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Dan Aykroyd

Daniel Edward Aykroyd (born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian and American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer.

Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 until his departure in 1979. During his tenure on SNL, he appeared in a recurring series of sketches, particularly featuring the Coneheads and the Blues Brothers. For his work on the show, he received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1977. After his departure, he has since returned to guest roles.

Aykroyd gained prominence for writing, and starring as Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz in Ghostbusters (1984), and Ghostbusters II (1989) and has reprised his role in various projects within the Ghostbusters franchise. He also is known for his comedic roles in The Blues Brothers (1980), Trading Places (1983), Spies Like Us (1985), Dragnet (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Coneheads (1993), and Blues Brothers 2000 (1998), a sequel of the 1980 film.

In 1990, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Boolie Werthan in Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Other dramatic roles include in My Girl (1991), Chaplin, and Sneakers (both 1992). Aykroyd has done supporting roles in Tommy Boy (1995), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), 50 First Dates (2004), The Campaign (2012), and Behind the Candelabra (2013).

He starred as Reverend Mike Weber, in his sitcom Soul Man (1997–1998). He has since appeared on various television shows including It's Garry Shandling's Show (1990), Home Improvement (1997), Family Guy (2009), The Simpsons (2021) and The Conners (2019). Aykroyd is also a businessman, having co-founded the House of Blues chain of music venues and the Crystal Head Vodka brand.

Early life
Aykroyd was born on July 1, 1952, at The Ottawa Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario. His father, Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh Aykroyd (1922–2020), a civil engineer, worked as a policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and his mother, Lorraine Hélène Marie (née Gougeon; 1918–2018), was a secretary. His mother was of French Canadian descent and his father was of English, Scottish, Irish, French, and Dutch ancestry. His paternal ancestor was Englishman Samuel Aykroyd from Halifax, Yorkshire, who emigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Upper Canada near Kingston, Ontario in 1810. His brother, Peter (1955–2021), was also an actor.

He attended St. Pius X and St. Patrick's high schools, and studied criminology and sociology at Carleton University, but dropped out before completing his degree. He worked as a comedian in various Canadian nightclubs and ran an after-hours speakeasy, Club 505, in Toronto for several years.

Aykroyd developed his musical career in Ottawa, particularly through his regular attendance at Le Hibou, a club that featured many blues artists. He describes these influences as follows:

"There was a little disco club there called Le Hibou, which in French means 'the owl.' And it was run by a gentleman named Harvey Glatt, and he brought every, and I mean every, blues star that you or I would ever have wanted to have seen through Ottawa in the late '50s, well I guess more late '60s sort of, in around the Newport jazz rediscovery. I was going to Le Hibou and hearing James Cotton, Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins, and Muddy Waters. I did actually jam behind Muddy Waters. S.P. Leary left the drum kit one night, and Muddy said 'anybody out there play drums? I don't have a drummer.' And I walked on stage and we started, I don't know, Little Red Rooster, something. He said 'keep that beat going, you make Muddy feel good.' And I heard Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett). Many, many times I saw Howlin' Wolf. As well as the Doors. And of course Buddy Guy, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. So I was exposed to all of these players, playing there as part of this scene to service the academic community in Ottawa, a very well-educated community. Had I lived in a different town I don't think that this would have happened, because it was just the confluence of educated government workers, and then also all the colleges in the area, Ottawa University, Carleton, and all the schools—these people were interested in blues culture."

Aykroyd's first professional experience, which he gained at the age of 17, was as a member of the cast of the short-lived Canadian sketch comedy series The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour with Lorne Michaels, among others. He was a member of the Second City comedy troupe in 1973 in both Toronto and Chicago.

Saturday Night Live
Aykroyd gained fame on the American late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). He was originally hired, and paid $278 a week (equivalent to $1,603 in 2024), as a writer for the show, but became a part of the cast before the series premiered. The original cast was referred to on the show as "The Not Ready For Prime Time Players". Aykroyd was the youngest member of the cast, and appeared on the show for its first four seasons, from 1975 to 1979. He brought a sensibility to the show which combined youth, unusual interests, talent as an impersonator, and a manic intensity. Guest host Eric Idle of Monty Python said that Aykroyd's ability to write and act out characters made him the only member of the SNL cast capable of being a Python.

He was known for his impersonations of celebrities such as Jimmy Carter, Vincent Price, Richard Nixon, Rod Serling, Tom Snyder, and Julia Child. He was also known for his recurring roles, such as Beldar, father of the Coneheads family; with Steve Martin, Yortuk Festrunk, one of the "Two Wild and Crazy Guys" brothers from Bratislava, Slovakia; sleazy late-night cable TV host E. Buzz Miller and his cousin, corrupt maker of children's toys and costumes Irwin Mainway (who extolled the virtues and defended the safety of the "Bag-o-Glass" toy); Fred Garvin – male prostitute; and high-bred but low-brow critic Leonard Pinth-Garnell. Aykroyd and Jane Curtin parodied the Point/Counterpoint segment on the CBS news show 60 Minutes, which featured the liberal Shana Alexander and the conservative segregationist James Kilpatrick, by portraying the two as hating one another; Aykroyd's first words in response to Curtin's point were, "Jane, you ignorant slut!".

Aykroyd's eccentric talent was recognized by others in the highly competitive SNL environment; when he first presented his "Super Bass-O-Matic '76" sketch, a fake TV commercial in which a garish, hyper-pitchman (based on Ron Popeil) touts a food blender that turns an entire bass into liquid pulp, the other writers and cast members considered the sketch "so exhilaratingly strange that many remember sitting and listening, open-mouthed ... Nobody felt jealous of it because they couldn't imagine writing anything remotely like it." Aykroyd later said that the inspiration for the sketch was seeing his aunt Helene Gougeon (a culinary writer and food columnist in Montreal) put a bass into a blender in order to make a bouillabaisse when he was 12 years old.

While Aykroyd was a close friend and partner with fellow cast member John Belushi and shared some of the same sensibilities, Aykroyd was more reserved and less self-destructive. Aykroyd later recalled that, unlike Belushi and others of his peers, he was uninterested in recreational drug use.

In 1977, he received an Emmy Award for writing on SNL; he later received two more nominations for writing and one for acting. In Rolling Stone's February 2015 appraisal of all 141 SNL cast members to date, Aykroyd was ranked fifth (behind Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, and Mike Myers). "Of all the original [SNL] greats, Aykroyd is the least imitated", they wrote, "because nobody else can do what he did."

In later decades, Aykroyd made occasional guest appearances and unannounced cameos on SNL, often impersonating the American politician Bob Dole. He also brought back past characters including Irwin Mainway and Leonard Pinth-Garnell. In 1995, he appeared on the show to introduce a performance by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. Aykroyd, who is a fan of the band, had personally lobbied Lorne Michaels to book them as musical guests.

During some guest appearances, he resurrected the Blues Brothers musical act with frequent host John Goodman in place of Belushi, who was by then deceased. He became the second member of the original cast to host SNL in May 2003, when he appeared in the season finale. During his monologue, he performed a musical number with James Belushi similar to the Blues Brothers, but neither Aykroyd nor Belushi donned the black suit and sunglasses. On March 24, 2007, Aykroyd appeared as a crying fan of American Idol finalist Sanjaya Malakar (played by Andy Samberg) during "Weekend Update". On February 14, 2009, he appeared as U.S. House Minority leader John Boehner. Aykroyd also made a surprise guest appearance, along with many other SNL alumni, on the show of March 9, 2013.

The Blues Brothers
Aykroyd was a close friend of John Belushi. According to Aykroyd, their first meeting helped spark the Blues Brothers act. When they met in a club that Aykroyd frequented, he played a blues record in the background, and it stimulated a fascination with blues in Belushi, who was primarily a fan of heavy rock bands at the time. Aykroyd educated Belushi on the finer points of blues music, and with a little encouragement from then-SNL music director Paul Shaffer, it led to the creation of their Blues Brothers characters.

Backed by such experienced professional R&B sidemen as lead guitarist Steve Cropper, sax man Lou Marini, trumpeter Alan Rubin, and bass guitarist Donald "Duck" Dunn, the Blues Brothers proved more than an SNL novelty. Taking off with the public as a legitimate musical act, they performed live gigs and in 1978 released the hit album Briefcase Full of Blues (drawn from the fact that Aykroyd, as "Elwood Blues", carried his blues harmonicas in a briefcase that he kept handcuffed to his wrist, in the manner of a CIA courier; Belushi originally carried the key to those handcuffs). Briefcase Full of Blues eventually sold 3.5 million copies, and is one of the highest-selling blues albums of all time. The band was much further popularized in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, which Aykroyd co-wrote. A sequel, titled Blues Brothers 2000, was released in 1998 and featured John Goodman as Belushi's replacement.

Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles was a regular haunt for the original Blues Brothers in the early days of the band. Belushi and Aykroyd became fixtures at the recording studio, while Blues Brothers band member Steve Cropper called Cherokee his producing home. Whenever they needed a bass player, they were joined by another band member, Donald "Duck" Dunn. During this time, Cropper, along with producing partner and Cherokee owner Bruce Robb, worked on a number of music projects with the two comedians/musicians, including Belushi's favourite band, Fear, and later Aykroyd's movie Dragnet.

The Blues Brothers Band continues to tour, both with and without Aykroyd. The band features original members Cropper and Marini, along with vocalist Eddie Floyd. Aykroyd sometimes performs as Elwood, along with Belushi's younger brother Jim Belushi, who plays "Brother Zee" on stage. They are most frequently backed by the Sacred Hearts Band.

Other film and television work

Concurrent with his work in Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd played the role of Purvis Bickle, lift operator at the fictitious office block 99 Sumach Street in the CBC Television series Coming Up Rosie.

After leaving SNL, Aykroyd starred in a number of films, mostly comedies, with uneven results both commercially and artistically. His first three American feature films all co-starred Belushi. The first, 1941 (1979), directed by Steven Spielberg, was a box-office disappointment. The second, The Blues Brothers (1980), which he co-wrote with director John Landis, was a massive hit. The third, Neighbors (1981) had mixed critical reaction, but was another box-office hit. One of his best-received performances was as a blueblood-turned-wretch in the 1983 comedy Trading Places, in which he co-starred with fellow SNL alumnus Eddie Murphy and Jamie Lee Curtis. He also appeared in Twilight Zone The Movie in the prologue and at the end of Segment Four as the passenger and the ambulance driver.

In the early 1980s, Aykroyd began work on a script for the film that eventually became Ghostbusters, inspired by his fascination with parapsychology and his belief in ghosts. The script initially included a much greater fantasy element, including time travel, but this was toned down substantially through work on the script with Harold Ramis (who became a co-writer) and director Ivan Reitman. Aykroyd originally wrote the role of Dr. Peter Venkman with Belushi in mind, but rewrote it for Bill Murray after Belushi's death. Aykroyd joked that the green ghost, later known as "Slimer", was "the ghost of John Belushi" and was based on Belushi's party-animal personality. Ghostbusters was released in 1984 and became a huge success for Aykroyd, who also appeared as one of the lead actors; the film earned nearly US$300million on a US$30million budget. Aykroyd also briefly appeared in the hit 1984 action-adventure film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as an escort with a British accent. Aykroyd's next major film role was in the 1985 spy comedy film Spies Like Us, which like The Blues Brothers was co-conceived and co-written by Aykroyd, and directed by Landis. Aykroyd had again intended for Belushi to be the other lead in the film; the part was instead given to SNL alumnus Chevy Chase. The film was intended as an homage to the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby Road to ... movies of the 1940s to 1960s. Bob Hope made a cameo appearance in the film.

Dragnet, in which Aykroyd co-starred (with Tom Hanks) and co-wrote, was released in 1987. The film was both an homage and a satire of the previous Dragnet series, with Aykroyd playing Sgt. Joe Friday as a police officer whose law-and-order attitude is at odds with modern sensibilities.

In 1988, Aykroyd co-starred (with John Candy) in the comedy film The Great Outdoors. Aykroyd appeared in four other films released in 1988 (The Couch Trip, She's Having a Baby, Caddyshack II, and My Stepmother Is an Alien), all of them critical and commercial failures.

A sequel to Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, was released in 1989; Aykroyd and the other co-creators were reluctant to make another Ghostbusters film, but succumbed to pressure from the film's studio, Columbia Pictures. The film, while considered inferior to the original, was another big hit, earning US$215million. Aykroyd was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for 1989's Driving Miss Daisy. He was the fourth SNL cast member to be nominated for an Oscar, after Joan Cusack, who was the third.

Aykroyd's directorial debut was 1991's Nothing but Trouble starring Demi Moore, Chevy Chase, John Candy, and Aykroyd, sporting a bulbous prosthetic nose. The film was a critical and box-office flop. Most of Aykroyd's other films in the 1990s were similarly poorly received, including Coneheads (also based on a SNL skit), Exit to Eden, Blues Brothers 2000, and Getting Away with Murder. Four exceptions were My Girl (1991), which starred Jamie Lee Curtis, and Macaulay Culkin, Sneakers (1992), which starred Robert Redford, Tommy Boy (1995), which starred SNL alumni David Spade and Chris Farley, in which Aykroyd played the role of Ray Zalinsky, and Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), in which Aykroyd had a well-received role as a rival hit man.

In 1994, Aykroyd made a guest appearance in an episode of the sitcom The Nanny as a refrigerator repairman. In 1997, he starred as an Episcopal priest in the ABC sitcom Soul Man, which lasted two seasons. In 1998, he voiced the role of Chip, a wasp, in DreamWorks Animation film Antz.

In 2001, Aykroyd starred in the Woody Allen film The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. Most of his subsequent film roles have tended to be small character parts in big-budget productions, such as a signals analyst in Pearl Harbor (2001), a neurologist in 50 First Dates (2004), an annoying neighbor in Christmas with the Kranks (2004), and a fire captain in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007).

In 2009, Aykroyd and Ramis wrote and appeared in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which also featured Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, William Atherton, and Brian Doyle-Murray. In 2010, he played the voice of the title character, Yogi Bear, in the live-action/CGI-animated-film Yogi Bear. That same year, Aykroyd and Chevy Chase guest-starred in the Family Guy episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us", an homage to Spies Like Us.

Aykroyd appeared in two February 2011 episodes of CBS's The Defenders as Judge Max Hunter, which also starred Jim Belushi. He also appeared on Top Chef Canada as a guest judge. He had supporting roles in the 2012 political comedy film The Campaign, which starred SNL alum Will Ferrell, and in the 2013 HBO film Behind the Candelabra.

In 2014, Aykroyd voiced the role of Scarecrow in Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, and had a supporting role in the comedy film Tammy. In 2015, he appeared in a State Farm insurance commercial along with Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman, as the Coneheads, talking to "Jake", a State Farm agent, and played the emcee of the video game championship in the science fiction comedy film Pixels.

Aykroyd was one of the executive producers of Ghostbusters, a long-discussed reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise, which was released in 2016. Aykroyd had a cameo appearance in the film, along with many of the rest of the surviving original Ghostbusters cast.

In early 2021, Aykroyd provided the voice of the Postage Stamp Fellow in the episode The Dad-Feelings Limited in the TV series The Simpsons. He also reprised his role of Dr. Ray Stantz in the movie Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Aykroyd expressed interest in having the surviving three actors of the original Ghostbusters team continuing to reprise their roles for as many sequels as possible while they were alive. Aykroyd again reprises his role in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Other musical endeavours
Aykroyd participated in the recording of "We Are the World" in 1985, as a member of the chorus. He wrote the liner notes for fellow Ottawa-born blues musician JW-Jones's album Bluelisted in 2008. Until its ending in 2018, he hosted the internationally syndicated radio show "Elwood's BluesMobile", formerly known as the House of Blues Radio Hour, under his Blues Brothers moniker Elwood Blues.

Business ventures
In 1992, Aykroyd and Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Isaac Tigrett founded the House of Blues, a chain of music venues, with the mission to promote African-American cultural contributions of blues music and folk art.

Many other music and Hollywood personalities helped to finance it at its start. It began as a single location in Cambridge, Massachusetts, although other locations quickly followed, starting with a venue in New Orleans in 1994. In 2004, House of Blues became the second-largest live music promoter in the world, with seven venues and 22 amphitheatres in the United States and Canada. It was bought by Live Nation in 2006.

On New Year's Eve, 1994, Aykroyd opened the Aykroyd's Ghetto House Cafe on Princess Street in Kingston, Ontario.

In 2007, Aykroyd and artist John Alexander founded Crystal Head Vodka, a brand of high-end vodka known for its distinctive skull-shaped bottle and for being filtered through Herkimer diamond crystals.

Aykroyd is also part owner of several wineries in Canada's Niagara Peninsula, and the company that distributes Patrón tequila in Canada.

In 2016, Aykroyd partnered with TV producers Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey and game developer Ike McFadden to release an online-casino game that features the Blues Brothers. Aykroyd provided the in-game voice of his Elwood Blues character via voiceover.

Charitable works
In 2009, Aykroyd contributed a series of reminiscences on his upbringing in Canada for a charity album titled Dan Aykroyd's Canada. He helped start the Blue Line Foundation, which is redeveloping flood-damaged lots in New Orleans and helping first responders buy them at reduced prices. Coastal Blue Line LLC, hopes to eventually rebuild 400 properties in New Orleans.

Aykroyd is a member of Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.

Personal life
Aykroyd was briefly engaged to actress Carrie Fisher, proposing to her on the set of The Blues Brothers. In the film, she appeared as a jilted girlfriend of John Belushi's character Jake Blues. Their engagement ended when she reconciled with her former boyfriend, musician Paul Simon. In 1983, Aykroyd married actress Donna Dixon. The couple met on the set of Doctor Detroit released the same year and appeared together in four additional films: Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983); Spies Like Us (1985); The Couch Trip (1988); and Exit to Eden (1994). Together, they have three daughters, including Danielle (known by her stage name, Vera Sola). The couple announced in April 2022 that they were separating after 39 years of marriage, but would remain legally married.

Aykroyd maintains his Canadian roots as a longtime resident of Sydenham, Ontario, with his estate on Loughborough Lake.

In a 2004 NPR interview with host Terry Gross, Aykroyd said that he had been diagnosed in childhood with Tourette syndrome (TS). He stated that his TS was successfully treated with therapy. In 2015, he stated during a HuffPost Show interview with hosts Roy Sekoff and Marc Lamont Hill that he has Asperger syndrome which was "never diagnosed", but was "sort of a self-diagnosis" based on several of his own characteristics.

Aykroyd is a former reserve commander for the police department in Harahan, Louisiana, working for Chief of Police Peter Dale. While on the force, Aykroyd carried his badge with him at all times. He currently serves as a reserve deputy of the Hinds County Sheriff's Department in Hinds County, Mississippi. He supports the reserves with a fundraiser concert along with other blues and gospel singers in Mississippi.

Aykroyd's passions for the outdoors, geology and paleontology, which he attributes to watching his father work on constructing the Gatineau Parkway which included blasting through granite rock formations to run the highway, have led him to join Canadian paleontologist Philip J. Currie on a number of digs, including fundraising digs and galas as fundraisers for the construction of the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in Wembley, Alberta, which recognized Aykroyd's contributions by naming its theatre the Aykroyd Family Theatre.

Aykroyd has acquired American citizenship.

Friendship with John Belushi
In an appearance on the Today show, Aykroyd referred to John Belushi and himself as "kindred spirits". In the biography Belushi, Aykroyd claims that Belushi was the only man with whom he could ever dance. The pair were scheduled to present the Academy Award for Visual Effects in 1982, but Belushi died just a few weeks prior to the ceremony. Though devastated by his friend's death, Aykroyd presented the award alone, remarking from the stage, "My partner would have loved to have been here to present this, given that he was something of a visual effect himself."

Aykroyd was openly hostile to the 1989 film Wired, a biopic of Belushi which was based on the 1984 book of the same name by journalist Bob Woodward, starred Michael Chiklis in his film debut as Belushi, and featured him as a character played by actor Gary Groomes. Along with Belushi's widow Judith and brother Jim, and many other friends, associates and relatives of Belushi, he boycotted the film and the associated book for misrepresenting Belushi's life, and during an interview for MTV's The Big Picture in June 1988, he expressed his desire that the film would underperform at the box office, which ultimately happened; he said, "I have witches working now to jinx the thing... I hope it never gets seen and I am going to hurl all the negative energy I can and muster all my hell energies [against them]. My thunderbolts are out on this one, quite truthfully." He had actor J. T. Walsh removed from the film Loose Cannons after Walsh had already done two days of filming in the role of Grimmer, after finding out that Walsh had been in the cast of Wired. Walsh, who had played Bob Woodward in Wired, was replaced as Grimmer by fellow Canadian actor Paul Koslo, causing the film a $125,000 production delay.

Beliefs
Aykroyd considers himself a Spiritualist, stating:
 * I am a Spiritualist, a proud wearer of the Spiritualist badge. Mediums and psychic research have gone on for many, many years ... Loads of people have seen spirits, heard a voice, or felt the cold temperature. I believe that they are between here and there, that they exist between the fourth and fifth dimensions, and that they visit us frequently.

Aykroyd's great-grandfather, a dentist, was a mystic who corresponded with author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the subject of Spiritualism, and was a member of the Lily Dale Society. Other than Spiritualism, Aykroyd is also interested in various other aspects of the paranormal, particularly UFOlogy. He is a lifetime member of and official Hollywood consultant for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). Along these lines, he served, from 1996 to 2000, as host of Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, which claimed to describe cases drawn from the archives of "The Office of Scientific Investigation and Research". In 2005, Aykroyd produced the DVD Dan Aykroyd: Unplugged on UFOs.

Aykroyd was interviewed for 80 minutes by UFOlogist David Sereda, discussing in depth many aspects of the UFO phenomenon.

On September 29, 2009, Peter Aykroyd Sr., Dan's father, published a book entitled A History of Ghosts. This book chronicled the family's historical involvement in the Spiritualist movement, to which Aykroyd readily refers. Aykroyd wrote the introduction and accompanied his father on a series of promotional activities, including launches in New York and Toronto, appearances on Larry King Live and Coast to Coast AM, and various other public-relations initiatives. Aykroyd also read the introduction for the audio version of the book. In 1997, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry awarded Aykroyd in absentia the Snuffed Candle Award for hosting Psi Factor and being a "long-time promoter ... of paranormal claims". Following the awards, Joe Nickell wrote to Aykroyd asking for the research behind the "cases" presented on Psi Factor, particularly a claim that NASA scientists were "killed while investigating a meteor crash and giant eggs were found and incubated, yielding a flea the size of a hog".

Awards and nominations
In 1977, Aykroyd received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy-Variety or Music Series for his collaborative work on Saturday Night Live. In 1994, he received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Carleton University. In 1999, Aykroyd was made a Member of the Order of Canada. He was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2002. In 2017, he was made a member of the Order of Ontario in recognition for being "one of the world's most popular entertainers, well-known for his time on Saturday Night Live and the 1984 classic movie Ghostbusters."

title: Dan Aykroyd


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Treaty of Portsmouth

The Treaty of Portsmouth is a treaty that formally ended the 1904–1905 Russo-Japanese War. It was signed on September 5, 1905, after negotiations from August 6 to August 30, at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, United States (at the time considered part of Portsmouth, New Hampshire). U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was instrumental in the negotiations and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts, the first ever American recipient.

Background
The war of 1904–1905 was fought between the Russian Empire, an international power with one of the largest armies in the world, and the Empire of Japan, a nation that had only recently industrialized after two-and-a-half centuries of isolation. A series of battles in the Liaodong Peninsula had resulted in Russian armies being driven from southern Manchuria, and the Battle of Tsushima had resulted in a cataclysm for the Imperial Russian Navy. The war was unpopular in Russia, whose government was under increasing threat of revolution at home. On the other hand, the Japanese economy was severely strained by the war, with rapidly mounting foreign debts, and Japanese forces in Manchuria faced the problem of ever-extending supply lines. No Russian territory had been seized, and the Russians continued to build up reinforcements via the Trans-Siberian Railway. Recognizing that a long war was not to Japan's advantage, the Japanese government as early as July 1904 had begun seeking out intermediaries to assist in bringing the war to a negotiated conclusion.

The intermediary approached by the Japanese was U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who had publicly expressed a pro-Japanese stance at the beginning of the war. However, as the war progressed, Roosevelt had begun to show concerns on the strengthening military power of Japan and its long-term impact on U.S. interests in Asia. In February 1905, Roosevelt sent messages to the Russian government via the U.S. ambassador in Saint Petersburg. Initially, the Russians were unresponsive, with Tsar Nicholas II still adamant that Russia would eventually prove victorious. The Japanese government was also lukewarm to a peace treaty, as Japanese armies were enjoying an unbroken string of victories. However, after the Battle of Mukden, which was extremely costly to both sides in terms of manpower and resources, Japanese Foreign Minister Komura Jutarō judged that it was now critical for Japan to push for a settlement.

On March 8, 1905, Japanese Army Minister Terauchi Masatake met with the American Minister to Japan, Lloyd Griscom, to tell Roosevelt that Japan was ready to negotiate. However, a positive response did not come from Russia until after the loss of the Russian fleet at the Battle of Tsushima. Two days later, Nicholas met with his grand dukes and military leadership and agreed to discuss peace. On June 7, 1905, Roosevelt met with Kaneko Kentarō, a Japanese diplomat, and on June 8, he received a positive reply from Russia. Roosevelt chose Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as the site for the negotiations, primarily because the talks were to begin in August, and the cooler climate in Portsmouth would avoid subjecting the parties to the sweltering Washington summer.

Portsmouth Peace Conference
The Japanese delegation to the Portsmouth Peace Conference was led by Foreign Minister Komura Jutarō and assisted by Ambassador Takahira Kogorō. The Russian delegation was led by former Finance Minister Sergei Witte, who was assisted by the former Ambassador to Japan Roman Rosen and the international law and arbitration specialist Friedrich Martens. The delegations arrived in Portsmouth on August 8 and stayed in New Castle, New Hampshire, at the Hotel Wentworth, where the armistice was signed. They were ferried across the Piscataqua River every day to the naval base in Kittery, Maine, where the negotiations were held.

The negotiations took place at the General Stores Building (now Building 86). Mahogany furniture patterned after the Cabinet Room of the White House was ordered from Washington.

Before the negotiations began, Tsar Nicholas had adopted a hard line and forbidden his delegates to agree to any territorial concessions, reparations, or limitations on the deployment of Russian forces in the Far East. The Japanese initially demanded recognition of their interests in Korea, the removal of all Russian forces from Manchuria, and substantial reparations. They also wanted confirmation of their control of the island of Sakhalin, which Japanese forces had seized in July 1905, partly to use as a bargaining chip in the negotiations.

A total of twelve sessions were held between August 9 and August 30. During the first eight sessions, the delegates were able to reach an agreement on eight points. These included an immediate ceasefire, recognition of Japan's claims to Korea, and the evacuation of Russian forces from Manchuria. Russia also ceded its leases in southern Manchuria (containing Port Arthur and Talien) to Japan and turned over the South Manchuria Railway and its mining concessions to Japan. Russia was allowed to retain the Chinese Eastern Railway in northern Manchuria. The remaining four sessions addressed the most difficult issues: reparations and territorial concessions. On August 18, Roosevelt proposed that Rosen offer to divide Sakhalin to address the territory issue. On August 23, however, Witte proposed that the Japanese keep Sakhalin and drop their claims for reparations. When Komura rejected the proposal, Witte warned that he was instructed to cease negotiations and that the war would resume. The ultimatum came as four new Russian divisions arrived in Manchuria, and the Russian delegation made an ostentatious show of packing their bags and preparing to depart. Witte was convinced that the Japanese could not afford to restart the war and so applied pressure via the American media and his American hosts to convince the Japanese that monetary compensation was not open for compromise by Russia. Outmaneuvered by Witte, Komura yielded, and in exchange for the southern half of Sakhalin, the Japanese dropped their claims for reparations.

The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on September 5. The treaty was ratified by the Privy Council of Japan on October 10, and in Russia on October 14, 1905.

Aftermath
The signing of the treaty created three decades of peace between the two nations and confirmed Japan's emergence as the pre-eminent power in East Asia. Born from the Taft–Katsura agreement, the treaty gave consent to the Japanese colonization of Korea, and later resulted in the annexation of Korea to Japan in 1910.

The treaty also forced Russian Empire to abandon its expansionist policies in East Asia, but it was not well received by the Japanese people. The Japanese public were aware of their country's unbroken string of military victories over the Russians but were less aware of the precarious overextension of military and economic power that the victories had required. News of the terms of the treaty appeared to show Japanese weakness in front of the European powers, and this frustration caused the Hibiya riots and the collapse of First Katsura Cabinet (first premiership of Katsura Tarō) on January 7, 1906.

Because of the role played by Theodore Roosevelt, the United States became a significant force in world diplomacy. President Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his backchannel efforts before and during the peace negotiations even though he never actually went to Portsmouth.

Criticism
Korean historians (such as Ki-baik Lee, author of A New History of Korea, Harvard University Press, 1984) believe that the Treaty of Portsmouth violated the Korean–American Treaty of Amity and Commerce signed at Incheon on May 22, 1882, because the Joseon government considered that treaty constituted a de facto mutual defense treaty, unlike the Americans. The problem was Article 1: "There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between the President of the United States and the King of Chosen and the citizens and subjects of their respective Governments. If other powers deal unjustly or oppressively with either Government, the other will exert their good offices on being informed of the case to bring about an amicable arrangement, thus showing their friendly feelings."

The treaty has been cited in contemporary South Korea by some as an example that the United States cannot be relied upon with regards to issues of South Korean security and sovereignty.

Commemoration
In 1994, the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum was created by the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire to commemorate the Portsmouth Peace Treaty with the first formal meeting between Japanese and Russian scholars and diplomats in Portsmouth since 1905. As the Treaty of Portsmouth was one of the most powerful symbols of peace in the Northern Pacific region and the most significant shared peace history of Japan, Russia, and the United States, the forum was designed to explore from the Japanese, Russian, and American perspectives, the history of the Portsmouth Treaty and its relevance to current issues involving the Northern Pacific region. The forum is intended to focus modern scholarship on international problems in the "spirit of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Treaty of Portsmouth


text:
Talk:Isles of Scilly

Gulf Stream
Should this article mention the Gulf Stream? It is credited, or has been credited, to the mild temperature of the Scilly Islands. -24.149.185.189 (talk) 13:51, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Scilly Isles
People who live in the isles of Scilly DO NOT like it to be called the Scilly Isles. - fonzy

 * OK - so what would they prefer? (I'm not saying that we should then move it to whatever they prefer, though we might - but I am curious) --Camembert

Move it to Isles of Scilly (whihc i think is the right name anyway)- fonzy

 * You're right - I remembered just after I typed the above. Just out of interest - do you know why they prefer that formation to "Scilly Isles"? --Camembert

unfortunaty no, maybe its just thye like being correct, like ceratin things annoy the scottish, if not said, written wrong. - fonzy

Maybe for the simple reason that Scilly Isles sounds too much like Silly Isles? - Hwebers

Well then, who really wrote this article ?

Here, here,,, I was on these islands a few weeks ago and everyone called it scilly isles. Every British person calls it this as well. Sounds like one persons opinion to me 93.97.184.173 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:08, 16 April 2010 (UTC).

Miles to Kilometers
How much would be 28 miles in kilometers? Which mile is being used in the article? Sorry if the questions seem stupid to any of you. --matusz 23:06, 8 May 2004 (UTC)

Scilly Isles (reprise)
People who live on the Isles of Scilly (IOS) dont like it being called the Scilly Isles or the Scillies as it sounds like the word silly. IOS is located 28 land miles WSW off Land's End, roughly 45km or 24 nautical miles.

Tresco Photograph
In the photo labelled Tresco, is the vantage point and the land surrounding it, Tresco, or is Tresco the island with the lighthouse on it? Tim Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 02:03, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

The photo is taken on Tresco, which is the foreground (Blockhouse Cottages, I think); the island in the background is St Helens, but the lighthouse is actually on Round Island beyond that. Agingjb 14:52, 13 October 2006 (UTC).

Origin of name
Anyone know the origin of the name? It's obviously a bit confusing with the "real" Sicily. --Doradus 16:28, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Don't know the origin - I have heard it's pre-Indo-European

I believe the Romans called it Scilly, meaning "islands in the sun", so it is probably derived from the same origins as Sicily. I'm not sure how I know this, but I remember reading it somewhere, and someone telling me, plus it sort of makes sense.

Scillonia?
I've removed this

 * Note that the use of the name The Scilly Isles is deprecated by the locals, who prefer Scillonia.

pending a source. Morwen - Talk 11:51, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

 * I have heard of "Scillonia", but I am not sure how wide its use is (never have visited the islands). However, I would second the comments above that "Scilly Isles", "the Scillys/ies" are frowned upon by many people, and are shibboleths of a kind. --MacRusgail 15:17, 8 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Acceptable use is usually just Scilly, cf. Cornish Zillan. I think the Cornish used in the article is a calque on the English Isles of Scilly. Doire 22:48, 29 December 2005.

The Scilly Isles are a pair of round abouts in Surrey I believe and lets face it we wouldn't want to be confused with them. I dislike the phrase "The Scillies" becuase it is wrong, and it sounds stupid, it is wrong for the simple fact that there is only one place called Scilly, it is made up of lots of islands, each with their own distinct character. The sea is also Scilly so to refer to it as plural doesn't make sense. The name Scillonia is used for the phone area code. The most commonly used name is simply "Scilly".

"sui generis" status
As with the City of London the Isles of Scilly has a sui generis status within the English system of local government. Note the following two references:

Civil Contingencies Act - under "Local authorities" the Council of the Isles of Scilly is listed seperately (along with the Common Council of the City of London).

Isles of Scilly Council - "This unique nature has been recognied by its special constitutional position, known as the Isles of Scilly Clause."

As other local government pages on Wikipedia point out, the Isles of Scilly are a Unitary Authority in every sense, being administratively seperate from Cornwall, but they do not constitute a seperate county in any way.

Feel free to discuss and even prove me wrong/ammend the facts stated here!! :) David 23:09, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

Liquor laws differed in the 1930s?
I am presently reading the novella "The Death Penalty" by Leslie Charteris, part of the Saint mystery series (and published in Once More the Saint in 1932). In this book, the hero travels to the "Scilly Islands" (sic) and it is noted that due to their location they are not subject to certain British laws prohibiting liquor sales at certain hours (apparently during midday if I understand the story correctly). It's doubtful Charteris would have made this up, so if anyone can confirm dates, etc. it might be an interesting tidbit for the history section. 23skidoo 13:40, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

Gugh
According to this article Gugh is the smallest of the inhabited islands, with only three citizens. But according to the article Gugh, it's uninhabited. Which of the two articles is correct? A ecis  Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984. 01:28, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

There are two houses on Gugh, both are occupied for at least some of the year. Agingjb 09:29, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Samson etc.
A recent change gives the number of inhabited islands as seven, presumably including the formerly inhabited Samson. But then St Helens, Tean, at least two lighthouses, and some of the eastern isles were formerly inhabited. Agingjb 17:04, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

The number has since been corrected, does the article need more about formerly inhabited islands (Samson is covered), possibly not. Agingjb 07:43, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Critical comment - 30/01/2007
It's refreshing to see that there is some sort of critical comment here. I do think that perhaps the tourist 'image' of the Isles of Scilly is far too rosy at times - and the new BBC series 'An Island Parish' is indeed in many ways a testament to this.

My experience of the islands is primarily based on a dissertation project submitted in canditure for a degree in human geography back in 2004. This included two weeks intensive fieldwork and looked at the opportunities for young people growing up on the islands. I conducted nearly 20 in-depth interviews with young people between the ages of 16 to 26 from the different islands to understand their perceptions of access to housing, employment and education. This was situated in the context of research into the local economy and its dependency upon tourism as the main source of revenue. Interviews were also conducted with relevant employees of the council and the Duchy of Cornwall.

The main finding of the research was that many young people feel they have to leave the islands. This was in most cases due to a conflict between their future hopes and aspirations and the reality of limited and therefore exclusive opportunities to access employment and particularly housing. The islands also have no higher education provision forcing a migration of nearly all 16 year olds to the mainland, albeit temporarily.

What is concerning here is that The Isles of Scilly are loosing their future. If they can’t retain at least some of the younger generation, then this threatens the sustainability of the whole community as the operational viability of core services will be threatened. Indeed the school has had to adapt to a 'federated' structure to temporarily close off-island schools when the need arises due to the decline in numbers of children living in these catchment areas.

If tourism is indeed to be the strategy for economic survival, then it also needs to take into account the opportunities for young people living there and provide them with the support to stay if they want, and allow them to be innovative in securing the island’s future. This requires the commitment of all actors and stakeholders.

--Phillip Vincent 17:40, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

P.S Oh, and I would love to discuss this with anyone who is interested.

Rewrote statement on winter shutdown
The following statement has recently been added to the article:

 * Tourism is also a highly seasonal industry due to its reliance on outdoor recreation causing a near shutdown of the islands in winter.

which I think fails the common sense test. It surely isn't tourism that is causing the winter shutdown, but rather the absence of tourism in winter that is causing the shutdown. Put it another way. If the island tourist industry disappeared overnight, would this in itself increase activity in winter?. I've rewritten the statement to what I think was really meant:

 * Tourism is also a highly seasonal industry due to its reliance on outdoor recreation, and the low level of tourist activity in winter causes a near shutdown of the islands during that season.

Apologies if I've misunderstood. - Chris j wood 12:23, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Incidentally, it would be really good to have either elaboration or a source (or even better both), for that statement. 'Near shutdown' has a whiff of POV about it, and in any case probably means quite different things to different people depending on their background. For example, does the electricity supply shut down in winter? (I'm pretty sure it doesn't, but if I lived in large swathes of the developing world that would be one of my criteria for near shutdown). Likewise, do the 24 hour street markets shutdown? (again, I'm pretty sure the islands don't have 24 hour street markets, but if I still lived in Hong Kong that might be what I would read into 'near shutdown'). I think what I'm saying in an overly long-winded fashion is that we need some objective examples of what is meant by near shutdown. -- Chris j wood 12:37, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

...

Cheers Chris, that makes sense to me.

In a tangible sense, there are far fewer visitors to the islands in winter. If you look at the IOS Intergrated Plan for example, this had a concern for expanding the tourist season outside of the busy summer months. Also in my own research I was led to believe that many of the locals who run tourist businesses go on holiday themeselves over the winter months so this doesn't disrupt their earning capacity for the rest of the year. It would be intersting to check out the booking periods for tourist accomodation actually - I think this would provide a better way of accessing whether many tourist providers hope to attact people during the winter.

The following article by Butler was a review of seasonality in the tourist industry more generally and this spoke explicitly about how previous research had failed to see seasonality outside of a business context, as its implications reach far beyond this into issues of community sustainablity.

Butler R (2001) 'Seasonality in Tourism: Issues and Implications', in T Baum, S Lundtorp (eds) Seasonality in Tourism, Pergamon, Oxford, pp. 5-23. 'Near shutdown' is as you say ambigious, but I felt this reflected the way that the young people I spoke to felt about the islands in winter. They often complained that it was boring to be at home during this time, with fewer people around and less chance to get out because of the weather etc.

I agree, its an important point that does need clarification because its integeral to the debate of economic mono-dependency and how this affects the community in a broader sense.

--Phillip Vincent 13:22, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

"White" People?
“…and the ethnic makeup of the islands is almost exclusively White,” is rather inarticulate and barbaric. In the 21st Century is “white” still acceptable as an ethnic classification? I should hope not. I vote to alter this to something more scholarly (such as Caucasian). If it is unacceptable to use “black” to refer to a group of people, then how in the name of logic can it be acceptable to use “white” in this case? The PC movement has rendered the average writer of the English language incapable of seeing the ridiculousness of this misnomer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.1.236.22 (talk)

 * White is the standard term in British English Black is also standard in British English - Caucasian refers to someone from the Caucasus . DuncanHill 11:03, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

The makeup, as far as I can tell, is mostly white Cornish (yes, Cornish IS alloted a census code, but does not appear as an option) or white English. --MacRusgail 19:11, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh my... read the Daily Mail by any chance? Political Correctness gone mad hahah 93.97.184.173 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:11, 16 April 2010 (UTC).

Which of the following statements is true?

The people of the islands have a genetic link to the ancient British tribal people who inhabited the islands long before the arrival of the Celts or Romans.

Whilst there is little evidence to substantiate the claim, it is sometimes rather tenuously suggested, that the early inhabitants of the islands may have had a genetic link to the "Ancient British" who inhabited the islands long before the arrival of the Celts or Romans —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.43.102.175 (talk) 20:55, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

I guess both statements must be true then.

Is "White" an ethnic group? Don't we have to differentiate among, say, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Finns, and so forth?

--Knowledge-is-power (talk) 05:27, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Geography
Er. Land's End isn't the most westerly point in Great Britain (that's Ardnamurchan Point in Scotland). The other changes in this section from "England" to "Great Britain" may or may not be justified. Agingjb 08:01, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

 * I've changed this back to England. Bistromathic 19:39, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

The record low temperature is actually -7.2C & not -6.4C as previously stated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.15.3.21 (talk) 22:51, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

pronunciation
it seems somewhat precious not to tell us ignorant furreners how to pronounce the name of the place. 'sounds too much like silly' - is it or not, please?

 * Yes it sounds just like the word "silly". Don't forget to sign your comments using the [[Image:Signature_icon.png]] button. --Joowwww 11:57, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Talking islands? Now that's just Scilly
I changed "It is not known at exactly what time the islands stopped speaking Cornish" to "It is not known at exactly what time the islands' inhabitants stopped speaking Cornish."

Three suggestions for edits I don't feel qualifed to make:

1. How is King Olaf visiting a seer there evidence that the Isles once were larger and many of them joined?

2. Can the reference to "Some of the Cornish language placenames also appear to reflect past shorelines, and former land areas" be supported with some examples?

3. The bit about the Isles attracting rare birds is very interesting but a little vague. Any examples?

JamestownArarat (talk) 05:43, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

 * 1 - it isn't. No one said so. 2 - Yes. 3- no idea, but could be expanded. Not a twitcher myself. --MacRusgail (talk) 18:47, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

 * 3 I suppose a link to http://www.scilly-birding.co.uk/ could be added. Agingjb (talk) 20:27, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Strange sentence
In the middle of the "Middle-Ages" paragraph is the following sentence:

In 1375, Boreman, with 28 mariners, was captured in the Isles of Scilly in a barge of Normandy by Fulbroke, Borde and others and brought to Bristol as prisoners.

Can anyone add any detail or framing to it? I've had a good search and failed to find out who "Boreman", "Fulbroke" or "Borde" were. I'm going to remove this unless someone can identify the relevance.

Cheers, OBM | blah blah blah 14:20, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

 * I've now removed it. Cheers, OBM | blah blah blah 08:20, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Tidy
I've done a bit of cleaning up, removing forced image sizes which override user settings, added a bit on Ennor and general tinkering. Could do with a good copy edit, I've only fixed a few of the worst atrocities (month of October = October) jimfbleak (talk) 14:48, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Transport
The article has recently been edited to change the list of Skybus destinations, removing many of them. As far I can tell, the original list was more correct Agingjb (talk) 10:47, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Samson
The table of islands had a footnote, saying "[1]Inhabited until 1855" but the marker in the table had been removed. I restored it. Rojomoke (talk) 15:37, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Driving tests
I've recently heard that people travel to the Isles of Scilly to learn to drive, because it's so easy to pass your test there, and so you can gain a full UK licence in a matter of days. Indeed, states that IoS has the highest pass rate for car tests in the country. Apparently there are no roundabouts, and some other features are absent though I forget which.

Is this notable enough for something to be written in the article about it? Moreover, can anybody find sources to back these claims? -- Smjg (talk) 00:18, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Move request to move iOS (Apple) to IOS
IOS is currently a disambiguation page, and it links to this one. Its proposed to move iOS (Apple) over than and move the redirect to IOS (disambiguation). See Talk:IOS (Apple) if you wish to comment. -- Eraserhead1 <talk> 20:11, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

Where are these islands?
Simpley put, put a real map in this article. Showing me pictures of islands surrounded by water doesn't help in gaining the ability to point out these islands on other maps/a globe. Without showing the islands in relation to Britain or Europe, one cannot fully understand where these islands are.

Mofuggin bob (talk) 10:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Per your valid request I've added a map. Dr.  Blofeld  07:58, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

== The whole of southern England has been steadily sinking in opposition to post-glacial rebound in Scotland: this has caused the rias (drowned river valleys) on the southern Cornish coast, e.g. River Fal and the Tamar Estuary.== This isn't actually what is happening, South East England is sinking while the south west is relatively stable, to such an extent that the OS use the harbour wall at Newlyn is used as the gauge of sea level and tidal activity across the whole country. (Ordnance_Datum). Nor were the Tamar or Fal estuaries formed via the South West sinking, the event was a global sea level which flooded the then lower valleys with water, leaving the Rias we see today. Should I therefore remove this piece of text?Jackdann88 (talk) 22:00, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Lead.
Made a few additions and tweaks to the lead, as I'm not the most confident editor I'd be pleased if someone could review my additions. I was amazed the article wasn't tagged for not conveying enough info in the lead actually; very sparse and sad. Hope I've helped. --Τασουλα (talk) 20:31, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Anglia et Cornubia/English or Cornish
These edits here add some useful info but imo mark a distinction that is not as clear cut as implied by the wording. I'm not sure for example how accurate this statement is - "Before the Tudor period, laws were typically designated as taking effect in Anglia et Cornubia". This is definitely the case with some laws, but I'm not sure "typically" is correct, and no source has been added to confirm or clarify the point. Also, the constitutional status of Cornwall is in fact not "a matter of some debate", if that's meant to refer to the supposedly dubious nature of its current connection to England (all the "Duchy not a county" stuff). Even the debate around any future changes is relatively limited in scope if one is looking at mainstream discussion. We are not talking about Scotland/UK or Catalonia/Spain here. Also the reference to the people being "either Cornish or English" assumes a clear separation and distinction that not everyone makes.  N-HH   talk / edits  21:35, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Apologies, but I've gone ahead and taken the additions out in their entirety. I know the material could perhaps be edited, and citation tags added, but there are overall too many problems with much of it. In addition to the above points, it contained lots of commentary and apparent value judgments, eg "a similar situation exists today", "it is sometimes rather tenuously suggested", "subjective observations suggest that", "young indigenous Cornish are increasingly underrepresented" (and what does the latter mean anyway - that their numbers are falling, or that the true number is not recognised?), as well as strange statements such as that Poles have been "brought in". Plus, for example, notes about the history of Cornwall are not relevant to a section about "National government".  N-HH   talk / edits  14:35, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

The Cornish are an ethnic group... you'll find this attested to in numerous foreign publications. Of course, the British establishment has difficulty separating out the various strands of so called British culture, and conflates them. Of course, in this case, certain folk do not wish to admit that the Cornish exist, or confuse them with a county identity e.g. Yorkshire.--MacRùsgail (talk) 20:04, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Where in the above did I say they were not, deny that the Cornish are often taken as distinct from the English, or deny anyone's existence outright? Where in the above have you addressed - let alone even acknowledged - any of my multiple points, which go way beyond the point about Cornish/English, before simply restoring all your additions verbatim?  N-HH   talk / edits  23:01, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
 * I've added some sources and properly presented detail about demographics (based vaguely on the material that was added initially), but have again removed much of the conjecture, commentary, and barely relevant and unencyclopedic theorising and speculation about population and politics. There may be some debate to be had about that, but can we please have it? Brief ramblings about alleged ethnic denialism and the "British establishment" don't count and are not sufficient justification for it to be blindly reinserted.  N-HH   talk / edits  09:19, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Mass revert and "anglocentrism"
This edit has reverted, en masse, a series of recent changes, without any talk page comment. I haven't looked through the differences in detail, but an edit summary that justifies reversion of material about a place that's part of England and not part of any serious territorial dispute by citing "anglocentrism" as a criticism immediately raises concerns. To take something from the top of the page, I'm not sure that the new map wasn't better, since it showed the location of the islands in a context that probably makes sense to a broader readership. Can we please not drag this page into a ridiculous ethno-nationalist war?  N-HH   talk / edits  10:17, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

The West Country Challenge
Would you like to win up to £250 in Amazon vouchers for participating in The West Country Challenge?

The The West Country Challenge will take place from 8 to 28 August 2016. The idea is to create and improve articles about Bristol, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, like this one.

The format will be based on Wales's successful Awaken the Dragon which saw over 1000 article improvements and creations and 65 GAs/FAs. As with the Dragon contest, the focus is more on improving core articles and breathing new life into those older stale articles and stubs which might otherwise not get edited in years. All contributions, including new articles, are welcome though.

Work on any of the items at: or other articles relating to the area.
 * Core articles
 * Missing article hotlist
 * Missing photograph hotlist

There will be sub contests focusing on particular areas:
 * Bristol (Day 1-3)
 * Cornwall and Scilly (Day 4-6)
 * Devon (Day 7-9)
 * Dorset (Day 10-12)
 * Gloucestershire (Day 13-15)
 * Somerset (Day 16-18)
 * Wiltshire (Day 19-21)

To sign up or get more information visit the contest pages at WikiProject England/The West Country Challenge.— Rod talk 16:10, 18 July 2016 (UTC)

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In what way is the flag of the islands "unofficial"?
Flags can't really be "official" in the UK. The Cornish flag is just as "unofficial" as the Scillonian flag. They're both registered with the Flag Institute, which is as close as a flag can get to being official. I'll change the article accordingly. --Inops (talk) 11:39, 25 July 2017 (UTC)

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Notable people
Harold and Mary Wilson might well be added to the list. They owned a small house there, actually freehold, I believe. Seadowns (talk) 01:39, 29 January 2018 (UTC)

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cut flowers
I suspect this is a thing of the past. Does anyone have information to the contrary? Brownturkey (talk) 20:08, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
 * According to the Duchy of Cornwall, which owns most of the islands, "Dating back to the 1860s, flower farming remains an important part of the local economy to this day" but "tourism is the most important industry – accounting for more than 85 per cent of the local economy and employing more than 70 per cent of the islands' population." See this link. Of course, employment in tourism is often both part-time and part-year, so many of those employed in tourism may have other jobs. DuncanHill (talk) 22:57, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

Climate section (2019)
A number of very dubious claims in here, typical of pages where locals edit in order to make inflated claims about their climate. 1) Removed "warm" in front of Koeppen classification. "Warm" is subjective, and has no place in the named definition. 2) Removed the "borders on a subtropical climate" claim. This was originally put in by mixing definitions. The Trewartha definition has a much lower bar for subtropical than does Koeppen. Koeppen requires the mean temperature in the warmest month to be at least 22C. For Scilly, that is about 5-6C short. So not even close to bordering on subtropical. In Koeppen, even Sydney does not quite reach subtropical status, so it is nonsensical and misleading to claim Scilly borders on it. 3) Removed the "Mediterranean influence" claim. Scilly's summers are still too wet to claim any kind of Mediterranean classification. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.21.130.193 (talk) 20:04, 28 December 2019 (UTC)

Sicily
I deleted the disambig statement about Sicily, as I cannot believe anybody is likely to confuse it with Scilly. Editor 180.244.161.82 has seen fit to undo this without comment. I don't know how other readers feel about this. Valetude (talk) 11:24, 25 July 2021 (UTC)
 * PS Logically the same person would find it necessary to apply the same thing to the wiki page on Sicily. I notice they haven't. Valetude (talk) 11:26, 25 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree with the removal. DuncanHill (talk) 11:38, 25 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I've removed it again. It's all very sicily.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 12:16, 25 July 2021 (UTC)

St Agnes southernmost point?
The article states: One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in the British Isles, being over four miles (six kilometres) further south than the most southerly point of the British mainland at Lizard Point.

It seems, however, as there are within this group other islands (or islets) further south. Why is St Agnes defined as the southernmost point? Fomalhaut76 (talk) 19:42, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

 * It's also demonstrably not true even considering the rest of the Scilly Isles' associated minor outcrops. The islands of Les Minquiers, part of the Bailiwick of Jersey, are undoubtedly the most southerly islands in the British Isles. The Channel Islands are part of the British Isles but not the UK or Great Britain, which is perhaps what the author of this sentence was conflating? 2600:1700:5890:9C70:59C5:41D6:BE83:25FC (talk) 09:27, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Isles of Scilly


text:
Dover (disambiguation)

Dover is a port town in Kent, in South East England.

Dover may also refer to:

Australia

 * Dover, Tasmania
 * Dover Island (Tasmania)
 * Dover Heights, Sydney

Canada

 * Dover, Calgary, Alberta
 * Dover, Newfoundland and Labrador
 * Dover, Nova Scotia
 * Port Dover, Ontario
 * Little Dover, Nova Scotia

Singapore

 * Dover, Singapore
 * Dover MRT station

United Kingdom

 * Dover, Kent
 * Dover (UK Parliament constituency)
 * Dover District
 * Strait of Dover
 * White Cliffs of Dover
 * Port of Dover, a cross-channel port in South East England
 * Dover, Greater Manchester, a location

United States

 * Dover, Arkansas
 * Dover, Delaware, the state capital
 * Dover Air Force Base
 * Bally's Dover, formerly Dover Downs, horse harness racing track
 * Dover Motor Speedway, a NASCAR race track located at Bally's Dover
 * Dover, Florida
 * Dover, Georgia
 * Dover, Idaho
 * Dover, Illinois
 * Dover, Indiana
 * Dover, Boone County, Indiana
 * Dover, Kansas
 * Dover, Kentucky
 * Dover, Maine, merged with Foxcroft since 1922 to form a single town
 * Dover, Massachusetts, a New England town
 * Dover (CDP), Massachusetts, the urban portion of the town
 * Dover, Minnesota
 * Dover, Missouri
 * Dover, New Hampshire
 * Dover, New Jersey
 * Dover, New York
 * Dover, North Carolina
 * Dover, Ohio
 * Dover, Oklahoma
 * Dover, Pennsylvania, involved in the Dover trial
 * Dover, Tennessee
 * Dover, Utah, a ghost town
 * Dover, Vermont
 * Dover, Virginia
 * Dover, Buffalo County, Wisconsin, a town
 * Dover, Price County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community
 * Dover, Racine County, Wisconsin, a town
 * Dover Plains, New York
 * Dover Township (disambiguation) (any of several townships)

People

 * Dover (surname), a surname of Celtic origin appearing in English and German names

Arts and entertainment

 * Dover (film), a 1943 WWII documentary short
 * Dover (band), a Spanish rock band
 * The Dovers, American garage-rock band

Buildings

 * Dover Castle, Kent, England
 * Dover House, a Grade I listed building in Whitehall, London

Companies

 * Dover Corporation, a diversified industrial manufacturer
 * Dover Publications, American publisher of books and, for a time, classical records
 * Dover Records, an English popular record label (for the American label, see above)

Government and law

 * Dover (UK Parliament constituency), the Parliamentary constituency that includes Dover, England
 * Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, a court case

Transportation and vehicles

 * Dover (truck), a make of truck owned by the Hudson Motor Car Company, Detroit
 * Dover station (MBTA), a closed station on the MBTA Orange Line
 * Dover station (NJ Transit), train station in Dover, New Jersey
 * Dover Transit Center, bus terminal in Dover, Delaware
 * Dover Transportation Center, train station in Dover, New Hampshire
 * HMS Dover, the designation of several Royal Navy ships

Other uses

 * Baron Dover, a British Peerage
 * Dover sole (disambiguation), two species of flatfish
 * Dover Athletic, a football club based in Dover
 * Xerox Dover, an early laser printer

title: Dover (disambiguation)


text:
Salem

Salem may refer to:

Ontario

 * Bruce County
 * Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie
 * Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce
 * Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part of the Town of Mono
 * Salem, Durham Regional Municipality, Ontario, in the municipality of Clarington
 * Salem, Frontenac County, Ontario, in the municipality of South Frontenac
 * Salem, Northumberland County, in the municipality of Cramahe
 * Salem, Wellington County, in the municipality of Centre Wellington

Germany

 * Salem, Baden-Württemberg, a municipality in the Bodensee district
 * Salem Abbey (Reichskloster Salem), a monastery
 * Schule Schloss Salem, or Salem College
 * Salem, Schleswig-Holstein

Israel

 * Salem (Bible), town mentioned
 * Salem, Ma'ale Iron, Israel.
 * Salim, Nablus, or Salem, Palestine

India

 * Salem, Tamil Nadu
 * Salem City Municipal Corporation
 * Salem metropolitan area (India)
 * Salem district, Tamil Nadu
 * Salem railway division

Sweden

 * Salem Municipality, a municipality in Stockholm County
 * Salem, Sweden, the seat of Salem Municipality

United Kingdom

 * Salem, Cornwall, England
 * Salem, an area of Oldham, England
 * Salem, Ceredigion, Wales
 * Salem, village near Llandeilo, Wales

United States

 * Salem, Alabama
 * Salem, Fulton County, Arkansas, a city
 * Salem, Saline County, Arkansas, a census-designated place
 * Salem, Connecticut
 * Salem, Florida
 * Salem, Georgia, in Upson County
 * Salem, Oconee County, Georgia
 * Salem, Illinois
 * Salem, Indiana, county seat of Washington County
 * Salem, Adams County, Indiana, unincorporated place
 * Salem, Jay County, Indiana, unincorporated place
 * Salem, Union County, Indiana, unincorporated place
 * Salem, Iowa
 * Salem, Kentucky
 * Salem, Massachusetts
 * Salem Maritime National Historic Site
 * Salem witch trials, a 1692–93 series of hearings and prosecutions
 * Salem Harbor
 * Salem Channel, a part of the Salem Sound
 * Salem station, MBTA commuter rail
 * Salem Township, Allegan County, Michigan
 * Salem Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan
 * Salem, Michigan, an unincorporated community
 * Salem, Missouri, county seat of Dent County
 * Salem, Lewis County, Missouri
 * Salem, Nebraska
 * Salem, New Hampshire
 * Salem County, New Jersey
 * Salem, New Jersey, county seat of Salem County
 * Salem Nuclear Power Plant
 * Salem River, a tributary of the Delaware River
 * Port of Salem
 * Salem, New Mexico
 * Salem, New York, town in Washington County
 * Salem (hamlet), New York, within the town of Salem
 * Salem, an earlier name of Brocton, New York, in Chautauqua County
 * Salem, North Carolina, census-designated place in Burke County
 * Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in Forsyth County
 * Old Salem, a history museum in Winston-Salem
 * Salem, Ohio
 * Salem, Oklahoma
 * Salem, Oregon, the state capital and largest city in the U.S. named Salem
 * Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, consisting of Marion and Polk counties
 * Salem station (Oregon), a railroad station
 * Salem, South Carolina, in Oconee County
 * Salem, South Dakota, county seat of McCook County
 * Salem, Tennessee, an unincorporated community
 * Salem, Cherokee County, Texas, an unincorporated community
 * Salem, Smith County, Texas, an unincorporated community
 * Salem, Utah
 * Salem, Virginia, an independent city adjacent to Roanoke
 * Salem, Virginia Beach, Virginia, a neighborhood
 * Salem, West Virginia, a city in Harrison County
 * Salem, Fayette County, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
 * Salem, Wisconsin (disambiguation), several places in Wisconsin

Elsewhere

 * Salem, Brebes, a subdistrict in Central Java, Indonesia
 * Salem, Ontario (disambiguation), several places in Canada
 * Salem, Eastern Cape, South Africa
 * Salem, Myanmar
 * Salem, Montserrat
 * Salem, Valencia, Spain

Fictional characters

 * Salem, the main antagonist from the web series RWBY
 * Salem Saberhagen, a cat in the comic book and television series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
 * Salem Vishnu, Indian film character played by Thiagarajan in New Delhi and Salem Vishnu

Music

 * Salem (American band), an electronic music band
 * Salem (British rock band)
 * Salem (British punk band)
 * Salem (Israeli band), an extreme metal band
 * Salem (record label), a 1960s New Zealand music publisher
 * Salem Highballers, the recording name given to the McCray Family

Television

 * Salem (Days of Our Lives), the setting of the U.S. soap opera Days of our Lives
 * Salem (TV series), 2014 horror drama airing on WGN America

Other uses in arts, entertainment, and media

 * Salem (comics) or Salem: Queen of Thorns, US, 2008
 * Salem (video game), a Java-based MMORPG
 * Salem (Vosper painting), 1908
 * Salem Weekly, an alternative newspaper, Oregon

Brands and enterprises

 * Salem (cigarette), US
 * Salem Media Group, Christian-based

Educational institutions

 * Salem Academy, North Carolina
 * Salem College, North Carolina
 * Salem High School (disambiguation), several in the United States
 * Salem State University, Massachusetts
 * Salem University, West Virginia
 * Schule Schloss Salem (Salem Castle School or Salem College), Germany

Mathematics and science

 * Salem number, a real algebraic integer with certain properties
 * Salem Prize, an award for young mathematicians

Religious institutions

 * Salem International, a German Christian charity
 * Salem Methodist Church Complex (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Sports

 * Salem Red Sox, a minor league baseball team in Salem, Virginia
 * Salem Soldiers, a former semi-professional basketball team from Salem, Oregon team
 * Salem Spartans, a cricket team representing Salem District, Tamil Nadu, India
 * Salem Witches (baseball), a former minor league baseball team of the New England League
 * Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, a minor league baseball team in Keizer, Oregon

Salem witches

 * Salem witch trials, 1692–93, Massachusetts
 * Salem witchcraft trial (1878) or second Salem witch trial

Other uses

 * Salem (Lok Sabha constituency), a parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu, India
 * Salem (name), people with the name
 * Salem (supertanker), an oil carrier involved in maritime insurance fraud
 * Salem, a cultivar of rosemary
 * USS Salem, three ships of the United States Navy

title: Salem