title: Tom Laughlin

text: He appeared on the primary ballots in New Hampshire and Louisiana. He campaigned on a platform of a tax cut for "ordinary Americans", term limits, an overhaul of public education, universal health care, and nuclear disarmament. While campaigning for the Iowa caucus, he said of a fellow candidate and an Iowan, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin: "I think he's a sleazebag. I despise him."


title: Tom Laughlin

text: Excluded from debates by party officials who did not consider him a serious candidate, Laughlin received 1,986 votes in the New Hampshire primary. He blamed the results on lack of cooperation by the Democratic Party, which allowed him and other candidates only five minutes to speak at the state's convention while giving the five front-runners 20 minutes each. He participated in the independent presidential candidates' debate on March 25, 1992, along with former U.S. Senator Eugene J. McCarthy and others who had been excluded from the major debates. However, he was seen by much of the press as a "fringe candidate".


title: Tom Laughlin

text: Laughlin later protested at being excluded from the primary ballot in his home state of Wisconsin at the same time that David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, was included. After dropping out of the race, he worked as an advisor to the campaign of Ross Perot.


title: Tom Laughlin

text: He ran for president again in 2004, this time as a Republican. Campaigning as an opponent of the Iraq War, he received 154 votes in the New Hampshire primary against President George W. Bush, who received 53,962 votes. He again was not allowed to participate in the debates. He ran again for president in 2008 as a Democrat, getting 47 votes in the New Hampshire primary.


title: Tom Laughlin

text: Laughlin was an outspoken critic of the Iraq War and President George W. Bush. His website presented several writings calling the Iraq conflict worse than the Vietnam War, in addition to pieces on what he called "realistic exit strategies". He devoted several pages of the Billy Jack website to reasons that he felt justified an impeachment of George W. Bush and repeatedly stated the need for a viable, mainstream third political party. In addition, he criticized what he called the "Christian right", which he called "false Evangelicals", "false prophets", and the "Christo-fascist movement". He released several videos and writings during the 2008 election.


title: Tom Laughlin

text: Although not a professionally trained psychologist, Laughlin had an interest in psychology, having studied the subject independently. A 1975 profile of Laughlin in "People" mentioned his deep interest in psychology and mentioned that he had a personal "dream secretary" to whom Laughlin told his recollections of his dreams. They were written down to be analyzed later.


title: Tom Laughlin

text: Laughlin lectured on Jungian psychology at universities and colleges throughout the United States since the 1970s, including Yale University and Stanford University


title: Tom Laughlin

text: In 1995, because of his background in football and psychology, he was brought in to counsel University of Nebraska football player Lawrence Phillips after Phillips' suspension from the team. He said of Phillips at the time, "He should not be rewarded by being allowed to play unless there is real substantive change. I don't mean surface change. But if he does change, then he's not only going to not batter this girl, he's not going to batter the girl he marries at 30 and 35. If he just pretends to change, of course he should not be allowed to play, but Lawrence has already been sanctioned in ways other batterers on this campus are not". Phillips ended up being reinstated late in the season and left for the pros after 1995.


title: Tom Laughlin

text: Laughlin wrote several books on psychology, including "The Psychology of Cancer"; "Jungian Psychology vol. 2: Jungian Theory and Therapy", published in 1980; "9 Indispendable Ingredients to Writing a Hit" (1999), which details the psychology involved in the box office and hit filmmaking, and "The Cancer Personality" (1998), in which he posited his theories about cancer.


title: Tom Laughlin

text: One of his concerns was the issue of domestic abuse. He became involved in this after witnessing a neighbor, a police officer, beating his wife. He blamed the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson on domestic abuse, saying:O.J. Simpson was my neighbor up the street on Rockingham. He lived at 300 Rockingham Drive, I lived at 100 Rockingham. I've known O.J. forever. This is one of the sickest, sorriest days in our culture, that he was [found] not guilty... I've told him since 1985 he'd end up in jail... Eight times [Nicole] cried out and eight times, because it was O.J. and it was woman-battering, it was dismissed. But now, with the trivialization, people are afraid to call because they don't trust that the system will help them. The fact that he was found not guilty is going to make that 10 times worse.


title: Tom Laughlin

text: Laughlin married Delores Taylor in 1954. They had three children: Frank, Teresa, and Christina. His daughter Teresa is a fashion designer. He derived at least two of his pseudonyms from his children: Frank Laughlin, his son's name and the name he used to direct "The Trial of Billy Jack" and "The Master Gunfighter", and T.C. Frank, which stood for Teresa Christina Frank.


title: Tom Laughlin

text: In 2001, it was announced that Laughlin was suffering from a cancer of the tongue that was inoperable. His website claimed the cancer was in remission. His book "The Psychology of Cancer" was about faith, attitude, and other factors that might affect cancer.


title: Tom Laughlin

text: In January 2007, a tearful Tom Laughlin gave the eulogy for the man who taught him hapkido for the movie "Billy Jack", the late hapkido grandmaster Han Bong-soo, whom Laughlin remembered as "a holy man".


title: Tom Laughlin

text: On November 20, 2007, he posted a video on YouTube explaining that poor health had caused him to leave his BillyJack.com website in a dormant state. The site was later revived. Laughlin suffered from celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder, and suffered a series of strokes. In the video, he announced that he had his health issues under control, that he updated the website, and that he was planning a new Billy Jack film. However, that film was never made.


title: Tom Laughlin

text: Laughlin died of complications from pneumonia on December 12, 2013, at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Although attribution of homosexuality would have been damaging, no accusations by his many political opponents during the lifetime of Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) are known to have been made. A comical poem he wrote about two men marrying was expurgated from later editions of the first Lincoln biography. Activist proponents of the view that Lincoln was homosexual have regarded a sleeping arrangement with Joshua Fry Speed when both were bachelors as evidence. Mainstream historians point to Lincoln having openly alluded to it as showing that men sharing a bed was common and carried no implications in Lincoln's era. Lincoln had four children with Mary Todd in an enduring marriage.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Lincoln and Mary Todd met in Springfield in 1839 and became engaged in 1840. In what historian Allen Guelzo calls "one of the murkiest episodes in Lincoln's life," Lincoln called off his engagement to Mary Todd. This was at the same time as the collapse of a legislative program he had supported for years, the permanent departure of his best friend, Joshua Speed, from Springfield, Illinois, and the proposal by John Stuart, Lincoln's law partner, to end their law practice. Lincoln is believed to have suffered something approaching clinical depression. In the book "Lincoln's Preparation for Greatness: The Illinois Legislative Years," Paul Simon has a chapter covering the period, which Lincoln later referred to as "The Fatal First", or January 1, 1841. That was "the date on which Lincoln asked to be released from his engagement to Mary Todd". Simon explains that the various reasons given for the engagement being broken contradict one another. The incident was not fully documented, but Lincoln did become unusually depressed, which showed in his appearance. Simon wrote that it was "traceable to Mary Todd". During this time, he avoided seeing Mary, causing her to comment that Lincoln "deems me unworthy of notice".


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Jean H. Baker, historian and biographer of Mary Todd Lincoln, describes the relationship between Lincoln and his wife as "bound together by three strong bonds—sex, parenting and politics". In addition to the anti–Mary Todd bias of many historians, engendered by William Herndon's (Lincoln's law partner and early biographer) personal hatred of Mrs. Lincoln, Baker discounts historic criticism of the marriage. She says that contemporary historians have a misunderstanding of the changing nature of marriage and courtship in the mid-19th century, and attempt to judge the Lincoln marriage by modern standards. According to the book "Lincoln the Unknown", Lincoln chose to spend several months of the year practicing law on a circuit that kept him living separately from his wife.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Baker states that "most observers of the Lincoln marriage have been impressed with their sexuality" and that "male historians" suggest that the Lincolns' sex life ended either in 1853 after their son Tad's difficult birth or in 1856 when they moved into a bigger house, but have no evidence for their speculations. Baker writes that there are "almost no gynecological conditions resulting from childbirth" other than a prolapsed uterus (which would have produced other noticeable effects on Mrs. Lincoln) that would have prevented intercourse, and in the 1850s, "many middle-class couples slept in separate bedrooms" as a matter of custom adopted from the English.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Far from abstaining from sex, Baker suggests that the Lincolns were part of a new development in America of smaller families; the birth rate declined from seven births to a family in 1800 to around 4 per family by 1850. As Americans separated sexuality from childbearing, forms of birth control such as coitus interruptus, long-term breastfeeding, and crude forms of condoms and womb veils, available through mail order, were available and used. The spacing of the Lincoln children (Robert in 1843, Eddie in 1846, Willie in 1850, and Tad in 1853) is consistent with some type of planning and would have required "an intimacy about sexual relations that for aspiring couples meant shared companionate power over reproduction".


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Herndon, Lincoln's law partner and biographer, attests to the depth of Lincoln's love for Ann Rutledge. An anonymous poem about suicide published locally three years after her death is widely attributed to Lincoln. In contrast, his courting of Mary Owens was diffident. In 1837, Lincoln wrote to her from Springfield to give her an opportunity to break off their relationship. Lincoln wrote to a friend in 1838: "I knew she was oversize, but now she appeared a fair match for Falstaff".


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Commentary on President Abraham Lincoln's sexuality has been documented since the early 20th century. Attention to the sexuality of public figures has been heightened since the gay rights movement in the late 20th century. In his 1926 biography of Lincoln, Carl Sandburg alluded to the early relationship of Lincoln and his friend Joshua Fry Speed as having "a streak of lavender, and spots soft as May violets". "Streak of lavender" was period typical slang for an effeminate man, and later connoted homosexuality. Sandburg did not elaborate on this comment.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: In 1999, playwright and activist Larry Kramer claimed that he had uncovered previously unknown documents while conducting research for his work-in-progress, "The American People: A History". Some were allegedly found hidden in the floorboards of the old store once shared by Lincoln and Joshua Speed. The documents reportedly provide explicit details of a relationship between Lincoln and Speed, and currently reside in a private collection in Davenport, Iowa. Their authenticity, however, has been called into question by historians such as Gabor Boritt, who wrote, "Almost certainly this is a hoax." C. A. Tripp also expressed his skepticism over Kramer's discovery, writing, "Seeing is believing, should that diary ever show up; the passages claimed for it have not the slightest Lincolnian ring."


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: In 2005, C. A. Tripp's book, "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln", was posthumously published. Tripp was a sex researcher, a protégé of Alfred Kinsey, and was gay. He began writing "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln" with Philip Nobile, but they had a falling out. Nobile later accused Tripp's book of being fraudulent and distorted.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: "Time" magazine addressed the book as part of a cover article by Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of "Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness". Shenk dismissed Tripp's conclusions, saying that arguments for Lincoln's homosexuality were "based on a tortured misreading of conventional 19th century sleeping arrangements". But historian Michael B. Chesson said that Tripp's work was significant, commenting that "any open-minded reader who has reached this point may well have a reasonable doubt about the nature of Lincoln's sexuality". In contrast, historian and Lincoln biographer Michael Burlingame has said that it is "possible but highly unlikely that Abraham Lincoln was 'predominantly homosexual.'"


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: In 2009, Charles Morris critically analyzed the academic and popular responses to Tripp's book, arguing that much of the negative response by the "Lincoln Establishment" reveals as much rhetorical and political partisanship as that of Tripp's defenders. In an earlier 2007 essay, Morris argues that in the wake of playwright Larry Kramer's "outing" of Lincoln, the Lincoln Establishment engaged in "mnemonicide", or the assassination of a threatening counter-memory. He put in this category what he called the methodologically flawed but widely appropriated case against the "gay Lincoln thesis" by David Herbert Donald in his book, "We Are Lincoln Men".


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Lincoln's stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln, commented that he "never took much interest in the girls". However some accounts of Lincoln's contemporaries suggest that he had a strong but controlled passion for women. Lincoln was devastated over the 1835 death of Ann Rutledge. While some historians have questioned whether he had a romantic relationship with her, historian John Y. Simon reviewed the historiography of the subject and concluded that "Available evidence overwhelmingly indicates that Lincoln so loved Ann that her death plunged him into severe depression. More than a century and a half after her death, when significant new evidence cannot be expected, she should take her proper place in Lincoln biography."


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: In her book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln", historian Doris Kearns Goodwin argues:


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Critics of the hypothesis that Lincoln was homosexual emphasize that Lincoln married and had four children. Scholar Douglas Wilson writes that Lincoln as a young man displayed robustly heterosexual behavior, including telling stories to his friends of his interactions with women.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Lincoln wrote a poem that described a marriage-like relation between two men, which included the lines:


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: This poem was included in the first edition of the 1889 biography of Lincoln by his friend and colleague William Herndon. It was expurgated from subsequent editions until 1942, when the editor Paul Angle restored it.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Tripp states that Lincoln's awareness of homosexuality and openness in penning this "bawdy poem" "was unique for the time period."


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Lincoln met Joshua Fry Speed in Springfield, Illinois, in 1837, when Lincoln was a successful attorney and member of Illinois' House of Representatives. They lived together for four years, during which time they occupied the same bed during the night (some sources specify a large double bed) and developed a friendship that would last until their deaths. According to some sources, William Herndon and a fourth man also slept in the same room.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Historians such as David Herbert Donald point out that it was not unusual at that time for two men to share a bed due to myriad circumstances, without anything sexual being implied, for a night or two when nothing else was available. Lincoln, who had just moved to a new town when he met Speed, was also at least initially unable to afford his own bed and bedding. A tabulation of historical sources shows that Lincoln slept in the same bed with at least 11 boys and men during his youth and adulthood.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: There are no known instances in which Lincoln tried to suppress knowledge or discussion of such arrangements, and in some conversations, raised the subject himself. Tripp discusses three men at length and possible sustained relationships: Joshua Speed, William Greene, and Charles Derickson. However, in 19th-century America, it was not necessarily uncommon for men to bunk-up with other men, briefly, if no other arrangement were available. For example, when other lawyers and judges traveled "the circuit" with Lincoln, the lawyers often slept "two in a bed and eight in a room". William H. Herndon recalled for example, "I have slept with 20 men in the same room".


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: In the nineteenth century, most men were probably not conscious of any erotic possibility in bed-sharing, since it was in public. Speed's immediate, casual offer, and his later report of it, suggests that men's public bed-sharing was not then often explicitly understood as conducive to forbidden sexual experiments. In such public arrangements, they would not be alone.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Nevertheless, Katz says that such sleeping arrangements "did provide an important site (probably the major site) of erotic opportunity" if they could keep others from noticing. Katz states that referring to present-day concepts of "homo, hetero, and bi distorts our present understanding of Lincoln and Speed's experiences." He states that, rather than there being "an unchanging essence of homosexuality and heterosexuality," people throughout history "continually reconfigure their affectionate and erotic feelings and acts". He suggests that the Lincoln-Speed relationship fell within a 19th-century category of intense, even romantic man-to-man friendships with erotic overtones that may have been "a world apart in that era's consciousness from the sensual universe of mutual masturbation and the legal universe of 'sodomy,' 'buggery,' and 'the crime against nature'".


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Some correspondence of the period, such as that between Thomas Jefferson Withers and James Henry Hammond, may provide evidence of a sexual dimension to some secret same-sex bed-sharing. The fact that Lincoln was open about sharing a bed with Speed is seen by some historians as an indication that their relationship was not romantic. None of Lincoln's enemies hinted at any homosexual implication.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Joshua Speed and Lincoln corresponded about their impending marriages, and Gore Vidal regarded their letters to each other as having evinced a degree of anxiety about being able to perform sexually on their wedding nights that indicated a homosexual relationship had once existed between them. Despite having some political differences over slavery they remained in touch for the rest of their lives, and Lincoln appointed Joshua's brother, James Speed, to his cabinet as Attorney General.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: In 2016, historian and psychoanalyst Charles Strozier published, "Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln: The Enduring Friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed," in which he examines their relationship. In 1982, Strozier had previously written, "Lincoln’s Quest for Union", in which there was a chapter that some had taken as support for the Lincoln gay thesis. Strozier concludes that the relationship was not homosexual and that Lincoln was straight.


title: Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

text: Captain David Derickson of the 150th Pennsylvania Infantry was Lincoln's bodyguard and companion between September 1862 and April 1863. They shared a bed during the absences of Lincoln's wife, until Derickson was promoted in 1863. Derickson was twice married and fathered ten children. Tripp recounts that, whatever the level of intimacy of the relationship, it was the subject of gossip. Elizabeth Woodbury Fox, the wife of Lincoln's naval aide, wrote in her diary for November 16, 1862, "Tish says, 'Oh, there is a Bucktail soldier here devoted to the president, drives with him, and when Mrs. L. is not home, sleeps with him.' What stuff!" This sleeping arrangement was also mentioned by a fellow officer in Derickson's regiment, Thomas Chamberlin, in the book "History of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktail Brigade". Historian Martin P. Johnson states that the strong similarity in style and content of the Fox and Chamberlin accounts suggests that, rather than being two independent accounts of the same events as Tripp claims, both were based on the same report from a single source. David Donald and Johnson both dispute Tripp's interpretation of Fox's comment, saying that the exclamation of "What stuff!" was, in that day, an exclamation over the absurdity of the suggestion rather than the gossip value of it (as in the phrase "stuff and nonsense").


title: Thorpe affair

text: The Thorpe affair of the 1970s was a British political and sex scandal that ended the career of Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal Party and Member of Parliament (MP) for North Devon. The scandal arose from allegations by Norman Josiffe (otherwise known as Norman Scott) that he and Thorpe had a homosexual relationship in the early 1960s, and that Thorpe had begun a badly planned conspiracy to murder Josiffe, who was threatening to expose their affair.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Thorpe, while admitting that the two had been friends, denied any such relationship. With the help of political colleagues and a compliant press, he was able to ensure that rumours of misconduct went unreported for more than a decade. Scott's allegations were a persistent threat, however, and by the mid-1970s he was regarded as a danger both to Thorpe and to the Liberal Party, which was then enjoying a resurgence of popularity and was close to a place in government. Attempts to buy or frighten Scott into silence were unsuccessful, and the problem deepened, until the fallout following the shooting of his dog during a possible murder attempt by a hired gunman in October 1975 brought the matter into the open. After further newspaper revelations, Thorpe was forced to resign the Liberal leadership in May 1976, and subsequent police investigations led to him being charged, with three others, with conspiracy to murder Scott. Before the case came to trial, Thorpe lost his parliamentary seat at the 1979 general election.


title: Thorpe affair

text: At the trial in May 1979, the prosecution's case depended heavily on the evidence of Scott, Thorpe's former parliamentary colleague Peter Bessell, and the hired gunman, Andrew Newton. None of these witnesses impressed the court. Bessell's credibility was undermined by the revelations of his financial arrangements with "The Sunday Telegraph". In his summing-up the judge was scathing about the prosecution's evidence, and all four defendants were acquitted. Nevertheless, Thorpe's public reputation was damaged irreparably by the case. He had chosen not to testify at the trial, which left several matters unexplained amid public disquiet.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Thorpe's retirement into private life was followed by the onset of Parkinson's disease in the mid-1980s, and he made few public statements afterwards. He eventually achieved a reconciliation with the North Devon Liberal Democrat constituency party, of which he was honorary president from 1988 until his death in 2014. Allegations of suppression of evidence by the police before the trial were under investigation from 2015, reaching a culmination in June 2018 when the police said that there was no new evidence and the case would remain closed.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Before the passage of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which decriminalised most homosexual acts in England and Wales (but did not apply to Scotland or Northern Ireland), all sexual activity between men was illegal throughout the United Kingdom, and carried heavy criminal penalties. Antony Grey, a secretary of the Homosexual Law Reform Society, wrote of "a hideous aura of criminality and degeneracy and abnormality surrounding the matter".


title: Thorpe affair

text: Political figures were particularly vulnerable to exposure; William Field, the Labour MP for Paddington North, was forced to resign his seat in 1953 after a conviction for soliciting in a public lavatory. In the following year Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, the youngest peer in the House of Lords, was imprisoned for a year after being convicted of "gross indecency", victim of a virulent "drive against male vice" led by the Home Secretary, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Four years later public attitudes had changed little. When Ian Harvey, a junior Foreign Office minister in Harold Macmillan's government, was found guilty of indecent behaviour with a Coldstream Guardsman in November 1958, he lost both his ministerial job and his parliamentary seat at Harrow East. He was ostracised by the Conservative Party and by most of his former friends, and never again held a position in public life. Thus, anyone entering politics at that time knew that revelations of homosexual activity would likely bring such a career to a swift end.


title: Thorpe affair

text: John Jeremy Thorpe was born in 1929, the son and grandson of Conservative MPs. He attended Eton, then studied law at Trinity College, Oxford, where, having decided on a political career, he devoted his main energies to making a personal impact rather than to his studies. Rejecting his Conservative background, he joined the small, centrist Liberal Party—which by the late 1940s was a declining force in British politics, but still offered a national platform and a challenge to an ambitious young politician. He became secretary and eventually President of the Oxford Liberal Club, and met many of the party's leading figures. In the Hilary term (January–March) of 1950–51 Thorpe served as President of the Oxford Union.


title: Thorpe affair

text: In 1952, while studying at the Inner Temple prior to his call to the bar, Thorpe was adopted as prospective Liberal parliamentary candidate for the North Devon constituency, a Conservative-held seat where, at the 1951 general election, the Liberals had finished in third place behind Labour. Thorpe worked in the constituency tirelessly, using the slogan "A Vote for the Liberals is a Vote for Freedom", and at the 1955 general election, had halved the sitting Conservative MP James Lindsay's majority. Four years later, in October 1959, he captured the seat with a majority of 362, one of six successful Liberals in what was generally an electoral triumph for the Conservative Macmillan government.


title: Thorpe affair

text: The writer and former MP Matthew Parris described Thorpe as one of the more dashing among the new MPs elected in 1959. Thorpe's chief political interest lay in the field of human rights, and his speeches criticising apartheid in South Africa attracted the attention of the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS), who took note of this rising star in the Liberal Party. Thorpe was briefly considered as best man at the 1960 wedding of his Eton contemporary Antony Armstrong-Jones to Princess Margaret, but was rejected when vetting checks indicated that he might have homosexual tendencies. The security agency MI5, which routinely keeps records on all Members of Parliament, added this information to Thorpe's file.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Norman Josiffe was born in Sidcup, Kent, on 12 February 1940—he did not assume the name Scott until 1967. His mother was Ena Josiffe, née Lynch; Albert Josiffe, her second husband, abandoned the family home soon after Norman's birth. Norman's early childhood was relatively happy and stable. After leaving school at 15 with no qualifications, he acquired a pony by means of an animal charity, and became a competent rider. When he was 16 he was prosecuted for the theft of a saddle and some pony feed, and was put on probation. With the encouragement of his probation officer he took lessons at Westerham Riding School at Oxted in Surrey, and eventually found work at a stable in Altrincham in Cheshire. After moving there he chose to cut all links with his family, and began to call himself "Lianche-Josiffe" ("Lianche" being a stylised version of "Lynch"). He also hinted at an aristocratic background, and of family tragedies that had left him orphaned and alone.


title: Thorpe affair

text: In 1959 Josiffe moved to the Kingham Stables in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, where he learned dressage while working as a groom. The stables were owned by Norman Vater, the self-made son of a coalminer who, like Josiffe, had inflated his name and was known as "Brecht Van de Vater". In the course of his rise, Vater had made numerous friends in higher social circles, among them Thorpe. Initially, Josiffe was settled and happy at the stables, but his relationship with Vater deteriorated in the face of the latter's assertive and demanding manner, and he was unable to form good relationships with his fellow-workers. He began to evidence the kind of behaviour which a journalist would later summarise as his "extraordinary talent for wheedling his way into people's sympathy before turning their lives to misery with his hysterical temper-tantrums."


title: Thorpe affair

text: Peter Bessell, eight years older than Thorpe, had a successful business career before entering Liberal politics in the 1950s. He came to the party leadership's attention in 1955 when, as the Liberal candidate in the Torquay by-election, he substantially increased his party's vote in the first of a series of impressive Liberal results during the 1955–59 parliament. He was subsequently selected as candidate for the more winnable constituency of Bodmin, and became both an admirer and personal friend of Thorpe, who in turn was impressed by Bessell's apparent business acumen. At Bodmin in the 1959 general election, Bessell reduced the Conservative majority, and he followed this in the October 1964 election with victory by over 3,000 votes. With the prestige of the letters "MP" after his name, Bessell set out in pursuit of serious money-making, while staying close to Thorpe whom he considered the likely next leader of the Liberal Party.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Bessell noted that Thorpe, for all his gregariousness and warmth, appeared to have no female friends and lacked any interest in women. The former Liberal MP Frank Owen confided to Bessell his suspicions that Thorpe was homosexual; other West Country Liberals had formed the same opinion. Aware that exposure as a gay man would end Thorpe's career, Bessell became his self-appointed protector, even to the extent, he later said, of falsely claiming to be bisexual, as a means of acquiring his friend's confidence.


title: Thorpe affair

text: David Holmes, one of four assistant treasurers of the Liberal Party appointed by Thorpe in 1965, had been best man at Thorpe's wedding and was completely loyal to him. He was godfather to Thorpe's son Rupert, born in 1969. Holmes took over the role of Thorpe's protector after Bessell moved to the United States in January 1974. When charged in 1978, he was described as David Malcolm Holmes (48), merchant banker, of Eaton Place, Belgravia. He died in 1990, leaving a substantial fortune.


title: Thorpe affair

text: In late 1960 or early 1961, Thorpe visited Vater at the Kingham Stables, and briefly met Josiffe. He was sufficiently taken with the young man to suggest that, should Josiffe ever need help, he should call on him at the House of Commons. Soon after this, Josiffe left the stables after a serious disagreement with Vater. He then suffered a mental breakdown, and for much of 1961 was under psychiatric care. On 8 November 1961, a week after discharging himself from the Ashurst clinic in Oxford, Josiffe went to the House of Commons to see Thorpe. He was penniless, homeless and, worse, had left Vater's employment without the National Insurance card which, at that time, was essential for obtaining regular work and access to social and unemployment benefits. Thorpe promised he would help.


title: Thorpe affair

text: According to Josiffe's account, a homosexual liaison with Thorpe began that same evening, at the home of Thorpe's mother Ursula Thorpe (née Norton-Griffiths, 1903–1992) in Oxted and continued for several years. Thorpe, while acknowledging that a friendship developed, denied any sexual dimension in the relationship. Thorpe organised accommodation for Josiffe in London, and a longer-term stay with a family in Barnstaple, in the North Devon constituency. He paid for advertisements in "Country Life" magazine, in an effort to find work with horses for his friend, arranged various temporary jobs, and promised to help Josiffe to realise an ambition to study dressage in France. On the basis of Josiffe's claim that his father had died in an air crash, Thorpe's solicitors investigated whether any money was due, but found that Albert Josiffe was alive and well in Orpington.


title: Thorpe affair

text: When, early in 1962, the police questioned Josiffe about the alleged theft of a suede jacket, Thorpe persuaded the investigating officer that Josiffe was recovering from mental illness, and was under his care. No further action was taken. In April 1962 Josiffe obtained a replacement National Insurance card which, he later said, was retained by Thorpe who had assumed the role of his employer. This was denied by Thorpe, and the "missing card" remained an ongoing source of grievance for Josiffe. He began to feel marginalised by Thorpe, and in December 1962, in a fit of depression, confided to a friend his intention to shoot the MP and commit suicide. The friend alerted the police, to whom Josiffe gave a detailed statement of his sexual relations with Thorpe, and produced letters to support his story. None of this evidence impressed the police sufficiently for them to take action, although a report on the matter was added to Thorpe's MI5 file.


title: Thorpe affair

text: In 1963, a relatively calm period in Josiffe's life as a riding instructor in Northern Ireland ended after he was seriously hurt in an accident at the Dublin Horse Show. He moved back to England, and eventually found a job at a riding school in Wolverhampton, where he stayed for several months before his erratic behaviour proved too much, and he was asked to leave. After a period of aimlessness in London, Josiffe saw an advertisement for a groom's post in Porrentruy in Switzerland. Thorpe used his influence to secure him the job. Josiffe left for Switzerland in December 1964, but returned to England almost immediately with complaints that conditions were impossible. In his hurry to depart he left his suitcase behind, which contained letters and other documents that, he believed, supported his claims to a sexual relationship with Thorpe.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Thorpe proved to be a lively and witty performer in the cut and thrust of parliamentary debates, and his presence in the House of Commons was soon noticed. In July 1962, in the wake of some disastrous Conservative by-election performances, Macmillan sacked seven cabinet ministers in what was known as the "Night of the Long Knives". Thorpe's comment—"Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life"—was widely regarded in the press as the most apt verdict on the prime minister. Thorpe raised his political profile with effective attacks on government bureaucracy, and in the October 1964 general election was returned in North Devon with an increased majority. A year later he secured the office of Liberal Party treasurer, a significant step towards his ambition to become the next party leader.


title: Thorpe affair

text: By early 1965 Josiffe was in Dublin, where he worked at various horse-related jobs while continuing to badger Thorpe by letter about his missing luggage and the continuing National Insurance card issue. Thorpe rejected any responsibility for these matters. In mid-March 1965 Josiffe wrote a long letter to Thorpe's mother, which began: "For the last five years, as you probably know, Jeremy and I have had a homosexual relationship." The letter blamed Thorpe for awakening "this vice that lies latent in every man", and accused him of callousness and disloyalty. Ursula Thorpe gave the letter to her son, who drafted a quasi-legal statement rejecting the "damaging and groundless accusations" and accusing Josiffe of attempting to blackmail him. The document was never sent; instead, Thorpe turned to Bessell for advice.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Bessell, anxious to be of service to his party's highest-profile figure, flew to Dublin in April 1965. He found that Josiffe was being advised by a sympathetic Jesuit priest, Father Sweetman, who believed that at least some of Josiffe's allegations might be true; otherwise, he asked Bessell, why had he flown all the way from London to deal with them? Bessell warned Josiffe of the consequences of attempting to blackmail a public figure, but in a more conciliatory vein promised to help recover the missing luggage and insurance card. He also hinted at the possibility of an equestrian job in America. Bessell's intervention appeared to contain the problem, particularly as Josiffe's suitcase was recovered shortly afterwards—although letters implicating Thorpe had been removed. For most of the following two years Josiffe remained largely quiescent in Ireland, attempting to establish himself in various careers; part of this time was spent in a monastery. It was during this period that he formally adopted the name of Scott.


title: Thorpe affair

text: In April 1967 Scott wrote to Bessell from Ireland, asking for help in obtaining a passport in his changed name so that he could begin a new life in America. A second, less positive letter, dated July, indicated that Scott had returned to England and was once again in difficulties, with medical bills and other debts. His lack of an insurance card prevented him from claiming benefits. By this time, Thorpe had succeeded Jo Grimond as leader of the Liberal Party. To resolve Scott's immediate problems, and to prevent a resumption of his tirades against the new party leader, Bessell began paying him a "retainer" of between £5 and £10 a week, ostensibly in lieu of lost national insurance benefits. Bessell also arranged Scott's new passport, but by this time Scott had abandoned his American plans and wished to establish a career as a model. He asked Bessell for £200 to set him up; Bessell refused, but in May 1968 gave him £75, on the understanding there would be no further demands for a year.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Thorpe's leadership of the Liberals was not, initially, an unqualified success; his local campaigning skills did not readily transfer to set speeches on national or international issues, and some sections of the party became restless. His engagement to Caroline Allpass, announced in April 1968, reassured those in the party who had reservations about his private life; others were shocked by Thorpe's emphasis on the political motivation for the marriage—worth five points in the polls, he opined to Mike Steele, the party's press officer. For much of 1968 Thorpe was untroubled by Scott, who had acquired new friends and, according to Bessell, had burned his Thorpe letters. His reappearance in November 1968, again penniless and without prospect of work, was particularly unwelcome to Thorpe, as he fought to establish his leadership credentials. Bessell provided immediate relief by resuming the weekly cash retainer, but this was a short-term respite.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Early in December 1968 Bessell was summoned to Thorpe's office in the House of Commons. According to Bessell, Thorpe said of Scott: "We've got to get rid of him", and later: "It is no worse than shooting a sick dog." Bessell said later that he was unsure whether Thorpe was serious, but decided to play along, by discussing various ways of getting rid of Scott's body. Thorpe supposedly thought that disposal down one of Cornwall's many disused tin mines offered the best option, and also suggested his friend David Holmes as an appropriate assassin.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Bessell further maintained that in January 1969 Thorpe called him to a meeting together with Holmes, and that again Thorpe put forward suggestions for eliminating Scott. These were dismissed as impractical or ridiculous by Bessell and Holmes, who nevertheless agreed to give the matter further consideration. They hoped, said Bessell, that if they stalled, Thorpe would see the absurdity of his murder scheme and abandon it. Holmes, who largely confirmed Bessell's account of the meeting, later justified this decision on the grounds that "if we had simply said no, he might have gone elsewhere—and that might have led to an even greater disaster." According to Bessell and Holmes, discussions of the plan ended in May 1969, after the surprising news of Scott's wedding that month.


title: Thorpe affair

text: By early 1971, Thorpe's political career had stalled. He had led the party to a disastrous performance in the general election of June 1970; in an unexpected victory for the Conservatives under Edward Heath, the Liberals lost seven of their thirteen parliamentary seats, and Thorpe's majority in North Devon fell to below 400. Bessell, with mounting business worries, did not stand for re-election in Bodmin. Thorpe faced censure for his conduct of a campaign during which he had spent extravagantly and left the party on the verge of bankruptcy; but the matter was put aside in a wave of sympathy when his wife Caroline was killed in a road accident 11 days after the election. Thorpe was devastated; he continued as leader, but for the next year performed little beyond routine party duties.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Meanwhile, Bessell's efforts ensured that for the time being the Scott threat was kept at bay. The missing insurance card meant that Scott's wife, who was pregnant, could not claim maternity benefits. Scott threatened to talk to newspapers, but the matter was resolved by the issue of an emergency card after Bessell's intervention at the Department of Health and Social Security. In 1970 Scott's marriage collapsed; he blamed Thorpe, and again threatened exposure. Bessell successfully prevented Thorpe's name being mentioned in court during the divorce proceedings, and arranged that Thorpe would anonymously pay the legal costs. Early in 1971 Scott moved to a cottage in the village of Tal-y-bont in North Wales, where he befriended a widow, Gwen Parry-Jones. He sufficiently persuaded her of his mistreatment at the hands of Thorpe that she contacted the Liberal MP for the adjoining constituency of Montgomeryshire—Emlyn Hooson, on the right wing of the party and a friend of neither Thorpe nor Bessell. Hooson suggested a meeting at the House of Commons.


title: Thorpe affair

text: On 26 and 27 May 1971 Scott told his story to Hooson and David Steel, the Liberals' chief whip. Neither was fully convinced, but felt the matter warranted further investigation. Against Thorpe's wishes, a confidential party enquiry was arranged for 9 June, to be chaired by Lord Byers, the leader of the Liberals in the House of Lords. At the enquiry Byers took a tough line against Scott, failing to offer him a chair and treating him, Scott said, "like a boy at school up before the headmaster." Byers's unsympathetic manner quickly unsettled Scott, who changed the details of his story several times and frequently broke down in tears. Byers suggested that Scott was a common blackmailer who needed psychiatric help. Declaring that Byers was a "pontificating old sod", Scott fled the room. The enquiry then questioned police officers about letters which Scott had shown to the police in 1962, but were told that these were inconclusive. Thorpe persuaded the Home Secretary, Reginald Maudling, and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, John Waldron, to inform Byers that there was no police interest in Thorpe's activities, and no evidence of wrongdoing on his part. As a result, the enquiry dismissed Scott's allegations.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Angry at his treatment by the Byers inquiry, Scott sought other means of pursuing his vendetta against Thorpe. In June 1971 he met Gordon Winter, a South African journalist who was also an agent for the South African intelligence agency BOSS. Scott provided details of his supposed seduction by Thorpe, a story which Winter assured his BOSS masters would destroy Thorpe and the Liberal Party. He found that no newspaper would print the story on largely uncorroborated and unreliable evidence. In March 1972 Scott's friend Gwen Parry-Jones died; Scott used the inquest to denounce Thorpe for ruining his life and driving Parry-Jones to her death. None of these accusations were published. Depressed, Scott retreated into a state of torpor, assisted by tranquillisers, and for a while presented no threat to Thorpe.


title: Thorpe affair

text: In 1972 and 1973 Thorpe's political fortunes, and those of the Liberals, revived. Thorpe's personal standing was enhanced when, on 14 March 1973, he married Marion, Countess of Harewood, whose former husband was a first cousin to the Queen. After a series of by-election victories and local government gains, an electoral breakthrough for the party looked plausible when Heath called a general election in February 1974. In that election, with more than six million votes (19.3% of those cast), the Liberals achieved by far their best election result since the Second World War, but under the first-past-the-post voting system this large vote translated into only 14 seats. As neither major party won an overall majority, these seats gave Thorpe (whose personal majority in North Devon increased to 11,072) significant leverage. He was briefly in coalition discussions with Heath, who was prepared to give cabinet posts to Thorpe and other senior Liberals. Thorpe later denied that there was any serious prospect of agreement, and in March 1974 Harold Wilson formed a minority Labour government. In the second 1974 general election, in October, Wilson achieved a narrow majority; the Liberals lost ground, with 5.3 million votes and 13 MPs.


title: Thorpe affair

text: After Parry-Jones's death Scott lived quietly for a while in the West Country. In January 1974 he met Tim Keigwin, Thorpe's Conservative opponent in North Devon, and gave his version of his relationship with Thorpe. Keigwin was advised by the Conservative leadership that the material should not be used. Scott also confided in his doctor, Ronald Gleadle, who was treating him for depression. He had shown Gleadle his dossier of documents; the doctor, without Scott's knowledge or consent, sold the papers to Holmes, who had assumed the role of Thorpe's protector after Bessell settled permanently in California in January 1974. Holmes paid £2,500 for the documents, which were promptly burned in the home of Thorpe's solicitor. A further cache of papers was discovered in November 1974, by builders renovating a London office formerly used by Bessell. They found a briefcase containing letters and photographs that apparently compromised Thorpe, among them Scott's 1965 letter to Ursula Thorpe. Undecided what to do with their find, they took it to the "Sunday Mirror" newspaper. Sidney Jacobson, the paper's deputy chairman, decided not to publish the material and passed the briefcase and its content to Thorpe. Copies of the documents were kept in the newspaper's files.


title: Thorpe affair

text: In their analysis of the case, the journalists Simon Freeman and Barry Penrose state that Thorpe probably formed the outline of a plan to silence Scott early in 1974, after the latter's re-emergence became a matter of increasing concern. Holmes later said that Thorpe was insistent that Scott be killed: "[Jeremy felt] he would never be safe with that man around". Uncertain how to proceed, late in 1974 Holmes approached a business acquaintance, a carpet salesman named John Le Mesurier (not to be confused with the actor of that name). Le Mesurier introduced Holmes to George Deakin, a fruit machine salesman who, he thought, would have contacts with people who might be prepared to deal with Scott. Holmes and Le Mesurier concocted a story involving a blackmailer who needed to be frightened off; Deakin agreed to help. In February 1975 Deakin met Andrew Newton, an airline pilot, who said he was willing to deal with Scott for an appropriate fee—between £5,000 and £10,000 was suggested. Deakin put Newton in touch with Holmes. Newton always said that he had been hired to kill, not frighten, citing the size of the fee that he was offered—too much, he said, simply to scare someone.


title: Thorpe affair

text: While these arrangements proceeded, Thorpe wrote to Sir Jack Hayward, the Bahamas-based millionaire businessman, who had given generously to the Liberal Party in the past. In the wake of the Liberals' February 1974 election successes, Thorpe asked for £50,000 to replenish the party's funds. He further requested that £10,000 of this sum be paid, not into the party's regular accounts but to Nadir Dinshaw, an acquaintance of Thorpe's who was resident in the Channel Islands. Thorpe explained that this subterfuge was necessary to deal with a special category of unspecific election expenses. Hayward trusted Thorpe, and sent the £10,000 to Dinshaw who, instructed by Thorpe, passed the money to Holmes. After the October 1974 election Thorpe again requested funds from Hayward, and again asked that £10,000 be sent via the Dinshaw route. Hayward obliged, though this time with more reluctance and after some delay. No accounting of this £20,000 was ever provided; Holmes, Le Mesurier and Deakin all said that it was used to finance a "conspiracy to frighten", although they disagreed as to how much was spent. Thorpe later changed the story he had given Hayward about special categories of election expenses, and said he had deposited the sum with accountants "as an iron reserve against any shortage of funds at any subsequent election." He denied that he had authorised any payment to Newton or to anyone else connected with the case.


title: Thorpe affair

text: Newton met Holmes early in October 1975 when, the former claimed, he was given a down payment on a fee of £10,000. Holmes later denied any such transaction, admitting only an agreement that Newton would carry out a frightening operation. On 12 October Newton, calling himself "Peter Keene", drove to Barnstaple in a yellow Mazda car where he approached Scott, claiming to have been hired to protect Scott from a supposed Canadian hit man. This seemed plausible to Scott, who had been beaten up a few weeks earlier, and he agreed to meet "Keene" at a later date. He was sufficiently cautious to ask a friend to make a note of the stranger's car registration number.


title: Thorpe affair

text: On 24 October Newton, now driving a Ford saloon, met Scott by arrangement in Combe Martin, just north of Barnstaple. Newton explained that he had to drive to Porlock, about 25 miles away, and suggested that Scott accompany him—he and Scott could talk on the journey. Scott had with him his recently acquired pet dog, a Great Dane called Rinka; this disconcerted Newton, who was afraid of dogs, but Scott insisted that Rinka go with them. At Porlock, Newton left Scott and Rinka at a hotel while he supposedly dealt with his business. He picked them up shortly after 8 pm, and they began the drive back to Combe Martin. On a deserted stretch of road, Newton began to drive erratically, feigning tiredness, and accepted Scott's suggestion that he take over the driving. They stopped; Scott got out, followed by Rinka, and ran round to the driver's side, where he found Newton, gun in hand. Newton shot the dog in the head and, saying "It's your turn now", pointed the gun at Scott. The pistol failed to fire several times; eventually Newton jumped into the car and drove away, leaving Scott and the dead or dying dog by the roadside.


title: Thorpe affair

text: After Scott had been picked up in a distressed state by a passing car, the police were notified, and began enquiries. Newton was quickly identified through the Mazda's registration number, and arrested; his story was that Scott was blackmailing him and that the shooting had been intended to frighten him. He made no mention of any deal with Holmes, perhaps calculating that by keeping silent he would maximise his chances of payment from that quarter.


title: Thorpe affair

text: On 12 December 1975 "Private Eye" included another short teasing piece by Auberon Waugh which ended: "My only hope is that sorrow over his friend's dog will not cause Mr Thorpe's premature retirement from public life". By this time most newspapers knew of the stories surrounding Thorpe and Scott, but were wary of libel; according to Parris, by keeping silent they were "serving notice on Thorpe that they knew a bigger story must break, and could wait for it". In January 1976 Scott appeared before magistrates on a minor social security fraud charge, and stated that he was being hounded because of his previous sexual relationship with Thorpe. This claim, made in court and therefore protected from the libel laws, was widely reported.


title: Thorpe affair

text: The "Daily Mail" had meanwhile discovered Bessell's whereabouts in California, and on 3 February 1976 carried a long interview with the former MP. Bessell's claim that he had been blackmailed by Scott provided Thorpe with temporary cover. On 6 March newspapers reported Holmes's purchase of Scott's dossier from Gleadle, and a few days later David Steel discovered from Dinshaw, a personal friend, that £20,000 intended for the party had been diverted to Holmes and was unaccounted for. Steel told Thorpe that he should resign, but he refused. In an attempt to reassure his wavering parliamentary colleagues, on 14 March Thorpe made arrangements with "The Sunday Times" newspaper to publish a detailed rebuttal of Scott's charges, under the heading "The Lies of Norman Scott".


title: Thorpe affair

text: Newton's trial took place at Exeter Crown Court from 16 to 19 March 1976, where Scott repeated his allegations against Thorpe despite the efforts of the prosecution's lawyers to steer him away. Newton was found guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, but he did not incriminate Thorpe. Thorpe's difficulties increased when Bessell, fearing for his own position and perhaps scenting the possibility of making money, changed his stance and confessed in the "Daily Mail" on 6 May that he had lied to protect his former friend. A further concern for Thorpe was the danger that newspapers would publish letters he had sent to Scott early in their friendship. In an effort to forestall this, Thorpe arranged for the publication of two of the letters in "The Sunday Times", a paper generally sympathetic towards him. In one of these letters Thorpe referred to Scott by the pet name "Bunnies". The tone of this letter convinced readers and commentators that Thorpe had not been frank about the nature of the relationship. On 10 May 1976 he resigned as Liberal leader amid rising criticism, again categorically denying Scott's allegations but acknowledging the damage that they were inflicting on the party.


title: Thorpe affair

text: After Thorpe's resignation the relative lack of press attention to the story for 18 months disguised the extent to which investigative reporting continued. Barry Penrose and Roger Courtiour, collectively known as "Pencourt", had originally been hired by Wilson after his retirement, to investigate the former prime minister's theory that Thorpe was a target of South African intelligence agencies. Pencourt's investigations led them to Bessell, who gave them his account of a conspiracy to murder Scott, and Thorpe's role in it. Before they could publish, they were scooped; Newton, released from prison in October 1977, sold his story to the London "Evening News". He said that he had been paid £5,000 to kill Scott, and provided photographs of him receiving payment from Le Mesurier. A lengthy police inquiry followed, at the end of which Thorpe, Holmes, Le Mesurier and Deakin were charged with conspiracy to murder. Thorpe was additionally charged with incitement to murder, on the basis of his 1969 meetings with Bessell and Holmes. After being released on bail, Thorpe declared: "I am totally innocent of this charge and will vigorously challenge it".


title: Thorpe affair

text: On 2 August 1978 Thorpe participated in a House of Commons debate about the future of Rhodesia, but thereafter played no further active part in parliament, although he remained North Devon's member. At the Liberals' 1978 annual assembly in Southport, he embarrassed the leadership by making a theatrical entrance and taking his place on the platform.


title: Thorpe affair

text: The prosecution set out its case at the pre-trial committal hearing, which began in Minehead on 20 November 1978. At the request of Deakin's counsel, reporting restrictions were lifted, which meant that newspapers were free to print anything said in court without fear of the libel laws. This move infuriated Thorpe, who had hoped for an "in camera" hearing which would avoid unfortunate newspaper headlines and perhaps lead to the dismissal of the case. Whatever the outcome, Thorpe knew that the adverse publicity would destroy his career, and that Scott would thus have his revenge. As the hearings began, Bessell described the 1969 meetings where he alleged that Thorpe had suggested that Holmes should kill Scott, including the comment about the shooting of a sick dog. The court learned that Bessell had a contract with "The Sunday Telegraph", which was paying him £50,000 for his story. Dinshaw gave evidence of the £20,000 he had received from Hayward and passed to Holmes, and of subsequent attempts by Thorpe to obscure the details of these transactions. Newton testified that Holmes had wanted Scott killed: "He would prefer it if [Scott] vanished from the face of the earth and was never seen again. It was left to me how to do it". Scott gave clinical details of his alleged seduction by Thorpe at Thorpe's mother's house in November 1961 and on other occasions, and also recounted his ordeal on the moors above Porlock Hill. Scott contended that homosexuality was an incurable disease, with which Thorpe had infected him, and that Thorpe therefore should be held responsible for Scott's lifelong care. At the end of the hearing the presiding magistrate committed the four defendants for trial at the Central Criminal Court, commonly known as the Old Bailey.


title: Thorpe affair

text: In March 1979 the Labour government fell on a vote of no confidence, and a general election was called for 3 May. This led to a brief delay in the start of the trial as Thorpe, who still had a following among North Devon Liberals, was adopted as their candidate in the election. Largely isolated from his party's national campaign, he lost the seat to Conservative Antony Speller by over 8,000 votes. "Private Eye"s Auberon Waugh, a West Country resident and close follower of the case, mocked Thorpe by standing in the North Devon constituency as a candidate for the "Dog Lovers' Party". His election address concluded with: "Rinka is "not" forgotten. Rinka lives. Woof, woof! Vote Waugh to give all dogs the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Thorpe obtained an injunction against the distribution of Waugh's election literature. Waugh received 79 votes, as against 31,811 for the winning Conservative and 23,338 for Thorpe.


title: Thorpe affair

text: The trial began on 8 May, under Sir Joseph Cantley, a relatively obscure High Court judge with limited experience of high-profile cases. To conduct his defence Thorpe engaged George Carman, who had established a criminal law practice on the Northern Circuit in Manchester; this was his first high-profile national case. Carman undermined Bessell's credibility by revealing his financial interest in Thorpe's conviction: his newspaper contract provided that in the event of acquittal, only half the £50,000 would be paid. In his 2016 account of the Thorpe affair, John Preston records that after observing Bessell's demeanour in court, the "Sunday Telegraph" cancelled its contract with him. The judge left no doubt as to his own low opinion of Bessell's character; Auberon Waugh, who was writing a book on the trial, thought that Cantley's general attitude to other prosecution witnesses became increasingly one-sided. On 7 June Deakin testified that although he had put Newton in touch with Holmes, he had thought that this was to help someone to deal with a blackmailer—he knew nothing of a conspiracy to kill. Deakin was the only defendant to testify; the others all chose to remain silent and call no witnesses, believing that, based on the testimonies of Bessell, Scott and Newton, the prosecution had failed to make its case. During his closing speech on behalf of Thorpe, Carman raised the possibility that Holmes and others might have organised a conspiracy without Thorpe's knowledge.


title: Thorpe affair

text: On 18 June the judge began his summing-up. He drew the jury's attention to the previous good character of the defendants, whom he characterised as "men of hitherto unblemished reputation." Cantley described Thorpe as "a national figure with a very distinguished public record". The judge was scathing about the principal witnesses: Bessell was a "humbug" whose contract with "The Sunday Telegraph" was "deplorable"; Scott was a fraud, a sponger, a whiner, a parasite—"but of course he could still be telling the truth. It is a question of belief." Newton was characterised as a perjurer and a chump, "determined to milk the case as hard as he can." The mystery surrounding the £20,000 that Thorpe had obtained from Hayward was dismissed as an irrelevance: "The fact that a man obtains money by deceit does not [prove] that the man was a member of a conspiracy." Waugh felt that the judge's lack of even-handedness could well provoke a counteraction against the accused from the jury. The summing-up became the subject of a scathing parody by the satirist Peter Cook.


title: Thorpe affair

text: The jury retired during the morning of 20 June. They returned just over two days later, and acquitted all four defendants on all charges. The judge awarded costs to Deakin, but not to Holmes or Le Mesurier whom he thought had been insufficiently co-operative in the enquiry. Thorpe made no application for costs. In a brief public statement, he said that he considered the verdict as "totally fair, just and a complete vindication." David Steel, on behalf of the Liberal Party, welcomed the verdict as "a great relief", and hoped that Thorpe would, "after a suitable period of rest and recuperation ... find many avenues where his great talents may be used." In North Devon Thorpe's acquittal was celebrated with a thanksgiving service at which the presiding vicar, The Rev. John Hornby, gave thanks to God "for the ministry of His servant Jeremy ...The darkness is now past and the true light shines. This is the day the Lord hath made! Now is the day of our salvation!"


title: Thorpe affair

text: Despite the acquittal, the broader public perception was strong that Thorpe had not behaved well, nor had he adequately explained himself. Ronald Herniman, the Archdeacon of Barnstaple, who was critical of Hornby's melodramatic thanksgiving service, wrote: "There is a great deal of unhappiness about the result at the Old Bailey. As far as most people are concerned, the trial ended with a big question mark over the case". Prevented by his party from a return to active politics, in 1982 Thorpe was appointed by Amnesty International as director of its British section, but after protests from the organisation's staff, he withdrew. Not long afterwards, Thorpe first showed signs of the Parkinson's disease that led to his almost complete withdrawal into private life in the mid-1980s. There was a political reconciliation when, in 1988, following the merger of the Liberals and the Social Democratic Party, the newly formed North Devon Liberal Democrat association made him their honorary president. When he attended the Liberal Democrat party conference in 1997 he received a standing ovation. In 1999, Thorpe published his political memoir, "In My Own Time", in which he justified his silence at the trial, and stated that he had never doubted the outcome. Nine years later, in January 2008, Thorpe gave his first press interview in 25 years, to "The Guardian". Referring to the affair he said: "If it happened now I think the public would be kinder. Back then they were very troubled by it ... It offended their set of values." Thorpe died on 4 December 2014.


title: Thorpe affair

text: After the trial Le Mesurier kept a low profile, after unsuccessful attempts to sell "the real story" to national newspapers. In June 1981, in a series of articles printed in the "News of the World", Holmes reasserted his allegation that Thorpe had asked him to kill Scott: "The incitement charge which Jeremy faced was true, and if I had gone into the witness box I'd have had to tell the truth." Holmes, who died in 1990, had previously admitted his participation in a conspiracy to "frighten" Scott, though not to kill him. Bessell's account of the affair was published in America in 1980. He died in 1985; his final years were devoted to a campaign to stop the erosion of the San Diego beaches in California. Newton, like Le Mesurier, attempted to cash in on the case, but failed to find a newspaper willing to print his story. Scott's comments on the affair, immediately after the trial verdict, were that he was unsurprised by the outcome, but was upset by the aspersions on his character made by the judge from the safety of the bench. In December 2014, Scott, then aged 74, was reported to have recently relocated from Devon to Ireland, although John Preston, in his 2016 account, places him "in a village on Dartmoor ... with seventy hens, three horses, a cat, a parrot, a canary, and five dogs."


title: Thorpe affair

text: In a BBC investigative documentary broadcast in December 2014, an antique firearms collector named Dennis Meighan claimed that he had been hired by an unidentified senior Liberal to kill Scott, for a fee of £13,500. Having initially agreed, Meighan says, he changed his mind, but provided Newton with the gun used in the shooting. After confessing to the police, he was asked to sign a prepared statement which, according to him, "left everything out that was incriminating, but at the same time everything I said about the Liberal Party, Jeremy Thorpe, et cetera, was left out as well." The BBC's Tom Mangold said that Meighan's account, if true, indicated the existence of "a conspiracy at the very highest level". In 2016 the Avon and Somerset police passed their files to Gwent Police, for an independent review of the original investigation. After the police came to the conclusion that Andrew Newton had died, the Crown Prosecution Service closed the case. In 2018, Gwent Police reported that they had "now revisited these enquiries and have identified information which indicates that Newton may still be alive", therefore re-opening lines of inquiry. On 4 June 2018 the force announced that they had interviewed Newton, who had been living under a new name, Hann Redwin, in Dorking, Surrey, but that he had given no new useful information, and so the case would remain closed.


title: Thorpe affair

text: At the 1979 "Secret Policeman's Ball", in aid of Amnesty International, the biased summing up speech by Mr Justice Cantley was parodied by Peter Cook. The sketch was written and delivered shortly after the trial, and was, according to Freeman and Penrose, "actually not that different from the original". The nine-minute opus, "Entirely a Matter for You", is considered to be one of the finest works of Cook's career. Cook and show producer Martin Lewis brought out an album on Virgin Records entitled "Here Comes the Judge: Live" of the live performance together with three studio tracks that further lampooned the Thorpe trial.


title: Thorpe affair

text: In 2016, approximately a year and a half after Thorpe's death, Viking Press published "A Very English Scandal", a true crime non-fiction novel about the affair by journalist John Preston. In May 2018, BBC One broadcast a three-part television miniseries adaptation of the book, written by Russell T Davies, likewise titled "A Very English Scandal", directed by Stephen Frears and starring Hugh Grant as Thorpe and Ben Whishaw as Scott.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: Hot Pink is the second studio album by American singer and rapper Doja Cat. It was released on November 7, 2019, by Kemosabe and RCA Records. A departure from the sound of her debut album "Amala" (2018), "Hot Pink" is a pop and R&B record containing elements of funk, hip hop and soul. It was written by Doja Cat alongside other songwriters and producers, with production from Yeti Beats and Tyson Trax. Guest vocals are contributed by Smino, Gucci Mane, and Tyga.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who praised "Hot Pink" for its versatility and incorporation of various music genres. "Hot Pink" was famed for its longevity and ability to produce singles long after its release, spawning seven singles between 2019 and 2021. In 2020, "Say So" became Doja Cat's first number-one single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 after being remixed by rapper Nicki Minaj. In early 2021, "Streets" became a sleeper hit and entered the top 20 of the Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart, as well as the top ten on the "Billboard" Global 200.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: In May 2020, "Hot Pink" peaked at number nine on the US "Billboard" 200, becoming Doja Cat's first top 10 entry on the chart. It has been certified double platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album peaked in the top 40 of 12 other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and Norway. It was nominated for Favorite Soul/R&B Album at the 2020 American Music Awards and Top R&B Album at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: Doja Cat first achieved mainstream success as an internet "meme star" in August 2018 with the single "Mooo!". The consequent revival of material from her existing catalog earned Doja Cat her first two entries on the "Billboard" Hot 100, namely a 2019 remixed version of "Juicy" featuring Tyga, and "Candy". Doja Cat told the "Los Angeles Times" that she wanted "Hot Pink" to earn her more respect as a rapper. In March 2019, her debut album "Amala" (2019) was repackaged into a deluxe version featuring the solo version of "Juicy", as well as "Mooo!" and "Tia Tamera". Within the next two months, Doja Cat revealed that she was finishing up her next album, stating that she'd "never been this excited about an album in [her] life". Doja Cat revealed the album's title in July 2019, and began sharing minor details in subsequent interviews. One week before the official release of the album, Doja Cat hinted at the release of new music via Instagram. On November 2, 2019, she officially announced "Hot Pink" via her social networks. With this, Doja Cat also revealed its track listing and cover.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: Doja Cat has frequently expressed disdain for her debut studio album "Amala", stating that she believes it is not a "finished album" and that it does not entirely represent her as an artist. She has also stated that constantly partying and being under the influence of marijuana during its recording did not aid her in "perceiv[ing] what was going on musically". While recording "Hot Pink", Doja Cat ceased to smoke marijuana and subsequently discovered that her songwriting improved significantly. She found that she had felt "more concise and clear and levelheaded." In an interview with "Paper", she referred to "Hot Pink" as a firm restart for her career, and the most "refined, chiseled" representation of herself. Doja Cat's escapist fantasy worldview is reflected in the music by its upbeat production style. The record was inspired by some drastic lifestyle changes, and sees Doja Cat finally "coming into [her] own" and embracing her strengths as an artist. On the concept of the record, she said:


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: "Hot Pink" is a pop, hip-hop and R&B record, with songs varying widely in genre. The songs contain elements of rap-disco, electro-pop, pop punk and emo rap. The album was praised for its versatility, genre fluidity, and quirky lyricism. Doja Cat's usage of double-entendres and declaratives in addition to frequent pop-culture references caused the record to be described as a witty, irreverent, transgressive encapsulation of her abilities. Joshua Espinoza of "Complex" noted that it "delivers everything fans love about Doja Cat: catchy beats, sex-positive messages, and a hefty dose of humor". On its influences and variety of genres, Doja Cat said: "Yeah, this album is a lot more African influenced. I can sample Blink-182 but put an African vocal sample in there. The whole song feels like you're in a tropical forest."


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: "Hot Pink" opens with "Cyber Sex", in which Doja Cat expresses her desires to engage in the titular virtual sex encounter. This is followed by the African-influenced song "Won't Bite" featuring Smino, which samples the song "My Angel (Malaika)" by Miriam Makeba and Harry Belafonte, and was "made with Donald Glover's handiwork in mind." A fully rap song in "Rules" follows, which Nerisha Penrose of "Elle" found to be influenced by Kendrick Lamar, with Doja Cat making statements such as "Said play with my pussy, but don't play my emotions". The fourth song, "Bottom Bitch" samples the 1999 Blink-182 song "What's My Age Again?" and was noted to have taken on a more punk approach to pop, while also being inspired by the punk rock and skating scene of Southern California. On the fifth track, "Say So", Doja Cat gives a nod to the 1970s, as she "seamlessly switches between floaty vocals and skilfully contained flows over a disco-inspired beat". It is followed by "Like That" featuring rapper Gucci Mane, an upbeat R&B, hip hop song.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: Doja Cat described the seventh track, "Talk Dirty", as "angelic" and "heavenly". It is followed by the house and disco-influenced song "Addiction", which features "heavyweight synths", and "voguish '90s-inspired R&B". "Streets", the ninth track on the album, was described as a melancholy R&B ballad that sees Doja Cat "in her most serious form". This track is followed by "Shine", which was praised for its unique use of Auto-Tune and its "enchanting blend of rap and breathy lullaby". "Better Than Me", the eleventh track, was noted for "mix[ing] emo-rap with a sultry pop diva croon". The album closes with the remix of "Juicy", which contains guest vocals from rapper Tyga. It boasts a "fun, playful and devilishly flirtatious melody".


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: Over time, "Hot Pink" became known for its longevity and ability to produce singles long after its release, ultimately spawning seven singles and accompanying music videos from a total of the twelve tracks included on the album. A remixed version of the single "Juicy" featuring Tyga served as "Hot Pink"'s lead single after being released on August 15, 2019, alongside an accompanying music video. Directed by Jack Begert, the remix's music video sees Doja Cat dressed in a number of food-inspired costumes such as a sliced watermelon, a cherry sundae, and a pitcher of lemonade. The remix debuted at number 83 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Doja Cat's first career entry on the chart. Following the album's release in November 2019, it later re-entered the same chart at number 67. The song later reached a new peak of number 41 in February 2020, also peaking at number two on the Rhythmic chart.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: The second single from "Hot Pink", titled "Bottom Bitch", was released on October 3, 2019. Its release coincided with that of its accompanying music video, which sported a "girl-power, [...] early-aughts pop-punk" aesthetic and featured a variety of "teenage hijinks" including skateboarding, egging, vandalism and pranking police officers. Coinciding with the official announcement of the album on social media, the album's third single, "Rules", was released on October 24, 2019, along with a music video in which Doja Cat portrays a reptilian mafia boss. The single reached number 19 on the "Billboard" Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. The fourth single and music video, "Cyber Sex", were released on November 7, 2019, the same day as "Hot Pink". "Cyber Sex" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2020.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: Originally appearing as an album track on "Hot Pink", "Say So" became a sleeper hit after gaining popularity on the social media platform TikTok, where a dance created by user Haley Sharpe went viral. Initially entering the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 96 with no label promotion or radio airplay, it began to climb the charts after being sent to US contemporary hit radio and serviced as the fifth single from the album. This was followed by an accompanying music video on February 27, 2020, which features cameo appearances from Sharpe alongside fellow TikTok user Donté Colley. The song marked Doja Cat's first song to reach the top 20, and later the top 10 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, with the solo original version reaching number five. Following the release of the remix featuring rapper Nicki Minaj, released on May 1, 2020, "Say So" reached number one on the Hot 100, becoming both Doja Cat's and Minaj's first number one single. The song was a top 10 hit in 28 other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: "Like That" featuring Gucci Mane was serviced as the sixth single from the album in early May 2020. The song was issued to rhythmic, contemporary hit, and urban contemporary radio formats throughout May 2020. A corresponding music video was released on June 25, 2020, and was described as "dreamy" and "intergalactic" while also being noted to channel "Sailor Moon". In early 2021, an album track "Streets" became a sleeper hit after gaining popularity on TikTok where the corresponding #SilhouetteChallenge went viral. The song was pushed as the seventh single from "Hot Pink" after impacting contemporary hit radio in the United States in February. A corresponding music video directed by Christian Breslauer was released in early March 2021, starring American actor Kofi Siriboe as a taxi cab driver and Doja Cat as a display window mannequin as well as a reckless and seductive Spider-Man-like woman.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: Doja Cat announced a concert tour of North American and Europe in support of the album, entitled the Hot Pink Tour, featuring support from rappers Ashnikko and BigKlit. Tickets for this tour sold out within ten minutes, yet it was postponed and later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: Making her late night television debut, Doja Cat performed "Juicy" on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" with Tyga on November 12, 2019. At the 37th AVN Awards in late January 2020, she performed the songs "Cyber Sex" and "Juicy". In early December 2020, she performed "Rules" for Boiler Room's Energy segment in London, England. Doja Cat performed "Say So" for the first time on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in February 2020. In early March 2020, she performed "Streets" for Vevo's 2020 "Lift" campaign, with one writer calling it Doja Cat's "latest step toward world domination". In a new artist campaign organized by MTV titled "Push", Doja Cat performed "Say So" and "Juicy" in April 2020. For a continuation of the Vevo "Lift" campaign, a live performance of "Say So" was uploaded to YouTube in May 2020. Doja Cat performed "Say So" on "The Voice", wearing a pink '70s inspired costume and performed on top of a giant disco ball. She performed the song at the 2020 BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend 2020 a few days later. She performed it once again on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" in June 2020.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: At the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, Doja Cat performed a medley of "Say So" and "Like That", and also hinted at the "Planet Her" concept which would later feature in her third studio album. She also performed a Broadway-themed medley of "Say So", "Juicy" and "Like That" at the 2020 "Billboard" Music Awards. At the 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards, Doja Cat performed a hard rock version of "Say So" while referencing Samara Morgan from the horror film "The Ring" (2002). Australian guitarist Plini accused Doja Cat of using snippets from his 2016 song, "Handmade Cities" in this performance without his permission, however she shortly admitted to doing so by issuing an apology to him in the form of voice notes via Instagram private messages.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: In December 2020, Doja Cat performed "Say So" at the 10th Streamy Awards. Doja Cat uploaded six videos on YouTube as a series dubbed the "Hot Pink Sessions", which includes performances of "Talk Dirty", "Streets", and "Juicy". At iHeartRadio's 2020 Jingle Ball, Doja Cat performed "Say So" and "Juicy" as well as a cover of the song "Santa Baby" in late December 2020. She performed "Say So", "Like That" and "Juicy" at the annual Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve show. At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in March 2021, Doja Cat performed "Say So" for the last time.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: "Hot Pink" received generally positive reviews from music critics, with many praising its musical versatility, sex positivity, quirky lyricism, and genre variety. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album has an average score of 73 based on six reviews. Sandra Song of "Paper" summarized the record as "a witty, irreverent, transgressive encapsulation of [Doja Cat's] abilities", while Meaghan Garvey of "Billboard" called it "a playful, polished collection of freaky rap and R&B" and "a sultry, eccentric collection of genre-spanning bangers".


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: August Brown of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that "The album sounds like how kids live now — endlessly referential, supremely confident in their sexual mores and yet laced with something like longing and a forced-on maturity." Reflecting on 2020 in music, Ben-Beaumont Thomas of "The Guardian" described the record as "superb" and wrote that Doja Cat's "facility with earworms has made her the darling of TikTok ". Jordan Bassett of "NME" wrote that Doja Cat is "taking no chances here and, now that the smoke's lifted, it's clear she's a pop contender with the nous and drive to go as far as she wants".


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: In a review for "Consequence of Sound", Lucy Shanker opined that "["Hot Pink"] serves as a testament to Doja's skill set: Her singing, rapping, and producing shine effortlessly on the record on tracks that range in genre and topic [...] There's no question that she's in control throughout the record, even as the format reveals some weaknesses." Lakin Starling of "Pitchfork" said that Doja's versatility is a "gift", and unlike "Amala" (2018), "Hot Pink"s sound does not feel "scattered" or "semi-rushed". Erin Bashford of "Clash" called it "an album that knows exactly what it is, [...] the work of a well-crafted hip pop star with something to prove".


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: "Hot Pink" was included on multiple year-end lists. "XXL" included the album on its list of "50 of the Best Hip-Hop Projects in 2019". "Vibe" included "Hot Pink" on its list of "the 30 Best Albums of 2019". "Complex" listed the album at number 49 on its list of "the Best Albums of 2019". Kyle Rice of the "Rolling Stone" listed "Hot Pink" at number 7 on his list of the "10 Best Albums of 2019". "NME" listed "Hot Pink" at number 40 on its list of "the 50 best albums of 2019".


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: Apart from the nominations received by "Hot Pink" itself, Doja Cat was selected as a candidate for Best New Artist as well as Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance with "Say So" at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. "Hot Pink" and "Say So" also won Doja Cat "Best New Artist" awards at the 2020 American Music Awards, 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, 2021 NAACP Image Awards, 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards, 2020 People's Choice Awards, and 2020 NRJ Music Awards.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: "Hot Pink" was released on Thursday, November 7, 2019. This decision was considered unconventional, as Friday is often Global Release Day for new music. Consequently, "Hot Pink" debuted at number 93 on the US "Billboard" 200, selling 7,900 album-equivalent units. The next week, "Hot Pink" rose to number 19, earning 20,000 album-equivalent units. The album later reached a new peak of number nine on the US "Billboard" 200, as a result of "Say So" reaching number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, selling 37,000 album-equivalent units. It became her first album to reach the top 10 on the chart.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: Elsewhere, "Hot Pink" debuted at number 96 on the UK Albums Chart in mid November 2019, and later peaked at number 38 in March 2020. The album was certified gold for selling 100,000 album-equivalent units in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry in May 2021, and has spent over 35 weeks on the UK Albums Chart . "Hot Pink" also peaked in the top 20 in countries such as Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. It was also a top 10 hit in Norway, Iceland, and all three Baltic states. "Hot Pink" has also earned gold certifications in France and Poland, and platinum certifications in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, and New Zealand.


title: Hot Pink (album)

text: In late 2020, Doja Cat was awarded with a number of certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America as part of their Class of 2020 program. "Hot Pink" was certified gold for having sold more than 500,000 album-equivalent units in the United States, while "Say So" was certified triple-platinum for selling three million units, "Juicy (Remix)" featuring Tyga was certified double-platinum for selling two million units, and "Like That" featuring Gucci Mane was certified platinum for selling one million units. "Rules" and "Cyber Sex" were also both certified gold for selling 500,000 units.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: The coefficient of performance or COP (sometimes CP or CoP) of a heat pump, refrigerator or air conditioning system is a ratio of useful heating or cooling provided to work (energy) required. Higher COPs equate to higher efficiency, lower energy (power) consumption and thus lower operating costs.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: The COP usually exceeds 1, especially in heat pumps, because, instead of just converting work to heat (which, if 100% efficient, would be a COP of 1), it pumps additional heat from a heat source to where the heat is required. Most air conditioners have a COP of 2.3 to 3.5. Less work is required to move heat than for conversion into heat, and because of this, heat pumps, air conditioners and refrigeration systems can have a coefficient of performance greater than one.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: However, this does not mean that they are more than 100% efficient, in other words, no heat engine can have a thermal efficiency of 100% or greater. For complete systems, COP calculations should include energy consumption of all power consuming auxiliaries. The COP is highly dependent on operating conditions, especially absolute temperature and relative temperature between sink and system, and is often graphed or averaged against expected conditions.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: Performance of absorption refrigerator chillers is typically much lower, as they are not heat pumps relying on compression, but instead rely on chemical reactions driven by heat.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: The COP for heating and cooling are different because the heat reservoir of interest is different. When one is interested in how well a machine cools, the COP is the ratio of the heat taken up from the cold reservoir to input work. However, for heating, the COP is the ratio of the magnitude of the heat given off to the hot reservoir (which is the heat taken up from the cold reservoir plus the input work) to the input work:


title: Coefficient of performance

text: Note that the COP of a heat pump depends on its direction. The heat rejected to the hot sink is greater than the heat absorbed from the cold source, so the heating COP is greater by one than the cooling COP.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: According to the first law of thermodynamics, after a full cycle of the process formula_8 and thus formula_9.<br>


title: Coefficient of performance

text: For a heat pump operating at maximum theoretical efficiency (i.e. Carnot efficiency), it can be shown that


title: Coefficient of performance

text: where formula_14 and formula_15 are the thermodynamic temperatures of the hot and cold heat reservoirs, respectively.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: which is equal to the reciprocal of the thermal efficiency of an ideal heat engine, because a heat pump is a heat engine operating in reverse.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: In Europe, the standard test conditions for ground source heat pump units use 308 K (35 °C; 95 °F) for formula_20 and 273 K (0 °C; 32 °F) for formula_21. According to the above formula, the maximum theoretical COPs would be <br>


title: Coefficient of performance

text: Test results of the best systems are around 4.5. When measuring installed units over a whole season and accounting for the energy needed to pump water through the piping systems, seasonal COP's for heating are around 3.5 or less. This indicates room for further improvement.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: The EU standard test conditions for an air source heat pump is at dry-bulb temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) for formula_20 and 7 °C (44.6 °F) for formula_21. Given sub-zero European winter temperatures, real world heating performance is significantly poorer than such standard COP figures imply.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: As the formula shows, the COP of a heat pump system can be improved by reducing the temperature gap formula_26 minus formula_27 at which the system works. For a heating system this would mean two things: 1) reducing the output temperature to around which requires piped floor, wall or ceiling heating, or oversized water to air heaters and 2) increasing the input temperature (e.g. by using an oversized ground source or by access to a solar-assisted thermal bank ). Accurately determining thermal conductivity will allow for much more precise ground loop or borehole sizing, resulting in higher return temperatures and a more efficient system. For an air cooler, COP could be improved by using ground water as an input instead of air, and by reducing temperature drop on output side through increasing air flow. For both systems, also increasing the size of pipes and air canals would help to reduce noise and the energy consumption of pumps (and ventilators) by decreasing the speed of fluid which in turn lower the Reynolds number and hence the turbulence (and noise) and the head loss (see hydraulic head). The heat pump itself can be improved by increasing the size of the internal heat exchangers which in turn increase the efficiency (and the cost) relative to the power of the compressor, and also by reducing the system's internal temperature gap over the compressor. Obviously, this latter measure makes such heat pumps unsuitable to produce high temperatures which means that a separate machine is needed for producing hot tap water.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: The COP of absorption chillers can be improved by adding a second or third stage. Double and triple effect chillers are significantly more efficient than single effect, and can surpass a COP of 1. They require higher pressure and higher temperature steam, but this is still a relatively small 10 pounds of steam per hour per ton of cooling.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: A geothermal heat pump operating at a formula_18 of 3.5 provides 3.5 units of heat for each unit of energy consumed (i.e. 1 kWh consumed would provide 3.5 kWh of output heat). The output heat comes from both the heat source and 1 kWh of input energy, so the heat-source is cooled by 2.5 kWh, not 3.5 kWh.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: A heat pump with formula_18 of 3.5, such as in the example above, could be less expensive to use than even the most efficient gas furnace except in areas where the electricity cost per unit is higher than 3.5 times the cost of natural gas (e.g. Connecticut or New York City).


title: Coefficient of performance

text: A heat pump cooler operating at a formula_19 of 2.0 removes 2 units of heat for each unit of energy consumed (e.g. an air conditioner consuming 1 kWh would remove 2 kWh of heat from a building's air).


title: Coefficient of performance

text: Given the same energy source and operating conditions, a higher COP heat pump will consume less purchased energy than one with a lower COP. The overall environmental impact of a heating or air conditioning installation depends on the source of energy used as well as the COP of the equipment. The operating cost to the consumer depends on the cost of energy as well as the COP or efficiency of the unit. Some areas provide two or more sources of energy, for example, natural gas and electricity. A high COP of a heat pump may not entirely overcome a relatively high cost for electricity compared with the same heating value from natural gas.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: For example, the 2009 US average price per therm () of electricity was $3.38 while the average price per therm of natural gas was $1.16. Using these prices, a heat pump with a COP of 3.5 in moderate climate would cost $0.97 to provide one therm of heat, while a high efficiency gas furnace with 95% efficiency would cost $1.22 to provide one therm of heat. With these average prices, the heat pump costs 20% less to provide the same amount of heat.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: The COP of a heat pump operating at the Carnot efficiency has in its denominator the expression T - T. As the surroundings cool (T reducing) the denominator increases and COP reduces. Therefore, the colder the surroundings, the lower the COP of any heat pump. If the surroundings cool, say to 0 °F (-18 °C), COP falls in value below 3.5. Then, the same system costs as much to operate as an efficient gas heater. The yearly savings will depend on the actual cost of electricity and natural gas, which can both vary widely.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: The above example applies only for an air source heat pump. The above example assumes that the heat pump is an air-source heat pump moving heat from outside to inside, or a water source heat pump that is simply moving heat from one zone to the other. For a water source heat pump, this would only occur if the instantaneous heating load on the condenser water system exactly matches the instantaneous cooling load on the condenser water system. This could happen during the shoulder season (spring or fall), but is unlikely in the middle of the heating season. If more heat is being withdrawn by the heat pumps that are in heating mode than is being added by the heat pumps that are in cooling mode, then the boiler (or other heat source) will add heat to the condenser water system. The energy consumption and cost associated with the boiler would need to be factored in to the above comparison. For a water source system, there is also energy associated with the condenser water pumps that is not factored in to the heat pump energy consumption in the example above.


title: Coefficient of performance

text: A realistic indication of energy efficiency over an entire year can be achieved by using seasonal COP or seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP) for heat. Seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) is mostly used for air conditioning. SCOP is a new methodology that gives a better indication of expected real-life performance, using COP can be considered using the "old" scale. Seasonal efficiency gives an indication on how efficiently a heat pump operates over an entire cooling or heating season.


title: Louis Dreyfus Company

text: Louis Dreyfus Company B.V. (LDC), also called the Louis-Dreyfus Group, is a French merchant firm that is involved in agriculture, food processing, international shipping, and finance. The company owns and manages hedge funds, ocean vessels, develops and operates telecommunications infrastructures, and it is also involved in real estate development, management and ownership. Along with Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, and Cargill, the Louis-Dreyfus Group is one of the four "ABCD" companies that dominate world agricultural commodity trading.