History.

Bridgnorth is named after a bridge over the River Severn, which was built further north than an earlier bridge at Quatford. The earliest historical reference to the town is in 895, when it is recorded that the Danes created a camp at "Cwatbridge"; subsequently in 912, Æthelfleda constructed a mound on the west bank of the River Severn, or possibly on the site of Bridgnorth Castle, as part of an offensive against the Danes. Earliest names for Bridgnorth include Brigge, Brug and Bruges, all referring to its position on the Severn.  After the Norman conquest, William I granted the manor of Bridgnorth to Roger de Montgomerie. The town itself was not created until 1101, when Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, the son of Roger de Montgomerie, moved from Quatford, constructing a castle and a church on the site of the modern-day town. The town became a royal borough on Robert Bellême's attainder in 1102. The castle's purpose was to defend against attacks from Wales. The town was attacked and burnt by Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March during the Despenser War in 1322.  Bridgnorth's town walls were initially constructed in timber between 1216 and 1223; murage grants allowed them to be upgraded to stone between the 13th and 15th centuries. By the 16th century, the antiquarian John Leland reported them in ruins and of the five gates, only one survives today. It is probable that Henry I granted the burgesses certain privileges, for Henry II confirmed to them all the franchises and customs which they had had in the time of Henry I. King John in 1215 granted them freedom from toll throughout England except the city of London, and in 1227 Henry III conferred several new rights and liberties, among which were a gild merchant with a hanse. These early charters were confirmed by several succeeding kings, Henry VI granting in addition Assize of Bread and Ale and other privileges. The burgesses were additionally granted two fairs: a yearly fair on the feast of the Translation of St Leonard and the three following days was granted in 1359, and in 1630 Charles I granted them licence to hold another fair on the Thursday before the first week in Lent and two following days. The burgesses returned two members to parliament in 1295, and continued to do so until 1867, when they were assigned only one member. The town was disfranchised in 1885.  During the Civil War, Bridgnorth was one of the Midlands' main royalist strongholds, and in 1642 many royalist troops were garrisoned there. In 1646, Cromwell's Roundheads arrived with orders to take Bridgnorth for the Parliamentarians from the garrison led by Sir Robert Howard. After a three-week siege, Cromwell was successful and he ordered that the castle be demolished.  By 1824, the borough and liberties of Bridgnorth were well defined.  The population of the municipal borough in 1841 was 6,198, and that of the town was 5,770.  More than 255 men from the Bridgnorth area volunteered in the first months of the First World War. Their names were published in the Bridgnorth Journal on 26 December 1914 and several of those killed in action are remembered on the war memorial in the castle grounds.  Until 1961 the Royal Air Force's initial recruit training unit was at RAF Bridgnorth, a station opened in 1939. During the Second World War, two women were killed in a German air raid in August 1940 when bombs hit neighbouring houses in High Town.  In 2005, unverified German papers dating from 1941 were found, outlining new details about Operation Sea Lion, the military plans of Nazi Germany for an invasion of Britain. Two quiet Shropshire towns were mentioned in the documentation: Ludlow and Bridgnorth. Some experts believe that it was Hitler's intention to make Bridgnorth his personal headquarters in Britain, due to its central position in the UK, rural location rail connections and airfield.  In 1978, Bridgnorth twinned itself with the French town of Thiers, and in 1992 it also twinned with the Bavarian town of Schrobenhausen, Germany that had already twinned with Thiers a few years earlier. On 21 August 2003 Bridgnorth was granted Fairtrade Town status.

Landmarks.

Bridgnorth is home to a funicular railway that links the high and low towns, the Castle Hill Railway, which is the steepest and only inland railway of its type in England. Additionally, within the High Town is Bridgnorth railway station on the Severn Valley Railway, which runs southwards to Kidderminster. The ruins of Bridgnorth Castle, built in 1101, are present in the town. Due to damage caused during the English Civil War, the castle is inclined at an angle of 15 degrees.  High Town is dominated by two Church of England churches. Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Bridgnorth, a church built in the classic style of the late 18th century, was designed by Thomas Telford; and is still used for worship. St. Leonard's was formerly collegiate, and Bridgnorth was a Royal Peculiar until 1856. It was subsequently largely rebuilt but is no longer used for regular worship. It has many community uses and is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.  Bishop Percy's House on the Cartway was built in 1580 by Richard Forster and has been a Grade 1 listed building since 18 July 1949. It was one of the few properties of its type to survive the great fire of Bridgnorth in April 1646, and was the birthplace of Thomas Percy (Bishop of Dromore), author of ‘Reliques of Ancient English Poetry’.  Other notable buildings in the town are the 17th century Bridgnorth Town Hall, a half-timbered building, and a surviving town gate the Northgate which houses the museum. Daniel's Mill, a well known watermill is situated a short distance along the River Severn from Bridgnorth.  The remains an old hermitage can be seen from the high town, they are commonly called The Queens Parlor by locals. One local legend tells of its occupation in AD 925 by a hermit called Ethelred or Ethelwald, a grandson to Alfred the Great. This may not be such an unlikely story as Bridgnorth was founded in 912 by Alfred the Greats Daughter Ethelfleda.

Education.

There are a number of Primary Schools in Bridgnorth, including: Castlefields County Primary School, two Church of England schools, St Mary's and St Leonard's; the Roman Catholic St John's school; and, in addition, the Morville and Brown Clee schools.  The town has two Secondary schools: Oldbury Wells School and Bridgnorth Endowed School (previously named Bridgnorth Grammar School). These serve the town and its outlying villages, including Alveley and Highley.  For many years there was a Bridgnorth College, however this was demolished to make way for a new housing estate in the mid-2000s.

Culture.

There is a theatre, the "Theatre on the Steps", and a 1930s cinema, the Majestic. The Northgate Museum contains many artifacts connected with the town and surrounding area. It was the first independent museum in Shropshire to be accredited by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The town has a number of bars and restaurants and, beyond these, there are 27 pubs.

Sport and clubs.

Bridgnorth Town F.C. was the football club based in Bridgnorth. They joined the Worcestershire Combination in 1938 and twice reached the 5th round of the FA Vase. They won the championship of the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division in 2008. Affiliated to the club was the junior section known as "Bridgnorth Town Juniors". The teams ranged from under 8s to under 16s and competed in the Telford Junior League. After folding, the club was effectively replaced by "phoenix club" A.F.C. Bridgnorth. Bridgnorth Spartans Juniors Football Club run junior and adult teams. These teams include boys' teams, ranging from Under-8s to Under-15s, girls' teams and women's teams. Home games are played at Oldbury Wells School.  Bridgnorth Rowing Club hosted a competition between Shrewsbury School and Cheltenham College in 1865. It currently occupies 'The Maltings' building on the edge of Severn Park, which was purchased by the club in 1983. Work to convert the malting building into the boat house started in 1993. The boathouse now consists of a ground floor area with racking spaces for singles, doubles, fours and eight man boats. There is also a raised area and mezzanine platform that houses the indoor rowing machines (ergometers) and weights gym. Upstairs there are changing rooms and a club room with a bar and a balcony overlooking the River Severn. Bridgnorth Rowing Club regularly competes in events in the local region and further afield, including attending the annual Head of the River Race on the Thames in London. Bridgnorth Rowing Club hosts an annual regatta inviting clubs from all over the country. It also hosts an annual 'fun regatta' event which is open to members of the local community and businesses to enter and compete; in which all competitors are trained up for a main day of racing. Racing takes part along the length of the Severn Park. Bridgnorth Army Cadets is the oldest Army Cadet detachment in Shropshire. The Army Cadet Force (ACF) in 2010 celebrated 150 years.  Bridgnorth has a table tennis club. Bridgnorth have represented Shropshire in the ETTA`S Wilmott cup  In 2007, Bridgnorth hosted the UK Downhill Street Race in cycling.  In January 2010, the Kidderminster branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts expanded to Bridgnorth, providing the town with a part-time performing arts school for people of ages between 6 and 18. The Kidderminster School is now named "Stagecoach Kidderminster & Bridgnorth".  Bridgnorth has a cheerleading team, established in 2001, the Bridgnorth Tigers Cheerleading Club. The BTCC hold the title of national small senior team champions for 2003.

Transport.

Bridgnorth grew initially as a market town at the centre of a system of local radial roads linking it with more rural, smaller settlements. Many of these roads crossed Bridgnorth at the point on the High Street where the town hall now stands. Bridgnorth is connected to Shrewsbury by the A458 road, to Telford by the A442 road and Wolverhampton via the A454 road.  Bridgnorth has a bypass road, construction of which was started in 1982, and which now serves to relieve the town centre of the congestion it was once plagued by.  The town is from the M54 and from the M6 motorways.

Buses.

The town is served by buses to and from Telford, Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, Much Wenlock, Ironbridge, Shifnal, Kidderminster and Stourbridge.

Rail.

Currently the closest towns with active railway stations on the National Rail network are Telford and Wolverhampton. However, Bridgnorth does still have a station on an active heritage line, the Severn Valley Railway. Bridgnorth station was not the northern terminus of this line when built, but the main intermediate station, being 181⁄4 miles from Hartlebury and 221⁄2 miles from Shrewsbury. The station was opened to the public by the SVR on 1 February 1862, was passed to Great Western Railway (GWR), and then eventually to British Railways in 1948. It closed to passengers after 101 years of service on 8 September 1963, and to freight traffic on 30 November 1963. Although thought by some to have been closed as part of the Beeching cuts its planned closure pre-dated his report.  The neo-Jacobean station is the only listed railway station on the Severn Valley Railway. Necessitating that any future plans to enhance visitor facilities will need to be carefully designed to be in keeping with the railway station's architecture and historic character.  The line now ends just north of the modern-day station, where the line formerly bridged Hollybush Road and passed through Bridgnorth Tunnel and on to the next station on the line, Linley. There exists an ongoing debate whether the railway should extend beyond its current limits north of Bridgnorth.

Cliff railway.

The Bridgnorth Cliff Railway (also known as the Bridgnorth Funicular Railway or Castle Hill Railway), is a funicular railway which has operated in Bridgnorth for over 100 years. The line links the lower part of High Town to the upper part. The bottom entrance is adjacent to the River Severn while the top is adjacent to the ruins of Bridgnorth Castle.  Opened on 7 July 1892 to great fanfare and the proclamation of a public holiday, the line is one of four funicular railways in the UK built to the same basic design (the others were the Clifton Rocks Railway in Bristol; the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway in Devon; and the Constitution Hill Railway in Aberystwyth, Wales). It is one of the steepest railways in the country, and at least one source (the information panel outside the top station) claims it is both the steepest and shortest. It is the only functional inland funicular railway in England (there are about 15 more at English seaside towns). Originally the railway was powered by a simple system using water and gravity, but were converted in 1943–44 to run on electricity. Then in 1955 new cars were installed on the railway; able to carry 18 passengers each, these cars are still in use today. As of 2019; a return ticket is offered at £1.60. Single tickets are not offered for purchase.  The railway allows people to easily get between the two parts of High Town as the only other way down is down ≈200 steps or by using roads which drastically increase the journey. The terminals at the upper and lower part of the railway are currently used as tea-rooms and guest houses.

Walking and cycling.

Bridgnorth is on National Route 45 of the Sustrans National Cycle Network, which is named the Mercian Way.  There is a great deal of good walking country around Bridgnorth, which is located close to the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding National Beauty.  Every year since 1967 a sponsored walk has been held in Bridgnorth. Since 2017 this has been organised by the Bridgnorth Lions Club.

Twin towns.

Bridgnorth is twinned with:

Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into a High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079.

Bridgnorth est une ville du Shropshire en Angleterre, dans la vallée de la Severn. La ville est divisée en deux parties, la ville basse et la ville haute, nommées ainsi du fait de leur position par rapport au fleuve Severn qui sépare la ville haute sur la rive droite de la ville basse sur la rive gauche.


Tilyou's early ventures.

Steeplechase was created by George C. Tilyou (1862–1914). He had become familiar with Coney Island's economy from an early age: when he was three years old, his family started operating a popular Coney Island restaurant called the Surf House. Tilyou's first business venture was in 1876, at the age of fourteen, when he sold boxes of Coney Island sand and salt water to unwitting tourists for 25 cents each, earning $13.45 in the process. Tilyou later invested in stagecoaches and real estate before opening Tilyou's Surf Theater, Coney Island's first theater, with his father in 1882. The area outside the theater became known as "Bowery Street", after the Bowery, a notorious neighborhood in Manhattan. By 1887, Tilyou was dealing primarily in real estate; at the time, crime and corruption in Coney Island were prevalent. When Tilyou testified against John Y. McKane, one of the leaders of the corruption, he faced constant harassment until McKane was arrested in 1894.Tilyou married Mary O'Donnell in 1893 and they went to visit the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago for their honeymoon. Upon seeing the fair's Ferris wheel, which contained 36 cars each with a 60-passenger capacity, Tilyou wished to buy it. However, since the wheel had been sold already, Tilyou decided to build his own half-size version at Surf Avenue, on Coney Island. Tilyou's Ferris wheel, erroneously dubbed the "World's Largest Ferris Wheel", contained 12 cars each with a capacity of 18 passengers, and soon became Coney Island's biggest attraction.  After noting that the nearby Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend and Brighton Beach horse-racing tracks were very popular, Tilyou added other rides and attractions on the Coney Island peninsula. Tilyou came to own several rides including the Aerial Slide, the Bicycle Railroad, and the Double Dip Chutes, However, none of these rides were part of any single park, and Tilyou did not think to combine these rides into one park until the opening of Paul Boyton's Sea Lion Park nearby in 1895. The eventual creation of Steeplechase Park came after Tilyou bought and improved the Steeplechase Horses ride, an attraction by J.W. Cawdry that featured gravity-pulled mechanical horses racing along metal tracks.

Operation.

1897–1907: Creation and early years.

Steeplechase Park opened in 1897 with the completion of the Steeplechase Horses attraction. The park covered, an area of which Tilyou owned two-thirds outright; the other third was leased from the Huber family. It was located at the western end of Bowery Street. Steeplechase was approached by a grand stone archway on Surf Avenue to the north, the top of the archway decorated by four stone horses. The inclusion of a gateway, along with a new 25-cent admission charge, were intended to exclude the "seedier elements" and make the park a family destination. Drinking was prohibited, as was gambling and prostitution.  The park included over 50 attractions on its midway alone. Attractions included novelties such as the Human Niagara, a Venetian gondola-style ride, the Aerial Racing Slide, the Double-Dip Chutes, the Bicycle Railway, a "French Voyage" panorama, and a Wild West sideshow. Tilyou also operated a small steam railroad, a saltwater pool, a ballroom, and the Scenic Railroad coaster by LaMarcus Thompson. Completing the park were scale models of world landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and The Palace of Westminster's clocktower, containing Big Ben. Steeplechase Pier, a pier jutting into the ocean, was built to the south of the park in 1904. Tilyou adopted a "Funny Face" mascot depicting a smiling man with several dozen teeth, nicknamed "the Tilly", as the icon for his park. The mascot, which became a symbol of Coney Island, represented the area's wholesomeness and neoclassical architecture combined with its veneer of hidden sexuality.  In 1901, Tilyou visited the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, New York, to find additional rides for Steeplechase Park. He approached Frederic Thompson and Elmer "Skip" Dundy, the creators of the popular "A Trip To The Moon" ride, to ask if they would bring their ride to Steeplechase. The ride, an indoor dark ride that simulated a space flight, had been popular within the exposition, and Thompson and Dundy signed an agreement to relocate the attraction to Steeplechase for a year. However, a rainy 1902 season reduced the profits of amusement park operators at Coney Island that year, and forced the closure of the adjacent Sea Lion Park. Thompson and Dundy elected not to keep "A Trip To The Moon" at Steeplechase; instead, they spent $700,000 rebuilding Sea Lion and moved the attraction to the newly expanded park, now called Luna Park, in 1903.  Following Luna Park's success, another amusement park on Coney Island, Dreamland, opened in 1904. At Coney Island's peak in the middle of the 20th century's first decade, the three amusement parks competed with each other and with many independent amusements. This was attributed partially to the variety of transit options available: by 1904, there were five railroads to Coney Island. Both Luna Park and Dreamland had more expensive attractions than Steeplechase Park. Tilyou countered this by modifying and adding contraptions for his customers, most of which carried an exhibitionist and risque undertone but were nonetheless popular despite their vulgarity. The entrance contained the Barrel of Love, a revolving drum that threw visitors onto each other. Other contraptions included the Human Roulette Wheel, Earthquake Stairway, Dew Drop, Whichway, and Wedding Ring. All of these rides tossed riders around, often on top of each other, as they were designed under the assumption that men and women wanted any excuses to grab onto each other.  The success of Steeplechase and other parks in Coney Island inspired Tilyou to create additional amusement parks in the New York City area and elsewhere. In November 1904, Tilyou announced that he would sell Steeplechase Park to a syndicate of investors for $1.25 million, since he wanted to operate another amusement park in Rockaway, Queens. However, the sale of Steeplechase was annulled in February 1905 after $50,000 had been paid, since "defective titles" prevented the syndicate from purchasing some of the land under the park. From 1905 to 1907, Tilyou refined Steeplechase Park with attractions such as a miniature railroad, an orchestra stand, the Cave of the Winds, a Fads and Fantasy Building, the Limit Building, and a children's pony track. The Limit Building was short-lived, being replaced by the Monte Carlo Building in 1907.

1907 fire and rebuilding.

In the early morning of July 29, 1907, a fire started within the Cave of the Winds attraction. It spread quickly, destroying most of the wooden pavilions and hotels around Bowery Street; however, firefighters fought to save Tilyou's house at the corner of Steeplechase Park. The three-alarm fire was extinguished after two hours, but about of Coney Island was destroyed by the fire. Steeplechase bore much of the damage, which was estimated at $1.5 million, but several hotels were also ruined. Even though the fire destroyed nearly everything within Steeplechase Park, Tilyou reportedly remained calm throughout, even promising to host events that had been planned within the park before the fire. The morning after the fire, Tilyou posted a sign outside the park, which read:  "To enquiring friends: I have troubles today that I had not yesterday. I had troubles yesterday which I have not today. On this site will be built a bigger, better, Steeplechase Park. Admission to the burning ruins — Ten cents."  Tilyou stated that the park would be restored to a "grander than ever" condition, but in the meantime, would erect temporary tent shows. The remaining attractions opened one week after the fire. Ultimately, the park was rebuilt with fireproof steel-and-concrete structures, because after the fire, the municipality passed a law restricting the construction of combustible wooden structures. The reconstruction of the park was funded through a $2 million stock measure issued by the Steeplechase Park Company, a business established in 1908. At the start of the 1908 season, "The New York Times" described the construction as being "scarcely finished", but also reported that large crowds "flocked" to the attractions that had been rebuilt.  The reconstruction of Steeplechase Park was completed in 1909. Its main attraction was a "Pavilion of Fun", an indoor enclosure covered by steel and glass that measured, with a total area of. The Pavilion of Fun was designed with several indoor rides so patrons seldom had to go outdoors. It contained tawdry, exhibitionist attractions reminiscent of the previous iteration of Steeplechase Park, such as the Human Wheel, Human Niagara, the Mixer, and the Grinder. The Ferris wheel was salvaged from the original park and was placed outdoors. A new Steeplechase Horses attraction was built around the pavilion, but was designed such that riders had to exit through the Pavilion of Fun. Steeplechase also included two new entrances, a plaza overlooking a sunken garden, the Palace of Pleasure, a ballroom, and various sideshows. Other attractions included airships, Venetian gondolas, and an Automobile ride similar to that in the first Steeplechase Park. There were eight roller coasters inside the rebuilt park as well. Similar to before the fire, admission was 25 cents. A "Combo" admission ticket entitled the holder one experience on each of the 25 attractions at Steeplechase Park.

1910s and 1920s.

Tilyou continued to add attractions to Steeplechase in the late 1900s and early 1910s. He added the first of several carousels to the park in 1908, and the "World's Largest Swimming Pool" was completed the following year. Tilyou opened a hall with an indoor swimming pool to the west of the pavilion in 1911, at which point he declared that he wanted to add one new ride per week. Several additional attractions were opened in 1912, including the El Dorado Carousel and other structures salvaged from Dreamland after it was destroyed in a 1911 fire.  In 1914, Tilyou died, leaving the care of the park to his children; Thomas F. McGowan then became general manager of the park. Steeplechase would remain within the Tilyou family until it closed a half-century later. George's oldest son Edward, an 18-year-old at the time of his father's death, constructed a skating rink at Steeplechase in 1915. A Racing Derby Carousel by master carousel builder Marcus Illions was added in 1920, and it featured 16 rows of four horses cycling up-and-down on small tracks within the carousel. Shortly afterward, Edward Tilyou also added "Babyland", a children's play area near the southeast corner of the park. Other attractions built in the early 1920s included the Frolic spinning ride, bumper cars, the Witchway swing, and a Caterpillar flat ride. By the early 1920s, the crowds at Steeplechase and other Coney Island parks had become more mellow and orderly, though the beachfront in general was described as rundown. Steeplechase Park started hosting several beauty contests near its outdoor pool, providing more entertainment for park patrons. These included the "Modern Venus" Bathing Beauty Contest, first held in 1922, and Grandma's Beauty Contest, which started in 1932.  This period also saw the destruction of some structures, such as the Upside-Down House burning down in 1911. Additionally, Steeplechase lost its private beach during the early 1910s. Following a 1912 lawsuit by New York State against Tilyou and other amusement owners for taking private ownership of Coney Island's beach, a judge ruled in 1913 that the beach actually belonged to the state. An appellate court affirmed this decision in 1916, with an exception made for part of Steeplechase Park, a plot of land granted by the state prior to the creation of the park itself. All obstructions on the beachfront, including a concrete walk within Steeplechase, were demolished in accordance with the ruling.  The Riegelmann Boardwalk was opened on the waterfront in 1922. In conjunction with the boardwalk's opening, the city slightly relocated West 16th and West 19th Streets at Steeplechase Park's eastern and western borders, respectively, which resulted in a slight expansion to Steeplechase's area. The boardwalk's opening resulted in increases to real estate valuations at nearby areas, such as Steeplechase Park, though some lots were also taken from the park to make way for new streets leading to the boardwalk. As a result, a former Brooklyn engineer alleged that the Tilyous lost money from the relocation of West 16th and West 19th Streets. The boardwalk's completion and a subsequent widening of Surf Avenue in 1924 prompted Edward Tilyou to make additional improvements to Steeplechase Park. The mid-1920s were described as the "golden age" of roller coasters on Coney Island: two gravity rides called the Zip and the Limit were constructed in Steeplechase Park, and immediately to the east, independent ride operator George Moran built the Thunderbolt roller coaster. Also built were a water ride called the "Old Mill tunnel of love" and a Noah's Ark-style attraction. Thomas McGowan died unexpectedly in 1927 and was replaced by James J. Onorato. The following year, one of the pools was demolished and replaced with an attraction called Hey Day, while a gas-powered Custer Cars attraction was installed on the boardwalk.

1930s: Great Depression through World War II.

The Great Depression resulted in significantly decreased attendance at Steeplechase Park. Before money ran out, a one-ring circus was constructed between the Limit coaster and an adjacent pool, while a children's wading pool was constructed. In addition, a carousel was constructed at West 16th Street in 1930, and the Whale and the Whip replaced Noah's Ark the following year. People still came to see the beauty contests at Steeplechase Park. In 1934, when finances slowly started to improve, a bobsled roller coaster model called Flying Turns was installed at Steeplechase.  Several accidents and fires continued to occur at Steeplechase. A fire in July 1932 caused $1.5 million in damage and injured six people, and left at least a thousand people homeless. However, Steeplechase Park and Luna Park were not as heavily damaged since the fire was mostly concentrated to the west. There were other incidents as well: in 1933, fifty-seven people were hurt in a balcony collapse caused by overcrowding, and three years later, a barge crashed into the Steeplechase Pier. In addition, patrons frequently received minor injuries such as friction burns, though some people were thrown or fell from rides, and one child died after falling off the Steeplechase Horses in 1935. A conflagration in September 1939 caused $200,000 in damage and injured 18 people. The concessions on the boardwalk were destroyed, as was the entrance to the park from the boardwalk, and several attractions within the park itself. The following year, a new brick concession structure was built on the site of the old concessions, and an Express Train ride was erected in front of the pavilion.  The 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, several miles to the northeast of Coney Island, had created competition for Coney Island amusement parks, which saw sharply reduced attendance. Steeplechase's situation was exacerbated by the September 1939 fire, which had destroyed many of the larger attractions, including Flying Turns. After the World's Fair closed in 1940, the Tilyous purchased the fair's Parachute Jump, a parachute tower ride, and moved it to the former site of Flying Turns. The ride, inspired by a training device for paratroopers, opened in 1941 and contained 12 parachutes descending from a tower. Other rides were added at Steeplechase in 1941, including rocket cars, a Whip ride, and the Silver Streak. However, the draft during World War II resulted in a shortage of qualified staff, and in 1945, Onorato closed the Pavilion of Fun until the end of the war due to the staff shortage.

1940s and 1950s: downfall.

Despite the park's popularity with New Yorkers, many factors after the end of World War II would eventually lead to its decline, including frequent fires, low patronage, and white flight. Steeplechase's closest competitor, Luna Park, was heavily damaged by a pair of fires in 1944. Luna Park closed in 1946, leaving Steeplechase as the only major amusement park on Coney Island. Moreover, after Edward Tilyou died in 1944, control of the park was transferred to his siblings George Jr., Frank, Marie, and Eileen, who each owned a quarter share in the Steeplechase Corporation. The relationship between the siblings was fractious, and they often argued about Steeplechase's management.  In 1945, the Tilyou siblings leased out the boardwalk carousel to their cousin James J. McCullough. The next year, they rented out the pool, which then instituted a season pass scheme that effectively locked out African Americans from using the pool, despite the fact that an increasing proportion of Steeplechase visitors was African-American. The ballroom was also split in half to create a TV studio in 1947. The same year, the Tilyou siblings discontinued the combination ticket and started offering a pass where patrons could go on any 15 rides for one dollar. In practice, not many people bought the 15-ride pass, since various special-interest groups such as social, political, and religious organizations had designated days where they could visit Steeplechase Park for free. Steeplechase also saw its 20-millionth visitor that year. The Tilyous added extra rides for the 1948 season, including the Scrambler, the C-Cruise, and several children's rides.  Steeplechase Park continued its downward trajectory with the demolition of several rides and structures, and the neglect of others. In December 1951 the skating rink, now used only for the Tilyou's private functions, was demolished. The following year, several structures on West 19th Street were demolished, as was the little-used Old Mill boat ride that ran under one of these structures; the site was filled by a parking lot in 1954. Other impediments included a 1953 flood and fire, which destroyed machinery; the death of the Tilyou siblings' mother in 1954, which caused further acrimony among the siblings; and the underpayment of employees, which was one of the main reasons Steeplechases' employees were mostly elderly citizens who could afford to take such a low wage. However, the park started becoming profitable again when "Arthur Godfrey and His Friends" started broadcasting from Steeplechase in 1955. After Steeplechase Pier was destroyed by fire in 1957, a larger replacement opened the next year. George Tilyou Jr. died in 1958, and his sister Marie took over as Steeplechase Corporation president the next year, demoting James Onorato to general manager. Marie, who had long wanted to change Steeplechase's image against the wishes of her brothers, began adding rides for the 1959 and 1960 seasons, such as a Tilt-a-Whirl, a Round Up ride, and a Paratrooper ride.

Demise.

New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses was a longtime critic of Coney Island, likening the crowds that flocked there during the summer months to a coffin. As early as 1937, he had published a report about the possible redevelopment of Coney Island. Moses, who was also a New York City housing commissioner, rezoned the area for high-rise housing in the late 1940s. Subsequently, in 1953, Moses proposed that most of the peninsula be rezoned for various uses, claiming that it would be an "upgrade" over the various business and unrestricted zones that existed at the time. Steeplechase Park would be allowed to remain open, but much of the shorefront amusements and concessions would be replaced by residential developments.  At the time, Coney Island was seeing fewer visitors year-over-year. Crime increases, insufficient parking facilities, bad weather, and the post-World War II automotive boom were cited as contributing factors in the decrease of visitors to Coney Island. The start of the 1964 New York World's Fair, also in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, was another factor. Ironically, prior to the World's Fair, Steeplechase Park was seeing record high patronage; the highest single-day visitor count, over 18,000 customers, was recorded in 1961. Nevertheless, it also faced problems of its own: a severe assault of an employee in 1961 forced the closure of the Insanitorium, while Marie Tilyou was opposed to her nephew Frank II's proposal to bring rides from the Century 21 Exposition to the park. Further, Steeplechase had been leasing one-third of its land from the Huber family, which decided to sell that land in 1962. More attractions were destroyed in a 1963 fire, which razed two blocks on Steeplechase's west side. High crime was also rampant; for instance, a mass shooting nearby in 1962 resulted in three people being killed, and visitors were generally afraid of being attacked by residents of nearby public housing projects. By 1964, the area had seen its lowest number of patrons in a quarter-century.  By the early 1960s, the children of George C. Tilyou began themselves to grow old; his last surviving son, Frank, died in 1964. The shares of Steeplechase Park were now held by four women—Marie, Eileen, and the respective widows of Frank and George Jr.—all of whom had differing visions for the park. Steeplechase Park closed for the season on September 20, 1964, for what would be the last time. Though no official closure announcement was made initially, rumors of a sale started circulating in February 1965. On July 2, 1965, the property was sold to developer Fred Trump and he subsequently announced his intention to build luxury apartments on the old Steeplechase property. Though the sale was opposed by the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce, it was consistent with the area's gradual conversion into a residential community.

Later use of the site.

Trump ownership and Kaufman operation.

On the site of Steeplechase Park, Fred Trump proposed building a enclosed dome with recreational facilities and a convention center, a plan which was supported by Brooklyn borough president Abe Stark. Trump demolished Steeplechase Park's Pavilion of Fun during a highly publicized ceremony in September 1966. At the demolition, he was said to have sold bricks to ceremony guests to smash the remaining glass windows on the Pavilion of Fun. Trump supposedly destroyed the pavilion to circumvent a landmark law being proposed by the city following the demolition of the old Pennsylvania Station in 1963.  In October 1966, the city announced its plans to acquire the of the former Steeplechase Park so that the land could be reserved for recreational use. Although residents supported the city's action, Trump called the city's proposal "wasteful". In January 1968, New York City parks commissioner August Heckscher II proposed that the New York state government build an "open-space" state park on the Steeplechase site, and that May, the New York City Board of Estimate voted in favor of funding to buy the land from Trump. Condemnation of the site started in 1969. The city ultimately purchased the proposed park's site for $4 million, with partial funding from the federal government. As a condition of the deal, the sale or lease of the future parkland required permission from the New York State Legislature, thus blocking Trump from developing the site as apartments.  Trump filed a series of court cases related to the proposed residential rezoning, and ultimately won a $1.3 million judgment. The Steeplechase Park site laid empty for several years. Trump started subleasing the property to Norman Kaufman, who ran a small collection of fairground amusements on a corner of the site, calling his amusement park "Steeplechase Park". The city also leased the boardwalk and parking lot sites at extremely low rates, which resulted in a $1 million loss of revenue over the following seven years. Since the city wanted to build the state park on the site of Kaufman's Steeplechase Park, it attempted to evict him by refusing to grant a lease extension.  The city continued to pursue litigation over the site occupied by Norman Kaufman. For over ten years, the city was unsuccessful in its efforts. It had no plan for the proposed state park, and in 1975 the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development nearly withdrew a proposed grant of $2 million to fund the proposed park. The city ultimately accepted the grant. However, in June 1977, the city's parks commissioner suggested that the city would redevelop the original Steeplechase Park's site as an amusement area instead of an open-space state park, and proposed that the city return the grant. This move was opposed by the chairman of the New York City Planning Commission, who wanted to use the grant to pay for pedestrian walkways at the Steeplechase site. In 1977 and 1978, Kaufman withheld rent payments to the city because of the ongoing litigation, and he sued the city for $1.7 million. By 1979, Kaufman had expanded his park and had plans to eventually rebuild the historic Steeplechase Park. He had also bought back the original Steeplechase horse ride with plans to install it the following season. Kaufman continued to operate the site until the end of summer 1980. In June 1981, the city paid Kaufman a million dollars for the rides, even though the amusements were estimated to be worth much less than that. However, the city had finally succeeded in evicting Kaufman from the property.

Development as stadium.

In the mid-1980s, restaurant mogul Horace Bullard proposed rebuilding Steeplechase Park. He had already bought several acres of property just east of the Steeplechase Park site, including the site of the defunct Thunderbolt coaster and the lots west of the Abe Stark rink, and planned to spend $20 million just on cleaning up the neighborhood. His plans called for using the property, bounded by West 15th and 19th Streets between Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk, to build a $55 million theme park based on the original. The city agreed, and the project was approved in 1985. Bullard planned to open the park by mid-1986 to coincide with the Statue of Liberty's centennial celebration. However, the project was delayed while the New York City Planning Commission compiled an environmental impact report. By early 1987, the cost of the amusement park nearly doubled, to $100 million.  Concurrently, in December 1986, the New York State Urban Development Corporation formally proposed the construction of a $58 million, 17,000-seat minor-league baseball stadium near the site. State senator Thomas Bartosiewics attempted to block Bullard from building on the Steeplechase site, as he was part of an organization that had promised another developer, Sportsplex, the right to build an amateur sports arena on the site. Construction was held up for another four years as Bullard and Sportsplex fought over the site.  After Rudy Giuliani took office as mayor of New York in 1994, he negated the Bullard deal by approving the construction of a minor-league baseball stadium on the site allotted for Steeplechase Park. In 1998, Giuliani had canceled Sportsplex and the entertainment complex, and instead unveiled another plan where only the parking lot would be built. The minor league team was called the Brooklyn Cyclones. Bullard, now no longer rebuilding Steeplechase Park, had wanted to restore the Thunderbolt as part of a scaled-down amusement park. Giuliani had the coaster demolished on the grounds that the Thunderbolt was about to collapse, though the coaster's destruction took weeks. In 2000, the city approved the $31 million project to construct Keyspan Park (now MCU Park) using the funds from the canceled Sportsplex, and the minor-league baseball stadium opened the following year.

Current status.

Much of the former Steeplechase Park site is occupied by MCU Park. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation owns the land under MCU Park and maintains it as "Steeplechase Park". A public plaza on the boardwalk is located to the south of MCU Park and operated by NYC Parks.  In 2011, the city announced that the historic B&B Carousell, which had been stored at the Brooklyn Army Terminal since 2005, would be relocated to Steeplechase Plaza within Luna Park. It opened in 2013 at the Steeplechase Plaza section of Luna Park, near the former site of Steeplechase Park. The carousel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The plaza is adjacent to Thunderbolt, a steel coaster that opened in 2014 on the site of the original wooden Thunderbolt.  The only structure still standing that was once part of Steeplechase is the tall tower of the Parachute Jump. It had been proposed for demolition in the mid-20th century. However, due to the expense involved in destruction, the ride outlived the remainder of the park, operating until 1964. Still too expensive to tear down, the tower was made a New York City designated landmark in 1977. Three months later the New York City Board of Estimate overturned the landmark designation, citing doubts about the tower's structural integrity. In 1980, the Parachute Jump was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1989, the Parachute Jump was once again recognized as a city landmark.

Steeplechase Park was an amusement park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. Steeplechase Park was created by entrepreneur George C. Tilyou in 1897 and operated until 1964. It was the first of the three original iconic large parks built on Coney Island, the other two being Luna Park (1903) and Dreamland (1904). Of the three parks, Steeplechase was the longest-lasting, running for 67 years.

Steeplechase Park est un ancien parc d'attractions de New York, qui était situé sur Coney Island à Brooklyn. Il a été exploité de 1897 à 1964. Il fut l’un des premiers parc d’attractions et est encore aujourd’hui un parc référence.


Biography.

Jenifer Bartoli was raised with her younger brother Jonathan, by her mother and father, Michel Dadouche and Christine Bartoli. Her mother is part Corsican-Italian and part Belgian; her father is a Jewish-Algerian. She comes from a modest background. She participated in the "Graines de star" television broadcast in 1997, but this was a failure.  Jenifer decided to go to Paris and attend the casting for the first series of "Star Academy" France, which went on to become a huge hit on French television. She was selected, and eventually won. The hit single "J'attends L'amour" ("I'm waiting for love") soon followed. After the tour with her band that followed her victory, she toured as a solo artist from October 2002 until January 2003, and eventually performed at the Paris Olympia, which she had dreamed of as a child.  Her debut self-titled album went on to sell over three-quarters of a million copies. The album featured a song written by Marc Lavoine and a duet with fellow Star Academy student Mario. The second single "Au Soleil" became one of the "tubes de l'été" (Summer hits) of 2002 in France. The album was re-released later to include two new tracks: "Entre Humains" and "Des Mots Qui Résonnent." The latter became her third top ten single in France and Jenifer stated that it was more her style of music, being more pop/rock. Finally a fourth song, the ballad "Donne Moi Le Temps" was released. The re-released album sold over a million copies.  In 2004 Jenifer returned onto the scene with her second, more personal, melancholy album "Le Passage". Among others, this album contained songs written by Calogero, Kyo, Tina Arena and one song Jenifer co-wrote. This album contains the singles "Ma Révolution" ("My Revolution"), "Le Souvenir De Ce Jour" ("The Memory of This Day"), "C'est De L'Or" ("It's Golden") and "Serre Moi" ("Hold me"). The album was supported by an extensive tour across France and was followed by the release of a live album "Jenifer Fait Son Live" and an accompanying DVD.  She has stated that she also wants to produce music in English outside France.  In November 2010, Jenifer released her fourth studio album called "Appelle-moi Jen" ("Call Me Jen"), which charted at number 13 in France. It's a pop/rock-electronical album which has a 1980s French song lookalike. The first single of the album, "Je danse"("I Dance"), was released in September 2010. This song was a hit in France and also in Belgium, rising to the 3rd position in the charts.  In 2012, she is a ""'s coach (with Florent Pagny, Garou and Mika) for TF1.  In 2002, Jenifer met French musician and songwriter, Maxim Nucci in studio when she was working on her debut album, and they started dating soon after. On December 5, 2003, she gave birth to their son, Aaron at only 21. However, they called it quits in February 2008 after almost six years of dating.  In July 2013, Jenifer started dating French actor Thierry Neuvic. After months of speculations, Jenifer announced in April 2014 that she is 5 months pregnant with her second child. She gave birth to their son, Joseph, on August 13, 2014. In January 2016, it was publicly revealed that Jenifer and Neuvic were no longer together.  She has been dating Corsican businessman Ambroise Fieschi since April 2016. They got married on August 21, 2019 in Serra-di-Ferro, Corsica.

Philanthropy.

Jenifer is a member of the Les Enfoirés charity ensemble since 2003.  In 2006, she also became an active patron of the charity "Chantal Mauduit" that helps kids from Katmandou, Nepal.  She's also involved in the French charity "Rêves" that enables sick kids to realise their dreams.  In 2012, she sold her Chantal Thomass corset on Vestiaire Collective and managed to raise €8000 for the Telethon, a famous French charity aiming to help people with neuromuscular diseases.

Discography.

Singles.

Notes

Jenifer Yaël Juliette Dadouche-Bartoli (born 15 November 1982), known by the mononym Jenifer, is a French singer and actress. Since winning the first season of "Star Academy France" in 2002, she has had a number of hit singles on the French, Belgian and Swiss charts.

Jenifer, de son vrai nom Jenifer Bartoli, née le à Nice, est une chanteuse et actrice française. Révélée par sa participation à l'émission télévisée "Star Academy", dont elle remporte la première saison le, Jenifer compte en 2020 huit albums studio.


Personal history.

Fell was born at Nelson, New Zealand, on 17 January 1878, the son of Nelson mayor and painter, Charles Fell. He was educated at Nelson College (1887–1896), a school his grandfather, Alfred Fell, helped found in 1856. British politician, Sir Arthur Fell was his uncle.  He married Marion White in 1908 and had four sons and one daughter. One of his sons, Lieutenant David Walton Fell, Royal Army Medical Corps, died of wounds in North Africa on 13 November 1942.  Fell was also a keen yachtsman, a passion developed in his youth at Nelson. Fell died at his home at Church Street North, Colchester, on 19 April 1953, aged 75.

Rugby union career.

Fell was a noted sportsperson, playing in his college's 1st XI and 1st XV (1894–1896). He was a champion'miler' of the Scottish Universities (1901–1902) and Edinburgh University from 1901 to 1903. Fell was a player (1898–1905), secretary (1900–1901), and captain (1901–1903) of the Edinburgh University Rugby Football Club, which he is credited with building up to one of the best sides in the history of the game. As captain, his team's first season record read 15 wins, one draw, 425 points for and 6 against.  He had previously played in New Zealand for Otago University (1896–1897), and represented Nelson in 1896 and Otago in 1897.  Fell played for Edinburgh District against Glasgow District in 1899; and for Cities against the rest of Scotland 1900.  In 1901 he was selected for the Scottish national team as a wing three-quarters. Although picked to play, injuries in 1904 and 1905 prevented him playing in the tournament of those years.  Fell was also selected to play against New Zealand in 1905, but declined as this was his home country. Commentators from the time noted that he was a fast runner and good on attack, but lacked defensive ability.  His interest in rugby continued after he retired as a player, being one of the founders and first President of the Colchester Football Rugby Club from 1925 to 1939 and again from 1946 to 1949. The club was in recess over the war years.

Medical career.

Fell followed his uncle, Walter Fell, into medicine. He studied at the University of Otago and then the University of Edinburgh where he graduated MB and ChB in 1902, proceeding to the MD in 1906. He won the Muir Cup in 1900 and was a double blue that same year.  In 1905 he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians and held house appointments at the Royal Infirmary, the City Fever Hospital and the Corstorphine Convalescent Hospital in Edinburgh. He relinquished this position in 1907 and settled in general practice at Colchester in 1907. He became president of the Colchester Medical Society and was a member of the Essex Panel Committee and British Medical Association. He was honorary secretary of the North-east Essex Division from 1915 to 1917 and again from 1920–21; honorary secretary of the Essex Branch from 1921 to 1924; chairman of the North-east Essex Division from 1927 to 1928, and president of the Essex Branch from 1930 to 1931.

Military service.

From 1918 to 1919 he served as a temporary captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was based in Salonika, Macedonia; Bulgaria; Serbia; and the Caucasus.

Alfred Nolan Fell (17 January 1878 – 20 April 1953) was a New Zealand-born international rugby union player for Scotland as a member of Edinburgh University RFC.

Alfred Nolan Fell, né le à Nelson en Nouvelle-Zélande et décédé le à Colchester dans l'Essex, est un ancien joueur de rugby écossais, évoluant au poste d'ailier pour l'Écosse.


Club career.

El Hadary was born in Kafr al-Battikh, Damietta. His father was a craftsman who owned his own workshop making furniture. El Hadary took up playing football without his parent's knowledge, washing his muddy clothes in a local river after playing in order to avoid them knowing. He was spotted by his local football team before being signed by Second Division club Damietta at age 17. In his first training session, he was offered goalkeeping gloves, having previously never worn a pair, but refused to wear them and would run the to training everyday. He made his first team debut for Damietta in 1993 at the age of 20, and after two seasons signed a pre-contract with Egyptian champions Al Ahly. In 12 years at the Cairo club he won eight Egyptian Premier League titles, four Egypt Cups, four Egyptian Super Cups, four CAF Champions League titles, three CAF Super Cups, one Arab Club Champions Cup, and two Arab Super Cups.  Swiss club FC Sion announced that they had signed El Hadary on a four-year contract in February 2008, despite objections from his club, Al Ahly, due to the fact that he was still under contract with them. El Hadary was fined and suspended by Al Ahly, before world governing body FIFA gave permission for Sion to complete the deal.  In 2009, FIFA suspended El Hadary and penalized Sion, even though he had already decided to return to Egypt. In July, while his suspension was stayed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), El Hadary moved to Egyptian Premier League side Ismaily. In 2010, his four month suspension was upheld by the CAS, and in January a Swiss civil court upheld the ban and fines and additionally ordered him to pay FIFA's court costs.  In December 2010, after a brief stint with Zamalek SC, El Hadary moved to Sudanese club Al-Merreikh. After boycotting practices due to a pay dispute, he was loaned to Al-Ittihad Alexandria, but after a stadium riot in Port Said led to the suspension of the 2011–12 Egyptian Premier League season he returned to Sudan again. After his contract there expired, he returned to Egypt, playing for Wadi Degla in 2014, moving back to Ismaily in 2014, and returning again to Wadi Degla in 2015. Throughout this period, he continued to be acclaimed one of the best footballers ever to play for Egypt or anywhere in Africa; in 2013 he was included in Bleacher Report's "50 Greatest African Players of All Time" list, ranked number 6. In 2017, an argument with a teammate lead to El Hadary being thrown off the Wadi Degla team briefly; in June, he signed for Al-Taawoun to become the first foreign goalkeeper to play in Saudi Arabia.  On 2 July 2018, it was confirmed that El Hadary had joined Ismaily for the third time in his career. On 28 January 2019, El Hadary signed with Nogoom; however, he left the club following their relegation at the end of the season.

International career.

El Hadary has represented Egypt over 150 times since his international debut in 1996, winning the African Cup of Nations four times with his country. He was chosen as the best goalkeeper in the 2006 African Cup of Nations, held in homeland Egypt, in the 2008 African Cup of Nations, held in Ghana and for the 2010 African Cup of Nations, held in Angola.  In January 2013 his agent tweeted that El Hadary had retired from international football after being benched for a run of games, being the 23rd most capped international player in history and also the player with most African Cup of Nations titles. He returned to the national team in a match against Bosnia Herzegovina on 5 March 2014, winning 2–0. On 4 June 2016, El Hadary played the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 win against Tanzania which secured Egypt's qualification for 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. On 17 January 2017, two days after his 44th birthday, he became the oldest player to ever appear in an Africa Cup of Nations match after replacing Ahmed El-Shenawy in Egypt's first match of the tournament. On 1 February 2017, El Hadary saved two penalties as Egypt defeated Burkina Faso 4–3 in a penalty shoot-out to advance to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Final.  In June 2018, at the age of 45, he was named in Egypt's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. He was the oldest of all players selected for the tournament, beating the record set by Colombian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragón in the previous edition of the tournament. On 25 June, El Hadary was handed a start in Egypt's final group match against Saudi Arabia to become the oldest player ever to play in and debut at a World Cup at the age of 45 years and 161 days, once again breaking Mondragón's record of 43 years and three days. El Hadary stopped a penalty kick in the first half of the match, but subsequently conceded from a second penalty just before half time; his team eventually lost the game 1–2 after conceding a late goal in stoppage time.  On 7 August 2018, El Hadary announced his international retirement at the age of 45, having made 159 international appearances for Egypt. In November 2019, the FIFA World Football Museum exhibited El Hadary's gloves of his World Cup match for being the tournament's oldest player and first African goalkeeper ever to save a penalty.

Essam Kamal Tawfiq El Hadary (; born 15 January 1973) is a retired Egyptian footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Nicknamed the "High Dam", he has spent the largest portion of his club career with Al Ahly, with whom he won eight Egyptian Premier League titles, four Egypt Cups, four Egyptian Super Cups, four CAF Champions League titles, three CAF Super Cups, one Arab Club Champions Cup, and two Arab Super Cups.

Essam el-Hadary (), né le 15 janvier 1973 à Damiette, est un footballeur international égyptien évoluant comme gardien de but.


Dumb and Dumberer : Quand Harry rencontra Lloyd

Plot.

In 1986, Harry Dunne finally gets his chance to go to regular school. At the same time, Lloyd Christmas has been adopted and exchanged several times until he is finally accepted by the school janitor, Ray. Harry bumps into Lloyd on the way to school, in search for a treasure his mother asked him to find, and as if it were destiny, the two instantly became the best of friends. Lloyd introduces Harry to his "friend", Turk, the school bully whose main function in life appears to be making Lloyd's life miserable. After putting Lloyd in a trash can, he hoists the two friends up a flagpole.  Meanwhile, the corrupt Principal Collins is searching for a way to get a large amount of money to get a condominium in Waikiki, Hawaii for him and his girlfriend, Ms. Heller, the school's cafeteria lady. Seeing Harry and Lloyd getting hoisted on a flagpole, Principal Collins decide to establish a fake "special needs" class to swindle $100,000 from a former Special Needs student named Richard Moffit. Obviously, Harry and Lloyd are more than thrilled to help, unaware of the real reason, and thus find themselves signing up people who are "special" enough for the class. These include a reluctant Turk; a teen named Toby who broke his leg and arm in a skateboarding accident—and whom Lloyd believes is a "little crippled boy"; Toby's gorgeous girlfriend, Terri; geeky Lewis, whom Harry and Lloyd believe is a centaur after seeing him half-dressed in his horse mascot uniform; Cindy, also known as "|Ching-Chong", a Chinese exchange student who later becomes Turk's girlfriend; and Carl, a badly injured football player obsessed with his sport. Ms. Heller becomes the teacher of the fake class and holds it in Ray's tool shed.  Jessica Matthews, a headstrong student and reporter for the school paper, is being suspicious of Principal Collins' sudden contribution. Jessica invites Harry over to her house for dinner and asks Harry for information. Harry, who thinks that she is flirting with him, turns to Lloyd for courtship tips. A repulsive disaster involving Jessica's bathroom and a melted chocolate bar that looks like feces makes her father freak out, inadvertently directing her attention to Lloyd. Soon, Harry and Lloyd get into a fight over Jessica, without her knowing it, which causes the duo to angrily break off their friendship. Inevitably, the two make amends when Harry and Lloyd realize that they were nothing without each other. They find Principal Collins' chest in his office which contains evidence of every scam he and Ms. Heller ever pulled.  The next day, Principal Collins finds his evidence chest missing, and Ms. Heller falsely accuses Jessica of taking it. As a result, Principal Collins prank calls her parents and keeps her at his house overnight in an attempt to interrogate her. Meanwhile, the Special Needs class builds a float of George Washington for the Thanksgiving Parade. However, after Lloyd and Harry discover the evidence in the chest, they change the float to look like Principal Collins instead. After the class discovers his evidence, they agree to use him as the float instead. They also plan on having it pulled by the class's special bus. Before bringing out the float, they call the police. During the parade, the superintendent of the school district has a police detective pose as Richard Moffit, so Principal Collins would take the grant. Eventually, the Special Needs class brings out their float and proves Principal Collins and Ms. Heller as thieves by putting their recordings over loudspeakers, therefore exposing their plot. Before Principal Collins and Ms. Heller escape with the money, they are arrested by the police. Jessica is grateful for Harry and Lloyd and regards them as heroes. However, just like in the original film, the duo's advances to Jessica are in vain, as it turns out that Jessica had a boyfriend. He commends Harry and Lloyd for exposing Collins' and Heller's plot and rides off with Jessica.  Harry and Lloyd vow never to fight and risk their friendship over a woman, but as they head home, they are approached by Fraida Felcher and her twin sister, Rita in a red Ferrari 308 GTS, who offer to take them to visit a new girls' college. After Harry and Lloyd get into another debate over which girl they want, Lloyd declines the offer to settle the debate, and Fraida and Rita furiously drive off, splattering Harry with mud in the process. Jessica's father accidentally hits Harry with his Mercedes, resulting in Harry getting the windshield and hood covered with mud. Jessica's father recognizes Harry and as he frantically thinks his car is covered in feces, Harry and Lloyd casually walk away.

Production.

Much of the film was filmed in Atlanta. Many of the school scenes were filmed at Walton High School in Marietta and at the Atlanta International School in Fulton County. The Farrelly brothers, who co-wrote and directed the original "Dumb and Dumber", had no involvement in this film whatsoever, nor did Jim Carrey or Jeff Daniels, who played Lloyd and Harry in the original film. Although Peter Farrelly has never seen the prequel, he went on record as saying that he holds no ill-will against the movie and wished the filmmakers well on it.  Following the success of "South Park", co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were originally slated to write the script for the film. However, due to scheduling conflicts, by 2000 they opted not to write the script and returned their salary back to New Line Cinema.

Reception.

Box office.

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $10.8 million in 2,609 theaters in the United States and Canada. By the end of its run, "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd" grossed $26.3 million domestically and $13 million internationally for a worldwide total of $39.3 million, against a $19 million budget.

Critical response.

"Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd" was panned by critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 10% rating based on reviews from 119 critics, with an average score of 2.8/10. The site's critical consensus states: "This lame prequel induces more groans than laughs. Rent the original instead." Metacritic gives the film a score of 19 out of 100, based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd is a 2003 American comedy film. It is the second film in the "Dumb and Dumber" film series and a prequel to the 1994 film "Dumb and Dumber". The film was directed by Troy Miller and based on the characters created by the Farrelly brothers from the original film. The film was poorly received by critics; however, it was a modest domestic box office success considering its budget, taking in just under $40 million.

Il s'agit d'une préquelle du film "Dumb and Dumber", réalisé par les Peter et Bobby Farrelly et sorti en 1994.


Character history.

"Sex and the City".

Samantha Jones is one of four single friends portrayed in the series, a public relations worker who is a proud, confident, highly sexual woman. Most of her story lines revolve around the frequent sex and brief affairs she has. She is outspoken and a self-proclaimed "try-sexual" (meaning she'll try anything at least once). She is portrayed as brash, straightforward, highly protective of her friends and unafraid of confrontation. She also displays nonchalance toward dating and monogamy and becomes uncomfortable whenever her sexual relationships take an emotional turn.  Not much is known about Samantha's younger years. It is known that she came from a working class background, and she spent most of her teenage years selling Dilly bars at Dairy Queen to earn pocket money. Season 3 implies that she has at least two siblings, when she mentions that at her age, her mother "was saddled with three kids and a drunk husband". She later mentions partying at Studio 54 during its heyday, implying she moved sometime in the mid- to late-1970s from wherever she grew up to New York City. She has mentioned having had at least two abortions, one of which occurred while she was in college.  Samantha is the eldest of the four friends (in the final scene of the "Sex and the City" film, her 50th birthday is celebrated), though it is implied during the early seasons that the other three are not aware of how much older Samantha is than they are. She has her own public-relations company. In the book's prequel series, it is revealed that Carrie met Samantha first.  In the early part of the series, she lives on the Upper East Side, but ends up moving to an expensive apartment in the Meatpacking District. The move is provoked after one of her late-night visitors lets in a mugger who attacks one of her older female neighbors and Samantha incurs the wrath of a tribelike commune of her elderly neighbors.  One of Samantha's best qualities is her loyalty to her friends. When Carrie confesses to her that she's having an affair with her married ex-boyfriend "Mr. Big," and is cheating on her boyfriend, Aidan, Samantha tells her that judging is not her style and offers her support. Although she fights with Charlotte a few times, they always manage to get past their differ ences and make up. Despite having trouble adjusting to Miranda having a child, she willingly gives up a coveted hair appointment with a distinguished hairdresser and sends Miranda in her place, staying behind to babysit and give her friend a much-needed break. Although Miranda is usually considered Carrie's best friend, Samantha is shown to be closer with Carrie on several occasions; such as when Carrie hates an engagement ring that Miranda picks out for Aidan to give to Carrie, but loves the replacement ring selected with Samantha's help.  In the show's last season, Samantha is diagnosed with breast cancer. She faces the challenge head-on, playing with her look by wearing outrageous wigs, hats, and headscarves after she loses her hair to chemotherapy. In one of the final episodes, she gives a speech for a cancer benefit dinner, and receives a standing ovation for removing her wig onstage and admitting that she was suffering with hot flashes. The audience appreciated her candor and honesty, and many of the women in the audience stood up and removed their own wigs.

"Sex and the City: The Movie".

Four years later, Samantha has moved to Los Angeles with Smith to further his acting career; he's now playing a doctor on a popular daytime drama. Samantha, who visits New York City as much as possible, finds herself attracted to a hunky exhibitionist neighbor, Dante, whom she regularly sees nude when he takes a shower or has sex with various women. Dante's escapades reminds Samantha of her sexually free past and he could be considered the male version of Samantha. While she remains faithful to Smith, she finds herself questioning whether or not her strained relationship with him should be continued as she simultaneously uses food as an outlet for her sexual desires for Dante, flagrantly gaining weight in the later stages of the movie. Samantha claims 'I eat, so I won't cheat'. Samantha, realizing her true unhappiness, breaks up with Smith. Samantha seemingly returns to reside New York City. Our last view of Samantha is her celebrating her 50th birthday in Manhattan and toasting to the next fifty with Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte.

"Sex and the City 2".

Samantha is approached by an Arab sheikh to devise a PR campaign for his business, and he flies her and her friends on an all-expenses-paid luxury vacation to Abu Dhabi. When the girls are picnicking they meet an architect named Rikard Spirt (Max Ryan). Meeting him later that evening out with the girls addressing him as "Dick Spurt" and graciously declines his offer for a drink because of her devotion to her friends' "girls night out" but agrees to meet the next evening. While on that date Samantha is detained for having sex on the beach. With the Sheik's intervention Samantha is released, leaving her with a permanent police record. The PR meeting is cancelled, and their luxurious perks are no longer paid for. They quickly pack their bags and attempt to leave but have to retrieve Carrie's passport that she unknowingly left at the souk. Due to a mix-up the men there believe Samantha has stolen a bag. They confront her and Samantha's real bag rips open in the middle of a bustling souk and the contents, including strips of condoms falls out. Disgusted Muslim men crowd around and Samantha brashly responds that what they were viewing were indeed condoms and that she 'has sex'. Samantha has to be pulled away by her fearful friends. They are helped by impressed Muslim women in traditional wear, who let them into their home and reveal that they're wearing Louis Vuitton collection underneath. The Muslim women aid the girls in escaping the souk by giving them full-body niqabs to cover their identity. They leave Abu Dhabi and return to the New York City in the USA. At the end of the movie Samantha has sex with Rikhard in "the land of the free and home of the hormones", at an East Hampton sand dune.

"The Carrie Diaries".

In the second season of the prequel series, Samantha is introduced as Carrie's enemy Donna Ladonna's cousin and is portrayed by Lindsey Gort. In the second episode of the second season, she said that she came from the Everglades, and that she used to have alligator overturned by car for breakfast.

Relationships.

Samantha's main love is men—many of them. Over the course of the series, she sleeps with plenty of interesting characters, including a man who will only "swing" with her if she takes an HIV test, a college student from the Midwest with the same name (Sam Jones) who is eager to lose his virginity, a guy with "funky spunk", and a trainer from her gym who brands her by shaving her pubic hair into a lightning bolt. She never lets the men stay for long, usually requiring them to leave "an hour after [she] climaxes". One of her sexual antics includes making a sex-tape to disprove tabloids' claims that she is a fag hag. She once said that she frequently loses underwear because she leaves them at the guys' places and never returns. She even slept with her good friend Charlotte's brother, prompting an angry Charlotte to call Samantha's vagina "the hottest spot in town: it's always open".  Samantha rarely dates men more than once or twice. She does have a few "serious" relationships throughout the run of the series.

James.

Samantha meets a man named James (James Goodwin) in a jazz bar at the end of season one. Unusually for Samantha, she doesn't have sex with him immediately, taking a leaf instead from Charlotte's book, because she felt he was a man she would marry. After declaring that she was in love with him, the two finally have sex, only for Samantha to discover that James was seriously under-endowed, to the point where she could not enjoy sex. In the last episode of season one, ("Oh Come All Ye Faithful") she tells Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda that he is only three inches long when hard, and that she doesn't even receive any pleasure out of giving him a blowjob because his penis is so small. Though she tries to work through it, she eventually ends things with him when they attend a couples' counseling session. She confesses she is unable to feel someone as small as a baby carrot, to which he replies angrily by saying that maybe her vagina is too big.  In a funny counterpoint to her predicament with James, in the second-season episode "Ex and the City," Samantha meets Mr. Too Big, who warns her of his huge endowment as he undresses. Samantha squeals with delight as the story segues to another character. Later in the episode, when Samantha reappears, she is slowly guiding Mr. Too Big between her legs. After much hesitation, she seems to finally relax while drawing him in (she thinks), only to be asked if he can start. A shocked and fearful Samantha pushes him away with her foot on his chest and begs off the encounter. At the end of this episode she unexpectedly yells "I miss James!" while her friends goofishly sing "The Way We Were" in a crowded restaurant - the exclamation is tearful, suggesting that her feelings for James may have been legitimate.

Maria.

In season four, Samantha flirts with lesbianism, entering into a brief but serious relationship with an artist named Maria (Sônia Braga). The girls are completely shocked by this, more so that she is in a relationship than the fact that it's with a woman. Charlotte proclaims, "She's not a lesbian, she probably just ran out of men!". Samantha feels she is not a relationship person, and she initially only wants to be friends with Maria. Maria tells Samantha she cannot continue being just friends with her, and Samantha decides to take a chance and kisses Maria. Samantha seems intrigued about learning the act of pleasing another woman, thus learning more about her own sexuality. Once the sex begins to dwindle and they spend a lot of time talking, Samantha begins to tire of their relationship. Maria also becomes upset when Samantha's sexual past catches up with them. Samantha ultimately misses men too much and, although Maria decides to try strap-on dildos, the two break up due to Maria's belief that Samantha has "intimacy issues".

Richard Wright.

Later in season four, Samantha meets and falls in love with hotel magnate Richard Wright (James Remar). Though the two seemed well-matched, as they are both confident, highly successful, and like sleeping around and are uninterested in relationships, Samantha finds herself becoming increasingly attached to Richard. The two eventually commit to a monogamous relationship. However, Samantha is heart broken when she catches him cheating on her. Despite giving Richard a second chance, she decides to end the relationship when she realizes she doesn't trust him. In the last season, she runs into Richard while out at a party with her new boyfriend, Smith, and Samantha and Richard go upstairs to have sex. During intercourse, Samantha is seen looking uninterested and pained at being with Richard. Smith waits for her downstairs, knowing what she has done, and she breaks down in his arms, apologizing to him.

Jerry Jerrod/Smith Jerrod.

Samantha sees a 28-year-old waiter/aspiring actor (Jason Lewis) while dining with the girls at a new, hip restaurant called "Raw". She later returns to the restaurant alone, with the sole mission of taking him home; she succeeds, outlasting numerous other women who are there for the same purpose. At first it seems he is to be just another notch on her bedpost, and she doesn't even know his name, referring to him as "Smith" to her Jones in elaborate sexual scenarios they enact. They have adventurous, "out-of-the-box" sex, which Samantha finds exciting and refreshing. She is turned off by learning anything personal about him, such as that he is a recovering alcoholic. But she finds she is enjoying her time with him so much that she keeps seeing him.  Seeing that he is broke and struggling, Samantha uses her PR skills to jump-start Jerry's modeling and acting career, and, once she learns his birth name (Jerry Jerrod), changes it to Smith Jerrod. Samantha likes that he is not intimidated by her success (in contrast to Carrie's ex-boyfriend, Jack Berger), and with her assistance, he quickly becomes a celebrity. He first gains attention when he models naked in an Absolut Vodka ad in Times Square, in which he appears as the "Absolut Hunk". This publicity leads to a role in a Gus Van Sant film.  Reluctant at first to admit she cares about him, Samantha misses him while he is on location. Smith returns from his film and shows her true affection, which Samantha finds unsettling. (As she explains to Carrie, he tried to do something purely perverse to her in public: "He tried to hold my hand.") Samantha struggles with Smith's status as a teen icon and their age difference. She ends up deliberately humiliating him by hooking up with her ex-flame Richard at a party she went to with Smith. After a quick bout of clearly meaningless sex with Richard, during which he talks about himself, Samantha seeks out Smith, who has been waiting for her to realize she made a mistake and come back. She tearfully confesses that she hates what she just did to him. Eventually, she begins referring to Smith as her boyfriend. It appears that the two live together, since Smith refers to her place as "home," and he has keys to the apartment.  Smith supports Samantha through her brush with cancer, even shaving his hair when her hair began falling out, and then shaving hers. Samantha has no sexual libido during chemotherapy and encourages Smith to have sex with anyone he wants while he is in Canada filming his next movie. Smith refuses, comparing her situation to winter: "just because the trees are bare doesn't mean they're dead." While he is away, he sends her unbloomed flowers with a message on the card reading "Looking forward to spring." She calls him to tell him she changed her mind about Smith having sex with other women, and Smith happily complies. Smith returns to New York in the middle of the night, flying back after their phone call to say that he loves her. Samantha replies that he "means more to [her] than any man [she's] ever known," which, for Samantha, is a huge statement. Their last scene together in the TV series shows the two having sex and Samantha enjoying herself; the previously unbloomed flowers have now begun to open.  Four years later, the pair are still together, with Samantha giving up her job and home to live in Los Angeles with him and be his publicist supporting his booming acting career. But Samantha has become restless with monogamy and resents that Smith's career has taken over her life. After a struggle with her weight and self-control, Samantha eventually decides to end their relationship. She explains that she loves being single more than any relationship. As seen in the "Sex and the City 2" movie, the two remain friends, with Smith even inviting her to be his date to the premiere of his summer blockbuster, and introduces him to the film's Arab financier, who invites Samantha to visit his resort in Abu Dhabi so she can plan an advertising campaign for him.

Samantha Jones is a fictional character on the HBO-produced television series "Sex and the City" and its CW-produced prequel series "The Carrie Diaries". She is portrayed by actresses Kim Cattrall and Lindsey Gort. Cattrall received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal.

Samantha Jones est un personnage de la série "Sex and the City" interprété par Kim Cattrall et Lindsey Gort dans "The Carrie Diaries". Elle est l'amie de Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker ou AnnaSophia Robb), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) et Charlotte York (Kristin Davis).


Origin.

The word "regeneración" entered the Spanish language in the early 19th century as a medical term, the antomym of "corrupción" (corruption); over time it became a metaphor for the opposite of political corruption. It became a new expression of the longstanding patriotic concern with the decline of Spain, a concern first expressed by the "Arbitristas" in the 16th and 17th centuries, then by Enlightenment thinkers and Bourbon reformers in the 18th century, sometimes satirized in the form of so-called "Proyectismo" ("Project-ism") attacked by José Cadalso in his "Cartas marruecas" ("Moroccan Letters"). But late 19th century Regenerationism was specifically a reaction against the political system founded by Cánovas under the Bourbon restoration. Under Cánovas system, alternation between conservative and liberal parties was guaranteed by rigged elections. This made the late 19th century, after the last of the Carlist Wars, a period of an illusory stability sustained on the basis of massive political corruption. This false stability hid, for a time, the misery of the common people, the poor economic distribution of Spain's belated industrial revolution, caciquism, and the triumph of an economic and political oligarchy. Only Catalonia and the Basque Country had seen the sustained rise of an industrial capitalist bourgeoisie (early industrialization in Andalusia having largely failed). With the end of feudalism and, in particular, the fraud-ridden expropriation of ecclesiastical properties ("see, for example, Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal"), and the failure of land reform efforts, practically all of Spain's potentially productive farmland was under unproductive use in latifundia (large estates). Wages were low and many Spaniards were day laborers living on the edge of hunger.  Regenerationism was strongly influenced by Krausism, the philosophy of Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, which proclaimed freedom of conscience. Introduced into Spain by Julian Sanz del Rio, Krausism was very influential among liberal reformers in that country throughout the 19th century (combining with positivism in the latter portion of the century). Today, Regenerationism survives mostly as a component of Aragonese nationalism, for which it has long provided an ideological foundation.

Magazines.

The Regenerationist intellectuals wished to form a new, authentic idea of Spain, to which end they attempted to expose the deceptions of official Spain by disseminating studies in widely circulated magazines. Many of these predated those publications associated with the Generation of '98. The first was the "Revista Contemporánea" (1875–1907), founded by José del Perojo. Among its initial collaborators were numerous scholars associated with the Krausist Institución Libre de Enseñanza (Free Institute of Instruction), an independent institution of higher education founded in Madrid in 1876. Among these were Rafael Altamira, Julián Sanz del Río, Rafael María de Labra, and Urbano González Serrano, who imported contemporary European aesthetic and philosophical currents and propagated them within Spain breaking links with Spanish cultural tradition. Another prestigious publication was "La España Moderna" (1889–1914). Founded by José Lázaro Galdiano, it sought to be Spain's "Revue des deux mondes". Like "Revista Contemporánea", it sought to be cosmopolitan, European, and contemporary. Among its collaborators were Ramiro de Maeztu and Miguel de Unamuno. Another Regenerationist magazine was "Nuevo Teatro Crítico" ("New Critical Theater"), written almost entirely by literary theorist Emilia Pardo Bazán, who was Europeanist as well as sincerely feminist.

Regenerationist writers.

The Regenerationist writers published studies and essays that denounced the corrupt Canovist system. This was given particular evidence and impetus by the defeat of Spain's technically obsolete military in the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Spain lost virtually all that remained of its colonial empire (losing Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and several smaller island possessions). The way had been somewhat prepared by Lucas Mallada's "Los males de la patria y la futura revolución española" ("The ills of the country and the future Spanish revolution", 1890) and Ricardo Macías Picavea's "El problema nacional" ("The national problem"), as well as Krausist attacks on illiteracy and official state pedagogy, most notably as led by the Institución Libre de Enseñanza directed by Francisco Giner de los Ríos.  The most important author (and political figure) of this movement was Joaquín Costa.  Later, a constellation of authors would follow Costa's road. Rafael Altamira (1866–1951), from Alicante, wrote "Psicología del pueblo español" ("Psychology of the Spanish people", 1902), where he conceived patriotism as a spiritual concept innate in peoples. Other Regenerationists were Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, Francisco de Quevedo, Benito Jerónimo Feijoo, and others.  Lucas Mallada, Aragonese like Costa, strongly criticized the "Idearium español" proposed by Ángel Ganivet and addressed French Hispanophobia as a grave evil, countered somewhat by German Hispanophilia. He defended Spanish activity in the Americas and believed that its reputation had improved, despite inadequate attention to its own affairs. He rejected the pessimism of Ricardo Macías Picavea (1847–1899) in the latter's "El problema nacional". Rejecting Macías Picavea's call for a dictatorship, he sympathized instead with the 18th century satirist Juan Pablo Forner and with Joaquín Costa, who sought to reform Spain's democracy. He separated national life from the mere poor example set by its leaders, and summarized the national failings as:  Similar views can be found in the work of the Castilian-Leonese writer José María Salaverría (1873–1940), author of "Vieja España" ("Old Spain", 1907).  The ideals and proposals of the Regenerationists were seized upon by conservative politicians such as Francisco Silvela, whose famous article "Sin pulso" ("Without a pulse") was published in "El Tiempo" 16 August 1898, and Antonio Maura, who saw Regenerationism as a sufficient vehicle for his political aspirations. At the same time, Regenerationsim was equally taken up by liberal politicians such as Santiago Alba, José Canalejas and Manuel Azaña. Benito Pérez Galdós assimilated Regenerationism to his initial Krausism in the final works of his "Episodios nacionales" and even the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera appropriated some of Costa's discourse, particularly his call for an "iron surgeon" to accomplish urgently needed national reforms. He brought to fruition at least one of Costa's dreams: a national hydrological plan. But the figures who most prominently prolonged the current of Regenerationism until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 were such writers as Juan Pío Membrado Ejerique, Julio Senador Gómez, Constancio Bernaldo de Quirós, Luis Morote, Ramiro de Maeztu, Auronplay, Ismael Prego, Guillermo Díaz, Samuel de Luque, Pedro Corominas, Adolfo Posada, and José Ortega y Gasset.

Regenerationism () was an intellectual and political movement in late 19th century and early 20th century Spain. It sought to make objective and scientific study of the causes of Spain's decline as a nation and to propose remedies. It is largely seen as distinct from another movement of the same time and place, the Generation of '98. While both movements shared a similar negative judgment of the course of Spain as a nation in recent times, the regenerationists sought to be objective, documentary, and scientific, while the Generation of '98 inclined more to the literary, subjective and artistic.

Le régénérationnisme (en ) est un mouvement intellectuel qui, à la charnière du et du, mène une profonde réflexion sur les causes de la décadence de l'Espagne en tant que nation. Il convient de le différencier de la Génération de 98 car, bien que les deux mouvements expriment le même jugement pessimiste sur l'Espagne, les régénérationnistes le font d'une manière objective, documentée et scientifique, tandis que la Génération de 1898 le fait sous une forme plus littéraire, subjective et artistique.


History.

In the late 1880s, the need to serve the busy quarter of Belleville led to consideration of setting up a cable car line, uniquely able to manage the hill's inclination. But unlike San Francisco and other American cities where this new system was operating, which had wide roads on grid plans, the width of the Paris roads required a single track railway with plenty of passing loops along its rather meandering route.  In 1886, one Mr. Fournier submitted a request for a concession. After much deliberation by the Ville de Paris, the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of the Interior and the Corps of Bridges and Roads, and the virulent protests of the, who saw it breaking their monopoly, the line was given its ("Public Utility Declaration") by a decree of 24 January 1889 under the jurisdiction of a under the control of the Conseil général of the Seine Department. A contract was signed on 7 August 1890 between the Department and Fournier, which provided for the construction of a line by the Ville de Paris and its operation by Fournier, who passed it over to the.  The funicular tramway became operational on 25 August 1891. The line started at the Place de la Republique, going down the Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple and the Rue de Belleville to its termanis in front of the Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville. Its total length was or of single track with a crossings over the Canal Saint-Martin and four others at the crossroads of the Avenue Parmentier, of the Boulevard de Belleville, of the Rue Julien-Lacroix and of the Rue des Pyrénées. Its gradient was fairly steep, starting with a shallow slope but climbing the hill with gradients of at least 3.4% (1:30) but as high as 7% (1:14), with several tight curves.  The line quickly became popular: in 1895, it transported million passengers. The line quickly reached capacity, and because it was impossible to add more passing loops, the line was operated in "bursts" (), with several vehicles closely following each other very closely. But this operation was particularly dangerous for pedestrians and road traffic. So it was decided to operate two cars together as a train, and their end platforms were extended over the couplings, increasing each car's capacity to 57 passengers. 1902 became the record year for the line, with million passengers.  On 31 May 1910, the concession ended and the Ville de Paris took over operation as a ("French public service authority"). During the First World War the line was underfunded, and at its close needed heavy repairs to continue service. But operations finally ceased on 18 July 1924, and the tramway was replaced by a bus line called the "BF", operated by Schneider H buses with their front seats removed to increase capacity. This route was subsequently incorporated into the network of the Société des transports en commun de la région parisienne (STCRP). The infrastructure of the funicular tramway was demolished, the cars were sold for scrap, and for many months were held somewhere in Issy-les-Moulineaux. In 1935, Paris Métro Line 11 opened on the same route, extended at each end.

Technical characteristics.

The tracks of the funicular tramway were built at with a central access channel which gave exclusive access to apparatus in a groove from street level. The U-shaped rails, of the Broca system, were set into the road surface, with blocks housing the traction cable, which was of diameter and weighed. The cable was of hemp rope reinforced by six steel strands. The breaking strain of the cable was.  Each terminus on the line was equipped with a pulley of diameter, mounted horizontally under the pavement, which drove the endless traction cable. The cable passed over another tension wheel, which compensated for cable stretch.  The system was driven by two Corliss steam engines, installed in the depot at 97 Rue de Belleville.  The 21 cars were each long and only wide, accommodating 22 passengers on four longitudinal bench seats. The rolling stock was never upgraded; the cars remained gaslit (with acetylene) and were unheated because of the short journey time.  The vehicles were equipped with a "grip" system, detachable pincers which took hold of the cable in the underground channel. To put the vehicle in motion, the driver progressively tightened the grip. This action, repeated several thousand times, limited the cable's lifetime to less than six months. The cable ran in the channel at a speed of by day, and by night, when there was less traffic. To stop the car, the driver used a handbrake which acted on the wheels. Brake pads also acted against the rails.  The infrastructure was built by the Ville de Paris, directed by its chief engineer Fulgence Bienvenüe, better known as the architect of the Paris Métro.

Operation.

The funicular tramway served a populous quarter of Paris. Because of this, the flat rate fare was quite low, 10 centimes, and there were half-rate worker's fares at the start and end of the day. Despite the low fares, its popularity made the company extremely profitable.  Tramway operations barely changed throughout the line's existence: a departure every 11 minutes from 5am to 6am, then every 6 minutes from 6am until 12.30am. The total number of daily departures was as high as 364 in winter, and 382 in summer, with respectively 37 and 30 in the morning at half rate.

Accidents.

Operational accidents were relatively rare, and mostly related to cable wear. If the cable broke it would wind around the grip, preventing the cars from stopping and causing them to overturn or run into those that had managed to disengage the grip in time. This could cause havoc in the streets.  But the steep slope of the Rue de Belleville caused the more spectacular accidents. The greatest was on 6 January 1906, when a ruptured grip resulted in a runaway car. It continued the whole length of the Rue de Belleville, crossing the Rue des Pyrénées at nearly (according to the press reports) before being derailed and overturning in the Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple. The passengers panicked and ran, causing 17 injuries. In 1907 and 1909, brake failures caused two collisions between the tramcars and Mekarski system cars at the Rue des Pyrénées crossroads.

In popular fiction.

In, Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain describe Fantômas taking the funicular on return from a meeting with the Apaches.

The Belleville funicular tramway () was a cable car which from 1891 to 1924 connected the Place de la République in Paris to the Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville, on a hill in the Belleville quarter. It has since been demolished.

Le tramway funiculaire de Belleville est une ligne de tramway à traction par câble aujourd'hui disparue qui reliait de 1891 à 1924 la place de la République à l'église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville, sur la colline de Belleville dans l'est parisien.


Self-winding watch.

About the beginning of 1777, Perrelet invented a self-winding mechanism for automatic watches. It worked on the same principle as a modern wristwatch, and was designed to wind as the owner walked, using an oscillating weight inside the large watch that moved up and down.  The Geneva Society of Arts reported in 1777 that fifteen minutes walking was necessary to wind the watch sufficiently for eight days, and the following year reported that it was selling well. Perrelet is thus widely acknowledged as the inventor of the "automatic" watch. However, his watch probably used a weight pivoting at the side of the movement. The first drawing and accurate description of an automatic watch with a central rotor was created in 1778 by the watchmaker Hubert Sarton () and that design is attributed to him. Following the work of Perrelet, other watchmakers also created automatic watches from about 1777 on.

Breguet.

Perrelet sold some of his watches to a contemporary watchmaking luminary, Abraham-Louis Breguet around 1780, who improved upon the mechanism in his own version of the design, calling his watches "perpetuelles", the French word for perpetual. They did not work reliably and Breguet stopped producing them around 1810.

Famous grandson.

Louis-Frédéric Perrelet (1781–1852), a grandson of Abraham-Louis Perrelet, was trained by his grandfather and went into business in Paris. Louis-Frédéric invented marine watches with measuring instruments and a split-second precision chronograph. He won one of three Lalande awards for 1830.

Brand.

While the factory claims to have been in continuous production since the late eighteenth century, the brand has only recently begun to command attention worthy of its heritage. The brand, acquired in 2004 by Miguel Rodriguez of the Festina Group, appointed Marc Bernhardt as CEO of Perrelet in 2007, and under his direction the company released a few highly regarded watches. These included watches with retrograde, jumping hour, and double-rotor complications.  In terms of pricing, Bernhardt positioned Perrelet in the lower middle of the luxury market, with most of their releases priced between five and ten thousand (US) dollars. Their upper-range watches featuring costlier complications, such as tourbillons or minute-repeaters, typically retailed in the thirty-forty thousand (US) dollar range.  In 2009 Rodriguez appointed Fausto Salvi as CEO of Perrelet.

Abraham-Louis Perrelet, (9 January 1729 – 1826), born in Neuchâtel in Switzerland, was a Swiss horologist. His father, Daniel was a carpenter and a farmer and as soon as the young man was in a position to do some favours, he helped his parents on the farm. At the age of twenty years he gave up his modest work to learn watchmaking. After an apprenticeship of fifteen days at one named Prince, in Le Locle, who worked little and very badly, and where he learnt absolutely nothing, he started to work independently and so became his own master.

Abraham Louis Perrelet, né le au Locle (canton de Neuchâtel) et mort en 1826, est un horloger suisse, souvent cité comme l'inventeur de la montre automatique, en concurrence avec Hubert Sarton.