title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin was born at Lower Park House (Lower Park, Bewdley) in Worcestershire, England, to Alfred and Louisa (MacDonald) Baldwin, and through his mother was a first cousin of the writer and poet Rudyard Kipling, with whom he was close for their entire lives. A summer spent with Kipling and his sister with the freedom of farm and forest at Loughton in 1877 was seminal in the development of both boys.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: The family was prosperous, and owned the eponymous iron and steel making business that in later years became part of Richard Thomas and Baldwins.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin's schools were St Michael's School, at the time located in Slough, Buckinghamshire (now Berkshire), followed by Harrow School. He later wrote that "all the king's horses and all the king's men would have failed to have drawn me into the company of school masters, and in relation to them I once had every qualification as a passive resister." Baldwin then went on to the University of Cambridge, where he studied history at Trinity College. His time at university was blighted by the presence, as Master of Trinity, of Henry Montagu Butler, his former headmaster who had punished him at Harrow for writing a piece of schoolboy smut. He was asked to resign from the Magpie & Stump (the Trinity College debating society) for never speaking, and, after receiving a third-class degree in history, he went into the family business of iron manufacturing. His father sent him to Mason College for one session of technical training in metallurgy as preparation. As a young man he served briefly as a second lieutenant in the Artillery Volunteers at Malvern, and in 1897 became a JP for the county of Worcestershire.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin married Lucy Ridsdale on 12 September 1892. Following the birth of a still-born son in January 1894, the couple had six surviving children:


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin's youngest daughter, Lady Betty, was severely injured by shrapnel in March 1941 as a result of a bombing raid which destroyed the Café de Paris nightclub she was attending and decapitated the famous bandleader Ken "Snakehips" Johnson. She required facial reconstruction surgery from the pioneering surgeon Archibald MacIndoe.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin proved to be adept as a businessman, and acquired a reputation as a modernising industrialist. He inherited £200,000, , and a directorship of the Great Western Railway on the death of his father in 1908.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In the 1906 general election he contested Kidderminster but lost amidst the Conservative landslide defeat after the party split on the issue of free trade. In a by-election in 1908 he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Bewdley, in which role he succeeded his father, who had died earlier that year. During the First World War he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the party leader Bonar Law. In 1917 he was appointed to the junior ministerial post of Financial Secretary to the Treasury, where he sought to encourage voluntary donations by the rich to repay the United Kingdom's war debt, writing letters to "The Times" under the pseudonym 'FST', many of which were published. He relinquished to the Treasury one fifth of his own fortune (its total estimated at own account as £580,000) held in the form of War Loan stock worth £120,000.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Although he entered politics at a relatively late age, his rise to the top leadership was very rapid. In the Treasury he served jointly with Sir Hardman Lever, who had been appointed in 1916, but after 1919 Baldwin carried out the duties largely alone. He was appointed to the Privy Council in the 1920 Birthday Honours. In 1921 he was promoted to the Cabinet as President of the Board of Trade.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In late 1922 dissatisfaction was steadily growing within the Conservative Party over its coalition with the Liberal David Lloyd George. At a meeting of Conservative MPs at the Carlton Club in October, Baldwin announced that he would no longer support the coalition, and famously condemned Lloyd George for being a "dynamic force" that was bringing destruction across politics. The meeting chose to leave the coalition, against the wishes of most of the party leadership. As a direct result Bonar Law was forced to search for new ministers for a Cabinet which he would lead, and so promoted Baldwin to the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer. In the November 1922 general election the Conservatives were returned with a majority in their own right.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In May 1923 Bonar Law was diagnosed with terminal cancer and retired immediately; he died five months later. With many of the party's senior leading figures standing aloof and outside of the government, there were only two candidates to succeed him: Lord Curzon, the foreign secretary, and Baldwin. The choice formally fell to King George V acting on the advice of senior ministers and officials.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: It is not entirely clear what factors proved most crucial, but some Conservative politicians felt that Curzon was unsuitable for the role of prime minister because he was a member of the House of Lords. Curzon was strong and experienced in international affairs, but his lack of experience in domestic affairs, his personal character quirks and his huge inherited wealth and many directorships at a time when the Conservative Party was seeking to shed its patrician image were all deemed impediments. Much weight at the time was given to the intervention of Arthur Balfour.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: The King turned to Baldwin to become prime minister. Initially Baldwin was also Chancellor of the Exchequer whilst he sought to recruit the former Liberal Chancellor Reginald McKenna to join the government. When this failed he appointed Neville Chamberlain to that position.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: The Conservatives now had a clear majority in the House of Commons and could govern for five years before holding a general election, but Baldwin felt bound by Bonar Law's pledge at the previous election that there would be no introduction of tariffs without a further election. Thus Baldwin turned towards a degree of protectionism which would remain a key party message during his lifetime. With the country facing growing unemployment in the wake of free trade imports driving down prices and profits, Baldwin decided to call an early general election in December 1923 to seek a mandate to introduce protectionist tariffs which, he hoped, would drive down unemployment and spur an economic recovery. He expected to unite his party but he divided it, for protectionism proved a divisive issue. The election was inconclusive: the Conservatives had 258 MPs, Labour 191 and the reunited Liberals 159. Whilst the Conservatives retained a plurality in the House of Commons, they had been clearly defeated on the central issue: tariffs. Baldwin remained prime minister until the opening of the new Parliament in January 1924, when his administration was defeated in a vote on its legislative programme set out in the King's Speech. He offered his resignation to George V immediately.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin successfully held on to the party leadership amid some colleagues' calls for his resignation. For the next ten months, an unstable minority Labour government under Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald held office. On 13 March 1924, the Labour government was defeated for the first time in the Commons, although the Conservatives decided to vote with Labour later that day against the Liberals.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: During a debate on the naval estimates the Conservatives opposed Labour but supported them on 18 March in a vote on cutting expenditure on the Singapore military base. Baldwin also cooperated with MacDonald over Irish policy to stop it becoming a party-political issue.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: The Labour government was negotiating with the Soviet government over intended commercial treaties – 'the Russian Treaties' – to provide most favoured nation privileges and diplomatic status for the UK trade delegation; and a treaty that would settle the claims of pre-revolutionary British bondholders and holders of confiscated property, after which the British government would guarantee a loan to the Soviet Union. Baldwin decided to vote against the government over the Russian Treaties, which brought the government down on 8 October.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: The general election held in October 1924 brought a landslide majority of 223 for the Conservative party, primarily at the expense of an unpopular Liberal Party. Baldwin campaigned on the "impracticability" of socialism, the Campbell Case, the Zinoviev letter (which Baldwin thought was genuine, and the Conservatives leaked to the "Daily Mail" at a most damaging time to the Labour campaign; the letter is now widely believed to have been a forgery) and the Russian Treaties. In a speech during the campaign Baldwin said:


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: It makes my blood boil to read of the way which Mr. Zinoviev is speaking of the Prime Minister today. Though one time there went up a cry, "Hands off Russia", I think it's time somebody said to Russia, "Hands off England".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin's new Cabinet now included many former political associates of Lloyd George: former Coalition Conservatives: Austen Chamberlain (as foreign secretary), Lord Birkenhead (secretary for India) and Arthur Balfour (lord president after 1925), and the former Liberal Winston Churchill as chancellor of the exchequer. Baldwin created the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies, a volunteer body of those opposed to the strike which was intended to complete essential work.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: A defining feature of Baldwin's Second term was the 1926 General Strike, Baldwin handled the strike by using powers awarded to him in the Emergency Powers Act of 1920. He deployed the military and volunteers to keep essential services running. The strike ended when it was found to not be protected by the Trade Disputes Act of 1906, leading to the strike being called of on the 12th of May lasting just 9 days. Baldwin's government was widely credited for such an effective response to the strike.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: At Baldwin's instigation Lord Weir headed a committee to "review the national problem of electrical energy". It published its report on 14 May 1925 and in it Weir recommended the setting up of a Central Electricity Board, a state monopoly half-financed by the Government and half by local undertakings. Baldwin accepted Weir's recommendations and they became law by the end of 1926.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: The Board was a success. By 1939 electrical output was up fourfold and generating costs had fallen. Consumers of electricity rose from three-quarters of a million in 1920 to nine million in 1938, with annual growth of 700,000 to 800,000 a year (the fastest rate of growth in the world).


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: One of his legislative reforms was a paradigm shift in his party. This was the Widows, Orphans and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act of 1925, which provided a pension of 10 shillings a week for widows with extra for children, and 10 shillings a week for insured workers and their wives at 65. This transformed Toryism, away from its historic reliance on community (particularly religious) charities, and towards acceptance of a humanitarian welfare state which would guarantee a minimum living standard for those unable to work or who took out national insurance. In 1927, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In 1929 Labour returned to office as the largest party in the House of Commons (although without an overall majority) despite obtaining fewer votes than the Conservatives. In opposition, Baldwin was almost ousted as party leader by the press barons Lords Rothermere and Beaverbrook, whom he accused of enjoying "power without responsibility, the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Ramsden argues that Baldwin made dramatic permanent improvements to the organisation and effectiveness of the Conservative Party. He enlarged the headquarters with professionals, professionalised the party agents, raised ample funds, and was an innovative user of the new mass media of radio and film.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: By 1931, as the economy headed towards crisis, both in Britain and around the world, with the onset of the Great Depression, Baldwin and the Conservatives entered into a coalition with Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. This decision led to MacDonald's expulsion from his own party, and Baldwin, as Lord President of the Council, became "de facto" prime minister, deputising for the increasingly senile MacDonald, until he once again officially became prime minister in 1935.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: One central and vitally important agreement was the Statute of Westminster 1931, which conferred full self-government upon the Dominions Canada, South Africa, Australia, The Irish Free State and New Zealand, while preparing the first steps towards the eventual Commonwealth of Nations, and away from the designation 'British Empire'. In 1930, the first British Empire Games sports competition was held successfully among Empire nations in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: His government then secured with great difficulty the passage of the landmark Government of India Act 1935, in the teeth of opposition from Winston Churchill, spokesman for the die-hard imperialists who filled the Conservative ranks.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin did not advocate total disarmament but believed that, as Lord Grey of Falloden had stated in 1925, "great armaments lead inevitably to war". However he came to believe that, as he put it on 10 November 1932: "the time has now come to an end when Great Britain can proceed with unilateral disarmament". On 10 November 1932 Baldwin said:


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: I think it is well also for the man in the street to realise that there is no power on earth that can protect him from being bombed. Whatever people may tell him, the bomber will always get through, The only defence is in offence, which means that you have to kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy if you want to save yourselves...If the conscience of the young men should ever come to feel, with regard to this one instrument [bombing] that it is evil and should go, the thing will be done; but if they do not feel like that – well, as I say, the future is in their hands. But when the next war comes, and European civilisation is wiped out, as it will be, and by no force more than that force, then do not let them lay blame on the old men. Let them remember that they, principally, or they alone, are responsible for the terrors that have fallen upon the earth.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: This speech was often used against Baldwin as allegedly demonstrating the futility of rearmament or disarmament, depending on the critic.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: With the second part of the Disarmament Conference starting in January 1933, Baldwin attempted to see through his hope of air disarmament. However he became alarmed at Britain's lack of defence against air raids and German rearmament, saying it "would be a terrible thing, in fact, the beginning of the end". In April 1933 the Cabinet agreed to follow through with the construction of the Singapore military base.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: On 15 September 1933 the German delegate at the Disarmament Conference refused to return to the Conference and Germany left altogether in October. On 6 October Baldwin, in a speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, pleaded for a Disarmament Convention and then said:


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: when I speak of a Disarmament Convention I do not mean disarmament on the part of this country and not on the part of any other. I mean the limitation of armaments as a real limitation...and if we find ourselves on some lower rating and that some other country has higher figures, that country has to come down and we have to go up until we meet.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: On 14 October Germany left the League of Nations. The Cabinet decided on 23 October that Britain should still attempt to cooperate with other states, including Germany, in international disarmament. However between mid-September 1933 and the beginning of 1934 Baldwin's mind changed from hoping for disarmament to favouring rearmament, including parity in aircraft. In late 1933 and early 1934 he rejected an invitation from Hitler to meet him, believing that visits to foreign capitals were the job of Foreign Secretaries. On 8 March 1934 Baldwin defended the creation of four new squadrons for the Royal Air Force against Labour criticisms and said of international disarmament:


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: If all our efforts for an agreement fail, and if it is not possible to obtain this equality in such matters as I have indicated, then any Government of this country—a National Government more than any, and "this" Government—will see to it that in air strength and air power this country shall no longer be in a position inferior to any country within striking distance of our shores.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: On 29 March 1934 Germany published its defence estimates, which showed a total increase of one-third and an increase of 250% in its air force.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: A series of by-elections in late 1933 and early 1934 with massive swings against government candidates—most famous was Fulham East with a 26.5% swing— convinced Baldwin that the British public was profoundly pacifist. Baldwin also rejected the "belligerent" views of those like Churchill and Robert Vansittart because he believed that the Nazis were rational men who would appreciate the logic of mutual and equal deterrence. He also believed war to be "the most fearful terror and prostitution of man's knowledge that ever was known".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: With MacDonald's health in decline, he and Baldwin changed places in June 1935: Baldwin was now prime minister, MacDonald Lord President of the council. In October that year, Baldwin called a general election. Neville Chamberlain advised Baldwin to make rearmament the leading issue in the election campaign against Labour and said that if a rearmament programme was not announced until after the election, his government would be seen as having deceived the people. However, Baldwin did not make rearmament the central issue in the election. He said that he would support the League of Nations, modernise Britain's defences and remedy deficiencies, but he also said: "I give you my word that there will be no great armaments". The main issues in the election were housing, unemployment and the special areas of economic depression. The election gave 430 seats to National Government supporters (386 of these Conservative) and 154 seats to Labour.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin's younger son A. Windham Baldwin, writing in 1955, argued that his father, Stanley, had planned a rearmament programme as early as 1934 but had to do so quietly to avoid antagonising the public, whose pacifism was revealed by the Peace Ballot of 1934–35 and endorsed by both the Labour and the Liberal oppositions. His thorough presentation of the case for rearmament in 1935, his son argued, defeated pacifism and secured a victory that allowed rearmament to move ahead.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: On 31 July 1934, the Cabinet approved a report that called for expansion of the Royal Air Force to the 1923 standard by creating 40 new squadrons over the next five years. On 26 November 1934, six days after receiving the news that the German air force would be as large as the RAF within one year, the Cabinet decided to speed up air rearmament from four years to two. On 28 November 1934, Churchill moved an amendment to the vote of thanks for the King's Speech: "the strength of our national defences, and especially our air defences, is no longer adequate". His motion was known eight days before it was moved, and a special Cabinet meeting decided how to deal with the motion, which dominated two other Cabinet meetings. Churchill said Germany was rearming and requested that the money spent on air armaments be doubled or tripled to deter an attack and that the "Luftwaffe" was nearing equality with the RAF. Baldwin responded by denying that the Luftwaffe was approaching equality and said it was "not 50 per cent" of the RAF. He added that by the end of 1935 the RAF would still have "a margin of nearly 50 per cent" in Europe. After Baldwin said that the government would ensure the RAF had parity with the future German air force, Churchill withdrew his amendment. In April 1935, the Air Secretary reported that although Britain's strength in the air would be ahead of Germany's for at least three years, air rearmament needed to be increased; so the Cabinet agreed to the creation of an extra 39 squadrons for home defence by 1937. However, on 8 May 1935, the Cabinet heard that it was estimated that the RAF was inferior to the Luftwaffe by 370 aircraft and that to reach parity, the RAF must have 3,800 aircraft by April 1937, an extra 1,400 above the existing air programme. It was learnt that Germany was easily able to outbuild that revised programme as well. On 21 May 1935, the Cabinet agreed to expanding the home defence force of the RAF to 1,512 aircraft (840 bombers and 420 fighters). On 22 May 1935 Baldwin confessed in the Commons, "I was wrong in my estimate of the future. There I was completely wrong."


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: On 25 February 1936, the Cabinet approved a report calling for expansion of the Royal Navy and the re-equipment of the British Army (though not its expansion), along with the creation of "shadow factories" built by public money and managed by industrial companies. The factories came into operation in 1937. In February 1937, the Chiefs of Staff reported that by May 1937, the Luftwaffe would have 800 bombers, compared to the RAF's 48.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In the debate in the Commons on 12 November 1936, Churchill attacked the government on rearmament as being "decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent. So we go on, preparing more months and years – precious, perhaps vital, to the greatness of Britain – for the locusts to eat". Baldwin replied:


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: I put before the whole House my own views with an appalling frankness. From 1933, I and my friends were all very worried about what was happening in Europe. You will remember at that time the Disarmament Conference was sitting in Geneva. You will remember at that time there was probably a stronger pacifist feeling running through the country than at any time since the War. I am speaking of 1933 and 1934. You will remember the election at Fulham in the autumn of 1933... That was the feeling of the country in 1933. My position as a leader of a great party was not altogether a comfortable one. I asked myself what chance was there... within the next year or two of that feeling being so changed that the country would give a mandate for rearmament? Supposing I had gone to the country and said that Germany was rearming and we must rearm, does anybody think that this pacific democracy would have rallied to that cry at that moment! I cannot think of anything that would have made the loss of the election from my point of view more certain... We got from the country – with a large majority – a mandate for doing a thing that no one, twelve months before, would have believed possible.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Churchill wrote to a friend: "I have never heard such a squalid confession from a public man as Baldwin offered us yesterday". In 1935 Baldwin wrote to J. C. C. Davidson in a letter now lost that said of Churchill: "If there is going to be a war – and no one can say that there is not – we must keep him fresh to be our war Prime Minister". Thomas Dugdale also claimed Baldwin said to him: "If we do have a war, Winston must be Prime Minister. If he is in [the Cabinet] now we shan't be able to engage in that war as a united nation". The General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Walter Citrine, recalled a conversation he had had with Baldwin on 5 April 1943: "Baldwin thought his [Churchill's] political recovery was marvellous. He, personally, had always thought that if war came Winston would be the right man for the job".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: The Labour Party strongly opposed the rearmament programme. Clement Attlee said on 21 December 1933: "For our part, we are unalterably opposed to anything in the nature of rearmament". On 8 March 1934, Attlee said, after Baldwin defended the Air Estimates, "we on our side are out for total disarmament". On 30 July 1934, Labour moved a motion of censure against the government because of its planned expansion of the RAF. Attlee spoke for it: "We deny the need for increased air arms...and we reject altogether the claim of parity". Sir Stafford Cripps also said on that occasion that it was fallacy that Britain could achieve security through increasing air armaments. On 22 May 1935, the day after Hitler had made a speech claiming that German rearmament offered no threat to peace, Attlee asserted that Hitler's speech gave "a chance to call a halt in the armaments race". Attlee also denounced the Defence White Paper of 1937: "I do not believe the Government are going to get any safety through these armaments".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: The accession of King Edward VIII, and the ensuing abdication crisis, brought Baldwin's last major test in office. The new monarch was "an ardent exponent of the cause of Anglo-German understanding" and had "strong views on his right to intervene in affairs of state," but the "Government's main fears... were of indiscretion." The King proposed to marry Wallis Simpson, an American woman who was twice divorced. The high-minded Baldwin felt that he could tolerate her as "a respectable whore" as long as she stayed behind the throne but not as "Queen Wally".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Mrs. Simpson was also distrusted by the government for her known pro-German sympathies and was believed to be in "close contact with German monarchist circles".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: During October and November 1936, Baldwin joined the royal family in trying to dissuade the King from that marriage, arguing that the idea of having a twice-divorced woman as the Queen would be rejected by the government, by the country and by the Empire and that "the voice of the people must be heard." As the public standing of the King would be gravely compromised, the Prime Minister gave him time to reconsider the notion of this marriage. According to the historian Philip Williamson, "The offence lay in the implications of [the King's] attachment to Mrs. Simpson for the broader public morality and the constitutional integrity which were now perceived—especially by Baldwin—as underpinning the nation's unity and strength."


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: News of the affair was broken in the newspapers on 2 December. There was some support for the wishes of the King, especially in and around London. The romantic royalists Churchill, Mosley, and the press barons, Lord Beaverbrook of the "Daily Express" and Lord Rothermere of the "Daily Mail", all declared that the king had a right to marry whichever woman he wished. The crisis assumed a political dimension when Beaverbrook and Churchill tried to rally support for the marriage in Parliament. However, the King's party could muster only 40 Members of Parliament in support, and the majority opinion sided with Baldwin and his Conservative government. The Labour leader, Clement Attlee, told Baldwin "that while Labour people had no objection to an American becoming Queen, [he] was certain they would not approve of Mrs. Simpson for that position", especially in the provinces and in the Commonwealth countries. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Lang, held that the King, as the head of the Church of England, should not marry a divorcée. "The Times" argued that the monarchy's prestige would be destroyed if "private inclination were to come into open conflict with public duty and be allowed to prevail".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: While some recent critics have complained that "Baldwin refused the reasonable request for time to reflect, preferring to keep the pressure on the King – once again suggesting that his own agenda was to force the crisis to a head" and that he "never mentioned that the alternative [to the marriage] was abdication", the House of Commons immediately and overwhelmingly came out against the marriage. The Labour and Liberal parties, the Trades Union Congress, and the dominions of Australia and Canada, all joined the British cabinet in rejecting the King's compromise, initially supported and perhaps conceived by Churchill, for a morganatic marriage that had originally been made on 16 November. The crisis threatened the unity of the British Empire, since the King's personal relationship with the Dominions was their "only remaining constitutional link".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin still hoped that the King would choose the throne over Mrs. Simpson. For the King to act against the wishes of the cabinet would have precipitated a constitutional crisis. Baldwin would have had to resign, and no other party leader would have served as the prime minister under the King, with the Labour Party having already indicated that it would not form a ministry to uphold impropriety. Baldwin told the Cabinet, one Labour MP had asked, "Are we going to have a fascist monarchy?" When the Cabinet refused the morganatic marriage, Edward decided to abdicate.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: The King's final plea, on 4 December, to broadcast an appeal to the nation was rejected by the Prime Minister as too divisive. Nevertheless, at his final audience with King Edward on 7 December, Baldwin offered to strive all night with the King's conscience, but he found Edward to be determined to go. Baldwin announced the King's abdication in the Commons on 10 December. Harold Nicolson, an MP who witnessed Baldwin's speech, wrote in his diary:


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: There is no moment when he overstates emotion or indulges in oratory. There is intense silence broken only by the reporters in the gallery scuttling away to telephone the speech... When it was over... [we] file out broken in body and soul, conscious that we have heard the best speech that we shall ever hear in our lives. There was no question of applause. It was the silence of Gettysburg...No man has ever dominated the House as he dominated it tonight, and he knows it.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: After the speech, the House adjourned and Nicolson bumped into Baldwin as he was leaving, who asked him what he thought of the speech. Nicolson said it was superb to which Baldwin replied: "Yes ... it was a success. I know it. It was almost wholly unprepared. I had a success, my dear Nicolson, at the moment I most needed it. Now is the time to go".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: The King abdicated on 11 December and was succeeded by his brother, George VI. Edward VIII was assigned the title of the Duke of Windsor by his brother and then married Mrs. Simpson in France in June 1937 after her divorce from Ernest Simpson had become final.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin had defused a political crisis by turning it into a constitutional question. His discreet resolution met with general approval and restored his popularity. He was praised on all sides for his tact and patience and was not in the least put out by the protestors' cries of "God save the King—from Baldwin!" "Flog Baldwin! Flog him!! We—want—Edward."


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: John Charmley argued in his history of the Conservative Party that Baldwin was pushing for more democracy and less of an old aristocratic upper-class tone. Monarchy was to be a national foundation by which the head of the Church. the State, and the Empire would draw upon 1000 years of tradition and could unify the nation. George V was an ideal fit: "an ordinary little man with the philistine tastes of most of his subjects, he could be presented as the archetypical English paterfamilias getting on with his duties without fuss." Charmley finds that George V and Baldwin, "made a formidable conservative team, with their ordinary, honest, English decency proving the first (and most effective) bulwark against revolution". Edward VIII, flaunting his upper-class playboy style, suffered from an unstable neurotic character and needed a strong stabilising partner, a role that Mrs. Simpson was unable to provide. Baldwin's final achievement was to smooth the way for Edward to abdicate in favour of his younger brother, who became George VI. Both father and son demonstrated the value of a democratic king during the severe physical and psychological hardships of the world wars, and the tradition was carried on by Elizabeth II.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: After the coronation of George VI, Baldwin announced on 27 May 1937 that he would resign the premiership the next day. His last act as prime minister was to raise the salaries of MPs from £400 a year to £600 and to give the leader of the Opposition a salary. That was the first rise in MPs' wages since their introduction in 1911, and it particularly benefited Labour MPs. Harold Nicolson wrote in his diary that it "was done with Baldwin's usual consummate taste. No man has ever left in such a blaze of affection". Baldwin was knighted as a knight of the Garter (KG) on 28 May and ennobled as Earl Baldwin of Bewdley and Viscount Corvedale, "of Corvedale in the County of Salop" on 8 June. In a BBC radio broadcast transmitted on 8 December 1938, Baldwin made a nationwide appeal for funds to help Jewish and other refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany. For this, Baldwin was dubbed a “guttersnipe” by a Berlin newspaper. The “Lord Baldwin Fund for Refugees”, helping the kindertransport and other relief schemes, raised over £500,000 [£36,000,000 in 2022]


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin supported the Munich Agreement and said to Chamberlain on 26 September 1938: "If you can secure peace, you may be cursed by a lot of hotheads but my word you will be blessed in Europe and by future generations". Baldwin made a rare speech in the House of Lords on 4 October and said that he could not have gone to Munich but praised Chamberlain's courage. He also said the responsibility of a prime minister was not to commit a country to war until he was sure that it was ready to fight. If there was a 95% chance of war in the future, he would still choose peace. He also said he would put industry on a war footing the next day, as the opposition to such a move had disappeared. Churchill said in a speech: "He says he would mobilise tomorrow. I think it would have been much better if Earl Baldwin had said that two and a half years ago when everyone demanded a Ministry of Supply".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Two weeks after Munich, Baldwin said prophetically in a conversation with Lord Hinchingbrooke: "Can't we turn Hitler East? Napoleon broke himself against the Russians. Hitler might do the same".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Baldwin's years in retirement were quiet. After Chamberlain's death in 1940, Baldwin's perceived part in prewar appeasement made him an unpopular figure during and after World War II. With a succession of British military failures in 1940, Baldwin started to receive critical letters: "insidious to begin with, then increasingly violent and abusive; then the newspapers; finally the polemicists who, with time and wit at their disposal, could debate at leisure how to wound the deepest". He did not have a secretary and so was not shielded from the often-unpleasant letters that were sent to him. After a bitterly-critical letter was sent to him by a member of the public, Baldwin wrote: "I can understand his bitterness. He wants a scapegoat and the men provided him with one". His biographers Middlemas and Barnes claim that "the men" almost certainly meant the authors of "Guilty Men".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: After Lord Halifax made a speech on the strength of prayer as the instrument that could be invoked by the humblest to use in their country's service, Baldwin wrote to him on 23 July 1940:


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: With millions of others I had prayed hard at the time of Dunkirk and never did prayer seem to be more speedily answered to the full. And we prayed for France and the next day she surrendered. I thought much, and when I went to bed I lay for a long time vividly awake. And I went over in my mind what had happened, concentrating on the thoughts that you had dwelt on, that prayer to be effective must be in accordance with God's will, and that by far the hardest thing to say from the heart and indeed the last lesson we learn (if we ever do) is to say and mean it, 'Thy will be done.' And I thought what mites we all are and how we can never see God's plan, a plan on such a scale that it "must" be incomprehensible. And suddenly for what must have been a couple of minutes I seemed to see with extraordinary and vivid clarity and to hear someone speaking to me. The words at the time were clear, but the recollection of them had passed when I seemed to come to, as it were, but the sense remained, and the sense was this. 'You cannot see the plan'; then 'Have you not thought there is a purpose in stripping you one by one of all the human props on which you depend, that you are being left alone in the world? You have now one upon whom to lean and I have chosen you as my instrument to work with my will. Why then are you afraid?' And to prove ourselves worthy of that tremendous task is our job.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In September 1941, Baldwin's old enemy, Lord Beaverbrook, asked all local authorities to survey their area's iron and steel railings and gates that could be used for the war effort. Owners of such materials could appeal for an exemption on grounds of artistic or historic merit, which would be decided by a panel set up by local authorities. Baldwin applied for exemption for the iron gates of his country home on artistic grounds and his local council sent an architect to assess them. In December, the architect advised for them to be exempt, but in February 1942, the Ministry of Supply overruled that and said all his gates must go except the ones at the main entrance. A newspaper campaign hounded him for not donating the gates to war production. The "Daily Mirror" columnist "Cassandra" denounced Baldwin:


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Here was the country in deadly peril with half the Empire swinging in the wind like a busted barn door hanging on one hinge. Here was Old England half smothered in a shroud crying for steel to cut her way out, and right in the heart of beautiful Worcestershire was a one-time Prime Minister, refusing to give up the gates of his estate to make guns for our defence – and his. Here was an old stupid politician who had tricked the nation into complacency about rearmament for fear of losing an election... Here is the very shrine of stupidity... This National Park of Failure...


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: There were fears that if the gates were not taken by the proper authorities, "others without authority might". Thus, months before any other collections were made, Baldwin's gates were removed except for those at the main entrance. Two of Beaverbrook's friends after the war claimed that it was Beaverbrook's decision despite Churchill saying, "Lay off Baldwin's gates". At Question Time in the House of Commons, Conservative MP Captain Alan Graham said: "Is the honourable Member aware that it is very necessary to leave Lord Baldwin his gates in order to protect him from the just indignation of the mob?"


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: During the war, Churchill consulted him only once, in February 1943, on the advisability of his speaking out strongly against the continued neutrality of Éamon de Valera's Ireland. Baldwin saw the draft of Churchill's speech and advised against it, which Churchill followed. A few months after this visit to Churchill, Baldwin told Harold Nicolson, "I went into Downing Street... a happy man. Of course it was partly because an old buffer like me enjoys feeling that he is still not quite out of things. But it was also pure patriotic joy that my country at such a time should have found such a leader. The furnace of the war has smeltered out all base metals from him". To D. H. Barber, Baldwin wrote of Churchill: "You can take it from me he is a really big man, the War has brought out the best that was in him. His head isn't turned the least little bit by the great position he occupies in the eyes of the world. I pray he is spared to see us through".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: the critics have no historical sense. I have no Cabinet papers by me and do not want to trust my memory. But recall the Fulham election, the peace ballot, Singapore, sanctions, Malta. The English will only learn by example. When I first heard of Hitler, when Ribbentrop came to see me, I thought they were all crazy. I think I brought Ramsay and Simon to meet Ribbentrop. Remember that Ramsay's health was breaking up in the last two years. He had lost his nerve in the House in the last year. I had to take all the important speeches. The moment he went, I prepared for a general election and got a bigger majority for rearmament. No power on earth could have got rearmament without a general election except by a big split. Simon was inefficient. I had to lead the House, keep the machine together with those Labour fellows.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In December 1944, strongly advised by friends, Baldwin decided to respond to criticisms of him through a biographer. He asked G. M. Young, who accepted and asked Churchill to grant permission to Young to see Cabinet papers. Baldwin wrote:


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: I am the last person to complain of fair criticism, but when one book after another appears and I am compared, for example, to Laval, my gorge rises; but I am crippled and cannot go and examine the files of the Cabinet Office. Could G. M. Young go on my behalf?


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In June 1945, Baldwin's wife, Lucy, died. Baldwin himself now suffered from arthritis and needed a cane to walk. When he made his final public appearance in London in October 1947 at the unveiling of a statue of George V, a crowd of people recognised and cheered him, but he had become deaf and so asked: "Are they booing me?" Having been made Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 1930, he continued in that capacity until his death in his sleep at Astley Hall, near Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, on 14 December 1947. He was cremated in Birmingham, and his ashes were buried in Worcester Cathedral. No cause of death was revealed.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Upon his retirement in 1937, he had received a great deal of praise, but the onset of World War II would change his public image for the worse. Baldwin, Chamberlain and MacDonald were held responsible for Great Britain's military unpreparedness on the eve of war in 1939. Peter Howard, writing in the "Sunday Express" (3 September 1939), accused Baldwin of deceiving the country of the dangers that faced it in order not to rearm and so win the 1935 general election. During the ill-fated Battle of France in May 1940, Lloyd George in conversation with Churchill and General Ironside railed against Baldwin and said that "he ought to be hanged".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In July 1940, a bestseller "Guilty Men" appeared, which blamed Baldwin for failing to rearm enough. In May 1941, Hamilton Fyfe wrote an article ("Leadership and Democracy") for "Nineteenth Century and After", which also laid those charges against Baldwin. In 1941, A. L. Rowse criticised Baldwin for lulling the people into a false sense of security and as a practitioner in "the art of taking the people in":


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: what can this man think in the still watches of the night, when he contemplates the ordeal his country is going through as the result of the years, the locust years, in which he held power?


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Churchill firmly believed that Baldwin's conciliatory stance toward Hitler gave the impression that in the case of an attack by the German dictator, Britain would not fight. Churchill was known for his magnanimity toward political rivals such as Chamberlain but had none to spare for Baldwin. "I wish Stanley Baldwin no ill," Churchill said in declining to send him 80th birthday greetings in 1947, "but it would have been much better had he never lived." Churchill also believed that Baldwin, rather than Chamberlain, would be most blamed by subsequent generations for the policies that led to "the most unnecessary war in history". An index entry in the first volume of Churchill's "History of the Second World War" ("The Gathering Storm") records Baldwin "admitting to putting party before country" for his alleged admission that he would not have won the 1935 election if he had pursued a more aggressive policy of rearmament. Churchill selectively quoted a speech in the Commons by Baldwin that gave the false impression that Baldwin was speaking of the general election, instead of the Fulham by-election in 1933, and omitted Baldwin's actual comments about the 1935 election: "We got from the country, a mandate for doing a thing [a substantial rearmament programme] that no one, twelve months before, would have believed possible". In his speech on Baldwin's death, Churchill paid him a double-edged yet respectful tribute: "He was the most formidable politician I ever encountered in public life".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In 1948, Reginald Bassett published an essay disputing the claim that Baldwin "confessed" to putting party before country and claimed that Baldwin was referring to 1933 and 1934 when a general election on rearmament would have been lost.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In 1952, G. M. Young published an authorised biography of Baldwin that asserted that Baldwin united the nation and helped moderate the policies of the Labour Party. However, Young accepted the chief criticisms of Baldwin that he failed to rearm early enough and that he put party before country. Young contends that Baldwin should have retired in 1935. Churchill and Beaverbrook deemed several passages in the biography to be defamatory of their own actions and threatened to sue if they were not removed or altered. A settlement was reached to remove the offending sentences, and the publisher Rupert Hart-Davis had the "hideously expensive" job of removing and replacing seven leaves from 7,580 copies.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In response to Young's biography, D. C. Somervell published "Stanley Baldwin: An examination of some features of Mr. G. M. Young's biography" in 1953 with a foreword by Ernest Brown. This attempted to defend Baldwin against the charges made by Young. Both Young and Somervell were criticised by C. L. Mowat in 1955, who claimed that they both failed to rehabilitate Baldwin's reputation.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In 1956, Baldwin's son A. W. Baldwin published a biography entitled "My Father: The True Story". It has been written that his son "evidently could not decide whether he was answering the charge of inanition and deceit which grew out of the war, or the radical "dissenters" of the early 1930s who thought the Conservatives were warmongers and denounced them for rearming at all".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In an article written to commemorate the centenary of Baldwin's birth, in "The Spectator" ("Don't Let's Be Beastly to Baldwin", 14 July 1967), Rab Butler defended Baldwin's moderate policies and claimed that it helped heal social divisions. In 1969 the first major biography of Baldwin appeared, of over 1,000 pages, written by Keith Middlemas and John Barnes, both Conservatives who wished to defend Baldwin.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In 1998, historian Andrew Thorpe wrote that apart from the questions of war and peace, Baldwin had a mixed reputation. He was moved by social deprivation but not to the point of legislation and systematically avoided intervention in the economy and social system. He had a ruthless style that included insincerity. His advisors were second rank figures like Davidson and Bridgeman. Thorpe wrote, "Essentially, Baldwin was a much more neurotic and insecure character than his public persona would have suggested", as shown by his nervous breakdown in 1936 that kept him out of action for three months. On the other hand, Thorpe says that Baldwin was a good co-ordinator of his coalition who did not block colleagues who proposed various small reforms.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Thorpe argued that Baldwin's handling of the 1926 general strike was "firm and uncompromising" but disliked the harsh Trade Disputes Act that followed because it was too far to the right of Baldwin's preferred moderation. Thorpe praised Baldwin's handling of the Abdication Crisis in 1936, which allowed Baldwin to leave office in a blaze of glory. Thorpe said that Baldwin often lacked drive and was too easily depressed, too pessimistic and too neglectful of foreign affairs. On the other hand, he achieved his primary goals of preserving capitalism, maintaining the parliamentary system and strengthening the Conservative Party as a leading opponent of socialism.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: In 1999, Philip Williamson published a collection of essays on Baldwin that attempted to explain his beliefs and defended his policies as prime minister. Baldwin's defenders argued that with pacifist appeasement the dominant political view in Britain, France and the United States, he felt he could not start a programme of rearmament without a national consensus on the matter. Williamson argued that Baldwin had helped create "a moral basis for rearmament in the mid 1930s" that contributed greatly to "the national spirit of defiance after Munich".


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: Williamson admitted that there was a clear postwar consensus that repudiated and denigrated all interwar governments: Baldwin was targeted with the accusation that he had failed to rearm Britain in the 1930s, despite Hitler's threat. Williamson said that the negative reputation was chiefly the product of partisan politics, the bandwagon of praise for Churchill, selective recollections, and the need for scapegoats to blame for Britain's very close call in 1940. Only during the 1960s would political distance and then the opening of government records lead to more balanced historical assessments, but the myth had become so central to larger myths about the 1930s and 1940s that it persists as conventional wisdom about the period.


title: Stanley Baldwin

text: By 2004, Ball could report, "The pendulum has swung almost completely towards a positive view." Ball noted, "Baldwin is now seen as having done more than most and perhaps as much as was possible in the context, but the fact remains that it was not enough to deter the aggressors or ensure their defeat. Less equivocal was his rediscovery as a moderate and inclusive Conservative for the modern age, part of a 'one nation tradition'."


title: T. J. Watt

text: Trent Jordan Watt (born October 11, 1994) is an American football outside linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Wisconsin, and was drafted by the Steelers in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft. His older brothers are J. J. Watt of the Arizona Cardinals and Derek Watt, a teammate on the Steelers. He was a finalist for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2019 and 2020 before winning the award in 2021. In 2021, Watt signed a four-year extension worth over $112 million, including $80 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. Despite missing two games in 2021, he tied the single-season NFL record for most quarterback sacks in a season, matching Michael Strahan's 22.5-sack record set in 2001.


title: T. J. Watt

text: Coming out of Pewaukee High School, Watt was rated as a three-star recruit by various recruiting services.


title: T. J. Watt

text: Watt started his collegiate career as a tight end recruit for the Wisconsin Badgers. Watt's knee was injured in the 2014 season and he was in the recovery process until the middle of the 2015 season. He did not play a game from October 2012 to September 2015.


title: T. J. Watt

text: In July 2015, Watt was asked by head coach Paul Chryst to switch to a defensive position as a redshirt sophomore. Badgers' outside linebackers coach Tim Tibesar recalled Watt's position change saying, "At that time, even though he was in his third fall at Wisconsin, it was kind of like having a freshman come in. You're trying to teach him for the first time how to play outside 'backer in our system." After the fourth game of his junior season, he led the Big Ten conference in sacks. In the Michigan State game, he was named the Big Ten Player of the Week and was given the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week Award.


title: T. J. Watt

text: During the 2016 season, Watt recorded 59 total tackles and 11.5 sacks. Additionally, he recorded an interception and a defensive touchdown during the Badgers' game against Purdue. Watt also received first-team All-American honors by "Sports Illustrated" and second-team honors by "The Associated Press" for his play during the 2016 season. On November 29, 2016, Watt was named first-team All-Big Ten. On January 3, 2017, Watt announced on Twitter that he would forgo his senior season and enter the 2017 NFL Draft.


title: T. J. Watt

text: Watt received an invitation to the NFL Combine as one of the top edge rushers in the draft and completed all the combine drills. Among linebackers, Watt finished second in the vertical jump and three-cone drill, tied for first in the broad jump (with Jabrill Peppers), and also tied for first in the short shuttle. He attended Wisconsin's pro day, along with Dare Ogunbowale, Vince Biegel, Corey Clement, Sojourn Shelton, and six other teammates. Green Bay Packers' General Manager Ted Thompson and Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin were among the 65 team representatives and scouts present for his pro day as Pittsburgh Steelers' linebacker's coach Joey Porter, Carolina Panthers' and New York Jets' outside linebackers coach Kevin Greene led Watt's positional drills. The majority of NFL draft experts and analysts projected Watt to be a late first round or second round pick. He was ranked the second best outside linebacker in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com, ranked the fourth best outside linebacker by NFL analyst Bucky Brooks, and was ranked the ninth best edge rusher by "Sports Illustrated". ESPN also ranked Watt the 44th best prospect available in the draft.


title: T. J. Watt

text: The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Watt in the first round with the 30th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Watt was the fourth linebacker selected and the second outside linebacker. He was also the fourth linebacker taken in the first round by the Pittsburgh Steelers since .


title: T. J. Watt

text: On June 14, 2017, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Watt to a fully guaranteed, four-year, $9.25 million contract with a signing bonus of $4.87 million.


title: T. J. Watt

text: He entered training camp competing with James Harrison for the starting right outside linebacker position. Watt was named the Pittsburgh Steelers' starting right outside linebacker to begin the regular season. Watt saw action in the NFL for the first time in the team's first preseason game against the New York Giants, where he made two sacks in the 20–12 victory.


title: T. J. Watt

text: Watt made his professional regular season debut and first NFL start in the Pittsburgh Steelers' season-opener against the Cleveland Browns on September 10, 2017, where he recorded seven combined tackles, two sacks, and intercepted a pass from quarterback DeShone Kizer, as the Steelers won by a score of 21–18. He became the first rookie to start at linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers since Aaron Jones in . The following week, he assisted on two tackles before leaving during the first half of the Steelers' 26–9 victory over the Minnesota Vikings with a groin injury. He was declared out for Week 3 against the Chicago Bears. On October 22, 2017, Watt made six combined tackles and made his fourth sack of the season on Cincinnati Bengals' quarterback Andy Dalton during the Steelers' 29–14 victory. He tied Bud Dupree (2014) and LaMarr Woodley (2007) for the franchise record for most sacks by a rookie with his fourth. On December 10, 2017, Watt recorded his first career forced fumble when he sacked Baltimore Raven's quarterback Joe Flacco with 12 seconds remaining in the game. The ball went out of bounds, but the game clock continued to run. Both teams seemed unaware of this until referees declared that the game was over. Watt finished his rookie season with 54 combined tackles (40 solo), seven pass deflections, seven sacks, one forced fumble, and an interception in 15 games and 15 starts.


title: T. J. Watt

text: The Pittsburgh Steelers finished atop the AFC North with a 13–3 record and earned a playoff berth. On January 14, 2018, Watt started his first NFL playoff game and recorded two combined tackles and deflected a pass in a narrow 45–42 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC .


title: T. J. Watt

text: Watt entered training camp slated as a starting left outside linebacker. Head coach Mike Tomlin named Watt and Bud Dupree, who was now on the right side, the starting outside linebackers to begin the season, alongside inside linebackers Vince Williams and Jon Bostic.


title: T. J. Watt

text: Watt started in the season-opener at the Cleveland Browns and recorded a season-high ten combined tackles (seven solo), three sacks, and blocked a potential game-winning field goal during overtime in a 21–21 tie. He earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance. On October 7, 2018, Watt recorded eight combined tackles, tied his season-high of three sacks, and forced a fumble in the Steelers’ 41–17 win against the Atlanta Falcons. His performance earned him his second AFC Defensive Player of the Week award of the year. He started in all 16 games in 2018 and recorded 68 combined tackles (50 solo), 13 sacks, six forced fumbles, and three pass deflections. After the season, Watt was ranked 93rd on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2019.


title: T. J. Watt

text: In Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks, Watt recorded six tackles and made his first sack of the season on Russell Wilson in the 26–28 loss. In Week 3 against the San Francisco 49ers, Watt recorded his first interception of the season off Jimmy Garoppolo in the 24–20 loss. In Week 8 against the Miami Dolphins, Watt recorded two sacks on Ryan Fitzpatrick, one of which was a strip sack that he forced and recovered, in the 27–14 win. For his performance in November, Watt earned AFC Defensive Player of the Month.


title: T. J. Watt

text: In Week 14 against the Arizona Cardinals, Watt recorded his second interception of the season in the end zone off a pass thrown by Kyler Murray during the 23–17 win.


title: T. J. Watt

text: By the end of his third season, Watt had established himself as one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL, tallying an AFC-high 14.5 sacks and a league-high eight forced fumbles. He was named to the Pro Bowl. He was voted Team MVP by his teammates, being the first defensive player to win the award since Troy Polamalu in 2010. Watt was voted All-Pro as both edge rusher (1st Team) and linebacker (2nd Team). He was also nominated for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, finishing third in voting. Following the season, Watt was ranked 25th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020.


title: T. J. Watt

text: On March 17, 2020, the Steelers signed Watt's older brother Derek, putting the two brothers on the same team. On April 28, 2020, the Steelers exercised the fifth-year option on Watt's contract.


title: T. J. Watt

text: In Week 1 against the New York Giants, Watt recorded his lone interception of the season off a pass thrown by Daniel Jones during the 26–16 win. In Week 2 against the Denver Broncos, Watt recorded his first 2.5 sacks of the season on Jeff Driskel during the 26–21 win. He was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in Week 2. On October 1, 2020, Watt was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Month for his performance in September. In Week 10 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Watt recorded two sacks on rookie quarterback Joe Burrow during the 36–10 win. In Week 12 against the Baltimore Ravens, Watt recorded two sacks on Robert Griffin III during the 19–14 win. Watt was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Month for his performance in November. In Week 16 against the Indianapolis Colts, Watt recorded two sacks on Philip Rivers, including a strip sack that was recovered by teammate Mike Hilton, during the 28–24 comeback win. On December 31, 2020, for the second straight season, Watt was voted Team MVP by his teammates. Despite leading the NFL in sacks (15), tackles for loss (23) and quarterback hits (41), he finished second in voting for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award. Watt played in the Steelers lone playoff game, recording three combined tackles and deflected a pass as the Steelers lost to the Cleveland Browns 48–37 in the AFC . He earned Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro honors. Prior to the upcoming season, Watt's peers voted him ninth on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2021.


title: T. J. Watt

text: On September 9, 2021, Watt and the Steelers agreed to a four-year extension worth over $112 million with $80 million guaranteed, making him the highest paid defensive player in the NFL. In Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills, Watt made three tackles and two sacks on quarterback Josh Allen, one of which Watt also forced a fumble which was recovered by teammate Cameron Heyward in the 23–16 win. The following week, Watt recorded four tackles, one sack and one forced fumble against the Las Vegas Raiders before leaving the game with a groin injury. He was later ruled out for Week 3. In Week 6 against the Seattle Seahawks, Watt played a large role in the 23–20 win in overtime, tallying seven total tackles, three tackles for loss, three passes defended, and two sacks, one of which was a strip sack in overtime that led to the game-winning field goal. He was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in Week 6. In Week 13, Watt was a huge factor in helping the Steelers defeat the Baltimore Ravens, 20–19. He had six combined tackles (five solo), 3.5 sacks, three tackles for loss, six quarterback hits and a forced fumble. With 12 seconds remaining in the game and the Steelers ahead by one point, the Ravens attempted a 2-point conversion for the win. Watt was able to put pressure on Lamar Jackson and disrupt the pass, sealing the victory for his team. His performance earned him AFC Defensive Player of the Week. In the Steelers’ 19–13 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 15, Watt recorded 1.5 sacks on quarterback Ryan Tannehill. This gave Watt a total of 17.5 sacks on the season, a franchise record, surpassing the mark previously set by James Harrison in 2008. In Week 17, Watt earned his third AFC Defensive Player of the Week for the year, in a victory over the Cleveland Browns, 26–14. In this game, Watt recorded five tackles (all solo), four sacks, three tackles for loss, five quarterback hits and two passes defended. On January 6, 2022, the Steelers named Watt their Team MVP. He became the only player in team history to win the award in three-straight seasons. In Week 18, Watt tied Michael Strahan's 20-year old NFL single-season sack record, with a sack of Baltimore's Tyler Huntley during their 16–13 overtime win. Despite missing two games and parts of three others, Watt ended the regular season leading the league in sacks (22.5), tackles for loss (21) and quarterback hits (39) for the second year in a row. He was named to the Pro Bowl and earned First Team All-Pro honors.


title: T. J. Watt

text: In the AFC against the Kansas City Chiefs, Watt recovered a fumble forced by teammate Cameron Heyward and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown in the first half of the 42–21 loss.


title: T. J. Watt

text: At the 11th Annual NFL Honors, Watt won NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He was ranked sixth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2022.


title: T. J. Watt

text: In Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Watt left the game in the fourth quarter with a pectoral injury during the 23–20 overtime win. He was placed on injured reserve.


title: T. J. Watt

text: On October 8, it was reported that Watt had recently underwent arthroscopic knee surgery for an injury sustained in the preseason.


title: T. J. Watt

text: On October 26, the Steelers opened the 21-day practice window for Watt's return. He was activated from injured reserve on November 11, 2022.


title: T. J. Watt

text: Born the youngest of three boys, Watt was raised by his parents, Connie and John Watt, in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. His father was a firefighter for 25 years and his mother is the vice president of an independent inspections company. His two older brothers, J. J. and Derek, both played at Wisconsin and are both currently playing in the NFL. Derek is a fullback for the Pittsburgh Steelers and was selected in the sixth round by the then-San Diego Chargers with the 198th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, before signing with the Steelers in 2020. J. J. is a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and five-time All-Pro defensive end who currently plays for the Arizona Cardinals, and was selected by the Houston Texans with the 11th overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. T. J. was teammates with Derek at Wisconsin from 2012 to 2015. During his time at Wisconsin, Watt majored in retailing and consumer behavior.


title: Monotreme

text: Monotremes () are prototherian mammals of the order Monotremata. They are one of the three groups of living mammals, along with placentals (Eutheria), and marsupials (Metatheria). Monotremes are typified by structural differences in their brains, jaws, digestive tract, reproductive tract, and other body parts, compared to the more common mammalian types. In addition, they lay eggs rather than bearing live young, but, like all mammals, the female monotremes nurse their young with milk.


title: Monotreme

text: Monotremes have been considered members of Australosphenida, a clade that contains extinct mammals from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Madagascar, South America, and Australia, though this is disputed.


title: Monotreme

text: The only surviving examples of monotremes are all indigenous to Australia and New Guinea, although there is evidence that they were once more widespread, as "Monotrematum" is known from the Paleocene of South America. The extant monotreme species are the platypus and four species of echidnas. There is currently some debate regarding monotreme taxonomy.


title: Monotreme

text: The name "monotreme" derives from the Greek words ( 'single') and ( 'hole'), referring to the cloaca.


title: Monotreme

text: Like other mammals, monotremes are endothermic with a high metabolic rate (though not as high as other mammals; see below); have hair on their bodies; produce milk through mammary glands to feed their young; have a single bone in their lower jaw; and have three middle-ear bones.


title: Monotreme

text: In common with reptiles and marsupials, monotremes lack the connective structure (corpus callosum) which in placental mammals is the primary communication route between the right and left brain hemispheres. The anterior commissure does provide an alternate communication route between the two hemispheres, though, and in monotremes and marsupials it carries all the commissural fibers arising from the neocortex, whereas in placental mammals the anterior commissure carries only some of these fibers.


title: Monotreme

text: Extant monotremes lack teeth as adults. Fossil forms and modern platypus young have a "tribosphenic" form of molars (with the occlusal surface formed by three cusps arranged in a triangle), which is one of the hallmarks of extant mammals. Some recent work suggests that monotremes acquired this form of molar independently of placental mammals and marsupials, although this hypothesis remains disputed. Tooth loss in modern monotremes might be related to their development of electrolocation.


title: Monotreme

text: Monotreme jaws are constructed somewhat differently from those of other mammals, and the jaw opening muscle is different. As in all true mammals, the tiny bones that conduct sound to the inner ear are fully incorporated into the skull, rather than lying in the jaw as in cynodonts and other premammalian synapsids; this feature, too, is now claimed to have evolved independently in monotremes and therians, although, as with the analogous evolution of the tribosphenic molar, this hypothesis is disputed. Nonetheless, findings on the extinct species "Teinolophos" confirm that suspended ear bones evolved independently among monotremes and therians. The external opening of the ear still lies at the base of the jaw.


title: Monotreme

text: The sequencing of the platypus genome has also provided insight into the evolution of a number of monotreme traits, such as venom and electroreception, as well as showing some new unique features, such as monotremes possessing 5 pairs of sex chromosomes and that one of the X chromosomes resembles the Z chromosome of birds, suggesting that the two sex chromosomes of marsupial and placental mammals evolved after the split from the monotreme lineage. Additional reconstruction through shared genes in sex chromosomes supports this hypothesis of independent evolution. This feature, along with some other genetic similarities with birds, such as shared genes related to egg-laying, is thought to provide some insight into the most recent common ancestor of the synapsid lineage leading to mammals and the sauropsid lineage leading to birds and modern reptiles, which are believed to have split about 315 million years ago during the Carboniferous. The presence of vitellogenin genes (a protein necessary for egg shell formation) is shared with birds; the presence of this symplesiomorphy suggests that the common ancestor of monotremes, marsupials, and placental mammals was oviparous, and that this trait was retained in monotremes but lost in all other extant mammal groups. DNA analyses suggest that although this trait is shared and is synapomorphic with birds, platypuses are still mammals and that the common ancestor of extant mammals lactated.


title: Monotreme

text: The monotremes also have extra bones in the shoulder girdle, including an interclavicle and coracoid, which are not found in other mammals. Monotremes retain a reptile-like gait, with legs on the sides of, rather than underneath, their bodies. The monotreme leg bears a spur in the ankle region; the spur is not functional in echidnas, but contains a powerful venom in the male platypus. This venom is derived from β-defensins, proteins that are present in mammals that create holes in viral and bacterial pathogens. Some reptile venom is also composed of different types of β-defensins, another trait shared with reptiles. It is thought to be an ancient mammalian characteristic, as many non-monotreme archaic mammal groups also possess venomous spurs.


title: Monotreme

text: The key anatomical difference between monotremes and other mammals gives them their name; "monotreme" means “single opening” in Greek, referring to the single duct (the cloaca) for their urinary, defecatory, and reproductive systems. Like reptiles, monotremes have a single cloaca. Marsupials have a separate genital tract, whereas most placental mammalian females have separate openings for reproduction (the vagina), urination (the urethra), and defecation (the anus). In monotremes, only semen passes through the penis while urine is excreted through the male's cloaca. The monotreme penis is similar to that of turtles and is covered by a preputial sac.


title: Monotreme

text: Monotreme eggs are retained for some time within the mother and receive nutrients directly from her, generally hatching within 10 days after being laid — much shorter than the incubation period of sauropsid eggs. Much like newborn marsupials (and perhaps all non-placental mammals), newborn monotremes, called "puggles," are larval- and fetus-like and have relatively well-developed forelimbs that enable them to crawl around. In fact, because monotremes lack nipples, puggles crawl about more frequently than marsupial joeys in search of milk, this difference raising questions about the supposed developmental restrictions on marsupial forelimbs.


title: Monotreme

text: Rather than through nipples, monotremes lactate from their mammary glands via openings in their skin. All five extant species show prolonged parental care of their young, with low rates of reproduction and relatively long life-spans.


title: Monotreme

text: Monotremes are also noteworthy in their zygotic development: Most mammalian zygotes go through holoblastic cleavage, where the ovum splits into multiple, divisible daughter cells. Contrastingly, monotreme zygotes, like those of birds and reptiles, undergo meroblastic (partial) division. This means the cells at the yolk's edge have cytoplasm continuous with that of the egg, allowing the yolk and embryo to exchange waste and nutrients with the surrounding cytoplasm.


title: Monotreme

text: Monotremes' metabolic rate is remarkably low by mammalian standards. The platypus has an average body temperature of about rather than the averages of for marsupials and for placental mammals. Research suggests this has been a gradual adaptation to the harsh, marginal environmental niches in which the few extant monotreme species have managed to survive, rather than a general characteristic of extinct monotremes.


title: Monotreme

text: Monotremes may have less developed thermoregulation than other mammals, but recent research shows that they easily maintain a constant body temperature in a variety of circumstances, such as the platypus in icy mountain streams. Early researchers were misled by two factors: firstly, monotremes maintain a lower average temperature than most mammals; secondly, the short-beaked echidna, much easier to study than the reclusive platypus, maintains normal temperature only when active; during cold weather, it conserves energy by "switching off" its temperature regulation. Understanding of this mechanism came when reduced thermal regulation was observed in the hyraxes, which are placental mammals.


title: Monotreme

text: The echidna was originally thought to experience no rapid eye movement sleep. However, a more recent study showed that REM sleep accounted for about 15% of sleep time observed on subjects at an environmental temperature of 25 °C (77 °F). Surveying a range of environmental temperatures, the study observed very little REM at reduced temperatures of 15 °C (59 °F) and 20 °C (68 °F), and also a substantial reduction at the elevated temperature of 28 °C (82 °F).


title: Monotreme

text: Monotreme milk contains a highly expressed antibacterial protein not found in other mammals, perhaps to compensate for the more septic manner of milk intake associated with the absence of nipples.


title: Monotreme

text: Both the platypus and echidna species have spurs on their hind limbs. The echidna spurs are vestigial and have no known function, while the platypus spurs contain venom. Molecular data show that the main component of platypus venom emerged before the divergence of platypus and echidnas, suggesting that the most recent common ancestor of these taxa was also possibly a venomous monotreme.


title: Monotreme

text: Monotremes are conventionally treated as comprising a single order "Monotremata", though a recent classification proposes to divide them into the orders Platypoda (the platypus along with its fossil relatives) and Tachyglossa (the echidnas, or spiny anteaters). The entire grouping is also traditionally placed into a subclass Prototheria, which was extended to include several fossil orders, but these are no longer seen as constituting a group allied to monotreme ancestry. A controversial hypothesis now relates the monotremes to a different assemblage of fossil mammals in a clade termed Australosphenida, a group of mammals from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Madagascar, South America and Australia, that share tribosphenic molars. However in a 2022 review of montreme evolution, it was noted that the most primitive monotreme "Teinolophos" differed substantially from non-monotreme australosphenidans, having five molars as opposed to three in all other non-monotreme australosphenidans, and having non-tribosphenic teeth, which appears to have only evolved in more derived monotremes, meaning that the two groups were likely to be unrelated.


title: Monotreme

text: The traditional "theria hypothesis" states that the divergence of the monotreme lineage from the Metatheria (marsupial) and Eutheria (placental mammal) lineages happened prior to the divergence between marsupials and placental mammals, and this explains why monotremes retain a number of primitive traits presumed to have been present in the synapsid ancestors of later mammals, such as egg-laying. Most morphological evidence supports the theria hypothesis, but one possible exception is a similar pattern of tooth replacement seen in monotremes and marsupials, which originally provided the basis for the competing "Marsupionta" hypothesis in which the divergence between monotremes and marsupials happened later than the divergence between these lineages and the placental mammals. Van Rheede (2005) concluded that the genetic evidence favors the theria hypothesis, and this hypothesis continues to be the more widely accepted one.


title: Monotreme

text: The time when the monotreme line diverged from other mammalian lines is uncertain, but one survey of genetic studies gives an estimate of about 220 million years ago. Fossils of a jaw fragment 110 million years old were found at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales. These fragments, from the species "Steropodon galmani", are the oldest known fossils of monotremes. Fossils from the genera "Teinolophos", and "Obdurodon" have also been discovered. In 1991, a fossil tooth of a 61 million-year-old platypus was found in southern Argentina (since named "Monotrematum", though it is now considered to be an "Obdurodon" species). (See fossil monotremes below.) Molecular clock and fossil dating give a wide range of dates for the split between echidnas and platypuses, with one survey putting the split at 19–48 million years ago, but another putting it at 17–89 million years ago. All these dates are more recent than the oldest known platypus fossils; and, if correct, suggest that both the short-beaked and long-beaked echidna species are derived from a platypus-like ancestor. The earliest echidna found to date is about 13 million years.


title: Monotreme

text: The precise relationships among extinct groups of mammals and modern groups such as monotremes are uncertain, but cladistic analyses usually put the last common ancestor (LCA) of placentals and monotremes close to the LCA of placentals and multituberculates, whereas some suggest that the LCA of placentals and multituberculates was more recent than the LCA of placentals and monotremes.


title: Monotreme

text: The fossil record of monotremes is relatively sparse. The first Mesozoic monotreme to be discovered was "Steropodon galmani" from Lightning Ridge, New South Wales. Although biochemical and anatomical evidence suggests that the monotremes diverged from the mammalian lineage before the marsupials and placental mammals arose, only a handful of monotreme fossils are known from before the Miocene epoch. The known Mesozoic monotremes are "Steropodon" and "Teinolophos", all from Australian deposits in the Cretaceous, so monotremes had already diversified by that time. A platypus tooth has been found in the Palaeocene of Argentina, so one hypothesis is that monotremes arose in Australia in the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous, and that some migrated across Antarctica to South America, both of which were still united with Australia at that time; however, several genetic studies suggest an origin in the Triassic.


title: Monotreme

text: Excepting "Ornithorhynchus anatinus", all the animals listed in this section are known only from fossils.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The Land Rover Defender (initially introduced as the Land Rover 110 / One Ten, and in 1984 joined by the Land Rover 90 / Ninety, plus the new, extra-length Land Rover 127 in 1985) is a series of British off-road cars and pickup trucks. They consistently have four-wheel drive, and were developed in the 1980s from the original Land Rover series which was launched at the Amsterdam Motor Show in April 1948. Following the 1989 introduction of the Land Rover Discovery, the term 'Land Rover' became the name of a broader marque, and thus no longer worked as the name of a specific model; thus in 1990 Land Rover renamed the 90 and 110 as Defender 90 and Defender 110 respectively. The 127 became the Defender 130.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The vehicle, a British equivalent of the Second World War derived (Willys) Jeep, gained a worldwide reputation for ruggedness and versatility. Using a steel ladder chassis and an aluminium alloy bodywork, the Land Rover originally used detuned versions of Rover engines. The original Defender is still being produced in developing countries despite the arrival of the Land Rover Defender (L663).


title: Land Rover Defender

text: Though the Defender was not a new generation design, it incorporated significant changes, compared to the series Land Rovers, such as adopting coil springs front and rear, as opposed to all leaf springs on the previous; except for retaining rear leaf springs on high capacity (payload) models. Coil springs offered both better ride quality and improved axle articulation. Adding a lockable centre differential to the transfer case gave the Defender permanent (on-road) four-wheel-drive capability. Both changes were derived from the Range Rover, and the interiors were also modernised.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: Externally, a full-length bonnet and full-width integrated grille and headlights, combined with (finally) a single-piece windscreen, plus widened wheel arches that covered new, wider-track axles were the most noticeable changes. Initially the engineering department conserved a part-time 4WD system, like on previous models, but it failed to sell any longer, and this option was immediately dropped in 1984. While the engine was carried over from the Series III, a new series of modern and more powerful engines was progressively introduced.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: Even when ignoring the series Land Rovers and perhaps ongoing licence products, the 90/110 and Defender models' 33-year production run were ranked as the sixteenth longest single-generation car in history in 2020.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: In 2020, Jaguar Land Rover introduced the first all new generation of Land Rover Defenders, switching from body on chassis to integrated bodywork and from live, rigid axles to all around independent suspension. The range was originally limited to just two wheelbase lengths before a third, the Defender 130, was announced in 2022. The new Defender series is only available in closed, estate car bodies.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: After a continuous run of 67 years production finally ended on 29 January 2016, after a total of just over two million Land Rover Series and Defender models had been built. The two millionth unit was assembled with the help of a special team in May 2015, and charitably auctioned for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) Societies later that year. The last Land Rover Defender, rolled off the production line, with the number plate H166 HUE, a reference to the first ever pre-production Land Rover, registration 'HUE 166'. This was the 2,016,933rd Defender to be produced.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: A special edition Defender Works V8, with , was announced in January 2018. Until 2020 the Defender was last sold in the US in 1997, after which safety regulations prohibited its sale in North America.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: An all-new 2020 Land Rover Defender made its global debut in September 2019 and is initially offered with two wheelbase options. This new vehicle, which shares no components or technology with its predecessor, has an aluminium monococque body.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The coil-sprung Land Rover was introduced in 1983 as "Land Rover One Ten", and in 1984 the "Land Rover Ninety" was added – the numbers representing the respective wheelbases in inches. (In fact the Ninety was nearer 93 inches at 92.9".) The number was spelled in full in advertising and in handbooks and manuals, and the vehicles also carried badges above the radiator grille which read "Land Rover 90" or "Land Rover 110", with the number rendered numerically. The Ninety and One Ten replaced the earlier Land Rover Series, and at the time of launch, the only other Land Rover model in production was the Range Rover.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: In 1989, a third model was brought out by Land Rover to be produced in parallel with the other two: the Land Rover Discovery. To avoid possible confusion, the 1991 model year Ninety and the One Ten were renamed the "Defender 90" and "Defender 110". These carried front badges that said "Defender", with a badge on the rear of the vehicle saying "Defender 90" or "Defender 110". The most recent model, from 2007–2016, still featured the space above the radiator for the badge but was blank. Instead it had "Land Rover" spelled across the leading edge of the bonnet in raised individual letters, in keeping with the Discovery and Freelander. At the rear was a new style of '"Defender" badge with an underlining "swoosh". On these last models there are no badges defining the wheelbase model of the vehicle.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The wheelbase Land Rover 127, available from 1985, was always marketed with the name rendered numerically. Following the adoption of the Defender name, it became the "Defender 130", although the wheelbase remained unchanged.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The North American Specification (NAS) Defender 110 sold for the 1993 model year carried a badge above the radiator grille which read "Defender", whereas the NAS Defender 90 sold for the 1994 to 1997 model years had "Land Rover" spelled across the top of the radiator grille in individual letter decals. NAS Defenders also carried a cast plaque on the rear tub in the original style of the Series estate cars with "Defender 110" or "Defender 90" below the Land Rover lozenge and the vehicle's unique limited edition production run number.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: Production of the model now known as the Defender began in 1983 as the Land Rover 110, a name which reflected the length of the wheelbase. The Land Rover 90, with wheelbase, and Land Rover 127, with wheelbase, soon followed.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: Superficially there is little to distinguish the post-1983 vehicles from the Series III Land Rover. A full-length bonnet, revised grille, plus the fitting of wheel arch extensions to cover wider-track axles are the most noticeable changes. Initially the conservative engineering department insisted that the Land Rover was also available with a part-time 4WD system familiar to derivatives produced since 1949. However, the part-time system failed to sell and was quickly dropped from the options list by 1984. While the engine and other body panels carried over from the Series III, mechanically the 90 and 110 were modernised, including:


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The 110 was launched in 1983, and the 90 followed in 1984. From 1984, wind-up windows were fitted (Series models and very early 110s had sliding panels), and a , diesel engine was introduced. This was based on the earlier engine, but had a more modern fuel-injection system as well as increased capacity. A low compression version of the V8 Range Rover engine improved performance. It was initially available in the 110 with a Range Rover LT95 four-speed transmission with integral transfer case and vacuum operated differential lock, then later in conjunction with a high strength "Santana" five-speed transmission.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: This period saw Land Rover market the utility Land Rover as a private recreational vehicle. While the basic pick-up, 4x4 and van versions were still working vehicles, the County 4x4s were sold as multi-purpose family vehicles, featuring improved interior trim and more comfortable seats. This change was reflected in Land Rover starting what had long been common practice in the car industry: detail changes and improvements to the County model from year to year in order to attract new buyers and to encourage existing owners to trade in for a new vehicle. These changes included different exterior styling graphics and colour options, and the introduction of new options, such as radio-cassette players, Rostyle wheels, headlamp wash and wipe systems, as well as accessories such as surfboard carriers and bike racks. The switch from leaf spring to coil spring suspension was a key part of the new model's success. It offered improved off-road ability, load capacity, handling and ride comfort.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: From 1983, Land Rover introduced a third wheelbase to its utility line-up, a wheelbase vehicle designed to accommodate larger, heavier loads than the 110. Called the "Land Rover 127", it was designed specifically with use by utility companies in mind, as well as military usage. In its standard form, it is a four-door six-seater consisting of the front half of a 110 4x4, and the rear of a 110 high-capacity pick up (HCPU). Logic was that this allowed a workcrew and their equipment to be carried in one vehicle at the same time. The 127 could carry up to a payload, compared to the payload of the 110 and the of the 90.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: Land Rover 127s were built on a special production line, and all started life as 110 4x4 chassis (the model was initially marketed as the 110 crew cab, before the more logical 127 name was adopted). These were then cut in two and the of extra chassis length welded on before the two original halves were reunited. These models did not receive their own dedicated badging like the other two models: instead they used the same metal grille badges as used on the Series III 109 V8 models, that simply said "Land-Rover".


title: Land Rover Defender

text: Although the standard body-style was popular, the 127 was a common basis for conversion to specialist uses, such as mobile workshops, ambulances, fire engines and flatbed transports. In South Africa, the Land Rover assembly plant offered a 127 4x4 with seating for 15. Land Rover also offered the 127 as a bare chassis, with just front bodywork and bulkhead, for easy conversion.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: Initially held back by the low power of the Land Rover engines (other than the thirsty petrol V8 engine), the 127 benefited from the improvements to the line-up, and by 1990 was only available with the two highest power engines, the 3.5-litre V8 petrol, and the 2.5-litre turbo diesel .


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The original 110 of 1983 was available with the same engine line-up as the Series III vehicles it replaced, namely petrol and diesel engines, and a V8 petrol unit, although a small number of V8s were produced . In 1981 the 2.25 L engines were upgraded from three- to five-crankshaft bearings in preparation for the planned increases in capacity and power. The five bearing version was known as the 2.3-litre to differentiate it despite having the same displacement.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The 2.5-litre version of the diesel engine, displacing and producing , was introduced in both the 110 and the newly arrived 90. This was a long-stroke version of the venerable 2.25-litre unit, fitted with updated fuel injection equipment and a revised cylinder head for quieter, smoother and more efficient running. A timing belt also replaced the older engine's chain. Despite these improvements the engine was underpowered and unrefined in comparison with the competition.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: In 1985 the petrol units were upgraded. An enlarged four-cylinder engine was introduced. This engine shared the same block and cooling system (as well as other ancillary components) as the diesel unit. Unlike the diesel engine, this new 2.5-litre petrol engine retained the chain-driven camshaft of its 2.25-litre predecessor. At the same time, the V8 was also made available in the 90- the first time a production short-wheelbase Land Rover had been given V8 power. The V8 on both models was now mated to an all-new five-speed LT85 manual gearbox.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The year 1986 saw improvements in engines to match the more advanced offerings by Japanese competitors. The "Diesel Turbo" engine was introduced in September, a lightly turbocharged version of the existing 2.5-litre diesel, with several changes to suit the higher power output, including a re-designed crankshaft, teflon-coated pistons and nimonic steel exhaust valves to cope with the higher internal temperatures. Similarly, an eight-bladed cooling fan was fitted, together with an oil cooler. The changes for the turbo diesel were kept as slight as possible, in the aim of making the car saleable in Land Rover's traditional export markets across the globe.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The 2.5 diesel, 2.5 petrol and Turbo Diesel engines all shared the same block castings and other components such as valve-gear and cooling system parts, allowing them to be built on the same production line. The Turbo Diesel produced , a 13% increase over the naturally aspirated unit, and a 31.5% increase in torque to at 1800 rpm. Externally, turbo diesel vehicles differed from other models only by having an air intake grille in the left-hand wing to supply cool air to the turbo. Early turbo-diesel engines gained a reputation for poor reliability, with major failures to the bottom-end and cracked pistons. A revised block and improved big end bearings were introduced in 1988, and a re-designed breather system in 1989. These largely solved the engine's problems, but it remained (like many early turbo-diesels) prone to failure if maintenance was neglected.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: At the same time that the Turbo Diesel was introduced, the V8 engine was upgraded. Power was increased to , and SU carburettors replaced the Zenith models used on earlier V8s.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The new vehicles with their more modern engines, transmissions, and interiors reversed the huge decline in sales that took place in the 1980s (a 21% fall in a single year, 1980–1981). This growth was mainly in the domestic UK market and Europe. African, Australian and Middle-Eastern sales failed to recover significantly – Land Rover had not been immune to the poor reputation caused by substandard build quality and unreliability which had afflicted the rest of British Leyland, of which Land Rover was still part. In these markets Japanese vehicles such as the Toyota Landcruiser and Nissan Patrol gradually took over what had been a lucrative export market for Land Rover for decades. Meanwhile, the company itself adopted more modern practices, such as using marketing campaigns to attract new buyers who would not previously have been expected to buy a Land Rover. The operation was streamlined, with most of the satellite factories in the West Midlands that built parts for the Land Rover being closed and production brought into the Solihull factory, which was expanded.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: To maximise sales in Europe, Land Rover set up the Special Vehicles Division, which handled conversions, adaptations and limited production volume versions. The bulk of the division's work was the construction of stretched-wheelbase mobile workshops and crew carriers for British and European utility companies, often including six-wheel-drive conversions, but more unusual projects were undertaken, such as the construction of an amphibious Land Rover 90 used by the company as part of its sponsorship of Cowes Week from 1987 to 1990. The Special Projects Division also handled specialised military contracts, such as the building of a fleet of V8-powered Rapier missile launchers for the British Army. The Rapier system actually consisted of three Land Rovers: a 127 which carried the launching and aiming equipment, and two 110s which carried the crew and additional equipment.


title: Land Rover Defender

text: The biggest change to the Land Rover came in late 1990, when it became the Land Rover Defender, instead of the Land Rover 90 or 110. This was because in 1989 the company had introduced the Discovery model, requiring the original Land Rover to acquire a name. The Discovery also had a new turbodiesel engine, the 200TDi. This was also loosely based on the existing 2.5-litre turbo unit, and was built on the same production line, but had a modern alloy cylinder head, improved turbocharging, intercooling and direct injection. It retained the block, crankshaft, main bearings, cambelt system, and other ancillaries as the Diesel Turbo. The breather system included an oil separator filter to remove oil from the air in the system, thus finally solving the Diesel Turbo's main weakness of re-breathing its own sump oil. The 200Tdi, produced and of torque, which was nearly a 25% improvement on the engine it replaced (although as installed in the Defender the engine was de-tuned slightly from its original Discovery specification due to changes associated with the turbo position and exhaust routing).