title: In a Valley of Violence

text: On March 18, 2014, "The Hollywood Reporter" announced that the film would star John Travolta and Ethan Hawke in main roles, with Hawke portraying the film's protagonist Paul, and Travolta portraying the Marshal Clyde Martin, who has a wooden leg. On May 22, 2014, "Deadline Hollywood" reported that Taissa Farmiga had been cast as Mary-Anne, a young innkeeper. The following day, Karen Gillan was cast as Ellen, the sister of Farmiga's character. On June 3, 2014, it was announced that James Ransone had been cast in the final main role of Deputy Gilly Martin, the fiancé of Ellen and the son of the Marshal.


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: While promoting the film, West spoke about finding a "talented" dog to fill the role of Abbie, Paul's canine companion. The part was given to Jumpy, whose trainer, Omar von Muller, also trained Uggie, the late star of "The Artist" (2011).


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: Principal photography for the project began on June 23, 2014, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and lasted approximately five weeks, 25 days in total. The film was shot on 35mm film. A makeshift Western town was built at Cerro Pelon Ranch in Galisteo, New Mexico for the duration of production and was used as the primary location for filming. The elaborate set consisted of a saloon, ramshackle houses, train tracks and a feed-and-seed store. The film's cinematographer, Eric Robbins, revealed that since they were shooting on film, footage wouldn't be seen for several days. Travolta finished filming his scenes on July 16, 2014. Gillan wrapped her scenes on July 18, and Farmiga completed her scenes the following day, on July 19, 2014. On July 26, 2014, Ti West announced on his Twitter account that principal photography for the film had concluded.


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: West edited the film in Burbank, California. On September 8, 2014, West appeared on Bret Easton Ellis' podcast and discussed the filming process of "In a Valley of Violence", stating, "It's a Western from the first shot, so I'm really interested to hear people calling it slow burn ... It's a Western from frame one to the end frame, so there's no 'and then it became a Western' – it's always a Western. And that's kind of refreshing for me to make. It's just been artistically a pleasure to do." On April 22, 2015, a raw cut of the film was test screened at the ArcLight cinema in Pasadena, California. In late September 2015, West stated on his official Twitter account that the film was in the final stages of post-production.


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: On January 12, 2015, it was announced that composer Jeff Grace had been hired to write the musical score for the film, marking the fourth time Grace has scored for Ti West, having previously composed music for three of West's feature films: "Trigger Man" (2007), "The House of the Devil" (2009), and "The Innkeepers" (2011). The soundtrack album, featuring Grace's original score, was released via digital download by Back Lot Music on the same day as the film's theatrical and VOD release: October 21, 2016.


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: On August 17, 2015, the first still image from the film was released in black and white, featuring Ethan Hawke riding a horse. Two more images were released on February 25, 2016, along with a more detailed plot synopsis. In March 2016, the first poster for the film was released by "Entertainment Weekly", shortly before its world premiere. The first clip from the film, featuring Hawke and Travolta, was released in July 2016, ahead of its screening at the Fantasia International Film Festival. The official trailer debuted on "Entertainment Weekly" website on July 19, 2016.


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: "In a Valley of Violence" had its world premiere as a headlining film at South by Southwest on March 12, 2016. The film screened at the Chicago Critics Film Festival on May 25, 2016, followed by a Q&A with West, and the Seattle International Film Festival on May 28, 2016. Prior to its premiere, Focus World acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, with Universal Pictures set to distribute internationally.


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: The film was released in the United States, in a limited release and through video on demand, on October 21, 2016. It was initially reported that the film would be released on September 16.


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: "In a Valley of Violence" was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on December 27, 2016, with special features including a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film.


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: "In a Valley of Violence" was released to 33 theaters across the United States on October 21, 2016, and made $10,722 in its first day of release. In its opening weekend, the film made $29,343, for a per theater average of $889. Overall, the film made $61,797 in the United States, taking $44,738 in its first week, and $17,059 in its second and final week of release.


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: The film received positive reviews from critics. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 77% approval rating, based on 71 reviews, with a weighted average of 6.79/10. The critical consensus reads, ""In a Valley of Violence" offers a smartly conceived homage to classic Westerns that transcends pastiche with absurdist humor and a terrific cast." Metacritic reports a score of 64 out of 100, based on 20 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: In a Valley of Violence

text: Andrew Barker for "Variety" wrote, "Stripping its gunslinger plot down to the most essential pillars, the film has plenty of incidental pleasures to offer: a few chuckles, some typically Westian explosions of violence, a deliriously fun score, and a pair of perfectly solid performances from Ethan Hawke and John Travolta." John DeFore of "The Hollywood Reporter", who in his review praised the performance of Hawke but found Travolta miscast, wrote of the film, "A genre revival that's always enjoyable, even when suffering a minor personality crisis near the end." Bill Goodykoontz of the "Chicago Sun-Times" awarded the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing, "... what makes "In a Valley of Violence" a notch better than a simple genre exercise is West's sense of fun. Occasionally he overindulges it, but it serves the film well."


title: Sharon Small

text: Sharon Small is a Scottish actress known for her work in film, radio, theatre, and television. Perhaps best known for her portrayal of Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers in the BBC television adaptation of "The Inspector Lynley Mysteries" by Elizabeth George, she is also recognised for her lead roles in "" (as Inspector Elisabeth Flynn) and "Trust Me" (as Dr Brigitte Rayne).


title: Sharon Small

text: Small is the eldest of five children. She was educated at Kinghorn Primary School, where she was the Kinghorn Gala Queen in her final year, and at Balwearie High School in Kirkcaldy. Small then studied drama at Kirkcaldy College of Technology (now Fife College), and continued her study at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; ; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler joined the Communist Party of Germany, but he resigned in 1938 after becoming disillusioned with Stalinism.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Having moved to Britain in 1940, he published his novel "Darkness at Noon", an anti-totalitarian work that gained him international fame. Over the next 43 years, Koestler espoused many political causes and wrote novels, memoirs, biographies, and numerous essays. In 1949, Koestler began secretly working with a British Cold War anti-communist propaganda department known as the Information Research Department (IRD), which would republish and distribute many of his works, and also fund his activities. In 1968, he was awarded the Sonning Prize "for [his] outstanding contribution to European culture". In 1972 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1976, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and in 1979 with terminal leukaemia. On March1, 1983, Koestler and his wife Cynthia took their lives at their London home by swallowing lethal quantities of barbiturate-based Tuinal capsules.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler was born in Budapest to Jewish parents Henrik and Adele Koestler ("née" Jeiteles). He was an only child. His father Henrik Koestler was born on 18 August 1869 in the town of Miskolc in northeastern Hungary. His paternal grandfather Lipót Koestler, was a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army. In 1861 he married Karolina Schon, the daughter of a prosperous timber merchant. Their son Henrik was born several years later. Henrik left school at age 16 and took a job as an errand boy with a firm of drapers. He taught himself English, German and French, and eventually became a partner in the firm. He set up his own business importing textiles into Hungary.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Arthur's mother, Adele Jeiteles, was born on 25 June 1871 into a prominent Jewish family in Prague. Among her ancestors was , a prominent 18th-century physician and essayist, whose son Juda Jeitteles became a well-known poet. Beethoven set some of his poems to music. Adele's father, Jacob Jeiteles, moved the family to Vienna, where she grew up in relative prosperity until about 1890. Faced with financial difficulties, her father abandoned his wife and daughter, and emigrated to the United States.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Adele and her mother moved from Vienna to Budapest to stay with Adele's older married sister. Although Koestler "liked later to claim his family had flared up from nothing into sudden wealth and then vanished just as fast into exile or the gas chambers... It wasn't true: his mother was from one of the richest Jewish families in Austro-Hungary."


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Henrik Koestler met Adele in 1898 and married her in 1900. Arthur, their only child, was born on 5 September 1905. The Koestlers lived in spacious, well-furnished, rented apartments in various predominantly Jewish districts of Budapest. During Arthur's early years, they employed a cook/housekeeper, as well as a foreign governess. His primary school education started at an experimental private kindergarten founded by Laura Striker ("née" Polányi). Her daughter Eva Striker later became Koestler's lover, and they remained friends all his life.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: The outbreak of World War I in 1914 deprived Koestler's father of foreign suppliers and his business collapsed. Facing destitution, the family moved temporarily to a boarding house in Vienna. When the war ended, the family returned to Budapest.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: As noted in Koestler's autobiography, he and his family were sympathetic to the short-lived Hungarian Bolshevik Revolution of 1919. Though the small soap factory owned at the time by Koestler's father was nationalised, the elder Koestler was appointed its director by the revolutionary government and was well-paid. Even though the autobiography was published in 1953, after Koestler had become an outspoken anti-Communist, he wrote favourably of the Hungarian Communists and their leader Béla Kun. He fondly recalled the hopes for a better future he had felt as a teenager in revolutionary Budapest.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Later the Koestlers witnessed the temporary occupation of Budapest by the Romanian Army and then the White Terror under the right-wing regime of Admiral Horthy. In 1920 the family returned to Vienna, where Henrik set up a successful new import business.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In September 1922 Arthur enrolled in the Vienna Polytechnic University to study engineering, and joined a Zionist duelling student fraternity, 'Unitas.' . When Henrik's latest business failed, Koestler stopped attending lectures, and was expelled for non-payment of fees. In March 1926 he wrote a letter to his parents telling them that he was going to Mandate Palestine for a year to work as an assistant engineer in a factory, in order to gain experience to help him obtain a job in Austria. On 1 April 1926 he left Vienna for Palestine.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: For a few weeks Koestler lived in a kibbutz, but his application to join the collective ("Kvutzat Heftziba") was rejected by its members. For the next twelve months he supported himself with menial jobs in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem. Frequently penniless and starving, he often depended on friends and acquaintances for survival. He occasionally wrote or edited broadsheets and other publications, mostly in German. In early 1927 he left Palestine briefly for Berlin, where he ran the Secretariat of Ze'ev Jabotinsky's Revisionist Party.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Later that year, through a friend, Koestler obtained the position of Middle East correspondent for the prestigious Berlin-based Ullstein-Verlag group of newspapers. He returned to Jerusalem, where for the next two years he produced detailed political essays, as well as some lighter reportage, for his principal employer and for other newspapers. He was resident at this time at 29 Rehov Hanevi'im, in Jerusalem. He travelled extensively, interviewed heads of state, kings, presidents and prime ministers, and greatly enhanced his reputation as a journalist. As noted in his autobiography, he came to realise that he would never really fit into Palestine's Zionist Jewish community, the Yishuv, and particularly that he would not be able to have a journalistic career in Hebrew.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In June 1929, while on leave in Berlin, Koestler successfully lobbied at Ullstein for a transfer away from Palestine. In September he was sent to Paris to fill a vacancy in the bureau of the Ullstein News Service. In 1931, he was called to Berlin and appointed science editor of the "Vossische Zeitung" and science adviser to the Ullstein newspaper empire. In July 1931, he was Ullstein's choice to represent the paper on board the "Graf Zeppelin"'s week-long polar flight, which carried a team of scientists and the polar aviator Lincoln Ellsworth to 82 degrees North and back. Koestler was the only journalist on board: his live wireless broadcasts, and subsequent articles and lecture tours throughout Europe, brought him further kudos. Soon afterwards he was appointed foreign editor and assistant editor-in-chief of the mass-circulation "Berliner Zeitung am Mittag".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1931, Koestler, encouraged by Eva Striker, and impressed by the achievements of the Soviet Union, became a supporter of Marxism-Leninism. On 31 December 1931, he applied for membership of the Communist Party of Germany. As noted in his biography, he was disappointed in the conduct of the "Vossische Zeitung", "The Flagship of German Liberalism", which adapted to changing times by firing Jewish journalists, hiring writers with marked German Nationalist views, and dropping its longstanding campaign against capital punishment. Koestler concluded that Liberals and moderate Democrats could not stand up against the rising Nazi tide and that the Communists were the only real counter-force.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler wrote a book on the Soviet Five-Year Plan, but it did not meet with the approval of the Soviet authorities and was never published in Russian. Only the German version, extensively censored, was published in an edition for German-speaking Soviet citizens.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1932 Koestler travelled in Turkmenistan and Central Asia. In September 1933 he returned to Paris and for the next two years was active in anti-Fascist movements. He wrote propaganda under the direction of Willi Münzenberg, the Comintern's chief propaganda director in the West.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1935 Koestler married Dorothy Ascher, a fellow Communist activist. They separated amicably in 1937.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, he undertook a visit to General Francisco Franco's headquarters in Seville on behalf of the Comintern, pretending to be a Franco sympathiser and using credentials from the London daily "News Chronicle" as cover. He collected evidence of the direct involvement of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany on Franco's side, which at that time the Nationalist rebels were still trying to conceal. He had to escape after he was recognised and denounced as a Communist by a German former colleague. Back in France he wrote "L'Espagne Ensanglantée", which was later incorporated into his book "Spanish Testament".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1937 he returned to Loyalist Spain as a war correspondent for the "News Chronicle", and was in Málaga when it fell to Mussolini's troops, who were fighting on the side of the Nationalists. He took refuge in the house of retired zoologist Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, and they were both arrested by Franco's chief propagandist, Luis Bolín, who had sworn that if he ever got his hands on Koestler, he would "shoot him like a dog". From February until June, Koestler was imprisoned in Seville under sentence of death. He was eventually exchanged for a "high value" Nationalist prisoner held by the Loyalists, the wife of one of Franco's ace fighter pilots. Koestler was one of the few authors to have been sentenced to death, an experience he wrote about in "Dialogue with Death". As he noted in his autobiography, his estranged wife Dorothy Ascher had greatly contributed to saving his life by intensive, months-long lobbying on his behalf in Britain. When he went to Britain after his release, the couple tried to resume their marriage, but Koestler's gratitude to her proved an insufficient foundation for a daily life together.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler returned to France, where he agreed to write a sex encyclopaedia to earn money to live on. It was published to great success under the title "The Encyclopœdia of Sexual Knowledge", under the pseudonyms of "Drs A. Costler, A. Willy, and Others".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In July 1938 Koestler finished work on his novel "The Gladiators." Later that year he resigned from the Communist Party and started work on a new novel, which was published in London under the title "Darkness at Noon" (1941). Also in 1938 he became editor of "Die Zukunft" (The Future), a German-language weekly published in Paris. Koestler's breaking with the Communist Party may have been influenced by the similar step taken by his fellow activist Willi Münzenberg.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1939 Koestler met and formed an attachment to the British sculptor Daphne Hardy. They lived together in Paris, and she translated the manuscript of "Darkness at Noon" from German into English in early 1940. She smuggled it out of France when they left ahead of the German occupation and arranged for its publication after reaching London that year.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: After the outbreak of World War II, Koestler returned from the South of France to Paris. He attempted to turn himself in to the authorities as a foreign national several times and was finally arrested on 2 October 1939. The French government first detained Koestler at Stade Roland Garros until he was moved to Le Vernet Internment Camp among other "undesirable aliens", most of them refugees. He was released in early 1940 in response to strong British pressure.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Milicent Bagot, an intelligence officer at MI5, recommended his release from Camp Vernet, but said that he should not be granted a British visa. (John le Carré used Bagot as a model for Connie Sachs in his spy novels featuring "George Smiley". Bagot was the first to warn that Kim Philby of MI6 was probably spying for the USSR.) Koestler describes the period 1939 to 1940 and his incarceration in Le Vernet in his memoir "Scum of the Earth".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Shortly before the German invasion of France, Koestler joined the French Foreign Legion in order to get out of the country. He deserted in North Africa and tried to return to England. He heard a false report that the ship on which Hardy was travelling had sunk, and that she and his manuscript were lost. He attempted suicide, but survived.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Arriving in the UK without an entry permit, Koestler was imprisoned pending examination of his case. He was still in prison when Daphne Hardy's English translation of his book "Darkness at Noon" was published in early 1941.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Immediately after Koestler was released, he volunteered for Army service. While awaiting his call-up papers, between January and March 1941, he wrote his memoir "Scum of the Earth", the first book he wrote in English. For the next twelve months he served in the Pioneer Corps.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In March 1942 Koestler was assigned to the Ministry of Information, where he worked as a scriptwriter for propaganda broadcasts and films. In his spare time he wrote "Arrival and Departure", the third in his trilogy of novels that included "Darkness at Noon". He also wrote several essays, which were subsequently collected and published in "The Yogi and the Commissar". One of the essays, titled "On Disbelieving Atrocities" (originally published in "The New York Times"), was about the Nazi atrocities against the Jews.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Daphne Hardy, who had been doing war work in Oxford, joined Koestler in London in 1943, but they parted company a few months later. They remained good friends until Koestler's death.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In December 1944 Koestler travelled to Palestine with accreditation from "The Times". There he had a clandestine meeting with Menachem Begin, the head of the Irgun paramilitary organisation, who was wanted by the British and had a 500-pound bounty on his head. Koestler tried to persuade him to abandon militant attacks and accept a two-state solution for Palestine, but failed. Many years later Koestler wrote in his memoirs: "When the meeting was over, I realised how naïve I had been to imagine that my arguments would have even the slightest influence."


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Staying in Palestine until August 1945, Koestler collected material for his next novel, "Thieves in the Night." When he returned to England, Mamaine Paget, whom he had started to see before going out to Palestine, was waiting for him. In August 1945 the couple moved to the cottage of Bwlch Ocyn, a secluded farmhouse that belonged to Clough Williams-Ellis, in the Vale of Ffestiniog. Over the next three years, Koestler became a close friend of writer George Orwell. The region had its own intellectual circle, which would have been sympathetic to Koestler: Williams-Ellis' wife, Amabel, a niece of Lytton Strachey, was also a former communist; other associates included Rupert Crawshay-Williams, Michael Polanyi, Storm Jameson and, most significantly, Bertrand Russell, who lived just a few miles from the Koestler cottage.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1948, when war broke out between the newly declared State of Israel and the neighbouring Arab states, Koestler was accredited by several newspapers, American, British and French, and travelled to Israel. Mamaine Paget went with him. They arrived in Israel on 4 June and stayed there until October. Later that year they decided to leave the UK for a while and move to France. News that his long-pending application for British nationality had been granted reached him in France in late December; early in 1949 he returned to London to swear the oath of allegiance to the British Crown.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In January 1949 Koestler and Paget moved to a house he had bought in France. There he wrote a contribution to "The God That Failed" and finished work on "Promise and Fulfilment: Palestine 1917-1949". The latter book received poor reviews in both the U.S. and the UK. In 1949 he also published the non-fiction "Insight and Outlook". This too received lukewarm reviews. In July Koestler began work on "Arrow in the Blue", the first volume of his autobiography. He hired a new part-time secretary, Cynthia Jefferies, who replaced Daphne Woodward. Cynthia and Koestler eventually married. In the autumn he started work on "The Age of Longing", on which he continued to work until mid-1950.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler had reached agreement with his first wife, Dorothy, on an amicable divorce, and their marriage was dissolved on 15 December 1949. This cleared the way for his marriage to Mamaine Paget, which took place on 15 April 1950 at the British Consulate in Paris.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In June Koestler delivered a major anti-Communist speech in Berlin under the auspices of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, an organisation funded (though he did not know this) by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States. In the autumn he went to the United States on a lecture tour, during which he lobbied for permanent resident status in the U.S. At the end of October, on impulse, he bought Island Farm, a small island with a house on it on the Delaware River near New Hope, Pennsylvania. He intended to live there at least for part of each year.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In January 1951 a dramatised version of "Darkness at Noon", by Sidney Kingsley, opened in New York. It won the New York Drama Critics Award. Koestler donated all his royalties from the play to a fund he had set up to help struggling authors, the Fund for Intellectual Freedom (FIF). In June a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate to grant Koestler permanent residence in the U.S. Koestler sent tickets for the play to his House sponsor Richard Nixon and his Senate sponsor Owen Brewster, a close confidant of Joseph McCarthy. The bill became law on 23 August 1951 as Private Law 221 Chapter 343 "AN ACT For the relief of Arthur Koestler".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1951 the last of Koestler's political works, "The Age of Longing", was published. In it he examined the political landscape of post-war Europe and the problems facing the continent.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In August 1952 his marriage to Mamaine collapsed. They separated, but remained close until her sudden and unexpected death in June 1954. The book "", edited by Mamaine's twin sister Celia Goodman, gives insight into their lives together.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler decided to make his permanent home in Britain. In May 1953 he bought a three-storey Georgian town house on Montpelier Square in London, and sold his houses in France and the United States.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: The first two volumes of his autobiography, "Arrow in the Blue", which covers his life up to December 1931 when he joined the German Communist Party, and "The Invisible Writing", which covers the years 1932 to 1940, were published in 1952 and 1954, respectively. A collection of essays, "The Trail of the Dinosaur and Other Essays", on the perils he saw facing western civilisation, was published in 1955.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: On 13 April 1955 Janine Graetz, with whom Koestler had an on-off relationship over a period of years, gave birth to his daughter Cristina. Despite repeated attempts by Janine to persuade Koestler to show some interest in her, Koestler had almost no contact with Cristina throughout his life. Early in 1956 he arranged for Cynthia Jeffries to have an abortion when she became pregnant; it was then illegal. Koestler's main political activity during 1955 was his campaign for the abolition of capital punishment (which in the UK was by hanging). In July he started work on "Reflections on Hanging".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Although Koestler resumed work on a biography of Kepler in 1955, it was not published until 1959. In the interim it was entitled "The Sleepwalkers". The emphasis of the book had changed and broadened to "A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe", which also became the book's subtitle. Copernicus and Galileo were added to Kepler as the major subjects of the book.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Later in 1956, as a consequence of the Hungarian Uprising, Koestler became busy organising anti-Soviet meetings and protests. In June 1957 Koestler gave a lecture at a symposium in Alpbach, Austria, and fell in love with the village. He bought land there, had a house built, and for the next twelve years used it as a place for summer vacations and for organising symposia.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In May 1958 he had a hernia operation. In December he left for India and Japan, and was away until early 1959. Based on his travels, he wrote the book "The Lotus and the Robot".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In early 1960, on his way back from a conference in San Francisco, Koestler interrupted his journey at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where some experimental research was going on with hallucinogens. He tried psilocybin and had a "bad trip". Later, when he arrived at Harvard to see Timothy Leary, he experimented with more drugs, but was not enthusiastic about that experience either.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1962, along with his agent, A D Peters and the editor of "The Observer," David Astor, Koestler set up a scheme to encourage prison inmates to engage in arts activities and to reward their efforts. Koestler Arts supports over 7,000 entrants from UK prisons each year and awards prizes in fifty different artforms. In September each year, Koestler Arts run an exhibition at London's Southbank Centre.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler's book "The Act of Creation" was published in May 1964. In November he undertook a lecture tour of various universities in California. In 1965 he married Cynthia in New York; they moved to California, where he participated in a series of seminars at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler spent most of 1966 and the early months of 1967 working on "The Ghost in the Machine". In his article "Return Trip to Nirvana", published in 1967 in the "Sunday Telegraph", Koestler wrote about the drug culture and his own experiences with hallucinogens. The article also challenged the defence of drugs in Aldous Huxley's "The Doors of Perception".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In April 1968 Koestler was awarded the Sonning Prize "for [his] outstanding contribution to European culture". "The Ghost in the Machine" was published in August of same year and in the autumn he received an honorary doctorate from Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. In the later part of November the Koestlers flew to Australia for a number of television appearances and press interviews.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: The first half of the 1970s saw the publication of four more books by Koestler: "The Case of the Midwife Toad" (1971), "The Roots of Coincidence" and "The Call-Girls" (both 1972), and "" (1974). In the New Year Honours List for 1972 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Early in 1976 Koestler was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The trembling of his hand made writing progressively more difficult. He cut back on overseas trips and spent the summer months at a farmhouse in Denston, Suffolk, which he had bought in 1971. That same year saw the publication of "The Thirteenth Tribe", which presents his Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In 1978 Koestler published "". In 1980 he was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. His book "Bricks to Babel" was published that year. His final book, "Kaleidoscope", containing essays from "Drinkers of Infinity" and "", with some later pieces and stories, was published in 1981.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: During the final years of his life, Koestler, Brian Inglis and Tony Bloomfield established the KIB Society (named from the initials of their surnames) to sponsor research "outside the scientific orthodoxies". After his death it was renamed The Koestler Foundation.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In his capacity as Vice-President of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, later renamed Exit, Koestler wrote a pamphlet on suicide, outlining the case both for and against, with a section dealing specifically with how best to do it.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler and Cynthia killed themselves on the evening of 1 March 1983 at their London home, 8 Montpelier Square, with overdoses of the barbiturate Tuinal taken with alcohol. Their bodies were discovered on the morning of 3 March, by which time they had been dead for 36 hours.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler had stated more than once that he was afraid, not of being dead, but of the process of dying. His suicide was not unexpected among his close friends. Shortly before his suicide his doctor had discovered a swelling in the groin which indicated a metastasis of the cancer.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Since the above was written in June 1982, my wife decided that after thirty-four years of working together she could not face life after my death.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: I fear both death and the act of dying that lies ahead of us. I should have liked to finish my account of working for Arthur – a story which began when our paths happened to cross in 1949. However, I cannot live without Arthur, despite certain inner resources.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Double suicide has never appealed to me, but now Arthur's incurable diseases have reached a stage where there is nothing else to do.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Controversy arose over why Koestler allowed, consented to, or (according to some critics) compelled his wife's simultaneous suicide. She was only 55 years old and was believed to be in good health. In a typewritten addition to her husband's suicide note, Cynthia wrote that she could not live without her husband. Reportedly, few of the Koestlers' friends were surprised by this admission, apparently perceiving that Cynthia lived her life through her husband and that she had no "life of her own". Her absolute devotion to Koestler can be seen clearly in her partially completed memoirs. Yet according to a profile of Koestler by Peter Kurth:


title: Arthur Koestler

text: All their friends were troubled by what Julian Barnes calls "the unmentionable, half-spoken question" of Koestler's responsibility for Cynthia's actions.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: "Did he bully her into it?" asks Barnes. And "if he didn't bully her into it, why didn't he bully her out of it?" Because, with hindsight, the evidence that Cynthia's life had been ebbing with her husband's was all too apparent.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: With the exception of some minor bequests, Koestler left the residue of his estate, about £1 million (worth about £3.59 million in 2021), to the promotion of research into the paranormal through the founding of a chair in parapsychology at a university in Britain. The trustees of the estate had great difficulty finding a university willing to establish such a chair. Oxford, Cambridge, King's College London and University College London were approached, and all refused. Eventually the trustees reached agreement with the University of Edinburgh to set up a chair in accordance with Koestler's request.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler's relations with women have been a source of controversy. David Cesarani alleged in his biography of Koestler, published in 1998, that Koestler had been a serial rapist, citing the case of the British feminist writer Jill Craigie who said that she had been his victim in 1951. Feminist protesters forced the removal of his bust from Edinburgh University. In his biography, "Koestler: The Indispensable Intellectual" (2009), Michael Scammell countered that Craigie was the only woman to go on record that she had been raped by Koestler, and had done so at a dinner party more than fifty years after the event. Claims that Koestler had been violent were added by Craigie later, although Scammell concedes that Koestler could be rough and sexually aggressive. Some critics believed that Cesarani's claims of Koestler having been a 'serial rapist' were unfounded; in his review of Cesarani's biography in "The New York Times", the historian Mark Mazower observed: "Even those who applaud Cesarani for bringing the rape issue forward may wonder whether his approach is not too one-sided to make for a convincing portrait. Koestler was a domineering man. But he attracted women and many remained close friends after they had slept with him. It is implausible to write them all off as masochists, as Cesarani effectively does. Some broke with him; but then so did many other friends and acquaintances." Similarly, John Banville, in the "London Review of Books", wrote:


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Cesarani and others claim that Koestler had misogynistic tendencies. He engaged in numerous sexual affairs and generally treated the women in his life badly. In his autobiography, "The Invisible Writing", Koestler admits to having denounced Nadezhda Smirnova, with whom he was having a relationship, to the Soviet secret police.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler wrote several major novels, two volumes of autobiographical works, two volumes of reportage, a major work on the history of science, several volumes of essays, and a considerable body of other writing and articles on subjects as varied as genetics, euthanasia, Eastern mysticism, neurology, chess, evolution, psychology, the paranormal and more.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: "Darkness at Noon" was one of the most influential anti-Soviet books ever written. Its influence in Europe on Communists and sympathisers and, indirectly, on the outcomes of elections in Europe, was substantial. Geoffrey Wheatcroft believes that Koestler's most important books were the five completed before he was 40: his first memoirs and the trilogy of anti-totalitarian novels that included "Darkness at Noon".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler embraced a multitude of political as well as non-political issues. Zionism, communism, anti-communism, voluntary euthanasia, abolition of capital punishment, particularly hanging, and the abolition of quarantine for dogs being reimported into the United Kingdom are examples.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In his book "The Case of the Midwife Toad" (1971) Koestler defended the biologist Paul Kammerer, who claimed to have found experimental support for Lamarckian inheritance. According to Koestler, Kammerer's experiments on the midwife toad may have been tampered with by a Nazi sympathiser at the University of Vienna. Koestler came to the conclusion that a kind of modified "Mini-Lamarckism" may explain some rare evolutionary phenomena.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler criticised neo-Darwinism in a number of his books, but he was not opposed to the theory of evolution in general terms. Biology professor Harry Gershenowitz described Koestler as a "populariser" of science despite his views not being accepted by the "orthodox academic community". According to an article in the "Skeptical Inquirer", Koestler was an "advocate of Lamarckian evolution – and a critic of Darwinian natural selection as well as a believer in psychic phenomena".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In addition to his specific critiques of neo-Darwinism, Koestler was opposed to what he saw as dangerous scientific reductionism more generally, including the behaviourism school of psychology, promoted in particular by B. F. Skinner during the 1930s. Koestler assembled a group of high-profile antireductionist scientists, including C. H. Waddington, W. H. Thorpe and Ludwig von Bertalanffy, for a meeting at his retreat in Alpbach in 1968. This was one of many attempts which Koestler made to gain acceptance within the mainstream of science, a strategy which brought him into conflict with individuals such as Peter Medawar who saw themselves as defending the integrity of science from outsiders. Although he never gained significant credibility as a scientist, Koestler published a number of works at the border between science and philosophy, such as "Insight and Outlook", "The Act of Creation" and "The Ghost in the Machine".


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Mysticism and a fascination with the paranormal imbued much of Koestler's later work and he discussed paranormal phenomena, such as extrasensory perception, psychokinesis and telepathy. In his book "The Roots of Coincidence" (1972) he claims that such phenomena can never be explained by theoretical physics. According to Koestler, distinct types of coincidence could be classified, such as "the library angel", in which information (typically in libraries) becomes accessible through serendipity, chance or coincidence, rather than through the use of a catalogue search. The book mentions yet another line of unconventional research by Paul Kammerer, the theory of coincidence or seriality. He also presents critically the related concepts of Carl Jung. More controversial were Koestler's studies and experiments on levitation and telepathy.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler was Jewish by birth, but he did not practise the religion. In an interview published in the British newspaper "The Jewish Chronicle" in 1950 he argued that Jews should either emigrate to Israel or assimilate completely into the majority cultures they lived in.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In "The Thirteenth Tribe" (1976) Koestler advanced a theory that Ashkenazi Jews are descended, not from the Israelites of antiquity, but from the Khazars, a Turkic people in the Caucasus that converted to Judaism in the 8th century and was later forced westwards. Koestler argued that a proof that Ashkenazi Jews have no biological connection to biblical Jews would remove the racial basis of European anti-Semitism.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In reference to the Balfour Declaration Koestler stated, "one nation solemnly promised to a second nation the country of a third."


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Much of Arthur Koestler's work was funded and distributed secretly by a covert propaganda wing of the UK Foreign Office, known as the Information Research Department (IRD). Koestler enjoyed strong personal relationships with IRD agents from 1949 onwards, and was supportive of the department's anti-communist goals. Koestler's relationship with the British government was so strong that he had become a de facto advisor to British propagandists, urging them to create a popular series of anti-communist left-wing literature to rival the success of the Left Book Club.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler first learned Hungarian, but later his family spoke mostly German at home. From his early years he became fluent in both languages. It is likely that he picked up some Yiddish too, through contact with his grandfather. By his teens he was fluent in Hungarian, German, French and English.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: During his years in Palestine Koestler became sufficiently fluent in Hebrew to write stories in that language, as well as to create what is believed to have been the world's first Hebrew crossword puzzle. During his years in the Soviet Union (1932–33), although he arrived with a vocabulary of only 1,000 words of Russian, and no grammar, he picked up enough colloquial Russian to speak the language.


title: Arthur Koestler

text: Koestler wrote his books in German up to 1940, but then wrote only in English. ("L'Espagne ensanglantée" was translated into French from German.)


title: Arthur Koestler

text: In August 1945 Koestler was in Palestine where he read in the "Palestine Post" about the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. "That's the end of the world war", he said to a friend — "and it is also the beginning of the end of the world."


title: Arthur Koestler

text: NB The books "The Lotus and the Robot", "The God that Failed", and ", as well as his numerous essays, all may contain further autobiographical information.


title: Methionine

text: Methionine (symbol Met or M) () is an essential amino acid in humans. As the precursor of other amino acids such as cysteine and taurine, versatile compounds such as SAM-e, and the important antioxidant glutathione, methionine plays a critical role in the metabolism and health of many species, including humans. It is encoded by the codon AUG.


title: Methionine

text: Methionine is also an important part of angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels. Supplementation may benefit those suffering from copper poisoning. Overconsumption of methionine, the methyl group donor in DNA methylation, is related to cancer growth in a number of studies. Methionine was first isolated in 1921 by John Howard Mueller.


title: Methionine

text: Methionine (abbreviated as Met or M; encoded by the codon AUG) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains a carboxyl group (which is in the deprotonated −COO form under biological pH conditions), an amino group (which is in the protonated form under biological pH conditions) located in α-position with respect to the carboxyl group, and an "S"-methyl thioether side chain, classifying it as a nonpolar, aliphatic amino acid.


title: Methionine

text: In nuclear genes of eukaryotes and in Archaea, methionine is coded for by the start codon, meaning it indicates the start of the coding region and is the first amino acid produced in a nascent polypeptide during mRNA translation.


title: Methionine

text: Together with cysteine, methionine is one of two sulfur-containing proteinogenic amino acids. Excluding the few exceptions where methionine may act as a redox sensor (e.g.,), methionine residues do not have a catalytic role. This is in contrast to cysteine residues, where the thiol group has a catalytic role in many proteins. The thioether does however have a minor structural role due to the stability effect of S/π interactions between the side chain sulfur atom and aromatic amino acids in one-third of all known protein structures. This lack of a strong role is reflected in experiments where little effect is seen in proteins where methionine is replaced by norleucine, a straight hydrocarbon sidechain amino acid which lacks the thioether.


title: Methionine

text: It has been conjectured that norleucine was present in early versions of the genetic code, but methionine intruded into the final version of the genetic code due to the fact it is used in the cofactor "S"-adenosylmethionine (SAM-e). This situation is not unique and may have occurred with ornithine and arginine.


title: Methionine

text: Methionine is one of only two amino acids encoded by a single codon (AUG) in the standard genetic code (tryptophan, encoded by UGG, is the other). In reflection to the evolutionary origin of its codon, the other AUN codons encode isoleucine, which is also a hydrophobic amino acid. In the mitochondrial genome of several organisms, including metazoa and yeast, the codon AUA also encodes for methionine. In the standard genetic code AUA codes for isoleucine and the respective tRNA ("ileX" in "Escherichia coli") uses the unusual base lysidine (bacteria) or agmatidine (archaea) to discriminate against AUG.


title: Methionine

text: The methionine codon AUG is also the most common start codon. A "Start" codon is message for a ribosome that signals the initiation of protein translation from mRNA when the AUG codon is in a Kozak consensus sequence. As a consequence, methionine is often incorporated into the "N"-terminal position of proteins in eukaryotes and archaea during translation, although it can be removed by post-translational modification. In bacteria, the derivative "N"-formylmethionine is used as the initial amino acid.


title: Methionine

text: The methionine-derivative "S"-adenosylmethionine (SAM-e) is a cofactor that serves mainly as a methyl donor. SAM-e is composed of an adenosyl molecule (via 5′ carbon) attached to the sulfur of methionine, therefore making it a sulfonium cation (i.e., three substituents and positive charge). The sulfur acts as a soft Lewis acid (i.e., donor/electrophile) which allows the "S"-methyl group to be transferred to an oxygen, nitrogen, or aromatic system, often with the aid of other cofactors such as cobalamin (vitamin B in humans). Some enzymes use SAM-e to initiate a radical reaction; these are called radical SAM-e enzymes.


title: Methionine

text: As a result of the transfer of the methyl group, "S"-adenosylhomocysteine is obtained. In bacteria, this is either regenerated by methylation or is salvaged by removing the adenine and the homocysteine, leaving the compound dihydroxypentandione to spontaneously convert into autoinducer-2, which is excreted as a waste product or quorum signal.


title: Methionine

text: As an essential amino acid, methionine is not synthesized "de novo" in humans and other animals, which must ingest methionine or methionine-containing proteins. In plants and microorganisms, methionine biosynthesis belongs to the aspartate family, along with threonine and lysine (via diaminopimelate, but not via α-aminoadipate). The main backbone is derived from aspartic acid, while the sulfur may come from cysteine, methanethiol, or hydrogen sulfide.


title: Methionine

text: The pathway using cysteine is called the "transsulfuration pathway", while the pathway using hydrogen sulfide (or methanethiol) is called "direct-sulfurylation pathway".


title: Methionine

text: Cysteine is similarly produced, namely it can be made from an activated serine and either from homocysteine ("reverse transsulfurylation route") or from hydrogen sulfide ("direct sulfurylation route"); the activated serine is generally "O"-acetylserine (via CysK or CysM in "E. coli"), but in "Aeropyrum pernix" and some other archaea "O"-phosphoserine is used. CysK and CysM are homologues, but belong to the PLP fold type III clade.


title: Methionine

text: Although mammals cannot synthesize methionine, they can still use it in a variety of biochemical pathways:


title: Methionine

text: SAM-e serves as a methyl donor in many (2) methyltransferase reactions, and is converted to "S"-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH).


title: Methionine

text: Methionine can be regenerated from homocysteine via (4) methionine synthase in a reaction that requires vitamin B as a cofactor.


title: Methionine

text: Homocysteine can also be remethylated using glycine betaine ("N","N","N"-trimethylglycine, TMG) to methionine via the enzyme betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (E.C.2.1.1.5, BHMT). BHMT makes up to 1.5% of all the soluble protein of the liver, and recent evidence suggests that it may have a greater influence on methionine and homocysteine homeostasis than methionine synthase.


title: Methionine

text: This amino acid is also used by plants for synthesis of ethylene. The process is known as the Yang cycle or the methionine cycle.


title: Methionine

text: The industrial synthesis combines acrolein, methanethiol, and cyanide, which affords the hydantoin. Racemic methionine can also be synthesized from diethyl sodium phthalimidomalonate by alkylation with chloroethylmethylsulfide (ClCHCHSCH) followed by hydrolysis and decarboxylation.


title: Methionine

text: The Food and Nutrition Board of the U.S. Institute of Medicine set Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for essential amino acids in 2002. For methionine combined with cysteine, for adults 19 years and older, 19 mg/kg body weight/day.


title: Methionine

text: High levels of methionine can be found in eggs, meat, and fish; sesame seeds, Brazil nuts, and some other plant seeds; and cereal grains. Most fruits and vegetables contain very little. Most legumes, though protein dense, are low in methionine. Proteins without adequate methionine are not considered to be complete proteins. For that reason, racemic methionine is sometimes added as an ingredient to pet foods.


title: Methionine

text: Some scientific evidence indicates restricting methionine consumption can increase lifespans in fruit flies.


title: Methionine

text: A 2005 study showed methionine restriction without energy restriction extends mouse lifespans. This extension requires intact growth hormone signaling, as animals without intact growth-hormone signaling do not have a further increase in lifespan when methionine restricted. The metabolic response to methionine restriction is also altered in mouse growth hormone signaling mutants.


title: Methionine

text: A study published in "Nature" showed adding just the essential amino acid methionine to the diet of fruit flies under dietary restriction, including restriction of essential amino acids (EAAs), restored fertility without reducing the longer lifespans that are typical of dietary restriction, leading the researchers to determine that methionine "acts in combination with one or more other EAAs to shorten lifespan." Restoring methionine to the diet of mice on a dietary restriction regimen blocks many acute benefits of dietary restriction, a process that may be mediated by increased production of hydrogen sulfide.


title: Methionine

text: Methionine restriction can increase circulating liver hormone FGF21 between 5-fold and 10-fold in mice. Several studies showed that methionine restriction also inhibits aging-related disease processes in mice and inhibits colon carcinogenesis in rats. In humans, methionine restriction through dietary modification could be achieved through a plant-based diet.


title: Methionine

text: Restriction of dietary methionine reduces levels of its catabolite "S"-adenosylmethionine (SAM-e), resulting is a subsequent loss of histone methylation. An active process mediated by a specific, preserved methylation of H3K9 preserves the memory of the original methylation profile, allowing the epigenome to be restored when dietary methionine levels return.


title: Methionine

text: A 2009 study on rats showed "methionine supplementation in the diet specifically increases mitochondrial ROS production and mitochondrial DNA oxidative damage in rat liver mitochondria offering a plausible mechanism for its hepatotoxicity".


title: Methionine

text: However, since methionine is an essential amino acid, it cannot be entirely removed from animals' diets without disease or death occurring over time. For example, rats fed a diet without methionine and choline developed steatohepatitis (fatty liver) and anemia, and lost two-thirds of their body weight over 5 weeks. Administration of methionine ameliorated the pathological consequences of methionine deprivation. Short-term removal of only methionine from the diet can reverse diet-induced obesity and promotes insulin sensitivity in mice, and methionine restriction also protects a mouse model of spontaneous, polygenic obesity and diabetes.


title: Methionine

text: Loss of methionine has been linked to senile greying of hair. Its lack leads to a buildup of hydrogen peroxide in hair follicles, a reduction in tyrosinase effectiveness, and a gradual loss of hair color. Methionine raises the intracellular concentration of glutathione, thereby promoting antioxidant mediated cell defense and redox regulation. It also protects cells against dopamine induced nigral cell loss by binding oxidative metabolites.


title: Methionine

text: Methionine is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of cysteine, carnitine, taurine, lecithin, phosphatidylcholine, and other phospholipids. Improper conversion of methionine can lead to atherosclerosis due to accumulation of homocysteine.


title: Methionine

text: -Methionine is sometimes given as a supplement to dogs; It helps reduce the chances of kidney stones in dogs. Methionine is also known to increase the urinary excretion of quinidine by acidifying the urine. Aminoglycoside antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infections work best in alkaline conditions, and urinary acidification from using methionine can reduce its effectiveness. If a dog is on a diet that acidifies the urine, methionine should not be used.


title: Methionine

text: Methionine is allowed as a supplement to organic poultry feed under the US certified organic program.


title: Methionine

text: Methionine can be used as a nontoxic pesticide option against giant swallowtail caterpillars, which are a serious pest to orange crops.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: The Zanzibar Revolution () occurred in January 1964 and led to the overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government by local Africans.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Zanzibar was an ethnically diverse state consisting of a number of islands off the east coast of Tanganyika, which had been granted independence by Britain in 1963. In a series of parliamentary elections preceding independence, the Arab minority succeeded in retaining the hold on power it had inherited from Zanzibar's former existence as an overseas territory of Oman.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Frustrated by under-representation in Parliament despite winning 54 per cent of the vote in the July 1963 election, the African Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) early in the morning of 12 January 1964, led by John Okello, the (ASP) youth leader of the Pemba branch, mobilised around 600–800 men on the main island of Unguja (Zanzibar Island). Having overrun the country's police force and appropriated their weaponry, the insurgents proceeded to Zanzibar Town, where they overthrew the Sultan and his government. They then proceeded to loot Arab and South Asian-owned properties and businesses and the systematic rape of murder of Arab and Indian civilians on the island. The death toll is disputed, with estimates ranging from several hundred to 20,000. The moderate ASP leader Abeid Karume became the country's new president and head of state.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: The new government's apparent communist ties concerned Western governments. As Zanzibar lay within the British sphere of influence, the British government drew up a number of intervention plans. However, the feared communist government never materialised, and because British and American citizens were successfully evacuated, these plans were not put into effect. The Communist Bloc powers of East Germany and the Soviet Union, along with the anti-Soviet People's Republic of China, immediately recognised the country and sent advisors.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Karume succeeded in negotiating a merger of Zanzibar with Tanganyika to form the new nation of Tanzania, an act judged by contemporary media to be an attempt to prevent communist subversion of Zanzibar. The revolution ended 200 years of Arab dominance in Zanzibar, and is commemorated on the island each year with anniversary celebrations and a public holiday.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: The Zanzibar Archipelago, now part of the Southeast African republic of Tanzania, is a group of islands lying in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanganyika. It comprises the main southern island of Unguja (also known as Zanzibar), the smaller northern island of Pemba, and numerous surrounding islets. With a long history of Arab rule dating back to 1698, Zanzibar was an overseas territory of Oman until it achieved independence in 1858 under its own Sultanate. In 1890 during Ali ibn Sa'id's reign, Zanzibar became a British protectorate, and although never formally under direct rule was considered part of the British Empire.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: By 1964, the country was a constitutional monarchy ruled by Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah. Zanzibar had a population of around 230,000 Africans—some of whom claimed Persian ancestry and were known locally as Shirazis—and also contained significant minorities in the 50,000 Arabs and 20,000 South Asians, who were prominent in business and trade. The various ethnic groups were becoming mixed and the distinctions between them had blurred; according to one historian, an important reason for the general support for Sultan Jamshid was his family's ethnic diversity. However, the island's Arab inhabitants, as the major landowners, were generally wealthier than the Africans and enjoyed access to higher quality social services such health and education than Africans. Apart from that, British authority considered Zanzibar as an Arab country and always held a position of supporting the Arab minority to stay in power. As a result, during decolonization process the major political parties were organised largely along ethnic lines, with Arabs dominating the Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP) and Africans the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP). The ZNP looked towards Egypt as its model, which caused some tensions with the British colonial officials, but Zanzibar had been for centuries dominated by its Arab elite, and the Colonial Office could not imagine a Zanzibar ruled by black Africans.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: In January 1961, as part of the process of decolonisation, the island's British authorities drew up constituencies and held democratic elections. Both the ASP and the ZNP won 11 of the available 22 seats in Zanzibar's Parliament, so further elections were held in June with the number of seats increased to 23. The ZNP entered into a coalition with the Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party (ZPPP) and this time took 13 seats, while the ASP, despite receiving the most votes, won just 10. Electoral fraud was suspected by the ASP and civil disorder broke out, resulting in 68 deaths. To maintain control, the coalition government banned the more radical opposition parties, filled the civil service with its own appointees, and politicised the police.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: In 1963, with the number of parliamentary seats increased to 31, another election saw a repeat of the 1961 votes. Due to the layout of the constituencies, which were gerrymandered by the ZNP, the ASP, led by Abeid Amani Karume, won 54 percent of the popular vote but only 13 seats, while the ZNP/ZPPP won the rest and set about strengthening its hold on power. The Umma Party, formed that year by disaffected radical Arab socialist supporters of the ZNP, was banned, and all policemen of African mainland origin were dismissed. This removed a large portion of the only security force on the island, and created an angry group of paramilitary-trained men with knowledge of police buildings, equipment and procedures. Furthermore, the new Arab-dominated government made it clear that in foreign policy, the Sultanate of Zanzibar would be seeking close links with the Arab world, especially Egypt and had no interest in forging relationships with the nations on the African mainland as the black majority wished. Slavery had been abolished in Zanzibar in 1897, but much of the Arab elite who dominated the island's politics made little effort to hide their racist views of the black majority as their inferiors, a people fit only for slavery. In Parliament, the Minister of Finance Juma Aley responded to questions from Karume by insultingly saying he need not answer questions from a mere "boatman". Aley further explained in another speech in Parliament that if Arabs were over-represented in the Cabinet, it was not because of racism, but rather it was only because the mental abilities of blacks were so abysmally low and the mental abilities of Arabs like himself were so high, a remark that enraged the black majority. Memories of Arab slave-trading in the past (some of the older black people had been slaves in their youth) together with a distinctly patronizing view of the Arab elite towards the black majority in the present meant that much of the black population of Zanzibar had a ferocious hatred of the Arabs, viewing the new Arab-dominated government as illegitimate. The government did not help broaden its appeal to the black majority by drastically cutting spending in schools in areas with high concentrations of black people. The government's budget with its draconian spending cuts in schools in black areas was widely seen as a sign that the Arab-dominated government was planning to lock the black people in a permanent second-class status.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Complete independence from British rule was granted on 10 December 1963, with the ZNP/ZPPP coalition as the governing body. The government requested a defence agreement from the United Kingdom, asking for a battalion of British troops to be stationed on the island for internal security duties, but this was rejected as it was deemed inappropriate for British troops to be involved in the maintenance of law and order so soon after independence. Much of the cabinet, which was seeking closer ties with Egypt (ruled by the radical, anti-Western nationalist Nasser), did not want British troops in Zanzibar anyway. British intelligence reports predicted that a civil disturbance, accompanied by increasing communist activity, was likely in the near future and that the arrival of British troops might cause the situation to deteriorate further. However, many foreign nationals remained on the island, including 130 Britons who were direct employees of the Zanzibar government.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: In 1959, a charismatic Ugandan named John Okello arrived in Pemba, working as a bricklayer, and in February 1963 moved to Zanzibar. Working as an official in the Zanzibar and Pemba Paint Workers' Union and as an activist in the ASP, Okello had built himself a following and almost from the moment when he arrived on Zanzibar had been organizing a revolution that he planned to take place shortly after independence.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Around 3:00 am on 12 January 1964, 600–800 poorly armed, mainly African insurgents, aided by some of the recently dismissed ex-policemen, attacked Unguja's police stations to seize weapons, and then the radio station. The attackers had no guns, being equipped only with spears, knives, machetes, and tire irons, having only the advantage of numbers and surprise. The Arab police replacements had received almost no training and, despite responding with a mobile force, were soon overcome. Okello himself led the attack on the Ziwani police HQ, which also happened to be the largest armory on the island. Several of the rebels were shot down, but the police were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Okello personally attacked a police sentry, wrestled his rifle from him, and used it to bayonet the policeman to death. Arming themselves with hundreds of captured automatic rifles, submachine guns and Bren guns, the insurgents took control of strategic buildings in the capital, Zanzibar Town. At about 7:00 am, Okello made his first radio broadcast from a local radio station his followers had captured two hours earlier, calling upon the Africans to rise up and overthrow the "imperialists". At the time, Okello only referred to himself as "the field marshal", which prompted much speculation on Zanzibar about the identity of this mysterious figure leading the revolution, who spoke his Swahili with a thick Acholi accent that was unfamiliar on Zanzibar.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Within six hours of the outbreak of hostilities, the town's telegraph office and main government buildings were under revolutionary control, and the island's only airstrip was captured at 2:18 pm. In the countryside, fighting had erupted between the Manga, as the rural Arabs were called, and the Africans. The Manga were armed mainly with hunting rifles, and once the arms seized from the police stations reached the rebels in the countryside, the Manga were doomed. In Stone Town, the fiercest resistance was at the Malindi police station, where under the command of Police Commissioner J. M. Sullivan (a British policeman who stayed on until a local replacement could be hired), all of the rebel attacks were repulsed, not least because the insurgents tended to retreat whenever they came under fire. Sullivan only surrendered the Melindi station late in the afternoon after running out of ammunition, and marched his entire force (not one policeman had been killed or wounded) down to the Stonetown wharf to board some boats that took them out to a ship, the "Salama," to take them away from Zanzibar. Throughout Stone Town, shops and homes owned by Arabs and South Asians had been looted while numerous Arab and South Asian women were gang-raped. The Sultan, together with Prime Minister Muhammad Shamte Hamadi and members of the cabinet, fled the island on the royal yacht "Seyyid Khalifa", and the Sultan's palace and other property were seized by the revolutionary government. At least 80 people were killed and 200 injured, the majority of whom were Arabs, during the 12 hours of street fighting that followed. Sixty-one American citizens, including 16 men staffing a NASA satellite tracking station, sought sanctuary in the English Club in Zanzibar Town, and four US journalists were detained by the island's new government.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Not knowing that Okello had given orders to kill no whites, the Americans living in Stone Town fled to the English Club, where the point for evacuation was. Those travelling in the car convoy to the English Club were shocked to see the battered bodies of Arab men lying out on the streets of Stone Town with their severed penises and testicles shoved into their mouths. As part of Okello's carefully laid out plans, all over the island, gangs of Africans armed with knives, spears and "pangas" (machetes) went about systematically killing all the Arabs and South Asians they could find. The American diplomat Don Petterson described his horror as he watched from his house as he saw a gang of African men storm the house of an Arab, behead him in public with a "panga", followed by screams from within his house as his wife and three children were raped and killed, followed by the same scene being repeated at the next house of an Arab, followed by yet another and another. After taking control of Stone Town on the first day, the revolutionaries continued to fight the Manga for control of the countryside for at least two days afterwards with whole families of Arabs being massacred after their homes had been stormed.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: According to the official Zanzibari history, the revolution was planned and headed by the ASP leader Abeid Amani Karume. However, at the time Karume was on the African mainland as was the leader of the banned Umma Party, Abdulrahman Muhammad Babu. Okello, in his capacity as the ASP youth branch secretary for Pemba, had sent Karume to the mainland to ensure his safety. Okello had arrived in Zanzibar from Kenya in 1959, claiming to have been a field marshal for the Kenyan rebels during the Mau Mau uprising, although he actually had no military experience. He maintained that he heard a voice commanding him, as a Christian, to free the Zanzibari people from the Muslim Arabs, though Zanzibaris themselves were predominantly Muslim and it was Okello who led the revolutionaries—mainly unemployed members of the Afro-Shirazi Youth League—on 12 January. One commentator has further speculated that it was probably Okello, with the Youth League, who planned the revolution. There appears to have been three different plots to overthrow the government, led by Karume, Babu and Okello, but it was Okello's plan that was furthest advanced and it was he who struck the blow that brought down the Sultan's regime. Okello was not widely known in Zanzibar, and the government was more concerned with monitoring the ASP and Umma rather than a little-known and barely literate house painter and minor union official. Okello was a complete mystery to the world at the time of the revolution, and MI5 reported to Whitehall that he was an ex-policeman who fought with the Mau Mau in Kenya and had been trained in Cuba in the art of revolutionary violence. Okello himself at a press conference several days later angrily denied having ever been to Cuba or China, stating that he was a Christian whose motto was "Everything can be learned from the Bible".


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: During the revolution, there was an orgy of violence committed against the South Asian and Arab communities with thousands of women being raped by Okello's followers, and much looting and massacres of Arabs all over the island. The American diplomat Don Petterson described the killings of Arabs by the African majority as an act of genocide. Petterson wrote ""Genocide" was not a term that was as much in vogue then, as it came to be later, but it is fair to say that in parts of Zanzibar, the killing of Arabs was genocide, pure and simple". Okello frequently went on the radio to urge his followers in thunderous Old Testament language to kill as many Arabs as possible, with the maximum of brutality. As a Pan-African nationalist who made his followers sing "God Bless Africa" whenever he marched through the streets, Okello appealed to the black majority, but at the same time, as a militant Christian who claimed to hear the voice of God in his head, Okello's appeal on an island whose population was 95 per cent Muslim was limited.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: A Revolutionary Council was established by the ASP and Umma parties to act as an interim government, with Karume heading the council as President and Babu serving as the Minister of External Affairs. The country was renamed the People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba; the new government's first acts were to permanently banish the Sultan and to ban the ZNP and ZPPP. Seeking to distance himself from the volatile Okello, Karume quietly sidelined him from the political scene, although he was allowed to retain his self-bestowed title of field marshal. However, Okello's revolutionaries soon began reprisals against the Arab and Asian population of Unguja, carrying out beatings, rapes, murders, and attacks on property. He claimed in radio speeches to have killed or imprisoned tens of thousands of his "enemies and stooges", but actual estimates of the number of deaths vary greatly, from "hundreds" to 20,000. Some Western newspapers give figures of 2,000–4,000; but the higher numbers may be inflated by Okello's own broadcasts and exaggerated reports in some Western and Arab news media. The killing of Arab prisoners and their burial in mass graves was documented by an Italian film crew, filming from a helicopter, for "Africa Addio" and this sequence of film comprises the only known visual document of the killings. Many Arabs fled to safety in Oman, although by Okello's order no Europeans were harmed. The post-revolution violence did not spread to Pemba.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: By 3 February Zanzibar was finally returning to normality, and Karume had been widely accepted by the people as their president. A police presence was back on the streets, looted shops were re-opening, and unlicensed arms were being surrendered by the civilian populace. The revolutionary government announced that its political prisoners, numbering 500, would be tried by special courts. Okello formed the Freedom Military Force (FMF), a paramilitary unit made up of his own supporters, which patrolled the streets and looted Arab property. The behaviour of Okello's supporters, his violent rhetoric, Ugandan accent, and Christian beliefs were alienating many in the largely moderate Zanzibari and Muslim ASP, and by March many members of his FMF had been disarmed by Karume's supporters and the Umma Party militia. On 11 March Okello was officially stripped of his rank of Field Marshal, and was denied entry when trying to return to Zanzibar from a trip to the mainland. He was deported to Tanganyika and then to Kenya, before returning destitute to his native Uganda.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: In April the government formed the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and completed the disarmament of Okello's remaining FMF militia. On 26 April Karume announced that a union had been negotiated with Tanganyika to form the new country of Tanzania. The merger was seen by contemporary media as a means of preventing communist subversion of Zanzibar; at least one historian states that it may have been an attempt by Karume, a moderate socialist, to limit the influence of the radically left-wing Umma Party. Babu had become close to Chinese diplomats who had arranged for several shipments of arms to be sent to Zanzibar to allow the Umma Party to have a paramilitary wing. Both Karume and President Nyerere of Tanganyika were concerned that Zanzibar was starting to become a hot-spot of Cold War tensions as American and British diplomats competed for influence with Soviet, Chinese and East German diplomats, and having a union with the non-aligned Tanganyika was considered the best way of removing Zanzibar from the world spotlight. However, many of the Umma Party's socialist policies on health, education and social welfare were adopted by the government.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: British military forces in Kenya were made aware of the revolution at 4:45 am on 12 January, and following a request from the Sultan were put on 15 minutes' standby to conduct an assault on Zanzibar's airfield. However, the British High Commissioner in Zanzibar, Timothy Crosthwait, reported no instances of British nationals being attacked and advised against intervention. As a result, the British troops in Kenya were reduced to four hours' standby later that evening. Crosthwait decided not to approve an immediate evacuation of British citizens, as many held key government positions and their sudden removal would further disrupt the country's economy and government.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Within hours of the revolution, the American ambassador had authorised the withdrawal of US citizens on the island, and a US Navy destroyer, the USS "Manley", arrived on 13 January. The "Manley" docked at Zanzibar Town harbour, but the US had not sought the Revolutionary Council's permission for the evacuation, and the ship was met by a group of armed men. Permission was eventually granted on 15 January, but the British considered this confrontation to be the cause of much subsequent ill will against the Western powers in Zanzibar.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Western intelligence agencies believed that the revolution had been organised by communists supplied with weapons by the Warsaw Pact countries. This suspicion was strengthened by the appointment of Babu as Minister for External Affairs and Abdullah Kassim Hanga as Prime Minister, both known leftists with possible communist ties. Britain believed that these two were close associates of Oscar Kambona, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Tanganyika, and that former members of the Tanganyika Rifles had been made available to assist with the revolution. Some members of the Umma Party wore Cuban military fatigues and beards in the style of Fidel Castro, which was taken as an indication of Cuban support for the revolution. However this practice was started by those members who had staffed a ZNP branch office in Cuba and it became a common means of dress amongst opposition party members in the months leading up to the revolution. The new Zanzibar government's recognition of the German Democratic Republic (the first African government to do so) and of North Korea was further evidence to the Western powers that Zanzibar was aligning itself closely with the communist bloc. Just six days after the revolution, "The New York Times" stated that Zanzibar was "on the verge of becoming the Cuba of Africa", but on 26 January denied that there was active communist involvement. Zanzibar continued to receive support from communist countries and by February was known to be receiving advisers from the Soviet Union, the GDR and China. Cuba also lent its support with Che Guevara stating on 15 August that "Zanzibar is our friend and we gave them our small bit of assistance, our fraternal assistance, our revolutionary assistance at the moment when it was necessary" but denying there were Cuban troops present during the revolution. At the same time, western influence was diminishing and by July 1964 just one Briton, a dentist, remained in the employ of the Zanzibari government. It has been alleged that Israeli spymaster David Kimche was a backer of the revolution with Kimche in Zanzibar on the day of the Revolution.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: The deposed Sultan made an unsuccessful appeal to Kenya and Tanganyika for military assistance, although Tanganyika sent 100 paramilitary police officers to Zanzibar to contain rioting. Other than the Tanganyika Rifles (formerly the colonial King's African Rifles), the police were the only armed force in Tanganyika, and on 20 January the police absence led the entire Rifles regiment to mutiny. Dissatisfied with their low pay rates and with the slow progress of the replacement of their British officers with Africans, the soldiers' mutiny sparked similar uprisings in both Uganda and Kenya. However, order on the African mainland was rapidly restored without serious incident by the British Army and Royal Marines.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: The possible emergence of an African communist state remained a source of disquiet in the West. In February, the British Defence and Overseas Policy Committee said that, while British commercial interests in Zanzibar were "minute" and the revolution by itself was "not important", the possibility of intervention must be maintained. The committee was concerned that Zanzibar could become a centre for the promotion of communism in Africa, much like Cuba had in the Americas. Britain, most of the Commonwealth, and the USA withheld recognition of the new regime until 23 February, by which time it had already been recognised by much of the communist bloc. In Crosthwait's opinion, this contributed to Zanzibar aligning itself with the Soviet Union; Crosthwait and his staff were expelled from the country on 20 February and were only allowed to return once recognition had been agreed.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Following the evacuation of its citizens on 13 January, the US government stated that it recognised that Zanzibar lay within Britain's sphere of influence, and would not intervene. The US did, however, urge that Britain cooperate with other Southeast African countries to restore order. The first British military vessel on the scene was the survey ship HMS "Owen", which was diverted from the Kenyan coast and arrived on the evening of 12 January. "Owen" was joined on 15 January by the frigate "Rhyl" and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship "Hebe". While the lightly armed "Owen" had been able to provide the revolutionaries with an unobtrusive reminder of Britain's military power, the "Hebe" and "Rhyl" were different matters. Due to inaccurate reports that the situation in Zanzibar was deteriorating, the "Rhyl" was carrying a company of troops of the first battalion of the Staffordshire Regiment from Kenya, the embarkation of which was widely reported in the Kenyan media, and would hinder British negotiations with Zanzibar. The "Hebe" had just finished removing stores from the naval depot at Mombasa and was loaded with weapons and explosives. Although the Revolutionary Council was unaware of the nature of "Hebe"s cargo, the Royal Navy's refusal to allow a search of the ship created suspicion ashore and rumours circulated that she was an amphibious assault ship.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: A partial evacuation of British citizens was completed by 17 January, when the army riots in Southeast Africa prompted "Rhyl"s diversion to Tanganyika so that the troops she was carrying could assist in quelling the mutiny. In replacement, a company of the Gordon Highlanders was loaded aboard "Owen" so an intervention could still be made if necessary. The aircraft carriers "Centaur" and "Victorious" were also transferred to the region as part of Operation Parthenon. Although never enacted, Parthenon was intended as a precaution should Okello or the Umma party radicals attempt to seize power from the more moderate ASP. In addition to the two carriers, the plan involved three destroyers, "Owen", 13 helicopters, 21 transport and reconnaissance aircraft, the second battalion of the Scots Guards, 45 Commando of the Royal Marines and one company of the second battalion of the Parachute Regiment. The island of Unguja, and its airport, were to be seized by parachute and helicopter assault, followed up by the occupation of Pemba. Parthenon would have been the largest British airborne and amphibious operation since the Suez Crisis.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Following the revelation that the revolutionaries may have received communist bloc training, Operation Parthenon was replaced by Operation Boris. This called for a parachute assault on Unguja from Kenya, but was later abandoned due to poor security in Kenya and the Kenyan government's opposition to the use of its airfields. Instead Operation Finery was drawn up, which would involve a helicopter assault by Royal Marines from HMS "Bulwark", a commando carrier then stationed in the Middle East. As "Bulwark" was outside the region, Finery's launch would require 14 days' notice, so in the event that a more immediate response was necessary, suitable forces were placed on 24 hours' notice to launch a smaller scale operation to protect British citizens.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: With the merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar on 23 April, there were concerns that the Umma Party would stage a coup; Operation Shed was designed to provide for intervention should this happen. Shed would have required a battalion of troops, with scout cars, to be airlifted to the island to seize the airfield and protect Karume's government. However, the danger of a revolt over unification soon passed, and on 29 April the troops earmarked for Shed were reduced to 24 hours' notice. Operation Finery was cancelled the same day. Concern over a possible coup remained though, and around 23 September Shed was replaced with Plan Giralda, involving the use of British troops from Aden and the Far East, to be enacted if the Umma Party attempted to overthrow President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. An infantry battalion, tactical headquarters unit and elements of the Royal Marines would have been shipped to Zanzibar to launch an amphibious assault, supported by follow-on troops from British bases in Kenya or Aden to maintain law and order. Giralda was scrapped in December, ending British plans for military intervention in the country.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: One of the main results of the revolution in Zanzibar was to break the power of the Arab/Asian ruling class, who had held it for around 200 years. Despite the merger with Tanganyika, Zanzibar retained a Revolutionary Council and House of Representatives which was, until 1992, run on a one-party system and has power over domestic matters. The domestic government is led by the President of Zanzibar, Karume being the first holder of this office. This government used the success of the revolution to implement reforms across the island. Many of these involved the removal of power from Arabs. The Zanzibar civil service, for example, became an almost entirely African organisation, and land was redistributed from Arabs to Africans. The revolutionary government also instituted social reforms such as free healthcare and opening up the education system to African students (who had occupied only 12 per cent of secondary school places before the revolution).


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: The government sought help from the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and People's Republic of China for funding for several projects and military advice. The failure of several GDR-led projects including the New Zanzibar Project, a 1968 urban redevelopment scheme to provide new apartments for all Zanzibaris, led to Zanzibar focusing on Chinese aid. The post-revolution Zanzibar government was accused of draconian controls on personal freedoms and travel and exercised nepotism in appointments to political and industrial offices, the new Tanzanian government being powerless to intervene. Dissatisfaction with the government came to a head with the assassination of Karume on 7 April 1972, which was followed by weeks of fighting between pro- and anti-government forces. A multi-party system was eventually established in 1992, but Zanzibar remains dogged by allegations of corruption and vote-rigging, though the 2010 general election was seen to be a considerable improvement.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: The revolution itself remains an event of interest for Zanzibaris and academics. Historians have analysed the revolution as having a racial and a social basis, with some stating that the African revolutionaries represent the proletariat rebelling against the ruling and trading classes, represented by the Arabs and South Asians. Others discount this theory and present it as a racial revolution that was exacerbated by economic disparity between races.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: Within Zanzibar, the revolution is a key cultural event, marked by the release of 545 prisoners on its tenth anniversary and by a military parade on its 40th. Zanzibar Revolution Day has been designated as a public holiday by the government of Tanzania; it is celebrated on 12 January each year.


title: Zanzibar Revolution

text: The Mapinduzi Cup (Revolution Cup), an association football knockout competition is organized by the Zanzibar Football Association in early January between 6–13 January to mark the revolution day (12 January).


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause is a 2006 American Christmas comedy film directed by Michael Lembeck. It is the third installment in "The Santa Clause" franchise, following "The Santa Clause" (1994) and "The Santa Clause 2" (2002). The film features Tim Allen returning as Scott Calvin, who must find a way to reverse a spell cast by Jack Frost (Martin Short) that caused him to lose his title of Santa Claus. Allen and Short had previously worked together in the 1997 Disney comedy film, "Jungle 2 Jungle". Most of the supporting actors from the first two films reprise their roles, with the exception of David Krumholtz. As a result of his absence, Curtis (played by Spencer Breslin), who was previously the Assistant Head Elf, has now been promoted to Bernard's former position. This was Peter Boyle's final film to be released during his lifetime (2008's "All Roads Lead Home" was released posthumously). Its production was completed in February 2006.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: The film was released in theaters on November 3, 2006 in the United States and grossed $110 million worldwide. It received negative reviews from critics, with Rotten Tomatoes calling it "a bag of bland gags and dumb slapstick."


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: Twelve years have passed since Scott Calvin took on the mantle of Santa Claus and married Carol Newman, who is now a teacher in the North Pole. On Christmas Eve, she tells a group of young elves a story from her life with Scott while expecting their first child. Scott invites his in-laws, Sylvia and Bud Newman, to the North Pole, along with Scott's ex-wife Laura, her husband Neil, their daughter Lucy, and Scott's son Charlie. Meanwhile, he is summoned to a meeting of the Council of Legendary Figures, consisting of Mother Nature, Father Time, the Easter Bunny, Cupid, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman, concerning the behavior of Jack Frost, who is jealous that he has no holiday or special occasion in his honor. Because he has been promoting himself during the Christmas season, Mother Nature suggests sanctions against him. As Scott is attempting to get the in-laws to come without revealing that he is Santa, Jack Frost negotiates a light sentence of community service at the North Pole, helping Scott and the elves put up various Canadian-themed paraphernalia, as Carol's parents believe Scott is a toymaker in Canada; Scott consents.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: However, Frost's ultimate goal is to trick Santa into renouncing his position. When now Head elf Curtis inadvertently reveals the "Escape Clause", Frost sneaks into The Hall of Snow Globes and steals Scott's one containing Scott as Santa. If Scott holds the globe and wishes to have "never been Santa at all," he will go back in time and undo his career as Santa. When Lucy discovers this, Frost freezes her parents and locks her in a closet. He then orchestrates situations that make Scott think he must resign to make things better.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: Frost tricks Scott into invoking the Escape Clause and both are sent to Scott's front yard in 1994, when Scott caused the original Santa to fall off his roof and had to replace him. Frost causes the original Santa to fall off the roof and grabs Santa's coat before Scott can. Scott is sent to an alternate 2006, where he has been CEO of his old company for the last twelve years and business takes priority over family. Scott also learns that Laura and Neil divorced and Carol moved away years ago.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: Scott goes to find Lucy and Neil, who are vacationing at the North Pole, which Frost has turned into a theme park. Christmas is now "Frostmas", the elves are miserable, the reindeer are confined to a petting zoo, and parents can pay for their kids to be placed on the nice list. Scott finds Lucy and questions Neil about Laura; he states that Scott’s workaholic absence in Charlie’s life put all the pressure on Neil, and Charlie didn't want him to be his father, causing the divorce between him and Laura.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: Scott confronts Frost and causes a distraction and convinces Lucy to steal Frost's snow globe for him. Lucy throws the snow globe to Scott, but Frost catches it. Scott plays a recording of Frost saying "I wish I'd never been Santa at all" from a novelty North Pole pen Frost gave him earlier, invoking the Escape Clause, sending both Scott and Frost back to 1994. Scott restrains Jack long enough to let his 1994 counterpart get the coat, making him Santa Claus again, sending both back to the present in the original timeline.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: Scott reconciles with his family and Jack is arrested by elf police. He reveals he cannot unfreeze his victims unless he unfreezes himself, something he says he'll never do. Scott convinces Lucy via a snow globe he had given her earlier of her warmly hugging a snowman, to give Frost a "magic hug" to unfreeze and reform him. It works, Laura and Neil unfreeze and Frost becomes a new person. The "Canada" ruse is dropped and Scott appears as Santa to Carol's parents. With two hours remaining before Santa must leave for his Christmas deliveries, Carol goes into labor.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: Months later, while Carol is telling the tale to her students, Scott walks in to reveal their son, Buddy Claus.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: The film was shot entirely at Downey Studios in Downey, California, with Elfsburg Village being shot on Stage 1, and the suburban scenes being shot on the studio's backlot.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: The looks for Jack Frost and Mrs. Claus were originally different. Frost's initial appearance was more of an English 1960's look that was more impish and elfin, but the threat level was not up to the level that director Michael Lembeck wanted. Costume designer Ingrid Ferrin designed a new costume for Frost with a velvet zoot suit feel. Mrs. Claus's initial appearance was based on her end-credits dance scene in "The Santa Clause 2". In that scene, Elizabeth Mitchell wore prosthetic makeup that made her appear round and chubby. After the second day of principal photography, Lembeck was not seeing any emotional content in Mitchell's performance due to the amount of makeup applied on her.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "Playing Jack Frost as an evil cross between Liza Minnelli and Liberace, Martin Short is a welcome presence, but this tired series continues drawing from its bag of bland gags and dumb slapstick." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: Erid D. Snider wrote that Allen did "The Santa Clause" "The first time with enthusiasm, the second time with affection and the third time for a paycheck". Kyle Smith wrote, "We're getting a turkey and a ham for the holidays. Santa is so dumb he should be demoted to cleaning up after Geoffrey the Giraffe at Toys 'R' Us." Manohla Dargis dismissed the film as "Squeaky clean, but you might die of boredom." Finally, Mark Kermode described it on BBC Radio 5 Live as "the cinematic equivalent of tertiary syphilis".


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: In a more positive review, "Variety"s Justin Chang said "The Santa Clause 3" was "a much cleaner, more streamlined ride than its overstuffed predecessor", adding that "Michael Lembeck directs the action with a surer touch and more consistent tone than he brought to "Santa Clause 2", and effortlessly pulls off the pic's sentimental, life-affirming moments without tugging too hard."


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: The first two films had become box-office successes during their opening weekends, but "The Santa Clause 3" was beaten by "" for the No. 1 spot.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: "The Santa Clause 3" made $84,500,122 in North America and a worldwide gross of $110,768,122. The first film made $189,833,357 worldwide at the box-office while the second film made $172,855,065.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: A tie-in video game was released on November 1, 2006 for the Game Boy Advance, developed by 1st Playable Productions and published by Buena Vista Games.


title: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

text: A limited series serving as a sequel, "The Santa Clauses", was released on Disney+, with Tim Allen reprising his role as Scott Calvin / Santa Claus and Jack Burditt serving as showrunner and executive producer. Realizing he can't be Santa Claus forever, an aging Scott Calvin sets off to find a suitable replacement, while helping his children get used to a new adventure south of the pole.