Early life.

Alfred Hawthorne Hill was born on 21 January 1924 in Southampton on the south coast of England. His father, Alfred Hill (1893–1972) (later manager of a surgical appliance shop that mostly sold condoms), and grandfather, Henry Hill (born 1871), had both been circus clowns. His mother was Helen née Cave (1894–1976). After leaving Taunton's School in Southampton, Hill worked at Woolworths and as a milkman, a bridge operator, a driver, and a drummer before becoming assistant stage manager with a touring revue. He was called up in 1942 and trained as a mechanic in the British Army. He served as a mechanic, truck driver, and searchlight operator in Normandy after September 1944 and later transferred to the Combined Services Entertainment division before the end of the war.  Inspired by the "star comedians" of British music hall shows, Hill set out to make his mark in show business. He changed his name to "Benny" in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny.

Career.

After the Second World War, Hill worked as a performer on radio. His first appearance on television was in 1950. In addition, he attempted a sitcom anthology, "Benny Hill", which ran from 1962 to 1963, in which he played a different character in each episode. In 1964, he played Nick Bottom in an all-star TV film production of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". He also had a radio programme lasting for three series called "Benny Hill Time" on BBC Radio's Light Programme, from 1964 to 1966. It was a topical show; e.g., a March 1964 episode featured James Pond, 0017, in "From Moscow with Love" and his version of "The Beatles". He played a number of characters in the series, such as Harry Hill and Fred Scuttle.

Films and recordings.

Hill's film credits include parts in five full-length feature films including "Who Done It?" (1956), "Light Up the Sky!" (1960), "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" (1965), "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1968) and "The Italian Job" (1969). He also made two short-subject films, "The Waiters" (1969) and "Eddie in August" (1970), the latter being a TV production. Finally, a clip-show film spin-off of his early Thames Television shows (1969–1973), called "The Best of Benny Hill" (1974), was a theatrically released compilation of "Benny Hill Show" episodes.  Hill's audio recordings include "Gather in the Mushrooms" (1961), "Pepys' Diary" (1961), "Transistor Radio" (1961), "Harvest of Love" (1963) and "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)", which was the UK Singles Chart Christmas number-one single in 1971. He also appeared in the 1986 video of the song "Anything She Does" by the band Genesis.

"The Benny Hill Show".

Hill had struggled on stage and had uneven success in radio, but in television he found a forum that played to his strengths. "The Benny Hill Show" had a music hall-derived format combining live on-stage comedy and filmed segments, and its humour relied on slapstick, innuendo, and parody. Recurring players on his show during the BBC years included Patricia Hayes, Jeremy Hawk, Peter Vernon, Ronnie Brody, and his co-writer from the early 1950s to early 1960s, Dave Freeman. Short, bald Jackie Wright was a frequent supporting player who in many sketches had to put up with Hill slapping him on the top of his head.  Hill remained mostly with the BBC through to 1968, except for a few sojourns with ITV and ATV stations between 1957 and 1960 and again in 1967. In 1969, his show moved from the BBC to Thames Television, where it remained until cancellation in 1989, with an erratic schedule of one-hour specials. The series showcased Hill's talents as an imaginative writer, comic performer, and impressionist. He may have bought scripts from various comedy writers, but if so, they never received an onscreen credit (some evidence indicates he bought a script from one of his regular cast members in 1976, Cherri Gilham, to whom he wrote from Spain, telling her he was using her "Fat Lady" idea on the show in January 1977).  The most common running gag in Hill's shows was the closing sequence, the "run-off", which was literally a running gag in that it featured various members of the cast chasing Hill, along with other stock comedy characters such as policemen, vicars, and old women. This was commonly filmed using "under-cranking" camera techniques, and included other comic devices such as characters running off one side of the screen and reappearing running on from the other. The tune used in all the chases, Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax", is so strongly associated with the show that it is commonly referred to as "The Benny Hill Theme". It has been used as a form of parody in many ways by television shows and films. In a 2015 UK-wide poll the show’s theme song was voted number 1 on the ITV special "The Sound of ITV – The Nation's Favourite Theme Tune".  From the start of the 1980s, the show featured a troupe of attractive young women, known collectively as "Hill's Angels". They would appear either on their own in a dance sequence or in character as foils against Hill. Sue Upton was one of the longest-serving members of the Angels. Jane Leeves appeared, as well. Henry McGee and Bob Todd joined Jackie Wright as comic supporting players, and the later shows also featured "Hill's Little Angels", a group of cute children including the families of Dennis Kirkland (the show's director) and Sue Upton. Jenny Lee-Wright (who first appeared on Hill’s show in 1970) earned the nickname 'The Sexiest Stooge’ – coined by Hill.  The alternative comedian Ben Elton made a headline-grabbing allegation, both on the TV show "Saturday Live" and in the pages of "Q" magazine (in its January 1987 issue), that "The Benny Hill Show" was single-handedly responsible for the incidences of rape in England during the period in question, and also suggested the programme incited other acts of violence against women. A writer in "The Independent" newspaper, though, opined that Elton's assault was "like watching an elderly uncle being kicked to death by young thugs". Elton later claimed his comment was taken out of context, and he appeared in a parody for "Harry Enfield and Chums", Benny Elton, where Elton ends up being chased by angry women, accompanied by the "Yakety Sax" theme, after trying to force them to be more feminist rather than letting them make their own decisions.  In response to the accusations of sexism, defenders of Hill have said the show used traditional comic stereotypes to reflect universal human truths in a way that was not malicious and fundamentally harmless. Hill's friend and producer Dennis Kirkland said it was the women who chased Hill in anger for undressing them, all of which was done accidentally by some ridiculous means.  In June 1989, John Howard Davies, the head of Light Entertainment at Thames Television, was cited by the British press as the man who sacked Benny Hill when the company decided not to renew his contract. Having become a hate figure among fans of the show, Davies appeared in an episode about Hill transmitted as part of the documentary series "Living Famously", and stated he cancelled the show for three reasons: "The audiences were going down, the programme was costing a vast amount of money, and he (Hill) was looking a little tired."  In February 1992, Thames Television, which received a steady stream of requests from viewers for "The Benny Hill Show" repeats, finally gave in and put together a number of re-edited shows. Hill died on the same day that a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television, for which he was to have made a series of specials. He had turned down competing offers from Carlton and Thames.

Celebrity fans.

Johnny Carson and side-kick Ed McMahon were both fans of Hill and tried several times to get him to come to Los Angeles and be a guest on Carson's "The Tonight Show". Hill always declined, citing not wanting to travel the great distance to California.  As related on the BBC programme "Living Famously", Hill visited the home of Charlie Chaplin after Chaplin's death. Chaplin's son Eugene took Hill into his father's private study and showed him several Benny Hill videotapes on a shelf. Eugene told Hill that his father was a great fan and used to watch the tapes with great enjoyment in his final years. Hill, a major fan of Chaplin, was reportedly moved to tears.  Radio and TV host Adam Carolla claimed that he was a fan of Hill and that he considered Hill "as American as The Beatles". During an episode of "The Man Show", Carolla performed in what was billed as a tribute to "our favourite Englishman, Sir Benny Hill" (Hill was never knighted) in more risqué versions of some of the sketches. Carolla played a rude and lecherous waiter, a typical Hill role, and the sketch featured many of the staples of Hill's shows, including a Jackie Wright-esque bald man, as well as the usual scantily clad women.  Michael Jackson was a Hill fan: "I just love your Benny Hill," the young Jackson told a bemused British music-press critic during a 1970s tour, "he's so funny!". The British prog-rock band Genesis may have been fans of Hill. In 1987, they filmed a video for their song "Anything She Does", featuring Hill as his character Fred Scuttle, an incompetent security guard who lets a ridiculous number of fans backstage at a Genesis concert.  In "Benny Hill: The World's Favourite Clown", filmed shortly before his death, celebrities such as Burt Reynolds, Michael Caine, John Mortimer, Mickey Rooney, and Walter Cronkite, among others, expressed their appreciation of and admiration for Hill and his humour — and in Reynolds' case, the appreciation extended to the Hill's Angels, as well. The novelist Anthony Burgess made no secret of his admiration for Hill. Burgess, whose novels were often comic, relished language, wordplay, and dialect, admired the verbal and comedic skill that underlay Hill's success. Reviewing a biography of Hill, "Saucy Boy", in the "Guardian" in 1990, Burgess described Hill as "a comic genius steeped in the British music hall tradition" (as were Chaplin and Laurel, two of Hill’s childhood idols) and "one of the great artists of our age". A meeting between the two men was described in a newspaper article by Burgess and recalled in the "Telegraph" newspaper by the satirist Craig Brown.  In 2006, broadcaster and critic Garry Bushell launched a campaign to erect a statue of Hill in Southampton, with the support of Barbara Windsor, Brian Conley, and other British comedy favourites. Those taking part in the first fundraising concert included Neville Staple, Right Said Fred, and Rick Wakeman.  In a June 2011 interview with "The Observer", the American rapper Snoop Dogg declared himself to be a fan of Hill.

Personal life.

Hill never owned his own home in London, and instead preferred to rent a flat rather than buy one. He rented a double-room apartment in the London district Queen's Gate for 26 years until around 1986 when he moved to Fairwater House in Teddington. While looking for somewhere to live, he stayed at 22 Westrow Gardens in Southampton. He also never owned a car, although he could drive.  Despite being a millionaire many times over, he continued with the frugal habits that he picked up from his parents, notably his father, such as buying cheap food at supermarkets, walking for miles rather than paying for a taxi unless someone picked up the tab for a limousine, and constantly patching and mending the same clothes even when the balance on his account at the Halifax Building Society reached seven figures.  Hill never married and he had no children. He had proposed to two women, but neither accepted. Shortly after his death in 1992, actress Annette Andre said that she turned down his proposal of marriage in the early 1960s. Because of his eccentricity and reclusive lifestyle, rumours circulated that he was gay, but he always laughingly denied them.  Hill was a huge Francophile and enjoyed his visits to France, notably to Marseille, where until the 1980s, he could go to outdoor cafes anonymously, travelling on public transport and socialising with local women. He spoke French fluently and also knew basic German, Spanish, Dutch, and Italian. Foreign travel was the only luxury that he permitted himself, and even then, he would stay in modest accommodations rather than five-star hotels.

Death.

Hill's health declined in the late 1980s. After a mild heart attack on 24 February 1992, doctors told him he needed to lose weight and recommended a heart bypass. He declined, and a week later was found to have kidney failure. He died at the age of 68 on 20 April; on 22 April, after several days of unanswered telephone calls he was found dead in his armchair in front of the television. The cause of death was recorded as coronary thrombosis. Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery near his birthplace in Southampton, on 26 April 1992.  Probate was granted on Hill’s estate in London on 5 June 1992, when its value at the time of his death was given as £7,548,192,.  During the night of 4 October 1992, following speculation in the media that Hill had been buried with a large amount of gold and jewellery, grave robbers excavated the grave at Hollybrook Cemetery and broke open the coffin, the open grave's condition being found by a passer-by the following morning. After a police examination of the scene, the coffin was re-closed and the grave filled back in by cemetery workers, and as a security measure, a 1-foot-thick concrete slab was placed over it.

Legacy.

In 1998, Channel 4 featured Hill in one of its "Heroes of Comedy" programmes. In 2002, DJ Taylor of "The Independent" ranked him the third greatest British comedian of the 20th century after Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel.  On 28 December 2006, Channel 4 broadcast the documentary "Is Benny Hill Still Funny?" The programme featured an audience that comprised a cross-section of young adults who had little or no knowledge of Hill, to discover whether his comedy was valid to a generation that enjoyed the likes of "Little Britain", "The Catherine Tate Show", and "Borat". The participants were asked to watch a 30-minute compilation that included examples of Hill's humour from both his BBC and ITV shows.

References.

Notes

Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian and actor, best remembered for his television programme "The Benny Hill Show", an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and "double entendre" in a format that included live comedy and filmed segments with Hill at the focus of almost every segment.

Alfred Hawthorn Hill dit Benny Hill est un acteur et chanteur comique britannique né le à Southampton et mort le à Teddington. Il est essentiellement connu pour son émission, diffusée en Grande-Bretagne de 1955 à 1989 et en France de 1980 à l'an 2000 sur FR3 puis France 3.


Biography.

Early years.

Yisroel (Israel) was born to poor parents Eliezer and Sarah in a settlement near Okopy Świętej Trójcy, a newly built fortress close to Kameniec in West Ukraine, where Zbruch connects with Dniester. Today, Okopy is a village in the Borschiv Raion of the Ternopil Oblast.  He died in Medzhybizh, which was part of Poland and today is situated in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast (Ukraine) (not to be confused with other cities of the same name).  In 1703, Israel became an orphan, and was adopted by the Jewish community of Tluste (near Zalischyky). It is reported that, after the conclusion of his studies at the local "cheder" (Jewish elementary school), he would often wander into the fields and forests that surrounded the village. In 1710, he finished "cheder" and became an assistant to a "melamed" (instructor in "cheder"). Sometime in 1712 Israel became a "shammash" (sexton) of the local synagogue.  He was hired as a teacher's assistant in the "cheders" of the small villages through which they passed. He later related that he took great pleasure in accompanying the children to and from school, using this opportunity to recite prayers with them and tell them Torah stories. The Mezritcher Maggid, the Baal Shem Tov's successor, would later say, "If only we kissed a Torah scroll with the same love that my master [the Baal Shem Tov] kissed the children when he took them to cheder as a teacher's assistant!"  According to Hasidic legend, the Baal Shem Tov would have visions in which the prophet Achiya Hashiloni would appear to him. In 1716 the Baal Shem Tov married, but soon his wife died and he went on traveling throughout Eastern Galicia. After serving for a long time as helper in various small communities of West Ukraine, he settled as a "melamed" at Tluste.  The Besht was introduced to Kabbalah by Rabbi Adam Baal Shem of Ropczyce () who was a disciple of Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem (I) of Zamość (), the successor of Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms ().  The Besht became the leader of this movement at the age of 18. Caring for the Jewish poor, the group of Tzadikim encouraged Jews to move to agrarian lifestyles as alternatives to the chronic poverty of city Jews. In continuation of this policy they decided that they needed to look after the educational needs of the children living in small farm communities. If a suitable teacher could not be sourced they themselves would provide one, and therefore the Baal Shem Tov became a teacher's assistant. He later commented "The most joyous time in my life was teaching the small children how to say Modeh Ani, Shema Yisrael and Kametz Alef Ah".  He was chosen by people conducting suits against each other to act as their arbitrator and mediator. His services were brought into frequent requisition because the Jews had their own civil courts in Poland. He is said to have made such an impression on Ephraim of Brody that the latter promised the Besht his daughter Chana in marriage. The man died, however, without telling his daughter of her betrothal; but when she heard of her father's wishes, she agreed to comply with them.  After their marriage the couple moved to a village in the Carpathians between Kuty and Kassowa, where their only income was from his work digging clay and lime, which his wife delivered to surrounding villages. The couple had two children: Udl (born in 1720) and Zvi Hersh.

Leadership.

The Besht later took a position as a shohet (ritual butcher) in Kshilowice, near Iaslowice, which he soon gave up in order to manage a village tavern that his brother-in-law bought for him. During the many years that he lived in the woods and came into contact with the peasants, he had learned how to use plants for healing purposes. In fact, his first appearance in public was that of an “ordinary” Baal Shem. He wrote amulets and prescribed cures.  After many trips in Podolia and Volhynia as a Baal Shem, Besht, considering his following large enough and his authority established, decided about 1740 to expound his teachings in the shtetl of Medzhybizh and people, mostly from the spiritual elite, came to listen to him. Medzhybizh became the seat of the movement and of the Medzybizh Hasidic dynasty. His following gradually increased, and with it the hostility of the Talmudists. Nevertheless, Besht was supported at the beginning of his career by two prominent Talmudists, the brothers Meïr (chief rabbi of Lemberg and later Ostroha, and author of "Meir Netivim" (a work of halachic responsa) and other works) and Isaac Dov Margalios. Later he won over recognized rabbinic authorities who became his disciples and attested to his scholarship. These include Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Hakohen, rabbi of Polnoy; Rabbi Dovid Halperin, rabbi of Ostroha; Rabbi Israel of Satinov, author of "Tiferet Yisrael"; Rabbi Yoseph Heilperin of Slosowitz; and Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezrich (AKA the "Maggid of Mezritch"). It is chiefly due to the latter that Besht's doctrines (though in an essentially altered form) were introduced into learned Jewish religious circles.  Israel undertook journeys in which he is recorded as effecting cures, and expelling demons and evil spirits (shaydim). Later Hasidic tradition, however, downplayed the importance of these healing and magical practices, concentrating on his teachings, his charm, magnetism, and ecstatic personality.  Over the past few years, the "Agudas Ohalei Tzadikim" organization (based in Israel) has restored many graves of Tzadikim (Ohelim) in Ukraine, including the Baal Shem Tov's. A guesthouse and synagogue are located next to the Ohel of Baal Shem Tov, and the Baal Shem Tov's synagogue in the village proper has been painstakingly restored. Both synagogues are used by the many visitors from all over the world who come to pray near the Baal Shem Tov's grave.

Disputes with the Frankists.

The Besht took sides with the Talmudists in their disputes against the Frankists (Jacob Frank's cultist movement which regarded Frank as the Messiah, modeled after Sabbatai Zevi.) After the mass conversion of the Frankists, the Baal Shem Tov allegedly said that as long as a diseased limb is connected with the body, there is hope that it may be saved; but, once amputated, it is gone, and there is no hope. It is alleged that he died out of grief that the Frankists left Judaism.

Legacy.

Israel ben Eliezer left no books; for the Kabbalistic commentary on Psalm 107, ascribed to him (Zhitomir, 1804), "Sefer mi-Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem-tov," may not be genuine. Therefore, the most reliable record of his teachings is in his utterances as recorded in the works of his disciples (Hasidim). Most are found in the works of Rabbi Jacob Joseph of Polnoy. But since Hasidism, immediately after the death of its founder, was divided into various parties, each claiming for itself the authority of Besht, the utmost of caution is necessary in judging as to the authenticity of utterances ascribed to Besht.  Some direct historical evidence remains of the Besht during the days he lived in Medzhybizh. Rosman discovered numerous legal documents that shed light on this period from the Polish Czartoryski noble family archives. The Besht's house is mentioned on several tax registers where it is recorded as having tax-free status. Several of the Besht's colleagues in his stories from Shivhei HaBesht also appear in Polish court records, notably, Ze'ev Wolf Kitzes and Dovid Purkes. Rosman contends that the Polish documents show the Besht and his followers were not outcasts or pariahs, but rather a respected part of mainstream Jewish communal life.  Other direct evidence includes the Besht's daily prayer-book (siddur, owned by the Agudas Chabad Library in New York) with his handwritten personal notes in the margins. His grave can be seen today in the old Jewish cemetery in Medzhybizh.  Chapin and Weinstock contend that the Besht was essentially the right person, in the right place, at the right time. 18th century Podolia was an ideal place to foster a sea-change in Jewish thinking. It had been depopulated one generation earlier due to the Khmelnitsky Massacres. A Turkish occupation of Podolia occurred within the Besht's lifetime and along with it the influence within this frontier territory of Sabbatai Zevi and his latter day spiritual descendants such as Malach and Jacob Frank. Once the Polish Magnates regained control from the Turks, Podolia went through an economic boom. The Magnates were benevolent to the economic benefits the Jews provided, and encouraged Jewish resettlement to help protect the frontier from future invasions. Thus, the Jewish community itself was essentially starting over. Within this context, the Jews of Podolia were open to new ideas. The Besht's refreshing new approaches to Judaism were welcome, expanding with little resistance in a community hungry for change.  In 2019, American funk quartet The Fearless Flyers released an instrumental single named "The Baal Shem Tov" in honor of the rabbi.

Practices.

The Besht was a mystic who claimed to have achieved "devekut" (“adhesion”), meaning that his soul had reached the high level where he could "ascent" to heaven and speak with any soul in heaven that he wished to speak to (though his only recorded choice was of the Messiah, and only once), and intervene between humans and God. He had the ability to protect the Jewish community from plague and persecution. He did this through prayer.  According to a letter from the Besht's brother-in-law to the Besht himself—as interpreted by Moshe Rosman—the latter was a practitioner of prophecy, being able to see a messianic figure arrive in Jerusalem despite living far from the city; the brother-in-law claims to have inquired into the figure and discovered the Besht's vision to be true. This claim also supports the supposed belief that the Besht had the ability to see the souls of men, divining the messianic quality of the man despite only seeing him through a vision. Rosman also describes another letter written by the brother-in-law which claims that the Besht could travel to heaven and commune with God. This view is derived from a series of titles given to the Besht, attributing various religious achievements unto him such as understanding the mysteries of God. Similarly, Rosman—though now citing the writings of a Polish rabbi—says that it was believed the Besht was a great medical practitioner with vast knowledge regarding salves, balms, and similar medicants. Some aspects of his medical practice are said to have been mystic in nature, though the degree to which this is the case is not agreed upon. Some claim that the Besht could only heal others through prayer and similar acts: recitation of holy words. In other works, he is said to have less limitations on his supposed ability, allowing for more mystic methods to be practiced.  He ate "farfel" every friday night because the word was similar to the world "farfalen" which means "wiped out, over and finished". He considered the noodles a symbol marking the beginning of a new week.

Core doctrines.

Although the teachings of the Ba’al Shem Tov derive to some extent from the Kabbalah and frequently employ kabbalistic terminology, he added an emphasis on personal existence and the salvation of the soul of the individual, as a requirement for the redemption of the world: “For before one prays for general redemption one must pray for the personal salvation of one’s own soul” ("Toledot Ya’akov Yosef"). He emphasised the personal against a previous preoccupation on messianism. In a letter to Abraham Gershon (dated 1751), he describes his dialogue with the Messiah during a spiritual ascent on Rosh Ha-Shanah, 1747: “I asked the Messiah, ‘When will you come, master,’ and he answered me, ‘When your learning will be made known and revealed to the world and its source will spread and all can recite yiḥudim and experience spiritual ascent as you can...’ and I was astonished and deeply grieved by this, and wondered when this would come to pass” ("Ben Porat Yosef").  At the core of the Besht's teaching is the principle of "devekut", and he demanded that "devekut" exist in all daily acts and in social contacts. Man must worship God not only when practicing religious acts and holy deeds, but also in his daily affairs, in his business, and in social contacts, for when a “man is occupied with material needs, and his thought cleaves to God, he will be blessed” ("Ketonet Passim" (1866), 28a). This belief is linked with the Lurianic doctrine of the raising of the holy sparks (niẓoẓot), though he limited this concept to the salvation of the individual soul. Because of his emphasis on "devekut", he did not advocate withdrawal from daily life and society, and he vigorously opposed fasts and asceticism.  He believed that physical pleasure can give rise to spiritual pleasure. A physical act can become a religious act if it is performed as worship of God and the act is performed in a state of "devekut".  The study of Torah is of prime importance in his teachings, although he interpreted the traditional ideal of “Torah for its own sake” as “for the sake of the letter.” Through contemplation of the letters of the text man can open the divine worlds before him. He based this belief on the assumption that the letters of the Torah evolved and descended from a heavenly source, and therefore by contemplating the letters, one can restore them to their spiritual, and divine source. The student thus becomes joined to their higher forms and receives mystical revelations.  Similarly, through prayer, a man can reach "devekut" and contact with the divine, by concentrating on the mystical meaning of the letters:  The Besht's concept of the zaddik is of the existence of superior individuals whose spiritual qualities are greater than those of other human beings and who are outstanding in their higher level of "devekut". These individuals influence society, and their task is to teach the people to worship God by means of "devekut" and to lead sinners to repent.

Influence on Hasidism.

The later developments of Hasidism are unintelligible without consideration of Besht's opinion concerning man's proper relation with the universe. True worship of God, consists in the cleaving to, and the unification with, God. To use his own words, “the ideal of man is to be a revelation himself, clearly to recognize himself as a manifestation of God.” Mysticism, he said, is not the Kabbalah, which everyone may learn; but that sense of true oneness, which is usually as strange, unintelligible, and incomprehensible to mankind as dancing is to a dove. However, the man who is capable of this feeling is endowed with a genuine intuition, and it is the perception of such a man which is called prophecy, according to the degree of his insight. From this it results, in the first place, that the ideal man may lay claim to authority equal, in a certain sense, to the authority of the Prophets. This focus on oneness and personal revelation helps earn his mystical interpretation of Judaism the title of Panentheism.  A second and more important result of the doctrine is that through his oneness with God, man forms a connecting link between the Creator and creation. Thus, slightly modifying the Bible verse, Hab., Besht said, “The righteous can vivify by his faith.“ Besht's followers enlarged upon this idea and consistently deduced from it the source of divine mercy, of blessings, of life; and that therefore, if one love him, one may partake of God's mercy.  On the opposite side of the coin, the Baal Shem Tov warned the Hasidim:  It may be said of Hasidism that there is no other Jewish sect in which the founder is as important as his doctrines. Besht himself is still the real center for the Hasidim; his teachings have almost sunk into oblivion. As Schechter (“"Studies in Judaism",” p. 4) observes: “To the Hasidim, Baal-Shem [Besht]... was the incarnation of a theory, and his whole life the revelation of a system.”

Teaching methods.

Besht did not combat rabbinical Judaism, but the spirit of its practice. His teachings being the result of a deep, religious temperament, he stressed the spirit. Though he considered the Law to be holy and inviolable, and he emphasized the importance of Torah-study, he held that one's entire life should be a service of God. Hasidic legend tells of a woman whom her relatives sought to kill on account of her shameful life, but who was saved in body and soul by Besht. The story is said to be characteristic of Besht's activity in healing those in need of relief. More important to him than prayer was a friendly relationship with sinners. Unselfishness and high-minded benevolence are a motif in the legends about him.  Besht's methods of teaching differed from those of his opponents. He directed many satirical remarks at them, a characteristic one being his designation of the typical Talmudist of his day as “a man who through sheer study of the Law has no time to think about God”. Besht is reported to have illustrated his views of asceticism by the following parable:  Besht held a firm conviction that God had entrusted him with a special mission to spread his doctrines. He believed that he had heavenly visions revealing this mission to him. For him every intuition was a divine revelation; and divine messages were daily occurrences. An example of the power of his spiritual vision is found in the beginning of his grandson's work, "Degel", where he writes that his grandfather wrote to Gershon Kitover who lived in Israel, asking him why he was not in Israel that particular Shabbos.

Legends.

In Hasidic tradition, there's a saying, “Someone who believes in all the stories of the Baal Shem Tov and the other mystics and holy men is a fool; someone who looks at any single story and says “That one could not be true” is a heretic.”  According to the "Encyclopaedia Judaica" the number of legends that are told relating to the Ba’al Shem Tov have 'distorted his historical character.' An anthology of legends about him was first compiled by Dov Baer b. Samuel of Linits, who was the son-in-law of Alexander Shoḥat, who had acted for several years as the Besht's scribe. The collection was copied many times and over time it became filled with errors. It was printed with the title, "Shivḥei ha-Besht" after Dov Baer's death. It was published by Israel Jaffe who rewrote the first chapter, and removed what he considered to be the distortions caused by copyists.  This edition, printed in Kopys (Kapust) in 1814, contains 230 stories grouped by common themes, characters, and motifs. Two editions also appeared in Yiddish that differ markedly from the Hebrew edition.  In the 19th century several further collections of legends about the Ba’al Shem Tov, and his followers appeared, in Hebrew and Yiddish, some of which repeated stories found in "Shivḥei ha-Besht" and some of which contained new stories. According to the "Encyclopaedia Judaica" only a few of these stories can actually be regarded as true.  One legend tells that his father, Eliezer, was seized during an attack, carried from his home in Wallachia, and sold as a slave to a prince. On account of his wisdom, he found favor with the prince, who gave him to the king to be his minister. During an expedition undertaken by the king, when other counsel failed, and all were disheartened, Eliezer's advice was accepted; and the result was a successful battle of decisive importance. Eliezer was made a general and afterward prime minister, and the king gave him the daughter of the viceroy in marriage. But, being mindful of his duty as a Jew and as he was already married, he married the princess only in name. After being questioned for a long time as to his strange conduct, he confessed to the princess that he was a Jew, who loaded him with costly presents and helped him escape to his own country.  On the way, the prophet Elijah is said to have appeared to Eliezer and said: “On account of thy piety and steadfastness, thou wilt have a son who will lighten the eyes of all Israel; and Israel shall be his name, because in him shall be fulfilled the verse (Isaiah ): ’Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’” Eliezer and his wife Sarah, however, reached old age childless and had given up all hope of ever having a child. But when they were nearly a hundred years old, the promised son (Besht) was born.

Notable students.

The Baal Shem Tov directly imparted his teachings to his students, some of whom founded their own Hasidic dynasties.

Confusion with Baal Shem of London.

A portrait by John Singleton Copley is often mistaken to be that of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, also known as the Baal Shem Tov. It is, in fact, a portrait of Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk, who was known as the Baal Shem of London.

Further reading.

The chief source for the Besht's biography is Ber (Dov) ben Shmuel’s "Shivchei ha-Besht", Kopys, 1814, and frequently republished, and traditions recorded in the works of various Hasidic dynasties — especially by the leaders of the Chabad movement.  Tzava’at HaRivash and Keter Shem Tov are the most popular anthologies and have been reprinted numerous times. All editions until recently are corrupt, with numerous omissions, printing errors and confused citations. Both texts have now appeared in critical annotated editions with extensive corrections of the texts. (Tzva’at HaRivash 1975, fifth revised edition 1998; Keter Shem Tov - Hashalem 2004, second print 2008.) These new authoritative editions were edited by Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet who also added analytical introductions, copious notes of sources and cross-references, commentaries, numerous supplements and detailed indices, and were published by the Chabad publishing house Kehot in Brooklyn NY.

Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (born circa 1698, died 22 May 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov (, ) or as the BeShT, was a Jewish mystic and healer from Poland, who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. "Besht" is the acronym for Baal Shem Tov, which means "Master of the Good Name" or "one with a good reputation".

Rabbi Israël ben Eliezer (רבי ישראל בן אליעזר), né le 25 août 1698 et mort le 22 mai 1760 en Pologne, appelé le « Baal Shem Tov » (le « Maître du Bon Nom ») ou le Besht הבעש"ט par acronyme, est un rabbin mystique, fondateur du judaïsme hassidique.


Modern usage in Chinese-speaking areas.

Mainland China.

Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of China, there is no prohibition against the use of traditional characters. Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear. Nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters.

Hong Kong and Macau.

In Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, simplified Chinese characters in Hong Kong and Macau has appeared to accommodate Mainland Chinese tourists and immigrants. This has led to concerns by many residents to protect their local heritage.

Taiwan.

Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government of Taiwan. Simplified characters are understood to a certain extent by any educated Taiwanese and learning to read them takes little effort. Some stroke simplifications that have been incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting.

Philippines.

In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification. While major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the "Chinese Commercial News", World News and United Daily News still use traditional characters. On the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are also found in some bookstores.  In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan. This is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters.

United States.

Overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the latter half of the 19th century, before the standardization of simplified characters. Therefore, United States public notices and signage in Chinese are generally in Traditional Chinese.

Chinese names.

Traditional Chinese characters (standard characters) are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially calls traditional Chinese characters standard characters or orthodox characters (). However, the same term is used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard, simplified "and" traditional characters from variant and idiomatic characters.  In contrast, users of traditional characters outside Taiwan, such as those in Hong Kong, Macau and overseas Chinese communities, and also users of simplified Chinese characters, call them complex characters (). An informal name sometimes used by users of simplified characters is "old characters" ().  Users of traditional characters also sometimes refer them as "full Chinese characters" () to distinguish them from simplified Chinese characters.  Some traditional character users argue that traditional characters are the original form of the Chinese characters and cannot be called "complex". Similarly, simplified characters cannot be "standard" because they are not used in all Chinese-speaking regions. Conversely, supporters of simplified Chinese characters object to the description of traditional characters as "standard," since they view the new simplified characters as the contemporary standard used by the vast majority of Chinese speakers. They also point out that traditional characters are not truly traditional as many Chinese characters have been made more elaborate over time.  Some people refer to traditional characters as simply "proper characters" () and modernized characters as "simplified-stroke characters" () or "reduced-stroke characters" () ("simplified-" and "reduced-" are actually homophones in Mandarin Chinese, both pronounced "jiǎn").  The use of such words as "complex", "standard" and "proper" in the context of such a visceral subject as written language arouses strong emotional reactions, especially since there are also political ramifications in this case. Debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters explores the differences of opinion that exist on this matter within Chinese-speaking regions.

Printed text.

When printing text, people in China and Singapore mainly use the simplified system, developed by the People's Republic of China government in the 1950s. In writing, most people use informal, sometimes personal simplifications. In most cases, an alternative character () will be used in place of one with more strokes, such as for. In the old days, there were two main uses of alternative characters. First, alternative characters were used to avoid using the characters of the formal name of an important person in less formal contexts as a way of showing respect to the said person by preserving the characters of the person's name. This act is called "offense-avoidance" () in Chinese. Secondly, alternative characters were used when the same characters were repeated in context to show that the repetition was intentional rather than an editorial mistake ().

Computer encoding and fonts.

In the past, Traditional Chinese was most often rendered using the Big5 character encoding scheme, a scheme that favors Traditional Chinese. Unicode, however, has become increasingly popular as a rendering method. Unicode gives equal weight to both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. There are various IMEs (Input Method Editors) available to input Chinese characters. There are still many Unicode characters that cannot be written using most IMEs; one example would be the character used in the Shanghainese dialect instead of, which is U+20C8E ( with a radical).  In font filenames and descriptions the acronym TC is used to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters to differentiate fonts that use SC for Simplified Chinese characters.

Web pages.

The World Wide Web Consortium recommends the use of the language tag as a language attribute value and Content-Language value to specify web-page content in Traditional Chinese.

Usage in other languages.

In Japanese, "kyūjitai" are the now-obsolete unsimplified forms of simplified Shinjitai Jōyō kanji; as with Korean, these unsimplified characters are mostly congruent with the traditional characters in Chinese, save for a few minor regional graphical differences. Furthermore, characters that are not included in the Jōyō list are generally recommended to be printed in their original unsimplified forms, save for a few exceptions.  In most cases traditional Chinese characters are identical with Hanja in Korean (now almost completely replaced by Hangul for general use, but nonetheless unchanged from Chinese except for some Korean-made Hanja).

Traditional Chinese characters (, Pinyin: ) are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty and have been more or less stable since the 5th century (during the Southern and Northern Dynasties).

Les caractères chinois traditionnels ou sinogrammes traditionnels sont un des deux ensembles de caractères standards du chinois écrit contemporain. Apparus durant la dynastie Han (206 av. J.-C. à 220 ) et utilisés depuis le durant les dynasties du Nord et du Sud, ils sont appelés "traditionnels" par opposition à l'autre forme - les sinogrammes simplifiés, standardisés par le gouvernement de la République populaire de Chine (Chine continentale) au début des années 1950.


Early life.

Bernardo O'Higgins, a member of the O'Higgins family, was born in the Chilean city of Chillán in 1778, the illegitimate son of Ambrosio O'Higgins, 1st Marquis of Osorno, a Spanish officer born in County Sligo, Ireland, who became governor of Chile and later viceroy of Peru. His mother was Isabel Riquelme, a prominent local; the daughter of Don Simón Riquelme y Goycolea, a member of the Chillán "Cabildo", or town council.  O'Higgins spent his early years with his mother's family in central-southern Chile and was never openly acknowledged by his father, and later he lived with the Albano family, who were his father's commercial partners, in Talca. At age 15, O'Higgins was sent to Lima by his father. He had a distant relationship with Ambrosio, who supported him financially and was concerned with his education, but the two never met in person. At the time of his son's birth, Ambrosio was only a junior military officer. Two years later, Isabel married Don Félix Rodríguez, a friend of her father. O'Higgins used his mother's surname until the death of his father in 1801.  Bernardo's father continued his professional rise and became Viceroy of Peru; at seventeen Bernardo O'Higgins was sent to London to complete his studies. There, studying history and the arts, O'Higgins became acquainted with American ideas of independence and developed a sense of nationalist pride. He met Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan idealist and believer in independence, and joined a Masonic Lodge established by Miranda, dedicated to achieving the independence of Latin America.  In 1798 O'Higgins went to Spain from Great Britain, his return to the Americas delayed by the French Revolutionary Wars. His father died in 1801, leaving O'Higgins a large piece of land, the "Hacienda Las Canteras", near the Chilean city of Los Ángeles. O'Higgins returned to Chile in 1802, adopted his biological father's surname, and began life as a gentleman farmer. In 1806, he was appointed to the "cabildo" as the representative of Laja. In 1808 Napoleon took control of Spain, triggering a sequence of events in South America. In Chile, the commercial and political elite decided to form an autonomous government to rule in the name of the imprisoned king Ferdinand VII; this was to be one of the first in a number of steps toward national independence, in which O'Higgins would play a leading role.

Role in Chilean independence movement.

On 18 September 1810, O'Higgins joined the revolt against the now French dominated Spanish government. The criollo leaders in Chile did not support Joseph Bonaparte's rule in Spain, and a limited self-government under the Government "Junta" of Chile was created, with the aim of restoring the legitimate Spanish throne. This date is now recognized as Chile's Independence Day. O'Higgins was a close friend of Juan Martínez de Rozas, an old friend of his father, and one of the more radical leaders. O'Higgins strongly recommended that a national congress be created, and was elected a deputy to the first National Congress of Chile in 1811 as a representative of the Laja district. Tensions between the royalist and increasingly pro-independence factions, to which O'Higgins remained attached as a junior member, continued to grow. The anti-Royalist camp in Chile was deeply split along lines of patronage and personality, by political beliefs, and by geography (between the rival regional groupings of Santiago and Concepción). The Carrera family had already seized power several times in different coups, and supported a specifically Chilean nationalism, as opposed to the broader Latin American focus of the Lautaro Lodge grouping, which included O'Higgins and the Argentine José de San Martín. José Miguel Carrera, the most prominent member of the Carrera family, enjoyed a power base in Santiago; that of de Rozas, and later O'Higgins, lay in Concepción.  As a result, O'Higgins was to find himself increasingly in political and military competition with Carrera—although early on, O'Higgins was nowhere near as prominent as his later rival. De Rozas initially appointed O'Higgins to a minor military position in 1812, possibly because of his illegitimate origins, poor health, or lack of military training. Much of O'Higgins' early military knowledge stemmed from Juan Mackenna, an immigrant of Irish descent and a former client of Ambrosio's, whose advice centered mainly on the use of cavalry. In 1813, when the Spanish government made its first attempt to reconquer Chile—sending an expedition led by Brigadier Antonio Pareja—Carrera, as a former national leader and now Commander in Chief of the Army, was by far the more prominent figure of the two, and a natural choice to lead the military resistance.  O'Higgins was back on his estates in Laja, having retired from the Army the previous year due to poor health, when news came of the invasion. O'Higgins mobilised his local militia and marched to Concepcion, before moving on to Talca, meeting up with Carrera, who was to take command of the new army. Carrera sent O'Higgins to cut the Spanish off at Linares; O'Higgins' victory there resulted in his promotion to colonel. The unsuccessful Siege of Chillan followed, where O'Higgins produced a brave, but unspectacular, performance; however, as commander, Carrera took most of the blame for the defeat, weakening his prestige with the "Junta" back in Santiago. O'Higgins continued to campaign against the royalists, fighting with a reckless courage that would make him famous. In October, fighting at the Battle of El Roble under Carrera, O'Higgins took effective command at a crucial moment and gave one of his more famous orders: Lads! Live with honor, or die with glory! He who is brave, follow me!  Despite being injured, O'Higgins went on to pursue the royalist forces from the field. The "Junta" in Santiago reassigned command of the army from Carrera, who had retreated during the battle, to O'Higgins, who then appointed Juan Mackenna as commandant-general. Carrera was subsequently captured and imprisoned by the royalist forces; in his absence, in May 1814 O'Higgins supported the Treaty of Lircay, which promised a halt to the fighting. Once released, however, Carrera violently opposed both O'Higgins' new role and the treaty, overthrowing the "Junta" in a coup in July 1814 and immediately exiling Mackenna.  O'Higgins turned to focus on Carrera, and their forces met at the battle of Las Tres Acequias, where Carrera's brother Luis inflicted a modest defeat on O'Higgins. Further conflict was postponed by news that the royalists had decided to ignore the recent treaty, and were threatening Concepción under the leadership of General Mariano Osorio. Carrera and O'Higgins decided to reunite the army and face the common threat. Carrera's plan was to draw the Spaniards to the Angostura del Paine, while O'Higgins preferred the town of Rancagua. They decided to make a stand at the Angostura de Paine, a gorge that formed an easily defended bottleneck. At the last hour, however, O'Higgins instead garrisoned the nationalist forces at the main square of Rancagua. Carrera did not arrive with reinforcements, and O'Higgins and his forces were promptly surrounded in October. After an entire day of fighting at the battle of Rancagua, the Spanish commander, Mariano Osorio, was victorious—but O'Higgins managed to break out with a few of his men, issuing the command:Those who can ride, ride! We will break through the enemy!  Like Carrera and other nationalists, O'Higgins retreated to Argentina with the survivors, and remained there for three years while the royalists were in control. Mackenna, still a key supporter, was killed by Luis Carrera in a duel in 1818, deepening the ongoing feud.

O'Higgins as Supreme Director.

While in exile, O'Higgins met the Argentine General José de San Martín, a fellow member of the Lautaro Lodge, and together the men returned to Chile in 1817 to defeat the royalists. Initially the campaign went well, with the two commanders achieving a victory at the battle of Chacabuco. San Martín sent his troops down the mountain starting at midnight of 11 February to prepare for an attack at dawn. As the attack commenced, his troops were much closer to the Spanish than anticipated, and they fought hard and heroically. Argentine General Miguel Estanislao Soler's troops had to go down a tiny path that proved long and arduous, and took longer than expected. General O'Higgins—supposedly seeing his homeland and overcome with passion—defied the plan of attack and charged along with his 1,500 troops. What happened during this theater of the battle is fiercely debated. O'Higgins claimed that the Spanish stopped their retreat and started advancing towards his troops. He said that, if he were to lead his men back up the narrow path and retreat, they would have been massacred one by one. San Martín saw O'Higgins' early advancement, and ordered Soler to charge the Spanish flank, which took the pressure off O'Higgins and allowed his troops to stand their ground.  The ensuing firefight continued into the afternoon, and the tides turned for the Patriots as Soler captured a key Spanish artillery point. At this point, the Spanish set up a defensive square around the Chacabuco Ranch. O'Higgins charged the center of the Spanish position, and Soler got into place behind the Spanish forces, effectively cutting off any chance of retreat. O'Higgins and his men overwhelmed the Spanish troops, who attempted to retreat, but Soler's men cut off their retreat and pushed towards the ranch. Hand-to-hand combat ensued in and around the ranch, until every Spanish soldier was dead or taken captive. Five hundred Spanish soldiers were killed, and 600 were taken captive. The Patriot forces lost 12 men in the battle, but an additional 120 died of their wounds.  The Second Battle of Cancha Rayada in 1818, however, was a victory for the Royalists, and it was not until the Battle of Maipú that ultimate victory was assured. San Martín was initially offered the position of power in the newly-free Chile, but he declined, in order to continue the fight for independence in the rest of South America. O'Higgins accepted the position instead, and became the leader of an independent Chile. He was granted dictatorial powers as Supreme Director on 16 February 1817. On 12 February 1818, Chile proclaimed itself an independent republic.  Throughout the war with the royalists, O'Higgins had engaged in an ongoing feud with José Miguel Carrera. After their retreat in 1814, O'Higgins had fared much better than Carrera, who found little support forthcoming from San Martín, O'Higgins' political ally. Carrera was imprisoned to prevent his involvement in Chilean affairs; after his escape, he ended up taking the winning side in the Argentine Federalist war, helping to defeat the pro-San Martin government in 1820.  Marching south to attack O'Higgins, now ruler of Chile, Carrera was arrested by supporters of O'Higgins and executed under questionable circumstances in 1821; his two brothers had already been killed by royalist forces in the preceding years, bringing the long-running feud to an end. The argument as to the relative contribution of these two great Chilean independence leaders, however, has continued up to the modern day, and O'Higgins' decision not to intervene to prevent the execution coloured many Chileans' views of his reign. For six years, O'Higgins was a largely successful leader, and his government initially functioned well. Within Chile, O'Higgins established markets, courts, colleges, libraries, hospitals, and cemeteries, and began important improvements in agriculture. He undertook various military reforms. He founded the Chilean Military Academy in 1817, aiming to professionalise the officer corps. O'Higgins remained concerned about the threat of invasion, and had declared after the battle of Chacabuco that "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea". Alongside the Military Academy, he founded the modern Chilean Navy under the command of the Scottish officer Lord Cochrane, establishing the First Chilean Navy Squadron, the Academy for Young Midshipmen (the predecessor of the current Naval Academy), and the Chilean Marine Corps. O'Higgins continued in his desire to see independence across Latin America, utilising his new forces to support San Martín, sending the Liberating expedition to Perú.  In time, however, O'Higgins began to alienate important political groupings within the still-fragile Chilean nation. O'Higgins' proposed radical and liberal reforms, such as the establishment of democracy and abolition of titles of nobility, were resisted by the powerful large landowners. He offended the church in Chile early on—in particular, the Bishop of Santiago, Jose Rodriguez Zorrilla. Having offended the aristocracy and the church, he also lost the support of the businesspeople, his last semi-powerful ally within the country. The government became bankrupt, forcing O'Higgins to send Antonio José de Irisarri to the United Kingdom to negotiate a £1 million loan—Chile's first foreign debt—whilst a massive earthquake in central Chile added more difficulty for the ruler.  In 1822, O'Higgins established a new "controversial" constitution, which many regarded as a desperate attempt to hang on to power. The deaths of his political enemies, including Carrera and Manuel Rodríguez, returned to haunt him, with some accusing him of abusing state power. The provinces increasingly viewed him as centralising power to an excessive degree.  O'Higgins was deposed by a conservative coup on 28 January 1823. Chile's new dictator, Ramón Freire, formerly O'Higgins' "closest ally", had slowly turned against O'Higgins in the preceding years. Freire had fought under O'Higgins at the Battle of Maipú, was promoted to colonel for his services to the independence, and finally named Intendant of Concepción. His friendship with O'Higgins started to crack by degrees, however, until in 1822 he resigned his position in disagreement. His name became a rallying point for those discontented with O'Higgins, but the two of them never came to an armed conflict. O'Higgins' abdication was typically dramatic: baring his chest, he offered up his life should his accusers demand it of him. In return, the "junta" declared they held nothing against O'Higgins, and saluted him. O'Higgins was made governor of Concepción, an appointment which did not last long: it was time for him to leave Chile.

Peruvian independence and O'Higgins' final years.

After being deposed, O'Higgins embarked from the port of Valparaiso in July 1823, in the British corvette "Fly", never to see Chile again. Originally destined for Ireland, while he was passing through Peru he was strongly encouraged by Simón Bolívar to join the nationalist effort there. Bolívar's government granted O'Higgins the "Hacienda de Cuiva" and the "Hacienda Montalván" in San Vicente de Cañete, near Lima. O'Higgins lived in exile for the rest of his life accompanied by his illegitimate son, Pedro Demetrio O'Higgins (1817–1868), his mother, and his half-sister, Rosa Rodríguez Riquelme (1781–1850). According to a 2001 documentary, O'Higgins also had a daughter, Petronila (born circa 1809) by Patricia Rodríguez.  O'Higgins traveled to join Bolívar's army in its final liberation of Peru, but upon arrival, he found that Bolívar did not intend to give him a command—instead appointing him a general of Gran Colombia and making him a special court-martial judge for Chilean volunteers. Making his way back to Lima, O'Higgins heard of Sucre's victory at the Battle of Ayacucho. He returned to Bolívar for the victory celebrations, but as a civilian. "Señor", he toasted, addressing Bolívar, "America is free. From now on General O'Higgins does not exist; I am only Bernardo O'Higgins, a private citizen. After Ayacucho, my American mission is over."  When Andrés de Santa Cruz became head of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation in 1836, O'Higgins endorsed his integrationist policies, and wrote a letter of support to him the following year when the Confederation came under attack from the Chilean forces of Diego Portales — ultimately offering to act as a mediator in the conflict. With the rise of Agustín Gamarra, O'Higgins found himself out of favour in Peru. Meanwhile, the Chilean government had begun to rehabilitate O'Higgins, reappointing him to his old rank of captain-general in the Chilean Army.  In 1842, the National Congress of Chile finally voted to allow O'Higgins to return to Chile. After travelling to Callao to embark for Chile, however, O'Higgins began to succumb to cardiac problems and was too weak to travel. His doctor ordered him to return to Lima, where on 24 October 1842, aged 64, O'Higgins died.

Legacy.

After his death, his remains were first buried in Peru, before being repatriated to Chile in 1869. O'Higgins had wished to be buried in the city of Concepción, but this was never to be. For a long time they remained in a marble coffin in the Cementerio General de Santiago, and in 1979 his remains were transferred by Augusto Pinochet to the Altar de la Patria, in front of the Palacio de La Moneda. In 2004, his body was temporarily stored at the Chilean Military School during the building of the Plaza de la Ciudadanía, before being finally laid to rest in the new underground Crypt of the Liberator. O'Higgins is widely commemorated today, both in Chile and beyond. One of the administrative regions of Chile was named Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region in his honour, as were other placenames such as the village of Villa O'Higgins. The main thoroughfare of the Chilean capital, Santiago, is Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins. There is also the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. In the town of San Vicente de Cañete, situated in the Lima Region, in Peru, there's a park and street named after him. A statue of O'Higgins is located in a park in Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala. There is a bust of O'Higgins in O'Higgins Square by the bridge in Richmond, south-west London. Each year the borough's mayor is joined by members of the Chilean Embassy for a ceremony, and a wreath is placed there. A blue plaque was erected in his honor at Clarence House in Richmond, where he lived while studying in London.  There is also a plaque in his honor in Merrion Square in Dublin and in the Garavogue River Walkway in Sligo, Ireland, and a sculpture near Central Railway Station in Plaza Iberoamericana, near 58 Chalmers St, Sydney. In Buenos Aires, there is a large statue of him in the center of the Plaza República de Chile, and several localities in Argentina are named after him. A plaque has also been erected in Cadiz, Spain, in the Plaza de Candelaria, where he resided for four years. In 2005, a bust was erected "To the Liberator of Chile" by the Chilean Embassy in the Parque Morazan in San José, Costa Rica. A statue of Bernardo O'Higgins in the city of Concepción was destroyed during the 2010 earthquake in Chile.  In 1949, American composer Henry Cowell composed an opera on the life of O'Higgins titled "O'Higgins of Chile". The libretto was written by Elizabeth Harald, but the work was never orchestrated nor staged.  In 1955, the football team O'Higgins F.C. was founded, named after him.  Chile's highest award for a foreign citizen is named in honour of O'Higgins, whilst the Chilean Navy has named several ships in his honour, including an armored cruiser (1897–1946), a World War II–era light cruiser (the former USS "Brooklyn", CL-40) (1951–1992), and a French-built Scorpene class submarine (2003–present). The Chilean Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme research station in Antarctica is named in his honor. It is located on the northernmost part of the continent. In addition, one of the standard class Liberty Ships (#2168) was named after him. The SS Bernardo O'Higgins was laid down on September 23, 1943 and launched on October 13, 1943 (the ship was scrapped in 1959).  On 28 October 2010, An Post (the Irish Post Office) and CorreosChile (the Chilean Post Office) issued 82c and $500 se-tenant stamps to commemorate the bicentenary of the beginning of the struggle for Chilean Independence. The stamps honor two men with Irish backgrounds, who played a crucial role in the quest for Chile's liberation, Bernardo O'Higgins and John MacKenna.

Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (; 1778–1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Spanish and Irish ancestry. Although he was the second Supreme Director of Chile (1817–1823), he is considered one of Chile's founding fathers, as he was the first holder of this title to head a fully independent Chilean state.

Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme est un officier militaire chilien, né à Chillán le 20 août 1778 et mort à Lima le 24 octobre 1842. Il est considéré comme l'un des pères de la patrie chilienne car il fut l'une des figures militaires fondamentales de l'indépendance et le premier chef d'État du Chili indépendant. Il dirigea le pays sous le titre de Commandeur Suprême (Director Supremo) entre 1817 et 1823, date à laquelle il se retira volontairement de la présidence afin d'éviter une guerre civile. À la suite de sa démission, il s'exila au Pérou, où il resta jusqu'à sa mort en 1842. Son nom d'origine, "Ó hUiginn" en gaélique, fut changé en O'Higgins par les Anglais car ils n'arrivaient pas à le prononcer. C'est avec ce patronyme que le père de Bernardo, "Ambrosio O'Higgins" s'installa et se fit connaître au Chili.


History.

1928–1998: The beginning.

Maccabi leader Yosef Yekutieli attempted for Maccabi Association's membership in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) as early as 1925. The application was turned down, as only associations representing states could be admitted as members. Yekutieli thus decied to create the Palestine Football Association (PFA). Maccabi officials were obliged to include Arab teams. The association's first session was held in the summer of 1928. Notwithstanding the fourteen Jewish representatives that partook, one Arab delegate participated – an individual representing Arab Sports Club of Jerusalem. FIFA accepted the PFA on 17 May 1929 and during the first years of the PFA, Arab clubs partook in PFA sanctioned-matches. At this points, 11 of the 69 PFA teams were Arab, but after the mid-1930s until its transformation into IFA it became increasingly Zionist with only minor Arab membership.  An Arab Palestinian Sports Federation (APSF) was born in April 1931 due to the belief that the PFA did not represent Arab interests. A Palestinian national team played its first match against a squad from the American University of Beirut in the same year according to "Falastin". Due to the 1936 revolt, the activities of the APSF were hampered and APSF completely disappeared toward the end of the 1930s.  While the Palestinian Football Association was established in 1928, the first international match played by Palestine was in the 1953 Pan Arab Games against Egypt; the match ended in a 8–1 defeat. The last game saw Palestine lose to Libya 5–2, to finish bottom of the group.  At the 1965 Pan Arab Games, Palestine were grouped with Aden, Iraq, Lebanon and the United Arab Republic. They finished second, thus advanced to the semi-finals for the first time. Palestine faced Sudan and were beaten narrowly 2–1. In the third place play-off, Palestine met Libya, where they lost 4–2.  Palestine were drawn alongside Libya, North Yemen and Syria in the 1966 Arab Nations Cup. With one win, a draw and a loss, Palestine was eliminated in the group stage.  The national team participated in the 1976 Pan Arab Games, held in Damascus. Palestine started their campaign with two defeats to Morocco (3–0) and Saudi Arabia (3–1), before defeating Jordan (2–1). They lost to hosts Syria (2–0) in their fourth game of the tournament, drew against South Yemen (0–0), and finished with a win against Mauritania (1–0) to end the tournament in 6th place.  Palestine participated in the 1992 Arab Nations Cup held in Iraq; they were drawn in Group B alongside Syria, Libya and North Yemen. Starting with a 0–0 to Libya, Palestine beat North Yemen 7–0 before losing 3–1 to Syria. They ended the tournament with four points and failed to qualify to the knock-out stages of the competition.

1998–2014: International recognition.

In May 1995, the PFA was granted the status of provisional member in FIFA. Palestine eventually gained FIFA membership on 8 June 1998 after numerous attempts since 1946. Under Ricardo Carugati, Palestine played their first official matches in July 1998 against Lebanon, Jordan and Syria at the 1998 Arab Nations Cup qualification.  In the next year, Palestine took part in the 1999 Pan Arab Games held in Jordan. There, they won games against Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, drew with Libya and Syria, while only losing to hosts Jordan. Palestine finished in the third-place which is their best result to date. In their first ever Asian Cup qualification, Palestine were drawn into a five-team group with Jordan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Qatar. A single victory 2–0 against Pakistan proved to be not enough to qualify as they lost 1–0 to Qatar, 5–1 to Jordan before finishing the campaign with a 2–0 defeat to Kazakhstan.  Managed by Mustafa Yacoub, Palestine drew into Group C of the 2002 World Cup qualification along with Hong Kong, Malaysia and Qatar. The team finished in a good second place scoring 8 goals thanks to Emad Ayoub who netted four times. In the 2002 Arab Nations Cup, Palestine crashed out of the group stage, but managed to draw against group winners Jordan, Kuwait and Sudan, whose only losses were against eventual semifinalist Morocco. Under Nicola Hadwa Shahwan, the team were drawn alongside Kuwait, Qatar and Singapore. Palestine finished last with two points.  After a failed Asian Cup qualifying campaign, the PFA hired Austrian coach Alfred Riedl to lead the team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification. Palestine was included in a group with Uzbekistan, Iraq and Chinese Taipei. They won both games against Chinese Taipei, drew 2–2 with Iraq, however this was insufficient for Palestine to advance beyond the second round as they lost both fixtures versus Uzbekistan 3–0 apart from a 3–0 defeat at the hands of Iraq. Palestine took part in the inaugural AFC Challenge Cup held in Bangladesh. They were drawn alongside the host team, Cambodia and Guam. In the group stage, Palestine registered their biggest win ever, a 11–0 victory over Guam. Palestine advanced from Group C and met Kyrgyzstan in the quarter-finals. After playing a goaless first half, they were beaten with a last-gasp goal. In the summer of 2006, Palestine achieved its highest FIFA ranking at 115, placing them 16th in the Asian continent.  Managed by Azmi Nassar, Palestine were drawn with China national football team, Iraq and Singapore during the 2007 Asian Cup qualification. Palestine finished in the bottom with 4 points. They achieved their only win against Singapore 1–0.  In 2008, with the help of FIFA's goal program, the PFA built the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, and on 26 October 2008. Palestine held a match at their home for the first time since they became member of FIFA, a 1–1 draw with Jordan ahead of a crowd of over 7,000. Palestine entered the first round of 2010 World Cup qualification and were eliminated after only one match that finished 4–0 for Singapore. The second leg was not playet as scheduled due to the Palestinian team being barred from travelling. However the FIFA refused to reschedule the match.  The 2010 AFC Challenge Cup qualifying draw put Palestine in Group C, with Afghanistan (later withdrew), Kyrgyzstan and Nepal. They started the run with a goalless draw against hosts Nepal. The final game finished in a 1–1 draw with Kyrgyzstan to miss the chance of qualification on goal difference.  Palestine drew into group C with Jordan, Libya and Sudan for the 2011 Pan Arab Games. They lost the opening match 4–1 to Jordan in Doha. The team improved in the second match against Libya which finished 1–1. The last game against Sudan was won by Palestine 2–0 to clinch the second-place berth in the tournament. At the semi-finals they lost 3–1 to Bahrain. The team completed their campaign with a 3–0 loss to Kuwait after extra time.  During the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Palestine were drawn with Afghanistan in the first round. The first leg was won 2–0, while the second leg ended in a draw 1–1. On 3 July 2011, the first World Cup qualifying match played at home, Palestine took the lead with a long-range shot by Houssam Wadi. Palestine reached the second round to face Thailand. The first match was lost 1–0 in Buriram, while in the second match, Palestine produced a better performance with Murad Alyan taking the lead early, before Thailand responded before half-time. The second half was similar and two teams waited until the dying minutes before scoring back-to-back goals. This resulted in Palestine's elimination.  The PFA chose not to renew Moussa Bezaz's contract after exiting the second round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying. Jamal Mahmoud, a former player and manager of Al-Wehdat, was announced as the national team manager in November 2011, after two disastrous friendly matches, without a permanent manager saw defeats against Indonesia and Iran 4–1 and 7–0, respectively. Palestine made history by playing and defeating their first UEFA rival Azerbaijan, on 2–0. The match was later registered as unofficial for uknown reasons.  Mahmoud later led the team in the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup. In the run-up, Palestine finished group play at the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup without conceding a goal after 2–0 wins over Nepal and Maldives alongside a 0–0 draw against Turkmenistan on the way to a semifinal exit at the hands of eventual champions North Korea. The third place play-off ended in a 4–3 loss against the Philippines. During the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification, Palestine drew into Group D with Bangladesh, Nepal and the Northern Mariana Islands. They started with a hard win against Bangladesh 1–0. The next game ended in a 9–0 rout over the Northern Mariana Islands. The qualifiers finished in a goalless draw against Nepal to earn a second straight AFC Challenge Cup berth.

2014–present: Recent success.

The team ended up winning the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup by drawing only one of the 5 matches without conceding a goal. In the opening match, Palestine won against Kyrgyzstan with a last-gasp goal by Abdelhamid Abuhabib. In the next group game, they played against Myanmar and won 2–0. The ended the first round with a 0–0 draw against hosts Maldives. Palestine advanced as group winners to the semi-finals where they faced Afghanistan. The match ended in favor of the Palestinians with a 2–0 win. At the final, Palestine clinched the win over the Philippines with a lone goal scored by Ashraf Nu'man through a free-kick. The victory gave the Palestine team their first major trophy and guaranteed their participation in the next year's AFC Asian Cup. Following its 2014 AFC Challenge Cup win and qualification for the Asian Cup, Jamal Mahmoud resigned as national team manager citing irrelevant differences with the Palestine Football Association.  Palestine was placed in Group D along with Japan, Jordan and Iraq in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup having lost all three group matches. They started their campaign with a 0–4 defeat by Japan. In the second game Palestine were beaten 1–5, with the opposing team ending the first half with a 3 goals lead. In the second half, Palestine scored their first ever Asian Cup goal by Jaka Ihbeisheh six minutes before the end. However, at this point they were eliminated. The participation ended with a 0–2 defeat to Iraq. After a disastrous performance in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, the PFA appointed Olympic team manager Abdel Nasser Barakat as national team manager, who then decided not to pick several veteran players as the team moved to overhaul.  Palestine registered two famous 6–0 wins over Malaysia during 2018 World Cup qualifying. Those results, combined with a 0–0 draw at home to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, placed Palestine within the quest for qualification for the third-round of Asian World Cup qualifiers. They were eliminated from the qualification following a 2–0 defeat to the UAE on 24 March 2016. They won their final FIFA World Cup qualification match at home 7–0 against Timor-Leste, five days later.  Although eliminated from the World Cup, Palestine advanced to the third round of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification. Drawn with Oman, the Maldives and Bhutan, Palestine came second in the group with five wins and one defeat, and qualified to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup for the first time through regular qualification. Between February and March 2018, Palestine reached their best ever FIFA ranking of 73rd, thanks to an unprecedented 12-match unbeaten streak (between 29 March 2016 and 22 March 2018), winning eight and drawing four. In February 2018, Palestine achieved their best-ever FIFA ranking (73rd).  On 19 December 2017, Julio César Baldivieso was hired after Abdel Nasser Barakat was released. The hiring was widely criticized by Palestinian fans. On 22 April 2018, the PFA appointed Noureddine Ould Ali as head coach to lead the team in the next period. Palestine was crowned champion of the 2018 Bangabandhu Cup as an invited country to the tournament. In the road to the final, they topped their group with 6 points, defeating Tajikistan 2–0 before winning against Nepal 1–0 with a Khaled Salem header. In the semi-final Palestine knocked out Bangladesh 2–0 with the goals coming in each half. At the final, Palestine played Tajikistan for the second time. The match ended 0–0 in regular time, to be decided in a penalty shoot-out which Palestine won 4–3.  Drawn with Australia, Syria and Jordan, Palestine started their 2019 AFC Asian Cup campaign on 6 January 2019 with a 0–0 draw to Syria. Five days later, Palestine faced title-holders Australia; a header by Jamie Maclaren and a goal by Awer Mabil sent Palestine trailing 2–0 at half-time. Australia sealed the win with a 90th-minute Apostolos Giannou header. On 15 January 2019, Palestine headed into their last group-stage match needing all three points against Jordan, and hoping for a Syria win against Australia. In the 17th minute, Palestine came close to scoring when Amer Shafi produced a fingertip save to keep out Abdelatif Bahdari. In the secold half, Oday Dabbagh failed to score from two headers, and the match ended in a 0–0 draw.  Between July and August 2019, Palestine participated in the 2019 WAFF Championship; they were drawn with hosts Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. Palestine ended the tournament with two wins, one draw and one defeat, and finished in second place in their group: however, this wasn't enough to reach the final.  Palestine were drawn with Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Yemen at the 2022 World Cup qualification. They kicked-off with a historic win over Uzbekistan 2–0 in Al-Ram. Five days later, Palestine were defeated 2–1 to Singapore. On 15 October 2019, Palestine drew 0–0 with Saudi Arabia, during which its decades-long boycott of play in the West Bank came to an end in protest against Israel's control over Palestinian territories. Thereafter, the team lost again to Yemen 1–0. This was later followed with another away loss to Uzbekistan, thus placed Palestine in the bottom and reduced the country's opportunity to reach the final round.

Problems relating to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

The Palestinian Football Association faces problems in training and playing due to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.  Because of travel restrictions placed by Israel upon people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the difficulty in obtaining an exit visa from Israel, many players in the team are drawn from the Palestinian diaspora, from as far away as Chile and the United States. Recently, Israel's refusal to issue exit visas has resulted in players, or in some case the entire team, being unable to represent the territories. In November 2006 (the last match of 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification group stage is scheduled), all players based inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip were denied exit visas. The AFC cancelled the match since both teams had been eliminated from the competition by virtue of their previous results against China and Iraq. A film, "Goal Dreams", was made about the team attempting to overcome obstacles in the qualification for the 2006 World Cup, who were also featured on the BBC documentary series "Frontline Football".  In October 2007, the second leg of a crucial 2010 World Cup qualifier between Palestine and Singapore was not played due to Palestine's inability to obtain exit visas. The AFC and FIFA decided not to reschedule the match despite protests from the PFA, and Singapore was awarded a 3–0 win in a walkover match. In May 2008, the team was not allowed to travel to the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup. After a 2011 World Cup qualifier against Thailand, two starters, Mohammed Samara and Majed Abusidu, were refused entry to the West Bank and therefore could not travel back with the team from Thailand.  Striker Ziyad Al-Kord was banned from traveling and had his house destroyed. Tariq al Quto was killed by the Israel Defense Forces, and during the Operation Cast Lead three Palestinian footballers, Ayman Alkurd, Shadi Sbakhe and Wajeh Moshtahe, were among the Palestinian casualties.  Mahmoud Sarsak was administratively detained by Israel in July 2009 for being a member of Islamic Jihad; following a hunger strike and international pressure on his behalf from FIFA President Sepp Blatter, he was released in July 2012. In 2012, Olympic Team goalkeeper Omar Abu Ruways was arrested by Israel for being a member of a terrorist cell.  Sameh Maraaba was arrested in April after returning with his team from training in Qatar. The Shin Bet accused Maraaba of exploiting his status as a Palestinian football player to act as a courier for Hamas. Palestinian facilities, such as Palestine Stadium, have been damaged in military conflicts.  In addition, Israeli forces have been accused of intentionally shooting Palestinian footballers in the knees and feet, including on one occasion ten bullets in the feet of 19 year old footballer Jawhar Nasser Jawhar.  The team's former goalkeeper Abu Rwayyis was arrested in connection with an attack on IDF soldiers in April 2012.

Players.

Current squad.

The following 28 players were called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Yemen and Uzbekistan on 14 and 19 November 2019, respectively. <br>

Recent call-ups.

The following footballers were part of a national selection in the past 12 months, but are not part of the current squad.

Records and fixtures.

, the complete official match record of the Palestine national team comprises 223 matches: 62 wins, 57 draws and 104 losses. During these matches, the team scored 278 times and conceded 350 goals. Palestine's highest winning margin is 11 goals, which has been achieved against Guam in 2006 (11–0). Their longest winning streak is 7 wins, and their unbeaten record is 12 consecutive official matches.  The entire match record can be examined on the following articles:  Upcoming fixtures are listed on the 2020–29 results page.

Player records.

Most-capped players.

. Highlighted names denote a player still playing or available for selection.

Top scorers.

The Palestine national football team (), controlled by the Palestinian Football Association, represents Palestine in association football. The squad is governed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) continentally, and FIFA worldwide. While Palestine is yet to qualify for the World Cup, they have participated twice in the Asian Cup: in 2015, after winning the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, and 2019, their first time through regular qualification. They failed to get past the group stages on both occasions. Palestine's main venue is the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium in Al-Ram, however they have been forced to play in neutral stadiums for home matches in numerous occasions due to political issues.

Kamehameha III (né Kauikeaouli) ( sur l'île d'Hawaï — à Honolulu) fut le roi du royaume d'Hawaii de 1825 à 1854. Il fut le monarque d'Hawaï ayant eu le plus long règne.


History.

1997–2001: Formation and early releases.

The band was formed by Kessler and Drudy. Kessler had "been looking to put a band together for a while" when he met Drudy. Kessler "had a very hard time finding musicians to play with—musicians at all, really." Kessler met Dengler in a philosophy class at New York University and asked him if he played an instrument. Later, Kessler ran into Banks (whom he had first met in France) in New York City's East Village, and the pair discussed collaborating. Banks admitted that he and Dengler "butted heads" early on in the band's history, but told "Spin" that now the two are "really tight, in a spiritual way". The band had trouble choosing a name at first. "I got to the point where I was like, 'Guys, we're getting decent crowds, but like... we don't have a name so no one knows who to go see again,'" Kessler said. Furthermore, the band considered the names Las Armas and The French Letters before adopting Interpol.  In 2000, after releasing the "Fukd ID No. 3" extended-play album, Drudy left the band to focus on Hot Cross and his label Level Plane Records. Kessler recruited Fogarino, who worked at a local vintage clothing store and at the time considered retiring from music, to replace Drudy. While a member of Interpol, Drudy was also a member of seminal first-wave screamo act Saetia.

2002–2005: Signing with Matador Records, "Turn On the Bright Lights" and "Antics".

After self-releasing several EPs between 1998 and 2001, the band signed with Matador Records, a member of the independent Beggars Group, in early 2002. The first release, a self-titled EP containing re-recorded versions of "PDA" and "NYC" was released in June 2002. "Turn On the Bright Lights" was released on August 19, 2002. Recorded at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the album's sound drew comparisons to post-punk groups of the early 1980s and late 1970s, particularly Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Smiths. The record was a slow-building success, selling 300,000 copies by 2004.  The band regrouped in late 2003 to begin sessions for the follow-up album, again decamping to Tarquin Studios to record. The band released its second album "Antics" on September 27, 2004. The album sold 350,000 copies in its first four months of release. The record also saw the band earn its first UK Top 40 hits with "Slow Hands", "Evil" and "C'mere" charting at No. 36, No. 18 and No. 19, respectively. The album eventually reached gold status in the UK, and later in the US.  The band toured again after the release of the album, playing more dates than ever before and at bigger venues. The "Antics" tour stretched on for almost 18 months, including a number of shows playing as undercards for U2 and The Cure, and the band reported feelings of exhaustion to BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe at a concert in Sunderland. The band took three months off after touring finished. Whilst on the road, the band had also released the one-off track "Direction", written for the official soundtrack to HBO's "Six Feet Under", "".

2006–2008: Move to Capitol Records, "Our Love to Admire".

In late March 2006, Fogarino confirmed that the band were back in the studio working on new material. In an interview with Pitchfork Media, Fogarino stated "[the process is] moving right along where I think it should...we're all pretty much on fire about it". Fogarino also dispelled rumors that the band had signed to major label Interscope, but also confirmed that they would be leaving Matador in search of a new label. An update to their website in June confirmed that the band had been working on the follow-up since the turn of the year, but did not confirm a name for the album or comment on the mounting speculation that they were imminently to sign to a major label. On August 14, it was widely reported that Interpol had signed for Capitol Records, a fact confirmed by Matador on September 1 in a press release on their website.  "Our Love to Admire" was released in July 2007. The album represents a departure for the band, being both the first record they have recorded in New York City (at The Magic Shop and Electric Lady Studios), and the first time they have included keyboards in the arrangements from the start of the songwriting process. The band intended to tour behind the album extensively, beginning with the summer festival circuit throughout the United States and Europe. In August, Interpol headlined one of the days of the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago.  On August 16, 2019, "Our Love to Admire" became unavailable on streaming platforms which caused some panic among fans. Lead singer Paul Banks quickly addressed the issue by reassuring fans via Twitter that the album would be returned to streaming platforms. It is speculated by fans that the removal of "Our Love to Admire" is due to licensing issues with Capitol Records.

2009–2011: Return to Matador, "Interpol" and departure of Carlos Dengler.

On March 6, 2009, the band announced on its website that it was working on songs for a fourth album. The album was recorded in Electric Lady Studios during spring 2009. In an interview, Fogarino referred to the album as having gone back to the original sound of "Turn On the Bright Lights". It was later claimed by Banks that it would not sound anything like their debut album and that there is some very "classical stuff going on" with it. No news about the album surfaced until late April when the band sent an email directing users to a free download of "Lights", the first officially released song. Citing management changes at the label, the band left Capitol Records prior to the album's release, signing again with Matador Records.  The band's fourth album (self-titled) was officially released on September 7, 2010. It was Dengler's last effort with Interpol. In an announcement on the band's website on May 9, 2010, it was revealed that he had left the band sometime after the album's completion. When the remaining members toured in support, he was replaced by multiple players, including David Pajo (formerly of Slint and many other bands) on bass, and Brandon Curtis of The Secret Machines on keyboards and vocals. The album was released on Matador Records in the US, and on Cooperative Music for Europe, Australia and Japan. On February 2011, Pajo announced that he was no longer touring with Interpol, in order to dedicate more time to his family. Pajo was subsequently replaced by Brad Truax.  The band was announced as the opener for the third and fourth legs of U2's 360° Tour, and subsequently the band announced eighteen US shows to take place over the third leg of U2's 360° Tour, but only three of them went ahead after Bono's back injury cancelled U2's entire third leg. The band toured the UK and Ireland in November and December 2010.  On June 22, 2010, a promotional video for "Lights", directed by Charlie White and featuring Lola Blanc, was made available for free download on the band's official website.  The band opened for U2 on their rescheduled tour date at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, on July 5, 2011, and remained on U2's 360° Tour for the remainder of the summer.

2012–2015: Hiatus and "El Pintor".

After the band's appearance at Reading and Leeds in 2011, Fogarino was interviewed. He said, "[w]e need a big break. Interpol needs it. We need to recoup and go on a proper hiatus." He stated that the remaining members of the band would be pursuing separate projects, one of which included a second solo album by Paul Banks.  A deluxe edition of the band's first album, "Turn on the Bright Lights" was released on December 4, 2012, to mark the album's ten-year anniversary. It includes previously hard-to-find tracks, including "Get The Girls" and "Cubed".  The band announced on June 5, 2014 that their fifth studio album, entitled "El Pintor", would be released on September 9, 2014. This album's name was derived as an anagram by Paul Banks who created the name while thinking of new design concepts for merchandise. It was the band's first album since the departure of bassist Carlos Dengler, with Paul Banks taking over bass duties for the first time as well as touring member Brandon Curtis taking over keyboard duties on nine of the ten album tracks.  To promote the album, Interpol embarked a world tour which started in June 2014. While on tour in November, the band were one of the many caught in the heavy snow storms in Buffalo, New York. The band's tour bus was unable to move and they were stuck under the snow for more than 50 hours. Three shows, two in Canada and one in Boston, were postponed as a result. Touring for "El Pintor" culminated in a performance at the 2015 Electric Picnic festival.  "El Pintor" was followed up by a remix album, "El Pintor Remixes", which featured electronic musicians such as Panda Bear, Factory Floor and The Field.

2016–present: "Marauder" and "A Fine Mess".

In September 2016, Paul Banks revealed in an interview on Beats 1 that Interpol would resume writing in the fall. In January 2017, Interpol announced that their sixth album would be out in 2018 and that they would embark on a tour for "Turn On the Bright Lights' " 15th anniversary, playing the entire album front to back. In between the tour and announcement of the new album, they released an EP consisting of bonus tracks from "El Pintor". The tracks included were "The Depths", "Malfeasance", and "What Is What".  On May 24, 2018, "Pitchfork" noted that the name of the new album would be "Marauder" in their Guide to New Albums: Summer 2018 list. In June 2018, the band held a press conference in Mexico City and announced the "Marauder" release date, August 24, 2018. The same day they released the first single of the album entitled "The Rover". A month later Interpol released their second single from the album, "Number 10". On August 23, the music video for their single "If You Really Love Nothing" was released.  On January 30, 2019, Interpol released "Fine Mess", a song that was left off of "Marauder", as a single. On March 28, the band announced a new EP, "A Fine Mess", consisting of songs from the "Marauder" sessions that didn't make the final cut, with a release date of May 17, 2019. On the same day, they released the second single off the EP, "The Weekend".

Side projects.

In early 2007, Fogarino joined with former Swervedriver frontman Adam Franklin to form a side-project band called The Setting Suns. Since then, the duo have changed their name to Magnetic Morning and released a six-track EP on iTunes.  On August 4, 2009, Banks released his solo first record titled "Julian Plenti is... Skyscraper" under the assumed name Julian Plenti. Although not a long departure from Interpol's sound, the album features a wider range of material, and "establishes Banks' viability as a musician outside of the context of Interpol". The album was recorded at the Seaside Lounge in Brooklyn and at Electric Lady Studios in Manhattan. It was mixed by Peter Katis at Tarquin Studios in Connecticut. The album was released on Matador Records. He released his second solo album, "Banks", on October 22, 2012, under his own name.  In 2013, Fogarino, touring Interpol member Brandon Curtis, and Duane Denison formed EmptyMansions, who released their album "snakes/vultures/sulfate" via Riot House Records in April 2013.  In 2014, Daniel Kessler formed Big Noble with sound designer Joseph Fraioli of Datach'i. They released their debut album "First Light" on February 2, 2015.  In 2016, Paul Banks released an album alongside Wu-Tang Clan member RZA under the name Banks & Steelz. The album, titled "Anything But Words", was released on August 26, 2016 through Warner Bros. Records.  In 2020, Paul Banks announced a new side project by the name of Muzz. The band also consists of Josh Kaufman and Matt Barrick. Their self-titled debut LP is set to be released on June 5th, 2020 through Matador Records.

Interpol is an American rock band from Manhattan, New York. Formed in 1997, their original line-up consisted of Paul Banks (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Daniel Kessler (lead guitar, backing vocals), Carlos Dengler (bass guitar, keyboards), and Greg Drudy (drums). Drudy left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Sam Fogarino. Dengler left to pursue other projects in 2010, with Banks taking on the additional role of bassist instead of hiring a new one.

Interpol est un groupe de rock indépendant américain, originaire de New York. Formé en 1997, le groupe se compose initialement de Paul Banks (chant, guitare rythmique), Daniel Kessler (guitare, chœurs), Carlos Dengler (basse, claviers) et Greg Drudy (batterie, percussions).