title: Ballooning (spider)

text: Ballooning, sometimes called kiting, is a process by which spiders, and some other small invertebrates, move through the air by releasing one or more gossamer threads to catch the wind, causing them to become airborne at the mercy of air currents and electric fields. A 2018 study concluded that electric fields provide enough force to lift spiders in the air, and possibly elicit ballooning behavior. This is primarily used by spiderlings to disperse; however, larger individuals have been observed doing so as well. The spider climbs to a high point and takes a stance with its abdomen to the sky, releasing fine silk threads from its spinneret until it becomes aloft. Journeys achieved vary from a few metres to hundreds of kilometres. Even atmospheric samples collected from balloons at five kilometres altitude and ships mid-ocean have reported spider landings. Ballooning can be dangerous (due to predators, and due to the unpredictable nature of long-distance ballooning, which may bring individuals to an unfavorable environment).


title: Ballooning (spider)

text: It is observed in many species of spiders, such as "Erigone atra", "Cyclosa turbinata", as well as in spider mites ("Tetranychidae") and in 31 species of lepidoptera, distributed in 8 suborders. Bell and his colleagues put forward the hypothesis that "ballooning" first appeared in the Cretaceous. A 5-year-long research study in the 1920s–1930s revealed that 1 in every 17 invertebrates caught mid-air is a spider. Out of 28,739 specimens, 1,401 turned out to be spiders.


title: Ballooning (spider)

text: Ballooning is a behaviour in which spiders and some other invertebrates use airborne dispersal to move between locations. A spider (usually limited to individuals of a small species), or spiderling after hatching, will climb as high as it can, stand on raised legs with its abdomen pointed upwards ("tiptoeing"), and then release several silk threads from its spinnerets into the air. These automatically form a triangular shaped parachute which carries the spider away on updrafts of winds where even the slightest of breezes will disperse the arachnid. The Earth's static electric field may also provide lift in windless conditions. Ballooning behavior may be triggered by favorable electric fields.


title: Ballooning (spider)

text: Many spiders use especially fine silk called "gossamer" to lift themselves off a surface, and silk also may be used by a windblown spider to anchor itself to stop its journey. The term "gossamer" is used metaphorically for any exceedingly fine thread or fabric. Biologists also apply the term "balloon silk" to the threads that mechanically lift and drag systems.


title: Ballooning (spider)

text: It is generally thought that most spiders heavier than 1 mg are unlikely to use ballooning. Because many individuals die during ballooning, it is less likely that adults will balloon compared to spiderlings. However, adult females of several social "Stegodyphus" species ("S. dumicola" and "S. mimosarum") weighing more than 100 mg and with a body size of up to have been observed ballooning using rising thermals on hot days without wind. These spiders use tens to hundreds of silk strands, which form a triangular sheet with a length and width of about .


title: Ballooning (spider)

text: In Australia, in 2012 and in May 2015, millions of spiders were reported to have ballooned into the air, making the ground where they landed seem snow-covered with their silk.


title: Ballooning (spider)

text: Most ballooning journeys end after just a few meters of travel, although depending on the spider's mass and posture, a spider might be taken up into a jet stream. The trajectory further depends on the convection air currents and the drag of the silk and parachute to float and travel high up into the upper atmosphere.


title: Ballooning (spider)

text: Many sailors have reported spiders being caught in their ship's sails over from land (Heimer 1988). They have even been detected in atmospheric data balloons collecting air samples at slightly less than above sea level. Evidently, ballooning is the most common way for spiders to invade isolated islands and mountaintops. Spiderlings are known to survive without food while travelling in air currents of jet streams for 25 days or longer.


title: Ballooning (spider)

text: A close association has been found between ballooning behaviors and the ability for a species of spiders to survive afloat on water. Water-repellent legs keep them alive on both fresh and salt water, enabling them to survive waves up to 0.5 metres in height. In wind many species raised their legs or abdomens to use as sails, propelling themselves across the water's surface. Many species of spiders also drop silk to anchor themselves in place while afloat. Said spiders did not show these behaviours on land, suggesting that they are adaptations to water.


title: Ballooning (spider)

text: Although this phenomenon has been known since the time of Aristotle, the first precise observations were published by the arachnologist John Blackwall in 1827. Several studies have since made it possible to analyze this behavior. One of most important and extensive studies exploring ballooning was funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture and performed between 1926 and 1931 by a group of scientists. The findings were published in 1939 in a 155-page bulletin compiled by P. A. Glick.


title: Contrarian

text: A contrarian investing style is based on identifying, and speculating against, movements in stock prices that reflect changes in the sentiments of most investors.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician. A Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 until his death in 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the civil rights movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich baritone voice, he delivered flamboyant speeches that caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze".


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Born in Pekin, Illinois, Dirksen served as an artillery officer during World War I and opened a bakery after the war. After serving on the Pekin City Council, he won election to the House of Representatives in 1932. In the House, he was considered a moderate and supported much of the New Deal; he became more conservative and isolationist over time, but reversed himself to support US involvement in World War II. He won election to the Senate in 1950, unseating Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas. In the Senate, he favored conservative economic policies and supported the internationalism of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dirksen succeeded William F. Knowland as Senate Minority Leader after the latter declined to seek re-election in 1958.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: As the Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen emerged as a prominent national figure of the Republican Party during the 1960s. He developed a good working relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and supported President Lyndon B. Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War. He helped break the Southern filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While still serving as Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen died in 1969.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Everett McKinley Dirksen was born on January 4, 1896 in Pekin, Illinois, a small city near Peoria. His parents were German immigrants from East Frisia. His father Johann Friedrich Dirksen was born in Jennelt and his mother Antje (née Conrady) was born in Loquard. Today, both villages are part of the municipality of Krummhörn.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: The Dirksens were strong Republicans. Everett's parents gave him the middle name "McKinley" after William McKinley, then a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president. His fraternal twin, Thomas Reed Dirksen, was named for Speaker of the House Thomas Brackett Reed, also a candidate for the nomination at the time. Another brother, Benjamin, was named for President Benjamin Harrison. Everett had two older half-brothers, Thomas and Henry, from his mother's first marriage to Beren Ailts (died 1890).


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Johann and Antje Dirksen spoke a Low German dialect at home and taught German to their children. Johann Dirksen farmed and worked at the Pekin Wagon Works as a design painter. He had a debilitating stroke when Everett was five years old and he died when Everett was nine.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen grew up on a farm managed by his mother in a neighborhood called Bonchefiddle (Low German for "Beantown") on the outskirts of Pekin. The neighborhood was known as Bonchefiddle because frugal immigrants grew beans in their front yards instead of decorative flowers. He attended local schools and graduated from Pekin High School in 1913 as the class salutatorian. While in school, he helped support the family by working at a Pekin corn refining factory.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: A visit to the Minnesota home of one of his half brothers led to Dirksen's attendance at the University of Minnesota, where he was a pre-law student from 1914 to 1917. He paid his tuition by working in the classified advertising department at the "Minneapolis Tribune", as a door-to-door magazine and book salesman, as an attorney's assistant, and as a clerk in a railroad freight office. While attending the university, Dirksen participated in the Student Army Training Corps and attained the rank of major in the school's corps of cadets. He also gained his first political experience by giving local and on-campus speeches in support of Republican presidential nominee Charles Evans Hughes during the 1916 campaign.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: At the start of World War I, the Dirksens came under local scrutiny for their German heritage. Dirksen's mother refused to take down a living room photo of Kaiser Wilhelm II as demanded by a self-appointed Pekin "loyalty commission" on the grounds that "it's a free country." Benjamin Dirksen was medically unfit for military service and Thomas was married. It fell to Everett to demonstrate the family's patriotism by serving in uniform. He dropped out of college to enlist in the United States Army.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: On January 4, 1917, his twenty-first birthday, Dirksen joined the United States Army. Three months later, the United States entered World War I. He completed his initial training in field artillery at Camp Custer, Michigan, performed duty with his unit at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and attained the rank of sergeant. He was deployed to France in 1918 and attended artillery school and officer training at Saumur. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to the 328th Field Artillery Regiment, a unit of the 85th Division. Dirksen was trained as an aerial observer and conducted target acquisition and assessment of field artillery bombardments in the Saint-Mihiel sector as a member of the 328th Field Artillery's 13th and 19th Balloon Companies. He later performed the same duty for the 69th Balloon Company, a unit of the IV Corps. He subsequently served in the intelligence staff section (G-2) of the IV Corps headquarters. Dirksen performed post-war occupation duty with IV Corps in Germany until mid-1919. Dirksen declined an opportunity to remain with the Army of Occupation (extended due to his fluent German), received his discharge, and returned to Pekin.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: After the war, Dirksen invested money in an electric washing machine business, but it failed, after which he joined his brothers in running the Dirksen Brothers Bakery. He also wrote a number of unpublished short stories, as well as plays with former classmate Hubert Ropp. Dirksen was active in the American Legion, and his appearances on its behalf gave him the opportunity to hone his public speaking skills.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: His political career began in 1926 when he was elected to the nonpartisan Pekin City Council. He placed first in field of eight candidates vying for four seats. At the time, the top vote-getter also received appointment as the city's commissioner of accounts and finance. Dirksen held both posts from 1927 to 1931.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: In 1930, Dirksen unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Representative William E. Hull in the Republican primary. He lost by 1,155 votes, 51.06% to 48.94%. In 1932, he challenged Hull again, and won with 52.5% of the vote.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: He was re-elected seven times from 1934 to 1946. His closest challenge came in 1936, when Charles C. Dickman held him to 53.25% of the vote amid a national and statewide landslide for the Democratic Party.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: His support for many New Deal programs initially marked him as a moderate, pragmatic Republican, though over time he became increasingly conservative and isolationist. During World War II, he lobbied successfully for an expansion of congressional staff resources to eliminate the practice under which House and Senate committees borrowed executive branch personnel to accomplish legislative work. He reversed his isolationist stance to support the war effort, but also secured the passage of an amendment to the Lend Lease Act by introducing it while 65 of the House's Democrats were at a luncheon. It provided that the Senate and the House could, by a simple majority in a concurrent resolution, revoke the war powers granted to the president.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen studied law privately in Washington, D.C. after he was elected to Congress. He was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1936 and the bar of Illinois in 1937.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: In December 1943, Dirksen announced that he would be a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1944. He stated that a coalition of midwestern Republican representatives had urged him to run and that his campaign was serious. However, press pundits had assumed that the candidacy was a vehicle to siphon support away from the campaign of Wendell Willkie, whose reputation as a maverick and staunch internationalist had earned him the hatred of many Republican Party regulars, especially in the Midwest. Dirksen's presidential campaign was apparently still alive on the eve of the 1944 convention, as "Time" speculated that he was running for vice president. Dirksen received no votes for either office from delegates at the convention.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: In 1947, Dirksen was diagnosed with chorioretinitis in his right eye. Despite a number of physicians recommending that the eye be removed, Dirksen chose treatment and rest; he recovered most of the sight in the afflicted eye. In 1948, he declined to run for re-election because of his ailment.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: In 1950, Dirksen unseated Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas. In the campaign, the support of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy helped Dirksen gain a narrow victory.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: In 1968, Dirksen was re-elected to his fourth and final term over Democrat William G. Clark, 53.0% to 46.6%.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: In 1952, Dirksen supported the presidential candidacy of fellow Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the longtime leader of the Republican party's conservative wing. At the national party convention, Dirksen gave a speech attacking New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, a liberal Republican and the leading supporter of General Dwight Eisenhower. During his speech, Dirksen pointed at Dewey on the convention floor and shouted, "Don't take us down the path to defeat again", a reference to Dewey's presidential defeats in 1944 and 1948. His speech was met by cheers from conservative delegates and loud boos from pro-Eisenhower delegates. After Eisenhower won the nomination, Dirksen then supported him.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: In 1959, he was elected Senate Minority Leader, defeating John Sherman Cooper, a more liberal senator from Kentucky, 20–14. Dirksen successfully united the various factions of the Republican Party by granting younger Republicans more representation in the Senate leadership and better committee appointments. He held the position of Senate Minority Leader until his death.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Along with House Minority Leaders Charles Halleck and Gerald Ford, Dirksen was the official voice of the Republican Party during most of the 1960s. He discussed politics on television news programs. On several occasions, political cartoonist Herblock depicted Dirksen and Halleck as vaudeville song-and-dance men, wearing identical elaborate costumes and performing an act called "The Ev and Charlie Show".


title: Everett Dirksen

text: As senator, Dirksen reversed his early isolationism to support the internationalism of Republican President Eisenhower and Democratic President John F. Kennedy. He was a leading "hawk" on the issue of the Vietnam War, a position he held well before President Johnson decided to escalate the war.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: First I agree that obviously we cannot retreat from our position in Vietnam. I have been out there three times, once as something of an emissary for then President Eisenhower. I took a good look at it. It is a difficult situation, to say the least. But we are in to the tune of some $350 million. I think the last figure I have seen indicates that we have over 15,500 military out there, ostensibly as advisers and that sort of thing. We are not supposed to have combatant troops, even though we were not signatories to the treaty that was signed at Geneva when finally they got that whole business out of the fire. But we are going to have to muddle through for a while and see what we do. Even though it costs us $1.5 million a day.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: As Johnson followed the recommendations and escalated the war, Dirksen gave him strong support in public and inside the Republican caucus. Some Republicans advised him that it would be to the party's advantage to oppose Johnson. Ford commented, "I strongly felt that although I agreed with the goals of the Johnson administration in Vietnam, I vigorously criticized their prosecution of the war. Now, Dirksen never took that same hard-line position that I took."


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: In 1964, amid a 54-day filibuster by Southern senators of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Dirksen, Republican Thomas Kuchel, and Democrats Hubert Humphrey and Mike Mansfield introduced a compromise amendment. It weakened the House version on the government's power to regulate the conduct of private business, but it was not so weak it would cause the House to reconsider the legislation. The Department of Justice said the Mansfield-Dirksen Amendment would not prevent effective enforcement. However, Senator Richard Russell Jr. of Georgia refused to allow a vote on the amendment. Finally, Republican Senator Thruston Morton proposed an amendment that guaranteed jury trials in all criminal contempt cases except voting rights. It was approved on June 9, and Humphrey made a deal with three Republicans to substitute it for the Mansfield-Dirksen Amendment in exchange for their supporting cloture on the filibuster. Thus, after 57 days of filibuster, the substitute bill passed in the Senate, and the House–Senate conference committee agreed to adopt the Senate version of the bill.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: At that cloture vote, Dirksen said: "Victor Hugo wrote in his diary substantially this sentiment: 'Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come.' The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing of government, in education, and in employment. It must not be stayed or denied."


title: Everett Dirksen

text: On March 22, 1966, Dirksen introduced a constitutional amendment to permit public school administrators providing for organized prayer by students; the introduction was in response to "Engel v. Vitale", which struck down the practice. Considered by opponents to violate the principle of separation of church and state, the amendment was defeated in the Senate and gained only 49 affirmative votes, far short of the 67 votes a constitutional amendment needs for passage.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen was a firm opponent of the doctrine of one man, one vote on the grounds that large cities (such as Chicago in Dirksen's home state of Illinois) could render rural residents of a state powerless in their state governments without some form of concurrent majority. After the Warren Court imposed one-man-one-vote on all state legislative houses in the 1964 case "Reynolds v. Sims", he led an effort to convene an Article V convention for an amendment to the Constitution that would allow for legislative districts of unequal population. Dirksen died before enough states passed resolutions for the convention, by which point the court-ordered re-engineered legislatures began repealing their predecessors' resolutions.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: The saying, "" has been attributed to Dirksen, but there is no direct record of Dirksen saying the remark. Dirksen is also quoted as having said, "The mind is no match with the heart in persuasion; constitutionality is no match with compassion."


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen recorded four spoken-word albums. In 1967 a recording of his own poem "Gallant Men" reached No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and won a Grammy Award for Best Documentary Recording in 1968. On January 7, 1967, Dirksen became the oldest person to reach the "Billboard" Hot 100's top 40, at 71 years, 3 days old, when the single reached No. 33; two weeks later it reached No. 29. The distinction passed from Dirksen to Moms Mabley with her recording of "Abraham, Martin and John" peaking at No. 35 on 19 July 1969 when she was 75 years 4 months old.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Recordings of Dirksen's speeches were edited into a mock interview included on the record ""Welcome to the LBJ Ranch!"" Dirksen was pleased with his inclusion on the parody record and bought many copies to give out as Christmas gifts.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen made television guest appearances on game and variety shows, such as "What's My Line", "The Hollywood Palace" and "The Red Skelton Show". Dirksen made a cameo appearance in the 1969 film "The Monitors", a low-budget science-fiction movie in which invading extraterrestrials assert political dominion over the human race. He also appeared in several other movies.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen's penchant for changing his mind was noted by the "Chicago Sun-Times", which once noted that he had changed his mind 62 times on foreign policy matters, 31 times on military affairs, and 70 times on agricultural policies.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen's widow, Louella, died of cancer on July 16, 1979. Their daughter Joy, the first wife of Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee, died of cancer on April 24, 1993.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen was a member of the Second Reformed Church, which, although a Dutch Reformed Church, was primarily German (the Reformed Church in America was founded in the 18th century by Dutch immigrants).


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen was a Freemason and was a member of Pekin Lodge No. 29. In 1954, he was grand orator of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He was honored with the 33rd degree in 1954.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: In August 1969, chest X-rays disclosed an asymptomatic peripherally located mass in the upper lobe of the right lung. Dirksen entered Walter Reed Army Hospital for surgery, which was undertaken on September 2. A right upper lobectomy removed what proved to be lung cancer (adenocarcinoma). Dirksen initially did well, but progressive complications developed into bronchopneumonia. He suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest and died on September 7, 1969, at age 73.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen lay in state at the United States Capitol rotunda, followed by burial at Glendale Memorial Gardens in Pekin.


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen was known for his fondness for the common marigold. When political discussions became tense, he would lighten the atmosphere by taking up his perennial campaign to have the marigold named the national flower, but it never succeeded. In 1972, his hometown of Pekin started holding an annual Marigold Festival in his memory. It now identifies itself as the "Marigold Capital of the World".


title: Everett Dirksen

text: Dirksen was the recipient of honorary degrees (LL.D.) from Hope College, Bradley University, DePaul University, Lincoln Memorial University, Hanover College, Lewis University, and Illinois College.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Ralph McTell (born Ralph May, 3 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song "Streets of London" (1969), which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell modelled his guitar style on American country blues guitar players of the early 20th century, including Blind Blake, Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell. These influences led a friend to suggest his professional surname. An accomplished performer on piano and harmonica as well as guitar, McTell issued his first album in 1968 and found acclaim on the folk circuit. He reached his greatest commercial success in 1974 when a new recording of "Streets of London" became a No. 2 hit on the UK Singles Chart. Other notable compositions include "From Clare to Here", a ballad about Irish emigration. In the 1980s, he wrote and played songs for two TV children's programmes, "Alphabet Zoo", which also featured Nerys Hughes, followed by "Tickle on the Tum", featuring Jaqui Reddin. He also recorded Keith Hopwood's and Malcolm Rowe's theme song to Cosgrove Hall's adaptation of "The Wind in the Willows".


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell's mother, Winifred (née Moss), was born in Hammersmith, London. During the Second World War she was living in Banbury, Oxfordshire, with her sister Olive when she met Frank May. They married in 1943 while Frank was home on leave from the army. Winifred moved to Croydon, Surrey, and McTell was born on 3 December 1944 in Farnborough, Kent. He was named after Ralph Vaughan Williams – Frank had worked as the composer's gardener before the war. A second son, Bruce, was born in 1946. Frank was demobilised, but after a year or so at home, he walked out on his family in 1947.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Winifred was left to support herself and bring up the boys unaided. She told McTell's biographer, "I remember Ralph saying to me quite soon after Frank left us, 'I'll look after you, Mummy'. I guess he'd got used to Frank being away all his short life." But despite their father's desertion and the consequent poverty, Ralph and Bruce May had a happy and fulfilled childhood in Croydon.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell's love of music surfaced early. He was given a plastic mouth organ and his grandfather, who played the harmonica, taught and encouraged him. The brothers spent many contented summer holidays at Banbury with their uncle and aunt and their grandparents. Banbury and north Oxfordshire figured throughout McTell's life. Later, he recalled those childhood summers in his song "Barges".


title: Ralph McTell

text: Other childhood experiences shaped McTell's songwriting. A young Irishman and his family were the Mays' upstairs neighbours. Needing a father figure, McTell greatly valued the young man's friendship, which later inspired the song "Mr. Connaughton". Similarly, "Mrs. Adlam's Angels" recalls his Sunday school teacher: "I loved the ceremonial and the music," he says, "you can hear the influence of hymn tunes in my song structures."


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 1952, two youths attempted to break into a Croydon warehouse: one, Derek Bentley, surrendered to the police but the other, sixteen-year-old Christopher Craig, shot and killed a police officer. Yet at the trial, Bentley was sentenced to death. "My mum knew the Bentleys," McTell recalls. "I was about eight, but even then I could see the horror and injustice of executing a teenager for a murder he didn't commit." Many years later, McTell expressed that sense of injustice in the song "Bentley & Craig".


title: Ralph McTell

text: After passing his 11-plus school examination, McTell attended the John Ruskin Grammar School. He hated his time there, and despite being a very bright pupil, he did not do well academically. Many of his fellow pupils were from wealthier backgrounds, and though having many school friends, he felt he didn't fit in.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Musically, his tastes tended towards being an outsider as well. He was captivated by skiffle and American rock'n'roll. Acquiring an old ukulele and a copy of "The George Formby Method", he played his first chord. He later recalled, "I was thunderstruck – it was like magic!" Soon, he mastered skiffle classics such as "Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O", and by his second year at school, he formed a skiffle band.


title: Ralph McTell

text: By the age of 15, McTell was very anxious to leave grammar school and the British Army looked like a way out, so in 1959 he enlisted in the Junior Leaders Battalion of The Queen's Surrey Regiment. Army life proved far worse than school. After six months, he bought himself out and resumed his education at technical college, passing several O level exams and an A level exam in art.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 1963, McTell was working on a building site, and it is of this time that he wrote, in the mid-1970s, "From Clare to Here". "There was an Irish gang on the site, and the "craic", as they call it, relieved the stress of the hard work. I was working with an Irishman called Michael, as so many of them are. And I said to him, 'It must be very strange to be here in London after the place you come from.' And he responded by saying, 'Yes, it's a long way from Clare to here.'"


title: Ralph McTell

text: At college, McTell became interested in the beatnik culture that flourished in the 1950s and early 1960s. Besides reading the works of writers such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, he discovered African American music – jazz, blues and R&B. Inspired by musicians such as Jesse Fuller, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, he bought a guitar and practiced assiduously.


title: Ralph McTell

text: He and a group of like-minded friends became habitués of London's Soho jazz clubs and regularly went down to Brighton to "...sit on the beach looking windswept and interesting," as McTell put it. Soon he was spending much of his time away from Croydon, supporting himself with temporary work in factories, laundries and hotels.


title: Ralph McTell

text: During his travels, McTell met musicians who were destined to remain lifelong friends, among them Jacqui McShee (later to gain fame in the band Pentangle), Martin Carthy and Wizz Jones. He was persuaded to join a bluegrass-influenced band called the Hickory Nuts, who performed all over England and, despite playing in some dire places for pin money early on, ended up with decent fees and respectable crowds in venues such as Croydon's Fairfield Halls.


title: Ralph McTell

text: By now, McTell had begun travelling abroad, busking around Europe with his guitar. He spent time in France and visited Belgium and Germany. Other trips took him to Italy and through Yugoslavia ("I felt a madness there, even then") to Greece.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Paris was a city that McTell revisited frequently. Late in 1965 he and a friend from Croydon took a room in a cheap hotel on the Left Bank, earning their rent by busking cinema queues. After braving a bitterly cold Paris winter, McTell met a young American, Gary Petersen, who had studied with the legendary guitarist Reverend Gary Davis. "There was a great anticipation every time I got to play with (Petersen)", McTell recalled. "Each time I learned something new, and through him I learned how to play ragtime properly."


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 1966, McTell met another émigré to Paris, a student from Norway named Nanna Stein. The pair soon became inseparable. Back in England, they lived in a caravan in Cornwall. McTell and Wizz Jones were regular performers on the Cornish circuit, especially at The Folk Cottage in Mitchell. It was Jones who suggested the stage name "McTell", "after Blind Willie McTell, whose 'Statesboro Blues' we both loved".


title: Ralph McTell

text: Cornwall captured McTell's heart – a place whose "unique spirit got to me" – and the county has always remained a place for him to retreat to. By the end of 1966, he and Stein were expecting their first child. They married on 30 November in Norway and returned to live in Croydon with Winifred. Their son, Sam, was born on 21 January 1967.


title: Ralph McTell

text: After an unrewarding spell at teacher training college, McTell decided he had to try to make it full-time in music. As well as his vocal and instrumental talents, he was developing as a songwriter and was in demand in folk clubs and festivals.


title: Ralph McTell

text: During 1967, McTell landed a deal with Transatlantic Records and by the end of the year was recording his first album. Arranged by Tony Visconti and produced by Gus Dudgeon, the album, "Eight Frames a Second", was released early in 1968. It came to the attention of the BBC and was featured on radio programmes including "Country Meets Folk" in August and John Peel's "Top Gear". The release of the album meant more live work so McTell's brother Bruce became his manager and booking agent.


title: Ralph McTell

text: His second album "Spiral Staircase", recorded for Transatlantic in late 1968, included the first recording of "Streets of London", which was recorded in one take by McTell on guitar and vocals.


title: Ralph McTell

text: The third album, "My Side of Your Window", released in 1969, became Melody Maker magazine's Folk Album of the Month. In July, McTell had appeared at Cambridge Folk Festival for the first time and at the end of the year headlined at Hornsey Town Hall.


title: Ralph McTell

text: By 1970, "I'd got a family," McTell recalled in an interview, "and found I had a musical career, somehow." He was getting extensive radio play, and the audiences at his concerts were growing.


title: Ralph McTell

text: By May, he was sufficiently successful to fill the Royal Festival Hall in London. In August, McTell played the huge Isle of Wight Festival alongside Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, and Leonard Cohen.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Bruce May had bowed out and McTell was now being managed by impresario Jo Lustig. In October 1970, McTell sold out the Royal Festival Hall again and the album "Revisited" was released. This remixed compilation was originally intended to introduce McTell to American record-buyers but was released in the UK. It has still not been released on cd, even though all the other Transatlantic albums have been remastered.


title: Ralph McTell

text: "You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here" was released on the Famous label in 1971. Among the highlights of this fourth studio album was "The Ferryman", inspired by the Herman Hesse book "Siddhartha". That year also saw McTell's first tour in the United States.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Initially, Paramount Records had been McTell's American label but had not been supportive, and he later signed with Warner Bros. Records. While in the US, McTell hung out with the British folk-rock band Fairport Convention, establishing a lifelong professional relationship as well as personal friendships.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Paramount put a new recording of "Streets of London" on the US release of "You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here", and, in April 1972, issued it as a single in the Netherlands, where it charted, climbing slowly to No. 9 in May.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell's fifth album, "Not Till Tomorrow", was produced by Tony Visconti, and released on Reprise in 1972. His UK concert tour played to packed houses and he met one of his guitar heroes, the Rev Gary Davis. By the end of the year, he'd parted company with Jo Lustig and his brother Bruce was again managing his career.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Although living in Putney, southwest London, Ralph and Nanna bought a derelict cottage in Cornwall during 1972.


title: Ralph McTell

text: During 1973, McTell undertook two major tours. The spring tour culminated in a sell-out concert at London's Royal Festival Hall on 5 May, whilst the winter tour was completed in front of a full house at London's Royal Albert Hall on 30 January 1974. By the end of the year, McTell was in the studio with Visconti again working on his next album. Released early in 1974, "Easy" won critical acclaim. It was promoted by lengthy tours of Britain and Europe with Danny Thompson and Mike Piggott as backing musicians. Despite the civil unrest and violence in Northern Ireland, the tour included concerts in the province – in fact, McTell continued to play there regularly throughout 'the Troubles'.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell re-recorded "Streets of London" with bassist Rod Clements and backing vocalists Prelude. Released as a single (recorded on the Reprise label) on 7 December 1974, it rocketed up the charts to No. 2 in the first week of 1975, became a worldwide million-seller, and won McTell the Ivor Novello Award.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In early 1975, McTell released the album "Streets...", which sold strongly and spent twelve weeks in the album charts. Backing musicians on the album included Lindisfarne's Rod Clements, Fairport Convention's Dave Pegg and Jerry Donahue, and Maddy Prior from Steeleye Span, who inspired McTell to write the song "Maddy Dances". He decided to tour with a band to promote the album, but the experiment was not a success. That tour, he recalls, "became a nightmare." It was time for a break. McTell went to America with his family where he spent time relaxing and writing. Refreshed, he returned to the UK.


title: Ralph McTell

text: During 1976, McTell topped the bill at Montreux Jazz Festival and played another sold-out concert at The Royal Albert Hall. This was followed by his first tour of Australia and the far east. At McTell's insistence, local buskers were given free tickets for the flagship concert at Sydney Opera House.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell's eighth album, "Right Side Up", was released late in 1976 and the year ended with a packed-out Christmas concert in Belfast where he got standing ovations both before and after the show.


title: Ralph McTell

text: The concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and Sydney Opera House had both been recorded and in 1977, Warner Bros. Records released the live album "Ralph, Albert and Sydney".


title: Ralph McTell

text: During the year, McTell met John 'Jonah' Jones, a popular figure on London's music scene. It was the start of a close friendship that lasted until John's death in 2003. After tours in the US and Britain, McTell again appeared at Cambridge Folk Festival.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Ralph and Nanna's son Billy was born on 19 April 1978. Professionally, it was a quieter year and Ralph spent time with his family in their homes in London and Cornwall.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In March 1979, McTell played The Royal Festival Hall accompanied by Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention, and Nigel Smith and Mike Piggott.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell had written a number of new songs and went into the studio with backing musicians including Richard Thompson, Dave Pegg and Simon Nicol. The resulting album, "Slide Away The Screen" was released by Warner Bros. Records.


title: Ralph McTell

text: The recording contract with Warner Bros. Records expired in 1980 so McTell and Bruce May set up Mays Records as an 'own brand' label. It would be a year or more until they had an album to release but McTell continued to tour.


title: Ralph McTell

text: During 1981, McTell, Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks and Richard Thompson formed an impromptu band called The GP's. They performed half-a-dozen concerts but contractual restrictions meant the band could not be developed further.


title: Ralph McTell

text: The first release on Mays Records was the 1981 single "England", a song later adopted as the theme for a television travelogue presented by comedian Billy Connolly, a long-standing friend of McTell. Mays Records' first album release was "Water of Dreams", which featured "Bentley & Craig", the song that led to McTell's support of the campaign to grant Derek Bentley a posthumous pardon.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 1982, McTell's career took an unexpected change of direction. Granada Television commissioned "Alphabet Zoo", a series of children's programmes built around songs written and performed by McTell. Although initially reluctant to accept the offer, the fact that one of his heroes, Woody Guthrie, had composed dozens of songs for children, convinced him it was worthwhile. The first series, broadcast in 1983, was a success. A second series followed and Mays Records released two albums of the material – "Songs From Alphabet Zoo" and "Best of Alphabet Zoo".


title: Ralph McTell

text: During 1983, McTell presented his own music series on BBC Radio 2. His guests included Billy Connolly, Georgie Fame, Simon Nicol with Dave Swarbrick, and Mike Harding.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 1984, McTell fronted another children's TV programme, called "Tickle on the Tum", again built around his songs. McTell featured in three series alongside guests including John Wells, Willie Rushton, Kenny Lynch, Penelope Keith and Nerys Hughes. Mays Records released "The Best of – Tickle on the Tum" in 1986. The first series was released on DVD by Revelation Films in 2010.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell was still playing concerts between his television commitments and he toured during 1984 at home and in Canada and the United States. After composing the music for a Skol lager advertising campaign, he decided to concentrate on his musical career and turned down further television work.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Bruce May negotiated a deal with Telstar Records, a company that pushed its products heavily with major advertising and hyping campaigns. McTell was persuaded to record an album that mixed his own material and 'classic songs' such as "Penny Lane", "Morning Has Broken" and "Scarborough Fair". The result, "At the End of a Perfect Day", released late in 1985, was one of McTell's least satisfactory recordings. It was "a totally commercial venture and a miserable failure," he said later; "...while I was reluctant to do it, the possibility of getting the kind of back-up that Telstar were offering was too good to miss."


title: Ralph McTell

text: The next year McTell was back on form with "Bridge of Sighs". Released on Mays Records in 1986, the album gathered together a lot of hitherto unfinished songs. It included "The Girl from the Hiring Fair" (originally written for Fairport Convention, and in whose core repertoire it remains to this day), and "The Setting", influenced by Seán Ó Faoláin.


title: Ralph McTell

text: As well as tours in his own right, McTell secured a prestigious support slot in 1987 opening the shows on The Everly Brothers' UK tour.


title: Ralph McTell

text: After tours in Europe, the US and Australia, McTell was back in the studio in February 1988 to record the album "Blue Skies Black Heroes". Released on his own Leola Music label, the album was a homage to the blues and ragtime musicians who had so influenced his playing.


title: Ralph McTell

text: "Nearly all my guitar heroes are black, American, usually blind and most of 'em dead," McTell said. All the tracks on "Blue Skies Black Heroes" were recorded as live takes, four with Danny Thompson on bass. The follow-up tour that summer saw McTell on the road with a veritable arsenal of guitars.


title: Ralph McTell

text: 1988 also saw the release of a compilation album, "The Very Best of Ralph McTell". Issued by Start, it was McTell's first album to appear on CD.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell was a regular visitor to, and occasional performer at, Fairport Convention's annual music festival in the village of Cropredy, near Banbury. The location inspired him to pen the ballad "Red and Gold" about the English Civil War, which has become another staple of Fairport's repertoire.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 1989, McTell signed a deal with the label Castle Communications to produce a compilation of his love songs. For contractual reasons, some songs had to be re-recorded in Dave Pegg's Woodworm Studio in Barford St. Michael. The resulting album, "A Collection of His Love Songs", was subtitled 'Affairs of the Heart'.


title: Ralph McTell

text: To support the album's release, McTell undertook an extensive tour in the autumn and early winter. The tour was well-supported with PR material and was managed on the road by John 'Jonah' Jones.


title: Ralph McTell

text: The next year, 1990, Castle released "Stealin' Back", another collection of McTell's blues and jug band numbers.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 1991, McTell shared the billing with Donovan on a tour of Germany. He also toured in his own right in the UK.


title: Ralph McTell

text: A second Castle compilation was released in 1992 to celebrate McTell's 25 years of recording. "Silver Celebration" featured a selection of tracks including "The Ferryman", "From Clare to Here" and "Streets of London". A very extensive Silver Celebration tour occupied much of the year, again managed by 'Jonah' Jones.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Castle had by now obtained the rights to the Transatlantic catalogue, and released a "Best of" CD with 24 tracks from McTell's earliest albums. Castle subsequently licensed the early McTell back-catalogue to other labels, resulting in the release of several CD compilations under such titles as "The Best of Ralph McTell" or "Streets of London".


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell completed a major project when in 1992, the BBC commissioned and broadcast "The Boy with a Note" – 'an evocation of the life of Dylan Thomas in words and music'. It was re-recorded and released on McTell's Leola label as an album. McTell is very proud of this ambitious piece. "Two or three years went into that," he said. "It's grown-up work."


title: Ralph McTell

text: During 1993, McTell toured Australia and the Far East, and back home he undertook The Black And White Tour. Road Goes on Forever Records released "The Complete Alphabet Zoo", presenting the songs from the two television series in alphabetical order. McTell and Mick McDonagh parted company.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 1994 McTell took part in a concert at the Royal Albert Hall to commemorate the life of Ken Woolard. Ken was the founder of Cambridge Folk Festival and McTell assembled a band, Good Men in the Jungle, to play at that summer's festival. He also celebrated his fiftieth year by giving up smoking.


title: Ralph McTell

text: "Slide Away The Screen" was released as a CD by Road Goes on Forever Records with three previously unreleased songs added.


title: Ralph McTell

text: "Sand in Your Shoes" was recorded at Woodworm, by now relocated in Barford St Michael near Banbury. The album came out on the Transatlantic label during 1995.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell performed his song "Bentley & Craig" at a special service for Derek Bentley held in Croydon cemetery with the Bentley family. Bentley's sister Iris died before he was pardoned and, at her request, McTell performed at her funeral a few years later.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 1995 McTell performed songs from "The Boy with a Note" at the Year of Literature Festival in Swansea, in South Wales.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 1996, McTell presented BBC radio's coverage of Sidmouth Festival and toured the UK, Europe, and the US.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell's long-standing sound engineer, Gordon 'Doon' Graham, had captured many of McTell's concert performances on the desk, and an album of live material from 1976 to 1995 was released on Leola as "Songs for Six Strings Vol II".


title: Ralph McTell

text: Early in 1997, McTell began his association with Tickety Boo, the company which produced Billy Connolly's 'World Tour of...' television series. "In The Dreamtime", the song played over the closing credits to "Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia," later featured on McTell's album "Red Sky".


title: Ralph McTell

text: In the same year, McTell was the subject of a major feature in "The Independent" newspaper. An authorised biography of McTell, entitled "Streets of London", was published by Northdown Publishing. McTell's concert at Croydon Town Hall was filmed, and released on videocassette as "Live at the Town Hall" by Leola in 1998.


title: Ralph McTell

text: By now, Leola had taken most of McTell's management arrangements in-house. Two sell-out concerts in London's Purcell Room were recorded by McTell's tour manager and sound engineer, Donard Duffy, and released on Leola as a two-CD set. Entitled "Travelling Man", the double album came out in time for McTell's 1999 spring tour. A two-page feature about McTell appeared in "The Guardian" newspaper in May 1999.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell had been busy writing during the previous couple of years and the result was "Red Sky". Recorded at Woodworm and released in 2000 on the Leola label, the album contained 19 listed tracks plus "Tickety-boo" as an instrumental hidden track.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell's output was not restricted to songs, however. He had been working on an autobiography for some years and the first volume, entitled "Angel Laughter", was published by Heartland Publishing in 2000.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In 2001, McTell undertook a special tour of the UK. Billed as 'The National Tour', it gave McTell a chance to present concerts featuring his newly acquired National Steel resonator guitar. Two live recordings from the National Tour made their way onto the 2002 Leola album "National Treasure".


title: Ralph McTell

text: On Sunday 22 February 2002, McTell appeared to a sellout audience at Liverpool's Empire Theatre. The event was marked as a tribute to the late George Harrison who had died the previous November. The date would have been George's 59th birthday. McTell appeared alongside Steve 'Cockney Rebel' Harley, Darren Wharton (Thin Lizzy), Sir Paul McCartney and many others to raise £36,000 for the 3 main cancer charities.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Heartland published "Summer Lightning", the second volume of McTell's autobiography, in 2002. Another highlight of the year was the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting presented to McTell at the annual BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. By then, McTell had written and recorded well over 200 songs.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell had been touring extensively at home and abroad for many years so in 2003 he decided to take a break from the road. He split the year between his London and Cornwall homes and spent the time writing, travelling and spending time with his grandchildren.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Early in 2004, McTell co-headlined on Steeleye Span's tour of Australia and New Zealand as well as touring in the UK, Ireland and continental Europe.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell appeared at the fortieth Cambridge Folk Festival (the performance was broadcast on BBC Four television) and also played at the fiftieth Sidmouth Festival. He made a guest appearance at Fairport's Cropredy Convention in August.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell celebrated his 60th birthday with a concert at London's Royal Festival Hall in November 2004. The entire show was filmed and released on DVD in 2005 as "The London Show".


title: Ralph McTell

text: Leola published "Time's Poems – The Song Lyrics of Ralph McTell" towards the end of 2005. Dedicated "to Woody Guthrie, the man who started it all for me", "Time's Poems" contains "...all the songs I could find in notebooks, on scraps of paper and old tapes, on records and CDs".


title: Ralph McTell

text: For his 'up close' tour in September 2006, McTell performed a set billed as 'Dylan, Guthrie and The Country Blues', featuring his covers of songs by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and black American blues artists such as Big Bill Broonzy. He also recorded an album of the material, titled "Gates of Eden". McTell described the music on this CD as "…the beginning of my own journey… these songs are almost sacred to me".


title: Ralph McTell

text: A boxed set of four CDs (accompanied by an extended essay on McTell's songs by Paul Jenkins) was released in October 2006. Compiled by David Suff from recordings made between 1965 and 2006, "The Journey" was promoted with several radio interviews and a major tour that included two 'gala' concerts at London's Union Chapel. The box set's packaging was designed by John Haxby, who also took the cover photograph.


title: Ralph McTell

text: A solo tour of Australia early in 2007 was followed by 'The Journey Continues' tour in the UK. In August 2007, Sanctuary Records recognised the 40th anniversary of McTell's first recording contract by re-releasing his three Transatlantic albums as CDs with bonus tracks.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In October 2007, McTell released an 'audio book' titled "As Far As I Can Tell". The three CDs included readings from the autobiography interspersed with new recordings of the songs they inspired. The "As Far As I Can Tell" treble CD was promoted by a tour that included a concert at St Mary's church in Banbury, a location that featured in the first volume of autobiography.


title: Ralph McTell

text: A compilation CD comprising McTell's own selection of songs, including the 'hit' version of "Streets of London", was released in December 2007 on the Highpoint label as "The Definitive Collection".


title: Ralph McTell

text: During 2008, McTell combined the two volumes of his autobiography into a single volume under the title "As Far As I Can Tell" for publication to coincide with his autumn tour. The new edition featured additional chapters illustrated by photos from the May family album.


title: Ralph McTell

text: On 9 October 2008, McTell appeared on BBC1 TV's nationally broadcast magazine programme "The One Show" in a pre-recorded package about the song "Streets of London". The interview was filmed in Paris and conducted by Myleene Klass.


title: Ralph McTell

text: The appearance on "The One Show" was the springboard for two 'official' McTell internet videos. Made by Leola Music Ltd and published on YouTube, the videos featured McTell talking about his work and about "Streets of London", with concert footage shot at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.


title: Ralph McTell

text: The Institute of Contemporary Arts concert footage was released during 2008 as a full-length DVD titled "McTell on The Mall".


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell embarked on his most extensive UK tour for many years in October 2008, visiting thirty venues throughout England. The concert at Birmingham Town Hall was unusual because McTell, who rarely appears with a supporting act, shared the bill with The Dylan Project.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell released his first downloadable album in July 2009, titled "Streets of London and Other Story Songs", comprising twelve tracks from his back-catalogue.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell's summer 2009 festival appearances included a solo set at Fairport's Cropredy Convention on Saturday 15 August. He also joined Fairport Convention onstage during their set later the same evening.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In October 2009, McTell was honoured by the UK Parliament’s All Party Folk Music Group at a special award ceremony in the House of Commons, to celebrate his lifetime's contribution to folk music. This was only the second time such an award had been made, the previous recipient having been Tom Paxton.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In early 2010, McTell's Leola Music record label released "Affairs of the Heart", a four-CD box set of love songs in a presentation package. In keeping with its theme, the album was released on Valentine's Day, 14 February. There were no previously-unrecorded songs among the fifty-six tracks on the set. Two tracks were specially re-recorded but the remaining fifty-four were digital remixes of previous recordings. Comedian Rory McGrath contributed extensive sleeve notes in the set's accompanying booklet. The sleeve design and set packaging concept were by designer Peter Thaine.


title: Ralph McTell

text: During 2010, McTell recorded an album of new songs, his first for ten years, and released in October as "Somewhere Down the Road". He kept an online diary of the album’s progress which described assembling the material, the recording sessions and preparing for release. McTell’s UK autumn tour was branded with the same title.


title: Ralph McTell

text: On 21 November 2010, McTell released a seasonal song, "The Things You Wish Yourself", as a download-only single.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell was invited to record his own interpretation of a Bob Dylan song for the BBC Radio 2 celebration of Dylan's 70th birthday in May 2011. "Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright" was also the title of McTell's own six-song tribute to Dylan, which was released as a downloadable EP.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell embarked on a 36-date UK autumn tour in September 2011, culminating in a concert at London's Cadogan Hall on 11 December. On the first night of the tour, McTell launched his new "Songs For Six Strings" boxed set.


title: Ralph McTell

text: In April and May 2012, McTell undertook a short tour of Australia. McTell's 2012 UK tour, branded “An English Heartbeat”, commenced in October, and saw the release of a CD of guitar instrumentals called "Sofa Noodling". In an interview published ahead of his 2013 "One More for the Road" tour, McTell said, "It could be the last time I do a big tour... this is the beginning of slowing things down."


title: Ralph McTell

text: The spring of 2014 saw McTell touring the Celtic nations of the British Isles, and the release of a CD compilation of Celt-themed songs, "Celtic Cousins". A high point of the tour was a performance of McTell's tribute to Dylan Thomas, "The Boy With a Note", in Thomas's adopted home town of Laugharne in South Wales. Later in the year, McTell marked the centenary of the start of the first world war with a four-song EP, "The Unknown Soldier".


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, on 7 December 2014. A DVD of the concert was released in 2015.


title: Ralph McTell

text: 2015 saw little sign of "slowing things down", as McTell played more than 30 solo shows over the year. Towards the end of the year, McTell started a recording project with one of his earliest performing partners, Wizz Jones. The resulting CD was released in June 2016 with the appropriate title "About Time". McTell's fifty years as a recording artist was marked by Martin Guitars with a 'signature' Ralph McTell guitar, built to McTell's specification and marketed as the Martin RM50.


title: Ralph McTell

text: McTell played a special show at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2016. Billed as a 'Loyal Command Performance', the setlist was voted for by McTell's fans, and McTell performed the 20 songs that received the most votes. Summer highlights included McTell's first appearance at the Glastonbury Festival and a return to Fairport's Cropredy Convention. In the autumn McTell undertook an extensive tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The sixth and final CD of McTell's "Songs for Six Strings" boxed set was released during the tour.


title: Ralph McTell

text: During 2017, McTell and Jones toured their "About Time" album, which was so well received that they recorded and issued a follow-up album, "About Time Too". Ahead of his solo autumn tour, McTell invited applicants to submit recordings of original music, from which McTell would select performers to open for him in an ‘open mic’ format at the shows. McTell then chose one act to open his London Palladium concert in October.


title: Ralph McTell

text: Since 2014, McTell had played an annual benefit concert for the UK homeless charity, Crisis at Christmas, and in 2017 McTell invited The Crisis Choir to sing "Streets of London" with him at his Palladium concert. McTell also recorded his song with The Crisis Choir and guest vocalist Annie Lennox, for release in the lead up to Christmas. The song charted at No.94 in the Official Singles Chart (for downloads, CDs and streams), and at No. 1 in the Official Physical Singles Chart (for CD sales).


title: Ralph McTell

text: In September 2018, McTell made his debut on BBC's music show "Later... with Jools Holland", on which he performed two songs, including the Bob Dylan-inspired "West 4th Street and Jones". In a short interview segment with Holland, McTell announced a new tour and album for 2019. The album, Hill of Beans, comprising 11 tracks including "West 4th Street and Jones", was released in September


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: In November 2017, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was removed as president and party leader of ZANU-PF, replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: On the evening of 14 November 2017, elements of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) gathered around Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, and seized control of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and key areas of the city. The next day, the ZDF issued a statement saying that it was not a coup d'état and that President Mugabe was safe, although the situation would return to normal only after the ZDF had dealt with the "criminals" around Mugabe responsible for the socio-economic problems of Zimbabwe. Jacob Zuma, then-President of South Africa, phoned Mugabe and was told that Mugabe was under house arrest but otherwise "fine".


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: The uprising took place amid tensions in the ruling ZANU–PF party between former First Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa (who was backed by the ZDF) and First Lady Grace Mugabe (who was backed by the younger G40 faction) over who would succeed the 93-year-old President Mugabe. A week after Mnangagwa was fired and forced to flee the country, and a day before troops moved into Harare, Zimbabwe Defence Forces chief Constantino Chiwenga issued a statement that purges of senior ZANU–PF officials like Mnangagwa had to stop.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: On 19 November, ZANU-PF removed Mugabe as party leader, replacing him with Mnangagwa, and issued a deadline of 20 November for Mugabe to resign the presidency or face impeachment. Mugabe did not resign, so on 21 November a joint session of Parliament met for his impeachment. After the session convened, Mugabe sent a letter to Zimbabwe's Parliament resigning the presidency. Second Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko became the Acting President. Mnangagwa was sworn in as president on 24 November 2017.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: In the first week of October 2017, tensions between Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Grace Mugabe, two leading figures to replace the 93-year-old Robert Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe, were prominently displayed in the public sphere. Mnangagwa, a protege of Mugabe's who had been his ally since the Zimbabwe War of Independence in the 1960s, said that doctors had confirmed that he had been poisoned during an August 2017 political rally led by the president and had to be airlifted to a hospital in South Africa for treatment. He also pledged his loyalty to the ZANU–PF party and President Mugabe and said that the story spread by his supporters that Grace Mugabe had ordered the poisoning via a dairy farm she controlled was untrue.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Grace Mugabe denied the poisoning claims as ridiculous and rhetorically asked: "Who is Mnangagwa, who is he?" Phelekezela Mphoko, Zimbabwe's other Vice-President, publicly criticised Mnangagwa, saying that his comments about the August incident were part of an attempt to destabilise the country and undermine the authority of the president, since doctors had actually concluded that stale food was to blame.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: During a planned speech in Harare, Grace Mugabe went off-script to attack Mnangagwa, saying that her supporters were constantly receiving threats that if Mnangagwa did not succeed Mugabe, they would be killed and that the faction backing Mnangagwa was plotting a coup d'état.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: At a rally, President Mugabe publicly rebuked Mnangagwa for the first time. At the same rally, Grace Mugabe called him a "coup plotter" and a "coward". The president fired Mnangagwa on 6 November. A statement from Information Minister Simon Khaya-Moyo said that Mnangagwa had "consistently and persistently exhibited traits of disloyalty, disrespect, deceitfulness and unreliability".


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Mnangagwa's dismissal essentially left Grace Mugabe, supported by her Generation 40 (G40) faction of younger ZANU–PF officials, as the only major contender to succeed Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa, one of Mugabe's last political allies who had stayed with him since independence in 1980, had the support of several generals in the Zimbabwean army, who had publicly stated that only a veteran of the war for independence – which would rule out Grace Mugabe – should rule the country. Although Mugabe had depended on support from the military to maintain his rule, in the last few years he had undertaken a systematic replacement of old veterans from the war of independence in important ZANU–PF party positions with younger officials who did not fight in the war. This move was seen as risky because Grace Mugabe was a divisive figure in Zimbabwe and did not have much support from important ZANU–PF officials from the liberation war era or in the South African region.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: On 8 November 2017, Mnangagwa fled to Mozambique and then South Africa to escape "incessant threats" against his family. Mnangagwa issued a statement saying that he did not plan to harm Mugabe. He told Mugabe, "You and your cohorts will instead leave ZANU–PF by the will of the people and this we will do in the coming few weeks." Mnangagwa vowed to return and called for members of ZANU–PF to abandon the president. After his exile, more than a hundred of Mnangagwa's alleged senior supporters were targeted for disciplinary sanctions by backers of Grace Mugabe.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: That same day, Christopher Mutsvangwa also left for South Africa, where he warned South African intelligence that a military intervention was about to take place in Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, Zimbabwean army chief General Constantino Chiwenga was on an official visit to China, where he met generals Chang Wanquan and Li Zuocheng. While in China, General Chiwenga was advised by the military intelligence wing that Mugabe had ordered his arrest upon his return to Zimbabwe on 12 November 2017. Plans had already been put in place through the ZRP Support Unit (A paramilitary wing of the police). Soldiers loyal to Chiwenga, disguised as baggage handlers, overpowered the police at the airport and cleared the way for his arrival.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Chiwenga called a press conference at the military headquarters where he read a statement saying that the military would intervene if their historical political allies continued to be targeted. He called recent events "treacherous shenanigans" and said that the military "will not hesitate to step in" if that was necessary to protect the Zimbabwean revolution. Chiwenga urged people to attend the December 2017 ZANU–PF party congress to exercise their democratic rights and that the party had been infiltrated by counter-revolutionaries. He also said that the infighting and purges in ZANU–PF had led to chaos and "no meaningful development in the country for the past five years". The statement was made with ninety high-ranking officers from important units of the Zimbabwe National Army present to create an image of army unity. The statement was originally broadcast on Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, the state broadcaster, but pulled off the air, though there was no initial official government response.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Military armoured vehicles were spotted on roadways around Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, and drove in convoys through the city. The same day, Kudzanayi Chipanga, the leader of the ruling ZANU–PF party's youth league, which is aligned with Grace Mugabe, said that the Youth League was "ready to die" to try and prevent the army from deposing Mugabe and choosing a new leader, and that the generals should retire if they were unsatisfied with Mugabe's rule and wanted to become politicians. Mugabe attended a weekly meeting of the Zimbabwe cabinet on Tuesday afternoon. In the early evening after the cabinet meeting, Khaya-Moyo spoke for ZANU–PF and accused Chiwenga of treason and inciting insurrection.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: That evening, soldiers took over the Harare offices of the state broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), manhandling some of its employees. Workers at the ZBC were later told that they did not have to worry and that the troops were protecting the station. According to the military, the reason for its actions was because the ZBC had been ordered not to broadcast the military's statement on Monday.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Around 10:30pm, Albert Ngulube, director of security of the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation was arrested by soldiers after leaving Mugabe's home. He was beaten up at the Presidential Guard headquarters and was released on Friday, 17 November for medical treatment at a private hospital in the capital.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: The army then proceeded to raid the homes of twenty other people. Minister of Higher Education Jonathan Moyo was tipped off by a member of the army on early Wednesday morning and fled to the house of Saviour Kasukuwere, Minister of Local Government, and his family. That home was then attacked by the army around 2.30am with gunfire before a ceasefire allowed the two families to escape to Mugabe's home. The army also raided the home of Finance Minister Ignatius Chombo, but they came under fire from his private Israeli security guards. One member of the guard was killed. Chombo was detained and assaulted by the troops; US$10 million in cash was found in the house. Police duties had been restricted and Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri was missing, presumed arrested.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: At 5 am Major General Sibusiso Moyo, the army chief of staff and an ally of Chiwenga's, spoke on behalf of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces in a broadcast on ZBC. Moyo asserted that it was not a military takeover and that President Mugabe was safe. However, the statement also said that the military was "targeting criminals" around Mugabe responsible for the country's socio-economic problems, and that after they achieved their aims, the situation would "return to normalcy". Moyo announced that all military leave was cancelled, soldiers should return to their barracks, security forces should "cooperate for the good of our country", and that "any provocation will be met with an appropriate response". Moyo also said that the independence of the judiciary of Zimbabwe was guaranteed and that citizens should remain calm and avoid unnecessary movement.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: After the speech, the military apprehended Ignatius Chombo, the Zimbabwean finance minister and a leader of G40, the pro-Grace Mugabe faction of ZANU–PF. According to South Africa's "The Times", other cabinet ministers seized who were leaders in G40 included Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Also early that morning, gunfire and artillery were heard in the northern suburbs of Harare, where many government officials, including the president, had their residences. According to Agence France-Presse, a witness heard sustained gunfire near Mugabe's private home in the suburb of Borrowdale. Reuters reported an explosion close to the main campus of the University of Zimbabwe. Soldiers also blocked access to the Parliament of Zimbabwe, government buildings, courthouses, and the president's official residence in Harare. It was reported that two journalists were assaulted by the military and hospitalised.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: The military announced a press conference for Wednesday morning, where it was expected that the responsible officers would present a deal with President Mugabe that settled his fate and that of his allies. However, the conference was delayed and then cancelled outright, possibly because of a breakdown in negotiations between Mugabe and the military.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: For most of Wednesday morning, state-controlled television and radio stations simply rebroadcast Moyo's statement without further news updates, and played patriotic songs from the 1980s about independence alongside normal programming. State-owned newspaper "The Herald" ran headlines downplaying the military's actions and its website ran a live blog under the headline "Live and developing: No Military Takeover in Zim".


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: By Wednesday afternoon, the roadblocks around key government buildings in Harare had been removed, armoured vehicles were off the streets, and there was no longer extra security in the Borrowdale suburb, where most senior officials had their private homes. Although there was less overall traffic in the city, ordinary activities like school, administrative offices, and businesses returned to normal. Outside Harare, including Bulawayo, the country's second-largest city, Zimbabweans experienced little to no added military presence.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: The same day, ZBC broadcast an apology from ZANU–PF youth wing leader Kudzai Chipanga to General Chiwenga, whom he had criticised the day before. Chipanga said that he made his statement voluntarily and that he and other members of the youth league "are still young and make mistakes".


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Morgan Tsvangirai, the former Prime Minister and leader of the main opposition party Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai, who had won 42% of the popular vote against Mugabe's 56.2% in the 2002 presidential election, returned from receiving cancer treatments abroad. Soon after his return to the country, Tsvangirai called for Mugabe to step down.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: ZANU–PF MP and government minister Paul Chimedza was arrested at an army roadblock in Bubi while attempting to flee to South Africa. In Harare, armoured vehicles remained at key locations.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: There were well-attended and exuberant but peaceful public demonstrations in Harare and in all major towns in the country, supporting the actions of the army and celebrating the apparent end of Mugabe's presidency. Demonstrators also massed outside his office calling on him to quit. Protesters booed and jeered a motorcade that left Mugabe's residence, although a security source stated that Mugabe was not travelling.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Mugabe was sacked by his party, and his wife and 20 of her associates were expelled as party members. However, in a speech delivered in Harare and broadcast on state television around the country, Mugabe ignored the party's actions and the political pressure around him, declining to resign and saying he would preside over the upcoming party conference. ZANU-PF issued Mugabe a deadline of noon on 20 November to resign or face impeachment.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Mugabe ignored the noon deadline for his resignation. Paul Mangwana, ZANU–PF's deputy secretary for legal affairs, said that impeachment could be set in motion as early as the next day. Mugabe would be impeached on the basis that he "allowed his wife to usurp constitutional power".


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Mangwana announced that party members had "unanimously" agreed to remove Mugabe from office and would work with the opposition MDC party to remove Mugabe in a two-day period. Mangwana also stated that a committee would be set up on 21 November and that the vote for impeachment would occur on 22 November.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Chiwenga announced in a televised address that Mnangagwa would soon return to Zimbabwe and hold talks with Mugabe, with whom he had now been in contact, and that the military coup, dubbed "Operation Restore Legacy", was progressing well.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: British news agency Reuters reported that impeachment proceedings would proceed after the ruling ZANU–PF party completed the draft for a motion of impeachment. A copy of the draft, which also included a motion for a no-confidence vote, was obtained by British newspaper "The Daily Telegraph". Of ZANU–PF's 250 lawmakers, all but 20 at a caucus meeting endorsed the impeachment motion, according to party Chairman Simon Khaya-Moyo.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Tsvangirai called for an all-stakeholders meeting to chart the country's future and an internationally supervised process for the forthcoming elections. He said an all-inclusive process to take the country to legitimacy was the only way forward.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: In a sitting of the House of Assembly, Sen. Monica Mutsvangwa of the ZANU–PF caucus made the motion to convene a joint session of Parliament with the full Senate for the impeachment of Mugabe, and MP James Maridadi of the MDC-T seconded the motion. The MPs then adjourned to the Harare International Conference Centre for the joint session because the Parliament building could not accommodate a joint sitting. The joint session was tasked with deciding on impeachment by a majority vote and selecting a nine-member committee to investigate the allegations against Mugabe:


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: If this committee recommended impeachment, the joint sitting had to approve the recommendation by a two-thirds majority (233 seats of the 347-seat total). However, both major parties supported the motion and controlled all but four seats in the House of Assembly and all but two seats in the Senate between them. Mugabe's impeachment and removal thus appeared all but certain.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Prior to the session, a cabinet meeting called by Mugabe was snubbed by 17 out of 22 members, with the absentees opting to attend a mandatory meeting of the ZANU–PF parliamentary caucus. Mnangagwa wrote a letter saying that he could not meet personally with Mugabe while his safety could not be guaranteed. The letter also urged Mugabe to resign.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: The crisis harmed Zimbabwe's economy, with investors dumping Zimbabwean stocks, sending them falling 10% on Monday to an eight-week low of 387.38.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: At 18:00 local time Mugabe resigned. His resignation, in the form of an official statement, was announced by Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda to the joint session. Many of the legislators in every party cheered happily right after Mudenda read Mugabe's resignation letter. In accordance with the Zimbabwean constitution, the Vice President, Phelekezela Mphoko, became acting president, pending nomination of a new candidate by the ruling party. However, as he was out of the country at the time, it is disputed whether or not he served in that acting position. The ZANU–PF chief whip duly nominated Mnangagwa, telling news organisations that he would take over as president within 48 hours.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Mnangagwa arrived in Zimbabwe in the afternoon and gave a speech to the public outside of ZANU-PF headquarters, pledging "the beginning of a new unfolding democracy". The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation posted a report that Mnangagwa would be sworn on 24 November as interim president to serve out the remainder of Mugabe's term in office.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Major General Moyo's initial statement said that "Mugabe and his family are safe and sound, and their security is guaranteed", indicating that President Mugabe and Grace Mugabe were likely both under military custody, though no clarifications were initially issued. South African President Jacob Zuma said that Robert Mugabe had been placed under house arrest by the Zimbabwe military. Mugabe told Zuma in a phone call that he was fine but was unable to leave his home.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Sky News reported that there were unconfirmed reports that Grace Mugabe had fled to Namibia. "The Guardian" also initially cited unconfirmed reports that she was in Namibia for a business trip, but later reported that she was apparently in detention with the rest of the family. On 15 November, Namibia neither confirmed nor denied the reports that Grace Mugabe was in the country. However, on 16 November, state-owned newspaper "New Era" quoted Namibian deputy prime minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah denying that Grace Mugabe was in the country.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: On Wednesday, 15 November, South African Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and State Security Minister Bongani Bongo arrived at the Harare airport but were not allowed to leave the airport until the evening, when they were allowed to move to a hotel. On Thursday, 16 November, Mugabe was at Harare's State House to participate in talks with General Chiwenga and the two envoys from the Southern African Development Community over a transition of power. His friend and Catholic priest Fidelis Mukonori acted as a mediator. Others present were Zimbabwe's Defence Minister and State Security Minister, Sydney Sekeramayi and Kembo Mohadi respectively. One of the leading figures in the alleged coup attempt of 2007, Air Vice Marshal Elson Moyo, was also present.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: According to sources referred to by "The Daily Telegraph" and BBC News, Mugabe and his allies did not support his voluntary resignation before the end of his presidential term, which would coincide with the planned general election in 2018. That same day, "The Independent" reported that ZANU–PF leaders planned to meet the next day to draft a resolution dismissing Mugabe as president on 19 November and impeaching him on 21 November if he refused to step down.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: On Friday, 17 November, Mugabe appeared to have been temporarily released from his house arrest to attend a graduation ceremony at Zimbabwe Open University in Harare.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: On Sunday, 19 November, Mugabe was sacked as the leader of ZANU–PF, and Emmerson Mnangagwa, the former Zimbabwean Vice President, appointed in his place. Reports emerged that Mugabe was on hunger strike, refusing to voluntarily step down as President of Zimbabwe. The same day, Grace Mugabe and 20 of her associates were expelled from ZANU–PF. Reports later that day suggested that Mugabe would resign during a television address that evening. However, during that address he said that he would remain as president.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: On 20 November, the country's military commander General Constantino Chiwenga announced in a televised address to the nation that former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa would soon return to Zimbabwe to resume talks with Mugabe and that he was encouraged by the contact between Mnangagwa, whom the army wanted to succeed Mugabe, and the President. On the same day, a motion to impeach and hold a no confidence vote against Mugabe was drafted by Lovemore Matuke, the ZANU–PF chief whip in parliament, before Mugabe finally resigned at 18:00 local time by sending a letter to the Speaker of Parliament. Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko became the Acting President.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: There was little interest among the political elite in prosecuting Mugabe, with those who had sought his impeachment in the past arguing he should be "allowed to rest". On 23 November, military authorities agreed to grant Mugabe and his wife immunity from prosecution. The couple was also to receive no less than $10 million, according to an official.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Nelson Chamisa, the deputy leader of the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai, the main opposition party in Zimbabwe, called for "peace, constitutionalism, democratization, the rule of law and the sanctity of human life". Tendai Biti, the leader of another opposition party, called for a "roadmap back to legitimacy" through a transitional government and dialogue with regional organisations. Evan Mawarire, a pastor and civic activist who had been arrested during the 2016–17 protests, asked citizens to "remain calm and hopeful, alert but prayerful" and that the crisis was "the culmination" of citizen activist work. Christopher Mutsvangwa, leader of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association and an ally of Mnangagwa, praised Army General Constantino Chiwenga for "a bloodless correction of gross abuse of power" and hoped that the army would restore a "genuine democracy" to Zimbabwe. Former Vice-President Joice Mujuru called for a transitional government focusing on economic recovery and electoral reform.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa, phoned Mugabe and confirmed his house arrest. Zuma also asked for calm and a transition that was in accordance with the Constitution of Zimbabwe. He also sent a ministerial-level envoy to talk with the leaders of the Zimbabwe military. Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party and previously a Mugabe supporter, voiced support for the army's initiative. He tweeted: "Someone had to do something, the army should make sure that there is no loss of life however anyone seeking to undermine this transition should be dealt with decisively. Finally free and stable Zimbabwe is coming in our life time." Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the Democratic Alliance party simply stated that Mugabe must step down and called him a dictator. He also called for the democratic process to be upheld. Nedbank, a major South African bank, sent home several of its South African employees working for its Zimbabwean subsidiary, MBCA Bank.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the Foreign Minister of Namibia, said that the incident "creates uncertainty that is not conducive to peace, stability, and consolidation of democracy in Zimbabwe and the region as a whole" and said that Namibia expected that democratic institutions in Zimbabwe would continue to function under its constitution. Nandi-Ndaitwah also said that the Namibian government expected Zimbabwe to abide by the Southern African Development Community's Treaty on Governance and the African Union Constitutive Act. On 16 November, Namibia denied reports that Grace Mugabe was in the country.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Alpha Condé, the President of Guinea and the leader of the African Union, rebuked the actions of the military and demanded the immediate restoration of the rule of law under the Zimbabwean Constitution. Edgar Lungu, the President of Zambia, condemned the events, saying that they were "not in tune with modern politics". While Abdelaziz Benali Cherif, the Foreign Minister of Algeria, called for respect for Zimbabwe's constitutional order. Fatoumata Tambajang, Vice-President of the Gambia, called for dialogue between the military and political leadership to solve the crisis.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: The Southern African Development Community (SADC) held an urgent meeting at the SADC headquarters in Gaborone on 16 November. The meeting was called by Zuma and was expected to be attended by the leaders of Angola, Tanzania, and Zambia.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: On 22 November, Kenya's former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a key mediator of the 2008–09 Zimbabwean political negotiations, hailed Zimbabwe for "peacefully overthrowing tyranny and dictatorship". The African Union issued a statement in which it refrained from describing the military intervention as a 'coup', but instead said Mugabe's ouster was a legitimate expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Foreign embassies, including the American, Canadian, British, and Dutch embassies in Harare, issued warnings to citizens of their countries to stay indoors because of the military activity in the city. A German spokesperson for the Federal Foreign Office told a press conference in Berlin that "We see developments there with concern ... The situation there is confusing and unclear." British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called "for everybody to refrain from violence" and stated that "everybody wants to see a stable and successful Zimbabwe".


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: While Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull characterised the Mugabe regime as a dictatorship, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade upgraded its travel advice, warning Australians to reconsider travelling to the country. The Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed that a meeting which occurred on 10 November between General Chiwenga and Chinese defence minister Chang Wanquan was innocuous and that China hoped that "the relevant parties in Zimbabwe [would] appropriately handle their internal matters".


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza called for the "immediate restoration of the democratic institution and the respect for the Constitution".


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, through his deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq, encouraged peace and resolution through negotiation within the workings of Zimbabwean Constitution. The UN also acknowledged the efforts of the SADC in resolving the crisis. European Commission spokesperson Catherine Ray stated that the situation "is a matter of concern for the EU" and called for "peaceful resolution".


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Deputy Russian Prime Minister Yury Trutnev, on a visit to Southern Africa, directly blamed President Robert Mugabe for getting himself into trouble by failing to address the socioeconomic issues of the country which had left Zimbabweans impoverished and angry.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Mugabe's resignation a "historic moment" for the country. He further congratulated Zimbabweans for peacefully bringing about a change which "was overdue" and emphasized that the United States would support Zimbabwe in transitioning to a stable, democratic government and economy.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: British Prime Minister Theresa May welcomed Mugabe's resignation stating that it "provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterised his rule".


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Derek Matyszak, an analyst from the Institute for Security Studies, said that it was rare to see tanks on Zimbabwe's roads, and that their mere presence meant that the country was "entering new territory". According to Nii Akuetteh, an African policy analyst, the army's decision to present its actions as not being a coup was to avoid garnering opposition to their actions.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Brian Latham, a journalist with "Bloomberg", judged that the future succession to Mugabe would be determined by four power brokers in the Zimbabwe elite. In addition to Emmerson Mnangagwa and Constantine Chiwenga, Latham also deemed that the influence of Lieutenant-General Philip Valerio Sibanda and Air Marshal Perrance Shiri would be decisive.


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: A 2019 study argued that the coup occurred "because soldiers from Zimbabwe’s 1970s independence war subscribed to the coup’s stated ideal to restore liberation struggle principles in the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front party as well as party members who had been sidelined. Liberation war veterans held decisive army and air force command posts when the coup occurred... the coup’s catalyst was Mugabe’s refusal to meet his generals on 13 November 2017, for vital talks on widening differences between both parties. Sealing off dialogue catalyzed the coup."


title: 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état

text: Days before the coup, General Constantino Chiwenga visited China to meet senior Chinese military leaders, including Generals Chang Wanquan and Li Zuocheng. Chiwenga's visit to China has come under scrutiny, with speculation that he had sought Beijing's tacit approval for a possible move against Mugabe. However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that his visit was a "normal military exchange." The Chinese embassy in South Africa called the reports of Chinese involvement "contradictory, full of logical inconsistencies, and motivated by evil intentions."


title: Robert L. Howard

text: Robert Lewis Howard (July 11, 1939 – December 23, 2009) was the most highly decorated officer of Vietnam United States Army Special Forces and Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: He was wounded 14 times over 54 months of combat, was awarded the Medal of Honor, eight Purple Hearts, a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, and four Bronze Stars.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: He was nominated for the Medal of Honor three times over a 13-month period but received lesser medals for the first two nominations, which were for actions performed in Cambodia where the U.S. was fighting covertly. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on December 30, 1968, his third nomination.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: He retired from the US Army after 36 years of service as a full colonel. He was one of the most decorated soldiers in the Vietnam War and was "said to be the most decorated service member in the history of the United States".


title: Robert L. Howard

text: He died as a result of pancreatic cancer, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on February 22, 2010.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: Howard enlisted in the Army in 1956 at Montgomery, Alabama and retired as colonel, Army Special Forces, in 1992.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: Howard's service in Vietnam included assignments with 1/327th Airborne Infantry, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, 5th Special Forces Group and MACV-SOG


title: Robert L. Howard

text: As a staff sergeant of the highly classified Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG), Howard was recommended for the Medal of Honor on three occasions for three individual actions during thirteen months spanning 1967–1968. The first two nominations were downgraded to a Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross due to the covert and top secret nature of the operations in which Howard participated.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: As a sergeant first class of the SOG, he risked his life during a rescue mission in Cambodia on December 30, 1968, while second in command of a platoon-sized Hatchet Force that was searching for missing American soldier Robert Scherdin for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. He learned of the award over a two-way radio while under enemy fire, immediately after being wounded, resulting in one of his eight Purple Hearts.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: Howard was wounded 14 times during a 54-month period in the Vietnam War. For his distinguished service, Howard received a direct appointment from Master Sergeant to First Lieutenant in December 1969.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: Howard graduated from Ranger School class 7-73 in May 1973 and served with the 2nd Ranger Battalion at Fort Lewis, Washington as company commander. From 1977 to 1978 he served as Mountain Ranger Training instructor.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: Howard later served as officer-in-charge of Special Forces training at Camp Mackall, near Ft. Bragg, N.C., and later, commanding the Mountain Ranger Training Camp at Dahlonega, Georgia


title: Robert L. Howard

text: He received two master's degrees during his Army career which spanned 1956 to 1992. Howard retired as a colonel in 1992.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: He was one of the most decorated soldiers in the Vietnam War. "NBC News" said that Howard may have been the most highly decorated American soldier of the modern era, while KWTX-TV states that he was "said to be the most decorated service member in the history of the United States". John Plaster in his 1998 book "SOG: The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam" states that Howard "remains to this day the most highly decorated American soldier."


title: Robert L. Howard

text: His residence was in Texas and he spent much of his free time working with veterans until the time of his death. He also took periodic trips to Iraq to visit active duty troops.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: Howard died of pancreatic cancer at a hospital in Waco, Texas, on December 23, 2009. He was survived by four children and five grandchildren.


title: Robert L. Howard

text: In 2014, Howard was announced as the recipient of United States Special Operations Command's Bull Simons award for his "lifetime achievements in Special Operations".


title: Robert L. Howard

text: In April 2017 a building at the Rowe Training Facility on Camp Mackall was named Howard Hall in his honor.


title: Britt Baron

text: Britt Baron (born October 16, 1991) is an American actress, best known for her role as Justine in "GLOW", an American comedy-drama streaming television wrestling series on Netflix and as Tifa Lockhart in "Final Fantasy VII Remake."


title: Britt Baron

text: Britt Baron was born Brittany Noelle Uomoleale in White Plains, New York and grew up in Westport, Connecticut. She graduated in Performance Arts at the University of Michigan in 2013.