Plot.

In the North.

Jon, Sansa, and Davos secure the allegiance of the Wildlings after Tormund reminds them of their debt to Jon for saving them at Hardhome and points out that the Boltons will wipe them out if they do nothing. They also secure the allegiance of House Mormont when Davos warns the young Lady Lyanna Mormont of the dangers the White Walkers pose. However, they are unable to secure the allegiance of House Glover, with Lord Robett Glover pointing out how Robb Stark failed to protect his home from the Ironborn.  Jon and Sansa are only able to add a few hundred extra soldiers to their army, but Jon insists that they attack Winterfell as soon as possible before the Boltons rally more forces and the weather turns on them. Sansa, unable to change Jon's mind, begins writing a letter to an unknown party.

In King's Landing.

The High Sparrow chides Margaery that she should try to convert Olenna to the Faith, implying that Olenna's safety cannot be guaranteed otherwise. Margaery meets with Olenna, who attempts to convince her to leave King's Landing and return to Highgarden. Margaery insists that her place is supposed to be at Tommen's side, and discreetly slips Olenna a piece of paper with the sigil of House Tyrell drawn on it, indicating that she is still loyal to her family. After this, Olenna agrees to leave.  Cersei confronts Olenna and tries to convince her to stay and fight the Sparrows. Olenna points out that they have already lost and blames the Sparrows' rise to power on Cersei's lack of foresight. Despite having no allies in King's Landing, Cersei decides to stay and fight.

In Volantis.

Theon and Yara take the Iron Fleet to Volantis to take on supplies. Yara encourages Theon to regain his confidence to help her retake the Iron Islands, and reveals that she plans to take the Iron Fleet to Meereen and forge an alliance with Daenerys before Euron reaches her.

In Braavos.

Arya secures passage back to Westeros, but is subsequently attacked by the Waif, in the guise of an elderly woman. Arya escapes by jumping into a canal, but is left critically wounded.

In the Riverlands.

Jaime and Bronn lead the Lannister army to Riverrun, and witness the Blackfish calling Lothar Frey and Walder Rivers' bluff when they threaten to execute Edmure before the Freys take Edmure down from the gallows. Disgusted with the Freys' incompetence, Jaime takes charge of the siege and parleys with the Blackfish. The Blackfish is unintimidated by Jaime's threats and declares that they have enough supplies to outlast a siege, daring Jaime to take the castle.  Sandor Clegane is revealed to have survived his fight with Brienne of Tarth, and is now living with his rescuer, a warrior turned septon named Ray, and a band of villagers constructing a sept. A trio of men from the Brotherhood without Banners arrives and attempt to extort the villagers, but leave upon finding out that they have no worthwhile possessions. Sandor warns Ray that the Brotherhood will return, but Ray refuses to prepare for a confrontation. Sandor leaves to gather wood, and returns to find Ray and the villagers slaughtered and the septon hanged. Enraged, Sandor picks up an axe and marches off.

Production.

Writing.

"The Broken Man" was written by Bryan Cogman. his second of two episodes for the season, the first being the previous episode, "Blood of My Blood". It also adapts the chapter "Jaime VI" from "A Feast for Crows". The title of the episode is in reference to a speech given by Septon Meribald, a character in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, who was also used to create the character of Ray. In an interview with "Entertainment Weekly", Cogman stated, "The speech itself didn't make it into the episode, but it inspired the character and some of his dialogue. So the title of the episode is a nod to that speech." He compared it to the second season episode "The Ghost of Harrenhal", whose title was also a reference to the books, but was not specifically stated in the episode. Ian McShane, who portrayed Ray, spoke about the writing in the episode in regards to his participation in the series, noting, "they wrote a two-page speech – so that's why they invited me. It’s a big soliloquy, like in "Deadwood", and they needed to get somebody who could do that. It was really well written."  In the "Inside the Episode" featurette published by HBO shortly after the airing of "The Broken Man", series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss spoke about some of the thought process behind the motivations of the characters that were featured prominently in the episode. David Benioff began by speaking about Sandor "the Hound" Clegane, saying "I think suffering a near death experience probably changes anyone, and that certainly has changed Sandor Clegane. He's a more thoughtful person than he was when we last saw him, he's probably more aware of his vulnerabilities, he knows how close he came to dying, and he's really thinking about his past in a way that he never had before." Weiss continued, "The unfortunate, ugly reality of the kind of pacifism that Ray is preaching is often suicidal when you're in the middle of the kind of world that they're all in. Something sad about the fact that this person who tried desperately to walk away from what he was is being given no real choice but to go full throttle back in the direction of what he really is, which is a killer."  Weiss additionally spoke about the introduction of Lyanna Mormont in the series, with Weiss saying, "We were excited about the prospect of the character because she's mentioned in passing in the previous season," referring to her letter to Stannis denying him men, and swearing fealty to House Stark. Weiss added, "The more we thought about it, Jon is going to come up against so many old guys with beards in the North that like 'What if she was a tougher audience?' It seemed like an inherently fun scene to watch, it also is terrifying because it's putting a lot of dramatic weight on the shoulders of somebody who needs to be very young." David Benioff concluded the featurette speaking about the Ironborn story, noting "Yara's not a therapist, in our kind of sense of the word, she's not there to tell him to 'buck up' and 'everything's going to be okay,' it's a pretty brutal kind of therapy, but that's who they are, I mean they're essentially a Viking people. There's not a lot of room for sort of soft, and gentle psychology. I think it's the kind of tough love Theon needed at this point, and when he finally raises his eyes, and looks into her eyes, we see a glimpse of the old Theon that had been lost for so long."  In regards to the various stories throughout the episode, and the amount of time passing in each one of them, Cogman stated, "The timelines between the various storylines don’t necessarily line up within a given episode. For instance, the “Northern Tour” Jon and Sansa embark on would probably take a couple weeks, but Arya's storyline over the past few episodes only spans a few days. We realized a while ago that if we tied ourselves in knots trying to make all the “story days” line up between all the characters the momentum would suffer."  The episode is only the fourth in the series with a cold open. The first three being the series premiere, "Winter Is Coming", the third season premiere "Valar Dohaeris", and the fourth season premiere, "Two Swords". Bryan Cogman stated that they felt it was necessary to utilize a pre-credits sequence due to the reintroduction of Rory McCann, saying "We figured it would make his reveal more impactful if the audience hadn't seen [McCann's] name in the opening credits first."

Casting.

The episode featured the return of several characters from previous seasons, as well as the introduction of new characters, who were either mentioned previously within the show, or had some connection to an established character. Rory McCann, who portrayed Sandor "the Hound" Clegane from the beginning of the series through the fourth-season finale episode "The Children", returned as a series regular. McCann had previously speculated about the return of the Hound, saying in an interview with "Access Hollywood" in 2014, "There's always hope." Bryan Cogman revealed in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly" that there was always a plan to bring back the Hound, but the manner in which he was reintroduced was not always entirely known.  Another re-introduction involved the storyline surrounding the Siege of Riverrun, with actor Clive Russell returning to the show as Brynden "the Blackfish" Tully, who last appeared in the third-season episode "The Rains of Castamere", in which the Red Wedding took place, and the Blackfish successfully evaded. In an interview with IGN, Clive Russell stated he was hopeful to return to the role saying "I'd hoped that he'd come back because he comes back in the books again. But they're not doing the books -- there is no book to do it from. I'd hoped that would happen. I don't think I was surprised it would happen because they bring back all kinds of people at all kinds of times. But it was good to go back there, I must say."  Ian McShane, who previously starred in the HBO television series "Deadwood", guest starred in the episode as Ray. His casting for the series was announced in August 2015. At the time, McShane described his role in the show as the leader of a peace cult, who was also a former warrior that has since renounced violence, also noting that it was a "complete one-off." McShane also revealed that his character would "bring back a much-loved character everybody thinks is dead," leading many to speculate prior to the season that he would either play a role in bringing back Jon Snow, or the Hound, whose fate had also been called into question since his disappearance. McShane was asked about whether there was pressure involved with joining a show that has become an "international hit," with McShane responding "No pressure! It's the most popular TV show in the world, isn't it? I enjoyed meeting showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss – nobody ever expects the kind of reaction this has gotten. It's kind of like "Deadwood" when we started off, but they've managed to go another three seasons. It's interesting because you're a part of the show, but you're not part of the show. I only needed Rory for my scenes, so I didn't meet anybody else in it." Bryan Cogman stated that the character of Ray was a combination of several different characters from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, most evidently the Elder Brother, and Septon Meribald.  With Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, and Davos Seaworth's attempt to unite the North against the Boltons, two different House leaders were cast to portray Lyanna Mormont and Robett Glover, with Bella Ramsey and Tim McInnerny portraying each character, respectively. Cogman noted about Bella Ramsey, "Bella is a terrific young actress – the whole cast and crew were very impressed. I think, much like the character does with Jon, Sansa, and Davos, Bella kept Kit, Sophie, and Liam on their toes!"  Jerome Flynn, who portrays Bronn in the series, made his first appearance in the season, last appearing in the season five finale episode "Mother's Mercy".

Filming.

"The Broken Man" was directed by Mark Mylod. Mylod previously directed the fifth season episodes "High Sparrow" and "Sons of the Harpy". Mylod also directed the subsequent episode, "No One", for the sixth season.  Filming of the Riverrun sequence began in October 2015, and led to some complaints by locals living in the area following the construction of a portion of the Tully castle. The shooting of the scenes took place in Corbet, County Down, Northern Ireland. Due to some concerns over the size of the structure, filming was unable to take place until local inspectors were able to determine if the production unit followed what had been agreed upon in the "planning application." Construction of a portion of the castle began in September, with tents and wooden additions being added shortly after.  In an interview with "Entertainment Weekly", Ian McShane was asked about the process of shooting his final scene where he is shown hanging after being killed by the Brotherhood, with McShane saying that the filming of the scene was "very easy. You just have to hold your breath for 10 seconds and look sufficiently dead for them to get it." He also noted in the interview, "Rory was a delight to work with, and so was the director. The whole experience was five days in Belfast, and I enjoyed it a lot." Prior to the season, in August 2015, reports emerged about the spotting of Rory McCann at a hotel frequented by actors during filming of the series, in Belfast. McCann, whose character is frequently shown chopping wood in the episode, previously spoke in interviews about his prior career with chopping down trees, revealing "I was a lumberjack for years, and I even trained myself to be a tree surgeon."  Maisie Williams also spoke with "Entertainment Weekly" and described the process behind Arya's scenes, saying "We wanted people to think this could be the end, or the start of the end. Like maybe her wound is going to fester – like The Hound. We did so many different takes of emerging out of the water the first time she's stabbed and sliced. I had been to a music festival so I hadn't slept the whole weekend. Then I was jumping in the Irish sea. It was a totally manic day. We did a million different takes. We wanted it to be real frantic and panicked. Arya hasn't been emotional in a long time and we wanted to bring that emotion."

Reception.

Ratings.

"The Broken Man" was viewed by 7.80 million American households on its initial viewing on HBO, which was a significant increase from the previous week's rating of 6.71 million viewers for the episode "Blood of My Blood", a low that was attributed to the Memorial Day weekend in the United States. The episode also acquired a 3.95 rating in the 18–49 demographic, making it the highest rated show on cable television of the night. In the United Kingdom, the episode was viewed by 2.720 million viewers on Sky Atlantic, making it the highest-rated broadcast that week on its channel. It also received 0.133 million timeshift viewers.

Critical reception.

"The Broken Man" was positively received by critics, who listed the return of Sandor Clegane, the introduction of Lyanna Mormont, and the siege of Riverrun as high points for the episode. It has received a 98% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes from 46 reviews with an average score of 7.8/10. The site's consensus reads "The return of long-lost characters and the introduction of some sharply-drawn newcomers keep "The Broken Man" from feeling like mere setup for the season finale."  Matt Fowler of IGN wrote in his review for the episode, ""The Broken Man" gave us back The Hound, but his return felt a little diminished, given the parade of returns we've already seen this year, and there weren't as many notable moments in this chapter as other Game of Thrones episodes. There were some fine scenes, but nothing on par with the show's usual goods, though Lady Mormont was a highlight and Jaime and the Blackfish's standoff is an interesting scenario, not to mention the questions raised by Sansa's letter. Arya getting her guts punctured was a shocker, but it didn't feel right that she couldn't see her attacker coming." He gave the episode an 8 out of 10.  Alan Sepinwall of HitFix praised the episode structure, writing "The quick transitions and constant back-and-forth movement among subplots generated more energy that, when combined with several characters we either didn't know before or hadn't seen in a long time, made "The Broken Man" feel livelier." Similarly, Ed Power of "The Daily Telegraph" also praised the episode, noting, "Once again there was a sense "Game of Thrones" was steeling itself for battles - and expensive set-pieces - chugging down the track. A storm is brewing - for now, we were invited to enjoy what remains of the calm." Jen Chaney of Vulture also felt the episode was more of a set up episode for storylines to be resolved in the close of the season, writing "Although two bombs get dropped in this week's episode of "Game of Thrones", it's an hour focused on putting the narrative chess pieces into place. "The Broken Man" doesn't finish off any of its major moves. Those bold turns are yet to come."

"The Broken Man" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of HBO's fantasy television series "Game of Thrones", and the 57th overall. The episode was written by Bryan Cogman, and directed by Mark Mylod.


Description.

Dahlias are perennial plants with tuberous roots, though they are grown as annuals in some regions with cold winters. While some have herbaceous stems, others have stems which lignify in the absence of secondary tissue and resprout following winter dormancy, allowing further seasons of growth. As a member of the Asteraceae, the dahlia has a flower head that is actually a composite (hence the older name Compositae) with both central disc florets and surrounding ray florets. Each floret is a flower in its own right, but is often incorrectly described as a petal, particularly by horticulturists. The modern name Asteraceae refers to the appearance of a star with surrounding rays.

Taxonomy.

History.

Early history.

Spaniards reported finding the plants growing in Mexico in 1525, but the earliest known description is by Francisco Hernández, physician to Philip II, who was ordered to visit Mexico in 1570 to study the "natural products of that country". They were used as a source of food by the indigenous peoples, and were both gathered in the wild and cultivated. The Aztecs used them to treat epilepsy, and employed the long hollow stem of the ("Dahlia imperalis") for water pipes. The indigenous peoples variously identified the plants as "Chichipatl" (Toltecs) and "Acocotle" or "Cocoxochitl" (Aztecs). From Hernandez's perception of Aztec, to Spanish, through various other translations, the word is "water cane", "water pipe", "water pipe flower", "hollow stem flower" and "cane flower". All these refer to the hollowness of the plants' stem.  Hernandez described two varieties of dahlias (the pinwheel-like "Dahlia pinnata" and the huge "Dahlia imperialis") as well as other medicinal plants of New Spain. Francisco Dominguez, a Hidalgo gentleman who accompanied Hernandez on part of his seven-year study, made a series of drawings to supplement the four volume report. Three of his drawings showed plants with flowers: two resembled the modern bedding dahlia, and one resembled the species "Dahlia merki"; all displayed a high degree of doubleness. In 1578 the manuscript, entitled "Nova Plantarum, Animalium et Mineralium Mexicanorum Historia", was sent back to the Escorial in Madrid; they were not translated into Latin by Francisco Ximenes until 1615. In 1640, Francisco Cesi, President of the "Academia Linei" of Rome, bought the Ximenes translation, and after annotating it, published it in 1649-1651 in two volumes as "Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus Seu Nova Plantarium, Animalium et Mineraliuím Mexicanorum Historia". The original manuscripts were destroyed in a fire in the mid-1600s.

European introduction.

In 1787, the French botanist Nicolas-Joseph Thiéry de Menonville, sent to Mexico to steal the cochineal insect valued for its scarlet dye, reported the strangely beautiful flowers he had seen growing in a garden in Oaxaca. In 1789, Vicente Cervantes, Director of the Botanical Garden at Mexico City, sent "plant parts" to Abbe Antonio José Cavanilles, Director of the Royal Gardens of Madrid. Cavanilles flowered one plant that same year, then the second one a year later. In 1791 he called the new growths "Dahlia" for Anders (Andreas) Dahl. The first plant was called "Dahlia pinnata" after its pinnate foliage; the second, "Dahlia rosea" for its rose-purple color. In 1796 Cavanilles flowered a third plant from the parts sent by Cervantes, which he named "Dahlia coccinea" for its scarlet color.  In 1798, Cavanilles sent D. Pinnata seeds to Parma, Italy. That year, the Marchioness of Bute, wife of The Earl of Bute, the English Ambassador to Spain, obtained a few seeds from Cavanilles and sent them to Kew Gardens, where they flowered but were lost after two to three years. In the following years Madrid sent seeds to Berlin and Dresden in Germany, and to Turin and Thiene in Italy. In 1802, Cavanilles sent tubers of "these three" ("D. pinnata, D. rosea, D. coccinea") to Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle at University of Montpelier in France, Andre Thouin at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and Scottish botanist William Aiton at Kew Gardens. That same year, John Fraser, English nurseryman and later botanical collector to the Czar of Russia, brought "D. coccinea" seeds from Paris to the Apothecaries Gardens in England, where they flowered in his greenhouse a year later, providing "Botanical Magazine" with an illustration. In 1804, a new species, "Dahlia sambucifolia", was successfully grown at Holland House, Kensington. Whilst in Madrid in 1804, Lady Holland was given either dahlia seeds or tubers by Cavanilles. She sent them back to England, to Lord Holland's librarian Mr Buonaiuti at Holland House, who successfully raised the plants. A year later, Buonaiuti produced two double flowers. The plants raised in 1804 did not survive; new stock was brought from France in 1815. In 1824, Lord Holland sent his wife a note containing the following verse:"The dahlia you brought to our isle Your praises for ever shall speak; Mid gardens as sweet as your smile, And in colour as bright as your cheek."  In 1805, German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt sent more seeds from Mexico to Aiton in England, Thouin in Paris, and Christoph Friedrich Otto, director of the Berlin Botanical Garden. More significantly, he sent seeds to botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow in Germany. Willdenow now reclassified the rapidly growing number of species, changing the genus from "Dahlia" to "Georgina"; after naturalist Johann Gottlieb Georgi. He combined the Cavanilles species "D. pinnata" and "D. rosea" under the name of "Georgina variabilis"; "D. coccinea" was still held to be a separate species, which he renamed "Georgina coccinea".

Classification.

Since 1789 when Cavanilles first flowered the dahlia in Europe, there has been an ongoing effort by many growers, botanists and taxonomists, to determine the development of the dahlia to modern times. At least 85 species have been reported: approximately 25 of these were first reported from the wild, the remainder appeared in gardens in Europe. They were considered hybrids, the results of crossing between previously reported species, or developed from the seeds sent by Humboldt from Mexico in 1805, or perhaps from some other undocumented seeds that had found their way to Europe. Several of these were soon discovered to be identical with earlier reported species, but the greatest number are new varieties. Morphological variation is highly pronounced in the dahlia. William John Cooper Lawrence, who hybridized hundreds of families of dahlias in the 1920s, stated: "I have not yet seen any two plants in the families I have raised which were not to be distinguished one from the other. Constant reclassification of the 85 reported species has resulted in a considerably smaller number of distinct species, as there is a great deal of disagreement today between systematists over classification.  In 1829, all species growing in Europe were reclassified under an all-encompassing name of "D. variabilis, Desf.", though this is not an accepted name. Through the interspecies cross of the Humboldt seeds and the Cavanilles species, 22 new species were reported by that year, all of which had been classified in different ways by several different taxonomists, creating considerable confusion as to which species was which.  In 1830 William Smith suggested that all dahlia species could be divided into two groups for color, red-tinged and purple-tinged. In investigating this idea Lawrence determined that with the exception of "D. variabilis", all dahlia species may be assigned to one of two groups for flower-colour: Group I (ivory-magenta) or Group II (yellow-orange-scarlet).

Circumscription.

The genus "Dahlia" is situated in the Asteroideae subfamily of the Asteraceae, in the Coreopsideae tribe. Within that tribe it is the second largest genus, after "Coreopsis", and appears as a well defined clade within the Coreopsideae.

Subdivision.

Infrageneric subdivision.

Sherff (1955), in the first modern taxonomy described three sections for the 18 species he recognised, "Pseudodendron", "Epiphytum" and "Dahlia". By 1969 Sørensen recognised 29 species and four sections by splitting off "Entemophyllon" from section "Dahlia". By contrast Giannasi (1975) using a phytochemical analysis based on flavonoids, reduced the genus to just two sections, "Entemophyllon" and "Dahlia", the latter having three subsections, "Pseudodendron", "Dahlia", and "Merckii". Sørensen then issued a further revision in 1980, incorporating subsection "Merckii" in his original section "Dahlia". When he described two new species in the 1980s ("Dahlia tubulata" and "D. congestifolia"), he placed them within his existing sections. A further species, "Dahlia sorensenii" was added by Hansen and Hjerting in (1996). At the same time they demonstrated that "Dahlia pinnata" should more properly be designated "D. x pinnata". "D. x pinnata" was shown to actually be a variant of "D. sorensenii" that had acquired hybrid qualities before it was introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century and formally named by Cavanilles. The original wild "D. pinnata" is presumed extinct. Further species continue to be described, Saar (2003) describing 35 species. However separation of the sections on morphological, cytologal and biocemical criteria has not been entirely satisfactory.  To date these sectional divisions have not been fully supported phylogenetically, which demonstrate only section "Entemophyllon" as a distinct sectional clade. The other major grouping is the core "Dahlia" clade (CDC), which includes most of section "Dahlia". The remainder of the species occupy what has been described as the variable root clade (VRC) which includes the small section "Pseudodendron" but also the monotypic section "Epiphytum" and a number of species from within section "Dahlia". Outside of these three clades lie "D. tubulata" and "D. merckii" as a polytomy.  Horticulturally the sections retain some usage, section "Pseudodendron" being referred to as 'Tree Dahlias', "Epiphytum" as the 'Vine Dahlia'. The remaining two herbaceous sections being distinguished by their pinnules, opposing ("Dahlia") or alternating ("Entemophyllon").

Sections.

Sections (including chromosome numbers), with geographical distribution;  Only "Pseudodendron" ("D. imperialis") and "Dahlia" ("D. australis", "D. coccinea") occur outside Mexico.

Species.

There are currently 42 accepted species in the genus "Dahlia", but new species continue to be described.

Etymology.

The naming of the plant itself has long been a subject of some confusion. Many sources state that the name "Dahlia" was bestowed by the pioneering Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus to honor his late student, Anders Dahl, author of "Observationes Botanicae". However, Linnaeus died in 1778, more than eleven years before the plant was introduced into Europe in 1789, so while it is generally agreed that the plant was named in 1791 in honor of Dahl, who had died two years before, Linnaeus could not have been the one who did so. It was probably Abbe Antonio Jose Cavanilles, Director of the Royal Gardens of Madrid, who should be credited with the attempt to scientifically define the genus, since he not only received the first specimens from Mexico in 1789, but named the first three species that flowered from the cuttings.  Regardless of who bestowed it, the name was not so easily established. In 1805, German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow, asserting that the genus "Dahlia" Thunb. (published a year after Cavanilles's genus and now considered a synonym of "Trichocladus") was more widely accepted, changed the plants' genus from "Dahlia" to "Georgina"; after the German-born naturalist Johann Gottlieb Georgi, a professor at the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, Russia. He also reclassified and renamed the first three species grown, and identified, by Cavanilles. It was not until 1810, in a published article, that he officially adopted the Cavanilles' original designation of "Dahlia". However, the name "Georgina" still persisted in Germany for the next few decades. In Russian, it is still Georgina георгинa.  "Dahl" is a homophone of the Swedish word "dal", or "valley"; although it is not a true translation, the plant is sometimes referred to as the "valley flower".

Distribution and habitat.

"Dahlia" is found predominantly in Mexico, but some species are found ranging as far south as northern South America. "D. australis" occurs at least as far south as southwestern Guatemala, while "D. coccinea" and "D. imperialis" also occur in parts of Central America and northern South America. "Dahlia" is a genus of the uplands and mountains, being found at elevations between 1,500 and 3,700 meters, in what has been described as a "pine-oak woodland" vegetative zone. Most species have limited ranges scattered throughout many mountain ranges in Mexico

Ecology.

The most common pollinators are bees and small beetles.

Pests and diseases.

Slugs and snails are serious pests in some parts of the world, particularly in spring when new growth is emerging through the soil. Earwigs can also disfigure the blooms. The other main pests likely to be encountered are aphids (usually on young stems and immature flower buds), red spider mite (causing foliage mottling and discolouration, worse in hot and dry conditions) and capsid bugs (resulting in contortion and holes at growing tips). Diseases affecting dahlias include powdery mildew, grey mould ("Botrytis cinerea"), verticillium wilt, dahlia smut ("Entyloma calendulae" f. "dahliae"), phytophthora and some plant viruses. Dahlias are a source of food for the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including angle shades, common swift, ghost moth and large yellow underwing.

Cultivation.

Dahlias grow naturally in climates which do not experience frost (the tubers are hardy to USDA Zone 8), consequently they are not adapted to withstand sub-zero temperatures. However, their tuberous nature enables them to survive periods of dormancy, and this characteristic means that gardeners in temperate climates with frosts can grow dahlias successfully, provided the tubers are lifted from the ground and stored in cool yet frost-free conditions during the winter. Planting the tubers quite deep (10 – 15 cm) also provides some protection. When in active growth, modern dahlia hybrids perform most successfully in well-watered yet free-draining soils, in situations receiving plenty of sunlight. Taller cultivars usually require some form of staking as they grow, and all garden dahlias need deadheading regularly, once flowering commences.

Horticultural classification.

History.

The inappropriate term "D. variabilis" is often used to describe the cultivars of "Dahlia" since the correct parentage remains obscure, but probably involves "Dahlia coccinea". In 1846 the Caledonia Horticultural Society of Edinburgh offered a prize of 2,000 pounds to the first person succeeding in producing a blue dahlia. This has to date not been accomplished. While dahlias produce anthocyanin, an element necessary for the production of the blue, to achieve a true blue color in a plant, the anthocyanin delphinidin needs six hydroxyl groups. To date dahlias have only developed five, so the closest that breeders have come to achieving a "blue" specimen are variations of mauve, purples and lilac hues.  By the beginning of the twentieth century a number of different types were recognised. These terms were based on shape or colour, and the National Dahlia Society included cactus, pompon, single, show and fancy in its 1904 guide. Many national societies developed their own classification systems until 1962 when the International Horticultural Congress agreed to develop an internationally recognised system at its Brussels meeting that year, and subsequently in Maryland in 1966. This culminated in the 1969 publication of "The International Register of Dahlia Names" by the Royal Horticultural Society which became the central registering authority.  This system depended primarily on the visibility of the central disc, whether it was open centred or whether only ray florets were apparent centrally (double bloom). The double bloom cultivars were then subdivided according to the way in which they were folded along their longitudinal axis, flat, involute (curled inwards) or revolute (curling backwards). If the end of the ray floret was split, they were considered fimbriated. Based on these characteristics, nine groups were defined plus a tenth miscellaneous group for any cultivars not fitting the above characteristics. Fimbriated dahlias were added in 2004, and two further groups (Single and Double orchid) in 2007. The last group to be added, Peony, first appeared in 2012.  In many cases the bloom diameter was then used to further label certain groups from miniature through to giant. This practice was abandoned in 2012.

Modern system (RHS).

There are now more than 57,000 registered cultivars, which are officially registered through the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). The official register is "The International Register of Dahlia Names 1969" (1995 reprint) which is updated by annual supplements. The original 1969 registry published about 14,000 cultivars adding a further 1700 by 1986 and in 2003 there were 18,000. Since then about a hundred new cultivars are added annually.  The official RHS classification lists fourteen groups, grouped by flower type, together with the abbreviations used by the RHS;  Earlier versions of the registry subdivided some groups by flower size. Groups 4, 5, 8 and 9 were divided into five subgroups (A to E) from Giant to Miniature, and Group 6 into two subgroups, Small and Miniature. Dahlias were then described by Group and Subgroup, "e.g." 5(d) ‘Ace Summer Sunset’. Some Dahlia Societies have continued this practice, but this is neither official nor standardised. As of 2013 The RHS uses two size descriptors  Sizes can range from tiny micro dahlias with flowers less than 50mm to giants that are over 250mm in diameter. The groupings listed here are from the New Zealand Society.  In addition to the official classification and the terminology used by various dahlia societies, individual horticulturalists use a wide range of other descriptions, such as 'Incurved' and abbreviations in their catalogues, such as CO for Collarette.

Branding.

Some plant growers include their brand name in the cultivar name. Thus Fides (part of the Dümmen Orange Group) in the Netherlands developed a series of cultivars which they named the Dahlinova Series, for example Dahlinova 'Carolina Burgundy'. These are Group 10 Miscellaneous in the RHS classification scheme.

Double Dahlias.

In 1805, several new species were reported with red, purple, lilac, and pale yellow coloring, and the first true double flower was produced in Belgium. One of the more popular concepts of dahlia history, and the basis for many different interpretations and confusion, is that all the original discoveries were single flowered types, which, through hybridization and selective breeding, produced double forms.  During the years 1805 to 1810 several people claimed to have produced a double dahlia. In 1805 Henry C. Andrews made a drawing of such a plant in the collection of Lady Holland, grown from seedlings sent that year from Madrid. Like other doubles of the time it did not resemble the doubles of today. The first modern double, or full double, appeared in Belgium; M. Donckelaar, Director of the Botanic Garden at Louvain, selected plants for that characteristic, and within a few years secured three fully double forms. By 1826 double varieties were being grown almost exclusively, and there was very little interest in the single forms. Up to this time all the so-called double dahlias had been purple, or tinged with purple, and it was doubted if a variety untinged with that color was obtainable.  In 1843, scented single forms of dahlias were first reported in Neu Verbass, Austria. "D. crocea", a fragrant variety grown from one of the Humboldt seeds, was probably interbred with the single "D. coccinea". A new scented species would not be introduced until the next century when the "D. coronata" was brought from Mexico to Germany in 1907.  The exact date the dahlia was introduced in the United States is uncertain. One of the first Dahlias in the USA may be the D. coccinea speciosissima grown by Mr William Leathe, of Cambridgeport, near Boston, around 1929. According to Edward Sayers "it attracted much admiration, and at that time was considered a very elegant flower, it was however soon eclipsed by that splendid scarlet, the Countess of Liverpool". However 9 cultivars were already listed in the catalog from Thornburn, 1825. And even earlier reference can be found in a catalogue from the Linnaean Botanical Garden, New York, 1820, that includes one scarlet, one purple, and two double orange Dahlias for sale.  Sayers stated that "No person has done more for the introduction and advancement of the culture of the Dahlia than George C. Thorburn, of New York, who yearly flowers many thousand plants at his place at Hallet's Cove, near Harlaem. The show there in the flowering season is a rich treat for the lovers of floriculture : for almost every variety can be seen growing in two large blocks or masses which lead from the road to the dwelling-house, and form a complete field of the Dahlia as a foreground to the house. Mr T. Hogg, Mr William Read, and many other well known florists, have also contributed much in the vicinity of New York, to the introduction of the Dahlia. Indeed so general has become the taste that almost every garden has its show of the Dahlia in the season." In Boston too there were many collections, a collection from the Messrs Hovey of Cambridgeport was also mentioned.  In 1835 Thomas Bridgeman, published a list of 160 double dahlias in his Florist's Guide. 60 of the choicest were supplied by Mr. G. C. Thornburn of Astoria, N.Y. who got most of them from contacts in the UK. Not a few of them had taken prices "at the English and American exhibitions".

"Stars of the Devil".

In 1872 J.T. van der Berg of Utrecht in the Netherlands, received a shipment of seeds and plants from a friend in Mexico. The entire shipment was badly rotted and appeared to be ruined, but van der Berg examined it carefully and found a small piece of root that seemed alive. He planted and carefully tended it; it grew into a plant that he identified as a dahlia. He made cuttings from the plant during the winter of 1872-1873. This was an entirely different type of flower, with a rich, red color and a high degree of doubling. In 1874 van der Berg catalogued it for sale, calling it "Dahlia juarezii" to honor Mexican President Benito Pablo Juarez, who had died the year before, and described it as "...equal to the beautiful color of the red poppy. Its form is very outstanding and different in every respect of all known dahlia flowers.".  This plant has perhaps had a greater influence on the popularity of the modern dahlia than any other. Called "Les Etoiles du Diable" (Stars of the Devil) in France and "Cactus dahlia" elsewhere, the edges of its petals rolled backwards, rather than forward, and this new form revolutionized the dahlia world. It was thought to be a distinct mutation since no other plant that resembled it could be found in the wild. Today it is assumed that "D. juarezii" had, at one time, existed in Mexico and subsequently disappeared. Nurserymen in Europe crossbred this plant with dahlias discovered earlier; the results became the progenitors of all modern dahlia hybrids today.

Award of Garden Merit (RHS).

As of 2015, 124 dahlia cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, including:-

Uses.

Floriculture.

The asterid eudicots contain two economically important geophyte genera, "Dahlia" and "Liatris". Horticulturally the garden dahlia is usually treated as the cultigen "D. variabilis" Hort., which while being responsible for thousands of cultivars has an obscure taxonomic status (see also Cultivation).

Other.

Today the dahlia is still considered one of the native ingredients in Oaxacan cuisine; several cultivars are still grown especially for their large, sweet potato-like tubers. Dacopa, an intense mocha-tasting extract from the roasted tubers, is used to flavor beverages throughout Central America.  In Europe and America, prior to the discovery of insulin in 1923, diabetics—as well as consumptives—were often given a substance called "Atlantic starch" or "diabetic sugar", derived from inulin, a naturally occurring form of fruit sugar, extracted from dahlia tubers. Inulin is still used in clinical tests for kidney functionality.

Dahlia ( or ) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. A member of the Asteraceae (formerly Compositae) family of dicotyledonous plants, its garden relatives thus include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia. There are 42 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants. Flower forms are variable, with one head per stem; these can be as small as diameter or up to ("dinner plate"). This great variety results from dahlias being octoploids—that is, they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes, whereas most plants have only two. In addition, dahlias also contain many transposons—genetic pieces that move from place to place upon an allele—which contributes to their manifesting such great diversity.


Original series.

The protagonists utilize a system of symbolic logic to project themselves into the worlds they visit, but it is an inexact science, and they miss their target realities as often as they hit them. For example, in the first story, "The Roaring Trumpet", Shea intends to visit the world of Irish mythology, and instead ends up in Norse mythology. Most of the worlds visited have systems of physics different from ours, usually magical, which the heroes devote a considerable amount of effort to learning and applying. Much humor is drawn both from the culture shock of their encounters and from the reality that they usually do not understand the local systems well enough to be able to predict the actual effects of the spells they attempt.  Much of the series' attraction stems from the interaction of the psychologists' logical, rationalistic viewpoints with the wildly counterintuitive physics of the worlds they visit. Their attitudes provide something of a deconstructionist look at the basic rationales of these worlds, hitherto unexamined either by their inhabitants or even their original creators. Essentially, they allow the reader to view these worlds from a fresh viewpoint. The "worlds" so examined include not only the Norse world of "The Roaring Trumpet", but also the worlds of Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" in "The Mathematics of Magic", Ludovico Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso" (with a brief stop in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Xanadu from "Kubla Khan") in "The Castle of Iron", the "Kalevala" in "The Wall of Serpents", and, at last, Irish mythology in "The Green Magician".  With "The Green Magician" the original collaboration ended, Pratt's early death precluding any additional entries. A final planned story set in the world of Persian mythology was never written, nor was a projected response to L. Ron Hubbard's misuse of their hero in his novella "The Case of the Friendly Corpse" (1941). (De Camp would finally address the latter issue in "Sir Harold and the Gnome King".)  Reviewing the 1950 edition of "The Castle of Iron", Boucher and McComas described the series as "a high point in the application of sternest intellectual logic to screwball fantasy.". Damon Knight characterized the series as "relaced, ribald adventure... priceless," saying that "no fantasy reader should be without them." In 1977 Richard A. Lupoff described the series as "whole planes above the hackneyed gut-spillers and skull-smashers that pass for heroic fantasy."

Second series.

De Camp was reluctant to continue the series on his own, feeling that the collaboration with Pratt had a flavor impossible for either of them to duplicate alone. When he finally did revive the series in company with younger authors nearly forty years later, this impression was seemingly borne out; while not without interest, his own solo contributions to the second series exhibit a wryer, more cynical view of the worlds toured, and the protagonists' problematic use of magic is abandoned. His interest appears to have shifted to debunking the less credible aspects of the universes visited, rather than taking these as a given and extrapolating the fantasy worlds' physical or magical laws from them, as in the previous sequence. On the other hand, some of the new authors made efforts to duplicate de Camp and Pratt's original achievement, exploring fresh venues where their heroes once again have to learn the world's fundamental magical rules from the ground up. Holly Lisle ("Knight and the Enemy"), John Maddox Roberts ("Arms and the Enchanter") and Tom Wham ("Harold Shakespeare") were among the authors who recreated the original formula.  The initial impulse for the continuation may have been the successful adaptation of the characters into Tom Wham's authorized gamebook adventure "Prospero's Isle", published by Tor Books in October 1987 (the basis of "Harold Shakespeare"), to which de Camp had contributed an admiring introduction. This may have encouraged him to wrap up long-unresolved loose ends from the original series, such as the stranding of Walter Bayard in the world of Irish mythology, and to resolve the unaddressed complication introduced by L. Ron Hubbard's "borrowing" of Harold Shea for use in his novel "The Case of the Friendly Corpse". Both of these goals he accomplished in "Sir Harold and the Gnome King" (1990 chapbook). When the decision was made to continue the series further, this story was revised slightly to reconcile it with the other new stories, though the fit is somewhat awkward.  Once the loose ends are resolved, most of the action in the second sequence involves Shea and Chalmers' quest across several universes to rescue Florimel, who has been kidnapped by the malevolent enchanter Malambroso. After Florimel is finally recovered, a similar effort must be made to recover Shea and Belphebe's daughter Voglinda, likewise seized by the unrepentant Malambroso. A final tale sends Shea and Belephebe on an unrelated adventure precipitated by the foolishness of Shea's colleague Polacek.  Milieus encountered in the second series include the worlds of Irish myth and the "Orlando Furioso" (again) in "Professor Harold and the Trustees", L. Ron Hubbard's setting from "The Case of the Friendly Corpse" and L. Frank Baum's land of Oz in "Sir Harold and the Gnome King", the classical Chinese epic novel "Journey to the West" in "Sir Harold and the Monkey King," the romantic fantasies of Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote" (with the unique twist of its being "Quixote's" version of reality rather than Cervantes') in "Knight and the Enemy", Virgil's Graeco-Roman epic the "Aeneid" in "Arms and the Enchanter", the old Russian "Tale of Igor's Campaign" in "Enchanter Kiev," Bhavabhuti's "Baital Pachisi" (or "Vikram and the Vampire"), a proto-"Arabian Nights" collection of Indian tales, in "Sir Harold and the Hindu King", Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Barsoom" in "Sir Harold of Zodanga", and William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in "Harold Shakespeare".  There exists one additional contribution to the series; "Return to Xanadu" by Lawrence Watt-Evans, which revisits the world of "Kubla Khan" and transfers a minor character appearing therein to that of "The Arabian Nights" by the agency of an unnamed magician who appears to be intended to represent L. Sprague de Camp himself. "Return to Xanadu" was first published in "" edited by Harry Turtledove and published by Baen Books in 2005.

Publication.

The original publication of the first three Pratt and De Camp collaborations ("Roaring Trumpet", "Mathematics of Magic", and "The Castle of Iron") was in "Unknown Magazine" during its brief run. The remaining two appeared in "Beyond Fantasy Magazine" and "Fantasy Magazine" a few years later. "Sir Harold and the Gnome King" first appeared in the World Fantasy Convention program book in 1990 and as a chapbook the following year. It was later revised and appeared with the remainder of the later continuations in regular trade books.

Yngvi.

In the original story a character in a jail comes to the bars every hour on the hour to announce that "Yngvi is a louse!". This phrase has moved into the lexicon and has taken on a life of its own in certain SF-related circles. Who, or what, Yngvi may be is not mentioned in the book, though in Old Norse, Yngvi is another name for the god Freyr.

Bibliography.

Collected editions.

"The Incomplete Enchanter" and "The Castle of Iron" have also been issued together as "The Compleat Enchanter" (1975); "Wall of Serpents" has also been issued under the title "The Enchanter Compleated" (1980); all three volumes of the original series have also been issued together as "The Complete Compleat Enchanter" (1989). The original tales and de Camp's additions from the 1990s were issued together as "" (2007).

The "Harold Shea" Stories is a name given to a series of five science fantasy stories by the collaborative team of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt and to its later continuation by de Camp alone, Christopher Stasheff, Holly Lisle, John Maddox Roberts, Roland J. Green, Frieda A. Murray, Tom Wham, and Lawrence Watt-Evans. De Camp and Stasheff collectively oversaw the continuations. The series is also known as the "Enchanter" series, the "Incomplete Enchanter" series (after the first collection of stories) or the "Compleat Enchanter" series.


History.

From the middle of the 18th century, the Russian delegation held services in Copenhagen, first in a small chapel in Laksegade and later in Store Kongensgade. The Alexander Nevsky Church was built from 1881 to 1883 by the Russian government; Tsar Alexander III personally provided funds for the construction, a project prompted by his Danish-born wife Maria Feodorovna, a daughter of Christian IX of Denmark. The acquisition of the site on Bredgade (Broad Street) was arranged by Carl Frederik Tietgen and it has been reported that the Tsar disapproved of the selected location for religious reasons, since tradition called for a free-standing building.  The church was designed by Russian architect David Ivanovich Grimm who was a professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. His project had previously been chosen among 15 entries in architectural competition. The Danish architect Albert Nielsen was charged with the practical execution of the building under supervision of Ferdinand Meldahl.  In September 1883 Provost Yanysev, Chancellor of the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg, came to Copenhagen to consecrate the church, assisted by the congregation's priest and a monk from Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg. Representatives of the Danish, Russian and Greek Royal families were present at the ceremony.

Architecture.

The exterior of the church is dominated by the three onion domes which top the gable facing the street. The design takes its inspiration from 17th century Muscovite architecture. The facade is executed in red and grey bricks with sandstone ornamentations. High on the facade, in a niche above the bells, is an icon of Alexander Nevsky, the church's patron saint, painted by Fyodor Bronnikov.

The Alexander Nevsky Church () is the only Russian Orthodox church in Copenhagen. It was built by the Russian Government between 1881 and 1883, prompted by Princess Dagmar of Denmark's marriage to Alexander Alexandrovich on 9 November 1866 and their later ascent to the Russian throne as Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Tsaritsa Maria Feodorovna. The church is dedicated to the Russian patron saint Alexander Nevsky.


Career.

Early life and career (1955–1998).

Gottfried was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Lillian (Zimmerman), a homemaker, and Max Gottfried, who ran a hardware store with his own father, above which the family lived. At age 15, Gottfried began doing amateur stand-up in New York City and, after a few years, became known around New York as "the comedian's comedian." In 1980, "Saturday Night Live" was being retooled with a new staff and new comedians; the producers noticed Gottfried and hired him as a cast member for season 6. Gottfried's persona in "SNL" sketches was very different from his later characterization: he rarely (if ever) spoke in his trademark screeching, obnoxious voice and never squinted. During his 12-episode stint, he was given very little airtime and seldom used in sketches. Gottfried recalls a low point was having to play a corpse in a sketch about a sports organist hired to play inappropriate music at a funeral. Despite this, he had one recurring character (Leo Waxman, husband to Denny Dillon's Pinky Waxman on the recurring talk show sketch, "What's It All About?") and two celebrity impersonations: David A. Stockman and controversial film director Roman Polanski.  Gottfried also played accountant Sidney Bernstein in the 1987 film "Beverly Hills Cop II" which reunited him with friend and fellow "SNL" alumni Eddie Murphy.  Although not a regular, he also appeared in "The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys", as well as voicing the crazed dentist Dr. Bender and his son Wendell in "The Fairly OddParents" and the voice of Jerry the Belly Button Elf on "Ren and Stimpy". Three of his most prominent roles came in 1990, 1991, and 1992, when he was cast as the adoption agent Igor Peabody in "Problem Child" and "Problem Child 2" and the parrot Iago in "Aladdin". When asked how he prepared for the role, Gottfried said, "I did the whole DeNiro thing. I moved to South America! I lived in the trees!" Gottfried reprised the role in "", "Aladdin and the King of Thieves", the television series and various related media, such as "Kingdom Hearts" and "House of Mouse". However, the character was ultimately recast to Alan Tudyk for the 2019 remake. Gottfried also voiced Berkely Beetle in 1994's Thumbelina.  Gottfried was the host of the Saturday edition of "USA Up All Night" for its entire run from 1989 to 1998.

Voice acting, television and films (1999–present).

Gottfried was a recurring guest star during the Tom Bergeron era of "The Hollywood Squares" and became the central figure in a bizarre episode that aired October 1, 1999. In this episode, the two contestants made nine consecutive incorrect guesses, six of which were to be game-deciding questions asked to Gottfried. Penn Jillette, who, with his partner Teller was a guest on the same episode, berated a contestant earlier for giving an incorrect guess by shouting "You fool!", which Gottfried himself then began to use, with most of the other stars including host Bergeron himself eventually joining in with every successive wrong guess. As a consequence, it took the entire half hour to play only one game. Appropriately, the episode became known as the "You Fool!" episode. Gottfried has provided the voice of the duck in the Aflac commercials and Digit in "Cyberchase", as well as Mister Mxyzptlk in "". He reprised his role as Mxyzptlk in "", "Justice League Action", and "Lego DC Super-Villains". He also voiced a nasty wisecracking criminal genius named Nick-Nack in two episodes of "Superboy" (he also co-wrote an issue of "", which featured Nick-Nack's origin). On "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", Gottfried has made regular appearances.  In 2004, Comedy Central featured Gottfried's stand-up material for "Shorties Watchin' Shorties". Gottfried was part of an online advertising campaign for Microsoft's Office XP software, showing, in a series of Flash-animated cartoons, that the Clippy office assistant would be removed. In 2006, Gottfried topped the "Boston Phoenix"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s tongue-in-cheek list of the world's 100 Unsexiest Men. In April 2006, Gottfried performed with the University of Pennsylvania's Mask and Wig Club in their annual Intercollegiate Comedy Festival. Also in 2006, he made an appearance on the "Let's Make a Deal" portion of "Gameshow Marathon" (as a baby in a large high chair, he says "Hey Ricki, I think I need my diaper changed!"), and in the Dodge Viper in the big deal (where he tells the contestants "What were you thinking?!" because neither one picked it). He also guest-starred in "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" as Santa Claus in the one-hour Christmas Special. He voiced Rick Platypus in an episode of "My Gym Partner's a Monkey" entitled "That Darn Platypus". He appeared as Peter's horse in an episode of "Family Guy" entitled "Boys Do Cry" (in which Peter Griffin is enthused to learn that Gottfried is providing the horse's voice). He also guest-starred in "Hannah Montana" as Barny Bittmen. In January 2009, Gottfried worked again with David Faustino for an episode of Faustino's show "Star-ving". In 2011, Gottfried appeared in the episode "Lost Traveler" on "" as Leo Gerber, a sarcastic computer professional working for the NYPD's Technical Assistance Response Unit, which producer Warren Leight said could become a recurring character. Gottfried read a section from the hit book "Fifty Shades of Grey" in a June 2012 YouTube video, which was created with the aim of using Gottfried's trademark voice to make fun of the book's graphic sexual content.  In 2013, Gottfried became a member of "Team Rachael" on the second season of Food Network's "". In March 2013 he appeared on ABC's "Celebrity Wife Swap". He swapped wives with Alan Thicke. He is also a commentator on "".  On May 28, 2014, Sideshow Network premiered "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast", an interview series where Gottfried and his co-host Frank Santopadre discuss classic movies and talk to "Hollywood legends and behind-the-scenes talents" who shaped Gottfried's childhood and influenced his comedy. His first guest was Dick Cavett.  Gottfried was the third contestant fired during the fourteenth season of the NBC reality show "The Celebrity Apprentice". In 2016 he played the 'Pig Man' in a comedy/fantasy film "Abnormal Attraction". In 2017 he appeared as himself in "Episodes", where a contestant on a fictional TV endurance gameshow is penalised with "48 hours of Gilbert Gottfried".  On June 10, 2018 he appeared in a special segment of "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" where, for UK viewers only, a segment about the UK's law restricting broadcast of debates from the Houses of Parliament was replaced by five minutes of him reading "3 star Yelp reviews", along with host John Oliver telling the audience "you brought this on yourself because of your stupid law". He returned on November 18, 2018 in the show's last episode of the year to read out extracts from the Brexit agreement, again for UK viewers only. He had previously performed as "the real voice of Jared Kushner" in dubbed film clips on the show.  On July 31, 2019 he appeared on episode 170 of the "Angry Video Game Nerd" YouTube channel Cinemassacre. The title of the video is Life of Black Tiger with Gilbert Gottfried (PS4) - Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN). Quoted from the description of the video, The AVGN is playing the most modern game he's ever played before on the PlayStation 4. But, of course it might be one of the worst games he's ever played. Life of Black Tiger is a mobile game ported to the PS4 where you play as an emo tiger fighting the wild and humanity to save his cute baby. Gilbert Gottfried guest stars as a certain game designer that's never been seen on the show before. "James Rolfe" invited Gilbert as a guest to be in the episode in order to pretend to be a made up developer of the game Life of Black Tiger.

Personal life.

In the late 1990s, Gottfried met Dara Kravitz at a Grammy Awards party. They were married in 2007 and have two children together, daughter Lily and son Max. They reside in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Gottfried was raised in a Jewish family, but he has commented on his podcast that he did not have a bar mitzvah. One of his sisters is Arlene Gottfried, a New York street photographer, who died in 2017.

Comedic style.

Danny Gallagher of the "Dallas Observer" wrote that "Gottfried has one of the most original formulas in the history of comedy", adding:  Gottfried is known for speaking in a loud and grating voice, which is not his natural speaking voice. Mark Binneli of "Rolling Stone" described Gottfried as a "squinting, squawking mass of contradictions", noting his status as "one of America's filthiest stand-ups and one of the most successful voice-over artists in children's entertainment." Gottfried is known for joking about recent tragedies. In a July 2012 op-ed for CNN, he wrote:

Controversial jokes.

1991 Emmy Awards.

At the 43rd Primetime Emmy Awards, Gottfried made "an endless series of masturbation jokes" in reference to Paul Reubens' arrest for masturbating in an adult movie theater. Viewers on the East Coast saw the entire set live, but Fox censored the broadcast for the West Coast delay. Fox issued an apology, stating that Gottfried's jokes were "irresponsible and insulting". Gottfried said that producers stated he would not be invited back, and "Rolling Stone" wrote that the monologue resulted in his being "blacklisted".

September 11 joke.

During his monologue at a Friars Club roast of Hugh Hefner three weeks after the September 11 attacks, Gottfried joked that he had intended to catch a plane, but could not get a direct flight because "they said they have to stop at the Empire State Building first". This was one of the first public examples of 9/11 humor. Audience members responded with hisses and a cry of "Too soon!" Gottfried then abandoned his prepared remarks and launched into the venerable Aristocrats joke, winning back the audience. Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza used Gottfried's monologue as a segment in their 2005 film "The Aristocrats".

Japanese tsunami jokes.

In March 2011, Gottfried made a series of jokes on his Twitter account about the earthquake disaster in Japan. Aflac, which does 75% of its business in Japan, responded by dismissing Gottfried from voicing its duck mascot on March 14, 2011, and announced a casting call for his replacement as the voice of the duck. He was replaced by Daniel McKeague (who did an impression of Gottfried) on April 26, 2011.

Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (born February 28, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and voice actor. Gottfried's persona as a comedian features an exaggerated shrill voice and emphasis on crude humor. His numerous roles in film and television include voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's "Aladdin" animated films and TV show, Digit in the PBS Kids Go! show "Cyberchase", and Kraang Subprime in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". Gottfried was also the voice of the Aflac Duck until 2011. He appeared in the critically panned commercial hit "Problem Child" in 1990.


History.

In December 1947 a group of businessmen founded Taunton Football Club, and the club played its first match in Easter the following year. The club joined the Somerset Senior League, in which they played until 1953. During this year the club gained admission to the Western League for the first time. In the same year, the club also moved into their present ground on Wordsworth Drive, which they leased from Taunton Borough Council. During these early years of the club they battled financial problems and relied upon their Supporters Club.  In 1968–69, the club enjoyed success for the first time, winning the Western League under the management of Doug Hillard. Over the following years Taunton Town continued to prosper on the pitch, finishing as Western League runners-up in four consecutive seasons from 1973 until 1976. During this time the club bought their Wordsworth Drive ground from the local council and installed floodlights. In 1977 they were promoted into the Southern League (Southern Section). Two years later, following the opening of the M5 motorway, they moved into the Midlands Section of the league.  In 1981, the club became a limited company, and the club's board decided that competing in the Southern League was too much of a financial burden; resulting in a drop back into the Western League for the 1983–84 season. The club finished as league champions for the second time in 1989–90 and followed this win up with further success, winning the league again in 1995–96, 1998–99, 1999–2000 and 2000–01. They also finished as runners-up on four occasions; in 1993–94, 1996–97, 1997–98 and 2001–02. Following their runners-up position in 2001–02, and the improved financial position of the club compared to twenty years earlier, the club was successful in its application to re-enter the Southern League. The club have remained in this league ever since, and after the restructuring of the English football league system, the club were placed in the Southern Football League Division One South & West.  The club reached the final of the FA Vase in 1994, where they lost in extra time to Diss Town. A second FA Vase finals appearance in 2001 resulted in greater success, Taunton Town beating Berkhamsted Town 2–1. In 2016–17 they reached the first round proper of the FA Cup for only the second time in their history, where they faced Barrow and held them to a 2–2 draw but were beaten away in the replay 2–1.  In 2017–18, Taunton celebrated promotion from the Southern League South & West for the first time in their history, clinching the title after a home 3–2 win over Kidlington.  In 2018-19 Taunton narrowly missed out on promotion to the National League South after losing to Poole Town on penalties at the Viridor Stadium during their Southern League Premier playoff game. <  On 20 November 2019, Taunton Town equaled the record for the longest penalty shoot out in English footballing history beating Truro City 12-11 after 34 penalties in the Southern League challenge cup. Goalkeeper Lloyd Irish scored one and missed another whilst also saving three penalties with Truro missing the target another 3 times before Jack Rice finally scored the winning penalty after 34 minutes of drama.

Stadium.

Taunton Town play their home games at Wordsworth Drive, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 2HG  When they were formed, Taunton Town played at a variety of grounds in the Taunton area, including Mountfields, French Weir, Victoria Park and Huish Old Boys. They then moved to Denman's Park, Haines Hill where they remained until 1953. During that season the club moved to Wordsworth Drive (capacity 2,500) in Taunton, where they have remained ever since. Initially they leased the ground from Taunton Borough Council, but in the 1970s the club purchased the ground from the council and installed floodlights. The ground has covered stands on all four sides of the pitch.

Taunton Town Ladies.

Taunton Town had a ladies football team; Taunton Town Ladies Football Club, who played in the South West Women's Football League Premier Division. They first played league football in 1986. In 1990–91, the ladies won the Division Two Cup of the newly formed South West Regional Women's Football League. The club ceased to exist at the end of the 2014-15 season.

Taunton Town Football Club are an English football club based in Taunton, Somerset. They compete in the and play their home matches at their Wordsworth Drive ground which they moved into during the 1953 season. The club is affiliated to the Somerset County FA.


History.

The club was formed in 1886 and originally known as Totton Football Club, playing its games at South Testwood Park. They then became a founding members of the Hampshire F.A. when it was inaugurated the following year. In 1904 they became founder members of the New Forest League. After the First World War they entered the Southampton Senior League and the New Forest League. For the 1920–21 campaign they joined the Divisional Section of the Hampshire League. In 1922–23 they played in both the East and West sections, after which they remained in the West Section, winning it in 1924–25.  League reorganisation saw Totton playing in the Divisional Section in 1928–29, with the club finishing as runners-up. Further reorganisation saw them placed in Division Two for the following season, in which they were again runners-up. They went on to win Division Two in 1930–31, earning promotion to Division One. On 30 December 1933 the club moved their home ground to Testwood Park. Despite finishing bottom of Division One in 1934–35, they were not relegated to Division Two. In 1952–53 the club was relegated to Division Two after finishing bottom of Division One, but were promoted back to the top division in 1959–60 despite only finishing fourth.  In 1975 the club amalgamated with Totton Athletic. The club were promoted to Division One when they finished as runners up in Division Two in the 1979–80 season. Totton's most successful season in terms of the number of trophies won was the 1981–82 campaign when they won Hampshire League Division One for the first time, the Russell Cotes Cup, Hampshire Intermediate Cup, Southampton Senior Cup, Echo Trophy, and the Reg Mathieson Trophy. The following season saw the club make their debut in the FA Cup, getting to the fourth qualification round at their first attempt before being knocked out by Windsor & Eton. The club went on to win the Hampshire league again in the 1984–85 season, and followed this up the following season with their fourth runner up spot.  Totton became one of the founder members of the Wessex League for the 1986–87 season. Although the league title eluded the club for many years, they still performed well in cup competitions. The next twenty seasons saw the club maintain their status in the Wessex league top division, during which time they won the Wessex League Cup twice in the 1989–90, 2002–03 and 2005–06 seasons. The club also finished as runners-up to Southern League Bashley in the Russell Côtes Cup in 1990–91.  The 2006–07 campaign saw the club finish runners up just behind Gosport Borough on goal difference. The main highlight of the season though, was their run in the F.A. Vase, which saw the club reach the final at Wembley Stadium for the first time in the club's history. In front of a record crowd of 27,754 for a Vase final, the team had to settle for runners-up after losing to Truro City 3–1.  The following season saw the club seal its first ever Wessex League Championship. The championship win also enabled promotion to the Southern League. The club started in Division One South & West of the Southern league, and were almost promoted at their first attempt, when they beat Beaconsfield SYCOB 2–1 in the playoff semi-final, but lost to Didcot Town 2–1 in the play-off final in front of a crowd of 1,123. Again in the following season the club, after finishing as runners-up, were in the play-offs this time losing to Cirencester Town in the semi-final. The club did finish with some silverware when they won the Hampshire Senior Cup for the first time, beating Aldershot Town 4–0 in the final at Dean Court.  The 2010–11 season saw the Stags play their first match at the newly built 3,000-capacity Testwood Stadium with the first match against Paulton Rovers, winning 5–1. The club also gained promotion to the Premier Division when they won the league on the final day of the season with a 1–0 win away at Gosport Borough. The club made it a double winning season when they beat Sholing 3–1 in the Hampshire Senior Cup final at the home of Southampton, St. Mary's Stadium.  The 2011–12 season saw the club beat Bradford Park Avenue 8–1 to reach the FA Cup second round for the first time in their history. A record attendance of 2,315 was achieved beating their previous record of 1,746 when Totton played Southampton in 2009. Totton's dream of reaching the third round of the FA Cup was ended as they lost 6–1 against Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup 2nd Round at the Testwood Stadium. The club also finished third in the league, and so entered the play-offs to gain promotion to the Football Conference beating Chesham United 3–2 in the semi-final, but lost 4–2 to Oxford City in the final The club finished the season in the Hampshire Senior Cup final at St Mary's Stadium, but could not make it three wins in a row as they lost to Eastleigh 2–0.  After finishing mid-table in 2012–13, the club were relegated to Division One South & West at the end of the 2013–14 season.

Ground.

The club initially played at South Testwood Park, before moving to Testwood Park in December 1933. After the 1975 merger with Totton Athletic floodlights were installed. The ground had stands on either side of the pitch, one of which was seated and the other for standing.  In February 2011 the club moved to the Testwood Stadium on Salisbury Road, playing their first match on 9 February with 744 watching them beat Paulton Rovers 5–1. The ground cost a reported £2.5 million to build, and has a capacity of 3,000, of which 500 are seated and covered.

Association Football Club Totton is a football club based in Totton, Hampshire, England. The club is affiliated to the Hampshire Football Association and is an FA Standard Chartered club. They are currently members of the.


History.

The club was established in 1927 and played in local leagues until World War II. In 1946 they joined the Thurrock Combination League, and went on to win the Essex Junior Cup in 1948 and 1949. In 1949 the club joined Division Two of the London League. They finished fourth in their first season, and were promoted to Division One. The following season they won Division One, but were not promoted to the Premier Division. However, despite finishing ninth in 1952–53, they were promoted. After finishing seventh, then third in their first two seasons in the Premier Division, they won the division in 1954–55. In 1957 the club switched to the Delphian League, finishing as runners-up in their first season. When the league folded in 1963 they joined Division Two of the Athenian League. After finishing second in 1968–69, the club was promoted to Division One. They won the Division One title in 1970–71, earning promotion to the Premier Division.  In 1973 Aveley joined Division Two of the Isthmian League, which became Division One in 1977. They won the Essex Thameside Trophy in 1979–80 and the Hornchurch Charity Cup in 1982–83. In 1985–86 they finished bottom of the division, and were relegated to Division Two North. After finishing second in 1989–90, a season in which they also became the first club from the bottom division to win the League Cup, the club was promoted back to Division One. Although they finished fourth in their first season back in Division One, the club finished bottom of the division the following season, but were not relegated. However, in 1992–93 they finished bottom again and were relegated to Division Two. In 1994–95 the club were relegated to Division Three, where they remained until 2002, when league reorganisation saw them placed in Division One North.  Aveley were transferred to Division One East of the Southern League in 2004, before returning to Division One North of the Isthmian League in 2006. They won the division in 2008–09, and were promoted to the Premier Division. After finishing third in Isthmian League under manager Rod Stringer, the club lost in the promotion play-off semi-finals to eventual winners Boreham Wood. In 2011–12 the club were relegated back to Division One North after finishing third-from-bottom. In their first season in Division One they finished fifth and qualified for the promotion play-offs. They lost 3–1 to Maldon & Tiptree in the semi-finals.

Ground.

The club played at Lodge Meadow until moving to Mill Field in 1952, at which point they gained the nickname "the Millers". The new ground was built by supporters on land they had purchased, and a stand was bought from Grays Athletic for £100, subsequently becoming known as the Pepper Stand. The ground was opened with a local derby match against Grays.Terracing was installed on the other side of the ground, on which a 400-seat wooden stand was erected in 1958 at a cost of £2,600, together with additional terracing. Floodlights were installed in 1967, with Grays again the visitors for the first match played under them. At the time of its closure, the ground had a capacity of 4,000, of which 400 was seated and covered.  During the 2010s the club bought the site of a former gravel pit from Thurrock Council using money raised from selling Mill Field to developers. The 2016–17 season being the club's last at Mill Field, as the moved to Parkside for the start of the 2017–18 season. The new ground featured two seated stands on either side of the pitch, one of which was built into the clubhouse, with the clubhouse roof overhang providing cover. Two covered terraces were erected behind each goal, either side of the goalmouth, whilst an artificial pitch was installed. In 2018, Parkside hosted a number of games in the CONIFA World Cup.

Aveley Football Club are a football club based in Aveley, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside.


History.

The club was established on 8 May 1890 as East Grinstead, but did not play their first competitive match until 1900, when they were founder members of the Mid-Sussex League. They won the league in 1901–02 on goal average and were runners-up in 1904–05. The club were joint winners of the Sussex Junior Cup with Arundel in 1908–09, and went on to finish as runners-up in the Mid-Sussex League again in 1910–11 and 1911–12. In 1920 they were founder members of the Sussex County League, and finished bottom of the table in its first season. After finishing eleventh out of twelve the following season, they left the league. They returned in 1924, but after finishing bottom of the table again in both 1924–25 and 1925–26, they left again after failing to be re-elected and dropped into Division One of the Brighton, Hove & District League. The club were Division One runners-up in 1927–28, after which they joined Division Three of the Southern Amateur League.  East Grinstead were Division Three champions in 1931–32, earning promotion to Division Two. However, they finished bottom of Division Two in 1933–34, and after being relegated to Division Three, they finished bottom of Division Three in 1934–35. They then returned to the Mid-Sussex, and after winning it in 1936–37, returned to the Sussex County League for a third spell. In the first season after World War II they were placed in the Eastern Division and finished the season as runners-up. The league reverted to a single division the following season, and after a second division was added in 1952, the club remained in Division One until the end of the 1978–79 season, when they were relegated to Division Two. During this period they won the league's Baldwin Cup in 1951–52. In 1988–89 they finished bottom of the division and were relegated to Division Three. However, after finishing third in Division Three 1990–91 they were promoted to back Division Two, and two seasons later they finished third in Division Two, earning promotion to Division One.  After finishing bottom of Division One in 1994–95, East Grinstead were relegated back to Division Two. In 1997 they were renamed East Grinstead Town. The club were promoted back to Division One after finishing third in 2002–03, and won the Sussex RUR Cup in 2003–04, beating Three Bridges 4–0 in the final. However, they were relegated back to Division Two the following season. In 2007–08 they won Division Two, and were promoted back to Division One. After finishing as Division One runners-up in 2013–14, they were promoted to Division One South of the Isthmian League. In 2019–20 the club were bottom of the table with only ten points in early March and at risk of relegation. However, the season was abandoned due to the coronavirus pandemic and all promotion and relegation was cancelled.

Ground.

Until 1962 the club played at West Street, which was shared with the local cricket club. They were forced to leave the ground, having been given notice in 1958, and temporarily played at King George's Field before moving to East Court in 1967.  A large bank was created on one side of the pitch, with a covered terrace located in the centre. Floodlights were installed in 1997, with two new stands built in 2008.

East Grinstead Town Football Club is a football club based in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England. They are currently members of the and play at East Court.


History.

The club was established in 1928 as Woolwich Borough Council Athletic Club. They joined the Woolwich and District League and were champions in their first season. The following season saw them join Division One of the Western Section of the Kent County Amateur League. In 1934 Division One was renamed the Premier Division, and after finishing second-from-bottom of the division in 1934–35, the club were relegated to Division One. They finished bottom of Division One in 1939–40, but the league was largely abandoned the following season due to World War II.  Woolwich Borough Council rejoined the Kent County Amateur League in 1947, and despite their pre-war position, the club were placed in the Premier Division of the Western Section. However, after finishing second-from-bottom of the division in 1948–49, they left the league, dropping into Division Two of the South London Alliance. In 1954–55 they won the Division Two title, earning promotion to Division One. The following season saw them win Division One, resulting in promotion to the Premier Division. They went on to win the Premier Division title in six successive seasons from 1960–61 to 1965–66, also winning the Queen Mary Cup twice.  In 1965 the club was renamed London Borough of Greenwich following a change of London Borough boundaries. The club won a seventh South London Alliance Premier Division title in 1974, and in 1977 they moved up to the Senior Division of the London Spartan League. They won the Senior Division in 1979–80, earning promotion to the Premier Division. At the end of the season the club adopted its current name. In 1982–83 the club won the league's Senior Cup. In 1984 they transferred to the Kent League. They won the League Cup in their first season in the league, before going on to win back-to-back league titles in 1986–87 and 1987–88, as well as winning the League Cup for a second time in 1986–87. However, they were prevented from being promoted to the Southern League when the council refused planning permission for the necessary ground improvements.  Greenwich won a third League Cup in 1997–98. After five consecutive top-half finishes between 2006–07 and 2010–10, Greenwich finished bottom of the Kent League in 2011–12. The league was renamed the Southern Counties East League in 2013, and in 2014–15 the club won the Premier Division Cup. The following season saw them win the league, earning promotion to Division One South of the Isthmian League. In 2016–17 the club finished third in the division, qualifying for the promotion playoffs. However, they lost 4–3 to Corinthian-Casuals in the semi-finals. Although a fourth-place finish the following season saw the club finish fifth and reach the play-offs again, they lost 3–0 to Corinthian-Casuals in the semi-finals. At the end of the season they were moved into the South East Division as the league was reorganised.  In 2018–19 Greenwich finished bottom of the South East Division and were relegated to the Premier Division of the Southern Counties East League (the renamed Kent League).

Ground.

Following the club's establishment, most home matches were played at Danson Park in Welling, before they moved to Harrow Meadow in Eltham in 1937. In 1978 floodlights were installed and inaugurated with a friendly match against Charlton Athletic. During the 1988–89 season the club was forced to groundshare at Erith & Belvedere's Park View ground, before returning to Harrow Meadow. The club was forced to move its pitch closer to the clubhouse, with a temporary stand installed behind one goal, later replaced by two small shelters.  At the end of the 2008–09 season Harrow Meadow was sold to property developers, with the club subsequently groundsharing with Holmesdale (from 2009) and then at Dartford's Princes Park (from 2013). In 2016 the club agreed a 30-year lease to share Cray Valley PM's Badgers Sports ground. The ground includes a 100-seat stand on one side of the pitch and a small covered area on the other. However, the club were evicted at the end of the 2018–19 season for failing to pay rent, and subsequently moved to the Phoenix Sports Ground in Barnehurst, sharing with Phoenix Sports.

Greenwich Borough Football Club is a football club based in south-east London, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Phoenix Sports Ground in Barnehurst.


Music.

He started in the 80's recording with a band called Homeland. Besides his own group, Newcombe has worked with a number of bands, most notably The Dandy Warhols, The High Dials, The Manvils, Innaway, and The Quarter After. He recorded and produced Dead Meadow's album "Got Live if You Want It", and has recorded a cover of Ewan MacColl's song 'Dirty Old Town' with Lorraine Leckie on her 2008 album "Four Cold Angels".

"The Brian Jonestown Massacre".

Newcombe founded The Brian Jonestown Massacre in San Francisco, California in 1990. Core members in the early years included Matt Hollywood, Jeffrey Davies, Joel Gion, Travis Threlkel, Peter Hayes (BRMC), Patrick Straczek, Ricky Maymi, Brian Glaze, Elise Dye and Dean Taylor, though the line up was subject to frequent changes. Newcombe wrote the majority of songs, with Hollywood collaborating or contributing others on occasion until his departure in 1998, whereupon Newcombe's name became almost synonymous with the BJM. Newcombe was also heavily involved in the post-production of his albums, often engineering and mixing them on his own. A prolific artist, he authored over 150 songs in a fifteen-year period.

The Committee to Keep Music Evil.

Newcombe founded his own record label which has released albums by The Brian Jonestown Massacre ("Bravery, Repetition and Noise" and the re-release of "Spacegirl and Other Favourites"), The Lovetones' ("Be What You Want"), and Dead Meadow's ("Got Live if You Want It"). According to the official website, the purpose of the label is to "...release BJM music not available through other channels, and to record new bands which we will be producing from time to time, while pursuing the goal of making the world unsafe for rock and roll". Many of the releases on this label are produced or engineered by Rob Campanella.  In 2016 he composed the soundtrack for British indie film Moon Dogs, directed by Philip John.

Personal life.

Part of Newcombe's life is featured prominently in the documentary film "Dig!" which focuses on the tense relationship between The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols as both bands struggle for success. Newcombe has battled drug addiction, alcoholism and depression. He lives in Berlin with his wife Katy and their son Wolfgang and actively works on his musical projects.  In recent years, Newcombe has mostly worked from his own recording studio in Berlin, where he produced albums for other artists, including Dead Meadow and remixed tracks for The Vacant Lots.

Anton Alfred Newcombe (born August 29, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of the music group The Brian Jonestown Massacre.


Background.

After releasing a number of well-received recordings on the smaller psychedelia-focused Bomp! Records label, The Brian Jonestown Massacre were signed to a multi-record deal with TVT.

Recording and content.

Matt Hollywood contributed more to this record due to Anton Newcombe being incapable of writing as many songs as he was addicted to heroin at the time.  The album is named after a lyric from the David Bowie song "Ashes to Ashes".  "Wisdom" is a re-recording of the same song that originally appeared on the band's second album, "Methodrone". "Dawn" is also a re-recording, with the original version appearing on "Take It from the Man!". "Spun" is also a re-recording of the same song that appears on the band's album "Thank God for Mental Illness".

Musical style.

AllMusic's Jason Ankeny writes, "Settling into a blissfully psychedelic drift, the album opts not for the Stones-inspired raunch of before but for Byrds-like guitars, muffled drums and pulsating Hammond organ lines, all topped off by Anton Newcombe's half-stoned, half-shamanic vocals".

Release.

The recording didn't sell as many records as TVT had hoped, and they later mutually dissolved their remaining contractual obligations.  "Love" was released as a CD single, with a demo of "Wasting Away" as a B-side on TVT Records in 1998. "Love" and "Nothing to Lose" was also released as a double A-side single independently in 1997. The release featured "Let's Pretend It's Summer", "I've Been Waiting", "The Devil May Care (Mom & Dad Don't)" and an alternate version of "I've Been Waiting" as B-sides.

Critical reception.

AllMusic praised the album, calling it "their least immediate, most restrained record to date [...] "Strung Out in Heaven" proves as engaging as their past efforts, with a focus and cohesiveness often lacking from their more visceral work", also calling it "the BJM's most mature outing yet". Head Heritage described it as "BJM's most easily accessible and truly genius album thus far."

Legacy.

The song "Going to Hell" is featured in the "Faith, Hope & Trick" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Strung Out in Heaven is the seventh full-length album by American psychedelic rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre. It was released in June 1998 and was the band's first and only recording with the large independent label, TVT Records.


Recording career.

Terry was asked to perform on Culture Club's debut album, "Kissing to Be Clever", after lead singer Boy George met her at a London club. Her soulful vocals became a key element of the Culture Club sound on the group's debut album and its follow-up, "Colour by Numbers". She is featured in several of the band's videos, including "Time (Clock of the Heart)", "Church of the Poison Mind", "It's a Miracle", "Black Money", "That's the Way", "Victims", and often appeared on television with them.  Her solo career began in 1984 on Culture Club's label Virgin with the single "Love Lies Lost" (which she wrote in collaboration with group members Boy George and Roy Hay). The single went to No. 34 in the UK, reached the same position in Australia, and was a No. 28 hit in Ireland. That year she also co-wrote and recorded "Now You're Mine" with producer Giorgio Moroder for the soundtrack to the film, "Electric Dreams", and released the single "Stuttering".  In 1985, she recorded "Take That Look Off Your Face" for the multi-artist tribute album "Performance - The Very Best Of Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber". She also guested on backing vocals on the track "Take Me Home" on Phil Collins' "No Jacket Required".  Terry's album "Blue Notes" was released in 1986, and was produced by Don Was with contributions from Stewart Levine and Christopher Neil. It spawned three singles, "Stuttering", "Act Of Mercy" and "Come On And Find Me".  Also in 1986 she recorded "One Summer Day/Duelling Bikes" with Ray Parker Jr for the 1986 Kevin Bacon movie "Quicksilver".  Her involvement with Culture Club was minimal after 1985, although she made a guest appearance during Boy George's 1987 UK solo tour and would appear on background vocals on various Boy George projects up until 1990's "The Martyr Mantras".  In 1989, after signing to Parlophone, she released an EP, "Fortunate Fool", featuring three new songs. Two of these, "Fortunate Fool" and "Lessons in Loneliness", were also released as singles, but differences with her record company led to a deadlock over plans for an album and she abandoned the contract.  "Blue Notes" has been re-released as a remastered limited edition CD with bonus tracks in 2009.  Terry contributed all the backing vocals to the track "Whole New Way" on the 2010 Scissor Sisters album "Night Work".

Media production career.

After she stopped singing professionally, Helen Terry moved into film and television production, beginning as a children's TV researcher in 1990, has worked as a producer for the BRIT Awards TV broadcast since 2001, becoming the executive producer in 2005. The 2008 broadcast attracted 6.1 million viewers.

Discography.

Album.

Track listing  Bonus tracks

Helen Terry (born 25 May 1956) is a British singer, known for her backing vocal work with Culture Club. As a solo performer, she scored a Top 40 hit single in 1984 with "Love Lies Lost", and released one album in 1986, "Blue Notes".


Background.

"National Treasures" includes most of the band's singles from 1991's "Motown Junk" to 2011's "This Is the Day". Despite the "complete singles" title, "National Treasures" does not contain every Manic Street Preachers single. Notable omissions are the band's very first single, "Suicide Alley" (1989), "Strip It Down" from the "New Art Riot" EP (1990), for which the band's first promotional video was made, and "You Love Us (Heavenly Version)" (1991). For singles originally released as double-A sides, only one song is included: therefore from "Love's Sweet Exile/Repeat" (1992) and "Faster/P.C.P." (1994), only "Love's Sweet Exile" and "Faster" are included.  The collection also excludes singles that were not chart-eligible, such as the fanzine-only single "UK Channel Boredom" (1990), singles released in other territories such as the Japanese only singles Further Away (1996) and Nobody Loved You (1998), and singles released only as limited-edition vinyl, CDs and downloads (1991's "Feminine Is Beautiful", 2005's "God Save the Manics" EP, 2007's "Underdogs" and "The Ghosts of Christmas", and 2008's "Umbrella"). In addition, "National Treasures" contains nothing from the Manics' ninth studio album, "Journal for Plague Lovers" (2009) because officially, no singles were released from that album (although the track "Jackie Collins Existential Question Time" did receive airplay). For a feature article in the 4 October 2011 issue of the "NME", to promote "National Treasures", Manic Street Preachers James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, and Sean Moore were asked to rank a list of 40 of their singles: the 38 tracks from "National Treasures" plus "Suicide Alley" and the "New Art Riot" EP track, "Strip It Down".

Release.

"National Treasures" was released in three formats: a standard 2CD edition, a deluxe 2CD/1DVD edition, and a Super Deluxe edition. The Super Deluxe edition contains 7" reproductions of each of these singles, as well as "New Art Riot". A 14 track ""Selected Singles"" sampler was also released as a vinyl with Q Magazine containing an exclusive track, a cover of John Cale's "The Endless Plain of Fortune".  The album is certified Gold in the UK, it also charted in Ireland, Spain and in Japan. The album was promoted with a show at the O Arena.

Reception.

The album received a highly favourable response from critics and it was seen as a unique opportunity to hear all the band's singles and see their history. On Metacritic the album has a score of 95 out of 100, based on 8 critics, which indicates "universal acclaim".  AllMusic awarded the album with a rating of 4.5 out of 5, saying that: "Arriving roughly ten years after their first hits compilation, 2002’s Forever Delayed, 2011’s National Treasures: The Complete Singles has another decade to cover so it’s perfectly sensible that the collection spans two discs as it diligently marches through almost every single Manic Street Preachers released during their first 20 years." (...) "but it’s the first disc, containing the songs they recorded with Richey Edwards and the music they made immediately after his disappearance, that makes the strongest case for their legacy." Q and Uncut gave the album a rating of 5 out of 5. DigitalSpy also gave the album a perfect score and said that: "Against all odds, Manic Street Preachers are British pop's ultimate survivors. Proof that in the long run it's far better to be ridiculed by some than meekly accepted by all. They've been laughed at, battered, bruised, indulged, celebrated, diminished, reborn, accepted, mocked, hated and loved all over again. Iconoclasts become pop superstars. Misfits turned national treasures."

Recognition.

The album was voted by "NME" magazine as the best re issue of 2011, beating Nirvana's deluxe and super deluxe edition of "Nevermind" to the top spot.

Live.

On 17 December 2011, the group performed 'A Night of National Treasures' at O Arena in London to celebrate the bands 25 years to date, and enter into a period of hiatus where the eleventh album was written. The band performed all the 38 singles in one show, with around 20.000 people attending the show. It featured guests, like Nina Persson from The Cardigans who sings with the band on the single Your Love Alone Is Not Enough and Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals who sang with the band that night on the track Let Robeson Sing. The Guardian reviewed the show, giving it a score of 5 out of 5, and stated that: "That the Manics can sell out an arena gig at which they perform all 38 of their singles (as compiled on the recent album National Treasures) proves they were right about one thing all along: they really are a stadium band."  A DVD featuring the music videos to the tracks featured on the album is available in the deluxe edition. It also contains extra bonus content including alternate videos for You Love Us and Autumnsong and the video for "Jackie Collins Existential Question Time".

National Treasures – The Complete Singles is a compilation album by the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 31 October 2011. It is the band's third compilation album, after "Forever Delayed: Manic Street Preachers, The Greatest Hits" (2002), and the B-sides/rarities collection "Lipstick Traces (A Secret History of Manic Street Preachers)" (2003). The compilation features one new recording, a cover of The The's "This Is the Day", which was issued as a single on 18 September 2011. The compilation reached number 10 on the UK Album Chart in November 2011.