title: Cryptic Writings

text: Mustaine pointed out that four of the album's 12 tracks are "fast, hard and crunchy". Referring to the musical direction of the album, MTV's writer P.R. Flack noted that "The Disintegrators" and "FFF" were rooted in the thrash metal genre, and ranked them among the fastest tracks on the record. Neil Arnold of "Metal Forces" highlighted the tune "Vortex", which according to him, features some of the album's best guitar work. However, a number of songs, particularly "I'll Get Even" and "Use the Man", carried a more rock-oriented sound, which contributed to the album's diverse style. Lyrically, the album does not have a distinct subject matter, but focuses on numerous themes instead. "She-Wolf" tells of a "wicked temptress with mystic lips and lusting eyes", while "Mastermind" has been stated by Mustaine as being about "the computerization of the world."


title: Cryptic Writings

text: "Trust" was released as the record's lead single. The song was developed from "Absolution", an instrumental track recorded on a demo during the studio sessions of their previous album. "Trust" peaked at number five on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, thus becoming the band's highest charting song on that chart. It was nominated for "Best Metal Performance" at the 1998 Grammy Awards. "Almost Honest" was the second single of the album, and like its predecessor, entered the top ten on "Billboard"s Mainstream Rock chart, peaking at number eight. Mustaine stated that the song is about how people treat one another, which contains a message that "it's difficult for people to be honest". "Billboard"s Chuck Taylor commented that the song contains catchy hooks and the band's "signature guitar howl" and classified it "somewhere between Def Leppard and Bon Jovi". "Use the Man" and "A Secret Place" were released as the third and fourth single, respectively. "Use the Man" (which started with a snippet of The Searchers' "Needles and Pins", which was removed in the 2004 remaster) is about drug addiction, while "A Secret Place" describes losing touch with reality. "Have Cool, Will Travel" is about school shootings; in the remastered version, a snippet of the schoolyard song "The Wheels on the Bus" was added to its introduction.


title: Cryptic Writings

text: Three extended plays were released in support of "Cryptic Writings". Two of these featured live recordings from the ensuing tour while the other was a studio EP which featured instrumental versions of several album tracks. The live releases were entitled "Live Trax" and "Live Trax II", the first being released on June 30 1998.


title: Cryptic Writings

text: Music critics were divided on the record. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, reviewing the album for AllMusic, reacted unenthusiastically toward it. He criticized Mustaine's ability to write more "ambitious" material and opined that the band "sounds better playing thrash." However, Erlewine did admire the band's desire to experiment with their sound. "Rolling Stone" was more generous toward "Cryptic Writings". Reviewer Jon Wiederhorn commented that the album "should thrill Metallica fans who felt screwed by that band's thrashless 1996 album, "Load"." Dean Golemis of the "Chicago Tribune" panned the album for being "predictable and annoying" and assumed that Megadeth were "destined to follow Metallica's leap into mainstream sounds". Author Thomas Harrison also noted the album for not making as much impact as their previous studio releases.


title: Cryptic Writings

text: Consumable Online's Simon Speichert wrote positively about the record, qualifying it as "pure, solid heavy metal". He noted that the album contains various kinds of tunes and named it "one of the best metal records of 1997". Neil Arnold from "Metal Forces" observed that "Cryptic Writings" is not "a bad record", though it comes "pale" in comparison to their 1994 opus "Youthanasia". Arnold went on to comment that the album confirms Megadeth are "no longer a thrash band". Wolfgang Schäfer, from the German metal magazine "Rock Hard", stated that "Cryptic Writings" followed the musical direction of its predecessors. He described the album as a "balanced mix of typical Megadeth rockers and some experimental songs".


title: Cryptic Writings

text: Megadeth supported the album with a world tour that started in the summer of 1997. The Misfits were the opening act of these live shows, one of which was the band's first all-acoustic performance that took place in South America. The following summer, the group participated in Ozzfest '98 for the dates in the United States. These live shows were the last for drummer Nick Menza, who was fired subsequently. Menza began to suffer knee problems and escalating pain during the tour. He was diagnosed with a tumor and underwent surgery which waylaid him briefly. However, the tumor was benign and Menza was eager to rejoin his bandmates, who had continued the tour with Jimmy DeGrasso. Although DeGrasso was hired as a temporary replacement, he stayed with the band for the recording of their next two studio albums. Menza stated that Mustaine had dismissed him from the band two days after his knee surgery via phone call telling him that his services "were no longer needed". On the other hand, Dave Mustaine believed that Menza had lied about his injury.


title: Cryptic Writings

text: NOTE: – "Reckoning Day" & "Peace Sells" were joined together as one track with the running length of 8:19.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national examination taken by all fifth-form secondary school students in Malaysia. It is the equivalent of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Nationals 4/5 of Scotland, and the GCE Ordinary Level (O Level) of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is the leaving examination of the eleventh grade of schooling.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: SPM is the penultimate examination sat by secondary school students before further studies in foundation, STPM, matriculation or diploma. The examination is set and examined by the Malaysian Examinations board ("Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia"). For those who attend international schools, the equivalent exam they sit for is the International General Certificate of Secondary Education exam. On the other hand, the Unified Examinations Certificate is equivalent to Advanced Level. All SPM examination papers are considered official secrets and are protected under the Official Secrets Act 1972 of Malaysia.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: Starting from the year 2021, the Malaysian Ministry of Education introduced a new SPM format for the new KSSM syllabus, replacing the old SPM format for the old KBSM syllabus. Also for the English subject, the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) syllabus is implemented for the English Paper and the result statement will be handed out with the SPM Certificate.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: The SPM provides the opportunity for Malaysians to continue their studies to pre-university level. Originally there is two version of SPM, one known as MCE (Malaysian Certificates of Education) taken by student studying in English school and SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) taken by student studying in national school. Both examination was introduced in 1964. The difference between SPM and MCE are SPM was conducted using the national language (Bahasa Melayu) while MCE was conducted using English language. There is also the visual difference on how the certificate would look like. The MCE would use University of Cambridge Coat of Arm while SPM would use the Malaysian Government Coat of Arm at the top of the certificate. The MCE was discontinued in 1976 when the Ministry of Education took over the examination from UCLES and merged it with SPM. The predecessor of these exam were SPPTM (Sijil Pelajaran Persekutuan Tanah Melayu. Started in 1962) and FMC (Federation of Malaya Certificate. Started on 1957) before the formation of Federation of Malaysia.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: Up to 1978, the examination was handled by UCLES, which still advises the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate on standards. The English paper is separately graded by the national examination board and UCLES, and both grades will be displayed on the statement slip. On the actual certificate, only the national examination board's grade is listed. The minimum requirements to obtain the certificate is to pass both Malay language and History.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: Generally, the SPM is taken at the age of 17, though students who attended the pre-secondary transition class (commonly known as "remove class") would take it at the age of 18. Previously, students who successfully passed their Penilaian Tahap Satu (PTS) examination at Primary Three and chose to skip a year of primary school education would take their SPM a year earlier, at the age of 16. This was discontinued in 2000. Students who are home schooled generally take the SPM at the end of their secondary education as well.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: In 2003, the medium of instruction for the science and mathematics subjects was switched from Malay to English. Due to this transition, students taking science and mathematics subjects can choose to respond in the examinations in either English or Malay.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: Due to the switch from KBSM syllabus to KSSM syllabus in 2017, some subjects have been terminated and switched to a fully new syllabus. The list does not include courses that have minor changes in name only.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: The evaluation scheme is fully exam-based. The examination for SPM usually takes place around November and lasts for more than 3 weeks. Papers are also scheduled in June for students who wish to resit for examinations they failed the previous year, but only for Bahasa Melayu, Sejarah and Mathematics.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: When releasing the results, only the letter grades (and not the actual scores) are made known to the candidates. Candidates may request a remarking (regrading) if they suspect errors in the original marking. Although no list of rankings is released to the public, the names of the top ranked students in the country and in each state are released to the press. These students may achieve the level of temporary celebrities, and may even be approached by companies to advertise their products. Politicians usually visit some of these top ranked students a day before the official results to congratulate them. Because the SPM examination is the final nationally standardised examination taken by the majority of Malaysians, many scholarships are awarded based on SPM results.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: Since 2010, however, the Ministry of Education has imposed a 10-subject limit on every candidate, while lowering the minimum number of subjects from 8 to 6. Students are allowed to take 2 additional subjects (comprising Arabic, Chinese, Tamil, Iban, Kadazandusun languages and Bible Knowledge) but they will not be taken into consideration for government scholarships.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: Candidates are assigned grades based on their scores in each subject. The exact grading scale used every year has never been made public.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: Since 2009, grading system used has a range from A+ (the highest grade) to G (for ""gagal"" or fail; F is not used). The previous system assigned a grade point and a letter to each range, with 1A ("1" being the grade point and "A" the letter grade) as highest range and 9G the lowest. The "Kepujian" (Pass-With-Credit) grade are equivalent with UK GCSE Pass-With-Credit grade as stated on the back of the certificates.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: SPMU was introduced for a student who failed or got a low passing grade in certain core subject in SPM to retake it back. SPMU usually held on July in a normal circumstances hence the examination are also known as SPM July Paper. Originally there is only one July Paper, which is Bahasa Melayu as it was the first and the only compulsory subject to pass in SPM to be qualified to be awarded with the SPM Certificate until 2010.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: Bahasa Melayu (BM) was slowly dosed into the national school system beginning from 1960 but it was only made a compulsory subject in 1970 (i.e. to pass the Malaysia Certificate Education exam, a pass in BM is a must). Furthermore, a credit in BM is essential in order to secure a seat in sixth form. One of the many problems associated with this change is that many "good" students were unable to continue their post-secondary education because of their examination result in BM. In 1972, for instance, the BM failure rate was nearly 40%. To solve this problem, the July Paper was introduced so that students would be given a second chance to retake the paper.


title: Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

text: As the time pass, there is a lot of changes in education policy and the higher education institution standpoint. On 2010, Sejarah (History) subject becoming the second compulsory subject to pass in SPM to be qualified to be awarded with the SPM Certificate. Making student required to pass both Bahasa Melayu and Sejarah to be qualified with the SPM Certificate. Also many university required student to achieved at least C in their Mathematics or at some college to achieve at least Passing Grade. Because of this change and demand the Examination Syndicates announce that the Sejarah and Mathematics paper are also available to retake along with Bahasa Melayu paper in SPMU.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: USS "Grayback" (SS-208), a "Tambor"-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the lake herring, "Coregonus artedi". She ranked 20th among all U.S. submarines in total tonnage sunk during World War II, with 63,835 tons, and 24th in number of ships sunk, with 14. She was sunk near Okinawa on 27 February 1944. Her wreck was discovered in June 2019.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: "Grayback"′s keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 31 January 1940, sponsored by Mrs. Lydia Ballou Brown ("née" Chappell), wife of Rear Admiral Wilson Brown, Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy, and commissioned on 30 June 1941 with Lieutenant Willard A. Saunders in command.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: Attached to the United States Atlantic Fleet, "Grayback" conducted her shakedown cruise in Long Island Sound from Newport, New London, and New York City. In company with the submarine , she departed New London, Connecticut, on 8 September 1940 for patrol duty in the Caribbean Sea and Chesapeake Bay, then arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, on 30 November 1940 for overhaul. After the United States's entry into World War II, "Grayback" departed for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii arriving 8 February 1942.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: "Grayback"s first war patrol from 15 February to 10 April 1942 took her along the coast of Saipan and Guam. There, she had a four-day encounter with an enemy submarine; the enemy submarine fired two torpedoes at "Grayback" on the morning of 22 February, then continued to trail her across the Pacific. "Grayback" spotted the enemy conning tower a few times, and the Japanese ship broached once; but the "Grayback" could not get into position to attack. After four days, "Grayback" shook off the other submarine and continued on patrol. On 17 March, she sank her first ship, the 3291-ton cargo ship "Ishikari Maru "off Port Lloyd, Chichijima, Bonin Islands.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: "Grayback"s second war patrol met with a dearth of targets, although she even took the unusual and risky measure of patrolling surfaced during the day. On 22 June, she arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia, which was to remain her home base for most of the war. On her third and fourth war patrols, in the South China Sea and St. George's Passage, "Grayback" was hampered by bright moonlight, shallow and treacherous water, and enemy patrol craft. Despite these hazards, she damaged several freighters and an enemy submarine. The presence of "Grayback" and her sister ships in these waters, and the threat they presented to shipping and the number of enemy escorts they tied up, were important factors in the successful conclusion of the Guadalcanal campaign, America's first offensive campaign in the Pacific war.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: Her fifth war patrol began as "Grayback" sailed from Australia on 7 December 1942. Only a week out of port, Pharmacist's Mate Harry B. Roby was called upon to perform an emergency appendectomy, the second to be done on a patrolling submarine. With "Grayback" running 100 feet beneath the surface, the untutored Roby successfully removed the infected appendix, and his patient was back standing watch by the end of the patrol. Then, on 25 December, "Grayback" surfaced to sink four landing barges with her deck guns. Four days later, she was again fired on by an enemy submarine, but maneuvered to avoid the torpedoes. On 3 January 1943, "Grayback" sank "I-18", one of 25 Japanese submarines destroyed by western submarines during the war.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: On 5 January, "Grayback" served as beacon ship for the bombardment of Munda Bay in the Solomon Islands, and also engaged in rescue work. Lying off Munda early on the morning of 5 January, she received word that six survivors of a crashed Martin B-26 Marauder bomber were holed up on the island. "Grayback" sent ashore two men, then submerged at dawn to avoid enemy aircraft. The submariners located the downed aviators, three of whom were injured, and hid out with them in the jungle. As night fell, "Grayback" surfaced offshore and by coded light signals directed the small boat "home safe" with the rescued aviators. For this action, skipper Edward C. Stephan received the Navy Cross, as well as a Silver Star from the United States Army.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: "Grayback" continued on patrol, torpedoing and damaging several Japanese ships. On 17 January, she attacked a destroyer escorting a large "maru", hoping to disable the escort and then sink the freighter with her deck guns. However, the destroyer evaded the torpedoes and dropped 19 depth charges on "Grayback". One blew a gasket on a manhole cover, and the submarine, leaking seriously, was ordered back to Brisbane, Australia, where she arrived 23 January.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: On her sixth war patrol from 16 February to 4 April 1943, "Grayback" again had a run of bad luck, operating in the Bismarck Archipelago–Solomon Islands area without any military success. Her newly installed SJ radar had failed to function, and although she had taken several shots at "maru" merchant ships, none sank.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: The seventh patrol was more successful. Departing Brisbane on 25 April, "Grayback" intercepted a convoy whose position had been radioed to her by on 11 May. In a night surface attack, "Grayback" fired a spread of six torpedoes at the seven freighters and their three escorts. The three escorts charged, and she had to go deep to elude the attacking enemy. She was credited with the sinking of cargo ship "Yodogawa Maru". On 16 May, she torpedoed and seriously damaged a destroyer. The following day, "Grayback" intercepted four "marus" with one escort; she sank the freighter "England Maru" and damaged two others before she was forced to dive. "Grayback" arrived at Pearl Harbor on 30 May, then proceeded to San Francisco, California, for a much needed overhaul and modernization.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 12 September 1943, "Grayback" prepared for her eighth war patrol, now under the command of John Anderson Moore. Sailing 26 September with , she met at Midway Island to form the first of the Submarine Force's highly successful wolfpacks. The three submarines under Captain Charles B. "Swede" Momsen in "Cero" cruised the China Sea and returned to base with claims of 38,000 tons sunk and 3,300 damaged. "Grayback" accounted for two ships, a passenger-cargo vessel torpedoed 14 October and a former light cruiser, "Awata Maru", torpedoed after an end-around run on a fast convoy 22 October. Wolfpack tactics came into play on 2 October as "Grayback" closed on a convoy already attacked by "Shad", and sank a 9,000-ton transport, listing from two of "Shad"s torpedoes. The submarines had now expended all torpedoes, and on 10 November, they returned to Midway.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: With almost a quarter of her crew untested in battle "Grayback" departed Pearl Harbor for the East China Sea on 2 December for her ninth war patrol. Within five days of her first contact with Japanese ships, she had expended all her torpedoes in a series of attacks that netted four ships for over 10,000 tons. The action began on the night of 18 to 19 December; "Grayback" attacked a convoy of four freighters and three escorts. She sent freighter "Gyokurei Maru" and escort "Numakaze" to the bottom and damaged several others in a surface attack. Two nights later, 20 to 21 December, she spotted another convoy of six ships, and after an end-around run, she fired a spread of nine torpedoes into the heart of the Japanese formation. This first attack sank one freighter and damaged another before "Grayback" dived to elude depth charges. Three hours later, she surfaced and sank a second freighter. After an unsuccessful attack the following night had exhausted her torpedo supply, "Grayback" headed home. The submarine surfaced on 27 December to sink a good-sized fishing boat with deck guns before reaching Pearl Harbor on 4 January 1944.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: "Grayback"s tenth patrol, her most successful in terms of tonnage sunk, was also her last. She sailed from Pearl Harbor on 28 January 1944 for the East China Sea. On 24 February, "Grayback" radioed that she had sunk two cargo ships on 19 February and had damaged two others ("Taikei Maru" and "Toshin Maru" sunk). On 25 February, she transmitted her second and final report. That morning, she had sunk tanker "Nanho Maru" and severely damaged "Asama Maru". With only two torpedoes remaining, she was ordered home from patrol. Due to reach Midway on 7 March, "Grayback" did not arrive. On 30 March, ComSubPac listed her as missing and presumed lost with all hands.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: From captured Japanese records, the submarine's last few days were pieced together after World War II. Heading home through the East China Sea after attacking convoy Hi-40 on 24 February, "Grayback" used her last two torpedoes to sink the freighter "Ceylon Maru" on 27 February. Later that same day, a Japanese aircraft carrier-based Nakajima B5N (Allied reporting name "Kate") torpedo bomber spotted "Grayback" on the surface in the East China Sea and attacked, hitting her with a aerial bomb. According to Japanese reports, the submarine "exploded and sank immediately," but antisubmarine craft were called in to depth-charge the area, clearly marked by a trail of air bubbles, until at last a heavy oil slick swelled to the surface.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: "Grayback"′s commanding officer John Anderson Moore was awarded his third Navy Cross posthumously after this patrol.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: "Grayback" and her crew received two Navy Unit Commendations for their seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth war patrols.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: On 10 November 2019, a private research group, "Lost 52 Project", announced it had found the wreck of "Grayback" south of Okinawa, in June 2019. The wreck was discovered about from the coordinates established by the U.S. Navy in 1946 because of an error in its translation of the original Imperial Japanese Navy combat action reports. The discovery was officially verified by the U.S. Navy and the families of the deceased crew members were notified. The submarine sits upright on the bottom in 1,400 ft (430 m) of water. The deck gun was found about 400 ft (about 120 m) from the primary wreckage.


title: USS Grayback (SS-208)

text: The wreck has severe damage aft of the conning tower, consistent with Japanese reports of a direct bomb hit in that area. The bow is broken off at an angle, and a portion of the hull near the stern imploded. The builder's plate remains attached to the intact bridge.


title: Vympel

text: Directorate "V" of the FSB Special Purpose Center, often referred to as Spetsgruppa "V" Vympel (pennant in Russian, originated from German , and having the same meaning), but also known as KGB Directorate "V", Vega Group, is an elite Russian special forces unit, under the command of the FSB.


title: Vympel

text: As most of the training in the KGB academy concentrated on plainclothes operational work focused on espionage and counter-espionage, in 1955 the First Chief Directorate of the service established the Development Courses for Officer Personnel ( (), Latinized abbreviation KUOS) – a training cadre with the purpose of training general duty KGB officers in irregular warfare and combat tactics for clandestine operations overseas or as a stay-behind cadre and backbone for the formation of partisan units in case of a foreign invasion. In 1966 these courses were taken out of the structure of the First Chief Directorate and co-located as an independent training center together with the training center of the Soviet Border Troops (the KGB's own military force) in Golitsyno, Moscow Oblast. The KUOS graduates had their baptism by fire during the Prague Spring in 1968. A year later the KUOS was absorbed into the KGB Academy (Higher Red Banner School of KGB of the USSR, ) as part of the students' curriculum – initially a three-month course. In 1970 the KUOS relocated again to Balashikha, the position of the director was promoted from a KGB Major/Captain 2nd Rank to a KGB Colonel/Captain 1st Rank and the duration of the training increased to seven months.


title: Vympel

text: The main purpose of the KUOS center was the regular and irregular combat training of KGB Academy cadets as part of the establishment's curriculum. The secondary purpose was in case of a rising tension in a specific region to generate a tailored task group out of the cadets currently in an advanced stage of their training. Such example is the Operation Storm-333 (), which gained a legendary status in Russia. From the cadre of KUOS the Special Operations Task Group Zenyth was formed to take part in the liquidation of the Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin alongside the Team (Russian for "thunder") of the KGB's Alpha Group. The Zenyth Task Group was headed personally by the director of KUOS Colonel Grigoriy Boyarinov (who was in charge of the KUOS since it became an independent structure in 1969). Since Hafizullah Amin came to power by ordering the assassination of his predecessor Nur Muhammad Taraki and fearing he would be ousted from power the same way he asked the Soviet government to provide his protective detail. The combined KGB Grom and Zenyth contingent was deployed in that role, wearing Afghan army uniforms without identification. Later, when the Soviet leadership re-evaluated the situation and ordered a military intervention the dual characteristics of those KGB officers as intelligence operatives with advanced combat training and their location within the Presidential Palace made them ideal to both gather intel on the actions of the Afghan leadership and spearhead the assault on the residence, opening the way for the "Muslim Battalion" (154th Special Operations Independent Force – ) of the GRU Spetsnaz. Col. Boyarinov was killed in the fighting along with 5 operatives of Grom and Zenyth. Storm-333 is a rare example of KGB Spetsnaz and GRU Spetsnaz operating in concert.


title: Vympel

text: After the full-sized invasion of Soviet forces within the Afghan People's Republic in July 1980 the KGB ordered the KUOS to form another special operations task force - Kaskad (, Russian for "cascade"). From July 1980 until April 1983 the Kaskad made four tours to Afghanistan in different composition and with different duration, so the four task forces are known simply as Kaskad-1 (6 months), Kaskad-2 (6 months), Kaskad-3 (9 months) and Kaskad-4 (12 months). Unlike the CIA the KGB operated both in intelligence and counter-intelligence capacities, so in contrast to the Zenyth Task Group, which was tailored to a specific operation and concentrated on intelligence gathering, the Kaskad Task Groups were organised to provide support to the KGB counter intelligence operatives in theater, suppressing covert activities in the towns and hunting down agents cross-country. In addition those task groups had the mission to select, train and mentor groups of Afghans which would take over their duties once the Kaskad is brought back to the Soviet Union and dissolved. In April 1983 the Kaskad-4 was relieved by the Omega Special Operations Task Group () with the same tasks as the Kaskad teams. The name of the task force (the last letter in the Greek alphabet) indicated it to be the last unit of that sort to be deployed to Afghanistan. Omega was composed of 9 mobile special operations task groups (8 located in the interior of the country, the ninth group located together with the unit HQ in Kabul). This task group concluded the building of local Afghan capabilities within the Afghan Counter-Intelligence Service KAM and its Special Operations Tasks Battalion to take over the responsibilities of the KGB assets deployed on site.


title: Vympel

text: Vympel follows the lineage of Zenyth, Kaskad and Omega combined. On August 19, 1981 at a classified meeting the Soviet government made the decision for a permanent Special Operations Task Group within the KGB's First Chief Directorate. The new group was formed around the cadre of Zenith, Kaskad-1 and Kaskad-2 in order to retain the proficiency level of the operatives and to retain the lessons learned in the process of fighting irregular warfare in Afghanistan.


title: Vympel

text: The founding commander of Vympel is Captain 1st Rank Ewald Kozlov, a graduate of the Baku Naval Officer School, with a service career in the Northern Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla. In 1968 he entered the Soviet Military Academy and the Military Diplomatic Academy (the training establishment of the GRU) after that, graduating in 1970. Right after that Kozlov transferred from the Soviet Armed Forces to the KGB, entering the First Chief Directorate's Department "S" (overseas illegal operatives). In 1972 he became an instructor at the KUOS. In 1979 he deployed with Zenyth to Afghanistan. Upon his return to the Soviet Union he headed the KUOS, a position vacated by the death of Col. Boyarinov in Operation Storm-333. Named Vympel's first commander, he was replaced in 1985 and promoted to the Headquarters of First Chief Directorate.


title: Vympel

text: With its formation the Vympel Special Operations Task Group was put under the command of First Chief Directorate's Department "S" - the KGB's overseas clandestine service () under the covert name Independent Training Center ( ()). The new unit's mission statement was ordered as follows:


title: Vympel

text: The unit was formed in 1981 by the KGB Maj. Gen. Yuri Ivanovich Drozdov within the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, as a dedicated spetsnaz unit specialised in deep penetration, sabotage, universal direct and covert action, protection of Soviet embassies and espionage cell activation in case of war. Most of the Vympel operatives mastered two or three foreign languages since they were intended to act in foreign countries, deep behind enemy lines. Vympel was tasked with assassinating the top leadership of enemy states and destroying strategic infrastructure in the critical "special period," when the outbreak of war between the superpowers would have been unavoidable.


title: Vympel

text: Vympel quickly gained the reputation of being among the best Soviet special forces units, surpassing its GRU and MVD counterparts. However, after the collapse of the USSR, Vympel was decimated by endless re-organisation and re-definition. It passed under the aegis of the Security Ministry before being receded to the GUO (the two institutions were short-lived offspring of the ex-KGB during the Boris Yeltsin era) and finally passed to the MVD (Interior Ministry). However, the "militsiya" had no use for such a unit. The bulk of the Vympel operatives could not stand the humiliation of being subordinated to the police, and duly resigned: of 278 officers, only 57 chose to remain within the MVD. The unit was renamed "Vega."


title: Vympel

text: In 1995, the FSB RF Special Operations Center (TsSN FSB RF) was granted control over Vympel. The group regained its original name and was reintegrated into the Intelligence Service structures. The emphasis shifted from covert and clandestine sabotage operations to counter-terrorism and nuclear safety enforcement. Vympel operatives undergo special training related to improvised or special explosive devices, permitting them to use "terrorist-like" tactics to carry out their operations. Physical training includes close hand combat, parachute training, diving, underwater combat techniques, climbing, and alpine rope techniques. Regional groups of Vympel were deployed in cities with especially important nuclear facilities.


title: Vympel

text: Vympel, abbreviation of the Directorate в (Russian Cyrillic for V) of the TsSN FSB of the Russian Federation, is still a classified and secretive unit. It took part in Russia's Chechen campaigns and in storming of the Supreme Soviet building during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis. Little is known about its current operations and activities, with the exception being the capture of the Chechen militant leader Salman Raduyev in March 2000 and the assault on the school in Beslan in September 2004.


title: Vympel

text: Vadim Krasikov, who was named as a suspect in the murder of a Russian businessman in 2013 in Moscow and as 2022 convicted murderer of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, is - according to investigations by Bellingcat - suggested a member or former member of Vympel.


title: Jon Kortajarena

text: Jon Kortajarena Redruello (born 19 May 1985) is a Spanish fashion model and actor. He has landed advertising campaigns for Just Cavalli, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Bally, Etro, Trussardi, Diesel, Mangano, Lagerfeld, Pepe Jeans but notably H&M, Zara, Guess and Tom Ford for his consecutive seasons with the brands. On 26 June 2009, "Forbes" ranked Kortajarena eighth in "The World's 10 Most Successful Male Models".


title: Jon Kortajarena

text: Kortajarena was born in Bilbao, Biscay, Basque Country, Spain. He was discovered in September 2003 while vacationing in Barcelona and accompanying a friend who was invited to attend a fashion show. While there, a booker noticed him and persuaded him to give the fashion world a go. His first professional experience was in a Madrid Fashion Week show for Roberto Verino. He left Bilbao, his hometown, and ventured into the fashion industry in Paris. In 2004, at the age of 18, Kortajarena became the face of Just Cavalli for Roberto Cavalli's spring campaign which quickly jet started his career. He made his international fashion show debut at the fall Milan and Paris fashion weeks for Emporio Armani and John Galliano. Two months later, in New York, Steven Meisel photographed him for Versace. Kortajarena's other runway credentials include walking for Bottega Veneta, Dolce & Gabbana, Salvatore Ferragamo, Carolina Herrera, Giorgio Armani, John Galliano, and Chanel in Milan and Paris. Kortajarena appeared in a commercial for the sugar-free Fanta Z "Mediterraneo", a TV ad in 2005 which poked fun at the departed Fanta Lite. Its content, though, quickly drew complaints in Britain and it eventually became restricted to the post-9 PM broadcasts.


title: Jon Kortajarena

text: In 2007, Kortajarena signed with Guess and renewed his contract again in 2008. With new campaigns on the stands, Terry Richardson photographed Kortajarena for Tom Ford alongside Noah Mills and became the label's signature male model for the next consecutive seasons. He was featured on the cover of the spring/summer 2008 issue of "L'Officiel Hommes" magazine, devoting him 200 pages, with the cover title reading "200 Pages of Fashion with Jon Kortajarena".


title: Jon Kortajarena

text: It was the first time a male model had achieved this and consequently it became a reference in the industry; other models to follow such honor were Andres Velencoso and Arthur Sales. For the 2009 spring men's wear and eyewear advertising campaigns Jon was art directed and photographed, for the first time, by Tom Ford himself.


title: Jon Kortajarena

text: On 26 June 2009, Forbes published its list of "The World's 10 Most Successful Male Models" ranking Kortajarena in 8th place. In November Kortajarena was named by German "GQ" as "Model of the Year". Spain's "Marie Claire" awards "Prix de la Moda" awarded him "Best Spanish Model" for 2009.


title: Jon Kortajarena

text: Breaking into 2010 with ad campaigns for H&M, True Trussardi and Esprit; Kortajarena modeled alongside Alexa Chung for Pepe Jeans fall/winter Campaign. He was in the "Next" autumn/winter campaign and in its TV advert that launched on 10 September, alongside Emanuela de Paula.


title: Jon Kortajarena

text: In 2011 he was selected as one of the models to star in Lacoste's $66 million new advertising concept under the new tagline, "Unconventional Chic". The ads were shot by Mert and Marcus showing models wearing the iconic white Lacoste polo shirts worn over eveningwear. He fronted the cover of the March 2011 issue of "Vogue" Spain alongside Anja Rubik and compatriot Andres Velencoso. Described as "an icon of charm and masculinity", Kortajarena was chosen as the protagonist for the special video version of Roberto Cavalli Men's "Spring/Summer 2012" runway and opened the show held at the Palazzo Serbelloni in Milan. For the fall campaigns he became the face of David Yurman for the third consecutive time and was photographed by legendary photographer Peter Lindbergh.


title: Jon Kortajarena

text: Jon speaks Basque, Spanish, and English. He went to an ikastola school until he was 10 years old, but due to traveling he went on to enroll in public, private, and Catholic schools thereafter. His mother is a hairdresser and she often styles his hair. If he was not modeling he would be a full-time actor; however, he notes that interior designing and photography are some fields he has always been curious about. His hobbies include watching films, reading books by Hermann Hesse, sunbathing, going to the mountains with friends, and listening to music. He describes himself as an 'ultimate romantic'. Some of his favorite novels include "Perfume", "The Wheel of Life" by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, and "Siddhartha".


title: Samoan language

text: Samoan ( or ; ) is a Polynesian language spoken by Samoans of the Samoan Islands. Administratively, the islands are split between the sovereign country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language, alongside English, in both jurisdictions. It is widely spoken across the Pacific region, heavily so in New Zealand and also in Australia and the United States. Among the Polynesian languages, Samoan is the most widely spoken by number of native speakers.


title: Samoan language

text: Samoan is spoken by approximately 260,000 people in the archipelago and with many Samoans living in diaspora in a number of countries, the total number of speakers worldwide was estimated at 510,000 in 2015. It is the third-most widely spoken language in New Zealand, where 2.2% of the population, 101,900 people, were able to speak it as of 2018.


title: Samoan language

text: The language is notable for the phonological differences between formal and informal speech as well as a ceremonial form used in Samoan oratory.


title: Samoan language

text: Samoan is an analytic, isolating language and a member of the Austronesian family, and more specifically the Samoic branch of the Polynesian subphylum. It is closely related to other Polynesian languages with many shared cognate words such as "aliʻi", "ʻava", "atua", "tapu" and numerals as well as in the name of gods in mythology.


title: Samoan language

text: Linguists differ somewhat on the way they classify Samoan in relation to the other Polynesian languages. The "traditional" classification, based on shared innovations in grammar and vocabulary, places Samoan with Tokelauan, the Polynesian outlier languages and the languages of Eastern Polynesia, which include Rapanui, Māori, Tahitian and Hawaiian. Nuclear Polynesian and Tongic (the languages of Tonga and Niue) are the major subdivisions of Polynesian under this analysis. A revision by Marck reinterpreted the relationships among Samoan and the outlier languages. In 2008 an analysis, of basic vocabulary only, from the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database is contradictory in that while in part it suggests that Tongan and Samoan form a subgroup, the old subgroups Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian are still included in the classification search of the database itself.


title: Samoan language

text: There are approximately 470,000 Samoan speakers worldwide, 50 percent of whom live in the Samoan Islands.


title: Samoan language

text: Thereafter, the greatest concentration is in New Zealand, where there were 101,937 Samoan speakers at the 2018 census, or 2.2% of the country's population. Samoan is the third-most spoken language in New Zealand after English and Māori.


title: Samoan language

text: According to the Australian census of 2006, there were 38,525 speakers of Samoan in Australia, and 39,992 people of Samoan ancestry.


title: Samoan language

text: US Census 2010 shows more than 180,000 Samoans reside in the United States, which is triple the number of people living in American Samoa, while slightly less than the estimated population of the island nation of Samoa – 193,000, as of July 2011.


title: Samoan language

text: Samoan Language Week ("Vaiaso o le Gagana Sāmoa") is an annual celebration of the language in New Zealand supported by the government and various organisations including UNESCO. Samoan Language Week was started in Australia for the first time in 2010.


title: Samoan language

text: The Samoan alphabet consists of 14 letters, with three more letters (H, K, R) used in loan words. The ("koma liliu" or "ʻokina") is used for the glottal stop.


title: Samoan language

text: Vowel length is phonemic in Samoan; all five vowels also have a long form denoted by the macron. For example, "tama" means child or boy, while "tamā" means father.


title: Samoan language

text: The combination of u followed by a vowel in some words creates the sound of the English w, a letter not part of the Samoan alphabet, as in "uaua" (artery, tendon).


title: Samoan language

text: In formal Samoan, used for example in news broadcasts or sermons, the consonants are used. In colloquial Samoan, however, merge as and is pronounced .


title: Samoan language

text: The glottal stop is phonemic in Samoan. The presence or absence of the glottal stop, called okina in English usage, affects the meaning of words otherwise spelled the same, e.g. "mai" = from, originate from; "maʻi" = sickness, illness. 'Okina in Samoan is "koma liliu" ("Inverted comma"—inverted ("liliu") comma ("koma")). Often replaced by an apostrophe in modern publications, recognized by Samoan scholars and the wider community. Use of the apostrophe and macron diacritics in Samoan words was readopted by the Ministry of Education in 2012 after having been abandoned in the 1960s.


title: Samoan language

text: /k/ is retained in some instances (Christ = "Keriso", club = "kalapu", coffee = "kofe"), and has become [t] in rare instances (such as "se totini", from the English "stocking").


title: Samoan language

text: /ɹ/ becomes [ɾ] in some instances (e.g. Christ = "Keriso", January = "Ianuari", number = "numera"), and [l] in others (January = "Ianuali", herring = "elegi").


title: Samoan language

text: /g/ becomes [k] in some cases (gas = "kesi"), while /tʃ/, /ʃ/ and /dʒ/ usually become [s] (Charles = "Salesi", Charlotte = "Salata", James = "Semisi").


title: Samoan language

text: /h/ is retained at the beginning of some proper names (Herod = "Herota"), but in some cases becomes an 's' (hammer = "samala"), and is omitted in others (herring = "elegi", half-caste = "afakasi")


title: Samoan language

text: Stress generally falls on the penultimate mora; that is, on the last syllable if that contains a long vowel or diphthong or on the second-last syllable otherwise. There are exceptions though, with many words ending in a long vowel taking the accent on the ultima; as "ma'elega", zealous; "ʻonā", to be intoxicated; "faigatā", difficult.


title: Samoan language

text: Verbs formed from nouns ending in a, and meaning to abound in, have properly two aʻs, as "puaa" (puaʻaa), "pona", "tagata", but are written with one.


title: Samoan language

text: In speaking of a place at some distance, the accent is placed on the last syllable; as "ʻO loʻo i Safotu", he is at Safotu. The same thing is done in referring to a family; as Sa Muliaga, the family of Muliaga, the term "Sa" referring to a wide extended family of clan with a common ancestor. So most words ending in "ga", not a sign of a noun, as "tigā", "puapuaga", "pologa", "faʻataga" and "aga". So also all words ending in a diphthong, as "mamau", "mafai", "avai".


title: Samoan language

text: When a word receives an addition by means of an affixed particle, the accent is shifted forward; as "alofa", love; "alofága", loving, or showing love; "alofagía", beloved.


title: Samoan language

text: Reduplicated words have two accents; as "palapala", mud; "segisegi", twilight. Compound words may have even three or four, according to the number of words and affixes of which the compound word is composed; as "tofátumoánaíná", to be engulfed.


title: Samoan language

text: The articles "le" and "se" are unaccented. When used to form a pronoun or participle, "le" and "se" are contractions for "le e", "se e", and so are accented; as "ʻO le ona le mea", the owner, literally the (person) whose (is) the thing, instead of "O le e ona le mea". The sign of the nominative "ʻo", the prepositions o, a, i, e, and the euphonic particles i and "te", are unaccented; as "ʻO maua, ma te o atu ia te oe", we two will go to you.


title: Samoan language

text: "Ina", the sign of the imperative, is accented on the ultima; "ína", the sign of the subjunctive, on the penultima. The preposition "iá" is accented on the ultima, the pronoun "ia" on the penultima.


title: Samoan language

text: Samoan syllable structure is (C)V, where V may be long or a diphthong. A sequence VV may occur only in derived forms and compound words; within roots, only the initial syllable may be of the form V. Metathesis of consonants is frequent, such as "manu" for "namu" 'scent', "lavaʻau" for "valaʻau" 'to call', but vowels may not be mixed up in this way.


title: Samoan language

text: Every syllable ends in a vowel. No syllable consists of more than three sounds, one consonant and two vowels, the two vowels making a diphthong; as "fai", "mai", "tau". Roots are sometimes monosyllabic, but mostly disyllabic or a word consisting of two syllables. Polysyllabic words are nearly all derived or compound words; as "nofogatā" from "nofo" (sit, seat) and "gatā", difficult of access; "taʻigaafi", from "taʻi", to attend, and "afi", fire, the hearth, making to attend to the fire; "talafaʻasolopito", ("history") stories placed in order, "faletalimalo", ("communal house") house for receiving guests.


title: Samoan language

text: Like many Austronesian languages, Samoan has separate words for inclusive and exclusive we, and distinguishes singular, dual, and plural. The root for the inclusive pronoun may occur in the singular, in which case it indicates emotional involvement on the part of the speaker.


title: Samoan language

text: In formal speech, fuller forms of the roots "mā-", "tā-", and "lā-" are "‘imā-", "‘itā-", and "‘ilā-."


title: Samoan language

text: Articles in Samoan do not show the definiteness of the noun phrase as do those of English but rather specificity.


title: Samoan language

text: The singular specific article "le" has frequently, erroneously, been referred to as a "definite" article, such as by Pratt, often with an additional vague explanation that it is sometimes used where English would require the indefinite article. As a specific, rather than a definite article, it is used for specific referents that the speaker has in mind (specificity), regardless of whether the listener is expected to know which specific referent(s) is/are intended (definiteness). A sentence such as "ʻUa tu mai le vaʻa," could thus, depending on context, be translated into English as "A canoe appears," when the listener or reader is not expected to know which canoe, or "The canoe appears," if the listener or reader is expected to know which canoe, such as when the canoe has previously been mentioned.


title: Samoan language

text: The plural specific is marked by a null article: "ʻO le tagata" "the person", "ʻO tagata" "people". (The word "ʻo" in these examples is not an article but a "presentative" preposition. It marks noun phrases used as clauses, introducing clauses or used as appositions etc.)


title: Samoan language

text: The non-specific singular article "se" is used when the speaker doesn't have a particular individual of a class in mind, such as in the sentence "Ta mai se laʻau," "Cut me a stick," whereby there is no specific stick intended. The plural non-specific article "ni" is the plural form and may be translated into English as "some" or any", as in "Ta mai ni laʻau," "Cut me some sticks."


title: Samoan language

text: Names of natural objects, such as men, trees and animals, are mostly primitive nouns, e.g."ʻO le la", the sun; "ʻo le tagata", the person; "ʻo le talo", the taro; "ʻo le iʻa", the fish; also manufactured articles, such as "matau", an axe, "vaʻa", canoe, "tao", spear, "fale", house, etc.


title: Samoan language

text: Some nouns are derived from verbs by the addition of either "ga", "saga", "taga", "maga", or "ʻaga": such as "tuli", to chase; "tuliga", chasing; "luluʻu", to fill the hand; "luʻutaga", a handful; "feanu", to spit; "anusaga", spittle; "tanu", to bury; "tanulia", the part buried. These verbal nouns have an active participial meaning; e.g. "ʻO le faiga o le fale", the building of the house. Often they refer to the persons acting, in which case they govern the next noun in the genitive with "a"; "ʻO le faiga a fale", contracted into "ʻo le faiga fale", those who build the house, the builders. In some cases verbal nouns refer to either persons or things done by them: "ʻO le faiga a talo", the getting of taro, or the party getting the "taro", or the "taro" itself which has been got. The context in such cases decides the meaning. Sometimes place is indicated by the termination; such as "tofā", to sleep; "tofāga", a sleeping-place, a bed. "ʻO le taʻelega" is either the bathing-place or the party of bathers. The first would take "o" after it to govern the next noun, "ʻO le taʻelega o le nuʻu", the bathing-place of the village; the latter would be followed by "a", "ʻO le taʻelega a teine", the bathing-place of the girls.


title: Samoan language

text: Sometimes such nouns have a passive meaning, such as being acted upon; "ʻO le taomaga a lau", the thatch that has been pressed; "ʻo le faupuʻega a maʻa", the heap of stones, that is, the stones which have been heaped up. Those nouns which take "ʻaga" are rare, except on Tutuila; "gataʻaga", the end; "ʻamataʻaga", the beginning; "olaʻaga", lifetime; "misaʻaga", quarrelling. Sometimes the addition of "ga" makes the signification intensive; such as "ua" and "timu", rain; "uaga" and "timuga", continued pouring (of rain).


title: Samoan language

text: The simple form of the verb is sometimes used as a noun: "tatalo", to pray; "ʻo le tatalo", a prayer; "poto", to be wise; "ʻo le poto", wisdom.


title: Samoan language

text: The reciprocal form of the verb is often used as a noun; e.g. "ʻO le fealofani", "ʻo femisaiga", quarrellings (from "misa"), "feʻumaiga"; "E lelei le fealofani", mutual love is good.


title: Samoan language

text: A few diminutives are made by reduplication, e.g. "paʻapaʻa", small crabs; "pulepule", small shells; "liilii", ripples; "'ili'ili", small stones.


title: Samoan language

text: Adjectives are made into abstract nouns by adding an article or pronoun; e.g. "lelei", good; "ʻo le lelei", goodness; "silisili", excellent or best; "ʻo lona lea silisili", that is his excellence or that is his best.


title: Samoan language

text: Many verbs may become participle-nouns by adding "ga"; as "sau", come, "sauga"; e.g. "ʻO lona sauga muamua ", his first coming; "mau" to mauga", "ʻO le mauga muamua", the first dwelling.


title: Samoan language

text: As there is no proper gender in Oceanic languages, different genders are sometimes expressed by distinct names:


title: Samoan language

text: When no distinct name exists, the gender of animals is known by adding "poʻa" and "fafine" respectively. The gender of some few plants is distinguished by "tane" and "fafine", as in "ʻo le esi tane"; "ʻo le esi fafine". No other names of objects have any mark of gender.


title: Samoan language

text: Properly there is no dual. It is expressed by omitting the article and adding numbers "e lua" for things e.g. "e toʻalua teine", two girls, for persons; or "ʻo fale e lua", two houses; "ʻo tagata e toʻalua", two persons; or "ʻo lāʻua", them/those two (people).


title: Samoan language

text: Plurality is also expressed by internal reduplication in Samoan verbs "(-CV- infix)", by which the root or stem of a word, or part of it, is repeated.


title: Samoan language

text: Possessive relations are indicated by the particles "a" or "o". Possessive pronouns also have a-forms and o-forms: "lou", "lau", "lona", "lana", "lo" and "la matou", etc. Writers in the 1800s like Platt were unable to understand the underlying principles governing the use of the two forms: "There is no general rule which will apply to every case. The governing noun decides which should be used; thus "ʻO le poto ʻo le tufuga fai fale", "the wisdom of the builder"; "ʻO le amio a le tama", "the conduct of the boy"; "ʻupu o fāgogo", "words of "fāgogo"" (a form of narrated and sung storytelling); but "ʻupu a tagata", "words of men". Pratt instead gives a rote list of uses and exceptions:


title: Samoan language

text: Some words take either "a" or "o"; as "manatu", "taofi", "ʻO se tali a Matautu", an answer given by Matautu; "ʻo se tali ʻo Matautu", an answer given to Matautu.


title: Samoan language

text: Some adjectives are primitive, as "umi", long; "poto", wise. Some are formed from nouns by the addition of "a", meaning "covered with" or "infested with"; thus, "ʻeleʻele", dirt; "ʻeleʻelea", dirty; "palapala", mud; "palapalā", muddy.


title: Samoan language

text: Others are formed by doubling the noun; as "pona", a knot; "ponapona", knotty; "fatu", a stone; "fatufatu", stony.


title: Samoan language

text: Others are formed by prefixing "faʻa" to the noun; as "ʻo le tu fa'asāmoa", Samoan custom or "fa'amatai".


title: Samoan language

text: Like "ly" in English, the "faʻa" often expresses similitude; "ʻo le amio faʻapuaʻa", behave like a pig (literally).


title: Samoan language

text: In one or two cases "a" is prefixed; as "apulupulu", sticky, from "pulu", resin; "avanoa", open; from "vā" and "noa".


title: Samoan language

text: Verbs are also used as adjectives: "ʻo le ala faigatā", a difficult road; "ʻo le vai tafe", a river, flowing water; "ʻo le laʻau ola", a live tree; also the passive: "ʻo le aliʻi mātaʻutia".


title: Samoan language

text: "Ma" is the prefix of condition, "sae", to tear; "masae", torn; as, "ʻO le ʻie masae", torn cloth; Goto, to sink; "magoto", sunk; "ʻo le vaʻa magoto", a sunken canoe.


title: Samoan language

text: A kind of compound adjective is formed by the union of a noun with an adjective; as "ʻo le tagata lima mālosi", a strong man, literally, the stronghanded man; "ʻo le tagata loto vaivai", a weak-spirited man.


title: Samoan language

text: Nouns denoting the materials out of which things are made are used as adjectives: "ʻo le mama auro", a gold ring; "ʻo le fale maʻa", a stone house. Or they may be reckoned as nouns in the genitive.


title: Samoan language

text: Adjectives expressive of colours are mostly reduplicated words; as "sinasina" or "paʻepaʻe" (white); "uliuli" (black); "samasama" (yellow); "ʻenaʻena" (brown); "mumu" (red), etc.; but when they follow a noun they are usually found in their simple form; as "ʻo le ʻie sina", white cloth; "ʻo le puaʻa uli", a black pig. The plural is sometimes distinguished by doubling the first syllable; as "sina", white; plural, "sisina"; "tele", great; pl. "tetele". In compound words the first syllable of the root is doubled; as "maualuga", high; pl. "maualuluga". Occasionally the reciprocal form is used as a plural; as "lele", flying; "ʻo manu felelei", flying creatures, birds.


title: Samoan language

text: Comparison is generally effected by using two adjectives, both in the positive state; thus "e lelei lenei", "ʻa e leaga lena", this is good – but that is bad, not in itself, but in comparison with the other; "e umi lenei", "a e puupuu lena", this is long, that is short.


title: Samoan language

text: The superlative is formed by the addition of an adverb, such as "matuā", "tasi", "sili", "silisiliʻese aʻiaʻi", "naʻuā"; as "ʻua lelei tasi", it alone is good – that is, nothing equals it. "ʻUa matuā silisili ona lelei", it is very exceedingly good; "ʻua tele naʻuā", it is very great. "Silisili ese", highest, "ese", differing from all others.


title: Samoan language

text: Sentences have different types of word order and the four most commonly used are verb–subject–object (VSO), verb–object–subject (VOS), subject–verb–object (SVO) and object–verb–subject (OVS).


title: Samoan language

text: A phrase or clause can be made negative by the addition of a particle, a morpheme usually meaning 'not'. There are two common negative particles in Samoan, "lē" and "leʻi" (sometimes also written as "lei")"." "Lē" has the allomorphs [le:] or [le] (Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. 142, 375). "Lē" should not be confused for "le", the specific singular article, which indicates that the noun phrase refers to one particular entity (Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. 259). "Lē" and "lei" negate declarative and interrogative sentences, but do not negate imperative sentences. Negative imperative verbs are discussed later in this entry. "Lē" (meaning "not") can be combined with all tense-aspect-mood particles (or 'TAM' particles), except those that are optative and subjunctive, such as "neʻi", "seʻi", and "ʻia" (Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. 375).


title: Samoan language

text: A negative particle may mark a negative verbal clause, as seen in the example below (from Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. 56).


title: Samoan language

text: In this example of a negated declarative sentence, it can be seen that, in Samoan, there is no equivalent gloss for 'unhappy'. The negative particle "lē" modifies the verbal clause to form something like "not happy" instead.


title: Samoan language

text: The meaning of "leʻi" differs slightly from that of "lē." "Leʻi" indicates that an event or state has not been actualised yet, or for the time being, but is expected to become so. Therefore, "leʻi" is often translated as "not yet" rather than simply "not". "Leʻi" is usually only combined with the general TAM particle "e" or "te". See the example below (from Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. 376).


title: Samoan language

text: The above example (2) demonstrates the common usage of "leʻi" to mean "not yet". In some cases, "leʻi" simply means "no, not at all", expressing the concept that an event that had been expected to happen or had been thought to have happened, did not occur after all (Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. 479).


title: Samoan language

text: There is a particle, "faʻa=," that acts as a causative, as well being as the most common prefix in the Samoan language. This particle can be attached to nearly all nouns and non-ergative verbs. When attached to negated verb phrases, "faʻa=" means having the qualities of or being similar to whatever is denoted by the basic stem or phrase. It is often combined with the negative particle "lē" (or its allomorphs) to form the construction "faʻa=lē=". Prefixing "Faʻa=lē=" onto a verb provides a polite way to say a negative phrase. Mosel & Hovdhaugen (1992, pp. 175–179) state that these particles provide three ways to express negative evaluations that vary on a scale of politeness, as demonstrated below:


title: Samoan language

text: In Samoan, particles modifying sentences usually take the first place in the sentence, with the exception of the question particle "ʻea". The particles forming a category are not always mutually exclusive: for instance, while two negative particles cannot be combined, certain prepositions can occur together. Additionally, negative prenuclear particles will follow the preverbal pronoun or the TAM particle (Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. 140).


title: Samoan language

text: In the following examples from Mosel & Hovdhaugen (1992, pp. 331), the negative particles follow the TAM particle "te" (Example 1: "e") or the preverbal pronoun (Example 2: "ʻou").


title: Samoan language

text: In both examples, the negative particle is in the second position, after the preverbal pronoun and/or the TAM particle. In Example 2, there is both a preverbal pronoun ("'ou") AND a TAM particle following it ("te"). This demonstrates that the negative particle must always follow these two types of preceding particles in the sentence, even if they are both present.


title: Samoan language

text: There are two existential verbs in Samoan: "iai," "to exist, be present" and the negative equivalent "leai" [leái] or [le:ái], "to not exist, be absent". They differ from all other Samoan verbs in at least one respect: they cannot be negated by a negative particle. Mosel & Hovdhaugen (1992, pp.114) suggest that this originates in the etymology of these verbs: the negative existential verb "leai" is probably derived from "lē" ("not") and "ai" (ANAPH, "not there"). It seems that the inclusion of negation in the verb itself disallows the negative particle from the sentence structure.


title: Samoan language

text: In this example, the existential verb "leai" has been used to indicate the absence of something (that is, the cars) rather than using a negative particle. However, a negative particle ("lei") has been used in the second clause, modifying the verbal clause to create the phrase "the roads did NOT reach there", with the emphasis on the absence of the roads in that area.


title: Samoan language

text: According to Mosel & Hovdhaugen (1992, pp. 480–481) the only TAM particles that appear with "leai" are "ʻua" and "e or te." This means that "leai" acts as if non-existence is a general fact, rather than linking it to a specific point in time. When another verb follows "leai" within the same verb phrase, it functions as a more emphatic negation meaning something like "not at all". This is demonstrated in the following example:


title: Samoan language

text: Here, the addition of "leai" to the verb "gāoi" "to move" makes the statement more emphatic: not only did Sina not move, she did not move "at all".


title: Samoan language

text: There are two negative imperative verbs, "ʻaua" and "sōia." "ʻAua" should not be confused with "aua", which means "because". These negative imperative verbs can be used independently of negative particles; as the negation is in the verb itself, an extra particle is not required. "ʻAua" means "don’t do, should not do" and is employed to express commands in both direct and indirect speech. What should not be done is indicated by a verbal complement clause, as seen in the example below (Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. 482).


title: Samoan language

text: As discussed above, this sentence does not require a negative particle, because the negative imperative verb is sufficient. Alternatively, "sōia" means that 'one should stop doing something one has already started' (Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp. 483). As with "ʻaua", what should not be done is indicated by a verbal complement. In direct speech, "sōia" is either used in the imperative without any TAM particle or in the optative marked by "seiʻi" (Mosel & Hovdhaugen, 1992, pp.483).


title: Samoan language

text: This works differently from "ʻaua", although they are both imperative. It can be seen here that "sōia" means something like "cease what you are doing immediately" while "ʻaua" means "don’t do that action" (in a general sense).


title: Samoan language

text: The noun phrase forming an existential clause is introduced by a preposition: "ʻo" or "naʻo", meaning "only". An existential clause is negated with a complex clause: Mosel & Hovdhaugen (1992, pp. 500–501) state that 'the existential clause functions as the argument of a verbal predicate formed by a TAM particle and the negative particle "lē" ("not")'. An example of this can be seen in the example below, where the preposition "o" precedes the negative particle "lē".


title: Samoan language

text: This complex sentence has several examples of negation where the negative particle lē is combined with the preposition "o" in order to negate an existential clause ("there will be no...").


title: Samoan language

text: The language has a polite or formal variant used in oratory and ceremony as well as in communication with elders, guests, people of rank and strangers.


title: Samoan language

text: The consonant system of colloquial Samoan ("casual Samoan", or "tautala leaga" as it is known) is slightly different from the literary language ("proper Samoan", or "tautala lelei"), and is referred to as K speech or K style. In colloquial speech, defined as taking place in casual social situations among intimates or in the home among familiars of equivalent social rank, /t/ is sometimes pronounced [k] and /n/ has merged with /ŋ/ as [ŋ]. Additionally, /l/ is pronounced following a back vowel (/a, o, u/) and preceding an /i/. /s/ is less sibilant than in English, and /h/ and /r/ are found only in borrowings, with /s/ and /l/ sometimes being substituted for them.


title: Samoan language

text: t is pronounced k – "tama" (child, boy) is pronounced "kama"; "tautala" ("to speak") is pronounced "kaukala"; "tulāfale" ("orator", "talking chief") is pronounced "kulāfale".


title: Samoan language

text: n is pronounced ng – "fono" ("meeting", "assembly") is pronounced "fongo"; "ono" (the numeral "six") is pronounced "ongo"; "māona" ("satisfied", "full") is pronounced "māonga".


title: Samoan language

text: Historically and culturally, an important form of the Samoan language is oratory, a ceremonial language sometimes referred to in publications as 'chiefly language', or "gagana fa'aaloalo" ("dignified language") which incorporates classical Samoan terms and prose as well as a different set of vocabulary, which is tied to the roles of orator chiefs ("tulāfale") and 'speechmaking' ("failāuga") that remains part of the culture's continuing indigenous "matai" system of governance and social organization. The "gagana fa'aaloalo" (polite speech) register is used by lower-ranking people to address people of higher status, such as their family "matai" chief, government officials, or clergy. It is also the formal register used among chiefs during ceremonial occasions and social rites such as funerals, weddings, chiefly title bestowals and village council meetings.


title: Samoan language

text: It is not common for entire conversations to be held in chiefly register, and the "dignified language" is used mainly in making formal introductions between individuals, opening and concluding formal meetings, and executing ceremonial tasks (such as the Samoa 'ava ceremony). It is also considered proper to use the "polite" language when praying. Untitled people (those without "matai" chief titles) who are unfamiliar with each other will often greet each other in chiefly register as a common courtesy, while familiar individuals frequently use chiefly addresses in jest (as in humorously addressing friends with "talofa lava lau afioga" – "respectful greetings your highness" – instead of the more colloquial "malo sole!" – "hey man!").


title: Samoan language

text: Another polite form of speech in "polite" Samoan includes terms and phrases of self-abasement that are used by the speaker in order to show respect and flatter the listener. For example when praising the child of another woman, a mother might politely refer to her own children as "ui" (literally, "piglets"); in order to emphasize the beauty of a fine tapa cloth, the presenter might refer to it as a simple "vala" (plain cloth); the weaver of an especially fine mat might call it "launiu" (coconut leaf) or "lā" (sail cloth) in order to not appear boastful. Overshadowing the dignity or prestige of higher-ranking individuals is a grave offense in Samoan culture, so words are chosen very carefully to express individual feelings in a way that acknowledges relative statuses within social hierarchy.


title: Samoan language

text: Encounters with Europeans began in the 1700s, followed by the era of colonialism in the Pacific. Samoan was only a spoken language until the early to mid-1800s when Christian missionaries began documenting the spoken language for religious texts and introducing the Latin script for writing. In 1834, an orthography of the language was distributed by the London Missionary Society, which also set up a printing press by 1839. The first complete Bible ("Tusi Pa'ia", Sacred Book) in Samoan was completed and published in 1862.


title: Samoan language

text: The first problem that faced the missionaries in Polynesia was that of learning the language of the island, which they intended to convert to Christianity. The second was that of identifying the sounds in the local languages with the symbols employed in their own languages to establish alphabets for recording the spelling of native words. Having established more-or-less satisfactory alphabets and spelling, teaching the indigenous people how to write and read their own language was next necessary. A printing press, with the alphabet keys used only English, was part of the mission equipment, and it was possible not only to translate and write out portions of the Bible scriptures, and hymns in the local language but also to print them for use as texts in teaching. Thus, the missionaries introduced writing for the first time within Polynesia, were the first printers and established the first schools in villages.


title: Samoan language

text: The alphabet proper consists of only 15 letters: 5 vowels, a e i o u, and 10 consonants, f g l m n p s t v '. In addition, a macron ("faamamafa") written over a vowel letters indicates the five long vowels, ā ē ī ō ū, as in "manu" 'animal', "mānu" 'float, afloat'. The ʻokina ' ("koma liliu", a reversed apostrophe) indicates the glottal stop, as in many other Polynesian languages. The ʻokina is often replaced by a simple apostrophe, . The additional letters h, k, r are used in foreign loanwords, apart from the single interjection "puke(ta)!" 'gotcha!'; although the sound is found in native words in colloquial speech, it is spelled t. The letter g represents a velar nasal, as in the English word "sing," rather than a voiced velar stop, as in the English "go." Thus, the correct pronunciation of Pago Pago is .


title: Samoan language

text: The first grammar and dictionary of the Samoan language, "A Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan Language, with English and Samoan Vocabulary", was written by Reverend George Pratt in 1862. Pratt's valuable Samoan dictionary records many old words of special interest, specialist terminology, archaic words and names in Samoan tradition. It contains sections on Samoan proverbs and poetry, and an extensive grammatical sketch.


title: Samoan language

text: Pratt was a missionary for the London Missionary Society and lived for 40 years in Matautu on the island of Savai'i.


title: Samoan language

text: The term "mano" was an utmost limit until the adoption of loan words like "miliona" (million) and "piliona" (billion). Otherwise, quantities beyond "mano" were referred to as "manomano" or "ilu"; that is, innumerable.


title: Samoan language

text: The prefix "lona" or "le" indicates sequential numbering, as in "lona lua" (second), lona tolu (third), "le fa" (fourth); "muamua" or "ulua'i" denote "first". Familial sequence was denoted with terms such as "ulumatua" ("eldest"), "ui'i" ("youngest"), and "ogatotonu" ("middle child"); first and last born were also deemed honorifically, "pa le manava" ("opening the womb") and "pupuni le manava" ("sealing the womb"), respectively.


title: Samoan language

text: The suffix "lau" is used when formally counting fish, in reference to the customary plaiting of fish in leaves ("lau") before cooking.


title: Samoan language

text: There are also formal prefixes or suffixes used in the chiefly register when counting different species of fish, taro, yams, bananas, chickens, pigs, and other foodstuffs.


title: Samoan language

text: Despite the geographical distance, there are many shared words between different Austronesian languages. Below is a list of examples from 4 other Malayo-Polynesian languages: Tongan, Hawaiian, Ma'anyan, Malay. Note the presence of IPA where available.


title: Samoan language

text: Though it is not the primary language of a number of nations outside of Samoa, there is an effort by the descendants of Samoans to learn the native language of their ancestors and to better understand their origins and history. Much like any language, a shift is occurring in the way words are spoken and pronounced, especially as Samoans further integrate with other languages. Unfortunately, most looking to learn Samoan are forced to turn to written materials instead of living examples. To preserve the language, linguists must use diacritical marks. Without them, the actual pronunciations of words quickly become altered and lost. The marks are commonly found before, under and above letters in words and are especially helpful for students and non-native speakers to realize the difference the vowels and glottal stops can make in the pronunciation of words.


title: Samoan language

text: Below is another example of a sentence with and without diacritical marks from the Samoan Bible (O le tusi paia, o le Feagaiga Tuai ma le Feagaiga fou lea) [https://books.google.com/books?id=aDs7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PR14&dq=%22Faauta,+ua+e+le+foai+mai+ia+te+au%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjt09b0ka_VAhWnh1QKHY_XDhgQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=%22Faauta%2C%20ua%20e%20le%20foai%20mai%20ia%20te%20au%22&f=false <nowiki>[1]</nowiki>]:


title: Samoan language

text: Samoan diacritical marks may seem confusing at first due to the way the language shifts based on context. Also, the mixed use of diacritical marks in literature and even within the same publication can surprise non-native speakers. This is evident in the Bible translation created by early missionaries and Reverend George Pratt which features markings in some words and not others. Part of it was due to the need to save time on the writing and typesetting and to use the markings as a guideline. Much like the Bible helped improve literacy and understanding of the language throughout Samoan communities, written works continue to be important in much the same way today.


title: Samoan language

text: The use of the diacritical marks are not only prevalent in Samoan but also other Polynesian languages, such as Hawaiian, where similar pronunciation losses exist. Since native speakers understand how a word should be pronounced without the markings, words are commonly written and accepted with the markings absent. To prevent the loss of correct pronunciations, however, language preservation groups and the Samoan and Hawaiian governments, are taking measure to include diacritical markings in signage, television programs, school materials and printed media.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey (26 February 1909 – 27 December 1994), better known as Fanny Cradock, was an English restaurant critic, television chef and writer. She frequently appeared on television, at cookery demonstrations and in print with her fourth husband Major Johnnie Cradock who played the part of a slightly bumbling hen-pecked partner.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Cradock was born at her maternal grandparents' house, 33 Fairlop Road, Leytonstone, London. The birth was formally registered in the district of West Ham.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: As a child, Cradock lived with her family at Fairlop Road, with her maternal grandparents. A plaque (with her name misspelled) can be found at Fairwood Court, Fairlop Road, London E11: "Fanny Craddock 1909–1994. On this site until 1930 stood a house called Apthorp, birthplace of the famous TV cookery expert Fanny Craddock; born Phyllis Pechey."


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Her birthplace was named after Apthorp Villa, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where her grandfather Charles Hancock had been born. Cradock's parents did not manage their money well; her mother, Bijou, spent extravagantly, and her father, Archibald, had sizeable gambling debts, many run up in Nice. In attempting to keep their creditors at bay, the family moved around the country, going to Herne Bay in Kent, then to Swanage in Dorset and on to Bournemouth in Hampshire, where Archibald's brother, Richard Francis Pechey (1872–1963), had become the Vicar of Holy Trinity Church in 1912. Whilst in Bournemouth the 15-year-old Fanny attended Bournemouth High School (now Talbot Heath School).


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Archibald moved the family again to Wroxham in Norfolk, around 1927, where his creditors caught up with him and by 1930 he was appearing in Norfolk's bankruptcy court faced with debts of £3,500. Cradock began the next ten years of her life in London living in destitution, selling cleaning products door to door. She then worked in a dressmaking shop.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Cradock's fortunes began to change when she started work at various restaurants and was introduced to the works of Auguste Escoffier. She later wrote passionately about the change from "service à la française" to "service à la russe" and hailed Escoffier as a saviour of British cooking.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Fanny and Johnnie Cradock began writing a column under the pen name of "Bon Viveur" which appeared in "The Daily Telegraph" from 1950 to 1955. This sparked a theatre career, with the pair turning theatres into restaurants. Cradock would cook vast dishes that were served to the audience. They became known for their roast turkey, complete with stuffed head, tail feathers and wings. Complete with French accents, their act was one of a drunken hen-pecked husband and a domineering wife. At this time, they were known as Major and Mrs Cradock. She also wrote books under the names Frances Dale, Bon Viveur, Susan Leigh and Phyllis Cradock.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: In 1955 Cradock recorded a pilot for what became a very successful BBC television series on cookery. Each year the BBC published a booklet giving a detailed account of every recipe Fanny demonstrated, allowing her to frequently say in later years, "You'll find that recipe in the booklet, so I won't show you now." Fanny advocated bringing Escoffier-standard food into the British home and gave every recipe a French name. Her food looked extravagant, but was generally cost-effective, and Fanny seemed to care about her audience. Her catchphrases included "This won't break you", "This is perfectly economical", and "This won't stretch your purse". When presenting her Christmas cake recipe she once justified the cost of ingredients, saying "But on the other hand, we do want one piece of decent cake in the year."


title: Fanny Cradock

text: As time went by, however, her food began to seem outdated, with her love of the piping bag and vegetable dyes. As she grew older, she applied more and more make-up and wore vast chiffon ballgowns on screen. Cradock had always included relatives and friends in her television shows. Johnnie suffered a minor heart attack in the early 1970s and was replaced with the daughter of a friend, Jayne. Another assistant was Sarah, and there was a series of young men who did not last long.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Throughout her television career, the Cradocks also worked for the British Gas Council, appearing at trade shows such as the Ideal Home Exhibition and making many "infomercials", instructing cooks, usually newlywed women, on how to use gas cookers for basic dishes. Despite the BBC's ban on advertising, Cradock used only gas stoves in her television shows and often stated that she "hated" electric stoves and ovens.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Her series "Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas" is the only one of several she made to have survived in the TV archives and to have been repeated in recent years, on the UK digital television channels BBC Four, Good Food and Food Network UK, usually in the run-up to Christmas. Good Food also occasionally broadcasts "Fanny Cradock Invites You to a Cheese and Wine Party", one of a few surviving stand-alone episodes from other series.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: In 1976, Gwen Troake, a farmer’s wife from Devon, won the "Cook of the Realm" competition, leading to the BBC selecting her for its TV series "The Big Time", where talented amateurs were given the opportunity to take part in a spectacular professional event. Troake was to organise a three-course Foyles' Literary Lunch at The Dorchester in honour of the former prime minister Edward Heath, with Earl Mountbatten of Burma and other dignitaries in attendance, and asked Cradock—by then a tax exile in Ireland—along with chef Eugene Kaufeler, actor and gourmet Robert Morley, nutritionist Magnus Pyke and many other experts Troake admired to advise her.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: The result brought the demise of Cradock's television career. Troake went through her menu of seafood cocktail, duckling with a lemon jelly-and-cornstarch fortified bramble sauce and coffee cream dessert with rum. Her idea was that with seafood, water fowl and rum, the meal had a nautical theme, which would appeal to Heath's love of sailing and also be an appropriate salute to the former Admiral Mountbatten. Cradock, grimacing and acting as if on the verge of gagging, told Troake that her menu was far too rich and she would "never in a million years" serve a seafood cocktail before a duck. She appeared not to be familiar with the term "bramble", and when told it meant a blackberry, was horrified that it would be paired with a savoury duck, remonstrated that a sauce like that should be brushed on flan. She derisively declared that the jam in it was "too English" and that the English had never had a cuisine, erroneously claiming that "Yorkshire pudding came from Burgundy". While accepting that Troake's dessert was delicious, she insisted that it was not suitable, as it was "too sickly" served after the sweetly-sauced, rich duck, countering Troake's numerous objections with "Yes, dear, but now you're among professionals."


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Cradock suggested that unless Troake were to serve salad and cheese afterward, as is done in France, then she should use small almond pastry barquettes filled with a palate-cleansing fruit sorbet with spun sugar sails, as this was equally suitable for the naval theme. Troake kept insisting that she liked her signature coffee pudding with "nautical" rum in it, while Cradock appealed to her to think of her diners' taste buds and stomachs, and try to achieve a balance in her menu. Unfortunately, the replacement dessert was not executed properly, and Morley said he felt that Troake's original coffee pudding was perfect.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: The public were incensed at her eye-rolling rudeness and condescension, and felt that Cradock had ruined Troake's moment. "The Daily Telegraph" wrote "Not since 1940 can the people of England have risen in such unified wrath". Fanny wrote a letter of apology to Troake, but the BBC terminated her contract two weeks after the broadcast of the programme. She would never again present a cookery programme for the BBC. (Troake, by contrast, published "A Country Cookbook" of recipes the following year; it included the coffee cream dessert Cradock had vetoed.) Speaking about the incident on "Room 101" in 1999, "The Big Time" producer Esther Rantzen described Cradock as "hell on wheels", and that she had "reduced this poor little lady [Troake] to nothing".


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Fanny and Johnnie Cradock spent their final years living at Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex. They became regulars on the chat show circuit, and also appeared on programmes such as "The Generation Game" and "Blankety Blank". Fanny appeared alone on "Wogan", "Parkinson" and "TV-am". When she appeared on the television chat show "Parkinson" with Danny La Rue and it was revealed to her that La Rue was actually a female impersonator, she stormed off the set. Her final BBC appearance and her final television appearance was in early 1988 on "Windmill" presented by Chris Serle.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Cradock was legally married twice; two later marriages were bigamous and therefore void "ab initio". First, she married Sidney A. Vernon Evans on 10 October 1926; she was 17 and he was 22. Cradock married as "Phyllis Nan Primrose Pechey"; "Primrose Pechey" was a form passed down her father's side. Sidney Evans died in a plane crash on 4 February 1927, leaving her pregnant with their son Peter Vernon Evans, who was adopted by his grandparents. Thanks to Johnnie Cradock, Peter later became a sous-chef at the Dorchester Hotel.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: By July of the following year, Cradock had become pregnant again, and married the baby's father, Arthur William Chapman, on 23 July. For this marriage, Cradock gave her name as "Phyllis Nan Sortain Vernon Evans".


title: Fanny Cradock

text: The couple had a son Christopher, but their marriage lasted less than a year before they separated. Cradock left her son Christopher and husband Arthur for a new life in central London. Christopher was brought up in Norfolk by his father, an aunt and grandmother, although he made contact with Fanny in his adult life. Arthur Chapman became a Catholic and so would not give Fanny the divorce she later requested, as it was against the teachings of the Catholic Church. He was given only a single line in Fanny's autobiography.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Cradock married again on 26 September 1939, as "Phyllis Nan Sortain Chapman"; her husband this time was Gregory Holden-Dye, a daredevil minor racing driver, driving Bentleys at Brooklands in Surrey. The marriage lasted only eight weeks, and produced no children, as she had soon met the love of her life, Johnnie Cradock. Gregory's mother had expressed a low opinion of Fanny, and ended up as a loathsome character in Fanny's first novel "Scorpion's Suicide". Cradock later concluded that as Arthur Chapman had not granted her a divorce, her marriage to Gregory was not lawful, and so never publicised it.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: John Whitby Cradock was a major in the Royal Artillery who was already married with four children. He soon left his wife, Ethel, and children to be with Fanny. Unable to marry Johnnie, because of Arthur's refusal to get divorced, she changed her surname to Cradock by deed poll in 1942. When she was misinformed that Arthur had died, she married Johnnie on 7 May 1977. (Arthur actually lived until 1978.) For this marriage Cradock went with a pared-down version of her name ("Phyllis Chapman"), and the then-68-year-old recorded her age as 55 on the marriage certificate, even though she had a son who was nearly fifty.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: She died following a stroke, on 27 December 1994, at the Ersham House Nursing Home, Hailsham, East Sussex. The cause of death was given as 'cerebrovascular atherosclerosis'. Fanny was cremated at Langney Crematorium, Eastbourne, as was Johnnie when he died in 1987. There is a memorial plaque and a rosebush in the grounds of the crematorium for both of them.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Fanny Cradock came to the attention of the public in the postwar-utility years, trying to inspire the average housewife with an exotic approach to cooking. She famously worked in various ball-gowns without the customary cook's apron, averring that women should feel cooking was easy and enjoyable, rather than messy and intimidating.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: In her early anonymous role as a food critic, working with Major Cradock under the name of 'Bon Viveur', Fanny introduced the public to unusual dishes from France and Italy, popularising the pizza in the United Kingdom. She and Johnnie worked together on a touring cookery show, sponsored by the Gas Council, to show how gas could be used easily in the kitchen and, as their fame increased, Fanny's shows transferred to television, where she enjoyed 20 years of success.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Cradock has also been credited in the United Kingdom as the originator of the prawn cocktail. However, some have suggested that Cradock popularised her version of an established dish that was not well known until then in Britain. In their 1997 book "The Prawn Cocktail Years", Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham note that the prawn cocktail has a "direct lineage to Escoffier".


title: Fanny Cradock

text: In the course of her shows, Fanny made frequent concessions to the economic realities of the era, suggesting cheaper alternatives which would be within reach of the housewife's purse. The BBC published her recipes and suggestions for dinner-parties in a series of booklets, consolidating her reputation as the foremost celebrity chef of her day. Despite their extravagant appearance and eccentricity, her recipes were extremely widely used and her cookery books sold in record numbers.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Marguerite Patten has described Fanny Cradock as the saviour of British cooking after the war. Brian Turner has said that he respects Fanny's career and Delia Smith has attributed her own career to early inspirations taken from the Cradocks' television programmes. In a 2008 interview with "The Daily Star", singer Amy Winehouse said that she discovered a love of cookery after reading Cradock's books. Others are less complimentary. The BBC series "The Way We Cooked" featured an episode dedicated to Cradock, in which Graham Kerr, Keith Floyd and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, amongst others, disparaged her methods and cooking skills. In the third series of "The F Word", Gordon Ramsay held a series-long search for a new Fanny Cradock.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Fanny Cradock's husky voice and theatrical style was ripe for mimicry, such as Betty Marsden's 'Fanny Haddock' in two BBC Radio comedy shows, "Beyond Our Ken" (1958–1964) and "Round the Horne" (1964–1968). Fanny and Johnnie were also parodied by "The Two Ronnies" and on "Benny Hill", with Benny as Fanny and Bob Todd as an invariably drunk Johnnie.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: Cradock's life has also been the subject of the plays "Doughnuts Like Fanny's" by Julia Darling and "Fear of Fanny" by Brian Fillis. After a successful run by the Leeds Library Theatre Company, touring the United Kingdom in October and November 2003, "Fear of Fanny" was turned into a television drama starring Mark Gatiss and Julia Davis and featuring Hayley Atwell. The production broadcast in October 2006 on BBC Four as one of a series of culinary-themed dramas.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: "Sucking Shrimp" by Stephanie Theobald has Fanny Cradock as one of its central characters. To provincial Cornish heroine Rosa Barge, Cradock represents glamour, sophistication and the life she aspires to in her concoctions of a Taj Mahal out of Italian meringue and duchesse potato dyed vivid green.


title: Fanny Cradock

text: In 2019, the cabaret group 'Duckie' staged "Duckie Loves Fanny" as part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest's programme of events marking the locale's year-long status as London Borough of Culture. Members of the cabaret group described their performance as a "very queer mashup of postwar pop culture, style, food and gender politics in honour of the fearsome TV cook in her home area of Leytonstone".


title: Fanny Cradock

text: On the 2022 mystery programme "Sister Boniface Mysteries", season 1, episode 8, titled "Queen of the Kitchen", the characters of Prunella Gladwell and Major James Gladwell (portrayed by Sylvestra Le Touzel and Adam Morris, respectively) - are clearly modelled on Fanny and Johnnie Cradock.


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: Sruthi Hariharan (born 2 February 1989) is an Indian actress and producer who appears primarily in Kannada language films. She debuted in a 2012 Malayalam film, "Cinema Company", and her first film in the Kannada cinema industry was "Lucia". Shruthi received Special Mention Award at the 66th National Film Awards for her performance in the film Nathicharami.


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: Sruthi Hariharan was born into a Tamil family in Trivandrum, Kerala, and was raised in Bangalore, Karnataka. Her mother tongue is Tamil. She attended school at Sishu Griha Montessori and High School. After high school she attended Christ University and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Management (BBM) degree. She is trained in Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance. Apart from her mother tongue she is fluent in Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi and can understand Telugu.


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: She became interested in cultural activities when she attended Christ College and became a part of their cultural team. This interest led her into acting in theatre productions. She joined choreographer Imraan Sardariya's dance troupe, and worked in the Kannada film industry as an assistant choreographer and background dancer. She was a background dancer for three years and featured in a number of songs.


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: Sruthi's film career began with Malayalam film, Cinema Company. She acted in two films: "Thekku Thekkoru Desathu" and "Call Me @". In Francis's "Call Me @," she played the role of an IT girl, while in Nandu's, "Thekku Thekkoru Desathu" she played a journalist. She landed the lead role in the Kannada film "Lucia" by Pawan Kumar. She played two characters in the film—one of a lower middle-class girl and the other of a film actress— and dubbed herself for the first time. "Lucia" was critically acclaimed and was later remade in several Indian languages. Sruthi's performance was well-received and she was featured on Rediff's Most Impressive Kannada Movie Debuts, 2013 list. Later that year she appeared in another Kannada film "Dyavre". The film received rave reviews from critics. She was offered a role in director Harsha's "Bhajarangi", featuring Shivraj Kumar in the lead, but she could not commit herself to the film.


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: In 2014, she was seen as the love interest of Srinagara Kitty's character in Jacob Varghese's road movie "Savaari 2". Her next role was in her first Tamil film "Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe" directed by Lakshmy Ramakrishnan. Next she acted in A. P. Arjun's "Rhaate", which she signed to appear in even before the release of "Lucia". Her character in the film was that of a traditional village girl.


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: In her next feature, she was simultaneously shooting the Kannada film "Sipaayi" directed by Rajath Mayee, and the Tamil independent art film "Nila". She has also signed to appear in another Kannada film, "Godhi Banna Sadharna Mykattu" by Hemanth Rao, and Balaji Sakthivel's next directorial "Ra Ra Rajasekhar".


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: "Godhi Banna Sadharna Mykattu" went on to do very well both critically and at the box office. Her portrayal of Dr. Sahana was well received. She appeared next in "Maadha Mathu Manasi", produced by Mano Murthy. She achieved further success in the Kannada film industry through her performance in director B.S. Pradeep Varma's "Urvi", followed by "Beautiful Manasugalu". She struck a balance between commercial and performance-oriented roles by featuring in films of diverse genres.


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: She next appeared in the Kannada multi-starrer "Happy New Year", in which she played the role of a bedridden patient, ailing from psoriasis. After featuring in the bilingual film "Vismaya"(Kannada) which was titled "Nibunan" in Tamil, she followed it up with the box office success "Tarak", opposite Kannada actor Darshan. The Telugu version of "Vismaya", titled "Kurukshetra" is yet to be released.


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: Continuing her foray into the Tamil and Malayalam film industries, she was part of Bejoy Nambiar's film "Solo", opposite actor Dulquer Salmaan. Later she acted in a Kannada film "Upendra Mathe Baa" with veterans Upendra and Prema. As part of the new wave in Kannada films, she acted in "Humble Politician Nograj" with Danish Sait and Sumukhi Suresh in which she played a supporting role, and was unanimously praised for playing such a character when her career was at a peak. She later acted in National award-winning director Mansore's "Nathicharami" opposite Sanchari Vijay for which she gained great critical acclaim. The film publication "Karthik Kermanu" wrote "There isn’t a better actor than Sruthi to bring grace and seriousness to a character that throws light on the sexual needs of single women in urban middle-class societies. Whenever her face swims in the drudgery of everydayness, you feel her!” Keyur Seta of "Cinestaan" said "Hers is a simple subtle and a FLAWLESS Performance!" Currently she is filming "Aadya" starring Chiranjeevi Sarja and directed by Chaitanya KN.


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: In October 2018, Hariharan accused Arjun Sarja of sexual misconduct on the set of the 2016 film "Vismaya" and filed a sexual harassment case with the police against him.


title: Sruthi Hariharan

text: Arjun Sarja filed a defamation case of Rs 5 crore against her for accusing him of sexual misconduct. In response to her allegations, Arjun responded, "I am saddened by the allegations and I don't know how I can correct this. I will definitely file a case. I will speak about improving the shots and dialogues but I don't have the cheap mentality of using this profession to touch women inappropriately."