History.

Founded in 1894 by Resurrectionsists from the city's first Polish parish, St. Stanislaus Kostka, St. Hyacinth became the center of Chicago's most well-known Polish Patch, Jackowo. The parish has been intimately tied in with Chicago's Polish immigrants, particularly those who arrived in the Solidarity and Post-Solidarity waves of Polish migration to Chicago in the 1980s. On June 26, 2003, Pope John Paul II granted the designation of minor basilica, the third church in Illinois to achieve this status. On November 30, 2003, Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., officially proclaimed St. Hyacinth Church a basilica of the Archdiocese of Chicago.  Neighboring St. Wenceslaus parish was founded in 1912 as a Polish parish to relieve overcrowding at St. Hyacinth parish.  The 1999 film "Stir of Echoes", was partly filmed at St. Hyacinth Basilica.

Architecture.

The church was designed by the architectural firm of Worthmann and Steinbach who built many of the magnificent Polish Cathedrals in Chicago. The church structure—a red-brick edifice in the Classical Revival style has an ornate interior of Baroque influence. Ground breaking occurred on April 30, 1917 and the cornerstone was laid on October 21, 1917. Completion of the building was delayed for years by financial and construction difficulties, with the first Mass celebrated in the structure not taking place until August 7, 1921. Official dedication occurred on October 16, 1921 with Archbishop Cardinal George W. Mundelein presiding.  St. Hyacinth's recognizable three-towered façade is rarely seen in American church architecture as well as the Baroque period that its style is modeled on. The church bells are a product of the McShoe Bell Foundry of Baltimore, Maryland were blessed and placed in the steeples in April 1924. St. Hyacinth's bears a striking similarity to St. Mary of the Angels, which was designed by the same architects at about the same time and use the same combination of stone, glazed terra-cotta and brick. Also like at St. Mary of the Angels, much of the church's interior was decorated by John Anton Mallin, who decorated many other churches in Illinois, with two years of planning and another two years to execute the project. St. Hyacinth's is also home to the masterworks of such renowned painters as Thaddeus von Zukotynski and Mary Stanisia. Beginning in the mid-1990s, and taking almost a decade, the interior was renewed thoroughly, much of the mural work being performed by Conrad Schmitt Studios, Inc., of Wisconsin.  The Stained Glass Windows have been identified as prepared by Meyer Co. of Munich, Germany and some by the Zettler Co. of New York were installed in 1921. The Church's organ is a mid-sized Kilgen organ (of St. Louis, Missouri) with 34 ranks was likewise installed in the church in 1921. The Stations of the Cross were likely assembled in Austria in the 1830s.  A number of statues are found within the basilica's interior. A bas-relief of St. Hyacinth hangs above the main altar, as well as full statues of St. Peter and St. Paul. Figures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Blessed Mother (Immaculate Conception) are found at lesser side altars along with a figure of Our Lady of Sorrows as a Pietà in the church's eastern alcove. Additionally, sculptures of St. Joseph, St. Ann, the Infant of Prague, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Barbara and St. Therese of Lisieux are spread throughout the sanctuary.  The large saucer dome which hangs over the church's crossing has a gigantic mural covering some with over 150 figures, depicting saints, clergy and laity.  A large icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa that was brought in from Poland occupies the shrine in the basilica's western transept. The icon, which had been blessed by Pope John Paul II is crowned in keeping with Roman Catholic tradition, with the Virgin Mary's crown measuring nearly a foot long while the infant Jesus's crown being slightly smaller in size, each one bookended by bas-relief sculpted angels. Both crowns were crafted by Adam and Kathy Karbownik who melted down the gold and set the gemstones in them, while the jewelry used in the crowns was donated by thousands of parishioners with the gold alone weighed in at ten pounds Three pairs of monumental bronze doors were hung along the main entrance at the basilica's northern end by famed Polish sculptor Professor Czesław Dźwigaj, well known for also casting the monument of Christ the King in Cicero in front of the church of St. Mary of Częstochowa as well as the Tolerance Monument that was recently unveiled in Jerusalem.  Monuments to Pope John Paul II, Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, as well as a memorial to parishioners who served in the Blue Army during World War I can be found in the neighboring 'Garden of Memory'.

Center of Chicago's Polonia.

Due to St. Hyacinth's impressive size and history as the center of the neighborhood of first arrival for countless Polish Americans, the Basilica is considered to be the center of "Chicago's Polonia", or Polish community.  This has brought notable visitors to St. Hyacinth's who come here to reach out to Chicago's Polish community. This has included General Józef Haller de Hallenburg, Prime Minister Stanisław Mikołajczyk, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa, former Premier Jarosław Kaczyński as well as his deceased twin brother President Lech Kaczyński paid official visits to St. Hyacinth's. Other famous Solidarity activists such as Anna Walentynowicz, Zbigniew Romaszewski and Antoni Macierewicz have visited the Basilica as well. Famous clergy have also visited, including the Servant of God Jan Cieplak as well as the future Pope John Paul II who trekked to St. Hyacinth's several times as the Archbishop of Cracow and referred to his gatherings there during his 1979 pilgrimage to Chicago.  St. Hyacinth's also served as the place for local and national political elites to publicly cavort for the support of the Polish American electorate with politicians, their first stop as they would tour Chicago's Polish Village along with an obligatory meal at one of the local Polish restaurants. No less a figure than former President George H. W. Bush attended mass at St. Hyacinth's twice, first as Vice President in 1985, as well as during his 1988 campaign. Purportedly violence almost broke out as supporters of Lyndon LaRouche protesting outside the basilica were not looked at very kindly by local Poles, who had a reverence for the candidate they saw as the best hope against the loathed Communist regime in Poland.

Relics.

St. Hyacinth Basilica has an impressive collection of relics of Saints of the Roman Catholic Church. A total of 121 relics are encased and presented to the faithful on All Saints Day, as well as the memorial day of each saint. Among them are:  Additionally, a collection of memorabilia of Pope John Paul II hangs next to a plaque honoring him, during whose pontificate the church was titled a Minor Basilica.

St. Hyacinth's today.

St. Hyacinth is located in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood. About 8,000 worshippers attend mass every weekend. In keeping with customs brought to the area by Polish immigrants, the area is also known as "Jackowo", as "Jacek" is Polish for the proper name "Hyacinth". Naming neighborhoods or geographical areas after the local parish church is a widespread habit of Polish Catholics.  St. Hyacinth once had a thriving elementary school. In the 60's enrollment was over 2,500 students. On October 29, 2014, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced the closing of the school after the 2014–2015 school year. Enrollment was only 154 students.

The Basilica of Saint Hyacinth () is a historic church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, located at 3636 West Wolfram Street in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.

La basilique Saint-Hyacinthe (; ) est une basilique mineure historique de Chicago dépendant de l'archidiocèse de Chicago. Elle est située au 3636 West Wolfram Street dans le secteur de Avondale. L'église est placée sous le vocable de saint Hyacinthe de Cracovie.


Name.

The Old Norse name "Logi" is generally translated as 'fire', 'flame', or blaze'. It was also used in poetry as a synonym of'sword, blade'.  Logi is often confused with Loki, another deity (this could have happened when Richard Wagner wrote his "Ring des Nibelungen" operas, in which Loki is a fire demigod (that is, not an áss) and the pun "Loge"/"Lohe" (i.e. Loki/blaze) also appears).

Attestations.

"Gylfaginning".

In "Gylfaginning" ('The Beguiling of Gylfi'), Logi appears in the tale of Thor and Loki's journey to the castle of the giant Útgarða-Loki in Jötunheimr where Loki was pitted against Logi in an eating contest. The contestants appeared to be equal in speed at eating meat from the bone, but Logi also consumed the bones and even the wooden trencher in which the meat was placed showing off his might. Útgarða-Loki afterwards explained that Logi was really wildfire itself.

"Flateyjarbók".

In "Flateyjarbók", there is a mention of Logi's family:  There was a man called Fornjót. He had three sons; one was Hlér, another Logi, the third Kári; he ruled over winds, but Logi over fire, Hlér over the seas.  The sons of Fornjótr are given powers to rule over forces of nature. Logi rules over fire.

"Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar".

In Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, Logi, also called Hálogi, is identified as a Risi who becomes the first king of Hálogaland (northern Norway), and the ancestor of its royal line, all of whom are known for their muscular physique and stunning beauty.

Legacy.

One moon of planet Saturn is named Loge after Logi.

Logi (also Loge; Old Norse 'fire, flame') or Hálogi ('High Flame') is a jötunn and the personification of fire in Norse mythology. He is the son of the jötunn Fornjótr and the brother of Ægir ('sea') and Kári ('wind'). Logi married fire giantess Glöð and she bore him two beautiful daughters—Eisa and Eimyrja.

Dans la mythologie nordique, Logi, Loge (vieux norrois : « "feu" ») ou Hálogi (« "Haute flamme" ») est un jötunn et dieu du feu. Il est le fils du géant Fornjótr et le frère d'Ægir, géant de l'océan, et de Kári, dieu de l'air. De l'union de Logi avec la géante du feu naissent deux filles d'une grande beauté, Eisa et Eimirya.


Biography.

Born in London, Bowden studied Mathematics at Magdalene College in Cambridge. He dropped out and worked as an independent entrepreneur in technology before joining Goldman Sachs.  Bowden served on the Executive Committee of Scientists for Labour and helped shape the stance of the Labour Party on the matter. In 1997, he entered the world of privacy advocacy when he attended the first "Scrambling for Safety" event, in response to the UK government's plans for key-escrow encryption, organised by Simon Davies at the London School of Economics. After the Labour won power in 1997 and reneged on its promises, considering instead to enforce mandatory cryptographic backdoors, Bowden co-founded the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) in May 1998. He became its first director, earning the Winston award in 2000 for his work against the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.  In 2002, Bowden joined Microsoft; he served as a Senior Privacy Strategist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (not the US) until 2004, and became a Chief Privacy Advisor, Microsoft EMEA Technology Office, UK in 2005. In 2007, Bowden lead "the privacy pillar of the Trustworthy Computing initiative across Europe, Middle-East and Africa for Microsoft". During his tenure, he expressed vocal opposition against the Human Rights discrimination between US citizens and foreigners enforced by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which he dubbed being "guilty of being a foreigner". His public advocacy led to his dismissal from Microsoft in 2011, after he stated that "If you sell Microsoft cloud computing to your own governments then this law (FISA) means that NSA can conduct unlimited mass surveillance on that data."  In 2012, prior to the Snowden leaks, he co-authored the "Note on privacy and Cloud computing", forewarning that the USA used European reliance on cloud computing services to monitor its data. After Snowden's disclosures vindicated him, he criticised PRISM, stating he had suspected the existence of the project during his time at Microsoft, although he had not known it by name.  In 2013, Bowden authored the 2013 European Parliament inquiry briefing on the US FISA law, "The US surveillance programmes and their impact on EU citizens' fundamental rights", In an interview to "The Guardian", he stated that he did not trust Microsoft. Instead, he advocated the use of Tor and Qubes OS, and stated he had eliminated all Microsoft products from his software stack, opting for free software, and stopped using a mobile phone. In October, he joined the Advisory Council of the Open Rights Group.  In winter 2014, he gave a talk on the subject at the 31st Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg, "The Cloud Conspiracy", detailing how he had worked out the shape of PRISM from open sources, and the lack of reaction to his warnings to European Union institutions.  A resident of London and Toulouse, Bowden died of melanoma in Saint-Gaudens, Haute-Garonne France on 9 July 2015 at the age of 53. He was survived by his wife Sandi, and brothers Malcolm and Simon. Jacob Appelbaum reported that on his deathbed, Bowden asked "that we work to ensure equal protection regardless of nationality". He was posthumously awarded the Liberty Lifetime Achievement Award (2015) and EFF Pioneer Award (2015).  "The Caspar Bowden Legacy Fund" for privacy advocacy and technology was founded on 12 July, with an initial staff comprising Bart Preneel (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Claudia Diaz (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Roger Dingledine (The Tor Project, Inc) and George Danezis (University College London).

Rememberances.

"Combative and prickly, Caspar was also unfailingly kind and generous...Caspar was a big believer in a Rawlsian model of justice, a stickler when it came to the universality of human rights and was unstinting in his criticism of corporate or government entities or agents who sought to undermine those rights and principles. He was prepared to wrestle with the user unfriendly inconveniences of privacy enhancing technologies, as the almost meltdown of his laptop, four minutes into his ‘Reflections on Mistrusting Trust’ talk at QCon last summer, demonstrated." - Ray Corrigan, senior lecturer in technology at the Open University  "(He) was a fervent believer in privacy, and technology's role in creating and ensuring it. He hacked legislation to see what it was that governments were trying to do and called them on it, was then labelled paranoid, until proven right down the road. He foresaw Tempora, Prism...I'm gutted we will be without him in the coming debates over the Investigatory Powers Bill...He would have been the intellectual powerhouse and a forceful critic of all who fell short in the defense of privacy." - Gus Hosein of Privacy International  "I remember clearly the first time I saw Caspar Bowden. It was spring 2011, and he had just shot a bolt of electricity through a dusty seminar on online privacy with a passionate invective on sham anonymization of datasets that went into idiocy-explainer levels of detail about how current U.K. data protection law was being a complete ass." - Natasha Lomas, techcrunch  " I met Caspar in 2001 while working for EFF; he was working for the Foundation for Internet Policy Research, which tirelessly lobbied the Lords and Parliament on the new surveillance powers that the Blair government wanted to bring in...He was tireless, fierce, and had an encyclopedic knowledge of privacy legislation, regulation, and technology. He went to Microsoft for a while to be their main privacy advocate, beat his brains out on that gig, walked out with his head held high, and went back to shit-disturbing for activist groups." - Cory Doctorow, boingboing  "I think I first met Caspar Bowden back in 2007...I first encountered him at privacy conferences, where he would, without fail, be the first person to the microphone anytime a tech company employee or government official spoke, and he would hammer them with the most uncomfortable, probing questions about privacy and surveillance." - Christopher Soghoian, security and privacy researcher  "I met Caspar Bowden for the first time back in 2013 when he was visiting Warsaw for a privacy conference. I was expecting to meet another boring policy/legal person, but that expectation was quickly revisited. First, he surprised me by pulling his laptop, which turned out to be running... yes, that’s correct: Qubes OS!" - Joanna Rutkowska  "Very few people I know can combine a rigorous grasp of first principles and unswerving moral sense with the ruthless attention to detail and relentless practicality required to do something about them all. Caspar could. And did." - Phil Booth  "Caspar was to me, a great friend and a mentor but more than that he was a beacon in what is a very lonely sea - there are not many of us fighting these issues but when we find each other we make each other stronger - Caspar made me stronger. Like me, Caspar was more interested in fighting the issues than who he might upset along the way - it made him a controversial figure but his intelligence, commitment and knowledge were without question." - Alexander Hanff, CEO, Think Privacy  "Yes, he could be abrupt, and yes, he often ‘bent’ convention by asking direct and probing questions in ways that risked alienating the policymakers he sought to influence. But I never saw him do so rudely, inappropriately, or in a way that demonstrated anything less than total integrity. That took strong moral principles, intellectual rigour, and courage." - Robin Wilton, Senior Advisor for Internet Trust, Internet Technology Office, Internet Society  "Where others would have been slowed down by false reassurance, or given up in the face of intimidating detail, Caspar would read the legislation, read the code, understand the context, and keep going until he had a way forward. Once the analysis was clear, and the solution formulated, he would set about communicating it, with the same dogged enthusiasm."- Ben Goldacre  "Over the years, we met on the same conference circuit, surrounded by the usual suspects. We’d share our frustration about legal developments and government idiocy. He’d rant about ‘charlatans and crooks’, ‘sinister drafting’, ‘disingenuous politicians’. He’d draw diagrams on paper napkins when excited, wanting to show someone how TOR worked. Jump up and gesticulate wildly, as if solving a Rubik’s cube, describing YouProve and anonymous credentials. He boycotted conferences he’d urged me to attend (after I’d bought my flights) on grounds that the sponsors were evil. He could be brilliant on stage and a troll when in the audience, banging on about US exceptionalism and FISA. He’d confess to me after that he may have gone too far, but it was better than not having idiot bureaucrats understand fundamentals. He wasn’t a lawyer, but had a finer legal mind than most." - Malavika Jayaram, Executive Director of Digital Asia Hub  "In the roughly 20 years I knew him, which encompassed his ten years trying to implement privacy at Microsoft, I never heard him mention family other than his wife. He argued with everyone: "Prickly for the right reasons," a friend said on hearing the news. I was astonished and flattered when, years afterwards, he told me that one of the things that led him into the politics of cryptography was articles I wrote in the early 1990s. Moments like that can keep a writer motivated for decades." - Wendy M. Grossman, 2013 "Enigma Award" winner

Caspar Pemberton Scott Bowden (19 August 1961 – 9 July 2015) was a British privacy advocate, formerly a chief privacy adviser at Microsoft. Styled as "an independent advocate for information privacy rights, and public understanding of privacy research in computer science", he was on the board of the Tor anonymity service. and a fellow of the British Computer Society. Having predicted US mass surveillance programmes such as PRISM from open sources, he gathered renewed attention after the Snowden leaks vindicated his warnings.

Caspar Pemberton Scott Bowden ( – ) est un militant britannique de la vie privée et des Droits de l'Homme, ancien conseiller en chef pour la protection des données de Microsoft. Décrit comme un « défenseur indépendant du droit à la confidentialité de l'information et de la compréhension publique de la recherche informatique en protection des données », et a siégé au conseil d'administration du Projet Tor. Après avoir entrevu et décrit les contours de programmes américains de surveillance de masse comme PRISM depuis des sources publiques, il s'attire un regain d'intérêt après que les révélations de Snowden confirment ses mises en garde.


Plot.

James (Hayden Christensen), a man with nothing to lose, owes his life to his older brother Frankie (Adrien Brody), who took the rap for a crime they did together. While Frankie served time, James worked to turn his life around, he manages to get a job as a mechanic, and begins courting his girlfriend Emily (Jordana Brewster), a police dispatcher. Now, Frankie is released and back on the streets and pulls his brother into a heist to serve as wheel man.  Initially James refuses, the heist is planned by Frankie's associates Sugar and Ray whose anti-banking rhetoric, violent streak, and elaborate planning have James unwilling to participate. He instead suggests the brothers break ties and flee. Frankie is unable to do this because he is indebted to them from his time in prison. During the beginning of his incarceration Frankie admits that he suffered sexual abuse and humiliation until he fell under the protection of Ray and Sugar, he also alludes that he would likely not have survived without them. Frankie also informs James that he had mentioned Emily to them as their friendship developed and alludes she may be in danger if James is not in. The brothers spend the next few days bonding, and James tearfully ends his relationship with Emily, hoping to put distance between them.  On the morning of the robbery, the crew is met by a fifth member, Spoonie, who helps initiate several distractions around the city. They then enter the bank planning to gain access to the vault with access codes obtained earlier. The heist proceeds as planned until an eyewitness walking towards the bank sees Frankie through a window and then notices James parked in a car. She flees to a nearby store to call the authorities.  As sirens close in, James enters the bank to inform the group that they have less time than planned. As they begin to move Spoonie is nowhere to be found and it becomes apparent that he had taken the getaway vehicle and fled, stranding them in the bank as police take positions around it.  As the group struggles to come up with a new plan, Frankie initiates a shootout with police, saving James' life and takes a bullet to the abdomen. As Sugar and Ray lay down suppressing fire James breaks into a nearby car and hot wires it. The group takes a hostage and makes it to the car, but James returns to the bank when he realizes Frankie is being left behind. He discovers his brother contemplating suicide, and Frankie makes it clear he has no intention to go back to prison.  The brothers stall for time as their associates are gunned down one by one fleeing police. Seeing no other way out Frankie attacks James rendering him unconscious and proceeds to dress him in the clothes of a hostage. James regains consciousness just as Frankie exits the bank with him disguised as a hostage. Emily, working from the police dispatch center, looks on in disbelief as she recognizes a bloody James and unmasked Frankie. A police sniper kills Frankie on live news and James is ushered into an ambulance where he attacks the paramedic and discretely makes an escape in the rain. As the paramedic regains consciousness and calls it in over the radio the call is routed to Emily, who gets up and leaves her work station. James takes a moment to relax while he sits down on a trolley as the film ends.

Production.

Glacier Films produced the film within $10 million range.  Principal photography of the film began in June 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Box office.

"American Heist" was only screened in 10 theaters in the U.S. and grossed a very small sum: $251, according to The Numbers or $5,800, according to Movie City News, with additional $1,760,247 grossed from home video sales. In Russia and ex-Soviet countries, the movie had a wider release and grossed more than $2 million, still below the movie's budget of $10,000,000, and is considered a box office bomb.

Reception.

"American Heist" received negative reviews; on Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 13% rating based on 15 reviews. According to Metacritic, the film's average critical rating was 23 out of 100. Reception in Russian media was also predominantly negative; according to Kritikanstvo and Megacritic aggregators, Russian critics ranked the movie 3.5 out of 10 on average.

American Heist is a 2014 crime drama film directed by Russian director Sarik Andreasyan, based on the 1959 film "The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery" directed by Charles Guggenheim and John Stix. The film stars Hayden Christensen, Jordana Brewster, Adrien Brody and Akon. It had its world premiere in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2014, and was released theatrically in Canada on July 24, 2015, by Mongrel Media.

Braquage à l'américaine ou Braquage américain au Québec ("") est un film d'action canado-luxembourgeois réalisé par Sarik Andreasyan et sorti en 2014.


Battle of Crete and deaths.

On 21 May 1941 during the Battle of Crete Hans-Joachim Graf von Blücher attempted to resupply his brother, Oberleutnant Wolfgang Graf von Blücher, with ammunition when the latter and his platoon were surrounded by members of the British Black Watch. Hans-Joachim, who had arrived early morning with the second wave of paratroopers on his first active deployment, had commandeered a horse, which he attempted to gallop through British lines. He had almost reached his brother's position before he was shot and killed.  galloping towards them with boxes of supplies. The soldiers of the Black Watch were similarly stunned and only fired at the last moment, hitting both horse and rider. Wolfgang von Blucher asked who the rider was, to be told it was his youngest brother Hans-Joachim, and that he was now dead... For many years afterwards, a number of poor families living in a shanty village in the area reported seeing a ghostly horse and rider...""  Wolfgang and his men of the "Fallschirmjägerregiment 1", ran out of ammunition. The rest of their platoon was overrun by British armoured vehicles and killed around midday.  Wolfgang’s younger brother, Leberecht Graf von Blücher, had also arrived with the second wave. He was reported killed in action on the same day but his body was never recovered.

Fourth son.

Four weeks after the battle the brothers' mother, Gertrud (Freiin Marschall) von Nordheim (widowed Gräfin von Blücher), who had lost her husband in 1924, was informed that three of her four sons had been killed on the same day in the Battle of Crete. Her fourth son, Adolf Graf von Blücher, was released from duty and left the German navy ("Kriegsmarine") to take care of the agricultural firm at home. He was accidentally shot and killed in 1944 while hunting.

Single grave.

In 1974, Wolfgang and Hans-Joachim were re-interred in a single grave at the German War Cemetery on a hill behind the airfield at Maleme, Crete, which was newly inaugurated on 6 October in the presence of their sister Gertrud Freifrau von Ketelhodt and hundreds of guests from Germany. Because Leberecht’s body was never retrieved or identified, his name is on a plaque of honor () for the unknown fallen close to the grave of his brothers. The sister named her sons after her brothers.

References.

Informational notes  Citations  Further reading

The Von Blücher brothers () were three German brothers and paratroopers of the Luftwaffe who were killed in combat within hours of each other on 21 May 1941 during the Battle of Crete.

Les frères von Blücher (allemand : Gebrüder von Blücher) sont trois frères allemands servant tous dans les Fallschirmjäger, les forces aéroportées allemandes. Ils sont tués le même jour, le, lors de la bataille de Crète durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.


Early life.

She was raised with two half brothers and attended Hazel Grove High School from 1993 to 1998, and later attended Stockport College where she studied hair and beauty. She then worked as part of the promotions team for two nightclubs in The Grand Central Leisure Park in Stockport, as a waitress at Pizza Hut, a van driver, debt collector and as a BT telephone operator. She also toured North West England performing at pubs, social clubs, and caravan parks to support herself. In 2002, she was recording dance tracks when she decided to audition for "Popstars: The Rivals". She auditioned for UK talent-search shows "Fame Academy" and "Popstars: The Rivals" and it was in the latter on which she found fame, pulling out of "Fame Academy" after being accepted into the first round of "Popstars". Harding also entered "FHM"'s High Street Honeys 2002, the magazine's national beauty contest. Her pictures appeared in the top 100, but Harding withdrew upon achieving success on "Popstars".

Career.

2002–2009: Girls Aloud and foray into acting.

In 2002, Harding auditioned for the reality television show "". The programme, the second British series of the international "Popstars" franchise, would see the creation of two rival groups – a boy band and a girl group each consisting of five members, which would then compete against each other for the 2002 Christmas Number One spot on the UK Singles Chart. Several thousand applicants attended auditions across the UK in hope of being selected. Ten girls and ten boys were chosen as finalists by judges Pete Waterman, Louis Walsh and Geri Halliwell. These finalists then took to the stage participating in weekly Saturday night live performances (alternating weekly between the girls and boys). Each week the contestant polling the fewest phone votes was eliminated, until the final line-ups of the groups emerged. Harding joined Nadine Coyle, Cheryl Tweedy, Nicola Roberts, and Kimberley Walsh to comprise the new girl group Girls Aloud, formed through the show by a public vote on 30 November 2002.  The group's debut single "Sound of the Underground" peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the 2002 Christmas number one. Girls Aloud hold the record for the shortest time between formation and reaching number one. The group released their debut album "Sound of the Underground" in May 2003, which entered the charts at number two and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) later the same year. Their singles "I'll Stand by You", "Walk This Way", and "The Promise" have charted at number one. Two of their albums have reached the top of the UK Albums Chart: their greatest hits album "The Sound of Girls Aloud" and 2008's "Out of Control", both of which entered the chart at number one, with over one million copies of the former being sold. They also achieved seven certified albums and have been nominated for five Brit Awards, winning the 2009 Best Single for "The Promise".  The group's musical style is pop, but throughout their career they had experimented with electropop and dance-pop. Girls Aloud's collaborations with Brian Higgins and his songwriting and production team Xenomania earned the group critical acclaim, due to an innovative approach to mainstream pop music. The group became one of the few UK reality television acts to achieve continued success, amassing a fortune of £30 million by May 2010. "Guinness World Records" lists them as "Most Successful Reality TV Group" in the 2007 edition. They also hold the record for "Most Consecutive Top Ten Entries in the UK by a Female Group" in the 2008 edition, and are credited again for "Most Successful Reality TV Group" in the 2011 edition. The group was also named the United Kingdom's biggest selling girl group of the 21st century, with over 4.3 million singles sales and 4 million albums sold in the UK alone.  In 2006, Harding signed a £100,000 deal to model Ultimo lingerie, following the likes of Penny Lancaster, Rachel Hunter and Helena Christensen. Alongside her Girls Aloud bandmates, Harding made a cameo appearance in "St. Trinian's" in 2007. She took on her first major acting role in 2008, appearing in the low-budget thriller "Bad Day". Harding wore a brunette wig for the role of Jade Jennings. The film also stars Donna Air and Claire Goose. She also collaborated with London synthpop band Filthy Dukes on a cover of "Real Wild Child," recorded for the film "Wild Child". In July 2009, Girls Aloud announced they would take a year-long hiatus to pursue solo projects, but would reunite for a new studio album in 2010. In August 2010, bandmate Nicola Roberts revealed that she wasn't anticipating a reunion of the band until 2012.

2009–2012: Acting career.

During "Girls Aloud's" hiatus, Harding decided to focus on her acting career. "Singing was always my main ambition, but acting was something else I wanted to achieve," Harding said. Harding appeared in the BBC television film "Freefall", written and directed by Dominic Savage. The film aired on BBC Two on 14 July 2009. Harding portrayed Sam, the beautician girlfriend of Dominic Cooper's character. The drama is a satirical take on the financial crisis of 2007–2008. "Company" magazine said that "Sarah Harding showed she's got real acting potential in her convincing, but fleeting performance."  Later that year, Harding returned to the "St. Trinian's" franchise with a starring role in "". Despite her age, Harding portrayed teenage rebel Roxy, a new student at St. Trinian's School. The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews, holding a 10% 'rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Harding worked with Girls Aloud producers Xenomania to record three solo tracks for the film's soundtrack – "Too Bad," "Make It Easy," and a cover of David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging".  In December 2009, Harding appeared on MTV's "Sarah Harding in 24 Hours". To promote this, she also made a guest appearance on BBC Radio 1 with Chris Moyles. Harding and her then-boyfriend, DJ Tom Crayne, also launched a new nightclub named Kanaloa. Harding's guest vocals appear alongside Kanobby on the Roger Sanchez and Far East Movement track "2Gether"; she also appears in snippets of the music video. Harding has recently finished filming "Run for Your Wife" in which she plays one of the wives of the lead character, John Smith. The film was released on 14 February 2013.

2012–2013: Girls Aloud reunion and split.

After three years of hiatus, "Girls Aloud" reunited in 2012 to celebrate their tenth anniversary together. The group released the single "Something New" in November, with proceeds being donated to Children in Need. Their second greatest hits anthology "Ten" was released on 26 November 2012, followed by the single "Beautiful Cause You Love Me". In 2013, the group embarked on Ten - The Hits Tour 2013. Shortly after the tour, the group announced their split.

2013–2015: "Threads" and further acting.

In mid-2012, Harding announced the release of her debut solo album. Harding first revealed that she was starting on a solo album in March 2010, naming Lady Gaga as her biggest influence. Despite this, an album never materialised. In June 2012, Harding restated her plans to release a solo album in 2013. In September 2012, she said that she had been "writing and experimenting with different sounds in the studio." On 19 August, it was reported that Harding's debut album would be released in the fourth quarter of 2013.  In November 2013, Harding spoke to "Daily Mail", hinting at the possible release of her debut solo album sometime in 2014. She hinted, "I'm doing all sorts of stuff at the moment [...] A lot of it is music, music, music.". In July 2015 her first solo release, "Threads", was announced; it was released on 7 August.  It was announced in May 2015 that Harding had agreed to make a guest appearance on the ITV soap opera "Coronation Street" as Joni Preston, the wife of Robert Preston (Tristan Gemmill). The character made a few appearances in July and August 2015 as her marriage to Robert disintegrated when he began an affair with ex-wife Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford).  Harding competed on BBC’s Saturday night gymnastics show Tumble in 2014 where she came 3rd. She also participated in BBC’s 10th Celebrity version of Masterchef in 2015.

2016–2017: "The Jump", "Ghost: The Musical", "Celebrity Big Brother" and future.

On 16 January 2016, Harding was announced as a contestant on the third series of "The Jump" which began broadcasting on Channel 4 from 31 January 2016. However she withdrew from the series on 26 February 2016 (Week 5) after tearing a ligament in her knee during a training session. In Autumn 2016, Harding appeared alongside Andy Moss in a UK Tour of Ghost the Musical. However, she was replaced mid tour by Carolyn Maitland after pulling out due to the subsequent pain from her injury after "The Jump".  On 1 August 2017, Harding began competing in the twentieth series of "Celebrity Big Brother" and was crowned the winner on 25 August 2017. Harding was the final female winner of "Celebrity Big Brother", as Channel 5 axed the series in November 2018.

Personal life.

In January 2011, Harding and DJ Tom Crane, whom she had dated since June 2007, announced their engagement. However, the wedding was cancelled.  In October 2011, Harding entered a rehab centre in Cape Town, South Africa, citing alcohol dependence and depression. She said she drank to escape the breakdown of her relationship with Crane, later revealing she also had an addiction to Zopiclone sleeping tablets. Harding has not stopped drinking alcohol altogether, but simply "reined it in." While in rehab, Harding met Theo De Vries, they dated; however, the relationship ended after a fight in their hotel room on New Year's Day 2012. In late 2012, she began dating music producer Mark Foster.  On 16 April 2013, Harding received a six-month driving ban and was fined £605 after law enforcement officials caught her talking on her mobile phone while she was driving through central London. Harding had nine penalty points on her licence for speeding prior to the incident. In September 2014, she parted ways from Foster after a relationship for nearly two years, after work commitments prevented them from spending time together.

Sarah Nicole Harding (born Sarah Nicole Hardman; 17 November 1981) is an English singer, model and actress. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the ITV reality series "". The programme announced that Harding had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls Aloud. The group achieved twenty consecutive top ten singles (including four number ones) in the UK, six studio albums that were certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), two of which went to number one in the UK, and accumulated a total of five BRIT Award nominations. In 2009, Girls Aloud won "Best Single" with their song "The Promise".

Sarah Nicole Harding, née le à Ascot (Berkshire) (Angleterre), est une chanteuse britannique, membre du girl group formé en 2002 Girls Aloud.


History.

Originally inhabited by the Tehuelche people, attempts around 1800 to take control of the area on the part of Spanish and "Criollo" colonists resulted in a routing by the headstrong Tehuelches. In 1898, Buenos Aires developer Antonio Muno ventured into the exploitation of the area's considerable salt mines, for which he obtained permission to build a rail line and other facilities in 1900. Opting for the calm waters of the Golfo Nuevo, he christened the new settlement "Puerto Pirámides" for the numerous pyramid-shaped cliffs that overlook the inlet.  The disruption of international trade during World War I, however, caused the temporary collapse of the salt market and the closure of the local salt mines. Following bankruptcy proceedings, Muno was forced to cede his share of the land to one of his partners, Alejandro Ferro, who kept the area as a semi-private haven until the Province of Chubut expropriated it in 1958. The inlet was the scene of an as-yet unexplained series of submarine incidents during 1958 to 1960, though afterward, the tiny hamlet drew little interest; tourists preferred nearby Golfo San Jorge, where whale watching was better. During a survey of the area in 1972, famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau observed that calving southern right whale mothers in a Golfo Nuevo location near Puerto Pirámides had little interest in raising offspring there, despite preferring to give birth at the site. When local entrepreneurs launched the first tourist expeditions later that year, however, calving whales began to stay year-round.

Puerto Pirámides is an Argentine town in Viedma Department, Province of Chubut. Its population at the was 429 inhabitants. It is the only town on the Valdes Peninsula. It began in 1898 when the inland salinas were exploited for salt.

Puerto Pirámides est un village situé dans le département de Biedma, dans la province de Chubut, en Argentine. Sa population était de lors du recensement de 2010. Il s'agit de l'unique établissement humain sur la péninsule Valdés. Il voit le jour en 1898 lorsque les salines de la péninsule commencent à être exploitées pour leur sel.


Equipment.

A double-twelve set of dominoes is marketed as the standard for Mexican train, and accommodates up to eight players. Other sets are commonly used as well. The following alternate sets are common, depending on the number of people playing:  In addition to dominoes, the game also requires:  Many sets of dominoes include a station and special train-shaped tokens for markers, and packaged games with a central "station" and custom tokens are available. However, the station piece is not strictly needed, and anything from coins to poker chips to even pieces of candy or slips of paper can be used as markers.

Objective.

The object of all Trains games is to be the first player to place all of their dominoes. Dominoes may be placed onto the player's train, onto the Mexican train if available, or on the trains of other players under special circumstances. The middle tile counts as the start of a player's multiple tile train.

Setup.

At the start of each round, the dominoes are placed face side down, shuffled, and drawn by players to form their hands. Using the double-nine set, players draw dominoes as follows:  Any remaining dominoes are placed to one side, forming the "boneyard".

Gameplay.

With a standard double-twelve set the double twelve is placed in the station. In each successive round the next lower double is used until all doubles are used. The double-blank is the final round.  Play continues to the left. Each person lays one legally placed domino per turn, or two if the player's first domino is a double. If they are unable to, they must draw a domino from the boneyard. If they are able to lay that domino, they must do so immediately. Otherwise, their turn is over and play continues to the left, each player trying to place all their dominoes by playing matching dominoes one at a time, end to end.  A train can be as long as the players can make it; it only ends when all dominoes that could match its endpoint have already been played. As a result, trains can become quite long, especially with an extended domino set. It is acceptable to "bend" the train 90° or 180° to keep the train on the playing surface, as long as it does not interfere with the endpoints of other trains.

Public trains.

All trains begin the game as "public," and all players may play on them. When a player plays a domino on their train it then becomes "private." When a player draws a domino and is unable to play it, they must mark their train as "public" by placing a marker on their train. If a player is deemed to have made a strategic error the highest score of that round is added to theirs.  Players have the option, whether they can play on their own train or not, of playing a domino on any train currently marked "public." When a player with a "public" train adds a domino to it, it becomes "private" again and may not be played on except by the train's owner.

The Mexican train.

The Mexican train is an additional train that anyone may play on during their turn. They can start the train by playing a domino matching the engine (i.e. the double played at the beginning of the round) or add to the train. Mexican trains can be added as long as a space remains. Mexican train dominoes can not end on a double.

Playing doubles.

When a double is played, it is placed perpendicular to the train. Subsequently, adding a domino to the double is called "finishing", "satisfying the double" or "covering the double."  The player that plays the double has to cover the double or their train becomes public and someone else has to cover the double before normal play can resume.  If a double remains unfinished after it has been played, the train becomes a "public" train. No other train can be added to by any player until someone "finishes the double". Play passes to the next player who can legally play on this train (if the train is theirs, or if they can legally play on "public" trains). If they cannot "finish the double", they must draw a domino, and if they cannot play it on the double, their own train becomes "public". Play continues like this until someone "finishes the double". Single and double blanks are considered wilds.  Branching on doubles as in Chicken Foot is allowed as an option (see Variations below).

Scoring.

At the end of each round, the player going out receives 0 points, while all other players receive the sum of all pips (dots) on their dominoes. The person with the fewest points after all thirteen rounds have been played is the winner. In the case of a tie, the person with the most 0-point rounds is the winner. (If this is still a tie, the person with the lowest round total other than 0 is the winner).

Partnerships.

With four, six or eight players, the game can be played in teams of two, with partners sitting opposite each other. Rules are identical except that a player's train and their partner's train are considered one and the same (they will usually extend from opposite sides of the station), and thus a player can play on their own end or their partner's, and neither end becomes public until neither partner can play a tile. Scoring is also handled in pairs, with the player who went out scoring zero for their team (even though their partner will have dominoes remaining) and other teams summing their scores for a team score.

Variations.

There are a number of other versions of the rules for Mexican train, varying the number of dominoes drawn by each player, the rules for playing doubles, or the number of tiles that can be played during one turn. For example:

Fast game variation.

After the starting double has been placed, turns are ignored, and each player focuses on making their own train as long as possible. Once everyone has made as long of a train as they can, play reverts to turns, using the rules listed above. This speeds up the game, but eliminates some of the strategies of playing doubles.

Delayed first turn variation.

Similar to the fast game variation listed above, instead of simultaneously, each person takes turns playing as many dominoes on their train as possible. Any player that is unable to play on their first turn draws a domino, and may then begin their first turn or pass. When a player who has passed finally starts their train, they may play as many dominoes as they can string together. After starting their train, players are only permitted to play one domino at a time as usual, unless playing a double. This version allows a player to save their "first turn" string of dominoes for when they have a chance, instead of being stuck with all dominoes from the beginning.

Branching doubles variation.

Once a double has been satisfied, players may continue to branch off of the double in two more directions, meaning the double will have a matching endpoint on all four sides. Often, players like to angle these branches at a 45-degree angle to accommodate for more room. This variant gives players more choice and speeds up the game.

Swan drive variation.

A player who can play on their own train may also play one tile on each subsequent public train in clockwise order. Each public train must be played on in order to continue in this manner, and only one tile per train may be played (unless a double must be finished). Once a player cannot play on the next public train, or has looped around to their own train, their turn ends. While playing on each public train, the player may choose to play on the Mexican train or skip it when he comes to it, making the placement of the train somewhat strategical. This version makes for a much faster game.

Mexican train is a game played with number dominoes. The object of the game is for a player to play all the dominoes from his or her hand onto one or more chains, or "trains", emanating from a central hub or "station". The game's most popular name comes from a special optional train that belongs to all players. However, the game can be played without the Mexican train; such variants are generally called "private trains" or "domino trains". It is related to the game chicken foot.

Le train mexicain est un jeu de dominos : il faut jouer tous les dominos de sa main sur une ou plusieurs chaînes en partant de la station de départ.


Education.

Corbett was born in Southport, Lancashire, to parents of working-class background from Wales and London. He attended primary school at Farnborough Road School in Southport. When his father was offered a post as a statistician at the World Health Organization, the family moved to Geneva, Switzerland, and Corbett attended the International School of Geneva (attended at the time mostly by children from UN Agencies in Geneva), where he obtained the International Baccalaureate. He was captain of the football team and also played for the junior team of a Swiss second division club.  He won a place at Trinity College, Oxford, the first generation of his family to be able to go to university, and obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He was the Secretary of the Labour Club and chairman of the Oxford Committee for Europe. He co-ordinated the Oxford student 'Yes' campaign in the 1975 referendum on membership of the European Community. He also skied for Oxford against Cambridge.  Corbett later completed a doctorate in political science at the University of Hull.

Political career.

Before the European Parliament.

Richard Corbett's activities in the European Students at Oxford led on to him being elected first to the youth board of the European Movement in Britain and then to the international presidency of the youth wing of the European Movement and of the Union of European Federalists, the Young European Federalists (JEF), a post he held from 1979 to 1981, drafting their manifesto which was the first to coin the phrase "democratic deficit" in relation to the European Parliament's then lack of power over European legislation.  Corbett was secretary-general of the European Co-ordination Bureau of International Non-Governmental Youth Organisations from 1977 to 1981, representing youth organisations in the Council of Europe's European Youth Foundation and European Youth Centre. He also helped to set up the European Youth Forum and represented Western European youth organisations in negotiations with Eastern European organisations pursuant to the Helsinki Treaty (as well as at the World Festival of Youth in Havana in 1978 along with Charles Clarke and Peter Mandelson). He worked with Altiero Spinelli MEP on the latter's proposal for a draft treaty establishing a European Union, adopted by the European Parliament in 1984.  Before being elected to the European Parliament, Corbett worked in the voluntary sector and as a civil servant, later becoming a policy advisor to and then Deputy Secretary General of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament. He worked on drafting the parts of the treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam that increased the powers of the Parliament, notably helping to draft the "codecision procedure" which now applies for adopting European legislation through successive readings of the Parliament and the Council.  In 1992, Corbett was made Ambassador of Goodwill of the US State of Arkansas, by its then Governor Bill Clinton.

The European Parliament.

Corbett was a member of the Parliament's Constitutional Affairs committee and from 1999 to 2009 was the spokesman for the Labour Party, as well as the whole of the wider Group of the Party of European Socialists, on European constitutional affairs. In 2006, he was elected Deputy Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party, which he remained until the end of his period as an MEP, declining (to some surprise) to challenge for the leadership when Gary Titley stood down in 2008.  In 2003, his proposals to re-write the European Parliament's Rules of Procedure were largely accepted. In 2004–2005, he was the co-rapporteur (with Iñigo Méndez de Vigo) for Parliament on the Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe. This report formed the basis of Parliament's official position on the treaty, which he was then invited to present to several national parliaments.  In 2005, he was appointed as Parliament's negotiator (along with Joseph Daul MEP) to broker a new system of parliamentary scrutiny over Commission implementing measures (under the previously much-criticised "comitology" procedure), which led to an agreement among the Council of ministers, the Commission and the Parliament in 2006 giving Parliament the right to veto quasi-legislative implementing measures. This represented a major increase in Parliament's powers over the Commission.  In 2007–08, he was again co-rapporteur with Iñigo Méndez de Vigo for Parliament on the Treaty of Lisbon, (which replaced the constitutional treaty after two member states had declined to ratify it) and was again rapporteur for a new overhaul of Parliament's procedures in 2009, 2016 and 2018.  Throughout his career, Richard Corbett has been a strong advocate of EU reform and has a particular interest in improving democratic accountability by continuing to increase the European Parliament's power within the EU institutional system. Professor Juliet Lodge of Leeds University has named Corbett as one of five "movers and shakers" in the European Parliament who "have brought the European Parliament from being a mere talking shop to a legislature with genuine power".  Corbett's voting record and other parliamentary activities can be found on the VoteWatch website.  In December 2018, Corbett won SME4Labour's 'MEP of the Year' award.

Richard Corbett versus the UK Independence Party.

Richard Corbett has been critical of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).  In June 2004, he drew attention, in "The Independent" newspaper, to UKIP links with the far-right British National Party in that year's local elections: "In Yorkshire, where both the BNP and UKIP put up candidates, they appear to have come to an arrangement not to stand against one another".  Richard Corbett's pamphlet "25 Things You Didn't Know When You Voted For UKIP", published by Britain in Europe in 2004, caused controversy in October 2004, when UKIP demanded that the pamphlet be pulped, claiming that one item in the pamphlet "breaks a court order banning publication of details of a legal action involving one of the party's MEPs", namely the fraud case against UKIP MEP Ashley Mote. In practice, this gave further publicity to the pamphlet, which was not pulped, as it did not break any court order.  Following Ashley Mote's imprisonment in September 2007 for fraud, Corbett called on the government to change the law which allowed the former UKIP MEP to be paid in full during his spell in jail. The Minister responsible for payment of MEPs (and MPs), Harriet Harman, promised to look into the matter.  Corbett continued to campaign vigorously against the UK Independence Party in the run-up to the 2014 European elections. After they secured the biggest share of the vote in these elections, he subsequently wrote "I think it is a mistake to focus exclusively on UKIP's racism. That unsavoury side of UKIP has been adequately exposed by others [...] We need to expose them on their policies".

Five years out of the European Parliament.

Corbett lost his seat in the 2009 European Parliament elections, which saw a big fall in the Labour share of the vote in the wake of the Westminster expenses scandal. The BNP took the seat. The BBC website carried the following comment from their European editor, Mark Mardell:  Mark Mardell had previously referred to Richard Corbett as: After his defeat, Corbett spent two months in Ireland from August to October 2009 helping (behind the scenes) the "Yes" campaign in the second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, in which 67% of the 59% turnout voted in favour.  In December 2009, he was invited to join the private office ("cabinet") of the first full-time President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, as his advisor on constitutional issues, but also handling his relations with the European Parliament and national parliaments, with the Committee of Regions and the Economic and Social Committee as well as helping on relations with some governments, including the UK.

Return to the European Parliament.

Corbett left the Van Rompuy "cabinet" in March 2014, in order to stand for election in the 2014 European Parliament elections as the Labour party's second candidate in Yorkshire & Humber. In Labour's internal ballot of party members to choose their candidates, Corbett came first (with the highest proportion of first preference votes of all new candidates in the country) securing him second spot on the list of Labour candidates, behind the sitting MEP Linda McAvan. Labour won two seats in the election in Yorkshire, and so Corbett was returned to the Parliament.  In Parliament, Corbett returned to the Constitutional Committee and serves also on the Fisheries Committee (as a full member) and the Economic Committee (as a substitute). He was elected again as Deputy Leader of the Labour MEPs in September 2014. He was again rapporteur for a new overhaul of Parliament's procedures in 2016 and 2018–19. On 25 October 2017 he was elected Leader of the Labour MEPs (EPLP) following the retirement of Glenis Willmott, defeating Siôn Simon and Clare Moody in the vote.  In advance of the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Corbett launched an app called "Doorstep EU" for IPhone and Android in order to debunk myths about the EU, deliver authoritative briefings on key issues and detailed statistics of the EU's impact on the United Kingdom.  He supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election.

Other activities.

Sport.

In 2006, Corbett served on the Independent European Sport Review, set up by several national governments and UEFA and chaired by the former Portuguese Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Arnaut. The review focused particularly on football, and Corbett chaired the sub-group on political aspects. He has maintained an interest in the governance of football ever since, taking up a number of issues with UEFA.

Grimethorpe Colliery Band.

Corbett is the Honorary President of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band a brass band, based in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire. The band achieved worldwide fame after appearing in the film "Brassed Off", as well as becoming (along with Black Dyke Mills Band), the first brass band to perform at the Proms.

Labour Party positions.

Corbett has held a number of offices in the UK Labour Party. As well as being Deputy Leader and, since October 2017, Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP), he served on the Regional Board for Yorkshire and the party's National Policy Forum, a position to which he was re-elected by fellow Labour MEPs in May 2014. He was formerly national chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, and now serves as one of its Labour MEP representatives.  As Leader of the EPLP, Corbett is a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party and attends shadow cabinet meetings.

Other organisations.

Corbett is Vice Chair of the UK European Movement, having served as Chair following the resignation of Laura Sandys in the wake of the 2016 referendum result. He did not want to continue as Chair, citing time constraints, and handed over to Stephen Dorrell in December 2016.

Publications and communications activities.

Richard Corbett is the co-author of an eponymous academic textbook on the European Parliament (now the standard reference book on it across Europe) and several other academic publications (see below).  Corbett was an early user of new media. In 2003, he was the first MEP from any country to launch a blog, which he resumed in 2014 as part of his election campaign. In 2004 his website was cited as one of the most comprehensive of any British politician's by "New Statesman" magazine, which nominated him for a New Media award. In 2015, he became the first MEP to launch a mobile app, Doorstep EU, aimed at activists, journalists and other politicians. In the same year, he also took part in an AMA on Reddit. He is an active personal user of Twitter [@RCorbettMEP].  Corbett starred in the docudrama film "Do it like a European?", which won a prize at the international Winton Film Contest.

Languages.

Corbett speaks English, French, German and Dutch.

Personal life.

Corbett lives in Shipley near Bradford; he formerly lived in the nearby village of Saltaire, for whose World Heritage Status he helped to campaign. As an MEP, he has his constituency office in Leeds, where he shares premises with Hilary Benn MP.  Corbett is married to Lorraine Kirkwood and has three children.

Richard Graham Corbett (born 6 January 1955) is a British politician who served as the final Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party, from 2017 to 2020. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Merseyside West from 1996 to 1999 (under the system that predated the proportional representation regional system) and then for Yorkshire and the Humber from 1999 to 2009, when he lost his seat, and again from 2014 to 2020. He attended Shadow Cabinet meetings and was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee.

Richard Graham Corbett, né le à Southport, est un homme politique britannique, membre du Parti travailliste. Il est député européen de 1996 à 2009 et depuis 2014.


History.

In June 2006, China, Russia, and the United States joined the three EU-3 countries, which had been negotiating with Iran since 2003, to offer another proposal for comprehensive negotiations with Iran.  Up to then, the UN Security Council has adopted six resolutions in response to the Iranian nuclear program. The first resolution, #1696, was adopted in July 2006 and demands that Iran halt its uranium enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.  The next three years saw the adoption of three more resolutions, #1737 in December 2006, #1747 in March 2007, and #1803 in March 2008, which have imposed gradual sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities believed to be involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs.  UN Security Council Resolution #1835, adopted in September 2008, restated the Security Council's demands made in resolution #1696 of 2006, but without imposing additional sanctions.  The last Security Council resolution, #1929, adopted in June 2010, saw the expansion of more sanctions on Iran for its lack of cooperation and its continued uranium enrichment-related and reprocessing activities

Role of Germany.

Germany is the key trading partner of Iran. Iran's nuclear program depends mainly upon German products and services. For example, the thousands of centrifuges used to enrich the uranium are controlled by multi-purpose automation hardware and software ("Simatic WinCC Step7") by Siemens. Around 50 German firms have branch offices in Iran, and more than 12,000 firms have trade representatives in Iran. Many well-known German companies are involved in major Iranian infrastructure projects, especially in the petrochemical sector, like Linde, BASF, Lurgi, Krupp, Siemens, ZF Friedrichshafen, Mercedes, Volkswagen and MAN. (2008).  In 2005, Germany had the largest share of Iran's export market with $5.67 billion (14.4%). In 2008, German exports to Iran increased by 8.9 percent and comprised 84.7 percent of the total German–Iranian trade volume. The overall bilateral trade volume until the end of September 2008 stood at 3.23 billion euros, compared to 2.98 billion euros the previous year. The value of trade between Germany and Iran increased from around 4.3 billion euro in 2009 to nearly 4.7 billion euro in 2010.  The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce has estimated that economic sanctions against Iran may cost more than 10,000 German jobs and have a negative impact on the economic growth of Germany. Sanctions would especially hurt medium-sized German companies, which depend heavily on trade with Iran. There has been a shift in German business ties with Iran from long-term business to short-term and from large to mid-sized companies which have fewer business interests in the US and thus are less prone to U.S. political pressure.

2013 interim agreement.

A round of the talks between Iran and the P5+1, chaired by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, was held in the Kazakh city of Almaty on 26–27 February 2013. The two sides agreed to meet again in the city on 5–6 April to continue the talks after holding expert-level talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on 17–18 March 2013.  In a further meeting of the P5+1 in Geneva on 16 October 2013, Iran stated that it may allow unannounced visits to its nuclear sites as a "last step" in a proposal to resolve differences with the West. Lowering uranium enrichment levels could also be part of a final deal, according to an Iranian official.  On 24 November 2013, an interim agreement was reached between the E3/EU+3 (P5+1 countries and the EU) and Iran in Geneva, Switzerland. It is expected to lead to a six-month freeze and partial rollback of portions of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for decreased economic sanctions on Iran, as the countries work towards a long-term agreement. It represents the first formal agreement between the United States and Iran in 34 years.

2014 negotiations on a comprehensive agreement.

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and the lead negotiator with Iran, Wendy Sherman, told a Senate hearing that Iran's ballistic missile program would be addressed as part of a comprehensive nuclear deal. On 10 February 2014, Iran's defense minister said they successfully test-fired two new domestically made missiles. The next day, Iran laid out "red lines" related to its ballistic missile program, atomic sites and uranium enrichment ahead of talks of the next step in nuclear talks, which resumed in Vienna on 18 February. Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, also a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator, said "defense-related issues are a red line for Iran" and that Tehran "will not allow such issues to be discussed in future talks."  Senior officials of the P5+1 and Iran met on 18–20 February 2014 in Vienna and agreed on a framework for future negotiations. The P5+1 and Iran planned to have monthly meetings to try and forge a final, comprehensive deal.  Former Israeli UN Ambassador Dore Gold claimed that the comprehensive agreement being negotiated between Iran and the P5+1 focused on increased transparency instead of a reduction in nuclear capability. Former U.S. State Department official and advisor on Iran's nuclear program Robert Einhorn said such an agreement would need to both increase transparency and lengthen Iran's timeline for nuclear breakout capability.

The P5+1 refers to the UN Security Council's five permanent members (the P5); namely China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; plus Germany. The P5+1 is often referred to as the E3+3 by European countries. It is a group of six world powers which, in 2006, joined together in diplomatic efforts with Iran with regard to its nuclear program.

Le P5+1 est un groupe de six grandes puissances qui, en 2006, ont mis en commun avec l'Iran leurs efforts diplomatiques à l'égard de son programme nucléaire. Il est composé des cinq membres permanents du conseil de sécurité des Nations unies, auxquels s'ajoute l'Allemagne. Le P5+1 est souvent désigné comme l'E3+3 par les pays européens (Allemagne, France et Royaume-Uni formant l'UE-3, plus Chine, États-Unis et Russie), et c'est aussi la nomenclature utilisée dans le texte des accords avec l'Iran.


Ingredients and cooking method.

The term "tongseng" derived from Javanese term "osengan" which refer to "stir frying" to describes its cooking method. It also refer to the ""seng"" friction sounds of metal frying spoon against metal wok.  The soup is made of ground mixture of garlic, shallot, black pepper, ginger, coriander, galangal, "daun salam" (Indonesian bay leaves), and lemongrass sauteed with palm oil until it gets aromatic. The diced meat then poured into the sauteed mixture until cooked. Usually the uncooked goat meat from "sate kambing" (goat satay) are used. Add water until it boiled and add sweet soy sauce with tamarind juice. After the boiled mixture reduces, shredded cabbages and sliced tomato are add to add fresh and crisp texture. Some versions are prepared using coconut milk. Slices of bird's eye chili might be added for those who prefers extra hot and spicy "tongseng" soup.  "Tongseng" is usually served with hot steamed rice. The soup of "tongseng" is similar to "gulai" soup, however "gulai" is cooked without sweet soy sauce while "tongseng" mostly appears in brownish gold colour because of the addition of sweet soy sauce. "Gulai" usually uses beef's offal while "tongseng" usually only uses meat (goat, lamb, mutton or beef).

History.

Traditionally, "tongseng" is considered as the merge between goat satay and "gulai" spicy soup. According to Indonesian culinary expert, "tongseng" started to appear in Java between the 18th to 19th century CE. At that time, during colonial era, there were significant influx of Arabs and Muslim Indians migrated into Indonesian archipelago. The Arabs settlers introduced and promoted goat, lamb and mutton as their preferred meat, thus several dishes influenced by Arab and Muslim Indian culinary traditions were introduced to Java. Among others are "sate kambing", which was believed to be the local adaptation of Indian-Muslim kebabs and "gulai", which was a local adaptation of curry-based soup probably influenced by Indian cuisine.  During the 19th century, the southern area of Central Java was developed as sugar plantation, thus sugar mills were built. Next to common sugar, traditional Javanese palm sugar ("gula jawa") were also produced in the region. Soy sauce factory also built in the region, as the result local Javanese developed "kecap manis", which is sweet soy sauce made of a mixture of soy sauce and palm sugar. This sweet soy sauce become the main sauce that combine the savoury "gulai" soup with pieces of goat satay and the fresh crisp of cabbages and tomato.  Today, "tongseng" is a common dish in Javanese cities of Boyolali, Surakarta (Solo), Klaten, and Yogyakarta, thus most of "tongseng" sellers hailed from those towns. The dish is also can be found in Indonesian major cities, such as Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya. "Tongseng" sellers usually marketed themselves as "Warung Sate Solo", a "warung" or small modest restaurant that specialized in offering satay, "tongseng" and "gulai" as their main fare.

Tongseng is an Indonesian goat meat, mutton or beef stew dish in curry-like soup with vegetables and "kecap manis" (sweet soy sauce). "Tongseng" is commonly found in Indonesian region of Central Java; from Surakarta to Yogyakarta. However, it is believed that dish was originated from Klego district in Boyolali, Central Java.

Le tongseng est un ragoût de chèvre, mouton ou de bœuf, cuit dans un curry avec des légumes et du "kecap manis". Il est originaire de Surakarta dans la province de Java central.


Personal life.

D'Eyncourt was born in April 1868 at Hadley House, Barnet, Hertfordshire. He was the sixth child of Louis Charles Tennyson d'Eyncourt (1814–1896) and his wife Sophia Yates (d. 1900). Through his father, he was a cousin of Alfred, Lord Tennyson.  He was educated at Charterhouse before becoming an apprentice in naval architecture at the shipyard of Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. in Elswick. By 1898, he was employed as a naval architect in Govan, Glasgow. There he met Janet Burns (née Watson Finlay), a widow whom he married that same year. She had two children from her first marriage, Kingsley and Gwyneth; together she and d'Eyncourt had a son and daughter, Cecily and Gervais. Janet Tennyson d'Eyncourt died in 1909 when accompanying her husband on a business trip to Buenos Aires.  D'Eyncourt received a number of awards and honours: in 1913 he was elected to the Athenaeum, in 1921, he was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, in 1930, he was created a baronet, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1946. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son Gervais (d. 1971). The writer Adam Nicolson is Eustace d'Eyncourt's great grandson.

Career.

As an apprentice at Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., d'Eyncourt worked on the design of warships for the Austrian, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish governments. He joined the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan in 1898, before returning to Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. in 1902. In 1904, he undertook consultancy work on the state of the Turkish navy which earned him the Order of the Medjidie, Third Class.  In 1912, d'Eyncourt was appointed director of naval construction with the Royal Navy. He pioneered new forms of ship construction that helped provide protection from torpedo attack.  On 20 February 1915, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill asked him to be Chairman of the Landship Committee, a group of Royal Naval Air Service officers and engineers assembled to design a vehicle capable of crossing No Man's Land and suppressing the enemy machine guns that had caused heavy casualties in the first six months of the First World War. The machine that was eventually developed was given the name "tank".  D'Eyncourt resigned from the Admiralty in 1924 and rejoined his former company, Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. However, the firm failed in the late 1920s owing to the building slump following the end of the war. In 1928, d'Eyncourt joined the board of Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company until he retired in 1948. He lived for most of his retirement in Hailsham, Sussex, but died in London in 1951.  He is buried in Brookwood Cemetery.

Design characteristics.

In his battlecruisers, "large light cruisers" and the "Hawkins"-class cruisers, d'Eyncourt evolved a novel hull form: in cross-section the hull was an isosceles trapezoid, with the ship's sides sloping inboard at an angle of 10 degrees from the vertical, while outboard of this, external bulges extended over the full length of the machinery spaces. The result was a hull structure of great strength, and the sloping sides increased the possible spread of impact of shells, thus giving greater resistance to penetration.  The aesthetic side of naval architecture has seldom been given much attention, though it is as much of an art as the architecture of buildings; in general appearance (in terms of harmonious proportion as regards length, beam, and freeboard, as well as the size of the superstructure and funnels in relation to the hull), the opinion has been expressed that d'Eyncourt created some of the most elegant and eye-pleasing warships ever designed, the prime example being the battle cruiser "Hood".

Ship designs.

D'Eyncourt was not necessarily the principal designer of the vessels listed below, but had ultimate responsibility for them.

Other types.

Monitors, Patrol boats, Minesweepers, Sloops, Gunboats for China Station, Merchant ship conversions into seaplane carrier

Tanks.

D'Eyncourt was chairman of the Landship Committee, created by Winston Churchill, which oversaw the design and production of Britain's first military tanks during World War 1.

Writings.

D'Eyncourt summarized his World War I work in an article "Naval Construction During the War", published in "Engineering", 11 April 1919, pp. 482–490. He also published an autobiography entitled "A Shipbuilder's Yarn" (London: Hutchinson, 1948).

Sir Eustace Henry William Tennyson d'Eyncourt, 1st Baronet (1 April 1868 – 1 February 1951) was a British naval architect and engineer. As Director of Naval Construction for the Royal Navy, 1912–1924, he was responsible for the design and construction of some of the most famous British warships. He was also chairman of the Landship Committee at the Admiralty, which was responsible for the design and production of the first military tanks to be used in warfare.

Sir Eustace Henry William Tennyson d'Eyncourt,, né le et mort le, est un architecte naval et un ingénieur britannique.


Playing career.

Juniors.

DeAngelo was born and raised in the Sewell section of Washington Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey. As a youth, he played in the 2008 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Philadelphia Flyers minor ice hockey team. DeAngelo left at age 14 to start his junior career with the Cedar Rapids Roughriders of the United States Hockey League (USHL), where he became the league's youngest player. In his 28 games in Iowa, the young defenseman showed enough promise to become a second-round selection in the 2011 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Draft.  During the 2013–14 season, DeAngelo was suspended eight games by his OHL team, the Sarnia Sting, and league for making "a most inappropriate statement to a teammate". Despite this transgression, DeAngelo was considered to be a top prospect heading into the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.  On December 2, 2014, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced the signing of DeAngelo to a three-year, entry level contract. DeAngelo, has skated in 22 games this season with the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League, recording seven goals and 27 points to go along with 52 penalty minutes. He currently ranks first in points and second in assists (20) among all OHL defensemen. DeAngelo led all OHL defensemen in points (71) and assists (56) last season. He has skated in 203 OHL games, all with the Sarnia Sting over four seasons, recording 37 goals and 179 points to go along with 248 penalty minutes. Additionally, he has appeared in 10 career OHL playoff games, putting up two goals and two assists. On January 8, 2015 the Sarnia Sting traded DeAngelo to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. The Greyhounds are believed to be making a push for the OHL championship, and a spot in the Memorial Cup Tournament.  On May 6, 2015, the Ontario Hockey League announced that DeAngelo was the recipient of the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL's most outstanding defensemen. DeAngelo led all defensemen and finished 13th overall in OHL scoring with 89 points in 55 games played recording 25 goals and 64 assists with 25 multi-point games and a plus-minus rating of plus-34. He also became the fourth member of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds to win the award. DeAngelo also captured the CHL Defenceman of the Year in the same season, as the top defensemen of the entire Canadian Hockey League.

Professional.

After attending the Tampa Bay Lightning's NHL training camp, DeAngelo was assigned to begin his first professional season with AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. In the 2015–16 season, DeAngelo's offensive game made a smooth transition with the Crunch, contributing with 37 assists and 43 points in 69 games, to finish 7th league wide among blueliners.

Arizona Coyotes.

At the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, DeAngelo was traded by the Lightning to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a second-round draft pick (Libor Hajek) on June 25, 2016. On November 8, 2016, DeAngelo made his NHL debut against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center in a Coyotes 4-2 win. In addition to making his NHL debut, DeAngelo also recorded his first career NHL goal and point. On November 12, 2016, DeAngelo recorded his first career NHL assist against the Boston Bruins at Gila River Arena. On January 1, 2017, the National Hockey League announced that DeAngelo was suspended for three games, without pay, for violating Rule 40.4 (Physical Abuse of Officials). The incident occurred on December 31, 2016, in a game against the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome. At the time DeAngelo was given a game misconduct for abuse of officials. DeAngelo forfeited $14,388.90 as a result of the suspension, which went to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

New York Rangers.

On June 23, 2017, DeAngelo, along with a first-round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft (7th overall, used to select Lias Andersson), was traded to the New York Rangers for center Derek Stepan and goaltender Antti Raanta.  On September 20, 2019, DeAngelo signed a one-year, $925,000 contract with the Rangers. On January 9, 2020, DeAngelo had 3 goals and 2 assists to match the New York Rangers franchise record for points in a regular-season game by a defenseman, held by Brian Leetch (Feb. 17, 1989 and April 18, 1995).

International play.

DeAngelo competed with Team USA at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.  On December 2, 2014, DeAngelo was named to Team USA's preliminary roster for the World Junior Championship tournament, which was held December 26 through January 5 in Toronto and Montreal.

Disciplinary Issues.

DeAngelo has been involved in several incidents related to his personal conduct on the ice. In February 2014, DeAngelo was suspended eight games for violating the OHL's harassment, abuse and diversity policy after using a slur against his own teammate. Additionally, the article which confirmed this was the second time DeAngelo had been suspended by the OHL for violating the harassment, abuse and diversity policy, though it did not detail the first incident. In November of the same year, DeAngelo was suspended one game for abuse of officials.  While playing for the Arizona Coyotes of the NHL during the 2016-17 season, DeAngelo was again suspended for abuse of officials (though this time for three games).

Anthony "Tony" DeAngelo (born October 24, 1995) is an American professional ice hockey defenceman for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). DeAngelo was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, 19th overall, of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

<dfn>Anthony DeAngelo</dfn> (né le à Sewell, dans le New Jersey aux États-Unis) est un joueur américain de hockey sur glace. Il évolue au poste de défenseur.


Plot summary.

Rather than presenting a straightforward narrative, the film tells of Liszt's life through a series of surrealistic episodes blending fact and fantasy, and full of anachronistic elements. At the start of the film, Liszt is caught in bed with Marie d'Agoult by her husband the Count d'Agoult. The Count challenges Liszt to a fight with sabres but Marie begs the count to let her share Liszt's fate. The Count then orders his staff to trap Liszt and Marie into the body of a piano, nailing it shut, and then leaving it on railroad tracks.  The scene is then shown to be a flashback triggered by the camera flash of photographers backstage before one of Liszt's concerts. Richard Wagner appears and Liszt introduces him to his circle of colleagues including Gioachino Rossini, Hector Berlioz, Frédéric Chopin, and Hans von Bülow. Liszt then pays Wagner to allow him to perform a variation on a theme from "Rienzi". At the concert, Wagner is put off by Liszt's crowd-pleasing showmanship at the expense of serious musicianship, which includes adding the melody of "Chopsticks" to his "Rienzi" variation. However the crowd, consisting entirely of young screaming girls, go wild at Liszt's performance, storming the stage. Liszt uses von Bülow to proposition potentially wealthy females in the audience during his performance. One of them is Princess Carolyn, who relays to Liszt her address in Russia.  The next scene shows Marie's and Liszt's domestic life plagued by jealousy over his constant touring and his infidelities. At this point they have three children, the oldest being Cosima. Domestic life has also strained Liszt's creativity. Liszt prepares to depart to St. Petersburg to play for the Tsar. Marie threatens to abandon him if he decides to go. Liszt then suggests to Cosima that he would sell his soul to the Devil to be able to compose brilliant music again. As Liszt is leaving, Cosima consoles him that she will pray to God every day so that Liszt will meet the Devil and be able to sell his soul to him.  In Russia, Liszt meets Princess Carolyn at her court. She begins to seduce him, offering him the ability to compose the brilliant music he wanted in exchange for total control of his life. In one of the most ostentatious scenes of the movie, Liszt then experiences a hallucination where the women of Princess Carolyn's court assail him but then become seduced by his music which strokes his libido and gives him a 10-foot erection. Carolyn sinisterly observes from afar as the women celebrate his giant erection with a chorus line. The women then drag Liszt and his erection to a guillotine in which Carolyn reveals that the bargain for Liszt's newfound musical prolificity is the forfeiture of his libertinism.  The next scene shows Liszt in Dresden during the May Uprising, conflicted about not supporting his friends in the revolt and spending all his time isolated to compose music (it is also heavily implied that Marie and his two youngest children have been killed). Wagner, now a political criminal on the lam, reappears and asks Liszt for money so that he can escape the country with his family. As Liszt tends Wagner's wounds, Wagner secretly drugs Liszt, who passes out. Wagner then reveals himself to be a vampire with a mission to write music that will inspire a new German nationalism. He then proceeds to suck Liszt's blood and compose on the piano. Before departing, Wagner leaves him his latest political pamphlet, a Superman comic (a play on Friedrich Nietzsche's Superman).  Liszt and Carolyn travel to the Vatican to get married after the Pope agrees to grant her a divorce from her husband. The wedding is ultimately voided by the intervention of her husband and the Tsar. Furious at the Pope's political impotence, Carolyn threatens to write an anthology on her disagreements with the Church ("Causes intérieures de la faiblesse extérieure de l'Église en 1870"). Liszt then proposes that he will join the Church as an abbot.  Liszt's life as an abbot is shown to be disobedient as he is caught in bed with a woman. The Pope then explains that Wagner has seduced Cosima as his wife and has begun to lead a devilish cult organised around his music. He tasks Liszt with travelling to Wagner's castle to exorcise him and return him to the Christian faith or else Liszt will be excommunicated and his music banned.  Liszt travels to Wagner's castle, where he observes a secret ritual portraying a devilish Jew raping several blonde-haired Germanic nymphs. Wagner then appears with Cosima, dressed in Superman outfits, and sings how "the flowering youth of Germany was raped by 'the beast'" and that a "new messiah" will soon arrive to drive out the beast. At the conclusion of the song, Cosima marches the audience, composed entirely of children, out with a Nazi salute as they chant that they "will be the master race".  Liszt confronts Wagner, who is unaware of what Liszt has seen, and inquires about his ambitions. Wagner confesses that he has been building a mechanical Viking Siegfried to rid the country of Jews. When Wagner awakens Siegfried with his music, the creature turns out to be crass and slow-witted. Liszt sneaks holy water into Wagner's drink but the water has no effect. Wagner then reveals himself to Liszt as a vampire and threatens to steal his music so that Wagner's Viking can live. Liszt rushes to the piano and plays music, exorcising Wagner and bringing him to near death. Cosima, witnessing Wagner's moribund state, imprisons Liszt and then resurrects Wagner in a Nazi ceremony as a Frankenstein-Hitler wielding a machine-gun guitar. Trapped, Liszt observes as Cosima leads the Wagner-Hitler to gun down the town's Jews, after which she kills Liszt by stabbing a needle through the heart of a voodoo doll made in his likeness.  In Heaven, Liszt is reunited with the women he has romanced in his life and Cosima, though it is never explained how she got there after killing Liszt, who regret their behaviour towards him and each other and finally live in harmony. In the final episode, Liszt and the women decide to fly down to Earth in a spaceship to destroy Wagner-Hitler who has now ravaged Berlin in a fiery machine-gun frenzy. Once Wagner-Hitler is destroyed, Liszt sings that he has found "peace at last".

Production.

David Puttnam's company Goodtimes planned to make a series of six films about composers, all to be directed by Ken Russell. Subjects were to include Franz Liszt, George Gershwin, Berlioz and Vaughan Williams; the first one was "Mahler" (1974) which had been a minor success. In July 1974 Russell said he wanted Al Pacino to play Gershwin and Mick Jagger to play Liszt because Liszt had been "the first pop star".  Puttnam says he wanted to follow it with a biopic of Gershwin starring Al Pacino but claims Russell had just made "Tommy" and wanted to make a film about Liszt with Roger Daltrey. Russell wrote he had written films about both Liszt and Gershwin—the latter was called "The Gershwin Dream" and it was Puttnam who chose Liszt; Russell say this was "probably" because Russell wanted to play Liszt.  In October 1974 Russell announced Roger Daltrey would play Liszt. "Liszt's music is just like modern day rock," said Daltrey in November. "He was a lot like me... he had this religious thing like me but he still went lusting after women." "Roger is a natural, brilliant performer," said Russell. "He acts as he sings and the results are magical. He also has a curious quality of innocence which is why he was a perfect Tommy and why he is the only person to play Liszt."  In December 1974 Mayfair announced they signed a deal to distribute five films made by Russell and Goodtimes started with one on Liszt.  In February 1975 Russell said Marty Feldman was to play Wagner. The same month the title was changed from "Liszt" to "Lisztomania".

Filming.

Puttnam said "The problem was he [Russell] never finished his screenplay and, frankly, he just seemed to go off his rocker." Russell said he was most intrigued by Russell's relationship with Wagner but Puttnam "was more at home at a pop concert than in the concert hall. He threw out my first script for being too straight and urged me to write another emphasising the pop element."  Press materials claimed Russell's script was 57 pages.  Russell later wrote that "I was playing Trilby to his [Puttnam's] Svengali". He claims it was Puttnam who suggested Ringo Starr play a support role, got Richard Wakeman to do the music and suggested Russell go anamorphic.  Daltrey said he found the part difficult because he had no lines in "Tommy" and could not play the piano.  Puttnam said "the film was rocketing over budget and every time I got back from raising money, the budget had gone up again. I did my best but it was a nightmare, impossible to keep up with."  Sandy Lieberson of Goodtimes said Russell "went off the deep end" forcing Lieberson and Puttnam to put their own money into the film.  "The film's going to be like Tom Jones riding in "Blazing Saddles"," said Russell.

Reception.

Critical.

Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and called it "a berserk exercise of demented genius, and on that level (I want to make my praise explicit) it functions and sometimes even works. Most people will probably despise it." Richard Eder of "The New York Times" wrote that for the first half-hour the film is "manic and extremely funny. Then it relapses into a noisy bit of pretentiousness in the manner of its predecessor, "Tommy" full of flashing lights, satin spacesuits, chrome-lucite furniture and mock agony." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film one star out of four and wrote that "Russell fills the screen with enough outlandish sexual imagery to render one's senses numb. The film's publicists would have you believe "Lisztomania" is outrageous; on the contrary, it's just boring." Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times" called it "a buoyant, consistently coherent and imaginative film that is alternately—and sometimes simultaneously—outrageous, hilarious and poignant." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" wrote that "it becomes painfully evident that Russell, the Great Vulgarian of contemporary filmmaking, should have quit while he was ahead, sort of. A boudoir-farce approach to the life and legend of Liszt would have been trivial-minded, but harmlessly trivial-minded compared to the collection of obscene fantasies and gassy profundities Russell resorts to after his muse runs out of comic ideas." Pauline Kael wrote, "In a couple of sequences, it erupts successfully with a wholehearted, comic-strip craziness, but for all his lashing himself into a slapstick fury, the director Ken Russell can't seem to pull the elements of film making together."  The German reviewer, reviewing the film for "Die Zeit" summed up the film as follows:  Another German reviewer, Hans J. Wulff devoted a six-page article to the film, and commented:  Leonard Maltin's home video guide gave the film one and a half stars out of four, while the "Golden Movie Retriever" said "WOOF!"  "Lisztomania" currently holds a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on seven reviews.  Russell later said "he got off on the wrong foot" with the film which "called for a bigger budget than we had so the film doesn't work as well as I wanted it to. The symbolism moreover is a bit too relentless and the fantasy sequences tend to submerge the reality of the characters. I think I had exhausted the vein of biographies of composers at the time."

Box office.

The film was a box office flop and ended the plans for Goodtimes to make more films with Russell.

Lisztomania is a 1975 musical film written and directed by Ken Russell about the nineteenth century composer Franz Liszt. The screenplay is derived, in part, from a "kiss-and-tell" book, "Nélida" by Marie d'Agoult (1848), about her affair with Liszt.

Lisztomania est un film britannique réalisé par Ken Russell, sorti en 1975. Avec Roger Daltrey, Ringo Starr, Rick Wakeman et Fiona Lewis.