Description.

"B. anthracis" are rod-shaped bacteria, approximately 3 to 5 micrometers long and 1 to 1.2 micrometers wide. When grown in culture, they tend to form long chains of bacteria. On agar plates, they form large colonies several millimeters across that are generally white or cream colored. Most "B. anthracis" strains produce a capsule that gives colonies a slimy mucus-like appearance.

Genome structure.

"B. anthracis" has a single chromosome which is a circular, 5,227,293-bp DNA molecule. It also has two circular, extrachromosomal, double-stranded DNA plasmids, pXO1 and pXO2. Both the pXO1 and pXO2 plasmids are required for full virulence and represent two distinct plasmid families.

pXO1 plasmid.

The pXO1 plasmid (182 kb) contains the genes that encode for the anthrax toxin components: "pag" (protective antigen, PA), "lef" (lethal factor, LF), and "cya" (edema factor, EF). These factors are contained within a 44.8-kb pathogenicity island (PAI). The lethal toxin is a combination of PA with LF and the edema toxin is a combination of PA with EF. The PAI also contains genes which encode a transcriptional activator AtxA and the repressor PagR, both of which regulate the expression of the anthrax toxin genes.

pXO2 plasmid.

pXO2 encodes a five-gene operon ("capBCADE") which synthesizes a poly-γ-D-glutamic acid (polyglutamate) capsule. This capsule allows "B. anthracis" to evade the host immune system by protecting itself from phagocytosis. Expression of the capsule operon is activated by the transcriptional regulators AcpA and AcpB, located in the pXO2 pathogenicity island (35 kb). AcpA and AcpB expression are under the control of AtxA from pXO1.

Strains.

The 89 known strains of "B. anthracis" include:

Evolution.

Whole genome sequencing has made reconstruction of the "B. anthracis" phylogeny extremely accurate. A contributing factor to the reconstruction is "B. anthracis" being monomorphic, meaning it has low genetic diversity, including the absence of any measurable lateral DNA transfer since its derivation as a species. The lack of diversity is due to a short evolutionary history that has precluded mutational saturation in single nucleotide polymorphisms.  A short evolutionary time does not necessarily mean a short chronological time. When DNA is replicated, mistakes occur which become genetic mutations. The buildup of these mutations over time leads to the evolution of a species. During the "B. anthracis" lifecycle, it spends a significant amount of time in the soil spore reservoir stage, in which DNA replication does not occur. These prolonged periods of dormancy have greatly reduced the evolutionary rate of the organism.

Related Strains.

"B. anthracis" belongs to the "B. cereus" group consisting of the strains: "B. cereus", "B. anthracis", "B. thuringiensis", "B. weihenstephanensis", "B. mycoides", and "B. pseudomycoides". The first three strains are pathogenic or opportunistic to insects or mammals, while the last three are not considered pathogenic. The strains of this group are genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous overall, but some of the strains are more closely related and phylogenetically intermixed at the chromosome level. The "B. cereus" group generally exhibits complex genomes and most carry varying numbers of plasmids.  "B. cereus" is a soil-dwelling bacterium which can colonize the gut of invertebrates as a symbiont and is a frequent cause of food poisoning It produces an emetic toxin, enterotoxins, and other virulence factors. The enterotoxins and virulence factors are encoded on the chromosome, while the emetic toxin is encoded on a 270-kb plasmid, pCER270.  "B. thuringiensis" is an insect pathogen and is characterized by production of parasporal crystals of insecticidal toxins Cry and Cyt. The genes encoding these proteins are commonly located on plasmids which can be lost from the organism, making it indistinguishable from "B. cereus".

Pseudogene.

"PlcR" is a global transcriptional regulator which controls most of the secreted virulence factors in "B. cereus" and "B. thuringiensis". It is chromosomally encoded and is ubiquitous throughout the cell. In "B. anthracis", however, the "plcR" gene contains a single base change at position 640, a nonsense mutation, which creates a dysfunctional protein. While 1% of the "B. cereus" group carries an inactivated "plcR" gene, none of them carries the specific mutation found only in "B. anthracis".  The "plcR" gene is part of a two-gene operon with "papR". The "papR" gene encodes a small protein which is secreted from the cell and the reimported as a processed heptapeptide forming a quorum-sensing system. The lack of PlcR in "B. anthracis" is a principle characteristic differentiating it from other members of the "B. cereus" group. While "B. cereus" and "B. thuringiensis" depend on the "plcR" gene for expression of their virulence factors, "B. anthracis" relies on the pXO1 and pXO2 plasmids for its virulence. "Bacillus cereus" biovar "anthracis", i.e. "B. cereus" with the two plasmids, is also capable of causing anthrax.abu arar

Clinical aspects.

Pathogenesis.

"B. anthracis" possesses an antiphagocytic capsule essential for full virulence. The organism also produces three plasmid-coded exotoxins: edema factor, a calmodulin-dependent adenylate cyclase that causes elevation of intracellular cAMP and is responsible for the severe edema usually seen in "B. anthracis" infections, lethal toxin which is responsible for causing tissue necrosis, and protective antigen, so named because of its use in producing protective anthrax vaccines, which mediates cell entry of edema factor and lethal toxin.

Manifestations in human disease.

The symptoms in anthrax depend on the type of infection and can take anywhere from 1 day to more than 2 months to appear. All types of anthrax have the potential, if untreated, to spread throughout the body and cause severe illness and even death.  Four forms of human anthrax disease are recognized based on their portal of entry.

Prevention and treatment.

A number of anthrax vaccines have been developed for preventive use in livestock and humans. Anthrax vaccine adsorbed (AVA) may protect against cutaneous and inhalation anthrax. However, this vaccine is only used for at-risk adults before exposure to anthrax and has not been approved for use after exposure. Infections with "B. anthracis" can be treated with β-lactam antibiotics such as penicillin, and others which are active against Gram-positive bacteria. Penicillin-resistant "B. anthracis" can be treated with fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin or tetracycline antibiotics such as doxycycline.

Laboratory research.

Components of tea, such as polyphenols, have the ability to inhibit the activity both of "B. anthracis" and its toxin considerably; spores, however, are not affected. The addition of milk to the tea completely inhibits its antibacterial activity against anthrax. Activity against the "B. anthracis" in the laboratory does not prove that drinking tea affects the course of an infection, since it is unknown how these polyphenols are absorbed and distributed within the body. "B. anthracis" can be cultured on PLET agar, a selective and differential media designed to select specifically for "B. anthracis".

Recent research.

Advances in genotyping methods have led to improved genetic analysis for variation and relatedness. These methods include multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) and typing systems using canonical single-nucleotide polymorphisms. The Ames ancestor chromosome was sequenced in 2003 and contributes to the identification of genes involved in the virulence of "B. anthracis". Recently, "B. anthracis" isolate H9401 was isolated from a Korean patient suffering from gastrointestinal anthrax. The goal of the Republic of Korea is to use this strain as a challenge strain to develop a recombinant vaccine against anthrax.  The H9401 strain isolated in the Republic of Korea was sequenced using 454 GS-FLX technology and analyzed using several bioinformatics tools to align, annotate, and compare H9401 to other "B. anthracis" strains. The sequencing coverage level suggests a molecular ratio of pXO1:pXO2:chromosome as 3:2:1 which is identical to the Ames Florida and Ames Ancestor strains. H9401 has 99.679% sequence homology with Ames Ancestor with an amino acid sequence homology of 99.870%. H9401 has a circular chromosome (5,218,947 bp with 5,480 predicted ORFs), the pXO1 plasmid (181,700 bp with 202 predicted ORFs), and the pXO2 plasmid (94,824 bp with 110 predicted ORFs). As compared to the Ames Ancestor chromosome above, the H9401 chromosome is about 8.5 kb smaller. Due to the high pathogenecity and sequence similarity to the Ames Ancestor, H9401 will be used as a reference for testing the efficacy of candidate anthrax vaccines by the Republic of Korea.  Since the genome of B. anthracis was sequenced, alternative ways to battle this disease are being endeavored. Bacteria have developed several strategies to evade recognition by the immune system. The predominant mechanism for avoiding detection, employed by all bacteria is molecular camouflage. Slight modifications in the outer layer that render the bacteria practically invisible to lysozymes. Three of these modifications have been identified and characterized. These include (1) N-glycosylation of N-acetyl-muramic acid, (2) O-acetylation of N-acetylmuramic acid and (3) N-deacetylation of N-acetyl-glucosamine. Research during the last few years has focused on inhibiting such modifications. As a result the enzymatic mechanism of polysaccharide de-acetylases is being investigated, that catalyze the removal of an acetyl group from N-acetyl-glucosamine and N-acetyl-muramic acid, components of the peptidoglycan layer.

Host interactions.

As with most other pathogenic bacteria, "B. anthracis" must acquire iron to grow and proliferate in its host environment. The most readily available iron sources for pathogenic bacteria are the heme groups used by the host in the transport of oxygen. To scavenge heme from host hemoglobin and myoglobin, "B. anthracis" uses two secretory siderophore proteins, IsdX1 and IsdX2. These proteins can separate heme from hemoglobin, allowing surface proteins of "B. anthracis" to transport it into the cell.

Sampling.

The presence of "B. anthracis" can be determined through samples taken on non-porous surfaces.

Historical background.

French physician Casimir Davaine (1812-1882) demonstrated the symptoms of anthrax were invariably accompanied by the microbe "B. anthracis". German physician Aloys Pollender (1799–1879) is credited for discovery. "B. anthracis" was the first bacterium conclusively demonstrated to cause disease, by Robert Koch in 1876. The species name "anthracis" is from the Greek "anthrax" (ἄνθραξ), meaning "coal" and referring to the most common form of the disease, cutaneous anthrax, in which large, black skin lesions are formed. Throughout the 19th century, Anthrax was an infection that involved several very important medical developments. The first vaccine containing live organisms was Louis Pasteur's veterinary anthrax vaccine.

References.

References from SDH 1. Abakar, Mahamat H., and Hassan H. Mahamat. “Properties and Antibiotic Susceptibility of Bacillus Anthracis Isolates from Humans, Cattle and Tabanids, and Evaluation of Tabanid as Mechanical Vector of Anthrax in the Republic of Chad.” Jordan Journal of Biological Sciences, vol. 5, no. 3, Sept. 2012, pp. 203–208. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=79730545&site=ehost-live&scope=site.  2. Edmonds, Jason, et al. “Multigeneration Cross-Contamination of Mail with Bacillus Anthracis Spores.” PLoS ONE, vol. 11, no. 4, Apr. 2016, pp. 1–13. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0152225.  3. Sekhavati, Mohammad, et al. “‘In-House’ Production of DNA Size Marker from a Vaccinal Bacillus Anthracis Strain.” Iranian Journal of Microbiology, vol. 7, no. 1, Feb. 2015, pp. 45–49. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=103072230&site=ehost-live&scope=site.  4. Roy, P., et al. “Biochemical and Immunological Characterization of Anthrax Spore Vaccine in Goat.” Bangladesh Journal of Veterinary Medicine, vol. 11, no. 2, Dec. 2013, pp. 151–157. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=96279450&site=ehost-live&scope=site.  5. Kušar, D., et al. “Detection of Bacillus Anthracis in the Air, Soil and Animal Tissue.” Acta Veterinaria, vol. 62, no. 1, Jan. 2012, pp. 77–89. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2298/AVB1201077K.

Bacillus anthracis is the agent of anthrax—a common disease of livestock and, occasionally, of humans—and the only obligate pathogen within the genus "Bacillus". This disease can be classified as a zoonosis, causing infected animals to transmit the disease to humans. "B. anthracis" is a Gram-positive, endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, with a width of 1.0–1.2 μm and a length of 3–5 μm. It can be grown in an ordinary nutrient medium under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. It is one of few bacteria known to synthesize a protein capsule (poly-D-gamma-glutamic acid). Like "Bordetella pertussis", it forms a calmodulin-dependent adenylate cyclase exotoxin known as anthrax edema factor, along with anthrax lethal factor. It bears close genotypical and phenotypical resemblance to "Bacillus cereus" and "Bacillus thuringiensis". All three species share cellular dimensions and morphology. All form oval spores located centrally in an unswollen sporangium. "B. anthracis" endospores, in particular, are highly resilient, surviving extremes of temperature, low-nutrient environments, and harsh chemical treatment over decades or centuries.

Bacillus anthracis je grampozitivní fakultativně anaerobní bakterie tyčinkovitého tvaru z rodu "Bacillus". Je známá především jako původce onemocnění anthrax, v přírodě je to však půdní bakterie, která tvoří spory. Rozměry jejích buněk jsou 1 × 3-8 μm (poměrně velké).


Biography.

Dunayevsky was born to a Jewish family in Lokhvitsa, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire in 1900. He studied at the Kharkov Musical School in 1910 where he studied violin under Konstanty Gorski and Joseph Achron. During this period he started to study the theory of music under Semyon Bogatyrev (1890–1960). He graduated in 1919 from the Kharkov Conservatory. At first he was a violinist, the leader of the orchestra in Kharkov. Then he started a conducting career. In 1924 he went to Moscow to run the Theatre Hermitage. In 1929 he worked for the first time for a music hall ("To the icy place") with Moscow music hall. Later, he worked in Leningrad (1929–1941) as a director and conductor of the Saint Petersburg music hall (1929–34), and then moved to Moscow to work on his own operettas and film music.  Dunayevsky wrote 14 operettas, 3 ballets, 3 cantatas, 80 choruses, 80 songs and romances, music for 88 plays and 42 films, 43 compositions for light music orchestra and 12 for jazz orchestra, 17 melodeclamations, 52 compositions for symphony orchestra and 47 piano compositions and a string quartet.  He was one of the first composers in the Soviet Union to start using jazz. His music was accessible to the masses, with melodious and memorable tunes that secured his success. He wrote the music for three of the most important films of the pre-war Stalinist era, "Jolly Fellows", "Circus" and the film said to be Stalin's favourite film "Volga-Volga", all directed by Grigori Aleksandrov.  In a reply to the British book "The World of Music", he listed the following as his chief works: "The Golden Valley" operetta (1937), "The Free Wind" operetta (1947), and music to the films "Circus" (1935) and "The Kuban Cossacks" (1949).  He died of a heart attack in Moscow in 1955. His last piece, the operetta "White Acacia" (1955), was left unfinished at his death. It was completed by Kirill Molchanov and staged on 15 November 1955, in Moscow.  A previously unknown opera libretto "Rachel" (1943) by Mikhail Bulgakov, was later found in his archive. The libretto was based on Guy de Maupassant's "Mademoiselle Fifi" and was published in a book by Naum Shafer (see references and links below).  A book of his essays and memoirs was published in 1961.

Honours.

Dunayevsky was named a People's Artist of RSFSR in 1950. He was twice awarded the Stalin Prize (1941, 1951) and received two orders and many medals (including the Order of the Red Labour Banner, the Order of the Red Star, and the Badge of Honour).

Family.

His brother Semyon (1906–1986) was a conductor; another brother, Zinovy (1908–1981), was a composer.  Dunayevsky was married once. He had a son Yevgeny (b. 1932) by his wife Zinaida Sudeikina, and another son Maksim (b. 1945) by his lover, the ballerina Zoya Pashkova. Maksim is also a well-known composer.  His daughter Alina (granddaughter of Isaak), who is living in France (was born in 1983 in Moscow), is continuing her grandfather's and her father's traditions. She is an author-composer, dancer, model and singer. She is the founder of her pop-rock-electro band Markize in Paris. She is well known in rock circles of Europe and Russia. She has issued two albums (one edited and reedited in France and in Russia), several video-clips and several singles. She made a great number of international concerts. In 2009 she was invited as a Guest of Honor to sing in duet with a French pop-singer. She was also invited to take part in projects of other different artists and has her fan-clubs in different countries. Alina Dunaevskaya: www.alina-dunaevskaya.com

Works.

Also:

Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky (; also transliterated as Dunaevski or Dunaevsky; 25 July 1955) was a Soviet film composer and conductor of the 1930s and 1940s, who achieved huge success in music for operetta and film comedies, frequently working with the film director Grigori Aleksandrov. He is considered one of the greatest Soviet composers of all time. Many of his songs are very well known and held in high regard in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Isaak Osipovič Dunajevskij, rusky Исаак Осипович Дунаевский (30. ledna 1900 Lochvica, Poltavská gubernie – 25. července 1955 Moskva) byl ruský hudební skladatel a dirigent židovského původu. Jednalo se o autora známého především na poli ruské populární hudby, který kromě běžných písní psal také filmovou, scénickou a cirkusovou hudbu. Kromě toho je také autorem několika operet. Ve své době byl jedním z nejpopulárnějších hudebních skladatelů v bývalém Sovětském svazu.


History.

Beauvais was known to the Romans by the Gallo-Roman name of "Caesaromagus" ("magos" is Common Celtic for "field"). The post-Renaissance Latin rendering is "Bellovacum" from the Belgic tribe the Bellovaci, whose capital it was. In the ninth century it became a countship, which about 1013 passed to the bishops of Beauvais, who became peers of France from the twelfth century. At the coronations of kings the Bishop of Beauvais wore the royal mantle and went, with the Bishop of Langres, to raise the king from his throne to present him to the people.  "De Bello Gallico" II 13 reports that as Julius Caesar was approaching a fortified town called Bratuspantium in the land of the Bellovaci, its inhabitants surrendered to him when he was about 5 Roman miles away. Its name is Gaulish for "place where judgements are made", from *"bratu-spantion". Some say that Bratuspantium is Beauvais. Others theorize that it is Vendeuil-Caply or Bailleul sur Thérain.  From 1004 to 1037, the Count of Beauvais was Odo II, Count of Blois.  In a charter dated 1056/1060, Eudo of Brittany granted land "in pago Belvacensi" (Beauvais, Picardy) to the Abbey of Angers Saint-Aubin (see Albinus of Angers).  In 1346 the town had to defend itself against the English, who again besieged it in 1433. The siege which it endured in 1472 at the hands of the Duke of Burgundy was rendered famous by the heroism of the town's women, under the leadership of Jeanne Hachette, whose memory is still celebrated by a procession on 27 June (the feast of Sainte Angadrême), during which women take precedence over men.  An interesting hoard of coins from the High Middle Ages became known as the "Beauvais Hoard", because some of the British and European coins found with the lot were from the French abbey located in Beauvais. The hoard, which contained a variety of rare and extremely rare Anglo-Norman pennies, English and foreign coins, was reputed to have been found in or near Paris.  Beauvais was extensively damaged during World War I, and again in World War II during the German advance on Paris in June 1940. Much of the older part of the city was all but destroyed, and the cathedral badly damaged before being liberated by British forces on 30 August 1944.

Geography.

Beauvais lies at the foot of wooded hills on the left bank of the Thérain at its confluence with the Avelon. Its ancient ramparts have been destroyed, and it is now surrounded by boulevards, outside of which run branches of the Thérain. In addition, there are spacious promenades in the north-east of the town.

Climate.

Beauvais experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfb"). The average annual temperature is 9.9 °C (1961–1990), the sunlight annual average of 1669 hours (1991–2010). Hills Bray are provided to the precipitation of Beauvais. The precipitation is 669 mm on average per year (1981–2010), while it is 800 mm on average per year in Bray. However, the frequency of rainfall is high. The average number of days per year above the precipitation of a 1 mm is 116 days, or every third day. The fog is often present, it is estimated at about 55 days a year. The department is affected by 41 days of average wind year, usually it comes from the west to the south.

Sights.

Cathedral.

The city's cathedral, dedicated to Saint Peter ("Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais"), in some respects the most daring achievement of Gothic architecture, consists only of a transept and quire with apse and seven apse-chapels. The vaulting in the interior exceeds 46 m or 150 feet in height. The cathedral underwent a major repair and restoration process in 2008.  The small Romanesque church of the 10th century known as the "Basse Oeuvre" occupies the site destined for the nave; much of its east end was demolished to make room for the new cathedral.  Begun in 1247, under Bishop William of Grès (Guillaume de Grès, Guillaume de Grez), an extra were added to the height, to make it the tallest cathedral in Europe: the work was interrupted in 1284 by the collapse of the vaulting of the choir, a disaster that produced a temporary failure of nerve among the masons working in Gothic style. The transept was built from 1500 to 1548. In 1573 the fall of a too-ambitious central tower stopped work again, after which little addition was made.  Its façades, especially that on the south, exhibit all the richness of the late Gothic style. The carved wooden doors of both the north and the south portals are masterpieces respectively of Gothic and Renaissance workmanship. The church possesses an elaborate astronomical clock (1866) and tapestries of the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries; but its chief artistic treasures are stained glass windows of the thirteenth, fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, the most beautiful of them from the hand of the Renaissance artist, Engrand Le Prince, a native of Beauvais. To him also is due some of the stained glass in St. Etienne, the second church of the town, and an interesting example of the transition stage between the Romanesque and Gothic styles.  During the Middle Ages, on 14 January, the Feast of Asses was celebrated in the Beauvais Cathedral, in commemoration of the Flight into Egypt.

Other notable sites.

In the "Place de l'Hôtel de Ville" and in the old streets near the cathedral there are several houses dating from the 12th to the 16th centuries. The "Hôtel de ville", close to which stands the statue of Jeanne Hachette, was built in 1752.  The episcopal palace, now housing the Musée départemental de l'Oise, was built in the 16th century, partly upon the Gallo-Roman fortifications. The church of "Saint-Étienne" is a Romanesque-Gothic building (early 12th-late 16th centuries), including, in one of its transept's portals, a sculpture of "Wheel of Life"

Transport.

Rail transport.

The railway station, Gare de Beauvais, opened since 1857 is currently served by several TER lines:

Air transport.

Beauvais-Tillé Airport, dating from the 1930s, lies in north of the city, in Tillé. It is used as a gateway to Paris by several low-cost carriers. Traffic growth is significant: in 1997, 200,000 passengers used it annually, but by 2006, it was more than 1.8 million. Airport usage increased by 40% a year on average between 2001 and 2005. The airport is mainly used for passenger traffic (only 2 to 3 flights involve freight each month) and serves 48 destinations.

Public transport.

Public transport in Beauvais is provided by (formerly "The Urban Transport network of Beauvaisis" or ). The transit bus (commuter bus) network consists of 25 regular lines which serve Beauvais and its suburbs, including:

Environmentally friendly transportation.

In an effort to promote cleaner urban transportation and protect the environment, the city began to develop a "Green Plan" ("Plan vert"). Ultimately, the goal is to have a network of bicycle paths.

Economy.

The industry of Beauvais comprises, besides the state manufacture of tapestry, which dates from 1664, the manufacture of various kinds of cotton and woollen goods, brushes, toys, boots and shoes, and bricks and tiles. Market-gardening flourishes in the vicinity and an extensive trade is carried on in grain and wine.  The town is the seat of a bishop, a prefect and a "Court of Assizes"; it has "Tribunals of First Instance" and of commerce, together with a Chamber of Commerce, a branch of the Bank of France, a higher ecclesiastical seminary, a "lycée" and training colleges.  Amongst the major companies operating in the town are Nestle and Agco (Massey Ferguson). Also present since 1986 is RS Components, founded by Jerry Vaughan, and now operating from a purpose built distribution centre to the east of the town  Beauvais also has a small airport, Beauvais Tillé, which is used by several low-cost carrier and charter airlines such as Ryanair as a terminal for nearby Paris, to which frequent shuttle buses run.

Education.

Beauvais has the following schools:  Public schools:  Private schools:

Sport.

Beauvais is home to AS Beauvais Oise, a football club playing in the Championnat National (), which is supported by a fine percussion band.

International relations.

Twin towns – sister cities.

Beauvais is twinned with:

Beauvais (, ; historical English: Beawayes, Beeway, Boway; ) is a city and commune in northern France. It serves as the capital of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region. Beauvais is located approximately from Paris. The residents of the city are called Beauvaisiens.

Beauvais je město v severní Francii (Picardie) asi 90 km severně od Paříže. Je to hlavní město departementu Oise se slavnou katedrálou, která je na Seznamu světového dědictví UNESCO a dalšími památkami. V roce 2011 zde žilo 54 189 obyvatel.


Club career.

St. Pauli.

Born in Hamburg, West Germany, Klasnić started his professional career with local side St. Pauli, and impressed as a striker in the three-and-a-half seasons that he played for the club in the 2. Bundesliga since becoming a professional in January 1998. Prior to his spell at St. Pauli, he played for less known amateur sides Union 03 Hamburg and TSV Stellingen.

Werder Bremen.

After helping St. Pauli to gain promotion to the first division with 10 goals scored for the club in the second division during the 2000–01 season, he made the switch to Werder Bremen in the summer of 2001 and finally made his mark in the first team in 2003 with some powerful performances in the Bundesliga. His first two seasons at the club had been marked by erratic form (he scored only three goals in 36 Bundesliga appearances) and two serious knee injuries, but he laid old ghosts to rest as he emerged a key figure in Werder Bremen's march to the Bundesliga title in the 2003–04 season, when he also won the DFB-Pokal with the club. He scored 13 goals and made another 11 for his Brazilian strike partner Ailton. His expiring contract caused a scramble for his signature at the beginning of the year before he eventually decided to stay at Bremen.  Participating in the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League season, Klasnić scored five goals in the two group matches against Belgian side RSC Anderlecht, including a hat-trick in the 5–1 home victory for Werder Bremen, helping the team to advance to the first knock-out stage of the competition before losing to strong French side Olympique Lyonnais, who crushed them 10–2 on aggregate.  His start in the 2006–07 season was not very successful either and he had to make seven Bundesliga appearances before finally scoring his first league goal of the season in Werder Bremen's quite disappointing 1–1 draw against underdogs Energie Cottbus at home. However, Klasnić suffered a kidney failure in early 2007 ("see Illness and kidney transplant") and was out for more than ten months. In April 2008 he claimed that Werder's club physicians could have already detected the illness in 2002 and thus sued them in Landgericht Bremen. He also stated that he would not prolong his expiring contract with Werder since it would mean to be treated by the same medical personnel who had not detected his illness in time.  On 14 May 2008, Werder Bremen confirmed that Klasnić was leaving the club.

Nantes.

On 8 July 2008, Klasnić moved to FC Nantes where he was loaned, then he signed a four-year contract. After one very difficult season with just six goals in 28 games for him, Nantes was relegated in French Ligue 2. The next season, he scored four goals in just five games.

Bolton Wanderers.

Klasnić signed for Bolton Wanderers on transfer deadline day of the 2009–10 season on a year-long loan deal, becoming Gary Megson's last signing for the club. "Ivan is a player who we have been tracking for quite a while. His goalscoring record is very good and he has an excellent pedigree at international level with Croatia and domestically in Europe." – Gary Megson.  On 12 September 2009, Klasnić made his debut for Bolton in their 3–2 win over Portsmouth after coming on as a substitute for Sam Ricketts. One of his first contributions was to be involved in the move which led to the winning goal by Gary Cahill. His first goal for the club came in the 3–2 win against Everton on 25 October. He finished the season with eight Premier League goals.  On 4 August 2010, Klasnić signed permanently for Bolton on a two-year contract following his loan spell with the club. and scored the first goal of his second spell in the 1–0 League Cup victory at Southampton on 24 August. His first Premier league goal after signing permanently was the winner in the 2–1 home win against Stoke City, although he was also sent off in the match. Klasnić scored a late winner against Aston Villa on 5 March 2011. In May 2011, Klasnić scored a late goal after coming on as a substitute against Sunderland to make the score 1–1, only for Sunderland to grab a winner in stoppage time. Klasnić did not start a single Premier League game the whole season, but still managed seven goals in all competitions.  Klasnić began the 2011–12 season with a place in the starting line up, and a goal, as Bolton beat Queens Park Rangers 4–0 on the opening day. He followed this up with another goal the following week in a 3–2 defeat to Manchester City, and a late consolation in a 3–1 away loss to Liverpool. At this point of the season he was the Premier League's leading goalscorer. He was sent off in a 2–1 loss against Norwich for a headbutt on Marc Tierney on 18 September 2011, forcing him to fall out of the team. His first start after his red card was in a 5–0 win against Stoke City on 6 November in which he scored two goals and gave assists for two others. He then scored a penalty in the following game against West Brom but Bolton lost 2–1. His next goal, his seventh of the season, came a few weeks later at home to Aston Villa, but Bolton again lost 2–1. After losing his place in the team to fellow forward David N'Gog, he came back as a late substitute at home to Queens Park Rangers on 10 March, where he scored the winner in the 86th minute as Bolton won the match 2–1. After Bolton's relegation from the Premier League, on 16 May, Klasnić confirmed on his official website that he had left the club.

Mainz 05.

In September 2012, Klasnić joined German side Mainz 05 as a free player and signed a one-year contract.

International career.

Klasnić turned down an invitation from Rudi Völler to play for Germany and chose to play for Croatia instead as he had already won three caps and scored one goal for their under-21 team in the spring of 2001. He also played five times and scored one goal for the Croatian under-19 team in 1998 and 1999. By a quirk of fate, his international debut came against Germany in February 2004 in a friendly match where the Germans claimed a 2–1 victory.

Euro 2004.

He was selected to play for Croatia in the UEFA Euro 2004. However, he was left on the substitutes bench throughout the tournament. Croatia did not advance past the group stage and the media often attributed that to the lack of inclusion of Klasnić, among other things.

2006 World Cup.

Qualifying.

In the Croatian national team, however, his performances during 2004–05 were rather modest as he only netted one goal in eight qualifying matches for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, being on target in the team's opening qualifier against Hungary in September 2004, which they easily won 3–0. In February 2005, he gave a good performance for the national team in a friendly match against Israel, scoring twice in a 3–3 draw. On the first day of March 2006, he was on target for Croatia once again as he netted their first goal in a 3–2 win over Argentina in another friendly match.

Tournament.

In May 2006, he was expectedly named to the Croatian 23-man squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany and displayed really good shape throughout the month as he first scored four goals in three Bundesliga matches for Werder Bremen, ending the 2005–06 Bundesliga season with a total of 15 goals scored, and then netted a brace for the national team in a World Cup preparation friendly against Austria on 23 May, where they easily won 4–1. However, as the World Cup approached his good shape started to fade and he did not manage to score any further goals in the remaining three preparation matches as well as in all three group matches at the tournament, where Croatia exited the competition in the first round with two draws and a defeat.

Euro 2008.

Qualifying.

In the 2006–07 season, he lost his place in Croatia's starting XI after giving two modest performances in the opening two qualifying matches for the UEFA Euro 2008, where he nevertheless managed to score one goal in the 7–0 crushing of minnows Andorra. In the following two matches, against England and Israel, he was left an unused substitute.

Tournament.

At Euro 2008, Klasnić was an unused substitute in Croatia's Group B opening two games; however he started the final group match on 16 June vs. Poland and scored a goal in 53rd minute thus, sending his side with a perfect group stage score into the next round. In the quarter-finals match against Turkey, Klasnić was again on the bench but was given the chance to play at the start of the first extra time in substitution of teammate Ivica Olić. In the 118th (with just two minutes to play plus injury time), Klasnić headed an elevated pass provided by Luka Modrić and scored a crucial goal for Croatia. However, Croatia was to be eliminated from the tournament as Semih Şentürk equalised with a goal just two minutes later and Turkey won the subsequent penalty shoot-out. Ivan was remembered for his efforts which saw him become the only player to ever participate at a major tournament after a kidney transplant, also scoring two goals during his campaign.

Illness and kidney transplant.

In January 2007, it was reported that Klasnić suffered kidney failure. On 25 January 2007, he received a kidney transplant from his mother Šima, but soon it was reported that his body rejected the new organ.  On 23 March 2007, he underwent surgery to replace the rejected kidney, this time receiving a kidney from his father. The second transplant was a success, and Klasnić stated that his doctors told him that he "would be able to continue playing football."  However, in August 2007, the doctors at Werder Bremen forbade him to train due to inability of his body to withstand heavy physical strain.  In September 2007, doctors finally allowed Ivan Klasnić to attend full training after he was absent for about six months. He then joined the team and made a couple of appearances in the club's cup activities and also appeared in a few matches for the second team.  Finally, on 24 November 2007, he was selected to start for Werder for the first time since December 2006, and played 65 minutes for his team in a Bundesliga match against Energie Cottbus. Klasnić completed his comeback on 15 December 2007, scoring twice in Bremen's 5–2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen, playing 85 minutes.  In March 2008, Klasnić was recalled to the national team after a year of absence. He became the first player ever to participate at a major tournament after a kidney transplant when he played at Euro 2008 and scored against both Poland in the group stage and against Turkey in the quarter-finals.  In September 2016, Klasnić's transplanted kidney failed and he was deemed critically ill. He received a third transplant in October 2017.

Honours.

FC St. Pauli  Werder Bremen  Individual

Ivan Klasnić (; born 29 January 1980) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career with local side St. Pauli, and moved to Werder Bremen in 2001 after helping his previous team to promotion to the Bundesliga. He scored 49 league goals in 151 appearances with Werder Bremen, winning a league and cup double in 2004. After a season in France with Nantes, he moved to English Premier League team Bolton Wanderers in 2009, initially on loan. After their relegation in 2012, he spent a season back in Germany with Mainz.

Ivan Klasnić [ivan klasnič] (* 29. ledna 1980, Hamburk, Západní Německo) je bývalý chorvatský fotbalový útočník a reprezentant. Na klubové úrovni působil v Německu, Francii a Anglii. S Werderem Brémy získal v sezóně 2003/04 double, čili vyhrál DFB-Pokal i Bundesligu.


History.

British protectorate.

In 1886, Germany and Britain agreed to partition the Solomon Islands archipelago, with Britain to assume control of the southern section. This southern area later became the sovereign nation of Solomon Islands. Seven years later, in 1893, Britain declared this area a British protectorate. At the turn of the 20th century, Germany gave up their northern part to Britain in exchange for Britain's acceptance of German claims over German Samoa and areas in Africa. During this time, the British Union Jack and Red Ensign were flown throughout the Solomon Islands archipelago, as well as a Blue Ensign, defaced with the protectorate's name and the monarch's crown within the Solomon Islands Protectorate.  In 1947, a new flag for the protectorate was introduced featuring a red field charged with a black-and-white sea turtle. Nine years later in 1956, this had to be modified because the turtle was a motif affiliated only with Central Province. The revised version of 1956 saw the field divided quarterly and displaying a lion for Britain and an eagle, a turtle, a frigate bird and assorted weapons from the region for the five provinces.

New flag for a new country.

In 1975, during the lead up to independence, a contest was held to design a new flag for the future country. One of the submissions contained the nation's coat of arms, while the initial winning design had a blue field with a yellow circle, encompassed with chains and charged with a black frigate bird. However, this was eventually rescinded, since this bird was attributed to only one province as opposed to the entire country. The second winning design included a red field charged with a black elliptical chain at the centre. As explained by the artist, this alluded to the historical practice of blackbirding in the country and the "blood spilt" as a result of it. After it was published in a national newspaper, the design stirred up much debate in the community and it too was scrapped.  Ultimately, the last design was created by a New Zealander then teaching at the King George VI School, in the eastern part of the capital Honiara. This was in spite of the fact that preference was supposed to be given to local submissions by Solomon Islanders. It was ratified as the new flag of the islands on 18 November 1977, eight months before the country became the final British protectorate to gain independence.

Independence and beyond.

The Union Jack was finally lowered and the new flag raised in an Independence Day ceremony on 7 July 1978 in Gizo, Western Province. Although the ceremony had already been designed to be as low key as possible, it was marked by controversy and a confrontation between locals from Western Province and those from Malaita Province. This arose because leaders from the Western Council had unsuccessfully lobbied the government to promise greater devolved powers to the provinces, and some of the province's inhabitants viewed the flag ceremony as a demonstration of "Malaitan dominance" over Western Province.  Since 2012, the Solomon Islands flag may be used as a flag of convenience by foreign merchant vessels under an Act made by the country's National Parliament. The government hoped to attract over US$500,000 in annual tax revenues from this and the transport minister claimed that this would also give local sailors new employment opportunities and the potential to earn foreign exchange.

Design.

Symbolism.

The colours and symbols of the flag carry cultural, political, and regional meanings. The blue evokes the water, as well as its significance to the country in the form of rivers, rain, and the Pacific Ocean. The green alludes to the land, along with the trees and crops that grow on it. The yellow epitomizes the sun and its rays separating the land and the ocean.  The five stars are arranged in three offset rows at the canton, in the shape of the letter X. At first, these were meant to symbolize the provinces that the country was subdivided into at the time of independence. Even though new provinces have since been created, the number of stars has remained unchanged.

Similarities.

One of the various proposed alternatives to the present flag of Australia is an emblem labelled the 'Southern Horizon'. Having been voted as the favourite in an unofficial poll of more than 8,000 people, its blue, gold, and green colour scheme – together with its depiction of the Southern Cross – is noted for its conspicuous resemblance to that of the Solomon Islander flag.

Variants.

The civil ensign (for merchant ships) and state ensign (for non-military government vessels) are red and blue flags, respectively, with the national flag in the canton. The naval ensign (for police vessels) is based on the British white ensign, a red cross on a white field, also with the national flag in the canton.

The flag of Solomon Islands was adopted in 1977, replacing the British Blue Ensign defaced with the arms of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. It has been the flag of Solomon Islands since 18 November of that year, eight months before the country gained independence. It consists of a thin, yellow stripe dividing diagonally from the lower hoist-side corner. The upper triangle is blue and the canton charged with five white stars; the lower triangle is green. Although the number of provinces has increased from the five original provinces, the number of stars on the flag remains unchanged.

Vlajka Šalomounových ostrovů byla poprvé vztyčena 18. listopadu 1977, kdy nahradila britskou modrou státní námořní vlajku s emblémem () v bílém kruhu ve vlající části.


Origin and original recording.

R.E.M. formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980. The band quickly established itself in the local scene. Over the course of 1980 the band refined its songwriting skills, helped by its frequent gigs at local venues. One of the group's newer compositions was "Radio Free Europe". The other members of the band were reportedly awestruck when they heard the lyrics and melodies singer Michael Stipe had written for the song. By May 1981 the band added "Radio Free Europe" to its setlist.  After a successful show opening for The Police, R.E.M. intended to record material for a demo tape. The group traveled to Drive-In Studios in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to record some songs with producer Mitch Easter, who was a member of the band Let's Active. The band recorded "Radio Free Europe", "Sitting Still", and the instrumental song "White Tornado", which were placed on a promotional cassette tape. The band sent out 400 copies, one of which was received by Atlanta law student Jonny Hibbert. Hibbert offered to release "Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still" as a one-off 7" vinyl single with the understanding that he would own the publishing rights for both songs; the band agreed to his terms. However, Hibbert felt the recording was unsatisfactory, and oversaw a remix. Easter said he found the presence of Hibbert "distracting" and added, "He came into my studio and it was like, now the big city guy is going to do it right. We mixed the song for about 12 hours and really, there wasn't enough equipment to warrant more than 45 minutes." The final mastering of the song disappointed the band. Guitarist Peter Buck, who described the recording years later as "muddy and hi-end", expressed his displeasure by breaking a copy of the finished single and nailing it to his wall. However, Buck admitted that "there's something to be said for the original sort of murky feeling for [the original recording]".

Cover art.

The cover art to the single came courtesy of Michael Stipe. "Michael brought those negatives over to our place," explains photographer Terry Allen. "He said, 'Can you make a print of these?' and we said, 'What, you want a picture of this blur?' He said, 'Yeah,' and so I said, 'I've got a picture that's probably better than this that you can use,' but he said, 'No, I want this blur!'"  Around 600 copies of the first pressing were sent out for promotional uses, but these omitted the Hib-Tone contact address. It was included, however, on the 6,000 copies of the second pressing.

Composition.

Both the Hib-Tone and I.R.S. releases of "Radio Free Europe" begin with brief instrumental intros before the band enters. The Hib-Tone version features a brief synthesizer figure. The intro to the I.R.S. version originated as an errant system hum accidentally recorded on tape. Easter triggered the effect to open and shut an electronic noise gate in time with bassist Mike Mills' playing. The producer then manually adjusted the EQ of the effect on the studio mixing console, and spliced the seven-bar figure into the start of the recording.  Drummer Bill Berry begins the song with a four-to-the-floor beat, and then the rest of the band enters. Berry plays a steady backbeat throughout the song. During the verses, Mills plays a fast eighth note bassline pulse, characteristic of punk rock and new wave. Guitarist Peter Buck plays the palm-muted lower strings of his guitar, marking the end of a four-bar repetition with an upstroke strummed chord. During the prechorus refrain, Buck switches to playing arpeggios, ending each four bar phrase with a full chord downstroke. Mills accompanies this section by performing independent melody lines with syncopated rhythms. Mills' last note of the refrain is doubled by a piano.  After two verses and two prechoruses, the band enters the song's chorus, where Stipe sings the phrase "Calling out in transit/Calling out in transit/Radio Free Europe". After a second chorus, a bridge section follows, where Mills' one-note ascending bassline is doubled by the piano. The band then plays a final verse-prechorus-chorus section. At the song's end, Buck plays an arpeggio figure similar to the prechorus refrain, and the band ends on an A chord.

Lyrics.

Stipe's lyrics are hard to discern, and largely serve to give the singer something to vocalize with. When first developing the original song, Stipe intentionally did not want the lyrics to be understood, as he "...hadn't written any of the words yet." Also, when the song was played live, Stipe improvised his own set of lyrics halfway through the song. In a 1988 "NME" interview, Stipe denied the interviewer's claim that his lyrics on "Murmur" were "indecipherable", but acknowledged that "Radio Free Europe" was one of the few exceptions, describing it as "complete babbling". While the lyrics to the song have never been published by the band, lyrics to "Radio Free Europe" were published in "Song Hits" magazine in 1983, and in "New Sounds" magazine in January 1984.  The San Francisco-based band Game Theory, whose albums were also produced by Mitch Easter, began in 1985 to cover the song in their shows, with lyrics sung clearly by Scott Miller. According to drummer Gil Ray, "Either Buck or Stipe told Scott Miller in our band the real words to 'Radio Free Europe' and every now and then we'd do it as a cover because Scott knew the words. It was a big deal to know the words to any of their songs." Miller's first live performance of the song, in September 1985, appears as a bonus track on the 2014 CD reissue of Game Theory's "Dead Center".

Re-recording and I.R.S. single release.

R.E.M. signed to I.R.S. Records in 1982. I.R.S. asked R.E.M. to re-record "Radio Free Europe" in 1983 for their debut album, "Murmur". The band agreed, because they had felt that they'd improved significantly since the original 1981 sessions.  The 1983 version has some slightly different lyrics and a slower tempo, and is not as well-liked by the band as the original; indeed, the liner notes for the 1988 compilation album "Eponymous" (on which the original Hib-Tone version is featured) stated that "Mike and Jefferson think this one [referring to the Hib-Tone version] crushes the other one like a grape." Peter Buck has also stated that he "[didn't] think we captured it the way we did on the single." Original producer Mitch Easter also commented on the re-recording, saying it was "more pro, but a little too sedate."  The re-recorded version of "Radio Free Europe" was the first single from "Murmur". It was the first R.E.M. single to reach the charts, peaking at number 78 on the "Billboard" singles chart and remaining on the chart for five weeks. The song also reached number 25 on the "Billboard" Top Tracks chart.  A live performance at Larry's Hideaway, Toronto, Canada, from July 9, 1983, was released on the 2008 Deluxe Edition reissue of "Murmur".

Music video.

At the request of MTV, the 1983 single was accompanied by a music video, directed by Arthur Pierson. The video took place in the garden of artist Howard Finster, who would go on to paint the album cover for the band's second album, "Reckoning".

Track listings.

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe unless otherwise indicated.

"Radio Free Europe" is the debut single by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released in 1981 on the short-lived independent record label Hib-Tone. The song features "what were to become the trademark unintelligible lyrics which have distinguished R.E.M.'s work ever since." The single received critical acclaim, and its success earned the band a record deal with I.R.S. Records. R.E.M. re-recorded the song for their 1983 debut album "Murmur". The re-recording for I.R.S. became the group's first charting single, peaking at number 78 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. The song is ranked number 389 in "Rolling Stone"'s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2010, it was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for setting "the pattern for later indie rock releases by breaking through on college radio in the face of mainstream radio's general indifference." The song was featured in the 1984 movie "The Party Animal".

Radio Free Europe je píseň americké rockové kapely R.E.M., která byla v roce 1981 vydána u nezávislého labelu Hib-Tone jako první singl této kapely. Pro píseň je typický nesrozumitelný text, který byl po dlouhou dobu charakteristickým rysem písní R.E.M. Singl se dočkal pochvalného přijetí od hudební kritiky a R.E.M. díky němu získali smlouvu u labelu I.R.S. Records. R.E.M. píseň znovu nahráli pro album "Murmur" z roku 1983 a v témže roce byla tato upravená verze vydána opět jako singl, který se umístil na 78. místě žebříčku singlů.


Garters in fashion.

In Elizabethan fashions, men wore garters with their hose, and colourful garters were an object of display. In Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", "cross braced" garters (a long garter tied above and below the knee and crossed between), as worn by the character Malvolio, are an object of some derision. In male fashion for much of the 20th century a type of garter for holding up socks was used as a part of male dress; it is considered somewhat archaic now.

Use in wedding traditions.

There is a Western wedding tradition for a bride to wear a garter to her wedding, to be removed towards the end of the reception by the groom. This garter is not normally used to support stockings. This practice is often interpreted as symbolic of deflowering, though some sources attribute its origin to a superstition that taking an article of the bride's clothing will bring good luck. In the Middle Ages, the groomsmen would rush at the new bride to take her garters as a prize. Today, the practice of removing the bride's garter is traditionally reserved for the groom, who will use either his hands or teeth, and then toss the garter to the unmarried male guests. This is performed after the tossing of the bouquet, in which the bride tosses her bouquet over her shoulder to be caught by the unwed female guests. According to superstition, the lady who catches the bouquet and the man who catches the garter will be the next man and woman among those in attendance to be married (though not necessarily to each other). The ceremony often continues with the man who catches the garter obliged to place it on the leg of the lady who caught the bouquet. Traditionally, the pair are obliged to share the next dance.

Use at high school proms in the United States.

Prom garters were common in the 1960s and 1970s and often conferred on the date as a souvenir. If the date received the garter, it was typically hung from his rear-view mirror.  At least since the mid-2000s, it has become common in US culture for young women attending a high school prom to wear a garter, usually designed to match the style and color of the young woman's dress. The prom garter may be worn throughout the evening and is sometimes given to the young woman's date as a souvenir. A young woman may also choose to keep the garter rather than give it away, as a token of her prom night. In some cases, young people may participate in a "garter and tie" dance (often hosted by the high school as part of the prom), during or after which either the young woman herself or the young woman's date removes the garter and exchanges it for the date's tie. When the garter is given early in the evening, the young woman's date may wear it on their arm for the remainder of the evening. In areas where prom garters are common, it has become a tradition for young women to pose for a picture with other female friends before the prom in which they pull up the skirts of their dresses to display their prom garters, which are generally worn a few inches above the right knee. The giving or taking of the prom garter may or may not have the same sexual implications that are associated with wedding garters; however, the giving of the prom garter is often interpreted as publicly designating the pair as a romantic couple.

Suspenders or garter belts and stockings.

Suspenders or suspender belts, also known as "garter belts" in American English, are an undergarment consisting of an elasticated material strip usually at least in width; it can be wider. Two or three elastic suspender slings are attached on each side, where the material is shaped to the contours of the body. The suspenders are typically clipped to stockings with metal clips into which a rubber disc is inserted through the stocking material effectively 'locking' the stocking in place. These are normally attached to a length of elastic allowing for adjustment. These clips, also known as suspender slings, are best attached to stockings with a simple welt that do not have lace, or 'hold-ups' with a silicone rubber lining.  Suspender (garter) belts are usually worn at the waist or just slightly below to prevent the belt sliding down as it is pulled downward by the stockings. Some undergarments such as corselettes or girdles may come with suspender slings attached.  By the late 20th century and into the 21st, pantyhose or tights were more widely worn than stockings. And some stockings, referred to as hold-ups, have a band of latex rubber molded to the stocking top to keep them up without suspenders. But suspenders continue to be used by people who prefer stockings to tights, and doctors may advise patients with a history of thrush or cystitis to avoid tights; the trapped heat and moisture can exacerbate any infection present. People with a latex allergy must avoid hold-ups.  While most commonly used for regular stockings, suspender belts can also be used for medical support hosiery worn due to varicose veins or poor circulation.  Stockings are often considered to be sensual or erotic, both in person and in photographs, and some people enjoy dressing up for special occasions in attractive suspender belts or basques.

In ice hockey.

Ice hockey players use suspenders for holding up hockey socks. As these socks are essentially woollen tubes, they need to be kept from rolling onto ankles. The socks can be held up by either hockey tape or hockey suspenders, which function like stocking suspenders.

History.

18th century.

Garters in the 18th century could be elaborately decorated and were sometimes embroidered with names, dates, mottoes or humorous phrases. Prior to the invention of elastic, they were fastened by buckles, or threaded with spiral springs to grip the wearer's leg.

19th century.

Some women wore stockings with a plain elastic garter or narrow material tied tightly, not suspenders, or by simply rolling the top of the stocking, because it seemed more practical or they could not afford classic corsetry, thus creating a kind of predecessor of the modern hold ups. This was particularly common among servants and housemaid, particularly until the mid 1920s when the more modern suspender became readily available  During the world's first long distance journey by automobile in 1888 Bertha Benz, the wife of the inventor of the automobile Dr Carl Benz, used a garter to insulate a broken wire of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen Nr. 3. In remembrance of this historic road trip today's official German scenic byway Bertha Benz Memorial Route follows the tracks of Bertha Benz from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim (Black Forest) and back. Stockings have also been used as an emergency replacement for a car's fanbelt.

20th century.

During World War II, WAAFs were issued inexpensive suspenders.  From the 1940s to '60s, suspenders became a common, popular alternative to the girdle, especially among teens and young women. Amid concerns girdles might cause abdominal flabbiness, suspender belts offered a simpler, more practical, and more comfortable choice when used simply to hold up their stockings.  Since the early 1960s, many men's magazines featured images of women in underwear, with models in suspenders and stocking, often with slips, petticoats, corsets or a bra and knickers or panties in erotic pose. These images may have an erotic element and are sometimes presented as fetish fashion and also in pornography.

Contemporary practices.

Suspender belts continue to be worn for their original purpose of holding up stockings. Suspenders today are available in a variety of styles, most commonly in white, 'fleshtone' beige-pink, or black with a satin finish. These are often now made from a mixture of nylon and spandex / lycra, being more readily available in retail stores. Variations of the suspender or garter belt include knickers with suspender attachments reminiscent of images of the 1960s and corsets or girdles with small loops inside the bottom edge for attaching suspenders. Knickers are normally worn on top of the suspender belt as this makes it easier to remove them to use the lavatory / bathroom. If worn underneath the belt, undressing may be rather complicated if using a public facility.

Order of the Garter.

The Order of the Garter traces its history to the Middle English poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". In the poem, Gawain accepts a girdle (very similar in function and connotation to a garter) from the wife of his host (while resisting her carnal temptations) to save his life and then wears it as a mark of shame for his moral failure and cowardice. King Arthur and his men proclaim it no shame and begin, themselves, to wear the girdle to indicate their shared fate. At that point, however, the garter was a larger garment that was used as a foundation.  The Order, which is the oldest and highest British Order of Chivalry, was founded in 1348 by Edward III. The Order consists of Her Majesty The Queen who is Sovereign of the Order, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and 24 Knights Companions.  The origin of the symbol of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, a blue 'garter' with the motto "Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense", is not known, as the earliest records of the order were destroyed by fire; however, the story is that at a ball possibly held at Calais, Joan, Countess of Salisbury dropped her garter and King Edward, seeing her embarrassment, picked it up and bound it about his own leg saying in French, "Evil [or shamed] be he that thinks evil of it." This story is almost certainly a later fiction. This fable appears to have originated in France and may have been invented to discredit the Order.  It is thought more likely that as the garter was a small strap used as a device to attach pieces of armour, it might have been thought appropriate to use the garter as a symbol of binding together in common brotherhood, whilst the motto probably refers to the leading political topic of the 1340s, Edward's claim to the throne of France. The patron saint of the Order is St George, the patron saint of soldiers and also of England, and the chapel of the order is St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking from slipping. The advent of elastic has made them less necessary from this functional standpoint, although they are still often worn for fashion. Garters have been widely worn by men and women, depending on fashion trends.

Podvazek je součást dámského spodního prádla. Slouží k udržení punčochy na nohou ve stejné poloze, zamezuje tomu, aby punčocha sjela dolů. Jedná se v podstatě o gumový kroužek, popřípadě gumový kroužek s krajkou, obepínající nohu, který je přetažen přes punčochu a drží ji na stehně.


Early life and education.

Birth.

Prince Harald was born at the Skaugum estate during the reign of his grandfather King Haakon VII and was baptised in the Royal Chapel of the Royal Palace in Oslo on 31 March 1937 by Bishop Johan Lunde. His godparents were: his paternal grandparents King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway; his maternal grandparents Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg of Sweden; King Leopold III of Belgium; Queen Mary and King George VI of the United Kingdom; and Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark. His parents already had two daughters, Princess Ragnhild and Princess Astrid.  At the time of Harald's birth, he was 2nd in line of succession to the Norwegian throne following his father, Crown Prince Olav; and also was 16th in line of succession to the British throne as a descendant of Queen Victoria through his paternal grandmother, Queen Maud.

Second World War.

In 1940 the entire royal family had to flee Oslo because of the German invasion. It was deemed safer for the family to split up. The King and Crown Prince Olav would remain in Norway and the Crown Princess was to make her way to Sweden with the three children. The latter party reached Sweden on the night of 10 April, but although Crown Princess Märtha was Swedish-born, they encountered problems at the border station. According to Princess Astrid and others who were present, they were admitted only after the driver threatened to ram the border gate. Another account does not describe the escape so dramatically. However, when the King and Crown Prince inquired of Swedish foreign minister Christian Günther whether they could sleep one night in Sweden without being interned, they were denied.  Harald spent the following days in Sälen before moving to Prince Carl Bernadotte's home in Frötuna on 16 April. On 26 April the group moved to Drottningholm in Stockholm. King Gustaf V has been accounted to have had an amicable relationship with his Norwegian guests, but the topic of the war in Norway was not to be raised. However, influential Swedish politicians, including Minister of Justice Westman, wanted the Crown Princess and Prince Harald to be sent back to Norway so he could be proclaimed King by the Germans. After the King and Crown Prince had to leave Norway on 7 June they felt Sweden might not be the best place for the rest of the family, and started planning for them to go to the United States. On 17 August the Crown Princess and her children left for the United States from Petsamo, Finland, aboard the United States Army transport ship.  Harald and his mother and sisters lived in Washington, D.C. during the war, while his father, Crown Prince Olav, and his grandfather, King Haakon, stayed in London with the Norwegian government-in-exile. One of the notable events he remembers from that time is standing behind Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was sworn in for his fourth term on the South Portico of the White House in 1945. Such childhood experiences are reflected in a trace of an American accent when he speaks English. The Doris Kearns Goodwin book "No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the Home Front in World War II" contains a picture of the King (then Prince) playing with FDR's dog, Fala, on the North Lawn of the White House in 1944.  Harald visited Norwegian servicemen training in the United States. The prince also made visits outside America, travelling north to visit Norwegian personnel at the training base "Little Norway" in Ontario, Canada. He attended The White Hall Country School from 1943. Prince Harald returned to Norway with his family at the war's end in 1945.

Return.

In the autumn of 1945 he was enrolled in third grade of Smestad skole as the first member of the royal family to attend a public (state) school. Amidst this when he was only 17 years old in 1954, his mother died of cancer. The Crown Princess's death was a tremendous loss for him and his family as well as for Norway, and he named his daughter Märtha in honour her memory. Four years later in 1958 he would lose his maternal grandmother Princess Ingeborg of Denmark.

Crown prince.

In 1955 he graduated from Oslo katedralskole and in the autumn of that year, Harald began studies at the University of Oslo. He later attended the Cavalry Officers' Candidate School at Trandum, followed by enrollment at the Norwegian Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1959. On 21 September 1957 at the death of his grandfather, Harald became crown prince at the age of 20 and he attended the Council of State for the first time six days later and took the oath to the Constitution of Norway on 21 February 1958. In the same year, he also served as regent in the King's absence for the first time.  In 1960, Harald entered Balliol College, Oxford where he studied history, economics and politics. He was a keen rower during his student days at Oxford and was taught to row by fellow student and friend Nick Bevan, later a leading British school rowing coach. In 1960, he also made his first official journey abroad, visiting the United States in connection with the fiftieth anniversary of the American Scandinavian Foundation. An avid sailor, Harald represented Norway in the yachting events of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964, Mexico City in 1968, and Munich in 1972. The Crown Prince carried the Norwegian flag at the opening parade of the 1964 Summer Olympics. Harald is a honorable president of the International Soling Association.

Marriage.

Harald married a commoner, Sonja Haraldsen, at Oslo Domkirke in Oslo on 29 August 1968. The pair had dated for nine years, but Olav was reluctant to allow his son to marry a commoner. Olav only relented when Harald told his father that if he was not allowed to marry Sonja he would not marry at all. This would have ended the reign of his family and the Norwegian monarchy, as Harald was the sole heir to the throne. The couple have two children, Princess Märtha Louise and Crown Prince Haakon, heir apparent to the Norwegian throne.

Reign.

On the death of his father on 17 January 1991, Harald succeeded automatically to the Norwegian throne. He became the first Norwegian-born monarch since Magnus VII abdicated in 1343, a gap of 648 years. Harald is the sixth King of Norway to bear that name, and the first in 855 years. The five other kings who have borne the name are Harald Fairhair, Harald Greycloak, Harald Bluetooth, Harald Hardrada, and Harald Gille. Harald Bluetooth is usually not given a number in the Norwegian list of kings, therefore Harald is 'only' numbered as "Harald V". King Harald made the decision to use his grandfather's royal motto, "Alt for Norge". The King also chose to continue the tradition of royal benediction, a tradition that had been introduced with his father, and was consecrated together with Queen Sonja in the Nidaros Cathedral on 23 June 1991.  The reign of King Harald has been marked by modernization and reform for the Norwegian Royal family. The King has cooperated closely with Queen Sonja and the Crown Prince in making the royal household more open to the Norwegian public and the Norwegian media. King Harald's decision to accept two more commoners into the royal family, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Ari Behn, has been interpreted as a sign of modernization and adjustment. Under King Harald and Queen Sonja's leadership, comprehensive renovation projects on the Bygdøy Royal Estate, the Royal Palace, the royal stables and Oscarshall have also taken place. The latter three have also been opened to the public and tourists. Together with Queen Sonja, the king has also for decades attempted to establish a palace museum in Oslo.

Official and unofficial duties.

While the Constitution vests the King with executive power, he is not politically responsible for exercising it. This is in accordance not only with provisions of the Constitution, but with conventions established since the definitive establishment of parliamentary rule in Norway in 1884. His acts are not valid without the countersignature of a member of the Council of State (cabinet)–usually the Prime Minister–and proceedings of the Council of State are signed by all of its members. Although he nominally has the power of veto, no Norwegian king has exercised it since the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905. Even then, the king's veto power is suspensive, not absolute as is the case with British monarchs. A royal veto can be overridden if the Storting passes the same bill following a general election.  While the Constitution nominally vests the King with the power to appoint the government, in practice the government must maintain the confidence of Parliament. The King appoints the leader of the parliamentary bloc with the majority as prime minister. When the parliamentary situation is unclear, the king relies on the advice of the President of Parliament and the sitting prime minister. Unlike most monarchs, Harald does not have the power to dissolve Parliament; the Constitution does not allow snap elections.  The King meets with the Council of State at the Royal Palace every Friday. He also has weekly meetings with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He receives foreign envoys, and formally opens parliament every October delivering a speech from the throne during each opening. He travels extensively throughout Norway and makes official state visits to other countries, as well as receiving and hosting guests.  In 1994, both the King and Crown Prince Haakon played roles during the opening ceremony of the Lillehammer Olympics. The King opened the games, while the Crown Prince lit the cauldron, paying tribute to both the King and his grandfather as Olympians. The King has also represented Norway at opening ceremonies of Olympic Games, among them Torino and Beijing. However, he wasn't present in Vancouver; the Crown Prince attended instead, with the King and Queen attending later in the games.  With his sailing crew he won World Championship bronze, silver and gold medals, in 1988, 1982 and 1987, respectively. In July 2005, the King and his crew aboard the royal sailboat "Fram XV" won the gold medal at the European Championships in Sweden. In the 2007 World Championship the King came in sixth place.  Twice since the start of the twenty-first century King Harald was unable to perform his monarchical duties due to ill health: from December 2003 to mid-April 2004 due to urinary bladder cancer, and from April to early June 2005 due to aortic stenosis. Crown Prince Haakon served as the country's regent on both occasions. Until 2012, the King of Norway was, according to the constitution, the formal head of the Church of Norway. The constitutional amendment of 21 May 2012 made the King no longer the formal head, but he is still required to be of the Evangelical Lutheran religion.  On 8 May 2018, the King's constitutional status as holy was dissolved, while leaving his sovereign immunity intact.

Recent years.

King Harald's leadership during Norwegian national crises, such as New Year's Day Storm and particularly the 2011 attacks, has been met with both national and international acclaim.  In 2015, he became the world's first reigning monarch to visit Antarctica, specifically the Norwegian dependency Queen Maud Land. In 2016, King Harald V competed with a team for the sailing World Championships on Lake Ontario, Toronto. The king came second in the classic fleet category. He was dubbed "Sailor-King" by Canada's National Post as he slept onboard his yacht "Sira".  When the King and Queen turned 80 years old in 2017, the King decided to open the former royal stables to the public as a gift to his wife, the Queen. The new venue was named The Queen Sonja Art Stable and is the first institution owned by the royal family which is permanently open to the public. King Harald was made Name of the Year by the newspaper "VG" in 2017.

Honours and medals.

The King is a four-star general, an admiral, and formally the Supreme Commander of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The infantry battalion His Majesty the King's Guard are considered the King's and the Royal Family's bodyguards. They guard the Royal residences, including the Royal Palace, the Crown Prince Residence at Skaugum, and the Royal Mausoleum at Akershus Castle.

National honours and medals.

The King is Grand Master of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit.

Foreign honours.

In the British Army, Harald V was the final Colonel-in-Chief of the Green Howards. He is also an honorary Colonel in the British Royal Marines. He is patron of the Anglo-Norse Society in London, together with Queen Elizabeth II, his second cousin. Harald is in the line of succession to the British throne, because of his descent from King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. He is a Stranger Knight of the Garter, an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, and a Recipient of the Royal Victorian Chain, as well as numerous other orders of chivalry.

Other countries.

The mark ° shows honours mentioned on his official website page about decorations

Miscellaneous honours.

Harald V received an honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law from Oxford University in 2006 (as did his father, King Olav, in 1937, and his grandfather, King Haakon, in 1943). The King also received honorary doctorates from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland in 1994, the University of Strathclyde in Scotland in 1985, Waseda University in Japan in 2001, and Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, in 2015. He is also an honorary fellow at Balliol College, Oxford.

Ancestry.

King Harald is closely related to other European monarchs. He is the first cousin once removed of King Philippe of Belgium and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, the second cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and the second cousin once removed of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

Patrilineal descent.

Harald's patriline is the line from which he is descended father to son.  Patrilineal descent is the principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced back through the generations – which means that if Harald V were to choose an historically accurate house name it would be Oldenburg, as all his male-line ancestors have been of that house.  House of Oldenburg

Harald V (; born 21 February 1937) is the King of Norway, having ascended the throne upon the death of his father King Olav V on 17 January 1991. Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the line of succession at the time of his birth, behind his father. In 1940, as a result of the German occupation during World War II, the royal family went into exile. Harald spent part of his childhood in Sweden and the United States. He returned to Norway in 1945, and subsequently studied for periods at the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Military Academy and Balliol College, Oxford.

Harald V. (* 21. února 1937 Skaugum) je norským králem. Na trůn nastoupil po smrti svého otce Olafa V. 17. ledna 1991. Narodil se v Skaugumu, v oblasti Asker poblíž Osla.


Early life and education.

Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Upton Beall Sinclair Sr. and Priscilla Harden Sinclair. His father was a liquor salesman whose alcoholism shadowed his son's childhood. Priscilla Harden Sinclair was a strict Episcopalian who disliked alcohol, tea, and coffee. Both of Upton Sinclair's parents were of English ancestry, and all of his ancestors emigrated to America from England during the late 1600s and early 1700s. As a child, Sinclair slept either on sofas or cross-ways on his parents' bed. When his father was out for the night, he would sleep in the bed with his mother. His mother's family was very affluent: her parents were very prosperous in Baltimore, and her sister married a millionaire. Sinclair had wealthy maternal grandparents with whom he often stayed. This gave him insight into how both the rich and the poor lived during the late 19th century. Living in two social settings affected him and greatly influenced his books. Upton Beall Sinclair, Sr., was from a highly respected family in the South, but the family was financially ruined by the Civil War, disruptions of the labor system during the Reconstruction era, and an extended agricultural depression.  As he was growing up, Upton's family moved frequently, as his father was not successful in his career. He developed a love for reading when he was five years old. He read every book his mother owned for a deeper understanding of the world. He did not start school until he was 10 years old. He was deficient in math and worked hard to catch up quickly because of his embarrassment. In 1888, the Sinclair family moved to Queens, New York City, New York, where his father sold shoes. Upton entered the City College of New York five days before his 14th birthday, on September 15, 1892. He wrote jokes, dime novels, and magazine articles in boys' weekly and pulp magazines to pay for his tuition. With that income, he was able to move his parents to an apartment when he was seventeen years old.  He graduated high school in June 1897. He subsequently studied at Columbia University. His major was law, but he was more interested in writing. He learned several languages, including Spanish, German, and French. He paid the one-time enrollment fee to be able to learn a variety of subjects. He would sign up for a class and then later drop it. He again supported himself through college by writing boys' adventure stories and jokes. He also sold ideas to cartoonists. Using stenographers, he wrote up to 8,000 words of pulp fiction per day. His only complaint about his educational experience was that it failed to educate him about socialism. After leaving Columbia, he wrote four books in the next four years; they were commercially unsuccessful though critically well-received: "King Midas" (1901), "Prince Hagen" (1902), "The Journal of Arthur Stirling" (1903), and a Civil War novel, "Manassas" (1904).  Sinclair did not get along with his mother when he became older because of her strict rules and refusal to allow him independence. Sinclair later told his son, David, that around Sinclair's 16th year, he decided not to have anything to do with his mother, staying away from her for 35 years because an argument would start if they met.  Upton became close with Reverend William Wilmerding Moir. Moir specialized in sexual abstinence and taught his beliefs to Sinclair. He was taught to "avoid the subject of sex." Sinclair was to report to Moir monthly regarding his abstinence. Despite their close relationship, Sinclair identified as agnostic.

Career.

Upton Sinclair considered himself a poet and dedicated his time to writing poetry. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks in disguise, working undercover in Chicago's meatpacking plants to research his novel, "The Jungle" (1906), a political exposé that addressed conditions in the plants, as well as the lives of poor immigrants. When it was published two years later, it became a bestseller. In the spring of 1905, Sinclair issued a call for the formation of a new organization, a group to be called the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. With the income from "The Jungle", Sinclair founded the utopian—but non-Jewish white only—Helicon Home Colony in Englewood, New Jersey. He ran as a Socialist candidate for Congress. The colony burned down under suspicious circumstances within a year.  In 1913–1914, Sinclair made three trips to the coal fields of Colorado, which led him to write "King Coal" and caused him to begin work on the larger, more historical "The Coal War." In 1914, Sinclair helped organize demonstrations in New York City against Rockefeller at the Standard Oil offices. The demonstrations touched off more actions by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the "Mother Earth" group, a loose association of anarchists and IWW members, in Rockefeller's hometown of Tarrytown.  The Sinclairs moved to California in the 1920s and lived there for nearly four decades. During his years with his second wife, Mary Craig, Sinclair wrote or produced several films. Recruited by Charlie Chaplin, Sinclair and Mary Craig produced Eisenstein's "¡Qué viva México!" in 1930–32.

Other interests.

Aside from his political and social writings, Sinclair took an interest in occult phenomena and experimented with telepathy. His book "Mental Radio" (1930) included accounts of his wife Mary's telepathic experiences and ability. William McDougall read the book and wrote an introduction to it, which led him to establish the parapsychology department at Duke University.

Political career.

Sinclair broke with the Socialist Party in 1917 and supported the war effort. By the 1920s, however, he had returned to the party.  In the 1920s, the Sinclairs moved to Monrovia, California (near Los Angeles), where Sinclair founded the state's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Wanting to pursue politics, he twice ran unsuccessfully for United States Congress on the Socialist Party ticket: in 1920 for the House of Representatives and in 1922 for the Senate. He was the party candidate for governor of California in 1926, winning nearly 46,000 votes, and in 1930, winning nearly 50,000 votes.  During this period, Sinclair was also active in radical politics in Los Angeles. For instance, in 1923, to support the challenged free speech rights of Industrial Workers of the World, Sinclair spoke at a rally during the San Pedro Maritime Strike, in a neighborhood now known as Liberty Hill. He began to read from the Bill of Rights and was promptly arrested, along with hundreds of others, by the LAPD. The arresting officer proclaimed: "We'll have none of that Constitution stuff".  In 1934, Sinclair ran in the California gubernatorial election as a Democrat. Sinclair's platform, known as the End Poverty in California movement (EPIC), galvanized the support of the Democratic Party, and Sinclair gained its nomination. Gaining 879,000 votes made this his most successful run for office, but incumbent Governor Frank Merriam defeated him by a sizable margin, gaining 1,138,000 votes. Hollywood studio bosses unanimously opposed Sinclair. They pressured their employees to assist and vote for Merriam's campaign, and made false propaganda films attacking Sinclair, giving him no opportunity to respond.  Sinclair's plan to end poverty quickly became a controversial issue under the pressure of numerous migrants to California fleeing the Dust Bowl. Conservatives considered his proposal an attempted communist takeover of their state and quickly opposed him, using propaganda to portray Sinclair as a staunch communist. Sinclair had been a member of the Socialist Party from 1902 to 1934, when he became a Democrat, though always considering himself a Socialist in spirit. The Socialist party in California and nationwide refused to allow its members to be active in any other party including the Democratic Party and expelled him, along with socialists who supported his California campaign. The expulsions destroyed the Socialist party in California.  At the same time, American and Soviet communists disassociated themselves from him, considering him a capitalist. In later writings, such as his antialcohol book "The Cup of Fury", Sinclair scathingly censured communism. Science-fiction author Robert A. Heinlein was deeply involved in Sinclair's campaign, although he attempted to move away from the stance later in his life. In the 21st century, Sinclair is considered an early American democratic socialist.  After his loss to Merriam, Sinclair abandoned EPIC and politics to return to writing. In 1935, he published "I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked", in which he described the techniques employed by Merriam's supporters, including the then popular Aimee Semple McPherson, who vehemently opposed socialism and what she perceived as Sinclair's modernism. Sinclair's line from this book "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it" has become well known and was for example quoted by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth.  Of his gubernatorial bid, Sinclair remarked in 1951:  The American People will take Socialism, but they won't take the label. I certainly proved it in the case of EPIC. Running on the Socialist ticket I got 60,000 votes, and running on the slogan to 'End Poverty in California' I got 879,000. I think we simply have to recognize the fact that our enemies have succeeded in spreading the Big Lie. There is no use attacking it by a front attack, it is much better to out-flank them.

Personal life.

In April 1900, Sinclair went to Lake Massawippi in Quebec to work on a novel. He had a small cabin rented for three months and then he moved to a farmhouse. Here, he met his future first wife, Meta Fuller, a childhood friend whose family was one of the First Families of Virginia. She was three years younger than him and had aspirations of being more than a housewife. Sinclair gave her direction as to what to read and learn. Each had warned the other about themselves and would later bring that up in arguments. They married on October 18, 1900. They used abstinence as their main form of birth control, but Meta became pregnant shortly after they married; she unsuccessfully attempted to terminate the pregnancy via abortion multiple times. The child, David, was born on December 1, 1901. Meta and her family tried to get Sinclair to give up writing and get "a job that would support his family." Around 1911, Meta left Sinclair for the poet Harry Kemp, later known as the "Dunes Poet" of Provincetown, Massachusetts.  In 1913, Sinclair married Mary Craig Kimbrough (1883–1961), a woman from an elite Greenwood, Mississippi, family. She had written articles and a book on Winnie Davis, the daughter of Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis. He met her when she attended one of his lectures about "The Jungle". In the 1920s, the Sinclair couple moved to California. They were married until her death in 1961. Sinclair married again, to Mary Elizabeth Willis (1882–1967).  Sinclair was opposed to sex outside of marriage and he viewed marital relations as necessary only for procreation. He told his first wife Meta that only the birth of a child gave marriage "dignity and meaning". Despite his beliefs, he had an adulterous affair with Anna Noyes during his marriage to Meta. He wrote a novel about the affair called "Love's Progress", a sequel to "Love's Pilgrimage". It was never published. His wife next had an affair with John Armistead Collier, a theology student from Memphis; they had a son together named Ben.  In his novel, "Mammonart", he suggested that Christianity was a religion that favored the rich and promoted a drop of standards. He was against it.  Late in life Sinclair, with his third wife Mary Willis, moved to Buckeye, Arizona. They returned east to Bound Brook, New Jersey. Sinclair died there in a nursing home on November 25, 1968, a year after his wife. He is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C., next to Willis.

Writing.

Sinclair devoted his writing career to documenting and criticizing the social and economic conditions of the early 20th century in both fiction and nonfiction. He exposed his view of the injustices of capitalism and the overwhelming effects of poverty among the working class. He also edited collections of fiction and nonfiction.

"The Jungle".

His novel based on the meatpacking industry in Chicago, "The Jungle," was first published in serial form in the socialist newspaper "Appeal to Reason," from February 25, 1905, to November 4, 1905. It was published as a book by Doubleday in 1906.  Sinclair had spent about six months investigating the Chicago meatpacking industry for "Appeal to Reason", the work which inspired his novel. He intended to "set forth the breaking of human hearts by a system which exploits the labor of men and women for profit". The novel featured Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant who works in a meat factory in Chicago, his teenaged wife Ona Lukoszaite, and their extended family. Sinclair portrays their mistreatment by Rudkus' employers and the wealthier elements of society. His descriptions of the unsanitary and inhumane conditions that workers suffered served to shock and galvanize readers. Jack London called Sinclair's book "the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" of wage slavery". Domestic and foreign purchases of American meat fell by half.  Sinclair wrote in "Cosmopolitan" in October 1906 about "The Jungle": "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." The novel brought public lobbying for Congressional legislation and government regulation of the industry, including passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act. At the time, President Theodore Roosevelt characterized Sinclair as a "crackpot", writing to William Allen White, "I have an utter contempt for him. He is hysterical, unbalanced, and untruthful. Three-fourths of the things he said were absolute falsehoods. For some of the remainder there was only a basis of truth." After reading "The Jungle," Roosevelt agreed with some of Sinclair's conclusions, but was opposed to legislation that he considered "socialist". He said, "Radical action must be taken to do away with the efforts of arrogant and selfish greed on the part of the capitalist."

"The Brass Check".

In "The Brass Check" (1919), Sinclair made a systematic and incriminating critique of the severe limitations of the "free press" in the United States. Among the topics covered is the use of yellow journalism techniques created by William Randolph Hearst. Sinclair called "The Brass Check" "the most important and most dangerous book I have ever written."  According to the "Brass Check", ̈American Journalism is a class institution, serving the rich and spurning the poor.” This bias, Sinclair felt, had profound implications for American democracy:The social body to which we belong is at this moment passing through one of the greatest crises of its history... What if the nerves upon which we depend for knowledge of this social body should give us false reports of its condition?

"I, Governor of California, and How I Ended Poverty".

This was a novel he published in 1934 as a preface to running for office in the state of California. In the book he outlined his plans to run as a Democrat instead of a Socialist, and describes his climb to the Democratic nomination, and then subsequent victory by a margin of 100,000 votes.

Lanny Budd series.

Between 1940 and 1953, Sinclair wrote a series of 11 novels featuring a central character named Lanny Budd. The son of an American arms manufacturer, Budd is portrayed as holding in the confidence of world leaders, and not simply witnessing events, but often propelling them. As a sophisticated socialite who mingles easily with people from all cultures and socioeconomic classes, Budd has been characterized as the antithesis of the stereotyped "Ugly American".  Sinclair placed Budd within the important political events in the United States and Europe in the first half of the 20th century. An actual company named the Budd Company manufactured arms during World War II, founded by Edward G. Budd in 1912.  The novels were bestsellers upon publication and were published in translation, appearing in 21 countries. The third book in the series, "Dragon's Teeth" (1942), won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1943. Out of print and nearly forgotten for years, ebook editions of the Lanny Budd series were published in 2016.  The Lanny Budd series includes:

Other works.

Sinclair was keenly interested in health and nutrition. He experimented with various diets, and with fasting. He wrote about this in his book, "The Fasting Cure" (1911), another bestseller. He believed that periodic fasting was important for health, saying, "I had taken several fasts of ten or twelve days' duration, with the result of a complete making over of my health".  Sinclair favored a raw food diet of predominantly vegetables and nuts. For long periods of time, he was a complete vegetarian, but he also experimented with eating meat. His attitude to these matters was fully explained in the chapter, "The Use of Meat", in the above-mentioned book.

Works.

Fiction  Autobiographical  Non-fiction  Drama  As editor

Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943.

Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. (20. září 1878 – 25. listopadu 1968) byl americký spisovatel, publicista a levicový politik. V roce 1943 získal Pulitzerovu cenu za román "Dračí zuby" ("Dragon’s Teeth"). Jeho dílo bylo velmi populární zejména v první polovině 20. století. Napsal asi 90 knih, z nichž nejznámější je román "Džungle" ("The Jungle") z roku 1906 o poměrech na jatkách v Chicagu.