title: Francis Poulenc

text: In Paris, Poulenc completed his scores for "L'Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant" and his first opera, "Les mamelles de Tirésias" (The Breasts of Tiresias), a short opéra bouffe of about an hour's duration. The work is a setting of Apollinaire's play of the same name, staged in 1917. Sams describes the opera as "high-spirited topsy-turveydom" concealing "a deeper and sadder theme – the need to repopulate and rediscover a France ravaged by war". It was premiered in June 1947 at the Opéra-Comique, and was a critical success, but did not prove popular with the public. The leading female role was taken by Denise Duval, who became the composer's favourite soprano, frequent recital partner and dedicatee of some of his music. He called her the nightingale who made him cry (""Mon rossignol à larmes"").


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Shortly after the war, Poulenc had a brief affair with a woman, Fréderique ("Freddy") Lebedeff, with whom he had a daughter, Marie-Ange, in 1946. The child was brought up without knowing who her father was (Poulenc was supposedly her "godfather") but he made generous provision for her, and she was the principal beneficiary of his will.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: In the post-war period Poulenc crossed swords with composers of the younger generation who rejected Stravinsky's recent work and insisted that only the precepts of the Second Viennese School were valid. Poulenc defended Stravinsky and expressed incredulity that "in 1945 we are speaking as if the aesthetic of twelve tones is the only possible salvation for contemporary music". His view that Berg had taken serialism as far as it could go and that Schoenberg's music was now "desert, stone soup, ersatz music, or poetic vitamins" earned him the enmity of composers such as Pierre Boulez. Those disagreeing with Poulenc attempted to paint him as a relic of the pre-war era, frivolous and unprogressive. This led him to focus on his more serious works, and to try to persuade the French public to listen to them. In the US and Britain, with their strong choral traditions, his religious music was frequently performed, but performances in France were much rarer, so that the public and the critics were often unaware of his serious compositions.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: In 1948 Poulenc made his first visit to the US, in a two-month concert tour with Bernac. He returned there frequently until 1961, giving recitals with Bernac or Duval and as soloist in the world premiere of his Piano Concerto (1949), commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Poulenc began the 1950s with a new partner in his private life, Lucien Roubert, a travelling salesman. Professionally Poulenc was productive, writing a seven-song cycle setting poems by Éluard, "La Fraîcheur et le feu" (1950), and the "Stabat Mater", in memory of the painter Christian Bérard, composed in 1950 and premiered the following year.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: In 1953, Poulenc was offered a commission by La Scala and the Milanese publisher Casa Ricordi for a ballet. He considered the story of St Margaret of Cortona but found a dance version of her life impracticable. He preferred to write an opera on a religious theme; Ricordi suggested "Dialogues des Carmélites", an unfilmed screenplay by Georges Bernanos. The text, based on a short story by Gertrud von Le Fort, depicts the Martyrs of Compiègne, nuns guillotined during the French Revolution for their religious beliefs. Poulenc found it "such a moving and noble work", ideal for his libretto, and he began composition in August 1953.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: During the composition of the opera, Poulenc suffered two blows. He learned of a dispute between Bernanos's estate and the writer Emmet Lavery, who held the rights to theatrical adaptations of Le Fort's novel; this caused Poulenc to stop work on his opera. At about the same time Roubert became gravely ill. Intense worry pushed Poulenc into a nervous breakdown, and in November 1954 he was in a clinic at L'Haÿ-les-Roses, outside Paris, heavily sedated. When he recovered, and the literary rights and royalty payments disputes with Lavery were settled, he resumed work on "Dialogues des Carmélites" in between extensive touring with Bernac in England. As his personal wealth had declined since the 1920s he required the substantial income earned from his recitals.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: While working on the opera, Poulenc composed little else; exceptions were two "mélodies", and a short orchestral movement, "Bucolique" in a collective work, "Variations sur le nom de Marguerite Long" (1954), to which his old friends from "Les Six" Auric and Milhaud also contributed. As Poulenc was writing the last pages of his opera in October 1955, Roubert died at the age of forty-seven. The composer wrote to a friend, "Lucien was delivered from his martyrdom ten days ago and the final copy of "Les Carmélites" was completed (take note) at the very moment my dear breathed his last."


title: Francis Poulenc

text: The opera was first given in January 1957 at La Scala in Italian translation. Between then and the French premiere Poulenc introduced one of his most popular late works, the Flute Sonata, which he and Jean-Pierre Rampal performed in June at the Strasbourg Music Festival. Three days later, on 21 June, came the Paris premiere of "Dialogues des Carmélites" at the Opéra. It was a tremendous success, to the composer's considerable relief. At around this time Poulenc began his last romantic relationship, with Louis Gautier, a former soldier; they remained partners to the end of Poulenc's life.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: In 1958 Poulenc embarked on a collaboration with his old friend Cocteau, in an operatic version of the latter's 1930 monodrama "La Voix humaine". The work was produced in February 1959 at the Opéra-Comique, under Cocteau's direction, with Duval as the tragic deserted woman speaking to her former lover by telephone. In May Poulenc's 60th birthday was marked, a few months late, by his last concert with Bernac before the latter's retirement from public performance.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Poulenc visited the US in 1960 and 1961. Among his works given during these trips were the American premiere of "La Voix humaine" at Carnegie Hall in New York, with Duval, and the world premiere of his Gloria, a large-scale work for soprano, four-part mixed chorus and orchestra, conducted in Boston by Charles Munch. In 1961 Poulenc published a book about Chabrier, a 187-page study of which a reviewer wrote in the 1980s, "he writes with love and insight of a composer whose views he shared on matters like the primacy of melody and the essential seriousness of humour." The works of Poulenc's last twelve months included "Sept répons des ténèbres" for voices and orchestra, the Clarinet Sonata and the Oboe Sonata.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: On 30 January 1963, at his flat opposite the Jardin du Luxembourg, Poulenc suffered a fatal heart attack. His funeral was at the nearby church of Saint-Sulpice. In compliance with his wishes, none of his music was performed; Marcel Dupré played works by Bach on the grand organ of the church. Poulenc was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery, alongside his family.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Poulenc's music is essentially diatonic. In Henri Hell's view, this is because the main feature of Poulenc's musical art is his melodic gift. In the words of Roger Nichols in the "Grove" dictionary, "For [Poulenc] the most important element of all was melody and he found his way to a vast treasury of undiscovered tunes within an area that had, according to the most up-to-date musical maps, been surveyed, worked and exhausted." The commentator George Keck writes, "His melodies are simple, pleasing, easily remembered, and most often emotionally expressive."


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Poulenc said that he was not inventive in his harmonic language. The composer Lennox Berkeley wrote of him, "All through his life, he was content to use conventional harmony, but his use of it was so individual, so immediately recognizable as his own, that it gave his music freshness and validity." Keck considers Poulenc's harmonic language "as beautiful, interesting and personal as his melodic writing ... clear, simple harmonies moving in obviously defined tonal areas with chromaticism that is rarely more than passing". Poulenc had no time for musical theories; in one of his many radio interviews he called for "a truce to composing by theory, doctrine, rule!" He was dismissive of what he saw as the dogmatism of latter-day adherents to dodecaphony, led by René Leibowitz, and greatly regretted that the adoption of a theoretical approach had affected the music of Olivier Messiaen, of whom he had earlier had high hopes. To Hell, almost all Poulenc's music is "directly or indirectly inspired by the purely melodic associations of the human voice". Poulenc was a painstaking craftsman, though a myth grew up – ""la légende de facilité"" – that his music came easily to him; he commented, "The myth is excusable, since I do everything to conceal my efforts."


title: Francis Poulenc

text: The pianist Pascal Rogé commented in 1999 that both sides of Poulenc's musical nature were equally important: "You must accept him as a whole. If you take away either part, the serious or the non-serious, you destroy him. If one part is erased you get only a pale photocopy of what he really is." Poulenc recognised the dichotomy, but in all his works he wanted music that was "healthy, clear and robust – music as frankly French as Stravinsky's is Slav".


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Poulenc's principal works for large orchestra comprise two ballets, a Sinfonietta and four keyboard concertos. The first of the ballets, "Les biches", was first performed in 1924 and remains one of his best-known works. Nichols writes in "Grove" that the clear and tuneful score has no deep, or even shallow, symbolism, a fact "accentuated by a tiny passage of mock-Wagnerian brass, complete with emotive minor 9ths". The first two of the four concertos are in Poulenc's light-hearted vein. The "Concert champêtre" for harpsichord and orchestra (1927–28), evokes the countryside seen from a Parisian point of view: Nichols comments that the fanfares in the last movement bring to mind the bugles in the barracks of Vincennes in the Paris suburbs. The Concerto for two pianos and orchestra (1932) is similarly a work intended purely to entertain. It draws on a variety of stylistic sources: the first movement ends in a manner reminiscent of Balinese gamelan, and the slow movement begins in a Mozartian style, which Poulenc gradually fills out with his own characteristic personal touches. The Organ Concerto (1938) is in a much more serious vein. Poulenc said that it was "on the outskirts" of his religious music, and there are passages that draw on the church music of Bach, though there are also interludes in breezy popular style. The second ballet score, "Les Animaux modèles" (1941), has never equalled the popularity of "Les biches", though both Auric and Honegger praised the composer's harmonic flair and resourceful orchestration. Honegger wrote, "The influences that have worked on him, Chabrier, Satie, Stravinsky, are now completely assimilated. Listening to his music you think – it's Poulenc." The Sinfonietta (1947) is a reversion to Poulenc's pre-war frivolity. He came to feel, "I dressed too young for my age ... [it] is a new version of "Les biches" but young girls ["biches"] that are forty-eight years old – that's horrible!" The Concerto for piano and orchestra (1949) initially caused some disappointment: many felt that it was not an advance on Poulenc's pre-war music, a view he came to share. The piece has been re-evaluated in more recent years, and in 1996 the writer Claire Delamarche rated it as the composer's finest concertante work.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Poulenc, a highly accomplished pianist, usually composed at the piano and wrote many pieces for the instrument throughout his career. In Henri Hell's view, Poulenc's piano writing can be divided into the percussive and the gentler style reminiscent of the harpsichord. Hell considers that the finest of Poulenc's music for piano is in the accompaniments to the songs, a view shared by Poulenc himself. The vast majority of the piano works are, in the view of the writer Keith W Daniel, "what might be called 'miniatures'". Looking back at his piano music in the 1950s, the composer viewed it critically: "I tolerate the "Mouvements perpétuels", my old "Suite en ut" [in C], and the "Trois pieces". I like very much my two collections of Improvisations, an Intermezzo in A flat, and certain Nocturnes. I condemn "Napoli" and the "Soirées de Nazelles" without reprieve."


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Of the pieces cited with approval by Poulenc, the fifteen Improvisations were composed at intervals between 1932 and 1959. All are brief: the longest lasts a little more than three minutes. They vary from swift and balletic to tender lyricism, old-fashioned march, "perpetuum mobile", waltz and a poignant musical portrait of the singer Édith Piaf. Poulenc's favoured Intermezzo was the last of three. Numbers one and two were composed in August 1934; the A flat followed in March 1943. The commentators Marina and Victor Ledin describe the work as "the embodiment of the word 'charming'. The music seems simply to roll off the pages, each sound following another in such an honest and natural way, with eloquence and unmistakable Frenchness." The eight nocturnes were composed across nearly a decade (1929–38). Whether or not Poulenc originally conceived them as an integral set, he gave the eighth the title "To serve as Coda for the Cycle" ("Pour servir de Coda au Cycle"). Although they share their generic title with the nocturnes of Field, Chopin and Fauré, Poulenc's do not resemble those of the earlier composers, being "night-scenes and sound-images of public and private events" rather than romantic tone poems.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: The pieces Poulenc found merely tolerable were all early works: "Trois mouvements perpétuels" dates from 1919, the Suite in C from 1920 and the Trois pièces from 1928. All consist of short sections, the longest being the "Hymne", the second of the three 1928 pieces, which lasts about four minutes. Of the two works their composer singled out for censure, "Napoli" (1925) is a three-movement portrait of Italy, and "Les Soirées de Nazelles" is described by the composer Geoffrey Bush as "the French equivalent of Elgar's "Enigma Variations"" – miniature character sketches of his friends. Despite Poulenc's scorn for the work, Bush judges it ingenious and witty. Among the piano music not mentioned, favourably or harshly, by Poulenc, the best known pieces include the two Novelettes (1927–28), the set of six miniatures for children, "Villageoises" (1933), a piano version of the seven-movement "Suite française" (1935), and "L'embarquement pour Cythère" for two pianos (1953).


title: Francis Poulenc

text: In "Grove", Nichols divides the chamber works into three clearly differentiated periods. The first four sonatas come from the early group, all written before Poulenc was twenty-two. They are for two clarinets (1918), piano duo (1918), clarinet and bassoon (1922) and horn, trumpet and trombone (1922). They are early examples of Poulenc's many and varied influences, with echoes of rococo "divertissements" alongside unconventional harmonies, some influenced by jazz. All four are characterised by their brevity – less than ten minutes each – their mischievousness and their wit, which Nichols describes as acid. Other chamber works from this period are the "Rapsodie nègre", FP 3, from 1917 (mainly instrumental, with brief vocal episodes) and the Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano (1926).


title: Francis Poulenc

text: The chamber works of Poulenc's middle period were written in the 1930s and 1940s. The best known is the Sextet for Piano and Wind (1932), in Poulenc's light-hearted vein, consisting of two lively outer movements and a central "divertimento"; this was one of several chamber works that the composer became dissatisfied with and revised extensively some years after their first performance (in this case in 1939–40). The sonatas in this group are for violin and piano (1942–43) and for cello and piano (1948). Writing for strings did not come easily to Poulenc; these sonatas were completed after two unsuccessful earlier attempts, and in 1947 he destroyed the draft of a string quartet. Both sonatas are predominantly grave in character; that for violin is dedicated to the memory of Federico García Lorca. Commentators including Hell, Schmidt and Poulenc himself have regarded it, and to some extent the cello sonata, as less effective than those for wind. The "Aubade", "Concerto choréographique" for piano and 18 instruments (1930) achieves an almost orchestral effect, despite its modest number of players. The other chamber works from this period are arrangements for small ensembles of two works in Poulenc's lightest vein, the "Suite française" (1935) and the "Trois mouvements perpétuels" (1946).


title: Francis Poulenc

text: The final three sonatas are for woodwind and piano: for flute (1956–57), clarinet (1962), and oboe (1962). They have, according to "Grove", become fixtures in their repertoires because of "their technical expertise and of their profound beauty". The "Élégie" for horn and piano (1957) was composed in memory of the horn player Dennis Brain. It contains one of Poulenc's rare excursions into dodecaphony, with the brief employment of a twelve-note tone row.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Poulenc composed songs throughout his career, and his output in the genre is extensive. In Johnson's view, most of the finest were written in the 1930s and 1940s. Though widely varied in character, the songs are dominated by Poulenc's preference for certain poets. From the outset of his career he favoured verses by Guillaume Apollinaire, and from the mid-1930s the writer whose work he set most often was Paul Éluard. Other poets whose works he frequently set included Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob, and Louise de Vilmorin. In the view of the music critic Andrew Clements, the Éluard songs include many of Poulenc's greatest settings; Johnson calls the cycle "Tel Jour, Telle Nuit" (1937) the composer's "watershed work", and Nichols regards it as "a masterpiece worthy to stand beside Fauré's "La Bonne Chanson"". Clements finds in the Éluard settings a profundity "worlds away from the brittle, facetious surfaces of Poulenc's early orchestral and instrumental music". The first of the "Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon" (1943), titled simply "C", is described by Johnson as "a masterpiece known the world over; it is the most unusual, and perhaps the most moving, song about the ravages of war ever composed."


title: Francis Poulenc

text: In an overview of the songs in 1973, the musical scholar Yvonne Gouverné said, "With Poulenc, the melodic line matches the text so well that it seems in some way to complete it, thanks to the gift which the music has for penetrating the very essence of a given poem; nobody has better crafted a phrase than Poulenc, highlighting the colour of the words." Among the lighter pieces, one of the composer's most popular songs is a setting of "Les Chemins de l'amour" for Jean Anouilh's 1940 play as a Parisian waltz; by contrast his "monologue" "La Dame de Monte Carlo", (1961) a depiction of an elderly woman addicted to gambling, shows the composer's painful understanding of the horrors of depression.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Apart from a single early work for unaccompanied choir ("Chanson à boire", 1922), Poulenc began writing choral music in 1936. In that year he produced three works for choir: "Sept chansons" (settings of verses by Éluard and others), "Petites voix" (for children's voices), and his religious work "Litanies à la Vierge Noire", for female or children's voices and organ. The Mass in G major (1937) for unaccompanied choir is described by Gouverné as having something of a baroque style, with "vitality and joyful clamour on which his faith is writ large". Poulenc's new-found religious theme continued with "Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence" (1938–39), but among his most important choral works is the secular cantata "Figure humaine" (1943). Like the Mass, it is unaccompanied, and to succeed in performance it requires singers of the highest quality. Other "a cappella" works include the "Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël" (1952), which make severe demands on choirs' rhythmic precision and intonation.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Poulenc's major works for choir and orchestra are the "Stabat Mater" (1950), the "Gloria" (1959–60), and "Sept répons des ténèbres" (Seven responsories for "Tenebrae", 1961–62). All these works are based on liturgical texts, originally set to Gregorian chant. In the "Gloria", Poulenc's faith expresses itself in an exuberant, joyful way, with intervals of prayerful calm and mystic feeling, and an ending of serene tranquillity. Poulenc wrote to Bernac in 1962, "I have finished Les Ténèbres. I think it is beautiful. With the Gloria and the Stabat Mater, I think I have three good religious works. May they spare me a few days in Purgatory, if I narrowly avoid going to hell." "Sept répons des ténèbres", which Poulenc did not live to hear performed, uses a large orchestra, but in Nichols's view it displays a new concentration of thought. To the critic Ralph Thibodeau, the work may be considered as Poulenc's own requiem and is "the most avant-garde of his sacred compositions, the most emotionally demanding, and the most interesting musically, comparable only with his "magnum opus sacrum", the opera, "Dialogues des Carmélites"."


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Poulenc turned to opera only in the latter half of his career. Having achieved fame by his early twenties, he was in his forties before attempting his first opera. He attributed this to the need for maturity before tackling the subjects he chose to set. In 1958 he told an interviewer, "When I was 24 I was able to write "Les biches" [but] it is obvious that unless a composer of 30 has the genius of a Mozart or the precociousness of Schubert he couldn't write "The Carmelites" – the problems are too profound." In Sams's view, all three of Poulenc's operas display a depth of feeling far distant from "the cynical stylist of the 1920s": "Les Mamelles de Tirésias" (1947), despite the riotous plot, is full of nostalgia and a sense of loss. In the two avowedly serious operas, "Dialogues des Carmélites" (1957) and "La Voix humaine" (1959), in which Poulenc depicts deep human suffering, Sams sees a reflection of the composer's own struggles with depression.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: In terms of musical technique the operas show how far Poulenc had come from his naïve and insecure beginnings. Nichols comments in "Grove" that "Les mamelles de Tirésias", deploys "lyrical solos, patter duets, chorales, falsetto lines for tenor and bass babies and ... succeeds in being both funny and beautiful". In all three operas Poulenc drew on earlier composers, while blending their influence into music unmistakably his own. In the printed score of "Dialogues des Carmélites" he acknowledged his debt to Mussorgsky, Monteverdi, Debussy and Verdi. The critic Renaud Machart writes that "Dialogues des Carmélites" is, with Britten's "Peter Grimes", one of the extremely rare operas written since the Second World War to appear on opera programmes all over the world.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Even when he wrote for a large orchestra, Poulenc used the full forces sparingly in his operas, often scoring for woodwinds or brass or strings alone. With the invaluable input of Bernac he showed great skill in writing for the human voice, fitting the music to the tessitura of each character. By the time of the last of the operas, "La Voix humaine", Poulenc felt able to give the soprano stretches of music with no orchestral accompaniment at all, though when the orchestra plays, Poulenc calls for the music to be "bathed in sensuality".


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Poulenc was among the composers who recognised in the 1920s the important role that the gramophone would play in the promotion of music. The first recording of his music was made in 1928, with the mezzo-soprano Claire Croiza accompanied by the composer at the piano, in the complete song cycle "La bestiaire" for French Columbia. He made numerous recordings, mainly for the French division of EMI. With Bernac and Duval he recorded many of his own songs, and those of other composers including Chabrier, Debussy, Gounod and Ravel. He played the piano part in recordings of his "Babar the Elephant" with Pierre Fresnay and Noël Coward as narrators. In 2005, EMI issued a DVD, "Francis Poulenc & Friends", featuring filmed performances of Poulenc's music, played by the composer, with Duval, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jacques Février and Georges Prêtre.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: A 1984 discography of Poulenc's music lists recordings by more than 1,300 conductors, soloists and ensembles, including the conductors Leonard Bernstein, Charles Dutoit, Milhaud, Charles Munch, Eugene Ormandy, Prêtre, André Previn and Leopold Stokowski. Among the singers, in addition to Bernac and Duval, the list includes Régine Crespin, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Nicolai Gedda, Peter Pears, Yvonne Printemps and Gérard Souzay. Instrumental soloists include Britten, Jacques Février, Pierre Fournier, Emil Gilels, Yehudi Menuhin and Arthur Rubinstein.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: Complete sets of Poulenc's solo piano music have been recorded by Gabriel Tacchino, who had been Poulenc's only piano student (released on the EMI label), Pascal Rogé (Decca), Paul Crossley (CBS), Eric Parkin (Chandos). Éric Le Sage (RCA) and Olivier Cazal (Naxos). Integral sets of the chamber music have been recorded by the Nash Ensemble (Hyperion), Éric Le Sage and various French soloists (RCA) and a variety of young French musicians (Naxos).


title: Francis Poulenc

text: The world premiere of "Dialogues des Carmélites" (in Italian, as "Dialoghi delle Carmelitane") was recorded and has been released on CD. The first studio recording was soon after the French premiere, and since then there have been at least ten live or studio recordings on CD or DVD, most of them in French but one in German and one in English.


title: Francis Poulenc

text: The two sides to Poulenc's musical nature caused misunderstanding during his life and have continued to do so. The composer Ned Rorem observed, "He was deeply devout and uncontrollably sensual"; this still leads some critics to underrate his seriousness. His uncompromising adherence to melody, both in his lighter and serious works, has similarly caused some to regard him as unprogressive. Although he was not much influenced by new developments in music, Poulenc was always keenly interested in the works of younger generations of composers. Lennox Berkeley recalled, "Unlike some artists, he was genuinely interested in other people's work, and surprisingly appreciative of music very far removed from his. I remember him playing me the records of Boulez's "Le marteau sans maître" with which he was already familiar when that work was much less well-known than it is today." Boulez did not take a reciprocal view, remarking in 2010, "There are always people who will take an easy intellectual path. Poulenc coming after "Sacre [du Printemps]". It was not progress." Other composers have found more merit in Poulenc's work; Stravinsky wrote to him in 1931: "You are truly good, and that is what I find again and again in your music".


title: Francis Poulenc

text: In his last years Poulenc observed, "if people are still interested in my music in 50 years' time it will be for my "Stabat Mater" rather than the "Mouvements perpétuels"." In a centenary tribute in "The Times" Gerald Larner commented that Poulenc's prediction was wrong, and that in 1999 the composer was widely celebrated for both sides of his musical character: "both the fervent Catholic and the naughty boy, for both the Gloria and Les Biches, both Les Dialogues des Carmélites and Les Mamelles de Tirésias." At around the same time the writer Jessica Duchen described Poulenc as "a fizzing, bubbling mass of Gallic energy who can move you to both laughter and tears within seconds. His language speaks clearly, directly and humanely to every generation."


Major General Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone (Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George; born Prince Alexander of Teck; 14 April 1874 – 16 January 1957), was a British Army commander and major-general who served as Governor-General of the Union of South Africa and as Governor General of Canada.


title: Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone

text: Prince Alexander was born in London to the Duke and Duchess of Teck and was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1904, he married Princess Alice of Albany and rose in the military ranks through his service on the western front of the First World War, receiving numerous honours and decorations.


text: A cousin and also brother-in-law of King George V, he relinquished his German titles in 1917, including that of Prince of Teck in the Kingdom of Württemberg, and was elevated to the peerage as the Earl of Athlone. He was in 1923 appointed as South Africa's governor-general by the King, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Stanley Baldwin, to replace Prince Arthur of Connaught, and he occupied the viceregal post until succeeded by the Earl of Clarendon in 1930. Athlone then served as Chancellor of the University of London until, in 1940, he was appointed as Canada's governor general by King George VI, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King, to replace Lord Tweedsmuir (John Buchan), and he occupied the post until succeeded by Viscount Alexander of Tunis in 1946. Athlone helped galvanise the Canadian war effort and was a host to British and American statesmen during the Second World War.


text: After returning to the United Kingdom, Athlone sat on the organising committee for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. He died at Kensington Palace in 1957 and was interred in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.


text: Prince Alexander of Teck was born at Kensington Palace on 14 April 1874, the fourth child and third son of Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, and Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. Although his mother was a granddaughter of King George III and first cousin to Queen Victoria, Athlone, as the son of a prince of Teck in Württemberg, was styled from birth as "His Serene Highness" and held the title "Prince Alexander of Teck". He was known, however, to his family and friends as "Alge", derived from the first two letters of "Alexander" and "George", and was characterised as a meticulous individual with a quick, but short-lived, temper and an ability to be cautious and tactful.


text: When Prince Alexander was nine years old, his parents fled the United Kingdom for continental Europe to escape their high debts. They stayed there for two years. The Prince remained at Eton College before moving on to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In October 1894, having completed his officer's training, Prince Alexander was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 7th Queen's Own Hussars, and shortly after served in the Second Matabele War. He was mentioned in despatches during the conflict and, after its cessation, was appointed on 8 December 1898 by Queen Victoria as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. He received a promotion to lieutenant in June 1899 and to captain the following April. For his actions in the Second Boer War, Alexander was in April 1901 appointed by King Edward VII as a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order.


text: The announcement came on 16 November 1903 that Prince Alexander had become engaged to his second cousin once removed, Princess Alice of Albany, daughter of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and thus a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and niece of the then soon-to-be Governor General of Canada, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. The two were wed at St. George's Chapel, in Windsor Castle, on 10 February 1904 and, six days later, in celebration of the wedding, the Prince was promoted to the grade of a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. The couple thereafter had three children: Princess May of Teck, born 1906; Prince Rupert of Teck, born 1907; and Prince Maurice Francis George of Teck. Maurice, however, lived only for less than six months, between 29 March and 14 September 1910.


text: Prior to the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Prince Alexander, who had been promoted to major in January 1911 and was a brevet lieutenant-colonel commanding the 2nd Life Guards, was nominated by the British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith to serve as Governor General of Canada. However, the Prince was called up for active service with his regiment. taking him to battle in France and Flanders. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, with the temporary rank of brigadier-general, in December 1915. For his service on the battlefields, in June 1917 Prince Alexander was appointed by his brother in law, King George V, as a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.


text: During the war, anti-German sentiment throughout the British Empire led the King to change the name of the royal house from the Germanic House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the more English House of Windsor, while simultaneously renouncing all Germanic titles for himself and all members of the Royal Family. Through a royal warrant issued on 14 July 1917, Alexander, along with his brother, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Teck, similarly relinquished all of his German titles, styles, and honours, choosing instead the name of "Cambridge", after his grandfather, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. Alexander was then known simply as Sir Alexander Cambridge (being entitled to the honorific "Sir" through his knighthoods in the Royal Victorian Order and the Order of the Bath), until, on 7 November 1917, the King created him Earl of Athlone and Viscount Trematon. Athlone had declined a marquessate, as he thought the title did not sound British enough. Athlone's wife retained her royal style and title, while their surviving children became the Lady May Cambridge and Rupert Cambridge, Viscount Trematon. Rupert was to inherit the title of Earl of Athlone, but he died on 15 April 1928, ten days shy of his twenty-first birthday, meaning the third creation of the title became extinct with the death of the first earl.


text: Following the cessation of hostilities in Europe in 1918, Athlone was promoted to the brevet rank of colonel in June 1919, and retired from the army that November, with the honorary rank of brigadier-general. He took up posts in the civilian world, continuing at Middlesex Hospital. Because of his experience there, he was appointed in 1921 to chair an investigative committee on the needs of doctors. Known as the "Athlone Committee", its work resulted in the creation of post-graduate schools for medical education and research, such as the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. In March 1922, he was promoted to the rank of colonel in the Regular Army Reserves, retaining his honorary rank of brigadier-general, and, in 1937, was appointed chair of a committee of inquiry into the arrangements for "recruitment, training and registration and terms and conditions of service" for nurses.


text: For their London residence, the Athlones used the grace and favour apartments of Princess Alice's mother, the late Duchess of Albany, in the Clock House at Kensington Palace and, in 1923, they acquired a country residence, Brantridge Park, in West Sussex.


text: In December of the same year, Athlone was appointed by the King as both an honorary major-general and as the Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, replacing his wife's cousin, Prince Arthur of Connaught. He arrived in Pretoria in January 1924 and was immediately at work with his viceregal duties, opening the newly finished parliament building, just weeks before his South African prime minister, Jan Smuts, suddenly advised him to prorogue the legislature.


text: In the ensuing election—the running of which forced Athlone to cancel the planned tour of Prince Edward, Prince of Wales—the National Party won a majority of seats in the National Assembly, meaning Athlone appointed the party's leader, James Barry Munnik Hertzog, as his new prime minister. At the time, Afrikaner nationalism was increasing in the dominion, and Hertzog was a republican who promoted the secession of South Africa from the British Empire. As such, he proposed the country adopt its own flag over the Union Flag. Athlone, however, proved sympathetic and tactful, and resolved the issue by advancing a flag that was unique to South Africa, but which still contained the Union Flag within it, despite opposition from numerous Afrikaners. He also gained popularity with South Africans of all races through his frequent tours of the country, performing a number of ceremonial duties, including opening Pioneer Park in Johannesburg.


text: For his service to the Crown in South Africa, Athlone was appointed by George V as a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter, on 17 April 1928, and, upon his return to the UK, was made on 4 August 1931 the Governor and Constable of Windsor Castle. The following year, he was also selected as the Chancellor of the University of London, which post he held until 1955.


text: In January 1939, Athlone was appointed president of The Football Association. The move represented the first time the FA had appointed someone that was not a football administrator to the position.


text: In Canada in the late 1930s, there had been calls from government circles and the media alike for the King to appoint a Canadian-born individual as governor general. However, with the rush to fill the post after the unexpected death of the incumbent viceroy, Lord Tweedsmuir, and with the country embroiled in the Second World War, Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King advised King George VI that the time was not right for such a change in viceregal tradition.


text: Instead, it was George's uncle, the Earl of Athlone, whose name Mackenzie King put forward and the Earl accepted. Subsequently, Athlone, along with his wife and his aide-de-camp, Alastair Windsor, Earl of Macduff, voyaged to Canada to take up his position, their liner using a submarine-evading zig-zag pattern across the Atlantic Ocean to Halifax, Nova Scotia. After travelling on to Ottawa by train, Athlone was sworn in during a ceremony in the Senate chamber on 21 June 1940. The Athlones' three grandchildren, Anne, Richard, and Elizabeth (children of their daughter May), lived with them in Canada for the duration of the war.


text: Athlone immediately made himself active in the support of the war effort, travelling across the country and focusing much of his attention on the troops, either those training at military facilities or those injured and in hospital. Viewing his position as governor general as a link between Canadians and their monarch, Athlone also communicated in speeches that the King stood with them in their fight against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime.


text: The war was brought close to home for the Athlones also because many of those belonging to displaced European royal families sought refuge in Canada and resided at or near the royal and viceroyal residence, Rideau Hall. Among the royal guests were Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway; Grand Duchess Charlotte and Prince Felix of Luxembourg; King Peter of Yugoslavia; King George of Greece; Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma (Austria) and her daughters; as well as Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her daughter, Princess Juliana. Further, in December 1941, British prime minister Winston Churchill arrived at the residence, where he presided over British Cabinet meetings via telephone from his bed.


text: It was Athlone's duty to play host at Quebec City to his prime minister, still Mackenzie King, as well as Churchill and United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who all gathered to take part in what would become known as the Quebec Conferences, with the first taking place between 17 and 24 August 1943 at the viceregal residence in La Citadelle, and the second occurring from 12 to 16 September 1944 at the Château Frontenac. It was at these meetings that the four men discussed the Allied strategies that would eventually lead to victory over Nazi Germany and Japan. When Germany fell on 8 May 1945 and Japan on 15 August of the same year, Athlone led the national celebrations held on Parliament Hill and elsewhere. He thereafter spoke in speeches about Canada's future being marked not by war but by a strong role in reconstruction and reconciliation.


text: During his time as the Canadian viceroy, Athlone also lent his status to various charitable and other social events, and mounted a number of activities of his own, such as tobogganing parties and skating lessons on the grounds of Rideau Hall, as well as skiing in Gatineau Park. When he departed Canada at the end of his time as the King's representative, Athlone left as a legacy the Athlone Fellowship, awarded by the Engineering Institute of Canada.


text: After Lord Athlone's replacement as governor general was appointed on 21 March 1946, he returned to the United Kingdom to retirement, taking up residence again in a grace and favour apartment at Kensington Palace and, on 1 September of that year, resigning as colonel of the 7th Queen's Own Hussars. He did not completely remove himself from public activity, however, and was, along with his Canadian viceregal successor, Lord Alexander of Tunis, appointed to the committee charged with organising the coronation in 1953 of Athlone's great-niece, Queen Elizabeth II, and continued to sit as Chancellor of the University of London until 1955.


text: The Earl of Athlone died at Kensington on 16 January 1957 at the age of 82, and was interred in the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore. He was the last surviving great-grandchild of George III.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: Harry Brown is a 2009 British vigilante action-thriller film directed by Daniel Barber and starring Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Jack O'Connell, and Liam Cunningham. The story follows Harry Brown, a widowed Royal Marines veteran who had served in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, living on a London housing estate that is rapidly descending into youth crime. After a violent gang murders his friend, Harry decides to take justice into his own hands.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: The film also features actor and rapper Plan B, who recorded the film's theme music track "End Credits" with Chase & Status. "Harry Brown" premiered on 12 September 2009 as a "Special Presentation" at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically in the United Kingdom by Lionsgate UK on 11 November 2009; the film was released in the United States by Samuel Goldwyn Films and Destination Films on 30 April 2010. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Caine's performance but criticized the excessive violence.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: Elderly pensioner Harry Brown, a decorated Royal Marine veteran of the Northern Ireland conflict, lives on a London council estate infested with violent youth gang activity and illegal narcotics distribution. Harry spends most of his free time playing chess with his friend, Len Attwell, at a local pub owned by Sid Rourke. When the hospital phones about his wife Kath's imminent demise, Harry arrives too late as the pedestrian underpass shortcut is active gang territory. Kath is buried next to their thirteen-year-old daughter, Rachel, who died of pneumonia in 1973.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: Len confides to Harry that he is being terrorised by youths and shows him an old bayonet he now carries to defend himself; with the police unable to help, he plans to confront his harassers himself. The next day, Detective Inspector Alice Frampton and Detective Sergeant Terry Hicock visit Harry and inform him that Len is dead. The police arrest Noel Winters, the leader of a drug-dealing gang, along with members Carl, Dean and Marky, but they are released due to insufficient evidence. After Len's funeral, an inebriated Harry is frozen when confronted by Dean at knife-point, for his wallet; almost instinctually, presumably due to his military training, Harry kills Dean with his own knife during a brief struggle.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: DI Frampton visits Harry the next morning, as Len was killed with his own bayonet, any charges could be reduced to manslaughter or even self-defence, incensing Harry.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: That night Harry follows a drug dealer, Kenny, from a pub, to a tenement, where they negotiate the purchase of a 9mm pistol. Inside, Harry finds Kenny and his mate, Stretch, growing cannabis and manipulating a young female heroin addict, to make pornographic films. Harry, mortified by their treatment of the comatose young woman, shoots the two dealers and sets their den ablaze, fleeing with the girl, a bag of firearms and a large sum of cash in their military transport truck. He leaves the girl outside a hospital, and then tracks Marky to a secluded, wooded area, shooting the older drug boss who is sexually abusing him. Harry ties up Marky, coercing him into revealing mobile phone footage of Len's cold blooded murder. Harry then uses Marky to bait Noel and Carl in the underpass; a gunfight ensues, Carl and Marky are killed, but Noel flees. Harry pursues, but collapses from an emphysema attack. Harry is found and taken to hospital, where DI Frampton smells cordite gun residue on his overcoat.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: Frampton has deduced that Harry is behind all the recent shootings, but her boss—Superintendent Childs—is dismissive, convinced of an escalating gang war, and congratulates her on a new position he has "arranged" for her.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: Childs leads a major police operation on the estate, which escalates into a riot. Meanwhile, Harry discharges himself from the hospital. Driving to the estate, Frampton and Hicock are involved in a car crash in which Hicock is severely injured. Harry appears and takes them into Sid's pub, where Frampton calls for backup and informs Harry that Sid is Noel's uncle, so shooting Noel is dubious at best.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: Harry discovers Sid hiding Noel in the basement, but has an emphysema fit, allowing Sid to disarm him and reveal himself as the gang's true leader. Sid suffocates the injured Hicock, and Noel begins to strangle Frampton. A weakened Harry draws a concealed ankle pistol and kills Noel; Sid then shoots Harry and prepares to finish him, as two red, (police-sniper) dots mark (Sid's) chest, unaware, Sid is baited by Harry to raise his gun.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: At a press conference after the riot, Superintendent Childs announces that Frampton and Hicock are to be awarded medals, but denies evidence of a vigilante. Harry walks towards the now quiet and gang-free underpass.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: The film was shot mainly in and around the abandoned Heygate Estate in Walworth, London. At the time of filming, it was due to be demolished, which did not happen until early 2014. The subway scenes were shot at Marks Gate, London.


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes 63% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 127 reviews, with an average score of 6/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Its lurid violence may put off some viewers, but "Harry Brown" is a vigilante thriller that carries an emotional as well as a physical punch, thanks to a gripping performance from Michael Caine in the title role." On Metacritic it has a score of 55% based on reviews from 35 critics. "Empire" gave the film four stars out of five. "GQ" magazine gave it five stars out of five, calling it "truly awesome."


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: "The Times" gave the film three stars but considered it "morally and politically odious." "The Sunday Times" was less positive, giving it one star: "It's too daft to pass muster as action-movie hokum, let alone as social commentary." "Cinema Blend" praised the film, saying "Caine pours every ounce of himself into Harry, and the payoff is massive ... There's nothing more fulfilling than seeing a compelling story brought to life by standout performances and then further enhanced by stellar directing." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three stars out of four, and called the film "... a revenge thriller poised somewhere between "Death Wish" and "Gran Torino.""


title: Harry Brown (film)

text: As of 20 December 2009 the film had earned $6,649,562 in the UK market opening against "2012" and "Disney's A Christmas Carol". As of 8 August 2010, total worldwide gross was nearly $10 million including $1,818,681 in the United States, where it opened against "A Nightmare on Elm Street".


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion and a two-time Xfinity Series champion, having won two consecutive championships in 2004 and 2005.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Many members of Truex Jr.'s family are current or retired NASCAR drivers. His younger brother Ryan competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing and Sam Hunt Racing, and is a two-time consecutive champion in what is now known as the ARCA Menards Series East. His father Martin Sr. competed full-time in the East Series in the 1990s. His uncle Barney competed part-time in the Whelen Modified Tour in the 1980s. His cousins, Curtis Truex Jr. and Tyler Truex, are late model racing drivers.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: The son of racer Martin Truex Sr., Martin Jr. began his racing career driving go-karts at the New Egypt Speedway, located in Central New Jersey when it was still a paved track (the track was later switched to dirt). Truex Jr. would make his move to the Modified division at Wall Stadium in 1998, as soon as he was old enough to race a car at the age of 18 (under New Jersey regulations).


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: In 2000, Truex moved south and rented a home from Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Mooresville, North Carolina, eventually purchasing his own home there. Following in his father's footsteps, he began racing in the Busch North Series. He ran three full seasons (2000 to 2002) and made limited starts in 2003. Truex claimed 13 poles and 5 wins driving his family-owned No. 56 SeaWatch Chevy.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex made his first Busch Series start in 2001 at Dover International Speedway in his father's No. 56 Chevy. He started 19th but finished 38th after an early wreck. In 2002, Truex drove one race for Phoenix Racing at New Hampshire International Speedway, starting 13th and finishing 29th. He ran three races the rest of that season for his father, his best finish seventeenth at Dover.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: In 2003, he began the season with his father's team, before he was hired by Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive his No. 81 Chance 2 Motorsports Chevy. He made his debut with Chance 2 at Richmond International Raceway, where he qualified sixth and led 11 laps before transmission failure forced him to a 31st-place finish. He split time between Chance 2 and his father's team for the balance of the season, except at Dover, where he drove for Stanton Barrett. He had a sixth-place run at Bristol Motor Speedway, and ended the season with two consecutive second-place finishes. He ran a total of ten races that season.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex raced full-time for Chance 2 in 2004. At Bristol Motor Speedway, he would earn his first career victory, and he would later add three more victories over the next seven races. This would include a victory at Talladega Superspeedway which broke his car owner's streak of winning restrictor plate races in the Busch Series, and a victory at the final NASCAR event held at Nazareth Speedway. He took the lead in the championship after Nazareth but lost it to rookie Kyle Busch a few races later. However, a series of Top 5's and Top 10's in the second half of the season would allow Truex to pull away from Busch, clinching the Busch Series championship with a race to spare.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: While on his way to that championship, Truex made an appearance in the Nextel Cup Series as a relief driver to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who'd suffered burns in a sports car accident. Truex started his first career Cup race for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) in the No. 1 at Atlanta Motor Speedway later that year, qualifying 33rd and finishing 37th.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex stayed in the Busch Series to defend his championship in 2005, winning the title for the second season in a row. He won the first Busch Series points race held outside the United States, in Mexico, as well as defending his wins at Talladega and Dover International Speedway. He took his first win at Daytona International Speedway on July 1, 2005.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: In 2006, Truex moved to the No. 1 DEI Chevy full-time in the Nextel Cup Series. He had two Top 5 finishes and finished 19th in points. Truex got his first win of the 2007 season in the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Open, securing a spot in the 2007 Nextel All-Star Challenge, where he finished tenth.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: A few weeks later, he won the Autism Speaks 400, scoring his first Sprint Cup Series win with an interval of seven seconds between pole-sitter Ryan Newman and himself, even though he led over half of the race—219 of the 400 laps.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: This victory led to a jump in overall points advancing him to 13th, followed by a third-place finish at Pocono Raceway and a second-place finish at Michigan. With a 15th-place finish in the Chevy Rock and Roll 400, Truex clinched a spot in his first Chase for the Sprint Cup and finished 11th in points at season's end. He did not go to victory lane in 2008, but he did have 11 Top 10's and finished 15th in the points standings.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: At the beginning of the 2009 season, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. merged into Chip Ganassi Racing and was renamed Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. The move was in effect a closing of DEI, and Truex's No. 1 moved to Ganassi to replace the defunct No. 41 of Reed Sorenson. Truex began the year by winning the pole for the Daytona 500. Later in the season, Truex had claimed two more pole positions at Atlanta and Phoenix, following his first pole since 2007 at Texas.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: 2009 would be Truex Jr.'s lone season with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, as he departed following the season and was replaced by Jamie McMurray.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: After the 2009 season, Truex left Earnhardt Ganassi Racing to drive the No. 56 Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing, receiving owner points from the No. 55 car formerly driven by Waltrip. The No. 56 was the number Martin's father drove in during his time in the Grand National Division and is considered the "family number". In his first race for Michael Waltrip Racing, Truex finished sixth in the Daytona 500.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: After the series of setbacks the following three weeks with a blown engine and accidents, he fell back to 24th in the point standings, but in the next seven races after finishing in the Top 12 fives times and all Top 19 finishes, he would gain to 13th in the point standings. At Dover, he earned his fifth career pole. Truex won the All-Star Showdown at Charlotte thereby earning the 1st transfer spot for the All-Star Race which he finished second in from a 19th (out of 21) starting spot. Truex would go on to finish the 2010 season 22nd in the point standings with one Top 5 finish and seven Top 10 finishes.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: At Martinsville the following year in 2011, a stuck throttle caused Truex to make contact with Kasey Kahne, resulting in a large wreck; Truex hit the wall hard head-on and his car flew on fire for a few seconds as Kahne hit the wall in his car's rear. Truex climbed out instantly and went to check on Kahne who received a standing ovation as he climbed out uninjured. Truex then left with officials to the care center. He said the wreck was the hardest of his career and both Truex and Kahne were released with normal symptoms. The next week officials told him his wreck was the hardest crash at Martinsville. Truex won another pole at Dover International Raceway. Truex ran well in most of the races but often struggled to finish the races off. He was docked 25 points because of a windshield violation in the fall Talladega race. He ended the season 18th in points, with three Top 5's and 12 top 10's.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex started 2012 well, winning a $200,000 bonus and finishing 7th in the Daytona 500. He finally hit his stride in Texas, winning the pole and leading 69 laps. The following week at Kansas he started sixth and flat-out dominated the race, leading 173 of 267 laps but falling short to Denny Hamlin. At Atlanta, he led 40 of the final 46 laps, but ultimately fell short to Hamlin again when he was forced to pit under a late-race caution for fuel, ending up fourth. Truex finished 21st, however, he had a spot clinched in the Chase, and ultimately made it in. He ended up 11th in the points, with zero wins, seven Top 5's, and 19 Top 10's.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex had an up and down 2013 season. He had a few top-five finishes in the early races. His first best run of 2013 was Texas, when he led during the final 55 laps of the race but ended up losing to Kyle Busch. Truex also had low notes, including an accident at Martinsville and a blown engine at Dover. The highlight of the season was at Sonoma, when Truex broke a 218 race winless streak, starting 14th on the starting grid and working his way up to win by over eight seconds over Jeff Gordon. Truex's 218-race winless streak is second only to Bill Elliott, who went winless in 226 races between 1994 and 2001. It is only the second time a car numbered No. 56 won in NASCAR's highest division, the first being Jim Hurtubise in a 1966 Atlanta race.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Returning to Bristol, Truex was involved in a wreck on Lap 448 where his car hit an inside wall at an angle that he broke his right wrist; he continued racing despite wearing a cast on his right wrist. At Atlanta, despite nursing a broken wrist, Truex finished third to Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: In the final regular-season race at Richmond, Truex was in the midst of a fierce battle for the final Wildcard spot, eventually coming out over Ryan Newman by a tiebreaker. As Newman and Truex each had one win, the Wildcard spot went to Truex, for having a better number of top-five finishes than Newman; however on Monday evening, it was announced that due to MWR having attempted to manipulate the results of the race, points penalties were assessed – 50 points for Truex, Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers each – that resulted in Truex being bumped from the Chase and Newman and Jeff Gordon being added to the Chase field, as well as probation for all 3 crew chiefs, suspension of Ty Norris, and a $300,000 fine. In the final 10 races of the season, Truex had 4 top 10 finishes, which included a top 5 run at Homestead-Miami Speedway.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: On October 14, 2013, it was announced that Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 56 would become a research and development team in 2014, and later was spun off. Truex was told he could offer his services as a driver to other teams, and on October 17 it was confirmed that for the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season Truex would move to Furniture Row Racing and drive the No. 78 Chevrolet being vacated by Kurt Busch. When the deal was formally announced on November 1, 2013, before the Texas race, it was announced that Furniture Row had also signed on all of the members of Truex's MWR pit crew.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex's 2014 season started with an outside pole qualifying run for the Daytona 500, Furniture Row Racing's first front row start in the 500. However, Truex's engine failed on lap 31.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex did poorly in the spring but rebounded with 4 top tens in the latter part of the season. He only led a single lap (at Talladega in the October race) and finished 24th in the final points.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Before the 2015 season, crew chief Todd Berrier was released and replaced with rookie crew chief Cole Pearn.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex's season began on a high note. He led the most laps of the Sprint Unlimited (28 of 75). He led late but after a late-race red flag period erased his 5-second lead on Joey Logano, Truex lost his rhythm and finished second to Matt Kenseth. In a post-race interview, an emotional Truex said "We needed this. The race was over once Kenseth pulled away from me. But we needed this. After the last year and a half that I've had this satisfies a lot."


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex continued his good momentum, finishing in the top ten in 14 of the first 15 races including a runner-up at Las Vegas. His only poor finish during this period was a 29th-place finish at Bristol, seven laps down, after being swept up in a late-race accident. At Kansas, Truex led the most laps (95), but a late caution killed his chances as he slipped back to 9th on the last restart, and he was unable to make up enough ground to catch Jimmie Johnson.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: At the Coca-Cola 600, Truex led the most laps (131 of 400), but with 20 laps to go, he had to make a late-race fuel stop and finished 5th. At Dover, Truex led the most laps again (131 of 405), but a poor restart caused him to slide back to seventh and cost him the race to Johnson.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: At Pocono, Truex started third, and ran up front for most of the race, leading 97 of 160 laps. On the last restart, he managed to pull away to a 1.8-second lead on Kevin Harvick to take the checkered flag in first place. For Truex, this snapped a 69 race winless streak and was also the fourth straight points race in which he led the most laps. It was the second win for Furniture Row Racing and the first for crew chief Cole Pearn.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: With a third-place finish in a rain-shortened Michigan race, Truex became the first driver since Richard Petty in 1969 to start a Cup season with 14 top-10 finishes through the first 15 races. At Sonoma, Truex was running in the top 20 until shortly after the first restart, when David Ragan turned him in the esses, which saw Truex crash into a jersey barrier, resulting in a 42nd-place finish. At Daytona, Truex was running up front until he was caught up in a crash on lap 106, relegating him to a 38th-place finish. Despite a string of bad races, Truex nonetheless made the Chase for the Sprint Cup and advanced through the first 2 rounds of the Chase. He also advanced to the final four at Homestead-Miami and went on to finish 4th in the final standings, a then-career best for both FRR and Truex.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Prior to the season, Furniture Row switched manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota. Bass Pro Shops signed on as an associate sponsor to the No. 78, reuniting with Truex for the first time since Truex's time with DEI. Truex started the 2016 season qualifying 28th for the Daytona 500 and ran up front for most of the day. On the last lap of the Daytona 500, he was positioned behind race leader Matt Kenseth. Heading into turn 3 Denny Hamlin got a big run on Kenseth and tried to pass him but Matt went up to block Hamlin but nearly wrecked in the process and ended up losing the draft leaving Truex as the leading car. After a ferocious race to the finish line, Truex lost by 0.010 seconds to Denny Hamlin in the closest Daytona 500 finish in history.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex dominated at Texas, leading 141 of 334 laps but lost after not making a pit stop with less than 39 laps to go. At Kansas in May, Truex won his first pole of the year and first pole in 147 races in Sprint Cup for the running of the Go Bowling 400. Truex led a race-high 172 laps but a loose wheel relegated him to a 14th-place finish. He won his second pole of the season for the Coca-Cola 600. On May 29—Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, 2016—Truex dominated, leading a record 392 of 400 laps in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, surpassing the old record of 335 laps set by Jim Paschal in 1967. The win was Truex's first of 2016, clinching a place in the Chase for the Sprint Cup at the end-of-season. He led the race for 588 miles, the most miles led by any driver in any NASCAR race ever.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: On September 4, in the Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Truex won his second race of the year. With 20 laps to go Truex Jr. was on point with Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson chasing from behind. With 19 laps to go Harvick and Larson found themselves five seconds behind the leader when a caution came out for a hard wreck by Aric Almirola in the No. 43 machine. With 17 laps to go the field hit pit road for the final time with Truex Jr. winning the battle off pit road. The final restart came with 12 laps to go and immediately Harvick and Larson battled quickly before Harvick eventually took second and then set sail to catch Truex. Luckily For Truex, however, Harvick could not match the number 78 car and Truex would go on to win the Southern 500.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: 2016 became the first multi-win season of his career. Truex would advance to the next round of the Chase at Chicagoland. Truex led 32 of the final 50 laps and appeared set to finish second behind Chase Elliott. After a caution with 10 laps left erased Elliott's 3-second lead, Truex and Elliott pitted. Truex used the advantage of his fresh tires and got by rookie Ryan Blaney on the final restart, winning the race, his third win of the season. At New Hampshire, Truex had a great car all day and would lead the most laps but towards the end, his tires would wear, and a few late-race cautions came out so he would lose the lead, eventually, Kevin Harvick would win and Truex would finish 7th.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: The next week, coming back to Dover, Truex would once again have a great car and would lead the most laps, and would get his 4th win of the season and 7th win of his career after the other dominant driver Jimmie Johnson had a pit road mistake and would be advanced into round 2 of the Chase after his Chicagoland win. He would eventually get eliminated in the Round of 12 after his engine blew up in the elimination race at Talladega and some poor performances in the Round of 12.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex started the 2017 season off by winning the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This was Toyota's first win of the season with the new 2018 Camry and Truex's first career win at Las Vegas. He also became the first driver to win all three stages of the new stage format that was introduced for 2017.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: At Kansas in May 2017, Truex started 4th. The race was primarily a duel between him and Ryan Blaney. Truex held off Blaney, Kevin Harvick, and a hard-charging Brad Keselowski on three restarts to win the race. At Charlotte, he led the most laps once again, becoming only the second man to lead the most laps in three straight Coca-Cola 600 races, yet only winning one. He tied Darrell Waltrip's record. At Michigan, he won 2 more stage wins, becoming the first and fastest person to ever win 10 stage wins, where nobody else has won more than four, or any other team's combined stage wins. In July, Truex captured his third win of the season, dominating the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. He again won all three stages, leading 152 of 267 laps. With two laps to go, Truex had a 14-second lead before a late caution set up an overtime finish. Despite each of the other seven cars behind him pitting during the caution, Truex held off Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson on older tires before a wreck behind the lead pack brought out another yellow flag, this one ending the race.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex took home his fourth win of the season in August winning the I Love New York 355 at The Glen, capturing his first win at Watkins Glen International Speedway. After finishing 2nd in the first two segments of the race, Truex took the lead with 36 laps to go from Brad Keselowski but relinquished the top two spots to Keselowski and Ryan Blaney to save fuel. The strategy paid off, as Keselowski went to pit road with five laps remaining, while Blaney went one lap later, giving Truex the lead. He was able to make it to the finish, holding off Matt Kenseth as he was running out of fuel for his second career road course victory. It was an emotional win for the #78 team, as Pollex returned to victory lane with Truex after missing the Kentucky win due to a cancer recurrence, while his crew chief Cole Pearn helped earn the win while coping with the loss of his best friend, Jacob Damen.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Two races later at the 2017 Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Truex had a chance to clinch the first regular-season title in NASCAR history if he left with a points lead of 120 points or greater. However, Truex struggled during the early stages of the race and finished 21st


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Following an off-week, Truex raced in the Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington with another chance to wrap up the regular season crown a week before the finale at Richmond. In stage one, Truex ran down Kyle Larson with under a lap to go to win his 16th stage of the year. The exciting finish earned him his 35th playoff point of the season. After being behind both Larson and Denny Hamlin early in the second stage, Truex was able to find the lead and took the stage victory under caution after an accident occurred with three laps to go. The stage win also clinched Truex the regular-season championship and the additional 15 playoff points that go with the title. Truex seemed to have optimal timing again near the finish, springing to the lead shortly after the final exchange of pit stops in the closing 102-lap run of green-flag racing. However, Denny Hamlin gradually chopped into the lead, setting up a potential classic contest for the lead. With three laps to go, Truex's tire gave way, allowing Hamlin to scoot by and grab his second win of the season. Despite this, Truex clinched the regular-season championship.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Before being awarded the regular-season championship at Richmond, Truex dominated the Federated Auto Parts 400 leading 50% of the race. However, his race derailed when Denny Hamlin wrecked him on the final restart. Truex, though clinching the regular-season championship, expressed discontent with the 1990 Daytona 500 champion, Derrike Cope who caused a caution that changed the outcome of the race, leading up to the wreck. The regular-season championship was Truex's first top-level championship in his Cup Series career.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex started the playoffs on a high note, winning the first race of the playoffs, and his 5th win of the season at Chicagoland Speedway despite a pit road speeding penalty early in the race. That win, allowed Truex to secure a spot for the Round of 12. He later earned himself a 5th-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, although being involved in an 8-car pileup with minor damage midway through the race.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: To start the Round of 12, Truex scored his 6th win of the season at Charlotte after leading 91 out of 334 laps to secure a spot for the Round of 8. Just two weeks later, he scored another win at Kansas despite having a restart violation early in the race, that win extends his active win streak in 1.5-mile tracks to 4, a NASCAR record. The next week, Truex came second to Kevin Harvick in Texas Fall race, snapping the streak at the final 1.5. mile track race in the season. After the Texas Chase race, Truex made the final four in the playoffs by points. He ultimately won the final race at Miami, becoming the 2017 champion, and won 19 of 108 stages, capping off one of the most dominant seasons in recent history.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex started off the season with an 18th-place finish at the 2018 Daytona 500, after being caught up in a late-race wreck. For the next few weeks, Truex picked up top-five finishes for the next five straight races, including two poles, and a win at California. He continued this consistency with wins at Pocono, Sonoma, and Kentucky and 15 top-fives during the regular season. Truex added four top-five finishes during the Playoffs and made the Championship 4 for the second year in a row. He finished second at Homestead to Joey Logano and in the final points standings.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: On September 4, 2018, it was announced that Furniture Row Racing will be folding the No. 78 team following the conclusion of the 2018 season. On November 7, 2018, with Furniture Row Racing closing at the end of 2018, it was announced Truex and crew chief Cole Pearn signed a deal with Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No. 19 starting in the 2019 season, replacing Daniel Suárez and crew chief Dave Rogers.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex started his first season with JGR with a 35th-place finish at the 2019 Daytona 500, but he made up for that loss with five straight top-10s and two top-20s before scoring four wins at Richmond (his first Cup win on a short track), Dover, Charlotte, and Sonoma. He began the 2019 playoffs by winning the first two races at Las Vegas and Richmond (his first back-to-back career victories and season "sweep" at Richmond) and advancing to the Round of 12 after finishing seventh at the Charlotte Roval. During the Round of 8, Truex won at Martinsville to secure his position in the Championship 4. At the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Truex dominated the first half of the race, winning the first stage and leading into green flag pit stops at the midpoint of stage 2. However, the race and championship hope unraveled due to a miscue during the pit stop, in which the left and right front tires were switched around, and installed to the incorrect sides. The pit road error forced an unscheduled stop and rendered Truex a lap down for much of the second stage. He recovered and began to rally back through the field, but could not overcome the loss of track position, ultimately finishing second in the race to teammate Kyle Busch and the final championship standings for the second season in a row. Truex led the series in victories with seven. Truex was also the first driver to lead the series in wins after switching to a new team since Matt Kenseth in 2013, who also did it with Joe Gibbs Racing.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: On December 9, after serving as Truex's crew chief for six seasons, Pearn announced he has parted ways with JGR to pursue opportunities outside the sport.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: At Martinsville in June, Truex controlled the final 100 laps and won his only race of the season after early-race damage to the front of his car prevented the right-front tire and brake pads from overheating. Truex dominated the final laps of the race at Kentucky but was the victim of a last-lap pass by Cole Custer, the second time in three years that Truex was passed on the final lap by a driver in their first career win. Truex missed the Championship 4 for the first time since 2016 and finished 7th in points.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Despite only scoring one win in their first season paired together, Truex remained with crew chief James Small, even amidst a crew chief shakeup at JGR that year. He won his first race of the season at Phoenix in March, which was his first victory at the track.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: In March, Truex made his return to both the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series. He drove JGR's No. 54 at Atlanta in March for his first Xfinity start since 2010 when he drove multiple races for MWR in their No. 00 and No. 99 cars. Truex drove in the Truck Series' Bristol dirt race in the No. 51 for Kyle Busch Motorsports in preparation for the Cup Series race on the same track, new to the schedule, that weekend. It was his first Truck start since 2006, coincidentally also in the No. 51, but he ran for Billy Ballew Motorsports in 2006. He won the race for his first truck series win, becoming the 36th driver to win in all three top NASCAR Series. Despite leading the most laps (122) at the Cup event, Truex would finish 19th after a cut tire with 2 laps to go while running in third.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Two weeks later, Truex won at Martinsville for the third time in his career, his sixth win on a short track, and became the 1st driver to win multiple races in 2021.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: On May 9, Truex dominated and won the Goodyear 400 at Darlington, earning his 30th career victory, and second at the famed track.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: At New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Truex was running second when the rain hit the track causing Truex, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin to crash. He soon rebounded to finish 12th in the same race, which was shortened due to darkness.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: During the rest of the season, he would continue to perform to the best of his ability for the next 3 races after that, earning a 3rd place finish at Watkins Glen International. Truex was involved in a wreck at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course late in the race, but managed to finish 15th. He also scored a top 10 at Michigan International Speedway.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex was involved in the big one at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, resulting in a 29th-place finish. When the Playoffs started, he scored 1 win at Richmond Raceway, a top 5 at Darlington Raceway, and a top 10 at Bristol Motor Speedway.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: In the second round of the playoffs, he would finish 4th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 12th at Talladega Superspeedway, and 29th at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: In the final round of the playoffs at Texas Motor Speedway, Truex got loose in turns 3 and 4, snapping the car around and causing him to slam into the outside wall. He would be scored 25th as a result of said crash. However, he would gather enough points and positions in the next two races at Kansas Speedway and Martinsville Speedway, finishing 7th and 4th respectively, giving him just enough points to advance into the Championship 4.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: In the Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, Truex would be in 1st place for a small portion of the end of the race, looking to secure a second title. With just under 30 laps to go, the caution came out because of David Starr putting debris on the racetrack after cutting a tire. Truex tried his best to overtake the top contender, Kyle Larson, as the laps kept winding down, but ultimately finished 2nd in points after coming up just short of winning. This was the 3rd time in Truex's NASCAR Cup Series career that he has finished 2nd in points.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex started the 2022 season with a 13th place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500. He was winless through the regular season, but he stayed consistent with three top-fives and 12 top-10 finishes. In June, Truex expressed uncertainty about his future in the NASCAR Cup Series with him debating over if he will retire or stay with JGR. He would ultimately choose to stay with JGR and run the 2023 season. Despite leading the season in stage wins (7) and being fourth in the regular season standings at the conclusion of the August Daytona race, Truex missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014 after finishing eighth, three points behind Ryan Blaney for the 16th and final playoff spot as Austin Dillon won the race to become the 16th different race winner of the season. Truex went winless and finished 17th in the final standings.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and grew up in the Mayetta section of Stafford Township, New Jersey. He graduated from Southern Regional High School in 1998. His father, Martin Truex Sr., was a former race winner in the Busch North Series. His younger brother, Ryan, is a former champion in the K&N Pro Series East, and was a contender for 2014 Rookie of the Year in Sprint Cup.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex and his girlfriend Sherry Pollex have been together since 2005. In 2007, they started the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation to support children with pediatric cancer. In 2014, Pollex was diagnosed with Stage III ovarian cancer.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: In January 2007, Truex was charged with disorderly conduct after being spotted urinating on his car in a public parking garage. Truex, who had been drinking at a bar with members of his team, was fined $100 and issued a public apology.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: Truex is an avid fan of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League and the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League.


title: Martin Truex Jr.

text: In 2019, Truex's holding company, which holds a small aircraft fleet, entered the human organ transport business.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Travelers' diarrhea (TD) is a stomach and intestinal infection. TD is defined as the passage of unformed stool (one or more by some definitions, three or more by others) while traveling. It may be accompanied by abdominal cramps, nausea, fever, headache and bloating. Occasionally bloody diarrhea may occur. Most travelers recover within three to four days with little or no treatment. About 10% of people may have symptoms for a week.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Bacteria are responsible for more than half of cases, typically via foodborne illness and waterborne diseases. The bacteria enterotoxigenic "Escherichia coli" (ETEC) are typically the most common except in Southeast Asia, where "Campylobacter" is more prominent. About 10 to 20 percent of cases are due to norovirus. Protozoa such as "Giardia" may cause longer term disease. The risk is greatest in the first two weeks of travel and among young adults. People affected are more often from the developed world.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Recommendations for prevention include eating only properly cleaned and cooked food, drinking bottled water, and frequent hand washing. The oral cholera vaccine, while effective for cholera, is of questionable use for travelers' diarrhea. Preventive antibiotics are generally discouraged. Primary treatment includes rehydration and replacing lost salts (oral rehydration therapy). Antibiotics are recommended for significant or persistent symptoms, and can be taken with loperamide to decrease diarrhea. Hospitalization is required in less than 3 percent of cases.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Estimates of the percentage of people affected range from 20 to 50 percent among travelers to the developing world. TD is particularly common among people traveling to Asia (except for Japan and Singapore), the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Central and South America. The risk is moderate in Southern Europe, Russia, and China. TD has been linked to later irritable bowel syndrome and Guillain–Barré syndrome. It has colloquially been known by a number of names, including "Montezuma's revenge," the "Nile runs" and "Delhi belly".


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: The onset of TD usually occurs within the first week of travel, but may occur at any time while traveling, and even after returning home, depending on the incubation period of the infectious agent. Bacterial TD typically begins abruptly, but "Cryptosporidium" may incubate for seven days, and "Giardia" for 14 days or more, before symptoms develop. Typically, a traveler experiences four to five loose or watery bowel movements each day. Other commonly associated symptoms are abdominal cramping, bloating, fever, and malaise. Appetite may decrease significantly. Though unpleasant, most cases of TD are mild, and resolve in a few days without medical intervention.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Blood or mucus in the diarrhea, significant abdominal pain, or high fever suggests a more serious cause, such as cholera, characterized by a rapid onset of weakness and torrents of watery diarrhea with flecks of mucus (described as "rice water" stools). Medical care should be sought in such cases; dehydration is a serious consequence of cholera, and may trigger serious sequelae—including, in rare instances, death—as rapidly as 24 hours after onset if not addressed promptly.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Infectious agents are the primary cause of travelers' diarrhea. Bacterial enteropathogens cause about 80% of cases. Viruses and protozoans account for most of the rest.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: The most common causative agent isolated in countries surveyed has been enterotoxigenic "Escherichia coli" (ETEC). Enteroaggregative "E. coli" is increasingly recognized. "Shigella" spp. and "Salmonella" spp. are other common bacterial pathogens. "Campylobacter", "Yersinia", "Aeromonas", and "Plesiomonas" spp. are less frequently found. Mechanisms of action vary: some bacteria release toxins which bind to the intestinal wall and cause diarrhea; others damage the intestines themselves by their direct presence.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Brachyspira pilosicoli pathogen also appears to be responsible for many chronic intermittent watery diarrhea and is only diagnosed through colonic biopsies and microscopic discovery of a false brush border on H&E or Warthin silver stain: its brush-border is stronger and longer that Brachyspira aalborgi's brush-border. It is unfortunately often not diagnosed as coproculture does not allow growth and 16S PCR panel primers do not match Brachyspira sequences.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: While viruses are associated with less than 20% of adult cases of travelers' diarrhea, they may be responsible for nearly 70% of cases in infants and children. Diarrhea due to viral agents is unaffected by antibiotic therapy, but is usually self-limited. Protozoans such as "Giardia lamblia", "Cryptosporidium" and "Cyclospora cayetanensis" can also cause diarrhea. Pathogens commonly implicated in travelers' diarrhea appear in the table in this section.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: A subtype of travelers' diarrhea afflicting hikers and campers, sometimes known as wilderness diarrhea, may have a somewhat different frequency of distribution of pathogens.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: The primary source of infection is ingestion of fecally contaminated food or water. Attack rates are similar for men and women.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: The most important determinant of risk is the traveler's destination. High-risk destinations include developing countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Among backpackers, additional risk factors include drinking untreated surface water and failure to maintain personal hygiene practices and clean cookware. Campsites often have very primitive (if any) sanitation facilities, making them potentially as dangerous as any developing country.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Although travelers' diarrhea usually resolves within three to five days (mean duration: 3.6 days), in about 20% of cases, the illness is severe enough to require bedrest, and in 10%, the illness duration exceeds one week. For those prone to serious infections, such as bacillary dysentery, amoebic dysentery, and cholera, TD can occasionally be life-threatening. Others at higher-than-average risk include young adults, immunosuppressed persons, persons with inflammatory bowel disease or diabetes, and those taking H2 blockers or antacids.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Travelers often get diarrhea from eating and drinking foods and beverages that have no adverse effects on local residents. This is due to immunity that develops with constant, repeated exposure to pathogenic organisms. The extent and duration of exposure necessary to acquire immunity has not been determined; it may vary with each individual organism. A study among expatriates in Nepal suggests that immunity may take up to seven years to develop—presumably in adults who avoid deliberate pathogen exposure.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Conversely, immunity acquired by American students while living in Mexico disappeared, in one study, as quickly as eight weeks after cessation of exposure.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Recommendations include avoidance of questionable foods and drinks, on the assumption that TD is fundamentally a sanitation failure, leading to bacterial contamination of drinking water and food. While the effectiveness of this strategy has been questioned, given that travelers have little or no control over sanitation in hotels and restaurants, and little evidence supports the contention that food vigilance reduces the risk of contracting TD, guidelines continue to recommend basic, common-sense precautions when making food and beverage choices:


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: If handled properly, thoroughly cooked fresh and packaged foods are usually safe. Raw or undercooked meat and seafood should be avoided. Unpasteurized milk, dairy products, mayonnaise, and pastry icing are associated with increased risk for TD, as are foods and beverages purchased from street vendors and other establishments where unhygienic conditions may be present.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Although safe bottled water is now widely available in most remote destinations, travelers can treat their own water if necessary, or as an extra precaution.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Techniques include boiling, filtering, chemical treatment, and ultraviolet light; boiling is by far the most effective of these methods. Boiling rapidly kills all active bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Prolonged boiling is usually unnecessary; most microorganisms are killed within seconds at water temperature above 55–70 °C (130–160 °F). The second-most effective method is to combine filtration and chemical disinfection. Filters eliminate most bacteria and protozoa, but not viruses. Chemical treatment with halogens—chlorine bleach, tincture of iodine, or commercial tablets—have low-to-moderate effectiveness against protozoa such as "Giardia", but work well against bacteria and viruses.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: UV light is effective against both viruses and cellular organisms, but only works in clear water, and it is ineffective unless manufacturer's instructions are carefully followed for maximum water depth/distance from UV source, and for dose/exposure time. Other claimed advantages include short treatment time, elimination of the need for boiling, no taste alteration, and decreased long-term cost compared with bottled water. The effectiveness of UV devices is reduced when water is muddy or turbid; as UV is a type of light, any suspended particles create shadows that hide microorganisms from UV exposure.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Bismuth subsalicylate four times daily reduces rates of travelers' diarrhea. Though many travelers find a four-times-per-day regimen inconvenient, lower doses have not been shown to be effective. Potential side effects include black tongue, black stools, nausea, constipation, and ringing in the ears. Bismuth subsalicylate should not be taken by those with aspirin allergy, kidney disease, or gout, nor concurrently with certain antibiotics such as the quinolones, and should not be taken continuously for more than three weeks. Some countries do not recommend it due to the risk of rare but serious side effects.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: A hyperimmune bovine colostrum to be taken by mouth is marketed in Australia for prevention of ETEC-induced TD. As yet, no studies show efficacy under actual travel conditions.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Though effective, antibiotics are not recommended for prevention of TD in most situations because of the risk of allergy or adverse reactions to the antibiotics, and because intake of preventive antibiotics may decrease effectiveness of such drugs should a serious infection develop subsequently. Antibiotics can also cause vaginal yeast infections, or overgrowth of the bacterium "Clostridium difficile", leading to pseudomembranous colitis and its associated severe, unrelenting diarrhea.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Antibiotics may be warranted in special situations where benefits outweigh the above risks, such as immunocompromised travelers, chronic intestinal disorders, prior history of repeated disabling bouts of TD, or scenarios in which the onset of diarrhea might prove particularly troublesome. Options for prophylactic treatment include the quinolone antibiotics (such as ciprofloxacin), azithromycin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, though the latter has proved less effective in recent years. Rifaximin may also be useful. Quinolone antibiotics may bind to metallic cations such as bismuth, and should not be taken concurrently with bismuth subsalicylate. Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole should not be taken by anyone with a history of sulfa allergy.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: The oral cholera vaccine, while effective for prevention of cholera, is of questionable use for prevention of TD. A 2008 review found tentative evidence of benefit. A 2015 review stated it may be reasonable for those at high risk of complications from TD. Several vaccine candidates targeting ETEC or "Shigella" are in various stages of development.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: One 2007 review found that probiotics may be safe and effective for prevention of TD, while another review found no benefit. A 2009 review confirmed that more study is needed, as the evidence to date is mixed.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Most cases of TD are mild and resolve in a few days without treatment, but severe or protracted cases may result in significant fluid loss and dangerous electrolytic imbalance. Dehydration due to diarrhea can also alter the effectiveness of medicinal and contraceptive drugs. Adequate fluid intake (oral rehydration therapy) is therefore a high priority. Commercial rehydration drinks are widely available; alternatively, purified water or other clear liquids are recommended, along with salty crackers or oral rehydration salts (available in stores and pharmacies in most countries) to replenish lost electrolytes. Carbonated water or soda, left open to allow dissipation of the carbonation, is useful when nothing else is available. In severe or protracted cases, the oversight of a medical professional is advised.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: If diarrhea becomes severe (typically defined as three or more loose stools in an eight-hour period), especially if associated with nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, fever, or blood in stools, medical treatment should be sought. Such patients may benefit from antimicrobial therapy. A 2000 literature review found that antibiotic treatment shortens the duration and severity of TD; most reported side effects were minor, or resolved on stopping the antibiotic.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: The antibiotic recommended varies based upon the destination of travel. Trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole and doxycycline are no longer recommended because of high levels of resistance to these agents. Antibiotics are typically given for three to five days, but single doses of azithromycin or levofloxacin have been used. Rifaximin and rifamycin are approved in the U.S. for treatment of TD caused by ETEC. If diarrhea persists despite therapy, travelers should be evaluated for bacterial strains resistant to the prescribed antibiotic, possible viral or parasitic infections, bacterial or amoebic dysentery, "Giardia", helminths, or cholera.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Antimotility drugs such as loperamide and diphenoxylate reduce the symptoms of diarrhea by slowing transit time in the gut. They may be taken to slow the frequency of stools, but not enough to stop bowel movements completely, which delays expulsion of the causative organisms from the intestines. They should be avoided in patients with fever, bloody diarrhea, and possible inflammatory diarrhea. Adverse reactions may include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, hives or rash, and loss of appetite. Antimotility agents should not, as a rule, be taken by children under age two.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: An estimated 10 million people—20 to 50% of international travelers—develop TD each year. It is more common in the developing world, where rates exceed 60%, but has been reported in some form in virtually every travel destination in the world.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: "Moctezuma's revenge" is a colloquial term for travelers' diarrhea contracted in Mexico. The name refers to Moctezuma II (1466–1520), the Tlatoani (ruler) of the Aztec civilization who was overthrown by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in the early 16th century, thereby bringing large portions of what is now Mexico and Central America under the rule of the Spanish crown.


title: Travelers' diarrhea

text: Wilderness diarrhea, also called wilderness-acquired diarrhea (WAD) or backcountry diarrhea, refers to diarrhea among backpackers, hikers, campers and other outdoor recreationalists in wilderness or backcountry situations, either at home or abroad. It is caused by the same fecal microorganisms as other forms of travelers' diarrhea, usually bacterial or viral. Since wilderness campsites seldom provide access to sanitation facilities, the infection risk is similar to that of any developing country. Water treatment, good hygiene, and dish washing have all been shown to reduce the incidence of WAD.