Plot.

After spending most of his life alone and working hard to make ends meet, Frank Grimes is hired at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He is assigned to Sector 7G, where he must work alongside Homer, Lenny and Carl. Grimes is aghast at Homer's laziness and incompetence. When Grimes prevents Homer from accidentally drinking a flask of sulfuric acid by knocking it from his hands, Mr. Burns admonishes Grimes and reduces his pay when the spilled acid destroys a wall. Seething, Grimes declares that he and Homer are now enemies.  At Moe Syzlak's suggestion, Homer invites Grimes to his home for a lobster dinner, hoping to make amends. Grimes only grows more incensed by Homer's ability to live such a comfortable life — despite his sloth and ignorance — while he has worked hard his whole life and has little to show for it. Denouncing Homer as a fraud, Grimes leaves in anger.  The next day, Homer tries to earn Grimes's respect by being a model employee, but his efforts fail. Grimes rants about Homer to Lenny and Carl, who insist that Homer is a decent person despite his many faults. To prove Homer's lack of intelligence, Grimes tricks him into entering a contest (intended for children) to design a nuclear power plant. Grimes's plan backfires when Homer's model wins the contest. After Homer's co-workers applaud instead of ridiculing him, Grimes snaps and runs amok at the plant, mocking Homer's stupid habits. When he grabs ahold of high-voltage wires without safety gloves, Grimes is electrocuted. At Grimes's funeral, Homer falls asleep and talks in his dream, making Reverend Lovejoy and the attendees laugh as Grimes's coffin is lowered into the earth.  In the subplot, Bart buys an abandoned factory for a dollar at a foreclosure auction. He and Milhouse spend their days wrecking the building until it collapses one night during Milhouse's watch, causing the rats in the building to swarm into Moe's Tavern.

Production.

"Homer's Enemy" was written by John Swartzwelder, directed by Jim Reardon and executive produced by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. One of the goals of Oakley and Weinstein was to create several episodes in each season that would "push the envelope conceptually." The idea for the episode was first conceived by Bill Oakley, who thought that Homer should have an enemy. The thought evolved into the concept of a "real world" co-worker who would either love or hate Homer. The writers chose the latter as they thought it would have funnier results. The result was the character of Grimes, a man who had to work hard all his life with nothing to show for it and is dismayed and embittered by Homer's success and comfort in spite of his inherent laziness and ignorance.  "Homer's Enemy" explores the comic possibilities of a realistic character with a strong work ethic placed alongside Homer in a work environment. In an essay for the book "Leaving Springfield", Robert Sloane describes the episode as "an incisive consideration of "The Simpsons"'s world. Although "The Simpsons" is known for its self-reflectivity, the show had never looked at (or critiqued) itself as directly as it does in ['Homer's Enemy']." In the episode, Homer is portrayed as an everyman and the embodiment of the American spirit; however, in some scenes his negative characteristics and silliness are prominently highlighted. By the close of the episode, Grimes, a hard-working and persevering "real American hero," is relegated to the role of antagonist; the viewer is intended to be pleased that Homer has emerged victorious. In an interview with "Simpsons" fan site NoHomers.net, Josh Weinstein said:  The animators and character designers had a lot of discussion about what Frank Grimes should look like. He was originally designed as a "burly ex-marine guy with a crew cut", but would later be modeled after Michael Douglas in the movie "Falling Down" and director Jim Reardon's college roommate. Hank Azaria provided the voice of Frank Grimes, even though such a role would normally have been performed by a guest star. The producers decided Azaria was more suitable because the role involved a great deal of frustration and required extensive knowledge of the show. Azaria felt that the role should instead go to William H. Macy. According to Azaria, "I based the character on William Macy. I can't really copy him vocally, but I tried to get as close as I could and copy his rhythms and the way he has that sort of seething passion underneath that total calm exterior." The producers worked a lot with Azaria to help him perfect the role, and gave him more guidance than they normally would. Azaria felt that it was the role he worked hardest on, adding "I think it's the one we did the most takes on, the most emotional, it felt like the one I worked on the hardest from a performance point of view, in preparation and in execution."  Josh Weinstein has expressed regret about killing off Grimes after only one episode, describing him as "such an amazing character." In an interview with "The Believer", producer George Meyer said, "Grimes's cardinal sin was that he shined a light on Springfield. He pointed out everything that was wrongheaded and idiotic about that world. And the people who do that tend to become martyrs. He said things that needed to be said, but once they were said, we needed to destroy that person. I'll admit, we took a certain sadistic glee in his downfall. He was such a righteous person, and that somehow made his demise more satisfying."  The subplot, where Bart buys a factory, was added so that there would be some lighter scenes to split up the main plot. According to Weinstein, "We wanted to have a Bart or Lisa kids' story to contrast the heaviness and reality of Frank Grimes."

Reception.

In its original broadcast on the Fox network, "Homer's Enemy" acquired a 7.7 Nielsen rating. It was viewed in approximately 7.5 million homes, finishing the week ranked 56th. "The Simpsons" was the sixth highest rated show on Fox the week it was broadcast, behind "The X-Files", a broadcast of the film "The Mask", "Melrose Place", "King of the Hill" and "Beverly Hills, 90210". According to Josh Weinstein, when the episode was first broadcast, many fans felt it was too dark, lacked humor and that Homer was portrayed as overly bad-mannered. Weinstein considers this episode one of the most controversial of the seasons he ran, as it involves sharp observational humor which he thinks many fans "didn't get." Weinstein also talks about a "generation gap"—he believes the episode was originally panned by viewers, but has since become a favorite among fans who grew up with the show.  Critical opinion of the episode is mixed.  Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, authors of "I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide", described the episode as "one of the series' darkest episodes [that] ends on a real downer but is nevertheless also one of the wittiest and cleverest in ages."  In 2007, John Orvted of "Vanity Fair" called "Homer's Enemy" the seventh best episode of "The Simpsons". He said it was, "the darkest Simpsons episode ever... To see [Grimes] fail, and ultimately be destroyed, once he enters Homer's world is hilarious and satisfying."  Comedian Rick Mercer called it a "great episode, and one of the darkest ever produced."  Entertainment.ie named it among the 10 greatest "Simpsons" episodes of all time.  Screen Rant called it the best episode of the eighth season as well as the greatest episode of "The Simpsons".  "The Guardian" named it one of the five greatest episodes in "Simpsons" history.  In 2019, "Time" ranked the episode eighth in its list of 10 best "Simpsons" episodes picked by "Simpsons" experts.  Jon Bonné of MSNBC used "Homer's Enemy" as an example of a bad episode of the eighth season and wrote "even now [in 2000], when subsequent episodes have debased Homer in new and innovative ways, the Grimes episode stands out as painful to watch."  In April 2007, former "Simpsons" executive producer Mike Reiss listed "Homer's Enemy" as one of his two least favorite episodes, stating, "I just think the episode was in bad taste."  In August 2014, writing for "The Verge", Chris Plante listed "Homer's Enemy" as one of his favorite episodes of "The Simpsons", and Homer falling asleep and talking in his dream at Grimes' funeral as one of the funniest moments in the show, but he cited the latter as the moment the series jumped the shark, because of the impact it "has on the show's character [Homer], and through that character, the world."  Several members of the staff have included the episode among their favorites. In a 2000 "Entertainment Weekly" article, Matt Groening ranked it as his sixth favorite "Simpsons" episode. It is a favorite of Josh Weinstein, who cites the scene when Grimes visits the Simpson home as one of his favorite scenes, while "The Office" creator Ricky Gervais has called it "the most complete episode." In her autobiography "My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy", Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart, praises Azaria's performance as Grimes, and uses it as an example of how "Accent, pitch, pacing, range and intention" can allow an actor to voice many characters. She writes, In October 2006, IGN.com released a list of "The Top 25 "Simpsons" Peripheral characters", in which they ranked Frank Grimes at number 17, making him the least-frequently shown character to appear in that list.

Legacy.

Frank Grimes has since been referenced many times in the show, often showing his tombstone, and occasionally mentioning him by name. In the season fourteen episode "The Great Louse Detective", it is revealed that he fathered a son named Frank Grimes Jr., who tries and fails to kill Homer. The footage of Grimes' death is also shown during that episode. In the non-canon season twenty-eight episode "Treehouse of Horror XXVII", the ghost of Frank Grimes joined Sideshow Bob's army of the Simpsons' enemies.  During the nuclear power plant design contest, one of the entrants is Ralph Wiggum, whose entry is rejected by Mr. Burns. When Ralph does not leave the stage, Chief Wiggum says "Ralphie, get off the stage, sweetheart." This line was later used as the chorus in the song "Ralph Wiggum" by the Bloodhound Gang. In February 2000, the cast of "The Simpsons" performed a live reading of the episode script at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado.

References.

Footnotes Bibliography

"Homer's Enemy" is the twenty-third episode in the eighth season of the American animated television series "The Simpsons". It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 4, 1997. In the episode, Frank Grimes is hired as a new employee at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Despite Homer's attempts to befriend him, Grimes is angered by Homer's laziness and incompetence. He declares himself Homer's enemy and tries to expose his flaws through public humiliation. In the subplot, Bart buys a run-down factory for a dollar. "Homer's Enemy" was directed by Jim Reardon and written by John Swartzwelder, based on an idea pitched by executive producer Bill Oakley.

Homerův nepřítel (Homer's Enemy) je třiadvacátý díl osmé řady amerického seriálu Simpsonovi. Poprvé byl odvysílán 4. května 1997. Autorem námětu byl Bill Oakley, scenáristou John Swartzwelder a režisérem Jim Readon.


Writing career.

Anthony Horowitz's first book, "The Sinister Secret of Frederick K Bower", was a humorous adventure for children, published in 1979 and later reissued as "Enter Frederick K Bower". In 1981 his second novel, "Misha, the Magician and the Mysterious Amulet" was published and he moved to Paris to write his third book. In 1983 the first of the Pentagram series, "The Devil's Door-Bell", was released. This story saw Martin Hopkins battling an ancient evil that threatened the whole world. Only three of four remaining stories in the series were ever written: "The Night of the Scorpion" (1984), "The Silver Citadel" (1986) and "Day of the Dragon" (1986). In 1985, he released "Myths and Legends", a collection of retold tales from around the world.  In between writing these novels, Horowitz turned his attention to legendary characters, working with Richard Carpenter on the "Robin of Sherwood" television series, writing five episodes of the third season. He also novelised three of Carpenter's episodes as a children's book under the title "Robin Sherwood: The Hooded Man" (1986). In addition, he created "Crossbow" (1987), a half-hour action adventure series loosely based on William Tell.  In 1988, "Groosham Grange" was published. This book went on to win the 1989 Lancashire Children's Book of the Year Award. It was partially based on the years Horowitz spent at boarding school. Its central character is a thirteen-year-old "witch", David Eliot, gifted as the seventh son of a seventh son. Like Horowitz's, Eliot's childhood is unhappy. The Groosham Grange books are aimed at a slightly younger audience than Horowitz's previous books.  This era in Horowitz's career also saw "Adventurer" (1987), a thriller about a convict stuck on a prisoner ship with his sworn enemy, and "Starting Out" (1990), a collection of screenplays by the author himself, published. However, the most major release of Horowitz's early career was "The Falcon's Malteser" (1986). This book was the first in the successful "Diamond Brothers" series, and was filmed for television in 1989 as "Just Ask for Diamond", with an all star cast that included Bill Paterson, Jimmy Nail, Roy Kinnear, Susannah York, Michael Robbins and Patricia Hodge, and featured Colin Dale and Dursley McLinden as Nick and Tim Diamond. It was followed in 1987 with "Public Enemy Number Two", and by "South by South East" in 1991 followed by "The French Confection", "I Know What You Did Last Wednesday", "The Blurred Man" and most recently "The Greek Who Stole Christmas".

1994–present.

Horowitz wrote many stand-alone novels in the 1990s. 1994's "Granny", a comedy thriller about an evil grandmother, was Horowitz's first book in three years, and it was the first of three books for an audience similar to that of "Groosham Grange". The second of these was "The Switch", a body swap story, first published in 1996. The third was 1997's "The Devil and His Boy", which is set in the Elizabethan era and explores the rumour of Elizabeth I's secret son.  In 1999, "The Unholy Grail" was published as a sequel to "Groosham Grange". "The Unholy Grail" was renamed as "Return to Groosham Grange" in 2003, possibly to help readers understand the connection between the books. "Horowitz Horror" (1999) and "More Horowitz Horror" (2000) saw Horowitz exploring a darker side of his writing. Each book contains several short horror stories. Many of these stories were repackaged in twos or threes as the "Pocket Horowitz" series.  Horowitz began his most famous and successful series in the new millennium with the Alex Rider novels. These books are about a 14-year-old boy becoming a spy, a member of the British Secret Service branch MI6. There are eleven books where Alex Rider is the protagonist, and a twelfth is connected to the Alex Rider series : "Stormbreaker" (2000), "Point Blanc" (2001), "Skeleton Key" (2002), "Eagle Strike" (2003), "Scorpia" (2004) "Ark Angel" (2005), "Snakehead" (2007), "Crocodile Tears (novel)" (2009), "Scorpia Rising" (2011), and the 'connector, "Russian Roulette" (2013). Horowitz had stated that "Scorpia Rising" was to be the last book in the Alex Rider series prior to writing "Russian Roulette" about the life of Yassen Gregorovich, but he has returned to the series with "Never Say Die" (2017) and Nightshade (2020)  In 2003, Horowitz also wrote three novels featuring the Diamond Brothers: "The Blurred Man", "The French Confection" and "I Know What You Did Last Wednesday", which were republished together as "Three of Diamonds" in 2004. The author information page in early editions of "Scorpia" and the introduction to "Three of Diamonds" claimed that Horowitz had travelled to Australia to research a new Diamond Brothers book, entitled "Radius of the Lost Shark". However, this book has not been mentioned since, so it is doubtful it is still planned. A new Diamond Brothers "short" book entitled "The Greek who Stole Christmas!" was later released. It is hinted at the end of "The Greek who Stole Christmas" that "Radius of the Lost Shark" may turn out to be the eighth book in the series. Anthony Horowitz was asked in 2012 on Twitter by a fan when this book would come out, to which Horowitz replied that he had not started on the book yet, so certainly not for another 3 years. In 2015, Horowitz stated in a newspaper interview that there would be at least another 6 books written by him before continuing the Diamond Brothers series.  In 2004, Horowitz branched out to an adult audience with "The Killing Joke", a comedy about a man who tries to track a joke to its source with disastrous consequences. Horowitz's second adult novel, "Magpie Murders", is about "a whodunit writer who is murdered while he's writing his latest whodunit". Having previously spoken about the book in 2005, Horowitz expected to finish it in late 2015, and it was published in October 2016.  In August 2005, Horowitz released a book called "Raven's Gate" which began another series entitled "The Power of Five" ("The Gatekeepers" in the United States). He describes it as "Alex Rider with witches and devils". The second book in the series, "Evil Star", was released in April 2006. The third in the series is called "Nightrise", and was released on 2 April 2007. The fourth book "Necropolis" was released in October 2008. The fifth and last book was released in October 2012 and is named "Oblivion".  In October 2008, Anthony Horowitz's play "Mindgame" opened Off Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse in New York City. "Mindgame" starred Keith Carradine, Lee Godart, and Kathleen McNenny. The production was the New York stage directorial debut for Ken Russell. In 2008 also he got into a joke dispute with Darren Shan over his use of the name Antoine Horwitzer for an objectionable character. Rather than suing, Horowitz plotted a literary revenge.  In March 2009 he was a guest on "Private Passions", the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3.  On 19 January 2011, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle announced that Horowitz was to be the writer of a new Sherlock Holmes novel, the first such effort to receive an official endorsement from them and to be entitled "The House of Silk". It was both published in November 2011 and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. A follow-up novel, "Moriarty", was published in 2014.  In October 2014, the Ian Fleming estate commissioned Horowitz to write a James Bond novel, "Trigger Mortis", which was released in 2015. It was followed by a second novel, "Forever and A Day", which came out on 31 May 2018.  Horowitz was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to literature.

Writing for television and film.

Horowitz began writing for television in the 1980s, contributing to the children's anthology series "Dramarama", and also writing for the popular fantasy series "Robin of Sherwood". His association with murder mysteries began with the adaptation of several Hercule Poirot stories for ITV's popular "Agatha Christie's Poirot" series during the 1990s.  Often his work has a comic edge, such as with the comic murder anthology "Murder Most Horrid" (BBC Two, 1991) and the comedy-drama "The Last Englishman" (1995), starring Jim Broadbent. From 1997, he wrote the majority of the episodes in the early series of "Midsomer Murders". In 2001, he created a drama anthology series of his own for the BBC, "Murder in Mind", an occasional series which deals with a different set of characters and a different murder every one-hour episode.  He is also less-favourably known for the creation of two short-lived and sometimes derided science-fiction shows, "Crime Traveller" (1997) for BBC One and "The Vanishing Man" (pilot 1996, series 1998) for ITV. While "Crime Traveller" received favourable viewing figures it was not renewed for a second season, which Horowitz accounts to temporary personnel transitioning within the BBC. In 2002, the detective series "Foyle's War "launched, set during the Second World War.  He devised the 2009 ITV crime drama "Collision" and co-wrote the screenplay with Michael A. Walker.  Horowitz is the writer of a feature film screenplay, "The Gathering", which was released in 2003 and starred Christina Ricci. He wrote the screenplay for Alex Rider's first major motion picture, "Stormbreaker".

Anthony Horowitz, OBE (born 5 April 1955) is an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense. His work for young adult readers includes "The Diamond Brothers" series, the "Alex Rider" series, and "The Power of Five" series (a.k.a. "The Gatekeepers"). His work for adults includes the play "Mindgame" (2001); two Sherlock Holmes novels, "The House of Silk" (2011) and "Moriarty" (2014); and three novels featuring his own detectives, "Magpie Murders" (2016), "The Word Is Murder" (2017), and "The Sentence is Death" (2018). He was also chosen to write James Bond novels by the Ian Fleming estate, starting with "Trigger Mortis" (2015).

Anthony Horowitz (* 5. dubna 1955 Stanmore, Middlesex, Spojené království) je britský spisovatel a scenárista. Známým se stal především sérií románů o dětském agentovi tajných služeb Alexu Riderovi.


Rituals.

On the last day of the month Pyanepsion, the priestess of Athena Polias and the Arrephoroi, a group of girls chosen to help in the making of the sacred peplos, set up the loom on which the enormous peplos was to be woven by the Ergastinai, another group of girls chosen to spend about nine months making the sacred peplos. They had to weave a theme of Athena's defeat of Enkelados and the Olympian's defeat of the Giants. The peplos of the statue was changed each year during the Plynteria.  The peplos played a role in the Athenian festival of the Great Panathenaea. Nine months before the festival, at the arts and crafts festival titled "Chalkeia", a special peplos would begin to be woven by young women. This peplos was placed on the statue of Athena during the festival procession. The peplos had myths and stories woven into its material and usually consisted of purple and saffron yellow cloth.

In modern fashion.

The peplum dress has been revived several times in the modern era due to longstanding admiration for Greek culture. Regency era women wore translucent shift dresses in keeping with the neoclassical architecture and interior design which favoured white marble and pale pastel colors. From the 1950s until the 1970s, classical inspired dresses became part of mainstream British and American fashion due to the emerging popularity of Italian peplum films and package holidays to the Mediterranean. These were revived again during the 1990s and 2010s due to nostalgia for the disco era and Old Hollywood glamour.

A peplos () is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by 500 BC (the Classical period). It was a long, tubular cloth with the top edge folded down about halfway, so that what was the top of the tube was now draped below the waist, and the bottom of the tube was at the ankle. The garment was then gathered about the waist and the folded top edge pinned over the shoulders. The folded-down top of the tube provided the appearance of a second piece of clothing. (The Caryatid statues show a typical drapery.)

Peplos (starořecky "πέπλος") je ženský oděv používaný ve starověkém Řecku zejména před rokem 500 př. n. l. Užíval se ale i v různých jiných zemích již od začátku doby železné.


Early life.

Edward Heath was born at 54 Albion Road, Broadstairs, Kent on 9 July 1916, the son of William George Heath (1888–1976), a carpenter who built air frames for Vickers during the First World War, and was subsequently employed as a builder and Edith Anne Heath ("née" Pantony; 1888–1951), a maid. His father was later a successful small businessman after taking over a building and decorating firm. Heath's paternal grandfather had run a small dairy business, and when that failed worked as a porter at Broadstairs Station on the Southern Railway. Edward was four years old when

Oxford.

A talented musician, Heath won the college's organ scholarship in his first term (he had previously tried for the organ scholarships at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and Keble College, Oxford) which enabled him to stay at the university for a fourth year; he eventually graduated with a Second Class Honours BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1939.  While at university Heath became active in Conservative politics. On the key political issue of the day, foreign policy, he opposed the Conservative-dominated government of the day ever more openly. His first Paper Speech (i.e. a major speech listed on the Order Paper along with the visiting guest speakers) at the Oxford Union, in Michaelmas term 1936, was in opposition to the appeasement of Germany by returning her colonies, confiscated during the First World War.  In June 1937 he was elected President of the Oxford University Conservative Association as a pro-Spanish Republic candidate, in opposition to the pro-Franco John Stokes (himself later a Conservative MP). In 1937–38 Heath was chairman of the national Federation of University Conservative Associations, and in the same year (his third at university) he was Secretary and then Librarian of the Oxford Union. At the end of the year he was defeated for the Presidency of the Oxford Union by another Balliol candidate, Alan Wood, on the

Second World War.

Heath spent late 1939 and early 1940 on a debating tour of the United States before being called up. On 22 March 1941, he received an emergency commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. During the war he initially served with heavy anti-aircraft guns around Liverpool (which suffered heavy German bombing in May 1941) and by early 1942 was regimental adjutant, with the war substantive rank of captain.  Heath participated as an adjutant in the Normandy landings, where he met Maurice Schumann, French Foreign Minister under Pompidou. As a temporary major commanding a battery of his own, he provided artillery support during the Allied

Post-war, 1945–1950.

Before the war Heath had won a scholarship to Gray's Inn and had begun making preparations for a career at the Bar, but after the war he was placed in joint top position in the civil service examinations. He then became a civil servant in the Ministry of Civil Aviation (he was disappointed not to be posted to the Treasury, but declined an offer to join the Foreign Office, fearing that foreign postings might prevent him from entering politics).  Heath joined a team under Alison Munro

Member of Parliament (1950–1965).

Heath made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 26 June 1950, in which he appealed to the Labour government to participate in the Schuman Plan. As MP for Bexley, he gave enthusiastic speeches in support of the young candidate for neighbouring Dartford, Margaret Roberts, later Margaret Thatcher.  He was appointed as an opposition whip by Winston Churchill in February 1951. He remained in the whips' office after the Conservatives won the 1951 general election, rising rapidly to Joint Deputy Chief Whip, Deputy Chief Whip and, in December 1955, Government Chief Whip under Anthony Eden. Journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft has observed that "Of all government jobs, this requires firmness and fairness allied to tact and patience and Heath's ascent seems baffling in hindsight".  Due to the convention that whips do not speak in Parliament, Heath managed to keep out of the controversy over the Suez Crisis. On

Leader of the Opposition (1965–1970).

After the Conservative Party lost the general election of 1964, the defeated Home changed the party leadership rules to allow for a ballot by MPs, and then resigned. The following year, Heath—who was Shadow Chancellor at the time, and had recently won favourable publicity for leading the fight against Labour's Finance Bill—unexpectedly won the party's leadership contest, gaining 150 votes to Reginald Maudling's 133 and Enoch Powell's 15. Heath became

Prime Minister (1970–1974).

1970 election.

With another general election approaching in 1970 a Conservative policy document emerged from the Selsdon Park Hotel that offered free-market oriented policies as solutions to the country's unemployment and inflation problems. Heath stated that the Selsdon weekend only reaffirmed policies that had actually been evolving since he became leader of the

Welfare state.

During Heath's first year in office, higher charges were introduced for benefits of the welfare state such as school meals, spectacles, dentistry, and prescriptions. Entitlement to State Sickness Benefit was also changed so that it would only be paid after the first three days of sickness. As a result of the squeeze in the education budget, Thatcher ended the provision of free school milk for 8- to 11-year-olds (it had already been ended for other children by Harold Wilson); the tabloid press christened her "Margaret Thatcher: Milk Snatcher", although Wilson, a Labour prime minister, had received no such criticism. Despite these measures, the Heath government encouraged a significant increase in welfare spending, and Thatcher blocked Macleod's other posthumous education policy: the abolition of the Open University, which had recently been founded by the preceding Labour government.  Provision was made under the 1970 National Insurance (Old Persons' and Widows' Pensions and Attendances Allowances) Act for pensions to be paid to old people who had been excluded from the pre-1948 pension schemes and were accordingly excluded from the comprehensive scheme that was introduced in 1948. About 100,000 people were affected by

Scottish nationalism.

Scottish nationalism grew as a political force, while the decimalisation of British coinage, begun under the previous Labour government, was completed eight months after Heath came to power. The Central Policy Review Staff was established by Heath in February 1971, while the Local

Economic policy.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Iain Macleod died and was replaced on 20 July 1970 by Anthony Barber. Heath's planned economic policy changes (including a significant shift from direct to indirect taxation) remained largely unimplemented: the Selsdon policy document was more or less abandoned as unemployment increased considerably by 1972. By January that year, the number of unemployed reached a million, the highest level for more than two

Trade unions.

Much of the government's attention, as well as the media and public opinion, focused on deteriorating labour relations, as the government sought to weaken the economic power of the trade union, which had grown steadily since 1945. The Industrial Relations Act 1971 set up a special court under the judge Lord Donaldson. Its imprisonment of striking dockworkers was a public relations disaster and became an object lesson for the

Unemployment.

There was a steep rise in unemployment for the first two years of the Heath ministry, but it was then reversed. Labour in 1964 had inherited an unemployment count of around 400,000, but saw unemployment peak at 631,000 in early 1967. At election time June 1970, the unemployment numbers were still high at 582,000. Heath and the Conservatives

Foreign policy.

Upon entering office in June 1970, Heath immediately set about trying to reverse Wilson's policy of ending Britain's military presence East of Suez. Heath took the United Kingdom into Europe on 1 January 1973, following passage in Parliament of the European Communities Act 1972 in October (21 Eliz. II c.68). He publicly supported the massive US bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong in April 1972.  In October 1973 he placed a British arms embargo on all combatants in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War, which mostly affected the Israelis by preventing them obtaining spares for their Centurion tanks.

Northern Ireland.

Heath governed during a bloody period in the history of the Northern Ireland Troubles. On Bloody Sunday in 1972, 14 men were shot dead by British soldiers during an anti-internment march in Derry City. In early 1971 Heath sent in a Secret Intelligence Service officer, Frank Steele, to talk to the IRA and find out what common ground there was for negotiations. Steele had carried out secret talks with Jomo Kenyatta ahead of the British withdrawal from Kenya. In July 1972, Heath permitted his Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw, to hold unofficial talks in London with an IRA delegation by Seán Mac Stíofáin. In the aftermath of these unsuccessful talks, the

Fall from power.

1974 general elections.

Heath tried to bolster his government by calling a general election for 28 February 1974, using the election slogan "Who governs Britain?". The result of the election was inconclusive with no party gaining an overall majority in the House

Rise of Thatcher.

Heath came to be seen as a liability by many Conservative MPs, party activists and newspaper editors. His personality was cold and aloof, annoying even to his friends. Alan Watkins observed in 1991 that his "brusqueness, his gaucherie, his lack of small or indeed any talk, his sheer bad manners" were among the factors costing him the support of Conservative backbenchers in the subsequent Conservative Party leadership election of 1975.  He resolved to remain Conservative leader, even after losing the October 1974 general election, and at first it appeared

Later career (1975–2001).

For many years, Heath persisted in criticism of the party's new ideological direction. At the time of his defeat, he was still popular with rank and file Conservative members and was warmly applauded at the 1975 Conservative Party Conference. He played a leading role in the 1975 referendum campaign in which the UK voted to remain part of the EEC, and he remained active on the international stage, serving on the Brandt Commission investigation into developmental issues, particularly on North–South projects (Brandt Report).  His relations with Thatcher remained negative, and in 1979–80, he turned down her offers of the positions of Ambassador to the United States and Secretary General of NATO. He continued as a central figure on the left of the party and, at the 1981 Conservative Party conference, openly criticised the government's economic policy of monetarism, which had seen inflation rise from 13% in 1979 to 18% in 1980 then fall to 4% by 1983, but had seen unemployment double from around 1.5 million to a postwar high of 3.3 million during that time.  In 1990, he flew to Baghdad to attempt to negotiate the release of aircraft passengers and other British nationals taken hostage when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. After the events of Black Wednesday in 1992, he stated in the House of Commons that government should build a fund of reserves to counter currency speculators.  In 1987, he was nominated in the election for the Chancellorship of

Illness and death.

In August 2003, at the age of 87, Heath suffered a pulmonary embolism while on holiday in Salzburg, Austria. He never fully recovered, and owing to his declining health and mobility made very few public appearances in the last two years of his life, his last one being at the unveiling of a set of gates at St Paul's Cathedral dedicated to Sir Winston Churchill on 30 November 2004.  In his final public statement Heath paid tribute to James Callaghan, who died on 26 March 2005, saying "James Callaghan was a major fixture in the political life of this country during his long and varied career. When in opposition he never hesitated

Personal life.

Private residence.

In the 1960s, Heath had lived in the Albany, off Piccadilly; at the unexpected end of his premiership, the French couple living there refused his demand that they move out so that he could have his flat back ("So much for European Unity!" Heath later wrote in his memoirs). For four months, Heath took the flat of Conservative MP Timothy Kitson; Kitson declined his offer to pay rent but later recalled an occasion when his own watch broke, and Heath in response invited him to take one of a large collection that he had been given on his travels. In July 1974, the Duke of Westminster, a major London landowner and ardent Europhile, allowed Heath to rent a property

Yachting.

Heath was a keen yachtsman. He bought his first yacht "Morning Cloud" in 1969 and won the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race that year. He captained Britain's winning team for the

Classical music.

Heath maintained an interest in classical music as a pianist, organist and orchestral conductor, famously installing a Steinway grand in 10 Downing Street – bought with his £450 Charlemagne Prize money, awarded for his unsuccessful efforts to bring Britain into the EEC in 1963, and chosen on the advice of his friend, the pianist Moura Lympany – and conducting Christmas carol concerts in Broadstairs every year from his teens until old age. Heath often played the organ for services at Holy Trinity Brompton Church in his

Football.

Heath was a supporter of the Lancashire football club Burnley, and just after the

Author.

Heath wrote several books in the second half of the 1970s: "Sailing", "Music", and "Travels". He also compiled a collection of carols called "The Joy of Christmas", published in 1978 by Oxford University Press, which contained the music and lyrics

"Grocer Heath".

In 1964, despite substantial opposition from many Conservative MPs and independent grocers and shopkeepers, Heath led a successful fight to abolish

Sexuality.

Heath never married. He had been expected to marry childhood friend Kay Raven, who reportedly tired of waiting and married an RAF officer whom she met on holiday in 1950. In a four-sentence paragraph of his memoirs, Heath claimed that he had been too busy establishing a career after the war and had "perhaps... taken too much for granted". In a 1998 TV interview with Michael Cockerell, Heath said that he had kept her photograph in his flat for many years afterwards.  His interest in music kept him on friendly

Allegations of child sexual abuse.

In April 2015, a rape claim against Heath was investigated by the Metropolitan Police but was dropped. In August 2015, several police forces were investigating allegations of child sexual abuse by Heath. Hampshire, Jersey, Kent, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Thames Valley constabularies and London's Metropolitan Police investigated such claims. It was reported that a man had claimed that at the age of 12 years he had been raped by Heath in a Mayfair flat in 1961, after he had run away from home. Allegations about Heath were investigated as part of Operation Midland, the Metropolitan Police inquiry into historical claims of child abuse and related homicides. A witness called "Nick" was introduced to the police by the former Exaro website, who had asked him about alleged child sexual abuse by prominent figures at the Dolphin Square apartment complex in Pimlico, London; Heath was reported to be one of the figures. In 2018 "Nick", whose real name is Carl Beech, was arrested and charged over

Honorary degrees.

Heath was awarded many honorary degrees for

Honours.

Edward Heath has received several accolades and honours:

Sir Edward Richard George Heath, (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath served 51 years as a Member of Parliament from 1950 to 2001. He was a strong supporter of the European Communities (EC), and after winning the decisive vote in the House of Commons by 356 to 244, he led the negotiations that culminated in Britain's entry into the EC on 1 January 1973. It was, says biographer John Campbell, "Heath's finest hour". Although he planned to be an innovator as Prime Minister, his government foundered on economic difficulties, including high inflation and major strikes. He became an embittered critic of Margaret Thatcher, who supplanted him as party leader.

Sir Edward Richard George Heath, KG, MBE (9. července 1916 Broadstairs – 17. července 2005 Salisbury) byl v letech 1970-1974 předsedou vlády Velké Británie za Konzervativní stranu.


Etymology.

The word "parasol" (originally from French) is a combination of "para", meaning to stop or to shield, and "sol", meaning sun. "Parapluie" (French) similarly consists of "para" combined with "pluie", which means rain (which in turn derives from "pluvia", the Latin word for rain). Hence, a "parasol" shields from sunlight while a "parapluie" shields from rain.  The word "umbrella" evolved from the Latin "umbella" (an umbel is

History.

Americas.

Mesoamerica.

The At district of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was reported to have used an umbrella made from feathers and gold as its "pantli", an identifying marker that is the equivalent of a modern flag. The "pantli" was carried by the army general.

Africa.

Ancient Egypt.

The earliest known parasols in Ancient Egyptian art date back to the Fifth Dynasty, around 2450 BC. The parasol is found in various shapes. In some instances it is depicted as a flabellum, a fan of palm-leaves or coloured feathers fixed on a long handle, resembling those now carried behind the Pope in processions. Gardiner Wilkinson, in his work

Ancient Near East.

The oldest extant example of —apparent collapsible— parasols appears in the archaeological record around 2310 BC, showing Sargon of Akkad. In the sculptures at Nineveh, the parasol appears frequently. Austen Henry Layard gives a picture of a bas-relief representing a king in his chariot, with an attendant holding a parasol over his head. It has a curtain hanging down behind, but is otherwise exactly like those in use today. It is reserved exclusively for

Ancient India.

The Sanskrit epic Mahabharata (about 4th century BC) relates the following legend: Jamadagni was a skilled bow shooter, and his devoted wife Renuka would always recover each of his arrows immediately. One time however, it took her a whole day to fetch the arrow, and she later blamed the heat of the sun for the delay. The angry Jamadagni shot an arrow at the sun. The sun

Ancient China.

The Chinese character for umbrella is 傘 ("sǎn") and is a pictograph resembling the modern umbrella in design. Some investigators have supposed that its invention was first created by tying large leaves to bough-like ribs (the branching out parts of an umbrella). Others assert that the idea was probably derived from the tent, which remains in an unaltered form to the present day. However, the tradition existing in China is that it originated in standards and banners waving in the air, hence the use of the umbrella was often linked to high-ranking (though not necessarily royalty) in China. On at least one occasion, twenty-four umbrellas were carried before the Emperor when he went out hunting. The umbrella served in this case as a defense against rain rather than sun. The Chinese and Japanese traditional parasol, often used near temples, remains similar to the original ancient Chinese design.  The ancient book of Chinese ceremonies, called "Zhou Li" ("The Rites of Zhou"), dating some 2,400 years ago, directs that a dais should be placed upon the imperial

Southeast Asia.

Simon de la Loubère, who was Envoy Extraordinary from the French King to the King of Siam in 1687 and 1688, wrote an account entitled a "New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam", which was translated in 1693 into English. According to his account, the use of the umbrella was granted to only some of the subjects by the king. An umbrella with several circles, as if two or three umbrellas were fastened on the same stick, was permitted to the king alone; the nobles carried a single umbrella with painted cloths hanging from it. The Talapoins (who seem to have been a sort of Siamese monks) had umbrellas made of a palm-leaf cut and folded, so that the stem formed a handle.  In 1855 the King of Burma directed a letter to the Marquis of Dalhousie in which he styles himself "His great, glorious, and most excellent Majesty, who reigns over the kingdoms of Thunaparanta, Tampadipa, and all the great umbrella-wearing chiefs of the Eastern countries".  The Royal Nine-Tiered Umbrella is one of the royal regalia of Thailand.

Europe.

Ancient Greece.

Parasols are first attested on pottery shards from the late Mycenaean period (c. 1320–1190 BC). Ancient umbrellas could be opened and shut, but rigid examples may have also existed. The earliest archaeological evidence for a collapsible umbrella was unearthed in Samos in a context from about 700 BC and follows closely the shape of a slightly older Phrygian specimen excavated at Gordion. The sliding mechanism of the two pieces is remarkably similar to those in use today.  In Classical Greece, the parasol ("skiadeion"), was an indispensable adjunct to a lady of fashion in the late 5th century BC. Aristophanes mentions it among the common articles of female use; they could apparently open and close. Pausanias describes a tomb near Triteia in Achaia decorated with a 4th-century BC painting ascribed to Nikias; it depicted the figure of

Ancient Rome.

From Greece it is probable that the use of the parasol passed to Rome, where it seems to have been usually used by women, while it was the custom even for effeminate men to defend themselves from the heat by means of the "Umbraculum", formed of skin or leather, and capable of being lowered at will. There are frequent references to the umbrella in the Roman Classics, and it appears that it was, not unlikely, a post of honour among maid-servants to bear it over their mistresses. Allusions

Middle Ages.

The extreme paucity of allusions to umbrellas throughout the Middle Ages shows that they were not in common use. In an old romance, "The Blonde of Oxford", a

16th century.

One of the earliest depictions is in a painting by Girolamo dai Libri from 1530

17th century.

Thomas Wright, in his "Domestic Manners of the English", gives a drawing from the Harleian MS., No. 604, which represents an Anglo-Saxon gentleman walking out attended by his servant, the servant carrying an umbrella with a handle that slopes backwards, so as to bring the umbrella over the head of the person in front. It probably could not be closed, but otherwise it looks like an ordinary umbrella, and the ribs are represented distinctly.  The use of the parasol and umbrella in France and England was adopted, probably from China, about the middle of the seventeenth century. At that period, pictorial representations of it are frequently found, some of

18th and 19th centuries.

Kersey's Dictionary (1708) describes an umbrella as a "screen commonly used by women to keep off rain".  The first lightweight folding umbrella in Europe was introduced in 1710 by a Paris merchant named Jean Marius, whose shop was located near the barrier of Saint-Honoré. It could be opened and closed in the same way as modern umbrellas, and weighed less than one kilogram. Marius received from the King the exclusive right to produce folding umbrellas for five years. A model was purchased by the Princess Palatine in 1712, and she enthused about it to her aristocratic friends, making it an essential fashion item for Parisiennes. In 1759, a French scientist named Navarre presented a new design to the French Academy of Sciences for an umbrella combined with a cane. Pressing a small button on the side of the cane opened the umbrella.  Their use became widespread in Paris. In 1768, a Paris magazine reported: "The common usage for quite some time now is not to go out without an umbrella, and to have the inconvenience of carrying it under your arm for six months in order to use it perhaps six times. Those who do not want to be mistaken for vulgar people much prefer to take the risk of being soaked, rather than to be regarded as someone who goes on foot; an umbrella is a sure sign of someone who doesn't have his own carriage."  In 1769, the Maison Antoine, a store at the Magasin d'Italie on rue Saint-Denis, was the first to offer umbrellas for rent to those caught in downpours, and it became a common practice. The Lieutenant General of Police of Paris issued regulations for the rental umbrellas; they were made of oiled green silk, and carried a number so they could be found and reclaimed if someone walked off with one.  By 1808 there were seven shops making and selling umbrellas in Paris; one shop, Sagnier on rue des Vielles-Haudriettes, received the first patent given for an invention in France for a new model of umbrella. By 1813 there were 42 shops; by 1848 there were three hundred seventy-seven small shops making umbrellas in Paris, employing 1400 workers. One of the well-known makers was Boutique Bétaille, which was located at rue

Modern use.

National Umbrella Day is held on 10 February each year around the world.  The pocket (foldable) umbrella was invented in Uraiújfalu (Hungary) by the Balogh brothers, whose patent request was admitted in 1923 by the Royal Notary Public of Szombathely. Later on their patent was also approved in Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Poland, Great Britain and the United States.  In 1928, Hans Haupt's pocket umbrellas appeared. In Vienna in 1928, Slawa Horowitz, a student studying sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste Wien (Academy of Fine Arts), developed a prototype for an improved compact foldable umbrella for which she received a patent on 19 September 1929. The umbrella was called "Flirt" and manufactured by the Austrian company "Brüder Wüster" and their German associates "Kortenbach & Rauh". In Germany, the small foldable umbrellas were produced by the company "Knirps", which became a synonym in the German language for small foldable umbrellas in general. In 1969, Bradford E Phillips, the owner of Totes Incorporated of Loveland, Ohio, obtained a patent for his "working folding umbrella".  Umbrellas have also been fashioned into hats as early as 1880 and at least as recently as 1987.  Golf umbrellas, one of the largest sizes in common use, are typically around across, but

Other uses.

The umbrella is used in weather forecasting as an icon for rain. Two variations, a plain umbrella (☂, U+2602) and an umbrella with raindrops overhead (☔, U+2614), are encoded in the Miscellaneous Symbols block of Unicode.

In religious ceremony.

As a canopy of state, umbrellas were generally used in southern and eastern Europe, and then passed from the imperial court into church ceremony. They are found in the ceremonies of the Byzantine Rite, were borne over the Host in procession, and form part of the Pontifical regalia.

Catholic Church.

An umbrella, the "ombrellino" (Italian) or "umbraculum" (Latin) is an historic piece of the papal regalia. Although the popes no longer use it personally, it is displayed on the coat of arms of a "sede vacante" (the papal arms used between the death of a pope and the election of his successor). This umbraculum is normally made of alternating red and gold fabric, and is usually displayed in a partially unfolded manner. The popes have traditionally bestowed the use of the umbraculum as a mark of honor upon specific persons and places. The use of an umbraculum is one of the honorary symbols of a basilica

Oriental Orthodox Churches.

In several Oriental Orthodox Churches, such as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, umbrellas are used liturgically to show honor to a person (such as a bishop) or a holy object. In the ceremonies of Timkat (Epiphany), priests will carry a model of the Tablets of Stone, called a Tabot, on their heads in procession to a body of water, which will then be blessed. Brightly colored embroidered and fringed liturgical parasols are carried above the Tabota during this procession. Such processions also take place on other major feast days.

In photography.

Umbrellas with a reflective inside are used by photographers as a diffusion device when employing artificial lighting, and as a glare

For protection against attackers.

In 1835, the Baron Charles Random de Berenger instructed readers of his book "How to Protect Life and Property" in several methods of using an umbrella as an improvised weapon against highwaymen.  In 1897, journalist J. F. Sullivan proposed the umbrella as a misunderstood weapon in a tongue-in-cheek article for the "Ludgate Monthly".  Between 1899 and 1902, both umbrellas and walking sticks as self defence weapons were incorporated

In architecture.

In the 1950s Frei Otto transformed the universally used individual umbrella into an item of lightweight architecture. He developed a new umbrella form, based on the minimum surface principle. The tension loaded membrane of the funnel-shaped umbrella is now stretched under the compression-loaded bars. This construction type made it technically and structurally possible to build very large convertible umbrellas. The first umbrellas of this kind (Federal Garden Exhibition, Kassel, 1955) were fixed, Frei Otto constructed the first convertible large umbrellas for the Federal Garden Exhibition in Cologne 1971. In 1978 he built a group of ten convertible umbrellas for British rock group Pink Floyd's American tour. The great beauty of these lightweight structures inspired many subsequent projects built all over the world. The largest convertible umbrellas built until now were designed by Mahmoud Bodo Rasch and his team at SL-Rasch to provide shelter from sun and rain for the great mosques in Saudi Arabia. Later works by the architect Le Corbusier such as Centre Le Corbusier and Villa Shodhan involve a parasol, which served as a roof structure and provided cover from the sun and wind.

An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term "umbrella" is traditionally used when protecting oneself from rain, with "parasol" used when protecting oneself from sunlight, though the terms continue to be used interchangeably. Often the difference is the material used for the canopy; some parasols are not waterproof. Umbrella canopies may be made of fabric or flexible plastic. There are also combinations of parasol and umbrella that are called en-tout-cas (French for "in any case").

Deštník neboli paraple je předmět, který umožňuje krátce schovat či déle ochraňovat osoby a předměty pod ním ukryté před dopadajícím deštěm, jako slunečník také před slunečním zářením, někdy (po jistý čas) i padajícím sněhem.


Career.

1974–1976: Formation and debut.

Alan Parsons met Eric Woolfson in the canteen of Abbey Road Studios in the summer of 1974. Parsons acted as Assistant Engineer on the Beatles' albums "Abbey Road" (1969) and "Let It Be" (1970), engineered Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" (1973), and produced several acts for EMI Records. Woolfson, a songwriter and composer, was working as a session pianist while composing material for a concept album based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe.  After Parsons asked Woolfson to become his manager, he managed Parsons's career as a producer and engineer through a string of successes, including Pilot, Steve Harley, Cockney Rebel, John Miles, Al Stewart, Ambrosia, and the Hollies. At the time, Parsons was frustrated by accommodating the views of some of the musicians he felt interfered with his production. Woolfson came up with the idea of making an album based on developments in the film industry -- the focal point of the films' promotion shifted from film stars to directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. If the film industry was becoming a director's medium, Woolfson felt the music business might well become a producer's medium.  Recalling his earlier Edgar Allan Poe material, Woolfson saw a way to combine his and Parsons's talents. Parsons produced and engineered songs written and composed by the two, and the first Alan Parsons Project was begun. The Project's first album, "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" (1976), released by 20th Century Fox Records and included major contributions by all members of Pilot and Ambrosia, was a success, reaching the Top 40 in the US "Billboard" 200 chart. The song "The Raven" featured lead vocals by the actor Leonard Whiting. According to the 2007 re-mastered album liner notes, this was the first rock song to use a digital vocoder, with Alan Parsons speaking lyrics through it, although others such as Bruce Haack pioneered this field in the previous decade.

1977–1990: Mainstream success and final releases.

Arista Records then signed the Alan Parsons Project participants for further albums. Through the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Project's popularity continued to grow. (However, the Project was always more popular in North America, Ibero-America, and Continental Europe than in Parsons's home country, never achieving a UK Top 40 single or Top 20 album). The singles "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You", "Games People Play", "Damned If I Do", "Time" (the first single to feature Woolfson's lead vocal) and "Eye in the Sky" had a notable impact on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Don't Answer Me" became the Project's last successful single in the United States; it reached the top 15 on the American charts in 1984. After those successes, however, the Project began to fade from view. There were fewer hit singles, and declining album sales. 1987's "Gaudi" would be the Project's final release, though it had planned to record an album called "Freudiana" (1990) next.

The musical "Freudiana".

Even though the studio version of "Freudiana" was produced by Parsons (and featured the regular Project backing musicians, making it an 'unofficial' Project album), it was primarily Woolfson's idea to turn it into a musical. This eventually led to a rift between the two artists. While Parsons pursued his own solo career and took many members of the Project on the road for the first time in a successful worldwide tour, Woolfson went on to produce musical plays influenced by the Project's music. "Freudiana", "Gaudi", and "Gambler" were three musicals that included some Project songs like "Eye in the Sky", "Time", "Inside Looking Out", and "Limelight". The live music from "Gambler" was only distributed at the performance site in Mönchengladbach, Germany.

"The Sicilian Defence".

In 1979, Parsons, Woolfson, and their record label Arista, had been stalled in contract renegotiations when the two submitted an all-instrumental album tentatively titled "The Sicilian Defence", named after an aggressive opening move in chess, arguably to get out of their recording contract. Arista's refusal to release the album had two known effects: the negotiations led to a renewed contract, and the album was not released at that time.  In interviews he gave before his death in 2009, Woolfson said he planned to release one track from the "Sicilian" album, which in 2008 appeared as a bonus track on a CD re-issue of the "Eve" album. Sometime later, after he had relocated the original tapes, Parsons had completely changed his mind about the album and announced that it would finally be released on an upcoming Project box set called "The Complete Albums Collection" in 2014 for the first time as a bonus disc.

Alan Parsons's solo career.

Parsons released titles under his name; these were "Try Anything Once" (1993), "On Air" (1996), "The Time Machine" (1999), "A Valid Path" (2004) and "The Secret" (2019). Meanwhile, Woolfson made concept albums titled "Freudiana" (1990), about Sigmund Freud's work on psychology, and "" (2003); this continued from the Alan Parsons Project's first album about Edgar Allan Poe's literature.  "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" (1976) was re-mixed in 1987 for release on CD, and included narration by Orson Welles recorded in 1975, but arrived too late to be included on the original album. For the 2007 deluxe edition release, parts of this tape were used for the 1976 Griffith Park Planetarium launch of the original album, the 1987 remix, and various radio spots. All were included as bonus material.

Sound.

The band's sound is described as progressive rock, art rock, progressive pop, and soft rock. "Sirius" is their best-known and most-frequently heard of all Parsons/Woolfson songs. It was used as entrance music by various American sports teams, notably by the Chicago Bulls during their 1990s NBA dynasty. It was also used as the entrance theme for Ricky Steamboat in pro wrestling of the mid-1980s. In addition, "Sirius" is played in a variety of TV shows and movies including the BBC series Record Breakers, the episode "Vanishing Act" of "" and the 2009 film "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs".  Vocal duties were shared by guests to complement each song. In later years, Woolfson sang lead on many of the group's hits, including "Time", "Eye in the Sky", and "Don't Answer Me". The record company pressured Parsons to use him more, however Parsons preferred to use polished proficient singers; Woolfson admitted he was not in that category. In addition to Woolfson, vocalists Chris Rainbow, Lenny Zakatek, John Miles, David Paton, and Colin Blunstone are regulars. Other singers, such as Arthur Brown, Steve Harley, Gary Brooker, Dave Terry a.k.a. Elmer Gantry, Vitamin Z's Geoff Barradale, and Marmalade's Dean Ford, recorded only once or twice with the Project. Parsons sang lead on one song ("The Raven") through a vocoder and backing on a few others, including "To One in Paradise". Both of those songs appeared on "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" (1976).  A variety of musicians worked with the Alan Parsons Project regularly, contributing to the recognizable style of a Project song despite the varied singer line-up. With Parsons and Woolfson, the Project consisted of the group Pilot, with Ian Bairnson (guitar), David Paton (bass) and Stuart Tosh (drums). Pilot's keyboardist Billy Lyall contributed. From "Pyramid" (1978) onward, Tosh was replaced by Stuart Elliott of Cockney Rebel. Bairnson played on all albums, and Paton stayed almost until the end. Andrew Powell appeared as arranger of orchestra (and often choirs) on all albums except "Vulture Culture" (1985); he was composing the score of Richard Donner's film "Ladyhawke" (1985). This score was partly in the Project style, recorded by most of the Project regulars, and produced and engineered by Parsons. Powell composed some material for the first two Project albums. For "Vulture Culture" and later, Richard Cottle played as a regular member on synthesizers and saxophone. The Project played live only once during its original incarnation because Woolfson and Parsons held the roles of writing and production, and because of the technical difficulties of re-producing on stage the complex instrumentation used in the studio. In the 1990s, musical production evolved with the technology of digital samplers. The one occasion the band was introduced as 'The Alan Parsons Project' in a live performance was at Night of the Proms in October 1990 (prior to their break-up, they haven't played much since their dissolution), featuring all Project regulars except Woolfson, present behind the scenes, while Parsons stayed at the mixer. Except the last song, he played acoustic guitar.  Since 1993, a new version of the band toured with Parsons performing acoustic guitar, keyboards, and vocals, with various line-ups. This latest incarnation was called Alan Parsons, later renamed the Alan Parsons Live Project to be distinct from 'The Alan Parsons Project', due to Parsons' break-up with Woolfson. This version includes lead singer P.J. Olsson, guitarist Jeffrey Kollman, drummer Danny Thompson, keyboardist Tom Brooks, bass guitarist Guy Erez, vocalist and saxophonist Todd Cooper, and guitarist and vocalist Dan Tracey. In 2013, Alan Parsons Live Project played Colombia with a full choir and orchestra (the Medellin Philharmonic) as 'Alan Parsons Symphonic Project'. A 2-CD live set and a DVD version of this concert were released in May 2016.

In popular culture.

"The Simpsons" episode "Homerpalooza" features Homer explaining 1970s rock music to Lisa, Bart, and Milhouse: "Grand Funk Railroad paved the way for Jefferson Airplane, clearing the way for Jefferson Starship. The stage was set for the Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft."  In the 1999 movie "", the weapon Dr. Evil installed on the moon is referred to as 'The Alan Parsons Project', then his son Scott Evil makes fun of him for trying to be hip by using the name of the band and other 80s references.

The Alan Parsons Project were a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson. They were accompanied by a varying number of session musicians and some relatively consistent band members such as guitarist Ian Bairnson, arranger Andrew Powell, bassist and vocalist David Paton, drummer Stuart Elliott, and vocalists Lenny Zakatek and Chris Rainbow. Parsons was an audio engineer and producer by profession, but also a musician and a composer. A songwriter by profession, Woolfson was also a composer, a pianist, and a singer. Almost all the songs on the Project's albums are credited to "Woolfson/Parsons".

The Alan Parsons Project je britská progressive rocková skupina aktivní v letech 1975 až 2007, založená Skotem Ericem Woolfsonem a Angličanem Alanem Parsonsem. Skupina byla nesmírně populární v Severní Americe a v kontinentální Evropě, ve srovnání s tím byl úspěch doma malý.


Structure, genre and content.

The structure can be divided into three sections:  The book is addressed to the rulers of the earth, urging them to love righteousness and seek wisdom; the wicked think that all is chance and that they should enjoy each day, but they are deluded. In the second section Solomon (not explicitly named, but strongly implied) tells of his search for wisdom.  The Wisdom of Solomon can be linked to several forms of ancient literature, both Jewish and non-Jewish, but it clearly belongs with biblical Wisdom books such as the Book of Job, one of only five such books among ancient Jewish literature. In terms of classical genre it has been identified as an encomium and with the Greek genre of the "exhortatory discourse", by which a teacher attempts to persuade others to a certain course of action.

Canonicity.

Melito of Sardis in the 2nd century AD, Augustine (c. 397 AD) and Pope Innocent I (405 AD) considered Wisdom of Solomon as part of the Old Testament. Athanasius writes that the Book of Wisdom along with three other deuterocanonical books, while not being part of the Canon, "were appointed by the Fathers to be read". Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 385 AD) mentions that the Wisdom of Solomon was of disputed canonicity. According to the monk Rufinus of Aquileia (c. 400 AD) the Book of Wisdom was not called a canonical but ecclesiastical book.  The Book of Wisdom was listed as canonical by the Council of Rome (382 AD), the Synod of Hippo (393), the Council of Carthage (397) and the Council of Carthage (419), the Council of Florence (in 1442) and the Council of Trent (in 1546).

Composition.

The Wisdom of Solomon was written in Greek, in Alexandria (Egypt), in the late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD. The author's prime literary source was the Septuagint, in particular the Wisdom literature and the Book of Isaiah, and he was familiar with late Jewish works as the Book of Enoch and with Greek philosophical literature. It is uncertain whether the book has a single author or comes from a school of writers, but recent scholarship has favoured regarding it as a unified work. In either case its blend of Greek and Jewish features suggests a learned Hellenistic background, and despite the address to the "rulers of the world" the actual audience was probably members of the author's own community who were tempted to give up their Jewishness in the face of the temptations of Greek culture and the hostile conditions facing Jews in the Greek world.

Themes.

The book opens with the opposed pairs righteousness/unrighteousness and death/immortality: those who do not follow righteousness will fall into "senseless reasoning" and will not be open to wisdom; wisdom is not an inherent human quality nor one that can be taught, but comes from outside, and only to those who are prepared through righteousness. The suffering of the righteous will be rewarded with immortality, while the wicked will end miserably. The unrighteous are doomed because they do not know God's purpose, but the righteous will judge the unrighteous in God's presence. Lady Wisdom dominates the next section, in which Solomon speaks. She existed from the Creation, and God is her source and guide. She is to be loved and desired, and kings seek her: Solomon himself preferred Wisdom to wealth, health, and all other things. She in turn has always come to the aid of the righteous, from Adam to the Exodus. The final section takes up the theme of the rescue of the righteous, taking the Exodus as its focus: "You (God) have not neglected to help (your people the Jews) at all times and in all places." (Wisdom of Solomon, 19:22).

The Book of Wisdom, or the Wisdom of Solomon, is a Jewish work written in Greek and most likely composed in Alexandria, Egypt. Generally dated to the mid first century BC, the central theme of the work is "Wisdom" itself, appearing under two principal aspects. In its relation to man, Wisdom is the perfection of knowledge of the righteous as a gift from God showing itself in action. In direct relation to God, Wisdom is with God from all eternity. It is one of the seven Sapiential or wisdom books comprising the Septuagint, the others being Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Song of Solomon), Job, and Sirach. It is included in the canon of Deuterocanonical books by the Roman Catholic Church and the "anagignoskomena" (Gr. ἀναγιγνωσκόμενα, meaning "those which are to be read") of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Most Protestants consider it part of the Apocrypha.

Kniha Moudrosti (, někdy také Moudrost Šalomounova, ) je jedna z deuterokanonických knih Starého zákona, která byla sepsána v 1. století př. n. l. pod vlivem antického mudrosloví. Zásadní je především koncept Moudrosti, jakožto zprostředkující bytosti mezi Bohem a světem.


Definition.

According to the historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, Kublai Khan granted Hulagu (Hülegü) the title of Ilkhan after his defeat of Ariq Böke. The term "ilkhan" here means "khan of the tribe, khan of the 'ulus'" and this inferior "khanship" refers to the initial deference to Möngke Khan and his successor Great Khans of the Mongol empire. The title "Ilkhan", borne by the descendants of Hulagu and later other Borjigin princes in Persia, does not materialize in the sources until after 1260.

History.

Origin.

When Muhammad II of Khwarazm executed a contingent of merchants dispatched by the Mongols, Genghis Khan declared war on the Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty in 1219. The Mongols overran the empire, occupying the major cities and population centers between 1219 and 1221. Iran was ravaged by the Mongol detachment under Jebe and Subutai, who left the area in ruin. Transoxiana also came under Mongol control after the invasion.  Muhammad's son Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu returned to Iran in c. 1224 after fleeing to India. The rival Turkic states, which were all that remained of his father's empire, quickly declared their allegiance to Jalal. He repulsed the first Mongol attempt to take Central Persia. However, Jalal ad-Din was overwhelmed and crushed by Chormaqan's army sent by the Great Khan Ögedei in 1231. During the Mongol expedition, Azerbaijan and the southern Persian dynasties in Fars and Kerman voluntarily submitted to the Mongols and agreed to pay tribute. To the west, Hamadan and the rest of Persia was secured by Chormaqan. The Mongols invaded Armenia and Georgia in 1234 or 1236, completing the conquest of the Kingdom of Georgia in 1238. They began to attack the western parts of Greater Armenia, which was under the Seljuks, the following year. By 1237 the Mongol Empire had subjugated most of Persia (including modern-day Azerbaijan), Armenia, Georgia (excluding Abbasid Iraq and Ismaili strongholds), as well as all of Afghanistan and Kashmir. After the battle of Köse Dağ in 1243, the Mongols under Baiju occupied Anatolia, while the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and the Empire of Trebizond became vassals of the Mongols.  In 1236 Ögedei commanded Greater Khorasan to be restored and the city of Herat repopulated. The Mongol military governors mostly made camp in the Mughan plain in what is now Azerbaijan. Realizing the danger posed by the Mongols, the rulers of Mosul and Cilician Armenia submitted to the Great Khan. Chormaqan divided the Transcaucasia region into three districts based on the Mongol military hierarchy. In Georgia, the population was temporarily divided into eight tumens. In 1244, Güyük Khan stopped raising of revenue from districts in Persia as well and offered tax exemptions to others. In accordance with a complaint by the governor Arghun the Elder (Arghun agha), Möngke Khan prohibited "ortog"-merchants (Mongol-contracted Muslim traders) and nobles from abusing relay stations and civilians in 1251. He ordered a new census and decreed that each man in the Mongol-ruled Middle East must pay in proportion to his property. Persia was divided between four districts under Arghun. Möngke Khan granted the Kartids authority over Herat, Jam, Pushang (Fushanj), Ghor, Khaysar, Firuz-Kuh, Gharjistan, Farah, Sistan, Kabul, Tirah, and Afghanistan.

Hulagu Khan.

Hulagu Khan, third son of Tolui, grandson of Genghis Khan, and brother of both Möngke Khan and Kublai Khan, was the first khan of the Ilkhanate. Immediately after his brother Möngke's accession as Great Khan in 1251, Hulagu was appointed as administrator of North China, however in the following year, North China was assigned to Kublai and Hulagu tasked with conquering the Abbasid Caliphate. He was given a fifth of the entire Mongol army for the campaign and he took his sons Abaqa and Yoshmut along with him. Hulagu also took with him many Chinese scholars and astronomers, from whom the famous Persian astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi learned about the mode of the Chinese calculating tables. An observatory was built on a hill of Maragheh. Taking over from Baiju in 1255, Hulagu established Mongol rule from Transoxiana to Syria. He destroyed the Nizari Ismaili state and the Abbasid Caliphate in 1256 and 1258 respectively. In 1258, Hulagu proclaimed himself Ilkhan (subordinate khan). After that he advanced as far as Gaza, briefly conquering Ayyubid Syria and Aleppo in 1260. Möngke's death forced Hulagu to return to Mongolia to attend the kuriltai for the next Great Khan. He left a small force of around 10,000 behind in Palestine that was defeated at the battle of Ain Jalut by the Mamluks of Egypt.  Due to the suspicious deaths of three Jochid princes in Hulagu's service, Berke of the Golden Horde declared war on Hulagu in 1262. According to Mamluk historians, Hulagu might have massacred Berke's troops and refused to share his war booty with Berke. Berke sought a joint attack with Baybars and forged an alliance with the Mamluks against Hulagu. The Golden Horde dispatched the young prince Nogai to invade the Ilkhanate but Hulagu forced him back in 1262. The Ilkhanid army then crossed the Terek River, capturing an empty Jochid encampment, only to be routed in a surprise attack by Nogai's forces. Many of them were drowned as the ice broke on the frozen Terek River.  In 1262, Hulagu gave Greater Khorasan and Mazandaran to Abaqa and northern Azerbaijan to Yoshmut. Hulagu himself spent his time living as a nomad in southern Azerbaijan and Armenia. During his early rule, the Ilkhanate experienced mass revolts by its subjects, with the exception of the Seljukids and Artuqids in Anatolia and Mardin. It was not until Shams al-Din Juvayni was appointed as vizier after 1262 that things started calming down and a more sustainable administration was implemented.  Hulagu fell ill in February 1265 after several days of banquets and hunting. He died on 8 February and his son Abaqa succeeded him in the summer.

Middle period (1265–1291).

Upon Abaqa's accession, he immediately faced an invasion by Berke of the Golden Horde, which ended with Berke's death in Tiflis. In 1270, Abaqa defeated an invasion by Ghiyas-ud-din Baraq of the Chagatai Khanate. Abaqa's brother Tekuder sacked Bukhara in retaliation. In 1277, the Mamluks invaded Anatolia and defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Elbistan. Stung by the defeat, Abaqa executed the local regent Mu'in-ad-Din Pervane and replaced him with the Mongol prince Qongqortai. In 1281, Abaqa sent Mongke Temur against the Mamluks, but he too was defeated at Homs.  Abaqa's death in 1282 triggered a succession struggle between his son Arghun, supported by the Qara'unas, and his brother Tekuder, supported by the Chinggisid aristocracy. Tekuder was elected khan by the Chinggisids. Tekuder was the first Muslim ruler of the Ilkhanate but he made no active attempt to proselytize or convert his realm. However he did try to replace Mongol political traditions with Islamic ones, resulting in a loss of support from the army. Arghun used his religion against him by appealing to non-Muslims for support. When Tekuder realized this, he executed several of Arghun's supporters, and captured Arghun. Tekuder's foster son, Buaq, freed Arghun and overthrew Tekuder. Arghun was confirmed as Ilkhan by Kublai Khan in February 1286.  During Arghun's reign, he actively sought to combat Muslim influence, and fought against both the Mamluks and the Muslim Mongol emir Nawruz in Khorasan. To fund his campaigns, Arghun allowed his viziers Buqa and Sa'd-ud-dawla to centralize expenditures, but this was highly unpopular and caused his former supporters to turn against him. Both viziers were killed and Arghun was murdered in 1291.

Religious shift (1291–1316).

The Ilkhanate started crumbling under the reign of Arghun's brother, Gaykhatu. The majority of Mongols converted to Islam while the Mongol court remained Buddhist. Gaykhatu had to buy the support of his followers and as a result, ruined the realm's finances. His vizir Sadr-ud-Din Zanjani tried to bolster the state finances by adopting paper money from the Yuan dynasty, which ended horribly. Gaykhatu also alienated the Mongol old guard with his alleged sexual relations with a boy. Gaykhatu was overthrown in 1295 and replaced with his cousin Baydu. Baydu reigned for less than a year before he was overthrown by Gaykhatu's son, Ghazan.  Hulagu's descendants ruled Persia for the next eighty years, tolerating multiple religions, including Shamanism, Buddhism, and Christianity, and ultimately adopting Islam as a state religion in 1295. However, despite this conversion, the Ilkhans remained opposed to the Mamluks, who had defeated both Mongol invaders and Crusaders. The Ilkhans launched several invasions of Syria, but were never able to gain and keep significant ground against the Mamluks, eventually being forced to give up their plans to conquer Syria, along with their stranglehold over their vassals the Sultanate of Rum and the Armenian kingdom in Cilicia. This was in large part due to civil war in the Mongol Empire and the hostility of the khanates to the north and east. The Chagatai Khanate in Moghulistan and the Golden Horde threatened the Ilkhanate in the Caucasus and Transoxiana, preventing expansion westward. Even under Hulagu's reign, the Ilkhanate was engaged in open warfare in the Caucasus with the Mongols in the Russian steppes. On the other hand, the China-based Yuan Dynasty was an ally of the Ikhanate and also held nominal suzerainty over the latter (the Emperor being also Great Khan) for many decades.  Ghazan converted to Islam under influence of Nawrūz and made Islam the official state religion. Christian and Jewish subjects lost their equal status and had to pay the "jizya" protection tax. Ghazan gave Buddhists the starker choice of conversion or expulsion and ordered their temples to be destroyed; though he later relaxed this severity. After Nawrūz was deposed and killed in 1297, Ghazan made religious intolerance punishable and attempted to restore relations with non-Muslims.  In terms of foreign relations, the Ilkhanate's conversion to Islam had little to no effect on its hostility towards other Muslim states, and conflict with the Mamluks for control of Syria continued. The Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, the only major victory by the Mongols over the Mamluks, ended the latter's control over Syria for a few months. For the most part, Ghazan's policies continued under his brother Öljeitü despite suggestions that he might begin to favor the Shi'a brand of Islam after he came under the influence of Shi'a theologians Al-Hilli and Maitham Al Bahrani.  Öljeitü, who had been baptised in Christianity as an infant, had flirted with Buddhism, became a Hanafi Sunni, though he still retained some residual shamanism. In 1309-10, he became a Shi'ite Muslim. An Armenian scribe in 1304 noted the death of "benevolent and just" Ghazan, who was succeeded by Khar-Banda Öljeitü "who too, exhibits good will to everyone." A colophon from 1306 reports conversion of Mongols to Islam and "they coerce everyone into converting to their vain and false hope. They persecute, they molest, and torment," including "insulting the cross and the church". Some of the Buddhists who survived Ghazan's assaults made an unsuccessful attempt to bring Öljeitü back into Dharma, showing they were active in the realm for more than 50 years.  The conversion of Mongols was initially a fairly superficial affair. The process of establishment of Islam did not happen suddenly. Öljeitü's historian Qāshāni records that Qutlugh-Shah, after losing patience with a dispute between Hanafis and Shafi'is, expressed his view that Islam should be abandoned and Mongols should return to the ways of Genghis Khan. Qāshani also stated that Öljeitü had in fact reverted for a brief period. As Muslims, Mongols showed a marked preference for Sufism with masters like Safi-ad-din Ardabili often treated with respect and favour.

Disintegration (1316–1357).

Öljaitü's son, the last Ilkhan Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, was enthroned in 1316. He was faced with rebellion in 1318 by the Chagatayids and Qara'unas in Khorasan, and an invasion by the Golden Horde at the same time. An Anatolian emir, Irenchin, also rebelled. Irenchin was crushed by Chupan of the Taichiud in the Battle of Zanjan-Rud on 13 July 1319. Under the influence of Chupan, the Ilkhanate made peace with the Chagatais, who helped them crush the Chagatayid revolt, and the Mamluks. In 1327, Abu-Sai'd replaced Chupan with "Big" Hasan. Hasan was accused of attempting to assassinate the khan and exiled to Anatolia in 1332. The non-Mongol emirs Sharaf-ud-Din Mahmud-Shah and Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad were given unprecedented military authority, which irked the Mongol emirs. In the 1330s, outbreaks of the Black Death ravaged the Ilkhanate and both Abu-Sai'd and his sons were killed by 1335 by the plague. Ghiyas-ud-Din put a descendant of Ariq Böke, Arpa Ke'un, on the throne, triggering a succession of short-lived khans until "Little" Hasan took Azerbaijan in 1338. In 1357, Jani Beg of the Golden Horde conquered Chupanid-held Tabriz for a year, putting an end to the Ilkhanate remnant.

Franco-Mongol alliance.

The courts of Western Europe made many attempts to form an alliance with the Mongols, primarily with the Ilkhanate, in the 13th and 14th centuries, starting from around the time of the Seventh Crusade (West Europeans were collectively called Franks by Muslims and Asians in the era of the Crusades). United in their opposition to the Muslims (primarily the Mamluks), the Ilkhanate and the Europeans were nevertheless unable to satisfactorily combine their forces against their common enemy.

Government.

The Ilkhanate Mongols remained nomadic in their way of life until the end of the dynasty. Their nomadic routes covered central Iraq, northwest Iran, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. The Mongols administered Iraq, the Caucasus, and western and southern Iran directly with the exception of Georgia, the Artuqid sultan of Mardin, and Kufa and Luristan. The Qara'unas Mongols ruled Khorasan as an autonomous realm and did not pay taxes. Herat's local Kart dynasty also remained autonomous. Anatolia was the richest province of the Ilkhanate, supplying a quarter of its revenue while Iraq and Diyarbakir together supplied about 35 percent of its revenue.  In 1330, the annexation of Abkhazia resulted in the reunification of the Kingdom of Georgia. However, tribute received by the Il-Khans from Georgia sank by about three-quarters between 1336 and 1350 because of wars and famines.

Legacy.

The emergence of the Ilkhanate had an important historical impact in the Middle Eastern region. The establishment of the unified Mongol Empire had significantly eased trade and commerce across Asia. The communications between the Ilkhanate and the Yuan Dynasty headquartered in China encouraged this development. The dragon clothing of Imperial China was used by the Ilkhanids, the Chinese Huangdi (Emperor) title was used by the Ilkhanids due to heavy clout upon the Mongols of the Chinese system of politics. Seals with Chinese characters were created by the Ilkhanids themselves besides the seals they received from the Yuan dynasty which contain references to a Chinese government organization.  The Ilkhanate also helped to pave the way for the later Safavid dynastic state, and ultimately the modern country of Iran. Hulagu's conquests had also opened Iran to Chinese influence from the east. This, combined with patronage from his successors, would develop Iran's distinctive excellence in architecture. Under the Ilkhans, Iranian historians also moved from writing in Arabic to writing in their native Persian tongue.  The rudiments of double-entry accounting were practiced in the Ilkhanate; merdiban was then adopted by the Ottoman Empire. These developments were independent from the accounting practices used in Europe. This accounting system was adopted primarily as the result of socio-economic necessities created by the agricultural and fiscal reforms of Ghazan Khan in 1295-1304.

Ilkhan as a tribal title in 19th/20th century Iran.

The title Ilkhan resurfaced among the Qashqai nomads of Southern Iran in the 19th century. Jan Mohammad Khan started using it from 1818/19 and this was continued by all the following Qashqai leaders. The last Ilkhan was Naser Khan, who in 1954 was pushed into exile after his support of Mossadeq. When he returned during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he could not regain his previous position and died in 1984 as the last Ilkhan of the Qashqai.

Ilkhans.

House of Hulagu (1256–1335; Ilkhanate Mongol kings).

After the Ilkhanate, the regional states established during the disintegration of the Ilkhanate raised their own candidates as claimants.

House of Hasar.

"Claimants from eastern Persia (Khurasan):"

The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate (, "Ilxānān"), known to the Mongols as Hülegü Ulus (, "Hu’legīn Uls") was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire, ruled by the Mongol House of Hulagu. Hulagu Khan, the son of Tolui and grandson of Genghis Khan, inherited the Middle Eastern part of the Mongol Empire after his brother Möngke Khan died in 1260. Its core territory lies in what is now part of the countries of Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. At its greatest extent, the Ilkhanate also included parts of modern Iraq, Armenia, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, part of modern Dagestan, part of modern Tajikistan. Later Ilkhanate rulers, beginning with Ghazan in 1295, converted to Islam. In the 1330s, the Ilkhanate was ravaged by the Black Death. Its last khan Abu Sa'id died in 1335, after which the khanate disintegrated.

Ílchanát (persky, čínsky ) byl jedním ze čtyř chanátů v rámci Mongolské říše. Centrum ílchanátu bylo v Persii, ale pod jeho kontrolu spadala i území dnešního Iráku, Afghánistánu, Turkmenistánu, Arménie, Ázerbájdžánu, Gruzie, Turecka a západního Pákistánu. Ílchanát byl vybudován na troskách Chórezmské říše, která podlehla v boji s invazí Čingischána v letech 1219–1224. Mongolové si následně podrobovali celé území říše, které osídlili a vybudovali zde svůj stát.