GRRR!

 

Will not be posting flicks of this special train car. Sorry. I saw it, I flicked it, but the whole experience was crap, and it was just one engine, big deal. I was there for the graff that you're seeing me post.

 

Was hot, no clouds, and at my end of the platform I had a 2ft. x 3ft. spot of slowly moving shade that was cast by one of the platform lights. After a while Colin and I were sharing this tiny moving spot of shade. No worries, we get along just fine.

 

BTW: PasadenaSubColin is a FOAMER!!!!!!!! ;-p

 

Managed to re-flick a few cars that I caught at the beginning of the month at the other end of the valley. Anyway........ I'll be back to try and ID these pieces soon. Might take me a little longer than usual as, like I said before, new computer, new crap to deal with..

 

Stay safe out there homies.

 

And..... As always, Thanks to the writers!

 

For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven

 

Please Subscribe to the YouTube, every little bit helps.

Vintage postcard, no. 352. Photo: Warner Bros. Doris Day in It's a Great Feeling (David Butler, 1949). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

 

Legendary actress and singer Doris Day (1922-2019), with her blonde hair and blue eyes, performed with several big bands before going solo in 1947. In the 1950s, she starred in a series of popular film musicals, including Calamity Jane (1953) and The Pyjama Game (1957). 'Que Será, Será!' became her theme song. With Rock Hudson, she starred in the box office hit Pillow Talk (1959). On TV, she appeared in the sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968-1973).

 

Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff was born in 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choirmaster. Her mother named her after her favourite silent film star, Doris Kenyon. She had two brothers, Richard, who died before she was born, and Paul, a few years older. For many years, it was uncertain whether she was born in 1922 or 1924, with Day herself reportedly believing her birth year was the latter and giving her age accordingly. It wasn't until 3 April 2017, her 95th, not 93rd, birthday, that her birth certificate was found by the Associated Press, which confirmed she was born in 1922. Her parents divorced while she was still a child, and she lived with her mother. Like most little girls, Doris liked to dance. At fourteen, she formed a dance act with a boy, Jerry Doherty, and they won $500 in a local talent contest. She and Jerry took a brief trip to Hollywood to test the waters. They felt they could succeed, so she and Jerry returned to Cincinnati to pack and make a permanent move to Hollywood. Tragically, the night before Doris was to move to Hollywood, her car was hit by a train, and she badly injured her right leg. The accident ended the possibility of a dancing career. She spent her next years wheelchair-bound, but during this time began singing along with the radio. Observing her daughter sing, Alma decided Doris should have singing lessons. She engaged a teacher, Grace Raine. After three lessons, Raine told Alma that young Doris had "tremendous potential". Raine was so impressed that she gave Doris three lessons a week for the price of one. Years later, Day said that Raine had the biggest effect on her singing style and career. At age 17, Day had her first professional job as a vocalist, on the WLW radio program 'Carlin's Carnival', and in a local restaurant, Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn. While performing on the radio, she was approached by band leader Barney Rapp. He felt that her name, Kappelhoff, was too harsh and awkward and that she should change her name to something more pleasant. The name 'Day' was suggested by Rapp from one of the songs in Doris' repertoire, 'Day by Day'. She didn't like the name at first, feeling that it sounded too much like a burlesque performer. While she was performing in Barney Rapp's band, she met trombonist Al Jorden, and they married in 1941. The marriage was extremely unhappy, and there were reports of Jordan's alcoholism and abuse of the young star. They divorced within two years, not long after the birth of their son, Terrence Jorden, called Terry. Despondent and feeling his life had little meaning after the much-publicised divorce, Jorden later committed suicide. After working with Rapp, Day worked with bandleaders Jimmy James, Bob Crosby, and Les Brown. The years touring with Les Brown & His Band of Renown, she later called 'the happiest times in my life'. In 1941, Day appeared as a singer in three Soundies (three-minute film clips containing a song, dance and/or band or orchestral number) with the Les Brown band. Her first hit recording was 'Sentimental Journey' in 1945. It became an anthem of the desire of World War II demobilising troops to return home. In 1946, Doris married saxophone player and former child actor George Weidler, but this union lasted less than a year. After leaving Brown to embark on a solo career, she recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967. Day's agent talked her into taking a screen test at Warner Bros. The executives there liked what they saw and signed her to a contract. Her first starring role was in Romance on the High Seas (Michael Curtiz, Busby Berkeley, 1948), with Jack Carson and Janis Paige. The next year, she made two more films, My Dream Is Yours (Michael Curtiz, 1949) and It's a Great Feeling (David Butler, 1949). Audiences took to her beauty, terrific singing voice and bubbly personality, and she turned in fine performances in the films she made - in addition to several hit records.

 

Doris Day made three films for Warner Bros. in 1950 and five more in 1951. She co-starred with Gordon MacRae in five nostalgic period musicals: Tea for Two (David Butler, 1950), The West Point Story (Roy Del Ruth, 1950) with James Cagney and Virginia Mayo, On Moonlight Bay (Roy Del Ruth, 1951), Starlift (Roy Del Ruth, 1951), and By the Light of the Silvery Moon (David Butler, 1953). Her most commercially successful film for Warner was I'll See You in My Dreams (1951), which broke box-office records for 20 years. The film is a musical biography of lyricist Gus Kahn, played by Danny Thomas. It was Day's fourth film, directed by Michael Curtiz. One of her few dramatic roles was in Storm Warning (Stuart Heisler, 1951) with Ginger Rogers and Ronald Reagan. She briefly dated Reagan, with whom she also co-starred in The Winning Team (1952), shortly after his divorce from Jane Wyman, when she and Reagan were contract players at Warner Bros. Doris Day met and married Martin Melcher in 1951. He adopted her young son, Terry and became her manager. In 1953, Doris starred in Calamity Jane (David Butler, 1953), which was a major hit. She performed 'Secret Love' in the film, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Several more hits followed, including Lucky Me (Jack Donohue, 1954), Love Me or Leave Me (Charles Vidor, 1955) with James Cagney. Alfred Hitchcock had seen her dramatic role in Storm Warning and chose her to play Jo McKenna opposite James Stewart in his remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). In the film, she sang the song 'Que Será, Será! (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)', which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became an evergreen. In 1959, Day entered her most successful phase as a film actress with a series of romantic comedies. Her best-known film is probably the first one, Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon, 1959), with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall. For her performance, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Leading Actress. She later co-starred with Hudson and Randall again in Lover Come Back (Delbert Mann, 1961), and Send Me No Flowers (Norman Jewison, 1964). In all three, Day and Hudson played love interests while Randall played Hudson's close friend.

 

Doris Day started in the 1960s with the hit Please Don't Eat the Daisies (Charles Walters, 1960), in which her co-star was David Niven. In 1962, Day appeared with Cary Grant in the comedy That Touch of Mink (Delbert Mann, 1962), the first film in history ever to gross $1 million in one theatre (Radio City Music Hall). In 1960 and during the 1962 to 1964 period, she ranked number one at the box office. Despite her successes at the box office, the late 1950s and early 1960s were a difficult period for Day. In 1958, her brother Paul had died. Around this time, her husband, who had also taken charge of her career, made deals for her to star in films she didn't really care about, which led to a bout with exhaustion. The 1960s weren't to be a repeat of the previous busy decade. She made fewer films, but the ones she did make were successful: Do Not Disturb (Ralph Levy, 1965) with Rod Taylor, and The Glass Bottom Boat (Frank Tashlin, 1966). By the late 1960s, the sexual revolution of the baby boomer generation had refocused public attitudes about sex. Times had changed, but Day's films had not. Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (Hy Averback, 1968), and With Six You Get Eggroll (Howard Morris, 1968), with Brian Keith, would be her final feature. In 1968, her husband, Martin Melcher, suddenly died. Between 1956 and his death, he had produced 18 of her films. A shocked Day discovered she was millions of dollars in debt. Melcher and his business partner, Jerome Bernard Rosenthal, had squandered virtually all of her considerable earnings, but she was eventually awarded $22 million by the courts in a case against Rosenthal.

 

After Martin Melcher's death, Doris Day never made another film. She professed not to have known that he had negotiated a multimillion-dollar deal with CBS to launch her own TV series, The Doris Day Show, the following fall. Day hated the idea of performing on television but felt obligated to do it and needed the work to help pay off her debts. The show became successful and lasted from 1968 until 1973. The Doris Day Show was a light and fluffy sitcom, which changed formats and producers almost every season. Originally, it was about widow Doris Martin and her two young sons (Philip Brown and Todd Stark) who left the big city for the quiet of her family's ranch, which was run by her dad Buck (Denver Pyle) and ranchhand Leroy (James Hampton). Later, Doris, Buck and sons Billy and Toby moved to San Francisco, where Doris got a job as a secretary to bumbling magazine publisher Michael Nicholson (McLean Stevenson). In Season Three, the Martin family moved into an apartment above the Paluccis' Italian restaurant, and Doris began writing features for Today's World magazine. Finally, the kids, family, Nicholson, the Paluccis, and all other cast members vanished, and Doris became a single staff writer for Today's World, where her new boss was Cy Bennett (John Dehner). After her series went off the air, Doris Day only made occasional TV appearances. She did two television specials, The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971) and Doris Day Today (1975). She also appeared on the John Denver TV show (1974). In 1976, she married for the fourth time, to Barry Comden, 12 years her junior. They had met at the Beverly Hills Old World Restaurant, where he was the maitre d'. The couple divorced in 1982. Comden complained that Day preferred the company of her dogs more than his. From then on, Doris devoted her life to animals. During the location filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1956) she had seen how camels, goats and other 'animal extras' in a marketplace scene were being treated. It began her lifelong commitment to prevent animal abuse. For years, she ran the Doris Day Animal League in Carmel, a resort town a little south of San Francisco. In the 1985–1986 season, Day returned to the screen with her own television talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends, on CBN. The network cancelled the show after 26 episodes, despite the worldwide publicity it received. Much of that came from her interview with Rock Hudson, in which a visibly ill Hudson was showing the first public symptoms of AIDS. Hudson would die from the syndrome a year later. Her son Terry Melcher had become a music producer and composer who worked with The Beach Boys, Bobby Darin and The Byrds. With Terry and a partner, she co-owned the Cypress Inn in Carmel, a small inn built in a Mediterranean motif. Terry died of melanoma in 2004, aged 62. In June 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush. She did not attend the White House award ceremony because of her intense fear of flying. In 2006, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In a rare interview with The Hollywood Reporter on 4 April 2019, a day after her 97th birthday, Day talked about her work on the Doris Day Animal Foundation, founded in 1978. On the question of what her favourite film was, she answered Calamity Jane: "I was such a tomboy growing up, and she was such a fun character to play. Of course, the music was wonderful, too — 'Secret Love,' especially, is such a beautiful song." Day died at her home in Carmel Valley, California, in 2019 at the age of 97 after having contracted pneumonia. As per her last wishes, there will be no funeral or graveside service. Doris Day was cremated, and her ashes were scattered in Carmel.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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

Originally come from Frank Herbert's Dune, Ornithopters inspiring thousands of artists and writers for more than 50 years! As you can see, I'm not an exception. Its original design and features make ornithopters far different from any other vehicles shown in books and movies.

 

The building represents the House Atreides' thopter from the recently released movie by Denis Villeneuve. It's unique dragonfly look has completely blown my mind! I've tried to clearly recreate most iconic features of the vehicle including wings flapping and landing gear. The model contains about 1000 pieces + Paul Atreides' minifigure. There's enough space for three minifigs in the cockpit. The set includes a black stand for the Ornithopter with rubber pieces on the bottom, so three options of placing make it an ideal display piece for expert builders.

 

Hope, you'll appreciate it!

Shot on Chittorgarh Fort, Rajasthan, India. This is one amongst hundreds of temples destroyed by Allauddin Khilji and later by Akbar on this fort.

 

More on Chittorgarh:

Chittorgarh Fort is considered the largest fort in India and the best in the state of Rajasthan. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar. It was ruled initially by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from 7th century A.D., till it was finally abandoned in 1568 AD after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567 AD. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m (590.6 ft) in height spread over an area of 280 ha (691.9 acres) above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical and spectacular palaces, gates, temples and two impressive commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between 15th century and 16th century; in 1433 AD Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 AD Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 AD Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first lead by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1433 AD, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th century and 16th century. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the Muslim invading armies.

 

Courtesy: Wikipedia.

 

More information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chittorgarh_Fort

Dusty in Memphis is the fifth studio album by English singer Dusty Springfield. It was recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis and released on 18 January 1969 by Atlantic Records. To make the album, Springfield worked with a team of musicians and producers that included Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, Tom Dowd, conductor Gene Orloff, backing vocalists The Sweet Inspirations, bassist Tommy Cogbill, and guitarist Reggie Young.

 

Dusty in Memphis sold poorly on its first release, despite featuring one of Springfield's top-10 UK hits, "Son of a Preacher Man". The album has since been acclaimed as her best work and one of the greatest records of all time, music critic Robert Christgau calling it "the all-time rock-era torch record" and included it in his "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981). In 2001, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

 

In 2020, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In its official press release, the library stated that despite its modest sales when first released, "over time, Dusty in Memphis grew in stature to become widely recognized as an important album by a woman in the rock era."

Writing and recording

Hoping to reinvigorate her career and boost her credibility, Dusty Springfield turned to the roots of soul music. She signed with Atlantic Records, home label of one of her soul music idols, Aretha Franklin. Although she had sung R&B songs before, she had never released an entire album solely of R&B songs. She began recording an album in Memphis, Tennessee, where some notable blues musicians had grown up. The Memphis sessions at the American Sound Studios were recorded by the A team of Atlantic Records. It included producers Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin, the back-up singers Sweet Inspirations and the "house band" of studio musicians, the Memphis Cats, led by guitarist Reggie Young and bassist Tommy Cogbill. The Memphis Cats had previously backed Wilson Pickett, King Curtis and Elvis Presley. Terry Manning (also a recording engineer, but in this case a writer for the New Musical Express) attended the recording sessions, and ended up assisting Dowd along with Ed Kollis. The songs were written by, among others, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Michel Legrand, Randy Newman, and Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

 

The recording was a challenge for Wexler. In his book Rhythm and the Blues, Wexler wrote that out of all the songs that were initially recorded for the album, "she approved exactly zero." For her, he continued, "to say yes to one song was seen as a lifetime commitment." Springfield disputed this, saying she did choose two: "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Just a Little Lovin'". He was surprised, given Dusty's talent, by her apparent insecurity. Springfield later attributed her initial unease to a very real anxiety about being compared with the soul greats who had recorded in the same studios. Eventually Dusty's final vocals were recorded in New York. Additionally, Springfield stated that she had never before worked with just a rhythm track, and that it was the first time she had worked with outside producers, having self-produced her previous recordings (something for which she never took credit).

 

During the Memphis sessions in November 1968, Springfield suggested to the heads of Atlantic Records that they should sign the newly formed Led Zeppelin group. She knew the band's bass player John Paul Jones, who had backed her in concerts before. Without having ever seen them and largely on Dusty's advice, the record company signed a deal of $200,000 with them. At the time, that was the biggest deal of its kind for a new band.

 

Release and reception

 

Dusty in Memphis was released by Atlantic Records on 18 January 1969 in the United States and on 18 April by Philips Records in the United Kingdom. The album was a commercial failure in both countries, only reaching number 99 on the American album charts and failing to chart altogether on the British Top 40. According to music journalist Peter Robinson, its failure stalled Springfield's career rather than revive it, although the record eventually became "a popcultural milestone [and] timeless emotional reference point" for listeners who discovered it in second-hand shops or purchased one of its several reissues years later. Robert Christgau called it "a pop standard and classic", predicting in his 1973 column for Newsday it would be "the kind of record that will sell for years because its admirers need replacement copies, and it is the perfect instance of how a production team should work." Greil Marcus was less enthusiastic in Rolling Stone, deeming some of the songwriting inconsistent on what was "a real drifting, cool, smart, sexually distracted soul album".

 

Dusty in Memphis has frequently been named one of the greatest albums of all-time; according to Acclaimed Music, it is the 104th most prominently ranked record on critics' all-time lists. NME named it the 54th greatest album ever in their 1993 list, and it was voted number 171 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the record 89th on the magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, a rating which the album maintained in a 2012 revised list. According to Richie Unterberger of AllMusic, the album's reputation has improved significantly over time as the music is "deserving of its classic status". Tony Scherman from Entertainment Weekly said Dusty in Memphis is a "pure gem", Springfield's greatest work, and perhaps one of the greatest pop records ever recorded. Q took note of its balance between "R&B and sensitive pop dramas", while Spin critic Chuck Eddy viewed it as one of the all-important blue-eyed soul records. In The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps wrote that Springfield and her team of musicians and producers for Dusty in Memphis developed an elegant and distinct fusion of pop and R&B that predated the Philadelphia soul sound of the 1970s. According to Eric Klinger from PopMatters, its sophisticated style of music influenced the sound of 1990s trip hop artists who sampled songs from the album and became a blueprint for British female singers of the 2000s, including Adele, Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Joss Stone, Paloma Faith and Rumer.

 

Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.

Dutch postcard, no. 1151. Photo: Warner Bros. Doris Day and Gene Nelson in Lullaby of Broadway (David Butler, 1951). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

 

Legendary actress and singer Doris Day (1922-2019), with her blonde hair and blue eyes, performed with several big bands before going solo in 1947. In the 1950s, she made a series of popular film musicals, including Calamity Jane (1953) and The Pajama Game (1957). 'Que Será, Será!' became her theme song. With Rock Hudson, she starred in the box office hit Pillow Talk (1959). On TV, she appeared in the sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968-1973).

 

Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff was born in 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choirmaster. Her mother named her after her favourite silent film star, Doris Kenyon. She had two brothers, Richard, who died before she was born, and Paul, a few years older. For many years, it was uncertain whether she was born in 1922 or 1924, with Day herself reportedly believing her birth year was the latter and giving her age accordingly. It wasn't until 3 April 2017, her 95th, not 93rd, birthday, that her birth certificate was found by the Associated Press, which confirmed she was born in 1922. Her parents divorced while she was still a child, and she lived with her mother. Like most little girls, Doris liked to dance. At fourteen, she formed a dance act with a boy, Jerry Doherty, and they won $500 in a local talent contest. She and Jerry took a brief trip to Hollywood to test the waters. They felt they could succeed, so she and Jerry returned to Cincinnati to pack and make a permanent move to Hollywood. Tragically, the night before Doris was to move to Hollywood, her car was hit by a train, and she badly injured her right leg. The accident ended the possibility of a dancing career. She spent her next years wheelchair-bound, but during this time began singing along with the radio. Observing her daughter sing, Alma decided Doris should have singing lessons. She engaged a teacher, Grace Raine. After three lessons, Raine told Alma that young Doris had "tremendous potential". Raine was so impressed that she gave Doris three lessons a week for the price of one. Years later, Day said that Raine had the biggest effect on her singing style and career. At age 17, Day had her first professional job as a vocalist, on the WLW radio program 'Carlin's Carnival', and in a local restaurant, Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn. While performing on the radio, she was approached by band leader Barney Rapp. He felt that her name, Kappelhoff, was too harsh and awkward and that she should change her name to something more pleasant. The name 'Day' was suggested by Rapp from one of the songs in Doris' repertoire, 'Day by Day'. She didn't like the name at first, feeling that it sounded too much like a burlesque performer. While she was performing in Barney Rapp's band, she met trombonist Al Jorden, and they married in 1941. The marriage was extremely unhappy, and there were reports of Jordan's alcoholism and abuse of the young star. They divorced within two years, not long after the birth of their son, Terrence Jorden, called Terry. Despondent and feeling his life had little meaning after the much-publicised divorce, Jorden later committed suicide. After working with Rapp, Day worked with bandleaders Jimmy James, Bob Crosby, and Les Brown. The years touring with Les Brown & His Band of Renown, she later called 'the happiest times in my life'. In 1941, Day appeared as a singer in three Soundies (three-minute film clips containing a song, dance and/or band or orchestral number) with the Les Brown band. Her first hit recording was 'Sentimental Journey' in 1945. It became an anthem of the desire of World War II demobilising troops to return home. In 1946, Doris married saxophone player and former child actor George Weidler, but this union lasted less than a year. After leaving Brown to embark on a solo career, she recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967. Day's agent talked her into taking a screen test at Warner Bros. The executives there liked what they saw and signed her to a contract. Her first starring role was in Romance on the High Seas (Michael Curtiz, Busby Berkeley, 1948), with Jack Carson and Janis Paige. The next year, she made two more films, My Dream Is Yours (Michael Curtiz, 1949) and It's a Great Feeling (David Butler, 1949). Audiences took to her beauty, terrific singing voice and bubbly personality, and she turned in fine performances in the films she made - in addition to several hit records.

 

Doris Day made three films for Warner Bros. in 1950 and five more in 1951. She co-starred with Gordon MacRae in five nostalgic period musicals: Tea for Two (David Butler, 1950), The West Point Story (Roy Del Ruth, 1950) with James Cagney and Virginia Mayo, On Moonlight Bay (Roy Del Ruth, 1951), Starlift (Roy Del Ruth, 1951), and By the Light of the Silvery Moon (David Butler, 1953). Her most commercially successful film for Warner was I'll See You in My Dreams (1951), which broke box-office records for 20 years. The film is a musical biography of lyricist Gus Kahn, played by Danny Thomas. It was Day's fourth film, directed by Michael Curtiz. One of her few dramatic roles was in Storm Warning (Stuart Heisler, 1951) with Ginger Rogers and Ronald Reagan. She briefly dated Reagan, with whom she also co-starred in The Winning Team (1952), shortly after his divorce from Jane Wyman, when she and Reagan were contract players at Warner Bros. Doris Day met and married Martin Melcher in 1951. He adopted her young son, Terry and became her manager. In 1953, Doris starred in Calamity Jane (David Butler, 1953), which was a major hit. She performed 'Secret Love' in the film, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Several more hits followed, including Lucky Me (Jack Donohue, 1954), Love Me or Leave Me (Charles Vidor, 1955) with James Cagney. Alfred Hitchcock had seen her dramatic role in Storm Warning and chose her to play Jo McKenna opposite James Stewart in his remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). In the film, she sang the song 'Que Será, Será! (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)', which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became an evergreen. In 1959, Day entered her most successful phase as a film actress with a series of romantic comedies. Her best-known film is probably the first one, Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon, 1959), with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall. For her performance, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Leading Actress. She later co-starred with Hudson and Randall again in Lover Come Back (Delbert Mann, 1961), and Send Me No Flowers (Norman Jewison, 1964). In all three, Day and Hudson played love interests while Randall played Hudson's close friend.

 

Doris Day started in the 1960s with the hit Please Don't Eat the Daisies (Charles Walters, 1960), in which her co-star was David Niven. In 1962, Day appeared with Cary Grant in the comedy That Touch of Mink (Delbert Mann, 1962), the first film in history ever to gross $1 million in one theatre (Radio City Music Hall). In 1960 and during the 1962 to 1964 period, she ranked number one at the box office. Despite her successes at the box office, the late 1950s and early 1960s were a difficult period for Day. In 1958, her brother Paul had died. Around this time, her husband, who had also taken charge of her career, made deals for her to star in films she didn't really care about, which led to a bout with exhaustion. The 1960s weren't to be a repeat of the previous busy decade. She made fewer films, but the ones she did make were successful: Do Not Disturb (Ralph Levy, 1965) with Rod Taylor, and The Glass Bottom Boat (Frank Tashlin, 1966). By the late 1960s, the sexual revolution of the baby boomer generation had refocused public attitudes about sex. Times had changed, but Day's films had not. Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (Hy Averback, 1968), and With Six You Get Eggroll (Howard Morris, 1968), with Brian Keith, would be her final feature. In 1968, her husband, Martin Melcher, suddenly died. Between 1956 and his death, he had produced 18 of her films. A shocked Day discovered she was millions of dollars in debt. Melcher and his business partner, Jerome Bernard Rosenthal, had squandered virtually all of her considerable earnings, but she was eventually awarded $22 million by the courts in a case against Rosenthal.

 

After Martin Melcher's death, Doris Day never made another film. She professed not to have known that he had negotiated a multimillion-dollar deal with CBS to launch her own TV series, The Doris Day Show, the following fall. Day hated the idea of performing on television but felt obligated to do it and needed the work to help pay off her debts. The show became successful and lasted from 1968 until 1973. The Doris Day Show was a light and fluffy sitcom, which changed formats and producers almost every season. Originally, it was about widow Doris Martin and her two young sons (Philip Brown and Todd Stark) who left the big city for the quiet of her family's ranch, which was run by her dad Buck (Denver Pyle) and ranchhand Leroy (James Hampton). Later, Doris, Buck and sons Billy and Toby moved to San Francisco, where Doris got a job as a secretary to bumbling magazine publisher Michael Nicholson (McLean Stevenson). In Season Three, the Martin family moved into an apartment above the Paluccis' Italian restaurant, and Doris began writing features for Today's World magazine. Finally, the kids, family, Nicholson, the Paluccis, and all other cast members vanished, and Doris became a single staff writer for Today's World, where her new boss was Cy Bennett (John Dehner). After her series went off the air, Doris Day only made occasional TV appearances. She did two television specials, The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971) and Doris Day Today (1975). She also appeared on the John Denver TV show (1974). In 1976, she married for the fourth time, to Barry Comden, 12 years her junior. They had met at the Beverly Hills Old World Restaurant, where he was the maitre d'. The couple divorced in 1982. Comden complained that Day preferred the company of her dogs more than his. From then on, Doris devoted her life to animals. During the location filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1956) she had seen how camels, goats and other 'animal extras' in a marketplace scene were being treated. It began her lifelong commitment to prevent animal abuse. For years, she ran the Doris Day Animal League in Carmel, a resort town a little south of San Francisco. In the 1985–1986 season, Day returned to the screen with her own television talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends, on CBN. The network cancelled the show after 26 episodes, despite the worldwide publicity it received. Much of that came from her interview with Rock Hudson, in which a visibly ill Hudson was showing the first public symptoms of AIDS. Hudson would die from the syndrome a year later. Her son Terry Melcher had become a music producer and composer who worked with The Beach Boys, Bobby Darin and The Byrds. With Terry and a partner, she co-owned the Cypress Inn in Carmel, a small inn built in a Mediterranean motif. Terry died of melanoma in 2004, aged 62. In June 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush. She did not attend the White House award ceremony because of her intense fear of flying. In 2006, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In a rare interview with The Hollywood Reporter on 4 April 2019, a day after her 97th birthday, Day talked about her work on the Doris Day Animal Foundation, founded in 1978. On the question of what her favourite film was, she answered Calamity Jane: "I was such a tomboy growing up, and she was such a fun character to play. Of course, the music was wonderful, too — 'Secret Love,' especially, is such a beautiful song." Day died at her home in Carmel Valley, California, in 2019 at the age of 97 after having contracted pneumonia. As per her last wishes, there will be no funeral or graveside service. Doris Day was cremated, and her ashes were scattered in Carmel.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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

Literary Art-Cafe "Caravan"

Address: 10 Purtseladze Str, Tbilisi

 

From Mashrik to Maghrib

 

- On Sunday evenings I cancel everything to attend literature evenings

- I went there and almost lost my mind

- It's very refined. I haven't returned home with such a pleasant feeling for very long time

- Sit as you wish, drink coffee, read marvelous books about arts, acquaint yourself with the world's historical encyclopedia, enjoy the poetry of Himenes. What else could you wish for?

- How come you have never been there yet?

I heard lots of similar things about the place. And as it started to seem like my unfulfilled dream I decided to take measures. So one evening my friend and I went to the "Caravan". We stood in front the place gazing at the old soviet "Zim" and Ford truck (it seems it has just returned from the desert) with big inscription "Bagrationi and Eniseli. 1888" fro half an hour. My friend helped me in to the "caravan" otherwise I would have stood there daydreaming for the rest of the day.

Well I didn't lose my mind but was close to that.

Interior - interesting synthesis of oriental and western cultures

Walls of red brick with carpets, glass lightened niches with the images of famous writers and poets and shelves with modern Georgian and foreign publishers' books.

Low glass tables and soft armchairs with lots of cushions. You can sit for hours, talk about literature, enjoy live music (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday - Zura Khutsishvili Piano, and Lika Shubitidze, vocals). You can attend literature evenings every Sunday (14:00), enjoy tasty oriental and western cuisine, favorite dishes of famous writers (for example Dumas's salad, Hemingway's "sevich"), smoke a hookah and feel like all your dreams come true on such an evening.

From the main hall you enter the bar hall. From there you can see the white curtains. Just draw them and you'll find yourself in a small, cozy room. Ideal for solitude. There are two such rooms in the "Caravan".

"Caravan" also has its own library and books which are rare, only one copy in Tbilisi.

To put it shortly "Caravan" offers literature evenings, meetings with various artists, ideal environment for exhibitions and presentations.

Summary: By all means I will return here.

 

Open: Everyday 11:00 - to the last guest

Archibald Constable (24 February 1774 – 21 July 1827) was a Scottish publisher, bookseller and stationer.

 

He was born at Carnbee, Fife, son of the land steward to the Earl of Kellie.

 

In 1788 Archibald was apprenticed to Peter Hill, an Edinburgh bookseller, but in 1795 he started in business for himself as a dealer in rare books. He bought the Scots Magazine in 1801, and John Leyden, the orientalist, became its editor. In 1800 Constable began the Farmer's Magazine, and in November 1802 he issued the first number of the Edinburgh Review, under the nominal editorship of Sydney Smith; Lord Jeffrey, was, however, the guiding spirit of the review, having as his associates Lord Brougham, Sir Walter Scott, Henry Hallam, John Playfair and afterwards Lord Macaulay.

 

Constable made a new departure in publishing by the generosity of his terms to authors. Writers for the Edinburgh Review were paid at an unprecedented rate, and Constable offered Scott 1000 guineas in advance for Marmion. In 1804 A. G. Hunter joined Constable as partner, bringing considerable capital into the firm, styled from that time Archibald Constable & Co. In 1805, jointly with Longman & Co., Constable published Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel, and in 1807 Marmion.

 

In 1808 a split took place between Constable and Sir Walter Scott, who transferred his business to the publishing firm of John Ballantyne & Co., for which he supplied most of the capital. In 1813, however, a reconciliation took place. Ballantyne was in difficulties, and Constable again became Scott's publisher, a condition being that the firm of John Ballantyne & Co. should be wound up at an early date, though Scott retained his interest in the printing business of James Ballantyne & Co.

 

In 1812 Constable, who had admitted Robert Cathcart and Robert Cadell as partners on Hunter's retirement, purchased the copyright of the Encyclopædia Britannica, adding the supplement (6 vols, 1816-1824) to the 4th, 5th and 6th editions. In 1814 he bought the copyright of Waverley. This was issued anonymously; but in a short time 12,200 copies were disposed of, Scott's other novels following in quick succession. The firm also published the Annual Register. Through over-speculation, complications arose, and in 1826 a crash came. Constable's London agents stopped payment, and he failed for over £250,000, while James Ballantyne & Co. also went bankrupt for nearly £90,000. Sir Walter Scott was affected by the failure of both firms.

 

Constable started business afresh, and began in 1827 Constable's Miscellany of Original and Selected Works consisting of a series of original works, and of standard books republished in a cheap form, thus making one of the earliest and most famous attempts to popularize high-quality literature.

 

The Constable publishing business continued in the twentieth century, issuing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books. It continues today as Constable & Robinson.

Author: Ellis, Edward Sylvester, 1840-1916

Title: The Bear Tamer, Old Grizzly

Publisher: The General Publishing Company

Publication Date: 1885

URL: archive.org/details/04444815.2980.emory.edu

 

Description and Synopsis:

The cover depicts the busy scene of a little bear accompanied by a woman on horseback, a group of Native Americans, and a white man potentially tied to a stake.

 

Further Notes:

American author, Edward Sylvester Ellis, had a prolific career. He wrote under many pseudonyms, making attribution of all of his works tricky. He wrote books for children and adults and became one of the best known American novelists of his time. Ellis mainly wrote about the American frontier, but he also dabbled in the genres of detective fiction and science fiction (Camp).

 

Works Cited:

Camp, Paul Eugen. "Edward S(ylvester) Ellis." American Writers for Children Before 1900. Ed. Glenn E. Estes. Detroit: Gale Research, 1985. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 42. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1200001115&v=2.1&...

  

Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only. The term is often used in the entertainment business, especially in a business context, for musicians and other performers (less often for actors). "Artiste" (the French for artist) is a variant used in English only in this context. Use of the term to describe writers, for example, is certainly valid, but less common, and mostly restricted to contexts like criticism.

Explore, November 6, 2007

 

This is Bob Keane, one of many

hundreds of striking members of

the Writer's Guild who walked

the picket line today at NBC

in Burbank.

 

I took his photo, which he

kindly posed for as the

sun set in the Burbank sky. Then

a young writer told me who he

is. Bob Keane - he wrote for

Johnny Carson and

the Tonight Show

for decades - started there

in 1962. Also wrote for all

the Bob Hope TV specials.

 

I had the

privilege of seeing Johnny do

the show live right here on this

lot on two occasions - and now

the news NBC has sold this

lot and building a new one. Told

Bob that we (speaking for

all of America who remembers)

miss Johnny.

 

"I miss him, too," he said,

with a warm smile.

 

And the writers are being screwed out

of residuals for all the DVD sales

that are making the

corporations billions, and all

the internet downloads of

shows - which everyone knows

is the wave of the future

which has already started-

but this is about

more than just the residuals.

This is about how much money

they need to earn to kick in for

their pensions, and for their

health insurance.

 

I asked some of them

if they felt this strike would

last a long time. So much of

this company town is affected-

so many friends - not only

writers, but those on the

crews of all these shows which

have to go dark during the strike.

And the writers I spoke to

said, yes, this will last a long

time - that the producers hadn't

even put an offer on the

table yet.

 

And I asked why the companies

don't care about the impact

of having so many major shows,

including Leno's Tonight Show,

The Letterman show,

the Daily Show, Colbert Report,

Saturday Night Live

and so many others,

stop production.

And they told me that these

corporations own so many

businesses, and their

entertainment branches are

just tiny parcels of the

whole package. And

so they're in no rush.

 

Leno generously showed up

here yesterday - he did have the

day off, after all - and kindly

marched with the writers.

"Without writers, I'm nothing,"

he said. "I'm a dead man."

 

One good thing that does come

from this is that people realize

that all these comedy shows are

written by writers-

and without them there are no

shows. One less than

enlightened friend asked me

why Letterman doesn't just write

his own show during the strike.

That's five nights a week.

That's a lot of comedy. Dave spends

about the first half of every show

doing comedy bits. No way

he could write that himself.

Very first night of the strike

his show was in reruns.

 

That's what writers mean.

Flickr tag dicek Matsuzaka Slideshow

松坂スライドショー

www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=dicek+Matsuzaka&m=tags

Okajima Slideshow

岡島スライドショー

www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=okajima+redsox

 

「快投ダイスケ」　ボストンの地元紙、松坂を称賛：2007年05月15日20時05分

 

大リーグ、レッドソックスの本拠地があるボストンの地元紙（電子版）は１５日付で、前夜のタイガース戦でメジャー初完投勝利を挙げた松坂大輔投手の好投を大きく報じた。

　ボストン・グローブ紙は「完ぺきだった制球」の見出しで投球内容を詳報した。過去の登板では四球連発からの自滅が続いたこともあったが、今回は初の無四球。「彼は（メジャーの）ストライクゾーンを頭にたたき込んだね」。ブルペンで投球練習を始めながら、結局は登板機会のなかった同僚の抑え投手、パペルボンの言葉を引用し、復調した右腕を評価した。

 

　「快投を手に入れたダイスケ」と伝えたのは、ボストン・ヘラルド紙。３打席とも内野ゴロに打ち取られたケーシーの「メジャーには多くの好投手がいるが、彼もその一人だ」とのコメントを掲載し、昨季ア・リーグ覇者のタイガース打線が松坂の力量を認めたことを報道。「多くのファンが想像していたような投手になった」と結んだ。（時事）

www.asahi.com/sports/update/0515/JJT200705150008.html?ref...

 

☆RED SOX 7, TIGERS 1

Complete command

Matsuzaka masters Tigers as Sox romp

www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/05/15...

 

松坂は７回１失点で降板、レッドソックスが大量リード

　【トロント９日共同】米大リーグ、レッドソックスの松坂大輔投手は９日、当地でのブルージェイズ戦に先発、７回５安打で８三振を奪い、ソロ本塁打による１失点で勝ち投手の権利を得て降板した。

　試合は８回表を終了し、レッドソックスが８―１でリード。(10:46)

www.nikkei.co.jp/news/main/20070510STXKE009310052007.html

松坂が２敗目、ブルージェイズ戦で１０奪三振も２失点

www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/mlb/news/20070418i502.htm

松坂は７回３失点で降板、イチロー完封も城島２安打

www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/mlb/news/20070412it03.htm?from=top

 

collvalley's

Royals vs. Red Sox 4/5/07 (Set)

www.flickr.com/photos/philmo/sets/72157600050187151/

JE-V's

Daisuke Matsuzaka (Set)

www.flickr.com/photos/jesse_ev/sets/72157600071340713/

 

Explore/Tags/matsuzaka

www.flickr.com/photos/tags/matsuzaka/

Explore/Tags/redsox

www.flickr.com/photos/tags/redsox/

 

☆☆☆11/14/2006 8:04 PM ET

Red Sox win Matsuzaka sweepstakes

Club has 30 days to reach deal with Japanese right-hander

By Jim Street / MLB.com

 

mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061112&...

 

☆Updated: Nov. 10, 2006, 6:17 PM ET

Sources: Red Sox may have top Matsuzaka bidBy Buster Olney

ESPN The Magazine

  

The Boston Red Sox may have posted the top bid for the right to negotiate with Japanese right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, according to Major League Baseball sources.

 

There has been no official announcement, and the Seibu Lions, Matsuzaka's team in Japan, have until Tuesday to accept or reject the high bid.

 

But, according to officials monitoring the bidding, the Red Sox bid may be between $38 million and $45 million.

 

According to a source, Texas bid about $22 million for Matsuzaka, with the intention of offering a contract of five years and $50 million if the Rangers had the top bid.

 

Matsuzaka, who pitched for Japan's World Baseball Classic champions, is considered among the top prospects available this offseason.

 

If the Lions accept the top bid, the winning bidder has 30 days to reach an agreement with Matsuzaka. If a deal cannot be reached, he would return to the Lions for the 2007 Japanese baseball season.

 

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, major league teams interested in bidding on the rights to deal with Matsuzaka had to post a sealed bid. Major League Baseball then took the highest bid and forwarded only the dollar figure -- not the identity of the team -- to the Seibu Lions.

 

According to a source within Major League Baseball, as of Friday afternoon, Seibu had not informed MLB officially whether it had accepted the bid.

 

There are three reasons the deal would make sense for the Red Sox:

 

• Talent evaluators who have seen Matsuzaka say he's a top of the rotation-quality pitcher who would improve the Red Sox staff.

 

• If Boston signs him it would effectively plant a Red Sox flag in the growing Far East market.

 

• By merely winning the bidding the Red Sox would block the Yankees from acquiring Matsuzaka. By signing him, they would gain the same kind of advantage the Yankees gained when they signed Johnny Damon away from Boston.

 

Buster Olney is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.

sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2656687

 

☆11/13/2006 4:09 PM ET

Red Sox reportedly win Matsuzaka bid

Price to negotiate with Japanese star as high as $50 million

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

 

NAPLES, Fla. -- The Boston Red Sox have apparently won the U.S. rights to star Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, it was reported on several media outlets and substantiated by highly placed baseball officials on Monday.

An announcement is expected to be made jointly on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET (10 a.m. Tokyo time Wednesday) by Major League Baseball and the Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner's offices, MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said Monday at the general managers' meetings.

 

If the Seibu Lions turn down the bid, Matsuzaka must return to Japan next season. If they accept it, the winning team must negotiate a contract with the pitcher and his agent, Scott Boras, in the next 30 days or lose those rights.

 

ESPN reported on its Web site on Monday that Boston is the high bidder for the right-hander, who was the Most Valuable Player during Japan's victory this past March in the first World Baseball Classic. MLB accepted bids last week that could be in anywhere from the $20 million to $50 million range. The Red Sox, Yankees and Rangers had reportedly made bids.

 

ESPN said that Boston's bid was $42 million, although XM Radio reported on one of its Monday morning shows that the bid was in excess of $50 million. Several high-ranking baseball sources also said they had heard Boston was the winner at about $50 million.

 

In any event, that amount would be unprecedented in the history of MLB-NPB relations. When the Seattle Mariners signed Ichiro Suzuki in 2001, the posting price was $13.1 million.

 

"That's an awful lot of money just to talk to one player, who's never pitched in the Major Leagues," said a baseball source of Boston's apparent bid for Matsuzaka.

 

In addition to the posting price, the Red Sox will undoubtedly have to pay Matsuzaka a contract worth about $12 million a year for the next three or four years.

 

"Now you're looking at a $100 million man," said XM's Orestes Destrade, a former Major League and Japan leagues player, who has strong ties in that Asian country. "I'm concerned about that. He's a stellar pitcher, and in regular circumstances, I think he would have a fantastic Major League career. But that's a lot of pressure to go to Boston with a $100 million label on you."

 

The expenditure may make sense for the Red Sox, who are trying to rebuild a woeful starting rotation, are always in toe-to-toe competition with the Yankees in the American League East and have lagged well behind their New York rivals in building relationships in the Far East.

 

After the 2002 season, the Yankees went into a working agreement with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Central League to share scouting and development data. Shortly thereafter, the Yankees signed former Giants slugger Hideki Matsui to a three-year contract, which was extended last year. The outfielder, though, was a pure free agent with more than nine years in the Japan leagues, and the Yankees did not have to pay the Giants.

 

Players with less experience -- like Matsuzaka and third baseman Akinori Iwamura -- must go through the vigorous posting system, which was put into place in 1995 after the Dodgers signed pitcher Hideo Nomo. The posting process was instituted so MLB couldn't raid Japan of its up-and-coming stars without paying a high price to the originating team.

 

Posting was closed on Friday for Iwamura, who is set to leave the Yakult Swallows if that team accepts MLB's high bid.

 

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

 

□Matsuzaka's phots

sports.espn.go.com/espn/apphoto/photo?photoId=1347892&...

□Matsuzaka

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdr0N9HDptg

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsptUfnhVcc

 

■Flickr

Fenway Park

www.flickr.com/photos/tags/fenwaypark/

Boston Red Sox

www.flickr.com/photos/tags/bostonredsox/

The Red Sox Nation

www.flickr.com/groups/redsoxnation/pool/

MLB

www.flickr.com/groups/60356848@N00/

 

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

■田口壮オフィシャルサイト　So Taguchi official site

www.taguchiso.com/

 

■MLB ビデオハイライト

sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/special/stream/mlb/2006/videohighl...

So taguchi

www.flickr.com/photos/lmw626/282944695/

Kiss my Taguchi

www.flickr.com/photos/cottergarage/279103737/in/set-72157...

 

St Louis Cardinals 2006 World Series

www.flickr.com/photos/cottergarage/sets/72157594344301071/

 

■ＭＬＢ＝Ｗシリーズ覇者カージナルス、1人当たりの分配金が過去最高に

［ニューヨーク　１６日　ロイター］　米大リーグ（ＭＬＢ）は１６日、今季プレーオフでの選手に対する分配金を発表し、ワールドシリーズを制覇したカージナルスが選手１人当たりでは史上最高額の分配金を手にしたことが分かった。

　田口壮外野手が所属するカージナルスは、選手１人当たり３６万２１７３ドル（約４２８８万４９００円）。従来の最高額は、昨年ワールシリーズ覇者ホワイトソックスの３２万４５３２ドル（１人当たり）。

 

　ア・リーグで優勝しワールドシリーズで敗れたタイガースには、１人当たり２９万１６６７ドルが分配される。

 

　分配金はワールドシリーズ出場チームのほか、シーズンの各地区２位までの全１２チームに与えられる。

today.reuters.co.jp/news/articlenews.aspx?type=sportsNews...

 

★Livedoor Translation

translate.livedoor.com/

 

Photo taken by Linden Hudson (amateur photographer) in Paris France (March 2017).

 

Who is Linden Hudson?

 

CLASSICBANDS DOT COM said: “According to former roadie David Blayney in his book SHARP DRESSED MEN: sound engineer Linden Hudson co-wrote much of the material on the ZZ Top ELIMINATOR album.” (end quote)

 

(ZZ Top never opted to give Linden credit, which would have been THE decent thing to do. It would have helped Linden's career as well. The band and management worked ruthlessly to take FULL credit for the hugely successful album which Linden had spent a good deal of time working on. Linden works daily to tell this story. Also, the band did not opt to pay Linden, they worked to keep all the money and they treated Linden like dirt. It was abuse. Linden launched a limited lawsuit, brought about using his limited resources which brought limited results and took years. No one should treat the co-writer of their most successful album like this. It's just deeply fucked up.)

+++

Hear the original ZZ Top ELIMINATOR writing/rehearsal tapes made by Linden Hudson and Billy Gibbons at: youtu.be/2QZ8WUTaS18

+++

Read Linden's story of the making of the super-famous ZZ Top ELIMINATOR album at: www.flickr.com/people/152350852@N02/

+++

LICKLIBRARY DOT COM (2013 Billy Gibbons interview) ZZ TOP'S BILLY GIBBONS FINALLY ADMITTED: “the Eliminator sessions in 1983 were guided largely by another one of our associates, Linden Hudson, a gifted engineer, during the development of those compositions.” (end quote) (Gibbons admits this after 30 years, but offers Linden no apology or reparations for lack of credit/royalties)

+++

MUSICRADAR DOT COM (2013 interview with ZZ Top's guitarist Billy Gibbons broke 30 years of silence about Linden Hudson introducing synthesizers into ZZ Top's sound.) Gibbons said: “This was a really interesting turning point. We had befriended somebody who would become an influential associate, a guy named Linden Hudson. He was a gifted songwriter and had production skills that were leading the pack at times. He brought some elements to the forefront that helped reshape what ZZ Top were doing, starting in the studio and eventually to the live stage. Linden had no fear and was eager to experiment in ways that would frighten most bands. But we followed suit, and the synthesizers started to show up on record.” (once again, there was no apology from ZZ Top or Billy Gibbons after this revelation).

+++

TEXAS MONTHLY MAGAZINE (Dec 1996, By Joe Nick Patoski): "Linden Hudson floated the notion that the ideal dance music had 124 beats per minute; then he and Gibbons conceived, wrote, and recorded what amounted to a rough draft of an album before the band had set foot inside Ardent Studios."

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FROM THE BOOK: SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP (By David Blayney) : "Probably the most dramatic development in ZZ Top recording approaches came about as Eliminator was constructed. What had gone on before evolutionary; this change was revolutionary. ZZ Top got what amounted to a new bandsman (Linden) for the album, unknown to the world at large and at first even to Dusty and Frank."

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CNET DOT COM: (question posed to ZZ Top): Sound engineer Linden Hudson was described as a high-tech music teacher on your highly successful "Eliminator" album. How much did the band experiment with electronic instruments prior to that album?

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THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE, MARCH 2018: "Eliminator" had a tremendous impact on us and the people who listen to us," says ZZ Top’s bass player. Common band lore points to production engineer Linden Hudson suggesting that 120 beats per minute was the perfect rock tempo, or "the people's tempo" as it came to be known.

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FROM THE BOOK: SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP by David Blayney: (page 227): "...the song LEGS Linden Hudson introduced the pumping synthesizer effect."

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(Search Linden Hudson in the various ZZ Top Wikipedia pages which are related to the ELIMINATOR album and you will find bits about Linden. Also the main ZZ Top Wikipedia page mentions Linden. He's mentioned in at least 7 ZZ Top related Wikipedia pages.)

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FROM THE BOOK: SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP By David Blayney: "Linden found himself in the position of being Billy's (Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top guitarist) closest collaborator on Eliminator. In fact, he wound up spending more time on the album than anybody except Billy. While the two of them spent day after day in the studio, they were mostly alone with the equipment and the ideas."

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FROM THE BOOK: BEER DRINKERS & HELL RAISERS: A ZZ TOP GUIDE (By Neil Daniels, released 2014): "Hudson reportedly had a significant role to play during the planning stages of the release (ELIMINATOR)."

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FROM THE BOOK: ZZ TOP - BAD AND WORLDWIDE (ROLLING STONE PRESS, WRITTEN BY DEBORAH FROST): "Linden was always doing computer studies. It was something that fascinated him, like studio technology. He thought he might understand the components of popular songs better if he fed certain data into his computer. It might help him understand what hits (song releases) of any given period share. He first found out about speed; all the songs he studied deviated no more than one beat from 120 beats per minute. Billy immediately started to write some songs with 120 beats per minute. Linden helped out with a couple, like UNDER PRESSURE and SHARP DRESSED MAN. Someone had to help Billy out. Dusty and Frank didn't even like to rehearse much. Their studio absence wasn't really a problem though. The bass and drum parts were easily played with a synthesizer or Linn drum machine." (end quote)

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FROM THE BOOK: "SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP" BY DAVID BLAYNEY: "After his quantitative revelations, Linden informally but instantly became ZZ Top's rehearsal hall theoretician, producer, and engineer." (end quote)

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FROM THE BOOK: "ZZ TOP - BAD AND WORLDWIDE" (ROLLING STONE PRESS, BY DEBORAH FROST): "With the release of their ninth album, ELIMINATOR, in 1983, these hairy, unlikely rock heroes had become a pop phenomenon. This had something to do with the discoveries of a young preproduction engineer (Linden Hudson) whose contributions, like those of many associated with the band over the years, were never acknowledged."

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FROM THE BOOK: ​SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP (By DAVID BLAYNEY) : "The integral position Linden occupied in the process of building El​iminator was demonstrated eloquently in the case of song Under Pressure. Billy and Linden, the studio wizards, did the whole song all in one afternoon without either the bass player or drummer even knowing it had been written and recorded on a demo tape. Linden synthesized the bass and drums and helped write the lyrics; Billy did the guitars and vocals."

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FROM THE BOOK: "TRES HOMBRES - THE STORY OF ZZ TOP" BY DAVID SINCLAIR (Writer for the Times Of London): "Linden Hudson, the engineer/producer who lived at Beard's house (ZZ's drummer) had drawn their attention to the possibilities of the new recording technology and specifically to the charms of the straight drumming pattern, as used on a programmed drum machine. On ELIMINATOR ZZ Top unveiled a simple new musical combination that cracked open a vast worldwide market.

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FROM THE BOOK: "SHARP DRESS MEN - ZZ TOP" BY DAVID BLAYNEY: "ELIMINATOR went on to become a multi-platinum album, just as Linden had predicted when he and Billy were setting up the 124-beat tempos and arranging all the material. Rolling Stone eventually picked the album as number 39 out of the top 100 of the 80's. Linden Hudson in a fair world shoud have had his name all over ELIMINATOR and gotten the just compensation he deserved. Instead he got ostracized."

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FROM THE BOOK: ​SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP by DAVID BLAYNEY: "He (Linden) went back with the boys to 1970 when he was working as a radio disc jocky aliased Jack Smack. He was emcee for a show ZZ did around that time, and even sang an encore tune with the band, perhaps the only person ever to have that honor." (side note: this was ZZ Top's very first show).

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FROM THE BOOK: "SHARP DRESSED MEN - ZZ TOP" BY DAVID BLAYNEY: "Linden remained at Frank's (ZZ Top drummer) place as ZZ's live-in engineer throughout the whole period of ELIMINATOR rehearsals, and was like one of the family... as he (Linden) worked at the controls day after day, watching the album (ELIMINATOR) take shape, his hopes for a big step forward in his production career undoubtably soared. ELIMINATOR marked the first time that ZZ Top was able to rehearse an entire album with the recording studio gadgetry that Billy so loved. With Linden Hudson around all the time, it also was the first time the band could write, rehearse, and record with someone who knew the men and the machines. ZZ Top was free to go musically crazy, but also musically crazy like a fox. Linden made that possible too."

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FROM THE BOOK "ZZ TOP - BAD AND WORLDWIDE" (ROLLING STONE PRESS, BY DEBORAH FROST, WRITER FOR ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE): "... SHARP DRESSED MAN which employed Hudson's 120 beat-per-minute theory. The feel, the enthusiasm, the snappy beat and crisp clean sound propelled ELIMINATOR into the ears and hearts of 5 million people who previously could have cared less about the boogie band of RIO GRANDE MUD."

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THE GREATEST ROCK REBRAND OF ALL TIME (by Jason Miller): "Sound engineer Linden Hudson researched the tempos at which the most popular rock tracks in the charts had been recorded. His data showed that there was something very special about 120 beats to a minute. Gibbons decided to record pretty much the whole of ZZ Top’s new album at that tempo. The result? 1983’s Eliminator. It was named after Gibbons’ Ford Coupé; it had been created through a unique combination of creative collaboration and data mining. And it was about to take the world by storm."

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ULTIMATECLASSICROCK DOT COM: "This new melding of styles was encouraged by Hudson, who served as a kind of pre-producer for ​EL LOCO ... ... Hudson helped construct ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard's home studio, and had lived with him for a time. That led to these initial sessions, and then a closer collaboration on 1983's ​ELIMINATOR.

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FIREDOGLAKE DOT COM: "I like Billy Gibbons' guitar tone quite a lot, but I lost all respect for them after reading how badly they fucked over Linden Hudson (the guy who was the brains behind their move to include synthesizers and co-wrote most of their career-defining Eliminator record)."

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EMAIL FROM A ZZ TOP FAN TO LINDEN (One Of Many): "I write you today about broken hearts, one is mine and one is for you. I have been a ZZ Top fan since I was 6 years old. I purchased ELIMINATOR vinyl from Caldors in Connecticut with the $20 my grandma gave me for my birthday. I will spare the #1 fan epic saga of tee shirts, harassing Noreen at the fan club via phone weekly for years, over 40 shows attended. Posters, non stop conversation about the time I have spent idolizing this band, but more Billy G, as he has seemed to break free of the Lone Wolf shackles and it became more clear this was his baby. In baseball I was Don Mattingly's #1 fan, Hershel Walker in football, Billy Gibbons in music. What do these individuals have in common? They were role models. Not a DUI, not a spousal abuse, not a drug overdose, not a cheater. Until I read your web page. I read Blayney's book around 1992 or so, I was in middle school and I was familiar with your name for a long time. I didn't realize you suffered so greatly or that your involvement was so significant. It pains me to learn my idol not only cheated but did something so wrong to another being. I now know this is where tall tales and fun loving bullshit and poor morals and ethics are distinguished and where I would no longer consider myself to look up to Billy. I love to joke and I love credit but I have always prided myself on ethics and principles... I hold them dear. I wanted to say, the snippet of UNDER PRESSURE you played sounded very new wave and I may like it more than the finished product. Well that's all. You have reached ZZ Top's biggest fan and I can let others know. Bummer. Cheers and good luck. James."​

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VINYLSTYLUS DOT COM: Much of Eliminator was recorded at 124bpm, the tempo that considered perfect for dance music by the band’s associate Linden Hudson. An aspiring songwriter, former DJ and – at the time – drummer Frank Beard’s house-sitter, Hudson’s involvement in the recording of the album would come back to haunt them. Despite assisting Gibbons with the pre-production and developing of the material that would end up on both El Loco and Eliminator, his contribution wasn’t credited when either record was released.

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INFOMORY DOT COM: ‘Eliminator’ is a studio album of the American rock band ZZ Top. It was released on March 23, 1983 and topped the charts worldwide. Its lyrics were co-written by the band’s sound engineer Linden Hudson while the band denied it.

 

Description: The caption accompanying this Lockheed Missiles and Space Company public relations photo read: "Wanda G. Bradshaw is in the metallurgy and ceramics department of Lockheed's research laboratories. A graduate of Whittier College, with a B.S. in chemistry, she is engaged currently in measuring corrosion of metals. Her husband is an engineering writer for Lockheed. Their interests include baroque music."

 

Creator/Photographer: Unidentified photographer

 

Medium: Black and white photographic print

 

Date: 1962

 

Persistent URL: http://photography.si.edu/SearchImage.aspx?id=5806

 

Repository: Smithsonian Institution Archives

 

Collection: Accession 90-105: Science Service Records, 1920s – 1970s - Science Service, now the Society for Science & the Public, was a news organization founded in 1921 to promote the dissemination of scientific and technical information. Although initially intended as a news service, Science Service produced an extensive array of news features, radio programs, motion pictures, phonograph records, and demonstration kits and it also engaged in various educational, translation, and research activities.

 

Accession number: SIA2007-0338

"Midgley is a hill-top village in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 12 miles (20 km) east from Burnley and 4 miles (6 km) west-north-west of Halifax town centres, and just north of the A646 road. Nearby villages are Mytholmroyd 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west-south-west, and Hebden Bridge 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the west-north-west.

 

The village is part of the Luddendenfoot ward of the Metropolitan borough of Calderdale, part of the Metropolitan county of West Yorkshire.

 

Midgley has a social committee to arrange events such as open gardens, village fetes, parties, quiz nights and wine tasting. A previous Co-op store has been refurbished to become a shop and community room staffed by volunteers; it opened in February 2010.

 

Local primary education is provided by Midgley School.

 

Notable people include Vikrum Tagra, famed for his work in private security, and later his work as a writer for The Simpsons Wrestling." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon.

The nation's 45th president will face complex fiscal and economic realities. In just eight years, interest on the national debt will become the third-largest "program" in the federal budget. What steps can the next president take to ensure we have the resources necessary to invest in critical areas of our economy? In this session, we heard directly from economic policy advisors to the presidential campaigns — Sam Clovis, National Co-Chair and Chief Policy Advisor, Donald J. Trump For President, Inc. and David Kamin (right), Economic Policy Advisor to Hillary For America — who will tell us how their candidates are preparing to address America’s unsustainable fiscal outlook and secure a strong economy of the future. Interviewed by John Harwood (left), chief Washington correspondent, CNBC, and political writer for The New York Times.

 

Watch the video: youtu.be/YYcMFotufQI

Art Nouveau gem of Latgale - Luznava Manor (Lūznavas muiža) which was built in 1905-1911 in jugendstil with eclectic elements. It belonged to the Kierbedź family and was a meeting place for artists, musicians, writers. For example famous Lithuanian painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis visited it. Owners lived here only in summer (May-September), and other part of year were spending in Italy. Over the decades the manor experienced historic change, becoming a school, military headquarters, then school again, parish administration and library. In 2015 it was reborn! Now here located kind of cultural center: Luznava manor and the park offering exhibitions, concerts, spaces available to rent for seminars, conferences and others. By the way, when I visited Kaunas in November, I was disappointed due to the impossibility to visit Čiurlionis National Art Museum - it was closed this day. Hard to tell you, how happy I was to see with my own eyes some of Čiurlionis' works in Luznava Manor! *** Жэмчужына югендстыля Латгаліі – Лузнаўская сядзіба (Luznavas muiža), якая была пабудавана ў 1905-1911 гадах у югендстылі з элементамі эклектыкі. Яна належыла сям'і Карбедзе (Kierbedź) і была месцам сустрэч мастакоў, музыкаў, пісьменнікаў. Напрыклад, знакаміты літоўскі мастак і кампазітар Мікало́юс Канстанці́нас Чурлё́ніс наведаў гэту сядзібу. Уладальнікі жылі тут толькі летам (з мая па верасень), а астатнюю частку года праводзілі ў Італіі. На працягу многіх дзесяцігоддзяў сядзіба перажыла гістарычныя перамены, стаўшы школа, ваенным штабам, затым зноў школай, адміністрацыей і прыхадскай бібліятэкай. У 2015 годзе сядзіба атрымала другое народжане! У цяперашні час тут знаходзіцца свайго роду культурны цэнтр: Лузнаўская сядзіба прапануе выставы, канцэрты, памяшканні можна арандаваць для правядзення семінараў, канферэнцый і інш. Дарэчы, калі я наведвала Каўнас у лістападзе, я быў расчаравана, што не змагла наведаць музей Нацыянальны мастацкі музей імя Чурлёніса - ён быў зачынены ў гэты дзень. Цяжка нават перадаць, як я была шчасліва ўбачыць на свае вочы некаторыя з прац Чурлёніса ў Лузнаўскай сядзіба!

This is one of four scenes from a video promo for the book project 'coming and crying' a collection of real stories about sex from some of the best writers around (including flickr's very own Katie West).

 

I was introduced to the writers for this project through the blogger community at tumblr. They needed help in making a promo video both for their site and to distribute on the web. Being a fan of their writing, i volunteered (and was luckily selected) to help them create this collaborative video.

 

You can buy a book and donate to their self-published and internet-funded project through www.comingandcrying.com You can even buy a special book+photo version that will include photos by some of your faovite internet photographers (including Flickr's Lou 'o bedlam' Noble', Katie West, Laura Taylor, and Nikola Tamindzic - I'm hoping i can submit my own photo for consideration soon, i've been delayed by the edit of this video). But you need to hurry, opportunities to donate and buy a first edition of the book ends soon! go to www.comingandcrying.com now.

 

And if you'd like to watch the entire trailer (in full HD!) that i've put a ton of time into shooting, directing, editing, coloring, and sound designing, please visit vimeo.com/9610582.

Uploading these WAY late. Sorry. Moving to new PC after being on the same Win7-Pro machine for like 8+ years (I don't like change!), and it's been a mini-nightmare. Caught these a couple weeks ago at my local BNSF / Santa Fe yard.

 

====================

 

FYI.

 

These were shot with a 7.5mm fisheye lens because of the location, and poorly corrected so they look somewhat normal...

 

====================

 

Decided to head out to my local yard on a Saturday, got there at 9:30 and I was the only one out at the freight side platform. After a half hour I noticed someone down at the other end that I thought I recognized. Messaged him, and yep, it was him. My dude PasadenaSubColin.

 

We were both out there to just enjoy the day, me catching freights, and him freights & Metrolinks. He's a good dude to have around, as he lets me know when something cool is on its way into the yard, and I appreciate that he's all plugged into the grid to give the "heads up" when something's coming soon.

 

Well, this time I had, or rather found out, the "Heads Up" about 15 mins before he let me in on what would be the joke of the day. There apparently was a bicentennial engine coming through the depot today on its way to a RR museum in Perris, CA. The 5704!!!!! Big whoop.... One dude chatted me up asking if I knew when "IT" was supposed to come through. I had no idea what he was talking about and told him I don't follow trains. :-)

 

15-20 mins. later Colin messages me an FYI, that there's a "Special" train about to roll through. I've been in this situation before. I'm there benching graff, and all of the sudden 20 cars pull up and a bunch of "Railfans" jump out of their cars, run over, take a few photos of the "Special" car(s), engine or train, and when it's gone, they're gone. I feel like these are the people who only get out of bed when something "cool" is rolling through town. I really doubt they care about day-to-day operations of the RR. And honestly there's no way they give a shit about the graff.

 

Most people out at the tracks are cool, but there's a certain group of people who seem to have zero social skills when something "Special" is coming through, and we had at least one on this day. Some dude that kept walking past us, standing in my spot, like he was going to shoot from there when I got there at 9:30, and he got there at Noon. Walking past us by inches, and not saying a word, head down... Walking in front of cameras that were filming, hanging around my backpack and gear while I was like 30 feet away, just weird, un-cool shit. I'm not down with any of this. But I don't want to burn this spot as a bencher and didn't start any trouble, even though I wanted to punch this dude.. GRRR!

 

Will not be posting flicks of this special train car. Sorry. I saw it, I flicked it, but the whole experience was crap, and it was just one engine, big deal. I was there for the graff that you're seeing me post.

 

Was hot, no clouds, and at my end of the platform I had a 2ft. x 3ft. spot of slowly moving shade that was cast by one of the platform lights. After a while Colin and I were sharing this tiny moving spot of shade. No worries, we get along just fine.

 

BTW: PasadenaSubColin is a FOAMER!!!!!!!! ;-p

 

Managed to re-flick a few cars that I caught at the beginning of the month at the other end of the valley. Anyway........ I'll be back to try and ID these pieces soon. Might take me a little longer than usual as, like I said before, new computer, new crap to deal with..

 

Stay safe out there homies.

 

And..... As always, Thanks to the writers!

 

For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven

 

Please Subscribe to the YouTube, every little bit helps.

Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.

Olympic Tower is a 51-story, 620 ft-tall (190 m) building at 641 and 645 Fifth Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the mixed-use development contains condominium apartments, office space, and retail shops. The tower is named after Olympic Airways, whose president Aristotle Onassis jointly developed the tower with the Arlen Realty and Development Corporation between 1971 and 1974. It was the first skyscraper to be constructed within a special zoning district to encourage retail and mixed-use development along Fifth Avenue.

 

The building's glass facade is designed to reflect St. Patrick's Cathedral immediately to the south. The superstructure is made of steel on the lower stories and cast concrete on the upper stories. The first two stories contain a public atrium, Olympic Place, which connects the 51st and 52nd Street facades. The next 19 stories contain office space while the top 30 stories contain 230 condominium apartments. Upon Olympic Tower's completion, architectural writers such as Ada Louise Huxtable and Christopher Gray criticized its design.

 

Construction of Olympic Tower dates to the late 1960s, when Best & Co. sought to build an office tower above their store at Fifth Avenue and 51st Street. Morris Lapidus was initially hired for the project, but the plans were changed after the zoning district was created. When the building was completed, wealthy non-American buyers purchased most of its residential units. Crown Acquisitions bought Olympic Tower from its original owners in the 2010s.

 

Site

 

Olympic Tower is in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is along the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue to the west and 51st Street to the south, with an arm extending north to 52nd Street. The building carries the addresses 641 Fifth Avenue for its residential units; 645 Fifth Avenue for its office units; and 10 East 52nd Street for its entrance on 52nd Street. The land lot is L-shaped and covers around 25,600 sq ft (2,380 m2), with a frontage of 112.92 ft (34.42 m) on Fifth Avenue and a depth of 192.5 ft (58.7 m). The building wraps around Cartier Building and 647 Fifth Avenue to the northwest and is on the same block as 11 East 51st Street and 488 Madison Avenue to the east. Other nearby buildings include 650 Fifth Avenue to the west, 660 Fifth Avenue to the northwest, Austrian Cultural Forum New York to the north, 12 East 53rd Street and Omni Berkshire Place to the northeast, St. Patrick's Cathedral to the south, and the International Building of Rockefeller Center to the southwest.

 

Prior to the mid-1940s, a portion of the site was formerly occupied by the Union Club and two residences at 3 East 51st Street and 645 Fifth Avenue. These buildings were demolished by 1944 when a 12-story department store for Best & Co. was announced for the site. The Best & Co. store opened in 1947. Olympic Airways, the national airline of Greece, subleased 647 Fifth Avenue immediately north of the store in 1965 and opened a sales office there the next year.

 

Architecture

 

Olympic Tower was designed in the International Style by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM). It is 620 ft (189.0 m) tall, with 51 stories. Whitson Overcash of SOM was the partner in charge and Paul Baren was the project manager. Other firms involved in Olympic Tower's construction included general contractor Tishman Realty & Construction, mechanical engineer W. A. DiGiacomo & Associates, structural engineer James Ruderman, and zoning and code engineer Max Siegel.

 

Form and facade

 

The building was the first to take advantage of a special Fifth Avenue zoning district, with retail on the first two floors, followed by offices on the center stories and condominiums on the highest stories. The presence of the zoning district enabled the Fifth Avenue facade of the tower to rise straight up without any setbacks, but setbacks were still required on the 51st and 52nd Street facades. The tower's developers, Arlen Realty and Olympic Airways president Aristotle Onassis, received a zoning variance that exempted them from having to construct a setback on 51st Street. The only setbacks on the tower are on the northern side, facing 52nd Street, where there is a 22-story "bustle". At the time of Olympic Tower's completion, it was the tallest building that faced Fifth Avenue without a setback there.

 

Olympic Tower has a floor area ratio of 21.6, the maximum permitted in the city when it was completed. The tower received development bonuses in exchange for including a public atrium and for including more than the minimum of retail space that was required for new buildings in the zoning district. In addition to its land lot, the building uses approximately 14,800 ft (4,500 m) of air development rights above neighboring buildings, giving it a total lot area of approximately 40,500 sq ft (3,760 m2). When Olympic Tower was developed, buildings in the densest commercial districts could have a FAR of up to 18, but the tower's development bonuses collectively enabled a 20 percent increase in the maximum FAR.

 

The facade is clad with glass that is tinted brown. The curtain wall is made of black anodized aluminum.[4] According to Whitson Overcash, the glass facade was meant to reflect St. Patrick's Cathedral to the south.

 

Features

 

Olympic Tower's facade contains two stories of retail space, 19 stories of office space, and 30 stories of apartments. Olympic Tower has several mechanical systems, including steam heating and cooling, secondary water, ventilation, and domestic hot water systems. In total, it was built with 791,745 sq ft (73,555.5 m2) of usable space According to floor plans, Olympic Tower has a single mechanical core at the center of each floor, which contains the elevators, stairs, restrooms, and utility rooms.

 

The 21-story retail and office base measures 113 ft (34 m) along Fifth Avenue and 158 ft (48 m) along the northern side. The southern side of the base is 177.5 ft (54.1 m) long on 51st Street; the retail space in the lowest stories extends another 15 ft (4.6 m) eastward along that street. The upper stories are rectangular in form, measuring 85 ft (26 m) on Fifth Avenue by about 177.5 feet on 51st Street. The pedestrian atrium on the lowest stories measures about 50 ft (15 m) wide and 200 ft (61 m) long between 51st and 52nd Streets.

 

Superstructure

 

The superstructure is unconventional in that the lower stories are made of steel while the upper stories are made of cast concrete. Though the superstructure uses conventional methods of steel and concrete construction, the combination of both types of construction is less common. The superstructure for the first 21 stories is composed of structural steel columns and girders, and the floor slabs are covered with reinforced concrete. On the upper 30 stories, the columns and floor slabs are made of reinforced concrete. Concrete had better acoustics, the apartments did not require as deep a floor slab compared to the steel frame, and the apartments did not require flexible partitions like the office stories did. The developer, Tishman Speyer, decided not to use a mixture of steel and concrete superstructures for later projects because it was time-consuming and expensive. Steel frames topped by concrete frames have since been used in structures such as the Bloomberg Tower.

 

The steel structure for the office and retail stories divides the floor area into bays of 22 by 20 ft (6.7 by 6.1 m). A steel vertical truss rises through the first 21 stories of the building. The 22nd floor is designed as a transitional floor where vertical and lateral loads from the upper stories are transferred onto the steel truss. The concrete columns of the upper stories and the steel columns of the lower stories are not perfectly aligned, so the 22nd floor acts as a truss with 36 in-deep (910 mm) transfer girders connecting the columns on the upper and lower stories. Steel billet plates, with thicknesses of between 2 and 9 in (51 and 229 mm), are welded to the girders' top flanges. Above the billet plates are 2 in-thick (51 mm) steel base plates with dowels on their top sides, to which the cast concrete columns' rebar cages are connected. A concrete shear wall rises above the 22nd floor. The concrete floor slabs are about 12 in (300 mm) thick for the 23rd through 34th floors and are about 12 in (300 mm) thick for the 35th through 51st floors.

 

History

 

Planning and construction

 

By the late 1960s, Best & Co. was struggling financially despite a program of investment from its owner, the McCrory Corporation. At the time, Best's was considering adding a tower over their Fifth Avenue flagship. The company hired Arlen Realty to manage the development. Best's developers acquired the air rights over 647 Fifth Avenue and the Cartier Building, which allowed them to build a taller building than would have been ordinarily permitted. The developers also considered obtaining the air rights over St. Patrick's Cathedral. Arlen originally hired Norval White and Elliot Willensky to design a building above the Best's store itself.

 

Initial plans

 

Aristotle Onassis established a family trust called Victory Development in March 1970. Victory formed a joint venture with Arlen to acquire Best's Fifth Avenue flagship, 647 Fifth Avenue, and the Cartier Building. Architect Morris Lapidus was hired for the initial iteration of the project. Lapidus recalled that he had begged Arthur Levien and Arthur G. Cohen, the presidents of Arlen Realty, "for two long years" to be hired for Arlen and Best's development. Because of his relatively small amount of experience in office design, Arlen had initially been hesitant to hire Lapidus, who specialized in residential buildings. However, after Arlen rejected proposals from six other firms, the company allowed Lapidus one week to create a design.

 

Lapidus proposed an L-shaped 40-story building, the bottom half of which would have been a granite slab. Meshulam Riklis, chairman of McCrory's parent corporation Rapid America, recalled that the slab would be topped by a glass "cube" with a sky plaza, a full-story art gallery, offices, and executive apartments. 647 Fifth Avenue would have been demolished, but the Cartier and Best's buildings would have remained in place. The building would have included an atrium between 51st and 52nd Streets as well as a plaza running to Fifth Avenue. Onassis and Riklis approved of Lapidus's plan and hired him to create designs for the Olympic/Arlen project.

 

In October 1970, McCrory executives decided to liquidate Best's and close all its stores, including the flagship location at Fifth Avenue and 51st Street. McCrory's president Samuel Neaman said at the time that the site of Best's Fifth Avenue flagship was worth more as a potential real estate development than as a retail location. By then, the joint venture planned to tear down the Best's store and erect a skyscraper called Olympic Tower on the site. Cohen was negotiating with several department store chains to open a store in the base, which, along with a public atrium, would allow a greater development bonus for the skyscraper.[59] Shortly after the closure of Best's was announced, an editorial appeared in The New York Times, specifically naming Lapidus's involvement in Olympic Tower as an example of Fifth Avenue's decline. According to Lapidus, the editorial created difficulties with his involvement in the project. Lapidus's exhibit that year at the Architectural League of New York also influenced opinions against his Olympic Tower proposal.

 

Modified plans

 

Around the same time as planning for Olympic Tower was taking place, a special zoning district was created along Fifth Avenue. In February 1971, New York City mayor John Lindsay proposed the district as a means to preserve the retail character of Fifth Avenue's midtown section. The legislation provided development "bonuses" like additional floor area in exchange for the inclusion of ground-story retail, and it encouraged the construction of Fifth Avenue skyscrapers with retail, offices, and apartments. The legislation went into effect in April 1971. After the zoning district was created, the mayoral Office of Midtown Planning, led by Jaquelin Robertson, collaborated with Olympic and Arlen to add mixed uses to Olympic Tower. Robertson's office perceived Lapidus's design as excessively unconventional and influenced Olympic and Arlen to reconsider the design. Aristotle's wife, former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, also opposed Lapidus's involvement, saying she "could not have his name associated with such vulgarity". Lapidus was subsequently fired and replaced with Kahn & Jacobs, which was also dismissed.

 

In September 1971, Lindsay announced that SOM would design Olympic Tower. The 50-story building would include retail on the lower floors, offices on the middle floors, and apartments on the upper floors. A two-story atrium would run through the building, connecting with St. Patrick's Cathedral to the south and another atrium and Paley Park to the north. Cohen said Terence Cooke, the Archbishop of New York and the cardinal of St. Patrick's, was "very pleased" with the plans. The building would be the first to be developed within the Fifth Avenue zoning district. Olympic Airways initially intended to renovate 647 Fifth Avenue with a glass facade similar to that of the tower. After architectural critics Ada Louise Huxtable, Paul Goldberger, and other people in the architectural community objected, SOM decided to retain the original facade on 647 Fifth Avenue, which had been designed by Hunt & Hunt.

 

Olympic Tower's developers hired a graphics design firm to create a sign with propellers that spelled the building's name three times. The sign was mounted on the building's scaffolding, and the propellers would spin every time wind blew. By June 1973, the steel framework had passed the twelfth story. The first retail lease in the building was signed in October 1973 to confectionery Perugina, a subsidiary of Italian manufacturer Buitoni. Olympic Tower Associates released an offering plan for its 230 condominiums in May 1974. The offering valued the condos at $46.9 million (equivalent to $225 million in 2023[d]), the most expensive offering for a building in New York City. Olympic Tower was intentionally structured as a condo development because its residences were to be marketed primarily to foreign buyers. At the time, most other luxury developments in the city were housing cooperatives, which Curbed wrote could "reject applications for almost any reason", and the developers wished to avoid this.

 

Opening and early years

 

Opening

 

Olympic Tower was formally dedicated on September 6, 1974. At the time, more than 70 percent of the commercial space had been leased and 24 of the apartments had been sold. The first residents were expected to move into the building in early 1975. The building cost $95 million in total (equivalent to $457 million in 2023) and the residential units ranged from $40,000 for a studio ($192,324 in 2023) to $650,000 for a duplex unit with nine rooms ($3.13 million in 2023).[ Robertson, who had started working for Arlen, said of the tower's opening: "It would bring people back to midtown". The building had been planned with 230 apartments, but some of the units were subdivided after the most expensive units sold extremely quickly. By December 1974, three-quarters of the office space was leased, and forty of the residences had been sold. Due to high demand for the condos, additional apartments were created within the existing space shortly after Olympic Tower was finished.

 

Most of the residential units were sold to non-American owners, and the buyers included governments and corporations. Brochures were printed in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish, as well as English. Arlen hired public relations company Burson Marsteller, which advertised the building in Europe, South America, and Mexico Arlen also hired four decorators to create model apartments. The company commissioned a photographer to take photos from a crane on the roof, which were then displayed in the sales office. The public areas and building documents were designed with a silver and brown color scheme; these colors were even used on the personalized hard hats that were given to prospective buyers. Arlen vice president Stanley Thea said the building had been advertised "to a select core of 80.000 people around the world", while Robertson said "Finally we are building in the 1970s what was shown in the movies of the 1940s—penthouses on the 50th floor." Most of these units were intended as pieds-à-terre, and some wealthy owners bought multiple apartments. Olympic Tower's bylaws specified that the condominium board wait twenty days before approving any sale of a residential unit.

 

Late 20th century

 

By 1975, foreign residents had bought about 80 percent of the condominiums for between $122,000 and $650,000 apiece. Mexicans and Venezuelans made up a quarter of all buyers. Only 20 apartments remained unsold and the office space was 85 percent occupied. However, the retail mall did not yet have any restaurants. All the office space was occupied by 1978. Arlen sold its interest in Olympic Tower to Williston S.A., a Panamanian company that was owned by the Onassis family, in late 1979. At that time, Arlen was several hundred million dollars in debt and was selling off many of its properties.

 

In its first five years of operation, none of Olympic Tower's retail space had been rented out, and the atrium was for the most part empty. As a result, New York City Planning Commission head Robert F. Wagner Jr. threatened to revoke Olympic Tower's certificate of occupancy in 1979, saying the building's owners had not upheld an agreement to add stores to the retail mall in exchange for zoning bonuses. Afterward, Olympic Tower's owners opened a newsstand, public restrooms, and restaurant space in the atrium. The restaurant La Cote Basque was operating at Olympic Tower by 1981. In addition, Delices operated a pastry shop, bar, and a terrace called Le Cafe at ground level, as well as a restaurant called La Cascade in the basement, overlooking the waterfall. The public atrium at Olympic Tower was completely rented by August 1982. The atrium was also used for events such as concerts.

 

Other luxury residential towers such as Trump Tower and 500 Park Tower were developed nearby in the 1980s. Afterward, prices of residential units at Olympic Tower started to decline in comparison to units in the newer buildings. By 1985, the average unit at Olympic Tower sold for $202,000 per room ($0.49 million in 2023). Units at Trump Tower, which was also on Fifth Avenue, sold for an average of $263,910 per room ($0.63 million in 2023).[83] Olympic Tower's condominium units continued to see high demand from Europeans looking to live on Fifth Avenue, though critics said the residences were not well maintained. The midtown section of Fifth Avenue was again becoming a fashionable retail strip by the mid-1990s. Several large brands had offered to occupy some of Olympic Tower's retail space, but Olympic Tower Associates rejected these offers. One brokerage executive said the building's operators "want a tenant in keeping with H.Stern, Mark Cross and Versace", which already occupied retail space on the block. Demand for apartments also increased in the 1990s due to a dearth of new luxury residential developments in the city at the time.

 

Early 21st century

 

In May 2012, the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation sold a 49.9 percent stake in the commercial portion of the tower and three neighboring structures to real estate investment firm Crown Acquisitions for $420 million. Olympic Tower and the structures at 647 Fifth Avenue, the Cartier Building, and 10 East 52nd Street were valued at about $1 billion. At the time, all the retail tenants were paying less than $1,000/sq ft ($11,000/m2), significantly less than the market rent paid at similar structures. Crown Acquisitions purchased the remaining ownership interests in Olympic Tower and the three neighboring structures for $652 million in May 2015. In the same transaction, Oxford Properties acquired a majority interest.

 

The owners received a $760 million commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) interest-only loan in May 2017 from Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Olympic Tower's owners used the tower itself to back the CMBS loan. The loan was broken into 11 pari passu senior notes totaling $611 million and 3 junior notes totaling $149 million. The banks also originated a $240 million mezzanine loan which was subsequently sold to TIAA and Mirae Asset Financial Group. Oxford Properties hired MdeAS Architects to renovate Olympic Tower's atrium. The refurbished space reopened in January 2019.

 

Tenants

 

Office and commercial tenants

 

When the building opened in 1975, Onassis's companies Olympic Airways and Victory Development respectively took the entire fifth and sixth floors. Law firm Golembock & Barrell took the 11th floor and part of the 12th floor, Bermudan marketing firm JOC took the 17th through 19th floors, and Riklis's conglomerate Rapid American took the 14th through 16th floors and the 20th and 21st floors. Roberta di Camerino boutique took the ground floor.

 

Since 1998, the National Basketball Association has had its headquarters at the property. The organization occupies 175,000 sq ft (16,300 m2) across floors 11 through 20 with a lease extending through 2035. Richemont's North America subsidiary has also been headquartered at the property since 2001, with their current space covering 126,000 sq ft (11,700 m2) on floors three through nine. Michael Dell's investment firm MSD Capital occupies roughly 44,000 sq ft (4,100 m2) on floors 10 and 21. The building's Fifth Avenue retail space is occupied by luxury retailers such as Richemont, H.Stern, Armani Exchange, Longchamp, Furla, and Jimmy Choo Ltd.

 

Residents

 

Olympic Tower initially acted largely as a pied-à-terre, with few residents living full time. When the building opened, Aristotle Onassis took an apartment for himself. Another original occupant was fashion designer Halston, who occupied the entire 21st floor for his showroom, workroom, and design rooms until 1984. Billionaire Adnan Khashoggi owned a penthouse duplex from 1976 to 1993. The Marcos family of the Philippines allegedly owned five condominiums at Olympic Tower, including a ten-room apartment on the 43rd floor. The administration of Philippine President Corazon Aquino seized the Marcos apartment in the late 1980s while recovering some unexplained wealth of the Marcos family.

 

Foreign demand for the condos declined after the September 11 attacks in 2001, and the tower began to attract local residents and employees. These included General Electric's board of directors, who worked at Rockefeller Center, as well as designers Laurice Rahmé, Giuseppe Zanotti, and Lorraine Schwartz, who preferred the structure for its history, architecture, and proximity to several high-end stores. The actress Anne Hathaway and her then-partner Raffaello Follieri lived in Khashoggi's old residence until 2012. The choreographer, director, and dancer Ron Field also lived in the building, as did musician Roger Waters, actor Nicolas Cage, and the wealthy Wertheimer family of Israel. Alessandra and Allegra Gucci, the daughters of Maurizio Gucci, owned a penthouse, which they listed for sale in August 2015. The restaurateur Rocky Aoki owned a penthouse, and the businessman Alejandro Betancourt López also bought a penthouse in the building. Curbed wrote in 2022 that the building's residents were "obsessed with anonymity" and that "A number have gone decades without even seeing their next-door neighbors."

 

Critical reception

 

After SOM's plans for the building were announced, a writer for Newsday said Olympic Tower would provide "a clear test of strength between God and Mammon", being right across from St. Patrick's Cathedral. Progressive Architecture magazine characterized the new plans as having attracted attention from members of the public who wanted to see Fifth Avenue's revival.[ According to a writer for the website CityRealty, Olympic Tower's design was "more conservative, yet paradoxically also more cutting-edge" compared to the Galleria condominiums on 57th Street, which was built around the same time.

 

When the building opened, Paul Goldberger of The New York Times criticized the facade as being "not as refined as Skidmore Owings and Merrill's best work". Goldberger called the building's architecture "oppressively banal" and described it as "overwhelm[ing] Fifth Avenue like an aircraft carrier beside a row of sailboats".[108] Ada Louise Huxtable of the same newspaper said Olympic Tower was "about as nondescript as anything that size can be" and described the residential lobby as "mildly offensive in design and taste and quite disposable". Huxtable saw Olympic Place as a "cop-out" and said that, with the inclusion of the plaza, "Olympic Tower has given the city the back of its hand". Suzanne Stephens of Progressive Architecture said that the tower was "awkward in form, but slick in style, a solution that conveys signs of urbanity rather than creating a sense of urban place".

 

(Wikipedia)

 

St. Patrick's Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is the seat of the Archbishop of New York as well as a parish church. The cathedral occupies a city block bounded by Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, 50th Street, and 51st Street, directly across from Rockefeller Center. Designed by James Renwick Jr., it is the largest Gothic Revival Catholic cathedral in North America.

 

The cathedral was constructed starting in 1858 to accommodate the growing Archdiocese of New York and to replace St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. Work was halted in the early 1860s during the American Civil War; the cathedral was completed in 1878 and dedicated on May 25, 1879. The archbishop's house and rectory were added in the early 1880s, both designed by James Renwick Jr., and the spires were added in 1888. A Lady chapel designed by Charles T. Mathews was constructed from 1901 to 1906. The cathedral was consecrated on October 5, 1910, after all its debt had been paid off. Extensive restorations of the cathedral were conducted several times, including in the 1940s, 1970s, and 2010s.

 

St. Patrick's Cathedral is clad in marble and has several dozen stained glass windows. It measures 332 feet (101 m) long, with a maximum width of 174 feet (53 m) at the transepts. The bronze doors that form the cathedral's main entrance on Fifth Avenue are flanked by towers with spires rising 329.5 feet (100 m). The northern tower contains nineteen bells, and the interior has two pipe organs. Inside is a nave flanked by several chapels; two transepts; a chancel and apse; and a crypt. East of the apse are the rectory, Lady chapel, and archbishop's residence facing Madison Avenue. The cathedral is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Olympic Tower, auch 645 Fifth Avenue, ist ein Wolkenkratzer an der Fifth Avenue in Manhattan in New York City. Der gemischt genutzte Turm umfasst Eigentumswohnungen, Büroräume und Einzelhandelsgeschäfte und ist nach der ehemaligen griechischen Fluggesellschaft Olympic Airlines benannt.

 

Beschreibung

 

Das Hochhaus befindet sich in Midtown Manhattan an der Fifth Avenue, Ecke East 51st Street. Ein nordöstlicher schmaler Gebäudeflügel reicht bis an die 52nd Street. Westlich gegenüber liegt das Rockefeller Center. Südliches Nachgebäude ist die bekannte St. Patricks Cathedral von New York. Nördliche Nachbarn an der Fifth Avenue sind die George W. Vanderbilt Residence und das Cartier Building, in dem der New Yorker Flagship-Store von Cartier beheimatet ist.

 

Der Wolkenkratzer ist 189 m (620 Fuß) hoch und besitzt 51 Stockwerke. Der rechteckige Turm ohne Rücksprünge hat eine dunkle bronzefarbene glatte Glasfassade, in der sich an der Südseite die St. Patrick’s Cathedral spiegelt. Die ersten beiden Stockwerke enthalten neben den Einzelhandelsgeschäften an der Fifth das zwei Etagen hohe öffentliche Atrium „Olympic Place“, das von der 51st bis zur 52nd Street reicht und eine günstige Verbindung für Fußgänger bietet. Die 19 Stockwerke darüber umfassen Büroflächen (Adresse: 645 Fifth Avenue) und in den Stockwerken 22 bis 51 befinden sich 225 Eigentumswohnungen (Adresse: 641 Fifth Avenue).

 

Auf dem Grundstück befand sich zuvor ein 1947 erbautes Gebäude der Best Company. Aristoteles Onassis erwarb es, um dort die New Yorker Niederlassungen seiner Unternehmen zu bündeln. Weiterhin bietet das Gebäude Wohnungen und Einzelhandel. Erste Entwürfe zu dem Gebäude stammen von Cäsar Pinnau, der letztendlich realisierte Entwurf wurde von Skidmore, Owings and Merrill umgesetzt. Nach Baubeginn im Jahr 1974 wurde der Turm 1976 fertiggestellt. Nach dem Tod von Aristoteles Onassis ging das Gebäude in den Besitz der Olympic Airlines über, die es um 2002 an die „Onassis-Stiftung“ verkaufte. Seither dienen die unteren Stockwerke als Kulturzentrum der Stiftung. Die Investmentfirma Crown Acquisitions erwarb im Mai 2012 49,9 % und im Mai 2015 schließlich den Rest des Gebäudes. Im Rahmen derselben Transaktion erwarb Oxford Properties eine Mehrheitsbeteiligung.

 

Der Turm galt für viele Jahre als luxuriöseste und teuerste Adresse im New Yorker Markt der Luxuswohnungen, bewohnt von zahlreichen Prominenten wie Jackie Onassis, Bianca Jagger, Imelda Marcos, Adnan Khashoggi, Maurizio Gucci und Patrizia Reggiani, Halston, Lee Radziwill, Giuseppe Zanotti, Lorraine Schwartz, Anne Hathaway, Roger Waters und Nicolas Cage. Auch die National Basketball Association hat hier seit vielen Jahren ihren Sitz. In der Nachhaltigkeit hat das U.S. Green Building Council dem Olympia Tower die LEEDv4.1 Gold-Zertifizierung verliehen. Eigentümer des Gebäudes ist das kanadische Unternehmen Oxford Properties Group.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Die St. Patrick’s Cathedral ist die größte im neugotischen Stil erbaute Kathedrale in den Vereinigten Staaten. Sie befindet sich an der Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, zwischen der 50. und der 51. Straße, direkt gegenüber dem Rockefeller Center. Sie ist die Kathedrale des katholischen Erzbistums New York. Der Pfarrbezirk St. Patrick’s wird begrenzt durch die 59th Street, die 3rd Avenue, die 44th Street und die 7th Avenue und umfasst 302 Häuserblöcke.

 

Geschichte

 

Das Grundstück der heutigen Kathedrale wurde am 6. März 1810 für 11.000 Dollar gekauft, um dort eine Schule für katholische junge Männer errichten zu können, die von Jesuiten geleitet wurde. Diese Schule scheiterte, und 1813 wurde das Grundstück an Dom Augustin de Lestrange weiterverkauft, den Abt eines Trappisten-Konvents. Die Mönche kamen aus der französischen Abtei von La Trappe und waren nach Amerika geflohen, weil sie in Frankreich verfolgt wurden. Im Kloster betreuten sie auch etwa 33 Waisenkinder. Nach dem Sturz Napoleons im Jahre 1814 kehrten die Trappisten nach Frankreich zurück und gaben ihren Immobilienbesitz auf. Das Waisenhaus wurde von der Diözese von New York bis in das späte 19. Jahrhundert fortgeführt.

 

Papst Pius IX. erhob das 1808 gegründete Bistum New York 1850 zur Erzdiözese. Erzbischof John Joseph Hughes gab anschließend seine Absicht bekannt, eine neue Kathedrale zu errichten, welche die St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral ersetzen sollte, die sich an der Kreuzung der Prince and Mott Streets und der Mulberry Street befand. Die alte Kathedrale wurde im Jahr 1866 durch ein Feuer zerstört und 1868 wiederaufgebaut und konsekriert. Sie ist die älteste katholische Kirche in New York und dient als Pfarrkirche. Lorenzo da Ponte wurde hier beigesetzt.

 

Der Grundstein der neuen Kathedrale wurde am 15. August 1858 gelegt, südlich des Waisenhauses der Diözese und ungefähr nördlich des zu dieser Zeit dicht bevölkerten Gebietes von New York. Die Kathedrale wurde von James Renwick, Jr. im neugotischen Stil entworfen.

 

Die Arbeiten begannen 1858, wurden aber während des Amerikanischen Bürgerkrieges unterbrochen und 1865 wiederaufgenommen. Die Kathedrale wurde 1878 vollendet und am 25. Mai 1879 von Erzbischof John Kardinal McCloskey geweiht. Ihre gewaltigen Ausmaße dominierten den damaligen Rand des Stadtzentrums. Das Haus des Erzbischofs und das Pfarramt wurden von 1882 bis 1884 angebaut, die angrenzende Schule, die es nicht mehr gibt, öffnete 1882. Die Türme an der Westfront wurden von 1885 bis 1888 hinzugefügt. 1901 begann man mit einigen Erweiterungen, darunter einer Kapelle Unserer Lieben Frau, die von Charles T. Mathews entworfen wurde. Die Kathedrale wurde zwischen 1927 und 1931 renoviert; während dieser Zeit wurde die große Orgel eingebaut und der Altarraum vergrößert.

 

Im Dezember 1976 erhielt die St. Patrick’s Cathedral den Status eines National Historic Landmarks und wurde in das National Register of Historic Places eingetragen.

 

(Wikipedia)

Uploading these WAY late. Sorry. Moving to new PC after being on the same Win7-Pro machine for like 8+ years (I don't like change!), and it's been a mini-nightmare. Caught these a couple weeks ago at my local BNSF / Santa Fe yard.

 

====================

 

FYI.

 

These were shot with a 7.5mm fisheye lens because of the location, and poorly corrected so they look somewhat normal...

 

====================

 

Decided to head out to my local yard on a Saturday, got there at 9:30 and I was the only one out at the freight side platform. After a half hour I noticed someone down at the other end that I thought I recognized. Messaged him, and yep, it was him. My dude PasadenaSubColin.

 

We were both out there to just enjoy the day, me catching freights, and him freights & Metrolinks. He's a good dude to have around, as he lets me know when something cool is on its way into the yard, and I appreciate that he's all plugged into the grid to give the "heads up" when something's coming soon.

 

Well, this time I had, or rather found out, the "Heads Up" about 15 mins before he let me in on what would be the joke of the day. There apparently was a bicentennial engine coming through the depot today on its way to a RR museum in Perris, CA. The 5704!!!!! Big whoop.... One dude chatted me up asking if I knew when "IT" was supposed to come through. I had no idea what he was talking about and told him I don't follow trains. :-)

 

15-20 mins. later Colin messages me an FYI, that there's a "Special" train about to roll through. I've been in this situation before. I'm there benching graff, and all of the sudden 20 cars pull up and a bunch of "Railfans" jump out of their cars, run over, take a few photos of the "Special" car(s), engine or train, and when it's gone, they're gone. I feel like these are the people who only get out of bed when something "cool" is rolling through town. I really doubt they care about day-to-day operations of the RR. And honestly there's no way they give a shit about the graff.

 

Most people out at the tracks are cool, but there's a certain group of people who seem to have zero social skills when something "Special" is coming through, and we had at least one on this day. Some dude that kept walking past us, standing in my spot, like he was going to shoot from there when I got there at 9:30, and he got there at Noon. Walking past us by inches, and not saying a word, head down... Walking in front of cameras that were filming, hanging around my backpack and gear while I was like 30 feet away, just weird, un-cool shit. I'm not down with any of this. But I don't want to burn this spot as a bencher and didn't start any trouble, even though I wanted to punch this dude.. GRRR!

 

Will not be posting flicks of this special train car. Sorry. I saw it, I flicked it, but the whole experience was crap, and it was just one engine, big deal. I was there for the graff that you're seeing me post.

 

Was hot, no clouds, and at my end of the platform I had a 2ft. x 3ft. spot of slowly moving shade that was cast by one of the platform lights. After a while Colin and I were sharing this tiny moving spot of shade. No worries, we get along just fine.

 

BTW: PasadenaSubColin is a FOAMER!!!!!!!! ;-p

 

Managed to re-flick a few cars that I caught at the beginning of the month at the other end of the valley. Anyway........ I'll be back to try and ID these pieces soon. Might take me a little longer than usual as, like I said before, new computer, new crap to deal with..

 

Stay safe out there homies.

 

And..... As always, Thanks to the writers!

 

For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven

 

Please Subscribe to the YouTube, every little bit helps.

Vintage postcard, no. 352. Photo: Warner Bros. Doris Day in It's a Great Feeling (David Butler, 1949). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

 

Legendary actress and singer Doris Day (1922-2019), with her blonde hair and blue eyes, performed with several big bands before going solo in 1947. In the 1950s, she made a series of popular film musicals, including Calamity Jane (1953) and The Pajama Game (1957). 'Que Será, Será!' became her theme song. With Rock Hudson, she starred in the box office hit Pillow Talk (1959). On TV, she appeared in the sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968-1973).

 

Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff was born in 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choirmaster. Her mother named her after her favourite silent film star, Doris Kenyon. She had two brothers, Richard, who died before she was born, and Paul, a few years older. For many years, it was uncertain whether she was born in 1922 or 1924, with Day herself reportedly believing her birth year was the latter and giving her age accordingly. It wasn't until 3 April 2017, her 95th, not 93rd, birthday, that her birth certificate was found by the Associated Press, which confirmed she was born in 1922. Her parents divorced while she was still a child, and she lived with her mother. Like most little girls, Doris liked to dance. At fourteen, she formed a dance act with a boy, Jerry Doherty, and they won $500 in a local talent contest. She and Jerry took a brief trip to Hollywood to test the waters. They felt they could succeed, so she and Jerry returned to Cincinnati to pack and make a permanent move to Hollywood. Tragically, the night before Doris was to move to Hollywood, her car was hit by a train, and she badly injured her right leg. The accident ended the possibility of a dancing career. She spent her next years wheelchair-bound, but during this time began singing along with the radio. Observing her daughter sing, Alma decided Doris should have singing lessons. She engaged a teacher, Grace Raine. After three lessons, Raine told Alma that young Doris had "tremendous potential". Raine was so impressed that she gave Doris three lessons a week for the price of one. Years later, Day said that Raine had the biggest effect on her singing style and career. At age 17, Day had her first professional job as a vocalist, on the WLW radio program 'Carlin's Carnival', and in a local restaurant, Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn. While performing on the radio, she was approached by band leader Barney Rapp. He felt that her name, Kappelhoff, was too harsh and awkward and that she should change her name to something more pleasant. The name 'Day' was suggested by Rapp from one of the songs in Doris' repertoire, 'Day by Day'. She didn't like the name at first, feeling that it sounded too much like a burlesque performer. While she was performing in Barney Rapp's band, she met trombonist Al Jorden, and they married in 1941. The marriage was extremely unhappy, and there were reports of Jordan's alcoholism and abuse of the young star. They divorced within two years, not long after the birth of their son, Terrence Jorden, called Terry. Despondent and feeling his life had little meaning after the much-publicised divorce, Jorden later committed suicide. After working with Rapp, Day worked with bandleaders Jimmy James, Bob Crosby, and Les Brown. The years touring with Les Brown & His Band of Renown, she later called 'the happiest times in my life'. In 1941, Day appeared as a singer in three Soundies (three-minute film clips containing a song, dance and/or band or orchestral number) with the Les Brown band. Her first hit recording was 'Sentimental Journey' in 1945. It became an anthem of the desire of World War II demobilising troops to return home. In 1946, Doris married saxophone player and former child actor George Weidler, but this union lasted less than a year. After leaving Brown to embark on a solo career, she recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967. Day's agent talked her into taking a screen test at Warner Bros. The executives there liked what they saw and signed her to a contract. Her first starring role was in Romance on the High Seas (Michael Curtiz, Busby Berkeley, 1948), with Jack Carson and Janis Paige. The next year, she made two more films, My Dream Is Yours (Michael Curtiz, 1949) and It's a Great Feeling (David Butler, 1949). Audiences took to her beauty, terrific singing voice and bubbly personality, and she turned in fine performances in the films she made - in addition to several hit records.

 

Doris Day made three films for Warner Bros. in 1950 and five more in 1951. She co-starred with Gordon MacRae in five nostalgic period musicals: Tea for Two (David Butler, 1950), The West Point Story (Roy Del Ruth, 1950) with James Cagney and Virginia Mayo, On Moonlight Bay (Roy Del Ruth, 1951), Starlift (Roy Del Ruth, 1951), and By the Light of the Silvery Moon (David Butler, 1953). Her most commercially successful film for Warner was I'll See You in My Dreams (1951), which broke box-office records for 20 years. The film is a musical biography of lyricist Gus Kahn, played by Danny Thomas. It was Day's fourth film, directed by Michael Curtiz. One of her few dramatic roles was in Storm Warning (Stuart Heisler, 1951) with Ginger Rogers and Ronald Reagan. She briefly dated Reagan, with whom she also co-starred in The Winning Team (1952), shortly after his divorce from Jane Wyman, when she and Reagan were contract players at Warner Bros. Doris Day met and married Martin Melcher in 1951. He adopted her young son, Terry and became her manager. In 1953, Doris starred in Calamity Jane (David Butler, 1953), which was a major hit. She performed 'Secret Love' in the film, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Several more hits followed, including Lucky Me (Jack Donohue, 1954), Love Me or Leave Me (Charles Vidor, 1955) with James Cagney. Alfred Hitchcock had seen her dramatic role in Storm Warning and chose her to play Jo McKenna opposite James Stewart in his remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). In the film, she sang the song 'Que Será, Será! (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)', which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became an evergreen. In 1959, Day entered her most successful phase as a film actress with a series of romantic comedies. Her best-known film is probably the first one, Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon, 1959), with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall. For her performance, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Leading Actress. She later co-starred with Hudson and Randall again in Lover Come Back (Delbert Mann, 1961), and Send Me No Flowers (Norman Jewison, 1964). In all three, Day and Hudson played love interests while Randall played Hudson's close friend.

 

Doris Day started in the 1960s with the hit Please Don't Eat the Daisies (Charles Walters, 1960), in which her co-star was David Niven. In 1962, Day appeared with Cary Grant in the comedy That Touch of Mink (Delbert Mann, 1962), the first film in history ever to gross $1 million in one theatre (Radio City Music Hall). In 1960 and during the 1962 to 1964 period, she ranked number one at the box office. Despite her successes at the box office, the late 1950s and early 1960s were a difficult period for Day. In 1958, her brother Paul had died. Around this time, her husband, who had also taken charge of her career, made deals for her to star in films she didn't really care about, which led to a bout with exhaustion. The 1960s weren't to be a repeat of the previous busy decade. She made fewer films, but the ones she did make were successful: Do Not Disturb (Ralph Levy, 1965) with Rod Taylor, and The Glass Bottom Boat (Frank Tashlin, 1966). By the late 1960s, the sexual revolution of the baby boomer generation had refocused public attitudes about sex. Times had changed, but Day's films had not. Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (Hy Averback, 1968), and With Six You Get Eggroll (Howard Morris, 1968), with Brian Keith, would be her final feature. In 1968, her husband, Martin Melcher, suddenly died. Between 1956 and his death, he had produced 18 of her films. A shocked Day discovered she was millions of dollars in debt. Melcher and his business partner, Jerome Bernard Rosenthal, had squandered virtually all of her considerable earnings, but she was eventually awarded $22 million by the courts in a case against Rosenthal.

 

After Martin Melcher's death, Doris Day never made another film. She professed not to have known that he had negotiated a multimillion-dollar deal with CBS to launch her own TV series, The Doris Day Show, the following fall. Day hated the idea of performing on television but felt obligated to do it and needed the work to help pay off her debts. The show became successful and lasted from 1968 until 1973. The Doris Day Show was a light and fluffy sitcom, which changed formats and producers almost every season. Originally, it was about widow Doris Martin and her two young sons (Philip Brown and Todd Stark) who left the big city for the quiet of her family's ranch, which was run by her dad Buck (Denver Pyle) and ranchhand Leroy (James Hampton). Later, Doris, Buck and sons Billy and Toby moved to San Francisco, where Doris got a job as a secretary to bumbling magazine publisher Michael Nicholson (McLean Stevenson). In Season Three, the Martin family moved into an apartment above the Paluccis' Italian restaurant, and Doris began writing features for Today's World magazine. Finally, the kids, family, Nicholson, the Paluccis, and all other cast members vanished, and Doris became a single staff writer for Today's World, where her new boss was Cy Bennett (John Dehner). After her series went off the air, Doris Day only made occasional TV appearances. She did two television specials, The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971) and Doris Day Today (1975). She also appeared on the John Denver TV show (1974). In 1976, she married for the fourth time, to Barry Comden, 12 years her junior. They had met at the Beverly Hills Old World Restaurant, where he was the maitre d'. The couple divorced in 1982. Comden complained that Day preferred the company of her dogs more than his. From then on, Doris devoted her life to animals. During the location filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1956) she had seen how camels, goats and other 'animal extras' in a marketplace scene were being treated. It began her lifelong commitment to prevent animal abuse. For years, she ran the Doris Day Animal League in Carmel, a resort town a little south of San Francisco. In the 1985–1986 season, Day returned to the screen with her own television talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends, on CBN. The network cancelled the show after 26 episodes, despite the worldwide publicity it received. Much of that came from her interview with Rock Hudson, in which a visibly ill Hudson was showing the first public symptoms of AIDS. Hudson would die from the syndrome a year later. Her son Terry Melcher had become a music producer and composer who worked with The Beach Boys, Bobby Darin and The Byrds. With Terry and a partner, she co-owned the Cypress Inn in Carmel, a small inn built in a Mediterranean motif. Terry died of melanoma in 2004, aged 62. In June 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush. She did not attend the White House award ceremony because of her intense fear of flying. In 2006, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In a rare interview with The Hollywood Reporter on 4 April 2019, a day after her 97th birthday, Day talked about her work on the Doris Day Animal Foundation, founded in 1978. On the question of what her favourite film was, she answered Calamity Jane: "I was such a tomboy growing up, and she was such a fun character to play. Of course, the music was wonderful, too — 'Secret Love,' especially, is such a beautiful song." Day died at her home in Carmel Valley, California, in 2019 at the age of 97 after having contracted pneumonia. As per her last wishes, there will be no funeral or graveside service. Doris Day was cremated, and her ashes were scattered in Carmel.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Saul Bellow's childhood home at 2629 W. Augusta Blvd. Saul Bellow (June 10, 1915 – April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Tenby (Welsh: Dinbych-y-pysgod, lit. 'fortlet of the fish') is a seaside town and community in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies within Carmarthen Bay.

 

Notable features include 3 miles (4.8 km) of sandy beaches and the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, the 13th-century medieval town walls, including the Five Arches barbican gatehouse, Tenby Museum and Art Gallery, the 15th-century St. Mary's Church, and the National Trust's Tudor Merchant's House.

 

Boats sail from Tenby's harbour to the offshore monastic Caldey Island. St Catherine's Island is tidal and has a 19th-century Palmerston Fort.

 

The town has an operating railway station. The A478 road from Cardigan, Ceredigion, connects Tenby with the M4 via the A477, the A40 and the A48 in approximately 40 miles (64 km).

 

With its strategic position on the far west coast of Britain, and a natural sheltered harbour from both the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, Tenby was a natural settlement point, probably a hill fort with the mercantile nature of the settlement possibly developing under Hiberno-Norse influence. The earliest reference to a settlement at Tenby is in Etmic Dinbych, a poem probably from the 9th century, preserved in the 14th-century Book of Taliesin.

 

Tenby was taken by the Normans, when they invaded West Wales in the early 12th century. The town's first stone-wall fortification was on Castle Hill. Tenby's mercantile trade grew as it developed as a major seaport in Norman controlled Little England beyond Wales. However, the need for additional defences became paramount after the settlement and castle were successfully attacked and sacked by Welsh forces of Maredudd ap Gruffydd and Rhys ap Gruffydd in 1153. Sacking of the town was repeated in 1187 and again by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1260. After the final attack, William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke ordered the construction of the Tenby town walls in the late 13th century. The stone curtain wall, towers and gates enclosed a large part of the settlement—now known as the "old town". With the construction of the town walls, Tenby Castle was made obsolete and had been abandoned by the end of the 14th century.

 

In 1457, Jasper Tudor, the uncle of Henry Tudor, agreed to share with the town's merchants the costs of refurbishing and improving Tenby's defences because of its economic importance to this part of Wales. Work included heightening the wall to include a second tier of higher arrow slits behind a new parapet walk. Additional turret towers were added to the ends of the walls where they abutted the cliff edges, and the dry ditch outside walls was widened to 30 feet (9.1 m).

 

Consequently, in the Late Middle Ages, Tenby was awarded royal grants to finance the maintenance and improvement of its defences and the enclosure of its harbour. Traders sailed along the coast to Bristol and Ireland and further afield to France, Spain and Portugal. Exports included wool, skins, canvas, coal, iron and oil; while in 1566 Portuguese seamen landed the first oranges in Wales. It was during this period that the town was so busy and important, it was considered to be a national port. During the Wars of the Roses Henry Tudor, the future King Henry VII of England, sheltered at Tenby before sailing into exile in 1471.

 

In the mid-16th century, the large D-shaped tower formerly known as the "Five Arches tavern" was built following fears of a second Spanish Armada.

 

Two key events caused the town to undergo rapid and permanent decline in importance. First, Tenby declared for Parliament in the English Civil War. After resisting two attempts by the Royalists forces of Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, it was finally taken in 1648. Ten weeks later the shattered town was surrendered to Colonel Thomas Horton, who welcomed Oliver Cromwell shortly afterwards. Second, a plague outbreak killed half of the town's remaining population in 1650.

 

With limited infrastructure, resources and people, the town's economy fell into decline. Most of the merchant and business class left, resulting in the town's decay and ruin. By the end of the 18th century, John Wesley noted during his visit how: "Two-thirds of the old town is in ruins or has entirely vanished. Pigs roam among the abandoned houses and Tenby presents a dismal spectacle."

 

Another war led to a resurgence in Tenby's fortunes. Since 1798, the French General Napoleon Bonaparte had begun conquering Europe restricting the rich British upper classes from making their Grand Tours to continental spa towns. In 1802 local resident, merchant banker and politician, Sir William Paxton, bought his first property in the old town. From this point onwards he invested heavily in the area with the full approval of the town council.

 

With the growth in saltwater sea-bathing for health purposes, Paxton engaged engineer James Grier and architect Samuel Pepys Cockerell (the same team who had built his home at Middleton Hall) to create a "fashionable bathing establishment suitable for the highest society." His sea-bathing baths came into operation in July 1806 and, after acquiring the Globe Inn, transformed it into "a most lofty, elegant and convenient style" to lodge the more elegant visitors to his baths. Cottages were erected adjoining the baths with adjoining livery stables and coach house.

 

A road was built on arches overlooking the harbour at Paxton's full expense in 1814. He had a Private Act of Parliament passed that enabled fresh water to be piped through the town. Despite these accomplishments, his 1809 theatre was closed in 1818 due to lack of patronage.[5] The Market Hall was completed in 1829 and remodelled to serve as Tenby Town Hall in 1860.

 

Paxton also took in "tour" developments in the area as required by rich Victorian tourists. This included the discovery of a chalybeate spring in his own park at Middleton Hall, and coaching inns from Swansea to Narberth. He built Paxton's Tower, in memorial to Lord Nelson whom he had met in 1802 when mayor of Carmarthen. Paxton's efforts to revive the town succeeded and after the Battle of Trafalgar, the growth of Victorian Tenby was inevitable.

 

Through both the Georgian and Victorian eras Tenby was renowned as a health resort and centre for botanical and geological study. With many features of the town being constructed to provide areas for healthy seaside walks, due to the walkways being built to accommodate Victorian nannies pushing prams, many of the beaches today still retain good disabled access. In 1856 writer Mary Ann Evans (pen-name George Eliot) accompanied George Henry Lewes to Tenby to gather materials for his work Seaside Studies published in 1858.

 

In 1852, the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society deployed a lifeboat to the town, taken over in 1854 by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. In 1905 a slip-way equipped lifeboat station was built on Castle Hill. It was replaced by a modern station in 2008.

 

Tenby railway station and the Pembroke and Tenby Railway were opened as far as Pembroke on 30 July 1863. The extended line to Pembroke Dock opened on 8 August 1864. In 1866, the line was connected to Whitland railway station. In 1867, work began on the construction of the Palmerston Fort on St Catherine's Island. The Army had control of the fort during 1887–1895.

 

The old town castle walls have survived, as does the Victorian revival architecture in a pastel colour scheme. The economy is based on tourism, supported by a range of craft, art and other stores. As of April 2017, there are 372 listed buildings and other structures in and around Tenby.

 

There are two tiers of local government covering Tenby, at community (town) and county level: Tenby Town Council and Pembrokeshire County Council. The town council is based at the De Valence Pavilion on Upper Frog Street.

 

Tenby was an ancient borough, having been given a charter in 1290 by William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and being formally incorporated as a borough by Elizabeth I in 1581. The borough was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836. From 1860 until 1947 the borough council was based at Tenby Town Hall on High Street.[6] In 1947 the council moved to Croft House on The Norton, later renaming it Guildhall. Tenby Borough Council was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, with the area becoming part of the new district of South Pembrokeshire within the county of Dyfed on 1 April 1974. A community was established to cover the area of the former borough, with its council taking the name Tenby Town Council. The town council continued to be based at the guildhall until the mid-1980s when it moved to the De Valence Pavilion on Upper Frog Street. The district of South Pembrokeshire was abolished in 1996, with the area becoming part of a re-established Pembrokeshire.

 

There are four schools in the Tenby schools area, consisting of three primary schools and one secondary school: Ysgol Hafan-y-Mor, Tenby Church in Wales Primary School, St. Teilo's RC School and Ysgol Greenhill Secondary.

 

Pupils from St. Teilo's School and Tenby Church in Wales School are automatically enrolled in the Greenhill School, but parents can enrol them into a different school. Ysgol Hafan y Môr is a Welsh language medium school. Most of the pupils go on to Ysgol y Preseli, a Welsh-medium secondary school in Crymych.

 

Previous schools in the area were Tenby V.C. Infants School which was an English medium school with a Welsh unit. Pupils from this school would automatically enrol in Tenby Junior School which has now been converted into Ysgol Hafan y Môr. Tenby V.C. Infant school was demolished in 2016 and turned into a field for the nearby Greenhill School.

 

Attractions include the two sheltered, sandy beaches and the coastal boat trips to Caldey Island. St Catherine's Island is tidal and the site of St Catherine's Fort a 19th-century Palmerston Fort. In August 2016, the fort faced an "uncertain future" and was closed to the public. Tenby has shops, pubs and restaurants to cater for visitors. The Sunday Times rated Tenby's Castle Beach the best beach in the UK in 2019.

 

Tenby railway station serves the town on the Pembroke Dock branch of the West Wales Line operated by Transport for Wales Rail, who also manage the station. Trains run in each direction; westwards towards Pembroke and eastwards to Whitland, Carmarthen and Swansea. In peak season, trains run direct from Paddington to Tenby on Saturdays.

 

The nearest airport is Cardiff International.

 

Tenby United RFC, a rugby union club has existed since 1876. It is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union.

 

In 1970, the Tenby Sea Swimming Association started the Boxing Day Swim. It is Tenby's main Christmas attraction now, with approximately 600 swimmers, most in fancy dress, watched by thousands of onlookers. Each swimmer who enters for a charity receives a medal. The Osborne family has been associated with the event from the beginning and Chris Osborne, chairman of TSSA has seen it take place in every weather condition, from brilliant sunshine to freezing winds.

 

Tenby hosts the Welsh Ironman Triathlon in September. There is also the Tenby Aces Cycling Club and the 18-hole Tenby Golf Course that provides links golf by the coast.

 

Notable people

Robert Recorde (ca.1512 – 1558), an Anglo-Welsh physician and mathematician.

Sir William Paxton (1744−1824), a Scottish-born sailor, businessman and Welsh MP for Carmarthen; he developed Tenby into a seaside resort.

Charles Norris (1779–1858), an English topographical etcher and writer; moved to Tenby in 1810.

David Thomas (1813–1894), preacher and publisher of The Homilist, a magazine of liturgical thought.

George Edward Day (1815–1872), a Welsh physician.

Fanny Price-Gwynne (1819–1901), a Welsh novelist, artist, composer, poet and philanthropist; born in Tenby.

Thomas Purnell (1834–1889), author and London drama critic; born in Tenby.

Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield GCB, OM, KCMG, CVO, PC (1873–1967), a senior Royal Navy officer during WW1, educated at St Andrew's School, Tenby

Gwen John (1876–1939), a Welsh artist who worked in France

Augustus John OM RA (1878–1961), a Welsh painter, draughtsman and etcher; born in Tenby.

Tenby Davies (1884–1932), a Welsh athlete and half-mile world professional champion in 1909

Nina Hamnett (1890–1956), a Welsh artist and writer, became known as the Queen of Bohemia; born in Tenby

Cecil Woodham-Smith CBE (1896–1977), historian and biographer; she wrote about the Victorian era

Kenneth Griffith (1921–2006), a Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker; born in Tenby

Alison Bielski (1925–2014), poet and writer; wrote about Tenby

Gwilym Prichard (1931–2015), a Welsh landscape painter, lived and died in Tenby

Clive Merrison (born 1945), a British actor of film, TV, stage and radio; born in Tenby

Rosie Swale-Pope MBE (born 1946), a British author, adventurer and marathon runner; lives in Tenby

Michael Bonacini (born 1960), a Welsh-Canadian chef, born and raised in Tenby

Grant Llewellyn (born 1960), a Welsh conductor and music director of the North Carolina Symphony

Rhidian Brook (born 1964), a Welsh novelist, screenwriter and broadcaster; born in Tenby

Kate Lamb (born 1988), actress, grew up in Tenby.

Wally the Walrus

 

On 19 March 2021, an Arctic walrus was spotted on the rocks of Broad Haven South beach, after initially making the journey over from Ireland. During its time in Tenby, it was situated primarily on the new RNLI Lifeboat Tenby slipway. Wally was not spotted between 5 and 8 April 2021 and there were concerns that sightseers had driven him away, but he was back regularly resting on the slipway later in the month, and on one occasion had to be moved to allow the slipway to be used.

 

Some believed that the walrus made the journey from the Arctic on an ice floe. The RSPCA believes this is the most southernly sighting of the species; occasionally they can be seen in Scotland.

 

Despite spending most of his days resting and scavenging for food, he has been causing some mischief. It was reported that he capsized a dingy and damaged a fishing boat trying to board the vessels.

 

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Town of Tenby.

Individuals:

David Lloyd George

Augustus John: 30 October 1959.

Wilfred Harrison MBE: 1969.

Mrs Sue Lane: 10 May 2023.

Cllr Trevor Hallett: 10 May 2023.

Military Units:

HMS Tenby, RN: 1970.

 

Tenby experiences a maritime climate with cool summers, mild winters and often high winds. Due to its coastal southwest position, it is one of the sunnier locations in Wales.

 

Pembrokeshire is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and is otherwise surrounded by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and administrative headquarters of Pembrokeshire County Council.

 

The county is generally sparsely populated and rural, with an area of 200 square miles (520 km2) and a population of 123,400. After Haverfordwest, the largest settlements are Milford Haven (13,907), Pembroke Dock (9,753), and Pembroke (7,552). St Davids (1,841) is a city, the smallest by population in the UK. Welsh is spoken by 17.2 percent of the population, and for historic reasons is more widely spoken in the north of the county than in the south.

 

Pembrokeshire's coast is its most dramatic geographic feature, created by the complex geology of the area. It is a varied landscape which includes high sea cliffs, wide sandy beaches, the large natural harbour of Milford Haven, and several offshore islands which are home to seabird colonies. Most of it is protected by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and can be hiked on the 190-mile (310 km) Pembrokeshire Coast Path. The interior of Pembrokeshire is relatively flat and gently undulating, with the exception of the Preseli Mountains in the north.

 

There are many prehistoric sites in Pembrokeshire, particularly in the Preseli Mountains. During the Middle Ages several castles were built by the Normans, such as Pembroke and Cilgerran, and St David's Cathedral became an important pilgrimage site. During the Industrial Revolution the county remained relatively rural, with the exception of Milford Haven, which was developed as a port and Royal Navy dockyard. It is now the UK's third-largest port, primarily because of its two liquefied natural gas terminals. The economy of the county is now focused on agriculture, oil and gas, and tourism.

 

Human habitation of the region that is now Pembrokeshire extends back to between 125,000 and 70,000 years  and there are numerous prehistoric sites such as Pentre Ifan, and neolithic remains (12,000 to 6,500 years ago), more of which were revealed in an aerial survey during the 2018 heatwave; in the same year, a 1st-century Celtic chariot burial was discovered, the first such find in Wales. There may have been dairy farming in Neolithic times.

 

There is little evidence of Roman occupation in what is now Pembrokeshire. Ptolemy's Geography, written c. 150, mentioned some coastal places, two of which have been identified as the River Teifi and what is now St Davids Head, but most Roman writers did not mention the area; there may have been a Roman settlement near St Davids and a road from Bath, but this comes from a 14th-century writer. Any evidence for villas or Roman building materials reported by mediaeval or later writers has not been verified, though some remains near Dale were tentatively identified as Roman in character by topographer Richard Fenton in his Historical Tour of 1810. Fenton stated that he had "...reason to be of opinion that they had not colonized Pembrokeshire till near the decline of their empire in Britain".

 

Part of a possible Roman road is noted by CADW near Llanddewi Velfrey, and another near Wiston. Wiston is also the location of the first Roman fort discovered in Pembrokeshire, investigated in 2013.

 

Some artefacts, including coins and weapons, have been found, but it is not clear whether these belonged to Romans or to a Romanised population. Welsh tradition has it that Magnus Maximus founded Haverfordwest, and took a large force of local men on campaign in Gaul in 383 which, together with the reduction of Roman forces in south Wales, left a defensive vacuum which was filled by incomers from Ireland.

 

Between 350 and 400, an Irish tribe known as the Déisi settled in the region known to the Romans as Demetae.  The Déisi merged with the local Welsh, with the regional name underlying Demetae evolving into Dyfed, which existed as an independent petty kingdom from the 5th century.  In 904, Hywel Dda married Elen (died 943), daughter of the king of Dyfed Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, and merged Dyfed with his own maternal inheritance of Seisyllwg, forming the new realm of Deheubarth ("southern district"). Between the Roman and Norman periods, the region was subjected to raids from Vikings, who established settlements and trading posts at Haverfordwest, Fishguard, Caldey Island and elsewhere.

 

Dyfed remained an integral province of Deheubarth, but this was contested by invading Normans and Flemings who arrived between 1067 and 1111.  The region became known as Pembroke (sometimes archaic "Penbroke":), after the Norman castle built in the cantref of Penfro. In 1136, Prince Owain Gwynedd at Crug Mawr near Cardigan met and destroyed a 3,000-strong Norman/Flemish army and incorporated Deheubarth into Gwynedd.  Norman/Flemish influence never fully recovered in West Wales.  In 1138, the county of Pembrokeshire was named as a county palatine. Rhys ap Gruffydd, the son of Owain Gwynedd's daughter Gwenllian, re-established Welsh control over much of the region and threatened to retake all of Pembrokeshire, but died in 1197. After Deheubarth was split by a dynastic feud, Llywelyn the Great almost succeeded in retaking the region of Pembroke between 1216 and his death in 1240.  In 1284 the Statute of Rhuddlan was enacted to introduce the English common law system to Wales, heralding 100 years of peace, but had little effect on those areas already established under the Marcher Lords, such as Cemais in the north of the county.

 

Henry Tudor, born at Pembroke Castle in 1457, landed an army in Pembrokeshire in 1485 and marched to Cardigan.  Rallying support, he continued to Leicestershire and defeated the larger army of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. As Henry VII, he became the first monarch of the House of Tudor, which ruled England until 1603.

 

The Laws in Wales Act 1535 effectively abolished the powers of the Marcher Lords and divided the county into seven hundreds, roughly corresponding to the seven pre-Norman cantrefi of Dyfed. The hundreds were (clockwise from the northeast): Cilgerran, Cemais, Dewisland, Roose, Castlemartin, Narberth and Dungleddy and each was divided into civil parishes; a 1578 map in the British Library is the earliest known to show parishes and chapelries in Pembrokeshire. The Elizabethan era brought renewed prosperity to the county through an opening up of rural industries, including agriculture, mining and fishing, with exports to England and Ireland, though the formerly staple woollen industry had all but disappeared. 

 

During the First English Civil War (1642–1646) the county gave strong support to the Roundheads (Parliamentarians), in contrast to the rest of Wales, which was staunchly Royalist. In spite of this, an incident in Pembrokeshire triggered the opening shots of the Second English Civil War when local units of the New Model Army mutinied. Oliver Cromwell defeated the uprising at the Siege of Pembroke in July 1648.  On 13 August 1649, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland began when New Model Army forces sailed from Milford Haven.

 

In 1720, Emmanuel Bowen described Pembrokeshire as having five market towns, 45 parishes and about 4,329 houses, with an area of 420,000 acres (1,700 km2). In 1791 a petition was presented to the House of Commons concerning the poor state of many of the county's roads, pointing out that repairs could not be made compulsory by the law as it stood. The petition was referred to committee.  People applying for poor relief were often put to work mending roads. Workhouses were poorly documented. Under the Poor Laws, costs and provisions were kept to a minimum, but the emphasis was often on helping people to be self-employed. While the Poor Laws provided a significant means of support, there were many charitable and benefit societies. After the Battle of Fishguard, the failed French invasion of 1797, 500 French prisoners were held at Golden Hill Farm, Pembroke. From 1820 to 1878 one of the county's prisons, with a capacity of 86, was in the grounds of Haverfordwest Castle. In 1831, the area of the county was calculated to be 345,600 acres (1,399 km2) with a population of 81,424.

 

It was not until nearly the end of the 19th century that mains water was provided to rural south Pembrokeshire by means of a reservoir at Rosebush and cast iron water pipes throughout the district.

 

Throughout much of the 20th century (1911 to 1961) the population density in the county remained stable while it rose in England and Wales as a whole. There was considerable military activity in Pembrokeshire and offshore in the 20th century: a naval base at Milford Haven because German U-boats were active off the coast in World War I and, in World War II, military exercises in the Preseli Mountains and a number of military airfields. The wartime increase in air activity saw a number of aircraft accidents and fatalities, often due to unfamiliarity with the terrain. From 1943 to 1944, 5,000 soldiers from the United States Army's 110th Infantry Regiment were based in the county, preparing for D-Day. Military and industrial targets in the county were subjected to bombing during World War II. After the end of the war, German prisoners of war were accommodated in Pembrokeshire, the largest prison being at Haverfordwest, housing 600. The County of Pembroke War Memorial in Haverfordwest carries the names of 1,200 of those that perished in World War I.

 

In 1972, a second reservoir for south Pembrokeshire, at Llys y Fran, was completed.

 

Pembrokeshire's tourism portal is Visit Pembrokeshire, run by Pembrokeshire County Council. In 2015 4.3 million tourists visited the county, staying for an average of 5.24 days, spending £585 million; the tourism industry supported 11,834 jobs. Many of Pembrokeshire's beaches have won awards, including Poppit Sands and Newport Sands. In 2018, Pembrokeshire received the most coast awards in Wales, with 56 Blue Flag, Green Coast or Seaside Awards. In the 2019 Wales Coast Awards, 39 Pembrokeshire beaches were recognised, including 11 awarded Blue Flag status.

 

The Pembrokeshire coastline is a major draw to tourists; in 2011 National Geographic Traveller magazine voted the Pembrokeshire Coast the second best in the world and in 2015 the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park was listed among the top five parks in the world by a travel writer for the Huffington Post. Countryfile Magazine readers voted the Pembrokeshire Coast the top UK holiday destination in 2018, and in 2019 Consumers' Association members placed Tenby and St Davids in the top three best value beach destinations in Britain. With few large urban areas, Pembrokeshire is a "dark sky" destination. The many wrecks off the Pembrokeshire coast attract divers. The decade from 2012 saw significant, increasing numbers of Atlantic bluefin tuna, not seen since the 1960s, and now seen by some as an opportunity to encourage tourist sport fishing.

 

The county has a number of theme and animal parks (examples are Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo, Manor House Wildlife Park, Blue Lagoon Water Park and Oakwood Theme Park), museums and other visitor attractions including Castell Henllys reconstructed Iron Age fort, Tenby Lifeboat Station and Milford Haven's Torch Theatre. There are 21 marked cycle trails around the county.

 

Pembrokeshire Destination Management Plan for 2020 to 2025 sets out the scope and priorities to grow tourism in Pembrokeshire by increasing its value by 10 per cent in the five years, and to make Pembrokeshire a top five UK destination.

 

As the national sport of Wales, rugby union is widely played throughout the county at both town and village level. Haverfordwest RFC, founded in 1875, is a feeder club for Llanelli Scarlets. Village team Crymych RFC in 2014 plays in WRU Division One West. There are numerous football clubs in the county, playing in five leagues with Haverfordwest County A.F.C. competing in the Cymru Premier.

 

Triathlon event Ironman Wales has been held in Pembrokeshire since 2011, contributing £3.7 million to the local economy, and the county committed in 2017 to host the event for a further five years. Ras Beca, a mixed road, fell and cross country race attracting UK-wide competitors, has been held in the Preselis annually since 1977. The record of 32 minutes 5 seconds has stood since 1995. Pembrokeshire Harriers athletics club was formed in 2001 by the amalgamation of Cleddau Athletic Club (established 1970) and Preseli Harriers (1989) and is based in Haverfordwest.

 

The annual Tour of Pembrokeshire road-cycling event takes place over routes of optional length. The 4th Tour, in April 2015, attracted 1,600 riders including Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman and there were 1,500 entrants to the 2016 event. Part of Route 47 of the Celtic Trail cycle route is in Pembrokeshire. The Llys y Fran Hillclimb is an annual event run by Swansea Motor Club, and there are several other county motoring events held each year.

 

Abereiddy's Blue Lagoon was the venue for a round of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2012, 2013, and 2016; the Welsh Surfing Federation has held the Welsh National Surfing Championships at Freshwater West for several years, and Llys y Fran Country Park hosted the Welsh Dragonboat Championships from 2014 to 2017.

 

While not at major league level, cricket is played throughout the county and many villages such as Lamphey, Creselly, Llangwm, Llechryd and Crymych field teams in minor leagues under the umbrella of the Cricket Board of Wales.

 

Notable people

From mediaeval times, Rhys ap Gruffydd (c. 1132-1197), ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth, was buried in St Davids Cathedral. and Gerald of Wales was born c. 1146 at Manorbier Castle. Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) was born in 1457 at Pembroke Castle.

 

The pirate Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart) (Welsh: Barti Ddu) was born in Casnewydd Bach, between Fishguard and Haverfordwest in 1682.

 

In later military history, Jemima Nicholas, heroine of the so-called "last invasion of Britain" in 1797, was from Fishguard, Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton GCB, born in Haverfordwest, was killed at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and Private Thomas Collins is believed to be the only Pembrokeshire man that fought in the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879.

 

In the arts, siblings Gwen and Augustus John were both born in Pembrokeshire, as was the novelist Sarah Waters; singer Connie Fisher grew up in Pembrokeshire. The actor Christian Bale was born in Haverfordwest.

 

Stephen Crabb, a former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Wales, was brought up in Pembrokeshire and is one of the county's two Members of Parliament, the other being Simon Hart,[90] who served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2019 to 2022.

Graphite 6B

Here is a transcribed PODCAST of Ben Edlund talking about the Script (1st Draft) and the Pitch Fact

Sheets (In reference to my posts 2 years ago on November 12, 2017, The Tick Character Desciptions from The Original Animated Series 1 of 2) that I believe were integral with the transition from Comic Book to Television Animated Series based on the following: (...but you decide)

SYS Podcast Episode 274: Writer/Creator of The Tick, Ben Edlund, Talks About How He Was Able

To Turn The Comic Book Into An Amazon Series by ASHLEY SCOTT MEYERS

Ashley: Welcome to Episode #274 of the Selling Your Screenplay podcast. Today I'm interviewing Ben Edlund the creator and current showrunner for the Amazon series The Tick. He has an incredible story to tell. He started out in high school, originally creating this Tick character as a comic book for a

local comic shop and slowly he had success with it. And he's actually had two other TV series based on

this same character. We talk through this entire journey, how he came up with the idea, got it to

market, eventually got it to Amazon, all through this long journey that's taken over 20 years.

So now let's get into the main segment. Today I am interviewing writer Ben Edlund. Here is the

interview.

Ashley: Welcome Ben to the Selling Your Screenplay podcast. I really appreciate you coming on the

show with me today.

Ben: I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Ashley: To start out maybe you can tell us a little bit about your background. Where did you grow up

and how did you get interested in the entertainment business?

Ben: Yeah. I grew up in Massachusetts in a small town, Pembroke, Greater Boston, really and... I'm

old so that was in the 70's. That was like a time where I got really trained on very early to the idea of

film making. Star Wars was highly impactful and I became one of those kids that got a Super 8

camera off a blanket at a yard sale and started to make movies and that was the pattern. Then from

that point I was also just always drawing. My dad was an artist so I developed storytelling... visual

storytelling both in comic books and movies. That was my thing and so I had a lot of time in by the

time I had a few opportunities to grab for.

Ashley: Yeah. Let's talk about The Tick. Season two is gonna be dropped on Amazon Prime on April

5th. Maybe to start out you can just give us a quick pitch or a logline for the show. What is this show

all about?

Ben: It's a universe full of superheroes. The Tick and Arthur are a pair of heroes trying to make it.

Arthur is a former accountant with sort of a fearful nature he's trying to overcome and the Tick is an

enigmatic superhuman blue vaguely bug-related superhero, cannot remember his past and tends to be

a gifted bumbler in the tradition of inspector Clouseau. That's a long logline.

Ashley: Yeah. I think that sums it up well. I think this is just a fascinating story in terms of how you

were able to get this ultimately on Amazon. You originally wrote a comic book so we'll dig into that,

you got it on Fox at one point and then again in 2001. So maybe we can just talk through some of these

steps where we're just taking us way back to the very origin of The Tick. Where did that idea come

from?

Ben: it was just a real simple combination of things that were in my life. I grew up on a cranberry bog

with a lot of dogs so ticks were a big part of our existence. We had them, the dogs had them, everybody

had them. That was the thing. And when I was in my teens I started to play roleplaying games and

started to play... one of the games was a marvel roleplaying game, Marvel Super Heroes and that was

like a meta-analysis of superheroes that was just kinda there, and as I played it I started to get a kind

of view on superheroes that sort of felt like... I mean, I really enjoyed them but I also saw them in this

gorgeously ridiculous way that made me wanna create my own. I started fooling around with this

character called the Tick that was at fist just a doodle and something very primitive and simple but I

ended up... I lived a few towns over from a comic book company that was trying to become a

publishing company. So I happened to find my way to them and showed them samples of my work, I

started to illustrate for them and then eventually the Tick is a character they saw and got excited

about. That's how the publishing started.

Ashley: Okay. And then what does that mean, like an independent comic book and this must've been

what, in the eighties? How does that ultimately transfer into getting a television show? Did they

promote it well, did it kinda just catch fire? What was that trajectory of going from local comic book

to show on Fox?

Ben: Yeah. It was the eighties, it was like 88' when we put it out. That was at the tail end of what was

called the black and white explosion which was a market fascination with black and white independent

comic books. So we thought we would just cash in on the very end of that but it turned out that the

comic book itself had a kind of winning chemistry and people started to really enjoy it which was great

for me so I kept doing it. This was also an acclimate. We were only not... I mean, I grew up within an

hour's drive of Eastman and Laird who created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so there was a local

folkloric rise to greatness [laughs] that took place right next door and it kind of inspired us to be

looking around and see if we could do something similar. And through various... I mean, it took a

couple of years but through a long kinda slug we were able to finally land at Fox Kids network. Yeah.

Ashley: And maybe you can even give us some of those details. I mean, you're starting to get a little bit

of traction with the comic book, people are enjoying it. Did you actively make an effort and said,

"Listen, we can turn this into an animated series," and you went out actively looking for people or was

it the opposite where the comic book was catching on and then you started having television people

coming to you giving you offers?

Ben: It was like that. The offers were not immense but they were... they started to come in once we

kinda proved that we'd be around so we were still... it was really issue five and six somewhere in there

that we started to get attention. And then... I think there was an independent feature producer that

wanted to buy up an option and wanted to work out a treatment for a feature that seemed unlikely to

me because at that point especially we only had very little on... that was before Batman, the Michael

Keaton Batman, so it was a time of great skepticism in terms of live of action. But other larger

producers came looking at that and then the way I kind of saw it moving I think even then what

seemed like the most likely course was something that followed the route that the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles was following.

And that became a long process. I signed up with a toy licensing agent called Kiscom and

that was... I think certainly in the short term it worked so it was a good move. It was a high percentage

toy licensing, and I'm not sure if I was necessarily well represented, but it was an high percentage to

kind of get in the game and actually move this from the point of just me up in Massachusetts to

somebody who had contact and lounge for real meetings to start to take place. At that point I was

living in New York City and going to school at School of Visual Arts so every once in a while I'd get

on my bike and ride up to Midtown and I'd take my bike seat in with me because people would take

your bike seat.

So I'd walk in the meetings with my bike seat and I'd sit down and go, "Well, let's make a

TV show." And I was very young at that point. I was 22. Somehow over the course of a couple of years

we managed to make contacts sufficient to get us in front of Fox Kids network. That was like maybe a

year and a half of meeting with different people though we went up a road with Bandai, major

Japanese toy manufacturer that had basically, if I'm not mistaken, was the company that initially did

the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle run. But at any rate it was one of those large companies that was

used to packaging cartoons with toy lines and doing all of that. In that respect it turns out I think I was

extremely lucky that everybody looked at The Tick and said, "That's too weird and funky. We're not

gonna do it," because it has prospered so much better being... even though it did get a cartoon, it didn't

get a cartoon that was based on a toy line which allowed it to be more itself.

It didn't have the pressure of a large company on top of the network trying to control what

it was so it was really allowed to grow sort of unmolested and become... it's not an overwhelming one

but it's a cultural landmark to some degree for some people. It wouldn't have done that if it was toy

line. It would have been a nostalgic remembrance of childhood but I prefer what happened [laughs].

Ashley: Yeah. So during this year and a half as you're sort of ramping up did you write some spec

episodes of The Tick, sort of a pilot episode and a couple episodes? Did you start to prepare yourself

for this potential to have a TV show or did you just still basically have the comic book and what you

were doing there?

Ben: I had various pitch documents that I had worked out. By the time we went to Fox Kids Network it

was a thick pitch book with... I had done illustrations for all the characters and character descriptions

and I kind of, if I'm not mistaken, an over-view of the pilot. There wasn't a pilot script. It was more

like an overview of the show at that point. It evolved from something that was less about the show and

more about the potential of the toy line and then overarching kind of story value of the piece that was

this angle at which one approached the toy world at that point.

This was a mutation of that , that was like pitch book kind of consistent with what I was

seeing in the cartoon world but it was not... I didn't have a script. And so when I first got engaged with

the Fox Kids Network situation that was actually a consultancy. I was at that point fairly sure that I

was gonna sign away, that I was signing away The Tick sort of, because there was no guarantee I was

gonna personally be involved the making of the show. It just... like that was sort of... it certainly wasn't

the case for Eastman and Laird, they were not involved. They handed it off and it became this very

Saturday morning thing that was wildly popular and I assumed that's what was gonna take place.

Instead I was given a kind of a consultancy in my contract which was very much at their

option in terms of they could certainly put a clone of silence around me if they needed to. Instead I just

ended up...I was in the same city as one of the two key writers that they had brought onto the project,

Richard Liebmann-Smith, the other one (Eric Lewald) was out in Los Angeles and they were going to

kinda pull together the pilot script and write the season, and I was sort of just writing emails,

commenting on the material that was coming out and the flow in commentary and my connection with

Richard Liebmann-Smith I just sort of ended up sitting in the seat where I started to co-write with

Richard. And then the guy (Eric Lewald) in Los Angeles became kinda out of -istic and we just started

going, and the script was just... It was unusual, I was really young, I had no experience before that

point but I was the actual only scholar and expert on The Tick that they had and it turned out to be

kind of a sensitive... it always has been a sensitive kind of tone so I was just lucky I got in there. Since

then it's just been immensely fortunate.

Ashley: Yeah. I'm curious too. You were talking about this toy company that you signed a deal with

and then that seemed to lead to some of these meetings at Fox. Did the toy company, did they have the

actual contacts over at Fox that they could just pick up the phone and set up those meetings or was it

more just having that toy company signed on was prestigious enough then you were able to go out and

set up those meetings? What did the toy... I guess I'm not fully clear how signing with this toy company

seemed to ultimately equal getting that Fox show.

Ben: They functioned as my agent at that point. They were people who had a lot of connections. They

had made all kinds of calls to networks because they were always trying to push forward various deals

with other toy lines and really sort of auxiliary kind of entertainment material needed. So they were in

that world to a degree. They were one degree removed because their emphasis was on toys but they

were able to function completely as agents for me in that regard. I didn't make meetings, I didn't call

people out of the blue or anything like it, that would never have happened. I wouldn't have known who

to call. Instead I was just... anytime we needed material I generated the materials, anytime... I was the

content and they were the provider at that point. By the time we started getting into production or pre

-production as agents do, they faded away because the bond had been made and it was time to get to

work.

Ashley: Yeah. Let's talk about the 2001 version. How did that come about? How were you able to just

keep this train going and get that set up?

Ben: That started with... I was envisioning it in the following way: Barry Sonnenfeld, a successful

director, was on a private jet that almost crashed and it went past the edge of the runway and kinda

skidded out. He was okay but he was a very nervous flyer and so had a near death experience and

when he came out of it he was like, "We need to do The Tick as a live action show [laughs]."

And so for some reason he decided that was the thing that needed to happen. He had

encountered this guy Patrick Warburton and felt like this guy was the walking embodiment of the

Tick. I think his children had been seeing The Tick cartoon and that's how his awareness of the began

but then Flody Suarez also kind of was working with them and Barry Josephson and they were both

pushing hard to make The Tick one of the choices that the company went for. And so they called me

up and we started to work on something. First I said no. It was my habit of saying no, "No. That's

crazy. I can't make a live action Tick, it's crazy." But then I met Patrick Warburton, they flew me out

to LA to talk to him and he seemed great and he was and we became this kind of amazing human

avatar that was eye opening and it opened my brain to the wider potential of the character.

At that point we agreed that we had this guy, he was great and he was already kind of

popular because of Seinfeld. Everyone loved him [laughs] and still does. But that became a pretty good

package because we went out with Barry Josephson, Barry Sonnenfeld, Patrick Warburton and myself

doing the pilot and it sold. And so... yeah. Got to work.

Ashley: Perfect. And then takes us through that same trajectory. How did you then ultimately end up a

third time on Amazon?

Ben: That show went for about nine episodes. It was not fully embraced by the network that bought it

and that was just a misunderstanding of what they asked for and what they got. Essentially they asked

for Barry Sonnenfeld Property X and then when it came out and it had superheroes in it they were like,

"Superheroes! What are they [laughs]?" So it came and went but it inspired a... I think everyone

associated with it has had the same experience which is people loved it and talked about it and brought

it up all the time with Patrick, all the time with the Barry's.

Everybody really just feeling like this thing was... it had a cult fascination associated with it,

so Barry Josephson got sick of it. He was always on other projects and somebody would come up from

the crew and say, "Are you ever gonna do something with The Tick?" and so finally he went to Sony,

he was doing other things, he sniffed it out and there was interest there too for taking the rights which

they still possessed in trying to make a new television expression of The Tick in live action which was

for me... so Barry came to me, I first said, "No," but it ate at me and I started to think about it and

realized yeah it's a challenge we didn't quite complete in the first live action iterations, something we

didn't... there were calculations I made at that time in the engineering of that show which fated it to be

short-run show not that it was given a chance but just in terms of its DNA. I realized there were all

kinds of things that I wanted to do to grapple again with what is really I think one of the... it's maybe

one of the hardest forums which would be a long forum superhero comedy because that is so... it

couldn't be more likely or less important. Like long forum superhero dramas, at least you're going

with stakes and you're trying to make it... but something as absurd as The Tick that one wants to see

for seasons and seasons that was a challenge I didn't understand how to meet and I was...yeah, fatally

intrigued [laughs].

Ashley: And so you keep saying that they would come to you and you would say, "No." Why do you say

no? Are you just sick of working on this thing since you were 14, you want other projects or the initial

deal just doesn't look that good? What is going through your mind when you're saying no at first?

Ben: I mean, in each case it's... and this is one of the biggest issues going when it comes to getting

scripts up and running, is fear. In each case I had completed something that was okay, it was good,

people liked it. I had come off the cartoon, the cartoon was quite celebrated actually and so later in the

90's when someone came to me and said, "Oh, you wanna open that box again and see if you can fuck

it up [laughs]," pardon my French. See if you can like just... like no, it's good [laughs].

But then the question starts to eat at me and then I think, "Well, alright." It's not so much

that I don't wanna deal with The Tick again necessarily, although after I'm done with this one I'll put

it down for a while, but it's more that my relationship with The Tick has been such that... it's actually

been pretty positive and I've been wanting to protect that legacy basically. It wasn't until I met Patrick

and all of those sort of things that I realized, "Okay, I wanna try this in live action in 2001 or 2000."

And then it wasn't really until Barry came and Josephson came out to me and I had thought about it

and then I started to see how it could be done, a turnaround of how it could be approached with which

it could be approached. And then realizing okay, if I'm starting to think of this and wanna address the

things I felt weren't addressed in the previous live action and maybe kinda make it a different thing

worth doing then I felt empowered to define my terms very rigorously. It was very specific. There

would not be a broadcast, I would not pitch it to broadcasts, I would not pitch it for 22 episodes per

season, I would not pitch it for anything but a pedigree outlet that had enough money to support a very

peculiar idea with real backing. So it had to be 13 episodes or less. I mean, I had a lot of requirements.

Ashley: Yeah. And so how involved are you with the production now? Are you still the showrunner,

are you hiring the writers, are you overseeing the scripts, are you writing some of the scripts?

Ben: Yes [laughs]. Yeah. I mean, I'm the sole showrunner in the second season then I have been doing

a lot. So if it's... I will take all the blame and a small portion of the credit because a lot of people did a

tremendous number of things. For example we did a lot of writing in Season 2 because of various

factors that just kinda fell into place. We had to do rewriting kind of all the time as we were moving

through the season and that became this partnership between myself and Susan Hurwitz Arneson, one

of our editors from the first season, she's co-executive producer now. And that was a big part of how

we pulled this thing off but in essence I have a dirty finger in everything.

Ashley: Let's talk about that process just for a little bit. I get a lot of questions from writers about how

they can get on this show or that show. Just as an example how did you find the writers for The Tick?

Were they people that you had worked with before, were they agent submissions and you read a bunch

of scripts? Were they friends suggesting their writer friends? Maybe you can just talk through how you

built the staff to write this show.

Ben: Yeah. I think we approached it in a fairly straightforward way which was Barry Josephson has a

production company that is up and running and so one of his lieutenants at that time was Eric Facade

(Resard) and he kinda launched into this massive reading campaign to start to get the raw bulk of

submissions that we wanted to look at and focus on. And that was a group of submissions that came

from all over. Like my agent came from other people's... people that we were associated with came

from Amazon, came from Sony. There were writers I looked at from friends of mine and from contacts

that I knew, that's something you need to be careful with, I mean, there's a whole chapter in whatever

one wants to pursue that is about working with friends [laughs]. But for me in this case we were

really... we had sort of a pretty reasonable budget and room to kind of shape out about seven to nine

spots and just kinda went at it. I read a lot, I met a lot of people, it was a combination of the meetings

which there's chemistry and intangible stuff that takes place during meetings and then reading the spec

stuff that was submitted. A lot of times I was reading... personally I was reading pilots that they made

because I wanted to see what kind of decisions they made when they were on their own and were Gods

of their own worlds. But... it's a weird kind of weather system that dictates what is involved in terms of

submissions and I'm not in touch with that exactly.

Ashley: Yeah. So obviously the writing is very important, you're reading these spec scripts. But what

other things are important to you when you're hiring a writer to come in and be in your writer's room?

Some of the other things besides writing?

Ben: Let's see... I mean, there's that sort of certain factors that are basically about personality and

almost like psychic signature. As a showrunner I'm sitting down with a person and I am projecting

that person into the room I'm making, and I've maybe made some choices already and so I have say

three seats filled and I'm looking into that sort of future projection of the room that I'm taking that

person and putting them there. If I've got kind of a quiet room in my head right now and I'm talking to

someone who's actually very vocal and almost has trouble not talking over me, they could be okay

depending. I would never talk over a person in a meeting that I'm trying to impress [laughs]. But I

might be looking for and listening for some volume from a person. I'm listening for a more volcanic

creative nature because I wanna picture a room and I want generators and I want processors and

ideally generator processors, but like you're looking for a variety of functions and you're trying to

create a sort of an ongoing cocktail party with a job. And so that's an element and that's something

where it's really just the advice would be be yourself and try to be as the least nervous self-aware, you

know, unnecessarily self-aware version of yourself you can be because its... it's also for you. You want

to be a comfortable fit in a space and if you're trying to contort your presentation of self over much,

unless you're a good, solid, psychopath it's gonna show. So why don't you just be yourself. So that's

that thing. The other things one looks for are like a track record... that's not always the case. I was

always looking at people who had never worked yet. I wanted to try and give people the potential door

in. Anyone who had a track record I would then make calls and talk to people who'd worked with them

and try to get the lowdown on how they operated in the room and how their drafts were, and just in

general what kind of team member they were.

Ashley: Yeah. Sound advice. So maybe you can just tell us when the... I guess The Tick are coming out

April 5th?

Ben: April 5th...

Ashley: On Amazon.

Ben: Ten episodes will come out at once, so the full season.

Ashley: Perfect, and I highly recommend people to check that out. And what's the best way for people

to keep up with what you're doing? A blog, Twitter, anything you're comfortable sharing I'll round up

for the show notes.

Ben: Yes. Check in with my Twitter. I'm trying to get better at it, so we can work on it together

everybody. It is @ben_edlund, all lower cases.

Ashley: Perfect, got it. So perfect, I will round that up for the show notes so people can click over to

that. Well Ben congratulations on getting this show, it's up and running. God luck with it and I look

forward to seeing what you do next.

Ben: Thanks man. Thank you for your time and attention. I appreciate it.

Ashley: Thank you. Will talk to you later.

Ben: Okay, bye.

Ashley: Bye.

 

And here is a bit more information describing the events that took place that brought The Tick from

Inception to hopefully...The Big Screen. (Bibliography: From The Book Age of TV Heroes which can

be purchased from Amazon)

 

Wherever there is evil and its evildoers...

Wherever there's injustice and jaywalking...

Wherever there are thugs, crooks, and politicians...

Wherever there's a blue plate special...

Rest assured, good citizens - The Tick will be there!

 

In the summer of 1986, The Tick first appeared in the pages of New England Comics

Newsletter, the in-house publication of the Boston comic book store chain of the same name. By 1988,

Tick spread his brand of justice in his very own series; his moth-outfitted sidekick, Arthur, made his

debut in issue four of the book. In the first story, the Big Blue Arachnid is described as the followi ng:

 

"He is superhumanly strong and nigh invulnerable, with the intelligence level of top soil."

Born in 1968, Massachusetts native Ben Edlund was only seventeen when he made his deal

with George Suarez, owner of New England Comics (NEC), to publish The Tick as a series. Although

not heavily into comic books while growing up, he did enjoy Richie Rich and other kid comics until the

involving nature of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run lured him into appreciating the potential of the

comics medium. The son of the accomplished artist and commercial art designer Richard Edlund, Ben

was someone who always had the support of his parents in all his artistic endeavors, and they nurtured

his desire to create. Edlund said, "I think my father's example was one thing, and I got a lot of the

osmosis, a lot of training from my dad. He just would show up when I was drawing something and

offer approval."

 

The Tick creator humbly added. "As far as other motivating factors, I think the big thing

was, I was relatively shy, and drawing was kind of a chance to escape into somewhere where you had

complete control. I was curious about the connections between shyness and obsessive. meticulous

excellence. That's a large part of I think what kept me going. I kept getting positive results from

drawing, and it sort of filled out an area that would otherwise have probably been filled out by sports and popularity. [laughs]"

 

As he began to get sucked into the comic book culture, he started to become a somewhat

regular customer at a New England Comics store for his regular dose of books. Ben informed, "The

idea of a comic book store was unknown to me until friends of mine got a license to drive, and then we

drove over to Boston. And I was coming to admiration because I didn't realize there were that many

comic books. Like, you'd see in the back pages of, say, Epic, ads for other comic books and stuff, and it

seemed like there was something going on out there, but the idea of hundreds of thousands of books,

different ones, independent titles, not just the ones you find with the covers torn off at a drugstore -

that was pretty big. I was doing a strip for the high school paper when I could get around to it, and

that was more what I thought of in terms of comic book stuff. And then going and seeing what was out

there was...it had a pretty strong affect on what I thought was possible. That, plus we also started to

play a role-playing game called Marvel Superheroes, which wasn't a badly-designed game, but it also

kind of took the veil off of superheroes, in a sense. You'd have to take all of their abilities and all of

their strengths and weaknesses and kind of itemize them, and it began a process of breaking down

superheroes and seeing what was mythic and clever about them, and also what was kind of naive, even

sometimes dumb about them, which really started to get me into the direction of superhero parody,

which is of course where The Tick began."

 

Begun as a spec strip, Tick's true origin was as a joke during a role-playing game session

amongst Ben's friends. Intrigued by the character that he jokingly made up, he began to think and

draw him out as "an unstoppable, uncrushable, and somehow deeply disconnected goofball that fell

from the sky." Not long after, the artist was beginning to feel confident in his work and drew some

superhero samples with the hope of procuring some paying work. He showed them to art director Bob

Polio and comic store owner/publisher George Suarez of NEC, who were impressed enough to call him

back for a potential comic book they were developing. With college starting and the script to the comic

arriving super-late, Ben realistically pondered on the opportunity when Suarez asked him to create a

book based on his Tick strip instead. Excited with this offer, he worked on the first issue and

developed the character more during his freshman (and part of his sophomore) year at Massachusetts

College of Art, where he wanted to study film.

 

Thinking back, Edlund disclosed, "I would say that there were a lot of times when I had the

book take precedence, and there were times when when school suffered... Ultimately The Tick took

precedence, and eventually I quit school to pursue it with the cartoons. So I never really got out of

college. I never graduated from an institute of higher learning. I attended them for a period of time

and that's about it." The arrival of Tick #1 was a tremendous success for the proud teenage creator

when it finally was released in 1988. "When we put it out," said Edlund, We were sort of thinking,

 

"Well, we'll put out a few issues of this: It was, like. right at the end of the black-and-white explosion,

so maybe we'll get some people to notice it and I'll have something to keep in my portfolio that's been printed. But it managed to just catch a little bit of the flagging interest and energy that that big bubble had supported. So it was doing pretty well. By the time. they tell me, in 1990 or something like that, I think the print runs were at about 30,000 or something, so it was a very successful independent book and that's when it sort of attracted the attention of a number of people in Hollywood and also in New York. They were sort of looking at the independent comics with an eye toward what would be the most titles that could be exploited in the way that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had been exploited."

 

Suddenly Edlund had various companies and enterprises at his doorstep and on the phone

that wanting to develop The Tick into all sorts of products and things. Eventually, he made a deal with

a company called Kiscom (a New Jersey toy designer and packager) that saw a lot of merchandising

potential in Tick. Kiscom pitched the character to most of the big toy companies. They nearly made a

deal with Bandai that envisioned making a toy line that hopefully would spring into a television show

for young children. Later, Sunbow Entertainment came through with an offer for an animation show

for the sympathetic Fox Kids Fox's Saturday morning programming). Edlund wanted to concentrate

more on the writing side and took the opportunity to do so in developing Tick's animated show, with

writer Richard Libmann-Smith. By protecting his creation, he was able to help steer the production to

embrace the original ideas and comedic situations that were a bit progressive for Saturday morning

television. They were sophisticated enough for an audience of adults and savvy kids.

 

Edlund stated, "You're doing a loosely composed storyboard when you do a comic book.

It's about as close to cinema as you can get in a form that doesn't take place over time but still uses

space. Comic books use space instead of time, and you're really splitting things up into shots and

dynamic kind of takes. So I'd been doing comic books sort of working in sort of like a film laboratory,

and I was just waiting for when I could step into the thing Itd been wanting to do for the majority of

my life. I still like drawing, I still like... I meant I've done, very infrequently, like the comic book stuff,

but my focus and a lot of my intensity was dedicating to working on the other side of the book's

premise in a live-action role."

 

Despite a growing fan base and critical reviews, the animated show's ratings were not

strong for the intended audience; the potential "Ninja Turtle-like" revenue for Tick's toyline fell apart

after the first season. "It had a very sunshiney debut," said Edlund, "a daytime hit, and throughout all

that whole period that we were on the air, the three years that we were, it had this growing baffled and

very affectionate audience of adults, from a wide range of walks of life. That was really cool. What

ultimately took place was, advertisers and Fox as a corporation started to notice that we were a

Saturday morning TV show that had about a 52% adult audience, and what that meant was that all

the things that they were trying to sell to kids they were being sold to people who weren't going to buy

them."

 

The process of building the show only gave him more confidence in his storytelling and

screenwriting talents. For Ben, working in televis;on was a goal that he had wanted toaccomplish since

he was a child. The Tick's creator also stated "For discipline, for the sense that you can sort of step

onto the cultural stage and get something to stick there. These things, these forms of encouragement and even refinement of skill, they're really, really important. In the same breath, though. they all happened very, very early for me, and was kind of head-spinning. like, when I got out of the pressure cooker of doing that for two years, I skidded around for a while, because I think I still had to absorb and assimiLate

all the newness anrl all that stuff. I mean, I was 24 when I had a show, 25 when [ had a toy line. It was

starting to blow my mind a little bit that there were people in China, what have you, Taiwan, I'm not

sure now, that were assembling the absurd little plastic parts of my daydream for mass consumption.

 

That was a lot to kind of absorb, so I went through moments, of great arrogance and moments of

complete emptiness. Put that in your little book! [laughs]" (We heart you Ben!)

With the animated series over, Edlund worked behind-the-scenes on various features and

took some personal time. Not too long after, major film director Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black, The

Addams Family) was extremely interested into bringing a live-action Tick television show to the air.

Going in, Edlund was a little hesitant that television might want to change the design of the Tick character because "you'd have to think in terms of CGI or something in order to really present the deformities of the Tick's cranium, the lantern-ness of his jaw" When Edlund ffnally met Sonnenfeld, he was

reassured that his vision for a live-action Tick could work with the director's strong sense of crisp visuals and style.

 

Another important attraction was that Ben was going to be brought into live-action television and was

an integral member of this production. Sonnenfeld felt it was important to have the character's creator

be a part of developing the show since Tick originated from him. For this reason, Ben was asked to

write the pilot episode.

 

For Edlund, the hardest (haracter to visualiz! three-dimensionally was Tick. During

production it became apparent that the mask needed to be altered to allow the actor to emote

and show expressions. When it came to casting. the perfect actor to fill The Tick's blue suit needed to

be someone that possessed strength, charisma, an authoritative voice and that subtle sense of humor-

this was the part that Patrick Warburton was born to play! The prolific popular actor from Seinfeld

and his current show Rules of Engagement, is atso an instantly recognizable voice from his work on

 

Venture Bros. and other popular cartoons. About his casting as the insect defender. Warburton

recalled, unfortunately for me, Barry Sonnenfeld was producing the show, and although we hadn't

worked together at that point, that is was his inspiration. So we sat down and had a nice meeting or two and he'd already decided that I was to play The Tick. (Pending a near plane crash, I wonder if that was at Camarillo Airforce Airport? Ben had to meet Patrick and Barry had to make The Tick TV) Which is great, 'cause I love The Tick, and whenever you have to go in and read for something that you absolutely love, personally with me, I'll jeopardize it, you know? Something gets in the way."

 

After the four-million-dollar pilot was filmed, there was long time gap between that and the

filming of subsequent installments. Edlund commented, "That was an issue that came a problem,

because by the time they saw the pilot, they just really didn't know what they had bought. They really

didn't understand superheroes enough to see that there was sensible humor in superheroes. Almost

from the beginning, there would be an endless struggle between the show's five producers and the FOX

Network bosses over what exactly the show was about. Also, making the show was extremely costly Ice

a lot of the show's budget was eaten up before shooting could even start. The behind-the-scenes drama

made it difficult locate a comfortable budget for filming a half-hour, rubber-costume adventure

extravaganza.

While the writers of the show were focused on making e show as bold and absurd as the

cartoons, the network Inted something closest to Seinfeid with capes." All roughout filming of the

series, Edlund and his crew were reminded that budget limited action scenes, over-the-top gizmos, or

fancy melees. Edlund commented, "There were spider cars and rooftop battles and really a lot of sh*t

that just could not be done. But our eyes were too big for our fiscal stomachs, and we could see a lot of

suffering, I think, in the course of that show, because we just didn't have the optimum design for it.

That's just about what you can actually get on camera. The whether issues were that its sensibility

hadn't really been defined and it was being pulled in several directions at once. So whatever works on

that show kind of works despite those somewhat daunting conditions." It seems that money is the

factor, and that's paramount to a network," expressed Warburton. "I mean, even when WE had done

the episodes. The critics loved the shows and it was anticipated when those ini the upper suits at FOX

were Looking at the figures saying tms is a pretty exorbitantly expensive!' show, because it was a half-hour show that was shot single-camera, so that show cost as much as an hour show to make.

 

That year with Joe Millionaire, that came out aIId they were making a fortune on reality

shows which cost nothing to produce. So they did everything they could to kill The Tick, and that was

sad because all of us that were part of it really wanted to do it. But it just was not to be." After the

pilot was shot, Larry Charles (one of the instrumental writers of Seinfeld and the director of Borat)

was brought into the fold to bring his comedy touch and television experience to the series. Because of

his participation. the network also started to market the show as being "from one of the creators of

Seinfeld." As soon as he arrived, the-writer/director observed that the show's production ~d hit

some potholes. Charles said, "They had done the pilot and, you know, I knew The Tick from the

cartoon and from the comic books, and I was a big fan of it and they did the pilot. Barry Sonnenfeld

directed the pilot and it was a very expensive pilot and they said it cost like four million dollars to do

the pilot, which is a lot of money for a half-hour pilot, and they said great, now make a series. And of course they had no idea how to make a series With the very little money that would in any way resemble the four-million dollar pilot directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. So of course, they managed to find me and

made that my problem. I came in, I talked to Ben [Edlund) I talked to Barry Josephson who was one of the

producers at the ti~, and we all had similar sensibilities about it and I got involved."

The show was slated to air on Thursday night, against Survivor and Friends, with a then-faltering

Family Guy as a lead-in. With that competition it never had a chance, nor was it heavily promoted on

the network. After the second episode. the show aired allover the map. It became apparent that the

network was struggling to find a time slot that worked for the series. All of these things made it hard

for viewership to build since the audience probably had a tough time discovering it.

Although Sonnenfeld had a vision for the show in establishing its look, other obligations

(like filming his Big Trouble in Little China) at the height of his career kept him preoccupied. He

could not confront network executives on a day-to-day basis. His involvement and name got the show rolling, but with circumstances changing, the network began to display less faith in the series. Further complicating matters, each subsequent episode also had a budget orbiting around one million dollars. Warburton mentions, "I don't know if Barry could have done more. God love him, he did everything he could, but when you're butting heads against the network... You know, too, The Tick was also, it was a product of Sony, Columbia and FOX, and in the midst of that, one of those studios, actually the TV department was going away. I believe it was Columbia. It got very complicated and nobody knew who really even owned it at that point. Above and beyond all of that, it was very, very expensive. We were dead in the water. We had the potential to make a fun show. We do have nine fun episodes, but really, we were just figuring out how to make this show work. A show as complex as The Tick, it's going to take some time to really get in tune and figure out what you can do, what you can get away with, how you can push the boundaries, where you can take your jabs and all that fun stuff. We were just figuring it all out and that was it. Despite it all, the results of the nine episodes filmed was utter magic. Rather than counting

on big budget effects and enormous sets, the series writers found humor in the absurdity I of just being

a superhero in the real world. Everyday trivialities were a bit more amplified when you had someone

dressed in an, extravagant costume. All of a sudden the most mundane scenarios could literally

become moments of pure hilarity (and all accomplished without a laugh track). To a degree, lessening

the big screen aesthetics that Sonnenfeld put into the pilot allowed the characters and comedy to really

stand out. Edlund, Charles, Chris McCulloch (creator of The Venture Bras.) and Other writers were

able to write very ambitious and intelligent work throughout The Ticks short run. For Fox, the entire

combination of circumstances was just too unusual for them to completely figure out how to sell.

Warburton said, "My focus as an actor playing The Tick was just to focus on exactly what it was that I had to do. So a lot of the stuff that was going on peripherally, I didn't even notice. Until the end, then I realized what was happening in the midst of all of it. My job was just to do my job and have fun doing it. Which I did. Yeah, certainly [Tick] lives in his own world. There is that Don Quixote reference in one of the episodes of The Tick when he has that shaving cream moustache and whatnot. So certainly The Tick did have some super-abilities, but at the same time he was one who definitely had delusions of grandeur. At the same time, he's also the most earnest fellow you would ever meet, and a true do-gooder. But he's huge and fun and absurd-it's all about perspective. He had a wonderful perspective on life, and friendship and partnership."

Every superhero has to have friends and allies that he can count on in the inevitable pinch

(or in-between cycles at the launderette). Tick's friends for the most part 'N.ere almost as aloof and

lovable as big blue yonder himself. The cast was nicely held united by the seamless chemistry between

the very witty performances of Nestor Carbonell (as the aspiring mack daddy named Batmanuel), Liz

Vassey (in the guise of Captain Liberty, maybe the only sane hero), and David Burke (as Arthur, the

Tick's truest friend/sidekick and the wind beneath his wing). If the show had continued, Edlund felt

that Arthur's role would have been more developed as the only real adult among the principals. The

Tick creator said, "He probably would had relationships. He was the one who was mostly out of his

costume, where, at the very least, he was sort of the Arthur of the comic books. He almost never really

had his mask on. He had his costume on occasionally. He would have ended up being a real person. He was developing a kind of family life. The episodes I really wanted to see were, like, The Tick goes to the family cookout at Arthur's house, where it's sort of like bringing your same-sex partner to your con-servative family and try and keep everything in check. That's kind of where this show wanted to be, I think, is just like social issues, really, with occasionally something absurd and just puncture that more or less just mundane sphere. We were just like one foot too deeply in the cartoon and another foot being I think bitten off at the stump by money and corporate indifference."

"I just always thought that David (Burke) was perfect as Arthur," said Patrick Warburton about his co-star. "He did a fantastic job. Just recently I watched some of the shows again, I hadn't seen them in a long time, and I was reminded how perfect an actor David was. I really thought that he nailed that He had such a likeable quality and there's something very real about his performance, and unquestioned and 100 percent committed to Arthur, that you really believe him as. Arthur. I felt that as an actor he brought more to that role than could have potentially been the case. An actor could have stepped into that role and you very much would have gotten a sense that there I was a guy playing Arthur. And with David, you just totally believed him as Arthur-you really believed it."

Playing Tick was no easy task for the active performer, who had to wear these insane $250,000 suits. They became only increasingly warmer and more uncomfortable under the set lights. There were subtle alterations made to the form-fitting suit after the pilot, as the seamless blue outfit was notoriously difficult for mobility and consumed buckets of time to wear. Yet for the good-natured Warburton, it remains one his favorite roles. He chimed, "I [ooked at it as an honor to play The Tick. I mean, The Tick is such a wonderful character. Did I enjoy wearing that rubber suit? I had to wear that rubber suit ten, twelve hours a day and you'd get kind of claustrophobic and miserable in that thing. I would have worn that suit for years if I'd had the opportunity. If that's the cross I've got to bear, then so be it. I loved being The Tick, I wanted to do that show and I had so much fun, it was so clever and just so well conceived."

The actor also said, "I didn't see The Tick as being one-dimensional because there were

times that his anger might get to him or his frustration got to him or he was depressed, he was

exuberant about something, and elated. He really kind of had the emotions of a child. Emotionally he

could change just like that and almost go from tremendous joy to tears because he was

labile like a child.

"What I loved about the [Tick] character." said Larry Charles, "was the ambiguity of it. You really did not know if The Tick was a madman or if he really was from somewhere else, or whether that was a costume or that was him. There were so many interestingly unanswered questions about him that I thought that it was kind of a meditation on consciousness in a way, like, "What is real?', and I love that idea. I thought that it was a great post-modern deconstruction of a superhero. Which of course turned out to be its downfall when it finally came out, because it came out just after September 11th and I don't think the country was really ready for the deconstruction of a superhero at that time. they were sort of more craving a real superhero, you know?"

When the pilot aired on November 8, 2001, the weight of the tragic events of September 11

was a heavy burden. Network television had a hard time hitting viewers With the right tone in their

programming. The show just got lost in the shuffle. If Tick failed, it wasn't because of Lack of hard

work-cast and crew gave it their all by working 14-hour days, six days a week. They never had a

chance to keep it steady. Today, those in need of a good laugh can count on The Tick: The Entire

Series! DVD to deliver a unique brand of the funny.

Sometimes after the series ended, there were rumors and rumblings about the potential for a Tick full-length motion picture. The Tick film is something that Ben Edlund thinks about from time to time. Patrick Warburton stated, "Yeah. I know that Barry would like to make a Tick movie. He's talked about it, you know. So maybe they'll make a Tick movie one of these days, and maybe, maybe I'll be the lucky guy to play The Tick. Maybe I won't. Things change, perceptions change and maybe I'm not the right guy, but I had fun doing the TV show and I know we just scratched the surface with that. It'd be great to do a Tick movie and have a real budget, 'cause he's the greatest superhero of all time. If they do that, I hope I get a shot at it, but if I don't, I understand. I know how this business works."

Looking back, Larry Charles mentioned, "The show could have definitely Lasted for a long time, yes, I mean, it had... Of course, there was so much ambiguity in the characters and so much conflict both within the characters and amongst the characters, that I felt it stilI had tremendous potential to go on for a long time. Because all the characters had sort of... all multi-dimensional characters, you know, they were cartoon characters. Sort of underground cartoon characters and they all had tremendous inner conflict and turmoil and angst and philosophical issues, and so I thought, yeah, this is a show we can explore a lot of interesting themes and the characters could continue to expand."