title: Raviv Ullman

text: Ullman is an accomplished musician and plays drums and guitar. He has worked as a touring musician, notably with Soko on her 2012 tour. Ullman was a member of the band Reputante, which released their 2013 debut on Julian Casablancas' record label Cult Records. He departed the band sometime in 2015. With Reputante members James Levy and Jimmy Giannopoulos, Ullman helped form the band Lolawolf with actress Zoë Kravitz. They released their self-titled debut EP on 4 February 2014. He left Lolawolf before the release of their first full-length record, "Calm Down", in October 2014.


title: Raviv Ullman

text: In October 2016, Ullman announced his project "Standing Ground", a documentary that explores the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, the North Dakota Access Pipeline and the fossil fuels industry. Production of the film took place throughout 2017.


title: Raviv Ullman

text: Ullman, along with Rabbi Adam Greenwald, hosts "The Study", a podcast focused on exploring, questioning, and applying the Torah. The trailer was released in late September 2020, and the first episode came out on 2 October 2020.


title: Raviv Ullman

text: Ullman speaks fluent Hebrew and keeps a kosher kitchen. Ullman is an environmentalist and has called himself "a fourth generation activist". He works with TAP (Teens AIDS Prevention).


title: Palace of Culture and Science

text: The Palace of Culture and Science (; abbreviated PKiN) is a notable high-rise building in central Warsaw, Poland. With a total height of it is the second tallest building in both Warsaw and Poland after Varso, the 6th-tallest building in the European Union (including spire) and one of the tallest on the European continent. Constructed in 1955, it houses various public and cultural institutions such as cinemas, theatres, libraries, sports clubs, university faculties, and authorities of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Since 2007, it has been enlisted in the Registry of Objects of Cultural Heritage.


title: Palace of Culture and Science

text: Motivated by Polish historical architecture and American art deco high-rise buildings, the PKiN was designed by Soviet-Russian architect Lev Rudnev in "Seven Sisters" style and is informally referred to as the "Eighth Sister". The Palace was also the tallest clock tower in the world until the installation of a clock mechanism on the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building in Tokyo, Japan.


title: Palace of Culture and Science

text: The building was originally known as the Joseph Stalin's Palace of Culture and Science ("Pałac Kultury i Nauki imienia Józefa Stalina"), but in the wake of destalinization the dedication to Stalin was revoked. Stalin's name was removed from the colonnade, interior lobby and one of the building's sculptures.


title: Palace of Culture and Science

text: Construction started in 1952 and lasted until 1955. A gift from the Soviet Union to the people of Poland, the tower was constructed, using Soviet plans, by 3,500 to 5,000 Soviet workers and 4,000 Polish workers. Sixteen workers died in accidents during the construction. The builders were housed at a new suburban complex built at Poland's expense, with its own cinema, food court, community centre and swimming pool, called Osiedle "Przyjaźni" (Neighborhood of Friendship). The architecture of the building is closely related to several similar skyscrapers built in the Soviet Union of the same era, most notably the Main building of Moscow State University. However, the main architect Lev Rudnev incorporated some Polish architectural details into the project after travelling around Poland and seeing the architecture. The monumental walls are headed with pieces of masonry copied from Renaissance houses and palaces of Kraków and Zamość.


title: Palace of Culture and Science

text: Shortly after opening, the building hosted the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students. Many visiting dignitaries toured the Palace, and it also hosted performances by notable international artists, such as a 1967 concert by The Rolling Stones, the first by a major western rock group behind the Iron Curtain. In 1985, it hosted the historic Leonard Cohen concert, surrounded by many political expectations, which were avoided by Cohen in his prolonged introductions during the three-hour show.


title: Palace of Culture and Science

text: Four clock faces were added to the top of the building ahead of the millennium celebrations in 2000. The clocks began working on 31 December 2000.


title: Palace of Culture and Science

text: The building currently serves as an exhibition centre and office complex. The Palace contains a multiplex cinema with eight screens (Kinoteka), four theatres (Studio, Dramatyczny, Lalka and 6. piętro), two museums (Museum of Evolution and Museum of Technology), offices, bookshops, a large swimming pool, an auditorium hall for 3,000 people called Congress Hall, and an accredited university, Collegium Civitas, on the 11th and 12th floors of the building. The terrace on the 30th floor, at , is a well-known tourist attraction with a panoramic view of the city.


title: Palace of Culture and Science

text: In 2010, the illumination of the building was modernized and high-power LED lights were installed, allowing the Palace to take various colours at night. The first use of the new lighting was during Christmas in 2010, when the Palace was illuminated in green and white to resemble a Christmas tree. In December 2013, during the Euromaidan protests, it was illuminated in blue and yellow, the colours of the Ukrainian national flag as a sign of solidarity with the protesters. On 29 January 2021, during the Women's Strike protests, the symbol of the movement – a single red bolt on a black background – was projected on the building.


title: Palace of Culture and Science

text: The Palace of Culture and Science is highly controversial. It is often viewed as a reminder of Soviet influence over the Polish People's Republic, especially due to its construction during mass violations of human rights under Joseph Stalin. "Porozumienie Organizacji Kombatanckich i Niepodległościowych w Krakowie", a coalition of veteran and nationalist groups, as well as Law and Justice (PiS) have called for its demolition. In 2009, then Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski supported the demolition of the Palace noting the expense involved in its maintenance. Other prominent government leaders have continued to endorse demolition plans, including current Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The subject of several biographies and films, Claudel is well known for her sculptures including "The Waltz" and "The Mature Age".


title: Camille Claudel

text: The national Camille Claudel Museum in Nogent-sur-Seine opened in 2017. Claudel was a longtime associate of sculptor Auguste Rodin, and the Musée Rodin in Paris has a room dedicated to her works.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Sculptures created by Claudel are also held in the collections of several major museums including the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Camille Claudel was born in Fère-en-Tardenois, Aisne, in northern France, the first child of a family of farmers and gentry. Her father, Louis-Prosper Claudel, dealt in mortgages and bank transactions. Her mother, the former Louise-Athanaïse Cécile Cerveaux, came from a Champagne family of Catholic farmers and priests. The family moved to Villeneuve-sur-Fère while Camille was still a baby. Her younger brother Paul Claudel was born there in 1868. Subsequently, they moved to Bar-le-Duc (1870), Nogent-sur-Seine (1876), and Wassy-sur-Blaise (1879), although they continued to spend summers in Villeneuve-sur-Fère, and the stark landscape of that region made a deep impression on the children.


title: Camille Claudel

text: From the ages of 5 to 12, Claudel was educated by the Sisters of Christian Doctrine. While living in Nogent-sur-Seine at age 12, Claudel began working with the local clay, regularly sculpting the human form.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Her mother Louise did not approve of Claudel's "unladylike desire to become an artist." Her father was more supportive and took examples of her artwork to their artist neighbor Alfred Boucher, to assess her abilities. Boucher confirmed that Claudel was a capable, talented artist and encouraged her family to support her study of sculpture. Camille moved with her mother, brother, and younger sister to the Montparnasse area of Paris in 1881. Her father remained behind, working to support them.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Claudel was fascinated with stone and soil as a child, and as a young woman she studied at the Académie Colarossi, one of the few places open to female students. Once in Paris, she studied with sculptor Alfred Boucher. The Académie Colarossi was more progressive than other arts institutions in that it not only allowed female students at the school but also permitted them to work from nude male models. At the time, the École des Beaux-Arts barred women from enrolling to study.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 1882, Claudel rented a studio workshop on rue Notre-Dame des Champs in Paris that she shared with three British sculptors: Jessie Lipscomb, Emily Fawcett and Amy Singer (daughter of John Webb Singer, whose foundry in Frome, Somerset, made large-scale bronze statues.) Several prominent Frome works are in London, including the Boadicea group on the Embankment, Cromwell, which graces the lawn in front of the Houses of Parliament, and the figure of Justice atop the Old Bailey. General Gordon on his camel at Chatham Barracks was also cast in Frome, as were the eight lions that form part of the Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town. Claudel visited Frome and the families of her fellow sculptors. All of these English friends had studied at the South Kensington Schools – that would become the Royal College of Art – before moving to Paris to be at the Academie Colarossi, where they had all met. Claudel prolonged her stay with Singer's family in Frome.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Alfred Boucher had become Claudel's mentor, and provided inspiration and encouragement to the next generation of sculptors such as Laure Coutan. Claudel was depicted by Boucher in "Camille Claudel lisant", and later she sculpted a bust of her mentor.


title: Camille Claudel

text: After teaching Claudel and the other sculptors for over three years, Boucher moved to Florence following an award for the Grand Prix du Salon. Before he left he asked Auguste Rodin to take over the instruction of his pupils. Rodin and Claudel met, and their artistic association and the tumultuous and passionate relationship soon began.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Claudel started working in Rodin's workshop in 1883 and became a source of inspiration for him. She acted as his model, his confidante, and his lover. She never lived with Rodin, who was reluctant to end his 20-year relationship with Rose Beuret.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Knowledge of the affair agitated her family, especially her mother, who already detested her for not being a boy and never approved of Claudel's involvement in the arts. As a consequence, Claudel was forced to leave the family home.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 1891, Claudel served as a jurist at the National Society of Fine Arts, reported to be "something of a boys' club at the time."


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 1892, after an abortion, Claudel ended the intimate aspect of her relationship with Rodin, although they saw each other regularly until 1898.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Le Cornec and Pollock state that after the sculptors' physical relationship ended, she was not able to get the funding to realise many of her daring ideas - because of sex-based censorship and the sexual element of her work. Claudel thus had to either depend on Rodin, or to collaborate with him and see him get the credit as the lionised figure of French sculpture. She also depended on him financially, especially after her loving and wealthy father's death, which allowed her mother and brother, who disapproved of her lifestyle, to maintain control of the family fortune and leave her to wander the streets dressed in beggars' clothing.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Claudel's reputation survived not because of her once notorious association with Rodin, but because of her work. The novelist and art critic Octave Mirbeau described her as "A revolt against nature: a woman genius." Her early work is similar to Rodin's in spirit but shows imagination and lyricism quite her own, particularly in the famous "The Waltz" (1893).Louis Vauxcelles states that Claudel was the only sculptress on whose forehead shone the sign of genius like Berthe Morisot, the only well-known female painter of the century, and that Claudel's style was more virile than many of her male colleagues'. Others, like Morhardt and Caranfa, concurred, saying that their styles had become so different, with Rodin being more suave and delicate and Claudel being vehement with vigorous contrasts, which might have been one reason for their break up, with her becoming ultimately his rival.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Claudel's onyx and bronze small-scale "La Vague (The Wave)" (1897) was a conscious break in style from her Rodin period. It has a decorative quality quite different from the "heroic" feeling of her earlier work.


title: Camille Claudel

text: After Rodin saw Claudel's "The Mature Age" for the first time, in 1899, he reacted with shock and anger. He suddenly and completely stopped his support for Claudel. According to Ayral-Clause, Rodin might have put pressure on the ministry of fine arts to cancel the funding for the bronze commission.


title: Camille Claudel

text: "The Mature Age" (1900) is usually interpreted as an allegory of the three stages of life: the man who represents Maturity is drawn into the hands of the old woman who represents Old Age and Death, while the young woman who represents Youth tries to save him. Her brother interpreted it as an allegory of her break with Rodin. Angelo Caranfa comments that "The life that was, is, and will be in "Maturity" contains within its movement both the relentless movement of "Clotho" and the rhythmic, graceful, whirling movement of "Fortune", generating a single and sustaining movement or image out of the differences within" . According to Caranfa, "Clotho" (1893) and "Fortune" (1905) represent the two ideas of life: life in "Clotho" is portrayed as closed, hopeless existence and "consummated in an unending death"; life in "Fortune" is celebrated as the madness of eternal present with ups and downs, its "rapture or total harmony" ("Fortune" itself is a variation of the dancing woman in "The Waltz").


title: Camille Claudel

text: One of Claudel's figures, "The Implorer", was produced as an edition of its own and has been interpreted not as purely autobiographical but as an even more powerful representation of change and purpose in the human condition. Modelled for in 1898 and cast in 1905, Claudel didn't actually cast her own bronze for this work, but instead "The Implorer" was cast in Paris by Eugene Blot.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 1902 Claudel completed a large sculpture of "Perseus and the Gorgon". Beginning in 1903, she exhibited her works at the Salon des Artistes français or at the Salon d'Automne.


title: Camille Claudel

text: "Sakuntala", 1888, is described by Angelo Caranfa as expressing Claudel's desire to reach the sacred, the fruit of the lifelong search of her artistic identity, free from Rodin's constraints. Caranfa suggests that Claudel's impressions of Rodin's deceptions and exploitation of her, as someone who could not become obedient as he wanted her to be and who was expected to conform to society's expectation of what women should be, were not false. Thus "Sakuntala" could be called a clear expression of her solitary existence and her inner search, her journey within.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Ayral-Clause says that even though Rodin clearly signed some of her works, he was not treating her as different because of her gender; artists at this time generally signed their apprentices' work. Others also criticise Rodin for not giving her the acknowledgment or support she deserved. Walker argues that most historians believe Rodin did what he could to help her after their separation, and that her destruction of her own oeuvre was partly responsible for the long-time neglect the art world showed her. Walker also says that what truly defeated Camille, who was already recognised as a leading sculptor by many, were the sheer difficulties of the medium and the market: sculpting was an expensive art, and she did not receive many official commissions because her style was highly unusual for the contemporary conservative tastes. Despite this, Le Cornec and Pollock believe she changed the history of arts.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Other authors write that it is still unclear how much Rodin influenced Claudel – and vice versa, how much credit has been taken away from her, or how much he was responsible for her woes. Most modern authors agree that she was an outstanding genius who, starting with wealth, beauty, iron will and a brilliant future even before meeting Rodin, was never rewarded and died in loneliness, poverty, and obscurity. Others like Elsen, Matthews and Flemming suggest it was not Rodin, but her brother Paul who was jealous of her genius, and that he conspired with her mother, who never forgave her for her supposed immorality, to later ruin her and keep her confined to a mental hospital. Kavaler-Adler notes that her younger sister Louise, who desired Camille's inheritance and was also jealous of her, was delighted at her sister's downfall.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Less well known than her love affair with Rodin, the nature of her relationship with Claude Debussy has also been the object of much speculation. Stephen Barr reports that Debussy pursued her: it was unknown whether they ever became lovers. They both admired Degas and Hokusai, and shared an interest in childhood and death themes. When Claudel ended the relationship, Debussy wrote: "I weep for the disappearance of the Dream of this Dream." Debussy admired her as a great artist and kept a copy of "The Waltz" in his studio until his death. By thirty, Claudel's romantic life had ended.


title: Camille Claudel

text: After 1905, Claudel appeared to be mentally ill. She destroyed many of her statues, disappeared for long periods of time, exhibited signs of paranoia and was diagnosed as having schizophrenia. She accused Rodin of stealing her ideas and of leading a conspiracy to kill her.


title: Camille Claudel

text: After the wedding of her brother in 1906 and his return to China, she lived secluded in her workshop.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Claudel's father approved of her career choice, and he tried to help and support her financially. But when he died on 2 March 1913, Claudel was not informed of his death. Instead, eight days later, on 10 March 1913, at the request of her younger brother Paul, she was admitted to the psychiatric hospital of Ville-Évrard in Neuilly-sur-Marne.


title: Camille Claudel

text: The form read that she had been "voluntarily" committed, although her admission was signed only by a doctor and her brother. There are records to show that, while she did have mental outbursts, she was clear-headed while working on her art. Doctors tried to convince Paul and their mother that Claudel did not need to be in the institution, but they still kept her there. According to Cécile Bertran, a curator from the Musée Camille Claudel, the situation was not easy to judge, because modern experts who have looked at her records say she was indeed ill.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 1914, to be safe from advancing German troops, the patients at Ville-Évrard were at first relocated to Enghien. On 7 September 1914 Claudel was transferred with a number of other women, to the Montdevergues Asylum, at Montfavet, six kilometres from Avignon. Her certificate of admittance to Montdevergues was signed on 22 September 1914; it reported that she suffered "from a systematic persecution delirium mostly based upon false interpretations and imagination".


title: Camille Claudel

text: For a while, the press accused her family of committing a sculptor of genius. Her mother forbade her to receive mail from anyone other than her brother. The hospital staff regularly proposed to her family that Claudel be released, but her mother adamantly refused each time. On 1 June 1920, physician Dr. Brunet sent a letter advising her mother to try to reintegrate her daughter into the family environment. Nothing came of this.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Paul Claudel visited his confined older sister seven times in 30 years, in 1913, 1920, 1925, 1927, 1933, 1936, and 1943. He always referred to her in the past tense. Their sister Louise visited her just one time in 1929. Her mother, who died in June 1929, never visited Claudel.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 1929 sculptor and Claudel's former friend Jessie Lipscomb visited her, and afterwards insisted "it was not true" that Claudel was insane. Rodin's friend, Mathias Morhardt, insisted that Paul was a "simpleton" who had "shut away" his sister of genius.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Camille Claudel died on 19 October 1943, after having lived 30 years in the asylum at Montfavet (known then as the Asile de Montdevergues, now the modern psychiatric hospital Centre hospitalier de Montfavet). Her brother Paul had been informed of his sister's terminal illness in September and, with some difficulty, had crossed Occupied France to see her, although he was not present at her death or funeral. Her sister did not make the journey to Montfavet.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Claudel was interred in the cemetery of Montfavet, and eventually her remains were buried in a communal grave at the asylum.


title: Camille Claudel

text: From the 2002 book, "Camille Claudel, A Life": "Ten years after her death, Camille's bones had been transferred to a communal grave, where they were mixed with the bones of the most destitute. Joined forever to the ground she tried to escape for so long, Camille never, ever, returned to her beloved Villeneuve. Paul's neglect regarding his sister's grave is hard to forgive...while Paul decided not to be burdened with his sister's grave, he took great pains, on the contrary, in choosing his own final resting place, naming the exact location – in Brangues, under a tree, next to his grandchild – and citing the precise words to be written on the stone. Today his admirers pay homage to his memory at his noble grave; but of Camille there is not a trace. In Villeneuve, a simple plaque reminds the curious visitor that Camille Claudel once lived there, but her remains are still in exile, somewhere, just a few steps away from the place where she was sequestered for thirty years."


title: Camille Claudel

text: The Musée Camille Claudel was opened in March, 2017, as a French national museum dedicated to Claudel's work. It is located in her teenage home town of Nogent-sur-Seine. The Musée Camille Claudel displays approximately half of Claudel's 90 surviving works.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Plans to turn the Claudel family home at Nogent-sur-Seine into a museum were announced in 2003, and the museum negotiated with the Claudel family to buy Camille's works. These include 70 pieces, including a bust of Rodin.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Though she destroyed much of her work, about 90 statues, sketches and drawings survive. She was at first censored as she portrayed sexuality in her work. Her response was a symbolic, intellectual style as opposed to the "expressive" approach normally attributed to women artists.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Some authors argue that Henrik Ibsen based his last play, 1899's "When We Dead Awaken", on Rodin's relationship with Claudel.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 1951, Paul Claudel organised an exhibition at the Musée Rodin, which continues to display her sculptures. A large exhibition of her works was organised in 1984. In 2005 a large art display featuring the works of Rodin and Claudel was exhibited in Quebec City (Canada), and Detroit, Michigan, in the US. In 2008, the Musée Rodin organised a retrospective exhibition including more than 80 of her works.


title: Camille Claudel

text: "Camille Claudel" (1988) was a dramatisation of her life based largely on historical records. Directed by Bruno Nuytten, co-produced by Isabelle Adjani, starring Adjani as Claudel and Gérard Depardieu as Rodin, the film was nominated for two Academy Awards in 1989. Another film, "Camille Claudel 1915", directed by Bruno Dumont and starring Juliette Binoche as Claudel, premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in 2013. The 2017 film "Rodin" co-stars Izïa Higelin as Claudel.


title: Camille Claudel

text: Composer Jeremy Beck's "Death of a Little Girl with Doves" (1998), an operatic soliloquy for soprano and orchestra, is based on the life and letters of Camille Claudel. This composition has been recorded by Rayanne Dupuis, soprano, with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Beck's composition has been described as "a deeply attractive and touching piece of writing ... [demonstrating] imperious melodic confidence, fluent emotional command and yielding tenderness."


title: Camille Claudel

text: Composer Frank Wildhorn and lyricist Nan Knighton's musical "Camille Claudel" was produced by Goodspeed Musicals at The Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Connecticut in 2003.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 2005, Sotheby's sold a second edition "La Valse" (1905, Blot, number 21) for $932,500. In a 2009 Paris auction, Claudel's "Le Dieu Envolé" (1894/1998, foundry Valsuani, signed and numbered 6/8) had a high estimate of $180,000, while a comparable Rodin sculpture, "L'éternelle Idole" (1889/1930, Rudier, signed) had a high estimate of $75,000.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 2011, the world premiere of Boris Eifman's new ballet "Rodin" took place in St Petersburg, Russia. The ballet is dedicated to the life and creative work of sculptor Auguste Rodin and his apprentice, lover and muse, Camille Claudel.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 2012, the world premiere of the play "Camille Claudel" took place. Written, performed and directed by Gaël Le Cornec, premiered at the Pleasance Courtyard Edinburgh Festival, the play looks at the relationship of master and muse from the perspective of Camille at different stages in her life.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 2014, the Columbus Dance Theatre and the Carpe Diem String Quartet performed the premiere of "Claudel", with music by Korine Fujiwara, original poetry by Kathleen Kirk, and choreography by Tim Veach.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 2015, a well-received novel by Carol Bruneau, "These Good Hands," was published by Cormorant Books. It imagines the end of Claudel's life in 1943, through the relationship with her caregiving nurse.


title: Camille Claudel

text: In 2019, to mark the 155th anniversary of Claudel's birth, Google released a Google Doodle commemorating her.


title: James Wolfe

text: James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec.


title: James Wolfe

text: The son of a distinguished general, Edward Wolfe, he received his first commission at a young age and saw extensive service in Europe during the War of the Austrian Succession. His service in Flanders and in Scotland, where he took part in the suppression of the Jacobite Rebellion, brought him to the attention of his superiors. The advancement of his career was halted by the Peace Treaty of 1748 and he spent much of the next eight years on garrison duty in the Scottish Highlands. Already a brigade major at the age of 18, he was a lieutenant-colonel by 23.


title: James Wolfe

text: The outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756 offered Wolfe fresh opportunities for advancement. His part in the aborted raid on Rochefort in 1757 led William Pitt to appoint him second-in-command of an expedition to capture the Fortress of Louisbourg. Following the success of the siege of Louisbourg he was made commander of a force which sailed up the Saint Lawrence River to capture Quebec City. After a long siege, Wolfe defeated a French force under the Marquis de Montcalm, allowing British forces to capture the city. Wolfe was killed at the height of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham due to injuries from three musket balls. The next day, Montcalm died as well.


title: James Wolfe

text: Wolfe's part in the taking of Quebec in 1759 earned him lasting fame, and he became an icon of Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War and subsequent territorial expansion. He was depicted in the painting "The Death of General Wolfe", which became famous around the world. Wolfe was posthumously dubbed "The Hero of Quebec", "The Conqueror of Quebec", and also "The Conqueror of Canada", since the capture of Quebec led directly to the capture of Montreal, ending French control of the colony.


title: James Wolfe

text: James Wolfe was born at the local vicarage on 2 January 1727 (New Style or 22 December 1726 Old Style) at Westerham, Kent, the older of two sons of Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Edward Wolfe, a veteran soldier whose family was of Anglo-Irish origin, and the former Henrietta Thompson. His uncle was Edward Thompson MP, a distinguished politician. Wolfe's childhood home in Westerham, known in his lifetime as Spiers, has been preserved in his memory by the National Trust under the name Quebec House. Wolfe's family were long settled in Ireland and he regularly corresponded with his uncle Major Walter Wolfe in Dublin. Stephen Woulfe, the distinguished Irish politician and judge of the next century, was from the Limerick branch of the same family; his father was James Wolfe’s third cousin.


title: James Wolfe

text: The Wolfes were close to the Warde family, who lived at Squerryes Court in Westerham. Wolfe's boyhood friend George Warde achieved fame as Commander-in-Chief in Ireland.


title: James Wolfe

text: Around 1738, the family moved to Greenwich, in north-west Kent. From his earliest years, Wolfe was destined for a military career, entering his father's 1st Marine regiment as a volunteer at the age of thirteen.


title: James Wolfe

text: Illness prevented him from taking part in a large expedition against Spanish-held Cartagena in 1740, and his father sent him home a few months later. He missed what proved to be a disaster for the British forces at the Siege of Cartagena during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in which most of the expedition died from disease.


title: James Wolfe

text: In 1740 the War of the Austrian Succession broke out in Europe. Although initially Britain did not actively intervene, the presence of a sizable French army near the border of the Austrian Netherlands compelled the British to send an expedition to help defend the territory of their Austrian ally in 1742. James Wolfe was given his first commission as a second lieutenant in his father's regiment of Marines in 1741.


title: James Wolfe

text: Early in the following year he transferred to the 12th Regiment of Foot, a British Army infantry regiment, and set sail for Flanders some months later where the British took up position in Ghent. Here, Wolfe was promoted to Lieutenant and made adjutant of his battalion. His first year on the continent was a frustrating one as, despite rumours of a British attack on Dunkirk, they remained inactive in Flanders.


title: James Wolfe

text: In 1743, he was joined by his younger brother, Edward, who had received a commission in the same regiment. That year the Wolfe brothers took part in an offensive launched by the British. Instead of moving southwards as expected, the British and their allies instead thrust eastwards into Southern Germany where they faced a large French army. The army came under the personal command of George II but in June he appeared to have made a catastrophic mistake which left the Allies trapped against the river Main and surrounded by enemy forces in "a mousetrap".


title: James Wolfe

text: Rather than contemplate surrender, George tried to rectify the situation by launching an attack on the French positions near the village of Dettingen. Wolfe's regiment was involved in heavy fighting, as the two sides exchanged volley after volley of musket fire. His regiment had suffered the highest casualties of any of the British infantry battalions, and Wolfe had his horse shot from underneath him. Despite three French attacks the Allies managed to drive off the enemy, who fled through the village of Dettingen which was then occupied by the Allies. However, George failed to adequately pursue the retreating enemy, allowing them to escape. In spite of this the Allies had successfully thwarted the French move into Germany, safeguarding the independence of Hanover.


title: James Wolfe

text: Wolfe's regiment at Battle of Dettingen came to the attention of the Duke of Cumberland who had been close to him during the battle when they came under enemy fire. A year later, he became a captain of the 45th Regiment of Foot. After the success of Dettingen, the 1744 campaign was another frustration as the Allies forces now led by George Wade failed to complete their objective of capturing Lille, fought no major battles, and returned to winter quarters at Ghent without anything to show for their efforts. Wolfe was left devastated when his brother Edward died, probably of consumption, that autumn.


title: James Wolfe

text: Wolfe's regiment was left behind to garrison Ghent, which meant they missed the Allied defeat at the Battle of Fontenoy in May 1745 during which Wolfe's former regiment suffered extremely heavy casualties. Wolfe's regiment was then summoned to reinforce the main Allied army, now under the command of the Duke of Cumberland. Shortly after they had departed Ghent, the town was suddenly attacked by the French who captured it and its garrison. Having narrowly avoided becoming a French prisoner, Wolfe was now made a brigade major.


title: James Wolfe

text: In July 1745, Charles Stuart landed in Scotland in an attempt to regain the British throne for his father, the exiled James Stuart. In the initial stages of the 1745 Rising, the Jacobites captured Edinburgh and defeated government forces at the Battle of Prestonpans in September. This resulted in the recall of Cumberland, commander of the British army in Flanders and 12,000 troops, including Wolfe's regiment.


title: James Wolfe

text: On 8 November, the Jacobite army crossed into England, avoiding government forces at Newcastle by taking the western route via Carlisle. They reached Derby before turning back on 6 December, largely due to lack of English support, and successfully returned to Scotland. Wolfe was aide-de-camp to Henry Hawley, commander at Falkirk and fought at Culloden in April under Cumberland.


title: James Wolfe

text: A famous anecdote claims Wolfe refused an order to shoot a wounded Highland officer after Culloden, the person giving the order variously named as Cumberland or Hawley. There is certainly evidence to confirm Jacobite wounded were killed and Hawley was one of those who gave orders to that effect. However, the claim that he refused such orders cannot be confirmed, while author and historian John Prebble refers to the killings as 'symptomatic of the army's general mood and behaviour.' This included Wolfe; as leader of punitive raids after the battle, he wrote to a colleague that 'as few Highlanders are made prisoner as possible.'


title: James Wolfe

text: In January 1747 Wolfe returned to the Continent and the War of the Austrian Succession, serving under Sir John Mordaunt. The French had taken advantage of the absence of Cumberland's British troops and had made advances in the Austrian Netherlands including the capture of Brussels.


title: James Wolfe

text: The major French objective in 1747 was to capture Maastricht considered the gateway to the Dutch Republic. Wolfe was part of Cumberland's army, which marched to protect the city from the advancing French force under Marshal Saxe. On 2 July Wolfe participated in the Battle of Lauffeld, he was very badly wounded and received an official commendation for services to Britain. Lauffeld was the largest battle in terms of numbers in which Wolfe fought, with the combined strength of both armies totalling over 140,000. Following their narrow victory at Lauffeld, the French captured Maastricht and seized no more strategic fortress at Bergen-op-Zoom. Both sides remained poised for further offensives, but an armistice halted the fighting.


title: James Wolfe

text: In 1748, aged 21 and with service in seven campaigns, Wolfe returned to Britain following the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle which ended the war. Under the treaty, Britain and France had agreed to exchange all captured territory and the Austrian Netherlands were returned to Austrian control.


title: James Wolfe

text: Once home, he was posted to Scotland and garrison duty, and a year later was made a major, in which rank he assumed command of the 20th Regiment, stationed at Stirling. In 1750, Wolfe was confirmed as Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment.


title: James Wolfe

text: Over the eight years that Wolfe was in Scotland, he wrote military pamphlets and became proficient in French as a result of several trips to Paris. Despite struggling with bouts of ill health suspected to be tuberculosis, he made an effort to keep himself mentally fit by teaching himself Latin and mathematics. When able to, Wolfe trained his body, especially pushing himself to improve his swordsmanship.


title: James Wolfe

text: In 1752, Wolfe was granted extended leave. Departing from Scotland, he first went to Ireland and stayed with his uncle in Dublin. He visited Belfast and toured the site of the Battle of the Boyne. After a brief stop at his parents' house in Greenwich, he received permission from the Duke of Cumberland to go abroad, and crossed the English Channel to France. In Paris, he was frequently entertained by the British Ambassador, Earl of Albemarle, with whom he had served in Scotland in 1746. In addition to this, Albemarle arranged an audience for Wolfe with Louis XV. He submitted an application to extend his leave so that he could witness a major military exercise conducted by the French army, but he was instead urgently ordered home. He rejoined his regiment in Glasgow. By 1754 Britain's declining relationship with France made a war imminent, and fighting broke out in North America between the two sides.


title: James Wolfe

text: Desertion, especially in the face of the enemy had always officially been regarded as a capital offence. Wolfe laid particular stress on the importance of the death penalty and in 1755, he ordered that any soldier who broke ranks ("offers to quit his rank or offers to flag") should be instantly put to death by an officer or a sergeant.


title: James Wolfe

text: In 1756, with the outbreak of open hostilities with France, Wolfe was promoted to Colonel. He was stationed in Canterbury, where his regiment had been posted to guard his home county of Kent against a French invasion threat. He was extremely dispirited by news of the loss of Minorca in June 1756, lamenting what he saw as the lack of professionalism amongst the British forces. Despite a widespread belief that French landing was imminent, Wolfe thought that it was unlikely his men would be called into action. In spite of this, he trained them diligently and issued fighting instructions to his troops.


title: James Wolfe

text: As the threat of invasion decreased, the regiment was marched to Wiltshire. Despite the initial setbacks of the war in Europe and North America, the British were now expected to take the offensive and Wolfe anticipated playing a major role in future operations. However, his health was beginning to decline, which led to suspicions that he was suffering, as his younger brother (Edward Wolfe 1728–1744) had, from consumption. Many of his letters to his parents began to assume a slightly fatalistic note in which he talked of the likelihood of an early death.


title: James Wolfe

text: In 1757, Wolfe participated in the British amphibious assault on Rochefort, a seaport on the French Atlantic coast. A major naval descent, it was designed to capture the town, and relieve pressure on Britain's German allies who were under French attack in Northern Europe. Wolfe was selected to take part in the expedition partly because of his friendship with its commander, Sir John Mordaunt. In addition to his regimental duties, Wolfe also served as Quartermaster General for the whole expedition. The force was assembled on the Isle of Wight and after weeks of delay finally sailed on 7 September.


title: James Wolfe

text: The attempt failed as, after capturing an island offshore, the British made no attempt to land on the mainland and press on to Rochefort and instead withdrew home. While their sudden appearance off the French coast had spread panic throughout France, it had little practical effect. Mordaunt was court-martialed for his failure to attack Rochefort, although acquitted. Nonetheless, Wolfe was one of the few military leaders who had distinguished himself in the raid – having gone ashore to scout the terrain, and having constantly urged Mordaunt into action. He had at one point told the General that he could capture Rochefort if he was given just 500 men but Mordaunt refused him permission. While Wolfe was irritated by the failure, believing that they should have used the advantage of surprise and attacked and taken the town immediately, he was able to draw valuable lessons about amphibious warfare that influenced his later operations at Louisbourg and Quebec.


title: James Wolfe

text: As a result of his actions at Rochefort, Wolfe was brought to the notice of the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Elder. Pitt had determined that the best gains in the war were to be made in North America where France was vulnerable, and planned to launch an assault on French Canada. Pitt now decided to promote Wolfe over the heads of a number of senior officers.


title: James Wolfe

text: On 23 January 1758, James Wolfe was appointed as a Brigadier General, and sent with Major General Jeffrey Amherst in the fleet of Admiral Boscawen to lay siege to Fortress of Louisbourg in New France (located in present-day Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia). Louisbourg stood near the mouth of the St Lawrence River, and its capture was considered essential to any attack on Canada from the east. An expedition the previous year had failed to seize the town, because of a French naval build-up. For 1758 Pitt sent a much larger Royal Navy force to accompany Amherst's troops. Wolfe distinguished himself in preparations for the assault, the initial landing and in the aggressive advance of siege batteries. The French capitulated in June of that year in the Siege of Louisbourg (1758). He then participated in the Expulsion of the Acadians in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (1758).


title: James Wolfe

text: The British had initially planned to advance along the St Lawrence and attack Quebec that year, but the onset of winter forced them to postpone to the following year. Similarly a plan to capture New Orleans was rejected, and Wolfe returned home to England. Wolfe's part in the taking of the town brought him to the attention of the British public for the first time. The news of the victory at Louisbourg was tempered by the failure of a British force advancing towards Montreal at the Battle of Carillon and the death of George Howe, a widely respected young general whom Wolfe described as "the best officer in the British Army". He died at almost the same time as the French general.


title: James Wolfe

text: As Wolfe had comported himself admirably at Louisbourg, William Pitt the Elder chose him to lead the British assault on Québec City the following year. Although Wolfe was given the local rank of major general while serving in Canada, in Europe he was still only a full colonel. Amherst had been appointed as Commander-in-Chief in North America, and he would lead a separate and larger force that would attack Canada from the south. He insisted on the choice of his friend, the Irish officer Guy Carleton as Quartermaster General and threatened to resign the command should his friend not have been chosen. Once this was granted, he began making preparations for his departure. Pitt was determined to once again give operations in North America top priority, as he planned to weaken France's international position by sailing back to India.


title: James Wolfe

text: Despite the large build-up of British forces in North America, the strategy of dividing the army for separate attacks on Canada meant that once Wolfe reached Quebec the French commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm would have a local superiority of troops having raised large numbers of Canadian militia to defend their homeland. The French had initially expected the British to approach from the east, believing the St Lawrence River was impassable for such a large force and had prepared to defend Quebec from the south and west. An intercepted copy of British plans gave Montcalm several weeks to improve the fortifications protecting Quebec from an amphibious attack by Wolfe.


title: James Wolfe

text: Montcalm's goal was to prevent the British from capturing Quebec, thereby maintaining a French foothold in Canada. The French government believed a peace treaty was likely to be agreed the following year and so they directed the emphasis of their own efforts towards victory in Germany and a Planned invasion of Britain hoping thereby to secure the exchange of captured territories. For this plan to be successful Montcalm had only to hold out until the start of winter. Wolfe had a narrow window to capture Quebec during 1759 before the St Lawrence began to freeze, trapping his force.


title: James Wolfe

text: Wolfe's army was assembled at Louisbourg. He expected to lead 12,000 men, but was greeted by only approximately 400 officers, 7,000 regular troops, and 300 gunners. Wolfe's troops were supported by a fleet of 49 ships and 140 smaller craft led by Admiral Charles Saunders. Eager to begin the campaign, after several delays, he pushed ahead with only part of his force and left orders for further arrivals to be sent on up the St Lawrence after him.


title: James Wolfe

text: The British army laid siege to the city for three months. During that time, Wolfe issued a written document, known as Wolfe's Manifesto, to the French-Canadian civilians, as part of his strategy of psychological intimidation. In March 1759, prior to arriving at Quebec, Wolfe had written to Amherst: "If, by accident in the river, by the enemy's resistance, by sickness, or slaughter in the army, or, from any other cause, we find that Quebec is not likely to fall into our hands (persevering however to the last moment), I propose to set the town on fire with shells, to destroy the harvest, houses and cattle, both above and below, to send off as many Canadians as possible to Europe and to leave famine and desolation behind me; ; but we must teach these scoundrels to make war in a more gentleman like manner." This manifesto has widely been regarded as counter-productive as it drove many neutrally-inclined inhabitants to actively resist the British, swelling the size of the militia defending to Quebec to as many as 10,000.


title: James Wolfe

text: After an extensive yet inconclusive bombardment of the city, Wolfe initiated a failed attack north of Quebec at Beauport, where the French were securely entrenched. As the weeks wore on the chances of British success lessened, and Wolfe grew despondent. Amherst's large force advancing on Montreal had made very slow progress, ruling out the prospect of Wolfe receiving any help from him.


title: James Wolfe

text: Wolfe then led 4,400 men in small boats on a very bold and risky amphibious landing at the base of the cliffs west of Quebec along the St. Lawrence River. His army, with two small cannons, scaled the 200-metre cliff from the river below early in the morning of 13 September 1759. They surprised the French under the command of the Marquis de Montcalm, who thought the cliff would be unclimbable, and had set his defences accordingly. Faced with the possibility that the British would haul more cannons up the cliffs and knock down the city's remaining walls, the French fought the British on the Plains of Abraham. They were defeated after fifteen minutes of battle, but when Wolfe began to move forward, he was shot thrice, once in the arm, once in the shoulder, and finally in the chest.


title: James Wolfe

text: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham caused the deaths of the top military commander on each side: Montcalm died the next day from his wounds. Wolfe's victory at Quebec enabled the Montreal Campaign against the French the following year. With the fall of that city, French rule in North America, outside of Louisiana and the tiny islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, came to an end.


title: James Wolfe

text: Wolfe's body was returned to Britain on HMS "Royal William" and interred in the family vault in St Alfege Church, Greenwich alongside his father (who had died in March 1759). The funeral service took place on 20 November 1759, the same day that Admiral Hawke won the last of the three great victories of the "Wonderful Year" and the "Year of Victories" – Minden, Quebec and Quiberon Bay.


title: James Wolfe

text: Wolfe was renowned by his troops for being demanding on himself and on them. He was also known for carrying the same combat equipment as his infantrymen – a musket, cartridge box and bayonet – which was unusual for officers of the period. Although he was prone to illness, Wolfe was an active and restless figure. Amherst reported that Wolfe seemed to be everywhere at once. There was a story that when someone in the British Court branded the young Brigadier mad, King George II retorted, "Mad, is he? Then I hope he will bite some of my other generals." A cultured man, before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham Wolfe is said by John Robison to have recited Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard", containing the line "The paths of glory lead but to the grave" to his officers, adding: "Gentlemen, I would rather have written that poem than take Quebec tomorrow".


title: James Wolfe

text: After being stung by rejection, in a letter to his mother in 1751 he admitted he would probably never marry and stated that he believed people could easily live without marrying. An apocryphal story was published after Wolfe's death saying that he had carried a locket portrait of Katherine Lowther, his supposed betrothed, with him to North America, and that he gave the locket to First Lieutenant John Jervis the night before he died. The story holds that Wolfe had a premonition of his own death in battle, and that Jervis faithfully returned the locket to Lowther.


title: James Wolfe

text: The inscription on the obelisk at Quebec City, erected to commemorate the battle on the Plains of Abraham once read: "Here Died Wolfe Victorious." In order to avoid offending French-Canadians it now simply reads: "Here Died Wolfe."


title: James Wolfe

text: Wolfe's defeat of the French led to the British capture of the New France department of Canada, and his "hero's death" made him a legend in his homeland. The Wolfe legend led to the famous painting "The Death of General Wolfe" by Benjamin West, the Anglo-American folk ballad "Brave Wolfe" (sometimes known as "Bold Wolfe"), and the opening line of the patriotic Canadian anthem, "The Maple Leaf Forever".


title: James Wolfe

text: In 1792, scant months after the partition of Quebec into the provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, the Lieutenant-Governor of the former, John Graves Simcoe, named the archipelago at the entrance to the St. Lawrence River for the victorious Generals: Wolfe Island, Amherst Island, Howe Island, Carleton Island and Gage Island, for Thomas Gage. The last is now known as Simcoe Island.


title: James Wolfe

text: In 1832, the first war monument in present-day Canada was erected on the site where Wolfe purportedly fell. The site is marked by a column surmounted by a helmet and sword. An inscription at its base reads, in French and English, "Here died Wolfe – 13 September 1759." It replaces a large stone which had been placed there by British troops to mark the spot.


title: James Wolfe

text: Wolfe's Landing National Historic Site of Canada is located in Kennington Cove, on the east coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Contained entirely within the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada, the site is bounded by a rocky beach to the south, and a rolling landscape of grasses and forest to the north, east and west. It was from this site that, during the Seven Years' War, British forces launched their successful attack on the French forces at Louisbourg. Wolfe's Landing was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1929 because: "here, on 8 June 1758, the men of Brigadier General James Wolfe's brigade made their successful landing, leading to the capitulation of Louisbourg".


title: James Wolfe

text: There is a memorial to Wolfe in Westminster Abbey by Joseph Wilton. The 3rd Duke of Richmond, who had served in Wolfe's regiment in 1753, commissioned a bust of Wolfe from Wilton. There is an oil painting "Placing the Canadian Colours on Wolfe's Monument in Westminster Abbey" by Emily Warren in Currie Hall at the Royal Military College of Canada.


title: James Wolfe

text: A statue of Wolfe overlooks the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, a spot which has become increasingly popular for its panoramic views of London. A statue also graces the green in his native Westerham, Kent, alongside one of that village's other famous resident, Sir Winston Churchill. At Stowe Gardens in Buckinghamshire there is an obelisk, known as Wolfe's obelisk, built by the family that owned Stowe as Wolfe spent his last night in England at the mansion. Wolfe is buried under the Church of St Alfege, Greenwich, where there are four memorials to him: a replica of his coffin plate in the floor; "The Death of Wolfe", a painting completed in 1762 by Edward Peary; a wall tablet; and a stained glass window. In addition the local primary school is named after him. The house in Greenwich where he lived, Macartney House, has an English Heritage blue plaque with his name on, and a nearby road is named General Wolfe Road after him.


title: James Wolfe

text: In 1761, as a perpetual memorial to Wolfe, George Warde, a friend of Wolfe's from boyhood, instituted the Wolfe Society, which to this day meets annually in Westerham for the Wolfe Dinner to his "Pious and Immortal Memory". Warde paid Benjamin West to paint "The Boyhood of Wolfe" which used to hang at Squerres Court but has recently been donated to the National Trust and is now hung at Quebec House his childhood home in Westerham. Warde also erected a cenotaph in Squerres Park to mark the place where Wolfe had received his first commission while visiting the Wardes.


title: James Wolfe

text: In 1979, Crayola crayons introduced a Wolfe Brown colour crayon. It was discontinued the following year.


title: James Wolfe

text: There are several institutions, localities, thoroughfares, and landforms named in honour of him in Canada. Significant monuments to Wolfe in Canada exist on the Plains of Abraham where he fell, and near Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Ontario Governor John Graves Simcoe named Wolfe Island, an island in Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River off the coast of Kingston (near the Royal Military College of Canada) in Wolfe's honour in 1792. On 13 September 2009, the Wolfe Island Historical Society led celebrations on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of James Wolfe's victory at Quebec. A life-size statue in Wolfe's likeness is to be sculpted.


title: James Wolfe

text: South Mount Royal Park, Calgary is home to a James Wolfe statue since 2009, but it was originally located in Exchange Court in New York City. It was sculpted in 1898 by John Massey Rhind and moved into storage around 1945 to 1950, sold in 1967 and relocated to Centennial Planetarium in Calgary, stored 2000 to 2008 and finally installed again in 2009.


title: James Wolfe

text: A senior girls house at the Duke of York's Royal Military School is named after Wolfe, where all houses are named after prominent figures of the military. There is a James Wolfe school for children aged 5–11 down the hill from his house in Greenwich, in Chesterfield Walk, which is just east of General Wolfe Road.


title: James Wolfe

text: His letters home from the age of 13 until his death as well as his copy of Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" and other items are housed at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto, Ontario. Other artefacts and relics owned by Wolfe are held at museums in both Canada and England, although some have mainly legendary association. Wolfe's cloak worn at Louisbourg, Quebec and at the Plains of Abraham is part of the British Royal Collection. In 2008 it was lent to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia for an exhibit on the Siege of Louisbourg, and in 2009 was loaned to the Army Museum at the Halifax Citadel where it remains on display. Wolfe Crescent, Halifax, Nova Scotia is named after Wolfe.


title: James Wolfe

text: Point Wolfe is located in Fundy National Park, and the town of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire is named in honour of Wolfe. In Montreal, Rue Wolfe parallels Rue Montcalm and Rue Amherst, while in the Quebec City neighbourhood of Ste-Foy, he has given his name to an avenue.


title: Keo Motsepe

text: Keoikantse Motsepe (born 24 November 1989) is a South African dancer. His dancing styles are Latin and Ballroom. He is known for being the first black professional dancer on the ABC show "Dancing with the Stars".


title: Keo Motsepe

text: Motsepe started his career at 11 years of age by entering into in a competitive dance scene representing his country. In 2012 Motsepe joined the cast of "Burn the Floor". In 2014 it was announced that Motsepe would join the cast of pro dancers on "Dancing with the Stars".


title: Keo Motsepe

text: In season 19, Motsepe was paired up with Olympic athlete Lolo Jones. They were eliminated during the first week of competition, finishing in 13th place.


title: Keo Motsepe

text: In season 20, Motsepe was paired up with model Charlotte McKinney. They were eliminated in the third week of competition, finishing in 11th place.


title: Keo Motsepe

text: For season 21, he paired with Grammy Award-winning singer Chaka Khan. They were the first couple eliminated on the second week of competition, finishing in 13th place.


title: Keo Motsepe

text: For season 22, he was partnered with "Full House" and "Fuller House" actress Jodie Sweetin. The couple was eliminated in the eighth week of competition, despite being at the top of the leader board that week. They placed 6th overall. In a surprise challenge, judge Bruno Tonioli worked with Sweetin and eventual-winner Nyle DiMarco and their professional partners. During the sequence, the two celebrities swapped partners, seeing DiMarco and Motsepe dance the tango in ballroom hold, with both men shirtless, and Motsepe lift and twirl DiMarco. This was the first same-sex dancing included in the show's franchise world-wide.


title: Keo Motsepe

text: For season 24, he returned as a pro dancer and was partnered with actress & comedian Charo. They were eliminated in the third week of competition, finishing in 11th place.


title: Keo Motsepe

text: Motsepe returned for season 25 and is paired with "Shark Tank" panelist, Barbara Corcoran. They were the first couple eliminated on the second week of competition, finishing in 13th place.


title: Keo Motsepe

text: For season 26, he was partnered with former Olympic softball pitcher Jennie Finch Daigle. They were eliminated on the third week of competition and finished in 4th place, tying with Chris Mazdzer and Mirai Nagasu and partners Witney Carson and Alan Bersten.


title: Keo Motsepe

text: For season 27, he was paired with "Harry Potter" actress Evanna Lynch. The couple made it to the finals where they finished in 3rd place, marking Motsepe's best so far and also his first time in the finale.


title: Keo Motsepe

text: Motsepe appeared in season 28 as a pro dancer, but was not paired with a celebrity. He returned to compete again on season 29 where he is partnered with actress Anne Heche. They were eliminated in the fourth week of competition and finished in 13th place.


title: Keo Motsepe

text: Score given by guest judge Zendaya. For this week only, as part of "America's Switch Up", Sweetin performed with Valentin Chmerkovskiy instead of Motsepe. Motsepe performed with Kim Fields. Score given by guest judge Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Due to Tonioli being the judge coaching Sweetin's team during the team-up dance, the viewers scored the dance in his place with the averaged score being counted alongside the remaining judges.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Smelts are a family of small fish, the Osmeridae, found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans, as well as rivers, streams and lakes in Europe, North America and Northeast Asia. They are also known as freshwater smelts or typical smelts to distinguish them from the related Argentinidae (herring smelts or argentines), Bathylagidae (deep-sea smelts), and Retropinnidae (Australian and New Zealand smelts).


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Some smelt species are common in the North American Great Lakes, and in the lakes and seas of the northern part of Europe, where they run in large schools along the saltwater coastline during spring migration to their spawning streams. In some western parts of the United States, smelt populations have greatly declined in recent decades, leading to their protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Delta smelt ("Hypomesus transpacificus") found in the Sacramento Delta of California, and the eulachon ("Thaleichthys pacificus") found in the Northeast Pacific and adjacent rivers, are both protected from harvest.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Some species of smelts are among the few fish that sportsmen have been allowed to net, using hand-held dip nets, either along the coastline or in streams. Some sportsmen also ice fish for smelt. They are often fried and eaten whole.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: In size, smelts usually grow to about long, although some species can reach . Smelts are a food source for many fish, including salmon, striped bass, and lake trout.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Like salmon, many species are anadromous, living most of their lives in the sea, but traveling into fresh water to breed. However, a few exceptions, such as the surf smelt, spend their entire lives at sea.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: In the Canadian provinces and U.S. states around the Great Lakes, "smelt dipping" is a common group sport in the early spring and when stream waters reach around . Fish are spotted using a flashlight or headlamp and scooped out of the water using a dip net made of nylon or metal mesh. The smelt are cleaned by removing the head and the entrails. Fins, scales, and bones of all but the largest of smelts are cooked without removal.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: On the Maine coast, smelts were also a sign of spring, with the run of these small fish up tiny tidal estuaries. Many of these streams were narrow enough for a person to straddle and get a good catch of smelts by dipping a bucket.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Smelts are an important winter catch in the saltwater mouths of rivers in New England and the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Fishermen would historically go to customary locations over the ice using horses and sleighs. Smelt taken out of the cold saltwater were preferred to those taken in warm water. The fish did not command a high price on the market, but provided a source of supplemental income due to their abundance. The smelts were "flash frozen" simply by leaving them on the ice and then sold to fish buyers who came down the rivers.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: In the present day, smelts are fished both commercially using nets at sea, and for recreation by hand-netting them or spearing or angling them through holes in river ice. They are often the target fish of small 'fishing shack' villages that spring up along frozen rivers. Typical ways of preparing them to include pan-frying in flour and butter, or deep-frying in batter, and they are sometimes cooked directly out of the water over small stoves in the shacks.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Indigenous peoples in Canada native to the Great Lakes regions (Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, and Lake Superior), as well as nearby Lake Erie (which still is well known for its smelts today), were both familiar and partially dependant upon smelts as a dietary source of protein and omega fats that didn't require a large effort or hunting party to obtain. Smelts are one of the best choices of freshwater and saltwater fish to eat, as one of the types of edible fish with the lowest amount of mercury.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Since smelts can be found in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as some freshwater lakes across the country (Canada); hence, smelts were eaten by many different native peoples who had access to them. One popular way First Nations of the Pacific coast made dried smelts more appealing was to serve it with oil. Eulachon, a type of smelt, contains so much oil during spawning that, once dried, it can literally be burned like a candle; hence its common nickname of the "candlefish".


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Today, there are numerous recipes and methods of preparing and cooking smelts. A popular First Nations recipe involving the removal of all the fishes' bones, canola or peanut oil for frying, along with a breaded-like coating that's mixed with lemon juice and grated parmesan cheese (with a few other basic ingredients) to coat the smelts just prior to frying them.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Smelt is popular in Japan, as the species "Sprinchus lanceolatus", and is generally served grilled, called "shishamo", especially when full of eggs.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Smelt roe, specifically from capelin, called masago in Japanese, is yellow to orange in color and is often used in sushi.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Smelt is also served in "dim sum" restaurants, deep fried with the heads and tails attached, identified as "duō chūn yú" (多春鱼) or "duō luǎn yú" (多卵魚), which loosely translates as "fish with many eggs".


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Smelt is one of the prime fish species eaten in Tamil Nadu as Nethili fry, Nethili karuvadu (dried fish), coastal Karnataka, especially in Mangalore and Udupi regions, usually fried with heads and tailed removed or in curries. They are called 'Bolingei' (ಬೊಳಂಜೆ) in Kannada and Tulu and 'MotiyaLe' in Konkani.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: In the city of Inje, South Korea (Gangwon Province), an Ice Fishing Festival is held annually from January 30 to February 2 on Soyang Lake, coinciding with the smelt's yearly run into fresh water to spawn. They are locally known as "bing-eo" (빙어) and typically eaten alive or deep-fried.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: For some Italians, especially from the region of Calabria, fried smelts are a traditional part of the Christmas Eve dinner consisting of multiple courses of fish.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: In 1956, the Chamber of Commerce in Kelso, Washington, declared Kelso, located on the Cowlitz River, as the "Smelt Capital of the World". They erected billboards proclaiming this, and held festivals for the annual smelt runs until the runs dried up.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: The village of Lewiston, New York, on the lower portion of the Niagara River, celebrates an annual two-day smelt festival the first weekend in May. During the festival, approximately of smelt are battered and fried at the Lewiston Waterfront. The smelt samples are free during the festival and donations are welcome, as they help support programs supported by the Niagara River Anglers. The festival has a motto, which is a play on words: "Lewiston never smelt so good."


title: Smelt (fish)

text: Lithuania celebrates an annual weekend smelt festival in Palanga "Palangos Stinta" early every January.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: The American Legion Post 82, in Port Washington, Wisconsin has been hosting its annual Smelt Fry since 1951. Located on the Western shore of Lake Michigan, 35 miles North of Milwaukee, Port Washington has a long history as a fishing community with commercial and sports ventures. The Legion's Smelt Fry happens every year in mid to late April. In mid-July, the quaint town hosts their Fish Day event, billed as "The world's largest, one-day, outdoor fish fry!"


title: Smelt (fish)

text: At the time of the smelt's spring run in the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea in Saint Petersburg, a ("Prazdnik koryushki") is celebrated.


title: Smelt (fish)

text: The Magic Smelt Puppet Troupe of Duluth, Minnesota has held an annual "Run, Smelt, Run!" puppet-based second line parade, smelt fry, and dance party since 2012. The troupe occasionally hosts other performances throughout the year.


title: Kathie Browne

text: Kathie Browne (September 19, 1929 – April 8, 2003) was an American stage, film and television actress.


title: Kathie Browne

text: She was born Jacqueline Sue Browne on September 19, 1929 in Humansville, Missouri to Winn Roscoe Browne and Erma Mae Wood. Her family later moved to San Luis Obispo, California, then when she turned ten, to Los Angeles, where she went to city schools. She received her first social security card at age 13 during April 1943. After high school, she studied drama at Los Angeles City College (LACC), where she won a best acting award.


title: Kathie Browne

text: May Rose Borum, a drama teacher at LACC, founded a community theatre called the Tustin Playbox in June 1952. As "Cathy Browne" (her first stage name; she does not appear to have used "Kathie Browne" until March 1959), Browne was active in this theater for many years, both as performer and co-producer with her first husband, Sherwood Price.


title: Kathie Browne

text: In 1955, Browne's television acting career began with her appearance in one episode of "Big Town". She appeared in many films and television series, including four roles on "Perry Mason": as title character and defendant Donna Loring Ross in the 1960 episode "The Case of the Provocative Protégée", as defendant Susan Fisher in the 1962 episode "The Case of the Mystified Miner", as murderer Carla Eden in the 1963 episode "The Case of the Festive Felon" and as defendant Lona Upton in the 1965 episode "The Case of the Thermal Thief." In 1962, Browne appeared as Laurie Kemper on the TV western "Lawman" in the episode titled "Heritage of Hate" and as Deela in the 1968 "" episode "Wink of an Eye".


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap shooting, or trapshooting in North America, is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting, which is shooting shotguns at clay targets. The other disciplines are skeet shooting and sporting clays.


title: Trap shooting

text: They are distinguished roughly as follows, with variations within each group. In trap shooting, the targets are launched from a single "house" or machine, generally away from the shooter. In skeet shooting, targets are launched from two houses in somewhat sideways paths that intersect in front of the shooter. Sporting clays includes a more complex course, with many launch points.


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap shooting is practiced all over the world but is most popular in the United States (particularly the Midwest), Canada and Europe. Trap shooting variants include, but are not limited to, international varieties Olympic trap, also known as "International Trap", "Bunker", ISSF Trap, "Trench". Non-Olympic shooting variants include Down-The-Line, also known as "DTL", Nordic Trap, and double trap. American Trap is the predominant version in the United States and Canada.


title: Trap shooting

text: American Trap has two independent governing bodies. The Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA) sanctions events throughout the United States and Canada, as well as the Pacific International Trapshooting Association (PITA) which sanctions events on the West Coast of North America.


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap shooting was originally developed, in part, to augment bird hunting and to provide a method of practice for bird hunters. Use of targets was introduced as a replacement for live pigeon-shooting. Indeed, one of the names for the targets used in shooting games is "clay pigeons". The layout of a modern trap shooting field differs from that of a skeet field and/or a sporting clays course.


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap shooting has been a sport since the late 18th century when real birds were used; usually the passenger pigeon, which was extremely abundant at the time. Birds were placed under hats or in traps which were then released. Artificial birds were introduced around the time of the American Civil War. Glass balls (Bogardus) and subsequently "clay" targets were introduced in the later 1800s, gaining wide acceptance.


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap shooting is typically shot with a 12 gauge shotgun. Smaller gauge firearms (e.g. 16, 20, 28 gauge, and .410 bore) can be used, but no allowance is given. Trap shooting is shot at either single or double target presentations. This refers to the number of clay targets which are launched simultaneously.


title: Trap shooting

text: Both general purpose shotguns and more specialized target-type shotguns are used in trap shooting, and may be double-barreled or single-barreled. Shooters who shoot all sub-events will often buy a combination-set of a single and double barrel for shooting both singles and double targets respectively. Self-loading (semi-automatic shotguns) are popular for recreational shooting due to the lower perceived recoil and versatility because they can be used for singles, handicap, and doubles. Shotguns used in trap shooting can differ from field and skeet guns in several ways and normally are designed with a higher "point of impact" as the targets are intended to be shot as they rise.


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap shooting shotguns can be adjustable. Stocks may have a "Monte Carlo" (fixed, raised "comb") configuration and/or include a comb height adjustment, a butt plate adjustment for length, angle, or both. Trap guns typically have longer barrels of , possibly with porting and featuring tighter chokes to compensate for the longer distances at which trap shooting targets are broken. The majority of trap shotguns built today feature interchangeable choke tubes as opposed to older guns which used chokes of a "fixed" constriction. Interchangeable choke tubes can come in a variety of constrictions and may use names such as "modified", "improved cylinder", and "full". Trap guns are built to withstand the demands and stress of constant and lengthy repeated use—hundreds of shots in a single day of events, whereas typical field guns are built to be lighter, carried afield, and not shot in such quantity.


title: Trap shooting

text: Common accessories include wearing a vest or pouch that will hold at least 25–50 cartridges or "shells" for singles and/or doubles events. Most ranges and clubs require eye and ear protection.


title: Trap shooting

text: Shooting glasses may be something as simple as the eyeglasses or sunglasses one presently wears however this is generally considered unsafe as standard eyeglasses and sunglasses are often not shatter proof. Specialized shooting glasses typically have interchangeable colored lenses, are adjustable, and designed for high-impact resistance. A spectrum of different colored lenses are offered to compensate for light conditions as well as enhance the color of the target thrown while muting the color of the background. Adjustable glasses allow on-range changes for conditions of light, color, etc.


title: Trap shooting

text: Hearing protection also comes in a variety of styles. Dense foam and electronics are used to reduce sound levels. Typical hearing protection is either an "earmuff" (worn over the ear) or an "ear plug" (worn in the ear canal). Some shooters use both simultaneously to gain greater noise reduction (NRR). There are also "ear plugs" molded to the shape of the ear, which can be used for listening to music while shooting.


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap shooting requires the use of a target throwing device(s). American trap and DTL utilize a single trap machine which is typically enclosed within a traphouse, downrange from the shooters' shooting positions. The house provides protection for the machine (e.g. from weather and errant shots) and also acts to obscure the machine's oscillating throwing position. International or Olympic trap employs 15 trap machines housed within a large elongated traphouse recessed into the ground to form a "bunker" and/or resemble a trench. International or Olympic trap may at times be referred to as bunker trap.


title: Trap shooting

text: Modern automatic throwing machines can store hundreds of clay targets in a carousel and systematically self-load targets onto the throwing mechanism. Manual electric target throwers require a person in the trap house with the trap machine to set the target(s) by hand onto the machine arm. For both types, an electrical signal, from the push of a button or a sound-activated device, causes the trap machine to throw its targets after the shooter calls for their bird(s).


title: Trap shooting

text: Temporary or informal trap shooting can utilize other methods to launch targets. The simplest is a "hand thrower" which is a hand-held arm which holds and releases that target when a person swings it. Another type of manual, non-electrical thrower utilizes a spring-loaded mechanism which is cocked and subsequently released by hand or foot.


title: Trap shooting

text: American trap typically uses lead shot ammunition, with shot sizes (for lead shot) ranging between #7 ½ and #9 (2.0–2.4 mm). The major components of a shotshell are the "hull" (casing), "primer" (ignition device), "powder" (smokeless gunpowder), "wad" (shot cup and cushion), and "shot" (round pellets).


title: Trap shooting

text: The "shot" in a "shotshell" consists of approximately 300–450 small spheres. Shotshells are allowed a maximum payload weight of of shot. Velocity may vary but is limited based upon shot mass: for , for , and for . Maximum loads are generally only needed for longer "handicap" yardages or the second shot in doubles trap. Steel shot, which may be required at certain trap clubs or ranges, is used with slightly larger shot size (e.g. #6 or #7).


title: Trap shooting

text: Reloading or self-loading of ammunition is popular among a segment of trap shooters, due in part to the sheer quantity of ammunition used in trap shooting as well as the fact that many ranges will have shells that are used only once and are able to be obtained by people who reload their own shells at little to no cost. Reloading can be economical and allows for the ability to customize a shotshell "recipe" to one's shooting, making reloading attractive and adds another dimension to the enjoyment of shotgun shooting sports.


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap shooting has been around since the 18th century. A publication known as "Sporting Magazine" states that by the year 1793, trap shooting was "well established" in England. The first recorded organized trap shooting in the United States is likely to have taken place at the Sportsman's Club of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1831. Originally, live birds were used as targets, released from under hats. Glass balls came into use as targets in the 1860s and began to partially replace live birds, but live targets are still used in some parts of the United States. The glass ball targets were invented by Charles Portlock, of Boston, and were used by notable shooters such as Annie Oakley, Doc Carver, and Capt. A. H. Bogardus. Most of the glass ball targets were made of colorless glass and had a diameter of . Some targets were filled with colored powder to indicate a hit and add a visual effect. For the shooters who liked live game sport, targets were filled with feathers.


title: Trap shooting

text: Bogardus took up glass ball and clay pigeon shooting in 1868, and went on to win many championships. He was known as one of the most successful trap shooters in the early years of the sport. In the spring of 1883 he was defeated by a competitive shooter named Doc Carver. Carver idolized Bogardus and other renowned shooters. He attempted to attract the great Bogardus, but it wasn't until six years later that the two legends finally came together for a match, and the winner was the less-experienced Doc Carver. Carver won 19 out of 25 matches. In most of those matches they used Ligowsky targets.


title: Trap shooting

text: In 1880 "clay" birds (disks) were invented by a man named Fred Kimble, although George Ligowsky took credit for the invention. The Ligowsky target was used widely in the early trap shooting community as a replacement for the glass ball targets. The downside of the Ligowsky targets was that they were too hard to break when hit. Fred Kimble made a more breakable target. Unlike the Ligowsky target, which was made of hard baked clay, the Kimble target was made of coal-tar, pitch and other ingredients.


title: Trap shooting

text: There were many different types of target throwers, also known as “traps,” like one made by Bogardus, which was made to throw glass targets. This trap was able to throw the targets for a distance of . It was operated by a person behind the shooter, who pulled a string and released an elastic spring, launching the target. The first automatic trap machine to launch clay targets was used in 1909. Following the invention of the automatic trap machines, doubles trap was introduced. It was a big success in the competition community. In the 1912 Olympics, Jay Graham became the first American to win the gold medal in doubles trap.


title: Trap shooting

text: Three years later, in 1915 the American Amateur Trapshooting Association (AATA) was formed with John Philip Sousa as president. This organization was the first organized and run by amateurs. When the AATA was disbanded in 1919, it was absorbed by an organization called the American Trapshooting Association. In 1923 the American Trapshooting Association was renamed Amateur Trapshooting Association, and the same organization is still active today.


title: Trap shooting

text: Olympic trap, also known as international and/or bunker trap, is one of the ISSF shooting events, introduced to the Olympic program in 1900; the current version was introduced in 1950. In international competitions the course of fire is 125 shots for men and 75 shots for women. There is a 25-shot final for the top six competitors.


title: Trap shooting

text: Olympic trap uses 15 fixed-angle machines as opposed to the single oscillating machine used in American trap or DTL. The 15-machine, computer-controlled program is designed to deliver 10 left, 10 right and 5 straight-away targets to each competitor in a randomized sequence. A microphone release system is employed to provide uniformity in target release times.


title: Trap shooting

text: The process of a round is as follows: There are six shooters, one to each station, with the sixth shooter initially starting at a holding station immediately behind shooter number one. At the beginning of first round of the day, test firing is allowed at the referee's permission. Upon receiving the start signal, the first shooter has 10 seconds to call for his target. After firing at his target, the first shooter waits for the second shooter to complete firing, then moves to station two, with the shooter on station six smoothly moving to station one. This procedure continues through the squad until the completion of the round.


title: Trap shooting

text: Generally, the round is refereed by a person on the line, behind the shooters. They use a bicycle-type horn, or similar, to signal lost targets. The referee is assisted by one or two flankers to either side of the bunker who keep score. With modern technology, computer screens may be used both at the bunker and in the club house to show the rounds' progress. In major matches, there is a board, perhaps 1 × 2.5 m (4 × 8 feet), to one side that shows the scoring status clearly to all with large tiles: white to show hits, red to show misses.


title: Trap shooting

text: The guns may be loaded—but open-actioned—between stations 1 through 5. Guns must be unloaded and open in the walk from station five back to one. The unloading must be done "before" the shooter makes the turn to step off station five. This open action requirement alone tends to discourage the use of auto-loading shotguns, as it is time consuming to unload if the second shell is not used. Additionally, there are issues of reliability and the loss of the advantage which a more open choke of the over-under shotgun type can provide for the first shot.


title: Trap shooting

text: Since the UIT, now ISSF, mandated the 24 gram (7/8 ounce) shot load in 1991, chokes have tended to become tighter. Often competitors will use 0.64–0.72 mm (0.025–0.030 inch) for the first barrel and 0.80–1.00 mm (0.032–0.040 inch) for the second. Guns are regulated to shoot dead on or, at most 5–8 cm (2–3 inches) high. Considerable effort is expended to ensure a perfect fit as the relatively high 100 km/h (62 mph) exit speed of the target allows no time for conscious compensation of a poor fit as it so often can occur in the slower 64 km/h (40 mph) exit speed target games of American trap and skeet.


title: Trap shooting

text: Double trap is a relatively new trap form. An Olympic event since 1996 (from 2008 it has Olympic status only for men), two targets are thrown simultaneously but at slightly different angles from the station three bank of machines. The target speed is about 80 km/h (50 mph), very close to that of ATA doubles.


title: Trap shooting

text: The only unique item is that the targets are released with a variable delay up to 1 second. This was instituted to minimize the practice of spot-shooting the first target.


title: Trap shooting

text: The ISSF has continuously adjusted the difficulties of its disciplines (trap, skeet, and double trap) to minimize the number of perfect scores, unlike ATA/NSSA where perfect scores are the norm. Missing a single target in a large ATA or NSSA match means the competitor has a limited chance of winning, whereas missing a target in Bunker or International Trap still allows a competitor a good shot at victory.


title: Trap shooting

text: With her victory in women's skeet shooting at the 2012 London Olympic games, Kim Rhode became the first American to medal in 5 successive Olympic games. Her prior Olympic medals were for doubles trap shooting in 1996, 2000 and 2004 and for skeet shooting in 2008.


title: Trap shooting

text: American trap is popular throughout the United States and may be the most popular form of clay target shooting in North America. It is widely practiced at clubs and facilities that offer trap shooting.


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap shooting outside of any official event is common and arguably the majority of American trap shooting. Most official events are governed by the Amateur Trapshooting Association or ATA and its rules. The ATA is the primary governing body of American trap shooting and is one of the largest shooting sports organizations in the world. The Pacific International Trap Association (PITA) is an independent governing body, and is active in the western US and British Columbia. PITA rules are nearly identical to ATA rules. Trapshooting outside of official events follows ATA rules and norms to widely varying degrees.


title: Trap shooting

text: The ATA hosts the Grand American World Trap Shooting Championships, which is held every August. After decades in Vandalia, Ohio, the "Grand" moved to the new World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Illinois. The Grand attracts 4,500 (2015 numbers) shooters for the thirteen-day event. It was billed as the world's largest shooting event until the USA High School Clay Target League's Minnesota State Championship held in Alexandria, MN reached over 5,000 participants in June, 2015. The Grand American is still the largest ATA event.


title: Trap shooting

text: The ATA sanctions registered trap shooting competitions at local clubs and facilities throughout North America, and it coordinates Zone competitions leading up to the Grand American each summer along with "Satellite Grands" throughout the U.S. State organizations hold state championship shoots each year, which are coordinated with and sanctioned by the ATA.


title: Trap shooting

text: American Trap is broken down into three categories: singles, doubles, handicap. The targets are thrown by a machine located at approximately ground level and covered by a "trap house." For singles and doubles, there are five "stations", each 16 yards (15.6 m) behind the trap house. In singles, each competitor shoots at five targets from each station. The trap machine oscillates left to right within a 54 degree arc (up to 27 degrees right and left of center), and at least a 34 degree arc (up to 17 degrees right and left of center)., and the competitor does not know where in that arc the target will emerge. In doubles, the machine does not oscillate, but throws two targets simultaneously with each competitor shooting at five pairs (10 targets) from each station. In the handicap events, the machine operates the same as in singles, but the shooters stand farther away from the trap house.


title: Trap shooting

text: Recent changes specify a minimum handicap yardage of 18 yards (16.5m). Each time a competitor wins an event or shoots a score of 96 or higher, s/he may earn additional yardage (also known as "getting a punch"), and must thereafter shoot from farther away from the traphouse. The increase in effective distance is designed to increase difficulty. The maximum distance at which a handicap sub-event is shot is 27 yards (24.7 m). Safety regulations prohibit members of a handicap squad from shooting at varying yardages of more than 2-3 yards (1.8m-2.7m) apart, depending upon the handicap classification. In American Trap, each shooter is allowed only one shot per target. Unless the target was an illegal target, in which case the target is either broken or has broken regulations the shooter may reshoot that bird.


title: Trap shooting

text: When shooting American Trap for practice or fun, a squad of up to five individuals will shoot a "round" of trap which equals 25 targets per participant. Registered ATA events may require each shooter to shoot 50, 100 or 200 targets, depending upon the scheduled sub-event. Many of these shoots are for personal average or handicap yardage.


title: Trap shooting

text: ATA rules specify that shotgun gauges larger than 12 gauge (such as 10 gauge) are not permissible. Maximum shot velocity is 1290 FPS (Feet Per Second) for shot charges up to 1 1/8 oz. and 1325 FPS for shot charges up to 1 oz.


title: Trap shooting

text: A variant of standard trap is Wobble or Wobble trap. The main difference is a more variable target flight path than in standard trap shooting because the trap machine oscillates up and down as well as side to side. Shooters are allowed two shots per pull, and shooters at stations 1 and 5 stand at the 18 yard (16.5 m) mark while positions 2–4 stand at the 17 yard (15.5 m) mark. Although this version of trap is not sanctioned by the ATA, many shooters consider it to be both more challenging and engaging as well as a more realistic preparation for bird hunting.


title: Trap shooting

text: Down-The-Line (DTL) is a form of trap popular in Great Britain, Australia, and South Africa. The trap machine oscillates left to right within a 45 degree arc and each competitor shoots in turn, then moves station after having attempted 5 targets from each station in each round of 25 targets. Two shots are permitted at each target, but second shots incur a points penalty. 3 points are awarded for each first-barrel hit, 2 points for a second-barrel hit, and 0 for a miss. A perfect score in a 100-target competition is written as 100/300. The points score, rather than the number of targets hit, determines the winner and is used to determine classifications (AA, A, B and C class).


title: Trap shooting

text: In the Nordic countries and Great Britain (which is part of the Nordic Shooting Region), a form of trap formerly known as "Hunter's trap" and now as Nordic trap is popular. It is easier than the Olympic version.


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap etiquette is expected and practiced more fully during official and competitive events, but, to a lesser extent, also during informal shooting. American Trapshooting, more so than other shooting disciplines, including Olympic "international" trap, develops a certain rhythm to a squad timing between shots. The manners of any other squad member(s) can affect the performance of individuals within a squad. Most persons using a semi-automatic shotgun employ a shell catcher - an ejected hull hitting an adjacent shooter in the head or arm can certainly disrupt their concentration. Most shooters carry a few extra shells in case they drop one or have a misfire. Shooters usually avoid picking up any dropped shell, or other item, until after the 5th shooter has fired their 5th shot of the station and the squad is about to rotate to the next position, or sometimes until the end of the entire round. Idle chatting between shots, vulgar calls, and unnecessary movement can be generally disruptive. Additionally, where voice-activated throwing systems are in use, talking between shots may be detected by nearby microphones and prematurely launch targets during another shooter's turn.


title: Trap shooting

text: Commands from the scorer and other shooters are as important to squad timing as the behaviors of the shooters on the squad. To start a squad the shooter will ask if the squad and puller are ready (usually by calling "Squad ready?" then "Puller ready?"), followed by asking to see one free target, traditionally saying, "Let's see one." Especially during official and competitive events the scorer will call missed targets with a command of: loss, lost, etc. When the first shooter has fired their final shot of the position the scorer will sometimes call "end" or "ready" and will command "all change" or "please move" after fifth shooter has fired their last shot. The shooter on position five then moves behind the rest of the shooters on their way to the first station and will signal when he is ready to the first shooter who is now on station two. The standard call for a target is "pull," but many shooters like to use their own variations of "pull," or words that will help them concentrate on the target; such as, "yah", a grunt is acceptable, some may even use a whistle or beeper.


title: Trap shooting

text: The technique for trap shooting is fundamentally different from rifle or pistol shooting. The latter shoots one projectile and aims to place accurately at a usually stationary target, and usually with at least a few seconds to aim. Trap shooting involves shooting hundreds of pellets at a time, at a target that is moving quickly downrange, and often quickly laterally, typically with less than a second to move the gun and fire. Instructors generally refer to the process as "pointing" the shotgun rather than aiming it.


title: Trap shooting

text: Trap shooting is becoming ever more popular among younger shooters. There are a number of programs geared towards encouraging youth shooting.


title: Trap shooting

text: The USA High School Clay Target League is the largest youth clay target shooting program in the world, with over 38,000 participants yearly. The USAHSCTL runs high-school trap shooting leagues in various states nationwide, the largest of which is Minnesota, where 12,000 students from nearly 450 schools compete. All teams in USAHSCTL leagues are school-sanctioned as a prerequisite for team/league formation. The Minnesota State High School Clay Target League Championship is the largest trap shooting event in the world with over 8,000 student athletes participating in 2018. The League's motto is "Safety, Fun, Marksmanship - In that order."


title: Trap shooting

text: The Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) is the second largest clay target program in the country, with just under 15,000 participants. SCTP promotes gun safety, personal responsibility, and sportsmanship among primary and secondary students. Teams compete at the local, state, and national level. Athletes are divided into four divisions based on academic grade level and experience: Rookie (fifth grade and below), Intermediate (sixth through eighth grades), Junior Varsity (ninth through twelfth grades), and Varsity (eleventh and twelfth grades with at least two years of experience at the Junior Varsity level). Trophies and college scholarships are awarded to third place, runner-up, and champion squads in each division at the SCTP National Championships, which are held concurrently with the first two days of the Grand American Trapshooting Championships in Sparta, Illinois.