title: Latinx

text: The term was first seen online around 2004. It has since been used in social media by activists, students, and academics who seek to advocate for non-binary and genderqueer individuals. Surveys of Hispanic and Latino Americans have found that the vast majority prefer other terms such as "Hispanic" and "Latina/Latino" to describe themselves, and that only 2–3% use "Latinx". A 2020 Pew Research Center survey found that roughly three-quarters of U.S. Latinos were not aware of the term "Latinx"; of those aware of it, 33% said it should be used to describe their racial or ethnic group, while 65% said it should not.


title: Latinx

text: Critics say the term does not follow traditional grammar, is difficult to pronounce, and is disrespectful toward conventional Spanish; the Royal Spanish Academy style guide does not recognize the suffix -x. Both supporters and opponents have cited linguistic imperialism as a reason for supporting or opposing the use of the term.


title: Latinx

text: "Latinx" is a term for a group identity used to describe individuals in the United States who have Latin American roots. Other names for this social category include "Hispanic", "Latino", "Latina/o", "Latine", and "Latin@". "Latinx" is used as an alternative to the gender binary inherent to formulations such as "Latina/o" and "Latin@", and is used by and for anyone of Latin-American descent who do not identify as either male or female, or more broadly as a gender-neutral term for such.


title: Latinx

text: Pronunciations of "Latinx" documented in dictionaries include . Other variants respelled "ad hoc" as "Latins", "La-tinks", or "Latin-equis" have also been reported. Editors at Merriam-Webster write that "more than likely, there was little consideration for how ["Latinx"] was supposed to be pronounced when it was created."


title: Latinx

text: The first records of the term "Latinx" appear in the 21st century, but there is no certainty as to its first occurrence. According to Google Trends, it was first seen online in 2004, and first appeared in academic literature around 2013 "in a Puerto Rican psychological periodical to challenge the gender binaries encoded in the Spanish language." Contrarily, it has been claimed that usage of the term "started in online chat rooms and listservs in the 1990s" and that its first appearance in academic literature was in the Fall 2004 volume of the journal "Feministas Unidas". In the U.S. it was first used in activist and LGBT circles as a way to expand on earlier attempts at gender-inclusive forms of the grammatically masculine Latino, such as "Latino/a" and "Latin@." Between 2004 and 2014, "Latinx" did not attain broad usage or attention.


title: Latinx

text: Use of "x" to expand language can be traced to the word "Chicano", which had an "x" added to the front of the word, making it "Xicano". Scholars have identified this shift as part of the movement to empower people of Mexican origin in the U.S. and also as a means of emphasizing that the origins of the letter "X" and term "Chicano" are linked to the Indigenous Nahuatl language. The "x" has also been added to the end of the term "Chicano", making it "Chicanx". An example of this occurred at Columbia University where students changed their student group name from "Chicano Caucus" to "Chicanx Caucus". Later Columbia University changed the name of Latino Heritage Month to Latinx Hispanic Heritage Month. Salinas and Lozano (2017) state that the term is influenced by Mexican indigenous communities that have a third gender role, such as Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca (see also: ). The term often refers specifically to LGBT people or to young people. Brian Latimer, a producer at MSNBC who identifies as nonbinary, says that the application of the term "shows a generational divide in the Hispanic community". In 2016, a student newspaper described the term as "sweeping across college campuses in the nation with the intent of creating inclusion while inadvertently pitting members of the Latino community into a cultural war". It received wider use after the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.


title: Latinx

text: , the term "Latinx" was used nearly exclusively in the United States. Manuel Vargas writes that people from Latin America ordinarily would not think of themselves using the term unless they reside in the United States. The term was added to the Merriam-Webster English dictionary in 2018, as it continued to grow in popularity in the United States, and to the "Oxford English Dictionary" in 2019.


title: Latinx

text: Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera writes that in Puerto Rico, the "shift toward x in reference to people has already occurred" in limited academic settings and "for many faculty [in the humanities department at the University of Puerto Rico] "hermanx" and "niñx" and their equivalents have been the standard ... for years. It is clear that the inclusive approach to nouns and adjectives is becoming more common, and while it may at some point become the prevailing tendency, presently there is no prescriptive control toward either syntax".


title: Latinx

text: Many people became more aware of the term in the month following the Orlando nightclub shooting of June 2016; Google Trends shows that searches for this term rose greatly in this period. A similar use of 'x' in the term "Mx." may have been an influence or model for the development of "Latinx".


title: Latinx

text: At Princeton University the Latinx Perspective Organization was founded in 2016 to "unify Princeton's diverse Latinx community" and several student-run organizations at other institutions have used the word in their title.


title: Latinx

text: The term appears in the titles of academic books in the context of LGBT studies, rhetoric and composition studies, and comics studies.


title: Latinx

text: On June 26, 2019, during the first 2020 Democratic Party presidential debate, the word was used by the presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, who is white, which "USA Today" called "one of the highest profile uses of the term since its conception".


title: Latinx

text: A 2019 poll (with a 5% margin of error) found that 2% of US residents of Latin American descent in the US use "Latinx", including 3% of 18–34-year-olds; the rest preferred other terms. "No respondents over [age] 50 selected the term", while overall "3% of women and 1% of men selected the term as their preferred ethnic identifier".


title: Latinx

text: A 2020 Pew Research Center survey found that only 23% of US adults who self-identified as Hispanic or Latino had heard of the term "Latinx". Of those, 65% said that the term "Latinx" should not be used to describe them, with most preferring terms such as "Hispanic" or "Latino". While the remaining 33% of US Hispanic adults who have heard the term "Latinx" said it could be used to describe the community, only 10% of that subgroup preferred it to the terms "Hispanic" or "Latino". The preferred term both among Hispanics who have heard the term and among those who have not was "Hispanic", garnering 50% and 64% respectively. "Latino" was second in preference with 31% and 29% respectively. Only 3% self identified as "Latinx" in that survey.


title: Latinx

text: A 2020 study based on interviews with 34 Latinx/a/o students from the US found that they "perceive higher education as a privileged space where they use the term "Latinx". Once they return to their communities, they do not use the term".


title: Latinx

text: A 2021 Gallup poll asked Hispanic Americans about their preference among the terms "Hispanic," "Latino" and "Latinx". 57% said it did not matter, and 4% chose "Latinx". In a follow-up question where they were asked which term they lean toward, 5% chose "Latinx".


title: Latinx

text: A 2021 poll by Democratic Hispanic outreach firm Bendixen & Amandi International found that only 2 percent of those polled refer to themselves as Latinx, while 68 percent call themselves “Hispanic” and 21 percent favored “Latino” or “Latina” to describe their ethnic background. In addition, 40 percent of those polled said Latinx bothers or offends them to some degree and 30 percent said they would be less likely to support a politician or organization that uses the term.


title: Latinx

text: The League of United Latin American Citizens decided to drop the term from its official communication in 2021.


title: Latinx

text: "Latinx" has become commonly used by activists in higher education and the popular media who seek to advocate for individuals on the borderlines of gender identity. Herlihy-Mera calls "Latinx" "a recognition of the exclusionary nature of our institutions, of the deficiencies in existent linguistic structures, and of language as an agent of social change", saying, "The gesture toward linguistic intersectionality stems from a suffix endowed with a literal intersection—"x"." Some commentators, such as Ed Morales, a lecturer at Columbia University and author of the 2018 book "Latinx: The New Force in American Politics and Culture", associate the term with the ideas of Gloria Anzaldúa, a Chicana feminist. Morales writes that "refusal to conform to male/female gender binaries" parallels "the refusal to conform to a racial binary".


title: Latinx

text: Scharrón-del Río and Aja (2015) have traced the use of "Latinx" by authors Beatriz Llenín Figueroa, Jaime Géliga Quiñones, Yuderkys Espinosa Miñoso, and Adriana Gallegos Dextre. The term has also been discussed in scholarly research by cultural theorist Ilan Stavans on Spanglish and by Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher Gonzalez on Latinx super heroes in mainstream comics and Latinx graphic novels such as United States of Banana. The term and concept of Latinx is also explored by Antonio Pastrana Jr, Juan Battle and Angelique Harris on LBGTQ+ issues. Valdes also uses the term in research on black perspectives on Latinx.


title: Latinx

text: A 2020 analysis found "that community college professional organizations have by and large not adopted the term "Latinx", even by organizations with a Latinx/a/o centered mission", although some academic journals and dissertations about community colleges were using it.


title: Latinx

text: "Latinx" has been the subject of controversy. Linguistic imperialism has been used as a basis of both criticism and support.


title: Latinx

text: In 2018, the Royal Spanish Academy rejected the use of "-x" and "-e" as gender-neutral alternatives to the collective masculine "-o" ending, in a style manual published together with the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (ASALE). Regarding this decision, Darío Villanueva, RAE's director said, "The problem is we're confusing grammar with machismo." According to "HuffPost", some refuse to use the term on the grounds that "Latinx" is difficult to pronounce in the Spanish language.


title: Latinx

text: Linguists Janet M. Fuller and Jennifer Leeman state that some people reject the use of "Latinx" to refer to people regardless of gender because they see it as a one-size-fits-all term that erases diversity, preferring to switch between "-o/-a/-x" when referring to specific individuals. Those who oppose the term in its entirety have argued that the "-x" is artificial, unpronounceable, an imposition of English norms on Spanish, or overly faddish.


title: Latinx

text: Some non-binary Latinos whose first language is not English have also criticized the term on the basis that it caters more to Latin Americans who are fluent in English and can pronounce the "-x" ending easily while ignoring gender neutral alternatives already employed by Latin American activists, such as "-e."


title: Latinx

text: Cultural Strategist Henry Cadena mentions in an article published by Manomagazine that numbers are now showing that the term "Latinx" has evolved to be an offensive term and that some even call it a racial slur.


title: Latinx

text: Linguist John McWhorter argues that, in contrast to other neologisms such as "African American", "Latinx" has not become mainstream because the problem of implied gender it aims to solve is more a concern of the intelligentsia than the "proverbial person on the street".


title: Latinx

text: Matthew Yglesias of "Vox", discussing Donald Trump's gains among Hispanic voters in the 2020 United States presidential election, stated that for Democrats, while other factors played a larger role, the term "is, if nothing else, a symptom of the problem, which is a tendency to privilege academic concepts and linguistic innovations in addressing social justice concerns." He says that "[t]he message of the term... is that the entire grammatical system of the Spanish language is problematic, which in any other context progressives would recognize as an alienating and insensitive message." Democratic congressman Ruben Gallego, who represents a heavily working-class Hispanic district in Arizona, advises Democrats not to use the term. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are hesitant to use the term until after usage continues to evolve to make it more common, according to California representative Raul Ruiz.


title: Latinx

text: According to "HuffPost", "Many opponents of the term have suggested that using an un-gendered noun like Latinx is disrespectful to the Spanish language and some have even called the term 'a blatant form of linguistic imperialism. Defending usage of the term against critics arguing linguistic imperialism, Brooklyn College professors María R. Scharrón-del Río and Alan A. Aja argue that the Spanish language itself is a form of linguistic imperialism for Latin Americans.


title: Latinx

text: Another argument against "Latinx" is that "it erases feminist movements in the 1970s" that fought for use of the word "Latina" to represent women, according to George Cadava, Director of the Latina and Latino Studies program at Northwestern University.


title: Latinx

text: Writing for "Latino Rebels," Hector Luis Alamo describes the term as a "bulldozing of Spanish". In a 2015 article published by the outlet as part of a debate on the term, Alamo wrote: "If we dump "Latino" for "Latinx" because it offends some people, then we should go on dumping words forever since there will always be some people who find some words offensive."


title: Latinx

text: Wayne State University professor Nicole Trujillo-Pagán has argued that patriarchal bias is reproduced in ostensibly "gender neutral" language and stated, "Less clear in the debate (as it has developed since then) is how the replacement silences and erases long-standing struggles to recognize the significance of gender difference and sexual violence."


title: Latinx

text: A 2019 National Survey of Latinos found that only 3% of Hispanic-Latinos have ever used "Latinx" to describe themselves. The League of United Latin American Citizens announced in 2021 that it would stop using the term in its official communications, calling it "very unliked" by nearly all Latinos.


title: Latinx

text: Similar gender-neutral forms have also arisen. One such term is "Latin@", which combines the written form of the and endings. Similar terms include "Chicanx" and the variant spelling "Xicanx".


title: Latinx

text: "Latine" (plural: "Latines") as a gender-neutral term is less prevalent than "Latinx" within the U.S., although the opposite is true throughout the Spanish-speaking world. In the U.S., "Latine" arose out of genderqueer speakers' use of the ending ; similar forms include "amigue" ('friend') and "elle" (singular 'they'). In Argentina, efforts to increase gender neutrality in Spanish have utilized both grammatical genders together, as well as and endings. According to "The New York Times", the ending has been more widely adopted because it is easier to pronounce.


title: Wolf Like Me (TV series)

text: Wolf Like Me is a streaming television comedy-drama series produced by Stan in association with NBCUniversal and Peacock. It premiered on both streaming services on 13 January 2022. In April 2022, Peacock renewed the series for a second season.


title: Wolf Like Me (TV series)

text: Gary (Josh Gad) is a single father living in Adelaide, Australia with his 11-year-old daughter Emma; both of whom are still emotionally traumatized by the death of Emma's mother, Lisa, 7 years earlier. They meet Mary (Isla Fisher), an isolated advice columnist recovering from her own complex emotional baggage. But despite her attempts to stay away, they keep meeting again and again, in a cluster of coincidences that imply the hand of destiny. While Gary struggles to connect to his daughter, for Mary reaching Emma is all but effortless. However, Mary's baggage involves a deadly secret that she fears might hurt the two.


title: Wolf Like Me (TV series)

text: The six-part series was produced by Jodi Matterson, Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky. It was written by Abe Forsythe, who also directed all 6 episodes. In April 2021 it was announced that Isla Fisher and Josh Gad would star in the series. In December further cast members were announced with Ariel Donoghue, Emma Lung and Anthony Taufa, and guest roles for Jake Ryan, Robyn Nevin and Nash Edgerton. The series was filmed in the Inner West of Sydney in the suburbs of Forest Lodge, Glebe, Ashfield and Ashbury, Western Sydney and regional NSW. On 26 April 2022, Peacock renewed the series for a second season.


title: Wolf Like Me (TV series)

text: On 4 January 2022, a trailer was released, with it being described as "genre-bending." The series released all six 30-minute episodes on Peacock and Stan on 13 January 2022.


title: Wolf Like Me (TV series)

text: Overall, the series has been met by a positive reception. Metacritic, based on 8 reviews, assigned the first season a rating of 69 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rotten Tomatoes gave the Season 1 a 65% critical approval rating and an average rating of 6.3/10 based on 20 reviews, though filtering for "Top Critics" the score rose to 75%. Stating that the Critic's Consensus of, ""Wolf Like Me"'s mixed bag of occasionally disparate elements takes time to gel, but Isla Fisher and Josh Gad make it easy to be patient."


title: Doraemon (character)

text: Doraemon was originally conceived by Hiroshi Fujimoto following a series of three events. Firstly, when searching for ideas for a new manga, he wished that a machine existed that would come up with ideas for him. Secondly, he tripped over his daughter's toy. Thirdly, he heard cats fighting in his neighborhood.


title: Doraemon (character)

text: The name, "Doraemon", can be translated roughly to "stray". Unusually, the name is written in a mixture of two Japanese scripts: Katakana () and Hiragana (). "Dora" derives from , and is a corruption of nora (stray), while "-emon" (in kanji ) is an old-fashioned suffix for male names (for example, as in Ishikawa Goemon).


title: Doraemon (character)

text: Doraemon's physical appearance changed as the manga progressed. At first, he was predominantly kingfish color, with a blue tail, a white stomach, and flesh-colored hands and feet. He also stooped, and had a body much larger than his head. In later issues, he sported a smaller body, white hands and feet, and a red tail — the appearance most identify him with today. In "The Doraemons" story arc (and the "" short film), it is revealed that Doraemon's original paint color was yellow. After getting his ears gnawed off by a robot mouse at the 22nd century Nobi's residence, he slipped into depression on top of a tower, where he erroneously drank a potion labeled "sadness". As he wept, the yellow color washed off and his voice changed due to the potion. As a result, he developed a morbid fear of mice despite being a robotic cat. Doraemon often becomes enraged when he is mistaken for a raccoon dog due to his missing ears, which is a running gag in the series.


title: Doraemon (character)

text: Doraemon is considered a substandard product because many of his robotic features (i.e. radar whiskers and cat-calling bell) malfunctioned after production due to an accident in the factory while he was being built. Due to this malfunction, Doraemon did not do well at the robot's school and during the final presentation show, he performed badly and nobody wanted to hire him, until baby Sewashi pushed the button. His parents were a bit reluctant, but since Sewashi liked him, they hired Doraemon, and he took care of him until Sewashi himself sent him to the past to take care of Nobita. Despite this, Doraemon shows a lot of intelligence and common sense. Whenever he hangs out with his friend, Mii-Chan (a cute street cat), he calls it 'important work' as an excuse for not doing chores that Nobita's mother asks him to do. As a robot, Doraemon can be programmed to complete a task by pushing a button on his nose, and can even shut down if his tail is pulled. In a few episodes, Doraemon has been shown to be in danger of factory-resting, or being on the verge of breaking.


title: Doraemon (character)

text: Doraemon's favourite food is (known as "fudgy pudgy pie" in the first revision of the English manga, although it has since been reverted back to "dorayaki", "yummy buns" in the English dub, and "dora-cakes/bean jam buns" in other versions), a Japanese treat filled with red bean paste. While it might explain the origin of his name, it was revealed in one of the manga chapters that his name originates from the Japanese word for "stray cat", and the ending which is part of traditional Japanese names, as seen also in, for example, Ishikawa Goemon.


title: Doraemon (character)

text: Doraemon is sent back in time by a young boy named Sewashi Nobi to improve the circumstances of his great-great-grandfather, Nobita, so that his descendants may enjoy a better future. In the original timeline, Nobita experienced nothing but misery and misfortune manifested in the form of very poor grades and bullying throughout his life. This culminates in the burning down of a future business he sets up which leaves his family line beset with financial problems. In order to alter history and better the Nobi family's fortunes, Sewashi initially wanted to send a super-robot to protect Nobita, but with his meager allowance he could only afford an imperfectly-made factory-rejected toy: an anthropomorphic robot cat called Doraemon.


title: Doraemon (character)

text: Doraemon was created on 3 September 2112 by the . He has a from which he pulls out food, money, medicines, desserts and most of all, gadgets from the future. The 1995 film shows his original appearance; when first created Doraemon had ears and was painted yellow, but he turned blue after sobbing because rats ate his ears. According to "", he is coated and scented with eggs.


title: Doraemon (character)

text: French actor Jean Reno portrayed Doraemon in several live-action television commercials throughout 2011 and 2016. The advertisement's were created by Toyota and depict the series' characters two decades after they "grow up".


title: Doraemon (character)

text: Doraemon appeared at the Tokyo video showcase at the 2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in anime form with his fellow anime characters Nobita, Shizuka, Gian, Suneo and other famous Japanese characters such as Captain Tsubasa, Pac-Man & Hello Kitty. He later appeared at the video where he helped prime minister Shinzō Abe (dressed up as Mario) by planting a Warp Pipe from Shibuya Crossing to Maracanã Stadium.But also UK's Boomerang, Bangladesh's Asian TV, China's CCTV-2 etc.


title: Doraemon (character)

text: In terms of popularity the character has been compared to Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, and the character is considered to be an iconic figure in Japan. The character has received criticism in mainland Chinese media outlets where they considered Doraemon to be a politically subversive character and that it was a tool of Japan's “cultural invasion". In 2019, a resolution was made in the Pakistan assembly to ban Doremon claiming that it has "harmful impact on children". In his book "Japan Pop: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture", author Timothy J. Craig wrote that the character of Doraemon "Though Doraemon is himself a high-tech product, he possesses an endearing personality that captivates young audiences. He is both a full member of Nobita's family and an intimate friend to Nobita and his companions. Portrayed in this way, Doraemon represents the optimistic view of the relationship between technology and humanity."


title: Doraemon (character)

text: In a survey conducted by the Oricon in 2007 among 1,000 people, Doraemon was ranked as the second strongest manga character of all time, behind only "Dragon Ball" protagonist Son Goku.


title: Doraemon (character)

text: In 2008 the character of Doraemon was appointed as an "anime ambassador" to help promote Japanese anime worldwide and in 2013 Doraemon was considered to be the most popular character among Japanese children in a survey held by Video Research Ltd, a position the character had held in the survey since June 2009. On "The Wall Street Journal" Japan Real Time, Toko Sekiguchi called it "arguably the most beloved cartoon character in Japan". Google Japan utilized Doraemon in its Google Doodle for 3 September 2009, in celebration of the character's 40th birthday.


title: Doraemon (character)

text: In 2012, Hong Kong celebrated the birthday of Doraemon 100 years early with a series of displays of the character.


title: Doraemon (character)

text: Politician Osamu Fujimura is known as the "Doraemon of Nagatacho" due to his figure and warm personality. Sumo wrestler Takamisugi was nicknamed "Doraemon" because of his resemblance to the character.


title: Visa requirements for Canadian citizens

text: Visa requirements for Canadian citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Canada. Canadian citizens have visa-free or visa on arrival access to 185 countries and territories, ranking the Canadian passport 8th in the world in terms of freedom of travel according to the Henley & Partners Passport Index.


title: Visa requirements for Canadian citizens

text: Visa requirements for Canadian citizens for visits to various territories, disputed areas, partially recognized countries, and restricted zones:


title: Visa requirements for Canadian citizens

text: Canada has diplomatic and consular offices (including honorary consuls) in over 270 locations in approximately 180 foreign countries. In some countries Canadians may receive consular assistance from Australian missions under the Canada–Australia Consular Services Sharing Agreement. On the last page of a standard Canadian passport, under "Reach Us", it states "In case of an emergency you can reach us by: contacting the nearest Canadian government office (in countries where there is no Canadian office, you should contact the nearest British or Australian office...".


title: Visa requirements for Canadian citizens

text: Visa requirements for Canadian citizens were lifted by Austria in 1956, Finland in 1958, Japan (20 September 1964), Micronesia (18 December 1980), Taiwan (1 January 1994), Ukraine (1 August 2005), Kyrgyzstan (27 July 2012), Mongolia (1 January 2014), Kazakhstan (1 January 2017), Argentina (1 January 2018), Armenia (10 July 2018), and Brazil (17 June 2019).


title: Visa requirements for Canadian citizens

text: Canadian citizens were made eligible for eVisas by India (1 May 2015), Brazil (25 January 2018, visa free since 17 June 2019) and Angola (30 March 2018).


title: 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election

text: The 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Illinois, concurrently with the 2022 Illinois general election. Gubernatorial candidates ran on tickets with candidates for lieutenant governor. The incumbent governor and lieutenant governor, first-term Democrats J. B. Pritzker and Juliana Stratton, sought reelection together against Republican nominees Illinois State Senator Darren Bailey and his running mate Stephanie Trussell.


title: 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election

text: In the general election, Pritzker won re-election with 54.9% of the vote, 0.4% better than he won in 2018. This was the best raw percentage of the vote received by a Democrat for governor since 1960. The overall margin of victory in 2022 for Pritzker was 12.5% while in 2018 Pritzker won by 15.7%, which is a 3.2% decrease for Pritzker. Pritzker's victory was once again the result a strong performance in the Chicago metropolitan area—containing a majority of the state's population—winning a lopsided victory in strongly Democratic Cook County, the home of Chicago, as well as winning all but one of the neighboring collar counties. However, Bailey improved upon former Republican governor Bruce Rauner's performance in 2018 by just under 4%, largely due to the absence of a strong third-party conservative candidate that appeared in 2018. Subsequently, Bailey was able to flip the counties of Alexander, Fulton, Jackson, Knox, and Winnebago which Pritzker previously won, while Pritzker managed to flip McLean county, marking the first time since 1948 that it has voted for a Democrat in a gubernatorial election.


title: 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election

text: Pritzker was the first Illinois governor to serve a full term and get reelected for a second since Rod Blagojevich in 2006. If Pritzker serves the entirety of his term, he would become the first Democratic governor in the state's history to serve two full four-year terms, as every other Democratic governor had either been impeached, died or resigned before finishing their second term.


title: 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election

text: The primaries and general elections will coincide with those for federal congressional races, the state's U.S. Senate race, and those for other state offices. The election will be part of the 2022 Illinois elections.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: The Zulu Kingdom (, ), sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or the Kingdom of Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa. During the 1810s, Shaka established a modern standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large following which ruled a wide expanse of Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to the Pongola River in the north.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: A bitter civil war in the mid-19th century erupted which culminated in the 1859 Battle of Ndondakusuka between the brothers Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi. In 1879, a British force invaded Zululand, beginning the Anglo-Zulu War. After an initial Zulu victory at the Battle of Isandlwana in January, the British regrouped and defeated the Zulus in July during the Battle of Ulundi, ending the war. The area was absorbed into the Colony of Natal and later became part of the Union of South Africa.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: Shaka was the illegitimate son of Senzangakhona, Chief of the Zulus. He was born 1787. He and his mother, Nandi, were exiled by Senzangakhona, and found refuge with the Mthethwa. Shaka fought as a warrior under Jobe, and then under Jobe's successor, Dingiswayo, leader of the Mthethwa Paramountcy. When Senzangakona died, Dingiswayo helped Shaka become king of the Zulu. After Dingiswayo's death at the hands of Zwide, king of the Ndwandwe, around 1818, Shaka assumed leadership of the entire Mthethwa alliance.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: Shaka's clan at first numbered no more than a few thousands, but eventually grew in size to 40,000 after absorbing neighbouring clans. His military reforms included new battle techniques, training and tough discipline, as well as the replacement of long-throwing spears in exchange for the more effective short stabbing spears. Conscripted men were segregated from the rest of Zulu society to be trained as an organized standing army called the "amabutho".


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: The alliance under his leadership survived Zwide's first assault at the Battle of Gqokli Hill (1818). Within two years, Shaka had defeated Zwide at the Battle of Mhlatuze River (1820) and broken up the Ndwandwe alliance, some of whom in turn began a murderous campaign against other Nguni tribes and clans, setting in motion what became known as Difaqane or Mfecane, a mass-migration of tribes fleeing the remnants of the Ndwandwe fleeing the Zulu. The Ngoni people fled as far north as Tanzania and Malawi. The death toll has never been satisfactorily determined, but the whole region became nearly depopulated. By 1822, Shaka had conquered an empire covering an area of around , covering Pongola to the Tugera Rivers.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: An offshoot of the Zulu, the amaNdebele, better known to history as the Matabele created an even larger empire under their king Mzilikazi, including large parts of the highveld and modern-day Zimbabwe.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: Shaka was succeeded by Dingane, his half-brother, who conspired with Mhlangana, another half-brother, and Mbopa, an induna, to murder him in 1828. Following this assassination, Dingane murdered Mhlangana, and took over the throne. One of his first royal acts was to execute all of his royal kin. In the years that followed, he also executed many past supporters of Shaka in order to secure his position. One exception to these purges was Mpande, another half-brother, who was considered too weak to be a threat at the time.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: In the Cape Colony, increasing tensions between some Dutch Settlers and the British colonial authorities led to a wave of Boer (also known as Voortrekkers) migration northwards from 1836 onwards in order to establish autonomous Boer states independent of British control. The Boers settlers began moving across the Orange River northwards. While travelling they first collided with the Ndebele kingdom, and then with Dingane's Zulu kingdom. In October 1837, the Voortrekker leader Piet Retief visited Dingane at his royal kraal to negotiate a land deal for the voortrekkers. In November, about 1,000 Voortrekker wagons began descending the Drakensberg mountains from the Orange Free State into what is now KwaZulu-Natal.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: Dingane asked that Retief and his party retrieve some cattle stolen from him by a local chief as part of the treaty for land for the Boers. This Retief and his men did, returning on 3 February 1838. The next day, a treaty was signed, wherein Dingane ceded all the land south of the Tugela River to the Mzimvubu River to the Voortrekkers. Celebrations followed. On 6 February, at the end of the celebrations, Retief's party were invited to a dance, and asked to leave their weapons behind. At the peak of the dance, Dingane leapt to his feet and yelled ""Bambani abathakathi!"" (isiZulu for "Seize the wizards").


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: Retief and his men were overpowered, taken to the nearby hill kwaMatiwane, and executed. Some allege that they were killed for withholding some of the cattle they recovered, but it is likely that the deal was a plot to overpower the Voortrekkers. Dingane's army then attacked and massacred a group of 250 Voortrekker men, women and children camped nearby. The site of this massacre is today called Weenen, (Dutch for "to weep"). The remaining Voortrekkers elected a new leader, Andries Pretorius, who led a crushing attack on the Zulu forces and Dingane at the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838, when 15,000 Zulu impis (warriors) attacked a group of 470 Voortrekker settlers led by Pretorius.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: Following his defeat, Dingane burned his royal household and fled north. Mpande, the half-brother who had been spared from Dingane's purges, defected with 17,000 followers, and, together with Pretorius and the Voortrekkers, went to war with Dingane. Dingane was assassinated near the modern Swaziland border. Mpande then took over rulership of the Zulu nation.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: Following the campaign against Dingane, in 1839 the Voortrekkers, under Pretorius, formed the Boer republic of Natalia, south of the Tugela, and west of the British settlement of Port Natal (now Durban). Mpande and Pretorius maintained peaceful relations. However, in 1842, war broke out between the British and the Boers, resulting in the British annexation of Natalia. Mphande shifted his allegiance to the British, and remained on good terms with them.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: In 1843, Mphande ordered a purge of perceived dissidents within his kingdom. This resulted in numerous deaths, and the fleeing of thousands of refugees into neighbouring areas (including the British-controlled Natal). Many of these refugees fled with cattle. Mpande began raiding the surrounding areas, culminating in the invasion of Swaziland in 1852. However, the British pressured him into withdrawing, which he did shortly.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: At this time, a battle for the succession broke out between two of Mpande's sons, Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi. This culminated in 1856 with the Battle of Ndondakusuka, which left Mbuyazi dead. Cetshwayo then set about usurping his father's authority. When Mpande died of old age in 1872, Cetshwayo took over as ruler.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: On 11 December 1878, with the intent of instigating a war with the Zulu, Sir Henry Bartle Frere, on his own initiative and without the approval of the British government, presented an ultimatum to the Zulu king Cetshwayo in terms with which he could not possibly comply: that the Zulu army be disbanded and the Zulus accept a British resident. British forces crossed the Tugela river at the end of December 1878. Initially, the British suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 where the Zulu army killed more than 1,000 British soldiers in a single day.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: The Zulu deployment at Isandhlwana showed the well-organized tactical system that had made the Zulu kingdom successful for many decades. This constituted the worst defeat the British army had ever suffered at the hands of a native African fighting force. The defeat prompted a redirection of the war effort, and the British, though outnumbered, began winning small engagements and later larger setpiece encounters. The fighting culminated in the Siege of Ulundi, the Zulus' capital city, and the subsequent defeat of the Zulu Kingdom.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: Cetshwayo was captured a month after his defeat, and then exiled to Cape Town. The British passed rule of the Zulu kingdom onto 13 "kinglets", each with his own subkingdom. Conflict soon erupted between these subkingdoms, and in 1882, Cetshwayo was allowed to visit England. He had audiences with Queen Victoria and other famous personages before being allowed to return to Zululand to be reinstated as king.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: In 1883, Cetshwayo was put in place as king over a buffer reserve territory, much reduced from his original kingdom. Later that year, however, Cetshwayo was attacked at Ulundi by Zibhebhu, one of the 13 kinglets. Cetshwayo was wounded and fled. Cetshwayo died in February 1884, possibly poisoned. His son, Dinuzulu, then 15, inherited the throne.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: The academic Roberto Breschi notes that Zululand had a flag from 1884 to 1897 but this is pure conjecture as A.P. Burgers notes in his book. It consisted of three horizontal bands in equal width of gold, green and red.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: Dinuzulu made a pact with the Boers of his own, promising them land in return for their aid. The Boers were led by Louis Botha. Dinuzulu and the Boers defeated Zibhebhu in 1884. They were granted about half of Zululand individually as farms, and formed the independent Republic of Vryheid. This alarmed the British who wanted to prevent the Boers access to a harbour. The British then annexed Zululand in 1887. Dinuzulu became involved in later conflicts with rivals. In 1906 Dinuzulu was accused of being behind the Bambatha Rebellion. He was arrested and put on trial by the British for "high treason and public violence". In 1909, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment on St Helena island. When the Union of South Africa was formed, Louis Botha became its first prime minister, and he arranged for his old ally Dinuzulu to return to South Africa and live in exile on a farm in the Transvaal, where he died in 1913.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: Dinuzulu's son Solomon kaDinuzulu was never recognised by South African authorities as the Zulu king, only as a local chief, but he was increasingly regarded as king by chiefs, by political intellectuals such as John Langalibalele Dube and by ordinary Zulu people. In 1923, Solomon founded the organisation Inkatha YaKwaZulu to promote his royal claims, which became moribund and then was revived in the 1970s by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, chief minister of the KwaZulu bantustan. In December 1951, Solomon's son Cyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomon was officially recognised as the Paramount Chief of the Zulu people, but real power over ordinary Zulu people lay with South African government officials working through local chiefs who could be removed from office for failure to cooperate.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: KwaZulu was a bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a semi-independent homeland for the Zulu people. The capital was moved from Nongoma to Ulundi in 1980.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: It was led until its abolition in 1994 by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi of the Zulu royal family and head of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). It was merged with the surrounding South African province of Natal to form the new province of KwaZulu-Natal.


title: Zulu Kingdom

text: The area that was once the Zulu Kingdom is currently part of South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal, one of the country's nine provinces, and a large portion of the territory is made up of wildlife reserves and a major contributing source of income is derived from tourism – the area is known for its savanna covered hills. It is home to a WWF Black Rhinoceros reintroduction project known as "The Black Rhino Range Expansion Project" within the "Zululand Rhino Reserve (ZRR)". The ZRR is a 20,000 hectare reserve consisting of 15 individually owned farms that have lowered their fences in order to further conservation. The Zulu royal family still fulfils many important ceremonial duties.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: That Thing You Do! is a 1996 American comedy film co-starring, written, and directed by Tom Hanks, in his feature writing and directorial debut. It tells the story of the rise and fall of a fictional 1960s one-hit wonder pop band, and stars Tom Everett Scott, Liv Tyler, Johnathon Schaech, Steve Zahn, Ethan Embry, and Charlize Theron. The film resulted in a musical hit with the titular song of the same name, which was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: In 1964, Guy Patterson, an aspiring jazz drummer, is working in his family's appliance store in Erie, Pennsylvania, when he is asked by Jimmy Mattingly and Lenny Haise to perform at a talent show with their band the Oneders and cover for Chad, their regular drummer who broke an arm. At the talent show, Guy launches into a faster tempo than Jimmy intended for his original song, "That Thing You Do!" Jimmy is angered, but Guy's tempo wins them the talent show.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: They win a paying gig at Villapiano's, a local pizza parlor. When a fan asks for a record, they decide to record the song and sell 45s of it. Local talent promoter Phil Horace notices the band, promising to get them on the radio within 10 days. Lenny convinces the band to sign with him.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: Phil gets the song on Pennsylvania radio, and he books them at a rock & roll showcase concert in Pittsburgh. They have technical difficulties, however, and are booed off the stage. Afterwards, Phil brings a dispirited Guy to meet with Mr. White, an A&R representative for Play-Tone Records, who offers a contract and becomes their manager. He re-spells the band's name as the Wonders, offers them advice on style and presentation (including insisting that Guy always wear sunglasses), asks them to join the Play-Tone tour of Midwestern state fairs, and allows Jimmy's girlfriend Faye to join the tour as their "costume mistress".


title: That Thing You Do!

text: During the tour, the Wonders meet other acts, learn about the business, and become better performers. Jimmy spends time with a disillusioned veteran tour singer named Diane Dane, while the bassist (never identified by name) falls for a member of a girl group, the Chantrellines. "That Thing You Do!" garners national radio airplay and the band's popularity soars. While most of the band has the time of their lives and enjoys their taste of fame, Jimmy is itching to return to the studio and is increasingly indifferent to Faye, which troubles Guy and Mr. White alike.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: When "That Thing You Do!" reaches #7 on the "Billboard" charts, Mr. White sends them to Los Angeles to do publicity, including radio and film appearances. On the day of their appearance on "The Hollywood Television Showcase", a nationally televised live variety show, things start to go awry. The bassist—whom the band knew had enlisted in the Marines and was awaiting his call to boot camp—is nowhere to be found, so Mr. White replaces him with an older, experienced session bassist named Scott Pell, nicknamed "Wolfman". Guy is hung over; the night before, he went to a jazz club and met and drank with his idol, pianist Del Paxton. Jimmy is vomiting due to a stomach flu; Lenny is preoccupied with his new girlfriend. Still, the Wonders manage to cooperate for their television appearance. When television captions introduce the members of the band, Jimmy's caption reads "Careful, girls, he's engaged!"


title: That Thing You Do!

text: After the performance, Jimmy lashes out at Faye in the dressing room, insinuating that she was responsible for the "engaged" caption (although White implies that it was him). Jimmy insists they are not engaged and he has no intention of proposing. Faye, already disillusioned with Jimmy, breaks up with him. The next day, at a scheduled recording session, the original bassist is still missing and so is Lenny. Mr. White has provided new material for Jimmy and Guy to record, but Jimmy wants to do his original songs. When Mr. White reminds him that the terms of their contract allow Play-Tone to dictate their material, Jimmy quits on the spot. Guy is now the only remaining Wonder. Mr. White takes the situation in stride, and assures Guy that such things are common in the music industry, telling Guy also that he's the smart one. Guy hangs out in the studio for a while; his idol Paxton is also there making a recording and is impressed with Guy's drumming. They jam together and Del asks Guy to stay in Los Angeles to record a jazz album and become a session musician.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: Guy returns to the hotel to check out. He tells Faye he plans to stay in L.A., while she says she will return to Erie. She goes to the curb to call a cab, Guy chases after her and they kiss.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: Onscreen text reveals that Jimmy went back to Play-Tone, recorded a few hit singles with a new band, The Heardsmen, and became a record producer; Lenny is a divorced hotel and casino manager in Nevada; the bassist (identified as T.B. Player) earned a Purple Heart in Vietnam, then worked in construction in Orlando, Florida; and Guy and Faye are married with four children in Bainbridge Island, Washington, where Guy teaches jazz composition at their own music conservatory.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: The movie features original music by Tom Hanks, Adam Schlesinger, Rick Elias, Scott Rogness, Mike Piccirillo, Gary Goetzman and Howard Shore. In the movie, the Wonders' rise to brief stardom on the strength of "That Thing You Do", a song written as a wistful ballad but which becomes an uptempo rocker during the band's first performance at a talent show. Written and composed for the film by Adam Schlesinger, bassist for Fountains of Wayne and Ivy and released on the film's soundtrack, the song became a genuine hit for the Wonders in 1996 (the song peaked at #41 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, #22 on the Adult Contemporary charts, #18 on the Adult Top 40, and #24 on the Top 40 Mainstream charts). The track was nominated for a 1996 Golden Globe Award as well as a 1996 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers provided the lead vocals for the Wonders.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: In the film, the title song is referenced with "All My Only Dreams" as the B-side. The actual 45 rpm single, released to record stores in North America, features "Dance With Me Tonight" as its B-side. The song has since been recorded by the Knack, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Bubblegum Lemonade. The Wonders are also seen playing the song "Little Wild One". This was written by the band Gigolo Aunts as a "faux-Beatles"-style tune at the request of their record label to be submitted for consideration for inclusion in the film.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: For the purpose of being able to convincingly perform the Wonders' songs on-camera, Scott, Schaech, Zahn and Embry took several weeks of individual lessons, followed by daily practice as a group. Of the four, only Zahn and Embry had any prior experience of playing their assigned instruments. They eventually honed their performance to the point where extras on the set thought they were actually playing the songs, when in reality they were miming along to recordings by professional musicians.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: The song that plays during the film's opening credits, "Lovin' You Lots and Lots", is credited to the fictitious Norm Wooster Singers and was actually written by Hanks. This song is a send-up of Ray Conniff, Mitch Miller, and other practitioners of the "beautiful music" or proto-Muzak formats that were a staple of adult radio during the early 1960s such as on KPOL (AM) 1540 in Los Angeles. Hanks also composed Guy's jazzy signature drum solo, "I Am Spartacus".


title: That Thing You Do!

text: The Wonders' bassist (played by Ethan Embry) is unnamed in the film; in the end credits, he is credited as "T.B. Player". This is short for "the Bass Player", and is a joke based on the perception that bass players are often unknown and unappreciated. Embry later provided his own take on the character's real name: "I just said my name was Tobias, because he’s "such" a Tobias. You just take the vowels out [and it's T.B.] His nickname was Toby, but his mom calls him Tobias. And his last name actually was Player, because he was a player, dude! That carousel ride with the Chantrellines? Total player."


title: That Thing You Do!

text: There were at least two real bands named the Wonders who made the record charts at various radio stations in the early 1960s. One had a ballad titled "With These Hands" (b/w "Please Don't Cry"; Bamboo 523) that was played by KCRG in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the fall of 1962.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: The other Wonders had a regional hit record called "Say There" (b/w "Marilyn"; Colpix 699), released by Colpix Records in August 1963. Little is known about these Wonders, except that they were probably from Ohio or Pennsylvania; "Say There" hit the Top 20 at WCOL in Columbus, Ohio, and made the Top 30 at KQV in Pittsburgh.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: The soundtrack album (released under the Playtone name in conjunction with Epic Records) was also a hit, peaking at #21 on the "Billboard" 200 albums chart. The CD artwork is a replica of the fictional Playtone label used in the movie, and the liner notes are done in a mockumentary style, as if the Wonders had been a real group and the events of the film had actually happened. Hanks later used the success of "That Thing You Do!" as a springboard to launch the actual Playtone Records label, through which the soundtracks of all his subsequent films, as well as other films such as "Bring It On" and television programs such as "The Sopranos", were released as albums.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: The film grossed $25.9 million domestically and $8.7 million internationally for a total worldwide gross of $34.6 million.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on reviews from 62 critics, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The site's consensus reads, "A light, sweet, and thoroughly entertaining debut for director Tom Hanks, "That Thing You Do!" makes up in charm what it lacks in complexity". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 71 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: That Thing You Do!

text: Emanuel Levy of "Variety" called it "A top-notch production, exuberant period music and Hanks the actor in an important role cunningly disguise a rather slight and inconsequential narrative."


title: That Thing You Do!

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave it 3 out of 4 and wrote: "The movie may be inconsequential, but in some ways that's a strength. Without hauling in a lot of deep meanings, it remembers with great warmth a time and a place."


title: That Thing You Do!

text: The Erie SeaWolves hosted Wonders Night on September 4, 2021, at UPMC Park. Cast members Johnathon Schaech, Tom Everett Scott, and Steve Zahn traveled to Erie for the occasion and participated in a panel discussion, autograph session, and elements of the ballgame presentation. Cast member Ethan Embry joined the panel discussion virtually. As a result of funds collected from VIP experiences as well as memorabilia and jersey auctions, the 25th anniversary event raised $25,500 for Notice Ability, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students with dyslexia. Additional donations were made to Notice Ability, bringing the total sum raised to nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Wonders Night also earned the SeaWolves Promotion of the Year recognition by "Ballpark Digest".


title: That Thing You Do!

text: "That Thing You Do!" was first released in mid-1997 on VHS and Laserdisc. In 1998, the film became available in the DIVX format (as with all 20th Century Fox films), rather than DVD.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: After DIVX failed, the film was released onto DVD on June 5, 2001. It included the featurette "The Making of "That Thing You Do!"," and two music videos.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: On May 8, 2007, "Tom Hanks' Extended Edition" was released on DVD. The film's theatrical cut and an extended cut with 39 additional minutes of deleted scenes are included.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: Many of the deleted scenes are devoted to character development. A tastefully steamy look at Guy's "make-out" session with Tina at his apartment is included. The extended version also goes more in-depth with Guy's developing relationship with Faye (via mild flirting) and his deteriorating relationship with Tina, as well as Tina's budding relationship with her dentist, Dr. Collins. It also suggests that the character portrayed by Tom Hanks (Mr. White) is not only gay but in a relationship with a man played by former NFL defensive lineman Howie Long.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: More camera time is also devoted to the tryst between the bass player and one of the singers of the Chantrellines. In the theatrical cut, this romance was depicted mainly as an unrequited crush on the part of the bass player; in the extended cut it is clearly shown that his efforts were successful.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: At the end of the Extended Edition, rather than becoming a studio drummer on the recommendation of Del Paxton, Guy becomes a disc jockey for the jazz station KJZZ and records a documentary series of interviews with legendary jazz musicians.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: "That Thing You Do!" was packaged with "Bachelor Party" and "The Man with One Red Shoe" in the "Tom Hanks Triple Feature" DVD anthology set. The actual DVD appears to be the original 2001 disc, with the featurette and music videos.


title: That Thing You Do!

text: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray on April 2, 2013. The Blu-ray includes the Theatrical and Extended cuts as well as all of the bonus features found on the 2-Disc DVD.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, with a career spanning three decades and collaborations with other jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Herbie Hancock.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus' compositions continue to be played by contemporary musicians ranging from the repertory bands Mingus Big Band, Mingus Dynasty, and Mingus Orchestra, to the high school students who play the charts and compete in the Charles Mingus High School Competition. In 1993, the Library of Congress acquired Mingus' collected papers—including scores, sound recordings, correspondence and photos—in what they described as "the most important acquisition of a manuscript collection relating to jazz in the Library's history".


title: Charles Mingus

text: Charles Mingus was born in Nogales, Arizona. His father, Charles Mingus Sr., was a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Mingus Junior was largely raised in the Watts area of Los Angeles. His maternal grandfather was a Chinese British subject from Hong Kong, and his maternal grandmother was an African-American from the southern United States. Mingus was the great-great-great-grandson of the family's founding patriarch who was, by most accounts, a German immigrant. His ancestry included German American, African American, and Native American.


title: Charles Mingus

text: In Mingus' autobiography "Beneath the Underdog" his mother was described as "the daughter of an English/Chinese man and a South-American woman", and his father was the son "of a black farm worker and a Swedish woman". Charles Mingus Sr. claims to have been raised by his mother and her husband as a white person until he was fourteen, when his mother revealed to her family that the child's true father was a black slave, after which he had to run away from his family and live on his own. The autobiography does not confirm whether Charles Mingus Sr. or Mingus himself believed this story was true, or whether it was merely an embellished version of the Mingus family's lineage.


title: Charles Mingus

text: His mother allowed only church-related music in their home, but Mingus developed an early love for other music, especially Duke Ellington. He studied trombone, and later cello, although he was unable to follow the cello professionally because, at the time, it was nearly impossible for a black musician to make a career of classical music, and the cello was not yet accepted as a jazz instrument. Despite this, Mingus was still attached to the cello; as he studied bass with Red Callender in the late 1930s, Callender even commented that the cello was still Mingus' main instrument. In "Beneath the Underdog", Mingus states that he did not actually start learning bass until Buddy Collette accepted him into his swing band under the stipulation that he be the band's bass player.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Due to a poor education, the young Mingus could not read musical notation quickly enough to join the local youth orchestra. This had a serious impact on his early musical experiences, leaving him feeling ostracized from the classical music world. These early experiences, in addition to his lifelong confrontations with racism, were reflected in his music, which often focused on themes of racism, discrimination and (in)justice.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Much of the cello technique he learned was applicable to double bass when he took up the instrument in high school. He studied for five years with Herman Reinshagen, principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and compositional techniques with Lloyd Reese. Throughout much of his career, he played a bass made in 1927 by the German maker Ernst Heinrich Roth.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Beginning in his teen years, Mingus was writing quite advanced pieces; many are similar to Third Stream because they incorporate elements of classical music. A number of them were recorded in 1960 with conductor Gunther Schuller, and released as "Pre-Bird", referring to Charlie "Bird" Parker; Mingus was one of many musicians whose perspectives on music were altered by Parker into "pre- and post-Bird" eras.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus gained a reputation as a bass prodigy. His first major professional job was playing with former Ellington clarinetist Barney Bigard. He toured with Louis Armstrong in 1943, and by early 1945 was recording in Los Angeles in a band led by Russell Jacquet, which also included Teddy Edwards, Maurice Simon, Bill Davis, and Chico Hamilton, and in May that year, in Hollywood, again with Teddy Edwards, in a band led by Howard McGhee.


title: Charles Mingus

text: He then played with Lionel Hampton's band in the late 1940s; Hampton performed and recorded several of Mingus pieces. A popular trio of Mingus, Red Norvo and Tal Farlow in 1950 and 1951 received considerable acclaim, but Mingus' race caused problems with club owners and he left the group. Mingus was briefly a member of Ellington's band in 1953, as a substitute for bassist Wendell Marshall. Mingus' notorious temper led to his being one of the few musicians personally fired by Ellington (Bubber Miley and drummer Bobby Durham are among the others), after a backstage fight between Mingus and Juan Tizol.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Also in the early 1950s, before attaining commercial recognition as a bandleader, Mingus played gigs with Charlie Parker, whose compositions and improvisations greatly inspired and influenced him. Mingus considered Parker the greatest genius and innovator in jazz history, but he had a love-hate relationship with Parker's legacy. Mingus blamed the Parker mythology for a derivative crop of pretenders to Parker's throne. He was also conflicted and sometimes disgusted by Parker's self-destructive habits and the romanticized lure of drug addiction they offered to other jazz musicians. In response to the many sax players who imitated Parker, Mingus titled a song "If Charlie Parker Were a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats" (released on "Mingus Dynasty" as "Gunslinging Bird").


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus was married four times. His wives were Jeanne Gross, Lucille (Celia) Germanis, Judy Starkey, and Susan Graham Ungaro.


title: Charles Mingus

text: In 1952, Mingus co-founded Debut Records with Max Roach so he could conduct his recording career as he saw fit. The name originated from his desire to document unrecorded young musicians. Despite this, the best-known recording the company issued was of the most prominent figures in bebop. On May 15, 1953, Mingus joined Dizzy Gillespie, Parker, Bud Powell, and Roach for a concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, which is the last recorded documentation of Gillespie and Parker playing together. After the event, Mingus chose to overdub his barely audible bass part back in New York; the original version was issued later. The two 10" albums of the Massey Hall concert (one featured the trio of Powell, Mingus and Roach) were among Debut Records' earliest releases. Mingus may have objected to the way the major record companies treated musicians, but Gillespie once commented that he did not receive any royalties "for years and years" for his Massey Hall appearance. The records, however, are often regarded as among the finest live jazz recordings.


title: Charles Mingus

text: One story has it that Mingus was involved in a notorious incident while playing a 1955 club date billed as a "reunion" with Parker, Powell, and Roach. Powell, who suffered from alcoholism and mental illness (possibly exacerbated by a severe police beating and electroshock treatments), had to be helped from the stage, unable to play or speak coherently. As Powell's incapacitation became apparent, Parker stood in one spot at a microphone, chanting "Bud Powell ... Bud Powell ..." as if beseeching Powell's return. Allegedly, Parker continued this incantation for several minutes after Powell's departure, to his own amusement and Mingus' exasperation. Mingus took another microphone and announced to the crowd, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please don't associate me with any of this. This is not jazz. These are sick people." This was Parker's last public performance; about a week later he died after years of substance abuse.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus often worked with a mid-sized ensemble (around 8–10 members) of rotating musicians known as the Jazz Workshop. Mingus broke new ground, constantly demanding that his musicians be able to explore and develop their perceptions on the spot. Those who joined the Workshop (or Sweatshops as they were colorfully dubbed by the musicians) included Pepper Adams, Jaki Byard, Booker Ervin, John Handy, Jimmy Knepper, Charles McPherson and Horace Parlan. Mingus shaped these musicians into a cohesive improvisational machine that in many ways anticipated free jazz. Some musicians dubbed the workshop a "university" for jazz.


title: Charles Mingus

text: The 1950s are generally regarded as Mingus' most productive and fertile period. Over a ten-year period, he made 30 records for a number of labels (Atlantic, Candid, Columbia, Impulse and others). Mingus had already recorded around ten albums as a bandleader, but 1956 was a breakthrough year for him, with the release of "Pithecanthropus Erectus", arguably his first major work as both a bandleader and composer. Like Ellington, Mingus wrote songs with specific musicians in mind, and his band for "Erectus" included adventurous musicians: piano player Mal Waldron, alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and the Sonny Rollins-influenced tenor of J. R. Monterose. The title song is a ten-minute tone poem, depicting the rise of man from his hominid roots ("Pithecanthropus erectus") to an eventual downfall. A section of the piece was free improvisation, free of structure or theme.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Another album from this period, "The Clown" (1957, also on Atlantic Records), the title track of which features narration by humorist Jean Shepherd, was the first to feature drummer Dannie Richmond, who remained his preferred drummer until Mingus' death in 1979. The two men formed one of the most impressive and versatile rhythm sections in jazz. Both were accomplished performers seeking to stretch the boundaries of their music while staying true to its roots. When joined by pianist Jaki Byard, they were dubbed "The Almighty Three".


title: Charles Mingus

text: In 1959, Mingus and his jazz workshop musicians recorded one of his best-known albums, "Mingus Ah Um". Even in a year of standout masterpieces, including Dave Brubeck's "Time Out", Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue", John Coltrane's "Giant Steps", and Ornette Coleman's "The Shape of Jazz to Come", this was a major achievement, featuring such classic Mingus compositions as "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (an elegy to Lester Young) and the vocal-less version of "Fables of Faubus" (a protest against segregationist Arkansas governor Orval Faubus that features double-time sections). In 2003 the album's legacy was cemented when it was inducted into the National Recording Registry. Also during 1959, Mingus recorded the album "Blues & Roots", which was released the following year. Mingus said in his liner notes: "I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I've grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing."


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus witnessed Ornette Coleman's legendary—and controversial—1960 appearances at New York City's Five Spot jazz club. He initially expressed rather mixed feelings for Coleman's innovative music: "... if the free-form guys could play the same tune twice, then I would say they were playing something ... Most of the time they use their fingers on the saxophone and they don't even know what's going to come out. They're experimenting." That same year, however, Mingus formed a quartet with Richmond, trumpeter Ted Curson and multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. This ensemble featured the same instruments as Coleman's quartet, and is often regarded as Mingus rising to the challenging new standard established by Coleman. The quartet recorded on both "Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus" and "Mingus". The former also features the version of "Fables of Faubus" with lyrics, aptly titled "Original Faubus Fables".


title: Charles Mingus

text: In 1961, Mingus spent time staying at the house of his mother's sister (Louise) and her husband, Fess Williams, a clarinetist and saxophonist, in Jamaica, Queens. Subsequently, Mingus invited Williams to play at the 1962 Town Hall Concert.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Only one misstep occurred in this era: "The Town Hall Concert" in October 1962, a "live workshop"/recording session. With an ambitious program, the event was plagued with troubles from its inception. Mingus' vision, now known as "Epitaph", was finally realized by conductor Gunther Schuller in a concert in 1989, a decade after Mingus died.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Outside of music, Mingus published a mail-order how-to guide in 1954 called "The Charles Mingus CAT-alog for Toilet Training Your Cat". The guide explained in detail how to get a cat to use a human toilet. Sixty years later, in 2014, the late American character actor Reg E. Cathey performed a voice recording of the complete guide for "Studio 360".


title: Charles Mingus

text: In 1963, Mingus released "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady", described as "one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history." The album was also unique in that Mingus asked his psychotherapist, Dr. Edmund Pollock, to provide notes for the record.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus also released "Mingus Plays Piano", an unaccompanied album featuring some fully improvised pieces, in 1963.


title: Charles Mingus

text: In addition, 1963 saw the release of "Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus", an album praised by critic Nat Hentoff.


title: Charles Mingus

text: In 1964 Mingus put together one of his best-known groups, a sextet including Dannie Richmond, Jaki Byard, Eric Dolphy, trumpeter Johnny Coles, and tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan. The group was recorded frequently during its short existence. Mosaic Records has released a 7-CD set, "Charles Mingus – The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964–65", featuring concerts from Town Hall, Amsterdam, Monterey ’64, Monterey ’65, & Minneapolis). Coles fell ill and left during a European tour. Dolphy stayed in Europe after the tour ended, and died suddenly in Berlin on June 28, 1964. 1964 was also the year that Mingus met his future wife, Sue Graham Ungaro. The couple were married in 1966 by Allen Ginsberg. Facing financial hardship, Mingus was evicted from his New York home in 1966.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus' pace slowed somewhat in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1974, after his 1970 sextet with Charles McPherson, Eddie Preston and Bobby Jones disbanded, he formed a quintet with Richmond, pianist Don Pullen, trumpeter Jack Walrath and saxophonist George Adams. They recorded two well-received albums, "Changes One" and "Changes Two". Mingus also played with Charles McPherson in many of his groups during this time. "Cumbia and Jazz Fusion" in 1976 sought to blend Colombian music (the "Cumbia" of the title) with more traditional jazz forms. In 1971, Mingus taught for a semester at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York as the Slee Professor of Music.


title: Charles Mingus

text: By the mid-1970s, Mingus was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His once formidable bass technique declined until he could no longer play the instrument. He continued composing, however, and supervised a number of recordings before his death. At the time of his death, he was working with Joni Mitchell on an album eventually titled "Mingus", which included lyrics added by Mitchell to his compositions, including "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". The album featured the talents of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and another influential bassist and composer, Jaco Pastorius.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus died on January 5, 1979, aged 56, in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he had traveled for treatment and convalescence. His ashes were scattered in the Ganges River.


title: Charles Mingus

text: His compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop, drawing heavily from black gospel music and blues, while sometimes containing elements of Third Stream, free jazz, and classical music. He once cited Duke Ellington and church as his main influences.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus espoused collective improvisation, similar to the old New Orleans jazz parades, paying particular attention to how each band member interacted with the group as a whole. In creating his bands, he looked not only at the skills of the available musicians, but also their personalities. Many musicians passed through his bands and later went on to impressive careers. He recruited talented and sometimes little-known artists, whom he utilized to assemble unconventional instrumental configurations. As a performer, Mingus was a pioneer in double bass technique, widely recognized as one of the instrument's most proficient players.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Because of his brilliant writing for midsize ensembles, and his catering to and emphasizing the strengths of the musicians in his groups, Mingus is often considered the heir of Duke Ellington, for whom he expressed great admiration and collaborated on the record "Money Jungle". Dizzy Gillespie had once said Mingus reminded him "of a young Duke", citing their shared "organizational genius".


title: Charles Mingus

text: Nearly as well known as his ambitious music was Mingus' often fearsome temperament, which earned him the nickname "The Angry Man of Jazz". His refusal to compromise his musical integrity led to many onstage eruptions, exhortations to musicians, and dismissals. Although respected for his musical talents, Mingus was sometimes feared for his occasionally violent onstage temper, which was at times directed at members of his band and other times aimed at the audience. He was physically large, prone to obesity (especially in his later years), and was by all accounts often intimidating and frightening when expressing anger or displeasure. When confronted with a nightclub audience talking and clinking ice in their glasses while he performed, Mingus stopped his band and loudly chastised the audience, stating: "Isaac Stern doesn't have to put up with this shit." Mingus destroyed a $20,000 bass in response to audience heckling at the Five Spot in New York City.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Guitarist and singer Jackie Paris was a witness to Mingus' irascibility. Paris recalls his time in the Jazz Workshop: "He chased everybody off the stand except [drummer] Paul Motian and me ... The three of us just wailed on the blues for about an hour and a half before he called the other cats back."


title: Charles Mingus

text: On October 12, 1962, Mingus punched Jimmy Knepper in the mouth while the two men were working together at Mingus' apartment on a score for his upcoming concert at The Town Hall in New York, and Knepper refused to take on more work. Mingus' blow broke off a crowned tooth and its underlying stub. According to Knepper, this ruined his embouchure and resulted in the permanent loss of the top octave of his range on the trombone – a significant handicap for any professional trombonist. This attack temporarily ended their working relationship, and Knepper was unable to perform at the concert. Charged with assault, Mingus appeared in court in January 1963 and was given a suspended sentence. Knepper did again work with Mingus in 1977 and played extensively with the Mingus Dynasty, formed after Mingus' death in 1979.


title: Charles Mingus

text: In addition to bouts of ill temper, Mingus was prone to clinical depression and tended to have brief periods of extreme creative activity intermixed with fairly long stretches of greatly decreased output, such as the five-year period following the death of Eric Dolphy.


title: Charles Mingus

text: In 1966, Mingus was evicted from his apartment at 5 Great Jones Street in New York City for nonpayment of rent, captured in the 1968 documentary film "", directed by Thomas Reichman. The film also features Mingus performing in clubs and in the apartment, firing a .410 shotgun indoors, composing at the piano, playing with and taking care of his young daughter Caroline, and discussing love, art, politics, and the music school he had hoped to create.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Charles Mingus' music is currently being performed and reinterpreted by the Mingus Big Band, which in October 2008 began playing every Monday at Jazz Standard in New York City, and often tours the rest of the U.S. and Europe. The Mingus Big Band, the Mingus Orchestra, and the Mingus Dynasty band are managed by Jazz Workshop, Inc. and run by Mingus' widow, Sue Graham Mingus.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Elvis Costello has written lyrics for a few Mingus pieces. He had once sung lyrics for one piece, "Invisible Lady", backed by the Mingus Big Band on the album, "Tonight at Noon: Three of Four Shades of Love".


title: Charles Mingus

text: "Epitaph" is considered one of Charles Mingus' masterpieces. The composition is 4,235 measures long, requires two hours to perform, and is one of the longest jazz pieces ever written. "Epitaph" was only completely discovered, by musicologist Andrew Homzy, during the cataloging process after Mingus' death. With the help of a grant from the Ford Foundation, the score and instrumental parts were copied, and the piece itself was premiered by a 30-piece orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller. This concert was produced by Mingus' widow, Sue Graham Mingus, at Alice Tully Hall on June 3, 1989, 10 years after Mingus' death. It was performed again at several concerts in 2007. The performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall is available on NPR. Hal Leonard published the complete score in 2008.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus wrote the sprawling, exaggerated, quasi-autobiography, "Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus", throughout the 1960s, and it was published in 1971. Its "stream of consciousness" style covered several aspects of his life that had previously been off-record. In addition to his musical and intellectual proliferation, Mingus goes into great detail about his perhaps overstated sexual exploits. He claims to have had more than 31 affairs in the course of his life (including 26 prostitutes in one sitting). This does not include any of his five wives (he claims to have been married to two of them simultaneously). In addition, he asserts that he held a brief career as a pimp. This has never been confirmed.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Mingus' autobiography also serves as an insight into his psyche, as well as his attitudes about race and society. It includes accounts of abuse at the hands of his father from an early age, being bullied as a child, his removal from a white musician's union, and grappling with disapproval while married to white women and other examples of the hardship and prejudice.


title: Charles Mingus

text: The work of Charles Mingus has also received attention in academia. According to Ashon Crawley, the musicianship of Charles Mingus provides a salient example of the power of music to unsettle the dualistic, categorical distinction of sacred from profane through otherwise epistemologies. Crawley offers a reading of Mingus that examines the deep imbrication uniting Holiness – Pentecostal aesthetic practices and jazz. Mingus recognized the importance and impact of the midweek gathering of black folks at the Holiness – Pentecostal Church at 79th and Watts in Los Angeles that he would attend with his stepmother or his friend Britt Woodman. Crawley goes on to argue that these visits were the impetus for the song "Wednesday Prayer Meeting". Emphasis is placed on the ethical demand of the prayer meeting felt and experienced that, according to Crawley, Mingus attempts to capture. In many ways, "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" was Mingus' homage to black sociality. By exploring Mingus' homage to black Pentecostal aesthetics, Crawley expounds on how Mingus figured out that those Holiness – Pentecostal gatherings were the constant repetition of the ongoing, deep, intense mode of study, a kind of study wherein the aesthetic forms created could not be severed from the intellectual practice because they were one and also, but not, the same."


title: Charles Mingus

text: Gunther Schuller has suggested that Mingus should be ranked among the most important American composers, jazz or otherwise. In 1988, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts made possible the cataloging of Mingus compositions, which were then donated to the Music Division of the New York Public Library for public use. In 1993, The Library of Congress acquired Mingus' collected papers—including scores, sound recordings, correspondence and photos—in what they described as "the most important acquisition of a manuscript collection relating to jazz in the Library's history".


title: Charles Mingus

text: Considering the number of compositions that Charles Mingus wrote, his works have not been recorded as often as comparable jazz composers. The only Mingus tribute albums recorded during his lifetime were baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams's album, "Pepper Adams Plays the Compositions of Charlie Mingus", in 1963, and Joni Mitchell's album "Mingus", in 1979. Of all his works, his elegy for Lester Young, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (from "Mingus Ah Um") has probably had the most recordings. The song has been covered by both jazz and non-jazz artists, such as Jeff Beck, Andy Summers, Eugene Chadbourne, and Bert Jansch and John Renbourn with and without Pentangle. Joni Mitchell sang a version with lyrics that she wrote for it.


title: Charles Mingus

text: Elvis Costello has recorded "Hora Decubitus" (from "Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus") on "My Flame Burns Blue" (2006). "Better Git It in Your Soul" was covered by Davey Graham on his album "Folk, Blues, and Beyond". Trumpeter Ron Miles performs a version of "Pithecanthropus Erectus" on his CD "Witness". New York Ska Jazz Ensemble has done a cover of Mingus' "Haitian Fight Song", as have the British folk rock group Pentangle and others. Hal Willner's 1992 tribute album "Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus" (Columbia Records) contains idiosyncratic renditions of Mingus' works involving numerous popular musicians including Chuck D, Keith Richards, Henry Rollins and Dr. John. The Italian band Quintorigo recorded an entire album devoted to Mingus' music, titled "Play Mingus".


title: Charles Mingus

text: Gunther Schuller's edition of Mingus' "Epitaph", which premiered at Lincoln Center in 1989, was subsequently released on Columbia/Sony Records.


title: Charles Mingus

text: One of the most elaborate tributes to Mingus came on September 29, 1969, at a festival honoring him. Duke Ellington performed "The Clown", with Ellington reading Jean Shepherd's narration. It was long believed that no recording of this performance existed; however, one was discovered and premiered on July 11, 2013, by Dry River Jazz host Trevor Hodgkins for NPR member station KRWG-FM with re-airings on July 13, 2013, and July 26, 2014. Mingus' elegy for Duke, "Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love", was recorded by Kevin Mahogany on "Double Rainbow" (1993) and Anita Wardell on "Why Do You Cry?" (1995).


title: English Mastiff

text: The English Mastiff, or simply the Mastiff, is a British dog breed of very large size. Likely descended from the ancient Alaunt and Pugnaces Britanniae, with a significant input from the Alpine Mastiff in the 19th century. Distinguished by its enormous size, massive head, short coat in a limited range of colours, and always displaying a black mask, the Mastiff is noted for its gentle and loving nature. The lineage of modern dogs can be traced back to the early 19th century, but the modern type was stabilised in the 1880s and refined since. Following a period of sharp decline, the Mastiff has increased its worldwide popularity. Throughout its history the Mastiff has contributed to the development of a number of dog breeds, some generally known as mastiff-type dogs or, confusingly, just as "mastiffs". It is the largest living canine, outweighing the wolf by up to 50 kg (110 lbs) on average.


title: English Mastiff

text: With a massive body, broad skull and head of generally square appearance, it is the largest dog breed in terms of mass. It is on average slightly heavier than the Saint Bernard, although there is a considerable mass overlap between these two breeds. Though the Irish Wolfhound and Great Dane can be more than six inches taller, they are not nearly as robust.


title: English Mastiff

text: The body is large with great depth and breadth, especially between the forelegs—which causes these to be set wide apart. The length of the body taken from the point of the shoulder to the point of the buttock is greater than the height at the withers. The AKC standard height (per their website) for this breed is at the shoulder for males and (minimum) at the shoulder for females. A typical male can weigh , a typical female can weigh , with very large individuals reaching or more.


title: English Mastiff

text: The former standard specified the coat should be short and close-lying. Long-haired Mastiffs, known as "Fluffies", are caused by a recessive gene — they are occasionally seen. The AKC considers a long coat a fault but not cause for disqualification. English Mastiff colours are apricot-fawn, silver-fawn, fawn, or dark fawn-brindle, always with black on the muzzle, ears, and nose and around the eyes.


title: English Mastiff

text: The colours of the Mastiff coat are differently described by various kennel clubs, but are essentially fawn or apricot, or those colours as a base for black brindle. A black mask should occur in all cases. The fawn is generally a light "silver" shade, but may range up to a golden yellow. The apricot may be a slightly reddish hue up to a deep, rich red. The brindle markings should ideally be heavy, even and clear stripes, but may actually be light, uneven, patchy, faint or muddled. Piebald Mastiffs occur rarely. Other non-standard colours include black, blue brindle, and chocolate (brown) mask. Some Mastiffs have a heavy shading caused by dark hairs throughout the coat or primarily on the back and shoulders. This is not generally considered a fault. Brindle is dominant over solid colour, other than black, which may no longer exist as a Mastiff colour. Apricot is dominant over fawn, though that dominance may be incomplete. Most of the colour faults are recessive, though black is so rare in the Mastiff that it has never been determined whether the allele is recessive or a mutation that is dominant.


title: English Mastiff

text: The genetic basis for the variability of coat in dogs has been much studied, but all the issues have not yet been resolved. On the basis of what is known (and remembering that, as dogs are diploid animals, each gene location (locus) appears twice in every animal, so questions of dominance also must be resolved), the gene possibilities allowed by the Mastiff standard are ABDEh(k_or_k)mS. This describes a dog which is fawn with a dark nose, non-dilute, black-masked, non-harlequin, brindled or not brindled, non-merle, and non-spotted. To allow for the rare exceptions we must include "b" (brown mask and possible brown brindling), "d" (blue mask and possible blue brindling), "s" (pied spotting), and perhaps "a" (recessive black). The possible combination of homozygous brown and homozygous blue is a pale brown referred to as Isabella in breeds where it is relatively common. On a Mastiff, this would appear on mask, ears, and any brindling that was present. Speculative gene locations may also exist, so a Mastiff may be "I" (apricot) or "i" (non-apricot) and perhaps "c" (silver lightening) or "C" (without silver lightening). (Note that this "C locus" may not be the same as the one identified in other animals, SLC45A2.)


title: English Mastiff

text: from England named Aicama Zorba of La Susa, although claims of larger dogs, including Saint Bernards, Tibetan Mastiffs, and Caucasian ovcharkas exist. According to the 1989 edition of the Guinness Book of Records, in March 1989, when he was 7 years old, Zorba stood at the shoulder and was 8 ft 3 in (251 cm) from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, about the size of a small donkey. After 2000, the Guinness Book of World Records stopped accepting largest or heaviest pet records.


title: English Mastiff

text: The Mastiff breed has a desired temperament, which is reflected in all formal standards and historical descriptions. Sydenham Edwards wrote in 1800 in the "Cynographia Britannica":


title: English Mastiff

text: What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race. His docility is perfect; the teazing of the smaller kinds will hardly provoke him to resent, and I have seen him down with his paw the Terrier or cur that has bit him, without offering further injury. In a family he will permit the children to play with him, and suffer all their little pranks without offence. The blind ferocity of the Bull Dog will often wound the hand of the master who assists him to combat, but the Mastiff distinguishes perfectly, enters the field with temper, and engages in the attack as if confident of success: if he overpowers, or is beaten, his master may take him immediately in his arms and fear nothing. This ancient and faithful domestic, the pride of our island, uniting the useful, the brave and the docile, though sought by foreign nations and perpetuated on the continent, is nearly extinct where he probably was an aborigine, or is bastardized by numberless crosses, everyone of which degenerate from the invaluable character of the parent, who was deemed worthy to enter the Roman amphitheatre, and, in the presence of the masters of the worlds, encounter the pard, and assail even the lord of the savage tribes, whose courage was sublimed by torrid suns, and found none gallant enough to oppose him on the deserts of Zaara or the plains of Numidia.


title: English Mastiff

text: At all stages of development, the Mastiff should show the breed characteristics of massiveness and sound, if cumbersome, movement.


title: English Mastiff

text: The Mastiff is a particularly large dog demanding correct diet and exercise. Excessive running is not recommended for the first 2 years of the dog's life, in order not to damage the growth plates in the joints of this heavy and fast-growing dog, which in some weeks may gain over 5 lb. However, regular exercise must be maintained throughout the dog's life to discourage slothful behaviour and to prevent a number of health problems. A soft surface is recommended for the dog to sleep on to prevent the development of calluses, arthritis, and hygroma (an acute inflammatory swelling). Due to the breed's large size, puppies may potentially be smothered or crushed by the mother during nursing. A whelping box, along with careful monitoring, can prevent such accidents. The average lifespan of the Mastiff is about 7 years, although it is not uncommon for some to live 10–13 years, and there is records of a female named Kush making it to an age of 15.


title: English Mastiff

text: Major problems can include hip dysplasia and gastric torsion. Other problems include obesity, osteosarcoma, and cystinuria. Problems only occasionally found include cardiomyopathy, allergies, vaginal hyperplasia, cruciate ligament rupture, hypothyroidism, OCD, entropion, progressive retinal atrophy (PRA), and persistent pupillary membranes (PPM).


title: English Mastiff

text: When purchasing a purebred Mastiff, experts often suggest that the dog undergo tests for hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, thyroid, and DNA for PRA.


title: English Mastiff

text: A Mastiff may be kept in an apartment, but care must be taken to give it enough exercise. Mastiffs should be fed two or three times a day; it is believed that one large meal per day can increase the chance of gastric torsion.


title: English Mastiff

text: There is a ceramic and paint sculpture of a mastiff-like dog from Mesopotamia region during the Kassite period (mid-2nd millennium B.C.).


title: English Mastiff

text: These dogs may be related to the dogs that fought lions, tigers, bears, and gladiators in Roman arenas. Certainly an element in the formation of the English Mastiff was the Pugnaces Britanniae that existed at the time of the Roman conquest of Britain. The ancient Roman poet Grattius (or Grattius Faliscus) wrote of British dogs, describing them as superior to the ancient Greek Molossus, saying:


title: English Mastiff

text: What if you choose to penetrate even among the Britons? How great your reward, how great your gain beyond any outlays! If you are not bent on looks and deceptive graces (this is the one defect of the British whelps), at any rate when serious work has come, when bravery must be shown, and the impetuous War-god calls in the utmost hazard, then you could not admire the renowned Molossians so much.


title: English Mastiff

text: The turn-of-the-millennium Greek historian Strabo reported that dogs were exported from Britain for the purpose of game hunting, and that these dogs were also used by the Celts as war dogs. As far as the origin of the Pugnaces Britanniae is concerned, there is unproven speculation that they were descended from dogs brought to Britain by the Phoenicians in the 6th century BC. This breed's first written accounts in England date back to 55 BC when Caesar noted them during his invasions. Many were sent to Italy and in the Roman Empire they became fighting dogs.


title: English Mastiff

text: The Alaunt is likely to have been another genetic predecessor to the English Mastiff. Introduced by the Normans, these dogs were developed by the Alans, who had migrated into France (then known as Gaul) due to pressure by the Huns at the start of the 5th century. Intriguingly they were known from the Romans to live in a region (the Pontic-Caspian Steppe) about 700 km to the north of the region where the Assyrians once lived. Again, any canine connections are speculative.


title: English Mastiff

text: The linguistic origin of the name "Mastiff" is unclear. Many claim that it evolved from the Anglo-Saxon word "masty", meaning "powerful". Other sources, such as the "Oxford English Dictionary", say the word originated from the Old French word "mastin" (Modern French "mâtin"), the word being itself derived from Vulgar Latin "*ma(n)suetinus" "tame", see Classical Latin "mansuetus" with same meaning. The first list of dog breed names in the English language, contained within "The Book of Saint Albans", published in 1465, includes ""Mastiff "". This work is attributed to Prioress Juliana Berners, but in part may be translated from the early 14th century Norman-French work "Le Art de Venerie", by Edward II's Huntmaster Guillaume Twici.


title: English Mastiff

text: The naturalist Christopher Merret in his 1666 work "Pinax Rerum Naturalium Brittanicarum" has a list of British mammals, including 15 kinds of dog, one of which is "Molossus, Canis bellicosus Anglicus, a Mastif". Literally, "Molossus, warlike English dog, a Mastiff", and perhaps the first conflation of the breeds Molossus and Mastiff.


title: English Mastiff

text: When in 1415 Sir Peers Legh was wounded in the Battle of Agincourt, his Mastiff stood over and protected him for many hours through the battle. The Mastiff was later returned to Legh's home and was the foundation of the Lyme Hall Mastiffs. Five centuries later this pedigree figured prominently in founding the modern breed. Other aristocratic seats where Mastiffs are known to have been kept are Elvaston Castle (Charles Stanhope, 4th Earl of Harrington and his ancestors) and Chatsworth House. The owner of the Chatsworth Mastiffs (which were said to be of Alpine Mastiff stock) was William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, known to his family as "Canis". Mastiffs were also kept at Hadzor Hall, owned by members of the Galton family, famous for industrialists and scientists, including Charles Darwin. Some evidence exists that the Mastiff first came to America on the "Mayflower", but the breed's further documented entry to America did not occur until the late 19th century.


title: English Mastiff

text: In 1835, the Parliament of the United Kingdom implemented an Act called the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835, which prohibited the baiting of animals. This may have led to decline in the aggressive Mastiffs used for this purpose, but Mastiffs continued to be used as guards for country estates and town businesses.